Trump’s SOTU Speech Was Bad. The Actual State of Our Union Is Worse | The Daily Beast Podcast LIVE

Oh, what fun to be joined by David Rothkopf this morning. to do a download on last night's showmanship of Donald Trump. and David, before we go any further, I want to read the first paragraph. of your superb column in The Daily Beast this morning. If you took every true thing, President Donald Trump said during Tuesday's State of the Union address. and tattooed it onto the genitalia of a flea,

there would still be room for the Gettysburg Address. Come on, people, if that's not worth commenting on, I do not. I do not know what is. David, you had to watch it. You lost two hours of your life. How are you ever going to make them back? Why did I rough last four hours? Because then I spent while working with your guys on the com. And I think this is what we do. This is the sacrifices we make for the, daily Beast audience.

And I presume that in some kind of daily beast heaven, I'll be rewarded. Well, will you, I wonder? So, we're happy to take. comments from people watching this, but your first impressions. of another great line from your column, this was MAGA for dummies. What did you make of it? You've probably sat through because you're such a political swot. You've probably sat through the state of the Union speeches. since you were a four year old.

You. Well, I don't know, I probably did, you know, in my household. Of course you did. These are these are that we talked about politics around the table. But I, one of the things that was striking about. last night was how little knew there was. How unoriginal the whole thing was. Yeah, it was MAGA for dummies. It was every Trump speech he makes. It was the last speech he made.

It was the next speech he made. And it was done in, you know, Trumpian style. You know, it's kind of fluffed up with these kind of prices, right? Game show elements where you get a medal of honor. and you get a medal of honor, and you get a Purple Heart, and you get to meet your uncle you haven't seen in a while. And then, you know, this was the night where he went and like, hey, come on down. It was, it was lunatic, right? But but the point is, the vapidity.

was compounded with the cheeseball ness of it. And you could, you know, you could say, well, vapidity plus cheeseball means it's unimportant. But the reality is this every time he's something awful. Every time he lied, the Republicans in the group stood up and cheered. and hooted and jumped and and and. did what you do in a in a authoritarian state. You know, it looked like a Nuremberg rally or it looked like, you know,

a meeting of the, the Communist Party in, in Pyongyang and North Korea. because they would cheer whatever he said, even if he was being racist. about Somalis or if he was attacking the Supreme Court and saying, you say, I have to talk to the Congress, but I'm not going to talk to the Congress. And, well, that's base, right? So, yeah. Can we just debrief for a second on the the first human.

drama of the evening, which was Donald Trump coming in and then doing a drive. by the four members of the Supreme Court who turned up. Yeah. Well, I mean, and it was very, very chilly. Only one of the Supreme Court members he liked showed up. and that was Kavanaugh, who must have felt real awkward. standing as he was with the chief Justice, Amy Coney Barrett, and Justice Kagan.

But it got worse. because they know that he would say something bad later. And indeed, he did not disappoint. because he said he was disappointed in their decision. and then said, I'm going to do tariffs, however, I want to do tariffs. And they gave me more power, not less power. And I don't need to talk to the Congress. And you know, that's the opposite. They said the the the power to tax resides with the Congress.

Well and you also had a very good line about that as, as Congress sat there basically clapping their own demise. Yeah. Well, that I mean, that's right. But I think we might look at it another way, which is he's now pursuing this. He's doing this via this section 122, which we don't have to go into. the details, but is only for an extreme economic emergency. And after all, he's saying we're the hottest country in the world. So these tariffs are illegal.

And we're going to get another ruling from the court. And he's going to be ruled down again. And the question is he going to ignore it again? Because what you saw there sort of in the tea leaves. was the beginning and not the very beginning. We're a little further than that of a constitutional crisis in America. Oh, you really think that that's what we saw? The beginning of? Well, if. Trump ignores the Supreme Court, which is a co-equal branch of government,

and for the past couple of hundred years, the executive branch has abided by the rulings of the Supreme Court. We've got a problem because you have this, you know, sort of flaccid Congress, that won't stand up for its rights under article one of the Constitution. And and you now have, Trump essentially saying, I don't care about article three of the Constitution either. So that's the problem.

