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- [00:00]
A
This whole week, this was supposed to be the Melania week. I mean, they have spent time in the White House discussing this. This week was the give to the first lady and this means a lot to her. This Melania the movie is her statement.
- [00:20]
B
Michael.
- [00:21]
A
Joanna.
- [00:22]
B
All right, let's get into it. We've been talking and I know you've been talking to people in the White House. Let's actually find out what the hell is going on inside Trump's in that cavernous space.
- [00:35]
A
You know, enormous amount of, what would you call it, chatter this weekend and quite a bit of schadenfreude. In brief, let's cut this down. It is the Susie Wiles faction. Blaming and blame is a key thing in the Trump White House because Trump can never accept blame and there is always someone to blame. The Susie Wiles faction blaming Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller. Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem blaming each other. And together with that, and actually maybe over all that, the cloud over all of that is a truly pissed off first lady. Minneapolis and these ICE shootings, ice out of control, is ruining her week. Saturday was the first screening of Melania, the movie. Thursday is the premiere at the Kennedy center. And all anyone can talk about is the fiasco in Minneapolis. In other words, they are not talking about Melania the movie.
- [01:58]
B
Melania the country's most famous immigrant. Let's unpack the Kremlinology of all this because it seemed significant to me that Christine Noem's team had let it be known that she had asked for what turned out to be a two hour meeting with the President.
- [02:18]
A
Right. That is of course not true. And you can always assume in these things that the opposite is true. They were being, Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski were being called on the carpet. What we don't know is, is also that Stephen Miller has been called on the carpet. And there is another aspect of this. Stephen Miller has been talking to the MAGA side maga, the broader, the broader MAGA echo chambers and suggesting that the President, and this is, this would truly send up a MAGA red flag that the President is wobbly on immigration.
- [03:05]
B
The president is wobbly on immigration.
- [03:09]
A
And remember. And remember, and this is really, this is a kind of, kind of timeline here. The, the shooting of Alex Pretty is, that's Saturday morning. Saturday evening is the screening of Melania.
- [03:28]
B
The movie, the black tie screening.
- [03:30]
A
Yes. During this period, the President Donald Trump begins to shift in his, in his view of this. He begins to wobble, to speak. Now let me just flash Back to the first administration when a crisis, maybe not as large a crisis as Minneapolis is now, but it was certainly a large crisis at the time when the family, the policy of family separation of immigrants and that was largely at immigrants at the border. That policy was reversed really for only for one specific reason, which was Melania, the nation's most famous immigrant stepped in and said this was untenable. She expressed herself and she doesn't usually express herself. And remember, we're talking about, we're talking about the nature, the complicated balance of this marriage. And it is one of the things and almost everyone within the White House acknowledges that this, that this is a tripwire. This is something that is not allowed to happen. You cannot alienate the first lady to the extent that she makes it an issue with the President. That now has happened, beginning to happen starting on Saturday morning, Saturday night into Sunday, Monday the the and remember again, this is the first Lady's week. Thursday, the the Kennedy center premiere of Melania, the movie now being hopelessly overshadowed. The president and the president is not, as we've said many times before, moved by normal political considerations, but he is moved by a pissed off wife.
- [05:37]
B
Absolutely remarkable insight there. I love your description of Melania as the country's most famous immigrant. And of course it was Tom Homan that came up with the separating families at the border policy while he was working for President Obama who finally has come out and said things. We can come to that later. But let's discuss the fractionalism in the White House in terms of this has flat felt certainly this time round the second administration has felt more coherent or.
- [06:14]
A
At least they haven't very much. I mean the first administration was riven. It was a day by day, hour by hour affair of one faction against another, one person against another of. And that that was, that was the central dynamic constantly on a daily basis who was up, who was down in this administration in this year. And I think for a combination of reasons the president being determined to do what he wanted to do of him, his determination to amass power. I want the power. I don't care what has to be done to get it. The power, the power, the power. And in that in the administrative details of that he had Susie Wiles who did not take, who does not take an ideological position. Her position is just I am there to shepherd this through, to get this done, to herd cats, to keep everybody in line at the same time. And it's really is a kind of thing that that is, it is considering what has happened through this year difficult to appreciate but it is true and it is pronounced. Susie Wiles is quite a moderate. I mean she is quite, quite, quite an old school rhino, if you will Republican. And the tension has always been there between Susie Wiles and Stephen Miller. Stephen Miller is the opposite obviously of a rhino Republican.
