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- [00:00]
Michael Wolff
There's not a paragraph, a briefing paragraph, that could describe his strategy or his goals. And he has consulted with nobody. Nobody knows what is going on. I think Jared Kushner knows what's going on. I think he is probably the only person Trump listens to because he has a credibility derived from having gotten $2 billion out of the Persian Gulf in any way. When you look what Trump does, why he does what he does, it is always smart to look at what he can get out of it. What is the personal advantage to Donald Trump?
- [00:48]
Joanna Weiss
Michael.
- [00:49]
Michael Wolff
Joanna.
- [00:50]
Joanna Weiss
Michael. I can't take it anymore. I really can't take it anymore. It is pouring with rain here. It has been the longest winter in living memory in New York. Every damn day there's snow or rain or ice. The sun seems to have disappeared. We're at war. The new.
- [01:10]
Michael Wolff
I hear on social media that it's going to be in early spring, however.
- [01:14]
Joanna Weiss
Oh, please, God, I just need something.
- [01:18]
Michael Wolff
If you trust social media, which.
- [01:20]
Joanna Weiss
Well, it could be AI Slop.
- [01:21]
Michael Wolff
We should not.
- [01:22]
Joanna Weiss
Yes, Is it AI Slop saying it's going to be an early spring.
- [01:26]
Michael Wolff
I don't know who it is.
- [01:27]
Joanna Weiss
It's like last night and this morning. Everything bad came together. The Knicks lose. We're at war, pouring with rain, which is terrible for the hair. And I've had lots of comments about my hair recently saying that it's in my eyes, which it is. So I went to have it cut at the weekend and it seems to have grown longer since the haircut. So, anyway, well, let's talk about the
- [01:50]
Michael Wolff
war, and let's just try to do a review here, which is not easy because you're reviewing a situation in which nobody, literally nobody has any idea what is going on, why it's going on, where it's going to, and clearly what the end result will be, because no one really has imagined any particular end result. It is run by. So here is a war entirely 100% run by someone who really doesn't give a shit about any of the rules, the guardrails, the way of thinking about war, about conflict, about the international order. Just doesn't care.
- [02:48]
Joanna Weiss
I'm literally sure he couldn't find Iran on a map this week or yesterday. I interviewed John Bolton, who, as you know, was his national security advisor in Trump 1. And he. And I really urge everybody to listen to it. Cause he's so frank about how awkward Trump always felt. Something you have said when he's in the room with generals and the Joint Chiefs of Staff and he knows they know more than he does, but he can't stand it. And so he just dismisses it. And as you have often talked about, and Steve Bannon has talked about the sort of determination to keep information out at the one time when you need as much information as you can possibly get.
- [03:30]
Michael Wolff
And, well, he's thrown that paradigm on its ear and taken the position that a, he doesn't need to have information. That actually information is in some ways the enemy information. And the data and the decision matrix that foreign policy professionals have used for so many generations has only resulted in calamity, which is arguably, by the way, at least in part, true.
- [04:05]
Joanna Weiss
That's the irony, really.
- [04:06]
Michael Wolff
The other argument is that we're still here. The world didn't end. The superpowers did not come to a collision. The economy actually, throughout the world has only improved. Living standards have only improved. And that it is. It is other than a few forever wars, and I don't mean to minimize this, a kind of remarkable time, but nevertheless, obviously there are those forever wars which, just to make clear the context here, Trump ran against, in a way, he became. One element of him becoming president both times was to say that there would be no more forever wars. He would not go to war. War was for smaller minds than his, and he could solve any conflict that might lead to war.
- [05:07]
Joanna Weiss
Right. Because for him, foreign policy is simply a matter of his relationships. He likes Vladimir Putin. He and Putin get on. It's all great. He's going to see Xi. He's going to have the biggest parade in Chinese history. It's all great. That's how he sees everything through the lens of his relationships right now.
- [05:23]
Michael Wolff
You know, we've discussed before. I mean, the other day, I noted how much winning is important to him. Winning defines him. That dominance is the theme of certainly of this second Trump administration. The more dominance you can show, the more dominance you can display and prove. That means the more dominant you are, and the more dominant person has more leverage. And therefore. And therefore the more dominant person gets more. So that's also part of the. Part of the background, the Trumpian background in the fundamental Trump contradictions which lead to this present moment in which no one can interpret what he's doing or why he's doing and how he will proceed from day to day.
- [06:17]
Joanna Weiss
Well, and the messaging of why we are doing this really has changed moment by moment. So, you know, and it seemed to ratchet up yesterday to Trump almost shouting that the reason we were doing it was because Iran was about to launch a nuclear war, which is. No.
- [06:36]
Michael Wolff
Well, and that's also contradicted by everything else. So everything is contradicted here and everything is walked back. But none of it matters.
