Homemade hurricanes & supper clubs

Or, three weeks before the election that will decide our fates, no biggie

Welcome to this week’s Hot Tip. My tip for the Democrats? Make your emails sound less desperate. Subject line JUST THREE DOLLARS! isn’t working for me. Not demure, not mindful. But also, chip in if you can, it’s too close for comfort right now.

Call her Madame President. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump may be targeting different audiences (women and incels, respectively), but they are both broadening the scope of the traditional wannabe-prez media circuit to include podcasts. VP Harris was on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy, which I learned this week is the second most popular podcast, behind Joe Rogan (again, women and incels, respectively!)

A lot of the talk around the podcast appearance is fixated on Cooper’s angry listeners, but I was glad to see there’s just as much applause for her decision to talk politics.

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Admittedly, I had never listened to the podcast before — but I am a subscriber now! And I think Alex Cooper using her platform this way — and a presidential candidate taking the opportunity to talk to millions of women — is huge. While so much of the media landscape is changing for the worse, this is one change for the better. Meet people where they’re at: on their phones, in sweatpants, waiting in line for an overpriced bagel.

As mentioned, Trump is making the rounds on podcasts too, but I have absolutely no interest in humanizing him or sharing those clips, because he is an evil nonhuman in a vaguely human-like skin suit.

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“Weather modification.” My girl Marj is back on her bullshit, this time about weather control, insisting that “they” (?) are creating hurricanes intentionally. But if weather control were in fact possible, A Cinderella Story (2004) would have been a much shorter film. (Thank god it isn’t & wasn’t.)

Of course, Donald Trump did once float the idea of nuking a hurricane (and I don’t mean microwaving it.) An expert reportedly responded, "Sir, we'll look into that."

Personally, I wouldn’t trust any of them with a volcano science fair project, and btw, neither would her colleagues. One North Carolina GOP Rep had to send out a press release insisting “Hurricane Helene was NOT geoengineered by the government to seize and access lithium deposits in Chimney Rock,” among other things. Okay, wait, maybe MTG is a mole trying to get Republicans to admit climate change is real?

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Texas toast? Democrat Colin Allred is only three points behind Ted Cruz according to a recent poll, with 11 percent of voters undecided. It may be a lucky number for the rep — Allred defeated an 11-term Republican congressman in 2018 and has made restoring abortion rights a centerpiece of his campaign. They’ll be debating next week (Oct 15) and while I try to avoid Ted Cruz’s face for obvious reasons, I’ll make an exception. Or cover half of my tv.

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Macron in Denial. French President Emmanuel Macron says he will fight hard to keep Emily in Paris in Paris, despite the season four twist ending that the titular character would be moving to Rome. And I don’t blame Macron for making the effort: His approval rating is at a dismal 26%, while Emily’s is sitting comfortably at 63% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Meanwhile — Mulaney on Netflix. After his very strange and immensely enjoyable weeklong gig on a show called Everybody’s in LA, John Mulaney will be back on TV (laptops, really) in 2025 with a weekly variety show. I am so incredibly excited for John, and also for all the women who I’m sure will also soon be given hosting gigs in late night/variety.

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The Rise of the Supper Club. One of my favorite things to do is host my friends for dinner (or, more trendily, supper) and I’ve noticed an uptick in supper-club content on my Instagram feed. What’s a supper club? Basically, a regular gathering of friends with new, seasonal recipes and aesthetically pleasing decor.

Now, you might be thinking, Alex, you’re just describing dinner. And maybe I am. But we are the generation that milks new nuts faster than the old ones can become “actually really high in sugar.” Of course we rebranded dinner.

My favorite supper-clubbing follow at the moment: @cookingwithrel.

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What to say to Jews for our fasting and repenting holiday that isn’t ‘Happy Yom Kippur’: “Have a meaningful fast.”

Where the polls are tightest and could use your help with phone banking: Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Georgia.

Which GOP candidate confused sun protection and baby making: Kari Lake, when she said in an AZ Senate debate she would protect “UVF.”

Whose music I’ll stream a little extra as a thank you: Taylor Swift, who donated $5 million to Feeding America in the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

As Barack Obama once said and then said a bunch more times tonight in Pittsburgh—

I’ll be back next week, and would love if you could share this newsletter with 7 friends before midnight, or you’ll have bad luck for 7 years. xoxo.