I Know Why Trump and His Goons Are Toast | The Daily Beast Podcast

Before the war started, the midterms were already a political disaster. of immense dimensions. Romance dimensions for MAGA, for Trump, they're going to lose up and down the ballot all over the country. The tidal wave is coming this this war is a disaster. We're not winning this war. And that is that is unpardonable in the United States.

I'm Joanna Coles, this is the Daily Beast podcast, and today's guest is. one of the most battle hardened political operatives you can think of. He worked in the Bush White House. He ran the John McCain campaign. I am talking, of course, about Steve Schmidt. He was a co-founder of the Lincoln Project. He's now spearheading Save America, and he is one of Donald Trump's most arch and articulate critics.

So today we get into some specifics. First, the war and how this is a catastrophic decision. for the Republican Party and those Republicans at Doral on the off. site this month where they were all talking about, the midterms, know that they're going to be wiped out, Steve says. They know there is a tidal wave coming for them. And also, as the master of many political campaigns,

he breaks down why Trump himself. broke at the economics of Christine Owens $220. million campaign featuring herself. He talks about the weirdness. of the Florsheim shoes, Trump. doling them out to his cabinet and his cabinet wearing them. And he talks about his update on his campaign to persuade King Charles. not to come to the States to celebrate America's 250th anniversary,

because he will be a suck up and a stooge to Donald Trump. So buckle up. It's a bumpy ride. It's full on. Steve Schmidt with his warning for America. Steve Schmidt, fantastic to have you back on the Daily Beast podcast. I wanted to waste no time and get straight into it with you.

Is the Scold Prophet which is my name for you? Because of the warning and the ferocity you bring on the warning. With something I'm really wrestling over, which is Trump's rhetoric around the war. And I just wanted to read, a line from his Truth. Social post that that he hammered out at midnight. They've been killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years. And now I, as the 47th president of the United States, I'm killing them.

What a great honor it is to do so. Iran's navy is gone. The Air Force is gone. Missiles, drones and everything else are being decimated. And the elite leaders have been wiped from the face of the earth. Just what what is this? What is this nonsense? It's sick. and it's fascism. This is how a fascist leader talks. And it was always,

in the end, the place that Donald Trump was destined to arrive at. This is the sum. of the journey. that goes all the way back to Central Park in the Central Park five, and let's. lynch them and decades of intimations towards violence. The campaign rallies where you saw the first. and the podium with the power calling for violence,

by the mob against the individual over and over and over and over again. You combine that with all the elements of dehumanization, which he has become an expert practitioner of. And here we are. And there is no. martial leader. this side of Genghis Khan. And add off Hitler who talks like this.

This is this is not the language. of a president of the United States, at least until now. This is not how a leader of a democracy. thinks about war. That war is a terrible thing, and you see it commodified. You see a franchise. Do you see it's celebrated and you see it turned into video content.

Of the lowest common denominator form. It's, it's appalling morally, spiritually. And it's, it's a terrible affront, to the concepts of American patriotism and what Lincoln called when pondering. the sacrifices, to perpetuate the Union, the last full measure of devotion. It's appalling. Steve, I actually feel you should be in a pulpit saying this. You're getting sort of. I'm getting a religious vibe from you now.

Except not really religious. More concerned for for America and and the Republic of America. How is this playing out? You know, all sorts of Republican operatives. You were, you know, at the center of white hot, Republican operations, for many years. How is this playing out in the Republican Party? And then, you know, we saw them having their offsite, at the Trump. Doral hotel in Florida earlier this week.

How is this war going to impact the Republicans, do you think. in the run up to the midterms, though, before the war started, the midterms were already a political disaster. of immense dimensions, immense dimensions for MAGA, for Trump, they're going to lose the House majority. They're likely to lose the Senate majority. They're going to lose governors races.

They're going to lose up and down the ballot all over the country. For example, in Ohio, you may see a Democratic governor. of the election where tomorrow you would you may see a Democratic U.S. senator, you may see David Jolly. When in the state of Florida, there are a lot of candidates. in a lot of places who are, who are, who are going to win. And that's before the war. And we just we just saw a Democrat win in New Hampshire.

You know, a what. had been a traditionally safe Republican seat, right. State rep district in Carroll County out towards the border of Maine, Republican territory, if there ever was any. And you have 28 districts. and all sorts of different elections that have flipped. over the last over the last year and a half since Trump has been in office. So the tidal wave is coming. This, this war is a disaster.

