Why Trump’s Weird Fixations are Exploding Now

Summary

Podcast Summary: Inside Trump’s Head

Episode: "Why Trump’s Weird Fixations are Exploding Now"

Hosts: Michael Wolff & Joanna Coles
Date: August 16, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this probing and candid episode, Michael Wolff and Joanna Coles dissect Donald Trump’s bizarre fixations and how they’ve become increasingly disruptive and revealing in his second term. The duo, both with deep journalistic and insider access, explore the mechanics of Trump’s obsessiveness—from building names to social media outbursts—and the ripple effects these have on those around him, American institutions, and the culture at large. This episode offers both sharp psychologizing and vivid anecdotes, highlighting a presidency fueled not by strategy or ideology, but by personal compulsion.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump’s Fixations: The Psychology Behind the Obsession

• Repetitive Rumination:
  Michael describes how Trump "can't get things out of his head and has to have them have happen… he literally can't move forward" (01:23, 25:14).
• Impact on Staff and Government:
  The hosts discuss how the West Wing is dominated by people whose main function is to absorb Trump's anger and try to satisfy his demands (03:00, 04:50).
  • "The communications director... what it really means now in the Trump administration is people for the president to yell at." – Michael (04:50)
• No Mediation:
  Trump deals directly and viciously with staff and associates, leaving "no HR between him and everybody else” (19:08, 19:33).
• Fixation as Brain Malfunction:
  Michael repeatedly calls Trump’s inability to let go “a brain malfunction”—not strategy, but a kind of psychological anomaly (25:14, 29:52, 30:36).

2. The Kennedy Center Naming Saga

• Background:
  Trump has been fixated on renaming (or at least rebranding) the Kennedy Center as the “Donald J. Trump Center.” Congress and the Supreme Court have blocked this, as the Kennedy Center’s name is legally set as the sole memorial for John F. Kennedy (16:30-17:30).
• Workarounds and Staff Frustration:
  Staff are left brainstorming increasingly absurd compromises—like adding “Restored and renovated by Donald J. Trump” in massive letters—because Trump “literally can’t stop himself” (17:33-18:29).
• Symbolism vs. Substance:
  Trump’s concern is not with the arts or heritage but with the “naming opportunity”—co-opting an iconic site just for brand ego (21:15-22:48).

3. Physical Declines and Public Image Management

• Exercise and Mobility:
  Trump’s lack of exercise and his retreat from public walking are discussed as evidence of physical decline, fueling tabloid rumors and memes (12:07-13:15).
  • Notably, Trump has allegedly never walked up the West Wing’s staircase in either administration (13:15-14:34).
• Bathroom Rumors and Vulnerability Myths:
  The hosts briefly address persistent, unconfirmed rumors about Trump wearing diapers, seeing it as a projection of public desire to see him vulnerable (06:11-07:57).
• Image Curation at All Costs:
  The secrecy and staging around Trump’s movements and the construction of a White House ballroom “inspired by Versailles” (49:12) all serve his self-aggrandizing instincts.

4. Trump’s Relationship with Technology and the Military

• Battleship Catapult Fixation:
  Trump is fixated on forcing the Navy back to outdated steam catapults instead of electromagnetic ones, based purely on personal preference with no expertise (26:18-29:52).
• Notable Quote:
  "This is not Donald Trump seeing a greater truth or... appealing to the ordinary man… It's a brain malfunction." – Michael (28:56-30:36)

5. Truth Social and Monetizing the Presidency

• Truth Social as a Presidential Platform:
  Trump has bypassed traditional presidential communications in favor of his social media site, which he owns and profits from (31:29-36:50).
  • Michael refers to it as the “Truth Social Presidency,” with policy and statements now being delivered and monetized through his 40% stake.
• $100,000 Subscription Scheme:
  New $100,000/year Truth Social subscriptions, promising advance access to Trump's posts, are discussed as potentially unethical—“may or may not be legal, which I think almost undoubtedly illegal” (30:36).
• No Precedent, No Shame:
  This level of self-dealing, according to Wolff and Coles, is both uniquely audacious and insulated by Trump’s shamelessness (35:00-36:10).

6. Fixation on Institutional Enemies: Harvard, The Smithsonian

• Ongoing Legal Obsessions:
  Trump continues to attack institutions like Harvard and the Smithsonian, repeatedly filing and appealing lawsuits even after consistent losses (39:37-42:23).
• Unique Resilience to Defeat:
  Unlike typical politicians, Trump is fueled, not discouraged, by failure, continuing to press losing causes out of raw compulsion (41:29-45:19).

