The Daily Beast Podcast - Why Trump Inner Circle Fears Blonde Companion, 34

Episode Date: June 28, 2026

Michael Wolff and Joanna Coles unpack another extraordinary week inside Donald Trump's presidency, from a major Supreme Court victory that could dramatically expand presidential power to the increasingly blurred line between church and state, the political fallout from the fragile Iran ceasefire, and why Trump may once again escape the consequences of a foreign policy setback. They also dig into the mystery surrounding Natalie Harp, Trump's fiercely devoted "human printer," as new reporting catches up with revelations first explored by Wolff, examine why the New York Times is only now embracing the idea that Trump governs through obsession rather than strategy, debate Trump's latest fixation with the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, and reveal the strange political calculations behind JD Vance's Nixon comparisons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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because she's the human printer. She prints out this stuff. Things that cause her ire that the president, that will also cause the president ire, that goes to him. She also frequently includes personal notes to him. You're the alpha and the omega, the be-all and end-all.

What would I be without you? The Natalie Harp notes were passed to me by other aides of the president who were equally as appalled by this. This is a person who the president has allowed to become really his closest confid on. Michael. I'm so hot. I may be delirious with hot. You didn't let me say Joanna.

You just stepped on it. I stepped on you, Michael. Yes, but I'm so hot. I'm interested to hear how hot it is because you are in the middle now of experiencing the leading news story in the world. Is it really the leading news story? No, absolutely. The meltdown of Europe. I mean, this is this is a significant event.

The Europeans coming to terms with the fact that their world is utterly changing. It is now, they now live, at least will live, part of the. of the year in Houston, basically. Houston or Phoenix. Or Phoenix. I think Phoenix is officially the Americans' hottest city, which frequently gets up to 115 degrees. And of course, how do Phoenicians live? They live with air conditioning.

Air conditioning. This is the thing which, I mean, so the Europeans are not only being confronted by by an ecological event, but it's also an aesthetic and taste event. You know, the Europeans always say, oh, Americans, air conditioning. Oh, I could never live in that sterile world. And the answer now is you can't live outside of that world. It's so hot that people aren't actually going down to the edge of the river. I went down to the river.

I went down to the river Sen today to sort of poke around the rehabilitation of Notre Dame. And I thought, oh, there'll be lots of people walking along the river. It's too hot even for that. Yesterday there was a brief breeze. And briefly, I thought it was going to be cooler today than yesterday, but it's not. And it's very humid. So you just, I don't like taking showers. I'm a bath person.

This may be TMI for people who are watching. But I actually find showers a bit. It's actually kind of horrifying to know. Thank you. And that would also, by the way, be a European thing because, which, of course, you are a European, because showers are so terrible in Europe. Well, that might be why. So you're always cold. But I always find showers a bit sort of violent and I like a bath.

Anyway, which doesn't mean I don't take showers all the time. But my point is I've literally been taking. Also good to know. But I have had four or five showers a day here because there is no way to survive without doing that. And we actually have air conditioning in my older son's apartment. But I'll bet it's bad air conditioning because even when the Europeans get air conditioning, and then they're very proud of this and you say, no, no, this is not air conditioning. Air conditioning is when you are cold.

Yeah, it's terrible. air conditioning. I would say that it takes the temperature down by about three degrees, and it's a mobile one, so you can move it around. And then we have a series of fans, which are unbelievably noisy. So it's, the apartment sounds like a tractor. Blowing hot air at you, sometimes very hot air. Exactly. So we've got hair, essentially we've got hair dryers on at all time. It's very noisy, and we've got hopeless air conditioning. But it does make. you think, how do people live in Phoenix or Houston or Palm Springs without making any complaint whatsoever? And Euros are going to have to get... No, it's a total of the HVAC industry. It's

if you're in the... I mean, I can't believe that people in the HVAC business are not looking at Europe and thinking, oh my God, there's our future. Right. Next big opportunity. And I think they've had four times the regular number of deaths at this time of year because people are just keeling over. Frying, of course. They are frying. I mean, I have been in Europe in these last years of heat, and it really is extraordinary. Yeah, it is extraordinary. And of course, Paris is so, the streets are so narrow, so it's as if you're sort of baking as you're walking along.

