"Trump picks his cabinet in part for their aesthetics, and their ability to perform well on TV and Noem was famed for never missing a photo op...."

"But her hunger for publicity also contributed to her demotion. Under Noem’s watch, $220 million of taxpayers’ money was spent on an advertising campaign for border security that prominently featured footage of her on horseback, dressed as a 'cowgirl,' in front of Mount Rushmore.... In recent months, she has drawn negative headlines for using border funds for a multi-million-dollar jet fleet. There are rumours she is romantically involved with Corey Lewandowski.... He joined midway through the 2024 presidential campaign and quickly butted heads with the official campaign chiefs, Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita. At an event when the scale of Trump’s victory was becoming clear, Lewandowski tried to congratulate LaCivita only to be told: 'F*** you, f*** you and f*** you. You have f***ed with the wrong person. I’m going to f***ing destroy you.'"

I'm reading "ICE, luxury jets, an ‘affair’ and a dead puppy: the downfall of Kristi Noem/The Republican known as ‘ICE Barbie’ has been beset by allegations and became the first major departure from Trump’s comparatively stable second-term cabinet" (London Times).

"Adam Schiff falls right into Bill Maher’s trap..."

Adam Schiff falls right into Bill Maher’s trap as he criticizes a statement he thought was from Trump but was actually from Obama.

MAHER: “This statement from the administration: ‘The president had the constitutional authority to direct the use of military force because he could… pic.twitter.com/5jg3wpdAQZ

— Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) March 7, 2026

And earlier in last night's show:

Bill Maher apologizes to his liberal audience as he delivers this take on the “Iran war”:

“This week, war. Did you hear about that thing?”

“We bombed Iran, and it’s going on now. If you expected me to say I hate it, I don’t. Sorry.”

“Sorry. And you cannot name one horrible… pic.twitter.com/rHnGhMpK2g

— Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) March 7, 2026

At the Friday Night Café...

... you can talk all night.

Part of your propaganda.

Hey White House, please remove the Tropic Thunder clip. We never gave you permission and have no interest in being a part of your propaganda machine. War is not a movie. https://t.co/dMQqRxxVCa

— Ben Stiller (@BenStiller) March 6, 2026

"I will normally tell people I'll be brief because I know their time is short. I think that is probably true in this case."

Says NPR's Steve Inskeep to former Senator Ben Sasse, who is dying of pancreatic cancer.

Sasse laughs.

His insight on time: "I think we all live on three time horizons. Daily, at the end of your workday and as the sun is setting, can you say that you did meaningful work that day and can you break bread with people you love? No. 2 is kind of a planning horizon. What decisions should you make over the next 30 days that'll pay off over the next 30 years? And then an eternal souls kind of time horizon. And all three of them matter. But one of the silliest things is to allow the planning horizon to crowd out the other two, and I think many times I did that."

"But a recent tragedy-exploiting television series about John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette features a character using my name and presents her as me."

Writes Daryl Hannah, in the NYT.

The choice to portray her as irritating, self-absorbed, whiny and inappropriate was no accident. In discussing the show, “Love Story,” one of its producers explained: “Given how much we’re rooting for John and Carolyn, Daryl Hannah occupies a space where she’s an adversary to what you want narratively in the story.” Storytelling requires tension. It often requires an obstacle. But a real, living person is not a narrative device. 

There is also a gendered dimension to this thinking. Popular culture has long elevated certain women by portraying others as rivals, obstacles or villains. Isn’t it textbook misogyny to tear down one woman in order to build up another?... 

I have never used cocaine.... I have never desecrated any family heirloom.... I never compared Jacqueline Onassis’ death to a dog’s....

"There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER! After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners..."

"... will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before. IRAN WILL HAVE A GREAT FUTURE. 'MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN (MIGA!).' Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP."

Writes Trump, at Truth Social.

That's not the first time Trump has used "MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN." I'm seeing:

June 22, 2025: "It’s not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change,' but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!"

January 13, 2026: "Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING - TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price. I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY. MIGA!!! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP"

"The total baselessness of these accusations is also supported by the obvious fact that Joe Biden’s department of justice knew about them for four years and did nothing with them..."

"... because they knew President Trump did absolutely nothing wrong."

Said Karoline Leavitt, quoted in "DoJ publishes 'missing' Epstein files including Trump claims/The White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described claims from FBI interviews about an alleged assault involving Trump and Epstein as 'baseless’'" (London Times).

The woman claimed to [FBI] agents that Epstein introduced her to Trump, and that she claimed Trump had assaulted her in an encounter when she was 13 in 1983. According to internal FBI notes, she claimed that when they were alone in a “very tall building” — either in New York or New Jersey — Trump allegedly “mentioned something to the effect of: ‘Let me teach you how little girls are supposed to be,’” before attempting to sexually assault her. The woman, from South Carolina, told agents she bit him and that Trump then struck her and had her removed from the room.

Which CEO did the better job of humiliating himself in the theater of corporate enthusiasm?

🚨 BREAKING: Anthropic CEO just did a complete 180 in live interview

Do you regret saying ‘dictator-style praise’ about President Trump?

