The Daily Beast Podcast - This Is the Twisted Truth About Trump's New 'Deal'

Episode Date: September 1, 2026

David Rothkopf joins Joanna Coles to expose the dark side of Donald Trump’s Venezuela oil deal, which Rothkopf says is nothing less than a criminal shakedown disguised as a victory. They dig into Trump’s bid to take control of Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, the shady businessman and Rudy Giuliani connection at the center of the arrangement, and the billions of dollars whose ultimate destination remains a mystery. Rothkopf argues that Trump is turning the presidency into a personal money-making machine as his Iran war collapses, his poll numbers crater, and his political future grows increasingly precarious. And as the midterms approach, the question isn’t just whether Trump can survive politically—it’s what investigators may uncover if he loses. #ad Head to Superpower.com and use code DAILYBEAST at checkout for $20 off your membership. Unlock your new health intelligence. 100+ biomarkers. Every year. Detect early signs of 1,000+ conditions. #superpowerpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is a mafia presidency, a mafia government. It behaves much like the government does in the Kremlin. It uses bullying tactics, which has left Trump billions and billions of dollars richer after a year in office. But the Venezuela deal is a perfect example because he wants us to celebrate it, except the following. A, it's not a deal because he doesn't have the ability to make the deal, and he's stealing the oil.

The United States is getting this oil because we attacked Venezuela, and at gunpoint are saying hand over the oil. That's illegal under international law. We don't know how much money out of this Trumpers, buddies are going to make. All we know is that we have the most corrupt government in the history of the United States with a president who seems committed to monetizing the presidency. It's a crime. It's not a deal.

I'm Joanna Coles. This is the Daily Beast podcast. And if it's a Monday, it's a David Rothkopf day. So we're going to be getting into, are Trump and Putin more alike than they seem? The Venezuelan deal, well, David argues it's not really a deal. It's a crime. And Trump will be held accountable. And we're going to look at the crazy truth socials that Donald Trump is dropping

and what is happening with Pete Heggseth. Because David hears he's telling people he's going to run. And he's not going to run away. He's going to run for president. He's going to run for president. PXF is going to run for president. Come on. Ooioi, yoy.

But before we get into it, I just wanted to remind you, please subscribe to the Daily Bees podcast, wherever you get your podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Apple, wherever. And regular observers of the podcast, regular viewers may notice that I'm not in our New York studio. I am in fact back at my parents' house, my father's house in Yorkshire where our connection is not as strong as it is in New York,

so bear with us if there are any technical blips. And I have spent the morning doing something that I guess, well, a lot of people do. And it's an oddly, oddly difficult thing to do, which is sorting out my mum's clothes. Regular viewers, listeners will know that my mum died earlier this summer. And so I'm back to do some of that clearing up, which we all have to do. and so I'm very glad to have the opportunity to talk to David Rothkopf about world affairs to take my mind off things. Let's get into it. David Rothkopf. Joanna Coles, how is England?

Well, it's actually very interesting. England is obsessed by Russia. As you know, Andy Burnham, the new prime minister, one of the first things he did was go to Ukraine. And now Russia has declared Britain enemy number one. So people I'm talking to, especially in London, are feeling this very strongly in a way that we absolutely don't in America. And there have been all sorts of reports that the government is about to issue a statement telling people they need seven days worth of water and food in case of climate extremities or in case of hostile action from a foreign country. So people are taking the Russia threat incredibly seriously here in a way that, you know, Trump just tosses off his wars. He's going to end Ukraine, Russia. He's going to end Iran. In fact, we've won Iran. In fact, we're going to, Iran's dead. What was his true social post this morning? Iran is dead. It's over. It's failed. Anyway, all of these things we can get into today, David. I know you've got thoughts on Venezuela. And, well, the madness of Donald Trump's leadership. Yeah, what do you think the odds are? Who do you think is more likely to invade Europe?

