The Daily Beast Podcast - This Is Trump's Twisted New Fixation: Wolff

Episode Date: September 25, 2026

Michael Wolff and Joanna Coles unpack Trump’s latest threats to “annihilate” Iran, including the bizarre White House effort to find him a new word after “obliterate” apparently lost its punch. They discuss Trump’s UN week showdown with world leaders, Xi Jinping’s visit to the White House, Melania Trump’s new women’s initiative, and RFK Jr.’s extraordinary $4 million book deal. They also examine the devastating testimony from families affected by ICE shootings in Minneapolis and what it could mean as the midterms approach, before turning to the widening Republican Senate map and the chaos surrounding Trump’s proposed White House ballroom. With Trump declaring “I am the code” as questions swirl around the building’s safety regulations, Michael and Joanna trace the larger pattern behind a president who refuses to accept limits, rules or anyone telling him what he can and cannot do. #ad INCOGNI Deal: To get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan, go to https://incogni.com/beast 🛡️ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I saw my friend on the other side of the street. I was heading to school with the kids. I let go of mom's hand to wave. I had already forgotten their lunches. I ran over to hug her. She came out of nowhere. And then... It stopped.

Sometimes the moments that never happen matter most. Volvo's automatic emergency braking helps ensure a safe ending for everyone. Learn more at volvocars.caps.caps.ca. I was interested in that word, annihilated. So I spoke to somebody in the White House who said, well, you know, his favorite word is obliterated, but he specifically asked for a new word. They offered him up, annihilated, which he liked

because it was somewhat like obliterated, but also that, but it wasn't. So he got a new word. It was like presenting Trump with a new word. He's not going to mean to annihilate Iran in the same way he didn't obliterate obliterate Iran. It's just Trumpian inflation, Trumpian drama, the Trumpian word. He finds a word that he likes. And we will now hear annihilated on a rather regular basis, of course. Michael. Joanna.

It's full. It's Ungar Week, UN General Assembly Week, and you are wearing the most splendid shade of green I think I have ever seen. It's good. It's good. that you're not in the studio or I would simply rip that cardigan from you. I don't know what to say about this. We've never, this is the most intimate we've ever gotten. We're going to start fighting over clothes. I want to remind people, please subscribe to The Daily Beast wherever you get your podcast. You just have to smash the subscription button. Apple, Spotify, YouTube.

And, of course, we will be live. Very exciting on October the 20th at the Terrogram Ballroom, downtown L.A. And to get your tickets, it's beast.com pub slash ITH live. That's beast.pub slash ITH live or you can go to Ticketmaster. And I am told, somewhat excitingly, the tickets are selling fast. So I think it was your threat to be. To be. unplugged, Michael, your threat to just be unedited. All of the things that you won't let me say here that are edited out, all of the spats that we have that are sanitized. Well, you'll hear them all. You will hear them all. You will hear them all. And big congrats in our due, because you've hit a million followers on Instagram.

which actually ties in quite nicely with the fact that the judge, after midnight last night, so let's give it to judges who are working overtime, declared Trump's ban on CNN, MS now, and Politico, unconstitutional and immediately, I think, reinstated their press passes. They do, but I think my million followers, and I get these million followers because, you know, I made these short videos in my two slow-talking Presbyterian minister kind of voice about Trump. And also in the background of my house in Amaganza, which I think people find a kind of particularly peaceful background to the Trumpian horrors. And that's all due to my wife who films and design, who has designed the house and films me and puts me in corners of the house. I'm actually really rather her puppet.

But the important thing is- You're nobody's puppet. I think people have tried to make you a puppet and they know that that's a complete hiding to nothing. Well, I think she succeeds. But she has special talents in that department. But I think that the interesting thing is, you know, Against the background of this fight over cable news stations, cable news stations are like the past. You know, I mean, I think we have a bigger audience here on inside Trump's head than most cable stations at this point.

Certainly, you know, a million followers on Instagram. People are while Trump and the networks fight this old battle, people have gone to. some other place, far from the traditional television news outlets. Well, I think also that creators, and I think you are at 73, Michael Wolf Jr., still junior at 73, you've become a YouTube creator too, right? This is not something that you ever expected in your media journey, but the mechanics of reaching an audience have completely changed. I was at a YouTube party last night.