We talked about some of the moral dimensions of it, some of the mistakes, if you want to call them that, that have been made, the obliteration. of a school of, of young girls in it. But we're we're not winning this war. And that is, that is unpardonable. in the United States. And when you say we're not winning it, do you understand why we're at war?

I mean, I, I think one of the, the, the, the complicated things. is there's been no explanation of why we did this other than. there was clearly military intelligence, probably from the Israelis, that there was the opportunity to take out the leadership in, in Iran. You you know, I think from a couple of data points. that you have American forces essentially functioning. as Hessians for the Israelis and the Saudis. Can you explain what Hessians, actions were.

the mercenaries employed by the British against the Continental Army, against the against the colonial army during the American Revolution? They were mercenaries. And so you see the role of the United States military, service shaping the strategic interests of the Saudis. A lot of talk about how Israelis manipulated. the United States into this, that Netanyahu manipulated Trump,

that the Netanyahu cabinet, that. people like Mike Huckabee are in thrall to, which is filled with the Israeli version of Pete Hegseth. and all the religious nutters that that that we have, that we have here. And so when you when you look at the totality of it all, what's the war about? Well, there's so many contradictions. So we obliterated, according to Trump, the nuclear program,

which apparently obliteration has different meanings. to different people that we need to rehabilitate it now. And re obliterated and re obliterated it with Donald Trump. started talking about at the inception of the war. was that and it is a war. that its goal was regime change. and we have destroyed a lot of physical assets,

but we have hardened, it. seems, the regime and it's important to remember. this is an apocalyptic, theocratic religious regime. When you have some of the nutters, like Pete Hegseth, talking about Armageddon. and the return of Christ, well, this is this is a big part of the. theology around the Ayatollah, the return of the Mahdi. They too believe in the end times and the apocalypse.

So it's a wonderful combination to see. To see come together. But this is incoherent. There's no plan. And at the end of the day, strategically, you cannot. And there never has been an example. of taking and holding territory with airpower. And this this chokepoint in the Straits of Hormuz very narrow. You can see across it.

side to side from Oman to Iran. And the Iranians control that territory, and they control what ships can flow through it. So the United States is in the early days of experiencing. a very, very, very severe economic shock as we see oil. move past the $5, $6, probably into the $7 a gallon territory overnight. It's most severe disruption of oil.

in the history of the global energy market, right now. Today, not 1973. 1979. We just haven't experienced it yet in the United States, but we certainly will. Okay. So Steve, I want you to explain something to me. You have been incredibly close to power. You've seen power in the white House. You've spent your life. working with people who want to run things.

You also know we. also know that the American military is incredibly well run. It's a group of highly dedicated, very thoughtful people. How is it possible that we have yet again, or we appear to have yet again. put America in a situation where it has underestimated the reaction. from other countries that we may well be. bombing the hell out of this. This feels like America's template, that we assume that America's.

power from the skies equals victory, equals a country being conquered. And yet, time and again, we understand that's not what happens. How do we get into this position? Arrogance. I always ask I always ask candidates, particularly. those that are running for president. I said, what's the most important quality of leadership. when we're sitting around?

No cameras on and there's been. no person who has ever gotten the answer right. My view, because I come at that with a point of view. And I think the answer to it is restraint. Restraint is the most important quality of a great leader. And it was it was something that was understood by Lincoln, something that was understood by by FDR. And it is something that is rarely understood in, in the world of politics. I,

and I want, I want. to be precise about what I'm saying here, but I don't. I don't think that the leadership of the American military. necessarily is entitled to the broad dispensation. that they you gave it in the qualification, up front, the version of. for the very senior leadership of, would you like to board the Delta flight first?

General Kane, General Kane has some options. He has some prerogatives. General, is not in he'd. headset's chain of command legally. The general, the chairman of the Joint. Chiefs of Staff is the president's. principal military advisor, and one I find a mediocre.

and unimpressive as he stands up there, having remembered. the combination of Schwarzkopf and Cheney. when they had to communicate serious business to the country. Back in, first Gulf War, for instance. But but putting that aside, he doesn't have to stand up. there and listen to Pete sass and sanity. That's a choice he has. He has every right to say, I'm Senate confirmed. I'm the president's principal military advisor.

