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- [00:05]
Katty Kay
This episode is brought to you by Whoop.
- [00:08]
Anthony Scaramucci
Whoop is one of my favorite all time products. It's clear we're living through pretty stressful times right now. It's easy to underestimate how much that can affect our sleep and ability to stay focused day to day.
- [00:21]
Katty Kay
Yeah, avoiding burnout can feel like a full time job in and of itself.
- [00:25]
Anthony Scaramucci
Whoop helps with the bit people miss that shows what actually is going on beneath the surface. Cap Caddy. It's a screenless, wearable device that monitors your sleep recovery, lifestyle and stress.
- [00:40]
Katty Kay
Yeah, and this matters to me. It even looks very elegant.
- [00:43]
Anthony Scaramucci
Did you hear that guy's Whoop is so stylish that even Catty K will wear the Whoop.
- [00:48]
Katty Kay
It's the little gold clasp. I like that.
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Anthony Scaramucci
I'm telling you, I had no idea how much my old routine was impacting my health. But since using Whoop and making those small adjustments, I've already started to feel the difference. Better sleep, clearer thinking, even more energy.
- [01:03]
Katty Kay
Head to join.wh-oop.com politics to get started with WHOOP. Today, when you finally find your thing, you want the whole world to know about that thing. So you use a thing called Canva to make it an even bigger and better thing. Whether you want to create flyers for that thing, make presentations for that thing, or design merch for that thing, you can do anything so people can see
- [01:32]
Anthony Scaramucci
your thing, feel your thing, love your thing.
- [01:36]
Katty Kay
The next thing you know, it's a thing. Canva. The thing that makes anything a thing. Some follow the noise. Bloomberg follows the money. Because behind every headline is a bottom line. Whether it's the funds fueling AI or crypto's trillion dollar swings. There's a money side to every story. And when you see the money side, you understand what others miss. Get the money side of the story. Subscribe now@bloomberg.com. Hello and welcome to the Rest Is Politics. Us with me, Katty K in sunny California.
- [02:25]
Anthony Scaramucci
Catty, it's me, Anthony Scaramucci.
- [02:27]
Katty Kay
Where are you, Anthony? Do you want to tell us?
- [02:29]
Anthony Scaramucci
I am in the south of France. Actually, I'm at Hotel Du Cap.
- [02:32]
Katty Kay
You're grumbling a little bit about being in the Hotel Du Cap for a few days.
- [02:35]
Anthony Scaramucci
No, no, no, no, no. You see? Aha. No, no, no. Come on. You're a Scorpio. You're supposed to keep all my secrets. Caddy K. That's what you're supposed to do.
- [02:44]
Katty Kay
Says the man who spills the Prada dresses.
- [02:46]
Anthony Scaramucci
All right, what are we talking about?
- [02:48]
Katty Kay
We're gonna talk about the news that broke yesterday that has got a lot of lawyers very upset. It's been described to me as the most corrupt ever done. We're discussing his new anti weaponization slush fund, $1.8 billion that will potentially go to the rioters from January 6th. A massive rewrite of history there. Compensating Donald Trump's allies. And at the same time as the DOJ and the IRS have agreed not to investigate the Trump family for any tax malfeasance in the scheme of the things that Trump has done around corruption. This one seems to be ringing alarm bells even in the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal. In the second half of the program, we're gonna look at the Republican primary drama in Texas. Donald Trump yesterday came out and endorsed the very troubled and scandal ridden Ken Paxton over Senator John Cornyn. This will not be happy news to the stalwarts of the Republican Party who would like to try and hold onto the Senate because it puts Texas in play. And we'll talk about that. Okay, let's start with the slush fund. For those of you who missed it, here's what happened. The Trump administration. Donald Trump was under investigation by the IRS when he ran for president in 2016, and he failed to disclose his tax returns. An IRS employee leaked those tax returns to the press that Trump. Donald Trump sued the IRS because it's illegal to leak somebody's tax returns. And now he has agreed to drop the settlement. And in exchange, he is getting a $1,776,000,000 fund to pay out to what he is calling enemies of government weaponization. There had been some speculation this money might actually go to the Trump family. I think that is not what's going to happen, Anthony. This looks like this fund and it's clearly a quid pro quo. I'll drop my lawsuit if you'll give me this money from the treasury that I can pay to people who I think have been victimized by the government in other wor supporters of mine and who are the key supporters of his who he would like to pay money to to reward for their loyalty. They are the people who rioted in the Capitol and beat up cops on January 6th of 2021. So even by Trump's standards, it's an unprecedented use of your and my money and all of our American listeners, your taxpayer money to reward the President's political allies. And I'm going to ask you to play law professor because I know it's the role you like playing best. And tell Me whether what the president has done is legal. And then we can talk about the politics of it.
