The Daily Beast Podcast - Trump’s Latest Move Says It All

Episode Date: August 29, 2026

Sarah Ewall-Wice joins Joanna Coles to analyze the growing panic inside Trump’s Washington as Republicans head toward the midterms with the President’s brand increasingly looking like political poison. They dig into Karoline Leavitt’s sudden White House exit, Trump’s obsession with being his own best spokesperson, the mystery surrounding Barron Trump amid security threats, and the very different ways his children are handling life in the presidential spotlight. They also examine why Trump plans to skip the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 memorial, the questions surrounding his stamina and health, and the Republican candidates quietly scrubbing Trump from their campaigns. As affordability, inflation, the Iran war, and the Canada trade fight threaten to overwhelm the GOP, Sarah reveals why Republicans on the ground are increasingly distancing themselves from the President—and why Trump’s bizarre distractions, from renaming lakes to remodeling Washington, may be a sign of just how desperate things have become. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

So he's been using a lot of these distractions that are completely pointless, useless, and a complete waste of the office of the president of the United States. He didn't get Canada to bow to his will. He didn't get to exude the strength to crush his perceived foe in this specific instance. Trump really focused on trying to make it look like he had actually taken some action that had been productive, whereas everything about this whole interaction has been not only not productive, has been extremely damaging. There's a sense of nervousness on what's about to happen

after Republicans had such a tight grip on power for nearly the past two years. And so there's an energy here that has shifted from the start of his term. There is no swagger right now. I'm Joanna Coles. Welcome to the Daily Beast podcast. Normally on a Friday, we have Hugh Docketay,

our executive editor, but Hugh is unusually taking a vacation. He is up wandering the blueberry fields of Maine. In his stead, we have are incredibly well-sourced and extremely energetic. Reporter from DC, one of our team down there in our Washington Bureau, Sarah Ewell Weiss, who you will remember was here two weeks ago, filled with all sorts of up-to-date information about the president's health. Today we're going to be talking about Baron Trump. We're going to be talking about Donald Trump, not showing up at the nine 11th Memorial in New York. And we're going to be talking about the Republicans fleeing Donald Trump,

fleeing proximity to the president because he is midterm poison. But before we get into it, just a reminder to please hit the subscription button. And if you press the little bell, you will be notified every time a new episode of our podcast comes out. But we are growing our subscriber base. And we want to include you in that. And there are lots of. of benefits to membership. Sarah, let's get into it. What is the atmosphere in D.C. amid the ripped up reflecting pool

and the dazzling gold statues, which I am going to confess I quite like. You know, there is a growing sense of nervousness in Washington, D.C. There's a growing sense of desperation, it feels, coming out of this White House. And there's not really a clear. clear indication of what's going to come this fall. Because the president is stuck in this reality

where he's facing a midterms where it appears that everything is going in the wrong direction for him personally. And Democrats are saying that they have a lot of momentum going into this, but not just where this election is going this fall. He's also been facing just a number of setbacks on everything he's tried to accomplish recently when it comes to policy. And that has dragged on and on. And so there's frustration from him. It's been going on for some time. There's a sense of nervousness on what's about to happen after Republicans had such a tight grip on power for nearly the past two years. And so there's an energy here that has shifted from the start of his term. I talk about Republicans and the swagger they had coming into Trump's White House in

the early 2025. There is no swagger right now. There's an active attempt to try and promote ideas that are not sticking. And so it feels like there's about to be a monumental shift in Washington. Wow. So of course this week as well, Caroline Levitt left Trump's side. Now that she's gone, What do we actually know about why she left? And is she a symbol of rats leaving a sinking, sinking ship? She is an interesting character to be exiting the White House at this moment in time because she is so closely connected to Donald Trump. Her career is so closely tied to him.

Her national presence is so closely tied to him. He is really the reason why anyone knows her name, making her White House Press Secretary, the youngest White House Press Secretary ever. And she did a very good job specifically for what Donald Trump wanted her to do. She was very confident and very strong at regurgitating his message, fighting back and really being a central voice in that White House. The fact that she is leaving right now before the midterms is actually quite disheartedly. for a lot of people in Trump's orbit. And the reason being is she has been the second voice behind Trump echoing all of Trump's claims and really backing him up.

