Cockburn

Cockburn

Mischief, mayhem and Washington gossip. Send tips and party invites to cockburn@thespectator.com.

Trump’s White House helipad do-over

From our US edition

Get to the chopper... but not yet. More construction is underway at the White House, as President Trump has directed contractors to redo their work on the new helipad, a project that started at the beginning of July. Photos taken show crews taking apart their hard work. According to the Washington Post, Trump is "frustrated with its appearance”, and is questioning its placement on the sloped lawn of the White House. Two anonymous sources say he’s debating whether “the slope of the White House lawn needs to be changed.” You cannot question an artist's process. Construction began on the helipad even before it was announced publicly, with the goal of completing the project before President Xi Jinping visits in late September.

helipad

Troy Jackson’s family values

From our US edition

Troy Jackson, Maine’s new working-class Democratic candidate for Senate – following Graham Platner’s demise – has PR problems. Cockburn thinks it’s a case of #MeToo going a little too far. While Platner was on Kik posing in a towel and supposedly sexually assaulting his ex-girlfriends, Jackson was doing the honorable thing – pairing off with his cousin. The level of concern we are seeing over this simple fact is a case of parasocial hysteria. Who cares if Troy is dating, and has two children with, his second cousin? So did FDR. Well, that was his fifth cousin, but still. Though Jackson and his cousin Lana never wed, cousin marriage isn’t even illegal in Maine and for good reason. Troy Jackson is from a town of 250 people. He’s a logger.

troy jackson

Can Trump improve the ‘terrible’ Dulles Airport?

From our US edition

Air Force One may not use commercial airports, but Donald Trump has nonetheless taken the initiative to plan a major overhaul of Dulles International Airport, the government-owned DC area international airport. Alongside Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, Trump revealed the plans of the $22.5 billion renovation in the Oval Office this afternoon. The President emphasized the "bipartisan" nature of this project, which is included alongside the administration’s other efforts to “Make Washington DC Safe and Beautiful Again.” “Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, you don’t want to go and be subjected to this airport. Because this airport – it’s a terrible place to be,” Trump said.

dulles

Drama, debt and dysfunction at the DNC

From our US edition

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin stepped into his role in early 2025. He said last year it’s the “political equivalent of being a fire hydrant. You get pissed on by everyone.” That might be partially his own fault. The committee, under his leadership, is $2 million in debt. Their physical headquarters have been put up for collateral in a last-ditch attempt to obtain a line of credit. And Martin threw his phone at a junior aide in a fit of frustration at the beginning of the month, resulting in an HR investigation. Tensions heightened at the DNC in May, when the long-awaited autopsy of the 2024 election loss was released – a typo-filled report with no solid thesis and notable absences of relevant details.

dnc

David Lammy’s wife used Obama library opening to hawk her paintings

From our US edition

The House of Medici patronized Michelangelo, Botticelli and da Vinci. The House of Obama patronized Nicola Green: the artist wife of David Lammy, who served as deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom until Monday. From August 2008 to January 2009, Green was offered, according to her website, “unprecedented artistic access to President Obama’s monumental campaign,” the fruit of which was In Seven Days…, a portfolio of seven abstract paintings of the new president, released in 2010. Cockburn’s favorite is “Day Six, Sacrifice/Embrace,” which shows the head and hands of the 44th president, splayed on a sky-blue field.

lammy

Mike Lindell’s long-shot bid for Minnesota governor

From our US edition

“For the best night’s sleep in the whole wide world, visit mypillow.com” is a jingle that punctuates every hour of Fox News viewing. Now “MyPillow guy” Mike Lindell is changing his tune: for the best governor of Minnesota in the whole wide world, vote Mike Lindell 2026. Lindell is a Trump ally, businessman and election conspiracy theorist. He’s known for his rags-to-riches origin story, rising from a crack cocaine addiction to achieving sobriety and turning to religion. He founded My Pillow in Minnesota in 2004. For readers unfamiliar with Lindell’s political history: before his run for governor, Lindell was sued by a voting machine company, then known as Dominion Voting Systems,  for defamation pertaining to false conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.

