The Daily Beast Podcast - Why Mitch McConnell Mystery is Getting Even Darker

Episode Date: September 19, 2026

Joanna Coles and Daily Beast executive editor Hugh Dougherty discuss Mitch McConnell’s mysterious return to the Senate after 92 days away, the disturbing questions surrounding his health, and the obscure Senate rules that may be keeping his condition out of public view. They examine the growing cracks in the Republican Party as longtime conservatives turn against Donald Trump, from Karl Rove’s decision to back a Democrat in Texas to the political backlash over immigration enforcement in Florida and beyond. Plus, ICE’s leadership chaos, the fallout from Pete Hegseth’s tumultuous tenure at the Pentagon, and the growing influence of his wife, Jennifer, who has earned some very revealing nicknames inside the department. And as questions mount about Trump’s own health and the strange bulge spotted beneath his jacket, Joanna and Hugh take a closer look at the White House’s refusal to provide answers, the administration’s attacks on The Daily Beast, and what may be happening behind the scenes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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You want to want! Hurt you! Moblad, new season is now streaming on Paramount Plus. The scandal here is we do not know, if Mitch McConnell is cognitively capable of voting, and we have evidence that I think people looking at would say suggest that he is not. We are being suggested that Mitch McConnell is capable of writing long and very cogent statements, but can't speak properly. The area around the Senate is controlled by the senators, by the senators themselves, and these set rules. These aides

moved Mitch McConnell in there, knowing he could not be able to. recorded that the world could not find his voice. It's a real stranglehold that these Senate aides have over the access to senators, and they are playing the rules to keep Mitch McConnell's true state out of the public eye. Hugh, Hugh Docherty is here. Is that you, Hugh? Is that actually you? No. No. No, you have to go, I. Hugh, you have to say I. Oh, I. Sorry, Amy, Klobuchar was over there telling me to say, no, I was just, I was just doing. Where am I? Who, who am I? Oh, I'm sorry, yes. Yes, I am back. I am back. You and Mitch McConnell, what is happening to Mitch McConnell? What is happening to American democracy? What is happening to the American Senate

Hugh? Please give us some context. We're going to be talking about all the Republicans, abandoning Trump's ship. J.D. Vance's pathetic plea. Yoko O'no. I mean, Pete Hegseth's wife running the shop at the Pentagon. And what is happening to Trump's health? What is that bulge in the back of his pants? Hugh Dockedy, executive editor of The Daily Beast, is going to be filling us in. And if you haven't already, you know what I'm going to say. Come on, guys, subscribe to the Daily Beast podcast. You get tons of extra benefits if you become a friend of the Beast or you join the Bee Beast Tier membership. And you know that Bee Beast was named after Be Best. The first lady's ungrammatical, well, what is it? Her initiative when she shows up. It's her initiative when she shows up. Anyway,

back to Hugh, Mitch McConnell, he's back. He's back. He's back. He's back. He's back. He's back. He's back and you would think he had been missing for 92 days, 92 days in which we knew that he'd been put in the back of an ambulance. And then there was a couple of photos, which people were very skeptical of, of him in a hospital setting. Some people thought they were AI, some people thought that they were Photoshop. We don't really know. But there he was on Tuesday, wheeled out of his home, suddenly. We didn't know this was happening in advance. The people in the Senate, the Republican majority leader, John Thune, didn't know this was happening. He thought, oh, he might come back this week. He might not. He told reporters, maybe he'll come back on the wedding state.

In fact, Mitch turned up on the Tuesday. And that should have been. Surprise. Surprise. You would think that would be the end of the mystery. We'd all be able to say, oh, okay, now we know what's happened. Now we know how he's been. Now we know what state is in. And what's incredible is we actually have new mysteries layered upon new mysteries. And we have, I think we have to say, what appears to be a scandal happening in plain sight that the Washington elite do not want to talk about. So the scandal is what? I mean, I hate to say this, but he looked so frail and so vulnerable in his wheelchair, surrounded by his aid.

For those watching or listening who haven't been following as closely as well, have. And we follow closely. We follow myopically so you don't have to. He was part of a vote. He's sitting around the table. The speaker, whoever it is, calls out to Senator McConnell, how do you vote? And just talk us through what actually happened. And what was the vote about? So we've got this incredible clip. And when you see it on YouTube, it's even worse. But even for those of you watching, Sorry, for those of you listening, I should say, on Apple and Spotify, this clip is really actually quite disturbing. Okay, let's watch the clip. Senator Slotkin. No, by proxy.

Senator McConnell. No. Okay. Senator McConnell. Aye. Senator Hoven. Aye. What you see there is that Mitch McConnell, who was in his wheelchair, was being

prompted by the rest of the Republicans in the committee. It's led by John Boosman, who's the Arkansas Senator. He was being prompted by the chairman of the Agriculture Committee and by his own age on how to vote. Now, this vote is actually really important. It was a committee vote on the agriculture bill. It's viewed by Republicans as must-pass legislation, and they needed Mitch's vote. He has been a member of the Agriculture Committee ever since he joined the Senate. It's the only committee that he's been consistently on. And his vote was vital because this bill would have got out of committee if he hadn't been there to vote for it. And yet he immediately didn't know how to vote and was prompted. And there's also a very telling

picture, which is on screen now, of Terry Carmack, that's Mitch McConnell's longtime chief of staff, very powerful figure, whispering prompts in Mitch's ear. The scandal here is, we do not no, if Mitch McConnell is cognitively capable of voting, and we have evidence that I think people looking at would say suggests that he is not. And in his comeback, we have not had from his office, from his staff, a medical statement of his condition. We have had a lengthy tweeted statement from Mitch McConnell. And I'm not even going to read all of it because it is it is three very coherent paragraphs long. And yet, when he speaks, we have now heard him speak only once,

and there's a scandal wrapped around that that I want to talk about as well. But we've only heard him speak once in this raspy and uncertain voice. But his Twitter account has two long statements, which are incredibly coherent. The second one, after this vote, began, I want to commend Chairman Boosman for his work on the Farm Bill, and it goes on from there. So we are being suggested that Mitch McConnell is capable of writing long and very cogent statements, but can't speak properly. And literally voted. I mean, when asked how he would vote, he said no. He then repeated no. And then Booseman lent in and said, aye, aye. And his aide leaned forward and said aye.

