This Is Trump's Twisted New Fixation: Wolff

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1:14There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz, and Allbirds continue to trust and use them. With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into... Sign up for your$1 per month trial at shopify.com slash special offer. I was interested in that word annihilated. So I spoke to somebody in the White House who said, well, you know, his favorite word is obliterated, but he specifically asked for a new word. They offered him up annihilated, which he liked because it was somewhat like obliterated, but also that, but it wasn't. So he got a new word. It was like presenting Trump with a new word.

1:53He's not going to annihilate Iran in the same way he didn't obliterate Iran. It's just Trumpian inflation, Trumpian drama, the Trumpian word. He finds a word that he likes, and we will now hear annihilated on a rather regular basis, of course.

2:16Michael. Joanna. It's fall, it's Ungar week, UN General Assembly week, and you are wearing the most splendid shade of green I think I have ever seen. It's good that you're not in the studio or I would simply rip that cardigan from you. I don't know what to say about this. This is the most intimate we've ever gotten. we're going to start fighting over clothes. I want to remind people, please subscribe to The Daily Beast wherever you get your podcast. You just have to smash the subscription button. Apple, Spotify, YouTube. And of course, we will be live, very exciting, on October the 20th at the Teragram Ballroom, downtown LA.

3:08And to get your tickets, It's beast.pub slash I-T-H live. That's beast.pub slash I-T-H live. Or you can go to Ticketmaster. And I am told, somewhat excitingly, the tickets are selling fast. So I think it was your threat to be unplugged, Michael. Your threat to just be unedited. All of the things that you won't let me say here that are edited out, all of the spats that we have that are sanitized. Well, you'll hear them all. You will hear them all. You will hear them all. And big congrats in our due because you've hit a million followers on Instagram, which actually ties in quite nicely with the fact that the judge after midnight last night, so let's give it to judges who are working overtime, declared Trump's ban on CNN, MS Now and Politico unconstitutional and immediately, I think, reinstated their press passes.

4:17They do. But I think my million followers, and I get these million followers because, you know, I make these short videos in my too slow-talking Presbyterian minister kind of voice about Trump. and also in the background of my house in Amagansett, which I think people find a kind of particularly peaceful background to the Trumpian horrors. And that's all due to my wife who films and designed, who has designed the house and films me and puts me in corners of the house. I'm actually really rather her puppet. But the important thing is... You're nobody's puppet. I think people have tried to make you a puppet and they know that that's a complete hiding to nothing.

5:12Well, I think she succeeds, but she has special talents in that department. But I think that the interesting thing is, you know, against the background of of this fight over cable news stations, cable news stations are like the past. You know, I mean, I think we have a bigger audience here on Inside Trump's Head than most cable stations at this point. Certainly, you know, a million followers on Instagram. People are, while Trump and the networks fight this old battle, people have gone some other place, far from the traditional television news outlets. Well, I think also that creators, and I think you are at 73, Michael Wolff Jr., still Jr.

6:07at 73, you've become a YouTube creator too, right? This is not something that you ever expected in your media journey. But the mechanics of reaching an audience have completely changed. I was at a YouTube party last night. There was Don Lemon, who has a much bigger audience now than he ever had on CNN. Yeah, I know. He calls me constantly. Come on, come on, come on. I mean, the guy works all of the time. So he does work all the time. To be fair, he works all the time. He has a bigger audience, but he works much harder than he did at CNN, which is partly because he is really a hard worker, but also because there's the insatiable demands of this new medium.

6:49You can just do it. You just fill it. It has endless, endless parameters. And the more you do, the bigger your audience is, the more money you make. Well, the other thing that I like about these, that I love about this podcast in particular, is just that you have a direct relationship with the people who are watching it. So we love getting comments. I answer as many comments as I can. I had a whole back and forth with a commenter called Hillary this week about my comments earlier on Mitt Romney. And you get into a back and forth with people who hear what people are saying. It's a much more interesting way of connecting with your audience.

7:32It's what I dreamt of in magazines. Well, I think it's, and also you can say anything you want, except for what you edit out from what I say. But beyond that, you literally can say anything you want, which you cannot on the cable networks. And actually, just to remind, to go back to where this began, I got into social media because after my book, All or Nothing, about the 2024 campaign was published, it was published early in the second administration, a point of maximum fear of Donald Trump and what was he going to do, maximum threats against the media from Donald Trump. And my entire slate of promotional, my promotional schedule, and this is how you sell books, was canceled on the networks and on the cable news shows.

