We React to Trump’s Baffling Final Speech

Hey, everyone. It's me, Sam Stein, managing at the book. I'm here with Andrew Egger, and I've been doing a lot of videos today. I hadn't been planning on doing another video today, but I watched Trump's closing rally for the midterms, and I couldn't help but talk about it with Andrew. He was at the Reflecting Pool, which is not a swing state. No one's on the ballot from the Reflecting Pool. It was really a dynamo rally. Andrew, he spent a lot of time going over the intricacies of the pool and algae, which was, you know, in a way I actually thought it was appropriate, to be honest to you. I felt like it was the right note for him to signal at the end of the rally, because this is what he really cares about. That's right. That's right. We have known all year that, like, these are the stories that really, really motivate Donald Trump. They would get him out of bed in the morning. They're what he thinks of us. He's falling asleep at night. His different renovations around D.C. and how me and the press has been to him about all of them. Look, it's been a decade of this guy, right? Donald Trump lives rent-free in all of our minds. We have spent so many hours contemplating everything he has to say. I found it kind of fun watching these clips to try to let all of that go, and just like imagine that I had woken up, and it's the day before the midterms. And here's the president of the United States who I don't know, giving his closing rally in this tone of voice with this level of energy and just let that kind of wash over me in that way. I don't know. You guys out there might enjoy a different approach, but I found that to be useful as I was watching some of the clips that we're going to go over here. There's this tension between, all right, focus your time on the reflecting pool and the golf courses. As long as you're not like sicking masked agents on minority populations, that's great because he's doing both. The other thing is, you know, when we were all sort of taken in the 2024 results and we were contemplating what life would be like under Trump, I did not have on my bingo card that this would be such a preoccupation. There was no way I could have thought or looked into the future to be like, you know what? He's going to be doing the night before the midterms. He's going to be, or the day before the mission is going to be talking about algae levels and crime in Washington. I didn't anticipate that. Yeah, I mean, even a year ago, even a year ago, when some of this stuff had already started, right? He'd already knocked down the East Wing. Like all of that felt like part of sort of his, his just dramatic reshaping of Washington and America and the world and the way that it was just impossible to stop him or slow him down across all these different fronts. It feels very different today. It really does feel like a guy whose domestic agenda has stalled out and all he's left with is these little passion projects and these tinkerings and all of this stuff. And it just, it really does feel very small. And so it's, it's, it's easier to sort of laugh at this stuff. I mean, I was also like, they're like, and pool just matters less than like him knocking down the East Wing of the White House. Like he can tinker with that and it's not like anybody's really harmed. I just think it, it seems like it signifies such a different thing about where he is, where his project is, where his presidency is than it did last year. Let's play the first clip so people can get a taste. Again, I just want to reiterate, this is the day before the midterms. The president got into a motorcade to go a couple blocks to the reflecting pool. We're going to show you the audience in a little bit. But let's play the clip of what our president was preoccupied with the day before the midterms. The pool is now better and more beautiful than it's ever been before. And we're very proud of it. We went through a lot with vandalism. The vandalism was unprecedented. People don't like talking about it. But built more than a century ago in 1922, this is the largest reflecting pool in the world. It's almost as tall as two empire state buildings later in its side. And it's really amazing. It's a fixture of our national mall and it's the crown jewel of the capital city. We've done it with many other monuments and statues. Unfortunately, from the time of its construction, the reflecting pool struggled with leaks and algae and very severe problems having to do with weather and heat and cold. President Obama and other presidents long before him worked on it. All right. So we have to note that there was no vandalism whatsoever. At all, there's been studies into this, investigations into this reporting on this. Brendan Hartnet completely vindicated. It was a faulty installation by the guys he tasked with putting in the sealant. They did a bang up job. They screwed it up. They did erroneously try to prosecute an ex Olympian over this. That got thrown out, Jeanine Puro literally said there was no vandalism. She blamed the Department of Interior. Trump can't get over it. He's like, no one's talking about it. The reason no one's talking about it is because it didn't exist. The only one who's talking about is him. So I just want to level set with that. We really are playing the hits from this summer. Every single one of those phrases, I remember sort of like luxuriating in and contemplating like when he's like, you know, it's as long as two Empire State buildings are tall. You know, like we've definitely we have definitely laughed about that exact stat on a on a bulwark video before. So we really are playing the hits here. 