With that said, there's this reality that she had been kind of putting on two separate shows. There was the show from the White House podium, but then there was the reality of being a mother of two young children and having to deal with a president who is known to call people at all hours of the day is extremely demanding. And even going into her decision to exit the White House, there wasn't really a public sense that she had been considering it. There wasn't this I'll take two years. Some other officials in Trump's orbit have kind of put a cap on how long they would stay in his administration just so they have an exit plan. But hers, there was this sense of confidence that she had been publicly displaying for some time about how look at her.

She's a woman who can do it all. She's able to have a young family. She's able to have one of the most challenging and demanding jobs in Washington, D.C. And suddenly that all, that whole story that had been building publicly that they had been putting on crumbled when she said she's leaving. I think they tried to soften the blow by saying where she's going, which is MAGA Inc. She's staying involved in Trump's orbit going into the. midterms. But it really showed that behind the scenes, things are not going the same way that they're trying to publicly show them going. And she was pretty much the biggest figure to have resigned,

though we have a number of Trump officials who have been heading for the exit in recent months and weeks. For the second year of this Trump term has been kind of a slow drip. And it feels like the momentum there is building as people head towards the doors. So I think we should remind people that Caroline Levitt had just come back from maternity leave. She just had her daughter, who is, I think, three or four months old at this stage. It looked like she was going to ride through it. We know that Trump didn't want her to take maternity leave or was sort of that thing that a lot of bosses are, which is a little passive aggressive. Of course you must take the time. Of course, you must be with your baby, but then calling her all the time. I heard from one person that he

was calling her and just yelling at her that Anthony Scaramucci said on one of our podcasts, He has gotten much meaner, especially as the midterms approach, especially as he's older, especially as he's suffering clearly health issues. And we know that he has chronic venous insufficiency, which is why his cancels are often on display, looking most unpleasant. And he clearly doesn't do any exercise. He has a terrible diet. So taking all that into consideration and the fact he's older, we can see he's getting meaner.

He's less physical in public. We don't see him walking anywhere. We see the helipad moved right up to the White House, so we don't have to watch him struggling across the grass to get to Marine One. I noticed also this very Trumpy tendency of his to always claim that he can do everybody else's job better than them. And he came forward as we're waiting to find out who's going to replace Caroline Levins. Well, actually, I am my best communications person. I am the best White House spokesperson.

She then said that too. He said repeatedly, even though he's not technically on the ballot in November, I am on the ballot, behave as if I am on the ballot, because people don't like Republicans, but they like me. Can you talk a little bit about his, I guess, actually, I said tendency, but it's really an obsession around him. and his determination to put himself at all times center stage and how that's impacting the people beginning to flee around him.

It's kind of something you can put into multiple categories because the people around him at the White House. And the president has always touted himself as the best at everything. Even before he ran for office, he was the best at business, he was the best at this and that, he was the best at real estate, he builds the best buildings. You can see him decorating the White House. He's the best at decorating now. But there is a sense that the president has always seen himself as his best spokesperson.

I mean, before he even came into public office or ran for public office, there was the fact that he pretended to be his own spokesperson on the phone to reporters through the 80s and 90s. And so he has always kind of held on to that role himself. I just wanted to remind people, this was when, just in case they're not as up to speed on Trump as you are, he used to call. reporters pretending to be his own press representative. He called himself John Barron, a name later, obviously he gave to his younger son and will come on to talk about Baron Trump shortly and where is he. But he would literally call reporters with stories about himself pretending to be a separate person. So, sorry, do continue, but it's just such an interesting insight into his psyche. Yes, he believes he is his best own spokesperson. He is his best hype man. And so that has not changed at all. He has just found people who've been able to support him in the role. As he becomes president, Caroline Levitt has been a machine gun lips, has been a great mouthpiece. That is what he would call her and praise her and her machine gun lips as she took the podium in the White House briefing room.

I think that's probably an illusion to the speed of the lies that flew. out of her mouth. Mm-hmm. And the fact is that he doesn't actually have a person sitting on the bench ready to go if Caroline exit it. There wasn't a backup spokesperson. When we saw her take maternity leave, we saw a group of different officials, cabinet members, filling in for Caroline Levitt at the podium.