8:28And it was like, I mean, I was like, okay, you know, what can you do? And it was my wife at that point who said, you just have to, you just talk, I'll film and you'll go to an audience a different way, which is exactly what happened. Every day, your personal information is exposed somewhere online. Your email address, your financial details, even your health information. It's not about being careful anymore. It's about the hundreds of data brokers who collect and sell your data without your consent. But they can't harm you if they can't find you. And that's where Incogni comes in. Incogni automatically sends removal requests and follows up across more than 420 harmful sites, helping get your personal information removed from places you may not even know exist.

9:23Incogni can find where your information appears online and recurring removals help keep it from coming back. You can also track your progress, get monthly risk assessments and reach 24-7 live chat support. To get an exclusive 60 % off an annual Incogni plan, go to incogni.com slash beast or click the link in the episode description. That's incogni.com slash beast. And then you sued the first lady, which is also what happened. And I cannot wait to get into her. What is it called? Imperia. It's her new network for women. So we're going to be talking about that today. This is totally staggering. Of course.

10:07Amazing. I mean... Well, hold on, hold on, because we're also going to talk about Xi Jinping at the White House and the state dinner, which will be going on as we're releasing this. We're recording this on Thursday morning, but it goes out Thursday evening. So as you're listening to it or watching it, dear listener, dear viewer, the White House will be tucking into whatever they're tucking into, Turbot, I expect, in some kind of white sauce. He arrived at Air Force Base Andrews yesterday, and there was an absolutely amazing moment that I happened to be watching where the American band is playing the Star Spangled Banner.

10:51Trump, strangely because it was warm in D.C., is wearing black gloves, which I'm assuming, because nobody else was wearing gloves, was either to cover up his bruises, which I'm assuming have gotten worse. and obviously we've chronicled his bruises. But there's a fly past which comes just at the moment in the Star Spangled Banner where they're getting up to the rocket's red glare. And Trump literally winces and almost crouches and Xi Jinping does nothing, is just completely stoic. And Trump goes, points to his ears. It's almost as if he sticks his fingers in his ears like a little child. And I thought, oh, he may be very sensitive to noises in ways that we haven't thought.

11:39You know, sometimes you go to sports games with friends and they have to wear those plugs in their ears because they don't like the noise. They find it overstimulating. And I wondered if that's what had happened to Trump yesterday. Anyway, it was an amazing moment. So we've got Xi Jinping, We've got Melania's new initiative, which we'll be talking about, which is all about female friendship. Odd because she's literally never been, I don't think, ever photographed with a female friend. And of course, her female friend, Amanda Ngaro, well, she's been deported. Anyway, we'll come back to Melania.

12:11We've got the ballroom. We've got the ballroom where it turns out Trump has decided that he is the code. Very good piece in the Washington Post about the drama behind the ballroom. and of course they'll be in a tent tonight. We can be talking about Zelensky, we can talk about the midterms and of course RFK Jr. who's managed to get himself, despite guidelines,$4 million for a couple of books. Can't wait to read those. And we've got, I think, the most moving testimony I think I've seen at almost any public hearing from the mother of Renee Nicole Good, her brother Brent, and a friend of Alex Pretty, Nicole and Alex being two of the people who were shot in Minneapolis.

13:07And it is remarkable testimony of ordinary Americans dragged into a fight they never expected to be involved in. And if you are a Democrat out there and you are looking for ideas for your ad content in the midterms, you could look no further than what I think is the most moving public testimony I've seen for years. I was in floods watching Nicole's mother, Renee Nicole Good's mother, yesterday. Donna, Donna, you did your daughter proud. You did your daughter proud. Anyway, Michael, where should we begin? Xi Jinping and Trump rolling out the red carpet? Well, let's do UN week. I'm not sure that people actually understand what this is.

13:52And it is a particular week that happens in New York, gridlock. It's a horrible moment if you live in the city. Oh, it's terrible. The traffic is awful. You cannot get anywhere. But there is a thing in the the the I mean, that was a weird thing about the the Iranian president. We are at war with Iran. We would do anything probably to kill the Iranian president. But he was in New York speaking at at the UN. I mean, this was after Trump then. I mean, it was Trump threatens to annihilate Iran and then the Iran president speaks. So so this is this strange moment in which happens because because the arrangement with the U.N.

