Trump’s Spanx Secrets and OnlyFans Meets Politics

- Welcome to the Daily Beast podcast. I'm Joanna Coles, I'm wearing color. So is Sam B. I'm the Chief Content Officer of the Daily Beast. Sam, who are you? - I'm Sinead B. As you said, I'm the Chief Content Officer. of False Eyelashes. Look at them. Oh, look at both of us. - False Eyelashes, the best. - We're gonna flutter our way right out of this studio. when everything's done. - We're gonna fly. Can you tell everybody why you have false eyelashes on? - I was on the CBS Morning Show this morning.

with Gail King and Company. It was very good. I was promoting my menopause show on Audible. and I hope everybody listens. - I was wondering if everybody that went up. in the blue origin space rocket was menopausal. - Oh, I would imagine so. Everybody's in some phase or another of menopause. - Very menopause, menopause, post-menopause. - Come on. So tell me about your lashes. Why do you have your? - My lashes, so here's what's embarrassing.

Your lashes are fresh from this morning. - They are fresh. - Mine are still clinging on. This is embarrassing. From Sunday. - Stop it. - From Sunday. - I don't think that's good for your eyeballs. - No, of course it's not good for you, but they look so much better. because I can't stick them on myself. and I was on CNN Sunday morning. after the White House correspondence. - That's right. We have so much to discuss. - And I do, I understand that you, and this is sad because you did get a diagnosis.

of a medical condition, right? - I did and I wasn't going to talk about it, but as you've raised it. - I mean, I think it's time to. - Well, and the diagnosis came from an unusual source. - It did. - It came from the White House spokesperson. who is a man called, I think he's a former wrestling executive. called Stephen Chung. - Yes, not a medical doctor per se. - Not a medical doctor. - Lots of opinions. - Yeah, and he said that I was suffering from,

well, first he said I was a little shit, but then he said I was suffering. from Trump derangement syndrome, which is TDS, which actually I think you have too. - I definitely have that syndrome as well. I, yeah, he did say that you're a piece of shit. Let's be accurate. - Oh, a piece of shit, 'cause he called Michael Wolf a lying sack of shit. - But you're just a piece of shit. - Oh, just a piece of shit. - Not a whole sack. - I'm not a whole sack, though. - I will say that I wonder if I qualify then in some way. for donating to FMT, which is Vehicle Matter Transfer,

which I heard about this week. as an amazing new technology for health issues. - Make your life matter. You know what I mean? Make your life matter. - Make your life about something. You also have a pea-sized brain. - Oh, yeah. - Whereas Michael Wolf has a peanut-sized brain, and I wanna recommend, as my medical diagnosis. for Stephen Chunk, that he buy a fissuris. and get a little more creative. - Yeah, he's very limited in his number of insults.

Stephen, we think you can do better. Come on, ramp it up. - Yes, your professional communicator. Let's have--. - Is he there? - Fine. He can at least do a synonym search online. - Pete, anyway, moving swiftly on--. - Yes. What are we talking about today? - I wish we both managed to attend the Pope's funeral. 'cause I think it would have been fun. - Imagine choosing an outfit for the Pope's funeral. You wanna get the color right, which our president did not do. He loves to stand down. Well, and the last time he met the Pope, as we pointed out in The Daily Beast,

he was actually wearing a black suit, so I don't know why he needed to wear blue, except he wanted all eyes on him. - He's just the person who shows up at the wedding. in a parallel bridal gown. He's just the person who's like, "I just had the, it just happens to be a white dress.". Whatever. I wore it to my own wet. It's not technically--. - I've reworked it. I raised the hem. - So good. I'm disappointed we missed it. 'cause I would like to have worn a veil. I've never actually worn a veil, and I feel like it would be a little black frilly one.

with some movement. - I would picture you in a fascinator. When I dream about you at night--. - Fascinator I've worn. - Which I often do. - Please do. Please dream about me. - You're always in a fascinator. - I do have a black leather fascinator, actually, which I got for Buckingham Palace. - That is the most fascinating fascinator thing. - Yeah, it was a little SNME. - A little SNME. - Yeah, it's black leather and it's cut out. It's got, it's laser cut black leather. and it sort of rises up. It's pretty cool actually, but it's not a veil.

