This Is What Greedy Trump's Really Up To With Oil | The Daily Beast Podcast
298 episodes
6.9M viewsVance probably thinks that if he has distance from Trump that's good for him because if it. doesn't work he can say well I had distance from him and of course if it works he can tag himself. part of the administration but I mean that's not going to work for Vance because the only. thing you can see dangling from Trump's ass or Vance's ankles. He's a colonoscopy. He's. so far up there. He's a colonoscope of Trump's ass and he's in there and he's. got to own everything that Trump does and so his political future's over. I'm Joanna.
Coohls. This is the Daily Beast podcast and there is so much to unpack. ICE, Venezuela, Trump's physical and mental health, JD Vance, Marco Rubio, who's a great Kremlinologist. So. sit down and figure this out with you know who, Anthony Scaramucci. And guess where. he is? He's here right now in the studio to unpack what has been a crazy start to 2026.
Anthony Scaramucci, happy new year. Is it a happy new year? Well, I was just going to say I mean. it's a happy new year for me, but I mean for some people it's sort of like a mixed new year. so far. We've had a year transpire of history in eight days. Right. Right. Right. Right. So, can we begin with I mean where do we begin? There's so much to talk about. We're recording. this on I don't even know what day it is. It's the 8th of January. Okay. 8th of January, Thursday. Uh so five Republicans have just joined with the Democrats in the Senate to say they don't want to.
authorize US troops in Venezuela. But let's step back. What the hell is going on in Venezuela? What. is this all about? Well, I think I think before we got on the air, I think you pointed out correctly. It's probably just a show vote, if you will. They've got constituents that they're probably. trying to please and they know it's ineffectual and I'm sure the president will probably ignore. that because it doesn't have any impact on on anything, right? But what's Venezuela about? Why is he doing this? I mean, so if you listen to my podcast, I said six weeks ago that they.
were going to u launch a strike against Venezuela. They were going to bring about narot terrorism and. then they were going to snatch Maduro. And people said, why are you saying that? I said because that. is their plan. uh and that is their plan because they're being influenced by Venezuelan expats uh. who want to return to their country and these are the expats living in Florida. Some are in Florida, some of them are other parts of the Americas, some are in Europe. Uh but you had a very vibrant,
very flourishing economic prosperity prior to the Chavez Maduro regime. So they've had 30 years now. of this failed socialist communist experiment. They become a satellite rogue state. Uh they are. naroterrorists. I think if you had Obama, Biden, you want to pick the group of people that are. going to present you with the facts, there's a tremendous amount of drug trafficking and. terrorism and terrorist training that comes out of Venezuela. And so you would say to yourself,
should we do something there or not? I think past presidents have said we don't want to do. anything there because of the rules-based society and sovereign integrity and things like that, but we're going to sanction them and players that don't act in the interest of the United States. We're going to use economic sanctions, use the US dollar against them. We're not going to have. a military incursion or military invasion. So, this is sort of a step into that Noriega realm.
where they decided to arrest him and bring charges against him. uh they can look you straight in the. face and say it's not a regime change because Deli Rodriguez is replacing him. She's in the current. regime. Uh but they are putting a tremendous amount of US muscle, US big stick influence in. the region. And so you could say if you're asking me was it the right thing to do or the wrong thing. to do, I'm a realist. But I will tell you that it was the wrong thing to do. If I were in the. position to make that decision, I would have never sanctioned that. I don't think a Harris,
a Biden, a George W. Bush would have sanctioned that. Of course, he had all of those people had. the opportunity to do that. But I think Trump looks at this and sees this uh um there's a. possible self-enrichment angle for him. I think that's pretty obvious. I think the second thing. that he sees uh where somebody went to him because he's a great conspiratorialist. They said, "Okay, listen. You've got 46 uh billion or so barrels of known reserves. They've got 300 plus. You take.
them, Canada, US. We're roughly 50% of the known reserves. You can put a herd on potentially people. in in the Soviet Union, now known as Russia, but it still acts like the Soviet Union. You could put. another big herd on people in the Middle East. You might be able to change our geo strategic. footprint because a lot of it's related to oil and petro dollars. That's what they said to him, right? He's been selling the oil in Renmbb. And if you're a petro dollar enthusiast like Trump is, you don't want that to happen either. So essentially, we're reducing our reliance.
