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John Stamos
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Michael
This could not be a worse situation and a more. More of a malfunction of a situation than we have seen in a very long time. This is a window on exactly who he is and on his serious limitations as a president and as an intelligence.
Joanna
There was no goal. It was like, we have a lot
Michael
of, we're stronger than they are, so. So we'll be able to come out of this looking better than they do.
Joanna
We'll win. How could we not win? There was never a definition for him of winning.
Michael
Except winning. Winning.
Unnamed Female Host
Michael.
Michael
Joanna, you're back.
Joanna
Where were you?
Unnamed Female Host
I was in Montana. I was in Montana. I was. I was breathing in some Yellowstone air. Inspired by Taylor Sheridan's shows. I'm big into his new show, Madison, actually partly. Well, entirely because of Michelle Pfeiffer. Thank goodness he's brought her back. I don't like his portrayal of female characters.
Joanna
Well, have you. So you like this?
Michael
Everything I've read about this Madison makes it sound terrible. So I have to.
Unnamed Female Host
All you have to do is watch Michelle Pfeiffer. The question is, it's not about the show. It's about, do you like Michelle Pfeiffer or not? Because if you do, you just. It's like watching an Instagram video of her. It's just fantastic. It's all about her hair, her sunglasses, her coat.
Michael
So I take this that you like Michelle Pfeiffer.
Unnamed Female Host
I love Michelle Pfeiffer. I'm so grateful he's bought her back from. Where was she?
Michael
How do you even remember Michelle Pfeiffer?
Unnamed Female Host
Yeah. Casino.
Joanna
Yeah.
Michael
A long way. What are we, the 80s?
Unnamed Female Host
Maybe. Maybe. Anyway, she's back and I'm thrilled. And the. The show itself, it's like all his shows. It's kind of cartoony, but beautiful countryside.
Joanna
He's the only guy working in television
Unnamed Female Host
and he's not doing the familiar LA or New York tropes. It's something fresh. Anyway, that's not why I went.
Michael
I think those are called Trump tropes.
Unnamed Female Host
Trump tropes. Okay. They may be called Trump tropes, but I'm back. I'm excited to talk to you. I missed the whole Sharpie thing. When we were talking before the podcast, I suggested we did the Sharpie thing and you were like, you are so out of touch. That's been everywhere.
Joanna
We're not doing that.
Unnamed Female Host
We're not doing that. So, Michael, are you going on a no Kings protest?
Joanna
Yeah.
Michael
The children are looking forward to it. Yes.
Unnamed Female Host
Where are you?
Michael
We will be there. East Hampton.
Unnamed Female Host
East Hampton. I was once in the Easthampton Book Hampton store on Main street when a ton of trucks came through waving flags and they were all Trumpers and they were all hooting and it was oddly ominous, actually. I've always thought, oh, I wouldn't be impacted by something like that. And it was oddly, oddly sinister before the election.
Joanna
Yeah, the Hamptons, which you would think
Michael
is a Trump free zone. That is not actually true. And Long island is a. Is a. Quite a. Quite a Trump enclave.
Unnamed Female Host
Oh, I think there were lots of Trump fundraiser. Lots of Trump fundraisers in Southampton.
Michael
Well, the billionaires are not on their trucks with their. With their Trump flags.
Unnamed Female Host
True.
Michael
That's another. Another segment. Another demo.
Unnamed Female Host
Well, we should do that. The billionaires for Trump, actually. But I know you've got things to say. I know you've got things to say. Not least that why are we paying any attention to what Trump's saying? Because we can't avoid it. But he just makes no sense whatsoever. It's one thing after another. None of which holds together.
Joanna
Yeah, I mean, I think it's been an interesting Trump character couple of days.
Michael
I mean, the Sharpies are a point. Because that was like, oh, my God.
Joanna
You know, there was this moment this week on this voting. So I mean, I mean, Trump has
Michael
been adamantly, of course, against mail in votings about. Against mail in voting. And
Joanna
without concern, he mailed in his boat in his vote to Palm beach and he was followed by his wife, also mailed In.
Michael
In his son who mailed in their votes. And obviously people said, wait a minute.
Joanna
And effectively his response was.
Michael
And let me not overstate this, but I think the response was, I can do fuck all that I want.
Joanna
And. And really, let's just kind of clear the debris here. That is what he said. That is the rationale.
Michael
I'm the President of the United States.
Joanna
I can do this. And the fact that I am opposed
Michael
to this for everyone else has no bearing on what I do.
Joanna
Now, how that has not become. How the country does not respond to that and say, holy cow, wait a minute, this is really not how it
Michael
is supposed to be on no Kings Day, let's add.
Joanna
But he is transparent about what he is doing here. This is what you're buying America, the world.
Michael
This is what it is. I can do what I do. I can do fuck all, because I can.
Unnamed Female Host
Well, and also, it's a sort of hypocrisy. In the olden days. I don't even know when the olden days were, that would have appalled people. And do you think it's just that people are saturated by this?
Joanna
Actually, the interesting thing is there is no hypocrisy here. This is not. I mean, he is not saying. He's not inventing a rationale here. I mean, he is saying,
Michael
I can
Joanna
do anything I want to do. Of course. Why would you think otherwise?
