This Is the Proof Trump Is in His Deathbed Confession Era | The Daily Beast Podcast

This is a feature of dictators, of autocrats. They pick people that are easy to break. They pick people intentionally that are obsequious. He says himself, I don't want to hang around with winners. I love hanging out with losers. And I say that Trump is entering his death bed confession. era, so he's starting to say all of the quiet parts out loud. This is the largest collection of broken people in our lifetime. These are all untreated, broken people on full display.

It's flagrant. incompetence on full display. And I think Trump loves it. I'm tryna Kohl's. This is the Daily Beast podcast. My favorite moment from the cabinet meeting yesterday was when the camera. swooped over Treasury Secretary Scott. Besson's shoulder and showed us his little handwritten. motivational notes for the meeting, including the word resilience.

and his Operation economic fury. My operation is Operation Epic, Jen Welsh, today. the host of the I've Had It podcast, is here in the studio. We're going to catch up on who is the most sycophantic cabinet. member of all and, well, everything else that Jen has opinions on. and she has a lot of them, so no time to waste. Press your subscription button so that you can support us.

In our quest to be one of the few strong independent media. companies left, and let's get into it. Jen Welsh, I'm so excited to see you. I'm so excited you're here in the studio. There's no one I'd rather talk to. I thought we could go round the cabinet table and you could tell me. who you thought in yesterday's meeting was the most sycophantic. I think that it's a great idea.

But before we start, Joanna. And to Joanna's audience, I have this tic that happens sometimes where. before I go into an interview or when I'm interviewing someone. like Zoran Mamdani, I say to myself, It's Zoran Mamdani, Zoran Mamdani, sit down. And then I'm like, hey, Zoran Mamdani and I completely mispronounce it, right? Same thing happened when I interviewed Barack Obama. I was like, It's President Obama as President Obama. I'm nervous a shit, Joanna. And then I'm like, So Barack and I'm like, I want to die.

And then the last time you had me in here, fine with it. I wasn't gracious. He was. Yes. And the last time I was here, I was like, It's Joanna, I know we've been to dinner together. And then I have this tic where then all of a sudden I'm calling you Joanne. So my apologies. I know it's Joanna. It's I didn't do. You know, the interesting thing is I actually didn't notice. when then we got it resolved, so it's all good. Joanna, thank you for having me. Okay. I have to go with Marco Rubio because he knows better. He does he know better? He used to.

He used to. He used to know better. Yes, but the fact that he's now. as obsequious as he is, does that mean. does that cancel everything he's done before? Yes. I think we have to cancel everything they've done before. Right. Because then it means he didn't believe in anything he had done before. He didn't believe in his stance that Vladimir Putin. and Russia were not our friends. And now he's over in Alaska, while Trump's standing on the red carpet.

with military leaders rolling out red carpet for Vladimir. Putin and Trump standing there clapping like a seal. Marco Rubio looks starstruck when he meets him, and it's like American. weakness. Marco Rubio is one of the weakest members. of that administration because he's so breakable. He's so breakable. Okay, what about Pete Hegseth? Pete is just not very smart. And yet he went to Princeton. How can he not be smart if he went to Princeton?

A lot of the people in this administration are sadly in on Ivy League. A lot of them are really well educated, but I think even Ivy League schools can produce dipshits. And Pete is a walking, breathing embodiment of that. Maybe he's a good test taker, maybe he's a responsible studier, but critical thinker, great mind. He's none of these things. He's a Fox News narcissist that has inner child issues.

He needs to go off and work on Little Pete, right? Right. Letters to himself, to his inner child with his non-dominant hand, and figure out what is so broken in him. Instead of acting out all of his brokenness onto the American public. What then? Talking about writing notes to himself. I'm always fascinated. You know, when the camera manages to get the notes they've been writing, Scott Besson's note resilience. and then Operation Economic Fury with a little arrow by it.

