This Is Why Trump Surrounds Himself With Idiots

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0:38With clinically proven ingredients for weight loss, now in a pill. And now on row. Two FDA-approved GLP-1 pill options, both at the lowest cash pay price available. Get real results from a daily GLP-1 pill. Now on Roe. To see if you qualify, go to roe.co slash choices. Rx only. Go to roe.co slash safety for serious side effects and boxed warning associated with GLP-1s. People have a very hard time understanding the full sense of a man who is the president of the United States, who is, as he has said about so many other people, dumb as a brick himself. And couple that with the fact that he doesn't give anyone else around him who might the independence and the wherewithal to deal with those issues.

1:30It's why he's filled the administration, the second term, with unqualified people, morons of one variety or another. Because he can't have people who are clearly smarter than he is. He can't have people as in the first administration who went around saying, oh, my God, what an idiot.

1:55Michael, happy birthday. It's not my birthday. Yes, it is your birthday. It isn't. It isn't. When is your birthday? I asked your wife when your birthday was. She told me it was August the 27th. October. literally your wife told me your birthday was august the 27th she's just screwing with you that's lyndon johnson's birthday okay oh lyndon johnson's birthday like i would have known that date like anybody would have known that date apart from the johnson's family but this is odd because i asked her like three weeks ago what a strange thing to do anyway you will find a delivery making its way to you, which don't eat them.

2:39Don't eat what we've sent them. I'll wait till October. Wait till October, please. And happy birthday for October, in case I forget. That's such a strange thing to do, to lie about your spouse's birthday, unless she couldn't remember and she felt caught out. Probably. That's probably it. Is it really your birthday? Is it? No, I just told you it's not my birthday. Let me be more precise. It's never my birthday. Okay, so it could be your birthday. It could be your birthday. And the good news - But it's definitely Lyndon Johnson's birthday. Okay, so you were born on the same day as Lyndon Johnson is what you're telling me.

3:20No, I'm telling you, August 27th is Lyndon Johnson's birthday. My birthday will go unmentioned, unremarked upon. Guess who I share a birthday with then, if we're doing sharing birthdays. Your birthday twin is Lyndon Johnson. Guess who my birthday twin is. On the edge of my seat here. Okay. Notorious 20th century bad guy. Like, really bad guy. Jeffrey Epstein. You and Jeffrey Epstein were born on the same day. Fantastic. I could have guessed that. Much, much worse than Jeffrey Epstein. Jeffrey Epstein was pretty bad. And we saw Ghislaine Maxwell desperately trying to get an appeal. And that got slapped by the judge this week, who said that all her arguments, in fact, simply strengthened the reason she was in jail.

4:14Who would be worse than that? Jeffrey Epstein. Could you possibly share a birthday with the H-man? Yeah, I share a birthday with the age man. I see. Oh, yes. Michael, I think you're ageless. You're ageless. Unfortunately, I am not ageless, and therein lies the pain. But let's get to what we're here to get to. We're doing, oh, we got Darlene Graham again. Jeez, we're never going to get rid of her. We have interest rates. It's something I actually find kind of sexy. We have the end of the Kennedy Center. We have Hager's. Oh, Hager's. I'm really getting to love old Hager's. We have the CIA chief in his secret trip to Moscow.

5:09What was he actually doing there? And we have RFK, Janir, another favorite. And the measles epidemic, an extraordinary development in modern health, really extraordinary. And then we have the Massachusetts primary and your crush, Seth Moulton. but before we get to any of it please subscribe to the daily beast if you haven't we love your support you can become a be beast member of the daily beast you can become um a friend of the beast i suppose we should have a section of kind of frenemies of the beast perhaps we should charge people more to be an enemy of the beast but do smash the subscription button wherever you get your podcast and also share this episode with a friend.

6:06Anyway, I think we should just note the passing of a great country singer. Well, she was so much more than that. And in fact, it turns out, I think this is correct. Her obituary, Dolly Parton's obituary, is the most read obituary of all time in the New York Times. I'm trying to weigh this. She's only been dead for some 24 hours. So I assume... So imagine how many people read it. Yes, I know. But I assume... Where does this figure... This can't possibly be true. Apparently, it's true. I got sent a note about it this morning. I think it's possibly true. Is it because she had such enormous breasts?

6:50When I asked a few people why it could be that Dolly Dolly Parton's obit was the most read in the New York Times of all time, it appears. A few people suggested, well, one person in particular suggested it was because she had very big breasts. Well, in big hair, that's a combination. That's an unbeatable combination. Well, as we know, Dolly Parton refused to take political sides. She had values that were very much in line with the left, I guess, or frankly, with decent people. She was, you know. But she had to make a living in the South. Well, she had to make a living in the South. Well, no, actually, what I was going to say is Donald Trump talking to Glenn Beck.