There was Don Lemon, who has a much bigger audience now than he ever had on CNN. Yeah, I know he calls me constantly. Come on, come on, come on, my show. I mean, the guy works all of the time. He does work all the time. To be fair, he works all the time. He has a bigger audience, but he works much harder than he did at CNN, which is partly because he is really a hard worker, but also because there's the insatiable demands of this new media.

You can just do it. Just fill it. It has endless, endless parameters. And the more you do, the bigger your audience is, the more money you make. Well, the other thing that I like about these, that I love about this podcast in particular, is just that you have a direct relationship with the people who are watching it. So we love getting comments. I answer as many comments as I can.

I had a whole back and forth with a commenter called, Hillary this week about my comments earlier on Mitt Romney. And you get into a back and forth with people you hear what people are saying. It's a much more interesting way of connecting with your audience. It's what I dreamt of in magazines. Well, I think it's, and also you can say anything you want, except for what you edit out from what I say. But beyond that, you literally can say anything you want, which you cannot on the cable

networks. And actually, just to remind, to go back to where this began, I got into social media because after my book, All or Nothing about the 2024 campaign was published. It was published early in the second administration, a point of maximum fear of Donald Trump and what was he going to do, maximum threats against the media from Donald Trump. And my entire slate of, of promotional, my promotional schedule, and this is how you sell books, was canceled on the networks and on the cable news shows. And it was like, I mean, I was like, okay, you know, what can you do? And it was my wife at that point who said, you just have to, you just talk, I'll film, and you'll go to an audience a different way, which is exactly what happened.

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slash beast or click the link in the episode description. That's incogny.com slash beast. And then you sue the first lady, which is also what happened. And I cannot wait to get into her. What is it called Imperia? It's her new network for women. So we're going to be talking about that today. It's totally staggering.

Of course. Amazing. I mean. Well, hold on, hold on. Because we're also going to talk about Xi Jinping at the White House and the state dinner, which will be going on as we're releasing this. We're recording this on Thursday morning, but it goes out Thursday evening. So as you're listening to it or watching it, dear listener, dear viewer, the White House will be tucking into whatever they're tucking into turbot, I expect, in some kind of white source. He arrived at Air Force Base Andrews yesterday. and there was an absolutely amazing moment that I happened to be watching where the American band is playing the star spangled banner. Trump, strangely, because it was warm in D.C. is wearing black gloves, which I'm assuming, because nobody else was wearing gloves, was either to cover up his bruises, which I'm assuming have gotten worse. And obviously we've chronicled his bruises.

But there's a fly past which comes just at the moment in the Star-Spangled banner where they're getting up to the rocket's red glare. And Trump literally winces and almost crouches and Xi Jinping does nothing is just completely stoic. And Trump goes, points to his ears. It's almost as if he sticks his fingers in his ears like a little child. And I thought, oh, he may be very sensitive to noises in ways that we haven't thought. You know, sometimes you go to sports games with friends and they have to wear those plugs in their ears because they don't like the noise. They find it overstimulating. And I wondered if that's what had happened to Trump yesterday.

Anyway, it was an amazing moment. So we've got Xi Jinping. We've got Melania's new initiative, which we'll be talking about, which is all about female friendship, odd because she's literally never been, I don't think, ever photograph with a female. friend, and of course, her female friend, Amanda Ungaro, well, she's been deported. Anyway, we'll come back to Melania. We've got the ballroom. We've got the ballroom where it turns out Trump has decided that he is the code, very good piece in the Washington Post about the drama behind the ballroom.

And of course, there'll be in a tent tonight. We can be talking about Zelensky. We can talk about the midterms. And, of course, RFK Jr., who's managed to. to get himself despite guidelines, $4 million for a couple of books. I can't wait to read those. And we've got, I think, the most moving testimony. I think I've seen at almost any public hearing from the mother of Renee Nicole Good,

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

particular week that happens in New York, gridlock. It's a horrible moment if you live in the city. Oh, it's terrible. The traffic is awful. You cannot get anywhere. But there is a thing. And the, I mean, that was a weird thing about the, the Iranian president. We are at war with Iran. We would do anything probably to kill the Iranian president. But he was in New York speaking at the UN. I mean, this was after. Trump then, I mean, it was, Trump threatens to annihilate Iran and then the Iran president speaks. So, so this is this strange moment in which happens because, because the arrangement with the UN is that during this week, every, everybody has essentially free passage to New York City. So even if you've been sanctions, even if you cannot come, Even if we don't let you in, if you have diplomatic status, anybody can come to New York.

