Transcription
They just had never seen this, this completely different Trump behavior and, and unexpected. And what causes this? And with Mamdani, people in the White House said, "Great, this really gives us an enemy, you know, perfect enemy, left-wing socialist, immigrant." It just fit every category that they needed until he comes to the White House and, and then he becomes the model citizen for for Donald Trump's new world. What about the idea that somehow Trump is playing three-dimensional? I'm glad you asked. This person who I was, who was really just flabbergasted by the whole thing, said he doesn't play 3D chess. He has one game, and this wasn't it. And, you know, the implication here is that something had happened here. There was some really alarming mood swing.
Michael. Joanna. People can't see. But I'm going to tell you anyway. You are wearing the most delightful plum-colored pants. Thank you. Are they moleskin or are they corduroy or are they velvet? They're corduroy. Yeah. They look very good. Very good. And your. This is nice too. Appreciate it. All. It's quite fancy, isn't it? Nice and soft. Is it cashmere? It is. Yeah. Very nice. Okay.
So, what are you hearing inside the White House? Inside Trump? Well, you know, I this was kind of. I mean, I had been puzzling about this Mamdani thing as the whole world was puzzling about this. So this is the press conference with Mamdani going down to DC. Yeah. And with with with this lovefest. I mean, Trump doesn't have a lovefest with anyone except himself. So, but so it was, like, shocking. And so I spoke to some, some of the, some of the people and particularly one person I speak to often in the White House. And I would characterize this person as quite up close to what is, going on. And I said, "Well, what was everybody's reaction to this?" And he said, "Everybody's reaction was, 'What the fuck?'" Really? Yeah. I'm in. And it was like, yeah. Nobody expected that. This was not the script. It was completely out of the blue. And then he added, "And concerning." Concerning? Why concerning? Because I feel like, isn't it. I mean, Trump's typical bully in that for the most part, I always think of him as actually being quite nice to people's face. And then the minute they leave the room is horrible. No, I think that that's a that's a misunderstanding because remember, it's all Trump on set, right? So the Oval Office is always the message that he wants to send. "I am the dominant person. I'm the big guy. You're the small guy. I am angry, and you're going to take it. I am, I am, I am the president. And you're no less right. You're a less oppressed." This is for a lesser price. Yes. I mean. I, Lenski, and you think of the South African president taking the brunt of. Him. Yeah. I mean, I mean, virtually virtually anybody. He is sending that message, and it's a message of dominance and submission, except for this, which was, "My son." Right. And so, I mean, among the other things. So this, this, this person that I was speaking to said this wasn't just losing the plot. This was like a different guy. The look in his eyes was crazy. So the look in Trump's eyes as he's looking up to Mamdani. Yes. I mean, they just had never seen this, this completely different Trump behavior and, and unexpected. And what causes this? And with Mamdani, this person, he has said only terrible things, things about the person who even when Mamdani won, the people in the White House said, "Great, this really gives us an enemy, you know, perfect enemy, left-wing socialist. You know, immigrant." It just it just fit every category that they needed until he comes to the White House and, and then and he becomes the model citizen for for Donald Trump's new world. What about the idea that somehow Trump is playing three-dimensional? I'm glad you asked. Because, because, this person who I was, who was really just flabbergasted by the whole thing, said he doesn't play 3D chess. He has one game, and this wasn't it. And, you know, the implication here is that something had happened here. There was some wait. Really alarming mood swing. Is it is it possible he's had a stroke over the weekend? We had. No, I mean, well, we had Doctor John Gardner on the podcast last week and he was saying that, you know, there are clear indications that something has gone well. I. Know he's like. Well, this would be I mean, this this was certainly the suggestion. And, you know, the point was the point this person was made. And I think it's a it's a fundamental point about Trump is that he's always stays in character, which is, of course, what he does. What is his training? 