Why Trump’s Stupidity and Grift Is Dooming Him | The Daily Beast Podcast

This is the largest collection of broken people in our lifetime. These are all untreated, broken people on full display. It's flagrant. incompetence on full display and I think Trump loves it. Failing at even this inconsequential stuff like the Great American State Fair. feeds the correct view that, wow, he's kind of incompetent, isn't it? Bread and circuses. As has been said leaders for thousands of years, it's fine if you've got the bread.

But just the circus alone and giant ballrooms for rich people. and giant tax benefits for rich people, and giant crypto scams for rich people. While I can't afford meat at the grocery store, that doesn't go down so well. I'm Joanna Coles, this is the Daily Beast podcast. Happy 4th of July weekend to our American viewers and listeners. America 250.

I am going to break out into Alexis Wilkins songs, if I could remember any. Maybe it's Lee Greenwood. Anyway, we're bringing you. a very special episode of the Daily Beast podcast today, featuring. some of my favorite conversations from our fan favorites. But before we dive into the show, you know what's coming. Please take a moment to share this podcast with your friends. Invite them to subscribe to The Daily Beast YouTube channel, and you can become a friend of the beast, which has all sorts of special perks.

So you'll be hearing first today from Jennifer Welsh. She's the co-host of the hit podcast I've Had It. And one of our favorite guests on the Daily Beast podcast. She explains why she thinks Trump is in his death bed confession era. and saying what he really feels about his cabinet members, her thoughts. on the upcoming midterms, and why she's predicting a Blue Sun Army.

One important note this conversation was actually recorded in late May. Right after Donald Trump wrapped up a particularly sycophantic cabinet meeting. So sycophantic even he didn't fall asleep in it. Which is why we unpack it at the top of this chat. Jen Welsh I'm so excited to see you. I'm so excited you're here in the studio. There's no one I'd rather talk to. I thought we could go round the cabinet table and you could tell me.

who you thought in yesterday's meeting was the most sycophantic. Okay, I have to go with Marco. Rubio because he knows better. Does he know better? He used to. He used to. He used to know better. Yes. But the fact that he's now as obsequious as he is, does that mean. does that cancel everything he's done before? Yes. I think we have to cancel everything they've done before. Right?

Because then it means he didn't believe in anything he had done before. He didn't believe in his stance that Vladimir. Putin and Russia were not our friends. And now he's over in Alaska, while Trump's standing on the red carpet. with military leaders rolling out red carpet for Vladimir. Putin and Trump standing there clapping like a seal. Marco Rubio looks starstruck when he meets him, and it's like American. weakness.

Marco Rubio is one of the weakest members. of that administration because he's so breakable. He's so breakable. Okay, what about Pete Hexes? Pete Hex is just not very smart. And yet he went to Princeton. How can he not be smart if he went to Princeton? A lot of the people in this administration are, sadly, an indictment on Ivy League. A lot of them are really well educated, but I think even Ivy League schools can produce dipshits.

And Pete Hex is walking, breathing embodiment of that. Maybe he's a good test taker. Maybe he's a responsible studier but critical thinker. Great mind. He's none of these things. He's a Fox News narcissist that has inner child issues. He needs to go off and work on Little Pete, write letters to himself, to his inner child with his non-dominant hand, and figure out what is so broken in him. Instead of acting out all of his brokenness onto the American public.

What then? Talking about writing notes to himself, I'm always fascinated. You know, when the camera manages to get the notes they've been writing, Scott Besson's notes, resilience, and then Operation Economic Fury with a little arrow by it. So he's writing himself notes so he knows what note to hit with the president. Yeah. I mean, you know, Scott Besson is one of these gay men. that is carrying water for the patriarchy, and he's going to be one of the first.

to drown. And of course, he has a bank account that a bull. And so that that parachutes him a lot. But it's what's he got like 600, 700 million. I think it's not quite a billionaire. Yeah. I mean, he's got enough I mean, in a pinch he's going to be fine, right? But it's fascinating to me how they. have talking points. They have to praise the president. I think I saw a report was the New York Times or Washington Post. They analyzed all of the cabinet members speeches, and one out of every six.

sentences is praising Donald Trump. I mean, what an indictment on the entire cabinet that every six sentences. you imagine if we're podcasting or Joanna, that lipstick looks great on you. You could do that, though. I would be fine if you did. I need to atone for calling you John. You do, you do. You need to atone. Dinner is on you next time. That's right.

But what if you're in the room? I mean, we've all been in corporate meetings like this. where all, you know, from your days in television, you know, from your days as an interior designer, the obsequious and watching other people. being obsequious and them trying to out flatter each other. It just seems pathetic. It really is pathetic. Ruth Bengio, she is a professor at NYU, a scholar on autocrats,

and she says this is a feature of dictators, of autocrats. They pick people that are easy to break. They pick people intentionally that are obsequious. Okay. Hold on. Easy to break. What does it mean easy to break? So, like, look at Marco Rubio and the humiliation ritual that they do with him. Did you see where they recently had him on Air Force One, in the same Nike outfit. that Nicolas Maduro was wearing when they captured him?

I did not see that. They put Marco Rubio in the same jumpsuit. Right. And that Steven Chung, that runs right. The guy, he took a photograph of Lil. Marco and posted it on the white House. social media stuff, which is a humiliation ritual. They put him in those shoes that are too big for him. Right? The Florsheim $148 shoes. Yes. And so these people are very easy to break. Like Kristi Noem,

the fact that she had murdered her dog and nobody ever talks about the goat. Joanna. She also shot a goat. Right. And then that is a sign for Trump that. Oh, she's perfect for me. You know, he says himself, I don't want to hang around with winners. I don't want to hear somebody talk about how great they are. I love hanging out with losers. And I say that Trump is entering his death bed confession era. So he's starting to say all of the quiet parts out loud. He is. He's saying, I love hanging out with losers.

