Breaking News from Pod Save America - Something is Seriously Wrong with Donald Trump

Episode Date: June 9, 2026

Alex Wagner and Hysteria's Alyssa Mastromonaco discuss Trump's embarrassing nap times, and why we should be seriously concerned about the President's failing health. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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free of charge. BetMGEMGEMP operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming, Ontario. Hello, everybody, and welcome to this very rapid, very exciting, very scintillating response to our runaway country. Donald Trump is unwell. We knew this, but really, it's time to start saying it more often. Last night, our president fell asleep at game three of the NBA championships, the New York Knicks versus San Antonio Spurs. That was after he was booed by the crowd. That comes on the heels of Trump's storm.

off in the middle of an interview with Kristen Welker of Meet the Press, when he forgot the name of the new Iranian leader, Mosheba Khomeini, and the name of the country that is managing the peace talks that the U.S. is supposedly involved in. That would be the country of Pakistan. That is also, in addition to forgetting why America is at war in Iran in the first place. Isn't it about time we focus on this man's fitness for office? Joining me now is the great Alyssa Master Monaco, host of Hysteria.

Hi, wags. They've been trying to keep us apart and finally we're together. Well, we were like two middle life women who had some middle life things going on at the same time. But we're back and we're bionic now. We're managing our middle age with flying colors. Unlike Trump who's managing, I don't even, we're not going to call it middle age. And golden years. It's the sun downing years.

The sundowning years with not flying colors, not flying colors. Did you know that the president had a very long blink at the Knicks game last night? I just want to say, like, I watched not all of the Knicks game, but it was like everyone was on fire. And it was like a murderer's row of Knicks fans court side, like Tracy Morgan, Tina Faye, Chalamey of course. Gang's all there. Everyone's there, unfortunately, including the president. And this, Alyssa, for those who missed it, is our president taking some long blinks. He's back.

He's back. My favorite is when he wakes up, because we see this in the Oval Office, too, when he, like, snaps out of it kind of, and he'll, I talk to Aaron about this, your colleague and counterpart, and she's just like, he'll say something, apropos of whatever, just to prove these, he's like, but you heard the crowd, Alyssa. That was a, it's, it was a raucous crowd. It was, MSG was rocking. And he still fell asleep.

Now, listen, I've been tired. In fact, back when he was five, my five-year-old fell asleep at a Knicks game. but he was a toddler, and this is the leader of the free world. Can you remember President Obama falling asleep at any inopportune moments? No, there were times when he would get a little sleepy, but he never fell asleep, you know. There are times when he would be talking, like talking to someone, and he'd be looking intently and would be like, you know, you look a little sleepy when you're looking intently. What do you want for me?

But did Barack Obama ever fall asleep in a middle of anything? He didn't. Did he take long blinks? And also, I don't, I don't recall us ever having to discuss in a meeting his long blinks. I mean, he doesn't have the goods to be, it really does not feel. This man setting aside his cognitive, clear cognitive decline physically is really taxed, is not able to, can't sit at a nick game without falling asleep. I want to go back to the meet the press interview he did on Sunday because I think I'm with

Jonathan V. last of the bulwark. I don't, it felt like he was actually having a health event in front of our very eyes. There's the sort of headline moment, which we'll play, where Trump abandons the interview in like what is an extraordinary display of peevishness. Let's, let's just refresh our minds on that one. But Mr. President. You're one-sided crooked network. So let's call it quits because I've had enough.

Thank you, darling. Have a good time. Mr. President, let's please, I travel all the way to Wisconsin. I've sat in the rain with you. I know. I've sat the rain with you for an hour. on and off in the rain, and I've given you enough time, you ought to straighten out your press because you know what?

A country can never be great with a dishonest. Listen, we traveled all the way to Wisconsin for this interview. Okay. You can hear the torrential rain, which is God's way of saying, I don't know proof of this, I guess. Alex, can we please just for a moment? It's like, he's just like, and I'm doing this in the rain, bro, you're in a building.

You have not gotten wet. You have listened to some rain. Like I sat with you for an hour in the rain. That's what he's like, he's losing it. I want to know, I mean, so you must be aware of presidents not being happy with interviews. What struck me about this one in particular was his inability to actually answer, answer the tough questions. What she was asking him are not like questions. They weren't gotcha question.