- [08:06]
B
Well and when people, when American citizens, when Vaicu nurses are being shot, people take sides and who is going to side with Stephen Miller who we know from discussions on this podcast Trump himself thinks is weird, thinks he's crazy, crazy Stephen. And that doesn't matter when Stephen Miller is doing something that is working but when he's doing something that's not working, which is clearly what's happening with ice, this is terrible.
- [08:40]
A
And think go back to blame. You get to the point the understanding that someone is going to be blamed here and that person is not going to be the President of the United States. The therefore who is going to be blamed? And I mean logically who are the who's the front line here? I mean I think a lot of people are reporting that that Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski are going to be blamed and that that certainly is fair. But the policy, the root of the policy here is Stephen Miller and Stephen Miller, of course Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem have been relatively align are in carrying out this policy. But from Stephen Miller's point of view it is going to be Kristi Noem has failed to carry out this policy, is screwing up the policy is mismanaging. ICE is a bad communicator. From Kristi Noem's point of view it is going to be she has been put in the position of having to carry out Stephen Miller's policy, his quota of arrests, his the ne the necessity of putting untrained or minimally trained ICE agents in the field. They are going at this each against each other and it's well yet unclear who the president will side with if anyone.
- [10:14]
B
But what we do know is that Kristi Noem is being sidelined here and Tom Homan is being sent into Minneapolis to take over the ICE operation. They're reporting directly to the President. Let's talk a little bit here.
- [10:27]
A
Also let me just clarify bureaucratically what's going on there. Stephen Miller is in charge. Stephen Miller gets to essentially remove Kristi Noem or get her to take a step back. But that means he is all the more exposed bureaucratically. This is if Homans doesn't fix the situation, if the situation is not fixed, it will come back to Stephen Miller. There's no one anymore between him and the policy.
- [11:02]
B
Okay, and let's talk about Corey Lewandowski here, former campaign manager for Trump during Trump 1 and Kristi Noem's open quote marks advisor, close quote marks. What is his influence here?
- [11:19]
A
Well, I mean, this is important, important as to, as to the internal, the internal workings and character and what's going on in, in the White House. Susie Wiles hates Corey Lewandowski. Corey Lewandowski. And this is again, this is fundamental. During the campaign, Corey Lewandowski set out to get Susie Wiles fired. Susie Wiles and then Chris La Civita who were, who were the co heads of the campaign. He came in there and there was a real, he led a coup which many people thought was on the verge of succeeding. This would have been in August, September 2024. And I mean, I mean he literally came into headquarters in West Palm beach, started, started moving desks, moving offices, making people, people show up and show up early in the morning and, and describe their job function. And Susie Wiles and Chris La Civita retreated to another floor and, and it was a major, it was a major moment, a standoff in the campaign.
- [12:43]
B
And Michael, Michael, hold on, hold on. Why did Trump want them to come in? Why did he hire Cory to do this?
- [12:51]
A
You know, I mean, he didn't necessarily hire Corey to do this. He hired Corey. Corey needed a job. At that point, went to the president, I need a job. You got to do something for me. You got to put me on the payroll. He Trump said, sent down word. Yeah, yeah, Cory needs a job. Put him on the payroll.
- [13:14]
B
And did Trump feel loyalty to Corey because of the first administrator? I mean, I'm sure lots of people hit up the president or he wasn't president then, but the candidate for jobs. Why did he deserve a job? Why did Trump feel fun?