on foreign actors and helping ourselves to Venezuela's oil coffers. It's imperialism is. what it is. Yeah, that's what he's doing. And how does this play with the MAGA base? Well, again, uh he's lost some people. I think his poll numbers are down because of ICE. We can talk. about that as well, but we must talk about lost some people, but he's got 25% of the people come. hell or high water. He was right in 2016, 10 years ago, he said, "I can shoot people on Fifth Avenue,
no problem, and they'll stay with me." I've never really understood that that thing about. I can shoot someone on Fifth Avenue. Because you don't understand the culture war then. So, the culture war is the whites ran the country. We can have a pluralistic democracy as long as. the whites are running the country. Wait a minute. the population of brown and black people are it's. exploding, right? And because of a pluralistic democracy, black and brown people may run the. country. Well, we don't want that. So, we we we want the last great white hope, Donald Trump,
to run the country. We want to watch Fox News being interrupted by like catheterss and like. walkers on the advertising. But in between the Cather and Walker advertising, we're going to. watch people talk about white supremacy and all types of crazy theology. And Trump is the Napoleon. of that culture war. He understands that better than anybody. And so they don't care. They'll stay.
with him because he said no forever wars. He's now prosecuting forever wars. No problem. They said, you know, we want the Epstein files. there's a lot of pedophilia out there and there's pizza rings. and all this other nonsense. I said, "Okay, we're going to give that all to you now. We're not going. to give it to you." Elon Musk told you why. Cuz he's in the file. And they said, "Okay, all right. No problem." But he did lose some people. He went from 36 to 25. Okay. With the core core base. And.
uh you know, he only won the last election because they you know, the you remember the Democrats lost. the election. Yeah. The Democrats voted. So, so did you watch the press conference where he talked. about Venezuela? I did. Okay. Was that the Trump you recognized and knew? Do you think he There's. been so much conversation about his health and his mental health and his mental state? Is he. as bright as he was during the first term? Well, he's not as bad as the people that hate him want.
to suggest. He doesn't have dementia. He's not exhibiting that to me. He's still pretty sharp. He. looks very, very tired. He's walking with a very weird limp, which they haven't fully explained. He tried to straighten it out on New Year's Eve when the cameras came on him. Mhm. And he's he's. manifesting signs of aging that an 80-year-old person would. Uh it's interesting about him.
because of his uh detachment, he doesn't take on the normal stresses of that job. He doesn't. he treats people like objects. He's a full-on narcissist. So everybody's just an object in his. field of vision. So he doesn't get as stressed as say other politicians who age dramatically. in that job. But he is aging. But I think people are making a mistake if they're like, "Oh, he's, you know, ready to kick the bucket. He's got one foot on a banana peel and the other one. in the coffin. I don't see it." I mean, you know, I just don't I don't see that. Did you notice him.
standing and his eyes appeared to be closed when he was standing behind Marco Rubio here? I mean, someone pointed out he always looks as if he's asleep when Marco Rubio is speaking. And in fact, I think he actually fell asleep during one of the cabinet meetings when Marco Rubio was speaking. Um, he's not sleeping at night, you know, he's up at night calling people. He's still doing that. You know, I was actually part of that rotisserie. You know, he starts his phone calls at 11:00 at. night. They probably end between 1 and 1:30. What was it like when he called you? How long would he. talk for? Well, remember with Trump, he talks at you. He doesn't talk with you, right? Okay. Uh,
the only way you can get him to listen to you, and I think everyone's figured this out, is what is in. his best interest. So, you have to say, you know, Joanna, move that cup. It's in your best interest. And if he thinks it is, he'll move the cup. You know, it's that sort of thing. He other than that, it's just a, you know, stream of consciousness rant. And he goes through a list of people that. he looks for reaffirmation for. You know, Sean had it. He's on the list. Banan's on the list.