And, Mr. President, I'm not going to debase my uniform. by standing up there and listening to this fucking idiot. talk about death the way that he talks about it. And I use the word fucking idiot. Precisely. And, and. and I use it in the spirit of Mark Milley. Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. When Stephen Miller in the first term asked about obliterating boats.

with Mexican migrants and, off the coast to San Diego, General Milley turned to him in the Oval Office and said. what was appropriate to be said, which is, shut the fuck up, Stephen. He literally said that, merely actually said that to him. He did say that. Right. And and the difference between that term. and this term is the little like men now, Stephen. Right. He's the one who says, shut the fuck up to anyone.

who dared to stand against the insanity. You know, it's it's a very important thing to. I think appreciate is the sinking of this submarine, which will mark my words, the sinking of this submarine. off the coast of Lanka, the sinking by the submarine. of the Iranian frigate, off the off the coast of. off the coast of Sri Lanka. Ship was unarmed. The order went out. We did not pick up survivors.

This is the first sinking of a ship by US submarine since. Since World War two. Why? Why didn't we take the ship prisoner? We certainly could have surfaced behind it. and and commanded it to be surrendered. It was. It was unarmed. So the bloodlust at hand. And, in the proposition that the U.S. armed forces were a moral force.

in a, in a force that fights the fights. the nation's wars when necessary, with, with restraint. That's appropriate under international law. and the laws of war. This is this a very important concept in PDX that there's. been a war with death with this concept since the second he was confirmed. And we're seeing some of the consequences we're seeing cannot delink that. from the 168 young girls who were killed,

18 incompetent act by the world's most powerful military. The targeting was wrong, John. Acceptable. And what did you think of the messaging around that? The the sort of refusal by Donald Trump to accept blame. when the investigation came back and said it was a US Tomahawk missile. that attacked the school of a obviously by accident, no one's suggesting that it was anything other than that. But it's a huge casualty toll.

The I mean, it's a version of, Alex pretty and Renee good or domestic terrorists, isn't it? Is that there's a there's an absolute incapability of acknowledging. a mistake, acknowledging an error, acknowledging, a tragedy. And this is the dichotomy that, that, that we have to that we have to focus on.

Is that on the one hand, you cannot sincerely. talk about war as a tragedy. when you're the person who's talking about how honor you are to kill Iranians. Right. This is this is the language of a Nazi. This is this is the law of the jungle. If you're a Republican congressman or woman or Republican senator. and you're up for reelection in November,

how are you? Well, first of all, how do you think. how panicked are you about everything that's going on? And what mechanism do they have if any, to indicate. that this war is not a good thing for for the party? Well, I mean, you can tell. through the collapse of his polling numbers. and their further deterioration in the split within, within the MAGA party.

on this, on this issue that this is this is terrible for Trump. And again, Trump Trump. has though, you know, it's hard for me to acknowledge and accept this, the truth is that. that he has been perceived by the determinative voter. to be the strong candidate against weak candidates. And and so he doesn't look strong here.

He looks incompetent, he looks weak, and he's going to look weaker. as as this all on unfurls out. Now, Republicans who are sitting around the bar. at Doral all meeting together, know that they are going to be wiped out. The people who run the campaigns know, that they're going to lose. In the words of Trump, they're they're going to lose bigly. They're going to lose catastrophically.

It's it's going to be an immense an immense loss. Now, the psychology of it. Right. Take about a shipwreck and imagine us out. on a big floating board that sinking. Right. But we're still floating and there's like 50 people on it. And that's all these House members. And every time one of them falls off into the ocean, they're like, oh, look, I made it. That person's gone. They didn't.

They're in the water. They're going to drown. Now that's the fate of all of them. But the drowning won't be in this moment or the next. And so hope springs eternal in March. for an election in November though they see the writing on the wall. The inherent narcissism in so many of these people is that though. if I run fast enough uphill, the tsunami wave, the waters won't get me.

And and that will be true for a couple of them. Who will be the narrowest winners in an election where the water is high. and licking at the backs of all their shoes is they're running uphill. But but they all know. They know what's coming. They do. That's interesting. And, and and there's really nothing they can. there's really nothing they can do about it. They've, they're, they're the die is cast. So speaking at the Doral Offsite,

Mike Johnson acknowledged that there had been a hiccup. with Latino and Hispanic voters with obviously with Ice. Kristi Noem is now gone. I wanted you to take us inside. those enormous campaigns that that operatives run. And in particular, can you explain to us this? I mean, I am astonished that she was able.

to spend a quarter of $1 billion to $220. million on this ad campaign, telling people don't come here illegally. She's riding around on a horse looking very glamorous. We've got Mount Rushmore in the background. She's doing, she's full cosplay, full ice Barbie. And then, of course, there's the brilliant moment in the hearings. where Senator John Kennedy from Louisiana leads her like a horse to drink. and then says, And I've watched your warnings.

