I Know Who's Really Influencing Trump's War: Wolff

There's not a paragraph, a briefing paragraph that could describe his his strategy or his his his goals. Um and he has consulted with nobody. Nobody knows what is going on. I think Jared Kushner knows what's going on. I think he is probably the only person Trump Trump listens to. because he has a credibility derived From having gotten$2 billion out of the Persian Gulf. In any way, when you look at what Trump does, why he does what he does, it is always smart to look at what he can get out of it.

What is the personal advantage to Donald Trump? Michael. Joanna. Michael, I can't take it anymore. I really can't take it anymore. It is pouring with rain here. It has been the longest winter in living memory in New York. Every damn day there's snow or rain or ice, the s the sun seems to have disappeared. We're at war. I hear on social media that it's going to be an early spring, however. Oh please God. I just need something. If you trust social media, which

Well it could be AI Slop. Is it AI Slop saying it's going to be uh an early spring? I I don't know who it is. Th it's like l last night and this morning everything bad came together. The Knicks lose, we're at war, pouring with rain, which is terrible for the hare.

And I've had lots of comments about my hair recently saying that it's in my eyes, which it is, so I went to have it cut at the weekend, and it seems to have grown longer since the haircut, so Anyway, well let's t talk about the war and let's just try to do a review here, which is not easy because you're reviewing a situation in which nobody, literally nobody. has any idea what is going on, why it's going on, where it's going to, and um

Um and and clearly what the end result will be, because no one really um has imagined um any particular end result. Um it is run by so here is a war entirely one hundred percent. run by someone um who uh really doesn't give a shit about any of the of the rules, the guardrails, the way of thinking about about war, about conflict, about the international order.

Just doesn't care. I I'm literally sure he couldn't find Iran on a map. This week I or yesterday I interviewed John Bolton, who as you know was his national security advisor in Trump one. And he uh and I really urge everybody to listen to it'cause he's so frank about how awkward Trump always felt. Something you have said when he's in the room with generals and the joint chiefs of staff. And he knows they know more than he does, but he can't stand it.

And so he just dismisses it. And as you have often talked about, and Steve Bannon has talked about, the sort of determination to keep information out at the one time when you need as much information as you can possibly get. And w well he's thrown that paradigm on its on its ear and taken the position that A, he doesn't need to have information, that actually information is in some ways the enemy.

information and um and the the the data and the decision matrix that foreign policy professionals have used for uh for so many generations has only resulted in calamity.

Which is arguably, by the way, at least in part true. Um that's the irony really. The other argument is that we're still here. The world didn't end, um uh the superpowers did not come to a co uh collision, um, the economy in the um I actually throughout the world has only improved. Living standards have only improved and that it is it is um other than than a few forever wars and and I don't mean to minimize this, um um um uh a a kind of remarkable time.

But nevertheless, obviously there are those forever wars which Just a c make clear the context here, Trump ran against in a way he became one element of him becoming president both times was to say that there would be no more forever wars. He would not go to war. Um uh war was for l smaller minds than his and he could solve any conflict that might lead to war.

Right, because for him foreign policy is simply a matter of his relationships. He likes Vladimir Putin, he and Putin get on, it's all great. He's going to see Xi, he's gonna have the biggest parade in Chinese history, it's all great. That's how he sees everything through the lens of his relationship. Right. Now you know we've discussed before, um uh I mean the uh the other day I noted how much winning is important to him. Winning defines him, that dominance is the theme of

certainly of this second Trump administration. The more dominance you can show, the more dominance you can display and prove. That means the more dominant you are. And the more dominant person has more leverage and therefore uh and therefore uh the more dominant person gets more. So that's also part of the part of the background, the Trumpian background in the fundamental Trump contradictions, which lead to this present moment in which no one can interpret.

what he's doing or why he's doing, um, and and how he will proceed from day to day.

Well and the messaging of why we are doing this really has changed moment by moment. So y you know, and it seemed to ratchet up yesterday to Trump almost shouting that the reason we were doing it was because uh Iran was about to launch a nuclear war, which is No, well and that's also contradicted by everything else. So everything is contradicted here and everything is is walked back, but none of it matters. Uh uh

Well, it matters in terms of serving it up to the American people, though, doesn't it? I mean, we've we we mentioned on Tuesday and the split has only become greater. that MAGA, particularly the factions sort of led by Tucker Carlson and Meghan Kelly, are really against this war and they don't feel they've been Sold it properly either. And it seems like Netanyahu, who said to Trump, We're ready to go in, and Trump immediately sort of bustled up to the table.

