He shakes it up. I like watching him, unlike other politicians.

That's been a huge part of his power and success is the entertainment.

But failing at even these inconsequential stuff, like the great American state fair,

feeds the correct view that, wow, he's kind of incompetent, isn't it?

Here we are trying to this

authoritarian who can't even make the trains run on time bread and circuses as has

been said leaders for thousands of years is fine if you've got the bread but just

the circus alone and giant ballroom is for rich people and giant tax

benefits for rich people and giant crypto scams for rich people and giant tax benefits for rich people and giant crypto

scams for rich people.

While I can't afford meat at the grocery store, that doesn't go down so well.

I'm Joanna Cole.

This is the Daily Beast podcast.

And sometimes I love this job so much because I get to talk about the thing that I'm most

obsessed by America and the state of it right now with people who've been thinking about

this for years. Today's guest is a favorite of the Daily Bees podcast, Kurt Anderson. He's an

author, he's a soothsayer. He was the co-founder of Spy. And he explains why

America is so in love with characters like Donald Trump and the characters around Donald Trump.

So today we talk about the 250th anniversary. We talk about UFC. We talk about the sycophants around the cabinet table.

And, well, we talk about how did we get here? How did we get here? And what happens next?

So before we get into it, very quick reminder, please press the subscription button. We are

independent media. And we appreciate your support. Now,

...