<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:googleplay="http://www.google.com/schemas/play-podcasts/1.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Hot Tip: Hot Takes]]></title><description><![CDATA[Hot Tip's interview series providing you with expert takes from hot and interesting people.]]></description><link>https://www.readhottip.com/s/hot-takes</link><image><url>https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SVQr!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff9fbe546-ee2d-42d7-8f6a-d490c4e5318f_1081x1081.png</url><title>Hot Tip: Hot Takes</title><link>https://www.readhottip.com/s/hot-takes</link></image><generator>Substack</generator><lastBuildDate>Wed, 15 Jul 2026 03:06:00 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://www.readhottip.com/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><copyright><![CDATA[Alex Friedman]]></copyright><language><![CDATA[en]]></language><webMaster><![CDATA[alexfriedman@substack.com]]></webMaster><itunes:owner><itunes:email><![CDATA[alexfriedman@substack.com]]></itunes:email><itunes:name><![CDATA[Alex Friedman]]></itunes:name></itunes:owner><itunes:author><![CDATA[Alex Friedman]]></itunes:author><googleplay:owner><![CDATA[alexfriedman@substack.com]]></googleplay:owner><googleplay:email><![CDATA[alexfriedman@substack.com]]></googleplay:email><googleplay:author><![CDATA[Alex Friedman]]></googleplay:author><itunes:block><![CDATA[Yes]]></itunes:block><item><title><![CDATA[Emily Horne knows spin when she sees it]]></title><description><![CDATA["When everything is a scandal, then nothing is a scandal."]]></description><link>https://www.readhottip.com/p/emily-horne-knows-spin-when-she-sees</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.readhottip.com/p/emily-horne-knows-spin-when-she-sees</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Alex Friedman]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 27 May 2026 11:02:01 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/4e0abd53-3484-4f2b-8752-350f181f47d8_1998x1675.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<h5 style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>Too long for your inbox? <a href="https://www.readhottip.com/p/emily-horne-knows-spin-when-she-sees">Read the full interview here.</a></strong></em></h5>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Kate Yablunovsky says Russians do blush, actually ]]></title><description><![CDATA["With Ilya, a lot of that 'Russianness' comes from restraint rather than excess."]]></description><link>https://www.readhottip.com/p/kate-yablunovsky-says-russians-do</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.readhottip.com/p/kate-yablunovsky-says-russians-do</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Alex Friedman]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2026 17:30:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/f107c76c-2549-4167-b241-f7060615fc18_1998x1675.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em><strong>Kate Yablunovsky is a Canadian casting director</strong></em> who has worked on award-winning films like <em>Pieces of a Woman</em> and <em>Splitsville&#8212;</em>2025&#8217;s funniest movie, in this publication&#8217;s correct opinion. Lately, though, you may have seen her name popping up in <em><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/arts/television/heated-rivalry-connor-storrie-hudson-williams.html">The New York Times </a></em>or on <em>Late Night with Seth Meyers </em>for her work as Connor Storrie&#8217;s dialect coach on <em>Heated Rivalry</em>, a lil global phenomenon that has&#8212;<em>rightly</em>&#8212;infiltrated <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/andy-cohen-anderson-cooper-heated-rivalry-new-years-eve-cnn-1236462267/">New Year&#8217;s Eve</a>, <a href="https://www.wmagazine.com/fashion/hudson-williams-milan-fashion-week">Milan and Paris Fashion Weeks</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18Ew1K0lQWw">the Golden Globes</a>, <a href="https://www.thecut.com/article/heated-rivalry-hockey-romance-books-sold-out.html">bookstores both local and online</a>, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/sports/olympics/heated-rivalry-actors-hudson-williams-connor-storrie-olympic-torches-rcna255395">the Olympics</a>, <a href="https://deadline.com/2026/01/connor-storrie-snl-host-1236704777/">SNL</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/nyregion/mamdani-heated-rivalry-library.html">the NYC mayor&#8217;s</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/30/do-the-leg-thing-mark-carney-jokes-with-heated-rivalry-star-hudson-williams-on-red-carpet">Canadian prime minister&#8217;s offices</a>, and, of course, our deeply hooked collective consciousness.  Recently, when I was scrolling Instagram in an elevator, an interview with Hudson Williams and Connor popped up and started playing with full blast audio; I quickly shut it off and apologized to the stranger I was sharing the lift with. <strong>&#8220;</strong><em><strong>It&#8217;s so good</strong></em><strong>,&#8221;</strong> she said. We spent the ride up the next three floors discussing the show. </p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!18gT!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb8f26f52-8ca6-4d04-b576-5f7a5f304dae_540x350.gif" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!18gT!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb8f26f52-8ca6-4d04-b576-5f7a5f304dae_540x350.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!18gT!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb8f26f52-8ca6-4d04-b576-5f7a5f304dae_540x350.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!18gT!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb8f26f52-8ca6-4d04-b576-5f7a5f304dae_540x350.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!18gT!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb8f26f52-8ca6-4d04-b576-5f7a5f304dae_540x350.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!18gT!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb8f26f52-8ca6-4d04-b576-5f7a5f304dae_540x350.gif" width="540" height="350" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/b8f26f52-8ca6-4d04-b576-5f7a5f304dae_540x350.gif&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:350,&quot;width&quot;:540,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie on the Heated Rivalry finale.&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie on the Heated Rivalry finale." title="Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie on the Heated Rivalry finale." srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!18gT!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb8f26f52-8ca6-4d04-b576-5f7a5f304dae_540x350.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!18gT!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb8f26f52-8ca6-4d04-b576-5f7a5f304dae_540x350.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!18gT!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb8f26f52-8ca6-4d04-b576-5f7a5f304dae_540x350.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!18gT!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb8f26f52-8ca6-4d04-b576-5f7a5f304dae_540x350.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption"><em>Ed. note: I think maybe HR is the closest thing to IRL Pluribus that we could experience as a society right now, and turns out I&#8217;m actually fine with it!!! Bring on the mind virus!!!</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Among everything that is so impressive about the show (<em>chemistry, cinematography, needle drops, butts, you name it</em>), the very American Connor Storrie&#8217;s ability to fully disappear into the very Russian Ilya Rozanov is at the top of the list of things I wanted to know more about, and, <em>duh</em>, share with you here. So I reached out to Kate, and she was generous enough to give us <em>le inside scoop </em>on her job and what it was like on set.</p><div><hr></div><h4>First of all, welcome to Hot Tip! And thank you so much for chatting about your incredible work and helping to create such an immersive, authentic world on <em>Heated Rivalry</em>. Or should I say, <em>spasibo.</em></h4><blockquote><p><em>Spasibo! </em>Thank you! I&#8217;m so happy to be here. Everyone on <em>Heated Rivalry</em>, the cast and the crew, was incredibly present and gave their all. There was a real sense of care and intention behind the work&#8212;a shared desire to tell this story honestly, and I think that commitment is a big part of why the show feels so authentic.</p></blockquote><h4>You primarily work as a casting director, and there&#8217;s no better example of the art form that is casting than <em>Heated Rivalry</em>, which brought two completely unknown, super talented actors into Beatlemania territory basically overnight. In 2026, the Oscars will also finally include an Achievement in Casting category, for the first time ever (!) which feels incredibly overdue. What was your journey to this career path?</h4><blockquote><p>Casting was never something I planned. It really found me, and I&#8217;m so grateful it did. When I was in film school, I volunteered anywhere I could in the industry just to meet people, make connections, and open doors for myself after graduating. One of those gigs was operating a camera at an audition session for Bruno Rosato Casting. I went in for the day and completely fell in love with that world.</p><p>I asked Bruno for an internship because I just wanted to keep coming back. He didn&#8217;t offer it on the spot, but a few weeks later he called. That internship turned into a job, then a promotion to associate, then casting director. Today, Bruno Rosato and I are partners, and we co-own Rosato Yablunovsky Casting together.</p><p>Casting is such a foundational part of why people connect to characters and fall in love with a story, so seeing it recognized with its own Oscar category is incredibly encouraging. It feels like the industry is finally acknowledging that [this work] is creative, intuitive, and absolutely central to storytelling.</p><p>I also want to give huge credit to Lewis Kay Casting, who cast <em>Heated Rivalry</em>. Their work is exceptional.