Anyway, I'm leaving for air-conditioned comfort back to the States tomorrow, all being well. So I will leave this experience behind. You've been gone now. Three months? Seven months. Twelve months. I've been gone for two years. Someone reminded me yesterday I actually have a life in America and I've sort of forgotten about it.

I'm very excited to come back. But I guess before we get cracking with all the things we have to talk about, which is Stephen Miller's victory in the super. Supreme Court and Donald Trump clearly lying about his height and the state fair. And actually, I thought perhaps we should have our own state fair. You could represent New Jersey. I'll represent New York. I think you would have to represent Yorkshire. I could represent Yorkshire.

We used to have the great Yorkshire show is an absolutely wonderful thing. It used to be the highlight of my summer when I was at school, largely because you've got free paper hats, which I really loved. and they're often cut in spirals. Anyway, I digress. We've got to talk about the church and state, whether or not Donald Trump is trying to squeeze them closer together. And, of course, it reminds me of your friend, Hager's, saying lots of prayers all the time, very public performance praying.

And J.D., writing a book about his conversion, just one more of the many conversions in his opportunistic, conversions in his life. I'm looking forward to him reading that on story time with the second lady because when we read, we grow. Just to remind you. Anyway, before we do that, quick reminder, please subscribe to the Daily Beast podcast. We're independent media. That's why we can bring you these conversations.

But before we actually get started, we wanted to bring you a message from a friend of Donald Trump's. Hi. Wow. Love the way the clouds are lining up tonight. and they look like real clouds. What do we know? Gotta keep praying for that because God knows we're doing everything else

to make sure we have real skies and clean air. But I just want to say hello. And I've had the most incredible time with my grandson. And now I just took off for a day and a half with a couple of girlfriends who said, isn't it time we just have fun? So I may still be working, but I'm going to have fun in the process.

So just want to send some love your way. Just sending. just sending some love your way to all our viewers and all our readers in case you hadn't seen Marla Maples, Donald Trump's second wife, mother of Tiffany Trump, she's sending love our way, Michael. It's a nice thought.

The real clouds behind her in the sky. It's always good to know they're real. What do you think motivates people to do these to suddenly think they have to have a social media, Instagram life? I mean, I suppose I should talk. But I know Donald Trump motivates me. Maybe he motivates Marla too.

Well, Jill Biden has just started an Instagram account too. So we're going to keep a watchful eye on Dr. Jill, who was feeding the dogs on her. Do you think people, they think somebody comes along, they get some young people in their life and say, you need an Instagram, you need a social media strategy. What's your social media strategy? And they go, I don't know. And they said, okay, this is what you have to do. You have to just be yourself since that's what everyone says your social media strategy should be.

I think it's a way for people to try and stay relevant, right? So Marla Maples, why do we care about Marla Maples? She was married to the president, but only briefly, and then seemed to warn her friends against letting their daughters work at Mar-a-Lago. I guess she's doing it to sort of say, look over here, here I am. But I don't know why she would do that. Why wouldn't you just want to stay quiet? And likewise, the Bidens, I mean, one of the things, let's say about the Bushes is that they don't. have a social media strategy, nor actually do the Clintons really have a social media strategy.

So, Dr. Jill, stop it. Yeah, Dr. Jill. Don't even try. Don't even try. We don't need to see Dr. Jill in her kitchen. Terrible kitchen, too. It's a strangely dated kitchen feeding her dogs in the morning. Why is she doing that? I guess She's doing it to promote her book, right? That's why people really do it. They've got something to promote.

So I don't know what Marley is promoting. No, no. It's totally. That is, actually, you hit it because all publishers who are incapable of promoting anything then say their answer to this is, oh, you need a social media strategy. Yeah. And so they just put their life on it. Yeah, since we can offer you nothing because we're hopeless. Now you have to do this because you have social media.

You can do it for yourself. Okay, I get it. Completely. Okay. So that's why they're doing, I think, to sell something or to stay relevant anyway. Hey, y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old.

You should have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what if. Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit Wayfair.ca. Wayfair, every style, every home. I tell you who is staying relevant, even if his wife's podcast seems to have disappeared. Stephen Miller. Stephen Miller had a win this week.

