Michael Weiss

The Wall Street Journal, everybody's writing pieces now about Qatari influence peddling and how they purchased universities and institutions and massive lobbying campaign. And all they had to do is give this guy a jet, an old jet that nobody else wants to buy. It's utterly hilarious.

And I mean, it's not a particularly original insight to say that this is a guy with a real penchant for strong men. And, you know, one of my favorite anecdotes from sort of The Cold War, Soviet period, and the reason why so many Western intellectuals supported Stalin. I think I've mentioned this on the show before.

And I mean, it's not a particularly original insight to say that this is a guy with a real penchant for strong men. And, you know, one of my favorite anecdotes from sort of The Cold War, Soviet period, and the reason why so many Western intellectuals supported Stalin. I think I've mentioned this on the show before.

And I mean, it's not a particularly original insight to say that this is a guy with a real penchant for strong men. And, you know, one of my favorite anecdotes from sort of The Cold War, Soviet period, and the reason why so many Western intellectuals supported Stalin. I think I've mentioned this on the show before.

Malcolm Muggeridge was talking about his friends, Sidney and Beatrice Webb, because he had just got back from Moscow in the 1930s and the scales fell from his eyes. He saw what Stalinism really was and he couldn't understand why are all... his left-wing intellectual friends still supportive of this sort of wretched regime.

Malcolm Muggeridge was talking about his friends, Sidney and Beatrice Webb, because he had just got back from Moscow in the 1930s and the scales fell from his eyes. He saw what Stalinism really was and he couldn't understand why are all... his left-wing intellectual friends still supportive of this sort of wretched regime.

Malcolm Muggeridge was talking about his friends, Sidney and Beatrice Webb, because he had just got back from Moscow in the 1930s and the scales fell from his eyes. He saw what Stalinism really was and he couldn't understand why are all... his left-wing intellectual friends still supportive of this sort of wretched regime.

And he said, oh, it's because, you know, Stalin is doing to intellectuals over there what the webs would like to be doing to intellectuals in London, right? So don't discount the fact that what Donald Trump sees in these dictators and these autocrats and these strongmen is exactly what he would like to do in the United States. He wants to turn the United States into a version of this, right?

And he said, oh, it's because, you know, Stalin is doing to intellectuals over there what the webs would like to be doing to intellectuals in London, right? So don't discount the fact that what Donald Trump sees in these dictators and these autocrats and these strongmen is exactly what he would like to do in the United States. He wants to turn the United States into a version of this, right?

And he said, oh, it's because, you know, Stalin is doing to intellectuals over there what the webs would like to be doing to intellectuals in London, right? So don't discount the fact that what Donald Trump sees in these dictators and these autocrats and these strongmen is exactly what he would like to do in the United States. He wants to turn the United States into a version of this, right?

And his deepest frustration, certainly from term one, and he's made no secret of trying to eliminate anybody who might stand in the way of accomplishing this in term two, is that what he would call the deep state, but you and I would call just the normal petty bureaucracy and civil service fetters of any liberal democracy. He hates it because it stops him in his tracks from just imposing his will.

And his deepest frustration, certainly from term one, and he's made no secret of trying to eliminate anybody who might stand in the way of accomplishing this in term two, is that what he would call the deep state, but you and I would call just the normal petty bureaucracy and civil service fetters of any liberal democracy. He hates it because it stops him in his tracks from just imposing his will.

And his deepest frustration, certainly from term one, and he's made no secret of trying to eliminate anybody who might stand in the way of accomplishing this in term two, is that what he would call the deep state, but you and I would call just the normal petty bureaucracy and civil service fetters of any liberal democracy. He hates it because it stops him in his tracks from just imposing his will.

And, you know, it's interesting to hear somebody like Steve Witkoff, who very sort of nakedly says, oh, we'll get the Iranians to do a deal because Donald Trump can bend anyone's by force of his own personality. I mean, that is what you say of a totalitarian tyrant, right? That he is so charismatic and he embodies capital H history.

And, you know, it's interesting to hear somebody like Steve Witkoff, who very sort of nakedly says, oh, we'll get the Iranians to do a deal because Donald Trump can bend anyone's by force of his own personality. I mean, that is what you say of a totalitarian tyrant, right? That he is so charismatic and he embodies capital H history.

And, you know, it's interesting to hear somebody like Steve Witkoff, who very sort of nakedly says, oh, we'll get the Iranians to do a deal because Donald Trump can bend anyone's by force of his own personality. I mean, that is what you say of a totalitarian tyrant, right? That he is so charismatic and he embodies capital H history.

And he's in this place for a reason, almost a divinely anointed position. Everyone must submit. Everyone must do his bidding. And, you know, one of the things we've also seen, and I keep telling my Ukrainian friends, this is actually no. Donald Trump can be resisted. He can be told no. He can be wrangled with and fought.

And he's in this place for a reason, almost a divinely anointed position. Everyone must submit. Everyone must do his bidding. And, you know, one of the things we've also seen, and I keep telling my Ukrainian friends, this is actually no. Donald Trump can be resisted. He can be told no. He can be wrangled with and fought.

And he's in this place for a reason, almost a divinely anointed position. Everyone must submit. Everyone must do his bidding. And, you know, one of the things we've also seen, and I keep telling my Ukrainian friends, this is actually no. Donald Trump can be resisted. He can be told no. He can be wrangled with and fought.

And he usually caves because after a while he gets bored and frustrated and exasperated. Look at the Chinese. Look at the whole tariffs regime he's trying to put into place.