Why Trump Will Pay the Price for MAGA’s Vilest Ad

This has backfired in every possible sense of the word. You can basically find no one to think this was a good idea, except Vivek Ramaswamy, Donald Trump, and JD Vance. In this desperation moment for the Republicans, down to the wire, these close races, which should not be close, this is their Hail Mary Pass. I don't think it's going to work. The Vivek thing represents more of the same. You could not run and add more glaring in its contempt and cynicism and cruelty than this ad. Michael. Joanna, I hear Siren. Who's Siren? I think the Siren is at my end. I'm actually in Texas. I would like to tell you I'm here for the midterms, patrolling and figuring out what's going on. In fact, I'm here for a mother's son weekend. I'm here for Formula One. In Austin, yes. In Austin? Yeah, in Austin. And so the place is crawling with police, actually, and we're getting a police escort to the track this morning, which is very exciting. I saw the policeman all dressed up downstairs. They looked amazing. I would ask you for the mood of Texas vis-a-vis the Senate race, but I don't think you're going to get the mood of Texas itself in Austin. Well, I'm going to try. I mean, Austin, I know is a blue dot, so we'll see. But I am going to try, obviously. I'll be interrogating the police on our way over to see what they think is going to happen. The old, yes, ask the person who's driving you. I know I always hate that when reporters go, well, I talked to the taxi driver in from the airport, and they told me, I'm not that kind of a reporter, but I'm really on a sort of leisure trip. Yes, particularly a British reporter in the taxi cap, yes. Or wait, usually in the Middle East. So I saw a figure this morning that 24 or 25 million people have already voted, which is about a fifth of the expected total vote. Right. We had 107 million people voted in 2022. So that was a sort of, I guess, people really couldn't face voting. It's not an overwhelming vote. It looks like it'll probably be more this time round. I think it will be. I mean, I think everybody has got the message that this is a consequential election. Well, actually, let's qualify that. I think the Democrats have gotten the message that this is consequential. And I think the Republicans are in a deep funk of ambivalence. Well, I think they understand this consequential too, because they keep saying that Donald Trump stay away. Stay away. They're scrubbing him from their websites. They're pretending they don't know him. Well, the candidates certainly think it's consequential. It is their job. I think the Republican voters are steeped in at best ambivalence at this point. And ambivalence means generally you stay home and you don't vote. So, and that's going to be the major issue. What is the turnout for the Republicans, which is why they're spending hundreds of millions, if not more on this race, at this point. Although, actually, it's interesting that so many people have voted before the Republicans began their big spend. That's right. So, we should remind people, this is the podcast inside Trump's head, your Michael Wolff, Trump expert par excellence, the author of four Trump books. I'm Joanna Cole, the chief content officer of the Daily Beast. And, thrice a week, we go inside Donald Trump's head to figure out what he's thinking, because it's very much an administration of one. What is inside his head, Michael, before we get to take apart what's happening in Alaska? Is it possible that Melania has stepped in, and we'll be discussing this, where her husband has failed to broker any kind of piece deep between the Ukrainians and the Russians? She's now accepting credit for having broken a deal in a place called the Leshky, where the local population, largely old, have been marooned under attack from the Russians. I mean, there's such madness going on in the world, and Putin now seems to have Trump right under his thumb. And there is some pushback from Republicans, including Darlene Graham. So, we have a lot to get to, not least the price of oil. And, of course, Alina Harba's grift, Alina Harba, now they're apparently signed a contract for $50 million over a period of five years. And in the process, she managed to secure a pardon. Allegedly, she denied she was anything to do with it. But who else would pay Alina Harba $50 million over five years? You mean, why else would they pay, yes? Who else? Why else? Yes, it was which point out Venezuelan gentlemen. A Venezuelan gentleman. Who wanted a pardon? There are two key midterm stories that are going on right now, which is this effort to block the vote in Alaska before there has even been a vote. Mm-hmm. And then, of course, this Vivek Ramaswarmi ad in Ohio, which is threatening to bring down the Republican Party. Which would you like to do first? 