Okay, so we've got the Scotus clip, which we're just about to play, but with us, the producer is just giving me my, computer back. Hold on one second. Okay, so we've got the we've got this clip that we're about. to play for those who didn't sit through the state of the Union last night. You don't need to, because we did it for you. And we're going to play you the highlights. And then just four days ago, an unfortunate. ruling from the United States Supreme Court just came down.

And they're very unfortunate ruling. But the good news is that almost all countries and corporations. want to keep the deal that they already made. Right, Scott. Knowing that the legal power that I, as president, have to make a new deal could be far worse for them, and therefore they will continue to work along. the same successful path we had negotiated before the. Supreme Court's unfortunate involvement.

What do you think it was like being a member of the Supreme Court hearing that? Well, not for Kavanaugh, but for Amy. Amy Coney Barrett, who was staring at him. so intently with zero expression on her face. I mean, she really faced him down, I thought. I thought she did. I thought Justice Roberts, I of course, Justice Kagan did as well. But, you know, I think he makes a mistake.

These are just people two and if he goes at them. and if he denigrates them and if he, you know, gets his crowd of, of. of supporters to cheer when he denigrates them, that's going to leave a mark. And, you know, I think they also believe quite deeply that what he did was wrong. And remember, three justices of the conservative majority on the court, justices, Barrett and also Justice Gorsuch, as well as the chief,

all, said he was acting beyond, the limits of his power. And I mean, it is pretty idiotic, right, that the Congress was cheering. him, saying, I don't have to pay attention to the Congress. It was incredible. Incredible. And and, you know, in a speech that was devoid of, of, of much substance,

that was certainly one of the more, weighty moments. Well, I loved your comment that it was MAGA for dummies. And I'm wondering, does this news the needle for him? I mean, I mean, it was a bit like I thought it was a bit. like watching a vaudeville act where the performer. is bringing out all his old goodness. So, as you say, he turned it into a bit of a game show, but it felt like he was just handing to the max.

And I thought, what's so curious about watching him as a performer is his. his ability to put his head on one side and you can see him like a bird, listening very intently to the level of applause, the level of reaction in the room and then playing to it in the moment. And in the first hour he appeared to stay on script, and then he starts, his comfort level goes off. This is working. And so he starts ad libbing a bit more. But you see the performer in him and the whole thing was like,

it was. well choreographed as a television show, as a reality television. show, to help him when his back is against the wall. Yeah. But, you know, I mean, he's also fading. Entertainer I don't know if you remember that. That's what I mean. Yeah, totally. You remember the Olivier movie The Entertainer, right? Like he is. This is kind of this over the hill vaudevillian. And that's what that's what Trump is.

He's an over the Hill vaudevillian. Yeah. Who's going back. And last night he was doing the same old thing. But when he woke up this morning his poll numbers are not going to go up. His only next move apparently is to consider, you know, attacking Iran again, which MAGA hates. Right. Or pushing forward with tariffs. that will ultimately require vote from Congress. That will prove to him that chunks of MAGA hate it. So, you know, it's what Democrats were I was against it.

Now, independents to the tune of 80 or 85% of independents are against him. But what's really going to eat into Trump's worldview. is the fact that day by day, one by one, at last night, you saw Representative Thomas Massie, a real right winger with the Democrats. You know, something is happening here. And meanwhile, Trump's going, have you heard my old joke? And here's the old soft shoe and you know, it's the entertainer, right?

And he's trying to get a laugh out of it. And but but it's not coming. It's, it's it's not coming. And pretty soon the hook's going to come for him and, and pull him off the stage and pull him off the stage. Well, I just want to say hello to some of our commentators. We've got hello from Sweden, Canada. Checking in. Greetings from Germany. It must be very confusing. Oh, hello from central Illinois. That's early dawn. Hi. Early dawn, but so exciting having people checking in from across the world.

because they must be mystified by this. Absolutely mystified. Okay, so one of the. Oh, well, I'm I'm I'm. I was born in central Illinois. Oh, you weren't and I'm. And. Yeah, born in Urbana, Illinois and, I, you know, and I've been following this pretty closely. and it's mystifying all the time because more than ever in U.S. history, everything foreign policy, domestic policy, politics.

