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Some follow the noise. Bloomberg follows the money.
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Whether it's the funds fueling AI or
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crypto's trillion dollar swings, there's a money
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side to every story.
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Get the money side of the story.
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Subscribe now@bloomberg.com Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to do@mintmobile.com
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Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate first 3 months only then full price plan options available, taxes and fees, extra fee, full terms@mintmobile.com Fox
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News is now streaming live on Fox One. When news breaks, we don't just report it. We go beyond the headlines to get the full story, get live coverage in depth analysis and perspect the voices you trust all in one place. Whether you're at home or on the go. Stay connected to the stories shaping our world stream fox news on Fox 1 download today course correcting is the absolute opposite of what he does. Trump is strictly a double down guy for various points that has been impressive, even charming to lots of people. But at various other points it's calamitous suddenly starting to really look at the countdowns to the midterms instead of answering those issues. What he's fuming about the Fed, fuming about the ballroom. You can't tell him. You can't say hey, we're really heading for disaster.
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Michael.
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Joanna.
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Happy.
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And you're gonna say what's going on? And I want to rush in first before I have to answer to say that nobody knows what's going on. Happy hundred.
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No, I was going to say happy 101st. Here we are in our next hundred. Here we are in our second hundred. All right, now I'm going to say what they're heck is going on because
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B
literally, I mean that is the profound thing that is happening as of this moment. Nobody knows what's going on. We are in the middle of a war which you know has an international dimension to it is affecting almost everything, every political calculation, every economic calculation and yet nobody knows what's going on. Is the Strait of Hormuz open or closed?
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I know. If you were, what is it? Captaining a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz? Would you be trying to what would you be doing. Would you be idling with your desperate, desperate crew?
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B
Well, you could be a more existential. Would you be alive or dead?
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A
Do you think that Trump has any idea what's going on?
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B
Yeah, no, no, no. I think that he absolutely does not. I think he's trying to. He's trying to will this into a happy ending and trying to spin it into a happy ending. I mean, he just did. He was at turning Point, blah, blah, blah, and basically doing his thing. We won the war. The war is over. Don't pay attention to this anymore. Don't think about this. Everything is great. Now. That was a turnaround from the day before yesterday when he pushed out Hegseth to say, we're gonna bomb everybody back to the Stone Age again. And the day before, he had said, no, no, no, no, we've won. So we've gone two, we've won. Bomb them back to the Stone Age two, we've won again. And the Strait of Hormuz is open. Except then the Iranians say, no, no, no, it's not open, and we're in charge and we're. And we're gonna blow you up if you come in our direction.
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And meanwhile, there's energy shock rippling throughout the world. And Europe is saying, we may only have six weeks worth of reserves for jet fuel.
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B
Well, that's the other interesting thing, too, that's going on, which no one knows because the price of oil really went down yesterday or a day and a half ago. So the markets have a view on this, but their view, that view may well not be right.
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A
Well, but it was a good week for the markets. Right. So that's also confusing that we're at war. 20% of the world's energy appears to be held hostage, and yet the markets were up.
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B
No, and that's what. One of the things that Trump is counting on, one of the things that he tells everyone around him, that don't worry about anything, don't worry about any. The midterms, don't worry about politics, because the market is going up, the stock market is going up. And for the past 10 years, basically, again and again and again, he's attached his fate to the stock market. And not without some. Yeah, I, I mean, I mean, that has basically in many instances worked for him. Of course, there are those other instances that have not worked for him. Remember, he was defeated, but yes, that does that. That, that has been consistently something that he can turn to and get results from.
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A
But only half, Only half. The. Only half of Americans are in the stock market. I mean, 50% anywhere near it.