- [06:48]
Joanna Weiss
Well, it matters in terms of serving it up to the American people, though, doesn't it? I mean, we mentioned on Tuesday, and the split has only become greater that maga, particularly the factions sort of led by Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, are really against this war and they don't feel they've been sold it properly either. And it seems like Netanyahu said to Trump, we're ready to go in. And Trump immediately sort of bustled up to the table. I mean, this doesn't feel like it's been American led at all.
- [07:21]
Michael Wolff
And then he reversed that, of course, and said that they followed, that they followed America, Israelis to follow us. So it's. Yeah, so.
- [07:31]
Joanna Weiss
But that felt very much like a reaction to the fact that someone had said, you were following Israel. And he was like, no, I wasn't. No, I wasn't. They're following. I mean, it was just. It's unbelievable.
- [07:41]
Michael Wolff
But then there's, then there is that Trump baseline, which he repeats on a. I understand within the White House on a constant basis, everybody loves a winner. So if he can win, then everything goes away. Then he has achieved what he wants to achieve. And that consensus will say he's a great man and I suppose should get the Nobel Peace Prize. And there was a piece in the Journal this morning which, I mean, this is of course the Wall Street Journal, which is the bastion of neocons, but rather convincingly went through the details arguing that in fact we are winning this war. That actually, other than six American soldiers have died, which is of course bad, but it's not 100 and it's not 200 and it's not the 5,000 that died in Iraq, that everything is going well. We are winning. We are in essence achieving every military goal that we might want to achieve.
- [09:00]
Joanna Weiss
Oh, how I wish this product had been around when I was in college. It's called Zebiotics Pre Alcohol Probiotic drink. And it's the world's first genetically engineered probiotic, invented by PhD scientists. And here's how it works. When you drink, alcohol gets converted into a toxic byproduct in the gut. It's a build up of this by product, not dehydration. That's to blame for those rough days after drinking Zebiotics Pre alcohol Probiotic drink produces an enzyme to break this by product down. Just make pre alcohol your first drink of the night. By drink responsibly and you'll feel much more like yourself the next day. March is packed with social plans, so don't wait. Act now. Go to zbiotics.com dailybeast and use code dailybeast at checkout for 15% off your first order. And if you're not satisfied, they offer 100% money back guarantee. Except that he may not be winning it at home. I mean, my oldest son, who never pays attention to prices, in fact, I don't think I've ever had a conversation with him ever about any kind of price, called me yesterday and said, mom, gas is $6 a gallon at the pump in California, which is where he's living in la. And I do think, in fact, Hugh Docherty, who many viewers and listeners will know, pointed out this morning that the gas is so interesting not only because it's one of those things that you literally watch as the price, as the ticker goes around in front of you as you're putting the gas in, but men end up doing it. Women are largely responsible for most of the household costs, but actually gas is something that men pay attention to. And the price of gas is up significantly.
- [10:55]
Michael Wolff
Yeah, I mean, that's clearly one of the variables here. How long does he have and who's he winning with?
- [11:03]
Joanna Weiss
Cause he may be winning on the international stage in some ways, but there's very little to suggest that MAGA wanted this, even though he says I am maga, MAGA is me. MAGA will do what I want them to.
- [11:17]
Michael Wolff
Well, no, absolutely. And that's a, I mean, I hear that argument and it's a cogent argument. But the other argument, his argument, everybody loves a winner, is also, you know.
- [11:34]
Joanna Weiss
Yep.
- [11:34]
Michael Wolff
I mean, it has also worked. Worked for him. And we are in this situation and it's somewhat asymmetrical. The opprobrium that's being heaped on him in so many quarters from not just Democrats and liberals, but also from the MAGA side and also from people at the gas pump stands in this kind of the split screen with the fact that everything is going well in this war. I mean, so far. And many of our listeners are going to say, oh, no, no, no, no, that's terrible, you can't mean that. And just anticipating the liberal point of view here, which I entirely agree with, except on a strictly tactical military base. Base.
- [12:29]
Joanna Weiss
Yeah. And the fact they took the leadership and then the sub leadership out in one go on Saturday is clearly impressive. And the other thing I think is interesting is that unlike 2003, this is also playing out against the backdrop of the terrible images we saw of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, which felt like a terrible losing moment from. For the U.S. i mean, it was. Even though it was actually Trump's plan, Biden carried it out.
- [13:02]
Michael Wolff
And it's arguably the moment which. When the Biden administration fell apart.
- [13:07]
Joanna Weiss
Yep, yep. And you remember those terrible images of people clinging onto the wheel, cavities of planes and falling off, and the desperation of people trying to climb over those barbed wire fences and the babies being passed over. I mean, harrowing photos. And you can see why any president or secretary of war is really fighting those images. What did you think of Pete Hegseth's press conference?
