On Friday, Politico got the ball rolling on a pretty simple story. I think the simplicity of it is why it’s picked up so much steam in recent days. Politico reported that Donald Trump’s team keeps canceling so many interviews and campaign events because the 78-year-old white supremacist and rapist is “exhausted.” As in, Trump’s own people are citing his exhaustion as the reason why he can’t keep up with a demanding campaign schedule in the final weeks of the election cycle. Well, after Politico’s report, Kamala Harris’s campaign obviously jumped all over it: Trump is not only unhinged and incompetent, but he’s just too old, too senile and too sleepy to do the job as president.

The Harris campaign only had to wait a few hours until the Trump campaign underlined how bad things had gotten for their candidate. Trump was campaigning in Detroit, Michigan when the microphones went out on stage. When his mic cut out mid-speech, Trump waddled around the stage in front of a screen which hilariously read “Technical Difficulties: Complicated Business.” While Trump waited two hours for the microphones to get fixed, he nodded off. Sleepy Don, too fatigued to campaign, too exhausted to lead. Oh, and did I mention the Detroit venue was barely half-filled? Dude can’t even fill his sad little Nazi rallies anymore. This is what Kamala HQ posted:

An exhausted Trump appears to be falling asleep during his campaign event pic.twitter.com/WRMt0iTwAn

— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 18, 2024

As I said, the “Trump is exhausted” storyline has now gotten a lot of coverage. It’s so easy to describe that the networks are even covering Politico’s report. It’s worth noting that Trump has canceled interviews with most networks too, because he’s exhausted and numb and deranged and he only wants to talk to the friendliest wingnuts he can find. This is truly one of the best closing statements for VP Harris to make.

Vice President Harris: Trump is becoming increasingly unstable and unhinged. The American people are witnessing it in real-time. The American people deserve better than someone who seems to be unstable pic.twitter.com/mAKJnlFmJ0

— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 19, 2024

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Getty.

Angelina Jolie stepped out on Friday at the BFI London Film Festival premiere of Pablo Larrain’s Maria. Pablo was there too, and they looked like they were about to do an artsy remake of Ocean’s Eleven. I’ve been trying to keep track of how many festivals Angelina has attended this year so far: Venice, Telluride, Toronto, New York, now London and soon the AFI Fest in LA. All of this is ahead of the December release date – a limited theatrical run and a big premiere on Netflix. Fingers crossed that Netflix puts some money in this Oscar campaign.

As for Angelina’s look in London… it’s interesting because she eschewed the sack dresses she’s favored in recent years, and she went for a much more old-school look. Back in her 20s, Angelina rarely wore dresses. She was all about leather pants and menswear. In London, she wore a three-piece tuxedo suit from Dolce & Gabbana’s menswear collection. Maybe she’s doing this with some kind of agenda, but my first thought was “of course she’s wearing menswear, all of the women’s suits these days are absurd.” Women’s suits have giant shoulder pads or puffed out shoulders or too-long sleeved or weird darting or terrible collars. Jolie was like… no thanks, I want a normal suit jacket. I like this look from the hips up – the pants are not great. But I like the boots.

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival always encourages would-be Oscar-campaigners to make the trek to shill their movies by the beach every awards season, usually in late January or early February. It will be the same next year, and Santa Barbara really wants Angelina to come out. So they’re giving her an award – the Maltin Modern Master Award, named after film critic Leonard Maltin. Maltin told Variety: “Angelina Jolie makes bold choices, both as an actress and as a director. She sets the bar high in both disciplines and always comes through. I look forward to reviewing her career with her in Santa Barbara!” That should be really nice.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Vittoria Ceretti has a sticker of her boyfriend Leo DiCaprio’s face on her phone. [Just Jared]
Liam Payne’s cause of death revealed. [Socialite Life]
Jude Law & Nicholas Hoult star in The Order. [LaineyGossip]
Review of Luca Guadagnino’s Queer. [Pajiba]
Will Cate Blanchett wear any of these looks? [Go Fug Yourself]
Rotting, carved pumpkins are so much scarier. [OMG Blog]
Nicki Minaj attended a Vogue event. [RCFA]
The songwriter behind Rihanna’s “SOS” describes how he came up with those lyrics (no one realized any of this before). [Seriously OMG]
Joy-Anna Duggar drops some Duggar family bombshells. [Starcasm]
Did y’all see the supermoon last night? [Hollywood Life]
The scariest TV episodes ever? [Buzzfeed]

