Governance and the American Dream

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Okay, one judgment Anyway, give it a try at mintmobile d. com slash switch Upfront payment of forty dollars for three month plan, equivalent to fifteen dollars a month required, intro rate for three months only, then full price plan options available. taxes and fees extra, S f ts at MintMobile.ot comot Who is building an arch to honor himself? And who's got banners of his big ugly face hanging all over downtown DC. Now that's what I would call a vandal. And so Donald Trump is the vandal in chief, Grit Force O. This flying bribe that has come here from Qatar While Americans can't afford gas, can't afford food, are getting kicked up health care goough, it's the most luxurious plane in the world. Everybody knows that the deal he struck with Qatar, when he leaves the presidency The plane goes with him. He gets to keep it. It's Bianp. This is corruption at a scale that we have never seen it and he's bragging about it I'm Tanna Coldes. this is the Daily Bees podcast. It's Monday, so we must be with David Rothkop and indeed we are. where we're going to talk about a lonely figure on the international stage, JD. Vance as his boss. tries to undermine him. On Truth Social, we're going to talk about why did the Trump organization single out Eric Trump for love on Father's Day and forget about his other children. Who knows why? And we're going to talk about the drama unfolding as we have this conversation in the UK as the British Prime Minister resigns It's all action and don't forget Grift Force one, the new plane from Qatar that David has very strong opinions about. So let's get into it David Roskop Joanna Coles, where are you today I am still in the south of France, my friend. I'm not going to complain. We have record temperatures, record amounts of roseet in bottles flowing everywhere, champagne everywhere. Everybody is very excited about the transformation in the advertising business. That's why I'm here to hustle up dollars, which reminds me that we would love you to subscribe to the Daily Beast. If you haven't, this is your moment to show your support for independent media and they don't come much more independent than David Rothop Yeah, show your support for independent media and help pay for Joanna's return flight from Tan Um If you don't yes return people do not subscribe. She's not coming back I'm going to get stuck there. Well, that will encourage people to not subscribe David. So listen, we've got you know, I know it was Father's Day in the US yesterday. We have to talk about the dis to Don Ji., who didn't appear in his fath's U tr social rants But Eric Trump did. So lots of love for Eric Trump from the Trump organization, but no love for Don Junior. We must talk about a lonely day for JD Vancez. I'm sure he would rather have been at home with his three children, but instead he was in Switzerland yodeling for peace with the Omanis and the Pakistanis And I'm dying to talk about the accusations of vandalism at the long reflecting pool that Trump says has been slashed as if it were The Friday the thirirteenth movie and Freddy Kruger appearing at night. and instead it turns out a former Olympian has been arrested for pinching a bit of floating paint So where do we begin? We've got Grift Force one, as Hugh calls it, the new airplane from Qatar And we've Well Last time we talked, we mentioned the UFC because that had happened the day before We've also had the Obama liibrary, which It's just the juxtaposition of UFC fighting, the reflecting pool reflecting nothing, the ballroom in a demolition crisis and then All the other ex presidents like a sort of band back together in Chicago. But I guess we should start with the Iran deal And what's happening and poor JD Vance, as I said yodeling Yodeling po poor JD Vance. We all We all feel terrible for JD I'm sure he's eating a lot of tooblarone. I hope he is and cheese and clocks. I mean, what else is Well the barin there's something else Switzerland is for and that is to dispose of vice presidents you don't like very much Oh And this is, you know, what Donald Trump is doing. It's like Here's this thing that Donald Trump has not been able to solve that is really important possible to solve on the terms that Donald Trump wants to solve it. And somebody's got to be the fall guy And he's like, Hmm, who could I pick from around here And he goes, well, maybe it's that guy JD Vance or whateverid the name he's using these days is Let's send him over there. And then when we have to strike a lousy deal, we'll say, well, that was That was JD. Don't you remember when the Maduro extraction happened that Trump was everywhere talking about it. He was everywhere. And of course, he's pushed JD Vance out to negotiate this impossible peace deal that the Iranians are just frankly laughing at. And and then he's undermining JD Vance's attempts by his true social posts, please explain. Yeah, And also we seem to be hearing in all sorts of stories and upcoming books and all kinds of other nounces that he like talk shit about JD Vance behind his back. and he's always going up to people going, who do you like better, JD or Marco You know, and he's kind of playing them off of each other like his kids, right likeike he did this weekend with Eric and Don Junr. But you know, you talk about something else that's pure Trump, which is He iss first in line to take credit for things he thinks he can get credit for. And he is the first to push it away. And I would expect any minute Don Junior to be named the head of the committee to fix the reflecting pool. because you know Becauseuse like why not giveive that thankless job, damn, since of course We know the reason for the problems with the reflecting pool But with Iran The problem is this Every single available solution is less good than where we were the day before the war started and less good than where we were the day before Obama the Obama agreement was torn up by Trump. And so he's going to get an agreement on nukes. that's less good than the Obama agreement. And we saw this already because JD came out and said, lookook, we