Russia or the United States? Because... That's a great question. Because, you know, Trump keeps talking about Greenland, even though the prime minister of Denmark kicks him in the shins every time he does it. Well, he might be more likely to invade Canada. I mean, we've seen his truth socials this morning kicking off the sign for Lake Ontario and planting his sign for Lake America. Yeah, well, let's give a big boo out to Google for actually changing the name just because this old guy said, let's change the name. He doesn't have the power to change it, but they changed it on Google Maps. And so now it says Lake America, which is shameful.

When I say shameful, by the way, it's a choice. because it used to be remembered the Great Lakes by an acronym, H-O-M-E-S-H-O-M-E-S-H-H-O-M-E-S-H-O-M-E-S-H-O-M-E-S-H-E-R-E-S-E-E. Here-O-O-O-N-O-M-E-S-E-E-S-E. The new acronym, E, The shame, but we know the president has no shame. David, we have no shame in asking people who are listening or who are watching to subscribe to The Daily Beast. If you haven't done, please do. We are independent, which is why we can have David Rothkopf every Monday saying,

well, saying exactly what he wants to say because we're independent. But we really appreciate your support and you can show it to us by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you. And on YouTube. Don't forget to subscribe. And on YouTube. Yeah. Yeah, because I love the comments on YouTube.

But you have such an engaged audience. And, you know, they get into this stuff. And here we are. It's sort of back to school time. You know, there's 60-ish days left before the election. It's going to be a big fall. There's a lot going on. And, you know, on the international stage, on the domestic stage, in the United States,

we're going to have a lot to talk about. Okay. So, David, let's start off. Trump, of course, has been, you know, one wakes these days to a flurry of his friends. midnight posts, possibly with Natalie Harp, who knows, but definitely with an empty carton of ice cream and some slimy, greasy burger papers. But today's was sort of video game fantasy of having demolished or, dare I say, obliterated Iran when, in fact, we know that Iran is dug in and is sitting waiting out the midterms

because they know that this war, Donald Trump started illegally, without congressional approval, is unpopular with Americans, and he's likely to lose the midterms. Well, he is likely to lose the midterms, but with regard to the Iran war, you know, when Trump says something, you know, it's always good to examine

that the opposite is true or that he's projecting something, right? And, you know, when he says Iran is dead, what he really means is his war against Iran is dead. I, you know, I would stick my neck out here and say that, you know, with the exception of a little rumbling here and a little rumbling there, Trump's given up. The war in Iran is over. There was a story over the weekend in the Washington Post that generals have gone up to him and said, you can't continue this, sir,

because he likes to add in, sir, because we are out of munitions. And if we go and lay into the Iranians one way or another, it is going to make us vulnerable in the Pacific, vulnerable at vulnerable against other kinds of potential attacks. And so, you know, Trump is, it's petered out, you know, and I think what Trump is trying to do with the Venezuela thing, with, you know, this campaign, he's going to launch an ad campaign this week, touting his achievements, he's trying to change the subject because he knows there is no successful outcome to his war in Iran. One thing I've been thinking about a lot lately is how easy it is to go through life, just assuming everything is fine, until something isn't.

I feel like so many doctor visits end the same way. Everything looks fine, drink more water, see you next year. Meanwhile, I'm left wondering, am I getting enough nutrients? How's my metabolism? What should I actually be focusing on? That's why I'm excited about superpower. Superpower takes a completely different approach. they send a licensed professional to your home or you can visit a nearby lab,

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Head over to superpower.com and use code Daily Beast for $20 off your membership. That's Code Daily Beast and after you sign up, they'll ask you how you heard about superpower. So do us a favour and tell them the Daily Beast sent you. So which subject, David, do you think he is most likely to try to change? because almost every subject is bad for him, the price of gas, ice, the wars, the never-ending wars, the forever war that he promised he wouldn't get into and he appears to have done. His impossibly incompetent cabinet members, Scott Bessent, and we should come on to his efforts to squeeze Iran financially. Marco Rubio, who's taken on every job.

