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David Rothkopf
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Podcast Host
Per month equivalent required.
David Rothkopf
New customer offer first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See Mintmobile. That's the other thing that Trump saw. He saw death. He saw his own mortality. He realizes there is no future for him, the Republican Party. He looks in the eyes of Republicans and he sees they know he's old. And there is going to come a moment and I don't know when that moment is because what Trump cares about more than anything else, even more than money, is being relevant. And it's going to be really. And he's going to make this desperate play.
Podcast Host
David Rothkopf is here with us in the studio, which is so exciting because normally you are on the Potomac. In Potomac.
David Rothkopf
It's very exciting for me too, because I wanted to come and see the billionaires leaving Manhattan. Oh yes, that's a thing people do. Now. Everybody's sitting by the Lincoln Tunnel waiting for Bill Ackman to go, come and help him. Go by with A U Haul trailer.
Podcast Host
Where is he going, by the way?
David Rothkopf
Well, they'll all go down to Mar a Lago, West Palm Beach.
Podcast Host
Okay.
David Rothkopf
That's where they go.
Podcast Host
Where will Elon be?
David Rothkopf
Elon? I don't know. I think he may buy France.
Podcast Host
Oh, he's gonna buy France. He can buy a country now.
David Rothkopf
He can. With a trillion dollars. You could get a pretty good sized country for a trillion dollars.
Podcast Host
Where would you. In the Caribbean?
David Rothkopf
Oh, that's too down market for him.
Podcast Host
Right. So he wants Europe.
David Rothkopf
He wants Europe. Yeah. No, he wants something that's got a little history.
Podcast Host
Okay. Italy.
David Rothkopf
Italy.
Podcast Host
Italy would do. Italy would do.
David Rothkopf
Or just, I mean, I don't know if he can get all of Italy, but he could get Sicily.
Podcast Host
Well, we had a huge response to your column. Why the Democratic triumph is only act one of Trump's end. Please explain, please explain what's going on? What's happening, David?
David Rothkopf
Well, I just think, I mean, there's a lot of things happening at once and none of them are good for Trump. Right. And so the economy, you know, this was the big issue in the elections. 61% of Republicans said Trump's doing a bad job with the economy. Well, is it going to get better or is it going to get worse?
Podcast Host
Yes, go on.
David Rothkopf
Well, and that's, you know, if you talk to economists, they're worried about a bubble in the market, AI driven bubble or some other kind of bubble. Talk to people in the housing market. There's 500,000 more houses on the market than there are buyers right now. There's a real crisis in the housing market. Labor. This week we saw new data about job losses at the worst levels in 20 years or something like that. It's just getting worse. Inflation. The only thing Trump knows how to do is put on tariffs and that's pushing up prices. So inflation is going to go up to be fair.
Podcast Host
Is that the only thing Trump know? I mean, come on, he had the Gatsby party. He can throw a party.
David Rothkopf
No, no, he does. And you know, that's another part of this. Right? So on the one hand, the economy is getting worse and worse. Meanwhile, what's Trump doing? The Gatsby party, in his mind, you know, he probably thinks he looks like Leonardo DiCaprio. Right.
Podcast Host
You know, that's too modern a reference. It's got to be Robert Redford. The Robert Redford Mia Farrow version.
David Rothkopf
That was very crappy Gatsby.
Podcast Host
Come on. Robert Redford looked fantastic in those cream clothes. Oh, my God, he looks amazing.
David Rothkopf
My wife feels the same you know, I wrote something for you when Redford died because he was a friend of ours. Right, but he was a friend of ours. And my wife, who's kind of oblivious, she was like, oh, yeah, no, I know this guy. He's a nice guy. You know, we're like, go and visit his house and stuff like that. And I said, have you ever seen any of his movies? And she was like, no. And so I said, well, let's watch the Way We Were. Let's watch the Natural or Let's Watch.
Podcast Host
It or out of Africa, my favorite.
David Rothkopf
She was like, oh, my God.
Podcast Host
Right. Well, to be fair. Yeah, well, that was a few years ago. But I think that Trump's reference is probably the Robert Redford version, not Leonardo DiCaprio.
David Rothkopf
Right. But the most important thing about Trump's reference is he's completely clueless to the fact that this book was written about the soulless lives of the rich who are celebrating while America was in the middle of a depression and suffering. Right, right.
Podcast Host
Careless people.
David Rothkopf
And that's the theme, you know, the Great Trumpy is the theme where, you know, let them eat ballrooms because you've got a lousy economy for all of us.
Podcast Host
Let them eat ballrooms.
David Rothkopf
Let me borrow. Well, the prices of healthcare going up. You know, people are getting notices now that the price of health care is going up.
Podcast Host
Well, not just going up, but in some cases doubling or even tripling.