Vittoria Ceretti has adorable throwback picture of boyfriend Leonardo DiCaprio on her phone case https://t.co/dp8nRJYjsj pic.twitter.com/bAKs8w4Hjp

— Page Six (@PageSix) October 16, 2024

Richard Eden’s big, blaring exclusive this week in the Daily Mail was the juicy gossip that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have possibly purchased a second home in Portugal. While I enjoy the real estate adventures of the rich and famous as much as anyone, I failed to see how this news was some big f–king deal to the British press, or why the left-behinds would even care that much. Harry and Meghan have two young children who go to school/nursery school – they might enjoy some vacations in Europe in the years to come, and if that happens, it’s entirely their business and that’s all it will be, family vacays. Wealthy American and her expat husband vacation in sun-soaked Portugal, news at seven. But Eden is trying to do the most with his “exclusive.” Now he’s crying about this: “Why I believe Harry and Meghan’s new Portuguese home means we may NEVER see her in Britain again.” LMAO!!!

When she left Britain in 2020, the Duchess of Sussex welled up during a ‘bittersweet’ farewell to royal staff. My colleague Bryony Gordon, who was with Meghan and Prince Harry that day, said the former actress appeared to be ‘quietly devastated’ and had tears in her eyes at her last private function at Buckingham Palace.

At the time, I wondered if we would ever see Meghan again in this country. Now, it would appear that she has found a way of keeping a foothold in Europe without actually having to set foot in Britain, where she is becoming increasingly disliked with every bitter utterance she makes against the Royal Family.

As I revealed in today’s Daily Mail, the Duke and Duchess have bought a property on the coast in Portugal. The purchase may have allowed the couple to acquire a so-called Golden Visa, under which they would have visa-free access to the European Union’s Schengen area.

This could have been a major attraction to Meghan, who is a US citizen, where the property is concerned. When the couple got engaged in November 2017, Kensington Palace said Meghan would apply for British citizenship in due course, with a spokesman confirming that ‘she will go through the process [which] takes a number of years’. However, she eventually abandoned her bid to become a British citizen after she and her husband left the country in March 2020, less than two years after their wedding.

Acquiring a Golden Visa would help Meghan as she and her husband develop their plans to become the ‘rival royals’ across the water, enabling them to travel easily through European countries. We have already seen them undertake ‘quasi royal’ tours of Nigeria and Colombia, with more overseas trips planned. And it may be that Harry’s cousin Princess Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, who also own a Portuguese property, join their rival-royal court. The Brooksbanks live in the CostaTerra Golf and Ocean Club, a luxury development of 300 properties by the sea in Melides, south of the Portuguese capital, Lisbon.

[From The Daily Mail]

Eden is desperately trying to set up this narrative (please follow along as I translate royalist fan-fic to American English): Meghan was incredibly sad to be forced out of the UK against her will and she’s been desperate to come back to the UK for years, but she’s so deeply unpopular in the UK, so she’s decided to punish all of Britain by buying a home in Portugal and setting up a rival court and forcing the British media to cover her every move, moves which include weekly tantrums about the Windsors. End translation. It never occurred to Eden that Meghan and Harry are perhaps just… supporting Eugenie and Jack, and want to have a place close to Harry’s beloved cousin. That perhaps none of this is about royal and political machinations or the British establishment’s desperation to control the Sussexes?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar, Backgrid.

King Charles and Queen Camilla touched down in Sydney, Australia a short time ago, and the photos in this post are from the official greeting on the tarmac. As I mentioned earlier this week, Charles’s first royal tour, as king, of one of his “realms” has become international news. Charles and Camilla were actually aiming for a quieter visit, but it’s become politically fraught. If Charles or Camilla misspeak or stumble in any way, it will be a huge conversation. The Washington Post dipped into covering the tour too, with this piece: “For Charles’s first visit as king, Australians are royally unimpressed.” Ouch.

When King Charles III arrives in Australia on Friday, he’ll receive rock star treatment — just not in the way he might have hoped. Instead of drawing the massive crowds that often awaited his mother, Charles’s first trip here as monarch is likely to be a mellower affair. The king will meet with Australia’s prime minister, review its naval fleet and greet supporters outside the Opera House.

But many state leaders are staying home. And perhaps the liveliest reception will be from members of Australia’s republican movement, who are selling sarcastic “Monarchy: The Farewell Oz Tour” T-shirts, as if the royals were an aging band on the brink of retirement.