- Like a little, just a little dollop of fudge frosting. - Yeah. - Fantastic. - Indeedy. Okay, what else? We have so much to talk about. because every week we focus on the people. and the stories that we're obsessed with at the Daily Beast. What else? - What's the condition of the country? We're recording this at the 100 Day Mark. - Yeah, 100 Day Mark. - I think it seems great. The GDP is shrinking. - Can you please explain to us. what is going on in Canada? - Well, we just had our big federal election in Canada.

and Mark Carney, who was the leader of the new, the fresh leader of the Liberal Party, won the election. I think it was a real moment. Canadians really galvanized against kind of a mysterious. conservative guy who everybody found out to be, who was quite in the Trump mode. And there was a resounding renaissance. for the Liberal Party who was really expected to lose.

under the former, under Justin Trudeau. And they have resoundingly rejected any idea. of Trumpism, chaos, the unknown, because they're just building a firewall around the country. and it's actually pretty great to see. And I think that that's gonna happen in a lot of places. - Well, and Mark Carney's also got the advantage. of being financially literate, right? Because he was governor of the Bank of England. - Yes, yes. - So that's helpful given that Canada tariffs.

or that stuff, you need someone who understands what's going on. - Going into these extremely choppy economic waters, they, Canada just chose a leader. who they felt could kind of protect them. and could understand those systems. - So do you think Justin Trudeau is lying there in bed. in the mornings just thinking, why didn't I stay on? Why did I? - No, I think he is so, well, I don't know him at all, but I can only imagine that he's like, I am actually not up for former years of Donald Trump. So this feels great.

I bet you he's getting a massage. I bet you he's getting like, he's just getting like lubed up and worked on. Fantastic. - Maybe he will follow in Bill Bellatrix's footsteps. and get a new muse, because obviously famously got divorced in office. - My goodness. - I'm very excited by their relationship. I loved the interview they did with CBS and Tony DeCople. - Yes. - Where she was basically apparently directing. the interview from behind the scenes.

- Yes, she was. - Bill looked like he had Stockholm syndrome. - I think Bill is doing okay. I think he's kind of winning in this transaction. - Do you though? - Do you? - Who's winning? - What? Oh God. - She's his idea, Mel. - Oh, that's right. - She's inspired by her. Their love is so true. It just leaps off the screen and the pages. Oh God, I wish them well. - I can't believe just.

- The photo that just freaked me out. was she was standing behind him. in a beautifully low cut bikini top, which I felt was highly appropriate. And he is sitting there almost in a wrap position. with his rings on every finger, his Super Bowl rings, and it just looks surreal. It looks like a parody of an Adam Sandler movie. - Can I be honest with you? Every photograph of him freaks me out. Every single one. Not the least of which are those photos on the beach.

where he's laying in the sand like an insect. with its legs up in the air. And she's, oh God, how many times have my husband. and I tried to recreate that exact moment. in our Upper West Side of our apartment? - Good for you. And they have a 50 year age difference, which I think I was thinking, well, if I had a 50 year age difference, that would mean I'd be dating a 13 year old, which is too young. It's too young. 40 would bring me to 23, still too young. - I'm 55.

I think I would do very well with a man 105 years of age. I feel like that's the--. - Different type of love match. - Yeah, but it's obviously a true love match. As you say, we should be happy for both of them. Always happy for people in love. - I love love, Joanna. - I love love. All right, tell me about your college tour. - I haven't taken my sons at junior and high school. We've been doing college tours all around. I've been touring my one woman show. I'm traveling all over the place. It's just pure chaos.

I'm gonna keep these eyelashes on for the next month. - Honestly, you should. You should. And by the end of it, your eyes will be gummed closed. I'll just, when I take them off, I'll peel off my eyelids. - Yeah, I know, but it looks good. It looks good. All right, we are now going to talk to our beast of the week. She's a journalist and a White House correspondent, April Ryan. And in the download, we're going to talk to billionaire. businessmen and candidate for California governor, known as the crazily Donald Trump of the Democrats,

the mysterious, very mysterious Steven Klubeck. He actually announced he was running in November. I didn't know anything about it until very, very recently, but I'm looking forward to talking to him. - Yeah, I've had a lot of fun Googling him. Lots of stuff comes up. - Lots of stuff comes up, and apparently he's happy. to talk about all of it. - Well, that's great. You know what? I'll run for California governor. - Honestly, everybody's running for governor. just to improve their Google ratings, I think. - Will you sing in my band the song about me?