14 years as the star of a of a hit reality television show. He is in character and this person, the view was that this was so weird that you know that he's on the set, the cameras go on, and suddenly he's playing an absolutely different part. And this person said, and this was, this was as you can see, I wrote this down, all of this down. This was not. You know, like. Riveting. So he says literally the only explanation was that the guy forgot who he is. So weird. He says. And then he said, "It gives you a 25th Amendment shiver." Wow. The 25th Amendment being when you can remove the president because he's no longer in sound mental health. Is the. Mental states. Yes. So at any rate, I mean, I don't I'm, we're just encapsulating that one moment. But the people around Trump saw that moment and they were, to say the least, startled. And do we is this do we think because Mamdani is very charming, because they'd had a private meeting beforehand where Mamdani had paid homage, or, I mean, Trump appeared to be enjoying himself. He appeared to really say this. Yeah. I mean, I think I think this I mean, thus the suggestion is that this was so different and Trump is so good at playing the role, but he clearly was not in that role out of character, playing a different role. And the view of this person and and people around Trump was that, they had no explanation for what was going on here. So we can invent an explanation. Well, I mean, could be. It could be a stroke. I mean, it could be. What else could it be. I mean, I mean the, the idea that he might actually have liked Mamdani is not, is not plausible first thing because he doesn't really like anybody. And because he knows that's not the job here. The job is, is to be to be the God, to be Donald Trump. What I mean, remember, and it's fundamental. What role is he playing? He's playing the role of Donald Trump. And and it's The Apprentice. It's the guy. "I'm the boss. I'm Trump, and you're nothing." Is it possible that he worries about New York? Because Melania is living here and he wants to make sure she's safe? What do you think, Joanne? I'm very curious to know what what's going on or what was going on inside Trump's head when he was with Mamdani. And I thought there were. Well, I think the implication here is that is that something, something untoward was going on in his head. I mean, he had lost the plot.
So I had a couple of observations about the press conference, which I watched a couple of times. One is that his chair was physically too low for the desk, so he looks like he's sitting in a child's chair and he's he's not quite high enough. Like, you and I are both high at this desk. If you look at it, he's the thing comes, the desk, comes up to him, and he looks strangely small, and Mamdani is unnaturally calm. So he just stands there, he holds his forefinger and he just stands, and he's not doing the thing that Ellen did, which is sort of twitching and jerking. And Ellen's child is picking his nose and wiping the book around the desk, and Trump is looking horrified. Mamdani actually looks to be the powerful one in the room, and Trump just looks like. And then the sort of, you know, "You don't have to answer that question." And the constant hand on his, like, I didn't see. It. Was noticeable. No, everything was off about this. I mean, is it possible he was just really fatigued? Yeah. Of course, I mean, and there's many possibilities, but I but I think the clear, the clear signal is being certainly sent by, by, by this person is that something was off. Right. And so we can we can speculate about what that might be. But the larger point is that Donald Trump never breaks character is always in character. That is his strength as a politician, except for this moment when something went awry. Maybe Marjorie Taylor Greene resignation. It's really gotten to him. And he understood well. Maybe something. Bigger going. It's it's it's quite possible that a lot of things have gotten to him. You know, the interesting thing, I mean, many people have observed this, that this, that the presidency, the certainly the first time around really didn't affect him much. You know, all other presidents, you know, you can see their hair going gray. They look, they look haggard. They look like, they've been, to say the least, working way too hard. That was never the case for Trump, partly because he wasn't working that hard. Gets up late, plays a lot of golf. Watches television, to be fair. And eats ice cream. Yes. Watches television. I mean, at a point that was always made is that his life in the White House was not appreciably different from his life in Trump Tower. Right. But maybe, you know, in this year and we're we're hitting coming very close to