Tucker Carlson Wants to Make MAGA Great Again

Plus: How TikTok Tried to Block Perez Hilton’s Livestream

View in browser | Update preferences August 6, 2026 Groucho Marx famously refused to belong to any club that would accept him as a member. Tucker Carlson, apparently, has a similar hang-up. On Wednesday night, the former Fox News host and increasingly post-MAGA pundit spent 90 entire minutes laying out his aspirations for a third party that would potentially keep the parts of conservatism he likes (low taxes, bow ties) while jettisoning the stuff he doesn’t (war in Iran, semicoherent politics). Aren’t you glad Dan Adler watched the whole thing so you don’t have to? Elsewhere, Margaux MacColl gives a detailed explanation of how TikTok tried to stop livestreaming Perez Hilton as the gossip blogger’s mental health crisis unfolded on the platform earlier this week; Aidan McLaughlin goes deep on AIPAC and Abdul El-Sayed; and Wengel Gemu chats with Dominic Sessa, the Holdovers star now headlining a charming quasi-biopic about a young Anthony Bourdain. More tomorrow! HILLARY BUSIS, FEATURES EDITOR Can Tucker Carlson Actually Build a Post-MAGA Movement? BY DAN ADLER Along with fellow defectors Marjorie Taylor Greene, Thomas Massie, and Joe Kent, the former Fox News host says he’s planning a new movement to break from Donald Trump. In a 90-minute monologue, he outlined his vision of what “America should be”—and left the door wide open as to what he plans to do about it... Read more Why this ad? Get more as a subscriber Exclusive offer with Vanity Fair: Subscribe to get 1-month free START YOUR FREE TRIAL Culture Watch TECH How TikTok Tried (and Initially Failed) to Block Perez Hilton’s Livestream BY MARGAUX MACCOLL This week’s incident is the latest example of a graphic crisis streamed on social media. Are platforms learning to better moderate in real time? A TikTok representative walks VF through the distressing chain of events... Read more POLITICS AIPAC Spent $32 Million Trying to Stop Abdul El-Sayed. Did They Actually Help Him? BY AIDAN MCLAUGHLIN The group, which has grown increasingly active in primary campaigns over the years, embodies two issues that have motivated Democratic-primary voters: a growing distaste for money in politics and a turn against Israel... Read more FILM Becoming Anthony Bourdain BY WENGEL GEMU The Holdovers standout Dominic Sessa learned to shuck oysters and navigate the chaos of a restaurant kitchen to play a young Bourdain in the new film Tony. The actor speaks with VF about finding the man before the legend... Read more Why this ad? From the Archive Royal Cat Walk BY KATIE NICHOLL From the September 2012 issue, Katie Nicholl details Kate Middleton’s fashion and beauty secrets from the bee-venom facials to the Topshop finds and couture bills—as well as the major challenge she and Prince William face... Read more In Case You Missed It Did Kamala Harris’s Silence on Gaza Cost Her the White House? VF’s Ta-Nehisi Coates recently stopped by Hasan Minhaj Doesn’t Know to talk about his most recent column where he reckons with Harris’s silence, and what it means for the 2028 election. Leonardo DiCaprio and Lauren Sánchez Bezos Launch an Ambitious Passion Project The unlikely duo teams up for a $200 million initiative.   MORE FROM VANITY FAIR HOLLYWOOD ARTS & CULTURE POLITICS STYLE ROYALS 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 2026. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.