all depends on what's going on between. the two ears of one man's head. It's all about one person. It's all about Trump's personality. And you know, you have a whole podcast on what's going on inside Trump's head. And you know that it is a kind of a rancid soup. It you never know what what's happening in there. But the what literally all our trading partners,

the people of Iran, the people of the Middle East, people. across America, immigrants, our neighbors there are like, what's what's going on? What does it feel like this morning? You know, you know what? What's his current craziness? I think that, you know, and if you were analyzing last night, you would say he left it all on the stage. I thought that he was thoroughly enjoying himself. I mean, you made the point in your column that he's clutching the podium as hard. as it gets, and it almost looks as if he was physically sinking at one point.

And yet you could sense he was enjoying it. He was in his happy place, which was at the center of attention, and he had everybody applauding him apart from some Democrats. And I want to come to that in a second. Oh, we've got someone from the UK. Good. My people are represented. Excellent. You've got your people from Illinois. I've got some people from the UK. What did you think of his technique of turning it. or trying to turn it on the Democrats. And we've got a clip here I want to play where he's chastising the Democrats.

Bear with us. In their in shame. You should be ashamed of yourself not standing up. You should be ashamed of yourself. That is why I'm also asking you. to end deadly sanctuary cities that protect the criminals and enact.

serious penalties to public officials who blocked the removal of criminal aliens. In many cases, drug lords murders all over our country. blocking the removal of these people out of our country. And you should be ashamed of yourself. Yeah, these people are crazy. I'm telling you, they're crazy. They've got Congressman Ro Khanna just looking on there at the end.

And then, of course, you've got now Ilhan Omar from Minnesota, shouting back at Trump as he tries. to use, the question of whether or not. the first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens. You know, stand up if you agree, go away and keep going. Well, not going. What? That what? That's what what he said. Well, he said the first duty of the American government. is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.

But that's the critical point, right? Yeah. That all of this was about part of his racist attack, like his racist attack on the Somalis, which was disgusting. And to play to this trope of his that we are being invaded. We're not that immigrants are the problem in America. Immigrants are the greatness of America, and that the threat. is coming from immigrants, when in fact, 80. to 90% of the people they're rounding up have no criminal record at all.

What Ilhan Omar was shouting at Donald Trump. in this particular moment was, you are killing Americans. And that's the point. His people, his. customs and border Patrol people. summarily executed two people in her hometown, on video for everybody in America to see. And so, you know, he is playing this game.

But the majority of Americans who, by the way, disapprove of him, his immigration, policies at this moment, who think he's gone too far with immigration, enforcement. And beyond that, at this moment, you know, our our, our are appalled by this. I thought there was one moment. By the way, there is a little there is a reference. to a World War Two hero.

And the great thing this World War two hero, there were two. But this was the first one. The great thing this World War Two hero did it, Trump said, was he liberated internment camps. And I was like, tell you what, brother, you are building internment camps across America. You are recreating the great national shame of the internment. camps of the Japanese, except on a much, much bigger scale.

And now you're going to celebrate this guy. because he liberated Japanese internment camps. I mean, that were being run by the Japanese. It it it was, you know, it may have played. to Steve Scalise and. Mike Johnson and all the other members of the soon. to be minority in the United States representatives. But to the American people, it is what it was an ugly, racist,

hectoring people who look like them, who are trying to protect them. And so I don't think it was terribly effective. What do you think about the use of the US hockey team, who obviously won the gold in a thrilling match on Sunday, and not all of them, but, which would make the point half of them. turned up. Well, five of them did not turn up. But let's also be clear, that's not the US hockey team. That's the US men's hockey team.

The US women's hockey team said they did not want to participate in this. And although Trump and they will soon be coming to the white House, rest assured. they will not soon be coming to the white House. He used them as a prop, just like he used, Medal of Honors as a prop, just like he used victims of, you know, people, a little girls who are run over by trucks as a prop. He doesn't care. He does seem to have a kind of a weird taste for blood.

