Why Trump's Worst Scandal Is About to Haunt Him | The Daily Beast Podcast

Trump is the most dependably pro. sexual abuse president America has ever had. Here is this Cornell case where a bunch of privileged Cornell. students, you know, sort of got off writing an essay. as a way of getting out of attacking and abusing women. Trump actually believes that men should be able. to abuse women, that that's the natural order of things. He believes that people in power should be able to take whatever they want. 28 days to go.

It is going to be a wild ride. We had a kind of unhinged president who is only going to get more unhinged. There's going to be a lot of fighting about the outcome of the election, because remember what happened in 2020? Buckle up and be prepared to fight for what you believe. Because this is going to be a midterm election. unlike any we have ever seen in American history. David Rothkopf. Joanna Coles I don't even know where to begin,

except that this is the Daily Beast podcast, and David Rothkopf is our chief global correspondent in D.C. not just D.C., not just D.C.. Global's Global's you. You've got the globals. Yeah, but you're living in D.C., where, it turns out, local tour guides are saying that visitors to D.C. are down 50%. Some of them are saying their business is down 50%. Because D.C. is such a mess now that Trump, who is a builder and he's just a.

he does it out of his back pocket. He says, his buildings aren't working. Anyway, we're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about Natalie Harp. getting the president very confused with India and Brazil. Yes, they both have a lot of people. That's probably about all they have in common. We're very lucky. He has the highest IQ. How do we know? Because he told us. We'll also be looking at his aspirin protocol. We'll be examining the most powerful women in Washington.

Of course. First lady snubbed by not having a picture of herself on it. Meanwhile, Natalie Harp gets an enormous picture. What your Pentagon sources are saying about Pete. and his state of the nation speech last week. The state of the force and Laura Loomis back. David, I have been missing her a bit like the first Lady. I have been missing her. And Laura Loomer is back, and, well, it's just it's endless.

And there could be a plague coming out of Russia. So it's Monday morning, and it's all good. It's all good in America. There's a plague in Russia. The elections in 28 days. Remember the movie 28 Days Later? This is the movie 28 days before. And we could have a plague and. And we could have a plague. And RFK junior will be there to protect us all. Oh, that's so good. When he's not making his cooking videos. Yeah, well, from pneumonic plague, he also made a nice little video.

about his anniversary with his wife. Oh, that's. I mean, the nice little clip. It was very it's very it's very, very sweet. So there's a lot going on. It's, you know, Washington, you know, it's like 28 days to go. Oh my God. Oh my God. You know, and I'm going to lose my job. My friends going to lose their job. We're going to be in power. We're not going to be in power everybody. You know, you may think, oh, well, they're looking at it from the perspective. of the future of America. They're not. Everybody in Washington is. Am I going to be employed? Am I going to be in power?

Am I going to have to work on K Street and go and be a lobbyist? You know, is Trump going to go berserk? It's you know, so there it's it's very fraught here. Even if it's a little bit calmer out there across America. And Marco Rubio is telling people he's not going to run. because he's got four children. He's been in politics for 15 years and he needs to make some money. The boy needs to make some money. Well, Marco, you're in the right place. Although it turns out your boss has made. What is it, 2.2 billion since he's been in office.

So what have you been doing sleeping at boss? I think Barron has made 150 million and he's still in college. You're sleeping, Mark, just off of crypto. Yeah, but Marco will make a little bit of a little bit of money for. And what what did he have to give up for that? His social justice sold the old Faustine pack. Yeah. So before we go any further, let me just remind people, please subscribe to the Daily Beast podcast. Like this podcast.

Share it with your friends, share it with your colleagues. Share it with frenemies. Share it. You know what you could do? You could send it to people an hour before you all have dinner together, and then you've got something to talk about. Anyway, we're independent media, so we appreciate your support. We rely on your support. On. One of the ways of expressing your support is to like or share our podcast. Now, the good news about having Donald J. Trump for president, which David and I are always saying, is that he does have the highest IQ.

How do we know that? Yes, because he's out there rallying for Republicans. who don't really want him there, but he's there anyway. And he told us he had the highest IQ. Let's play the clip. I said, wow, nobody saw it but me. I'm very proud of it. It was a very intelligent, very I'm a high IQ person, unlike some other people I can tell you about. Very among the highest IQ anywhere in the world, 1775. And I said, you know, if we can scrap up $1, more will be at 1776.

And that's what we did. What is he talking about? What is he talking about? I mean, 1775 is not an IQ score. What is he talking about? Well, it is for Donald Trump. If you're the smartest person out there. and your uncle went to MIT, you could have any score you want. No, you can't actually, to be specific, you can't have an IQ score above 160.

The tests don't actually go above 160. So this is, you know, more than ten times that. It's just insanity. It is insanity. And frankly, you know what the 1775 references to remember, they sent a check. to people in the military for $1,776. And it was his idea. He said, instead of sending him 1775 will add a dollar, it'll be 1776. But you know nothing. All the synapses in his brain, they know, connect no more.

And so, you know, what you've got is a guy who, between his ears, has, like a bubbling cauldron of Campbell's, you know, of Campbell's cream of Idiot soup. And and you never know what it's going to bubble up. Right. And so he's like out there saying he's super intelligent, by the way, he is the guy who gave us the tour of superintelligence. We're now obligated. Well, we're not, but the government is obligated to call AI superintelligence.

