Cockburn

Cockburn

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

Tuesday

Cockburn

Donald Trump thinks Taylor Swift is ‘unusually beautiful’ but ‘probably doesn’t like Trump’

Cockburn already pre-ordered Ramin Setoodeh’s book, set to be released on June 18. Titled Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass, the book includes some juicy quotations from Donald Trump — specifically his thoughts on Taylor Swift. “I think she’s beautiful — very beautiful! I find her very beautiful,” Trump said. “I think she’s liberal. She probably doesn’t like Trump. I hear she’s very talented. I think she’s very beautiful, actually — unusually beautiful!” This wasn’t the first time the former president has talked about the superstar singer.

donald trump taylor swift
bob menendez
Cockburn

Bob Menendez, the Tony Soprano of the Senate?

Leaving the Democratic Party is becoming something of a trend in the Senate. Just days after Joe Manchin filed as an Independent, New Jersey senator Bob Menendez followed his lead last week. Cockburn, as well as Democratic sources, suspects the latter’s decision has less to do with ideological disillusionment and more to do with a shakedown worthy of Tony Soprano. Menendez, along with his wife Nadine Arslanian and three New Jersey businessmen, was indicted last September on bribery charges. The years-long scheme allegedly benefited the Egyptian government in addition to lining the senator’s pockets. Cockburn uses the idiom literally here — almost half a million dollars was found stuffed in jackets at Menendez’s home.

Friday

Cockburn

Inside the Briahna Joy Gray firing at Rising

Briahna Joy Gray, the former Bernie Sanders deputy press secretary and fierce defender of Palestine, has been ejected from the Hill’s YouTube show Rising. Gray, the regular co-host with Reason’s Robby Soave, tweeted out an unsigned termination letter from parent company Nexstar, in which her first name had been misspelled twice. Sources confirm that the decision was made by the parent company and that Hill management had no say.

baldwins
Cockburn

The Baldwins reality show announced ahead of manslaughter trial

Alec Baldwin is a family man through and through. The poster for Baldwin’s eponymous new TLC show — featuring the actor surrounded by his wife and gaggle of kids — is proof. The heartwarming scene almost made Cockburn forget that Baldwin accidentally shot and killed a crew member for the film Rust back in 2021.   On Tuesday, Baldwin and his faux-Spanish wife Hilaria announced their upcoming show via Instagram, inviting viewers into their home to see the “ups and downs, the good, the bad, the wild and the crazy.” The fifty-second promo features the couple's seven kids, all under ten, screaming in their sterile, white New York City apartment — music to Cockburn’s ears.  https://twitter.

Thursday

Cockburn

‘God hates pride,’ from the Colorado GOP to you

“The month of June has arrived and, once again, the godless groomers in our society want to attack what is decent, holy, and righteous so they can ultimately harm our children.” After starting his Monday morning with a nice cup of tea, Cockburn was surprised to open his email and find this attack on the alphabet community from Dave Williams, chairman of Colorado Republicans. The email, which also had last year’s email pasted below, was short and aggressive: “Thank you, and as we said last year, together, we can protect our children and future... but only if you get involved and defend the most vulnerable in our society from these woke creeps.” A clip of Pastor Mark Driscoll's sermon was linked in the email, in which he engages in a cute object lesson.

pride cockburn colorado gop

Wednesday

Cockburn

Joe Biden’s TIME interview: the good the bad and the ugly

President Joe Biden sat down for an interview with TIME magazine in the White House last week. The questions centered around foreign affairs, with interviewers Massimo Calabresi and Sam Jacobs asking about D-Day, Ukraine, Israel and Hamas, nuclear power, China, inflation, tariffs and immigration. Back in March Americans generally agreed that the economy and foreign affairs were weak points in Biden’s administration. The TIME interview is unlikely to change anyone’s mind. Cockburn identified a few overarching themes: Biden accused TIME of misreporting and leaving his accomplishments unreported. The first accusation: “The Russian military has been decimated. You don’t write about that. It’s been freaking decimated.” Another theme: senility.

joe biden time magazine

Tuesday

Cockburn

Can anti-Trump billboards from Republicans sway voters?

