I Have The Proof that Trump is Drowning in Failure — The Daily Beast Podcast

[0:00] Buckle up everybody. The next 90 days are going to be a weird and wild ride. Iran is going to [0:05] interfere in our elections for the next 90 days. Russia is going to interfere in our elections for [0:11] the next 90 days. And Trump is going to try to use that to his advantage. Did you see the poll [0:16] results he's getting in the past few days? The worst poll ratings, not just of his career, [0:22] but of any president of the modern era. Nothing he says or does is working anymore. Donald Trump [0:30] is drowning in failure. And we are going to pay the price as he tries to keep his head above water. [0:40] I'm Joanna Coles. This is the Daily Beast podcast. If it's Monday, it must be David Rothkopf. And we [0:45] have, well, we have almost an entire UFC lineup for you today as the fighting in the Republican [0:54] party just gets worse and worse. We've got Max Miller and Bernie Moreno, son-in-law and [1:00] senator father with a strange media circus in his own background going on. We've got [1:07] Mitch McConnell versus Andy Beshear. We've got Dana Bash versus RFK Jr. And we've got Todd Blanche [1:15] versus John Cornyn and Tom Tillis. Before we get into it, just a reminder, please subscribe to [1:21] the Daily Beast. You can just press the button below the program description and hop aboard [1:28] the Beast community. David Rothkopf, you've interrupted me. I'm just writing a check for [1:37] $100,000 a month to Donald Trump's Truth Social. That's a great investment, Joanna, because he will [1:45] tell you when he's going to move markets. Do you know, this is an interesting fact, that the United [1:51] States government, since Trump has taken over this second time around, has bought shares in [1:56] 30 or gotten shares in 30 different companies. I mean, this is communism writ large. And so, you know, [2:05] we are all now invested in these Trumpy companies. And meanwhile, Trump is on a regular basis buying and [2:14] selling stocks that have to do with the policies he's making. So the best way to cash in on this, [2:20] you go to Truth Social, you pay $100,000. A month? A month. Well, but for the upside, [2:29] for what you're going to make, think of the house in the Hamptons, you're going to be able to buy [2:33] off of the insider information you're going to get from Donald Trump. You know what? I'm not going [2:39] to enable him monetizing the presidency. David, I'm ripping the check up. I'm ripping it up. [2:45] I was so hoping you would like pass along some tips to me. It's just astonishing, isn't it? That [2:51] he's actually monetizing the presidential statements. But he's doing it five different [2:58] ways. You know, he's like, first, you can buy this, then you can buy the stocks, then you can buy the [3:05] crypto, then invest in my kids' companies. Then, you know, and if you like do like the [3:14] multi-play parlay, like the Trumpfecta, you know, you can make money 10 different ways [3:26] on Trump corruption. I wish he'd bring back Trump steaks and Trump champagne and Trump water. And we [3:33] could just all live on a diet of Trumpiness, more Trumpiness. But Joanna, he doesn't care about water [3:39] anymore, as we know, because the Iranians tried to attack water supplies, or somebody, but we think [3:46] it may be the Iranians, in 10 different states. And Trump, who's currently at war with Iran, which he [3:52] seems to have forgotten, said, it's probably not the Iranians. I think it's the Democrats. They're [3:58] doing it in Minnesota. It's the people in Minnesota who are to blame. It's mind-blowing. But, you know, [4:05] here is the reason he's not in Trump water, because, you know, he's carved that off and said, [4:10] Iran, you can do Trump water from now on. That is an amazing story, isn't it? We should just dwell [4:16] on it for a moment. Ten states have had part of their water systems interfered with. Do you think [4:24] Tim Walts rused the day that he agreed to be Kamala's vice presidential candidate? Because ever [4:31] since then, a man that we barely heard from has really just become the target of so much. [4:40] I mean, well, first of all, once he became the vice presidential candidate, and some of those [4:47] brilliant geniuses around Kamala, who are actually ex-Biden geniuses, said, hey, Tim, you know, [4:54] all that straight talk that we love from you? Lay off. I mean, it was a mistake to go in. But I don't [5:01] think Tim Walts is the sole reason Trump has got Minnesota on the brain. I think another big reason [5:07] is Ilhan Omar. He hates Ilhan Omar. He hates the Somalis. He thinks it's a great place to go and [5:15] target his message that, you know, foreigners are coming and destroying this country. And so it's not [5:22] just Tim Walts. Isn't he also somehow, I mean, we have the two ice killings there of Alex Preti and [5:30] Rene Nicole Good. That must also play into it too, isn't it? Almost like, as we're often saying, [5:37] he doubles down. [5:39] Yeah, I think that that's true. But, you know, I do think the bigger story is this. Over the course [5:45] of the past 18 months, Donald Trump has dismantled the parts of the U.S. government that protect us [5:51] from foreign election interference, that protect us from foreign spying, whether it's in the FBI, [5:57] where we've moved people out of those things into, you know, editing the Epstein documents or doing [6:04] whatever vindictive prosecutions he wants. Or flying around with Kash Patel to make sure he [6:09] gets to his girlfriend's concerts on time. Right. Or, you know, Bill Pulte as the director [6:16] of national intelligence. Why is he still doing that job, by the way? You know, they confirmed his [6:21] successor. And Bill Pulte has said, no, I want to stay around for a while. Well, what do you think he's [6:26] doing? Something good for America? No, he's not. You know, he's doing Trump's dirty work. And, [6:32] you know, they shut down in the Department of Homeland Security, the group that tracked Russian [6:39] interference. Why do I bring all this up? Because Iran is going to interfere in our elections for [6:45] the next 90 days. Russia is going to interfere in our elections for the next 90 days. And Trump is [6:50] going to try to use that to his advantage. So, you know, buckle up, everybody. The next 90 days are [6:56] going to be a weird and wild ride. Because the president, and I think this is really important [7:02] and tied to all of these stories. Did you see the poll results he's getting in the past few days? [7:07] Yeah, catastrophic. Donald Trump has on inflation, on his war, on his overall approval, on his approval [7:14] with independents, the worst poll ratings, not just of his career, but of any president of the modern [7:21] era. Donald Trump is drowning in failure. Nothing he says or does is working anymore. And so he's got [7:31] to try these wild schemes to distract from it, to get attention, to hope it disrupts something. [7:39] But the main headline of the week for me was when I look at these polls and when I look at [7:44] thing after thing, whether it's failures in the courts or failures in Iran or failures, [7:49] you know, overseas or problems in the economy, is Donald Trump is drowning in failure. And we are [7:59] going to pay the price as he tries to keep his head above water. We make predictions every single day [8:08] about politics, pop culture, the economy, and the biggest stories making headlines. 