Well, Donald Trump had a win this week. I mean, Stephen Miller is, I'm sure this is, he's very pleased about this, but this is again all about Donald Trump. We're talking about the Supreme Court win, talking about a ruling that gives Donald Trump and the Trump administration significantly more power in its efforts to deport. a lot of brown people. Well, but specifically Haitians and Syrians, right? It's removing their temporary protected status. Yes, but this goes, this, this essentially,

essentially radiates out into creating a precedent in which, in which it basically says, in which the Supreme Court basically says, the president of the United States has a, has a near open field to make immigration policy and to end his in the way in which he enforces immigration laws. And so this is a new, this is an expanded power which will, you know, affect tens, hundreds of thousands of families, actually. Families who are, families who are thought that they were secure in their lives in the United States are now no longer secure. Well, and the idea that they might be picked up and shipped back to countries where they have

no connection anymore and broken countries like Syria and Haiti in particular, do you think this is actually Donald Trump or is this Stephen Miller? There are two ways to look at this. Obviously, this is Stephen Miller's initiatives, him pushing this. But the Supreme Court, in the way they are in their favorable ruling, that's all about Donald Trump. And the interesting thing in this is, I mean, to expand this a little wider, you know, Donald Trump, the truth of the Trump administration is that it has met roadblock after roadblock after roadblock in federal courts, in local authorities, foreign powers, its own incompetence, setback after setback after setback is the truth of this

administration. But the really reliable place, the reliable piece of the power grid that he's been able to count on over and over and over again is the Supreme Court. And in fact, the Trump administration and what we've seen over the last almost year and a half of this of this term is is a set of actions that have been reliably bolstered backed up by the court. And you know, and if you look at this, I mean, it's in, I think it's totally fascinating because because in and what it is is is kind of extra constitution. And the court, I think for our assumptions about the court is that no matter its ideological direction, it is underpinned by a constitutional analysis, whether you agree with it or not. It has a kind of, I mean, it has, it reverts to a logic.

And I think that has passed. That is no longer true. I think in Donald Trump's court, you have two justices, Alito and Thomas, who are just as old, as racist, and as on the take as Donald Trump himself. That's it. They're in the bag for him. It's, you know, their interests are aligned.

with his. And then you have the three other justices, Kavanaugh, Barrett, and Roberts, who are not reading the Constitution as much as they are reading the room. So I think they're very attentive at all times to what they have to give Donald Trump. You really think that they're that attentive. And are you putting Gorsuch as a kind of maverick to slightly one side? No, no, no. You're putting him in that reading the room group too. Yes, absolutely. And I think that the issue is, yeah, I mean, the issue is, frankly, they're afraid of Donald Trump. So I think that they feel that they are somehow protecting the establishment, that they don't know what Donald Trump will do or what he is capable of.

So it's a very meticulous parsing of how to keep him happy. Again, nothing to do with the Constitution. And I am reminded of a story from the first campaign, the 2016 campaign, when it looked like, it began to look like he actually might be the president of the United States, shocking everyone, including the people around him. But they hurriedly, his aides hurriedly convened a meeting with Donald Trump to explain to him the Constitution. And he lasted in the room for 10 minutes and then was gone. So what he knows about the Constitution was information, was 10 minutes worth of information.

Well, and I'm sure he doesn't care, right? whatever, he doesn't care if it's in the constitution or not, he just wants to add to the constitution. Well, I guess that leads us on then to the subject of religion and the separation of church and state, which has also come under scrutiny this week with this report from his religious commission. I mean, the religious liberty commission is what it's called, and it comprises one Orthodox Jew and everybody else. else is a conservative Christian. And yes, and it would seem an evangelical Christian.

Yes. So that is, I mean, from Donald Trump's point of view, and remember Donald Trump is probably the least, the most ear religious president we have ever had. I mean, the only time he has ever even made a nod toward religion is when that has been forced upon him in the presidency. He is, you know, the idea that Donald Trump would acknowledge a higher power is a very funny idea. Well, and he's frequently AIed out this year, pictures of himself as Christ, saying he's a healer.

He's a healer, Donald's the healer. You know, he has no interest in the pope. He says that the only reason the pope's got his job is because of Donald Trump. That's why they needed an American pope. I mean, he holds religion in such low regard apart from when he needs its voters. Yeah, no. And I would add to this, I myself hold religion in low regard. So this is perhaps a one.

