President Trump will deliver the first State of the Union address of his second term tonight – and the White House social media team want to whet your appetite. “The White House digital team will transform all its social channels into ‘Trump TV’ – a 12-hour retrospective of the year since President Trump’s last address to Congress,” Axios reports.
Your correspondent can’t help but feel Team Trump is missing a trick. The most transfixing thing to show the American people before the address isn’t “Trump of the last 12 months,” it’s “Trump live.”
Cockburn has observed with intrigue how his younger relatives watch streamers’ content, from IShowSpeed traipsing across Africa to the likes of Clavicular and the ASU Frat Leader “framemogging” each other (no idea). The appeal was lost on him, until he saw the similarities with how his boomer contemporaries follow the President. The Trump administration is compelling for the same reasons as a Twitch stream: the dramatic tension of watching an absurd central character live, in the moment, when anything could happen. You’re hypnotized by his interactions with the supporting cast: oh look, there’s Kid Rock. Wait, what’s he going to say to Tucker Carlson this time? Is that Gianni Infantino again? He was on yesterday’s stream too.
This is why the State of the Union is such essential viewing. The content of the speech is tertiary to Trump’s interactions with the figures in the room. Which Democratic members will take a leaf out of Al Green’s book and jestermaxx? Will seeing the tariffmogging Supreme Court spike Trump’s cortisol? Cockburn would be watching now if he could.
On our radar
PETER FILES Peter Attia is stepping down as a CBS News contributor after the revelation of his correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein.
SIGN PLEASE Fedex is suing the Trump administration for a tariff refund, following Friday’s Supreme Court decision.
PULITZER INBOUND Candace Owens is set to release Bride of Charlie, an investigative series looking into Erika Kirk, on YouTube tomorrow.
How good is Kash Patel at hockey, actually?
The controversy over Kash Patel, the Trump administration’s top puck bunny, is rolling on. His former FBI colleague Dan Bongino leapt to defend Patel’s locker-room antics on Fox News, telling critics of his bro to “keep crying.”
Patel is a long-standing fan of the sport he’s played since he was a child. As well as his convenient trip to Milan, the Director guest-starred in the Congressional Hockey Game last year and was present when Washington Nationals star Alexander Ovechkin broke Wayne Gretzky’s NHL scoring record, posing for photos with both players.
But how good is Patel as a player? “He plays in the AA league which is the best league in DC. Relative to DC players writ large, he’s well above average. But as far as the AA league, he’s among the slower players,” Richie McGinniss, who has crossed sticks with Patel, told Cockburn.
McGinniss, who wears shirt #420 on a team called the “Narcs,” described Patel as “definitely a lower-tier defenseman in that league. With that being said, his team is at the top of the league heading into the playoffs with a 13-5 record.”
“Everyone on Kash’s team likes him personally even though many don’t share his politics,” said McGinniss. “From what I gathered from multiple sources, Kash is a glue guy who is a highly valued member of the squad regardless of skill level. He’s just one of the boys. He plays clean: pinches a lot at the blue line and is well known for taking head-high slap shots. He blocks shots and plays hard.”
McGinniss did concede that Patel is “definitely the slowest” of the players in his league. Think he’s sluggish on the ice? You should see him run a manhunt…
Someone read this aloud to Governor Newsom
Gavin Newsom’s not-quite-yet presidential campaign is going great so far. On Sunday night in Atlanta, promoting his new memoir Young Man In A Hurry, Newsom had a chat with Mayor Andre Dickens, saying, “I’m like you… I’m a 960 SAT guy.” Online pundits, along with conservative figures including Sean Hannity, went bonkers, accusing Newsom of being racist, saying that he was addressing the mostly black audience.
But though Dickens is black, a quick scan of the crowd shows that most of the people in the auditorium were, in fact, white. In Atlanta! There are a thousand ways to criticize Gavin Newsom, but this one seemed misplaced.
Nevertheless, SAT-gate clearly has Newsom and his people on the defensive. RealClear journalist Susan Crabtree, a Newsom gadfly, touched a sore spot when she sent an email to Newsom’s people asking for proof of his dyslexia diagnosis from 1972, which he’s claiming is the reason for his low SAT score. Newsom spokesman Izzy Gardon wrote back, “Hey Susan – thanks for reaching out. Respectfully, fuck off.”
This same attitude manifested in Newsom’s X account going absolutely ham on Sean Hannity on Monday, tweeting: “You didn’t give a shit about the President of the United States of America posting an ape video of President Obama or calling African nations shitholes – but you’re going to call me racist for talking about my lifelong struggle with dyslexia? Spare me your fake fucking outrage, Sean.”
Talk about toxic whiteness!
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