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So we got to it much quicker than I was expecting. And I was planning to ask you [9:26] if you'd had a nice weekend because we're recording this on Monday morning. And I was going to ask you [9:32] if you managed to get to fancy farms in Kentucky. Well, first of all, I wish I had because, Joanna, [9:38] you know, we talk about everything that's important here. And I want to tell you, [9:41] it was a shitty weekend in Washington. It was rainy and disgusting. Now I did send, by the way, [9:47] everybody who's listening, I sent a note to Joanna and I said, the weekend is awful here. [9:51] She said, no, it's fine. She said, I'm having a good beer. That was really cruel. But in any event, [9:57] I could have gone to Kentucky where on the first August of every month, they have this big political [10:03] barbecue where they have roast pork and beef. And for the past, I don't know, 150 years since the Civil War, [10:12] the main attraction has been Mitch McConnell. Right. Because he's been going since, you know, [10:20] Robert E. Lee or whoever started this dinner and he wasn't there. And the big subject of attention [10:27] was that he wasn't there. But I thought the weirdest thing was that the Republicans started [10:33] making jokes. You know, they would say, well, Andy Beshear, the governor's not here. Maybe we need [10:39] a proof of life from him. And I was reading some Kentucky newspaper and somebody else was like, [10:44] well, I don't care about the proof of life. I just hope that Mitch is good with God. You know, [10:49] that he's good with Jesus because we know he's going to be in heaven soon. And I just want him to have [10:54] a good afterlife. And I was like, well, I think he's going to that Mar-a-Lago in the sky, perhaps, [11:00] to join his friend Lindsey Graham. With Lindsey Graham and soon enough with, you know, his big [11:07] orange friend. Actually, he hates him. And if Mitch McConnell died and opened up his eyes [11:13] and he looked across the room and there was a bed for a roommate and they said, oh, that's for Trump. [11:21] He's going to be your roommate for eternity. He would know he was in hell because McConnell hates [11:27] Trump. Remember how quickly his wife, Elaine Chao, ditched the Trump administration after [11:34] January 6th. She was the first one out the door. All right. Well, I want to read Andy Beshear's [11:41] posts in response to the teasing that he missed Fancy Farm. He said, sorry to miss Fancy Farm today, [11:49] but let me get in on the fun. Rand Paul apparently said I'd been neutered by my legislature. Rich coming [11:56] from a guy who's never had a pair of balls. And if he did, they'd be held by Trump. This isn't the [12:01] kind of language I was expecting from Andy Beshear, who looks, well, he just looks like a choir boy, [12:07] really, doesn't he? And then- No, no, but this is great for Andy Beshear. They don't realize what [12:12] they're doing. They're taking a guy who on paper is a great Democratic presidential candidate, [12:18] but who has one problem. What's Andy Beshear's problem? He's boring. And they are de-borifying him. [12:26] They are, you know what I'm saying? They are making him interesting. They've got him using [12:33] the word balls in a tweet. You know, that's all of a sudden, it's like, oh my God, who woke up [12:38] Andy Beshear? That's problems for the Republicans. Okay. So we've then got two more that I'm going to [12:44] reach out. I'm told Andy Barr also spoke. We aren't the same. Yes, same first name, [12:50] hometown and high school, but I don't run racist ads. Yes, Steve's my dad. His dad was also a [12:58] politician, but Trump's his daddy. Thought that was very good. And then he comes in with the kicker. [13:06] Funny how the Republicans are all mad. I missed one political event, watch my son play baseball, [13:11] but no outrage that Mitch McConnell has been nowhere to be seen for 50 days. Ooh, ooh. [13:19] Well, he's been great on the Mitch McConnell thing. He's like the one who started the proof [13:24] of life thing. He's been pushing on it. He's been challenging McConnell because I think they know the [13:29] game they're playing. You know, the game that everybody at least fears McConnell is playing is [13:34] that he drags this out a little longer to the point where he can't be, you know, replaced prior to the [13:44] election. And, you know, he was, he was, he was not going to run again anyway. And so this, this is a [13:52] ploy to allow the seat to remain open and not to let, you know, Beshear or anybody else put, put in place [14:02] a replacement. Um, uh, and then, you know, then what do they do? Then they say, Oh, well, Mitch [14:07] can't come back. Oh, that's too bad, but sorry, you can't replace him. Um, and so it is, it is a [14:14] kind of a weird high stakes game. You would think in the United States, there would be a law, right? [14:20] If you were in the Congress and you don't show up for work for a month or two, then you lose your seat [14:27] because you really need to show up because that's what you're being hired to do, but there's no such law. [14:32] So you could be dead or you could be like Tom Kane, the representative from New Jersey who just [14:38] disappeared judge Crater style. And you know, he, he, he remained, he, he remained in office and then [14:47] he popped back up when he wanted to and said, Hey, I'm bad. Or you could be like Kay Granger, [14:51] the Congresswoman in Texas, who moved into a residential home because she was suffering from [14:56] dementia, but she didn't give up her seat. In fact, today I saw the news that she had died. [15:00] All right, next year, let's go together. Oh, that'd be fantastic. Don't you think we should [15:05] do that? It would be so much fun. I wish there were more events like that in New York city, [15:08] actually. If they keep Bashir, you know, as interesting as they're making him, [15:14] it's going to be a big deal. Um, it does sound fun. It sounds like a very good family event, [15:19] but of course not a good family event for the Millers. Can we just discuss the Millers? Because [15:26] they turn out to be kind of, uh, possibly the least happy, most dysfunctional family in America [15:33] right now. Can you just fill us in? Cause I know you've been following this story. [15:38] Well, I have been following the story. I mean, this guy, Max Miller is a [15:41] congressman and he is, um, you know, running for reelection as congressmen always do. He is super [15:47] Trumpy. He was a Trump aid. He was there on January 6th. He has the most odious kind of policies. [15:55] And he was in a plus five district for Republicans. So it looked like he was going to win reelection, [16:01] but he has this problem. He has a history of abusing women, including his wife who wants a [16:08] divorce. And, um, you know, she has been going after him. And so he all of a sudden came out the [16:15] other day and said, this is untrue. My, you know, I didn't beat my wife. If I had beaten my wife, [16:20] why would she have cooked me dinner six days later? Why would she, you know, let me see my kids? Why [16:26] would, you know, and it was, it was one of those things, you know, there's some advisor he's got [16:30] who's like, no, you've got to go on TV. Now you've got to make your case. And the advisor doesn't [16:36] realize that if you are a disgusting asshole and you appear on television, you will be reminding [16:42] everybody what a disgusting asshole you are. And that's what Max Miller did. Now the, [16:48] there are two weird twists in this story. Uh, one is the inevitable Trump twist where over the [16:54] weekend Trump said, well, we have to see how this pit plays out. You know, you know, and in other [16:58] words, he minimized the fact that this guy was a spouse, alleged spouse abuser and had a bad history [17:05] with women. Well, and, and an allegation that he'd actually broken his daughter's shoulder, [17:10] his two-year-old daughter's shoulder. Right. Right. I mean, you know, he's, I mean, he's as bad as [17:16] they come. He should be out. Of course. Well, there's shades of Graham Plattner here, which, [17:20] you know, Graham Plattner was pretty much in and out of that main faster than you can say lobster [17:26] oil. Well, but that's the thing. When Mike Johnson, the alleged speaker of the house was asked about [17:33] this, he says, well, we're investigating. That's how it works in the Congress for Republicans and [17:38] Democrats. Well, it's not how it worked for Graham Plattner. And it's not how it worked for Eric Swalwell. [17:43] And it's not how it worked for a lot of other Democrats. It's how it works for Republicans, [17:47] because you have a president who's been accused many times of this. And I don't know, did you see [17:54] this poll over the weekend where somebody asked MAGA supporters if they would be willing to support [18:02] Trump or their candidate if they were like guilt, accused of sex abuse, or they were accused of [18:11] corruption or they were accused of some other crime? And all of these MAGA voters said, yeah, [18:16] I don't care. I mean, by all of them, I mean, the majority of them said that they don't particularly [18:22] care about this. And proof of that is that the person that Miller is married to is the daughter [18:31] of the U.S. Senator from Ohio, Bernie Moreno. And Moreno, until this blew up over the weekend, [18:40] had been quiet as a church mouse on this. He didn't push for the guy who his daughter is saying [18:48] abused her to get out of the Congress until this weekend when he had no choice because he had to do [18:55] it. But that's the Republican party for you. A father ignoring the alleged abuse of his daughter [19:03] and granddaughter. In order to be a good Republican. Right. And granddaughter. [19:06] We spend about a third of our lives sleeping, but a lot of us don't think very much about what's [19:15] actually making that sleep better or worse. That's one of the reasons Lisa has become such [19:21] a popular choice. Their mattresses