Cockburn was driving down I-95 this weekend when he was suddenly accosted by Donna R., an elderly woman with a Karen-cut and cat-eyed glasses. Donna R. is a Republican, and she had a strong message for Cockburn: “I am a former Trump voter. I won’t vote for a convicted felon.”  Donna R. is just one of several old, white voters starring in billboards paid for by Republican Voters Against Trump, or RVAT, a PAC that was launched in 2020 to ensure Donald Trump would “never hold office again.” But Cockburn can’t help but think the billboard campaign could hurt the cause more than helping.

billboards

Monday

Cockburn

What shoplifters and DC grocers tell us about the state of elite America

Grocery store Harris Teeter’s DC locations started implementing a receipt check at the door. Giant Foods recently banned duffel bags or those measuring more than 14 x 14 x 6 inches, which disqualifies most backpacks, in their stores. And Safeway instituted a glass barrier at self-checkout, requiring customers to scan their receipt before they can leave. Shoplifting has become a major issue across the country. Retailers lost almost $100 billion to theft in 2021. These numbers are more than just a slip-a-candy-bar-into-your-pocket kind of theft. Most grocery stores attribute their loss to organized shoplifting, or “boosting.” People will steal goods and then sell them for cheaper.

shoplifting

Friday

Cockburn

The fallout from the astonishing Trump verdict

The morning after the night before The week in Washington was overshadowed somewhat by the antics up the Acela corridor in New York, where a Manhattan jury found Donald Trump guilty of thirty-four counts of falsifying business records. For Trump haters, Thursday’s decision adds to a long list of “firsts”: he’s the first president to be impeached twice, the first president to be found liable for sexual abuse... and now, the first president to be convicted of a felony. But as with his previous court fights — over E. Jean Carroll’s accusations of sexual impropriety against him and Letitia James’s real-estate fraud case — it’s not yet clear how the guilty verdict will harm him in the polls as he attempts to be reelected as president.

Thursday

Cockburn

Did Donald Trump say the N-word?

Just like clockwork, the allegations of racism are rolling in days after Donald Trump’s historic rally in the South Bronx. The latest hit piece in Slate, courtesy of ex-Apprentice producer Bill Pruitt, has declared that Trump bandied about the n-word with reckless abandon while shooting the hit TV show.  Pruitt, who worked as a producer on the first two seasons of The Apprentice, alleged that Trump casually dropped the slur and suggested that America wasn’t ready for a Black contestant to win the show back in 2004. Pruitt says the moment “still haunts” him to this day.  The scene was set in The Apprentice’s dim boardroom as the production team deliberated who would win the season finale — Kwame Jackson, a Black stockbroker, or Bill Rancic, a Chicago entrepreneur.

donald trump n-word

Tuesday

Cockburn

Vivek Ramaswamy thinks he can save BuzzFeed with these three weird tricks

Before taking a slight hit to his wealth last year, Vivek Ramaswamy was one of America’s twenty youngest billionaires. His latest venture — a $3 million investment to save BuzzFeed — has Cockburn questioning how he’s made it this far in business.  Last Thursday, news broke that Ramaswamy has acquired a 7.7 percent stake in the ailing digital media company, briefly sending its stocks soaring over 80 percent. The former presidential candidate had apparently been snatching up shares since March, but BuzzFeed, like everyone else, only found out last week. Since then, Ramaswamy has increased his stake to 8.37 percent, becoming the company’s second largest Class-A shareholder.

vivek ramaswamy buzzfeed

Friday

Cockburn

Tulsi out of the Trump VP running?

Cockburn snagged an invite to Tulsi Gabbard’s book party in DC on Thursday night, hosted by Spectator editor-at-large Ben Domenech and his wife Meghan McCain. Some Fox News heavy hitters such as Harris Faulkner and Howie Kurtz were there, as well as Mark Halperin, Robby Soave, Mary Margaret Olohan, Ryan Girdusky, Amber and Jonathan Duke, Bethany Mandel, Juliegrace Brufke, Reagan Reese, Vanessa Santos and others. Word on the street was that one day prior, Tulsi was informed by President Donald Trump that she would not be chosen as his vice president.

memes meme memelord
Cockburn

The Biden campaign is trying to hire a full-time memelord

In a desperate attempt to get the attention of young voters, the Biden for President campaign is looking to hire a full-time manager of meme pages for up to $85,000 a year. Job requirements include “deep expertise of the digital media landscape” and the capability to “identify internet trends and/or opportunities for content.” In other words: be good at memes. Though Cockburn wonders whether the move is more innovative or absurd. The political meme game between Biden and Trump up to this point has been both ironic and noteworthy. "Let’s Go Brandon" was countered with "Dark Brandon" — which was also a response to the "dark Trump" meme.

