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- [00:00]
Michael
I felt very clearly he was afraid of Donald Trump. I don't think that there's anybody in Washington at any informed level who was not aware that Lindsey Graham was gay, but Lindsey Graham was also in the closet. What did that mean to Donald Trump? I'm not sure that it meant anything more to Donald Trump than he had something on Lindsey. Lindsey Graham was an absolute suck up. He decided that this was, was how he was going to play this. Sucking up was the basic price of admission. It was the entire thing. That was what you, you had to do in order to get more access, in order to sustain access. It was just a question of how much sucking you were willing to do.
- [00:48]
Joanna
Michael. Joanna, why are we being quiet this morning? Because. Do we?
- [00:55]
Michael
Death. Because of death.
- [00:56]
Joanna
Because of death. Okay, so the slush fund, big slap in the face for Trump from the Miami Judge Mitch McConnell dead or alive hostage videos. Lindsey Graham definitely dead. And has, I guess my first question for you inside Trump's head, which is where we go three times a week to poke around and see what's left in there is. Well, let me read the truth social that Donald Trump put out on Sunday, or maybe it was Saturday night. Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest people and senators I have ever known, is dead. He was always working and was a true American patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed. 3 exclamation points. Details and arrangements to follow. So sad. Single exclamation point. Is it possible that Donald Trump is actually sad about.
- [01:55]
Michael
Well, let me. I think my answer to that would be, involves the setup to this, to how a truth. One of these posts gets done. And this is a definitely. I will guarantee this. It's a Trump saying, Natalie, we need a post on Lindsey. That's it. So that's the sentiment here.
- [02:20]
Joanna
Okay, this is interesting because I had an argument with someone over the weekend about this and I said, why can't we have a president that just puts out something that feels solemn and slightly formal? And he was like, you've missed the point. This is how people talk. This is why people love Donald Trump.
- [02:35]
Michael
Well, yeah, and it's a sort of a double point here. He gets this because they know that the staff, Natalie particularly knows that they have to write in Donald Trump's voice.
- [02:47]
Joanna
But surely this isn't Donald Trump's voice with three exclamation points. It feels like a teenage girl. It feels like Natalie Harp's voice.
- [02:55]
Michael
It is Donald. Well, Natalie Harp's voice and Donald Trump's voice intersect at some point because she does. I'd say she does. The overwhelming number of poor are from Natalie. I mean, there are a lot of the posts that are from him, but I'd say, because considering how many posts there are, I'd say she does three quarters of the posts.
- [03:21]
Joanna
So she's the social media whiz behind him. What's interesting is how few people are on truth social. I mean, obviously his truth socials get picked up, but it's amazing how he'll post something like this. And there's 4,000 likes. It's very small.
- [03:38]
Michael
We've discussed this before. I mean, this was a constant themed during the campaign because he would post in this obsessive, crazy, pathological fashion and the staff would say, oh my God, thank God he's not on X or Twitter.
- [03:55]
Joanna
Oh, interesting. Because no one sees it.
- [03:58]
Michael
God, no one sees this.
- [03:59]
Joanna
Except they do see it now.
- [04:03]
Michael
No, actually they don't. There are so many. So all we see is those few that actually surface in the media. Otherwise you can't, first thing, you can't keep up with them. And secondly, the entire media would be nothing but Donald Trump's posts. Otherwise.
- [04:21]
Joanna
Well, you can clearly see who's got inside his head over the weekend because there was a post of Jon Ossoff looking like, well, it said Pee Wee Herman and then there's a picture of Pee Wee Herman and Jon Ossoff. And then there was a picture of Alfred E. Newman on the COVID of Mad next to James Tallarico with one of his teeth blacked out.
- [04:40]
Michael
Okay, that's Natalie.
- [04:42]
Joanna
Okay, that's Natalie.
- [04:43]
Michael
I mean, she's the art. Donald Trump doesn't do art.
- [04:46]
Joanna
Right. So when he's posting himself as Jesus, that's Natalie.
- [04:51]
Michael
Is it totally Natalie? Yes.
- [04:53]
Joanna
Right. Interesting.
- [04:54]
Michael
And then the other thing, and it's interesting, I want to come back to the question of whether Donald Trump is upset about the death of his friend, his golfing buddy.
- [05:04]
Sponsor/Ad Voice
Right.
- [05:04]
Joanna
They golfed over 150 times.
- [05:06]
Michael
He has a lot of dead golfing buddies. But those foursomes, it's just, you know,
- [05:13]
Joanna
there's always one person that's not able to come. That's very, very curb your enthusiasm line.
- [05:20]
Guest/Caller
But
- [05:23]
Michael
so this idea that Lindsey Graham's sister is going to replace him in the. Darlene, Darlene in the Senate, basically take up his stub term. And then the. So I think that we're explaining that. That is being explained as Donald Trump posted a truth social about this and that's why it happened. That's not why it happened.
- [05:51]
Joanna
Why did it happen?
- [05:52]
Michael
Well, first thing, it Always happens. Nobody wants to have. Have. Nobody wants an empty seat. Nobody wants a. The process of calling a special election takes X amount of time. They want somebody who will cast the reliable vote.
- [06:11]
Joanna
Well, they want someone in the confirmation hearings this week who's going to vote for Ted Blanche.
- [06:16]
Michael
Exactly. So they do this. So that's the. And it's also a kind of a tip of the hat thing. Everybody likes this. The voters in South South Carolina. It's a death thing.
- [06:27]
Joanna
It's a death thing. I think it's remarkable that so many. I mean, I was looking it up. I think 38 widows have followed their husbands into their seats in the House. And then eight senators.
- [06:43]
Michael
Yeah. No, it's a commonplace thing is actually even there is a West Wing episode.