</p></blockquote><h4>We&#8217;re also living in an extremely bizarre and rapidly changing moment in this industry with technology, where you&#8217;ve got <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/tilly-norwood-creator-particle6-eline-van-der-velden-talks-1236428824/">AI &#8220;actresses&#8221; popping up</a> and AI tools being used to <a href="https://deadline.com/2025/01/the-brutalist-ai-adrien-brody-felicity-jones-hungarian-brady-corbet-1236261622/">&#8220;enhance&#8221; non-English dialogue,</a> i.e. in <em>The Brutalist</em>, for which Adrien Brody ultimately won an Oscar. In that movie, editors used a tool called Respeecher to adjust the actors&#8217; Hungarian dialogue, making it &#8220;perfect&#8230;so that not even locals will spot any difference.&#8221; Where do you as both a casting director and dialect coach land on the debate over authenticity as a human vs. &#8220;perfection&#8221; in language?</h4><blockquote><p>I&#8217;m very firmly on the side of humanity. Accents carry <em>history, emotion, insecurity, pride. </em>When you sand all that down in pursuit of &#8220;perfection,&#8221; you lose something essential. <strong>I&#8217;m far more interested in truth than flawlessness.</strong> As both a casting director and dialect coach, I believe audiences connect to sincerity, even when it&#8217;s imperfect, because that&#8217;s how real people speak. Accents and languages tell stories, and stories need people.</p><p>That said, on a practical level, especially with accents, the circumstances aren&#8217;t always ideal. It depends on the time available, the performer&#8217;s ability to grasp language and accent, and the difficulty of the language itself. Hungarian, for example, is extremely complex. In cases like that, the craft of performance has to come first. Sometimes tools like this are used simply to make something believable rather than distracting.</p><p>I believe in ethical use of AI. If it&#8217;s supporting an artist and not disrespecting, erasing, or cheating anyone, then it becomes another tool available to help tell the story.</p></blockquote><h4>How did you end up working as a dialect coach on <em>Heated Rivalry</em>, and were you part of the casting process, knowing that someone with serious language skills would be required for this role?</h4><blockquote><p>I joined the show as the dialect coach fairly close to the start of principal photography, while the director and producers were still finalizing the Russian-speaking roles. When I first saw the volume of Russian text and realized how tight the timeline was, I did feel a bit nervous about how much would need to be accomplished in a very short amount of time, [but] after our first call, I felt confident that Connor would be able to meet the challenge and do justice to the Russian language, the accent, and the full embodiment of Ilya. </p><p>I was incredibly fortunate to work with Connor Storrie. He&#8217;s not only a very talented actor, but also an intelligent, thoughtful person with a real aptitude for languages. He approached the work with curiosity, discipline, and generosity. Working together was a genuinely rewarding experience.</p></blockquote><div><hr></div><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.readhottip.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">In 2026, <em>let me do the doomscrolling for you.</em></p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div><hr></div><h4>On that note: Texas native Connor has said that he started working with you<strong> just one week (!!!)</strong> before shooting started, and then also learned Russian with you for four hours a day during the duration of the six-ish week shoot. Were you exclusively working on dialogue from the show, or like, proper Russian grammar, conjugation, tenses, etc.?</h4><blockquote><p>We worked on everything that helps a language and an accent feel authentic. That meant learning the [dialogue] word-by-word so he fully understood what he was saying and could connect it to the emotional life of the character. We focused on stress, intonation, expression, and even body language. We also touched on grammar, conjugation, and tenses, but always in direct relation to the script in front of us.</p><p>The goal was never perfection. <strong>It was about making the language feel natural enough that he didn&#8217;t have to think about it while performing, so the focus could stay on the scene and the relationship.</strong> And Connor handled that challenge with flying colors.</p></blockquote><h4>So it was like real school, smack in the middle of an already super tight shooting schedule.</h4><blockquote><p>It was accelerated and intense. For Connor, it was a crash course layered on top of an already demanding shoot, with other skills he was mastering at the same time, like ice skating and hockey. But he showed up every single day ready to work, and that level of commitment made all the difference.</p></blockquote><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iHQN!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F82316c0b-8c1b-4fad-957e-ffa02ad495de_540x480.gif" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iHQN!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F82316c0b-8c1b-4fad-957e-ffa02ad495de_540x480.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iHQN!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F82316c0b-8c1b-4fad-957e-ffa02ad495de_540x480.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iHQN!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F82316c0b-8c1b-4fad-957e-ffa02ad495de_540x480.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iHQN!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F82316c0b-8c1b-4fad-957e-ffa02ad495de_540x480.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iHQN!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F82316c0b-8c1b-4fad-957e-ffa02ad495de_540x480.gif" width="366" height="325.3333333333333" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/82316c0b-8c1b-4fad-957e-ffa02ad495de_540x480.gif&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:480,&quot;width&quot;:540,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:366,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;may grant update blog &#8212; Ilya Rozanov Heated Rivalry S01E04&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="may grant update blog &#8212; Ilya Rozanov Heated Rivalry S01E04" title="may grant update blog &#8212; Ilya Rozanov Heated Rivalry S01E04" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iHQN!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F82316c0b-8c1b-4fad-957e-ffa02ad495de_540x480.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iHQN!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F82316c0b-8c1b-4fad-957e-ffa02ad495de_540x480.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iHQN!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F82316c0b-8c1b-4fad-957e-ffa02ad495de_540x480.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iHQN!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F82316c0b-8c1b-4fad-957e-ffa02ad495de_540x480.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">slavicyearning.gif</figcaption></figure></div><h4>I&#8217;m so glad you mentioned the physicality, because it&#8217;s so much more than just the language and voice that make Ilya so real. Everything from how Connor moves his face to how he stands in the room are just <em>so Russian.</em> Even the yearning feels Slavic.</h4><blockquote><p>Absolutely. Language never exists in isolation. Physicality, posture, and even how emotion shows up in the face are all closely tied to culture. <strong>With Ilya, a lot of that &#8220;Russianness&#8221; comes from restraint rather than excess. </strong>Emotion often lives just under the surface, in stillness, in the eyes, in what isn&#8217;t said or shown right away.</p><p>When learning a dialect, you&#8217;re also learning a culture and how people express themselves, not just how they sound. Intonation matters, but so does how the mouth and tongue move, which can subtly affect psychology and presence. You often see this with people who speak multiple languages, where their demeanor shifts between languages.</p><p>The physicality and expression you&#8217;re noticing are Connor&#8217;s creation. That comes from his skill as an actor, and from his comfort with the language, the intonation, and his exploration of the culture.</p></blockquote><h4>I love the idea that teaching a language isn&#8217;t only about the words. </h4><blockquote><p>People often assume accent work is just about copying sounds, but a big part of it is learning <em>what not to do.</em> Every language and accent has habits that immediately give someone away as a non-native speaker. A lot of my work is identifying and removing those patterns so the accent stays consistent and believable.</p><p>At the same time, the work has to adapt to the individual actor. Everyone processes language differently, so the approach has to be tailored to their strengths while still aiming for the same level of accuracy.</p></blockquote><h4>Given the time constraints and relatively low budget, I&#8217;d have to imagine the set was a super collaborative, well-oiled machine.</h4><blockquote><p>Totally. It was collaborative, efficient, and honestly kind of magical because everyone trusted each other. <strong>It was one of the nicest sets I&#8217;ve ever been on.</strong> People were kind, professional, and supportive, and they kept their sense of humor and really looked out for one another despite the long hours and inevitable challenges.</p></blockquote><div id="tiktok-iframe?media=1&amp;app=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2F%40stellabr8%2Fvideo%2F7592047899903544607&amp;key=e27c740634285c9ddc20db64f73358dd" class="tiktok-wrap outer" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.tiktok.com/@stellabr8/video/7592047899903544607&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;also imagine hearing this in ur first language bc &#129760;&#129760;&#129760; #heatedrivalry &quot;,&quot;thumbnail_url&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/87c8d333-2893-416d-b141-a4e724381a22_1080x1920.jpeg&quot;,&quot;author&quot;:&quot;stella&quot;,&quot;embed_url&quot;:&quot;https://cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?media=1&amp;app=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2F%40stellabr8%2Fvideo%2F7592047899903544607&amp;key=e27c740634285c9ddc20db64f73358dd&quot;,&quot;author_url&quot;:&quot;https://www.tiktok.com/@stellabr8&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true}" data-component-name="TikTokCreateTikTokEmbed"><iframe id="iframe-tiktok-iframe?media=1&amp;app=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2F%40stellabr8%2Fvideo%2F7592047899903544607&amp;key=e27c740634285c9ddc20db64f73358dd" class="tiktok-iframe" src="https://cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?media=1&amp;app=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2F%40stellabr8%2Fvideo%2F7592047899903544607&amp;key=e27c740634285c9ddc20db64f73358dd" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" loading="lazy"></iframe><iframe src="https://team-hosted-public.s3.amazonaws.com/set-then-check-cookie.html" id="third-party-iframe-tiktok-iframe?media=1&amp;app=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2F%40stellabr8%2Fvideo%2F7592047899903544607&amp;key=e27c740634285c9ddc20db64f73358dd" class="third-party-cookie-check-iframe" style="display: none;" loading="lazy"></iframe><div class="tiktok-wrap static" data-component-name="TikTokCreateStaticTikTokEmbed"><a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@stellabr8/video/7592047899903544607" target="_blank"><img class="tiktok thumbnail" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!LpBW!,w_640,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F87c8d333-2893-416d-b141-a4e724381a22_1080x1920.jpeg" style="background-image: url(https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!LpBW!