- [13:37]
Michael Wolff
Well, I think every one of the people in this administration has to decide how they are personally going to respond to this. Marco Rubio looks stunned all the time. Where am I? J.D. vance clearly whipsawed by this. Which side of the divide am I on? And Hegseth is like, I'll do anything he says. He tells me to do. I'm in it. Win it for the Gipper.
- [14:10]
Joanna Weiss
Win it for the Gipper. And I will say, I mean, so much. You can tell so much just by looking at them. And Marco Rubio's speech patterns, normally very fluent, very confident, have started to imitate a machine gun's rapid rattle. They come out in bursts. He seems much confident, I would say, than usual. I mean, the weird press conference that he had that seemed to be in a random place where someone had caught him in the Capitol. And then no one knowing whether or not Trump is just simply going to undermine them and contradict them.
- [14:48]
Michael Wolff
And this is not just them. This is literally everyone in the world, other world leaders, allies or enemies. The Israelis, I mean, Israelis. The Israelis are like, okay, we better get, we better take what we can right now because this could change tomorrow. So hurry up.
- [15:09]
Joanna Weiss
Well, and poor Keir Starmer, the British Prime Minister is having a full time, terrible time. He's on the wrong side of every decision. Peter Mandelson bounced as his ambassador from Washington, as we know, which is causing great sturm and drang at home. And then of course, Donald Trump has his fireside chat in the Oval, in the Golden Oval with the German Chancellor and leans forward and says he's not very happy with the UK right now. And in fact, Keir Starmer is no Winston Churchill. Withering words for poor Keir Starmer. Withering. And of course, you know, British base gets attacked in Cyprus, which I think the Brits hadn't anticipated. And so they're sending out a Ship, but it won't get out there until next week. The whole thing feels just like poor Keir Starmer's being caught on the back foot yet again. And now Trump is weighing in on the Chagos Islands.
- [16:03]
Michael Wolff
You know, we have this thing. I mean, he's gone into this in a unilateral way. You know, in the past, the, the, or actually the custom in, in recent generations has, has been to assemble a coalition of allies. I mean, if only for, for your PR cover. But everybody was kind of semi, at least on the same page. That was the effort. That was the diplomatic effort. Well, because there is no page. Trump has no page. He has no, no, there's not a paragraph, a briefing paragraph that could describe his, his strategy or his, his goals. And he has consulted with nobody. Nobody knows what is going on. Literally zero. Nobody knows. I mean, you see this reflected in the media now on a. Yep. On a daily basis, it's like, what do we say? What, what? And it's endless streams of speculation. Well, yeah, I'm going to let you make your comment because I'm not going to interrupt you. But then I'm going to say I think I know who, I think I know who knows what's going on. But you first.
- [17:18]
Joanna Weiss
Okay. Well, all I was going to say is that the sense that nobody knows what's going on is also reinfor. By the fragmentation of the media. So, you know, whatever you see on online, you're not quite sure where it's come from. You're seeing clips posted by other people. Half the time you can't tell if it's AI slot because the AI is so good now and it's very confusing to find things. It used to be that you would go to places, even CNN and you would have a sense of, of actually what's going on. And it's very clear they don't know. And at this point, CNN is still on the air. CNN is still on the air, but it's really just a series of incredibly long and depressing images of people supposedly looking happy with a series of illnesses.
- [18:10]
Michael Wolff
It's almost unlikely on cnn.
- [18:13]
Joanna Weiss
No, they've sort of stopped with the
- [18:15]
Michael Wolff
panels sitting on a soundstage.
- [18:19]
Joanna Weiss
No, I think that's probably too expensive for them now. So they just have anguished wringing their hands about what's going on. And then they have actually, to be fair, the, rather they have a very attractive suite of foreign correspondents, I would say, Nick Peyton Walsh, Jeremy Diamond. You know, I'm very happy to hear what they've got to say, but you
- [18:41]
Michael Wolff
should listen closely now because they may pass into history in any second now, since CNN now has a new owner or will shortly have a new owner.
- [18:51]
Joanna Weiss
Will eventually have a new owner. Yes. Anyway, it's just very difficult to get a sort of, from the news media. It's very difficult to get a straightforward sense of what's going on.
- [19:00]
Michael Wolff
Yeah, but that's not just that. It is literally, literally nobody knows. I mean, you cannot. Nobody knows because Trump doesn't know. So the one man making all of the decisions doesn't know what the next decision he will make is going to be.
- [19:18]
Joanna Weiss
So who's the person you think, because you tantalized us with a sense of, you think you know who it is, who knows what's going on?