- [06:49]
Joanna
There is about this. Okay. I just want you to know that were you to have a crash on the jitney and to sadly be no longer with us, which I hope doesn't happen, I'm not going to be calling your sister. I like your sister very much. I've met her. I don't think that she would be as good as you are at going inside Trump's head.
- [07:09]
Michael
You would call my wife in a heartbeat and she would fill in and
- [07:13]
Joanna
no one would remember me. Yes. Okay, Victoria, we have a plan B should something happen to Michael.
- [07:19]
Michael
But the more this is more about not about that custom, which is a weird custom. You're absolutely right.
- [07:26]
Joanna
But it is a totally weird custom. It's the epitome of Nepo or Nepo. Is it Nepo or Nepo?
- [07:34]
Michael
It is Nepo. But yeah, I'm not sure it's not. Because it's not really. Nobody is really getting anything. It's just literally, you're a placeholder. Give me the family. It's a political tip of the hat. It probably actually doesn't happen. If the particular. Whoever dies is a hated person in the state, then they probably do something else. But, you know, names in politics are a big deal.
- [08:02]
Joanna
Brands, brand names.
- [08:04]
Michael
But this idea that this came from him, I mean, I just want to. I think it's important to understand these truth socials and these truth social posts are essentially a major tool of this administration of Donald Trump. This is all lobbying. People call him, they're online. Can he do a truth social post about this? Can he do a truth social post about that? We need this. We can't get this through. We can't get this on the media agenda unless he does this.
- [08:42]
Sponsor/Ad Voice
This.
- [08:43]
Michael
I myself have gotten truth social posts about myself. I've gotten Donald Trump to say terrible things about me because it helps sell books.
- [08:55]
Joanna
Whoa. You've got Donald Trump to say terrible things about you because it sells books. So you've written a tweet about my book. I need you to truth social about my book.
- [09:07]
Michael
Yes, yes. It would be more complicated than that. I will go to someone I know in the White House who then will do me a favor and then will suggest to Trump that, you know, I'm a terrible person.
- [09:22]
Joanna
And so, for example, with.
- [09:24]
Michael
So this is all everybody in the. So remember this. This is all everybody is kind of. There's an act of manipulation going on here.
- [09:33]
Joanna
Right. So everybody's working it at all times. So, for example, with your first book, when I think he asked for an injunction, didn't he?
- [09:39]
Michael
Yes, that was legitimate. I mean, was not legitimate. But that was spontaneous.
- [09:46]
Joanna
That was spontaneous. But otherwise, you've just been hustling the president like everybody.
- [09:50]
Michael
Yes, of course. I mean, there's a few others that he's just. He's expressed genuine ire. But otherwise it's people calling, you know, somebody calling me. I mean, there's one person from the White House who. I remember there was a particular post about me, and then this, and then this. Then the person in the White House called me and said, you owe me.
- [10:14]
Joanna
Interesting. So can we just get back to my first question, please? Is Donald Trump sad? Is he impacted emotionally, psychologically by the sudden death of someone who does appear to have been a friend or at least a golfing buddy, over 150 games? Is he impacted emotionally and psychologically by Lindsey Graham dying? I mean, the man was nine years young.
- [10:42]
Michael
I mean, I wouldn't go. He's not breaking down about it, but I mean, I think so, yeah. I mean, you know, yes, he's a golfing buddy. I think everybody. He's lost, literally, it's true, he has lost a lot of forsome members. And it does, you know, I'm sure it does affect him somewhat. But, you know, he's the President of the United States. I mean, let's not even see this exactly. In a. In a Donald Trump context. He's the President of the United States. He's dealing with lots and lots and lots of people in a professional capacity at all times. So how much? Yeah, I'm sure he's.
- [11:32]
Joanna
But wasn't Lindsay someone who was very useful because he was carrying information?
- [11:37]
Michael
Yeah, but that becomes a political setback. Yes, I'm sure that he sees this as a political inconvenience.
- [11:44]
Joanna
Right. So you knew Lindsey Graham. Thoughts?
- [11:54]
Michael
I Liked Lindsey Graham. I mean, I liked him a great deal, actually. Now, I think I would say that about anyone who talks to me in a relatively unvarnished way. So you have a kind of relationship with sources that, that develop over. How open are you going to be with me? It's not only how open, but how informative. You speak to a lot of people, you call up a lot of people, then you get the same old stuff. You didn't really even have to speak to them. You could have just imagined what they would say. Lindsey Graham. I would speak to him and then he would say something interesting, something funny, something, you know, a slight turn on. What you're asking him about. Oh, I hadn't thought. Thought about that. And he would do it. He had the ability, you know, and he didn't really know me. We didn't know each other very well, but he had the ability to kind of create that kind of. That kind of rapport. And he was, I think. I think it was. And I think this is an important
- [13:15]
Joanna
source for your books, is that what you're saying? Yeah.
- [13:19]
Michael
Yes, he was a source, but in fact, I think he was everybody's source.
- [13:24]
Joanna
Right.
- [13:24]
Michael
I mean, I've often thought that in Washington, there are only five sources, and they are the five sources for everybody.
- [13:32]
Joanna
Right. They're just people who decide to talk.
- [13:35]
Michael
There are people who decide to talk. There are people who like to talk. There are people who see an advantage in. In having their story, their version being top of mind. You know, there was Woodward and Bernstein story about Deep Throat, and it came out that Deep Throat was. They identified him as Mark Felt, who was, I think, an assistant director of the.
- [14:12]
Joanna
Of the FBI.
- [14:14]
Michael
But the truth is Mark Felt was everybody's source during Watergate. So that was a kind of one of those interesting constructs. I mean, we've given him a name and he's Deep Throat and parking lots and all that.
- [14:30]
Joanna
Right.