He really liked. Well, and there was blood everywhere and and every story he told. There was a lot of blood. But he doesn't care about the the human beings. behind these stories, whether they're hockey players. or the World War Two heroes or their little girls. What he cares about is, getting applause. You know, this is back back to your point, you know, feeling. good about himself. You know, all the, all the Medal of Honor things and,

you know, this guy goes into this illegal operation Venezuela. and, is injured in it. And no doubt he was a hero trying to do his duty to the country. And he's awarded overnight a medal of honor. Whereas this other guy, by the way, had to wait 80 years. for his Medal of Honor, is awarded a medal of honor overnight. And why? Because Trump thinks. that when they get applause, the applause is for him.

It's all about stolen glory. And of course, the most outrageous moment of the entire night. Yeah, it was after all of this. Yeah. Trump saying, you know, I thought I should win the Medal of Honor. You know, this this America's most famous. draft dodger, a guy who actually paid to have somebody else, you know, go off and and and and fulfill his duty.

This cowardly. user. that he's trying to figure out how to award himself the Medal of Honor. All right. We have a clip of an in-depth. And I will ask the First lady of the United States to present. Captain Royce Williams with his Congressional Medal of Honor. I've always wanted the Congressional Medal of Honor, but I was informed. I'm not allowed to give it to myself, and I wouldn't know why I'd be taking it.

But they ever opened up that law. I will be there with you someday. I think you probably saw some wannabe role playing in the bedroom there. That what he really longs for is to stand naked in front of his movie. star wife and have Melania put a Congressional Medal. with that beautiful blue thread around his neck. I mean, and now we will turn to our spokesmodel, Melania, who will award this esteemed award.

There was nothing about that that wasn't creepy. You know, their relationship. is the one time he introduced her as the movie star. You know, if you looked at the shot of her, she barely smiled. Well, when she barely. David, we've got that clip. I'm glad you ready? Let's just watch that. I was amazed that she didn't give him one of her big, big. smiles.

Where we play, I think we're trying to play the clip. It's always the complexity. of doing things live, but at least people know where you could. You could do it. I could do it. You could. No, no, no, we've got the real thing. We've got the real thing. No one cares more about protecting America's youth. than our wonderful first lady. Now a movie star and a movie star.

Can you believe it? Who would you believe that? I mean. Almost, I mean, possible. she can't move her face very much because of extra Botox. Who knows? But that wasn't even a smile. It was a rictus. And yeah, it's true, but, you know, you got to think she's. getting paid millions to stay his way, and and and he's. But he didn't pay her enough. to actually show her teeth when she smiled faintly in front of him.

I don't know, she she creeps me out as much as Stephen. Miller creeps me out, but in her own, special way. But just to go back. to this other point about, you know, I mean, did you see the wistful. look in his eye when he said, well, maybe someday that change the law, and then I'll be right up there with you, with my Medal of Honor. And all I can say is people who saw that go read this story in today's Daily Beast, which I read about all the monuments to himself that he's building,

and his new plan to take America's fourth largest airport, airport, and renovate it, but not just name it after stuff. This was such a real grace note in the story, but he wants to rename. the much hated busses that take you to the airplane. to into. so that their initials are his initials. Today he wants to make them called Deej. It's like something I don't.

I don't know what it was, but some kind of transport. Well, it's something that he would take. He would put the. the J in the middle, otherwise it'd be the D t's, and I'm not sure you. Well that's something. Well that's that's a, that's all different story. But here he does. He does a trick. But, but the level of of mania of narcissism. I mean you know, they say that Nero like built a gilded theater and, and did a lot of excess when he was the, the, emperor of Rome.

But but but the reality is this. He wasn't that bad. He was trying to do some stuff for Rome. He overspent a little bit. Trump is way more in the Caligula department. Trump is way more in making his horse a senator. He is incomplete, completely demented about trying to put his name on. everything. Well, and then last night there was more of that. Yeah. And every time he he referenced. something with his name on, he would pretend that it wasn't his idea.

