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Sam Stein
Hey everybody, it's me, Sam Stein managing enter the bull work. And I am joining you on Saturday morning for Little league with the Kids because, well, to be frank, I don't really want to do this. Donald Trump has been saying things that suggest, and I'm not trying to be funny about this, that he's horny. I'm dead serious.
Co-host/Interviewer
There was a, there was a speech last night, a speech last night that
Sam Stein
he gave to a Saudi investment fund, a Saudi sovereign wealth fund, I should be more accurate, in which he had
Co-host/Interviewer
this peculiar little aside where he went
Sam Stein
to the question and answer session and
Co-host/Interviewer
then suddenly he just decided, you know what, I'm going to open this up
Sam Stein
to anything, including sex. Let's play the clip.
Donald Trump (clip)
So I want to just thank everybody very much and I'm asked to take a few questions and unlike other politicians, they would like the question screened. I don't ask for screening of the questions. You can ask me anything you want. You can talk sex, you can whatever
Cole Swindell
the hell you want.
Donald Trump (clip)
I'm here for you, whatever question you want.
Co-host/Interviewer
Okay, well look, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund might not be the right form for that. And you might be saying, sam, well,
Sam Stein
whatever, it's one instance. Don't jump to conclusions. He's just making a joke. Surely you have to have a pattern before you make an accusation like you did up top. And I do have a pattern because not even like a day before that he called into Fox and Friends, the Five, they're very popular afternoon show and
Co-host/Interviewer
he was asked like a really serious
Sam Stein
question by one of the hosts, Dana Perino, about what is going on in Iran, how we're getting information from that country. If there is a humanitarian disaster unfolding, you know, we don't really have great insight into there because Internet access is limited. There's obviously very limited media on the ground, if any at all. And she wanted to know, does he have his finger on the pulse about what's happening to the people of that country if there's a real crisis happening here. And this is what he said in response.
Fox & Friends Host
Do you have any insight as to how they are doing? Do they have drinking water? Do they have food?
Dana Perino
Right, I do.
Fox & Friends Host
It's upsetting, I do.
Dana Perino
But first, you remember when we had lunch years ago in the base of Trump Tower when it was a brand new building?
Fox & Friends Host
A long time ago.
Dana Perino
Yeah, long time ago. You haven't changed. Now, I'm not allowed to say this, it's the end of my political career, but you may be even better looking. Okay, so I don't know what you're doing, but I will not say that.
Sam Stein
I mean, come on, that's gross. Also he does this thing now where
Co-host/Interviewer
he said, I don't know if people have noticed this, but he thinks that
Sam Stein
he can just sort of say anything he wants. If he says, well, if I say this, I'm going to ruin my political career. And then he says it. It's not like you get out of jail free card just because you've preempted it by saying you might ruin your political career. But he said it. All right, so you're saying, Sam, that's just two cases. Like get over it. Obviously not a pattern.
Co-host/Interviewer
But then the White House put out this graphic.
Sam Stein
This is again the background here. They're doing an event to talk about farmers. And look at this only farm.
Co-host/Interviewer
I mean I give him credit because it's kind of funny but like it is a little bit ridiculous that they are just posting playoff of only fans like this. They are just. Sex is on the mind at this
Sam Stein
White House and among this president.
Co-host/Interviewer
It's like a White House run by,
Sam Stein
you know, 14 or 15 year old boys with the commander in chief being at top the gang.
Co-host/Interviewer
So this has been a weird pattern.
Sam Stein
And then you, every now and then you'll see Trump say something about, you know, you know, good looking dudes and stuff like that. And you know, he gets a little bit weird about that.
Co-host/Interviewer
He did that also at the Saudi S wealth fund.
Sam Stein
So he's talking about, you know, the people that he associates with the cabinet that he's, you know, surrounded himself with and he made this little emission. Um, now before we play the clip, I think it's worth noting he does this from time to time where he kind of deliberately or inadvertently absolutely roasts his own cabinet members and humiliates them. But a couple days ago at one of these cabinet meetings, he was sitting next to Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary and he talked in front of the
Co-host/Interviewer
entire Cabinet in the press corps about
Sam Stein
how someone recently came up to him and told him that appointing Pete Heth as Defense Secretary Warren was a mistake.
Donald Trump (clip)
Somebody came up to me yesterday, gave you a very hard time, said, you know, I made a mistake. Pete Hegseth is doing a good job. So when I tell you who, you're not even going to believe it. He said he gave you such a nasty hard time.