7:36Why is anybody talking to Glenn Beck? Who knows? And why is the president with. I thought you just called him Glenn Beck. No, you've got Glenn on the brain. Glenn Beck, Donald Trump, the president of the free world, or the president of, I should say, the president of the United States, in theory, the leader of the free world, said, I knew her a little bit. She wasn't a very political person. She really liked me, I will tell you, but she was a great person. It was a natural thing to lower the flag. So I know Donald Trump's playlist and Dolly Parton was not on it. What is on his playlist? Michael, you're burying the lead.

8:15What is on Donald Trump's playlist apart from, as he calls it, the gay anthem or YMCA? Yeah, no, a lot of, you know, unlikely kinds of, you know, pop, the pop canon 30 years out of date. So Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive, I bet, is on there. Yeah, I can't get it. I actually don't have, I had a list. This was passed to me during the campaign because all of those people on the plane had to listen to this over and over and over again. I will recover it. Oh, please recover it. And also we had your video of Natalie Harp tapping her foot. She had her headphones in. You could hear music in the background and she was tapping her foot on the president's plane.

9:07Yeah, no. And it's actually interesting during these campaigns, a whole life, a parallel hermetic life takes place on the plane. So is it like a dance party on the plane? If they're playing music, is it? Well, it's like a flying office, really. But is it a flying office that's kind of, you know, playing the music to be upbeat? I find music distracting in an office. Yeah, he plays it. I mean, it's what he, so it's his playlist. And yes, that's a kind of, that was a kind of sign on the plane to, you know, okay, we can all relax. We're all off duty at this point. And now we have to listen to Donald Trump's playlist.

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11:37Well, and Tim Curry, who was in Rocky Horror Show, also dead, also 80. What do they have in common with the president of the United States? Also 80. Well, 80 is a mortal, begins to be a seriously mortal moment. you're in your 80s. This is your ninth decade. So do you think he felt a tiny bit more fragile waking up to the news that Dolly Parton had died? Because I'm assuming he woke up sort of at lunchtime. Yes, I'm absolutely sure he did. I mean, when I see people who are my age, who go down, I register it. I think everybody does. I'm trying to figure out if I can And just to point out, everyone does but in particular, a 300-pound man who stuffs himself with poison and who hasn't done a lick of exercise ever might have an even more immediate reaction to other people's mortality at his age Well, and who's also very sleep disordered.

12:58I think that's the thing I think of almost more than anything else is that just it messes with your memory. It messes with your cognitive ability. What, death? Well, obviously death does. No, not sleeping well. I mean, we know he doesn't sleep well because he's always frantically posting in the middle of the night. Well, you know, 80 year olds need less sleep. Do they need less sleep? Oh, yes. Yes, I am. As I realize that whatever age I am, which we will not, we will gloss over, I need a lot less sleep. Oh, interesting. Well, you're yet young. In my dreams, I'm young. Dolly Parton twice declined the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Donald Trump and she declined it from Joe Biden, stating scheduling conflicts, which is the perfect excuse for anything you want to get out of.

13:56I know a lot of business people who have managed to avoid meeting Donald Trump despite having been summoned to the White House claiming scheduling conflicts. And then I think Trump just moves on. I mean, there is a reason of obviously to avoid meeting Donald Trump. But if she declined both Joe Biden's offer and Donald Trump's offer, I think that that's great. I mean, everybody should decline these ridiculous offers, which have nothing to do with anything except somebody's PR agenda. Everybody, stop it. Stop inviting people to the White House. No awards. Stop giving out these phony baloney awards.

14:40Okay. Stop giving out phony baloney awards, Michael Wolff. I'm not accepting. Okay. So if you get offered one, I will remind you not to accept it. You won't have to. Okay. Well, who knows? Someone might give you an award. Yeah. Well, actually, they have, and it's a terrible experience. You have not got the Presidential Medal of Freedom. No, I haven't gotten that. But of the other awards that I have gotten, I think maybe I was sitting next to you during at least one of those awards that I have gotten. Is that a National Magazine Award? Yes. And I actually got that, as I recall. I got that. But the other times that I didn't get it and everybody kind of looks away from it, you know, you're nominated, you're there.

15:35Right. And and then and then you don't get and people are up until that moment, people are looking at you like you're the sun god. And then when you don't get it, everybody's their their their gaze is averted. Right. They don't want to meet your eye. But we both have one, actually. And every now and then you can see them behind us. You've got to. You've got to. I have one. But occasionally you can see them behind us when we're in certain backgrounds, certain rooms. And people often comment, what are those things? They are the Alexander Calder statues for the National Magazine Awards. That's what they are.

16:16When there were magazines. When there were magazines. Now they don't matter. Well, I want to segue from Jolene, Jolene to Darlene, Darlene, Darlene Graham. A winner. Winner, winner, chicken dinner. And now you have segued. I have segued very successfully to Darlene Graham will be the Republican candidate for Senate in South Carolina, replacing her brother, Lindsay, who, as Donald Trump once said, has never met a country he didn't want to bomb. Despite a, well, I think it's fair to say an awkward moment during a debate where she was asked about Taiwan. Yeah, terrible campaign. I mean, she doesn't know how to do this.