She was asking him about the slush funds. There was no new information. it was, these are layups. These are what you prepare for, right? Like this is what you know you're going to get asked if you're beginning to prepare. It was just he couldn't summon the reasoning to answer them coherently. And I feel like that's what led him to storm off is his, you know, when a little baby is frustrated or a little kid is frustrated that they can't get their words out, they have a tantrum.

And to me, that's what I saw there. What did you see? So that's what I saw. And that interview was actually filmed Saturday night, right, Wags, right? So I actually did think, so all four of my grandparents had some form of dementia. They all live to be 100 or late 90s. And sundowning syndrome happens second half the day, and it is characterized by confusion, anxiety, agitation.

And I'm not saying that he has dementia, but I'm saying that he loses his shit pretty fucking quickly for someone, like having worked in the White House, here are some things that no one talks about that I just think we really, like, are some real fucking low-hanging fruit. No one's talking about. Alex, he has, there's probably no person on earth who has better access to medical care than he does for everything. And I'm talking about food, medications, supplements, exercise. I mean, they're, like, he is, he is acting like someone who is eating the worst diet, who is nearing the end of their life, has had no physical activity,

and simply can't make it through the day. And I think that there is also something slightly deranged or sad or pathetic about the fact that he does have things like exercise, supplements, medication that could help him. And he seems to not be engaging in any of them. And he's the leader of the free world. What's it like, I mean, I don't know if you ever had to deal with this with Obama, who is, and likes to remind the country is in notoriously fantastic shape. But when, like, I would assume the president doesn't like to take, like, I feel like my assumption

is that presidents are hard charging. they're not really good at self-care. And it falls on the responsibility of staffers or spouses or family members to kind of intervene and be like, you need to like, sir, why don't you hold here and we'll take care of it and like get some water or whatever. Actually, let me do you one better. Let's look at past presidents, okay? George Bush, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, let's look at Al Gore.

These are people we watched take care of themselves because they are very. grown fucking persons who were like, you know what, I have to eat. Barack Obama, girl, we didn't skip meals, okay? The man needs fuel, you know, and he knew the fuel that he needed. And we always, I mean, look, a lot of times I would pass the meal by. He'd be like, what's matter, master? I said, like, Alyssa, what do you? I go, that's salmon and quinoa. I'm good, you know? But he knew that salmon and quinole us, he would literally say to me all the time, Alyssa, food is fuel. we watched George Bush. Look, George Bush knew his sleep cycle.

Okay, the man was up. You know, he was screaming with the owls. What is it? If you're going to scream with the owls, you got a hoot with the eagles. So he was hooting with the eagles. He was up real early doing, you know, civetses, video conferences into Europe at six in the morning. And you know what?

He knew he wasn't a night person. So he would like call it early. Barack Obama famously would be up until two in the morning. Guess what? We didn't start his day at six in the morning. the morning. It is a whole functioning system about how to make sure that the presidents can be at the top of their game. And as adults, they take that seriously. They know what rides on it. Being too tired means you're going to make bad decisions, which can come at you at any time

of the day. You know, it's like, I think back to one day we walk into the, it's Christmas time, and we're all fucking shits and giggles about tours that afternoon. And what has that? And what happens two hours later, we get a missive from the situation room about a shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. You know, like, anything can come at you at any time. And I just have never worked, you know, whether it was, whether it was when I was on the campaign trail with John Kerry in 2004, when he ran for president, he rode his bike. Guess what? We didn't fuck with him. It made him sharp. It made him alert. You know what I mean? Like, so I think that there is something so deeply, both petulant and irresponsible about what is happening around his health right now.

Well, and I would also, it's a failure of the staff, or it signals the degree to which his staff has absolutely, I mean, we know he has, no one controls him. But the fact that he is so public, first of all, Alyssa, I would like to say Donald Trump is not a night person or Donald Trump is a morning person or isn't a morning person. I don't even know because all I ever see is the man falling asleep. Like he's falling asleep at the Nick game, which is happening at like 930 at night. I don't know what the timestamp on that long blank was. But he's also, also falling asleep midday in the Oval when he's doing, you know, Maha events with Robert F. Kennedy. He's falling asleep all the time. So it's not like they can even sequester him around like now.