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B
That's, that's a lot of Americans. So I, I wouldn't, I would not necessarily underplay that, but it's actually, and actually the figures are, are significantly different from, from that. If you look at Americans who are, who are wholly vested in this, I mean, whose lives are meaningfully changed by their investment in the stock market, and that's significantly fewer. And I think that's what you're going to see right now. You're seeing the disalignment of people's actual lives. And that issue would be the affordability issue. And then all of these rich people getting so much richer. And remember, you get rich in the stock market because you are already rich. The stock market is not taking people who are ordinary people and suddenly giving them better lives. The stock market is precisely designed to give people who already have a lot of money, more money. And I think that is the central, that is going to be a central 2026 issue.
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A
So do you think the people he was talking to at Turning Point yesterday were in the stock market? I mean, most of them were young people. He kept saying, I've never seen so many young people here. And obviously he's going in to try and revive Turning Point, which has been badly hit by the death of Charlie Kirk. I mean, you saw earlier in the week, they had. JD Vance was addressing them and the stadium was almost empty, actually. I mean, it was shocking how few people were.
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B
I mean, I don't think the MAGA troops care about the stock market. That's not particularly one of their issues. The people who care about the stock market are New York people and his Palm beach cronies and I suppose, and the tech community. The MAGA people's issues are clear and separate, and among their major issues is the war. And he went to Turning Point to say, basically, that's not an issue. The war is over. Pay attention. I've done this. I've solved this. I told you it was going to be short. Well, it was a little longer than I thought, but it's over now. So the question is, do they believe that? And fewer and fewer of them are believing that. And certainly there are pretty clarion MAGA voices, Tucker Carlson, obviously one among them, saying this is not only not true, is the war not over. But Trump has saddled us with another situation that is going to have to play out over a long period of time, consume enormous amount of American resources, lives, quite possibly, And be yet another one of those, those diplomatic foreign policy fiascos. That is going to cost a future generation. That is these people, these young people, these young MAGA people.
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B
Well, let's extend that out. I mean, I think that has been one of the problems of this misadventure from the beginning that everybody who knows something, everybody who has experience in dealing with this issue, and there are many, several generations of people who've had experience dealing with the Iranians have been forced out, they've been excluded from this process. And the people who have been running this process and that's been a shifting cast of characters, obviously don't have experience principal and, and at the head of the, at the head of the line, you have Witkoff and Kushner who have no, no, no relevant experience at all for anything that might be germane. The Iranians, the nature of diplomacy itself, the military, they know nothing.
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Well, maybe they could do some leasing deals while they're there.
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B
Well, I'm sure that they are. Well, I mean, yes, we don't. That's not even. The comedy of that is actually immediately replaced by the reality of that. Of course, that's one of the things that they are trying to do. Of course they are seeing a solution to this and in the context of who makes money off of it.
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A
Right. The grift, the endless grift. So we've no idea if the strait is open. I definitely wouldn't want to be a captain shepherding a tanker in that. And I think there are 450 tankers at the moment just sitting there idling with crews who can't, you know, see their families. The whole thing is just a, a logistical nightmare. How does this impact the midterms? And the thing I'm surprised about is why aren't more Republicans anxious about it?
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B
Well, actually, I mean, several conversations I've had with White House and White House adjacent people over the past couple of days is that it suddenly does seem to be, oh, my God, that sense the midterms are coming. And it hasn't really seemed that way. And this is one of the things that always happens in politics. Politics is a lot like journalism in that regard. It's always, what's the deadline today? And the deadline that's months away. We'll deal with that months from now. And that's, that's what largely has been happening with the midterms as they come into view here. I mean, they should have been planning. I mean, you should have had the longest Runway possible. I mean, in effect, they should have come in on January 20, 2025, and said, okay, what are we going to do to get to the midterms? They didn't do that. They said, what are we going to do until we get to the next month after that?
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A
You're going to say, what are we going to do until we get to January 21st? Yes, because it feels like that it's very much day by day. But if you're Trump, are you beginning to panic? Because it does seem like we saw his attacks on the Pope. We saw his crazy posts this week of him being close to Jesus. We saw him then saying that he was going to read some biblical passages to appease some evangelicals and some Catholics who've been anxious about this sort of blasphemous, this truth socialing that's going on. Is he panicked?
