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Episode Two Hundred Twenty Five: The Energizer Bunny · The Death Of Journalism

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome Episode two hundred and twenty five of the Death
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: of Journalism podcast. My name is John Zigler. I'm your
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: host on today's show. Multiple controversies breakout on the aftermath
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: of Trump's inauguration. The news media takes another desperate swing
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: at Pete Hexseth, the college football playoff is finally over,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: and I interview my old close friend, former Democratic Congressman
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: John Yarmouth after we haven't spoken for over three years. Well,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: as you might expect, a lot of news broke out
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: on Monday, Inauguration Day after I taped episode two hundred
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: and twenty four, a bonus episode of this podcast, and
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: so I want to go over some of what happened there.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: To me, the biggest takeaway from inauguration Day, and there
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: were many that people could have inter rational world, but
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: for me, I was just astonished at Donald Trump's stamina,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: especially in comparison to what we have just experienced over
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: the la last couple of years with a decrepit President
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Joe Biden and I even made a television appearance on
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: News Nation very late on Inauguration Day. I didn't even
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: promote it because I had a sense that it was
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: going to be a complete fiasco, and it actually was.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: I was booked, and then I was unbooked, and then
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: they asked me to come back on. I had set
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: up my home studio, I tore it down, I put
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: it back up, all to be on for at most
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: a minute and a half at the very end of
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: their inauguration coverage. Their coverage, by the way, was pretty daring.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Good News Nation is becoming a legitimate cable news product.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: But when I went on there, my major takeaway was
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: it's remarkable to see how much more energy and stamina
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump has than Joe Biden. If Joe Biden had
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: even remotely thought about or attempted to get through half
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: the day that Donald Trump had on Monday, equipped that
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: he would look like the oldest version of Brad Pitt
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: in the Benjamin Button movie. Maybe even worse than that.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: There's no possible way he would have gotten through it.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: And Trump seemed to get through it with absolutely no problem.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: He's the energizer Bunny and maybe one of the most remarkable,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: certainly media related elements of Trump's stamina being put on
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: display on Monday, especially in comparison to what we had
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: to endure with Joe Biden. Was an absolutely remarkable, maybe
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: unprecedented press conference that Trump held while casually signing executive
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: orders in the Oval Office, while also answering seemingly any
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: and all questions that came at him, which is just
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: a startling contrast to Joe Biden, who avoided all questions
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: from the press like the plague. But here was Trump
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: sitting at his desk in the Oval Office signing executive
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: orders like he was opening Christmas gifts, with the press
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: gathered round peppering him with all sorts of questions. Although
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: I will say the questioning was pretty darn soft, you know,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: it was not really difficult or harsh questioning. I could
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: be wrong about this because I didn't see the whole thing,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: but I looked for any evidence of this, and I
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: did not hear about any questions related, for instance, to
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: him making billions and billions of dollars on paper just
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: before taking office because of his cryptocurrency that got launched,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: with all there should be all sorts of questions surrounding that.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: To my knowledge, he was not asked about that. If
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: he was, it didn't make any news, that's for sure.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: But by and large these were not you know, gotcha questions.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: These were not harsh questions, which you might argue on
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: the first day in office inauguration day might not be
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: that inappropriate. Interestingly, and maybe inadvertently, I thought we got
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: some more interesting responses from Trump than we normally get,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: more introspective responses to questions, because he was clearly very,
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: very comfortable, and despite having this extremely long day, he
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: had no fear whatsoever of responding to any and all
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: questions in an impromptu fashion. I thought, from the introspective perspective,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: the most fascinating response that Trump gave, and maybe the
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: most telling response that Trump gave, was to the question
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: about how it felt to return to the Oval office.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: And of course, this is a guy who, and I've
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: acknowledged this many many times, has endured more than anybody
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: else ever has to obtain the office and certainly to
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: regain the office against all odds, including an assassin's bullet,
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  Speaker 1: And so I fully understand and appreciate what it must
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: have been like for Trump to, you know, finish this remarkable,
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  Speaker 1: unprecedented political comeback and returned to the Oval office as
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: President of the United States. And here was his response
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: to that question, which started off like oh wow, this
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: is a brand new Trump and then ended up exactly
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: like the old Trump. And here's what that sounded like
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: on Monday into seating.
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  Speaker 2: Oh what a great feeling, one of the better feelings
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  Speaker 2: I've ever had.