7. Broader Political Implications

• Effect on Political Norms:
  The hosts reflect on whether Trump’s ability to rebound from defeat will encourage imitators (Kamala Harris is briefly discussed)—concluding Trump’s path “defies nature" (43:39-44:27).
• Brand Above Substance:
  Trump’s behavior—branding, fighting institutional battles, and never retreating—has overtaken any political philosophy or vision (46:22-47:05).
• Lasting Damage to Institutions:
  The Kennedy Center (now derided as "tired, broken and dilapidated") is offered as a metaphor for the broader institutional wreckage caused by Trump (37:53-39:37).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Fixation:
  “He can't get them out of his head and has to have them have happen… you literally can't move forward.” – Michael (01:23, repeated at 25:14)
• On Staff Experience:
  “This guy Trump is a son of a bitch. And there's no HR between him and everybody else.” – Michael (19:08-19:33)
• On the Naming Obsession:
  “He’s wholly invested... in the naming opportunity. Why is it not Donald Trump’s name?” – Michael (21:43) “It's a coupon president.” – Joanna, on Trump’s pseudo-Kennedy persona (24:43)
• On Truth Social:
  “It is almost as if everything was designed to create a social network of one… How can I get a billion dollars?” – Michael (31:29)
• On Cognitive Patterns:
  “This is not… appealing to the ordinary man. It’s a brain malfunction.” – Michael (28:56)
• On Ruining Institutions:
  “Well, yeah, I mean, essentially he has broken the Kennedy Center.” – Michael (39:30)
• On Resilience:
  “He is anomalous… no other politician we've ever seen and probably no other we will see. He defies nature.” – Michael (43:39-44:27)
• On the White House ‘Versailles’ Ballroom:
  “He says it's inspired by Versailles, which is completely the opposite of what the White House is supposed to be. But Donald wouldn't know that. Cause he doesn't read history.” – Joanna (49:12)
• On Politics as Branding:
  “All of this… was a business strategy, then tips over into fixation… The only logic is that he must have it because he must have it.” – Michael (46:41-47:05)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:23–05:13] – Trump’s obsessive mind; effect on staff
• [06:11–07:57] – Diaper rumors and the narrative of vulnerability
• [12:07–14:34] – Trump’s routines, physical health, and public perception
• [15:06–18:29] – The Kennedy Center naming battle and inner-circle dynamics
• [26:18–30:36] – Navy catapult obsession; defining fixations vs. policy
• [31:29–36:50] – The rise of Truth Social and legal/ethical questions of monetizing presidential communication
• [39:37–42:23] – Trump’s war on institutional enemies: Kennedy Center, Smithsonian, Harvard
• [46:22–47:05] – Trump’s branding logic and the shift into compulsion
• [49:12–50:30] – The White House ‘Versailles’ ballroom and future challenges for successors

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Conclusion

This episode offers a deeply researched, sometimes biting analysis of Donald Trump’s present psyche and its tangible effects on American life. The hosts make clear that Trump’s second presidency is dominated not by traditional politics or even media-game playing but by a near-clinical pattern of fixation that leaves aides, institutions, and the body politic bent to one man’s will—and whim.

With astute psychological observation and a trove of inside anecdotes, Wolff and Coles make the case that Trump’s “weird fixations” aren’t just personality quirks—they are now, more than ever, defining (and deforming) America’s highest office.

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Next Episode Tease:
On Sunday, Anthony Scaramucci joins to discuss "Trump’s Women."
Subscribe for more inside analysis every week.

Transcript

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[Michael]

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[Michael]

Things just get into his head. He can't get them out of his head and has to have them have happen all of the people around him. What they have to do is figure out some way for him to get what he wants in some way that satisfies him. How do we get his name on the building? The Supreme Court has said he can have. Can't have his name on the building. What do we do? Everybody gets yelled at.

[Co-host]

Everybody gets yelled at.

[Michael]

I mean, and yelled at viciously. I mean, this guy Trump is a son of a bitch. This is, you know, why people go into therapy, why people take medication. Their brain keeps spinning. It can't go on to something else. You literally can't move forward.

[Co-host]

Michael,

[Michael]

I'm just gonna wait for you to stop laughing about what I know, I don't know. But at any rate, Joanna, I think you do know.

[Co-host]

I think you know that I'm going to embrace you as my pea brain colleague, my pea brain co host of Inside Trump's Head and then I should

[Michael]

return and echo what Stephen Chung said about you. But it's actually a word that its use is kind of equivocal. These days. I mean, it's kind of a terrible word.

[Co-host]

Well, it begins with R and it ends with D. And we don't have to use it. But clearly, clearly, Stephen Chong was having a bad day.

[Michael]

These words are, anyway, the words of sixth graders. I think that's really literally where we are in this discussion. I'm a P brain, you're an R word. And this is the White House level of intelligence.

[Co-host]

And what is Stephen Cheung's official title at the White House? Michael. Because I think most people don't know him, though they may have seen him in the background of pictures. He's a large man. You've talked about how his weight was a problem during the campaign, because at one point, I think, didn't he pass out in Union Station?

[Michael]

Yeah, he literally weighs 400 pounds. So. And he is. I mean, this is, again, this question. People question my use of the word literally. This is literally £400. He's the communications director. Now, you ask what is the communications director, as opposed to the Press Secretary Levitt, who's just left, and we just discussed to her on the last episode. This is all part of the White House. One of the main functions in the West Wing is, of course, the communications function. And there are many, many people involved with this. But what it really means now in the Trump administration is people for the president to yell at. So the president, who is concerned with almost nothing else but the communications function, but how he appears on television, how people talk about him on television, is always focused on these people in a pretty unpleasant, harsh and constant way.

[Co-host]

Well, welcome to our next episode of Inside Trump's Head, where Michael and I try to analyze what is essentially a government of one with outsized influence at the moment, particularly because this president has no interest in what Congress has to say. Please share this episode with your friends. Hit the subscription button. And Michael would also like you to hit the bell, which allows you to know when a new episode is coming up. We drop our episodes at 8 o' clock on the evenings during the week, and then at 2pm on Saturdays and Sundays.

[Michael]

So apparently, if you hit the bell, you will be notified that we are dropping an episode. So that seems to be. That would be good for us if you were notified and perhaps good for you because you won't miss an episode.