- [19:26]
Michael Wolff
I think Jared Kushner knows what's going on. I think he's the only person truly inside Trump's head, inside his, in this case, of course, his father in law's head. I think he is the person who Trump most turns to on this, probably the only person Trump, Trump listens to because he has a credibility derived from, let me not put too fine a point on this, having gotten $2 billion out of the Persian Gulf. And I think that in any way, when you look at what Trump does, why he does what he does, it is always smart to look, look at what he can get out of it. What is the personal advantage to Donald Trump? And I have watched this now for, incredibly since the beginning. I remember in 2017, the first foreign visitor to the White House was MBS, the then Crown Prince of, of Saudi Arabia. And ever since, the focus and people within the White House talk about this rather casually. The focus has been, or a consistent focus has been on the Persian Gulf wealth. So the uae, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, that's the crescent for Trump of opportunity.
- [21:07]
Joanna Weiss
And is that why Iran is bombing them all?
- [21:11]
Michael Wolff
Well, yeah, I mean, I think so. I mean, I think that they are, that they are clearly Trump allies. They clearly want to be Trump allies. I mean, often he is as confusing to them as to anyone else, but that is. And they will be direct beneficiaries if things go right, or even mostly right in flattening the current leadership in Iran. So I think then you have to ask, and I don't know the answer to this, but I bet Jared knows the answer to this. What's the prize? In Trump's mind, his eyes are on the prize. The prize will be what benefits him, him personally.
- [22:00]
Joanna Weiss
So perhaps the prize is a new Trump hotel on the edge of the Four moons, sure.
- [22:06]
Michael Wolff
That's like a byproduct. But I think when he thinks about this, you know, there's a whole discipline, I mean, historical, military, tactical, you know, born of immense experience of how you think, you think about foreign conflicts. I mean, I mean, you know, it is the discipline that has developed since the Second World War, full of Mandarins and bureaucrats and experts and people who actually, who actually are very smart about all of this. And Trump is not thinking any of that. Well, first thing, he doesn't know what that is, so how could he possibly.
- [22:51]
Joanna Weiss
And he wouldn't be interested.
- [22:52]
Michael Wolff
No. So the textbook he hasn't read. But what he does think about and what he has thought about for his entire career is deal making, real estate. I think he's probably added oil to that now, sources of capital. And how do you put all this together, in a way? And I think that he probably believes it will be to the benefit of America, but he also believes that what is to the benefit of America should also benefit him personally.
- [23:30]
Joanna Weiss
Right. So follow the grift. And I'm sure the Two brothers, Don Jr. And Eric, are also worth paying attention to. And we haven't even begun to talk about the.
- [23:41]
Michael Wolff
They just, they're, they just collect the money. I mean, it's. Jared, you know, if you wanted to say who is the brains of this operation? And let's. Within the context of using brains in a very relative sense, it would be
- [23:57]
Joanna Weiss
Jared Kushner, the deal maker, the deal guy, as he likes to describe himself. And I was just going to throw in before you did actually interrupt me, that isn't it Don Jr who's an advisor to Kalshi, and the betting markets are on fire over Iran and all sorts of money being made there, which is also a new thing going on that you can bet online.
- [24:26]
Michael Wolff
I would use the word advisor advisedly when it comes to Don Jr. I want to ask one more thing about, and just keep an eye on this, about the war, which is that question that came up before, how long does he have? And clearly in his mind, I mean, they're talking four or five weeks. That's the timeline we've been given. And it probably is a reflection of how long they think they have. But the thing about war is that it's unpredictable. The thing about Trump's war, it's even more unpredictable than other wars. And at some point, I think that this could end up. It could be the exit from Afghanistan in the Trump administration. I don't know when that is, but it would be Good to keep an eye on that.
- [25:25]
Joanna Weiss
Well, first of all, we know that Trump himself is going to get bored of the war, right? As he once famously said to the American people, you're going to get so bored of winning. But he may well have had enough. I mean, remember three weeks ago, we were still talking about Greenland and Minneapolis and, you know, Venezuela. And we've moved swiftly on from Venezuela and Epstein. And Epstein will always come back to Epstein, but he will be bored by it. And then there was a somewhat ominous piece in the Wall Street Journal, I think, yesterday, saying that, you know, Trump is now contemplating a role for the US In Iran. Not something that he had hitherto suggested, but I'm sure that's triggered by Jared pointing out there may be some economic opportunities. I do think it would be hilarious if Trump put up a hotel on the Strait of Hillmuz, which is now on everybody's lips. It's such a wonderful sounding place, isn't of Hormuz, where 20% of the world's gas passes through every day, though. Not at the moment. But I like the idea of a whole Iranian Riviera to match. Perhaps you could get points if you stay at the Gaza Riviera. You can go on. It's like a timeshare, possibly a whole Gulf timeshare. Trump properties.
- [26:45]
Michael Wolff
Yeah, well, I mean, just the reconstruction alone will keep the Trump family in billions for many years.
- [26:57]
Joanna Weiss
Well, perhaps he can build another Trump Ballroom out there, too. And of course, the money will all come from other countries, too. I wonder. And I would like to be a fly on the wall of his next reconvening of the Board of Peace.
