Two podcasters who specialize in studying President Donald Trump, Michael Wolff and Joanna Coles, marveled on Sunday about how even those closest to America’s commander-in-chief do not really like him.
“Will we ever be post-Trump?” The Guardian’s Ed Pilkington reported asking The Daily Beast pair behind “Inside Trump’s Head” on Sunday.
“We’re going to get to the other side of this, yes,” Wolff told Pilkington. “I absolutely believe that the unique Donald Trump will not come again. When he leaves, everyone is going to sigh with relief, even the Republicans.”
The journalist added, ““It’s a fascinating thing. Nobody, except his fanbase, likes this guy. I mean, Trump is a fat f — — —, even to those closest to him.”
Earlier in the same article, Pilkington broke down the wide breadth of Trump-related subjects that the pair cover for their podcast.
“An average episode will delve into such matters as: the defenestration of senior women in his administration, including the short-lived press secretary Katie Zacharia and ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle,” Pilkington wrote. “Trump’s weight (they call him the ‘all-you-can-eat president’); Melania’s mysterious disappearing act (Wolff and the first lady have form, having locked horns in a long-running legal dispute); and the outsized role of executive assistant Natalie Harp, whom Wolff flagged as an issue well before the White House correspondents’ pack.”
Pilkington’s article also profiled how many critics of the pair argue that, by focusing on pettier matters like the president’s personality and looks rather than his anti-democratic measures, Wolff and Coles may be doing more harm than good for the anti-Trump movement.
“The podcast’s unashamed technique of examining Trump in the round, with all his personal flaws and foibles, is not without its critics,” Pilkington wrote. “The New York Times columnist Frank Bruni last month wrote an opinion piece that berated media outlets that focus on Trump’s appearance rather than on the damage he is doing to the world. Though he didn’t mention the podcast, Bruni did mention ‘cankles’, a Daily Beast favourite.”
In response to this Wolff told Pilkington that “Trump is the most unique politician anyone has come across. He’s so unique no political reporter can cover him. That’s our conceit: to probe what the traditional media is not covering. They cover Trump as they would an ordinary politician, and his politics as an ordinary function of cause and effect. But Trump is completely outside of the familiar ecosystem of the presidency.”
Wolff added, “You can analyse Trump’s policies all you like, but what he is doing has nothing to do with policy. It has everything to do with himself, with his self-aggrandizement. To understand him, you have to look at his character, how this guy thinks, what are his fundamental motivations.”
Regardless of their approach to covering Trump, Wolff and Coles are not alone in reporting that most of the people in his orbit reportedly dislike like him. Trump’s former communications director has said the same thing.
“Getting fired after 11 days was brutal, but there was also a genuine sense of relief,” Anthony Scaramucci posted on X in July. “Yes I had a shortcoming. I failed at the job. There was humiliation in it, but there was also relief.”
He added, “Here’s what I’ve observed about everyone around Trump. Nobody likes him. I don’t think his family members like him. I don’t think his cabinet members really like him. They kiss his a—— because he’s powerful.”
Scaramucci continued, “The people who genuinely like him are one or two electron orbits away, close enough to feel the warmth, far enough to avoid the heat. I don’t know a single person in his inner circle who came out unscathed.”