The Daily Beast Podcast - This Is Why Trump is Addicted to Unhinged AI Slop

Episode Date: September 9, 2026

Michael Wolff and Joanna Coles dissect Donald Trump’s latest transformation, from his dramatically darker hair and increasingly bizarre AI images to the social-media strategy that has turned political spectacle into a powerful weapon. They look at Trump’s influence on the surging far right across Europe, why Wolff believes Trump may be the cause rather than merely the symptom of the global populist wave, and whether a Russia-Ukraine peace deal could give Trump the ultimate midterm “October surprise.” They also examine the growing pressure on Pete Hegseth, the extraordinary purge of military leaders, and the leak-hunting campaign inside the Pentagon before turning to Mitch McConnell's continued absence, John Fetterman, and a new breed of politician who treats convention, competence, and even showing up for the job as optional. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is done by a kind of squad of, you know, guys in their basement who the Trump team encouraged, sometimes gave resources, sometimes financial resources too. And they just sit there and their job is to make Trump memes. And the question would be, what does Trump post on, in his name, on truth social? And that would come in a lot of different ways. Natalie Harp might do it. Dan's Kavino might do. Anyone within the Trump circle might send a video to Trump,

and then Trump says, oh, I love this. Maybe we should try doing an AI Trump video. You two could join the squad of the Trump meme makers. Michael. Joanna Coles Once again, Michael, so much to discuss. I'm just going to wait here as you spell out what we're going to do. Oh, waiting for me to spell out.

I thought you were going to say it's Labor Day, and we're recording this a day in advance. We're the only people working on Labor Day. I was waiting for you to say that, but maybe you don't know it's in Labor Day because you're in London where it is not Labor Day. Yeah, in fact, it's confusing because it was the public holiday last weekend. And then I feel like I've had two public holidays in a row, which is very confusing. But it is Labor Day, a day that I find particularly depressing, actually. Why do you find it depressing? Because tomorrow's school starts again.

And although I don't have to go to school, which I'm grateful for, nevertheless, I am transported back to all those years when I did have to go to school. Oh, interesting. So you're a summer person, not a fall person? Very much so. The end of summer was always a small tragedy. It's so interesting. I always love the beginning of the fall.

I love back to school. I love the new term. I love the fresh start. I like the new pair of shoes I always got. I'm always excited by the beginning of fall. You were that kind of person who I never liked. Yeah, sorry. And you still probably don't like me, Michael.

And you were a kind of summer guy, which I just couldn't relate to the summer people. But that's because there isn't really any summer in the UK. So it just meant lying around reading and being very bored. And now at my advanced age, fall just means time passing. So let's not stay on this subject because I feel it mightily. Okay. Well, I was just going to say it might be something you have in common with Ulrich Siegmund, then the German far-right candidate who's done exceptionally well in the elections.

because he doesn't believe in people going to school. He doesn't believe in a lot of things, but he wants to end compulsory school. So we need to talk about him. We need to talk about Steve Wittkoff and Jared Kushner. Steve has given some banalisms about how they're working towards a peace deal with Russia and Ukraine. We want to look at what Trump's been posting on Truth Social. We look at it so you don't have to. What else?

John Fetterman. We had a cooking show too, an RFK cooking show. Oh, yes, yes, yes. We've got the latest episode of RFK Jr. As you say, it's still Junior at 72's cooking podcast. This week it's with Daphne Oz. Again, we've watched it so you don't have to. And I have a quiz for you.

Michael, I have a quiz question for you when we reach that segment of our podcast. But where should we begin? Let's begin with, it's an old reliable, an old favorite. How about Trump's hair? Oh, Trump's hair. What has happened? On Saturday, you discussed the fact that someone walks around with patches ready to apply 24-7 in cases a hair emergency. The patch kit.

The patch kit, a bit like a puncture kit that you have on a bicycle. And then, well, what neither of us realized was that Trump was about to change his hair color. Well, as I said, on the patch kit, there are a lot of different patches that they have to match whatever the hair is. So it's actually the misunderstanding here is that the hair has a static color. It actually is always changing. And I'm not sure if that's because actually it's, it's, it's, It's hard to, this is an inexact science. Or because he has a flight of fancy every once in a while.