So, and apparently cannot be killed. That must be part of it. So we did not kill the president of Iran. But it's not only world leaders. It's literally every sleaze ball in the world who is looking for an advantage. power to somehow triangulate whatever politics in whatever country might be helpful to them. So, you know, there was several years running, I would go to get an invitation to Jeffrey Epstein's house during UN week. And that was me and hundreds of diplomats would go through

Jeffrey Epstein's house. And because it was a big house, but also because that functioned as a kind of, you know, as a kind of sleazeball center, I suppose, I suppose, the place where you could, where you could meet other people who, listen, I don't, I don't know what they were there for, but they was, I think. Well, I mean, sure, some of them were probably campaigning to get. their president or prime minister, the Nobel Peace Prize, right? I mean, you talked about running into the chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize there.

And that's exactly the kind of thing that goes on, sort of quiet lobbying, soft power. What was the food and drink like? Because that's the other thing, that people go for sustenance, right? Yeah, nothing that I can distinctly remember. Jeffrey Epstein was not particularly interested in food. In good food? Yes, and he was, and it was always hard. Like at Moralago, it was hard to get a drink there.

Well, and I'm sure also, you know, you say very sleazy people come in. Obviously, the world leaders, I mean, actually, I remember a friend calling me and saying, you're not going to believe this. I'm in Dwayne Reed, which is one of New York's endless pharmacies. And Robert Maghabi is buying cotton wool pads, which, I mean, a very strange, a very strange juxtaposition of, you know, horrible African dictator buying cotton wool pads from Dwayne Reed. So I got, during the first Trump administration, sort of at the height of Russia gate

and the investigation of Donald Trump for his ties to Putin and to Russia, during UN week, I got a call. someone I knew called me and said that that a particular Russian oligarch by the name actually of Oleg Deripaska would like to meet me. And I was like, what's that about? And I said, this was like, well, late in the afternoon. And I said, and they said, can you come now? I guess oligarchs like that. And I said, I can't.

I'm actually in the middle of making dinner. for my family. And then this person said, said, what are you having? And I said, and I remember that, I said salmon. And they said, oh, Oleg likes salmon, he'll come to you. So, literally like an hour later, and Oleg Deripaska is not allowed to be in this country. So, I mean, he's a guy a long, terrible background. As a matter of fact, I once said to someone, wasn't he accused of like murdering people?

And then they said, oh, that was that was during, just during the aluminum wars. Aluminium wars being the way Brits say. I was just going to say, don't you mean aluminum wars? Yes. And but anyway, he comes, he arrives at my house, followed by two cars. of FBI agents. So wherever he goes, he's allowed to be here because it's UN weak, but the FBI is following him. And then he came into my house, ate my salmon, my children rocked to my children on his, my young children then on his knee, and then told me nothing. I thought, what was this about?

And I still to this day do not know. Well, if the salmon-loving baby rocking on his murderous knees, Oleg happens to be listening or watching Oleg get back in touch. Or is Oleg still with us? Or has he been like so many other oligarchs defenestrated? No, no. Still a very close Putin crony. Well, you better be careful, Michael. So then I have a, so I had a conversation yesterday with some White House people because I was

interested in this, in Trump's annihilation. I mean, annihilation is a pretty big word here. And he basically said, I have to decide whether I am going to annihilate Iran. At the UN, which was specifically created to avoid future wars after the Second World War. I mean, it's a weird place to say that. Right. Now, but then I got some, because I was interested in that word, annihilated. And so I spoke to somebody in the White House who said, well, you know,

know, his favorite word is obliterated. But he needed a new, he specifically asked for a new word. So they, they went around and then they had to, they offered him up annihilated, which he, which he liked because it was somewhat like obliterated, but also that, but it wasn't. So he got a new word. It was like presenting Trump with a new word. This is like one of those school things where you go in and there's a new word written on the board, and you will learn it and use it throughout the week. Totally. So which goes to the fact that it really has, of course, no meaning.

