The Cult of Ganni, Biden Abroad, How to Fix Social Media

Happy Friday and thanks for reading The Daily Courant, your afternoon guide to the best new work at Puck.

First up today, we direct your attention to John Heilemann’s thoughtful conversation with legal scholar Steven Brill— founder of The American Lawyer, Court TV, and NewsGuard, and author of the new book The Death Of Truth—about the Supreme Court’s landmark decision this week on presidential immunity, the judiciary’s legitimacy crisis, and how to drain America’s social media cesspools.

Plus, below the fold: Lauren Sherman talks to tech investor Nicolaj Reffstrup about building the cult fashion phenomenon Ganni as an industry outsider. Julia Ioffe and Peter Hamby discuss how the Biden debate played abroad. Jonathan Handel examines what the film crew union really won by avoiding a strike. And from the archives: Bill Cohan unspools an only-in-Nantucket saga of billionaire Charles Johnson’s legal battle to put the kibosh on a humble clam shack.

JOHN HEILEMANN

John is joined by Steven Brill, founder of The American Lawyer and NewsGuard, for a deep dive into the morass of fake news online. They discuss how and why major social media platforms have turned into conspiracy-theory-spreading cesspools, and what might be done to fix them. They also assess the Supreme Court’s landmark decision this week on presidential immunity and how SCOTUS has lost much of its legitimacy.

LAUREN SHERMAN

Nicolaj Reffstrup, the tech brain behind Danish fashion phenom Ganni, chats with Lauren about building a brand as an industry outsider, doing a $700 million deal with L Catterton, working with your spouse (creative director Ditte Reffstrup) without driving each other crazy, and writing a book about it all.

PETER HAMBY & JULIA IOFFE

Julia Ioffe joins Peter to share how the Biden debate played in Europe and Asia, why G7 leaders are rattled, and what foreign adversaries and allies are really saying about America’s deepening political crisis.

JONATHAN HANDEL

The union representing film crews negotiated a new deal last week, and avoided a strike—but what did they really win?