So he was actually not understanding what was happening and voting the wrong way about something, as you say, he's passionate about this, he's been on the farming committee or the Agriculture Committee since he's been in the Senate. This seems remarkable. I mean, there are crazy things that are going on in the Senate all the time, it turns out. But this really is remarkable that the former Senate leader doesn't actually know what he's doing. I think any of us with older relations who understand that people get confused as they get older will recognize this. This is not something that is alien to households across America. This is something that feels familiar. An older relative, frail in voice, confused, and who wouldn't be confused after what seems like three months of recuperation from a fall in his home,

though we understand from the audio from the ambulance that there was CPR going on. So it suggests something very significant after the fall happened. And then we see it in plain sight. And the other thing that I understand to, and you can give me more detail on this, is that when Mitch McConnell came back, reporters weren't allowed to film him saying anything. They were allowed to watch him, but actually they were told no video, no video.

So you see him waving from his wheelchair, but nobody sees him speaking. Yes. So this is... When Westchette first took flight in 1996, the vibes were a bit different. People thought denim on denim was peak fashion. Inline skates were everywhere, and two out of three women rocked, the Rachel.

While those things stayed in the 90s, one thing that hasn't is that fuzzy feeling you get when West Jet welcomes you on board. Here's to West Jetting since 96. Travel back in time with us, and actually travel with us at westjet.com slash 30 years. As I said, this is a scandal that I think we have to talk about. The area around the Senate is controlled by the senators,

by the senators themselves, and they set rules. And if you're a reporter, you have to be accredited. You have to get a pass to get in. Mitch McConnell was brought in on his wheelchair and got that picture on screen. People will remember it from Tuesday. And he was, the AIDS walked back, And he was, you know, sat by himself and photographs were taken.

And then reporters were tweeting that he had spoken. But there was no video. There was no audio. This was very, very strange. And it turns out that this area of the Senate is called the Ohio Clock Corridor has an obscure rule, which is that you cannot film there. You cannot tape there unless the Senate leadership, majority and minority, are having their regular Thursday press conference.

So Mitch McConnell's aides moved him in there, knowing that he could not be filmed. They knew that. And the twist of this is the Rules Committee of the Senate, is the people that is the group that sets these rules, obviously, and the clues in the name. It is chaired by Mitch McConnell. So Mitch McConnell set these rules up, set them in motion. He remains the chairman of that, despite his state, despite what has been going on, despite him not being there for 92 days.

And then his staff, led by this chief of staff, Terry Carmick, $226,000 a year. Just to put that in context, the mean wage for an individual worker in Kentucky is in the mid-30,000s. So these aids moved Mitch McConnell in there, knowing that he could not be recorded, that the world could not find his voice. And I just say that some people I've seen, you know, I've seen discuss. and commentary of if I was a reporter, I would have filmed him. And I appreciate the courage there. But if you were a reporter and you filmed him, you would then lose your Senate press credentials. And you'd have to explain to your boss why you couldn't go and do your job every day.

So it's a real stranglehold that these Senate aides have over the access to senators. And they are playing the rules to keep Mitch McConnell's true state out of the public eye. And I think we have to say that is a scandal. And we have a new development on Thursday that Mitch McConnell was seen leaving his home. He lives just a block from the capital itself in a Capitol Hill townhouse. He was seen being taken out of his home. He was put into an adapted minivan in his wheelchair. And as you said, Joanna, anybody who has been familiar with elderly relatives and the problems

and the challenges of aging will be. recognize that scene. They'll recognize the difficulties of it. And they will feel, I hope, I certainly think, you know, you and I have discussed this, huge personal compassion for the person of Mitch McConnell. But he was taken to the Capitol. We didn't see him. Nobody has seen him. Nobody saw him in the Capitol. Unclear how that's possible. And he was recorded as having voted. And in a roll call vote, we don't know. It is technically possible for senators to cast a vote. from the Senate cloak room by flashing a thumbs up that's visible to whoever is sitting in the speaker's chair in the well of the Senate. That is, for example, how John Fetterman usually votes.

He does not go onto the floor. Did you say they vote from the cloak room? Yes, it is technically possible that the door to the cloak room has a line of sight down to the well of the Senate, where whoever is sitting in the chair is either. able to see that and the clerk below them is able to see that person. And if they flash a thumbs up or a thumbs down, their vote can be recorded. And it's just about possible that you can, as a senator, you can do that and not be seen from the press gallery, which is higher up. It's something, as I say, that John Fetterman regularly does. Others do it and know again.

Can I just interrupt you? Because I love these antiquated, eccentric rules of the Senate. I don't understand what is the advantage for a senator of voting from the club room and not being on the Senate floor? That is a very intriguing question, actually. Most people would say there's no advantage that much of the business of the Senate is done actually on the floor where they're talking to each other and where they hammer out deals. And we've all seen those dramatic pictures, just as an example. We all remember John McCain, in his final act of that thumbs down, that he walked onto the floor with clearly in pain,

great personal difficulty, walked onto the floor and cast his verdict on the Trump, first Trump administration, as well as very specifically their plans to end Obamacare. The advantage I would guess for somebody like John Fetterman is that you are not, you know, you're not on the floor of the Senate, you're therefore kind of, you can get in and out, You don't have to be there.