Unnamed Female Host
Well, that's hypocritical. And it's one law for you and it's another law for me. But the bigger question is why don't people care? And is it because they just assume this is baked in with Donald Trump and ultimately he might be good for taxes or he might be better for them, and they just put up with the kind of nonsense and the noise. Is that what's going on here?
Joanna
Yeah, I suppose it is. But even within that context, I think
Michael
you have to ask.
Joanna
And actually part of the answer to that is that that he has disastrously low polling numbers.
Michael
So it is not. I mean, the country does recognize this
Joanna
and say, holy cow.
Michael
I mean, what is going on here? I mean, this is.
Joanna
We're in this exceptional moment and we
Michael
have to make a decision about it.
Joanna
I mean, this was also.
Michael
No, go ahead.
Unnamed Female Host
No, I was also just going to say that I do think with the war in particular, he seems to have lost his messaging ability.
Joanna
Well, let's not go. Don't go to the war. Exactly.
Michael
Because I think that there was this other example which actually.
Joanna
More thematically
Unnamed Female Host
adjacent.
Joanna
Yeah, Thematically matches the. I can Vote where I can do
Michael
any kind of voting. And then, and this was, I'm going
Joanna
to sign the dollar. I'm going to sign the dollar. I mean, I am going to put my name on the dollar.
Unnamed Female Host
So which is the first time an American president has done that, to be clear for those who don't follow the patterns on the, on the dollar bills.
Fox News Announcer
So
Joanna
and again, why are you doing that? Why are you doing that?
Michael
There's only one reason he is doing
Joanna
that, because he can.
Fox News Announcer
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Unnamed Female Host
Well, and because he wants dominance over all things. And I know you just clearly said don't go to the war. I'm going to go to the war. In terms of what did he say yesterday at the investor conference he was speaking at? Well, you know, the straight of Trump. I mean hormones.
Joanna
No. Yes.
Unnamed Female Host
Or I mean just the naming which we've discussed ad nauseam on this podcast. But the idea that he would then name the Strait of Hormuz a wonderful name that we've all just got our heads around to. The Strait of Trump or the Strait of America.
Donald Trump (quoted)
We're negotiating now and be great if we could do something. But they have to open it up. They have to open up the Strait of Trump. I mean Hormuz. Excuse me for. I'm so sorry. Such a terrible mistake. The fake news will say he accidentally said no, there's no accidents with me. Not too many. If there were, we'd have a major story.
Joanna
Well, I'm going though I am going to
Michael
suggest that there is irony there, that he was, that was a moment and they do occur of Trump self awareness. I put my name on everything. So I will suggest that I'm going to put my name on this.
Joanna
So that was Trump actually at his best. When you are with Trump quite often
Michael
he will hit a note like that
Joanna
and you will think, okay, he gets it.
Michael
He gets who he is and he is playing it.
Joanna
So I would say that was an example of.
Unnamed Female Host
All right, that's a generous interpretation.
Joanna
But he goes, you know, you think that he does this and then he forgets that this is irony.
Michael
Irony then becomes practice with him.
Unnamed Female Host
Okay, so what's going on inside his head this week? The Save America bill has not passed. He's been voting in the mail as has this entire family, something he says he's against. And we're in week five of the war. It's week five today.
Joanna
Those are probably different things. I mean, I think he didn't vote in, he voted by mail.
Michael
I actually think probably because he's lazy. I mean, he's saying, I don't want to go on. I could do this, but it's so much easier to do this by mail. So fuck all. Forget the fact that I am waging a campaign against this because in the end, and this is a Trump, a Trump thing, he is lazy. He doesn't really care. He doesn't have a lot of follow through. And if it's better for him, he's gonna take the easy way out almost always.
Joanna
So I think that was just an example of that.
Michael
Yeah, I'm gonna catch flack for this, but I don't care.
Unnamed Female Host
And do you think he cares about the fact that a Democrat, a young woman called Emily Gregory, won the seat that Mar? A Lago is in despite the fact that Trump endorsed her opponent?
Michael
Nah, I don't think he cares that much.
Joanna
I mean, I don't think he cares about a lot.
Michael
He cares about himself. Are you paying attention to me? And even that woman who won that
Joanna
seat, you know, if he's in, if that story becomes about him, which it has become about him, he's fine with it.
Unnamed Female Host
He's fine with it, totally. So the war is also about him. Although we're now it's five weeks since America first started its bombing raids with Israel. What is going on inside his head about the war?
Joanna
Well, I think he's desperate about this.
Michael
I think he does not know what to do. So it's a moment by moment thing of, well, let's try this. We better do that. Why didn't somebody tell me about something that they no doubt did tell him about? I think
Joanna
it's improvisational at the maximum, but I don't really think it's.
Michael
I think improvisation is a nice way to think about this. I think he's out of control. I think that there is, that there is no one in charge here. I think this could not be a worse situation and a more, more of a, of a malfunction of a situation than, than, than we have seen in a very long time at a high level of government and of and of policy. I mean, I think it is extraordinary. I think that this is a window on exactly, exactly who he is and on his serious limitations as a president and as an intelligence.
Unnamed Female Host
Well, I still think the confusing Thing is, we don't know what the goal was. Was the goal regime change was the goal to stymie oil to China.