And he's tweeting at two in the morning. Right. It's just all over the place. It feels like incredibly, I mean, we expect to some degree erratic behavior from him. But this feels like there's just no one with their hand on the wheel. Something like Newtown could happen and he could be sleeping or fall asleep in the middle of a meeting to decide what the response should be. And also think about like the thing about the Knicks game too. Think about look, we are, we love New York. We are New Yorkers. The excitement in the city right now is off the charts. It is off the charts. And by him going just because he could, he ruined it for so many fans. There were no watch parties outside of MSG because of him. Anyone, you know, like, it is, it is wild wags because he is both doing things like going

to a Knicks game. He is clearly too tired for so much other stuff. Why he went to the Knicks game. It is like he is Clark Riswold and this term is just fucking Wally World. You know, he's like, I'm going to the Super Bowl. I'm doing this. But what are you do? Like, but you can't get through your day. Exactly. You know? Also prioritize. You have a war that's spinning out of control with no end in sight. Like, you know. I need to focus on that and not the Spurs game. All right, but the other piece of this that I think is interesting, and I do think as part of the media infrastructure around the presidency,

and not that I'm a White House reporter, but we're all involved in this, right? We do need to start. The White House ain't ever going to be transparent on its own, but there does have to be some more robust line of questioning about, I mean, we kind of take it for granted that the president of the United States is covered in like the wrong shade of- bruises. Bruises.

Yes. Rashes. I mean, he went. He's making trips to Walter Reed. Three trips in 13 months to Walter Reed for, quote, routine checkups. You just explained that the president of the United States has every, like, resources at his disposal. And I know Ben Rhodes talked about this on another fantastic show on our network, Pots of America. But like, why is he going to Walter Reed?

Can't Walter Reed come to him if it's a routine checkup? So wanted to talk about this. So the White House medical unit that exists at the White House can do a lot. Like, I have had many proceed. Look, if you are, if you work in the White House, if you're an assistant to the president, which is the highest level in the White House, you have access to the White House medical unit. So I had access to the medical unit.

I mean, I came in sick once. This might be TMI, but I'm going to TMI. I came in sick once thinking that I had something wrong with my stomach and they thought it might have been like a rupturing ovary. I got a pelvic exam in the White House Medical Office. They can do... What is the few? I'm betting. I'm betting.

And I was just like, do it. I'm dying. But like if there is something wrong, they can bring, you need an eye exam? The eye doctor comes to you. Did they have the stirrups? Oh, my God. I am so impressed. Girl, there were stirrups.

There were stirrups. And so if you're going, so what my, I am, I am not a doctor, but I am telling you based on my memories, if you have to go to Walter Reed, it is for equipment that cannot be transported. Because any specialists can come to you, you know, so are we talking cat scans, MRIs, you know, that's the kind of stuff that cannot be brought into the White House medical unit. And in fact, I'm going to get this wrong, but he had, he said he was getting, a CAT scan. He said he was getting an MRI, but he got a CT scan, or he said he got a CT scan, but it was an MRI. And he couldn't really remember what body part it was for. Right. He said his whole

body. Remember, he's like, it was the whole thing. He had no idea. He had no idea. And that was the one that was disclosed. These trips to Walter Reed were for quote unquote routine exams. But you're suggesting, and it sounds right to me, that it's not for a routine exam, because if you can get a pair of stirrups at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, what can't you get in terms of routine medical exams, right? If anything truly routine, they got it. They've got it. That's the whole point. You put that in context. You put that medical information. And Jonathan, JVL at the bulwark, I'm prone to quote him. I'm a huge fan. But on this piece in specific, he really, he toggles into, you know, we all have, and we already have talked about Trump's hasty exit. But the quote, his answer to the

questions that are being asked of him, or he doesn't have the basic information are so pronounced in their incoherence that I think it's worth playing one of them one more time. This is when Trump apparently can't remember the name of Iran's new supreme leader, who, again, reminder is Mushta-Khamini. Let's listen to the president of the United States. Who is that? Who's leading the country? Well, I don't want to go into names, but you know who they are. I mean, they're leaders. They're respected, respected by the people that have to respect them. They are calling the shots. We know that because we see it through various tests that we've given.