17:01She's not a politician. She doesn't know anything about politics. She doesn't know anything about the issues one is somewhat required to know about. She's a cipher, but she's Donald Trump's cipher. Well, she's, I suppose, an outsider insider. And isn't that what people like? People like outsiders at the moment. People don't want politicians. That's why Trump managed to work his way in. Well, yeah. No, I mean, I think that that's largely true. But they also don't like people who look like they're in the headlights. Oh, what am I doing here? Which she certainly does. She did look like that. Yeah.

17:41I mean, completely confused person, completely, you know, pushed out onto the stage without with and suddenly having to sing and completely tone deaf. And this isn't over. I mean, and so she got this. She she got the nomination because Donald Trump was. Embarrassed. I mean, he had to do this. I mean, he had to deliver this and he spent an enormous amount of money and Donald Trump never spends his own money. I mean, this is actually becoming an issue in the midterm campaign writ large. Donald Trump has a ton of money which he could spend and he doesn't want to. And he probably won't. Why? Because he wants to keep this money for himself, obviously.

18:28But he did was forced to spend on Darlene Graham and that got her elected. Well, that got her the nomination. now she has to get elected which suddenly um is a is um makes south carolina more problematic than it has ever been she could lose there's the can she's running against someone by the name of annie andrews love that name um and um um and and she could she could lose because you know she's first thing she's going to go into a campaign and she's going to make mistake after mistake after mistake because she doesn't know anything boot season's back which means football season is back and Tecovas has the denim for game day handcrafted in three timeless cuts every style is made to look great with boots and with multiple washes and colors they might be the last jeans you ever buy find your new favorite denim at Tecovas.com or stop by your local Tecova store.

19:36Either way, you'll be showing up on game day. Tecova Stenum. It's made for boots. And Annie Andrews is also an outsider. She's a pediatrician. She's a mother of three running on affordability but also running on school shootings, against school shootings. Yeah, no, I mean, that sounds like a more estimable argument and resume than I am the sister of a dead brother. You have said before that you thought Donald Trump was doing this because he understands the sentimental storyline. I come back to the question, is it possible he actually thought of Lindsey Graham as a friend? Well, I think he thought of him as an acolyte.

20:26I think he thought of him as a suck-up. I think he thought of him as a guy who groveled before him in a greater way than other grovelers. And that would have, in fact, endeared him to Donald Trump. So he was groveler in chief. Yeah. Well, I mean. One of many grovelers in chief. Yeah. I mean, he was incredibly good at this. He was incredibly good at playing Donald Trump. And as I said, I've spent some time talking to Lindsey Graham, and I know that out of the other side of his mouth, he was, you know, I mean, I would not say he openly criticized, but he was funny on the subject of Donald Trump.

21:19Funny to the extent that you thought, oh, my God, this guy sees through Donald Trump. Of course, this is all for show, this sucking and licking and whatever it was. Well, fellow South Carolinian or someone who at least was living in the beautiful city of Charleston, Scott Besant, also a bit of a groveler in chief, you know, loves to sit around the cabinet table saying the markets have never been so good. And that's thanks to you, Mr. President, who seems to be in some kind of a conflict. And everybody is just, let's point this out. Everyone in this little discussion is gay. I guess Darlene is not gay, but Lindsey Graham is gay.

22:06Scott Besson is gay. I won't draw any further conclusion than that, except that on one of the occasions that I sat with Donald Trump for several hours, I was overwhelmingly aware of what he did with his legs in a very feminine posture. What on earth are you talking about? Well, he crossed them in this very, like a woman. And he had, and I could see his legs. They came up, his pants came up over his socks and they were fragile, kind of dainty legs. Anyway, I became kind of obsessed with this because when you talk to Donald Trump, he does all of the talking and a lot of it is incredibly boring. So therefore, you are you're you're looking around to somehow pass the time.

23:10And I focused on his legs. Well, his legs now seem swollen with CVI, chronic venous insufficient. They did. They did not then. And this would have been in 21, 2021. And his legs were very fine at that moment. Svelte. Well, as we mentioned, he's 80. So these things creep up on you. But what I was trying to do was say that Scott Messant, Secretary of the Treasury, is in some sort of conflict, I think, with the new chair of the Fed, Kevin Walsh. Kevin Walsh says in theory he believes in dropping interest rates, but has gotten there and discovered inflation is higher than he expected. Yeah, I'm not sure that they're necessarily in conflict.

24:04They both know what their job is, which is to bring down interest rates. The problem is that that's very, very difficult, if not impossible. And no, and it's an interesting thing. There's an interesting Donald Trump window because Donald Trump believes that the key to any election of winning election is low interest rates. And he's always insisting, demanding that interest rates be lowered. not quite understanding, it would appear, that you can't, that interest rates are... The president of the United States does not have control of interest rates. Interest rates are, in this modern world, a global phenomenon.

