The Mystical Belief in Trump's Gut Decisions

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Check responssees set upp required compatibility and availability varies eighteen plus You're listening to Comedy Central Fr the most trusted journalists at Comedy Center, It's America's only source for news. This is the Daily Joke with your host John Dart Oh Welcome to the Daily Show. I'm Jhon Stewart, so this must be a Monday. lad'ies giv me shit about only we the Money Quion. Well, you work one day a week What's that like We do have a great show forgram, I guess tonight journalist Magie Hmerman and Jonathan Swan, who? Oh love it Don up Jonathan Swan, of course, years ago, started out as Jonathan Duckling, and then Blossom I tried to do the dumbest joke I could do Their new book is obviously about the imperial presidency of one Donald Jahasae for Trump The Trump admistration course once again finds itself at the center of the big news today. The Trump administration continues to try and find a solution to an intractable, problematic waterway in a dangerous part of the world. Mounting problems at the reflecting pool on the National Mall You are looking right now at what is rapidly turning into a sixteen million dollars headache for the White House Damn you, mum, Donny What hath socialism wrought to our beloved symbol of National ankle Dep waiting. Pieces of that new coating began peeling off phosphate levels far higher than what is recommended. A significant algae bloom has turned the water into a sea of green. And it's really fine green. How do really like That shit's neon. didid they replace the water with mountain Dw? What is it? I mean, didn't they just have a pool company come in and fix it? How did it get so green? One of those companies Green waterater serervices. Quite perplexing. How did it get so green? I can't, of course. It's not about the name. I'm sure Greenwater serervices, a very reputable company that fairly won the Relecting pool contract because of their expertise and track record. The administration paid a company to do the work in a no bid contract. The company's owned by a trust run by Republican donor John Cafarro That's the poool guy. That guy, That's the poool guy Does Trump do business with anyone normal? Even the pool guy looks like an extra from guys and dolls. It's like Donny Brasco got stung by a bee I'm sorry, to be fair, that's probably an old picture from like the eighties one Gomez Adams was the rais Do we have a recent picture of this guy that we Are you? A kidding me This is entrapment Wh this guy? He's a Mar a Lago neighbor and has given more than three hundred thousand dollars to the political committees tied to the president. Back in two thousand one, Kafarro pled guilty to conspiracy to bribe then congressman James Trafficin junr. Oh God Pool guy bribed the congressman and now he gets the pool. That tracks. What do I do Let's just say I'm I'm in the chlorine management business Well, if you're like me when you first heard that the reflecting pool had algae, you probably thought yourself, well, I hope the president of the United States is personally involved with overseeing this. President Trump says he personally inspected the site. Oh, good. That's good. I'm glad I believe he posted a picture of that excursion. Oh there it is I'm just curious, Wait a minute Is he always healing me That's not actually me. You know what I don't like about that theict? Can I tell the truth about this? This is an AI generated image, right? And the picture of that person does happen to look a lot like me. But what that means is I am AI's idea of a person that is old and needs to be healed But hold on, if Donald Trump is personally overseeing the pH balance of Abbe Lincoln's Kiddy pool, whoo is handling the high stakes incredibly fragile Iranian truce negotiations Hey guys We should have sent cigar face Y face would have taken care of this. Unless you want your whole country to have green water All right, look I will give Jie Vance a chance. These are the kind of negotiations it will require Steely eyed focus on the American side and I'll bet JD Vance has just the right touch of gravitas and tact. I have joked that I have two very, very important people in my life an Indian and a Pakistani. The Indian is my wife and the Pakistani is field Marshal Manier My wife's Indian, this dude's Pakistani,. Boom. You know what I always say, people, two browns don't make a white Right gets it Look at me, I'm pointing out the ethnicity. There's a rabbi, my wife and field Marshall Muner walk into a bar It's a risky move on Trump's part, given that the first time he sent JD Vance overseas, J Vance killed Pope Francis. It happened eighty eight years Pope Francis lived in leopper colonies went through so much in his life survived. spent ten minutes with Jadie Vance And went, Check, please, I'm out Unfortunately The negotiation meeting seemed to get off to an even worse start. Social media claims that Vice President JD. Vance was snubbed by Qatry officials during those weekend talks in Switzerland. There's a viral video going around that show Vance standing alone as leaders around him exchanged hugs and greetings That is awkward Jadie Gz really answers the question, What if a middle school dance were a person? My mom's coming soon, I'm gonna get out of here. But things just went from bad