Jane Coaston: We Have Some Questions, Melania
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What sparked the recent questions about Melania Trump?
Hello and welcome to the Bulwark Podcast. I'm your host, Tim Miller. Delighted to give you a vacation episode of the podcast. I'm here in Indio, California. I'm in the desert, and so I needed to find a California buddy to come on the show with me. And, I mean, the content gods have blessed us with very vacation-friendly material. She is the host of Crooked Media's What A Day podcast. Couldn't be happier to welcome back Jane Koston. Go blue. Go blue.
How did Melania's surprise statement about Epstein unfold?
Fresh off the Michigan championship in your sweatshirt.
Yep. Yep. It's been great. I have successfully fixed my Instagram algorithm to only give me material about Michigan doing things that I like. Like it's funny how Instagram at a certain point, you'll just keep giving you what you want to see. And sometimes that can be like really bad because you'll click on one depressing thing and it'll keep giving you more depressing things. But right now it's just all good Michigan vibes and things about running and like other stuff I'm into and nothing that I need to not know, which that's why, you know, I have to check Twitter for all the things I don't want to know.
I had some school parents tell me that they were upset because they didn't really know that I was a content creator. And then all of a sudden I came up on their Instagram.
What are the implications of Melania's ties to Epstein?
And so they're like, oh, that's interesting. So they started watching me. And so like now all they're getting is Never Trump content in their reels. And they're like, I need to retrain. She's like, I love you, but I need to retrain my algorithm. I was like, please, my feelings won't be hurt. You know, do what you need to do.
They don't need full Midas touch in their feeds.
They don't. As mentioned, you know, I'm going to be a little loose today.
Why is Melania's English proficiency a topic of discussion?
All right. I'm already mentally out on the polo grounds. And so luckily, the first lady of the United States, Flotas, gave us, I think, something that we can really just... just kind of experience altogether. You know, I want to, I want to marinate and our Slovenian, uh, first lady, uh, she summoned reporters yesterday to the white house to give a surprise statement about Epstein. Nobody knew what it was going to be. Nobody knew why they were being summoned. It seems like her husband didn't even know that she was going to do it. Um, if you believe him, which is a big if I don't know that I can, I'm adept enough to, creative writing and creative speaking to explain to people to paint the picture for people.
What controversies surround Trump and the Iran war?
I think it's like beyond my limitations. And so I think we should just watch it together. How does that sound?
That sounds great.
Okay. Did you experience this yesterday? Like I did with people texting you with like your phone going like eight texts of what is happening right now? What is that? What is Melania doing? Is that how you experienced it?
How do political motivations influence Melania's actions?
I experienced it live in the cricket offices because we had televisions on. Oh, wow. And I watched a group of people, including the young men of Pod Save America and our beloved colleagues, all watching this, trying to figure out what is happening and why is this happening? Like, there are lots of moments in politics where someone, like, tries to answer a question no one asked and then thus leads to more questions. There's lots of examples of that. Like... I feel like Eric Adams did that like twice a week, but this was, I think the most prominent example, especially because it was coming from someone who is noted for very rarely speaking.
Yeah.
The, I was not introduced to my husband by Jeffrey Epstein and I didn't know anything about his crimes and all of the other things she says during this event.
Yeah.
What insights do the hosts provide about MAGA and its evolution?
It was a real, like, all of these things I am saying on my T-shirt really raise a lot of questions about why I'm wearing this T-shirt kind of moment.
It was. So I'm hoping that you have a little bit of extra clarity now after 20 hours, never being able to sleep on it. Let's watch Melania together, and we'll just kind of annotate it. Feel free to jump in if you see anything that catches your eye.
I never been friends with Epstein.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What sparked the recent questions about Melania Trump?
0:12–0:38
2
How did Melania's surprise statement about Epstein unfold?
0:38–1:19
3
What are the implications of Melania's ties to Epstein?
1:19–1:42
4
Why is Melania's English proficiency a topic of discussion?
1:42–2:28
5
What controversies surround Trump and the Iran war?
2:28–2:44
6
How do political motivations influence Melania's actions?
2:44–3:37
7
What insights do the hosts provide about MAGA and its evolution?
3:37–4:18
8
What are the final thoughts on the political landscape discussed?
4:18–1:04:54
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from The Bulwark Daily
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