Well, this is where maybe the two of you have something in common. Exactly. And he is, you know, Donald Trump is a New Yorker, like a, I am a New Yorker and, you know, sees the world through that lens. And it's a lens of, how would we describe it? It's the lens of we're in, you know, a proudly atheist city. He's just proudly expedient, though. He'll pretend he believes in God if he needs to.

Yeah, but I mean, he doesn't pretend very hard. That's also the interesting thing. So it's... Well, and I wonder again, I've been thinking about the point you made last week that actually culturally, you know, with UFC and things, he's actually, people are relieved by that they're relieved by the lack of pretension. They say he's just like me. When he picks up the Bible and he holds it upside down, which he may have done on purpose, actually. It's a way of indicating to people that he doesn't take this stuff terribly seriously. And I think although there are lots of people out there who do, the majority of people know they can't live up to it, and it's there if they need it.

But most people don't feel they need it all the time. Yeah, I mean, I feel you're being accommodating on this. I think most people. Well, I think I'm a bit more sympathetic to people who feel that they want some kind of religion or faith. just literally last week buried my mother. I've felt very glad for the rituals of a Christian funeral service to go to the church where she was a member of that community and sing hymns that I'd grown up singing. It felt like there was a writer passage here that and the formality of the service helped. But you don't and you won't and you will be, I assume, put in an

and left in a closet somewhere, and that'll be... I hope I will be sprinkled in the Hudson, Michael. Or possibly off East Hampton Beach. Yeah, possibly, but I find mostly that people don't get around to doing that. Well, I don't want to sit in a plastic bag in an urn. Actually, I should say she was cremated and then put in an eco box, which is now in the ground, and then it goes back to the earth. But the point is not the burial or the cremation.

The point is the service for the people who are left. Yes. Well, the point for Donald Trump is a very specific constituency. And that constituency, which he has made a deal with at some point, and he has consistently delivered for. And that deal did not include. that he had to be a believer. That was what the interesting thing,

the historically interesting thing about that deal. I don't believe in any of this. You can't even, I don't even, no one even has the pretense here that I believe in any of this. I am as, as openly blasphemous as I, as any president has ever been in thought and action. But that doesn't make any difference because I am going to give you what you want. And this is one of those instances.

Right. And he's enjoyed the blasphemy, right? I mean, the other thing is he looks like he enjoys himself. I think it is true that he's had this both ways. And I think whereas J.D. Vance, who is courting this crowd, and he just wrote a book about his conversion to Catholicism, seems like just like a suck up in a dweber. And I, you know, and I don't think anyone takes this seriously because we know he's a cynical guy and we know why he's doing this. But he is

trying to, he's trying to fool everybody. And Donald Trump isn't trying to fool anybody. But he doesn't make it look fun either, does he, J.D. Vans? It looks like it's a struggle, his route back to his faith. Well, in all fairness, it should be a struggle. Religion is a struggle. Well, and that's why Donald Trump doesn't like it. And that's why people know and connect with him. It's his power to connect over stuff like that because you know that he's he's winking even as he's taking communion.

He's a cynical guy. And I think cynicism is probably has been deeply underrated in politics. Well, this is a nod to, it's a nod to the evangelicals because he wants them in his court, come them in terms, right? Yes. Oh, very much. I mean, this is. I mean, that is he's just delivering this. And to some great extent, it's also, it's completely meaningless, the fact that. And let's saying, this document. argues that the division of church in state is a constitutional misunderstanding.

So it's, I mean, it's kind of like, you know, everything that you have ever thought about the way this country operates is not true. Right. And of course, in fact, we know lots of people came to this country fleeing organized religion. So their insistence on the originalist's point of view doesn't quite make sense here. Anyway, it's politically expedient, but it's still interesting nonetheless. And as you say, he got 10 minutes into the constitution and then left the room. So maybe this was a bit he didn't understand. But it appears that we are back at war with Iran, or at least they bombed

a tanker or they sent a drone over and it exploded on a tanker. So now we've gone and bombed them. So I'm not quite sure what happened to the ceasefire or the memo of possibly misunderstanding at this point. Well, I think that this is we're still at the face-saving stage of this. I mean, Donald Trump, we're still in this moment of Donald Trump figuring out how to get out of this situation with the least amount of damage. And he is being accused pretty much everywhere of complete capitulation, of giving up everything, of surrendering. And so I think this instance, and this instance could, of course, spiral out of control at any minute, but this instance is him being able to say, no, we're firm, we're standing,