So he's writing himself notes so he knows what note to hit with the president. Yeah. I mean, you know, Scott Besson is one of these gay men. that is carrying water for the patriarchy, and he's going to be one of the first. to drown. And of course, he has a bank account that a bull. And so that that parachutes him a lot. But it's what's he got like 600, 700 million, I think it's not quite a billionaire. Yeah. I mean he's got enough I mean, in a pinch he's going to be fine.

Right. But it's fascinating to me how they. have talking points. They have to praise the president. I think I saw a report it was the New York Times or Washington Post. They analyzed all of the cabinet members speeches, and one out of every six. sentences is praising Donald Trump. I mean, what an indictment on the entire cabinet that every six sentences.

Can you imagine if we're podcasting? Joanna, that lipstick looks great on you. You could do that, though. I would be fine if you did. I need to atone for calling you Joanna. You do, you do. You need to atone. Dinner is on you next time. That's right. But what if you're in the room? I mean, we've all been in corporate meetings like this. where all, you know, from your days in television, you know, from your days as an interior designer,

the obsequious nurse, and watching other people. being obsequious and them trying to out flatter each other. It just seems pathetic. It really is pathetic. Ruth Bengio, she is a professor at NYU, a scholar on autocrats, and she says this is a feature of dictators, of autocrats. They pick people that are easy to break. They pick people intentionally that are obsequious. Okay. Hold on. Easy to break. What does it mean easy to break?

So, like, look at Marco Rubio and the humiliation ritual that they do with him. Did you see where they recently had him on Air Force One, in the same Nike. outfit that Nicolas Maduro was wearing when they captured him? I did not see that. They put Marco Rubio in the same jumpsuit. Right. And that Steven Chung, that runs right. The guy, he took a photograph of Lil. Marco and posted it on the white House.

social media stuff, which is a humiliation ritual. They put him in those shoes that are too big for him. Right? The Florsheim $148 shoes. Yes. And so these people are very easy to break, like Kristi Noem, the fact that she had murdered her dog and nobody ever talks about the goat. Joanna. She also shot a goat. Right. And then that is a sign for Trump that, oh, she's perfect for me. You know, he says himself, I don't want to hang around with winners. I don't want to hear somebody talk about how great they are.

I love hanging out with losers. And I say that Trump is entering his death bed confession era. So we are starting to say all of the quiet parts out loud. He is. He's saying, I love hanging out with losers. He likes to be that, you know, the big dick in charge. He wants everybody to kiss his ass, and they don't feel. second hand embarrassment or the cringing ness of all of that. So. And why don't they? Why are they just glad to be in the room?

Yes, I think these are. This is the largest collection of broken people in our lifetime. This is. You've never seen a group of such broken people before. This is like if you went to a rehab facility. with a triple diagnosis of a personality disorder. Meth addiction, right? Inner childhood trauma, all of them being addicts, sex addict, gambling with their futures. Yes. And you're sitting around in the circle and I've experienced with this. My husband is in recovery.

And so I've been to a family week. And no disrespect to anybody who is struggling with addiction. or anything, but these are all untreated, broken people right on full display. It's flagrant. incompetence on full display. And I think Trump loves it. So is Trump the most broken of all? Yes and no. I mean, he's at the top of the food chain with all of the broken people.

I mean, he doesn't bend for anybody every chance he can get. Like my favorite thing happening right now, Joanna, is the rat fucking of JD Vance. It is my I'm living for this. Okay? Go on, go on. Tell me everything. Okay, so Donald Trump, he's not going to be thinking about succession. Autocrats and dictators do not think about this. JD Vance is thinking about that. And the oligarchs that purchased JD Vance, who I call the pimps. and I call JD Vance the ho.

And so they're thinking about succession. So Trump's like JD go over to Pakistan and negotiate peace deal. He knew that was going to face plant. And it's a 21 hour flight go campaign with Viktor Orban. Go up there and get on stage with Viktor Orban. You're going to be the fraud czar, right? He just said yesterday or the day before that, if JD does. a good enough job being the fraud czar, he will get rid of the deficit. That is a rat fuck of epic proportions, because nobody can do that right now.