And then he he reversed that, of course, and said that he f that they followed. But that felt very much like a reaction to the fact that someone had said you were following Israel and he was like, No I wasn't, no I wasn't, they're following I mean it was just it's unbelievable how children's then there is that Trump baseline which he repeats on a c I I understand uh within the White House on a constant basis. Everybody loves a winner.

So um so if he can win, then everything goes away, then he has achieved um what he wants to achieve, and that consensus will say he's um he's a great man and um and I suppose should get the Nobel Peace Prize. Um and there's a there was a a piece in the in the journal this morning, um Uh which I mean this is of course of course the Wall Street Journal uh which is a the bastion of neocons.

but rather convincingly went through went through the details, arguing that in fact we are winning this war. That actually um um uh other than than six American soldiers have ha have died, uh which is of course bad, but it's not a hundred and it's not two hundred and it's not um not the five thousand that died. that died in Iraq, that everything is going well. We are we are winning. We are ki uh in essence, um uh pr uh achieving every military goal that we might want to achieve.

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Except that he may not be winning it at home. I mean my older son who never pays attention to prices, in fact I don't think I've ever had a conversation with him ever about any kind of price. um called me yesterday and said, Mum, gas is six dollars a gallon at the pump.

um in California, which is where he's he's living in LA. And uh I do think in fact Hugh Doherty, who many viewers and listeners will know, pointed out this morning that the gas is so interesting, not only'cause it's one of those things that you literally watch uh as the ticker goes round in front of you as you're putting the gas in, but men end up doing it. Women are largely responsible for most of the household costs.

But actually gas is something that men pay attention to and the price of gas is up significantly. Yeah. I'm I mean that's clearly that's clearly one of the variables here. How long does he have? And who's he winning with?

But there's very little to suggest that MAGA wanted this, even though he says, I am MAGA, MAGA is me, MAGA will do what I want them to do. Aaron Powell Well I no, I I absolutely and that's a I mean I hear that argument and it's a cogent argument, but the other argument, his argument, um everybody loves a winner, is um um pr is is also I mean has also worked worked for him. And it's somewhat asymmetrical, the the um the opprobrium that's being heaped on him in so many quarters.

um from from not just Democrats and Liberals, but also from the MAGA side um and also from people at the gas pump um is is um stands in this kind of the split screen with the fact that everything is going well in this war. Mm-hmm. I mean, you know, and and many of our listeners are gonna say, Oh no, no, no, no, that's terrible. That's um uh you can't mean that and um and just anticipating the the liberal point of view here and um uh which I entirely agree with, except on a strictly

tactical military base basis. Yeah, and the fact they took the leadership and then the sub leadership out in one go on Saturday uh is clearly impressive. And and the other thing I think is interesting is that Unlike two thousand and three, um This is also playing out against the backdrop of the terrible images we saw of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. which felt like a terrible losing moment from for the US. I mean it was i even though it was actually Trump's plan.

Biden carried it out. And it's arguably the moment which when the Biden administration fell apart. Yep. Yep. And you s you you remember those terrible images of people clinging on to uh the wheel cavities of planes and falling off and the desperation of people trying to climb over those barbed wire fences and the babies being passed over. I mean

harrowing photos. And you can see why any president or secretary of war i i is really fighting those images. What did you think of Pete Heggseth's press conference?

Yeah, well I well I think every one of the people in this in this administration has to decide how they are personally going to respond to this. Um you know, Marco Rubio look stunned all the time, like like where am I? Um J D Vance clearly whipsawed uh whipsawed by this. Which which side of the divide am I on?