David Rothkopf
Yeah. So really bad. Right. So what is our president doing? Well, he's got a Great Gatsby party that was just recently. He's torn down the White House to build a ballroom, which, you know, for who? Who's going to the ballroom? You going to the ballroom? Well, you might because you're fancy, but.
Podcast Host
I'm not going to get invited to the Trump Ballroom.
David Rothkopf
Well, you know, maybe somebody else owned the place, but. But the point is he's building the Versailles hall of Mirrors while people literally are not getting their food aid. So Americans are starving and he's doing let them eat cake. Right. And then on top of that, he's gilded the Oval Office. It literally looks like Liberace threw up in the place. Right. Everything is covered in gold. He's even got like somebody printing out like white sheets of paper with gold type on it saying the Oval Office.
Podcast Host
Do you think that was because he didn't know where he was?
David Rothkopf
Yeah, I think they're starting to put little notes around.
Podcast Host
Right. Which is what they advise you to do when you have an elderly relative. Right. You put post it notes saying this is the oven. Don't touch. This is the fridge. Always close the door, right? It helps people.
David Rothkopf
This is J.D. vance. Don't turn your back on him.
Podcast Host
Right. You should have a huge post it note on him. That's very good. And also, of course, he paved over Jackie Kennedy's Rose Garden.
David Rothkopf
He paved over the Rose Garden so people, so ladies heels wouldn't, I don't know his some argument, but he's made it look like Mar a Lago. He's making everything look like Mar a Lago while people are starving, you know, and it's crazy. And now, you know, you had this one other thing that happened this week. So if the ballroom wasn't enough and the gilded throne room wasn't enough and the $5 billion he and his family have grifted in the course of this.
Podcast Host
Administration and the $20 billion he sent to his friend in Argentina, well, all.
David Rothkopf
Of that, if that kind of largesse among the billionaires wasn't enough. His right hand man from the beginning of the administration, whether he likes it or not, in everybody's mind, Elon Musk just got a trillion dollar deal. A trillion dollars. And so, you know, to me, this is what Trump's going to be left with. We know. You know, it's like if I ask you about the Tiananmen Square uprising in China, you'll say, oh yeah, there was the guy and the tanks. There was one image that sticks in people's mind. You know, there's a meme, right? And I think with Trump is really let them eat ballrooms. He thinks that this is going to be a monument to his taste and his ability as a builder. And everybody's gonna look at this thing and go, yeah, he was building a gold plated ballroom for billionaires while we were starving. And my grandma had to move into the basement because she couldn't get health care. And I couldn't get help from the VA because he fired everybody from the VA And I couldn't get home for Thanksgiving because he had the longest government shutdown in history and they shut down the earth. And so this isit's the opposite of governance. It is kleptocracy, you know, writ large. And that's who Trump is right now. And he can't get away from it. That's the message of the election, you know, because all these Republicans are kind of like, we better fix this.
Podcast Host
Well, you've got Marjorie Taylor Greene turning up on the View and telling people that she's decided to be nice to people after a career of being vile to people.
David Rothkopf
Well, I think. Right.
Podcast Host
I mean, she's obviously. And the one thing she said which I thought was interesting was I go to the grocery store, which clearly Donald Trump doesn't do. And she sees prices are going up. So you can't tell people prices are going down when they themselves go. They stand in the gas station and watch the little dial with the gas prices.
David Rothkopf
But they also know as a result that Trump is full of shit. And so example, this week, he says, oh, well, prices are going down. Walmart announced their Thanksgiving basket and it's 25% cheaper than it was under Biden. And you know, Walmart's a, a company. He said while he was saying this. I'm not sure what exactly he meant by that, but I'm sure he's never, ever been in a Walmart. But what he didn't say was that because prices have gone up so much, the basket that Walmart is talking about was 21 items last year, and it's 15 items this year.
Podcast Host
What have they taken out? Do you know?
David Rothkopf
I don't. But a lot of the items that were in the basket last year that were kind of brand name, they're now Walmart brand items. They had to downsize it and downgrade it down quality it just so people could afford their Thanksgiving. And he thinks, oh, well, people will buy this. And you know the other thing, by the way, you know who's living in Trump's head right now, weirdly? Zoran Mamdani. Because what does he start talking about yesterday? Affordability.
Podcast Host
Right. I noticed that. So he's taken. So he's looking at someone who he now realizes as a winner and he's trying to adopt his tactics.
David Rothkopf
The story of his life. It's the story of his life. You know, I'm in Queens and I'm rich. Everybody should like me. Oh, they don't. Well, maybe I need to move to Manhattan. Oh, that's not enough. Maybe I need, you know, a trophy wife. Or maybe I need, you know, a jet. Or maybe I needyou know, he's constantly trying to win some kind of approval that clearly he didn't get from his parents.
Podcast Host
So if you're Donald Trump, what are you thinking, given the results of Tuesday? Well, do you think, do you think he understands?