So is he doing that consciously to undermine JD Vance? Right, I do, I think he's petty like that. I think he does stuff out of spite. JD Vance thinks he's going to be the heir apparent. Trump didn't want JD Vance to be his vice president, but the tech oligarch. said, will support you if we can install him. So remind me who Trump wanted. I don't remember who he wanted. Doug. Doug Burgum was up, maybe from North.

Dakota, maybe North Dakota, right? I don't remember who he wanted. I know it wasn't he didn't want pence again, but I'm sure he wanted somebody, you know, a little bit. a little bit less controversial than I thought it was. Don junior that pushed, well, I guess Don Junior and Peter Thiel. and the tech guys pushed JD Vance for him. Right. And so now I think next up is going to be the rap fucking of Marco Rubio.

Because hold on, hold on. Let me just finish with the rat fucking of JD Vance. So is JD Vance though is the reason he's been given. Well he was given the Pakistan trip and then Viktor Orban and he's basically. being punished by Trump, right? Yes. Is that because he managed. to get out that he was against the war in Iran? I think so he was leaking that right. And he Donald Trump doesn't like any disloyalty. because you saw the escalation of the rat fuck right after it was leaked.

that JD Vance was the only mature adult voice in the room. That said, I think it's a bad idea to go to Iran. And that's when it escalated. And don't forget, JD Vance went to a Turning Point. rally in Georgia, where it was so poorly attended by tens of people that even Eric. Kirk ditched him at the altar and didn't show up for this rally. So JD Vance has been going through quite a few things, but my favorite is. the fraud czar and declaring that he is going to get rid of the deficit.

Yeah, yeah, trillions of dollars. So if you're JD Vance, how do you play this out? Well, there's. I think reporting in the last 2 or 3 days that he was not going to seek. higher office, that JD Vance is saying he's not going to run for president in 28. And so the cult takes their. marching orders from Trump and JD Vance. The the internet has done a great job naming. JD Vance the couch situation.

The eyeliner China gave us a huge assist. Have you seen all of those videos. at the Chinese made about JD Vance when he called Chinese workers peasants, and they made these great videos of JD Vance applying lipstick and eyeliner. Right, right. And also the babyface. Yes, yes. Right. And. so I missed. And this is partly because I've been away as you know, I've been handling. my mother's death. So I've missed a couple of things.

I miss JD Vance saying he wasn't going to run for president in 2028. He didn't say that precisely, but there was reporting. I believe it was Politico. I might get the the publication wrong that JD Vance would not. He was retreating from seeking higher office in 2028. And then that leaves Marco, which I have this theory. that the Republican Party is going to say, let's get back to our roots. Let's get back to the Reagan of it all.

And Marco Rubio is going to say, I was always a traditional Republican, and the only reason I even agreed. to be secretary of State is so that I could keep an eye on everything. And they're going to try to do this whole rebranding and trot him out. But here's the thing Trump is a petty old queen, and he will sabotage and rat fuck Marco Rubio. It's not like Trump. is this big guy that's going to go, JD, you take on the MAGA movement. We've started something great here. He doesn't have that in him.

He's not a big enough guy to do that. He will rat fuck whoever except for the only person. I think he would give a full blessing to would be Ivanka. His favorite. Right? Okay, so that's just my theory. Where do you think he is with people like Howard and. and Bissonnette, who've made a lot of money? I mean, because he admires them in a different way, doesn't he? Doesn't he love rich people? He loves rich people. But I think he's also jealous of rich people. I think they're these people are completely disposable at any minute,

and they know this, which is why they humiliate themselves. on national television at these cabinet meetings. They know if I do not say Trump is so great, he has unleashed the golden age, all of this jet stream of bullshit. They know that he will pick them up and put him in the trash can. And so I don't think any of his relationships have any depth. or any meaning meaning other than you tell me how great I am, right?