14:41is that during this week, every everybody has essentially free passage to New York City. So even if you've been sanctioned, even if you cannot come, even if we don't let you in, if you have diplomatic status, anybody can come to New York. And apparently cannot be killed. That must be part of it. So we did not kill the president of Iran. But it's not only world leaders. It's literally every sleazeball in the world who is looking for an advantage, power to somehow triangulate whatever politics in whatever country might be helpful to them. So, you know, I there was several years running. I would I would go to get an invitation to Jeffrey Epstein's house during U.N.

15:46week. And that was me and hundreds of diplomats would go through Jeffrey Epstein's house. And because because it was a big house, but also because that functioned as a as a kind of. You know, it's a kind of sleazeball center, I suppose, I suppose the a place where you could where you could meet other people who listen, I don't I don't I don't know what they were there for. but they was I think well I mean sure some of them were probably campaigning to get their president or prime minister the Nobel Peace Prize right I mean you talked about running into the chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize there and that's exactly the kind of thing that goes on sort of quiet lobbying soft power what what was the food and drink like because that's the other thing that people go for sustenance right yeah not not nothing that I can distinctly remember Jeffrey Free Epstein was not particularly interested in food.

16:48In good food. Yes. And he was always hard. Like at Mar-a-Lago, it was hard to get a drink there. Shaq here. What's it like to buy a car from Carvana 100 % online and get it delivered to your door? Let me tell you. Your car is here, Mr. Shaq. Thank you, Mr. Carvana guy. Can't wait to take it for a spin. Only the best for you, Mr. Shaq. Hey, have you always been so big, tall, and handsome? Not always. I was 6 '10 once. Seven days delivered or returned it, Mr. Shaq. Not that I would. You never do. No, I never do. So buy your car today on Carvana. Delivery fees may apply. See our seven-day return policy at caravana.com.

17:27Well, and I'm sure also, you know, you say very sleazy people come in. Obviously, the world leaders. I mean, actually, I remember a friend calling me and saying, you're not going to believe this. I'm in Duane Reade, which is one of New York's endless pharmacies. And Robert Mugabe is buying cotton wool pads, which, I mean, a very strange juxtaposition of, you know, horrible African dictator buying cotton wool pads from Duane Reade. So I got during the first Trump administration, sort of at the height of Russiagate and the investigation of Donald Trump for his ties to Putin and to Russia. During U.N.

18:16week, I got a call. Someone I knew called me and said that that a particular Russian oligarch by the name actually of Oleg Deripaska would like to meet me. And I was like, what's that about? Um, and, um, and I said, this was like, well, late in the afternoon. And I said, said, and they said, can you come now? Um, I guess oligarchs like that. And, um, and I said, I, I can't, I'm actually in the middle of making dinner for my family. And then this person said, said, um, what are you having? What are you having? And I said, and I remember that I said, salmon. And they said, oh, Oleg likes salmon.

19:01He'll come to you. So literally like an hour later, and Oleg Deripaska is not allowed to be in this country. So, I mean, he's a guy, a long, terrible background. Matter of fact, I once said to someone, wasn't he accused of like murdering people? and then they said it said oh that was that was during just during the aluminium wars um uh aluminium wars being the way brits say out i was just going to say don't you mean aluminum wars and um um but anyway he comes he arrives at my house followed by two cars of fbi agents so Wherever he goes, he's allowed to be here because it's UN week, but the FBI is following him.

19:54And then he came into my house, ate my salmon, my children rocked my children on his, my young children then on his knee, and then told me nothing. I thought, what was this about? And I still to this day do not know. Well, if the salmon-loving baby rocking on his murderous knees, Oleg, happens to be listening or watching Oleg get back in touch, is Oleg still with us or has he been, like so many other oligarchs, defenestrated? No, no, still a very close Putin crony. Well, you better be careful, Michael. So I had a conversation yesterday with some White House people because I was interested in Trump's annihilation.

20:45I mean, annihilation is a pretty big word here. And he basically said, I have to decide whether I am going to annihilate Iran. at the UN, which was specifically created to avoid future wars after the Second World War. I mean, it's a weird place to say that. Right. But then I got some, because I was interested in that word, annihilated. And so I spoke to somebody in the White House who said, well, you know, his favorite word is obliterated, but he specifically asked for a new word. So they went around and then they had to They offered him up annihilated, which he liked because it was somewhat like obliterated, but it wasn't.