are thoughtfully designed to deliver the kind of comfort and support [19:27] that helps you wake up feeling genuinely rested. Whether you're a side sleeper, back sleeper, [19:33] or somewhere in between, Lisa has a lineup of mattresses tailored to different sleep styles [19:39] and their quick sleep quiz makes it easy to find the right one. They're also designed and [19:45] assembled right here in the USA with free shipping, easy returns and 120 night sleep trial. So you can [19:52] be confident you're making the right choice. Go to Lisa, L-E-E-S-A dot com for 25% off select [19:59] mattresses plus an extra $50 off with promo code Daily Beast. Exclusive for my listeners. That's L-E-E-S-A dot com [20:09] promo code Daily Beast for 25% off select mattresses plus an extra $50 off. And when you use our code, [20:17] you're supporting our show. Lisa dot com promo code Daily Beast. So we've been covering this story at the [20:26] Daily Beast for the last couple of years, actually, because the divorce has been ongoing. Fascinating [20:34] that Bernie Moreno has finally come out and said something this weekend. Miller responded to him by [20:41] saying, you know, this isn't true. And the only reason you are speaking out now is to hide from your [20:46] own media circus. Miller didn't specify what the media circus was, but happily, we can. [20:55] But you will. Yeah, we will. We will. So Miller won't specify, but at the Daily Beast, we are unafraid [21:01] to specify that Moreno was himself embroiled, Natch, in a politically career-threatening scandal [21:11] during his run for his Senate seat in Ohio. And of course, he's staunchly, and you know where this [21:18] is going, he is staunchly anti-LGBTQ. And yet he was linked to a 2008 online profile seeking men [21:28] for one-on-one sex on the hookup website, Adult Friend Finder. Adult Friend Finder. [21:38] That's beautiful. There's nothing. Not that there's anything wrong with that, except when [21:45] you're anti-LGBTQ and you're a hypocrite. But it goes back to this poll. Why do MAGA voters [21:55] apparently show willingness to support people who committed all sorts of crimes? Because if they [22:03] didn't, there would be no MAGA politicians to support. Every single one of them. Where do you [22:09] look? Where do you find a MAGA politician who does not have something in his, some kind [22:16] of luggage, some kind of baggage, some kind of bad story in his past? [22:20] Well, the profile that was created looking for men on men's sex on Adult Friend Finder [22:28] said that the user was looking for young guys to have fun with while traveling. I'm sure [22:34] Mrs. Moreno would be thrilled to find that. And it was, the account was created incredibly [22:41] by someone with access to Moreno's work email. No one could confirm if he actually created [22:48] it. A former intern for him later claimed that he'd created it as an aborted prank. [22:53] As a prank. As a prank. Because that's the kind of thing, that's the kind of prank you pull because [23:00] it's a felony and you could end up going to jail for it. But all I can say is, Thanksgiving dinner [23:07] is going to be fantastic. Can you imagine being at the Miller's? Can you imagine being at the [23:11] Miller's for Thanksgiving dinner? I mean, almost as much fun as being at Mitch McConnell's for dinner. [23:19] Well, yeah, but that's going to be awake. The thing about the Millers. That's so mean. [23:24] Yeah, inappropriate. Somehow inappropriate and yet. And somehow yet so appropriate. [23:30] Well, 50 days. 50 days missing. And when the Daily Beast called up to find out if Mitch had actually [23:36] signed a document this week, his team were evasive. Well, right, because there was some talk that it [23:45] was auto pen, which we hate. I do know at the Fancy Farm event, I think Andy Barr said he had just [23:56] spoken to Mitch. Well, they all say they've just spoken to him. What they don't say is whether or [24:02] not Mitch has spoken back. Well, they don't say that they used a Ouija board to speak to him. [24:09] Oh, dear. Too much fun. Too much fun on a Monday, David. It's not good. Okay, so you know who wasn't [24:15] having fun yesterday, who looked almost as desperate as I thought Trump looked when he [24:20] broadcast his press conference from Camp David on Friday, was RFK Jr. yesterday under the withering, [24:29] the withering look of Dana Bash on CNN. We've got some clips here, actually. Let's play the first one. [24:37] We're being marginalized and vilified. [24:40] Yeah, because, again, I really want to move on. But you were saying you were part of the problem. [24:47] No, I wasn't part of the problem. It was absolute press malpractice. You weren't allowing your job. [24:53] Mr. Secretary, your job is a fierce skepticism toward authority. And you weren't doing that. [25:00] You were beating up on people who were dissenting. [25:04] No. Okay. Are you going to, you want to sit here and attack me? Or do you want to have [25:07] conversations about public health? You're sitting here and attacking me. [25:09] I'm not attacking you. I'm asking questions about how to prevent the next pandemic. [25:13] And let me answer the question and I'll tell you. [25:14] That's what I'm trying to do. [25:16] I mean, that's our Secretary of Health and Human Services under whom measles is now. [25:23] We've got as many cases of measles in the first six months of this year as we have in the first 24 years of this millennium. [25:31] I guess we have to remind everybody that this guy who is in charge of America's health system is a former heroin addict with a worm that has eaten his brain who said that he's not afraid of germs because he snorted so much cocaine off of toilet seats. [25:47] It's so awful. [25:49] Okay. You know, and so, you know, and he picks up roadkill, brings it home with his family. [25:55] You know, he's, he's, I think the roadkill included not just a little baby dead bear, but a raccoon penis at one point. [26:04] And this guy is in charge of our health care system. [26:08] And the problem was yesterday on CNN, whenever he was challenged, he would just do that Trumpian thing of going back after the person asking the questions. [26:17] And accused her of not being a scientist, to which she responded, I thought, pretty sharply, well, you're not a scientist either. [26:23] He's the opposite of a scientist, right? [26:25] He'll believe anything. [26:26] Well, yeah, but that's right. [26:27] But I frankly think, to be honest with you, she should have just said, okay, this interview is over. [26:33] Because he was not being responsive, and he was being purely combative, and he was playing to that audience of one in the White House. [26:42] And, you know, it obscures something. [26:44] These attacks on Fauci obscure something. [26:47] More Americans died per capita of COVID than the inhabitants of any other developed country, and almost any other country in the world. [26:57] Under Trump, according to medical scientists who studied the numbers, several hundred thousand people died who needn't have died. [27:07] But Trump suppressed responses, didn't respond because he was concerned about things like how it would make him look. [27:15] Remember when he kept that boat out at sea because he didn't want any more people coming into the country because it would make the numbers go up. [27:24] And, you know, remember when he said you should maybe consider injecting Clorox into your veins? [27:31] And when his appointees after Fauci came in and then they quit because they knew the numbers were being suppressed, this is a scandal of a scale that I don't think we've ever seen in the United States. [27:45] A million Americans died of COVID, hundreds of thousands of them died needlessly, many of them died as a direct result of policies initiated by Donald Trump. [27:58] It had nothing to do with Fauci, and you have these crackpots like RFK Jr. and Rand Paul, who are too closely associated with the policies that caused the deaths, saying, no, let's go after Dr. Fauci, one of the most distinguished medical scientists, doctors in our history as a country. [28:20] And, you know, I know, Tony Fauci, this is a very good man who at age 85, 86, 80, whatever he is, is being forced to defend himself against baseless attacks because these people have no shame whatsoever and continue to promote ideas that became obsolescent in the 18th century. [28:51] When we actually started using vaccines, and it's just, you know, the heroin addict, cocaine snorter with the brain worm is in charge, and the doctors are running for the hills. [29:07] And so, you know, God help us if there's ever a pandemic in this country, another one, I mean, you know, while these people are in charge, because it won't be just like measles. [29:16] It'll