- [05:34]
Anthony Scaramucci
Well, I mean, the structure was designed literally to make it almost impossible to stop. And so there are some pathways. You got to have litigation against the fund itself. You have to find somebody that has a cause of action. To do that, you probably have to go to the Congress and try to figure out a way, if they could legislate something to actually block. Got design. So you don't necessarily need a judge to sign off on it. That was one of the particulars in there. And then, of course, you could have a watchdog on the disbursements of it to see if any of it was dispersed improperly. But while I was here at Hotel Du Camp, I found a playbook, and it's called the Russian Playbook. It looks like it was left here by Viktor Orban from Hungary. Okay, so can I read to you from the playbook of corruption, governmental corruption? What?
- [06:28]
Katty Kay
Go ahead, go ahead. It was just hanging around the Hotel Du Cap?
- [06:32]
Anthony Scaramucci
Yeah, it was hanging around. I blew the dust off it. And let me just read to you, the five or six tenants that are in the book. Are you ready? Okay, Number one, you gotta monetize the office, okay? You gotta find ways to have direct payments from foreign governments or domestic disbursements and do everything you can to monetize the office. Number two, Caddy, look at this pen. You have to use the power of the pardon as a tool, okay? So, hey, man, write me a check, I'll pardon you, okay? And this also provides access. Okay? This is why the J6 defendants got released. It was a message to people. You do my nefarious deeds, I'll pardon you. You have to weaponize enforcement, Caddy. And you have to defang oversight, okay? It's right here in the book, okay? And this is exactly what he's done.
- [07:25]
Katty Kay
I mean, what mug wouldn't really. I mean, why wouldn't.
- [07:28]
Anthony Scaramucci
You gotta sell access. So we're gonna have crypto parties, and you're gonna come to Mar a Lago, couple million dollar membership. And I want foreign nationals there and crypto buyers and corporate interests seeking favorable treatment. And it's all very transactional. You have to capture the referees, Caddy. K, how about that? Right there in the playbook. You pressure the law firms and the universities and the media companies and of course, the tech platforms through excessive executive orders and lawsuits and tariffs and regulatory threats until they either settle, donate to you or people that you like, like people that are going against Thomas Massie. Or they just totally and completely change their behavior. Two more, Caddy. Okay, Two more. You flood the zone, Katty K. You move so many things at the same time that everybody's anesthetized to it, and, you know, they can't take the heat of the whole thing.
- [08:25]
Katty Kay
Which is why the president was out doing a press conference about the ballroom yesterday.
- [08:29]
Anthony Scaramucci
Right? Exactly. And so this 1776, this $1,776,000,000 monumental slush fund hits every single one of these. And since he's weak. And remember, I want to talk about timing, Caddy. He waited until he did all of the things on the list that I just gave you, especially weakening the referees and the law firms that would have typically taken him on or the watchdog groups. And he weakened everybody before he did this. Okay? So I think he's getting away with it. I don't think he gets away with it in totality. I think people like him, they usually get their comeuppance. And so he may end up getting his comeuppance when the term is over. There may be another way to find him. Remember, Al Capone went to jail for tax evasion, not for the organized crime.
