I Know Why Trump Is in His Shameless Cash Grab Era

The Daily Beast Podcast

The Daily Beast

News

4.6 • 8.4K Ratings

🗓️ 3 June 2026

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Michael Wolff and Joanna Coles unpack into a week of chaos inside the Trump White House, from a failed attempt to push through what Wolff calls an unprecedented political “grift” to Trump’s growing frustration over a war he can’t seem to escape. They unpack reports of a furious showdown with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the surprising rise of loyalists with little traditional experience, the mounting political cost of RFK Jr.’s influence, and new questions surrounding Trump’s health as speculation swirls around his recent medical visits. Along the way, Wolff shares a remarkable campaign-trail story involving Jeffrey Epstein’s former plane, reveals why Trump may care more about controlling the Republican Party than winning elections, and examines the latest controversy surrounding Melania Trump’s past, offering a revealing look at the obsessions, grievances, and calculations driving the president’s decisions behind closed doors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Some follow the noise.
0:03.0	Bloomberg follows the money, whether it's the funds fueling AI or crypto's trillion dollar swings.
0:09.0	There's a money side to every story.
0:11.0	Get the money side of the story.
0:13.0	Subscribe now at Bloomberg.com.
0:18.0	This was a griff beyond just, this was just a grab in which they didn't even care.
0:24.9	That's the moment in which this came tumbling down.
0:29.4	Part of what is going on now is he's figuring out what he gets, what he can get.
0:36.4	He runs this government, this government offers all kinds of opportunities,
0:42.3	so they have to figure out what's the opportunity that they can get away with.
0:48.3	It's just pure opportunistic grift.
0:51.3	What he can get away with.
0:52.3	What he can get away with. That's the, that's the
0:55.2	grifter's creed. Michael. Are we rolling? Joanna. We are. You've got what's happening. I'm
1:06.7	confused. You've got patterns on. I'm not used to you coming in with patterns. Summer.
1:12.2	Oh, it's summer patterns?
1:12.7	Summer.
1:16.7	Okay. So it's giving me a kind of cornfield vibe.
1:23.6	Well, my 10-year-old daughter said it was giving her a kind of a Nazi vibe.
1:29.7	Oh, interesting. That's impressive that she knows the Nazi symbolism, even if Graham Platner doesn't. Does not, yes. Yeah, and he got tattooed with it. Nevertheless, I like Graham
1:34.9	Platner's energy. Well, and do you like his texts? I haven't read the text. Has he texted you?
1:42.5	He definitely hasn't texted me. We did have him on the Daily Beast podcast, and I really enjoyed read the text. Has he texted you? He definitely hasn't texted me.
	...

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