The Powers That Be: Daily

Tina Nguyen joins Peter to discuss how enterprising hillbilly candidate J.D. Vance milked Peter Thiel and Donald Trump for more money and a life-changing endorsement, and what it means for the berserk race between Dr. Oz and David McCormick in Pennsylvania. Then Ben Landy brings us into the Puck newsroom with updates on Elon, Ackman, and Roe.

Dylan Byers joins Peter Hamby to discuss the latest dish on Semafor, the Ben & Justin Smith new mediaco: who they've tried to recruit, the interesting model, and what the company is really trying to do—and be. Teddy Schleifer also joins to discuss Elon Musk's bizarre deal history. Turns out Twitter is really of a piece with his eccentric history of leveraging himself into oblivion.

Puck’s senior political correspondent Tara Palmeri joins Peter to discuss the stunning revelation that the Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, what it means for women, what it means for the midterms, and whether there’s anything that Democrats can do to stop it.

William D. Cohan joins Peter to discuss the bull and bear case for Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, the deal’s nine-figure escape clause, and how Wall Street’s biggest banks are betting on the outcome. Then Eriq Gardner swings by to explain how Netflix can recover from one of the most shocking downturns in Hollywood history. 

Jon Kelly talks with Peter about the public markets media meltdown—all the Netflix player haters, the Spotify mini-correction, and how media narratives are killing the media business. They also discuss the latest Twitter dish before Dylan Byers offers his recap of the White House Correspondents Weekend.

Teddy Schleifer joins Peter to discuss Elon Musk’s crazy past few years—how a guy running an underperforming public company (Tesla) became the world’s richest man, a political icon, and the putative owner of Twitter. It wasn’t always a straight line. And then Eriq Gardner explains HBO’s NBA headache and the NFL’s crafty workaround.

Julia Ioffe joins Peter to discuss the latest turns in Russia’s war with Ukraine, and how the White House has decidedly changed its stance. Also: what’s with all these rumors of Putin’s decline? And Tina Nguyen explains why Trump will scorn Elon Musk till the bitter end.

Dylan Byers joins Peter to discuss the backroom conversations taking place both at Warner Bros. Discovery and CNN. What happens to the star anchors? Did Jason Kilar wear metal ear plugs? Why do the old Time Warner assets keep getting divorced? And then Baratunde Thurston explains how Twitter became, well, Twitter.

William D. Cohan, who called the Musk takeover all along, talks to Peter about the next steps in the twitter takeover process. And Julia Ioffe swings by to discuss the latest in Russia’s war. 

Jon Kelly and Peter discuss the inside story behind David Zaslav’s decision to kill off CNN+: the personal beefs, the strategic blunders, the Kilar of it all, and the deeper and more sinister truth… Warner Bros. Discovery isn’t a media company so much as it’s a highly-levered and financially engineered corporate marriage of necessity. Zaz needs another Game of Thrones less than he needs $14 billion in EBITDA and $3 billion in synergies.