I Know the Truth About Trump's Demented Greed | Inside Trump's Head

It's a fair exchange. I'm Donald Trump, I'm the president of the United States. I should get something out of this. It's not just grift for him. It's truly revenge. A revenge that he deserves. And a step beyond certainly the kind of Griff that I'm familiar with, even historical Griff. It's a whole much more elaborate psychology here. in which in which he deserves it. It's not cynical as much as it is demented.

I mean, he he literally sees this world. in which he deserves to get this money. He deserves to be rewarded. Michael. Joanna. We are back together in person. I never thought. It would happen. Oh! For God's sake. I realized we should be at the state fair. We should have gone down to D.C. because we keep saying we're going to go on the road and explore America.

We should have gone down to the. Other than the fact that it's 100 degrees in Washington. So we would truly be the only ones there, which is no reflection on the state fair. It is a reflection on the fact that no human being can be in Washington, D.C. this week. But it's also a reflection on the state. It may be, but, you know, I want to defend Trump on this. Really? Yeah. There's nobody there. There's nobody there. From who?

Yeah, totally. Absolutely true. Politicians can't put on these kind of events. They're just two square. They they they are two squares. I mean, politicians. Cannot do entertainment. Even Donald Trump. Oh, come. On UFC. He did. You have you might not be a UFC fan, but that was an event. Good. Good point. That was actually Donald Trump is great at this. So what is he. Let me reverse it completely. Right. Revert.

Yeah. Okay. Well, I wish we'd gone to the state fair 100 degrees or not. I'm now used to 100 degree temperatures and we could have darted. In an AC. I'm grateful for the Trump Hotel is not the Trump Hotel anymore. Oh, is it gone? Gone, gone. Okay, I'm grateful for not being there. We could have gone to the club, though. The club that cost, in theory, half $1. million to join, which has Don Jr on the board. Yeah. No, I'm.

Listen, I am available to go places you are. can't go places because you are always somewhere else. I was. I was. You give me such a hard time over this. It's so unfair. I was, as you know, in the UK for a long time. Then I had to go to France. But now I'm back. Now I'm back and we have to. You know what we should ask people? Where should Michael and I. Know one has to go to France. They kind of do. They kind of do. Anyway, I realized my son is investment number one, and I actually,

for the first time ever, got a dividend. because I got to stay with him free of charge the first time ever. So the, the long investment. Is beginning to pay off. Yeah. Yeah. Well. We should ask people where should we go? We could go to, you know, where I've never been. And I'd like to go Mount Rushmore. We could go to Mount Rushmore. The only. Place behind. It, only place I wanted to go was Greenland. And what happened with that? Yeah. Well, what did happen? It fell off the news. No one's going to want to pay for Mount Rushmore.

No one's going to want to pay for Washington, DC. It's the Dakotas, right? Mount Rushmore. Okay, so I wonder if the Dakota Tourist Office would like to pay for us to go. I think we could give it some good publicity. We could also Photoshop it. You could do it on your Instagram with your face at the edge of it. So it's all those presidents. And then Michael Wolf. You're the you're truly cheesy. I'm, I'm a high on two coffees. That's the issue. Just before we go,

I just want to remind people what we're going to be talking about today. So we've got Scotus decision and we're waiting for the birthright. citizenship to drop any moment. We've got the Strait of Hormuz. Who's paying for it? We've got the staggering levels, new levels of grift. Just as you thought the Griff couldn't get bigger. It does. And then we've got a surprise for Michael. A surprise from the past for Michael. And remember those quiz shows. when I was growing up, when they used to bring out someone from your past?

Yes, it's a bit like that. We've got a we've got a surprise for you, a bit like that. And of course, no surprise asking you to support our independent conversations. because we're independent media with a subscription to The Daily Beast. So press your subscription button wherever you get your podcast. You can become a friend of the beast, which has all sorts of incredible. benefits. Friend of the beast with benefits, indeed. Kazakhstan critical minerals.