24:49They are dictated by all kinds of factors which have something to do with the United States, but not everything to do with the United States. And and it would appear and has appeared in now over many years that Donald Trump can't get that through his thick head. And he just insists I want lower interest rates refusing to to comprehend everything that that might might entail. If you lower interest rates when they should not be lowered, inflation is going to go up. It's a it's again one of those things that Donald Trump, a uninformed man, a dumb man can't get. I mean, he's smart enough to know that people like lower interest rates, especially around an election, but at the same time, not smart enough to know that that can't easily be delivered.

25:50And Scott Besson is smart enough to know that. And Kevin Warsh is smart enough to know that. But they are also having to listen to Donald Trump call them up every 10 minutes and say lower interest rates. Well, and I think consumers are smart enough to know that they like lower interest rates, too, because it means that housing is cheaper. It's cheaper to buy a house. Yes, that's why Donald Trump knows that. This is what voters, that is something that voters, it's a visceral kind of thing. And you think everything is good, lower interest rates. I can get a mortgage that I can afford. But that will also have the effect of creating inflation, which people really hate, and of destabilizing the economy in other ways, which would be which Scott Besson and particularly Kevin Warsh, their job is to make sure that doesn't happen.

26:51Well, and interesting, too, because we witnessed Donald Trump essentially sort of harassing Jerome Powell, the former head of the Fed. His term ran out in May, despite Donald Trump, I think, trying to sort of shoehorn him out of there. In comes Kevin Walsh that Donald Trump says he loves. Walsh has made noises about agreeing with him on lowering interest rates, but in fact gets in. Inflation has just hit 4%. And Walsh is now talking about possibly even raising interest rates before Christmas. That's what the market seems to anticipate at the moment. So interesting to know how long Trump can cope with that before he starts attacking Kevin Walsh.

27:36Yeah. And just to focus in against on Donald Trump, a fundamental this is a fundamental issue of managing the economy, a modern economy, and he can't do it. I mean, and and and again, it's as though people look at this and say, OK, yes, he wants this for the political expedience of it. But and they don't go further to say he's too dumb to understand the issues here. But I'm going to tell you, he's too dumb to understand the issues. And Scott Bessent knows that and Kevin Walsh knows that. Boot season's back, which means football season is back. And Tecovas has the denim for game day. Handcrafted in three timeless cuts, every style is made to look great with boots.

28:25and with multiple washes and colors, they might be the last jeans you ever buy. Find your new favorite denim at tecovas.com or stop by your local Tecova store. Either way, you'll be showing up on game day. Tecova's denim. It's made for boots. Should we put either of them in charge of the Kennedy Center finances, which turn out to be in terrible shape, partly because so many artists have refused to perform. So there's been nothing to book tickets for. Trump brought in his friend Rick Grinnell, former ambassador to Germany, also gay. As you mentioned, that Trump was like, he can run it because he's gay.

29:08It's the arts ergo. He'll know what he's doing. He had no idea what he was doing. And now the Kennedy Center is essentially mothballed slash, you know, awaiting reconstruction. Well, actually, Rick Grinnell may have somewhat known what he's doing. I mean, Rick Grinnell is, I mean, it's not the brightest bulb in the world, but he's probably at some level of competence. The person who is at no level of competence here is Donald Trump, who basically took over the management of the Kennedy Center. And ultimately, that was why Rick Grinnell left was pushed out, because, you know, I mean, he understood at minimum he had to keep this institution going.

29:54Any institution has a certain kind of financial imperative. And it was falling apart because of Donald Trump, because of the demands that Donald Trump was making on it, not least of all to changing the name of the Kennedy Center to the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. And at that moment, everybody left. Performers left. And the audience left, leaving the Kennedy Center broke, which it is now, and broke because of Donald Trump, because of Donald Trump insisting on what he wanted, regardless of the economic realities. So like interest rates. Yes. Right. And so and the National Symphony Orchestra, which was based there, has had to up sticks and move elsewhere.

30:50I mean, interesting because Usha Vance was actually on the board of the Cincinnati Orchestra. You would have thought they would put her at least on the board of the Kennedy Center. It doesn't make any difference who they put on the board. No, I get that. But you might have had someone actually supporting the idea of the institution of an art center instead of saying, yes, we want Les Mis here every week. it didn't I that I think I think that's one of those things in which one of those propositions which which ignores the reality which is that there is no other reality except Donald Trump wanting what Donald Trump wanted and it doesn't matter who is on the board the people on the board as in so many aspects of Donald Trump's government have no independent life have no say They are just there to rubber stamp what Donald Trump wants because that's their job.

31:50So do you think does he I mean, what's inside his head on something like this? Does he think this is a win for him that he's closed it down? Does he think it's everybody else's fault? Yes. Yes. Stop there. He thinks it's everybody else's fault. It's nothing to do with him. and to the extent that it ever occurs to him that maybe he did have something to do with that he's perfectly capable of of putting that wholly out of his mind and replacing it with it is someone else's fault it's the fault of the democrats it's the fault of the liberals it's the fault of Rick Grinnell. It is someone else's fault.

