

The hosts discuss why Kimberly Guilfoyle was asked to resign as ambassador, framing it as “low-hanging fruit” and personal animosity within the Trump orbit. They also cover the new White House press secretary Katie Zachariah’s first press conference, Elon Musk’s massive Republican funding ahead of the midterms, and Trump’s approach to Russia/Ukraine and attention-grabbing media stunts (including talk of live-streaming an execution).
This episode is hosted by Michael and Joanna (in-studio). No separate guest is interviewed; the “guests” referenced are public figures being discussed (Katie Zachariah, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Elon Musk, Pete Hegseth).
Guilfoyle’s resignation follows leaked Wall Street Journal reporting based on text messages and alleged demands for money (including a $100,000 Amex payment). The Trumps allegedly “can’t stand her.” Musk’s spending is portrayed as effectively buying influence over Republicans.
Guilfoyle’s alleged threats to Greek stability; her alleged relationship rumors with a Greek energy lobbyist; Davos misconduct stories; and Musk funding figures (hundreds of millions) tied to battleground-state GOTV efforts.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes.
The hosts delve into the dynamics of Kimberly Guilfoyle's relationship with the Trumps and her potential ousting.
“If you haven't joined us before, we go thrice weekly into the president's head to find out what's going on there.”
The hosts promote their upcoming live event and encourage listeners to book tickets.
“And if you look at what he's doing, it certainly seems that he's not trying to win.”
The hosts discuss recent political developments, including new press secretary Katie Zachariah and financial influences in the Republican Party.
“In LA, downtown, if you need a trip, couldn't be a better excuse than to come and see us.”
The hosts analyze the implications of Kimberly Guilfoyle's resignation and the media narratives surrounding it.
“So when you suggested that it would be Scott Jennings.”
Explore the early controversies surrounding Kimberly Guilfoyle and her connection to Trump.
“I mean, the first ones to say, I mean, and I don't think the Dieter's thing came from him.”
Discuss the ambition of Kimberly Guilfoyle in her attempts to align with Trump and his family.
“She was, to my knowledge, the only woman who has been metooed for harassing her assistant and then her male assistant and a set of dick pics, which went widely through the Fox newsroom.”
Analyze the fallout from her relationships and her financial situation post-Trump.
“So her tenure as a member of the Trump family, I think, helped engender this real animosity to her throughout.”
Consider what Kimberly Guilfoyle's next steps might be after her recent challenges.
“That's why she wanted the guy to pay her$100 ,000 Amex.”
Discuss the potential challenges facing the new press secretary amid Trump's instability.
“She could chop her hair off and sell it for extensions to someone else.”
Examine the shifts in Trump's political power and the impact of Elon Musk's contributions.
“This is a career-making job if you don't blow it.”
Explore how money influences political power, particularly in Trump's sphere.
“In 2024, he put close to$300 million, a similar sum, into Pennsylvania.”
Discuss the role of Elon Musk's funding in shaping Republican strategies.
“Give me attention, give me press, give me importance second only, modestly second only, to Trump himself.”
Analyze Trump's approach to gaining media attention and its implications.
“That includes the redistricting, the gerrymandering in several key states.”
Examine Trump's longstanding desire for a close relationship with Putin.
“So we've had this live execution dominated the news for how many days?”
Delve into how Kimberly Guilfoyle reflects the dynamics of Trump's circle.
“Now, coming up to the midterms, coming up to the moment when he won't have an election to worry about, I mean, even to the extent, and he doesn't really worry about elections, but to some extent he does.”
Explore the dynamics of Kimberly Guilfoyle's position within Trump's circle and the complexities of her relationship with the Trump family.
“It's such an irresistible arc of a story right now.”
Discuss the ironies surrounding Kimberly Guilfoyle's ambition and her past relationship with Gavin Newsom.
“Right, and they both had very close male advisors that they traveled everywhere with.”
A humorous recount of a production team's experience filming Donald Trump and a discussion about a tie from his collection.
“I mean, maybe she has an interior life of softness and grace, but we don't know.”

Get the gist, explore an idea or ask about something said.
On Inside Trump's Head, what are the key points of this episode?
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.
0:00Kimberly Guilfoyle is a reflection of so much that goes on in Trump world. Donald Trump sets the model for this. It's gimme, gimme, gimme. We can't believe we've gotten into this position where we can effectively extort money from everybody. Why are we hanging Kimberly? She's low-hanging fruit. One of the answers there is that she's low-hanging fruit. And the other answer is that they can't stand her. I mean, the Trumps can't stand her. I think they've been asking this question for a long time. How do we get rid of her? How did Don Jr. ever end up with her? This has been a desperate, her clawing, a desperate, indefatigable, just clawing up.
0:44Relentless. Yes.