Big deal. Tungsten. Tungsten. Who knew that it was necessary to make everything more lethal? I did. Oh, you did? I did. And obviously the Trumps the Trump boys knew, and everybody does. Howard. Nothing new. To who is out to make a buck. Yeah, right. I mean, it's it's an extraordinary story. I mean, I can't even I mean, the grift is the grift. and the grift is there, but this is like, like,

just completely out in the. open where the Trump boys. So, I mean, get this so that the United States is financing. a mining deal in Kazakhstan. Right. A deal promising to, you know, make billions and billions. And it's a I'm sure the US probably should should do. this makes a lot of sense. But but the Trump boys.

so the sons of the president of the United States. have gotten a piece of a deal that is that is possible. The deal is possible because the United States is putting up the money for it. So therefore, the sons of. the president of the United States are directly benefiting from. the taxpayer. Right? Right. And so the United States is putting up the money to build.

the critical facilities to start the mining right for. Exactly. And then there's this, this other interesting thing that there's this investment bank, air quotes investment bank in the middle of this. Damani. It's called and Damani where is where are the offices of domain. Well they sound like there should be in Tehran. Where are they. Oh they're in Trump Tower. Oh, they're in from tower. Yes. Oh of course, of course. This is like this is does does no one care?

Does no one see. But let's. Go back. They don't. Donald Trump says nobody cares. And you may not be wrong. You're eating French fries at the beach, and you want. to take a quick dip in the ocean. So you put a seagull on watch. That's not security. That's catering for the seagull. There's a reason you wouldn't trust a seagull with your fries. Just like there's a reason why. Morgan and Morgan is America's largest injury law firm.

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If you're ever injured, you should check out Morgan and Morgan. Morgan and Morgan will fight to get their clients. the best results, and their fee is free unless they win. For more information you can go to. For the people. Let's go back to. the the the really interesting thing. is what Donald Trump thinks about this.

And and we we tend to. think of this see him as he's completely cynical. Just just give me the money. I don't think that that's exactly the case. I think it is that he is profoundly in his mind, in his head, believes he deserves this, that he has. It's a fair exchange. I'm Donald Trump, I'm the president of the United States. I should get something out out of this. Does he? And is this because he feels that he was,

you know, persecuted during the four years? Well, yes. And that is that's also the thing. So it's not just it's not just grief for him. It's truly revenge. A revenge that he deserves. So it's revenge. He is due, right? That he. Right, right. So but this is this is I mean, this is an important thing. and a step beyond, I think, any, any certainly kind of grift that I'm familiar with,

even historical grift in which. the grifter is not like, I'm going to, you know, I'm doing it. I'm getting I'm I'm, you know, I'm I'm feathering my nest. It's. a whole much more elaborate psychology. here in which in which he deserves it. He is they've they've the the the system. This is all Donald Trump always against the establishment and the system.

And they've done they've done me wrong. So I should be paid. So he's sort of self adjudicating. He's readdress the balance. He feels that first time out he got a run deal. Right. So it's not. Just money. Did he make from his first name. Just as it's not cynical as much as it is. demented demented.

Yeah I mean he he literally sees this world in which. he deserves to get this money. He deserves to be rewarded. Okay, well, his sons are getting rewarded. And nobody seems. The sons are just the agents of this, obviously. I mean, that's the other thing. The sons are, you know, just the Trump lackeys and the army is delivered to. The irony here. Is that right? The irony here is that Donald Trump was broke when Mark Burnett.

picked him up to be on The Apprentice. He played a successful businessman when he wasn't, but he got paid a lot for the show because the show was so successful, and now he's in office for the second time as president. He turns out to be a successful businessman. I mean, he is going to. Mean it's. Pretty more money. It's pretty easy to be a successful grifter. when you're the president of the United States. That's the point. And yet and yet.

That's why we make a thing, you know? You know, you shouldn't. You're the president of the United States. You shouldn't be self-dealing, right? Right, right. But that's what's extraordinary. Because if you look back over the last few presidents, none of them were accused of doing that to any great extent. Right? Maybe there was, there was sort of fishy stuff with Dick Cheney. Right. At one point he had shares. in Blackrock and Halliburton, and they were being used in the Iraq War. But there was nothing like the scale of what's going on now.