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F87c8d333-2893-416d-b141-a4e724381a22_1080x1920.jpeg);" loading="lazy"></a><div class="content"><a class="author" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@stellabr8" target="_blank">@stellabr8</a><a class="title" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@stellabr8/video/7592047899903544607" target="_blank">also imagine hearing this in ur first language bc &#129760;&#129760;&#129760; #heatedrivalry </a></div></div><div class="fallback-failure" id="fallback-failure-tiktok-iframe?media=1&amp;app=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2F%40stellabr8%2Fvideo%2F7592047899903544607&amp;key=e27c740634285c9ddc20db64f73358dd"><div class="error-content"><img class="error-icon" src="https://substackcdn.com//img/alert-circle.svg" loading="lazy">Tiktok failed to load.<br><br>Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser</div></div></div><h4>According to the <em>New York Times</em>, you also translated all the necessary dialogue <em>into </em>Russian. Were you constantly on set for real-time changes to the script, and are you aware of the impact said translations have had, literally globally, on where the bar has now been set in our love lives?</h4><blockquote><p>Yes, I was on set for all of the Russian scenes. Once we got to set, the script itself didn&#8217;t really change anymore, because anything involving language or accent needs preparation ahead of time. Actors have to practice the text and the dialect in advance.</p><p>Where changes did happen was during the prep and rehearsal phase. Sometimes we&#8217;d adjust wording to make a line easier for a non-Russian speaker to deliver naturally, while always preserving the original meaning and intention. The goal was to help the actor express the moment as truthfully as possible, in Russian, without the language getting in the way of the performance.</p><p>As for the impact, <strong>that really comes from the mastery of the writing. </strong>[Author]<strong> </strong>Rachel Reid&#8217;s original work, and [show creator] Jacob Tierney&#8217;s adaptation of it, created something deeply emotional and honest. That response, where viewers watch it and think, &#8220;<em>This is what I want for my own love story,</em>&#8221; comes directly from how beautifully the text was written and adapted.</p></blockquote><h4>When Ilya wins the cup in episode two, there&#8217;s a bit of Russian that doesn&#8217;t get translated in the subtitles. Am I correct in understanding he says,<em> &#8220;for you, mama?&#8221;</em></h4><blockquote><p>Yes, you&#8217;re exactly right. It&#8217;s very intimate, and it&#8217;s meant for him and for the audience that&#8217;s paying close attention.</p></blockquote><h4>I don&#8217;t have any data to back this up, but I feel like interest in studying Russian must be <em>surging</em> right now. Are there any particularly useful tools, cultural, educational, or otherwise, you&#8217;d suggest for anyone wanting to start? I know a lot of non-native English speakers <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/29/arts/television/friends-reunion-english.html">watch </a><em><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/29/arts/television/friends-reunion-english.html">Friends</a></em><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/29/arts/television/friends-reunion-english.html">,</a> for example, to learn the language.</h4><blockquote><p>I always tell people to start with something they already love. Watch Russian films or series, listen to music, follow creators online. Language learning works best when it&#8217;s tied to curiosity and pleasure, not pressure. You don&#8217;t need perfection, just consistency and genuine interest.</p></blockquote><div id="youtube2-ueoxEiqqwG0" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;ueoxEiqqwG0&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/ueoxEiqqwG0?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><h4>The language proficiency is so impressive throughout, but no part more so than the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueoxEiqqwG0">four-page Russian monologue in episode five.</a> How did you and Connor work together to prep for that, and when in the sequence of shooting did it happen?</h4><blockquote><p>Luckily, the monologue was shot later in production, which gave us some time to work toward it. It was definitely a point of pressure for both of us.<strong> It&#8217;s the most demanding Russian dialogue I&#8217;ve ever had an actor prepare.</strong></p><p>With text like that, the goal isn&#8217;t a technically perfect accent. It&#8217;s about finding a balance where the accent supports the performance instead of overpowering it. As a dialect coach, my focus is always on clarity, intention, and emotional truth first. If the actor is fully present in what they&#8217;re saying, the language feels real, even if it isn&#8217;t flawless.</p><p>Connor approached it with a lot of sensitivity and focus, and the result was incredibly moving. Watching him perform that monologue on set genuinely made me emotional.</p></blockquote><h4>Per <em>GQ</em>, showrunner <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/heated-rivalry-gq-hype">Jacob Tierney reportedly asked you how much of a certain monologue take he could use in the show, and you said &#8220;All of it. He humbles me.&#8221;</a> What was the vibe on set watching that happen, and how rewarding has the feedback been, seeing all the work you put in together pay off?</h4><blockquote><p>The set was very quiet and focused. Everyone understood the importance of the scene and gave Connor the space he needed to do the work. Seeing how that moment ultimately resonated with audiences has been incredibly rewarding&#8212;it makes all the long hours of preparation feel worthwhile. I&#8217;m deeply grateful to the team, to Connor, and to the audience who noticed and cared about the details. </p></blockquote><h4>In addition to the spot-on Russian, Connor also spends the rest of the show speaking English with a Russian accent, and Shane even asks Ilya at one point <em>&#8220;when did your English get so good?&#8221;</em> Did y&#8217;all also work together on the evolution of his accent, given that the show takes place over nearly a decade?</h4><blockquote><p>Language evolves as people grow more comfortable and fluent. As time passes in the story, Ilya&#8217;s ease with English increases, and that naturally affects pronunciation, rhythm, and confidence. Connor was deeply engaged with that progression, which helped it feel organic rather than performative.</p></blockquote><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!D97W!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F99311003-e062-4ca9-9243-ae0bb60350d7_540x390.gif" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!D97W!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F99311003-e062-4ca9-9243-ae0bb60350d7_540x390.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!D97W!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F99311003-e062-4ca9-9243-ae0bb60350d7_540x390.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!D97W!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F99311003-e062-4ca9-9243-ae0bb60350d7_540x390.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!D97W!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F99311003-e062-4ca9-9243-ae0bb60350d7_540x390.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!D97W!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F99311003-e062-4ca9-9243-ae0bb60350d7_540x390.gif" width="540" height="390" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/99311003-e062-4ca9-9243-ae0bb60350d7_540x390.gif&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:390,&quot;width&quot;:540,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;TV &amp; FILM GIFs &#8212; Heated Rivalry Ilya Rozanov | Season 1&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="TV &amp; FILM GIFs &#8212; Heated Rivalry Ilya Rozanov | Season 1" title="TV &amp; FILM GIFs &#8212; Heated Rivalry Ilya Rozanov | Season 1" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!D97W!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F99311003-e062-4ca9-9243-ae0bb60350d7_540x390.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!D97W!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F99311003-e062-4ca9-9243-ae0bb60350d7_540x390.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!D97W!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F99311003-e062-4ca9-9243-ae0bb60350d7_540x390.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!D97W!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F99311003-e062-4ca9-9243-ae0bb60350d7_540x390.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><h4>Very important: Do Russians<em> really</em> not blush?</h4><blockquote><p>Oh yes, they do :)</p></blockquote><h4>Obviously, this show is scratching an itch for everyone right now&#8211;<em>and I say that particularly as an American whose society is rapidly crumbling around her and deeply welcomes the ability to dissociate from that for a beat. </em>What is it about Shane and Ilya that you think people are connecting with so intensely?