be hundreds of thousands of people dying because of the policies that caused hundreds of thousands of people to die before. [29:25] Okay, we have another clip from that interview. [29:27] Let's play it now. [29:29] I'm not triggered enough for you? [29:30] No, this is very good. [29:31] And you are talking about things that lead to vaccine hesitancy in this country, and it is something that causes problems for people. [29:45] Let me ask you something. [29:48] Do you see your job as ending vaccine hesitancy, or do you see your job as telling the truth to the American people? [29:56] I see my job as telling the truth, and the truth is that there is study after study after study. [30:03] It's one of the most studied things out there in science. [30:06] You're repeating it like a parrot. [30:08] You're repeating it like a parrot. [30:10] So are you. [30:11] I've actually read the science. [30:12] You don't want to. [30:13] Come back here and debate the science. [30:15] I'm not debating this for you. [30:17] Of course you won't. [30:18] No, because I'm not debating. [30:19] What you know how to do is repeat things that people told you and say, trust the experts. [30:24] That's what you do during COVID. [30:27] One of the problems also is that his own voice, which I know is due to, I think it's a hereditary or genetic illness, also just makes him sound even crazier than what he's saying. [30:41] Yeah, but so does being a fucking idiot. [30:42] Yep. [30:42] You know, and I mean, you know, we've got to cut through this, right? [30:46] If you were to go and say, well, there's 350 million or so many Americans, and I'd like to make a list of who should be in charge of our health care system. [30:57] And when you got down to the bottom of the list of the least qualified people and you were down at number 349,999, that's where you get Robert F. Kennedy Jr. [31:10] This guy has no business, a guy who was peddling supplements, a guy who was famously swimming in a Washington River full of sewage, a guy who, you know, is an absolute crackpot in charge of this. [31:26] And why? Because Trump decided he was going to run on this anti-vax position because somebody told him that MAGA had a lot of people in it that were anti-vax and they didn't like the government telling them that their kids had to stay home from school because they would actually have to take care of their fucking kids. [31:46] But guess what? Donald Trump has taken the COVID vaccination and boosters every six months because Donald Trump actually believes in vaccines. [31:58] Yeah, and his grandchildren have all been vaccinated, too. The thing I don't really understand is that actually one of the good things that Donald Trump did was speed up the vaccine or allow, you know, Operation Warp Speed seemed like a very smart thing to do. [32:13] And then the minute it starts working, he starts distancing himself from it. [32:17] That's exactly right. There are very, very few positive stories in the Trump history of both terms or, frankly, of his entire life. That's one of them. And because he thinks that it makes him look bad when people study the rest of the science, he's decided to throw out all science everywhere. [32:40] And that, by the way, it's not just RFK Jr., it's Pete Hegseth and so forth. Although, you know, when I watched this RFK Jr. thing, I thought he's making the case again that he is the least competent member of this cabinet. [32:53] And I was thinking, Pete Hegseth, you know, must be breathing a sigh of relief because he's like mismanaging a war, mismanaging the Department of Defense, making America at greater risk than ever, you know, is a mockery because of his whole testosterone obsession. [33:10] And yet RFK Jr. is actually worse than him. And I don't know. I don't know. Do you think RFK Jr. is in the lead now? [33:19] Well, it's a good question because it sort of depends what happens with the attorney general, doesn't it? [33:26] Yeah, that's a really good point. [33:27] If weight loss has felt like a losing battle, this summer can be different. Skip the guesswork and try Weight Loss by HIMSS. HIMSS now offers access to an affordable range of FDA-approved GLP-1 medications, including the Wagovi pill and Wagovi pen. [33:47] With Wagovi at HIMSS, you can lose up to 20% of your body weight when combined with diet and exercise. It helps regulate your appetite, eat less and keep weight off. [33:59] And Wagovi is the first ever GLP-1 pill for weight loss. So there's no needles needed. [34:05] Everything happens online from connecting with a licensed provider to getting your medication delivered right to your door if prescribed. [34:12] And you can get 24-7 messaging with your care team, plus lifestyle and nutrition support in the app. [34:20] Ready to reach your goals? Visit HIMSS.com slash beast to get a personalized, affordable plan that gets you. [34:29] That's HIMSS.com slash beast. HIMSS.com slash beast. [34:35] Weight Loss by HIMSS is not available in all 50 states. [34:38] What is this rescinding? We're recording this on a Monday morning and we woke up to news that there was some sort of official rescinding of the $1.8 billion slash fund. [35:06] You know, as we know, two Republican senators, both of whom are leaving the Senate, have said that they won't vote to confirm him, [35:14] which means he won't get through the confirmation process because he won't officially rescind it. [35:19] Now he appears to have done. Will this have any impact whatsoever? Does this mean that Todd Blanch will be confirmed? [35:25] It probably does mean that he'll be confirmed. It will have a huge impact. [35:31] It'll have a huge negative impact on the United States, and I'll get to that in one second. [35:35] But I do think, you know, by framing it this way, you raise something really interesting, [35:39] which is when you look at the Trump cabinet and ask yourself, who is the worst? [35:44] Who are the most dangerous? [35:45] You have a choice between the incompetent people like Hegseth and RFK Jr. and the Secretary of Education and the Secretary of Energy or the Secretary of Transportation, [35:57] or you have the ones who are kind of, you know, more competent, have functioning brains, but doing really evil, terrible shit like Todd Blanch, like Pam Bondi, like Scott Besant, like Marco Rubio. [36:13] So which are the worst? You know, the incompetents or the competent ones who are doing bad things? [36:19] I don't know. You don't want to have anything like this. [36:22] In the case of this Todd Blanch thing, though, what the deal says is not that he's not going to award U.S. government money [36:33] to people who have committed crimes against the country, you know, people that Trump wants to prop up. [36:39] He said he's just going to rescind the statement saying that we are going to create this fund. [36:48] It doesn't mean it can't be reinstated. [36:50] And as many people have pointed out, including here on Daily Beast podcast, they're already giving out money in individual cases. [37:00] And they can go on giving out money in individual cases. [37:03] They don't need a slush fund. [37:04] They could give out $10 billion case by case, and it's the equivalent of a slush fund. [37:11] They just won't call it a slush fund. [37:13] But, and this is what's really important here, he has not addressed Trump's craven plea for tax immunity, [37:22] which was one of the things that Cornyn objected to and sought some narrowing of. [37:30] And, you know, that's the most corrupt single act by U.S. president ever. [37:35] And, by the way, the top 1,000 most corrupt acts are all by Trump. [37:39] But this idea that somehow he could say, I'm going to instruct the U.S. government, which works for me, [37:46] to enter into an agreement to me never to audit my taxes now or in the future or my family's taxes or my company's taxes [37:57] so I can be a tax cheat with impunity forever. [38:02] And that's also staying alive. [38:04] Now, the next debtor credit president, that'll end, right? [38:08] That'll end then. [38:10] If the Democrats take over the House and the Senate and they have any chutzpah, [38:14] then what they'll do is they will stop funding the IRS until they renounce this deal. [38:21] But it'll end sooner or later. [38:23] But for now, you've got Todd Blanche, likely to get confirmed by a bunch of spineless Republicans, [38:31] and he will then do what he is doing, attack the president's enemies, [38:36] use this Justice Department as an obstruction of justice tool to protect Trump from Epstein accusations and other accusations, [38:45] and debase the entire justice system of the United States. [38:51] And that's what we're going to end up with. [38:54] And this sort of kabuki theater of Cornyn is going to be apparent to historians for what it