I Know How Trump Will Make Things Uglier: Wolff | Inside Trump's Head

I wonder if he knows how badly things are going for him. And I think that he is beginning to get an inkling of that. So then the question is how does he respond? What does he do? We know he doesn't. Course correct. So he doubles down. So I think the things are about to get. If possible, even uglier. Michael. Joanna. How are things in Yorkshire? Well, I have to say, it's really nice to see you.

It's very nice to see you in touch. Base with my New York life, my American life. And I just want to listen. I mentioned on our last podcast I was in Yorkshire. in my childhood home actually, because one of my parents is ailing fast. My mum is ailing fast and I was so moved and grateful. for all the messages from from our regular viewers. and listeners, many of whom have.

either gone through this themselves or are going through it. I was shocked at the number of people. who are trying to cobble together care for an elder parent, and so it just felt incredibly moving, actually, to to hear from people. And I it reminded me of the piece you had written in New York magazine, I want to say, about 15, 20 years ago, which had. Yeah. No, I think it was it is 15 years ago. And it's a piece this was a piece about about my, my mother.

and and in her final illness. and, and I still here, I still hear from people. almost on a weekly basis, a piece that I wrote 15 years ago. Because it is true. Everybody, everybody goes through this experience. Nobody is prepared for it. No one tells us that this is going to happen, but it happens to all of us. And you had the added. disadvantage of your mum had dementia, because I remember the cover.

line on New York, which was, I love my mother and I wish you were dead. I don't have that situation. Happily, my mum is is compost, but she has very late stage. pancreatic cancer, which is a horrible disease. for which there's real no there's no real treatment at this stage. Anyway, I just wanted to thank people and also to the production team. because as my mother calls the internet, where where.

my parents live in, in Yorkshire, she calls it the vibes. So she's like, oh, the vibes working today, how strong are the vibes? And it has to be said, the vibes in this particular part of Yorkshire. are not that strong, so it's been taking a long time. to download things and I think as you watch as you're. looking at me, Michael, I may I may be appearing pixelated. So thank you for the forbearance from the team. And other viewers have asked about the yellow books behind me,

because I'm recording this from my dad's study, and then other. cricket lovers have jumped in and said, oh, that's the annual wisdom, which is a cricket ailment. that my father has collected ever since he was a little boy. And we have hundreds of them in the house, so that's what they are, should anybody be interested? And of course, don't forget to please click on the subscription button. That's how we can have these conversations with your support. We're independent media, which allows us to say what we feel like.

saying Michael the King, the King pulled a humdinger. Yes. No, I think we should. That's a it's a pleasant segue from Yorkshire and Cricket to the king. Your king? My king, my king. He pulled a humdinger. Actually, I think after this, this week everyone would like to be. would like him to be their king. Given given the alternative. Well, given the alternative. Yes.

And I thought it was a masterclass in diplomacy. The Times of London was all over it and they said he played an absolute blinder. But it was amazing. I mean, he got Donald Trump afterwards at the state, as more of laughter. said that the King had managed to get the Democrats to stand, which was something he never managed. But actually, I felt the miracle was that he'd got as many Republicans. to stand for things that are normally traditional American values.

But Donald Trump has twisted and distorted, so it was thrilling to see a unified house bouncing up and down, including JD Vance and the speaker of the House who were behind him. No. Well, I felt the interesting thing was, was how. was the clarity of his position and a position. that was in opposition. frequently to Donald Trump and the, you know,

the New York Times had a headline about about his they used the word. subtle subtlety of his digs, and I didn't find it subtle at all. I mean, I think that he that he set up a very clear. contrast between between his view. of the modern world and Trump's view of the modern world. Well, he calls he called for the support of Ukraine. I mean, I thought that was incredible. Yes, I think it was just extraordinary.

You know, there's a thing. the novelist saw. Bellow refers to this idea of a contrast. gainer and therefore a contrast loser. And it's two people side by side and. both physically and. then two people in their conduct side by side. Who wins, who loses. And I think in this instance, very clearly, squarely. You couldn't miss it. The king.