0:49Michael. Joanna. We are back in the studio. Thank goodness. Back from your travels. How was London? This is Inside Trump's Head, by the way. If you haven't joined us before, we go thrice weekly into the president's head to find out what's going on there. What is going on there? Jesus. The question is, is this a moment of panic? Is he really facing the first stages of facing the end? So the midterms are coming. It's going to be a disaster for him. And what does that, how does that affect him? And I'm not sure because he doesn't, he is not affected by the things that other people are affected by, like defeat, because he's never defeated.
1:45Because he's never defeated. And so therefore this whole idea of what he's going to do to avoid defeat is kind of off, and we should talk about this, because it's off target. It's off topic for him in a way. Yeah, exactly. And because he's never defeated, even if he is defeated, therefore he doesn't really have to necessarily compensate or prevent his defeat, really. And if you look at what he's doing, it certainly seems that he's not trying to win. Well, if you look at his rallies, there are lots of empty seats. We do not want empty seats at our live performance. At our rally. At our rally next Tuesday in LA at the Terragram Ballroom, October the 20th.
2:38Please book your ticket if you haven't already got it. They are selling fast. Oh, my God. It's Tuesday? We do not want to be. Yeah, it's a week today. It's a week today. The midterms are three weeks today. But come and join us, Terragram Ballroom, beast.pub.it live, or go to Ticketmaster and tap in inside Trump's head to book your ticket. In LA, downtown, if you need a trip, couldn't be a better excuse than to come and see us. And you can get a meet and greet with me and Michael. Delighted, yes. Meeting and greeting you. Introduce yourselves. Why not? Why not? Why not? Give us your feedback on the podcast.
3:17So today we've got, well, we've got big news today. Big news that was announced. What an exciting first press conference for Katie Zakaria, the new White House press secretary. We've got Trump's insane diesel moratorium, whatever he's doing with Russia and Ukraine. Who knows? They don't know. Nobody knows. The question always at the center of Trump's political career. What is he doing with Russia? Right, right. We've got Elon financing the Republican Party. incredible amounts of money. It's also very bizarre, isn't it? I feel like the way we describe Elon Musk as the richest man in the world, it's like a sort of fairy tale.
4:00It's like one of those children's books when you open the thing and you go, the richest man in the world left his house for a walk in his garden or whatever. It's like, how do we know he's the richest man in the world? I thought Putin was supposed to be the richest man in the world. And this sort of moniker that stuck to him. Anyway, we're going to be talking about that. Well, I don't know. I think in fairness, he is even richer than Putin might well be. I mean, this really is rich. He's very, very rich. He is very, very rich. I mean, and that's why we're talking about, we're talking about, you know, he's putting what, 200 and almost$300 million into this campaign.
4:42He put$300 million into the 2020 2024 Trump campaign. This is, and I think we should spend some time thinking about this, that a vote for Trump or a vote for the Republican Party is a vote for Elon Musk. That's kind of, in a way, who we're electing. That's alarming. That's very alarming. And his 15 children or 18 children or 200 children. 22 children. Yeah, who knows? Who knows. Oh, and we've also got to talk. I cannot believe we haven't discussed this yet because you were away and I want to hear how your trip went. The live execution that Hegseth has said, are they going to be charging for it?
5:25I looked at some comments online on our thread and it was all about, oh, of course, they're going to charge for it. This is just a money making thing for the Pentagon. I mean, obviously an ironic comment, but Hegseth streaming the execution. Nevertheless, less, let's come to the execution of Kimberly Guilfoyle, which was Katie Zachariah's first press conference. First of all, let's discuss Katie Zachariah, the new press secretary. Well, let's discuss your belief that who was that guy who you thought was going to be hired? Well, to be fair, you always maintain Trump was going to hire a young woman.
6:06She's 41. That's not young by Trump standards, actually, is it? But I thought possibly Scott Jennings. I have never heard of Katie Zachariah before. As a matter of fact, I didn't answer your, because I was reading Ari Emanuel's book, which I found riveting, so I overlooked your text about what did I know about Katie Zachariah. But the answer is nothing, absolutely nothing, except that she is the model of what Trump would order up. A younger woman, considerably younger than he is, with long hair loose. Extensions. Always loose. Right. Always loose. Good point. It's a weird thing. He doesn't like hair pulled back.
6:58Why is your hair pulled back? You want to let it go. You want to just let it out. This is what it really goes. Well, it's beauty contestant, right? This is what they all do in those pageants that he used to own and in the modelling agencies that he used to run. It's what Melania has a lot of hair. Yeah, a lot of hair. A lot of hair that she hides inside. It's like a nest. She pulls it around her. Falls, the season that everyone gets busier, more calls, more customers, more chances for something to slip through the cracks. and staying ahead means having just the right system, not working harder.
