Trump’s Corruption Will Take Decades to Unravel

Making the Washington swamp his own is the greatest actual real estate deal he ever made. If you have trouble reading this message, view it in a browser.       Subscribe Today and You'll Get the Brand-New Issue of Esquire   Esquire's October/November issue, starring the legends David Byrne and Spike Lee, is now available—but that's not all you'll get by picking up a copy or subscribing today. By joining our membership program, Esquire Select, you'll get this issue, which includes an exclusive new story from Stephen King, a conversation with Francis Ford Coppola that will make you hopeful, the very best fall style advice (like how to master the art of quiet luxury and a primer on heritage menswear's big comeback), and so much more. Plus! An Esquire Select membership gets you unlimited access to all of Esquire.com—including The Politics Blog with Charles P. Pierce—and members-only deals from some of our favorite brands. For the best damn magazine on the planet, nearly nine decades worth of pop culture, politics, food, drink, and style authority, and access to our inner circle, it's the best money you'll ever spend. Read More           It's Going to Take Decades to Measure the Rot, Decay, and Corruption of the Trumpian Swamp   It probably is the greatest actual real-estate deal he ever made: Donald Trump managed to completely subsume the swamp in Washington into the vast moral and ethical morass that he's made of his entire life. It is going to take decades for people to measure the true extent of the rot, decay, and corruption into which the president has sunk the national government, and the extent of the destruction he has wrought on the national character. It has begun to seem as though the sudden injection of $10 million that the president*'s "self-financed" 2016 campaign received when it was tapped out right before that year's election has turned into a deep and rich vein of high-grade sleaze. First, there was the dubious deal in Las Vegas that netted his campaign $21 million when it only had $1.6 million left in the bank. This was revealed by the New York Times in its extended examination of the SuperFund site that is the president*'s taxes. Now, CNN has an even more interesting tale from the inside of Robert Mueller's investigation. Here's Charles P. Pierce on the latest development. Read More           Introducing The Esquire Investment: Prada's Endlessly Recyclable Nylon Jacket   Welcome to the first installment of The Investment, a new regular column highlighting those pieces—a little pricier, a lot nicer, and entirely worth the money—that we can't help but advocate for you owning. These are the things our editors love and respect. The picks with a story to tell and a real reason to exist. Looking to put your dollars in the right place? Here's how. Start with Prada's new nylon jacket, which brings '90s vibes directly into the future of fashion. Here's Esquire Creative Director Nick Sullivan on how the next stage of the inimitable Italian brand's ReNylon project provides some hope for the days ahead. Read More           The 18 Best Robes for Lounging Like Your Life Depends On It   If, for some reason, you've been intentionally avoiding the comfiest garment known to man, allow us to introduce you to the best possible thing you can do for your cold, trembling body—and, frankly, the worst possible thing you can do for your chances of ever leaving the house—this fall. Because once you wrap yourself in one of these bad boys you're never going to want to take it off. Cuffing season is fast approaching and that means one thing and one thing only: It's time to hole up at home in your fluffiest bathrobe and do nothing but binge watch terrible TV, gorging yourself on last-night's microwaved pizza while swaddled in a robe so soft it could make a grown man cry. Sure, wearing a robe full-time epitomizes what we like to call the cozy boy lifestyle, but it's also a downright regal move that should always make you feel like you're the king of your own—small, slightly shabby—castle. Here are 18 we are loving right now. Read More           The 60 Scariest Movies of All Time   Friends, skeletons, ghouls, gremlins, etc. etc.: At long last, it's Halloween season. Which might not be for you! And that's okay. Roll up to a pumpkin patch, wear a big sweater, drink some coffee, do whatever people who don't like Halloween do during fall. Just know that the following is not for you. Still here? Good. Good. Aside from the making of jet-black cocktails and dressing up to your heart's desire on the big day, Halloween demands a serious marathon run through the horror movie genre.We're not talking about oldies like It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. (Although we highly recommend a rewatch.) We're talking about the genuinely scary stuff. Jams from the minds of Kubrick, Argento, Peele. Tales of doomed cave-dives and camping trips. For all of your Halloween-season needs, here are the scariest movies of all time. Read More           Hillbilly Elegy and the Problem With Pop Culture's Appalachian Caricature   Esquire's Justin Kirkland, a native of Tennessee, felt unsettled on Wednesday morning, when the long-awaited trailer for Netflix's Hillbilly Elegy dropped online. The film, adapted from J.D. Vance's New York Times best-selling memoir, is directed by Ron Howard and written by Vanessa Taylor (The Shape of Water, Game of Thrones). It stars Glenn Close and Amy Adams. At first glance, it appears to be real mad lib of an Oscar-bait film. Set in the town of Middletown, Ohio, the Appalachian narrative feels, at first, like a unique one worth celebrating. But after watching the trailer, having already read the book, it's obvious that, much like the source material itself, this could end up another portrait of an outsider's Appalachia: a marketable caricature of a proud community of people. An embarrassment worth paying attention to. Here, Kirkland reflects on the original sin of the memoir, and why it looks like it will be continued in the film. Read More         Read More on Esquire.com       Follow Us     Unsubscribe  Privacy Notice   esquire.com ©2020 Hearst Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Hearst Email Privacy, 300 W 57th St., Fl. 19 (sta 1-1), New York, NY 10019