Pete Hegseth, Pete Hegseth, with his wife, who is ever present. the ever-present wife. Which is his most unpopular policy? Because there are a lot of them. Tariffs? I think the policy that is most unpopular, the basket of policies is economic policies because everybody feels those policies. If you look at the polls, almost every major policy he has is significantly underwater, whether it's the Iran War, whether it's the tariff wars with the world, whether it's economic policy, whether it's. it's health care policies taking, I mean, in the next couple of months, 25 million Americans are either going to get kicked off of Medicaid and Medicare

or they're going to lose their subsidies, 25 million. So that's really unpopular. And, you know, he's very unpopular. Right now, people in the White House are flipping out because his poll ratings are at the lowest they've ever been and they're falling. Looks like they're falling into the 20. This is the basement of the basement in these polls because, you know, there are 25% of Americans, you know, who believe in the literal presence of angels and who think the world is flat. And these people will support Trump no matter what.

By the way, the percentage who believe in the literal presence of angels and that the world is flat is actually higher. But the reality is here. He's going to do what he does and what these true social things do. And that is he's going to throw a lot of shit at the wall and see what sticks. And he's going to see what resonates with people. And you saw it, you know, this morning or over this weekend, as he said, I've had a big success with Venezuela. How's that, everybody? And then the world goes, well, actually, what you're saying is a lie.

It's not a success. It's actually a crime. You're doing it with a very unsavory character. And it's not going to do what you said it's going to do. And then he says, well, I've won the war in Iran. And then everybody goes, well, no, you haven't won the war in Iran. My point is he is floundering. This is a man who is at sea, who doesn't have a life preserver, and he is reaching for every

passing branch to try and hold himself up. And I think that the story of the next two months is going to be do these work. And the Venezuela story really sticks with me. Well, you wrote an excellent column this morning in The Daily Beast about Venezuela, which I'd like to read from, if I may. This weekend, President Trump boasted that he had concluded a great deal with Venezuela that would refill our depleted strategic petroleum reserves, reduce gas prices, and produce a long-lasting boon to America. As with all such, Trump announces, upon closer scrutiny, his boasts are empty and misleading. They also mask or neglect to note a much darker side to what has

happen. The president's judgment, his intentions, and the likely consequence of the whole endeavor. Dig deeper, however, and understanding the true nature of what has happened and where it may lead offers a direct path to better grasping the true risks of the Trump presidency. The origin of those risks and how they tie directly into the core existential questions facing our society, which are, David? Well, I think what it gets into is that this is a mafia presidency, a mafia government. It behaves much like the government does in the Kremlin, where it takes what it wants, it doesn't care about the law, it breaks the laws, it enriches the people at the top,

it doesn't care about anybody else, it uses bullying tactics, shake-down tactics, mob tactics, wherever it goes, foreign policy and domestic. policy. You don't agree with them at home? You don't get support. We'll try to prosecute you. Don't agree with them overseas. We'll invade you. We'll attack you. We'll cut your aid. And in this particular case, it also ties into, you know, the corruption that lies at the core of that, which has left Trump billions and billions of dollars richer after a year in office. And I think that corruption is important, not just because it outrages Americans, but because it is linked to something else in our society, which is the impunity of the super rich. The idea that billionaires

don't pay taxes, billionaires are not held accountable in the law, the administration eliminates programs to prosecute white-collar fraud and goes after the little guy. And inequality grows in America, economically, politically, and so forth. And so corruption and inequality are directly linked to each other. And unless you fight and end the corruption, you won't have to be. have the ability to stop the other. But the Venezuela deal is a perfect example, because he wants us to celebrate it, except the following. A, it's not a deal because he doesn't have the ability to make the deal, and he's stealing the oil. So remember, the United States is getting this oil because we attacked Venezuela and at gunpoint are saying hand over the oil. That's illegal under

international law. It's also, by the way, illegal under Venezuelan law, which has a constitution that says you can't hand over oil reserves to a foreign government. It's probably illegal under U.S. law because it envisions cash flowing into the U.S. government into the Pentagon and used by the Pentagon and invested from the Pentagon, which requires congressional approval, which has not happened. It's a deal that empowers the Maduro regime, even though Maduro is not in it, the anti-democratic regime that we allegedly oppose for these many, many years. It also is a deal with a guy named Benton Corps who runs what the second biggest private oil

company in Venezuela, where we will go in and be partners with him and the development of these reserves worth up to 65 billion barrels. But who is this guy? He's under investigation by multiple governments for money. laundering. He is a former client of Rudy Giuliani. In 2019, Rudy Giuliani went to the Department of Justice and said, hey, don't prosecute this guy for money laundering. He's not a bad guy. Let's not sanction him. The U.S. government pressured the British government, saying, hey, don't limit his travel to the UK. So, you know, it is a typical Trump deal with a sleazy guy based on lies.