You get humiliated even for one of the richest men on the planet. Let's talk about Jeff Bezos and the interview that he had recently. where he said Trump was more mature, right, and more measured right in the second term. And he had some good ideas, objectively false, objectively an idiotic, detached, obsequious statement. And then I'm like, there has never been a billionaire class against the.

having billions of dollars. Then this existing class of billionaires. When I used to hear this 6 or 7 years ago, billionaires didn't exist. I didn't think that much of a thought whatever. And they made their money. I get it now. There's something that happens when you exploit people that much. You become so broken that then you get to have all this fuck you money. and you're kissing Donald Trump's as like, what's the point of it, right? What's the point? The other thing I think is interesting about Jeff Bezos and I go back. and forth on this because I can't live without Amazon.

Is is the showing off of the money. that there is something so antagonistic about showing off. in the way that he and Lauren do and that do you remember the foam party. and you're like, and also, if you are the second. richest, third richest, who cares person in the world? Why would you have that guest list to your wedding? You could have anybody.

You could have Nobel winning scientist, you could have mathematicians, you could have astronauts. You could have the people that have changed humanity. And instead you go for reality television stars. who've really contributed very little apart from skin that skim. Not bad. Skims is pretty good, but apart from Skims have contributed very little. You have Leo DiCaprio, who looks so embarrassed to be there. He's got a baseball cap over his face. He's trying not to be there, but also wanting to be there.

Right? And I just think, why wouldn't you reach higher? Because Lauren Sanchez, Bezos, she likes to thirst trap. These are vapid people. It's not even that deep. Do we think he's even really good friends with the people on the guest list? No, of course not. They didn't know some of the people. The guest list, right? She had to buy her way into the Met Gala, and it is so pathetic that she wants to be famous. And in her pursuit of being famous there, now, infamous is her.

Because you've probably met Lauren. I've met Lauren. Never met her. She's actually very warm and funny and smart when you meet her in real life. And there's a big disconnect between that. and the way she somehow appears. as a kind of trophy bimbo of the highest order. And yet, actually, when you talk to her, she's funny, she's warm, she's clever, she's not like that. And I don't know why she's cultivating that image of someone,

the sort of Fong snapping nature of it all. I just find odd. I think it's really odd, especially when you contrast it with his ex-wife, Mackenzie Scott. Bases. Right. Who is spending money. hand over fist on lifting up the marginalized. She sent tens of millions of dollars to Meals on Wheels. Hasn't done one interview about it. She spent hundreds of millions in HBCUs. She has. She's an incredible philanthropist.

She's what we think we would do if we had billions of dollars. Do you think it's just. I can't believe we've now got into comparing Jeff Bezos wives. But there's something interesting about how much fun it looks like. he and Lauren have, even though they're screamingly. showing off, which to me just feels like, why do you need to do this? Why do you need the attention? It's only going to be bad for you. I think, you know, the relationship started in an affair,

so it started in very insecure footing, right? Right. So then the I think it was the Enquirer. Didn't they publish? Right. National Enquirer published. Yeah. The text messages. And I think it published a bit more than the text messages. And it was you know, I think that's embarrassing. She's the other woman and is as you know, you can meet people. that in social settings are confident and warm and engaging, but it doesn't preclude them from being broken and toxic. And her behavior is objectively, it's just not even that deep.

It's it's it's pigmy thirst trap. I mean, she has this opportunity. This man has money that's unfathomable. to stand up for, let's just say, the LGBTQ community. What would this woman be wearing? I bet she has 4 or 5 gay men that help her throughout all the stuff. that she goes to, and she and her husband. are funding fascism, funding Ice.

It's it's repulsive. It's disgusting. And yes, people on the one hand can be warm, engaging. I mean, clearly she is. She scored a big fish, but at the same time she's still broken. She's a broken thirst trap. Who has this moment right now? To me, I'm looking for people that have conviction. There was a guy who won a scholarship a couple nights ago. Oh, yes, CBS Scola and he stood up to CBS, a man who doesn't have any money.