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8:21Try Quo for free plus get 20 % off your first six months when you go to quo.com slash beast. That's Q-U-O dot com slash beast. So Katie Zachariah exactly fits the, she's the central casting candidate for this job. So when you suggested that it would be Scott Jennings. Scott Jennings. Yeah, that was always a non-star. I don't think he's had a man since Sean Spicer. And as we pointed out in the Daily Beast cheat Sheet, which is a brilliant newsletter to start your day, by the way, written by largely Hugh Doherty and sometimes Nico Hines, who runs our office in London. They pointed out even Sean Spicer was played by a woman on SNL, played by Melissa McCarthy.
9:12Otherwise, they've all been women, his presser. No, that's what he wants. I mean, he's very, very forthright about this. The person who is out front, the person who is on camera, the person who is representing him should be like a woman on Fox. Right, right, right. So she is like a woman on Fox, full of conspiracy theories. And they often go. They go to Fox afterwards. Right, which is where Caroline Leavitt has just gone. Right. Caroline with a K. Right. And the press secretary, the last press secretary from the first administration, whose name is now. Kelly McAnon, whatever you pronounce it, went off to Fox.
9:55Right. I think there were a lot of young women circling for this job. And Scott Jennings lost all that weight. What was Katie Zachariah's first piece of news in her vocal fry? like, hello. The death of KG. Let's hear it. We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign. She has been a wonderful asset to the team and we wish her well. We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign. She's got that vocal fry, cultural cringe, goes up at the end of the sentence. It's a weird way to say this. We've asked not for her resignation. We have asked her to resign. Go on. As though she might have a choice. Well, she might be Kimberly Gilfoyle.
10:44I think she might just say, they asked me to resign. I said, no. How? Listen, the question here is, what has she got on the Trumps? What is this? What's her next move? Is it a book? Is it what? Let's just unpack this because the timing and the drip, drip, drip of the stories about her was kind of fascinating. It felt coordinated, even though they came from different sources. Yeah, no, and I've been trying to figure this out. This has largely come through, as a matter of fact, entirely through the Wall Street Journal. Right. So it either means the Wall Street Journal got a hack of some sort. Always possible, of course.
11:28When you say a hack, you mean a hack of her text? Yes.
11:36or it's a leak. But even the leak is, how do you leak? Someone had to get a hold of her texts. I mean, what was leaked are a set of conversations she has had with, well, people she was basically trying to get money from or people who appear to be her boyfriends. So where did this come from? And the journal in three stories now, I think, gives us no window into that. Well, Eric Dieter's provided them with the texts that he had with Kimberly, where she's like, stop papering this, use Signal, you're going to cost me my ambassadorship. We don't know that he provided them with that. Yes, he said that.
12:19He said that. What did he say? He said, this is why I decided to talk. The way I read that was that they confronted him. And then he said, you know, he essentially confirmed. But so the idea that he provided, I don't see what it, what would be his interest. So the first story was about her friendship with a guy that people assumed because he was so omnipresent that he was her chief of staff. Turns out he's a lobbyist for a Greek energy company. And the suggestion by the journal was that they were in some kind of relationship. Right. And Donald Trump called him out and said, gosh, he is very good looking.
13:08Then the second story is the Eric Deter story of the Magadona, who she asks to pay off her$100 ,000 Amex bill before she's confirmed as ambassador. And then the third story is about how she was throwing her weight around at Davos. We should include in the first story that she was threatening Greek stability by saying at a dinner table, you know, the American government can bring the Greek government down with a flick of my wrist, basically. And then leaks that at Davos she was behaving like a monster. She fired her security detail for not bringing her ice cubes at four in the morning. She didn't like the way one turned left when they were driving.
13:48So those feel like they're from disgruntled staffers, those latter ones about her bad behavior at Davos. Yes, okay. But I don't know where the first ones came from. I mean, the first ones to say, I mean, and I don't think the Dieter's thing came from him. I mean, it seems like he's confirmed it. But why would it be in his interest to? Well, because he paid her$300 ,000 and got nothing from it. And he reminded me of that guy from Network. I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore. Well, except for the fact that he sets himself up for an investigation. So I don't see why he would want to come clean on that unless he was forced to come clean on it.
14:30Because I think that he refers to himself as a Kentucky outlaw. And he's been, you know, he lost his law license and he said he didn't care. I mean, he's... Everybody cares, and he's also trying to get his taxes fixed. Right. So this didn't come from him. Okay. He was confronted and had to confirm it, but it didn't come from him. So where does this come from? Why did someone... And I think it is... I mean, okay, the background on this, you know, and the background is, of course, Kimberly Guilfoyle was at Fox. She was, to my knowledge, the only woman who has been metooed for harassing her assistant and then her male assistant and a set of dick pics, which went widely through the Fox newsroom.
15:34And Fox, interestingly, on their digital channels, didn't cover this story at all about Kimberly. I mean, they'll have to cover the fact she's being asked to resign. Okay, so then she goes on. She leaves Fox. She wages a campaign to get into the Trump White House. That actually does not succeed except for the fact that she succeeds as becoming the girlfriend of the president's son, Don Jr. This is during the first administration. Meanwhile, she was briefly involved with Anthony Scaramucci before she got involved with Don Jr. And then we should also just remember she was the wife of Gavin Newsom.
