This Is What Greedy Trump's Really Up To With Oil

Summary

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Podcast Summary: "This Is What Greedy Trump's Really Up To With Oil"

The Daily Beast Podcast
Host: Joanna Coles
Guest: Anthony Scaramucci
Date: January 12, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, host Joanna Coles is joined by Anthony Scaramucci to break down the chaos and controversy surrounding Donald Trump’s recent foreign policy moves—specifically the intervention in Venezuela and its connection to oil, legacy, power, and self-enrichment. The conversation covers the political motives and personal ambitions intertwined with America’s Venezuela policy, the health and mindset of Trump, the fates of Republican politicians like JD Vance and Marco Rubio, the internal decay of Congressional authority, and the broader implications for American democracy.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Venezuela Intervention – Motives and Consequences

• Show Vote in Senate: Five Republicans joined Democrats to symbolically block troop authorization in Venezuela—Scaramucci dismisses it as ineffectual "show vote" (03:19).
• Real Motive – Oil and Self-Enrichment:
  • Scaramucci argues the Venezuela move is driven by Trump’s personal interests, especially in oil.
  • He details pressure from Venezuelan expats and Trump’s fixation on Venezuela’s oil reserves as tools for personal profit and geostrategic leverage.

    “He sees a possible self enrichment angle for him. I think that's pretty obvious.” (05:40)

  • The action is also framed as a way to “reduce reliance on foreign actors and help ourselves to Venezuela's oil coffers” (06:40).
• Imperialism at Play:

  “It's imperialism is what it is. Yeah, that's what he's doing.” (06:48)

2. Trump’s Mental and Physical State

• Trump’s health is discussed:
  • Still sharp but visibly aged, tired, with a limp and sleep issues (09:09).
  • Uses late-night calls to maintain influence; talks at people, not with them.

    “He talks at you, he doesn't talk with you.” (10:39)

• Trump is “detached,” more narcissistic than before, thus less affected by the stress of the presidency.

  “He treats people like objects. He's a full on narcissist.” (09:09)

• Meme of “shoot someone on Fifth Avenue” persists due to core MAGA loyalty rooted in culture war dynamics (07:01–07:18).

3. Internal Republican Dynamics: Vance & Rubio

• JD Vance:
  • Once anti-interventionist, is now wholly subsumed under Trump.

    “The only thing you can see dangling from Trump's ass are Vance's ankles.” (13:34)

  • Scaramucci sees Vance’s political future as over, equating his proximity to Trump as a terminal liability.

    “He's a colonoscopy. He's so far up...” (13:44)

• Marco Rubio:
  • Alternately close or distant from Trump, depending on strategic needs.
  • Rubio fatally undermined his standing in DC by lying to colleagues—a violation of ‘pirate code’—weakening him and Vance alike (13:46–14:55).
• Lindsey Graham:
  • Scaramucci skewers him as the “most despicable of all” for incessantly bending to Trump’s winds (12:12).

4. ICE, Militarization, and Political Violence

• Discussion of the ICE killing in Minnesota; Trump’s obsession with cruelty and militarized policing.
  • At the top: “pain, cruelty, those are the things that he wants” (15:14).
• Whistleblowers/federal employees report internal pressure to be more punitive or face demotion (15:14–17:40).
• Scaramucci warns, “this is going to get worse, not better” (17:40).

5. Disinformation, Domestic Unrest, and ‘Fascism’

• Harsh focus on the US climate:
  • Disinformation, saber-rattling over Cuba, Denmark, Greenland, and Iran, and internal violence.

    “We've got a domestic junta going around the United States despite the recriminations from the court.” (20:13)

• Coles and Scaramucci debate the “fascist” label—Scaramucci says the US is now in a period of open, shameless lying and rule-breaking.

  “Tell me a rule and I will break that rule. That's how Trump thinks.” (26:10)

6. Congressional Weakness and the Imperial Presidency

• Congress willingly ceded authority post-Vietnam, seeking political safety (24:43).
• Presidents have used (and abused) these powers; Trump is the first to do so without restraint.

  “He’s willing to cross lines as it relates to what’s going on with ICE, the National Guard, what’s going on with Greenland...” (25:47)

• Most Republican legislators privately justify their fealty to Trump as a necessary evil to retain future power, claiming they’ll act if real crisis comes (21:49).

7. Foreign Policy Chessboard: China, Russia, and Global Repercussions

• Trump’s unpredictable actions in Venezuela, Greenland, and elsewhere are a boon for the Chinese and weaken US alliances.

  “This has been a windfall for them. … The Chinese are looking at this, saying, this is so much better than we thought...” (32:58)

• Contrast to China’s predictable multilateral system.

8. Opposition, the Democratic Party, and the Future

• Little effective opposition to Trump currently exists; Democrats are divided and lack a coalition builder (33:00).
• Some Republicans might break off after six months, especially if they see presidential prospects (35:14), but real opposition, if it comes, will be reactive and after further damage.

