I Know the Secret of Trump’s Creepy New Friendship | Inside Trump's Head

Trump is a Hollywood guy. What does Hollywood stand for? It stands for fame. It stands for celebrity. It stands for. Wait for it, girls. Why was Brett Ratner in China? Other than to be there as Donald Trump's. BFF and security blanket when the trip ended? Donald Trump said to Brett Ratner, I've got to be able to get in touch with you at all times. The friendship with Brett Ratner exactly goes.

to the character of it all, or the Epstein of it. all, or the Trump of it all, or the. grab them by the pussy of it all. Q Michael, I'm Michael Wolff. This is you, Dockerty, who is filling in. for Joanna Coles, who will be back, I believe, on Thursday. So that's great news. And I just, I think I should say on behalf of everybody at The Daily Beast,

a huge amount of thank you to the many people. who've been in touch with messages of support for Joanna. I know she has felt it. I know we've you've discussed that with her. I've discussed it with her. And it's going to be great for her to be back. And I'm going to be happy to hand over this seat to her. Well, I will, I'm already missing you. Oh, that's a pleasure. And one thing I should say as well, thank you. to everybody who subscribes to the Daily Beast podcast. We have more than 600,000 subscribers. Please, if you like to share it with your friends, hit.

the subscribe button and hopefully we can get to a million. because this is incredibly valuable, incredibly valuable podcast. You. We will surely get to a million. We are marching forward. We are marching forward. Michael we have to do is continue to show up. and we'll get to the long marchers. On the subject of long marchers which took place, the Long March took place in China. You have a fascinating revelation about one of the mysteries of Trump's.

trip to China on your Instagram, and I wanted to explore that with you. So I know who Trump's. most recent BFFs is. And we should we should continue this so that there will be a reveal on this. But I'm not sure how you. how you get quite to the reveal, so we might as well just go for it. We are giving you the reveal in advance.

So Trump has, in the last couple of months, become very close to the film director Brett Ratner. and who who he brought along with him on his trip to China. Now, this is this is interesting from a couple of points of view. First, that it would be Brett Ratner, who was early in the first Trump administration.

Me, Tudeh into oblivion. So Brett Ratner is, I think, by by popular consensus. I don't think anyone would disagree with this. I don't even think he might not even have trouble with this, this description, one of the sleazy guys in Hollywood should say he actually. when this you know, when. the Reckoning of Me two happened, many people were caught up in it. Obviously, he actually left for Israel in the course of it.

because it appeared that his his career was was toast. No, his career was toast. I mean, he was out. I mean, he's essentially been out of business in Hollywood. for the past ten years. His he comes out of me to purgatory. because of one thing, because he was selected by Melania Trump. to be the director of her film, Melania the Movie.

Now, why, why, why? Brett Ratner and Ratner is most well known. for as the director of the. What's the name, the Rush Hour, the Rush Hour series? I couldn't remember because it's just one of those generic action films right now. Was The Fast and the furious does Russia? There's probably Fast Rush, I don't know, but Rush Hour,

one rush hour to rush hour three. So Melania selects him to. and this is apparently without Trump's input. She selects him to be the director of her. film Melania the Movie, which is how can we describe it? I'm not even sure. It is quite, quite possible to find the words to describe this, this movie, the Stockton documentary.

It's a from any logical standpoint, it is appalling in all respects. I mean, it is it is a music video for the First lady. It is a promotion for the first lady. And then remember, she gets. this is a kind of bribe. It's Amazon Jeff Bezos and Amazon's. bribe to the to the Trump White House which is that they've paid.

they paid Melania $40 million to make this movie. And then there's an additional 75 or something like that. they've put into promoting this movie. And I'm just going to say that Amazon have corporately denied. that it's as a bribe, and said that it had nothing to do with Jeff. Bezos meeting the Trumps at Mar a Lago. Just put that on, put that on the record, put this, put this on on on the record. I mean, there is no circumstance in which someone would say yes, it was a bribe.

