Donald Trump pulled a very Donald Trump move last night in an interview with George Stephanopoulos, saying the quiet part loud yet again, and what he said was at the same time shocking and also not shocking at all. Distilled to its purest form, President NO COLLUSION said heck yeah, he would like to commit some crimes in order to win the 2020 election. If a hostile foreign power brought him campaign dirt on his opponent -- the same way they did in 2016! -- he'd say yes, you bet, he'd love it,
especially later in the summer!
They
were talking about Trump's son Dumbfuck Junior's testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday (full transcript because it's important):
Stephanopoulos: Your son Don Jr. is up before the Senate Intelligence Committee today, and again, he was not charged with anything.
Trump: By the way, not only wasn't he charged, if you read it, I mean with all the horrible fake news -- I mean, I was reading that my son was going to go to jail -- this is a GOOD YOUNG MAN ...
A GOOD YOUNG 41-YEAR-OLD MAN.
Trump: That he was going to go to jaaaaaaail. And then the report comes out, and they didn't even say, they hardly even talked about him.
Stephanopoulos: Should he have gone to the FBI when he got that email?
Trump: OK, let's put yourself in a position. You're a congressman. Somebody comes up and says, "Hey, I have information on your opponent. Do you call the FBI? I don't think-
Stephanopoulos: If it's coming from Russia, you do.
Trump: I'll tell you what, I've seen a lot of things over my life. I don't think in my whole life I've ever called the FBI. In my whole life. You don't call the FBI. You throw somebody out of your office, you do whatever you do-
Stephanopoulos: Al Gore got a stolen briefing book. He called the FBI.
Trump: Well, that's different, a stolen briefing book. This isn't a stolen- This is somebody that said, "We have information on your opponent." Oh, let me call the FBI. Give me a break. Life doesn't work that way.
President Crime Time gonna tell us how "life" works now. OK.
Stephanopoulos: The FBI director says that's what should happen.
Trump: The FBI director is wrong.
STUPID FBI DIRECTOR THAT TRUMP NOMINATED AFTER HE FIRED THE OTHER FBI DIRECTOR IN ORDER TO CRIMINALLY OBSTRUCT A LAWFUL INVESTIGATION INTO THE CRIMES TRUMP IS ADMITTING TO RIGHT NOW ON NATIONAL TV.
Stephanopoulos: Your campaign this time around, if foreigners, if Russia, if China, if someone else offers you information on opponents, should they accept it or should they call the FBI?
Trump: I think maybe you do both. I think you might want to listen. I don't- There's nothing wrong with listening. If somebody called from a country — Norway — "We have information on your opponent." Oh. I think I'd want to hear it.
Stephanopoulos: You want that kind of interference in our elections?
Trump: It's not interference. They have information. I think I'd take it. If I thought there was something wrong, I'd go maybe to the FBI, if I thought there was something wrong. But when somebody comes up with oppo research, right, they come up with oppo research. "Oh, let's call the FBI." The FBI doesn't have enough agents to take care of it. When you go and talk, honestly, to congressmen, they all do it. They always have, and that's the way it is.
Hello, FBI, we'd like to report a crime in progress. President NO COLLUSION just admitted what we've all suspected all along, that he's ready and willing to accept 2020 election interference from hostile foreign powers, as long as it helps him. Please remove him from the Oval Office he stole, immediately.
Yes, Senator Schatz, it is. Of course, the other things are terrible too -- just this week, Trump gave aid and comfort to the most dangerous dictator on the planet and kicked our own CIA in the dick in the process! -- but it's rare that the president gives the public such a preview into his upcoming crimes against our democracy. He's ready to do it again! Because for this unelected president, doing crimes, even against America, is just "how life works."
Here are a few of our takeaways, besides the obvious, which is HOLY SHIT, THERE IS A CRIMINAL IN THE WHITE HOUSE:
NO FBI! CRIMINALS DON'T CALL THE FBI!