32:29He has a, you know, I think a mental inability to acknowledge his responsibility for anything. I mean, I really think that this is a something that he cannot do. Not something that is just bad politics and I'm going to, And I'm never going to assume responsibility for this because he literally, and again here people are always remarking on my overuse of the word literally, but I mean literally, he has no capacity for acknowledging or accepting his own responsibility. Well, and that I think is going to become increasingly apparent with the war on Iran. He's already clearly blaming Pete Hegseth for what may turn out to be his forever war.

33:34He's already said that Hegseth was very persuasive in the process of him making the decision to bomb Iran. And now Hegseth just seems to be, I mean, I can't tell you the number of people I've spoken to in and around the Pentagon who are just appalled by what's going on there. And this week we saw that the army secretary is going to resign by the end of the year. The chief of staff of the army resigned earlier this year. It's a shit show. Well, let's set up the stage even a little more. We're involved in a significant war which we cannot get out of. We have – there is a war that Russia is waging on an ally and with threats of expanding that war into NATO territory.

34:32It's actually quite reasonable to begin to outline a situation that is eerily parallel to the several years that led up to World War I. of all of these conflicts getting worse and crossing over into other conflicts. So we're at a moment of geopolitical fragility that I'm not sure that we have seen in a very long time. And we're partly there, of course, because Donald Trump is a numbskull. Again, one of those other situations in which he is incapable of of of comprehending the the many dimensions of a situation but on top of that the person who is then next most responsible is pete hegseth also a person of well i mean i mean clearly he is he has no experience I mean, his absolute lack of experience.

35:43And let's remember, he's been firing general after general, field officer after field officer. And what is he? His experience is that he was a second lieutenant in the National Guard. Well, he saw service in Iraq. Yes, I know, but he was. Yes. But as a National Guard, you know, he didn't he doesn't have military National Guard. You have a kind of minimal level of military training. He was a second lieutenant. So no, no strategic training, no management capabilities, no management experience. None of the kinds of things that people who lead the Pentagon traditionally have, and they either come from business and have been CEOs of major corporations or come from the military itself.

36:46And they then have been two star, three star, four star generals, not Heger's. Um, Hager's basic qualification is that he was, you know, the co-host of a, of a weekend television show. So, I mean, this is unbelievable. And I was just thinking about this the other day in his role as a, um, as a weekend, um, television show host, because his boss, Roger Ailes, who I was very friendly with and Roger was, shall we say, free with his opinions, also free with his hands, but that's another story. And he would call Hegseth Colonel Vodka. He would call him Colonel Vodka. Yeah, because it was well known that the Heggers was drunk all of the time.

37:44He was a drunk. And that particular weakness amused Roger Ailes. Well, in his Senate confirmation process, he promised not to drink on the job. It's unclear if he is drinking on the job, but astonishing to be able to go from drinking to possibly the most stressful job, literally one of the most stressful jobs in the world, leading the American military, and give up drinking. Perhaps less stress for him because his wife is doing the job. Yes, that was an amazing piece in the New York Times last week about the importance of Jennifer Hegseth. And he says that his life was saved. I mean, this is a man who has talked openly about having PTSD, one of the reasons that he was drinking, and that his third wife, Jennifer, and happily Jesus, saved him, which is why he likes to do prayer ceremonies at the Pentagon.

38:46But let's understand the range of this job. I mean, we are talking literally about the military-industrial complex. So a management responsibility, which, I mean, it's just we're in the world of the preposterous, which we are often in with Donald Trump, of course. But this is really astounding. Well, the other thing that's very nerve wracking is that this week we learned that the head of the CIA, John Ratcliffe, had gone to Moscow to talk to the Russians and advise them not to antagonize. I don't want to use the word invade, but not to antagonize any NATO allies, which is what the Russians appear to be on the verge of doing.

39:41Of course, we don't know that. We know that he went to Moscow. What his mission there is, we don't really know. What he said, we don't really know. It could very well be that Donald Trump sent him to Moscow to suck up to Vladimir Putin. I mean, that would not be out of character with with Donald Trump or not out of character as with Donald Trump's kind of inability to set a straight course with regard to Putin and Russia. Does he love him? Does he not love him? You know, again, we don't know. And all of these guys, the CIA chief as well as the Pentagon chief, are, I mean, even beyond their own severe limitations, their ultimate limitation is having to deal with a boss who knows absolutely nothing.

40:35can't again cannot comprehend all of the factors that are in play in these around incredibly complicated situations and issues well and again on glenn beck the president who has failed to get out of our now forever war on glenn beck where he had plenty of time to discuss the world said oh So this was a semi-routine visit, semi-routine visit. Well, in fact, the last time a CIA director went to Moscow was under Joe Biden's presidency. And that was to tell them, you know, we've got the intelligence. We've seen you amassing tanks on the, you know, border of Ukraine. Don't go into Ukraine. And look where that got us.

41:26Yeah. Boot season's back, which means football season is back. and Tecova's has the denim for game day. Handcrafted in three timeless cuts, every style is made to look great with boots. And with multiple washes and colors, they might be the last jeans you ever buy. Find your new favorite denim at tecovas.com or stop by your local Tecova store. Either way, you'll be showing up on game day. Tecova's denim, it's made for boots.