against the law, and, and here's the kicker, we don't know how much money out of this Trumpers, buddies are going to make. They've already taken tens of billions of dollars of oil from tankers and things, which allegedly went into a bank account in Qatar in the name of the U.S. But we don't know whose name it was. We don't know who controlled the funds. We don't know where the funds went. And we don't know what side deals are going to be cut or crypto deals or other kinds of deals on this and who's going to get their percentage in Venezuela and who will get their percentage in the United States. All we know is that we have the most corrupt government in the history of the United States with a president who seems committed to monetizing the presidency

and he's trying to take essentially what is piracy, essentially is exactly the same kind of war of aggression Russia has waged in Ukraine, and steal the patrimony of another country, Because he thinks maybe he could make some bucks off of it. Maybe it'll make him look better. It's a crime. It's not a deal. Right. That's the point you make in your column.

This is not even a Trumpy deal by the standards of Trump deals. This is actually a crime, an international crime. So, David, I think the perception of Venezuela, such as the IS one, is that because the military was successful in zooming in, picking out, Maduro and his wife. It was a surprise clearly to Maduro and to Venezuela. It was over very, very fast. There's a sort of perception that this was actually a success. But in your column, you talk about the likelihood that actually the thieving of oil from Venezuela and the supporting actually of the same regime just with Delci Rodriguez, Maduro's number two, now in place as the de facto

number one, that actually this could yet ferment unrest in Venezuela? Well, sure, for several reasons. One, you know, the people of Venezuela were happy to see Maduro go. But the reality is they expected things would change, that democracy would advance. It has not that their economic situation would get better. It has not that the Maduro regime would be broken up in some way and that it would be replaced by something more responsive. It has not.

This deal strengthens the inheritor of the Chavez Maduro legacy, which is Delci Rodriguez, and her regime. It strengthens a businessman who became especially wealthy by doing business with Chavez and Maduro, who sort of cashed in on their illegal and repressive regime. And it is something that is therefore making Venezuelan people upset. Then when you take away the national patrimony, the 65 billion barrels of oil reserves, then they get real upset. And there is already pushback there because of this. I would add, by the way, that Trump said, well, this will help us replace the strategic

petroleum reserves. It won't. First of all, the quality of oil out of Venezuela would require many levels of refining to get to be acceptable for the strategic petroleum reserves. That would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, and it would take five, six, seven, ten years. It's not going to happen. Trump has said it will help lower the price of gasoline in the United States. It won't for the same reason.

It'll take five, six, seven, eight, ten years for any of this to really come online. It won't benefit the American people. What it will do is enrich the people involved in the deal. Now, you do get to another point there, which is that the media starts to be able to fawning on Trump and said, wow, this is great. You went in. You got Maduro. You got out. There was no forever war. Isn't this fantastic? Because the media wanted to play along with the White House. But it wasn't a success by any measure. The regime is still there. And what has happened after this is not a triumph for democracy or for markets or for the interests of the United

States. It's a series of big crimes. Again, a mafia. state flexing its muscles in its neighborhood. This was the Trump doctrine, right, which is we can do whatever we want in our neighborhood. But what does he want? He wants to get oil from Venezuela. He wants to get rare earth minerals out of Greenland. Maybe he wants to get some of Canada's riches out of Canada. This is a predator. So there are similarities here between Putin, not in terms of the meat grinder of throwing boots on the ground to take over a terrorist. But this sense that I can, I can, I'm big, I can wade in wherever I please take whatever I want, except, of course, that both Putin and Donald Trump have ended up underestimating