we will, we will push back, and we have the biggest, mightiest military, et cetera, et cetera. But real message, I want you to forget about this as quickly as possible. Right. And so which prompts the question. Will people forget about this before the midterms? And I mean, this is a kind of fundamental premise of modern politics, certainly of Trump politics,

is that people do forget about seemingly everything. They really do. But if this escalates, they're not going to forget. And Iran has, I mean, Iran does this, obviously, but they have made very threatening statements after this latest contradone, saying, you know, we're going to go after your allies. We're going to essentially reign holy hell

if you provoke us again? That would be very bad for Donald Trump. So I think that that would indicate that he will give them, again, whatever they want, he'll give them more so that this doesn't happen. Donald Trump has to get out of this war, has to do it essentially now, in order for this not to be an overriding issue in the midterms. So, you know, I mean... Well, it looks like prices, at least the price of oil is coming down at the pump a bit,

so he may get the benefit from that. Consumer sentiment appeared to be slightly on the up first time this year. No, I mean, I think that this is the... I mean, we now have... This peace deal is doing it, is giving everyone the opportunity to... to smooth this over. And so that's the question. We all know what this war has been about.

We all know that this war has been a disaster. We all know that in order to stop this war, he has had to essentially gain nothing from the four months we've been fighting this war. Nothing is materially improved for the interests of the United States now more than it was before the war started. Well, it's significantly worse. It's significantly worse. Yes.

And the deal that he has cut is less than the deal that Obama cut, which he then ran against, made that a prime issue. of his political life. So we all know that. That's there. It's all laid out. Could not be clearer. Will we remember any of that come November? And the answer strangely, I mean, it's perplexing to me is, no, we probably won't.

Well, there'll be other things to think about then. Well, that's the point. There are other things, yes, there are other things that come. that there are other distractions, there are other things that pile on top of this. But this is, and I mean, right now is the leading issue of that defines Donald Trump. And the fact that by the time November comes around, he may actually get away with this is astounding to me. Well, he gets away with so many things. One of the things I'm slightly fascinated that he gets away with is clearly lying about his height.

I saw a photo this week, which I wanted to bring to your attention, because it involves my friend John Thune, who I think looks so much more presidential than Trump. Well, wait a minute, wait a minute. Let's stop there. The idea that anyone, that Trump in any way looks presidential. Yes, fair. I mean, he's a grotesque clownish. I mean, the only way that he looks presidential is in the context that in order to be president, you have to people have to have to be just, can't take your eyes off of you.

Well, and that's certainly true. But can we totally agree? Okay, now, can we look at the height differential here of these two guys? because John Thune is six foot four. Donald Trump insists he's six foot two, but he's shrinking. He's shrinking into the giant shrimp that Steve Bannon said that he was. I think he looks more like a vison because he's so sort of big around the shoulders.

But he's definitely not six foot two. I mean, John Thune looks like he's got four inches on him there. I know that size isn't supposed to matter, but I think it does in this situation. Well, we do shrink. I'm shrinking as we sit here. Can I just tell you the benefit of having I've had in the last year regular viewers and listeners will know.

I've had not one but two hit replacements in the last year, and I have grown an inch. Hugely grateful to my doctor for giving me an extra height, extra inch on my height. Anyway, I don't think that's what John Thune is doing. I think that Donald Trump is literally shrinking as we see him. How old is John Thune? He was born 61, so he's 65.

Well, Donald Trump is, as we know 80, and as we should repeat on a regular basis, Donald Trump is 80. And, you know, you shrink. There it is. You shrink. We're watching it. But maybe he's got accelerated shrinking, which could be a new form of syndrome. Accelerate.

A. S. S. I think he's got accelerated shrinking syndrome, Michael. I'm diagnosing him, which I know you don't like it when people do. Okay. So the New York Times appears to have, frankly, caught up with something that we have been talking about since we started this podcast, which is that Donald Trump basically has a series of obsession.

and he rules by obsession. That's what his government is there for. I totally. I think it's extraordinary that the Times has taken so long to get to this. I mean, they have so assiduously tried to see Trump in a relatively normal political context, cause and effect. This is he does this to pursue this goal. And so this week in this Times story, they basically threw that out. I mean, after 10 years, they basically saying, oh, yeah, yeah, that's not true.