to wallflower, with Vance getting more and more exasperated as the mean girls just couldn't see that he has a lot to offer too. And why would they possibly so mad? Wait a second You know what? I actually think this might not have been a diplomatic snub. This might have been the result of a health code violation. Can we take a quick look at the footage again? There's Jie Vance. Oh, he went for the pig. He went for the pig. Oh no he went for the chair. Oh no He went for the pick and wipe. That's why the pic and wipe ic diplomatic faux pas The picam It's second only to the men's room, Pe and peeak. Which as many of you know, started the Franco Prussian War But you know what it doesn't really matter. It doesn't matter who we sent, becausecause there's not a lot of wiggle room in these negotiations. President Trump has been very clear about what's expected. The president said there will be no deal with Iran except unconditional surrender. Ta. So basically, Jie Vance is just there to pick up the white flag, get it signed, handand out a couple of orange slices, call it a game There all you knit piecers out there wondering, well, what does surrender even mean? veryery simple. They laid it out quite clearly. We want to see no nuclear bomb, no nuclear weapon, not even close to it. I say no enrichment. They want it for civilian you know for civil civil I think it's uncivil. We also want the enriched uranium destroying IrNs missile capabilities and their capacity to produce Brand new ones. No money will exchange hands in any way, shape or form Go So we already know what the deal is So why don't we go through the deal point by point? It probablyably isn't gonna to take much time at all. pretty simple. Number one They have to give us all their valuable nuclear material It's actually not valuable. Not a lot of value, but we'd like to get it psychologically, but nobody's touching it. Okay, Yeahah So we're not actually gonna get it But at least they can't touch it. I mean they can look at it Looking's not cheating, you know mean? As long as Iran doesn't use it for enrichment, you know, for military or civilian use, that's where we actually are drawing the line, right, mister Trump? It is a little hard though, when you say that somebody wants it other people have it. other adoining states have it, and you're not letting them have it for purposes of electricity and things like that. It's always a little tough. You have to use a little common and says you're the no nuclear guy. You're the one who said it Now suddenly, what'm in there. rich a little bit, I ye I mean, you know we all enrich nuclear material at some point. You know what I'm saying The point is we don't have to be such hard asses about the nuclear BeCa really the main reason we went there was the ballistic missile program. That's why we're there. and we are definitely not budging on that. The conventional ballistic missiles, which we'll be talking about and support, I mean, they have to have some because other people have some, they got to have some. Sir, you shouldn't let them have any missile. I said, Well, what am I going to do? A I going to let Saudi Arabia have missiles, but they can't have them Yes, sir. Does it work that way, you know? It doesn't work that way We know that. we know it doesn't work out king like, where' the assholes? Like we were the assholes who were like, no missiles, no nuclear, and you're like, you gotta be reasonable. We're just backing you up. And now you're telling us, use your edge people. I mean, they gott to have missiles You never know when some impulsive asshole' gonna start bombing them out of nowhere. They don't have missiles, they're going to have whatever. Fine, fine. Letem out fucking missiles. At least no money's changing hands. As for money, the US pledges to help create a three hundred billion dollars reconstruction fund for Iran. Allowing Iran immediately to start selling its oil that could earn Iran sixty to seventy billion dollars per year Also in this agreement, the unfreezing of Iranian assets, which could be upwards of one hundred billion dollars So the hardline extremist regime of Iran It's a nuclear stockpile missiles and money Iran is a circumcision away from being Israel , I don't I don't actually know if for runanian circumciseed, so that may not. Well you get my point Sure someone leave that in the comments section I don't know if their penises have the hijab. I don't know Maybe they just have where you just see the penis's eyes There's no graphic for that joke, by the way Look. If this is what we're giving the Iranians, I don't understand why the Iranians are snubbing JD Vance. They should be kissing his booger laden ring I mean, what does America get for all these concessions? Yesterday was a very, very good day. We made a lot of good progress Oh yeah. Go get them, Joan, Didd and Vance. What kind of project? Go getem, old Je Mountain Dew Vance. I knew you'd come through. What did we get? The Iranians have agreed to invite IAEA inspectors back into their country. That is a major milestone for the American people Oh yeah, that's a big milestone We haven't had nuclear inspectors in Iran since o when you started bombing them last year The Iran inspectors went in there after the JCPOA that Obama negotiated and they only left when we attacked Iran. So just out of curiosity, why did we tear