9. Trump’s Personality and the ‘Potomac Fever’

• Scaramucci reflects on Trump’s magnetism and why politicians and staffers become enthralled—attributing it to celebrity culture and the intoxicating allure of power.

  “You do feel that celebrity status. And whether we like it or not, people like that, they want to be attached to that, they want to name drop that.” (36:48)

• Potomac fever: “One of the big symptoms, you don’t know you have it” (37:47).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Quote | Speaker | |-----------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------| | 03:19 | “It's probably just a show vote, if you will. They've got constituents that they're probably trying to please.” | Scaramucci | | 05:40 | “He sees a possible self enrichment angle for him. I think that's pretty obvious.” | Scaramucci | | 06:48 | “It's imperialism is what it is. Yeah, that's what he's doing.” | Scaramucci | | 07:01 | “He's lost some people, but he's got 25% of the people come hell or high water.” | Scaramucci | | 10:39 | “He talks at you, he doesn't talk with you.” | Scaramucci | | 13:34 | “The only thing you can see dangling from Trump's ass are Vance's ankles.” | Scaramucci | | 15:14 | “Pain, cruelty, those are the things that he wants. He gets off on that.” | Scaramucci | | 21:49 | “Republicans... say generally the same thing. I've got to be with Trump because he's got the power. … When the real fight starts, you're going to want a person like me who's more moderate...” | Scaramucci | | 24:43 | “They set up procedures to make themselves slavish and weak... Let's give those decisions to the president...” | Scaramucci | | 26:10 | “Tell me a rule and I will break that rule. That's how Trump thinks.” | Scaramucci | | 32:58 | “This has been a boon for them. This has been a windfall for [China].” | Scaramucci | | 36:48 | “You do feel that celebrity status. And whether we like it or not, people like that…” | Scaramucci | | 37:47 | “One of the things about Potomac fever, one of the big symptoms, you don't know you have it.” | Scaramucci |

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• Venezuela, Oil, & Trump's Motives: 03:19–08:46
• Trump’s Health & Leadership Style: 08:51–11:19
• Rubio & Vance Republican Machinations: 11:19–14:55
• ICE Killings & Militarized Policy: 14:55–17:40
• State of US Politics/Disinformation: 20:10–21:49
• Congressional Weakness: 24:26–26:38
• Foreign Policy Fallout: 32:07–33:00
• Opposition & Democratic Disarray: 33:00–35:04
• Populism & Potomac Fever: 36:26–38:56

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Tone & Style

The episode is fast-paced, sharp, and unflinching, blending Scaramucci’s firsthand candor, wit, and biting criticism with Coles’s incisive, at times wry questioning. The language is irreverent, sometimes profane, but underpinned by deep policy knowledge and hard experience in the political trenches.

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Utility for Listeners

This summary captures the podcast's core critiques of Trump’s Venezuela policy, the internal dynamics of the Republican Party, and the increasing dysfunction of American government. It reflects Scaramucci’s sardonic tone and Coles’s probing style, providing an accessible recap for those unable to listen, and offers key quotes and timestamps for easy navigation to important moments.

Transcript

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[Anthony Scaramucci]

Vance probably thinks that if he has distance from Trump, that's good for him, because if it doesn't work, he can say, well, I had distance from him. And of course if it works, he can tag himself part of the administration. But I mean, that's not going to work for Vance because the only thing you can see dangling from Trump's ass or Vance's ankles, he's a colonoscopy.

[Joanna Coles]

He's so far up there, he's a.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Colonoscope of Trump's ass. And he's in there and he's got to own everything that Trump does. And so his political future's over.

[Joanna Coles]

I'm Joanna Coles. This is the Daily Beast podcast and there is so much to unpack. Ice Venezuela, Trump's physical and mental health JD Vance, Marco Rubio, who's a great Kremlin ologist, so sit down and figure this out with you know who, Anthony Scaramucci. And guess where he is he's here right now in the studio to unpack what has been a crazy start to 2026. Anthony Scaramucci, happy New Year. Is it a happy new year? Well, I was just going to say.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

I mean, it's a happy new year for me, but I mean, for some people it's sort of like a mixed new year. So far we've had a year transpire of history in eight days.

[Joanna Coles]

Right, right, right, right. So can we begin with, I mean, where do we begin? There's so much to talk about. We're recording this on. I don't even know what day it is.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

It's the 8th of January.

[Joanna Coles]

Okay, 8th of January, Thursday. So five Republicans have just joined with the Democrats in the Senate to say they don't want to authorize U.S. troops in Venezuela. But let's step back. What the hell is going on in Venezuela? What is this all about?

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Well, I think before we got on the air, I think you pointed out correctly, it's probably just a show vote, if you will. They've got constituents that they're probably trying to please and they know it's ineffectual. And I'm sure the president will probably ignore that because it doesn't have any impact on anything.

[Joanna Coles]

Right. But what's Venezuela about? Why is he doing this?