16:17I know, it's such a weird thing. Anyway, it's just such an extraordinary story. And it's an extraordinary story of the kind of, let's find the words for this, of the rank, if not comical ambition possessed by so many people in the Trump world. Right. Matter of fact, so all of these revelations about her trying to get money from this person and trying to get money from that person and dismissing this country and that country, the truth is that almost everybody in the Trump orbit, you could pin similar things on them. So it would be interesting to see all of their emails. But I think the other thing is that Kimberly Guilfoyle, in a world where everybody hates everybody, the person they hate most is KG.
17:23The person they hate most? Why would they hate her the most? I mean, I agree she's a fascinating story, but what she'd done to really, you know. The people they hate most are members of the Trump family. Okay. So her tenure as a member of the Trump family, I think, helped engender this real animosity to her throughout. throughout. There's nobody who has, I was going to say, there's nobody who has a positive word to say about Kimberly Guilfoyle, but it's worse than that. It's worse than that. I mean, everybody has the most terrible things to say about her. There was a very interesting exchange between her and Eric Dieters, the MAGA donor who she demanded 100K off, where she's talking about Bettina Anderson, Don Jr.'s new now wife.
18:25and there appeared to be an overlap there. And she's furious. Kimberly is furious about it, as you would be. And, you know, there's a whole overlap. The old overlap. And there's a whole thing about how she says Bettina's been sending pictures of herself in bikinis to the Daily Mail. It's real tabloid stuff. So what does she do now? Does she resign? Well, this is the, I mean. She has to resign, right? Well, she has to resign, but what does she do now? I mean, and remember, she was cast out. Well, she was cast there to keep her out of the way. Yeah, I mean, she's already faced many chapters of ignominy.
19:11Right. Cast out of Fox, cast out of the Trump family, cast out of America, basically. So, you know, I guess she keeps going. Well, she has the money from the house that she bought with Don Jr. in Florida. And I think that was about$6 or$7 million. So she has a small… $10 million. She got$10 million? Well, no, the house. They bought the house for$10 million. They sold it for$16. I think she got around$7. She has a perfectly substantial, by any normal person's accumulation, nest egg to survive here. She can't complain she doesn't have any money because she has money from the house. Well, she has been complaining that.
19:53That's why she wanted the guy to pay her$100 ,000 Amex. I know, but that was because they hadn't yet sold that Florida house. Now she's got the money from Don Jr. from the joint sale of the house, or he bought her out of the house. But I wonder what she's going to do now. Now, does she stay, is she suddenly less appealing to the lobbyist from the Greek energy company? Because she can't deliver in quite the same way. I would say much less appealing. Much less appealing. What does she do? We don't know. But she will do something. She's not going to slink away. So how much does she have on the Trump family?
20:28What does she know?
20:33We don't know that. We don't know. So the question properly asked is, do you think she has a lot on the Trump family? Answer, yes. And there was a moment, actually, in the early stages of her relationship with Don Jr. when she went around saying that Trump had made a pass at her. Okay, well, that's useful. Yes. That's useful. So what are they going to do with her? We want to know. We want your suggestions, actually. What would you do with Kimberley Gilford? What would you ask her to do? How old is she? 57, 58, I think. Also a lot of hair. She could chop her hair off and sell it for extensions to someone else.
21:19Possibly the new press secretary. That would be weird. If the new press secretary ended up with Kimberley's hair in her own hair, dyed blonde, obviously. Does the new press secretary have hair extensions? Of course she has hair extensions. Yeah, she's got four children. And given that Carolyn Levitt decided to spend more time with her family after having a second child, and she's got a slightly older husband, I think, who probably said enough already. And this new one has decided to spend less time with her family. No, she's bringing her family to Washington with her. But I think she is the inevitable result if you become the press secretary.
21:56Right, she's not going to see her four children at all. Let's be clear. So there are only three questions she took at the press conference. One from Breitbart News, one from Fox News and one from the Daily Mail. Let's hear one of the questions to her. The idea of not spending evenings with my kids is completely unacceptable. So my president, excuse me, my husband. That's a good one. My husband is out here. My president, my husband, my president, my husband. You know who's going to win. I always think it's an interesting one when the phone goes, or if the phone goes twice and it's your president or your husband, which phone call do you pick up?
22:39I think she's going to be picking up the president's call. I would say everyone would pick up the president's call. Except not you, because you don't like it when he calls. When he used to call you, you'd say the whole house ground to a halt because you were like, oh, here he goes again, and he would just keep on talking. Yeah, I mean, after a number of times this, and then it just, you know, you just can't, you cannot get him off the phone. Does he leave a voice mail? But I would start doing it, putting him on the speaker. So everybody in the house would be like riveted. Yeah, which is great.