up the Obama deal with Iran again? That horrible Iran nuclear deal, That horrible, stupid deal. The stupidity of that deal, when we give one hundred fifty billion dollars, we get nothing, The deal allowed Iran to continue enriching uranium. It also fails to address the regime's development of ballistic missiles. Who would make a deal so stupid as that? The dumbest deal I've ever seen. the worst deal ever negotiated of any kind Yeah, what kind of a dump You know, at the time I guess the theory is why trade smaller concessions with Iran for peace when we could instead lose a war with them and make bigger concessions? Well, I hope you learned your lesson Iran. There's plenty more concessions where that came from. You mouth off again, and you're getting Greenland But that's fine. Let's just make the best of it. JD, can you at least tell us the nuclear inspectors will be starting right away to secure the uranium In terms of when the nuclear inspectors are gonna start, it's funny we were trying to call some of the inspectors last night around two in the morning. As you can expect, not many people were answering their phone at two in the morning Is that funny though We've been at war for four months and no one thought to call the nuclear inspectors before two AM last night That's really less funny than just shitty foresight and planning. Honestly I mean, if you ever wondered who the buys luggage at an airport, that's our negotiating te Dt forget some Oh You know what? Why am I walking through the airport just carrying my shit in my arms ar respectors at two in the morning Are we getting anything in exchange for letting Iran have like half a trillion dollars? If there is any frozen Iranian assets that are unfrozen, the money would actually go to buy American soy, American corn, and American wheat for the benefit of the Iranian people, a classic Trump deal Oh It is a classic Trump deal Announce a bold action with grandiose ambition and then shit the bed and then state confidently that bedshit was the goal all along. And then finally, name the bed after Trump Yes, folks, we went to war with Iran to force them to take money to buy our crops. Win, win. How did no one else figure this out? How did no other president have the foresight to bomb a country into a crop buying spree? Well, I think one big difference, Phil is that we have a smart president whereas in the past we've had dumb presidents adding When we come back Maggie Haerman and Jonathan Swan will join us in today You know, summer iss just around the corner, which means warmer temperatures, trips to the pool and golf course, Father's Day on june twenty first, and grilling out in the backyard. Dad doesn't want another tie or watch. He wants the tender, juicy taste of his favorite steak grilled to perfection. So this Father's Day, give your grill master something the whole family will enjoy. The finest proteins from Omaha Steaks Every steak and entree is flash frozen and vacuum sealed at the moment of carving. So no matter when your dad enjoys his meal, it will taste as fresh as the day it was carved When you order from Omaha steaks, your satisfaction is always guaranteed. So you can order with complete confidence The gift from Omaha Steakakes is something the whole family can indulge in to celebrate the holiday. This Father's Day give the dads in your life something to savor. World famous Omaha steaks Visit omahaakes dot com and get an extra thirty five dollars off with promo code yum at cheheckout. That's omahaeakes dot com and an extra thirty five dollars off with promo code yum at cheheckout. Terms apply. See site for details New York Times and authors of the new book, Regime Change insside the Imperial presidency of Donaldrump. Please welcome the program, Maggie Herman and Jathan Swan. Please. Now this is it's out now, yes? No. It is not out. You have a secret copy. When does it come out? Torrow. Tomorrow. So when this airs, we'll be jumping the embargo That's kind of broken, right? yeah we're well p passed. Make me feel special just for tonight. So it's not embargoed. How Ish, how many people you have information in here from inside the situation room where they're having a meeting to discuss the damage from the Epstein files There's only five people in the room, six. How many people were in the room? There were a couple of meetings that we describe in the book. and so there is one, which was about a half a dozen people. and then there were others with multiple people, the senior levels of the White House, the DOJ, and so forth. So you have information. Six people are in the room without giving away the secrets Who's the rat? Tell me Wh is Wh is it Besant? It It's Lutneik You sound like Trump right now, really? Can I when I read the book, honestly, there was a part of me that thought, I bet Trump called them. Like he some of this Is a lot of this information from Trump? He wasn't in these meetings. Yeah, they had the Epstein meetings without him because they knew he didn't want to talk about Epstein. This was to protect against him not wanting to discuss this and leaks. Those were the reasons that these meetings happen. How'd that go? I hope you're enjoying the book, Joh I'm enjoying it, but I am baffled that this administration who is they are so tight knit and so loyalist that you would be able to Glean. didid you have was it on