How Trump Just Became Our Modern Benedict Arnold | The Daily Beast Podcast

Donald Trump is subordinate to taking orders from Vladimir Putin. Trump is weakening the U.S. military, our alliances, our economy and to produce. what is really one of the most extraordinary acts of betrayal. of the United States by any public official ever. And in that I include Benedict Arnold. And he also minimized, he said, well, you know, if Russia is giving any help to Iran. It's not that much. They won't give more if I have my way, which acknowledges that they actually are giving aid to Iran.

And that's kind of the most extraordinary part of this. We're in a shooting war with Iran, and the President of the United States. is helping our enemy attack us. Holy ****! I’m Joanna Coles this is the Daily Beast podcast. Welcome to Monday's. It must be David Rothkopf. We're going to be talking about Trump. and Putin and Xi and their plan to have a summit and leave Zelenskyy out.

as they plot to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. We're going to talk about JD Vance being monstered at one of his debates. We're going to be talking about hope in the form of John Ossoff, Abdul El-Sayed and James Talarico. And well, I think that's enough for Monday. We're also going to be talking about who's really behind the riots in Paris, those terrible pictures that we all saw over the weekend. Quite shocking. So let's get into it just before we do.

Don't forget to subscribe to The Daily Beast wherever you get your podcast. Apple, Spotify, YouTube. We appreciate your support. We are independent, independent media. We're not supported by some huge conglomerate. And so we appreciate your support. You can show that by subscribing to The Daily Beast, by joining. as a member of the Beast community, Be Beast tier or a member of the beast. And we have now our very own Beast in David Rothkopf.

David. It’s... Monday. You don’t sound too enthusiastic about it. I can't believe since we last spoke, David Rothkopf, Kimberly Guilfoyle has been fired. Which, by the way, we predicted, we said within 24 hours she would be gone. And she was gone within 24 hours, just as we said. That's right. Well, Katie Zacharia has been hired and fired. So we almost don't need to speak about her.

And much more importantly, Ukraine has been relentlessly fired upon. We want to talk about your excellent column on Substack, which I will make its way to The Daily Beast about how we all thought. stupid us, that the Cold War was over and that America and the West had won. And it turns out that Trump is cozying up to Putin. He put out a remarkable Truth Social post yesterday,

basically saying that. he and Putin and she were going to figure out the, solution to the Ukraine war and Zelensky wouldn't be involved at all. Now, we've heard this before. Of course, but this seems to be getting more serious. Well, it's getting more. What's happened in the in the course of the past week or so is. that Trump is completely come out of the closet. And of course, as we've discussed, you know, that this is. got many, many flaws with the logic, right? First of all, the diesel we're getting from Russia is not enough to make a difference.

Secondly, there overcharging for it. Thirdly, they may not be able to produce it. But for you know, if we give them billions of dollars, what are they going to use it for? It frees up money so they can attack Ukraine, attack. Ukrainian civilians, make the world less safe, commit more war crimes. But if that's not bad enough, they're also using the money, or their money. Russia is using their money, and we're now feeding into the pool that feeds this. to help Iran and and Iran.

Of course, you know, they're giving missiles. to they're giving intelligence to. And Iran is using that to attack us. So Trump is using our tax dollars. to support attacking us and our allies. And, you know, for those of us who've been saying for a long time, the biggest enemy that the United States faces is its own president. This is literally coming to pass that. he is taking the US government, the power of the US government, and directing it in a way that could result in the death of U.S.

soldiers and sailors. But what's what's interesting is it's. not just that he made this announcement of this diesel deal, which they've been working on for weeks, since we've already received. some of the diesel. It's also that on Friday and as we record this, it's a Monday. But on Friday night, he announced that he was going to waive. all the sanctions against Russia that were included in the Graham Act.

And he's because he said it was in our national interest to do so. It's also because Trump, together with his buddy Elon, at least for a while, were behind suspending Starlink. services to the Ukrainian military, which are vitally important to their defenses. And of course, Elon said it wasn't. It was the white House. And the white House said it was Elon. But we know that decision could not have been made.

without Elon saying it was okay and without Trump saying it was okay. And then over this past weekend, Trump. did a couple of truth social posts, one of which you just referred to, where it looks like the plan now is for Trump and Putin and. a Siege in Pink, possibly to. meet to talk about how they want this war to come out. But he also did another one in which he tried to. justify what he is doing. and say, well, this is in the US national interest.

and Zelensky is really the problem and so forth. Of course, Zelensky has been trying to manage this whole thing. But last week he said very directly that the US has betrayed us. They have switched sides. They are now on the wrong side of history. And it's true. And I think, you know, we've been talking Trump Russia for so long. that we don't really get the gravity of the fact. that 35 years after the end of the Cold War,

which we patted ourselves on the back for winning, the president of Russia is dictating to the president of the United States. The United States is using its assets to support Russian bills, just like a satellite in the former Soviet Union would be supporting. the former USSR. Clearly Trump has. the subordinate relationship here. You know, Putin's the Dom.

