Four former Obama administration officials spent part of Tuesday’s “Pod Save America” podcast joking about President Donald Trump dying in office, floating heart disease and old age as ways he might be removed from power.
Co-host Jon Favreau, a former Obama speechwriter, opened the segment by reading a listener question: “‘Is there anyone that can stop this orange piece of s—?!!!’ Three exclamation points. Vanessa from Facebook.” Favreau added that he put the question first because “that’s just a tenor of the questions we get from Facebook.”
Fellow former Obama aide Tommy Vietor answered, “Iran’s doing a pretty good job. So far,” referring to Trump. Favreau responded, “I think the answer is no.”
Vietor then floated another possibility: “Heart disease has always got a shot. Father Time will get there eventually.”
Jon Lovett, who wrote speeches for both Obama and Hillary Clinton, chimed in with, “The hardness of the veins sort of gets us all in the end.”
Favreau wrapped up the exchange by noting, “Anyway, you know, it’s 2026, almost 2027, so pretty soon we won’t be asking that question.” Co-host and former Obama communications director Dan Pfeiffer asked, “Then what happens? We then get real jobs?” Favreau replied, “Probably.”
Reaction from former Trump officials
Theo Wold, a former assistant attorney general and former White House deputy assistant for domestic policy under Trump, told Fox News Digital the exchange reflects a broader shift on the left.
“Democrats are increasingly a post-American political movement,” Wold said. “There used to be shared American societal standards that meant speculating publicly on a president’s death was crass and inappropriate, and those are gone now. And in its place is the attitude of anything — even violence — that advances my preferred policies is good. In any event, the President is vigorous and in command of his office, something that couldn’t have been said about President Biden.”
Morgan Murphy, a former Pentagon press secretary, was blunter still.
“Four men who once worked steps from the Oval Office sat around mics betting on which will claim the sitting President first — heart disease, ‘Father Time,’ or hardened veins — and not one of them had the decency to flinch,” Murphy told Fox News Digital.
Murphy pointed to Favreau’s own framing of the exchange as evidence of a pattern rather than a slip.
“Favreau admitted the quiet part himself: that’s ‘just the tenor’ of what their audience sends in, which tells you this ghoulishness isn’t a slip of the tongue on the Left anymore — it’s the signature of today’s Democrats,” Murphy said.
Murphy invoked scripture and Lincoln in his closing criticism.
“Scripture commands us to pray for those in authority — an order issued when Nero held the throne — and Lincoln summoned ‘malice toward none’ over the graves of 600,000 Americans, but Obama’s hatchet men can’t summon it for so much as a podcast,” Murphy added.
The exchange comes amid other recent controversies involving “Pod Save America,” including accusations that the show temporarily deleted a clip critical of a commentator after a former Biden staffer amplified it.
