This Is What Trump's Crazed Posts Are Really About

Summary

The Daily Beast Podcast: "This Is What Trump's Crazed Posts Are Really About"

Host: Joanna Coles
Guest: David Rothkopf
Date: July 7, 2026

Episode Overview

In this rollicking, incisive episode, Joanna Coles and regular contributor David Rothkopf dissect former President Donald Trump's recent flurry of Truth Social posts—67 frenetic statements in a single night—exploring what these communications reveal about his mental state, leadership style, and effect on global politics. The duo also cover an array of breaking political news: the controversy over Trump intervening in a major World Cup soccer match, the ongoing chaos of the NATO summit in Turkey, the mystery surrounding Mitch McConnell's health, rampant grift in MAGA politics, and the uniquely American toll of performative power.

Filled with sharp humor, pointed historical and cultural allusions, and signature “dinner party” energy, Coles and Rothkopf untangle the broader story behind Trump’s compulsive need for affirmation and spectacle on a world stage already in crisis.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump’s Social Media Frenzy: What Drives It?

• Rothkopf frames Trump’s late-night barrage of posts as a desperate self-affirmation loop:
  • “This is Trump sitting there going, no, I'm a good president. I'm doing all these good things. But almost every single one of them is based on a lie or a misinterpretation of the facts. And that is what is keeping him awake in the middle of the night and is why he's sending these 67 things.” (00:00)
• Coles and Rothkopf agree: the barrage is a public unraveling.
  • Rothkopf: “A man is going nuts in front of us...pumping out this crazy memes and they're all about racism and hate and his personal vendetta against a former president. It's a sign of mental illness.” (00:20)

2. The World Cup, Corruption, and Political Interference

• Trump’s alleged intervention with FIFA to get a U.S. soccer player’s red card overturned rocks both soccer and international politics:
  • Coles: “It's cheating no matter what happens. The result is tainted.” (05:24)
  • Rothkopf: “Even Sepp Blatter...has come out condemning this decision as crossing a red line. If the decision is too corrupt for Sepp Blatter, you've reached, you know, mafia high commission levels of corruptness.” (06:42–06:53)
• UEFA’s reported reaction: “It's unprecedented, incomprehensible and unfucking justifiable.” (07:05)
• Broader metaphor for Trump’s effect:
  • Rothkopf: “Trump slimes everything…. He is the slime monster of the swamp of Washington, D.C. and he has taken one of the most beautiful sporting events we've ever seen, and he's tainted it.” (07:49)

3. Attention-Seeking and the Need for Spectacle

• Coles observes Trump’s jealousy when attention isn’t on him:
  • “He just can't bear not to be center of attention, can he?” (07:59)
• Iconic quotes on divine intervention and spectacle:
  • Rothkopf: “God was doing his best to send a message, right? ...fucking lightning bolts hitting the Washington Monument.” (09:05)

4. Dangerous Rhetoric, Grievance Politics, and the Mental Dissolution of Power

• Trump’s habit of distraction, lying, and vendetta politics:
  • Rothkopf: “There's a real mental problem with the Obamas, obviously, but it's also a racist problem…he's pumping out this crazy memes and they're all about racism and hate and his personal vendetta against a former president. It's a sign of mental illness.” (33:20–34:29)
• Coles on another revealing meme:
  • “If no one goes to jail for election fraud, what incentive is there not to cheat? Which is such an insight into Donald Trump's mind. Again, hiding in plain sight.” (34:29)

5. International Fallout: NATO’s Mario Kart Diplomacy and War in Ukraine

• Rothkopf explains NATO leaders’ private discussion about Trump, planning for a future without the U.S.:
  • “The Europeans that I talk to...they're like, TikTok, TikTok, this guy's going to go. We just have to make it through a couple of years… But the real subtext within NATO is how do we get along without the U.S.” (14:40)
• NATO’s existential dilemma:
  • “They’re shifting over from US Manufactured equipment to European manufactured equipment. And you know, they’re expecting the worst.” (14:40)

6. Parallels to Historical "Mad Kings"

• Reference to Henry VIII, Caligula, and power-drunk leaders:
  • Rothkopf: “Trump is a continuation of a long line of what happens when you get leaders who are drunk with power and who abuse it. …nothing has ever risen to this level before [in the US].” (21:31)

7. Domestic Political Chaos: Mitch McConnell, Tom Keene, and the GOP’s Grip on Power

• Discussions of McConnell’s mysterious absence, Tom Keene’s return from a depressive episode, and the overall Republican strategy of “clinging to power” by any means necessary:
  • Rothkopf: “The story of this whole year is how Republicans can cling to power when all the forces at play are moving against them...So they just kept him in place because they want to maintain their majority, which is razor thin.” (25:09–26:57)

8. The Grift Economy: Presidential Profiteering and Reluctance to Prosecute

• Massive profits for the Trump family and allies—will there ever be accountability?
  • Rothkopf: “The president made $400 million, which is still a lot. The year before he became president...he made four or five times that [after taking office]...crypto and all these other kind of things...We've never seen anything like it.” (54:43)
  • “I think some people will be prosecuted...but there is a substantial percentage of Democrats who think that it's just like move on. And personally, I don't agree with that.” (54:43–57:38)
• Historical note on how past scandal gave rise to reformist, outsider leadership (e.g., Jimmy Carter):
  • Rothkopf: “Sometimes candidates emerge and they say, no, I'm the antidote to this corruption… that's where you're most likely to see the public expressing their revulsion at the cesspool of MAGA Washington.” (60:44)

9. Satirical Color and Lightness

• Banter about British honors, hair (”Does Donald Trump do his hair with an egg whisk?” - 49:11), and presidential work ethic (“No president has ever done less work than Donald Trump, who has been conscious.” - 50:08)
• Personal stories: Joanna Coles meeting Harry Kane at Buckingham Palace; discussion of "Wolf Hall" and Mark Rylance's iconic “Would it help?” quote. (43:30–65:28)

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Memorable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• “A man is going nuts in front of us...Oh my God. This guy is the President of the United States. He's pumping out this crazy memes and they're all about racism and hate and his personal vendetta against a former president. It's a sign of mental illness.”
  — David Rothkopf (00:00)

• “UEFA said it was unfucking justifiable. Look, they should have. It's outrageous… Trump slimes everything.”
  — David Rothkopf (07:05)

• "If the decision is too corrupt for Sepp Blatter, you've reached, you know, mafia high commission levels of corruptness."
  — David Rothkopf (06:45)

• "He is the slime monster of the swamp of Washington, D.C. and he has taken one of the most beautiful sporting events we've ever seen, and he's tainted it."
  — David Rothkopf (07:49)

• "God was doing his best to send a message, right?"
  — David Rothkopf (09:05)

• "We've never seen anything like it. The president made $400 million...he made four or five times that when he became president because of crypto and all these other kind of things."
  — David Rothkopf (54:43)

• "No president has ever done less work than Donald Trump, who has been conscious."
  — David Rothkopf (50:08)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• Opening Analysis: Trump’s Social Media Frenzy – 00:00–03:50
• Political Interference in U.S. World Cup Game – 03:50–07:46
• Trump’s Need for Attention; “Biblical” Weather at D.C. Events – 07:46–11:21
• Rhetoric & Election Strategy: "Danger of Communism" – 13:02–14:40
• NATO Summit, Trump and America's Waning Influence – 14:40–19:32
• Parallels to “Mad Kings,” Historical Power Abuses – 20:18–24:24
• Domestic Power Maneuvering: McConnell, Keene, the Save Act – 24:24–29:14
• Breakdown of Trump’s Truth Social Posts – 29:14–34:29
• Discussion of Grift, Corruption & Will There Be Prosecutions? – 54:43–61:45
• History, Hope & Outsider Leadership (Jimmy Carter Analogy) – 61:10–61:45
• Banter, Culture, and Listener Q&A – 43:30–66:44

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Conclusion & Tone

Throughout, Coles and Rothkopf maintain a tone that blends deep concern and alarm with playful, ironic asides, ensuring the conversation is both weighty and accessible. The mood is that of a sharp, sometimes sardonic but always deeply informed cocktail-hour debate—spirited, direct, layered with references from SNL to "Wolf Hall," and more than willing to call out “the slime monster of the swamp” for what he is: a destabilizing force whose actions are unprecedented in American democratic history.