David Rothkopf
He does. And there's a lot of talk about this within Republican circles. I know, and I know there's even talk about it in the White House. They know that they're losing right now. You know, there were no, on Tuesday, there were zero Good results for the Republicans. Absolutely zero. And the first thing he said was, we got to cheat more, you know. Right.
Podcast Host
Well, didn't he? The first thing he said, I think was, well, I wasn't on the ballot.
David Rothkopf
Right. Well, that was part of it. Right. But then he's like, we've got to do votes. Voting reform or electoral reform. Right. Which is. What does that mean?
Podcast Host
Well, it means gerrymandering.
David Rothkopf
No voting by mail, gerrymandering, changing the laws, suing people, sending troops into the cities to scare people away from voting. And, you know, that's because he knows he can't win in a fair fight. And so that' syou know, in some ways, you know, you've really put your finger on it. This is classic Trump. When things go wrong, his first reaction is, not my fault because he has no character, can accept no responsibility. And then his second reaction is, how can I cheat my way out of this? You know, how can I find the con, the inner game that's going to get me to win? Well, he's not going to. You know, Texas goes and tries to gerrymander. California says, we see you, we raise you. You know, Indiana does it, or Kansas or Missouri does it. And, and Virginia all of a sudden elects, you know, 2/3 of its House of Delegates are Democrats, and you have a Democrat governor, a Democrat lieutenant governor.
Podcast Host
And their first woman and their first.
David Rothkopf
Woman in 400 plus years.
Podcast Host
Right. In a government that hates DEI.
David Rothkopf
Right. Well, but, you know, the Democrats, there's a lot there to unpack. One of the things that really strikes me is for the past year we've been listening to pundits going, oh, the Democrats, you know, the big mistake they made was supporting trans people. And wokeness is terrible. Well, everybody who got elected, you know, the centrist Democrats who got elected and the progressive Democrats that got elected, like the mayor in New York, but also the mayor in Boston and the mayor in Detroit, all of them embraced diversity, inclusion. All of, you know, Republicans ran hard against them and said, oh, they want trans athletes and they're going to operate on your kids in the school lunchroom and whatever. And it didn't work well because the.
Podcast Host
Successful ones ran on affordability. Right? They ran on the thing that matters to people, which is cost of living.
David Rothkopf
They cared about what people cared about.
Podcast Host
Right. It's not a priority. Pronouns. Trans athletes are not a priority.
David Rothkopf
Right. But a lot of people, there's all this bullshit like, you know, oh, you can't say trans, or you can't be woke and that this is the problem and you know, the Atlantic and you read all these articles in the New York Times and it's like, oh, yeah, Democrats, they can't be woke and they need to get hardcore. And you young men voted for Trump and, you know, they're assholes. And so what we need is more assholes. How do you get more assholes into the Democratic Party?
Podcast Host
Right? That's so true. That's so true. What a misunderstanding.
David Rothkopf
Right? Well, guess what happened. Not only did Abigail Spanberger and Mikey Sherrill and Zoran Mamdani get 80% of young women, they all got around 60, 65% of young men. Young men actually did the right thing. Maybe they're not all the assholes we thought they were. Or maybe you didn't have to treat them like that.
Podcast Host
Maybe they didn't want to vote for Kamala and Tim Wolf.
David Rothkopf
Yeah. Or maybe they thought Joe Biden was out of touch or who knows what it was. I think a lot of them just didn't show up. Because another thing you saw in New Jersey and in New York and in California with Prop 6050 is huge turnout, people cared. And, you know, a lot of the arguments are, well, we have to win Trump voters in order to win. Well, that's not true, actually.
Podcast Host
You have to get Democrats out.
David Rothkopf
You have to get people to vote. And the key people to vote are young people. And, you know, that's the other thing that Trump saw. He saw death. He saw his own mortality. He realizes there is no future for him, the Republican Party. He looks in the eyes of Republicans and he sees. They know he's old and dying. They know that he doesn't have a future. That's why he keeps talking about, oh, run again, or whatever. That's just to seem relevant.
Podcast Host
But what does the Republican Party do? Because they've completely succumbed to him. The Republican Party is the Trump Party. Who even begins to think about a future for the Republican Party when they've beenwell, certainly his current cabinet have been, you know, cheek by jowl with him.
David Rothkopf
Well, I think they're going to regret that. You know, I think they're tainted by that. I think foreign leaders who said, oh, I'm going to rub with Trump and I'm going to be all Trumpy and then there's going to be a new administration in Washington and they're going to.
Podcast Host
Go, oh, but haven't they all been doing that?
David Rothkopf
Well, a lot of them have been doing it, but I'm just saying, I just think the chickens are going to come home to Roost. For a lot of people, you know, the Republican Party and the people who supported Trump and the people that looked the other way, people that participated in the corruption. All these people.