Trump is the bottom. Right? Right. Right. Right, right. No, but and and and there's no mistake about it. We've seen so many instances where he's sort of bond over Putin. Said he trusted Putin more than he trusted the intelligence community. That was in 2018. Right. He trusted his own intelligence community. I mean, remarkable thing to say. Right. And so we've seen this coming and we've said, oh, this he's leaning in a bad direction. But he's gone past leaning now.

And he also minimized. He said, well, you know, refreshes, you know, giving any help. to Iran, it's not that much. And, you know, they won't give more if I have my way, which acknowledges that they actually are giving a to Iran. And that's kind of the most extraordinary part of this. We're in a shooting war with Iran, a shooting war with Iran. And the president of the United States is helping. our enemy attack us.

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You would think that this would be a decisive factor in the midterms, and it may be a big part of it in terms of gas prices being high. I just want to read people. For those of you who don't follow Truth Social like we do, I'm just going to read you a first couple of lines from it. By decision on Russia is a very simple one. I'm just putting on a nasal. British accent, which bears no resemblance whatsoever to Trump,

except that I'm trying to differentiate between me speaking and him. I bid the process of negotiating peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine. I don't want to do anything. that will drive foolishly Russia away from the bargaining table. Great progress is being made and that includes current hostage negotiations. Exclamation points table set. Complete both sides. I think that documents at this time will do that. And I could sign it later or any time that I want. Perhaps more importantly, Russia is doing very little, if anything, to help.

the Islamic Republic of Iran compared to what they could be doing. I don't want to keep it that way and will at a stupid people. get it the way I mean it. We talked before about the lack of presidential authority. in these communications, which presumably Natalie Harp. is frantically typing out with her very polished pointed nails. and wearing the same pair of shoes that she wears every single day.

New Jersey no new shoes with bare legs to make her legs look longer. But but this is the I mean, there is nobody pushing back on Donald Trump here. Why isn't JD Vance saying, what are you doing? Why isn't Pete saying, what are you doing? Why isn't Marco Rubio saying, what are you doing? This is it's it's. I mean, we've talked to Michael Wolff and I've talked about this extensively. You and I have talked about this extensively. This is the government of one man, and he's surrounded by young women.

who sit and take down his midnight ramblings and shoot them out to the world. Well, but he's surrounded by literally legions of enablers. It's not just the young women, it's the Stephen Millers. It's the people in the cabinet you talked about. It's the sub cabinet. It's the Congress. It's, governors and mayors. Where is the outcry? There actually is some right there actually is. I mean, even Ted Cruz over the weekend.

said we shouldn't be suspending sanctions on Russia, but. it's very soft and it doesn't get to the core of the matter. And I, you know, over the course of the past 4 or 5 days, we've seen a series of things, right? I just listed them. I expect it's going to accelerate. I expect there will be more sanctions lifted. I expected they will announce more deals. We know that Steve Wyckoff and Jared Kushner, when they're in Russia. dealing with Putin, they've already been talking about buying.

$20 billion worth of international assets of the Russian oil company Lukoil. We know that they've been talking about other kinds of deals, lifting sanctions on other kinds of Russians. But, you know, like, you know, Don, give us a break. Okay. Or Natalie, whoever's writing this, give us a break. When you say you're. negotiating a hostage deal that nobody's heard anything of, right? And you say that you're somehow against all this hostage taking.

And two weeks ago, your son got married, and the guy who paid for the wedding. was seen as somebody who may be behind the kidnaping of Ukrainian children, who was an aide and an acolyte to Putin. This is the oligarch Kremlin. Yeah, this isn't. You're a clam lover. Yeah. I love your ex. I got to tell you, every Monday I show up here and you turn into, I think, all these people. Is that his name?

Who paid for Don Junior's wedding? Well, he paid for. He paid for the after party. Right? The fireworks and some of the other. Well, he paid for the hiring of the island. I mean, it's a ludicrous. But the good news is they had a great time. They posted lots of pictures of themselves looking thin and beautiful. David. On a Caribbean island that Don Junior's father couldn't be bothered to go to. Couldn't be bothered to go. Imagine your son getting married and not being bothered to go well, or that somebody from the CIA or somebody said, Mr.

President, if you go to this thing funded by this Russian oligarch, then you are going to, you know, be seen as holding hands with him, which he is, which they are didn't which they did. He was holding hands with them anyway what we did. But I think that he has, or at least until recently, he has tried to present. the idea that he was not completely under their thumb. And I would say as of the past week, that's over.

