← The Monocle Daily
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You're listening to the Monocle Daily, first broadcast on 17 October 2025 on Monaco Radio.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits Washington in another attempt to figure out whose side Donald Trump is on. How much longer is optimism about the Middle east likely to last? And what wine should you be slurping as the nights draw in? I'm Andrew Muller. The Monocle Daily Start.
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Foreign.
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Hello and welcome to the Monocle Daily, coming to you from our studios here at Midori House in London. I'm Andrew Muller. Our guests Olga Takariuk, Leila Molana, Alan, Sophie Monaghan Combs and Chloe Lake will discuss the day's big stories. We'll look in on the freeze Art Fair in London and we'll have our weekly wrap up of what we've learned. Stay tuned. All that and more coming up right here on the Monocle Daily.
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Foreign.
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This is the Monocle Daily. I'm Andrew Muller. And now or now abouts US President Donald Trump is welcoming his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House, doubtless somewhat to Ukraine's discombobulation. Trump spent some of the day before the meeting, that is yesterday on the phone to Russian President Vladimir Putin, during which call the pair agreed to meet again in person, this time in Budapest, capital of a country which is a member of both NATO and the eu, but not as of this past June. And conveniently for the purposes of this summit, a member of the International Criminal Court which has a warrant out for Putin's arrest. Well, I'm joined now by Olga Takariuk, a Ukrainian journalist, Chatham House Academy associate, regular Monocle contributor. Olga, do we understand exactly what President Zelenskyy wants from this meeting?
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Hello Andrew, and thank you for having me. Well, I think President Zelenskyy's aims have not changed even in light of this. Trump Putin unexpected call yesterday. He's going to D.C. to discuss with President Trump possible provision of the U.S. long range missile tomahawks. Trump has hinted he might be open to selling them to Ukraine. He even mentioned it during his yesterday's conversation with Putin. Well, how likely is that? That remains to be seen, but certainly this is something that Zelensky is going to ask for. And some other items on the agenda from Zelensky side are definitely more support supplies of air defence critically needed for Ukraine ahead of winter. Russia has resumed attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. So that would be really appreciated. And of course, more sanctions on Russia.
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Focusing on the Tomahawks. As every Ukrainian knows, for three and a half years we've had variations on, you know, Ukraine asks for a particular weapon system. Everybody frets and worries and whitters about whether it's safe to supply Ukraine with those weapons. We saw this with everything from Javelin anti tank weapons to leopard tanks to F16s to Patriot Air defences. Why does Ukraine want the Tomahawks now?
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Well, Ukraine wanted Tomahawks for a long time, but the window of opportunity of actually them being possible to be delivered to Ukraine has just opened recently with an apparent Donald Trump's warming up to Ukraine and to President Zelensky after that notorious spat in February. Well, recently Trump completely changed, or at least it seems so, his tone on Ukraine. He started to say, well, it is possible for Ukraine to regain all territory, it is possible for Ukraine to win the war. It would be fair if Ukraine was able to strike targets deep inside Russia, just as Russia does on Ukrainian territory. And of course, Tomahawks would be very helpful in that because they have a range of 2 and a half thousand kilometers. Ukrainian drones currently are able to reach up to 2,000 kilometers into Russian territory. So that would be a nice supplement to the capacities and capabilities that Ukraine already have.
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I think every time Volodymyr Zelenskyy walks into the White House, everybody kind of holds their breath thinking of that shambolic in February where Zelenskyy and Trump appeared on the verge of coming to blows on live television. Right now, though, do the pair of them, as far as it's possible to tell, appear to be getting on any better?