Because he has his own song. - I will definitely sing. - Okay. - Yeah, I'll totally sing for you. - Oh my God, how cute. - God, yeah, I'll be your backing singer. I'll be your pips. You're glad this night. I'll be your pips. (laughing). I wonder if we could bring in Adam Levine. - I don't think we could. - I'm going through Maroon 5 phase, which is really worrying. I'm so beyond. - What? - I don't understand what's happened. It's wormed. It's went to my brain and I can't get it out. - I'm gonna get that brain worm out.

- Yeah. - We did it for RFK Junior. We'll do it for you. - Okay, thank you. - Welcome back. We're joined now by the longest serving. African-American White House correspondent. and our beast of the week, April Ryan. April, you looked incredible at the weekend. at the White House correspondent's dinner. Yeah, you had a green dress with these incredible feathers. You two could have flown away like me and Sam.

in our eyelashes. - Your false eyelashes. - For those who weren't the dinner, Sam wasn't there. Tell us what it was like. - It was the oddest thing I've ever been to. Mind you, I've been to about 28 of them now. 28 years, 28 White House correspondent's. association dinners. We had no president. The president is typically the guest of honor. He does not put it on. He is the guest of honor, typically. And what happens is that we roast him.

and he roasts us back. And now, I don't know if this is gonna. set a precedent or not, but what's happening is, I'm sorry, my husband just keeps calling me. He knows I'm one with you guys. - Well, that's nice. It's better that he's calling you than not calling me. - He loves me, I guess. But no, it was the weirdest thing. because we didn't have the president. He wasn't roasted. He didn't roast us back and we didn't have entertainment.

And you all know why we didn't have entertainment. because Amber Ruffin, the comedian that was set. to roast the president and roast us. and talk about whatever she wanted to talk about, was fired, essentially, because of what she said. on the Daily Beast. So it was weird, but I did enjoy what Eugene Daniels, the president of the association had to say. This is a very tense moment for the press.

The president is encroaching upon our territory. with losing ground. And once you lose ground, you never get it back. And Eugene spoke of the moment about the free press. He spoke of the moment about what this means. for the American public. See, people think it's just a fight. between us and the press. It's not that. It's a fight about information. that goes to the American public. I mean, look at what's happening now. If the president gets his way, we won't be around.

This is a real moment. And if the press weren't there to ask questions. and get answers or dig, the American public would be sitting here, scratching their head, what's going on? - So we're a hundred days in. We're all unpacking the first hundred days. of this administration. And it has just been, obviously, an astonishing experience. I mean, I know it's too soon to talk about. when it will be over, but how are we actually going to put the horses back. in the barn? Do you have any sense of that? I mean, you're a veteran of the White House press room.

- How are we gonna get the horse back in the barn? Well, let's say this. Let's say the barn has burned down. and there's no barn to go back to. Let's try that. The first 100 days have been like drinking. out of a fire hose. It's impossible. And they say flood the zone. It's called, I'm gonna be honest with you, it's just, it's over the top. It's too much. One story over top, the other, the president just says whatever he wants. Elon, he and Elon Musk were friends now, they're not.

The list goes on. Now let's talk about the American people. We've had measles. - April, before we do, can I just ask you one thing? Is the White House press association still useful? The Axios reporter, Alex Thompson, accepted the award and berated the association. for missing the Biden health story. - And the camera went right to me. while I was drinking, I said, oh Lord. - I don't think he was targeting you specifically,

but he was pretty aggressive about saying. that the association, the report has essentially. missed the story or deliberately knowingly covered it up. And Carolyn Levitt, obviously just comes out. and says whatever she feels like saying. This week we saw Amazon potentially labeling tariff costs. on customers bills. She came out and said it was a political and hostile act. So she says what she likes. So what is the point? I understand the American people need an account.

of what's going on, but the AP is no longer in the room. So what is the point of the White House correspondence. at this point? - AP is in the room, however they're not being called on. AP is going through exhaustive attempts. when the president flies, they're not allowed to fly. on Air Force One or the press service, so they go their own way. They find a way to get there. And reporters are banding together to help them. get information to put out the pool reports.

so that we all can get the information. I wanna say, yes, we are still useful, but in reality, they're taking it over. They're creating who they want to come into the Oval Office. to address the president. Kaitlyn Collins from CNN, it took her a long time. She was the only reporter in there. with the El Salvadorian president. who asked the question for really the raison d'etre.

of the meeting. We are still viable. We are very viable. However, we have to be creative in our being viable. and we have to continue, we have to go back to the basics. Basics like 101, I'm not into chastising other journalists, but we have to go back to the basics. and not be friends of the president, not be embedded with the president and ask the questions. We are the fourth estate, Joanna.