He's not going to win to annihilate Iran in the same way he didn't obliterate Iran. It's just a Trumpian, it's just Trumpian inflation, Trumpian drama, the Trumpian word. He finds a word that he likes. and we will now hear annihilated on a rather regular basis, of course. Okay, so we should listen out for that. And, of course, the Republicans, according to the Democrats, are going to get annihilated in the midterm. So we can see if he, you know, predicts his own annihilation or his party's annihilation. Yeah, no, then again, and then fascinating, of course, to hear the Iranian president give basically a direct rebut to this.

and they have obviously rebutted Donald Trump in so many aspects of his warring initiative against Iran. What did you think of President Massoud Pazikian? I don't know what you mean by this. Did I, was I? Well, I thought it was interesting the way they kept flashing to him during Trump's speech. And he sat there looking absolutely immobile. I mean, I think the Iranian leadership, these are terrible. people. So, and, you know, and they have, they have, they have been among the most destructive, the most insidious rulers of, of the past generation. So do I wish them well? No. But, and I'm, and, and in some way, I assume that's, that Donald Trump began from that position. These are terrible guys. Let's get rid of,

them. It just turns out to be very, very difficult. And what Donald Trump has done is basically installed, killed the first set of these guys, and installed guys that are as bad or worse. And who now have a purpose to gather around, which is the wall. So any other winners from the UN, do you think? What about Melania? Because Melania where her husband scolded Caitlin Collins and CNN for bothering to cover him at the UN, not realizing that actually they were there because the UN had given them access. Melania welcomed CNN specifically to follow her as she made a speech about the UN. And then she appeared at the New York Stock Exchange launching Imperia, her female network. A female network.

And even before she did that, she gave another interview, which I thought was a kind of pretty much of a lukewarm appraisal of her husband. Was this where she told him what she thought of his speeches? She's always honest and he doesn't always want to hear it. Exactly. And, you know, he's done the best he can. The best he can. Right. She said he's complicated times in Globe, and he does the best he can.

So this is a whole separate. So hold on. I think he's being best, Michael. I think my husband, he'd be best. He'd be best. I mean, I think that she's decided, okay, I can make hay out of, I can be an international representative. I am international.

I got an accent. So I'm going to make the most of this. And remember why she's doing this, they're constantly filming her. So this is obviously part of her show that we're going to see at some point. Honestly, Michael, we missed a trick there. You should have been in the audience because you could have raised a question. When she got any questions, you could have raised your hand and she'd be like, oh, my God, it's Michael Warp. You need to turn up at one of her speech.

with a question. I would pay to see that. Yes. I mean, there are not too many speeches. I mean, let's, you know, honestly. We should have both been at the New York Stock Exchange yesterday. I didn't know it was happening. If I'd known I would have gone. I'm obviously not on her female empowerment list. Had I had I been, I would obviously have gone and taken you with me. Yeah, you know, it's funny. I mean, there was in that that interview, that Fox business interview that she did with a lineup of these Fox morons. I mean, I can't they even look like, oh, my God.

What about the woman that said, First Lady? We are beaming. Oh, beaming. She was so bad. Madam First Lady, thank you so much for being here. We're beaming in your presence. We just cannot thank you enough for joining us. Oh, my God.

I mean, I don't think they knew what to say. It's like, I mean, obviously this was set up. Obviously, they were assigned to do this. obviously they were stuck. I mean, this is their job. And they had to make the Fox most of this. But they seemed... Well, they seem bewildered at the idea that Melania Trump,

who's barely been visible and who the Daily Beast has audited, and we know that she's been made a third fewer appearances than certainly than Michelle Obama, and she's the least visible first lady of the entire century. I think they're staggered that she's launching a female empowerment. Well, actually, and they said, well, you do so much. We can't believe how hard you work. I know.