So that would be an unusual corporate statement. So at any rate, you have you have Brett Ratner, this sleaze ball drummed out of Hollywood, brought back to direct Melania's movie, which she is being paid of $40 million for by Jeff. Bezos, Jeff Bezos, Amazon.

Okay, then. So in the process of this, he becomes quite he meets the president. of the United States, Donald Trump, the husband of Melania Trump. And they bond. Now, I have some of the background to this. Also from people around around Trump. This is. who say, well, you know,

he has no one else, that actually this. what this is, is a measure of how bad things are going for him. And, you know, that's it's that's it's an interesting indication. that he seems to be aware that things are going badly for him. and what he does when things are going badly for him. And we can go down the list. The economy, ice, health care, obviously.

the war in Iran and we can keep going. and let's we can include the ballroom and we'll come. We have more to talk about that whole room. But and Epstein just across the board, matter of fact, there is. we can safely say there is no good news for Donald Trump, okay, in that situation. And this is inside Trump's head. What he does is blame other people. So it is a tenant of Donald Trump's personality.

and a tenant of Donald Trump's politics, that someone else is always to blame. He is not capable of. of seeing anything that might be his fault, not not seeing anything, not capable of seeing anything. that he might do differently. His approach is to double down if things are going. wrong, it's because somebody else did something wrong. And you've got some specifics as well on exactly who's.

getting some of at least some of that blame right now. Well, it's currently, you know, I mean, there is. I mean, we've seen several several cabinet, cabinet, cabinet heads be fired. We see other cabinet heads who are under the gun and probably will be fired. It it is everywhere. There is nobody who is in good shape, including his his most recent BFF,

golfing partner Steve Wyckoff, who is now being blamed. and not not unreasonably, for Iran, and certainly. for being unable to come to a settlement in Iran. So he has nobody around him. and her Brett Ratner. And so Brett Ratner, as a as a Trump, as a Trump. compatriot, is interesting and tells us, tells us quite a bit about Donald Trump.

First thing, Donald Trump has always liked Hollywood people. Matter of fact, he's been incredibly resentful of the fact that in her, I think by the fact that Hollywood people don't like him, then Brett Ratner is exactly. the kind of Hollywood guy he has always, always, always hoped that he could bond with. He is a, shall we say it, a grab them by the pussy guy. I mean, in some sense.

And let's rush ahead also to point out. that that Brett Ratner had an Epstein relationship. I was going to say that this is this is almost like a, a no triangle. So but yeah, I mean, the Brett Brett Ratner and Donald Trump are connected. Brett Ratner and Jeffrey Epstein were connected, but Brett Ratner was not connected to Trump at that time. So it's right. No. So it's it's kind of come back. The symmetry the symmetry is now now complete.

And this is very these are these are guys of a very particular cut. I mean this is is this is the. misogyny central effectively. Then there's another element of of the Brett Ratner story. So okay, so Brett Ratner me too out of business. for ten years gets the Melania job. But and the and as a direct result of that now.

as we said there's rush hour one rush hour two rush hour three. There's been a script for Rush Hour for for many years, which he couldn't get finance. No one was going to make a movie with Brett Ratner. And on top of that, probably nobody wanted to make Rush Hour for anyway. You know what? It's going to be set. I mean, so but Rush Hour four. has now been greenlit by Paramount.

Now Paramount is the studio. that has recently been taken over by Larry Ellison, the tech billionaire, the billionaire 200, 200 million, I think. I think his current net worth on Forbes at the moment is about. 225 to 230, so it's a lot. So. Larry Ellison's son, David Ellison, is the is the CEO of of Paramount.