- [27:14]
Michael Wolff
I would offer that we will never again see Board of Peace.
- [27:18]
Joanna Weiss
I mean, what's happened to their membership dues, their $1 billion membership views? And literally the following week, they start being bombed. I mean, I don't think any of them saw that coming. All right, so I think we should at least do a drive by on the Texas. On the Texas primaries. The Republicans. It hasn't been sorted out yet. They've got to have a runoff. But we've got Ken Paxton and the incumbent, John Cornyn, who's possibly the most boring senator of all time.
- [27:51]
Michael Wolff
No. And it's devastating for him that he's been forced into a runoff with a
- [27:57]
Joanna Weiss
crazy person, a corrupt and a crazy
- [28:00]
Michael Wolff
candidate, an incredibly successful politician in Texas. I mean, a politician attorney general whose political obituary has been written even more times than Donald Trump. And yet he. He continues and he prevails and almost in some official capacity Represents the worst that politics can offer at any time in any place.
- [28:33]
Joanna Weiss
So he could be a potential Republican presidential candidate then.
- [28:37]
Michael Wolff
Yeah. And I mean, even within the White House, within the Trump circle. So Trump has announced that he is going to. To endorse Paxton, one or the other of the Senate candidates, which will possibly likely actually tip the race. And it could very well. I mean, within the White House, Paxton is thought of as all of these things, corrupt and crazy, but useful, loyal. Useful and on their side.
- [29:21]
Joanna Weiss
And he's narrowly missed all sorts of censures as attorney general.
- [29:27]
Michael Wolff
Yeah. And he has been indicted. And I mean, he narrowly missed one because his wife voted for him. Were she not to have, I mean, his wife who was in the. The Texas legislature, he needed her vote or he would have gone down. But. And which was always problematic because they have a lot of domestic issues.
- [29:56]
Joanna Weiss
Well, he's. He's. What is the word? Adulterous, I think, which, I mean, we haven't even gotten into Tony Gonzalez and that. That crazy story of the congressman who was harassing, at least as far as we can tell from texts that have been released, one of his junior employees, they then embarked on an affair and then she set herself on fire and killed herself, leaving an 8 year old child behind, which is truly devastating story.
- [30:28]
Michael Wolff
Yeah. Jesus. But the Paxton thing is also interesting because that is the possible key to flipping the Texas Senate race to the Democrats. So, I mean, he, I mean, I mean, Paxton is a. Is a highly, highly, highly polarizing candidate whose ceiling is. Whose maximum ceiling could mean that the Democrat wins for the first time in Texas since the early 90s.
- [31:07]
Joanna Weiss
Right. And the selling point is that he's crazy and at the same time, obviously compelling. But it may be that people have just had enough of crazy. And James Talarico, who's a member of the Texas state legislature, beat Jasmine Crockett, who's the congresswoman from Texas, for the Democratic primary ticket. I interviewed both of them. They're both incredibly lively, intelligent. Kamala Harris endorsed Jasmine Crockett, which clearly didn't. Well, we don't know if it made any difference, but it didn't make enough difference to get her the ticket.
- [31:44]
Michael Wolff
But again, you might say about Kamala Harris, what was she thinking?
- [31:49]
Joanna Weiss
Well, you might say that. And James Talarico is, you know, enormously articulate. He's finishing off in seminary and he's a former teacher, and he's very appealing, very mild mannered, and feels like he might be able to swing Texas if anybody could.
- [32:08]
Michael Wolff
Well, it's a bet on Moderation. I mean, that schism in the Democratic Party between, should we go to the middle, should we go to the moderates, should we go to people who might possibly have some kind of a populist appeal and appeal to disenfranchised MAGA voters? Which is all a. Of, you know, hope in a dream, of course. But versus, Versus, the, the other thing, which is, you know, Crockett was, Was, you know, a firebrand troller, you know, bring it to Trump, et cetera, et cetera.
- [32:52]
Joanna Weiss
Right.
- [32:53]
Michael Wolff
So, but I, I mean, this is. Were the Democrats to take the Senate, and if they took the Senate, they would end Donald Trump's. I mean, I've said this too many times in my Trump career, but let me say it again. They would end Donald Trump's political career if the House and the Senate had Democratic majorities. And the secret. One of the keys to winning the Senate is Texas. They can't win the Senate basically without flipping Texas.
- [33:33]
Joanna Weiss
Well, you can be sure that a ton of Democratic money is now flooding in to support James Talarico there. In fact, the first text I got this morning when I woke up was from his campaign asking for money. So they're clearly on the case and very conscious of his potential moment in history. And let's just hope he doesn't go down in flames like Beto O' Rourke does. Do you remember in 2018, he was
- [33:56]
Michael Wolff
going to be the great new hope that never dies and the dream that never comes true. So when you got your solicitation, you got a text solicitation.