What were they talking about? I mean, even she referenced that when she turned up to collect her $2 million for fostering the future with the car race. And she goes, I heard you missed me, i.e. She knows she's been missing in action as First Lady. But one can only think about her friend Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, who Melania dragged down in Trump one to run the inauguration process, the sort of celebrations for the inauguration. And Stephanie had run the Metball for Vogue for 10 years.

So she's a very good organizer of events. And very rapidly, Stephanie was completely trashed. And I'm not sure she's entirely recovered. She has a very good book called Melania and me, which chronicles her, really, have being chewed up and spat out by the Trump White House. And her name dragged through the mud in public. So that was Melania's last known friend, I think. And it's impossible to think of her with female friends. You never see photos of her hanging out with women.

We don't know who she hangs out. Well, what is this thing called again? Which, by the way, you don't have to learn this because we will never hear from it again. I mean, this is as much a sham as her marriage is. Well, it's supposed to be. It's called Imperia and they announced it as the Davos of the Davos of women, I think, but it's not a DEI thing. Definitely not DEI. Oh, no, they went out of their way.

This is not DEI. What are they talking about? This is, everybody was like, we don't know. But it was literally everybody there saying, please God, take me. Why am I here? Well, I would like to know more about Mark Berman, her advisor, because I sense his fingers on this. Also, what's happening with her outfits? Because she was dressed as Ruth Bader Ginsburg earlier this week with a kind of white tie.

Well, not a white tie, but a sort of white legal-type fold that made it look like she could be on the Supreme Court. And then today she is wearing... To me, when you say that, you know, always indicates that you're trying to make her, you think she's suddenly looking Jewish, which I think is curious. No, no, I'm not. You're out of your mind. I think she's trying to make herself look serious.

But today, I thought she looks like a real estate broker who was going to hand over the keys to your new apartment. Here you are happy. Well done. Good transaction. Here are keys to a new apartment. in Trump Tower. She would be actually a good salesperson for Trump Tower apartments. Now, do you think this is two Trump's advantage, electoral advantage, as we approach the midterms

or detriment? I think it reminds people that Melania, like RFK Jr., is making her own money while in office, technically, I suppose she's in office. And their money, and their money, monetizing the position as fast as they can. I mean, RFK Jr., you know, $4 million. You know, this is what did for Andrew Cuomo, that he took $5 million to write a book on American leadership during COVID. People don't like the opportunism of this. That's what I would say. So, I mean, and I would think, I mean, there is no control. The White House has no control over her in the Republican Party. She really operates just entirely independent of the White House of its concerns and of its political considerations.

But I think in the White House there, my sense is they are shaking their heads. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. What is she doing? Right. What is she doing? Well, it's strange that she's setting up a female network, certainly. But she, you know, used the opportunity to talk about fostering future is global. That's what she said.

She said fostering future is global, but we don't know whose future she's fostering or what global actually means in this context. Anyway, watch this space for more developments of Melania frantically networking. There is really, it's not even frantic. She'll do this. She got her clip. She'll go away. We'll never hear from this again.

She doesn't care. So this is all content you think for her Amazon series? Yeah. I mean, she's not going to set up a Davos for women. This is preposterous. I mean, everything she said was like, I mean, everything she said was as though AI generated. What was she talking about? And the answer is she's talking about nothing.

She's talking about nothing. She's talking about nothing, although she has made some money in the White House, so perhaps she can advise people on how to go from being a model to being First Lady and monetizing it and monetizing it. And, you know, Sean Duffy also getting some content, perhaps unwitting content, when air traffic control closed down and a fiber ended up being cut and no one could fly in or out of airports on the East Coast. On the very day, they were announcing their special AI developments to make air traffic even easier. Very unfortunate. Sean Duffy, who spent, you know, weeks driving across the country in his RV with his wife, when he should have been attending to the nation's transportation issues. Well, let's go to the, let's continue on the grift here and on the RFK grift, because I think that that's, that's, this is an interesting development.