Lutnik is on the list now. Rubio goes on and off the list. I don't think Vance is really on the. list. Oh, that's interesting. Rubio, let let's unpack that. So, Rubio is on and off the list. What does that mean? He doesn't 100% trust Rubio. Remember, he had a big fight with Rubio. Rubio was. a little little Marco. Trump had orange small hands. And that whole fight that took place, he doesn't 100% trust Rubio. Uh, you know, Susie Wilds really pushed Rubio on him because she used.
to work for him. Yeah, exactly. And and uh and remember, he went 99 to zero in his confirmation. uh you know, the confirmation vote last year, right? He seemed normal, right? He seemed normal. He's not normal. You know, he has what what they all get. He get they. get that ptoic fever. They get that aphrodesiac of power and then they start moving in the weather. vein direction that Trump's wind is pointing in. Mhm. And they got to be careful because Trump can.
blow in another direction and then they have to go run in that direction. I mean, the most despicable. of all is Lindsey Graham. I mean, I've never seen anything like it. The poor guy. I mean, he he doesn't know which way to go depending on the breeze behind Trump, you know, the poor guy, you know? Right. Well, and even when he's to Trump, he he doesn't trust Rubio. Uh because Vance. is his successor in a Shakespearean way, he hates Vance and we'll put Vance in the wood chipper. And so Vance was conspicuously absent from the Maduro thing and they blamed it on all this other.
nonsense. But the truth of the matter is he would prefer Vance to be out of the picture because he. wants spotlight on him. So it was very noticeable that JD Vance wasn't in that press conference. talking about Venezuela. Was that deliberate performance from Trump to not have him there or do. you think combination, right? Combination. So it's it's Trump doesn't want him there. Vance was the. most outspoken non-interventionalist. Okay, five years ago, he was where Rampaul was. Okay, we got.
to if we're going to revise history, that's fine. But seven years ago, Trump was Hitler. Five years. ago, I'm an anti-interventionist. I'm a former, you know, I'm a military veteran. No more forever. wars. Right now, we're having forever wars. You know, Vance probably thinks that if he has. distance from Trump, that's good for him because if it doesn't work, he can say, "Well, I had. distance from him." And of course, if it works, he can tag himself part of the administration. But I. mean, that's not going to work for Vance because the only thing you can see dangling from Trump's.
ass or Vance is ankles. He's a colonoscopy so far. He is he is in he is in Trump's he's a colonoscope. of Trump's ass. And he's in there and he's got to own everything that Trump does. And so his. political future is over. Rubio's future is over. And Rubio did something in the last two weeks. that has completely finished him in Washington. So let's talk about what he did. He went to the. Congress and he went into the private cloak room where they're supposed to be chums and in the same.
club and he lied to everybody. And you can't do that in Washington. You can think you can do that. in Washington. But I can tell you as a person that has a PhD in Washington scumbaggery, 11-day PhD, that you actually can't do that because there are certain things, there's certain code of conduct. among pirates. We're all on the pirate ship together. Tell me what's really going on. And. Rubio lied to them. You know that, and you've reported that here at the Daily Beast. I know.
that because I talked to a lot of these people. And you can't do that. And so Rubio and Vance. uh despite their perception of power right now have been dramatically weakened by all this. Let's just talk about there was the ICE killing in Minnesota and this I mean the the Supreme. Court's pushed back on him being able to deploy the National Guard in various places. What is. his obsession with militarized groups and police forces? pain, cruelty, those are the things that.
he wants. He he he gets off on that. Steven Miller gets off on that. And so I just I'll just say this. to you. I'm not here to debate whether this was a cold-blooded murder or an act of self-defense. by an ICE officer. I'm not here to debate that. What I am here to say, I think there should be a. universality of opinion on this, that this was an unspeakably tragic event that a 37year-old. woman lost her life as a result of what happened. But you know, the fish stinks from the head down.
It's an old Italian expression. If you're an evil doer at the top and you're telling your henchmen, get rough with these people and let's train them for six weeks rather than six months and. let's deploy them and let's knock heads and do all the stuff they're telling. You know, I have remember I'm a law school graduate. I have buddies of mine that are immigration lawyers for. three decades. And they tell me that privately Homeland Security people tell them, "Hey man,
I'm sorry about this, but I've been told from the top if I don't get rough and I don't start these. deportations and I don't rough up a few people, I could get demoted and potentially lose my. pension." Look what they did to Senator Kelly this past week. Right? So, these are horrific human. beings. Okay? They're horrific human beings. And the fish thinks from the head down. You got this, you know, dickweed Bill Py calling uh Senator Warren Pocahontas on TV today. I was watching that.
on CNBC and I'm like, this little dickweed, this little nepo baby dickweed is calling a senator. from Massachusetts Pocahontas. That's from Trump. The fish thinks from the head down. So the little. minions are going to want to do what their big the big bad boy father wants them to do. And so. this is atrocity. This is a human tragedy and it's an atrocity. And I'm going to tell you something, Joanna. It's going to get worse. It's not going to get better. It's going to get worse. There was.