It's a little bit strange because you have leaders that have been there for a long time and they get wiped out. Then you have leaders that you also know, the second tier, and they get wiped out. All of a sudden, we're dealing with different people. Okay. That is a man who is clearly vamping. Does not know. There are people who are respected because they're respected. And just word salad, words, words, words, words, words, words.

That's what I actually wrote down. When I watched the interview, I did not even know you and I were going to talk about this interview, but I figured I wrote down on Sunday word salad. It's just word salad. It's like he's filling time. He's just filling time. And he's trying to sort of make an excuse like, oh, so many leaders have gone in and out. It's like, no, bro.

And be clear. The old hominy has been replaced by the new hominy. They're just hominy. That's all you have to remember. Going back to even the first term, he has never been good with names. Like, like he has no memory. And I actually think it's because he's a narcissistic person. And actually, in some instances, I think he just doesn't think it's important to remember

someone's names. But he also cannot pronounce foreign names or any names. And so for him, if you are going to be, is he 80 or is he going to be 80? He's going to be 80 on his UFC fight, on his UFC fight. So just imagine. So he's never been good at it. Now he's 80. Look, as someone, if you look at 80-year-olds in your life who are thriving, they are eating

three square meals a day. They are getting fruits and vegetables. They are getting exercise. They are challenging their mind in a way that is more wordal, less Twitter and truth social, you know? And I think that he's like actually not doing. anything to nourish himself. And he literally physically looks like he's falling apart. And I don't think that's being hyperbolic. He really looks like all over. He looks unwell. And if you actually

go back to the campaign trail, and I'm not going to diagnose or anything, but when I saw him on the campaign trail, I was like, I think Papa found some GLP ones. I mean, like, he was definitely thinner. He looked fitter. He looked healthier. He was like pretty good on the stump. You know, and I think that it's also part of this, though. Like, he's, he's only comfortable when he's up on the stump, right? But here is something when he has adrenaline and when he's getting, and when he's the, and the adrenaline comes from the audience. But wags, here is something because I was curious.

And I did a little deep dive for us. I compared his travel schedule from 2021, 2020 to 2021. So during COVID, Donald Trump took 171 trips. Wow. In 2021. In 2020, 2020 to 2021. 171 trips. Now, 64 of those trips were what I considered home state, New Jersey, Bedminster, Virginia

Golf, and Florida, right? So about 110 domestic trips. And I counted them by a visit to a state. So I did both years apples to apples, right? So even if people could dispute how you group a trip, I did it based on the numbers of visits to states. Do you know how many he's done in 2025? No. 81.

Wow. 63 to home states. Florida, Virginia. Edminster. Wait, give me the numbers again. Give me the numbers again. 2020, 2020 to 21, how many? So 2020 to 2021, 171, 64 of which I concluded, I deemed home state. Okay. All of 2025, 81, 63 of which were home state. Wow. Way less. Way less. Yes. And so like to just has been cut in half. And again, like to just put into that 2020 to 2021.

Is COVID. Is COVID. That is so crazy. And he is five visits in 2020 to 2021, five visits to Ohio, five visits to Texas, seven each to Arizona, Georgia, Maryland, Nevada, nine visits to Michigan, 10 visits to Wisconsin, 13 visits to Pennsylvania, 2025, two visits to Alaska. two visits to Alaska, one of which I actually think

was a stopover on a way to a foreign trip, three to North Carolina, four to Pennsylvania, five to Maryland, five to New York, one to Alabama, Arizona, California, California, Delaware, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada,

Texas. I love that you figure this out. Right? I'm just going to say. But it's interesting because it shows that he's not even getting, that we know he loves to be in front of crowds.

He's not even doing that. Yes, I will say here are my two caveats. One is 2020 is a presidential election year, so there's going to be more principal travel. For sure. Having said that, this is also a midterm election year, and we see that Trump really likes being involved in these primaries, and he really likes handpicking the Republican nominees. So there is the reason for him to travel. And he's always loved to travel because he loves being in front of people.