smaller countries with a passion and any determination to fight them both back. I think everybody's surprised by what happened in Ukraine, perhaps not the Ukrainians. But certainly what's happened in Iran. No, I mean, you're right. There are a lot of similarities there, beginning with the aggression of these two thug leaders. But the big similarities is the two superpowers, one former superpower and one superpower, two nuclear superpowers, have both lost in their military endeavors, Putin and Ukraine, where right now Russia's back on its heels. Ukraine is blowing up its oil refining capacity. It's blowing up the distribution. capacity of some of its big logistics networks. Ukraine is gaining. Russia is losing. And it's and and Trump has lost with regard to Iran. And you know, interestingly, the person who posited the idea that this was going to be the age of the middle power and that the superpower's strength is overestimated and middle powers that get together and show the resolve will do

better was Mark Carney, the head of Canada. It's one of the reasons Trump is so pissed off at him. But I would say one other thing is we're looking at the news. Today, today in Kyrgyzstan, something called the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which meets every year, is taking place where President Xi of China, President Putin of Russia, the Iranian president, the president of Turkey and other countries are getting together. and what they are doing is, you know, they're declaring solidarity. But in terms of the Iran war, this is a major rebuke to Trump and Scott Besson's big idea of early last week, which was economic war on Iran.

If the Chinese and the Russians say they're not going to play, there is going to be no pressure on Iran. And I think, you know, this plays further into this, which is. is Iran is stronger. We are weaker with regard to Iran. We can't flex our muscles. And that's why this war, that's why Trump lost this war. And I think it's fair to say, you know, Iran was damaged, but Trump lost the war with Iran. And that's not something you say about U.S. presidents very often. So where does it go from here, David? As you said, Donald Trump is launching an ad campaign this week. he said that he's on the ballot

that people don't like Republicans but they love him. It may be that he's surrounded in this weird bubble by all the information that Natalie Harp brings to him either by golf cart or simply by running behind his golf court. Happily this weekend she was actually given a golf cart of her own

so she could sort of pedal as it were after him. Where does this go for the US? Yes. Well, I think it goes into the home stretch for the election. Trump is, of course, wrong. He's living in a bubble. He's got Natalie Harp going, oh, my God, you're so brilliant. You're so beautiful. You're so fit. Your hair looks so realistic. And is she saying that? Is she saying that? She's saying that she's saying you smell like a bower of flowers. But the reality is, of course, he's less popular than a lot of the Republicans, less popular than some of the Congress people on the Republican side that the Republican voters

turn to in their own districts. And the Republicans that I have spoken to in Washington the past week are really nervous because Trump is now going to run this ad campaign in which he touts all of his successes. But everybody knows their lies. There is no economic success. Prices have gone up, not down. Jobs are not being created in the way that they're supposed to be. People are losing their health care. He's despoiling the environment.

He's gotten us into a forever war. We're not stronger. we're weaker. The thing with Canada's insane and it's going to cost big time jobs and big time dollars and in key swing states on the north. Trump is, ironically, essentially doing what Biden did in the 2024 election. And that is to say, don't believe your own eyes and ears. I'm telling you the economy's fine. It's literally the same thing. Literally the same thing. It's It's astonishing. It's astonishing.

And of course, it never works. It never works because people know their own lives. And that's what Trump is, you know, what is the undoing of every liar? What the undoing is the truth. And Donald Trump is going to run smack into the truth in November unless somehow he can rig the elections, send in the troops, seize voting machines, stop mail ballots and do, you know, I mean, he's waging a multi-front campaign to do this and make it so that the outcome of the election is not determined by the will of the people, but is determined by his Department of Justice. That would be a terrible outcome, and I don't think that's going to happen.