[Co-host]

You won't miss an episode. All right, so, Michael, a lot going on this week, but I want to

[Michael]

just go back to pea brain and the R word, because this is all about the last episode when we talked about. I said that the question I get asked most often is, does Trump wear diapers? Now, curiously, I said, there's no reason to believe that that is true. No one has any evidence. And so in all likelihood, overwhelming likelihood, it is not true. But nevertheless, that got me called a pea brain by Stephen Chung because, well, I guess the linking of diapers, just the word diapers, just the suggestion that he might, or even me saying he doesn't wear diapers, repeating the word diapers is something that Trump finds very wounding. And so therefore Stephen Chung has to respond to that well.

[Co-host]

And also what's interesting is it is all over social media there are just endless memes of Trump needing a diaper. People wonder what is inside Natalie Harp's enormous bag. She's always carrying a backpack or she's got some sort of overnight bag. And the speculation is that there are just, you know, packets of diapers, when in fact, you have pointed out she's called the human printer because she learned to roar around after him on the golf course with a printer, a WI FI printer, printing out motivational statements for him, pleasant emails, adoring letters from people who no doubt want something.

[Michael]

We ask the question, what does this mean? Nobody knows if this is true. It, I would say fairly categorically is not true. And yet it persists. And what we discussed last week, and I think it's kind of a fascinating view of the Trump presidency, is that people look at this guy and say, how has this happened? How is it that he continually defies the laws of nature? A 300 pound man stuffing his face with the worst kind of food, never getting a lick of exercise, and yet he goes on at this energetic level. That has affected all of our lives, Matter of fact, made him the subject that I think it's safe to say most people in this country, perhaps most people in the world, think about more often than any other subject. So at least if he were leaking, that would show a sense of some vulnerability, which we all hope is true, that he is vulnerable.

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[Michael]

I mean, he got up for a bathroom break whenever anyone else did. You actually couldn't leave, at least in some of these courtroom situations, until there was. And actually, because, remember, these courtrooms are surrounded by Secret Service, and the security was incredibly tight, so everybody had to wait. Now, I do know that he went into a break room and, and in one of these break rooms. So in his trial in New York, which would have been the period he was in a courtroom for the longest

[Co-host]

amount of time, was that the Stormy Daniels trial?

[Michael]

Yes, yes. And that was his. When he was convicted, he would go into a break room, and then there was a bathroom. It was a kind of, kind of very long room. And at the end of it, there was one bathroom. And there was an instance where one of his lawyers started to use the bathroom, and everyone was like, oh, oh. Because clearly this was a bathroom for him. Everybody else could go to the bathroom in the halls. Trump could not. And then, and Trump obviously took note of the fact that one of his lawyers was using the bathroom, and that lawyer did not reappear.

[Co-host]

Again, I've always found it fascinating when offices have a separate bathroom for the boss. It's just a sort of weird. It's a weird thing. But I think also people look at Donald Trump and think, to your point, not only is he not doing a lick of exercise, and by the way, we haven't seen the president since Tuesday. We are recording this on Saturday morning, but he hasn't been out there since Tuesday. And he's actually doing less and less exercise. I mean, I wondered if one of the reasons that he's building the helipad on the lawn of the White House just below the Truman Balcony is because he doesn't want to be watched walking to Marine One because it always gives people pause. His gait changes, and we see him going up and down the steps of Air Force One and sometimes slipping into Food Truck 1, as we saw in Turkey. But actually, we really don't see him walking at all now. I mean, we see him in a golf cart, we see him going to and from transport, but that's about it.

[Michael]

Well, there's a joke within the White House. The West Wing has two floors and the, you have to go up a set of stairs, of course, to get to the second floor. I don't even know, there must be an elevator, but I don't know where that is. But you go up the, I mean it's not, you just go up a set of stairs. But in the first administration and now in the second administration, there has never been an occasion when Trump has been known to go up the stairs to the second floor of the West Wing.

[Co-host]

And is that because people don't think he can? I mean, that can't be. Why? Because we do see him going up and down the steps of Air Force One, which is really the time we actually see him exercising. And clearly he's much frailer than he was. But he's 80, so it's not surprising.

[Michael]

Yeah, I don't, I mean he's, I mean Trump is very much a you go to him kind of guy. But there is other presidents go up. I mean it sort of shows that you're, you're not just a you come to me kind of guy. And Trump has never, he has literally never gone to the second floor of the West Wing.

[Co-host]

Yeah, that is interesting.

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[Co-host]

Well, he's definitely not going to the Kennedy center at the moment because the Kennedy center is closed. It's got a tarpaulin over. The absence apparently of his name though we don't know cause we haven't seen it. And this is one of. Well, we were arguing about this before we started recording. I was saying that, you know, he's obsessed by the Kennedy center. Cause he wants the validation of the artistic community, something he's avoided. And you immediately jumped in and just Said, no, no, he's fixated about the Kennedy Center.

[Michael]

Yeah. I don't think that there's any reason. I mean, that would be more if you could find a context here and say, yes, he's resentful. Yes, he has a view of culture that is a different view than the dominant view of who should be. Who should be leading the cultural discussion. Okay, that might be something. It's different in this. It is literally that things just get into his head. He can't get them out of his head and has to have them happen. So we have a situation at the Kennedy center where the Supreme Court has said, no, it can't be called the.

[Co-host]

Can't be called the Donald J. Trump Center. It's the Kennedy Center. It's named after a president who was assassinated.

[Michael]

And it was. Well, it's not just the assassination. There's a set of legislation, a congressional legislation that has passed Congress and been signed by a president that says the following, that this is the only memorial to John F. Kennedy. This is the name of it. This is all set in stone. He has tried to. I mean, he boldly tried to contradict this and put his name on the Kennedy Center. This. The court came along and said, no, you can't do that. So there is no way for him to do that. But he can't stop. He literally can't stop himself. So now the, The. The. The proposal is that in big letters, it will be. It will say the Kennedy center. Refurbished, rehabilitated, restored and renovated.