You can get on, you can rush off to Fox News quickly. And you just, if you don't appear to like the job, there's probably an example, probably advantage there. Others, the visual of being seen doing thumbs up or thumbs down, maybe something that you want to avoid on some measure because that can come back and haunt you in attack ads. In this scenario with Mitch McConnell, I think we've got to say, so he's not seen because clearly there is a problem with his state and we have this

footage of him getting into or being taken into his cut into this adapted minivan he has flashed peace signs or people who say they have never seen Mitch McConnell flash a peace sign it's also notable that there's no motion on his left

side that everything he's waved and he's shaken hands on his right side we have asked obviously repeatedly his office about his health, about his state, and they're not offering any answers. And as I speak to you,

we know that he has still not been in touch with Andy Bashir, the governor of Kentucky, to explain his absence and discuss how they can work together. It's just, it's remarkable. And as you say, anyone with an elderly relative will notice the decline in Mitch McConnell, which obviously has been in hospital and we heard that he was doing all sorts of, you know, therapeutics to recover from his fall

and whatever else precipitated the need for CPR. But the idea that he's voting and has to be told to change his vote suggests there is something really wrong. And it's very reminiscent of Diane Feinstein, the California Democrat, who again, you know, was told by her colleagues, how to vote. Patty Murray, the Washington Senator, had to lean in and tell her how to vote. So this is really, really disturbing, disturbing news. And I wonder what happens now. I suppose he's just hoping to get through. We know he's retiring, but I guess he's just hoping to get through to January

when he can roll off stage. We know that between now and January, obviously there will be crucial votes. And in fact, in this statement, which purported to be from him, but I think, you know, we have to just honestly say clearly written by AIDS, he said that he would be back for crucial votes for his party. Now, there are going to be crucial votes for his party. That's how this works. Even the current House, you know, the current lack of action from the House on anything who have, they've gone home until the election. The Senate has business in front of it. And at some point, that's going to be crucial. And we don't know what's going. We don't know what we don't know. We don't know what's going to become an emergency. You know, everybody's talking about AI. Maybe there's an emergency there. The war is there going to be an emergency on that? At some point, it is absolutely clear that his vote is going to be crucial. He wields incredible amounts of power.

It is very clear that he is not giving up that power or that those around him are not giving up that power. And we, you know, we have the mystery about his health. And I think we have an unwillingness to save what it is. And, you know, Joanna, you know, very succinctly put it as elder abuse. And I think there are a lot of people saying that. Yeah. It's fascinating story. Well, we'll be covering it.

And also, leave us your comments. Do you recognize that look in Mitch McConnell's face? Because he seems, he really has gone from, as you say, one of the most powerful people in American politics to someone who looks like he's not entirely sure. what's going on. And the idea of Mitch McConnell voting from the cloakroom also seems antithetical to who he has been as a senator.

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Can you hear me? Download the Remitly app today and keep your long-distance game strong. Remitly, trusted by millions to send billions worldwide. So, Hugh, another really interesting thing that's happening this week is more Republicans. We've already seen the beginning of this, but there seems to be a groundswell of Republicans now

saying, I can't vote for Trump, I cannot vote for Trump. We've got Karl Rove, the former, advisor to George Bush and, you know, huge campaign influence saying I'm voting for a Texas Democrat. We've got Maria Elvira Salazar, the GOP congresswoman from Florida, saying, Mr. President, what are you doing about immigration? The very people that helped get you elected, i.e. Hispanics, now feel betrayed. We're going to play that clip. And then we've also got J.D. Vance, JD, who should be on a book door. And in fact, we should check the progress of his book, Communion, saying, oh, come on, come on. And he's basically saying, I know it's not great, but give us another couple of years. We'll show you we can do this. I mean, it's not a great clip for J.D. Vance. Let's play also Bill Graves explaining why he's endorsing Kansas Democrat Senate candidate, Adam. Hamilton. Aaron, my point is to reach out to Republicans and unaffiliated voters and make sure they

know in our state it's okay to cross party lines. It's okay to vote Democrat in this Senate race. It's okay to vote Democrat. Let's just get this straight. He is a former governor and he's saying, I just want to reassure people, I just want to remind people, it's okay to cross the floor and vote Democrat. He's a former Republican governor. This is remarkable what we're seeing, is it not? It really is. I mean, Kansas, let's just focus on Kansas a minute. You don't get more Ruby red than Kansas. The last time they voted for a Democrat as senator was 1932. Even Chuck Grassley wasn't in office in 1932. The last, you know. Chuck Grassley, 19, Chuck Grassley, 92.

93. Joanna, 93. How could you forget his big birthday? He's currently the oldest senator, right? He is the oldest senator. You know, this state is so red. It is so red when it comes to the Senate. This is the state of Bob Dole.

And we have, Bill Graves was the governor of Kansas. He was first Secretary of State for two terms from 1987 when he first won election. and then he ended, he did two terms as governor, ended that in 2003. They have term limits, so that was it. He was a very popular governor, but he couldn't run again. And just to fill in how red is this state, at the last election, Kansas went 57 to 41 for Donald Trump. So this is a 16 point advantage that the Republicans had two years ago.

