The Navigator, Saturday, July 19, 2025
Epstein's 3-minute gap, the MAGA revolt, Coldplay's nosy Jumbotron, heat insurance, global wins fighting cancer, rizz tips, cutting Colbert, "teflon capitalism"—and more
Happy weekend! It’s been another hot week for some, and chilling for others.
Donald Trump’s key focus this week was his battle against the media. For years, he’s been filing lawsuits against news outlets and calling them “the enemy of the people.” But this past week marked an escalation of that behavior, and a change in the size and nature of his attacks on the First Amendment, journalism and the news stories and reporters he doesn’t like.
And it’s no wonder. The Epstein files dominated the news cycle—and specifically Trump’s decision to release only some of the papers detailing the government’s investigation of the late, disgraced financier and convicted sex offender who was one of Trump’s close friends before he died in prison in 2019. This past week, stories and photos circulated on social media showing Trump partying with Epstein. At first, Trump dismissed it all as “fake news.” But as a new series of public opinion polls by CNN and by Quinnipiac University began showing that nearly as many Republicans as Democrats disapproved of Trump’s refusal to make more files public, he began lashing out at some members of his own party.
Then, on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal published a story about how, in 2003, Trump contributed a “bawdy” birthday message and outline of a naked woman to an Epstein birthday album. Trump vehemently denied it was his, and just 24 hours later, Trump sued the Journal for $10 billion, including the two reporters who broke the story.
Legal and media scholars we consulted Friday said the actions seriously challenge and defy the Constitution’s guarantee of a free press and free speech. “As far as I can tell, no sitting president has ever sued a reporter or media outlet or media executive for allegedly defaming him,” First Amendment attorney Ted Boutrous told CNN. “When you have the presidential bully pulpit, you simply don’t need to sue to get to the truth.”
In other moves against the media this week:
CBS announced, in a Trump-pressured decision, that it would be canceling Stephen Colbert’s Late Show next spring. The network insisted publicly that the move was financially driven, but Colbert’s supporters said it also was politically motivated. Colbert, like most late night hosts, has frequently criticized Trump and other lawmakers in his opening monologues.
The House narrowly voted Friday, 216-213, to approve a Trump plan to rescind $1.1 billion in previously allocated funds to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)—a move that cuts all federal support for National Public Radio, PBS and their member stations. Trump has been accusing the news organizations of “biased reporting” and “woke” programming. The House action late Friday sends the cuts to Trump’s desk for his formal approval.
As Trump’s second presidency continues to unfold, his repeated, blistering attacks on the press have been one of the things most worrying to those who fear for America’s health as a democracy—but are also seen by many conservatives as being long overdue.
Bob Thompson, a Syracuse University professor of television and popular culture, told us that “a generation ago, all of this would have seemed an outrage in our history as a democracy. But now? I fear that Trump’s attacks on the media are just one more factor in an area of American civic life already deeply ailing and standing near the edge of a cliff.”
Let us know your thoughts.
The world is winning the war on cancer (The Economist)
Progress has been remarkable. Death rates are down substantially, and are likely to fall further.
The FBI’s Jeffrey Epstein Prison Video Had Nearly 3 Minutes Cut Out (WIRED)
Newly uncovered metadata from the “raw” Epstein prison video shows approximately 2 minutes and 53 seconds were removed from one of two stitched-together clips. The cut starts right at the “missing minute.”
Bring On the MAGA Revolt (WIRED)
Donald Trump’s own strategists and advisers aren’t sure the president’s base will survive Jeffrey Epstein’s ghost.
How to Be More Charismatic, but Not Too Much More (The Atlantic)
It turns out that being charming has a happy mean.
How Not to Have Your (Alleged) Extramarital Intra-Office Affair Exposed On a Jumbotron at a Coldplay Concert (Vanity Fair)
It happens more often than you’d think.
How Much Does a Heat Wave Cost? Insurers and CEOs Want to Know (Bloomberg)
A new market for heat insurance is emerging—driven by the growth in AI and the need to keep data centers cool. Future AI processors are expected to consume up to 15,360 watts of power.
Big Donors Show Up After Disasters but there is a need for them to give more dollars to preparedness—and resilience. (The Robb Report)
Just 5.5 percent of disaster funding went toward either preparedness or resilience, risk reduction and mitigation in 2022, the Robb Report revealed this week.
Teflon capitalism, tested (The Economist)
Bit by bit, the world economy’s resilience is being worn away. Growth has held up astonishingly, given geopolitics. But it can’t last forever.
Trump says he ‘absolutely loves’ that CBS canceled Stephen Colbert’s Late Show (USA Today)
In a July 18th Truth Social post, Trump said “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings.”
Analysis: How bipartisan support for public media unraveled in the Trump era (NPR)
Nearly 60 years after President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 into law, Congress voted to take back federal funding already promised for the public media system. The Republican majority has accused PBS and NPR of left-leaning bias and being a waste of taxpayer funds.
DATA STORY: New data maps show the “severe” shortage of local journalism in the United States. (The Nieman Foundation/Harvard)
The shortages of local reporters across the nation are even more severe and widespread than originally thought by researchers.
People Are Using AI Chatbots to Guide Their Psychedelic Trips (WIRED)
As psychedelic companies and therapy apps experiment with AI, people are already taking huge doses of drugs and are using chatbots to process their trips.