Speaker
Jonathan Swan
Appearances over time
2 episodes
Episodes
2
Podcasts
Quotes & moments
During a March 16 interview, Trump had an aide produce a document claiming he is the most powerful man to ever exist, ranked above Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Alexander the Great, and Genghis Khan.
Swan and Haberman's interview with Trump took place on March 16, the 17th day of the war with Iran, revealing Trump's mindset in real time.
JD Vance was described as the singular vocal senior official who opposed going to war with Iran, which cost him standing with Trump.
Charlie Kirk was one of the most important anti-Iran-war voices in Trump's orbit; his death removed a key counterbalance to hawkish advisors.
Trump learned about Charlie Kirk's assassination from his son Barron, who called him in the Oval Office and was deeply upset.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick personally donated $25 million to the Trump Presidential Library Fund, which Trump reportedly referenced in front of others as the reason he 'puts up with Howard's bullshit.'
People around Trump have described a goal of raising $2 billion for his presidential library — double what Obama raised — including outreach to Gulf monarchies like Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Trump's successful Delta Force operation removing Venezuela's leader — installing a compliant replacement — gave him a false sense that military power could similarly reshape Iran.
The New York Times found more than 38,000 references to Trump, his family, and Mar-a-Lago in the Epstein files.
Jonathan Swan stated there is no example in human history of regime change being achieved through an air campaign alone — boots on the ground are always required.
In a phone call with Netanyahu, Trump said 'the Jews are sick of you,' with Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff on the call as the 'two Jews' he referenced.
Trump handed Haberman and Swan a 2-page document in the Oval Office, reportedly written by Gary Player's former caddy, comparing him to Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Alexander the Great, and Genghis Khan on the metric of power.
Jonathan Swan noted Iran's revolutionary regime is 47 years in the making and goes far deeper than the Chávez remnants Trump had successfully ousted in Venezuela.
A CBS News poll found 70% of Americans believe the Iran war was not worth the cost. Even 56% of self-identified MAGA Republicans want the conflict ended now. When you can't hold your own base, the political damage is real.
JD Vance told Ross Douthat that unlike Obama's deal, the new arrangement removes Iran's enriched uranium. That's flatly false. Under the JCPOA, Iran shipped 97% of its stockpile to Russia. The current deal would merely down-blend it and keep it inside Iran.
Trump's $16.5 million no-bid pool renovation — awarded to a convicted crony — failed spectacularly, with algae blooms and peeling liner. Rather than admit failure, the administration invented phantom vandals, posted AI-altered images of a clean pool, and then arrested people just for looking at the mess.
In April, Trump boasted the reflecting pool's new lining was so strong that even a knife couldn't cut it, and would last 50 years. When it failed, he claimed a 350-foot slit was cut by a box cutter. The irony is complete: he gave the vandals their script.
Qatar initially sought $150–$200 million for the jet now serving as Air Force One. It suddenly became a free gift, with the idea reportedly generated at the POTUS level. Taxpayers then paid hundreds of millions more to make it safe for presidential travel — money pulled from nuclear modernization funds.
People around Trump want to raise $2 billion for his presidential library — designed as a tower with a gold Trump statue, restaurants, and hotel. Eric Trump is soliciting Gulf monarchies including Saudi Arabia's MBS. The fundraising happens simultaneously with the administration selling advanced chips to the Emirates.
A Washington Post investigation found that in 24 of 32 TV appearances between 2014 and 2016, then-Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard used language from memos written by an alleged cult leader almost verbatim. The memos also directed which legislation she should introduce. She was the Director of National Intelligence.
Trump blocked the quick confirmation of his own DNI pick, Jay Clayton, to keep Bill Pulte — a corrupt political operative with no intelligence experience — in the acting director seat. A CNN source reported Pulte began carrying out deep-state firings almost immediately upon taking the role.
Trump commuted David Gentile's sentence less than 2 weeks into a 7-year prison term, despite Gentile having stolen over $1 billion from mom-and-pop investors. Jailhouse communications showed Gentile discussing over $2 million in payments to secure his freedom, and Trump's own appointees killed the investigation into how the clemency happened.
At a White House dinner, Trump sat JD Vance and Marco Rubio at the same table as Rupert Murdoch, then asked Murdoch to assess each of them. Murdoch gave Rubio a much stronger endorsement — calling him 'brilliant' versus Vance's 'potential to be great' — while both VP candidates had to sit there and hear it.
The US agreed to a 60-day oil sanctions waiver — the first in 40 years — potentially worth $10 billion to Iran, before Iran confirmed a single nuclear weapons inspector entry. Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor note that under the JCPOA, no sanctions relief came until Iran acted first.
In the Oval Office, Trump handed Haberman and Swan a 2-page document comparing him to Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Alexander the Great, and Genghis Khan on the basis of power. He was relishing the comparison. The document was supposedly written by a historian — but was actually produced by Gary Player's former caddy.
Trump's name appeared over 38,000 times in the Epstein files. His staff held crisis meetings in the Situation Room — a national security command center repurposed as an Epstein PR crisis response center. Private focus groups conducted nearly a year later still showed Epstein cutting through to an alarming extent.
Witkoff, Trump's real-estate-buddy-turned-diplomat, asked Putin to sign a piece of paper reading '3+2' — the territorial framework ceding three Ukrainian oblasts to Russia. Putin signed it, and Witkoff had it framed at home in black with taupe mats. His colleagues describe him as treating Putin and Zelensky as moral equals.
There are no structured meetings in Trump's Oval Office — just a rolling bull session. Maggie Haberman describes NSC officials waiting in a corner for sign-off on classified programs while someone else is on speakerphone from Mar-a-Lago and a decorator walks in with paver samples for the Rose Garden.
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