Donald Trump’s biographer says the aging president’s court has descended into a paranoid contest of survival where every cabinet member is looking over their shoulder.
“The knives are out for everyone,” author Michael Wolff told the Inside Trump’s Head podcast.
He described the 79-year-old president’s inner circle as a pit of rivals locked in one-upmanship, each vying for his favor while scheming to succeed him atop the MAGA throne.
“Everyone is paranoid about everyone else and—in the end—most paranoid about Donald Trump,” Wolff told host Joanna Coles. “‘Do I have his favor? Do I not have his favor? What is he thinking?’ All of these people are asking at any given moment, ‘What’s in Trump’s head?’”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung has previously called Wolff “a lying sack of s—t” who “has been proven to be a fraud.”
“He routinely fabricates stories originating from his sick and warped imagination, only possible because he has a severe and debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his peanut-sized brain,” he previously told the Beast.
Perhaps most paranoid of all is Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who summoned 800 generals and admirals from their posts this week to stage a speech that, Coles noted, was really only aimed at an “audience of one”—Trump.
The 45-year-old former Fox News host’s time as Pentagon chief has been marked by a series of embarrassing leaks and scandals. His response—purging numerous aides, muzzling the Pentagon press, and threatening colleagues with polygraph tests—has only reinforced the impression that he is unraveling from anxiety.
During his 90-minute speech before top military brass Wednesday, the defense secretary, who wants to be called “Secretary of War,” railed against “dudes in dresses,” “men with beards,” and “climate-change worship.”
Hegseth’s “very political” speech, Coles suggested, was “his bid to be taken seriously as a potential presidential candidate.”
Wolff noted that Trump’s second-term status as a “lame duck” means it’s “open season” for his MAGA acolytes angling to be next in line: “Who’s going to do this? Pete Hegseth? [Health and Human Services Secretary] Bobby Kennedy? [Vice President] JD Vance?”
Attorney General Pam Bondi, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem rounded out Coles and Wolff’s list of cabinet members who have stepped into the arena of political showmanship.
“I think everybody around Trump knows that he’s not well, and they see his cankles, they see the fact that he’s not quite as robust as he was,” Coles said. “They see the manic tweets at two in the morning on Truth Social, and they’re beginning to position themselves.”
The last Trump Cabinet meeting in August was marked by endless sycophancy as department heads vied to top one another, crediting the president with everything from saving whales and college football to reviving Christianity.
“One of these ridiculous people will probably emerge as the next ridiculous presidential candidate,” Wolff said, “and if history is any lesson, ridiculousness is a political plus.”
Meanwhile, Trump, who has faced mounting questions about his mental and physical health, has done little to ease any tension among his entourage, giving few clues about whom he favors as his MAGA successor.
The oft-volatile commander-in-chief stopped short of outright endorsing Vance as his heir apparent in August, saying it was “too early” and throwing another name in the mix.
“I think [Secretary of State] Marco [Rubio] is also somebody that maybe would get together with JD in some form,” Trump told reporters.
Find and subscribe to Inside Trump’s Head with Michael Wolff and Joanna Coles on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes of incomparable insight into the psyche of the world’s most talked-about man drop every Tuesday and Thursday evening on YouTube and Wednesday and Friday mornings on other podcast platforms.
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