How Trump Just Got Humiliated by His Star Guest

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He is providing to Iran who chemicals that underline the rocket through those ballistic missiles have killed American troops. Russia and China are both providing intelligence to the Iranians on where American assets are. Chinese, we learned this morning from an intelligence leak reported by CNN, are providing details in real time of movement in the street of Ormuz. That is information that is incredibly dangerous to American servicemembers in the Gulf. And yet, you got a state dinner. And the other thing is that Trump, having written to Xi and said, "Please don't buy Iranian oil," China is buying almost all of Iran's oil. 90% I think, so he's welcoming in a very clear adversary to America. I'm Joanna Coles. This is the Daily Beast podcast, What a Week. What a Week, the Communist in Chief, something that Donald Trump has said he's against communism. The Communist in Chief, well, he arrives and we have the American military on their knees, giving him a red carpet rollout. We will be talking about that, we'll be talking about the dress code, we'll be talking about the menu for the Chinese leader, we'll be talking about Trump's speech at the UN, we'll be talking about the midterms, we'll be talking about the wall, we'll be talking about all of it, with Hugh Dockety, our executive editor, who pretty much knows everything, actually. Hugh is like a walking AI, and well, no time to waste, let's get into it. Hugh, Joanna, oh my god, you're in red. I am in red to note, it's a salute, a salute that our president was very busy doing, a man who's never been in the military, got out of the military, why was he wearing such thick gloves, Hugh? He was warm in DC and he was wearing warm gloves. I think he's covering something up. Well, he had slothers of makeup on his hand at the actual state dinner last night. Welcome to the Daily Beast podcast, by the way, we've got so much to discuss, not least why President Trump is rolling out the red carpet for the Chinese leader, who is buying oil from Iran, despite President Trump's plea in April, not to, and who is supplying Iran with intelligence about where American troops are, but nevertheless, we rolled out the red carpet, we gave him a beautiful statue of an eagle and our tech CEOs gathered to celebrate on Reagan Red China. It was all quite spectacle, and before we get into that, I just want to say thank you to everybody who subscribes to the Daily Beast, we are aiming to get a million subscribers on YouTube, so if you do not already subscribe, please join our family, join our community. If you do subscribe, give us a like, because that helps spread the word, and you can keep up to date with all of this at thedailybeast.com. Very well said, Hugh, much better than I could have said it, and share this episode with a friend. We're going to talk about who single white female, whom, with Ivanka and Natalie Harp, can we show the picture, please, because I got confused last night. I was like, oh, interesting, Melania and Natalie are there, but in fact, it wasn't Natalie, it was Ivanka. It's quite a picture. So who is trying to get Donald Trump's attention by looking most like each other? I actually don't know, Joe, I know you have theories. I do have theories. We're going to talk about the midterms. America is going to decide 39 days from now, and I wouldn't want to, I don't know, we don't know what the result is, do we, because we don't know how people vote, but the Republicans think they know what the result is, and they don't think it's a good one. Lots of panic to talk about all around the country. Lots of panic to talk about. OK, but let's get into the weeds of this state visit, because I'm obsessed by menus. I think they tell you a lot about either the person who's house you're at and you're eating their food, or indeed, when you're at the people's house. And earlier this week, I predicted that the state dinner was going to be intense, but I was wrong. It was actually in the White House. There was Donald Trump pointed out when he offered everybody a tour of the ballroom, which he said would be built and finished in a year's time, that they only had what did he say, 165 people or something, and actually the ballroom will be able to hold 965. I so come back soon, prison she come back soon, come back in a year, and it'll be a bigger gathering. And of course, the ballroom, the destruction of the East Wing, is being justified on national security grounds. At this dinner last night, Trump said that he would do the honour of showing prison she and his communist dog to Raj, the inside of the new ballroom project as a work in progress. And that really shows his dedication to national security, that he is showing that not to the American people first, but to what is slightly considered to be the biggest strategic problem that America has, and certainly a power that is really determined to know America's secrets. Do you think the Chinese have already got people working on the ballroom as they were? Do you think part of the construction crews are actually Chinese spies? Well, you would hope that they're not. You would hope that there's been incredible security, and there's been a massive due diligence. I think both you and I, Joanna, have visited various embassies in Washington, D.C. and it's one of the sort of privileges of this job. And one of the things that a lot of those embassies, they literally, when they're building, they bring in crews from their own countries because they are so concerned about the listening devices being implanted by whoever the local builders are. Well, and in the walls, I mean, literally in the walls, in the light fixtures, in the columns, all of it. So if the White House is not building that, it's not assessing the background of the people that are there with that in mind, that's a big problem. And my prediction is, I don't know the answer, but I think the Democrats are going to be very interested in trying to find out. Well, under speed with which they have moved forward with the ballroom, which let's not forget, doesn't have congressional approval. It doesn't really have any approval, isn't it? It's going through this little office at the White House, instead of the National Parks Department, instead of the GSA. So it's highly plausible that the backgrounds of all the people working in the construction crew, perhaps have not been as diligently researched as one would hope. Well, we will find out, but you know who probably knows already? President Xi. President Xi. That's what the president and his wife had for dinner. First course, yellow squash velouté with wild mushroom flicker sea, crispy pancetta and scallion oil, followed by sesame crusted sea bass, a note to the Chinese there with the sesame crusted sea bass with braised baby bok choy, roasted garden eggplant and sauce verte. Why are we using a sauce without, I suppose, it is green sauce, green