So there wasn't a sense that there was someone waiting behind the scenes who could step into the role. And the president now feels like it's almost as if he is auditioning different people as he thinks about this. But at the end of the day, everybody knows the president's going to say what the president wants to say. So it depends on really where he wants to go with this role. We know that Scott Jennings, the CNN commentator who has become a real Trump ally on television, has met with his White House chief of staff. There are other names that have been floated, including Anna Kelly, who is a deputy White House press secretary. There's Alina Haba, who was a spokesperson on his legal team, tried to be a part of this

administration as a U.S. attorney, but was not confirmed to the job. And so there are different people who could step in. But at the end of the day, they're not going to be, one, in the same relationship that Trump had with Caroline Leavitt. And two, they're not going to be someone who is relied on in the same way. way as the president relies on himself to make these remarks. He kind of does what he wants, he says what he wants, and everyone else kind of has to figure out how to navigate around him and make it work in that White House. With that said, I have heard from people who before even

any of these names have been floated, before the president declared himself his best spokesperson, before Caroline then said it in her exit interview that she, that everybody knows that he's his best spokesperson, they had already been saying, well, do we really need to fill this role? And the reality is, is in the past, there have been White House press secretaries during Donald Trump's first term who never stood at the podium. Stephanie Grisham was one of them. She did not stand at the podium and give the press briefings we are familiar with from Caroline Leavitt and other White House press secretaries and other administrations. So this role going forward could be different. than it has been in the past.

And that has been acknowledged by a number of people I have spoken to on how they just don't expect it to be the same. But I will say even with Caroline Levitt, who was at the podium quite frequently during the first year of Trump's term, we did see a decline in her number of appearances as she headed towards taking that second maternity leave. And then after she came back from attorney leave, she still comes out and gaggles with the press

or she did until her last day, which was, This week, she would come out and take questions from the press. She would still engage. But it wasn't the same daily press briefings or even weekly press briefings that we had been accustomed to in the early part of Donald Trump's term. And so I guess if you look back on it, you could see there was a shift before she publicly said she was exiting the White House. And that came also as Trump's ability to get things across the finish line and he had less to tout in terms of what he believed were accomplishments. was available to him for her to tout at the podium and brag about. Do we think that Caroline Levitt is one of those people a bit like Lindsay Graham,

who on the one hand was sucking up to Trump in public and performed her master's duties, as you said, very efficiently given what Trump wanted? But actually, in one-on-ones with the press was much more circumspect about a Trump the man and be actually what he was managing to get done? I think that Caroline was able to bridge the gap in terms of connecting with individual members of the press. When she was on the campaign trail, obviously she had this on TV persona that was really fiery and feisty, but she did have one-on-one relationships with individual reporters. I don't know what she would have been saying to other reporters off the record, obviously, that might have led to that understanding of her role.

But I do think in general that there were two separate versions of Caroline Levitt, the one that was very good at having soundbites on television and fighting for the president's agenda, and the one that really did work in the role as press secretary behind the scenes, which does go to show. that this White House has a lot of things going in terms of what is actually happening in reality is not what's being presented to the public because she still was able to navigate the role where she was communicating with members of the press. That said, this White House has always been very combative with the media in general. They send out nasty statements all the time. And behind

the scenes, while it may be a little bit less combative, there still is not a positive energy for most reporters having to deal with the White House simply by the fact that we're continually called enemy of the people and are targeted by members of this administration. It becomes very hard to do in general. But I will say I don't know what will happen with the next White House Press Secretary. I mean, Scott Jennings, we will say he's on TV all the time, but he's an employee of CNN as a contributor. So he already has some of the those relationships. So if he gets on TV and fights for the Trump administration, off TV, he has way more relationships within the media world that have already been created and have been

ongoing. And that could be a different relationship. If he is, in fact, among the final group and they go along that route and choose someone who they want to be public facing continually and start doing press briefings. But we've also seen him melt down on television. So maybe he's not someone that they want handling combative press briefings on a regular basis. Although that would add to the drama and Trump obviously loves the drama. He's a reality television producer. So Sarah, one of the other things that people are wondering about is obviously the whereabouts of the younger first son. I suppose we can refer to him. Barron Trump, who we know did a year at NYU in New York and was occasionally spotted around the campus.

he moved to the campus in D.C. He seems to have disappeared. He was last seen, I think, at the UFC fight with a Baron Trump. Baron Trump remains much a mystery to the public. And that is for multiple reasons. There were reports recently that he has been really hiding from the public amid the fact that he's one of the targets of Iran. There have been threats made against him.

