Spin Class Weekend Reads (5/9/25)
"Don't Fall Off the Moon!"
Happy Friday! I hope you had a better week than DHS Secretary Kristi Noem did.
My husband and I are both highly memetic thinkers, and incorporating dumb memes into our shared vocabulary is a big part of our love language. One of our favorites is:
Once you realize it’s a thing, it’s shockingly easy to pull cringe corporate aphorisms from everyday life. My new favorite came this week when my youngest was playing Star Wars Legos at the kitchen table and announced “okay Darth Vader, you can go to space but don’t fall off the moon.”
Needless to say, my husband and I immediately fed this into ChatGPT and asked it to write an outline for a business advice book. Look for Don’t Fall Off the Moon: Ambition, Humility, and You in an airport bookstore near you in 2026. We’re going to be thousandaires!
Now, links:
Thanks again to Preston Stewart for our great conversation on the influencer economy and national security (and welcome to new subscribers from Preston’s world!).
I’ve read a lot this week about the fallout from Ben Terris’ excellent, devastating John Fetterman profile, which popped as I was compiling last week’s Links. I didn’t include it then because I wanted more time to process and reflect on this story before writing about it. From a Spin Class perspective, a key takeaway is that former staffers virtually never go on the record, in such great detail, in a positive or negative way, about their boss (regardless of how they feel about that boss). It’s just not done.
Fetterman’s former chief of staff Adam Jentleson is a well-respected DC political pro, and absolutely understands this. He knew this would become a part of a messy conversations we’re having around the 25th Amendment, the gerontocracy, and the never-ending Biden age/election postmortems. I don’t know Adam personally (though we have mutual friends), but that he would work with Terris so closely, knowing exactly how it would play and what the impact to his own DC career could be, says to me that he is sincerely, deeply worried about Senator Fetterman and believed there were no other options to try to help him. The whole thing is terribly sad.
An excellent analysis by Allison Morrow of why the theatrics around yesterday’s U.S.-UK "trade deal” announcement don’t match its substance. The phrase “titanic nothingburger” makes an appearance. [CNN]
The India-Pakistan crisis is intensifying and there are no clear off-ramps emerging. Normally the U.S. would be working hard behind the scenes to de-escalate the situation, but JD Vance telling FOX News that an escalating conflict between two nuclear-armed powers is “fundamentally none of our business” doesn’t exactly help the many-hatted Marco Rubio manage this crisis. Plus, the U.S. does not currently have confirmed ambassadors in Islamabad or Delhi, nor has Trump nominated any. Anyways, Indian journalist Vaibhav Vats has a sobering take on how the increasing similarities between the Indian and Pakistani governments are actually worsening tensions. [The Atlantic]
Michelle Williams on “Fresh Air” sharing how she prepared for her viral 2019 Emmy acceptance speech on equal pay is a great public speaking case study. The whole interview is a joy.1 [NPR]
My fellow Biden NSC colleague Rear Admiral (ret.) Eileen Laubacher has launched a campaign to unseat Lauren Boebert for Colorado’s 4th District.2 Eileen is a decorated Naval Academy grad and veteran, one of the U.S.’s leading experts on Asia policy, and just a lovely mom, colleague, and human being to boot. The people of Colorado would be lucky to have her in Congress. [Eileen for Colorado]
“The new solo journalist is everywhere at once, not just tweeting but turning themselves into ever-present parasocial holograms.” Lots to chew on in this essay about the flood of journalists going independent right now. [One Thing]
Speaking of going solo: I’m working on a newsletter about hanging a shingle as an independent consultant, and compiling advice from others who have launched their own solo businesses. We’ve already gathered so many great tips, but could use even more - please share your advice, cautionary tales, resources here (for attribution or anonymously).
Also Dying For Sex is the best show of 2025 so far and I can’t wait for both Williams and Jenny Slate to win every award for it.
Fun fact: Lauren Boebert, Nancy Mace, and Ilhan Omar’s DC offices are all in the same corridor in Longworth! I have so many questions for the chaos muppet who made those assignments. You know he’s a Bravo fan.