And that's another one of his great schemes right here is AI. Everybody does in Lake AI. And he knows that, you know, when people stop. buying cereal, they say new and improved cereal. And so he says, wait a minute, why don't we call it superintelligence? He should have said, super local, super. delicious, no sugar, added intelligence. Because that's what you know, he he views everything as a branding challenge. And nothing is actually a governing challenge.

And that's a problem, of course, because, you know, he does run the government. So the other thing he gave us insight into. which we've had before, but he's back on it. So he's obviously thinking about it is his aspirin protocol. Let's let's hear that again, too, because the old ones are the good ones. As he goes out on a rally, he is like that old Catskills comedian. just trying material and falling back on, on, on the old ones when they serve him.

Let's hear that clip. I love bare aspirin. I take an aspirin a day. I don't know if it works, but psychologically I need it. It thins a hell out of your blood, I guess. I don't know. if it works or not, but I've been doing it for a long time. and here I am making speeches bare. He sounds as incredulous as we are. that he's still here making speeches. Yeah, man. He's also like ensuring his brain is going bear weight.

Natalie. By a thousand shares of bear. Yeah. You know, it's like he's out there promoting another stock. And of course, he's talking about getting a dose of this aspirin, which is too much above. Well, I think it's four times above the recommended dose, right. Yeah. But you know, if if that's what he's doing, I'm say like more power to you, buddy. Well, I'm saying double the stubble. The detective take as much as you want. He's only taking one. He's only taking one.

He should take the bottle. Why doesn't he take them off? What kind of man is the bottle? People have done that before. If he were. If he were a manly man. If he were a high tea peat man, he'd take the whole bottle. But you know, the other thing about it is that he sounds a little bit like. a really bad, AI bot. Right? He's just eliciting it. Just like it goes from one thing to another. It could be true. It might not be true. It's.

I think that's why he takes to the AI people so. Well, you know, and they think, well, this must be intelligence wherein Venegas. sounds a lot like the president because it's chaotic. It makes no sense. And and, you know, he does that at these rallies. He stands up and he just riffs and riffs and riffs and goes on and goes on. Although, interestingly, people start leaving. Don't get applause. It's not the only rally gaffe over the weekend, by the way. I don't know if you saw the pic. Do you see Vivek Ramos mommy trying to pick up a kid at the rally?

Keep going. Please explain. Well, he was at a rally. He's running for governor of Ohio is, of course, a big Trump fan. And he thought, well, you know, I'm running for office. I had to pick up a kid. If you're accountant said, I've never actually done taxes before, but I'm pretty good at math. You'd probably find someone who has done taxes. because when something really matters, experience isn't a bonus. It's the whole point. That's why so many people turn to Morgan and Morgan, making it.

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basically chainsaw him off the stage? Yeah exactly. But but you know, I'm sure this kid's parents wanted he picks up the kid and then he started. He can't hold it up. And he's like dropping the kid. And it's like, you know, one of the basic rules of politics don't drop a baby. You know, just no. So but, but, but so, you know, they're doing a lot. they're doing a lot out there on the campaign trail with this and with ads. You know, the Republicans are pumping tens of millions of dollars into campaign ads.

because they have terrible candidates. They have no record to run on the president saying horrible things. And so they think they can just buy it with this money. that they're getting from all these billionaires and millionaires, because that's worked for them in the past. The problem, honestly, if we're going to be serious for one. fleeting moment, is that, you know, if the election doesn't go. their way, they've got plan B, you know, and plan B is going to be,

declaring the elections. and valid challenging them come, you know, impounding, voting machines, sending troops in, intimidating people. And the reason that they can do plan B is that they did this once before. January 6th, 2021, and they got away with it. They attacked the US government. They tried to seize the system. They attacked police officers, and not only did they get away with it, some of them got rewarded.

They got jobs in the government. They got cash payouts. And so so they actually believe that intervening. in an election in a way that's completely illegal is okay. And, you know, that's why everything's so fraught at the moment. And all the polls show Democrats way ahead, the early voting polls. I just was looking at a bunch of those just now. And, you know, early voting is an indication of where things are going.

And there are more Democrats early voting than. there were in 2024 and 2022. In 2020 there, they're more Democrats, you know, doing better in polls and more states. I think they just switched. I think ten more states are now considered. a congressional races are now considered in place. So if you're a Democrat and you're looking at this, you're saying, hey, this looks pretty good. But if you're a Republican looking at this, you're saying,

what can we do to stop this inevitable wave and will throw money at it? But if the money doesn't work? What else is there? And everything else there is frankly, kind of illegal. and is going to produce a lot of battles over the course of the next four, four weeks, probably over the next several months, because a lot of these things will be contested after the fact. Well, one of the secret or not so secret arrows in their quiver is, of course, Elon.

Musk bottomless pocketbook and Twitter. or X, formerly known as Twitter. Is do you think he's going to be a factor in this election? I think he is, because I. think he was more of a factor in the 20, 24 election than we know, right? I mean, I, you know, he was the one working. with local groups coming up with these payoffs for voters. that were legal or were they not quite legal working.

You know, he was the one. telling people hours before the vote what he thought the vote outcome would be. There's a lot of speculation about, you know, what kind of shenanigans. he was up to. This got him in very good with Trump. And you remember, even though he had a falling out with Trump overdose. last week, he was invited back in to be one of three people in charge of a panel. in charge of deciding how the Pentagon will deploy autonomous weapons systems. You know, like the ones in the Terminator movies.