Trump said he's never called the FBI in his entire life -- and if that weren't a lie, it wouldn't be surprising, because he's a criminal. Criminals do not tend to call the FBI unless there is another criminal who is moving in on their turf, in which case sometimes they might say, "Hello I am a criminal, but i will tell you my naughties if you promise not to LOCK HER UP me. In exchange I will give you all the dirty dirts on this other criminal you want more than you want me." What's funny is that
actually BuzzFeed reported a couple years ago that Trump has called the FBI before, way back in 1981. He was opening a casino in Atlantic City, and he wanted the FBI to stop other crime families from interfering with his turf, so that's on brand.
NO COLLUSION! TRUMP AND HIS FAMILY ARE TOO STUPID FOR COLLUSION!
The Mueller Report explains why prosecutors felt they would have a hard time gaining a full conspiracy conviction for Trump Russia collusion conspiracy cahootses like Junior's Trump Tower Treason Meeting. One of the things it hinged on was criminal intent, because back in 2016, Trump people were fucking IDIOTS, especially Donald Trump Jr. Indeed, that whole section of the Mueller Report reads like "Junior is simply too fucking stupid to be indicted, bless his heart." They're new at politics! How could they know crimes were bad?
But now it's 2019. They all definitely know better now. And they'd FUCKIN' DO IT AGAIN. On top of what Trump told George Snuffleupagus, remember what Jared Kushner told Axios recently? Kushner was asked, if that thing happened again and America's enemies were bringing dirt on campaign opponents of President Enemy Of The State, would he go to the FBI this time? "It's hard to do hypotheticals." Yeah, Jared, we bet.
Show us a prosecutor in America who couldn't prove criminal intent now, and we'll show you an idiot.
RUSSHUR IF YOU'RE LISTENING!
Y'all, when Trump said that in 2016 on the campaign trail, when he looked in the camera and said, "Russia if you're listening" and asked them to find Hillary's "missing" emails, they tried to hack Hillary Clinton's personal server directly that night. Is Trump sending messages to Russia again, right now?
And let's be clear. Trump needs hostile election attacks, in order to win. He lost the popular vote by three million in 2016 and his Electoral College "win" was a fluke (or a crime), accomplished even though he had all that Russian and FBI help, and even though he was running against Emails McYoga Pants (whom we love and are just teasing right now). He has never hit a 50 percent approval rating, because Americans despise him so much.
Could Trump get re-elected legitimately? Sure. It's theoretically possible that the Democrats could fuck it up really badly and somehow, by the hair of his chinny chin chin, he could hold on.
Could Trump get "re-elected" illegitimately? Oh hell yes. We already know that Trump is absolutely hellbent on ignoring election security issues, and it's pretty obvious the reason is because election security is a natural opponent to his own bottom line chances of being re-elected. (Mitch McConnell also refuses to bring election security bills to the floor of the Senate. Wonder why!) The Mueller Report found conclusively that Russia engaged in a "sweeping and systematic" campaign to elect Trump, that his campaign just loved that help, and his margin of "victory" alone suggests Russia was successful beyond its wildest dreams.
And Trump just invited them back in 2020.
And our final takeaway, perhaps the most important:
NANCY PELOSI, IT'S TIME.
Dear Speaker Pelosi:
We have been Team Pelosi with the strategy of slow-walking impeachment, because we trust your judgment, even when half of Twitter is saying "NUH UH SHUT UP." We do not actually care what Twitter says, but now
we, your best friend and ally, are saying it's fucking time. Yes, still slow roll it and make it as painful as possible for Trump, and design it to inflict maximum pain on him in the election. That's all fine. BUT START IT.
Love,
Wonkette
The dumbfuck is on Twitter this morning, trying to "smooth it over":
Yeah, that's the same. And honestly, if the "Prince of Whales" tries to collusion Trump in his sleep, he needs to make a different phone call. To a neurologist.
Like we said, he's a dumbfuck, and he's a criminal, and Nancy Pelosi, we love you a lot, but
it's time to do this.
After 14 years off the air, All That is coming back to Nickelodeon on Saturday night. Even though the revival boasts a new cast, the producers will pay homage to the original by keeping TLC’s iconic theme song and continuing a few of the show’s most popular sketches, including Good Burger, Vital Information, and Loud…
It's no secret that Joe Biden is known for his gaffe-making. That's one of the many things we're told to love about him. But some of what Biden's said and done recently isn't just a blunder. It's intentionally who he is. Today, he was palling around with voters in Iowa, and this happened.