There's. there's nothing like the transparency of what's going on now. There's no effort to hide this. Although Domani, the so. On the board of Bank of Damani. Well, I think the Trump boys have a have. Have an advisory role. Advisory role. So, demented not cynical.

Yeah. I mean, that's the other thing. It's the other, I think, profound. misunderstanding about once again, and we've talked about this before, about how to understand what's going on in in Trump's head. There was a piece can't remember in the times recently. about the election stuff about Trump trying to subvert election. About how his. Well, your point, I think that his campaign strategy.

is to try and so confusion around. Well, no, it's actually more it's. more about you know he believes the election was stolen from him. And then the the times position which is common, you know, flat footed position was was that, you know, that he's cynical, that he's trying to you know, that this is. he's just using using this as the excuse to do what he wants. Again, I think a profound misunderstanding the.

and that the truer way to look at it is that he believes. or has come to believe, that it has been so convenient. that he has convinced himself that this is absolutely true. So this is a more serious condition than I'm a cynical guy. And doing this, it is, again, demented. He has come to believe. He comes to believe in his own realities. And that's a more serious situation than than.

someone who is just exercising some meretricious strategy. Or greed. Agreed. Just exercising extreme deep levels of greed, right? There's a logic to that. This has departed logic. All right. So is he going to eventually put up a toll gate on the Strait of Hormuz? I mean, what's happening there? I don't know if we're at war or not. We have a memo of understanding, but both sides are hurling things at each other. It's all a mess. And also it feels like it's going to be one of those things.

that now just carries on going that there are going to be. Well, I mean. I think I think you have it. I mean, I think that that that Iran has won. I mean, they made it about the Strait of Hormuz. So that's it. And we've been saying it's the, you know, the Hormuz war. and they seems to have actually won. They control it. It's it's I mean, there was a there's an announcement today or, or.

or a story about the possibility that that Oman and Iran. have gotten together and that they will together. Controlling impose this, this toll on the street so. and split it God knows how. But but nevertheless, there was the Strait of Hormuz. before this war began was free passage. Right now it is not now.

It is controlled by Iran. That is what Donald Trump has achieved. Well, so terrifying to be on one of those tankers. and not know whether or not you're going to get through. Well, that's the point. That's how you how you control the Strait of Hormuz. No, I understand that. But for the poor men and I'm sure there are very, very few women, you know, actually running those tankers through, you're sort of taking your life in your account. That's why you don't go through.

That's is precisely the calculation. that gives you control over the Strait of Hormuz. You don't know, right? It's existential unless you pay. And then if you pay, you get free. And it now looks like it's going to be $2 million, a tanker for the toll. Right? So, I. Mean, Donald Trump is not going to want to not be in. on that $2 million. Yeah. Well, I don't know how he gets in. I mean, I mean, this is this is this is you have to cast this larger.

This is such a phenomenal fuck up. Right? I mean, in every single way. And there's another aspect of, of this that basically, you know, this, this deal is going to free up an enormous amount of cash for the Iranians. I mean, all of the. $300 billion. All of the sanctioned money is going to funnel back from them. So let's get this. The original goal here, and this really was the originally.

the paramount goal was to get rid of the regime, right? The result, the end product now of this effort. is to finance the regime. It's crazy. So the regime is going. well. There's a fair amount of outcry, but it's also a complicated subject. And that's one of the interesting things that will be in terms of in terms. of the midterm elections four months away, is this forgotten by then?

But it's not that complicated. Donald Trump ripped up the previous deal under the Obama's the JCPoA. The minute he ripped it up in 2018, the Iranians started enriching uranium again. And then he created a much worse deal where we are, as you said, financing the new Iranian regime. The people didn't rise up as he called on them to do. And we're stuck now with tolls in the Strait of Hormuz,

all of which had been played out by previous American presidencies. And they'd all resisted the siren call. of Benjamin Netanyahu to go to war for Israel's bidding. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the tragedy is actually the low threshold of. what is complicated in American politics. So that should not be complicated.

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Worst deal ever. Not best deal ever. Worst deal ever. Okay, worse. Just slimmed down to that. Yes. Worst deal ever. Yes. But it actually has to be attached. to the prices at the at the pump. Well the prices at the pump. The price is for fertilizer, the prices for food. Everything is more expensive when gas is more expensive. Because if. It just in four months, he now has four months for those prices to come down.