Let's try, let's go a little more aubergine. I wonder if he says that. Who's ever said that about their hair color? By the way, we must remind people to subscribe to the Daily Beast podcast. Sometimes I forget to ask people to smash the subscription button. You must remind us to remind you. You, I must. So can you remind me to remind people to hit the subscription button and become a member of the Daily Bees community because we love your support and we're independent media.

And this is how we have these conversations about the color of Donald Trump's hair. What does it signify that he really went quite dark? I mean, this is the dark as we've seen him. I mean, he's a golden-haired boy. Well, as I say, I'm not sure he's fully in control of this. And I have seen other. I'm sort of a student of older men, older powerful men who have yet this curious vanity in which they are dying their hair. Rupert Murdoch and I studied that intimately.

He would do it himself over the sink. What? What? Why wouldn't he have some unprofessional? Well, because they're vain, but they're also embarrassed. So, and remember, they actually think that people won't know that they are dyeing their hair. But Rupert Murdoch literally went from white to orange overnight. I mean, it was the most sensational transformation.

No, and then, yes, and then that orange, the hue of orange kept changing. And again, because I think it's in exact. You don't know. Yeah, combine a little of this, combine a little of that. Let's try a little more, and this is how it ends up looking. Sumner Redstone, another older, very powerful man went through hue after hue after hue of orange to aubergine. Obeshine is not a good hair color for anybody, especially if it's the inside of the Obesene and not the outside.

So it's a, and so I suspect that that's what goes on with Donald Trump. And during the various iterations of my time with Donald Trump, the people around him would say, ah, the color, the color we've gone, we're leaning mahogany this week. But do you not think, I assumed, oh, his regular hair person must be on vacation this week. It's Labor Day weekend. They've disappeared. You know, they're getting four days off. Unless my other thought was perhaps he is hell-bent on looking younger.

He hit 80 this summer. He's got Natalie Hart trotting around after him. He may just want to look younger. I think it's very possible. Somebody said, oh, just try a little more. Just try, go a little darker. And as I say, this is in exact. So a little darker often can become a lot darker.

But we've heard for a long time what felt like a consistent hair presentation over the last two or three years. And then we've suddenly had the red fox has slipped in with a much sort of thicker front. And then the dark hair struck me as this really is something going on. Yeah. As I say, I don't, I think that's the. of consistency because we're not really paying that much attention. And it hasn't been. That's why the patches are different patches. What matches this week might not be what matches next week. Well, he's not entirely consistent with how he represents

himself on his truth social either. As we know, most recently it's been sort of images of Jesus, images of Trump as healer. And now we have an image of his. him rebooted as the Green Lantern. The thing is, you know, it's coming out of the White House, man. It's coming out of the White House. Well, the unfortunate thing is that actually this works, or at least they have found that this works. And in terms of social media and the necessity, apparently, of politicians to master social media, this is kind of how it's done.

And one of the things, these videos, I mean, this, so the whole, this, the social media strategy is something that was very, very precisely developed and developed in an interesting way, is that they, they, this is all, this is not done by the White House. So this is done by a kind of, a kind of squad of, um, of, um, of, um, of, um, of, um, of, um, of, of, you know, guys in their basement who the Trump team encouraged, sometimes gave resources, sometimes financial resources to. And they just sit there and their job is to make Trump memes. And that worked out incredibly well during the campaign,

specifically well against Ron DeSantis. And then Ron DeSantis became a subject of incredible mockery. and of Trump as the dominant figure against Ron DeSantis as the weak and fading figure. So they've had, they have all of the reason to go back to this kind of stuff, to encourage this kind of stuff, to use Donald Trump's platform to promote this kind of stuff because they've found it, it actually works. And maybe it works because it is one of those other things that breaks down the self-seriousness of politicians, the earnestness, the dullness of political culture. Does Natalie Harp have to approve these, though?

I mean, I get that there might be a little army of people producing this in their basement. Does it get quality controlled by someone? Yeah, it does. I mean, so there's tons of this kind of stuff. So then the question would be, what does Trump post on, in his name, on truth social? And that would come in a lot of different ways. Natalie Harp might do it. Dan's Covino might do.

