US vs. Iran: The Most Political World Cup Gets Its Most Politically Charged Match

Twitter vs. Porn Spam • Trump’s Fuentes Dinner • Georgia on the Mind [View in your browser]( | [Update your preferences](newsletter=vf) [Vanity Fair Hive logo image]( US vs. Iran: The Most Political World Cup Gets Its Most Politically Charged Match Good morning from the Hive newsroom! It’s win or go home for the United States in its first World Cup match up against Iran since 1998, when Iran won. Tuesday’s contest, though, is set against the backdrop of monthslong demonstrations in Iran in opposition to a violent regime, which is cracking down viciously on its own people. It’s created a red-hot atmosphere in Qatar, Tom Kludt [writes](, as the US soccer team, Iranian players, and their respective fans navigate the most politically complex match in an already politically charged World Cup. Stateside, it’s T-Minus seven days until Election Day in Georgia—again. In fact, next week’s runoff between Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker will be the sixth time Georgians will cast ballots in a Senate race in two years, making the state a political laboratory for both voter suppression efforts and organizing tactics, Chris Smith [reports](. Charlotte Klein [points out]( that Elon Musk’s decision to dramatically slash Twitter’s safety team made the platform susceptible to a suspected Chinese spam campaign, which flooded the site with porn in an apparent attempt to drown out news about protests in China over COVID-19 lockdown policies. With a soon-to-be Republican-controlled House looming, Democrats are running out of time to ban assault weapons, Eric Lutz [says](. Lastly, surprise, surprise—or, rather, Bess Levin [wasn’t surprised at all](: Donald Trump reportedly didn’t want to condemn his white supremacist dinner date Nick Fuentes because he was worried he’d loose supporters. [US vs. Iran: The Most Political World Cup Gets Its Most Politically Charged Match]( By [Tom Kludt]( [Coach Gregg Berhalter and team captain Tyler Adams faced a grilling by Iranian journalists, as unrest in Iran is spilling out into protests in Qatar. The must-win match is rife with geopolitical tensions reminiscent of the countries’ last on-field face-off nearly a quarter century ago.]( [Read more button](   [Georgia Has Become a Political Experiment]( By [Chris Smith]( [In the December runoff election, Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker face off in what will be Georgia’s sixth Senate vote in two years—a campaign environment defined by voter suppression, shifting demographics, and some of the starkest divides in American politics.]( [Read more button](   [Elon Musk Slashed Twitter’s Safety Team. Then a Chinese Spam Campaign Ran Rampant]( By [Charlotte Klein]( [Twitter’s scaled-down anti-propaganda team struggled to contain Chinese-language accounts tweeting adult content—spam suspected to be linked with China’s government in order to drown out news about protests over COVID-19 policies. “Looks like we might have the first major failure to stop gov interference in the Musk era,” said one cybersecurity expert.]( [Read more button](   [The Clock Is Ticking for Democrats to Pass an Assault Weapons Ban]( By [Eric Lutz]( [After another spate of mass shootings, Joe Biden is renewing his push to get Congress to pass major gun reform before Republicans take control of the House next year.]( [Read more button](   [Report: Trump Doesn’t Want to Condemn His Holocaust-Denying Dinner Date Because It Might Alienate His Jew-Hating Supporters]( By [Bess Levin]( [The president who reportedly insisted that Hitler “did a lot of good things” wants to keep his antisemitic followers happy.]( [Read more button](   Get on the list Subscribe to our Hollywood newsletter for your essential industry and awards-season news, every day. [Sign Up Now](   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [LinkedIn](   This e-mail was sent to you by The Hive. 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](newsletter=vf) Sent from Condé Nast, 1 World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007 Copyright © 2022 Condé Nast