[Co-host]

Restored and renovated by Donald J. Trump.

[Michael]

Right. And appare very large letters, it will say this. So this is an example of two things that he has to get what he wants, that if he doesn't get what he wants, he can't move off, he can't go forward. He's stuck in place. And then the second thing is that all of the people around him, what they have to do is figure out some way for him to get what he wants in some way that satisfies him. So I can see days and days and days of people sitting around talking, how do we get his name on the building? The Supreme Court has said he can't have his name on the building. What do we do?

[Co-host]

It's incredible. It's incredible. And imagine being on the board of the Kennedy Center. I mean, Susie Wiles is on the board of it. Alison Lutnick is on the board of it. Because Howard Lutnick is now supposed to be. The Commerce Secretary, is supposed to be sort of overseeing this. Imagine them sitting there and Are they all. I mean, just set the scene for us, because we know that Trump is a yeller. He's someone. And it's one of the reasons that we think Caroline Levitt is leaving, that she is sick of being yelled at and reamed out. And you talked on our last podcast about Sean Spicer, his first White House press secretary, hiding behind a plant. I think, think, because Trump.

[Michael]

And it's, it's literally every. Everybody gets yelled at, and everybody gets yelled at, I mean, and yelled at viciously. I, I mean, this, this guy, this guy Trump is a son of a bitch. I mean, he. And there's, there's, there's no, there's no, there's no HR between him and everybody else.

[Co-host]

I mean, he is mediated. Great point.

[Michael]

He is unmediated in this.

[Co-host]

For example, is the board of the Kennedy Center. Are they all just terrified of him? Are they all just frightened he's going to storm in and start yelling at them? Why are they working so hard? Why can't they just say to him, look, the Supreme Court.

[Michael]

Well, this is a misunderstanding of the process that's going on here. It's really his aides coming up with something. And then the board of the Kennedy center, they don't say, yes, sure. I mean, that's their entire function. Yes, sure. So they're really not in harm's way. They're willing to do anything. So, I mean, it's essentially Trump telling them to do something with the intermediaries being a set of aides who are trying to make whatever, Trump, whatever is going to make Trump happy, turn that into some policy that then the board can rubber stamp.

[Co-host]

And do we know why? For example, it's the Kennedy center that he's fixated on. He's not a man that wants to go and watch the National Symphony Orchestra. He doesn't like the artists they've had there. I mean, most of the artists have pulled out. We know that he's a man who says Les Miserables. Lord Lemire's is the favorite, his favorite musical. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's a fabulous musical, but he's got middling tastes. And the Kennedy center reaches above, and it really celebrates Jackie Kennedy's brilliance in bringing artists into the White House and expanding the appeal of the White House.

[Michael]

Well, yes, I think I can explain this. None of that. He's not remotely concerned with the content of the Kennedy center or the meaning of the Kennedy center or the function of the Kennedy Center. He's wholly invested in the Kennedy center, as I think what they call in colleges and universities and other philanthropic venues. The naming opportunity.

[Co-host]

The naming opportunity.

[Michael]

And the naming opportunity is clearly a naming opportunity. It's John F. Kennedy's name, so there is a naming opportunity. Why is it not Donald Trump's name? And I think seeing John F. Kennedy's name, a man he has often tried to link himself to, if only because of all of the women that John F. Kennedy had. So he saw that and said, I should put my name there. Why isn't my name there? And then the fixation begins. And it's literally a fixation that is a kind of a. Mental anomaly. He can't get it out of his head. So he, again, literally doesn't care what goes on inside. He only cares about the side of the building where a name can go.

[Co-host]

Well, also, John F. Kennedy's assassination must have come. Trump must have been, what, 15 when that happened? 1963.

[Michael]

I can tell you he was. He would have been 17. 17, okay.

[Co-host]

So that must have made a massive impact on him because it made a massive impact on everybody. I mean, around the world. It was such a remarkable, terrible event. So I wonder if that's also playing into it and maybe he thinks he's somehow connected to him because of.

[Michael]

Well, I don't. I think, I don't necessarily. I mean, I think, I mean, I mean, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, you know, was. Was shared in common by everyone of, of a generation.

[Co-host]

Right. But the rest of us haven't gone on to be president.

[Michael]

I think, I think that the. Well, others have in the past, past presidents. So this is not something. That connection, the connection to Kennedy, I think is more actually, probably more direct. I mean, it has to do with a kind of glamour, a kind of adulation. Partly comes from the assassination. And also the women thing is a big deal in his mind. That's the kind of life John F. Kennedy was. That kind of cool, rat packed, Frank Sinatra, playboy figure, glamorous. He was glamorous at that point in time with the wife. The glamorous wife. And in some sense, Trump has fashioned himself or tried to fashion himself as the discount version of that very discounted.

[Co-host]

A coupon president. He's a coupon president. That's a wonderful description of him. And obviously, Melania has tried in her way, despite the fact that she barely shows up, and we haven't seen her since the FIFA final, which is almost a month ago at this point. Clearly has leaned on the look of Jackie Kennedy for her own inspiration. I mean, certainly during the first administration, at the first inauguration, she was wearing something that felt very inspired by Jackie.

[Michael]

Yeah. But again, it's what gets into his head. And I can't, I think it's really worth emphasizing that this is a not normal. I mean, when people have these fixations like this, there's, I mean, that becomes, this is, you know, why people go into therapy, why people take medication. Their brain keeps spinning. It can't go on to something else. You literally can't move forward.

