I Have Natalie Harp's 'Love Letters' to Trump

I miss the days when you used to call during my talk show days and we talk about everything and nothing. I want to get back to that synergy. We shouldn't have to talk about work all the time because I never want to bring you anything but joy. I'm sorry I lost my focus, you are all that matters to me. Thank you for being my guardian and my protector in this life. She's not acting like a subordinate. She is acting like a lover or a, you know, someone in a personal relationship. That's what is, what is confusing here and what's problematic and certainly problematic from the point of view of his professional staff, which is why I am in possession of these letters because they recognized, oh my God, this is a real problem. There wasn't recourse. She is there. She went into the White House two years later. She is still there as one of the central people in this president's. Michael. Joanna. Oh, so much to discuss. Not least, the letters from Natalie Hart that she sent to the president on their trip to Scotland. Also, what is happening with the memo of understanding its deadline has been and gone. We are in a complete headlock with Iran and neither country can get out. It seems. And as you say, is this the end of Trump? Headlock implies that someone has someone in a headlock on who has some, who is the, in the superior position in this headlock? I fear because I never want to bet against America and I love America. I love this country and the opportunities has afforded me. I think Iran has a, has America in a headlock here. I think this was the forever war that Donald Trump promised not to have and he's completely stuck. So he may be feeling rather relieved that Natalie Hart has taken the attention. What you're feeling about the United Kingdom in your own country, would you like to give a little, a little summation of your feelings about, I would, but I'm not going to do it right here because I'd rather talk about the helicopter pad and the half hour that the president in a headlock held currently by Iran. Though it doesn't mean that like a good UFC fight, they can't reverse positions quickly. The half hour that the president took to show people what's happening with the ballroom and of course his precious helicopter pad, which he tore up three weeks ago, but has since been rebuilt and is now on the White House lawn. He says that people who will be happiest are the pilots, the helicopter pilots that have to land. And I'm sure it is more stable than landing on the lawn. But I think the person who is happiest yesterday possibly was the president taking half an hour out of a grueling schedule where nothing is working to show reporters how impactful his physical legacy will be on the White House. And it's not really on the White House lawn, it has become the White House lawn. It's become the White House lawn, okay. If you haven't yet subscribed to The Daily Peace Podcast, now is your opportunity. If you're joining us for the first time, we go inside Donald Trump's head three times a week. Michael will tell you briefly why. Please press the subscription button and share this episode with your friends. You can discuss if we're right, if we're wrong, if I have an irritating accent, if Michael takes too long to say things sometimes over to you, Michael. You want me to tell you why we are in Donald Trump's head. We are in Donald Trump's head because everything in this White House is personal. So as we discuss, as we've discussed last week, as we continue to discuss this week, the great soap opera going on in the White House, the reason we are focusing on this is because it is all personal, it is all about Donald Trump. It is all, all comes from what Donald Trump is, I don't know what he had breath for breakfast this morning, what he has, what someone has whispered to him, Natalie Harp, perhaps. And then that is what makes policy in this White House. That is what makes history in this White House, whatever comes off of Donald Trump's head out of Donald Trump's mouth at any given moment. Okay, so this week has been the week and we've discussed Donald Trump, the soap opera and the spin-off series and how he thinks as an executive producer. And this week the episodes have been all on Natalie Harp. One of his aides who you have been writing about for three years, you revealed how concerned the Secret Service were about her in your book All Or Nothing, which chronicled the 24 campaign. And we have talked about her on the podcast and we've written about her a lot on the Daily Beast over the last 80 months. She's really come to prominence this week because John Osso, the senator, the democratic senator from Georgia, said that the president really didn't want to be doing any of the hard work of being a president. He wanted to fly around in his apparently unsafe, grift force one luxury jet traveling with Natalie. And the dam has birthed on Natalie Harp, his ever-present A. And there was a Democrat, a prominent Democrat who took issue with Ossov, I think yesterday, right? David Axelrod, Obama's former advisor. And it was a kind of, he had Axelrod had his panties in a twist because I was not exactly sure what Axelrod's point was, although he was, he was very, he was very upset about John Ossov, but why? Well, he was upset with John Ossov, because he felt Natalie wasn't where the focus of Ossov's attention should be, that it wasn't about Natalie. It was about Trump and they should keep the focus on affordability. And I think that that's why, first thing, Axelrod obviously has been out of this game for a long time, but I also think that's a profound misunderstanding of who Donald Trump is, what Donald Trump stands for, how people relate to Donald Trump and how Donald Trump governs the nation. And I will go back to that, everything is personal here. So clearly, you know, you can abstract this and talk about affordability, which is obviously a, a, a, a central and important issue, but that doesn't begin to explain how Donald Trump approaches affordability, which would be the, a central question as we come into the midterms, can Donald Trump deal with affordability, which he has not been able to deal with? And how does he deal with what he deals with? And partly, that goes to the nature of who he is speaking to and who he is speaking to, more than anyone else is Natalie Harp. And you can say that she is just an aid and assistant, I think maybe her title is something like executive assistant, but she is the person overwhelmingly who spends the most time with the president of the United States. So Mr. Axel Rock, you know, you've really missed the plot here. 