[Anthony Scaramucci]

I mean, so if you listen to my podcast, I said six weeks ago that they were going to launch a strike against Venezuela, they were going to bramble out narco terrorism and then they were going to snatch Maduro. And people say, why are you saying that? I said, because that is their plan. And that is their plan because they're being influenced by Venezuelan expats who want to return to their country.

[Joanna Coles]

And these are the expats living in Florida.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Some are in Florida, some of them are other parts of the Americas, some are in Europe. But you had a very vibrant, very flourishing economic prosperity prior to the Chavez Maduro regime. So they've had 30 years now of this failed socialist communist experiment. They've become a satellite rogue state. They are narco terrorists. I think if you had Obama, Biden, you want to pick the group of people that are going to present you with the facts. There's a tremendous amount of drug trafficking and terrorism and terrorist training that comes out of Venezuela. And so you would say to yourself, should we do something there or not? I think past presidents have said we don't want to do anything there because of the rules based society and sovereign integrity and things like that. But we're going to sanction them and Players that don't act in the interest of the United States. We're going to use economic sanctions, use the US Dollar against them. We're not going to have a military incursion or military invasion. So this is sort of a step into that Noriega realm where they decided to arrest him and bring charges against him. They can look you straight in the face and say it's not a regime change because Delsey Rodriguez is replacing him, she's in the current regime. But they are putting a tremendous amount of US muscle, US Big stick influence in the region. And so you could say, if you're asking me was it the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do, I'm a realist. But I will tell you that it was the wrong thing to do. If I were in the position to make that decision, I would have never sanctioned that. I don't think a Harris A. Biden, a George W. Bush would have sanctioned that. Of course he hadall of those people had the opportunity to do that. But I think Trump looks at this and sees thisthere's a possible self enrichment angle for him. I think that's pretty obvious. I think the second thing that he sees where somebody went to him because he's a great conspiratorialist and they said, okay, Listen, you've got 46 billion or so barrels of known reserves. They've got 300 plus. You take them Canada, U.S. we're roughly 50% of the known reserves. You can put a herd on, potentially people in the Soviet Union, now known as Russia, but it still acts like the Soviet Union. You could put another big herd on people in the Middle East. You might be able to change our geostrategic footprint because a lot of it's related to oil and petrodollars. That's what they said to him. Right. He's been selling the oil in Renminbi. And if you're a petrodollar enthusiast like Trump is, you don't want that to happen either.

[Joanna Coles]

So essentially we're reducing our reliance on foreign actors and helping ourselves to Venezuela's oil coffers.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

It's imperialism is what it is. Yeah, that's what he's doing.

[Joanna Coles]

And how does this play with the MAGA base?

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Well, again, he's lost some people. I think his poll numbers are down because of ice. We can talk about that as well.

[Joanna Coles]

Yeah, well, we must talk about that.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

He's lost some people, but he's got 25% of the people come hell or high water. He was right in 2016, 10 years ago, he said, I can shoot people on Fifth Avenue, no problem, and they'll stay with me.

[Joanna Coles]

I've never really understood that, that thing about I can shoot someone on Fifth Avenue.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Because you don't understand the culture war then. So the culture war is the whites ran the country. We can have a pluralistic democracy as long as the whites are running the country. Wait a minute. The population of brown and black people is exploding, and because of a pluralistic democracy, black and brown people may run the country? Well, we don't want that. So we want the last great white hope, Donald Trump, to run the country. We want to watch Fox News being interrupted by, like, catheters and like walkers on the advertising, but in between the catheter and walker advertising, we're going to watch people talk about white supremacy and all types of crazy theology. And Trump is the Napoleon of that culture war. He understands that better than anybody. And so they don't care. They'll stay with him because he said, no forever wars. He's now prosecuting forever wars. No problem. They said, you know, we want the Epstein files. There's a lot of pedophilia out there and there's pizza rings and all this other nonsense. I said, okay, we're going to give that all to you now. We're not going to give it to you. Elon Musk told you why? Because he's in the file. And they said, okay, all right, no problem. But he did lose some people. He went from 36 to 25, okay, with the core, core base. And, you know, he only won the last election because they, you know, remember the Democrats lost the election.

[Joanna Coles]

Yeah, the Democrats imploded. So. Did you watch the press conference where he talked about Venezuela?

[Anthony Scaramucci]

I did.

[Joanna Coles]

Okay. Was that the Trump you recognized and knew? Do you think? He. There's been so much conversation about his health and his mental health and his mental state. Is he as bright as he was during the first term?

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Well, he's not as bad as the people that hate him want to suggest. He doesn't have dementia. He's not exhibiting that to me. He's still pretty sharp. He looks very, very tired. He's walking with a very weird limp which they haven't fully explained. He tried to straighten it out on New Year's Eve when the cameras came on him. And he's manifesting signs of aging that an 80 year old person would. It's interesting about him because of his detachment. He doesn't take on the normal stresses of that job. He treats people like objects. He's a full on narcissist. So everybody's just an object in his field of vision. So he doesn't get as stressed as, say, other politicians who age dramatically in that job. But he is aging. But I think people are making a mistake if they're like, oh, he's, you know, ready to kick the bucket. He's got one foot on a banana peel and the other one in the coffin. I don't see it. I mean, you know, I just don't. I don't see that.

