Michelle Obama is doing a fashion podcast
Plus: Kylie Jenner is a pop star now, I guess
Former First Lady Michelle Obama is set to talk about style in a forthcoming podcast miniseries, and meanwhile at her old house, they’re tearing down part of the East Wing.
Welcome to this week’s issue of Whig. Read to the end to find out how one Femme Fatale responded to her ex with music and Instagram posts. — Hunter Schwarz
Trump pardons Santos:
President Donald Trump commuted the sentence of disgraced former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) Friday, writing in a post on his social network that Santos “has been horribly mistreated” and telling him “Good luck George, have a great life!”
Santos, who pleaded guilty in August to wire fraud and identity theft, served less than three months of his 87-month sentence. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) said in a statement that Santos “is a convicted con artist” and “I disagree with the commutation,” while Robert Zimmerman, the Democrat who lost to Santos in 2022, said the pardon “demonstrates the lawlessness of the Trump administration” since Trump is “trying to put his political enemies in jail while he frees George Santos for the unconscionable crimes he committed.”
Trump’s Santos commutation comes after he’s threatened his enemies, including his former national security adviser John Bolton, who was indicted last week, New York Attorney General Letitia James, who was indicted on Oct. 9, and former FBI Director James Comey, who was indicted Sept. 25.
Millions rally against Trump:
Organizers of Saturday’s No Kings demonstrations said nearly 7 million people turned out for protests in more than 2,700 cities. That’s 2 million more people than showed up for protests in June, and one of the largest single-day nationwide protests in U.S. history, according to organizers. Trump posted a gross A.I. video of himself in response. Pedro Pascal was at the protest in L.A. where he held this incredible sign:
News outlets from left to right reject Pentagon’s new rules:
At least 30 news organizations from the left, right, and center refused to sign new Defense Department rules that would prohibit them from news gathering outside official approval channels.
The outlets that refused to sign include ABC News, the Associated Press, the Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg News, CBS News, CNN, the Daily Caller, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s former employer Fox News Media, NBC News, Newsmax, the New York Times, Politico, Reuters, Task & Purpose, and the Washington Post. No one asked me because I don’t work at the Pentagon, but I also refuse to sign.
“Today, we join virtually every other news organization in declining to agree to the Pentagon’s new requirements, which would restrict journalists’ ability to keep the nation and the world informed of important national security issues,” ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Fox News, and ABC News said in a joint statement. Just 15 outlets or journalists did sign the new rules, including the Federalist, the Epoch Times and One America News.
Vance plays down racist, antisemitic group chat:
Vice President J.D. Vance wrote in a social media post that he refused to “join the pearl clutching” over shocking leaked messages from Young Republican members in which one said, among other things “I love Hitler.”
“I refuse to join the pearl clutching when powerful people call for political violence,” Vance said in reference to violent texts sent by a Democratic candidate for Virginia attorney general.
Meanwhile, there’s been real fallout over the leaked chats. New York’s Republican Party suspended the state’s Young Republican group over the chat, and a Vermont state senator who was in the chat resigned.
They’re tearing down the East Wing:
Work is moving ahead on Trump’s planned White House ballroom, with demolition crews tearing down portions of the East Wing on Monday.
Michelle Obama is doing a fashion podcast:
The former FLOTUS announced last week that she’s doing a six-part limited podcast about style to go along with forthcoming book The Look, out next month. Obama said The Look podcast will include interviews with co-author and stylist Meredith Koop, as well as hair stylists Yene Damtew and Njeri Radway and makeup artist Carl Ray.
“Writing my new book, The Look, gave me the chance to reflect on my lifelong journey with fashion, hair, and beauty — from growing up on the South Side to serving as First Lady in the White House to what I wear today,” Obama wrote on social media. “While the looks have changed, it’s always been important to me to use style as a language to share who I am and what I believe.”
Obama said the series would feature the stories of people like Jane Fonda, Elle editor-in-chief Nina Garcia, and model Bethann Hardison, and she’ll also film two live podcasts, in Brooklyn with Tracee Ellis Ross and in D.C. with New York Times critic Wesley Morris.
🎬 No. 1 movie: Blumhouse’s Black Phone 2 brought in $26.5 million.
💿 No. 1 album: The Life of a Showgirl by Taylor Swift spends a second week on top of the Billboard 200 album chart with 338,000 equivalent album units earned, down 92% from her record-setting 4 million units moved last week, per Billboard.
