We're on the ferry, leaving New Jersey and pulling up to Brookfield Place and we're

going to go into one-world trade center where we're headquarters of CondiNast and Vanity

Fair.

Just a pleasant commute, you're out on the water, you can see the Verizano Bridge, you

can see the New York skyline coming and we're looking at the financial district, so

you know, immediately you're reminded of, I guess, Bernie made off and it's also reminded

of Donald Trump, maybe the ultimate grifter, a lot of people would say, but I think that

in general, you know, New York City is a place with so much money and power and people

who crave access to that, we're all there want to be a part of it, who aren't and could

lead them into all sorts of cons as we've seen with some of the characters we'll talk about

today.

You're listening to Inside the Hive, where Vanity Fair writers tackle the week's news and

politics, media and entertainment.

I'm Maggie Cogland, senior Vanity's editor and I'm in the studio today with my colleague

Joe Pompeo.

How should I introduce you, Joe?

That's easy, I'm Vanity Fair's senior media correspondent.

George Santos is the latest in a long line of public rifters for the social media era,

people who get viral attention and fame for lying, which can then be turned into an eight

part streaming series or more.

Today we're going to present a cultural history of how the pipeline from small grift to streaming

service became a thing and how these stories work in the business of news and Hollywood.

...