I went down a spiral of your of your videos on this, where he leads her. to drink and basically says, and the president knew about this, did he? And of course she says, yes. And it then transpires that perhaps he didn't, but in in terms of understanding how these campaigns work. from an operatives point of view, can you, can you explain it? Well, I, sure. I think I can explain what it is that they.

what they did with the caveat that there's no precedent for it. There's no precedent for a cabinet secretary, taking a quarter billion dollars. And awarding that quarter billion dollars through a. no bid contracting process to your political cronies. Who then split up. if the if the amount of money, $220 million, you're. talking about a maximum fee,

potentially of $34 million. So the question around this. So so wait a minute, where does the fee come from. when you say maximum for you, what is fine? If you if you remember, if you remember the television show, Mad Men. with Don, with Don, of course, of course, with Jon Hamm, the way the way that advertising companies made money and the way that money. is made in a political campaign.

is as a committee is by commission. If you're making the ads and that commission. is a percentage of the media body. So, so in, in old school advertising, the industry standard remains the industry standard. California initiative campaigns. largely still charge 15%. So if you're buying time. Right. Which is you're buying television advertising time from ABC, NBC,

whatever that is you have, you have $1 million. Right. 15% of that is, is reserved. typically for fees. Now on a presidential campaign, say it's $1 billion. And let's imagine I'm running a presidential campaign and the media guy. says, well, I want to charge 15%, so I'll make $150 million to spend a billion on TV.

That's fair. That's when you laugh at that person and and that person may get paid. a couple million dollars for the placement. But but the question around Kristi Noem. that no one has quite hit the bull's eye on, John the Goose, the. congressman from Colorado came very, very close. He scammed it. But here's the question is, under the agreement that was signed. by the Department of Homeland Security, what is the fee structure.

for the advertisers, for the for the, for the ad makers? How much did they get in in fees and in under that amount, you're going to find out on a subcontractor basis. And there was that question in the hearing. She is well, I don't know about the subcontractors, but if you remember, she knew at.

fine detail. all of the metrics about the advertising campaign, but no idea whatsoever about who was placing any of it. But at any rate, you have upwards of $33. million of fees. that that that could be associated with that campaign. And, and Democrats with subpoena power will be able to determine. where where did those fees go.

Was there a discount below 15%? But there's some number in the amount of millions of dollars that I suspect. flowed back to maybe even to Kristi Noem. Last thing I'll say about this none of this was a secret. I write about this for months in The Daily Beast. All of the dress up, all of the ads, all of this was out there. It was astonishing. I wrote about it.

I've written about it at least half a dozen times, astonished by it. But but I suppose there are just moments, where everyone focuses and pays attention to something, even though it's out there, even though it's vivid. This was the moment where people in both sides. looking to take her out used. what was front and center, and it all came together. between the plain, between her abuses of U.S. citizens, between her corruption,

between her arrogance, between her deadeye stupidity. It was the moment where enough was enough. And so she's gone. And now she lives outside the the MAGA walls. And we'll see how she enjoys that, that experience. But the days of living on the military base, flying around. in the bedroom, on the plane, the days of the. $250 million ad campaign, it's all over. So, so, so, Steve,

I mean, totally interesting to hear that breakdown. If you're Donald Trump and you haven't signed anybody yet. from your cabinet and they're the reason that they're there. is because they're giving him great loyalty. And you've watched Christie now, begin to tip over into what could be a problem. You're beginning to see the poll numbers, beginning to crater, especially among Hispanic and Latino voters.

And, and she's been in charge of ice, which has been scooping up. brown people from our streets with, you know, masked people. You've witnessed two American citizens shot. in cold blood in daylight. Why is it the ad campaign. and the $220 million, the thing that is her fatal flaw. Why? What is it that Trump responds to? That means that's the moment she's dumb.