The king was articulate, dignified, sober. Rational, reasonable against and actually. elegant against this other, an unknown. Biffen, who even physically seemed. seemed over large, sloppy, and. and clearly not reasonable, not rational, not dignified.

And I don't see how. how that message will not resonate from here until the midterm. Well, I feel incredibly important that he talks. about the importance of support for Ukraine, how the two countries had fought against dark forces. He mentioned, obviously, the Second World War. It was it was invigorating.

to hear someone stand for all the things that a Western country. does stand for, and that Donald Trump seems. intent on chipping away at, or indeed, not really chipping away, bulldozing at. And the other thing that the king was, was he was funny. He was funny. And that brought the house together. It brought them with him. It made it feel optimistic. I thought he he stepped into his power in a way that he had nothing to lose.

And also everybody had low expectations for this visit. People saying, oh, this is ridiculous. He's a stooge. Keir Starmer has sent him to do his dirty work. And in fact, within the lifespan of the king, this may be the these may be the two speeches, but particularly the one to Congress that he was supposed to deliver. It's sort of as if he's a peak king, if you like, a man who spent 74 years in training to do this.

And of course, the irony that he could only get the job once. his mother had died, which is a very weird premise on which to be a monarch, but to so and and he delivered. I thought it was the perfect opportunity for him. And he was flawless, actually. Never normally that I think it's. No, I think everybody, everybody around the world is responding to this.

And again, partly because of this contrast gainer notion, I mean, here are two, two men, Donald Trump and and and King Charles and. and who is who who is clearly the the. the the better model. for for a world leader. And Charles is in fact not a world leader. He's a he's some other anomalous position, symbolic.

and and in a, in a role that has really nothing to do. with with leadership certainly has nothing to do with policy. But I think most people very clearly looked at that and saw and saw, yes, my God, if we had to make a choice, the choice is clear. Well, he also emanated sympathy and kindness. or empathy, I think perhaps more than sympathy. And that's something across across the board. Yeah.

And that's just been missing, I mean, as you say, the contrast gainer and the contrast loser. There was a moment, apparently, according to a lip reader. at the state dinner where after Charles had given his speech. and made what was a pretty funny joke. about having noticed there were changes to the white House, referring to the complete demolition. at night of the East Wing, and we can come on to the ballroom in a moment.

But he made a funny joke about how the British had also tried. to make their own alterations to the white House when they, of course, the reference to them trying to burn it down. But when he came off the the little podium where he'd done his speech, apparently Donald Trump, Donald Trump said to him, do you have your drink? And then apparently, at least according to the lip. reader, he said to Charles, are you drunk? And Charles said, I've really enjoyed your hospitality. Were having an absolutely marvelous time here, but it took me back to a lunch.

I had when I worked at the Spectator magazine years ago. And Prince Charles, as he then was, and very much. at the sort of Playboy of of the Western world, though. he'd been married to Diana at that stage for about 4 or 5 years, came to lunch, and it was very clear when he left. that he was indeed drunk, and he was very red. faced and tipsy, and he looked like he'd had a very good time. But when I inquired further, I was told he'd had four.

very good glasses of a red wine at lunch. And he, I think the royal family, you know, enjoyable. Well, I have been to. many spectator lunches and and never emerged as I went in. Well when I, when I first started I mean actually that's, that's in every lunch I've ever had in London. Yeah. London is one of the few places where they still drink at lunchtime. Actually, you can tell I don't have my usual New York hair tools.

My hair's suffering a bit here, but. But you're absolutely right. And actually, I think the third or fourth week I joined the spectator. Turkey Theodora Coppola's, who was a columnist. and wrote a column called High Life, as opposed to a column called Low Life, which was written by the regular, the regular drunk Jeffrey Bernard, who often didn't hand his copy in because he was too hungover. and then would appear the words where the column was supposed to go.

Jeffrey Bernard is unwell, but Taki very quickly. got stopped at Heathrow and had a packet of cocaine in his back. jeans pocket, which led him to three months in Pentonville Prison. And I. have had many dinners with Taki and once again you. You leave them not the way you came into them. Well, I hope that the the King had a good time. And clearly Trump enjoyed having.