21:33So he got a new word. It was like presenting Trump with a new word. This is like one of those school things where you go in and there's a new word written on the board and you will learn it and use it throughout the week. Totally. So which goes to the fact that it really has, of course, no meaning. He's not going to wean to annihilate Iran in the same way he didn't obliterate Iran. It's just a Trumpian inflation, Trumpian drama, the Trumpian word. He finds a word that he likes, and we will now hear annihilated on a rather regular basis, of course. Okay, so we should listen out for that. And of course, the Republicans, according to the Democrats, are going to get annihilated in the midterm.

22:23So we can see if he predicts his own annihilation or his party's annihilation. Yeah, no, then again, and then fascinating, of course, to hear the Iranian president give basically a direct rebut to this. And they have obviously rebutted Donald Trump in so many aspects of his warring initiative against Iran. What did you think of President Masoud Pazikian? I don't know what you mean by this. Did I? Was I? Well, I thought it was interesting the way they kept flashing to him during Trump's speech, and he sat there looking absolutely immobile. I mean, I think the the Iranian leadership, these are terrible people.

23:13So and, you know, and they have they have they have been among the most destructive, the most in in insidious rulers of of the past generation. so do i wish them well no but um and i'm in and in some way i assume that's that donald trump began from that position these are terrible guys let's get rid of them it just turns out to be very very difficult and what donald trump has done is basically installed killed the first set of these guys and install guys that are as bad or worse. And who now have a purpose to gather around, which is the wall. So any other winners from the UN, do you think? What about Melania?

24:12Because Melania, where her husband scolded Caitlin Collins and CNN for bothering to cover him at the UN, not realizing that actually they were there because the UN had given them access. Melania welcomed them, welcomed CNN specifically to follow her as she made a speech about the UN. And then she appeared at the New York Stock Exchange launching Imperia, her female network. A female network. And even before she did that, she gave another interview, which I thought was a kind of pretty much of a lukewarm appraisal of her husband. Was this where she told him what she thought of his speeches? She's always honest and he doesn't always want to hear it.

24:59Exactly. And, you know, he's done the best he can. The best he can. Right. She said it's complicated times in Globe and he does the best he can. Starting a business can seem like a daunting task unless you have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website to marketing to selling and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need. There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz, and Allbirds continue to trust and use them. With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into... Sign up for your$1 per month trial at shopify.com slash special offer.

25:42So this is a whole separate... So hold on. I think he's being best, Michael. I think my husband, he'd be best. He'd be best. I mean, I think that she's decided, OK, I can make hay out of I can be in an international representative. I'm I am international. I got an accent. So so I'm going to make the most of this. And remember why she's doing this. They're constantly filming her. So this is obviously part of her show that we're going to see at some point. Honestly, Michael, we missed a trick there. You should have been in the audience because you could have raised a question. When she goes, any questions?

26:23You could have raised your hand and she'd be like, oh, my God, it's Michael Wolfe. You need to turn up at one of her speeches with a question. I would pay to see that. I mean, there are not too many speeches. I mean, let's, you know, honestly, we should have both been at the New York Stock Exchange yesterday. I didn't know it was happening. If I'd known, I would have gone. I'm obviously not on her female empowerment list. Had I had I been, I would obviously have gone and taken you with me. Yeah. You know, it's funny. I mean, there was in that that interview, that Fox business interview. Oh, my goodness.

26:59With a lineup of these Fox morons. I mean, I can't. They even look like. Oh, my God. What about the woman that said, First Lady, we are beaming that you are here this morning. She was so bad. Madam First Lady, thank you so much for being here. We're beaming in your presence. We just cannot thank you enough for joining us. Oh, my God. I mean, I don't think they knew what to say. It's like, I mean, obviously this was set up. Obviously they were assigned to do this. Obviously they were stuck. I mean, this is their job. And they had to make the Fox most of this. But they seem... Well, they seem bewildered at the idea that Melania Trump, who's barely been visible and who the Daily Beast has audited, and we know that she's made a third fewer appearances than certainly the Michelle Obama, and she's the least visible First Lady of the entire century.

28:04I think they're staggered that she's launching a female empowerment. Well, actually, they said, well, you do so much. We can't believe how hard you work. I know. What were they talking about? I mean, even she referenced that when she turned up to collect her$2 million for fostering the future with the car race. And she goes, I heard you missed me. I.e., she knows she's been missing in action as first lady. But one can only think about her friend Stephanie Winston-Wolkoff, who Melania dragged down in Trump 1 to run the inauguration process, the sort of celebrations for the inauguration. And Stephanie had run the Met Ball for Vogue for 10 years.