Twitter
So, what in the ever-loving fuck is that? There's quite a lot wrong here, but the most egregious is the idea that it's the job of a young girl's brothers to make sure she never has sex. They are not nor will ever be in charge of her body. It's not an Edith Wharton novel. We also loathe the hypocrisy. Young straight boys want to have sex with young girls. They'll Rapunzel their sisters while trying to get in the pants of girls whose paternal bodyguards are presumably sleeping on the job. This creates a "good, protected girl/bad, loose girl" dichotomy that's just gross.
But this is more than just a tired old joke from a tired old man. It's patriarchal thinking that's completely out of step with modern feminist thought. That's sort of important because the Democratic party is supposedly the feminist one.
We get that Biden wasn't trying to be an ass, but we have multiple women candidates who understand all this without someone on their staff explaining it to them. It just makes sense for a woman to take the lead when our party is on the front lines in the battle for women's rights. Biden disagrees, however, and he'll do so in the most condescending, paternalistic way you could imagine.
Twitter
Why do white dude liberals do this? "NOBODY has supported your rights more than I have." At least possess the humility to put yourself second or even third behind actual Woman-Americans. Yes, as everyone likes to remind us, Biden co-sponsored the Violence Against Women Act, but the "co" there was Louise Slaughter. The late congresswoman devoted her life to women's empowerment and equality. It's admirable when any of us can use whatever privilege we enjoy to advance a vital cause, but we shouldn't co-opt it, either. And we should never fail to listen to those directly affected by these issues. Mansplaining is very 2018... and 2019... and probably 2020 (there's sadly no end in sight).
The young woman Biden's lecturing tweeted that she considered the fussy finger-wagging an "intimidation tactic." Biden apparently "leaned forward, raised his voice," and tried to grab her arm with his free hand. He might've thought this was just part of his natural charm offensive, but she feared he was going to hit her. If you're a man who dismisses her concern as hyperbole -- a former vice president isn't going to assault someone in a public place -- you are quite frankly part of the problem. A woman shouldn't have to consider how much a man might stand to lose if he hurts her. That's not comforting. Also, men aren't known for their rationality. A lot of them voted for Donald Trump. This includes Biden's own brother, who did so because he "felt slighted" by Hillary Clinton. Oh boo fucking hoo.
The entire rationale for Biden's candidacy is his "electability," but it's exclusively defined. Working-class Joe from Scranton will convince the broke-ass Archie Bunkers out there to vote for a Democrat like they used to never. Elizabeth Warren can't do this because her voice makes their penises shrivel up and die. We can't elect presidents who'll promote erectile dysfunction. That's just reality. We're so focused on these "ideal" voters we risk forgetting that the Democratic nominee will also need to successfully connect with women. It's not enough to just be less sexist than Trump, even significantly so. That only establishes a baseline level of acceptable sexism, and women don't appreciate feeling "slighted," either.
Rarely is the artist’s process presented in such an unfiltered, uncompromising way — especially at this strata of musicianship. Polished mixes are juxtaposed against takes recorded in bathrooms; landmark tracks against distorted noise. A unique and delightful insight into a band in the middle of writing their masterwork.
My Radiohead fandom stops just short of listening to 18 hours of Thom Yorke recording music in bathrooms, but this is certainly a trove for superfans and those interested in the musical process of one of the world’s biggest bands.
HELEN MIRREN IF YOU WON'T FIGHT ME YOU'RE A GODDAMN CLOWN
Yesterday, we reported on pop star Justin Bieber inexplicably challenging Tom Cruise to an MMA fight . We’re still very much in the dark as to why Bieber thinks it’s a good idea to square off against Cruise who—it must be said—could definitely kick his ass, despite being 31 years his senior. His unprovoked challenge,…
Before we get into the meat of this post, we want to say to Hillary Clinton that we are so sorry about the death of your brother Tony this weekend.