no political leader that stood up yesterday and said, "Wow, this is an unspeakable tragedy. We're. going to launch an investigation and make sure our protocols, I do believe it was self-defense, but we're going to launch protocols to make sure this never happens again." First of all, it's in. the instruction manual. Don't shoot at a moving car. Okay? Okay. And if you look at the woman, she was wobbling and nervous. She turned towards him and then turned away from him and he still. fired the gun in her face a couple of times. So listen, it's an unspeakable tragedy, but.
these people want this. They want this. So So let let's have a happy recap, okay? Or an unhappy one, right? We've uh we took out a Venezuelan dictator. We could debate that. We're we're speaking with. Bellicausi of rhetoric about potential war with Cuba, Denmark, and Greenland. We're we we've got. Bellacasia rhetoric now going towards Iran. We put up a website for massive disinformation related to. January 6th and we're shooting people in towns in the United States and we've got a domestic.
haunt going around the United States despite the recriminations from the court. Now you Brits don't. like to use the fascist word and I get all that. We really don't like to use it. Yeah, you don't like to use it. But I just want you to think about the level of disinformation, the nonsense about imperial conquest and using military or other things to take Greenland and. we deserve to have Greenland and all this like puny insecure nonsense that these. idiots are spewing. Okay? And I want you to think about the disinformation, the disinformation and.
the lies. Okay? And they started lying about the ICE situation yesterday. They're lying now about. January 6 which took place 5 years ago. And the lying when you can see the videos. I mean that. the thing I find so extraordinary is we are all seeing these videos. Trump gets that. Don't watch. your lying eyes. Trump gets that better than anybody. Don't watch your lying eyes. Watch. your lying eyes. What are the Republicans that you know saying in private that we don't get to. hear? How are they reacting to all this? And how are they reacting to Trump and his temper.
and his quicksotic nature which is getting more exaggerated? The Republicans that show up in my. office looking for donations all say generally the same thing. I've got to be with Trump because he's. got the power. He's only going to be there for a couple of more years. I'm a long-term senator, a long-term congressman or congressional leader. And uh I will go against him if I really have.
to. like if he tries to stop an election or he declares martial law on the civilization, you're going to want me Anthony to be here so that I can then use the article one powers that are. endowed to the Congress from the Constitution. I'm not ready to do that now because these are. minor things, but when the real fight starts, you're going to want a person like me who's more. moderate in my position. Could you please write me the $7,000 check? And do you say yes? Yeah, I do. I I have these like grow some balls, like novelty things that I hand out, right? You put.
them in water and they grow to six times larger and I hand them to all the politicians and I say, you know, you probably should grow some balls, but here's the here's the money. Um, right? Because. because I'm a realist, okay? And I recognize that some of these people probably will step up. Ran Paul has done that. Now, you could dislike Rand Paul and you could say he was a cipher of. Donald Trump's for a period of time, but he's not anymore. No, he seems clearly independent. He he.
has basically spoken out against the big beautiful spill, too much deficit spending. He's against the. interventionism. He didn't want the attack on Iran. He certainly doesn't want the attack on. Venezuela. He said he would use every fiber of his body and any power that he had to stop a potential. invasion of Greenland. It's unthinkable that we're talking about it, but that's Donald Trump's world. And so now we're talking about it. You know, if you said to me in 2025, at the beginning of 2025, are things going to get ridiculous and things are going to go very arai during the Trump.
administration, I would say yes. You said to me that the Danes are going to be preparing for a. US invasion of their territory, right? I would say, okay, there's probably a bridge too far, but the they are preparing for an invasion. Okay. And the Canadians from a military perspective are. now thinking about well what would happen if the US entered their country uh to make. it the 51st state and how they would defend themselves and and we're now booing each other's.
uh if you go to a hockey game or you go to a a playoff game, you know, they're booing each. other's anthems now. This is all because of the mina of Donald Trump. This is all because of his. craziness. very repressed guy, very angry guy, and he's taken it down on the rest of us. So, so nevertheless, why why are why is Congress so weak in the face of him? Why aren't they. able to assert themselves better? Why are they so slavish to him? Well, it's a really good question,
but it it requires historical context. So they set up procedures to make themselves slavish and. weak. Okay? They started doing that after the Vietnam War. And so when they had a vote on the. Vietnam War and they voted yes on the war, they all got voted out. Sort of like, well, we can't. do that anymore. Let's seed more of these powers to the president. We'll give him emergency powers. We'll give him military authorization on police actions on things like that. And so this way we.