have an agreement And they're going to allow inspectors in And that's fantastic And you know, people need to stop and, you know, just sort of go back and look at their notes because That was in the Obama agreement Iran's promise not to have nuclear weapons was in the Obama agreement and in the nuclear nonproliferation Treaty. and all the way back to nineteen fifty seven, they kept saying it. So he is achieving nothing. Trump knows he will achieve nothing because has a Trump has a secret He actually knows in some part of his lizard brain. Um, and and that is He has no cards All the cards he says he has, I have all the cards. He has no cards And you know, he rolled out the Republican Party over the weekend, Lindsey Graham U you know, a bunch of other sort of spear carriers in the Republican Party all come out and go, if we don't have a deal, then we are going to go out and we're going to bomb them. And of course The Iranians know something that Lindsey Graham doesn't know Just there's no way Donald Trump's going to go back to war There's no way Donald Trump is going to go and try and take over the Strait of Hormz This war is advised by seventy percent of the American people It's going to cause economic hardship for everybody through the elections, no matter what they do And so You know Trump's stuck. He knows whoever negotiates the deal is going to end up with Egg on his face And so he goes, hm How about the guy with the beard You know? How about the guy who's trying to promote his book, Cunion findinding my way back to faith Yeah, I mean, what a guy. What a guy this weekendy He was meeting with a Pakistani and he said, you know, the most important people in my life are an Indian and a Pakistani, my wife and you. They're the only ones I talked, even though his wife is of course from Southern California. But right, his wife is American, herer parents are Indian. Exactly U But he is the smarmiest guy in the world and And today You know, when somebody said, well You know, the Iranians don't like it when Trump threatens them Uh, Vant said, Well, we told them, you know, this is what we call an America trash talk And if they talk trash about him, he's going to talk trash about them And, you know, he was he was trying to kiss ass and defend him and He sounded like a dork and And of course The interesting thing about all this is that the very beginning of the MOU specifically says That and neither side will threaten the other side Right And what us Donald Trump? do he can't stop himself, David. He cannot stop himself. That's right because he's never made an agreement that he hasn't broken And that's that's where we are here. and And so, you know, what happened last night right before markets open, they said, okay, we maybe we're making some progress because they don't want, you know, the thing they fear It's not the Iranians It's a stock mark Mm M Well, maybe they fear the Iranians a little bit too. Well, I mean, they fear the Iranians are going to push harder and harder because the Iranians are really good at that And the Iranians know that, you know, there's nothing that Trump can say no to that they can't overrule. And we saw that because Trump said, there will be no tolls. And then the Iranians go, well, there does there be an administrative fee. and You know, we're going to go ahead and do this anyway in Trump's like it, well, maybe there needs to be an administrative fee And the Irans said Trump's like, we're gonna get rid of missiles. And the Iranians said, No, we need missiles. And so then Trump comes out and goes, Well, we can't take away their missiles, can we? and so forth. and they're going to hold his feet to the fire and he's going to realize You know, I mean, this is If we stop and we look at Donald Trump's benighted and his five or six bankruptcies in his three failed marriages and the kids who hate him And the business partners who don't want to do business with them anymore. and all the Stupid fucked up things Donald Trump has done in his life This is one of the worst This is going to be one of his signature failures as president. Because this war, it is a Wall Street bank on Friday estimated total cost to the planet of this war. Um be trillion dollars to the global economy Um it and the and the war itself probably, probably They estimate has cost one hundred thirty billion dollars minimally And, you know, it's there is no level and with him starting this war is working out for it Nothing about his treatment of Iran has made sense, right? The minute he ripped up the JCPOA, the Obama agreement, the Iranians immediately started enriching uranium again. They immediately embarked on the nuclear program, requiring theliteration, in theory, obliteration last summer And now we're in a worse position. I do not understand why more people aren't outraged by this. I don't understand why more European leaders aren't outraged by it. I mean, Georgia Maloney gets outraged because he's put out nonsense about wanting her begging for a selfie. and she's like Italian, so we don't beg. we never beg. I love that Why aren't they more outraged by what has gone on here becausecause I think that the European leaders for the most part are rational human beings who realize that getting outraged is not going to get and their whole plan And I've talked to some European diplomats about this. I think their plan is Ride it out. You know, manage Trump You know, they've got the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Ruta, the former Prime Minister of Holland And and he like kisses Trump's ass a little bit And some of the others stroke him and MacCraw is one day tough on him and one day nice. and Per Starmer, the outgoing prrime Mister of UK, one day toughen him in one day nice. Georgia Maloney, when she yells at him, she says, but you know, I could have been your ally. I support some of the things that you support And I think they're just trying to get to the end of this nightmare because they know that if he gets pissed off, then he starts tariffs. We're going to have tariffs We're going to have bad trade deals. I'm pulling my troops out. I'm not, you know And they don't