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Morgan and Morgan will fight to get their clients the best results, and their fee is free unless they win. To see if you have a case, you can go to forthepople.com/ith. He's not only Miss the Plot, but he's also gone after the one Democrat that seems to have emerged above all the others yet. And who knows if David Axelrod has a horse in the race for the Democrats in 28, but you think of how brilliantly John Ossoff billeted Jake Layton with his line about, isn't it, that you can't just say Donald Trump lost the 2020 election and Jay Clayton was plundering like a fish without oxygen. And do fishes need oxygen? Was plundering like a fish out of water? And I think you should just continue with this. It was for you. I think viewers and listeners will understand what I am saying that he's plundering like a fish. Jay Clayton was. And also he's brilliant. Like a fish maybe we flapping like a fish on the dog. Thank you. Thank you. Flapping like a fish on the dog. Everybody saw it Jay Clayton. And also he's brilliant filleting of Pete Hegseth during the hearings. So to go after John Ossoff who's emerging as a as a real contender and someone who can bring a Southern state just seems like it's such evidence of the civil war going on in the Democratic party right now. But let's get back to Natalie Hart. But let me just let me just say that Ossoff is what he was also channeling. It's not just a democratic concern. He is channeling the concern of everyone in the White House. So this is one of those other things one of those Trump things of of things hiding in plain sight. Everybody knows this that that Donald Trump is is is in a bubble with this young woman. And and the people in the White House know it. They are concerned about it. They've consistently expressed concern about it to me among others. And and then also you can't see pictures of the President of the United States. You can't see you literally almost one picture without Natalie Hart being in the frame. Well and her brother has also come forward and said that she's you know unhealthily fixated on the President. She's obsessed about him. And of course we know that the Secret Service were very anxious about her presence. And then now appears to be concerned that it took a year to get her security and we know that MAGA is not happy with this. That that MAGA loves the First Lady. Says the First Lady is a class act. And we've seen less of the first lady. We've repeatedly said she's the least visible First Lady of the century. So this afternoon she is giving a press conference of which we can cover on Saturday if it's of any note. Well let's let's talk I mean I think just to say she's the least visible is belies what's going on here. And I think more clearly she's abdicated the role of the First Lady of the United States. She doesn't live in the White House. She actually may not have spent on night in the White House during this administration. She lives in New York. She she concentrates on her own business interests. Certainly not on the the interests of the nation. And and yet I would point out is supported by taxpayer dollars. Including being followed around wherever she goes by by a by the New York City Fire Department and an EMT crew crew. Why could she so hot? She's so hot she's gonna set fire to it. You know it's just you know I mean you know I mean it seems somehow to trivialize this but it is it is a hardly that that's a lot of money spent to to protect the First Lady of the United States to anticipate the First Lady of the needs of the First Lady of the United States to make sure that she is safe at all times. And if she is not really the First Lady of the United States at least not functioning as the First Lady of the United States why are we paying for this? We have a taxpayer. Her advisor Mark has said that her press conference this afternoon will be about an initiative she's doing with I think the group that's organizing the Indy car races and they have made a special helmet or which has got two of her initiatives on the helmet one is Bebess which is my favorite my favorite ungrammatical initiative of the First Lady and then fostering the future which is where she helps promote fostering kids which of course is a perfectly good perfectly good initiative. I you know we should know that this is coming up just at the moment where there are some serious questions arising where is Melania she's not in the White House she's not in the role of First Lady so she's kind of rushing down I think to to to to claim her her place but then she will rush back she won't stay overnight in her husband's White House. I'm sure she'll look very chic driving an Indy car around with a with the driver or perhaps she'll be in the beast which I think the beast is going to take a tour of the Indy at the Indy site so she'll be in the beast perhaps with the president. As you know we have been auditing the First Lady's time at the Daily Beast