210. Todd Blanche’s Humiliating U-Turn: Will Trump Make Him Pay?

15:19Anthony Scaramucci:There's no room left for any more gold. He can't do any more gold.

15:22Katty Kay:He's talking about now putting gold on the first floor in the blue, in the red room, and all these different places. So do you think that that's right, that Trump is 70 % focused on that? I mean, that's amazing.

15:35Anthony Scaramucci:I mean, it's certainly something – look, he's tweeting about it even over the course of the weekend, tweeting out – Sundays are maximum truth social AI slop reposting from the president. He did it again this weekend. He did it the weekend before this one where he suddenly gets into a slew of posting pictures of himself as Elvis or pictures of himself as George Washington or whatever it is. But another one that he's posting, of course, is about the reflecting pool and also about the arc to triumph with a great big gold set of wings on the top of it. Even that's not going to be enough. But is it 70 % of the time?

16:11Anthony Scaramucci:I don't know. Maggie Haberman is a very sober journalist. She follows Trump's schedule much more closely than I do. But I know that it is causing a lot of frustration. I mean, you had John Kennedy over the weekend, Republican loyalist from Louisiana on Meet the Press, you know, saying the quiet part out loud, not knowing whether Trump really believes this or not and saying that it's all part of his political messaging. This was his words. He grows anxious when he has an unexpressed thought. I thought that was really interesting to hear Kennedy, who's, you know, a fan of the presidents and is liked in MAGA world, come out openly on air and start questioning the president's motives and basically saying, can you drop this?

16:53Anthony Scaramucci:This was a, what do you call it? A multi-vehicle pileup or something, and that Piro was smart to drop the case. So he's not going to find much support, I think, either for his DC building projects or for trying to stick by legal cases that don't hold water.

17:09Katty Kay:So let me explain this to people. If somebody in the White House hates John Kennedy, they will take an iPad and they will take the clips that you're describing and they will bring those to President Trump. And he'll be sitting there with his Diet Coke, his 17th Diet Coke, and they'll say, look at this guy. And Trump will look at it. He'll get angry. and then he'll turn to whoever gave it to him and said, okay, call Dan Scavino and let's have an angry tweet lacing into John Kennedy. Or Trump will say, hmm, I need the guy. If you notice, Susan Collins, she excoriates Trump here and there. She's on the campaign trail beating up on him.

17:52Katty Kay:New York Times did really good reporting on this over the weekend. Trump says nothing and there's no iPad presentation of what she's saying because they know if they present that to Trump, Trump will look at them and say, hey, I got to have her win up there. Even though I hate her guts, I got to have her win up there. Keep your mouth shut. We go after Crenshaw. We go after Cornyn because they're in red states. You see what I mean? So John Kennedy is in Louisiana. Red state. He's a red state, but he's not going anywhere right now. He's not being primary. He's not do nothing. But I just want to explain to people how the outrage goes inside the White House.

18:31Katty Kay:They know exactly how to trigger Trump and what buttons to press. And so the Kennedy thing won't reach the button pressing for them. They're more into the AI kissing the crucifix right now. And they're into the AI showing Trump leading the Revolutionary War and the garb of George Washington.

18:54Anthony Scaramucci:Or Trump with an alien in shackles. That was a funny one. Worth watch. I mean, you know, it's good entertainment, which again, you know, if you've paid$100 ,000 a month for your high speed, true social speed, you're getting a lot of entertaining AI slop, I guess. I don't know where the alien came from.

19:10Katty Kay:The alien came from the distraction business. They want everything to distract from the affordability issue. They want everything to distract from the war. And so the alien is another good thing. Oh, maybe they're going to divulge more stuff about the aliens thus far. They've divulged absolutely nothing other than a few pictures that don't even look like anything. So, so, so Caddy recognized what he wants and don't ever forget this. Everybody listening, please listen. He wants money. He's accomplishing that and he wants your attention. Okay. But I think Caddy, we have reached peak Trump. We're coming down the other side of the mountain.

19:48Katty Kay:I think we are watching Trump exhaustion syndrome. Yes, we have Trump derangement syndrome. We have Trump reality syndrome, but we also have Trump exhaustion. I think people are looking around saying, enough guy. I was in Maui. It's$11.50 at the local supermarket to buy eggs. Okay. The guy that drove me from the airport, he said, hey, Mooch, I've got 60 chickens in my backyard. I'm feeding my neighbors. I've got these chickens. They're running around in the backyard. I'm feeding them mostly organic stuff and they're making eggs for the neighborhood. Okay. $11.50 for eggs, guys. Okay. You got to pay attention.

20:34Katty Kay:Okay.