Will they come down? I don't know, but. Well. The price of the pump has come down a little bit, but the other prices are going to be baked in for the next. at least I would think 18 months because everything's gone up. Plus there's inflation at 4.5%, even though he says he doesn't care. about inflation. Price. At the pump. Everything else is built in. And yes, and it creates an effect and creates a mood. But the pump is the is what everybody experiences. They see.

It said, like a man who I don't think goes to the grocery store very much. I bet you go to the fancy grocery store and I'm again. So you go to sitter Ella and pick out nice fish. But I bet your wife. Does the. Actual groceries. Actually, that's completely not true. Really? Yeah, I go to the IGA and I go, I all. Of all. Those is a pint of milk. All pint of organic milk. Oh, not a pint. What are those? What is that? Half court? 339. 339.

That's unbelievably cheap. You're not buying organic? No. Of course I'm not buying organic milk. Buying organic milk? No, you've got children. You should be buying organic milk. You don't want or you don't want antibiotics and hormones in the milk. Can't believe you don't have organic. God, you're. So privileged. Well, organic eggs and organic milk. This is a. this is expensive. I can't believe you paste the little for your milk. That's impressive. Impressive.

You don't go to the grocery store. I do go to the grocery store. I go to Instacart. That's an online. This. This is totally not true. This is this is appalling. You don't. And I'm sure you have. When was the last meal you cooked? Oh. I cook all the time. Oh, you don't cook all. The time. I do, and I. Came to your house. You bring it in. Sometimes I cook. Sometimes I could, you know, I just went out of month of cooking. Right now. Down to a month all. The time. Sometimes I cook.

All right, I do occasionally cook. I do occasionally. Okay, well, I cook every day. Do you? Though? Not a single day passes. All right. So Iran's winning the Battle of Hormuz. Donald Trump. is losing the popular imagination at the moment. I think it's fair to say, and he's digging in on. Well, it's a it's a catastrophe. I mean, he's literally looking at a catastrophe in every,

in every race, certainly in every poll, but in also every swing race. This could go down the drain for him like that. literally on November 3rd, which is four months from now. Everything could change. Essentially, Donald Trump could go out of business. Well, and he could have a historic loss. Right. Well, that's like me, right? The biggest loss ever. Biggest loss ever. People love the loss. Yeah.

No, I mean, it it is. it is the end of as a matter of fact, you know, I've started to write this. this Substack, little Substack digression column or whatever, whatever we call them. called downfall in, which is because I think that is very clearly. what we are seeing in almost every aspect of this. His mind, his body, his policies and his popularity.

So, so it's an emergency for him. What do you do? What do you do if you're Donald Trump and you were looking at the. the end of everything you theoretically have achieved. And the Supreme Court has refused to side with him on Carol. So he's now officially a sex abuser. So we have a sex abuser in the white House. So the midterms four months away.

What he has now doubled down on? I mean, he's not doubled down on any change in direction of his policies. He's not suddenly becoming a a kinder Donald Trump. One thing you can say for Donald Trump is that a focus. group is not at all times running in his head, and. He'll say it is for so many Democrats. But so he's looking at this, I can still win this. I can still eke out a victory here.

If I screw around with the election rules. And that is now also what he's become. singularly focused on, obsessed about. So in so obsessed that basically he stopped the. work of the United States Congress because it. won't pass the law that he wants this. What save bill? The safe save. Yeah. Whatever. Which in effect creates a. whole new series of hurdles for people to vote, which would theoretically.

not necessarily, by the way, but theoretically help the Republican vote. Right. But but the Congress isn't going to pass this. And they keep telling them, we can't pass this. because we don't have the votes to pass this. Never mind. Stop everything. You have to do this a pass. Get rid of the filibuster, then. No, we're never going to get rid of the filibuster. Mr. president, it doesn't matter.