Tony Rodham was the baby brother among the Rodham siblings (Hillary is the firstborn) and 64 is very young. May he rest in peace.
Because this story involves Hillary Clinton, though, you can imagine that all corners of the internet are overflowing with bipartisan love and support for the family right now, HAHA WERE YOU BORN YESTERDAY? It is awful, and it is only just beginning, and because we live in a country where a certain percentage of the population's brains are so poisoned that they literally think there is a thing called the Clinton Body Count -- of people! murdered by Bill and Hillary's henchmen! -- they are obviously putting two and two together and getting DERP DERP DERP DERP DERP.
Here is Ben Garrison, the right-wing political cartoon idiot boy, to launch the discourse directly into the stupidest ring of hell:
One of the things that really comes through in Hillary Clinton's most recent book, What Happened, is how the truly cruel conspiracy theories out there really can drag a person down, and by "person," we mean Hillary Clinton. It's one thing to disagree with somebody politically, or even to subject them to biting satire -- thus is the American way! -- but people literally believe the woman is running a pedophile basement underneath a DC pizza parlor that's built on a slab foundation. (Or maybe it is a crawlspace, we don't know, haven't checked the blueprints, TEACH THE CONTROVERSY. All's we know is there's no basement.) It's especially cruel that particular lie exists, considering how HIllary Clinton's life's work has been advocacy for children.
And again, there is the Clinton Body Count, because the Clintons have known people over the course of their lives who have died, so the only natural explanation is MURDERRRRRRRRR.
Over there at the Daily Caller, they are doing that Cute Thing They Do, where they don't actually say anything bad, and even pretend like they are reporting straight news, with subtle dogwhistles to set their paint-eating commenters on the intended path:
Clinton did not say how her brother Tony Rodham died. There have not been any recent reports that he was ill.
THEY ARE JUST SAYING.
The commenters at Dead Breitbart are also JUST SAYING things like this:
Gold mines in Haiti. Human trafficking in Haiti. Pedophilia in Haiti. Sleep with the fishes in Hades. [...]
"Sis! Honest! I never said a word to Bill Barr! We just ran into each other at the Safeway! All we talked about were grandkids! I didn't say nuthin' about you or Bill. Pleeeeeease!" [...]
Sounds like a severe case of Arkancide.
What, you didn't know the term "Arkancide"? It is a very real word these emotionally disturbed people use to refer to the very real thing that happens when the Clintons do the body count to people!
Some of the obituaries for Tony Rodham mention that he had some controversy in his professional life -- the New York Postreally leans on it, quelle surprise! And because he was a semi-public figure, that just kind of comes with the territory.
However, what doesn't usually come with the territory is ... whatever this shit is:
QAnon thinks she had him killed but also he is not really dead? All righty!
You can click through to that thread, but as for Wonkette, we will not be posting tweets from randos about the so-called MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES of the death of Hillary Clinton's younger brother.
Besides, we are pretty sure that somebody on Fox News today or tonight will really send the shit flying, and our money is on Sean Hannity. Why? Because he still hasn't apologized to Seth Rich's family for pushing the bogus conspiracy theory that the late DNC staffer was murdered for allegedly being the REAL RUSSIAN HACKER who turned over Hillary/DNC emails to WikiLeaks.
In other words, there is exactly one bottom feeder who hosts a nightly program for Fox News who literally jizzes himself over stories like this. And by "stories like this," we mean sad tweets from the woman who won the popular vote by three million in 2016, whose little brother just died.
Again, condolences to Hillary Clinton and her family. And as usual, we are so very sorry what scum-sucking pieces of shit a lot of right-wingers are. We all deserve better.
It would be easy to dismiss last year’s largely forgettable The Nun as just another of the many rotespin-offs made to capitalize on The Conjuring series’ success. This would be a mistake. The movie, which features a demon nun named Valak who looks like a scrapped Marilyn Manson video concept, has had an impact far…
Les Animaux Tels Qu’ils Sont is a 1930s book by Robert Lambry that contain instructions for drawing all kinds of animals, from elephants and snakes to birds and horses. Each drawing starts with basic forms — circles, rectangles, etc. — which Lambry builds into simple line drawings of each animal. I love the dogs drawn with parallel lines.