won't get caught in a vote. And if we get caught in a vote, we could lose our seat and we don't. want to do that. So the less power we have to make consequential decisions that could knock us out of. office, we're not going to make those decisions. Let's give those decisions to the president. And. that created what I would describe and what Arthur Slesinger wrote about the imperial presidency. And. so most presidents have used those powers with some level of discretion. Some would argue Bush.
didn't, but we can have that debate. But it's 20 years later, so let's not. Well, then there's more. urgent things to worry about, right? And Trump has basically said, "I got this. Now, I'm going to. flex on these people. Uh, and I'm going to use the historical president that they set up. I'm going. to use the policies and the procedures that they set up and they've been outmaneuvered by him. Uh, you know, he's willing to cross the line. So, here's a line that no president crosses. Here. are the reasons why no president crossed that line. Okay, let me come 10T over that line." He's.
willing to cross lines as it relates to what's going on with ICE, the National Guard, what's. going on with Greenland, what's going on with our allies, what's going on with the tariffs. I mean, we're sitting here right now, Supreme Court is going to render a decision on the tariffs. Now, I think they're going to rule against Trump. Um, and I think Trump thinks they're going to rule. against him because he's been pulling back some of the tariffs as well. But that's Well, he's also. been raising his rhetoric against the Supreme Court, too. He's raising his right against the. Supreme Court, but he delayed the tariffs on the furniture and the upholstery because he knows if.
it's not going to go through, he doesn't want to be hassled with the rebates. And the other thing, you know, maybe the court will split the baby and allow the government to keep the current revenues. that came in, but tell him he has to go to the Congress for additional taxation authority. I. don't know. We'll see what happens. But I predict he loses that case. But that's what he does. So. tell me a rule and I will break that rule. That's how Trump thinks. uh tell you know by the way it's. about me you know enough of you talking about me let's get the conversation back on me and so what.
am I going to do to self-enrich myself what am I going to do to capture your imagination and your. attention and what am I going to do to inflict some level of pain on you and some angst because I. get a kick out of that I enjoy that now my cohort and uh lackey Steve Miller he totally enjoys that. And so we're going to do that together and we're going to laugh at you while you're sitting there.
stewing over the stuff that we're doing. So where does actual opposition come from, do you think? I mean, how does this play out? Because his his behavior is getting more and more erratic. It it. seemed very clear when he was uh standing on the stage at the Venezuela press conference. And certainly Michael Wolf said this is what he heard from people in the White House that he he. just made this stuff up as he's going along. When people said, "Well, who's going to run Venezuela?". He was like, "Well, he is he is po pointing at Marco Rubio and then Hexath and then later he.
said, I'm in charge. I'm in charge." Where does this is there an end to it? Okay. Well, well, let's step back. So, the the plan because there are people inside the State Department and inside. the Pentagon that do have a plan. The plan is to have Deli Rodriguez run the country for a 24 to. 30month period of time, this interregnum period of time. see if they can get some foreign investment, some relaxation of the sanctions, bring expats back into the country that they like and trust, and then see if they can set up some type of democratic government that goes back to some.
working form of capitalism for the Venezuelan people. That's the plan. Okay. So, whatever. Trump is saying, those are the people working under Trump. That's the plan. But you're saying, and who put that plan together? Was that a Rubio plan? I think people working for Rubio. and I think some of the Venezuelan expats that are are keen to return to the country and love their. country and and generally by and large very good people. You know, some of these people I've worked. with in prior Republican administrations. And so, listen, I wouldn't have done it. They've done it.
All I can say on your program is I pray for the Venezuelan people that it improves their living. standards. A very rich country. if they can get the right system in place and the right level of. uh predictable legal activity etc they can they can have a very nice prosperous country I. hope that for them but back on Trump I think it's very important to understand that he doesn't care. he wants to make $20 billion he's clipping five billion this past year he wants to make another.