- [14:30]
Michael
But everybody. Mark Felt talked to everybody during that period.
- [14:35]
Joanna
Okay, so Lindsey Graham was the source of some of the stories about Trump. Did Trump know and mind.
- [14:47]
Michael
I don't know. That's an interesting question, and I don't know the answer. And remember, Lindsey Graham, it wasn't as if he was necessarily dissing the president. I mean, he was giving a. I would describe it as giving a full picture. He had a sense of the contradictions going on there. He had a sense of the game, of playing the Trump game. And I would say two things about Lindsay. There were two ways of looking at this. That here was a guy clearly who enjoyed playing the game. He was a guy who clearly understood the game. Here was a guy who very much. He was willing to be Trump's caddy if it got him what he wanted. That was the game. So I put that on one side. The other side is. I felt very clearly he was afraid of Donald Trump.
- [15:55]
Joanna
Go on.
- [15:56]
Michael
And he would talk about this. About Trump was. I remember once he described Trump in animal terms. He's like, you don't. I mean, it's like a wild animal. You don't know if he'll turn on you.
- [16:08]
Joanna
Like the bison in Yellowstone that just tossed that poor grandfather in the air. Yes.
- [16:13]
Michael
And Donald Trump kind of looks like a bison.
- [16:15]
Joanna
Yes. We've always said he looks like a bison. Right.
- [16:19]
Michael
But I felt that. I felt that that was that he understood that he was playing with fire. He understood that Donald Trump could. Was a very volatile presence who could. Who could. If he was unhappy with you, he would take it out on you. And, you know, behind this, there. There was this thing. So Lindsey Graham was by. You know, I don't think there's anyone. There wasn't. There was no question of. There didn't. I don't think that there's anybody in Washington at any informed level who was not aware that Lindsey. Lindsey Graham was gay. But Lindsey Graham was also in the closet. You know, he's 71.
- [17:06]
Joanna
He was gay. Did he have relationships? Did he have lovers? Or was he gay but didn't act on it?
- [17:12]
Michael
No, I think he probably had relationships. I don't know. But certainly that was the. That. That was always the discussion. So there was always the thing. And within. This was also a discussion within the Trump circle. So this was very known. And what did that mean to Donald Trump? I'm not sure that it meant anything more to Donald Trump than he had something on Lindsey.
- [17:50]
Joanna
And the thing that you're saying he had on him was that he was gay. He knew he was gay.
- [17:54]
Michael
I think that there was. Yeah. I mean, again, this is Lindsey Graham. He never said, I'm gay. And Donald Trump is gonna, you know,
- [18:05]
Joanna
if I'm gonna use it again.
- [18:06]
Michael
Yeah. If I don't suck up to Donald Trump, I'm screwed. Never, of course, never anything like that. But again, that sense of. Of Donald Trump as this unknown, a constant variable, what is he going to do?
- [18:25]
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- [18:52]
Joanna
Direct@storieshotels.com and Lindsey Graham having something that he was vulnerable over because one assumes that, of course, or certainly when he first got elected, obviously less so now. But representing South Carolina.
- [19:08]
Michael
Yeah. No, and even now, I think it's, you know, I mean, 71 years old and you haven't fessed up to this. Yeah. I mean, I think now Lindsey Graham obviously also knew the game. People are, this is politics. This is power at a very high level. If people will do anything to you, nothing is off limits in this context.
- [19:35]
Joanna
Well, and you will also do anything. Right. So he would swap 180. I mean, what was it Donald Trump said 40 minutes after Lindsey Graham said, January 6th is enough, enough is enough. I'm out. 40 minutes later, he called Donald Trump and said, oh, that wasn't me. I didn't really mean it. I don't know why I said, oh,
- [19:54]
Michael
yeah, no, no, no, and we shouldn't. I mean, Lindsey Graham was an absolute suck up. He decided that this was how he was going to play this, how he had to play this, how he, how, how to. What advantage it would be to play it this way. An absolute suck up. I mean, an embarrassing suck up. And people within the Trump circle would joke about this. You know, if you needed somebody to reassure the president, you call Lindsey, Lindsey Coves and tells the president, you know, sir, you're fantastic.
- [20:29]
Joanna
Yeah, right. And also it got him what he wanted, which is proximity to power. I mean, it's such a, it's so evident, it was so open, his constant changing of positions that this is what you had to do to get proximity to power to Trump.
- [20:49]
Michael
Yeah. No, and I think it makes the point the more you suck up. So suck up. Sucking up was not just the price of, you know, the basic price of admission. It was the entire thing. That was what you, you had to do in order to get more access, in order to sustain access, in order to, for your access to be greater than anyone else's. It was just a question of how much sucking you were willing to do.
- [21:20]
Joanna
But we've also discussed how Trump doesn't, like. Trump wants people to suck up, but he also despises people who suffer.
- [21:27]
Michael
Very complicated, It's a complicated thing, how to do that. And I often think that that was why Lindsay and so many others then would have a parallel life talking about sucking up.
- [21:41]
Joanna
I was just going to say, right. That the way that you offset the suckuppery and the shame of the suckuppery is that you then try and tell truths about Donald Trump.
- [21:55]
Michael
No, no.
- [21:55]
Joanna
Undermine him in a different way.
- [21:57]
Michael
But it's very, you know, I mean, this is not so. It's not. Understand this. It's not just, oh, all I have to do is suck up to Donald Trump and then I get what I want. And that's just, that's basic and easy. It's very difficult because you have to suck up to Donald Trump. At the same time he's showing contempt for you sucking up. So how do you navigate that without killing yourself?
- [22:23]
Joanna
And did Lindsey Graham.
- [22:26]
Michael
Maybe he did. Maybe.
- [22:28]
Joanna
I don't think he did. I think it was an aortic schism.