Michael
I disagree.
Joanna
That is what we know is that there was no goal. The goal was haphazard. There was no goal. It was like, we have a lot
Michael
of, we're stronger than they are, so we'll be able to come out of this looking better than they do.
Joanna
We'll win. How could we not win? And winning. There was never a definition for him
Michael
of winning, except winning, winning.
Unnamed Female Host
Okay, so I have a slightly different point of view based on a conversation. I was eavesdropping with someone who talks to Trump every day or has been talking to Trump every day since the war began. And this person was saying that, in fact, of course there's a plan. It's ridiculous to think there wasn't a plan. There's a six week plan. We're now at three.
Joanna
Since you don't.
Michael
Since you were eavesdropping, you owe nothing to this person. Can you say who it is?
Unnamed Female Host
I can't say who it is because that might actually compromise them. But he said, of course there's a plan. Trump is sticking to the plan. No one expects. The plan has been there for some time. The Israeli intelligence is the thing that allowed them to suddenly go for it because they realized that they could decapitate the Iranian leadership. That Trump has, in fact stuck to the plan, even though it doesn't look like he has, but he actually has. They're way ahead in terms of bombing capacity.
Joanna
We're all waiting to hear the plan.
Unnamed Female Host
Well, the plan was to decapitate leadership and have regime change. And the regime change is the bit that hasn't yet happened. And no one knows if the Iranians are going to protest.
Joanna
This is ridiculous. Let's look at this plan. The plan did not account for the
Michael
fact that 20% of the world's oil
Joanna
would be effectively embargoed. The plan then did not account for the fact that even if you kill the top level of leadership, the regime itself stays in place. The plan did not then apparently account for the fact that this nuclear material remains out of reach and will require
Michael
boots on the ground to get it.
Joanna
So let me see a plan there. What is the plan? To kill the guy. Yes, we killed the guy, but that in itself has accomplished nothing except a dead guy.
Unnamed Female Host
Okay. I think the plan was to remove the leadership. And now we have a negotiation window. Right. Which is supposed to start this week, where the Americans.
Joanna
No, no, no, no. Actually, that was not the plan. Unless he's unable to remember the plan and to keep on message.
Michael
So we were unconditional surrender.
Joanna
That unconditional surrender is exactly the opposite of negotiation.
Unnamed Female Host
Well, what we do know is Donald Trump talks too much and he says whatever is in his head in the moment. That doesn't mean we're not still on plan. So basically what's happened is this is what was being argued. This is what's being argued.
Joanna
You overh. A, some. Somebody who's on board with Donald Trump who obviously has a need to support this. And there are, there are lots of people. Remember the, the, the, the neocon group is, you know, feels they are getting what they have always wanted. Except.
Michael
Except everything's going wrong.
Joanna
But other than that, they have wanted to in a full scale mighty invasion
Michael
of Iran, which they have gotten.
Unnamed Female Host
Okay, that's not who I was talking to. I was talking to someone who by nature of what they do, actually remains neutral, but is involved in it for all sorts of reasons.
Michael
But you were eavesdropping. Not talking.
Unnamed Female Host
I was kind of eavesdropping.
Michael
I'm just clarifying.
Unnamed Female Host
Yes, I'm trying to be subtle here. I was kind of eavesdropping. And we've largely demolished the military in Iran. What we want back is the enriched uranium. And there's now a window for negotiation, which was part of the plan in as much as there is any plan. Once you start bombing a country. And clearly no one understands what's going on with the leadership. And if anyone tells you they do, then that's not true. They don't. Clearly nobody knows what's going on with the leadership. And it's unclear that the Trump. So let me just finish. It's unclear who the Trump people. That is, Jared, Steve Witkoff are actually negotiating with at this point.
Michael
But you just said there was a window of negotiation.
Unnamed Female Host
There's a window for negotiation which we know Trump has extended to April 6th.
Joanna
Right, but we don't know who to negotiate with.
Michael
This is a hell of a window.
Unnamed Female Host
But we also. Right, but they must be supplying someone to negotiate with. We just don't know who it is.
Joanna
The pronoun is the problem there. They are supplying someone who is they and.
Unnamed Female Host
Well, the irg, the, the current leadership.
Joanna
Yeah, but we don't know. Except we don't know who that is.
Unnamed Female Host
That's, that's part of the unknown unknowns. That's part of the unknown unknowns of wars.
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Joanna
So there was a paragraph in the
Michael
Times story, I think yesterday
Joanna
that jumble
Michael
of emissaries, a friend, a family member, a dove and a hawk, reflects Mr.
Joanna
Trump's improvisational approach to foreign dealings and
Michael
his disdain for career diplomats and their often cumbersome protocols.
Joanna
The picture is further muddied by Mr.
Michael
Trump's stream of consciousness commentary on social media and before the TV cameras, during which he declares, revises, and sometimes reverses his threats and demands.
Joanna
Okay, that paragraph that is trying to create a. A kind of reasonable, even within an unreasonable situation, a reasonable context for understanding this. He is doing things in a different
Michael
way than other people would doing or
Joanna
other presidents would do them. And this is confusing to people, but nevertheless, it's a, it's an approach.