23:11So that when Louise, your daughter, grows up, she'll be able to write, you know, my memory of my childhood in the Hamptons was growing up with Donald Trump's voice echoing around our wooden drawing room. All right. So she looked nervous. She's got a lot going on because she's got to move four children, which is a lot from California to Washington. I'm sure she'll have some help. And she's got to deal with Trump, who is in his – well, he's in a crazy stage. Well, in her defense, everybody would look nervous on the first day out in front of this. And really, she has no preparation for this. I mean, she comes out of nowhere.
23:51This is like, you know, as though a set of pictures were displayed in front of him, which I'm sure is the case. And he said, let's pick this one. Looks, looks, I like the way this one looks. And then suddenly she's shoved out in front of, in front of the Washington Press Corps, which is not a comfortable place to be. Of course, she's going to be nervous. Of course, she has to relocate her family. This is a big job. This is a career-making job if you don't blow it. She didn't go to Fox. She used to be on OAN, America's own network, America One network, which is even further right than Newsmax. No one has really been on OAN.
24:39Okay, well, I'm just saying that she - It doesn't really exist. Okay, it doesn't really exist. It's just a rumor of being on television, as was Natalie Harp on OAN. That's right. I wonder how Natalie Harp feels about Katie Zakaria. Well, she feels whatever Donald Trump feels. Oh, excited. Yeah, I mean, like this is, I mean, she's not threatened by this, if that's what you're saying, because this is not a real job. This is not a power job in the Trump administration. But it can take you on to Fox News. It can take you on to Fox News. Okay. And she's joining him at a time when Trump is even more unstable than normal because he's losing.
25:22Well, we don't. I mean, that's, again, he doesn't see losing the way other people see losing. All politicians see. All politicians other than Donald Trump. acknowledge that they live in a world of winning and losing, and you will lose. There's just no political career in which you do not lose. Donald Trump doesn't see it like that. There's no political career in which he sees himself or is able to see himself as having lost. Witness, of course, 2020, when he did lose, but never acknowledged, never admitted, never understood that he had actually lost. So we'll go into the midterms, and that's one of the issues.
26:15How will this play? This is going to be a substantial loss for him. How does he play that? Does he blame everybody else? Just say, I wasn't on the ticket. Of course he blames everyone else, and of course he doesn't accept it as his loss. But then he has to deal with a House of Representatives that he has no control over, and more and more likely a Senate that he has no control over. So how does he deal with this having lost a significant amount of his own power? How is he dealing with Elon Musk? Do you think he's calling Elon and saying, I need you to put more money here, there and everywhere?
27:05Or is Elon just deciding this or Elon's people just deciding it? I mean, he's given$278 million,$158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, which is just to give some perspective on that. It's more than the Democrats have raised all together in one quarter. That's just one check from Elon. No, it's extraordinary. And I don't think the American political system has yet absorbed this kind of development. I mean, what happens when someone is rich enough to, I was going to say buy the election, but it's even, in a sense, it's greater than that. it's enough money that everybody in the Republican Party becomes beholden to Elon, granting him enormous power.
28:05Now, remember, he did this once before. We've seen this play out. In 2024, he put close to$300 million, a similar sum, into Pennsylvania. And partly because of that, perhaps more than partly, primarily because of that, he was given a seat, probably the most powerful seat in government ever given to a civilian. So we're not part of government. This was Doge. Yes. Right. And, you know, that lasted for… Three months. Yeah, three or four months, and then it was a complete breakdown. Well, then he accused Trump of being in the Epstein files. Well, he accused them of everything. They completely broke down.
29:00That was a meltdown one afternoon, a complete meltdown. But not before he dismantled USAID. No, I mean, had phenomenal power for that period of time. So effectively, he's buying himself. I mean, let's assume Elon is not doing this for free. And, of course, there are other benefits. He gets his business, significant parts of his business, his trillion-dollar business. Well, government contracts. Briefly trillion-dollar business was on the basis of government contracts. Right. So that's there. That's a given. But he also wants things for himself. What can you do for Elon? What does Elon personally demand?
29:52Babies. What if they just said everybody has to have a baby for Elon Musk? It's like one of those biblical stories where everybody has a baby and has to give it to the king. But I think it's also, you know, he wants, there's a sense in which he doesn't have a broad vision here. He doesn't. He isn't playing the long game. He's playing a game. I want it now. Give me attention, give me press, give me importance second only, modestly second only, to Trump himself. So this is what happened. So I mean, Well, I'm going to parse this a little more here because Trump won after in 2024 and then Elon came into the government.
30:48So what happens now when he puts all of this money into these races and there isn't a victory? I don't know. Well, it's possible that - Trump may blame Elon. Oh, that would be interesting because it's possible that - He gave us too much money. He gave us too much money. He gave us too much money, right. Because it's facilitated 6.5 million doors knocked on, apparently, by his America PAC. Do you remember when he left, when he had the big fight with Trump and he was going to set up his own party? Then he set up a PAC, the America PAC. And then, of course, Trump's got his own super PAC. It's a lot of money.
