Podcast Summary: "Tina Brown Thinks the Über-Rich Have It Coming"

The Interview – The New York Times
Date: November 15, 2025
Hosts: Lulu Garcia-Navarro (main), with Tina Brown

Overview

This episode features a lively, incisive two-part conversation between host Lulu Garcia-Navarro and legendary editor, writer, and media observer Tina Brown. Brown, known for her transformative roles at Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, her creation of The Daily Beast, and most recently her acerbic Substack "Fresh Hell", reflects on the evolution of power, media, and culture from her ’80s heyday through today, offering candid takes on the gating of taste, elite circles, the royal family, gender, money in media, and why she thinks the ultra-wealthy’s unchecked influence is finally facing a reckoning.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Writing without Restraints on Substack (02:22–04:19)

• Tina Brown’s Signature Voice: Garcia-Navarro opens by reading aloud Brown’s colorful contemporary descriptions of public figures. Brown credits her uninhibited writing to the platform (Substack) and her sense of liberation from institutional censorship and commercial considerations.
• Quotes:
  • “I'm in a different zone...I don't feel I have to have any sort of restraint anymore, which, you know, is very exciting to me as a writer.” (Tina Brown, 02:59)
• Memorable Moment: Brown relishes not managing people or appeasing advertisers, saying, “I can just sort of let rip. And it’s liberating. And I think it’s needed...” (03:41)

2. Media Power, Nostalgia, and Lost Authority (04:19–08:47)

• Nostalgia for Editorial Gatekeepers: Brown details her time at Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, describing them as “factories of fun and adventure.” She laments a lost era when taste and authority curated culture, now replaced by an exhausting “big blob...of stuff and dross.”
• Quotes:
  • “The gatekeepers were also the tastemakers. So the thing about not having any gatekeepers means that there is no one person who's got the flair, the taste, and the courage to say, I like that. I want to do it.” (Tina Brown, 06:47)
• The ‘Lost Fun’ of Work: She reflects on how “all the fun has come out of work,” especially in journalism where everything is now dictated by sponsorship and survival.

3. On the New York Elite and the Epstein Scandal (09:18–15:49)

• Personal Connections: Brown shares her social proximity to Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein, portraying Maxwell as equally complicit and “twin halves of the same evil” (11:44).
• Quotes:
  • “[Ghislaine] joined in in the threesomes, hurting the girls during sexual...activities...they were twin halves of the same evil.” (Tina Brown, 11:44)
  • “I think she deserves to rot in that prison a very long time, in my view.” (12:09)
• Media’s Early Stumbles: Brown recalls how her Daily Beast team broke some of the Epstein story but it failed to stick pre-#MeToo due to societal and editorial inertia.
  • “Epstein...came in to the offices of the Daily Beast and tried to stop me running it...he just looked at me and said, just stop. Just stop. And it was a very chilling encounter.” (Tina Brown, 13:07)
• Society’s Morality: Lulu reads a telling line: “The only thing that gets you shunned in New York society is poverty” (14:58).

4. Royal Family, Scandal, and the Problems of Peripheral Royals (15:49–20:44)

• Andrew and the Periphery Problem: Brown discusses at length the dangers of under-employed, cash-poor royals (like Prince Andrew), advocating transparency and change.
  • “The Queen enabled Andrew in a really terrible way...he was her favorite. I mean, she protected him...” (Tina Brown, 17:30)
• Harry and Meghan’s Floundering: Brown is bluntly critical of their missteps.
  • “I've never seen anybody in professional life make as many mistakes as certainly as Meghan has...Harry is not the brightest bulb either.” (Tina Brown, 18:06)
• The "Human Drama": Brown returns to the monarchy because “it's the ongoing human drama of real people with real feelings...in tension with a monarchical system which is a thousand years old.” (Tina Brown, 19:58)

5. Inside the Old Media World: Anna Wintour, Gender and Power (20:44–28:36)

• Wintour’s Legacy, Sexism in Media: Brown admires Wintour’s endurance but notes she couldn't see herself as a lifetime corporate keeper.
• On Sexism: Brown describes the patronizing limits even powerful women faced.
  • “Stick to your knitting, Tina. You’re an editor.” — Si Newhouse (as quoted by Tina Brown, 24:01)
• Changing Editorial Landscape: Brown notes the business has moved from creativity to “corporate hell”, and celebrates new models like the Free Press/Barry Weiss.
• Public Perception of Female Success: She mocks the “buzzy” (28:40) media persona assigned to her versus the seriousness accorded to male peers.

6. Media, Money, and the Über-Rich (29:12–31:36)

• On Elite Overreach: Brown rails against the disrespect of the digital billionaire class for journalism.
  • “I am so bored, frankly, with the uber rich thinking that just because they're rich, they know everything about everything...they are so disrespectful, frankly, of our business...” (Tina Brown, 29:55)

7. Trump, the Attention Economy, and Scandal Fatigue (31:36–35:35)

• What Trump Learned: Brown attributes Trump’s mastery to Roy Cohn’s playbook—never apologize, control the narrative, and constantly distract the public.
  • “He’s understood...as a great producer, which he is, he knows that, like, every two or three weeks, he has to produce another distraction.” (Tina Brown, 31:59)
• Why Scandals Don’t Stick: “It has to be something they can really see...like...gold bars in [Menendez’s] closet. That we understand. We get that.” (Tina Brown, 33:18)
• Disappointment in Media Figures: Brown singles out Jeff Bezos and Tucker Carlson for falling short or changing for the worse (34:29–35:35).