Michael
I mean, it's essentially not that different. Sounds like from what the person you were sitting next to was saying, But
Joanna
I think that there's another way. You take these same facts in the
Michael
same description and you say, oh, my
Joanna
God, this person does not know which end is up. This person is wholly incapable of doing what he has to do in the situation that he is in. This person is. Has completely lost the plot and we
Michael
are in deep, deep shit.
Unnamed Female Host
Right? Clearly.
Joanna
And let me hit the. And let me hit the New York
Michael
Times again, as I so like to
Joanna
do, is that they just, they just don't have the language. They have to. It's like, like forcing the square peg into a round hole. You know, Although we see this very clearly, can define this and describe this, yet we still have to come up with a paragraph in which we are not saying, holy mackerel, this is the end.
Unnamed Female Host
The end of what?
Michael
The end of logic, reason, and of
Joanna
sense and sensibility and of any advantage that we might possibly have been able
Michael
to come out of this with over, we're done, we're cooked.
Unnamed Female Host
I mean, the problem is that because Afghanistan and because Iraq went so badly, there is a perfectly logical school of thought of, well, we had all these diplomats and they had a plan and it all went wrong, so why shouldn't we just have Trump go in and on the shit out of Iran? That is, there's definitely a school of thought around that. And it's hard to argue that the Iraq war was a good decision from the American point of view.
Joanna
It's not exactly a school of thought.
Michael
From a prestige school of thought.
Unnamed Female Host
No. But there are plenty of arguments to try a different way of bringing a country like Iran.
Joanna
No, there are not. There are not plenty of arguments. That is really ridiculous. I mean, all of those arguments have
Michael
been made, you know, I mean, I
Joanna
think you can say for the last 50 years, and they don't work. They are effectively World War II arguments. I mean, they are, they are something that doesn't. That in situations in which you are. It is not principally about one army defeating another, then this whole strategy and this whole plan doesn't work. And whatever happens, you end up creating infinitely more problems.
Unnamed Female Host
Well, the point I was trying to make was that if you send in two business guys who sell their skills as we're deal makers, right, and we're going to go in and we're making a deal and we don't care about what diplomats did in the past. We don't want to know the history of the country. We're going to go in and make deals. The assumption is that the Iranians also want to make deals and also make deals in the same way that Khushkov, as we've nicknamed Steve and Jared, want to make deals. And what's obviously clear is there is no meaty deal.
Joanna
The Iranians in 50 years have shown that the one thing they don't want to do is make deals.
Unnamed Female Host
Yeah, exactly. Well, that's my point. That's the simple point I'm trying to make. That there is enormous dismissal of the experts and the people that understood the culture and the history and why Iran is like it is. So Trump is trying to do something different, arguably a good thing to do. Where the problem is he's Trump and you send in two business guys to do a deal in a country where they don't do business like anybody else does business.
Michael
And that's the problem.
Joanna
I've lost track of the side that
Michael
you're on at this point.
Unnamed Female Host
I'm not really on anybody's side. I'm trying to understand. Understand it. If I were a golf.
Michael
The argument that you're making, that's what I've lost here.
Unnamed Female Host
Well, I think the argument I'm trying to make is I'm not quite sure how this gets resolved.
Joanna
Yeah, that.
Michael
That's the problem.
Joanna
That is the problem.
Michael
I mean, you're not supposed to go into this situation unless you have a pretty good idea how you can get out of it.
Unnamed Female Host
Well, what do you think? What do you think he thinks?
Joanna
I think that he's gonna happen. Literally doesn't know.
Michael
I think from the beginning, he thought, well, okay, fine, we're gonna bomb and I can declare victory. And then that became more and more and more difficult. And he may just decide, I'm gonna do that at any point, of course, but he will have achieved. To date, he will have achieved nothing.
Joanna
And so that will cost him. And any situation is, now I stay
Michael
in, and that's gonna cost me. I get out, and that's gonna cost me. So what do I do? Answer, I don't know. But it's Donald Trump, so he doesn't really even have the capacity to say, I don't know.
Unnamed Female Host
All right, so what do the people around him do? Because now we're hearing that no one wants to negotiate with Khrushchkov anymore and that they want J.D. vance and they might want Marco Rubio. So then what happens? Because we know that J.D. vance didn't think any of this was a good idea. So this is good for him in one way, for his political capital. This is a good thing for J.D.
Joanna
yeah, I don't know. I mean, I'm not even sure that that is true. I think the idea of who we're hearing are the players
Michael
is partly an effort to pass the blame around. Nobody want. Nobody wants to take responsibility for this.
Joanna
And it's Trump pushing people in front
Michael
of him who is, you know, these become his shields.
Joanna
And then I think that there is probably a reasonable amount among these people
Michael
of desperation for themselves. We gotta figure this out. We can't let Trump do this, because that's a catastrophe. So somebody else has to step up here and try to bring some acumen and some reason to this situation.
Unnamed Female Host
Well, he's extended the window for potential negotiation. We don't know with whom. Through April 6th. Right. Having said, there was no room for negotiation. It was 48 hours. They wanted unconditional surrender.
Joanna
There's also an issue of his leverage there. You know, I mean, he. He went into this saying, if you
Michael
do not negotiate, we're going to wipe out your infrastructure, which is. I mean, which is in a major precedent, probably a terrible precedent, which is
Joanna
being opposed by everybody else in the.
