The Daily Beast Podcast - Why Floundering Trump Will Sell Out on World Stage

Episode Date: September 23, 2026

Michael Wolff and Joanna Coles return to dissect Donald Trump’s latest battle with the press, his launch of Trump TV, and the high-stakes arrival of Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House. They examine why Trump keeps turning the media into his enemy, what his escalating wars and increasingly precarious relationship with China could mean for the United States, and how a meeting with Xi could reshape the balance of power around Taiwan and beyond. They also look at Trump’s claims about military installations, his reliance on spectacle and conflict to dominate the news cycle, and the looming midterms, where Democrats may be tempted to read too much into Trump’s current political troubles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He needs good news, and his way of getting good news is not to negotiate a good deal. His way of getting good news is to agree. So he goes into flattery mode. I'm sure she will flatter Donald Trump, and in return, Donald Trump will flatter him. And that will result in the Chinese getting what the Chinese walk. Michael. Joanna, how was L.A.? How was L.A.?

It's very nice to be back in the studio, but it was fantastic. Why, I won't spend more time on the West Coast. That's all I can say. Well, funny, you should mention that. Uh-huh. Okay, so we're reminding people. Michael and I will be live at the Terogram Ballroom, downtown. In Los Angeles.

Yeah. In October the 12th. on October the 20th. And come, we want to meet everybody. Maybe you want to meet us. Well, let's hope you want to meet us. We are going to be doing a live podcast, Terragam Ballroom, October the 20th, downtown L.A.

Please come. And to buy your tickets, you go to beast.combe slash ITH for inside Trump's head, live. That's beast. Dot pub slash ITH live. Or you can go to ticket, to grab your tickets. And don't forget to subscribe to the Daily Beast podcast,

wherever you get your podcast, Apple, Spotify, YouTube. And don't forget to leave us a comment on what you think of this episode, which is our 168 episode of Inside Trump's Head. And we are doing this. It is UN Week in New York. And as we are recording, Donald Trump is in Manhattan, snarling traffic and speaking at the UN right now.

I think he's literally speaking in. the UN and he looked incredulous because who was at his side? My wife, Melania. Your wife, Melania, the subject of your lawsuit. We should catch up with your lawsuit and find out what's going on with it. Who was strangely dressed like a Supreme Court justice with a sort of white tie. She's given up the placebo which she used to wear and now she's gone straight for it. It's a bit of a Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

She's, Melania Trump has somehow become Jewish, in other words. Oh, no, I wasn't thinking of that. I wasn't thinking of that. Did you have a big feast last night, by the way? We're going to talk about my levels of observance. Is that what you want to talk about now? No, I wasn't. That's just part.

You're just because someone might be Jewish, you don't have to attach them to a Jewish holiday. Well, it's the most important Jewish holiday. Yeah, even so. It's just, it's what Brits do. Oh, you're Jewish. Well, how come you don't have a yarmulke on? No, that's not what I said. I said, did you have a big peace last night?

Because every Jew in New York I know, it's their big holiday. No, well, that is not true. And there's many, many Jews. Actually, more Jews than not are not observant, as I am not observant, as I am actually only equivocally Jewish. What does that mean you're any equivocally Jewish? Well, my father's Jewish. My mother is not Jewish. Oh, okay. Well, I didn't know that. All right. Whatever. I thought you might have heard of big peace. You see, it's always the Brits get entrapped in Jewish talk and then they go, oh. I'm not going, uh, I'm just saying a lot of my friends were having big friends. A lot of your friends are Jewish. Oh, I just can't win. I cannot win. Moving swiftly on, Melania has turned up. Where is Natalie Harp? Natalie Harp is the one who's been force feeding him.

clips of MS now. I'm sure she's there. But before, and we want to, we want to get to the networks and the press. But I have two UN week sightings. Go on. So I saw, so Stephen Chung and I. Stephen Chung, White House Communications Director. Yes.

Yes, who regularly issues statements about what a scumbag, I guess I am. There's a couple of boilerplate words that he attaches to me. But we locked eyes and I thought he was going to greet me because actually we like each other. But then he closed down immediately and scuttled on. Where did you run into him? Where physically were? Midtown. Midtown.

So he was going to say he wasn't in the Hamptons for the weekend. No, no. No, he was just walking on the street. And then on actually right on the corner of. So you saw Stephen Chung just walking. down the street. Yeah, people just walk down the street. Everybody, and I'll give you another one.

So on the corner of 55th and 6th Avenue, I see this incredibly handsome man. I mean, that's what I noticed first about him, that an older gentleman, but just overwhelmingly handsome, just like a movie star. I thought that's a movie star. And also, he's with a woman who's incredibly, I mean, very beautiful too, and they're, he's He actually has his hand around her waist, and it looks like they're posing for a magazine shot. And then as I'm processing who this is, there's a homeless guy on the corner of 55th and 6th.