20:34Anthony Scaramucci:That's crazy.

20:35Katty Kay:$7 a gallon for gasoline in certain areas because you got to ship the gasoline into an island like that. And it's unfair, guys. And I'm not here to pat Joe Biden on the back, but let's pat him on the back for a second because you had a rising economy and you had lowering inflation. Dumb Dom Dom puts in the tariffs and then he starts an unnecessary war. I'm going to submit to everybody listening, those were distractions for the money machine that him and his family put together. I think he disclosed some of it, not all of it. The$2.2 billion that he has supposedly disclosed that he's made, I believe he's made way more than that.

21:25Katty Kay:Again, I know this is a British podcast. So this is my personal opinion before Fiona comes on and says, you got to say it's your personal opinion. Otherwise, blah, blah. My personal opinion, the guy is going crazy on the money collection business. And you know, he's pissed off at the Lutnicks because he's like, where's my VIG, guys? The Lutnicks are making money without me. I want my VIG from everybody, right? The Wall Street Journal reported that. He's got that woman calling all of these people up and saying, I need more money for this pool, the ballroom, this, that, and the people are getting exhausted from the guy caddy.

22:04Anthony Scaramucci:We are now in that zone. No, I think you're right. I think people have been exhausted by Trump, though, for a while. It doesn't stop him making money. And meanwhile, even if we've passed peak Trump in terms of popularity, which all of the opinions polls are showing, he's at record low popularity, even by the standards of other presidents, apart from Nixon just before he left office, no one's ever been this unpopular in office in American politics, in the American presidency. It doesn't mean that he isn't going to carry on making a ton load of money. I mean, there is, you know, if Don Jr. is out there telling everybody he wants to be the richest family in the world by the time Trump leaves office, you bet they've made more than$2.2 billion because that's not going to get them anywhere near Elon Musk levels of wealth.

22:49Anthony Scaramucci:So I suspect you're right. Other money is being made along the way. Meanwhile, the American legal system, time and again, acting as the only bulwark, we saw it with a reflecting pool. We are seeing it with Todd Blanche that actually it's the courts and the legal system being put under enormous strain, but acting as the kind of bulwark against constitutional collapse.

23:11Katty Kay:But I want to give good news before we take the break. And I want everybody to remember this. He's not running for a third term.

23:16Anthony Scaramucci:No.

23:16Katty Kay:Because he has set himself up in a certain way where he definitely is not running. These poll numbers and his lack of regard for them is more evidence of that. Okay, we could take a break now, but I just want people, when he's putting up Trump 2028, that's to trigger you and to make you want to vomit before your breakfast, but he's not doing, he's not running. I just want to make sure everybody knows that.

23:41Anthony Scaramucci:Just like when he puts up a post over the weekend of Trump looking covetously at the country of Greenland, island of Greenland. That also is just to trigger you. Okay, we'll be back and talk about Michigan.

23:57Katty Kay:This episode is brought to you by Eight Sleep.

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24:51Katty Kay:That's TRIPUS at 8sleep.com slash TRIPUS. You even get 30 days to try at home and return it if you don't love it. But I'm confident you will.

25:09Katty Kay:Welcome back to The Rest is Politics US. Yes, Caddy, we're going on tour, Caddy. So exciting. Big, big tour. Lots of venues are sold out already, but there's still tickets left in certain venues. Where are we going, Caddy?

25:22Anthony Scaramucci:We are going to Georgia and Toronto and Boston and Chicago and Minneapolis and DC and New York City.

25:33Katty Kay:Go to therestispoliticsus.com and buy some tickets. Okay, buy some tickets for a friend, a loved one. And we're going to be there to answer your questions and hang out with you. And I think it's going to be a lot of fun. And I can't wait to get to some of these cities, especially Minneapolis, where I haven't been in a while, Katty. I'm looking forward to it.

25:52Anthony Scaramucci:Yeah, and Minneapolis has been so much in the heart of American politics over the last year and a half. It'll be super interesting. In fact, more than that, ever since the George Floyd killing, it'll be very interesting to see what's happening in Minneapolis. It'll be fun for us. We hope it's going to be fun for you as well. So talking of the midterm elections, let's talk about Michigan and the Democratic Senate primary that is happening there. It's now become a kind of unbelievably vicious civil war within the Democratic Party between Abdul El-Sayed and the four-term Congresswoman Representative Haley Stevens, who are running sort of from the establishment wing of the party and the progressive wing of the party.