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To get started and learn more, including important safety information, Wigovie Clinical Study Information Restrictions Visit Hymns.com/ith. I think we should do Alaska. Let's start on the far west coast, where we weren't in Alaska. We should go to Alaska, actually. Why haven't we been to Alaska? We were on the west coast doing our live event on Tuesday. Let's start on the west coast and then move into the middle of the country. Let's start with all the Dan Sullivan's. How many Dan Sullivan's are there? There's Daniel S Sullivan, there's Daniel J Sullivan. It turns out there's another Dan Sullivan who was a mayor. Everybody's called Dan Sullivan in Alaska. It's very odd. It's very odd. It is, although there are a lot of Michael Wolfe's, there's another Michael Wolfe. Hard to believe. How many? It's called Michael Wolfe. There is actually a media consultant called Michael Wolfe, a total suck up. And there's a restaurant in New York and I always get his reservations. I guess I'm the, whatever the open table or whoever the restaurant uses, they have this wrong. So I get notices of his reservations at this restaurant and then I cancel them. Oh, you can't cancel them. Oh, your secret is out. I actually once had coffee with the other Michael Wolfe and he seemed utterly pleasant, actually. But I wonder how many people have accepted an interview with him thinking that he was going to turn up and then you turned up and took them apart? Or the other way around. I was once told that there was a, that I was speaking at Harvard and there was there is my biography, my, you know, that's just clearly me, except it wasn't me. He was the person who showed up. So we should invite him on the podcast and then I'll interview two Michael Wolves and it'll be his money. And I once did, I once, I once wrote a column about this, the two Michael Wolves. The two Michael Wolves. Okay, well, Michael Wolfe, the other Michael Wolfe needs to insert his middle initial, which is what the incumbent Republican senator in Alaska has had to do. Dan Sullivan, who used to just be plain Dan Sullivan. has had to insert an S, Hugh Docksey, our executive editor, had to give me an entire seminar on this, so I could get my head around it. So the incumbent is now Dan S. Sullivan. He's facing serious challenge from the Democratic hopeful, who's a local congresswoman or was a congresswoman, got voted out in 2024. Very pale taller. And there's now another Daniel J. Sullivan, challenging Daniel S. Sullivan on the ballot. I know for people listening in Europe and Australia, everywhere outside the US, this must just act like crazy town. - Okay, but for people outside of the country, or actually people within the country too, elections are state affairs. They're administered by each state. They occur under the rules of each state. This is a constitutional duty of the states. And that's one of the hurdles that Donald Trump is facing in his clear determination to have a supervisory role on the nation's elections. And you know where that's going. So they have stepped in this past week, the federal government, the Department of Justice, stepped in to say that they were going to, even before they've announced, that if the Republicans lose this election, then they will step in to contest it. So which is extraordinary and ridiculous. And we'll go nowhere. It's one of those other kinds of Trump initiatives that you know the outcome of this. It will, I mean, having said that, it's not, it's, it ain't nothing. I mean, it will complicate the election for up to a number of weeks before the courts rule on this and throw the DOJ motion out. But it's one of those things. And it kind of explains what's going on in the Trump White House. Trump would have, would have been stamping around and saying, how can this happen to Dan Sullivan's? This is a cheat. This is, this is, this is wrong. And, and on that, he might have a minor point. It obviously, the other Dan Sullivan running is a disruptive tactic, not an illegal one, but a disruptive one. So therefore, he stamped, Trump is stamping around. How can this do something? Do something? Do something? And the, and the people around him in the attorney general are, are kind of like, OK, all right. And Daniel J. Sullivan has given money to Mary Peltola, the Democratic challenger. And he was a former school teacher and it does seem like this is the first time he's ever considered running for Senate. But, which is not illegal, it is not illegal for you to actually disrupt an election like that. Anybody can, you can get on the ballot. That's what you can do. And this is, again, that, that, the Trump administration will face many hurdles. Not least of all, the fact that what was done here was not illegal, even if its intention was to help the Democrat. Right. It's actually a sort of Trumpian technique, isn't it? I'm surprised that Trump hasn't figured this one out and decided to deploy it against Democratic candidates. Well, never say never. But anyway, this is one of those signs of his determination in every, to use every