Why Trump Insiders Fear He's Lost MAGA: Wolff | Inside Trump's Head

The white House really feels it is at war. with with the the MAGA voices. Partly it has to do with the Iranian war. The MAGA position is is we are against forever Wars were against foreign wars. America first. This is what you promised, wasn't it? Which is what he had promised. The pushback within within the white House. I mean, it's it's really has has to do fundamentally with the war. The MAGA objection to the to the war.

That's what everybody is grousing about within the white House. Where are these people? Why are these people? Why are these people leaving us? Why are they deserting us? Why? What is this pushback? Michael. Juleanna. And when I say Michael, I mean Michael Wolff, the author. of four Trump books and two books on Rupert Murdoch. Michael, where are we going? And when I say Joanna,

I mean Joanna Coles. Oh, who needs no introduction? Well, I might need introduction today because it's raining outside. My head's a disaster. But I am, the chief content officer of the Daily Beast. And I think this is our 84th episode of inside Trump. Said. Who invented this title? Chief content officer? I don't like that. It's like a ridiculous title. Whatever happened to editor in chief? Publisher? Is this a this is a digital world thing.

Chief content Officer anyway, you don't have to answer this. These are just rhetorical questions. Yeah, but I think it's not a rhetorical question. Where are we going? And and what are we doing there. Just briefly for anybody new joining the podcast, we believe that this is a government of one. And that one is Donald. Trump and nothing else matters, which is really extraordinary. Extraordinary in the history of United States. Extraordinary in the history of government, really, that everything.

is determined by the by the caprice. and the whims and the sudden inspirations. and the often the passing inspirations of one man. Everything depends upon what has come into the head. of Donald Trump at at any particular moment. in time. War, invasion of American cities. We can, we can we can go down the list.

But if you think that this is the product of a carefully. thought out policy, you would be wrong. What it is and everyone around Trump's and who knows? This is the the result of what's in Trump's head. at that at that moment in time. Let's invade Minneapolis. What a good idea. Let's invade Iran. What a good idea.

Let's invade Cuba next week. Let's. It's all, it all depends upon what. passes through that head. Oh, yo, yo, with its strange straw colored hair, the yellow is back, by the way. And also in the last podcast, you made a point. which struck home with a lot of viewers and listeners, that he's really. ad libbing the war, and we can see him doing it in plain sight.

And actually, that was an amazing moment, where he said, and I'm trying to remember. what the Beast's headline for it was because it was very funny, which is when he was choosing. the title of the operation in. Iran, Operation Epic Fury, he said that he was given a choice of titles, and normally these operations have some kind of, you know, slightly more rousing theme to them,

like, you know, Operation Freedom or Operation Democracy or whatever. And of course, this is Operation Epic Fury. And he said, as they were briefing him and giving him. the list of the names, he was falling asleep. This is something we know he does in cabinet meetings. He does it every time he has a briefing. He's constantly falling asleep, which is something we've discussed. And you've pointed out the white House gets very anxious. when they see him falling asleep and everyone's like, what should we do? And that's a wonderful picture that we had in The Daily Beast of him.

sitting between us and Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State. Just eyes closed, eyes completely closed, clearly having dozed off. But he was falling asleep at all the names. they presented him with until he fell upon. Or someone said to him, what about what about the operation? Epic Fury? And he his eyes flashed open and he was like, that's the one. That's the one. No. And he's good at this one. I, on one occasion when I sat with him, he said.

He said, you know, you know why your book, Fire and fury, you know why that was a hit? He said, because I gave you that title. And my second book was called siege. He said I didn't. That's a bad title. That's why that book didn't do as well as the one, as the one where I wrote the title for it. Now, this is let's let's understand the context is that he had obviously said. this ridiculous statement about fire and fury as it related to,

North Korea. And I chose that title as a way to make fun of him. But that that now became, became a title that he had. he had given me and my all of my success was due to him. Well, it didn't he want to stop you and shout, hey, I'm. the guy that made you rich. Yeah, he's explained that title, but to other people, he said as he went by, I made that guy bridge. Yes. Right. Okay. And that's what he clearly, clearly he absolutely blew.

