Over the last four years, Florida reshaped the conservative vision of America—but even before Trump, the state transformed the modern right with the frenzied battle over hanging chads in the 2000 election and the ensuing media spectacle. vntyfr.com/DCmFW5i
During his presidency, Trump turned the state into the de facto homeland of the GOP, surrounded by Floridian allies: Congressman Matt Gaetz; Palm Beach-based Laura Ingraham; Boca Grande–based Tucker Carlson, among others.

🔗: vntyfr.com/f9g4k77
The pecking order in Palm Beach is defined by loyalty to Trump—or at least public silence on the matter. Those who dare to defy—like Ann Coulter and philanthropist Lois Pope—are swiftly iced out by friends and neighbors. vntyfr.com/aFDkzNf
Roger Stone is one of the area’s most notorious characters, and is currently writing a book about the Russia imbroglio—the very incident that nearly landed him in prison for three years until Trump pardoned him before leaving office.

🔗: vntyfr.com/f9g4k77
Over decades, Stone helped turn Florida into a paragon of the American right. One could be forgiven for thinking Stone enjoys all this controversy since he’s done nothing but attract it for years. “Maybe,” Stone ventures, “controversy is attracted to me.” vntyfr.com/0uxHyHa
Stone, like Palm Beach’s other residents, maintain their own versions of reality—that the election was stolen from Trump, the Black Lives Matter movement is a coordinated Marxist revolution, and so on.

🔗: vntyfr.com/f9g4k77 Roger Stone, photographed by Bruce Gilden/Magnum Photos.Toni Holt Kramer, center, and her fellow Donald-loving Trump
The outside world, in Florida-vision, is always closing in, seething with phantoms under the palms. Not even in Palm Beach, writes @joehagansays, can they escape the stories they tell themselves. Read the full report from the heart of Trumpland: vntyfr.com/5tOVwsv

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More from @VanityFair

11 Aug
Nothing anchors a time quite like style. For V.F.’s September issue, @LeahFayeC enlisted stylists, critics, and other fashionable friends to look back on the trends that defined the turn of the century: vntyfr.com/AleGSQR
Stylist and designer @MisaHylton reveals @MissyElliott gave her the idea for the jumpsuit @LilKim wore to the 1999 VMAs. “It was such a liberating moment for women,” adds @juneAmbrose. “It was a Gloria Steinem moment.”

🔗: vntyfr.com/AleGSQR
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Jeffrey Epstein’s life was shrouded in mystery, but the source of his wealth—and his power—might be the greatest mystery of all. His relationship with the billionaire retail magnate Leslie Wexner could be the key to unlocking the truth. vntyfr.com/WiPJaKG
Until recently, Epstein’s only publicly named client was Wexner, the founder and CEO of the women’s apparel retailer The Limited, whose global retail empire expanded to include Abercrombie & Fitch, Victoria’s Secret, and Bath & Body Works. vntyfr.com/gc7yiCV
Jeffrey Epstein built his vast sex-trafficking ring throughout the ’90s and early aughts—the same time he worked closely with Wexner. But after Epstein's 2008 conviction, including on a count of soliciting a minor for prostitution, Wexner refused to discuss him.
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According to two people familiar with the situation, someone in Melinda’s circle worked with a private investigator leading up to filing. A spokesperson for Melinda, however, called the claim "completely false.”
While Microsoft has yet to comment on the news, it might get harder to avoid the reports of Bill’s conduct, especially with stories involving inappropriate workplace behavior and NDAs.
Read 5 tweets
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Throughout 2020, the theory that COVID-19 leaked from a lab was off-limits, scorned by experts and tainted by Donald Trump’s xenophobia.

But those who dared to fight for transparency say toxic politics and hidden agendas kept us in the dark. vntyfr.com/gNKxaCp
In 2017, a U.S. government moratorium on funding for gain-of-function research—experiments meant to make pathogens more infectious—was lifted. The Wuhan Institute of Virology has received U.S. grant money via an intermediary.
By late 2020, a small group within the State Department was investigating the WIV. Classified intelligence suggested that several researchers conducting gain-of-function experiments on coronavirus samples had fallen ill the autumn before the outbreak was known to have started.
Read 7 tweets
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“The 2017 theatrical cut was an act of vandalism,” #JusticeLeague screenwriter Chris Terrio says. “@ZackSnyder may be too much of a gentleman to say that, but I’m not.” An exclusive Q&A: vntyfr.com/bzWPTcR
Breaking five years of silence, the screenwriter gets brutally honest about how the theatrical releases of his DC films Batman v Superman and Justice League turned into total fiascos.
Terrio says #BvS and #JusticeLeague were undermined by corporate meddling, poor franchise planning, and tone-deaf studio decisions that opted for expensive VFX scenes over coherent storytelling.
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With its COVID-19 response, the Biden administration had hoped to reclaim America’s role as a global public-health leader. But a dramatic uptick in domestic cases meant the world would have to wait. vntyfr.com/JspYBUB
Notably, @KatherineEban reveals that the contracts the Trump administration signed with vaccine manufacturers prohibit the U.S. from sharing its surplus doses with the rest of the world. Image
Though designed to ensure that manufacturers retain liability protection, the legal parameters “must change” before the U.S. can do anything to help the rest of the world, one senior administration official said.
Read 5 tweets

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