Listeners are left with the sense that while the current moment is fraught, historical cycles of corruption and renewal endure—and the search for genuinely new, outsider leadership may be the nation’s best hope.

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To the listener:
If you haven’t heard the episode, you’ll come away understanding how Trump’s unhinged social media use reflects deeper dysfunction at the top, how it distorts both domestic and international affairs, and why sustained outrage—not normalization—is the only rational response. All with classic Daily Beast flair.

Transcript

[David Rothkopf]

This is Trump sitting there going, no, I'm a good president. I'm doing all these good things. But almost every single one of them is based on a lie or a misinterpretation of the facts. And that is what is keeping him awake in the middle of the night and is why he's sending these 67 things. A man is going nuts in front of us on Wheel, Tide Online. Oh my God. This guy is the President of the United States. He and he's pumping out this crazy memes and they're all about racism and hate and his personal vendetta against a former president. It's a sign of mental illness.

[Joanna Coles]

I'm Trina Coles. This is the Daily Beast podcast. And is it a red line? Is it a red card? Is it red air lingering from the fireworks in D.C. that David Rothkopf, Monday's guest, is struggling to breathe. So much to discuss. Not least, where is Mitch McConnell and why is his wife in China if he's unconscious somewhere? It's all very confusing, but we will get to it. We want to know what's happening in the NATO summit as we record this, Donald Trump is about to get on Grift Force One and zoom his way to meet all his colleagues, NATO colleagues, former colleagues in Turkey. Anyway, don't forget to subscribe to the Daily Beast. We are a tiny, tiny number of subscriptions of 700,000. We would love to get there and you can become a friend of the Beast. Some of you complain about the ads on the podcast. You can have an ad free experience with a subscription. It's up to you. But there are lots of member benefits and we are independent media. That's why we can bring you these conversations. That's why David Rothkopf and Michael Wolff are as fearless as them they are in critiquing this government. That's why we can have these independent conversations, because we are independent media and that's how you show your support. So no more time to waste. Let's get into it. David Rothkopf.

[David Rothkopf]

David Rothkopf, Joanna Cole.

[Joanna Coles]

How are you? How is the air quality? You are in D.C. and so many fireworks, so little oxygen.

[David Rothkopf]

Well, I'm just outside of D.C. and none of us are leaving our homes. I know people who are living like three blocks from the fireworks and they were watching it on TV because it was dangerous. It was dangerous because the air quality, it was dangerous cuz there was lightning. And you know, there's a story today that Trump overruled his staff and said, no, leave him out There.

[Joanna Coles]

Well, the story isn't, I mean, the story is he truth social that he said, I called everybody back, I overturned it. He's overturning the weather, he's overturning public safety, he's overturning soccer.

[David Rothkopf]

He doesn't care. He doesn't care what happens to these people. And so he was out there and he didn't start his thing till 11 o' clock and you could hear the rumbling in the distance and you thought it was cannon fire. But no, we've all survived it despite the Trump administration. And I really mean despite it. I mean, Doug Burgum, the Secretary of the Interior was on TV and he was saying, oh no, free speech is the reason we let all these fascist white supremacists march around Washington with flags even as they're like arresting protesters at the reflecting pool and so forth. These guys wanted this to be as toxic a July 4th as possible. And I think they got their wish.

[Joanna Coles]

Okay, well, we've got a lot to get to. I want to know what's happened to Mitch McConnell. I want to know what's gonna happen in tonight's soccer when we America should be playing Belgium. And of course we've got Donald Trump having several conversations within Fantino, the head of FIFA, to try and get him to review in inverted commas the red card decision for Baligan. But we've also got Trump and his save bill. We've got the Smithsonian as radical archivists. We've got Putin esque levels of grift. We've got White House House staffers asked to remove pictures. And we've got the Crucible meets Wolf hall, which is basically how the Europeans are thinking of Trump as he arrives on Grift Force One today for the NATO summit in Turkey. So much to cover so little time. David, where should we begin? Should we begin? I mean, I will say the decision to call the head of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, by the president to ask for a review of the referee's decision and red card for Baligun in the America versus Bosnia and Herzegovina match was pretty. I mean, it's got the Euros in a tizzy, I can tell you that.

[David Rothkopf]

Let's cut everybody at a tizzy. It's horrible. It's corrupt. He shouldn't have done it.

[Joanna Coles]

It's cheating no matter what happens.

[David Rothkopf]

It's cheating no matter what happens. The result is tainted because if the US wins with this guy playing, it's tainted. If there is a controversy and there is still, as we're recording this, a brewing controversy and Maybe there's an appeal process and maybe there's not. It's tainted. It was corrupt. Even Sepp Blatter. Now, you know that the heads of FIFA are some of the most corrupt people in the world. You can tell because FIFA has offices in Trump Tower, right?

[Joanna Coles]

Well, they have offices in Trumptown. They gave him a Peace Prize, right?

[David Rothkopf]

Well, they gave him the. You know, they're the worst of the worst. And you'll remember also that the last World cup was in Qatar, home of grift Force One. And before that it was in Russia, home of big boss Vladimir Putin. Do I have to draw. Connect the dots here. And so you go, Russia, Qatar, Putin. Okay, that all makes some sense, right? Even with all that, the prior head of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, which, I mean, where do you make up these names? But anyway, Sepp Blatter has come out condemning this decision as crossing a red line.

[Joanna Coles]

Crossing a red line.

[David Rothkopf]

If the decision is too corrupt for Sepp Blatter, you've reached, you know, mafia high commission levels of corruptness.

[Joanna Coles]

We've got UEFA taking on FIFA and saying this is unprecedented, incomprehensible and un fucking justifiable. I put the bit. I put the rude word in.

[David Rothkopf]

UEFA said it was unfucking justifiable. Look, they should have. It's outrageous. And you want to know something? Just as a 22nd aside, the world cup has been great. I have watched every single World cup match. I have it on in the background in my office when I'm going. I've watched them all, the Cabo Verde almost beating Argentina, tears streaming down my face. There have been so many great stories. And Trump digs down deep into the Reflecting Pool or wherever he gets the slime he's producing and he slimes it, you know, and that's what happens. Trump slimes everything.

[Joanna Coles]

Trump slimes everything.

[David Rothkopf]

He is the slime monster of the swamp of Washington, D.C. and he has taken one of the most beautiful sporting events we've ever seen, and he's tainted it well.