And we have Elon and Newt Gingrich and a business partner of Don Jr, who are now in charge of what could be. the next weapons of mass destruction. And so he's, you know, he's they're more he's. he was at the the dinner with the Chinese. president. He's been in the white House plenty. And, he's got the president's ear again. And I think that's primarily because the president thinks.

he was helpful in tipping the scales in the last election. Well, he is, of course, heartbroken, David. So it's possible that, that he's not 100% right now. And I only mentioned this because Shivani, who's the mother. of various of his children and some twins in that. mix, posted herself. I mean, it used to be that when one followed high. profile romances and they broke up or they had issues,

you didn't hear from the, the candidates themselves. You didn't hear from them, you heard from their people, or they just gave a sort of way. We won't be talking about it. Please respect our privacy. Happily, Siobhan does not want her privacy to be respected. So I'm going to read from her ex post that she put out. It's hard. It's hard, David, to go from in love to let go in a week with no warning. But that's just how it is sometimes. Shrugging emoji.

I feel happy that I got to show Ellen how it feels to be deeply understood, nurtured and peacefully loved with stability and gentleness, given the tumultuous nature of his early life, is often tortured soul. and how hard he fights for humanity. I wanted him to feel the deepest and most stable. form of love this world can provide. My heart is full knowing I got to do that, and I hope it leaves a lasting, a good effect.

We were always his safe space, a place where all of us were overjoyed. to see him, and one that was always full of happiness and love, not war. In contrast to his otherwise militant existence. And he did break from the battlefield where he could recharge. his heart and soul before heading back out. So. And then. what I particularly liked, well, there's a little bit more, she says. I loved him more than life itself, and he's taught me a hundred lifetimes.

of knowledge and made my cup overflow with life meaning. So there is a lot of loss. But luckily we created for beautiful little loves of my life for heart emojis. I'm so beyond grateful for our children. and they make every single day the best day of my life. Then she says, I do hope and pray he and I can be great friends and co-parents. I'm just going to say that on the basis of what's gone before, especially with Grimes, I don't think that's likely. Sorry, I don't think that's likely. But what do I know?

But then what I particularly love, and I hope we can show a clip of this, is her revealing the texts between. Ellen and herself and say, I didn't realize that the. she dinner included significant other, or I would have invited you. That's Ellen. And then she goes, oh, that means so much to me. Thank you. Heart emoji. So there you go. David. There you go. I mean, he's not he's not top of his game.

He's riding out of the battlefield without having any inner peace. Well, first of all, ketamine provides loads of inner peace. And I don't know that, you know, he's stopped with that. But secondly, you know, you are reading that as though. it were a romantic nose or a coda on a long standing relationship. To me, it sounded like a request for cash. And to me, it sounds like here I am. I'm not going to fuck up your life.

I'm going to follow the rules that we played by. I'm going to say nice things about you. You're going to treat me well because I can be public if I want to be public. And if you don't, then we're going to have problems. So please keep those checks. Please keep those checks coming. Right. And I would have thought she would have signed an NDA at this point. Who knows what she signed? Who knows how much of that is true? I mean, she would I mean, look, the woman was involved with Elon Musk, and it gave him for children.

She's obviously out of her own. Everybody's giving him for children. Everybody gives. Well, well well, that. Yeah. That's why it's got a giant ranch in Florida, you know, full of, you know, herds of little Isla, miss musky Muscovites. Well, yeah, musk oxen. But the reality is that, you know, she's obviously a little crack to have fallen for this bullshit anyway. So you think this is a public shakedown?

I think. it's I think the whole thing is transactional. You know, I think, you know, I mean, she obviously, was being used as a, as a kind of a broodmare by Ellen. And she thought, well, okay, you know, if he's the richest guy in the world, I'm going to get something out of this. and the kids will get something out of this. And maybe she persuaded herself that there was some real emotion there. But, you know, once. you're out of the relationship or doing this kind of thing, you know,

you have to ask really what their motives are in being public, as you were saying. You know, it's you don't have to go public. She didn't have to write something. Why did she do it? There always has to be a reason. And, you know, as my old professor taught me, you know, question number one is follow the money. You know, where what's the what's the financial reason behind it? What is the financial reason behind it? Indeed. One skin is nothing like your typical skincare brand.

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another person who is one of. the oddballs in Trump's court is, of course, Ken Paxton and Ken Paxton has been caught. making yet another humiliating confession. So last week it turned out that he was moaning. that Trump's Trump Appaloosa had, in fact, hurt him. and that the numbers had gone down since Trump Appaloosa.

Now he's made another confession that, in fact, he's. not allowed to have any control over his Senate campaign. And he said he was caught on another hot mic. I've never been in a race where I've felt less control over the campaign and like, what issues are going to matter because it's all, you know, it's coming from DC. I don't control my message or what we're doing. I don't know if we should be relieved by that or or not relieved by that.