- [09:26]
Katty Kay
And Viktor Orban was booted out of office because of the corruption of the Hungarian government, not for very many other reasons. People do not love this.
- [09:36]
Anthony Scaramucci
And the poll numbers are going very low. Gatti. And he doesn't care. He's on a mission. And I will just push back a tiny bit. I think he takes at least half of this for himself. He'll find a way to get it into his pockets.
- [09:52]
Katty Kay
I thought you were gonna push back and say no. He'll give this to James Comey, some of it, because James Comey has been wrongly treated by the government. Or he'll give this to John Brennan, who's been wrongly treated by the government. And he would. I know. I'm kidding. That is clearly not where this money is going. I think you're right. And I. I actually don't think it worked for Viktor Orban in the long run. Clearly, the corruption, level of corruption was unsustainable for Hungarian voters. They couldn't tolerate it. And I do think, you know, when you've got the Wall Street Journal slamming this as corruption, I was. I was actually sent by a EU official. All they sent me was the DOJ readout. If you can see it there, that is the DOJ readout on the tax settlement. The fact that a European official is sending this to me without any explanation, just dropped it into my Inbox I thought was interesting in itself. This is how this is being perceived around the world. It's the degradation again of the rule of law in America. And I think that's one of the things that you and I have spoken about continuously since Donald Trump came back into office. When we're looking at the signal and noise factor, when there is so much noise around this administration, the ballroom, the reflecting pool, the endorsements that he's doing around the country, whatever it is. But the signal is this. I think one of the most important signals is this breakdown of the firewall between the Justice Department and the White House, where, as you've described it, the Justice Department becomes the Trump family law firm. And now all of the implements of government are there to do Trump's bidding, which in this case is to reward the people who have been loyal to him. I would add one more thing to your list, which is, is you punish your enemies, but you reward the loyalists and you make it clear to the loyalists that you will reward them. And that's what this money is doing. Right. I was thinking about this last night. Anthony, take us back to January 7, 2021. Remember that day I'd sat on TV for four hours broadcasting about something everybody saw in front of their eyes. We all saw it. We saw the 140 cops who were beaten up that day, one of whom died the next day. We saw them being pulled out into the crowd by their shoulder straps and having their heads beaten. The American people, the world knows what happened on January 6, but what President Trump did yesterday is his attempt to rewrite history, to say, actually the victims in this case were the people who were defecating in the Capitol, the people who were of storming into Nancy Pelosi's offices, the people who were attacking cops. They are the victims is what he's trying to make the American people believe with this fund. And I think as well as the corruption, it is that ability that Trump has, that attempt that Trump is doing, to say, history is my version of history. And I don't know how many Americans will buy this. I don't know how many Americans will stand there and say, oh, actually, he's right, they were the victims of too much. What law enforcement on that day?
- [12:56]
Anthony Scaramucci
Well, I mean, this is one of the ways that they can parry back at him. So the people that were attacked by the assailants, they have a cause of action. So the moment one of those people, the J6ers, are paid the assailants, the Capitol Police can file a lawsuit and A grievance to try to stop the action. Okay? So if I were the Democrats, I would try to get as many of those people in place as possible. The thing that is so scary about this, though, is that it collapses the line between the public treasury and the private grievance. And so just think about it. They set up a slush fund. Effectively, there's no neutral arbiter. It is Todd Blanche, the president's former personal attorney, that it's going to be at the switch caddy making the decision of where the capital is going to be allocated. So the fox isn't guarding the henhouse. The fox is actually sitting out there writing the checks. But your last point is the one I want to emphasize. It retroactively delegitimizes every prior prosecution, and it does it without due process. And so it's just literally, the president is waving a magic wand and saying, yeah, everything that you just said, Katie K. Yeah, that didn't happen the way you just said it. And, oh, by the way, to further enforce that, I'm going to land 1.7, $1.8 billion into the hands of people that I have declared victims, even though you, Catty K, and me, Anthony Scaramucci, know that they are the assailants. So I don't know how much more Orwellian can you get than what we just described?