possible technique that he can use to frustrate his, the loss he suspects is coming in his, in his direction. So we're going to see more of these kinds of things. And I'm of the opinion, not that we're going to see, see success on his, his part. Actually, these are all desperation moves and they are indicative of the, of the, of the, of the temperature in the White House that they are really, it's hot there. And, and they think that they are in trouble. So they're going to do anything, anything possible. But one of the reasons they are in trouble is because they are incompetent and ineffective. And they will and, and, and they are, and Donald Trump is in the leadership role. So he is giving the orders here. And the orders he gives are, are everybody just kind of shrugging and saying, OK, because they know the results of this, the results of this is just going to be thrown out. And it's, and it will, it will ultimately have no effect. OK, it will ultimately have no effect. Is it possible a judge in, because this was challenged in Alaska and initially it was thought that this wasn't going to work. And then another judge came in and said, no, this is perfectly legal. It can go ahead. It's possible that another Alaskan judge deems it, you know, deems it not necessarily illegal, but deems it unfair or something. I'm not quite sure what the legal term would be. No, that, that, that's not unfair as not a legal term. No, no, it's not illegal term. And it is kind of, it is just strange tactic. Again, not illegal, so. Yeah, that is, that's not the, that's not really the legal issue. The legal issue is that the federal government has no standing here. So that's immediately going to be thrown out. What are you doing here? And if, if the Republican party decides to, in Alaska decides to contest this, but they've already, they've already done that and they've already been shot down. So anyway, this is not going to go anywhere, except it will be a disruption, and that's, that's one of the things that Trump put, putting inside the legal merits, disruption in itself is an accomplishment for, for Trump. So, right, disruption, confusion, just throwing chaos into, into the system. So it sounds, which sounds like it's going on in Austin, right now, disruption, chaos, yes. It does sound like there's a lot of sirens. I have a suspicion that what it is is that when the drivers, like Max Verstappen and this new guy that everybody's very excited about who's only 20, called Kimmy, if they move from that. I have no idea what you're talking about. OK, but listen, listen, listen, viewers. No, no, these are drivers, they're F-1 drivers. If the F-1 drivers. They're driving politicians. No, if the F-1 drivers are being taken from their hotel to the track, they get a police escort, that's what I think the sirens are. This is, this is a parallel reality from. OK, parallel reality, but also a parallel reality, going on with Vivek Ramaswamy, former co-head of Doge. Remember him very briefly with Elon Musk. What is going on inside Trump's head over his now debacle of a campaign that lets explain for people who haven't been following as myopically as we have? I think everybody's been following this because it's so vivid and appalling. He. Vivek is running against a woman by the name of Amy Ackton. They have run an ad with Amy Ackton's mother saying, "Don't vote for her daughter." But mother and daughter have been estranged since the late 1970s because the mother's husband, Amy Ackton, stepfather, abused her at a young age and was indicted for this and then fled the jurisdiction. We don't know to this date. I think nobody knows where this guy is. I think he's right. I think he's died. Oh, dead. Death is good for some people. And at any rate, Amy Ackton's mother is clearly a problem. A problem in every way. There is nothing to recommend Amy Ackton's mother or Amy Ackton's mother's past behavior or Amy Ackton's credentials, actually, as a mother. She's a bad person. So Vivek, the Vivek Ramaswamy campaign, has put her into this ad and let her spew all over the place and she looks, by the way, like a completely crazy person. I mean, disavowed by Republicans, Democrats, all voters seem to be completely appalled by this. you can. can basically find no one to think this was a good idea, except Vivek Ramaswami, Donald Trump, and JD Vance. I don't know if anybody else who would be on the side of this of this ad, but that that that threesome is hanging tight and the Ramaswami campaign is pledging to put an additional four million dollars behind this ad in the closing weeks. So yeah, what is that about? What is in Trump's head? Why would he do this? Well we should remind people too that Amy Acton and Vivek Ramaswami are running for Governor of Ohio, the current Governor of Ohio Mike DeWine, who is a Republican, has said please take down this ad, this ad is offensive. And one of the accusations against Amy Acton is she said, oh, we, you know, we, and we should