Unhinged Truth About Trump’s Iran F-Bomb: Wolff | The Daily Beast Podcast

You know, the people around of Trump always speak of his moods as a as. they speak of the weather. What's the weather like? So you never, ever know. I'm Joanna Coles, chief content officer of the Daily Beast. This is an emergency pop up video because this morning, while I was watching. the presidential press conference on the white House. lawn in front of a gaggle of journalists as the president was getting ready. to leave for the Netherlands, I suddenly heard him drop the F-bomb.

It is not something I've ever heard an American president use before. He was talking about Israel and Iran. Of course. The latest news over the from the weekend. And he suddenly said, you know, Israel and Iran. have been at this so long, they don't know what the fuck they're doing. And I was really taken short. It felt like a moment. Who else did I want to talk to about this and what it actually meant. and how calculated it was.

Who else but Michael Wolff, the author of four books on Donald Trump, including the most recent one, All or Nothing. So we dragged Michael in front of his bookcase to do a quick. ten minutes decoding of what that F-bomb was really revealing. Michael. I mean, I couldn't quite believe it when I heard, I think, what is a first, a president. saying fuck on the white House lawn as he's dealing with a ton of journalists,

and he's about to get on Marine One and go off on his trip to the Netherlands. A lot of private fucks from presidents, but no, never public fucks. Never public fucks. And also we've heard them before. I remember once with Gordon Brown, the then British prime minister, he was caught on a hot mic saying that a voter was a shit. Which was unfortunate, but this feels to me like a new moment. We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long. and so hard that they don't know what the fuck they're doing.

Let me, I, I've been making making calls, so I think I have, I have a sense of the arc that got him, that that got us to where we are right now. And, you know, one of the, one of the things, one of the, one of the sort of the ways I track what he's thinking, I use the word thinking loosely. Is to talk to. people he's talking to on the phone.

He conducts. I mean, all of his his internal thinking is external, and it's on in a series of of his constant phone calls. And it's pretty easy to follow because he says the same thing to everybody. So it's this constant repetition. So basically, when the Israelis attacked Iran, he got he got he got very excited about this. And and his so, so his calls.

were, in the things that he repeated, are they going to win? Is this a winner? Is this game over? They are so good. This is really a show stopper. So again we're we're we're we're in the land of performance. This is a stage. And so the day before we attacked Iran, his calls, his calls were where he was constantly repeating,

if we do this, it needs to be perfect. It has to be perfect. It needs to be a win. It has to look perfect. Nobody dies. And then my favorite in. Boom out. Big day. We want a big day. We want. Wait for it. A perfect war. Wow. Wow.

I think and and and I think, you know, he announced the cease fire. That was the perfect war. And so suddenly with with, with both Israel and Iran not cooperating in his. in his staging of this in the headline, he gets annoyed, of course. And also, I think he stepped into the role that this is his war. This is his perfect war, and they're ruining it. So that was on Friday, that he was having those conversations with people,

and he was like, in boom out. I mean, just extraordinary. And and also it's as if he's discussing the finale overseas. season that again with his television producer eyes. This is drama of the highest level. Completely, you know, and. you know, many wars are provoked. by headlines, by propaganda, by people advocating. for or their position trying to push, push people into wars.

That's certainly what the neocons did for so, so long. But this is kind of the the the opposite. This is war to create a headline. And the headline is we won. Trump. This is Trump's perfect war. He did everything right. So what you're seeing this morning, in front of the press, is his frustration that this is not a perfect war,

that somehow the ceasefire has not yet held. Both sides continued, and they may or may not. We're recording this on Tuesday lunchtimes. Hard to remember what day it is. And we don't quite know if it's set in or not, but certainly bombs. were being dropped, and missiles fired after he called for a ceasefire. The perfect, everlasting ceasefire. Right. And I think this is also him showing ownership. I've taken I this is now my war.

My, it's not just a perfect war. It's my perfect war. And I'm in charge here. I'm in charge now. I've got to tell the Israelis what to do. Right. I absolutely right. And everybody is going to do what I tell them to do. Except they're not going to tell him what. they're not going to do or he tells them to do. They can do what they want to do. Well, yes. That is that is that's is called war. Yes. But isn't this also the trap that we have seen American presidents.

fall into before? Certainly British Prime ministers fall into before, where they get enamored. of their own, reputations on the world stage. They completely underestimate other countries, and get sucked into something. which they can't possibly anticipate. Absolutely. I mean, that's that's that is the danger here. I mean, unknown unknowns. We do not know what is going to happen. Today, no less tomorrow.

Except he is trying to say, I know what I can make this happen. And the difference between all those other people getting sucked. into these, these, these extended and. and incredibly damaging commitments, is that they have the attention span to do that. He does not. So in a, in a sense, that's the that's the weird silver lining.