</h4><blockquote><p>I think people are responding to how deeply human Shane and Ilya are. They&#8217;re flawed, stubborn, tender, and loyal. Their relationship isn&#8217;t effortless. They work hard for it, and they actively choose it. <strong>In a moment where the world feels unstable, that kind of devotion is incredibly comforting.</strong></p><p>Their story touches on sensitive themes around identity, love, and life, but without trying to teach or convince anyone. It simply exists. For me, it&#8217;s that sincerity and presence in the characters and their story that resonates so strongly with people.</p></blockquote><h4>This show is being distributed by HBOMax in the US and other streamers worldwide, but it is entirely a Crave production. Tell me a little bit about the Canadian television industry and why you think a show like this could <em>only be made in Canada, by Canadian producers.</em></h4><blockquote><p>Canadian television gives creators real room to take risks. There&#8217;s less pressure to flatten stories for mass appeal, and more trust in <strong>nuance, character, and audience intelligence.</strong> <em>Heated Rivalry</em> could exist because Canadian producers are willing to bet on specificity, and that&#8217;s often what makes a story feel universal. There&#8217;s a genuine openness to creative risk here, and it allows stories like this to exist.</p></blockquote><h4>Finally, what&#8217;s next for you? Season two of <em>Heated Rivalry</em>? More dialect work on other projects? Something top secret you can exclusively reveal here? Or maybe just a well-earned vacation?</h4><blockquote><p>A little of everything, I hope. More dialect work, more casting, maybe more <em>Heated Rivalry</em>, who knows? And yes, eventually, a very good vacation.</p></blockquote><h5><em>This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.</em></h5><div><hr></div><h4><em><strong>Previously on Hot Tip:</strong></em></h4><div class="digest-post-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;nodeId&quot;:&quot;ea6ff034-294b-42cf-91e2-9c1d9f3ff503&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Today, in order of importance: Heated Rivalry, Maduro, CBS News fucks up.&quot;,&quot;cta&quot;:&quot;Read full story&quot;,&quot;showBylines&quot;:true,&quot;showDescription&quot;:true,&quot;showImage&quot;:true,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;sm&quot;,&quot;isEditorNode&quot;:true,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;We'll always have the cottage&quot;,&quot;publishedBylines&quot;:[{&quot;id&quot;:3283801,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Alex Friedman&quot;,&quot;bio&quot;:&quot;I do the doomscrolling for you. Formerly CNN, ABC News, and Late Night with Seth Meyers. Currently writing things in LA. alex@readhottip.com / @kosherhotdogz elsewhere.&quot;,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/f492f557-3825-466d-be8b-e066c86c3042_3546x3546.jpeg&quot;,&quot;is_guest&quot;:false,&quot;bestseller_tier&quot;:100}],&quot;post_date&quot;:&quot;2026-01-06T22:16:29.925Z&quot;,&quot;cover_image&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/e61ba956-cb29-4663-b97f-9c9eafc45812_1998x1675.png&quot;,&quot;cover_image_alt&quot;:null,&quot;canonical_url&quot;:&quot;https://www.readhottip.com/p/well-always-have-the-cottage&quot;,&quot;section_name&quot;:null,&quot;video_upload_id&quot;:null,&quot;id&quot;:183305222,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;newsletter&quot;,&quot;reaction_count&quot;:71,&quot;comment_count&quot;:5,&quot;publication_id&quot;:1185957,&quot;publication_name&quot;:&quot;Hot Tip&quot;,&quot;publication_logo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!f74G!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa0c2fa7e-362a-4bb6-a9e1-bc52c171508a_1280x1280.png&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;youtube_url&quot;:null,&quot;show_links&quot;:null,&quot;feed_url&quot;:null}"></div><div class="digest-post-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;nodeId&quot;:&quot;13a8df58-7b89-4083-83bd-5841ec5b822b&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Hello pals and welcome back to the second installment of Exclusively Good News&#8482;&#65039;, wherein we ignore the grievous state of the world in favor of brighter things, like the Texas Senate seat that a Democrat (!!!) just won (!!!!!!) for the first time since 1991 (!!!!!!!!!!!!) all whilst being&quot;,&quot;cta&quot;:&quot;Read full story&quot;,&quot;showBylines&quot;:true,&quot;showDescription&quot;:true,&quot;showImage&quot;:true,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;sm&quot;,&quot;isEditorNode&quot;:true,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Exclusively good news&quot;,&quot;publishedBylines&quot;:[{&quot;id&quot;:3283801,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Alex Friedman&quot;,&quot;bio&quot;:&quot;I do the doomscrolling for you. Formerly CNN, ABC News, and Late Night with Seth Meyers. Currently writing things in LA. alex@readhottip.com / @kosherhotdogz elsewhere.&quot;,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/f492f557-3825-466d-be8b-e066c86c3042_3546x3546.jpeg&quot;,&quot;is_guest&quot;:false,&quot;bestseller_tier&quot;:100}],&quot;post_date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-05T06:52:16.602Z&quot;,&quot;cover_image&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/cba86abc-5685-436a-99d2-6cb7af308243_1200x675.avif&quot;,&quot;cover_image_alt&quot;:null,&quot;canonical_url&quot;:&quot;https://www.readhottip.com/p/exclusively-good-news&quot;,&quot;section_name&quot;:null,&quot;video_upload_id&quot;:null,&quot;id&quot;:186888384,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;newsletter&quot;,&quot;reaction_count&quot;:54,&quot;comment_count&quot;:3,&quot;publication_id&quot;:1185957,&quot;publication_name&quot;:&quot;Hot Tip&quot;,&quot;publication_logo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!f74G!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa0c2fa7e-362a-4bb6-a9e1-bc52c171508a_1280x1280.png&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;youtube_url&quot;:null,&quot;show_links&quot;:null,&quot;feed_url&quot;:null}"></div><div class="pullquote"><h5><em><strong><a href="http://buymeacoffee.com/alfrie">buy me a coffee</a> &#8212; <a href="https://www.instagram.com/readhottip/">instagram</a> &#8212; <a href="https://www.alexfriedman.com/">work with me</a> &#8212; <a href="https://shopmy.us/shop/alfrie?Section_id=480569&amp;tab=collections">shopmy</a></strong></em></h5></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Justine Doiron knows comfort food]]></title><description><![CDATA["The exciting part about learning to cook is witnessing what can happen in a pan over medium heat with a bit of patience."]]></description><link>https://www.readhottip.com/p/hot-takes-justine-doiron</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.readhottip.com/p/hot-takes-justine-doiron</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Alex Friedman]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 18 Apr 2025 18:19:13 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/9554ae5b-dc25-4652-88c5-00a8cdbe630b_1998x1675.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em><strong>Hello nearest and dearest of the internet,</strong></em> and welcome back to <strong><a href="https://www.readhottip.com/s/hot-takes">Hot Takes</a></strong>, <em>Hot Tip</em>&#8217;s expert interview series. Given the existential dumpster fire in which we find ourselves right now, I&#8217;m particularly excited to bring you something that is purely joyful and fun from <em>Hot Tip</em> pal Justine Doiron. I&#8217;ve been watching her meditative, colorful, veggie-centric recipe videos on Instagram for years, and this week, she told me about her <em><strong>end-all-be-all herb,</strong></em> the <em><strong>beachside</strong></em> <em><strong>restaurant in Italy</strong></em> still on her mind, the <em><strong>best tuna sandwich in Brooklyn,</strong></em> and <em><strong>what comfort food means to her</strong></em>. </p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!95sc!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd351a61d-75ac-4048-8bf6-4b497fd74f05_1624x87.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!95sc!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd351a61d-75ac-4048-8bf6-4b497fd74f05_1624x87.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!95sc!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd351a61d-75ac-4048-8bf6-4b497fd74f05_1624x87.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!95sc!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd351a61d-75ac-4048-8bf6-4b497fd74f05_1624x87.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!95sc!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd351a61d-75ac-4048-8bf6-4b497fd74f05_1624x87.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!95sc!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd351a61d-75ac-4048-8bf6-4b497fd74f05_1624x87.png" width="1456" height="78" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d351a61d-75ac-4048-8bf6-4b497fd74f05_1624x87.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:78,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:15803,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.readhottip.com/i/160106197?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd351a61d-75ac-4048-8bf6-4b497fd74f05_1624x87.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!95sc!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd351a61d-75ac-4048-8bf6-4b497fd74f05_1624x87.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!95sc!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd351a61d-75ac-4048-8bf6-4b497fd74f05_1624x87.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!95sc!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd351a61d-75ac-4048-8bf6-4b497fd74f05_1624x87.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!95sc!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd351a61d-75ac-4048-8bf6-4b497fd74f05_1624x87.