- [13:28]
A
No, I think he's, he's always been fond of Corey. As many times as Corey has been fired and pushed out. And there have been, this was not the first, the first instance Trump has remained fond of him. And that's, that's the loyalty thing. Corey has always been loyal to the president and he has been one of those people on the phone with the president. Remember, this is a key thing in this White House. Who has the telephone relationship with Donald Trump? Cory has had that relationship over a long period of time. Therefore, yes, Cory says, I need a job. Trump calls down, give Cory a job. And then suddenly Corey is announcing that he's taking over the campaign. I mean, I mean it was literally like that I mean, I think that there was a. There was one intermediate moment in which he said. In which he started to refer to the three of us running the campaign. Corey, Susie Wiles and Chris La Civita. But suddenly that was a promotion. He. Everybody was, oh, my God, he's. And then he edged them out. And then it was just him. He was. And he gave himself a title, the Chairman of the campaign. This went on. I mean, this is largely. I, I described this in my, in my book, but otherwise it's been largely unreported. And, and then, and then there came a moment when they, they. They staged. Susie Wiles and Chris La Civita staged a counter coup, which was. Consisted of them going to Trump and saying, we're going to quit. You. You have to decide between Cory and us. Whereas Trump would have been happy not to decide, just letting them fight it out. But they, they pulled the ripcord there, and Trump was forced to choose them over Corey. But that doesn't mean that his regard for Corey is truly any less. And then Cory obviously. Obviously sort of came. Came in the back door through Kristi Noem now, and he has. Has. Which they deny, but everyone understands a romantic relationship. Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski. And Corey Lewandowski, they are an item.
- [16:01]
B
Okay. They deny they're an item, but everybody thinks they're an item. And he does have a reputation for being something of a Lothario.
- [16:10]
A
Something of a Lothario, Yes. Yes. Oh, actually. And that was a thing that was one of the elements in getting him pushed out of the campaign is that Susie Wiles and Chris Lacivita started to circulate rumors about him doing Corey things within the campaign office.
- [16:35]
B
Interesting. What is his position now? We know he's a special advisor to Kristi Noem, whatever their relationship, but she's obviously getting advice from him.
- [16:48]
A
No, and I think. They think. They think Kristi Noem is. And this has been. Throughout the, the, the first year of this administration. Kristi Noem is a, you know, is a lightweight. And she has been. Her credentials have been bolstered by the fact that Corey Lewandowski is her guy in. However one wants to interpret that it's Corey Lewandowski running Christi Noem, and that gives the President some amount of comfort, a large amount of comfort. I mean, he does think that Cory is kind of brilliant.
- [17:29]
B
Okay, well, what's happening in Minneapolis is clearly not brilliant. It's very damaging for the Republicans. They had, as you have pointed out, consistently an actual scandal. The Democrats hadn't managed to get a grip on with the children's nursery somehow funneling off of money, although they had, I think, put 58 people behind bars over it. It was being investigated. But nevertheless, the point is they had a political advantage. The Democrats were weak there. They've come in, they've mishandled this hugely. Two people have died, two unthreatening people died in horrible circumstances that everybody has seen on video. We've been told not to our eyes, which is ridiculous. And this is now backfiring hugely on the president. Do you think that Susie Wiles can get rid of Stephen Miller?
- [18:24]
A
No, I don't think, you know, I don't know. And it's an interesting thing. Will heads roll role for this? And my, my gut feeling is that they won't, that he's dug in that even Kristi Noemi maybe keeps her job job here and that the, and that the effort will be, the Trump effort will be, will be a further distraction. What happens now? I mean, the question now is how do we get out of this? That's what's going on in the White House. How do we get out of this?
- [19:01]
B
And ironic for a president who made his name and sort of swept to popular appeal by his phrase, you, you're fired. And yet he can't actually fire people over something that someone needs to be fired over.