Obsessed, obsessed. You know, in again, that demented kind of way. Right. Very fixed on it. And, of course, it worked for him before when he denied the results of 2020. I mean, it worked for him as a kind of rallying cry for all his people. And everybody fell into line when he got reelected. I mean, it's astonishing the people especially well, obviously the Republicans. who at the time said, you didn't win, sir, you lost the election, sir. Who then circled back and said, you won the elections there.

Of course you were cheated out of it. I mean, it's astonishing how many people with Ivy League educations proper, you know, people that should have known better pretend that he actually won 20. Yeah. No, in that, you know, that was a curious thing. because I actually, I was, I was had begun writing a book about the election then. and was kind of on the scene talking about that was actually a rich moment because. It was this landslide. Yeah.

Because all of, you know, a lot of the Trump. people who were out of jobs, you know, suddenly were, were, were talking. and but literally at that moment, January 6th happened. And it was I mean, the election happened and. and everybody the whole Trump White House was like, okay, we don't want any part of this, of this denial. And then the crazies, Rudy Giuliani people. came, came in and then January 6th that happened.

And then you just thought there was just. that absolute moment when you thought, this is over. How could it not be anything but over. every Republican leader in the Senate, you know, shaking their heads. Well, and some of them have been truly frightened by what happened on January. But but almost immediately. thereafter was three days after January 6th.

White House people said, let's. okay, seems bad. Let's put a poll in the field that'll let's put a poll in the field. and they put a poll in the field, I think x number of days, eight, nine days later the poll came back showing an over. Yet an overwhelming popular. support among Republicans for Donald Trump. And that almost immediately brought everybody.

the the general Republican leadership. or any Republican officeholders back into the fold. But why would people take notice of that when he just lost the election? Because he maintained that base with the Republican Party. So it's not Democrats who are suddenly saying. that it's Republicans who understood. at that point that elemental thing. Donald Trump still controlled the Republican Party.

So that has been you know, that's this theme that you have to keep. looking at here, that the Republican Party. itself has no control over the Republican Party, right? It's Donald Trump who has who has that control. Well, and he appears to have control. over the Supreme Court, though at least there were two decisions this week that didn't go his way. One was the Mississippi Mail-In voting, which allowed people to still mail. in votes on election day and count votes that arrived after Election Day.

are something that he's pointed to in California and said, oh, this points. to fraud, even though no Republicans in California are saying it points to fraud. Might point to a slightly sloppy election process, but not to fraud. And then, of course, the refusal to allow him to fire. Lisa Cook on the board of the fed, which he tried to do because largely. she was in line with Jerome Powell not wanting to reduce interest rates.

So he tried to to elbow her out of there. And then, of course, this decision that they were not going. to look at readdress the Aegean Carol case for $5 million. But the larger thing was a victory for him, which is basically. he got the power of vast expansion of power to fire. almost anyone in the who works in the executive branch. So any agency that's controlled by the executive branch.

and his, at least traditionally. those agencies have had a sort. Of a complicated. Level of independence. In other words, it wasn't easy to fire them. Now it is easy to fire them. Essentially, he's been given direct control, not they exempted this out. direct control of the fed, but direct control of all of these other agencies,

which is one of the things from from the beginning, from 2017. What he has wanted this is this is remember Steve. Bannon talking talking about the the war on the administrative state. Yeah. This is what this is. He's just he can just now declare victory on the. in the war on the administrative state, not victory in the war in Iran. but on the administrative state. So which is, you know, which is my belief that that's what the Supreme Court.

is, is, is doing is threading. this needle that it is not for them, not, not an issue of, of constitutional law anymore. It's an issue of what we what we have to give Donald Trump, what we can. withhold from Donald Trump, what we have, what field we we owe to Donald Trump. And and they're doing this in a very, very.

careful basis, which is. in itself corrupt. Right? Okay. Well, we woke up this morning to Moscow receiving more drones. They're not receiving more drones. They're being attacked by more drones. Okay? They're being attacked. Have to do is get more drones, but they don't have them. Okay? So everybody everybody out needs more drones. Okay, well, except Ukraine. Yes. Ukraine.

