D.C.’s Whisper Network, Yo Mary Cassatt!, Paramount Burning Questions

Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon roundup of Puck’s freshest reporting.

First up today, Eriq Gardner presents his incisive dissection of the long-gestating Alec Baldwin Rust trial, which kicks off in Santa Fe this week. Will the on-set tragedy become a catalyst for change in Hollywood or merely a cautionary tale?

Plus, below the fold: Julia Ioffe offers an inside look at NATO’s surprising Trump fatalism. Marion Maneker scopes out the bubbling art world action in Philadelphia. On The Town, Matt Belloni and Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw foreshadow the fate of Paramount’s assets and Ellison’s movie strategy. And on The Powers That Be, Tara Palmeri joins Peter Hamby to reveal the hushed, anguished chatter circulating about Biden among Democrats on Capitol Hill.

ERIQ GARDNER

At the dawn of the ‘Rust’ trial, the star actor is fighting a prosecutor’s gambit to connect a frenzied set with the shocking fatality. And yet, while Baldwin’s trial may be an engrossing televised event, it’s likely a cautionary tale rather than a catalyst for change in Hollywood.

JULIA IOFFE

After the debate, Europeans are starting to come to the conclusion that Biden is done for and that a second Trump presidency is inevitable. And they insist they’re not freaking out about it. “We can’t control who wins,” a European defense official told me, “but we’ll work with what we have.”

MARION MANEKER

Philadelphia, which eschews its reputation as a blue-collar sixth borough, is actually a sneaky-great art city. And never more so than now.

MATTHEW BELLONI

Matt is joined by Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw to look at what the future holds for Paramount now that David Ellison has purchased the legacy media company from Shari Redstone. They discuss what will happen to Paramount's assets, including CBS, Pluto, Paramount+, and, ultimately, if a new tech-focused C.E.O. can not only keep Paramount alive, but help it flourish.