Free Melania
Plus: Charli XCX “cool” with Harris going Brat
Hi, I’m Hunter and welcome to Whig, my new newsletter about politics and pop culture. Subscribe for more:
Among the biggest revelations in former First Lady Melania Trump’s memoir is her stance on abortion policy. Like Betty Ford before her, Trump is more liberal on the issue than her husband. She wrote about that and another time she diverged with him in Melania, out today.
Welcome to today’s issue of Whig. — Hunter
Melania comes out in support of abortion rights:
“Restricting a woman’s right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body,” Trump writes in Melania. “I have carried this belief with me throughout my entire adult life,” she said. Her husband, former President Donald Trump, has known about her stance “since the day we met.”
Trump also diverged with her husband over his administration’s family separation policy, and she said she told him it “has to stop,” while elsewhere in the book she blamed her 2016 Republican National Convention speech snafu in which she ripped off lines from former First Lady Michelle Obama on her staff.
Of her husband’s false claims the 2020 election was stolen, she writes, “I am not the only person who questions the results,” and Trump said she wasn’t aware of the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 when it was occurring.
Trump’s former press secretary Stephanie Grisham doesn’t buy it. Grisham disputed Trump’s characterization of Jan. 6, telling The Hill, “Melania knew what was going on at all times or she asked questions. Her response to me showed me enough that I immediately resigned and left the life I’d been devoted to for years.”
Biden cancels foreign trip:
Citing Hurricane Milton, President Joe Biden said Tuesday he’s canceling a planned trip this week to Germany and Angola. “I just don’t think I can be out of the country at this time,” he said. Biden told people in the storm’s path, “evacuate now, now, now.” Biden was supposed to meet in Berlin with leaders including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
FLOTUS to campaign for Harris:
First Lady Jill Biden has a full schedule planned to campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris in swing states beginning Friday and into next week. Dr. Biden’s itinerary includes Yuma, Ariz., on Friday, Phoenix on Saturday, Northern Nevada on Sunday, Michigan and Wisconsin on Monday, and Philadelphia on Tuesday.
Trump’s company planning Vietnam hotel and golf course:
The Trump Organization has partnered with a Vietnamese real estate developer on a $1.5 billion hotel with two 54-hole golf courses, the developer said Tuesday.
Former first son Eric Trump, the Trump Organization’s executive vice president, said in a statement the country was a “dynamic market” that “has potential in the luxury hotel and entertainment industry.”
The Trump Organization was fined $1.6 million last year for tax fraud. Elsewhere in the Trump family, former first daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner are developing luxury resorts in Albania.
Trump worse than Nixon, Woodward says:
Journalist Bob Woodward, whose reporting on the break-in at Watergate with colleague Carl Bernstein for The Washington Post led to Richard Nixon’s resignation, concluded Trump is a worse president than Nixon because of his interactions with an authoritarian leader at war with a U.S. ally.
In his forthcoming book War, Woodward reports Trump has spoken with Russian leader Vladimir Putin as many as seven times since leaving office, and Trump reportedly sent Putin COVID-19 tests during a shortage in the early stage of the pandemic in 2020.
“Trump was the most reckless and impulsive president in American history and is demonstrating the very same character as a presidential candidate in 2024,” Woodward writes, according to the Post. Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung called Woodward’s claims “made-up stories.”
Harris media blitz:
Harris is looking to reach voters who don’t necessarily consume a lot of traditional news and political media with appearances like her 60 Minutes interview and a Call Her Daddy podcast episode.
On the pod, Harris told host Alex Cooper “a whole lot of women out here are not aspiring to be humble,” and Harris told 60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker she owns a Glock and has fired it at a gun range.
On Tuesday, Harris hit up other shows, including The View, where she said Maya Rudolph’s impression of her on Saturday Night Live was “so good” and Trump’s false claims about federal hurricane response are “political games for the sake of himself.” She also appeared on Howard Stern’s radio show and sat for an interview for The Late Show with host Stephen Colbert.
Walz goes on Fox:
Democratic vice presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Time Walz did his part for the campaign’s outreach to Republican voters on Sunday, appearing on Fox News Sunday. When discussing false claims he’s made, like that he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre, Walz told host Shannon Bream, “look, I have my dates wrong” and that he “will own up when I misspeak.”
DOJ launches review of 1921 Tulsa massacre:
More than 100 years after hundreds of people were killed in an attack on “Black Wall Street” in Tulsa, Okla., the Department of Justice is opening a federal review. The DOJ says a report on the massacre will be released by the end of the year.
“We hope that official reports, which reflect the Justice Department’s exhaustive efforts to seek justice, at bare minimum, prevent these victims and the tragic ordeals they endured from being lost to history,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in a press conference announcing the review.