[Joanna Coles]

And he just can't bear not to be center of attention, can he? So you saw the whole brouhaha, the State's Fair, leading up to his two speeches, one at Mount Rushmore on. On Friday, one obviously on the Mall on Saturday at the Lincoln Memorial. And he just can't stand it when there's something else out there that's getting attention.

[David Rothkopf]

You gotta believe in divine providence, right? I mean, I don't know. You know, everybody listening to this has made different views of this, but he goes to Mount Rushmore. Because he wants his face on Mount Rushmore.

[Joanna Coles]

Of course. Of course he does.

[David Rothkopf]

You know, he's going to like, go, you know, we can get rid of that Lincoln guy. That's just enough room for my head. And he wants to be on Mount Rushwood. And he couldn't do this outdoor event he wanted. Cause there were hailstones. It was like, you know, some biblical storm.

[Joanna Coles]

It was like God intervening. It was literally like God intervening. I mean, biblical. No, I know, but let's just go straight to it. Biblical. You say biblical hailstones. I say God was intervening.

[David Rothkopf]

And what happens? He goes back to D.C. there are fucking lightning bolts hitting the Washington Monument. I mean, God was doing his best

[Joanna Coles]

to send a message, right?

[David Rothkopf]

You know, keep this guy off the stage. And then, you know, when he finally totters onto the stage for in his, like, did you see his, like, bulletproof booth?

[Joanna Coles]

Well, I don't blame him having a bulletproof booth. I mean, I don't blame him. I mean, today is the day that Tyler Robinson has his first preliminary hearing for shooting Charlie Kirk. I mean, I get that Trump is much more nervous about being out and about now. I would have a bulletproof booth if I said no.

[David Rothkopf]

Probably because there's a department somewhere in the White House that does fake assassination attempts. And he must worry about them. Okay, okay, maybe they weren't fake, but it was interesting. There's an article in the New Republic today talking about how maga. Let's just leave with the facts aside maga, who, you know, are very fact based, they're not gullible at all. But maga, they're believing now that a lot of these assassination attempts were faked.

[Joanna Coles]

Even maga's believing that. Wow.

[David Rothkopf]

Yeah. No, no, this is a story New Republic. Go read it. But one of the reasons they're believing it is because Trump has no interest in investigating these things. You know, somebody goes in the reflecting pool like an Olympic medalist and they immediately get arrested. And if it becomes a big deal, there's an investigation. But their assassination attempts on him, surrounded by all kinds of weirdness, like he doesn't go to a doctor, there's no doctor's report, there's no wound, there's that. And he's not interested in talking about it except to put it on a meme coin or whatever. And so anyway, MAGA thinks he's. These are made up. But he sits in this bulletproof booth and it steams up on the inside and pictures can't penetrate it. And it looks like he's in some satanic lair. And then he comes out and he gives a speech about himself, attacking his enemies, making the whole holiday about himself. At midnight, the fireworks weren't even till the next day.

[Joanna Coles]

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[David Rothkopf]

Well, he thinks he's a genius. You gotta know, he's like sitting in the White House and he's going, oh, well, Mamdani, you know, he's a socialist. He's a communist. Let's say that the communists are coming to take us over. And they go, well, boss, you know, they're not communists. He goes, it doesn't matter. We're gonna say they're communists. And he goes, well, you know, boss, you're actually the one that's representing the views of the Kremlin. And you're actually the one that loves the few remaining communist regimes in the world like China and North Korea. And so you're going to accuse them of communism. And then he throws a tablet or a ketchup packet or something. And there are more stories of him having tantrums. I saw, I think there was one in the Daily Beast recently, there was

[Joanna Coles]

definitely one in the Daily Beast. And there was a very good piece this morning in the Wall Street Journal. We're record this on Monday morning about the preparations for NATO and how the NATO leaders have all been having secret meetings to strategize on how to handle Donald Trump and even how to send their own tweets or their ex posts or their social media posts. And in some cases, the Norwegian premier being so anxious about not having given Trump the Nobel Prize that he gets the Finnish guy to put it out there instead. What are your sources saying about what the expectations are for the NATO summit this week? I mean, Trump's literally about to fly out.

[David Rothkopf]

The expectations are low. The Europeans that I talk to are essentially looking at their watch. They're like, TikTok, TikTok, this guy's going to go, we just have to make it through couple of years if he survives that long and tolerate it. But the real subtext within NATO is how do we get along without the U.S. there was a story that broke a couple of days ago that Pete Hegseth had this big plan. And the big plan was to pull all U.S. troops out of NATO. And this had to be stopped by the military. And the Congress had already passed a law that they couldn't do it. But Hegseth, trying to win favor with Trump, put this idea forward. And NATO knows this, NATO knows Trump is trying to blow them up at every turn. So their private meetings, their meetings without Trump are the most important ones because it's how will they survive without the US how will they survive with less US Equipment? They're shifting over from US Manufactured equipment to European manufactured equipment. And you know, they're expecting the worst. I mean, yet last night, just to give you an example, Trump, who attacked the Italian Prime Minister Maloney the last time they got together, saying she desperately wanted a picture with him. And then she said, well, he's lying. He put out an overnight true social post saying, you know, he may need a restraining order to keep her away from them. And it's like, oh, my God.

[Joanna Coles]

Well, his crazy truth social post, I mean, we should go through those in a moment. But if you're Giorgia Maloney, I mean, what's so fascinating is you've got the battle of the two marks, right? You've got the head of NATO, the Secretary General, Mark Rutger, and then you've got Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister. He's saying there's over dependence on America. We have to create our own middle state. I think he referred to them in Davos earlier this year.

[David Rothkopf]

Middle powers.

[Joanna Coles]

Middle powers. Middle powers. Thank you. And then Rutgers saying, trump's great. We can just flatter him. We just have to schmooze him.

[David Rothkopf]

Well, I mean, this has been rude as whole thing. So he's like former Dutch prime minister, and he has been the one who's the assigned Trump manager at these things that he goes in and he flatters Trump. And Trump says, mark's great, I can deal with him. Behind the scenes, I think there's a somewhat different story. They're really just killing time. Now, having said this, there is other kind of killing going on. There is a war in Ukraine right now. The Russians launched terrible attacks over the weekend. One of the reasons the Ukrainians are reeling from these attacks is they're not getting the air defense from the United States Patriot missile batteries or from the Europeans because the Europeans are not getting theirs replenished from the U.S. the U.S. is withholding aid from Ukraine over the weekend. Trump has talked to Zelensky, talked to Putin. But basically the US Line is the Putin line, which is we should negotiate on Russian terms. And basically seeking a kind of a solution that locks in place former Russian gains. Problem is Russia's losing ground. Now in Crimea, it's losing ground. In eastern parts of the eastern provinces of Ukraine, it's losing ground. And the Ukrainians have become so expert, they are the world leaders in drone technology. Right now, they're launching drones that are hitting St. Petersburg, Moscow, into Siberia. Russian oil plants, the biggest Russian oil plant may be offline for many months, and there are gas shortages in Russia. And so, you know, Trump does all this clown show and people don't like Trump, and Trump may have a snip. But in the middle of this, there is this major war in the middle of Europe where millions of people have died, where what is at stake is democracy, whether the European Union, whether NATO will be able to survive, whether the Russians will be encouraged to continue attacking it. And the reason we're not having productive discussions on it is Trump declared at the outset, I'm on the side of the Kremlin. And so I get it. And I think the NATO summit will be a mess on its surface, and there'll be some funny stories, but beneath the surface, you've got two giant stories. One is how the US has turned its back on Ukraine, and it's up to NATO to dig it out, and how NATO is planning for a future in which the US Role is much smaller. Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here.

