Elon’s Latest Attacks; Conservative Influencers’ Parasite Obsession; ‘Brokeback Mountain,’ 20 Years Later

Plus: The Sisters Who Schmoozed With Hitler

View in browser | Update preferences SUBSCRIBE FOR FULL ACCESS MATTHEW LYNCH, EXECUTIVE EDITOR It's the summer solstice. Let's check in on the state of the conservative subconscious. On the one hand, a decent contingent of the MAHA faithful are currently obsessing over parasites. It is, as VF's Erin Vanderhoof observes, "part of a more totalizing ideology about purity." On the other, Curtis Yarvin, house philosopher of the monarchist right, has a plan to take over the Venice Biennale and an ayahuasca-level AI sizzle reel to go with it. He explained the project to VF's Nate Freeman earlier this week. Representative sample: "A dissident-right art ho is—first of all, you have to understand what an art ho is…" We'll be sure to check back in in the fall. Elsewhere today: an interview with a lawyer who has made it her life mission to sue the pants off of Elon Musk; The Gilded Age's third season, reviewed; and David Canfield's wonderful appreciation of Brokeback Mountain 20 years after its debut—and all the Bush-era baggage that came with it. More Monday… The Punch Line That Became an Undisputed Classic BY DAVID CANFIELD For years, no one would make it. When it came out, some celebrities refused to see it—or vote for it at the Oscars. "It was a laughing stock—the 'gay cowboy' script." That's how producer James Schamus remembers the reputation surrounding Brokeback Mountain as it first started making the Hollywood rounds in the late 1990s. An adaptation of Annie Proulx's lauded short story, the Oscar-winning 2005 drama had long been languishing in development limbo by the time Schamus acquired the rights in 2001. This was the aughts, of course—a different era for Hollywood and American culture. George W. Bush was president; same-sex marriage was outlawed at the federal level. "Gay cowboys" were an easy target. "I don't think people got over the punch line," Schamus says. Until they did. In anticipation of the splashy 20th-anniversary rerelease of Brokeback Mountain, VF's David Canfield spoke with the filmmakers, who revealed what it took to defy the odds. READ MORE Read All About It THE SAGA CONTINUES Elon Musk Isn't Done With White House Drama BY BESS LEVIN He took to X to call a senior official a "snake." READ MORE REVIEW Divorce, Death, and Violence Come Calling in The Gilded Age Season 3 BY RICHARD LAWSON HBO's elegant period piece, starring Carrie Coon, Cynthia Nixon, Christine Baranski, and more, returns for more upper-class melodrama—with some added bang. READ MORE "THE SIX" Meet the Outrageous Mitford Sisters: The 20th Century's Most Fascinating Family BY ROSEMARY COUNTER A guide to six gorgeous, passionate, and defiant sisters whose social circles had them schmoozing with Adolf Hitler, Winston Churchill, and Oswald Mosley—and in later years, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, John F. Kennedy, and Maya Angelou. READ MORE Oh, the Irony MAHA Influencers and Their Obsession With Parasites BY ERIN VANDERHOOF The MAHA parasite obsession has roots in older ideas about health and purifying the body, according to historian Surekha Davies, and there is a connection between right-wing claims about immigration and the recent enthusiasm for parasites. "The word parasite conjures up that sense of something that takes without giving back and may well weaken the body," Davies tells Vanity Fair. In her new book, Humans: A Monstrous History, Davies writes that we tend to dehumanize people by comparing them to infections, even as our stories give "monsters" otherworldly powers to weaken or destroy. VF's Erin Vanderhoof deconstructs the latest obsession in the conservative influencer sphere. READ MORE But Wait, There's More This Year's Oscar Race Already Feels Crowded—but Just Wait From Cannes's prize-winning darlings to potential first-time nominations for Dwayne Johnson and Rose Byrne, here's how the field is shaping up so far. How Dodger Stadium Became a Front in Trump's Immigration War With federal agents on the ground at the iconic baseball stadium, sports franchises are obvious players in the Trump 2.0 political fray—even if they'd desperately prefer not to be. Inside Monarchist Edgelord Curtis Yarvin's Plan for the Venice Biennale The favored philosopher of the new right very much wants to program the American pavilion at the expo also known as the "art Olympics." He's got the AI-rendered hallucinatory sizzle reel to prove it. The Lawyer Who Keeps Suing Elon Musk Shannon Liss-Riordan, one of the country's most renowned labor lawyers, has recently developed a specialty in "billionaire justice," she tells VF. MORE FROM VANITY FAIR POLITICS BUSINESS HOLLYWOOD STYLE ROYALS CELEBRITY This e-mail was sent to you by VANITY FAIR. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, vanityfair@newsletter.vf.com, to your address book. View our Privacy Policy Unsubscribe Copyright © Condé Nast 2025. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.