I Know What Ego Maniac Trump Is Really Fixated On
6/19/202654 min
Michael Wolff and Joanna Coles examine why Donald Trump's critics believe his biggest defeat isn't the war in Iran but the strange obsession now consuming the White House: remaking Washington into a permanent monument to himself. Drawing on fresh reporting from inside the administration, Wolff reveals why Trump is fixated on ballrooms, arches, the Kennedy Center and the National Mall even as foreign policy, the economy and the midterms hang in the balance. They also break down Trump's escalating feud with Senate Republicans, the political gamble behind a UFC spectacle on the White House lawn, and why his drive for personal legacy could be reshaping his presidency more than any policy victory ever could.
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsMichael Wolff· Host0:00
This is top of his agenda. This is taking more time within the White House than any other issue. This is more important than the war. This is more important than immigration. This is more important than, than the midterms. Washington is the, is the legacy that I leave. It's a particular Trumpian response, um, to ... It's, it's him imposing himself. He's in- inescapable, un-ignorable, ubiquitous. He is creating a Washington that will forever evoke his name, Donald Trump. I was here.
Joanna Coles· Host0:43
[upbeat music] Michael.
Michael Wolff· Host0:47
Joanna, uh, you're in, um, in the UK, in your, um, in your, um, childhood bedroom again.
Joanna Coles· Host0:57
Well, this is not my childhood bedroom. This is my father's study.
Michael Wolff· Host1:01
Ah.
Joanna Coles· Host1:01
It would be weird if I had all these cricketing almanacs in my childhood bedroom. I'm back in the UK.
Michael Wolff· Host1:06
What, what is in your childhood bedroom? I think we might be curious about that.
Joanna Coles· Host1:11
Do you know what's in my childhood bedroom? Just piles and piles of books, actually. I, I now look back and think, "Actually, I did do something as a kid. I, I read a lot. I read a lot." So that's ... Uh, the, the only thing that's really remaining is, um, is books.
Michael Wolff· Host1:25
So, uh, uh, today we're gonna do ... Well, of course, we're gonna do