they don't want to have to go through that. So they' I think I think they're just being sensible. As for Americans being outraged Joanna the poll this weekend said seventy percent of the American people don't approve of this That's as outraged as America gets because thirty percent of America thinks the Earth is flat. Right. So the rest of us think that the war in Iran was a bad idea. So David On top of the reflecting pool, can we just have a moment on the reflecting pool? Because it's supposed to be ready by july the fourth. It appears that the whole thing is going to have to be redone. We know the contract didn't go out to tender. It went to a friend of Donald Trump's. Are we surprised that the reflecting pool is reflecting notothing but the corruption and the greed and the frankly grift of this current administration I you know First of all, That's a rhetorical question because clearly we're not surprised, right But secondly Let's just break this down a little bit. Did you see the picture of the guy who got the contract horse I saw him. He looks like he looks like a mafodon. L looks like a mafodon. I mean, when Hugh Ocy, our executive editor got that picture, he was beside himself. I mean, the hair, the moustache, the overcoat. He doesn't look like a mafodon. looks like kid in high school playing a mafiaon in the high school production of the Spranos. Okay know, he's like holding a big cigar and he's got this cheesied coat on. But the reality is this Trump screws up things all the time is the tackiest person on Earth But this was a really big I mean, let's look at this. The reflecting pool was fun, right And he thought it was a little dirty. And so he said, well, okay, let's refinish the bottom of the reflecting p. It wasn't that tough It didn't take that many days and yet from every single possible perspective It's been a debacle. They did it, they did it with the wrong people. They did it in an illegal way. They painted the bottom of it the wrong color. The bottom color heated it up. When it heated it up, algae started to grow. There was a picture over the weekend. floating around in the algae. No it was so sad. so sad. Horrible And it's turned into a tourist attraction in downtown DC for people to hate on Trump, right? They come down and they reflect on what a bad president they've got. then Trump sends in the National Guard and people from Homeland Security to threaten people. And then he's like, Holy Mackerel, this is a mess. What are we going to do? And he's like, Well, I have to blame it on somebody. So he comes up with a conspiracy theory and he says, Well, it was vandals and they cut According to him a two hundred and fifty foot gash. In the bottom of the materials and the bottom of the pool And he's he's like He says we're rounding up these vandals who are behind this whole thing Lord knows, you know, if there were a vandal and we'll get to that in a second, they would not get the pardon that the vandals who destroyed the Capitol on january sixth But of course There is beyond all of this, there is this meta thing. And the better thing is Who's the vandal in Washington Who's defacing everything in Washington Who defaced the Oval Office? Wh destroyed the East Wing Who put a giant claw on the south lawn of the White House? Who is building a gilded ballroom for billionaires to dance in while Americans star Who is building an arch to honor himself? Who's covering all the horse statues in Washington in gold leaf. You know, somebody and who's got banners of his bid ugly face hanging all over downtown DC. Now that's what I would call a vandal. And so Donald Trump is the vandal in chief. He is He is the man who is defacing the nation's capital And you know, he's trying to go further. you know, he wants to rename Penn Station after himself He's trying to rename Dulles Airport after himself. He's renamed West Palm Beach Airport after himself. You know, he didn't do enough damage. as the worst, most tasteless developer in America Now He's taken it to another scale Tax And by the way, it ties to something else you've talked about which is grift force what? this flying bribe that has come here from Qatar that he decides This is like mind bogling. The president holds a press conference to say Look at the four hundred million dollars gift I was given by a foreign government And to then, while Americans can't afford gas, can't afford food are getting kicked off healthcare to go, it's the most luxurious plane in the world the most luxur and he's got it in painted in these cheesy Trump colors and Everybody knows that the deal he struck with Qutter was not just they give him a plane to use as president. The deal is that when he leaves the presidency The plane goes with him. He gets to keep it I mean, and it cost a billion dollars to upgrade the plane to be suitable to be Air Force One So he gets four hundred million doars from the Qataris, he gets a billion dollars from the taxpayers, and he gets to keep the playe I mean, this is Grift, but it's beyond Grift. This is corruption at a scale that we have never seen it and he's bragging about it I mean, something's missing. I'm very glad I checked in with you this morning because we're receiving Pak Rothkopv this morning. Your outrage is very clear Do you think the reflecting pool will be done by july the fourth? Is that even possible And does he is it possible there was that his description of the dagger on the two hundred and fifty foot slash? I thought they'd just painted the bottom of the pool so it's not possible to have slashed it. Is it just all made up? Now what Of course it's all made up. I mean, J Joanna, there cameras all around the poool There's cameras all around Washington If somebody did that, it would be on video No noobbody did that. And what he says a slash is what he meant was that the kind of surf what they paint it with is a kind of a rubberized surface you know, it's and what's happening is They didn't affix it to the concrete or whatever the reflecting pool is made out of properly And so pieces of it are just floating up in the sw now For meme makers everywhere, it's been great. Because here is the