- [22:30]
Michael
No, but if we say, if we say he might have, we just said, you know, that'll be conspiracy clicks.
- [22:37]
Joanna
Right.
- [22:38]
Michael
A whole new business.
- [22:39]
Joanna
A whole new business. So before we go on to the ultimate conspiracy going on right now, which is Mitch McConnell, did Lindsey Graham like Donald? Was he a necessary evil for Lindsay to get as close to power as he could? And maybe Donald Trump gave him.
- [22:58]
Michael
I don't think really like is a consideration in this context. He's the President of the United States. He's capable of giving you anything that you want, of extending you power beyond your wildest dreams. No. So you don't, you don't really think in terms of liking. And if you were forced to think in terms of liking. No, you would say, no, this guy's a monster.
- [23:25]
Joanna
And do you think he will get his Russian sanctions reward in heaven? No, I wasn't going to say that. I was going to say, do you think he will be able to get his Russian sanctions bill through? I mean, that was his plan for the week.
- [23:41]
Michael
Yeah. Well, death is often, often helps you in these things. Yeah. People, it's another death tip. We have to give this for the memory of Lindsay.
- [23:52]
Joanna
So Darlene will step in for Lindsay and she and Richard Blumenthal from Senator from Connecticut who is working on it with him, will get it through.
- [24:04]
Michael
I'd say there's a good chance. Yeah.
- [24:06]
Joanna
Okay, so next question. Given the Nepo nature of American politics, should Elaine Chao just step in for Mitch McConnell at this point?
- [24:22]
Michael
No. Well, he has to be dead.
- [24:25]
Joanna
Well, does he have to be dead or couldn't he just step aside? I mean, he doesn't seem to be speaking. That's the weird thing. Why didn't they just release a video? Everybody has a cell phone.
- [24:35]
Michael
It's very straightforward, reopens the conspiracy. Yeah, there is no conspiracy. This. Only conspiracy that, that, that you and others have created. This is a. I haven't created this.
- [24:46]
Joanna
Laura Loomer. Laura.
- [24:48]
Michael
Okay, this is, this is. Yeah, this is the click conspiracy. Let's go to something that probably much more basic here. The guy is in terrible shape. He's at the absolute end of his career. Nobody wants to say to him, now, put this on on him. At this point, you're out. You're in such bad shape. I think that this is just a kind of a courtesy moment, which his family especially is observing, and they're saying, we don't care about this. We don't care what people say. All our only concern is this guy is suffering. He's had a long career, he doesn't deserve this. And we are trying with as much dignity as possible, and there isn't much letting this run its course. And we don't care about Trump and who we really hate, actually. And we're not really thinking about the Senate. We're not thinking about the business of the Senate or the business of the country. We're just thinking about Mitch, our husband or father or whatever.
- [26:03]
Joanna
But that's. His team is actually putting out statements saying Mitch is very much engaged. He's, you know, we're having discussions about Iran, which we're going to come onto in a minute.
- [26:11]
Michael
Yeah, well, yeah, he's probably. There's some. On some basis he can speak. Yeah, well, I think that he can. He can probably listen and probably is somewhat responsive. Yeah, I mean, I think he's. He's quite a. He's. He's in bad shape. He has been in bad shape for a long time. So this doesn't. Should not come as a surprise. And he is just. They're just trying to run out the clock with as much sensitivity to him as possible. So that's the conspiracy sensitivity. Okay, so human sensitivity.
- [26:49]
Joanna
So Laura Loomer, not one for enormous amounts of sensitivity, it appears, says he's in a persistent vegetative state, that she put this out on social media and that the White House, who will call her if she gets things wrong, hasn't called her about this.
- [27:06]
Michael
What do you mean the White House will call her if she gets things wrong?
- [27:09]
Joanna
Well, she says that she speaks to the President sometimes.
- [27:11]
Michael
She only does what the President wants. So this is. She's acting. Remember, Donald Trump hates Mitch McConnell, I would say right up there with all of the people that he hates. Mitch is maybe right at the top of that list. And so, yeah, so I think he's now torturing Mitch in his final moments.
- [27:41]
Joanna
Interesting. So Trump is torturing Mitch.
- [27:44]
Michael
Yeah, clearly.
- [27:46]
Joanna
I don't know how we continue talking about this, but the straight of Hormuzzi is closed again. The memo of understanding seems to be disintegrating as we speak.
- [27:59]
Michael
I mean, this is a kind of. No, no. I mean, I was thinking about this. We have to. This is yet another seminal moment in this ongoing war that Donald Trump can't extract him or the United States from. So and we just go in these cycles again, just, it's just on repeat, you know, and Trump is always on repeat because he has such a limited range of intelligence. Finally, this is what this is about. Limited range of understanding gives him a limited range of options. And so we're back again to where we were, if not last week than the week before and several, many, many weeks before that, saying that this is a Donald Trump who promised no forever wars is now in, obviously is a forever war.
- [28:53]
Joanna
Do you think he regrets it?
- [28:57]
Michael
Yeah, Well, I think he regrets being in a forever war, yeah. Does he? But I think you're asking a different question. Does he believe that what he's done, that he made errors that have gotten him into this position and gotten the United States into this position? No, he never acknowledges an error. Doesn't seem to have the capacity or the self awareness to appreciate that he might have made an error. This is just again, someone else's fault.
- [29:35]
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- [30:06]
Joanna
So he really does seem to be in a situation where the memo of understanding has evaporated. Each side is attacking the other. Again, this could go on and on.
- [30:20]
Michael
That's what's called a forever war. Yeah. And again, clearly of his making, the memo of understanding meant all things to all people. Therefore, the Strait of Hormuz, that point of vulnerability which has from the beginning of this war has stood out. And now this other weird thing of him charging.
