A version of this article was first published in the Right to the Point newsletter. Sign up to receive the free newsletter in your inbox every Wednesday morning and to vote in subscriber-only polls.
The death of country music legend Dolly Parton was shocking, even though she was 80 and had been hinting at health problems. Amid a bipartisan outpouring of love for the singer and actress, it’s worth noting how little we know about her political leanings — and that was by design.
A few years ago, Newsweek compiled a list of Parton’s “political statements” over the years, statements which were not really political at all. In fact, most of the quotes were Parton dodging attempts to get her to talk about politics, which she has repeatedly declined to do.
“I don’t do politics. I have too many fans on both sides of the fence. Of course, I have my opinion, but I learned years ago to keep my mouth shut about things,” Parton said in 2019 on her podcast.
Parton has said that being neutral was just a smart thing to do business-wise — “You can ruin a career for speaking out” — but also because “I respect my audience too much for that, I respect myself too much for that.”
That’s worth thinking about.
The opposite of respect is contempt, which marriage expert John Gottman says is the No. 1 predictor of divorce in a troubled union. Similarly, Arthur C. Brooks has argued that contempt is at the root of what is tearing Americans apart.
Amid all the acrimony, Parton has been graciously standing in the middle with that little-girl voice and grown-up body, looking pained when people around her talked about politics, as during an Oscar presentation with her “9 to 5” co-stars.
She hated labels and pushed back on them with sweetness and humor, sometimes employing the Socratic method: “Does being feminine make me a feminist? Does being common make me a communist?”
She has declined the Presidential Medal of Freedom that both Donald Trump and Joe Biden wanted to give her. She never took a stance for a candidate, and pushed back when a New York Times article made it look like she was supporting Hillary Clinton over Trump.
In that interview, she diplomatically said, “Hillary might make as good a president as anybody ever has. I personally think a woman would do a great job. I think Hillary’s very qualified. So if she gets it, I’ll certainly be behind her.”
She meant, if Clinton became president, she would support her, not that she was choosing sides.
Later, Parton had to clarify, writing on social media that the remark was taken out of context.
“I have not endorsed Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump. I try not to get political but if I am, I might as well just run myself ‘cause I’ve got the hair for it, it’s huge. ... But seriously, I have not decided who I’m voting for,” she said.
Was that true? Probably not. But we loved her for saying that, and it was the right thing to do, for her and for all of us, really.
And the fact that Trump put out a social media post praising her, and ordered flags flown at half-staff, for once won’t divide the country like his social media posts usually do.
Dolly Parton, diplomat.
That’s not what’s on her obituaries, but it might as well be. If only other entertainers would follow her lead.
All the president’s pounds
There was a remarkable graphic in The Washington Post earlier this week. It was a chart showing the weight of the president over the past 10 years.
The remarkable thing wasn’t just that the chart was created and published, but that the source of the information included a booking record from the Fulton County jail. That’s something you don’t see every day.
The accompanying article by Post White House reporter Dan Diamond says that Trump “may have gained” 23 pounds since his last campaign. This assessment was calculated using weights released by the 2016 campaign, by information released from physicals during his presidencies, and the infamous Georgia booking, the mug shot from which now hangs outside the Oval Office.
As mortifying as it is to have a mug shot at all, imagine the indignity of having the ups and downs of your weight charted in one of the nation’s leading newspapers. Perhaps this is fair game for a president who has no moral qualms about mocking others for their weight and other personal attributes. And yet, it’s the sort of thing that can backfire, especially given that many of Trump’s supporters struggle with their weight.
In fact, of the states with the highest percentage of GLP-1 users, each of the top 10 went for Donald Trump in 2024. West Virginia had the highest usage, according to prescription data from 2024, followed by Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Alabama, Mississippi, North Dakota, Alaska, Arkansas and Pennsylvania.
The president is 6-foot-3 and weighs 238 pounds, according to a report released by the White House in May.