“It’s very strange,” said Dennis Altman, a sociologist at La Trobe University in Melbourne who has studied the monarchy. “Here is a man who theoretically is our head of state coming to Australia two years after he came to the throne, but there is less interest and enthusiasm than I can remember for any previous royal tour.”

But his visit also comes at a quiet time in Australia’s decades-long debate over whether to become a republic. Rarely has the issue seemed further from people’s minds since the failure of a constitutional referendum in 1999, when 54.9 percent voted against replacing the queen with an Australian president as head of state. As a result, both avid monarchists and zealous republicans are hoping to use the trip to drum up enthusiasm, even though most Australians — more worried about the cost of living or the U.S. presidential election — may simply shrug.

“There is almost a complacency,” said Michelle Arrow, a historian at Macquarie University in Sydney. “It’s like, yeah, we’re a monarchy but it seems okay, we haven’t had any coups, we’re a pretty stable democracy.”

The crown may not crave complacency, but it might welcome it at this point. When Queen Elizabeth II died two years ago, there were fears that the coronation of her less popular son would cause Commonwealth realms to scrap him as head of state. That hasn’t happened.

[From WaPo]

“Here is a man who theoretically is our head of state” lmao – I mean, at every technical level, Charles IS the head of state in Australia. He is “king of Australia.” Which is why it was so weird last year when Prince William, the “future king of Australia,” refused to travel to his future realm out of laziness. It’s also weird – and I will keep bringing this up! – that Charles decided to jettison long-standing plans for his first year on the throne. He was supposed to visit most, if not ALL, of the British realms soon after he became king. He did not. Anyway, I have no idea how this tour will go, but the international press is definitely paying attention.

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Getty.

The Al Smith dinner is famously held in October to raise funds for Catholic charities. It’s a Catholic event, named after the first Catholic presidential candidate. Every four years, they invite the presidential candidates to make speeches and the event is extremely politicized, especially as it comes so close to the election. This year, VP Kamala Harris decided to skip. I don’t blame her. Instead of hammering the Church, VP Harris merely begged off because of a “scheduling conflict.” But she sent in a video, featuring Molly Shannon doing her famous Mary Catherine Gallagher character.

I adore Kamala Harris, but I found this a bit cringe. Like, the wrong tone? Maybe the disrespect was the point – she doesn’t take this event seriously, nor should she. Just hours before the Al Smith dinner, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles “agreed to pay $880 million to 1,353 people who say they were sexually abused as children by Catholic clergy.” This was the largest single payout in the years since the Church’s widespread child abuse crime ring was outed. In just the Archdiocese of LA alone, the settlements from lawsuits have crossed the $1.5 billion threshold. Why would a former prosecutor and advocate for women and children cozy up to these people? Why would she toast them?

All of which to say, Donald Trump did go to the event and he cozied up with Cardinal Dolan. Cardinal Dolan blasted VP Harris’s absence from the event, saying: “This year will be imbalanced because, sadly, Kamala Harris isn’t coming. It’s a shame because the nature of the evening is to bring people together. The nature of the evening is civility, patriotism, humor. It’s not a campaign speech. It’s not a campaign stop.” It is a campaign stop, be for real.

A photo that should bring shame to @CardinalDolan & the @USCCB. Dolan yucking it up with a man who has terrorized Haitian immigrants, many of them Catholic. And who has lied about so many other things, including hurricane relief. Shame on Timothy Dolan.https://t.co/w5lGQnwBNJ

— David Darmofal (@david_darmofal) October 18, 2024

The L.A. Archdiocese paying out nearly a billion (with a b) for sexual abuse on the same day Cardinal Dolan yucks it up sitting next to Trump is really the American Catholic heirarchy in a nutshell these days

— Patrick Dillon (@mpdillon) October 18, 2024

Kamala Harris made the right call by skipping tonight’s annual Al Smith dinner.