Anthropic CEO:
>“I want to completely apologize for this memo”
>“it was among the most disorienting times in Anthropic’s history”
>“i… pic.twitter.com/MTodBFhebU

— NIK (@ns123abc) March 6, 2026

"The bachelor banker admitted to Interview magazine that he had not yet made it onto the elite dating app Raya, confessing that he only uses Hinge."

"Nelson, a dirty vodka martini enthusiast, listed swanky Manhattan spots Jac’s on Bond, Bar Pisellino, and Mace as the top places that he would take any lady lucky enough to match with him.... Johnson, a Dallas native, laid out his thoughts on crypto investing and AI, but also confessed to buying 'a painting for $1,400 that is simply a bunch of lines.' He says he owns 'approximately six vests and seven Vineyard Vines quarter zips': an essential part of any finance bro’s wardrobe when kicking off their career on Wall Street. Barclays associate vice president Tommy Doherty, who said he owns up to ten vests, tells Interview readers that they should 'know your risk tolerance and have a well-diversified portfolio.'"

I'm reading "Baby-faced Goldman Sachs bankers could be fired over ‘unauthorized’ magazine photo shoots: sources" (NY Post).

"Unauthorized" is in quotes because, as the last line of the article says, "It is unclear whether Johnson and Doherty obtained approval to be interviewed by the magazine." I'll bet they were authorized and that Goldman Sachs likes getting inane publicity in this form. It's Interview magazine, and the guys are good looking — and they have vests!!! and quarter zips!!!

As for the type of painting that is "simply a bunch of lines." I looked:

Ha ha. Everything turns back on itself these days. In the early days of image searching, I think I'd have turned up something more like Cy Twombly.

Anyway, here's the original Interview article, formatted nicely, with all the "Finest Boys in Finance" answering the same small set of questions, including"What’s the most you’ve spent on something stupid?" 

Fog at sunrise time.

Meade's contribution:

"It seems that the Democratic Party, broadly, has concluded that the roughly 120-hour-old campaign is a disaster that the public is destined to despise...."

"[I]f the U.S. and Israel engineer a victory for the West in Iran, Democrats will have to spend 2028 arguing that voters should not believe their lying eyes. The Democrats are betting on failure, and they may be right. If they are, we’ll have bigger problems than the Democratic Party’s political achievements. But if they aren’t, Democrats will regret having to argue that the world was better off with the Islamic Republic of Iran."

Writes Noah Rothman, in "The Democrats’ Iran Gamble" (National Review).

Sculpting the head of Joe Rogan for a New Yorker illustration.

Video after the jump.

And here's the article with the finished illustration — a photograph of the sculpted head in a fantasy landscape — "Listening to Joe Rogan/How a gift for shooting the shit turned into an online empire—and a political force."

"Well, that’s bad for him to say. That is bad for him. So maybe, maybe that leads me to go the other direction."

Said President Trump after Ken Paxton declined to drop out of the Texas Senate primary race if Trump failed to endorse him.

Quoted in "'That’s bad for him to say': Trump puts Paxton on notice in Texas Senate primary/The president appeared to scold the attorney general" (Politico)

Trump had previously stated he would ask the candidate he does not endorse to step aside. Senate Republicans have already asked Trump to back Cornyn, who narrowly pulled ahead of Paxton on Tuesday in the first round of the primary. The two now face a heated runoff, which could last for another three months unless one of them ends their campaign.

I think Trump refrained from endorsing anyone in Tuesday's primary to give Paxton a chance to show how strong a candidate he was. When he didn't get the 50% needed to avoid a runoff with Cornyn and in fact got less than Cornyn, he failed the test, and Trump was going to give the endorsement to Cornyn. It's sheer practicality. Paxton knows that. Perhaps he thinks his strongest move — a move that might impress Trump — is to say he'll never give up. It's like an episode of "The Apprentice," except that we don't get to see Paxton explain his strategy while Trump glowers at him.

Trump and "good looking men."

PRESIDENT TRUMP jokes as he hosts the 2025 Major League Soccer Cup champions Inter Miami CF at the White House: “These are good looking people. Marco, I don't like good looking men.” pic.twitter.com/k6wsrvK9SD

— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 5, 2026

And speaking of good looking men, Katie Couric asks Gavin Newsom if he's "just ridiculously good looking" and whether he has "a Zoolander problem":

Couric: Do you have a Zoolander problem? Are you just ridiculously good looking as Vogue said? What do you do about that?

Newsom: You don’t do anything about it…It’s just who I am.

Good. Lord. pic.twitter.com/aFmvpDLlaa

— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) March 5, 2026

"Aaron Spencer, who won the Lonoke County [Arkansas] primary race on Tuesday, is accused of shooting the man who allegedly sexually assaulted his 14-year-old daughter."

"He’s awaiting trial for murder. His town wants him to be sheriff" (London Times).

In the early hours of October 8, 2024, Spencer awoke to find his daughter missing from their home. His wife called 911 while he drove around looking for her. He spotted his child in the passenger seat of Fosler’s truck, followed the vehicle and forced it off the highway. After both men exited their cars, Spencer shot and killed him, court records allege. Prosecutors say Spencer shot Fosler 15 times and then “pistol-whipped” him in the face. Court records say he then called 911, stating: “Michael Fosler is f***ing dead on the side of the road for trying to kidnap my daughter. I had no choice.”