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The Daily Beast Podcast

Truth About Trump’s Miserable Mar-a-Lago Christmas

The Daily Beast Podcast

The Daily Beast

News & Politics

4.67.9K Ratings

🗓️ 28 December 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Michael Wolff joins Joanna Coles to peel back what Christmas looks like inside Donald Trump’s carefully staged world at Mar-a-Lago — a holiday less about family and warmth than performance, attention, and control. From the bored, rope-off table at the center of the patio to Trump’s late-night torrent of Truth Social posts, Wolff maps how even Christmas becomes another arena for validation. They examine Melania’s rare flash of animation beside her father, the eerie surge of hyper-religious messaging from Trump-world, and the rituals that feel rehearsed rather than heartfelt. As the conversation widens, they trace how sagging TV ratings, Hollywood power plays, and proximity to Trump himself still dictate the action around him.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Where are we on the Epstein files?

0:02.4

Among the things that we certainly know is that Donald Trump's friendship with Jeffrey Epstein was much closer than anything he has ever represented.

0:16.4

And that, I'm trying to be careful here, Donald Trump was involved in Jeffrey Epstein's lifestyle.

0:28.9

Michael Wolfe.

0:31.1

Joanna Coles.

0:32.4

Merry Christmas.

0:34.1

Thank you.

0:34.5

I was going to say happy Boxing Day because we're recording this on the

0:37.5

morning of the 26th. And Boxing Day is your holiday. It's not our holiday. What is Boxing Day?

0:47.3

Boxing Day is a British tradition because in grand families, like if, you know, think Downton Abbey,

1:01.7

obviously the staff were working flat out all Christmas Day to provide a suitably opulent Christmas feast.

1:13.0

And so Boxing Day, after they cleared up and swept up from the family, Boxing Day was the day they got off and they could unbox or they could open their gift,

1:16.5

which was extra money from the family they worked for.

1:26.6

I once went to actually a Boxing Day dinner at a grand house in your country,

1:28.5

and I've remembered it ever since.

1:34.0

It was like this is what Christmas should be.

1:42.1

This is what families gathered around welcoming other people into their midst should be.

1:43.9

So go figure. Okay, well, usually boxing day people go,

1:47.3

there's a lot of hunting on those big families. You know, there's often a boxing day hunt.

1:52.2

No, this was actually after the hunt, which I did not go on. Okay. Was it a hunt with horses or was it

2:00.4

a walking hunt? I believe was it a walking hunt?

2:02.2

I believe it was a walking hunt.

...

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