I Know How Melania Found Trump's Creepy BFF: Wolff

The Daily Beast Podcast

The Daily Beast

News

4.6 • 8.4K Ratings

🗓️ 22 May 2026

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Michael Wolff and Joanna Coles trace the unraveling inside Donald Trump’s shrinking inner circle as the president turns to disgraced Hollywood director Brett Ratner as his newest confidant amid collapsing poll numbers, growing political panic, and what Wolff describes as a breathtaking $1.8 billion “slush fund” designed to protect Trump and reward loyalists before the walls close in. From Ratner’s sudden return from Hollywood exile through Melania’s documentary, to Trump’s revenge campaigns against Republicans and increasingly erratic foreign policy moves, the episode follows a White House spiraling deeper into grievance, paranoia, and self-interest. Wolff and Coles unpack Trump’s fixation on loyalty over competence and the surreal cast of characters now surrounding him as longtime allies fall away and new opportunists rush in, creating one of the clearest portraits yet of a presidency operating without restraint or even the pretense of normal politics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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1:04.5	Brett Ratner exiled from Hollywood. Melania, the movie, revives his career and then Rush Hour 4. Suddenly, after
1:14.3	Melania the movie, is picked up by Paramount. So we can say, what has Donald Trump
1:21.2	accomplished in office at the very least, rush hour for?
1:25.4	I wonder if Brett Ratt andner had a crush on Melania.
1:28.8	When I was watching the movie, I thought that's what it felt like.
1:32.4	Lingering pictures of Melania smoldering.
	...

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