I think he has a very subjective. point of view about when it's bad for Trump. So if, you go back. to The Apprentice days and you look at the circus. that Donald Trump's presiding over, it doesn't particularly matter to Trump. If Gary Busey and Meatloaf were fighting with each other in one episode. or best of friends in the next episode, he just kind of floats above it.

Now, in this instance, nobody, nobody can go in there and tell him, hey, your approval numbers are at 30%. There's no upside to that. There's there's no person who walks in there to take the bullet. Right. This is the full Führer dynamic playing out, right? There's no incentive for any of these people to go tell him the truth. Just like there's no incentive for anyone around Putin.

to go tell him the truth about anything. So what what what the what. the what the best you can do on the margins. And remember when it comes to Kristi Noem, her package was with Corey Lewandowski who offends people by the thousands. So so at the moment when there's opportunity. to pay back Corey to pay back. her and people can go say.

she could hurt Trump or she is hurting Trump, or she took advantage of Trump. and and what was promised. And you can go back to Brad Parscale. I remember this from the Lincoln Project in 2020, when Brad Parscale. was fired after ads that the Lincoln Project ran. that talked about how he had gone out on Trump's dime. and bought a couple townhouses, a Ferrari, a boat.

And that drives Trump crazy. Trump, psychologically, is the guy. who wants his boys in their Florsheim shoes. Let's talk median. Right. Median. Capitulate. and not predatory Trump. Trump is the gangster. They they work for the gangster. They don't get to do.

their own con. They don't get to take $220 million. in Trump's name and glorify themselves. So that's what that was about. Okay. That's fascinating. So he's only he is allowed to do that. But he felt he was being taken advantage of. Absolutely. Okay. Riveting a riveting analysis. So let's discuss, please. The Florsheim shoes as a man.

Can you explain that? Because obviously, if it were a woman, president, she would not be buying members. of her cabinet shoes and expecting everybody to wear them. That that's an insane idea. So. So why does Donald Trump a why does he love these $148. black shiny Florsheim shoes? And, why is he buying them in bulk for his cabinet? And why are they wearing them? Why are they wearing them? I mean, poor Marco Rubio didn't even get the right size.

The the madness of all of this has to start. with with talking about how Trump will look at you. Imagine your shoe size and that's your size. But is that quite why Marco Rubio. is walking around in these cheap. pleather shoes, pre shined like marching band shoes?

This is and and it's just like I just want to say. is he's an old Italian proverb. bragging how much about the man from the shoes? And, without going down into the to the to the rabbit hole here. But I think we should move down the rabbit hole. We should go into the rabbit hole for the right. I mean, it's a scene where it's always. John Fetterman.

He's always driven me batshit crazy with the brown sweater. He's a United States senator. Comport yourself with some fucking dignity. With some dignity. And not only should you be in a suit, you should be. in a suit that's tailored properly. And and one of the first things you do, and I. And I say this to young man, I say this to my son, I say this to my son's friends. It's a grown man should wear shined shoes and they should be laced up.

All right. That's what a dress shoe is. And these are children's shoes. These are marching band shoes. This. No, no, man. Right, right. And like the chief American diplomat. is wearing these shoes. to go meet with his European counterparts. It is it is shocking. Well, it's good, you know, like a child dressing up his mother's shoes.

It is that these are grown men being dressed. in these cheap, shitty shoes. that they're afraid to take off by Trump, who then sends them out into the world wearing the shoes. where they do the business of the nation. in front of serious men and women. But Steve, it's shocking. But why has he settled on these shoes? And actually, I will say $148.

It's not that cheap for a pair of shoes. I mean, you can get shoes cheaper than that, but. but why has he settled on these particular shoes? What is it that they represent that Trump so loves for his his people? I have I have no idea. Right. I have no idea. Is he is it sadism. that I can make all of these men wear.

these Florsheim shoes? They're I mean, part of this story is that, you know, Trump was looking down it at the shoes. I, I've always done this in interviews. You know, I, I, you know, someone came in for an interview. I look at their shoes. Are the shoes shined? Are they squared away? Are they attentive to are they attentive to detail. And so he looks down at at Marco Rubio and JD Vance is shoes. And they got holes in them.

And, and apparently. Trump is in the Oval Office and he and he does some version of Jesus Christ. I have to buy you guys shoes. And he and he bought them these Florsheim shoes. And those are Trump shoes. And now and now Trump likes to give away give away the shoes. I, I know people who've met Trump back in the day when Trump had the ties. The Trump ties would always hand out ties. 3 or 4 ties to anyone he was to anybody was meeting. You know, he is he is the quintessential Queens hustler.

