Daily Beast columnist David Rothkopf interviewed more than 100 people involved with the Trump White House for his new book, American Resistance: The Inside Story of How The Deep State Saved the Nation, and according to his sources, it took almost no time for Trump’s staffers to realize what kind of boss he was.
“All of them said they realized this either during the transition or in the first few weeks of the administration, and they all found their way to work around it. Whether it was saying, ‘No, Mr. President, this is the law,’ or going to the Congress with oversight or using whistleblower provision,” Rothkopf tells New Abnormal podcast host Andy Levy on the latest episode.
Subscribe to The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or Overcast.
“Donald Trump would call up the Secretary of Defense [James] Mattis at night and say, ‘We’ve gotta strike the North Koreans now,’ and Mattis’ response would be ‘Interesting idea, Mr. President, maybe we should talk about it tomorrow’ and other people had to do the same thing,” he says.
Rothkopf also completely skewers the argument that Republicans are better for the economy. They’re actually bad for it, says Rothkopf, who has a ton of evidence to back that claim up.
“The business community supports them because the Republicans cut taxes and cut regulation, which means that whether the pie is bigger or smaller, their slice of the pie is bigger,” he says.
Patton Oswalt Thinks We’re About to Hit a ‘Dangerous’ Point
Also on this episode, Defector Media co-owner David Roth joins Andy as co-host and compares Elon Musk (aka Twitter’s new obliterator, er, owner) to a substitute teacher who has lost control of his class.
Plus! Michael Edison Hayden, investigative reporter and spokesman at the Southern Poverty Law Center, gives the inside scoop on the “hard-right, neo-fascist” billionaire takeover of Newsweek.
Listen to The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher.
Get the Daily Beast’s biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now.
Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast’s unmatched reporting. Subscribe now.