the end of the first year of this, this presidency, this, you know, this has been a active year. So. Well, it's been a very active year. And the last couple of weeks have been difficult because you have the shutdown, you have the problem with the health care premiums, which are doubling. One of the reasons Marjorie Taylor Greene said she was quitting politics because she could see the impact of of it on her daughters, who are going to have their premiums double. No. And actually, that's a that's a good point, which we should which we should know, because I think it's central that he is now considering, again, completely out of character, extending the Obamacare subsidies. Right. And and what's clear is that the Republicans haven't come up with a substitute for Obamacare. And you remember when he was campaigning, he said, "Do I have a concept for it? I've got some ideas." Nothing's materialized. The Republicans haven't come up with anything that's better than Obamacare, even if Obamacare turns out to be pretty broken. Right? And well, actually, that has been sort of their saving grace. They couldn't come up with anything, so they haven't changed Obamacare. But if the cost of Obamacare goes up, people are going to feel that. I mean, they were really going to feel that up and they are going to blame it, not on Obamacare. No, they're gonna blame it on Trump. So is it possible that he hasn't actually understood because he's not directly impacted by it, that people's premiums are actually going to double and in some cases, trouble, which means that people are going to go from paying, say, $800 a month to $1600, or even up from $2000 to $3000 to $4,000 a month. This is real money, and it's going to impact both states. I mean, well, it's a clue. It is. It's beyond real money. It's real money. It's real, real money. It's going to mean a lot of people are going to go bankrupt. It's not an incremental step up. Right. It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a bankrupting step up. It's a bankrupting step up. And it's also bankrupting for a lot of Republican, you know, Congress people. Senators, this is the I don't understand, I think, how the Republicans have baked this in and not thought it was bad for Trump. It I Trump, needless to say, is not one of his gifts, is not holding two contradictory ideas in his head at the same time. So, and his overriding point here is "Obamacare bad," right? And that is the thing. I mean, from the from from the beginning of his political career, "Obamacare bad." And he certainly has not he has not replaced Obamacare. He is not fixed Obamacare. He is not even given much thought to Obamacare except "Obamacare. Bad." So coupling that with, "Obamacare bad, but a more expensive Obamacare bad for him is a complicated it's a little more complicated than than, than Trump." Well used to. And especially because I do think the Democrats have been fairly strong in hammering out the message that this is because he's given a tax break to billionaires, to the richest. It's like none of this is good. And so I think maybe there's a broader issue. Does he realize and, you know, insane Trump realizes anything is is, you know, you need a little kind of critical understanding of that. But does he sense in some. More profound way than usual that actually things are going against him. Right. That there's a whole political ecosystem that's. Yeah. You know, if not if not caving in on him sending up all kinds of warning signs. Right. Well, you've got the unanimous vote for the release of the Epstein files. You've got Marjorie Taylor Greene leaving, and now other people saying that there's been this whole kind of anonymous campaign that other people, other congresspeople, are going to resign because the Republican Party is a shit show. Well, even more fundamentally, you you have a very, very difficult economy, which, you know, he fundamentally got elected in 2024 on that issue, and he has not been able to in any meaningful way, create any kind, that has not been ameliorated. And in fact, you can argue that it has only gotten worse. Well, and also, people aren't so stupid that when he says, "Oh, prices are going down," people are in the grocery store, they're on Amazon. They know that prices aren't going down. I mean, Marjorie Taylor, well, we don't really know, she said. "You're gaslighting a stop gaslighting us." Marjorie Taylor Greene. I know how to believe I'm holding her up. We'll get we'll get to that. Well, and then and then the other bad thing that's happened is, of course, the Comey verdict. You know, Lindsey Halligan, someone you have been pointing out is utterly incompetent ever since she came on