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><h4>Justine Doiron is a recipe developer, <em>New York Times</em> bestselling <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/736438/justine-cooks-a-cookbook-by-justine-doiron/">cookbook</a> author, and the woman behind Justine Snacks on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/justine_snacks/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@justine_snacks?lang=en">TikTok</a>, where her plant-forward, innovative, and approachable recipes have amassed her more than three million followers. And if all that wasn&#8217;t enough, she&#8217;s currently producing <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@justine_snacks">a YouTube show</a>, writing her Substack<em> <span class="mention-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Snacks&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:554980,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;pub&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://open.substack.com/pub/justinesnacks&quot;,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/a67c5742-ca66-450d-8a65-6aea4ecb2898_1080x1080.png&quot;,&quot;uuid&quot;:&quot;16f301e6-3448-4b68-94ac-05d50ac6c473&quot;}" data-component-name="MentionToDOM"></span></em>, and, somehow, also <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DIg7h4Iu4Wa/">making her own wedding cakes</a>. Time traveler? <em>Maybe. </em>Beanfluencer?<em> Definitely.</em></h4><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yTAo!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F66892954-93b1-4e40-bb3f-0b0413e1a32a_1528x1281.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yTAo!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F66892954-93b1-4e40-bb3f-0b0413e1a32a_1528x1281.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yTAo!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F66892954-93b1-4e40-bb3f-0b0413e1a32a_1528x1281.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yTAo!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F66892954-93b1-4e40-bb3f-0b0413e1a32a_1528x1281.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yTAo!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F66892954-93b1-4e40-bb3f-0b0413e1a32a_1528x1281.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yTAo!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F66892954-93b1-4e40-bb3f-0b0413e1a32a_1528x1281.png" width="594" height="498.12774725274727" 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yTAo!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F66892954-93b1-4e40-bb3f-0b0413e1a32a_1528x1281.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yTAo!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F66892954-93b1-4e40-bb3f-0b0413e1a32a_1528x1281.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yTAo!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F66892954-93b1-4e40-bb3f-0b0413e1a32a_1528x1281.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yTAo!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F66892954-93b1-4e40-bb3f-0b0413e1a32a_1528x1281.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Photo by Geovanna Rivera</figcaption></figure></div><div><hr></div><h4>Food can be such a comfort during tough times, and we&#8217;ve certainly been going through it this last, I don&#8217;t know, <em>decade? </em>How much does the idea of comfort factor into your recipe development?</h4><blockquote><p>Oh god, great question, especially since comfort can be defined in so many different ways. I think about comfort both in the process of cooking, as well as the result. I want to provide people with a healthy habit (that might be a distraction, <em>we need it!!</em>) and a nearly meditative process. I want my recipes to be easy so you feel like you&#8217;re accomplishing something while also nourishing yourself. That&#8217;s the <em>process</em> of comfort.<strong> </strong>The end result is always more obvious&#8212;food is a natural comfort. <strong>There&#8217;s something deeply comforting about providing and being provided for.</strong></p></blockquote><h4>What&#8217;s your go-to rainy day comfort meal?</h4><blockquote><p>If it&#8217;s full couch-mode, no effort day, it will always be the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwcyRy5fSFQ">brown butter tahini noodles</a> from my book. They are so rich it&#8217;s nearly appalling, but so insanely good.</p></blockquote><div id="youtube2-NwcyRy5fSFQ" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;NwcyRy5fSFQ&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/NwcyRy5fSFQ?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><h4>In your (NYT bestselling!) book <em><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/justine-cooks-a-cookbook-recipes-mostly-plants-for-finding-your-way-in-the-kitchen-justine-doiron/21054031?ean=9780593582305&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gbraid=0AAAAACfld40epkQm1c3w27exUpyhIU-XT&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjwqv2_BhC0ARIsAFb5Ac-zi-k5TJlMSkERHgVaMWmtUrYG1HZWf2Ucx5fJ0K_N1HcZaZH1b0saApArEALw_wcB">Justine Cooks</a></em>, you called yourself a &#8220;breakfast romantic&#8221; &#8211; <em>which, same, and thank you for providing me a much lovelier way to describe myself than &#8220;breakfast burrito inhaler.&#8221; </em>What does your morning generally look like? How early are you getting up, how do you take your coffee, and of course, what are you making for brekky?</h4><blockquote><p>You either die a hero or you live long enough to pick up the same morning habits as your mother. <strong>I have reached that time. </strong>I have accepted it and I am proud. </p><p>I&#8217;m an early riser, which means I have water and coffee first thing, and it&#8217;s my tiny little morning meditation with myself. My coffee used to be black, but I now put 2 tablespoons of creamer per cup (<em><a href="https://www.chobani.com/products/creamers/dairy/sweet-cream">Chobani sweet cream</a>, no other flavor is good.</em>) Then I keep the spoon on a spoon rest because I know I&#8217;m going to have one more round&#8212;which is exactly what my mother did when I was younger. So. I am her. It all happens so fast.</p><p>My breakfast typically happens in that lull time between coming home from the gym and my hair finally drying from the shower. It&#8217;s usually either oatmeal or avocado toast. I like breakfast to be mild since my palate can get overwhelmed with testing throughout the day.</p></blockquote><h4>How does cooking translate to creativity in other parts of your life?</h4><blockquote><p>One of my favorite quotes is: &#8220;What you do in here is what you do out there.&#8221; I heard it in a spin class&#8212;LOL&#8212;but I think it applies to my cooking and work so well. <strong>If I&#8217;m focused, intentional and creative with the recipes I&#8217;m putting out, then it feels like my brain is at a rolling boil, and that creativity drips into other parts of my life.</strong> Our brains are incredibly plastic so I like to stay in that rolling boil state, it keeps me energized.</p></blockquote><h4>Tell me about a restaurant you deeply connected to while traveling &#8211; the food, the ambience, the location, the people-watching. What made it so special?</h4><blockquote><p>These are always so hard!! I feel like food memories can be poignant for many reasons. The most recent that I rave about is <a href="https://www.ristorantelatonnarella.com/en/">La Tonnarella</a>, a small fish restaurant located off the side of a rock beach <strong>near Praiano, Italy.</strong> Fish are hanging off the walls, the beach is nearly deserted, and the people watching? Phenomenal. Nothing like waiters delivering boxes of pasta to older Italian men on the beach. <strong>It was the perfect combination of feeling truly not a part of a place but also feeling welcome &#8212; a rare travel combination. </strong>Oh and the red squid pasta is excellent.</p></blockquote><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sGCb!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F39acabf4-a395-4513-97bd-f730df10cca8_1125x1390.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sGCb!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F39acabf4-a395-4513-97bd-f730df10cca8_1125x1390.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sGCb!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F39acabf4-a395-4513-97bd-f730df10cca8_1125x1390.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sGCb!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F39acabf4-a395-4513-97bd-f730df10cca8_1125x1390.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sGCb!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F39acabf4-a395-4513-97bd-f730df10cca8_1125x1390.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sGCb!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F39acabf4-a395-4513-97bd-f730df10cca8_1125x1390.jpeg" width="552" height="682.0266666666666" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/39acabf4-a395-4513-97bd-f730df10cca8_1125x1390.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1390,&quot;width&quot;:1125,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:552,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Screenshot&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="Screenshot" title="Screenshot" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sGCb!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F39acabf4-a395-4513-97bd-f730df10cca8_1125x1390.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sGCb!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F39acabf4-a395-4513-97bd-f730df10cca8_1125x1390.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sGCb!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F39acabf4-a395-4513-97bd-f730df10cca8_1125x1390.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!sGCb!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F39acabf4-a395-4513-97bd-f730df10cca8_1125x1390.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Ristorante La Tonnarella</figcaption></figure></div><h4>Forgive me for this one. You can only cook with one herb for a year; which one are you picking?</h4><blockquote><p>My first thought was rosemary but then I realized&#8230;<strong>I can make basil into anything delicious.</strong> So basil. <em>Hate you for this, though.</em></p></blockquote><h4>In the most recent season of <em>The White Lotus</em>, Leslie Bibb&#8217;s character says she &#8216;tricked herself&#8217; into liking beans. As someone who uses a lot of beans in her recipes, were they always a great love? Or did you trick yourself?</h4><blockquote><p>I was a baked bean fiend as a kid. <strong>I think it was my sweet tooth subconsciously realizing that sweet, salty and smoky could coexist, and I could call it </strong><em><strong>dinner</strong></em><strong>. </strong>Beans were such an easy meal staple when I became pescatarian, and I love cooking with them because people don&#8217;t balk at them the same way they do tofu. It&#8217;s very easy for me to pitch a bean, which is why you see many, many beans in my work.