- [14:41]
Katty Kay
This is what Trump said about this yesterday. These were the people who were treated brutally by a system that was so corrupt. I don't know if that's projection or confession, but right there you have the whole narrative being flipped on its head. And I do think that is part of the tradition of authoritarian governments, and I'm not going to use your favorite F word, but it is the tradition of authoritarian governments to say, we are going to rewrite history to make the victims the oppressors and the oppressors the victims. No, stop. I can see you grinning. I can see you feel like, okay,
- [15:18]
Anthony Scaramucci
my favorite F word that you use. Way more than me. Way more than me. Everybody. Everybody lost. The Cow C Prediction market. Bet that I would curse more than you on this podcast. Everyone lost. Okay, keep going.
- [15:31]
Katty Kay
Just on the IRS side of this, because that's. There are two bits to this story. One is the slush fund and the rewarding of the Jan Sixers, and which already you've got the police officers from that day, people like Dan Hodges, the family of Brian Sisnik who died, Aquilina Gonel, who was, you know, one of the people who was dragged out into the crowd and still by the way, has injuries to his shoulder and his foot because of what happened to him that day. They are speaking up. They are trying to say this is not what happened and trying to remind the American public. But I've interviewed some of those police officers from that day, and they say to me, Anthony, look, the injury was twofold. It was what happened to us on that day and the lack of preparation and equipment that we didn't have that day. But subsequently, it was exactly this ignoring by the Republicans in the Senate and the House of Representatives who they were risking their lives to defend. The plaque honoring those police officers has been made, but we don't know where it is. It hasn't been brought out and put up. So they say that is as injurious to them as what happened on that day, that these people they were fighting to defend have now basically washed their hands of them. And you've got a few mutterings from Capitol Hill. You've got John Thune saying, this is already getting back. I don't love the idea of this slush fund. You've got Susan Collins. She is very concerned, Anthony. She's very concerned about this. She is very concerned about the slush fund. You'll be relieved to hear that.
- [16:55]
Anthony Scaramucci
Susan Collins, she's very concerned about Bill Cassidy getting ousted is what she's really concerned about. But go ahead.
- [17:00]
Katty Kay
So you've got, you know, a little bit of mutterings, but this will. This will probably run its course. But the other side of this, and I want you to put back on grab that hat again, because you're gonna be law professor again. The IRS side of this and the dropping the settlement. But in that document that was sent to me by. From the doj, how can the IRS say, or the Justice Department say it's dropping all suits against Trump and his kids? And it looks like this is. There's some debate about it, but it looks like it's in perpetuity. How is that possible? Can't I get that deal? Can I just never be investigated by the tax authorities in perpetuity? I want a deal like that. Is there a deal for them and a different deal for us?
- [17:43]
Anthony Scaramucci
So the DOJ did issue a clarification. It basically said that this is with respect to existing audit.
- [17:52]
Katty Kay
Existing. But there's been questions about that already about whether that's really the case.
- [17:57]
Anthony Scaramucci
Yeah. So the DOJ caddy did issue a clarification. They basically said, and I'll read the quote, this is only with respect to existing audits, not future. It does sound like a guardrail until you remember what was actually pending. Right. They've got audits related to their charity expenses. They took a $100 million. What the IRS said was an improper depreciation deduction on the Chicago tower. There's a lot of different things in there. Many millions of dollars, 100 plus millions of dollars that the IRS is basically ceding to the Trump family. Now, I think the existing audits only, in my opinion, is a dodge, by the way. I think it's a meaningless clarification. I think these people are going to be more or less barred from auditing the Trump family.