The supplier of drones to the world. Exactly. So. And I'm not calling it the Ukraine anymore. It's just Ukraine. Very pleased with that development. Ukraine's coming out on top at the moment. Well, one of the interesting things I think they they they certainly are. in one of the interesting things from. the inside, Trump's head view is that he picked wrong. He picked the wrong side. I mean, which is kind of,

you know, another thing, you. would think that he would be held to account for. Well, and again, the advice. You're a loser. You pick the losing side. And against all the advice of his advisers, you know Lindsey Graham. Well, How could he even that? What is his obsession with Russia? Why does he want to be friendly with Putin? I understand the strongman thing, but none of this makes sense.

Why would you, as Georgia. maloney said, why would you treat your allies like this? Why are you sucking up to Putin and G and not being more friendly to your allies? Why aren't you supporting Europe? He looks at a map. and he sees Russia. That's a that's big. Right? All that. Layer. All that layer. Ukraine much smaller. I'm going to go with the big guy. And I swear to God that's what this is.

the level of analysis that occurs here. I mean again, this kind of thing that no one no, we don't have the capacity to appreciate. how phenomenally stupid Donald Trump is. And it's not just stupid, it's how phenomenally. incurious, how phenomenally a, an uninterested. in any information, unable really to take in any information.

Well, and also especially historical information. like there's no context for what he does. Well, to say the very least. Right. Okay. And would be resentful about. about there having to be that context. So how does he what happens. to to Russia and Ukraine at this point? I mean, I know that Europe is very anxious about Europe. That I can't tell you. You can't. Oh, I thought you were going to I. Thought. You know, I think. We we can.

I mean, the truth is that this is this is complicated. And everything in this war, which is, you know, which is pretty interesting. I suppose it's like all wars. But this seems to happen in a, in a much speeded, speeded up sense. that there's an advantage and it's a technological advantage, basically. And then it exists until the other side compensates. and, and comes to parity with that advantage.

But they haven't got that yet. Russia's taking so long. No. Well they haven't I mean they have it several points during the. this has been going on for four plus years. And at several points they actually that they actually have. I mean this is I mean the, the pattern of this war is, is, is Ukraine manages to come out. to secure an advantage and then Russia meets that advantage, and then it goes into a stalemate. until the Ukrainians come up with an additional advantage.

So how long this goes on? I mean, I think the Ukrainian hope that that. there that the Russians will are going to have to say, you know, okay, let's, let's, let's figure out a way out of this. I mean, almost a million Russians have been casualties of this war. So so it certainly does seem. that at some point Putin is in trouble. Now, remarkably, he has not been in that much trouble to date.

and still may not be in that much trouble in the Trump narrative. It would have been so easy for him. to have to have to have seen if he can see anything besides being. small on the map that the Ukrainians were, that that this would be a. it would have vastly redound to his credit. to have been on the side of the little guys.

Well, and to have and to have managed to bring about the peace deal he promised. he would bring on his first day in office. Right. But by backing the wrong side. No. You remember. In the in. Remember when Zelensky shows up in the Oval Office, he says, you know, he said, you know, you. Don't have any cause. You don't have. The car. And he said that. They had all the cards. Yeah. It's still my favorite joke when he says that about the uranium, the Iranians, you don't have any cards and they have the Strait of Hormuz.

Such a good line. Such not my line. I've found it somewhere, but it's a very good one. All right. So we're recording this on Tuesday morning, and we've just got a newsflash that the Supreme Court have struck down. Trump's executive order demanding end to birthright. citizenship, something that's enshrined in the Constitution. And yet it's still A63 decision. Yeah. I mean, I don't I don't think that there was anyone.

who thought this would go in any other direction. No. Not that. No, I think that's right. But I'm still staggered that three justices dissented. You know, there's these who? Gorsuch, Alito, and I think Clarence Thomas. It must be Clarence Thomas. Alito and Thomas are 100% Trump, 100% not. Not. Even further to the right of Trump, I think. Well, well, they're just they're. Conspiracy theorists almost at. This point. Yeah, yeah.

And there I mean, they're old and they're racist and and there. They fly them flags. It doesn't make any difference. So two people, you can just put them aside. They don't really count in a, in a kind of in a kind of logic. You're asking for some logic here. Okay. They don't count. So, Gorsuch, I don't know what I haven't read the. Well, it's literally just come out. So we're trying to marshal. So I would say 6 to 3 in this in this context is.