Co-host/Interviewer
Pete Hexith is sitting there forced to endure it and laugh as Trump says
Sam Stein
people are coming up to him, telling him that Pete was a bad choice for Defense Secretary. So that's just like public humiliation.
Co-host/Interviewer
This at the Saudi Sovereign wealth fund
Sam Stein
event is more of the genre of sort of indirect humiliation. So here he's talking about how he doesn't like to hang out with cool people.
Donald Trump (clip)
You know, I've watched a lot of people, leaders, great leaders, and, you know, the one thing about sports is you break it down into, you know, two hour period, something nice. You don't have to wait a lifetime to find out is somebody a winner or a loser. You got a lot of losers, mostly losers. Fortunately, a good thing to have a lot of losers. I always like to hang around with losers, actually, because it makes me feel better. I hate guys that are very, very successful and you have to listen to their success stories. I like people that like to listen to my success.
Sam Stein
Oh, man. Well, whatever. That's what they get. They get to be humiliated by this man time and again. So this whole event was just kind of an odd, weird Friday night musing from Donald Trump. I'll note that he skipped the Conservative Political Action Committee which is currently happening down in Texas. That's that big yearly confab of Republican and conservatives. It's apparently not going particularly well. Not exactly well attended. Some odd moments here and there. Mike Lindell was served a lawsuit, bizarrely enough.
Background Voice
We're on tv. Please. We're on tv. Please. We're on tv.
Donald Trump (clip)
Please.
Background Voice
We're on tv. Please.
Sam Stein
But Trump has always spoken there. He skipped it this year and instead did this with the Saudi Sovereign wealth fund. The. I think the takeaway is that when you put a lot of money into Trump Enterprises, you get a speech from the President and maybe the organizers of the cpac, Matt Schlap, needs to up his game and, and, and put more money into some Trump pack somewhere or some crypto venture the Trump sons are doing.
Co-host/Interviewer
But that's for another place.
Sam Stein
This was sort of a classic Trump speech. The weave, the, the sort of meandering, the, the digs at people who he associates with the kind of Borscht Belt humor and of course the what appears to be entirely fabricated stories meant to impress people in the audience, basically concocting meetings that he had or friendships that he had that clearly didn't exist. So again, this is, this is a pattern here. So a couple days ago, again at the White House, he was telling this weird meandering story about those Sharpie pens that he loves to sign his bills with because the black ink is so profound and it works so well. So he's going on and on about these Sharpies which he says he specifically and individually negotiated with some Sharpie CEO or something like that.
Donald Trump (clip)
This one, I called the guy, I said, I'd like to use your pen, but I can't have a gray thing with a big S on it. Same Sharpie.
Sam Stein
He didn't want the one thousand dollar White House pen, he wanted the Sharpie because the Sharpie looks good. Again, if you, if your uncle was talking about Sharpies in this way, you'd be like, man, get this man a little help and maybe a pencil.
Co-host/Interviewer
But Trump was talking and he this, I'm just going to quote from this
Sam Stein
piece that you see up there. This is Trump.
Co-host/Interviewer
I called the guy said, I'd like
Sam Stein
to use your pen, but I can't have a great thing with a big S on it saying Sharpie as I'm signing a one trillion dollar airplane contract to buy brand new fighter jets. And Trump, you know, pretend to be
Co-host/Interviewer
the CEO says, he says, well, I can make it nicer. I said, what can you do? He said, I'll paint it black. I said, that's nice.
Sam Stein
And they just went on and on.
Co-host/Interviewer
Anyways, the Post, as you see, they
Sam Stein
called up Sharpie and they presented them with the transcript and this is what they report. A spokesperson for Sharpie maker Newell Brands said it did not occur, quote, we don't have any information about the conversation described. The spokesperson said, we're proud to be a beloved brand trusted by so many globally.
Co-host/Interviewer
And that's true.
Sam Stein
I trust a Sharpie, you know what you're going to get. It's a good brand. But you know, I didn't make up a negotiation with the CEO of Sharpie either.
Co-host/Interviewer
So what does this have to do with the sovereign wealth fund speech? Well, again, he talks about these made
Sam Stein
up things, people that win.
Donald Trump (clip)
It's much easier to lead when you're successful and you win. You know, Vince Lombardi was a very tough person, a very tough football coach. He was sort of a violent guy, actually. I knew him.