- [34:07]
Joanna Weiss
I got a text solicitation. Let me see if I still have it. Hey, it's James Talarika.
- [34:13]
Michael Wolff
I got it. I got it, too.
- [34:14]
Joanna Weiss
Did you get it, too? Our movement won, but flipping the seed will take everything we have.
- [34:18]
Michael Wolff
Do the Democrats really think that these constant stream of texts. I get certainly 10 a day, do they think this endears them to anybody? I mean, the Democrats are stupid just about everything, but I would say in this, they're exceeding stupidity. This doesn't work. It can't work. Stop it. And matter of fact, I spend most of my day going S T O
- [34:43]
Joanna Weiss
P. It doesn't make any difference if you do that. They just pop up again. Colin Allred was the worst completely.
- [34:51]
Michael Wolff
This is a grift. Everybody knows it's a grift. It's, you know, shoot yourself in the head, as the Democrats so often do.
- [35:02]
Joanna Weiss
Okay, so let's move on to a really remarkable hearing this week, that of the Secretary of Homeland Security, Christy Noem. The likes of which I'm not sure I've seen before. Watching John Kennedy and Thom Tillis, two Republicans going after her in a really. Well, first of all, it was gripping television. Thom Tillis doesn't care because he's now leaving. So he just laid it all out on the table. In fact, you're like, well, where's this guy been for the last X number of years? It was incredible. And she just sort of sat there batting those idiotic eyelashes and she looks like an idiot.
- [35:50]
Michael Wolff
I mean, she looks like something has profoundly gone wrong with her surgery or generally with her intelligence.
- [36:00]
Joanna Weiss
Well, you say that, but we can't remember what she looked like before. Remember, this is social media.
- [36:05]
Michael Wolff
You see, those things, of course, could be AI, but she looks like a perfectly normal, presentable, even intelligent person until the makeover has turned her into a Martian.
- [36:21]
Joanna Weiss
Well, she really does look like, unfortunately, the Barbie doll that the Daily Beast has consistently said she is because she loves to change outfits, whatever she's doing. So there's Coast Guard Christie, there's, you know, Ice Christie, all of it. But my favorite bit, I think, and I'm sure you have your own favorite bit too, was where Thom Tillis goes after her for the accounts in her book of her shooting cricket, her 14 month old do, and then shooting the family goat. And he just said he trained dogs. This was a bad judgment in her, in his opinion of her and that she was bringing that bad judgment running ice. It was a very compelling argument. And now, of course, there are all sorts of conversations about will she last? Will she last? Is this the wrong time to get
- [37:14]
Michael Wolff
rid of her for a second? Because I think that that is emblematic of something. I mean, Thom Tillis is now turning out to an intelligent, reasonable United States senator, asking the questions that should be asked, taking positions that any rational person, even a conservative person, would reasonably take. And so why now? Why now? Because he's not at risk. He's not running. So this was. So these past, these past five years, you were just doing what Thom Tillis. So you're as corrupt as everybody else and good riddance to you.
- [38:00]
Joanna Weiss
Also true. But at least he's going out, hopefully with a bang. And it's possible that his performance may, in the end, take Kristi Noem down.
- [38:11]
Michael Wolff
Yeah, but. Yeah, but I mean, you see the point here. Obviously the past five years, he didn't believe anything that he said. So that is. I mean, frankly, that's politics for you.
- [38:23]
Joanna Weiss
That's politics.
- [38:24]
Michael Wolff
I'd rather have someone, someone who actually believe this this Trump junk rather than, rather than someone who has been utterly cynical about it.
- [38:35]
Joanna Weiss
Well, we don't know what he was doing behind the scenes to try and weaken Trump or to try and create alliances, though I will say it hasn't been very effective. If he was trying to say that's
- [38:44]
Michael Wolff
ridiculous, come out and say what you believe, you know, I mean, this is.
- [38:48]
Joanna Weiss
But we know, Michael. But we know that people can't do that because then they get primaried. I don't know why I'm defending these people.
- [38:54]
Michael Wolff
I don't care. So then you're going to get primaried, right.
- [38:57]
Joanna Weiss
Then find another job.
- [38:59]
Michael Wolff
It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It shouldn't matter. Stand up, be a man.
- [39:06]
Joanna Weiss
Well, the point is that regardless of whether or not Thom Tillis is a man or not a man, his performance has led Trump apparently to do what you say he does, which is to call up people and say, what do you think about Kristi Noem? What do you think about Kristi Noem? There was a report in Punchbowl this morning, Thursday, we're recording this, saying that she could be for the chop, but the trouble is that this isn't a great time. While the Democrats haven't renewed funding for the Department of Homeland Security and they're in a sort of partial shutdown, that this isn't the right time to fire her.