Is unanimous. A recognition that that. This was an absolutely lunatic thing to bring. Absolutely ridiculous. And I don't think the Trump people thought that this was anything else. But this is a this is performative. Yeah. Like having yeah it's performative. Okay. Well happily it's been struck down because how on earth would you enforce it? It's utterly unenforceable. It's just it's it was never going to happen.

Performative. Can we talk about the most attractive couple in politics, the nuisance. who are made to go to the white House, aren't they? I mean, his hair, her hair, they are of deep Bravo type. Bravo. The channel fabulosity. You know, I was. at the fateful Biden debate in. Atlanta.

I think it was in Atlanta. Yes, I certainly was there. Yes. One of the. You mean the one where Biden failed to answer and it caused the. Yes. And start of all our problems. And that was the the thing that I mean, that was the kind of kind. of extraordinary because, you know, they did this Biden did this debate. And then after all of the surrogates come out on the floor. and and you wait for them, and the Republicans came out.

and the Democrats didn't come out because they had no idea what to say. And then finally. they came out in a scrum around Newsom. I mean, he was they were kind of all and. and what you saw and what you focused on was his hair first thing. He's he's very tall and the hair is, is kind of extraordinary. And you really said, okay, this is if if being the president of the United States.

is at least one factor is about what kind of hair you have, then. He might. Have a very good shot at this. So what we heard last week from Gavin. Newsom was that Trump has started investigations into him. This is politically motivated obviously, according to Newsom. Yeah, I mean, I think it turns out that this investigation began. almost a year, somewhat. about a year ago in a US attorney's office.

Now, you know, Trump obviously controls the Justice Department. and has enormous. sway with U.S. attorneys, but apparently so. this may or may not be Trump directly Trump related. Apparently there was a whistleblower involved and they started. an investigation in the US attorney's office, I assume, in California. And this is to do with how Gavin Newsom raises. money and it's basically pay for play.

That's the accusation that he receives. Yeah. No, I mean, there's a good Wall Street Journal article. Well, let me let me this is this is an article. by the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal, which is particularly tends. to not tends to almost always is a. takes a Republican and conservative voice. But.

although not necessarily pro-Trump voice, we should point out. they've been a robust opposition actually at the Journal, both the news pages and it turns out, the sometimes. Sometimes sometimes the, the, the editorial page, at any rate, it says reads, for years, the governor has leveraged his power. to get businesses to cough up cash for progressive causes. Two beneficiaries are non-profits. founded by his wife, Jennifer Siebel.

Never a good Look. the Representation Project in the California Partners Project, she has collected more than $1.9 million. in compensation from the former. So. So it's not only her organizations, but she's getting paid. The question is, on what basis do you raise this this money? Well. This did payments, right. And this may not be you can probably argue which they will.

certainly argue that this is not illegal at all. It is, though, as the. this is politics. And so theoretically it is the appearance of conflict that we seek to avoid. Right. We may that that that may be in a in old and discarded. point of view, Donald Trump wiped it away. The appearances don't matter anymore. But it also could mean that Gavin Newsom,

who is the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination. In 20. 28, not not that he not that he will remain the frontrunner, but certainly at this this point could be knocked out by something like this. Well, it also says that he's raised I mean, the total amount. he's raised since 2011 is 350 million, right. Which, according to the Journal, has poured in since. he became governor in 2019.

That's a lot. 350 million. Yeah. No payments there. And their legal but they're not seemly. In and maybe they're not. I mean obviously an investigation has been obviously. there are some questions about the legality of this. Right. Or there's a mischievous whistleblower and it's. going to cause him damage. Yeah. But these kinds of things and we should start to log.

these kinds of these kinds of things because because it's highly relevant to. 2028. And what Gavin Newsom has done has leaned in. to the Trump way of handling it, which is to say they're coming after me. It's a witch hunt and make and putting it center stage, as opposed. to putting it in the background and telling people not to worry about it. So he's actually campaigning on this now. You know, fascinating. And and.