But of course, of of course this is Larry Ellison. is the is the chief shareholder of the company. It is Larry Ellison's money. Also, they are in the process. of taking over Warner Brothers. All both of these, these acquisitions, Paramount and Warners, they were able to do these acquisitions because of Donald Trump. And a lot of the focus just said, we've we've focused a daily beast.

on the takeover, particular of CBS news. and the move there to make it much more. MAGA coded might get curious, but this is a whole other aspect. Yes. So paramount the studio owns, in addition to the film studio, they own CBS, they own Comedy Central. I mean, it's a this is this is a giant company, a giant media conglomerate. And now they will be taken over Warners, which will include CNN, HBO.

and and essentially, essentially they will dominate Hollywood. And this is again, this actually actually. comes back to Trump's love of Hollywood. And how how do you get Hollywood to love him back? Well, you have one of your guys buy it basically. At any rate, Brett Ratner. rush hour for is now being made by Paramount.

as a number way to please Donald Trump. Who knew that he was, first of all, Jackie Chan fan? I don't know, but who knew he was such a such a movie. buff that he wanted another sequel to? In fact, we discussed on an earlier episode. you spoke to him about his love of The Godfather. Yeah, well, I mean, I don't even think. I mean, he says knowledge. Yeah, Trump is not a movie guy, but Trump is a Hollywood guy.

What does Hollywood stand for? It stands for fame. It stands for celebrity. It stands for wait for it, girls. So so this is. this is very much a comfort zone. and actually an aspirational zone for Donald Trump. And now Brett Ratner has now become that, you know, he's as though. Trump is cleared away all of the the dingos and morons in the white House.

And and now we've stepped up to a dingo and moron in in Hollywood, which I think Trump would probably see as a, as a, as a step up. And I did hear so when the trip, the China trip. And what was Brett Ratner doing in in China? Oh, there's another interesting thing about Brett Ratner that he is known. in Hollywood as being Putin's guy.

So if you wanted if you wanted to know where, where, if you wanted access to Russian money, Brett Ratner was a good place to go to. At least he was until he was, until he was cast out of Hollywood. But now, of course, he's back. So when the trip in China finished, and again, why was Brett Ratner in China. other than to be there as Donald Trump's.

BFF and security blanket and the guy he could talk to? And in fact, when the trip ended, Donald Trump said to Brett Ratner, I've got to be able to get in touch with you at all times. That's what does that mean? That's crazy. Which is ironic because basically, there's plenty of people. who can get in touch with Donald Trump at all times. He answers his phone at 630. At 230 in the morning, he answered. He's on his phone at four in the morning.

But it's it's yeah, well, I think the issue is here is the way. Brett Ratner you're you're you're on you're on point. You're now you're my BFF. So I got to be able to speak to you whenever I need to speak to you. It's what's running through. The reasons why Trump might need a new beef is. you briefly touched on it, I. well, there's no one around. I mean, I mean, literally everybody is now. is now someone to blame in.

That's the way that I mean, that's the that's the important thing. I think takeaway here. Well, actually there are a couple of takeaways here. But one of those takeaways is that he understands. how bad things are now in his way of processing. That is to blame someone else. But of course that doesn't change how bad things are. and things are very bad. But. And then the other takeaway is, is a character takeaway that this is.

that that that Brett Ratner, the friendship with Brett Ratner. exactly goes to the character of it all, or the Epstein of it. all, of the Trump of it all, or the grab them by the pussy of it all. And let's just go through some of the things that are bad. I think. we've all been taken by quite how bad the polls are and polls are. Polls are something that Trump. Trump has, you know,

obsessed over the years about polls and ratings, ratings and polls. And he uses and the polls this week are a new inflection point. The some some of the numbers are what I'm looking down. So I'm going to make sure I get these numbers right. But you're not times and the Siena poll. And that is regarded as the best there is. And one that you know, has, has tended to, I think, fairly accurate about the prediction of elections. But at the moment he is down to 37% approval rating.

That's the lowest he's been. It's the same rating that George W Bush left on. in the midst of a financial crisis. And I hate to see it. And endless war in the Middle East. And 69% of people, meaning Republicans. among them, disapprove of him on the cost of no, no. You know, you know, these are these are numbers that that, that change the game. I mean, when you get to the to to numbers here, there's you're kind of at a no equivocation point.

You're not at a point where, where you say, well, you know, it can go, it could get better it you're at a point in numbers. when it these numbers, it really can't get enough better. because these numbers are saying are lower than the everywhere. in in 2020 when things were obviously bad for them. These are numbers that we haven't seen for Trump at all.

