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Hello and welcome to the Americano podcast, a series of discussions about American power, politics and prejudices.

The election is over, but the Americano never stops, and there will be a lot to talk about

with the second Trump administration. And so we'll bring you more and more Americano,

because judging from the feedback, that's what you guys

want. So please keep listening.

I'm delighted to be joined today by Tara Palmeri, who is writing for Puck, and I think essential reading during this presidential transition,

this period where we are waiting for the incoming Trump administration to get into office.

And there are always backstabings and fights going on in any presidential transition.

But this one, I think even compared to the last Trump transition, has been particularly interesting. Would you say it's

been particularly fractious, Tara? Yeah, I mean, it is very fractious. That's just one of the

features of a Trump organization, Trump administration, Trump campaign.

He likes to bring in a team of rivals.

The thing is that it seems even heightened compared to the 2016 transition because the characters are even more type A, even more up a notch.

They are overtly campaigning for their chosen personnel

appointments, cabinet appointments, in a way that we didn't see before. I mean, you would hear,

he would read stories with background quotes, making arguments as to why Gary Cohn's a globalist and doesn't deserve to be

in the National Economic Council or, you know, Dina Powell should also not be involved in the

National Economic Council, and that was generally coming from the right wing, Breitbart Lane.

But, or you'd hear, oh, the White House is overstaffed with R&C staffers because

Ryan's previous is the chief of staff and he brought over all of his Republican National

...