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[Michael]

I mean, there was another thing I saw, I saw this, this, this week about, about Trump and the Navy and demands he is making about, about, about, about having the Navy revert to an older technology, which the Navy.

[Co-host]

Right. He wants the battleships or the aircraft carriers to revert to steam catapults as opposed to electromagnetic catapults, which is what they use now. What he says they're too complicated.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Right.

[Michael]

And this, this is the Navy. The Navy has resisted this. Absolutely. And this is something that began in the first administration. And even then people around, what is this? It just doesn't make any sen. Sense. First thing, he doesn't know anything about this. This is a technological kind of bit of like, what are we doing here? We're going back to something that we have long since transitioned from because someone who knows nothing about this suddenly wants us to do this. Nothing makes sense about this except for the fact that, that he became convinced of this. Someone at some point convinced him of this. And in the first administration, there was a lot of talk about that, like, who, how did he get this idea? But having gotten that idea, he can't move off of it.

[Co-host]

Well, and I think he got it from a sailor that he met at some point who was complaining about it to him and just said it's all too complicated. And I, I think funnily enough, I mean, he's clearly the last person you want anywhere near designing a modern aircraft carrier. And actually, I spotted a quote from Mark Kelly, the astronaut and senator from Arizona, who said, I've launched off the front of aircraft carriers hundreds of times. I have a master's degree in aeronautical engineering and am a test pilot. And even I wouldn't suggest to the Navy how to engineer specific systems on its ships. So the idea that Donald Trump is giving these engineers advice about how to build things is insane. And yet at the same time, in that weird Trumpian ability, he understands that technology can appear too complicated for people. I think people get in their cars nowadays, especially when you get a new car, and you're like, oh, this is too complicated.

[Michael]

I want to stop you there, because this is really something else. This is not Donald Trump seeing a greater truth or seeing something that appeals to the ordinary man in a populist sort of way, or Donald Trump having thought about something and wanting to disagreeing with the experts. This is fixation. It's literally something else. It doesn't have anything to do with any intellectual point of view. It doesn't have anything to do with any political point of view. It has to do with something that's gone wrong in his brain. It's a fixation. He can't move off of it. He's just wholly focused in a way. And we've all had this at various times. We all recognize it. You know, it's just a sort of

[Co-host]

rumination that you just can't get something

[Michael]

out of your eyes spinning, and it keeps you up at night. And then it passes and I mean, we hope it passes. And. And then you think, jesus, yeah, I really kind of went a little nuts on that. This is Donald Trump on so many things. Nothing to do. And it has nothing to do with logic and has nothing to do even with political logic. It's not him saying, oh, I'm gonna do this, and this is gonna play to voters. This stuff doesn't play. Nevertheless, I mean, the Kennedy center, very bad politics. It is in his. It's a brain malfunction.

[Co-host]

It's a brain malfunction. I mean, we haven't discussed this, but have you signed up for your hundred thousand dollars subscription to Truth Social? Michael, by the way, if you give them a three year commitment, you can get it for $60,000. This is the ability to get seconds ahead of anybody else. The president's musings on truth Socials, which may or may not be helpful if you're in the financial world to getting ahead of your competitors and may or may not be legal, which I think almost undoubtedly illegal. I think it's just that no one had thought to test it. Why should he be monetizing his own statements with his own company, of which he owns 40%, which is currently about $950 billion worth, although it's all paper money.

[Michael]

You know, you can look at this presidency in a sense by this is kind of the truth social presidency. It is almost as if everything was designed to create a social network of one that would be worth a billion dollars. How can I get a billion dollars? I mean, and I've seen that this, I've sort of observed the truth social thing from its inception when a couple

[Ryan Reynolds]

of

[Michael]

sort of Trump grade entrepreneurs came down to Mar a Lago and pitched this idea to him. You should start your own social network.

[Co-host]

And this was after we should remind people, you know, he was thrown off Facebook, he was thrown off Twitter, I mean, you know, for flagrantly breaking their rules of engagement.

[Michael]

And at any rate, he has obviously been invited back onto those platforms.

[Co-host]

But, well, and the heads of those networks, the founders of them all sit around his table. Yes, of course, how the world changes.

[Michael]

But that idea, I'm going to start this social network. And this went on and it was difficult to start. I mean they had to do this. This was a SPAC thing, a SPAC deal that was actually, I think this was still had the distinction of being had to go through the longest regulatory review before they could actually accomplish this. It was hurdle after hurdle and with no real financial logic. And then there were several other conservative leaning social networks that were starting at this same time. There was one particular would Steve Bannon. And then that Steve Bannon started a social network called Getter with that Chinese guy who went to prison, Miles Kwok, who was a major, theoretically a billionaire, but then went a major, a major fraud. Matter of fact, when Steve Bannon was arrested, it was on Miles Park's yacht in Long island. And I was supposed to join Steve that weekend on the yacht and then for some reason I couldn't do it. So that was an arrest that I missed, which I regret. But, but anyway, they were doing that and they were having trouble and there was a long discussion about merging with Truth Social. And it seemed hard to understand at the time why Trump wouldn't do this. But again, that was one. He was farsighted enough to see the ultimate grift here, that if he were

[Co-host]

to be re elected, he would be able to monetize the presidency literally just by saying things. By saying things and charging people and

[Michael]

well, it also just by, in other ways too, you know, advertising investment in this. It was a way for truth. Social became not just a, a social media platform, but a platform which could legally funnel money directly into Donald Trump's pocket. And now this other idea that you would pay for, I mean, this seems completely preposterous, but how many things in the Trump world have seemed preposterous and yet now become kind of matter of fact?