But Ken Paxton just, you know, what is he at this point? He's a guy who's going to lose an election in four weeks. He's. going to lose Texas for the Republicans for the first time in several decades. He's going to lose to James Talarico, who Trump. decided to attack over the weekend by saying, well, you know, he's a vegan. Actually, he's a vegan. Vegan. You know, I don't know what that means, but I think it means he just eats lettuce. Well, I hope it's not lettuce that has, you know,

that gives you that explosive, whatever it was called. Well, yeah, I mean, the Trump lettuce is what we call that. It was cyclo spore. It was the summer of Cyclospora. But James Talarico is looking good on lettuce, if that's all he's eating. Well, he's looking good. He's looking good in the polls. He's up, I think, 5% in the polls. He's in some of the polls. He's up just a couple. But he could win. He actually could win. This is not Beto O'Rourke. This is something where he could actually win. In part of it is because Paxton is the worst possible candidate.

impeached, corrupt. You know, the only person who seems to like backs. And despite all of his misdeeds of every sort. you can imagine is his wife, who made a statement over the weekend. Well, you know, sometimes you have to vote for somebody. because you're voting for the team, even if they're not the best possible candidate. Not really a resounding endorsement. And Donald Trump put him in that seat as retribution for John Cornyn,

the right wing Republican who's represented Texas for the last few cycles. What did he do to piss off Trump? Can you remember. he a couple of times he spoke out against Trump. And, you know, this is a rock ribbed Republican who voted with Trump on almost every occasion. But occasionally he would show little signs of independence. And Trump wants 100% loyalty. And just like, you know, Hitler used to fire generals. because they wouldn't follow a particular order, even though they had done a good job for him that, you know,

Trump is doing this and he has pissed off the entire Republican Party. And if you go and talk to sort of mainstream Republicans right now, they feel this is, you know, Trump's going to get his comeuppance. He he invited this. Paxton's a terrible candidate. Cornyn would have won this pretty easily. And, it's it's entirely on Trump. because he thinks he's a mastermind, because he has an IQ of 1775,

which is the same IQ as 11 other human beings added up. Right? It's just it's too much. It's Monday and I don't know where we're going. I don't know where we're going is that we are going to the list of the 300. Normally it's a list of ten, 300 powerful women in Washington. Melania obviously is on there as the first lady, but there's no picture of her. There is, however, a large photo of Natalie Harp, also.

one of the most powerful women. in Washington, possibly the most powerful woman because. she's the woman that dictates what Trump says on social media, what media he gets to respond to and what media he gets to read. Yeah, well, you know, maybe, maybe what's going on. there is a little bit like that New York Times. horrible list of the 100 best television shows, which was stupid. I mean, just a stupid list. But, you know, they they did not include on the 100 best.

television shows of the past 25 years, The Sopranos. And the reason they didn't was that it started in the 90s. And the reason Melania is not one of the 300. most powerful women in Washington, or is just marginally on the list. It's because she's not in Washington. She she doesn't live here. She doesn't live in the white House. I think when she's in the white House, she doesn't even live in the same floor. as the president. And so, you know, she is very little influence over him, whereas Natalie's with him all the time.

And even if they have their little spats, there she is at his side, you know, and she's the one who feeds his delusions. And Trump is fed on delusion. Trump is like a locomotive where you need an engineer up in the front, throwing coal into the engine, and the coal that keeps him going is bullshit. You know? It's like, oh yeah, you're doing great. Oh, yeah. You look great. Yeah. Everybody loves you. Oh, yeah, and that's Natalie's job. She's scooping up the bullshit and shoveling it into the engine.

And that, you know, is the most important job in Washington right now. Because absence. His own delusions. What's Trump left with? Not a very pretty reality. And I don't think he could handle it. The one person he is left with, David is, of course, his secretary of war. We haven't talked about the war. We've had a rather lighthearted start to the podcast. But, Pete made a remarkable speech his his state of the force. I thought the global bubonic plague.

or pneumonic plague at that wasn't very light hearted, but. Go on. Well, you're right, you're right. But but you talk to people in the Pentagon all the time. You talk to people are in the defense and the intelligence industries. What did they make of this speech? Well, I mean, you know, there are two kinds of reactions. And one is he's a joke, right? I mean, he comes out, he does this kind of free verse. about no weirdos and no beards and this and that. He talks about high tea and so forth.

And, you know, that's macabre because it's ridiculous. And then after that, it starts getting a little bit darker. You know, he starts saying, well, I'm going to have the religious, you know, Office of Religious Affairs of the Pentagon report directly to me. And it's going to, you know, and, and people start seeing, well, this is his white Christian nationalist agenda and other people of other faiths, which, by the way, make up the majority of the people in the military, don't much like that. And then he's like, oh, going to fire.

20% of the existing generals and admirals and, and you start to see that, you know, it's darker and darker. because the, the Pentagon that he is creating, is one where. the United States is less ready, more vulnerable. There is less respect for the troops. There is less respect for the people in command. There is less respect for the truth. There is less respect for the press. There is less transparency.

There is a ridiculous amount of money pouring into deals. that don't have anything to do with our future, you know, $1.5 trillion. so we can have Trump battleships, even though nobody thinks battleships. are a value and they stop thinking they were a value. in roughly 1940, or the Golden Tome, which no expert thinks can actually work, or AI systems. which are going to be, or drone systems.

which are going to be provided by companies that are owned by Don Jr. And and so I think, you know, when I talk to people and I talk to in the past week, several people are former flag officers, generals and admirals. and other people who've been in senior positions in the Pentagon. They see him as destroying America's military. They see that the damage he is doing. is going to take years and years to recover from. They see this as being profoundly dangerous to U.S.

national security. So while they laugh at Seth and they call him a frat boy and a drunk. and all this other kind of stuff, they also see a consequence. And, you know, I mean, you can see it in little actions. Over the weekend, it was announced that a third carrier. battle group is being deployed to the Persian Gulf. We don't have carrier battle group where we used to have one in the Pacific. because of this. So we are less prepared there. When a carrier battle group goes out for a matter of months, it then has to go into,

you know, dry. dock and be updated and replenished. And that takes 18 months. So that means that the things he's doing now are going to make us. less able to meet global challenges for years and years to come. Similarly, the depletion of all of our munitions in this war, the same thing. But Trump is now making noises that he could escalate. He's now making noises like he's listening to BB Netanyahu. and maybe this fly Dubai flight.

