menu Home chevron_right
NEWS & CULTURE

These Are the 8 Biggest Cowards in Trump’s America | The Daily Beast Podcast

The Daily Beast | September 14, 2026



Jacob Weisberg, author of the new book Profiles in Cowardice, speaks with Joanna Coles about the powerful Americans and institutions that once stood up to Donald Trump and what changed when he returned to office. Weisberg explains why Jeff Bezos went from resisting Trump to accommodating him, how Chief Justice John Roberts helped expand presidential power, and why Mitch McConnell may have had the clearest opportunity to prevent Trump’s second term. They also discuss Megyn Kelly’s transformation from a journalist who confronted Trump into a major MAGA voice, the pressures driving business leaders, universities and law firms to capitulate, and the dangerous short-term thinking behind those choices. But Weisberg argues that the story is bigger than eight individuals: courage and cowardice are contagious, and the willingness of institutions to stand together may determine whether they can withstand an increasingly coercive presidency.

00:00 – Why Bezos Caved To Trump
04:23 – Jeff Bezos And The Washington Post
09:15 – Bezos, Space And Trump’s Leverage
13:42 – John Roberts And Presidential Power
18:16 – Megyn Kelly’s Turn To MAGA
22:47 – The Psychology Of Political Cowardice
27:35 – How Trump Is Corrupting American Business
32:03 – Trump’s Bullying And The Price Of Loyalty
36:10 – How McConnell Enabled Trump’s Return
40:12 – The Power Of Collective Resistance
44:29 – Why Law Firms Failed To Stand Together
48:01 – Steve Schwarzman’s Need For Trump
52:10 – The Cost Of Bowing To Power

#trump #podcast #news

📖 Title: I’ve Got the Names of the Very Worst Trump Cowards
👂 Podcast: The Daily Beast Podcast
📺 Episode: 767
🎧 Format: Full Podcast
📅 Date: September 13, 2026
👨‍💼 Guest: Jacob Weisberg
🎙️ Host: Joanna Coles

Click here to become an official member of the Daily Beast’s YouTube community: https://youtube.com/@TheDailyBeast/join

Have a question or comment for us? Leave Joanna Coles, Michael Wolff or any of our guests a voicemail in our listener mailbox. Call (929) 274-3577 with your name and message and you may be featured on a podcast or on the Daily Beast. You can also send us an email at beastpod@thedailybeast.com.

The Daily Beast is committed to accurate, fair, independent, fast, and accountable journalism. We seek the truth and report it honestly, without fear or favor. We ground robust and provocative opinions in fact.

Subscribe on YouTube: youtube.com/@TheDailyBeast?sub_confirmation=1
Follow us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thedailybeast
Share this video on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/thedailybeast.bsky.social
Share this video on X: https://twitter.com/thedailybeast
Share this video on Facebook: https://facebook.com/thedailybeast

Tagged as , , .

Written by The Daily Beast

Comments

This post currently has 45 comments.

  3. @BruceMincks

    September 14, 2026 at 12:28 am

    24:20 Vance is a noumenalist where Meghyn was a phenomonalist (in Kantian terms). That is, Vance believes the words are what matters where Megyn knows her experience contradicts the words. For Vance it explains how he can hide his position on Ukraine's "forever war" until Stephen Miller figures out how to regain the narrative. Meghyn followed her own narrative, which limited her viewers' interest in the whole show, where all that money from NBC persuaded her to pursue a sideshow instead. Those would be two species of motive for Kant where the "I" subject doesn't face the Marxist "me" yet, reacting to Hegel's fascism (which sounds like Idealism unless you read Plato a little more closely). Trump must lose his grip among his buttons and strings in that snake pit, at some point. Justice may not be necessary but it does exist.

  7. @lindapabst3421

    September 14, 2026 at 12:28 am

    Mitch McConnell was scared?? Oh give me a break. He'd been struggling with health issues. As someone with 20 years working closely with geriatric patients, he likely was having a TIA/ mini-stroke. That's what I saw. McConnell is WAY too much of an SOB to be so afraid of Trump he was rendered speechless. This piece of "insight" seriously diminishes the credibility of your guest Joanna.

  8. @randyblaukatintuitive

    September 14, 2026 at 12:28 am

    It’s time to supreme court should be held accountable for their actions. They need to have no more than a 10 year bench limit, and they should be voted in by the American citizens not a president. The system now has turned the Supreme Court into a joke and nothing more than a wing of the far right Republican Party.

  10. @Hank-z3k1v

    September 14, 2026 at 12:28 am

    God dam, yall's. Its high time America had a new Captial Crime of American Cowardice, alongside Treason. The crime of American Cowardice should be applied to any individual or group that threatens the American Constitution through their Cowardice to protect the Constitution, with a guilty verdict being decided by a jury and sentenced as a Capital Crime, yall's.