Sam Stein
Did he know him well? The ex Washington Post reporter Paul Vari said there's no record of Trump ever meeting Lombardi. Lombardi died in 1970 at 57. Trump was 24, just out of college at the time. And Trump has previously said, quote, we would have been great friends, which suggests they never actually met. Okay, look, it's a small thing. Not really. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but there's like these little sort of white lies that just add up and for no other reason than to just make himself seem bigger, I guess.
Co-host/Interviewer
I don't know. Not a big deal, but it just
Sam Stein
kind of grates at you because you'd like to know that the words coming out of the mouth of the president actually have some meaning and some truth to them.
Tyler Redick
Tyler redick here from 2311 racing another checkered flag for the books. Time to celebrate with Chumba.
Sam Stein
Cheers.
Tyler Redick
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Sam Stein
All right, and that brings me to the serious stuff. So we've been joking around about all the weird things that Trump said last
Co-host/Interviewer
night, but there were two things that
Sam Stein
really stood out from the speech that mattered, and the first was this, where Trump was talking about NATO. Now, the backstory here, before we play the video, is that Trump's just mad at NATO and has been for a while, for, frankly, decades. But as president, he's been really vicious towards NATO, doesn't think that the countries who are in NATO are doing their fair share to contribute to collective defense. He thinks that this is some sort of collective venture where you put in money and everyone shares the sort of defense budget. That's not how it really works, obviously, but he wants the NATO countries to spend more of their GDP on defense. They have upped it, but there's been disagreements, obviously, about what's happening in Ukraine and so on and so forth. It's really particularly problematic now because Trump wants NATO countries to help with the Iran war that he started without consultation with the NATO countries.
Co-host/Interviewer
He wants them to come and open
Sam Stein
Strait of Hermuz with them because they get a lot of oil through there, even though he has simultaneously said he can open it himself. And also that it doesn't matter if it's Closed because the US doesn't really get its oil through there.
Co-host/Interviewer
It's boiling over.
Sam Stein
And it's increasingly creating problematic rhetoric from the President, including this last night, because
Donald Trump (clip)
we spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year on NATO, hundreds of protecting them. And we would have always been there for them, but now based on their actions, I guess we don't have to be, do we? Mr. President, that sounds like a breaking story. Yes, sir. Is that breaking news? I think we just have breaking, but that's the fact I've been saying that. Why would we be there for them if they're not there for us? They weren't there for us.
Sam Stein
Well, they were there for us. The only time article 5 has been invoked is after 9, 11. Everyone knows this, he knows this. It's silly. Um, but the tell is how he's like, ooh, breaking news. Like this is all game or negotiating boy. And he knows it. And he's trying to create controversy and drama. But obviously this is serious stuff, right? Like I suspect without any insider knowledge that NATO may have been more willing to come to our assistance currently in the Iran war, if we hadn't spent months threatening to invade Greenland, thereby taking over territory that's associated with the NATO country. Just a small lunch, but that's just me.
Co-host/Interviewer
So that was obviously quite problematic.
Sam Stein
We don't want to be, I don't
Co-host/Interviewer
know,
Sam Stein
just blowing up NATO. That seems like it could have some ripple effects geopolitically. And then there was this last one which kind of went under the radar a little bit, but I think is, well, it raises a lot of questions, let's put it that way.
Co-host/Interviewer
So you might remember this a couple
Sam Stein
days ago, maybe a week ago, time, time is just honestly a flat circle at this point. There was a fire aboard the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford. Now the carrier had been at sea for like 10 months. Apparently it was just, you know, it had been a slog and they were ready to get out of there. But the reports were that there was a laundry fire or a fire in laundry room, I want to say, or a laundry area, I don't, I want to be precise here. The Times called it a laundry area. And according to the Times, it took more than 30 hours for sailors to put out the fire aboard the aircraft carrier. And according to the times, more than 600 sailors and crew members had lost their beds and have since been bunking down on floors and tables. According to the US Military Central Command, two sarahs received treatment for non life threatening injuries. And people on the ship reported that dozens of service members suffered smoke inhalation. So this was like a kind of peculiar story, right? Like, that seems like a pretty wildfire on an aircraft carrier to take that long to put out and to damage that much. Now, I don't know anything about putting out fires on aircraft carriers, so whatever, it's possibly that's totally normal, but it did seem peculiar at the time.
Co-host/Interviewer
And then, just in the course of
Sam Stein
his free associations last night, Trump lets this slip.