41:57So it is unnerving and regular viewers of the podcast will notice I have a different background. I'm actually in London and I can tell you people here are really anxious about it. I had lunch today with several people who said this is really unnerving. They're worried that Russia is poised to go into Lithuania, that that will trigger Article 5 of NATO, where people have to then, you know, do something about the Russian invasion. And as we know, Hegseth has run down munitions. There aren't enough Patriot interceptors for the Ukrainians to deal with the drones that Russia is now getting increasingly sophisticated in sending in.

42:39And it's a mess and people are nervous, they're scared, and they can no longer trust America, which is obviously not new, but you can feel it tangibly here in a way that you can't yet in the States. They're nervous and scared of Colonel Vodka. They are nervous and scared. And frankly, they're incredulous at Colonel Vodka. They are incredulous. He is running the American Armed Forces. You know, it's extending that incredulousness into its real source. And its real source is, again, Donald Trump and a real appreciation, which people have a very hard time coming, kind of understanding the full sense of a man who is the president of the United States, who is, as he has said about so many other people, dumb as a brick himself.

43:34I mean, he just has, All of these issues, he does not have the information or the intelligence to appreciate and to cope with and to address. It just doesn't. Not there. And couple that with the fact that he doesn't give anyone else around him who might the independence and the wherewithal to deal with those issues. So when Pete Hegseth, who is obsessed, as we know, by the warrior ethos and he wants everyone to warrior up, when he's firing all these incredibly impressive four-star generals, is that him making the decision to fire them? Is that Donald Trump saying you need to fire more generals?

44:24I mean, what could possibly be in it for Pete Hegseth to fire these people? They are extremely experienced. We are in a continuous crisis position at the moment. I understand wanting to bring your own team in, but it's not like he comes in with a ton of four-star generals that he wants to put in place. And why would you do it at a time when we are bombing Iran, when we're in a headlock with Iran and Iran's got the arm over our neck, and when we're running out of munitions? That doesn't seem like the best time to fire the people who've been in charge. No, but look at it this way. You're in this job.

45:06You're underqualified. You're unqualified to hold this job. Everybody knows it. Everybody knows it. And many of those people who you have to rely on treat you as someone who is unqualified to hold this job. So you are yourself in a constant state of absolute insecurity and unhappiness. So what do you do? Well, you get rid of the people who think you're a lummox, um, and who are, who almost borderline openly talk about your stupidity and your, um, and your, um, your, your, your failure to be able to do this job. So, I mean, I mean, it's a, it's a, it's a kind of a, I mean, you're in a kind of difficult situation.

46:05I mean, it, it really, it becomes binary. I mean, either you leave, you have to say, I can't, I can't, I can't do this, this job, or else you have to say, no, I'm going to get rid of the people who feel I can't do this job because obviously I can't do this job if they're around, um, ignoring me and treating me like, um, um, uh, like, like I'm a child. So, yeah, I mean, And that's what happens. That's why, that's one of the reasons, one of the management reasons why it is very bad to put someone into a position who does not and will not have the respect of the people who work for him. So Hegseth has been very quick since the beginning of the bombing campaign against Iran to push Dan Cain out there.

47:03Dan Cain is obviously in charge of the strategy of this war. Does Dan Cain survive or do you think that Hegseth is likely to get rid of him? You know, it's like Donald Trump. I mean, think of Hager's Colonel Vodka as an as a kind of mini Donald Trump. Donald Trump does this. It's why he's filled the administration the second term with with, you know, unqualified people, more, you know, morons of one variety or another, because he can't have people who are clearly smarter than he is. He can't have people, as in the first administration, who went around saying, oh, my God, what an idiot. That was – he understood that undermined him, to say the least.

47:57Well, who can forget Rex Tillerson, the former CEO of Exxon, who left that job to be the Secretary of State, describing him, which was then leaked, as a fucking moron. Yeah. That was his description. No. So Hegseth is in the same situation. If I'm going to be in this job, I've got to get rid of these people who think that I'm not qualified for this job. Do you think that Donald Trump, I mean, Donald Trump, you have said, describes himself as having an alcoholic's personality. Susie Wiles, his chief of staff, describes him as having an alcoholic's personality. I think you said that Jeffrey Epstein once said to you that Trump was terrified of taking a drink in case he became an alcoholic and his brother died of alcoholism.

48:46His older brother died of it, which Mary Trump, a frequent visitor to the Daily Beast podcast, has talked about. Do you think that Donald Trump sees the alcoholic personality in Pete Hegseth and is, well, attracted by that? Or do you think at this point, while things are looking so unsteady with Iran, that he begins to realize it could be a major weakness? Well, I think this is an interpersonal—there are many interpersonal complications here. um donald trump's interest in pete hegseth is that pete hegseth is a groveler and a flatterer actually during the first administration during the first administration many people at fox news were intent upon sucking up to donald trump you only got ratings during that period if you had a relationship with Donald Trump.