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B
Well, no, he's not panicked. He gets angry. I mean, Trump doesn't really panic. I mean, it's not Panic in that sense that, oh, I got a problem here and I gotta do something, I gotta solve the problem. Rather, it's a different kind of response. It's blaming someone, it's rage, it's, you know, it's, it's anger. So it's anger rather than panic. And he's starting to feel that, I think. And so, and I would say that there are two there, there are the people around him in the White House and these are political professionals who are seeing this and saying, we're in, you know, we're in some danger here. This is, we could lose our jobs or people we work with could lose their job, their jobs. I mean, this is, this is a, this is a political problem. And those are the people who are saying to Trump, okay, we got to, we have to, or as, as diplomatically as possible saying to Trump, these are our issues and we have to start to address them. And that becomes, and that's what politic politicians do. That's, that's called course correcting. And, and you look at the polls and you analyze the polls and you look at the movement, the potential movement that we have if you adjust here on this issue and adjust the messaging on this issue. The problem with that is that Trump doesn't do that. Course correcting is the absolute opposite of what he does. Trump is strictly a double down guy and it's, you know, and it's kind of part of his political charm in its way. I don't pander, I don't give a shit. I just do what I'm going to do. And for various points that has been impressive, even charming to lots of people, but at various other points it's calamitous. And I think we're at one of those points. So suddenly in this, going into these, starting to really look at the countdowns to the midterms instead of answering those issues. He's fuming about the Fed, fuming about the ballroom. I mean, he's even back in these conversations that I've had over the last couple of days to talking about, wait for it, Greenland.
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A
He's talking about Greenland again.
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B
Again, again, again. You know, and it's as though he does this kind of, kind of weird thing where there's no acknowledgement that any progress has been, any advance has been made in that discussion. So you would think he would understand. I tried the Greenland gambit. I got an enormous amount, an enormous amount of blowback. It really came clear that this could not happen in any way and in any dimension. So you think he would get that and at least have a new idea. I've got a new, great new idea about how we're going to go and get Greenland. But it's not, it's as though he's right back at the beginning of this discussion what a good idea it would be if we had Greenland, and why can't we have it? So, so everybody around him, and I think their response is frustration, but I think they have to convert that into patience, because you can't tell them. You can't say, hey, we're really heading for disaster here. They are heading for disaster. No one can say that. And there's, there's, I mean, there's a lot of talk. The, the Pope thing is, is bad. It's really bad.
- [19:58]
A
Well, it also seems that for the most part, and we've said this before, what people like about Trump is he's not a regular politician, and he's definitely, well, he's not a regular man. So there could have been, it's just possible that because he appears to say it like it is or that's what people think they like about him, that there could have been some advantage to perhaps taking issue with the Pope over a single thing, but to sort of take him on in the way he has done, and for the Pope to not back down and say it is for the mighty not to start wars, it just seems like he's lost his instinct. And I wonder if that's to do with him getting older or to do with the fact that some people say he's starting to show the same signs of dementia that his father had, but it feels like he's off his game.
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B
Well, it's an interesting. He doesn't seem to understand the politics of that either.
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A
The politics of the Pope, which.
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B
Yeah. So the politics, the broader politics is Trump, Trump, Trump is, is a success, has been a successful politician because he's, he's, he's managed to, to become the, you know, the Christian voice. He's Christianity as a, as a political faction has been on his side. And that would be two aspects of it, the evangelicals and, and the Roman Catholics. And he's brought them over basically because their own interests joined around a whole
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set of family values stuff and anti abortion.
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B
Well, that would be family values. Yes.
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A
Okay. But he gave them the Supreme Court.
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B
Exactly. So the problem with that, however, is that the evangelicals and the Catholics are not the same. And so by suddenly alienating or at least forcing a lot of Catholics to ask questions of him, he's putting a wedge in that key constituency, and part of that key constituency, of course, and which had yielded great results in 2024 for him, were the Latin Catholics.