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It’s a good time to be Billie Eilish. And for one of the first times in her life, the 17-year old singer-songwriter is finally comfortable admitting this. “Because trust me, I am not somebody that is going to lie about my happiness,” the no-nonsense Eilish, one of music’s most undisputed breakout...
For years indie singer-songwriter Mitski has engaged in a whirlwind of touring, albums, and gorgeous music videos with very little rest in between. So it would make sense that one might want to take a breather after such a long grind, which is exactly what Mitski plans to do after her last show in September. Mitski…
These small-town Alabama people are so damn obsessed with homosexuality. They just can't stop thinking about it. It is always on their minds. Constantly.
Last week, Mark Chambers, the mayor of Carbon Hill, Alabama, shared an image on his Facebook page that read, in all-caps, “WE LIVE IN A SOCIETY WHERE HOMOSEXUALS LECTURE US ON MORALS, TRANSVESTITES LECTURE US ON HUMAN BIOLOGY, BABY KILLERS LECTURE US ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIALISTS LECTURE US ON ECONOMICS.”
Wow, Onion, just @ me next time. I already feel pathetic enough for going back to therapy largely for work stress related concerns.
CHICAGO—Encouraging her patient to really explore the various annoyances of workplace culture, therapist Dr. Brittany Mendoza, who wrote her doctoral thesis on the long-term effects of trauma on survivors of sex trafficking and has worked with survivors for over a decade, spent almost an hour Wednesday urging client…
OMG I fucking loved All That. Pierre Escargot! Amanda Bynes before she became sad! :(
Fresh out the box, stop, look, and watch. Ready yet? Get set. This is All That... the opening credits for the newly-revived All That, to be specific. And it’s an awful lot like the old All That, which is not a complaint in the slightest. For once, our collective nostalgia hath summoned something wonderful—not to…
How big does a pool have to be before it stops being fun and starts resembling the ocean set on The Truman Show? Maybe 871,200 square feet, which is the size of what is now the largest swimming pool in the world?
Once upon a time, dear readers, there was a TV show called Hannibal. It was about two handsome men staring at each other in meaningful ways—in the hopes that one of them would finally give in to their wildest passions and murder the other—and it was one of the weirdest, most beautiful shows ever to somehow end up on…
How quatrefoil became a bridge between old and new styles
In the second episode of Judd Apatow’s Netflix show, Love, a long and circuitous day of mishaps between the show’s main characters, Mickey and Gus, concludes with the two sweetly realizing a romantic connection—a classic, albeit prolonged, meet-cute. But in the tender final scene, a third character is present: the rug. The rug’s geometric pattern is uncannily familiar, vaguely pleasant-looking, mostly unassuming. It doesn’t demand one’s attention or clamor over other objects in the scene. It simply is.
Mickey realizes she and Gus have the same rug, and suddenly their chaotic encounter feels a little bit fated. Which is funny, because these days, there’s hardly a single big-box, mainstream interior goods retailer in America that doesn’t have a rug like that in its inventory.
Images courtesy of Netflix
As a design motif, the quatrefoil shape (which sometimes goes by other names, like trellis, lattice, or fretwork) has been around for centuries. But in the last two decades, its contemporary iteration in textile form has popped up everywhere from “modern farmhouse” bloggers to Mitt Romney’s son’s house to, of course, HGTV’s Instagram. It’s on Target’s website, where the $75 Threshold Fretwork Rug has amassed 1,700 reviews and an almost-perfect star rating. In the “Most Reviewed” results for area rugs on Wayfair.com, another version of the rug holds the top slot. And of a quarter-million results on Overstock, the rug holds the No. 10 post among the “top-rated.”
Unlike other Pinterest-y home decor trends that shot to popularity and burned away just as brightly (looking at you, “Keep Calm and Carry On” art), quatrefoil has endured. It seems to fit just as seamlessly among circa-2013 chevron as it does underneath a wall of shiplap. It’s a white T-shirt, a pair of sensible heels, a chambray blouse. It’s pretty hard to get wrong.