[Joanna Coles]

For Mint Mobile.

[David Rothkopf]

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

[Joanna Coles]

of $45 for three months, $90 for six months or $180 for a 12 month plan. Required $15 per month equivalent to taxes and fees. Extra initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes. Me slow when network is busy. See terms. It's just a changing of the guard, isn't it? David, what did you make of the comment from an unknown British intelligence source that really America right now was like the Crucible mixed with Wolf Hall?

[David Rothkopf]

Well, I think that's the kind of colorful thing that gets a quote, but I don't think it's very meaningful. I mean, what does he mean that, you know, Trump has lots of wives and he's beheading some of them?

[Joanna Coles]

Or I think he didn't he mean that there is a sort of madness and a pursuit of enemies for the sake of it and that there's an overreach of power? I mean, funnily enough, when I was back in the uk, where I spent a lot of time in the last six months, I was driving past Founds Abbey, one of the most beautiful abbeys in, in Yorkshire, and just thinking it's a ruin of an abbey taken down by Henry VIII as he built his own church. And I thought, why aren't there more comparisons of Trump to Henry viii? Multiple wives, but also this sense that he can just do what he wants. He doesn't like the church that the UK has been abiding by, so he's going to create his own church, the Church of England.

[David Rothkopf]

Well, I guess, because the comparisons to Caligula are more compelling. You know, I mean, you know, people compare him to Caligula, they compare him to the Emperor Nero.

[Joanna Coles]

Well, he compares himself to Napoleon and Stalin and Hitler.

[David Rothkopf]

Right, right. That's the point. The point is he's a mad king. You know, we've had a long history of people drunk with power behaving in crazy ways. And, you know, Henry VIII is one of them. That resonates in the UK and for, you know, fans of Acorn TV or BritBox. But, but the reality is Trump is a continuation of a long line of what happens when you get leaders who are drunk with power and who Abuse it. And the thing that's different is we have seldom seen that in the United States. You may have seen it a little bit in the presidency of, say, Andrew Jackson, but. But nothing that has ever risen to this level before. And that's what makes it different. Because Henry VIII lived in the middle of the 16th century and behaved in ways that his power was limited to what he could do and a comparatively small army and comparatively limited resources. Donald Trump is the head of the most powerful country in the world, at least it was when he started. And he has the ability to inflict damage and to affect the lives of every single individual human being on the planet, which he has done with trade wars, with pulling back on fighting global warming, with actual wars all around the planet, with destroying alliances around the planet, with attacking people who deserve to be defended, like the president of Ukraine and shutting out. I mean, think about his big message of the past week, with the help of the Supreme Court, of saying, no, remember the Statue of Liberty? Remember our invitation to immigrants? We're turning them away. We're gonna send Haitians out of the country. We're going to send people who came here as refugees out of the country. We're not going to let refugees in here anymore. And again, it's another interesting thing. Talk about abuses of power that have unintended consequences. Who is now speaking out against his elimination of temporary protected status for the Haitians? Republicans. The Republican governor of Ohio. Republicans in Dade County, Florida. They realize these people are vital to the economic stability and growth of their regions. And so, yeah, I mean, sure, it's an interesting analogy, but the point is the real world consequences of the abuse of power of the most powerful man in the world.

[Joanna Coles]

Okay, so we've seen the resurgence of Tom Keene, the congressman.

[David Rothkopf]

The return of Tom Keene.

[Joanna Coles]

The return of Tom Keene who said he'd been depressed, which was why he'd missed, I think, 146 votes. So he's back, but counterbalanced by the disappearance of Mitch McConnell. Do you have any insight into what's going on with Mitch McConnell? We heard that he was found unconscious in his home. Three days later, his wife was spotted in China. The mystery continues and nobody's seen him since then, since he was found unconscious.

[David Rothkopf]

Look, we've seen Mitch McConnell blackout in the middle of press conferences. We've seen him fall over. He's just an old man who's dying, right? He's on his last legs. The fact that his wife days after, and it can't have been given that it was literally three days after he had a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital unconscious. She ends up in China. She must have left, you know, hours after this happened to him.

[Joanna Coles]

Unless she was there all along and decided not to come back.

[David Rothkopf]

Well, you know, maybe it's interesting, there is this sort of other subtext, which is, you know, McConnell could be dead and they'll just keep him in place because they don't want, you know, to have a, you know, a special election, I suppose, a special election in which Thomas Massie will run for the seat of Mitch McConnell. But it's like the Cain thing. Like if a Democrat disappeared for this long, the Republicans would go bananas and they would go, where is he? Replace him, get him out. Mike Johnson was like, he's fine. We know everything's fine and he doesn't have to show up. And he can miss 140 votes. And it's one of the weirdest stories ever. By the way, for those of you who are from the New York area, Tom Kaine's father was a very well respected Republican governor of New Jersey. He comes from a pretty respectable family, but he's turned into this just terrible politician. I guess he got depressed and okay, so he should have sought treatment, but he should have stepped down from his job. And he didn't do it. And they didn't want. They know that elections in New Jersey have been running against them recently. So they just kept him in place because they want to maintain their majority, which is razor thin. And at the end of the day, this whole year, the story of this whole year is how Republicans can cling to power when all the forces at play are moving against them, the polling is moving against them, their base is aging out, their policy programs aren't working very well. You know, Trump is less popular every day on economic grounds, on foreign policy, grants, so on and so forth. And so they're like, well, how do we cheat to maintain power? And so you have to save the Save act, what Trump is trying to force through the Congress. And you have Mike Johnson doing all this weird shit where like, he keeps this zombie seat open. And earlier, you'll recall, he wouldn't seat two Democrats who won in an election or a Democrat who won an election, but instantly, when a Republican won an election, he seated them. They cheat. They're just trying to cheat because they know that that's the only way they're gonna be able to cling to power.

[Joanna Coles]

Right. Well, Tom Keene is going to face a very good candidate, a sort of Mikey Sherrill type candidate in New Jersey, former veteran Rebecca Bennett, she's called a helicopter pilot. I'm obsessed with all the numbers of helicopter pilots coming in because I think all these veterans have got, you know, understand what it is to lead teams of people. I think they have a sense of public service. And she's going to be a very good candidate to take him on, I think.

[David Rothkopf]

Well, yeah, and first of all, Mikey Sherrill, the current governor of New Jersey is excellent.

[Joanna Coles]

And that's helicopter pilot, four kids, unbelievable that.

[David Rothkopf]

Right. Navy officer, great career. She's done great things. Like Abigail Spanberger in Virginia, like Alyssa Slotkin, who is also CIA operative, was a senator from Michigan. There is this movement, national security Democrats who have a really important role to play. And Cain's gonna lose to this woman. I'm willing to stick my nail.

[Joanna Coles]

Well, maybe that's why he's depressed. Maybe that's why he had to retreat to miss a 146 votes. If you're a member of his district and your Congressman has missed 146 seats, you are entitled to have a special election. I think it's quite extraordinary. But Donald Trump knows he's in trouble. And Trump put out 67 posts on truth Social and we'll go through some of them. But what perhaps is the most interesting is a list of all the things that he's done that he thinks, I guess, going to want him reelected. But the first one he started was launched Operation Epic Fury, destroying Iran's Navy. The very thing that he said he wasn't going to do, which is get involved in stupid stuff abroad. And then he goes, secured the border. It's down 99.999%. More than 3 million illegal aliens have left the United States under my leadership. I'd like to have that.3 million checks.