🎵 No. 1 song: Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia” holds at No. 1 for a second week.
Sabrina Carpenter is raising money for the Transgender Law Center:
Sabrina Carpenter is expanding her philanthropy. The singer’s Sabrina Carpenter Fund, which says it supports causes related to mental health, animal welfare, and LGBTQ+ rights, added the Transgender Law Center, or TLC, as a new beneficiary, the group said last week.
“We are honored,” the group said. The fund will directly support TLC’s legal information helpdesk, which it said responds to more than 2,200 requests annually.
Renée Rapp says f*** ICE:
Add Renée Rapp to the list of musicians speaking out against Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. At her show last week in Portland, where a judge ruled today that Trump can deploy National Guard troops, the singer and Mean Girls (2024) star said “let’s just make a few things abundantly f***ing clear. F*** Ice. F*** this administration. And f*** Trump.”
Snoop gets GLAAD for Spirit Day:
After facing backlash this summer for calling out Disney and Pixar for featuring a same-sex couple in 2022’s Lightyear, Snoop Dogg partnered with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, or GLAAD, for the group’s annual Spirit Day to make amends.
Snoop released a new song called “Love Is Love” about loving your family and friends even if they’re different for his animated YouTube series Doggyland, and had a conversation with The Voice alum Jeremy Beloate about supporting LGBTQ families.
“Partnering with GLAAD for Spirit Day just felt right, because spreading love and respect for everybody is what real gangstas do. We’re showin’ the next generation that kindness is cool, inclusion is powerful, and love always wins,” Snoop said in a statement.
Kim K doesn’t know how much milk costs:
In an interview with Call Her Daddy, Kim Kardashian admitted, “I don’t have a concept of what, like, certain simple things cost,” like milk. “I’d like to know a little bit more about what, like, a milk carton costs,” she said (btw, the average price of a gallon of whole milk in the U.S. today is $4.17, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data).
In the wide-ranging interview with host Alex Cooper, Kardashian spoke about her marriage to Kanye West (“I would, like, come home, and we had, like, five Lamborghinis, and I’d come home and they’d all be gone if he was in an episode. And I’d be like, ‘Oh, wait. Where’s all our cars? Like, my new car?’ And it would be like, oh, he gave them away to all of his friends.”) and her plans for both business and law.
Kardashian called her new NikeSkims brand a mix of the Skims aesthetic with Nike’s innovation and distribution (“I just wanted it to be everywhere”) and said a new beauty brand, Skims Beauty, is forthcoming. As for law, she said “it all stems, again, from family. I want to reunite families, that’s what got me into this.”
Kylie Jenner is a pop star now, I guess:
Terror Jr’s new song “Fourth Strike” has a famous feature. Kylie Jenner, who appeared in the music video for the group’s 2016 single “3 Strikes,” has a cameo on the new track under the stage name “King Kylie” (OK, fine, whatever, but Kylie Minogue is Queen).
“This is my dream, ever since I came out of the womb, I wanted to be a pop star,” Jenner said in a video about the song. ”I don’t think I’m like Adele or anything… I always wanted to try and see if I can do it.”
Britney Spears released a new remix and Japanese bonus track:
Britney Spears is responding to ex-husband Kevin Federline following a first look at his forthcoming memoir, out Tuesday. In a statement, a spokesperson for Britney said K-Fed was “profiting off her and sadly it comes after child support has ended with Kevin. All she cares about are her kids, Sean Preston and Jayden James, and their well-being during this sensationalism. She detailed her journey in her memoir.”
In Instagram posts, Britney went further, calling K-Fed’s behavior “gaslighting,” writing that she feels “demoralized by this situation,” and that wants to have a stronger relationship with her kids and “has been trying to live a sacred and private life the past 5 years.” K-Fed said his sons with Britney are the reason he wrote the book now (“I waited until my kids were old enough and waited so I can gain a really good perspective and reflect,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “This book is for my children’s future.”).
Britney also said she’s thinking of starting “real columns monthly” (yes, please) or maybe a podcast, and that her jewelry line B Tiny “is coming soon” as is a new perfume “not like any bottle ever sold.” Most importantly, she released two new songs, the John Summit remix of her 2011 single “I Wanna Go,” and just in time for Halloween, “Scary,” a bonus track on the Japanese deluxe version of Femme Fatale now available to stream in the U.S. We are so blessed. Wishing Britney and her family the best and sending love and prayers, as always. We love you, Britney. 💕
Thanks for reading! See you next week. ⭐