He's the he's the New York realtor guy. He's giving away steaks. He's gave it away ties. He's he's giving away shoes. Right. It's all it's all part of the shtick. It's all part of the part of the charisma. Right? He's a he's a good guy. He's giving you these. He's giving you these trinkets, and his people get in on it, too. There's this story about, you know, Russia and, J.D. Vance go out to dinner and usher left little coins, vice presidential.

second lady coins on, for the, for the tip for all the waitresses. Right. So everyone gets their trinkets from the from the top of the top of the maggot. pyramid. I was laughing at that story. We covered that story in The Beast today. And then there was a wonderful aside that the coins that Karen Pence had. as second lady were now available on eBay from anywhere between 49 to 300. And for the beautiful coin, yeah, I was just thinking who on earth.

would want Mother Pence coins of that right on earth? What do you do with them? How would you display them? Like, you know your family member has a shopping problem right on eBay? When the mother. When the mother pence lives in the mail, it's in the Vatican. But. But explain to me as a man, because I just can't believe that this would happen with women. But explain to me as a man how you would feel. if your boss gave you a pair of shoes.

and wanted you and your male colleagues. to all wear the same shoes, like get the fuck out of here. I'm not going to wear that shoe, right? There's no there's no chance I would wear I would wear that show. Right. They get a personal at a personal level. I'm. I mean, capable of wearing that shoe. I would never I would never I would never do it. And and. I have a judgment about the people who would go on and,

and and what that what that judgment is, is that they're deeply unserious people. They lack a spine, they lack conviction, they lack autonomy. You they lack the bit. They can't look at Donald Trump and be like, great shoe, Mr. President. But I like these. Well, also, why does it stop? What if he turns up one day and he's got suits for all of them? Are they all expected to wear the suits that he wants them? A lot of them. A lot of them have the gold, the gold pin on.

Now, you know, I always I always like this story about General. Marshall is is FDR famously addressed. everybody, by their by their first name, including King George, you know, the first person, whoever, whoever addressed them by his first name in his life. outside of childhood was was Franklin Roosevelt. And, and General Marshall, asked him,

to stop calling him George and, and asked that. that he be addressed by his rank, which was his, which was general. I was chief of staff of the United States Army. Was, he was a formal. He was a formal man. And so. So it's not an act of generosity. It's not a quirky act of generosity. It is a it is an act of control. Demand for for obedience, for for submission.

And it's a real window into into the culture. Right. There's the, you know, the famous Solzhenitsyn story that he tells about Stalin. at the party meeting and how that the. submissive, sycophantic Politburo. was afraid to stop clapping and, and as the story goes, the first man who ultimately does stop clapping is later arrested.

in the lesson imparted to him is never be the first to stop clapping. Right? And and when you live in a country, we have to think about the consequences of being the first to stop clapping, right? That that means you're not living in a free country anymore. And when you when you look at Marco Rubio, you know, you know, a couple a couple of things about him, right? As a, as a human being.

and, and what you, what you know about him is that. he knows that. Trump is what we know Trump to be, because he has condemned Trump, in his own words, on many occasions. But step by step, he went down a path. for ambition sake, where every principle, every duty,

every aspect of his oath was subordinated. until he became. A man. standing in Trump's shadow, so committed to the lies. that he stands there, and shoes. given to him by that man three sizes too big without, oh, oh, good. Cause.

it's every every father in this country, right? All of them. Right. Hope that our sons don't wind up to be like a Marco Rubio. Goodness. He's a quisling. He's a quisling. He's a quisling. So, Steve, last time we talked, you were, busy preparing a campaign. to send to the UK to warn King Charles. Talking of King George,

his descendant to. to warn him not to come here to to attend Trump's. 250th celebrations of, of the Republic. Where are you with that campaign? And of course, since we last talked, also, I should point out. Andrew, formerly known as Prince Andrew, King Charles, his younger brother, was arrested over and questioned for 11 hours by the police, over his connections with the Epstein affair. that you're speaking of.

Speaking of Prince Andrew, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, it's really, you we talk about this age. of artificial intelligence and deepfakes and and all the slop, but it really speaks to the power of photojournalism, right? To capture, this indelible moment. of the defense traded Andrew in the back of a police car, the shock of the loss of his privileges and his entitlements.

and justice coming due. even for the son of Queen Elizabeth. And if you were, Christy know. and Pete access and Pam Bondi. That's a picture worth studying. Worth thinking about, worth contemplating. Because for them, they all have a future. that looks a lot like Sarah Ferguson's to me.

