These Goons Prove How Trump's Presidency is Doomed | The Daily Beast Podcast

There are a bunch of people in the White House right now. who are waiting for the Night of the Long Knives. That is undoubtedly going to follow this election. If you're Kash Patel, Pete Hegseth, or you're RFK Jr or you're Susie Wiles. You're probably thinking, how much longer do I have? The problem is, Trump doesn't sort of trade up. the longer he gets into his term, he trades down. Election day is going to be interesting. But between the challenges to the election and then the changes in the Trump.

administration and the fact that the day after the election is over, campaign. 2028 begins and the Democrats are going to be. jamming into the doorways to get attention and to become the leading. Then the next few months are going to be crazy. I'm Joanna Coles, this is the Daily Beast podcast. It's Monday, so it must be David Rothkopf. What are we going to be talking about? Well, we're going to be talking about the fact that President Obama is back.

He's back on the campaign trail, and he is provoking Donald Trump. We will look at Donald Trump's reaction. to his former nemesis being back on the political stage. We look at elections around the world and what the defeat of the far right. means for Donald Trump as he gears up for next Tuesday's midterms. Don't forget to subscribe to The Daily Beast podcast, please, wherever you get your podcasts. We are independent media that aren't that many of us left,

but we bring you conversations you cannot get anywhere else. Don't forget to tune in to YouTube on election night, because Michael Wolff. and I will be live with Inside Trump's Head and some cocktails. Who knows where it will go, but who knows where the election will go. and who knows where the election in Israel will go tomorrow. We're going to get into it now with David Rothkopf. David Rothkopf, welcome to Monday, Joanna Coles.

It's one week before the election. It's so exciting. Which election are you talking about, David? There have been hundreds elections. No, this is a week of elections. So it's one day after Brazil and Serbia. It's a day before Israel. It's a couple days before the UN General Assembly, the secretary general election. And then you've got the US election. And if you like elections, this, you know, the time of year. Yeah. This is your week. This is your Super Bowl.

Certainly our Super Bowl David. Well we'll come on and talk about all those are. all those election results and what they mean. Well we won't know what the election result of Israel yet is. But you have a prediction. And we've also got some pretty odd. candidates standing for secretary general of the UN. But before we get to that, I just want to remind people. that I will be live on election night with Michael Wolff. So please watch us as we go inside Trump's head.

It will be a special episode for us. And David, I'm sure we'll be doing a lot next Monday to predicting. what's going to happen in the election, but let's start with a supercut. No one does these super cuts better than our friends at Midas. Let's let's start with a supercut they did of Obama, Obama back finally. on the campaign trail, and a wonderful juxtaposition of him and Donald Trump. So sick and tired of being sick and tired.

that everyone. The reason I took the governor. You get a chance to say enough's enough. We are voting for change right here in. Ohio. You're the president of Iran, kid. Change the will. Finish the job.

We started with the Affordable Care Act and guaranteed quality, affordable health care to every single American. He's a very handsome guy. He's so handsome that I'd rather not have. I just rather talk about Audie. I'd rather not have him up here. He's too good looking. Imagine the power duo Abdul and Alyssa. You've got a muslim man. You got a Jewish woman waiting for you in the United States Senate. He might not be able to.

read the Bible this much. Maybe he doesn't know every single passage in the Bible, like so many other people do. It's just also these strange noises. that Donald Trump has been making on the campaign trail. I mean, what are those? And it's I don't know, I don't know, you know, we were talking about it on my podcast this morning. We were also talking about the fact that he just can't stop. talking about the bodies of Republican candidates.

And one of my colleagues, one of my Zoomer Gen Z colleagues, said, no, I think he has gay dementia. He has gay dementia. I mean, Anthony Scaramucci said he he thought he was by. curious on on our podcast on on Sunday. Yeah. No. You guys you guys need to dive a little deeper into that. The only woman he seems to be interested in other than Natalie. of course, is Nicki Minaj. It was like at these things and he's like oh talking about Nicki and.

she's so fantastic. And I. know I gotta say that the other side of this is, Barack Obama man, shoot that into my veins. This guy is so fantastic. And it's all of a sudden it's like, oh my God, they got the Beatles back. together. He, like, comes out on the stage and he's got energy. And he is.

It must be driving Trump crazy because Obama drove Trump crazy, right? But Obama is so good and Trump is so bad and Obama so energetic. And Trump is like incoherent. And Obama's got like he is like Girard in, you know, it was so interesting. If you listen from the political perspective to what Obama was saying, because Obama was not there with some establishment Democrat. Let's meet them in the middle. Bullshit. Obama was there with the lighter message, right?

We are going to fight corruption. We are going to have Medicare for all. We are going to get the money out of politics. We are going to go after it. And it was like, Holy crap, he is getting it. This sort of new perspective. And I wrote about this, by the way, in a column that's up, I think, today at the Daily Beast. Harvard did a youth poll last week, and the agenda. that he was talking about, it's the 18 to 29 agenda. And the reason that's so important is that's the group. that's going to be the majority in the 2028 election.