⛈️ Hurricane Milton could be one of the “most destructive hurricanes on record.” The National Hurricane Center issued the warning Tuesday, saying damaging winds, life-threatening storm surge and heavy rainfall will extend well outside the forecast cone. [USA Today]
✨ A.I. can only do 5% of jobs, says MIT economist who fears crash. Good news for workers, true, but very bad for the companies sinking billions into the technology expecting it to drive a surge in productivity. [Bloomberg]
🌪️ Zillow adds climate risk data to home listings as threats rise. Each for-sale listing on Zillow now displays First Street risk scores for flood, fire, wind, air and heat. They also show those same risk percentages estimated 15 years and 30 years into the future. [CNBC]
🎄 Spirit Halloween will open 10 “Spirit Christmas” stores in the Northeast. Some will take over current Spirit Halloweens and others will open in new locations. [People]
Kelly Clarkson covers “My Heart Will Go On,” Celine Dion stans:
Kelly Clarkson’s performance of Céline Dion’s No. 1 hit “My Heart Will Go On” on her talk show last week has Dion in tears. “You were absolutely incredible,” Dion said in a social media video, returning the favor for Clarkson’s gushing review of her performance at the Olympics. “I loved it so much.” 🥹
Rihanna literally doesn’t need music anymore:
Hoping to boost flagging attendance at next year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, organizers reached out to Kendrick Lamar and Rihanna to see if either would headline, according to Bloomberg. Lamar, who’s performing at next year’s Super Bowl halftime show, passed on the offer, as did Riri, who reportedly “didn’t need the money or the exposure.”
Charli XCX “cool” with Harris going Brat:
“They picked it up and ran with it,” Charli XCX told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe about the Harris campaign embracing Brat memes. “That was cool. I think that was a young gay man on that campaign who said, ‘let’s go.’ I’m happy to be on the right side of history.”
The singer said elsewhere in the interview the album’s all-text green art “was to save money.” Not appearing on the cover “feels like it very much embodies the word ‘brat’ to kind of not be there because that is sort of less of the norm, I suppose, for female artists,” she said.
“I knew that a lot of people would be sort of frustrated or disappointed by it,” she said. “And I think for me it’s like I would rather have those conversations, which actually in some cases became quite explosive, than a picture where people are like, ‘She looks good.’”
Springsteen endorses Harris:
In a social media video posted last week, Bruce Springsteen endorsed Harris for president while sitting in a diner “with full knowledge that my opinion is no more or less important than those of any of my fellow citizens.”
“We are shortly coming up on one of the most consequential elections in our nation’s history,” Springsteen said. “Donald Trump is the most dangerous candidate for president in my lifetime. His disdain for the sanctity of our Constitution, the sanctity of democracy, the sanctity of rule of law, and of the peaceful transfer of power should disqualify him for the office of president ever again.”
Walz gave his thanks on Springsteen’s post, writing, “as a lifelong fan, I couldn’t be more honored to have your support.”
Billie Eilish on why she chooses to speak on politics:
In her November cover story for Vogue shot by Mikael Jansson, Billie Eilish said “this is the most important election of our time, maybe,” and, “I have this platform and I’m going to use it.”
When asked what issues are important to her, Eilish said, “Really big fan of human rights. Really big fan of women’s rights and women’s reproductive rights and social justice and gun laws.”
“A lot of my fans are going to be able to vote for the first time. So I’m like, ‘Do you like freedom?’”
Bravo’s doing a show about the wives and girlfriends of Kansas City Chiefs players:
And no, Taylor Swift and Brittany Mahomes will not be part of it, People reports. The show is reportedly in development.
Celeb moms speak out on raising their famous kids:
Tina Knowles (the mother of Beyoncé and Solange), Mandy Teefey (the mother of Selena Gomez), Maggie Baird (the mother of Eilish and Finneas) and Donna Kelce (the mother of Travis and Jason) met for a star-studded mom roundtable for Glamour’s Women of the Year to talk about their kids.
It’s a fun watch. Knowles said she’s most proud of her daughters “when they do something that is artful that they love but it also has a good repercussion on the world,” like teaching or giving back.
Dolly Parton donates $1 million to hurricane relief:
Dolly Parton said Friday that she donated $1 million to Mountain Ways Foundation to help with Hurricane Helene relief efforts, and Parton’s Dollywood Foundation and businesses matched with another $1 million in donations. Parton announced the donations during remarks at a Walmart in Newport, Tenn., and for her, it’s personal.
“These are my mountains, these are my valleys,” she said. “These are my people and this is my home.”
Thanks for reading! See you next time. ⭐