Boebert’s Secret, Blob Murmurs, the Barbie Moonshot

Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon compilation of Puck’s latest reporting.

Today, we lead with Julia Ioffe’s field notes from Aspen, the annual midsummer offsite for D.C. national security insiders and their enduring fixations: the specter of Prigozhin, the mystery of China’s vanished ambassador, and other foreign policy topics du jour.

Plus, below the fold: Baratunde Thurston plays out Hollywood’s A.I. doomsday scenario. On The Powers That Be, Peter Hamby and Abby Livingston untangle the political hopes of MAGA kook Lauren Boebert and other ’28 long shots. And on The Town, Matt Belloni has an inside look at the historic marketing push behind Barbie.

JULIA IOFFE

The unofficial notes from official Washington’s summer journey to the Aspen Security conference: the disappearance of Qin Gang, the specter of Prigozhin, Putinology, Theo Baker, and what happens when you try to fuck with Andrea Mitchell.

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BARATUNDE THURSTON

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PETER HAMBY & ABBY LIVINGSTON

Abby Livingston and Peter talk about the political hopes of Lauren Boebert, the MTG nemesis who is perhaps the least likely representative of Aspen imaginable. Then they draft the Congressional stars who might be quietly eyeing 2028.

MATTHEW BELLONI

Matt is joined by Warner Bros. president of worldwide marketing Josh Goldstine to discuss the strategy behind one of the great marketing campaigns of all time in ‘Barbie.'