And so you've got this change going on. It's dynamic. It's about the future and it's fantastic. And meanwhile Trump is like drooling and talking about John Huston's. ass and making weird noises. And it was just such an incredible I mean, that's why the. the supercut was so great is because you go from Obama. boom, boom, boom, boom boom and Trump going, and and it was just I mean, it's,

you know, couldn't be clearer what we're facing here. Well when you see it as well, for those who are watching it on YouTube, you can see the reaction of the audience standing behind. both President Obama and President Trump. And the the reaction of the audience is markedly different. I mean, there are a couple of people in the Trump audience, and they look down. when he makes the noises, they look down, they look embarrassed for him. They sort of cringing on his behalf.

And when Obama uses, you know, corruption, the crowd sort of goes wild. It's also interesting when you just listen to Obama. He has that sort of newsreel quality about him. It already feels historic to hear him talking, but you're completely right that he gets under Donald Trump's skin. And of course, the minute Obama was back out on the trail, Donald Trump was back on Truth Social, as he calls it. And we should just pause a moment and say Truth Social.

What a cynical name for his social media network that just spews nonsense. Anyway, I'm just going to read the first couple of lines. Obama was a grossly incompetent president. He paid off Iraq with billiards, and he gave them a road to a nuclear weapon. He said the crooked Hillary was going to win. He captured for her and she lost it all directions and ways. He then got paid full out for Karbala and likewise she lost.

He does have a point there that Obama has campaigned. for two women for president, both of whom lost. But what do you give Alcides chances at this point? I think all sides chances are pretty good. These races are all fairly close. A lot of it depends on turnout. The early voting turnout numbers we're seeing are pretty good. I saw some of the numbers out of Texas, and. the early voting shows a big surge among Democrats,

among blacks, Hispanics and young voters in particular. And that's a very good sign for the Democrats, particularly if that continues across the country. And that's the only hard data that you can really look at right now. as a really voting. But, you know, it's there, it's quite positive. And, you know, the reality. is, you know, you're talking about people reacting, cringing to Trump. Well, you know, the polling data shows that's that's where people are.

They don't like his policies. When he says, oh, a bomb paid Iran million that everybody knows. Obama struck a deal to get Iran to contain its nuclear program that was working. And Trump threw it out. And that led to this crazy war, which led to the crazy. high gas prices and the crazy high inflation and so forth. They know Trump is lying. And that's, you know, that's part of the thing. Now, I you know, I was watching, you know, football over the weekend.

There were a lot of political ads in it. And you noted that they weren't running on any accomplishment of Trump. They were either running on racism or they were running on saying, well, Democrats are communists and they're going to come and be communist. all over the place, and they just don't have a message right now. And, you know, I mean, typically. that's something that works to the favor of a people who do have a message.

And, you know, it was it was also interesting, you know, El CID. and Obama, they kind of worked together pretty well, I would add, by the way, just because I got a Hillary. Clinton won the popular vote, you know, Trump's, you know, argument that he trounced her in every possible way is wrong. Kamala Harris, almost one. These were close elections. And frankly, people tend to vote for change.

And so, you know, Kamala Harris. did not differentiate herself from Joe Biden enough. She didn't have a good enough response to Dasa. or good enough response to, the, you know, Biden, you know, in Aera inflation, which is actually inherited Trump era inflation. And so she lost. But, you know, this was not all about Trump. Trump was riding the reaction to these things, and he was fortunate to be in the place that he was.

But right now that's the mood in this country. People want change. You know, in that Harvard poll that I mentioned to you minute ago, 9%. of the 18 to 29 year olds. they pulled thought that the country was headed in the good direction, 9%. David, what do you think about Donald Trump's. sort of ravings on the campaign trail that he's made trillions.

of dollars for America and that, yes, he knows that gas prices are up, but it's a small price to pay for Iran not having a nuclear weapon. Do you think that's a message that is going to resonate with people? Well, I think it will, but not in the way that he wants it to. I mean, you know, when he goes up there and he says, well, gas prices are up. But and as he did over the weekend, we're getting really, really rich. People don't think that the country is getting rich. They don't see the country getting rich.

They think he means he's getting rich. And of course, every day there's a new story. about billions of dollars flowing to Trump, flowing to the Trump family. Trump family cutting deals here, the Trump family cutting deals there. And, so people see him as profiting, but not them as profiting. And I think that's the core problem. They see Trump doing well. They see tech oligarchs doing well, and they see everybody else struggling. And this argument that somehow he,

you know, has made the Middle East safer with this war. Well that's ridiculous. It's ridiculous because we had the Obama agreement. We then had an attack a year ago, over a year ago, which they said ended the nuclear thing and didn't. We had another attack in which they said ended the nuclear threat, didn't. And so people know that what he's saying is nonsense. If a genie gave me three. wishes, I would use all my wishes to wish for my cats to live forever.

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and free treats for life for the cats, not for you. When you head to smalls.com/beast, that 60% of your first order, plus free. shipping and free treats for life when you head to smalls.com/beast. So David, let's just talk about election week. Around the world. We have Serbia and Brazil, the Brazil runoffs yesterday. We've got Israel tomorrow.

And as you point out, we've got our own midterm elections next week. Let's what is going on. with Donald Trump as he looks at these election results. So student revolution in Serbia, which surprised. the incumbent and in Brazil. Well, at the moment the Bolsonaro is refusing to concede. So it's unclear and I'm sure that he's got on Trump on the end of the phone.

saying don't concede, don't concede, make this difficult. What what's your interpretation of how Trump will be reading this? Well, I mean, how Trump will be reading it is. Oh, but you know how. the world should be reading it is that over the course of this. ten day period, I call it World Anti-fascism Week, you know, because the world is having referenda on four different continents. about whether or not you want fascist candidates to be running the country. Music was running Serbia for the past almost ten years, since 2017.