So he's taken $4 million as an. advance to write some more books. Now, the interesting thing, I know some of the background here, he's taken this from a man by the name of Tony Lyons. Who's the founder of Skyhorse Press, right? Skyhorse is an independent press. It specializes in publishing books by canceled people, essentially. Didn't they also publish Melania? I think they did. Yes, they did. They did. So other other books that other publishers don't want to publish for various reasons, but by people who are, have enough of their own promotional networks, they're celebrities. They're just

disreputable celebrities. This is who they publish. And they do this with a particular business model. The business model is we don't pay advances. I mean, they are very clear about this. And Tony Lyons will tell almost anyone, that's it. That's our model. We don't pay advances. If you expect an advance, don't come to us. And we're going to give you a royalty that is only half of what traditional publishers pay. So that's the business model.

Turns out to be quite a successful business model. And now, Tony Lyons, this guy, and I have no idea what his politics are, I mean, in the, I've had a few conversations with him. He seems a relatively, you know, a New York guy. So he published this book that RFK wrote about Fauci, the real Anthony Fauci. I think the book might have been called on. I think that has been the best-selling book at Skyhorse. And it kind of put them on, move them from the margins of publishing.

But they still are on. They are on the margins of publishing. They don't distribute their own books, for instance. But this sounds like our FK Jr. is getting an advance from Antisb. No, it does. That's why I'm saying is the peculiar thing about this. And this is a very large advance, a $4 million advance for a very small publishing company. Very small is unusual to say the least, unusual for this company.

unusual for any publisher the size of Skyhorse. And then this Tony Lyons has been, I think he was the chairman of the, of the RFK campaign for president. This is, and he will, if RFK runs again, which I would, I would bet my $4 million on it is, is, is, Tony Lyons will be a central figure. So this is all a part of a political operation. And it's to get the Maha crowd excited, I suppose. Perhaps Tony Lyons made money from Malani's book. I know that Malani was asking more traditional publishers for $10 million

because I remember discussing it with a friend who was debating whether or not to take a meeting with her team. But my understanding is that no one would do that. And so that's why she went to Skyhors. Yeah. And again, where does this money come from? This is not transparent. Let me put it that way.

Well, perhaps he can write about the rise of measles in his book. That would be interesting and just reminding people that we've had. I'm sure he will. This is going to be one of the central things of this. And we've talked about this before, that one would think that this would finish him off. Measles. Suddenly there's a measles epidemic. But it doesn't.

And we've segmented part of the country and part of the electorate, which is rabid on the subject of not getting vaccinated, is willing to tolerate the outbreak of these diseases. and RFK has directly aligned himself with this issue and this part of and these people. In Toronto, every arrival is a statement, and nothing says it better than this. Cadillac Optic was the number one selling luxury EV in Canada for 2025. Find your rhythm across a seamless 33-inch display and an immersive 19-speaker AKG surround audio system. This city demands agility, and Optic delivers with precision to make every drive extraordinary. Let's take the Cadillac. Find out more at Cadillac canada.ca. Luxury sales claim based on S&P Global Mobility, Canadian new vehicle total registrations for calendar year 2025 for the Cadillac definition of luxury.

You know, we often talk about the incompetence that Trump has in his cabinet. I don't want us ever to forget Christy Noam and her incompetence running ice and the appalling shootings in Minneapolis, which we were reminded of yesterday by the extraordinarily dignified testimony that, relatives of Alex Preti, the ICU nurse, who was shot dead, and the description of him being shot by his friend is truly, it was remarkable. And Renee Nicole Good's mother talking about losing her daughter and her brother, Brent, Renee Nicole's brother, barely able to speak and get through his speech because he said he was so used to Renee editing him. And what you saw were normal families, normal groups of people whose lives have been completely upended by ICE. And I want to play some clips. With his back facing them, I watched Alex be taken to the ground with a swarm of masked agents on top of him. In that moment, I believe Alex made a choice to be righteous,

kind and brave, to stand up for his neighbors being assaulted in the street. And then they shot him again and again and again. Alex was flat on the ground. His limbs spread out. There was no movement. The agents fled quickly. I watched Alex die. It all happened so fast.

I'm a registered Republican. I voted for President Trump. under the impression that these agents were here to protect the citizens of the United States, innocence like our family and the others here against terrorists, certainly not to accuse those of us here of being terrorists and take precious lives. This is madness. So that was Stella Carlson talking about her friend Alex Pretti and Donna Granger, Renee Nicole's mom.