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We're just like depressing lighting me in a USA baseball cap and I'm going to mumble my way through to an audience of like six park rangers. And this is, yeah, this is him putting his best foot, last best foot forward ahead of the midterms. I mean, I do not begrudge him that he does not want to spend yet another day on these insane rallies. He has been doing. He has looked so bad out there. He is like, he's just plainly hanging on for dear life. Like he's getting whorcer and whorcer and lower energy and lower energy. As he's done what like 30 of these rallies over the last few weeks all over the red map and he's like, forget it. I'm going to go home. I'm going to pop in, you know, a lozenge and I'm going to, I'm going to go down to the reflecting pool and find my piece, you know, but, uh, but still not a very great visual. I don't think for the president here. Well, since you talked about the visual, let's put up the picture of the actual crowd here so they can take a peek. This is from above. Literally doesn't, more reporters probably than actual attendees. I think the attendees were all department of interior folk who were. Yeah, you could tell from the close-up pictures they all have the like signature hats, you know, the park police park service hats. Yeah, really good stuff. I mean, this is just this is kind of sad in a way. But this is this is where he was today and we got to cover it. Um, he's obsessed with the beautification DC. I think he views DC as a kind of a template he can talk about, uh, to tell the other folks around the country that, you know, your life can be beautified just like I have done because it wasn't just the reflecting pool he was talking about. We're not going to play this clip, but he had a little riff that they're going to now go ahead with the triumphal arc arch and that it's going to be bigger than the arch of triumphant in France. He talked about the promenade that he's going to build between the Lincoln Memorial and the Potomac noting that there's roads there, but he's going to build a promenade. It's going to be beautiful. And then let's play, uh, the clip where he talks about the statues he's going to build. You could go from 250 to 500 statues. It'll be incredible. It's on about 45 acres. Freddie right on the Potomac. And right next to that, we're doing a renovation of the golf course, which is in a horrible condition, very dangerous and horrible condition. The walls are caving in. The whole thing is a mess and we're doing a renovation of the golf course. And we're going to make it a world championship course for the U.S. Open, for the P.J. Championship, for the Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup. It'll be in shape to play that on one day's notice. It's going to be built to the highest standards of golf. And it'll be unbelievable. And, you know, you have views of the different monuments. And it's going to be open to the public. And we're going to give a discount to people that live in Washington, D.C. substantial discounts so they can play it. But it's in very bad shape right now. It's as they say, it's had it. It's a mess. And we will be building a world-class golf course open to the public. - Think about how long he just talked about that. One fact, that one fact. There's this rundown municipal golf course and we're gonna punch it up and make it like a pro course. And it'll be open to the public. He spent like, what, like 90 seconds, two minutes. Just, ah, and it's another thing. - He does seem really tired. - He seems so tired. He needs a nap. He should take a nap. He's done. There's no more votes to be squeezed out of this population from him talking. But he can't not talk. Like he doesn't know, like he genuinely thinks like the more he talks, the more people show up at the polls. And you know, again, we've just had weeks and weeks of his stress testing that very theory. I don't know, I don't know. It's just like, what else is on his schedule for today? Do you know, I have not been paying attention to the president's movements today, even though it's actually kind of my job. - I don't know. I know that his son was out in Ohio, doing a rally. But I think Trump, as far as I mean, obviously in DC, he's not out on the trail. Might be doing some tele rallies or whatever. He did go back out. He was not going to go out this weekend and they ended up doing some events in Iowa and Kansas. - Yeah, thank God. - Thank God. Imagine if he hadn't done that. Imagine if he hadn't actually gotten out there and gotten to comment on how good actually Henson looks now that she's lost a few pounds. And you know, all that stuff, like, you know, thank God, he really came through for Iowa Republicans in that way. By the way, did you see that clip of Don Jr. in Ohio, it's a total cheap shop where he's like, you know, the Democrats, the radical Democrats, they're going to get in there, they're going to make Ohio a state. I was like, no, that sounds terrible, you know? - Yeah, he was thinking of DC and his dad's in DC talking about how great DC is, they should be on the same page. Producer Matt says he's got seven tele rallies today. Whoo. So he's got to pace himself. - He's bringing that energy. He's bringing that fast ball to his tele rallies. - I just can't, like, the golf course in DC, it's, I guess it's because it matters to me because I play golf, but it's just like, his riffs on East Potomac are so detached. Like, oh, people are going to die because of the, because the poor net on the driving range at East Potomac DC, as if this is like the prime issue for the medium voters. Like, oh my God, a way of staffer was hit by an Aaron golf ball. No one cares. - No one cares, it's true. - I mean, to me. - No, I don't think that's true. - It really is, like, not to start psychoanalyzing the guy, just for no reason, but like, he's incapable of like talking about any topic without just