Inside Trump’s Oval Office makeover
Plus: There’s going to be a new Miley Cyrus album
The Oval Office has gotten a makeover, and all I have to say is when someone takes the Declaration of Independence out of the vault and exposes it to damaging light before comparing the historic document to their stunt to rename the Gulf of Mexico, believe them. Meanwhile, Washington is all atwitter with talk of the most embarrassing group chat this town has ever seen.
Welcome to this week’s issue of Whig. Read to the end to find out who did their own stunts in one of the best boyband music videos of all time. — Hunter
The Signal chat heard ‘round the world:
Before U.S. airstrikes ordered by President Donald Trump hit Yemen over the weekend, Trump administration officials including Vice President J.D. Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke about them in a group chat on the messaging app Signal without realizing Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was on the chat. Whoops!
Goldberg’s story about the experience was published Monday, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the leak “one of the most stunning breaches of military intelligence I have read about in a very, very long time” in a speech on the Senate floor. “I've accidentally sent the wrong person a text. We all have,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) told Axios. “The unconscionable action was sending this info over non-secure networks.”
Inside Trump’s Oval Office makeover:
Trump has done some redecorating in the Oval Office and he gave Fox News host Laura Ingraham a tour. The look is maximalist, with an overabundance of presidential portraits on the walls and lots of new gold tchotchkes and embellishments. “It needed a little life,” Trump said.
Among the portraits now hanging in the Oval Office are those of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, James Polk, Abraham Lincoln, FDR, and Ronald Reagan. Trump also had a copy of the Declaration of Independence taken out of storage to be put on display in the office. It’s hidden behind curtains to protect it from light damage, but he drew the curtains back for the cameras. Trump’s infamous red Coke delivery button is also back on the Resolute Desk. “Everyone thinks that’s the nuclear weapon,” he said before pushing it.
Watching the Fox News footage of the tour is bizarre and a little funny. Getting the chance to see a copy of the Declaration of Independence that close in person clearly took Ingraham’s breath away, and Trump ruined the moment by talking through it and attacking former President Joe Biden while she just said “wow.” Later, Trump gestured over to the historic document and a nearby map labeled “Gulf of America,” and said, “Doesn’t that look beautiful? To me, you know what looks beautiful? The Gulf of America.” Like comparing a postgraduate thesis to a preschooler’s finger paint art. Ingraham then nudged Trump to admit he liked the Declaration of Independence better, which he did.
Chief Justice chides Trump:
After Trump called for impeaching a federal judge who ruled against his administration, Chief Justice John Roberts rebuked him in a rare statement last Tuesday.
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts said. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
The White House is looking for corporate sponsors for the Easter Egg Roll this year:
If you think egg prices have gotten ridiculous, wait until you hear about how much sponsorships for the annual White House Egg Roll cost. Harbinger, an outside event production company working with the White House for next month’s event, is seeking corporate sponsors for between $75,000 to $200,000 in return for opportunities for their logo and branding to be used. That’s according to a pitch document obtained by CNN, which called the sponsorships “an unprecedented offering of corporate branding opportunities on White House grounds.”
“That would have been vetoed in about 30 seconds in my day,” Richard Painter, a former White House Counsel’s Office staffer during former President George W. Bush’s administration, told CNN of the sponsorships. “We’re not running this like a football stadium where you get all logos all over the place for kicking in money.”
Usha is going to Greenland:
Second Lady Usha Vance is set to visit Greenland beginning Thursday as part of a U.S. delegation to visit historic sites and watch Greenland’s national dogsled race, the Avannaata Qimussersu. The trip seems planned as an attempt to mend fences and will come after Greeland’s five political parties came together for a joint statement saying Trump’s comments about their island were “unacceptable to friends and allies in a defense alliance.”
“I’ve been reading all about it [the Avannaata Qimussersu] with my children and I’m amazed by the incredible skill and teamwork that it takes to participate in this race,” Vance said in a video posted to social media. “I’m also coming to celebrate the long history of mutual respect and cooperation between our nations and to express hope that our relationship will only grow stronger in the coming years.”
A bunch of personal information was inadvertently made public in new JFK release:
More than 31,000 pages of documents related to John F. Kennedy’s assassination were released last week, and while researchers are still combing through them, we already know that personal information, including Social Security numbers of living people, were included in the release.
“The National Archives and Records Administration and the Social Security Administration are working closely together to protect the individuals who may be affected from their information being exploited,” the National Archives said in a statement released from the White House.
Elbows up, eh?:
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney filmed a joint video with actor Mike Myers that came out the day before Carney called a new election for April 28. The pair wore red Canadian hockey jerseys, with Carney’s saying “Carney 97” (No. 97 is the number for Canadian hockey star Connor McDavid), and Myers’ saying “Never 51” (that’s a middle finger to Trump). Myers, who grew up in Canada but now lives in the U.S., proved his Canadian folk and pop culture knowledge to Carney before asking the new prime minister, “will there always be a Canada?” There will be, according to Carney.
In a follow-up video, Myers said “Canada is everything” and “we’re the country that stands up to bullies.” Later in the video, Myers endorsed Carney, a Liberal and former central banker who replaced former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The Fight Oligarchy Tour is bringing in record crowds:
Sen Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) are turning out crowds at their joint Fight Oligarchy Tour. About 15,000 people showed up to their stop in Tempe, Ariz., last Thursday. “That is insane, I’m not running for anything,” Sanders told The Wall Street Journal. The next day, some 34,000 people were on hand for the pair’s appearance in Denver, which a Sanders senior advisor said was Sanders’ largest rally ever.