tape? Is that people have suggested it might be on tape? Yeah, we're not going to speculate or talk about. I'm not asking you to speculate. I'm asking you to tell me Yeah. We're not I'm asking you to give me how. We appreciate you. We're not going to talk about sourcing. No, and I wouldn't, and I wouldn't ask you to Would you tell me to or you would tell him to? What I would do is I'm gonna to say a name Are you even surprised at the level of access and information that you got? When you went into this, did you think you would get people to grant you the kind of inside information that you were granted? It was really hard. I mean this presidency for lots of reasons is almost unrecognizable from his first term It's almost unrecognizable as a presidency. it is actually No I mean thatit That's really the premise of our book. We're seeing a form of regime change in our own country. It's a very we haven't seen anything like this But in the first term There was prolific leaking and one of the biggest pieces of nonsense in this term and there's a lot of it is that they're the most transparent administration there is. actuallyually they're very good at keeping secrets when they want to The perfect example most recently is this memorandum of understanding to end the Iran war. Very senior people in the government had not seen that document, very, very senior people. Only the tiniest number of people had seen it. This almost killed us. I mean, this was really hard. We've both covered him for a long time. people feel like this stuff spills out, it's hard. It's hard reporting. How do you, when you're reporting on something like that, here's something that crosses my mind One thing that you do glean from the book is Every move they make is intentional including the misinformation and access that they give you. so they might have a scenario where you talk about it when the USAID or the Musk memos were coming out and they thought, o okay, we need something to distract this. Why don't we announce that I'm going to prosecute Obama to reopen Gitmo. To reopen that's what it was. to reopen Gitmo. If they are purposefully misinforming How do you guard against that finding its way into your reporting? It's a good question, and It is a fair quest. You know what? Thank you I'm a fucking journalist But now what what do you do? Part of it is the fact that we've been covering his world for so long. We actually have a sense of Who is telling the truth, who is not. But we don't just take one person's word for it. This is not, you know, I was just in this meeting and let me tell you about, you the heroics spent an enormous amount of time verifying what is in this book. If we were at all it pained us how much we did not put in the book. We either didn't put it in because it really wasn't relevant anymore or because we couldn't confirm it to our satisfaction. And there are things we are still trying to confirm. But what is in here we are confident of. That doesn't mean that I'm not confident that the White House will at some point say we're wrong. I'm sure they will even that's purposeful. That For sure. But we assume, I mean, we've gotten to a point where we just assume false until proven and otherwise. I mean, you assume what you're being told is false until proven and otherwise. You don't take anyone's word for it. There's no what is it? Reag trust but verify, There's no trust. have There's a story in here that Donald Trump called Howard Lutnickk a pussy acccurate . I'm not here to speculate. I'm not saying I'm not saying he's accurate. He is a person just say I'm glad you issued that correction. But so then do you call a bunch of people and have to go, Hey, I heard Trump called Lutnika Pussy. Yeah. Yes. True? Yeah, and we asked think about this book like you asked him that. Yeah. We asked him directly. and he didn't push back on it He didn't say, yes, that's true. We had other confirmations, but it wasn't something he was racing to deny. The thing about this book is You can there's a lot of reporting historically over Trump, which is sort of, I would call it wispy. I'm not making like it's hard to get inside the room. But when I say wispy, it's like Trump is thinking this, Trump is saying know, we say on this day, at this time, in this room and here are the people around the room, this was said. And that was either That either happened or it didn't happen. You can like There's an element of you can check our work a little bit more than if we just said Donald Trump amorphously was thinking this thing. or on this Air Force O flight, this was said. We tried to do that in this book because we think it's important that you can anchor something in a scene and a setting. and people can hopefully have a bit more faith in the reporting What would you like this to? Because one thing that you don't do is psychoanalyze or make judgments about why it operates this way or you know the psychology behind any of it. So do that now for me What Because here's what's very clear He understands the power of bending reality And he does it with great ease. So this would be the type of question. Does he truly believe that the Democrats rigged the twenty twenty election vote wise. I'm not talking about when it gets into atmosphere Is that something he actually believes or is it something that he strategically proffers because he knows the