And he stood there and had conviction about Barry Weiss and the Ellison family, completely ripping up 60 minutes and throwing it into the trash. And he does this. But Lauren and Jeff Bezos can't. He gets on television and tells the world that Trump is mature and measured. I mean, it's the patronizing nature. that they're treating the public with is so repulsive to me, right? All right, so let's go back to the cabinet table, do you think.

because for women have now left the cabinet, three of them fired. in theory, Tulsi Gabbard resigning because of her husband's illness. Do you think. that's taken on a new frisson of danger for the people around the cabinet table? Because three people have now been fired and one left under personal circumstances. But everybody said she was about to be fired? Yeah. I mean, it's it's hard to I mean, I think when I think about Trump. and what goes on with the cabinet meetings,

I just think rearranging the deck chairs and the Titanic, like the country is sinking. He is dismantling everything that we held dear institutions, the swamp that he talked about, he's installing a real swamp. So I don't know. I worry about who would replace these people. because I think they would be worse. But yeah, I think we're really heading off a cliff, Trump said at that cabinet meeting.

He doesn't care about the midterms. He's talking about the fact that Iran thinks they can wait him out. He backs Ken Paxton in a move that may well impact the Republicans. losing the Senate because John Cornyn, who's been there for the last three terms, looked like he would win again, possibly against James Talarico. The Democratic candidate, is Trump just now sailing off into the wind. I mean, he and MAGA had they just lost the plot at this point completely?

I mean, I think we see that Trump is finally doing what he wants to do. He did learn from Trump. One point out, remember when Susan Collins, senator from Maine, said, I think he's learned his lesson. He did learn his lesson. He learned how to get rid of guardrails. He learned how to kick out all the adults in the room. And we're in a very, very dangerous place right now. Anyone with him surrounding him? I don't think he gives a shit about the country.

He believes the white House is his personally. He believes the Treasury is his. He believes the attorney general, the acting attorney general. is his personal attorney, which he used to be. He doesn't have owned. Yeah. Todd Blanche, he doesn't have any instinct that he needs to provide for the country. I do think it's good news because I have said he's in his deathbed confession era. So some truth starts to get out. And when he says, I don't care about the midterms or we don't know why, but always the opposing party wins during the midterms.

And nobody can explain it that. to some extent, he's acknowledging that there is going to be a blue tsunami. But I'm very worried about red states because. the governor, Governor Abbott, he will very easily send in whatever he needs to do, whether it's state troopers or whomever, to just get ballots. And I'm very worried.

I think Talarico could win for the first time. I think Texas could deliver a blue senator, but I'm worried about these Democratic governors, secretary of state's attorney, generals that are all Trump sycophants, not cheating for him. because we know he's going to make the phone calls. We know that from Trump 1.0, right? We know he'll do that. Right. And we saw Brad Raffensperger in Georgia who held up when Trump said, I need 11 when he called him and said I needed 11,000 votes, was like, Mr.

President, that's not how it's done. Trump sort of retribution and vindictive vindictiveness against people. who've stood against him seems to be playing out in the primaries, at least when you think about the moral collapse on display. Broken, breakable people. Let's review. The tolerance of sex crimes is a feature of MAGA. It is a feature, not a bug. It seems to be a feature that if you're a member of the MAGA movement, you don't care about sex crimes, against children, against women.

So they sexually assault and then Christian signal to get out of it. It is a feature that MAGA is the party of sexual depravity. Well, and you saw yesterday the Justice Department, the DOJ being set upon Carol. That is. just it's so classic that he would do that. And edging Carol is phenomenal. Have you seen the movie? Have you seen the joke. You haven't seen it yet. Oh good. Can't wait. So good. You must go. I had her on our podcast. and be streamed with her, and the whole time we're streaming.