We are the fourth estate. The next line of questioning, when all else fails, when the judiciary fails, when the legislative branch fails, and when the White House fails. All three branches are now in the realm. of the conservative movement or MAGA, whatever you wanna call it. But you have us still asking the questions. and now Kaitlyn Collins and others. and I are still in that room.

However, Caroline Levitt chooses to call those. who are very sympathetic and love the president. of the United States, instead of seeing him for who he is. and asking pointed questions. - I mean, the WHCA couldn't, they didn't even source the correct photo, a correct photo of you. Like, do you feel like are they really meeting this moment? That is very basic. - You were sort of honored for being the longest serving.

an African-American correspondent in the White House press room. And then they flashed up in the history of the White House. and then they flashed up a picture of your niche. My dear friend, Yamiche, we don't look alike. And I love that story you did. People were like, oh my God, they put April, Yamiche together like that. That's my girl though. And I called her, she said, hey, April. I said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I'm Yamiche, you're April and we laugh. We gotta laugh out of it. But it was embarrassing for her. You could see her squirming.

And I'm like, at first I was sitting there. because I was like, okay, I didn't even know. I was out of it kind of disorder. I didn't even know it was happening. When I heard my name, I said, wait a minute. I said, that's not me, that's Yamiche. And then so my husband's like, this is her. Come over here, Cam, I'm like, oh God. (laughing). And I mean, it was awful. We have gone beyond that kind of time. when black people all look the same. I'm like, this is crazy. - Well, let's say I could wave my magic wand.

and put you in charge. of the White House Correspondents Association. How would you take things back to basics? Like, well, how would you, I guess, how would you run things? How would you write the ship? I do feel like this big cruise ship is in a bit of chaos. I mean, the situation with Amber, I think it was very bad. I think it was disgraceful. - It's not, it's been a bad week for black women. with the White House Correspondents. Amber's, well, what if he got it wrong? What if they fired the wrong person? - Well. - And they stuck her for someone else.

- They stuck her for someone else. - You never sensed someone's craft in their art. You never do that. - No. - And I'm like, what? So, I had been on the board. of the White House Correspondents Association. I was on for three years when Barack Obama was president. and I was there when we hit the 100th anniversary. And I chose not to stay. I chose not to go for reelection. 'cause I felt like I was a health. And when I say that, I felt like, you know, it's a lot of grudge work. I was in charge of the refrigerator in the kitchen.

that kept breaking and we had to bring the people in. when the president was gone. And it was such an arduous task. I mean, people would complain about the toilets. not working more, there's no toilet paper in there, or, you know, the relationship with the president. It was, you ran the gambit. But after a while, I said, this is not, and do my job. I said, this is not for me. But if I were president, this would not be a time. when I'm trying to curry favor. I would not demand a meeting with Caroline Levitt.

She's not the power. The power is the president of the United States. I would impress upon him what's going on. and how it does not bode well for him. to have people in there who are avid supporters. and fanning out, you know, fan girl or fanboying out. The example, one of the examples, well, two of the examples in the same day, going back to that Voldemort Zelensky meeting, Marjorie Taylor-Gleene's boyfriend chastised. Voldemort Zelensky, why aren't you wearing a suit?

But here comes Elon Musk with a baseball cap. and an overcoat and a T-shirt. And then, and his kid in there telling the president. to shut up. But the protocol for the Oval Office. is that jacket and a tie and a collin shirt. But they didn't ask that. And then also that same day when Voldemort Zelensky. was in the Oval Office, when the president. literally ran him out, you had a Russian TV journalist. in there and they don't know how they got in there.

For real, this is the most powerful office in the land, Secret Service everywhere and you don't know how, I don't know. - How does it affect the morale in the room. when someone from the Daily Wire can put their hand up. and be like, just why are you all doing such an awesome job? - The morale is horrible because I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna give you a little insight. And I know they're not mad, but when the front row, the illustrious front row does not get called on. and it's like Fox and maybe ABC and that's it. on the front row, they all go outside and gather.

and talk to each other. They don't like it. And it is horrible. It is a horrible moment because he's not doing well. His numbers are underwater. Like that black man who ran from mayor in New York City, he said, the rent is too damn high, well, the price of everything is too damn high. We're losing money in the stock market, everything's fluctuating, you got people being laid off, truckers, UPS, we're scared about our food. I mean, this president is not doing well.