reality distorting effects that that has on the larger game he's playing. It's hard to know often, which is why we don't get into psycho andell other than the fact that we're also not psychiatrists. It's hard to know when he actually believes something or if he is just saying something over and over again, because he is very aware of the power of repetition and the effect that it has on voters, on the media, on the general public, on other world leaders. In terms of the twenty twenty election There are many people around him. in our reporting, who think he has convinced himself of that, that he does now believe that. I also don't know that whether he believes that really matters because so many of his own government in twenty twenty said this was not the case. So And why he flees interviews When he's asked to litigate it. What do you think is the best way to you did this. In twenty twenty, you sat down with Trump And you were talking about COVID deaths And he was making the case, I think, about the minimization of it. And you brought out facts and figures And you showed them to him. And it was like the world stopped Like people went crazy for it 'cause they hadn't seen him litigated Is that the way to report on him because we really don't do that very often. It's interesting you use the word litigated because the way I thought about that interview was I was litigating reality with Trump. And it was actually the opposite of what you said. He handed me the sheet of paper. He handed you the sheet. But no, but it was important because The thing that drives me crazy often watching certain interviews with Trump is the tendency to move on And it just drives me it drives me really crazy because don't move on. stays stay.. And so this was this. Yeah. Yes.. So this was a moment where I could have moved. I actually had planned to move on. We'd spent about twenty minutes talking about COVID and I was ready there was a lot of other things to talk about. I only had half an hour technically. But then I could tell he wanted to hand me this document. I was like what's this fucking document? So he hands me this document and it took me a moment to understand what it was, but it looked like it had been put together by an intern and it was essentially this This chart where he was trying to argue to me that we're winning on death basically on COVID. And and it was it was it was really preposterous, but You have to sit there absorb it And then pop the reality bubble, with a needle. And why is that so challenging? It seems very basic And yet even it's very difficult to execute it. So why is that? Well, it used to be somewhat easier al though I'll say that Jonathan did the singleest television interview with Trump that has existed They have structured this White House, the press cororps so that it is primarily people or half people who they consider to be friendly to them They control the media pool that is in there now. They control the seats routinely the only person really challenging him aggressively and not rudely or unfessionally is Caitln Collin. Collins, kills him. she Yeah. and she takes Yeah an enic She takes an enormous amount of shit and she keeps a total straight face.ight. But she doesn't have backup. In the old days when we would be in the pool, even in the term one, and they made it harder, but it was still doable You'd ask a question someomebody else in the pool would follow up on your question. Now, it is you ask a question about Ukraine, Iran, I can go on and on And he turns to the reflecting pool, and it's twenty minutes of just talking. And so it is much more challenging. It is also why You know, this has come up a lot as we've been talking to people about this book. but We don't a lot of reporters have a cell phone number now obviously that's Oh know I got it right here. I totally would Do you have a cell phone number? Yes, I have a cell phone number. Can we call him right now? Let's know. Thank I h' she g I littleed up and you guys are professionals, but what if I call him as his pool guy? Im to be like, Sir, I'll tell you, this fucking thing just stays green. There's nothing can do. I can't even tell you. I don't know what's going on A lot of people have his number, and for reporters, it's you know wow, I have the presresident's number and I can speak him directly. There's a flatter. And he controls the terms, right? There have been some pieces of news that have come out, but generally speaking. It's him setting the agenda. He says one thing here. He says something totally different fifteen minutes later him flooding the zone. and it's what he did in New York when he was a tabloid guy. No question. Right. But this this gets to the heart of It's weaponized access.ll tell you what we're not doing. No, no,. I' not Th guys are great. I'm talking about the other peopleroup. Okay. I'm not talking about them. The other people. I'm talking about these other people. The other people also, there are many who do a good job but yes, we don't do we don't engage in this ph. I mean everybody's doing a good job. I don't know what I was thinking I'm just saying, let me explain why, because this is the gist of it Judith Miller, right? You remember Judith Miller, New York Times. So she went to the White House and they fed her information that Saddam Hussein had aluminum tubes that could only be used for