was, [39:02] which is just a sham, just a fig leaf. [39:05] So Cornyn can feel like he had one last moment of character and masculinity before he left the Senate. [39:14] But in the end, the result will be that Todd Blanche will become attorney general, [39:20] and he will do innumerable bad things on the part of the president of the United States. [39:29] It does feel, I mean, that was a brilliant summation of what's going on. [39:34] And it does feel a bit like one of those questions that you imagine you might get at law school, [39:38] where someone says, OK, the deal is you get to be attorney general if you give the president, [39:47] and it's a hypothetical situation, complete tax immunity in his past, in his future, [39:55] and that of all his family. [39:57] Would you take the job? [39:58] And you feel like it's one of those questions that a law student would immediately say, no, of course not. [40:06] And the law professor would say, well, sometimes you get put in positions where you have to check your own values. [40:15] And this is one where Todd Blanche makes Macbeth look unambitious. [40:21] I mean, he's so craven for that brass ring. [40:25] And you're right, it's to the detriment of America. [40:29] The person you left out, of course, when you're going through your list of cabinet ministers is J.D. Vance. [40:37] Now, J.D. Vance this weekend was warned by Laura Loomer, Trump's special advisor, [40:44] who's just changed her mind on Ukraine. [40:46] One of Trump's many work wives. [40:48] This is probably a chance for you to promote your work wife show. [40:52] Yes, that's true. [40:53] In August, thank you for that opportunity, David. [40:56] In August, we're going to spend a series of podcasts looking at Trump's women. [41:01] This is work that Nell Scavel and I have been working on, [41:05] and we've got a four-part series on Trump's women, [41:07] which you are going to be contributing to when we talk about political work wives and their roles in it. [41:13] But Tucker Carlson this weekend announced there was going to be a new party. [41:20] Marjorie Taylor Greene linked arms with him, [41:23] and Laura Loomer is warning J.D. Vance that he has to dump his friend Tucker Carlson. [41:30] Otherwise, he won't stand any chance of replacing Donald Trump. [41:36] And I get along very well with the vice president of the United States, [41:39] but I think his biggest political liability and the biggest detriment to social cohesion within the MAGA movement [41:46] and cohesion within the GOP as we head into these perilous midterm elections [41:52] is making sure that you don't have this albatross around the party's neck. [41:58] And I'm talking about Tucker Carlson. [42:00] I think that J.D. Vance has a bright political future, [42:03] but he is allowing his friendship with Tucker Carlson to drag him down, [42:07] and we need to have moral clarity, and we need to reject certain people from our party [42:12] who are, you know, hell-bent on destroying, you know, what it means to be an American [42:18] and what it means to be a member of the MAGA movement. [42:21] Cutter Carlson there. What did you think of that? [42:25] Yeah, because Donald Trump isn't compromised by any of his international ties, including to Cutter. [42:30] Well, including the, you know, $400 million grift force one that he's now. [42:36] Well, exactly, except it's more than that, because we've probably spent more than that [42:40] upgrading it out of our own textiles. [42:42] And it's still not safe. [42:44] Yeah. Now, when Fran Drescher plays her in the Armando Iannucci movie, [42:48] it's going to be, you know, it'll just capture the degree to which I can barely listen to this woman. [42:55] But, you know, she has gotten to the point, if you follow Laura Loomer, [42:59] and, you know, we do, so you don't have to, everything is personal with her. [43:08] And it's all, do I like this person? Do I not like this person? [43:11] Are they on my team? Are they on the other team? [43:14] And it's a very kind of vindictive, low-grade kind of politics [43:20] that's then followed by factuous generalizations, like, [43:25] well, he's ruining what it is to be an American. [43:28] Like, what does that mean? [43:30] And how is Donald Trump not doing that? [43:32] And how is MAGA movement not doing that? [43:34] And, you know, maybe you should be talking about the fact that right now, [43:39] for the first time ever, we're starting to see people defect from MAGA, [43:43] saying, Trump has let me down, Trump has, you know, hurt my family, [43:49] Trump has hurt my bank account, Trump has destroyed my community. [43:54] You know, she's trying to, you know, I don't know, [43:58] set the last table on the Titanic before it disappears underneath the water. [44:02] And if she wants to do the seating arrangements for that table, good luck to her. [44:07] I got bad news for you, J.D. [44:09] Laura doesn't hold the secret here. [44:11] You don't stand any chance of replacing Donald Trump. [44:15] Nobody likes you. [44:16] You're one of the least liked people in this administration. [44:19] Nobody trusts you. [44:20] You've taken issues on either side or every side of every issue. [44:26] I'm possibly, at some level, I don't think your wife likes you that much, [44:30] since you're an incredible, you know, white supremacist racist, [44:35] and she comes from immigrant origins. [44:38] I suspect your kids, as they get to know you a little better, [44:42] won't like you that much. [44:44] The people of Appalachia, who you lifted up in your hillbilly elegy book, [44:50] hate you because you have betrayed them and fucked them over 16 ways to Sunday [44:55] because you're actually a Yale guy who's a Peter Thiel guy who's a Wall Street guy [45:01] who's just another scam artist who's looking for some kind of patter to get into power. [45:08] But the reality is this, J.D.V., not only does everybody hate you [45:12] and do large factions emerging across the Republican Party to defeat you, [45:18] but Donald Trump is tanking. [45:21] You hitched your wagon to the wrong star. [45:24] You're just too closely associated with it. [45:27] It is Trump Vance. [45:28] You cannot get beyond Trump Vance. [45:31] I think Marco Rubio is going to suffer the same kind of problem. [45:34] So, you know, take Laura Loomer's advice. [45:37] Don't take Laura Loomer's advice. [45:38] You think Tucker Carlson's going to have a big movement, you know, here. [45:44] I don't think. [45:45] The only way Tucker Carlson's going to have a big moment [45:49] is if he eats a lot of lettuce. [45:52] Because, sorry, I'm sorry. [45:54] Well, 10,000 cases, 10,000 cases in Michigan of the explosive food poisoning. [46:02] Trump diarrhea. [46:02] Well, I was going to say explosive food poisoning. [46:05] I mean, 10,000 cases. [46:08] No, yeah, no. [46:09] Thanks, by the way, Department of Agriculture, [46:11] for not having inspectors out there. [46:13] But getting back to a different kind of movement, [46:17] although also one that smells the same, [46:19] which is Tucker Carlson's movement, [46:21] the reality is what he is doing is fragmenting the right, [46:26] fragmenting the Republican Party. [46:28] Democrats hear this kind of stuff, [46:30] and it sounds like Mozart to them. [46:32] It's like, this is fantastic. [46:34] More of it. [46:35] Why don't you attack each other and tear each other apart? [46:39] So, David, what are you hearing from your sources [46:43] in the intelligence community [46:44] about what's actually happening with Iran right now? [46:48] I mean, J.D. Vance is supposed to be the man in charge [46:50] of sorting out diplomatic relations. [46:53] Are we actually talking to them? [46:56] Who are we talking to? [46:58] What's happened? [47:00] I mean, we're told that the Iranians... [47:01] Well, it's not just the intelligence community. [47:04] You know, people that I talk to, [47:05] whether I talk to diplomats [47:06] or I talk to people in the military [47:07] or I talk to journalists who are covering this, [47:10] the reality is that the single defining feature [47:13] of the conflict in Iran right now [47:15] is that they don't know what the hell to do. [47:17] And, you know, you saw that. [47:18] There was a CNN story today [47:19] that the commanding officer of CENTCOM, [47:24] which is the regional command there, [47:27] sent out a memo to a bunch of people saying, [47:29] hey, if you've got any ideas of things we could do [47:31] to hurt Iran, send them up the chain. [47:35] You know, I mean, it was the most public plea [47:38] or most public confession that you could have [47:40] that they don't know what to do [47:41] that you can imagine. [47:43] Meanwhile, Trump is doing this, you know, [47:46] this Groundhog Day thing where it's like, [47:49] we're going to