- [30:47]
Joanna
Right. So both sides now want to charge for the Strait of Hormuz, right after Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, Head of National Security, governor of Venezuela, whatever he is, all his different jobs said it's against international law for anybody to charge.
- [31:08]
Michael
But this is a Trump thing and you can see how he does. We're gonna charge. No, I'm gonna charge. You know, it's that old fuck you. No, fuck you.
- [31:17]
Joanna
Right, so he's learned his foreign diplomacy from watching Scorsese movies.
- [31:23]
Michael
Yeah, well, it's just again, that lim, you know, to understand the limitations here, just the limitations of intelligence, which is what it is. I mean, he can't. He just doesn't know what to do. He reacts in such a narrow fashion to almost anything. Think about his language. The language is always narrow. The same language for any situation, the same 11 words used over and over again.
- [31:56]
Joanna
Right. Well, I feel like we're using the same words over and over again for the straight of Hormuz, because what else are you supposed to say? I mean, feels like we're now stuck in this, as you say, forever.
- [32:07]
Michael
Well, we, of course, are stuck. And we're stuck because of his limitations in getting us into it and then getting us out of it.
- [32:20]
Joanna
Well, and also his sort of obsession with being what he thinks of as the smartest man in the room when in fact, they've fired all the smart people who had a sense of nuance and who'd negotiated with Iran before.
- [32:33]
Michael
Yeah, well, which wouldn't make any difference because, remember, he doesn't listen to anyone.
- [32:37]
Joanna
Right. Okay.
- [32:39]
Michael
That's why he fires these people, because they try to tell him things and
- [32:44]
Joanna
he doesn't want to hear. Doesn't want to hear. All right, so are the Democrats going to be able to articulate this in the run up to the election? And we mustn't forget that Trump is addressing the nation on Thursday at 9:00 o', clock, apparently Eastern Time. He's going to talk about election fraud, or he's basically laying out his campaign strategy, which is to sow doubt in the American election system, which for the most part, is pretty damn good.
- [33:15]
Michael
Yeah. What's the question?
- [33:17]
Joanna
Well, the question is. The question is, are the Democrats going to be able to use the forever war and show voters that actually five presidents were begged by Netanyahu to get into this war, turned it down, and Trump was the only fool that was bamboozled into it?
- [33:40]
Michael
I think it's just the price of at the gas pump. I think the explanation for this is complicated, and now it's going to be exacerbated by the fact that no one knows where this is, what's happening there now, Are we At war? Are we not at war? Do we have a ceasefire? Do we not? And we will have another ceasefire. Remember, this is going to go again and he's going to give whatever it takes. There will be another ceasefire in the next two weeks, three weeks, something like that. And then we will go through this again.
- [34:19]
Joanna
So it just gets so tedious and boring and people switch off because they're like, I can't stand any more of it. I don't know what's happening. I don't need to understand it exactly.
- [34:28]
Michael
But they do understand if the price at the gas pump hurts, then that will have an effect. But Trump also knows this, so he's looking at this too. Say, what do we have to do? What do I have to give them now at this to maintain the price, to bring the price of gas down. He's already bragging about bringing the price of gas down, as though he's not the reason it did not go up,
- [34:57]
Joanna
as if he weren't responsible for the lift in the prices. All right, so let's come on then to your I thought quite surprising column on Substack about Bernie Sanders. Please explain.
- [35:11]
Michael
We're in this moment by what is the Democrats. The entire Democratic Party is in a, you know, holding their skirts around them because of all of these fairly far left socialist candidates are winning Democratic primaries. I mean, unexpected. I'm not sure this should have been unexpected, but it is to the establishment, the party leaders, completely unexpected. And they completely don't know what to do about this. And it now is a situation. Is the Democratic Party at war with itself? And I mean, I was thinking about this and I was thinking, who are these people, too? I don't know who these people are. I mean, none of them has seemed to ever have had a job before. And you know, that one person identified as a grad student
- [36:17]
Joanna
and more importantly, none of them have created jobs. Right?
- [36:20]
Michael
Well, they haven't done anything. They're just literally people who have a, who stand for this ideological position but with no evidence that they can turn that into accomplishments or legislation or so you think, what is this? Who are these people? How did they get there? And there is probably an answer. They got there because of Bernie Sanders. They're all Bernie Sanders people. He endorses them. That's how they get elected. And I was interested in last when Bernie Sanders and AOC did this.
- [37:02]
Joanna
Oh, they oligarchy tour.
- [37:03]
Michael
Oligarchy tour. And everybody sort of the Democrats, especially Pooh Bod this and this. They would go around from city to city and get and turn out 25, 30, 40,000 people. So that reminded me of when Donald Trump did this in 2016. And the Democrats said, oh yeah, that's so Bush.
- [37:23]
Joanna
The Republicans.
- [37:24]
Michael
So Bush league. No, the Democrats said, this is Bush league stuff. You know, this is not how we do politics anymore. Going from, you know, stadium to stadium. What is this, the 19th century?
- [37:38]
Joanna
Right. We're going to fill Hillary with her policy statements and people.
- [37:41]
Michael
Yeah. Who couldn't turn out, you know, you know, 30 people. So I was thinking about that and I was thinking that this is this, you know, there is something here. There is meaning here. There is power here and power that the Democrats are ignoring. And over all this period of time, this 10 year, this Trump period of time, there's only one Democrat who has consistently been there, not gone away, continued to build his base. His people have radiated out into the broader political field, electing these people. I mean, all of these. The people who are getting elected are being elected by people who have worked for Bernie.
- [38:33]
Joanna
Right.
- [38:34]
Michael
So who's the guy? The guy over this long period of time, this one Democrat, It's Bernie Sanders.
- [38:42]
Joanna
And how old is Bernie now? I want to read one paragraph from it.