The Secret Service is aware of the threats made against him in terms of targeting Trump officials. As this war continues with Iran, they've created videos about it. And so there's that mixed with the fact that he has a father who has faced multiple assassination attempts in recent years. And so for a young man, avoiding the public spotlight feels like it makes sense. He is in his early 20s and isn't a public figure himself. And he has been much off the grid versus other Trump children who are seen gallivanting around the world, seen with their father at the White House and abroad. And really just making the most of the fact that their dad is president of the United States, we don't see the same public version of that from Baron Trump. though we do know he's making tens of millions of dollars of his own as his father as president.

What we do know right now is that he was publicly seen just once at the UFC fight on his father's birthday at the White House. But since then, he's been behind the scenes almost entirely. We don't see him out and about. We don't actually know what's going to happen this fall when it comes to returning to NYU. NYU, when it comes to Baron Trump, has always remained tight-lipped. And there are multiple reasons why that would be the case. There's the safety concern, the fact that his father's president of the United States, but also he is a student of a university. And so when I've engaged with NYU and asked them about what's going on with Barron, they've remained very tight-lipped. I don't get a lot of answers from them. Usually I have to return to the White House or to the First Lady's office to learn more about Baron Trump. But we don't know specifically. specifically where he will be this fall for college, whether it will be back out on NYU's campus or if it'll be on a remote campus. We do know he took time off last fall. And so there could be some more information that comes out about him taking additional time off. But that is the reality right now is that Barron Trump is somewhat off the grid, staying behind the scenes.

And his mother, Melania Trump, while she has been in the focus for the media, she also has been really hiding. from public view for the most part this summer. We have barely seen anything of her. And she, we do know, is extremely protective of her one son. And so even before the president took office on the campaign trail, there always felt like there was a back and forth on whether Baron Trump, though he turned 18 and was legally an adult, would be more public facing, would be stay behind the scenes.

Obviously, during the first term, he was still a kid. And so that was controlled in a much different way than as a legal adult in the second term. But we really don't know a lot, but we do know that there are reports out there that he really is nervous and upset about the fact that he's a target. His father has faced assassination attempts. And then also the fact that he was a very close follower of Charlie Kirk. And Charlie Kirk was killed in an assassination last year. And there was a report in the book regime change where he did call his father very upset about that. So this does appear to be serious presence at the top of this young man's mind, the threat of assassination.

And so I don't think it's a surprise we see little of him because of just how his family has handled him in the past. But this new reality where we're in this increasingly hostile war with Iran and they have put out names, including his. That's very helpful, Sarah. Thank you. Is Kai Trump also thought to be under scrutiny? Because she is very present. I mean, we're, as you know, currently running a series on Sunday on Trump's women. And one of the ways that we've been spending time with them, if you want to put it that way, is because they are so visible on social media. There is no detail too banal for them to post. Although you could also accuse me. of right now I'm doing a series on my T-shirt and blazer combinations, which people comment about. And so I've taken to doing that on social media. So I'm not going to pretend that they're the only people putting details of themselves online. But Kai Trump in particular has turned her life into a sort of online reality show from asking people to contribute to her grocery bill as she trots around Arawan, choosing very expensive musalies.

But I'm curious as to whether or not this is the sort of security threat is specifically around Baron or if it's about all the Trump kids. So there are security concerns for all of the Trump kids and Trump grandchildren. The videos put out by Iran did specifically target Baron Trump. Sarah, are these recent videos? It's been while the war has been going on. But they've been making threats against the president for some time. It's extended to family members. But all the family members are considered targets when it comes to the Secret Service.

The Secret Service has been stretched relatively thin because there are so many Trump family members and they all have protection. And in some ways, Barron might be doing them a favor by staying behind the scenes because you have Trump family members like Don Jr. and his wife, Bettina, and you have Ivanka, Trump and Jared Kushner and you have Eric Trump and Lara Trump. And they all do have protection. That protection has to follow them everywhere they go around the world. There is a security threat. And they have to manage the Secret Service has to manage those logistics. And so we have had reports of the Secret Service facing additional challenges. When it comes to the kids, though, and you mentioned the grandchild, specifically, the oldest Trump granddaughter of Don Jr., she has been really promoting herself and creating businesses and making a lot of hoopla, if you will, and drawing attention as the grand honor of the president. And she's made a name for herself.