Um and Heg Sith is like like my I'll I'll do anything he says he tells me to do. I I'm I'm I'm I'm in it. Win it for the Gipper. Uh Win it for the Gipper. And I I will say, I mean so much Rydyn ni'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd. Started to imitate a machine gun's rapid rattle. They come out in bursts. He seems much less confident, I would say, than usual. I mean, the weird press conference that

he had that seemed to be in a random place where someone had caught him in the capital. Um and then no one knowing whether or not Trump is just simply going to undermine them and contradict them. And this is not just them, this is literally uh everyone in the world, other world leaders, allies or enemies. Um uh the Israelis. I mean the Israelis the Israelis are like, okay, we better get we better take what we can right now because this could change tomorrow. Um so hurry up.

Well uh and poor Keir Starmer, the British Prime Minister is having a terrible time. Terrible time. He's on the wrong side of every decision. Peter Mandelson bounced as his ambassador from Washington, as we know, which is causing great Sturm and Drang at home. And then, of course, Donald Trump has his

uh fireside chat in the oval, in the golden oval, with the German Chancellor and leans forward and says he's not very happy with the UK right now, and in fact Keir Starmer is no Winston Churchill. Withering word. for poor Kearstarmer withering. And of course, you know, British base gets attacked in Cyprus, which I think the the Brits hadn't anticipated, and so they're sending out a a ship but it won't get out there until next week. The whole thing feels

just like poor Kirstam has been caught on the back foot yet again. And now Trump is weighing in on the Chagos Islands. You know, we have this thing. I mean he's gone into this in a l y uh unilateral way. You know, in the past the the the um or or actually the custom in in recent generations has has been to assemble a coalition of allies. I mean, if only for for your PR cover. But everybody was kind of

Semi at least on the same page. That was the effort. That was the diplomatic effort. Um, well, because there is no page.

Trump has no page. He has no no um that there's not a paragraph, a briefing paragraph that could describe his his strategy or his his his goals. Um, and he has consulted with nobody. Nobody knows what is going on. Literally, zero, nobody knows. I mean you see this reflected in the media now on a on a daily basis. It's like, uh, what do we say? What what and it's endless streams of speculation. Well

Yeah. I'm gonna you let you make your comment because I'm not gonna interrupt you, but then I'm going to say I think I know who I think I know who knows what's going on, but you first. Okay, well all I was going to say is that the the sense that nobody knows what's going on is also reinforced by the fragmentation of the media. So, you know, whatever you see on

online, you're not quite sure where it's come from. You're seeing clips posted by other people. Half the time you can't tell if it's AI slot'cause the AI is so good now. And it's very confusing to find things. It used to be that you would go to places, even CNN, and you would have a sense of

of actually what's going on and it's very clear they don't know. And at this point CNN still on the air? CNN is still on the air, but it's really just a series of incredibly long and depressing images of people supposedly looking happy with a series of of illnesses. No, they've sort of stopped with the panels. No, I think that's probably too expensive for them now. So they just have anguished looking hosts.

um wringing their hands about what's going on. And then they have actually, to be fair, the rather Uh they have a very attractive suite of foreign correspondents, I would say. Nick Payton Walsh, Jeremy Diamond, you know, I'm very happy to hear what they've got to say. Um but You should listen closely now because they may pass into history in um in uh any second now, since CNN now has a new owner or will shortly have a new owner.

Anyway, it's just very difficult to get a sort of from the news media it's very difficult to get a straightforward sense of what's going on. Yeah, but that's not just that. It is literally literally nobody knows. I mean, you cannot uh th nobody knows because Trump doesn't know. So the one man making all of the decisions doesn't know what the next decision he will make is going to be. So who's the person you think'cause you tantalized us with a sense of you think you know who it is?

Ving firar 70 år av resor som är svåra att släppa taget om. Och det gör vi med massor av erbjudanden som är omöjliga att motstå. Boka redan nu på wing.se. De bästa resorna försvinner först. Wing. Semester. Who knows what's going on? I think Jared Kushner knows what's going on. I think he's the only person truly inside Trump's head. Um inside his in this case of course, his father in law's head. I think he is the person who Trump most turns to on this.

um, probably the only person Trump Trump listens to because he has a credibility derived from Let me not put too fine a point on this, having gotten two billion dollars out of the Persian Gulf. And I think that in anything, in any way, when you look at what Trump does, why he does what he does. It is always it is always smart to look at what he can get out of it. What is the personal advantage to Donald Trump?