- [38:45]
Michael
He's 84.
- [38:46]
Joanna
He's 84. So we go. Ten years ago, when he first emerged as the unlikely national figure Sanders, age was held against him. Ten years ago, it was held against him even though he was leading a youthful uprising. However, age was hardly his only disqualifier. There was his quixotic socialism, his unreconstructed leftiness, and even more difficult and irritating in grown up politics, his almost belligerent moralism. I love that paragraph. And then let's also talk, because there's another very observational point of us here. This is great. There are those of us old enough. This would be me, you to see with some amusement. Sanders as an entirely recognizable figure from a time when lefty Jewishness was, well, leftiness itself of a rather hoary sort. Jewish summer camp, socialist uncles, folk music, and in my case, a brief teen tenure as a member of the ypsl, the Young People Socialist League. It seems somewhat hard to reconcile the Mamdanis and the AOCs and the El Sayeds. That's the guy in Michigan and Chevalier's New York and igad, the Platners, though hopefully there isn't more than one with this tradition. Not unlikely. These Sandersniks have little idea that their socialism springs from this Jewish neighborhood. So. Interesting.
- [40:23]
Michael
Yeah, no, so, and I think that at the end of the Day. Who is there? Who is the Democrat that is rises above all others? You know, and there's a big, you know, this big kind of. Kind of search for who is the most ascendant. Who is the ascendant Democrat.
- [40:42]
Joanna
But you're not suggesting that Bernie Sanders, at the age of. He would be 86, would run in 2020?
- [40:48]
Michael
No, but I'm suggesting. I'm suggesting that this Bernie bro or these Bernie sisters or this Bernie cadre is what? Cause Bernie is now too old. Probably too old. These people are the replacement of that. They are what's rising because of Bernie, because he is the uncrowned king of the Democratic Party.
- [41:16]
Guest/Caller
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- [41:18]
Michael
Go easy.
- [41:19]
Sponsor/Ad Voice
Sold my car on Carvana. Amazing offer, really.
- [41:22]
Michael
I hit 200 on a scratcher.
- [41:24]
Sponsor/Ad Voice
Did the scratcher come to your house and hand you a check?
- [41:26]
Guest/Caller
No.
- [41:27]
Sponsor/Ad Voice
How many scratchers did you hit to get that? I hit a button on Carvana.com once.
- [41:32]
Michael
Okay, that's fair.
- [41:33]
Sponsor/Ad Voice
It's like the lottery, except you always win.
- [41:36]
Guest/Caller
Not like the lottery at all, actually.
- [41:38]
Sponsor/Ad Voice
Exactly. Inexplicably good offers worth bragging about. Sell your car today on Carvana. Pick up fees may apply.
- [41:46]
Joanna
Uncrowned king. Okay, so your friend Andy Bashir is now making noise. And of course, you think I'll. If the Mitch McConnell situation were happening in California, I think Gavin Newsom would have been having a field day with this. I think he would have been out there. He would have been frantically posting. He would see this as an opportunity for Gavin Newsom to step forward. Andy Beshear is a little bit more reticent. Andy, this could be your moment. But he senses that there is a moment and he might be able to seize it. So he's been teasing us with the idea that. That he might apply to appoint a special Senator While Mitch McConnell is sitting on the sidelines like this.
- [42:29]
Guest/Caller
Right.
- [42:30]
Joanna
He seemed very tentative about it. He told Ms. Now on a Sunday night, which if you want to bury the news or bury an idea, that's a good place to put it.
- [42:40]
Michael
Both on a Sunday night and both on Ms. Now. Yeah, well, the guy is running for president. Yes. And somebody said, I mean, this apparently can't happen. So the law was changed. It used to be that the sitting governor could, in the event that there was a vacancy, he could make the appointment.
- [43:03]
Joanna
Right.
- [43:04]
Michael
This several years ago was changed, perhaps anticipating Mitch's.
- [43:10]
Guest/Caller
No.
- [43:10]
Joanna
Clearly
- [43:13]
Michael
decline. And now the law provides for a special election. A special election, I think, relatively soon also.
- [43:25]
Joanna
Well, I think he can appoint Someone and he's saying that he's not acknowledging the change in the law, so he wants to hold the whole thing up with a legal challenge, which would be an interesting thing for Andy Beshear to do to get on the national radar. There is a moment here for Andy Beshear to break out of his milquetoast good old Kentucky governor and actually take a stand. People might like it. He could make some good trouble.
- [43:54]
Michael
Well, yeah, possibly. I mean, it's a dicey thing for Andy Beshear because, you know, Mitch McConnell is very popular in Kentucky.
- [44:04]
Joanna
It's not dicey in terms of him thinking about his future. He has to make some noise.
- [44:12]
Michael
Well, yes, but that's what you have to do when you're a governor of a swing state. You have to balance that. Yes, you can make national noise and become an American liberal hero, but then you're gonna have to return to your own Kentucky votes relatively red state.
- [44:34]
Joanna
So if you were advising him, as you were summoned to do last summer, to dinner for him, or not to advise him, but to share ideas.
- [44:42]
Michael
Well, share ideas, listen to his ideas,
- [44:45]
Joanna
listen to his policy paragraphs.
- [44:47]
Michael
Yes, he's good looking.
- [44:49]
Joanna
I will say. I think he's a.
- [44:51]
Michael
No, I think he should probably. I mean, he probably. He has to decide what he's going to do.
- [44:58]
Joanna
He is the straight Pete Buttigieg.
- [45:03]
Michael
No, no, Pete is much more charismatic. Pete is a pretty good retail politician. I mean, out there. I mean, he's a.
- [45:17]
Joanna
But Andy Beshear must be quite good because as you say, he's a Democratic governor in a red state.