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Yeah, it does appear so. As I mentioned, the rhetoric, the Trump's rhetoric on Ukraine has changed. He praised Ukrainian people for being brave, for putting up a fight with Russia, and he said that Ukraine might even win this war. This is a clear departure from telling President Zelensky that he doesn't have any cards. Apparently. Also a reaction to some developments. You know, this Ukrainian drone strikes deep inside Russia, Ukrainian spider web operation again targeting objects, military objects on the Russian territory. So Trump has apparently seen that Ukraine indeed has guards. That doesn't mean, though, that he still does not believe that President Putin is his great friend, as he once said, and that yesterday's conversation that lasted more than two hours. And then again, you know, Trump after the conversation saying, well, maybe we need Tomahawks ourselves in the US we might not send them to Ukraine. We have to think about it. So, you know, kind of, it is still ambiguous. Trump is unpredictable, but I think there are reasons for Zelenskyy to be optimistic ahead of these meetings ahead of this meeting. But of course, he's also annoyed by this last minute interference by Putin. You know, this call that he insisted on having with Trump yesterday.
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I mean, how anxious are Ukrainian officials likely to be about the content of that call? I mean, it's a joke that has been told about President Trump many times, ironically, I think appropriated from Tsarist Russia, which held that the most powerful man in Russia was Nicholas II or whoever he just spoke to. Will the Ukrainians be concerned that Putin might have got in Trump's head a bit?
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Well, yeah, there is this idea floating that Trump just repeats the words of the person he last spoke to, but if Zelenskyy would be the last person to speak, I think that's, that's a good, that's good for Ukraine, definitely. And there was also some reporting today in the media that Trump, during his meeting with Putin in Alaska, was annoyed by Putin's long historical lecture on the origins of Ukraine. That actually Ukrainians and Russians are the same people. So it doesn't mean that this conversation with Putin that Trump have, has that they are necessarily swaying Trump back on Russia's side and kind of making him more willing to accept kind of Russia's view in this conflict. Maybe. On the contrary, he's been annoyed with all the historical lectures and he's just keen to ride the success of him solving the conflict in the Middle east and putting an end to this war. And he understands that he cannot just continue putting pressure only on Ukraine. He needs also to show that he is tough with the Russians, with Putin.
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Olga to Kariuk, thank you as always for joining us. You're listening to the Monocle Daily. This is the Daily on Monocle Radio. This past week has been a better one than the Middle east has enjoyed for a while. A ceasefire in Gaza, the return of Israeli hostages seized by Hamas years ago. The release of Palestinians and prisoners, Palestinian prisoners and detainees held by Israel, the very beginnings of talk of rebuilding. However, any assumptions that it's all just going to be fine from here would be premature. Inside Gaza, Hamas appears to be reasserting itself with customary ruthlessness. And on the west bank, sporadic violence continues. Near HEBRON Yesterday, a 10 year old Palestinian boy was shot dead by Israeli soldiers. Well, joining me now from Tel Aviv is Monocle's Middle east correspondent, Leila Malana Allen. Leila, where have you been able to get to this week?
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I've been mostly in Israel and partly in the West Bank. Of course, we are still not allowed to enter Gaza. International media has not been allowed into Gaza for two years, which is completely unprecedented. Now that there's a ceasefire, we thought we'd be allowed in, but the Israeli authorities continue to block us from entering.
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On both sides, though, west bank and Israel, is there any sort of commonality of mood? Are people any more optimistic than they might have been a couple of weeks ago?
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No, the moods are polar opposites. In Israel, there is great festivity, happiness. Earlier this week, of course, we saw the release of the 20 remaining living hostages. And that was really a day of huge celebration. Monday, there's a place in central Tel Aviv that I spent a lot of time called Martyrs, sorry, called Hostages Square. It's become called Hostages Square because it's the place that they have put up all the posters of every hostage and they have had vigils running there for two years. That became a party atmosphere. Now, of course, not everyone came home. There are 28 bodies of deceased hostages that were supposed to be brought home. On Monday, Hamas returned just four of them. The Israeli authorities reacted to the rage of those families by saying that they must return them immediately. They have returned a few more, but There are still 19 bodies inside Gaza that Hamas now says they don't know where they are. So there is still concern from Israeli society that all those bodies must be returned. But in general, people are really feeling that this part of the war is over. The hell of the hostage crisis is mostly over, and they want to move forward. The mood in the west bank could not be more different. In my 15 years covering these nations, this region, I have never seen things as bad in the west bank as they are right now. People are absolutely terrified. They have spent the last years with increasing pressure from the military, from the government, their towns and villages being closed off militarily. Constant arbitrary detention under administered detention, which is what the Israelis call a system where they are allowed to arrest Palestinians without charge and hold them without charge for as long as they like without providing any evidence. Violent settlers within the west bank are on an absolute rampage every day, burning down olive groves. It's currently olive picking season. They are shooting Palestinians. They are be them to death. They are now attacking the Israeli and foreign peace activists who have traditionally protected these communities and used their bodies to try and stop these settlers. They're attacking them too, with complete impunity. The IDF is protecting them. There has been absolutely no justice for any of these people. And people in the west bank are essentially under a gag order. They are punished. If they speak out, they face sanctions from the Israeli government. Often work permits are revoked, visas are revoked, living conditions become very difficult, their houses come under assault. So they're essentially choosing between speaking out about what's happening to them and facing even more retribution from the government or staying silent and suffering it. They have watched what has happened in Gaza for two years and they are all convinced that they are next.