She's kind of entered this influencer sphere by the fact that she is posting constantly on social media. Well, and she's promoting her own aphleisure where too. Kai Trump, right? She does t-shirts and leggings and things off the back of her golf career. Exactly. So she's building her Trump brand. And that is not unique to her. She's the next generation, but every Trump generation has worked to build their Trump brand. And so, I mean, originally we had Ivanka creating shoes and everything until her father took office for his first term. And so we do see this from them. They've all been relative. active. The two that really haven't been active are Melania Trump and her son Barron. And so they have

handled the spotlight very differently publicly. Like I said, Baron Trump worth about $150 million has wild crypto ventures. So behind the scenes, it's not that he also isn't profiting off the presidency in some ways. He's just not doing it to the same extent that the other family members are publicly. And for the Secret Service, they still have to manage the logistics of every Trump child in terms of threats, both foreign and domestic threats, because let's remember some of these threats against the president were not just by Iran. They were local in the United States threats. The assassination attempts on his life happened by, it was U.S. citizens who made some of those attempts. And so they're facing multifaceted threats to Trump and the Trump family. And Baron Trump just is part of that, though Iran has seized on his name in some ways.

And of course we've seen the first lady monetizing her first ladyship in a different way by doing her book in office. Most first ladies wait until after they've left office to write a book. And the documentary and the documentary and the soon-to-be television show, which frankly I can't wait for. I'm going to pull up a director's chair and order a very large portion of popcorn to watch Melania's reality show or such. that it is. So Sarah, also we learned today that Donald Trump won't be at the 9-11 memorial service at the space of the Twin Towers because he was hoping to deliver a political speech there. And he's been told, no, that's not what the ceremony is for. And of course, it's particularly significant because it's 25 years since that terrible day when America was under attack.

American politicians have not been making speeches at the 9-11 Memorial Service every year since 2012. So this is not new. The fact that the president had been pushing to speak just goes against what was already known. They don't want it to be a public political event. This is a somber event meant to memorialize the victims of that horrific attack. And so the New York Times was reporting that there were multiple attempts by the Trump administration pushing for him to be able to. to give remarks. And when he was told that wasn't going to change, that they were sticking with that policy,

that it wasn't about public officials, political officials giving remarks, he decided he wasn't showing up. This says a lot about the president because he is a longtime New Yorker. I mean, before he moved to Florida, he was in New York. And the fact that he won't attend a ceremony for the attacks on 9-11 and as president of the United States won't attend the ceremony. the ceremony to memorialize the attacks on 9-11 says so much about him as a person that he can't be somewhere and not be the center of attention. But there are other logistical challenges that

maybe this is a good thing for him because we've discussed the president's age, we've discussed the president's health. He couldn't make a speech and disappear. He would have had to stay at the ceremony as a background figure, but all eyes would have still been on him. And so when all eyes are on the president, and he can't just make his remarks and exit the way he typically does at other public events, then you have this reality. Well, the president might not be able to stand as they read off all the names of the victims for three hours. And he might not be able to stay focused. The idea of the visual of the president who cannot stay awake in cabinet meetings that last about an hour, being able to keep his eyes open for the 9-11 memorial for multiple hours is one that would

not go over well with the public and shouldn't go over well with the public because we've been asking so many questions about his health and not getting a response on why he can't stay awake or is struggling in different ways when it comes to his health or appears to be when you watch him, but the White House won't actually answer those questions. So we're facing the reality that this is a 80-year-old president who wanted to attend an event. It would have put him in the public spotlight for multiple hours at a time and likely would have raised questions about what is going on with him if he was unable to attend and be serious and present and silent and focused for the full event. And so in some ways, this is perhaps a cop out by the White House. They wanted to go. They

wanted to make a speech. He couldn't make a speech. He was told it wasn't the policy. That is a reality that has been in place for some time. And now he actually doesn't have to go where he doesn't have to be in the public focus for such a long period of time where questions could be raised. And Sarah, we should point out that the central part of that ceremony, as you mentioned, is the calling out of the names of the 3,000 victims who were in the towers or around the towers and who died in, as we said, that terrible, terrible event. And actually, Hillary Cleggie. Clinton, I think I want to say 10 years ago at this point because it would have been in the run-up to the campaign in 2016 when she was running against Donald Trump actually collapsed at that event and had to be led away. And it turned out, I think that she had some kind of pneumonia.