When you consider their prospects in the medium to long term. and as they say, the days are long and the years are short, and. and we're going to get there really fast, and they're all going to have a lot of time, to think about the things that they did, like. Andrew and Fergie. Now, we're prepared. and you have have communicated publicly.

that they would be best for the king. not to come to the United States and be involved in this. And there's been no announcement from Buckingham Palace of, April visit to coincide with what would be the 250th, you know, anniversary of, of the independence of the of the country. We, you know, we start, you know, in, in the spring here. There's a lot of events, a lot of things happening. We have we have,

we have, Donald Trump's. birthday on June 19th, which is Flag Day. And the point again, is a really serious one. The first king, who was a great king, by the way, George the sixth, who who came to American soil, came at the invitation of the president as the world, was spiraling into the abyss, as fascism had drawn its knife and held it to the throat of the democracies.

And Franklin Roosevelt knew what was coming, and he wanted to build affinity between the British and American peoples. There was not a lot of affinity. There was not a special relationship. The United States was a country. filled with Catholics, country filled with Irishmen, who had no, affections for the British crown. The king comes to George Washington's tomb.

That's the first place he goes aboard the presidential yacht, the Potomac, and he goes into the crypt to pay his respects to a man that George, the third said was the greatest of this or any age. because of his humility, because he could have been a Caesar. He could have been a tyrant. He could have been a king. And he chose. instead to retire, to set in motion. a peaceful transition of power.

that endured until Donald Trump broke it. And so this is a moment of world crisis. This is a moment of American crisis. And the King of England, given the sacrifices of so many Americans, within living lifetime, should be very cognizant of his obligations. and the Crown's obligations to the American people, not to the leadership of a party,

not to the leadership of a faction. So so the King, who is not naive about politics and the men and women around him. were not naive about either politics or diplomacy. After appreciate that in this moment. there is no neutral position. So, well, what would you do if you're the king, if you were advising the king who's under enormous pressure to keep up relations,

even if they are just public relations. with the States, because he's such an important ally, even. given Donald Donald Trump's presidency, how do you think he should handle this? Have you had a sense that they know what you're planning? If he were to come? Why? I mean, it's been it's been in the media. There's been there's there's been enough. But I think talk about it and I think that more broadly, the. Buckingham Palace should have a keen appreciation,

including that His Majesty's ambassador, is is Peter Mandelson is that. is that given the extraordinary circumstances. and the and the connections to Epstein and the connections to his brother. and the connections to Trump, is is that discretion. is the better part of valor here. is that there are ten things that could go wrong for.

everything, that could conceivably go right, and again, the endurance of the relationship is with the American people. And 70% of the American people are opposed to this. And so if you come and stand, in a moment in time when. Donald Trump is doing the many things that he's doing, it will tarnish the crown.

And it will it will tarnish the relationship. You know, this is not a place for the British sovereign to be. There's a lot of different ways the King can show his respect. to the American people, to the United States. And again, we the people. here, there's a lot of ways for him to show his respect and his affection. to the country without coming and, and, and appearing as a Donald Trump stooge.

in a fascist pageantry. That that follows what Donald Trump. communicated last night about his enthronement to killing. So, so at a moment in time, you know, when you look at Charles. in the totality of his life, the difficulties in his, in. his life, the strangeness of it, this is it. He's a he's a man who's who's dealt. with cancer, who's in his 70s.

These are big moments. There there are there are questions that are fundamental to the endurance. of the crown itself that are not my place to talk about as an American. But but but his brother has put him into a difficult position. Donald Trump has put him into a difficult position. And and like I said, the Save America movement, it doesn't doesn't want to be in a fight with the Crown. but will defend. will defend the proposition in the United States.

in this anniversary year from the grotesquerie. of all of the submissions, all of the appeasement to Donald Trump. I mean, you know, the King should understand. something about his grandfather and about his uncle, right? His grandfather was the king because his uncle, didn't have the fortitude and he was a fascist. and he was an appeaser whose grandfather was not. And at a moment in history,

the king of England should not be standing with an American fascist. What he should be doing is is standing. for the rights of of Englishmen and women, which means holding the line against an American fascist. Well, Steve, you have to promise to keep us up to date. We will be waiting for the announcement of whether or not. the king is coming in April. And, And you'll be the first person. going to get a comment, I'm sure.