[Joanna Coles]

Did you notice him standing? I mean, his eyes appeared to be closed when he was standing behind Marco Rubio. I mean, someone pointed out he always looks as if he's asleep when Marco Rubio is sitting, speaking. And in fact, I think he actually fell asleep during one of the cabinet meetings when Marco Rubio was speaking.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

He's not sleeping at night. You know, he's up at night calling people. He's still doing that. You know, I was actually part of that rotisserie. You know, he starts his phone calls at 11 o' clock at night. They probably end between 1 and 1:30.

[Joanna Coles]

What was it like when he called you? How long would he talk for?

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Well, remember with Trump, he talks at you, he doesn't talk with you.

[Joanna Coles]

Right.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Okay. The only way you can get him to listen to you, and I think everyone's figured this out, is what is in his best interest. So you have to say, you know, joanna, move that cup. It's in your best interest. And if he thinks it is, he'll move the cup. You know, it's that sort of thing. He. Other than that, it's just a, you know, stream of consciousness rant. And he goes through a list of people that he looks for reaffirmation for. You know, Sean Hadid, he's on the list. Besant's on the list. Lutnick is on the list. Now Rubio goes on and off the list. I don't think Vance is really on the list.

[Joanna Coles]

Oh, that's interesting. Rubio. Let's unpack that. So Rubio is on and off the list. What does that mean?

[Anthony Scaramucci]

He doesn't 100% trust Rubio. Remember he had a big fight with Rubio. Rubio was a little Marco Trump had orange, small hands. And that whole fight that took place, he doesn't 100% trust Rubio. You know, Suzy Wiles really pushed Rubio on him.

[Joanna Coles]

Cause she used to work for him.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Yeah, exactly. And remember he went 99 to 0 in his confirmation. You know, the confirmation vote last year.

[Joanna Coles]

He seemed normal, right?

[Anthony Scaramucci]

He seemed normal. He's not normal. You know, he has what they all get. They get that Potomac Fever, they get that aphrodisiac of power, and then they start moving in the weather vane direction that Trump's wind is pointing in, and they've got to be careful because Trump can blow in another direction and then they have to go run in that direction. I mean, the most despicable of all is Lindsey Graham. I made a. I've never seen anything like it. The poor guy, I mean, he doesn't know which way to go depending on the breeze behind Trump. You know, the poor guy.

[Joanna Coles]

Right. Well. And even when he's talking to Trump.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

He doesn't trust Rubio because Vance is his successor in a Shakespearean way. He hates Vance and will put Vance in the wood chipper. And so Vance was conspicuously absent from the Maduro thing and they blamed it on all this other nonsense. But the truth of the matter is he would prefer Vance to be out of the picture because he wants to spotlight on him.

[Joanna Coles]

So it was very noticeable that J.D. vance wasn't in that press conference talking about Venezuela. Was that deliberate performance from Trump to not have him there or do you think Combination. Right, combination.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

So it's. Trump doesn't want him there. Vance was the most outspoken, non interventionalist. Okay. Five years ago, he was where Rand Paul was. Okay, we've got, we're going to revise history, that's fine. But seven years ago, Trump was Hitler. Five years ago, I'm an anti interventionist. I'm a former, you know, I'm a military veteran. No more forever wars. Right now we're having forever wars. You know, Vance probably thinks that if he has distance from Trump, that's good for him, because if it doesn't work, he can say, well, I had distance from him. And of course, if it works, he can tag himself part of the administration. But I mean, that's not going to work for Vance because the only thing you can see dangling from Trump's ass are Vance's ankles.

[Joanna Coles]

He's a colonoscopy. He's so far up.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

He is in, he is in Trump's. He's a kaleidoscope of Trump's ass. And he's in there and he's got to own everything that Trump does. And so his political future's over. Rubio's future is over. And Rubio did something in the last two weeks that has completely finished him in Washington. So let's talk about what he Did. He went to the Congress and he went into the private cloakroom where they're supposed to be chums and in the Sand Club and he lied to everybody. And you can't do that in Washington. You can think you can do that in Washington, but I can tell you as a person that has a PhD in Washington, scumbaggery, 11 day PhD that you actually can't do that because there are certain things, there's certain code of conduct among pirates. We're all on the pirate ship together. Tell me what's really going on. And Rubio lied to them. You know that and you've reported that here at the Daily Beast. I know that because I talk to a lot of these people and you can't do that. And so Rubio and Vance, despite their perception of power right now, have been dramatically weakened by all this.

[Joanna Coles]

Let's just talk about, there was the ICE killing in Minnesota and this, I mean, the Supreme Court's pushed back on him being able to deploy the National Guard in various places. What is his obsession with militarized groups and police forces?