- [19:17]
A
Yes. And you know, to interpret that the level of it is very hard to fire people who are abject in their loyalty. In the first administration, he fired a lot of people and he fired almost in every instance in he fired them because he suspected that they were disloyal or they had openly demonstrated their disloyalty. But in this instance, when you've populated your team with abject sycophants, then it's sort of hard. What do you do? Everybody is there trying to outwit loyal the other person. We love you, Mr. President. You're the greatest. This is, you know, I mean, there is no break from this. There is no, nobody is kind of is kind of taking him to task for the policy.
- [20:24]
B
And of course, Tom Homan is going to feel grateful and loyal to him because in 2024 he was the subject of an FBI investigation that allegedly had him taking a paper bag of $50,000 as a kickback for a potential government contract if Trump were to get reelected, which of course he did. Emile Beauvais, your friend from your friend is one of the lawyers in the I think E. Jean Carroll case. But who knows many cases against the president. And now he's what is he, a federal appeals court judge? He decided there wasn't enough evidence against Tom Homan, that the tape, the tape of him allegedly taking the paper bag full of cash was not sufficient evidence to prosecute him in any. But now he's been sent to run ICE in Minneapolis.
- [21:13]
A
Let me just digress for a minute and say. Over the weekend, I got a text from a Trump lawyer. The text, it was a text that had gone astray. It wasn't for me, and it was, it was discussing legal strategy. I immediately called my lawyers and said, are they discussing. Is this a strategy about our case, my case against Melania? And we couldn't quite figure that out whether, whether this involved us or one of the hundreds of other cases that they have have obviously going. And then a little while later, I got a text from this person saying, oh, that was misdirected. Please ignore. And then I said, sure, but, but how goes.
- [22:01]
B
Right. Can you imagine being the lawyer that mistakenly added you to the thing to think it's because he'd just been listening to Inside Trump's head.
- [22:09]
A
Yes, yes, the key thing. Then said, this lawyer said, off the record.
- [22:16]
B
Oh, can you imagine putting you on there by accident? Gosh, he must have gone home to his. Well, I'm assuming it was a man. He must have gone home to his wife and said, you never believe what I did today.
- [22:26]
A
Assume nothing.
- [22:28]
B
Assume nothing. You don't think heads will roll over this?
- [22:32]
A
And let's go to a word from our sponsors.
- [22:36]
B
And I'm back with Michael Wolf inside the dark, cavernous place of Donald Trump's brain.
- [22:41]
A
This will be a test because this is bad. It can't get much worse than this. I mean, this is, you know, and we've said this before, I want to be careful about this, that we've identified a tipping point in the, in this administration. So many, we've had so many tipping points before, and then we move on to the next one and we forget this. Can we forget the fact that two people have been, have been killed in cold blood? I would certainly hope not. But these are, these are peculiar times. But we'll see. And, and, and the focus. And I think we should, we should remember that and everybody should remember that. Remember this. The focus ought to be on the specific policy. The specific policy begins with Stephen Miller, and it is all about quotas. I think that's the most, that is really the root of this policy problem. You have to produce this many arrests. If you don't produce this many arrests, you are failing at your mission. That's Stephen Miller's policy to carry out that policy. It is the specifics to execute on this policy. That's Kristi Noem's job, aided by Corey Lewandowski. They really are the two pillars. When Susie Wiles blames Christie and Stephen. That is correct.
- [24:14]
B
Nicholas Maduro, who. I mean, this time last week, we were discussing Greenland and the end of.
- [24:21]
A
Nat, and it's funny, I just want to say, when you said Nicolas Maduro, who I was thinking, suddenly it popped in my head that that's a New York Times reporter.
- [24:31]
B
I mean, the speed and the velocity of the. This insanity. It's so difficult to keep a grip on it. I mean, I did think it was interesting that the nurse was armed and that instead of understanding what that would signal to the MAGA base, I think it was Gregory Bevino, the head of ICE operations in Minneapolis, who's now being sent back to California, where we're reassured that he's shortly to be retired, said, well, people shouldn't be taking arms to protest, which immediately riled up the MAGA base because they're nothing better than to take it. And, of course, someone brilliantly found Kash Patel's tweets from five years ago in praise of Kyle Rittenhouse, who turned up at one of the demonstrations armed with his enormous rifle, saying to Kyle, you know, we support you, whatever you need. We're behind you. The ridiculous Keystone Kash Patel riding around on government jets with his girlfriend.