So my book, Fire and Fury, which is in every way. not complimentary to Donald Trump. He now claims this as his success. And for those who haven't read the book, what also made it successful, not least the title. The President gave you Fire and Fury, but was the fact that you sat. in the white House for the first year of Donald Trump's. First presidency for seven months, just jotting down what you were seeing.

and what you were hearing, and I didn't know what you were doing there. And when you said, oh, I'm writing a book, they were like a book, a book, because they had no sort of concept of something. that might come out in a year's time. And I mean, I remember sort of at his invitation, but the invitation went kind of like this, of waving, waving. Are you okay? Right. Well, that's and that was used for out things are in, in that first administration and they're not there yet. They have not appreciably changed.

And and it is you know, I mean, I think we can't stress enough. that the war in Iran, I there there may never have been a war. which we have anyone has entered into. with so little planning, so little strategy. So, so, so goals. that are so unclear, goals that are so unclear. And even when he's talking about them and he addressed the G7. this morning, we're recording this on a Thursday morning,

people left world leaders from France, from Italy, from Germany, from Germany, from the UK left. And they all had a different interpretation of what he was saying, because he doesn't really know what he's saying. You know, I mean, he doesn't know. What are we doing in, in Iran? Other than I mean, we can go down the list of regime change, unconditional surrender, getting rid of the nuclear stockpile. Oh, what what, Well, well, today, his his reasoning was that.

because America is the biggest producer of oil, this is actually good because oil prices are going up. Ergo, it's good for America. The oil prices are going up. Oh, good. Oh, that's a good one. So that sort of exposed factor. ex post facto ex explanation. But I just wanted to call out we get and I never feel we give. listeners and viewers enough credit for the incredibly interesting, articulate, engaged comments we get.

I wanted to read one out, today from someone called Dawn ni. I think it's Newberg Bergstein, and, but it says, according to NLP, neuro linguistic programing, there are two types of people. One is through time as they can plan events and follow through. The other is an in time person who deals with the present, Michaels said. Donald Trump ad libbed the war, and that's pretty much the same.

Donald Trump doesn't plan ahead, and he thinks that. whatever he comes up with on the spot is brilliant. Rationally, he's delirious. I thought that was a very good description. Was that great? Trump expert Jeffrey Epstein. used to say, yeah, that Trump had no executive function. So the, the, the. that means the cognitive ability to sequence things to organize things, to,

to have an appreciation of cause and effect. He was without. And I think that that is absolutely true. and a kind of astounding historical moment. to realize that the most powerful man in the world, who runs the most powerful country in the world, who effectively, runs, is at the center of much that is happening in the world,

has has. no relevant abilities to that position. Right. And curious, yesterday, Pentagon Pete. threw a wild vanity tantrum and that was our headline for it. And I love this story that Pete Hegseth, who's appointed himself well, he was appointed as secretary of defense by Donald Trump but has renamed the job. The secretary of war yesterday banned.

certain photographers from the Pentagon because he didn't. like the images of himself that were coming out. So for those of you. who might not have seen the images or who would like to see the images again, I want to assure you that we'll be running the images through this podcast. So you get all of them. And should you need to take a copy of the story. and share it with your friends, go on to the Daily Beast website. And we have every single photograph of Pete Hegseth that he deemed heinous.

I have I have a little, a little, background on, on this. Also, I'd like to like to note that the word heinous. has, has having a big spike. Everything is everything is is heinous. But it does feel a bit heinous at the moment. But the background to the photos is an enormous amount. of consternation within the Trump orbit because of the photos. that were taken of everyone in the white House after,

when Siouxsie Wiles gave a set of interviews, which then became a long and extended article in Vanity Fair. and the photographer that Vanity Fair sent in, made everybody look like a grotesque, including including the close ups in that way that you could see where. where all of the inject, all of the women had their injections.

None of that was was covered. All of that was exposed. And in fact, that particular photographer, his specialty, you know, whereas most photographers strive to make people look good, that photographer, is his goal. in meta is to make people look bad. And within the white House there, they were furious about this. and furious with the communications people who hadn't. realized that that's what this photographer, has done.

