Knowing the slimy side of politics is required these days.
“As the meeting wound down … Someone suggested a story about a video from Donald and Melania Trump’s first overseas trip. … When Donald reached for Melania’s hand, she slapped it away with a sharp flick of her wrist. ‘I didn’t see that,’ Pecker said, on the speakerphone. The half-dozen or so men in the room exchanged looks. One then noted that the footage of Melania’s slap had received a good deal of attention. ‘I didn’t see that,’ Pecker repeated, and the subject was dropped.
It was a telling moment. Even if the leader of a celebrity-news empire had missed the viral video from the President’s trip, Pecker’s decision to ignore the awkward moment for the First Family was not surprising. The Enquirer is defined by its predatory spirit—its dedication to revealing that celebrities, far from leading ideal lives, endure the same plagues of disease, weight gain, and family dysfunction that afflict everyone else. For much of the tabloid’s history, it has specialized in investigations into the foibles of public personalities, including politicians. In 1987, the Enquirer published a photograph of Senator Gary Hart with his mistress Donna Rice, in front of a boat called the Monkey Business, which doomed Hart’s Presidential candidacy. Two decades later, the magazine broke the news that John Edwards had fathered a child out of wedlock during his Presidential race. When Donald Trump decided to run for President, some people at the Enquirer assumed that the magazine would apply the same scrutiny to the candidate’s colorful personal history. “We used to go after newsmakers no matter what side they were on,” a former Enquirer staffer told me. “And Trump is a guy who is running for President with a closet full of baggage. He’s the ultimate target-rich environment. The Enquirer had a golden opportunity, and they completely looked the other way.”
CAFFEINATED POLITICS 