A Jet, a Lie, a Tariff: The Trump Grift Machine

The David Frum Show

The Atlantic

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 14 May 2025

⏱️ ? minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum breaks down what he calls “the week of the four scams”—a stunning display of misinformation and corruption from President Donald Trump involving fake trade deals, manipulated markets, and even a personal jet from Qatar. David is then joined by Indian Member of Parliament and Chairman of the Committee on External Affairs Dr. Shashi Tharoor to examine the recent India-Pakistan cease-fire and just how much (or little) credit the Trump administration can fairly claim for brokering peace. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at theAtlantic.com/listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Okay, so what if you could listen to all your books, docs, PDFs, and articles?
0:04.6	Well, you can.
0:05.8	With the 11 Reader app, you can turn anything into natural-sounding voice, like this one.
0:11.4	So download 11 Reader for free on your favorite app store today. Hello, and welcome to episode six of the David From show.
0:30.5	I'm David From, a staff writer at the Atlantic.
0:33.8	At the very beginning of the first Trump presidency, back in 2017, I posted on Twitter the
0:40.4	following thought.
0:42.1	Regular reminder that Donald Trump's core competency is not deal-making with powerful
0:47.1	counterparties.
0:48.7	It is duping gullible victims.
0:51.4	That warning has seldom been more needed than it has been needed in the past days,
0:56.1	which I call the week of the four scams. Over these past few days, Donald Trump has taken
1:01.2	credit or introduced one after another piece of outrageous fiction, which he is presenting to the
1:06.4	world as some tremendous achievement, and we need to be warned against it and to protect
1:10.5	ourselves against it. to protect ourselves against
1:11.1	it. Now, the first of the scams will supply the matter of my main conversation in the program
1:17.5	today, that is Donald Trump's attempt to take credit for the India-Pakistan ceasefire.
1:23.1	The India-Pakistan ceasefire is a real event. It actually happened. But Donald Trump's role in it was
1:28.0	negligible to say the least, as you will hear when I speak to my guest today, Dr. Shashi Tharoor,
1:33.2	who is chairman of the External Affairs Committee in the Indian Parliament and one of that
1:37.6	country's leading voices for liberal and humane values. But now let's talk in the interval
1:42.7	about the three scams that took place here at home, on the home front.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Atlantic, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Atlantic and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.