and she hasn't been at an official function for a month she was last seen at the FIFA World Cup final with Baron and before that she was at the UFC fight so I think she had three official outings during July and we literally haven't seen her for a month. Well let's let's take a little tour into what she is some of the things that she is dealing with which is the fact say that her husband is distracted by not only affairs of state but but the attentions of a young woman. Running a business means you're always reachable until you're not and that moment you miss that call that text that follower the competitor is the one that picks it up that's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo spelled Q U O the business phone system built so that you never miss an opportunity all your calls texts and voicemails live in one place so anyone on your team can pick up a conversation see the full history and respond fast. Quo is the number one rated business phone system on G2 trusted by over 90,000 businesses who rely on it to stay reachable and look professional every day. Set up in minutes on any device keep your existing number and add teammates you grow no IT no hassle money is always on the line so always say hello with Quo try Quo for free plus get 20% off your first six months when you go to Quo dot com slash beast that's Q U O dot com slash beast so Michael you were sent copies of Natalie's letter and we're going to show them here exclusively and we also have a video of her clearly on one of the campaign planes there's music playing she's tapping her beat and you can see her she looks very comfortable as if she's well and truly at home on a campaign plane. These are sent to me these were taken by people within the campaign who believe that this that her presence there was really strange and that's why that's why they're taking videos of theoretically one of their colleagues why are they doing this because because it's noteworthy and then they're passed to people in the press including me. They reveal a young woman perhaps emotionally younger than you would expect from a presidential aid unburdening herself I think with him and asking for his forgiveness when she wasn't 100% focused on him. And as I as we've discussed before I mean she it's a kind of a tradwife thing where it has that feel to it of of of a unique and kind of utter submissiveness. So Michael how did you get these these letters? Natalie Harp was an issued during the campaign among the Trump staffers which of great concern to them of almost all of them. All of the staff the aides around Donald Trump knew that he was spending too much time with Natalie Harp that she that her influence was growing and it was influenced based on nothing at all she had no experience certainly none none in politics or policy but she was becoming the person that he was listening to and she was the person who was keeping other people away from from the then candidate and and this got more extreme as the campaign went on that she became the the the gatekeeper to the former president of the United States soon to become the next president of the of the United States congressional leaders press everybody had to go through Natalie Harp. harp. And it was like, who is this person? Where did she come from? What is what is her function? What is her purpose? Why are we talking to Natalie harp? And their begin their began to be a kind of a kind of revolt. It was by the way, an unsuccessful revolt, but a revolt nevertheless. And they began to talk to people on staff began to talk to reporters, including me. And this was when these letters were passed to me. And these letters, which had been Natalie harp, what she did as the Natalie harp, the human printer would print out all kinds of documents, notes, emails for the president. And into this stack of papers, she would insert these love letters, which were discovered by members of the staff, and then passed around actually photographed. We have the, and that's what I sent you this morning, photographs of these letters that Natalie harp wrote to the president. And they're kind of extraordinary. I mean, they're certainly not professional. They are the letters of someone who's obviously lovesick. I can't think of any other word for this. That wasn't quite long. I wouldn't have thought that Donald Trump would have the patience to read a love letter this long. Well, we don't know what Donald Trump has read or not read. But we do know that these are the letters that have been written to him by Natalie harp. This is a, this is a window into Natalie harp's head. We don't know what Donald Trump's in, we don't know what is in Donald Trump's head about Natalie harp, except that he spends all of his time with her. But it is perfectly possible. He regards her as he regards most people as fungible, and she is just there holding his coat. And that's fine. We don't know. But we do know that she is there all the time and that she is hopelessly in love with Donald Trump. Okay. So I'm going to read a little bit from her letter. And it appears that they've been on the golf course. They've been in Scotland. And she says, I always knew coming home to my roots would be enlightening, but I had no idea how much. For the first time in, I don't know how long you forced me to unplug. We could be out on the course with no machines and even forget what time it was. I didn't have to be human printer. I could get time to enjoy good conversation and still get all my work done at the end of the day. In fact, I even had time to take long, morning and evening walks to enjoy each sunrise and sunset, though I did forget to eat and sleep. With so much thinking time, I confess, it did have a slightly negative effect at times that I know you picked up on. But the end result, I believe, will be worth it. I