28:49So she's a very good organizer of events. And very rapidly, Stephanie was completely trashed. And I'm not sure she's entirely recovered. She has a very good book called Melania and Me. which chronicles her being chewed up and spat out by the Trump White House, and her name dragged through the mud in public. So that was Melania's last known friend, I think. And it's impossible to think of her with female friends. You never see photos of her hanging out with women. We don't know who she hangs out with. What is this thing called again? Which, by the way, you don't have to learn this. Imperia. Because we'll never hear from it again.

29:30I mean, this is as much a sham as her marriage is. Well, it's supposed to be. It's called Imperia, and they announced it as the Davos of women, I think, but it's not a DEI thing. Definitely not DEI. Oh, no, they went out of their way. This is not DEI. But what are they talking about? This is everybody was like, we don't know. But it was literally everybody there saying, please, God, take me. Why am I here? Well, I would like to know more about Mark Berman, her advisor, because I sense his fingers on this. Also, what's happening with her outfits? Because she was dressed as Ruth Bader Ginsburg earlier this week with a kind of white tie.

30:14Well, not a white tie, but a sort of white legal type fold that made it look like she could be on the Supreme Court. To me, when you say that, it always indicates that you're trying to make her, you think she's suddenly looking Jewish, which I think is curious. No, no, I'm not. You're out of your mind. I think she's trying to make herself look serious. But today I thought she looks like a real estate broker who was going to hand over the keys to your new apartment. Here you are, happy, well done, good transaction, here are keys to a new apartment in Trump Tower. She would be actually a good salesperson for Trump Tower Apartments.

30:56Now, do you think this is to Trump's advantage, electoral advantage, as we approach the midterms, or detriment? I think it reminds people that Melania, like RFK Jr., is making her own money while in office. Technically, I suppose she's in office. And they're monetizing the position as fast as they can. I mean, RFK Jr., you know,$4 million. You know, this is what did for Andrew Cuomo, that he took$5 million to write a book on American leadership during COVID. People don't like the opportunism of this. No, that's what that's what I would say. So, I mean, and I would think I mean, there is no control.

31:42The White House has no control over over over her and the Republican Party. She really operates in just entirely independent of of the White House, of its concerns and of its political considerations. But I think in the White House there, my sense is they are shaking their heads. What is she doing? What is she doing? Well, it's strange that she's setting up a female network, certainly. But she used the opportunity to talk about fostering future is global. That's what she said. She said fostering future is global, but we don't know whose future she's fostering or what global actually means in this context.

32:30Anyway, watch this space for more developments of Melania frantically networking. There is really, it's not even frantic. She'll do this. She got her clip. She'll go away. We'll never hear from this again. She doesn't care. So this is all content, you think, for her Amazon series? Yeah, completely. I mean, she's not going to set up a Davos for women. This is preposterous. I mean, everything she said was as though AI generated. What was she talking about? And the answer is she's talking about nothing. She's talking about nothing. She's talking about nothing, although she has made some money in the White House.

33:14So perhaps she can advise people on how to go from being a model to being first lady and monetizing it. And monetizing it. And, you know, Sean Doffy also getting some content, perhaps unwitting content, when air traffic control closed down and a fiber ended up being cut and no one could fly in or out of airports on the East Coast on the very day they were announcing their special AI developments to make air traffic even easier. very unfortunate sean duffy who spent you know weeks driving across the country in his rv with his wife when he should have been attending to the nation's transportation issues well let's go to the let's continue on the grift here and on the rfk grift because i think that that's that's a this is an interesting development so he's taken four million dollars as an advance um to write some more books.

34:12Now, the interesting thing, I know some of the background here. He's taken this from a man by the name of Tony Lyons. Who's the founder of Skyhorse Press, right? Skyhorse is an independent press. It specializes in publishing books by canceled people, essentially. Didn't they also publish Melania? I think they did. Yes, they did. They did. So other books that other publishers don't want to publish for various reasons, but by people who have enough of their own promotional networks, they're celebrities. They're just disreputable celebrities. This is who they publish. And they do this with a particular business model.

35:02The business model is we don't pay advances. I mean, they are very clear about this. And Tony Lyons will tell almost anyone, that's it. That's our model. We don't pay advances. If you expect an advance, don't come to us. And we're going to give you a royalty that is only half of what traditional publishers pay. So that's the business model. turns out to be quite a successful business model. And now Tony Lyons, this guy, and I have no idea what his politics are. I mean, I've had a few conversations with him. He seems a relatively, you know, a New York guy. So he published this book that RFK wrote about Fauci, the real Anthony Fauci.