15 tells people that all the time he doesn't care he tells people all the time who's he. telling because he hasn't told the American public that oh he tells tells his buddies, he tells his. buddies that he's, you know, hey, you know, this is peanuts compared to what Elon Musk has. It's. peanuts compared to what Jeffens Jensen Wang has. I'm going to, what's the big deal? You know, I put. up a meme cocoin, make a $500 million shot from it. He was in the Roosevelt room. He turned to the. press when they asked him about that's peanuts compared to these guys over here. He that's.
how he thinks and he says that privately. So, so that's what he wants. Uh he wants he likes being. surrounded by them by billionaires because lots of presidents choose to be surrounded by people who. are less fortunate and the message is we're trying to lift everybody up. This is a president who. barricades himself with billionaires. I just want you to think about this. Okay, he went to speak. to the congressional Republican leadership this past week. Did he say we got to win the midterms.
because we're going to help the American people? here are the policies that we're going to put in. place to help the American people. Of course not. Okay. He said, "We got to make sure I don't get. impeached." Yeah. So, the the conversation is always Trump and so focus on what is in Trump's. best interest, not anybody else's best interests. Um the havoc that's being wrea fits the conspiracy. plots in Trump's mind. I can control the oil. I can control the Western Hemisphere. I'm signaling.
to Putin and she that this is my backyard and it's more or less going to give them flexibility in. their backyards. Um the very predictable long-term thinking Chinese are looking at this saying this. is so much better than we thought because this guy's acting with arbitrariness, capriciousness, impetuosity and people may not like our system but they like the predictability of our multilateral. agreements. Well, it's a better right and you can which we adhere to. Yeah. Which we adhere to. So.
here's our multilateral agreement. This is what we adhere to. And if you subscribe to be our ally, our economic trading partner, we're going to more or less abide by this agreement. Look at what the. nonsense that's going on with the Americans. And and they're winning that argument. And so. this has been a boon for them. This has been a windfall for them. And so but you asked the. question before and I want to go back to it. until you get a transformational coalition builder on. the Democratic party, uh, you're not going to have any forceful rebuttal to Donald Trump. So,
you're just going to hope that Trump fades, that the Republicans actually push him out of power. When it's time for him to go, they force him out. Uh, and then there's a food fight in the. Republican party of lesser personalities to fight it out. And then the Democrats will pick somebody. and they'll have a fight and we'll see if somebody wins. And then what happens after that? That'll be. interesting because I don't think anybody can carry off the mantle of what Trump is doing. I.
don't think anybody can get away with that. Okay, just look at the way uh Vance was rebuked by the. senators eight weeks ago about Argentinian beef prices. They would have never said any of that. to Trump on C-SPAN, but they were beating him up over that because he doesn't have Trump's muscle. He doesn't have his influence. He doesn't have his staunch whatever Trump's approval rating is, who's ever left with Trump is immovable. Mhm. Those people could go against those senators in. a primary, right? And so, but that's going to come off of the the bloom is going to come off.
the rose come November of next year, this coming year, excuse me, November of this coming year. So, so, but you know, the Democrats are the best thing that the Republicans have going for them because. they're in disarray. They fight with each other. They don't want a coalition. I put out on Twitter. or X that they should get in touch with Elon Musk. I got out ratioed on that. They don't understand. They don't understand that. And I think it's stupid. I think it's very very damaging to them,
frankly. So, do you see any opposition at all to Trump right now? Do you think he he's got another. 6 months to a year of just doing what he wants? He's got six more months. more Republicans will. break from him. Some Republicans see themselves as the 48th president, so they'll have to. differentiate themselves from him. Um, and if they don't check him though, unfortunately, this will this will be a path towards great destruction and nealism by Trump. It'll get way.
worse after the midterms. He will act crazier and crazier. He'll do more nefarious things. Uh, again, I'm not comparing him to Hitler, but I just want to remind people that when. the generals got around Hitler and they said, "Hey, man, this is not working. We got 12 years, not a thousand-y year Reich." Hitler said, "Okay, that's fine. Bring down the electrical. grid around Berlin and flood the coal mines." And they said, "Excuse me?" He said, "No, I want you. to do that." That was in Michael Bash's book, The Conquerors. And why do you want to do that? Well,
if we're not going to have a thousand-y year Reich with me running it, I want to blow the. whole thing up. Right. The nihilist. And that's and that's Donald Trump. Donald Trump quietly does. not want the Republicans to win that election because he wants to be able to say, "You guys. were nobody before I got on the stage and you're nobody after I left the stage." He's not going to. be out there campaigning for the successor to him. It's not his personality. Right. So, so Anthony, you've been in the room with Donald Trump and people talk about his magnetism and and the the.