attack. [47:51] We're not going to attack [47:52] because the markets are going to open again. [47:53] Everything's going to be great. [47:55] We have a new deal. [47:56] And over the weekend and yesterday said, [47:58] okay, you know, or Friday or Saturday, [48:00] we're going to do the biggest attack ever. [48:02] They've never seen this. [48:03] There's never been an attack like this in history. [48:05] It's going to be huge. [48:06] And then yesterday, okay, we've got, you know, movement. [48:09] We're going to have an agreement, oddly, [48:11] just before the markets reopen. [48:13] But the Iranians, as they do every time, [48:17] came out and said, no, there's no agreement. [48:19] We're not making progress on this. [48:21] And so, you know, this is when I talk [48:23] about Trump drowning in failure. [48:25] This is the place where it's most obvious. [48:27] He started this. [48:28] He doesn't know how to get out of it. [48:30] It is slowly spreading across the region. [48:33] It is making the world a more dangerous place. [48:36] We are losing the control that we had [48:39] over the free flow of goods and services [48:41] and cargo through the Strait of Hormuz, [48:44] maybe through the Red Sea. [48:47] The United States, in a desperate attempt [48:49] to keep everybody on site, [48:51] is doing things like offering nuclear deals [48:54] to the Saudis, which may trigger [48:57] more nuclear ambition among the Iranians [49:01] and in any case will be destabilizing, [49:04] given the terms that Trump's Department of Energy [49:07] offered the Saudis. [49:09] You've got the Houthi involvement [49:11] leading to a spread of this [49:13] into a new part of that part of the world, [49:16] but possibly a spread into the Horn of Africa. [49:20] You had the Ukrainians attacking an Iranian ship [49:24] in the Caspian Sea, [49:26] which is a spread of it in that respect. [49:29] So this thing that he shouldn't have started, [49:32] where everything was actually fine [49:34] with Obama's deal, [49:35] which he pulled out of a long time ago. [49:38] But ever since then, [49:39] he's just made it worse with every move. [49:41] It's like quicksand. [49:42] Every time he's moved, [49:43] he sinks more deeply into the mess that he's in. [49:46] And now we're in this situation [49:49] where literally nobody in the Trump administration [49:53] has any idea of how to get out of this, [49:58] even though it's obvious how you get out of it, [50:02] which is you get out of it. [50:05] You just pull out. [50:07] You want to issue a press release [50:08] saying it was successful? [50:10] Fine. [50:11] But what you've got to do [50:12] is you've just got to get out of this thing [50:14] because it's not doing anybody any good. [50:17] And, you know, again, [50:18] when I talked about the polls earlier, [50:21] two thirds to three quarters of Americans [50:24] think this war is a terrible idea. [50:26] It is the least popular war in American history. [50:30] But David, you say you just have to pull out [50:32] and you can say, you know, we won or whatever. [50:35] But actually, isn't it also up to the Iranians? [50:38] And the Iranians won't let Donald Trump pull out [50:43] because they're going to control the Strait of Hormuz. [50:45] They are, but there are other, you know, [50:49] there are other countries that have border [50:51] on the Strait of Hormuz [50:52] and there will ultimately be an international [50:54] discussion of how that gets resolved. [50:59] And there are other options, by the way, [51:03] with regard to getting oil out of the Strait of Hormuz [51:06] that are actively being explored right now, [51:09] getting oil into the Gulf of Oman directly by a pipeline, [51:13] getting oil into the Red Sea and so forth. [51:17] And so I'm not saying that it will be easy to do that. [51:21] But what I'm saying is it's the only option [51:23] because if we continue to fight, [51:25] we deplete our munitions resources [51:28] in ways that over the weekend, [51:30] we've started hearing from military leaders [51:32] who are saying, hey, look, if you start saying, [51:35] oh, they're attacking Israel, [51:36] we have to help defend Israel. [51:38] Well, I'm going to tell you we can't [51:40] because we are so low in munitions [51:43] that we have to keep these to protect ourselves. [51:46] So what's also happening with munitions support [51:49] for the Ukraine? [51:51] Because that's also been up for debate this weekend. [51:53] Well, that's right. [51:55] And the reality is that the United States has not, [51:58] I mean, first of all, [52:00] Trump stopped giving the kind of support [52:02] Ukraine was getting from the Biden administration [52:05] as soon as he got in. [52:06] He has been leaving them out to dry, [52:10] you know, saying, oh, Steve Witkoff [52:12] will take care of this [52:13] and really squeezing the Ukrainians. [52:17] Then, you know, a couple weeks ago, [52:21] he said, well, you know what we're going to do? [52:22] We're going to give Ukraine a license [52:26] to produce its own Patriot missiles [52:28] because we're running out. [52:30] So that was his big idea on that. [52:32] But last week, at the end of the week, [52:35] he said, you know, I don't know if we can do that. [52:36] First of all, he doesn't have the power to give the license. [52:39] That's Raytheon and Lockheed. [52:41] Secondly, he said, well, what if we give them the license [52:44] and they use them in a way that we don't want to use them? [52:47] I'm not so sure we can do that. [52:49] Thirdly, even if he did give them the license, [52:52] which he's not going to do [52:53] because it was yet another, you know, [52:56] sort of bullshit offer from him, [53:00] it would take years for it to have any benefit for Ukraine. [53:04] The observers I know who are looking at Ukraine [53:06] are saying the following. [53:08] First of all, they praise the Ukrainians [53:10] for their industry and courage and ingenuity [53:14] and Zelensky for the way he's worked the international system. [53:17] And the fact is, Ukrainians are actually gaining ground. [53:21] But as far as the U.S. relationship with Ukraine goes, [53:25] Trump has hung them out to dry. [53:28] He is not helping them. [53:29] Nothing that he has said [53:31] or even his newfound admiration for Zelensky [53:34] or Laura Loomer's admiration for Zelensky [53:37] is helping Ukraine. [53:39] Probably the only thing the United States is doing for Ukraine [53:42] that's actually of some value, which doesn't get discussed, [53:45] is providing intelligence to the Ukrainians [53:49] to help them target the Russians. [53:52] But, you know, as Zelensky pointed out, [53:55] you know, that's a two-way street [53:57] because he believes the Russians are providing intelligence [54:00] to the Iranians to target American facilities [54:04] in the Middle East. [54:07] So, you know, these wars are connected. [54:10] The lack of munitions has an effect. [54:12] There are connections between the Ukrainians [54:18] and the Iranians, as we've seen in conflict. [54:21] When the price of oil goes up, [54:24] one of the reasons it's going up, [54:25] particularly when it comes to diesel, [54:27] is the conflict between Ukraine and Russia [54:30] and Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries. [54:32] And when the price of food goes up, [54:34] when you look at Ukraine and Russia [54:36] as principal providers [54:37] of things like grain to the world, [54:40] and you combine that [54:42] with the costs of fuel and fertilizer going up [54:46] as a result of what's going on in Iran, [54:48] these things connect [54:49] in ways that squeeze the entire global economy. [54:53] And I think that's the point. [54:55] And other people have said this, [54:57] but I think we have to keep it in mind. [54:59] The consequences of Trump's idiotic [55:03] and illegal entry into this war with Iran [55:07] are getting worse every day. [55:10] And that's why he's got to stop it, [55:12] because he depletes the munitions. [55:15] He makes the global economy worse. [55:17] He makes our position [55:19] in multiple geostrategic situations worse. [55:23] And there is no path [55:26] where he can suddenly make that better, [55:29] because the Iranians have a different point of view. [55:31] I talked on one of our podcasts. [55:33] We have a podcast called Need to Know. [55:34] And I talked last week to Yegana Torbati, [55:37] who's the New York Times Iran correspondent. [55:41] And she said, you know, [55:42] the Iranians can wait this out. [55:43] They don't have elections. [55:45] They can wait till fall elections. [55:47] They can squeeze Trump every single day, [55:50] and they know it. [55:52] Right, and they know it, yes. [55:54] That seems clear. [55:55] They know the midterms are looming. [55:56] They