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Is there anybody in a Palestinian leadership position? And I realize this is one of the difficulties offering any, I guess optimism is possibly the wrong word, but any sort of constructive solution, any sign of a positive way forward? Because there must be serious talk, surely occurring on the west bank in particular, about who or what comes after Mahmoud Abbas, who, despite the evidence available so far, cannot possibly live forever.
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He cannot possibly live forever, but more importantly, he really cannot lead whatever comes next. Well, of course there is great affection for Mahmoud Abbas and all he has done for the Palestinian people. There is very little trust or respect for him now in terms of moving forward. The Palestinian Authority is considered by many Palestinians to have become so complicit with the Israeli government in the way that the system has been run since it was set up 30 years ago. Let me explain that. The way that things work in the west bank where the Palestinian Authority governs, is that there's Palestinian Authority police whenever the Israeli forces want to go into a town or village to raid or a camp, inform the Palestinian Authority, who then pull back and allow them in. This is one of so many concessions that Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority have made to Israel that people simply feel that they are now complicit in the oppression of their own people. Now, the reason that there's really no talk about what comes next or who might lead the Palestinian people and into a future, possibly towards a two state solution, if that's possible now, there certainly is much more support for it than there has been in any years recently is because Israel has detained indefinitely everyone who might be in a position to be the future leader of a Palestine. The main figure is a man called Marwan Barghouti, who has been in prison for many years. He was supposed to be on the list for discussion to be released as part of this ceasefire deal. Israel absolutely refused to release him. And in fact, when he was moved to a different jail cell, there have been accusations today that he was beaten senseless by his guards out of anger that he was getting so much attention with the ceasefire deal and potential release. He is really the man that everyone talks about, about being the only person who would be in a position to have the respect of the people and the ability and experience to move forward. So until the Israeli authorities are willing to release people in jail who are imprisoned, who the Palestinian people want to lead them, there really is a gulf of sort of peaceful minded leadership to be able to negotiate the future for any possible state here.
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Leila Milana Allen in Tel Aviv, thank you as always for joining us. You're listening to the Daily on Monocle Radio. This is the Daily on Monocle Radio. Here in London, the Frieze Art Fair is underway. I'm joined now by someone who has been at it. Joining me in the studio is Monocle's associate editor for culture, Sophie Monahan Coombe. Sophie, welcome to the Daily. How is Frieze this year?
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Well, Frieze this year I, I went into freeze thinking the atmosphere might be a little subdued. The art market has taken a bit of a beautiful beating in recent months, but it was very busy, it was very buzzy. The galleries that I know particularly well were super happy with their sales and it felt very, you know, joyful and uplifting. And I think all around London there are so many, we'll get into some of these hopefully, but there are so many things happening. And so, you know, Frieze London, Frieze Masters, Free Sculpture, all taking place in Regent's park were very buzzy, super busy. But so were lots of the satellite smaller free events taking place around the capital as well. But I thought maybe we could start off with a little bit from the Frieze Masters director, Emanuela Terizzo, and she has taken over this year, which I thought was quite a little bit of a difficult task. Maybe it's a hard year to take over, but let's hear what she had to say.