35:51I think the book might've been called it. And I think that has been the best-selling book at Skyhorse. And it kind of moved them from the margins of publishing. But they still are on. They are on the margins of publishing. They don't distribute their own books, for instance. But this sounds like RFK Jr. is getting an advance from Antitrón. Yes. No, it does. That's why I'm saying is the peculiar thing about this. And this is a very large advance, a$4 million advance for a very small publishing company. Very small is unusual, to say the least, unusual for this company, unusual for any publisher the size of Skyhorse.

36:38And then this Tony Lyons has been he I think he was the chairman of the of the RFK campaign for president. This is and he will if RFK runs again, which I would I would bet my four million dollars on it is is this Tony Lyons will be the central figure. So this is all a part of a political operation. And it's to get the Maha crowd excited, I suppose. Perhaps Tony Lyons made money from Melania's book. I know that Melania was asking more traditional publishers for$10 million because I remember discussing it with a friend who was debating whether or not to take a meeting with her team. but my understanding is that no one would do that and so that's why she went sky horse yeah and and again where where does this money come from uh this is this is not transparent let me put it that way well perhaps he can write about the rise of measles in his book that would be interesting and just reminding which i'm sure i'm sure he will this is go this is going to be one of the central things of this.

38:01And we've talked about this before, that one would think that this would finish him off, measles. Suddenly there's a measles epidemic, but it doesn't. And we've segmented part of the country and part of the electorate, which is rabid on the subject of not getting vaccinated, is willing to tolerate the outbreak of these diseases. And RFK has directly aligned himself with this issue and this art and these people. When an intruder approaches a home, they expect a camera. What they don't expect... Stop. This is SimpliSafe. Police are on the way. Using smart AI cameras, live U.S.-based agents help deter intruders in under 30 seconds.

38:49Don't just record a break-in. Stop it from ever happening. Plan starting around a dollar a day. Right now, get 60 % off your new system with professional monitoring at simplisafe.com slash Spotify. 30 seconds response time requires monitoring plan with outdoor protection starting at$49.99 a month. Visit simplisafe.com slash licenses for alarm license information. You know, we often talk about the incompetence that Trump has in his cabinet. I don't want us ever to forget Kristi Noem and her incompetence running ICE and the appalling shootings in Minneapolis, list, which we were reminded of yesterday by the extraordinarily dignified testimony that relatives of Alex Preti, the ICU nurse who was shot dead, and the description of him being shot by his friend is truly, it was remarkable.

39:42And Renee Nicole Good's mother talking about losing her daughter and her brother, Brent, Rene Nicole's brother, barely able to speak and get through his speech because he said he was so used to Rene editing him. And what you saw were normal families, normal groups of people whose lives have been completely upended by ICE. And I want to play some clips. With his back facing them, I watched Alex be taken to the ground with a swarm of masked agents on top of him. In that moment, I believe Alex made a choice to be righteous, kind, and brave. To stand up for his neighbors being assaulted in the street.

40:24And then they shot him. Again. And again. And again.

40:32Alex was flat on the ground. His limbs spread out. There was no movement. The agents fled quickly. I watched Alex die. It all happened so fast. I'm a registered Republican. I voted for President Trump under the impression that these agents were here to protect the citizens of the United States. Innocents like our family and the others here against terrorists. Certainly not to accuse those of us here of being terrorists and take precious lives. This is madness. So that was Stella Carlson talking about her friend Alex Peretti and Donna Granger, Renee Nicole's mom. And you just think of Kristi Noem spending that quarter of a billion dollars of taxpayers' money on herself riding around in front of Mount Rushmore, which was obviously her attempt to get more famous.

41:30and her riding around in the Department of Homeland Security luxury plane with Corey Lewandowski, this appalling incompetence at ICE. And it just makes me so angry, so angry at her utter incompetence. Well, it's not, I mean, it's not just incompetence. I mean, it's cruelty, it's absurdity. These are bad people. These are bad people. And let's also see this now against, which I think we have to do, against the midterms. This is among the many issues that Trump has at best overplayed his hand. This is a big one. I mean, the immigration story and the immigration story, which arguably has gotten Trump elected.