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  Speaker 3: Than well, we're very experience.
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  Speaker 2: Now, you would say nobody's ever had experience like I have.
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  Speaker 2: I've dealt with some very good people. I've dealt with
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  Speaker 2: some very bad people, and I know who the bad
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  Speaker 2: ones are and the good ones are.
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  Speaker 1: You know, don't forget.
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  Speaker 3: I was very successful and primarily the real estate business.
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: And people used to say, who's worse, a politician or
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: a vicious real estate developer, And I always say, you know,
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: the real estate developers far worse. But after about three
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: months and getting to know scum like Adam Schiff and
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: other people like that, I said, no, actually, real estate
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: people are quite nice by comparison.
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  Speaker 1: Now, I found that response by Donald Trump to be
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: very telling in so many ways. I would really like
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: to believe that this narrative of him having learned from
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: his first term and now he's ready to really do
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: great work in the second term is based in reality,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: and I'm certainly open to that. But then the crack
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: at Adam shift at the end kind of tells you, well,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: you know, the guy hasn't changed all that much, if
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: at all. And one of the other elements of that
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: response and that event in general, that I found to
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: be very telling about the Trump presidency there's the part
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: where I give Trump a lot of credit, which is, hey,
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: this is a great contrast to Joe Biden, you know,
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: avoiding questions as much as he possibly could, and here
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: he is with no problem, you know, just casually answering
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: whatever people were going to ask him. But you know,
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: there's that's also an advantage for Trump. That's a huge
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: advantage coming in after the Joe Biden regime. It's a
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: lot like Elon Musk taking over Twitter after that extremely liberal, woke,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: censorship loving regime that had owned Twitter before Trump, before Trump,
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: before Musk purchased it. Musk can do no wrong now
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: to the right wing on Twitter. And we're going to
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: get to that in just a little bit, because Musk
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: created a controversy that has gotten a lot of analysis
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: and most of it wrong because of what happened on
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: inauguration Day with his alleged Nazi suit. But you know,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: one of the best things you can do. They always say,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: don't take over for a legend. That's the worst thing
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: you can do. One of the best things you can
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: do in life is takeover for somebody who was really
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: awful and who was overtly terrible at their job. And
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: so when you compare it, could trust Donald Trump to
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: Joe Biden. He looks like a genius. He looks transparent,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: he looks like he's willing and able to answer all questions.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: He's mentally agile, he's got great stamina, and that's all fantastic.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: But I actually think Trump's greatest advantage and the reason
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: why he was able to sit there in the Oval
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: office without any you know, press secretary trying to curtail
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: the conversation, and this went on for almost an hour,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: all while he's signing executive orders. The real reason why
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: Trump felt comfortable doing this other than the fact that
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: he's clearly somebody who has become very comfortable in his
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: own skin for the most part, and you know, he's
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: very confident and he doesn't really have a lot of
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: concerns at this point. But I really think his superpower
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: in this realm is that it is baked into the
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: cap it is assumed that Donald Trump will say many
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: inaccurate things and even blatantly lie during any impromptu conversation,
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  Speaker 1: whether it's with the media, with anybody else, and that
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  Speaker 1: no one cares. I mean, that must That's that's the
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: hell of a safety net to you know. The main
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: reason why Joe Biden couldn't make himself vulnerable to press
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: questions is that he might say something really stupid or
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: his brain might malfunction at any moment, and it was
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: going to expose his declining mental laguity. Well, well, Trump,
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  Speaker 1: you know, has no concerns about that, because he's got
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: a lot of lots of energy, and his fans are
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: never going to believe that he's diminished, even if there
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: was evidence to that effect. But more importantly than that,
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: he's already set the predicate. He's already set the baseline
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: that Trump has got to say things that are wrong,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: inaccurate at best, lies at worst, and he does this constantly.