I wonder, I wonder, I wonder what the King made. of the guests at his dinner. And because it was. a really a cross-section of, of the right wing. and of the new billionaire class, that was that was pretty much it. I don't think that there was anyone outside of outside. of those two categories. I mean, the King had a few paltry guests, but. beyond that, it was literally billionaires.

It was a, you know, a Bezos Sanchez. class dinner and. and then the Fox people, the Fox people, and also obviously the cabinet. So you had haggis there are. you had Stephen Miller, Katie Miller. with her big bump because she's expecting baby number four. Yeah. I mean it was a round up of of scoundrels.

And then and then you had the Supreme, you had the Supreme Court justices. And obviously we had a big decision this week from the Supreme Court, but only the conservative justices. So the invitations clearly went out. only to six and excluding three, the three liberal judges. But I did think that what was remarkable about the Republicans. giving Charles earning. in the House of Congress was that they know what he's standing for.

is what they, I think, stand for. or used to stand for, and that Trump has trampled over them. And here you have, you know, a monarch of another country coming in and, and actually saying the things that America is supposed to stand for. And this shouldn't be controversial to, you know, admire the American environment, the fabulous. No, I think I think this became. I think this became a way for for people.

to register their, I was going to say discontent, but it really is greater than discontent. there in to Donald Trump, to the Trump. White House for everything that's going on and their sense. And again, this is this is this is important because I think we are. at this, this inflection point, their sense that this is coming apart. And so the Charles suddenly became a lifeboat.

You know, we can we can. we can stand up for this guy. And because he's so. cool in how he's delivering this, this slap in the face to Donald Trump, do you think Trump realized what a slap in the face it was? Or is he just. does he think he's just sucking the prestige.

from Charles and somehow it's sticking to him? The the. the complication there is that he would acknowledge that someone else. had a higher status than, than he does, and that he would benefit from, from it. And Trump is not capable of that. So actually, I think he's probably thinking this the other way.

Charles is. Charles is here to suck up to to Donald Trump. Why else would he be here except to accept for except on that mission. That's what he was sent to do. Now, the question of whether Trump appreciated these. these not so subtle slaps. And I think I think he doesn't I mean, he may come to because.

people may tell him, but in the moment, I don't think that he saw that, I don't. First thing we've we've talked about this, this before, that his inability. to hear things and take in information, I don't think, I don't think that was that was going on at the moment. And one of the people who was missing from the guest list, who. you might have expected to be there normally was, of course, Cash Patel,

rumors he was about to be fired at the end of last week, interrupted by the attempted shooting at the white House Correspondents Dinner, but very much missing from the state dinner list. Thoughts? No, I think that he probably will be fired. I mean, there's there's an enormous pressure now. within within the white House and coming from Congress to fire. as many people now as possible because because of the fear.

that the Senate might actually flip to the Democrats, which would mean that. it will be very, very hard to get cabinet. cabinet level positions confirmed. So I think, I think. I think that this is probably a correct analysis. And and, you know, in cash. Patel the press has been so terrible. I mean, Trump is is not ignoring that never ignores that.

It's always about the press. You get so so I think I think these two I mean. all of these. guys have been protected for the better part of this term. by Trump's decision not to do what the media wants him to do to stand firm. But now looking at a potential Democratic Senate, and also because he's.

he understands the fix he's in. and his natural inclination is to blame someone. And we've now had a series of people. being fired a. with Trump essentially. blaming them for what's going wrong. So yeah, I think Cash Patel is a how long does he last. We should make a little book on this. Yeah. We should have a sweepstakes. Is that what it's called on Kalki or Polly Market, of which I think both companies.

Don Jr is an adviser. And then what of the former FBI director, James Comey, who, for a strange seashell. image that he posted on Instagram, which was of an. 86 in seashells and then 47, is has been indicted. Well, this is the second indictment.