drain, the swamp guy literally building a swamp in the middle of Washington Right, That's a very good. It's an amazing metaphor, isn't it? It is amazing. And so there's thousands of little internet memes You know, covered with algae and Um, uh, uh you know, but seaweed hanging from his face like the the, you know, the the thinging or some horror movie monster crawling out of this swap. And in fact, one of the great things that happened over the weekend is that some Creative artists started projecting on different buildings in Washington. images from the swamp thing coming up and image and you know they's just started projecting all over Washington mocking images of Trump You know, I think that one of the things about the reflecting pool is The timing couldn't be worse. because You had this Iran war debacle The country's in a mess two hundred fifteth birthday is coming up You had this UFC hideousness. And and and now there's this thing and it's such a symbol of his vandalism his failure his inability to take responsibility for anything his turning Washington into the grimiest slimiest swamp of all time that, you know, it' it's, you know, you talk about reflection, you know, upon reflection, this is a metaphor This is a metaphor for Trump And it's it's pretty powerful What do you think the most serious of his cabinet members think as they drive past it in their government cars. Do they have their head in their hands? Well, o tootally fair question. But if you were thinking of, for example, Marco Rubio, who at least had a career as a senator before, or if you thought of Scott Bescent driving past, these are people that you still think have a foot in reality. Do you think they're just head in hands thinking Oh my goodness, we can't lear this done. You're doing this to trigger me Okay, there's no foot in reality. You don't think there's any foot left in reality Or no, maybe it's in the Maggie Habrerm and Jonathan Swan book, but Apparently Scott Besscent. referred to Zelensky as Mr. Bean in a bad suit I mean, how dare he This hampered ar of a rich guy You know, with practically going around with a monaco and a top hat Make fun of this guy who is an actual hero of democracy. who stood up to Russia for four years, and he's comparing him to Mr. Bean I mean at Marco Rubio is kicking people out of the country or keeping them out of the country Four. offering views on the internet are critical of Trump Markco Ruby is like, I'm Mr. Normi, right But he is gone a hundred percent total fascist He's responsible for the millions of people who are going to die because USAID was shut down. He has gutted the State Department. There are most Diplomatic posts, senior diplomatic posts and the U.S. has around the world are open because he doesn't think he needs to He's presided over the shutdown of the NSC, and he's presided over the worst U.S. foreign policy ever. Look at the tariffs. lookook at the invasion of Venezuela. Look at sinking all of these boats around the world, blowing up NATO, blowing up our allies, kissing up to autocrats from around the world, the president's grift destroying American software That's the normal guy? Fair point. I totally triggered you. I totally triggered you, but you think there's nobody riding up and down in there hushed. quiet government cars that doesn't look out and think, how can we have messed up the reflecting pool? It's such a peaceful place in Washington. It's supposed to be a peaceful place, it's a sort of sacred place for reflecting. Maybe Melania when she's escaping the White House and she's heading off to whatever actual home she lives in and whatever actual bed she sleeps in might go That idiot has done it again But you could do that in her voice better than I could he is unifying, unifying Washington with What has happened to reflect pull the pool reflect if it's not reflecting. That's a weird accent. I'm thrown because I'm in the south of France and I've been speaking French all morning, so now I'm very confused I don't know where I am or what's or what what's happening You did see that the final accounting on the Millennia movie is coming out. Tell me tellell me exactly what it is Well, I don't have the exact numbers, but I do know that it was something like You know, it made a few million dollars in revenue, but it cost them forty to make and then another eight five Yeah something. market and stuff. So they may have spent a hundred million dollars on this movie. They probably lost seventy or eighty million dollars on the movie. It was a complete ull up Um, and, u, but but anyway, I don't know who it is some clearly somebody must realize what a mess he is making of these things I mean, in the in the Maggie Habrerman Jonathan Swad book Apparently somebody says they go into the Oval Office and Trump is like they're putting up this gold B stuff And they super glue, right? We' super glue. We're supergue Um now You know, we could talk about Maggie Habrerman and Jonathan Swan and what absolute offense to journalism it is for them to go and collect all this stuff and then keep it until it's a book Right? I mean, there's some of the things that they arere writing about here which include you know,, you know, his, you know, failings as president, bad policy and all this other stuff is news. And they just hold ont to it until they can go and cash in on it as a book. What offends you the most? What are the points that you feel they should have released at the time? There are so many. I am offended by people who are day to day journalists who are not reporting breaking news when it comes in. I make Donald Trump Um, know it was very clear to him that You know, people thought that he was not healthy, that people thought that you know, that, you know, that that there was fighting in the White House and there were tensions between different people in the White House. The White House was dysfunctional in many respect And they just thought, no we're going to keep this until we release the book And you know, they're good, they're good journalists. They write good stuff. but something has happened in journalism today where it's perfectly acceptable to go and