- [45:23]
Michael
Well, I think one of the ways you get to be a Democratic governor in a, in a red state is that you act more like a Republican.
- [45:33]
Joanna
Well, perhaps people don't know he's a Democrat.
- [45:35]
Michael
Yeah, that's the point. I think it's. I mean, you bore everyone to death. I mean, I think that can be. That can work and seems to have worked for him. I don't know how you do that. And there's a lot. I mean, right now, Andy Bashir and a whole list of other people in the Democratic Party who are not Bernie Sanders, but who are in their own way competing with Bernie or being measured against him. What's the contrast? Gainer. That is a significant element of modern politics. Why do we have Donald Trump? Because he managed to look different from every other person in the Republican Party
- [46:22]
Joanna
and because he put out this tweet or this truth social about Lindsey Graham that sounds like a teenage girl. And it's oddly Effect.
- [46:30]
Michael
Right. So that kind of thing. Can you communicate? Can Andy Beshear communicate? It's a reach.
- [46:41]
Joanna
Perhaps he should do his version of this. Lindsey will be greatly missed. Exclamation point, exclamation point, exclamation point. Literally, what everybody is told in corporate America, never use an exclamation point. It's embarrassing, it's emotional, and, of course, Donald Trump does it. So sad. Exclamation point, no space. The lack of grammar in this really irritated me. But maybe Andy Bashir needs to do that.
- [47:07]
Michael
Yeah, well, I think Andy Beshear has to figure out how to be. How to be Andy Beshear in a way that is, I guess, surprising to people. I guess that gets attention, which is. Which is probably a contradiction in terms. So unless I cannot imagine what makes Andy Bashir president. Not that he would be a bad president. He seems like a very. Maybe he's a reasonable, reasonable guy. And I think maybe that's what you. That's what you try to argue. The country is now run. The world is now run by crazy people. What has happened at this moment in contemporary history is that the crazies have been allowed to rise to the top, and Andy Beshear very much seems not crazy. Okay, that's some campaign. I am not crazy.
- [48:17]
Joanna
I am not crazy. I am not crazy. All right, so we have many questions. Max, the intern has been collecting your comments and questions, and we've got a few questions I want to address directly with you. First question, Michael, is from someone called David Burton. And it's. I've just got to ask. Does Mick, Odd nickname for you, bleach his eyebrows? I had never noticed your eyebrows before.
- [48:47]
Michael
No, I think what you would notice is that I don't bleach them, and perhaps I should.
- [48:53]
Joanna
What color would you. Well, if you bleach them, you're gonna bleach them. Blonde?
- [48:56]
Sponsor/Ad Voice
Yeah.
- [48:56]
Michael
I don't know.
- [48:57]
Joanna
Or white.
- [48:57]
Michael
It doesn't.
- [48:58]
Joanna
David Burton. You didn't tell us. Do you want him to bleach his eyebrows? Someone says, does anyone have the vaguest idea on how to talk to these two? Does that mean we're untalkable to or. She's trying to reach us. This is from Kelly. Keith Sands. Kelly, we have. Well, you've just talked to us. You've just talked to us, so.
- [49:19]
Michael
But it might mean something else. It might mean, like, we're like Donald Trump. You can't. You know, all we do is talk, and we don't let anyone.
- [49:27]
Joanna
Right. We have a resistance to more information coming in we totally forgot to comment on, as several people pointed out, but Natalie Brown in particular pointed out that we didn't mention the fact that Trump talked about the Islamic Republic of Japan.
- [49:46]
Michael
And I missed that.
- [49:48]
Joanna
Well, he did. Well, he did. We miss a lot of it because.
- [49:51]
Michael
And where did he talk about that? Was that in a post?
- [49:56]
Joanna
It was in. I think it was when he was on the plane. He's always on the plane.
- [50:02]
Michael
Which plane?
- [50:04]
Joanna
Well, good question. Air Force grift Force One. And here is rather a good joke from Lindsey.
- [50:11]
Michael
Qataris grift Force One or.
- [50:13]
Joanna
Well, Grift Force One is the Qatari plane that we have spent $600 million at this point refitting with all sorts of things. But he got $400 million worth of value from the plane and then he gets to keep it. Or does he? Okay, this is from Lindsay Viath. Quite a good joke, actually. What happens to a liar when he dies?
- [50:37]
Michael
Well, I see the punchline here.
- [50:39]
Joanna
Okay, well, give us the punchline. It's a good one.
- [50:41]
Michael
He lies still.
- [50:44]
Joanna
I thought that was a good joke. Thank you, Lindsay. We're up for jokes. Actually expands the limeric ness of it all. Michael, there is no pro abortion. It's pro choice. Good point out from Lee Dip, but
- [50:58]
Michael
why do I have to subscribe to someone else's language on this? It's pro abortion. It's like you believe that abortions should be legal. We call it pro choice because we think that that will somehow elide the fact that an abortion is being performed.
- [51:19]
Joanna
It's taking place. All right, well, you have your point of view. There you go. Leah, this is what happens if you take on Michael. Be prepared for his response. Joanna, I think you display enormous patience dealing with Michael's continual rudeness and dismissiveness
- [51:35]
Michael
for many, many years.
- [51:37]
Joanna
For many, many years. Okay, and then final comment for today. Praise for the production team. Yes, great visual design here on YouTube. Best chapter names. Okay, final limerick from edits this week. Trapped for now in a cosmic glitch are twin phantoms, Machtaba and Mitch. Perhaps they're still alive. Or does the devil have to decide of his two new arrivals which is which? Okay, so we've also got some more art projects set in. This is for you. I'll give you a wrapped version, but this is kind of genius. Yes, have a look at them. This is from someone called Robert.
- [52:25]
Michael
Are these coasters? Are these coasters?