And anyone, and they might, anyone within the Trump circle might send a video to Trump. And then Trump says, oh, I love this. So maybe we should try doing an AI Trump video. Sure. I mean that you could, you two could join the squad of the Trump meme makers. Another person who's very much doing social media and we've talked about him before is RFK Jr. It's called the Real Food Show. And it's RFK who is the most awkward performer I think I've ever seen in a.

in a YouTube video. I mean, I feel so bad for, I've now watched four or five of these things, I feel so bad for the chefs that appear with him because you can see them valiantly trying to engage and him just refusing. Well, let me just stop here and just enter a little parentheses that at my wife's behest, this weekend, I made a cooking video. Oh, fantastic. So that will be available. I think my wife is posting it immediately. It probably is available now. And I am making tomato sauce, which I do and have done every year for the past possibly 35 years at the end of the summer. So where will this be available for people? I think it's on her substack account, which is called Our Amagam. Hansett House, so let's plug that. But you can judge me against RFK Jr. Because I don't know, I may be as bad as RFK Jr. Well, I've seen you on video plenty of times and you're not as bad as RFK Jr. Because nobody is as bad as RFK Jr. Let's just include some of their banter. And then I'm going to test you on a question that Daphne Oz asks RFK Jr. How about breakfast? Do you eat the, I'm going to wash our celery because you're doing a magically excellent job on the chickpeas.

Do you eat the same breakfast every day or you vary that up? I, you know, sometimes I do intermittent fastings. I skip breakfast. Oh. When I eat breakfast, I eat a lot of protein. Okay. Okay, we're going to stop there because Michael, on the days that RFK Jr. isn't intermittently fasting, which isn't terribly helpful for the real cooking show. I just want to say that he's just turned skipping breakfast, which people do all of the time, into fasting. He's skipping breakfast.

I mean, he's skipping breakfast because for any number of reasons, as many people do every day. That is not intermittent fasting. Well, when he does eat breakfast, I want you to guess what he has for breakfast. Now, this is the Secretary of Health and Human Services. He's trying to get everybody to eat well for breakfast. Guess what he has for breakfast? Well, I suspect he has a meat for breakfast. That'd be more specific.

Come on, you can do better than that. Well, that he probably has steak for breakfast or bacon for breakfast or, I think that's it. Before we give the answer, what do you have for breakfast? I have oatmeal, or as you say, porridge for breakfast every morning. I think I knew you had porridge for breakfast. All right. Well, RFK Jr. has.

Well, let him tell you what he has. Why steal it from him? This morning I had a cheeseburger and three eggs. He had a cheeseburger and three eggs. I guess he had a heavy night the night before, perhaps. No, I'm just trying to think. What would your day be like if you started it with a cheeseburger and three egg? It would be very heavy.

I'd be amazed that anybody can leave their chair. No, I mean, and why is he telling us this? Why is he doing this? Why is he telling us this? You know why because he wants to run for president. And like Pete Higgsath, he's trying to separate himself from the president, create his own following. He got 100,000 views.

for this real cooking show, the real food show. And he's setting up his own platform. Yeah, no, no, I get that. But why does he think selling the American voters he's had a cheeseburger in three eggs? The people say, yeah, yeah. I mean, nobody, let's set the scene here. Nobody in America has a cheeseburger in three eggs for breakfast. It's just, I don't know why it makes me laugh so much.

It just does make me laugh. And poor, definitely, Oz. It's just like speechless. She's completely nonplussed as to what to say. And she's trying so hard. So everybody has, every politician, this, certainly this cycle has to become a YouTube politician. You know, we've seen, we've seen the vice president's wife do the most colossally ham-handed YouTube show.

Oh, yes. Storytime with the second lady, which we have watched so so you don't have to. So RFK is trying. Now, RFK is actually quite, he's good,

he's good on television. But, you know, there's television and there's television. So old-fashioned television, when you showed up to a studio and they told you which camera to look into and they kind of

storyboarded out things. This is the segment that you're going to do and this is what's going to happen in this segment. RFK Jr. is pretty good at in this new YouTube world in which nobody tells you anything, including where to look at the camera. He's the... No, that's the other thing. He's looking up in all directions. Yes. So he's a 72-year-old, soon to be 73-year-old, out of his element. out of his element. Definitely true that he's out of his element. And, I mean, is he actually good at television?

I think, unfortunately, his voice just... Well, his voice is his voice. The crack pipe, you know, if you have a crack pipe voice, you know, that's going to be a drawback. But he's stuck with that. And actually, it makes him kind of riveting. You hear him. I mean, you think, you know who's talking.