And he says, I think that man ran for president. And then I got it too. And then the homeless guy says, what's his name? Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney. And he looked like a movie star. Looks like a movie star, just walking down the street.

And it's interesting what happens to somebody who doesn't become president. Well, and also, do you remember the first debate he had with Obama? When Obama turned up, he was tired. He obviously was overconfident, and Mitt Romney kind of wiped the floor with him. No, I mean, I think, well, I mean, judging by what happened to the Republican Party, obviously, obviously a different path would have been if Mitt Romney had been elected. I know if Mitt Romney had won. Although that means Barack Obama would not have been elected.

Well, he wouldn't have been elected for a second time, right? Right. It just wasn't Mitt Romney's moment. But Mitt Romney, I think that there's, did you ever see that documentary that came out? You know, Mitt Romney, everybody, when he ran for president, it was like, oh, God, he's a wooden guy. He's a, he's a robot. He's a, you know, financial guy without a heart. And then they did this documentary.

It was called Mitt. And it was fantastic. You watched that and you think, my God, this guy's a great guy. How did we not elect him? Plus he's handsome. Very handsome. And wasn't he governor of Massachusetts and ran a whole health care, which was basically a mini-Oabomaker? Yes.

Bingo. Yeah. I actually think sometimes looking back... Do you know where his father, what state his father was? Michigan. Michigan. Very good. And I've often thought it was actually a tragedy for American politics that he wasn't elected when he ran.

And it would have been hard for him to beat Obama. But actually it would have been possibly would have been better for all of us had he been elected. On to. I know I'm going to get hundreds of comments from saying that. I was just trying to rush you off of. Yeah, I know you were trying to hedge me off. So now I'm going to double down. I'm going to double down.

down on, actually, I think Mitt Romney would have been a better president than Obama, too. Okay. I said it out loud. I know I'm going to get loads of comments. I know you think I'm a secret Republican. I'm not. But I think Mitt Romney sort of represented the best of the Republican Party. I know you think that, but I'm actually right.

But you're an old-fashioned Republican. You're not a Trumper. I'm definitely not a Trumper. I'm not a Trumper because he's not equipped to be president. And yet here he is and we are discussing him again. So let's get on to him yelling at Caitlin Collins this morning that you shouldn't be covering me. We're in the middle of this media. Do we have a clip on this?

I think we do have a clip. Let's play the clip. So it's an honor to be here. I'm surprised that CNN is here covering me. You shouldn't be here. You should not be here covering me. You said you weren't going to cover me. You shouldn't be covering me.

I know I shouldn't care, but I really want to know what's going on with Melania's hair. It's both darker and blonder and much. longer. Something strange is going on with Melania and I don't understand what it is. But let's talk about the media ban. Extensions. Oh, it's extensions. How come I know that? You don't know. Of course. You're totally right. It's extensions. Duh. Yes. Okay. Fire away. That's that's what's not what's in Trump's head. That's what's on her head. Okay. That's good. Anyway, let's do the press ban because this is pure, pure Trump. Okay, so let's back up and remind people how it happened.

Can you remember how it happened? It was three days ago. So it feels like it's got, but he banned CNN, MS now and Politico because Natalie Harp has been force-feeding him clips of negativity. And so he decided to withdraw access to the press pool. Right. But obviously this negativity is nothing new. So really, I think it's better to look at this is he needed something in that news cycle at that moment. And what is the most reliable thing for him?

I mean, over the course of 10 years now, you know, if there's any doubt, any need for it to distract from anything, the go-to thing is make the media the enemy. And make the media the enemy plays very well with the Trump base. I mean, it is, you know, we're sitting in New York, we're like, you know, our panthers are in a twist about this. Oh, the press. The press. Oh, my God. How can he do that? But his base, it's like, oh, my God, yeah.

Those people are liars and. 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. So do you think he anticipated the rest of the press coming out and saying, well, we're, I mean, actually, it was the Washington Bureau Chief of Fox News coming out and saying, well, we're not going to take any of the footage.

We're not going to operate the press pool until you reinstate MS now and CNN. Another news cycle for him. Okay. So that's good for him. So they played into his hands. Yes. Everything is playing well for him. This is his sweet spot.