And you you you were. I mean you've Trump in your life and in your head for a decade. But he's always been able to find something good in numbers. Right. And this you know, there's also a silver lining. There's also you get to a this kind of inflection point in these numbers. and in which it's it's not only will they. they can't get they can't. There's no way they can get good enough to overcome this.

But when you get to this point, it means that they're going to continue to go down. This is a cascade failure only going one direction, which might be why we saw him. We are recording this, I should say, on Tuesday morning. And we just had. a very bizarre appearance of Donald Trump outside. It's really sticky hot and down in D.C. I believe it's already in the 90s. It's certainly in the high 80s and it's humid. And Donald Trump was outside in front of.

what used to be the East Wing ranting about his ballroom. And Ryan, we, in fact, have a clip of that unusual moment. This is the most important because number one, security and number two. was so needed just on a social basis, the president and again, I'll be here for a very short period of time. When this happens, I'll be here for a very short period of time. This is really being built for other presidents. It's not being built for me, and I'm a really good builder. The thing I do best in life is build. I'm a great builder and this is incredible.

So it's not I mean, he's doing a news a news conference, an outside. news conference at the the hole in the ground. where the East Wing once was and where he is. He is hoping, obsessing about. where a ballroom will rise. Now, this is totally fascinating because this is. the ballroom is incredibly unpopular. So among all of the unpopular things, and we're really, again,

at a point where everything is unpopular. So even immigration, which was the foundation of, of of his election essentially, or at least one of the foundations. that has become unpopular because of the way they have carried this out. So Ice agents, masked Ice agents. pulling people from their their homes, separating families. from their children, just incredibly unpopular.

And and. and so we have the. ballroom absolutely unpopular. He is destroying the white House. He's destroying the white House in doing it in public. before every everybody everybody sees sees this. There is nobody, nobody who thinks this is a good idea. So why at this point, at the at the, at the nadir of his popularity, is he doubling down on this?

Because that's what he does. He's not capable. He's not capable of of recalibrating. He's not capable of of standing back and saying, okay, this is this is this is not going well. We better we better recast this. No, he doubles down, doubles down, doubles down, doubles down. The ballroom has got to be built. And just seen.

there's literally banging going on in the background. As if that would make the case any more clearer. For him. It's quite something. But the ballroom is I mean, that's as we've said, it's. only one of the things, and there's not been much pulling on the ballroom because, you know, how do you track people's approval of a ballroom? Kind of tricky. But what. there is, is mass disapproval of basically every policy is cost of living.

It's the economy, it's immigration, it's Iran. And he was in front of the ballroom taking questions, slightly weirdly. wheeled selection of questions from the press who were asking about the ballroom. And then someone asked about the ran and he says Iran is begging to make a deal. Well, you know, so yesterday, yesterday, he said, I've. let me let me get this right. I've decided not to not to bomb Iran,

not to go back to war in Iran. because they're now negotiating. And. So so. this is a this is a kind of rather than I mean, within the within the same within the same sentence. You have aggression and retreat. Yes. So in this, this sudden zero sum proposition.

I in which you can read this, I cannot go back to war in Iran. I cannot, because it's incredibly unpopular, because we're not accomplishing what we set out to accomplish. And it's incredibly expensive. And we are we are essentially exhausting, exhausting our military. supplies, which might be needed in other parts of the world.

We cannot go back to war in Iran. So, so, so this became this particular Trump formulation. I'm going back to war in Iran, but I'm not. we're not going back to war in Iran. Was the what you could conclude that he was saying there, but he was saying that we are going back to the war in Iran. Except I just decided that we're not because we're going to give this. a little more time. The little more time, yes. It's like two weeks for health care, but still waiting.

Now the again. again, the the the question here and the question. Obviously for, for for Trump. Although I'm not sure that he is asking this of, of. himself is whether or not. people see exactly what's going on here. And I'm afraid they see this, that there is enormous. clarity in the 10th year of Donald Trump.

