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 founder 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.
00:00 - Trump’s Second Term Chaos Begins
03:39 - Monuments, Spectacle, and Authoritarian Theater
07:26 - The Trump–Melania Marriage on Film
10:29 - Melania as Product, Not Partner
13:08 - Ad Break: Medicare and Chapter
14:24 - Trump’s Immigration Mythology
15:35 - A Presidency With No Agenda
18:01 - Violence, Optics, and State Power
21:09 - Epstein Files and What’s Being Hidden
24:49 - Power, Fear, and Corruption
28:16 - Tulsi Gabbard and the Intelligence State
31:52 - Whistleblowers and the End of Transparency
34:56 - Flooding the Zone With Lies
38:23 - Authoritarianism and Public Resistance
41:18 - Democrats, MAGA Collapse, and Opportunity
45:12 - Rothkopf’s Verdict on Trump
46:25 - Click 'Join' and get perks of Daily Beast YouTube Membership
#podcast #trump #news
📖 Title: The Glaring Epstein Files Issue Trump Can’t Escape
👂 Podcast: The Daily Beast Podcast
📺 Episode: 647
🎧 Format: Full Podcast
📅 Date: February 2, 2026
👨💼 Guest: David Rotkhkopf
🎙️ Host: Joanna Coles
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