And he was thought to be sort of immovable. But the student movement, the student list in Serbia, took to the streets, got organized and defeated him. And you know, that's a big deal because he was one. of Putin's two biggest supporters in Europe, along with Viktor Orban. And they're both now gone. It's also a big deal for Trump. And there is a subtext in all of this, because Trump's family and Trump's.

friends, Trump's, you know, administration was doing all sorts of deals with folks. They were talking about hotels, they were talking about monuments. They were doing, you know, Jared was doing deals. There was all sorts of stuff going on. And just as in Hungary, one of the big messages was. anti-corruption, one of the big student messages in Serbia's anti-corruption. With a new government, they may help investigations that could end up on Trump's doorstep. So he's got to be aware of that as well. In Brazil, people were not sure that Lula was going to be able.

to come back in just two weeks in this runoff election. But the. people of Brazil have seen authoritarian government before, and they said, oh, no, we're not going there again. They also saw, by the way, at the beginning of Election day yesterday, Bolsonaro had allies across. particularly southern parts of Brazil, who were stopping bus service. into parts of of cities that were likely to be supportive of Lula. They were trying to cheat in the election.

hours, got extended because they were trying to cheat. And ultimately, I think that what's going to undercut. Bolsonaro's whole complaint that the election was unfair, is that the only things that were unfair in the election, as far as Brazilian observers can see, were things that were done by Bolsonaro. and the people of Brazil said, you know, we've seen this movie before. This is Flavio Bolsonaro we saw, yeah, Bolsonaro. We saw he was a lousy president. We saw he was corrupt.

We saw he was trying to undercut democracy. We saw he led an insurrection to try to maintain power. We also saw that he got convicted. And one of the things that Flavio Bolsonaro was expected. to do immediately was pardon his father. And the people of Brazil said, heck no. I think the margin is 3.5% at this point. Lula's victory is going to stand up now. Lula's an old man. This is his fourth term. It's going to be tough for him to have particularly successful presidency.

But in terms of the immediate impact here is a Trumpist who is supported. by Trump, who is also supported, by the way, by Trump's favorite oligarchs. You know, Mark Zuckerberg with meta, you know, ran the algorithm in Brazil. in order to play up Bolsonaro and to play down Lula. They tried to cheat in the way they try to cheat. Musk was supporting him. Javier mil in Argentina supporting, you know, and he, by the way, has also not acknowledged the election results yet.

And so once again, it's a blow. to the individual candidate, Fabio Bolsonaro. But it's also a blow to this global ethno nationalist. fascist would call it what you will hate driven movement on the right. that's led by Putin but includes Trump included, Orban included. Such includes Narendra modi includes. Bibi Netanyahu, includes Erdogan, includes Melaye.

and and so you know that movement is is a bit on the ropes. And and that's you know, that's good news. And I've been speaking to Israelis overnight. I've looked at Israeli polls. It looks extremely unlikely, based on the polling, that Netanyahu is going to win another term as prime minister. And it looks unlikely that he's going to be able to form a coalition.

after this, which means there will be a new government in Israel. And while I don't expect it to reverse policies that need to be reversed. with regard to Gaza and the West Bank, I do expect, as one of my Israeli. friends said to me was spawning that, whatever they do, they'll be doing without the fascism, the fascism of Netanyahu. And of course, Netanyahu and Trump could not be nuzzled together more closely in bed. And, you know, they're politically spooning with one another.

And if all of a sudden, be disappears, and anti BB forces then. prosecute BB, which he's, you know, up for being prosecuted. for corruption in Israel or the ICC goes after BB. This is going to be real bad news for Trump because he's losing. friends on the international stage left and right. And so as he looks forward to next week, all of this must look like,

you know, premonitions, you know, ghost ghosts of election. days, future coming to haunt him. And it it's going to be a bad week. We're going to see a lot of Trump craziness all week. long because he just he doesn't have an answer. And I think he can see the writing on the wall. So David, if Netanyahu loses tomorrow. What does this mean for the war? What does this mean for Pete Hegseth? What does this mean for Donald Trump as they wrestle with trying to price.

open the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran still has control over? And how how does this. I mean, who becomes their ally in the Iranian war? Well, I think you raise a good question, because. while a lot of people are focused on, you know, Netanyahu's ongoing crimes in, in, in Gaza or the West Bank and the UN has just issued.

another report saying genocide is continuing in those places. You're not going to get a new Israeli government. talking about a two state solution or moving. effectively towards some kind of Palestinian governance mechanism. That's going to be a problem for the future. But, you know, one of the subtexts, one of the things that may make it different. is that you've got from a former prime ministers, from the Israeli military, from the Israeli intelligence community, a bunch of people speaking out, saying.

this, what's going on in Iran can't continue its craziness. And if the Israelis stop being the agitator. with regard to Iran, you know, I mean, it was Netanyahu, the coaxed and pulled and tugged Trump into this. And and if they start pulling back, you know, Trump is going to feel a little bit left out there to dry. And I think, again, you know, ultimately, you know, what Trump does. when his schemes fail is he complains, he lies about them.