A war with the press. nothing better. And also, I think we should say there's nothing better for the press. So everybody, this is win-win for everybody. So you don't think the First Amendment is under threat? Not only do I not think, well, yes, I do think the First Amendment is constantly under threat from the Trump administration, anything that he will do. I mean, that is what he wants to do is control anything, anything. that he can control that is said about him. I mean, and obviously I have been in the line of

fire on this issue many times. So, but in this specific thing, remember, the issue is the press in the press room at the White House. One of the stupider things that the press does. What do you get out of being in the press room at the White House? I'm going to tell you, nothing. So what that is about, I mean, it's just a conceit on the press, and it's a conceit from the White House standpoint that we give access to the press and we have this and they're sitting at our feet and we can come out and address the press from the podium whenever we want to. And the press conceit is we're there, we're in the White House, when they are not in the White House. Does it matter that he hasn't put in a new press secretary to replace

Carolyn Leavitt? Not particularly. I mean, a press secretary, you know, a press secretary used to be a pivotal link in, I'm just a senior most member of the president's staff. Press secretaries for, and certainly Donald Trump's press secretaries have just been, you know, the mouthpiece. They say what he tells them to say. They don't really have any special acts.

access or any special knowledge or anything. And in Donald Trump's world, just a pretty face. Okay. So I want to play another clip, which is this of Donald Trump opening officially the helipad, which I'm assuming they're going to use for Xi Jinping later this week. But it's without pool footage. We can then talk about the launch of Trump TV. We're also going to talk about the China visit this week.

So we've got the leader of China coming. The main story. I mean, I think that is the big story this week. I know. I'm trying to give people a menu of what else we're going to talk about because I've got to do it at the top of the hour. But I just don't want it to be just one of a list. It is the head.

No, no. It's a hugely important and dominant subject for the week. And we want to talk about his art, which he's now claiming is actually of national importance because it could be a military installation, and they could put snipers on the top. Let me ask you something, because you're always going to Paris. You love Paris. I love Paris. I used to live in Paris.

Would you go and visit the Arctic Triumph if there were snipers on the shop of it, French snipers? It sounds makes it sound even more exciting. Okay. So are you in favor of him turning the new Triumphal Arch, which is due to break around any moment? I am neither in favor of the Arch nor in favor. of him putting up a military installation because he doesn't know shit about a military installation. So I don't even know. He has somehow, and I can see how this would have happened.

You know, the arch is in trouble. You know, it's going to be difficult for him to build. So, and he feels he had a successful, a successful rationale with the, with the ballroom becoming a military base. So now, as he always does, he just plays the same card over and over again. So he's going to build the arch, and now it's going to be used to shoot down the drones that are coming for him. So is he using it to maneuver around the fact that it shouldn't really be built at all? Is this a justification for it? Yeah, but even that, even to say that Trump is maneuvering, you know, that,

that implies some strategy and some, some, that he has somehow thought this out. It just is the thing. With the, with the ballroom, he said, he said it's... Well, he knocks it down. He knocks it down overnight. He demolished it, right? And then he said, we need to build the ballroom because there's going to be a military installation underneath it.

There is a military installation under the White House. So the idea that there is something more under the ballroom is probably equivocal. Well, in a military grade, it's before he said too. Yeah. He doesn't. It just goes on and on. And so he makes this up as he goes along. So the arch, we're having trouble building the arch.

People are objecting to the arch. Well, we'll launch drones from it. We'll use it to launch drones or shoot drones down. I'm surprised he hasn't suggested they put it. a battleship there going back to the 50s. All right. What I want to do is play the footage without the pool officially covering it because this is what you get. Love that. You get the sound of the demolition from the ballroom. You hear anything he says. That's why you need the press covering you officially because they know how to do that stuff.

And this is the White House putting out their own footage. I disagree. He has the larger story. The larger story is the conflict. This is the story. This is proof that he's thrown the press out. This will play to the people he wants it to play to. I understand.

How long will it be before they're all back? Minutes, you know, 10 minutes. Tomorrow they'll be back. It's just a new cycle. It's just completely performative, completely, you know, this, you know, back to the reality show. What's the conflict this week? Well, we should also talk about the fact he's launched Trump TV.

So far, nobody's watching it. But remember, remember when he, and I would say that's just ridiculous. And, you know, one of those other things. But it's just his greatest hits on YouTube. But remember, he was thrown off of then Twitter and then started Truth Social, took it public, is now made billions off of it. He will probably start Trump TV and make billions off of it. Okay, but do you think the press ban will be over by Thursday

when Xi Jinping arrives for official visit? Well, I think he's already here, but he will arrive for an official visit. I mean, who's going to cover that otherwise? The Chinese media will cover it. Perhaps we can take feeds from China today. Yeah, and he will try to use that. That's the networks are going to not want to not cover that. Right.

They're going to want the military parade. They're going to what the state dinner. I don't know. Yes, I would say. I mean, on Bolt's, he needs them. They need him. All right. So it's a new cycle story.