And here we have a very real possibility of a Democratic. getting elected. For the first time, not quite 100 years, but so close. The sitting senator Roger Marshall is really the reason that Bill Graves, or is one of the two reasons that Bill Graves is speaking out. Bill Graves has become unhappy with Trump. He is a rock-ribbed conservative. This is not some sort of rhino, but he is incredibly unhappy with the character of Roger Marshall. Roger Marshall, the sitting senator, totally aligned with MAGA, but all the also now has a horrible personal scandal. He was a doctor and it has been revealed that he sued his sued patients who did not pay, delinquent patients, even when they were pregnant. One of them

was miscarrying. He was suing them. His defense was, oh, everybody's, everybody does that. And I waited, you know, I waited more than a year for the debts to go unpaid. And then the court papers showed very clearly that in fact he had not waited for a year. There's a huge level of revulsion about that, as you can imagine. Medical debt is something that is so resonant for so many people. And then he did a town hall debate with Adam Hamilton.

Adam Hamilton is a pastor of a big church, of a mega church. He is a personally popular and obviously kind of charismatic guy. You don't get to be a pastor in that scenario without being able to work out how to speak to a crowd. And at this debate,

the crowd was filtered, so that it was, you know, 50-50, it was all supposed to be fair. The crowd was chanting, you don't live here, you don't live here, because Roger Marshall spends most of his time in D.C. So there's a real upset as possible. The latest polls there have Adam Hamilton ahead, 45, Roger Marshall on 43, the rest are either undecided or going with a third-party candidate. This was 15 points. Just two years ago. This is absolutely crazy. And we go from Kansas next door in Iowa

J.D. Vance is on his way as I speak to you. He just got on Marine 2 to go to Iowa. Iowa, Ruby Red. We all know how it's really gone MAGA. It had voted for Obama, but it became this symbol of Trump that this was a state that appeared to be absolutely in the hands

of the Republicans. J.D. Vance is going there because the governor and the senator race are both in the polls headed to Democrats, headed by small margins, but this was unthinkable two years ago. And we could go around the country from there because it is happening in state after state after state.

Well, I was going to say, I'm not quite sure that J.D. Vance is the person you want rallying the Republican crowds. Let's just cut to this clip of him where, well, I'll let listeners and viewers figure out what they think he's feeling. Give us another chance or give us another couple of years to continue to work on the amazing things that we've been doing for the past two years. Give us another chance. Give us another chance. He sounds, he sounds desperate. He sounds desperate. I mean, it's like the Jim Carrey meme. So you're saying there's a chance.

I mean, this is, you know, you mentioned Carol Rove. Carol Rove, who has to the rest of us, there isn't a second syllable in the word call. I know you're from Scotland to you. In case anybody hasn't figured that out by now, in case anybody's going, why is he speaking? You have the most brilliant Scottish accent. I love it. And so do lots of people who comment about your accent. I keep it so discreet.

The name Carl is just one syllable. I'm just going to leap in there. Anyway, Mr. Rove, as I will call him, was the mastermind who put George W. Bush in the White House twice. he was one of the recipients of those George W. Bush nicknames. He called him Turd Blossom, which is memorable and strange. And, anyway. And Rove has been, I would say, skeptical about the long-term effect of Trump. And yet, again, rock-ribbed conservative.

What has driven him over the edge is absolutely revolting racism that was posted by the Texan candidate. the candidate in Texas for Railroad Commissioner, Beau French, and it is pretty unspeakably racist. There was a picture of a load of Texas Longhorns fans celebrating their victory over Ohio State, and they appear to be of Indian American families

or Hispanic American families. They've obviously brown skin. and this this this this this this both French said this was a problem and it was clear you know the racism was so clear um that this these people could not be could not be real Americans I don't know how you get any more real Texan than going to the longhorns doing their symbol and chant and cheering a victory over Ohio state but apparently you have to be white was the message and this is finally finally for carol Rove said no I've had it I'm going to vote for the Democrat in this race. And John Cornyn, who is the Texas senator, who Donald Trump has forced

out, has been tweeting these articles, Carol Rove wrote this in the Wall Street Journal. John Cornyn has tweeted about that, and he is kind of playing one foot in, one foot out, as to whether he's going to vote for the Democrat. He has said, I might not vote at all in this race, as opposed to the other races. And I don't think we can rule out that he'll vote for yet that we will vote for the Democrat. But the point of it is, if you're in Texas, Carol Rove saying don't vote for this guy, vote for a Democrat, that is unthinkable.

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And perhaps there will be a proper split in the Republican Party and the MAGA wing will be elbowed out. But we've also got Maria Elvira Salazar, the congresswoman from Florida. Let's play her clip, too, because it looked like she had really dressed up to address President Trump in this clip. Yes. Yes. It's a president. Some of your fame. Immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far.

In July, 50% of the 50,000 people that were detained had no criminal record. Be careful what your advisors are telling you about immigration policies. The same Hispanics who help you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today. You can be for immigration when Lincoln was for slavery and Reagan was for communism. I'm not talking about giving them amnesty. I'm talking about giving them a dignified life in this promised land. And only you can do that. I mean, that's a remarkable piece of political dancing because she's pretending not to blame him by saying,

be careful what your advisors are telling you and only you can give them a dignified life in this great country. And yet very clearly, she's obviously hearing from constituents who are terrified, furious and feel betrayed. And I think betrayed is a great way to hone in on what a lot of. of Hispanic voters who voted for Trump and swelled his support are feeling. The choreography or the semiotics or whatever of this video, she went outside the White House to make this video. You know, that's pretty telling in itself. Salazar represents a very Cuban-American area. Cuban-Americans have very strongly identified with the Republican Party for many, many years, was basically since the Bay of Pigs,

