The Daily Beast Podcast

David Rothkopf joins Joanna Coles for a blistering, wide-ranging conversation about a presidency defined by vulgarity, fear, and damage—starting with Rothkopf’s searing argument that Donald Trump is the ugliest expression of American power yet. From the White House’s gilded excesses and the planned hollowing-out of the Kennedy Center, to the Melania “bribe-umentary,” its Epstein-adjacent fallout, and the mounting contradictions exposed in the Epstein files themselves, the episode tracks how taste, corruption, and impunity collide. Rothkopf, The Daily Beast’s unmissable columnist and found of the DSR Network, dig into the murkier questions Trump can’t outrun—from Howard Lutnick’s shifting Epstein story to why so many powerful figures are suddenly caught in bald-faced lies—while also unpacking the strange Tulsi Gabbard whistleblower saga, Trump’s renewed fixation on “stolen” elections, and the quiet groundwork being laid to destabilize 2026.

Jennifer Welch of the hit podcast ‘I’ve Had It’ joins Joanna Coles as the news cycle spins completely out of control—from Don Lemon’s arrest and what Welch calls a chilling test case for silencing independent journalists, to the sudden flood of Epstein files, DOJ lawfare, and Trump’s deep, decades-long vendetta against the press. Welch dissects the masculinity myth at the heart of MAGA, the submissive strongman worship that props it up, and the evangelical culture that looks away from abuse while preaching moral authority. Along the way, Welch connects grift, grievance, and repression into a single operating system powering Trumpism—and asks the question hanging over all of it: If this is Trump’s authoritarian testing phase, what comes next when the guardrails finally give?

Michael Wolff and Joanna Coles step inside Donald Trump’s head at a moment when spectacle, grievance, and power collide. They unpack what Melania’s glossy new documentary really reveals about her marriage, money, and leverage. Wolff explains why the newly released Epstein files are reopening uncomfortable truths inside Trump World. They then discuss how the federal response in Minneapolis offers a stark window into how Trump understands authority and force. As these threads converge, Wolff and Coles wonder: is Trump tightening his grip on power—or revealing the fractures that could define what comes next?

Michael Wolff joins Joanna Coles to unpack Melania’s high-profile movie premiere flop and Trump’s crumbling White House operations. As Minneapolis reels under paramilitary forces and DHS overreach, Wolff reveals how Trump’s aides point to the president’s “cabinet of morons” as the root of the administration's flailing incompetence as they scramble to keep him happy and dodge accountability. Meanwhile, the First Lady leverages her office to secure a $40 million documentary deal, sparking questions of corporate bribery. With resignations, lawsuits, and the looming midterms, Wolff and Coles map the power plays, personal agendas, and unraveling strategy behind the headlines.

James Talarico, running for a Texas U.S. Senate seat, joins Joanna Coles to argue that America has hit a dangerous inflection point—one defined by government overreach, corruption, and the collapse of public trust. From ICE shootings in Minneapolis to Donald Trump’s broken promises, Talarico says extremism and billionaire greed have left even Republican voters feeling conned, while Democrats remain stranded in the political wilderness. A man of faith as well as a lawmaker, he takes on Christian nationalism, explains what Jesus might say to Trump, and makes the case that nonviolent protest—and a new generation of leadership—is the only way out of the crisis now gripping American democracy.

Michael Wolff joins Joanna Coles to unpack the Minneapolis ICE shootings that have sent the Oval Office into a frenzy—and exposed the real tripwire in Trumpworld. As Susie Wiles, Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem, and Corey Lewandowski turn on each other in a furious blame game, Wolff reveals why the president is suddenly “wobbling” on immigration, how ICE quotas and untrained agents led to disaster, and why Miller is now dangerously exposed with no bureaucratic buffer left. Looming over it all is a furious First Lady, whose long-planned Melania movie rollout has been eclipsed by bloodshed and scandal—and whose displeasure, Wolff argues, matters more to Trump than polls, politics, or public outrage.

Mary Trump describes a nation at a breaking point, as the killing of a Veterans Association ICU nurse Alex Pretti by ICE agents and the administration’s response expose what she sees as the Trump playbook in its most dangerous form. Speaking with The Daily Beast’s political reporter Sarah Ewall-Wice, Mary Trump argues that her uncle’s instinct has always been to deny responsibility, attack victims, and escalate rather than restrain violence—and that this pattern is intensifying as his cognitive decline, rage posting, and detachment from reality become harder to disguise. Mary Trump traces how decades of family enabling, transactional loyalty, and unchecked power have led to a presidency she believes no longer fears consequences at home or abroad.

Dr. Bruce Davidson joins Joanna Coles to explain why a single, easily overlooked detail — President Trump’s reported daily dose of 325 milligrams of aspirin — convinced him the president likely suffered a prior stroke. Drawing on decades of clinical experience, Davidson walks through why that dosage is prescribed, what it signals medically, and how it aligns with Trump’s public symptoms, from shuffling and garbled speech to sleep disruption, bruising, and what he describes as post-stroke “agitated depression.” As Coles presses on judgment, decision-making, and transparency, the conversation becomes a stark examination of presidential health, medical secrecy, and what it means for the country when warning signs appear in plain sight.

Michael Wolff joins Joanna Coles as a winter blizzard barrels toward Washington and a political storm gathers inside the White House, where Trump’s second term is no longer defined by dominance but by drift, bad polls, and creeping loss of control. From a Davos appearance that Trump insists was triumphant—but clearly wasn’t—to a rare and dangerous moment of international pushback led by Canada’s Mark Carney and echoed across Europe, Wolff argues the strongman illusion is cracking. The question hanging over it all: Is this just another chaotic chapter—or are we witnessing the first chapter of the end of Trump’s reign?