Let's talk about the Chinese visit. 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 immersion. of 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. So Trump is in the middle of he claims trying to solve wars. In fact, he's stuck in a forever war today. The clip I saw from the UN, he was lecturing them saying that the, Iranians wouldn't agree to anything before the election and after the election they would come to their senses and he could make it a great economic power, possibly the best power in the Middle East,

possibly one of the great powers of the world. Let's set this in context. Trump is the commander in chief. How scary is that? It's pretty scary. Yes. It's pretty scary. He's the commander in chief. He is, there are now three wars, three declared wars going on during under his, under his time as the commander in chief. I mean, there is the war in Ukraine. There is the war in Gaza. There is the war in Iran, which he started. He, he has promised a quick solution to, each of these wars. Quick, literally overnight. They go on. We're at, what are we at the 18-month point or near it in this administration more. Yeah. Nothing, not only he started one war, he's been unable to effectively end the other wars. And then, and now we face the possibility

of a significantly larger situation with China, which we will get to. But I think that this is, you know, when I speak to people within the White House about this, I find a kind of a kind of gallows humor about it. I mean, I just was speaking as somebody in the White House, and I refer to the war, meaning the war in Iran, but this person says, which war? And there is a clip that people in the White House send around. This is people in the White House from a must be 1979 or 1980. And Trump is there's Trump is doing an interview with the then gossip columnist Rona Barrett.

Remember her? No, I don't remember Rona Bauer Bauer. I've never heard of Rona Bauer. very big, major gossip, Hollywood gossip columnist of the 70s, 80s. And this is just during, just the hostage crisis in Iran has already started. So I don't remember if it's 79 or 80 that this clip takes place. And he is saying that we should go in, we should go send in troops. Fighting Iran would be the easiest war we ever fought. I have seen that clip. I have seen that clip. So he is still, and again, that's that other theme.

He always goes back. You know, he gets something in his head, doesn't get it out of his head. There it is. Fighting a war in Iran would be the easiest war we've ever fought, which is he's still basically saying the same thing. Yep. And more disconcerting, kind of saying, we won that war. We won the war he started that we can't get out of.

So this is, we are sitting. He is the commander-in-chief. And let's just understand that things can go terribly, terribly wrong if you in when, if you look at the world and look at the bad decisions that you can make. I mean, I mean, wars happen because of errors and miscalculations. and they can, and history goes, goes sideways because of them. I mean, the Russians invade Afghanistan in 79. 79, and that results in the collapse of the Soviet Union, and ultimately 9-11. I mean, these kinds of things.

I mean, we, the U.S. absolutely fails to understand what's happening in. Iran, when we're still supporting the Shah, everything goes to shit. And the Middle East is destabilized, basically, for this for generations to come. Well, and, you know, we saw Mark Carney at Davos this year saying there is a shift in the global order. You have the Saudis this weekend asking Trump to intervene because the hooties are now interfering with their pipeline to the Red Sea. The war, essentially war number four, we're looking at there. And he's, and he's been dithering about that. We're set up to attack and go to the defense of the Saudis.

No, we're not going to do it. Yes, we're coming. He's, he's done this in the, in the Iranian situation again and again and again. He cannot, he, I mean, it's that weird thing of charging in recklessly and then not being able to make up your mind about what you're going to do. charge in and then dither. Well, and in the meanwhile, making America a less reliable ally and pushing people towards China, which right now feels very stable.

And meanwhile, we have left the South China Seas with no American aircraft carrier because Washington is replacing the Lincoln. So interestingly, China could go into Taiwan if it wanted to because the Americans are not there to stop it. Meanwhile, Middle East allies of the U.S. are now feeling less confident about America. Oh, you think? Yeah. I'm leaning into China. So everything that Trump has promised to do for China. Well, the whole thing, even to bring China to heal in so many ways, which is what he's promised, and all China has done is benefit from Trump. And I have to just go back to that I witness, and this is in the earliest part of the of the Trump, first Trump administration, AIDS trying to tell him how you say she.

What did he say? I mean, and this went on for weeks of him saying, XI, X, I, No, no, she. And then they finally have to say, she as in she. She, she as in Melania. As a woman, she. Right. But did he willfully not want to understand how to pronounce it?

I think he genuinely was. I will say that's a British thing, very passag where you call someone. Of course. Of course. Camala. Yes, Kamala is, yes. I think this. It's a power play.

This seemed genuine. Okay. I mean, X-I. He just couldn't get over that. Well, isn't he dyslexic? He's something. All right. So, what's going to happen on Thursday when the Chinese arrive?

