Why Does the Extreme Right Keep Winning?

The craziest faction of the party is rapidly gaining control. What’s poor Mitch McConnell to do?   [View in Browser]( [Esquire]( [SHOP]( EXCLUSIVE [SUBSCRIBE]( [Why Does the Wing-Nut Branch of the Republican Party Keep Winning?]( [Why Does the Wing-Nut Branch of the Republican Party Keep Winning?]( As August became September, and as the 2022 midterm elections gradually got close enough for everyone to get a clear look at them, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell had a very bad week at work. For months there had seemed a decent chance that, come January, he would transform into the majority leader again. Then suddenly, all hell broke loose around him. He was caught up in feuds with Senator Rick Scott, who was the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and with Peter Thiel, the fabulously wealthy cyber-millenarian who has grand dreams of turning the United States into a techno-oligarchy once we all give up that self-government business. In both cases, McConnell was the voice of reason. That was enough to stir up the extremists. [Read More](   [Berluti's '80s-Inspired Sneaker Is Extremely Expensive—And Ridiculously Good]( [Berluti's '80s-Inspired Sneaker Is Extremely Expensive—And Ridiculously Good]( If you're going to drop a sizable chunk of change on a pair of casual shoes, these are the ones you want. [Read More]( [If These People Get Their Way, 'Objective Journalists' Will Pine for the Days of Covering Gas Prices]( [If These People Get Their Way, 'Objective Journalists' Will Pine for the Days of Covering Gas Prices]( In the run-up to Election Day 2022, leaders of an American authoritarian movement have made no secret of their plans going forward. [Read More](     [Sink Your Fangs Into Our 20 Favorite Vampire Books]( [Sink Your Fangs Into Our 20 Favorite Vampire Books]( Long before vampires took over our screens, they took over our bookshelves. Ever since Dracula was published to massive acclaim in 1897, vampire mania has waxed and waned, but it’s never died out entirely (much like vampires themselves). After exploding across the literary canon, vampires went on to colonize film and television; now, they’re a backbone of popular culture, raking in millions of dollars across properties like True Blood, The Vampire Diaries, and Twilight. Not sure where to start? We’ve rounded up the best and brightest works of vampire fiction to start your journey through the dark and spooky night. Our favorites run the gamut from seminal texts to forgotten classics to modern reinventions. Sink your fangs into all twenty of them—and don’t come crying to us if you make a bloody mess. [Read More](   [The 35 Best White Sneakers to Buy Now and Wear All the Damn Time]( [The 35 Best White Sneakers to Buy Now and Wear All the Damn Time]( The style is as timeless—and timely—as ever. [Read More]( ['Dialed In' With Nick Sullivan: Your Essential Video Guide to GMT Watches]( ['Dialed In' With Nick Sullivan: Your Essential Video Guide to GMT Watches]( If you're a traveler, the GMT—named for "Greenwich Mean Time"—is the most useful complication you can own. [Read More](     [Glitz, Glam, and Gossip: My Life As a Page Six Snoop]( [Glitz, Glam, and Gossip: My Life As a Page Six Snoop]( For a brief spell, I wrote a featured gossip column for the New York Post. Three days a week, the column appeared in the slot once occupied by Leonard Lyons. It bore my name as its title and was accompanied by my postage-stamp-size photograph. The result was a certain personal celebrity and a measure of power I had never before known. The power derived from the fact that exposure is a precious commodity, and my column could provide it in spades. The celebrity meant that I was recognized and sought out in public places, flattered by waitresses at the Stage Delicatessen and questioned with endless curiosity about my job. It also made me an open target for criticism, personal and professional, sometimes inaccurate, occasionally vicious and always disheartening. I lived a fast life and one result may have been inevitable: for a time, I became almost totally self-absorbed. Admonished to distrust the flattery and to keep my distance from the glamour, I grew infatuated with both. And like any infatuation, mine was blind. [Read More](   [Win a 4-Night Getaway to Rincon, Puerto Rico ($2,000 Value)!]( Follow Us [Unsubscribe]( | [Privacy Notice/Notice at Collection]( esquire.com ©2022 Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Hearst Magazines, 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019