- [39:43]
Michael Wolff
No. And this is in the background of Trump has been so far been adamant within the White House. And as he discusses all of these personnel issues, nobody gets fired, he doesn't bend, nobody is going to force him. And if you are loyal, and she is loyal to a doggish level, which doesn't mean that Trump couldn't shoot her like she shoots the dog. But. So I think I'll be interesting to see what happens. My guess is that she will survive another doggish day.
- [40:25]
Joanna Weiss
Well, the only interesting thing, however, to counter that is that John Kennedy, the senator from Tennessee, whose voice I love, it's that incredible deep Tennessee accent, sort of like flowing like molasses, made the point and in fact questioned her rigorously if slowly over this advertising campaign that she put up where she suggested that people self deport because that way it would just be easier for everybody if they could just do her job for them. He then made the point that this was an advertising campaign that was largely about Kristi Noem and asked her if the president knew about the advertising campaign campaign. She said that he did. Trump is apparently denying that he did behind the scenes. And this was, I think, you know, an advertising campaign that cost more than $200 million. And one of her colleagues, husbands, stands to gain a lot of money from this campaign by being an advisor to it. So, again, corruption from which Dakota is she from? From North Dakota, South Dakota, West Dakota? I think she's South Dakota because it was Doug Borgum from North Dakota. Right, It's South Dakota. It was South Dakota. So South Dakota corruption in this advertising campaign and Trump now saying he didn't know anything about the campaign.
- [41:56]
Michael Wolff
And let's not forget Corey Lewandowski here, the lover advisor who is putting together these campaigns and we can assume taking his percentage off the top.
- [42:15]
Joanna Weiss
Well, incredibly, they also got asked about their relationship and shown pictures of one of the jets that the department uses, which appears to have a bedroom at the back, four television screens where apparently Christine Oman, Corey Lewandowski have spent a lot of time together.
- [42:34]
Michael Wolff
But and let's just flag, I mean, the other interesting thing about listening to her is how stupid she sounds, how incapable of actually answering these questions, how bewildered by them, how dear in the headlights she is going back to. And we also, it's as often as possible, I think it's important to flag the moron operacy that Trump has assembled around himself.
- [43:04]
Joanna Weiss
Well, I would like to point out also that the Daily Beast got a shout out because we had written a report that Corey Lewandowski was spotted taking the garbage out of Christine Ohm's apartment. We should also add that both of them deny that they are having an affair with each other.
- [43:21]
Michael Wolff
You know, during the campaign, there was a and actually this spelled the end of, of Corey's bid to take over the campaign is that he had inserted himself, basically taking over the campaign, basically with Trump's tacit approval, although we don't really know this because Corey just announced that he was taking over the campaign. Susie Wiles and Chris Lacavita kind of retreated to another floor because they didn't know who was running the campaign. And Corey moved in, started to fire people, started to move them around desks. If your desk was here yesterday, it was somewhere else today. And he seemed like that was a moment he was going to take over the campaign, except that he then brought Kristi Noem in for a tour of the offices, showing her everything. Clearly they were in demonstrating every aspect of being with someone in a romantic relationship, or at least the public aspects. And that was what Susie Wiles and Chris Lacivita then went to Trump and said, hey, and Trump decided for them rather and against Corey Lewandowski because of
- [44:56]
Joanna Weiss
Kristi noem Well, and he's, as they refer to him, her special advisor. And all I would say is, Christy, good job. You've got him well trained. He's taking out the trash from your apartment. That's what a woman wants, a man to take out the trash. Should we mention your friend Robert Kennedy
- [45:16]
Michael Wolff
Jr. Well, I think we should keep our eye on him because he has, has certainly been muzzled.
- [45:25]
Joanna Weiss
Go on.
- [45:26]
Michael Wolff
He has been told and actually this is an interesting example that they have looked at it. They have looked at the vax numbers, the anti vax numbers, and they're incredibly dangerous for politically dangerous for Trump and for the midterms and for all MAGA candidates. It a flatly unpopular position. So he's been told to focus on food. I mean, literally, Novax, food. Anything you want to say about food? So it's the Maha stuff that now is his issue. You can mention that. Novax, no anti vax. We don't want to hear about it.
- [46:20]
Joanna Weiss
Well, he tried to take on Dunkin Donuts this week, which inspired a lot of memes. He said that there was too much sugar in some of their drinks, which, I mean, alarmingly, he's right on the very biggest, sweetest drink you can get from Dunkin Donuts. But Maura Healey, the governor of Massachusetts, immediately put out a meme saying, come and get it with a picture of an enormous Dunkin Donuts coffee. And of course, people love Dunkin. America runs on Dunkin. It's a perfectly good, in fact, rather delicious, for the most part, substitute for Starbucks. Much cheaper than Starbucks, and there's lots of them. And the idea that Robert Kennedy Jr. Thinks it's going to be a winning campaign to take our Dunkin, I don't think that's the right target for it.