31:28It's a lot of money. It's actually true. What happened to Elon's party? It just faded away because I'm sure he couldn't be bothered to do it or Trump persuaded him otherwise. But it's become the America PAC because it was going to be the America Party. Now, Tucker has his own party. So we've got Elon had a party called the America Party, which seems to have disappeared. But he has a big PAC, which has facilitated 6.5 million doors being knocked on. And their goal is to get people, not moderates, but Republicans or sort of people that don't really vote. I think what Donald Trump would call the uneducated.
32:03I love the uneducated. They're technically called low propensity voters. Thank you, low propensity voters. That sounds much better, doesn't it, than the uneducated. LPVs. LPVs. You've got the terminology down. All right, LPVs. So 76 million he's put in to get out the Republican vote in seven battleground states. So it is possible that his money could push those very tight Senate races towards the Republicans. The post-analysis of the midterms will involve what is the effect of the Republicans' extra electoral efforts. That includes the redistricting, the gerrymandering in several key states. It includes the Trump threats of impounding votes that they think are dubious.
33:05It involves sending government agents, ICE agents to polling stations, all of these kinds of things. And then on top of that, Elon's money. And it actually isn't just Elon's money. I mean, even without Elon's money, the Republicans have vastly more financial resources than the Democrats. Well, and he's also brought X to the table, right? X, his social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, which was a real factor in the UK election. I mean, there's been all sorts of efforts in the UK to try and ban X or figure out how to deal with Elon. He's deeply unpopular there. I don't know why the Democrats haven't been using Elon Musk as a weapon in this election, because he's, you know, incredibly unpopular.
33:56Good question. And I don't because they're Democrats. Because they're Democrats. I'm using your line. I'm taking your line. It's a good one. So and how do you think people feel about this live streaming of the execution? This is Pete Hegseth's idea. He said this on a podcast. And I wonder if, like Trump, it just fell out of his mouth. Well, I'm going to go. This is not going to happen. This is just, you know, this is just more. This is just the Trump baloney thing. This is this is this is grab the news cycle. What's the news cycle for a day? And we'll take a live execution and then we'll and then we'll we'll figure out how not to exit, how not to live stream this tomorrow.
34:43But there seemed to be a genuine outcry. I mean, I don't understand what base this would play with. It doesn't make any difference. It is, let's go back to the fundamentals here. Good press, bad press doesn't matter. It's just all press. It's attention to the excess. The Trump political formula is that attention is zero sum. If he gets it, others don't. So we've had this live execution dominated the news for how many days? Not a day and a half. But of course it would. It's totally astounding. It makes everybody rethink everything they have ever thought about life in the United States of America.
35:35But then it will go away. So that's what you do to get a day of news or two days of news, three days of news. And then they'll think then something else goes on. You just do a deal with Russia. Okay, so let's talk about the deal with Russia. Deal with Russia that Trump has done for Russian diesel to bring down the cost of diesel here, which has gone up because of his war in Iran. and the fact that not enough oil is getting out of the Strait of Hormuz, despite the fact he claims we control it, but we actually don't. Let me give a theory here that this is what, from the beginning of his political career, what he has wanted to do is develop a close relationship with Vladimir Putin.
36:31I think Putin provides a model of the kind of politics or the kind of authoritarianism that he understands. If I want it, I should get it. If I say it should be true. And also a model of the oligarchy that he imagines. I should be able to make money out of this. You become the president of the United States, you should be paid for it, handsomely, which he has been, but even more handsomely. He's been frustrated in this relationship by first the Russian investigation in the first administration and in the second administration by Ukraine. And remember, he was going to solve the Ukraine war overnight.
37:25One day in the presidency, no, I bring peace to Ukraine, and then I can get on with my ambitions to be Vladimir Putin's friend. Okay, he was frustrated in that by the fact that the Ukrainians proceeded to fight quite a successful war against the Russians. Now, coming up to the midterms, coming up to the moment when he won't have an election to worry about, I mean, even to the extent, and he doesn't really worry about elections, but to some extent he does. And remember, the Republicans are very queasy about cozying up to Putin, or at least many of the traditional Republicans. Lindsey Graham rolling in his grave right now.
38:24Mm-hmm. But he doesn't have to look toward an election anymore. He doesn't even have to look to – likely, he doesn't even have to look toward keeping the Republicans in the House or the Senate happy because they're not going to have any power. Likely, what he is looking toward is now two years to make this relationship with Putin, to bring it home. And this is the first stage of it. And he's going to leave the White House, return to Mar-a-Lago, and the oligarchy, I think, is going to be very important to him. That's what's going to fund this alternative White House that I believe he's going to set up in Mar-a-Lago.