Charting quatrefoil’s rise is tricky, mostly because it has been here all along, its meaning shapeshifting for so much of human history. While the pattern is evident in the art and architecture of ancient cultures around the globe, from the Yucatan peninsula to Constantinople, it was Islamic weavers who gave it life in textiles. Preethi Gopinath, the director of the textile design MFA program at Parsons, says that geometric shapes like the quatrefoil are not only simpler to weave but also carried religious significance. “In Islam, for a certain period of time, you were not allowed to actually, realistically depict nature,” says Gopinath. “Instead, the way to attain that level of perfection in art and design was to use geometry, and weaving lends itself very easily and naturally to geometric patterning.”
Nobody’s going to say, ‘I hate that rug.’ There’s nothing to hate.—Preethi Gopinath, director of the textile design M.F.A. program at Parsons
As these hand-woven carpets made their way to Europe through trade, quatrefoil trickled into the West. It showed up in Gothic and Renaissance architecture (typically in places of worship, including Notre Dame), then reappeared in art and architecture during the Gothic Revival, as the design podcast 99% Invisibleexplored in 2014. Over time, quatrefoil also became a signifier of “fanciness.” In that podcast episode, producer Avery Trufelman (who also hosts Curbed’s upcoming podcast) points out that Louis Vuitton, Van Cleef and Arpels, and David Yurman have all made attempts to claim copyright on the shape. Beyond diamonds and designer bags, it now pops up everywhere from throw pillows to dog beds to ottomans.
Its entry into mainstream retail as the pattern of choice for throw rugs, bathmats, and stair runners has also been decades in the making.
Interior designer and original Fab Five cast-member Thom Filicia, whose 2003-2007 run on Queer Eye paralleled the quatrefoil rug’s steady ascent, traces the pattern’s textile revival back to the turn of the millennium, when the collective understanding of “traditional” interiors began shifting away from stuffy and ornate to fresh and clean (and, simultaneously, when retailers like Crate and Barrel and Williams-Sonoma responded by rolling out kid-sister subsidiaries like CB2 and West Elm). “All of a sudden, graphic rugs started to feel more interesting to people than the ones with florals, or Oushaks,” says Filicia. “Quatrefoil became this graphic and decorative tool that connected things that felt traditional with these more modern pieces… a bridge between the midcentury coffee table and the classic sofa.”
Taryn Williford, lifestyle editor at Apartment Therapy, says that by 2008, “quatrefoil was just everywhere—it was the pattern.” She knows, because she was decorating her first apartment that year, and bought a pair of blue quatrefoil throw pillows from Target as her requisite “pop of color” amid a mostly neutral palette. “The pattern felt kind of modern and fun and fresh at the time,” Williford says. “I’m sure I have stuff now that I’ll look back on and go, ‘ugh,’ but that makes me feel great right now—and those pillows made me feel great about my apartment.” She jokes that, by that point, it felt as though the pattern was already approaching the end of the “cerulean cycle” so eloquently and icily laid out by Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada.
Getty Images; Shutterstock (2)
In Miranda Priestly’s monologue, cerulean inevitably trickles down from the runways of Oscar de la Renta and Yves Saint Laurent to the clearance bin of a Casual Corner store. But by 2014, quatrefoil was still going strong.
That fall, it was prominently featured at the High Point Furniture Market, the largest home furnishings trade show in the world; after the show, Westchester Magazine described the pattern as “a darling of interior design.” Meanwhile, the area rug category as a whole grew in popularity as homeowners began gravitating to hardwood floors over wall-to-wall carpet in their build-outs and renovations. A newfound interest in whimsical pattern play, perhaps sparked (or at least foretold) by Target’s highly anticipated, chevron-heavy Missoni launch in 2011, gave rise to an environment in which quatrefoil thrived.
In a 2014 Today article offering tips on mixing patterns, quatrefoil window treatments are pictured alongside chevron pillows, a fretwork nightstand, and a throw pillow illustrated with, of course, a bird. Today, most of the aforementioned decorative accents feel like a very specific Pinterest time capsule (or a well-worn Portlandiajoke). Nevertheless, quatrefoil persists.