49:42But Pete Hegseth was looked at within the White House as the most hopelessly shameless person, even among the other hopelessly shameless people at Fox News. Pete Hegseth during the first administration was a joke, but a joke to other people who watched these interactions, but not to Donald Trump, who was, you know, kind of infatuated with Colonel Vodka, because Colonel Vodka said everything that Donald Trump wanted to hear, then shared war stories with Donald Trump. And that's the moment in which they bonded. That's what catapulted him into this wholly unlikely position of being the secretary of defense.

50:39I mean, no one would have seen that. No one saw that coming. No one would have seen that coming, except that Donald Trump coming into the office for the second term said, you know, all these guys who I'm going to who would be likely appointees to this job are smarter than I am. They're more experienced. They have more credibility. I mean, the whole list. And so Donald Trump was the one who put Pete Hegseth on that list. Pete Hegseth, no one would have put Pete Hegseth on that list except Donald Trump. And that's why we've got Pete Hegseth. Well, it's also why we've got, perhaps for slightly different reasons, Health Secretary Measles now.

51:28That's what I'm going to call him, Health Secretary Measles, who's single-handedly brought Measles back with his nonsense about vaccinations. Obviously, your old friend, Robert Kennedy Jr., with whom you drove around the South and listened when you shared a room at Democrats' houses where you were writing about him going down there to whip up support for his uncle, Ted Kennedy, who was running for the Democratic primary candidate, presidential candidate. You witnessed his night terrors. I mean, so many parents now having night terrors about measles being back. I mean, how is it possible we're having this conversation?

52:08The health secretary is saying don't have vaccines for measles. And yet we've just had this week two people die from measles. Let's draw, I think it's an interesting comparison between RFK Jr. and Pete Hegseth. because Pete Hegseth is just ultimately just a groveler. He exists on the basis of Donald Trump's favor, and that has actually been incredibly important to his career. It's made him until he's unmade. rfk jr is is different and he's looking at this relationship with donald trump in wholly opportunistic terms i mean he sees himself i mean in a person of delusional arrogance rfk jr as someone who has an independent future, who is finally and brilliantly threading a political needle, which will bring him to, I assume that he at least hopes and maybe even believes the presidency.

53:33And in order to do that, he has cynically adopted this position, this anti-scientific position, which appeals to, he believes, appeals to a certain powerful voting bloc within this country. And disregarded the fact that people are going to actually get sick and die because of it. Well, almost 3 ,000 people have got measles this year, which I think we've mentioned this before, Sure, but it's more than the entire number of people in the U.S. got measles in the first 24 years of this century. Secretary measles, you should be ashamed. You should be ashamed, RFK Jr. You should be ashamed, and you're spending time on your podcast with fancy chefs like Jeffrey Sakarian talking about how to make a French omelet.

54:32This is not what your job is. Yes. Needless to say, he's not ashamed. And what he is, what he is, is is convinced that he is making a play here, a political, a brilliant political play. To set himself up for a presidential run in 2028. Yes. And, you know, I find it interesting that that Trump has not understood this. But on the other hand, I think Trump also understands that he has a vulnerability with this hardcore MAGA Maha crowd. And and RFK Jr. is his cover. It's just astonishing that in 2026 we're talking about this. I mean, this has been settled by science. It's just unbelievable. Once again, I don't think people appreciate the direness of this situation.

55:39Not just the direness of policies, but the direness of character. You know, it's the stupids and it's stupidity and it's a level of the cynical that, you know, even in a time when people have been are doubtful about politics and politicians, we're well over that. Well, and I would throw in their craven ambition, craven ambition that they will do whatever it takes. You know, the one person we haven't talked about today is Natalie Harp. And I was going to ask you whether or not you thought that the president's executive assistant, who, as we have chronicled since you wrote about her in All or Nothing two years ago, do we think she's actually enjoying this moment?

56:38I mean, there was, you know, she was in the background at the Indy car race in D.C. and Melania was very much in the foreground, although it didn't look like she was having a good time. It clearly looked like she and Donald Trump were having an argument at one point. Interesting to know whether or not Natalie Harp, who seems from her letters to be smitten with the president, is she also vulnerable here? I mean, she's 35, so it's not as if she's the age that Monica Lewinsky was. But is Natalie Harp enjoying this notoriety or not even notoriety attention? Is she thriving on it? Is this something that she's living off?

57:24You know, I mean, very few people enjoy and thrive on being in the headlights like this. Some do. Donald Trump obviously, obviously does. Some, you know, there's a particular and a very particular class of people that I think do thrive on this. Most people don't. And I'm sure she's completely freaked out. And she is only will only get through this because Donald Trump says, don't worry about it. They always do this. This is and he said and I and he will say this to people and he has said this to her before. This is not about you. This is about me. They're after me. And and he leads you to believe and this is not necessarily ultimately true, but he leads you to believe that he is wholly on your side.