Yeah, it's true. He's got a very distinctive voice. But in television, he's quite forceful. He's very direct. He speaks well. He's articulate. I mean, he's nonsensical, but he's articulate. And also, you're always looking for that.

I mean, I hate to say, but you're always looking for the echo of his father in his face. It's hard not to look at him and think, can you see the father in there? No, and that whole presentation of wearing suits that are in the style of 1963. It was just the weird kind of everything is strange about this. Yeah, and he has very bright blue eyes. Well, when you were traveling around with him, when you were driving around Alabama, did you notice his eyes? Did I look deeply into his eyes? I did not.

Okay. Well, I guess I would have thought you would notice if they were really bright blue. it would be a thing, but they've become possibly brighter. I could not say the color of your eyes. Well, that's because we're so often on Zoom. My eyes are green, actually, but you've got brown eyes, right? Or have you got blue eyes? I have blue eyes.

You've got blue eyes. Okay, so both of us have got recessive genes, I think. All right. So someone else who I fear has recessive genes is our friend Ulrich Siegman. who has really cast a pool over Germany. As I mentioned, or as we mentioned earlier, I'm in London. Europe feels really unsettled at the moment, even in the last six months since I was here,

or maybe three months since I was here, the Russia incursions and now this far right, almost victory, is really making people, certainly in London, feel unnerved. Well, it's not just, you know, it's in Germany. The far right is very, likely to come to power in France. Italy, the far right, has already come to power. And in the UK, I mean, the rising power is the Reform Party, Nigel Farage's party. And these are all, these are all right-wing, right-wing, populist, neo, how shall we call them?

Well, they're very anti-immigrant. I mean, the thing they all have in common. is just severely anti-immigrant. They want to deport all illegal immigrants. Well, I would put it somewhat differently, that what they all have in common, and you can begin, you know, the rise of the far right, and this is kind of the far, far right in Germany, you know, obviously there's a, the, the H-man hovers over this. But I actually think it's not about the H-man. Why are you calling the H-Man? Why aren't we just calling him Hitler? Is the H-Man your phrase, or is this a new phrase that has gone past me?

I think it might be my phrase, but I think it becomes increasingly loaded. I think people say, when you say Hitler, it's discounted by so many people. You can't because it's a, it's. Because it seems too extreme. comparison. Exactly. So, but nevertheless, it's obviously is a historical comparison and not an insignificant one. So you have to sort of, that's a way to acknowledge it without putting the necessary, the emphasis, which would discount it. So what are you saying actually is behind the rise of it then? Because I do think it's immigrants that seem to have fueled. I think Donald Trump is behind the rise of it. I think that this is all he is the model. He is the inspiration. And it is about success.

Success. I mean, what do in an immoral or certainly amoral world, what do especially politicians look for success? What gets you success? Donald Trump provides that model. Let's do what he did. Let's adopt the issues that he's adopted. Let's be that kind of. of ridiculous person.

That let's, I mean, the Ulrich Sigmund thing is having so many audacious views that they get attention. And that's obviously true for Nigel Farage. That's true for the National Front Party in the in the, in France. It has been true for the Italians who are a kind of neo-fascist party, although who have that position has they got into power and they immediately moderated their their position. But it all goes back, I think, to Donald Trump. Another aspect of the perniciousness of Trump, the fundamental cancer of Donald Trump.

He is the model for everyone. Then the interesting thing is, well, what if we got rid of Donald Trump? What if he goes away? And I think actually, if he goes away, the background here is that there is this idea that Donald Trump is a symptom of this great populist uprising in the world, this great sense of unhappiness and resentment. And I think quite possibly that's not true, that Donald Trump is the cause of this. He is the success model. Get rid of him. I think the world becomes a better place.

Does it depend on what replaces him, or do you think that his journey to winning has been so poisonous that actually just getting rid of it reinvigorates the system? Yes, cut out the cancer. Absolutely. I think that there is no one like Donald Trump. He is sui generis, absolutely different. than anyone could ever have imagined before and has pulled all of these people in his wake, given them a path, given them something to emulate. And no one could have done this without Trump's example.