she won by 15 points. When you win your district by 15 points, and there's no gerrymandering of this district, it's been gerrymandered, this was a 15 point district. She is now tied in the polls with her opponent, a guy called Elliot Rodriguez,

also Cuban American, he was on the local news there. To go from 15 points to tide, that is catastrophic. And she, you know, know, has taken this message in her attempt directly to Donald Trump. But people, you know, people in Miami and the wider South Florida area, which has been so heavily influenced by this Cuban-American voting bloc, are saying there is some big shift underway. And Axios, which, you know,

is a, to those who don't follow it, is a pretty Trumpy media outlet in Washington, D.C. they've got a quote from a Trump advisor about this problem today which is I'm getting the Trumpiest Cubans sending me videos from Miami of guys getting busted, meaning by ice, at places like the gas station for no apparent reason. So what they're saying is that

inside this Cuban-American community, the crackdown in immigration has not worked out at all and Salazar obviously voted for it. She voted for the various funding bills for ice. She voted for measures to to build a border wall and all that sort of thing. And that has backfired because in fact,

what is happening inside this community in the group chats, people are exchanging images of ice going, what is going on? What the hell is this? And now she's down to her tie. Right. We should also point out that ice remains leaderless at the moment to... Yes.

Again, people following this, perhaps not quite as closely as our team in DC have been following it and shout out to our bureau in Washington because there's so much going on right now. But we have been on the story of Mark Wayne Mullen, the former plumber and boxer, who's now, or wrestler, I should say,

who's now in charge of the Department of Homeland Security after Christine Nome was bounced out of there with her special advisor, Corey Lewandowski, and more to come on that, because there will be all sorts of inquiries into their behaviour, not only together and they've denied that they are having an affair, but I think the Daily Beast actually spotted Corey Lewandowski coming out of Christine Ames Washington apartment, putting the garbage out there is a metaphor for you.

And of course, her husband got involved in a bimbabification scandal, which is where men like to stuff balloons up their sweater. That was a whole to do. Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked except that. Mark Wayne Mullen, when Susie Wiles was out of the White House, so the chief of staff is out of the White House, Mark Wayne Mullen goes directly to Donald Trump and says he would like to appoint Lance Schroyer, a former highway patrolman and member of his security detail to lead ICE. And Donald Trump, because Susie Wiles is nowhere near there. And Donald Trump, as Michael Wolf constantly says, believes the last person he's spoken. to said he sounds like a great guy. Let's do it. He sounds like a great guy. Even though Lance

Schroier, former highway patrolman and member of Mark Wayne Mullen's security detail, really has no qualifications whatsoever to run one of the most complicated government agencies in ICE. Well, it turns out actually Trump has suddenly this week withdrawn Schroier's candidacy to run the organisation, which again tells you that Trump is probably listening to some of the anxiety around what's happening right now? It's impossible that he's not hearing it to some extent. He has obviously has this limited information diet. He has given these printouts by Natalie Hart.

He is not speaking to people who are telling him straightforward truths. We know that. Michael Woolf has told us over and over again. Trump's view of the world is, that he has this tiny, tiny lens on the world and it is extremely partial. He is supposed to watch television all the time, right? And we're allowed to believe that every wall in the White House basically has a series of televisions. And you and I on our television screens have the multi-view. So we've got four different points of view coming at us at all times.

So I can't believe that Trump also doesn't have more access to criticism than we are led to. to believe. I think that's probably true, but I think there's also the cumulative effect of the Natalie Harp printouts, of the constant praise that he receives in person from people who are brought into the Oval Office, that it's clear from his social media, from his truth posts, that when he sees something on television that is critical, his reaction is not to absorb and process, which you would say that's what you want in a president. His reaction is to lash out and he's lashed out over time about anything and about everything on CNN, on MS now. And also, there's only so much TV, well, I was going to say there's only so much TV you can watch. He does watch a lot of TV.

But, you know, some of those topics like this Lance Schroier issue, they receive very minimal coverage because if you're a television programmer, you have to pack in a whole load of things into a certain space. So the chances of him hearing quite how bad this appointment looked like it was going to be on television are kind of low. I think it's probably Susie Wiles that's got to him. Ice has been a mess. We know that ice has been a mess. Susan Collins and Maine had an ice killing on her doorstep. And that was just at the moment that she thought, oh, well, you know, things are looking up for me. Graham Platner's gone. This, this killing. happened, it was round the corner from one of her offices, there was immediately a crowd

outside, and that has absolutely energized people on the Democratic base there to campaign against her. Whether it moves votes, obviously, we don't know, but in that sort of, in Susan Cullen's case, what is clearly an incredibly tight race, this ice mess is not something she needs. We have Salazar talking about it down in Miami. Many more are seeing this behind, you know, in private of we need to move on, we need to get ice in order, and you can't put it in the hands of a guy whose expertise is, do you know what speed you were just travelling at, sir? So... Step outside the car, sir, and put your hands on the roof.

Step outside the car. Yep. Yes. That's actually... And I'm not going to write you a ticket this time, ma'am. Right. I think he probably always wrote people tickets, don't you? I think he was a ticket signer.

Well, we can... Listen, Todd, give us a call. Oh, sorry. Lance give us a call and the reason I get mixed up was because the leadership of ICE technically keeps changing because when you don't have a Senate-confirmed leader

then they step up as deputies but they then time out so in the last few months ICE has been led first by a guy called Todd Lyons. He was there till June and now it's in the hands of a guy called David Venturella and let me just read his full title which will tell you how messy

this is. His full title is Senior official performing the duties of the director, bracket's acting director, for the US Immigration Customs Enforcement. If he was just the boss, he'd just be the director, but he is performing the duties of the acting director because he's not even the acting director. It's just shocking the incompetence,

the lack of ability to run these organisations. And as a result, you can see the organisation of ICE has run amok. Two shootings in Minneapolis, shooting in Maine. This is not the American way. And as Maria Alvarez says, you know, Mr. President,

maybe this is your advisors, i.e., it's probably you. And I'm all dressed up to get your attention. It's possible she was on her way to a fancy dinner, but she looked as if she was dressed up to get the president's attention. Oh yeah, that video was, you know, targeted at Trump.