Was the Iranians were behind it. And if the Iranians were behind it, we're going to have to punish the Iranians. And Trump is saying, you know, this is going to go on through the election. And, you know, it's getting very close to the fact that, you know, this this war. was going to come up on its first anniversary pretty darn quick. And we are going to be spending tens of billions, according to the administration, hundreds of billions, according to independent estimates, on a war. which has not made us any safer, has not reduced the risk of Iranian.

nuclear weapons, has not reduced Iran's control in the region, has actually restored Iran's influence over some proxy. groups like the Houthis in Yemen. Has made most of our allies. real uncomfortable with us and has done so in a way there. If there is a, upset anywhere else. in the world, if there's a problem in Taiwan, if, if, if Putin makes a move.

on the Baltics and then, you know, we're going to be less able to provide for that. But, you know, you go back to Haig's and what's his response? Let's take more troops out of Euro. I did a podcast on my own network last week with several. national security experts, and they all think the likelihood. that Putin might strike elsewhere in Europe, not just the hybrid war that he's doing now, is sabotage and drones and so forth,

but that he might go into the Baltics or that he might hit into. Poland is higher now than it has been at any time in the recent past. Think about that. Think about how we would have reacted for any point in the past 50 years. if somebody said, it is more likely now than ever before. that Russia will attack Europe, except that we're on the side of Russia. We're not on the side of the Europeans. We're on the side of the aggressor, not on the side of democracy. Make it harder for Ukraine blaming Ukraine for higher.

diesel prices when Russia and Trump are responsible for them. We're at a moment where our national security. situation is, and I don't think this is an exaggeration. And I talk to these people all the time, and this is what I write about. Mostly we're in a national security crisis in the United States of America. because of Trump, because of Texas, because of bad decisions. And it is going to take us years. and years to undo the damage to our alliances,

to replenish our stocks of weapons, to restore the priorities. within the Pentagon, to get good leadership back in place, regardless of whether they're women or people of color. And to be what we were just a couple of years ago, that I don't think. I would argue that more damage has been done to the United States. national security community during Trump's time in office, then has been done to it in any war that we have ever fought,

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there was a piece saying that the Iranian finance minister. had said that the Iranian economy was on the verge of collapse. Did you see that? I did. The Iranian economy has been in bad shape for a long time. But here's the thing. In the United States, when the economy is in bad shape, voters. go to the polls and they say, let's get rid of the people who put it in bad shape. In Iran, when the economy goes in bad shape, there is no election. It's not a democracy. They have the leadership in Iran has been treating.

the people of Iran badly for a long time to come. Furthermore, Iran has benefactors in this world. that can help it out in a pinch. The Russians can help it out in a pinch. The Chinese can help it out in a pinch. There are others who want access to Iranian oil. and other products that can help them out in a pinch. And I think one of the reasons that he said this stuff is. in order to put additional pressure, particularly on the Chinese,

to be more helpful to them, and I think they're going to get that. They're going to survive. And, you know, that's the thing. You know, the Iranians are in Iran. They're not leaving Iran. Donald Trump wants out of Iran. He doesn't want to stay there. This is what happens all the time in these words. Even if they are in pain, they can wait it out. because they are where they live. And we we will not be able to wait it out. And it's just a question before of time, before Donald Trump ultimately.

sort of pulls up stakes and goes home or settles in for a war. that will continue throughout his presidency. at a low grade level, which seems to be the thinking from people. that I've talked to that he can't get out of it, and that Pete. Hegseth and Marco Rubio are just sort of accepting that they're. going to be stuck in this quagmire through 2028. Yeah. The interesting thing is that Marco Rubio. thinks, well, I can't run for president then because I'm going to own this mess, whereas Pete Hicks.

is going and campaigning on it because he's such a boob that he thinks. people believe his bullshit and that, you know, if the military. has higher testosterone, that's what matters. And if it's more Christian and if it's more like him, then that's what matters. And he seems to think that the illusion of strength, is more important than actual strength. And, and and, you know, I obviously, I mean, every morning I get up, I light a candle, I say, please let Pete Seth.

be the Republican candidate in 2020. This could be the best thing that would ever happen for America, because the Democrat could win by nearly unanimous vote. Let me ask you about this panel. So so his speech creates six new departments, one of which, amazingly, is called Project Agincourt, going back to the 1400s. But he's you referred. to the fact that he's put in Elon Musk. He's put in Palmer Lucky who started the Oculus,

the the VR glasses that meta bought. And now he founded a company that he's running called Andrea, which is a modern, you know, military tech company. And then the 84 year old, I believe he's 84, Newt Gingrich, who's hitherto really been. most recently famous for his sweaters. that he wears with his wife, who is the ambassador in Switzerland.