And if the Post’s chart wasn’t sufficiently insulting, when asked to list all U.S. presidents by their weight, ChatGPT ranks Trump third, after William Howard Taft and Grover Cleveland.
The thinnest president, you ask? That would be James Madison, who reportedly at times weighed only about 100 pounds.
Why Buc-ee’s prefers red states
The CEO of Buc-ee’s, the supersized convenience store/gas station with a cult following nationwide, recently announced that the company would be expanding in “conservative, business-friendly states.”
Per USA Today, Arch Aplin III said, while opening a new location in Arkansas, “I’m starting to realize life’s too short to try to build in places that people don’t appreciate what you’re bringing versus a place like this, where people do appreciate what you’re building.”
Buc-ee’s, which claims to have the “cleanest restrooms in America,” plans to open a Utah location in 2028, which makes sense under this business plan. Wisconsin, a famously purple state that is also getting a Buc-ee’s, not so much.
But Dana Perino set her new novel there, so maybe it’s all part of a GOP takeover plan.
Recommended Reading
Valerie Hudson has weighed in on the case of McKenna West, who agreed to serve as a surrogate mother for a California couple and refused to have an abortion as the couple later requested. It is, she writes, “the latest in a string of heart-wrenching cases concerning surrogacy.”
“The United States, along with Ukraine and Mexico, now has the dubious honor of being one of the few countries in which the practice is pretty much unregulated. In some states, a pet-grooming salon has more regulation than a surrogacy agency. In terms of background checks and vetting, for example, the commissioning parents often undergo none at all. Only their money matters.”
The case of McKenna West reminds us of the wisdom of Solomon
Amid outcry about the misuse of Flock cameras, some question whether any use at all is appropriate. Emma Pitts provides an explainer of Flock cameras and why they’re so controversial.
“Those against Flock accuse the product of being used as an Orwellian mass surveillance tool that violates Americans’ privacy rights under the Fourth Amendment — a technology designed to protect the public can, perhaps too easily, become a tool for abuse.”
The left and the right have found a common enemy: Flock cameras
While visiting a famous synagogue in Prague, Naomi Schaefer Riley reflected upon the circumstances when the Jerusalem Synagogue was built and those facing Jewish people today.
“Are Jews in America living like they were in Europe in the early 20th century? Are the warning signs all there? Our tour guides in Vienna and Prague swing back and forth between trying to explain the psychology behind the ‘mob mentality’ that overtook their continent and the monstrous details of the mass extermination. They worry too about the political influences they see around them, but they seem to believe that education is the best way of avoiding a repeat of the past.”
You are ‘Jewish enough’ for the people who hate you
End Notes
In last week’s newsletter, we talked about how Sophie Cunningham is suddenly dominating headlines about the WNBA, rather than Caitlin Clark. But it turns out more of us are reading about the WNBA than actually watching it.
As events have unfolded this week, however, Enes Kanter Freedom may turn out to be a big draw if he keeps going to games. Here’s a look at what turned out to be a wild weekend for the former Utah Jazz player.
Enes Kanter Freedom’s big weekend
And from the mailbag, in response to “What MAGA looks like, according to Vanity Fair,” here is a thoughtful, opposing take from a reader who didn’t want to be identified:
“The amount of ‘work’ female celebrities and the women in political orbits have to have done to be marketable is truly discouraging. ... I disagree, however, with your framing regarding the Vanity Fair photographs. Photographer Christopher Anderson is well known for taking up close, realistic, and very unflattering portrait photographs of famous people. This includes Democrats like Senator Bernie Sanders, President Obama, and First Lady Michelle Obama.
I agree that Vanity Fair had an angle but wasn’t that to be expected? I sympathize with their dislike of the portraits but have trouble seeing them as victims. They are incredibly savvy politicians. If they don’t like the outcome the blame lies with their own lack of research and/or the PR team who either dropped the ball or purposely set them up for predictable embarrassment. One cannot sit for Picasso and then whinge about Cubism."
And that, my friends, is a nice example of how to win friends and influence people, even when you disagree with them.