The whole idea that we won the Cold War over. Donald Trump is subordinate to taking orders from Vladimir Putin, Vladimir Putin, you know, the this kind of, you know, it's like the, you know, the stories that came out after World War Two, that there was some Japanese guy. and he was living on an island for 20 years, and he thought the war was still going on and he was still fighting it. Well, here is this KGB guy, Vladimir Putin, who, you know, still believes in the old Soviet Union, feels the end of.

the Soviet Union was the worst thing that ever happened in history. He said that and he wants to restore. Russia to Soviet glory and Soviet dominance and achieve Soviet goals. And, you know, remember Khrushchev? He said, we will bury you. And, you know, there was a myth that he also said, we'll do it without firing a shot. That's he didn't really say that. But the point is, that's what they're doing. Donald Trump is weakening.

The US military is weakening our institutions. He's weakening our democracy. He's undermining our standing in the world. He's weakening our alliances. He's weakening our economy. And now, in addition to doing all of these things, which are kind of on Vladimir Putin's to do list for Don, he's. now doing this thing of overtly helping Putin. and overtly blaming Ukraine for the illegal Russian. aggression and war crimes that have taken place against Ukraine.

The Russian oligarch, I just found his name, Umar Kremlin, was the Russian oligarch, and it was said and it was I think I said. Yuri, actually, I was using an all purpose Russian name for which I apologize. Shout out to ProPublica for uncovering that story, which had enormous detail in it. Even Donald Trump knew it was a bad luck, amazingly, and said to John Junior, you're supposed to pay the money back. When you said it, it sounded like the title.

of a dusty short story, The Oligarch Kremlin. You know, it sounds like. Yes, it does as a short story. And and, you know, it's it's a it's a hideous story. He's a bad dude. But as we've said before, he has also been a Russian boxing promoter. He's been involved in this kind of whole sleazy world. of mixed martial arts and whatever which Trump is involved in. And, you know, his whole ties to the mixed martial arts world.

But he has been involved with Russian boxing promoters. going back to the 1980s and 90s when one of them, a predecessor of this guy in this job, had an apartment in Trump Tower. that he was running illegal gambling operations out of. and had ties to the Brighton Beach Russian mob. This is this is a 40 year Donald Trump story, not a recent development. David, I think you and I should hire an apartment in Trump Tower,

and we should do our podcast from Trump Tower and beam it out. as our acts of defiance on Mondays. I like it, yeah, we'll call it Inside Trump's tower. Oh that's good. Inside Trump's tower. That's very good. So how does this end? I mean, do you think that Donald Trump is doing this now because he thinks that. he'll lose, he'll lose the House and that the House will somehow curtail. his behavior here and that he won't be able to get away with this.

if if the Democrats get a majority and possibly in the Senate. Well, I mean, clearly he thinks that's possible, right? He says it's possible people around him say it's possible. He is already, you know, trying to blame other people if this happens. Republicans, for not following his instructions, he's going to try to call the results of the election into doubt. There are a bunch of stories, even as on 60 minutes, as you know, stories pointing. The state and local officials say there's been more interference from the.

federal government than they've ever seen before in elections. So clearly he's worried about that. But I think inside your question is something people aren't talking about, and that is why come out of the closet now? Why provide this money to Putin now? And I think one of the reasons is that Putin is in real trouble. economically, and he is in real trouble militarily. The Russian military has lost 1.5.

million soldiers either to death or being wounded. They have not gained ground in a long time. Ukraine has the upper hand. Ukraine is delivering devastating blows inside of Russia. with its drone attacks. At the momentum is on Ukraine side and Trump talks to Putin a lot. And clearly Putin has said to him, I need help now. Now Trump does that, you know, follows through because,

you know, he's been trained to follow through with what Putin says. But, but, but but I would I would say there's another thing we have seen. Trump is as far back as 2016, say, Russia helped me win the election publicly. Right. And we know that one of the number one. forces interfering in our elections are Russians, Russian bots, Russian bot farms, you know, etc. and I just would expect over the next several weeks that we are going to see.

And it's not even that long, right? It's two and a half weeks or just over two weeks. I would expect that we are going to see, interference. We were already starting to see it. Disinformation on social media, other kinds of things. that are more typically associated with Russian intervention, so that the timing of this is associated to Russia being in a pinch. And because Trump is in an electoral pinch, and those things coincided,

and it produced what is really one of the most extraordinary acts of betrayal. of the United States by any public official ever. And in that I include, you know, Benedict. Arnold, if your plumber arrived with a wrench and said, I've always been curious about pipes, you'd probably show him the door, because when something really matters, experience isn't a bonus. It's the whole point.

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do we think. that it's just possible that Lindsey Graham untimely death. at 71 ends up having more influence. than we could have expect, knowing that he played golf with Trump endlessly, that Trump was often here's the last person that spoke to him. And Lindsey Graham was oddly affected doing that, managing. to be the last voice in his ear and knowing that he was very pro Ukraine.