I'm the first the first effort to indict him by by the Trump. Justice Department was was thrown out. So now this is the second indictment, which seems more tenuous, much more tenuous than even the first indictment. But Todd Blanch, so the, the. the former attorney general, Pam Bondi, was, of course, fired recently.

And one of the reasons that she was fired is that she failed to. she failed in her efforts to indict Trump's enemies. So Todd Blanch, who is now the acting attorney general. hoping to become the permanent attorney general, is desperately. trying to indict Trump's enemies. And now they have this new indictment. against against against James Comey.

Completely ridiculous. And an indictment that will not that will not survive. But from Todd Blanche's. point of view, it really doesn't matter if it doesn't survive. It was just the imperative was just to get an indictment. And the fact that they got the they indicted him for. I don't even even know what I mean. Essentially, the indictment is, is for threatening. the life of the president of the United States.

I mean, this is so preposterous, so ridiculous. And I think there are there are two interesting questions to me, which is, why would. why would Donald Trump pursue. a course that is going to. hurt him? I mean, it's a self destruct. Of course this is not this is not this is not popular. This is transparently vengeful.

And most of America can see this. This is this is not his efforts. to exact revenge on his enemies, which he's. which she has sort of played out through this term through his second. second term has not has not, has not endeared him to anyone. This is what he is doing, is self-destructive. He is at once again shooting himself in the foot.

So why would he? Why would he be doing this? I mean, at some level, he's he's saying I would rather I would rather wreak. vengeance, have my revenge. than then, then tend to my political. future. What also, I wonder, of the political future of Todd Blanche, because it's one thing to be a. an attorney general for Donald Trump.

I mean, how does Todd Blanche see from this? That not even seems a very short term decision by Todd. No, and it's not only his political future, but his professional future. I mean, this this is going to come. This administration is going to come to an end. There's a very good chance it will end in a Democratic a. with a Democratic president in 2020.

What happened is, I mean, I don't want us to bank on that because it's unclear. I mean, one would hope looking at it now, but who knows? Who knows who, of course, of course who knows. But I would I would begin to bank on it. Yeah. I mean, this fascinating thing about Todd Blanche. And I've seen this again and again. and again with people in the Trump administration. thinking that they can come out of this with some advantage to themselves. And it never happens.

Now, Todd, Blanche, I think is a is a is a I mean, I mean, the rationale, I think I think that he would then leave this administration and, and, and this is what they all do. They, they say it would be much worse were I not here. So yes, yes, Comey was indicted, but and this is what he's, he's going to say. when he tries to go and get a job in a, in a, a high paying job in a law. firm, he's going to say, yeah.

So we indicted. we indicted Comey on something that would certainly not, not not stick. It was the it was the the most tenuous indictment we could make. And that's what we did because we had to because Trump was insisting on it. But we undermined Trump by this, the ridiculousness of this indictment. And Todd Blanche used to be a Democrat. And of course, we were told that the reason that Pam Bondi was leaving. was because she was going to an exciting opportunity in the private sector,

but we haven't yet heard what that exciting opportunity was. I wonder if it will be Pam Bondi associates. a little shingle from somewhere in southern Florida. Yeah, no, I mean, I don't know, it's just incomprehensible to me. that these people don't see the that the see what has happened. to all of the other people who have had these positions in the administration.

And they've they've been I mean, professionally, if not if, if, if not destroyed, their their futures have been. You know, very limited. by their futures, have been rate. limited by their participation in Trump's White House. Well, all of this is distracted from the fact that the Strait of Hormuz,

as it's such a wonderful word, Hormuz, isn't it? The Strait of Hormuz is still closed, and we have no idea who the Americans. are supposed to be negotiating with in terms of the Iranians is unclear. And the war very much continues, despite the fact. we've had some distractions with the King's visit. No. And I and I have a little rump campaign. to call this the War of Hormuz, which which we are definitely.

I fully in support of the Hormuz War, as if it were the Suez War. Yeah. Yeah. And I think people should say to that again and again to Donald. Trump, Hormuz, Hormuz. It's take your pick. Which would you rather? I mean, they're both a disaster for him. They're both a disaster. And we saw Pete getting grilled. But where we are. Yeah. Well let's get to Hagar's in a second.