- [18:53]
Katty Kay
I mean, that's what it said. That's what the addendum signed by Tor Blanche said. The government would be forever barred and
- [18:59]
Anthony Scaramucci
precluded after everybody in the media protested that the DOJ issued that statement. But if you actually read the language, the language from the IRS looks like this is a permanent preclusion. And, you know, I don't even know if that's constitutional, by the way, because that would really separate, remember, under the due process of law, we're all to be treated equally. And so that would create a monarchical status, you know, from the 1600s, frankly, for the Trump family. And so where they're above the law. So I think this is incredibly dangerous. But, you know, listen, audit immunity, I want you to imagine that because, you know, when I was looking through the Putin or Ban Corruption book, I didn't see audit immunity in there. I think this is something Trump has got to call his buddies and say, hey, you gave me some great ideas on how to rip off the government and rip off the American people.
- [19:58]
Katty Kay
But let me give you another one.
- [20:00]
Anthony Scaramucci
But let me give you one. I got autoimmunity going for me. He's like an innovator on the side of corruption. He's like in the corruption laboratory, you know.
- [20:08]
Katty Kay
Yeah, that's very good. Anyway, look, here's what a lawyer sent me this morning. It's horrifying. It's corrupt to the core. This is from a lawyer, a conservative lawyer, who sent me this. It might be one of these things where Trump is exploiting legal loopholes to do something no one thought any president would do, and it might be illegal. I think it's. Again, no one really thinks he's. That he has the shamelessness to do this stuff, and then he does it. Okay. I think this is a very important moment. I think it's one of those moments we're going to look back at and think, this redefined the nature of the Trump presidency and what Trump tried to do to government and why, how he tried to rewrite history. And just remember that day on January 7th when Lindsey Graham, now the president's most stalwart ally, said, I'm getting off the Trump train. It's been a great ride, but enough is enough. That was unforgivable. And then a few days later, Kevin McCarthy flies down to Mar A Lago and welcomes him back into the Republican family. History in the making.
- [21:10]
Anthony Scaramucci
So, Kenny, one thing that happens to the Republicans is they grow spine and testicles after they get defeated. So Bill Cassidy is out there hammering away on the slush fund, and he's also flipped to the other side on the vote related to the Iranian war. Okay, so the minute they get defeated or they get knocked out, we're gonna go to Thomas Massie after the break. But you see, they get their will and courage back.
- [21:35]
Katty Kay
And the question is whether we're gonna see the same from Senator John Cornyn. We'll talk about him after the break.
- [21:44]
Anthony Scaramucci
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- [22:15]
Katty Kay
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Anthony Scaramucci
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- [22:45]
Katty Kay
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- [23:00]
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- [24:35]
Katty Kay
Welcome back to the rest is politics us. So, Anthony, I felt very sorry for J.D. vance yesterday because J.D. vance had his starring moment in the White House press briefing room, taking over from Caroline Levitt, who is on maternity leave and trying to catch up with Marco Rubio, who did the same role to great success a couple of weeks ago. And there he is. He's in the press briefing room. And guess what happens just before it? Donald Trump gives a ballroom tour with all of the White House press corps and which actually turns into a long press conference and sucks all of the oxygen out of the room. And just after it, Donald Trump endorses Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the state Senate Republican primary runoff, which was the big political news that everyone had been waiting for, thereby squeezing poor old JD out of his starring moment. It was so Donald Trump. It was like JD Is going to have a moment in the sun. I'm going to have two moments in the sun. But the snub to Senator John Cornyn. This has been a race. We've talked about this before. Texas is now a race that is potentially in play for the Senate. The Republican runoff was between sitting Senator John Cornyn, who has served for more than two decades, who is popular in his his party, but who has had run ins with Donald Trump, and Donald Trump does not like him. And between Ken Paxton, who is the Attorney general, who is a man with about four or five different scandals and previous lawsuits against him, including accusations of adultery and financial misappropriations. So Donald Trump has now endorsed Ken Paxton, saying entirely, it's because he is loyal to me, not making any pretense that this is about the good of the party. We know it's not about the good of the party because this is a nightmare for Majority Leader John Thune, who wanted to have John Cornyn in there because he thinks John Cornyn can get elected. But for Trump, it's another chance to show he controls the Republican Party. And what do you reckon? Can Ken Paxton now beat James Talarico in the runoff for the Senate?