Do you think we're actually seeing an absence of Lindsey Graham here, that there's two possibilities here. One, you listen to my DSR. daily podcast, which I did on Monday morning or two, you were psychic because on that I did not listen to it. I listened to it frequently. I did not listen to it this morning. Yeah, well, I said something I shouldn't have said. and I shouldn't say it on the Daily Beast podcast, whether it's so many more people listening. But I'm going to say it anyway, it's a little odd that Lindsey.

Graham died suddenly, isn't it? So do you think it's possible the Russians were behind Lindsey Graham very fast? Death? Is that what you're saying? No comment. If I were Darlene Graham, I would feel very nervous running for his seat. Not only that, because she doesn't know anything. And so she looks crazy foolish. And the debates that she's had. But I wonder if. Well, I wonder if that's true. Who knows? Right.

It's just, you know, the Russians do have a habit. of getting rid of the people who are obstacles for them. And, you know, it looks like, you know, right around the time that Lindsey Graham died, give. or take a couple of weeks, the the escalation of these negotiations. of Wyckoff and Kushner into all these incentives for Russia, everything oriented towards pumping money into Russia began. Now, you know, I mean, we got enough conspiracy nonsense going on in the world.

We don't have to start new conspiracy theories. And when you have something happen that's so extraordinarily. out of context for the United States, so extraordinary, such a reversal. I mean, literally at no point from 1945. through like a year ago, would you ever have imagined a U.S. leader essentially bending the knee to Russia's president and saying, whatever you say, boss, but that's where we are.

And also we can't forget that Lindsey Graham had just come back from Ukraine. He literally had just come back. I think that very morning he'd disembark from the plane. Right. And and actually when he died, there were some people going, isn't that a little weird? And people who were associated with Ukraine said, well, you can't say that because that'll make it look like the Ukrainians. can't protect visitors to their country. And so this has been bubbling up for a while. I look, we don't need to go and promote a conspiracy theory.

It was convenient for the Russians. that that particular voice was silenced at precisely the moment. this policy shift and ratcheting up took place. And, of course, Lindsey Graham, father died when he was young, well, died relatively early. I think he was 59 when he died. So it was something that appeared to run in the family. But nevertheless, terrible timing for the Ukraine. that Lindsey Graham, a staunch defender, died when he did.

Yeah, no. And it's. just like all those other people have a history. and their families of flying off of balconies, or those guys in England dying of plutonium. I mean, there was a lot of that going around back then. Yeah, it's a good it's a good response. All right. I think at this point, David, we need some hope. We need some hope. Is there. any hope out there on the on the horizon? Is there any hope at all? Sure, sure. There's hope on the horizon. Have you seen the polls?

I mean, if there's any. Look, I don't think we're going to have free and fair elections. I think the question is, how free and fair will our elections be? Well, and how resounding a result that then makes any kind of. marginal, free and fair issues redundant? Well that's right, yeah. Last week I did a podcast. I talked to a guy named Don Beyer. Don Beyer is a congressman from Northern Virginia. We were talking about AI and some other stuff. But during the conversation, he said that he's on one of the committees.

that's looking at the election results and where they're opportunities. And he said that right now, the Democrats were tracking 40. different districts that they thought they had a chance of swinging. Wow. Now, he said there were five, that he thought there was a chance. of swinging the other way. And of course, you know, a lot of these might not turn out this way, but that's a really extraordinarily high number. And the, the, the poll results that have come out today, poll results. that came out over the weekend are the worst that Trump's ever seen.

Lowest approval ratings, approval rating on the economy. is something like 20%, 22%. 70% of the American people don't think. he's doing good things for the economy. The majority of American people think that he is illegally gaining. from the office, and he's illegally profiting from the office. Almost every initiative of Trump's, including the war, including the tariffs, are hugely unpopular.

And you've got Republican candidates everywhere disavowing them, you know, and so, you know, there is a lot of reason to believe that. if we just said free and fair elections, it would be a wave election. The Democrats would win, they would pick up the House. They have a I mean, I can't even believe we're saying it, but, you know, there is a pretty good chance even, you know, Nate Silver and some of these prognosticators. have said the Democrats have a good chance of taking the Senate.