sauce, which is herbal sauce, and then dessert, vanilla creme, with walnut frangie pane, and sour cherry confi, accompanied by White House honey ice cream. And the toast was a shamsburg, blanc de noir sparkling wine, which doesn't sound great. Sparkling wines never sound good, either have champagne or don't do it at all. I know I'm going to get letters from people saying we love, we love American champagne, American sparkling wines. All good. So do I, and I do drink it all deliberately chosen because shamsburg was served when Nixon went to China, sounds delicious. It does sound delicious. I mean, it sounds pretty great. It sounds also a bit pretentious like why don't we just have good American food? Why don't we say cheeseburger, you know, why aren't we having what Donald Trump likes? Is this torture for him? I mean, honestly, this is pretty, he's, he's really, you know, taken one for the team, I think, here. He's taken one for the team. He knows what Trump loves. Trump would like a wedge salad, maybe a prawn cocktail, definitely a large piece of beef, well done. If he can't get a burger, and then pie and ice cream, double servings. I have to say, I would like. I don't think the president wants wild musher and fricc say. No, I don't think he does. That's what it looks like, it's not on the top of his head at times, but I don't think he wants to eat it. I definitely don't see him as a source-fair guy. I think he's been sort of scraping that to the side with his fork. This is all Malania. I'm just going to point out. Do you think it's Malania? Oh. I mean, you don't think it's Robert Kennedy, Jr. Because he's now got his real cooking show. Well, he does have his real cooking show. Although he likes red meat. But I was just going to point out there's no bear cub, there's no raccoon penis, and there's no dogs. Very funny. So, very funny. It's not the RFK, Jr. State dinner, and also he has hamburger and eggs for breakfast. I can't really see him enjoying this, but he was there. And so was his wife, Cheryl Heinz, who crept on as the final guest in the guest list. Very funny. I've printed out the guest list for some reason, the first, but from the point how it was in giant print, not entirely sure what was going on with the print size, but you have to go through a lot of pages past quite a few confirmed communists, past Lauren Sanchez Bezos. Of course, the wife was keeping a much lower profile. Yes. Like that because this is somebody who was around a lot, and I actually haven't seen on such, such a stage for a while, Brett Kavanaugh. Oh, yeah. That's a very important gesture. Sparkling wine, he prefers beer, as we know. Jesse Waters of Fox News and Laura Ingram of Fox News, both of whom real against communists, but we're apparently happy to sit down for dinner with them. Katie Miller, the podcaster and wife of Stephen Miller. And I'm still going. I'm still going. I can't read all these names out because we don't have the air. There are time, but right at the bottom, right there under Sandra Lynn Ellison, who is the spouse of David Ellison, new owner of CBS, is Cheryl Heinz, the spouse of Secretary Kennedy. So good job, Cheryl. You squeezed in there because we know that in a year's time, the ballroom will be enormous. It will be the ballroom that swallowed the people's house, but Donald Trump will be having enormous dinners. I mean, I think, first of all, obviously, this is not going to be the menu for the new ballroom when it emerges. It's going to be his menu. It's not going to be RFK's bear burger, but it's, I'm convinced it's a millennia memory, a menu. I'm just going to point out Joanna at that main course, no carbs, no carbs, although they may have had bread on the side, they may have had bread on the side, but I'm guessing that Trump was back upstairs and munching down on some fries to be honest. Oh, you think he got the White House kitchen to send him up some burgers and fries. I'm going to make it. I'm going to suspect, so I mean, obviously, I'm seeing that without any evidence whatsoever, but we do know he likes a midnight snack. We do know he likes a midnight snack. If you like the support of a sports brother, but hate wearing one all day, I know exactly what you mean. Some of them feel great for a workout, but after a few hours, the straps dig in, the band gets uncomfortable, there's a uni-boob, and you're ready to take it off. That's where Honey Loves Cross-Flex activity brass stands out from the pack. 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Experience the new standard in comfort and support with Honey Loves. What's there any friends who'd posting this morning? Do we wake up to friends who'd post? No, there was not. And actually, Trump has been, I'm not going to say restrained or constrained, the numbers are down on his true social. Yesterday and the day before, quite a few outbursts, and most of them about this fight with the media. And one of them, thirsting, I think, is probably the word I would use, over-shooting ping, calling him fit and handsome. Which is all because, actually, he didn't look either of those things. As we know, there has been a rumor, and again, there's no evidence for this rumor. But China is this incredibly difficult country for people to report on and from. And rumors often have something behind them. And this rumor has been that Xi Jinping had some sort of stroke while he was previously abroad and had to come home for treatment. But looking at him, we don't see any of the really obvious signs that would suggest that. But he's a president for life, something that our president has expressed himself as a president. Very much. Right, very much. And yeah, he doesn't look as young or fit or whatever, as he did before. And he was also clutching his wife's hand as he came down the stairs of the airplane that he arrived in. And he looked exhausted. He looked tired. And that's kind of notable because actually Xi Jinping in the past has been very careful about projecting this. I do think Strongman is quite the right word, but this certainly this. I think Strongman might be exactly the right word. Well, yes. But it's a very carefully calibrated image that he is trying to project. And he arrived, he brought his own car. Chinese made sort of huge limousine, their version of the beast. So not a BYD, not a buy, or bid, what's it under you pronounce it? I believe it's bid, but I do not think it's a good point. Which now ourselves testers the world's best selling electric car. Biggest selling electric car. He actually brought his own armoured limousine, so Chinese automotive are not actually allowed to be sold in the United States. There are many trade barriers that exist. And there's no point. This was. some of this was retailing. He was saying, "Look at us, I've got an amazing car. Why shouldn't you go and buy it?" He was very careful. He was being shown off. It was parked in a way just on the way into the White House in such a way that every reporter who went past