[David Rothkopf]

That's such bullshit.

[Joanna Coles]

I know.

[David Rothkopf]

I mean, I mean. Yes, go on.

[Joanna Coles]

Well, I mean, there's too many to read. But what's sort of fascinating is what he thinks important and how he's prioritized them and he prioritizes it with Iran.

[David Rothkopf]

I mean, that's one way to look at it. I think the other way to look at it is like there was a Saturday Night Live character called Stuart Smalley that was Al Franken played the character. And it was like he would do these affirmations like, I'm getting better and better and. And to me this is just neurotic. This is Trump sitting there going, no, I'm a good president. I'm doing all these good things. Here's a list of the good things in case you don't remember them. But as you point out, almost every single one of them on this list. And the list is like what, 50, 60, 70%?

[Joanna Coles]

Yeah, yeah. It's a lot. It's a lot of stuff. Yeah.

[David Rothkopf]

But almost every single one of them is based on a lie or a misinterpretation of the facts. This is the thing that is so striking, is that Trump thinks he is reaffirming, but he is actually undermining because the facts don't add up for him. And that is what is keeping him awake in the middle of the night and is why he's sending these 67 things. But one thing I love, I gotta say, I love working with the Daily Beast. I love working with you. And one of the reasons is that the Daily Beast alone, among all the media outlets that I know in the whole world, is incapable of outrage, overload. Every single thing that happens that is outrageous. You stay outraged.

[Joanna Coles]

We are still. We are outraged because it's not the norm. It's not the norm.

[David Rothkopf]

But the New York Times is bored with it. I mean, can you imagine the New York Times saying, oh, there were 67 true social. No, they don't, because this is boring. It's beneath theft. But this, the man is going nuts in front of Real Time Online, in front of her. If you had an uncle who was 80 years old who didn't sleep at night, who was sitting there on True Social, posting insane rants against the world that are only making his life more difficult. All night long. All night long. Maybe with the assistance of Natalie Harp, who provides him with notes and things so that he can post them. But I mean, what would you do?

[Joanna Coles]

Well, can we just show a couple of other posts that he put up? Because what's also interesting is actually on Truth Social, he doesn't get that much reaction. The reaction, obviously, is when it goes off onto other. And that's because there aren't very.

[David Rothkopf]

Truth Social is complete bullshit. Right?

[Joanna Coles]

I mean, well, it's bullshit as a media platform, except the one person you want to hear from is on it, who's the president. But can we show a couple of the other posts that he put up last night? What about this one of the Obama's plane? This is him clearly rejoicing in the fact he's got a new plane.

[David Rothkopf]

Yeah, I've seen it. And that one which shows the Obama plane covered with graffiti, including BLM graffiti, is part of his. I mean, he's got a real mental Problem with the Obamas, obviously, but it's also a racist problem. And he's taking these kind of urban memes, graffiti, blm and so forth, and he's saying to everybody, look, the Obamas are black. I mean, that's basically what he's saying with this thing. And he thinks this plays with his base and it probably does with, with the white supremacists who are marching through the streets of Washington this weekend carrying American flags and all masks. But to the rest of the world, you've gotta say, oh, my God, this guy is the President of the United States. And he's pumping out this crazy memes and they're all about racism and hate and his personal vendetta against a former president. It's a sign of. Of mental illness, right?

[Joanna Coles]

It's a sign of mental illness. There's another one here, which it's as if it's a poster and it goes, if no one goes to jail for election fraud, what incentive is there not to cheat? Which is such an insight into Donald Trump's mind. Again, hiding in plain sight.

[David Rothkopf]

It is, and it is crazy. And because he thinks what he's saying is, we need to prosecute the people who stole the 2020 election from me. But we all know the 2020 election wasn't stolen. And the only one doing election stealing is him. And he's the one who is pardoning people for trying to steal the election for him, one of who'll be invited to the White House this weekend from Colorado. And, you know, he is actively trying to steal the election and he doesn't think he's going to get prosecuted for it. And he has shown you in this truth social post exactly why he doesn't think he's going to get prosecuted for it. And it's very, very twisted. But again, this is. I could come back to where is the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, NBC, cbs, on the fact that what we have here is the mental dissolution of the most powerful man in the world, happening in real time in front of all of our. That would be a big story, right? Like if some, like if Hannibal Lecter were standing in the Oval Office, cutting open the head of the President, needing his brain, you'd be going, oh, yeah, that's a, that's a story. He's eating the brains. The President's brain. Well, something else is eating the President's brain. It's the same story. And we're just going, oh, yeah, just another Sunday at the office. Just old crazy Don on his Way to the NATO summit, unable to sleep. I mean, but I just. I thank God every morning for your lack of outrage overload.

[Joanna Coles]

Well, we're still outraged by almost everything that Donald Trump does. Cause he's doing it, in theory on behalf of Americans. Right. So I imagine when he arrives at the NATO summit, that the America vs Belgium game will be ongoing. What do you think the reaction of the other leaders are going to be? Obviously, the Norwegian prime minister is going to be beside himself at Norwegian's victory,

[David Rothkopf]

as well he should be. It was a great victory.

[Joanna Coles]

Yeah. No, what a game. What an incredible match. But America versus Belgium, with Baligan back in the game.

[David Rothkopf]

Well, like, I used to be the editor of a fairly large publication that dealt with international issues.

[Joanna Coles]

Is this. Are you talking about foreign policy?

[David Rothkopf]

Okay, yes, foreign policy. I thought I was trying to make it sound bigger than that, but, yes, I was the editor of Foreign Policy. If something like this fell in my lap as an editor, that the president is going to. To the NATO summit, and at the same time, there is a World cup match between the US and the country that is the host of NATO. I mean, NATO is in Belgium, spaced in Belgium.

[Joanna Coles]

Its headquarters are in Belgium. Right.

[David Rothkopf]

And it's. So this is the US versus NATO football match. And the president has already called up the head of FIFA to put the fix in, to say, oh, yeah, no, we got to get our guy in this game. Let him play in this game. And of course, Europe. UEFA that you mentioned earlier, is outraged, just as Europe within NATO is out. I mean, as metaphors go, it's a little outrageous.

[Joanna Coles]

It couldn't be more extraordinary timing, could it, that he's going to a NATO summit. They're playing belgium tonight, the U.S. team. And of course, hard not to root for the US Team. They've had a spectacular season.

[David Rothkopf]

I'm going to say something very controversial here. Maybe hard for you not to root for the U.S. team, but when the United States president cheats like this, I can't root for the US Team. I wish the players well, but the reality is it taints everything. It makes a kind of sick taste in our mouths. Because there is no way sometimes in sports when a weird thing like this happens in the record books, there's a little asterisk next to the name of the winner. Right. No matter what happens with the US there's an asterisk here. And the asterisk is Trump. It's like if they win, it's because he intervened. And if they lose, it's like game three of the Knicks, where he showed up in Madison Square Garden and screwed up every.