She looks like what Trump is going to pay attention to. Yeah, she does. And you're right that this mention of advisors, this is one of the things that is the hallmark of the Republicans who don't want to speak out too much of blame the advisors. They blame those who are speaking to the president, not the president himself,

because they think they're going to appeal to his vanity and get him to change his mind. We'll wait and see. Let's see. Let's see. 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.

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Find out more at Cadillac Canada.ca. Luxury sales claim based on SMP Global Mobility Canadian New Vehicle Total Registrations for calendar year 2025 for the Cadillac definition of luxury. So, Hugh, we have spent a lot of time talking about the president's health because another scandal hiding in plain sight is the president is drowsy in meetings.

He dropped off at the 9-11 Memorial last week with his wife, a rare appearance, not even staying awake for Melania's visit. She looked absolutely furious that he was just dozing off as they read the names of the people who died at the Pentagon in 9-11. And of course, it was the 25th anniversary. So particularly solemn event. But we've talked about the president's swollen legs and his cancels spilling over his oxfords. We've talked about his chronic venous sufficiency, the big bruises on his hands and the oddly colored makeup that he uses to try and cover them, which in fact draw more attention to them.

He keeps appearing with what is a very strange looking. it's almost as if he's got a book at the back of his back. People have speculated about what it could be online. It was in plain sight again. His jacket was sort of flapped back and you could see something in there. Do we think this is a medical device? Well, I think I don't know is the simple answer

and it's not what you want in journalism is to say, oh, I don't know. But let me just, to those who can see this on YouTube, this is, as you say, it's really strange. It looks like there's a book under the back of his jacket on his right hand side. Do you think it's possible that Donald Trump is a secret reader? That actually the reason he's dozing is because every night he's reading a book before he goes to bed. And it's so good the book that he just can't put it down and he's not getting enough sleep. He's just gripped.

Yes. Is he in fact a secret reader? and he's now keeping books deposited on his body in case he gets bored. I mean, it's totally possible. Is there a White House book club? Are they all, you know, is it like, it's just a road? How's the new James Patterson? Oh, I don't know.

I don't know. He's done it. You know, maybe there are more Pulitzer winners. They wait every year for the Pulitzer and they dissect it. I don't know. It's entirely possible. It could have been a copy of one of Michael Wolff's books. It could even be the art of the deal.

It could be the art of the deal. Maybe he always keeps a copy of his own book on him just in case, just in case he needs to sign it and give it as a gift. That's true. And he does like giving out gifts. People who go to the White House get given hats. They get given cufflinks. They get given souvenirs.

If they're in the Oval Office, they get taken into what he calls the gift shop. Or he also calls it the Monica Lewinsky Room. Great. because it's the private area behind the Oval Office. I mean, to go back to this... Can I just say that under Barack Obama's days, you used to get a little packet of White House M&Ms,

a little box of them as if they were Juniamints. And I had several that I treasured for some time, actually, until it was very clear that the insides would probably go moldy. I know that you, Joanna, you didn't follow the correct style that is ordained by the president for referring to... to President Obama. He is Barack Hussein Obama. You have to say it in a...

Oh, Barack Hussein, Obama. You're quite right. You're quite right. But those little boxes of Eminems were fabulous. Not the same as a Maga. No, exactly. Who would want that? Who wants Eminem's when you kind of trump 2028?

So yeah, so this bulge is a mystery. And you would say, oh, that's weird, there's conspiracy theory. But hold on. We don't know anything about Trump. Trump's health, really. We have had reports that are not really, that do not stand up to medical scrutiny. This week, we have a group of psychiatrists who are saying there are significant reasons to look at his social media output and say, this is somebody who is exhibiting symptoms of psychiatric problems and needs examination. They've also, this group of psychiatrists have

also asked the 22 doctors, 22 doctors that are known to be involved in the president's care to come forward and tell us what is actually happening and act as whistleblowers. And there is no transparency from the White House. We asked what is going on with this. And if this was an absurd conspiracy theory, they could say, don't be silly, here it is, look, it's just the way his jacket falls. It's a bit weird. It happens a lot. But, you know, and provide evidence and provide us with medical reports for his last set of tests, provide us with the full list of medications he's taking because they in fact have said, oh, we don't provide the full list. Instead, let me read you this statement. And it's a bit of a content warning here. It's not nice about the Daily Beast. It's from

Davis Ingle, he's a junior White House spokesperson. Only the glu-sniffing degenerates at the failing Daily Beast would obsessively push baseless conspiracy theories about President Trump. And that's because they suffer from a severe crippling disease known as Trump derangement syndrome which has completely rotted their peanut-sized brains. Guilty as charged, you. Guilty as charged. Yes, but the president's health could not be more serious.