But but I think we're at this other stage in the, in the war. in which they're just referring to this, that it will be an extended blockade. So that's another, another way to say for a forever war. I mean, we're just going to keep this up. We're going to the the Strait of Hormuz will be closed. The oil will will pass through it. The economy, the world economy will be held hostage to this. And who can last longer?

I mean, that's that's the that's the premise. Trump's premise seems to be that, that. that the Iranians fall before we do. And he has some notion that that the Iranians can't pump. they're all so that their pumps will, will, will blow up. and everybody is going, well, where does he get this stuff? Well, if you if you're here in Europe, which I am at the moment,

the media is just full of the fact that the price of jet. fuel is going to make people summer holidays completely impossible. Nobody's going to be traveling. It's either going to be far too expensive, or airlines are just going. to be rationing jet fuel that certain flight lanes. or certain flights are going to be completely canceled, and that it's really looking. to be a summer of massive discontent for people.

Well, I'll hit a. $120 a barrel yesterday. So I mean, there was so there's a couple of things. So that's where we've ratcheted that up. I mean, it was a moment of crisis when it hit $100 a barrel. Now we're we're we've taken the next step. So and that's going to continue on. It's going to continue on to $160 a barrel.

So again there is this thing in this. You know, I want to keep coming back to this theme. Everything is going wrong for the Trump White House. Everything. It is a disaster. The other thing that's going wrong is that it turns out. nobody likes the plans for the ballroom. Nobody likes the plans for the ballroom. We know that there were over 30,000 comments when the plans.

first went up and invited public comment, but now the polls are coming in. and people have been specifically asked. about the ballroom, and people are appalled. They're appalled that Donald Trump demolished. the East Wing basically in the middle of the night. So people woke up and the shambles was there, and they hastily erected. a fence so people couldn't see quite how destructive and fast that had been. But nobody likes the plans for a 90,000ft ballroom.

which will dwarf the existing white House, the people's House. It's just it's just another thing. that he seems to have gotten wrong. And, you know, there have been many arguments that actually he's good at listening. He can sort of get the popular, get the popular sort of mood. But on this one, he seems to be completely out of touch. Well, it's. not just on this one, it's on virtually everything.

You would be hard pressed at this at this point to find any initiative. of this white House that is. that is scoring, that is popular. I mean, from, from. From ice to tariffs to the economy to the war. to to the to the ballroom to to his wife. I mean, it is all everything is a liability at this.

Well, we didn't even mention Epstein. Let's not forget it. Right, Epstein? The cloud that hangs over all of it. We didn't even mention Melania's looking. Well, the Daily Beast said she was sort of shooting. Shooting him the evil eye. as he turned to her and said, honey, I'm afraid we're not going to make the record. You know, he was referring to his parents long marriage, and he said, honey, we're not going to get it. And then as she and.

and then as Melania and Trump and the Queen and the king. were sort of walking down through the white House, he was trying to grab Melania's hand, and she was doing that sort of flick thing. And then you saw him eventually grab it. because he needs her to walk down the steps, but she looked like she would rather have been anywhere than by his side.

And so what we. have and we've we've we've talked about this this before, but. I think it's, it's I think we have it's another thing to keep coming back to. She has gone from what they describe. in the, in the white House as a net plus. I mean she's never been a full, you know, never been you know often often. first ladies are their favorable favorability ratings are incredibly high. They become one of the most popular people in the in the in the nation.

This has never been true for Melania, but just generally as a as a net. plus to what they now refer to as a net liability. She has. I mean, she's so now connected to this Epstein story and the. in the her film, her this documentary. she made about herself and which she got paid by Jeff Bezos. Bezos Sanchez class.

