JFK Jr.’s Former Magazine Zombified Into a Conspiracy Theorist Slop Shop
The new ‘George’ is detached from its original style and reality.
Boy, George.
If you live in a major American city, particularly New York or Washington, D.C., you’ve probably seen a young man (or several) wearing a backwards Kangol flat cap lately.1 It’s not a sudden Samuel L. Jackson infatuation or even Date Mike cosplay. It’s the renewed cultural influence of the late John F. Kennedy Jr., thanks to the popular FX miniseries Love Story, which details the political scion’s romance with and marriage to Carolyn Bessette Kennedy in the years before their tragic deaths.
But JFK Jr.’s style choices, which are great but hard to replicate, are not the only part of his legacy that’s coming back. George magazine, the political and lifestyle publication that he launched in 1996 and that shut down in 2001, is also operating again.
Unfortunately, the new George only vestigially resembles the original magazine, looking instead like an AI-powered MAGA slop factory.2
The publication’s comeback actually antedates the FX miniseries by several years: It re-emerged in 2022 with Gene Ho, who had been Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign photographer, as its owner and editor-in-chief.
Ho had previously attempted to run for mayor of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, only to encounter some political trouble because of his QAnon beliefs. But that was hardly a speed bump for an aspiring MAGA-coded publisher. And in 2023, he scored Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for the George cover, after Kennedy—the family’s black sheep and current health and human services secretary—announced his presidential run.
Yet somehow RFK Jr. appears to be the least-weird thing about the new incarnation of the magazine. The George website features a section on cryptocurrency, a special project about time travel, and an e-book about “the cost of knowing too much.”
The magazine’s covers are no longer graced by A-list celebrities like Cindy Crawford, Robert De Niro, and George Clooney. They frequently feature strange graphics like, well, this:
The magazine also has an online store, where shoppers can buy ties featuring Jesus overseeing a man who looks eerily similar to Nathan Drake with a glowing chest, a mousepad featuring AI-generated steampunk cats named Cogsworth and Whiskerbolt, and a hat that “proclaims your preference for mountains and trees over Wi-Fi and trending posts.” (Don’t tell Tim Miller, but this is going to be his holiday gift.)
Now, with the success of the FX miniseries, the magazine is naturally fielding a lot of requests. Ho posted on his Facebook account that he will not be commenting on the show out of respect to the Kennedys. Along with an AI image of random people at a dining table, none of whom look like Ho, he wrote:
Be careful of those who pretend to speak on behalf of JFK, Jr. THAT IS... those who weigh in on every JFK, Jr. issue or show as if they have a connection. We are George Magazine and the mission is the same... that is: Not Just Politics as Usual. That is the trademark we hold as well.
However, when the Love Story show came out... major news sources wanted us to comment. We did NOT. And we will NOT review or comment on that show because they did NOT contact the Kennedy family members and the Kennedy’s did NOT weigh in.
So, what does it tell you about those who try to make a connection by being an expert on the family. George Magazine was the magazine that interviewed RFK, Jr. and we HIGHLY respect ALL the Kennedy’s.
Maybe Ho’s version of George is a perfect fit for this moment. JFK Jr. was the most prominent member of his generation of the Kennedy dynasty, and he wanted to turn politics into a lifestyle brand. RFK Jr. is now the most prominent Kennedy, and he and his MAHA movement have blended public policy with vibes and cultural identity better than JFK Jr. ever did.
The House sometimes wins
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) introduced a bill Tuesday to ban prediction market gambling on government actions and other events deemed easy to manipulate. The Banning Event Trading on Sensitive Operations and Federal Functions (BETS OFF) Act would prohibit Americans from gambling on government actions, war, and “events where an individual knows or controls the outcome.”
Murphy introduced the bill with Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), who is leading the House effort. Murphy said Tuesday that the corruption that prediction markets have spawned isn’t just bad for our government—it’s bad for our souls.
“What happens to us spiritually when every moral question in this country just becomes a market? Don’t we lose something? Don’t we rot a little bit inside when the question of famine in Gaza isn’t a question of what’s right and what’s wrong, but whether you can make money or lose money?” he asked. “I think it’s really important that there are certain matters that are not monetized by prediction markets.”
Murphy told me that while his bill only addresses the manipulation component, Democrats are exploring broader restrictions on prediction markets in the United States.
“I think there’ll be a suite of pieces of legislation that will allow us to take a more comprehensive look,” he said. “For my part, this bill doesn’t cover the waterfront in terms of what is concerning in these markets. But this seems to be the most urgent problem right now because there is such obvious deep corruption happening inside this White House.”
There are no online betting odds currently listed on the chances of this bill getting passed. But if we had to wager, we’d say it faces an uphill battle in Congress. Donald Trump Jr. is a strategic adviser to and investor in Polymarket, one of the biggest online betting markets. And there is continuous speculation that bettors with inside information are moving to profit off of Trump administration actions. All of which would make it uncomfortable for Republicans to attach themselves to a piece of legislation like this—lest they look like they’re acknowledging a problem with Trump-related corruption.
“Listen, I think that this is really hard issue for Republicans right now,” Murphy said. “There’s not a lot of evidence that Republicans are willing to stand up to President Trump when he’s making money corruptly.”
Regular Press Pass readers will recognize the basic contours of this story. Another straightforward anti-corruption measure, a ban on congressional stock-trading, has already died on the vine. Anyone who took civics in high school could have predicted that Congress wouldn’t want to limit its own ability to be corrupt. And anyone who’s seen American politics for the past decade could have predicted that Republicans would not do anything to prevent corruption in the Trump administration. It’s just as the Founders intended.
Kash for clunkers
FBI Director Kash Patel is hard at work these days. Between drinking and partying at the Olympics, jetting to his girlfriend’s concerts on the taxpayer’s dime, and meeting his childhood heroes, Patel deserves a little something extra, like a custom pair of Nikes.
The shoes feature a large “9” around the mudguard (Patel is the ninth director of the FBI), his personal “K$H” logo on the tongue, Marvel’s Punisher skull on the left heel, and the FBI motto, “Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity” on the right heel. The color scheme gives a hint of saddle shoe, or maybe Pittsburgh Steelers fandom.
Aesthetically speaking, the shoes are a catastrophe. This often happens when someone without good taste receives carte blanche for unlimited customizations.
Unfortunately for any Patel superfans out there, these appear to be one-of-ones. You won’t be able to get them unless you have too much time to spend on the Nike ID website. I suppose you could always get the original ugly MAGA sneakers.
I will probably rock one of these when I’m in my sixties. A good rule of thumb is to not wear unique hats until all your hair is gray. An old man wearing a beret? Sophisticated, intellectual, adorable. A twenty- or thirtysomething man in one? No sir, I don’t need to hear a passionate case about why that IPA is so good. I know it’s going to taste like a pinecone.
As far as I can tell, the new George will print individual issues for sale via its website, but I don’t think they’re ordering large print runs of each issue to sell at, I don’t know, MAGA rallies or whatever. If you see a new-era George in the wild, please let me know.
Lucky Tim! haha
"I know it’s going to taste like a pinecone" Joe gets it 😂 Excellent footnotes as always.