enriching uranium. He was making a nuclear weapon. And she wrote in the New York Times, I have discovered me and my part through our diligent reporting that Saddam Hussein has these tubes, Dick Cheney goes on meet the press the next day and says The New York Times, no friend to this administration But she was being used or was a willful participant in a manipulation and If that's the case, that the phone number, they understand that it's his terms and then that access is actually worth less than journalism. It's actually abetting. It's aiding and abetting in the crimes that they commit. How does that end? How do we stop that And is that something that you believe is a problem? Because it seems like it's a dangerous, dangerous problem with this administration. We don't find it useful. The reason we don't call him on his cell phone. Yeah, is because it's not useful. I mean, what's he going It's a two minute call and he's going to say how everything's great and whatever. And again, like the book You're not going to get a detailed scene inside the situation room? This potentially includes information that's damaging for the White House and the administration from Donald Trump on a two minute call. So the type of reporting we do, it's not actually possible to get that from a phone call with Donald Trump I'm talking more about the cadence reporting, the twenty four hour reporting. Yeah that where it's not possible to have the kind of Uh Reflection and analysis that you might have over the quality of the sources. But we don't do it for our daily reporting either. Right. I mean, look, I can'tak to I mean, I can speak to it but I'm not going to speak to how every single person in this White House press cororps or in DC now does their jobs. The media environment is very different. Donald Trump obviously has taken advantage of that. He came back to Washington and we talk about this a lot in the book to a very different set of power dynamics where you have media companies that are terried of him. we are very fortunate to work for one that is independent and which he has no levers over. R And yet cares deeply about. As much as he talks about the New York Times, he seems to care deeply about what you guys think of him. has specific relationship with the New York Times For anybody I mean in his head, I don't mean actually. For anybody who wants to sorry, for anybody who wants to understand how he looks at the New York Times, there was an episode of the Daily podcast that the Times does where AG. Slsberger, our publisher, went to the Oval Office with me and Peter Baker in twenty nineteen, I think it was And AG only went because Trump had invited him to come off the record. And AG said, I'm not going to come off the record, but I will come if my reporters can interview you. And so he joined us. And he used the opportunity to directly say to Trump The language you are using about a free press is being used to embolden desputs around the globe. And Trump just kept saying, I think I'm entitled to a good story from my paper. and my hometown paper, some version of that. That is how he sees it. and that is totally different. It is not useful to us. We did sit with him that for an interview, we requested repeatedly, but we made very clear it was a fact check interview. It was not to sort of sit for open Mic night. And by the way, in that interview, he hands you a list of people from history that he's been told he's more powerful them. And the list is, Mao Stalin him like he doesn't go with like George Washington. He goes with despots and tyrants and is like, Th those guys I'm bigger than them. Top ten is what he said to. The top ten. Top ten. Yeah. Is America too small for him now? Is he now view this as I'm Alexander the Great? Something to that, actually. I mean, Jonathan has it was an extraordinary moment Throughout the reporting of this book, we had basically come to a thesis that He was far less responsive to domestic politics than he was in the first term. The first term, if polls went down, stock market gyrations, it'd be much more reactive. Not to say he doesn't think about that at all. It' definitely thinks about something. Deinitely does.. It's not black and white, but he thinks about it far less and So onene of the questions we werere asking uporning, why is he willing to take much bigger risks this term than last term I don't think he would have gone to war in the same circumstances. I don't think he would have taken America to war in Iran last timeerm in the same circumstances. I'm not sure he would have authorized the operation to snatch a sovereign head of state in his pajamas out of his bedroom. You know That was a very risky. American service members could have died in that operation, thank God they didn't When we sat across from him and he handed us that piece of paper that he said was written by a historian. It turns out it was written by a former golf caddy for Terry P player. What f Don't rush over that. He thought it was written by a historian. It was written by a golf Caddy. Yeah. Yeah, But a golf Caddy just came up and said like this Ken Burns handed me this. Sort of. He was golfing with Gary Player, who he's known for a very long time. We asked him a question about power and presidential power And he immediately said he sent his his All purpose aid, Natalie Harp out and said, M Natalie