I remember after you came on and did the interview and said. that you were planning. to unleash Holy Hell with the with a campaign in the UK. if the King were to announce. he was coming, that it got an enormous amount of coverage in the UK. So. So you will be the first person that we call to find out more. And as ever, you have an incredibly unique turn of phrase. You are wasted not in a pulpit. I don't care if you don't even have a religion. The religion of the Doom prophet, Steve Schmidt and the warning.

You're your own. You're your own kind of secular religion, I think. But, but thank you for spending time with us this morning. So interesting. I guess my final question to you, actually, we've talked a lot about Marco Rubio and him swimming in daddy's shoes. JD Vance has been silent as far as we can tell on this wall. He's very much taken a back seat. Is that strategic, do you think, on his behalf? I think I think that,

one of the most important things, if you want to understand. what's coming down the road. Is to really. pay careful attention. to the Tucker Carlson interview with Mike Huckabee. and you see in that. all of the strains of this. twisted modern MAGA, movement and what the fault lines are,

and you can see how Tucker Carlson intends to run, for president. And you can see how that differentiates him. from both Marco Rubio and from JD Vance. So Rubio, when it comes to the war, Rubio cannot escape the war any more than Rumsfeld can write. But JD Vance is not seen as central to it.

and has some space to say, well, depending on what grace Trump gives him. and Rubio. and Vance will be competing for this. claim to who gets to author the revisionist history. So, so six months from now, everything that they said. in the first week of this war will be buried.

under 150ft of bullshit. as Pompeii was buried in ash. And and it's going to be very difficult. Archeologically right for the fucking MAGA mind, right? To dig back through all of it to what everybody was saying at the beginning. So however, it ends, we know that Marco Rubio is identified. completely with, bombing in the regime change.

But how does JD Vance come out of this in the end? And how does he bring Trump out with him? Is it in Trump's interest to break JD Vance's? Why is it in Trump's. interest to break Marco Rubio's way in the end of the day, for the man who can make other men wear his shoes, we know that he can bend them. to whatever version of truth it is that he's selling on that day.

We're at war with East Asia. We're not at war with these days. We've always been at war with East Asia. We've never been at war with East Asia. It's all at the whim of Donald Trump. So we'll see in this psychodrama that plays out. over the next couple of years, where what happens. tomorrow has no attachment. to what was said today or yesterday or the day before. Where it can all be made up again,

like a new reality show episode, not in the real world, but inside that MAGA primary 100%. Well, I'm. confident that you will do your very best to hold truth to account. Steve Schmidt will do it. Good to see you. I thank you. So I think my favorite part of the conversation. was really the stuff about the shoes. I mean, come on, you can take the girl out of fashion. You can't take fashion out of the girl.

I'm obsessed by the idea that a row of men. would sit there all wearing the same shoes. That would never happen with women. And it's just so strange. Why would Marco Rubio proud? Marco Rubio? Well, not that proud because he has done 180 about Trump. But nevertheless, why would he be photographed in shoes which were clearly three sizes too big? And do you think. and I should have asked this to Steve Schmidt, but now I'm thinking about it's kind of obvious. Of course, Trump knew.

that the shoes were too big for Marco, and he ordered them anyway. I can't believe that Marco Rubio was. was wearing them is sort of insane. Anyway, that was my favorite part of the conversation, but I'm very intrigued. to know what your favorite part is, so feel free to comment on YouTube. Don't forget to join the daily be subscribe to the podcast. You get tons of extra content once you become a subscriber. Become a Beast tier member and you get tons of extra content.

And don't forget, as our first Lady would have us. beast, beast beast. Otherwise big beast. Very strange. I'm sorry to hear that. She felt she needed to tell us it was lonely at the top. At the top of what? The tower of Mar-A-Lago? I don't know, but for those of you who missed it, the. The first lady was talking of the white House to celebrate. International Women's Day, and, she was a couple of days later, actually.

But no matter, she talked about how lonely, lonely it is at the top. Very lonely. Top is lonely. We'll see you tomorrow. Have a good rest of your weekend. 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. Thanks to our production team Devin, Roger Reno, Ryan Murray, Rachel Parsa, Heather Pizarro, Neil Rosen. The house.