Well, Marine Le Pen in France, you know, her father was Jean-Marie. who has been very right-wing, but it's true that Trump has sort of given them cover in a way. Yeah, they limped along for years, marginal. I mean, all of these groups have been marginal. They have been marginal until Donald Trump legitimized them, but not only legitimized them, gave them a political playbook. This is how you should be. This is what draws attention.

This is how you get attention. This is how you use social media. You know, you make those ridiculous green lamp. things. This is he's, he is the mastermind here. Yeah. So, and you'll write about his, what feel originally like absurd positions, which then, of course, you build up a tolerance to.

And Ulrich's positioning are, you know, deporting all illegal immigrants, shutting the border, banning LGBTQ rainbow flags in schools. and halving the construction of new wind farms. He wants to end compulsory school attendance, which we mentioned before, and he wants to rewrite school history books because he thinks that there's too much focus on the crimes of the Third Reich. So very much Trumpian in his... I swear, I mean, these guys just look at this.

They're just like, oh, my God, this Trump guy, this really works. Let's just do it. Let's just imitate Donald Trump. Can't, you know, that's the formula. Okay, so we got a question from a listener this week asking, because obviously Steve Wickev and Jared Kushner have been first in Russia and then in Ukraine trying to broker some kind of peace agreement that hopefully is more successful and their memo of understanding with the Iranians.

But the question asked, what would happen to the midterms if Trump was able to pull off some sort of peace deal? Do you actually think it would make people reevaluate him? Or do you think it would have no impact? Well, one of the grails in politics in American politics is the October surprise. In American politics is the October surprise. So that is what everybody is trying. to work for that moment. And we've discussed this. When Steve Bannon used to say, and when he said that I thought, you know, actually, in fact, so much of what Bannon says is smart at the same time.

It's completely opportunistic and devious and all of the bad things. Together with the bad things are the insightful things, and it's that nothing matters until two weeks before an election. And this is, I think, part of that, pull off an October surprise. If you change, you change the dynamic of everything. Now, is that possible in this case? Well, it's, let's begin. It is highly unlikely that at this moment that would happen. Is it possible? Well, curiously, it is, well, it is more possible in the Iranian situation where we have the flexibility to adjust our position. In other words, we just give them more. And then Trump announces a victory. In the Russian-Ukraine situation where there are two sides.

that we don't control and have not been able to control in any way, have actually effectively lost control on. We used to have more control over the Ukrainians because we controlled their weapon supply, but then because we got, we got, to say, the least charry about giving them weapons, then they developed their own. So it seems wholly unlikely that they will come up with a resolution in between Russia and Ukraine before then. But were they two? You know, good. It would be an October surprise. Yeah. Well, it's a good question. Richard. Thank you for that. 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. And I was going to read Steve Wittkov's comments from the weekend. And I'm sure you saw the video of the meeting Vladimir Putin and they both looked like. they were meeting a celebrity. Anyway,

Wittkoff said, we've had a very meaningful discussion, substantive, important, and we are very encouraged, and we look forward to continuing this as long as it takes. It's going to take both sides to make some compromises and narrow the issues between them, and we think we have the ingredients to get to that place. It's very difficult, but we are committed, we care, and we hope all of that leads to a successful, peaceful, diplomatic, resolutely. In other words, just total bullshit. In other words, total bullshit. I mean, remember.

What even is that? Yeah. What even is that? It's just cliche after cliche. And they've been, how long have they been doing this, 18 months? Yeah, longer. I mean, remember, remember this was the war that Trump was going to solve the first night in office. And we are now significantly well beyond that.

And not only has it not been solved, but it is at a more extreme position than it has ever been in. And the Russians are, I think, more up against the wall than they have ever been in. The Ukrainians have always been up against the wall in this situation, and they have fought back from that position. The Russians at this point who are being attacked within Russia itself, they've exhausted their own ability to supply fresh soldiers to this conflict with a million casualties to date. They are on the verge of, or many people believe, many people in Russia believe that they are on the verge of, instituting a draft, which has Russians of draft age, considering their options. Almost everybody has to. Do we get out of Russia is basically the alternative?