$4,040 million is. just puts her right into the center of the family grift. and and now this this the. the other day, this attack on Jimmy Kimmel that that the first lady. of the United States should call for a television host to be fired. for making a joke about about the. the inevitable death of her husband,

which her husband just made the same joke. So. I. Anyway, Melania, Melania. And then I noticed that there's a new character on the scene, a man called. Mark Beckman, who appears to be a lecturer. at New York University, NYU, who was a producer of her movie. but is now coming out and sort of defending her.

And I think he was shocking. He's the he's yes, he seems to be the spokesman. and he seems to be a key cog in the new Melania industry. Right. He's appearing he's he's called an advisor. and is trying to build this branding company, the Melania brand of which of which then then he appears to be a, a significant figure.

Well, he was on television defending her decision to go. after Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Kimmel has doubled down on it. I mean, and the new CEO of ABC doesn't seem to have weighed in at all. I mean, we all remember that Jimmy Kimmel got suspended. and there was a whole back and forth, and it was a bit of an a, an own goal for Bob Iger, the then CEO, who. of course, we remember came back to run Disney having retired.

And there was a sort of there was a bit of chaos, frankly, at Disney as they tried to figure out what to do. But Kimmel seems on a roll at the moment. And actually, for the number three comedian in Late Night, this has actually been very good for him. Yeah. So once, once again, I mean, this is clearly it didn't play. It worked out very poorly the last time. And so why would they try to repeat this again. shooting himself in the foot over and over.

Comey the war the ball. Rice. Again and again. That's what we have seen. And so why would he go back to this incredibly unpromising. Well. Yeah it's crazy. And what about Susie Wiles? What's happened to our friend Susie Wiles? Michael, we know that she held an off site at the beginning of the week.

to reassure panicked Republicans. who thought they were going to lose either their House or their Senate seat. Here's the the the issue. Does she leave? Well, you've always predicted that she probably would leave before the midterms. That would be a sign that things have not only are not. only going south, but they have gone, so there's no recovering. We had a piece in the Beast on Sunday. I want to say that that Susie Wiles is is under the spotlight. now because technically, the Secret Service report to her.

And the feeling was that after Saturday's. debacle where a would be assassin burst. through one of the security barriers, that. that she would come under pressure because that was. a, you know, that was a whole insecurity that shouldn't have been there. I think that that's that that's true. But I think that there are two things here from her point of view, it's to look at this is going south, and I'm going to get out of this.

I got to get out of this first thing. It's incredibly hard job. So last, last the whole four years is a is a burden. But then if it begins to go south, you want to get out of it. But also from Trump's point of view, if it goes south, he needs someone to blame. You know, that's an important piece there. The fate of Susie Wiles, the fate of Susie Wiles. Michael, we mentioned that six of the Supreme Court justices,

of course, the conservative ones, were attending the state dinner. Big, big. decision in the Voting Rights Act, you know. You know, I guess it's I mean, there are two things going on with. with the with the Supreme Court at this at this point, which is there, there, there. abject support of Trump. I mean, they have no the six justices have very little independence.

They show this again and again and again that they have very little independence. And then there is the sense of incredible. disorganization in within the court itself. So that idea that the court, that the court exists somewhat, that the court exists separate from politics, is has been virtually destroyed in the Trump.

years, the first in the first term and in the second term. And it is again, one of those things that is a terrible look. This is not helping Trump in the least. So again, that theme that everything. This is a kind of kind of be. careful what you wish for moment. Trump has wished for all of these things and they are. now coming to bite him in the ass.

So our friend Hedges, appearing before select committee yesterday. Thoughts? He got very excited when he was being. interrogated by Jason Crow from Colorado. And that's another example of of this is not playing well. You know, essentially his message is. the Hagar's message was that the war. that the only problem with the war the war is going tremendously.

The only problem with the war is Americans who oppose it. That's like. I mean, I mean, who thought that would be a good idea? Let's let's turn this on the the. the general. The general. It's the discontent with this war, which is which is broad and deep.