had no idea how rapidly I was approaching Burnup and starting to envy those whose only job seems to be to talk with you and look pretty. I want that job so many times. I'm just trying to stay afloat with all that's coming in for you. I looked like a hunchback who didn't have time to freshen up brackets. At least you know what I should look like, close brackets. Plus, I missed the days when you used to call during my talk show days and we talk about everything and nothing. We shouldn't have to talk about work all the time. What do you think she means when she says, I look like a hunchback who didn't have time to freshen up. At least you know what I should look like. I'm not even going to guess at that. Thank you. Then she goes on to say, I've always felt like an in-betweener somewhere between staff and those you enjoy talking to on the plane or at dinner because that's who I used to be with you. When I was a talk show host, brackets as much as I hated that actual job, close brackets, I wish I could hear every conversation because that's when you're having a good time, getting away from it all at least for a few moments. So, I understand what has this progression here. She comes into the campaign as a go-fetched girl, becomes this human printer which gives her enormous, enormous authority because she is the main information conduit to Donald Trump. He needs things printed out. Through that, she begins to exert a really curious kind of influence because he's influenced by the last piece of the last thing he has seen. The last bit of praise, the last bit of somebody saying something negative about him. Then she begins to assume this responsibility for the people who get to Donald Trump. Then she moves into this situation in which she is as close to him as anyone else. This becomes a kind of physical strategic thing with her of staying, of maintaining that kind of proximity. We talked last week about that the staff is trying to cut her out. She is tenaciously not only staying in but even getting closer. They don't give her a room at Bedminster during the 2023 summer when the campaign moves north from Florida and instead but she arranges a room in the maid's quarters. That's not close enough so she moves to the women's locker room and sleeps there the whole summer because it is closer to Donald Trump. Well, he wants loyalty around him and she's deeply loyal clearly. There's also a little bit more of that letter. But after going through all this self analysis, my conclusion, I need to reunite my past self with my current into a better version who will make you proud. And please, when I fail, will you tell me you have the absolute right to cuss me out if need be when I deserve it because no one knows or cares about me more. Thank you for always being there for me. I'll never forget when you made that promise to me after losing my dad and I know how happy he is right now that I did get to go to Scotland and Ireland as he always wanted that for me. To modify a classic, I could not have parted with you to anyone less worthy and I will add it is I who is unworthy always, naturally. I just simply don't believe Donald Trump could have gotten to the bottom of the letter. I think he would have sort of skim read it as you say, I skim things and moved swiftly on or possibly pat it around the head. Yeah, well, I think patted her on the head or actually in the within the campaign, they joked about him patting her somewhere else has has has has patting on the arm. Yes. Well, has has the boss been spanking Natalie? Is that what they would say? Yes. Yeah. No, no, no, everyone was aware. This was upfront the strangeness of this relationship. The strangeness of her submissiveness to him. And, you know, because it actually put everyone else into everyone else who is has to be submissive to the president seem not submissive enough because of because of how extreme her submissiveness was that I'm submitting each other. But, but this was in this this went on from the campaign. I mean, I mean, she succeeded. She went into the White House with an as you as you point out without security clearance, but with a desk right outside of the Oval Office. So she is always in sight of of the president of the United States. He moves, she moves. I don't I mean, I think that that's that was her whole strategy. Never lose, never never take her eyes off of Donald Trump. And I mean, I showed you also some photographs of of her of her, which were taken by other staff members who were kind of amazed by the way she looks at Donald Trump. Well, the second letter that that you have is also fascinating because it's the intricacies of it. So I'm going to read the first bit of the first paragraph. I'm sorry, I thought I was the only one left behind last night and I had no idea Margot's car was also pulled over and sent back to the airport since I was alone in the van outside customs without my passport I panicked and I should have just called secret service instead of you. I'm also sorry if I was an embarrassment walking the course in Scotland. The first day I was told there were no carts and people walked, which is why I walked. I mean, again, this incredible amount of detail. I'm sure Donald Trump doesn't be less interested in just just a little background there. That was the moment when they took her cart away because again, the staff is trying to separate her get get some distance between her and the candidate. suddenly, she's not only walking the course behind him, but in fact, running. And there is, there's actually video of her running after his golf cart carrying the portable printer. There's also a detail here. The second day I was specifically asked by, I forget who his name was, but one of the main people who worked there, if I could continue walking, and tell any other girls who would