The economy has is now probably at, you know, and there are now years of sanctions. But finally, this seems to be offering, it seems, they seem to be under real pressure because the Ukrainians are destroying key parts of their economic infrastructure. So I don't, I can't even imagine. I mean, unless we, the American, American intelligence understands that we, we, the American intelligence understands that we, Russia is, understands its vulnerability more than they have ever seemed to, that Vladimir Putin understands that vulnerability and therefore are more open to a negotiated settlement. And perhaps they, perhaps the American intelligence community does understand that. And perhaps that's what, what Whitkoff and Kushner are bringing to this, discussion with Vladimir Putin, you're screwed, we know you're screwed, you know you're screwed.

Let's talk Turkey. I suppose that's not, it's not impossible at this point. So do you think the visit by the CIA director a month ago now, John Ratcliffe, do you think he went there, was he going there, how does this work? Is he going there? I mean, not that the Trump people work in any sort of usual way. But, but, you know, but. Does he go and sort of suss out whether or not Putin is ready for a visit with Jared and Steve Wichkhov? Do you think, I mean, what do you think Putin is thinking when Jared and Steve Wichikov come walking in with the cameras? I don't know. Let's step back a second.

I think you're right about when the CIA director goes. And when the CIA director goes to Russia to speak directly to his counterpart, that's, That's an indication. Certainly it would be in any other administration than the Trump administration, where you never know what anything is an indication of other than disarray and chaos. But let's assume that this is functioning in somewhat of a usual way. Yes, the CIA director would have gone to, say, to bring a very specific set of facts to the Russians. We understand this. We know this.

You may think we don't know, but we do know. And you are in a very hard place, and we understand that. And the CIA director, then his goal would have been to to cess out whether they understand that. And let's assume in the straightforward world, that's what he understood. And he came back and said, yeah, yeah, yeah, they are really, really up against it and alarmed. Therefore, Whitkoff and Kushner would have gone to Putin with that information and would have composed a plan. Sort of a face-saving, we know you have to get out of this. And this is our face-saving plan.

You can save face. Ukrainians are going to get largely what they want, but you can save face this way, and we will make that possible. So, yeah, that would be the context in which a settlement might be achieved. So it's just possible that they do pull off something before the midterm elections, the October surprise, two weeks before the election. And it does in some way help the Republicans. I mean, I think it helps them less with Iran, even if Trump, you know, declares yet again. And I think he's done it 66 times at this point that actually we've got victory over Iran because A, the Iranians just say the opposite. And B, he started that war. This would be a bigger achievement.

I think you're right. I mean, I think that I yet think the chances for that. I mean, we have no indication that Vladimir Putin is in any way. ready to do this. I mean, so that this would demand a kind of diplomacy, but a kind of cleverness and, and, I don't, I mean, it would demand all kinds of things that we have never seen this administration be capable of and that we have never seen Whitkoff and Kushner. capable of. But yeah, no, I mean, it would be that, I mean, that would be the kind of, the kind of result that you might say, okay, you know, yeah, somebody, somebody deserves some substantial credit here. Right. And it's one of those things that you can't quite believe that people

actually do, but one's reminded of Jimmy Carter's failure to release the American hostages in Iran. And then, of course, it turns out that Ronald Reagan gets elected, he's been back-channeling, and the next thing you know, the American hostages are free. And you can't quite believe that people back-channel in that way because it seems so cynical yet, of course, they do. But and there's other, you know, surprise. I mean, Nixon went to China, changing the course of modern history. And it may be, if we understand that that, that, you know, that, you know, that Putin can't go on with this, that he is on a, he's on a finite path. It's going to end in, it's unsustainable for him.

Then he has to make a deal. Even Vladimir Putin has to make a deal. But that's assuming a lot. Yeah, it's hard to see how introducing the draft would work in his favor. I'm sure you read over the weekend. I think it was in the Times the piece about Africans who'd been signing up for jobs. They thought white collar jobs in Russia arriving. Their passports were taken.

They were given eight days training and then shipped out onto the front lines in Ukraine. Yes. And that's an indication that they just don't have the manpower anymore. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. No, it's a terrible, terrible situation for Russia and gets worse and worse, which augurs for, why should Ukraine give up anything? Well, and I actually can answer that question because they don't have the interceptors

to defend their own population at this point. They have the ability to attack Russia and continue to attack Russia and for these attacks to be more and more costly. But at the same time, there are a lot of Ukrainians who are dying. And we don't have the Patriot Interceptors to send to them because we're running out of them. Yeah, in a nutshell. Great news. The federal EV rebate is back. Eligible customers get up to $5,000 with the federal EVAP rebate on select 2027-volt and 2026 Equinox EV models.