the scene, has lost her case, and the judge threw it out with, you know, complete disdain at how this was brought. So a sense of the DOJ in chaos. Yeah. I mean, it's not only just, just the DOJ being in chaos because it has always kind of been I mean, since, you know, I mean, that I mean, that's the whole I mean, his whole point, "I'm going to take over the DOJ." Yes, it's going to be it does the DOJ function is not the DOJ function anymore. The DOJ function is to be my lawyers and to protect me. And what you now see in this is that the DOJ has a fool for a client, which is the president of the United States, right. And that, I mean, that is really the case here. Why did this happen? Because of him. And I'm sure the people in the DOJ, Pam Bondi, etc. are quite aware of that. Well, she must be furious because also, she didn't even know that Lindsey Halligan was going to file when she did. And the analysts. Said she. Didn't, you know. And let's go back to the Lindsey Halligan story. Lindsey Halligan was one of the women on his, on the campaign, in the campaign entourage who just happened just the fluke circumstance of having a law degree, and was only there because of the way she looked. Right. And because he he liked to say I align among one of the things about Trump is that, you know, he has a line, he repeats it until you want to shoot yourself. And this line was "Or I may not have the best legal team, but I have the hottest." And then the phone would go up and there would be a picture of Lindsey Halligan and Elina Harbor. And that was the entire that that that was their entire reason for being so fine. She get he gets he gets elected and she gets, you know, and there was a lot of discussion of what what roles with these would Lena Harbor get. You know, Lena Harbor wanted to be the press secretary now. No, everybody nixed her on that. Then she wanted to be the United Nations representative. No, no, no, no, no. But then she became, Elina Harbor, became the prosecutor in New Jersey because he put her into that. So he's been confirmed. No, no, no, no, no, no, she's oh, he's serious. Yes. No, it's it's they can't be confirmed. But he can put them in or he thinks he can put them in. Right. Well. And interestingly, one of the technical, reasons that the case was thrown out is because Lindsey Halligan is the second, what is it? What? She's not she's not legitimately appointed. Right. So she's an interim. And the person before her was an intern. Yeah. It's all right. And and it's just all it is is his him Donald Trump superseding all procedures. Well, and it's also him playing at being president. And you can do this in a television show. Right. Because there's no consequences. But in real life there are consequences. That other people judging but. Even even even the even beyond that. So we take Lindsey Halligan, someone who knows nothing about practicing law. But she was a runner-up in Miss Colorado. Yes. And, and she didn't really even have a job in the White House. She had kind of a, you know, a patronage job. So she is literally and and I'm sure I'm sure she is like, "What happened?" So, she's like a pig, you know, she's like a dummy just put into this. Into this. I feel like. I feel I should be defending her, and yet I can't because she's been utterly know. And, And so she she did a job which she or she tried to do a job, which she couldn't do, which she was only doing because. Because he ordered her to do it. And, and by the way, no one else would do it. And so it has come to its logical conclusion. I'm. Yeah. A judge looked at this and said, "This is this is not only ridiculous, but this is absolutely absurd. Get rid of this." Well, and now, because of the, statute of limitations, it looks like they can't bring charges against Comey again, because obviously they've appealed. The government's appealed, but it's actually run out. It's just it's just an absolute mess. And so. Does Trump mind. Is he just moving on? Is he screaming at people. Is he yelling at Pam Bondi. What's what do we think is happening. He's screaming at people yelling at Pam Bondi. You know, in in the Trump world and the Trump world is built on so much, a. Abuse plain of the legal system. This will they will appeal on this. They will push this out. So what is he going to do here? He is going to push this out as long as he can. And he will. He will, I suppose, managed to push it out for some time. And continuing to cause problems for, for Comey. And Letitia James, continuing to make them spend money. So this is all whatever vengeance he can wreak, he will and he will do this even if it holds him up to, you know, a, a deserved degree of mockery. Right.