was able to inspect it, which was clearly done consciously. Well, it reminds me of when Donald Trump was shilling for Elon Musk and he had the Tesla parked outside the White House and he got in and he went, "Wow, computer." Yeah. It's unclear that he had been in the front seat of a car for many years and realized that most cars these days come with a lot of screens. Right. But there you go. Yeah. Okay, computer. So let's talk about the Chinese leaders' speech. So I think there are actually two speeches, two bits of speech while talking about. And what's fascinating about this visit is that Trump rushed to the airport as we also went to Andrés Air Force Base, he had American service members on their hands and knees waiting for Xi to arrive. They were literally rolled out a red carpet. Which they did do for Putin, in Alaska, so you have the visuals, which isn't a great visual of American military on the knees rolling out the red carpet. Yeah. And you can see that. We've got that on screen right now. Yeah. It's not great. We flew over, we did a flyover, B2B1 bombers and that kind of went a bit badly because Trump winced and she did not. Well, not only did he win. I was discussing this with Michael Wolfe earlier this week. He stuck his fingers in his knees and he kind of went like this. And it looked like, I mean, did sound very loud, except that Melania didn't flinch. Yes. And the Chinese leader didn't flinch. And Trump looked like he really was having issues with it. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And that moment, I know you've discussed it with Michael Wolfe, it kind of sets up the next day in the White House, that this was a drama and two parts at the White House. And the morning and after noon, she came to the White House. She didn't stay in Blair House, which is this traditional tradition for a foreign dignitary of that level would be either a new remember that the King and Camilla stage exact house. They would stay at Blair House, it's just across from the White House, it's amazing. I mean, you get glimpsed inside it occasionally on, you know, on, on, on, on, on, on from footage from inside it. But it's vast. It's, you know, it's comparable to the residents of the White House. He didn't stay there. In a hotel, actually, the hotel that Trump used to own, which no, is, you know, the police to be, apparently, but he arrived with his own tarage. went to the awful office, sat down, and she. In the course of speaking in the Oval Office, did something that he had done basing before. He mentioned this concept called the Ducidides Trap. Right. The biggest trap is saying it, right? I hope I've done that, but he mentioned this idea of the Ducidides Trap, and the idea is that the younger upcoming power, the challenger power, the challenger power is going to be, is going to get into conflict with the bigger power and it's going to win. Right. And it's not hard to see who he is positioning himself as here. Now, it's pretty insulting. If you go to somebody else's house and say, "Oh, you know, I know that you're better often than me, but tell you what, we're going to fight and I'm going to win." It's not great. It's fighting talk. This is wrapped in the language of diplomacy. It's also wrapped in the language that we have no idea if Trump actually knows what the Ducidides Trap is. And I'm 100% confident he has no idea what it is because he was a Greek general/history and he wrote the definitive history of the Peloponnese War. And also, it's about the challenger power frightening the older, more established power into thinking, I'm going to have to create a war here to squash the challenger, right? And this idea comes to us from ancient Greece, from Athens and Sparta and Sparta was a rising power. But also, it's something that the American military at the higher levels are taught. It was a concept that was popularized from the early 1980s onwards in reference to the Cold War by a thinker called Graham Allison. And if you go to the war college, if you go to West Point, if you go to do a higher officer command, if you go to any every one of the general core that was election by Pete Higgseth, they have all been taught, they all learn about and think about the Ducidides Trap. So she mentioning it to Trump, first of all, kind of insulting, he's mentioned it twice. And he's playing on this question of does Trump know when you're pretty confident he doesn't. Weirdly, he's never been asked directly what the Ducidides Trap is, does the opportunity there for us at the White House, but it's pretty insulting to say it twice, you know, and then to have done it in Beijing, and then come to the White House and do it on Home Tarp. Well, and the other thing he said, which I thought was fascinating, was he said that she was demanding that the U.S. and I'm going to quote him directly here, "A dear to the correct position of opposing Taiwan independence." Yes. While mentioning he doesn't want to fall into the Ducidides Trap, he's also provoking America by saying you're taking the wrong side with Taiwan. Yes. And of course, we know that we've pulled out the U.S.S. is it Washington to replace the Lincoln or if it falls out? Right. The Washington went to replace the Lincoln. Right. There is now no supercarrier in the immediate area of that part of the Pacific. This is a moment of strategic weakness, but it's also a moment where she is turning up, and when he talks about the Ducidides Trap, exactly what you were mentioning at the top of the show, Joanna, he has been helping Iran. It's being, he is providing to Iran the rocket, the components for the chemicals that underlie the rocket fuel, which powers their ballistic missiles. If China cut off the supply of this, of some chemicals, they couldn't fire their ballistic missiles, those ballistic missiles have killed American troops. He is providing the coordinates, the Russia and China are both providing intelligence to the Iranians on where American assets are. Chinese, we'll learn this morning from an intelligence leak reported by CNN, are providing details in real time, we believe, of movements in the state of Hormuz. That is information that is incredibly dangerous to American servicemembers in the Gulf and yet, he got a state dinner. And also, Trump was asked this earlier this week at UN General Assembly Week, and he sort of dismissed it and said, oh, we all do it, we do it to them too, right? So the other thing is that China, obviously, China is not a war. China is not a war, of course. And the other thing is that Trump, having written to Xi and said, please don't buy Iranian oil, China is buying almost all of Iran oil, 90% I think. So he's welcoming in a very clear adversary to America. 