This is not coming, as everybody knows what he's what he's doing. And when you say everybody knows what he's doing. I think we should probably reflect on the war, you know, the sort of endless. it's a forever known Warner. He can't get out of it and yet can't get can't move on it. No, I mean, I mean, he's he's stuck. We're in the war that was supposed to last for weeks now is now at three months.

And I'm. He can't win this war. He can't get out of this war. So. So he's. Which means he's going to be stuck with this situation, a forever war, or at least very much a continuing. a continuing war in constant issue. So and another one of those issues, which is pulling down his,

his, his polls, exposing him, exposing him, really. I mean, I think each of these things exposes him for. I it just becomes the the window is clear. It's utterly transparent. I mean, he's caught in this war. This is not a war that he should have gotten into. We should have gotten into. And it's not a war that he can get out of. because, well, because he's the blame.

I mean, that's that's something that he can never. One of the things that happens on your. when you have a war on, on on your watch, you're the commander in chief, you are to blame. And and everybody gets blamed from Lyndon Johnson to George Bush to, to even. Ronald Reagan in Nicaragua you get blamed. But in this case, it appears to be probably Steve Wycoff, who's getting bullied done side the way for him.

In his mind, it is, of course. Yes. Somebody else's, somebody else's fault. Now, on the subject of fault and somebody else, one of the the other eternal themes is grift. And this week we have had an explosion. I think it's probably a fair description of grift. with this new weaponization fund,

I should say it's called the fund for Victims of Weaponization, which sounds. I mean, it sounds like Mad Libs, but it's this is extraordinary. also to explain what this is, and it really does need some explaining. Yes, Donald Trump is suing the United States of America. because and specifically the IRS. and, and, and I believe the Justice Department. for releasing his taxes, which they didn't release his taxes.

Somehow the taxes got leaked. And that's what he's suing for. Now. Now, this is this is we're already beyond the governance pale here. because Donald Trump is suing a. the entity which he controls. You can't you're not allowed to do this in jurisprudence. This this doesn't this doesn't exist. I mean you can't be your essentially in this in this thing. being defendant and and judge at the same time.

So so he did and I think he sued for $10 billion okay. But now he's come to a settlement. So he settled with himself basically. And the settlement, remember, this is another thing that was incredibly. unpopular. And with people saying, oh my fucking God, this cannot be, how can he sue his own government. for $10 billion?

Just just to point out the tax returns that were leaked? Every president since Richard Nixon has released the tax returns. So I'll make one correction that Gerald Ford released. a summary of his tax returns. Everybody else has released the lot. Richard Nixon did it. And yet Trump is suing over. a partial leak of some of his tax returns. So the whole setup to this is your dropping. Dreier dropping. So $10 billion. But now he has settled settled this case.

And the settlement is that the government of the United States, which he controls, will set up a fund, a $1.8 billion fund, and that money will be available. And it's completely unclear how this is available. Who decides it is available? What what are the what are the measures of who gets what? For people who are described as as.

as being. prosecuted by the justice, the United States Justice Department. for essentially supporting Donald Trump or in his version of this. Now, of course, Donald Trump has been. there are. There were four criminal indictments against against Donald Trump,

including a criminal conviction on 43 counts, I believe. And so the, the the people. who are compensated to be compensated by. this fund are essentially people who came to his aid in. what might otherwise be construed as criminal activities. I think that's very fair. Fair summary. And among them, quite possibly, and this is the kind of.

the thing that hangs over it is we don't know, we would love to know, but all we have is the word of Todd Blanche, who is, first of all, the acting attorney general, and of course, somebody. you are intimately familiar with from the courtroom. where Trump was convicted because he was his defense attorney. He was in front of the. Senate this morning just just before we recorded this. And he was asked directly, can Donald Trump's family benefit from this? And in fact, if a clip will you commit that none of President Trump's.

family will receive a direct payout from this fund? Well, yes. But what you just said is not true. I mean, if I can correct that the president did not direct me. to do anything, and he was also asked about donors. And in that case, he said, well, you commit. that none of this money will go to President Trump's campaign donors. I am not committing to anything beyond the settlement agreement itself. When you say campaign donors that they are not excluded.

from seeking compensation, let me just further set the scene here. Richard Nixon was. forced to resign from office. for including the following. paying off, creating a slush fund of money. to pay off the Watergate burglars. That is essentially what has happened here.