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It feels very positive and obviously as you say, it hasn't been the most straightforward of years, but I think we've really seeing here that just the galleries are telling us that they've made sales, they're seeing the clients that they want to see, they're seeing the collectors they want to see, they're having the conversations that they want to have and it feels positive, it feels optimistic. The feedback has been that it's really picked up in the last month or so. So it's quite fresh. But it's definitely there's optimism here. So we're very pleased with that.
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Staying with friezemasters, Sophie, from a personal perspective, was there anything that tempted you to whip out the company credit card and see what you could get away with?
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Oh, absolutely. I actually was looking at the security as I left and thinking it felt a little bit lax and I'd seen some very small, rather lovely ornaments on my way round.
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We should make it clear that Monocle Radio as an organization, does not condone art theft. That is entirely on Sophie Monaghan Coons as an individual.
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I was about to say, neither do.
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I.
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I wanted to spotlight the Charles Ead Gallery. They've got this display of Roman glasses, very small, delicate little vases which are all beautifully coloured, kind of pinks, yellows, blues, and they've actually used them as they were meant to be used. So they've done a floral display in them and it just looked really beautiful. And I think there's something quite cool about being like, let's not put this behind glass. But you can actually get up to it and we're actually using it and you can see how they were meant to be utilized. Another gallery that I loved at friezemasters is the gallery Wendy Norris and there Leonora Carrington. They had this Leonora Carrington cradle that she'd made for her daughter in the shape of a ship, complete with a sail, with colorful paintings all around. And it's really beautiful and, yeah, it's really wonderful.
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As you have intimated, Frieze is this vast, sprawling thing. It's not like. Like it's just one room. You can wander around and knock it off in half an hour. For any newcomers to Fries listening to it, or people who listening to us, or people who are visiting London and may be intrigued by the idea. Where would you recommend they even start? With this?
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It's tricky. There is so much and I think you're really doing a disservice to what's happening in the capital if you just stick at Frieze. But if you start there, I would say that, yeah, Frieze Masters I always love. And if you're at Frieze London, I tend to do a very quick walk around and see what. What takes my fancy. There's a couple of particular sections which are always very interesting. Focus is one of them which has younger galleries and I would just try and pick a small area or look around and see what takes your fancy and then just go for that. You can't see everything. If you go into every booth, you will be there forever and it will all blur into one and you will have no memories of free.
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There was another thing I believed you wished to play as.
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Yes, I did. I wanted to spotlight the 154 contemporary art fair. So this takes place in Somerset House and as you can imagine from the name, they have galleries representing African artists And also artists from the African diaspora. And it's really lovely they have in the courtyard installation. So the whole time I was looking around then was this kind of beautiful piano music in the background that I really enjoyed. And it was. It was lovely for me because I. One of the first galleries that I went into that I really loved the photography work and I spoke to the curator about it for quite a long time. Then when I went to speak to the founder and director of the fair and I asked her to highlight something, that was the gallery she immediately chose, which was lovely for me. But let's hear a little bit of Tuiya Al Ghlawi, the founder and director of 154 contemporary African art for.
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We have an amazing special project called Everyday Lusaka Gallery, where it is a gallery that is a project that is representing a studio, a photography studio that you could see in Zambia, where it's digging into, you know, the archive of a studio that probably existed, that had taken pictures, you know, over the years of black people in Zambia. So it's a very exciting, beautiful installation that you probably can't see anywhere else than here.
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And just before we let you go, Sophie, after Freeze London, Art Basel Paris. Slightly confusingly named Art Fair, but what.
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Why Art Basel? In Basel? That's the other option.
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That's. Yeah. I don't know what's going on there, but what are you expecting from Art Basel Paris?
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Well, which is in Paris. It is in Paris.
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Glad we cleared that up.