I think nothing good for the United States of America. Well, and also he's meeting him at Andrews Air Force Base, right? So yet again, taking a rival power into the heart of something like when he to Putin, when he gave Putin a ride in the beast. And you're like, oh, my God, this is terrible for American security. You know, I think what happens in these situations when he needs, I mean, he needs good news. And his way of getting good news is not to negotiate a good deal. His way of getting good news is to agree. So he goes into flattery mode. And flattery mode is, and I'm sure, I'm sure she will flatter Donald Trump, and in return, Donald Trump will flatter him. And that will

result in the Chinese getting what the Chinese want. All right. So what do the Chinese want? Is this about tariffs? Trump was there in April. He went to see them in April. We're rolling out the red carpet for them now. It's going to be only the second state dinner during his second term. the first one was for the king and Camilla. What does she want from this visit? What will be a success for the Chinese from this visit? Yeah, I think tariffs is an important thing. I think probably the most important thing is the Chinese coming away with expressions of Trump's goodwill and acknowledgement of which they will take as an,

an acknowledgement and rightly so that they have triumphed in this. What about conversations over AI? Are they both going to walk away saying we've come up with a deal on AI? The world is not going to end in 10 years. I think they'll all say, you know, nothing things, nice things about AI. AI great. AI, you know, like you. And do you think that, because we haven't yet seen the guest list, but I'm assuming the guest list for the state dinner will be the same guest list that he always rolls out, which is all the big tech leaders.

I would assume, yeah. And this dinner, the dinner is on Thursday. The dinner is on Thursday and will be used as more advocacy for the ballroom because I'm sure it'll be intense in the White House. And we're going like, we should have a ball rub, we should have a ball rub. But you will have the Chinese delegation. And then I'm assuming you will have a big delegation from Silicon Valley. But also see this as try to the whole geopolitical status where we are now, which is incredibly precarious. And precarious to the extent with all these wars going on, Ukraine, Gaza.

Iran and now we have the Houthis. Then we have the Chinese who at any moment could push the boundaries of Taiwan. And by the way, that would be one of the central things that they would want to come out of this meeting, sort of either no... Trump's saying that he's not going to do anything. Well, either no mention of Taiwan or a mention in which it becomes, Taiwan becomes more equivocal. That would be the ultimate victory for the she or for she coming out of this meeting. But just see this entire world and see it as any one piece can lead to a miscalculation which can lead to grievous results. But understand that we are dependent. We, we,

you, I, everybody, is dependent on Donald Trump here, on Donald Trump understanding the stakes, the nuances, the subtleties, the risks. I mean, I mean, I don't, I'm trying to think how to, how to present this, that this is where the rubber hits the road. It's Donald Trump. And we have to depend upon him understanding what can go wrong. Okay. Well, that's alarming. That's that's freaked everybody out. And again, let me say it's Donald Trump who doesn't listen to anyone.

It's not as if he has, you know, I mean, presidents, all presidents are just human beings and they have to depend upon other people to have analyzed the problems and other people's intelligence, okay, he doesn't do that. He doesn't do that. So, you know, and this is, you know, and let me just go back to, I mean, during the first administration, there was this, and this is something else I witnessed, when people come in, and this was especially about when generals come in, and make presentations, a PowerPoint, you know, these are all kind of McKinsey trained people, now and he's out the door, cannot listen to it, cannot absorb that kind of information. I share his anxiety about a PowerPoint the minute I see about it out of the door. And we are

grateful that you are not the commander in chief. 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. Fair. Totally fair. This morning, he fired off a very angry truth social saying it was treasonous,

all these commentary about America not having any munitions left. Of course, it's ridiculous. is we have the biggest stash of munitions in the world. Yeah, and that's the kind of thing that he will have been told, or someone will have tried to tell him. It doesn't matter. Okay, well, we're heading towards the midterms. And even he said, you know, the Iranians are waiting for... I thought you were going to say we were heading toward World War.

Well, we might be heading. I hope we're not heading to World War, but we are heading towards the midterms. So even Trump, you know, nodded to the midterms. and said the Iranians are waiting to make a deal until after the midterms, at which point they may not be able to make a deal because he may not have any power left. Well, he'll have some power left. Thoughts on where we are right now.

The polls are terrible for Donald Trump. But out in L.A. this weekend, the one thing I kept coming across was people who said, everybody is overconfident about the midterms. We were here in 2016. People here thought Hillary was going to win. people here thought Carmelah was going to win, the Democrats are overconfident. Well, yeah, I mean, that's what everybody always says. No, it's not what everybody always says.

2016, 2024, no one thought Donald Trump was going to win. Very few people thought Donald Trump was going to win. Donald Trump didn't think he was going to win. We know that because of how you start fire and fury. He's as incredulous as everybody else. Nobody thought, yes. Rupertled didn't think he was going to win. Malawi was crying.