gather up all this stuff and not report it until you get paid until your payday happens. until it gets you on the New York Times bestseller list And I just think that's an offense to journalism. But hasn't that always been the way hasasn't that been the way with Bob Woodward Oh, he's one of the worst offenders. In fact, Bob Woodward probably owns the patent. on this kind of offense to journalism. Well, it's the conflict or the tension, isn't it between the writer and the journalist. and noody's going to buy a book if there's nothing new in it when you're writing this kind of nonfiction. So it's complicated. And I guess the Times thinks that They want to keep them reporting. and so this is the quid pro quo But no, I guess so. But you know, it's also possible to wait a couple of years, have some perspective But one of the problems is publishers news now So, you know, they want, you know, they want them to write three books in the course of the presidency in real time brereak news And I think that's where you get the tension. U to be in the olden days, somebody would write a book. It would come out three years after. It would be about perspective by the way, we could use some perspective, right? I think that's not a bad thing to focus on But it's an ugly model And frankly, it doesn't do the American people any service Um, and, uh, I don't know. that's just my opinion. you know be. Well, I'm very curious to read the book. Have you ordered yours Oh I u someomebody offered to send me a copy. so I will I willll reate the free copy I get Okay, so I do want to talk about Donald Trump as a father And on Father's Day, the Trump orrganization marks it with a gushing Gushing I mean, as gushing as the water from the Relecting pool tribute to Eric Trump with no mention whatsoever of Donald Jr. Now it says this Father's Day We celebrate not just the man who inspired it all, but the son who showed up every single day and proved that the greatest gift A father can give isn't a name or a fortune It's an example The empire that Donald J. Trump built did not survive four years of presidential service by accident. It survived because a son put on his hard hat and went to work Eric Trump is not merely the beneficiary of his father's legacy He is its keeper, its engine, and its next great chapter. What can this mean for Don? For Don Jr., who was wedding to socialite Batina Anderson, whose father was a financial advisor to Jeffrey Epstein, What can this mean for Don Ji.? Nothing good I mean, clearly, Don Jr. is not in his father's good graces. I mean, he could have gone to the wedding. clearly Aino really wanted the wedding at the White House could have done it there. It wouldn't have cost Don anything. He probably wouldn't have even You know, spend any time with them there. He doesn't spend much time with anybody. Um, in you know, in fact Is it in the Maggie Haberman book that He goes into his separate bedrooms with Melania and then his bedroom ends up being all littered with fast. It's an ice cream cartons. ice cream cartons. And she doesn't want to live with that. so he goes in there and then they have to go in and clean it up every day. Anyway. I don't think that's the reason that Melania doesn't want to hang out with Donald. I don't know that he's got ice cre empty ice cream cartons and wrappers of you know, hamburger rarappers at the bottom of the but. I think there are probably other reasons she doesn't want to live with them. You're absolutely right. But Joine, think about this guy He's like the president or he's the, you know, this super rich billionaire is alone. His wife doesn't want to be anywhere near him in his bedroom spending countless hours Texting and twiting and his jammed. He's eating a big mac and he throws the carton on the floor and he's. I mean, it's like Howard Hughes or something It's one of these billionaires who's lost his mind, except he's the fucking president of the United States. Yeah. I mean, that's the amazing thing. And his family, I mean, it's not just Don Jr. What about Melania's favorite child I mean, you just look at Baron and you go this guy There are bad headlines in store for this dude Not to m you know, he hangs out with Andrew Tate and he loves, you know, that whole world. but He's not mentioned You know, Tiffany she's never poor Tiffany You know, she's she's never mentioned Um And, you know, I mean, I think he's still deeply in love with Ivanka But Ivanka' taken herself out of the running, right? She's just said, politics is too cruel. I don't want anything to do with it. So Jared is busy out there negotiating, but Ivanka's not part of it Well She's not part of it Just like Jared, you take it the heat You be out there. I'll be telling you what to do from behind the scenes. Well, and happily she's found the Albanian island that they want to they want to live on. And Albania is closer to a revolution over the corruption of the Trumps than we are You know, and and they could get I mean, I love what's going on in Albania. I think there's a lot we can learn from them Yeah, we should remind people, people have literally been. I mean Thousands of people have been protesting in the streets over Ivanka and Jaard's Well, in fact, it seems like they've already started work in this natural beautiful beach and part of Suzanne Island, which Ivanka said that she discovered when she was staying on a friend's yacht and she went swimming and then they found this island and then they climbed to the top of the island and they were barefoot and it was so intrepid And then they discovered that they could buy this item for not very much money and turn it into a fabulous billionaires resort. And she said it was just the kind of place she'd always wanted to live They don't live on the same planet as we do. I think Ivanka is living in this billionaire's bubble where she believes she can arrange her world in such a way that She can influence her father and have her husband be the front guy who takes all the heat for these things and He can go and collect money from overseas governments that want to you know, have a special inn with the president and she can look like she's