- [26:38]
Anthony Scaramucci
I think he's going to. And I think James Talarico is a formidable politician. He's more formidable than Beto o', Rourke, and I think he has a broader coalition, but I think the machinery is in place that will prevent him from winning. Karen Bascaty, as an example, is going to win Los Angeles, no matter what mistakes she made during the wildfires, she just has that machinery behind her. You could be failed policies, questionable policies, you could have issues, but the turnout machinery is what usually produces the victory. And this is what happened to Thomas Massie in his home state. $32 million was spent on a Kentucky representative race. Could you imagine that? I mean, it's ridiculous. And that just sends out a signal we're going to pour money into these things. So, yes, he's going to win. That's my prediction. But he then enters the CEN Academy, like I said earlier in the week, as a junior senator from the state of Texas, and all of that majority seniority rankings and all that other stuff go away. And Trump doesn't care, of course, but that's what's gonna happen ultimately. I wanna ask you this question, though, because you've been observing this for longer than me, frankly. Have you in your lifetime seen a president, a political leader, senior Senate Majority leader, Speaker of the House, go this viciously after their own parties and have this level of a purity test related to the people that are in the party?
- [28:21]
Katty Kay
Look, you're talking about President Trump, right? And he made it very clear in the truth social post that he sent out that this was all about because John Cornyn had not been loyal enough to Trump. He didn't pretend that he was endorsing Ken Paxton for the Good of the Republican Party. I mean, he didn't even try to pretend that. He just said this was about the fact that John Cornyn had not supported me. He had not been close enough to me. So it's very much about him personally. And I think that's the problem, Anthony, is that he's done this before when he endorsed candidates who were very loyal to him but were totally unelectable. Herschel Walker down in Georgia, Dr. Oz in Pennsylvania. Mastriano also in Pennsylvania. And it came back to hurt the party, which is why the Republican operatives like John Thune are saying this is actually not helpful to us. And I don't know whether this is going to be a rerun of 2020. Maybe the party's more in line with Donald Trump now, but independent voters aren't and swing voters aren't. And his risk is that he's proposing these people. Ken Paxton has been kind of a joke in mainstream Republican politics for the last 10 years because of this constant scandals against him and accusations of financial fraud against him and accusations of having affairs against him. And he really has been kind of a joke. So can Republican voters who are not die hard MAGA overlook his baggage and still vote for him because Donald Trump has endorsed him? I think there is a chance they will. I think you're right. I think the Republicans will still win. And one Republican strategist said to me last night that an endorsement by Trump moves you up in the rankings in your race by 50 points. He says there's nothing like it in Republican primary politics at the moment to boost your fortunes. That compares remotely with an endorsement by Donald Trump. You can have all of these standard conservative moves and issues that will move you up by 20 points, but nothing's gonna move you up like 50 points apart from Donald Trump. So he still does have a huge amount of sway, but it is very much a test of loyalty to him. It's not about the party or about what you would call conservatism.
- [30:46]
Anthony Scaramucci
Yeah, I think this is the message. So if you wanna go against Donald Trump, you're gonna be in trouble. Because one to your point, he controls the primary voters. That's 15 to 20% of the registered Republicans. They're Super Trump lo. They're the ones that are going to oust you. Number two, he's got the MAGA Inc. Money infrastructure in place to Make America Great Again PAC. The other aligned super PACs on a moment's notice, Caddy, they can drop 20 to 30 million dollars into a single House race with a phone call again. $32 million into the Massey race so no incumbent can outraise that. They just don't have the facility in place to do that. This is the byproduct of Citizens United. Right? And then he's got Fox News, newsmax, and the podcast ecosystem that he works very hard. And, Katty, there's no institutional resistance inside the conference. The Republican caucus is like, no problem. Do whatever you want. You read a quote before this half of the show started from Lindsey Graham where he was done with Trump. Is he done with Trump? I mean, my God, you can't even see Lindsey so far inside Trump's, you know, watch. So, I mean, come on. And this is the most important thing. Caddy. The base genuinely likes the scrum. They genuinely like the tax. Caddy.