42:36And then he played this to the point of obvious incompetence, obvious cruelty, and even absurdity. He didn't have to do this. What is the point of this? Except Trump's dominance. I am, I can do anything I want to do. That's the message. And the message in this kind of extraordinary testimony is that that affects real people and hurts real people. And I think that people going into this, into this, into the midterms, especially even people who might have in the past supported Trump on this very issue are like, OK, too much, way too much. We get it. This is these are bad people. These are bad people.

43:25We don't want to live in a country where masked people drag people out of their homes and shoot bystanders. I mean, the description, Stella Carlson's description of them shooting him again and again and again. I mean, just the unnecessary cruelty and violence and the sadism involved is just shocking. anyway. I thought, Mrs. Granger, you did your daughter proud. You did your daughter proud. There's another, moving on to the more Trump incompetence, there's a particular incompetent who's running for the Senate in North Carolina. And I think even the Republicans have sort of are on the verge of throwing up their hands and giving up on this one.

44:19But I I used to see this guy during the campaign. I mean, his name is Michael Watley. And Michael Watley became, I mean, he was just a Republican non-entity, a doofus, a guy who would do what he was told. That was his his reason for being because they wanted to get that Trump hated the head of the RNC at that time. The Republican National Committee was Rona McDaniel, Rona Romney McDaniel, who briefly, briefly went to NBC and was hounded out by the journalists. Exactly. And but but she was a Trump had conceived a a a kind of blood score against her, not least of all because she's related to the Romney family.

45:16and um so they got rid of her and then they needed somebody to put into this spot who would do what they wanted to do and that person that person was michael whatley um and um and in fact so he was what was his his title was the director chairman i don't know but they though the chairman then became Trump's daughter-in-law, the wife of Eric Trump. Laura Trump. Laura Trump, who tried to get that Senate seat at one point. When it became open, she hoped that she would get it. Then she wanted a Florida Senate seat, and she was given a Fox show instead. Right. Right. So and then there was a whole a whole I mean, the Trump people would tell these hilarious stories of Michael Watley at the offices of the Republican National Committee being and he was given an office and told just to sit behind the desk.

46:22Don't do anything. Don't move. Don't move. Which he would do for hours on end because he was given no responsibilities, no duties, openly had no abilities, had just literally the body behind the desk. Anyway, he is running for Senate in North Carolina and apparently will lose. And even Nancy Mace is saying that she thinks he's going to lose. Right. So suddenly all these these seats that felt as if they were firmly red are moving purple, we think. Yeah, no, I think we're in this new thing. I mean, we know that there were these key states suddenly in play where, you know, Texas, Ohio, Maine. You know, those were kind of interesting moments in which the Democrats might do the unexpected.

47:30But now that field is expanding out to Kansas, to Florida. I mean, this is an extraordinary expansion of the Senate map. having said that in alaska the democratic candidate mary peltola there's a new story out and it turns out personally she's a horror show a terrible boss completely um she runs a chaotic office and runs a um and and is a a real a real shit to the people who work for her well women are always accused of that remember when amy klobuchar was accused of eating a salad with a comb, which actually I've done on occasion. You feel this is a... A gender thing? Yes. I don't know if it's a gender thing, but women are always accused of running a chaotic office and people don't like working for them.

48:30Whereas with men, you get less of that sort of personal antagonism. And S is sexual, and then you will get people coming out as they did with Eric Swalwell and various other people saying they're harassers. Well, let's keep our eye on this because I think this is, here was a seat that they were pretty confident about. And I think after this kind of story, they're probably no longer that confident. Okay, so as we drop this episode of the podcast, there will be much gaiety on the White House lawn under the tents for the state dinner for Xi Jinping, which brings us to the ballroom and Trump saying, I am the code.

49:20Do you want to explain? So this came out there. This is kind of testimony, evidence, leaks from the first architect who was then fired or removed. James McCrary. Or quit or ran. And so the issue was, of course, as it always is with all buildings, about conforming to the laws, the code, the building code. And Trump then uttered the memorable line, and perhaps you don't have to know anything more about Trump than this, I am the code. Let's go this. I am the code. I am the code I am the code I am the code I am the code I mean this is the safety and fire code we're talking about and it was pointed out to him that the designs of the ballroom meant that were there to be a fire in the kitchen which is not entirely implausible that there would be almost no way out for people in the ballroom and it could spread very very quickly and given how many people he wants to squeeze in there, initially it was going to be 650.