Podcast Host
Well, Steve Bannon came out and said that they needed to. What was his expression? Burn daylight. Because otherwise he was worried they would all go to jail, including himself.
David Rothkopf
What drugs is he taking now?
Podcast Host
Why do you want them?
David Rothkopf
What is. No, what is this? Burn daylight? I mean, Steve, I mean, the fact that he's still alive. Have you ever seen somebody who sweats more, looks more out of shape, looks dirtier at any given moment?
Podcast Host
I haven't spent a lot of time.
David Rothkopf
Except for Stephen Cheung, by the way.
Podcast Host
Well, Steven Cheung is now on the fat drugs, as Trump calls him.
David Rothkopf
Oh, is he?
Podcast Host
Yes, he's.
David Rothkopf
Is that why we have to finally get the reduction in the price of the fat drugs?
Podcast Host
Well, but it's. I mean, Michael Wolff was making the point that the reason Stephen Chung never made it to be White House press spokesperson was that Trump doesn't respond to the fact that he's obese.
David Rothkopf
No, he doesn't. Trump, he only wants to hire attractive, you know, young blonde women. And then Pete Hegseth, who's the equivalent, Right.
Podcast Host
American Doll.
David Rothkopf
But Jabba the Hutt, you know, is the White House communications director. And, you know, he's the.
Podcast Host
Didn't he single you out recently?
David Rothkopf
You said that, but I didn't actually get the backstory.
Podcast Host
Well, he said you less than nobody else.
David Rothkopf
Less than nobody. Well, that's true. That's what my family thinks.
Podcast Host
But.
David Rothkopf
Well, you know, fuck him. But the reality is that they all have a reckoning coming. And I think they will try their best to cheat their way out of this next election because they know that if the Democrats win the House, it's over. Trump is over. He will be 80. He will not have a future in the party. He will not get anything passed in the government ever again. And there will be an investigation into everything, into the Qatari airplane, into the repaving, the Rose Garden, into the ballroom, into, you know, every deal that the Trump family has made.
Podcast Host
So if you're a business and you've made a donation to the ballroom, and we know that lots of businesses have, from Apple to Google to Amazon. What are you thinking now, given the strength of the reaction on Tuesday, somebody.
David Rothkopf
I hope, if you've, you know, good business and you've got some kind of diversity of people left in your business, is saying to you folks, you know, this particular chapter in American history is going to come to an end. And we've got to be prepared that it may not only go another way, but that the retributive, nasty, greedy Trump attitude is going to have burned some people. And if we're seen as being too close to them, we're going to pay a price.
Podcast Host
So are you going to see a pulling back, do you think? Do you think? Are you going to see less fawning in public, typically?
David Rothkopf
You may see less fawning in public, typically. You know, Wall street has always played this game the same way because they want to be in control. And frankly, they are in control, you know, but is they give to both. You know, they have a group of people who give to one party, a group of people who give to another party.
Podcast Host
But Trump has demanded something extra of the big CEOs, right, which is they gather around him, the cameras come in, which is unheard of. Normally these dinners are held in private, and then they are expected to fawn. I mean, we saw it with Tim Cook, we saw it with Bill Gates. We know that Bill Gates doesn't like Trump, but he was. Thank you so much for gathering us here together.
David Rothkopf
Well, they are. I mean, you think Mark Carney, the Canadian Prime Minister, likes Trump? No, he doesn't like Trump. You know, these European leaders who go in there, you know, I think Keir Starmer.
Podcast Host
No, of course they're doing it because they know they're doing it.
David Rothkopf
They just think this works, you know, with this guy. But I also think another thing's going to happen this year. The foreign leader that's going to get the most traction with Trump is the one that stood up to him, and that's Xi Jinping. Xi Jinping said, no, we got cards to play. You know, you want to go play hardball with us, we'll play hardball with you. And Trump will work harder to get a deal done with him than with anybody else. Because Trump, you know, he's like, you know, the dog at the dog park, and he's looking for the alpha dog, and he knows he's not the alpha dog. And so he's like sniffing everybody's butt. And he is coming to the conclusion that the butt that needs to be kissed after it's sniffed is Xi Jinping. That's political analysis, by the way. I just want you to know it's technical. I've taught foreign policy at Columbia University for 20 years.
Podcast Host
This is your Columbia background now, giving us the technical terms. And what, what does that look like in terms of tariffs?
David Rothkopf
Well, the tariff thing is a complicated thing. And that's another thing that happened this week. The Supreme Court did these hearings on the tariffs, and it looked like that five, six or even seven members of the court were skeptical.
Podcast Host
Right. And they were calling them import taxes.