39:11And is he also trying to build up resources to fight what will be inevitable court cases against him, against his family, against, you know, all the investigations that seem inevitable? Yeah, I don't think it's a very big issue with him. I mean, I think first thing, he has already bajillions of dollars and bajillions more where that came from. You said when you talked to him in 2016 and you said, why are you doing this? He said, I want to be the most famous person in the world. Does he now, if you've already become the most famous person in the world, is the next goal the richest person in the world?
39:56So that's his next goal. Yeah. Yeah. And that is very much connected with this Putin thing. I mean, there's been a lot of speculation. What does Putin have on Donald Trump? And God knows, yes, it could be something. I think we've discussed Steve Bannon always thought he had his college transcripts. Right, which would be, well, and you said when we discussed the things that Trump is most afraid of being thought of as stupid, it's amazing that those things haven't leaked. if they still exist. But I do think, I think it is more than Putin having anything on him, is that Putin provides this model for what he thinks government should be.
40:39And also this access to the world's unbanked fortunes, really. I mean, there is money out there, he knows, and Putin has access to it. Right, and he wants access to it. He just wants to be much, much, much richer. Exactly. The most important part here is that this is at the expense of Ukraine. Right. So he was out there, you know, he's been forced. And you can see how resistant he is to having to say good things about Zelensky and Ukraine. How begrudging he has always been. And now he is back to where he began. I mean, he has always been, you know, that Zelensky guy and get him out of here. Yeah, this weekend he said you need to get a new president.
41:31He has no hand to play. And then he's been forced because Ukraine has been so successful in waging war against the Russians. But now he's gone. We're waving that away once again. And Zelensky is the enemy. Right. So just coming back to Kimberly Guilfoyle in a way. Let's keep coming back to Kimberly Guilfoyle forevermore. evermore. It's such an irresistible arc of a story right now. But in a sense, given what Trump is doing, what Kimberly Guilfoyle is doing just seems like a shadow of what he's doing. Why didn't they think a little past, this is a new story, it's a couple more days, and then we'll just leave her there?
42:22Good question. But I think there are two points here, that Kimberly Guilfoyle is a reflection of so much that goes on in Trump world. And she is. I mean, Donald Trump sets the model for this. It's gimme, gimme, gimme across the board. We're using this position. We can't believe we've gotten into this position where we can effectively extort money from everybody. You have to give me money. And the Elon thing is kind of, I think this works for Elon, but Elon is also being extorted here. So why don't this? So the question, why are we hanging? Why are we hanging Kimberly? She's low-hanging fruit. Why don't they just say, oh, Kimberly's a character.
43:18People love her. She's been very effective for us in Greece. I mean, that's one of the answers there is that she's low hanging fruit. And the other answer is that they can't stand her. I mean, the Trumps can't stand her. I mean, she's a, I think they've been asking this question for a long time. How do we get rid of her? How did Don Jr. ever end up with her? This is like, we can, they can't even, you know, everyone is holding their nose. John Jr. whose wedding was paid for by a Russian oligarch and Donald Trump says he said to him, you have to pay it back. He claims he's paid it back. If anybody's got a copy of the check, we'd love to see it.
44:01But poor KG. Poor KG? I feel a little bad for her, actually. I mean, this has been a desperate, her climb, a desperate, indefatigable, just clawing up. Relentless. Yes. Relentless. And then that line, you're going to cost me my ambassadorship. Ay, ay, ay. I mean, just think of how preposterous it is that she became an ambassador. Not really under this regime. Well, actually, nobody has become an ambassador under this regime. Right. There's 105 ambassadorships still to go. And then, of course, there's Jared Kushner's dad, Charles Kushner, who's swinging his legs from the ambassadorial seat in Paris.
44:48I wonder if they'll find her another job. They might do to keep her. Yeah. They might do. Because they gave Christy Noem, who was a problem, a new job, didn't they? Part of the, what was it called, the American Shield or some bogus thing that they did. And Kimberly looks like Christy Noem, so that might trigger Trump and he might think, oh, we have to do what we did for Christie for her. No, on top of everything else, in her clawing up the Trump greasy pole has also involved having her face entirely remade. Right, and they both had very close male advisors that they traveled everywhere with. Final question.
45:36There was a column in the New York Times by Jamel Bowie. um trump is begging to be impeached did you read it i i did read it do i remember it not exactly he was begging to be it was really the headline was i think as as i recall a little misleading it was like he's begging to be impeached i don't you you tell me which it was The theme of it was, should the Democrats impeach Trump if they win the House slash Senate? Should they go after Trump with investigatory zeal, or should they just get on with trying to deliver for the people? And it's that how— Oh, right. And they said—so his—he's a big liberal, so his conclusion was, yes, they should impeach.
46:31Yeah, he should be impeached for a third time. First time was Ukraine. Second time was January the 6th. Right. And all I have to say is, and how did that work out for you, Democrats? Fair. All right, we've got two limericks. We've got two limericks. One from Garfreed, our regular limerist. At the state of the force, Pete perspired. For the next White House chair, he aspired. While the armories thinned and the midterms rolled in, and each fire Pete cry made him more hired. Bit of scanning going on in the last line there, Garfreed, but good. That was a good one. And then Edits, who's rapidly encroaching on Garfreed's territory as our Limit Laureate.