So everybody is now on guard against photographers. who might make people in the Trump orbit look bad. Oh, that's so interesting. That is interesting. And I mean, it's always been a trend though from Vanity. Fair or New York Magazine, certainly when the two of us were working there, that it's not that the photographers are trying to make people look bad, it's that they're trying to cut through to get to the essence of the person. And there's always a lot of preening.

and popinjay type behavior. from people who want to look their best, which is well, I mean, I don't. I mean, I've worked, I've worked, obviously at Vanity Fair two for, for a long time and, and and, much, much time at Vanity Fair was spent making. people look much better than they actually looked. And, and that was always sort of part of the deal. Will cooperate with you if you make us look really fantastic.

Right. No, I'm not certain he said that to photographers myself. Your job is to make me look thinner, blonder, younger. That's always my. And you know. So that was a kind of a bait. And switch. I have some sympathy for the, for the white House. And in this regard, I have no sympathy for the fact they didn't do their homework. very straightforward. You look at their portfolio of the photographer. Well, they never did their homework. We can say that. So we're we're,

in fact, we're now in the middle of a war in which no one has done their homework. No one has done their homework. So what are you hearing from the people that you talk to? Well, I it actually I think it's, I think it's a yeah. A totally I think it's a really interesting moment and, and, and a kind of pivotal as I think. we say tipping point moment that the white House really feels. it is at war with, with the, the MAGA voices.

And that may extend to their war with their whole base. Partly it has to do with the Iranian war, because obviously the MAGA position, is is is like, what the fuck? You know, this is this is the, the MAGA position is, is we are against forever wars. We're against foreign wars. America first. This is what you promised, wasn't it? Which is what he had promised.

You know, the pushback within within the white House. I mean, it's it's really has has to do fundamentally with the war. The MAGA objection to the to the war. That's what everybody is grousing about within the white House. Where are these people? Why are these people? Why are these people leaving us? Why are they deserting us? Why? What is this pushback? What was interesting this week was the Donald Trump addressing. the Republicans who are pulled together for their sort of annual offsite at Doral.

The Trump Doral Hotel in Florida, or Doral. How do you pronounce it? Doral. Doral, Doral. Okay. But they're all there and they're being told, let's drop the mass deportation message that isn't playing well for us. They've got rid of Christi Noam, but they're now seeing the numbers. in the polls, a shockingly low, especially for Donald Trump. So they're being advised, stop talking about mass deportations. Only talk about it in terms of criminals, that we want criminals out.

And then Donald Trump is saying he won't pass any other legislation. until he gets the safe acts through, which is that. people have to turn up with a state registered ID to vote again, honing in on the mechanics around the elections. And he's saying that he wants to reduce the ability. of people to mail in ballots should only be for.

for the military and occasionally people who are too able to get to the polls. Right. So we have two impediments. This, as, as we. go into this midterm year and actually, we are we are. we are now in the midterm year. We are three months in and, in the first is, is the immigration backlash, which is profound. It's not only profound across almost all.

demographic groups of people saying, hey, wait a minute. Even if if we if we are people who want who support. all of the laws related to to immigrants. and want them enforced, nobody wants to once. it wants to see it done in the way we have been doing it. Not to mention people getting getting shot. Not to mention, masked men, who with little training and experience enforcing,

enforcing the laws that, that. that, that actually they, they seem entirely unclear on the laws that they are enforcing or. like we've all seen, the social media videos of the masked men dragging people out of cars, carrying them away. It's disgraceful. We saw Alex Peretti shot in, you know, on a Saturday morning. We saw Nicole run a good shot, you know, three times, four times in the face, in the head when she was doing nothing wrong.

Okay, so this is this is impacting, as I say, all demographic groups. But most critically, it is of course. impacting, and impacting Hispanic groups. Right. So read can I read the quote from Mike Johnson who was down there. He said, and I can't do his voice annoyingly, we've we've got a little hiccup with some of the Hispanic. and Latino voters for certain, because some of the immigration. enforcement was viewed to be overzealous.