get the documents. And he said, Do you know who Gary Pler is? We weren't quite sure where this was going And then he described golfing with Gary Player. and Gary Player had this historian with him named David King. And we spent a while trying to figure out who David King was. They sent us text. said he's a presidential historian We tracked him down, Jonathan tracked him down. and He's a businessman and Gary players former voleat. And he's a history buff, sure. but' not a historian. Yeah, know. But I get that. A lot of buffs out there.'s a lot of buffs Yeah. of. It was interesting because the document itself basically just said Donald Trump's the most powerful man who's ever existed ever on the planet because he's in charge of the US military and technology, but also willing to use the power. And then the people he has planes The people that compared him to, as you mentioned, Maus, Stalin and Hitler, there was no moral dimension to it. It was just expressed in terms of raw power And he was reading out to us.ing we sitting across the over and he's like Relish he's like Napoleon. It was delighted w You know, and and it was it's very clear that what he wants to do is reshape reshape both America but also the world. He does, I think, want to be a Napoleonic figure Has she read the whole book though? I mean It doesn't end that great for No. But we're still talking about Nepole. That was true. Yes. We are still talking about it, but this is maybe the most and I'll get to what I took away from the book is, you know, there's always people are going to want palace intrigue and those kinds of things What I took away was process. The process of this White House is very much the apprentice or shark tank People come into his office and compete with an idea and he chooses the one that he thinks has the most pop for this episode of the show. and they do it and no one follows up in a future episode. So the tariffs go out there and it's like, that's great. And then when it tanks the economy, nobody's like, Hey, we should probably revisit that. He's like, That's an old episode. It's a lot of it's all trailer, no movie It's all advertisement and no follow through. And so what you're seeing here, the Iran War is a great example Obama's JCPOA was eighteen months of very tough negotiations and they all those things. And Trump comes in and he's like, how about I just bomb them? and we take a week? And there's no follow through. Is that what you've found there That it's It's a slightly different cast on that, I think. I mean, look, it's definitely a White House that does not like process. He doesn't like it. We compident One of the things that he and you can say it. One of the things, onene of the things that he and Stephen Miller spent a lot of time on. Ooh, D did you feel that? it got cold all of suden. Did you feel that? Did you feel that on the about your neck? That was weird. One of the things that he and Stephen Miller spent a lot of time on, and ob sayay it three times. Let's see if we canes. Let for this episode was essentially how to do things quickly and how to claim powers that weren't actually the executive branches, either because you could declare national emergencies.irection one hundred percent, but it's across the board. It's a fentanyl emergency. It's border emergency, even though the border crossings were down. There is a refugee emergency, so we have to change asylum status and so forth And Trump isn't really thinking about these processes. He just wants things to be done fast. Stephen Miller was thinking about both. And then Trump has other people who can offer to get him things quickly. On the tariffs, the reason I'm interested in that being the thing you pointed to is this was something he's kind of wanted to try. decades He did not have an economic theory of the case about how tariffs would work. He thought tariffs were an incredible tool and weapon and blunt instrument. And that is exactly how they were implemented. What you do see is him saying things like You know, jacking up the tariff rate to China on China for one hundred and forty five percent and then saying, holy shit or some version of that when he learns that's how high it is. Right. And his whole government was quite scared as they were not just approaching Liberation dayay, but blowing past it. But don't you think because they're not the litmus test isn't competence It's loyalty. and the loyalty has to be given through humiliation rituals Everybody that works for him has to go through a humiliation ritual. Those cabinet meetings are not discussions of policy. they are public humiliation rituals. Anyone who wants to be in that office. And they're very long. There's no question about that. Well because there's so much ass to kiss How does this? As you watch this careen down the hill You know, as you project out, we've got two and a half more years of this Yeah. If he thinks he's mo and stallin now, where are we going Well, part of the book is really a story of Hubris. I mean, he came in this second term It actually it's a little deeper than what you were saying because a lot of the people around him There's an almost mystical belief in him, particularly the ones that went through the campaign with him. It's Donald Trump is a figure of destiny that survived four indictments, two assassination attempts, somehow won this