[Joanna Coles]

No, I was at that game, and it felt decidedly different to other games. I mean, there he was asleep behind his bulletproof glass, and you could just feel the energy in the room. He was resoundingly booed when he was shown on the monitor and people started seeing. Singing the national anthem.

[David Rothkopf]

And by the way, this match tonight, people are listening to this. The match may be over, but took place in Seattle. And there was some talk that Trump would go, but he won't go because he knows that he will get booed. And so he's intervening in some other. It's just very. It's very, very ugly. But it resonates in a hundred other ways with what's going on now with NATO, with relations with Europe, with our relations with international organizations, with corruption, with the fact that whatever Donald Trump touches is slimed. Starting with the reflecting pool and now continuing to the US Men's national soccer team.

[Joanna Coles]

You know what? It isn't slimed. The re gilding of the gold statues in D.C. have you seen them yet? I'm wearing this shirt because I feel like I'm trying to reflect those statues, valor and sacrifice, which have been re. Gilded.

[David Rothkopf]

I gotta tell you, this is like a play on your part for the attention and love of Donald Trump.

[Joanna Coles]

It so is. I'm like, I'm here. I'm in gold. I'm here and I'm in gold. What happens if the US Loses to Belgium?

[David Rothkopf]

Do you think Donald Trump knows Goldfinger was a villain in all those movies?

[Joanna Coles]

They've got 50 pounds of gold leaf. 50 pounds of gold leaf is going on valor and going on sacrifice. Those remarkable statues. What happens if the US Loses? Does Donald Trump interfere again?

[David Rothkopf]

I don't know that he will. Maybe there'll be an opportunity for him to do it. The US Will lose in this round or the next round. It's not in the first tier of teams. And they will have done a pretty good job. They're a better team than they used to be in the past. They move around. They've got a couple of better players and so forth. And they got an Argentine coach, and he seems to be doing a pretty good job. And so, you know, if you're a fan of U.S. soccer, you'll be able to carry this forward. Although I must say, I get a little aggravated listening to the Fox coverage of all of this. First of all, because one of their commentators, Alexi Lalas, is super maga, and he's constantly saying, well, this is the big breakthrough US Soccer has been waiting for. And I was like, where were you in 1999? I mean, when the US women beat the world. The US women have been beating the world for a long time. You mean if women win, it doesn't count. But secondly, Fox, even in reporting this story that you're talking about yesterday, said, well, there's a controversy because FIFA has reversed this thing. And at no point did they mention the President of the United States had intervened. At no point did they mention the political controversy around this kind of thing. Cuz it's Fox. And so even watching a sporting event, you can't get the facts from Fox.

[Joanna Coles]

Well, they report, you decide, David. They report, you decide.

[David Rothkopf]

They report some of what the facts are and then they report some lies. And I'm sure that, you know, there'll be a great documentary tonight on how the US national team should win everything, hosted by Maria Bartiromo. So, I mean, last night when we're recording this, England played Mexico City in a great game. It was very dramatic. Two girls by Bellingham. And then of course, Harry Kane stepped up into the box and got what ended up being the deciding goal on a penalty kick. Are you following England? Are you a Three Lions fan?

[Joanna Coles]

Of course I am. Of course I am. And now you've given me the perfect excuse because obviously they meet Norway on Saturday. So it's going to be Harry Kane, who I think of as my friend, and Erling Haaland, who as we know is now up there as main goal scorer.

[David Rothkopf]

Erling Haaland is fantastic. I don't know if you've been following him. Six foot five, blonde, hilarious, nice. Spent four years of his life growing up in Leeds because his father played in a British soccer league.

[Joanna Coles]

I also grew up near there, so we have that in common. But you've given me the perfect opportunity to use my personal photo of me and Harry Kane. I picked up what's known as an order of the British Empire and who should be also picking up his medal from Buckingham palace alongside me, but Harry Kane and I have a photo of it which I am unashamed to show here. It's not often one has a personal connection to the captain of the English squad, but I'm a huge Harry Kane fan and he was so nice.

[David Rothkopf]

Slow your roll there, okay? Just slow your.

[Joanna Coles]

Why are you going to produce pictures of you and the Norwegian?

[David Rothkopf]

It. Yeah, no, I'm not. I'm, I'm, I'm going to take issue with your term. I picked up an order of the British Empire. You were at like, what, at the McDonald's drive through window? You picked one up. This is how you are blase. Should we refer to you as Dame Joanna Coles from now on?

[Joanna Coles]

It's not a dame, but I did get a wonderful medal. It was a really fun day. I took my sons and my parents to Buckingham palace and the highlight for my sons and me actually was meeting Harry Kane.

[David Rothkopf]

Wow. When was this?

[Joanna Coles]

Six years ago. Seven years ago.

[David Rothkopf]

Six years ago.

[Joanna Coles]

Seven years ago.

[David Rothkopf]

And I haven't known.

[Joanna Coles]

Well, there you go, David. There you go.

[David Rothkopf]

I feel intimidated.

[Joanna Coles]

Next I'll get the FIFA Peace Prize. So, David, one of the pieces that we did in the Daily Beast last week was about the fact that Trump rarely does any work in the morning. He has, you know, executive time is what it's referred to in his calendar. But frequently he doesn't start the day until 11 o' clock or 12 o' clock or even later. Is this common for presidents? You've been a study, you've been a student of presidential politics for years now. What time did, when you were working for Bill Clinton, what time did he start?

[David Rothkopf]

This is such a leading question. It's like, is it common for presidents to fly around in planes given to them by foreign leaders? Is it common, is it common for

[Joanna Coles]

them to intervene in a game of soccer when their teams are had the red card?

[David Rothkopf]

Well, now that you ask. Now that you ask, Joanna. No, it's not common for presidents not to show up for work. You know, and, and, and, you know, they usually take their jobs pretty seriously and some of them do crappy jobs and some of them do good jobs. And most of them, the vast majority of American presidents do a mediocre job. They do a mixed job at being President of the United States. But Donald Trump is, you know, there are a bunch of recent polls of historians to rate the president, and Donald Trump finished dead last in all of them because his record on foreign policy and domestic policy and corruption on leadership and everything is terrible. But interestingly, and I think this is, you know, maybe it's a triumph for him, he's managed to become the very worst there is by doing the very least he could. And, you know, I saw some interview. Oh, talk about weird. You said this to me. So he does an interview with Usha Vance where he's supposed to be reading a children's book, and I'd love to talk about that in a second, but in it, he was talking about the sports that different presidents like, and he had Dwight Eisenhower playing golf and he Said, you know, there was a putting green, but I don't like to use that. Cause I don't want the people to think I'm playing golf. And it's like, what kind of delusional world do you live in? He's played golf like 150 times. He spends a third of his presidency playing golf. It's not just that he gets up late. It's that when he's awake, he gets in a motorcade and he goes to play golf. And then he goes to Mar a Lago for a cocktail party. And the thing is, like, take the FIFA thing. Why does he have time to do that? Why does he have the time to intervene in this thing? Doesn't he have stuff to do?

[Joanna Coles]

And apparently he had several calls with Gianni and volunteer.

[David Rothkopf]

We have an economic crisis in the US we're not creating jobs. There was a bad jobs report last week. Prices are high. There's a war going on with Iran that has not been resolved. There are deep rifts with some of our critical traditional allies around the world, whether it's the Europeans or the Israelis. There are a host of other problems across the country. He's not doing anything. There's no agenda. He gets up, somebody serves him Quarter Pounders in bed. He puts on his golf tugs, and you can tell he's having a lazy day when underneath his white MAGA hat that he plays golf in, you've got these long, oily strands of hair hanging down.

