The Kamalaposting hangover

Welcome to Garbage Weekend. It’s the internet garbage you know and love, but in a format that’s easier to read while you stare longingly at your couch cushions.

Hello from the train. Once again, thanks for putting up with a reduced Garbage schedule this week. I am currently headed to Latitude and have about 90 minutes to get all of this down before I enter The Woods for the weekend. If I have any readers here, send me a message! Or come find me at at one of the booths that sell wine. Before I leave civilization, here’s a little garbage to tide you over.

This week, Vice President Kamala Harris saw the first bit of luster wear off. She put out a pretty aggressive statement condemning pro-Palestine activists that protested Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address in DC this week. Is running defense for the indiscriminate murder of civilians Brat? Are war crimes a Feminomenon? Discuss.

I actually wrote about how Harris will have to navigate this exact kind of tension — between viral populism and the messiness of real politics — in GQ this week. To quote myself, “Let a thousand fancams flourish. But Harris and her team would be best not to forget a piece of very old internet advice: You can’t force a meme.” For now, though, Harris is still in a good spot. So much so you have to wonder if Trump is looking to fire Peter Thiel’s favorite couch-fucker, JD Vance (he can’t lol). Trump is also still spending most of his posting energy dunking on President Joe Biden. Breakups are tough.

Confused about the Vance couch thing? Here’s a quick rundown. It started as a a joke on X, with user @rickrudescalves claiming Vance revealed in his memoir Hillbilly Elegy that he lubed up two couch cushions and had sex with them when he was a teenager. It went very viral and a lot of people believed it because, I mean, look at the guy, it seems like something he would do. The Associated Press, however, made the mistake of trying to debunk all this, declaring in a headline that Vance has never fucked a couch. But as many pointed out, can they actually prove that? How do we know? The AP has since deleted the post, but I think we, as a nation, should keep loudly discussing this until November.

Speaking of sad pathetic losers everyone hates, Elon Musk did an interview with Jordan Peterson. The two of them babbled at each other across a vast cognitive chasm of dissociatives and benzos, demonstrated in uniquely baffling ways that they both don’t know how to wear a blazer, and took turns crying about things they read online. It was during this interview though that Musk finally confirmed that it was his daughter coming out as trans that inspired his hard-right political turn over the last few years. His daughter has responded to the interview and it’s fantastically brutal.

And, finally, in strike news, Disney successfully bargained with Disneyland employees to avoid a strike. Hooray! But SAG-AFTRA is now striking against major video game companies who want to replace voice actors with AI. Speaking of, X is now training Grok with your posts, though you can click here to turn it off.

Also, just a disclaimer, I did not make my 90 minute window. This issue was edited in the end by Adam, with me barking instructions over the phone because it turns out British Rail WiFi doesn't allow you to open X links on a train. Which is, honestly, fair.

Oh well, here’s some fun stuff from Adam…

• An imitation AI-generated video 

• A good Olympics post

• JD Vance gossip from Jane Schoenbrun

• ”The Power of the Strength of the Heart, an erotic novella”

• A nice tribute to Billy Mays

• Eleven Bitcoin Matts

• “How do I follow back without making it awkward?”

• A good TikTok

P.S. here’s a guy drinking vinegar in the rain.

***Any typos in this email are Adam’s fault***