- [22:26]
A
So he's pissed off the Hispanics because of ice and because of masked men scooping up brown people because of the Pope.
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B
And he's capped that off because of the Pope. So he's now split his own coalition. I mean, the evangelicals don't care about the Pope. That's fine. And I'm sure that he still has them and can do they show no sign of leaving him. But Roman Catholics make up a very significant part of that Christian coalition.
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A
It is one of the great mystifying factors, other than the Supreme Court, that the evangelicals would back the Thrice married Trump, who, you know, was in court for how many weeks over the Stormy Daniels trial.
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B
Well, I mean, I think that that's just, I mean, the only conclusion you can come to there, because it's so, so ridiculous, is that it's purely transactional. I will give you everything that you want and I will bow to your particular version of sanctimony, and I'm in your pocket. A thing that happens, however, with Trump, and that's happened now with the Catholics that he comes to think, you're my coalition and you're my people. And in Trump's mind, that becomes, you're loyal to me rather than I'm loyal to you, you're loyal to me. And the fact that you would in any way take issue with me or challenge me then becomes something that is going to send me into a rage, into a fury, which is what happened with the Pope. You're Christians. You're supposed to be my people. I did things for you. I'm the best thing that ever happened to you, et cetera, et cetera. And so the Pope takes issue, steps out, and he goes bananas. And compounding his problem, it's also exciting
- [24:37]
A
to see someone like the Pope standing up to Donald Trump and saying he's not scared of him and that the name of his social media platform, Truth Social, is ironic when we've seen Congress basically lie down in front of him, where you see no Republicans, apart from perhaps Thomas Massie and the three women, and only over the Epstein files stand up to him. It's exhilarating to see someone like the Pope.
- [25:10]
B
I mean, it's an interesting dynamic there because people have, many, many people have stood up to Donald Trump before, and he's then turn them into his enemies to great profit for himself. And so this is a really subtle tonal Thing of why it works for Trump and in the instances when it doesn't work for Trump, and this seems to be very much, at this point, an example of it not working. It not working bigly.
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A
It not working bigly. All right, so is there any sense in which the Republicans could pull off the midterms, do you think?
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B
I mean, when you're no one. I'm sure that there is. We could go on. But no one has that sense now, right? I mean, no one. You know, at. I think that there's a couple of levels of perception to this right now, and I think on a 40,000ft objective level, it's not unreasonable to say that this is coming apart. Day by day, it's coming apart. Nothing really good is happening for him. I mean, midterms always go against the party in power and then he's in and in his second term, which even compounds the problem because he's a lame duck. Then he has a troublesome economy. Always the worst thing that you can possibly have. The ice stuff is I don't think we yet have a clear picture of how bad this is, but this is bad. And the war, Could it be worse to have gone to war? And the best you can do, the best you can foresee, is coming out of the war having gained no advantage at all.
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A
So it also looks like he's desperately trying to change the subject. So the turning point event, we're recording this on Saturday morning. So the turning point event in Arizona was him on Friday night, where he also lets slip that the Pentagon, as well, as one hopes, paying attention to the war and the strait of, as you would say, Hormuz, is about to release some interesting documents that reflect what we know about alien life and UFOs, which, again, seems to be playing to very much to the margins and could not be less relevant to what Americans are experiencing at the moment. There's not heavily invested in the stock market, and so we've got aliens coming out.
- [28:19]
B
And then. But at the same. And then at the same time, you know, you know, he can't stay away. You know, there is this compulsive, you know, this OCD thing. He can't stay away from. From issues that are even, you know, that are unpopular. I mean, the Fed, to bring the Fed to heel. Nobody wants that. I mean, nobody in the business community wants that. And I think in the greater world, it's just seen as one more thing. Why is Trump doing this? The ballroom. Obsessing about the ballroom, which I can't believe is a popular issue with anybody. I mean, the issue is what are you doing to our White House? And then, as I said, then the Greenland thing, that is a dementia sign. And of course the Pope, which I'm sure he's going to keep coming back to and back to and back to. You can't stay away.