Go ahead, sorry. Right, well, I was quick to say. Now, he accused us of basically conspiracy theories and being deranged. He then said, President Trump's sharpness, unmatched energy, relentless work ethic, and historic accessibility stand and start

contrast to what we saw during the last administration when Democrats in the legacy media intentionally covered up Joe Biden's serious mental and physical decline from the American people. You know, every accusation. Davis Ingle, can I just offer some biography on Davis Ingle? He is 32. He is Deputy Press Secretary. He got his degree from a college, of which his father is the boss. And his father then organized his first.

job as an intern in D.C. and he had that job for two years. It seems like quite a long time. And he's never worked outside Republican politics. So thanks for being in touch, Davis. This whole health thing, just give us answers. Just give us answers because it couldn't be more important. And of course, they are right about Joe Biden failing in plain sight and people not doing enough about it. It wasn't until the debate that people realize quite how bad it was. but that's no reason for Donald Trump to be displaying such symptoms of mania. We've had Dr. John Gartner on the Daily Beast podcast several times. He says that he can spot signs of fronto temple, I think it's called front temple dementia.

And Mary Trump, his niece, who writes frequently about this on Substack, and she has her own Mary Trump media podcast talks a lot about recognizing looks in Donald Trump's eyes that she saw in his father, her grandfather's eyes, as he was beginning to exhibit symptoms of dementia at the same age. So again, it's one of those things that we can see. And with his endless postings in the middle of the night, and I think it's fair to say that he has posting fronzes, it feels like he's exhibiting. mania. And it may be that Natalie Harp is posting them, but surely she can't be posting them without him knowing. And it's very clear that he doesn't have regular sleeping habits. He doesn't have good eating habits. He doesn't do any exercise. The Marine One, the helicopter pad has been brought nearer to the White House. So we see very little opportunity to watch him

walking. I mean, it used to be that he would walk to Marine One and people would comment on his walk. Now you don't even see that. He's in and out of the golf card. Really not looking well. So if you have a theory, anybody listening or watching this podcast, if you have a theory, if you're a medical professional and you know what that box is, do let us know. Otherwise, I think you're right. I think it's a copy. It's an emergency copy of the art of the deal that he's about to whip out from the back of his pants and sign in his weird scrawly signature. I think he's just always waiting to present someone with a special copy, body-warmed of the art of the deal.

So Hugh, another interesting thing that has emerged from the Pentagon this week is there is a new nickname for Pentagon Pete's wife. It's extraordinary. The Pentagon, they might be out of ammunition and precision missile. But the precision-honed wit of the people around Pete Hegseth is quite something. Yes, there is a new nickname for Jennifer Hegseth. Jennifer Hegseth is Pete Heggis' third wife, and I think some bio that we should probably talk about. But this nickname is Yoko Ono.

Yoko Ono, what does that mean? Yoko Ono obviously was married to John Lennon, the Beatles, one of the Beatles. Yes. Why is Jennifer Hegsef? Because I've also heard her called Jennifer Muck Hegsef, i.e. Macbeth, because she's supposed to be the power behind the Heg Seth throne, if Throne is the right word. And I hope we can just flip up this picture for people to see the Hegseth's arriving at the White House Easter Egg roll. I will say I love the buttons on Jennifer's dress here. She's a former. producer of at Fox News and she dressed as well. I love the buttons on this dress. But why are they both? And this is a personal obsession of mine. Pete Higgs-eth is frequently photographed clutching, gripping a cup of, well, a cup of what? And as we know from Michael Wolfe, Roger Ailes, the former head of Fox News, used to refer to Pete Hegsethers.

Colonel vodka. So it's Colonel Michael Wolf. Colonel vodka and Yoko Ono. So what is inside? Why does he always have a coffee cup? And we know from people who worked with him, his former colleagues, that he's had a problem with alcohol.

He addressed it in the run-up to his Senate confirmation. And he said, hey, if I get the job, I'm going to stop drinking. The only man with problems with alcohol who gets a more stressful job, possibly one of the most stressful jobs in the world running the American military. And he's suddenly going to stop drinking. Good for you, Pete, if you can do that. And I think that's why probably Jennifer is with him all the time. As we remember when he called in all the army generals from across the world to sit and listen to him, heck to them on why they should lose weight and they couldn't have beards anymore. He was clutching, he was clutching another cup of what he said

was coffee and he slammed it down. I mean, remarkable behaviour, never knowingly seen without a cup of coffee. Coffee. What's going on there? Well, Peter Hexeth's time as a defence secretary, and just for the record, we do not use the title that he has tried to re-burate.

His preferred pronouns are secretary of war. I think he should add forever there, so he's secretary of forever. War. Oh, that's not Yeah, the Forever is not preferred, though, is it? He doesn't want that mentioned. I love the idea. That's his preferred pronoun, Secretary of War. Yes, he's got his brackets afterwards,

you know, where it would have he, him, it's got Secretary of War. I mean, this has been a tumultuous. Chimultuous isn't even a start of it. And the one through line that everybody has identified is that Jennifer Hexith is always at his side. We very quickly identified that he had plastered pictures of the couple round the walls of the penitaphs. Normally, the walls of the Pentagon, you would expect to see pictures of the military.

In action, there's a long history, of course, of art and photography of the military. And the Pentagon over the years has put those in the earring, as they call the most senior commanders and civilians offices. Anyway, now we've pictures of Pete and Jennifer. She has been omnipresent. She has been in the Oval Office with Donald Trump. She has been with him on foreign trips, including one to London, where she turned up and the British intelligence services were intending to give him a very sensitive briefing and they couldn't even begin it because they all sat there and said, she's not got a security

clearance. She needs to leave, but nobody, you know, they were polite and British like you and I, and nobody could bring themselves to say she needs to go. And eventually she left. and they were able to do the sensitive briefing. So she is right at the center of the Pentagon. Another extraordinary revelation this week, which we learned from the status newsletter,

a very well-informed media newsletter, which covers what's going on in broadcast and in print journalism. And it discovered that CBS's boss Barry Weiss used Jennifer Hegseth to get this pilot or this F-15 weapons officer, who was on 60 Minutes on Sunday talking about how he was shot down and survived