But he's clearly trying to do it because he knows that on the flip side, if he loses, the Democrats on the Hill are planning their investigations, he knows somebody's going to say, well, where did all that Venezuela, go. Show us the receipts. Where, you know, did you get the crypto money? Show us the receipts. Did you deal with foreign powers in ways that are illegal? Show us the receipts. Did your cabinet do this? Show us the receipts. And he knows that he is actually vulnerable, no matter what the Supreme Court may have said about his immunity, states can prosecute him, other countries can prosecute him. they can go after members of his cabinet, they can embarrass him with the facts, they can reveal the extent of his corruption, and there is a case to be made that the Supreme Court only granted him immunity on official acts. And if something is illegal, it is by definition not official

because it's illegal, right? It's not part of his official responsibilities. And so I think they're very, very serious implications. And that's why when you look at Trump and he talks, you know, gives speech like at the rally last week, he's like, well, they're going to impeach me. They're going to impeach me. And then, you know, that's what's going to happen. And you think, well, you've been impeached before. You're still here. Why are you so worried about it? He's worried because these investigations frighten him because they may have consequences. If not for him, for his family, for his companies, for his friends, et cetera. So, David, there was an intriguing story in the Washington Post this weekend about the Pentagon using civilians as influencers to talk about the war in Iran.

Can you just talk a little bit about this? I know you talk to lots of people in the Pentagon and in the intelligence services. We seem to have run out of munitions. We've got Pete Hegseth's wife apparently running the Pentagon at this point. Pete just looks more and more. well, what does he look? He just looks ridiculous, more and more ridiculous. And now we're hearing that senior, senior generals are just saying non-concur when they have to carry out things, which means that they do their duty, but they don't really agree with it. I mean, you know, explain, explain this madness. Well, I think the madness is when the truth doesn't work for you, you lie. And when you need to lie in a high scale, you hire a bunch of liars.

And what he's done is he's hired some influencers to come in, not because he wants to strengthen the Pentagon. They won't do that. Not because he's concerned about the long-term future of U.S. national security. He's not, they couldn't help with it. It says what he's concerned with, which is his appearance that he maybe he wants to run for president in the future. You know, this is a longstanding tradition in the United States government.

It goes back to the very, very first administration when Thomas Jefferson became Secretary of State and he hired a guy to work in the Department of State to put out a pamphlet that said nice things about Jefferson. And his adversary, his rival, Alexander Hamilton, hired another person to put out a pamphlet. And they had dueling pamphlets when one was Secretary of the State, one was Secretary of State and one was Secretary of the Treasury. And this is, you know, this is the continuation of that where, you know, cabinet secretary's set up apparatus to shape people's points of view of them and of their policies. And it's very clear. I mean, there is a story every day now down here about Pete Higgs, the saying to his friends, well, I may run. And, you know, he may have to run. Does he mean he might run away? I just run away from all of this. Well, that's the point. He may have to.

He doesn't know. You know, the reality is, of course, that all sorts of rules of the Pentagon have been broken. And we don't know who's been awarded, what contracts, how. We do know that he puts his thumb on the scale of these things. And there will be investigations at DOD, investigations at Treasury, investigations at the IRS, investigations at the State Department, investigations into DOD, And for all of you are like, get, like, oh, God, do we have to go through this again? Yeah, we do.

Because if you don't and you send a message to people that they can get away with this kind of corruption and then they can use the proceeds of the corruption to buy more power, you're kissing democracy goodbye. So we sometimes have to do the work of holding people accountable. Oh, goodness, David. Well, that's quite enough for a Monday, I think. But I want to know what you think of the men. canceling the John Gagliano exhibit.

I was amazed that they decided to do it in the first place. I mean, there are so many designers you could celebrate if you want to celebrate a living designer. There are so many themes that you could lean into. You don't see anti-Semitism is a good fashion theme. Well, I know that Anna Winter is a friend of his, and sometimes, you know, you make allowances for your friends, but it was the right decision to cancel it, I think,

and to find someone else or some other theme to celebrate, because goodness knows there are a lot of them. And he, you know, John Galliano was given a second chance by the fashion industry. And, you know, obviously he had all sorts of substance abuse issues, but that doesn't mean that the MET should lean into him. There's a lot of this going on, though, isn't it? You know, wasn't Hugo Boss, the uniform supplier to the Nazis?

I mean, you know, you'd think about this. There's a little more of a subtext here. Well, you know, the Mercedes was the official car, and I don't think that your Porsche's, I know you have a couple of them. I don't think you get off lightly for driving Porsche's, because I suspect they were also involved in the Third Reich. Am I not right?

