Frank Rich & Ali Velshi

Molly Jong-Fast (0:00)

Hello, welcome to Fast Politics. I'm Molly Jong-Fast. We have a great show for you today.

Later in the show, we'll talk to MS NOW's Ali Velshi about Trump's disastrous economy. But first, we have Emmy-winning producer for Veep and Succession, the great Frank Rich on Trump's Willing Collaborators. Welcome, welcome, Frank Rich.

Frank Rich (0:26)

Hi, nice to be on with you, Molly. How are you?

Molly Jong-Fast (0:29)

I'm good. So you wrote this amazing piece and you are one of the great political writers of all time. So Suzy Wiles feels like a character right out of one of your shows. I'm sorry. She really does. I mean, when and she's now in peril.

Can we talk about this?

Frank Rich (0:50)

Well, I can find, sure. I mean, if you're talking about Veep, I think Suzy Wiles is just completely unfunny. So she's no Kimberly Guilfoyle. I mean, she's no Kristi Noem. It's a very high bar here.

She doesn't rise remotely to the level of our new press secretary who can't even figure out what her career was or where she's been at any given time. I do think the Machiavellian stuff that seems to be going on. Keep in mind, it's all rumor. I mean, I read the Washington Post moved a big story overnight about internal dissent and that she's likely to go, but they actually have no one saying she's actually going.

Maybe Trump, but it wouldn't be surprised me if she's fired. I think she's far from the least most nefarious person in that White House, not that she's good, but there'll be a lot of people taking to blame if the election results go the way everyone thinks they're going to go. It certainly hasn't helped that two of her flunkies had been help during the height of the campaign, or these political aides who work for Trump, and supposedly for the Republican re-election effort, have been helping a pro-Putin government for cash abroad. They're her people, so it's on her.

Molly Jong-Fast (2:12)

Yeah, that's a true, it is that is that article, which I read this morning too, where it's like, and there was another article that was a little bit like that earlier in the week. There was like, who Donald Trump is going to blame for the results of the midterm?

We're so, that feels like Veep. You know you're going to lose, you're setting up the people. James Blair is like, number one person that Donald Trump is going to blame for the midterms.

Frank Rich (2:43)

No, number one is Joe Biden, then Blair, and number two may be Obama, and then Blair and these other clowns, he had all of them. But it's going to be interesting to see what happens with him, because he's obviously not being told what's going on. I mean, he's out of touch with reality more than usual, and while some of it may be that his normal state, a lot of it is, it seems like he's really in a bubble, even by his standards, and doesn't quite really know what the polls are saying. Some of it's just, of course, crazy or just lying, like when he's at a one-third empty arena and claiming people are waiting outside to fill the empty seats. That's probably just lying and not actually dementia. Maybe it's dementia, I don't know, but it's going to be interesting to see how he lashes out. He's already lashing out, so. And maybe he'll bring back the firing squad.

The televised firing squad. Yes, that's right.

Molly Jong-Fast (3:49)

Yes, yesterday Donald Trump said no televised firing squad, which in 19 days before the midterms or 20 days before the midterms, saying no to the firing squad feels like, you know, just a family friendly move.

Frank Rich (4:04)

Yes, but also it shows someone told him there was an incredible backlash, not just among politicians, but I think there was a poll, I think it was a legitimate poll that showed 80% of the country disapproved of live streaming, something like that. Yeah. And so it's just like on the other end, he hasn't reversed buying diesel fuel from the Russians. I mean, you don't know what can sit in the way, and that's probably doing him more damage anyway.

Molly Jong-Fast (4:34)

Donald Trump did a talk in the Rose Garden yesterday for firefighters. And in it, what's amazing about listening to Donald Trump's speeches is, he gets these ideas that are almost poetic, and they're very-

Frank Rich (4:49)

The weave. Yeah, go ahead.

Molly Jong-Fast (4:51)

Right, the weave. And so he said, you know, if somebody, and they're clearly like something that has occupied his brains. He said, if somebody tries to kill a firefighter on a ladder, they should get the death penalty.