- [52:27]
Joanna
These are coasters. Look how good they are. These are fantastic coasters. Robert says he noticed that we drink, but we don't have any coasters, so
- [52:38]
Michael
that's because we have Formica.
- [52:40]
Joanna
I know we have Formica, but how nice to have a design appropriate coaster. Thank you. And now we have an artist who's been inspired by us and done some portraits. Your portrait on the way.
- [52:53]
Michael
How come you don't have an inside Trump's head T shirt?
- [52:58]
Joanna
Well, we should get inside Trump head T shirt.
- [53:02]
Michael
I'm not gonna wear them, but.
- [53:03]
Joanna
Well, I would like to wear one. Yeah, I know, we should get one. And so we're. And actually, we'd love your feedback on this. We're playing around with the idea of merch and I think we're going to launch an inside Trump's head subscription. Whereas part of the subscription you get a mug.
- [53:20]
Michael
That's all you get.
- [53:21]
Joanna
Well, you get access to. You get special access to you.
- [53:24]
Michael
And me get a full uniform, hat, T shirt, maybe.
- [53:29]
Joanna
Well, anyway, the point is, it's underway. It's underway. Would you like to look at the portrait that someone did of me? And they've done one of you and it's on its way, apparently. It just has. Mine got here first. And this is from Rebecca. I think it's Rebecca Fetone. Anyway, huge. Thanks. I like this. I like this. This is a. It's a portrait of me. And the portrait of you is coming now. The question is, will they be doing a portrait of you as you are now or when you are at school with all your hair? I love that picture we show to people. I think we should show it to people again. Gonna flash it up for people in case they missed you with long hair. If you have been. Thank you for joining us. We'll be back on Thursday with more inside Trump's head and preparing you for the president's speech on what we think is going to be his view on election fraud. And of course, tomorrow, it's so fascinating
- [54:26]
Michael
that he would pursue this. I mean, this is a loser issue.
- [54:31]
Joanna
I think it's a loser issue, too. I don't think people believe it, but maybe enough people believe it. I mean, people still think he won 2020.
- [54:42]
Michael
It's curious.
- [54:43]
Joanna
And of course, tomorrow, the Todd Blanche hearings.
- [54:47]
Michael
Oh, we should have gotten to Todd Blanche. That's his interesting. I mean, Todd is a really interesting figure. And again, one of those figures, not unlike in Lindsey Graham. To people who have decided that they have to do this, they have to swallow when it comes to Donald Trump and they're going to get something for that. And they're doing the Todd Blanche thing is justified on. He's the Client now, in fact, he is not the client. So that's an interesting thing. The United States is Todd Blanche's client.
- [55:25]
Joanna
Right.
- [55:25]
Michael
But it is very much. I do what the client needs me to do.
- [55:31]
Joanna
Well, we'll see the hearings start tomorrow and see whether or not any of the Democrat questioners. And amazingly, the hearings start. Chuck Grassley gets to ask the first questions. And Chuck Grassley is, I think, 93.
- [55:48]
Michael
Well, I'm sure he can still ask a question at 90.
- [55:52]
Joanna
Well, Mitch McConnell can't.
- [55:53]
Michael
I mean, they just.
- [55:53]
Joanna
And he's nine years younger. And then Lindsey Graham was nine years younger than Trump.
- [56:00]
Michael
And eventually, if you do that one more time, you're going to get to my. Oh, no, actually, Lindsey Graham is at my age. That actually hit me at that moment. I saw that. I thought, first thing, he looks terrible. I think he looks much older than I do.
- [56:19]
Joanna
No, he does. He does. He does. And he was always rushing off to Kyiv, too. I mean, he'd been there. Or Kiev, however you pronounce it, 10 times. He'd been there 10 times, just come back from a long flight. And that tragic thing of him saying to someone, I don't feel great. Them saying, apparently you need to go and see a doctor. And he was like, I'll go and see a doctor after I've done Meet the Press tomorrow. There's a terrible. Yeah. That a man would rather go on television to discuss, I guess, his plans for. For Ukraine and getting his bill through than he would go to a doctor. You could argue that he was putting the country first and Zelensky first. Or you could argue that he was putting television on television.
- [57:05]
Michael
Television first.
- [57:06]
Joanna
Television first. Yeah. He could have gone on the following week. Anyway, that's what happens with an aortic dissection. You don't have much time. I should think a lot of people are panicked by that. I bet there'll be tons of people calling their doctors now.
- [57:26]
Michael
Yeah. Well, it's that interesting thing that
- [57:31]
Sponsor/Ad Voice
when
- [57:32]
Michael
I was a kid, I remember everyone, they would say, how did that person die? To drop dead.
- [57:36]
Joanna
Yeah. Yeah.
- [57:37]
Michael
And no one drops dead anymore. It's the more the Mitch McConnell slow
- [57:42]
Joanna
exit, not with a bang, but a whimper.
- [57:47]
Guest/Caller
Okay.
- [57:47]
Michael
Anyway, on that note.
- [57:49]
Joanna
On that note, we will see you on Thursday. Okay. You can thank the production team now, Max the intern. We've actually got a news fellow with us as well this morning, Charlie Sherwood,
- [58:00]
Michael
Charlie, the news assistant. Ryan, Heather, Ben, Neil.
- [58:09]
Joanna
I'm just making up names. Rachel.
- [58:12]
Michael
Rachel, Heather, John, John, Pete, Hugh. Hugh.
- [58:20]
Joanna
All of them. All of them the entire office. So the good news is we have so many Bee beast tier members now there are too many names to read out and we really appreciate appreciate your support.
- [58:33]
Sponsor/Ad Voice
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- [59:01]
Michael
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- [59:16]
Joanna
That's it.
- [59:17]
Michael
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Joanna
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