and was rescued from Iran. But Jennifer Hegseth was actually the crucial way that that booking, as it's called in television, was secured. So she is shaping the image of the Pentagon to the outside world. She is by her husband's side and, you know, we all remember that Yoko Ono was criticized by many Beatles fans

as breaking it up and seen as a sort of a disruptive figure and somebody who reshaped her husband, and of course they became John and Yoko. And this is this, it's not very feminist interpretation, I have to say. I'm not, you know, offering any defence of it. But that is what, that is one of the nicknames inside the Pentagon for her. As you said, Lady McHexeth for the Lady Macbeth. Pete Hegseth himself, series of nicknames, Colonel Vodka from Fox News. We learned thanks to Michael Wolfe. Our daily, our own Daily beast, Michael Daly, was briefed from inside the very heart of the most secretive parts of the military, that he was known behind his back as no tabs Pete, because he does not have those distinguishing tabs that show that you have had elites, elite status as, for example, as a ranger. You know, it's not good when the people around you are whispering nicknames. They are doing more than whispering nicknames, though they are leaking about the chaos. They are leaking about the failures. They leaked pictures from the Middle East of devastation, which Pete Hegesith had not admitted to.

And that, you know, the nicknames, I think, are resonant. But really what this is about is that there are a growing number of people at every level in the military who are sick of the mishandling that has gone on from the very top. So have we got any news yet on who will replace Carolyn Levitt as the White House spokesperson? I mean, there have been so many guesses about it. Jennifer Hexeth. She would clearly be very good at it. She was an ex-te television producer. That's where she met Pete Higgs-eth.

They were on the same show together. It was a weekend show. And she got, I think, moved off the show when it was clear that the two of them were having a relationship. Well, they were married to other people at the time as well. So, you know, not an ideal office scenario. But the, yeah, so the press secretary, there has been no motion. Trump was, you know, they did that thing of, oh, I'm going to make an announcement.

I assume that the health plan is coming as well at about the same time. Intrigingly, another former aide to Caroline Levitt left during the week as well. You know, there's been a chicken run out of the White House of people getting out of there. And Scott Jennings, who was, you know, the initial frontrunner, has been on television. television and CNN now disclosed when he goes on that he is still in the running for press secretary and he kind of nods and it looks somewhat smug about it. So it's clearly still in motion, but there really hasn't been any significant step forward. And Trump has then, Trump, he got Todd Blanche, his attorney general, to do a press briefing

in the Rose Garden this time, which of course, everybody will remember was defiled by Trump, The grass was torn up and replaced with pavers. They did this press briefing in the Rose Garden, and it didn't really go that well because Todd Blanche let slip. They actually handpick which reporters they are going to ask, which is something that you will remember MAGA went after Joe Biden for, you know, apparently doing. And he handpicked a series of conservative journalists who asked very easy questions. There is a reasonable question to be asked here of quite how much.

much cooperation is going on between MAGA friendly outlets and the White House on these. But Todd Blanche spilled that secret. So it's not him. And of course, Carolyn Levitt said, oh, Mr. President, no one could do this job better than you. We barely need a White House press secretary because you are the communicator in chief. Obviously, Trump doesn't want anybody getting more attention than him. So I'm sure every time a White House press secretary is up there, he's just longing to

elbow them out of the way and grab the microphone, the old. crooner that he is. Hugh, you make me miss being in the office. I love the picture. Come back. Come back. I love our pictures. I'm going to be back. I'll be back next week. I just, we never really take a chance to shout out because when we're in this, when you, when

the two of us are in the studio and those are, you know, those pictures are sort of glancing. But one of the great things that we have at the Daily Beast is a brilliant team led by Elizabeth Brockway who, uh, who produce these fantastic illicit. We can't change them on this wall fast as fast as she produces them. So go to the DailyBeast.com every day and you will see hilarious, funny and incredibly insightful illustrations. One of the ones that actually we can put it up on screen now that I think we should highlight and end on is from last Friday when Donald Trump fell asleep. And it's an unforgettable image. If you're watching on YouTube, you can see it.

If you're listening on Spotify or Apple, go to the Daily Beast.com and Google or Google Donald Trump asleep on the Daily Beast.com. This picture, this sequence of pictures that Elizabeth put together could define his presidency. Hugh, it's always good to see you. I can't wait to get back into the office to be surrounded by the Daily Beast artwork. I love the picture behind you of Trump as Napoleon. And, well, we'll catch up next week. And I just want a reminder if you haven't subscribed to either this podcast, then do wherever you get your podcast, Apple, Spotify, YouTube. Please join us. But also subscribe to The Daily Beast.

We cover everything that's going on in D.C. And there's a lot and it's important to stay on top of it, especially as we hurtle to the midterms. If you want to stay informed, stay in touch with the Daily Beast. in Hugh Docherty's brilliant work and the work of our team. The work of our team. It's a fantastic team and I just want to shout out, especially our podcast production team, Ryan Murray, Heather Pissarro, Rachel Passer,

John Romero and Neil Rosenhouse. 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. Don't you wish you could just hit skip on the worst parts of your life? You know the same way you can skip an ad. I get it. I'm Siaiaa and I live in Ice Cove.

I've made some questionable decisions that didn't end up the way I planned. And today I'm still figuring it out. Somehow things usually get worse before they get better. Apparently, that's how I roll. So bundle up and come along for the bumpy ride. Stream a new episode of North of North Tuesdays on CBC Gem. Spotify advertising connects you with an audience that's engaged and ready to discover your brand. Launch a campaign with Spotify Ads Manager.

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