But it's a very taxing event because you were literally standing for three hours during a very solemn reading of 3,000 victims' names. Yes, there is that reality that it is a long, somber event. And there is the fact that when Donald Trump was running against Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, Clinton did leave early. And she, after the fact, we were told she had pneumonia. And she also suffered from overheating at the event. And that's what led to her exit. But when that happened, Donald Trump, who was running for the first. first time for president seized on that and made it about her stamina and her ability to be president

of the United States. Now we have a president of the United States who is facing a lot of questions about his stamina, his health, his ability to lead this country who still has two more years on this term and is 10 years older than he was when he ran in the 2016 election. And so if there were to be some kind of event where the president wasn't able to stay through the whole ceremony, had to leave early the way Hillary Clinton left early 10 years ago. Of course that's going to turn heads, raise questions. And the president himself was the one who seized on that and made that such a central focus when that happened 10 years ago. Legendary director Ridley Scott returns in IMAX.

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Margaret Qualley. Okay, tough guy. And Guy Pearce. Arm up! The Dog Stars, directed by Ridley Scott, now playing in theaters. We're coming up for Labor Day. The race begins. It's as if everybody's on the starting blocks.

The starting gun is shot. after Labor Day and off everybody starts running in real earnest for the midterms. You've talked about people fleeing. We know that Carolyn Levit has left. Dave Warrington, who was the general counsel, has left. Does Trump have a sense of this, do you think? I mean, one of the things that's become so apparent with the sort of focus on Natalie Harp over the last couple of weeks in particular, is that she really does appear to control information in and information out. And we know that Donald Trump watches television all day, but we also know that he's not a man that appears to have much focus. So do we think he understands how bad right now it looks for the

Republicans, knowing, of course, everything can change in politics in a very quick time period? But do you think, do you hear from the White House that he understands he's in a precarious position in terms of holding on to power? I actually don't hear it in that exact way. The president is very nervous, frustrated about the midterms. That is the reality. He has talked about it. He's focused on it. But he's not focusing on it in the anxiety coming out of the White House. I wouldn't say he specifically has the anxiety, but isn't coming across to him in the same way it is to Republicans who are physically on the ballot running for office. And so on one hand, the president is seeing people leave the administration. Some of them he's publicly announced himself, the ones that are

most obviously exposed to the public and known by the public like Caroline Levitt. He's made those announcements. Behind the scenes, there are more and more people who are exiting. How much they actually interact with the president is not that clear because the president does keep a tight circle. And as you mentioned, some of that information is related to him by a very small few, including Natalie Harp. And so some of the people around the peripheral who handle work out of the White House who are exiting might not be folks that the president is paying close attention to. With that said, the president is focused on the midterms, has talked about the reality as the midterms are in his mind all about him. He wants it.

to be all about him. And he's running on this idea that he wants American voters to put his, to think his name is on the ballot because he still is under the disillusion that he is a draw for people coming out to vote. And he is the most powerful voice for Republicans. And that's what gets people to the ballot box. The challenge here is, as we've already seen during this primary season, is that people are not showing up thinking it is Donald Trump and Donald Trump only that they're most focused on. Donald Trump's endorsements while he's had a strong track record of endorsements, not all of his candidates are getting across the finish line with his help. There have been a number who have failed. So we see voters are breaking with Donald

Trump. And also Republican lawmakers are breaking with Donald Trump. Those who really are on the ballot and will have to face the voters this fall are actually trying to move away from Donald Trump. We've seen that in a number of instances. I wrote this week about one lawmaker who is running for office in Kentucky, of all places, for the 6th District. And while he ran as a America first pro-Trump candidate in the primary for that open seat with this huge picture of Donald Trump on his website's homepage, the candidate, Ralph Alvarado, is actually screen. scrubbing Trump from his website. He took his picture off the homepage. So he's removed the thumbs up picture of him with Donald Trump is no longer on the homepage.