David Rothkopf
Well, no, the chief just was the one who said this is a tax, which totally drives Trump crazy, although it's a tax. Right. But Justice Barrett had her reasons for saying this law doesn't apply. And Justice Gorsuch had his constitutional concerns. Well, if all of those people fall in line and they pull rein in Trump a little bit, this would create a kind of a big question like, well, if these aren't legal, how do you do the refunds? And that's super complicated. But the White House has already, already indicated that if that happens, they're then going to try and do it a different way. And the reason is Trump really in his heart believes that tariffs create revenue for the United States from someplace else.
Podcast Host
Right. That he doesn't understand that the American people are paying, are paying them. It's an import tax on us.
David Rothkopf
Right.
Podcast Host
And even more expensive.
David Rothkopf
Even his representative in the Supreme Court case, the Solicitor General Sauer, said, well, the studies we use show that 30 to 80% are paid by Americans. Right. Well, the 30% study, that's baloney. Right. The point is that Two thirds or 80% or whatever paid by Americans and the rest are paid by US Corporations that are passing it on in some kind of other way. So we are the ones suffering from these things. Okay, it's time for a break to hear from our advertisers. You know that relative who's utterly impossible to shop for in my family? It's my brother. The other day he casually mentioned that he once hitchhiked across America. How many other extraordinary stories are sitting right under our noses? Which is why I recommend Storyworth Memoirs this holiday season. Each week, Storyworth emails your loved one with a question you choose. They just reply with a story, written or recorded over the phone. No apps, no passwords. These stories and photos become a beautiful hardcover book. Give your loved ones a unique keepsake you'll all cherish for years. Storyworth Memoirs right now save $10 or more during their holiday sale when you go to storyworth.com dailybeast that's storyworth.com dailybeast to save $10 or more on your order.
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Podcast Host
See mintmobile.com and I'm back with David Rothkopf and we're discussing, well, we're discussing the end of Trump. Really. Why doesn't Trump, Trump understand that? Why is he so dug in over tariffs?
David Rothkopf
There are issues where Trump feels that anybody who offers a counter opinion is anti Trump and that therefore he can't and notice people. I remember talking to people. One of the books I wrote on sort of how Trump foreign policy worked and you know, John Bolton and Fiona Hill and all these people who wereyou know, Vindman who were working, they learned they can't bring up Russia because he thinks anybody who brings up Russia is bringing up Russia, Russia. Russia. And is accusing him of something.
Podcast Host
Right.
David Rothkopf
And so they, you know, they just laid off the issue. And I think that's part of the issue that's going on. You know, he's got a bunch of. First of all, he got rid of anybody who would, you know, give a counter opinion. He surrounded himself with sycophants.
Podcast Host
Well. And surrounded himself with people who have no political history themselves. Right. Haven't worked in politics. Apart from Marco Rubio. Maybe. Maybe.
David Rothkopf
Yeah.
Podcast Host
But, I mean, Powell, Marco Rubio had.
David Rothkopf
His spine surgically removed, apparently, because, you know, he was once anti Trump and now he's like whatever he says.
Podcast Host
Well, and J.D. vance once called him the new Hitler, and here he is snuggled up to him.
David Rothkopf
Well, that. I mean, J.D. vance, someday, you know, there'll be books and this will be like, you know, what do you call somebody who's got no character? And then you say, oh, J.D. vance.
Podcast Host
So J.D. vance will become like a hillbilly.
David Rothkopf
Well, yeah, that's a nice analogy. But yes. I mean, there's this group of people, though, who are not correcting him. There's another group, Stephen Miller, Peter Navarro and so forth, that are egging him on and saying, oh, yeah, yeah, lay those tariffs on there, buddy. That's great. This is strong. This is your winning. And they went, even in the Supreme Court, they said, this will produce $4 trillion in revenue, not realizing, of course, that the chief justice will then say, well, so this is a revenue creation which is supposed to be left to the Congress. Right. But, you know, this is one of those issues where he won't take no for an answer. And so he's stuck.
Podcast Host
All right, so one of the things we know Trump is really good at doing is changing the conversation we've had. I think it's now up to up to 70 people killed in the Caribbean. Right. And occasionally in the Pacific. Right. He's. And you mentioned before we started talking, there is an aircraft carrier on its way, or it's left the Mediterranean. And as far as we know, it's headed to the Caribbean.
David Rothkopf
Yeah, the Gerald R. Ford, a nuclear aircraft carrier, left the Mediterranean a couple days ago. And, you know, today, tomorrow, the next day is going to be off the coast of Venezuela. In fact, something like a 7 of the US Navy's assets are going to be in the Caribbean and poised to do something off of Venezuela. Now, before we go further, I would like to remind you that we're not actually at war with Venezuela. Venezuela does not actually pose a threat to the United States.
Podcast Host
Right. What could the possible reason be. He says drugs, but actually the drug issue at the moment is fentanyl. They are producing cocaine, but they don't.
