Culture

Former president Donald Trump is recording an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience with host Joe Rogan on Friday, just over a week out from Election Day on November 5. There was speculation for weeks that Trump might appear on the wildly popular podcast, with Rogan polling viewers as to whether he should interview the president for the first time in the show’s history. Rogan consistently has the most viewed podcast in America with millions of views per episode and is known for his long and wide-ranging discussions with his guests. His audience is also known to skew male-heavy and is made up of many independent and apolitical voters.

Fort Lauderdale, Florida I’ve lived in seven US states and five countries, but when I arrived in St. Petersburg, Florida in 2019 I knew it was my last stop. There is no such thing as paradise on earth, but for me, St. Pete is as close as it comes. But every year during hurricane season, we’re on pins and needles hoping the big one won’t come and wipe us off the map. Our homeowner’s and flood insurance rates are insane, but I still don’t know anyone who feels like their policies are comprehensive enough to sleep easy when the Weather Channel vans prowl our streets like hungry hyenas looking for viral footage during hurricane season.

The official death toll from Hurricane Helene rose yesterday to 227 across six states, with about half of the victims being in North Carolina. But sources on the ground in North Carolina tell The Spectator that the true scope of the death and devastation wrought by the storm is not even close to being understood. In addition, the rescue and recovery efforts have been largely undertaken by private citizens, as the state and federal responses have been hamstrung by incompetent public officials.   “It’s so much worse than they’re saying,” said one individual who was in Asheville when Helene hit. “I think there’s a massive cover-up.

The migrant takeover of Springfield, Ohio, has become a major cultural moment, particularly thanks to former president Donald Trump declaring on the debate stage that they [the migrants] are “eating the dogs.” A musical remix of his declarations went viral — and I’ve heard completely non-political people jokingly mimic Trump’s words in public. Setting aside the debate over whether or not there is evidence Haitians are stealing and eating people’s pets, or ducks and geese from the local park, the residents of Springfield have legitimate concerns over mass migration. Serious problems arise when approximately 20,000 people from a vastly different culture move to one place and don’t make a real effort to assimilate.

The Kamala Harris campaign held a press call on Tuesday morning in which they claimed Republicans and former president Donald Trump are “attacking” access to in vitro fertilization. An email sent out advertising the call said, “Donald Trump’s own platform — linked on his campaign website — could effectively ban IVF and abortion in states nationwide.” I found this to be surprising because I read Trump’s platform — linked on his campaign website — when it became official the week of the Republican National Convention. Of course, Trump has also publicly said that he supports IVF and wants to require insurance companies to cover the treatment. I double checked Trump’s platform just in case, and confirmed my suspicions.

It’s that time of the 2024 election... the Democrats are rolling out the celebrity endorsements. Oprah Winfrey made a surprise appearance at the Democratic National Convention, and the DNC also featured four “celebrity” hosts: Kerry Washington, Tony Goldwyn, Mindy Kaling and Ana Navarro. This week after the presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump, Harris got her white whale: pop superstar Taylor Swift. Back in January, reports said the Biden campaign was hoping for her endorsement the most.  Swift released her endorsement on her Instagram account next to a picture from her TIME Person of the Year cover holding her cat.

Now we got bad blood? Billion-dollar pop star Taylor Swift almost had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Cockburn pulled out his binoculars at the Chiefs game Thursday and did not see Britanny Mahomes anywhere near Swift, as she usually is. Both Taylor and Mahomes appeared to be in entirely different suites. Why the distance? From what Cockburn can tell, it might have something to do with the fact that Mahomes has associated herself with the MAGA world. For the uninitiated, Taylor Swift is dating Travis Kelce, tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs. Brittany Mahomes is the wife of Patrick Mahomes, quarterback for the Chiefs. Last season, Swift and Mahomes were almost always seen together in the same suite, cheering on their significant others.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his presidential campaign in swing states on Friday and officially endorsed former president Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election. Electorally, this was a potentially pivotal moment: RFK was pulling about 5 percent of the total electorate, according to the RealClear average, and an even higher percentage in some swing states. If Kennedy was right when he told Dr. Phil that 57 percent of his voters would go to Trump if he left the race, then his exit and endorsement could prove a significant boost to Trump. Since RFK Jr. and another former Democrat, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, endorsed Trump, both have been added to the former president’s transition team. Culturally, RFK Jr.