Michael
In the Middle east, including the Israelis.
Joanna
So. So he set up. This is a strawman. He set up leverage which he can't use.
Unnamed Female Host
Right, But. But he does that all the time. He just says anything. I mean, you know, if only he would just shut up. I mean, you have talked before. In fact, we did an entire special on the fact that Donald Trump will not stop talking. He can't stop talking. It's also what audiences want. They want to go and hear him talk. For the most part, his rallies, he can talk for 90 minutes, two hours, just talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. It becomes, it's less of an issue during a campaign rally. It's more of an issue when he's talking about war. And if you're one of the Gulf states, neighboring Iran, and you're trying to glean any kind of logic from what he's saying, you're not going to get very far.
Joanna
But still the price of oil goes up. So there are, I mean, usually or often he can talk and it doesn't really mean anything.
Michael
I mean, he produces a headline and that is the reality. But now the reality is the price of oil.
Unnamed Female Host
Well, and also whether or not if you're in China, you can get as much oil as you need. I mean, it's good for Russia, right, because they're suddenly pumping out more oil, but they can't. I mean, there's a whole theory going on that this is all done to squeeze China, that they've stopped Venezuela's oil. They're trying to control oil coming out of Iran. Russia can't produce enough oil for China. This is a backhanded way of getting a China
Fox News Announcer
well.
Joanna
It gets at us too, because oil
Michael
is set on a global basis.
Joanna
I mean, so that is also a
Michael
completely ridiculous thing and we'll defeat Donald Trump.
Joanna
So the logic here is, oh, I'm
Michael
going to do this and it will solve that problem, but I'm going to go down in flames because of it. So it makes no sense, you know,
Joanna
I mean, the price of oil at
Michael
now at $1.10 or going to $1.20 or going to 110, going 120, going to. We don't know.
Joanna
A barrel is unsustainable here.
Michael
It's just unsustainable from a political standpoint. I mean, the politics of this is staring even for Donald Trump. He can't ignore that.
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Unnamed Female Host
And it's possible that Trump sort of doesn't care anymore. He's almost in a kind of spiral. You think that's possible he's in a sort of death spiral or he's just lurching moment to moment as normal?
Joanna
Yeah, I don't. I mean, I suspect he's looking.
Michael
How do you play this in a Donald Trump way? Who's going to be my enemy? And I think he's probably starting already to conceive of this as he conceives of the next season's show. He's going to lose the midterms in a really substantial way. So he's now setting up. I mean, you can only read the Save America act, which is not going to pass as a way to set the stage for blaming this on voter fraud, which has worked for him in the past. And he always returns to what has worked for him in the past.
Joanna
So I think that that's what he's now.
Michael
In his mind, the narrative
Joanna
is being
Michael
reshaped and he'll reshape the narrative to his best advantage.
Unnamed Female Host
Well, what do you mean it worked for him in the past?
Joanna
That became a fulcrum of his 2024 campaign. I mean, in a way, that was
Michael
the through line of his campaign. They stole the election from me,
Unnamed Female Host
but I don't agree with that at all. I agree that he was using it as a theme, but they lost the demo. He won the election during that catastrophic debate when Biden didn't appear to be sentient. And then there was, then it took the Democrats a month.
Joanna
I totally disagree with that. For one thing, there are two parts of the campaign. There's the primary campaign where he wiped out every other Republican.
Unnamed Female Host
Well, who was largely Ron DeSantis. Right. Who's thoroughly unpleasant, unfortunately.
Joanna
Well, it doesn't matter. I mean, it was Ron DeSantis. I mean, there was a serious. It doesn't matter. Nobody else was willing to run against him, against Ron DeSantis, except Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and a few other whose
Michael
names are forgotten to history at this point.
Joanna
And partly they, they, they did not run against him because he had set up this election thing as the thing. All Republicans had to agree with him. They all had to bow down to that. There was no Republican who was saying, hey, wait a minute, this is a total fraud. He didn't win. Quite the opposite. They were all forced
Michael
to make a
Joanna
ritual bow to that which set him up as Essentially the de facto candidate. He had to be the candidate because they stole the election from him.
GSK Shingles Ad Speaker
Right.
Unnamed Female Host
But in the general election, the reason he won is not because the people who came out to vote for him thought that he should have won in 2020. They came out because the Democrats had a series of missteps from the catastrophic debate. It took them too long. It took Biden too long to step aside. They didn't have an open primary. Biden anointed someone and she couldn't get the momentum she needed.
Joanna
This is not true. You know, yes, the Democrats were, were weak, but Trump remained strong and remained competitive, really, from the get go of this campaign. Could the Democrats have won if they had handled the Biden thing? Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. There's always more than one factor here. But certainly his claim of the 2020 thing, the consistency of that thing theme, his willing to stand up to that,
Michael
even how, no matter how wrongheaded it
Joanna
was, and then to stand up to the trials that the Democrats, to the
Michael
extent that the government, and mostly the
Joanna
Democrats put him on trial, created that thing that was Donald Trump. He certainly wasn't running away from.
Michael
2020 election denial gibberish.
