Trump Is Planning MORE White House Teardown: Wolff

The Daily Beast Podcast

The Daily Beast

News & Politics

4.6 • 7.9K Ratings

🗓️ 31 October 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Michael Wolff joins Joanna Coles to posit the president’s next astonishing move: Donald Trump’s plan to demolish the West Wing of the White House. They trace how that impulse connects with the East Wing teardown, a $300 million ballroom project, and the greater ambition of remaking the presidency in his image. Along the way, they explore how Trump’s real estate instincts are emerging as his most effective shock-and-awe tactic. With the foreign policy collapse in China, the polling crisis at home, and the disappearance of oversight in Congress, this episode asks: As Trump tears down the White House, what remains of the presidency?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	So now they are going to attach a wedding mill to the White House.
0:04.4	But what I've been thinking, having done that, done the unthinkable in any other
0:11.3	administration, the undoable, what if he were to tear down the West Wing?
0:18.3	And why not?
0:20.1	So for this figure, Trump, a figure of nothing so much as pure grandiosity,
0:28.2	it must feel dispiriting to show up there every day.
0:35.0	Even the Oval Office is small. Nothing to suggest, as Trump obviously wants it to be
0:43.0	suggested, that he is the grandest, most powerful historical being of all time. So why not?
0:51.5	Why not Trump just say, well, we're going to tear this down. We have we have corporate contributors going to build. We're going to build the West Wing as it as it should look or as it as it, no doubt, looks in his head as it should look.
1:11.6	Michael. Joanna. Michael.
1:13.6	Joanna.
1:14.9	Where do we begin?
1:15.9	What is inside Trump's head?
1:18.1	For those who haven't listened to this podcast before,
1:20.4	can you give them a quick explanation of what we're doing in here
1:24.1	amid all the grey matter?
1:27.1	It's my contention that nothing matters in American politics anymore, but that which pops into
1:36.3	Trump's head at any given moment, not with any consistency, motive, or plan.
1:48.2	It's effectively what he gets up with in the morning,
1:52.1	that there's nothing more important to understanding what's going on
1:58.4	than to understand the electrical caprices that go through Trump's head.
2:08.6	The electrical caprices that go through Trump's head.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

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

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