Skye Westcott, senior vice president of merchandising and design at Ballard Designs, says that while quatrefoil rugs have been consistent top sellers in the last five years or so, variations of the pattern have stayed in Ballard’s inventory for decades. “Our rug merchant has been here for over 20 years, and quatrefoil rugs were here before she joined,” she says. “That’s how long it’s been popular.”
Twenty years is a long time for a single trend to stick around, even by the standards of interior design, an industry whose trend cycles tend to move much slower than those of apparel. Part of that longevity may be due in part to “the Fixer-Upper effect”—as chevron and bird art gave way to shiplap and farmhouse sinks, quatrefoil managed to hitch its wagon to the Gainesian star, and stayed the course while its circa-2014 contemporaries went the way of the Casual Corner clearance bin. These days, the rug is often pictured on Pinterest alongside rustic whitewashed furniture, DIY wall art with “Family” or “Gratitude” or “Our Nest” on it, galvanized steel accents, and yes, shiplap. A Google search for “modern farmhouse rugs” yields variations of the rug in droves. One home decor blogger’s farmhouse style shopping guide features the pattern twice in its greige-washed list of five recommended rugs. Another blogger describes the pattern as a “staple of farmhouse decor.”
Of all the bright-burning pattern trends of the last decade or so, Williford says, “I don’t know of anything that has had legs like quatrefoil has.” She points to chevron as a stark contrast: both experienced a jolt of popularity around the same time. Both are simple, geometric shapes. Both have been part of our shared aesthetic vernacular far longer than Pinterest has. But eventually, the tides turned on chevron. “It became aligned with ‘Pinterest aesthetic’ and things that people wanted to be judge-y and shame-y about, even though it’s actually a pretty timeless pattern,” says Williford. “But you’ll still see quatrefoil in really sophisticated homes.” Poor chevron, which is now frequently mentioned in “trends that need to die”-style clickbait, has not been quite so lucky.
It’s less risky than any other design that’s out there, yet it makes the consumer feel like they’re a designer.—John McClain
Over the last decade, Williford and her coworkers have fielded countless inquiries from readers about the pattern, mostly asking what it’s called, where they could find it, and frequently, what it “goes” with. “A lot of people are obsessed with ‘what goes with this’ questions when you work in design,” says Williford. “That’s usually the first question somebody has when they’re new to designing their place, and they find something they like.”
The inherent appeal of quatrefoil, though, is that for the most part, anything goes.
It can make a traditional room feel a little bit more modern; it can tether a modern room in tradition. As Filicia mentioned, it can act as a bridge between different eras and aesthetics. It’s easy on the eyes; it’s about as neutral as patterns can get. It, as recent history has shown, can shapeshift from “first apartment out of college” to “modern farmhouse” pretty seamlessly. “The fact that it translates to so many styles and trends is, I think, why it stays around,” says Westcott, who says the pattern shows up across all of Ballard’s internally defined style categories, from “modern rustic” to “global.” “I could make it feel very traditional and classic, but I could also make it feel bohemian,” she says. In a design sense, quatrefoil can mean whatever we want it to mean.
West Elm (3); Shutterstock
Filicia points out that, rather than overhauling rooms entirely, most people these days are updating their spaces a la Theseus and his ship: integrating new things here and there into an existing environment. Quatrefoil is a perfect pattern to deploy in that situation, because it’s unlikely to be disruptive. “It’s one of those designs that plays well with others,” he says. For some consumers, it’s a simple and cheap way to freshen up a space, without having to redesign the rest of the room’s elements around it. Plus, he adds, “not every piece in your room needs to be super powerful.”
That adaptability and inherent ease help explain why the pattern has enjoyed such mainstream popularity for so long. “I think the reason it has this mass appeal is that it’s an easy way for the layperson to sort of feel like they’re instantly doing a ‘designer look,’” says LA-based interior designer John McClain (who adds that, though he did use the pattern once in 2013, he’s now ready to see it fade). McClain says the massive popularity of HGTV has led a large swath of consumers into believing that achieving that “designer look” is as simple, quick, and cheap as it’s presented on television. That dynamic, often bemoaned by those in the trade, fuels the popularity of easy bets like quatrefoil, which can feel like a quick upgrade requiring little legwork or funds. “It’s less risky than any other design that’s out there, yet it makes the consumer feel like they’re a designer,” he says.