It is still on the website elsewhere if you dig deep enough. But it's not on that homepage. The America First leadership that he ran on in that primary has since been removed. And now he is focused in his headline at the top of his website on independent leadership. So we see these candidates going into this election pivoting away from Donald Trump. I will say when it comes to primaries versus general elections, there does tend to be a shift. They have to get the base for the primary. Typically, that base when it comes to Republicans is more MAGA focused.

But then they got a shift to the midterm actual general election where they're running against a Democrat. They've got independent voters and more moderate Republicans coming out. And they make a shift more towards the middle, towards the center. But the idea to be so heavily invested in having Donald Trump's face. everywhere, and then just to wipe all of it away, to not promote the fact that he spoke at the 2016 convention and has been an ally of the president for 10 years, completely wiping that off of a website does say just how toxic the president's brand is going into this specific midterm cycle general election. And Sarah, what are the issues that are people, Republican candidates

are most concerned about? I mean, is it the the price? at the gas pump, is it the forever war, is it the farmers going out of business, is it the tariffs now imposing on now being imposed on Canada? Is it ice? I mean, there are so many policies that seem to, well, that seem to hang over the president that we know haven't been popular. Are you seeing, you know, what are the top two or three that are you think are going to have the most impact? Perhaps it's. the fact that people have had their subsidies for healthcare removed in the big, beautiful bill to help billionaires. Are you hearing of specific issues that are turning people off Republicans?

There's a perfect storm of issues turning people off Republicans. I think first and foremost, through this entire buildup to the midterms, the president has been calling affordability a hoax. And the number one issue from anyone and everyone is that there, They're still struggling to get by. But in terms of affordability, I think there's actually a few different tiers that have been turning people off to Republicans. You mentioned things like health care. Health care has been a huge challenge. People are facing extremely high costs for health care.

And that is in part because of the Trump administration's work during this first year in office. There's also the fact that the president had campaigned on the reality that he was going to immediately cut. inflation. And while inflation was growing at a greater rate during the Biden term, it had actually come down and is now up again. So when Trump took office, inflation was lower than it is now. And when Biden left office, inflation was lower than it is now for Trump. And so there's the inflation issue and the price of living that has been a challenge. That in part does feed into this idea of forever wars and Iran because the president ran on end. forever wars and not getting into foreign conflicts. And he's gone into a number of countries and

bombed and taken action. But specifically with Iran, he is stuck now in this quagmire where he doesn't actually have a clear path to get out. It is not only driven up costs for Americans here in the United States, as well as people around the globe in terms of energy costs, but it also goes against what the president himself had run on. And we have seen Republicans who, previously on their websites had said something about ending forever wars. And in one case, we saw the words Forever War removed recently from the website as he has in this general election because they don't want to focus on touting somebody and a party that is against Forever Wars when the president is currently in a war of his own making. And so it's a perfect storm. I think affordability and

the cost of living has been just the top issue for voters. But when it comes to repulsions, Republicans running, I think there's also a sense of frustration because a lot of what they're trying to argue is getting drowned out or hasn't come to fruition in terms of being able to pass that one big beautiful bill. It hasn't hit home the way they had hoped it would. But the president has also offered a number of distractions and costly frustrations for them in terms of getting into a trade war with Canada, which has driven up costs in multiple states. And also the Iran war driving up costs. And also focusing on things that voters don't care so much about because they don't actually impact or help their lives. Like making over Washington, D.C., renaming lakes and just a plethora of other things that smell of desperation coming out of this White House as a distraction. Oh, renaming lakes. So Lake Ontario, his latest wees being renamed Lake America. Mary Trump had a very good column on that this morning.

I mean, what a waste of presidential energy when I think I saw the figure, 77 farmers are going out of business every day, 77 farmers, American farmers, going out of business every day because of this president's tariff policy. Yeah, he rushed a group of report. I mean, he's been threatening to rename this Lake America versus what it was for centuries, Lake Ontario. Before the U.S. was the U.S. or Canada was the Canada? the lake had the name Ontario. But he rushed them in and is focusing on something like this

when everyone's like, well, there are so many issues that actually impact us and is making our lives harder that he's also doing. That has been a challenge. For one, he's talking about threatening Canada by changing the name of a lake. But the reality is, is the trade war itself is what's going to actually impact people. And that has just continued to escalate rather than deescalate going into the midterms, which is a challenge. And so the president puts the focus on these useless things that he's focused on and promoting. And the White House pushes out this kind of bizarre social media campaigns to tout him renaming the lake. And when Americans are like, well, we're going to be facing higher prices because of this trade war.