- [32:12]
Katty Kay
They like seeing Trump take on the party. They like the way he attacks them.
- [32:16]
Anthony Scaramucci
Yeah, they do. They like it. They like it. Because remember, inherent in all this is anti establishment, anti incumbency. Throw the bums out, Trump. Please. Light those people up.
- [32:27]
Katty Kay
Here's what he said on Truth Social about John Cornyn. Just to underscore that point. John was very late in backing me in what turned out to be a historic run for the Republican nomination and then the presidency itself, both of which were landslide victories. I mean, I don't think you need to read much further. Right. To find out why he actually doesn't like John Cornyn. He was too late. Sorry, you were too late backing me. Anyway, it's gonna be interesting now. A political scientist down in Texas who I spoke to late last night said Texas is the Democrats white whale. They keep hoping they're going to win it, and they won't win it until they do. And that will be having a very good Democratic candidate, a very weak Republican candidate, and enough Democratic money and funds being invested in the state of Texas. This is their closest chance since Beto o' Rourke came close to defeating Ted Cruz. Let's see. Let's see how well they do. It's going to be very interesting to see how well Democrats do in November in the state of Texas.
- [33:23]
Anthony Scaramucci
I want to make sure people know this. Paxson did out hustle Cornyn. Okay? And I want to explain to people what he actually did. One of the first things he did is he ran ads in the Mar a Lago media market on Fox News that were pro him and bashing the living daylights out of Cornyn. Okay? And so it was right in Trump's ear. He met with him numerous times on the sidelines of galas he appeared at Trump aligned events that Cornyn skipped, including a Dallas CPAC gathering where Cornyn decided not to go to it. Paxson went, okay. And he wanted to rename the Texas highway ready interstate 47 in honor of Donald Trump. And Cornyn didn't want anything to do with that. Okay. And you have to understand Trump. So in addition to Cornyn, 35 years, I'm the incumbent. I should win. I'm gonna be on my heels. Okay? This guy went to work, okay? So I just don't wanna just say, oh, Trump endorsed him. And so therefore, he won.
- [34:28]
Katty Kay
He fought for, yeah, this guy put
- [34:29]
Anthony Scaramucci
the knee pads on his elbows and he went to work. He worked on Trump, and he was out there campaigning very, very aggressively for the spot that he's in.
- [34:38]
Katty Kay
And the way you campaign aggressively is you get in Trump's face with lots of flattery about him, 100%. You propose changing the names of highways, which does slightly beg the question, how easy is it to play Donald Trump? Not just if you're an American politician, but if you're a leader around the world. They all know this now. Everybody watches what happens. Everybody watches who gets rewards, and they watch the playbook. And they've got enough experience now to look at the playbook and learn how to play it themselves. And I think we saw that play out, by the way, in China last week.
- [35:12]
Anthony Scaramucci
Mark Cuban, who pummeling Trump during the 2024 election, he's standing at the podium with him for Trump RX rapprochement. So what does that tell you? You can always, as a revolving door caddy, you can always go through the turnstile back into Trump's orbit. And that is one of the insanity things about Trump, because when you're peeing on him, he doesn't like it, and he wants to be loved. And what was that? A bad metaphor?
- [35:45]
Katty Kay
I think that was unnecessary. I mean, some people might be listening to this over breakfast.
- [35:50]
Anthony Scaramucci
Okay, all right, take it back. Okay.
- [35:52]
Katty Kay
Especially in the light of the PP tape. No, too many images.
- [35:56]
Anthony Scaramucci
Okay. When you're lambasting Trump, he doesn't like it better. And you can go through the revolving door back in, which is a little bit more revolting than it seems on first glance.