About 20 minutes into the episode, I noticed she was kind of bouncing. and I said, are you bouncing? She said, oh yeah, I'm sitting on my exercise ball right now. She did the entire podcast sitting on an exercise ball to engage her core. Right. She is incredible. I'm not doing that. And how we should do that. We should. I should be getting exercise for me and Michael Wolff. Actually, that's what I'm going to do. But she's incredible. But of course he's doing this and it's not going to stop. And now you have anybody who was a earnest.

government worker has been completely removed from the DOJ. And we have Todd Blanche, who had this private meeting with Keelan Maxwell in the pardon for Guillen. I think it's coming. It is imminent. So do you think there's so much less talk of Epstein now than there was, partly because of the Iran war, partly because of the economy, gas prices, etc.? Has Trump won the Epstein files? You know, I. maybe one this news cycle version of it.

But I've seen files are pesky and facts are pesky. and they're persistent and their ongoing. And there is trove after trove after trove of evidence. of of Donald Trump being in the epicenter of these. So maybe this new cycle he has. But a day of reckoning is coming for all of that. Because you see this with Epstein files time and time again. They ebb and flow constantly. So I'm sure that something else will drop again soon.

That is another bombshell, because we've only seen what they've allowed us to see, right. We still have another 3 million. Yes. Right. Yes. Yeah. So. June 14th, Trump's 80th birthday flag day, 250 years celebration of America's existence. What will you how will you be celebrating 250 years of America? I won't be I know the horror I.

patriotism has to be earned, you know. And when we see our government killing. civilians in the street, zero investigations, the murderers. that killed Rene Good and Alex Preti, no investigation, no accountability. put back out into this terrorist regime. Ice. We have this president. who is using all of the good name, whatever good name America had for his own personal.

enrichment. You have a Democratic Party that is disjointed. Some of the Democrats play patty cake with the fascists. Some of them actually try to stand up and be in opposition party. I want to celebrate like the kid. who got the scholarship, who called out CBS like that. That's the America I like, where we cheer for the underdog, where we shine a light on injustices, where we right wrongs. Right now we're celebrating the villains. There's nothing.

It feels so anti-American to celebrate the villain and all of the villains, everybody in the white House, they're all dirty cops right now. So I don't want to celebrate. Shouldn't then the Democrats be setting up. some kind of alternate yes celebration? How are the Democrats doing? I mean, my sort of deep anxiety when I'm lying awake. at night thinking about this stuff is what if. what if it's not enough to assume that people are fed up with Trump?

What if the Democrats actually can't pull this off? What if there is still too much of a civil war in the Democratic Party. between the progressives and the moderates, that they're not as far ahead. as we assume this, this big assumption, oh, he's going to lose the House. He's going to maybe lose the Senate. What if that's not true? It would be devastating. But it wouldn't surprise me because the Democrats could fuck up a wet dream. It's unbelievable.

You know, like they lost to Trump twice. Right now it is a layup to play offense. Yet they're always playing defense. They are capitulating time and time again to right wing narratives. You have Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer who have these. same pimps that pimp out MAGA. You find out that these people are taking money from Palantir, they're taking money from AIPAC. We're either an opposition party or we're not. And you cannot both be an opposition party. Plus, take money from Big Tech, who clearly wants.

Trump from the Israel lobby, who clearly prefers Trump. Otherwise, you're just controlled opposition. They need to buck up. They need to get serious. But the problem with the Democrats is, you know, like I saw the Democratic. Twitter page posted called Stephen Miller an ugly fuck. And then I was on eggs unfortunately yesterday. And people were like, The Democrats shouldn't do this. We're supposed to be bigger and better. And I thought, oh, Jesus Christ, right.

Stop it. Right. Stop it. Stop. Like they called Stephen Miller and he is objectively an ugly fuck. Might not be your cup of tea, but don't bicker about. where the Democratic Party should be. The Democratic Party should fight moderates and leftists. and progressives need to collaborate together to fight this. The problem that the progressive wing has with the moderates is the. moderates are saying they're moderates, but they're really corporatist.