Thursday

Cockburn

Justice Alito stirs the pot

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. This old adage has taken on a new meaning for the left as Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is developing a bit of a habit for displaying allegedly "far-right" flags. In under a week, the New York Times has unearthed images of dissident flags waving proudly at the justice’s house on two separate occasions, leaving Democrats clamoring about judicial ethics.   The smoking gun in the controversy is an “Appeal to Heaven” flag that was seen flying at Alito’s summer home on Long Beach Island in New Jersey last summer. The flag, which depicts a pine tree, was first used during the American Revolution but has since become associated with the “Stop the Steal” movement after being brandished by January 6 protesters.

samuel alito

Wednesday

Cockburn

Trump’s Reich stuff

Former president Donald Trump’s social media account shared a video Monday that sparked a Blitzkrieg among his harshest critics. The video featured hypothetical news headlines about Trump winning the November election, overlaid on newspapers with smaller, less visible headlines. One of those other headlines touted a “unified reich,” which was too perfect for some Trump haters to resist. Trump shared a Nazi-esque headline on his own social media account? Pounce and seize, friends! “This man is a stain, a Nazi, a pure a simple garbage of a human being. And ANYONE who supports him now will be ASHAMED to ever admit they did someday,” former congressman Adam Kinzinger wrote. The president responded to the incident as well.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gives two thumbs up (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Tuesday

Cockburn

Place your bets: what drugs is Biden on?

Who has a better chance of passing a drug test, Joe Biden or Hunter? At this point, Cockburn thinks it's probably a coin toss. What he’d rather know is what the president is doped up on in his more energetic moments. Thanks to an online betting platform, voters can now gamble on which drug they think Biden is using.   “BetOnline.ag, which infamously set odds on who the White House cocaine belonged to, has created a wagering market for which drug Biden will test positive for,” Josh Barton, a BetOnline rep, told Cockburn. So far, the odds favor amphetamine followed by methamphetamine. Bettors think Biden is poppin' more Adderall than a college student during finals week.

drugs joe biden

Friday

Cockburn

Taylor and Elon, sitting in a tree?

Elon Musk has often clashed with members of the tech press — irritated by their “targeting” of him over minor matters such as how he runs his businesses and who he fires. He has a longstanding feud with contentious Washington Post tech columnist Taylor Lorenz — but is that all for show? That’s the astonishing claim of self-described “investigative journalist” Nicole Slaski, @coolndizabled on TikTok. In a video this week, Slaski talked about how she’d been speaking to a Thiel Fellow, John H. Meyer, who alleges he has been “falsely” imprisoned for arson — and says that Meyer had told her that Lorenz and Musk were in fact romantically involved with each other.  https://www.tiktok.

Thursday

Cockburn

Will Stormy Daniels flee the country?

Stormy Daniels is joining the long list of celebrities who have threatened to flee America because of Donald Trump. Given that Cher, Barbra Streisand, Snoop Dogg and every other Trump-hating celebrity is still stateside, Cockburn is doubtful Daniels will keep her word.  In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, Barrett Blade, Daniels’s porn star husband, revealed that the couple will likely leave the United States if Trump is acquitted in his hush money trial. "I know that we would like to get on with our lives,” Blade said. “I know that she wants to move past this.”  Blade added his wife’s future will be uncertain whether or not she wins the trial. “Either way, I don't think it gets better for her. I think if it's not guilty, we got to decide what to do.

barrett blade stormy daniels

Wednesday

Cockburn

Joe Biden is raring to debate

What began on Wednesday morning as a cringy campaign video has resulted in an official debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Both candidates have agreed to appear in a June 27 debate hosted by CNN and a second on September 10 hosted by ABC. The announcements came after Biden said on Wednesday that he will not participate in debates hosted by the Commission on Presidential Debates and instead proposed face-offs with Trump in June and September moderated by news organizations. Hours later, Biden accepted an offer from CNN to host the first debate. “Donald Trump lost two debates to me in 2020. Since then, he hasn’t shown up for a debate. Now he’s acting like he wants to debate me again,” Biden bragged in a video posted to X.

joe biden debate

Tuesday

Cockburn

Johann Hari’s career-long trouble with the truth

British fabulist Johann Hari is at it again. After revealing he used Ozempic to lose forty pounds in his tell-all book, the alleged journalist still hasn’t shed his penchant for telling porkies. While the miracle drug made him “listless,” “strangely muted” and “emotionally dulled,” it hasn’t killed his energy for dreaming up facts.  In his latest book, Magic Pill: The Extraordinary Benefits and Disturbing Risks of the New Weight-Loss Drugs, Hari alleged that food critic Jay Rayner had lost pleasure in eating at even the finest Parisian establishments after taking Ozempic. The catch: Rayner has never used Ozempic or any other weight-loss drug.

johann hari