Part II: Updates and Reflections (38:00–49:11)

Prince Andrew’s Final Fall and Monarchy’s Dilemmas (38:02–40:07)

• On Charles finally cutting Andrew off: Brown says, “It would have been much better if he'd simply stripped him of all of his honors originally...it’s been allowed to kind of bleed out in one episode after the next.” (Tina Brown, 38:24)
• Keeping royals close: “If you cut him off completely...then he is a loose cannon out in the world with no means of supporting himself and could wreak all sorts of havoc.” (Lulu, 39:03)

The Rise of Zoran Mamdani and Pushback against the Elite (40:07–42:40)

• Brown’s Take: She’s heartened by Mamdani’s electoral success as a symbol of resistance to plutocrats:
  • “We have in the last sort of few years, been so bullied by the super rich...Mamdani has shown how to get your sort of fight back…” (Tina Brown, 40:37)
• Hope for Change: Brown expresses new optimism that “humanity has a bit more juice in it than they might anticipate. And...things can change very, very quickly in America.” (42:08)

Endurance Through Change, Personal Loss, and Parenting (42:40–47:49)

• On Perspective: Brown’s late husband, Harry Evans, is remembered for “never [losing] his capacity for outrage” and refusing to be a bystander (43:11).
• On Parenting an Adult Child with Disabilities: She describes the unique challenges, emphasizing the largely invisible crisis “behind the closed doors of millions of houses and apartments…” (Tina Brown, 45:31–47:04)
• Memorable Moment: Brown humorously recalls missing her son’s unfiltered interruptions: “He’d sort of wander past with his towel...start talking in the middle of my zooms. Now I kind of really miss him...We became like the odd couple...” (Tina, 47:08)

On Change—in Self and the World (47:49–49:11)

• How She’s Changed: “I've learned how to really take pleasure from the moment that we're in and not to be someone obsessed with the past.” (Tina Brown, 48:20)
• Headline Proposal: “Dinosaurs Still Rule the Earth. Question mark?” (Tina Brown, 48:52)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• “I don't feel I have to have any sort of restraint anymore...I feel liberated in some way.” (Tina Brown, 03:33)
• “Finding [good writing] is like the needle in the haystack...there is nobody who can actually tell you...corral the good stuff for you and tell you this is needed.” (Tina Brown, 06:47)
• “She was a real participant in the sexual abuse...they were twin halves of the same evil.” (Tina Brown on Ghislaine Maxwell, 11:44)
• “What the hell is this, the Predator’s ball?” (Tina Brown, recounting her reaction to a dinner invitation, 15:27)
• “She [the Queen] protected him...[Andrew]. And...it made him worse.” (Tina Brown, 17:30)
• “I have never seen anybody in professional life make as many mistakes as certainly as Meghan has.” (Tina Brown, on Meghan Markle, 18:06)
• “Stick to your knitting, Tina. You’re an editor.” (Si Newhouse, quoted by Tina Brown, 24:01)
• “I am so bored, frankly, with sort of the uber rich thinking that just because they're rich, they know everything about everything.” (Tina Brown, 29:55)
• “He knows that people will not be paying attention. They don’t. And he understands that brilliantly, I think.” (Tina Brown, 31:59)
• “You want to land into silence. You want to publish something into a sort of cosmic darkness...” (Tina Brown on media relevance, 28:40)
• “We have been so bullied by the super rich...money doesn't just buy everything.” (Tina Brown, 40:37–41:04)
• “He refused to be a bystander in life. He was a man of the arena.” (Tina Brown, on Harry Evans, 44:26)
• “Behind the closed doors of millions of houses...there are, you know, frankly, sort of desperate mothers...with an adult living with them who they're going to have to support probably for the rest of their lives” (Tina Brown, about invisible family struggles, 46:30)
• “Dinosaurs Still Rule the Earth. Question mark?” (Tina Brown, 48:52)

Important Timestamps for Quick Reference

• 02:22 — Acidic wit, Fresh Hell Substack
• 06:47 — Decline of editorial authority
• 09:18 — Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell: complicity, backstory
• 13:07 — Epstein’s confrontation with Brown
• 15:27 — "Predator’s ball" dinner invitation
• 17:30 — The Queen’s responsibility for Andrew
• 18:06 — Harry and Meghan’s missteps
• 24:01 — "Stick to your knitting" sexism
• 29:55 — Über-rich disrespect for journalism
• 31:59 — Trump and media manipulation
• 33:18 — Why some political scandals resonate, others don’t
• 34:55 — Tucker Carlson then and now
• 38:24 — Charles strips Andrew of his titles
• 40:37 — Mamdani’s election, public pushback on the elite
• 42:40 — Reporter’s wide lens on history
• 44:26 — Harry Evans’s moral tenacity
• 45:31 — Parenting and disability
• 48:52 — Self-reflection, headline proposal

Closing Thoughts

Through her trademark candidness, historical perspective, and “stinging analysis,” Tina Brown examines how media, money, gender, privilege, and power have mutated—and what might spark the next turn in the cycle. From Hollywood parties to palace intrigues, and personal resilience in the face of upheaval, Brown’s voice is a reminder that even in the age of the “über-rich,” human drama and the fight for relevance, decency, and joy persist.

Final Quote:
“Dinosaurs Still Rule the Earth. Question mark?” (48:52)