What what what is Newt Gingrich doing there at 84? Helping? This is the department that's supposed to autonomous warfare. Well, I mean, he has no knowledge of how to deal with this thing. And and, you know, I mean, but but Trump doesn't. have an unlimited group of people who will blow smoke up his ass. And Newt Gingrich is still one of those people. And so, you know, Trump says, well, he was speaker of the House. He's a statesman. You know, you know, that's that's good enough to me.

That's, you know, that's like a brand name. I'll put him on this thing. Palmer Lucky is a business partner of Don Jr. Oh, isn't that a conflict of interest? Well, that doesn't really matter, does it? Also a billionaire. Also a billionaire. Yeah, well, so a billionaire and also a super weird dude. And and and, you know, this is, I think the phrase when you say. super weird, dude, I think what you mean is he's Tism maxing. Wow, wow. That's what I'm doing.

It's referred to in the Valley. Is it is it you're you are following in the footsteps of and not. Well he was promising, right. He was look smashing. He was looking and then I think he was sexual assault maxing. which is what was going on now is Cornell. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I speak about Cornell for a second. Shall we? We come, but can we just finish with this, this group of people, Palmer, Lucky Lawn. Mask and Newt Gingrich, who are supposed to reform.

America, the American military. Well, I mean, look, they're supposed to reform it, but they're supposed to do is is is and, you know, help us. enter the area of autonomous weapons platforms, autonomous weapons platforms, for those of you who are not following this very closely, are exactly what you saw in The Terminator. They are little machines that fly around or crawl around in space, killing people on their own without human supervision. Okay, that's the autonomous part.

And there are now drone systems that do this. And the idea of the future of warfare is that you could have a war in which. tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions. of drones and robots and other kinds of, machines could go and attack. a country and devastate its people, devastate its economy without putting human soldiers at risk.

The problem with this, of course, is it makes war more likely, not less likely. Another problem is, of course, that autonomous systems do. what their algorithms say they should do, and sometimes these things go haywire. Another problem with this. is that they don't get a lot of morality built into them, particularly when people. like the characters you mentioned at Pete Hegseth, who who essentially was saying. to the AI community, hey, look, come in, but no holds barred. We want to be where our emphasis is on lethality, you know, and he doesn't care about international law.

He doesn't care about, what is right or moral or what strengthens the US, or what, by extension puts US troops at risk. And so, you know, they're, you know, involved in this project. But, you know, the Trump has got some AI bug in his brain. and he thinks anything about AI is the future. And he thinks untrammeled AI is the best flavor of AI. And so he's also got, you know, other initiatives led by his director.

of national intelligence, who doesn't know really anything about AI either. To go and shape how we're going to use it, what our rules are going to be for it, and so forth. And it's all, you know, what is it? At the end of the day, it's a something that Trump makes him feel like he's strong. and doing something, and B is something that's going to produce giant contracts. for companies owned by Trump Junior Trump juniors, friends,

Trump's friends, the the companies that are donating to Trump. This is all about the cash. At the end of the day, it's all about producing massive contracts, hundreds of billion dollar contracts to go and create these new systems. without doing any of the thought about whether we need them or. whether they're good at cetera, etc.. It's it's it's reckless, it's dangerous, but it's also profoundly corrupt.

And I don't think we should lose sight of it. Okay. Well, the great news is that. Laura Loomer is back to keep the president on the straight and narrow. She really didn't like him meeting with my mum, Dani. She thought that was a bad sign. And she's traveling with him on Marine One. And Trump said about her, she's a great Republican strategist, a great person, a killer. When she's agree at you. It's a very terrible situation. Laura. Luber thank you. Laura. She's great.

No one's ever seen anyone like her. Indeed we have not. Indeed we have not. What is? Was it? Or a loomer, like his kind of his work. Wife for a while. Well, she was busy flying around with him. But how did. How does Natalie get along with Laura? I don't know, it's a very good question. I think that Laura Loomer is a friend of Natalie, which is how. she got access to the white House in the first place, because Natalie, you know, figures out who's coming in and out. And Laura Luna got access through Natalie. Well, that's interesting.

Well, they all end up in a good place, you know Caroline love. It's going to Fox. Caroline Leavitt is going to Fox News. Yes that I think we called that. That was my prediction. Well that's a brilliant I thought so. Oh my God. Oh my God. You really went out on a limb on that one. She's going to join Dana Perino. Dana Perino, of course, was also white House press secretary under George W Bush. And she's on Fox News now. And Pete access came from Fox News. So it's a it's a revolving door there.

It is a revolving door. And that's where all these people expect to end up, you know, I mean, they just they, they just hired I don't know if you saw this. There was a story in the Guardian, this morning about. They have a new assistant press secretary in the white House who's coming in. from some wacky right wing. Outfit that one run by this guy. Jack, who, it turns out, was seen in 2021 posing.

in a Joe Biden T-shirt holding a rifle. And this lovely woman is now part of the white House. Press down. Oh, they must be very proud. Remind people who Jack persona is. He's just he's it's just one of these crazy right wing voices that got us Trump. You know, who stirred things up and and, whose, you know, track record. is full of lies and deception and threats and so forth. And he's he's part of that right wing ecosystem.

of, of, of, of talking heads that persuaded, you know, an audience that was I don't know what they were doing, you know, they were at the gym. or the driving a truck or in a bar or wherever they were listening to it. That, you know, the Democrats were the Satan and that what we needed was a, you know, somebody sent here by Jesus to save us. And that, of course, is Donald Trump IQ 1775.