He likes to be that, you know, the big dick in charge. He wants everybody to kiss his ass, and they don't feel. second hand embarrassment or the cringing ness of all of that. So. And why don't they? Why are they just glad to be in the room? Yes, I think these are. This is the largest collection of broken people in our lifetime. This is. You've never seen a group of such broken people before. This is like if you went to a rehab facility.

with a triple diagnosis of a personality disorder. Meth addiction. Right? Inner childhood trauma, all of the filling addicts, sex addict, gambling with their futures. Yes. And you're sitting around in the circle, and I've experience with this. My husband is in recovery. And so I've been to a family week. And no disrespect to anybody who is struggling with addiction. or anything, but these are all untreated, broken people right on full display. It's flagrant.

incompetence on full display. And I think Trump loves it. Where do you think he is with people like Howard. and and. who've made a lot of money? I mean, because he admires them in a different way, doesn't he? Doesn't he love rich people? He loves rich people. But I think he's also jealous of rich people. I think they're these people are completely disposable at any minute, and they know this, which is why they humiliate themselves. on national television at these cabinet meetings.

They know if I do not say Trump is so great, he is unleashed the golden age, all of this jet stream of bullshit. They know that he will pick them up and put him in the trash can. And so I don't think any of his relationships have any depth. or any meaning meaning other than you tell me how great I am, right? You get humiliated even for one of the richest men on the planet. Let's talk about Jeff Bezos and the interview that he had recently.

where he said Trump was more mature, right, and more measured right in the second term. And he had some good ideas. Objectively false, objectively an idiotic, detached, obsequious statement. And then I'm like, there has never been a billionaire class against the. having billions of dollars. Then this existing class of billionaires. When I used to hear this 6 or 7 years ago, billionaires shouldn't exist.

I didn't think that much of a thought. Whatever. And they made their money. I get it now. There's something that happens when you exploit people that much. You become so broken that then you get to have all this. fuck you money and you're kissing Donald Trump's as like, what's the point of it? What's the point? The the other thing I think is interesting about Jeff Bezos and I go back. and forth on this because I can't live without Amazon. Is is the showing off of the money.

that there is something so antagonistic. about showing off in the way that he and Lauren do. and that do you remember the foam party and you're like, and also, if you are the second richest, third richest, who cares person in the world? Why would you have that guest list to your wedding? You could have anybody. You could have Nobel winning scientist, you could have mathematicians, you could have astronauts. You could have the people that have changed humanity.

And instead you go for reality television stars. who've really contributed very little apart from skim that skim. Not bad. Skims is pretty good, but apart from Skims have contributed very little. You have Leo DiCaprio, who looks so embarrassed to be there. He's got a baseball cap over his face. He's trying not to be there, but also wanting to be there. Right? And I just think, why wouldn't you reach higher? Because Lauren Sanchez, Bezos, she likes to thirst trap.

These are vapid people. It's not even that deep. Do we think he's even really good friends with the people on the guest list? No, of course not. They didn't know some of the people like guest list, right? She had to buy her way into the Met Gala, and it is so pathetic that she wants to be famous. And in her pursuit of being famous there now, infamous is her. Because you've probably met Lauren.

I've met Lauren. Never met her. She's actually very warm and funny and smart when you meet her in real life. And there's a big disconnect between that. and the way she somehow appears. as a kind of trophy bimbo of the highest order. And yet, actually, when you talk to her, she's funny, she's warm, she's clever, she's not like that. And I don't know why she's cultivating that image of someone, the sort of thong snapping nature of it all I just find odd. I think it's really odd,

especially when you contrast it with his ex-wife, Mackenzie Scott. Basis. Right. Who is spending money. hand over fist on lifting up the marginalized? She sent tens of millions of dollars to Mills on wheels. Hasn't done one interview about it. She spent hundreds of millions in HBCUs. She has. She's an incredible philanthropist. She's what we think we would do if we had billions of dollars. Do you think it's just.

I can't believe we've now got into comparing Jeff Bezos wives. But there's something interesting about how much fun it looks like. he and Lauren have, even though they're screamingly. showing off, which to me just feels like, why do you need to do this? Why do you need the attention? It's only going to be bad for you. I think the relationship started in an affair, so it started in very insecure footing, right? Right. So then the I think it was the Enquirer.

Didn't they publish? Right. National Enquirer published. Yeah. The text messages and. Well, I think it published a bit more than the text messages. And it was you know, I think that's embarrassing. She's the other woman and is, as you know, you can meet people. that in social settings are confident and warm and engaging, but it doesn't preclude them from being broken and toxic. And her behavior is objectively, it's just not even that deep. It's it's it's pigmy thirst trap.

I mean, she has this opportunity. This man has money that's unfathomable. to stand up for, let's just say, the LGBTQ plus community. What would this woman be wearing? All. I bet she has 4 or 5 gay men that help her throughout all the stuff. that she goes to, and she and her husband. are funding fascism, funding Ice. It's it's repulsive. It's disgusting. And yes, people on the one hand can be warm, engaging.

I mean, clearly she is. She scored a big fish, but at the same time she's still broken. She's a broken thirst trap. Who has this moment right now? To me, I'm looking for people that have conviction. There was a guy who won a scholarship a couple nights ago. Oh, yes, the CBS scholar. And he stood up to CBS, a man who doesn't have any money. And he stood there and had conviction about Barry Weiss and the Ellison family, completely ripping up 60 minutes and throwing it into the trash.

And he does this. But Lauren and Jeff Bezos can't. He gets on television and tells the world that Trump is mature and measured. I mean, it's the patronizing nature. that they're treating the public with is so repulsive to me, right? All right, so let's go back to the cabinet table. Do you think because for women have now left the cabinet, three of them. fired, in theory, Tulsi Gabbard resigning because of her husband's illness.