Well, actually, we're we're we're. Yes, we actually were. In 2016, the Democrats were overconfident. Yes, that's my point. Are they overconfident now going into the midterms? And, and, and, and, and, and there was, you know, in, in 2018, that was a, that was, you know, the midterms have been, you know, Donald Trump is correct when he says, says, says, pretend I am on the, on the ballot. On the, on the, on the, on the ballot. And you would, you would think, that's ridiculous. Um, but there is something. Um, um, but there is something. about when Donald Trump has, has Donald Trump. I know, that's my point. Okay, but he's not on. Right. And I get the traditional shalacking at the midterms, yada, yada, yada,

but is he by saying, pretend I'm on the ballot, actually doing something smart? No. I would say that he is, he is, I would say that's immaterial because he's not on the ballot. But having said that, you know, I mean, yeah. It's what's going to happen? Who knows? And we're in this in this long cycle of polls being inaccurate. Polls being inaccurate partly because of Donald Trump, partly because of change in technology and it can't call anyone up. But there we are. At the same time, we also know things are, you can go down the list of Donald Trump policies.

initiatives and they are all unpopular. Diesel has doubled in price since he started this. So there is now, but let's look at the things that Donald Trump can do, which actually might help him either minimize the damage or eke out something that would be. Or keep the Senate, but keep the Senate, which is very, very close. Well, that's very close. And I would still be surprised if they took. the Senate.

The Democrats took the Senate? Yeah. Yeah. But let's, I mean, he could eke out a way they could still hold the House. That is possible or come very, very close. So, and one of the things has to do with money. The Republicans have this incredible amount of money. I mean, I actually don't quite understand how this discrepancy between the Democrats and

the Republicans has been allowed to happen here. I mean, how the Democrats have allowed this to happen. I mean, it has partly to do with the fact that he's the president of the United States and he has gone around extorting everyone. But there was a funny thing that this past week he referred to all this PAC money. And remember, there's now this issue is, will he spend this money? Right. So he's got 400 million in his pack.

Right? Yeah. Will he spend this money on behalf of the Republicans? And in the past, he has been very tight-fisted. Yeah, yeah. But anyway, he said he, and he called as my money. I mean, now it's my money. Okay, it is actually not his money.

Well, by law, it's not his money. This is, PAC money is independent. Now, there's a kind of break in the proscenium here that because people, you know, all political parties, all PACs are, this is PAC money is independent and yet there's always this kind of, how do you send the signals to the PAC to do what you, the candidate, want done. But he's not doing that anymore. He's not even doing that. And it's another instance either of Trump, not just not understanding the rules.

You know, somebody, some lawyer explained this to him. He didn't listen. He doesn't care. My understanding is he's given $15 million to Ken Paxton because James Tala Rico has raised, I think, the most of all the Democrats out there, about $80 million. Yeah. And this is on top of a very slim taking on Paxton's part. Well, because nobody thinks Paxton's going to win because he is a grotesque character.

Well, he is a grotesque character, but even so, I mean. I mean, I think... It's Texas. It's Texas. And I've been to... Everybody who's followed this has been through this before with Texas. An interesting thing this week that Cornyn, who Paxton defeated and George Bush, had a fundraiser and excluded Paxton. Everybody hates Paxton, except Donald Trump.

Right. Well, let's hope that Paxton gets his just desserts. It's extraordinary to think that Texas was... the state that had the great Governor Anne Richards, Democrat Governor and Richard. About a thousand generations ago in political time, in the 90s. In political time. Yeah, in political time. But Texas is, you know, it will be, the Senate will hinge probably on Texas and Ohio. And what about Maine? Susan Collins. Up against Troy Jackson, replacement for our friend, my friend, Graham Platner.

I was so wrong about Graham Plano. Do you think of him at all? No, but I'm concerned about Troy Jackson. I'm not sure that Troy Jackson has what it takes to. And Susan Collins, people still amazingly like her. Yeah, I don't. I think that has a greater chance of Jackson winning there than in Ohio and Texas.

And what about Michigan? Mike Rogers versus Dr. El-Sayed? Well, you know, the most interesting thing I think in that race this week is that he's being supported by Tucker Carlson. Go figure. Mike Rogers is? No. El-Sahed. Yes. He's being supported by Tucker Carlson.

Yes, yes. I did not see that. What did he say, Tucker? Well, Tucker says, well, Tucker is he doing that on purpose? Tucker is another long story, which we should have. I mean, he's broken from, he's broken from Trump. He's broken from the Republican Party. He is a potential 2028 candidate. And he is potentially, potentially is a sign of a serious MAGA fissure. So, and he's supporting El-Sayed. I mean, I think that there's a couple of reasons, the most obvious.

is that they are mutually aligned in their opposition to Israel in any way, shape, or form. Okay. And I knew there was some reason for it, not just because he liked him. So, and I think that that would be it. And Mike Rogers is, represents that really traditional Republican neo-conish, you know, way of looking at the world in which we go to war. They never met a war he didn't like. Right, but he was also a popular congressman.

