How Rupert Murdoch’s Retirement Protected Lachlan’s Perch

House of Horrors • Whales, Football, and Forbes • Trump’s Inflategate [View in your browser]( | [Update your preferences](newsletter=vf) [Vanity Fair Hive logo image]( How Rupert Murdoch’s Retirement Protected Lachlan’s Perch Good morning from the Hive newsroom! Is the truth really stranger than fiction? That may certainly be case for HBO’s Succession, which, according to Gabriel Sherman’s [latest scoop]( on the Murdoch empire, hewed eerily close to its source material. Sources tell Sherman that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch discussed the patriarch stepping down so as to avoid a power vacuum in case he suddenly died. “Lachlan didn’t want his father to go,” one source says, “but it was more like, How long are we going to pretend you’re immortal?” Zooming out from Murdochland, Molly Jong-Fast [takes]( House Republicans to task for being leaderless during two major geopolitical crises, while Bess Levin [catches]( a juicy new development around how Donald Trump greatly inflated the value of his real estate. Thanks for reading! [How Rupert Murdoch’s Retirement Protected Lachlan’s Perch]( By [Gabriel Sherman]( [Sources say father and son discussed the move as a way to avoid a messy transfer of power, not unlike the scenario that played out on Succession’s final season. As one notes, “Truth is stranger than fiction.”]( [Read more button](   [House Republicans Have Opened the Gaetz of Hell]( By [Molly Jong-Fast]( [The Speaker’s race puts GOP dysfunction on display at a moment when leadership in Washington is sorely needed.]( [Read more button](   [Scalise, Jordan, and Maybe McCarthy Are Off to the Races for House Speaker]( By [Eric Lutz]( [The stakes couldn’t be higher amid tensions in Ukraine and Israel. But with the GOP still riven by petty feuds, can the party actually coalesce around a new leader?]( [Read more button](   [Oops: Court Documents Show Trump Knew His Manhattan Triplex Isn’t Actually 30,000 Feet]( By [Bess Levin]( [The ex-president signed a document putting the square footage at 10,996 square feet, despite later telling banks it was almost triple the size.]( [Read more button](   [Trump Spent Monday Ranting About Whales, Football, and the Forbes 400 List]( By [Bess Levin]( [He appeared to claim the publication and the New York attorney general are “working” together to take him down.]( [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]( Sent from Condé Nast, 1 World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007 Copyright © 2023 Condé Nast