You know, and I have I have watched this now for b incredibly you know, since since the beginning. I remember I remember in you know, in two thousand seventeen, you know, the first visitor to the the first foreign visitor to the White House was was um MBS, the um the then crown prince of of um of Saudi Arabia and ever since The focus, and people within the White House talk about this rather casually, the focus has been, or a consistent focus has been on the the um the Persian Gulf well.

Mm-hmm. So the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, that's the crescent for Trump of opportunity. And is that why Iran is bombing them all? Um, well, uh I mean yeah, I mean I think so. I mean I think that they are that they are clearly Trump allies. They clearly wanna be Trump allies. I mean, often he is as confusing to them as to anyone else.

Um but but that is and they are dire will be direct beneficiaries if things go right or even mostly right in um in flattening the the the the current the current leadership in Iran. So and then so I think then you have to ask, and I don't know the answer to this, but I bet Jared knows the answer to this. what actually what's the prize in Trump's mind? The his eyes are on the prize. The prize will be what benefits him, him personally. So perhaps the prize is a new Trump hotel.

On the edge of the thing that's straight to four moves. Sure, that's like a byproduct. But I think when he thinks about this, you know There's a whole discipline. I mean, historical, military, tactical, um uh you know, born of immense experience of how you think you think about foreign conflicts. I mean I mean my you know, it it it it is the discipline that has developed since the Second World War, um, full of Mandarins and bureaucrats and ac experts and people who actually

um, who actually are very smart about about all all of this. And Trump is not thinking any of that. Well first thing he doesn't know what that is, so how could he possibly And he wouldn't be interested. No. So the uh you know the textbook he hasn't he hasn't um he hasn't read. But what he does think about and what he has th uh thought about for his entire career is is, you know, deal making,

real estate. I think he's probably added oil to that now. Where sources of capital, um, and how do you put all this together in a way, and I think that he probably believes it will be to the benefit of of of America, but he also believes that what is to the benefit of America should also benefit him personally. Right. So follow the grift. And I'm sure the two brothers, uh uh Don Junior and Eric, are also And we haven't even begun to talk about the other thing.

the money. within the context of using brains in a very relative sense, um, it would be Jared Kushner. The deal maker, the deal guy as he likes to describe himself. And I was just going to throw in, before you did actually interrupt me, um that isn't it Don Jr. who's an advisor to Calchie and the the betting markets are on fire over Iran and all sorts of money being made there, which is also a new um a new thing going on that you can bet online.

Yeah, i I I would use the word advisor advisedly when it comes to um Don Jr. I wanna ask one more thing ab about and just keep keep an eye on on on this about the the the war Which is that question that came up before, how long does he have? You know, and clearly in his mind, I mean they're talking four or five weeks. That's the that's the that's the timeline we've been we've uh we've been given. And it probably is a reflection of how long they think they have.

Um but y you know, the thing about war is that it's, you know, um it's um unpredictable. The thing about Trump's war, it's even more unpredictable than other wars. And um and at some point I th I think that this that this that this could end up um it could be the exit from Afghanistan in the Trump administration. I d I don't know when that is, but it would be good to keep an eye on that. Well, first of all we know that Trump himself is going to get bored of the war, right?

Um, but he may well have had enough. I mean, remember three weeks ago we were still talking about Greenland and Minneapolis and uh you know, Venezuela and we we've moved swiftly on from Venezuela. And Epstein and Epstein will will always come back to Epstein. Um But he will be bored by it. And then there was a somewhat ominous piece in the Wall Street Journal, I think, yesterday saying that, you know, Trump is now contemplating a role for the US in Iran, not something that

he had hitherto suggested, but I'm sure that's triggered by Jared pointing out there may be some economic opportunities. I do think it would be hilarious if Trump put up a hotel on the Strait of Hormuz, which is now on everybody's lips. It's such a wonderful sounding place, isn't it? The Strait of Hormuz, where twenty percent of the world's gas

passes through every day, though not at the moment. Um but I like the idea of a whole Iranian riviera Riviera to match. Perhaps you could get points if you stay at the Gaza Riviera, you can go on. It's like a timeshare possibly. a whole Gulf timeshare, Trump. Trump properties. Yeah, well, I mean just just the reconstruction alone will um will keep um the Trump family in billions.

for many years. Well perhaps he can build another Trump ballroom out there too. And of course the money will all come from uh from other countries too. I I I wonder and I would like to be a fly on the wall of his neck Reconvening of the Board of Peace. I I'm I would offer that it w we will never again see the borders peace. I mean what's happened to their membership dues, their one billion dollar membership dues, and literally the following week they start being bombed.