You don’t joke around with and normalize a deranged madman who wants to annihilate the Constitution. The DC/NYC elites may not get it, but we do—and we stand with her. pic.twitter.com/hhv5blAxnn

— Shea Jordan Smith (@shea_jordan) October 18, 2024

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Amy Adams looked lovely in Prada at the BFI London festival premiere of Nightbitch. Sigh… I hate that she’s the star of Nightbitch. [RCFA]
The first trailer for Megan Thee Stallion’s Prime documentary. [JustJared]
Kind of think we, as a society, have moved past the need for Victoria’s Secret runway shows. The state of those angel wings was sad. [LaineyGossip]
Is Texas going to tell Ted Cruz to pack it up and go? [Jezebel]
Julianne Moore & Tilda Swinton are such an attractive couple. [Socialite Life]
What industry is more sinister than people realize? [Pajiba]
What are some fun loopholes to exploit? [Buzzfeed]
A little skit about “gay twins.” [OMG Blog]
Happy birthday to Libra king Eminem. [Hollywood Life]
Jensen Ackles cares about his skin. [Seriously OMG]

Drake posted this photo on his socials this week. Just further evidence that Kendrick Lamar really did a number on this dude. The pigtails, the bows, the poutface… it’s like he’s trying to fit in at the playground. Shudder. “And I like to understand ’cause your house was never a home/ 37, but you showing up as a 7-year-old.” Which just reminded me of a popular theory going around – Drake’s 38th birthday is October 24th, next week. There’s a theory that Kendrick will drop his new album on Drake’s birthday. It’s been an open question for months now, ever since Drake and Kendrick’s beef… are we getting a new Kendrick album and when? It would make sense for Kendrick to drop an album before he performs at the Super Bowl Halftime show in February.

As for Drake, he’s still trying to reclaim the narrative or pretend that Kendrick didn’t fundamentally alter Drake’s image and career. One good way for Drake to change the narrative would be a high-profile romance with someone other than a teenage girl. What about newly single Jennifer Lopez? From In Touch:

Drake has been waiting for a second chance with Jennifer Lopez, and now that she’s about to be single again amid her divorce from Ben Affleck, a source exclusively tells In Touch that Drake and J. Lo have been in regular contact, exchanging flirty late-night calls and texts.

“As soon as she filed the papers, Drake reached out,” the insider continues. “He was very sweet and told her what a fool Ben is for letting her get away, and then he quickly let her know he’s ready and willing to step in and satisfy her.”

The “HYFR” rapper, 37, and “Jenny From the Block” songstress, 55, were first romantically linked in 2016, after sharing cozy photos on Instagram and being spotted kissing in videos at a prom-themed party. Months later, the New York native admitted that they were “hanging out” in February 2017, but did not delve further into the specifics of their relationship.

“They have their own history and a lot of chemistry, so it really did a lot to make her smile,” the source says. “Getting that kind of attention when she was feeling so low was exactly what she needed. Now they’re texting every day and things are getting hot.”

The insider explains that Jennifer’s “guards are up” as she is “well aware” of Drake’s player ways. While J. Lo may “not putting him in the relationship category,” the source adds that Drake “definitely meets her needs for a hook-up. He’s very intelligent and romantic and she can count on him being discreet because he’s always kept her secrets in the past,” the insider continues. “It’s still in the sexting stage but she loves hearing from him and sharing sexy selfies, he’s very quick to compliment her and he lays it on thick.”

When Jennifer’s ready to take things to the next level with Canadian rapper, the source says Drake is prepared to “drop everything and meet her wherever she wants,” adding, “It’s just a matter of her being in the right head space.”

[From In Touch via Yahoo]

I absolutely hope this is false across the board. No, I hope that Drake is trying to woo her and she’s just ignoring him, because if there’s anyone more toxic than Ben Affleck, it’s Drake. I actually believe that Drake would try to use J.Lo to change the narrative. I just hope she’s not playing that game.

Photos courtesy of Instagram, Backgrid.

Here are some photos of Prince William today in Cornwall. He visited the Duchy College Stoke Climsland in Callington, “to learn about how the college is providing opportunities for young people in rural areas.” He is, after all, the Duke of Cornwall. With that title came a vast and profitable real estate portfolio which provides William with an annual income of something like $40-50 million. We don’t know the exact figures because William refuses to disclose his tax information and anything about the current Duchy finances. He also doesn’t see any kind of connection between his inherited guardianship of a vast real estate portfolio and his keenness to “do something” about homelessness.