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Use code beast at Monarch.com to get your first year of Monarch core half of just $50. That's 50% of your first year at Monarch.com, use the code beast. I mean, what is he doing here? Why is he gathered all our big CEOs? I mean, I know that they're trying to work out some kind of data on to round AI, but why the forning? I don't want to crawl inside Trump's head. I would recommend that Michael Wolfe is the man who is in there and will have a view on this. I'll add to you is that there is a pattern here with Trump that he believes that this sort of approach works. And I think most people who look at whether that approach works or not will say he hasn't had much success with it in the past. There are no great trade deals to show for previous interactions, particularly with China, but also, you know, there's an element of this with Iran. And one hand, he was planning to annihilate them, but on the other, he was like, oh, we're going to make a great deal and they want to talk. This idea, I think his negotiating style, and it's in the art of the deal, is that you try to ingratiate yourself with the person you're negotiating with. And this says, you know, the recognition that China is a rising power is quite right. It's obviously a rising power. It's building aircraft carriers. It's building strategic bombers. It's building submarines. It has a bigger navy than the US navy by the number of ships. The US Navy, people believe, remains strategically much more capable. It's a blue water fleet, as opposed to a, you know, sort of a literal fleet, but what is the difference between a blue water fleet? The US Navy can project its power around the world anywhere, basically, on blue water. The Chinese one, for now, appears more tethered to being close to Chinese territorial waters. But if they want to invade Taiwan, that's precisely the sort of fleet you need. And where is the supercarrier that is able to combat that? And also we've seen, thanks to Iran, China is sending, sending stuff to Iran. Iran is sending lessons to China because they are demonstrating how you can cripple American power. The American carriers cannot approach Iran as closely as, you know, strategically they would want to. The fifth fleet base in Bahrain was taken out by drones and by missiles. The American safe zone, no longer exists in the state of Hormuz. Those are massive lessons for any rising power that has got the opportunity to do something similar in Taiwan. And you knew what was sucking, you know, serving Yorosh Kwashe Veruti. But the Russia invasion of Ukraine also provides an example to Xi, who we think is a cautious leader because they thought Putin thought and we talked earlier this week to Luke Hardin, whose book Betrayal is about how these bigger powers like America, like Russia, have no longer adhered to essentially the UN mandate post, the Second World War, that bigger countries don't just go and help themselves to smaller countries. Russia marched into Ukraine, thought that they would take it in five days and four and a half years later, they haven't done. So she's probably looking at that. And I also came across another thing in the Eucidities crap that I found very interesting, which is how language changes when the traditional power thinks that they're being challenged. And they start using words differently and recklessness starts being seen as courage. So what would traditionally be thought of as a reckless move is talked about in terms of courage, that caution about going into a country, which is something that I think you could argue other presidents this century have all felt about Iran. on enormous caution about going into Iran. Trump has presented as cowardice, which is a classic traditional poem. So he's like, well, they didn't have the courage. I'm the only person that can take Iran on and that moderation, which is something again that I think former, perhaps not George W Bush, but other leaders have been very, very cautious about starting wars. Obama in Syria just saying, we're not going there. He drew a red line and then promptly let him walk over it. But caution is seen as cowardice. And you see that in the language that Trump adopts as this kind of, you know, bullish language about war. And it's very much a symptom of this trap that she is talking about. And Trump, it's interesting that we were talking about what went down at the dinner. Trump avoided all of this sort of language in the White House and his dinner. He's been very, he has for once been kind of restrained in this language. But he did show things which people are saying are reckless. At first of all, we talked about the ballroom. It's funny, but it does seem a bit reckless. Also rather reckless for his court case, where he is claiming that he is able to build the ballroom because of national security. But another intriguing element of this is he took she on a tour of his new blinked up White House and he pointed out all the tacky gold that he's adorned every part of the White House with. And they went along the portico, which he has put portraits of presidents. And it's like, you know, you can see it on screen right now. It is horrendous to the eye. And he stopped at the portrait. He has put up a dual Biden. And is this childish troll that has got a picture of an auto pen because there's this weirdo conspiracy theory that Joe Biden wasn't really governing. It was the auto pen blah, blah, blah. And he pointed this out to she. And many people looked at that who know about Chinese relations, who know about, you know, how the top people in China at the top of this Communist Party think and said they, they thought that this was a spectacular mistake to insult a previous American president. That there's no way that Xi Jinping is going to take anybody around any part of China and insult any Chinese leader, not, you know, not, obviously not the biggest names. But even some of the ones that have kind of erased from history, we know that Xi Jinping disappears people now and again, he got rid of Huzhian Tao. But he's not going to show Trump a portrait and go, ha, ha, ha. So he will have seen this as an incredible moment of American weakness and a deviled in America that China can drive into. Right. And also a president that now has cancer is very clearly failing. And, you know, his own son has said he doesn't have very long left to go. I think the, you know, the chilling lack of humanity of all this as well is something that, you know, I'm sure Xi Jinping is kind of thinking what the hell, but anybody would see what sort of way to behave as that. That's not, it's a fundamental shift in behavior. And I mean, it's right. It's certainly reckless on its own on its own terms about the reputation and the power of the American presidency. Well, and I thought you saw some of that recklessness with Donald Trump at the UN this week as well when he was saying, well, and like Wolf talked about the word, you know, that he's used the word obliterated. We know in fact that Iran hasn't been obliterated. It's military hasn't been obliterated. It's still remarkably effective for a small power that in theory has taken all the all the air power that we could throw at it, all the bombs that we