He goes to court about them. And then he walks away and and one way or another, I think you're going to see Trump walking away with headsets. There's an interesting story emerging. that's been in the press today and yesterday, which is that, I guess Marsha Blackburn is running for governor of her state. And if she wins, Hedges Seth. is lobbying her, allegedly to make him a senator.

from that state as a way of keeping him from being able to be impeached. So Hegseth is a little bit. running scared and looking for some kind of political roost. that will protect him from a two year tenure that, so far, is the worst of any secretary of defense in our history by a lot. Right. And so, you know, I think you're going to see a lot of retrenchment, a lot of change strategies, that will come in the wake of all of this.

And you've got all sorts of stories coming out of the white House about people. trying to leave and people worried about the president going crazy. And also, you know, there were stories over the weekend. that the white House is planning to pardon junior staffers who were involved. in there, things, and, and, and on and on and on. So I think what's going on right now among those people and, you know, is, is planning for the worst.

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That's incognito.com/beast. David, you mentioned intelligence there. The Dutch intelligence has come under scrutiny over the last week. with this new book, and I wanted to know if you'd come across it. Princes and thieves. There was an excerpt of it in Vanity Fair. It's by an investigative reporter called Matthew Cole, and it puts Jared Kushner at the center of, well,

frankly, enormous payments to him from the UAE. and from from Saudi Arabia. Kushner himself has denied it and said this is the most outlandish, insane story. We denied it to the publisher, Simon and Schuster. They didn't show us any details, but apparently at the heart of it. is that Dutch intelligence discovered that Russian. Russian intelligence had hacked into Jared Kushner phone, and the Dutch intelligence were able to take snapshots or screen grabs.

of some of Jared Kushner transactions. And it's alleged that a lot of this money was for him. Personally, I hadn't come across Dutch intelligence as a sort of factor. in international relations, though that may just be my shortcoming. But I was curious to know if you knew anything about this and had any insight, because I know you have fantastic sources in the intelligence world.

Well, I mean, first of all, you know, I read the story in Vanity Fair, and that's what I know of the story. And the story looks pretty well sourced. You know, all countries, significant countries. have intelligence services of some size. Dutch intelligence is small. But European intelligence services work together in the story that they had, you know, sort of hacked into the Russians and seen that the Russians. had hacked into this phone. Is plausible and indeed,

you know, raises some bigger issues about the vulnerabilities of Kushner's. phone or, you know, we know which was traveling in and out of Russia with his personal phone and, and so forth. So, I suspect, you know, one of the messages is that intelligence services. no more of what they were doing than what they were doing. And before I make a comment here about, you know, the flows of money, I do want to say, as I say in our disclaimer at the daily basis, I have a company that does podcasts and one of the podcasts.

is sponsored by the embassy of the UAE here. And so I you know, I always want to be full disclosure on that kind of thing. They don't require that we maintain a view. of any particular sort, and you'll see that in a minute. But but full disclosure is important, I think, you know, with regard to, you know, these intelligence flows and the argument, you know, the idea that, the Saudis and some Emiratis were pumping money.

through an Azerbaijani bank or through the Israeli. central bank into accounts that could then be accessed by Kushner, where Kushner was the signatory on the accounts, which allegedly were used for sort of off the books. diplomacy, you know, paying off people to achieve their goals. diplomatically does not sound inconsistent with what we've heard about in the past.

Now, how much of this money ended up in Kushner's pocket, or how many of these schemes were there that are not reported in this, and how much dark money flowing out of that part of the world, but also flowing out of Russia or elsewhere? Via crypto, as well as via. accounts like this, are part of the. the sort of sea of money, the that is, you know, sort of.

driving the rise of the Trump family, the Whitcomb. family of the family, Don Jr, Eric and so forth. I don't know, but when I read it, I thought, this is this is like a canary in the coal mine. And more of these stories. are going to come out over the course of the next several years, and we will see more and more examples of different foreign governments. Recognizing that the Trump administration had hung the for rent sign.

on the white House, and they're essentially saying we're transactional. And, you know, grease our palms. and we can, you know, work with you on different kinds of things. And so, you know, I guess. the short story is the story sounded plausible, and it seems to me. to be indicative of some bigger issues. And already, you know, I mean, this morning in Washington,

there are half a dozen stories about if the Democrats take the House, there will be major investigations. Yeah. I was going to ask you if you were Jared Kushner, who, as we say, has denied. these allegations, would you be anxious about an investigatory committee. being set up to to look into all his business dealings. and how they've basically privatized American diplomacy? And he has, you know, constantly said, actually, if you do business deals with people,

that's the best way to get around the table. That's the best way to get people focused. It's the easiest way to create peace. Look, here is Jared, who is, you know, an arrogant, rich kid who got into Harvard when he should. have gotten into Harvard because dad paid for it, who married. into this family, who became one of the most powerful people in the world, despite having no qualifications to be one of the most powerful people, got his father appointed to be the ambassador to France,

you know, sidestepped criminal cases involving his father. You know, never ran a big fund before. But after the last administration came out with a couple of billion dollars. from the Saudis and whatever. And, you know, you know, became a very wealthy, influential, you know, financial figure, not based on. any knowledge or accomplishment, but based on who he married. I think if you're Jared Kushner and you've been leading this kind of charmed life, you may be expecting it's going to continue.