Do you think. that's taken on a new frisson of danger for the people around the cabinet table? Because three people have now been fired and one left under personal circumstances. But everybody said she was about to be fired? Yeah. I mean, it's hard to. I mean, I think when I think about Trump and what goes on with the cabinet. meetings, I just think rearranging the deck. chairs on the Titanic, like the country is sinking. He is dismantling everything that we hold dear.

Institutions, the swamp that he talked about, he's installing a real swamp. So I don't know. I worry about who would replace these people. because I think they would be worse. But yeah, I think we're really heading off a cliff. And Trump said at that. cabinet meeting he doesn't care about the midterms. He's talking about the fact that Iran thinks they can wait him out.

He backs Ken Paxton in a move that may well impact the Republicans. losing the Senate because John Cornyn, who's been there for. the last three terms, looked like he would win again, possibly against James. Talarico, the Democratic candidate, is Trump just now sailing off into the wind. I mean, he and MAGA had they just lost the plot at this point completely? I mean, I think we see that Trump is finally doing what he wants to do.

He did learn from Trump. 1.0, remember when Susan Collins, senator from Maine, said, I think he's learned his lesson. He did learn his lesson. He learned how to get rid of guardrails. He learned how to kick out all the adults in the room. And we're in a very, very dangerous place right now. Anyone with him surrounding him? I don't think he gives a shit about the country. He believes the white House is his. Personally. He believes the Treasury is his.

He believes the attorney general, the acting attorney general. is his personal attorney, which he used to be. He doesn't have. Yeah. Todd Blanche, he doesn't have any instinct that he needs to provide for the country. I do think it's good news because I have said he's in his deathbed confession era. So some truth starts to get out. And when he says, I don't care about the midterms or we don't know why, but always the opposing party wins during the midterms. And nobody can explain it that.

to some extent, he's acknowledging that there is going to be a blue tsunami. But I'm very worried about red states because. the governor, Governor Abbott, he will very easily send in whatever he needs to do, whether it's state troopers or whomever, to just get ballots. And I'm very worried. I think Talarico could win for the first time. I think Texas could deliver a blue senator,

but I'm worried about these Democratic governors, Secretary of state's attorney, generals that are all Trump sycophants, not cheating for him. because we know he's going to make the phone calls. We know that from Trump 1.0, right? We know he'll do that. Right. And we saw Brad Raffensperger in Georgia who held up when Trump said, I need 11 when he called him and said, I need 11,000 votes, was like, Mr. President, that's not how it's done. Trump sort of retribution and vindictive vindictiveness. against people who've stood against him seems to be playing out in the primaries,

at least when you think about the moral collapse on display. Broken, breakable people. Let's review. The tolerance of sex crimes is a feature of MAGA. It is a feature, not a bug. It seems to be a feature that if you're a member of the MAGA movement, you don't care about sex crimes, against children, against women. So they sexually assault and then Christian signal to get out of it. It is a feature that MAGA is the party of sexual depravity.

How will you be celebrating 250 years of America? I won't be, I know the horror, I. patriotism has to be earned, you know? And when we see our government killing. civilians in the street, zero investigations, the murderers that killed Rene. Good. And Alex pretty. No investigation, no accountability put back out into this terrorist regime. Ice.

We have this president. who is using all of the good name, whatever good name America had for his own personal. enrichment. You have a Democratic Party that is disjointed. Some of the Democrats play patty cake with the fascists. Some of them actually try to stand up and be in opposition party. I want to celebrate like the kid. who got the scholarship, who called out CBS like that. That's the America I like, where we cheer for the underdog,

where we shine a light on injustices, where we right wrongs. Right now we're celebrating the villains. There's nothing. It feels so anti-American to celebrate the villain and all of the villains, everybody in the white House, they're all dirty cops right now. So I don't want to celebrate. Who brought us an. unexpected moment of lobster roll chic? Well, none other than the author Kurt Andersen, whose book tale of the century.

I love No One is better than explaining. the crazy carnival hucksters. of America and the kind of conspiracy theories and the crazy religion. than Kurt, who's tracked it over the last, well, the last 250 years. No one better to get into the history of it, the madness of it, the brilliance of it, and the magic of what makes up America.

All of it. All of it. Kurt Anderson, the man who created the phrase the fucking of America. And I couldn't help thinking, and I don't know if this is me. being a snob, and I want to get into this conversation with you. But when I saw the erection of the Octagon. on the South Lawn of the white House for the UFC fight, which Donald Trump has chosen as his cultural emblem.

for the 250th anniversary of America, I couldn't help thinking, oh, Kurt Anderson foresaw all this with the fucking of America. Is that what's going on here? I think in his case, yes, it is, but as as I wrote in my book, Fantasy Land, there is a long history and much of it fine and good. I mean, America is this motley creation of, of. of ordinary people and small democratic multitudes.

Right? So it's not all bad. And I love country music and I like boxing and, you know, so it's not exactly a snobbish, you know, oh my God, censorious. It is this idiotic, highly politicized. use of, of pop culture symbols in this case, in this really debasing way.

You know, I don't know if you saw the movie. Idiocracy, if your listeners have, but I'm sure lots of people have seen it. I mean, people mention it in the comments all the time. Well, and it was, as Mike judge, the great filmmaker, animation guy, whatever director. created this film that I thought in 2006 was terribly over. the top about this future where America has. is run by idiots and morons and, and and kind of,

you know, reality show carnival like freaks and show business. Well, here we are in so many ways and no, indeed, people mentioned your comments. I, starting in 2017, couldn't get Idiocracy out of my head. Anyway, the president in that movie is this, you know, showbiz mad man. who shoots shoots an automatic weapon around Congress. and and but and dresses in this kind of WWE costume.

Well right. And the UFC, by the way, in addition to I mean, unlike professional wrestling, it's absolutely real. I mean, people are really fighting. It's a show, but they're not faking anything, right? So there's that. So it's not Hulk Hogan. Well, it's not Hulk Hogan, although there are characters, but but it's real and it's legit. But it is a descendant of WWE, WWF, the McMahon empire of Showbiz Wrestling in which Donald.