lying. I mean, like, there's nothing to be gained. There's no rhetorical edge that he gets that he would have lost if he hadn't made up a lie about somebody teeing off on the driving range and it's sailing through a hole in the netting and hitting a white house staffer in the chest. But he still tells that story. He says that's what happened out on these campaign rallies. - Well, there's been relationships all over the place. Like, and there's a little add-ons that he has so like, when he's talking about the arc, he was like, you have the best drone capabilities anywhere in the world. It's like, you need to say that so you could get your, you know, national security clearance for the constructionist. But who the hell wants drones flying around right near a Reagan? - You think the arc de triumph has these sick-ass spoilers and these, you know, these off-road tires? I don't think so. Only are he's gonna have that, baby. - It's like a transformer that it's like, suddenly, has missiles coming out of its side. And then the other one, no one noticed, but he was talking about the damage done to the mall where someone did actually, this is actually did it where someone put 8647 onto the mall and, you know, I don't know how they didn't see it happen in real time and they haven't caught whoever did it. But he was like, you know, 8647. He's like, James Comey. And then he goes, that's the first time I had heard that term when James Comey posted it, which was directly in contradiction. I looked it up to something he said earlier where he's like, I'd seen it in my movies before. I knew it was a threat. Clearly, you know, it's like two very contradictory stories. So he does, you know, that's what he does. He embellishes everything. - This is only a little bit on topic, but I'm gonna bring it up 'cause I never missed an opportunity to bring it up. Do you remember that great news story that we got a few months ago where as soon as Trump started saying that Comey had meant it as a threat and it was obviously a threat and everyone knows it was a threat. Immediately a directive goes out from the political leadership at the FBI, they're like, we're investigating all 8647s from here on out. You know, we're gonna, if you see one, say, if you see something, say something, we're logging them and we're looking into them. And like six hours later, they're like, upon further reflection, we absolutely do not have the manpower or the resources to do this. This is a terrible use of our time. We're going back to the way it was. And you know, you know, take it up, take it up with management. I like that. That's one of my favorite little sort of like micro stories of how personnel works under Trump that we've gotten this year. >> Yeah. You know, the powers and resources spent on looking at all the Etsy posts of like the 8647 figures must have been a huge waste of time. Well, this is where we are, president closing the campaign, talking about algae and crime in DC. And the problem that he wants to build between the Lincoln Memorial and the Potomac River. >> Did you catch, sorry. >> The one other thing about the algae, did you catch, there was like one moment where he was like, and you know, algae, you know, it's kind of hard to do. It's actually kind of hard to deal with the algae, which was like some real intellectual growth from him, the very, very rare moment where he's like, actually. >> Yeah. It turns out, they kept asking him like these poster boards or like all these photos of it. And it was just like such a very surreal moment where, you know, we've reduced this guy to-- >> I think he was actually psychologically scarred this summer when he like had the big unveiling. And then it was, you know, bottle green like three days. >> It probably did mess with his head way more than we appreciate where he was, I bet he was just like livid. He's like, how the fuck did this have been? Like, I've been so much effort into this pool. >> He sent those dudes down there with the gallon jugs of hydrogen peroxide. I mean, like we have lived so many lifetimes this year. >> You said there was no one harmed by the pool like these, but those ducks, I don't think that was a conspiracy theory. I think that was, I think that duck died independently. That's my own belief. You never know. >> Wow, what a truth or you are. All right, well, we got actually, so this is breaking. Someone from the White House did leak us some designs of the Arctic Trump and what it will look like with the drone. So let's put that up if we can. >> Yeah, that was a bad idea, it was a big guy. Pretty good though. I like that. >> Not bad. >> I've changed my mind about this whole thing. Actually, that's pretty bad. >> Not bad. If we can do that, I'll be okay. >> We got to bring the Transformers back around, you know? That was pretty good. >> That was pretty good. >> Big decade, about a decade ago. They had a long run. >> Hopefully he has different people working on this than he did on the pool and we'll get that going. All right, Edgar, my man, we're one day away. Thank you for doing this for those who are watching. We're getting a little loopy here. Sorry, I feel this is a little bit crazy. But we felt like it was an important historical moment. The closing argument before the midterm, we should do a take on it. And so that's what we did, subscribe to The Feed. >> And if you guys think this was loopy, I mean, imagine what we're going to be like tomorrow night as the blue tsunami rolls in. So come to the live stream, come watch the live stream. We're going to have a great time. >> Look at Andrew throwing caution to the rear, no superstition whatsoever. All right, 7 p.m. tomorrow, we're starting live. We're going as long as we can. We'll see what happens, subscribe to The Feed. See you all then, take care, buddy.