What Trump Really Wants Out of Deadly War: Wolff

Inside Trump's Head

The Daily Beast

News, Society & Culture

4.3 • 696 Ratings

🗓️ 4 March 2026

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Michael Wolff and Joanna Coles go deep inside Donald Trump’s thinking at the precise moment war breaks out, unpacking his fixation on “winning,” his belief that declaring victory matters more than consequences, and why he sees global conflict the way a producer sees a TV series. As markets fall, allies fracture, and Iran escalates, they trace how Trump frames war as optics, distraction, and personal score-settling, revealing why the end of the story matters more to him than what comes after. Along the way, they connect MAGA loyalty, media spectacle, and Trump’s obsession with control into a single throughline that explains not just this moment, but how he has navigated power for more than a decade. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	In Trump's head, it's always, I can get a win.
0:05.0	His entire foreign policy is focused on that question.
0:09.4	Can we get a win?
0:10.8	What's the win?
0:12.0	Everything, everything is personal.
0:14.7	What happened in Venezuela?
0:16.9	You know, it finally happened.
0:18.7	They took Muduro out because he was dancing and making fun of Donald Trump.
0:23.8	What can we do here?
0:24.9	What can we win?
0:25.9	The bombs that we have, all of this, what can we do with them?
0:30.6	What do they do?
0:32.6	Can we kill him?
0:34.6	So he's very focused on the success that he can have.
0:43.8	Michael.
0:44.9	Joanna, are we ready? I don't know if I'm ready.
0:48.1	I don't think anybody's ready for this moment, except perhaps Marla Maples is ready.
0:53.8	I think Marla Maples has realized that Melania is taking her
0:58.4	new role at the UN very seriously where she was speaking and Marla is, well, Marla's been posting.
1:05.9	I once saw Marla Maples in a restaurant and snapped her picture from afar.
1:13.0	Oh my goodness, just like Lauren Bobat at the Hillary Epstein hearings.
1:16.7	But I didn't post it.
	...

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