Trump years ago was a character himself, literally got up on. Right? I remember he would get under the ropes and get up and by Vince. McMahon and everything. Well, now, of course, his Secretary of Education is is. the separated wife of Vince McMahon. Sex trafficker and sexual assault accused Linda McMahon, who's in charge of basically dismantling Linda McMahon.

Linda is dismantling the Department of Education. Yes, that was her. And again, task. The richness of the ironies. She's the secretary of education. This person who, you know, made professional wrestling. as huge as it became in the 80s and 90s. It's remarkable. So it is, but it is a this cage match of people who, you know, can fight well, but it's.

it has basically its attraction is that it has no rules or has very, very few rules, unlike boxing or right or actual normal. old fashioned Olympic sports. This sport was invented in the last 30 years for this purpose of show business. So it's, you know, I mean, and you can do anything, right? You can kick, you can bite, you can you can't bite or you can't bite. So it has some it has some rule has some rules. But you can you can, you know, it's. but isn't the goal to get someone in a chokehold. So they, so they go to sleep.

Well you know more than I do if that's if that's the case. No I don't think they they don't I think I don't know. I don't think people become unconscious during the fights. But but it is it is all but that I think. But but the symbolism of him using the ultimate fighting sport. to show himself as the ultimate fighter in theory. for the American people, but really for himself, indeed. And as his pursuing a stupid war more than stupid war.

A war that is hurting America's place in the world in all kinds of ways. and making us look weak and incompetent, and having a cartoon figure, Secretary of War out there like some, you know, animated character. talking about how great war is and how wonderful our war fighters are. It's all of a piece. It's the same comic book.

understanding of and presentation of the world and their. the way they think about how the world ought to work. So you have written, I mean, you mention Fantasyland, which is a fantastic book explaining America's obsession. with story, land and conspiracy theories. and religion. I mean, what did you see. in Donald Trump when you first started mocking him at spy magazine,

which you were a co-founder of with Graydon Carter? What was it in Trump? And I know we've talked about this before, but I can never get enough of it. And by the way, we have to come onto your lobster roll chic in a moment, which people wrote about in the comments last time you were on. But but what was it specifically. about Donald Trump that you spotted 40 years ago? All of his features, salient features today, the the.

braggart, the. bully, the liar, all of it, the the the craving to the point of what looks like addiction to me. Attention, all of those things, I mean. Later on and while while we were doing spies, then the, you know, let's execute these accused.

defendants who were later exonerated, the Central Park five. Exactly. So it wasn't initially any political thing at all. It was just, God, what an asshole this guy is. And what? So that was it. And he was, you know, as we were starting spy in the late mid late 80s. as New York was kind of coming back from bankruptcy and all that he was. and he was this extraordinary character in this also moment. where tabloid newspapers had suddenly become a big deal.

in New York City, especially, as well as American culture. And he got them both to cover him relentlessly. And and it was it was he was putting on a show and, you know, and, you know, we were, I don't know, at least jeering. from the cheap seats, you know, and, and, and doing journalism and trying to expose him for the liar, bully, braggart he is when he was still purely a joke,

he was just a rich boy who had built a couple of buildings. and pretended he was king of the world and talked back then, starting in 1988, about being president, starting in our first issue of spy, where he was saying I could negotiate the missile, you know, arms control treaty with Russia in an hour. I know everything I need to know about missiles. So he was the guy. He was the guy, that guy already. Right. And then just explained to me one more time, and then we'll come on to your lobster roll weekend. Where,

What is it about America that. that produces a character like this and that people even. knowingly we know he's a bragger, we know he's a liar. We know he's a bully. All that stuff still buy into the story of him. What is it about America that Lee needs to live in those narratives? Well, there's various kinds of fictions and narratives. that all people, but.

exceptionally Americans. I mean, we talk about American exceptionalism, and that is one of our extreme ones, is is. we can make our own truth and live our own stories and invent our own lives. And that's why we come here from other countries. We'll start afresh and guilty as charged, well, and create a new version of herself, create a new country. So it was as it was working well, you know, had a good side and occasionally a bad side.

The bad side was kept in check by, oh, the enlightenment founders, for instance, and their descendants ever since, until the last half century or so, when, you know, the fetters came off and, and things kind of went off the rails. And so this it was, it was as though we had this chronic condition. which which had his good sign in America was fun. And Merrick was more interesting than, say, Canada or, you know, it was. it was, you know, and full of interesting.

oddballs and various, you know, ethnicities and characters and all that. And so, you know, I think, for instance, and in terms of precedents, President Andrew Jackson, great populist Democrats, and I guess larger deal. and I think who Trump has sometimes modeled himself. on, he has a portrait of him in the Oval Office. Well, well, he, you know, was a horrible genocidal. person as regards Indigenous Americans, for one thing.

So I'm sure Trump, to the degree he knows about that, thinks that's great. But he was he but he was also this actual military hero general anyway. So he gets elected president and his first inauguration, he opens. the white House, you know, the fairly new white House to anybody who wants to come, you know, and and it's 20,000 people. show up in a city that probably didn't have a population of 20,000. Right. And obviously pre media.

Yes. And pre high security and everything. Right. And they trash the place basically they fill it up. They trash the place. There are too many people. President Jackson himself gets pushed up against the wall. His people I mean you know no Secret service. then somehow managed to get him out a window and he escapes. And then they lure the crowd out of the white House again. It's winter. It's March with with barrels. of whiskey and ice cream.

So, I mean, talk about an American iconic event. And again, so, you know, we'll see what happens on on. when what's it called UFC Freedom fights 250 happens or the. Great American State Fair thereafter. Right. Well, so the Great American State Fair is supposed to be this huge concept. which several artists agreed to do, thinking it was going to be like. a national state fair, like the bicentennial was 50 years ago.

