Dave Portnoy Bought Barstool Back. Can Erika Ayers Badan Keep His Pirate Ship on Course?

Georgia Indictment Looms • Pence’s Anti-Abortion Playbook • DeSantis’s Most Awkward Moments [View in your browser]( | [Update your preferences](newsletter=vf) [Vanity Fair Hive logo image]( Dave Portnoy Bought Barstool Back. Can Erika Ayers Badan Keep His Pirate Ship on Course? Good morning! With Congress in recess, the middle of August can be a slow time for political news. But this year, you have Republican hopefuls hitting the Iowa State Fair, Donald Trump possibly [getting indicted]( for a fourth time, and the first GOP debate on the way. Jack McCordick [finds]( Mike Pence planning to bring his hardline anti-abortion views to the debate stage next week in Milwaukee, while Bess Levin [captures]( Ron DeSantis’s “most awkward campaign moments.” Fresh off Dave Portnoy buying back Barstool Sports, Emily Jane Fox [profiles]( CEO Erika Ayers Badan, who spoke about the challenges in the sports betting space. “What Barstool is about—entertainment, satire, comedy, opportunistically capturing and creating viral conversations on the internet—that is so antithetical to what a highly regulated industry wants, or what the stock market likes,” she says. Thanks for reading! [Dave Portnoy Bought Barstool Back. Can Erika Ayers Badan Keep His Pirate Ship on Course?]( By [Emily Jane Fox]( [As Penn pivots from Portnoy’s brand of bro-ish excess to family-friendly ESPN, Barstool is free to be itself.]( [Read more button](   [Chris Christie: Trump Will Likely Sign Pledge to Support GOP Nominee]( By [Jack McCordick]( [The former New Jersey governor dismissed the ex-president’s debate comments as “nonsensical theater.”]( [Read more button](   [Ron DeSantis’s Most Awkward Campaign Moments]( By [Bess Levin]( [They may help explain why he’s trailing Donald Trump by dozens of points.]( [Read more button](   [Trump’s Legal Team Has Direct Ties to Georgia Voting Breach: Report]( By [Jack McCordick]( [Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s office has evidence that the former president’s counsel was much more involved than originally believed.]( [Read more button](   [Mike Pence Expected to Go All-In on Anti-Abortion Stance in First GOP Debate]( By [Jack McCordick]( [The former VP plans to target Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis for not explicitly supporting a federal ban.]( [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 © 2023 Condé Nast