So then the other thing that we've got going on is the Ukraine-Russia peace treaty, which at one point had 28 points to it. I don't know when, but when did it happen that peace plans had 28 points to them? That that seems to make no sense. Well. I mean, this seems to be an also, kind of an extraordinary story, which, which as far as I can, I can tell began with Trump wanting peace. And the only way to get peace in, in Ukraine is to do what the Russians want. Right? So again, this is this is like holding one for one, one thought in his head. "Oh, I can peace. Peace comes if if Russia stops attacking Ukraine." This is what they need to do. That which does not account for the fact that Ukraine will not do any of these things. So, so how this could have come about within, in any, in any appreciation of the, of the, of the difficulties in this situation. I don't, I don't know, it's staggering. But it did come about suddenly there's a 28-point peace plan, which patently the Ukrainians are not going to agree to. The Russians will agree to it. The Ukrainians will not agree to it. Well, then, I don't think the Europeans will agree to it. Or nor the Europeans. So it is dead on the face of it. So why would this be proposed? Why why? I mean, this is this is politics. This is and it's the most basic thing. Why would this even come about? Well, and it also felt like the piece band was back together again because our old friend Steve Wyckoff and Jared Kushner emerged as sort of central to this. Now, obviously, we know that Steve Wyckoff is a special envoy to Russia and has been back and forth talking to Putin, though he can never seem to remember what he says in. But Jared suddenly pops up again as we know that he was said. We we feel, you know, we have plenty point. We have to we have to ask what Jared's game is here because there's always a Jared. There's always an angle for Jared. And Jared is always the winner of the game. So, but but nevertheless. So this this this deal is, is floated. It is leaked actually, but obviously, of course it would be leaked. And then they have to and and and and Trump is defending this, not only defending this, but he's yelling at Zelensky, "You're going to get wiped out. Right. You got more with you if you don't." Right. And the remember that thing he said to him when he came over in February, "You've got no cards." And he was repeating it again, saying, "I told him you've got no car exact, no car." Okay. So yeah, loads of God that's. That's, that's fine. And if you think about that okay, maybe, maybe I mean, as horrible as it would be a if, if Trump then said you were out, you either agree to this or we are out of this. Goodbye. And that at least would have been consistent. But but actually that none of that happened and everybody was sent in to undo exactly what Trump had done. So. Right. So we we are now back to where we were before, apparently with a peace plan that would be acceptable to Ukraine but not acceptable to Russia. So we've just nothing has happened here at all except that we have shown once more that Donald Trump has no idea what he's doing, that the foundation here is, is just a foundation of of incompetence. And I can't help but think. And the Comey thing plus Ukraine, you know, certainly sends the message that we are we're back to the first administration. We're back to the the gang that couldn't shoot straight fundamentals of Donald Trump's way of governing. And, you know, this whole year has kind of masked that just because things I think have happened so quickly. And so outrageously or audaciously, that that everybody is, is, is kind of kind of knocked back and has been, has been if not an admiring in, in some amount of intimidated by, I would say, the headlines every day's headlines. Right. Because it feels like things are happening and because they've happened with a velocity that we're not used to. Exactly. So but now we're back to literally the first administration. The first administration was was in a bit of incompetence after a bit of in every everything was broken in some in some way, whatever they did, they did not know how to do. And and now we're rolling right back into this, you know, he can't. Yeah. Right. Because he wants to indict his enemies, but he doesn't know how to do it, right? Yes, he wants peace, but no idea how to bring peace. And not only no idea, but in every effort is a, is is not just just a failed one, but a ludicrous one. Again, we get back to the the fact that he is, a television producer and that these are sort of announcements which he makes proclamations which he makes, but he can't do the complicated work of actually making them stick so he can announce, "I'm going after James Comey. He's being indicted to James is being indicted." But then the indictments don't stick. He can pretend he's got a peace treaty the way, but nobody's agreeing to. No. And I think that that was that's partly what has happened throughout the past year. It's been a it's been a whole set of announcements and headlines. And now we're getting to the follow through. And there is no follow through. Can be no follow through because it's all fucked up.