Right? So Martina McBride, the Commodores, Florida, Milli Vanilli, who knew they were still going Eccles of poison. Oh, really? Yeah. Okay. And now it turns out that all pulling out because, as you say, as you mentioned at the beginning, Trump is able to politicize anything. And they discovered it's actually basically going to be a Maga concert. Yeah. Well and they immediately pulled out, which is I has to be, you know, a humiliation and embarrassment and causing lots of shouting.

around the white House and panic because I believe this thing. was announced on Wednesday. They started pulling out on Thursday. You know, I mean, so. Right. Yeah. One wonders what the conversations between Rick Grenell, who was part of it, or whomever was organizing this in the white House. and the the the representatives and agents of these performers, like, as you're suggesting, I'm sure they were told.

Oh, no, it's just it's the great it's the 250th. It's great. It'll just be a national celebration as opposed to inevitably, because of what. Trump and MAGA and, and, and and Donald Trump's. obsessive posting on his site. indicate is that it is indeed a Republican MAGA event. And would be it will be now, it's a little seems a little disingenuous that. they had no clue of this inevitability, but maybe they don't pay attention.

A lot of people don't pay attention to the news. I don't know, I can imagine people listening to this or watching this and say, oh, look, there's so many more important things to talk about. The world economy is being ruined. The, you know, as as we mentioned, America's placed in the world is being diminished. There's a horrible war going on that we can't seem to get out of. It made no sense to. And now the choice of. Hello. We've held up 20% of the world's fuel. Exactly. All that, all these consequential things they could say.

Why are you talking about this silly stuff? Well, it's summer is one reason, but. But, you know, I mean, what's interesting, it's part of its it is consequential because it's why heretofore. he has been so popular because so many people like him and vote for him, especially not necessarily the hard core, because, hey, this guy is fun. This guy is entertaining, right? My belief is and I've seen, you know, focus group results to show that it's true.

is that lots of, say, the younger people who don't pay that much attention to news. And maybe we're even very aware of Trump first term. This guy is running in 2024. Hey this is this kind of this guy is interesting. He shakes it up. He's I like watching him. Unlike other politicians. That's been a huge part of his power and success is the entertainment. So talking about his attempts at, you know, entertainment at, you know, indulging his mania to build.

and fix the reflecting pool and overpay in a no bid contract for that. and all this, like, just all this, like, let me do this, let me do this stuff. that he can just do and order as opposed to, you know, negotiating with Congress. to pass legislation or negotiating with Iran to stop this madness. He can just order it done and, and and to see it. So it's consequential in that way because it's part of his governing. power has been. But here it is, along with.

trying to do things that, you know, some Republicans are objecting to, like pay 1.8 billion to people such as the January 6th rioters, are substantive. things causing problems, but failing at even. this inconsequential stuff like the Great American State Fair or, you know, is like, wow, it feeds. the correct view that I think is spreading among more.

and more and more people that, wow, he's kind of incompetent, isn't he? You know, he's not, you know, here we are trying to this authoritarian. who can't even make the trains run on time. You know, it's it's like, what is the benefit to the public. because the public are willing to forgive. all sorts of weird nurses if there is a benefit. But if there is no benefit, if they're paying higher prices at the. at the pumps, if their neighbors are being picked up by ice,

then things feel destabilized. And I think that's what makes people anxious. And bread and circuses, as has been said leaders for thousands of years, is fine. If you've got the bread, you know. Right. And but just the circus alone. and giant ballrooms for rich people and giant tax. benefits for rich people and giant crypto scams for rich people. While I can't afford meat at the grocery store, that doesn't go down so well.

One of the things that you tweeted out. this week has been knocking around the internet, but I wanted to just revisit it because it's extraordinarily prescient. comes from mad magazine and it's Donald Trump as The Wizard of Oz. When did this come out? January 1991. And of course, I was well into my adulthood virgin and middle age by then. And so I was unaware of this and mad.

But it's extraordinary. I mean, I was. we were in the middle of doing spine and and having our own coverage. of showing Trump's bullying and duplicity and corruption. and deeply cynical kind of criminal view of the world. Well, here he is. The premise is it's one of these standard, you know, eight panel cartoons about about Donald Trump. He is advising he is the wizard, as in The Wizard of Oz,

advising the Tin Man and the Scarecrow and the lion and Dorothy. What to do as, of course, famously into The Wizard of Oz. The Wizard does. And instead of saying, oh, just believe your courage or. believe you're smarter, all the things happens in the movie, he says, don't be a sucker. You know you don't need a job, Scarecrow. Jobs are for suckers and or or tin man. You should tin what? You're plastic. You got to be replaced in plastic.

It goes on and on. Just encouraging him to lie, cheat, steal and be a cynic. It's it's with very with specifics about, you know, it's just a ring. So true. I had no idea. I mean, like, hats off. Whoever wrote this 35 years later, I don't know if you're still alive. Whoever did this map man cartoon. But you saw the future. You saw the future. And I want to refer people to your. You tweeted it, right?

So you exit it out. What is your ex account called? It is called KB Anderson, KB Anderson. It's worth going and having a look at the whole thing. before blue Sky if you prefer blue sky and I can't remember what my handle is on. that, but there I am. Okay. I once had a blue sky. It's all to, you know, threads, blue sky, all of it. And then you just I just another subset of it you got to get there to. I am on substitute I'm saying oh on the notes part. they're like, oh you should post this on Substack notes. Well I should, I you definitely should, I should maybe I did.

Yeah I. Anyway wherever you get. your socials you should look for this because it's so prescient. It's alarming. But let me read a bit. I mean, he tells the Scarecrow, jobs are for losers, Scarecrow. Get into junk bonds. or only real estate schemes, or get control of a union's pension fund. Better still, become a televangelist. There's a world out there just waiting to be taken. Oh, there's a world out there just waiting. And then at the end, even better in a thing that, you know,

we wouldn't have done in Spy then. Not because it would be too edgy, because I just wasn't that aware of it. He sits, you know, Dorothy down on his knee and basically. is grooming her like, hey, when you're old enough, you know, you know, we can. That was just when his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein was beginning, of course. Yeah, like no shades of Epstein. I mean, how about this? Stick around and I'll put you up in a penthouse. with a limo and ten grand a week in spending money.