point out she and her brother were both taken into care, rather than be left in the presence of their mother, who was clearly incapable of bringing up children, and Amy Acton. That's a Britishism, they were, they were, they were put into the foster system. Okay, they were put into the foster system. And in fact, Amy Acton's brother has made an ad with her saying, our mother was a terrible mother. Amy Acton was abused by our stepfather and, you know, Amy is a fantastic person. Amy Acton's mother accuses Amy Acton, who's running for Governor against Vivek Ramaswami of having exaggerated the poverty in her childhood. And Amy Acton said at one point we lived in a tent. And her mother says we didn't live in a tent, I wasn't true. The mother very much looks as if she lives in a tent right now. I mean, it's incomprehensible that anybody would have thought this woman would be a good recommendation for anything. First of all, she looks terrible. She appears to have possibly one or two teeth left at this point. It's utterly exploitative of the mother and it's exploitative of the situation. Vivek Ramaswami should be ashamed of yourself. Well, okay. But let's talk about what, of course, he should be, well, let's, but it's more interesting why he is not and why he is doubling down and why Trump and JD Vance are also doubling down with him. And this is an, there's an important political point here. And the political point here is that they believe and so much of Donald Trump's career would support this. And that the illiberal and the cold-hearted and the fuck you and the owning the libs works. So this is, I mean, this is kind of, you know, in this desperation moment for the Republicans down to the wire, these close races, which should not be close, they are, this is their pale Mary pass that is revert to what has worked for us. And yes, everybody says, oh my God, and gathers their skirts around them. But in the past, this has worked for Donald Trump. So that is the bet here. That is why Vivek Ramaswami, who was on the verge of losing this election, is not backing down. Well, he also ran for president, didn't he, in 2024, briefly, do you think this is going to work for him? Well, as I say, this has worked for Donald Trump. I don't think it's going to work, but I have, I have across ten years now thought, never thought any of this would work. And the notable thing is the horrifying thing, the thing that makes you question virtually everything about being an American is that it has worked. And you might say that this campaign, the midterm campaign, what's at stake is exactly that. Does this, does this work or, or does this continue to work or have people suddenly woken up and said, going down the long list of, of Trumpian accomplishments or, or the reverse of accomplishments from the, from the war in Iran to the mass men on the streets, whether people have had enough of this. This is the Vivek thing represents more of the same. And we'll see if this, if this works. I mean, remember, we could very well wake up on, on November, the election is on November 3rd, November 4th, and find Vivek Ramaswarmi elected, elected, and what would we have to conclude then? I mean, this is, you could not run and add more glaring in its, in its contempt and cynicism and cruelty than this ad. So what do we think about Ohio and about the country? If, in fact, Vivek Ramaswarmi wins? Well you have always said that Trump is a singular character, that there is no one else like him. And I think he can get away with these techniques. It seems less likely, that less likable characters like Vivek Ramaswarmi can get away with it. And I, I think, you know, we've always said that Trump, he's been in the public eye for 40 years. He has a sense of humor. His gimmicks at the last election, pretending to be a garbage man, pretending to serve McDonald's to people, work for Donald Trump, but just because they work for him doesn't mean they work for other people. I hope you're right. Well, we'll see. So. But let's, let's point out that that since this ad has been running, the, the, the cook report, which is one of the, the gold standards in, in evaluating elections, has moved this race from, from a toss up to lean democratic. Right. And, John Husted, the focus of Trump's sweaty, what would we say, sweaty compliments about how firm his buttocks were and how strong his muscles are also looks vulnerable up against Sherrod Brown in Ohio. John Husted got the seat that JD Vance vacated in the Senate. He's only been there two years, but he now looks seriously under threat from the previous Senator, the democratic, uh, Sherrod Brown, who is way ahead now in the polls, despite Donald Trump's sweaty exclamations about John Husted's fine physique. I, I wouldn't go so far as way ahead, um, well, he's ahead. He's ahead. I mean, this is still, I think this is still precarious. All of these, all of these races, which are on this line really in the balance here Republicans