A New Boss 🇺🇸
Plus a review of my first boss’ new book on another golden age
WASHINGTON, DC—I’m thankful to each of you who’ve reached out to ask about this newsletter. In February, I accepted a role as the Senior Advisor for Public Diplomacy for the President’s Special Envoy to Ukraine. From my new perch here on the White House campus, I can personally assure you that the President is using every tool of national power to end the deadliest conflict since World War II.
It may only be day 86 of the second Trump Administration, but if feels like 86 years. Trump always moves faster than the speed of government, but the pace of his second term is even brisker than the first. The White House is a blur of activity.
As you might have guessed, I’ve had to relinquish my weekly column for the Daily Caller, but will continue to share tidbits from Washington and a few recipes from time to time.
📖 Book Review: When the Going Was Good
One of my very first jobs was working as an intern, and later, “special projects assistant” for Vanity Fair magazine in the mid 1990s under the masthead of Graydon Carter. He’s just released a book on his editorship, When the Going Was Good.
I should be put out with Graydon. After all, he called me “cheeky and rude” in the Washington Post. But dammit, he’s written a great book that captures the sophisticated and luxurious glamour of New York City publishing of the 1990s. It very much reminds me of the classic, New York Days, by the late Willie Morris of Yazoo, Mississippi (who, incidentally, was the author of the first piece—a Eudora Welty obituary—I helped edit at VF).
When I tell journalists today that we took black Lincoln Town Cars (not cabs or, good God, the subway) everywhere we went—or that Graydon spent 3x my salary on champagne one month, few believe me. Though just an intern back then, I learned a lot from my first boss about style, tailoring (“dress British, think Yiddish,” he said), and the fine art of thank-you notes and personal stationary.
Graydon covers it all in this book, and if you’ve any curiosity about the good old days of publishing, pick it up. Graydon himself reads the audio version.
🍸 Night Vespers
Though the Martini is the most American of cocktails, Ian Fleming made a “vesper martini” famous in Casino Royale. James Bond’s drink of choice is a potent sucker with quite a specific recipe. The original recipe used Kina Lillet, which is long gone, alas. Lillet Blanc remains the best substitute and the classic ratio is 3:1:0.5. Here’s how to make it.
Ingredients:
• 3 oz gin
• 1 oz vodka
• 1/2 oz Lillet Blanc (or Cocchi Americano as a modern substitute)
• Lemon peel for garnish
Method: Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add gin, vodka, and Lillet Blanc. Shake well until chilled (as James Bond orders, “shaken, not stirred”). Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a lemon peel twist.
🥃 Parting Shots
If you’re new to Tastes of Victory, you can access all the ToV newsletters right here on Substack. You can also jump to:
🥓 My opinion pieces on America’s National Security, including my past work in Newsmax, The Washington Times, and other outlets.
🥧 Favorite stories from the archives from my writing for Southern Living, Vanity Fair, Forbes, and Esquire.
🧂 And if you really want to dive into what’s going on with national security in Washington, don’t miss my work as a senior fellow with America First Policy Instituteand as a weekly columnist for the Daily Caller News Foundation.
🥃 Did you want try some of my books? Warning: just reading them might cause unexpected weigh gain. But if you fancy diving into my food trapezoid of bourbon, salt, bacon, and pie they’re right here on Amazon.