removed from it and she's just being a mom But then you know, she travels around the world on yachtts and things and she says, Oh, let that island looks nice. Let's take that one And she just is completely out of touch with the idea that You know It might belong to somebody else or, you know, that might not have a price or the country involved might want to have a say in what happens to it It's this kind of you know, that there is this, you know, there's this group. There are eleven hundred billionaires in the United States that living a life different planet from the rest of us And she is You know,, she's just sort of got it down and as, you know, she thinks she can escape On the other end of the Trump presidency and and is not going to bear the burden of the fact that her father is accused sex offender and accused fraudster has been impeached a couple of times, maybe impeached another couple more times uh, you know, is as is the worst president in history. She's going to think, you no, I got I can escape all that. That's her whole game. And it's Melania's game too. It's kind of interesting that these people are like, try to get close to Trump tryry to get as much cash out of them as they can but trying to not be tainted by the fact that they're associated. I just want to go back to Eric Trump because this tribute it's more than a thousand words long on the Trump organization. And it says, fromrom an early age, he was on the job sites. He mowed lawns, he laid tiles. But what distinguishes Eric from the caricature that critics attempt to construct is the texture the man himself, he is by all accounts someone who genuinely loves the work, the construction, the design, the tangible satisfaction of standing in front of something He helped build He has spoken often about his deep love for the outdoors, for skiing, for shooting, He isn' in a word. Real I mean, what is this? It's just super bizarre. And then it says Eric Trump growing up alongside the greatest deal maker in America and what it means to carry that legacy forward. What can it mean to carry that legacy forward I don't know. I think they're all going have to change their names. It's like the Hitler family that used to live in Long Island And after World War two, they like they change their names. You don't want to You don't want to have to carry that burden. And by the time Trump is done A couple more impeachments, a couple more giant scandals. onnce we learn what's really going on in the Epstein files You know, once, you know, that there are fifteen more scandals that we're going to hear about By the time we get to the end of this thing He's going to be Eric Smith You know, he's going to be Eric Smith of the' to be living in an FBI protection program. Right. And it's going to be the worldwide big buildilding corporation and it's not going to have any name associated with it You know, the funny thing is you read all of that, when I think of Don and Eric, I think of Bevis and Buthead And I'm like, you know, that's the image I see. You know, Eric was always the dope You know, he was always the one that everybody was making fun of. Maybe Don feels sorry for him in some respect. I don't know It is clearly a very dysfunctional family Um, You know, I was thinking about this today and I know other people have made this comment about Trump Have you ever seen him show affection for anybody Well, apart from grabbing his wife's arm or hand, because she's always flicking it away. Right. She pulls it her back Have you ever seen him do? you know, I was watching the Obama thing And and here's Obama and Michelle and their kids. Obama and Bush and Obama and Clinton and so Obama and Joe Biden. There's real affection. These people care about each other. They're normal They're not that normal. They want to be president. You're not normal if you want to be president, right? But they have some normal traits that they have not completely lost. and You know Michelle will came out wearing a skirt that had his her mother's face on it and he got all moved and You know, I'm not into this, you know, like I think Barack Obama is a pretty good president I think he was he's a good guy and a very smart guy and he's a great orator And he broke he made history and he deserves a lot of credit. But I think he was a kind of a pretty good president watching these people the Obama Library and thinking They're George Bush and Laura Bush, they like the Obamas They're nice to each other. George Bush gives Michelle Obama in that funeral a mint You you think ever Donald Trump ever gave anybody a fucking mint in his life that he ever said, Oh, you look like you need a mint? That's it, There's no normal there. Well, there's no normal in the UK right now, David, because Kir Stahmer has just resigned after a mere two years in the job as British prime Minister. Depends on what you mean by normal Well, Britain's turning into Italy. Yeah, you've had seven prrime mininisters in a decade, right? Yeah, which is very unusual for Britain. And also Kir Stahmer is the man who shaped the party up the Labour Party up so could be re elected after endless years of Tory rule, I think fourteen years of Tory rule. rememarkable exit for him as he's threatened by a Mumdani type figure who's been the mayor of Greater Manchester Okay, first of all, Kurestarmer prior to being Prime Minister Pretty respected guy M Who was the chief prosecutor? Right. He was he was kind of similar to the Collin Firth character in the Bridget Jones movies. You know, that was that was kind of how he was viewed, right And u He just, he just didn't have And again, you know, this is a leadership thing, you know about it from business. but Some people just don't want to take the hard decisions S Some people are just not made being the front guy in this way, and he just couldn't deliver. And it was it was pathetic, but You know, there there were six other pathetic leaders of of the UK in the course of the past decade as well You know, when you say a mum Donnie like figure What do we mean Well, we mean someone who's leaning into progressive politics as a way of making people feel better I think. I mean, and