[Co-host]

Well, I can find, I think I saw the number of people who'd signed up was 10. So that's a million dollars a month that has come from nowhere. And obviously this hasn't been tested before. So now it's in front of the courts and they'll have to figure out is it legal for a president to literally monetize his own statements, the official words of the president that he gets to monetize? Yeah.

[Michael]

And let's go back to the phenomenon that this is a presidency which has really run out of a social network. I mean, his most important statements are not delivered at a press conference or behind the desk of the Oval Office or any of the ways that a president has traditionally communicated his policies and intentions, but on his own 40% owned

[Co-host]

social network and frequently posted in the middle of the night.

[Michael]

Yeah, so he is right. I mean, I mean, it's sort of an outlet. Speaking of a brain malfunction, it is an outlet for his brain malfunctions which then get to be monetized.

[Co-host]

Right. And malfunctions that seem particularly acute in the small hours of the morning. I mean, we've done a lot of auditing of his social media posts at the Daily Beast, and he frequently, you know, it's very clear he's not sleeping through the night. He gets two or three hours before he's suddenly posting again. And he can post up to sort of 40, 50 times in a 12 hour period where he seems frenzied and hyperactive and manic.

[Michael]

So he's a 300 pound man who stuffs himself with poison, who doesn't get a lick of exercise and also gets no sleep.

[Co-host]

What could possibly go wrong? What could possibly go wrong, Michael? In fact, I came across a description of the Kennedy center in one of the court rulings about it. And I mean, essentially it's now closed for two years for repairs and it needs some repairs. And one of the statements was the Kennedy center needs renovation. It's tired, broken and dilapidated. And I thought, oh, tired, broken and dilapidated. Who does that describe? Who does that describe?

[Michael]

So that's a description which Comes from the. That's in a Trump filing.

[Co-host]

Yes, I think it's. Oh, so maybe it was them describing the building, but they inadvertently, I felt also reminded of who was in charge of this sort of fiasco at the Kennedy Center. And of course, we remember his friend Rick Grinnell, the former ambassador to Germany, who was quickly put in to run it. You always maintain, because he was gay and he'd be able to deal with artists and who quickly left. I mean, it was too much even for Rick Renell. And of course, the staff who are left there have no idea whether or not they have jobs. Tons of people have left. As we've said before, loads of artists just pulled out and said, I'm not doing this, I'm not going to appear. They're the National Symphony Orchestra, which is, you know, a jewel in the crown of the Kennedy center is no longer playing concerts there, they're playing concerts elsewhere. But this is a, it's just so unnecessary. So unnecessary.

[Michael]

Well, yeah, I mean, essentially he has broken the Kennedy Center.

[Co-host]

He's ruined it.

[Michael]

Yeah. There is no Kennedy center. And there is a kind of, there's a kind of thing, there's a kind of this institutional war that he is in. And this is with institutions throughout the American government, institutions throughout American culture. The Smithsonian, for instance, another institution that he has taken on. But then an institution which he has been fighting from the very beginning and which came to, I had, there was an important court decision this week as Harvard, which he has, from the first of, from the first days of this administration, he has set out to attack the Ivy League, really. I mean, a set of institutions, elite universities that he believes have been somehow are the antithesis to what to Donald Trump MAGA and his view of, his retro view of America. And this contains all the dei, all of that stuff, highly symbolic for Donald Trump. But Harvard especially, again, has become this fixation. He loses court case after court case after court case and nevertheless can't get away from it. So any other politician, politics is like if you lose, if it's a loser, you really don't want to keep pursuing it.

[Co-host]

Right. Move on, move on, change the subject, find another cause.

[Michael]

Right, exactly. You don't want to remind people that you keep losing. You don't want to go on and lose. But, but here he is. And I mean, this, this is this, this week, the, the court dismissed his claims, kind of broad based claims, essentially suing Harvard for, for antisemitism. And while there are reasonable underlying, there's an underlying logic here. The legal attack was flawed in so many ways over broad ridiculous that it was again was thrown out. And this is not the first time it's been thrown out.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. Now I was looking for fun ways to tell you that Mint's offer of unlimited Premium Wireless for $15 a month is back. So I thought it would be fun if we made $15 bills but it turns out that's very illegal. So there goes my big idea for the commercial. Give it a [e-mail] Switch upfront payment

[Commercial Announcer]

of $45 for three months, $90 for six months or $180 for a 12 month plan. Required 50 $15 per month equivalent to taxes and fees. Extra initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes. Me slow when network is busy.

[Co-host]

See terms his ability to rise from losing to double down on losing as you've often pointed out. But do you think it will be held up by other or not held up. But do you think it will be used by other politicians? I was wondering, you know, Kamala Harris keeps emerging as a leading contender for the Democrats for 2028. Is Kamala Harris looking at what happened to Donald Trump and thinking, I can do that. I only had 107 days. I didn't differentiate myself from Biden. Now I know how to do this properly. Donald Trump lost an election, he came back. I can do that too. Does he act in this situation as encouragement for other candidates who've lost, do you think?