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Pain, cruelty, those are the things that he wants. He gets off on that. Stephen Miller gets off on that. And so I'll just say this. I'm not here to debate whether this was a cold blooded murder or an act of self defense by an ICE officer. I'm not here to debate that. What I am here to say, I think there should be a universality of opinion on this, that this was an unspeakably tragic event, that a 37 year old woman lost her life as a result of what happened. But you know, the fish thinks from the head down. It's an old Italian expression. If you're an evildoer at the top and you're telling your henchmen, get rough with these people and let's train them for six weeks rather than six months and let's deploy them and let's knock heads and do all the stuff they're telling. You know, I have, remember I'm a law school graduate, I have buddies of mine that are immigration lawyers for three decades and they tell me that privately. Homeland Security people tell them, hey man, I'm sorry about this, but I've been told from the top, if I don't get rough and I don't start these deportations and I don't rough up a few people, I could get demoted and potentially lose my pension. Look what they did to Senator Kelly this past week. So these are horrific human beings, okay? They're horrific human beings. And the Fish thinks from the head down. You got this, you know, dickweed. Bill Pulte calling Senator Warren Pocahontas on TV today. I was watching that on cnbc and I'm like, this little dickweed, this little Nepo baby dickweed is calling a senator from Massachusetts Pocahontas. That's from Trump. The fish thinks from the head down. So the little minions are going to want to do what their big bad boy father wants them to do. And so this is atrocity. This is a human tragedy and it's an atrocity. And I'm going to tell you something, Joanna. It's going to get worse. It's not going to get better, it's going to get worse. There was no political leader that stood up yesterday and said, wow, this is an unspeakable tragedy. We're going to launch an investigation and make sure our protocols. I do believe it was self defense, but we're going to launch protocols to make sure this never happens again. First of all, it's in the instruction manual. Don't shoot at a moving car, okay? And if you look at the woman, she was wobbling and nervous. She turned towards him and then turned away from him and he still fired the gun in her face a couple of times. So listen, it's an unspeakable tragedy, but these people want this.

[Joanna Coles]

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[Anthony Scaramucci]

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[Joanna Coles]

And I'm back with Anthony Scaramucci.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

So let's have a happy recap, okay? Or an unhappy one, right? We took out a Venezuelan dictator. We could debate that. We're speaking with Belicasi of rhetoric about potential war with Cuba, Denmark and Greenland. We've got Belocassia rhetoric now going towards Iran. We put up a website for massive disinformation related to January 6th and we're shooting people in towns in the United States and we've got a domestic junta going around the United States despite the recriminations from the court. Now, you Brits don't like to use the fascist word and I get all that.

[Joanna Coles]

We really don't like to use it.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Yeah, you don't like to use it. But I just want you to think about the level of disinformation, the nonsense about imperial conquest and using military or other things to take Greenland and we deserve to have Greenland and all this like puny, insecure nonsense that these idiots are spewing, okay? And I want you to think about the disinformation. The disinformation and the lies. Okay? And they started lying about the ice situation yesterday. Lying now about January 6, which took place five years ago.

[Joanna Coles]

And the lying when you can see the videos. I mean, the thing I find so extraordinary is we are all seeing these videos.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Trump gets that. Don't watch your lying eyes. Trump gets that better than anybody.

[Joanna Coles]

Don't. Watch your lying eyes.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Watch your lying eyes.

[Joanna Coles]

What are the Republicans that you know saying in private that we don't get to hear? How are they reacting to all this and how are they reacting to Trump and his temper and his quixotic nature, which is getting more exaggerated?

[Anthony Scaramucci]

The Republicans that show up in my office looking for donations all say generally the same thing. I've got to be with Trump because he's got the power. He's only going to be there for a couple of more years. I'm a long term senator, a long term congressman or congressional leader, and I will go against him if I really have to. Like if he tries to stop an election or he declares martial law and the civilization. You're going to want me, Anthony, to be here so that I can then use the Article 1 powers that are endowed to the Congress from the Constitution. I'm not ready to deploy that now because these are minor things. But when the real fight starts, you're going to want a person like me who's more moderate in my position. Could you please write me the $7,000 check?

[Joanna Coles]

And do you say yes?

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Yeah, I do. I have these, like, gruesome balls, like novelty things that I hand out, right? You put them in water and they grow to six times larger. And I hand them to all the politicians and I say, you know, you probably should grow some balls, but here's the money, right? Because I'm a realist, okay? And I recognize that some of these people probably will step up. Rand Paul has done that. Now, you could dislike Rand Paul and you could say he was a cipher of Donald Trump's for a period of time, but he's not anymore.