We've created a fund of money that the president of the United States. can use to compensate people who may. well have been involved in. aiding him in criminal activities. The precise number is 1000 776,000,001.776 billion. So a slightly ironic use of the. the year in which the nation was founded in opposition to monarch.

taking money from people just to sort of support there. But let's just a moment on Todd Blanche, who was one of my, my, my favorite characters here. because this is this is a this is a person. Todd Todd Blanchard used to be a Democrat, used to have a job in a, in a, you know, respectable white shoot New York law firm. And and it seems to have reached a plateau.

there and so had got this opportunity to go to work for Donald Trump. Remember, Donald Trump burns through lawyers. He both burns through lawyers. And most lawyers won't go to work for him. But but Todd Blanche was giving the given this opportunity. and in that literal kind of deal. with the devil, he has spent the last. What are we last? I guess for years he's been working for Trump now.

three years, maybe turned himself into a not into pretzels. Everything that he says, it's it's like how how do I how do I justify this? How do I rationalize this? Is it possible that I can that I can survive another day. wrapped in this complete illogic? Fascinating to see. I'm probably going to be there for a while because he seems to be doing what?

What Trump. Well, right now. Right now he's his goal is to become the attorney general of the United States. That's keep your keep your eye on on that because it is also perfectly possible. that even having tied himself into these, into these knots, he won't get that job. It may not be enough. It is too much, and yet never enough. Mary Trump it's it's a it's a it's an impossibility, right?

No. And it's very likely that Todd Blanche will be blamed for something, as everyone around Trump. is blamed for something, which is why we get Brett Ratner at the moment. And we also are just going to. there's no easy transition to this, but let's talk about God. We had, so over the over the weekend, there was a a celebration. of Jesus Christ in Washington. And that brought all kinds of evangelicals to Washington.

to celebrate Jesus and Donald Trump, possibly not in that order, possibly not in that order. And it is, again, one of those. I you know, I know. one of one of the strangest. Political bedfellows, bedfellows pairing of all time.

Because I think, I think it's safe to say this is Jesus and Donald Trump. not willing and not willing pairing on both sides, I would guess. But I just want to quote some words of Donald Trump. I was reading from the book of Donald Trump, but. while he was doing this bizarre ballroom talk, he went off on various topics. And for it's unclear how he got to this, but he started talking about religion and he said, religion is a good thing. It's a good thing for our country.

Religion is taking off like you've. never seen before in our country. You go back 2 or 3 years. and no one was going to church. Obviously no one. No one. I mean, it's impossible for Trump to know that because he doesn't go to church, but. he really like he's really spinning this as hard as he possibly can. But, you know, the other thing that was interesting to me. about, about this is that Trump wasn't there. Actually nobody from the white House was there.

They sent some videos and but there was. So I was looking at the politics of this. Why have they decided now to try to gain. some distance from the evangelicals? Now one reason is, is abortion. And abortion is back on the back, on the table. And the base is especially the evangelical base is.

is demanding support for the banning of of. medical abortions. So the banning of press stone and, you know, and again, let me go back to the story during during the campaign that he was asked. about Preston and. and he said and he said, we're looking at that. We'll get back to you in two weeks. And I was there.

I turned to one of Trump's guys and he immediately. said, has no idea what that is, but but he's absolutely no. One. And this is, again, one of those other things. And Trump has intelligently, intelligently. It's a funny word to use in the same sentence with Donald Trump, but he has, let's say, a keenly. understood that that's not an issue. You want that he wants to be linked with.