David Rothkopf
First of all, they don't produce many drugs. Right. They are way down the list in terms of that kind of thing. Secondly, the boats they're blowing up can't even make it to the United States.
Podcast Host
Right. They don't have enough fuel on board. So where are they going?
David Rothkopf
Well, who knows? But, you know, thirdly, if they wanted to, they could stop the boat, go to the people, say, hi, we're a destroyer. You don't want to, you know, you know, you know, you know, major US Ship and say, stop. And, you know, we're going to go on board and we're going to take your picture and we're going to take a picture of the drugs and we're gonna find out who you were. But they don't do that.
Podcast Host
But is it more effective as a deterrent just to blow them up?
David Rothkopf
Well, of course. I mean, sure, it's a deterrent. I mean, if you, like, shot every third person who walked into your apartment building, fewer people are gonna go to your apartment building. But no, no, but I think that that's, you know, they say it's a deterrent. You know, Stephen Miller, who's like a vampire. I don't know if you've watched the depiction of him on south park, but it's pretty good. You know, Stephen Miller's like, yeah, this will really show those, those weaklings who picked on me in the lunchroom or whoever. He' swhatever has motivated him to do this. But I don't know what the real motivation is. You know, there's a lot of oil in Venezuela. You know, maybe he thinks he can, you know, put in somebody and then they'll do one of these weird deals where they, like, give us some of the oil. Or maybe he's got some friend who thinks, I can make some money off of this in some way. But for sure, it has nothing to do with US national security.
Podcast Host
Right.
David Rothkopf
You know, for sure. And that's why Trump is a little bit worried about, you know, some of the options he's being given. He's been presented with several options, what to do in Venezuela, because if he sends troops into Venezuela and somebody actually gets killed, then he's really going to have to justify it.
Podcast Host
Well, and also, he's now starting to do things which the MAGA base don't want him to do. We talked about Marjorie Taylor Greene, but we know that they are America first, they don't want, want money going abroad. I don't know how they've managed to square the circle, sending $40 billion to Argentina.
David Rothkopf
Well, they can't square the circle. And so, you know, first, you know, for the first eight months of this year, seven months, there was no dissent. Now there's little Marjorie Taylor Greene dissent. Then Trump says, we need to get, we need the nuclear option in the Senate. We need to get rid of the filibuster. And John Thune, who's definitely a go along, get along guy, says, no, nope, we're not doing that. And on tariffs, you saw resolutions in the Senate in the past couple of weeks blocking the tariffs on Brazil, blocking the tariffs on some of these countries as being wrong. So there's some people standing out on that. Clearly. There's some people who are off the reservation on Epstein and wanting to get those files.
Podcast Host
Thomas Massey. Right. And the three women, Nancy Mace, Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene. And then you've got someone like Vivek Ramaswamy, who's running for Ohio governor, saying we need to worry less about what's going on abroad and focus on affordability at home.
David Rothkopf
But that's the point is, you know, you're going to have all this.
Podcast Host
So he's going to get these little cracks. He's going to get resistance from his own team.
David Rothkopf
Right. And that's part of what I meant when I said he's staring death in the face. His political mortality is right around the corner. And there is going to come a moment, and I don't know when that moment is, but there is going to come a moment where the majority of people in the Republican Party say he's a lame duck. Who's next? This is going to be devastating because what Trump cares about more than anything else, even more than money, is being relevant. And it's going to be really. And he's going to make this desperate play to say, no, I'm still relevant. Do your stories on me still. And, and you know, you remember Joe Biden, right? No, nobody remembers Joe Biden. Joe Biden was president earlier this year.
Podcast Host
Right. Well, that's incredible to think of it like that. So does this mean that Trump is going to be forced into saying he's running for a third term and enjoy all the sturm and drang around that?
David Rothkopf
I think he's going to have people saying it. You know, he says he's going to do it, then he says he's not going to do it, then he says people say I should do it. And then the longer it's hanging out there, you know, it's just a desperate attempt to cling to relevance. You know, it's the policy equivalent of a trophy wife. It makes him feel younger.
Podcast Host
All right, so final question. If you were to shortlist the people you thought could take over from him, who would they be? Who is circling the hardest?
David Rothkopf
First of all, they're the usual suspects, the ones that Everybody talks about. J.D. vance. He's just so hungry for this.
Podcast Host
It's so thirsty.
David Rothkopf
People say anything to anybody that, you know, that they want to hear.
Podcast Host
I want my wife to convert to Christianity.
David Rothkopf
Yeah, that was nice. And, you know, and she was just like, okay, honey.
Podcast Host
Well, she wants the number one slot, too, right?
David Rothkopf
Right. Apparently. I mean, that's one of the analyses that's out there. People are analyzing ushavants's motivations, but that, you know.
Podcast Host
Well, who wants to be second lady? Nobody. You want to be first lady?
