The Daily Beast Podcast I Know What Trump Will Do After Crushing Defeat
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Oct 21, 2026 Michael Wolff and Joanna Coles imagine the fallout if Donald Trump loses Congress: recounts, legal challenges and weeks of political chaos. They examine Trump’s refusal to accept defeat, the allies he may blame, the people around him on election night and how he could turn a loss into a fresh fight for attention.
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Trump Cannot Accept A World Where He Loses
- Michael Wolff argues Trump cannot psychologically process losing because acknowledging defeat would contradict his identity.
- He reframes bankruptcies, failed deals, and the 2020 election as victories rather than accepting them as losses.
The 2020 Aides Who Abandoned Trump
- After the 2020 election, Trump’s aides directly told him the numbers could not be recovered.
- Hope Hicks stopped showing up, while Rudy Giuliani and other opportunists formed a new circle around Trump.
Trump Equates Attention With Winning
- Trump treats attention itself as victory, making fame more important than election results or policy outcomes.
- Wolff says Trump imposes himself on people until they accept his presence as inevitable.