- [25:36]
A
I think wherever you look in this story, you start to get these kinds of contradictions, and you get them because it's a misguided policy, because they can't justify it. They obviously can't justify the specific acts. Here we see the evidence, and what you have, again, is these untrained or suboptimally trained enforcement agents having to fulfill quotas. What do they think is going to happen?
- [26:11]
B
And props to Chris Maddow, the wanted to be Republican governor candidate for Minneapolis. We know Tim Walsh is stepping down, who stepped down from his race. He saying in all good faith, he couldn't possibly be a member of the Republican Party that was supporting what has happened in Minneapolis. And he was one of the leading candidates.
- [26:35]
A
He couldn't have won anyway. That was not a realistic race. But it then became the Trump people have turned this into a humiliating race. It's an interesting thing that you can, you know, you're willing to risk defeat but not utter humiliation.
- [26:54]
B
Well, I think what was perhaps unusual about it was that he came out and just said, this is not what the Republican Party should be doing. I can't get behind this. And you know, most people don't want to take on Donald Trump and don't want to criticize the party because they know what's going to happen to them. I mean, this guy can't be primaried, but you can certainly be doxed. You can have people, you know, arrive outside your home. This is not a, you know, it's brave for people to speak up is all I'm saying.
- [27:25]
A
I always assume that there is some pretext for bravery, but fine.
- [27:30]
B
Well, you may be right. You may be right. But let's hope it points to a new leaf for the Republican Party post Donald Trump.
- [27:38]
A
Well, that is a hollow hope.
- [27:43]
B
Well, there will be. It's not going to be.
- [27:46]
A
Nothing is going to be. Again, what, what you're doing there, he said accusatorily, which I don't mean to be.
- [27:54]
B
It's fine to be accusatory. I think you do mean to be.
- [27:59]
A
Is ascribing normal.
- [28:01]
B
I knew you were going to say that. I'm normalizing it.
- [28:03]
A
I'm normalizing it to this time. It's not just normalizing it, but it's, it's looking for an explanation, a cause and effect explanation in those explanations don't work here. And it is on the part of virtually everybody talking about this. The fallacy that they fall into and the fallacy now is that this terrible thing has happened. This is going to cause Donald Trump to back up, it's going to cause him to reassess, it's going to chasten him in some way. And I think it should be very clear. I that is not going to happen. He is, he could, he may well change the subject. He may well go off in another direction. But the fundamental Donald Trump, which is his fundamental mission, to grab as much power as he can, to grab all power, continues on nothing. This will not change anything. You know, again, it's just important to understand this is not normal. And even if there is a such a sudden reaction, normalish reaction, oh, that's bad. We have to change the politics of this. We have to change the perception of this. That which any president and any politician would do, that does not change the direction of this administration.
- [29:39]
B
Of course it's not normal. Of course it's not normal. And finally, Obama and Bill Clinton, who you predicted wouldn't come out, but you were hoping that Obama would have both come out and said the Alex Pretty killing was a pivotal moment that Americans need to step up and understand what's happening here. And Obama, I guess he sort of gave out a statement saying it should be a wake up call to every American, regardless of the party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault. When we talked about President Obama not doing enough last week, people were very angry. We got lots of sort of comments saying, whoa, this isn't about Obama. But it is difficult to not feel like they should have a bigger presence, but because as you point out, they still have moral authority over the Democratic Party. Anyway, he has come out and said something and, and Bill Clinton has added his voice.
- [30:35]
A
Finally. Finally. I mean, and maybe he came out because of, because we shamed him.
- [30:43]
B
Well, let's not get high on our own supply. I'm sure he came down because the murder of Alex pretty shamed him.
- [30:49]
A
Well, yeah, you know, again, to wait for someone to be murdered. Two people. He didn't come out for the first murder. It took two murders for Barack Obama to weigh in here.
