Hasan Piker Will See You in Court

Plus: David Baldacci, John Grisham, and Scott Turow on the rule of law; looksmaxxing documentary exposes biohacking influencers’ deaths

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November 3, 2026

So, what are we all stress-eating as we await election results tonight? Chips? Cookies? An entire pizza? Those incredible imitation Takis they sell at Trader Joe’s? Our own children’s Halloween candy? Perhaps you should augment your menu with this delectable story from Abigail Sylvor Greenberg, who just spoke to Hasan Piker and his lawyer, defamation specialist Daniel Watkins, about the streamer’s $72.5 million suit against conservative commentator and CNN personality Scott Jennings. And it seems Jennings may not be the only nemesis Piker has his eye on. Senator Ted Cruz reshared the video in which Jennings allegedly defames Piker; last week, Piker responded to that X post with a link to the news of his lawsuit against Jennings and wrote, “hey ted you seen this ?” When asked if Piker’s reply was a clue as to a future lawsuit against Cruz, Watkins answered: “Buckle up.” Elsewhere—we don’t know who’s going to win the midterms yet! So instead, please read three best-selling-novelists-slash-lawyers on Trump’s threats to the rule of law; Pierce Brosnan’s pick for the next James Bond; Savannah Walsh’s interview with the director behind a shocking new looksmaxxing documentary; and Wisdom Iheanyichukwu’s eye-opening interview with Children of Blood and Bone author Tomi Adeyemi. More tomorrow!

HILLARY BUSIS FEATURES EDITOR

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CRIME   A New Looksmaxxing Documentary Exposes the Details of Two Biohacking Influencers’ Shocking Deaths   By Savannah Walsh   Filmmaker Stacey Lee tells Vanity Fair about embedding with manosphere content creator Tony Huge and why the Hulu series was “actually never a Clavicular thing.” Read more

POLITICS   David Baldacci, John Grisham, and Scott Turow Know How a Story Can End. They Say Losing the Rule of Law to Trump Would Be a “Death Sentence for America”   By David Baldacci, John Grisham and Scott Turow   As best-selling novelists and lawyers, Baldacci, Grisham, and Turow all have extensive experience both working within the judicial system and writing about it. Now, “in the midst of a veritable plague of looming dangers aimed squarely at the judiciary,” they have come together to speak out against the Trump administration—and warn readers of the consequences of a diminishing rule of law. Read more

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MEDIA   Hasan Piker’s Lawyer Says Suing Scott Jennings Is Just the Beginning   By Abigail Sylvor Greenberg   After dominating the news throughout the 2026 election cycle, the left-wing Twitch streamer filed a $72.5 million defamation lawsuit against the conservative commentator Scott Jennings. VF talks to Piker and his lawyer, who says that other detractors, including Senator Ted Cruz, should “buckle up.” Read more

MIDTERMS 2026   Haley Stevens and a “Violent, Chauvinist Power”   By Ta-Nehisi Coates   Stevens’s defection from the Democratic vote isn’t a story about party intrigue. It is a story about Stevens waking up and choosing violence. In supporting Mike Rogers, she has allied herself with an odious culture war in the US, tied to the very real war in Gaza. Read more

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Anna Brockman, Wife to One of the “Kings of AI,” Is a Republican Mega-Donor. What Is It Like to Be Queen? Before she married OpenAI’s Greg Brockman, she was Anna Chang, an idealistic, animal-loving Wesleyan graduate. Now the couple, worth nearly $30 billion, are two of the biggest mega-donors this midterms cycle.

Tomi Adeyemi Does Not Want to Talk About Children of Blood and Bone But the best-selling author is happy to open up about her new novel, The Siren; her Aquarius tendencies; and why she’s going to quit writing—or maybe not.

Substack’s Cofounder Might Not Know How to Save the Media—But He Knows How to Outplay It Hamish McKenzie’s new memoir cum manifesto makes a lofty case for the platform’s philosophical importance and marks its ascendance as a sweeping cultural force. “It’s backing up the gospel that I’m trying to preach,” he tells Vanity Fair.

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