And for you to come with the narrative that, oh, you're just doing so well, he's not. And I understand that, you know, they're reaching out. to other people in the Republican party. to try to help them come back. and fix some of the mistakes that they made. So this is a moment where you can't get needed items. from around the world, that's a problem. And that shows a failure. When people can't go about their daily lives. - You're going back in there this afternoon, I believe.

So good luck. Sam, if you had a question for the White House briefing, what would it be? (laughing). - Oh my God, don't put me on the spot. Can you all go away? Can you stop? (laughing). Get out of our eyeballs. Please just govern us. Have you ever thought about just governing? Have you ever thought about just governing? And my second question would be, why are you so awesome? I really want to know if he's on his M pick there. 'cause we definitely spot it. I think he's been losing weight.

And I know we have a call in. April, you see him. Do you think he's lost weight? - Can I tell you something? I don't know if he's lost weight. or maybe he's using a spang. - You know what? He's doing a triple spang. - A man spang. - A manx, I think they're called manx. - Yeah, but you triple them up. - He's got triple manx. - Triple manx. - Oh, I don't know. That's painful. - Oh yeah, that's terrible. - They're very cheap on shine. - It's not that difficult. - Get them before the tariffs hit. April Ryan, congratulations on your extraordinary career.

long-serving White House correspondent. Thank you for joining us. And I hope you'll come back and join us again. - I'll join you anytime you ask. Thank you guys. - What a pleasure. Thank you so much. - We're back and we're joined by businessman, philanthropist and candidate for governor of California, Stephen Klubeck. Stephen is also the author of the forthcoming book, Facing Hard Truths, How Americans Can Get Real, Pull Together and Turn Our Country Round. And hopefully he can tell us the secret of how to do that.

right now, because we need it. - We do. - Stephen, welcome. - Thanks so much for being on the show. - Thank you, I'm grateful. Thank you for having me. - I'm gonna just dive in there because you are known to some. as the Donald Trump of the Democrats. What does that mean? And how does that sit with you? - Well. - Do you wear that proudly? What does that mean? - I know him. We played in the sandbox of business together.

We're both from the hospitality business. We both did reality TV. - Yes. - Undercover boss and the apprentice. And they're very similar actually. They have bravado and we interact with our team, but they both end up with in tears. Both shows end up with in tears. Except in undercover boss, they're happy tears. And here show you're fired. We create value. He's a wrecking ball. He destroys value.

- Tell us about your decision making process. because you're, listen, your life is very good. You're a very wealthy person. You have every opportunity or fingertips. Why on God's green earth? Would you say yes to and throw your hat in the ring? - It's interesting. Look, I interviewed every candidate as a donor. And I'm like, this is the best we got. You're kidding me, right?

So I started to do my due diligence, my homework on the great state of California, the country of California. I grew up here and I'm like, what happened to this beautiful place. that gave me all these aspirational goals? I mean, I grew up in the San Fernando Valley. Modest means, but got a great education. I dreamed of living over the hill. I lived in the San Fernando Valley. and dreamed of living in Beverly Hills. And after I sold my company, Hill knows it today, I'm very proud of that. I wanted to live my dream.

And I came back to a state that's just. a failed social experiment. And so I did get involved and I did my homework. and I found out there's solutions. - The Democrats have had control of California, all aspects of California for some time now, what can you bring to it that the current team haven't? What has Governor Newsom done wrong? And then let's talk about Kamala, 'cause obviously she's the biggest candidate in the race, assuming she's going to run.

- Well, when I speak, I'm a Californian. and I bring business leadership to the table. and the others have not signed the front of a check. They don't know what it's like. to think of unintended consequences. They don't understand that everyone in California. is a customer and they should receive. equal or greater value. Look, there's no red carpet with me, no hair gel, no word salad. We are in this predicament of this failed social experiment. because the leaders have brought us here.

Why would we continue to elect those that have brought us here? We're gonna have to find new to actually solve the problems. And I come to the table with solutions, proven solutions. - We are having a current lived experience. of being governed in some ways. or having our daily lives affected. by the actions of billionaires getting involved in politics.

You're very far removed from experiencing. an affordability crisis. Can you just sort of enumerate the ways. in which you would comfort someone who was looking, you know, who was undecided? - Well, I don't want you to comfort anybody. I'm just gonna hop in over time here. But I do want your solutions for what you would do. - Well, thank you. Those are good questions. Look, when I was a young boy, I was a busboy waiter, dishwasher, eight, nine, 10 years old. I'm built to serve.