Maybe by two seats. And that would be, you know, life changing for Trump. He's not going to get anything he wants through. The Democrats will try to get things through and he won't sign them. Will they be overridden I don't know. Will there be gridlock in Washington? Probably. Will Trump revert to executive orders? Yes. But I think what Trump is afraid of is that things that he's done are illegal, that they are not protected by the immunity that he gained.

in the Supreme Court case in 2024. and that, you know, his life could come falling apart. Also, will they, you know, impeach Pete. Seth, who richly deserves to be impeached? Will they impeach? RFK junior richly deserves to be impeached. Will they go after people even like Marco Rubio? You know, one of the things I just as a anthesis that really is on my mind. about this Kimberly Guilfoyle thing is, you know, there's now,

you know, new reports that there's more corruption and everything else. And she's going to spill the tea and great hope she does. But Kimberly Guilfoyle was one ambassador to one country. We have about 180 plus ambassadors. We have 93 vacancies. Marco Marco Rubio has gutted the State Department. We don't have diplomats. We don't have diplomacy. Because as you said in your reference to Michael Wolff, we we have.

we have one person making foreign policy, one person articulating foreign policy, one person to whom foreign governments must apply. if they want the support of the United States. And we've gotten rid of all the pros, all the professionals who are out there. And it's just astonishing that here we are two years into this administration. with counting Kimberly Guilfoyle, 93 ambassadorial vacancies. Wow.

It's just I mean, normally we're quite lighthearted on a Monday, but it's there's so much going on right now of enormous consequence. He did change his hair color. He did change his hair color. All right, let's have a moment on Trump's hair. Can we flash up his hair? What was going on here? Was this just bad lighting? He's got this new dark hair. And we know he's not happy with his hair. because at a rally earlier this month in San Antonio in Texas,

he caught a glimpse of it on the back of the enormous screen. And he was like, oh, I'm not happy with that because he could see a little bald patch. What do we think of him? Him going dark here? I mean, it's a very strange look for him. Do you think it somehow reflects his inner mood or the country's mood? What is his hair a reflection? Yes. Yes. No. His head is reflecting because there's no hair on it. But you know the notion that he said, gee, I think I'm thinning a little bit.

back there when everybody knows he's like, bald and he's got like this pile of, like, cotton candy or whatever on his head that he's spun around. But, that, you know, the notion that he still thinks he can stand. in front of a crowd of people and say, oh, yeah, I'm just spinning a little bit, is like, oh, I think I put on 3 pounds. Really? Fatty? No. And and no, but I mean, you know, nobody believes that stuff, but it is a sign of the incredible desperation.

that Donald Trump is going through right now. And I wrote a column last week for The Daily Beast in which I said, the October surprise is that every single day of this October, Donald Trump has done something to reduce Republican chances of winning that. I mean, you would think he's been in politics a while now. There are people around him who've been in politics. They know what the people want. And they would say to him, hey, let's not double down on this war people hate. Let's not do things that will increase the cost of gas or diesel more.

Let's not double down on the tariffs. Let's not double down on, you know, our our. our bending our need to our enemies overseas. Let's not double down. on some of the attacks that we do that are incredibly ugly and unpopular. And yet every day. And by the way, he then goes to some of these, you know, these rallies, and he goes, you know, Ken Paxton, you know, he's a really difficult guy or or,

you know, conversely, oh, that candidate, he's really appealing. You look at his ass. He has a great ass. I mean, Trump is flailing Trump. Trump is flailing. But there are certain Democratic candidates who aren't flailing. We've got a clip of John Ossoff here. Can we play that? The great senator from Georgia. Now, remember, they promised to lower prices on day one. Instead, under the failed president, Donald J.

Trump it costs more than ever in American history to fill up your truck, stock your fridge, visit the doctor, or power your home. They promise to drain the swamp. instead. It's the most corrupt administration of all time, and everybody knows it. Everybody knows it. Everybody knows it does everybody know it, David.

Everybody knows it. And I got to tell you, you know, Donald Trump may think they're Republican candidates with a nice ass. out there, but how can you not fall in love with John? Also? He is so good looking, so poised. He sounds like, you know, the last American. political leader I know who sort of had that vibe was Barack Obama, where he's just able to hold an audience in his hand and assertively he, you know, unlike most other candidates, he's not couching this.

He's not talking to a consultant about what to say. He's just saying it like it is. Well, and he has. he has such an interesting delivery to you because he's not yelling at anybody. He's talking at a normal pace. He seems calm and as you say, he seems to have complete command of the material. You're not afraid for him. And I get this sense of generational change. This is a guy who's in his 30s. He's already been in the Senate for a while.

The Republicans are so convinced he's going to win again in Georgia. They're not spending money to to defeat him anymore. They've given up on this race. And although he said over the weekend, I'm not interested in running for president, you know, let's set that aside. If he were elected president in 2028, in January of 2029, when he was inaugurated, I think he'd be 41 years old. He is the future. He is one, you know, and there are other people out there. Talarico. Mamdani. There are other people that AOC,

who's a similar age. There is a new generation coming, and they don't speak in these mealy. mouthed, equivocating, you know, both sides. There's kind of things that that make Democratic leaders. so aggravating. At a time of national crisis, chipping away at credit card. debt can feel like making the same payment month after month and getting nowhere.