Former president Donald Trump and Tesla founder and X CEO Elon Musk had a wide-ranging conversation in a record-breaking X Space on Monday night. The pair spoke for about two hours with millions of listeners tuning in; the Space received hundreds of thousands of comments. The opportunity to hear from an unscripted presidential candidate for one of the two major political parties on pretty much every major issue facing our country is a gift to journalists. The amount of access Trump gives to the press in general — even adversarial reporters — is also a gift. Ideas directly from the horse’s mouth; no anonymous sources or investigate legwork required.  But the establishment and corporate media don’t view Trump’s words this way.

One of the great comedic actors of our time, Vince Vaughn, appeared on the most recent episode of Hot Ones, an interview program in which celebrities answer questions about their lives and careers while eating progressively spicier wings. I highly recommend watching the full episode because Vaughn is incredibly charming, funny and way more intelligent than he gets credit for. One question really caught my attention. The host, Sean Evans, asked Vaughn, “There’s been endless ink spilled about Hollywood no longer making the R-rated, wide-release theatrical comedies that were such a tower of strength in your career. How have you seen Hollywood’s interest in making those kinds of films change over the course of your career and what do you think are the forces at play?

I am typically a huge Olympics fan because I am very big into national pride and love to shamelessly root for the USA. Gymnastics, swimming, volleyball, soccer, or even canoeing, judo and fencing — don’t care, will watch. Unfortunately, this year’s Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France were immediately marred by the obvious mockery of the Christian faith during the opening ceremony. There was a drag show version of Leonardo Da Vinci’s depiction of Jesus Christ’s Last Supper with his apostles prior to his crucifixion (plus, separately, a faceless rider on a pale horse and a queer ménage à trois).

Hello everyone and welcome back to Culture Shock! We took a couple weeks of off because I went on vacation and then was in Milwaukee covering the Republican National Convention.  We’re going to kick off this edition by hopefully settling the years-long debate as to whether Donald Trump is as good at golf as he claims. Trump said earlier this year that he won both the Club Championship and the Senior Club Championship at his course in West Palm Beach, and last year said he won the Club Championship at his course in Bedminster by firing off a 67, which is five strokes under par. However, sportswriter Rick Reilly claims Trump routinely cheats at golf, which has given some haters the impression that Trump isn’t actually any good.

Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès made more than 500 films in his career, but 1896 was a banner year for the Frenchman. He captivated audiences with Playing Cards, his sixty-seven-second exploration of three cigar-puffing men as they are waited on by two young ladies. One man reads the paper and pours the wine as the other two play cards. It was the first reboot in film history. One year earlier, Louis Lumière released Card Game, a forty-three-second exploration of three men with cigars drinking wine and playing cards as they are waited on by a man. Méliès rightly recognized the original’s lack of representation, not to mention the absence of a news- paper.

Yeezy porn may have been put on ice, but Kanye West is still intent on bringing debauchery to the world. West’s wife Bianca Censori, whom the rapper often styles in, well, nothing, was spotted in one of her most scandalous outfits yet, evoking outrage for the couple’s X-rated stunts.   On Monday, the Australian architect and model was on her way to the Melrose Tanning Company in Los Angeles in nothing but underwear and a completely see-through top. With the amount of sun Censori must get from her frequent displays of public nudity, Cockburn is surprised she has to go to a tanning salon at all. Censori did, however, have the decency to at least cover her hair with a hat.

Social media last week was ablaze with memes about “Hawk Tuah” girl, the nickname given to a young woman in a viral man on the street video who got awfully candid about oral sex. Hawk Tuah girl, whose real name is Hailey Welch, was asked, “What’s one move in bed that makes a man go crazy every time?” She replied, “You gotta give him that ‘hawk tuah’ and spit on that thang, ya get me?” The clip has been viewed millions of times and Welch has since appeared onstage with country singer Zach Bryan for his “Revival” encore, appeared on influencer Brianna Chickenfry’s podcast and is selling merch and planning to start her own podcast. The video admittedly made me laugh, mostly because of how unexpected her answer was and how confidently she delivered it.