I come from the service business. I roll up my sleeves. I don't believe in red carpets. I'd rather create future leaders. - But what does that mean? I get all that, but you're talking in political cliches now. What are the actual steps you would take. to alleviate homelessness in the big democratic cities? What would you actually do? - Well, let's talk about California's not open for business. It's not workable, livable and affordable. I fix the most broken of companies.

Tend to be exact. Then nobody said they could be fixed. We've got great exports of our state. People have forgotten about our great exports. Agriculture, tourism and travel. Entertainment, innovation, manufacturing, education. And we can grow our GDP from this. and have performance and results at the government level. The California Department of Performance and Results, also known as CPR, which the state needs.

- So why don't we take the biggest industry of that, which is obviously Hollywood and the extraordinary export, both culturally and financially. Would you bring Hollywood back to Hollywood? - I mean, right now, and I've certainly gone through this, people make shows elsewhere. - That's my line. You stole my line. I'll bring Hollywood back to Hollywood. So when you look at Hollywood, let's just look at the landscape, the due diligence of this landscape. We lost Hollywood. 40% of the sound stages are empty.

The CAPEX is already here. There's no CAPEX required. It's an export. So let's do the comparative analysis. to the incentives that are given in other places. Around the world, let's pick Georgia, which is spoken about a lot. Georgia is- - Georgia Atlanta, yep. - Georgia as in the state, not the country. - Yep. - 563 billion dollar GDP, $1.3 billion in incentives given. If you do a comparative analysis to California.

with our 4.1 trillion dollar GDP, we could give incentives up to $9 billion. with no asterisks and keep it simple. 'Cause right now, it's complicated with regulation. You can't do documentaries. You can't do unscripted. And this all trickles down to those working in the industry, electricians, grips, producers, actors.

They wanna stay home. They wanna be home. They're missing their families. We need to take back Hollywood, bring back Hollywood to Hollywood and own it. We need to be on the offense. And the leadership that we've had in the past, Joanna, they've been on defense. I believe in offense, not defense. - I mean, speaking of Hollywood, like your own personal life is kind of the stuff of, it is the stuff of Vanity Fair profiles. Do you think that people will accept you.

as a real candidate for the governorship. given all that is known about your personal life? It's you live very boldly. - Yeah, sure, because everything about me is known. I don't get extorted. And you won't get extorted on my watch. I fight and I'll fight for California. I mean, those articles, by the way, you're not gonna believe it, but I actually had them written. They weren't written about me. I actually did it. You speak with Bill Cohen.

You may know him. He's a, became a friend. You know, I got tagged. I own it. - So how do we, how do we know? So you're talking about a relationship you had. with a young woman who was an only fan star. You gave her a lot of gifts. and then it turned out she'd been shooting porno movies. in your fabulous homes. It ended in a very ugly way, as far as I can see. And it showed a lapse of judgment. If I'm a voter in California, why would I assume?

- I don't, I don't, Joanna, I don't know if the lapse of judgment. or being naive to the dating scene. I mean, I didn't know what discord Reddit was. Did you mind due diligence? I could have found out that that wasn't even a real name. Her name was something else. And now she's changed her name at third time. - Well, it ended in a very ugly legal battle, right? - Well, actually it ended in an apology letter, which I'm happy to read to you. It ended in all the gifts being returned.

- Well, that's good, 'cause you spend a lot of money. - And me not paying one penny to anybody. and fighting the fight because I fight the fight, I don't get extorted. Nobody's shit on my watch. - All right, so what did you learn from that experience? - What I learned is there's a lot of grifters. and cons out there. - I guess speaking of grifters, you have, what are your interactions with Donald Trump like? I mean, we have a situation now, like how are you gonna go head to head with someone. who you've interacted with in the past, who wants to attach strings to something.

as seemingly as non-political as like LA wildfire assistance. - That's a very good question because I watched that. Horrifying, U shaped table, ripped down, tear down of Mayor Bass. and Congressman Sherman. And if I was there at that table, I would have said, Mr. President, we know each other. I know you say that I'm gonna go back. to their home tonight, tomorrow, but you know that's not true. Because guess what? FEMA's gotta come in and certify that every asset is safe.

And you know what? That's on you. So when you get that done, Mr. President, come back to us and let us know when it's done. And then the folks can either choose the Army Corps of Engineers. to clean up their site for free, or it's gonna cost $200,000 approximately. to do it on their own and that's on them. But when you get it done together with us, work together because California's a bully pulpit. Okay, you need us as much as we need you. and let's respect each other.