Speaking of homelessness, William was out last night at the Centrepoint Awards in London. I covered it separately in an earlier post. What I failed to mention was that William asked a couple of his Spencer cousins to come to the event too. Lady Kitty Spencer, Lady Amelia Spencer and Lady Eliza Spencer (the Earl Spencer’s daughters) came to the event and “supported” William. It cannot be underestimated how Prince Harry flipped the script on the Windsors this year – the Windsors thought they were setting Harry up to look desolate and alone at the Invictus service in London, but Charles Spencer and Harry’s aunts came to the service, as did some of the Spencer cousins. Then Harry flew in, undetected, to his uncle’s funeral and reportedly stayed at the Spencer ancestral home, Althorp. Now William is copying Harry on this as well – “I can show off MY connections to the Spencer family too, Harry, look at me!”

Meanwhile, I think it’s interesting that William stepped out for “work events” three days in a row this week. King Charles has already left for Australia today. Usually, when a major royal travels abroad, the left-behinds try not to pull focus from the foreign tour. I wonder if William is going to try to step on his father’s newscycles though. Or will William use the tour as an excuse to hibernate for a fortnight?

Last thing: does William know that the beard had aged him significantly? He already looked older than his age, but the greying, sleazy-looking beard makes him look like a frumpy 55-year-old.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Fox News platformed both of the presidential candidates yesterday. Kamala Harris sat down for a one-on-one with Bret Baier, who was disrespectful to VP Harris and was constantly interrupting her and trying to talk over her. VP Harris held her own, and Baier furiously tried to do damage control on-air after the interview. Meanwhile, Fox News hosted a “town hall” event for Donald Trump, in what was supposed to be a focus on women and women’s issues. This was not a town hall, it was Fox News organizing and platforming a MAGA rally – they brought in Trump supporters, not undecided voters. Trump was allowed to spew lies without fact-checking to his cult members and Fox News decided this was a “town hall.”

Fox News hosted an all-women town hall with former President Donald Trump, billed as an opportunity for female voters to ask the Republican candidate questions that matter to them. The Georgia town hall, where Trump took questions on reproductive laws, transgender rights and other issues, aired Wednesday morning. But Fox News did not disclose that the female audience it selected for the event was packed with local Republican supporters and the network edited its broadcast to remove some of their vocal advocacy of Trump.

The Georgia Federation of Republican Women wrote on its Facebook page Wednesday that the group helped host the event, posting photos from the venue and writing they were “Super excited for the opportunity of hosting this event right here in Georgia!” Shortly after CNN reached out to the group and Fox News about their role, the post was edited to state they were “excited for the opportunity of attending this event right here in Georgia!” The group’s president, Pam Lightsey, later denied that it had hosted the event.

The Republican Women of Forsyth County also posted a video from the event showing attendees chatting with Trump and Fox News host Harris Faulkner.

A Fox News spokesperson told CNN the event was not hosted by any Republican group and that it was the network’s event alone. But the right-wing outlet did not disclose the makeup of the audience in its press release announcing the town hall or in Faulkner’s introduction, stating only that it was “held with an audience entirely composed of women.”

The first question posed to Trump at the town hall came from a woman identified as Lisa, who asked the former president a question about the economy. The network did not disclose that Lisa is also the president of the Fulton County Republican Women group.

Some of the town hall attendees made it clear they were supporters of the former president, either in their questioning or in their attire. “I want to thank you for coming to a room full of women the current administration would consider domestic terrorists,” a woman named Alicia said to laughter from the audience before a question about foreign policy. But a portion of Alicia’s question was edited by Fox News to remove her admission that she was voting for Trump. “I proudly cast my vote for you today. I hope they count it,” she added, according to an audio recording from a CNN reporter in attendance.

[From CNN]

It’s utterly bizarre to watch Fox News lie about this so blatantly – the jig is up, we know that it’s not a real news network and we know that Fox exists as a Republican propaganda arm. Just be honest about it – “we filled this town hall with local Republican women and we’re going to show you all of the wingnuttery, in all of its Nazi glory.” As for the substance of the event… Trump claimed to be the “father of IVF.” True story, if Trump wins, IVF will be outlawed in at least half the country. That’s part of Project 2025.

Trump: “I’m the father of IVF”

FACT CHECK: IVF is under threat across the country because Trump ended Roe v. Wade and his Project 2025 plan could effectively ban IVF altogether. pic.twitter.com/tEOUiufDjO

— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 16, 2024

Fox host: The family of Amber Thurman, who died after not receiving urgent care needed for an infection under Georgia’s abortion ban, is speaking ahead of this town hall

Trump: We’ll get better ratings, I promise pic.twitter.com/LYBWH0RbFW

— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 16, 2024

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.