But at some level, somebody is saying to you, buddy, stand by. Because, you know, he may think he has certain kinds of protections. You know, that he is a government official acting. at the best of the president, but he hasn't fulfilled. a lot of the responsibilities of being a government official, like providing his financial disclosure and other kinds of things. And the Democrats. are calling for that right now, and they're calling for a clarification.

of his role. And, you know, he's operating in many different jurisdictions. And so there are many different potential legal avenues to go after him. And even if he is pardoned by his father in law, I you know, if I were Jared. or Eric or Don Jr. or Ivanka or any of the others involved. in the corrupt enterprises of the Trump administration. I'd be real concerned. that people are going to find a way to get to you.

and to hold you accountable for these things, and at the very least, they're going to reveal the nature. of your wealth and, and what kind of deals you cut to do this. You know, having said that, anybody who's transactional approached. anybody who's in the Trump inner circle from any government anywhere in the world, from any company, anywhere in the world, the worms about to start turning.

The worm is about to start turning. I mean, is there any incentive for people not to be on the take here. if they assume that Donald Trump is going to pardon them? I mean, if I were working for Donald Trump, I mean, you know, you would. surely you would just think, you know what? I'm going to invest. in everything that I possibly can because I'm going to get a pardon. Look, I. think that that's the assumption of a lot of these people. There is a question as to whether the president's.

pardon power extends as far as it as he thinks it does. There are obviously state and other jurisdictions. that could pursue these things where the pardon doesn't apply. But I you know, if. if, you know, you're looking to next Tuesday. and the results turn out the way people think they're going to turn out, and Trump's not going to be able to do anything with the Congress. And it's going to be harder for him to do things. and they're going to be more investigations.

I think, you know, you're going to see the flood gates open. with all of these people saying, okay, I'm going to cash in, you know, I'm going to get my money. I'm going to get my bag, as they say, you know, in the NFL. And I'm going to go and, you know, they may hate me for the rest of my life, but I'm going to have millions or hundreds of millions or billions of dollars. And that will be comfort to me in my isolation. And so I, you know, as corrupt as Trump has been.

in the first half of this term, I think you will see a quantum leap. in the levels of corruption that we see in the second half. The only question is. whether foreign governments and companies who see their diminishing power, think it's worth their while to continue paying them off. Well, what a what a depiction. So you think even if the Dems win the House. and possibly win.

the Senate, that Trump will become only more corrupt, that he will see the next two years as his sort of supermarket sweep, that he'll be running down those aisles just filling his basket. with everything he can because the clock is ticking. I think there's every reason to believe that he was much more corrupt. in the first two years of this term than he was in his entire last term. Why? Well, because we had this case in the Supreme Court in June, prior.

to his election, in which they said he had, immunity as president. And, you know, I think he saw that as, you know, the, you know, the, the the green flag dropping and the race. starting to get as much money out of the presidency as he could. And I think that that's likely to continue. And, you know, there are a lot of ways that they can make money. You know, there are big stories right now about them. selling pardons for $50 million here and there.

You know, there's stories about, you know, forcing defense. contracts in the direction of companies owned by Eric or owned by Don. And that, of course, pushes up the stock prices of these firms, and they can cash in on that. You know, even if foreign governments aren't playing the game, Trump has the whole sort of a government. acquisition mechanism that he can use to direct. funds in ways that, you know,

could enrich people in his inner service. You know, there's even this great story, a great story, I mean, a horrible story, but gives you a sense of how the corruption works. Just the past couple of days, coming from a infighting between. Richard Grinnell and I think Elena Haba about the Kennedy Center. And apparently what happened was they went after foreign donors. to the Kennedy Center and said, hey, put this money in a company. that Richard Grinnell, you know, designate,

and then some money will go from that company into the Kennedy Center, and then they'll get invited. to all sorts of things, and they'll have access to the president. And apparently this kind of thing was working. And that's how people at multiple levels of the administration are selling access. Who's selling pardons, what lawyers are selling pardons, what's, you know, Corey Lewandowski. or some of these other characters who are out there trying to do their own? Griff. What are they doing? We don't know. And I do think that one thing that will happen.

if Democrats get control of the House or the Senate is we're going to start. seeing investigation after investigation and revelation after revelation, even as these guys do what you call, I think accurately, they're kind of. supermarket suite and try to fill up their carts. with as much as they can before they get kicked out of the store. You referenced Eleanor Harper there. I think you mean David. Alina Milton, who's newly embraced her much younger. Good for you, Lena.

Husband's name. She just recently married husband number. three two, Han Milton, who is a Turkish businessman. I think he's a Turkish billionaire. And they had a big, fancy wedding at the Waldorf Hotel. here, the newly refurbished Waldorf Hotel. And incredibly, she appears to have gotten a job, from a new company. called Concord Enterprises, where she's being paid $10 million a year. And perhaps, well, coincidentally,

the father of the woman who set the company up. Who? Leo Herrera has been given a pardon. Alina Milton insists it was nothing to do with her. But it happened shortly after she took the new job. Yeah. There's a world is full of these amazing connections and coincidences. But I do think, by the way, you know, as the heat gets turned. up, you know, Elena may find herself living in Turkey.

You know? You know, Jared may find himself living someplace else. Oh, you think they'll all go to Bahrain, or do you buy. Well, I, I don't know where the where they'll go. I think, you know, Jared had his sights set on coastal Albania. You know, I mean, they, you know, they they they, you know, they're they're global and they're comfortable, you know, in, you know, in, in a kind of global environment, where they're sort of above and beyond the laws of individual nation states.