- [36:07]
Katty Kay
In our bonus episode this week, we dived into the ballroom. I have a few theories about that for our founding members. Take a quick listen, Katty.
- [36:17]
Anthony Scaramucci
I don't live in Washington. You live in Washington. It doesn't look like a lot of work is getting done on the ballroom right now.
- [36:24]
Katty Kay
Well, that is a Very good point.
- [36:26]
Anthony Scaramucci
So I guess my follow up question to Tom's question, is it gonna be built before Trump leaves office?
- [36:32]
Katty Kay
That's the question. So there's been, I was just on set this morning with a whole bunch of people and we were raising the same question. Is the ballroom actually gonna be built? Because the speculation around Washington at the moment is that it may not get done before Trump leaves office. And the Senate rule keeper, Elizabeth McDonough has actually ruled against the use of taxpayer funds in the bill on Saturday after Democrats argued that security money doesn't belong in it for this ballroom. So I think the financing is still up in the air. He's getting quite a lot of blowback both for the amount of money that initially the ballroom was going to cost 200,000,000, then it was going to cost 300,000,000, Then it was going to cost 400,000,000, but now Republicans are proposing this $1,000,000, as Anthony says, by layering a whole load of other things that's going to be an underground bunker and it's going to be for security provisions. Donald Trump did come back from China saying China has a ballroom and so we should have a ballroom too. It clearly clocked that China had a big ballroom. So. But two things are in question as we, the financing is in question. Where is it actually going to come from? And I don't think anyone would argue that security provisions for government buildings, particularly for the White House, is something that everybody should look patent, they should be financed, but they have to be appropriate security provisions. But I think it's. Your question is the bigger one right now, Anthony. Are we going to be there with some kind of great big hole in the ground until Trump leaves office. At the moment, Donald Trump seems as focused on the reflecting pool and painting that American flag blue. And there are already questions about that because some of the blue shades are different from some of the other blue shades. And are workers getting kind of noxious fumes? That seems to be the focus of his attention. If you look at his feed, that is what he's sending out pictures of at the moment, because I guess he thinks that's getting done. But I wouldn't be totally surprised if this whole ballroom project gets so caught up in financing issues and legal issues, because should he have actually pulled down the East Wing, which was a historic part of the White House, and then what happens? Let's do some role play. Mr. 48th President of the United States, Anthony Scaramucci, what would you like to do with the East Wing, the erstwhile East Wing, which is now actually a big hole in the ground.
- [38:47]
Anthony Scaramucci
Okay, so I'm president.
- [38:49]
Katty Kay
You're president. Deidre has not been told about this, but you are now president.
- [38:53]
Anthony Scaramucci
Yeah. So I'm rebuilding the East Wing identical to what it was, and I'm adding a 20,000 square foot ballroom because I do think he is right.
- [39:05]
Katty Kay
And you're putting what, the ballroom underneath the East Wing, or you're putting in the East Wing?
- [39:09]
Anthony Scaramucci
No, I'm adding the East Wing. But you could see the. You could see. The thing is, he's got 90,000 square feet. The East Wing is exactly the way it was. And you attach a 20, 25,000 square foot ballroom to it, which is modest and looks like the rest of the White House. And if you want to put that underground facility together for the president and his staff in the event of an emergency, I'm actually okay with that.
- [39:34]
Katty Kay
Yeah. Because actually, the Oval Office area, the West Wing, is very cramped. And everybody knows that.
- [39:39]
Anthony Scaramucci
Yeah. And I lived in there for a very short period of time. But my office is like a phone booth.
- [39:44]
Katty Kay
You can become a founding member and get those bonus episodes every week if you'd like to, including our series and early access to all of our live shows. You can sign up at the Rest is Politics. We'd love to have you with us. Thanks for listening, guys. We will see you next week.
- [40:00]
Anthony Scaramucci
See you next week, guys.