And that's how it would handle it. And I've had many interactions with him in the past. and we have respect for one another, but frankly, I'm not intimidated. - You are golf buddies with Barack Obama by way of example. Does he have any impulse to come out of hiding. and tell us what to do? (laughs). We're all pretty lost. - What? I don't know that he wants to. I was talking to James Carville this morning. I was talking to James this morning. We're fans of one another.

And look, we should have had a contested convention. if my dear adopted father was alive. Harry would have really made that happen. And I think from what I hear, Barack wanted that to happen too. And there's not enough voice in the heart center. of our party today. - So Kamala Harris is supposed to be certainly mulling over.

a run for governor. And obviously she has a much higher profile than you do. How would you take her on? What are her weaknesses for governor? - Good question. The last time I spoke to her was May 28th, 2019. She called me and asked me whether or not. I would assist her in her run for office. She misjudged that day. 'cause it was the one year anniversary. of my father's death, my dearest friend, Sheldon.

And it wasn't a very good mood. And I basically told her she wasn't ready for primetime. She hung up on me. That was the last time I talked to her. You know, when you blow through a billion three in 90 days, people don't forget they blew through, not understanding tabletop issues, economy and immigration, two very important issues. They were just tone deaf. I mean, I met with Waltson. The guy didn't even understand balance sheet.

and income statement. Nice guy, nice guy. But we can't apologize for success in our party. I'm a lifelong Democrat. I'm proud to be a Democrat. Bill Clinton taught me a lot of great things. And Harry Reid did also. I mean, Democrats can govern. Bill Clinton balanced the budget. He also effectively, efficiently created. what was called reinventing government. Now, Lord facilitated 400,000 jobs.

being stripped from our government. So Democrats can lead and govern. We just need to find our hard center. We need some balance. We need some provado. - Have you spent much time with Daniel Leary, the new mayor of San Francisco? 'Cause he seems to be re-exciting the city. Certainly the city seems cleaner. It seems that the business community. have got more involved. 'cause they feel he understands them.

- I was in San Francisco. I have not, I look forward to meeting him. and I know we're trying to schedule it. I was in San Francisco last week, Oakland and Palo Alto. And the city is much cleaner. It's got a great vibe. It's got some swag coming back to it. And it's palpable. It is palpable. So, let's not poo-poo business leadership. Just because I've done well, doesn't mean that I don't have compassion. and warmth for people because I'm in the people business.

I roll up my sleeves, no red carpet for me. I'm here to serve. - I don't think we were poo-pooing business leadership. I think business leadership is essential, especially in big cities and running states. Things are complicated and you need people. who can get things done. and who are used to being held accountable, which frequently politicians aren't. Well, now where am I going with this sound? Please help me out here. I'm just sort of defending, 'cause I'm a big believer in getting business. involved in politics. - 100%, but I think that there is a class of people.

who are like kind of political dilatants, like newcomers who don't have an understanding of business. but don't have an understanding necessarily of governance, which is different, which is actually a public service. Like that's actually kind of rare in the business world. So I do think that there's a suspicion. Do you know what I mean? There's anything that's natural. - Call me a unicorn because I've legislated. and worked with Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Borders Senate House,

Treasury, Commerce, Interior and State Department, changing visa policy in China and Brazil. Do you have a global entry card? - Yes, happily. I was involved in that. I got our officers to sit down with me. and be polite when people entered the United States. And I said, we're gonna spend close to $300 million. marketing the United States after the lost decade of travel. Can the officers like smile and say, "Welcome to the United States, please?".

And when they leave, did you have a good time? Please come back soon, Disneyland-esque, and we did it. So solutions are possible. I bring uniqueness to the table. And you have a song. You already have a song. - Old school theme song. - Seriously. - Jeff Ross. Jeff Ross, I think you know Jeff. ♪ Steven Klubeck, take our hand ♪. ♪ Lead us to the promised land ♪. ♪ California, California get blue ♪. ♪ Steven Klubeck is the guide for you ♪.