26:34Anthony Scaramucci:All of the polls, Anthony, showing that Abdul El-Sayed, who is advocating on a platform of Medicare for All against money in politics, against American aid to Israel, that he is ahead of the polls. I spoke to a Democratic Congresswoman, Debbie Dingell, from Michigan last night to get her thoughts on the race. She is worried about the fact that it has become so much of a bitter fight between these two slagging each other off on social media. How does the party unify? Because actually the challenge is up against the Republican, Mike Rogers, who's going to be running for that Senate seat. And I think it's going to be difficult for the party to come back from this level of vitriol.

27:17Anthony Scaramucci:This is the problem with the primary process is it sets candidates against each other in a way that can get very intense and very personal. And I think whoever wins the primary, it looks like it's going to be Abdul El-Sayed, is going to have a problem trying to get the whole of the party united behind them. There are going to be people who stay home with either candidate because if Haley Stevens were to defy the polls and win, you're going to get a lot of that energy that Abdul El-Sayed undoubtedly has, I don't think his supporters are all going to turn out and vote for Haley Stevens, but you're going to have some of it vice versa as well.

27:53Anthony Scaramucci:And the establishment Democrats are saying he can't win in the suburbs. He can't perhaps win with African-American voters, that he is too progressive for some more conservative Democrats. How do you see this one shaping? I think it's a critical race. I think this is setting, in a way, this is the opening pitch of the 2028 presidential election. Because if the progressives win, if Abdel al-Sayed wins in November, then I think the progressives will have a lot more say in the nomination of who runs for the Democratic nomination for president come 2028, don't you?

28:25Katty Kay:I don't know. The reason I'm hesitating is there's a lot going on here. But the thing that I'm glaring at, Cady, I'm going to give you this number. It's 30 million.

28:35Anthony Scaramucci:Yeah.

28:35Katty Kay:638 ,639. That's from the United Democracy Project, which is APAC, which is the... These are Americans. It's not a foreign entity. These are Americans that support Israel. It's the American Israel Political Action Committee's super PAC.

28:56Anthony Scaramucci:It's their largest single race investment ever that they've put into this race.

29:01Katty Kay:Ever. And so to me, I'm not in love with that, by the way, because what Al Syed is right about is the money. Why I think he's going to lose, and I'm just going to make this prediction - You think he's going to lose in the primary,

29:16Anthony Scaramucci:or I think he's going to lose in the general?

29:17Katty Kay:No, he's going to win the primary for sure, but he's going to win the primary. In fact, don't go by me, the Kelsey market has him at 97 % to win the primary, but he's going to lose the general election. And I think this will be a blow to the democratic socialists. And remember, it's a swing state, but the reason why he's going to lose the general election, it has to do with the culture. And I think what these guys are misunderstanding about America is America is not ready. If they were smarter politicians, they would boil the frog a lot more slowly, Caddy. And so what Mike Rogers is going to do, and he's an effective politician, he's going to play the culture card here.

30:02Katty Kay:And I think he's going to beat them. But what I don't like is the amount of money that's going into this race. And because anybody that looks at this knows that this money is incredibly corruptive to the society. Our legislative agendas are skewed to big business, big pharma, big food. tax cuts for the rich, corporate and crony capitalism, and this race is a representation of all of that.

30:28Anthony Scaramucci:I think there is a risk for the Republicans. And Democrats, by the way, if they lose in November, they don't take back the Senate. I think everybody has pretty much agreed on that. They have to hold this Michigan Senate seat, otherwise they can't take over the Senate. So the stakes are incredibly high for Abdul El-Sayed. This is not just a kind of hypothetical test run on power. But I've been struck by how much this race has become, to get your point about AIPAC and the money that has gone into it. And the supposition is that if Abdullah Syed wins, there's a lot more money going into this race against him as well, because he won't come out and say that Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state.

31:08Anthony Scaramucci:And that has caused a lot of anxiety, obviously, amongst supporters of the state of Israel in America. But I think what the progressives might be mistaking here is a nationwide movement in favor of democratic, socialist, progressive policies. They might be thinking that is what's driving this. And I'm just wondering whether actually what's driving this race and putting him ahead is that he is a candidate of exceptional political talent. Ron Fournier, who's such a good journalist, who's covered Michigan, lives in Michigan, is just so smart on American politics, has put out an article over the weekend saying that he hasn't seen this kind of talent since he first covered Bill Clinton in 1992.

31:50Anthony Scaramucci:He's been around a while. He's looked at everybody. He said, you know, Abdel El-Sayed has it. He can command a room, whether it's a small room of moderates or a big group of activists. And by contrast, Hayley Stevens has been a terrible candidate, awkward, fumbling, bad team around her. And actually, maybe this is just a competition between somebody who's a really good candidate and somebody who is a really poor candidate. And progressives are slightly at risk of taking away the wrong message, which is that this is, yes, there's dissatisfaction with money in politics, understandably, and there's dissatisfaction with the system not delivering for working class people.