[Michael]

Yeah. No, I don't think so. I mean I've always, my view has always been Trump is anomalous, he is unique. He is like no other politician we've ever seen and probably no other politician we will see. I think Kamala Harris is just like, well, I got nothing better to do. Let's see if I fly. And I think that she won't and I don't think ultimately she will run. And if, if she's at the time, you know, she's at the top of, of polls now, first thing, she's marginally at the top for, because of, because,

[Co-host]

because of name recognition before. Right. And we, we don't know who else will, will come out. But I, I just, I don't think

[Michael]

you, you know, his again. And I think it's important, it's important to understand Trump's path is not, is defies nature. It defies nature because that's not how we are. That's not how people are people. First thing, they can't take what he's taken. Four criminal Indictments, two impeachments, disgrace. With almost very little impact on him, very little emotional impact. It actually becomes the opposite thing. All of these things that would, that would, that would beleaguer any other human being, inspire him.

[Co-host]

Yeah, it's just, it's amazing that they would fell other people, they would fell other people, they would withdraw, humiliated, depressed, their tail between their legs, and instead it fires him up, his anger.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Michael]

And it's that kind of, that kind of thing. If you say I can't have something, then I am like a child throwing a tantrum. And I will demand. And I'm a child, the child throwing a tantrum, who you would get into some kind of therapy because you would understand that it was beyond, beyond normal, normal level tantrums. I'm getting back to the Kennedy Center. He can't, he must find some way to get his name on it. Even though the Kennedy center is a shell and may never open again. It's a wall and it must have his name on it. And people around him in the West Wing will say, will understand this and say, well, you know, he must have his name on it.

[Co-host]

Well, and as you say, this is what worked for him in business. Slapping his name on any building that would take it. Slapping his name on steaks, on champagne, on water. It didn't really matter if the thing didn't work. It was just his name out there. It worked as branding and it's worked to get him elected as president as second time.

[Michael]

But then follow that logic out. All of this, which was a business strategy, then tips over into fixation. So there was a logic at some point. I mean it was a sort of vulgar logic to putting his name on everything. Now there is no logic except that the only logic is that he must have it because he must have it.

[Co-host]

Well, another place that he's putting his stamp is obviously the White House. We have talked extensively about the ballroom this week. In replying to questions from the Supreme Court, I was astonished to see that the White House said The ballroom is 65% complete. Can that possibly be true?

[Michael]

No, it cannot possibly be very response. But what it is is that they, that they are, they are pushing as fast as possible into some territory which becomes fade accompli.

[Co-host]

Right, right. Which again is what you said that you know, and we've seen this, we've seen it walking around the streets of New York. You see it in areas which are heavily zoned that people just get on build the building because it's harder to get it taken down.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Right.

[Michael]

But now he's going to do something else. So you build the building and it's there, and you can't take it down. But he is now going to. They're not going to build the building. They're going to lie about the building being there, and then they're going to say, well, we can't take this building down because it's, you know, it's 65% done, it's 85% done, but all there is is basically a hole.

[Co-host]

Well, there's definitely some walls. Right. When I was trying, I was trying to see how much you could see. You can see a lot of steel pillars. You can see walls going up. There's definitely building work happening.

[Michael]

Well, that's what they're trying. Yeah, they are rushing to do this,

[Co-host]

but it didn't look 65%.

[Michael]

No, they are just. They just have to get to the point in saying it's done, but they're not going to get to that point. So what are they going to do? Well, they're just going to say it's done.

[Commercial Announcer]

Mm.

[Co-host]

He also released images of the gold seals that they were going to put on the ballroom, which obviously very much indicate that it's Trump's ballroom.

[Michael]

Extraordinary. And so, which leads to this other question of really, you know, kind of fascinating is what's the next person gonna do?

[Co-host]

Yes, what is the next person going to do? It's so interesting, isn't it? Because you don't want to waste public money. You also don't want to make it a priority, and yet you might want to reverse it so that it looks like it used to. Goes back to the original architect's version of a more humble building to represent the people's House, not a palace. I mean, he says it's inspired by Versailles, which is completely the opposite of what the White House is supposed to be. But Donald wouldn't know that. Cause he doesn't read history. And he just saw it and thought it looked glamorous and gaudy and rich. Right. Symbolizes richness, which he's become since becoming president.

[Michael]

It just symbolize I want what I want. I mean, in a way, it has no other symbol. I mean, it's a ridiculous symbol. It's something that. It's incredibly unpopular. It's incredibly gaudy. Everybody is trying to stop him from doing it. He has to go back to court again and again and again. Again. That idea of pursuing his own failures, and for what reason? Only because I want it.

[Co-host]

Well, who do you think he wants to replace Caroline Levitt? We talked about her on Thursday. I heard from sources yesterday who said that Scott Jennings, who was definitely one of the leading contenders, doesn't want to do the job because it's going to cost him. He's actually making more money with his podcast and his very media, various media appearances, and he doesn't feel like giving that up to go into the White House. And also be a difficult time to go into the White House. Assuming the Democrats win the midterms, you're going to see start getting subpoenas. You're going to have to deal with it all. It doesn't sound as much fun as it probably has been for Carolyn Levitt.

[Michael]

Well, understand that Operation Scott Jennings would have been the one that leaked it, that he was a contender for the job and then was the one who leaked that he was not going to take the job.

[Co-host]

Fair, Fair. So do we have any sense of who is going to take. Is it going to be Anna Kelly, Caroline Navigate number two?

[Michael]

You know, I don't know. I have no information on that point. I would imagine it will be a young woman, however.

[Co-host]

Well, it's not going to be Mitch McConnell who's also not been seen like the first lady. First lady's not been out since FIFA and that's half as much as a Mitch McConnell. Mitch McConnell is now a unit of time in the way that Scaramucci was a unit of time. Mitch McConnell is now two months. It's growing. Mitch McConnell's not finite. We're waiting to hear from him, but it's two months since anyone's actually heard from him.