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Well, last week James Talarico. did a town hall with CNN where they flung a lot of sort of opponents at him. And you felt you. I didn't feel any anxiety for him, that he wasn't. on top of the material and that he couldn't answer honestly. And I think we've gotten used to the word salads of candidates. who are so anxious and they're already trying to figure out, as they're speaking, what the reaction on social media will be.

And as you say, you have a new generation who grew up much more comfortable around. social media. Understand what's going to go viral as that Ossoff clip clip did, and have a confidence that they're not going to be yelled at. or scolded by the party for slightly edging off party lines. And I think it's very noticeable. We've got another clip here from Abdul al-Said, who's running in Michigan against Mike Rogers. Can we play that clip?

Is that it seems like you don't want to protect my right to. practice as I choose to play. Do you just about. any attempt to read. any religious doctrine into the laws of our country? I do not. You don't disavow that. So I think it's you who needs to understand the Constitution. Not yes, that's what.

This guy. who asked that question was a plant told me his name was Tommy. Tommy from the right. Who supports a Christian nationalist doctrine. and who went in and said, do you disavow the Muslim Brotherhood? And and Abdul said said, why are you asking me this question? Of course I disavow the Muslim Brotherhood. And he said, you know, he.

he completely shot the argument down, just like there was. a exchange last week or a few days ago in which this woman decided. she was going to go after him on, you know, the Bible. and seemed to neglect the fact that he's actually studying to be a pastor. Right. And that he had all of the theological, receipts. that he needed in order to completely deconstruct her arguments. And the thing is, with Abdul said,

he's a guy. from Michigan who grew up in Michigan. He studied to be a doctor. He, you know, he went to Columbia and Oxford. One for each. Yeah. He said it's collar. Yeah. Right. And and, and he's devoted his life to public service. And, you know, he's doing great because. he can just speak the facts.

He doesn't have to lie. He just talks about who he is and what he's trying to do. And Mike Rogers is running against him, says, oh, he's a terrorist. And Trump says he's a terrorist. And, you know, JD Vance says Talarico gay. and Trump says Talarico vegan. Again, this is flailing. It's flailing, it's flailing. We've got a clip of James Talarico, who's announcing. the Clear Eyes Full Hearts tour. Can we play that clip? We know what it takes to win.

It's time to bring your friends, your family. and your neighbors to the polls. Sending James Talarico to the US Senate is going to take everything we've got. So, David, I mentioned the CNN town hall that James Talarico did where he seemed. completely in control, despite, as you say, a Republican plant. trying to corner him on on his knowledge of the Bible. What do you think of of Talarico chances here up against Ken Paxton,

possibly the worst ever candidate, but nevertheless is Texas. And I have friends in Texas who are saying no, Paxton is still going to win. He's unpopular, but he is going to win. Well, look, he could then it's Texas. And they're doing a lot of things to make it hard for Democrats to vote. And, you know, the you know, Paxton was part of the government and Paxton was a crook. And so you never know what kind of,

exploits they're going to. They're going to pull. But if you look at the polling, Rico's got an edge. And the Democrats have the best chance to win back this seat in a long, long time. And part of that is due to the fact that Paxton is terrible. But a lot of Texas Republicans, including John Cornyn, the guy who currently holds the seat, hate Paxton. That the Republicans ran in the primary against Paxton. Republican Senate campaign Committee ran anti Paxton ads that talked about him.

as being a serial cheater and corrupt and so forth. And one of Trump's least. popular decisions with his own party was backing Paxton. So, you know, again, a lot of it depends on. how much a of wave is in the election and how, you know, to to what extent people actually get that chance to, express their will in the vote. But no tell Rico is a better shot than a lot of other people.

And he's. And he's the future. Talarico is the future. Abdullah. Sayid is the future. John Assaf is the future. And people get that. You know, people want to change. In fact, if there is one candidate that always wins in U.S. elections, that is always the most popular. It's changed. It's changed. Its changed. People don't, you know, they're frustrated with Washington. Washington is corrupt. Washington moves to slowly.

Washington is a lagging indicator of our needs. Washington is out of touch with them. They believe the system is rigged to help people in Washington and rich oligarchs, and they want change. And Trump said, hey, I'm changing. Everybody said, well, he's crazy. So he didn't look like anything I've ever seen before. Let's vote for him. No. It's like, oh yeah, you know, he's not you know, there was this myth that went around even since, like Ross Perot. in the early 90s of the thing we need in American.

politics is non politicians. You know, we need business people or something. Well, of course if Trump doesn't disprove that, I don't know what you know. I mean, you know, being a politician. actually implies that you understand how a political system works. You understand the laws, you have some capacity to get things done. within that system, and that business people tend not to do real great. in that environment because it involves compromise, process.

things they're not used to, things they find frustrating. And but, you know, the American people want to change. And Donald Trump looked as different from any politician. as anybody they've ever seen. And he's literally the first president we ever had elected. who had no public service experience prior to his being elected. but proudly, proudly had no public service experience. Well, exactly. And now here we are. We've sort of, God willing, coming to the end of this era of Trump.

that began when he comes down the golden escalator in 2015. and really ratchets up when he gets elected in 2016. And so, you know, it's over a decade. We've still got a couple more years of this. But people are tired of. the fighting that the high prices, the inability to deliver, the endless. wars, the corruption, the feeling that, you know, we're failing as a country.