- [31:04]
B
Okay, I'm just going to read you Bill Clinton's statement. Over the course of a lifetime, we face only a few moments where the decisions we make and the actions we take will shape our history for years to come. This is one of them. And then he said the people in charge are lying to the public and telling them not to believe what we've seen with our own eyes. Do you think the presence of cell phones here and the fact that we all saw what was going on changes what we wouldn't have seen 30 or 40 years ago? Everybody now is taking pictures of this stuff. Alex Pretty was taking pictures of this stuff.
- [31:39]
A
Yeah, no, no, I think obviously this is what this is all about. We see this, you would have been able, this would have been much easier to cover up. And God knows they tried to cover it up, but, you know, a frame by frame analysis makes it significantly more difficult. And, and this, obviously they failed to cover this up.
- [31:59]
B
And I think what makes people angry is being told they're not seeing what they're seeing.
- [32:05]
A
Yeah, no, don't believe your lying eyes. Of course. You know, but let me read something because I, I was, I was going through some, some files and trying to think about this and trying to explain, you know, and that's all we, we do is try to explain. How do we, how, how have we gotten here? Which, which is, is staggering. I mean, you know, Barack Obama is finally saying, weighing in, how have we gotten here? We are, we have gotten to a place where. An unimaginable place in American history.
- [32:41]
B
Right. And a government of one, a Government of one.
- [32:44]
A
And I was. And I was going through some, Some materials over the weekend, and I found some. A conversation with Steve Bannon, which took place in the first administration. And Bannon was talking about what would happen if Trump got a second term, a second term in which he no longer had to face. Think about facing the voters. Here's what nobody gets, Bannon said. He'll be unchained off the reservation. No moral constraints, no scruples, no cares. And at this point in this conversation, Bannon started to laugh hysterically. And I think he was laughing at the, the absurdity of, of the idea of Donald Trump getting four years in which he was accountable basically to no one. It'll be vendetta and payback and fuck everybody. It'll be an America that nobody ever dreamed of. Donald Trump off his meds is something that nobody is prepared for.
- [33:58]
B
God, how prophetic. How prophetic.
- [34:04]
A
Again, just in the context of this. And there's this sudden righteousness on the part of Bill Clinton, on the part of Barack Obama, that normal political consequences are facing Donald Trump and that he will have to bow to them. And my concern and fear and belief is that he won't. He'll move on. We are not. Minneapolis is not going to rescue us.
- [34:39]
B
Well, and as he said, you know, he could stand on Fifth Avenue and shoot someone and people would let him get away with it. And they've now shot two people in Minneapolis. Let's not forget Rene Nicole Goode, as well as Alex Pretty, the VA nurse. And there was something particularly poignant about the fact that people who'd turned up to stand at his vigil, a lot of them were fellow nurses and they all had their stethoscopes round their neck. I mean, incredible moments in modern America you would not think you would see. And for what? For what? An insane policy by an insane guy that had nothing to do with. Between the two Trump administrations. And sidled back to Mar A Lago, sitting there, hoping that Trump would notice him, and then, through his abject loyalty, got picked up as an appalling public servant.
- [35:33]
A
Stephen Miller.
- [35:34]
B
Yeah, yeah, Stephen Miller and his wife, who has a sort of Magda Goebbels type podcast where she fawningly interviews the cabinet members and their wives. I mean, it's the most egregious, egregious thing you can imagine.
- [35:52]
A
Once more, a commercial break, and Michael.
- [35:56]
B
And I are back inside Trump's head.
- [35:58]
A
What is our hope here? Perhaps only Melania.
- [36:02]
B
Well, tell me everything about the black tie intimate screening of the Brett Ratner. Happily, Brett Ratner no longer. Me too. But back out there, given the Rush Hour 4 movie to make by Paramount, who's desperately trying to still do the Warner Brothers bid. Remember all that. She's furious. This was supposed to be her moment. She looked fabulous. She turned.