</p></blockquote><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5NFI!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F21ec4c08-d085-4181-b6fc-dacdc4bb929c_1179x1167.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5NFI!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F21ec4c08-d085-4181-b6fc-dacdc4bb929c_1179x1167.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5NFI!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F21ec4c08-d085-4181-b6fc-dacdc4bb929c_1179x1167.jpeg 848w, 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5NFI!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F21ec4c08-d085-4181-b6fc-dacdc4bb929c_1179x1167.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5NFI!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F21ec4c08-d085-4181-b6fc-dacdc4bb929c_1179x1167.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5NFI!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F21ec4c08-d085-4181-b6fc-dacdc4bb929c_1179x1167.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5NFI!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F21ec4c08-d085-4181-b6fc-dacdc4bb929c_1179x1167.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">The White Lotus/HBO</figcaption></figure></div><h4>Which Nancy Meyers kitchen&#8212;<em>or any movie kitchen, really</em>&#8212;would you like to claim as your own?</h4><blockquote><p>I&#8217;m so glad you said Nancy Meyers because the kitchen in <em>It&#8217;s Complicated</em>??? Are you kidding me!??? I dream of it.</p></blockquote><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-jLQ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F10f6d742-6999-402e-94f5-af1c86114be5_548x295.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-jLQ!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F10f6d742-6999-402e-94f5-af1c86114be5_548x295.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-jLQ!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F10f6d742-6999-402e-94f5-af1c86114be5_548x295.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-jLQ!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F10f6d742-6999-402e-94f5-af1c86114be5_548x295.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-jLQ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F10f6d742-6999-402e-94f5-af1c86114be5_548x295.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-jLQ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F10f6d742-6999-402e-94f5-af1c86114be5_548x295.jpeg" width="548" height="295" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/10f6d742-6999-402e-94f5-af1c86114be5_548x295.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:295,&quot;width&quot;:548,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Why do we love this kitchen so much? Well . . . 'It's Complicated' &#8212;  DESIGNED&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="Why do we love this kitchen so much? Well . . . 'It's Complicated' &#8212;  DESIGNED" title="Why do we love this kitchen so much? Well . . . 'It's Complicated' &#8212;  DESIGNED" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-jLQ!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F10f6d742-6999-402e-94f5-af1c86114be5_548x295.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-jLQ!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F10f6d742-6999-402e-94f5-af1c86114be5_548x295.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-jLQ!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F10f6d742-6999-402e-94f5-af1c86114be5_548x295.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-jLQ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F10f6d742-6999-402e-94f5-af1c86114be5_548x295.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption"><em>Us too, Justine. Us too.</em></figcaption></figure></div><h4>You&#8217;ve got friends visiting you in Brooklyn for the weekend. What are the stops on the tour &#8211; food and otherwise &#8211; you wouldn&#8217;t dare miss?</h4><blockquote><p>I would not have said this a few weeks ago, but the <a href="https://www.radiobakery.nyc/">Radio Bakery</a> that just opened on Underhill is well worth its roses. We&#8217;re going there first. Then <a href="https://agiscounter.com/">Agi&#8217;s Counter</a> for lunch. <strong>Their tuna sandwich calls me on a deep and spiritual level. </strong><a href="https://www.sofrehnyc.com/">Sofreh</a> for dinner so I can have a million cucumber margaritas and more saffron rice than I can handle. Or <a href="https://www.hartsbrooklyn.com/">Hart&#8217;s</a> for a clam toast and white negroni. Late night will be <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sharlenesbar/?hl=en">Sharlene&#8217;s</a> while we keep our fingers crossed for a Greta Gerwig sighting (<em>she went there once and I&#8217;ll never forget it.</em>) But let&#8217;s say Greta is on location somewhere, then I&#8217;ll scoop my friend over to <a href="https://www.instagram.com/frogwinebar/?hl=en">Frog</a> in Bed Stuy. It&#8217;s near our new home and a new favorite of ours. This is a very abbreviated list. I need at least four days to fill out all my Brooklyn spots.</p></blockquote><h4>Any advice for people who want to cook more, but feel intimidated by the prospect? Is there a recipe of yours they should start with?</h4><blockquote><p>I&#8217;d say start with the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/justine_snacks/reel/DByu3hMJGhW/">gochujang beans</a> in my cookbook. <strong>The exciting part about learning to cook is witnessing what can happen in a pan over medium heat with a bit of patience.</strong> How fat manipulates a vegetable, how everything sizzles and wears down before caramelizing. The best advice I can give is that this is something you learn from experience. <strong>You can&#8217;t research your way through it, you just have to start.</strong></p></blockquote><h4>On the flip side, what are your favorite slightly more elevated ingredients for someone who is already a decent cook and looking to up their game?</h4><blockquote><p>Okay let&#8217;s get weird. <strong>Black garlic, dried lime, yuzu hot sauce.</strong> I wouldn&#8217;t call these elevated, just uncommon. But if you are a comfortable cook, you&#8217;ll know exactly how to mix these into sauces, dressing, and marinades. Truly delicious stuff.</p></blockquote><div class="pullquote"><p><em>There is more from Justine&#8217;s interview in the upcoming <strong>Hot Tip April Mag, </strong>which will go to all <strong>paid subscribers</strong> next week! Click below to get 50% off.</em></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.readhottip.com/subscribe?coupon=89610002&amp;utm_content=160106197&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Get 50% off for 1 year&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.readhottip.com/subscribe?coupon=89610002&amp;utm_content=160106197"><span>Get 50% off for 1 year</span></a></p></div><p><em><strong>Previously on Hot Tip:</strong></em></p><div class="digest-post-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;nodeId&quot;:&quot;406493b6-46df-49ba-abe2-d5116ae87c1e&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Welcome back to Hot Tip to everyone except Katy Perry, who used her handful of minutes spent in space to promote an illegible set list for her next tour&#8212;all while NASA has abandoned its plans to put a woman and a person of color on the moon. I suppose there&#8217;s&quot;,&quot;cta&quot;:null,&quot;showBylines&quot;:true,&quot;showDescription&quot;:true,&quot;showImage&quot;:true,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;sm&quot;,&quot;isEditorNode&quot;:true,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Land of the free as long as we like what you're saying&quot;,&quot;publishedBylines&quot;:[{&quot;id&quot;:3283801,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Alex Friedman&quot;,&quot;bio&quot;:&quot;Formerly CNN, ABC News, News Not Noise, and Late Night with Seth Meyers. Currently searching for LA's best breakfast burrito. Would love to host late night but unfortunately am a woman. @kosherhotdogz elsewhere.&quot;,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/373e2117-ef14-46f4-b2f3-66d8729ab842_1178x1179.jpeg&quot;,&quot;is_guest&quot;:false,&quot;bestseller_tier&quot;:null}],&quot;post_date&quot;:&quot;2025-04-16T00:05:06.131Z&quot;,&quot;cover_image&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/1872aeab-a0b1-440b-a638-bba85a60df85_1528x1281.png&quot;,&quot;cover_image_alt&quot;:null,&quot;canonical_url&quot;:&quot;https://www.readhottip.com/p/land-of-the-free-as-long-as-we-like&quot;,&quot;section_name&quot;:null,&quot;video_upload_id&quot;:null,&quot;id&quot;:161342470,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;newsletter&quot;,&quot;reaction_count&quot;:43,&quot;comment_count&quot;:3,&quot;publication_id&quot;:null,&quot;publication_name&quot;:&quot;Hot Tip&quot;,&quot;publication_logo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F14ac9ef4-8598-4ec5-a97c-43f3000e0c79_1280x1280.png&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;youtube_url&quot;:null,&quot;show_links&quot;:null,&quot;feed_url&quot;:null}"></div><div class="digest-post-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;nodeId&quot;:&quot;5d43f233-2e74-48ba-a057-9681dd1b501a&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Welcome back to Hot Tip, you cutie pie liberal snowflakes! Donald Trump saw that the stock market got pummeled again today and reacted how any sane president would, with an executive order to increase water pressure in your woke-ass shower. I couldn&#8217;t help but be reminded of when honest Abe was faced with ending slavery and reuniting the country, but fi&#8230;&quot;,&quot;cta&quot;:null,&quot;showBylines&quot;:true,&quot;showDescription&quot;:true,&quot;showImage&quot;:true,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;sm&quot;,&quot;isEditorNode&quot;:true,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Votes for women, shower pressure + tariff turmoil&quot;,&quot;publishedBylines&quot;:[{&quot;id&quot;:3283801,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Alex Friedman&quot;,&quot;bio&quot;:&quot;Formerly CNN, ABC News, News Not Noise, and Late Night with Seth Meyers. Currently searching for LA's best breakfast burrito. Would love to host late night but unfortunately am a woman. @kosherhotdogz elsewhere.