That's what he said on stage. And then he said, and, you know, everybody can describe it differently. But here's the good news. We're in a course correction mode right now, he said. We're going to have a new secretary of Homeland Security. So they're driving the bus over. Christine Ohman reversing back over her. Now, this is this is going to be an there's an interesting. sidelight here too, because it's the Stephen Miller sidelight. So the person who remains most adamant about about immigration.

enforcement, immigration enforcement almost at any level, any and all, is Stephen Miller, who is up certainly among the most prominent. and most powerful voices within the white House. So we have we have an, we have the beginnings. of a major fight within the West Wing itself. Well, and it was Stephen Miller's idea to have quotas.

and to say, you need to get, you know, you need to deport X number of people, which is why, of course, I've been rounding people up, many of whom have been American citizens, you know, and, and and. this is from the Stephen Miller point. This is a point of of of moral righteousness. There is no there can be no compromise because it is a moral issue. And the moral issue is, of course, a completely racist issue. But from in his, in his mind,

as in the mind of, dare I say, 1930s Germany. There is there is no compromise to be made here. Okay. So one of the people that perhaps both represents. Mac, and also is oddly. independent is the representative from Kentucky, Thomas Massie, who we will remember joined with Ro Khan, to demand.

the release of the Epstein files, then persuaded. three of the Republican women to come over Nancy Mace, Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was then a representative, to force the release of the Epstein files. He has fallen foul. Obviously, with Trump over that. And Trump is doing his best to primary him. or support the guy who's the primary in him. Yes. So this is a a focal point of Trump's of Trump's anger and revenge.

He will he is set out to defeat Massie and probably will. I don't know. Massie is pretty popular there. So I think this is going to be an interesting measure between. Trump support and MAGA support, which we'll see soon. I think the the primary is in May and and very well, I mean, I would say. Massie is in perhaps will prevail, but he's in the fight of his life. You if you're a Republican and,

Donald Trump becomes your enemy, that's, I can't imagine that's, that's a, a a, promising moment for your career. But Thomas Massie is older, and you're always making the point that people hate Donald Trump. So while they're afraid of him and Thomas Massie is clearly up for the fight, I'm sure he's back channeling with Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell.

They must spend a lot of time talking to. Well, there's there's another person Trump. Trump does does not like, to say the least. Mitch McConnell hates Trump, right. Yeah. But this is but but here's here's a group of people. who really don't hate Trump who really love Trump. And it's Republican primary voters. Who are the people who love Trump. Most Republican primary voters. Well, except. that they feel he's compromised by the Epstein files, and they're.

now confused about him being so slow to release the Epstein files. Well, like, well, this will be the drive, that this will be a measure of that. I'm not sure that that is actually true. I mean, he's but they they also don't want war. And Thomas Massive, you know, has been very clear that he doesn't agree with the war in Iran. Well, I know this is the you know, these are the MAGA voices, whether the. whether the Trump MAGA base, these people who vote in primaries,

we don't know, we don't know for a fact that there's that this is. that this is true. And, and. you know, and we'll, we'll see. I mean, I think it's, I think it's going to be. I mean, it's a very, very interesting measure here, right? I mean, Trump said. of Thomas Massie, Thomas Massie, we got to get rid of this guy. Loser. His loser. This guy is bad. This guy is bad.

So we know he doesn't like him. An ad at Cal Rain, who is Trump's candidate in in perhaps. I mean, pulling himself up to his full, height, said that Massie stands. with the ladies of the view, which I thought was a, a kind of if that's the best you got. Dude, I'm not feeling confident for your choices. I know it's interesting. I agree, I think, I think for Trump, primary voters, are for primary voters.

in the Republican Party that that that's, that could be an an evocative image. And and. I think that's well, so we know that Massie. spent 3.1 million in the campaign. And John Paulson and Paul Singer, finance guys have raised 3 million against him. So tight race. But I suspect the local people of Kentucky liked like, Thomas Best in like that. He's independent. Anyway, we can watch it closely.

Yeah. Let's I mean, I mean, I think it's an important race and, and will begin to say lots. about about, what's going to happen in November. Okay. So Trump is clearly terrified of, of what's going to happen in November. Right. You know, I'm I'm trying to think terrified. I at a Trump's terror is not like other people's terror. You know, that's partly this looking forward he doesn't really see things.

This this is not he's not really looking forward. and and saying, oh my God, this could happen again. He lives in the moment. So, but I think that it, it. it is obviously of, of concern. He knows that something has to happen or he's going to lose. But I think at that same time, he certainly feels that something. many things could happen, including this,

his ability to interfere in this election, which is why he is he is so insistent on passing. this Save America act, which would mean that everyone has to. has to show a they'd approved, ID, which is not which is not so easy. And and it and it certainly means that, that that many, many voters will be turned away.

and that those are likely non Trump voters who will be turned away. Well, John Thune who's the Senate majority leader, is it's basically saying they won't get the votes. This is not going to get passed. And he's absorbing a lot of flack for saying that. There's no point in holding about a vote because he's not going to get the vote. Yeah. Well, I let's turn that around and say and say I mean because. because, they're, they're they're not going to do this. They're not going to pass this the Save America Act.