just yeah, I'm going to stop you on the Kiirstama thing because the first decision Kirstamaas government did was to cut benefits for pensioners heating. I've never come across a worse political decision than to cut old people's heating benefits. It was a staggering decision. Then they went after the farmers. They've made dececision after decision was incomprehensible to people actually. I don't think it's not that he I don't think it's just that he's not a front man. He's not a great orator. As Donald Trump said recently, he's not Winston Churchill. You don't have to be Winston Churchill. But he has he's definitely not a politician is what it turns out Yeah, even Winston Churchill wasn't Winston Churchill, right? Rember you know, for four years he was Winston Churchill. Yeah during the war. Yeah, absolutely. But you're absolutely right, and he made some he made some bad decisions. U And, you know, he undermined himself politically as a result of them. And clearly he made those decisions because he was making a behind the scenes political calculus with pressure from different people within his party. And was was it was the wrong way to go But I'm thinking about the Mamdani thing from a slightly different perspective Because you know, when I read about these developments and you see people like Andy Berham being compared to Mom Donnie or Washington as just a finished its mayor of primary and the person who will be the next mayor of Washington is another democratic socialist just like there is in New York, just like there is in Seattle U A where people compare AOC and Bernie Sanders and so forth And they say they're leftists. I was reading the economist and they refer to them as leftists and that this is about there' being progressive And I don't think that's what Mom Donnie's about. And I don't think that's what this change is about Mum Dani is about lower rent cheheaper buses traveling, pre K for people who need a grocery in your neighborhood these people recognize that the government People don't believe government serves them peopleeople believe government serves powerful people above the government And it's not delivering the kind of basic needs they've got And I see it I see this as kind of a different thing. It's about good governance and nuts and bolts you know, meeting the needs of average people who feel like they're being left out by governments that are controlled by oligarchs Um, and and so it's not I don't think the labels are super helpful And, you know, clearly Mum Donnie has been Thus far very successful by delivering smallall scale but meaningful positive, you know, he filled one hundred thousand potholes That wasn't that wasn't nothing. That was something And I think that's, you know, I mean, frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if the there's more of a focus on mayors Mayors actually have to do stuff. You know Well, they're accountable, aren't they? Bam Dani hasn't been able to deliver free buses and he hasn't been able to tax the rich quite as vehemently as he said he was going to because there are all sorts of But it's June and he's been in office for Six months And and he he did come up with a tax for. u Piet Tres and he did it with the governor and the legislature and he did get something done And he's checking, I' not this is not a M Donny campaign speech. Well, it sounds a little bit like one. And as someone who lives in New York City, which I know you live in the beautiful part of DC that you do. As someone who lives in New York City, I will say, I haven't noticed any difference whatsoever to the number of mentally ill people that are on the streets He's been incredibly lucky in terms of the overall decline in crime in cities, and he's been unbelievably lucky with the Nx win, which has put everybody in a fantastically good mood And lucky is better than smart many times, right? Luck helps. And the reality is this that in New York When he came in and now there are one hundred twenty thousand people without homes which is You know vastly more than any other city in the United States. It is a serious problem I don't you know, will he solve it? Will he make a big d? I don't know I actually am getting at something else I'm a little tired of the labels of people saying, o, Trump and the conservatives. There's nothing conservative about Trump or you know, the left is got to be destroyed in order for the centrus to win, but the centrus are really people who are advancing a corporate agenda And they're not so much center. They're sort of pulling things the right and What do you mean by the left? You know, are you talking about health carere for everybody in this country? Well, everybody wants that or common sense gun controls or stuff. that's not what the issues are anymore I just I just think the labels aren't super useful And I think people are really sick of government. that seems to be giving breaks to rich people em power people powerful people and doesn't seem to be helping them with their very real problems of whether they're paying for their lives or whether it's a crazy guy in the street or whether it's crime or whatever And I just think they want government that works And you know, the thing about Trump is I did this over the weekend. I thought maybe I thought I would turn it into calm. and I sat down and I made A list of fifty initiatives. You always tell me I'm making lists all the time some manifestation of OCD. but I made a list of fifty what I thought were sort of the fifty major Trump initiatives Every single one of them was bad Every single one of them had a bad outcome. And And I put I went out on the internet and I said, please name for me one thing Tum has done since becoming president that was actually meaneaningfully good for most Americans The answer is none Now, I know I'm on blue sky and I'm a liberal crazy and whatever. but the reality is Trump is an example of Bad governance We're living at a Ner. The British government is not functioning Somehow our governments are not actually meeting the needs of people. to deal with their day to day issues, whether it's the cost of living or getting health care or