And as Seth reminded people, our department. is, as you might say, putting on the full armor of God, because while we wage physical war, we all know the real battle. David is spiritual. And then he said, is against is against the the Jews. And then he said, God is maybe it's that's the Muslims. It's against the Muslims. I know it's it's against it's against everybody, I think. And then he said, God is good. Even you might be surprised by this, David.

This is what he said. Which is why I think AI helps him. Right? His speech. Evil is bad. Evil is bad, David. Evil is bad. That's morality. Look, this dude has Crusader tattoos on his chest, right? He's got his his, like, guru in all of this stuff. is some crazy right wing preacher who says women can't be in the military. That's not their role. And who thinks that? Our footing.

You know, he mentioned Agincourt. Well, you know, as incur was relatively recent when you compare it. to the footing he likes, which is, you know, the Crusades, and, you know, he, he, he really feels that what we're engaged in. is a global crusade against white Christian men. and that he has to defend white Christian men. And, you know, the reason he wants to run for president. is because there is a big group of people out there, some of them with money.

and so forth, who think that the next president. of the United States ought to be on the same wavelength there. And by the way. You know, JD Vance and his affiliation with Turning Point, which agrees. the same thing is also part of this white Christian nationalist movement. And, and I, you know, just as a parenthesis here, the elections. in a month. Let's assume for a moment that, well, all the shenanigans they try, they're not going to be able to undo the will of the American people completely.

And the Democrats take over the House, or maybe the House and the Senate. At that point, Donald Trump becomes an even lame or lame duck, and the entire conversation in the United States. becomes, who's going to be the candidate in 2028? Where are we going after this? And they're going to be two competing forces within the Republican Party. One is the oligarchs, the people who went to the sea dinner,

the people who Trump signed our new constitution about AI. with the Bezos and Ellison and Zuckerberg and and Elon Musk. and Marc Andreessen and Peter Thiel crowd. who think, well, we're in charge now. We've got the billions. each one of us is worth what a medium sized country is worth. And we can use the United States to serve our purposes. And we'll just find somebody. and put enough money behind them that they'll get elected. And.

they they think they'll be able to pick a candidate. Meanwhile, as a subset of the Republican Party, you've also got. this white Christian nationalist movement that thinks, well, hate worked for Trump. It can work for us. And, you know, we're getting closer and closer to 2043, the moment. when the United States becomes a minority majority country. and white people become the minority in the United States. And we want to be the backlash against that.

And that's why JD Vance is going to be organized or whomever. And that's the battle that is forming within the Republican Party right now. And, you know, the story is going to change real damn fast from. what does Donald Trump say or do, to which one of these groups is going to win. in, and which one of these groups is going to be, you know, vying in 20, in just a couple of years. to take this country into its next chapter?

David, doesn't JD Vance answer both groups, though? Doesn't he provide an answer for both groups? That's what he thinks, right? Because he is the Peter Thiel candidate and he thinks he, you know, he comes from that world. He comes from the financial world. And at the same time, he thinks he he, you know, is is, you know, appealing. to the, the, the white Christian nationalists and honestly, who, who else? You know, I don't think Marco is going to be able to compete that way.

I mean, the problem JD Vance has is that nobody likes him and nobody believes it. And he goes out and he says horrible, racist things all the time. And so it's always possible that there will be some, I don't know, slightly saner, 10% more sane Republican candidate who comes along. Who says. we don't have to hate everybody. and and and and that may undermine vans. And the other Vance has is he's the vice president to Donald Trump.

And Donald Trump is corrupt. And there's all sorts of corruption swirling around him. And there's the Iran conflict, and there's the destruction. of democracy in America, the destruction of our institutions and so on. And Vance kind of owns that. Right. So, he's he's got a leg up right now. But, you know, I wouldn't say it's a shoe it. a leg up, but not a shoe in. Trump came out over the weekend and said he felt sympathy. for the seven young men involved in this.

Are in this gang alleged gang rape. Yeah. I just think, you know, Trump is the most dependably pro. sexual abuse president America has ever had. Every single time he has the opportunity. to speak out on behalf of people accused of sexual abuse. He does. And, you know, here is this Cornell case where a bunch of privileged, Cornell students, you know, sort of got off writing an essay.

as a way of getting out of. attacking and abusing women. And Trump's like, oh, well, that's. not fair, because Trump, actually, as we've said here before, believes. that men should be able to abuse women, that that's the natural order of things. He believes that people in power should be able to take whatever they want. That's the natural order of things. And, you know, it is.

It's baked in his cake. And, you know, I was thinking about it the other day because. Do you remember the Me Too movement? Remember when we were like, oh yeah, there's this big movement. This is never going to happen again? And the response to the Me Too movement. was not no more sexual harassment. The response of the United States of America to me, to movement. was to elect Donald Trump again. a second time, this pro sexual abuse,

you know, guy who's been found by a jury. to be liable for violating, you know, a woman and has been accused by dozens of others of other misdeeds. Yeah. Multiply accused. And only today, the man who Melania says introduced her to Donald. Trump has himself just been accused of allegedly drugging. and raping a woman more than 20 years his junior.