- [29:22]
A
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- [29:59]
B
No, and I'm very much against these kind of diagnoses which you engage in on a constant basis.
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A
Engage in them on those consistent.
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B
Except the Greenland thing is so weird.
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A
Well, the other thing that I think is weird, I mean, it was weird
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B
in the beginning, but. And to keep going on with this.
- [30:19]
A
Well, two of the people that I listen to about the dementia issue, one is Mary Trump, who says that she literally can look at Donald Trump and see echoes of her grandfather who started getting dementia symptoms at around this age. So that's not.
- [30:35]
B
Except just to be a little thing, she can see her grandfather, but she has not literally looked at Donald Trump in real life for we can see Donald Trump more than 15 years, I'm
- [30:48]
A
just pointing out, but we can all see Donald Trump. And as Dr. John Gartner, a regular guest on the podcast, and I know you think that doctors shouldn't be able to diagnose people without actually meeting them and talking to them. And normally I would agree with you, except Dr. Gartner's point of view is
- [31:04]
B
that Donald Trump, except when it's about Donald Trump.
- [31:07]
A
No. When someone has been in public life as long as he has, you have a base against which to measure them. And one of the most powerful. But it's true that language is one of the most powerful things to judge them against. And it's clear that his language has slipped, that his vocabulary has got smaller, that he seems less with it than he was. He's less funny than he was. Now, arguably, he's the president. Well, not arguably, he is the president. So he has harder things to grapple with. And perhaps he's not in as good mood as he could be. But even with the doordash lady who delivered McDonald's to him this week, you know, they told him very clearly, all you have to do is make this about tips. And he can't resist saying, what do you think about men and women, sports? Because he's hoping to get an extra moment out of it. And to her extreme credit, she refuses to go there. And she just says, oh, I'm here to. It's about taxes on tips. And then, of course, it turns out that she's a grandmother and, you know, it's actually rather tragic that she's door dashing.
- [32:16]
B
Listen, I have no idea what's going on with Donald Trump. I have always said he is not like you, nor me, nor anyone else we know. And that has been the case since his earliest political moments. I sat through 10 years paying rather close attention to Donald Trump, and he's a Martian. A moron, a Martian. And we could go on. Is that had dementia? I don't think it is. I think this issue is vastly more serious than that. He is unqualified, he is unfit. He has no mental abilities, no intellectual abilities to grasp the nature of this job. So whether it's dementia or not seems completely irrelevant to me. But. And the more important fact is that everybody. This was all on display, not just the Dr. John Gartner, whoever he is, but to the American public, and they voted for him.
- [33:35]
A
I know that's the difficult thing to reconcile oneself with every morning, but it feels like they're not going to vote for him in the midterms.
- [33:46]
B
Yeah, no, I mean. And I spend some time every day thinking, how could he get out of this situation? I mean, if you were a normal politician, that's what you would be thinking of. Now, how do I recover at least some advantage here? And I don't think he is in all ways, in his mind, in Trump's head, his view of that question is, I need to just trust my own instincts. Those are the things that always pay off. That's what I have. I have some. I channel what people want. I can do that. I don't know how I do that, but the evidence is that I do it and I do it successfully. During the 2024 campaign, in the summer after Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden, and they were really worried. I mean, the polls were shifted immediately against him, and the whole team was worried and everybody was about, you have to focus on this and you have to focus on the Economy. I, you know, I mean, actually that was the central thing. The economy. The economy. The. The economy. They actually set up this, this. There was, there was a press conference in, in Bedminster and they put out all kinds of groceries on. This was in the summer, all on, you know, a big display of groceries and their prices. And Bedminster has always had a fly problem and these foodstuffs out there just increased it. So everybody. Anyway, but the point is that he actually didn't do that. He just said, no, I have to just keep focusing on her. I have to demonize her. She's horrible. In his basic language, she's horrible. She's terrible. And I'm just gonna say that over and over again because you need a person is what he. That perception. You know, food economy. You need a person, you need an enemy. And you know, alas, he was right.