being made safe or or just having decent infrastructure around them And and I I just think there that we're at a kind of watershed, particularly in the US where The majority of the under forty population, which is the majority of the electorate going forward Um But They don't believe there was just a pog. seventy percent of them don't believe in the American dream anymore I believe they're going to ever own a home And And I just think everywhere, this is the issue. The issue is somebody make my life a little better Can they make a plausible case they can make my life a little better Right, Can gas get cheaper? Can I buy a home? For the most part, sort of modest ambitions, which and also in the light of Elon Musk becoming the world's first triillionaire. In light of Elon Musk being the world's worst trillionaire, I saw somebody on, you know the internet this morning saying, if you have One dollar You are closer in wealth to the second wealthiest person in the world then the second wealthiest person is to Elon Musk. Wow, wow, that's an interesting. That's a fun riddle. You know, the point is Elon Musk is one of the worst people in the world He's he's he's a racist. He's got a platform for racist He's he He's taken companies that other people have created He's been a huckster. Hes sold the stock And he's fucked up the companies. I mean, Tesla will not be a major factor in electric vehicles in five years because it's been overtaken by the Chinese X he destroyed. SpaceX is a con of the first orrder Every about SpaceX is based on, well, if we go to Mars, this company will be worth a lot Or if its rockets don't blow up, this company will be worth a lot. Or if data centers are based in out of space, this company will be worth a lot And it's all on the comp.s all it's all make believe But he has figured out a way to do that and to make a trillion dollars doing that Even though everything he touches turned to crap, look at Doge Everything Doge did, some of it was illegal, some of it turned to crap. What they did with USAID will result in ten million dollars Dying You know, the cuts they're making in terms of cancer research or the cuts they made in terms of U you know, other forms of like veterans services and so forth. ople peopleeople are dying and suffering from that right now. And yet Investors are like, yeah, let me write them another check And it's not because they think he'll create value. It's because they think There will be demand for what he's selling and that they can get out of the stock before all the suckers who are holding on to it once it and once it collapses in the future Well Did David Roskcoop, there's demand for what you're selling, which is outrage and humorous lists full of four our current government It's not content. I'm just I just wish it worked better You know, I just I just wish it worked a little better. I just wish People's needs were taken care of a little more effectively and You know, that's why some of that Obama thing was pretty moving because there were people there who'd worked and they were all deeply flawed people Um Joe Biden and Barack Obama And George U W Bush and Bill Clinton, all of wh them made Huge mistakes They ft it something positive And and we look back on that. You know, they're a little bit decent they were a little bit effective. And we look back on that now with urine becausecause we are in such a black hole Oh malevolent bad governance I do think that Watching the old presidents get back together, get the band back together as it were in Chicago also reminded you of us Presidents who when they were doing the job, believed that they were representing all of America. That was their goal and that was their wish. And you didn't see the divisiveness that you see with our current leadership. Well there's a fundamental difference between And it's really important to remember because july fourth is just less than two weeks away, right?wo weeks away. and And it's they all recognized the president of the United States in our system is not the top It's actually the bottom. He reports to everybody President works for everybody Donald Trump believes that he is the king that he won the United States in in some competition And it's all his to do whatever he wants to do with it. And all the rest of us have to take the consequences because as he said and he said this this weekend with regard to Iran, but it's true with regard to everything. He said, I can do anything I want that he keeps repeating that. It's a meme in his life, I can do anything I want. And the reality is he does not understand public service. And I know that sounds really boring and like out of a civics class theseese people, as you just point out, They did. And he does Okay, David, excellent to see you as ever. We will regroup, I hope next Monday And we will see what happens in the UK whether or not They start the process for Labour leadership nominations. I think that will probably open next week. Well, we'll see whether or not the reflecting pool is reflecting anything at all We will see. I look forward to are you going to be back here in America? I should be back by next Monday, yes, all being well. I'm going on to Paris, which is experiencing record temperatures and I'm warned that the apartment I'm staying in with my older son has no air conditioning and it's record temperatures. so I have been Yeah be careful. No you know France whenever it gets super hot. People die because there's no air conditioning. There's no air conditioning, but there is lots of bottled Evier, so I shall be taking that wherever I go Well It's the best city in the world, so you should enjoy it. Have a great time Thank you And we'll see you when you get back, safe travels I will see you next Monday I always love talking to David Rothgob. I think my favorite part of the conversation was him just talking about how Trump is the chief vandal in America, but write on YouTube, give us your comments. tellell us what you think. We love to read them And it's good to have a place to express your feelings about the crazy that's going on right now. 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