He's not going to go forward with this. This is it. He's he's he's done this in boom out. And I do and I don't see him going down and, and and becoming a wartime president and seeing this as, as. something that he has to see to the end, all these other guys, that's it. I have to see it to the end. You know, Trump Trump's whole impulse is exactly the opposite of that.

Well, and. also, if you think about how annoyed he was. and and you made the point that he reamed out Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, after the parade, which was only a week ago. I mean, it's extraordinary that we had the birthday parade, his birthday, the birthday 250th anniversary of the American Army. And then here we are suddenly with actual activity, the birthday parade and that charade forgotten.

The National Guard or the National Guard? Even still in LA, completely forgotten. Elon Musk, whatever happened to him? As you're always saying, this is all about just keeping moving. It's about forward momentum. It's about keeping eyes on him. Do you? He struck me as looking. You don't often see him without a tie unless it's on the golf course. I appreciate it's very hot in D.C. and that he's about to travel. But nonetheless, seeing him without his tie,

without his cap on, the hair looks unruly. He's using the word fuck, which we've never heard an American. president used before. Just felt like he'd lost a bit of control. I mean, to me, he always seems out of control, so I don't. I don't exactly know what the comparison is. Is there is this signaling the signaling fault stronger than normal? Yeah, I mean, possible I mean, I mean, it is really hot in Washington. I mean, really hot.

So, under those conditions, I actually thought he look me look, they look pretty good. Fair. But but, you know, I, I think I think. what he, I think the frustration is, is is real. This was set up for him, remember? He's the person who announced the cease fire. I mean, the cease fire didn't really exist until he announced it. It actually, there may not have been a cease fire until he announced it.

And then everybody has to say, oh, God, he's announced it, you know. Yes, we have to we we have to accept the cease fire. And, you know, but it's obviously a very tenuous thing. I mean, these this I mean, we know what Israel wants. We know what they believe they have to achieve. They very well may not have achieved that. And part of that other statement that he says. is that it's absolutely demolished. We have done everything there. They will never again, have be able to mount.

a, a, in a new effort here, gone over with. Now that's completely untrue. Nobody knows actually where this where this is. Nobody knows what's left. Nobody knows what their capabilities are. And except, I mean, I mean, probably more than anyone. The Israelis know what they are. Well, and there'll be some Iranians who know whether or not they actually move. to the enriched uranium out of the out of the bases.

Exactly, exactly. But yes, but but outside of of of the Iranians, we don't know. So the they're the, the, they're Iran. Iran's enemies do not at this time know exactly where things stand. And Donald Trump doesn't know where things stand. He just has to. But he doesn't really care. That's not his issue. His issue is it's a perfect war.

And the perfect war means we have destroyed everything, and it's over, and we go on from there. I mean, I was very mindful of him saying, I've got to get Israel to calm down, as if somehow he can do that. Yeah, well, he is I mean, seeing this all as a narrative, as a as a function of staging and of course, of, of him in charge, you know, that's what you know, by sending in our,

our weapons, we took over in his mind. Right. So he's in charge of the world. What do we think his pips to his Gladys. Knight are thinking about this Marco Rubio, obviously Secretary of state. Pete Hegseth, defense secretary, and then JD Vance, who we know is an isolationist. Yeah. And we've we've we've heard some hesitate on on their part. We don't know what the, the,

the status on the ground actually is. And we heard that from General Cain to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. No, I mean, you know, I mean, I think one of the things you can. you can read the fact that. that the Iranian response was, yeah. You know, was, was was meant not to provoke. more retaliate and that it was an invitation.

to come to a ceasefire and perhaps come to an agreement. You could read that as, okay, you know, we can regroup here. I mean, this is not we don't have to fight this to the to the death. You know, let's let's, you know, let's let's lock in where we are and then, and then build back up again. I think that's very plausible. So by the next time we speak, we're going to talk again tomorrow for a podcast. that we'll put out on Thursday, Trump will be in the Netherlands.

Do you have any sense of what new he's going to turn up in? Nobody ever knows. You know, the people around Trump always. speak of his moods as a as they speak of the weather. What's the weather like? And, in summer or so storms and then little say no. The clearing, it's all clear. Sunny day. So you never, ever know.

Do you have any sense of when the Qatari plane is arriving? I was just thinking of of him sailing off in the aging Air Force One, which I'm sure will will annoy him. You know, I don't. There's see another headline that, that's that's been buried. Now, the curious thing, if this war goes on, if the Israelis. and the Iranians continue to fight, then Trump will have to invent another headline. and then we will forget about this war. Yep. Yep. Well, when one could only imagine, Mike, like,

I need to talk to you three times a day. At the moment, there's just so much going on, but I'm looking forward to talking to again tomorrow. for our next podcast that will drop on Thursday. Split here tomorrow. Okay. Perfect. War in. Out. Boom. Done. This video was produced and edited. by Jesse Millwood and produced with help from Anna von Erson.