The Daily Beast Podcast

Stacey Williams joins Joanna Coles as the anticipated release of the Epstein files throws fresh scrutiny on Donald Trump’s long-denied proximity to Jeffrey Epstein. Williams recounts how a dinner invitation led to a relationship with Epstein—and, she says, to being deliberately walked into Trump Tower where Trump groped her while Epstein stood by, a moment she now believes was staged. Does her account expose how power, silence, and sexual coercion were normalized at the highest levels—and why Trump remains untouched as others in Epstein’s orbit fall? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Wolff joins Joanna Coles to break down the Vanity Fair profile that may have pushed Trump chief of staff Susie Wiles into dangerous territory, and the newly surfaced Epstein diaries that reveal fixation more than revelation. But the episode turns darker with Trump’s grotesque response to the murder of Rob Reiner and his wife—a moment that shocked even his own insiders. Wolff argues this wasn’t calculation or cruelty, but something giving way. And it leaves an unavoidable question hanging in the air: how long can a presidency survive when self-destruction is no longer strategic, but instinctive? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chris Whipple joins Joanna Coles as his explosive Susie Wiles profile sends shockwaves through Trump’s White House. After 11 months of on-the-record access, for Vanity Fair, to Susie Wiles, Whipple explains why the facts can’t be denied—and why her description of Trump’s “alcoholic personality” has triggered cabinet-wide panic and presidential pushback. Does this unprecedented candor reveal how Trump 2.0 actually functions, or mark the moment the West Wing turns on its most powerful gatekeeper? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Rothkopf joins Joanna Coles to unpack a presidency stripped of empathy after Trump’s disturbing Truth Social post responding to the murder of filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife. Rothkopf, the founder of Deep State Radio and former editor of Foreign Policy magazine, argues that this moment exposes Trump’s defining pathology: an inability to respond to tragedy without cruelty, self-obsession, and grievance. From mass shootings to corruption, donors, and a cabinet quietly hedging its bets, they trace how Trump’s personal brokenness has become national policy—and ask the defining question: How long can a political system function when it’s built around one man’s pathology? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Don Lemon joins Joanna Coles to diagnose why Trump’s lost his charismatic touch. Lemon, Founder of The Don Lemon Show, describes a former president whose influence is fading as voters grow disillusioned with MAGA, economic distortions, and rising healthcare costs. From Trump’s credibility and health to Republican lawmakers misreading the electorate, Lemon explores the consequences of a movement built on lies and distractions—and presses a defining question: How long can the GOP survive a leader losing his grip? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.