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Yeah. Art Basel Paris, it's a sort of. It's a newish fair. It's taken over the existing fair and they've. Lots of people are setting up frieze and Art Basel Paris as sort of rivals. They happen in consecutive weeks and lots of people, you know, will come from the US or come from Asia and go to both of the fairs. So the comparison is very easy. Last year was the first year that Art Basel Paris was in the Grand Palais, where it was always meant to be, but it sort of had to start elsewhere because of the Olympics. And it is a really extraordinary venue to see these works. And when you get a little bit tired, maybe a little bit despondent at times, you can just look up and the architecture is fantastic. So it is the smallest fair in our Basel's roster, but there's still over 200 galleries. There's also, like, frees, loads of satellite fairs. My personal favourite is Paris Internationale, which I will definitely be visiting next week. There's also Design Miami, which has lots of collectible design. So there' Lots going on there and, you know, it'll have a slightly more French flavor than frieze. But I think both fairs, you know, are really pulling out all the stops. The rest of the city is getting on board, putting on lots of amazing exhibition shows and lots of other smaller fairs, lots of more DIY art events. And so I think, yeah, both cities have done a great job. We'll see about Paris next week.
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Sophie Monaghan Combs, thank you for joining us. This is the Daily. This is the Daily on Monocle Radio. And it is terribly tempting to suggest as the northern winter approaches, bringing gloomy days and. And early sunsets, that pretty much anything that may numb the senses is to be embraced. However, it is at least possible to sip your way through autumn with some sophistication. And here to recommend some means of doing that is Monocle's digital sub editor and more importantly, resident wine specialist, Chloe Lake. Chloe, welcome to the Daily.
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Hello, Andrew.
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Thank you.
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You haven't bought any samples. This segment is going incredibly badly already.
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I know it's already downhill from here.
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But you have particular ideas, specifically autumnal wines. And I know the first one you want to talk about is a California red. I'm a big fan of reds. I'm a big fan of hearty reds. And I don't know whether I've just been chronically unlucky, but I have rarely found a Californian one I agreed with.
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Interesting. Why do you think that is?
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I don't know. It may be a subliminal association with book launches and similar things where there's that weird, special kind of terrible Zinfandel that seems to have been made only to pour into flimsy little plastic cups at book launches. And maybe that association, association is stuck in my head.
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Right. I can totally empathize with that. But I think today we've actually got a really great example of Zinfandel. Unfortunately, you can't try it, but it's a mix of Zinfandel, Carignan and Petit Syrah.
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So I do like a Carignan.
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Okay, well, we're on the right tracks then. But this is a really great wine. So it's from Sonoma, from the Dry Creek, which is not completely on the coast, but it has a little bit of that coastal influence. So it's kind of an acidic wine, a wine that matures very slowly and the perfect growing can conditions for Zinfandel. So if you had a good one, I think this is where it would come from. So maybe this is where we should Head. And it's from Ridge geyserville. It's from 2022. So it has a little bit of age to it, but it could honestly go the distance. This is a wine that you could keep in your cellar for a long time and get a lot of value out of it.
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How did you run across this particular one?
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You know what? There's a funny story to this. I actually didn't buy this at all. One day, my downstairs neighbor was playing very loud music, and it was like.
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12Am and this was the bottle. You hit them with this?
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No. He brought this up to me to say sorry. And it was so good. I went down and I was like, thank you so much. I'm gonna tell you off more for loud music, but it's really great, so I recommend this. It has a lot of strong kind of ripe black fruits, red fruits as well. It's a bit smoky. It's aged in American oak, so it has that richer flavor that perhaps you wouldn't find in one plastic cups from a book launch.
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Well, big hello to Chloe's annoying downstairs neighbor. If he's listening, you have another one that you think will go with it. Says here the hazy autumn sunset.
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A bit of a vague concept, but I think there are those moments in autumn where you're kind of looking at the sky and you think, oh, it's the end of summer. How sad. But equally, I think there's a really nice moment there as the sun sets a bit earlier. So I picked this orange wine. It's called bolido, which means bleeding in Spanish. Not bleeding as in blood, but bleeding as. And the word. The sound that sheep make.
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Okay. Actually, I'm not sure that's more appetizing, to be honest, but carry on.
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It's from. So it's from a farm in Uruguay. So it's a bit of an unusual place to be kind of growing grapes and specifically making orange wine. But it's very easy drinking, and the kind of influence from the Atlantic keeps everything very fresh and zippy. And because the grapes are colder, you get a lot of the aromas coming through. And it's a really great orange wine to kind of have just casually, you don't need food, but you could have it with bites.