- [36:29]
A
This was supposed to be the Melania week. I mean, they have spent time in the White House discussing this. This is, this is something to. This week was the give to the First Lady. They took away the East Wing. But this, she's, she's getting, she's getting this week. And this means a lot to her. This, this Melania, the movie is her statement.
- [36:56]
B
And it means a lot to Jeff Bezos because he's paid a $40 million. Well, it doesn't matter.
- [37:01]
A
Jeff Bezos, I'm sure, could care less. He's already gotten what he wants from this, this, this movie, which, which is, you know, to, to be able to suck up in the way that really matters to the White House.
- [37:14]
B
Well, I noticed he was in power give money the weekend. He was not at the black tie White House special screening though.
- [37:22]
A
Tim Cook, we'll see, we'll see if he is at the, the premiere at the Trump Kennedy center on Thursday.
- [37:32]
B
But, well, his CEO, Andy Jassy was there on Saturday night. Tim Cook was there. The CEO of Apple was there. Getting a lot of backlash online from people saying they want to boycott Apple products. And you know, Tim Cook, who's got on his Twitter bio some quote from Martin Luther King saying, you know, the most important thing to do in life is ask what you can do for other people.
- [38:00]
A
The weakness of the opposition, it seems to me, is kind of vividly displayed in the call to boycott Apple.
- [38:10]
B
Right. Well, it's hard to boycott both Apple and Amazon because they've made themselves vital. But what about a government shutdown? Chuck Schumer is back and now the Dems want a government shutdown because they want to cleave off the Department of Homeland Security over this Minneapolis business.
- [38:30]
A
If not now, when do we think.
- [38:33]
B
That'S going to happen?
- [38:36]
A
You know? Well, I've given up a long time ago thinking that the Democrats are going to do anything which requires an amount of. What would be the word. Backbone.
- [38:49]
B
Backbone.
- [38:49]
A
Backbone. I don't know. But should they. Is this an opportunity? Well, should they? Obviously, yes. Is this an opportunity? Without a doubt. Does it require some fortitude? Yes. Do the Democrats have that? No.
- [39:10]
B
Right. I mean, even Jeanne Shaheen that led the, I think it was eight Democrats who decided against keeping on with the shutdown. Last year has said that she's not going to support approving the funding that they need to keep the government open. They're offering a compromise, which is they just cut out or they carve out the Department of Homeland Security against the other government funding. But again, Chuck Schumer seems pretty lame over this. He is calling people to rouse themselves. Let us be roused.
- [39:44]
A
Let us be roused. We are roused.
- [39:46]
B
We are roused.
- [39:47]
A
Who isn't roused? Yes, everybody's roused. But Chuck Schumer.
- [39:51]
B
5 million in advance ticket sales for Melania's documentary. I even got. We've had lots of texts from people saying how they are quietly boycotting it. I think we should be noisily boycotting. And someone from Tokyo saying that they'd been looking at the Tokyo movie centers because there are ad campaigns there, even though nobody knows who Melania is in Tokyo, apparently. And she would be sending us. She was going to study the various advanced seating plans of movie theaters in Tokyo and letting us know how many tickets have been sold. Thank you for that. As you said, Michael, it is Melania's week, which means we have questions for you in your ongoing case against the first lady. Various people have written in to suggest that you try and serve her papers, which we know has proved a challenge. In a bouquet of flowers presented by a small child. You may have to get very cunning in the way that you serve her. Anyway, here's a question from Dredge Rivers. Great name, Dredge Rivers. Ask Melania if anyone related to her or her or otherwise ever asked her to use her position, influence with her husband to expand, expedite their citizenship and how she responded.
- [41:07]
A
Okay.
- [41:08]
B
And then there's a question here which I don't think you're going to want to ask, but I'm just putting it in there. And it's from someone called Tyrrell Tunga. 26:24. Question for Melania. Does Donald have bad bo. If. How do people cope?
- [41:22]
A
I mean, I mean, I hear this. This is a social. A social media trope. And, and of the occasions that I have been with the President. In smelling distance. In smelling distance, there have been quite a number. Nope. He was as. As. As sweet as can be.