Visit your local Chevrolet dealer today for more details. And of course, you know, the reason they don't have Patriot Interceptors is because we don't have any. to supply them because we've used them all up because Pete Hagezeth is running out of rapidly, running out of munitions. Well, what I wonder is Pete Hegseth Hager's Colonel Vodka if he is running out a room in other ways too. So what we have seen over the last couple of weeks is a kind of steady march of anti-Hagger's stories. A kind of devastating story in the Times the other day about

General Donahue, incredibly well-respected figure in the U.S. military who was slated for a variety of high commands, who Hager's has forced to retire. And General Donahue seems to have support throughout the military industrial complex and throughout Congress. And that was the thrust of this of this time story that, that, that a Donahue has this support and is a kind of an extraordinary figure in today's army. And Pete Haguezeth because of his own insecurities, couldn't tolerate someone with this kind of outside support and, and acknowledged expertise. So he fired him.

He's out. General Donahue is out. Like so many, and so many at levels, at significant levels of expertise within the United States military who Haguezith has fired. Now, you have to look at it. look at why are we, why are we now reading this on a constant basis? Well, we are likely reading this because, because there, there is a campaign against Pete Hegseth, a campaign that is, that seems to becoming more and more effective. I mean, the message is clear. Hague Sith is

complete incompetent and he is imperiling the United States military. And obviously he himself, Hegeseth, is getting panicked about this because now he has ordered lie detectors test for a wise swath of the senior command about who is leaking because clearly somebody is leaking. Now, it may also be that somebody is leaking not from the Defense Department, but from the White House. And so I think one of the things that we're clearly looking at and one of the things that could clearly happen is that is that Hegseth is taken down. Right. summarily executed by Trump, possibly before the midterms, to take the blame for Iran. Yes, I'm just trying to think about that. I hadn't thought about that timing, but I think, as you say it sounds like an awfully good idea. Doesn't it? And as you say, the lie detector tests, we discussed on, what day is it today?

We discussed on Saturday the lie detector tests and the fact that 50 senior people, 50-5-0 senior people, were being required to take them, suggests the level of paranoia that Pete Higgs-eth formerly an alcoholic, though, as Tom Tillis said, the outgoing senator, that he wished that Pete Hegzeth could address his task as the Secretary of Defense in a sober way, carefully not implying he was drunk, but using the word soberly. No, but we rush to imply, to point out. He used the word very carefully, right, to imply that this must be very stressful job for someone who was formally intoxicated at his last two veterans organized.

that he was driven out of for incompetence. So what do you do with someone like that? You give them the largest military force in the world and tell them to get on with it. And so he brings in his wife. Colonel vodka was what his boss at Fox News, Roger Ailes, called him. Yeah, Colonel Vodka. It's just a remarkable stage of affairs. But then so too is the Democratic Senator John Fetterman's,

staff, ex-staff, he says there, disgruntled ex-staffers, have released, it appears, some of his texts, which imply he hates his job. He hates being a senator. He hates lots of it. And somewhat depressing to read these texts of his. Well, you know, I think it's another thing. I mean, I mean, Federman, Trump, you know, we're, One of the things that we have seen in this Trump age is the rise of politicians who don't have, who feel no reason to conform to any standard, previous standard of being a politician. I mean, that is the entire Federman approach to this. I'm not going to dress the part. I'm not going to do the job the way people think I should do the job. And actually, that means I'm not. going to do the job. I'm going to have no respect for the party that I am theoretically part of. I mean, these are all, again, entirely Trumpian things. Trump becomes the model.

I mean, we talked about Trump as the model for right-wing politicians. But in a sense, Trump is the model for all for a new class of politicians who believe that they don't have to be politicians. They don't have to be professionals in the way that we once expected politicians to be. Well, and there's a piece on Fetterman in the Wall Street Journal, which starts with him. He has an appointment to meet three veterans in wheelchairs, and he doesn't turn up. He says he's eaten or something. And then the next thing you know, he's on Fox News, as if no one could put these two things together and figure out, wait a minute, I thought you had food poisoning or he's, He said that he'd had something to eat that had disagreed with him.