&quot;,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/373e2117-ef14-46f4-b2f3-66d8729ab842_1178x1179.jpeg&quot;,&quot;is_guest&quot;:false,&quot;bestseller_tier&quot;:null}],&quot;post_date&quot;:&quot;2025-04-11T00:17:23.995Z&quot;,&quot;cover_image&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/64ad2fb5-9926-4279-9685-4f004b45347c_1293x1084.png&quot;,&quot;cover_image_alt&quot;:null,&quot;canonical_url&quot;:&quot;https://www.readhottip.com/p/votes-for-women-shower-pressure-tariff&quot;,&quot;section_name&quot;:null,&quot;video_upload_id&quot;:null,&quot;id&quot;:160971668,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;newsletter&quot;,&quot;reaction_count&quot;:34,&quot;comment_count&quot;:7,&quot;publication_id&quot;:null,&quot;publication_name&quot;:&quot;Hot Tip&quot;,&quot;publication_logo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F14ac9ef4-8598-4ec5-a97c-43f3000e0c79_1280x1280.png&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;youtube_url&quot;:null,&quot;show_links&quot;:null,&quot;feed_url&quot;:null}"></div><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XA9L!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0e6a2dc3-96f0-47b3-935e-9f3e509b5397_1624x87.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Rqe3!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa4c25b7b-744c-4e2c-b265-3e71f3c88f19_1524x130.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Rqe3!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa4c25b7b-744c-4e2c-b265-3e71f3c88f19_1524x130.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Rqe3!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa4c25b7b-744c-4e2c-b265-3e71f3c88f19_1524x130.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Rqe3!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa4c25b7b-744c-4e2c-b265-3e71f3c88f19_1524x130.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Morgan Finkelstein wants you to stay hopeful]]></title><description><![CDATA["This is not a shake-up. It&#8217;s arson."]]></description><link>https://www.readhottip.com/p/an-interview-with-morgan-finkelstein</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.readhottip.com/p/an-interview-with-morgan-finkelstein</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Alex Friedman]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 06 Feb 2025 22:02:24 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/e9afdb7f-7c0e-4d8d-9092-e815ee67b038_1998x1675.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em><strong>Hello dear pals,</strong></em> and welcome to <strong><a href="https://www.readhottip.com/s/hot-takes">Hot Takes</a></strong>, <em>Hot Tip</em>&#8217;s expert interview series.<strong> </strong>This week, <em>Hot Tip</em> pal Morgan Finkelstein answered a few questions for me (<em>and thus, for you!!!!</em>) on <strong>wtf is going on in Washington, what Elon&#8217;s endgame is, why it&#8217;s dangerous, and what we can do about it.</strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!o6sw!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fce36f509-2b35-4da1-b769-dc92d6795af8_1624x87.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!o6sw!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fce36f509-2b35-4da1-b769-dc92d6795af8_1624x87.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!o6sw!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fce36f509-2b35-4da1-b769-dc92d6795af8_1624x87.png 848w, 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https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!o6sw!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fce36f509-2b35-4da1-b769-dc92d6795af8_1624x87.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!o6sw!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fce36f509-2b35-4da1-b769-dc92d6795af8_1624x87.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!o6sw!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fce36f509-2b35-4da1-b769-dc92d6795af8_1624x87.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3bIM!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd6516a8a-d531-4f6c-92d2-f932a3710ad4_2048x1362.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3bIM!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd6516a8a-d531-4f6c-92d2-f932a3710ad4_2048x1362.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3bIM!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd6516a8a-d531-4f6c-92d2-f932a3710ad4_2048x1362.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3bIM!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd6516a8a-d531-4f6c-92d2-f932a3710ad4_2048x1362.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3bIM!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd6516a8a-d531-4f6c-92d2-f932a3710ad4_2048x1362.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3bIM!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd6516a8a-d531-4f6c-92d2-f932a3710ad4_2048x1362.png" width="466" height="309.8131868131868" 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https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3bIM!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd6516a8a-d531-4f6c-92d2-f932a3710ad4_2048x1362.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3bIM!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd6516a8a-d531-4f6c-92d2-f932a3710ad4_2048x1362.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3bIM!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd6516a8a-d531-4f6c-92d2-f932a3710ad4_2048x1362.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Morgan Finkelstein and Former Treasury Secy. Janet Yellen</figcaption></figure></div><h5><em>Morgan Finkelstein was a Senior Spokesperson for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the US Department of the Treasury as part of the Biden Administration. </em></h5><div><hr></div><h4>Big picture, first. You've worked in multiple White House administrations (Obama, Biden) and on many Democratic campaigns. What about this current moment feels different than other transitions from one party to another, including Trump's first term?</h4><blockquote><p>Hello Alex&#8217;s readers, thanks for having me. The 2024 election fucked around, and we are deep into finding out. Welcome to what we meant by &#8220;<em>democracy is at stake</em>.&#8221;</p><p>If you recall, Trump 1.0 was pretty bad, as was the Bush era and really, where all this started, the Reagan years. But what&#8217;s different now is that Republicans have fully just said, fuck it, we&#8217;re not going to follow laws anymore, and what are you going to do about it?</p><p>To put it another way, past administrations were using the US government to get away with as much bad stuff as they could. This administration has decided that the best way to achieve <em>their</em> goals <strong>&#8212; rich people getting richer and society run by white, Christian males &#8212;</strong> is to simply cease having a federal government at all.</p><p>How are they doing that? Another key difference today is that the Republican Congress has fully ceded its power to the executive branch. Remember when we all learned about co-equal branches of government? Well, one of the branches decided to just say &#8220;nah, I&#8217;m good&#8221; and bow out of the whole checks and balances thing.</p><p>Republicans in Congress have fully relinquished their authority to Trump. So even when Trump does stuff that is not within his power to do, stuff that actively screws Congress, they just roll over and say &#8220;thank you sir, may I have another!&#8221; And since Democrats are in the minority, they can&#8217;t do much about it besides try to slow it all down.</p></blockquote><h4>Okay, now on to Elon (<em>derogatory.</em>) At Treasury, Musk and his team have been granted access to the systems that handle Social Security, Medicare, federal government salaries, tax refunds, and much more, totaling $6 trillion dollars annually. Given that he is best known for building ugly trucks for insecure men and unsubtle Nazi salutes, what is he even doing there?</h4><blockquote><p>Trump and Musk are going to steal your money to make themselves and their friends richer. That&#8217;s it!</p><p>Ok, a little more detail.</p><p>So, basically, when the federal government spends money &#8212; on things like salaries, grants for research or preschools or infrastructure projects, social security checks for tens of millions of Americans, healthcare payments for grandma&#8217;s insulin, etc. &#8212; they do so through a very secure, protected payment system at the Treasury Department. I know it&#8217;s kind of wild to wrap your head around, but money the government spends has to come from somewhere, right? It comes from the Federal Reserve and is paid out by Treasury.</p><p>Importantly, Treasury doesn&#8217;t choose or analyze who gets paid by this system. That happens waaaay earlier in the process, and those decisions lie with whomever is actually the account holder. Spending the government&#8217;s money is covered by about a billion different laws, including a bunch to protect against waste, fraud, or abuse. By the time Treasury gets involved, it&#8217;s basically just to say oh look, the Department of Transportation wants a payment for a new bridge, here we go sending money from DOT&#8217;s account to the bridge company.</p><p>Which brings us to now, here in the Bad Place!</p><p>Elon Musk and his incel henchmen Tom Krause and <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-associate-bfs-federal-payment-system/">25-year-old Marko Elez</a><a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" id="footnote-anchor-1" href="#footnote-1" target="_self">1</a> have barged their way into this system and are just&#8230; doing whatever they want in there. <strong>They seem most interested in stopping payments to things they don&#8217;t like; a hypothetical use case could be stopping all Social Security payments to old people in Milwaukee until the mayor agrees to cooperate with an ICE raid or closes all abortion clinics. </strong>It&#8217;s not hard to think of terrible things from a bunch of MAGA Youth who are uninterested in following laws.</p><p>Now that there&#8217;s a ton of media attention on them, the DOGE dorks have started to make up dumb excuses for why they&#8217;re in the system; they seem to be going with &#8220;looking for fraud,&#8221; but that is a lie. They are lying! And they do not care if they get caught.</p><p>Yesterday, a court sort of told them to stop, but it&#8217;s a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/06/us/politics/trump-musk-usaid.html">tenuous pause at best</a>.</p></blockquote><h4>To your knowledge, is there any kind of precedent for an unelected and non-Senate-confirmed individual getting this level of access to sensitive information? Or even being let in the door without a visitor pass?