I mean, I don't think any of them saw that coming. All right, so I think we should at least do a drive-by on the Texas. uh on the Texas primaries. Uh the Republicans it hasn't been sorted out yet. They've got to have a run off. Um but we've got Ken Paxton And Uh the incumbent John Corny, who's possibly the most boring senator of all time. No, it's a very good thing. With a with a with a crazy person, a corrupt and a crazy successful politician in Texas.

I mean a politician general whose um whose um political obituary has r has been written even more times than Donald Trump and yet he um um He continues and he prevails and um and uh almost in some of uh official capacity represents the worst that politics can offer at any time in any place. So he could be a potential Republican presidential candidate then.

Uh yeah, yeah, you know, and and uh I mean even with within the within the White House, within the Trump circle, so it's in Trump has announced that he is going to endorse Paxton um one one of the one or the other of the of the Senate candidates, um and which will possibly, likely actually tip the race. And um And he and it could very well. I mean, within within the White House, uh Paxton is thought of as all of these things corrupt and crazy, but useful.

loyal, useful, and on their side. And he's narrowly missed all sorts of censures um as Attorney General. Um yeah, well and and he has been indicted and um um I mean I mean he narrowly missed one because his his his his wife voted for him. Were she not to have I mean, h hi his wife who was in the um uh the Texas legislature, he needed her vote or he would have gone down. But and which was always problematic because they have a lot of Domestic issues.

Well he's uh he's uh uh what is the word? An adulteress, I think. Which I mean we haven't even gotten into Tony Gonzalez and that crazy story of the congressman who's Who was harassing at least as far as we can tell from texts that have been released, one of his junior employees, they then embarked on an affair and then she set herself on fire and killed herself, leaving an eight year old child behind, which is truly devastating story. Um yeah.

But um they the the Paxson thing is also interesting because that is the possible key to flipping the Texas Senate race to the Democrats. So um I mean he I mean I mean Paxton is a is a d highly, highly, highly polarizing candidate whose whose um whose ceiling is whose maximum ceiling could mean that the Democrat wins for the first time in Texas since Mm the early nineties.

Right and his selling point is that he's crazy and and at the same time obviously compelling, but it may be that people have just had enough of crazy. And James Tallerico, who's a member of the s the Texas State Legislature, beat Jasmine Crockett, who's the congresswoman from Texas, for the Democratic primary ticket. I interviewed both of them. They're both incredibly lively, intelligent. Carmala Harris.

endorsed Jasmine Crockett, which clearly didn't well, we don't know if it made any difference, but it didn't make enough difference to uh to get her the ticket. But again you might say about Kamala Harris. What was she thinking? Well you might have to do it. You might say that. And James Tellerico is, you know, enormously articulate. He's finishing off in seminary and he's a former teacher and he's very appealing, very mild-mannered.

feels like he might be able to swing Texas if anybody could. Yeah w well it's it's a it's a bet on you know on m you know, moderation. I mean it's that s that schism in the Democratic Party between Should we go to the middle? Should we go to the moderates? Should we go to people who might possibly have some kind of a uh a populist appeal and appeal to disenfranchised mega voters, which is all uh kind of, you know, hope in a dream, of course.

But um versus versus the the other thing, which is, you know, Crockett was was um you know, a firebrand troller, uh, you know, bring it to Trump, et cetera, et cetera. Right. So but I I'm I mean this is where the Democrats to take the Senate. And if they took the Senate, they would end Donald Trump's I I I mean I've said this too many times in my Trump career, but let me say it again, they would end Donald Trump's political career. Um, if the House and the Senate um

uh had democratic majorities. And the secret, one of the keys to winning the Senate is Texas. They can't win the Senate basically without flipping Texas. Well you can be sure that a ton of democratic money is now flooding into Support James Talarico. In fact, the first text I got this morning when I woke up was from his campaign asking for money. So they're clearly on the case.

and very conscious of his potential moment in history and let's just hope he doesn't go down in flames like Beto O'Rourke does. Do you remember in two thousand eighteen he was gonna be the great new host? Yeah, no, the dream that never dies and the dream that never comes true. Um so when you got your solicitation, um th you got a text solicitation? I got a text solicitation.