So he's familiar to the people of Michigan. Yeah, no, I mean, that's going to be a tough race for El-Sayyad. For this, for El-Sayed. I mean... That'd be even tougher if he's got Tucker's... I'm not sure that I would enthusiastically vote for him. On the other hand, I wouldn't enthusiastically vote for anyone. Fair.

Who are you going to vote for? Do you even know that your candidate is out in Amagansa in your 17th century house? No, I try not to vote. Now we're going to get a whole kind of thing. What are you going to do? Spotify Ads Manager makes it easy to create your first audio ad in minutes for free. Sign up today, launch a campaign, and start reaching your audience. All right.

So, two new podcasts have dropped this week. How to Make a Crunchy Rap with Your Health and Human Services Secretary, Rap and F. Kennedy, your friend, who had Knight Terrors. And Usha, Usha has dropped a new podcast in her storytime with the Second Lady because when we read, we grow, which she does still make it sound like a threat. She has Luke Bryan on the country singer. with a story about Spider-Man. Interestingly, Usha has still to break the 10,000 subscribers,

even though she's been going for some time. Come on, Usha, you can do it. She doesn't want to do it. I've never seen a more reluctant podcast. This is a gun to her head. It's a gun to her head, although it's still subversive because there are two things in this podcast, I want to shout out. We have Luke Bryan.

She asks Luke Bryan, who was some of his heroes, his superheroes, his role models, and he refers to his drama teacher. We don't have Spider-Man and Spidey, and we don't have superheroes exactly, but do you have any heroes in the real world? I have a drama teacher from high school that really brought me out of my shell. Which I think is about as anti-Maga and anti-Trump as you can get a drama teacher, and then they have a little chat about how great teachers are. So this does feel like it's subversive.

It may be coming out of the MAGA world, but it's slightly subversive. And then Usha admits that she plays a musical instrument. What instrument do you think it is? I'm at the edge of my seat. Well, I don't know. I haven't figured it out. I think it's a medieval flute.

She doesn't tell us what it is. I'm guessing it's a medieval flute. I am hoping that someone watching this podcast can find it out and put it in the comments for us and then we'll refer to it next week. And RFK Jr., meanwhile, is making a crunchy rap. and a banana pudding with Chef Andre. And the interesting thing about Chef Andre, and we're going to play a clip of it,

is that he, I think he said he did. I played this back a couple of times, and I couldn't quite hear it, because actually, RFK, if you're watching or listening, produce the detail. The clarity isn't great on the voice. Anyway, I think he said he does 2,000 push-ups a day,

and certainly his arms look like profiteroles to me. Well, I was wondering about that. How, Chef Onreux. How long would it take to do 2,000 push-ups? I have no idea. And I'm not going to try. I'm not going to try, but let's play a clip so people know what they're missing. And I will point out that RFK is around 75,000 subscribers to his channel.

So if he's planning to use this as a platform for his run in 2028, he's getting there. Which he is. I mean, and this is the thing. And as soon as we get over the midterms, which is now in what, six weeks. 44 days. Yes, we will begin the 2028 race. And we'll be on it. We'll be back four days a week.

We'll go up from three to four days a week because there'll be so much to cover. Okay, let's play a clip from RFK Junior's podcast on how to make a crunchy rat. And tell me about the east. You do 2,22 push-ups at a four. mental health suicide awareness for that's also caveat that with kids bullying. Yeah. And he also, one of the things, one of the great interests that Chafontra has is an affordable food at its high quality.

Affordable food high quality. You know, I just when I was spent my rather extended period with RFK Jr. When we were both when we were both young. And he was, he was, was, was he high most of the time? Yes, he was high most of the time. But also his, I know his diet was strictly Big Max. Of course it was. Well, I think his point is he's changed, isn't it? His point is he's transformed. Of course, his family say he hasn't transformed at all, but he would say he's transformed. I'm also getting used to his voice. The more he's out there, yes. And so in the beginning,

you thought, well, it's a crack pipe voice and you thought, my God, this is alarming. But now we get used to it. It's like, I guess all things. I know. I know it's familiar. It's familiar to us now. But he did say, actually, it sounded clearer on our clip, 2,222 pushups a day to help people with mental health. 2,22? Yeah. Press-ups a day. I know. So he has to count them. Don't you lose count? Well, you probably do them in batches.

Maybe he doesn't do them all at once. Maybe he does them throughout the day. I would have mental health issues. If I had to do that many, even if I had to do 222 push-ups, I would have mental health issues. I always find one of the major problems with exercise in addition to exercise itself is that you have to count and then you lose count. I do laps in the pool, always losing count. Well, how long do you do? You can just do time in the pool, though.

Can't you? Why can't you just put 45 minutes? I don't have a time on my, I don't have a timer on the pool. Could you not have a clock? Well, I have a, well, I guess I could. How many people have a clock on the end of their pool? You take out a little alarm clock. A little alarm clock on the edge of the pool.

