Podcast Summary: The Daily Beast Podcast

Episode: "These Are All the Signs Trump's Grip is Slipping"

Date: December 9, 2025
Host: Hugh Docherty (filling in for Joanna Coles)
Guest: David Rothkopf (Daily Beast columnist, foreign policy expert)

Episode Overview

This episode examines the increasingly precarious nature of Donald Trump’s hold on power, both domestically and in terms of foreign policy, through a detailed discussion with David Rothkopf. Topics include the Trump administration’s recent national security and defense strategies, the international implications of Trump’s “America First” doctrine, deteriorating relationships within Trump's Cabinet, economic fallout from tariffs, and hints that key figures and even donors are losing faith in the president. The episode is laced with dark humor, political anecdotes, and scathing observations about the personalities at the heart of the current administration.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Trump's Declining Control and Public Image

• Opening Thoughts
  David Rothkopf immediately frames Trump as a figure of the past, with his power waning even among Republicans:

  • "Donald Trump is at the end of his story. This is not a person whose biography is about their future. It's about their past. And everybody can see that in Washington. Republicans are making fun of Trump behind the scenes." (01:53)

• Physical and Symbolic Signals
  References to news coverage obsessed over Trump’s health and vanity (band-aids, cankles, naming things after himself) highlight desperation for legacy and signs he’s losing touch.

2. Radical Shifts in U.S. Foreign Policy

• Use of Lethal Force, International Law, and the ‘Murder’ Claim
  Rothkopf condemns the administration's new military actions, particularly the sinking of boats and extrajudicial killings as violations of international law:

  • "They're committing murder... sinking the boat in the first place was murder because we're not at war with anybody." (04:54)
  • "It's breaking international law. It's breaking the laws of war... It was wrong of Hegseth to say kill them all." (05:50)

• Trump Doctrine and New National Security Strategy
  Trump’s strategy is described as “outrageous,” aligning the U.S. with authoritarians and racists, abandoning traditional allies:

  • "The national security strategy... is to coddle Russia, coddle China, pull the rug out from under our allies... Trump is essentially saying, there's a Trump corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, he gets to decide who gets to deal with what in the hemisphere." (06:20)
  • "This one is different because it is so outrageous... Trump is doing in this document is saying we're part of that [ethno-nationalist] group." (07:46)

• Memorable Quote

  • "I expect what you'll see is efforts to pull troops out of Europe. And the Congress is afraid of it... He's going to ignore it." (11:57)

3. European Relations and the Embrace of Far-Right Ideology

• Document Language and Ethno-Nationalism
  Rothkopf and Docherty ridicule language about “promoting European greatness” and note the overt racial component:

  • "It means that there are people coming to Europe who aren't white people... It's the same thing that Putin says and Orban says." (09:53)

• Turning Away from Democracy
  Key alliances are being traded for relationships with authoritarian states.

  • "We are now signed up to be the baddies... on the side of authoritarians. If you think democracy is a good thing, that's bad." (14:35)

4. Economic Policy and the Domestic Consequences

• Tariffs, Rising Costs, and the Collapse of Trump’s Promises
  The short- and long-term domestic impact of “America First” is dissected, notably how tariffs raise costs for ordinary Americans:

  • "You're going to see prices go up, you're going to see the economy slow down. You're going to see that the services you got from the Veterans Administration are not as available... the cost of your health care double or triple or quadruple." (24:28)

• Failed China Strategy

  • "All the US steps that were allegedly meant to eat into Chinese exports to the US... didn't [work]." (17:56)
  • "Trump likes to say, you know, he holds the cards. I think the Chinese have revealed he does not hold the cards." (18:08)

• Memorable Analogy
  Rothkopf humorously applies the "Dog Park Theory" to foreign policy:

  • "Donald Trump is looking around the world sniffing all the butts. And for all the puffing himself up, he has concluded Xi Jinping is the alpha dog." (19:06)

5. Cabinet Turmoil and Growing Republican Resistance

• Cabinet “Cage Match” Dynamics
  The conversation turns to infighting, attrition, and visible fracturing among high-level MAGA figures:

  • "It does look a bit like there's a cage match going on in the Cabinet because there are people who are beginning to see, as you have said, that this ends and they have to position themselves." (30:06)

• Hegseth’s Vulnerability and the Hollowing Out of the National Security Council
  Rothkopf describes the sidelining of the National Security Council and predicts Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s imminent ouster due to unpopular and reckless decisions:

  • "He pissed off all the generals and admirals, and they know how to play the game better than he knows how to play the game... I don't think Hegseth can survive this." (31:46–34:54)

• No More Fear of Trump

  • "They're not afraid of Trump anymore. And that in some respects the biggest development in U.S. politics in the past couple months is nobody's afraid of Trump." (35:30)

6. Trump’s Age and the Search for Legacy

• Trump will turn 80 in June; the administration is increasingly operating like a legacy project gone awry.
• The fixation on naming landmarks after himself is read as an indicator of Trump's awareness of his mortality and declining relevance:
  • "He literally cannot pass an object without thinking it should be named for him... the number of things he wants to name after himself... is a good indicator of how ill he thinks he is, because this is just him looking for some legacy." (41:08)

7. Who Is Looking for ‘Plan B’?

• Commentators, donors, and even tech titans are quietly positioning for the post-Trump era:
  • "Elon, Peter Thiel, Mark Andreessen, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos... all these people are walking a fine line. How do I keep this lunatic from screwing up my life now? How do I get as much as I can out of him while he's... selling pardons and selling market share?" (43:02)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• David Rothkopf:
  • "We're promoting and embracing racism as an American export. We're signing on with the world's other racists." (10:59)
  • "This is Trump as Putin's errand boy... as the joke goes so often these days, it probably read better in the original Russian." (12:21)
  • "If Hitler wants to be Hitler, let Hitler be Hitler. And that's... And frankly, Henry Ford was kind of cool with that. Lindbergh was kind of cool with that." (15:29)
  • "Trump lives the life of the chronic bullshitter... but every so often, the chickens come home to roost." (24:28)
  • "I knew we'd end up at the cage fight." (29:23, tongue-in-cheek about Cabinet infighting)
  • "No one is afraid of Trump anymore. That’s the biggest development in U.S. politics in the past couple months." (35:30)

Key Timestamps

• 01:53 — Rothkopf on Trump’s declining relevance
• 04:54 — Accusations of illegal military action by U.S.
• 06:20 — Trump's national security doctrine
• 09:53 — Discussion of European "civilizational erasure" and far-right ideology
• 14:35–16:32 — Historical parallels and "America First" roots
• 17:56–19:23 — Tariffs, China relations, and the Dog Park Theory
• 24:28 — Economic impacts and “chickens coming home to roost”
• 30:06–34:54 — Cabinet infighting, Hegseth’s troubles, security council dysfunction
• 35:30 — No one is afraid of Trump anymore
• 41:08 — Trump’s legacy obsessions and deteriorating image
• 43:02–44:10 — Donors and tech elites hedging bets on the post-Trump era

Tone and Style

The conversation is darkly humorous, deeply critical, and often irreverent, trading in sarcasm and disbelief at current events while delivering complex insight in plain, conversational language.

Further Reading and Listening

• David Rothkopf
  • Deep State Radio podcast
  • Substack: Need to Know
  • Articles in The Daily Beast & The New Republic