You know, the fact that, I don't know, sometimes you watch Trump on TV. or you watch the Republicans on TV and you're like, I think I need to take a shower. This is just too gross. Okay, so let's now play a clip of JD Vance, obviously, the vice president, somewhat blindsided here by a grieving military husband. It is a hard price to pay, though. The Iranian drone was the weapon that killed my wife.

There were a lot of mistakes and a lot of fundamental failures that led up to that. I believe CBS has reported on that. My wife has told me things before she passed. There are other soldiers that know things that are being quiet about certain. aspects of this. There's a. failure in the leadership, and I want to know. how this administration is going to start. holding those leaders accountable for the actions.

and the deaths of the soldiers that we that we honor and that we love. So, Joey, first of all, look, I owe and the whole country owes your family. a debt of gratitude that is quite literally impossible to repay. I won't pretend that anything that I say is going to make it better or easier, but I hope it helps a little bit to know that your wife was a precious human. being who served a country honorably, and I'm never going to forget about her.

I'm never going to forget this conversation. And I want to continue. this conversation offline, because that raises the second point. when you talk about failures that were. that we were implicated, the administration in the Department of War, whoever you want to say was implicated in I want to know about that stuff, because if there were failures, and I don't doubt that there were. I just literally the first time I've heard of this is this conversation. What do you think of his response, though it was certainly more elegant.

than his president's response would have been. I mean, I can imagine that Donald Trump's response would be, your wife was a loser. She was a sucker and a loser. I thought JD Vance handled that. with some grace. Come on. A piece of shit in a Brooks Brothers suit is still a piece of shit. And what he said was absolutely outrageous. This is the first time he's heard of failures. in a war that is widely regarded as a failure with that point.

Yeah. Okay. This is the first time he's heard of failures, when there have been countless stories about how our bases throughout the region. were not ready to defend themselves against drone attacks, that this is the first time he's heard of failures. When. Pete Hegseth has. depleted all the reserves of the military. in terms of munitions, has mismanaged the entire war.

This has been a panoply of failures from beginning to end, and he has been in the room for every crucial decision. Now he's already out there trying to say, well, I was the one that was against all this, and he's already trying to position. himself for 2028 saying, well, I you know, I don't. Don't talk to me with this brush that you're tarring. You know, Trump and everybody's closer to him with. And that's why I think he's such a sleazebag because he is out there. He's defending it. He is supporting it.

He is behind it. You know, he's referring to the Department of Defense, to the Department of War. when that's not its real name. He defends Pete Hicks and he's lying to a man. whose wife died needlessly. Okay. And that's the point. Stand corrected. Okay. Good point. Good. Good point. Well, but but this is look, you know, typically the thing that you say. is that your wife did not give her life in vain, right? She did. Her life was wasted.

We shouldn't have been in this war. She shouldn't have been at risk. And this woman. and her family are now in. damaged by terrible decisions at the top. And so she did die in vain. And he couldn't say that because everybody knows it. Yeah. Okay, sir, I stand corrected, I stand corrected. So the other thing that was very noticeable over the weekend,

and I have to say, I went down a complete social media rabbit. hole on it last night was these terrible riots. in Paris and across France, you know, terrible images of the Plaza de la Republique, where actually I lived for a year, just damaged tear gas, water. cannons, shops being looted, French business. people pleading with the rioters to leave them alone. Really sort of devastating scenes that social media makes much more immediate.

now than than certainly the television. coverage of the riots in the 60s and 70s. What did you make of this? To what extent do you think this is being riled up by enemies outside of France? Well, there's a good question. There's an election in six months in France. Marine Le Pen is saying that, you know, and the National Front. is saying that Macron's party is out of control. I would expect, because Brain Le Pen has close ties to Moscow and close.

ties to the right wing movements across Europe, that she is getting money from those movements as she had us in the past, and that there are agitators within the crowds, as. there have been in other situations throughout Europe. Does that mean that students are not outraged at the situation. or the cost of living, or other problems? Of course they are. But you know, you know, that is the kind of situation that, you know, skilled operatives of the type that get deployed there.

