Cockburn’s Diary

The Washington Post recently published two op-eds by Scott Greer, "a writer who years ago expressed racist and antisemitic views for an online white-supremacist publication," according to Politico. For context: Greer wrote for Richard Spencer's "Radix Journal" under a pseudonym. After Politico reached out for comment, WaPo removed the articles.That move might come across as a squirrelly act of insecurity in the middle of a turbulent time for Post Opinions.

Since Donald Trump retook office in January 2025, Washington has experienced significant upheaval in its institutions. The United States Institute of Peace underwent a DoGE takeover that involved federal police occupying the building, taking over its board of directors and seizing control of its assets and operations. The majority of people who had worked there prior was fired or nudged toward resignation – with their severance conditional on a promise not to sue their old employer. It was renamed the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace. In May 2025, the District Court ruled the takeover unlawful, which was appealed, pausing the decision’s impacts until further proceedings.

The World Cup begins this week, and Americans have been celebrating as only we know how: by fighting Europeans on social media about stadium size and atmosphere, and banning Africans and Middle Easterners from the country. Nonetheless, the next month offers a great opportunity to take advantage of DC’s status as a truly international city, and fraternize with foreigners while watching multimillionaires pass a ball around in 100-degree heat. For today’s special sports edition of Cockburn’s Diary, here’s your correspondent’s guide on where to watch each team in the District. Germany The Brig The Brig describes itself as a “secret beer garden.

Starting a new job is never easy, but Nick Bilton, the new executive producer of 60 Minutes, has had an extra rough first two weeks after firing veteran correspondent Scott Pelley on Tuesday. Lesley Stahl, Jon Wertheim and Bill Whitaker released a joint memo today condemning the firings but declaring their intention to remain in post. CBS’s management has been accused of ignoring the demands of the (dwindling) core viewership and making top-down political changes to drag the station’s coverage to the right. In that spirit, Cockburn is offering Bilton some suggestions of feet to fill Pelley’s shoes. Thanks for reading Cockburn’s Diary from The Spectator. Subscribe to receive new posts and support his work.

Today is a big day for the 2026 midterm season, with primaries in California, Iowa, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota. While the national media’s attention is fixated on the Golden State’s jungle primaries for governor and LA mayor – (will it be a Pratt summer?) – a Trump endorsement in a lower-profile race caught Cockburn’s eye last night. “Congressman Tom Kean is a Great Representative for the People of New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District!” President Trump wrote on Truth Social, describing how the Republican has been “working tirelessly” to advance Trump policy goals. “GET OUT AND VOTE FOR TOM — HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!

Cockburn steeled himself Wednesday after a press release from the Trump administration’s “Freedom 250” plopped into his inbox. The missive promised a line-up of “Star-Studded Entertainment” for the Great American State Fair, set to take place on the National Mall for three weeks over the nation’s semiquincentennial. Nine “music icons” would perform for free, including the Commodores, Flo Rida and a smattering of one-hit wonders. Two days later and the schedule is in tatters: eight of the nine acts have withdrawn following fan backlash, with critics branding the event “DC’s very own Fyre Fest.” Only Flo Rida remains.

Fears are mounting about the possibility of a global Ebola outbreak. The CDC has already initiated various containment measures, including redirecting flights from the Democratic Republic of Congo and surrounding countries to Washington Dulles and Atlanta airports. But fear not – the US has its best man on the job. “We’re working on it,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. yesterday told ABC News, when asked about Ebola. This morning, he posted a 21-second clip on X in which he corners and catches two black racers with his hands during a visit to Dr. Oz’s home. https://twitter.com/robertkennedyjr/status/2059273262220115998?s=46 The clip is captioned, “Cheryl cheerleads the removal of a pair of Black Racers from Dr. Oz’s patio.

Cockburn isn’t the only one heading to the Bahamas this weekend. So is Donald Trump Jr. – to get married to Bettina Anderson in a private ceremony of around 50 people. It will be his second marriage and Anderson’s first. It sounds like Don Jr.’s father might be sitting this one out. “He’d like me to go,” President Trump told reporters Thursday, “but it’s going to be a small little private affair, and I’m going to try and make it… I’m in the midst – I said, ‘You know, this is not good timing for me. I have a thing called Iran and other things.’” “He’s a person I’ve known for a long time,” he added. Political careers and family life often conflict but Cockburn won’t accuse Trump of being an absentee father just yet.

“This is Greek… more or less… it comes out of Greece… this is the ultimate facade for Greece.” Donald Trump is wielding a blown-up graphical rendering of one of the planned porticos of the new White House ballroom. “This is a different facade,” he says, pointing to another placard propped up on an easel, “This one’s Rome.” The President spent the morning touring the ballroom’s construction site with the press. Currently a forest of rebar and metal prongs, the project has now burst its bounds and is developing into a general fortress-cum-lair. A vast underground complex is to be built below the ballroom, housing a hospital, research facilities and meeting rooms for the military.

Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks has resigned, ostensibly “to retire and return home to Texas to focus on my family and ranch.” Banks served under President Biden but quit in frustration over the administration’s lax border policies. When Trump returned to office, Banks took up his old job again: like Cincinnatus, he came out of retirement to serve, and will now return to his plow. Perhaps “plow” is the operative word here. It’s widely speculated that Banks is in fact resigning because of a Washington Examiner investigation, which claims that he was a sex tourist who made regular trips to Colombia and Thailand while in post.