Then this other thing, which is to me is extraordinary. So, you know, immigration is, is has been a winning issue for Trump. A fundamental issue arguably why the thing that has most fueled his political career. So, you have you have that winning issue a lot of people. You know, for better or worse, saying yes. But then you send in these guys in black in face masks who will identify themselves, who are on video literally every day dragging women and children away. So you've taken you've taken the issue that you are that's that has always worked for you and you're squandering it massively, squandering it well. And also taking people out of the workforce that the workforce needs. Well, that's. Yes. On on a general on a, on a larger economic basis. This is, this is, you know, ridiculous and is going to backfire. But on the more on that more particular emotional base. Humane level. You know, and and immigration is a fundamentally an emotional issue, you know, keep people. You know, we we feel that somehow it's wrong and somehow immigration is destabilizing and somehow it's out of control, which, you can argue it is. Well, and certainly this images of the southern border that were alarming to everybody. And it was a it was mystifying why the Biden administration wasn't able to deal with it completely on. So, in the Trump column firmly, until you take it out of the Trump column, with all of these, you know, the black guys in masks, I mean, they're not black. They're dressed in black, right? No, no, they're deliberately designed to look scary and, autocratic. And yet it's backfired because once they're all over social media, people are just appalled by it. And it's not who Americans think of themselves as being. Fundamentally. So the gang that couldn't shoot straight is, is back in charge. So it was clear that Trump wanted to try and get a peace deal done by Thanksgiving that no longer that no longer. It's all out. It's literally anything that he said that was relevant to this peace deal, which was just the other day, he was saying, "It is out the window, gone. Forget about it." So what's he thinking? What's inside his head as he approaches Turkey Day? Whoosh! Apparently. Is he going to be having Thanksgiving at Mar-A-Lago? I'm assuming. I'm. I'm assuming I'm assuming that will be it will not be a family affair. Yeah. No, I, I think I mean, my question is. Is he starting to realize that there are that this is serious stuff? I mean, I mean, right now, you know, and we haven't spoken for a while about the Republicans basically rejecting his plan to reapportionment key states in a way that would give him a likely win in, in the midterms. So that's an initiative that seems to have failed. So is he looking at losing the midterms? And if he looks in, if he loses the midterms, he's kind of he's kind of lost. I mean. That means he means he's got one more year left and he's already putting out lame duck vibes. Yeah. One more year till the midterms. Yes. Yeah. Well, I think I think that it's, it's I mean, he's going to be crucified if, if there's a Democratic Congress in, a year from. Now And then there's Mark Kelly and Alyssa Slotkin and the six Democrats that that were all members of the services who put out a video reminding active members of the services not to do anything illegal. I want to take a contrary view on that. Well, you didn't know what I was going to say. You're going to say they shouldn't have put out the video, aren't you? Yes, yes. And actually, as I was, funnily enough, I sort of agree with you on that. I think obviously Trump overreacted as I. Completely it's they're doing this is completely provocative. Yes. There's a technical point there that you're you're not supposed to I mean, if the order is illegal, you shouldn't obey it. But the larger point, which is that the people, people can't decide on an ad hoc basis what I mean, I mean, people, soldiers, people in the armed forces can't decide on an ad hoc basis what is is, legal and not illegal. Only in the most egregious circumstance are you going to come to that. Can you make that kind of kind of, qualification? That's completely ridiculous. But having said that, of course he overreact. Overreact? Well, and that was what's interesting. I thought it finally, the Democrats have begun to figure out how to get under his skin, because I thought the videos actually were slightly ridiculous, too. But it turned out they worked. And maybe that's what you have to do to have an impact if you're a Democrat. I wonder about that, though. I mean, I think it's a safe assumption that everything that Democrats. Do, I know what you're getting. Is, is probably wrong. Right. And in this and in this case, they've given him a, a, you know, a very credible argument now. Yes. Does does he ruin his own argument by what is I think he's shooting them or. What he said? I mean, he basically said execute them. And John Gartner, who he had on I mentioned earlier, said he's like the mad queen in Alice in Wonderland. He's like, "Off with their heads." Yes, off with their heads. But that's something that has often been effective for him. I mean, it's a very simple, you know, and and remember the old Trump thing, you know, not to take him literal or whatever that way. That was right. Take people don't take him literally. Don't take them literally, but take him seriously. But they but they they understand what he's saying in this instance. He has a point and and they're they've been kind of at best farcical about the whole thing. His overreaction does suggest he's not the same Trump. No, no, actually, that suggests he is the same Trump. He always overreacts and to great effectiveness. Overreacts in such a consistent basis that he is that he is that, that is that that's figured into everybody's reaction to his reaction. And it doesn't seem like he's overreacting. It seems like he's playing the character he is Donald Trump.