could lose these races, equally though, remember, they could win. So, uh, so the, you know, the, the Democrats are seeing a, um, a scene, a transformative moment, but, you know, let's, let's get there. No, it's terrifying to rely on anything other than the polls really because we've been to this race before and it does feel like, oh, I just don't want to. I don't want to. But, but there, there, there, there is clearly the, there is a, whether this is a blue wave or not, there is a wave of something. There is a wave of enormous, well, there's 40 percent increase in gas prices in the last 18 months. That's really what's driving a lot of this and that's real. Well, I think that there's a, I think it's even broader than that. I think that there's a full reconsideration. We have had, we have had a year plus a, let's say, you know, oh, well, coming on, coming on two years, but I think it was the, a pure year of Donald Trump. This is Donald Trump unfiltered, unfettered, unrestrained. We have seen this. We have seen who the guy is and what that, what, what the result of that is war tariffs, cruelty in the streets, prices, unrestrained prices of, and his, his inability to kind of deliver on anything that he, that he has promised most, most clearly on an economy. We've seen all that. We've seen that this is, we've seen his, we've seen how everything he has done is counter, essentially counterproductive to what he promised. And on now ought to be and seems like it could be. And I think people, Democrats are certainly more and more thinking it will be the reckoning. Well, the other thing that we haven't mentioned, but it's clearly, I think, impacting people too is, is Russia and Trump's promise, you know, Bravado promise that he would solve the Russia Ukraine war on the first day that he was office two years on, it appears that his wife is now, the missing for Slate is now elbowing him out of the way on perhaps her way to the Nobel Peace Prize, just irritating him by trying to broker a ceasefire in Oleschi, which is a corner of Ukraine that has been marooned by Russian troops and basically starved of electricity of food of water. It's a dismal situation. Okay, let's bring up two things in relation to that. First of all, that over the last number of weeks, Trump has basically sacrificed Ukraine or indicated in every way that he is perfectly willing to do that. Ukraine is the problem in getting a peace deal. Ukraine is the problem, the greater problem between Trump getting deals with Putin. So he is waving Ukraine away, not interested anymore, not even pretending anymore, and taking the side of Russia or taking the side of Vladimir Putin. I think that that is clear. So then against this, we have his wife, Melania Trump, inserting herself in this situation to what we don't know exactly what she's doing, but she seems to be this, she would be inserting herself though in a way to suggest some sympathy, more sympathy than her husband for Ukraine, and also suggest, well, this is going to be a scene in her forthcoming television series. I knew that you would say that. I knew when I heard this story, I was like, Michael is going to say this is a cynical collection of content for her television series. The other thing that's fascinating about it is it was actually Pope Leo, who apparently first brought Eleshky to light with the Russians and said we have to do something about this, but Melania has issued a statement saying that she alone is the person that's made this possible. This is what Melania wrote. It was abundantly clear that without my intervention, come on, I have to do this with the accent, it was abundantly clear, I'm not sure I can, that without my intervention, the possibility to bring humanitarian aid into the city and to evacuate the elderly would be impossible. I mean, hello Pope Leo. The man is recovering from a cancer operation. The week before he was hustling on behalf of Eleshky and now Melania Trump has elbowed him out of the way, out of the picture. The Pope, the Pope, Michael, it's, it's beyond. Well, she seems to have elbowed out both the Pope and her husband, actually. Yes, can you imagine if she got the Nobel Peace Prize? I think you're right. Yes. He would divorce her and run off officially with Natalie Harp. And let's remember against the background of this that were this, that she could have done this a hundred times in the past, in the past years. There are towns all along the borders. The border towns with, with in Ukraine, with Russia, many of which Russia has, has now occupied are all in a state and have been for years in a state of extremists. So, so yeah, bring it on, Melania. Let's get in there. El, Elbow out your husband. Well, I'm particularly fascinated to by Melania's special advisor, a gentleman called Mark Beckman, whose hair, like mine, has been growing rapidly over the last few months. He was first on the scene I want to say, perhaps about nine months ago in terms of us understanding