Let me see if I still have it. Hey, it's James Tallerico. Did you get it too? Our movement won, but flipping this seed will take everything we have. Do the Democrats really think that this constant stream of tech I get certainly 10 a day. Do they think this endears them to anybody? I mean, the Democrats are stupid just about everything, but I would say it in in in this they're exceeding stupidity. This doesn't work. It can't work.

Um stop it. As a matter of fact, I spend most of my day going S T O P. It doesn't make any difference if you do that. They just pop up again. Everybody knows it's a grift. Um I I you know I it's uh you know shoot yourself in the head as the Democrats so often do.

Okay, so let's move on to uh a really remarkable hearing this week, that of uh the Secretary of Homeland Security, Christy Nome. The likes of which I'm not sure I've seen before, watching John Kennedy and Tom Tillis, two Republicans going after her in uh a really uh

Well, it wa i it was j i first of all it was gripping television. Tom Tillis doesn't care because he's now leaving. So he just laid it all out on the table. In fact you're like, Well, where's this guy been for the last, you know, X number of years? It was it was incredible. She looks she looks like an idiot. I mean she looks like something has profoundly gone wrong with her surgery or um uh or generally or generally with her intelligence.

Well, you say that but we can't remember what she looked like before. Remember this is a woman that's the idea, you see those things. That is c I uh of course could be AI, but she looks like a perfectly normal, presentable, even intelligent person until she's been uh uh until the makeover has um turned her into a a Martian.

Well, she d she really does look like, unfortunately, the Barbie doll that the Daily Beast has consistently said she is, because she loves to change outfits whatever she's doing. So there's Coast Guard, Christie, there's you know, Ice. Christie, uh all of it. But my favourite bit I think, and I'm sure you have your own favourite bit too, was where Tom Tillis goes after her for the accounts in her book of her shooting cricket, her fourteen month-old dog.

and then shooting the family goat. And he just said he trained dogs. This was a a bad judgment in her in his opinion of her, and that she was bringing that bad judgment to running ice. It was a very compelling argument. And now of course there are all sorts of conversations about will she last? Well she lost. I mean Tom Tillis is now turning out to be uh um um an intelligent, r reasonable, um person.

um uh a United States Senator asking the questions that should be asked, taking positions that that any rational person, w even a conservative person, would uh would reasonably take. And so Why now? Why now? Because he's not at risk. He's not he's not he's not running. So uh uh this was so these past These past um five years you were just doing what, Tom Tillis? Um so you're as corrupt as everybody else. And um good riddance to you also.

True, but at least he's going out. hopefully with a bang and it's possible that his performance may in the end take Christine Ohm down. Yeah, but yeah, but I I mean I mean you see the point here. Obviously Lapasta anything that he said. So that is uh I'm I mean frankly. That's politics. I'd rather have someone someone who actually believed this. this Trump junk, um, rather than rather than someone who has been utterly cynical about it.

Well we don't know what he was doing behind the scenes to try and weaken Trump or to try and create alliances, though I will say it hasn't been very effective if he was trying to do it. But but we know that people can't do that because then they get primaried. I don't know why I'm defending these people. I don't care. So then you're gonna get primaried.

Right, then find another job. It doesn't matter, it shouldn't matter. Um uh stand up, be a man. Well, the point is regardless of whether or not Tim Tom Tillis is a man or not a man, um His performance has led Trump apparently to do what you say he does, which is to call up people and say, What do you think about Christine? What do you think about Christine Ohm? There was a report in Punchbowl this morning, Thursday, we're recording this.