[Michael]

And we should recall that the Scaramucci unit of time was the 11 days of Anthony Scaramucci.

[Co-host]

11 days of Anthony Scaramucci of which

[Michael]

he is parlayed into quite a career.

[Co-host]

Quite a career. Quite a career. Yes. And in fact, we have him on our podcast on Sunday talking about Trump's women. He had good, good observations.

[Michael]

Well, everybody, everybody has observations. Eleven days is all I can say. Eleven days.

[Co-host]

Eleven days. But of course, he worked on the campaign with him before then. So he spent a lot of time around Donald Trump.

[Michael]

Yeah, he, he really didn't work on the campaign. I mean, I used to see him in the. Sometimes him. And anyway, let's, let's whatever.

[Co-host]

I love Anthony. I'm very happy to have him on. How can you not love Anthony? He's fantastic. Also machine gun lipped. So we thought it might be useful to have a check in on the odd midterm race. And there is a very fun ad that's been dropped against Trump's endorsed favorite candidate in Texas. Remember he primaried John Cornyn, the long serving conservative senator in Texas. Cornyn got booted out in favor of Ken Paxton, a man who, a former attorney general who was impeached in Texas. And he's up against James Tallarico, the Democratic candidate. And a very, very tight race. But I thought this ad looked fun to show his wife filed for divorce on biblical grounds.

[Michael]

So he honored America's 250th birthday in

[Ryan Reynolds]

London, the country we specifically left a

[Michael]

Texas town asked him if they could pause the data centers. Six months and $450,000 later, he's still

[Ryan Reynolds]

deciding he is the most corrupt politician in the world.

[Michael]

I don't always need a lawyer, but when I do, even he votes for the other guy. Stay loyal, my friends.

[Co-host]

Dan, the most corrupt politician in the world.

[Michael]

You know, I want, I wonder how effective this is then. Does everybody know this is AI? Do we begin to discount these kinds of, these kinds of, this kind of advertising because it's AI? I don't. That's a question. But the other thing that I think is important to say is that this race is important obviously for who controls the Senate. But for a Republican to fall in Texas would have, I think, significant reverberations throughout the idea of, of throughout the Donald Trump. It would cast the second term, the second two years of the second term in an entirely different light. I think this one particular race, the vulnerability of Donald Trump, the failure here of Donald Trump, and it would be the failure on two levels. It would be the political failure of backing this guy and then the fact that Trump could not get what he wants, could not push him over the line.

[Co-host]

Yes. And also, as you said about the Dr. Al Sayed winning the Democratic primary in Michigan, is there enough of an anti Donald Trump movement to get rid of, to push the marginal states through? I mean, Texas wasn't a marginal state, but now it looks like it could be a marginal state to swing.

[Ryan Reynolds]

No.

[Michael]

I mean, yes, that goes precisely to the point. Is this, is he the Catholic election? Yes. Is this, how much of this election is directly against Donald Trump?

[Co-host]

So clearly Texas a huge race to watch. As is Maine, as is Michigan, as is AI advertising. As is AI advertising. I guess the impact of that ad is really the humor and the one message that this is the most corrupt politician in the world leaning into Donald Trump's exaggeration for everything, using his language.

[Michael]

I think it will be interesting if whether the humor registers or whether the manipulation register registers And I don't know, I thought it seemed funny to me. And then I thought, well, wait a minute, this is all fake.

[Co-host]

Does it matter if it's fake? If the messaging is right, that he was impeached as attorney general, that he's corrupt, that he took $450,000 for enabling data centers in Texas?

[Michael]

Well, the fakeness of it could actually then work to his favor. In which you think about the fakeness but not about the message. I don't know. I mean, This is the big question.

[Co-host]

This is the big question. I was talking to a comedy writer from the Stephen Colbert show who has been laid off because Colbert was ended by cbs. But he said that a lot of his former colleagues are getting calls from politicians who want help going into this cycle because they're trying to make the ads different and stand out and do a little bit of what I think Gavin Newsom's been successful at.

[Michael]

Well, we'll see.

[Co-host]

We'll see.

[Michael]

That sounds like what the Democrats would do. That sounds like the mistake that Democrats make. But

[Co-host]

let's see, they may not need to do anything if Donald Trump carries on as he's doing right now. Michael, as always, a pleasure to see you. Even on a Saturday. Even on a Saturday as we hurtle into the weekend.

[Michael]

Always on a Saturday.

[Co-host]

Always on a Saturday. We'll be back on Tuesday. Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast. Please share it with a friend. Leave us a comment on YouTube. We read them all. We love your comments. Do you want to thank our team?

[Michael]

Rachel, Ryan, Neil, John, Heather.

[Co-host]

Very good.

[Michael]

That's it.

[Co-host]

That's very good. Without whom I will see you on Tuesday. So the good news is we have so many bebeast tier members now there are too many names to read out. And we really appreciate, appreciate your support.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. Now I was looking for fun ways to tell you that Mint's offer of unlimited Premium Wireless for $15 a month is back. So I thought it would be fun if we made fifteen dollar bills but it turns out that's very illegal. So there goes my big idea for the commercial. Give it a [e-mail] Switch upfront payment

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[Michael]

Buyer's remorse. Buy a new car. I'll be moving in. Let's get started.

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Sorry, I think there's been a mistake. I bought it from Carvana.

[Ryan Reynolds]

You what?

[Michael]

Yeah, great price.

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I even have seven days to love it or return it.

[Michael]

So there's no.

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[Michael]

I guess I'll let myself out. Congratulations. I mean it.

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[Michael]

Com.