In a couple of years after you fill out. You could be my steady bimbo. What an invitation. I mean, you know, I mean, no, it is remarkable. And then we have Stephanie Rule, the new host of money, Power and Politics on miss. Now, who really understands how this war has impacted inflation, which Donald Trump says he doesn't really care about. But I think he probably does care about it.

And we know that Republicans out there standing for election again. really care about it. Nobody's better than Stephanie in explaining it. So let's get into it. And how the grift. Yes, the grift, the grift may come for Donald. Trump in the end. Definitely. You're a brilliant observer of the economy. Trump's war in Iran seems to have had much more of an impact.

than he would have expected, not least because the Iranians have closed. the Strait of Hormuz, something that any basic wargaming would have shown you was about to happen. What is the. impact on the American economy first? And then let's talk about the global economy, and then let's talk about the market, because we have always said. the market and the economy are not the same thing. But now more than ever, and as soon as he launched into this, every big investor I spoke to was like,

this isn't going to last more than five days. And I mean big, sophisticated investors. And the funny thing is, they continue to buy his line the whole time, right? Every time you talk to someone, they're basically like, I just talked to him or I just talked to Howard, or I just talked to Scott Besson. They're wrapping this thing up. Trump very clearly wants to wrap this up. Of course he does. He promised this to do a forever war. He jumped into this ignoring intelligence, which is why our NATO allies said, we're not jumping in with you. You didn't tell us you ignored intelligence.

He thought this could be another victory like Venezuela was. Right. I saw the president the day the state of the Union. I had lunch at the white House. And the president has sort of just come off. It was right around the time of Venezuela, and he was sort of, you know, he loves talking about the strength of the military. and the beautiful soldiers and their might. And that was joyful for him. Right. You had people in Venezuela partying, you know, celebrating in the streets here, I mean, all over the world. He wanted to have that again. And you're actually watching him now try to leapfrog over.

Iran and talk about, well, guess what, Cuba is right around the corner. You hear it from Marco Rubio for Iran. What a great phrase. So talk to me about the impacts of it, because this is not a war. that's being measured in body bags. It's being measured in the price at the pump. And look at the price of the pump, not just here but around the world, like we're actually seeing jet fuel shortages around the world. We see gas prices have gone down a little, but they're still very high.

Food prices are high. Talk to the American farmer. Talk to the American farmer. who needs diesel, which is high, who needs fertilizer, which is high. And the president, you know, he wants to talk like, well, affordability is an old fashioned term. It's not important. This is really hurting the president. I would argue that economically or even across the board before Iran, I think the president was really happy. I think he existed very much in a gilded cage at the white House. and at Mar-A-Lago, surrounded by an administration who truly, you know,

bows at his altar. and surrounded by business people who are making an extraordinary. amount of money, whether on their own or they've got government contracts now. But that's who's rolling at Mar a Lago this term. But step away from that and go to the American people. Go to Trump's actual voters. Right. Go, go to my mother. Right. Who voted for Donald Trump, who she believes Donald Trump. when he says there's a caravan of criminals coming from South America. and they're going to attack your grandchildren and steal your job,

she's going to believe that because she doesn't see it. But you cannot lie to the American people or any people about our lived experience. And we know exactly my mother knows exactly how much her groceries cost, how much her gas costs. And so you're watching. all of these Republicans just sort of on pins and needles. How many times have we heard from this white House? Trump's going to go on an economic tour. He can't he doesn't have a message. And the market is doing extraordinarily well. Corporate profits are super strong. But even if you look under that hood, it's the massive tech companies.

It's the Magnificent Seven. If you talk to lots of fortune. 500 companies that are not in the tech space, where they. where where they're not booming because of AI. or they are impacted by the tariffs or mass deportations. Many of those companies are suffering. And if we see any sort of puncturing, which I don't necessarily. think we will in the AI superpowers, then it's going to be devastating. But also, only 50% of the American population are in the market.

So that's fine for rich people or people. who feel that they're taken care of and they have financial security. But we know that the other half don't have even $500 in case of emergency. And we haven't even talked about health care. Right at the end of last year, right before we spent billions and billions and billions on this war, Republicans argument was we do not want to spend a dime. continuing expand on Obamacare subsidies. It's time for them to expire.

So we there's so much news out there, we don't even talk about the fact. that American people. have seen their health care premiums spike and they are struggling. And what's interesting is we always we had coming out of Covid, right? We had a K shaped economy. The rich were getting richer and the poor were getting poorer. Joanna, this has been supercharged. And I don't just mean the rich. Think about the richest of the rich are so unimaginably wealthy now. We now have the American oligarchs. Right now. we're about to get our first trillion now with the space IPO and Elon Musk.

And it's not just Elon with the space IPO. We're going to have a whole a whole slate of new billionaires. And while one might say, you know, well, you know, I'm mad. that they're so rich, but what does that have to do with my life? Here's where it does, because now that investor class. is donating so much money to these campaigns, right? We're 16 years out from Citizens United where you can now have an unlimited amount. of corporate dollars in political campaigns,

and you've got the wealthiest of the wealthy people. Now that we live in a Donald Trump world who understand that. politicians are transactional, Donald Trump is completely transactional. And so, you know, when you. when when John Cornyn lost his primary in Texas, people said, well, Ken. Paxton is not going to be as good at raising money. Yes he is. He absolutely is. Right. When Thomas Massie lost his primary in Kentucky. It was the most expensive primary we've seen. The majority of people writing. those big checks have never set a big toe in the state of Kentucky.