He loves the adoration. This is, I mean, so then this gets us to the sort of ultimate question, which is like, and this is the point that JVL makes, which is like, we. look like, I mean, we have, in order to get any kind of transparency about our increasingly adult stay-at-home president's health, it's like you have to engage in Kremlinology. It's like you have to like read the tea leaves. There's, I mean, and you could argue, yes, FDR, there wasn't the same amount of transparency. JFK, there wasn't the same amount of transparency. But in the modern presidency, there's an expectation that people know when you're on well.

And like Trump has, and deserve to know, or at least the media should be. asking questions about someone's fitness for office. And this man is clearly not well and is not in control of all of his functions, which is why he falls asleep anywhere and everywhere, doesn't recall the names of key figures in places, and otherwise behaves like, you know, a baby that's just been woken up from an afternoon nap. Yes. And think about the available, like, okay, so he's, like, he's tired, but he's clearly not sleeping. Well, can someone give him a B-12 shot? Like, what are we doing here?

Like, it's like, it's like, and if he is, it's like either he is taking advantage of the panoply of options that are available to him as president of the United States and they're not working, or he doesn't even think it's important to try to take advantage of them so that he can serve the country. I mean, it's bonkers. The whole thing is bonkers.

And I do think we're now in territory. You know, we talk about the ways our American democracy. has devolved to be somewhat like a tourist-friendly autocracy. And the sort of authoritarian in decline is such a trope that we see. Like, you know, we saw it with Fidel Castro in Cuba, Cuba. We see it in Moscow with, we see it in Russia, with Putin. Like, there's always speculation about the health of the dear leader. We definitely see it in North Korea. And now we too can join that club of ignoble leaders in decline, because that's the way that the posture that Trump has adopted and forced us to adopt is one of like whispers and tacit acceptance of someone losing their cognitive

functions. It's outrageous. I'm bummed. And I can't wait to see where he falls asleep next. Alyssa, I can't believe you went through Trump's whole travel schedule. You're a goddess. I mean, you know what? I just find it, uh, I find this all very depressing. And I'm like, what I really am, I am, and I am a curious person. And I'm like, what could it be? be. You know, what is it? You've been on the inside. You know what it's like. You know, and I think the thing for me is just that I know that anything he could have, there's also something else, I'm sure you've noticed. He can't keep his villains and his victims straight anymore. And in his, and in his interview with Kristen, he just started screaming about dirty cops. Dirty cops. It was the dirty

cops that when she's talking to him about January 6th and the people who lost their lives and all the people who committed suicide because of the dirty cops. And I was like, dude, all of the people who died by suicide were cops trying to save people. Like what the fuck? There are certainly some people involved in the insurrection who may have died by suicide, but we know there are cops that died by suicide and a number of them. There were two, four, five officers present who died by suicide. at some point after the insurrection. And but just, it's like, do you even know who your base is anymore? Like, it feels like there's just a fucking kaleidoscope in his brain.

He can't keep straight. And we get to be the lethal recipients of whatever that's so awkward. Alyssa, Master Monaco, excellent prep for this episode. You came with your receipts. Come on, you know, I bring 100%. I just think it's, you know, I was curious. You showed up, girl. You showed up.

man. Thank you for joining this fantastic special bonus episode of Runaway Country. I hope that I get to rope you in, you and your brilliant mind and all your data for another episode in the near near future. You know what? You just give me a task right before my edible hits and I will show up the next day with more than you could hope for. Respect. Night before gummies. Research time. Go listen to Alyssa's podcast, hysteria, follow everything that she does. Also subscribe to Runaway Country on YouTube, because that's where you can get amazing. Because it's the best. Because it's the best.

Because it's the best. Thank you all. Namaste. Runaeimusay. Our show is produced by Alona Mankovsky, Emma Elyick-Frank, Haley Jones, and Anishab energy, with help from Eric Chute, Kenny Moffat, and Charlotte Landis. Production support from Ben Hethcote, Katie Long, Adrian Hill, and Matt DeGroat. Our staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.