And I, you know, I think we're going to see a lot of these people sort of back. their way to the door, you know, like that, you know, image of Homer. Simpson backing into the shrub, and trying to get out of there. Right. So they'll become members of this kind of stateless. oligarchy that float around from country to country. Yeah. It's. And and all those people, all those oligarchs, you know, which includes some of our favorite oligarchs, you know,

the Elon's and the Bezos and the Zuckerberg's and so forth. They have more in common with other oligarchs than they do with us. But certainly not loyal to us. They're certainly not loyal to US values or even the future of the US. Look at Peter Thiel. Where's Peter Thiel hanging out these days. Argentina. You know, I mean, who else went to Argentina. after their plots didn't work out? But I think, you know, there's there's a lot of that going around.

You know, they're saying, well, I'm, I'm, I'm effective. if the US is, you know, open for business and I can make money, they're great. And if the US is going to be a hostile environment, I'm a citizen of the world. David, one person we haven't heard anything from, at least in the last week or so is Cash Patel. Where is he? And what is he doing? You can tell I do miss him. I do miss him. I wonder if he's been grounded because of the prices of, of avgas.

And he's no longer using the FBI plane as much as he used to. What, does it take his girlfriend around or whatever? Yeah. That's possible. And it's possible Susie Wiles has, like, you know, this happens in election time, where Susie Wiles is sort of put out a list and said, hey, cash, keep your head down. You know, like to a bunch of people, don't get out there too far in front of things. because they don't think the result is going to be positive. But I also think cash has gone through a pretty bad spell,

and there are a bunch of people in the white House right now. who are waiting for the night of the Long Knives. That is undoubtedly going to follow this election, because even typically in most administrations, sort of halfway through, you get some turnover. But if you're Cash Patel or you're Pete. or you're RFK junior, or you're Susie Wiles. or you're some of these other characters who are out there, you're probably thinking, how much longer do I have? What's my next job?

And, you know, that may be what's on his mind right now. And frankly, you know, all that would be. a good thing, because these are good people to get rid of. The problem is, as we have seen, Trump doesn't sort of trade up. The longer he gets into his term. He trades down and we get, you know, the less good version of Cash Patel, the less sane. version of RFK junior, the more demented version of Pete.

And, you know, yuck. Is there a more demented version of p f? I don't know, I mean, you don't know. Maybe, maybe, maybe he'll make his his his his, you know, preacher friend who's giving him all these big ideas. that the military shouldn't have women in it or people of color. Maybe he can become the secretary of defense. Free tea for everybody. David. Free tea for everybody. Yeah, yeah. You're on. You're you're honest there anyway.

You know that there's going to be so much churn. that I've just advised everybody keep your powder dry. Election day is going to be interesting. But between the challenges to the election and then the changes in the Trump. administration and the fact that the day after the election is over, campaign 2028 begins and the Democrats are going to be jamming. into the doorways to get attention and to become the leading candidate. The the next few months are going to be crazy.

Melania is being best in Alaska. or she's I mean, she hasn't gone there, but she claims. to have been the sole reason why there's been a temporary ceasefire. in a particular town. in Ukraine, which has been sort of cut off from the rest of the world, and it's largely elderly population of being unable. to get food, unable to get gas, electricity. They're living in a sort of hellish landscape at the moment.

And Melania insists, despite the fact the pope actually raised. Alecia as a problem several weeks ago, Melania now declares. that she is the person that is going to rescue elections. What are your thoughts on this? And is she going to make as much money as her as her stepsons? First of all, who believes this nonsense? Nobody believes it. David. She issued. She issued a press statement.

How can you say that? How can you sound so cynical? No, it's true, but there is the fact that Melania has never achieved anything in her life. Oh, it's not true. I achieved First Lady status and best be bestie. And we all know exactly how that happened. But Melania doesn't have, you know, the diplomatic staff. She doesn't have people who can go out and work on this thing. We know the Pope did this. The story of Alecia is a horrible story where the Russians have isolated.

this village, and people have literally been eating grass to survive. And the fact that she would cynically land on that and say, oh, I've helped strike. a cease fire in this place, trying to capitalize on the suffering. of these people without explaining anything. about how she did it, without ever having had a track record of doing this before, while trying to elbow out the Pope, the recently out of the hospital with lung cancer. Pope in the middle of all of this is so disgusting.

I only hope that the next several years. brings a rethinking about Melania, and just how corrupt and complicit and repulsive. she has been at every phase of her life, saying, Jeffrey Epstein doesn't bother me. I'll hang out there if it is my agenda. Donald Trump doesn't bother me. Serial sex accusations against my husband doesn't bother me.

so long as I get my cash. Will she get as much cash as Don Junior or Eric or, you know, and the other character? I don't know, but you want to know something? I think she's doing okay. I think she already has. Thanks to her deals with Don. More money than she will ever be able to spend in her lifetime. And, you know, I think what she's trying to do now. is to somehow come up with, you know, an identity.

that isn't quite as repugnant as her reality and it's not working. And I you know, I saw her spokesperson talking about this on cable news. over the weekend and say, well, she says it's so and therefore it's so. And it was just so uncomfortable. And and it's an embarrassment. She's an embarrassment. The story is an embarrassment. It's, you know, it's shameful, for the president, and I just, I wonder who thinks this is a good idea in and around Trump or whether, you know,

you guys talk about this on your other show more, whether they're even communicating with each other. She seems like she's on her own agenda these days and. and not really supporting, white House agenda. Well, Michael Wolff's theory is this is all content for her reality. show that she's got coming out courtesy of Amazon. Well, that'd be great. If it's in Slovenian. She doesn't speak English.