[Joanna Coles]

Someone asked, we had a very good comment this morning week that I was going to refer to as someone said, does Donald Trump do his hair with an egg whisk? And I thought, what a great comment that was from John Whitefoot. I loved that comment. I mean, just to your point about Donald Trump's hair, just looking. How does he do his hair?

[David Rothkopf]

Well, it looks like he does his hair with a dab or two of vinaigrette in it. Because, I mean, he. And he just goes out on the court, his big fat belly is hanging over. There've been recent pictures. I saw a picture of him the other day where his butt extended out like an extra six inches, clearly, because he's wearing some kind of Depends or something underneath there. And you know, he goes out and he plays golf all the time. No president. Sue me. No, sue the Daily Beast if this is untrue.

[Joanna Coles]

No, don't sue us. Don't sue us. I'm taking.

[David Rothkopf]

No president has ever done less work than Donald Trump, who has been conscious. There was a period Woodrow Wilson was in A coma. He probably did less, but then his

[Joanna Coles]

wife made up for it.

[David Rothkopf]

Edith Wilson.

[Joanna Coles]

Edith basically ran. Ran the show.

[David Rothkopf]

Can you imagine when Donald Trump eventually has his physical breakdown? Will Melania step in?

[Joanna Coles]

Of course I will. I will step in. Efforts lady step in for husband. Yes, of course she will.

[David Rothkopf]

You make the decision for America.

[Joanna Coles]

I will make the decision for America. For America, Yes. I make decision. Yes, of course she'll step in. She'll probably do a better. She'll probably do a better job.

[David Rothkopf]

Well, she'll probably reverse his stance on birthright citizenship, because otherwise Barron's gonna be deported.

[Joanna Coles]

He's too tall to deport his.

[David Rothkopf]

What a weird, sad, sad story. I saw somebody on the Internet talking about how Barron used to play outside the Oval Office to get his father's attention. And his father, he just wouldn't pay any attention to him. And, you know, he was raised by, like, two assistants because his mother was never around. Where is his mother? You must talk about this on.

[Joanna Coles]

On Inside Trump's Head. We do talk about it. I mean, she's based in. According to Michael Wolff, she's really based in New York. She spends her time in New.

[David Rothkopf]

So Trump's not working. She's not there. This is absentee Atlanta tenants at the White House. It's a bizarre, bizarre story. And here's the thing. I will also make this prediction here. We don't know the half of it.

[Joanna Coles]

We don't know the half of it. We don't know the half of it. That's a very good point. Although we do know that he made $2.2 billion that came out last week since we last spoke. And Melania made 17 million.

[David Rothkopf]

Well, Melania made that great movie, which is a classic. And Trump, somebody asked him in the midst of all of this, well, you made 3,000 stock trades in one day. And he did all this trading the day before he reversed the tariff decision stuff, obviously, all completely corrupt insider trading. And then he goes, well, somebody handles all that for me. And literally, Don Jr. And Eric, who are the ones who handle, were standing six feet behind him at the time that he was saying all of this kind of stuff. But again, you had a story in the Daily Beast about Ivana Trump and people saying that Ivana was procuring for Epstein like rings. And I happen to know, not because I was involved, but because I know people, that that was a well known accepted fact for a long time.

[Joanna Coles]

Time that Ivana was procuring girls. Yeah.

[David Rothkopf]

I mean, she was at least seen in this BO in Europe seeking young

[Joanna Coles]

Girls for parties, young girls for parties. And now she's buried in Bedminster because you get a tax benefit because she's

[David Rothkopf]

buried in a golf course and you

[Joanna Coles]

get a tax benefit from it after

[David Rothkopf]

she had a horrible accident in which, like every other person who posed a threat to Vladimir Putin, she fell down a stairs or off a balcony.

[Joanna Coles]

Okay. So, David, I've been looking at the comments. We get lots of comments when you're on the show. We also get lots of questions, and I thought it would be good to do.

[David Rothkopf]

They say nicely.

[Joanna Coles]

They say Rothkopf is the man. I'm such a big fan. This is Daily B's podcasting at its peak. That's from Boomer Dragon Cat. I think that.

[David Rothkopf]

I think Boomer Dragon Cat is a very insightful person. And I just want to say, is it Mr. Boomer Dragon Cat or Ms. Boomer Dragon Cat?

[Joanna Coles]

It feels like a woman. I don't know, but I don't know why I'm saying that.

[David Rothkopf]

Just Miss Boomer Dragon Cat. Thank you very much.

[Joanna Coles]

Okay, but there's a good question here for you. And if you send in questions for David, we'll start asking them. David, will any of these grifting families go to prison, do you think, after the midterms, assuming the Democrats get in and who knows, they may not, should they begin to start prosecuting or at least going after people for the grift? The corruption. The levels of corruption really do seem astonishing.

[David Rothkopf]

They are astonishing. We've never seen anything like it. The president made $400 million, which is still a lot. The year before he became president, he made. Made four or five times that. The following. I mean, it was 600 million, and he made four or five times that when he became president because of crypto and all these other kind of things. And it's not to speak of the $400 million airplane with the $400 million upgrades which he's flying around in now that ultimately he'll get to keep, or all the deals we'll never see that will never be reported. What happened to all the Venezuelan oil money? What happened to all the side deals where he approved something or there was a pardon? Who got what in crypto? I don't know that we'll know. I'll tell you this. I think some people will be prosecuted. I think there will be a big battle that will ensue over whether the president can pardon people in a blanket way or a bunch of things that were clearly illegal, whether he actually has immunity for acts taken that are not official. Acts. Cuz in Trump v. US that's the carve out, right? Official acts. And I think that what you're likely to get is a lot of legal battles that will go on for years. Well, Trump's 80. Will Trump go to jail for this? I doubt it. Will his sons go to jail for this in the United States? I doubt it. Might they go to jail or might they become open to prosecution in Albania or Kazakhstan or some other part of the world? Yeah, that's possible. Will the Witkoffs or the Lutnicks or some of these others find themselves running afoul? Yeah, I think it is. But let me tell you something that worries me about this. I was at a dinner with a bunch of Democrats at a high level and we started talking about whether Trump should be held to account. And I mentioned James Tallarico said, the first thing I do when I get in the Senate is going to be to hold them account for their corruption. And Jon Ossoff has been talking about holding the Epstein class to account and so forth. And all of these people who are progressives, household names, they said, I don't think we should do that.

[Joanna Coles]

You mentioned this last week and we had a lot of comments saying, this is terrible. This is absolutely terrible.

[David Rothkopf]

I do remember that I mentioned last week. I had another conversation about it this weekend with some of the same people. And it's a fight right now. I mean, we're having a debate about this because there is a substantial percentage of Democrats who think that it's just like move on. And personally, I don't agree with that.

[Joanna Coles]

Chris Christie made a good point yesterday, I think with George Stephanopoulos actually saying that this is Putin levels of grift. The problem is that the public think both sides are corrupt and it's baked in with Donald Trump. They understand he's corrupt. So in a sense, I can see why politicians, some politicians might think, you know what, actually what we should be doing to stay in power is to deliver for the American people and not get caught up in this. And I can't tell which side will win out in the Democratic Party.