He does things for no reason whatsoever except that they live in his head, which if you came here and we would tell you what's in the head. Well, hello, it was signed Trump's head. That's the point of us doing this. Yes. You know, his policy is based on whoever annoyed him on television that morning. I mean, I have, you know, criticized the times again and again and again. But this was kind of stunning, a stunning admission on their part that they literally do not know how to report about this president. Their way of reporting about a president is as we report about politics.

It's a process business. And this story identifies the exact opposite situation. There's no process at all. It is pure obsession. Whatever comes into his head, the goddamn reflecting pool. The reflecting pool literally that exists outside of politics. There's no cause and effect. This is not going to be good for him in any way.

He is not going to gain from this. the only reason it is happening is that he can't get it out of his mind. It is something, it literally, and I've spoken to people in the White House who are kind of a gag at this too. You know, it's all he talks about. So all that the New York Times, the next logical headline for the New York Times is president of the United States. crazy as a fruitcake. Now, they will not get there, of course, but this is effectively what they are saying now, finally. Well, I find the New York Times compelling for all sorts of reasons, and it's a huge resource, but at the same time, they've also really struggled to,

or they were really, really late on understanding the importance of the Epstein files. Well, they can't even get that story. I mean, they did have a, a sort of, story of Jeffrey Epstein's, Jeffrey Epstein as a, as a child, was this the one on his childhood? Growing up in which they managed to spend, they spent a lot of words saying Jeffrey Epstein appears to have been absolutely normal. No one noticed as a child that he was going to grow into one of the most diabolical people of the century. Well, I'm trying to think that. I would say that that would be a New York times line and clearly an overstatement in any in any reasonable context of history. But what can I say? This spring, denim gets a softer, lighter update. Introducing Old Navy's drapey denim

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Again, the New York Times, I mean, how, I mean, I mean, they're running years behind at this point. I mean, Natalie Harp is a good story and a kind of important story because she spends so much time. She is the person who spends, nobody spends more time with the President of the United States than Natalie Harp. And this is a relationship that, yeah, I described at great length. in my book about the campaign. Yeah. So the fact that the New York Times suddenly wakes up to this, you know, again, and I think that part of the history of understanding the Trump presidency

will be understanding how poorly the news media, the New York Times particularly, has covered this guy. And they have, and this has happened because they just don't understand them because he exists outside of, outside of politics. And all of their political reporters exist inside of politics. Right. But I would go back to say that Natalie Harp's story is a piece of work. And in my, in my book, in All or Nothing, I, you know, I produced a set of a set of notes that, she had written the president. I mean, love letters in which everybody, everybody was in a

major kerfuffle over this, including the Secret Service, warning the president of the United States or warning aids to the president, whose job it was then to bring to the president, whether they did or not, that they saw her as a danger to herself and to him. And is the implication that she's in love with him in these notes? Because she writes in these notes, you know, no one is more important to me. Yes. Yeah, no. I mean, these are love notes, mash notes, yeah, completely. And she leaves them in his private spaces.

What are his private spaces? No, she leaves them. So Natalie Harp is everything that he reads is funneled through Natalie Harp, because she's the human printer. She prints out this stuff. And so, and the stuff that she prints out is, is this laudatory stuff. Any, anything laudatory, she has, she's searching for at all times and then giving to the president.

Other things that will, that will cause him ire. So, in actually, that would be, that would be her agenda. So things that cause her ire that the president, that will also cause the president ire, that goes to him. But in this pile of papers, she's also frequently includes personal notes to him and notes that, you know, you're the alpha and the omega, the be all and end all. What would I be without you? And then weird kind of language of which kind of suggests him punishing her. I don't know. I'm not even going to go there.

Him punishing her. That sounds very strange. Well, they're sort of motivational love notes, aren't they? That's what I thought when I read them. That they're sort of supposed to be motivating for him. No, I don't think that that's true. true at all. I think that they're straight up, you know, I want to, you know, I want to climb into bed with you. She doesn't say this, but I think that's what she's saying. That's the tone of this. I love you. I am, I exist because of you. I exist only in your shadow. I'm.