And I think that's the problem. That's where the fracture and the fissure is. Go on. Samuel. So I think it's a difficult. ask for the American public. They, the corporate Democrats want to tell you. vote blue no matter who you have to, you know, support all of our candidates. But then they don't support Zoran Mamdani, they don't support Graham Plattner. And I think that they want a cult like base because it's easier to govern.

Look at how easy it is for Trump. to whip everybody into shape, and they treat us very patronizing. I mean, when you find out that Hakeem Jeffries, Cory Booker and Chuck Schumer. are taking money from some of the biggest donors of MAGA. and the biggest funders of Trump, they have no credibility. None. And so I just I think the Democratic Party needs to lean. in to all of the progressive politicians that they have. Bernie Sanders, ro Khana, AOC, the ones that are not compromised,

that are incorruptible, that are not breakable and fight in every day. I cannot stand Andrew Cuomo. I cannot stand him. But do you remember during Covid he had those evening press conferences, right? I lived in Oklahoma at the time. Right. I was craving a person to speak rationally. Insane, because Trump's like, well, inject the bleach and do the light and the body all this crazy shit, right? I watched it riveted every night because we needed it. The Democrat should do something like that every single night.

We're going to review what happened today. The president did this and it was corrupt. And they could have a little panel, and they should do it every single day. and start playing offense because it's a layup to dismantle. the corruption, the fraud, the support of pedophilia, the support of investigating rape victims, all of this shit that they're doing. It should be a layup to dismantle them, but instead. they capitulate to right wing framing always. Where would they do that? Like on YouTube or something?

YouTube TV, I mean, wherever. I mean, I think they could very easily do it from the capital and stream it. And then if you know, you know how just our clips can go viral. I don't. I'm not versed on how they would do that, but I think they're president. But it's an interesting idea that there's a recap at the end of the day, how much more money has Trump made himself from the taxpayer? I mean, this slush fund we haven't even talked about. my slush fund was the news of last week.

This week we've already moved on. Now it's all about the UFC erecting that Octagon on the on the white House lawn. But I haven't asked you about the slush fund. He sues his own Justice Department or Treasury or whatever, and then appoints himself a $1.8 billion. taxpayer funded slush fund. I think it's it's to do multiple things. Number one, it is to show the MAGA loyal.

that in 2026 and 2028, you can commit crimes, you can contest an election, you will get rich. This is your get out of jail free card plus lottery ticket. And he also the amount was. 1,776,000,000. Right. Okay. 1776 yes. And I think that's a great thing for Democrats. should be calling out the lies the Republican Party tells all the time. We're so good with the economy.

Republicans completely wreck the economy every single chance they can get. We're so pro our military. No you're not. You never, ever, ever find the soldier. Ever. 35% of all homeless people are veterans. How does the Republican Party treat homeless people? Their trash ran to veteran affairs. organizations and had to leave both under the shadow. of incompetence, drunkenness,

and God knows what else exactly in the. The Democrats should be just hammering the shit. Republicans are good at one thing. They're pathological liars. They lie all the time. They tell you, well, they'll trickle down. That's a lie. They tell you they support the troops. They don't. They send them to war. So all of their friends can make hundreds of millions of dollars off of these wars. Everybody with the whole Iran thing, everybody's getting rich. except for the American taxpayer. All of the dirty cops running it. They're all getting rich.

Wyckoff, Kushner, Trump, all of the military industrial complex. The Democrats need to own this shit. And like, well, what's a woman say? Why the fuck are you so obsessed with genitalia? Then they need to shift to why are the Republicans so consumed with gay sex? Why do they talk about gay people all the time? Why do they talk about trans people all the time? That's weird as shit. They need to play offense and they just don't fight. And I know that your listeners are hearing those like, yes, just fight. That's all the focus groups that come back.

They want Democrats that aren't focus group tested. They want fighters. They want to see somebody fight, just like that kid that won the scholarship. It's simple stuff. But God, the Democrats are so risk adverse. Well, I wonder if anybody I wonder if any Democrats watching this thing. Oh my God, that's a brilliant idea. We should be doing that every single night. Maybe you should host it. in terms of just understanding what what's actually going on. So how are you going to celebrate 250 years?