could have thrown at it. And he said, well, you know, I'm the decider. I will decide whether or not we annihilate them or will we let them back into the world economy? Maybe they could become the most powerful, you know, power in the Middle East. Again, that sort of traditional language we're going to annihilate you. And, and of course, Iran wasn't a challenge of power, but has inadvertently become one. Yes. And this is all, you know, the speech at the back, I was going to say the banquet at the state dinner. Well, it was a banquet. What's the difference between a banquet? So, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I think it's the same thing. In the comments, if you know the difference from a banquet. Yes, dinner, right. And tell us needed. I was kind of thinking like Trumpets and guys in armor and kind of medieval times and turkey legs, maybe turkey legs. I've been to medieval times in New Jersey so much. And just a historic because turkey legs did not exist in the medieval and medieval Europe. But there we are. And I'm not sure they should exist now, but they do. So, and delicious. But he he used Trump at his speech at dinner was very low key. He spoke in admiration of of she. And this was, you know, the sort of the choreography of it is to that there is he wants people to think there's going to be some sort of agreement or deal or something. And quite honestly, there does not appear to be any agreement or deal. There may be some DSX machina down the road. But the last time he went to Beijing, he walked away with what he said was a deal about China, China buying agricultural products and manufacturing products. They've not left up to those commitments. Right. Go to Iowa for the soybean farmers have seen that commitment, not met. And that is a crucial element of the midterm elections, by the way. But but what's on offer here? We don't even know the tech lords were all there because they want access to this Chinese market. And that Chinese market is huge. It's not as big as the American market and she was here because he wants access to the American market. But the language of, you know, speaking in admiration of she and speaking about about the relationship between two countries, all great. But, you know, rather like the meal, where's the beef? Oh, very good. Rather like the meal, where's the beef? Imagine setting your makeup, then forgetting it's even theirs. Meet new grippy setting mist from Mavily New York. Gel to mist technology locks in your look for up to 24 hours, with flexible all day comfy grip. No tightness, no stickiness, no residue, just clump, dewy hydrated skin that still feels like your skin. Try new grippy setting mist from Mavily New York. Maybe it's Mavily. So, let's talk about the midterms. My concern is that the Democrats are overconfident that we saw this in 2016. We saw this in 2024 that being against Trump is somehow enough. I understand that it's a different race than midterms. I understand that it's often just about local races, but Trump has insisted that Republicans think of this as him on the ballot, which of course many of them are saying absolutely not. It's scrubbing you from our websites. We don't want to pretend you're anything to do with this race, because you're so unpopular, most unpopular president in all the recent polls. What should we be looking for? Well, this is one of these, we are, as I said, 39 days out. There are people, there's probably people watching this who already have mail-in ballots. A lot of mail-in ballots have gone out. And there are certainly in the next few days that number just goes up and up. There are military ballots that will have reached overseas by now. So people are beginning to, the thing that happens is people crystallize in their minds, and the number of people who have already cast their vote goes up. And these polls are, as you say, extremely bad. I just took, you know, it's a snapshot this morning. Trump's job approval on average on the polls at the moment is 38.8%. Right. It's never been lower for him. And every time Trump has been on the ballot, he's been on the ballot three times. He won twice, he lost once. I mean, he said, he obviously doesn't agree he lost, but he lost once. And in 2020, his numbers were kind of in this direction. And it was a very, very obvious defeat for him. He came back because Joe Biden's numbers were kind of in that direction as well. In between in those midterm elections, in those first 2018 midterm elections, Trump's numbers were actually higher and yet the Democrats won anyway. So here, I think, what we have is we all know that those polls keep have consistently underestimated the number of people who will vote for Trump. But he's not on the ballot. So exactly how much of that probably 5% or so discount that you have to make comes into play. And even if even if you say 5% of people, you know, there's five, you have to add 5% for Trump, Trump voting, even then these numbers are really still really bad. Georgia, Georgia was deep red. It was then became sort of, you know, maybe purple, if you're optimistic. John also has got a lock on this place. He's 7.8% up in the polls for the Senate. He shall end bottoms. He's running for governor is being pulled up. She has other factors that run again. So John also off as a senator. She was the mayor of Atlanta. And we have to mention that she's African American and it's the south. So, you know, putting all those into play, this shouldn't be too hard for the Republicans. They can say she ran a liberal city and appealed to this sort of based on the countryside, she's up in the polls, North Carolina, I might wait for what way there, he's behind by 8.2%, it's so bad that they're saying we're probably going to stop spending any Republican money there. So those are signs that we have never seen before in the Trump era, that the Republicans are saying we're not going to spend money in places that are where, Trump territory. And they've already spent, the Republicans have already spent nationally $450 million. They've dropped. They've dropped a money bomb on this election. And even with that money, they really, really fear that they're going to lose in Texas. And that is, you know, Texas is actually running closer than people want, you know, than people kind of perceive. But for the Republicans, this would be a psychological, a spiritual blow of immense proportions, because Texas, since the Bush dynasty, turn Texas from Dixie crack to Republican, Texas has been red. And if you ask anybody around the country what sort of state is Texas, they'll say, oh, it's conservative as Republican. And that psychic blow would be huge. They're pro, you know, the polls suggest strongly that Ohio is not just in play, that they are spending $140 million dollars being spent to try to get the unelected Senator John Hustard, a full term. But Sherry Brown, who was a Senator, lost, is running again. And he lost by one point. He lost by one point in a Trump wave year. They