Okay, that was quite meta, that response. I'm not sure I entirely follow it, but what are you doing for Thanksgiving? You know, making a turkey. So are you doing the cooking? Of course I always do the cooking. Okay. Do you know this? Yeah, I've always done the cooking. This year I'm having friends. And to my absolute excitement, one of the friends called up and said, "I'm having the whole thing catered and it will be delivered to your house on Thursday morning." And I'm beside myself with excitement that I do not have to do all the cooking. Really? Yeah, yeah, I'm just thrilled. And overcooked turkey. I don't care. I wouldn't have had to cook it to be lukewarm side. It won't be lukewarm sides. I will heat them in my oven. I can do the heating up. Overheating, overheating. Your just your desk throughout your Scrooge and your coming early. I wish I could go to Mar-A-Lago for Thanksgiving. I just wish, I wish someone at Mar-A-Lago would invite Michael and I for a meal at Mar-A-Lago. I know you've read I yes, I know I've done my my Mar-A-Lago meal. Would Trump do if he saw you eating happily at Mar-A-Lago as the guest of one of his members? You know, that's that's a really good question. Because it could be that I would be, you know, the Mamdani of the moment and, you know, and it is to your point about, about this, you know, when when I have been with with Trump, I, he has always treated me very well. And, and actually, if he had any beef with me, then he would transfer it. So it's not you. You're it's my staff blamed me on, on on his staff. And then I got forgiven in this, or, you know, once I ran into him on the campaign trail and, it's a group of other people. And he was coming, coming, coming by. And, he and he stopped and everybody was like, you know, this and pointed at me and said, "I made that guy rich." And then he went on, which. Is why you can afford these fabulous cash. Is is I owe it all to Donald Trump. Lovely plum chords. All right. So many, many comments from from last week, including a lot of people that liked my analogy to Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" video. They thought that the MAGA girls were like a different version of that. Lots of it. Turns out we've got lots of people who loved Robert Palmer. Joni and Mary. I think it was John. He's always running around. Anyway. Great song. Okay, questions for us. Melania, the old John Dice and John Dies of Bleak House. Legal situation goes on with Melania. Question for Melania. And this is from Nora Page. Nora. Thank you. "Why did you wear that jacket that said, 'I don't really care, do you?' after visiting kids in cages? And whose idea was it to do that?" Them that there may be a relevancy issue on that question, but but why not try? Well, well, she's signaling. I mean, it might be interesting that she was trying to signal something. What was she signaling like? Okay, okay. Another question from so be Melinda. "My question for Melania is has Barron ever?" This is a great question. "Has Barron ever spent any time in the sun at Mar-a-Lago? He sure maintains a ghostly Manhattan pallor. I would like to say that not all Manhattan pallors are ghostly, but Barron does look oddly ghostly, as if he's never seen the sun." I think that there's a larger question here, which I think we will address about exactly where these people live. Well, and where is Barron? He's supposed to have moved to DC, the NYU campus in DC. Why have we not seen any pictures? I think we will get to the bottom of who lives where and with whom. Okay. Fundamental political question. Okay. All right. Okay. This is from Grace Havilland. "Ask Melania how she supported herself when she first came here on a visitor visa." Very good. We will we will get to the bottom of this career in career in quotes. Okay. And then this is this is just a comment. It's not really a question, but it's from someone called Just Go There 72, which makes me think that it could be one of those foreign accounts that we've been learning about this week, which actually, I think is one of the most disturbing stories that so much of political discourse going on on our social media platforms is actually coming from abroad. As we know, Russia, China, Korea is European countries. You know, and and it's not even human or these. Right. These are bot accounts. Yes. Anyway, I'm not sure if this is a boss or not. From just got there. It sounds like a boss account. "Trump is still competing with his deceased best friend. He was always insanely jealous of him and continues to covet Epstein's friends, women, charm, money, and his ability to make people laugh." That feels to me like a weird comment. I think that's from a bot Just go there. 