head out there to do the same, to spare the course any more carts. If there is anything else I have done to cause you trouble, please forgive me. I know that some people have said I haven't been texting them back. And there have been some international cell issues, John was having technical issues on the plane too, so asked me to help him out. I mean, what I find so interesting is getting the insight into the specifics of the campaign and the irritation of not getting your cell phone to work, you know, when you're abroad or you're traveling with the president and trying to be on top of things. I haven't been myself dwelling on the past and the pain of losing my dad and I started letting the remarks of people who haven't bothered me before get to me, not because I care what other thing, but because I see myself being lowered in your eyes and good opinion, that is the fear you see, because I never want to bring you anything but joy. I'm sorry I lost my focus. You are all that matters to me. That's what I wanted to use this card for. When you saw me at the cash register and once again, did what you didn't have to do and gifted me with mementos of this trip of a lifetime, a coming of age, I will return a better person. I have to sign off now as the cards are leaving. See you soon with all my heart. So just the extraordinary nature of an aid in theoretically a lower level aid, writing this kind of heartfelt letter to the candidate, a man running to be the president of the United States. Is it all wrong? I think I mentioned on Tuesday's podcast. I'm reading Robert Harris this novel at the moment, which is about Herbert Asquith, the British Prime Minister who leads Britain into the First World War. He is 60 and is having a passionate letter of fair with a woman who's in her mid-twenties, Venetia Stanley and because of historical records, she kept all the letters he wrote to her 550 of them and they are immensely intimate sort of, you know, my darling, you can't imagine the pressure I'm under. Only the thought of seeing you at the weekend keeps me alive. You know, I've got another telegram from the Russian ambassador and the Belgians are being brave and holding back the Germans, but they're not going to be effective. My darling, when can I see you? So I wonder if this is just people in power, you know, having a relationship with someone that either distracts them or stop here because first thing, this is a subordinate. This is not someone, someone, not a person. No, very important here. This is not a personal relationship. This should not be a personal relationship, is not a personal relationship. She is a subordinate at working in a campaign of someone running for the the presidency of the United States. I mean, that idea of a subordinate acting as though she's not a subordinate acting like she's the girlfriend, and maybe she is. We don't know that, and I do not think that in any kind of conventional terms that she is his girlfriend, but she clearly wants that. She clearly is acting like that. So this becomes weird, to say the least. And, and, and, and, if the president, this is weird, and it is within the confines of a, of an, of an office environment, upsetting, destabilizing to so many else, this is at the very, very least, really, really bad management on the part of Donald Trump. Right. I mean, what's interesting also is the letters are incredibly fluent, and you think of both Ivana and Melania, who were both Eastern European immigrants to America, and have big accents. And I don't know how fluent they were writing, and nowadays AI would be able to help with that. But this letter is very, it's very articulate. It I mean, it puts her center of it, but, but trying to please him. So she's not pretending she's not subordinate to him, if anything, she's professing how subordinate she is. But yeah, no, no, no, but you're, you're missing your, you're mixing up two concepts, the concept of, of submissiveness, and a subordinate. Those are different things. A subordinate is in, is in a professional context. No, no, I get that. I get that. But she is not, but she is not, that's the point. She's not acting like that. She is acting like a lover, or a, you know, someone in a personal relationship. That's what is, what is confusing here and what's problematic, and certainly problematic from the point of view of his professional staff, which is why I am in possession of these letters because they recognized, oh my god, this is a real problem. And then these letters were also passed the secret service. And they immediately saw, oh my god, this is a problem. I mean, this is, we are out of the relationship here is not a relationship that should exist in a, in a professional setting and certainly in a professional setting with someone who has been and may well be, again, the president of the United States. This ain't normal. And Well, normally it would also, you would think, be something that the secret service or his staff will be worried about because it would make him vulnerable to blackmail. Well, for whatever reasons, I mean, I think it makes him vulnerable to bad advice more directly. And it makes it difficult for other people to do their job. And he's essentially said, you know, he's essentially disrupted the management structure in a way that everybody finds uncomfortable, confusing, and counterproductive, no doubt. So that's what's going on here. But because he is running the candidate running for president and then the president, he's in charge. So, so there, there is, there's really no recourse and there wasn't recourse. She is there. She went into the White House two years later, she is still there as one of the central people in this presidency. I wonder if Marjorie Taylor Green said that that Natalie would send a note back saying printed if she had