47:17A presidency racing right through the red zone and heading straight into the dead zone. Now he's building an arc, and if I may be so dark, it may one day make a most excellent headstone. Very good, Edits. um michael we'll be back on thursday inside trump's head again i wonder what's going on in kimberly's head well we may find out do you think this does play badly for gavin newsom i have no idea how gavin newsom explains um explains having been married to kimberly guilfoyle um unless he's unless he says um well i actually once once had a friend who said that none of us should be held responsible for our mates.
48:07Fair. Maybe that's what he should say. I don't know. But how, I mean, again, this novelistic, I mean, a novel isn't enough to contain someone like Kimberley, but the irony is if, as is rumored, the reason she left Gavin Newsom, I think he says this, doesn't he, was that he seemed too small, his ambitions too small, small for her were he to become president that kimberly bet on the wrong horse yeah no it's there's there could be a lot of ironies here maybe but it is it is the idea of this of this character having stripped everything out of her life except ambition itself which is obviously novelistic um i don't think she stripped everything out of her life she's got a very close lobbyist friend No, but even those, all her romantic relationships are about her ambition.
49:06There is nothing. I mean, maybe she has an interior life of softness and grace, but we don't know. What we see is a life devoid of everything except the need to get the next thing. go up the ladder to just to kill, to... Well, Katie Zachariah said, we have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign. Michael, joy to have you back in the studio. Joy to have you back on American soil. Do you like my new notebooks, by the way? I picked these up in my favorite bookshop in, where is it? Summerland called Godmothers. It's a very good bookshop. I like this one, mostly just whining, and this one, business bullshit.
50:02You have novelty notebooks. They're not novelty notebooks. Inside they're just, but I like the fun of them. An actual notebook does not have a saying on the front of it. Is that true? But they're kind of like your T-shirts. Yeah. They just add something to my day. So we actually have one of our production team told me, this was an interesting story, and I don't know why he held this back for so long, John Romero I'm talking about, that he actually met Donald Trump, that he was part of a team that filmed Donald Trump. Donald Trump didn't look at him, apparently, throughout the whole thing, because John felt that he wasn't important enough.
50:43So Trump fawned over the lead producer. John was in the background of the team. But at the end, Trump very generously sent them down to Trump shop and said that he could pick out a tie. And this is the tie that he picked out. Jesus, that's horrifying. Can we show it close up, actually? Look, we've got here Donald J. Trump's signature collection, the signature collection, which I guess is his kind of crazy signature. Anyway, actually, I didn't think it was that bad. Really? Yeah, I thought it was okay. Terrible. You thought it was terrible? You think it's terrible? No, Jesus. It's very, very long.
51:22How long would it be if you put this on? Can you just? It's very, very long. It would be really, really long. No. I think it would be quite long, wouldn't it? I could. Well, not with the big old winds or not. Oh, with the big old winds or not. Anyway, John, thank you for bringing that in for us. I think we should add this to the paraphernalia we have in the studio. Okay. A Trump tie, a genuine Donald Trump tie from his signature collection. Yeah, we don't know where this was made. If anyone knows where Donald Trump made his signature collection, it could be like his Joss Bank. Is it pronounced Joss Bank?
52:00Joseph A. Bank. Oh, Joseph A. Bank. I didn't understand that. I thought he was wearing Xenia suits, and then it turns out he's wearing Joseph Bank. Joseph Bank. I mean, that's a cheap suit. Yeah, made in China, too. Made in China. If you have been, thank you for joining us. don't forget to buy your tickets for Michael and I live next Tuesday in LA, October the 20th at the Teragram Ballroom, which is downtown LA. We've got some tickets left, but they are going fast. And don't leave us with empty seats. We do not want to look like a Trump rally. And a big thank you to our team, John Romero, Ryan Murray, Rachel Passa, Heather Passaro and Neil Rosenhaus.
52:43So the good news is we have so many Bee Beast tier members now. There are too many names to read out and we really appreciate your support.
Michael Wolff and Joanna Coles dig into Kimberly Guilfoyle’s abrupt exit as ambassador to Greece and the leaked messages that preceded it. Why was she pushed out, and what does she know about the Trump family? Wolff argues that her fall exposes a familiar pattern in Trump’s circle: people using power to chase money, status and the next job. They also discuss new White House press secretary Katie Zacharia and why Wolff thinks Trump picked her to be the face of his administration. As the midterms approach, they consider what happens if Trump loses control of Congress but refuses to see it as a defeat. They weigh Elon Musk’s enormous spending on Republican races and what he might expect in return. Then Wolff offers his theory of Trump’s renewed interest in Vladimir Putin, from the deal over Russian diesel to the wealth and influence he believes Trump wants after the White House.
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