72. If you are a real person, identify yourself for fair. We haven't even mentioned RFK Jr.'s loves on it. For various reasons, because it's it's a bit sleazy. A bit sleazy. Yeah, I, I was so. I mean, it. Was drawn. It it was so weird. Yeah. I mean, extraordinary, I know and also strangely, he seems to have spent some time thinking it through. I don't know what the pen time I said was. I was trying to figure out, is it actually a sonnet? Is it kind of a Limerick? It sort of fell somewhere. I am just it's, You know, when I was long ago, when I was following, Bobby Kennedy around for the for when he was running Teddy Kennedy's campaign. And this was in Alabama or Arkansas or something. It was it was in Alabama. And, and there was a little entourage of, of, of reporters who were following him and, and, and he would disappear. Just you stop at a gasoline station. And there was, there was a young girl working the pump. Suddenly RFK Jr. would be nowhere to be seen for 20 minutes. So I wonder if I leave you with that thought. I'm just fascinated as to whether or not there are lots of his sort of children out there that, you know, that the mother has said to him, "You are the son of RFK Jr." and the child's like, "My mother is insane. I could never know." I think I think. We should, We should. We should get into. This. We should get into it. All right, well, in the meantime, are you going to buy either the digital mistress's book, American Canto or Cheryl Hines's book whose name I can't read. Oates unscripted. Are you going to buy either of them? Which one do you think is going to be better written? What a publishing. But, you. Know, I mean, I'm must I mean, whatever I might think about Olivia, Newsweek. I have thought that she's a good writer. She's a good. Writer. So I don't I don't know. Now, I, I've, I've seen some initial comment on the book which would not support that, but I, I'm, I'm I'm open. Cheryl Hines we can assume it's not going to be a, be a, a work of literature. Okay, Michael, as always. I'll see you before the holiday. See you before the holiday. And we have another. Is that we have we have a holiday. We have a holiday special. We have a holiday special. We stop for nothing. We stop for nothing. And actually, we have a theme, which is Trump and greed. Well, it's really Trump and food. It's Trump and food, right? It's Trump and food. But I think he's greedy around food. He seems a greedy person. I imagine he does. I mean, we're going to discuss I think we should discuss actually what Trump what's on Trump's mind when it comes. To when he's eating. Yeah. Because it's so peculiar. Okay. Well, we'll, we'll, we'll get into it then. All right. So if you have been thank you for joining us, please feel free to subscribe to this podcast. Leave us a comment and subscribe to The Daily Beast so you can stay on top of the madness that's going on right now. And join our beast tier of members, where Michael can then read your name out. Michael. Here's the list of all beast tier members. We could memorize them. We should. Memorize them. Except they keep growing. Herby. Andrew Meller I think, Joanna says melhor, I do. I don't know why you put the emphasis on or that feels a little wrong. Fulvia. Orlando. Laus. Candy. Sandra Clarke, M Griner. Bonzo. Val. Love. Francisco Bo Kok DC Karen. White, Heidi. Riley, Connie. Rutherford, Sharon. Shipley, Andre. Ho Dell. Devin, Anna and Jesse, without whom? Without whom? We would have nothing to do on a Tuesday morning. Thanks, guys.