managed to get whatever misive Marjorie Taylor Green wanted to get in front of the president and he'd actually read it or acknowledge it. I wonder if Natalie sent herself notes when she managed to smuggle one of her love notes into the pack just saying printed because he would she would see him reading it. I suppose perhaps they discussed their letters. Anyway, there are articulate interesting letters and they do as you say seem very abnormal. No, I would say that there's a flag here. These letters are a red flag and they were treated like that by people around the president. Not that that really changed anything at all. And I know that, you know, he he brushed off everyone's concern, including the concern of his own son and he brushed it off by saying, oh, she just loves her president. Well, Eric Trump yesterday came out with a full throated endorsement of Natalie Harp saying that she's very hard working and a very loyal aide to his opponent. Yes, and I know that that is, in fact, was not the case during the campaign. During the campaign, it was he was concerned. He was like, who is this person? Why am I hearing from her? Well, I wonder what Natalie's advice is to the president on Iran? Well, it's not certainly not good advice. Do you think she advised him to go to war? I mean, we know that she was in food truck one as you executive editor refers to it. So she was in there with Donald Trump and with the Hexeth. So she understands the implications of the war on on Trump. Um, does she understand the implications of the war would seem like nobody quite understands the implications of the war, at least from a, um, or not the implications that exceed the next 24 hours, because I mean, that's the way that this has gone. You don't know, there is there appears to be no strategy, no coordination, no end game certainly. Um, uh, we're, we're all, all exists as so much with Donald Trump does in the moment. What will happen today? Which obviously the Iranians understand and are playing. Nothing will happen today. We're not going to do anything. We're going to let you stew and we are going to just wait this out. So the memo of understanding so carefully crafted and overseen by JD Vance and Steve Wyckoff and Jared Kushner with a 60 day sort of cool off period. The 60 day deadline has come and gone. And the memo of understanding seems to have just been blown away. Well, let me just remind you and everybody that this is not the first deadline. I mean, there have been a series of deadlines. I mean, I think that that is the fourth or fifth firm deadline in which in which if conditions were not met, then we were going either going back to war or we were going to open, bring our ships into the strait of hormones to open it or all kinds of threats. As a matter of fact, we're now on, we've gone into as of yesterday new economic threats. And I think this was from the Treasury Secretary who was threatening more economic threats than have ever been leveled against, although more economic sanctions that have ever been leveled have already been leveled against the Iranians. I mean, for many years now, in fact. Well, the Iranians know this is an unpopular war in America. They know President Trump has the midterms approaching and they know that they can just hold out or it appears that they can just hold out as long as they have money to pay the revolutionary guard. Well, I guess they hope that they, well, the money to pay the revolutionary guard will come out of the backs of the ordinary Iranians who don't have food and don't have electricity and don't have and have less and less of basically everything. I wonder if Natalie Hart could get together with Mrs Hegseth and they could figure out the war together because there was an interesting piece in the New York Times by Elizabeth Bumela this week talking about the unusual role that Mrs Hegseth has at her husband's side, Jenny Hegseth met. They met each other when they were at Fox together. She was a TV producer and she was his producer until she got moved after what sounds like very lively Christmas party where her husband turned up and apparently Pete Hegseth got very annoyed at the presence of her husband. Anyway, she's now sort of omnipresent at the Pentagon and giving opinions and and remaining very close to him and he's basically saying that she and Jesus, the two jays were his salvation after his period of heavy drinking and two marriages that went wrong. They have seven children between them. Those three of them live with Pete's ex-wife, one of his ex-wife and she is omnipresent in the Pentagon. This is again very unusual. This is not normal to have a spouse as closely involved with such a senior cabinet position. I'm surprised she's not in cabinet meetings actually, but perhaps she's outside the door waiting with a warm towel and a cup of something non-alcoholic for Pete when he when he staggers out of those three are epic love best with the president. Well, so what do you think this actually is going on here that Pete Hegseth needs this kind of support that that this is really his wife who is engineering this career. Let's just parse this this a minute. What does it mean when when a spouse takes on a central role in the other spouse's career? I think it means the other spouse is broken and the producer in her understands how to put on a performance as if everything is just going hunky-dory and probably understands that Donald Trump is the person that her husband needs to perform. Yeah, and it's not only remember a producer not only makes things you know produces a nice picture, but a producer is that kind of person who is incredibly detail oriented the the the manager on the spot. The person who you can absolutely rely on for all logistical detail for all details. So this is what he needs and that would that would