This is a genuinely another an unpopular issue in the in in the country. It's a it's a popular issue with with with his. with the the core of his base as anti-vax as the anti-vax issue is. and then with the greater country, you know, a total loser issue. So clearly he doesn't want to. And this is back on the back on the stage.

There's been several decisions about this. Mr. Preston was was ruled by. by a Louisiana. Are we doing that? Is it Louisiana? Yes it is. It is Louisiana, a Louisiana court. There was essentially a band with the which the Supreme Court. then has at least temporarily reversed. But it's there. And this could come down at any time during this election cycle.

And again, shave where we are, we're at 37% approval. Could shave another five points off of that. And on the generic ballot at the moment in that same poll, Democrats. are sitting on 50% in the generic and Republicans are sitting in 39. Which means, sure, it's not a majority. That's not a proper majority for Democrats of votes, but it means people who would have backed Republicans are sitting on their hands. They don't like this or staying at home. Why give them another reason?

Let's go back. Go turn back. Another unpopular issue, incredibly unpopular, which he again is doubling down on. So what's come back? Greenland. Now we we thought that gone away. I mean totally he got out of that. I mean and it was like I thought oh my God how has he slipped out of that one? But he can't resist. We're back in on the Greenland issue.

In the background of that is that is that in order to get out of that, the kind of deal was that that. that Denmark, the Greenland, they would we would have a discussion about about. about what would happen in ongoing role for the US. And the US does have an ongoing role and does have. there are all kinds of existing agreements with, with green Greenland. that gives the US quite a bit of control, certainly over over the issue.

that Trump has highlighted to be the specific issue. that he's highlighted, which is which is the Arctic defense. But in these meetings, the Trump people are insisting. on much greater control, essentially a grab for Greenland. Again. So and this is now suddenly back in the news. Why would he do this to himself?

I mean, this is so so. get inside Trump's head. And one of the interesting things inside Trump's head is that he doesn't. and doesn't know how to think like a politician. He he doesn't know how to cut his losses. In effect, he sees his strength and his future as, as as being even more Donald Trump than he has been.

Always upping the ante, always. being, being he's a performer. And so he sees this as a performer. And I'm going to perform more, more vividly, more hotly. I'm going to be more me. I'm going to feed they like me some. shrinking part of the country. But nevertheless, a I got elected on being Donald Trump.

I will just be more Donald and one of the never retreat, never retreat. The very specific thing that the the Trump people have slipped into the talks. about Greenland and Denmark is that there would be. a perpetual American presence or veto over an independent Greenland, which means Greenland is possessed as a possession or a territory of Denmark. And many, many people there want to be independent. I don't think they really they're definitely not signed up to the idea.

that independence means America having a perpetual veto over them. So it's like he's lost the room. again and again and again and again and again. Let's go back. There are no signs of hope in the Trump. agenda, no signs of political hope for him. I think probably the only. hope you can, you can argue, is in in reapportionment. and in his meddling with the election system.

But at 37% approval, that's not going to make any difference. And some of that is going to some some of those. that meddling about the apportionment and about the redrawing of boundaries. in some places. There are some Republicans are saying, oh, we might be facing a dummy mander. where you manage to reapportionment boundaries, but support goes down and then you actually give the opposition more seats. So there's going to be some sort, you know, we're going to see in November,

obviously, but it's a we are at this moment. And I think it's really. worthwhile to appreciate where we are, that. I don't think he can get out of this. I mean, we're at we've, we've we've crossed the threshold. I think I've said before that if I write this book. This is the period that I would want to write about and call it downfall,

a very recommended movie, by the way, if you are, I'm fully familiar. If you're if you're seeking Hollywood movie, but. thought of what I was going to say was he's only he's in the West Wing. He's only got Brett Ratner. He, he doesn't have an East Wing to go to, but the Brett Ratner Epstein connection, I think, takes us very neatly to. what I will say is another must read on your Substack whole.