But now that we have created these massive American oligarchs. who have more power and influence than we have ever seen business. people have over policymaking, I think this is a game changer. I think this eat the rich sentiment is not being led by a group of Democrats. I think it's being led by Americans who are saying, this country doesn't. work for me. And many of those Americans are the original MAGA voters.

who Donald Trump appealed to because he said, you feel forgotten. You feel that there aren't jobs for you in this country. I'm your guy. And now many of those people who don't necessarily have a political affiliation. or not with Donald Trump anymore or just saying, this country, this world doesn't work, I'm ready to break the system. So do you think the impact of the big Beautiful Bill, which enabled even more money to go to billionaires and high. net worth individuals as they referred to and took, you know, raise the health care premiums of millions of people.

and lots of people chose not to renew, as you know, for Obamacare. Do you think that has actually a knock on effect in the midterms? I don't think it has a direct knock on effect. I think your average person, even your informed person, can't. isn't digging that much into the big beautiful bill. But they're just looking at life, right? They're just saying, my life doesn't work for me. And they they listen. Journalism, I would say great journalism is is alive and well and strong as ever.

Every single day. There's another story out there about the grift. There's another story out there about World Liberty Financial. and the president's crypto business or the the president suddenly, you know, buying thousands and thousands of shares of companies. that he just met with are suddenly saying, you should buy a dull computer. And then Michael Dell gets a $9.5 billion. government contract and their stocks up 30%. People see that they don't necessarily dial back into. what was in the big beautiful bill, what tax breaks were given.

But they just say, hold on. You're the person in office, you have more money. You now finally have the supreme wealth. You always said you did. So specific group of business people are wealthier beyond belief. And I'm not. This isn't working. And I don't think that's unique to President Trump. Listen, what hurt Joe Biden, what hurt Kamala Harris is. that people were still struggling economically. And they look and see and they say, who's in the white House? And they blame that person. What's unique about Donald Trump is the reason many of these people.

are struggling economically is a direct result of his policies. He also seems to think that people don't care. I mean, he says that people don't care about the grift. We know that he's made at least two, possibly three or up. to $4 billion in this second presidency. And he openly says people don't care. They just don't care. I don't believe that to be true. However, I think there are two things that have to be.

that Democrats have to be focused on, and it's affordability and accountability. Like, he's not wrong. There is such a flood of of corruption that we're potentially seeing or grift. And a lot of people say, we'll say like, what about Nancy Pelosi? Stock trading? Or what about Hunter Biden? Those two examples that I gave are like this compared to the Mega Griff. Like just even think about the the presidential pardon. industrial complex, right that we have right now.

It's gargantuan. And he's not wrong. that people's eyes are glazing over and they can't even follow it all. That's why, I mean, we literally have a segment on our show. that we do nightly white House for sale, because I want to make question mark. I want to make sure every night we're covering it. and it's in one cohesive place, so we don't forget it. But it is on the Democrats. And I'm not saying I have a tremendous amount of confidence for them to say. this election is about affordability and accountability. Here's what we are going to do to make your life more affordable. And here's what we're going to do to actually demand accountability.

Right. It was it was Tim Miller who said it. They need to co-opt a Trey Gowdy from what Trey Gowdy did with the Benghazi. hearings, Democrats need to birth their own Trey Gowdy to say, we're going to look. at every single one of these things, and we're going to pull you guys in and have hearings. It's also what Peter Magyar did in Hungary, right? Where he managed to make it clear that the corruption under Viktor Orban. actually had an impact on the regular population because Orban.

had had a grip on that country. And yet it was one of his own people. that started his own party, that was able to connect. the population to the corruption and why their lives felt worse. That is the best example. The one CEO we've heard even marginally talk about this was Jamie Dimon. When JPMorgan did not write a check for the ballroom, he said, Trump's not always going to be in power. This thing, he didn't say this thing smells to the high heavens. But he said, I don't want to be in a situation.

in the next go around and the next administration. when they turn around and they say, this is corrupt. So when he said that, and I agree, I mean, you're like, finally someone is saying something like this, and he's very clear about what he thinks. Why? Why does this seen such short termism, especially for the tech guys who are sucking up to Trump like this? Do they not think there will be a Democratic president in their future? So I would say two things.

So first, I think when Jamie Dimon said that. and we said why don't more why don't other people do that? Well they don't because soon after saying that Trump sue Jamie Dimon, I think to the tune of $5 billion, JP Morgan and him personally. And that was because they decided to debunk him after January the 6th. Correct? Correct, correct. Which, by the way, if you ever understood sort of the. very basic banking rules of KYC, know your client, right. You have to understand the person who's banking with you, where they got that money from, where that money was made, how it's being used.

And if you cannot answer that question, then you should not be banking. with them. Things that could have been applied. to Jeffrey Epstein when they were banking him. We're moving swiftly on. Why didn't why don't more of the tech people seem to think. like there's going to be a Democrat in the House at some point? I'm going to have to account for this. So I think they have never had so much access to power. They have never had so much control. Right? I mean, I almost said Donald Trump doesn't know.

what AI stands for, but it's extraordinary. Education Secretary, what it stood on and thought it was it was. Yeah. Linda McMahon, they think about it, how much influence they have been able to have over the president. AI is just AI is going to change every element of the way that we live. And Donald Trump is basically given car blanche in terms of regulation. And so I think like they're going to go while they're going is good. And.

I think many of them in the Elon Musk averse. have so much power and influence, I don't know that they think it's going to change. And listen, I don't know that Democrats have clearly shown. what accountability looks like. Look no further than social media regulation, okay? Almost more than laying blame to the billionaires or the business people. I lay it on lawmakers because lawmakers not across the board, but for a quick check of $25,000 here and $25,000 there.

Show me the massive legislation that you saw either. party pass over the last 15 years when it comes to social media. Yeah, an industry that we know has had devastating impact on our lives. So you knew both Scott and Howard. before they became Treasury and Commerce secretary, respectively. Were you surprised at how sycophantic they've become? This is a great question.