saying that she could be for the chop, but the trouble is that this isn't a great time while uh the Democrats haven't renewed funding for the Department of Homeland Security and they're in a sort of partial shutdown that this isn't the right time to fire her. No, and and this is in the background of Trump has been has been so far been adamant within the White House and um

uh and as he discusses all all of these personnel issues, nobody gets fired. He doesn't bend. Nobody is gonna force him. Um and if you are loyal and she is loyal to a to a a dogish um level. Let's um so I but which doesn't mean that Trump Trump couldn't shoot her like she shoots the dog. But um Um so I I think I'll be interesting to see what happens. My guess is that he will um

uh she will survive another dogish day. Well th the only interesting thing uh however to counter that is that John Kennedy, the senator from Tennessee, whose voice I love, it's that incredible deep Tennessee accents, sort of like flowing like molasses, um, made the point and in fact questioned her rigorously, if slowly, um, over this advertising campaign that she put up where she suggested that people self-deport because that way

It would just be easier for everybody if they could just do her job for them. He then made the point that this was an advertising campaign that was largely about Christy Nome and asked her if the president knew about the advertising campaign. She said that he did.

Trump is apparently denying that he did behind the scenes. And this was, I think, uh, you know, uh an advertising campaign that cost more than two hundred million dollars. And one of her colleagues' husbands stands to lose to gain a lot of money from this campaign by being an advisor to it. So again, corruption from uh from which Dakota is she from? North Dakota. South Dakota. West Dakota.

I think she's South Dakota'cause it was Doug Borgham from North Dakota, right? It's South Dakota, it was South Dakota. So South Dakota corruption in this advertising campaign and Trump now saying he didn't know anything about the campaign. Um i and and let's not forget Corey Lewandowski here, the the the the lover and slash advisor um who is putting together these campaigns and Um and we can assume um uh taking his percentage off the top.

Du plattade alltså håret utan värmeskydd. What's wrong with you, woman? vår vård hos Lyko, Your Beauty Playground. Well, incredibly they also got asked about their relationship and shown pictures of one of the jets that the department uses, which appears to have a bedroom at the back for television screens, where apparently Christine and Corey Lewandowski have spent a lot of time.

Together. But let and let's just just just flag, I mean the other th interesting thing about listening to her is how stupid she sounds. um how incapable of actually answering these questions, how bewildered by them, how dear in the headlights she is. Going back to and we also it's I I uh as often as possible, I think it's important to flag the moron ocracy that Trump has assembled around himself.

Well I would like to point out also that the B Daily Beast got a shout out because we had written a report that Corey Lewandowski was spotted taking the garbage out of Uh Christine Ohm's apartment. Uh we should also add that both of them deny that they are having an affair with each other.

You know, during the campaign there was a um uh and actually this spelled the end of uh Corey's bid to take over the campaign is that he had inserted himself, basically taking over the campaign, basically with with uh with Trump tacit approval, although we don't really know this because Corey just announced that he was taking over the campaign. Um um uh uh s uh Susie Wiles and Chris La Savita kind of retreated to another floor because they didn't know who was running the campaign. And um and um

uh Corey moved in, started to fire people, started to move them around desks uh d if your desk was the here yesterday, it was somewhere else today. Um and um and he seemed like that was a moment he was going to take over the campaign, except that he then brought Christy Noome in for a tour of the of of the offices, showing her everything. Clearly they were in

demonstrating um uh every aspect of being with someone in a romantic relationship, or at least the public aspects. And that was what uh um was what um Suzy Wiles and Chris La Savita then went to Trump and said, Hey. and Trump decided for them rather against and against um Corey Lewandowski because of Christy Noam. Aaron Ross Powell Well and he's as they refer to him her special advisor. And all I would say is Christy, good job. You've got him well trained, he's taking out the trash from Europe.

That's what a woman wants, a man to take out the trash.

Should we mention your friend Robert Kennedy Jr.? Well, I think we should keep our eye on him because he has certainly been muzzled. Go on. He has been told, and and actually this is an interesting example that they have looked at the they have looked at the at the at the vax numbers, the anti-vax numbers. and they're d incredibly dangerous for um politically dangerous for um for uh for Trump and for the midterms and for um for all MAGA candidates. It is a flatly unpopular position.

