Vanity Fair editor who famously infuriated and antagonized Trump steps down

Mike Windle/Getty Images for Vanity Fair

Longtime Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter announced his retirement on Thursday after 25 years at the helm of the legendary magazine.

In an interview with The New York Times, Carter said he wanted to leave "while the magazine is on top" and had made suggestions to fill his spot, a vacuum at one of the most prestigious legacy publications during a tumultuous time for the magazine industry, which has attempted to keep up with the rapid shift to digital.

While Carter has a storied career in journalism, unmasking the key source in the Watergate scandal, bolstering the publication's elite status, and fostering a close relationship with the powerful industries the magazine covered, Carter's long-simmering feud with one famous New York celebrity businessman became newly relevant in recent years.

During his time at the since-shuttered Spy Magazine, Carter frequently skewered then-real-estate mogul Donald Trump, famously noting Trump's small hands, calling Trump a "short-fingered vulgarian," an observation that Trump has fixated on publicly for years, even at one point sending Carter a printout of his hands. 

Though they were once friendly enough that Carter attended one of Trump's weddings, the president has repeatedly slammed Carter in interviews and on social media, tweeting repeatedly about Carter, his restaurants, and his magazine. He made time during the presidential transition to fire off a tweet criticizing the publication following its review of one of Trump's restaurants.

Tweet Embed:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/281493931538124801
Dummy Graydon Carter doesn't like me too much...great news. He is a real loser! @VanityFairTweet Embed:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/809383989018497024
Has anyone looked at the really poor numbers of @VanityFair Magazine. Way down, big trouble, dead! Graydon Carter, no talent, will be out!Tweet Embed:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/655134544727797760
Rumor has it that the grubby head of failing @VanityFair Magazine, "Sloppy" Graydon Carter, is going to be fired or replaced very soon?

For his part, Carter has appeared to relish Trump's hatred, hanging a wall full of framed Trump tweets outside his office in One World Trade Center.

"He's tweeted about me 42 times, all in the negative," Mr. Carter said. "So I blew up all the tweets and I framed them all. They're all on a wall — this is the only wall Trump's built — outside my office. There's a space left for one more tweet to complete the bottom line. So if he does, I'm just going to call our framer, and say we need one more."

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