</h4><blockquote><p>I cannot stress enough how highly protected this system is &#8212; or, I guess, was. No one has ever tried to do what this crew is doing. Not even Trump 1.0.</p><p>This system has the most sensitive information (sometimes even classified information) on literally every US taxpayer. I know we are all kind of numb to daily data breaches at like, Target, but this is even more serious than your credit card number. It&#8217;s bank accounts, it&#8217;s your tax history, medical conditions, not to mention top-secret contracts the government pays or salaries to like, undercover spies.</p><p>The information is so sensitive that only a handful of nonpolitical, technical employees in the whole government are even allowed to look at it, let alone touch it. Improperly accessing this data can be a literal felony.</p><p>I know you are all wondering and let me assure you: I was absolutely not one of the people allowed to access this system!</p><p>So no, there is no precedent for this.</p></blockquote><h4>Musk was granted access late on a Friday evening. Why?</h4><blockquote><p>There was a nonpolitical civil servant, a 35-year veteran of the Treasury Department, who was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/us/politics/trump-musk-bureau-fiscal-service.html">pushed out of his job last week for standing between Musk and this data</a>. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent forced his staff to let Elon in.</p><p>That was likely illegal, but Musk&#8217;s team is banking on the fact that the court processes will take a long time, and their smash-and-grab will take a short time.</p></blockquote><h4>You worked specifically on financial crime and corruption for three years at Treasury. What are the things setting off alarm bells for you right now?</h4><blockquote><p>In anti-corruption work, there is a concept called &#8220;<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/6f23ae9a-95de-4609-b833-39614cafb6ae">state capture</a>,&#8221; where corrupt leaders use the powers of the state to benefit their own interests. This is a very bad thing, <strong>and if America saw this happening somewhere in the world, we would sure do something about it.</strong></p><p>In Musk&#8217;s case, the phrase is quite literal: these thugs have captured the government&#8217;s treasure chest and will use it to enrich themselves and punish their business competitors, political opponents, and everyday Americans.</p></blockquote><h4>I've read a few pieces that refer to Musk's hostile takeover of various executive departments and federal agencies as a coup happening in plain sight. Would you agree with that appraisal?</h4><blockquote><p>Sure &#8212; all the scary words apply here. I cannot stress enough, this is the real deal.</p><p>It&#8217;s really important to ignore Musk when he claims that &#8220;unelected bureaucrats&#8221; are just salty he&#8217;s &#8220;shaking things up.&#8221; These people all worked for Trump in the &#8220;drain the swamp&#8221; era! They can handle shake-ups.</p><p>This is not a shake-up. It&#8217;s arson.</p></blockquote><h4>I've noticed you love trolling Trump appointees on LinkedIn and are really good at it. This one isn't a question, just a moment to appreciate your efforts.</h4><blockquote><p>Thank you. I think being a dick to people on LinkedIn is kind of unexpected, so it&#8217;s fun. Also, I don&#8217;t think the LinkedIn algorithm has been radicalized by bad tech bros (yet!) so you can still occasionally pierce information bubbles over there.</p></blockquote><h4>What should we be doing about this? How can we get Congress to act in this pivotal moment? Does calling and emailing really make a difference?</h4><blockquote><p>Yes! At this point, calling still makes a difference, as does going into offices physically if you&#8217;re near one, ideally with a group like <a href="https://indivisible.org/">Indivisible</a>. <strong>Even &#8212; and maybe especially &#8212; if you have a Democratic Senator. </strong>Way too many Dems are approving Trump appointees while all this chaos is going on! <strong>We can&#8217;t stop it all, but we can slow it down.</strong></p><p>Our queen AOC did a 92 minute IG live on ~everything~ that is a really good summary of what&#8217;s going on and concrete things to do about it. I recommend going through it all (you can treat it like a podcast, listen to it on the way to work or something) because she&#8217;s probably the greatest communicator in the country right now. On Reels <a href="https://www.instagram.com/aoc/reel/DForuR_R7AA/?hl=en">here</a> or on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVgNJf6CsBA&amp;t=2s">Youtube</a>.</p><p>Members of Congress may act like they don&#8217;t feel the pressure, but they do. And they definitely notice when it&#8217;s <em>not</em> there.</p><p>I totally hear people who have gotten into a place of &#8220;well we called last time and we&#8217;re right back in the same place.&#8221; I&#8217;m sorry! I don&#8217;t want to be doing this again either. <em>I am literally so tired.</em> But don&#8217;t forget that last time, <strong>all of the grassroots momentum unseated more Republicans than anyone could have predicted.</strong> We even had a Democrat from Oklahoma?? So, unfortunately, we do in fact need to do this all again if we want to stave off the worst.</p><p><strong>If nothing else gets through your cynicism, know this: every minute spent on the phone with one of us is a minute that some dipshit Republican staffer can&#8217;t spend doing something </strong><em><strong>worse</strong></em><strong>. </strong>Be. That. Petty.</p></blockquote><h4>Is there anything else you want us to know?</h4><blockquote><p>I think it&#8217;s important to remember these are not evil geniuses or supervillains. Don&#8217;t give them more power or credit than they deserve. Some of their tactics are modernized for the tech era, but the fundamentals are the same shit conservatives have been pulling for most of our country&#8217;s history.</p><p>Purging federal workers who fall afoul of their made-up &#8220;DEI?&#8221; That&#8217;s Woodrow Wilson&#8217;s 1913 <a href="https://newsroom.haas.berkeley.edu/research/how-woodrow-wilsons-racist-segregation-order-eroded-the-black-civil-service/">re-segregation of the government</a>, baby!</p><p>January 6 rioters getting away with it and the president trying to pretend it never happened? That&#8217;s the <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/january-6-erasure-doj-database-trump-history?utm_content=buffer36d48&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=bluesky&amp;utm_campaign=propublica-bsky">Tulsa Race Massacre</a>! Or the <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/american-coup-wilmington-1898/">Wilmington Coup</a>, or the <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/legacy/d/inaf18.pdf">Colfax Massacre</a>, or the <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/death-hundreds-elaine-massacre-led-supreme-court-take-major-step-toward-equal-justice-african-americans-180969863/">Elaine, Arkansas massacre</a>, or&#8230; you get the picture.</p><p>So, yes, awful stuff is happening right now and people will literally die. Things will be irreparably damaged. We will all lose a bunch of money. But the people we are up against are the same losers that rear their ugly heads throughout the American existence. Don&#8217;t let buzzwords like &#8220;the price of eggs&#8221; or &#8220;concerns about immigration&#8221; gaslight you into thinking any differently.</p><p>As AOC says, <strong>we outnumber them, we can slow them down, and we are absolutely on the right side of history.</strong></p></blockquote><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yiLo!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11710836-0314-43dd-a600-f5626d6e961d_1624x87.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yiLo!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11710836-0314-43dd-a600-f5626d6e961d_1624x87.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yiLo!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11710836-0314-43dd-a600-f5626d6e961d_1624x87.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yiLo!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11710836-0314-43dd-a600-f5626d6e961d_1624x87.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yiLo!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11710836-0314-43dd-a600-f5626d6e961d_1624x87.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yiLo!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11710836-0314-43dd-a600-f5626d6e961d_1624x87.png" width="1456" height="78" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/11710836-0314-43dd-a600-f5626d6e961d_1624x87.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:78,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:15803,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.readhottip.com/i/156631030?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11710836-0314-43dd-a600-f5626d6e961d_1624x87.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yiLo!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11710836-0314-43dd-a600-f5626d6e961d_1624x87.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yiLo!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11710836-0314-43dd-a600-f5626d6e961d_1624x87.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yiLo!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11710836-0314-43dd-a600-f5626d6e961d_1624x87.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yiLo!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11710836-0314-43dd-a600-f5626d6e961d_1624x87.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.readhottip.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Hot Tip is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div class="footnote" data-component-name="FootnoteToDOM"><a id="footnote-1" href="#footnote-anchor-1" class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" target="_self">1</a><div class="footnote-content"><p>Since publishing, Marko Elez <a href="https://www.wsj.com/tech/doge-staffer-resigns-over-racist-posts-d9f11a93?mod=Searchresults_pos1&amp;page=1">has resigned</a>. Given that Morgan&#8217;s interview was published moments earlier, we can only assume this is why. Or, at least, that&#8217;s what we&#8217;re going with.</p></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item></channel></rss>