Similarly, Williford points out that the confluence of social media and lightning-fast production cycles means that aesthetic quick fixes are easier—and more alluring—than ever. “Today, there’s more shorthand for the styles you want,” she says. “In the internet-shortcut age, we’re looking for the one thing that’s going to give us that look: It’s the shiplap, it’s the quatrefoil rug, it’s the macrame plant hanger.”
Mostly, though, quatrefoil resonates because it’s just so incredibly safe. “Nobody’s going to say, ‘I hate that rug,’” says Gopinath. “There’s nothing to hate.” And it’s true: in my own casual conversations with people who own The Rug, the most common explanation for buying it was something along the lines of, “I didn’t want it to be boring, but I didn’t want it to clash with my stuff,” or “I needed a rug, Home Depot had this one, and it seemed like a safe bet.” Basically: It’s not scary, but it’s also not nothing.
Quatrefoil’s adaptability is a draw not just for consumers, but for manufacturers, too, according to Deborah Hernandez, an assistant textile and surface design professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Quatrefoil presents an easy template. “You can change it greatly with scale and color, and those two things can change who you’re trying to appeal to,” she says. Large-scale quatrefoil in a splashy color might speak to a younger demographic; scaling the pattern down and putting it in a quiet, soothing neutral can appeal to a retiree decorating their vacation home. Westcott says that Ballard is constantly adding and tweaking styles. “Even within one style, we might add and drop colors,” she explains. “Design is becoming more and more a fashion statement, and you have to be on top of the color trend.”
“Anything that easily goes into repeat, and can be altered through scale without losing its integrity, you have a seller, you have a winner,” says Hernandez. Stripes, she adds, are famous for exactly that.
Quatrefoil has endured. It seems to fit just as seamlessly among circa-2013 chevron as it does underneath a wall of shiplap. It’s a white t-shirt, a pair of sensible heels, a Chambray blouse.
As for where, exactly, quatrefoil is currently in the Miranda Priestly cycle Williford joked about? Well, it probably wouldn’t be described by anyone as “the darling of interior design” in 2019—but neither would industrial shelving units, one example of which is a top seller in Overstock’s decorative accessories inventory. Quatrefoil rugs may not be perceived as cutting-edge, but that probably won’t stop people from embracing their ease and adaptability. According to Julie Cassetina, a spokesperson for Wayfair.com, quatrefoil rugs took off among the site’s shoppers in 2015, and judging by search data, interest has only steadily ticked upward in the years since. She describes it as a “perennial favorite.”
Trend cycles ebb and flow, but something as simple and arguably timeless as a geometric shape never really goes away—it simply drifts in and out of relevance. “I see it as an easy classic, and I think easy classics have a very long shelf life,” says Filicia. “I don’t know if it’s going to be the kind of thing you’re going to see in very compelling designs, or in a design that’s really pushing the envelope, or that’s really got something to say, but... you know, I leave that up to the individual or the designer.”
With time, Wayfair and Target shoppers will likely move on, and quatrefoil will quietly slip lower and lower on the “Sort By Most Popular” lists with time, usurped by Moroccan diamond or ikat or maybe even a few “weird” designs. Most likely, quatrefoil will always be humming along somewhere in the background. And almost inevitably, one day it’ll resurface, perhaps even cooler than before. “The next time we see a quatrefoil trend, it may be something that’s very edgy and kind of cool,” says Filicia. “Hopefully, we’re all still alive when that happens.”
The original rugs used in that “Love” scene—West Elm’s Tile Wool Kilim, in Mickey’s orange and Gus’s blue—are no longer in stock in those colors. But something tells me that if you like that rug, you’ll never have to search too hard for one.
Gray Chapman is a freelance writer living in Atlanta.
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