I mean, you're you're you're impression of her, you know, is more articulate than she is. But, you know, okay, fine. Whatever. Whatever. She's she's going to fade into the woodwork. She's going to be like. And, you know, whether, when, whether she's a, you know, ultimately divorced or whether she's a widow, she's going to be like one of these women that we see throughout history. who are the ex wives of failed dictator plutocrats. who, you know, go to Geneva and Sun themselves while wearing.

three layers of black veils because they don't want to be recognized. My husband is only fire. He is only fire. So another similar cynical ploy, was used by Vivek Ramasamy this week, who is frantically trying to get elected as the governor of Ohio. You will remember him as a former partner to Elon Musk when Doge. first began, and then he quickly got chainsaws.

out of the way by Ellen, who I think had no time for him. But Republicans and Democrats alike have come out against his campaign. ad, which included his opponent's mother speaking against her. And this, I think he thought, would perhaps seal the deal for him. But instead it's opened now, six days worth of conversation. about what an appallingly bad taste and it was.

And also, it's a strange woman for him to coalesce around. because she looks even crazier than he sounds. But she's a vile woman. Her daughter, according to court papers, was raped by her stepfather. And this woman, her mother then sided with the rapist. stepfather and abandoned the daughter, became estranged from the daughter. And so Ramaswami people said, oh yeah, let's let's run an ad with her. And needless to say, got a lot of backlash.

because it was so cynical and disgusting. And, you know, they're on the wrong side of sex abuse again. And then the response of Trump and the Republican Party was, we will stand by him. You know, Trump always loves to just to defend, you know, a sex abuse in any form. And JD Vance will do anything to prove just how cynical he is. And, you know, even the people who were speaking out. against him, like Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, who said he shouldn't.

be running this ad, defines a Republican and his term limited out, said, well, I'm going to continue to support the ticket. Just saying, you know, the Republican Party has absolutely no values whatsoever. And as a result, Amy Acton, who's running against Ramaswami, has a shot at becoming the governor in Ohio. And Sherrod Brown, who's running for the Senate there, has a better shot of winning the Senate seat in Ohio.

And it's you know, it's part of a pattern here, which I find personally kind of flabbergasting, which is at every single turn during this election season, Trump, MAGA, Republicans. have made the wrong decision, have shot themselves in the foot. with prices, with trade. policies, with Iran policies, with the way. the candidates they embrace choosing the worst possible candidates.

with their embrace and defense of those candidates and so forth. They haven't done anything. You haven't seen a story recently saying. Trump struck a nerve and has recently done something great in his rallies. People aren't showing up to his rallies. You know, they're, you know, the the response at his rallies is now, as you said earlier, awkward and and and didn't. And you know guys like Ramaswamy he's terrible candidate. There was a great story. a couple of days ago about, you know, people who knew him in college.

and saw him as this, you know, the the guy who would say anything, do anything to get ahead and was cringe 100% of the time. Ramaswami may be one of the most cringe candidates ever in history. And, this this episode, is not going to, you know, help him in undoing that perception. There's yet another election this week, and that's for secretary.

general of the UN. There's no clear candidate ahead. Suddenly, America has put forward Viktor Orban, who is resoundingly. beaten in the Hungarian elections this year. But what do you make of this? And and how important even is the UN at this point? Well, first of all, I mean, you know, putting forth this idea of Viktor Orban,

you know, it's it's so tone deaf to where the rest of the world is on Viktor Orban. That it's pathetic. Maybe they thought the Russians would like it or the Chinese would like it. Well, they probably they probably would like it, wouldn't they? And those two together are a powerful bloc. Well, they are powerful bloc. But the way it works is, you know, there are certain nations with veto. and not sure that the other nations with veto power would go for it. And also, if a couple of other, you know, you need to have a certain minimum.

number of nations to support you in order to get ahead for this. And I'm not sure that he could get the majority there. And the reaction in Europe has been, you know, dismissive, the president of Poland, today. and when asked about it, just ridiculed the idea. Obviously he knows better than anybody else but an odious character. Orban is but, you know, it shows two things. One, that inside the white House, they still think it's a few years ago,

and that they have this kind of impunity and power, and they've figured out the nature of global power. And, you know, and, and. to, that they don't really care about the U.N.. And that's really the critical point. Whoever is the secretary general of the United Nations, ultimately, and their candidates from different continents and, and, you know, that are buying at the moment, whoever is.

the secretary general is going to have a rough couple of years. because the UN has to have the active support of the US. U.S. will not support the UN. It would be less likely to support the UN over the next couple of years. for a variety of reasons, not the least of which. is we're going to be likely in a kind of a gridlock in DC, and money. is not going to get released, and Trump's going to block certain kinds of money. And so, you know, the big job of whoever this next secretary. general is going to be is working to maintain.

whatever functionality exists within the institution. And then should there be a change in U.S. leadership, should there be a change in leadership. from around the world working to restore the UN, as an organization that's got some kind of relevance. And, and and, you know, that's that's going to be a real heavy lift. Is it important? Yeah. Do we need global governance to deal with global threats and and global challenges?