We will continue. Yeah. No. And I think that, I mean, this is this is the kind of, this kind of. thing is actually a test of, of your metal for getting the nomination right. This is why you. In other words, in order. Yes. In order to be the person who should get the nomination, then you see if you can survive this kind of stuff. Yeah. And do you think he's going to survive it? I think he's thriving on it.

Yeah. There are the questions are. should he survive it and then will he survive it? Okay, fine. Should he survive it and will he survive it? All right. You mentioned hair. as a candidate, and we have a surprise for you. Who is this man with all the hair? Long ago. This is. Come on. I would never in a million years have thought that this was your hair.

I would never I imagine that you would have very bushy hair. Look at this. This is magnificent hair for those who aren't watching us, for those. who are actually listening to this, what we have found is, I guess. Is this your high school yearbook? It is. It's Michael. It's a picture of Michael, a photo. from his high school yearbook in which his hair is magnificent. It's shiny, it's straight. It's curled in basically a bulb just behind your ear.

And then there is a description of you can read the description. arguing a point with Mr. Kerner in English. Mike Wolf, student council president, youth sports student. council president, concerned with the problems of the school. The city's a serious student of history. Philosophy is dazzling rhetoric leading to victory in debates discussions. Mike Wolf introverted but serious and with fabulous hair.

that is election worthy hair. You could win elections on that hair on its own. I've seen that. You see. But that's the problem with elections. You have to be able to continue the hair until you are of age. The elected. We would you should I get a hairpiece for you? I would just like to see what it looks like. I mean, it's magnificent hair. It actually, for the first time, made me. think about what it's like losing your hair. I was the best day of my life.

It took a lot to keep that hair. And, you know, you had to tend that hair. Yeah. This hair. No tending. Did you actually make a decision to just shave it all. At some point? Yeah. I feel like ever since I've known you, you've not had any hair. No hair for decades and decades. Right now. I remember Scott Calloway saying it was a huge relief when he got rid of his. What? Have ever known you with her? How old were you when you started going bald? In my 30s.

So your kids cannot remember you with hair? No. Fascinating. Anyway, this is election. Where? The hair. No wonder you were. You think? Of course you're handsome. No wonder you a school president. You won the school presidency because of your hair. It's a really underestimated thing in politics. Have we ever had a bald president? I. Well, I mean, Eisenhower was not a guy with a lot of hair. They had some hair.

That was a real comb over. It was a came. Over and it was a. And television was less of a thing then. Yeah, television was less of a thing. Anyway, Gavin Newsom's got fabulous hair, his wife's got fabulous hair. His behest payments are legal, according to the Wall Street Journal. And he says he's being investigated because Donald Trump has launched. a witch hunt against him, because he knows that Gavin might win.

You know who is. getting a surge of attention is Andy Beshear. Andy Beshear is never going to be president. The man speaks in policy paragraphs. I had I had dinner with him last summer in the Hamptons, of course, where everybody shows up, all Democrats show up to raise money. I think some Republicans show up at the Republicans stay in Southampton. Yes, the Democrats. Strictly East. Wainscott and East Hampton and very much. And he was I you know, I thought it was a, you know,

extremely nice guy and extremely intelligent. Governor of a red state. All of this as dull as you could possibly be, right? I mean, it was the people of this. There were only a few people at this dinner, but everybody was propping their eyes up. Well, he's milk toast, isn't he? I mean, he's governor of Kentucky. So Red state, that's impressive that he's he's done that. But, but he doesn't have the charisma, I think, to be president.

in the age of social media and everything else. Well, a conversation that will continue. Bit of a stray. The poor old Andy Beshear caught a stray from our conversation. However, we will be back and we'll be back on Thursday. We're not going away. A nest Donald Trump launches a witch hunt into us. I think he has launched one into me. Oh, yeah. Oh I have. Do you have an update on where you are with his wife?

I, I yes, but let's save that for, for Thursday. Okay. So Thursday we'll be back. We'll talk about the update in Michael's case, suing the first lady. And if you have been thank you for joining us. Don't forget to subscribe to The Daily Beast. And you get all sorts of special perks for membership. And especially if you join the either beast tier level or the beast friend. Friend of the beast. Friend of the beast. Friend of the beast.

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