David Rothkopf
Okay, fine. You know, Marco Rubio. Is Marco Rubio thinking it could be him? Sure. And Trump even refers to them, you know, well, J.D. would be good. Marco would be good, so forth. Does Pete Hegseth think it could be him? Well, he's stupid enough to think anything. Right. So, you know, he might. Are there other people out there?
Podcast Host
What about Sean Duffy, the hapless transport secretary?
David Rothkopf
He's such an idiot. Wasn't he on, like, Survivor or something? Wasn't he on, like, Some Road Rules?
Podcast Host
He's another. He was on the Real.
David Rothkopf
Wasn't he on the Real World?
Podcast Host
Yeah, he was on the Real World.
David Rothkopf
Some horrible things, but the Real World.
Podcast Host
Had lots of fans.
David Rothkopf
My guess is that you're going to get something different. For example, Brian Kemp, the governor of Georgia. He is a Republican. He's from a red state. Nobody's going to say he's not a conservative, but he's had his problems with Trump. And so he can say, well, I'm indifferent. I'm change, you know, and what do Americans want? You know, they want change, you know, you know, Mamdani has changed. Mikey Sherrill has changed. Abigail Spanberger has changed. You know, Barack Obama was changed. Donald Trump has changed. And I just think that there's going to come a point, particularly if the midterm is really bad for Trump, where people are going to say, well, maybe not so mega. Joanna, hold that thought. I think people need a break. So let's hear from the advertisers. Why choose a sleep number? Smart bed. Can I make my site softer? Can I make my site firmer? Can we sleep cooler? Sleep number does that cools up to eight times faster and lets you choose your ideal comfort on either side your Sleep number setting. Enjoy personalized comfort for better sleep night after night. It's our Black Friday sale recharged this season with a bundle of cozy soothing comfort. Now only 17.99 for our C2 mattress and base plus free premium delivery price is higher in Alaska and Hawaii. Check it out at a Sleep number store or sleepnumber.com today. Hey, Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. Now I don't know if you've heard but Mint's Premium Wireless is $15 a month. But I'd like to offer one other perk. We have no stores. That means no small talk crazy weather we're having. No it's not. It's just weather. It is an introvert's dream. Give it a try@minmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for three month plan $15.
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Per month equivalent required.
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Podcast Host
And I'm back with David Rothkopf and we are discussing America Post Tuesday's election results. Does he lose the Senate as well as the House?
David Rothkopf
That's hard. Much, much harder to do. He might. I mean there, you know, you can see scenarios where Maine goes one way or Alaska or some of these other places go Joanie Ernst's successor, you know, maybe. But winning the house, even with the gerrymandering is Much more in reach. And that would put the brakes on Trump. And I think there's going to be this thing, there's going to be this introspection. You know, Trump's having introspection. He's going, well, I don't know if I'll get into heaven, which is weird. He talks about that a lot. Right.
Podcast Host
So he'll go into Venezuela instead.
David Rothkopf
Venezuela heaven. You know, some adage on this. Black Sea, whatever, Putin, who knows? But the Republican Party has toyou know, Trump's facing life after death. The Republican Party has to face life after Trump, Amy.
Podcast Host
So you're going to have to live with the insult from the deputy White House press secretary Anna Kelly. Here's what she said when we called her to get reaction to your most recent column. This no name nerd has never served anything except his own checkbook. And no one except the lay off plagued Daily Beast cares what he has to say about the decorated combat veteran secretary Pete Hegseth or warrior ethos. So you're a no name nerd. I would put that on your signature.
David Rothkopf
Yeah, well, frankly, it's pretty close to true. It's not, you know, I mean, I have a name, but you know, I've always felt, I've always felt my niche in Washington was that I was always on the outer edge of the inner circle.
Podcast Host
What a previous White House secretary said about you.
David Rothkopf
Look, I mean, you know, I've been around for a while. I've been called a variety of things. Some of them have been very good. Some people have paid attention to what I've been saying. And when I agree with them, they tend to say nice things about me when I don't, they tend to levy attacks like this. This is, after all, the White House, where you know, the response, you know, somebody asked them something the other day about, you know, well, who said this? And their response was your mama. Right. I mean, these are a bunch of real children who are playing sandbox level games with communications. And I understand why they're defensive about Pete Hegseth. He's the least qualified secretary of defense in history and he's an imbecile. And you know, being an imbecile and not being qualified, these are kind of things people hide.
Podcast Host
And he's decorated the Department of War, as he calls it, with pictures of him and his wife.
David Rothkopf
Well, yeah, but you know, calling it the Department of War, that's like a little insecure, isn't it? You know, I mean, why are you doing that with the whole warrior ethos, you know, I think the real telling thing is, and I done this, talk to some generals and admirals, see what they think of.
Podcast Host
I think he called me.