And you just think of Christy Noem spending that quarter of a billion dollars of taxpayers' money on herself, riding around in front of Mount Rushmore, which was obviously her attempt to get more famous. And her riding around in the Department of Homeland Security luxury plane with Corey Lewandowski, this appalling incompetence at ice. And it just makes me so angry, so angry at her. her utter incompetence. Well, it's not, I mean, it's not just incompetence. I mean, it's, it's, it's, it's, um, these are, these are bad, these are bad people.

These are bad people. And let's, let's also see this, see this now against, which I think, I think we have to do against the midterms. I mean, this is, this is among the, the, the, the, many issues that Trump has at best overplayed his hand. This is a big one. I mean, the immigration story and the immigration story, which arguably has gotten Trump elected. And then he played this to the point of obvious incompetence, obvious cruelty, and even absurdity. He didn't have to do this. What is the point of this? Except Trump's dominance. I am, I can do anything I want to do.

That's the message. And the message in this kind of extraordinary testimony is that that affects real people and hurts real people. And I think that people going into this, into this, into the midterms, especially even people who might have in the past supported Trump on this very issue are like, okay, too much, way too much. We get it. This is, these are bad people. These are bad people. We don't want to live in a country where masked people, drag people out of their homes and shoot bystanders. I mean, the description, Stella Carlson's description of them shooting him again and again and again. I mean, just the unnecessary cruelty and violence and the sadism involved, is just shocking.

Anyway, I thought, Mrs. Granger, you did your daughter proud. You did your daughter proud. There's another, moving on to the more Trump incompetence. There's a particular incompetent who's running for the Senate in North Carolina. And I think even the Republicans have sort of, are on the of throwing up their hands and giving up on this one. But I used to see this guy during the campaign. His name is Michael Watley.

And Michael Watley became, I mean, he was just a Republican non-entity, a dophous, a guy who would do what he was told. That was his reason for being because they wanted to get that Trump hated. the head of the RNC at that time, the Republican National Committee, was Rona McDaniel, Rona Romney McDaniel. He briefly went to NBC and was hounded out by the journalist. Exactly. But she was, Trump had conceived a kind of blood score against her, not least of all,

because she's related to the Romney family. And so they got rid of her, and then they needed somebody to put into this spot who would do what they wanted to do. And that person was Michael Watley. And in fact, so he was, what was his title, was the director, chairman. I don't know, but the chairman then became Trump. daughter-in-law, the wife of Eric Trump. Laura Trump, Lara Trump, who tried to get that Senate seat at one point. When it became open, she hoped that she would get it.

Then she wanted a Florida Senate seat and she was given a Fox show instead. Right. So then there was a whole, I mean, the Trump people would tell these hilarious stories of Michael Watley at the offices of the Republican National Committee being, and he was given an office and told just to sit behind the desk. Don't do anything. Well, don't move. Don't move.

And he, which he would do for hours on end because he was given no responsibilities, no duties, no openly had no abilities, had just literally the body behind the desk. Anyway, he is running for Senate in North Carolina and apparently will lose. And even Nancy Mace is saying that she thinks he's going to lose, right? So suddenly all these seats that felt as if they were firmly red are moving purple, we think. Yeah, no, I think we're in this new thing. I mean, I mean, we know that there were these key. States suddenly in play were, you know, Texas, Ohio, Michigan.

You know, those are, those were kind of interesting moments in which the Democrats might do the unexpected. But now that that field is expanding out to Kansas, to Florida. I mean, this is an extraordinary expansion of the Senate map. Having said that, in Alaska, the Democratic candidate, Mary Peltolo, there's a new story out. And it turns out, personally, she's a horror show, a terrible boss, completely, she runs a chaotic office and runs a, and is a real, a real shit to the people who work for her. Well, women are always accused of that. Remember when Amy Klobuchar was accused of eating a salad with a comb, which actually I've done on occasion. You feel this is a gender thing? Yes. I don't know if it's a gender thing, but women are always accused of running a chaotic office and people don't like working for them. Whereas with men, you get less of that sort of personal antagonism, unless it's sexual and then you

will get people coming out as they did with Eric Swalwell and, you know, various other people saying they're harassers. Well, let's keep our eye on this because I think this is, here was a seat that they were pretty confident about. And I think after this kind of story, they're probably no longer that confident. Okay. So as we drop this episode of the podcast, there will be much gayer. on the White House lawn under the tents for the state dinner for Xi Jinping,

which brings us to the ballroom and Trump saying, I am the code. Do you want to explain? So this came out there. This is kind of testimony, evidence, leaks from the first architect who was then fired.