understand this war is incredibly unpopular [55:59] with the American population, [56:01] and that this is very bad for Donald Trump. [56:04] And they're enjoying playing with him. [56:08] And they are toying with him. [56:10] I don't know if you have been watching [56:11] all the Lego videos, [56:13] which are fantastic. [56:17] And, you know, I mean, [56:18] there will be, I don't know, [56:23] in some propaganda show [56:25] at the Museum of Modern Art someday, [56:28] they will have screens showing these things. [56:31] But here's the weird thing. [56:32] There are these people [56:34] making propaganda videos [56:36] on behalf of one of the most brutal [56:39] and awful governments [56:41] that the world has known in the modern era. [56:44] And those videos regularly contain more truth [56:49] than a White House press release. [56:51] And, you know, [56:52] and we have, you know, [56:54] this is another area where we've lost this war. [56:56] When Trump says, [56:57] I have a deal with Iran, [56:59] people respond by saying, [57:01] we got to go talk to the Iranians. [57:03] That was never the case. [57:04] They're huge liars. [57:06] They're awful people. [57:07] It's an awful government. [57:09] And yet Donald Trump's credibility [57:10] is so low [57:12] that he makes the Iranians look [57:16] relatively more credible, [57:18] even via Lego videos. [57:20] I've got some social media posts [57:22] that he put out [57:23] to counteract the Lego videos. [57:26] Here is one. [57:27] So we have George Washington, [57:31] Abraham Lincoln, [57:31] and, oh, Donald Trump. [57:34] And then I'm not quite sure [57:35] what this is supposed to represent. [57:38] I mean, obviously, [57:38] he's trying to, [57:39] this is himself as Elvis Presley. [57:43] Yeah, but I think he made a mistake [57:45] because that's definitely [57:46] a fat Elvis costume. [57:48] And I think Trump is definitely [57:50] in his fat Elvis stage. [57:52] He's in his fat Elvis stage. [57:53] where everybody is waiting [57:54] for him to die on the toilet [57:56] as a result of whatever [57:59] is getting pumped into his hand. [58:01] But, you know, I mean, [58:02] he's got a weird fascination [58:06] with appearing sort of virile and manly. [58:09] You know, part of his AI slop gallery [58:12] from the weekend [58:12] was a picture of him staring lovingly [58:17] at himself in his military academy uniform. [58:20] Yes. [58:20] With, you know, [58:22] and then the headline was [58:24] he has even more energy today, [58:27] even as stories are coming out [58:30] of the White House [58:31] about how, you know, [58:32] they can't let him do more [58:33] than a couple of hours a day [58:35] because he can't stay awake for it, [58:37] which we've all seen. [58:39] And, you know, [58:40] he also had a picture [58:41] in the AI slop gallery [58:44] of this weekend [58:45] of him holding a golden [58:47] statuette of Jesus [58:49] and kissing it. [58:52] Oh, I missed that one. [58:53] Yeah. [58:54] No, it's, it's, it's real. [58:55] David, are you secretly [58:57] paying $100,000 [58:58] to get your truth socials [58:59] ahead of me? [59:00] A month? [59:01] A month? [59:01] Well, as I said [59:03] at the beginning, [59:03] I think it's an excellent investment. [59:05] It's a great, [59:06] it's just, you know, [59:08] look, you can either [59:09] fight the corruption [59:09] or you can go with the corruption. [59:11] David Rothkopf, [59:12] how is that possible? [59:14] Well, but, you know, [59:16] I mean, if corruption [59:17] is running the U.S. government [59:18] and therefore the U.S. economy, [59:21] then you've got to figure out [59:22] how to stay ahead of the corruption. [59:23] And there is no way [59:25] to stay ahead of the corruption [59:26] than by getting the word [59:28] of the most corrupt guy [59:29] on the planet [59:30] via truth social. [59:31] So you may have had [59:34] a bit of a miserable weekend [59:35] because the weather [59:36] wasn't great. [59:37] Donald Trump [59:37] had a great weekend [59:39] because he got [59:40] the winning shot [59:41] in the Bedminster [59:43] Club Championship. [59:45] I'm just going to read you [59:47] his truth social. [59:48] For those who haven't [59:50] started paying you [59:51] $100,000 a month yet, [59:53] I'm just going to read [59:54] this truth social post for you. [59:59] The winning shot [59:59] in the Bedminster Club Championship, [1:00:02] exclamation point. [1:00:03] Goodness, I sound like [1:00:04] RFK Jr. this morning. [1:00:06] Actually, you always sound [1:00:07] like Helen Mirren. [1:00:08] Do I? [1:00:09] I love Helen Mirren, [1:00:10] so I'll take it. [1:00:11] Thank you very much [1:00:12] to all of those [1:00:13] who participated. [1:00:14] I won with a score of 70 [1:00:16] and I'm so honored [1:00:18] in that unlike the rest [1:00:19] of the field, [1:00:20] I'm given very little time [1:00:22] to practice [1:00:22] because I'm focused [1:00:23] on many other things. [1:00:24] It's called talent [1:00:26] and I have it [1:00:27] and they don't. [1:00:29] President Donald J. Trump. [1:00:31] What an asshole. [1:00:33] I mean, seriously, [1:00:34] we cannot on this podcast [1:00:36] doing an hour a week, [1:00:39] even if we did it [1:00:40] live in real time, [1:00:41] which I sometimes think [1:00:42] we almost have to do [1:00:43] these days, [1:00:44] convey as often [1:00:47] as it needs to be conveyed [1:00:48] that as corrupt [1:00:50] as Donald Trump is, [1:00:51] as evil as Donald Trump is, [1:00:53] as stupid as Donald Trump is, [1:00:56] he's also the biggest asshole [1:00:57] in the history of the world. [1:00:59] And the idea [1:01:00] that he thinks [1:01:01] he can go out, [1:01:03] that anybody believes [1:01:04] that he won this, [1:01:06] and there are immediately [1:01:07] a million stories [1:01:08] about how he cheated [1:01:08] to win this thing, [1:01:11] it literally puts him [1:01:12] in the same category [1:01:13] as like Kim Jong-un [1:01:16] of North Korea [1:01:17] who like apparently [1:01:17] went on a golf course once [1:01:19] and they said, [1:01:20] oh, he hit it all holes in one [1:01:22] or some kind of insane, [1:01:23] made up nonsense. [1:01:25] And that's what Trump is doing. [1:01:27] But, and here's the point, [1:01:29] not only is he doing it [1:01:30] the way Kim Jong-un did it, [1:01:32] but you think Kim Jong-un [1:01:34] then went and insulted [1:01:36] everybody he competed against [1:01:37] and had to say [1:01:39] that he was better than [1:01:40] and had more talent? [1:01:41] Even Kim Jong-un [1:01:43] compared to Donald Trump [1:01:45] has more dignity [1:01:47] and more decency [1:01:50] than, you know, [1:01:51] this guy who cheats [1:01:53] to win a local golf tournament [1:01:55] at his own golf club, [1:01:57] brags about it, [1:01:58] and then uses it [1:02:00] to kick the people [1:02:01] he supposedly beat down. [1:02:04] You know, [1:02:04] and it's just, [1:02:05] how weird is it? [1:02:07] But the other question is, [1:02:09] who else was in this tournament? [1:02:11] Who is putting up [1:02:13] with this shit? [1:02:14] I mean, [1:02:15] if Mitch McConnell [1:02:16] was in this tournament, [1:02:17] I could understand possibly [1:02:18] how Trump could win. [1:02:19] But what about the dignity [1:02:21] of all these other people? [1:02:23] Are they just so thrilled [1:02:25] that they're on the same golf course [1:02:28] with Donald Trump [1:02:29] that they're willing [1:02:30] to let him make a mockery [1:02:32] of the sport [1:02:33] and of them? [1:02:36] I mean, [1:02:36] are they just all members [1:02:38] of the U.S. Senate [1:02:39] and House [1:02:39] who are Republicans [1:02:40] who've had their spines removed? [1:02:43] Who goes along? [1:02:44] Who goes along with this stuff? [1:02:45] Don't you think it's odd? [1:02:46] When you look back over history [1:02:47] and you think, [1:02:48] how did people get away with this? [1:02:50] How did Stalin get away with it? [1:02:52] How did Hitler? [1:02:53] And going back over time, [1:02:56] and then you sort of see [1:02:58] in real time [1:02:59] how Donald Trump [1:03:00] is getting away [1:03:01] with so much of this [1:03:03] and that his obsequious cabinet [1:03:05] sitting like little dogs [1:03:07] around him [1:03:08] at Camp David [1:03:09] on Friday [1:03:10] where they went [1:03:10] for their off-site, [1:03:11] their corporate off-site. [1:03:13] You just saw him [1:03:14] looking ever more desperate [1:03:16] and it really did seem [1:03:17] like that movie, [1:03:18] The Death of Stalin, [1:03:20] where they're all just sitting [1:03:21] around him [1:03:21] nodding at everything he says [1:03:23] and you just think [1:03:24] this is... [1:03:25] No one understands politics [1:03:26] better than Armando