election. Maybe in the first time when you would talk to senior aides, A lot of them had absolute contempt for him and they would mock him and say, you know, this guy's dangerous. we're trying to stop him. You never hear that These are people who Oh, you never hear that. You never hear that. There's none of the back biting now on that. No, no, no,. These people who believe in him and actually even when he says something that they think Maybe that's kind of out there. Well, maybe he's picking up on something that we're not picking up on There's a deference to his judgment. And the Iran war the Iran warar is actually sort of a perfect example of that we have in the book, this incredible sequence of events where BB Netanyahu comes down to the situation room Great guy I out the situation. He gave Trump this presentation about regime change. Here's how it's going to work in Iran. and here's the people who might take over and whatever. Anyway, the CIA goes away overnight and does some analysis. They come back the next day in the situation room The analysts come in And they say this is total bullshit This is like divorced from reality. The CIA director John Radcliffe tells Trp it'sarcical Rubio tells him, it's bushit and Trump says, you know, maybe it is, maybe it isn't But he had a gut feeling Again, this was a gut driven decision. Trump thought this would be a fast war, that they would collapse quickly, that this regime was a paper tiger. and he was wrong. And he was wrong. And what he said to Tucker Carlson, I think was actually encapsulates Jhnic great guy. And it Which is most of what this presidency is now, which is everything's going Carlon was trying to talk him out of it. this war. And Trump says something to the effect of everything is going to be okay. Everything's going to work out. It always does, always It always is okay. Yeah. And that is how he thinks. so Well, because for him, it's that Norman Vincent Peeel power positive thing, But it works out for him. But this brings us, so we're bring it around full circle and end on this So they have a mystical belief in his gut that allows him to do this. So he does it. and it shits the bed. And we end up in a more dangerous, weaker position. We elevate this theocracy to a level of power in that part of the world that they have never had before And they are now at that position. So in terms of litigating reality, now that this has come down Doid they go, Hey, you took a swing, some of them work, some of them don't? Do they still believe in the mystical messianic powers of Napoleon I? Do they ever go like, maybe that's Waterloo? Like, how does reality not ever permeate this reality distortion field? I think it's more nuanced than that I do. Of course it is There were many people on his team who thought this was a bad idea to start with the war. There was really only one person who actually said that to Trump in a forceful way, which was Vance. and that actually irritated Trump to some extent. A lot of them didn't make the argument to him. It's very obvious to them and actually, I think to him as well. That's why he's doing such a fast reverse, basically saying, BB, you know you're out of control. We've got to get out willing to take this deal. But he's going to say this is the best deal that anybody's ever got.ure And nobody's ever gotten it. and Iran is weaker. Who's still buying that in the White House? I don't think that many people still buy it in the White House, but I also don't think that you're going to see a lot of them quitting en mas. I mean, one of the things that we wrote about in the book was that, you know Some of his advisors were talking last year about how the most disastrous thing for his presidency would be if he got into a war with Iran, and one of them said,, I will resign if that happens. And I can tell you without telling you who that that person is still there. So JD Vance is still there That's what you're telling me Remarkable I've enjoyed this. Please get this book. It is out tomorrow. It's regime change I' see Aberaman and Jonathan Swong Pf we'll be right back hes for the rest of the week, mister Josh Johsnon. Josh. Wh are you? What talking about this week? Well, John, we'll be discussing the World Cup. I can't wait because I love the sport. Die H soccer fan right here. That's awesome I am as well. How long you been a fan? Six, maybe seven days. But I've learned so much about this beautiful game. I'm something of a soccer player myself now. you know, eleven men against eleven other men, each side trying their best to pretend to be injured It's a little more complicated than that, Jos. Oh. Oh, why would you do that? No saw that, right? Rcord? Look at my leg. Josh Johnson everybody, here is your. I need I Today, we have an update for you from the Department of Interior Press teeam. The reflecting pool water is crystal clear and our National Park Service team is now vacuuming up the dead algae resting on the bottom of some parts of the reflecting pool, just like the destroyed Iranian Navy resting on the bottom of the Persian Gulf Explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by searching the Daily Show, wherever you get your podcasts. Watch the Daily Show Week nights at eleven, ten Central on Comedy Central, and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus This has been a comedy central podcast