Paolo's Poli is named in a lawsuit. filed by tech entrepreneur Victoria Drake, who accuses him of sexually. assaulting her as she lay unconscious at his New York townhouse three years ago. And interestingly, she used to hang out at Mar a Lago. a lot with her then boyfriend, Ross Ross Shafer. It's, he's a private equity guy, but his father, his billionaire father, actually owns a condo in.

in Chicago on the 87th floor of Trump Tower, which is probably only the 77th floor, because doesn't. Donald Trump do that thing where he starts at the 10th floor? So you automatically think you're higher than you actually are? Anyway, sad to have the person who introduced you to your husband. be accused of allegedly drugging. and raping someone 23 years their junior. These really are the world's worst people, though.

They're the worst. Donald Trump, the people Donald Trump hangs out with, the people that hang out at Mar a Lago. They're not marginal people. They're not people we can look down on because we don't like what they do. professionally. These are disgusting human. It's the most disgusting there. And, and, and and it's like he's built a hive of disgusting human beings. And each one of them has a crime, and each one of them has skeletons in the closet. And that allows them, you know, that was sort of the Epstein thing.

You know, everybody has skeletons in the closet, so everybody keeps everybody else's secrets. Do you think the Epstein files and Jeffrey Epstein himself. will be a theme in the election as we get closer? I don't know that there will be a theme in the election. to the extent to which they're not already. In other words, I think there are a lot of people who see Trump. as as the leader or part of the Epstein class. since the corruption sense, the violations of norms.

and values and morality and are disgusted by it. And I think you'll see, you know, many more women voters moving across and voting for Democrats, many people. who are disgusted by this movie across and voting for Democrats. But here's what I do think. I think if the Democrats win and we start getting different kinds of investigations. on Capitol Hill, the Epstein files will come back with a vengeance.

During the two years between now and the 2028 election. And I think revelations and things that we don't know about Epstein. and the Epstein group and Trump and the Epstein group will be much, much bigger stories than they are now and will be stories. in 2028 and otherwise. You know, why would the president have made as attorney general. somebody whose primary job is to protect him from the Epstein files? And with that, we we get to a certain place.

where maybe it is appropriate to end, which is all of this connects to Epstein. Donald Trump's defense of the Cornell kids. is because the accusations against him sound like the accusations against Trump. that have been made in multiple cases, but are particularly. still out there associated with the Epstein files. And no matter what Todd Blanche does to try to hide all this, no matter what. Donald Trump tries to do, he can't turn the page in his own mind.

He knows it's out there. He knows it will always be out there. He knows there are victims out there that are going to someday. testify in front of Congress in one situation or another. He knows that these accusations are going to come out again. He knows that he and Melania were part of a demimonde. in the world of Jeffrey Epstein, which is repugnant to most Americans. And any time he has a chance to say, well, this is really a political thing.

or this is unfair or this is people abusing the law, he does it. because he's laying the groundwork for his own ongoing defense. in this Epstein thing, which will be at the center of everything. David, thank you for analyzing the week for us. I guess what can one. say 28 days to go, 28 days to go, 28 days ago. It is going to be a wild ride. I think.

we have a kind of unhinged president who is only going to get more unhinged. We've got an apparatus around him that will do whatever he says, which is going to put a lot of our laws at risk. And then after the election, there's going to be a lot of fighting about. the outcome of the election, because remember what happened in 2020. And so. I, you know, my main advice to everybody who's listening to. this is buckle up and be prepared to fight for what you believe.

Because this this is going to be a midterm election. unlike any we have ever seen in American history. Well, in this, Donald Trump said he's recommending that people cheat like hell. You know, we get a lot of comments on this podcast, particularly from your fans, are all like, we love David. We love David. They're so smart, that we get a lot from people living in Australia, people living in Europe who cannot believe what's going on in America.

They just cannot believe. I don't know if listeners had the same reaction, but. I wake up days and it's like Donald Trump is really the president. This guy who's saying this crazy stuff thinks his IQ is 1775, is really the the president of the United States who, you know, who's caught up in every form of crime and corruption we have ever seen and still. has the ongoing support of people as the president of the United States.

And then you think this happens all the time throughout history. Look at Brazil. They had an election over the weekend and they put in, you know, the first place. It's a it was a first round election. The son of a guy who tried to destroy democracy in their country, their memory extended back exactly like, you know, two years and it's like, no. You know, and the whole south of Brazil voted for this guy. And it happens time and time again.

It's just for some reason, I don't know if people aren't paying attention. They're caught up in their own. I don't know what it is. I don't I just can't believe they were going through all this stuff. over and over again. I it's it's it's it's it rattles. my sense of, of of what is real and what is not. Well we'll be back rattling that sense next Monday, David. God willing, with the armor of God. Around us. Leave your comments for David. Are you all so rattled by what's happening in America?

Let us know. Let us know how rattled you are. Yeah. And you know when you come, when you comment on the on the YouTube, we we comment, we get engaged with you. Yeah we do. It's it's so interesting. If you've got questions, you've got comments. You are rattled by something else. We're missing the point. We're getting the point. Share it with us. Because we live in the age of interactive media, and it's much better. to be involved in a conversation with you guys than just one another.

So please join us for that. David I'll see you next Monday. See you next Monday. Stay rattled. I'm cannot count on that. Many thanks. If you have been for joining us. And a big thanks to our production team John Romero, Ryan Murray, Rachel Pastor, Heather Pesaro and Neil Rosenhaus. So the good news is we have so many BBC tier members now. There are too many names to read out and we really appreciate your support.