50:39Now, I think it's gone up to 900, that there wouldn't be adequate ability for people to get the hell out. And I suddenly thought, oh, this could be like the Titanic, that on the first outing of the ballroom, something goes horribly wrong because Donald Trump has refused to acknowledge the fire regulations. I am the code. I am the code. I am the code. Yeah. I mean, it's just, it's insane. Who would want to have dinner in that place knowing that Trump has probably used, you know, probably defied the code. And also this would normally be organized by the GSA or by the National Parks Department. But instead, it's all being overseen by an office in the White House.

51:30I think it's called the executive office, which is a tiny office and obviously not set up with people who have the professional expertise to do this properly. And this is just going to the broader Trump themes that you cannot tell him what to do, even if there are rules, even if there are laws, even if there are procedures designed to protect people's safety. You cannot tell him what to do. You cannot tell him he cannot invade Iran because if he does, he will never get out again. You cannot tell him that if he levies tariffs in a totally inconsistent manner, it will raise prices for Americans.

52:15Even if these things are obvious and evident and irrefutable, You cannot tell him because you cannot tell him anything, A, because he doesn't listen, B, because he cannot accept the fact that his authority is less than absolute. Can I just read the statement that James McCrary made when he announced that he was no longer with the project? President Trump entrusted me with the earliest stages of the new ballroom design. I am truly grateful for the honor and for the rich experience of working for him alongside all the highly talented and committed patriots at the executive mansion. Having completed the earliest designs, I stepped aside and a new firm was engaged.

53:05So Shalom Baranis has picked up the task of the ballroom. And if you would like to express your concern about the ballroom designs, you may also be anxious that the building is not up to code, let alone the fact that it dwarfs the existing people's house. Here is his email to drop him a line. It's info at sbaranes.com, which is s-b-a-r-a-n-e-s dot com. Info at s-b-a-r-a-n-e-s dot com. If you have concerns about the fire code for all those people that will be enjoying the hospitality of the White House, and if you are concerned about, well, anything to do with the ballroom. If you are concerned about a man who would declare himself to be the code, I am the code.

54:00It really is like something from George Lucas, who opened his new museum this weekend, which I'm very much looking forward to going to. What else, Michael? What else haven't we discussed? Jesus. We've been through it today. We have two limericks. Our first one is from, well, actually, they're both from Chris Hughes, who's written to us from Calgary, Alberta. The cabinet meeting is done. Wasn't he one of the founders of Facebook? No, I think it's a different Chris Hughes. Maybe not. Well, it's possible that Chris Hughes has fled to Calgary, Alberta, but I actually know Chris Hughes, so I think he would have put in a little note saying, hey, Joanna, enjoying the podcast.

54:45Here are two limericks. Okay, the first one, limerick number one from Chris Hughes of Calgary, Alberta. The cabinet meeting is done and the lackeys are under the gun. It must be so hard to kowtow to lard, or maybe they like it. What fun. And the second one, H-man, Gestapo, Trump, ice. Hyperbole, let's roll the dice. The loser somehow will beat all of us. How did he pull this shit off? Damn it, twice. Tricky rhythm in the last one to read, but rather good, I thought. I like that kind of scanning. Unusual. How did he pull this shit off? Yes, I am the code. Damn it, twice. Twice, Michael. Not once, but twice.

55:30It sounds like you've got some construction work going on there. Are you extending your house? Are you adding a ballroom, Michael, in the Hamptons? Has there been noise? I haven't heard it. Oh, you're so focused. There's some kind of construction noise going on, I think. Oh, it's gone quiet now. It sounded like someone was making an addition to your home. It is. There is some minor work going on. Oh, you are adding a ballroom. You are adding a ballroom out there in Amagansett. When you have an 1829 house, it requires constant propping up. Constant propping up, Michael. Well, for those of us not in an 1829 house, thank you for joining us.

56:19Thank you for joining us. And indeed, to those who also have a house built in 1829. We will be back on Saturday, God willing, and the sleazeballs of the UN relieving us of their traffic. We'll be back on Saturday at our usual time, 2 p.m. on YouTube, with more of what's going on in Trumplandia. And we'll look forward to seeing you in LA. Yes, October the 20th at the Terrorgram Ballroom. And Michael, do you want to thank our team? Ryan, John, Heather, Neil, and the elusive Rachel. Thank you so much, as always. So the good news is we have so many B-beast tier members now. There are too many names to read out.

57:03And we really appreciate your support.

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