- [47:07]
Michael Wolff
Well, no, I mean, it's just an interesting, again, to keep our eye on it. Is the moronocracy being reined in, in. And I mean, is there a perception. And there is a perception. There's a perception within the White House, there's a perception within the congressional leadership that this is a more autocracy, that these are the stupidest people ever to achieve high office in American government. And for Trump, that's been a kind of badge of honor, a proof that he can, that he's the dominant guy, he can do anything he wants. Putting clearly unqualified people into significant jobs is just proof that it's his government and he's in charge and no one can say otherwise.
- [47:59]
Joanna Weiss
I was going to say, I think that you sort of saw that with Hegseth's press conference, there he is, he's up there in his funny little suits with his sort of arms that don't quite fit by his side. He's got his stars and striped pocket kerchief on. He just looks like an American girl doll. He's an American boy doll. I wanted to just read this. We've taken control of Iran's airspace and waterways without boots on the ground. But when a few drones get through or tragic things happen, it's front page news, he said. And that sense of, I get it, the press only wants to make the president look bad. As if somehow the death of six servicemen is being used by the press to trigger anti Trump statement, when in fact it's being recorded as you know, what has always been the casualty of war.
- [48:54]
Michael Wolff
It's also being used by the press as an indictment against Donald Trump and his conduct of this war. So I mean, in that, in that respect, the fair.
- [49:08]
Joanna Weiss
But it looks so tired to go after the media. It looks so tired to go after the press at this point.
- [49:15]
Michael Wolff
Well, tried and true,
- [49:19]
Joanna Weiss
possibly.
- [49:20]
Michael Wolff
I mean, it, it, I mean, it has been one of the things that has singularly worked for, for Donald Trump. I mean, and for, for good reason, because it's the press. Nobody likes the press. The press is, has no idea what it's doing and. Is in its own way. As Kristi Gnomish, as Kristi Noem on
- [49:49]
Joanna Weiss
Tuesday, we discussed and I think misdiagnosed the unpleasant rash on the back of Trump's head, which I think is why he appeared a couple of times without a tie, unusually for him. But we had lots and lots of comments from people, including comments from doctors saying that the preventive cream that The White House Dr. Sean Barber Bella was talking about might actually be something to do with some kind of lesions on the back of Trump's neck, I bet picked up from golf and maybe some preventive cream against skin cancer or some early symptoms of skin cancer, which wouldn't be surprising because he is 79, as we always point out.
- [50:31]
Michael Wolff
You were the diagnostician of this dermatological occurrence.
- [50:37]
Joanna Weiss
I was because I thought it was stress psoriasis because he'd started a war. But now, of course, I realize he's not remotely stressed by the war. In fact, he's enjoying the drama of the war and winning, as you say. And I'm now falling in line with the doctors I've read and many of our commentators that it may be a preventive cream for some kind of lesion or symptom of skin cancer. Not unusual at that age.
- [51:04]
Michael Wolff
Well, we should wrap up on skin cancer always and legions and dermatology.
- [51:12]
Joanna Weiss
Well, we could possibly wrap up on a limerick.
- [51:16]
Michael Wolff
Go for it.
- [51:17]
Joanna Weiss
All right. This is from Edit Z, who's a Bee beast member. The whole world's ablaze in conflagrations, explosions, destruction, abominations. But never you mind, it'll all just be fine now that Melania's running the United Nations. I thought that was quite good. And then Garfried is back. Garfried. Thank you. A president hooked on the win.
- [51:38]
Michael Wolff
We got a nice note from Garfried.
- [51:40]
Joanna Weiss
We got a very nice note from Garfried. We really did. And he's been incredibly encouraging of other commenters who are leaving their own limericks online. And we just haven't been able to collect all of them and read all of them out. But I love the fact that we're creating some kind of poetry with this podcast. This is from Garfried, our limerick laureate. A president hooked on the wind Declared victory loud with a grin with wars like TV and maga esprit the chaos was always the the spin Fantastic.
- [52:15]
Michael Wolff
Thank you.
- [52:16]
Joanna Weiss
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 your support and
- [52:25]
Michael Wolff
thank you to our incredible team whose names I I'm always on the edge of my seat for fear that I won't remember. Devin, Ryan, Rachel, Heather and Neil.
- [52:42]
Joanna Weiss
Can you remember any of the words from the mocha test that we know that Trump aced and takes three times a year? They monitor him.
- [52:49]
Michael Wolff
Cotton, white school. I didn't remember school. I only legit and then white legs.
- [52:57]
Joanna Weiss
Cotton, white school tomato. I think that might have been the five. Not bad. You're not yet yet demented. Michael Wolf, not yet demented. Tomorrow we will see everybody on Saturday.