It's part nine of The Epstein Diaries. It is called The Baby. Elephant in the room, and I don't want to spoil anything. There is a lot to talk about in this episode. Yeah. And it's I mean, this is this is after Epstein gets out of jail, he returns to New York as though. as though there's been no interruption in his life and and the great and good.

return to his to his, to his doorstep and. and he he he has this. he has this ability to project that nothing at all is is. nothing at all has happened. Nothing at all is, is is wrong. Which I know we've discussed before in Kansas State the obvious. But that's the trumpet mentality as well isn't it. Yeah. No I think it is. No, no. And it is.

And and you know, like Trump you know, Epstein. in one of the fascinating things and one of the fascinating things to to, to witness is that Epstein was a completely made up guy. living a fantasy life. And, and so that's where this, this is in this. in this 2010, 2011. period in which and and and he will. and you're just vaguely aware that forces are starting to come after him again.

And he's and he's kind of holding them off. And you're not entirely even aware that this is that this is happening. And and in trying to explain the context of this, you know, and it's hard because this story has moved. So the arc of this story. now, now everybody knows who Jeffrey Epstein is. Jeffrey Epstein is in everybody's head. And at that point, no one knew who Jeffrey Epstein was.

And it would be quite a number of years before before they did. So it's interesting, I think, to glimpse him at this at this point. And then there's a. part of this which I would recommend. of, of a dinner that takes place. in Jeffrey Epstein's apartment in Paris. And I will spoil none of I think you should spoil none of it. It's it's quite a remarkable.

But I did a fairly good picture of. actually who Jeffrey Epstein was and how he operated. In this installment, you actually chronicle how your relationship with Epstein was shifting, and you began to see that this was a book to be written or a story to be told. And you describe describe it as a survivor story, which is is interesting because of course, we know, no, a different we know, nor the ending,

but you describe them as a gift character for the the remarkable, narrative that he had that was happening in front of you. And you realized before I think people had realized how important Epstein was. No, I mean, I saw it found yes, I found him a riveting character. I mean, I found this whole this whole thing. Would he survive? He, you know, desperately trying to survive. Would he survive? And then the question of does he deserve to survive?

I mean, which is another, another question. But all of these things can come, come together in this guy, this made up life. I mean, I love, love made up characters. I mean made up people in New York. as a city of people who have just made themselves up and with, with, with Epstein being kind of an extraordinary example of that. I just want to say. a lot of people have been asking questions about your relationship with Epstein. And I think one of the most fascinating aspects of this is that you.

are chronicling, almost in real time, this evolution over time. And. Yeah, no. And I and I know, you know, I mean, it's very hard for people to understand and appreciate. You know what what you know, I mean, a writer. gets into situations in which. situations in which you want. to write about and, and the closer you get to these. kind of these kinds of larger.

than life characters, you know, I mean, it's, you know, Epstein was a, you know, think of him as just a gangster. And and, you know, gangsters are phenomenally. interesting characters and phenomenal actually takes us back to Hollywood. The phenomenal Hollywood trope is the gangster movie. So no installment nine of The Epstein Diaries on Michael Wolff's Substack hole, and we'll have a QR code up on screen so you can scan to take straight there.

And I said, the title is The Bell in the room, and I'm not asking for any spoilers, but it is a genuine. jaw dropper when you get to the reason why it's called that. And I would recommend can I just do one bit of housekeeping? Michael, before we wrap up, please. When we were discussing cash potatoes snorkeling on an earlier episode, one of us and I believe it was me, mistakenly said that there were. soldiers who had died at Pearl Harbor. They were, of course, sailors who were entombed in the USS Arizona. I just want to some people pointed that rightly pointed that out in the comments.

I just wanted to make that clear. We well, they were a United States servicemen. They were absolutely United States. servicemen and sacrificed themselves for the country. And possibly in contrast to Cat Patel, I would just say just slightly different. And Donald Trump and Donald Trump, who of course, did not serve bone spurs. There are incredible team.

Thank you again as always, Ryan, Heather, Rachel and Neil. And we will be back on Thursday. And I believe Joanna Coles will be back in her seat. So the good news is we have so many beast tier members now. There are too many names to read out and we really appreciate your support.