[David Rothkopf]

Well, we do have some lessons from history, right? The prior, biggest, most scandalous era in US History was Watergate. And what happened in the wake of

[Joanna Coles]

the Watergate, which according to JD Vance would now be be 12 hours in the news cycle.

[David Rothkopf]

Yeah, well, he's a pillar. But I think that that's an important point actually, because JD Vance lives numb to corruption, as a lot of people do. But who won in 1976 a candidate that nobody thought was even going to be a contender a year before. And it was Jimmy Carter, who was a governor, but I think more importantly for his winning, was a Sunday school teacher and a peanut farmer and was completely. Yeah, but it wasn't the peanut farm. It was that he was unbelievably scrupulous and clean. And his campaign slogan was, we need American leaders as good as the American people. And I don't know who it is, but some people say, well, maybe Reverend Raphael Warnock should run, or maybe somebody's going to. I mean, look at Talarico in Texas, having a good chance. Why does he. Well, he's a seminarian. And I just think that sometimes we can't afford to be subtle. Sometimes candidates emerge and they say, no, I'm the antidote to this corruption. And I think this corruption is so pervasive that it is unlikely that anybody who's seen as establishment or seen as roughly associated with big corporate money or APAC money or other kinds of sources is going to win. I think it's going to be somebody from left field who people go, oh, no, that person's different, not connected, and by no means is corrupt. And I think that's where. And then there will be some bunch of reforms that come out of that. But I think that's where you're most likely to see the public expressing their revulsion at the cesspool of MAGA Washington.

[Joanna Coles]

Hot algae girl Summer.

[David Rothkopf]

Nice.

[Joanna Coles]

Not bad.

[David Rothkopf]

No, that's good.

[Joanna Coles]

That's from someone called Cynife who very honestly says, not my joke, but it's a good line. Hot Algae Girl Summer. To finish off your actually hopeful note to end on that, Jimmy Carter is a good. Is a good analogy in history for what may happen next.

[David Rothkopf]

Well, people look for somebody whose people always. Americans are always looking for change and Americans are always kind of disgusted with what's going on in Washington. And Donald Trump said, I'm not part of it. That's why he won. Barack Obama said, I'm not part of it. That's why I won on a regular basis. Bill Clinton said, I'm from Arkansas. I'm not part of it. That's why I won on a regular basis. The candidate who's best stable to present themselves as an outsider and as an optimist wins.

[Joanna Coles]

And that's what you gotta look for, outsider optimism.

[David Rothkopf]

Yeah, that's the formula that wins.

[Joanna Coles]

And we also had a comment from a deaf fan of the podcast saying that our captions weren't always accurate. So we looked at Spotify and Apple and actually there's 92% accuracy. So I hope that reassures you that we really are saying the things that you are reading on the caption. You're probably reading the captions and thinking they can't possibly be saying these strange things. Yes, we are. Okay, David Rothkopf, as usual, a great way to start the week. Some hope in there as well as some cold eyed analysis on the poor Europeans who are just, as you say, waiting it out. Can they get through the next two years? Can Ukraine get through the next two years?

[David Rothkopf]

Can we get through the next three years? And as I think you discuss on some of your other podcasts, will Trump get through the next few years?

[Joanna Coles]

Right, right. Well, I'm sorry to hear the air quality is not good. Stay in your home. Stay in your home, David.

[David Rothkopf]

I'm gonna stay in my bulletproof box. We all have them.

[Joanna Coles]

Well, I was gonna say you can't get into your Porsche and roar around this morning. I will say that your white shirt with the black jacket, a look I very much like. Makes you look like a kind of puritan judge. It really does. It gives you this sort of puritan type, you know.

[David Rothkopf]

Do you know that on the last like episode or two episodes ago, you said because I was wearing the head things that I looked like one of the founders?

[Joanna Coles]

Yes, you looked sort of Benjamin Franklin esque with black.

[David Rothkopf]

Okay. Couldn't it have been like one of the handsome founders, not Benjamin Franklin?

[Joanna Coles]

I think they were all handsome in spirit. David. I want to recommend Wolf hall. If you haven't seen it.

[David Rothkopf]

The best.

[Joanna Coles]

The best. Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell is one

[David Rothkopf]

of the great, the best actor in the world. And both series of Wolf hall are spectacular. And of course Damian Lewis is Henry viii, also fantastic. But particularly the first season of Wolf hall because the second one's a little dark. But the first season of Wolf series of Wolf hall is top five television series ever in my book.

[Joanna Coles]

Yeah, totally agree. Mark Rylance is so good. I remember watching six episodes back to back, something I've never, I've never done before. I've never done since. It was so good.

[David Rothkopf]

Well, I also, and Mark Rylance, just if I may, he was in this movie, Bridge of Spies with Tom Hanks. With Tom Hanks, right. And he played an East German who was a spy and he was charged with espionage and Tom Hanks was his lawyer. Then works to get a swap where he gets returned. But he's in this trial and he could be sentenced to death. And on a regular basis. Tom Hanks, they say, well, he did this and he did this and he did this. And Tom Hanks is like, why aren't you getting angry? Like, why aren't you upset that they're accusing of all these things? And Mark Rylance's character, and Mark Ryland says this in the best dry deadpan, said, would it help? And to me, I've taken this for these words of Mark Rylance as watchwords throughout life because it was such a useful thing. If I freak out right now, would it help? And I just, just can't get enough. Mark Rylance and Wolf. And by the way, the books are also spectacular.

[Joanna Coles]

Oh, the books are spectacular by Hilary Mantel, who, funnily enough, I edited her. I used to edit Hilary Mantel when she wrote book reviews for the Spectator magazine. And it was always a thrill. And she was a very eccentric character who would occasionally show up at the offices, and she was suffering from a terrible disease and she could not have been more pleasant or charming. And I was sorry that she died recently.

[David Rothkopf]

Jean, those books are genius. They really are.

[Joanna Coles]

She also has, and I have it by my bedside, a very good book on writing. Hilary Mantel on writing. It's a wonderful book. She was a supremely talented author. And Mark Rylance brings her characters to life. David Rothkoff, it's always good to see you. You've boosted my week ahead. Can't wait to come back and discuss everything again with you next week. Don't go out. As we've said, we know the air quality's not good because you're still fighting through the fog of the fireworks. Best fireworks ever. Best. Nobody's ever seen anything like it. Nobody's ever seen anything like it. Fireworks. It did look pretty spectacular. The fireworks, I will say.

[David Rothkopf]

Didn't watch.

[Joanna Coles]

Well, I watched on social media like everybody else. And I will talk to you next week.

[David Rothkopf]

I will talk to you next week. I always love talking to you. And if the folks have questions, please send them. We love getting the questions. And see you soon.

[Joanna Coles]

And you can see more of David on Deep State Radio, his own network of podcasts where he's in charge. Where he's in charge. All right, see you next Monday.

[David Rothkopf]

Thank you, boss.

[Joanna Coles]

Well, right, and turn. Tell us what you thought of Donald Trump's communist speech, his appearance at Mount Rushmore and the whole 250th anniversary of it all. Leave us your comments on YouTube. Don't forget to subscribe to the Daily Beast podcast and a big shout out to our team, John Romero, Ryan Murray, Rachel Passer, Heather Passaro, Neil Rosenhaus, and our intern, Max Shaw. So the good news is, is we have so many Beast Tier members now, there are too many names to read out. And we really appreciate your support.