  14. @martyhelps

    September 14, 2026 at 12:28 am

    The kind of data centers they’re building on earth will never be built in space. Space data centers will only ever be tiny 'edge' processors for satellites, (the size of a cell phone), not replacements for Earth's servers.The biggest bottleneck is thermodynamics. In the vacuum of space, you can’t use air or water cooling. The only way to get rid of heat is through thermal radiation, which is incredibly slow. A terrestrial-scale AI data center in space would literally melt itself unless you built radiator panels thousands of times larger than the International Space Station. Add in the cost of lifting gigawatts of physical shielding to protect against cosmic radiation, and Earth-based data centers will always be vastly cheaper and more efficient.
    Space data centers will only ever be tiny computers on satellites. They are like small smartphones floating in space.They are only used to help other satellites. For example, if a camera satellite takes a picture of a forest fire, it doesn't want to wait to send a giant picture all the way down to Earth. Instead, it whispers to the tiny space computer: "Hey, look at this picture!" The tiny computer looks at it, finds the fire, and sends a quick text message to Earth saying: "Fire found!" 📡🔥So, big computer towns stay on Earth where it's cool. Only tiny computer helpers get to live in space!

  16. @kennethpayne1991

    September 14, 2026 at 12:28 am

    The majority of people know the donald as a narcissistic sociopath. We, as a people, have to understand and point out. The donald is still those things, but he is now in the very advanced stages of dementia. Learn about and report the affects and the results frontal lobe dementia.

  18. @cody9419

    September 14, 2026 at 12:28 am

    I'm starting to think Joanna is one of the most credulous people in modern America. Someone has obviously gotten into her head all these goofy ideas about data centers & lunar mining! 😅. It's utterly ridiculous! I remember last year this time after the Kirkening, she was all light headed about how impressed she was by Erica Kirk. 😅. I think she's one of these people who gets drunk from smelling the farts of celebrities. 😅. VERY appropriate & fitting for this point in American spacetime.

  19. @duffayetmorgane9514

    September 14, 2026 at 12:28 am

    Mais est ce normal que les lubies des uns soient imposées au plus grand nombre sans qu’ils ne puissent jamais se prononcer n’y savoir ce que cela va leur couter, l’eau l’air le climat le bruits constants pour les datas center pour qui pour remplir les poches des uns je ne parle pas de leur cœur car ces hommes semblent si tristes que c’est désespérant.

  21. @Lfbhouse

    September 14, 2026 at 12:28 am

    If Vance won't certify voting results if Republicans don't win, and Johnson won't seat new Democrats where does that leave us? Constitutional Crisis, Cival War?

  23. @DanBuell

    September 14, 2026 at 12:28 am

    I’m sorry, if it is really the author’s contention that McConnell froze because he was scared, then game over. He’s not worth listening to or reading; I cannot stand Mitch McConnell, but that was clearly a partial complex seizure, the same type of seizure that probably happened when he fell

  25. @carolkristian1146

    September 14, 2026 at 12:28 am

    You are wrong about anti-Trump youtube channels not being successful.
    There is the MeidasTouch network, which has nearly seven million followers, which does not include MeidasTouch Canada.
    There is also Legal AF, Democracy Docket, and many more.

  26. @RichardFrechin

    September 14, 2026 at 12:28 am

    JUST WHAT I NEED
    Who gets up in the morning and says to themselves,
    “You know what I need?
    Today I need to develop a strong relationship with a childish, out of control, narcissistic egomaniac.
    That’s what I need.”
    Apparently…
    A lot of people.

  27. @ElleBee-autopilot

    September 14, 2026 at 12:28 am

    The one thing all the "cowards" have in common is that they are all willing to make deals with the devil to advance their own agendas. They are selfish, short-sighted, exploitive opportunists.

  29. @bethlv2048

    September 14, 2026 at 12:28 am

    The Megan Kelly thing is complete BS. My best friend graduated HS with her in her class and she was the Mean Girl through and through, menacing and belittling other girls in the hallways… it's DARVO now, deny, attack, reverse victim and offender… she was the bully and now says she suffered bullies.

  33. @esme6346

    September 14, 2026 at 12:28 am

    Trump can only bully if he has power through other people who back him. He's backed cos everyone else has no trust. This is how we get the world of Orwell's 1984. Fact is if you stand your ground to verbal abuse he has to resort to physical abuse and he can't. The media can break him but they won't work as a team.

  40. @stevenlannagan9616

    September 14, 2026 at 12:28 am

    You know, perhaps you could get some Dem farmers as sponsors for your show and members get a 10 percent discount on food ordered? It might help boost membership as well as helping farmers and members get affordable food

  41. @linellestepto6966

    September 14, 2026 at 12:28 am

    what a country you have crafted yourselves…………trump may go but the maga mindset will remain……& they vote…….as an Australian I am glad we have been shown the inner heart of america, as with other countries we will stay away!!!!!

Comments are closed.

Related
His Phone Got HACKED… And It LEAKED
Harry Sisson | October 7, 2026
Related
Zillow Just Issued a Warning About America’s Housing Market
A Homestead Journey | October 7, 2026
Related
TRUMP DOES UNTHINKABLE TO FEMALE AIDE | Abdul destroys Fox News + ...
Keith Edwards | October 7, 2026

This area can contain widgets, menus, shortcodes and custom content. You can manage it from the Customizer, in the Second layer section.

 

 

 

Go to album
  • play_circle_filled

    92.9 : The Torch

  • play_circle_filled

    AGGRO
    'Til Deaf Do Us Part...

  • play_circle_filled

    SLACK!
    The Music That Made Gen-X

  • play_circle_filled

    KUDZU
    The Northwoods' Alt-Country & Americana

  • play_circle_filled

    BOOZHOO
    Indigenous Radio

  • play_circle_filled

    THE FLOW
    The Northwoods' Hip Hop and R&B

play_arrow skip_previous skip_next volume_down
playlist_play