President Trump sent off another flurry of Truth Social posts this morning, featuring Iranian fighter jets being zapped by lasers, mock-ups of a new Trump $100 bill and a morbidly obese Governor J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, chowing down. The AI-generated picture shows Pritzker sitting down to a vast buffet of nachos, fried chicken, pizza, hamburgers, a chocolate milkshake and – somewhat incongruously – spaghetti and meatballs. “J.B. is too busy to keep Chicago safe!” reads the caption. Cockburn notes how AI is changing Trump’s comedic style, which increasingly leans towards the pictorial rather than text. Unlike previous adversaries, the President has yet to give Pritzker a nickname à la “Sloppy” Steve Bannon or “Cryin’” Chuck Schumer.

Could this be the most “Trump” event to appear on the White House daily schedule yet? THE PRESIDENT participates in a LIV Golf Dinner Sterling, Virginia Yes, tonight President Trump will head out to the Trump National Golf Club Washington, D.C., for a dinner with competitors in LIV Golf Virginia. The LIV golfers are competing for a $20 million prize this weekend – though due to financing issues, this may end up being the last year of LIV, as Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has pulled its backing. A “riyal” disappointment. The President will link up again with his old pal Bryson DeChambeau, with whom he famously golfed during the 2024 presidential campaign.

Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis coined the phrase “laboratories of democracy” to describe how individual states could act as test cases for different policies and ideas. Judging by its recent track record, Virginia aspires to be the Wuhan Institute of Virology. In November, voters of the Commonwealth elected Governor Abigail Spanberger – a so-called “Blue Dog Democrat” who used to serve in the CIA and railed against socialism and calls to “defund the police” after the Democrats underperformed in the 2020 elections. Virginia Democrats also retained control of the state’s Senate and House.

So the royal visit was a resounding success. Charles III got whisky tariffs dropped, Trump got a shiny new bell, the “Special Relationship” (yuck) endures. If only the weather could have played ball for Tuesday morning’s White House greeting. The President branded the spattering rain and cloudy skies “a beautiful British day.” One member of Congress saw the forecast and decided to give the festivities a miss: Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, who opted to wait for the King to give his joint address indoors that afternoon. “I love King Chuck, but I am not going to ruin a suit for him,” Kennedy was overheard telling reporters. Quite. The state dinner Tuesday night produced a minor slip-up for the New York Times.

Oh don’t go giving him more ideas. President Trump is hosting King Charles III in Washington today – the first state visit by a King of England since 1939 – and now the Daily Mail is saying that the two are distant cousins. According to royal journalist Robert Hardman, Charles and Trump (through his mother Mary MacLeod) share a common ancestor in the Scottish aristocrat the 3rd Earl of Lennox (1490-1526), who furnished England with its line of Stuart kings. On learning this the President’s thoughts turned – where else – to real estate. “Wow, that’s nice,” he wrote on Truth Social. “I’ve always wanted to live in Buckingham Palace!!! I’ll talk to the King and Queen about this in a few minutes!!!

Well, that was odd. Cockburn spent Saturday evening at the Substack party, hosted at the Renwick Gallery next door to the White House. He was handed what he was assured was a non-alcoholic cocktail were handed out upon arrival. Great. Leading lights of the “alternative” (read: once mainstream) media were dotted throughout the room. Cockburn spotted Jim Acosta and Michael Tracey before their now infamous clash over Tracey’s haranguing of investigative Epstein journalist Julie K. Brown. Things appeared to be shaping up for a salient White House Correspondents’ Dinner, with President Trump in attendance across town at the Washington Hilton with 2,600 journalists. A gunman had other ideas.

Even by Washington’s sordid standards, this has been a particularly grubby week. Things kicked off with the departure of vacation queen and Josh sauvi B enthusiast Lori Chaves-DeRemer from the Department of Labor; they continued with a tell-all from the ex-girlfriend of former ICE deputy director Madison Sheahan. Don’t get Cockburn started on Congress (Juliegrace Brufke’s “Case Study in Congressional Smut” is worth a peruse.) There is no shortage of salacity, yet Cockburn can’t put his finger on why he’s so entranced by the stories from the Daily Mail and the New York Post regarding DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Counterterrorism Julia Varvaro and her much older ex-boyfriend, Robert Bianchi.

It’s knives-out season for Capitol Hill creeps. After Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzales were forced to resign their congressional seats following allegations of sexual impropriety, Congress has turned into a circular firing squad of claims and callouts. Members past and present, not to mention the media, are encouraging staffers to come forward and reveal who did what on that Vegas trip or congressional retreat. Cockburn, who has some track record with these stories, has one eye on his inbox as ever.The chatter has picked up over the past few days ahead of the House Ethics Committee today. A list of investigations of alleged sexual misconduct by members was published, detailing the outcomes.

Call Her Daddy, a podcast for young women hosted by Alex Cooper, has found itself caught in the crosshairs of Evie magazine. The “conservative Cosmo” posted on X yesterday, “Alex Cooper of Call Her Daddy is one of the worst women in America in terms of negative impact on women. Trash advice that if followed has a high chance of ruining your life.” Back when Call Her Daddy was owned by Barstool Sports, Cockburn’s then-colleague Amber Duke critiqued the podcast for being “incredibly explicit and smutty,” with the hosts doling out “terrible relationship advice to the young, impressionable women who inexplicably view them as role models.

Another high-profile departure at the Heritage Foundation: Mary Vought, who served as the think tank’s VP of strategic communications, bids adieu this week. “I’m grateful to @KevinRobertsTX for entrusting me with this position. It’s been an honor to work alongside some of the nation’s foremost policy minds while leading Heritage’s talented communications team – a group I am deeply proud of,” Vought tweeted. “I am returning full-time to my company, Leverage PR.” “Thank you, @MaryVought, for your great work,” Heritage Foundation president Kevin D. Roberts wrote in response. “It’s been a pleasure to work with you for nearly a decade – both @TPPF and @Heritage – so I look forward to collaborating with you in the future. Best wishes on the next step!