- [36:25]
A
Yeah, well, that's interesting. Cause right now he doesn't have an enemy because there is no national leader of the Democrats for him to go after or that represents the larger Democratic tent. The only Democrat we've really seen him with having a relationship is with Mamdani, the new mayor of New York. And they sort of cozied up together. So he doesn't actually have an enemy right now. In terms of representing the midterms, though, it seems clear that he's, as you have pointed out over the last few weeks, realized that the anti vaxxing message isn't good. And this week he put in a doctor to lead the cdc. The CDC had been leaderless and she's a normal doctor, she's a normie, she believes in vaccination. So this has kind of thwarted your friend RFK Jr somewhat, who as we know, is launching a podcast. So he's clearly looking to a future beyond being the Health and Human Services secretary.
- [37:29]
B
Now the interesting thing there, so there could be a very clear course, correct, fire rfk, which, which I think that there's a pretty good likelihood that will happen, except that's going to give him problems on the MAGA side too, because RFK still has holds that. That anti vax part of this MAGA movement is united. It's, it's strong, it doesn't waver. And the rest of the country does on this issue. Nobody wants this issue, but it is a Trump issue.
- [38:10]
A
Yeah. And the Maha Make America Healthy Again crew are all saying they're not going to even vote in the midterms because they sense that RFK Jr. Is being marginalized. And clearly he is being marginalized. And then of Course. I mean, we've talked about other people that are likely to be fired if the war goes wrong, then Hegseth will be fired. And that's why he's being pushed out front to sort of take responsibility for things. And then the Atlantic had a big piece on Kash Patel, saying that Kash Patel has frequently been intoxicated, that at one point the FBI had to get some sort of battering ram equipment because no one could reach him. And he appeared to be locked in a room. And I think the implication was they were concerned he was unconscious from a lot of alcohol. So he doesn't necessarily look long for this world either.
- [39:12]
B
And even there. And again, the broader point, which I think has been made loudly and clearly to just about everyone, that none of these people in this cabinet are qualified or people that anyone should have any confidence in.
- [39:35]
A
By the time I hit my 50s,
- [39:37]
B
I'd learned a few things, like how family is precious, work can always wait,
- [39:44]
A
and 99% of people over 50 already have the virus that causes shingles.
- [39:49]
B
Not everyone at risk will on depend develop it.
- [39:51]
A
But I did.
- [39:53]
B
The painful, blistering rash disrupted my life for weeks.
- [39:57]
A
Don't learn about your shingles.
- [39:59]
B
Risk the hard way.
- [40:00]
A
Talk to your doctor or pharmacist today. Sponsored by gsk. Great. Well, and of course, Kash Patel's office have declared that this is nonsense and that, you know, unsourced FBI employees are unhelpful. They've been trying to shop this story about Kash Patel, and the Atlantic has bought it, but they've spoken to several people, and certainly we've seen Kash Patel drinking openly. Apparently, he's a fond drinker at Ned's, the rather groovy club, which is run by a British guy in D.C. i'm
- [40:41]
B
not sure you really have to do much convincing of. Of anyone on these things.
- [40:47]
A
Well, it must be very difficult to go from hawking T shirts to running the FBI.
- [40:56]
B
I was just thinking whether that's true or not.
- [40:59]
A
I think it probably is true. I think it's probably very true. Talking about Mamdani, you had an observation?
- [41:07]
B
Well, I think he announced the other day that he would not be attending the Met Ball, so. And I just want to say, because I think that we should begin to think more about Democrats, both as the midterms approach and then ultimately, if we're still here, as 2028 approaches and the Democrats have. Although things are just terrible for Trump again, and I wanna repeat this, I think we should keep repeating this. The end has begun. The End is in sight. And the only thing that might stand in the way of the Trump end is if the Democrats screw it up again, as they so reliably do.