No, you're right, but both of my Porsches have been circling. I can't believe you said that. All right, listen, we've made it this far, David. We should quit while we're ahead. We should quit while we're ahead because amazingly, for the first time since I've been here, we've had consistent Wi-Fi. I will say, big shout-out, I can't believe I'm going to say this out loud to Elon Musk. I've ever Starlink. I brought a portable Starlink with me and incredibly it's set up on my father's lawn and it appears to be working. So I want to quit while we're ahead. And we'll be back next Monday where hopefully I will have stronger Wi-Fi. To no credit of Elon Musk. Let's try to hold those shout-outs to a minimum. All right. It's a minimum shout-out, but I will say that it's when British Telecom said that

they might be able to upgrade my father's Wi-Fi or copper wire, they said, oh, it's the wire. And I said, fantastic, when can you do it? when can you do it? I really, really need it. And they said, oh, probably, you know, sometime in their next five years. So, so for their, for the urgency of this podcast, for the urgency of bringing David Rothcop's voice of sanity to the world, I think we should quit while we're ahead. And minute thanks to Elon for making it possible. Minute, thanks. Look, have a good time in England and have a safe return, journey. Thank you. Thank you. And I will see you next Monday. And if people haven't, I want to refer

them to your excellent contributions in our podcast about Donald Trump's workwives, which went up yesterday with Nell Scavelle. And it's talking about all the very attractive young women that Trump has around them, around him, and quite what they do. Yeah, I've gotten a lot of positive feedback on that. People think you and Nell and I are funny. Well, Nell does write The Simpsons. She is a comedy writer. She worked for David Letterman and her book. I've said this before on the podcast,

but her book, Just the Funny Parts, is one of the funniest and the best books I've ever read about being a writer in Hollywood. It's so good. It's so good. She's the funniest and best people out there anywhere. So it's really good. And hopefully you'll do more specials like this with her

because she's great. Good, good, good. Well, our plan is to do very much that. David Rothcopf, in your Tom Terrific t-shirt. Thank you. Is it Tom Terrific? Tom Terrific. What is it?

Tom Terrific was a character from TV in my youth, and he had a dog, and his dog was named Manfred. And the dog had two unique attributes. It said Manfred could eat while he slept and sleep while he eats. And I've always related to them. put that. This is the two things that I wanted to develop the most, the ability to eat while I sleep and sleep while I eat. And so that's why I wear Tom Terrific. There's a shout out to Manfred the Wonder Dog. Well, but I think that our presidents already pull that off, right? He sleeps while he talks. He sleeps while he stands. He sleeps while he hosts a cabinet meeting. I'm sure he can

sleep while he eats too. Certainly some bodily function is going on while he sleeps. Anyway, I don't want to think about that. That's for Natalie Hart to clean up. Let's move swiftly on. David Rothcop, very good to see you. And reminder again to people, just subscribe to your podcast. Please, if you're listening to The Daily Beast or watching The Daily Beast, and we will be back next Monday with David Rothcopf and I'll be back tomorrow with Michael

Wolf, inside Trump's head. And again, a referral to Nelskevill's podcast on Trump's women and your contributions for the workwives. Thank you. Have a good week. Okay. Bye. Bye. It's hard not to feel better about the world when you know that David Rothkopf is in it. He just brings humour and insight and unfathomably long lists to everything he discusses. Anyway, do check out his podcast on Trump's workwives with Nell Scavell that dropped yesterday. It's really worth a listen. And we'll be back next Monday. And I do leave us a comment about your favorite part of the conversation.

Do you have questions for David or do you have comments? But we love, as you know, to hear from you. And we read as many of them as we can. So until tomorrow, and I'll be back with Michael Wolf, inside Trump's head, where we poke around three times a week, big thank you to you for joining us and to our production team. John Romero, Ryan Murray, Rachel Pasa, Heather Pissarro and Neil Rowe. So the good news is we have so many Bee Beast tier members now. There are too many names to read out and we really appreciate your support.