certainly fit the the profile of a former and let's put former in italics alcoholic. Right, so do you think that's what's going on that she's keeping him sober? Yeah, and even that I mean I think that she's she's tending to all of the things that would that he can't pay attention to because you know because he you know we're we're only taking his word that he's sober. Well, it's also clear that he had a very bad Iraq in the way that a lot of people did and he got hounded out of the two veterans organizations that he ran. Well then he was clearly drinking during during that time and we only know you know so he came into this job remember swearing if I get this job if you confirm me I'll stop drinking. So which which has always seemed to me to be curious I'll you know as though it were an easy an easy step give me the job I'll stop drinking. Right, give me one of the most complex jobs in the world running the American military and it will be I will stop drinking because even though I drink when I am stressed and perhaps to deal with what arguably could be post-traumatic stress disorder from his days in the war I will suddenly be fine. Even I drink not just for those I drink all of the time because I am an alcoholic. Okay, well there's also that. Well, he claims that Jesus and Jenny saved his life but Jenny cannot be far away at any time here. It was a really interesting piece. No, I think that that's true and I think and I think the implication you know always the problem with the New York Times on these these kinds of things is that it gives you this but but then we don't go the extra step. This is strange. This is this obviously raises greater questions than just the curiosity of a of a of a spouse paying a lot of attention to the other spouse's job. I was surprised that she didn't stop him going out when he did that and I I've talked about this on the podcast before but it was a detail that struck me as strange that he calls in all these journals from all over the world for a meeting to tell them off for for facial hair and not being fit enough and this again is part of his sort of whole fitness routine and then he comes out to address them with a with a sippy cup with a metal sippy cup we have no idea what was in the cup he said it was coffee I think and he sort of slams it down at one point but I was like who comes out and addresses the top brass of the American military about the most disciplined people in the world hopefully and comes out with a coffee cup it looked careless it looked foolish it looked like he couldn't let go of it like it was his pinky it was really strange no no it is and I've actually had this in in in various meetings that that I've that I've been in when people have come in to give a presentation or anything like that sometimes people have come in with a coffee cup and I'm always kind of kind of staggered but I will on the other hand Boris Johnson when he was at Oxford was famous for in debates by he would in in in a debate he would have a cup of something and people would focus on it because you know he was he did a lot of gesticulating and and the liquid in the cup would never go over the rim and he became that became a famous Johnson technique for holding people's attention interesting I remember seeing Johnson doing a debate once at the Oxford Union he was so good it was possibly his best, his best moments really as a student to beta. That's really perhaps what he should have remained as. Well, we can't have forever remain a student, Gator. No, we can't, but it was Boris Spaniard moment, but I will also say that you and I used to work with someone who always had a Coke can. And I just thought, oh, Americans, why can't they let go of this sugary drink? But of course, we then discovered at a much later date that it was actually full of vodka. I think you rang and explained that to me. And I did notice that he would fall asleep in meetings occasionally, and I never put the two together. I mean, you would never fall asleep if you had a kind of Coke, as Coke keeps you awake. Well, anyway, anyway, we digress. We digress, but this is one of a podcast. Yes, we don't know what was in Pete, Pete, Higgs's cup. But we do know that he's under incredible stress with a war that's spinning out of control. He's got the USS Lincoln being swapped for the USS Washington because the families of sailors aboard the Lincoln are furious with what they see as low rations, bad men pull health, a bathroom system that's not working. And then Donald Trump saying that he wants to change electromagnetic catapults on the plane and revert back to steam catapults. And he wants to reorganize the ships. Yes, you've actually conflated to two things there. Because more importantly, with respect to with respect to all these guys on this aircraft carrier who are not getting enough supplies, is that is that Donald Trump has said said, well, they should stay out longer. They should work harder. So he's not only shown an ounce of sympathy to what is going on there, but probably a complete lack of understanding of what's going on there. And we should also note that the reason this aircraft carrier is in extremists is that the Iranians have taken out the the the the central resupply base in the region in Bahrain. Yeah. In Bahrain. So it's been much more difficult for them to get supplies. So this is, you know, again, again, again, with Donald Trump saying, you know, they're they're at the end. They get there. The war is one, whatever, whatever he says at any given moments, they have managed to do extreme damage to the American military presence in the region. Well, the good news is he's going off to have a visit with King John on often North Korea. Un unbelievable. It is as though he's playing this old card. And you remember this card was for the from from