“Our fight is to make sure we remain a democracy,” Sanders said at the Tempe rally. “One person, one vote. Not billionaires buying elections.”
Elon Musk’s estranged trans daughter is on the cover of Teen Vogue:
Vivian Jenna Wilson said in an interview with Teen Vogue that sometimes, “I'll see things about him in the news and think, that's f**king cringe, I should probably post about this and denounce it, which I have done a few times.” She continued, “the Nazi salute sh*t was insane. Honey, we're going to call a fig a fig, and we're going to call a Nazi salute what it was. That sh*t was definitely a Nazi salute.”
Here’s some firsts for Chappell and Doechii:
Kendrick Lamar’s “Luther” featuring SZA is No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a fifth week, and further down the chart, a pair of singers set some personal bests. Chapel Roan’s country song “The Giver” debuted at No. 5, becoming her first top 10 debut, and Doechii’s “Anxiety” rose to No. 10, becoming her first top 10 hit.
There’s going to be a new Miley Cyrus album:
Miley Cyrus is wearing archival Thierry Mugler for the cover of Something Beautiful, her forthcoming album announced today and set for a May 30 release. “My idea was making [Pink Floyd’s] The Wall, but with a better wardrobe and more glamorous and filled with pop culture,” she told Harper’s Bazaar last year. Sounds good to me.
Lady Gaga says she’s just getting started:
Your 30s are the new 20s. Lady Gaga received the Innovator Award at last Tuesday’s iHeartRadio Music Awards and said in her acceptance speech that, “on the one hand, I feel like I've been doing this forever and on the other hand, I know I'm just getting started.”
“The world might consider a woman in her late 30s old for a pop star, which is insane, but I promise you I’m just getting warmed up,” she said. Gaga thanked the LGBTQ+ community for their courage and for teaching her “bravery before the world was ready to listen.”
“To every artist who has ever been told they're ‘different,’ ‘complicated’ or ‘too much,’ please, never change,” she said. “Break the mold. The world doesn't need another copy, it desperately needs your original.”
Kesha loves Mayhem:
Kesha, who has a new song with T-Pain called “Yippee-Ki-Yay” coming out later this week, told People her upcoming sixth studio album is the “first time that I have no one’s claws in my back.” She’s also been listening to Gaga’s new album a lot.
“I'm such a Little Monster,” Kesha said. “Her first song came out not that long before mine, but I've always looked up to her. She's such an incredible performer, vocalist and writer. She's really inspiring. It's crazy because at the beginning of my career, people would compare us, and I was like, ‘Please don't compare me to my girl,’ aghast, ‘There is no comparison.’ People like to compare artists to each other, but what they don’t understand is that the only competition in art is with oneself.”
The U.S. hits lowest-ever level in World Happiness Report:
The U.S. ranked No. 24 in the annual World Happiness Report, down from No. 23 last year and our lowest-ever ranking. The report, based on data collected by the Gallup World Poll, found Finland ranked at No. 1 for its eighth consecutive year, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Netherlands, Costa Rica, Norway, Israel, Luxembourg, and Mexico.
The report included some interesting data points about how we can increase happiness in our own communities. The report’s authors found that those “who eat frequently with others are a lot happier and this effect holds even taking into account household size. The increasing number of people who eat alone is one reason for declining wellbeing in the United States.” They also found people are “much too pessimistic about the benevolence of others” and that our wellbeing depends in part on our perceptions of the benevolence of others, something that “increased during COVID-19 in every region of the world.”
“People needed more help and others responded,” the report’s authors wrote about the pandemic. “This ‘benevolence bump’ has been sustained since then. Despite a fall from 2023 to 2024, benevolent acts are still about 10% above their pre-pandemic levels.” 💛💛💛
This former Senator is playing a Senator in a TV show:
Former Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), who was a Saturday Night Live cast member before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2008, has a new role. Franken plays a fictional Senator named Aaron Filkins in Netflix’s The Residence, a murder mystery starring Uzo Aduba.
“I did not audition. It just came to me,” he told People. “They asked me to do it and I went, 'I haven't done this in a while. I hope I can do it!’”
This Palestinian, Oscar-winning director was attacked and detained:
Palestinian director Hamdan Ballal, who co-directed the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land about life in the West Bank, was attacked by Israeli settlers and detained by the Israeli military, his co-directors said.
“We came back from the Oscars and every day since there is an attack on us,” co-director Basel Adra told the Associated Press. “This might be their revenge on us for making the movie. It feels like a punishment.”
Kelly Clarkson hits 1,000 episodes, covers Whitney:
To mark 1,000 episodes of the Kelly Clarkson Show last Thursday, host Kelly Clarkson performed Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing.” The show’s staff and viewers have “created a community and supported each other through a lot of ups and downs,” Clarkson said. Here’s to 1,000 more. 🥂
“Bye Bye Bye” is 25 years old:
For the 25th anniversary of *NSYNC’s music video for their hit “Bye Bye Bye,” Vevo Footnotes, the YouTube version of VH1’s “Pop-Up Video,” took a closer look. Director Wayne Isham said he was inspired by Royal Wedding, a 1951 film in which Fred Astaire dances on the walls, and the strings attached to the band members during the marionette scene are bungee cords. During the train scene, Chris Kirkpatrick and Joey Fatone did their own stunts. I wouldn’t have expected anything less.
Thanks for reading! See you next week. ⭐