- [41:46]
B
All right. And then we have. Let, let's. I'm going to read this out on a garfried limerick because Garfield's been busy at work again, as have lots of people. And because I was away for the weekend, I wasn't organized about keeping tabs on all the different posts. I'm going to Go back and do that. But I'm going to read us out with Garfield. There once was a don full of bile who weaponized spite with a smile. He'd piss on the weak, blame ghosts for his reek and tweet a rabid feral child.
- [42:19]
A
What more is there to say?
- [42:20]
B
There's not much else to say. To say except they all hate each other in the White House. They're now going after each other in the White House. And Michael Wolff will be talking to people in the White House and bringing you the best Kremlinology that we possibly can. And of course, Melania will be back on Thursday as Melania gears up for her premiere at the Kennedy Center.
- [42:49]
A
Aren't we going to Washington and doing the show from outside the. Well, we could do Trump and Kennedy Center.
- [42:56]
B
Well, if you would you to do that. No, There you go. There you go. I think you learn more from just talking to people who are in the White. In the White House. Anyway, Michael, thank you again for a really interesting insight. Probably no heads will roll apart from Gregory Bovino, who's been dispatched to California today, I think as we speak, Tom Homan to Minneapolis to calm everybody down. And Melania gearing up for what she hopes will be a premier. But how can her husband inadvertently or vertically, in fact spoil it for her? Do you think he doesn't. The fact that she's getting attention. Do you think actually Donald Trump doesn't want Melania to be a success in the same way that, you know, charismatic leaders don't want to be followed by anybody and he's already making it difficult.
- [43:46]
A
For JD And Marco? I don't, I think, I, I think the issues there are the, the intricate balance of this relationship. What he does not want is a uncontrolled, a pissed off and uncontrolled Melania.
- [44:06]
B
I'm pissed off. Off Melania. You see smiley Melania. I am pissed off. Melania, behind scenes. Behind scenes. I'm very pissed off.
- [44:14]
A
Yeah, you know, I mean those opaque gestures that she is very capable of making. He doesn't want that.
- [44:21]
B
Michael, thank you very much. But if you have been, thank you for joining us. Leave us a comment on your thoughts on the infighting, which is clearly going on with very sharp knives at the White House. Who do you think is going to win? Is Stephen Miller going to stay? Is Kristi Noem on the way out? What about Corey Landowski? And don't forget to subscribe to the Daily Beast. We really do have coverage that nobody else has. And Michael gives you a perspective that nobody else has.
- [44:54]
C
Joanna hi. I have to tell you about something that we're obsessed with. I'm Kevin Fallon. And I'm Matt Wilstein and we are hosting Obsess, the podcast about all the TV shows, movies and entertainment newsmakers that we're all obsessed with. Make sure you subscribe to us on YouTube at the YouTube channel. Make sure you follow us wherever you get your podcasts. Just search for Obsessed the podcast and we will see you there.
- [45:20]
B
Big thanks to our special Bebeast tier of members. Here they are Yvette Johnson Me Thinks Batsy o' Farrell Mills and Lynn's Shelby Max Cubitt, David Sherry Thomas Moore, Maria Voltain, D. Huger Watts Cynthia Lund, John H. Overocker Deb K. Ostrander Sandra Clark Travels With Carl Andrew Beaver Capinator Harry Clark Dawn McCarthy Daniel dog lover M. Griner Dyestone Fulvia Orlando Herbie Andrew Mellor Tattnall, Val Love Francisco Will Hutchison, Andrea Hodel Bocock D.C. sharon Shipley, Connie Rutherford, Karen White and last but never least.
- [46:06]
A
Heidi Riley, Devin Heather Ryan Rachel thanks as always and Neil and Neil. Want more great listens? Check out our comedy podcast the Last Laugh and our Star Studded the Daily Beast podcast@thedailybeast.com podcasts if you enjoyed this.
- [46:25]
B
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