And how do they compare with the love notes that RFK. junior, still junior, at 72 love texts that he sent to Olivia Nutsi. I want to put a baby in you. I need you to. There was some very strange language around those texts. Yeah, well, I think most love notes should not be read by outsiders, but that all of the love letters. I think most love notes should not be written, I think, is the conclusion. from this, or certainly not left around for public consumption.

And those notes, the Natalie Harp notes, were passed to me by other aides of the president who were equally as appalled by this. And that's one of the things that exists in currently in the Trump White House, this tension that she has, that this is a person who the president has allowed to become really his closest confidant. And she looks like Melania with blonde hair. I mean, to your point, we've talked extensively on this podcast about how the women around Trump all look the same.

They wear boots. They wear skirts. They have long hair. Margo Martin, Melania, Hope Hicks. And I remember Hope Hicks telling me that she used to get up at three in the morning so that she was always at her desk by 5 a.m. because we know that he doesn't sleep. And it sounds like Natalie Harp is sort of 24-7

at the White House at this point. Yeah, no, and she was, I mean, during the campaign, there was a concerted effort to get her away from the president, to get in her way to do anything, to impede her access. And when they moved during the summer of 2024, when they moved up to Bedminster, actually this was probably the summer of 2023,

because then they stayed in Pomp anyway, they moved up there and they did not give her any housing accommodations. And then she arranged it on her own, that she would get, she would be able to stay in the, in, in a maids quarter at Bedminster. But that was far from the main house where Trump was. So instead she moved herself into the women's locker room and spent the summer there. Was there a bed in the women's locker room? That I don't know.

I hope she didn't have to squeeze. It cannot have been, it cannot have been very comfortable. I hope she didn't have to squeeze herself into a locker and sleep there. Perhaps she had to lock herself into a locker at night so no one could find her. Well, the mystery of Natalie Harp continues. But I remember those love notes and I remember talking about them with you when we first started doing inside Trump's head, which is 10 months ago at this point. We promised that we would talk about Lee Greenwood. Love Lee Greenwood.

God bless the U.S. This was always, you know, the thing that I looked for, when I had to go to these, when I did go to these Trump events, always the moment I looked forward to is Lee Greenwood tottering out on stage. The oldest country music star in the world. There he was. Can that be true? He's only 83. I feel like there are lots of them that are probably older than that. Well, you know, I said that, as I said that, I realized the country music probably attracts a lot of oldsters.

Yeah. And of course, you know, he had his, he had as many stars might have been slowing down 25 years ago at his age, because he's 83 now. So he would have been sort of 60 then. He got a whole new surge of popularity post-9-11, didn't he? I mean, our producer, Ryan, was saying that he, that they were always playing, God bless the USA in school. And it was a sort of, it's like a sort of shadow star spangled banner. Yeah, no. And again, there's that thing about, you know, Trump and his idea of American taste.

So, I mean, I find it hard to imagine that actually this has, that this has resoundingly. scored with we're going to just stop a minute as you get the that's Paris that's Paris the church bells in Paris and it's rather wonderful, isn't it, to hear the bells? You have the Amagansit horn at noon.

But it's so so Lee Greenwood I mean Trump is in the middle of this of having to stage this 250th birthday of the United States of America, which is apparently going as a total fiasco. And the only basic star he's been able to produce is Lee. And of course, it's particularly thrown into contrast because Barack Obama had Stevie Wonder

and who must actually be around the same age as Lee, Greenwood, isn't he? Yeah, no, I take back this. Everybody, every, every musician is now in their 80s. I mean, Mick Jaggers, in their 80s. Totally. Paul McCartney is my Amagant's neighbor is, yeah, everybody is. They're all in their 80s, everybody's at this point.

Yeah, all the musicians, but certainly I mean the boss isn't quite 80, but Stevie Wonder must be up there. All of the politicians, everybody. Right. We've rolled over here. No, I think it's, I mean, all this criticism of Donald Trump for being 80 may just be that the world is 80, that the only people who really matter are 80. Yeah, NATO's 80. I mean, think of it in that way. So, Lee Greenwall, Jesus, why am I making him Jewish?

He is the least Jewish person on Earth. But at any rate, Lee Greenwood is not, is, is, might be the only star at the Trump fair, at the Trump 250th birthday fair. But, and he actually may be the only person or among the few people who show up. So, so, Joanna, you have a purve report from the America's. What is this thing called America's Fair? The State Fair. America's State Fair. America's State Fair.