[Joanna Coles]

No. He seems clearly independent.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

He has basically spoken out against a big, beautiful spill, too much deficit spending. He's against the interventionism. He didn't want the attack on Iran. He certainly doesn't want the attack on Venezuela. He said he would use every fiber of his body and any power that he had to stop a potential invasion of Greenland. It's unthinkable that we're talking about it, but that's Donald Trump's world. And so now we're talking about it. You know, if you said to me in 2025, at the beginning of 2025, are things going to get ridiculous and things are going to go very awry during the Trump administration? I would say yes. You said to me that the Danes are going to be preparing for a US Invasion of their territory, right? I would say, okay, there's probably a bridge too far, but they are preparing for an invasion. Okay. And the Canadians, from a military perspective, are now thinking about, well, what would happen if the US entered their country to make it the 51st state and how they would defend themselves. And we're now booing each other's. If you go to a hockey game or you go to a playoff game, you know, they're booing each other's anthems. Now. This is all because of the menage of Donald Trump. This is all because of his craziness. Very repressed guy, very angry guy, and he's taken it out on the rest of us.

[Joanna Coles]

So nevertheless, Why is Congress so weak in the face of him? Why aren't they able to assert themselves better? Why are they so slavish to him?

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Well, it's a really good question, but it requires historical context. So they set up procedures to make themselves slavish and weak. Okay. They started doing that after the Vietnam War. And so when they had a vote on the Vietnam War and they voted yes on the war, they all got voted out. Sort of like, whoa, we can't do that anymore. Let's cede more of these powers to the President. We'll give him emergency powers. We'll give him military authorization on police actions, on things like that. And so this way we won't get caught in a vote. And if we get caught in a vote, we could lose our. And we don't want to do that. So the less power we have to make consequential decisions that could knock us out of office, we're not going to make those decisions. Let's give those decisions to the president. And that created what I would describe and what Arthur Schlesinger wrote about the imperial presidency. And so most presidents have used those powers with some level of discretion. Some would argue Bush didn't, but we can have that debate. But it's 20 years later, so let's not.

[Joanna Coles]

Well, then there's more urgent things to worry about.

[Podcast Marketing Announcer]

Right?

[Anthony Scaramucci]

And Trump has basically said, I got this. Now I'm going to flex on these people and I'm going to use the historical precedent that they set up, and I use the policies and the procedures that they set up, and they've been outmaneuvered by him. You know, he's willing to cross the line. So here's a line that no president crosses. Here are the reasons why no president crossed that line. Okay, let me come 10ft over that line. He's willing to cross lines as it relates to what's going on with ice, the National Guard, what's going on with Greenland, what's going on with our allies, what's going on with the tariffs? I mean, we're sitting here right now. Supreme Court is going to render a decision on the tariffs. Now. I think they're going to rule against Trump and I think Trump thinks they're going to rule against him because he's been pulling back some of the tariffs as well. But that's.

[Joanna Coles]

Well, he's also been raising his rhetoric against the Supreme Court, too.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

He's raising his rhetoric against the Supreme Court, but he delayed the tariffs on the furniture and the upholstery because he knows if it's not going to go through, he doesn't want to be hassled with the rebates. And the other thing, you know, maybe the court will split the baby and allow the government to keep the current revenues that came in. But tell him he has to go to the Congress for additional taxation authority. I don't know. We'll see what happens. But I predict he loses that case. But that's what he does. So tell me a rule and I will break that rule. That's how Trump thinks. You know, by the way, it's about me. You know, enough of you talking about me. Let's get the conversation back on me. And so what am I going to do to self enrich myself? What am I going to do to capture your imagination and your attention? And what am I going to do to inflict some level of pain on you and some angst? Because I get a kick out of that. I enjoy that. My cohort and lackey, Steve Miller, he totally enjoys that. And so we're going to do that together and we're going to laugh at you while you're sitting there stewing over the stuff that we're doing.

[Joanna Coles]

So where does actual opposition come from, do you think? I mean, how does this play out? Because his behavior is getting more and more erratic. It seemed very clear when he was standing on the stage at the Venezuela press conference. And certainly Michael Wolff said this is what he heard from people in the White House, that he just made this stuff up as he's going along. When people said, well, who's going to run Venezuela? He was like, well, he is. He is pointing at Marco Rubio and then Hegseth. And then later he said, I'm in charge, I'm in charge. Where does this. Is there an end to it?

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Okay, well, let's step back. So the plan, because there are people inside the State Department and inside The Pentagon do have a plan. The plan is to have Delsey Rodriguez run the country for a 24 to 30 month period of time, this interregnum period of time, see if they can get some foreign investment, some relaxation of the sanctions, bring expats back into the country that they like and trust, and then see if they can set up some type of democratic government that goes back to some working form of capitalism for the Venezuelan people. That's the plan. Okay, so whatever Trump is saying, those are the people working under Trump. That's the plan.

[Joanna Coles]

But you're saying, and who put that plan together? Was that a Rubio plan?