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When you say unusual, though, because obviously South American reds are not at all unusual. One thinks most obviously of Chile and Argentina. But has Uruguay generally not been part of that, or is it just too far north to grow those kinds of grapes?
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Yeah, it's a little bit of both. I think Uruguay has More of a tradition of family vineyards, is what I would say. So Chile, Argentina, maybe more industrialized, but Uruguay still retains a lot of that kind of closeness that perhaps other countries don't. So you get maybe more special wines coming from there and a lot more variety because people are experimenting a little bit more within their family units. So I think this is quite special for that reason. And you can get a lot from it and, yeah, really enjoy it.
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B
Well, moving on finally to another one about which, in theory, I would also have, I regret to say, somewhat mixed feelings in that it is. It is a white wine. I am not a white. White wine drinker, but it is a Croatian wine and I know Croatia makes many, many excellent reds. So sell me on this one.
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F
It does. I picked this because it was slightly different. So, as you say, they make a lot of really great reds. But I went to Croatia over the summer and my mind was changed. I actually went to Brac, so not Korchula, where this wine is from. But I was really amazed going on the ferry over there. The wines are kind of on the vineyard. Sorry, on very sheer cliff faces. And I. How on earth are they growing things there?
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Carefully.
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F
Yeah, exactly. But turns out they're growing these amazing white wines at high altitude. And the wine that. Well, I haven't brought it, but if we were to taste it, it's called the Dalmatian Dog. It's from a grape called Po Ship, and it's actually indigenous to Dalmatia and that area. And it has to be picked very early in the morning, so it's very temperamental grape. So in order to preserve the freshness and kind of aroma from it. But it's very rich of honeyed aromas, little bit of apricot. So it's not just citrusy and dry. It has a little bit more body to it, which is interesting for autumn, I think.
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B
So to sum up our three recommendations, we have the Ridge Geezerville 2022 Bolido, made by Chero Chapeau.
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F
Yes, indeed.
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B
And a Dalmatian Dog, which is a poship.
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F
Absolutely.
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So that's what people should be looking for.
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F
I think so. I think so. Diversify your wine cupboards. Go to different countries, Have a bit of fun with. With that. That's what I say.
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B
Chloe Lake, thank you for joining us. Finally, on today's Daily, our weekly attempt to understand what we could usefully have absorbed from the last seven days. We learned this week that Norwegians just cannot take a hint.
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H
They gave it to Obama for doing absolutely nothing. He got The Nobel Prize for doing nothing. They should give me the Nobel Prize. Everyone says that I should should get the Nobel Peace Prize. I had so many people. You should get the Nobel Prize.
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B
Although it turns out they do make quite pleasant folk music. Can I get some? General muttered agreement. We learned that, yes, despite the characteristically subtle and self effacing campaigning of US.
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H
President Donald Trump, my rhetoric kept you out of war. I stopped wars from happening. If it were somebody else, they would have gotten five Nobel Prizes. I never even got a mention.
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B
The Norwegian Nobel Committee had instead chosen to risk a vindictive American annexation of Svalbard by giving it to someone obviously less deserving, because who isn't? But we also learned that the Norwegian Nobel Committee were not above toying with a chap's emotions.
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The Nobel Peace Prize for 2025 goes to a brave and committed champion of peace.
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Straighten your time, Mr. President.
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To a woman.
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B
Well, quite. We did, however, shortly thereafter learn. And yes, we know this happened last Friday, but we record these on Thursdays to play on Fridays. We've explained this before. Keep up who the real winner was.
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H
The person who actually got the Nobel Prize called today, called me and said, I'm accepting this in honor of you because you really deserved it.