Donald Trump (clip)
We knew there was a problem when we noticed at one o' clock in the morning, every 32 seconds, another airplane, a very fast plane, was coming off the deck of an aircraft carrier that's actually the biggest aircraft carrier in the world. And every 32 seconds, vroom, voom, voom. And it was one o' clock in the morning. So we said, okay, I think we're in trouble, but they were ready for us, Johnny. And we were ready. He said, we were ready. And then they hit us. And they came from 17 different angles. They were here, they were there, they. We ran for our lives. It was over.
Sam Stein
Okay, they hit us is what he said. He's clearly talking about the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier. I don't know how else you can listen to that and not take away the conclusion that this was not a laundry fire, that we were hit. Again, we don't know, because this could also just be Trump fabricating an entire story. Which brings me back to my earlier point. When you have a president who just makes things up on the fly like this, it becomes hard to know when he tells serious stories what is a actual reality and what is just his imagination.
Co-host/Interviewer
But in this case, it doesn't make
Sam Stein
total sense that he would, I don't know, dramatize us in that direction. Right. Acknowledging that we were hit by the Iranians, that this ship was actually damaged not by a laundry room fire, but by enemy fire. It definitely raises some questions. And I'm gonna be looking to see if the Pentagon correspondents, who admittedly are now annexed in some far away room because Pete Hegseth doesn't like having adversarial press near him. I'm going to be curious to see if they get to the bottom of this one, because it seemed a little bit suspicious when it was initially reported on March 16th or so. And now Trump's basically said, yeah, that that was a cover story, which leads me to this. And I'll conclude with this. The way he's sort of flippantly talking about this is kind of bizarre, right? You know, we were under fire, we
Co-host/Interviewer
were running for our lives. Planes were being tossed. Tossed off the ship at one in
Sam Stein
the morning every 30 seconds. And, you know, we thought we were. It was over. Like, this is a. Doesn't seem like a game, but he's treating it like one. And these stories that he's telling over and over again, the one emotion that seems totally absent from his retelling of them is, you know, soberness or, you know, empathy or a sense of the stakes, right?
Co-host/Interviewer
He's just laughing.
Sam Stein
And in between telling little asides about meeting Vince Lombardi and tossing. Hey, you can ask me about sex and, hey, Dana, Perina, remember when we had lunch? You're much prettier now. Like, there's just not really a level of sobriety here that you would expect, considering how poorly things are going. And he even acknowledges that. So, I don't know.
Co-host/Interviewer
I watched that entire thing last night,
Sam Stein
and I came away wondering what is going on inside this administration, why they feel like they're, you know, it's cool to post only farms, memes and the president to talk about sex and makeup stories of Vince Lombardi. Like, I just feel like this is just not the right time for that.
Co-host/Interviewer
But that's just me.
Sam Stein
Maybe I'm just too serious about this stuff.
Co-host/Interviewer
Anyways, it's Saturday.
Sam Stein
I got stuff to do. I appreciate you listening to me. Hope this was a helpful recap of a bizarre moment from last night. But frankly, we have so many bizarre moments, we'll probably end up doing this in a couple days again.
Co-host/Interviewer
If you like this, subscribe to the Bulwark.
Sam Stein
You know, we appreciate it. Hit like that helps with the algorithm. And stay tuned for more. We'll be talking to you soon.
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Alex Canceroitz
Hi, this is Alex Canceroitz. I'm the host of Big Technology Podcast, a longtime reporter and an on air contributor to cnbc. And if you're like me, you're trying to figure out how artificial intelligence is changing the business world and our lives. So each week on Big Technology, I bring on key actors from companies building AI tech and outsiders trying to influence it, asking where this is all going. They come from places like Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, and plenty more. So if you want to be smart with your wallet, your career choices, in meetings with your colleagues and at dinner parties, listen to Big Technology Podcast. Wherever you get your podcasts.
Podcast: Bulwark Takes
Date: March 28, 2026
Host/Main Contributor: Sam Stein
This episode centers on Donald Trump’s recent public statements and behavior, highlighting several odd, off-topic, and sometimes awkward or inappropriate moments from his recent speech to the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund and media appearances. Host Sam Stein breaks down a pattern of Trump’s flippant comments on sex, his penchant for humiliating his own allies, apparent fabrications about personal history, and his concerning rhetoric about NATO and military incidents. Throughout, Stein questions the judgment and seriousness of the administration, noting the potential consequences of such conduct.
Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund Speech ([01:12]):
"You can ask me anything you want. You can talk sex, you can whatever the hell you want." [Donald Trump, 01:12]
Fox & Friends Appearance ([02:44]):
"You may be even better looking. Okay, so I don't know what you're doing, but I will not say that." [Dana Perino to Trump, 02:54]
"It's not like you get out of jail free card just because you've preempted it..." [Sam Stein, 03:11]
White House Social Media Post ([03:45]):
Pattern of Adolescent Tone ([04:02]):
"It's like a White House run by, you know, 14 or 15-year-old boys with the commander in chief being at top the gang." [Sam Stein, 04:02]
Cabinet Meeting with Pete Hegseth ([05:05]):
"Somebody came up to me yesterday, gave you a very hard time, said, you know, I made a mistake. Pete Hegseth is doing a good job..." [Donald Trump, 05:05]
"That's just like public humiliation." [Sam Stein, 05:23]
Trump Prefers ‘Losers’ Over Successful Allies ([05:44]):
"I always like to hang around with losers, actually, because it makes me feel better. I hate guys that are very, very successful and you have to listen to their success stories. I like people that like to listen to my success." [Donald Trump, 05:44]
The Infamous Sharpie Pen Story ([08:16]):
"A spokesperson for Sharpie maker Newell Brands said it did not occur, 'We don’t have any information about the conversation described.'" [Sam Stein quoting spokesperson, 09:05]
"If your uncle was talking about Sharpies in this way, you’d be like, man, get this man a little help..." [Sam Stein, 08:24]
Alleged Friendship with Vince Lombardi ([09:42]):
"Vince Lombardi was a very tough person, a very tough football coach. He was sort of a violent guy, actually. I knew him." [Donald Trump, 09:42]
"There's no record of Trump ever meeting Lombardi." [Sam Stein, 09:52]
"We would have always been there for them, but now based on their actions, I guess we don’t have to be, do we? ... Why would we be there for them if they're not there for us?" [Donald Trump, 12:25]
"They were there for us. The only time article 5 has been invoked is after 9/11. Everyone knows this, he knows this. It’s silly." [Sam Stein, 12:51]
Points out Trump’s penchant for creating drama instead of sober leadership.
"We noticed at one o'clock in the morning, every 32 seconds, another airplane...was coming off the deck of an aircraft carrier ... then they hit us. And they came from 17 different angles ... We ran for our lives. It was over." [Donald Trump, 15:32]
"Which brings me back to my earlier point. When you have a president who just makes things up on the fly like this, it becomes hard to know when he tells serious stories what is actual reality..." [Sam Stein, 16:09]
"The one emotion that seems totally absent from his retelling ... is, you know, soberness or, you know, empathy or a sense of the stakes, right?" [Sam Stein, 17:57]
On the adolescent tone of Trump’s White House:
On Trump’s treatment of his own officials:
On fabricated stories:
On misleading the public:
On mixing joking asides with serious failures:
| Timestamp | Segment / Topic | Notes | |-----------|--------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------| | 01:12 | Trump invites “sex” questions at Saudi fund speech | Example of inappropriate public comments | | 02:54 | Fox & Friends—Trump flirts with Dana Perino | Ignores serious Iran question | | 03:45 | White House “OnlyFarm” meme | Shows adolescent humor pattern | | 05:05 | Publicly humiliates Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth | “Said you were a mistake…” | | 05:44 | Trump says he “likes to hang out with losers” | Demeans associates | | 08:16 | The “Sharpie pen” tall tale | Company denies story | | 09:42 | Claims of knowing Vince Lombardi | Refuted by facts | | 12:25 | Trump suggests US may ditch NATO mutual defense | Serious, consequential rhetoric | | 15:32 | Aircraft carrier 'fire' — hints at enemy attack | Contradicts official story | | 17:57 | Lack of empathy/soberness in Trump’s storytelling | Host’s analysis of presidential tone |
Sam Stein delivers a brisk, skeptical, and at times exasperated analysis of Trump’s odd, unserious, and often demeaning public conduct. The episode’s through-line is the contrast between the gravity of issues (NATO, national security, military incidents) and the juvenile or dishonest way the president discusses them. Stein calls out both the personal effects—on Trump’s own circle—and the potential policy and geopolitical dangers of such flippant leadership.
For more, subscribe to The Bulwark and stay tuned for future episodes breaking down the news.