Unnamed Female Host
Well, I agree. It's total gibberish. I would just argue that the trials that people remembered were the Stormy Daniels trial and the E. Jean Carroll trial. And it turns out people don't think that's disqualifying to be a candidate or to be a president. And I just think it was about prices, Michael.
Joanna
All those trials ran together well. Anyway, it doesn't matter. That is, he has certainly. He has certainly always gone back to the 2020 defeat. He consistently brings this up. It is something that he believes has consistently worked for him. It worked for him because he believes it. He is an aggrieved person. He got the presidency back because it
Michael
was stolen from him.
Joanna
That's the Trump narrative, and that's the
Michael
narrative he will return to.
Joanna
They're stealing the election from me. And the midterms are just, you know, just them once again doing the same thing.
Unnamed Female Host
Okay, before we started this podcast, you disappeared to get another cup of coffee. And I think you've had seven espressos this morning. You are completely on fire.
Joanna
That's just because I'm wiping the floor with you. You haven't thought of this, thought any of this through, but it's not, it's not my coffee. It's your logic.
Unnamed Female Host
Okay, I agree that to him, this is an important thing, and maybe he believes it, maybe he doesn't believe it. That he actually lost the 2020 election. I don't think it's a factor for why people voted for him in 2024. But I do understand that he's anxious he's going to lose the midterms and he's sowing the ground to do all sorts of things around doubt over the election process, which is as damaging as anything you can do. And maybe he uses it as a moment to bring ice into the polling stations. Who knows? I mean, I get that he's doing it. I just don't think that the public buys it. I don't think that's why they voted for him, because they thought he lost the 2020 election and that he's rightfully the president.
Joanna
Well, the public is not going to
Michael
buy because they're going to actually vote against him in the midterms.
Joanna
But the public becomes enthralled by his or wrapped up into his narrative, because
Michael
he's very good at this, because he repeats it constantly, because he appears to believe it,
Joanna
because it's something that sustains him. So, again, it's just that this is what's on his mind. What's in his mind is, I have this situation, a bad situation. I have this war.
Michael
I have the fact that I'm going to lose these midterms.
Joanna
What do I do?
Michael
Trump is not someone who responds to
Joanna
political exigencies by revising his policies. And with a political logic, he responds with a narrative logic. What's the story I can tell about this? What's the story I can tell about
Michael
this that justifies me, that positions me
Joanna
against someone
Michael
who will be my enemy and that person.
Joanna
Who will be unpopular.
Michael
I can make them unpopular. So therefore, I share an unpopular enemy with whoever I'm telling the story to.
Joanna
I mean, that's how Trump operates here. So in terms of what he's thinking about, in terms of these problems, that's how he'll respond. He will not respond with, we need
Michael
a new war strategy, we need a new electoral strategy.
Joanna
He'll respond with a new story.
Unnamed Female Host
Right, Right. Just a new plot line.
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Unnamed Female Host
So one of the things that clearly people are going to feel very strongly about, I think by the time we get to the midterms is what's happening with the health department with rfk. You've said that he's already being pushed into the background. We know that people want vaccines for their children. We know that people think he's. That RFK Jr. Turns out not to have been a great hire in that role.
Joanna
No. And I know that he's been calling around and saying and saying to people,
Michael
you know, I hear people say, Bobby is crazy. You think he's crazy?
Unnamed Female Host
Trump is calling around and saying. I thought you meant Bobby was calling around saying, I hear Bobby's crazy. Am I crazy?
Michael
Yeah, that would be.
Joanna
No, Trump is saying that. Do you think he's crazy? You think Bobby's crazy? So that is always that sign those calls when you can track those calls, and he asks the question and you
Michael
know the answer he wants. Yeah, yeah. No, I hear he's a little crazy. Yeah, he seems a little crazy. This vax stuff, he really goes too far. He goes too far.
Joanna
But then I have a more interesting tell on this. He's then been saying positive things about
Michael
this kid running for the seat in New York, Schlossberg.
Unnamed Female Host
Donald Trump has. So Donald Trump is recommending or saying positive things about the nephew of RFK Jr. Who was.
Joanna
Yes.
Unnamed Female Host
He's on the side of his family who came out and attacked RFK Jr. And said, this is a terrible idea.
Joanna
Exactly. So he's been saying, you know, so his. The kid who's running.
Michael
He can't quite get the name Schlossberg.
Joanna
The kid who's running for New York, he says his uncle is crazy.
Michael
It's not his uncle. It's his mother's cousin. But this is.
Unnamed Female Host
Okay. His mother's cousin. It's hard to that family. It's so extended, it's impossible to know.
Joanna
And then Trump has been saying, that
Michael
guy seems like maybe he's the real thing.
Joanna
He's the grandson. So it's all in that, you know, mixed up in that Trump's Kennedy mind. But it actually sort of sounds like certainly this one person in New York
Michael
who I spoke to had this conversation with Trump that he's kind of enamored with this kid.
Unnamed Female Host
That's so interesting. And of course, Jack, this is.
Joanna
This is Jack Schlossberg, who is the.
Unnamed Female Host
Who's running for District 12, Jerry Nadler's district, which is Manhattan. It's probably the best congressional district in the country in terms of influence, business and also range because you have very poor districts and you have very wealthy districts.
Joanna
Right. And Jack Schlossberg is Caroline Kennedy's son.
Michael
So the grandson of J.F.