are really, you know, they are bombing money into this race. That's money, therefore, they're not spending enough Carolina and in Georgia. Michigan people had thought was a stretch for the Democrats to hold because of a controversial candidate, the form of Abdel El Saeed. But the polling averages there put him up by about two and a half points. That's not enough to say, oh, you know, home and home and host. But what it suggests is the Republicans are going to have to invest really heavily there if they want to get microtures into the Senate. But money is not infinite. Right. And where else are they not spending? And then down the ballot, you have to spend on a whole load of house seats this morning, the Cooke report, which is this very authoritative analysis of political intent, they moved 14 seats, 14 house seats towards the Democrats. That doesn't necessarily mean the Democrats would win those 14, but it means they're in play. They're in play. They went from being safe. That is safe Republican to lean Republican. They went from lean Republican to being toss up. They went from being toss up to lean Democrat. None of that is good news for any, any Republican. And we are hearing it begin to seep out from under the, under the door, under the door jams from the closed doors, a radio, a textual radio host in Iowa this week said he had seen the internal polls in Iowa and that it is a disaster. And Iowa again, deep red. It's really fascinating. I was a to lunch yesterday, organized by Emily's list, which had a group of female candidates all running in swing seats, which is where they're putting their money. And one of them, Christina Nicarbocker, who's running in Ohio 17, I think the district is, was saying that she's running against a Republican incumbent who's been there for 20 years. He's never once in that entire 20 years held a town hall. And she is incredibly impressive, a former Air Force officer who's now an oncology nurse practitioner. And she said that the people of Ohio in the district she's talking to are just like everything this man has voted for. He's voted 100% with Donald Trump has been to take things away from us. And she was an incredibly impressive candidate. So we'll see what happens to her. Christina Nicarbocker, if you are in Ohio. And Ohio 17, I should say, it calls Youngstown, which is incredibly blue collar. And this was, you know, this was part of the Maga sweep, was that this disaffected blue collar that had been in the lock of the Democrats went to Maga. And now this election is at, people are asking, well, what have you done for me? And prices are up. The war is a factor. The whole, you know, the feeling that we are not getting better. And particularly as you say, health care, health care in places like in Ohio 17's got a lot of rural, rural health care has been decimated, decimated, but also the war. I mean, there's a military base there too. And this unasked for war, this illegal war that wasn't approved by Congress. And now people are just feeling like there's no end to this thing. And Iran has managed to outmaneuver America. How is this possible? Donald Trump promised it would be quick war four weeks, five weeks. You've got Pete Hegseth there with his wife sort of showing him how to do things. I mean, these incompetence around Trump also don't inspire any confidence for Republican candidates. Well, and that's why Republican candidates are tumbling up for them. Right. They're not, you know, JD Vance has been to Iowa and Ashley Hinson has running. Didn't go for the Senate. Didn't go to agree to him. They're not wanting, they do not want Donald Trump to come to their territory. And Trump's aide said, oh, he's going to do loads of rallies. He's going to do lots and lots of rallies. It's going to be a rally a day or something like that. Right. They said he was going to visit 35 states. I think. None of that is happening. And those people weirdly are actually breathing a sigh of relief. They don't want him tumbling up for them. They're saying, uh, if we can kind of, you know, say, yeah, sure, I'm not actually as mega as I said I was and hopefully sneak under and, you know, not have Donald Trump turning up with, uh, Mr. Brick suit and the whole rally on to rage on your doorstep, then maybe they can vote things wouldn't be quite as bad. And he's going to deep, deep, deep, deep red. You can't get any redder to another new jacket. Redder than the red carpet for she, uh, he's going to Oklahoma and Alabama to have a place. Well, and one couldn't help thinking last night that him surrounding himself with all the tech billionaires plays to the Democrats narrative that America is now for Donald Trump and his very wealthy friends. They're the people that have gotten richer while everybody else feels poorer. People, I think, feel very unnerved and destabilized by this moment. And, and the phalanx of billionaires only adds to that. And also it used to be that state dinners would be, um, a demonstration of America's talent, right? There would be Hollywood actors there. There would be writers there. There would be artists as well as very successful businessmen. So you're getting the full version of America. And instead, Donald Trump has doubled down on his billionaire friends. And there's no room for anybody else. They, and these are the guys building the data centers, which are horrendously unpopular. Um, the other people that are, the people that are at this dinner, by the way, should say, they literally brought the head of the Chinese Communist Party to dinner. And Trump's, you know, the Democrats are, you know, the target of these Republican ads that say communism, communism, communism. Well, that's, these are actual communist guys. And they're the ones at the dinner. They're, they're the ones sucking down the veluté and enjoying the fricacy, because nothing's too good for the workers, I suppose. But the, um, the direction that Trump is moving in with this, with the billionaires everywhere, with, um, with, you know, wanting to do a deal with China, which people perceive, people, and we talked, I've just mentioned Youngstown, Youngstown, and the area around it is almost emblematic of the feeling that jobs were sucked out, a free trade, and the, and the enter, the entry of China into the free trade, into, into the ability to trade freely with the United States, that this, this error is what Steve Bannon, who I know features hugely, uh, and Michael Wolfe, uh, you know, Michael Wolfe's understanding of, of Trump, a lot of that comes from Bannon. Bannon understood that people were angry about China. Trump is pushing the buttons that make people angry. Um, and if that falls through for the next 39 days, then that's really, really bad news. So, on balance, good thing to invite she, bad thing to invite she for Trump. Oh, um, you've put me in the Thessude Dees trap, but I'm trapped. Um, uh, I think it was, it was, um, a Chinese premier, I believe, who was asked about the, uh, uprisings in 1967 in