But Trump doesn't appear to understand that. And again, that's a product of living in the moment. And it's a product of of I'll get it because I want it. So at what. point does he understand that that's not going to happen. Now layer that on top of the fact that he does. so often get what he wants. And,

So it's a it's. a reality distortion from Trump's point of view. I will get what I want. And the the proof of the pudding is that I so often get what I want. So therefore in this instance, why wouldn't I get what I want? And if I get what I want, then I can, perhaps prevail in November. So therefore all go to the point that he's not terrified. because he's Donald Trump, who believes that he can. He can make this happen. He can fix this. He can get what he wants.

Well, Melania has resurfaced, which I thought would be a good time. to catch up with your lawsuit. Melania, the movie is on, Amazon Prime. And of course, she's going to be showing up. at the white House today because it's women's history, women's History month. I have a history. I have no history. I tell, you know, you know history, Melania me know history. Anyway, she's turning up to support Women's History Month at the white House. A rare sighting of a pray.

What is happening with your lawsuit with her? Well, any day now, we will get a decision from a federal judge. on their motion to either. dismiss the lawsuit and to dismiss it because they seem to be saying. now that their threat, their $1 billion. threat against me was, I suppose, less than serious. Therefore, we would be suing them in in error.

because it's obviously based on, on the, on the, on anti-SLAPP laws in New York that prohibit. or using a law to intimidate someone's perfectly, legal speech, but they are saying they appear to be saying, well, since they weren't really serious, it wasn't really a threat.

So it was a rhetorical threat. I suppose that's what they're saying now. Now, I mean, we've turned around and said, no, actually, you've done exactly what the law required you to do. in order to file this kind of this kind of suit. You've taken the necessary steps. You've, you at the clock began to. run as soon as you were, as soon as you were doing this. And if we did not withdraw the, the statements you've demanded that.

we withdraw, then, then we were liable to this $1 billion. threat. So, so any at any rate, they've asked to dismiss. We've countered and countered on on that. And then if there is not a dismissal, then they've asked for this to be moved to Florida, which is more advantageous to them and where they maintain. Melania Trump is a citizen, a citizen of the state of Florida. We have countered by saying, actually,

every every, circumstance would indicate. that she is not sure that she is a citizen of New York State. And we have then further asked for the court to authorize discovery, in which we then might get access to all of the documentary record, including her prenuptial agreement, which would, which would show that, in fact, she is firmly wedded, if not to Donald Trump to,

the state of New York. So we're waiting for a decision on that any day now. Wow. That would be completely riveting to read. Melania Trump's prenup with Donald Trump. What I wouldn't do to read that out loud in Melania's voice. How interesting. And so is the assumption, because we've talked about this before, that one of the complexities of the case is actually.

the difficulty of serving the first lady. Yeah. And that is also they've said this should be dismissed. because the first lady has not been served. Even though even though you can't actually serve the. first lady because they would shoot you if you, if you go. I think that that that that close to her and in fact. we have already gone into court and asked the court to, offer us an alternative method of service giving the circumstance. But they seem to have ignored, ignored that and are just taking the literal view.

that because she actually has not been served, because she can't be served, therefore she cannot be sued. So who's taking that point of view? Melania's lawyers? Yes, yes, because I was going to say. there is a mechanism where if you can't find someone to serve them. or they are avoiding being served, you can serve the court instead. Right? Well, you have to the court has to has agreed that they. that you've made all reasonable efforts to serve them. Yes.