that there was an active advisor in the background. He's been on television talking about Melania's role as a peacekeeper. She was going to give access to neutral news coverage of what she was up to. And in fact, it turns out she's given access to newsmax. Not entirely neutral. Certainly not the BBC, not CNN, not Reuters, who I'm sure might have been interested to hear about the first lady's ventures into the peace market. Yeah. So in other words, this is Agit Prop by another, by another name, or Melania Prop. Melania Prop. Melania Prop. Well, sorry about that, the Pope. Thank you for your efforts anyway, but Melania has, has stepped up. Okay. But the other, the larger story, I mean, there's Melania's little intervention over here, but the larger story, and it's a serious story. I mean, and it's, and it's, I think, present in this, in this election, the Democrats are starting to highlight this, is this, this, you know, we're back, we're back to that age old question. What does Vladimir Putin have on Donald Trump? Well, and very scary for the rest of Europe, this, you know, America, whom Europe has relied upon since the end of the Second World War. Now, really having to reassess, who are their allies at this moment? And the idea that Russia is being enabled in Ukraine and may move further into Europe and is already behind all sorts of disruptive incidents is, is truly shocking. I mean, it's, it's really mind bending and it's, it's, it's important to remember that from the perspective of Europe and you are in London, you know, last month or earlier this month, this is shocking. This is shocking and it's incomprehensible. No, and it, it marks, I mean, we have gone over a line. I mean, this is, we're now in a moment in a stage where Putin is now threatening, um, threatening the West, threatening Europe in a, in a way that I don't think we have not seen since, um, since the end of the Cold War. And also, it's not just threatening with drones and bombs, but it's cyber warfare, all sorts of things going on that clearly could be laid at the door of the Russians. And there's been very little pushback in the Republican parties. We know there are few out going, well, I, I kind of disagree with, with this. I think that we are, we are seen. I, I think the Republicans don't know how to react. They, they are being caught out on this because there is a significant still a remaining significant part of the Republican party that is pretty traditional in their outlook toward Russia. Um, I mean, remember, remember the, the, the Republic, the foundation, the modern foundation of the Republican party is to be, um, is, is a, is to be opposed to Russia, uh, previously the Soviet Union. And, um, and, and, and I think everybody is like, Oh my god, what, what, what do we do here? I mean, this is, we could tolerate Trump so far. Have we reached the point where we cannot tolerate this any longer? Um, or the point at which we've really got to work hard to rationalize this harder than we have worked before. Well, I was going to point out that there are some outgoing Republicans who've spoken up, Don Bacon, who's the outgoing, uh, Congressman in Nebraska, who's been a thorn in Trump's side, Tom Tillis, who's finally started talking up and saying Putin is playing president Trump like a fiddle and warning that history is not going to look good on an America that failed to rise up and defend the Western world if Putin actually gets his way. Uh, Mitt Romney, no surprise there, but perhaps what's surprising is that Darlene Graham, who we've talked about on this podcast, the sister of Lindsey Graham, who essentially inherited his seat at the behest of Donald Trump, broke with the president over the weekend and said, personally, I would choose to put the pressure on Russia to end the war and get gas prices down because I don't trust Putin and I don't trust Russia, which so far seems to be the only, uh, the only thing that she said that's remotely. And she, she is in a, in a tough, a tough race to hold onto her seat, her, her, to some degree, ill-gotten seat in the Senate. And that was supposed to be a, uh, a cake walk and it is, it is not, no, it's, it's, it's pretty problematic at this point. And of course, Lindsey Graham was very pro-Ukraine. He'd just come back from a trip to Ukraine, when he died shortly after. I think the same day he got off the plane, actually. But he was adamant that Trump support Ukraine. And of course, this is, if you're his sister, this is a total abandonment of his legacy. Um, there, there was some, um, some Lindsey Graham news this, this week. You want I'm gonna talk about that. - Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes. This is the documentary by the young Turks on YouTube called The Closetocracy. - It's extraordinarily vivid. I seldom have I ever, I mean, this is highly, a highly detailed look at Lindsey Graham's sex life. His hidden in the closet, it would seem at least from his point of view, incredibly