‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ in 2023; Mainstream Dissident Fridge; George Santos’s Shenanigans

A special year-end digest from the Hive. [View in your browser]( | [Update your preferences](newsletter=vf) [Vanity Fair Hive logo image]( The Handmaid’s Tale in 2023; Mainstream Dissident Fridge; George Santos’s Shenanigans Good morning from the Hive newsroom. It’s been a weird year in America, to say the least, and at Vanity Fair, we tried to capture some of that sentiment. Contributing editor Monica Lewinsky [observed](, “In 2023, we are (sadly) closer to the reality of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale than we were when the book was published in 1985.” For our Hollywood issue, James Pogue [wrote about]( a dissident-fringe view that has rapidly become mainstream on the right and is whirling around the American West. And speaking of so-called mainstream politics, Bess Levin covered the outrageous shenanigans of [George Santos]( and the disturbing revelations of [Mike Johnson](. Plus, of course, this is the year that Donald Trump promised he’d be a dictator on day one of his presidency, and Molly Jong-Fast wrote that [we should take him seriously](. Thanks for reading. [Monica Lewinsky in New York City last month.]( [Monica Lewinsky: 25 “Randoms” on the 25th Anniversary of the Bill Clinton Calamity]( By [Monica Lewinsky]( [My name became public 25 years ago this week. What have I observed and learned in the quarter century since? Oh, plenty.]( [Read more button](   [Inside the Dissident Fringe, Where the New Right Meets the Far Left, and Everyone’s Bracing for Apocalypse]( By [James Pogue]( [Preppers, techies, hippies, and yuppies are converging on the American West, the safest place to “exit” a society gone haywire.]( [Read more button](   [George Santos Has Been Booted From Congress: A Look Back at His Most Absurd Lies and Cons]( By [Bess Levin]( [From allegedly bilking a homeless veteran out of money raised to pay for a sick dog’s surgery to claiming he had employees who died in the Pulse shooting, these are the most shameless lies and scams the recently expelled congressman has told (that have thus far come to light).]( [Read more button](   [Donald Trump’s “Dictator” Promise Is No Joke]( By [Molly Jong-Fast]( [The MAGA base is cheering on Trump’s antidemocratic rhetoric, which the media should take very seriously.]( [Read more button](   [“Smart People Are Falling for Stupid Lies”: How One Florida County Has Become Ground Zero for the Far Right’s Education Blitz]( By [Kathryn Joyce]( [From board battles to book bans to “woke” audits, Republicans in Sarasota are waging a grassroots assault on “everything, everywhere, all at once,” says the county’s former school board chair.]( [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