And then suddenly there he was, I think, with Jesse Waters of all people, on Fox News. Of all people. Of all people. And this sense in which, you know, he's complaining in his text that he doesn't want to meet people, that he doesn't believe them when they're trying to get to D.C. to complain about things. He actually says they just want a free trip to D.C. So dissing the people that have put him into office and not wanting to. do the work. I mean, Feterman in particular seems a special case because he had a stroke, then he

disappeared and had depression. So I wonder if he wouldn't be happier just leaving the job altogether. In other words, what you're saying is that is that part of the thing, he's a crazy bugger. And I don't think that there's, I mean, I think you would, you would, it would be hard to argue otherwise. I mean, he is, he is somebody who his own, his own, you know, and we see this kind of, I think, more and more, this intersection of nuttiness and opportunism. And in the, in the old days, nutty people were excluded just, you know, because, because they were, they, they, they could not conform to the demands of the job. But now we're in this, in this, in this, in this, in this, new age where nuttyness becomes a kind of advantage in its way. People notice you and

being noticed is half of the battle, more than half of the battle. And so even if you look ridiculous, even if you seem nutty, you get the attention that propels careers, political careers, maybe most careers forward. And Mitch McConnell, of course, by his very absence, has remained not at the center of attention, but certainly with a lot of attention. It's been 86 days since Mitch McConnell has been heard of other than by his proof of life photos. Yeah, well, I'm not sure what that attention is going to do for him. What does that get him? Well, what does it get the people of Kentucky who voted for him?

I mean, and again, it's just that sense that politicians' jobs aren't like the jobs that the rest of us do. If you disappeared for 86 days from the podcast, there would be no podcast. So it's so strange that people think that once you're represented, you know, once you've been voted in to represent people in office, you don't have to show up. You know, well, we've talked about this before and there has been a long, history of of people in Congress not showing up. Right. And wasn't there a senator who just didn't show up for three years? Who have been sick or waylaid or just have been unable to fulfill their duties.

But they have they have worked out their term or have lasted. out their terms. So I don't know. I mean, Mitch McConnell is actually different from Federman. Mitch McConnell really represents an old kind of politician, a politician who just hid behind his professional identity. He was a backroom politician. So that idea, and to some degree, all politics, all politicians were supposed to be kind of backroomed. people. They were, they were dealing with colleagues, cutting deals, getting on with the business of government. And then people decided, that was a cover of, that was a conspiracy. And, and what we wanted then was a, was more transparency. And, you know, and what that gets us now is Fetterman and

Trump. These are both absolutely transparent figures. They're transparent in a way. that had led both of them, that we would never, ever, ever have elected in the past. And it gets us, and it gets us, I was just going to say, Nigel Farage in the UK, and it gets us all Rick Sigmund in Germany. And it's all, another word, so you can say this is all about performance. If you are willing and able to perform in this way, kind of a social media way, kind of a way that RFK Jr. isn't quite doing it because it is all take me. I don't care. I don't give a shit. I am what I am. And for some, you know, we're at a moment in time where people are saying, well, that's compelling or that's different than other politicians that we hate. Or that's something that at least I've taken notice of. Well, and I think people think it's more authentic, right?

They think that people saying what used to be unforgivable things is somehow more authentic than people trying to find a common denominator. Absolutely. And Federman actually may well be authentic. He's a nutcase. Authentically nutty. Authentically nutty. It sounds like a chocolate bar. Michael, we'll be back on Thursday.

God willing, we'll be back on Thursday. Yep, I've got to get back to the U.S. But assuming I do. And you're traveling back tomorrow? I'm traveling back tomorrow the day your children go back to school. I will be traveling back to the States. Yes, but I will look forward to seeing you in the studio on Thursday. Fantastic.

With your new shoes on and your new jacket and your new pencil case. Really depressing. I love it. A breath of me. fresh air. Michael, it's the start of a new term and the run-up to the midterms. We'll be back on Thursday to talk all about it. And if you have been, thank you for joining us. Don't forget to smash our subscription button. You can find it in the episode description box wherever you get your podcast. And Michael, do you want to thank our team? Ryan, John, Heather, Rachel and Neil.

Thank you. So the good news is we have so many be. Beast tier members now. There are too many names to read out and we really appreciate your support.