or removed or quit or ran. And so the issue was, of course, of course, as it always is with all buildings about conforming to the laws, the code, the building code. And Trump then uttered the memorable line. And perhaps you don't have to know anything more about Trump than this. I am the code. Let's go this. I am the code. I am the code.

I am the code. Yes, no, it's a yes. I have the code. I am the code. I mean, this is the safety and fire code we're talking about, and it was pointed out to him that the designs of the ballroom meant that were there to be a fire in the kitchen, which is not entirely implausible, that there would be almost no way out for people in the ballroom. And it could spread very, very quickly. and given how many people he wants to squeeze in there, initially it was going to be 650. Now, I think it's gone up to 900, that there wouldn't be adequate ability for people to get the hell out.

And I suddenly thought, oh, this is going to be, this could be like the Titanic. That on the first outing of the ballroom, something goes horribly wrong because Donald Trump has refused to acknowledge the fire regulations. I am the code. I am. I am the code. Yeah. I mean, it's just, it's insane. Who would want to have dinner in that place, knowing that Trump has probably used, you know, probably defied the code. And also, this would normally be organized by the GSA or by the National Parks Department. But instead, it's all being overseen by an office in the White House. I think it's called the executive office, which is a time. office and obviously not set up with people who have the professional expertise to do this properly. And this is just going to the broader Trump themes that you cannot tell him what to do. Even if there are rules, even if there are laws, even if there are procedures designed to protect people's safety, you cannot tell him what to do. You cannot tell him he cannot invade Iran because if he does, he will never get out again. You cannot tell him that if he levies tariffs

in a totally inconsistent manner, it will raise prices for Americans. Even if these things are obvious and evident and irrefutable, you cannot tell him because you cannot tell him anything. A, because he doesn't listen. B, because he cannot accept the fact that he is less than, that his authority is less than absolute. Can I just read the statement that James McCrary made when he announced that he was no longer with the project? President Trump entrusted me with the earliest stages of the new ballroom design. I am truly grateful for the honor and for the rich experience of working for him alongside all the highly talented and committed patriots at the executive mansion, having completed

the earliest designs, I stepped aside and a new firm was engaged. So Shalom Baranis has picked up the task of the ballroom. And if you would like to express your concern about the ballroom designs, you may also be anxious that the building is not up to code, let alone the fact that it dwarfs the existing people's house. Here is his email to drop him a lot. It's info at Esperanus.com, which is sbairanes.com. Info at sbaraanes.com. If you have concerns about the fire code for all those people that will be enjoying the hospitality of the White House, and if you are concerned about, well, anything to do with the ballroom. If you are concerned about a man who would declare himself to be the code, I am the code.

It really is like something from George Lucas, who opened his new museum this weekend, which I'm very much looking forward to going to. What else, Michael? What else haven't we discussed? Jesus. We've been through it today. We have two limericks. Our first one is from, well, actually, they're both from. Chris Hughes, who's written to us from Calgary, Alberta.

The cabinet meeting is done. Wasn't he one of the founders of Facebook? No, I think it's a different Chris Hughes. Maybe not. Well, it's possible that Chris Hughes has fled to Calgary, Alberta, but I actually know Chris Hughes, so I think he would have put in a little note saying, hey, Joanna, enjoying the podcast. Here are two Limericks.

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

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

We will be back on Saturday, God willing, and the sleaze balls of the UN relieving us of their traffic. We'll be back on Saturday at our usual time, 2pm on YouTube, with more of what's going on in Trumplandia. And we'll look forward to seeing you in L.A. Yes, October the 20th at the Terrogram Ballroom. And Michael, do you want to thank our team? Ryan, John, Heather, Neil and the elusive Rachel. Thank you so much, as always. So the good news is we have so many Bee Beast tier members now.

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