32:26Anthony Scaramucci:But I'm not sure that that's the nationwide message that they ought to take away from this. It could just be that he's really, he's a bit Mamdani-like, he's really good.

32:35Katty Kay:And I accept all that. And people like that sort of feel good, get stuff for free message. But talk about the electability data, Caddy. Talk about how he compares to Rogers and how fumbling Stevens compares to Rogers from a polling perspective.

32:51Anthony Scaramucci:Yeah. I mean, that's interesting because at the moment he's got the final Emerson poll has him, El-Sayed, 15 points ahead of Stevens in the primary voters. But in a general election, Rogers leads El-Sayed 49 to 38. Stevens ties Rogers at 45 to 45, pretty much 45 to 44. Bernie Sanders has been out on the campaign trail for a long time, particularly with the amount of base anger that there is in the Democratic Party saying that the establishment of the party has got it wrong, saying that they should always go for the safe, moderate candidate and that's who can win in purple states like Michigan, is an establishment candidate who can win the suburbs.

33:37Anthony Scaramucci:That's been the establishment's message for a long time. It's still the establishment's message. And there is actually no polling to suggest that Bernie Sanders is right because there is not a single poll showing El Sayed ahead of Rogers in November. Now, maybe once he's the candidate, Antony, that changes and the Democratic Party potentially rallies around him, although given how divisive this race has been, that might be harder now. And he might get a whole load of money coming in and a whole load of media attention coming in. And Michigan Democrats may decide, okay, he is our candidate. We are going to go with him.

34:15Anthony Scaramucci:But at the moment, there is not the polling data to support the El-Sayed argument and the Bernie Sanders argument that progressives can win statewide, let alone nationwide, against Republican candidates. So he's kind of running on an argument that slightly doesn't exist at the moment. If you watch some of his videos, there's great videos of him like water skiing and kind of, you know, with American flags. I mean, his comms team are really good and he is a natural, like Mamdani was a natural on social media too. He's really good at that stuff. So maybe he can do it. Maybe he can get the energy.

34:49Katty Kay:I think it's important to let everybody know that this is the highest population of Arab Americans, the state of Michigan. And so his messaging in the state is, I think, ringing for a lot of those people. I want to talk a little bit about Governor Whitmer for a second. She obviously beat him in a primary when he was 33 years old. That was in 2018. So we're a ways from that now. He's a much more seasoned guy. And she did something very different than our governor here. Kathy Hochul endorsed, despite the objection of Hakeem Jeffries and others that are more establishment in the Democratic Party, including Chuck Schumer, she endorsed Mondani.

35:31Katty Kay:And I think that was a good move for her because Mondani won. I didn't like it because I was supporting Cuomo, but it was a good move for Whitmer went the other way and endorsed Stephen. So what do you think about that? Because I think he wins this. And how does that affect her and him? And does that matter, Kat?

35:51Anthony Scaramucci:I've been speaking over the weekend to people that have spent a lot of time in Michigan and people who are from Michigan. And people are very frustrated with the way Whitmer has handled this. They're also frustrated with Alyssa Slotkin, the senator, the Democratic senator from Michigan, the other Democratic senator from Michigan who was elected a couple of years ago, and the way that she has handled this. I mean, it's just a kind of viper's nest up in Michigan. I don't know what's happened to the Democratic Party. And I think Whitmer has damaged herself so much by that fateful trip that she did to the White House to try to negotiate a good deal for Michigan over tariffs, I think it was.

36:29Anthony Scaramucci:And she's caught there in the Oval Office because they suddenly usher her in and she doesn't know there's going to be cameras. And she puts up this binder to try and hide her face. I mean, it just couldn't have been worse for her. So she is kind of out as a presidential candidate, but she's pissing off a lot of people in the Democratic Party by the way that she's handled this race in Michigan. I don't think it helps her necessarily, all the Democratic Party, the way she did this. What do you think?

36:52Katty Kay:At least she got off the dime. Slotnick didn't make an endorsement.

36:56Anthony Scaramucci:Yeah, she didn't make an endorsement at all.

36:58Katty Kay:At the end of the day, if you have political capital, I think you have to use it. She spent none of her political capital, and it makes her look weak, Slotkin.

37:07Anthony Scaramucci:So I don't know.