- [41:59]
A
Well, an incredible week for Eric Swalwell, who stood down after multiple accusations of sex abuse. And actually, the. There is a big difference between someone like Eric Swalwell, who seems to represent the Democrats, I don't want to say of the past, but he's like a generic politician. He came out of the mold with someone like Randall.
- [42:23]
B
He's also kind of that open and proud. I'm a sleazeball. I don't think.
- [42:30]
A
Was he open and proud about being a sleazeball?
- [42:32]
B
Yeah, I mean, everything about his. Everything about his smirk, everything about his not shaving, everything about his. His level of arrogance, it broadcasts sleazeball. And everything about him being a relentless and an uncharming media whore is sleazeball. Ish. So I'm not even talking about the accusations here. Even before the accusations, I think he was that kind of Democrat that said, you know, that one might have easily said him, him. Or is this what we got? Is this the best we can do? So, and just to come back to the Mamdani thing, which is not to necessarily single him out as a Democratic savior in any possible way, but it is in the minor particular, I think, worth singling out that he did the right thing. Don't go to the Met Ball. Why would a politician go to the Met Ball? I mean, the shallowest, the sleaziest, the most irrelevant, the most pandering thing that you could. I mean, it an event that politicians should clearly not be part of. A Paola thing. Oh, terrible. I mean, I mean, gross. So don't go. How could you even think that's a good thing to show up to? So he does the basic and the obvious and the logical and the respectable thing. I'm not going to go to that event.
- [44:18]
A
Although why would he make an announcement about it? I suppose to make political capital out of his decision.
- [44:24]
B
Well, I think he's also making it. I think he's making the symbolic point. This is, you know, these people are not my people. These people are not good people. This is not where we want to go. This is not who we want to be associated with.
- [44:39]
A
What if he'd gone and he'd done like AOC did when she went, she wore a dress that said tax the rich. What if he'd gone with a shirt that said tax the rich and his wife could have perhaps gone with some of her aoc.
- [44:54]
B
First thing, she looked craven.
- [44:58]
A
You go craven is what it is.
- [45:00]
B
You go to the Met Ball for one reason, because you want to go to the Met Ball. You're pleased as punch to be at the Met Ball and that is corrupt.
- [45:10]
A
Nothing was less appealing than Eric Adams at the Met Ball, swanning around as if he'd sort of made it. And you're like, oh, dude, that's completely the wrong look. It's completely the wrong look. Also, I've been once, I went the year that Oprah was a co chair of the Met Ball because, as you know, they have co chairs to raise money and then people have to pay to support them for the tables. And it was full of lots of celebrities and lots of models, most of whom seemed to be gathered in the ladies loo asking when they could flee. And I think the more fun events are at the Mark Hotel, which is across the road from the Met, the Metropolitan Museum. And everybody's having drinks saying, that's absolutely ghastly. Thank God we managed to get out when we did another.
- [46:08]
B
Just another level of corruption.
- [46:12]
A
Yeah. You're on a tear this morning. It's rather exhilarating.
- [46:17]
B
Well, you've. Is this.
- [46:18]
A
Cause you've never been invited to the Met Ball.
- [46:20]
B
I have been invited to town.
- [46:22]
A
And you've never gone.
- [46:23]
B
Of course not.
- [46:25]
A
Who invited you?
- [46:28]
B
Let's. I. I was, I think, what you call a conde Ness insider for.
- [46:34]
A
Oh, of course.
- [46:35]
B
Quite a period.
- [46:36]
A
Of course. So when you were at Vanity Fair, when you were writing at Vanity Fair, it would have been de Ru girl for you to go. And I know you like wearing a tux. Actually.
- [46:48]
B
I have a very good tux. In fact.
- [46:50]
A
No, I'm sure you have a very good tux from Sanderson and Shepherd, which is, you know, tailored within an inch of your frame, Michael. But good for you. I went because there was a three line whip and frankly because I was very curious. I'm always curious to go to something once. Bit like F1.