And while there is negotiations to be had with Canada, those have completely fallen apart. And it doesn't look like it's going anywhere good anytime soon. So he's been using a lot of these distractions that are completely pointless, useless and a complete waste of the office of the president of the United States. And that's what I hear from people out across the country who are just trying to get by where they hear so much about some of the nonsense that's coming from Donald Trump. And they're like, well, that's not helping me. And that's frustrating. And it just goes to show that the president is focused on how he appears and what he's looking at. And it's not about making things better for us. And I get that sense from Democrats, hammering at home. But independents who are not actually really aligned with Republicans or Democrats have been making the same case. And some Republicans also are like, we're frustrated by this. This is not. working for us. And I mean, it's reflected also in his polling numbers. We've seen a decline in support even among his Republican party. So it's a combination of everything. But when he goes on these random spiels about changing names of lakes or another one is redecorating the White House or

building a ballroom, Republicans on the ground are not campaigning on any of that. They are not trying to focus on any of that. They are trying to focus on how they've helped or how they can help the voters who need to go to the ballot box to vote for them. And the president is not focused on that in the same way whatsoever. But it also shows there is a shift in how Republicans are handling this from even last year early on before we were facing this midterm where the president decided he was going to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico. And so he campaigned on it and then he went and did And you saw a lot of MAGA alliance lawmakers really touting the fact that he had changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico, though depending on where you live in the world, it still says Gulf of Mexico versus Gulf of America, which is what he made it. And so they really went all in on this in some cases. We don't see the same hype coming from lawmakers like, oh, look at this. The president did this great thing, changing the name to Lake America, the way we saw with some of his past actions that still.

had no impact on voters. Now this actually is something that people are focused on because they have to make a choice in November. And of course, nothing highlights it more than the fact that the reason he changed the name was because it was Ontario and because we're in a tariff war with Canada, which Canada currently appears possibly to have the upper hand in. I think that's something that does frustrate the president also, and that's kind of where we see him spiral, is that he didn't get Canada to bow to his will. He didn't get to exude the strength to crush his perceived foe in this specific instance. And in not getting what he wanted, he has continued to lash out in a way where he has targeted individuals, including the prime minister on social media, but then also

taking these bizarreo steps to try and turn things into America first, Trump up his own brand in terms of changing the name of the lake and really focused on trying to make it look like he had actually taken some action that had been productive, whereas everything about this whole interaction has been not only not productive, has been extremely damaging for American businesses, American consumers, and are standing in the world because we're looking at a president who is fighting with his closest ally. and that ally is turning to other countries and instead engaging them in trade talks

and further alienating us in the process. Well, perhaps we can have a daily beast offsite on the shores of Lake Ontario slash Lake America, Sarah, after the midterms, it'll be very cold, so we'll have to do one of those in and out dashes into the water. What a strange time, Sarah, and as always your smarts in being able to put it into perspective for us are really, really helpful. So huge thanks for taking a chunk of time out of your extremely busy day, monitoring everything that's going on.

It's impossible to keep on top of it. And yet you and the team in D.C. do a fantastic job. So thank you so much. And I look forward to talking to again very soon. Thank you for having me. I always love talking to Sarah. I think she's full of insights and she talks to people all day long about the madness that's going on inside the White House. I also love her insight about the 9-11 memorial, something that having lived in New York for nearly 30 years now, I feel very strongly about it's a very solemn, somber ceremony and the reading of the names is such a beautiful way to memorialize those people who lost their lives in such a terrible,

terrible incident. J.D. Vance will be attending instead of the president. Write and tell us what you think. And I think the president is going to the Pentagon, to the site of the Pentagon, which was also hit, of course, on 9-11. And he will be delivering his speech there.

So write and tell us what you think about that. We love your comments. We read your comments. And I'll be back tomorrow with Michael Wolf. We've got a special episode of Inside Trump's Head talking about the midterms. See you. Thanks for joining us and a big thanks to our production team, John Romero, Ryan Murray, Rachel Passer, Heather Pissaro and Neil Rosenhaus.

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