We definitely do. But people like Trump and people like the Israelis, and periodically people. like the Russians and others have been working to undermine the power. of the UN for so many years that it's really a shell of what it used to be. I mean, I'm assuming that America has a lot of persuasive. powers still to force other countries to vote for Viktor Orban. Who are the countries that have the veto? Britain has a veto.

France has a veto. Who are the other countries, David? U.S., Russia? China. So? So if the US, China and Russia are all aligned about having Viktor Orban, does that come down to France and the UK saying no, if one of them gives the. because I think you need a certain size boat of the Security Council. and you know, you know, you have to get a certain percentage vote. So if certain percentage doesn't vote for you, then that won't work.

Okay. So so you're not optimistic about Victor Orban's chances? Zero zero chance. Okay. And I heard that, Keir Starmer was also. hoping to be included in the short list, but I guess he's left it a bit late. Now, given that it's this this. It seems to be a tie between the you A, E and Costa Rica at this moment. Right? Which would both of whom are fielding female candidates? And the UN has not yet been run by a woman.

The UN hasn't been run by a woman. I think, you know, it's high time the U.S. is run by a woman. And the initially the. the candidate from Central America was the lead candidate. The UAE candidate, Lana, is coming late. She may be, you know, can get the support of the U.S. and others as well.

But again, it's a kind of an arcane process, and, and and there's a little bit of a be careful what you wish for here, because the job of being secretary general is great. Okay. Well David, the job of being a Daily. Beast podcast regular guest is also very tough. But once again you have. you've had us, you've entertained us and you've given us some hope David. You've given us some hope. So if you would, if you were a betting man,

what would your, what would the outcome. of the Israeli election tomorrow be? If I'm a betting man, I think that Netanyahu will be out as prime minister. Ultimately, Eisenhower will be in. He'll form a new coalition. Then the new coalition. will be not as strong as it could be. There will be a lot of tension with the far right. The Arab parties will not be brought into it as they should be.

And, and so you're going to get a change in the tone of Israeli leadership. You're going to dial back the arrogance. You're going to have a rough time ahead for Netanyahu. But in some of the issues that are most core for the world, Israel is going to be continue. to be seen as a rogue state and a and a state. that is on the outside of international law. And, and so it's going to be a kind of a mixed result in that,

in that regard, at least that's the way it looks right now. Okay. Well, I'm sure Donald Trump will be calling his friend. with all sorts of advice. Oh, I'm sure it will be saying it's a sham and they'll try to challenge it. Netanyahu will try to put together his own coalition, and, you know, it'll be an ugly mess. And then, you know, when his prosecution resumes, that'll be an ugly mess. And, you know, that's what we've got to expect here in the United States. You know, Trump is pursuing this kind of preemptive.

election interference in Alaska, in California. Todd Blanche, the attorney. general, said they're going to try and do it in other places. You know, they're they're pushing forward in the courts. So even if you have a an election result next Tuesday. in which Democrats appear to, you know, win back majority. in one or both houses of the Congress, I suspect you're going to have.

several months of court cases, challenges, lies. I mean, after all, Trump has been lying about election results, throughout his presidency, undermining American faith. in our elections has been a central tenet of Trump. Even when there have been few other central tenants. It's Trump should get rich. Trump is a great guy and our elections don't work. And and so I think we are going to be in a kind of sort.

of denialism and lies and court cases. for a while yet to come, even after next week's elections. Okay. David Rothkopf will be back on Monday, the eve of the election, to see what has happened in the. in the previous week and to get your much valued analysis. Thank you so much for joining us, and I will see you again next Monday. And David, you're coming up to New York this weekend.

So I'm very much hoping to see you in person. Yes, I hope I can do next week's. pre-election show live from the Daily Beast election headquarters. That would be fantastic. We much rather have you in the studio than remotely, so let's make that happen. And also, I notice, and I know that regular viewers of this podcast. will notice that you are not wearing your Princess Layer headphones. I'm not, because, you know, I've been doing. a lot of stuff, you know, in different places, miss now.

And they said, well, I have a speaker and I have a microphone and everything else, and there's no feedback, so I don't need it. And then you get to see my beautiful hair here, cut my beautiful hairstyle. and my dainty ears. and and it just, it makes me look just that much more like a human being. It does, it does. I'm longing to get that in our studio to. Although I will say there are days. when I'm very grateful for the headphones when I'm having a bad hair day.

But David, always good to see you. Look forward to seeing you in the studio next week and we'll be on the. It'll be 24 hours until the election. The midterm elections. Pretty exciting. I love David's assumption. There will be a night of the Long Knives. Will Pete go? Will RFK junior go? Will cash Patel go? Will Susie Wiles go? Who would you like to see?

Go first. Why don't you put it in rank order? Let's do a rank order. Who would you like to see? Leave first from Trump's cabinet. If you have been. Thank you for joining us. Don't forget to subscribe to the Daily Beast podcast. wherever you get your podcast. Share it with a friend. Share it with a friend of me. Share it with a colleague at work. That person you never have anything to talk about. We will be back tomorrow. with Inside Trump's Head and a big thank you to our production team today. led by John Romero, Ryan Murray, Rachel Pasa, Heather Pesaro and Neil Rosenhaus.

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