And we have asked the court to say, hey, tell us what to do here. By the time. you're back in New York next Tuesday, hopefully we'll be in the studio together. You might actually have a decision. Is that possible or you're expecting in the next couple? Well, no, you'd have no way of knowing. And in fact, the somewhat. the A variable here is that. this is a Trump appointed judge in the Southern district,

which I have no reason to believe that this judge is biased. But given that you're a Trump, a Trump appointed judge, you're probably not in a hurry to make this decision. Right? Right. But those judges, sometimes they can be more independent than anyone expects. Right? So I thought Trump's language just going back to the wall, you know, obviously he's still trying to figure out reasons for why we went in. But his language of saying, you know,

it was a little excursion. I mean, what is he talking about? I mean, he's obviously got the wrong word incursion. It's not like we're having a little excursion. That's something you do on a school trip when you go to a movie or less. on any trip, a little skirt excursion to, you know, have an excursion in London. Yes, he he is, he is sending. American planes for an incursion.

Not a little. Well, you know, I mean, it's it's also remember Donald Trump most. most are a good part. of what comes out of Donald Trump's mouth is literally meaningless. Right. The the the words are wrong. Not only though the words are wrong, he has actually no particular. thought he is trying to express except to, fill the silence and, answer answer the question. that he doesn't have the the answer to for there is no question.

What are you doing in Iran? I don't know. For me, God. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So when's it all going to end, Michael? Well, we've already got. I mean, it could be enough. I mean, that's the first hour, you know, that's that's another point. It could end immediately. I mean, I mean, he could as capriciously as he went to war, he could end the war. And I think that there's a lot of people now trying to say.

what happens if that, because that is probably the case. So then what happens if that's the case? And the likelihood is that that will happen. He will announce victory. We will he will bring all of the American forces. home, and Iran will be left. with an enormous amount of damage. But beyond that, nothing, nothing clearly having changed of the of the.

the the leadership of the mullahs still functionally in place, the. the the nuclear capabilities. still ready to be reassembled. over some period of time, protesters still up against a regime. that Will is perfectly willing to shoot them. Yes. A basically a degraded. ability to be aggressive in the short term.

But these guys have shown in remarkable patience in rebuilding. It gets tear torn down, they rebuild it. So, is it possible that we could have this same war again. before Donald Trump exits the presidency? Sure. Well, confusingly much about Khamenei, the son of the Ayatollah. who was killed on the first day of the bombing strikes, as was,

as were his wife, his mother and his his son. Has issued a statement, although it appears that he's in a coma. So I'm not sure how that works, but he's issued a statement. saying that, you know, they will do everything they can to fight back. And he's called on Iranians to, to unify. in the in the face of the threat from the West.

Now, now, we know this. Just just let me because I have not seen this that this is, this report comes from. where do I read that? In the New York Post, actually, which just that's our that's our. that's our source, our New York Post that's concerning it. It's concerning. I mean, it may well be true, but it is not necessarily true. because of the New York that the New York Post says it is.

Just saying just let me know. So, Michael, can we just raise this wag the dog theme again? Because it's a tayo has just come out with a poll saying that 52% of Americans. believe that the reason Trump went into Iran. and that he's been so unable to explain it, is because of the Epstein files, and he's trying to ignore the fallout and distract from the fallout. of the 3 million Epstein files we've had released so far.

Well, I mean, I think that that is a fair supposition. The the the the polling question I'd ask. is, is that is all is that of all Americans or likely voters? I mean, those are those are the a sort of pivotal distinction. as we look to the midterms. But other than that in general. Yeah, I mean, I think, I think that's a that's that's. that is a fair view of Donald Trump's behavior.

and of what's going on in, in a war. which no one has any idea why we're fighting. So if you have no idea why we're fighting and what the goal is, but you know that the guy who is, who has ordered. this word to be fought desperately wants you not to notice, that he's all over the Epstein files, then, seems like a fair conclusion.

So it's a great question. And in fact, I'm just checking now, it was likely voters. Well, then all of these things, I mean, and I think we should continue. to follow this and follow the details of all of the polling, because this is. this is going what is going to bring us to the midterms. Well, and there was a there was a while it popped up as a, as a news. alert, followed quickly by another news alert saying that James Clyburn, who you will remember, is from South Carolina.

and who really made Joe Biden in 2020, he was going to make an announcement. So, he's 85. James Clyburn I assumed the announcement was that he was stepping down. In fact, the announcement was to say. he's running again for another. another term in the House of Representatives. So he will be 87, 88, by the time he finishes his next term.