allure of power. Can you put it into words for us what it's actually like? Because I I still think a. lot of people don't understand quite why people are so in his thr. I I don't think you should. underestimate Trump's media persona, his diction, the way he talks. I'm going to tell you something. that should startle you is that there's a very large percentage of the population of.
the United States that's comfortable with Trump being their president. Okay? And if you're not, wake up and find an alternative solution. But he has been on the stage as a television personality. for 25 years. He's been in our faces for 40 or 50 years through other forms of media. And I think. if you're with Trump and you're in his orbit, you do feel that celebrity status. And whether. we like it or not, people like that. They want to be attached to that. They want to name drop.
that. And you know, it's a shortcoming of mine. It doesn't reflect well on me. But when I was on. the campaign with him and I decided to go work for him, I got attracted to the power. You know, that's the PTOIC fever that I often talk about, right? You you referenced it earlier. And Joanna, one of the things about PTOIC fever, you know, one of the big symptoms is you don't know you have it. You don't even know you have it. You're you're operating with, you know, you're driving around. feeling significant about yourself uh and the limousine and you're morally equivocating while.
you're doing it and you're constantly talking yourself into doing that because you want that. flourish. You want that access. So what were you and you know I have to own that for the rest of. my life. But I I will tell you this. Uh, you know, there will be more people. Look, it he he cycled. through me and others like Kelly and others, but prior to us, it was a whole another battalion of. people that he cycled through. He went through four chiefs staff in his first and he's going. to cycle through another group of people. And there'll always be people uh because of the nature.
of politics and power that will attach themselves to people like Donald Trump. I just, you know, I the only thing I'm grateful for is ironically because of the unceremonious way that I got fired, he created a platform for me to at least speak out against him and to explain to people how. dangerous he actually is. It's good to be with you. It's very nice to have you in the studio. I'm not sure everybody gets the benefit quite of how perfect your nose is in person. Your nose is.
absolutely perfect. Did you have it done? Did I have it done? No, I don't think you No chance. No, I've got some Botox on my forehead, but I I've never had my nose done. Okay. Well, it's it's a very good nose. Mrs. Scaramucci, good job. I can't tell you how good his nose is in real. life. It's just like the perfect nose. There must be plastic surgeons working just trying to create. the perfect model for that nose. Anyway, I sound obsessed with Antony's nose. I'm really not. But.
Kevin Fallon is obsessed with all sorts of things for you to watch at home. Joanna, hi. I have to. tell you about something that we're obsessed with. I'm Kevin Fallon. And I'm Matt Wilstein, and we are hosting Obsessed the Podcast about all the TV shows, movies, and entertainment. news makers that we're all obsessed with. So, make sure you subscribe to us on YouTube at the. YouTube channel. Make sure you follow us wherever you get your podcasts. Just search for Obsessed.
the Podcast and we will see you there. Come and see me and Michael Wolf live at 92nd Street Y on. January the 21st. There are very very few tickets but what we discovered is you can get a virtual. ticket so you can join us uh live so please do and come with your questions and don't forget to. subscribe to the Daily Beast. We are independent media so we really appreciate your support.
We'll be back tomorrow with another fabulous guest to unpack the crazy that's going on. Don't forget. to become a subscriber to this podcast and you can also become a member of the podcast where. you get extra content and you will be invited to dinners with me and Michael and various other. beast contributors. Anyway, big thanks to our special beast tier of members. Here they are. Ivet Johnson, me thinks, Batsio Farrell, Mills and Linds, Shelby, Max Cubit. I've been mispronouncing.
that. Sorry about that. Max, David Sherry, Thomas Moore, Maria Voltaine, D I think it's CJ Watts, but D, feel free to tell us how to pronounce your name. Senior London H Over Deb K. Ostrander Sandra. Clark travels with Carl Andrew Beaver Capinator Harry Clark Dawn McCarthy Daniel Dog Lover M. Grryer Dice Stone Fulvia Orlando Herby Andrew Meer Tapnel Val Love Love Francisco that's an odd name.
Will Hutcherson Andrea Hodel Bo DC Sharon Shipley Connie Ratherford Karen White and last but never. least Heidi Riley and to our production team, Devin Rogerino, Ryan Murray, and Heather Pasaro.