[Anthony Scaramucci]

I think people working for Rubio and I think some of the Venezuelan expats that are keen to return to the country and love their country and generally, by and large, very good people. Some of these people I've worked with in prior Republican administrations. And so listen, I wouldn't have done it. They've done it. All I can say on your program is I pray for the Venezuelan people that it improves their living standards. A very rich country. If they can get the right system in place and the right level of predictable legal activity, et cetera, they can have a very nice, prosperous country. I hope that for them. But back on Trump, I think it's very important to understand that he doesn't care. He wants to make $20 billion. He's clipping 5 billion this past year. He wants to make another $15 Billion. Tells people that all the time. He doesn't care.

[Joanna Coles]

He tells people all the time. Who's he telling? Anthony. Hold on. We're going to take a quick break for some messages from our sponsors.

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[Joanna Coles]

And Anthony Scaramucci and I are back discussing what else? Donald Trump. And it's Donald Trump's world. Because he hasn't told the American public that.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Oh, he tells his buddies. He tells his buddies that he's, you know, hey, you know, this is peanuts compared to what Elon Musk has. It's peanuts compared to.

[Joanna Coles]

Right.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Jeff Bezos, Jensen Wang has. I'm going to. What's the big deal? You know, I put up a meme coin, make a $500 million shot from it. He was in the Roosevelt Room. He turned to the press when they asked him about it. That's peanuts compared to these guys over here. That's how he thinks. And he says that privately. So. So that's what he wants. He wants to.

[Joanna Coles]

I think he likes being surrounded by them, by billionaires because lots of presidents choose to be surrounded by people who are less fortunate. And the message is, we're trying to lift everybody up. This is a president who barricades himself with billionaires.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

I just want you to think about this, okay? He went to speak to the Congressional Republican leadership this past week. Did he say we got to win the midterms because we're going to help the American people? Here are the policies that we're going to put in place to help the American people?

[Joanna Coles]

Of course not.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Okay. He said we got to make sure I don't get impeached.

[Joanna Coles]

Yeah.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

So the conversation is always Trump centric and so focus on what is in Trump's best interest, not anybody else's best interest. The havoc that's being wreaked in Venezuela fits the conspiracy plots in Trump's mind. I can control the oil, I can control the Western Hemisphere. I'm signaling to Putin and Xi that this is my backyard. And it's more or less going to give them flexibility in their backyards. The very predictable long term thinking. Chinese are looking at this, saying, this is so much better than we thought because this guy's acting with arbitrariness, capriciousness, impetuosity. And people may not like our system, but they like the predictability of our multilateral agreements.

[Joanna Coles]

Well, and it's a better right. And you can.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Which we adhere to. Yeah, which we adhere to. So here's our multilateral agreement. This is what we adhere to. And if you subscribe to be our ally, our economic trading partner, we're going to more or less abide by this agreement. Look at what the nonsense that's going on with the Americans and they're winning that argument. And so this has been a boon for them. This has been a windfall for them. And so. But you asked the question before and I want to go back to it. Until you get a transformational coalition builder on the Democratic Party, you're not going to have any forceful rebuttal to Donald Trump. So you're just going to hope that Trump fades, that the Republicans actually push him out of power when it's time for him to go, they force him out. And then there's a food fight in the Republican Party of lesser personalities to find fight it out. And then the Democrats will pick somebody and they'll have a fight and we'll see if somebody wins and then what happens after that. That'll be interesting because I don't think anybody can carry off the mantle of what Trump is doing. I don't think anybody can get away with that. Okay, just look at the way Vance was rebuked by the senators eight weeks ago about Argentinian beef prices. They would have never said any of that to Trump on C Span, but they were beating him up over that because he doesn't have Trump's muscle, he doesn't have his influence, he doesn't have his staunch, whatever Trump's approval rating is. Who's ever left with Trump is immovable. Those people could go against those senators in a primary. Right. And so, but that's going to come off of the, the bloom is going to come off the rose come November of next year, this coming year, excuse me, November of this coming year. So, but you know, the Democrats are the best thing that the Republicans have going for them because they're in disarray. They fight with each other. They don't want a coalition I put out on Twitter or X that they should get in touch with Elon Musk. I got out ratioed on that. They don't understand. They don't understand that. And I think it's stupid. I think it's very, very damaging to them, frankly.

[Joanna Coles]

So do you see any opposition at all to Trump right now? Do you think he's got another six months to a year of just doing what he wants?

[Anthony Scaramucci]

He's got six more months. More Republicans will break from him. Some Republicans see themselves as the 48th president, so they'll have to differentiate themselves from him. And if they don't check him, though. Unfortunately, this will be a path towards great destruction and nihilism by Trump. It'll get way worse after the midterms. He will act crazier and crazier. He'll do more nefarious things. Again, I'm not comparing him to Hitler, but I just want to remind people that when the generals got around Hitler and they said, hey, man, this is not working. We got 12 years, not a thousand. You're Reich. Hitler said, okay, that's fine. Bring down the electrical grid around Berlin and flood the coal mines. And they said, excuse me. He said, no, I want you to do that. That was in Michael Beschloss book, the Conquerors. And why do you want to do that? Well, if we're not going to have a thousand year Reich with me running it, I want to blow the whole thing up.