- Yes. - He wrote the song. I modified it, but he wrote it and gave it to me. as a gift over the holidays. - It's very good. It's very good. You know what, I clicked on it and I was like, "This is not gonna be good.". And that actually was perfect. - Yeah, it was pretty good. - I just signed a deal with iHeartRadio. to launch my podcast called "Hard Truths". with Steven J. Klubeck. And our guest list is filling up quick. We're starting at the beginning of May. The book launches in June,

which is done by Disrupted Books, West Wing writers. Very proud of this book. Clinton Reddick loved it. Cory Booker, a dear friend of mine, my little shadow, my little brother, he and I are fighters in arms. I have a lot of dear friends. Zac Efron is my adopted son. - A lot of adoptions going on here. - Well, this was great. I wanna thank you so much for talking to us today. - Do you have, wait. - Do we, I think I want to take you up on your offer.

of reading the apology letter you got back. from your treacherous girlfriend. - I honestly thought that you were gonna say. I would like to be adapted by you. - Well, I would love to be adopted by you. I'm enthusiastic, but you offered to read us. the apology letter, so I'm gonna take you up on the offer. - Well, you know, I'm gonna have to grab my glasses. - And then I'll take you up on the adoption. Because if there's an offer on the table, I'm perfectly, yeah. - This is, dear Stephen, I'm so sorry for the emotional pain I caused you.

I'm sorry for hurting your heart. I am sorry I disappointed you. and could not live up to who you thought I could be. Thank you for pushing me to be a better me. Thanks to you, I have learned that material things. do not bring happiness. I hope you find better than me. And I hope for your happiness in the future. Large XO, XO, Stephanie. - Wow, that's an apology letter. Thank you for doing that. - No, it's my pleasure. I'm as transparent as transparent gum.

Frank Launce told me I'm too candid. - Well, I think it's very, it's very appealing. in a world where everything is happening on X now. So, okay, final question then. How do you combat something like X? Because when Bill Clinton was running. and you pointed him being a good president. and balancing the books, this was all before social media. and anybody in politics now will tell you. it's so much harder in social media. And certainly much harder with something like X.

running against you. How do you counteract that? - Well, we've got TikTok, Instagram, plain to social media. Look, you know, there's an advantage of doing reality TV. because it's real, it's candid, it's unscripted, which is who I am. I'm authentic. I am decisive, but I come with warmth and compassion. And, you know, we're looking for the spark. And hopefully we do get that spark. because I can actually drive the car.

without training wheels day one. And I don't believe the other candidates can. I come with very different attributes. in addition to my business success. And I'm not afraid, I've got brass balls. - Well, please say hi to Jeff for us, for me. - Thank you, thank you for having me, and grateful. - And we will be tracking you. and we hope that you'll come back on again. - I would love that, thank you. - Good, we want a progress report. And good luck with your book. - Thank you very much. - Okay, thank you. - Bye. - Are you reassured for the future of California?

- Reassured for the future of California. - I don't, there is nothing that could reassure me. about any one thing that is currently occurring. - I found him kind of, I mean, listen, he's super eccentric, right? - Yes, of course. - And I think it's actually a valid point. that he has nothing to hide. He's actually pretty out there, he's out there, but is very audacious about it in a way that like, I mean, he's not trying to hide anything, which is refreshing. - But alone is refreshing.

- Yeah, that's true. And it was extraordinary hearing him read. the apology letter. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, oh, I just don't know. - All right, well, if you have been, if you have been, thank you for listening, much to be said about the future of California. If you have been, thank you for listening. If you haven't already subscribed to The Daily Beast, why on earth not, just go to thedailybeast.com. And anything you would like to say, Sam?

- Just, you know what? I just want a world that works. That's all I'm asking for. I just want a world that works. - It may be too late. - And I think it might be too late. And, you know, in the meantime, if you're feeling, if you're feeling prolific, please continue sending your emails. to beastpotathedailybeast.com. Drop us a comment. I bet you might, I bet you have some comments. Why don't you share them with us on YouTube?

- 'Cause Joy is gonna get back to you. - I might do. I've been, I'm behind on my correspondence. I've been traveling, but I'm back. and I will be paying attention. - Okay, okay. Well, prick your ears up. 'Cause I feel like you can have an incoming, messages incoming as we speak. - Oh, Lordy, Lordy. Okay. (laughing). - Be a subscriber. - Come on. The hell is wrong with you? You're not a subscriber to the Daily Beast.

Why are you even here? Do it. - How much Coca-Cola have you had this morning? - I've had not enough. I'm gonna go have so much more. It's so easy to sign up. Why am I saying the things that you usually say, just do it. God damn it. - I have no idea. - Dailybeast.com. Let's go, people. - All right, as our joint views. - Our joint views. - Might say. - Might say, even after a papal funeral. - I think we're gonna do a reverse liberals. as your muse would say.

- That's right. - Be best. - Oh, Joanna, for God's sake, woman. It's be beast. And you know that. You know that.