Unnamed Female Host
of J.F.K, of John F. Kennedy. And to, of course, lost his sister Tatiana in her mid-30s, who got cancer and who wrote once it became clear that she was dying and there was no treatment that could help her. A devastating essay in the New Yorker criticizing her uncle not only for changing vaccine protocol for babies, but for all the damage he's done with science and cutting back on science and medical research programs.
Joanna
Yeah. No, no. So it's, it's. To put this, I mean, the Trump thing is clearly, you know, RFK is
Michael
a, is a, is a problem. Let's push him this way. And then to praise the
Joanna
cousin who.
Unnamed Female Host
So I think he would be then maybe first cousin once removed. Yes.
Michael
Whatever the relationship is.
Joanna
But, you know, the other Kennedy family
Michael
member who's trying to run, who's running
Unnamed Female Host
for, would be, who has very publicly criticized RFK Jr.
Joanna
I'm sure the poor guy does not want a Trump endorsement, but it really sounds like Trump is, Trump is tickled by this.
Unnamed Female Host
But what is going on then in RFK Jr. S head when he starts hearing whispers of this? I mean, who's telling him this? Who's saying, oh, you should know that Trump is. Trump is not best pleased. This is going well.
Michael
Yeah. I mean, I'm sure it's, it's, it's top of, top of mind.
Joanna
And how, how he plays this, I, I don't, you know, I mean, that's
Michael
a mind that would be hard to get into, actually.
Unnamed Female Host
Well, and it's half, it's been half eaten by a brain.
Michael
Yeah.
Unnamed Female Host
So the little bit of the brain that is left, is it paranoiding out at this point? Is it.
Joanna
Well, I think that from RFK standpoint,
Michael
he has to figure out Whether his
Joanna
base, RFK's base is the anti vax
Michael
base and whether he speaks to that, continues to speak to that, or whether he tries to pivot away from that. From a political standpoint, I would say
Joanna
that, that he should probably double down on it.
Michael
He might have to leave the administration.
Joanna
But that's his.
Michael
Now, his brand is clearly the anti science, anti vax.
John Stamos
Yeah.
Joanna
And that's a beef tallow. Yeah. And that's a maga. You know, that certainly exists as a
Michael
MAGA core in the MAGA core.
Venmo Ad Speaker
Wow.
Unnamed Female Host
It's hard for me to understand why MAGA women, for the most part, don't want their children vaccinated.
Michael
And you're asking me this? I seems totally. I am.
Unnamed Female Host
What's happened to. Is it Casey means who is supposed to be the new Surgeon general?
Michael
Yes.
Joanna
Also having problems with the confirmation. This is a big, you know, this is a. This is a sideshow.
Michael
Another sideshow that is certainly not good for Trump.
Unnamed Female Host
Okay, so final quick. Inside Hegseth. Inside Hegseth mind. I mean, I thought of it this morning because since Mark Wayne Mullin has moved into the Department of Homeland Security, they've removed all the big pictures that Kristi Noem put on the walls of herself in all her various different costumes. So as Coast Guard as shown, who knows what she was doing, all her cosplay, which led to our nicknaming her Ice Barbie, all those pictures have apparently gone. Hegseth is someone who put up lots of pictures of himself and his wife, his emotional support animal, as he tells everybody he's no longer going to drink in this job and he's now running the American military in a state of war.
Joanna
No, I think that's. I think the big question for the
Michael
big Hegseth question, the obvious question is, is he still drinking? I mean, every story that you hear about Hegseth is about his drunkenness. I mean, the stories prior to.
Unnamed Female Host
Prior to his confirmation of Secretary of Defense War.
Joanna
Exactly.
Michael
No.
Joanna
And I remember, I mean, Roger Ailes, who I used to speak to often, would constantly chortle and he was annoyed
Michael
by Higgs's drinking and the stories about Higgs's drinking.
Joanna
So that's a question. I mean, that would be a rare thing to have spent your life as
Michael
a drunk, then to become the Secretary of Defense and say, I'm not gonna drink anym and actually not drink anymore.
Joanna
So it's a kind of. Let's put this question out.
Michael
Who has seen Hagseth with a drink recently? Let us know if you ask.
Unnamed Female Host
Yeah, we should ask. There's always something. I mean, you and I both worked actually with an alcoholic who I didn't realize was an alcoholic, but the tell was that he always had a can of coke in his hand. And I only found this out because as part of his 12 step program, he rang up to two tell me that to apologize and say, you may not have realized, but when I had that can of coke, actually it was. There was lots of vodka in it. And I was.
Joanna
You didn't call me. How come I don't get an apology.
Unnamed Female Host
Well, I, I don't know why you don't get an apology, but it explains why he fell asleep in meetings. That was something that people noticed. But I was thinking about when Hegseth addressed the group of generals. Do you remember when he called in the generals from all over the world at enormous expense and lectured them about being fat? And he was drinking coffee at the time. And I remember thinking, that's such an odd thing to do. It's one thing to drink water when you're addressing a big crowd, but he made some illusion to the coffee while he was talking. And it made me wonder. And obviously I've zero idea whether or not Pete Hegseth is drinking. But to your point, if there is anybody out there who's been working with him and knows that he is still drinking, that would be interesting for us to know.