[Joanna Coles]

Right.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

The nihilist, and that's Donald Trump. Donald Trump quietly does not want the Republicans to win that election because he wants to be able to say, you guys were nobody before I got on the stage and you're a nobody after I left the stage. He's not going to be out there campaigning for the successor to him. It's not his personality.

[Joanna Coles]

Right. So, Anthony, you've been in the room with Donald Trump and people talk about his magnetism and the allure of power. Can you put it into words for us, what it's actually like? Because I still think a lot of people don't understand quite why people are so in his thrall.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

I don't think you should underestimate Trump's media Persona, his diction, the way he talks about. I'm going to tell you something that should startle you, is that there's a very large percentage of the population of the United States that's comfortable with Trump being their president. Okay. And if you're not, wake up and find an alternative solution. But he has been on the stage as a television personality for 25 years. He's been in our faces for 40 or 50 years through other forms of media. And I think if you're with Trump and you're in his orbit, you do feel that celebrity status. And whether we like it or not, people like that, they want to be attached to that, they want to name drop that. And, you know, it's a shortcoming of mine. It doesn't reflect well on me. But when I was on the campaign with him and I decided to go work for him, I got attracted to the power. That's the Potomac fever that I often talk about.

[Joanna Coles]

Right. You referenced it earlier.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

And, Joanna, one of the things about Potomac fever, one of the big symptoms, you don't know you have it. You don't even know you have it.

[Joanna Coles]

Interesting.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

You're operating, you're driving around feeling significant about yourself and the limousine, and you're morally equivocating while you're doing it. And you're constantly talking yourself into doing that because you want that flourish, you want that access. And, you know, I have to own that for the rest of my life. But I will tell you this. You know, there will be more people. Look at. He cycled through me and others like Kelly and others, but prior to us, it was a whole other battalion of people that he cycled through.

[Joanna Coles]

Well, he went through four chiefs of staff in his first, and he's going.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

To cycle through another group of people. And there will always be people because of the nature of politics and power that will attach themselves to people like Donald Trump. I just, you know, the only thing I'm grateful for is, ironically, because of the unceremonious way that I got fired, he created a platform for me to at least speak out against him and to explain to people how dangerous he actually is. It's good to be with you.

[Joanna Coles]

It's very nice to have you in the studio. I'm not sure everybody gets the benefit quite, of how perfect your nose is in person. Your nose is absolutely perfect. Did you have it done?

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Did I have it done?

[Bombas Comfort Line Announcer]

No, I don't think you.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

No chance. No. I've got some Botox on my forehead, but I've never had my nose.

[Joanna Coles]

Okay. Well, it's a very good nose. Mrs. Scaramucci, good job. I can't tell you how good his nose is in real life. It's just like the perfect nose. There must be plastic surgeons working just trying to create the perfect model for that nose. Anyway, I sound obsessed with Anthony's nose. I'm really not. But Kevin Fallon is obsessed with all sorts of things for you to watch at home.

[Kevin Fallon]

Joanna, Hi. I have to tell you about something that we're obsessed with. I'm Kevin Fallon.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

And I'm Matt Wilstein.

[Kevin Fallon]

And we are hosting Obsessed, the podcast about all the TV shows, movies and entertainment newsmakers that we're all obsessed with. So make sure you subscribe to us on YouTube at the YouTube channel. Make sure you follow us wherever you get your podcasts.

[Anthony Scaramucci]

Just search for Obsessed, the podcast, and.

[Kevin Fallon]

We will see you there.

[Joanna Coles]

Come and see me. Me and Michael wolf live at 92nd Street Y on January 21st. There are very, very few tickets. But what we discovered is you can get a virtual ticket so you can join us live. So please do and come with your questions. And don't forget to subscribe to the Daily Beast. We are independent media, so we really appreciate your support. We'll be back tomorrow with another fabulous guest to unpack the crazy that's going on. Don't forget to become a subscriber to this podcast and you can also become a member of the podcast where you get extra content and you will be invited to dinners with me and Michael and various other Beast contributors. Anyway, big thanks to our special BE Beast tier of members. Here they are. Yvette Johnson, Methinks Batsio, Farrell Mills and Lynn's Shelby. Max Cubitt. I've been mispronouncing that. Sorry about that. Max David Sherry Thomas Moore, Maria Voltaine D. I think it's Cujer Watts, but D. Feel free to tell us how to pronounce your name. 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 Die Stone Fulvia Orlando Herbie Andrew Mellor Tattnall Val Love Francisco. That's an odd name. Will Hutchison, Andrea Hodel Bocock D.C. sharon Shipley, Connie Rutherford, Karen White. And last but never least, Heidi Riley. And to our production team, Devon Rogerino, Ryan Murray and Heather Passaro. Thank you all very much.

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[Anthony Scaramucci]

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[Anthony Scaramucci]

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