Iannucci, [1:03:28] the guy who produced that, [1:03:30] who created Veep, [1:03:31] who did In the Loop. [1:03:33] All great. [1:03:34] One of my favorite films, [1:03:35] but also the brilliant, [1:03:37] The Thick of It, [1:03:38] which is a British comedy [1:03:41] about politics there, [1:03:42] but it's so transferable. [1:03:45] Highly recommended, [1:03:46] The Thick of It. [1:03:47] It's so funny. [1:03:48] And you'll get more insight [1:03:49] into politics [1:03:49] from looking at the work [1:03:51] of Armando Iannucci [1:03:52] than getting a political science [1:03:55] degree from Harvard. [1:03:55] For sure. [1:03:56] I guarantee it. [1:03:57] For sure. [1:03:57] And you know, [1:03:57] the other show [1:03:58] that we should recommend [1:03:59] about politics, [1:04:00] which is also... [1:04:01] I mean, [1:04:01] the great thing about YouTube [1:04:03] and Netflix and everything [1:04:04] is you can now find these shoes [1:04:06] is Yes Minister [1:04:07] and Yes Prime Minister, [1:04:09] which were the precursors [1:04:10] to Veep and The Thick of It. [1:04:12] And again, [1:04:12] about the British system, [1:04:13] but utterly reflective [1:04:15] of how people use power. [1:04:18] No question about it. [1:04:19] And watch Borgen, [1:04:21] the Danish series. [1:04:22] The Danish series, [1:04:22] yes, [1:04:23] who's got a female [1:04:24] prime minister, [1:04:25] which is nice for a change. [1:04:26] Nice. [1:04:27] And who faces [1:04:28] a Greenland crisis. [1:04:30] Anyway, [1:04:30] we're getting sidetracked. [1:04:31] No, [1:04:31] but it's always fun [1:04:32] to recommend things [1:04:33] because sometimes [1:04:35] you learn as much [1:04:36] from fiction. [1:04:37] Well, [1:04:37] and the reality is this. [1:04:40] I don't know [1:04:40] if this were presented [1:04:41] to me as fiction [1:04:42] as if I would find it believable. [1:04:45] And part of it is, [1:04:46] you know, [1:04:46] when you go back [1:04:47] to your question about, [1:04:48] well, [1:04:48] how did, [1:04:49] you know, [1:04:49] Stalin and Hitler [1:04:51] did the same kind of thing. [1:04:53] Well, [1:04:53] you know, [1:04:53] Stalin, [1:04:54] Hitler, [1:04:55] Kim Jong-un, [1:04:56] they do some similar things, [1:04:58] but here's the difference. [1:04:59] When Kim Jong-un [1:05:00] had an uncle [1:05:01] or a cousin [1:05:01] who spoke out against it, [1:05:04] he allegedly targeted him, [1:05:06] he made him stand [1:05:07] in front of an anti-aircraft gun [1:05:08] and he blew a big hole in it. [1:05:10] Stalin killed tens [1:05:12] of millions of people. [1:05:13] Hitler killed tens [1:05:14] of millions of people. [1:05:15] The way they got people [1:05:17] to do stuff [1:05:18] was at the point [1:05:19] of a gun. [1:05:19] Somehow, [1:05:21] Donald Trump, [1:05:23] aging, [1:05:24] decrepit, [1:05:25] lame duck, [1:05:27] declining in power, [1:05:29] declining in the polls, [1:05:30] somehow, [1:05:32] Donald Trump [1:05:32] has all of these people [1:05:34] in his party, [1:05:37] in the Senate, [1:05:39] in the House, [1:05:41] in districts [1:05:42] across America, [1:05:44] kissing his ass, [1:05:45] even at, [1:05:46] I don't get it. [1:05:47] There is an act [1:05:51] of complicity [1:05:52] with Trump [1:05:54] within the MAGA movement [1:05:56] and within the Republican Party [1:05:58] that makes [1:05:59] this particular kind [1:06:02] of dysfunctional government [1:06:04] different from almost [1:06:06] any other kind [1:06:07] that we've seen. [1:06:08] It's more like, [1:06:09] I don't know, [1:06:11] you know, [1:06:11] some outbreak [1:06:12] of dancing disease [1:06:16] that occurred in France [1:06:17] in the 18th century [1:06:18] when everybody [1:06:19] ran in the street [1:06:20] and had to compulsively [1:06:21] dance or, [1:06:23] you know. [1:06:23] I don't know [1:06:24] about dancing disease. [1:06:26] Yeah, [1:06:26] no, [1:06:26] that's one of those [1:06:28] things that happened. [1:06:29] They go through, [1:06:30] in France, [1:06:30] they went through [1:06:31] a lot of weird stuff. [1:06:32] They, [1:06:32] remember, [1:06:33] at one point, [1:06:33] they decided [1:06:34] that cats [1:06:35] channeled witches [1:06:37] and so they put [1:06:39] a bunch of cats [1:06:39] on an island [1:06:41] and they killed [1:06:41] the cats. [1:06:43] They, [1:06:44] you know, [1:06:44] these things happen, [1:06:45] but periodically [1:06:46] there are bursts [1:06:47] of communal madness [1:06:49] that happen [1:06:50] in societies [1:06:51] and take them [1:06:54] in these weird directions [1:06:55] and somehow [1:06:56] in the United States, [1:06:58] I think our burst [1:06:59] of communal madness [1:07:01] came from the fact [1:07:02] that from, [1:07:04] you know, [1:07:04] for much of our history [1:07:05] but certainly [1:07:06] for the past [1:07:07] 40 or 50 years, [1:07:08] the single guiding principle [1:07:11] for so many Americans [1:07:13] became greed. [1:07:15] that they were like, [1:07:17] okay, [1:07:17] look, [1:07:18] if this guy [1:07:19] puts a dollar more [1:07:20] in my wallet, [1:07:21] I'll take all the bad stuff [1:07:23] and that's our madness. [1:07:25] Our madness [1:07:26] is the degree [1:07:27] to which American greed [1:07:29] has led to [1:07:31] this outbreak [1:07:32] of corruption [1:07:33] and hate [1:07:34] and nationalism [1:07:35] and destruction [1:07:37] of democracy [1:07:38] because people [1:07:39] just want [1:07:40] a few dollars [1:07:41] more in their wallet [1:07:42] and I'm not talking [1:07:43] about poor people. [1:07:44] I could get it [1:07:45] from them. [1:07:46] It's billionaires [1:07:47] who just want [1:07:49] more billions [1:07:51] that I find [1:07:52] just repugnant [1:07:56] and I, [1:07:57] frankly, [1:07:58] I look forward [1:07:58] to read, [1:07:59] I hope Armando Iannucci [1:08:01] right now [1:08:02] is listening [1:08:02] to this podcast [1:08:03] and is going, [1:08:04] you know, [1:08:05] I've got to do [1:08:05] something new on this [1:08:06] because nothing [1:08:07] I've ever done [1:08:08] captures this. [1:08:09] I talked to a billionaire [1:08:11] over the weekend [1:08:12] actually who said [1:08:12] he thought Trump [1:08:13] should be in jail. [1:08:14] I was asking him [1:08:15] if he was going [1:08:15] to pay the $100,000 [1:08:17] a month for access [1:08:18] to Truth Social [1:08:19] and he said, [1:08:20] Donald Trump [1:08:20] should be in jail. [1:08:21] Of course, [1:08:22] he won't say that publicly. [1:08:23] David Rothkopf, [1:08:24] what better way [1:08:25] to start the week [1:08:26] than to talk to you? [1:08:28] Same with you, Joanna. [1:08:30] I love starting [1:08:30] the week this way. [1:08:31] it's a little bit [1:08:34] like purging yourself [1:08:35] after a big meal. [1:08:37] Well, [1:08:37] I hope that we will [1:08:39] be back next Monday. [1:08:41] Who knows? [1:08:42] The world will have [1:08:43] turned on its axis [1:08:44] and who knows [1:08:46] what we'll be discussing [1:08:46] then. [1:08:47] Probably an entirely [1:08:48] new roster [1:08:50] of subjects, [1:08:51] David, [1:08:52] but I suspect [1:08:52] the Miller family, [1:08:53] the Miller family [1:08:54] will still be [1:08:56] at odds [1:08:57] with each other. [1:08:59] And the Trump family [1:09:00] will still be [1:09:01] fascinated [1:09:02] despite their [1:09:03] vacuousness. [1:09:05] And I'm sure [1:09:05] they'll be considerably [1:09:07] richer by the time [1:09:08] we talk to them [1:09:09] this time next week. [1:09:10] And Mitch McConnell, [1:09:11] that's Chevy Chase, [1:09:12] used to say [1:09:13] on Saturday Night Live [1:09:15] about Generalissimo [1:09:18] Francisco Franco [1:09:19] will still be dead. [1:09:22] David, [1:09:22] see you next Monday. [1:09:24] Bye. [1:09:29] American greed. [1:09:30] Well, [1:09:31] that's David Rothkopf's [1:09:32] analysis of what's [1:09:33] going on right now. [1:09:35] I think he's [1:09:36] probably right, [1:09:37] but what do you think? [1:09:38] Leave us a comment [1:09:39] and tell us [1:09:40] what you think. [1:09:40] We love to read [1:09:42] your comments [1:09:42] and as you know, [1:09:44] we frequently incorporate [1:09:45] them into the podcast. [1:09:47] If you have been, [1:09:47] thank you for joining us [1:09:49] and a big thank you [1:09:50] to our production team, [1:09:52] John Romero, [1:09:53] Ryan Murray, [1:09:53] Rachel Passer, [1:09:54] Heather Pissarro, [1:09:55] Neil Rosenhouse, [1:09:56] and I'll be back tomorrow [1:09:57] with Michael Wolff [1:09:58] where we'll be going [1:09:59] inside Trump's head. [1:10:01] So the good news is [1:10:02] we have so many [1:10:03] Bee Beast tier members now. [1:10:06] There are too many names [1:10:07] to read out [1:10:08] and we really appreciate [1:10:09] your support.