shameful sex life. - Well, and sad sex life too. I mean, I will say Anthony Scaramucci put me on to it to this documentary and he said he could not stop watching it. And I thought, oh, I'll watch for five minutes, you know, I'll just get the sort of lay of the land. It whistles past, it's 33 minutes, I think, and focuses on three men who said they were rent boys, male prostitutes, and that's how they met Lindsey Graham. And they each go into, as you say, remarkably vivid detail about the transactional nature of the relationship they have with Lindsey. And then the moment that each of them recognizes him, you know, initially they don't, and then gradually they begin to realize who he is. - I actually make an unwitting appearance in this documentary, not as a rent boy. - Happily not as a rent boy, Michael. - But I am, I think my usefulness in this documentary is to say without equivocation that everybody knew that Lindsey Graham was gay, which is true. - I wonder if everybody knew that his sex life was paid for. I mean, it's one thing to assume that somebody's gay, it's different to get this insight into his life. And if it's true, and if these men, and this, I mean, they appear to be sincere, it's very easy to make mock documentaries, and there may be allegations that they're lying. - But this is all pretty detailed. I mean, that's what carries you through the 33 minutes. I mean, it is, you know, I mean, beyond sounding true, the authenticity of the details of the scenes, would it be possible to make this up, not exactly? - I think that's probably true. And so what it gives you is an insight into the secret life that Lindsey Graham had that must have caused him enormous stress, enormous stress, and the way that they talk about what he enjoys in the bedroom also perhaps is about that to this shame and this, well, just the secret nature of it, and the fear that were it to come out, he would be finished. - And let, again, let me say what I've said before in relation to Lindsey Graham, someone who I knew, if not well, someone who I spoke to on a rather often basis is that the Trump, and I'm just, I wanna say this as precisely as possible, that the awareness of this within the White House Donald Trump's awareness of Lindsey Graham and what Lindsey Graham was doing, and Donald Trump is an incredible gossip he wants, he wants the lowest information he can get. I would have been, if I were Lindsey Graham, wary of threatened by, certainly, I would certainly take into consideration that Donald Trump could turn against me at any point. And of course, in the case of Lindsey Graham, he became the Trump Poodle. - And yet his way of being the Trump Poodle, which was to be outwardly, extremely flattering of the president, in fact, he was also talking to you, he was talking to other journalists and giving a different vision of what was going on. So in a sense, living two lives again. - I wanna be clear. It wasn't as if Lindsey Graham was flattering to Donald Trump, and then saying to me that Donald Trump is a fraud and corrupt, and he was, he had a clear, Lindsey Graham was not a stupid man, and he had a clear vision of who Donald Trump was, of what was in Donald Trump's head, without rejecting that character at all. So I used to like to talk to Lindsey Graham because he was funny about Trump. And I thought insightful about him, but in no way, in no way, was he turning on Donald Trump or rejecting Donald Trump? - Okay, well, it'd be interesting to see if his sister, Darlene, has anything to say, about the clausatocracy, which is the title of the documentary, but viewers and readers can-- - I can say that she will have nothing to say. - Well, viewers and listeners can see for themselves. It's available on YouTube. It's by the young Turks, and it's free. It's free. So Michael, what about Alina Harbour? Alina Harbour, who's married a billionaire, much younger than herself? - You know, for God's sake, goodness sake, Jesus. - What can I say? It was actually curious in these Alina Harbour stories about her relationship with this Venezuelan gentleman, and I think another Venezuelan gentleman, and her marriage to who is she married to now? - Well, she's married to a Turkish businessman, but she is alleged to have helped Julio Herrera get a pardon for financial shenanigans. - And the Turkish businessman have also has a business in Venezuela, I believe, and-- - Well, it's all very strange, and there was also a payment. I mean, you can't make this stuff up, and I do think the grift is getting a little higher on people's radar, but there was-- she's now in an argument with Rick Grinnell, who was another gay friend of Trumps, who was running the Kennedy Center, and she claims that her husband, the Turkish billionaire, who's, I think, 29, good for you, Alina, 'cause she's, I think, almost twice his age. She claims that he had some sort of payment that was coming in from the Republic of Congo, and it was supposed to be a donation