Paris. Mm-hmm. And he said, and what effect it would have had, and he said, it's too early to tell, but in, in translation, it was translated that he was asked about French Revolution. Mm-hmm. And it was too early to tell. So I am going to choose the too early to tell answer to you. Okay, total contact. And come back to total contact. After, I don't know, 250 years. Okay, total contact. Imagine setting your makeup, then forgetting it's even there. Meet new groupie setting mist from Mabelie, New York. Delta mist technology locks in your look for up to 24 hours, with flexible all day comfy grip. No tightness, no stickiness, no residue, just plump, dewy, hydrated skin that still feels like your skin. Try new groupie setting mist from Mabelie, New York. Maybe it's Mabelie. So, Hugh, one of Donald Trump's posts was excuriating the media for not having covered him enough not having. covered his speech and in particular, he was going after CNN. Now, just explained to us, to those who weren't following as closely as perhaps we were because we're media and we're obsessed with media, Trump banned CNN. He banned MS now and he banned Politico from covering him and from access to the White House and he took away their passes, their passes to be part of the White House briefings. The pool then responded, the White House Correspondence Association that creates a pool that ensures that everybody gets access to what's happening with the president and understands the importance of covering the president, especially one in his ninth decade, who's 80 years old and who's had three attempts on his life, you know, very visible attempts on his life. We understand the importance of covering him at all times. What happened with the coverage of the she event because as they were covering it, a judge was actually deciding how how the press should have access and whether or not Trump had completely trampled on their constitutional rights. Well, not surprisingly, Trump had indeed completely trampled on their constitutional rights. Who would have thought? Judge Tim Kelly, federal judge, appointed by Donald J. Trump said on the balance of probabilities, when this goes to full hearing, I will probably find that Trump has trampled on your constitutional rights and therefore you need to give back these passes and that should have been at least the end of it. But this being the Trump administration, the reporters went back and this happened at 1 a.m. in the morning. It's not often federal judges stay up that late. I would imagine to do this work, but this was how important it was. I've what an important moment it was that this judge was willing to burn them at night. Oh, and actually, this was on Wednesday night. It was not I said I was wrong. I said last night when they were having the state dinner. In fact, it was the night before. Um, Thursday morning, the reporters went back and they still couldn't get in. The then went back to court and all of this is happening while Xi Jinping has arrived at the White House. He's brought the Chinese press core with them. China does not have freedom of speech. Let's just be absolutely crystal clear here. And this white, this white house, the White House, you know, has banned American journalists from covering the White House, but it has welcomed in Chinese journalists and not only that, these Chinese journalists were in fact incredibly aggressive about taking up space and getting near the action way more so than American journalists are in a way that was, you know, bizarre, far succulent, disruptive. CNN went back, CNN MS now and political went back to court. They represented by Ted Bucharest, who is a legendary first, first amendment attorney, a warrior for free speech. And not surprisingly, the White House crumbled, uh, basically on the steps of the court and said, Oh, no, we're restoring the badges. They went back in. But the White House did not entirely restore access here because the pool, which is this organ, it's an attempt to organize that, as you say, the covering the president is incredibly resource heavy, energetic. And there are five television networks that are part of the pool. They are CNN, they are Fox News, ABC, NBC and CBS. And over the years, they have built the infrastructure that allows them to follow the president, film it on, film it in public events, film it is coming into the White House, is leaving the White House. It's incredibly resource heavy. It's really, it's expensive. It's really, really expensive. It takes manpower, it takes person power, it takes computer servers, it takes cameras. You know, this is a whole well, and you have to pay every time you fly on ethos, right? Uh, it's incredibly, it's incredibly expensive. And these five networks have done that as an act, partly obviously for their own advantage that they get this footage, but really of public service. And the pool, before a house decided, they would select who was in the pool and they weren't going to allow CNN back in the pool. So while this whole she event was going on, the pool remained in solidarity with CNN, something that nobody had expected, or I shouldn't say nobody, something that nobody in the White House had expected would happen. They thought they could divide and rule. But the pool, the pool has remained in solidarity until CNN are back in the pool, it said they would not cover these events in the way that they normally would. So we had much more limited filming of it, we have much more limited access to see what was happening. Now, if you're Trump, that's why you were melting down. Right. Because he lives to be on television, we've got three cameras here. That man would love three million. I mean, he wants to be all over the TV at all times, and obviously he wants to be adored. They cut off the feed and he was absolutely furious. It's interesting because a lot of people, a lot of commenters over the year that we've been doing these podcasts have said, why does the press cover him so slavishly cut off the thing that gives him oxygen, which is attention, cut off the TV cameras, ignore him and see what happens. And we saw what happened, which was he went ballistic because CNN hadn't covered him slavishly. Katelyn Collins wasn't at the event saying, Mr. President, what are you doing? And when she turned up at the UN, he couldn't understand why she was there. He was like, you're not supposed to be covering me. Obviously thrilled that she was there. And she said, well, the UN invited us. This is it's it's an incredibly good question. And yeah, we've both, we've both seen it in comments, we've both, you know, I've a readers and listeners and viewers emailing me and I welcome that. It's a really finely balanced thing. Yes, Trump is abusive towards journalists and his conduct particularly women, particularly women journalists, particularly women journalists. His conduct is atrocious. Cutting off that oxygen of attention may modify his behavior, but he is also the American president. And therefore