Okay, the Purve Report. A perv report. Well, it was simply that a MAGA live streamer called Manny, who was dressed up as Uncle Sam, you know, complete stars and stripes absolutely everywhere. It turned out that because there weren't very many people there, he was easy to spot plus he was live streaming and there was an acrobatic group of a sort of

Cirque de Soleil light and Manny was reported to be enjoying himself rather too much and his hands apparently were down the front of his pants and not once, not twice, but three times

he had to be approached by police and finally they took him away and arrested him which must have been tough because that must have brought the numbers of the crowd down significantly. I think we're going to show some pictures of just how few people have turned up for this thing.

And he was one of these Uncle Sam caricatures on stilts. He was on stilts. He's enjoying himself on stilts. He wasn't on stilts. I thought he was on stilts, but he was not on stilts. How disappointing. Do you want to make any remarks on J.D. Vance embracing the mantle of Richard N.

Nixon. I do. It's extraordinary. What could have motivated that? Except that there is a thing, and this is a Trump thing. So everything, and I think you have to understand, see it in this light, everything that J.D. Vance says, every single word out of his mouth, has some ulterior motive with regard to Donald Trump. So Donald Trump has a Nixon fixation, often comes. up, Nixon got a bum deal, Nixon was screwed, or the favorite thing, Nixon should have burned the tapes. If Nixon had only burned the tapes, I would have, Trump saying this, burned the tapes. So much so within the Trump circle, it's the burn, they go burn the tapes, rolling their eyes, having heard this so often. So I think this is, J.D. Vance is sending

And that message back to Donald Trump. I agree with you. I'm on the same plane, the Nixon thing. Nixon got a bum deal. So is he saying that because he's projecting because he thinks he got a bum deal last time round? Or what is the contrast gainer here, as you would say? Well, J.D. Vance is just saying this just to please Donald Trump.

everything he's saying, a way to please Donald Trump, everything, his campaign to ultimately get Donald Trump's approval. There is going to be a moment where Donald Trump is going to have to say, I endorse J.D. Vance, or I endorse someone else, or I endorse nobody. Or I endorse all of them. I mean, we just had a race very close both candidates. Exactly, exactly. But J.D. Vance, J.D. Vance's life at this point is hooked on one event, that event. Donald Trump saying, I endorse you. We've got a new contributor to our Limerick. This one is from Nicholas Rochford. New blue pool. Now, not so cool. Our press flies off the handle, can't afford another scandal, go got to find and jail a vandal. Very apropos. Then this is one from someone called Havothink.

There once was a king with a pool. When he looked at it, he saw a fool. So he half-dony puffed, ordered help to be snuffed and succeeded in ending his rule. And then we have one from Garfried. There was once a man, Trump, in a funk, by a pond with the green algae, quite sunk. While the wars raged abroad and his poles took applaud, he still brooded. on slime in the bunk. Very creative.

Very creative. We get lots of them and I'm not very good at collating them, but very good news. We have an interim starting on Monday who's going to start going through the comments and being really methodical about how we respond to them and how we collect your comments and take themes from them and actually answer some of your questions specifically. And someone made a very good point last week, which I haven't noticed. And Michael, you didn't notice either. which that I constantly refer to Ukraine as the Ukraine,

because when I grew up in school, that's how it was referred to. But in fact, in 1991, when Ukraine became its own country, you're supposed to drop the definite objects. I've corrected you on this before, and I've given, yes, and I've given up because you can only correct someone so often. Well, turns out that we have a very knowledgeable Ukrainologist, I think, listening to the show. And they wrote, I don't know if it's a woman or man. They wrote to long. Literally, everybody has learned this lesson over the past four years. Okay. Well, never having talked about

Ukraine, we do now talk about Ukraine regularly. And I've got to drop the the. So, duly corrected, duly noted. Thank you. And if you have been, thank you for watching and thank you for listening. And I will see you in person, I believe. Very exciting. Over quassons. If you indeed do come back, which I still have my doubts about. From the hottest place on earth. Thank you, Ryan, Heather, Neil, John. There's one more, don't tell me.

Rachel, for God's sake, Rachel. Thank you. So the good news is we have so many BBs. least tier members now. There are too many names to read out and we really appreciate your support.