the first administration in which he he he threatened the North Koreans and Kim Jong Un with fire and fury, which gave me the title of my first book about about the Trump presidency. And then was able somehow to make friends or at least what he thought was was a friendship with Kim Jong Un. Of course, in in that context, the in the the the original threat had to do with their with the North Koreans nuclear capability. And but that capability has only during the friendship of Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump expanded significantly. Well, and do we talk on Tuesday about the diss to the South Koreans? We did not, but yeah, that is also so so we're we're at this stage two where he is, you know, effectively looking for to blame anyone for the Iranian fiasco. He's blaming the South Koreans because they declined to come to the aid of Donald Trump in the midst of this fiasco. He's threatening the the good people of Oman to go to war with them because he's unhappy with their support in the in the war in Iran. So again, we're back to that to that issue with this which is it's kind of really hard to to to be vivid enough about that enough that everything seems random here. Everything is flailing out. Everything is what am I going to do to what am I going to do? I'm going to do this today and I'm going to do something different tomorrow. So is this the worst managed war in the history of warfare? I think it's a that's the kind of question we have I think it begins to be reasonable to ask and there have been a lot of very poorly managed wars in history. Well, you know who's having a bad campaign? Darlene Graham. Jesus. Oh, Darlene Graham, I felt bad for her. She's just lost her brother unexpectedly. She very quickly accepts the honour of being able to serve in the U.S. Senate. She doesn't quite win enough votes to avoid a runoff to be tube standards, you know, Republican candidate for the actual election to be Senator. She's she's already put in to replace Lindsay Rue January but she actually has to stand for election because the seat is up in November and she's up against a very Trumpy local candidate Ralph Norman who's been a congressperson. Trump has endorsed her but it turns out that she's a really very weak candidate indeed. Not only do she say that the population of South Carolina was 55 million which actually 10 times larger than it really is. So perhaps she misread the decimal point which is easily done but then when asked if Taiwan was a national security threat or the U.S. She bested up that she wasn't an expert in national security. She actually said I'm not that informed about national security so she should be from here on in Darlene. I'm not that informed Graham. She did however say that her brother had been in the Air Force for 31 years and that she supported the military so that's a comfort to that's a comfort to military staff and South Carolina at least she supports you. Yeah and she where her brother was more accurately in the reserve. Yes or I believe was in the reserve and as Donald Trump said about him never met a country he didn't want to bomb. So if she does get elected to replace him she will she'll have a very different set of priorities. She's domestic person. No I mean it's had interesting I'm not that informed. I mean Donald Trump could say that because Donald and Donald Trump is not that informed. I'm just saying that she's sad about her brother dying and she's been thrust into a position which is ill-equipped to handle right now but I tell you what we do have. Well let me ask you something we've said many times that the Trump presidency is on its back heels. Is this the moment where it slips from incompetence into frankly fast? Well I think that we're yes I mean yeah yes my answer is yes we are seeing that I think that this is this slow motion but not that slow process in which nothing is going right. He can't do anything. He can't rescue himself. The kinds of things that were done in the first year in the first year when everyone was kind of just awestruck at the powers he was assuming at the decisions, the executive decisions that he was making, all of them turning out to be ill-considered unfaught out and that was what was so surprising about them and gave the sense of this power grab at a level that we have never seen before but the problem is that those were ill-considered and unfaught out and are now coming back to bite him. So he is stuck, trapped and has no fucking idea what to do. Well I think that can only be matched by some dog or all from our listeners and our viewers. We've got three excellent limits. One from Garfleet, our liberate Laureate Garfleet. With a printer she counted his gate until she wound up controlling the state. She determines his bead makes the powerful bead while Melania spars with her fate. Okay that's my favourite. Okay that's pretty good isn't it so far. Then we've got Catherine, D.R.9 FM. Harp writes, "Daily her billet d'ou, "the president fought a woo with a portable printer in tow, "she keeps his spirit to glow and prints out the praises. "He's a dew." And then our final one is from edits. When he stands before the all-knowing, it's time to reap all he's been sewing. One thing's for sure, and he knows it to the core, there ain't no harps where he's going. Very good, very good. Very good, three very good liverics this week. If you have been, thank you for joining us. We'll be back on Saturday still inside Donald Trump's head. Michael never leaves it, but we also know that Michael is inside the president's head. And a big thank you to our production team, Ryan Murray, John Romero, Rachel Passo, Heather Pizarro, and Neil Rosenhouse. So the good news is we have so many bee-beast tier members. Now there are too many names to read out, and we really appreciate your support.