by people like the Russians can take advantage of. Do I expect there will be more unrest? Yeah. If it if it cuts against Macron, I expect there will be more unrest. because, you know, even as we're looking at our election, I think as you look around the world, the the global right wing ethno. nationalist movement that's led by Putin, but that includes. a whole bunch of other people is making gains, it looks like in Brazil, despite all the crimes of Yara Bolsonaro,

his son is about to be elected president and will almost immediately pardon him. In Germany, we have seen the rise of the right and the rise of the right. is continuing in Germany. And there was an interview. over the weekend with the woman who's the co-head of the party, alternative for Germany. And she was spending the whole time doing what, defending Russia, saying Russia was not at fault in Ukraine, that it's the Ukrainians.

and that Germany shouldn't support Ukraine anymore. In England, you have Nigel Farage and you have the Reform Party, and in France you have, Marine Le Pen. And so, you know, even if there are setbacks. for the right here in the United States and, you know, again, there's going to be a lot of hankie panky between now and the end of it all. I this movement is not going to reverse itself. This movement is going on around the world, you know,

I mean, just last week, Narendra modi, who's part of the movement, arrested 40 journalists because they were writing stories. that he found uncomfortable and, you know, trying to push the needle. In India, we have an election. coming up in Israel in which Bibi Netanyahu is part of the movement, may not win the election, but he might be able to hold on to power. And even if he doesn't hold on to power, people who agree with him. are going to have enough power that they're not going to, you know, sort of give up their influence over the outcomes in Israel.

So, you know, it's possible. for Americans to get very narcissistic and say, it's all about us. And frankly, we deserve a break from the relentless, you know, Trump of the past ten years. But I do think it's worth keeping our eyes open to the fact that Vladimir Putin. and people who support Vladimir Putin are actively. trying to undermine democracy. and the Western alliance and the values that we have stood for.

In in country after country. after country, it seems so grave what's going on out there? And as you say, there'll be lots of hankie panky between now. and November 3rd when the midterm election actually happens. Although early voting has started in many states, starts in New York, where I am on Saturday. When does it start? Where you are, David? I don't know because I voted by mail, but vote by mail if you can.

If you can. Well, look, I think there's going to be a lot to follow here. And, and, and the best way to follow it is. of course, of course, of course, the Daily Beast. Now, our correspondents are out in earnest at the moment. because there's so much going on, but you've put it in such a good, wider. perspective for us and why we all have to be so concerned. I think we do. But, you know, the other thing is this is not happening to us here in the US.

It is happening because of us. And so if you haven't voted, vote. If the person next to you hasn't voted, help them devote. If you haven't contributed to a campaign and you have an extra dollar, give the extra dollar. If you haven't, you know, gone out and canvass for people, then do that. If you see something happening that's wrong, call it out. If you have a social media platform and it's only ten people. that that adds up, right? A thousand people with ten person platforms is 10,000 people.

It makes a difference. So, you know, the next two weeks or one of these periods where the news. doesn't happen to us, we make the news. and that's that's what to keep an eye on. And frankly, you know, that's where, you know, this big following that. The Daily Beast and, and other independent media have can really make a difference. Well, I was going to say leave your comments on YouTube. because they also get read. They get read not only by us, but they get read by other people listening.

to the podcast and by other people, of course, on YouTube. David, it's always good to see you. Thank you for your time. I love your t shirt. BB can you just show it? That's right. Just lean back so we can all lean back and, yeah. And you know where I got this t shirt? Where did you get this t shirt, David? Was it from one of cash Patels? A t shirt size. Because remember his qualification, his chief qualification for being director. of the FBI's, that he had a t shirt business.

What could have been? Because I just got it online. I just had it. I just made it up. You had. It was very good. I appreciate you wearing it. And we appreciate your contributions to our understanding of. the madness of what's going on. I have one of my closet in a size small for you. Excellent. Then I'm coming down to retrieve it. David, I'm coming down. I will look forward to seeing you next Monday. See you next Monday. David, it's always good to see you on a Monday.

Thank you for putting our world into some kind of perspective. And if you have been, thank you for joining us. Don't forget to leave us a comment about your favorite part of the conversation. Possibly, David batting down my assertion that JD Vance. had actually given quite a good response to that poor man who lost his wife. I don't know what I was thinking there at a moment of sympathy for JD Vance. having to deal with such a tragic situation, but that's my bad.

And I was put right by David Rothkopf. But let us know what else you found resounding. And I think a lot of people listening to this podcast or watching this podcast. will also be astonished at the idea that somehow Donald Trump is rolling over. to the Russian president, who knew that we would see that in our lifetimes. So if you have been, thank you for joining us and big thank you to our production team, John Romero, Ryan Murray, Rachel, Heather and Neil race in the house.

So the good news is we have so many BB tier members now. There are too many names to read out and we really appreciate your support.