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B
But we learned that the President's supporters were taking his disappointment every bit as philosophically, graciously and above all, sanely as might have been expected. And none more so than Congressman Buddy Carter of Georgia's first district. And surely at least once, the reason that his fellow Georgian, US President and Nobel Peace Laureate Jimmy Carter uttered the phrase, dear God, no. Absolutely no relation. That's why he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. And that's why I'm introducing a resolution for a sense of Congress today that will honour him with the Nobel Peace Prize. Pretty sure that's not how this works, Congressman. As indeed it can well be imagined that someone has said to Buddy Carter as he tried to to popcorn in a tumble dryer. However, encouraged by this notion of simply awarding oneself prizes on which one has missed out.
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F
And the winner of the.
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B
Special super duper gold trophy with a.
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F
Dinosaur on top for funniest and cleverest.
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Weekly news review monologue is.
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What we.
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Learned on Monocle Radio. Thank you, thank you. Thank you all. Thank you. No, but seriously, we also learned, in an irony that is surely causing President Trump to emit the odd rye chuckle, that the week of his cruel snub by those whale scoffing weirdos in Oslo should also be the week he achieved a diploma diplomatic feat. Arguably more significant Even than his brokering of peace between.
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Aber Baijan or resolving.
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The equally intractable and non occurring conflict.
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H
Involving Cambodia and Armenia.
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B
We learned that. Yes. And can we maybe get a gritting teeth sound effect behind the rest of this sentence that Trump had helped bring a halt to a little over two years of war in Gaza and. But we learned that this genuinely momentous accomplishment was not about to stop him conducting the attendant diplomatic formalities like he was guest compare of the Dean Martin celebrity roast.
- [33:49]
H
France. Thank you very much, Emmanuel. I would imagine Emmanuel standing someplace behind me. Where is he? I can't believe it. You're taking a low key approach. Today, Italy, we have a woman, a young woman who's. I'm not allowed to say it because usually it's the end of your political career if you say it. She's a beautiful young woman. Now, if you use the word beautiful in the United States about a woman, that's the end of your political career. But I'll take my chances. We have Hungary. Oh, Victor. Where is Victor? Victor, Victor, we love Victoria. Victor, I call him. You know, I put the little, the little accent on it. You are fantastic. All right. I know a lot of people don't agree with me, but I, I'm the only one that matters.
- [34:38]
B
Try the veal tip your waiters here all week and so forth. But we learned that if it was probably optimistic to expect much in the way of perspective and humility from Donald Trump, we learned that he, his fifth smartest child, was here to help on that front.
- [34:58]
I
And look how much better humanity and our world is. You know, we're saving Christianity, we're saving God, we're saving the family unit, we're saving this nation.
- [35:06]
B
From which rash of media appearances we learn that Eric Trump has written a book.
- [35:12]
I
Oh no.
- [35:13]
B
Or at least typed into chatgpt. The prompt rattle me up 70,000 words. Expanding my own Wikipedia page into a lacrimose screed of self justification, self pity and paranoid fantasy, pitching my powerful billionaire family as the most persecuted people in all of human history. But we learned as he shilled his tome, that the immense and imaginary suffering endured by his unfortunate tribe had in no way diminished an abiding sense of right and wrong and a profound belief in impartial justice. And we learned this from his righteous rage at New York State Attorney General Letitia Jones James, who once filed fraud charges against Eric's father and upon whom Eric's father has recently set the Department of Justice because she once rented a house to her grand niece, possibly without being entirely straight with her mortgage provider about her intentions in this regard. And that said grandniece may have been other than a model citizen various points in her life. Yes, we're looking forward to the 27 part true crime podcast as well. But we learned that Eric Trump demands higher standards of public officials foresworn to uphold and abide by the laws of the land.
- [36:29]
I
Somebody who's apparently committed mortgage fraud and somebody apparently has a felon living in their home right now. Clearly you're not allowed to do that.
- [36:36]
B
A convicted felon in the family home. Imagine. Imagine. And that's all for this edition of the Monocle Daily. Thanks to our panelists today, Olga Takariok, Leila Malana, Alan, Sophie Monaghan Coombs and Chloe Lake. Today's show was produced by Chris Chermack and researched by Joanna Moser. Our sound engineer was Steph Chungu and Andrew Muller here in London. The Daily is back at the same time on Monday. Thanks for listening. Have a great week.
- [37:08]
C
Sam.