Biden Was Asked to Refinance His House After Iowa Fail

Biden Was Asked to Refinance His House After Iowa Fail

This is just how dire things got for the Biden campaign in early 2020. Plus, just how much damage Trump did by hiding his COVID vaccine, and Colorado’s voting model.


How did Joe Biden manage to eke out a presidential win after washing up in fourth place in Iowa and fifth in New Hampshire?


Co-host Molly Jong-Fast still wants to know. “I’ve spent much of the week talking about being wrong about Cuomo, but I would like to take a minute to talk about being wrong about Biden,” she tells NBC News’ Jonathan Allen, co-author of the new book Lucky: How Biden Barely Won the Presidency, on the latest episode of The New Abnormal.


While Jong-Fast and others were writing Biden’s political obituary in February 2020, his staffers were suggesting the former vice president refinance his house to put money into his dying campaign, Allen says.


“It's not the most unheard of thing for a candidate to do it,” he says, but “a presidential candidate doesn't do that. And the subtext of going to him to tell him that is that it might be time to just wrap up the campaign. To Joe Biden's everlasting credit, he believed in himself.”


Allen talks about how Biden’s key endorsement from South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn came about—and another key to his win, the coronavirus pandemic.


“COVID hits and Biden is taken off the trail and he is able to be scripted know for his entire career, been disciplined and reporters love him because they'll talk, but he's on disciplined. And now his campaign has the ability to control his message and choose when he talks and how he talks to who he talks to. Um, and he's able to make those discretionary decisions along with his advisors. And meanwhile, Trump is on the stage at the white house, telling people to inject disinfectant, to combat COVID.”


Allen also talks about whether Biden will be able to unify the country and get any Republican votes to get legislation passed. “I think that there are things on which a Biden will be able to get votes from model Republicans. Um, it sort of independent thinking Republicans, you know, the converse is some of these bills are going to be incredibly difficult for them to vote against. I mean, think about voting against the COVID relief bill that's already made, you know, an entire campaign's worth of ads for an opponent. Marco Rubio is going to vote against this COVID relief bill, and he's going to have a democratic opponent next time. There's several that are thinking about getting in, including Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy from Florida.”


Also in the episode, Jong-Fast is joined by Eric Topol, cardiologist scientist and author and the founder and director of the Scripps research transitional Institute, who talks about how the vaccinations are going and how hard the U.K. variant will hit.


The U.K. variant, he says, will hit hard in Florida, California, and Texas, but he’s not so worried about the South African and Brazilian variants, which “ don't seem to be nearly as infectious.”


How are vaccines going? The U.K., he says “can go much faster since they're not giving the second doses right now. We've actually been pushing for that in the US to get ready for this variant that we're going to be hit with there that you gave variant, but there isn't receptivity at the white house, uh, yet, or we're Tony Fauci. We think that just for a month to go with the one dose, uh, you know, and then get these, all these people get their second dose a little bit delayed would be really advantageous, but we haven't had success in pushing for that.”


HE also says it’s a travesty Trump's decision to cover up the fact that he was vaccinated.


“We have politicization of the vaccine of vaccines. We have a remarkable global gap...

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jaksot(1009)

How the Epstein Files Backfired on Trump: Wolff

How the Epstein Files Backfired on Trump: Wolff

Michael Wolff joins Joanna Coles to unpack why the release of the Epstein files has backfired on Donald Trump, obscuring key facts while amplifying the one question that won’t go away: what Trump knew, and when. Wolff explains how the chaotic document dump fits Trump’s flood-the-zone instincts, while Coles probes how branding, spectacle, and confusion remain his core political defenses. They also examine the risks of sidelining institutions—from Ukraine diplomacy to ICE-as-content—and ask whether Trump’s belief that chaos protects him is finally working against him. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

24 Joulu 1h 1min

Real Reason My Uncle Trump Renamed Kennedy Center

Real Reason My Uncle Trump Renamed Kennedy Center

Mary Trump joins Joanna Coles to explain how Donald Trump’s accelerating cognitive and psychological decline is rooted in a childhood defined by cruelty, fear, and the absolute ban on showing weakness. Drawing on her training as a clinical psychologist and her firsthand experience inside the Trump family, Mary argues that Trump’s belligerence is routinely mistaken for strength, even as his physical health, cognitive deterioration, and untreated pathology collide. The conversation ends with a stark question: What happens when a country is governed by a man trying to fill a void that can never be filled? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

23 Joulu 54min

Trump Mental Decline Is Accelerating: Psychologist

Trump Mental Decline Is Accelerating: Psychologist

Psychologist Dr. John Gartner joins Joanna Coles to dissect Donald Trump’s latest White House speech and explain why its manic pace, rigid teleprompter discipline, and sheer velocity alarm mental health professionals. Drawing on decades of clinical experience, Gartner argues that Trump’s hypomania, malignant narcissism, and advancing dementia are no longer abstract theories but visible patterns—accelerating, measurable, and increasingly unmanaged. They examine why repeated cognitive tests suggest monitoring decline rather than routine screening, and how sleepless nights, impulsive decisions, and compulsive posting point to a leader edging toward a cognitive cliff. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

22 Joulu 41min

Trump Aides Are Secretly Prepping for His Downfall

Trump Aides Are Secretly Prepping for His Downfall

Michael Wolff joins Joanna Coles to tackle the question Washington won’t confront: what happens when a president’s cognitive decline is visible but systematically rationalized by those around him. Wolff describes how Trump’s inner circle shields alarming behavior as “Trump being Trump,” even as voters recognize familiar warning signs from their own families. He also explains the significance of Susie Wiles’ long-standing relationship with Marco Rubio, and why her influence still shows in his disciplined, professional posture as Trump spirals. As Trump’s grandiosity accelerates—from galloping speeches to branding national institutions—Coles asks why no one is willing to take the keys away, and what that silence means for the country. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

21 Joulu 57min

Why Melania Trump Is Hiding From Me: Wolff

Why Melania Trump Is Hiding From Me: Wolff

Michael Wolff joins Joanna Coles with a story Trump World would rather bury: his legal pursuit of Melania Trump after she threatened a $1 billion libel suit over his reporting on her ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Wolff details the surreal effort to serve the First Lady—lawyers refusing papers, process servers turned away, Trump Tower staff claiming she lives there while she avoids being found—and explains why he sued first under New York’s anti-intimidation law. The legal farce opens onto something larger: a family operating in secrecy and fear, a president trying to “serve” his wife even as control slips, and a White House where avoidance has become strategy. As Trump’s foreign policy grows more erratic and Europe edges toward war, the question lingers: is Melania’s disappearance just legal gamesmanship—or another sign of a presidency retreating from accountability? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

19 Joulu 59min

Epstein Served Me Up For Trump's Sick Pleasure

Epstein Served Me Up For Trump's Sick Pleasure

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.

18 Joulu 45min

Trump's Staff Are Questioning His Mental Stability

Trump's Staff Are Questioning His Mental Stability

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.

17 Joulu 47min

Why Susie Wiles Can't Deny Spilling Trump Secrets

Why Susie Wiles Can't Deny Spilling Trump Secrets

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.

17 Joulu 40min

Suosittua kategoriassa Premium

nikotellen
tuplakaak
jaljilla
antin-matka
anni-jaajo
grekovit
ihan-oikeesti
hei-baby-3
maanantaimysteeri
dear-shirly
palmujen-varjoissa
siita-on-vaikea-puhua
piinan-kirous-2
aikalisa
kolme-kaannekohtaa
murhan-anatomia
the-harlin-show
sita
olipa-kerran-otsikko
i-dont-like-mondays