has access to immense power. He commands the nuclear codes. He has the ability to direct the work of millions of people, I should probably say hundreds of thousands of people in the executive branch, the military, the power that is available to him as president is vast. And therefore, having a camera on him is an important part of of holding him to account. And that balance, I absolutely understand why people say just shut him off. And I have myself often thought that white house reporters personally should be more aggressive. It's often it's kind of obvious with some of them that they perceive personal advantage of that person gets slapped down. I'll go next. And it's, you know, that's human nature, I think. But when the attention gets turned off, then we don't know what's happening. That is itself probably definitely bad for democracy. And that balance we've seen this week that the networks do want to get back to covering Trump, not because they are sleeplessly in love with them, but because they believe, as journalists, that their job is to record history. And that's certainly how I see our job. So there was some footage from last night. Where does that come from? There were other, yes, there was other, there were other, there was other footage. There's a lot of still photos because the TV pool and does not, you know, the TV pool has been the affected group of this. The print pool has not been affected. And so photographers went on doing their work. And there was also some video footage from the white house itself. And of course, in this week, Trump has launched his own Trump TV station, which is on YouTube, and which is essentially Trump's greatest hit. So it's 24/7 Donald Trump. It is Trump 24/7. We have watched it, so you don't have to. Michaelian Black, who's our brilliant humorist, inflicted it on himself. The numbers are, I'm just going to say, we've got the QR code up on screen now for people who want to find Michaelian Blacks. Verdicton is hilarious. He says it shows why Mussolini television never worked. Oh, Mussolini television. Can I throw in here? I did notice that his numbers were very low. We have 24/7 inside Trump's head television. So look for it now, 24/7. If you're ever you can't get to sleep or you want some kind of stimulation or motivation to get out there and do something inside Trump's head television 24/7. So Donald Trump is, he's basically copied us. He has, except his, no insights. It's all rolling out the greatest hits and it's not proving popular. I bet he's watching himself. Do you think he gets into bed late at night with his burger and then just puts his greatest hits on and lies that are watching it? I bet he does. Oh, what a scene. I know what a scene. What a scene. Do you know what? I'll just say we've got no knowledge that Trump has ever watched YouTube peculiarly. He's big on conventional television. We did some comparisons. We followed some numbers. But would he know it was YouTube? Because 30% of people watch YouTube on a television set. That's true. and we're told that he has televisions wherever he goes, so it has Natalie has unwittingly watched it. I suspect he's running 24/7 in his bedroom. I think that's honestly totally possible. Natalie, if you're in the comments, let us know. Yes. Was Natalie invited to the state dinner, because I didn't see her. I saw Ivanka with single white femaleing her. I mean, they looked identical. The hair was identical. I hope we're showing pictures of this. We have the turquoise dress, which was a bit of a nod to Melania's dress for the first inauguration, the Ralph Lauren's suit. She wore with a kind of little bolero, which was in itself a shout out to Jackie Kennedy. But Ivanka and Natalie Hart both have their hair up. As I realized, I do two today, so it's all I'm single white femaleing Natalie Hart. So you inadvertently, you are inadvertently hard. I could be. I could be. Wow. Well, she's a lot younger than me, but Natalie and Ivanka looked identical. Many people getting them confused, I think, not just me. Melania turned up in a business suit, so big sort of bow and pants, which is unusual for a state dinner, unusual, I thought, and she and Donald Trump were dressed in identical. They were twinning. They were twinzing. It was very strange. For a bean, it was very strange. There was a couple that were wearing red eyes, or to be fair, she to the dinner was wearing a Chinese sort of mouse suit, I think they're called with the collar. But during the day, they were both wearing a navy suit with a sort of patterned red and purple tie. Yeah, that's very strange. They were more like a couple than Trump and Ivanka. Trump, oh my goodness, I just said it. Then Trump and Melania and Melania. Worth reading David Rothkoff's hilarious column about something which actually, well, it was about Donald Trump's crush on Xi Jinping. It reminded me of also in the news this week, Princess Diana, because her brother also reminded me of Princess Diana, because her brother, Charles Spencer, has written a book, our columnist, Tom Sykes of the Royalist, has been chronicling this book, because it's caused enormous russians with Buckingham Palace and with King Charles. But Diana, well, Charles Spencer, her brother, who many remember delivering the eulogy at her funeral, which 30 years ago now, he recalls Diana having lunch with him and telling him that she was going to get a divorce from Charles, Prince Charles as he was then, because Prince Charles was in love with his valet. It made me think of this when David Rothkoff wrote about the crush that Donald Trump has on Xi Jinping, because men do get obsessed with each other too. Here is a strong man that Donald Trump, as you say, would love to be in power for the rest of his life and Xi Jinping has already announced he will be in power for the rest of his life. Yes, so maybe the Trumps seem to come in and quickly, you know, quickly single white female as well. I think he did. I think he did shout out to Don Rousse, who wrote single white female, because it's just a phrase that lives on and on and it's so good. We should just put that picture of Ivanka and Natalie up on screen, brilliantly selected by Elizabeth Brockway, who leads our visuals team. It's pretty extraordinary. How similar they look. People know that Spider-Man meme, well, there's two Spider-Men pointing at each other. Right. There's a bit of that going on. It's Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Lee and it's very scary. It's in the White House right now. It's in the White House happening right now. Yes, you can't make this stuff up. If you have been big thank you for joining, I will be back tomorrow with Inside Trump's head and Michael Wolfe and Huey, you're going back to the newsroom to whip up yet more stories. I'm just going to see what's been happening, other more single white females. It's a more Trump TV. All these mysteries unfolding on the DailyBeast.com. 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