David Rothkopf
No, no, he gave a speech and they all came out of that room and they said, oh, my God, what are we going through here? This guy is an embarrassment to us, you know? You know, it was a couple weeks later that the commander of southcom quit or got pushed, we don't know which, because he didn't want to play these games with blowing up speedboats in order to make Pete Hegson that feel like a warrior, you know, and, you know, he and Trump and J.D. vance, these people are. This is a bunch of insecure men.
Podcast Host
Okay, stop, stop, stop. Because you've given us so much hopium here. You've given everybody hopium that there is a post Trump future and now we're sinking low again.
David Rothkopf
Well, we're not sinking low. We're telling the truth. The reason there is no post Trump Trump future is Trump's a bad president and he's a bad person. And he has surrounded himself with bad people who are promoting bad policies badly. And the American people who are super tolerant and super hopeful are looking at all this and going, this isn't working. And you know, in the best of times, they're fickle, but in times like this, they want change. And that's why on Tuesday, Democrats want everything. And that's why next year, Democrats are going to do very well. And that's why in 2028, Democrats are going to do very well. And we're going to look back on this and we're going to say, oh, my God, our long national nightmare is finally over.
Podcast Host
Dude, Rothkoff, I'm stopping you right there. Right there. Thank you very much for coming in. And so much more fun to do this in person, isn't it?
David Rothkopf
It's to insult me to my face.
Podcast Host
All right, if you have been, thank you for joining us. Don't forget to subscribe to the Daily Beast podcast. Leave us a comment. Your comments on David's thoughts, please.
David Rothkopf
And, and you can watch the Deep State Radio podcast that we do or on YouTube.
Podcast Host
I was just going to say David has his own entire network of deep, Deep State Radio podcasts.
David Rothkopf
Well, we do 15, 17 podcasts a week. We do the new Republican podcast.
Podcast Host
You hear that? Fifteen seventeen podcasts.
David Rothkopf
And you know what? The thing that really distinguishes our podcasts, they're all big name experts.
Podcast Host
They're all big names.
David Rothkopf
Not no name people, but Deep State Radio and words matter. And the Deep State Daily that we do. And and people can find them on YouTube, they can find them on Instagram, they can find them on TikTok and they can go and wherever they get podcasts, they can listen to the podcast there. And the last time I did one of your podcasts, a lot of them did good. So I'm really grateful.
Podcast Host
Dsr, right? That's how you find it. Dsr.
David Rothkopf
Deep State Radio, DSR Network.
Podcast Host
So David Rothkop, thank you. Support the Daily Beast we're independent media. We appreciate your support. You have you can subscribe to the Daily Beast so you're up to date minute by minute on everything that's going on. And leave your comment for us on YouTube a review, Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. And as our first lady would have us say, don't forget Beast. And a special thank you to our Beast tier of subscribers. Herbie Andrew, Mellor, Fulvia Orlando Laz Conde, Sandra Clark, Bonzo Val Love, Francisco Bocock, D.C. karen White, Heidi Riley, Connie Rutherford, Andrea Hodel, and Sharon Shipley. Thank you and thank you to our team, Devon Rogerino, Anna Von Erson and our editor, Jessie Millwood.
David Rothkopf
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David Rothkopf
Want more great listens? Check out our comedy podcast the Last Laugh and our Star Studded the Daily Beast podcast@thedailybeast.com podcasts if you enjoyed this episode, consider becoming a Daily Beast subscriber.
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David Rothkopf
Head to thedailybeast.com membership podcast and sign up today.
The Daily Beast Podcast
Host: Joanna Coles
Guest: David Rothkopf
Date: November 10, 2025
In this episode, Joanna Coles sits down with David Rothkopf to dissect Donald Trump’s increasingly precarious political and personal position. Titled “Why Trump’s Year From Hell Has Only Just Begun,” the discussion ranges from Trump’s dwindling relevance, the Republican Party’s identity crisis, the fallout from recent elections, and what may be the beginnings of the end for “Trumpism” as the central force in American politics. With biting humor and deep analysis, Rothkopf and Coles offer vivid takes on personalities in Trump’s orbit, the GOP’s future, and the broader consequences for American and global politics.
The conversation is energetic, irreverent, and incisively critical, marked by sharp wit, occasional sarcasm, and a sense of exasperated optimism. Rothkopf and Coles don’t hold back, offering vivid imagery, blunt language, and plenty of inside jokes (e.g., Liberace décor, “let them eat ballrooms,” and references to obscure Trump acolytes).
This episode paints a portrait of Trump as increasingly isolated, culturally tone-deaf, and losing control both within the GOP and in the eyes of the public. The Democratic resurgence, GOP fractures, and growing business and international skepticism point to a year of escalating challenges for Trump and, in Rothkopf’s telling, signal the last act of Trump’s dominance in American politics. For those seeking sharp political analysis with a healthy dose of snark, this episode delivers.