So it's like they're trying to make that, you know, the Trump. baby accounts it wasn't my idea to put the name on it. I actually know that it was his idea. And the way how they sold it to him was telling him it was his idea. Actually. So it's a fascinating story. It's it's a fascinating I know it's but it's weird. I mean, in politics, it's so weird. And you're right, because that happened twice last night. It happened with the Trump, savings account. Never happened. But the Trump, drug savings accounts or whatever.

The other thing. Rex Trump, Rex. Oh, and both times. the aging entertainer is to name. line, well, it wasn't me. And everybody laughs knowing full. well that it was him because he's a lunatic. Well, I do think your note, too. I mean, I found the stories of the Second World War soldiers very moving. But I saw your point about how he's putting up all these people.

and including all these people who truly have glorious stories. and then stealing their glory, their stolen valor, was perhaps the most poignant moment of the night. that even though he stands up there, even though he has this. group of sycophants clapping like seals, as you say, you know, it's not enough. that, strangely, as he stands before us, he seems even more like an empty vessel.

Yeah, it's. I mean, you know, I'm sure there is some sympathetic. psychological analysis that would go on here because he's. obviously completely fucked up from his by his parents or whatever happened. And, you know, at some point, you know, you know, if we had enough empathy, I don't quite have that much empathy. You know, we might start to feel for the guy, but. but he's doing so much damage as a consequence of this that I.

And those those feelings that I have are muted as far as, you know, the stolen valor I this is that there's one kind of, you know, thing that. people repeat a lot that drives me crazy, but I'm going to do it right here. Imagine if Barack Obama. had called out somebody during a state of the Union and said, and we've got for you here, particularly somebody who had just done. a couple of weeks earlier, one of Barack Obama in a mission to.

to serve his agenda and said, we're giving you here's a general, he's. giving you this, this, this, this Medal of Honor. The Republicans would unanimously all utter the words stolen valor. They would say, you are demeaning the most venerated, highly thought of honor that we can give in the United States, that you are using it for political purposes. But here the trained seals just clap their fins together, you know,

and and it's pretty appalling, you know, it's the same way. I mean, what must be very chilling. And I see here that a lot of the people are listening are from outside the US. One of the things I find most chilling. is when these buffoons start chanting USA, USA! It's when we get into this kind, it's so embarrassing, it's so jingoistic, and it's like, well, what are we standing for? Because to take this into a slightly more serious direction,

yesterday was not just the state of the Union. It was the fourth anniversary of the escalated Russian invasion of Ukraine. And while he told the story of a Ukrainian refugee woman, which was pretty tragic, what he did not tell was that he has betrayed Ukraine, that he has withdrawn the aid that we were giving Ukraine, that he is taking the side of the Russians. who are committing war crimes on a daily basis, who are killing people.

by the thousands that his own negotiators, Steve Wyckoff, last week said, well, Vladimir Putin has always been very straight with me, you know, that, that they're clearly on the wrong side on this. It is so disgusting. That's what USA stands for now. That's what USA stands for. It stands for betraying democracies to portraying.

our allies, shooting our own people in the street. He stood up for the Save act, which would knock. tens of millions out of people, out of their ability to vote. He, you know, is continuing with his authoritarian. attack on freedom of expression in the United States. Lindsey Graham had sitting next to him in the gallery, or as his guest in the gallery, David Ellison,

the son of Larry Ellison, the guy who bought Paramount, gutted CBS. news now is trying to do the same thing. with Warner Brothers and Netflix. That is part of a sort of oligarch. campaign to control the communication in this country. This was fascism on display, authoritarianism on display. America is shifting sides and joining. with our old enemies like Russia on display.

And so, you know, it's clownish, but it's also deeply, deeply chilling. It's deeply chilling and it's deeply dangerous. David, as always, your insights, well, let's superb. And we'll be back the two of us will be back on Sunday to dig into this more. Thank you so much for joining us. I know everybody wanted to talk to you this morning. I cannot reference your column. highly enough at The Daily Beast, or indeed your own Deep State Radio,

where you podcast every day, but you bring such authority. and such thoughtfulness to what's going on, and you will never be fobbed off by the old sad entertainer. David, I will see you on Sunday and I hope everybody online with us now. Will join us and, and we'll get into it even more on Sunday. I look forward to.