I'm thinking about going to the UK. to your neck of the woods, over the pond, maybe Wimbledon. I just. I don't know, there's something depressing about being an American right now. It's really it's traumatizing watching the daily. abuse of this regime that how dismissive they are to people. And, you know, we're privileged white women. imagine being black in this country and the Voting Rights Act. is completely dismantled, you know, because these.

these unqualified white men are so scared. that a qualified person of color might do their job better than they do. It's just it's really sad, dangerous shit that they're deploying and the dismantling of all the progress. we've made as a, as a nation to reconcile, to atone for a lot of the shit. we did earlier. It's it's too depressing. I don't think I want to be here, but you don't think that the Democrats.

should seize the moment and have their own celebration of America? I mean, I get that we're not going to celebrate. what's happening, the sort of dismantling of American institutions at the moment. But you don't think there's an opportunity for Democrats to play off. and have their own version of whatever the UFC for? I think as long as they were saying, today, we're going to wake up and fight fascism, you know, and then you actually saw some of the leaders. of our party say, I'm refunding corporate PAC money.

Enough is enough. We could control, we could flip the narrative. We could control the news cycle. Do you remember it was early in Trump 2.0. He said, you know, we thought we were going to get a lot more resistance than we've gotten. This has been a lot easier. Yep. That's because the Democrats are pissed, boys. He said that because they don't fight him. That's what's so frustrating about it. So if the Democrats sometimes when they do this stuff, it becomes cringey. They try to be cool. And it's not. I just think they should say 250 years is worth fighting for.

So our in lieu of a celebration, we're going to, you know, talk about all the crimes and all the lies that the Republican Party. has propelled onto this country, because they lie. They're pathological liars. Do you think Barack Obama should be doing more? I mean, yes and no. Number one, what could he do? He has no power. He's a next president, I think. Well, he still has a moral authority within the party.

He does. But I hold the leaders that we have. that actually have power more to account than I do him. I do I think that that our leadership, our Democratic leadership, I think Ken Martin should retire ASAP. And he's head of the DNC. Head of the DNC, botched the autopsy, of course, isn't even release the autopsy. They just finally did just right. And then it got leaked or something. And it was incompetence. Breathtaking incompetence from top to bottom, complete waste of money.

So if the Democrats wanted to in my fantasy world, Joanna, they would say, here's what we're going to do. We're going to fire Ken Martin, we're going to put a fighter at the DNC. We are going to say, no corporate PAC money. We are going to define anybody who takes corporate PAC money as a prostitute. That takes money from a pimp. No disrespect to sex workers, because I would much rather earn my money on my back.

the good old fashioned way than be a Cory Booker, a hockey Jeffries, or a Chuck Schumer who tries to lie to the American public. and act like they are not whores, which they are. They who are out for these corporations that fund. the guy who is dismantling our country and people are dying. This is before we even get. to the dismantling of USAID, which experts have now say. that hundreds of thousands of people have died because of that. So the pro-life party, the pro Jesus, pro.

God we stand with our Bibles is a death cult. The Republican Party is a death cult. It always has been. It always will be. The Democrats need to play offense and define it as such. John Walsh, you were such a breath of energetic when you fly into the studio. I love talking to you. Thank you. And lots of food for Democratic thought. Fight. Yeah, they need a fight. All right. It's always fun. Joanna.

Who better to have than Jen? Especially when she gets my name right. So exciting that she finally realized I had an A on the end of my name. I love her, it's fantastic to see her, and I can't wait to come back. tomorrow with Michael Wolff for another episode of Inside Trump's Head. Tell us what you enjoyed about the conversation and what questions. you have for Gem next time she comes on the podcast. Until then, big thank you to our production team Ryan Murray, John.

Romero, Rachel Passa, Heather Pissarro and Neil Rose in the house. 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.