So um so he's been told to focus on food. I mean literally, no vax, food, anything you want to say about food. So it's the maha stuff that now is Now is his his um uh his issues m issue. You can mention that, no vax, no anti-vax. We don't want to hear about it. Well he he tried to take on Dunkin' Donuts this week, which inspired a lot of memes. He said that there was too much sugar in some of their drinks, which I mean alarmingly, he's right on the very biggest

sweetest drink you can get from Dunkin' Donuts. But Mora Healy, the governor of Uh Massachusetts immediately put out a meme saying Come and get it with a picture of a an enormous Dunkin' Donuts coffee. And of course people love Duncan. America runs on Duncan. It's a it's a perfectly good, in fact rather delicious for the most part, um substitute for Starbucks, much cheaper than Starbucks and there's lots of them. And the idea that Robert Kennedy Junior thinks he's going to be a winning

um campaign to take our Duncan. I I don't think that's the right target for Well no, I mean it's it's it's just an interesting again to keep our eye on it. Uh is the moron acracy being reined in? And um um I mean, i is there a perception and there and there is a perception. I mean there's a perception within the White House, there's a perception within the congressional leadership that this is a moronocracy, that these are the stupidest people.

um ever to achieve high office in American government. And t uh for Trump, that's been a kind of badge of honor, a proof that he can that he's the dominant guy. He can do anything he wants. putting clearly unqualified people into significant jobs is just proof that it's his government and he's in charge and no one can say otherwise.

But with Heg press conference. There he is, he's up there in his funny little suit. Um with his sort of arms that don't quite fit by his side. an American girl doll. He's an American boy doll. I wanted to just read this. We've taken control of Iran's airspace and waterways without boots on the ground. But when a few drones get through or tragic things happen, it's front page news, he said.

And that sense of I get it, the press only wants to make the president look bad. As if somehow the death of six servicemen is being used by the press to trigger anti press uh anti Trump statement when in fact it's being recorded as, you know, what has always been the casualty of war. It's also being used by the press as a um as an indictment against Donald Trump and his conduct of this war. So, I mean, in that r in that respect. Fair, but it looks so tired to go after the media.

Well, tried and true. Possibly. worked for uh for Donald Trump. I mean for and for for good reason, because it's the press. Nobody likes the press. The press is um has no idea what it's doing and and um um and is as as um um uh is in its

in its own way as Christinomish as Christy Nome. On Tuesday we discussed and I I think misdiagnosed the unpleasant rash on the back of Trump's head. I think is why he appeared a couple of times without a tie, unusually for him. But we had lots and lots of comments from people, including comments from doctors.

saying that the preventive cream that the White House doctor Sean Barbabella was talking about might actually be something to do with uh some kind of lesions on the back of Trump's neck, I bet picked up from golf. ac yn ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud. You were the diagnostician of this uh dermatological

I was because I thought it was stress psoriasis because he'd started a war. But now of course I realise he's not remotely stressed by the war. In fact he's enjoying the drama of the war and winning, as you say, and I'm now falling in line with the doctors I've read and many of our commentators, that it may be a um a a preventive cream for some kind of lesion. or symptom of skin cancer. Not unusual at that age.

Um well that sh we should wrap up on skin cancer always and legions and dermatology. Um so Well and we could we could possibly wrap up on a limeric. Go for it. All right.

This is from Edit Zz who's a bee beast member. The whole world's ablaze in conflagrations, explosions, destruction, abominations, but never you mind, it'll all just be fine now that Melania is running the United Nations. I thought that was quite good. And then Garfried is back. Garfried, thank you. A president hooked on the win. We got a nice note from Garfried. We got a very nice note from Garfried. We really did. And he's been incredibly encouraging of other commenters.

who are leaving their own limericks online. And we we just haven't been able to collect all of them and and read all of them out. But I do I love the fact that we're creating some kind of poetry with this podcast. Uh this is from Garfried, uh our Limerick laureate. A president hooked on the wind declared victory loud with a grin. With wars like T V and MAGA esprit, the chaos was always the spin.

Fantastic. Thank you. So the good news is we have so many B Beast tier members now. There are too many names to read out and we really appreciate your support. Uh and thank you to our incredible team. Um whose names I I'm always on the edge of my seat. for fear that I won't remember. Um uh Devon, Ryan, Rachel, Heather, and Neil. Can you remember any of the words from the mocha test that we know that Trump aced and takes three times a year? Live monitor him.

School. I didn't remember school. I only legs cotton and white. Legs cotton white school tomato. I think that might have been the five. Not bad. You're not yet demented, Michael Wolf. Not yet demented. Tomorrow. We will see everybody on Saturday.