I mean, Howard is a salesman. Howard is not an economist. Howard is a salesman, and it's a cantor. Fitzgerald is a middleman. It's a brokers broker. I mean, I would say I'm more surprised by Scott when people say that. Like, why does Scott get tongue tied on TV? I think he's tongue. tied on TV because he knows many times when he's on TV he's not being honest. Certainly not when he talks about tariffs, that's for sure. I think I mean, when they sit around the table and they go, Mr.

President, you are the greatest president. Oh, Mr. President, how can I lick you more? Correct. Were you. I was just surprised by that. No, it's stunning to see it. That's when I'm like, wait, are we in North Korea? But we should look no further than the transition, right? Howard Lautner and Linda McMahon, who wanted to be the Commerce secretary. before Howard, said baboon. He said very clearly, the number one.

job qualification in Trump's second term is loyalty to Trump. So while when I watch it, I watch and disbelief that these people. who have lots of credibility or lots of success. would, would, would bend like, I'm like, why would you know, you're on television? Like, why would you do that? But I think we knew that going in. I mean, it was a knife fight for all these people to get these positions. And now that they have them, they're not letting go. If you think back to Trump's first term, there was one meeting.

where he brought these CEOs in and the business round. Yes. Right. And it was. not the official Business Roundtable, but it was like his business advisors. Right. And I remember Jeff Immelt was there and he made the time was running GE. Yes. And he made Jeff tell Jeff it was like tell them the story. of when I hit a hole in what actually it was two holes in one that day. And I remember watching like Jeff Immelt just like. I'm watching his face as he's just like, yes. Mr..

You know what I mean? He's like, I'm at the white House. What am I going to do? And I remember that day being like, these CEOs are not going to last on these councils. And sure enough, they didn't. That is such a quaint, distant memory of like, yes, you hit a hole in one now. It's like, when did you get great at being perfect, Mr. President? And they all just go around the table and say it. It's just remarkable. So he's gone after the fed has famously gone after Chairman Powell, gone after Lisa Cook on the fed board set the DOJ on her.

to try and find discrepancies in how she claimed things for her mortgage. Kevin Warsh is the new fed chairman. You know him, right? So does the same thing happen to him? Is he is he going to be able. to maintain the independence of the fed? So he's in a he's in a more unique position than Scott Beasant. And how that he's not part of the independent.

He's not part of the administration. Right. He is part of the fed. Now, Kevin Warsh does want to make big changes to the fed, right. He it was a blood sport getting this position. He wanted it before he got what he wanted. If I were a betting woman, it was funny when when his confirmation. was getting delayed and delayed, I thought I kept saying, I'm like, I bet he wants it delayed. I bet he would love for this thing to get the further it gets to the midterms.

or past the midterms, when he actually has a little bit of room. I don't know what he's going to do, but it's going to be very tricky for him. because inflation being where it is. Donald Trump. wanting rates to get cut and inflation being where it is. This isn't even if Kevin Warsh wanted to do it. prewar in Iran, even if he wanted to do it six months ago. It's tricky, but it's funny like people dog especially like on social media. People will dog on me. Because remember when you said Scott Beasant was qualified?

Scott Beasant was qualified. He is qualified. It doesn't mean he's doing the job right. It doesn't mean he's doing the job. Honestly, Kevin Warsh is super qualified to do this job. He's highly respected, right? I mean, he's been in the government before. He spent the last number of years as Stan Druckenmiller partner. Stan is one of the greatest living investors that I can even think of. What Kevin is going. to do, how he is going to manage the pressures of Trump. That remains to be seen. Well, and we've talked a lot on this podcast. about the real skill of surviving around Trump is managing.

Trump is not thinking that you should actually do the job in hand. It's all about how you manage him and the job is almost immaterial. And that's. actually when you think back to Trump 1.0, there's the books in the stories of, you know, them, you know, playing three card monte. You know Gary Cohn and Jared and Mnuchin with like trying to hide some you know. they don't want Trump to see this or they don't want Trump today. taking things literally off. His dad's literally off his desk. But part of that is those were guys who were qualified for those jobs.

They understand the content at hand. We're in a different world. The number one, and I'm not talking about Kevin worship people in the administration. The number one qualification, as I said, was loyalty to Trump. Right. So if that's your number one skill set, I'm not even sure that. you know what you're going to push and pull and take from. We don't have the right. Remember, Peter Navarro is super close to the president. and the president's sons at this point in Trump 1.0, Gary Cohn.

and Steven Mnuchin wouldn't even let Peter Navarro work on their teams. They sent him to go work for Wilbur Ross and hope that Wilbur might be napping. when he was at work that day. Now you've got the likes of Navarro in the inner inner circle. And so it's funny, many of these people and remember Peter Navarro was chosen. Jared Kushner found him doing an Amazon search looking for. is there somebody, an economist. or someone who covers the economy out there whose views mimicked Trump's?

And that's how they found Navara. And this is on tariffs in particular in particular. And then you remember in Nevarez books he had fake quotes from a person from a, from a made up name whose name was like a derivation of his name. It was Ron Varro. Yes, yes. Right, right. And this is my point of like, this is who we're dealing with. So Kevin Warsh is a totally different caliber, a totally different quality. And the fed does have clear separation. He knows Kevin Warsh knows that the Fed's independence is.

a crucial part of American exceptionalism and the strength of our economy. It's the reason international investors want to invest their money here. At the same time, he would like to reimagine the fed. And I'm guessing his hope is that his reimagining the fed aligns. somewhat with what Trump wants him to do, and he can move forth. We'll see. So goodbye. from me, from Jen Welsh, from Curt Lobster, Chic Anderson.

and from Stephanie money, power, sex, politics, all of it rule. We'll be back with David Rothkopf tomorrow, and he will start off your week with a bang. If you have been, thank you for joining us. Big thanks to our production team, Ryan Murray, John Romero, Rachel Passa, Heather Pissarro, and Neil Rosenhaus. So the good news is we have so many beast tier members now. There are too many names to read out and we really appreciate your support.