Is is now why the war is continuing on? That's the problem. Why? What is the war? The problem with the war, not the Iranians. The problem with the war is Americans. So, you know, again, I can only. think that Trump is pushing him out there and saying, okay, you know, this is going to be on his head and he's going to win. This goes south,

it has gone south. But when it continues to go so far, South. Hagar's is is going to going to. going to take it. Do you think Hedges knows that is Hedges. sort of halfway down the gangplank now. and he can't come back and nobody has. nobody has an independent life in the Trump White House. You do what he what you can only do.

what you think he wants done. That's the you only have one way of thinking. And this is true for Todd Blanch indicting Comey. It is also it is now true for for for Hagar's. He has he is the one that has to go out there. and defend this war and, and demonize any of the critics against this war, because that's what Donald Trump wants him to do.

Right? And anyone who opposes it is to blame. And the media just remember, really it is. It's the important point. Nobody has an independent life. Well, we have an independent life, Michael. We have an independent life. Well, it's better when people remember. Remember. I remember when you almost went to work for the Trump White House. Well, let me be clear.

I didn't almost go to work for the Trump White House. I was, to my astonishment, contacted. by by Ivana Trump because she was setting up an office. in the first that was going to be this is yeah, Trump won. This is Trump won. And I was astonished. But I spent some time with her in the campaign, and we'd covered her in. Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire, which I'd edited, and she was looking for someone to run her office,

which was going to be in the East Wing, because it didn't look as. if Milan was going to spend much time as the first lady. And certainly you remember. for the first nine months, she didn't really move down to Washington. because she thought that Barron should should finish school. So the way. allegedly. Right. And of course, that was the excuse, you know, the, the did we did we see Barron at the at the state dinner? I don't think we did. I didn't see him there and I didn't see him on the unmissable.

He is unmissable. But I remember thinking, oh goodness, goodness. And then I called around a few people and everybody was like, absolutely, you would be mad to do this. He's a bad guy. You never want to work. But you considered it. You considered it. Well, you consider anything, you should consider any. I mean, it was certainly an interest. Well, here's here's a piece of advice for the for the world at large.

Do not consider a job in the Trump White House. Do not consider. But what I did you know, I called around a few people, my council of elders. Everybody was like, absolutely not. And then that night he came out and said. between 3 and 5 million illegals had voted. for Hillary Clinton because this was 2016 election he was talking about. And I thought, oh, I can't, I can't possibly do this. So I called and just said, thank you so much. This isn't this isn't the right job for me.

And then they called me back a couple of weeks later. and asked me if I would be interested, and they thought it would be a very interesting opportunity. And then then I just said I couldn't afford it. You could, you could, I couldn't have. you could have been a great source for me. I don't think I would have lasted very. I'm. It's one of those decisions that I'm so grateful that I didn't. I mean, not that I would have done, but. but as we know, a lot of people did go to work for them.

with the best of intentions during the first couple of years of Trump one. I missed the bullet, Michael. I missed the bullet. Yeah. Anyway, thank you for reminding me of that. Onwards, onwards. And just to remind people to press the subscription button, please. And we'll be back on Saturday. Back inside Trump's head. Back inside there. Michael, what do we think is going on there. as we close up today? He's feeling good about the King's visit. Well.

I think he is probably feeling good about the King's visit. I wonder if he knows how badly things are going for him. And I think that he has it. He is beginning to get an inkling of that. So then the question is how does he respond? What does what does he do? You know, he we know he doesn't. Course correct. So he doubles down. So so I think that things are about to get,

if possible, even uglier. Well, we'll be back on Saturday to figure out what's happened. between now and then, because surely something will, The speed with which he works cannot be denied. Perhaps he'll have put up the ballroom by then. But. 2 to 1 people don't like what he's suggesting, and they don't want him to complete the plans that he's been showing people.

So who knows what will happen. Maybe it will just be, interminably thought about and will be forever a pile of rubble. We should check on the futures markets. Do people see the the ballroom actually being built or not? Yeah, that's a very good idea. All right. We'll come back with the results on Saturday. Michael, go. Well and I will talk to you all being well on Saturday morning. Joanna.

Michael, do you want to thank our production team? Thanks to our incredible team. Such an incredible team. They are an incredible team. Devin, Rachel, Ryan, Heather and Neil. Well done.