58:17that the fact that you are being picked on in his name gives you actually some amount of protection and currency with him. I wondered whether or not, what do we know about who Natalie Harp lives with? Because I wonder, does she have to go home on her own and sort of try and handle all this? Or does she live with friends? I mean, she seems... But I don't, you know, I assume she lives in Washington. In Palm Beach, she lived with her mother. Whether she, who she lives with now, I don't know. And I do know that people in the White House tend not to go home very much. Well, we know that she stays up late with the president when he's so frantic on Truth Social.

59:07But I'm very struck by the comment that the social, the Secret Service gave you that she was potentially a danger to the president and also a danger potentially to herself. Yeah, the Secret Service did not give that to me. They gave it to the staff, the political staff, Donald Trump's political staff. Who gave it to you? Yes. But I don't, you know, and again, you have to understand that people live in this bubble. The West Wing White House bubble is kind of extraordinary. I mean, it's the reality inside and then the reality out there somewhere. and the reality out there somewhere can impinge on the reality inside, but no one really thinks it's reality.

1:00:02I mean, even with this latest Natalie Harp stuff, and I was speaking to people in the White House, and they kind of regarded, I mean, they said, this is what's going on, this is old news, and then they actually blamed it on me. I mean, this is the this is you wrote about this, you know, almost almost two years ago. So what is everybody talking about now? This is all there's nothing new here. Well, it was because Senator John Ossoff from Georgia had drawn attention to it. Right. Do you think that Natalie is printing out pieces about herself and showing them to Donald Trump? Because that would almost be like she's vying for the amount of attention that he wants to get.

1:00:50Or do you think she's not bothered to do that? Well, I think she's very good at what she – of supplying the president with what he wants to be told or what he wants to see. Well, it may be a bubble. I wonder what she says about Melania I wonder what she prints out about Melania for him I wonder what she says about me Probably nothing Michael I think she's dealing with the president She's got enough to handle But if it is your birthday Happy birthday And to anyone who's been joining us Thank you for joining us We'll be back We've got a special episode on Saturday Where we focus on we focus on what's inside Trump's head about the midterms.

1:01:45He says people don't like the Republicans, but they still love him. And he's insisting on putting himself on the ballot. So we look at some of the more vulnerable issues around the election on Saturday. And just to say that this is now beginning. We're going to pass this Labor Day mark, and then it will be midterms all of the time and incredibly consequential midterms. And there's a primary in Massachusetts on September 1st of a person that you are very fond of. I'm a big supporter of Seth Moulton, the congressman. Who is going to lose. Interesting. I mean, he is going to lose. He's a young guy, a young Turk in the party, but he is going to lose to an 80-year-old.

1:02:36Well, we don't know he's going to lose. We've talked about, and in fact, we talk on Saturday's episode, about the danger of polling at the moment, that it's incredibly unreliable, as are the prediction markets when it comes to candidates. So we don't know. Ever hopeful, Joanna Coles. Ever hopeful. He's going to lose. I have been tracking his career for the last 10 years. He's a Marine. He went to Harvard under and he's got an MBA. And I think he's exactly the kind of person that the Democrats need in the Senate. But Ed Markey at 80 is going to have another six years. And this is why people are getting fed up with the incumbent Democrats.

1:03:16You know, Steve Bannon felt this way about Seth Moulton, too. So you get the profile here. All of you fundamentally conservative people are backing Seth Moulton.

1:03:36Corporate lackeys. We'll know on, when will we know? Tuesday? We'll know next week whether or not the polling was wrong and he gets a last minute surge or whether or not Ed Markey, who literally will have been in elected office first as congressman and then as senator for 50 years. Five zero years. This is why people are fed up with the Democrats. Apparently not. Ed Markey is going back to Congress. No, he's going back to the Senate. He's going back to the Senate. He's going back to the Senate. Who said the Senate was the best retirement home in America? Who said that? Who said that? I think it wasn't Nikki Haley.

1:04:17No, Nikki Haley never said anything memorable to anybody. Nikki Haley voted for or supported Ralph Norman against Darlene Graham. So that was a bit of a bummer. Former governor of South Carolina that she is. She picked the wrong candidate. And you supported Seth Moulton against Ed Markey. Onwards, Michael. I was supporting the future. I was supporting the future. He's been a very good interviewee on the Daily Beast podcast. And I know a lot of people up in Massachusetts who think he's a very good congressman. Not enough, apparently. We'll see. We'll see. You're not out until you're out. If you have been, thank you for watching.

1:05:04We'll be back on Saturday with another episode of Inside Trump's Head. Michael, will you thank the team? uh ryan john rachel uh neil um heather heather how could i i apologize heather so the good news is we have so many b beast tier members now there are too many names to read out and we really appreciate your support kick off the fall season with tekovas our quality western boots are handcrafted with 200 meticulous steps for broken in comfort right out of the box. And each pair is built for all falls festive moments from game day to tailgating to outdoor festivals and long weekends. Find your perfect pair and customize them with complimentary boot stamps and branding at a Tecova store near you or shop with us anytime at tecovas.com.

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