- [47:12]
B
I'm not holding it against you.
- [47:15]
A
Well, that's a relief. That's a relief. All right. I tell you what we do have. We have some limericks which I was going to read out by. I mean, Garfried has really kicked off a trend here. All right. There once was an old man who'd led a life so sordid, demeaning and dread in an attempt to reset he gave his wife Christie's jet But he still wasn't allowed in the bed. That's pretty good. That's from Edits E D I T Z Z. Okay, and then we've got Taryn Lindsay who says Trump is a madman. I say his brain is withering away. He must be impeached. Consensus is reached. Removal is needed today. That's a good one, Taryn Lindsay. Okay, Miles Jackson, 3222. There was an old man from Hormuz who showed us a few of his moves. He sunk a few ships as bargaining trips to ensure the Americans lose. I thought that was also very good. Thank you, Myles Jackson. And then we have Garfried. There once was a Trump at the helm all alone who steered a Hormuz strangled war overblown as Hegseth would spin while RFK chimed in till chaos was all he could claim as his own.
- [48:40]
B
Thank you, everyone. These are great.
- [48:42]
A
They're kind of fun, aren't they? And what's fun is when people post them in the comments. Everybody else, other commenters join in. And it's a very fun thread of, well, poetic energy, should we say. Poetic energy.
- [49:02]
B
You know, sometimes you feel that one's that our view of Trump could possibly be extreme. And perhaps because we have to do this all of the time, we're seeing things in more dramatic terms than perhaps we ought to. And so it is curiously reassuring that people see him as even more of a threat and a joke and a moron than even we do.
- [49:39]
A
Yes. And especially people who live abroad. We get so many comments from Europe. We get so many comments from Canada and from Australia. Just saying America, what happened to you? What happened here? All right, well, we will be back on Tuesday to discuss what happened. More of what happened. More of what happened. Don't forget to press the subscription button if you haven't done already, or join our bebeast tier of membership. And we have a new tier of membership for $5 a month. And Michael, lots of people wrote in and said all you have to do is press the bell. You complained last time that you subscribed, but you couldn't figure out how to get any comments.
- [50:25]
B
No, no, no, it wasn't that I couldn't figure out. I said, we tell people, press the subs subscribe button. I press the subscribe button and I get no announcements. But now there is a bell to press.
- [50:40]
A
Well, I think maybe you have to pay for the extra content. You get extra exclusive content.
- [50:46]
B
So in other words, for free subscribe. Yeah, I just push the button, as we say to do. And I suppose that adds me to the number of people who we regularly brag about but wouldn't it make sense that if you subscribe, then you get an announcement of what we have to say on a regular basis.
- [51:07]
A
You actually. Well, you get. You should get. Well, it's possible you've got your notification switched off or something, but you should get an alert every time.
- [51:15]
B
Well, I get alerts across social media, substack alerts, Instagram alerts, alerts, alerts, alerts. I get nothing from the Daily Beast.
- [51:25]
A
Okay, well, I'm sure we can figure that out. That's dismaying. And I will. The moment we thank our production team, I will reach out to our head of tech and make sure that you get double alerts. Double alerts. But the point is, we'll be back on Tuesday to discuss whatever has happened and whether or not anybody knows any more than they know now. And it's that great line of the William Goldman book, no one knows anything.
- [51:55]
B
That was Hollywood. And we now live in a weird version of Hollywood.
- [52:01]
A
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. Thanks to our production team. Devon Rogerino, Ryan Murray, Rachel Passer, Heather Passaro, Neil Rose in the House security
- [52:18]
B
program on spreadsheets, new regulations piling up and audit dread. It's time for Vanta. Vanta automates security and compliance, brings evidence into one place and cuts audit prep by 82%. Less manual work, clearer visibility, faster deals, zero chaos. Call it compliance or call it compliance. Get it? Join the 15,000 companies using Vanta to prove trust. Go to vanta.com, calm.