37:09Katty Kay:He's going to win. That's my prediction. Obviously, 97 % the prediction market, so I don't think I'm being bold in saying that. But I think he's going to get his ass kicked by Rogers, and I think the Democrats are going to be scratching their heads saying, why did we do that one? Why did we let that one go? Tallarico has a better chance against Paxton. I agree. And literally, Paxton gets up in the morning caddy and says, okay, I've blown my left foot off. So let me get the shotgun out and see if I can take out the right foot, okay? Every morning, he's trying to shoot a body part. I don't know what this guy is doing, but it just goes to show you about the machinery in Texas.

37:44Katty Kay:It's still relatively tied. Tallarico has run almost a flawless campaign.

37:50Anthony Scaramucci:And is ahead. And he's in head of some of the polling now. He's now about four points ahead.

37:54Katty Kay:Could you imagine if Texas goes to the Democrats because of Donald Trump's super way thin skin?

38:03Anthony Scaramucci:Could you imagine if Michigan goes to the Republicans because of this and Texas goes to the Democrats? We're in a crazy world, Anthony Scaramucci.

38:13Katty Kay:Welcome to the rest is dysfunctional politics, US. My God.

38:17Anthony Scaramucci:By the way, the Democrats have a chance. Trump is super unpopular. The Iran war is super unpopular. The tariffs are unpopular. Prices are high. They're paying$11 in Hawaii for eggs. The Republican brand is unpopular. There is nothing that the Democrats shouldn't be able to seize on here. This should be a very good moment for them. And yet they are spending it, fighting with each other in ways that are going to make it hard for them to compete in the midterms, especially at the Senate level in November.

38:46Katty Kay:There's a culture war going on. Yes, there's affordability and stuff like that, but there's a culture war going on and the Democrats wake up, got to fight the culture.

38:56Anthony Scaramucci:And maybe we could both be eating humble pie in November and El-Sayed could win, in which case the Republicans need to wake up because it could suggest that this whole progressive movement is a little bit like the Tea Party movement in 2008 that led us to the Freedom Caucus that led us to MAGA. And we may be missing and the Republican Party may be missing the beginning of a huge national, genuine wave and sea change in American politics. I'm not saying that's not possible. But what's going to be so exciting about midterms, I think, and races like this Michigan race, it's that will point the way.

39:32Anthony Scaramucci:Are we at the beginning of a Tea Party movement? Or is this a flash in the pan of progressives thinking they can change America and fundamentally change American politics when they can't? They can change primaries, but can they win at the national level? I think we'll get a much bigger sense of that in November.

39:48Katty Kay:How much will AIPAC spend in the general election?

39:52Anthony Scaramucci:Oh, they are going to spend a fortune in this Michigan race. 30 million is going to look like nothing compared to what they will spend.

39:59Katty Kay:It's going to be a well-watched race. We'll see what happens.

40:02Anthony Scaramucci:And that'll give us some sense of which direction the Democratic Party is going in 2028, which will be watched by one Vice President J.D. Vance. Before we go, just to let you know that we have something very exciting for you this Thursday, we're going to run the first episode of our brand new series on J.D. Vance that we've been recording. I'm excited for you all to hear this. Anthony, I thought his story was fascinating. I mean, he comes from this background that inspires a lot of empathy. It's amazing that he's been as successful as he has given the kind of childhood that he had and the amount of violence and his mother being in rehab, in and out of rehab, and the kind of poverty levels that he grew up with in Ohio.

40:50Anthony Scaramucci:And then you see him kind of explaining the American working class to American liberals after Donald Trump's 2016 win with his hit book, Hillbilly Elegy. And then you see him morph again from being never Trumper to being Trump's most extraordinary ally. And can he survive the Trump wrath that seems to be visited on anyone that gets too close to Trump and thinks they can ride Trump's coattails? I thought it was so interesting to go into his background. It's so helpful to understand him today.

41:25Katty Kay:I mean, what we learn by doing this, though, is he's the identity chameleon. This is his third name change. He is now James David Vance. He took on his grandmother's name. He just celebrated his 42nd birthday. Imagine how young he is, Gaddy. If he were to ascend to the presidency today, he would be the youngest person in the history of the United States, as an example. He just had a brand new baby. There's a lot going on in this guy's life, and he is, because we've done a lot of research on him, he's incredibly smart caddy. I think it would behoove people to sign up and listen to this four-part show, because it'll give you a lot of insight into who this guy is.

42:07Katty Kay:And he is going to be a player in 2028, and he is, whether people like it or not, he's one heartbeat away from the American presidency.

42:16Anthony Scaramucci:But we are running the first episode for everybody on Thursday, so you get a chance to listen to that. We hope you enjoy it. Okay, guys, we'll see you later.

42:24Katty Kay:Thanks, guys.