Meet Democrats' Go-To Trump Stand In
Pod Save America
Pod Save America
4.5 • 87.2K Ratings
🗓️ 2 January 2026
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 2016, veteran Democratic advisor Philippe Reines stepped up for an unconventional task: impersonating Donald Trump for Hillary Clinton's debate prep. And in 2024, he did it all again for Kamala Harris. Jon Lovett and Reines discuss the intricacies of playing Trump, the impact of debate performance on elections, and what Democrats should do to outwit the president going forward. Reines reveals what really happened the night Biden called Harris moments before her debate, Trump's biggest debate weaknesses, and what it was like working with Lovett as a Clinton staffer back in 2005.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.
For the full episode, plus more exclusive content and ad-free episodes of Pod Save America and other Crooked shows, subscribe to Friends of the Pod. Your support helps power Crooked’s mission as an independent, progressive media company. Subscribe at crooked.com/friends.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hey, everybody. We don't want to leave you high and dry and contentless while we're on break. So please enjoy this excerpt from an interview we did for one of our subscription shows with Philippe Rhinis. He is the man who played Donald Trump in debate prep for both Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris. He didn't have to do it with Joe Biden because Joe Biden was like, I got this. It was one of my favorite conversations in a long time. It was about |
| 0:22.3 | what it took to prepare to beat Trump lessons for pretending to be Trump so long. And I've known for |
| 0:28.6 | 20 years. We shared in office when I first worked for Hillary Clinton. He had a lot of fascinating |
| 0:32.8 | insights that came from playing Trump that are just great stories, but also really helpful for thinking about |
| 0:38.4 | how we continue to, you know, try to beat him. |
| 0:41.9 | So here's a preview of that conversation. |
| 0:43.9 | And if you want to hear the full episode and get a lot more great stuff, subscribe to |
| 0:48.0 | Friends of the pod at cricket.com slash friends. |
| 0:50.7 | Here's Fleet. |
| 0:52.3 | When I was 23 years old, I was inexplicably and incorrectly hired to be a speechwriter for |
| 0:57.5 | Hillary Clinton, and I shared an office with who at the time to me was a grizzled veteran, |
| 1:03.3 | but who was just a young man who barely spoke or made eye contact with me. |
| 1:08.4 | He is a longtime advisor to Hillary Clinton. |
| 1:10.0 | He also has a legendary role |
| 1:12.4 | in two debate prep seasons. He played Donald Trump with both Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris, |
| 1:20.7 | longtime communications advisor and staffer to Hillary Clinton. Philippe Bryness. Welcome. |
| 1:26.6 | Hi, Jonathan. I loveett. How are you? |
| 1:28.0 | Good to see you. I want to talk about debate prep, which is the ostensible reason we're here. |
| 1:32.0 | But first, I want to talk about your first impression of me. |
| 1:36.4 | Well, I didn't think, it might have been inexplicable, but it quickly became clear that it was correct. |
| 1:42.9 | I mean, you were talented. |
| 1:45.2 | You had, your work ethic was similar to mine, which people can take about what they want, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Pod Save America, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Pod Save America and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.