But you think I could also count. But then I lose count. All I'm saying is that I occasionally. Which means I cheat. You cheat. And you're like, oh, I think I'm ready. I'm done now. I can go and have a biscuit.

That's what I do. A biscuit. Yeah. I'm on the, you know, what is it, exercise? back, have an exercise bike at home. What is a biscuit? A biscuit is like, you know, McFitty is a digestive biscuit. You call them scones, scones, a biscuit.

But the point of exercise is you get to eat chocolate and nice things, right? And that's the point of it. I don't know what the point is. After all these years, avoiding or. Avoiding exercise. But you walk a lot, don't you? You walk a lot because you don't drive. I try to do all these things, yes.

Who doesn't? Well, we know who doesn't. Our commander-in-chief doesn't, actually. I think that's why he's moved the helipad nearer to the White House. So it's just underneath the Truman balcony because he doesn't want us to watch him loping towards Marine Force One or Marine One. Is it Marine Force One or Marine One? Marine One.

Marine One. Now, so you think she is going to come in on the. helipad. So because, but they're meeting, Trump is meeting him at Andrews, which in itself is a kind of But they're going to have to get from Andrews to the White House, right. I assume they're having the state dinner. Okay. Well, we go on us. We should see this. We'll be watching. Yes. We'll be watching. I mean, I would so want to be a fly on the wall in that team preparing she for the visit. What do you think they're saying? And then we'll come on to our limericks. Well, I suppose they would be saying it in Chinese, so it wouldn't be pointless to be a fly on the wall.

I know, but if you had a good AI translation, what do you think they would be saying? Do you think they're all falling about laughing and rocking back and forth as they prepare for this? I think they're probably fairly precise. And I think it's probably difficult for most teams of advisors of foreign leaders to appreciate how, chaotic and scattered and obtuse Trump's mind is. So they proceed in a in a in a regular traditional precise fashion. And I'm sure that they get there and they and she sits down with Trump and he has to keep a straight face. I'm sure that he's like my God. Yeah. Okay. All right. Well, we have some great comments and we have a couple of

Limericks I was going to read out, but I wanted to give a shout out to Stephen O'Neill, who says, Dear Joanna, I love your Trump's head podcast. I've noticed your keen interest. How come it's just to you? I know. I wanted that, too. Maybe he prefers me to you. I've noticed your keen interest in the narrow mouth. Maybe you're just picking the notes of the people who prefer you. Do be quiet. My folks have had a house in Dunebeg, which is where Trump has his golf course, and you'll remember he was there last weekend, since 95. And this snail firstly held up the building of the golf course pre-Donald Trump.

Then in 2020, the nail prevented Trump from building a wall to prevent the sand dunes from encroaching on the course. Now it is slowing up the new ballroom. He is desperate to build at Dunbeg and having difficulties because of the narrow mouth will snail. And then we have, and I hope we can show a picture of it, it, a monument to the narrow-mouthed world snail, also known as Vertigo Augustio. So shout out to the narrow-mouthed world snail and to Stephen, thank you for sending us that. And we've also got, I love this comment too, someone who said, I would pay even more for gas if the full files on Jeffrey Epstein is released.

The atrocity of what happened to these survivors is unacceptable. And then a bit later on, they say, I have to reiterate, I would pay more for gas if the Epstein files were released. and I live on a very restricted income. Now, we have one. Limerick. To distract ourselves from the soaring price of diesel, let's play a little game called Who is Trump's number one weasel?

It could be J.D., Marco or Pete, or even cash on a bender. Each and everyone makes a most worthy contender, but in the end it has to be Bobby, the one and only human measle. Very. Okay, I just want to remind people. people. More cases of measles in the last six months than there have been in the first 24 years of this century. That should be his platform, more measles for everybody. It will be his platform. Essentially, that is his platform. This is not something that he is running from. This is not something that he's embarrassed by. This is not something that is a crisis for him. This is a plus for him.

This is a, and there is, remember, and this is more disturbing than the measles themselves, that there is a very significant part of this country that that pays no mind, is willing to tolerate this, just not to get a vaccine. The world is upside down. We will be back on Thursday with more inside Trump's head. And, of course, it will be the day of the great state visit. So that will be exciting for us to monitor. I will see you then.

If you have been, thank you for joining us. And big thanks to our production team, Ryan Murray, John Romero, Rachel Passer, Heather Pissarro and Neil Rosenhaus. Big thanks to our production team, Ryan Murray, John Romero, Rachel Passer, Heather Pissarro and Neil Rosenhaus. So the good news is we have so many Bee Beast tier members now. There are too many names to read out. And we really appreciate your support.