Joanna
But no, that's an interesting.
Michael
I mean, you should never drink coffee when you're giving a presentation. I mean, first thing, it's incredibly sloppy and.
Unnamed Female Host
Well, it was coffee, wasn't it? He referred to it. Didn't he have a coffee in his
Joanna
hand and he put it down and
Michael
drinking coffee, you have to kind of.
Unnamed Female Host
And especially when you are lecturing a group of incredibly disciplined people sitting in front of you, the fact that you have to kind of lean on your cup of coffee, it's just bizarre. And I know that people are going to criticize me for calling his wife an emotional support animal, but the fact that she is taken into meetings, the fact there are pictures of her on the Pentagon walls, seems to me bizarre. Bizarre?
Joanna
Well, the whole Hagseth story, I mean,
Michael
can it be more bizarre?
Joanna
I mean, the weekend co anchor of a television show is elevated to be the secretary.
Michael
A drunken weekend co anchor of a television show.
Unnamed Female Host
But why did Roger Ailes put up with it? I don't understand understand why Roger Ailes would know that Pete Hegseth had a drinking problem and sort of let it continue. Why didn't he say go and dry out and come back when you're, when you're sober?
Joanna
Well, I think he had a lot of problems with a lot of people
Michael
there, including his own problems.
Joanna
But you know, I mean, I mean,
Michael
Ailes always thought that everybody who was on television was a flawed and broken person in at some point, some level. And Hagseth, remember, it wasn't as if he was a network star. He was just a kind of Fox face who he would put on the weekends, not anyone of consequence at the network.
Unnamed Female Host
Right. Well, he's of consequence now.
Michael
Yeah. No, I mean, just to look at
Joanna
that, how that happened.
Michael
And it's just part and parcel of what has happened in the Trump administration.
Unnamed Female Host
Okay, so we both better get out there. To go and protest on no Kings Day. I think. I think there's only one solution. We have to hurtle out in for the spring sunshine and stamp our flag. By the way, I bought an American flag the other day. I like the fact that you have an American flag hanging from your house. And I do think there is a whole move to reclaim the flag. It shouldn't just be Trumpian territory.
Michael
Well, we've got it. We fly it all the time.
Unnamed Female Host
Yeah, no, it's good. I've got one, too. I've got one, too. Now I'm going to fly it, too. All right, Michael, Feisty podcast today. We have no idea where we'll be next. Well, we have no idea where we'll be on Tuesday with the war, whether or not there'll be negotiations, who they'll be negotiating with or who will be doing the negotiation from our side. Meanwhile, meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine continue with no apparent solution. And everybody's forgotten about Gaza
Michael
till next week.
Unnamed Female Host
Okay. Till Tuesday. And if you have been, thank you for watching, don't forget to share this episode with a friend. Leave us a comment on YouTube. So the good news is we have so many Beast Tier members now, there are too many names to read out. And we really appreciate, appreciate your support. Thanks to our production team. Devon Rogerino, Ryan Murray, Rachel Passer, Heather Passaro, Neil Rosenhaus.
Episode: Trump Secretly Admits Top Goon ‘Is Crazy’
Date: March 29, 2026
Host: Joanna Coles
Regulars/Guests: Michael, Unnamed Female Host
This episode unpacks the chaos and contradictions at the heart of the Trump administration’s actions during the ongoing U.S.-Iran war, the state of Trump’s political narrative heading into the midterms, and the latest palace intrigue surrounding key players in Trump’s team—from RFK Jr.’s faltering role as Health Secretary to Pete Hegseth’s troubled tenure as Secretary of Defense. The panel—Joanna Coles, Michael, and an unnamed regular female contributor—debate Trump’s motivations, the absence (or denial) of coherent strategy in war and politics, and what Trump’s allies and enemies reveal about the administration as the pressure mounts. The tone is biting, witty, and unfiltered—peppered with memorable moments and quotable takes.
Michael (on Trump’s irreverence):
“Effectively his response was, I can do fuck all that I want.” [05:56]
Joanna (on Trump’s “authority”):
“I’m the President of the United States. I can do this. And the fact that I am opposed to this for everyone else has no bearing on what I do.” [06:14]
Michael (on lack of plan):
“This could not be a worse situation and more of a malfunction... This is a window on exactly who he is and on his serious limitations as a president and as an intelligence.” [00:52, 14:22]
Unnamed Female Host (on Trump ally chatter):
“Someone who talks to Trump every day... said, there’s a plan, a six-week plan. We’re at three. The plan was to decapitate leadership and have regime change.” [16:22-17:05]
Met with collective skepticism by Joanna and Michael.
Joanna (on narrative as strategy):
“He’ll respond with a new story.” [41:40]
Michael (on Trump and election blame):
“He’s now setting up... [the Save America act] as a way to set the stage for blaming this on voter fraud, which has worked for him in the past.” [33:31]
Joanna (on RFK Jr. cabinet fallout):
“Trump is saying... do you think Bobby’s crazy? That is always that sign—those calls, when you can track those calls, and he asks the question, and you know the answer he wants.” [42:58]
Joanna (on Hegseth):
“The whole Hagseth story—can it be more bizarre? The weekend co anchor of a television show is elevated to be the secretary.” [53:04]