mike lindell

Energy investor that bailed on Britain IPOs for $230 million

From our US edition

Britain is losing out as a result of its changeable energy policy. That’s the main takeaway from Samos Energy’s recent closing of a $230 million initial public offering. On July 13, Samos Energy Acquisition Corporation announced the conclusion of its IPO of 23 million units, sold at $10 each to raise a total of $230 million. This number included an extra 3 million units that were bought due to high demand. The IPO comes after the company shifted its attention from the UK to Africa and South America, when co-founder Jacques Tohme called out the problems on the North Sea that influenced his decision. “The UK Treasury has become very unstable and lacks engagement with the industry,” Tohme said in 2023.

north sea samos

Norm Eisen sticks his oar in

From our US edition

The effort to prosecute former Olympic canoeist David Hearn for damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has hit a snag. Judge Todd E. Edelman noted that the government is “operating at its own peril” if it alters the Reflecting Pool before the defense attorneys’ expert has the opportunity to sample the lining. Hearn’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the case on Thursday, arguing that the government had not preserved the section of pool liner that Hearn stands accused of slashing. “Despite the importance of the pool liner to the case, in the brief period since June 19, 2026, the same government that presented and returned the indictment against Mr.

norm eisen

Please stop filming yourself urinating in JFK’s old apartment building

From our US edition

Dorchester House is a storied Art Deco apartment block in Northwest DC, noted for being John F. Kennedy’s first address in the capital. Fast forward a few decades and the building appears to offer far less glamor: a number of residents have complained about repeatedly finding urine and feces in the building’s stairwells. One resident told Cockburn he encountered excreta in the stairwell “daily during the winter.” The waste is cleaned up “usually within a few hours after I contact the front desk,” says the resident, “but in rare cases it can remain for days. There is still some dried feces in one of the stairwells that has never been cleaned up.” “I have to use the flashlight on my phone to avoid stepping in it,” he added.

building

Who can blame the White House teleprompter operator, America’s savviest gambler?

From our US edition

Taking the luck out of betting might lessen the thrill, but it certainly ups the profit. White House teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez allegedly made more than $100,000 by using inside knowledge of the President’s speeches to place bets on prediction market Kalshi, according to ABC News. Perez, who has operated Trump’s teleprompter since 2016, is believed to have placed bets on more than a dozen speeches – including February's State of the Union address. At times, he would even alter the bets mid-speech if he saw that the President was skipping a section on the teleprompter. Cockburn can't help but respect the hustle. His account’s winning streak was tracked and reported to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which is now initiating a full investigation.

gabriel perez teleprompter

Who wants to read Joe Biden’s presidential memoir?

From our US edition

Joe Biden confirmed the release of his next memoir today, titled Promise Me, America, which will detail his time as president. The book is out November 17, two weeks after the midterms, and will offer the “complete story,” according to the promotional video. Promise me, America: that’s not what his autopen inscribed. “It’s about the challenges we faced as a nation,” Biden said in the video. “It’s about the decisions I made and why I made them.”  Biden’s book will address his handling of Covid-19, January 6, the retreat from Afghanistan, Ukraine and his work with NATO. It will also detail his decision to run for reelection and subsequent last-minute withdrawal.

joe biden

Does Congress need more goths?

From our US edition

“It could be really cool if Congress was filled with goth people,” Kelley Dennison, the 27-year-old Republican nominee for Colorado’s 2nd congressional district, told the Daily Caller. The Gen Z massage therapist is campaigning on an unexpected aesthetic, selling merchandise that tout her as “America’s Goth Baddie.” But her campaign is predicated on more than her dark eyeliner and tattoos. Dennison is “Colorado first,” running on traditional conservative and populist policies on affordability, environmental conservation and family. Though Dennison was raised in a Democratic household, she has come to believe that party’s principles “don’t pay my bills.” “Colorado won’t be gamed for political currency or an agenda.

Hunter Biden, Substackistador

From our US edition

Hunter Biden has worn many hats in his 56 years on Earth. Scion, serviceman (briefly), attorney, businessman, crack addict, painter and, lately, influencer. The former first son burnished his online credentials by joining Substack this week – and Cockburn welcomes his comrade. Hunter’s first meaningful post on “Where’s Hunter,” his blog on the platform, is called “It’s Dad.” The piece reads like something any other wealthy aspiring artist might shuffle up to read at an open-mic night. The sentences are short, the metaphors heavy. He muses – there is no other word for it – on the voicemail his father Joe left him and how it was heard around the world after the contents of his infamous laptop were published: The late hour. The quiet room.