to the Kennedy Center, and it's disappeared. She's arguing that Rick Grinnell somehow did something else with the money, but it didn't end up at the Kennedy Center. And you just can't make this up, it's so complicated. And there are shell companies, and now she's working for something called Concord Partners, which doesn't appear to have anything to do, other than pay her a substantial $10 million fee a year for her advice. And just let me add that the last time I was aware of her domestic arrangements, she was married to a New Jersey parking lot king. Well, they got divorced, and she's remarried her third marriage. I'm very impressed that she confined these people. And as you said, she always. Well, the grift is very attractive to a lot of people. The grift is attractive to a lot of people, and you said that she got very cross with you when you said that she came to Trump's attention, lying by the side of his pool at Bedminster, wearing a bikini, but in fact, that is how she came to his attention. Yeah, no, but I got a lot of, you know, we're gonna sue you, and she had various people, representatives calling me to say, we're gonna sue you if you say that she was lying by the side of the pool at Bedminster in a bikini. Although they were supposed to do at Bedminster, isn't it? Yes, although they did admit that she did, but that they denied that that had anything to do with Trump's interest in her. But she was one of the lawyers that, when Trump showed you a picture of his lawyers, he said, they may not be the spotless lawyers, but they are really hot. They are. They are the hottest lawyers, yes. And that included Alina Harbour, Todd Blanche, Lindsay Halligan and Pam Bondy. Well, not Todd Blanche. Oh, really? He's a tough Blanche. I thought he thought. Well, Todd Blanche was central casting. Todd Blanche was one of his lawyers, but that was not in this. He was focused on the. focused on women. On the women in his legal retinue. Well, we've got. When we come back on Tuesday, Michael, we will have exactly a week to go, which is at the moment we should remind people on election night, Michael and I will be live, will be live on YouTube, passing whatever it takes. is going on out there. Yes, or just maybe or just enjoying it. Enjoying it. Enjoying the moment. Enjoying the moment. Although, you know, what happens if it's if it's not what we are hoping for? What happens if it's 2016 all over again, do you mean? Yeah, it won't be 2016 all over again because Donald Trump is not running. So, but it could be the results could be equivocal. I mean, and they're they're not going to be fancats. It's not going to be a blowout for the for the Republicans. The Republicans are not going to come out of this in this same state that they are in now, but it could be significantly more equivocal than we think. Well, and you say that Donald Trump's not on the ticket, but he's insisted that he is on the ticket, which is why he's dashing about the country doing rallies everywhere. Yeah, I can't. Well, that's another question. Does that actually help? Will he, and again, go back into what we were talking about in the in the beginning, this is about turnout. Does he does Donald Trump's presence manage to get a what the Trump remember that the the Trump political career is founded on what are called low propensity voters. They don't vote. They're not interested in politics or they're not interested in politicians. They are interested in Donald Trump. So Donald Trump, not a political base, but understand it as a fan base. If he can bring those people out, then he could possibly hold on in places that are looking pretty precarious at this point. Right. Also known as low information voters, but the information they do have is that the gas pump where gas is up 40%. Well, we'll see, we'll see if that say, if that moves them against Donald Trump or to stay home for Donald Trump. Otherwise, the low information, the information that they do have is about Donald Trump. Donald Trump or remember the the intention is a zero sum game. If he gets it, nobody else does. So therefore, it's a Donald Trump world and and his voters, that's the world his voters live in. That's what he's counting on. True. And his voters also live in the world where the price of your grocery basket has gone up substantially. Well, that's what the Democrats are counting on. Well, we've got 10 days to go, Michael. 10 days to go until the midterm elections and our next live show. So I will see you on Tuesday and we begin the week's countdown. See you then and thank you for our incredible team. Actually, it is pretty incredible since since we have been floating around the world over the last several several weeks and we still manage to to appear with or without sirens in the background. Ryan, John, Heather, Rachel and Neal, with our thanks. So the good news is we have so many B beast tier members now. There are too many names to read out and we really appreciate your support.