I am not the first congressman to have. to have, come close to peaking over 90. It just remarkable. The Democrats in particular will not let go, though. I think the oldest person is Senator. Chuck Grassley, who's 90, who's a Republican. Of course, he's a Republican. Yep. But the, but it's just astonishing. It's astonishing how they will not hand over power.

Yeah, I get I guess it's, guess when you've got it. All right. So a final concluding Limerick. And this is from edits. on narcissist in Chief. Now he's bombing Iran. Why, you may ask? Well, just because he can. Oh, how much can we bear? It's even worse than health care. There's not even the concept of a plan. I thought that was good.

Great. You got another I have we've got one from gov read. Actually Trump threatened Iran with fire and fury. reprise then claim total victory himself unsurprised. No strategy found just rhetoric profound and Hegseth. explaining a war undisguised great love. Okay, keep them coming, people. Michael will be back in the studio I hate, I hope, next Tuesday. It's much harder talking to when you're in London.

I don't know why. Is there any fallout yet from the Peter Mandelson. and Epstein relationship, which saw Mandelson fired as ambassador? Yeah, no. Well, I think Starmer is this isn't good for for Keir Starmer. But but the whole of I mean I've actually spent a lot of time. trying to get my head around, UK politics, which seem most now marked by the fact. that there are going to be so many more competitive parties.

So it's now a five party state or a six. It's it is. So we're in one of those one of those moments in which. nobody knows what's going to happen because of the variables have, have, have, have so, so dramatically increased. And I think that that's probably somewhat true in the US. also that, that the component parts between far left, far right,

middle middle. middle middle far right, middle far left. are now competing in a way, in a, in a, in a much more. in a, in a much clearer way than, than has been true in the past. So is is the is the mega far right now. competing with, mega middle? I think it probably that's probably that's probably true.

But in the end they've only got two options, Democrat. or Republican in the states, whereas the Green Party and Reform. Party have grown massively in the UK. The thing I found most infuriating, looking through the Epstein files. and in through the lens of Mandelson being fired, which they released in the UK yesterday, released on Wednesday, was that Dame Karen Pierce, who was the, very popular and capable.

ambassador. in Washington, warned Keir Starmer and said. the Epstein Files is a big political hot potato in the US. It's going to become more of a story. She knew that Peter Mandelson, his friendship with Jeffrey. Epstein, was much bigger and much more recent than he'd said. And Keir Starmer, for whatever reason, whatever pressure. he was under, chose to ignore it. And there's another question I'm hearing coming out of the UK, which is that.

Peter Mandelson has hired the law firm Mishcon to Reya, which, is one of the biggest, most prestigious law firms in the UK. Frequently gives advice to the royal family. and people are wondering how is he going to pay Mishcon. Darius bill, who's going to lend him the money to do that? And as we saw, he demanded half 1 million pounds, for leaving the job, leaving the ambassadorship from which he was fired.

And eventually the government settled on 75,000 pounds, which wasn't he. Correct me if I'm wrong about this, but it didn't. He have a consulting business, which he sold. for a considerable amount of money? I'm not sure, but. Peter Mandelson has a history. of leaning on people to support him financially. Let me. Well, I think that describes pretty much all politicians. for, totally fair.

Michael, hurry back, hurry back. But I will say the hotel room behind you looks luxurious. Not bad. It's a fancy piece of furniture to your right, over your right shoulder. It's sort of very mid-century. I think they would like to think of it as Art deco. Art deco? Okay, well, from here it looks mid-century, but maybe when you're in the room, as they say. All right, well, hopefully be back in the studio. Safe trip back. At least you're not flying back through Dubai.

I'm not. All right. We've got a special edition of Inside Trump's Head on Saturday, which I'm very excited about because it really focuses on Siouxsie Wiles, which is a deep dive into Siouxsie Wiles, which is, as we know, Trump's chief of staff. And she wields her power in a, in a different way, than previous chiefs of staff. So very intriguing. And don't forget to look for our sub stacks. at beest dot pub forward slash howl for Michaels and beast.

pub forward slash scream for Joanna's. Leave us a comment I love I love hearing from people. I wrote one last week about mistakes we've made, and people have sent all sorts of mistakes they've made, and some of the. some of the notes are detailed and some of them are very moving. If you have been, thank you for watching. Don't forget to leave us a comment and don't forget us. Our first lady would say, beast, be beast, please be a beast.

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