‘Is Andrew free already?’

From our US edition

The 2018 Florida governor’s race will go down as one of the great sliding-doors moments in American politics. Ron DeSantis, after “begging” for Donald Trump’s endorsement, eked out a 0.4 percent win over the Democratic mayor of Tallahassee, Andrew Gillum. In the years since, DeSantis became an anti-lockdown Covid champion, a very expensive failed presidential candidate and is now hotly tipped to fill a Trump cabinet vacancy once he leaves the governor’s mansion in November. Gillum has had a… different trajectory. Police officers found him in a hotel room with a male escort, suffering from a suspected crystal meth overdose in 2020. The married father-of-three checked himself into rehab and came out as bisexual later that year.

Should Paul Pelosi be on the road?

From our US edition

When President Trump refers to Nancy Pelosi as “Nervous Nancy,” you might assume he’s talking about her policies or leadership style. But maybe she’s just worried about her husband’s driving. Paul Pelosi was driving in Napa County Friday when he hit a parked car and briefly stopped before leaving the scene of the crash. The damage has been described as “major.” Deputies later found Pelosi’s convertible nearby with damage consistent with the hit. According to a statement released by the Napa County Sheriff’s Office, Pelosi told deputies he was aware he had hit something but “he did not know what he had hit, so he kept driving.” While reports cited a lack of alcohol in his system, he still faces possible misdemeanor charges of a hit-and-run.

paul pelosi

Fetterman fights Shapiro over crayons

From our US edition

Who will dare represent Pennsylvania at the Freedom 250 Great American State Fair? The commonwealth’s Governor Josh Shapiro announced last week that the state would not be represented at the fair because no businesses were interested in sponsoring the booth. Senators John Fetterman and Dave McCormick countered two days later that they had assembled a coalition of Pennsylvania companies, including crayon manufacturer Crayola, willing to step in. “Pennsylvania is where America’s story began, and there was no way we were going to let the Commonwealth go unrepresented,” McCormick explained. “Celebrating America’s 250th birthday and Pennsylvania’s special role in our country is important and bipartisan,” said Fetterman.

Housing with Hamadeh

From our US edition

Abraham Hamadeh, a Republican congressman from Arizona, has reportedly been living with one of his male staffers, according to Juliegrace Brufke’s Sources Say News. The staffer, Will Hannen, now runs Hamadeh’s campaign. In recent weeks, Hamadeh’s team posted glamour shots of his office on Instagram where staffers sit and stand in staggered formation, like the cast of The West Wing, if they were House Republicans. At least one “looksmaxxing”-inspired video was posted featuring Hamadeh and his team titled: “Professional looksmaxxing office!” On the subject of Hannen being a live-in staffer, Hamadeh spokeswoman Lori Hunnicutt “denied the relationship was romantic, telling Sources Say News: ‘The Congressman and Mr.

abraham hamadeh

Trump’s quest to make DC look nice is noble

From our US edition

As far as the controversy over the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool goes, Donald Trump is reverting to type: like any other Florida man with a pool, he won’t admit that maintaining one is complicated and blames external factors when things go wrong. The President ordered that a new blue coating be applied to the pool’s base, which has already started flaking. In a testy exchange with CBS’s Ed O’Keefe yesterday, Trump said that the contractors who installed the new surface were not to blame. “We had vandalism,” he said. “Probably a box cutter or a knife of some kind.” “Who would think that somebody would go into a pool and take a knife and start cutting it?” he wondered aloud. Quite.

dc

J.D. Vance versus The View

From our US edition

Vice President J.D. Vance went on The View Tuesday morning in the vain hope of talking about his new faith-focused book, Communion. Instead, he found himself locked in a debate with a group of ladies who subjected the VP to a show trial. Vance was questioned on topics including immigration and deportation, President Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and the release of the files. The most eye-catching exchange was with the show’s moderator, Whoopi Goldberg, concerning race. “What did black people do to this administration that has allowed it to really stigmatize folks of color?” she asked. “And you know how hard it is, you have folks of color in your family.

j.d. vance view

When is a Post Opinion not a Post Opinion?

From our US edition

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.