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  Speaker 1: But we've now become so desensitized that it doesn't matter.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: And so if you know, it's like if you're playing
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: a football game and you don't have to worry about fumbling,
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: because a fumble means that the play is automatically called dead. Well,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: if that was the case, you could be a lot
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: more comfortable in the way you carried the football. There
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: would be no there were no concerns about turnovers. Because
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: Trump has created either by design or by lockers, some
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: combination of the two. He has created these rules where
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: he basically can't fail. There's no such thing as a
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Trump flubb he can't make a mistake because we are
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: so desensitized to everything he says. And just take a
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: couple examples from inauguration day, he very casually said that
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: he thought that he would have won California if not
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: for voter fraud. That's completely ridiculous, It's absurd. It is
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: so insane that it's a lie. I mean, I actually
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: hope it's a lie, because if he truly believes that
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: he's delusional, there's absolutely no chance of it. Similarly, I
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: saw him speaking at one of the inaugural balls, and
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: it was an obvious, very trumpy, classic Trump tactic that
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: told me that he was very insecure and second guessing,
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: or was worried that people would second guess his supporting
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: the decision to move the inauguration inside because it was
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: too cold. He told one of the inaugural balls. And
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: let's be clear, these were people who you know, have
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: a lot of money, who are big supporters of his
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: but in all likelihood didn't make the cut to get
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: it get into the Capitol to actually view the inauguration.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: But who had been planning on viewing the inauguration because
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: it was going to be outside and open to the public.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: So I saw Trump explaining to these people, Oh, it
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: was a good decision to move it inside. It was
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: going to be four degrees with the wind chilled. You know,
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: have you ever heard someone try to speak when it's
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: that cold? They would have made me look terrible. And
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, he understands that it was the wrong
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: decision because he's there's no need to lie about what
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: the weather was. If you really feel comfortable with that
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: the proper decision was made, or that you don't feel
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: at some level that you know you were hiding something,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: or maybe you were worried about the crowd size not
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: being large of or you just don't like the cold
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: because you're not really an alpha male, so you lie,
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: but no one cares. No one cares. Trump lied, Oh
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: what the weather was? It was twenty seven degrees and Sonny,
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: it should never have been moved inside. There was all sorts.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: I mean, my god, the man hours that was wasted
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: setting up for the outside inauguration and then tearing it
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: down to absolutely no benefit is almost astronomical, not to
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: mention the fact that all of these Trump supporters didn't
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: get a chance to witness the inauguration, and that we
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: lose the majesty of that moment. I mean, some people
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: liked it being put inside. Of course, Trump fans will
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: rationalize anything, and this is again part of trump superpower,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: where he doesn't matter what he does. He can take
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: the oath of office without his hand on the Bible
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: and his fans won't care. The right wing media will
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: come up with all sorts of excuses for why that
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: didn't happen. By the way, I don't care that that
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: didn't happen, but I know sure as hell that if
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: a democratic president took the oath of office without their
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: hand on the Bible, that this would be all anyone
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: would be talking about in the right wing media. But
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: with Trump, because there's no such thing as a gaff.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: Trump doesn't gaff. There's always an explanation there's always a rationalization.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: It's always four dimensional chests, and we're at the very
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: least when if all else fails, We're just desensitized to
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: it because you know, that's the way Trump talks. He
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: just lies all the time, and we don't care. And
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: so if you are in a situation where there's nothing
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: to lose, because it is built in, is baked into
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: the cake, that you can lie or exaggerate or be
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: inaccurate and no one cares, it's a hell of a
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: lot easier to sit there with no notes and answer
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: questions while signing executive orders in the Oval office. So
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: while on the one hand it was remarkable and noteworthy
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: and a breath of fresh air in comparison to Joe Biden,
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: there's also the negative aspect of it as to how
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: and why Trump is willing and able to get away
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: with doing things that other presidents would never dream of doing.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: It it's classic Trump. You know, there's the good and
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: the bad. That it always goes back to what my then
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: four year old daughter Grace used to say, is Trump
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: a good guy or a bad guy. There's always good
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: and there's always bad with Trump, which is why it's
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: just so conflicting and from my perspective, frankly exhausting to
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: and analyze everything that he does because no one is
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: willing to do it, honestly, nobody, nobody on the right
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: and nobody on the left. And we have seen that
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: already since his inauguration. Now, let me take a few
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: of the actual substance of topics that have emerged since
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Trump took that of office. At noon on Monday, he
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: issued blanket pardons for all I guess, a handful of
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: commutations for all of those who were convicted in the
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: January sixth, twenty twenty one uprising insurrection, whatever the heck
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: you want to call it. And I disagree with this.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: It sounds like jd Vance disagrees with this, because this
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: was in contradiction to something that Vice President jd Vance
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: had indicated not long before these pardons were issued by
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump. Jd Vance had indicated that this was going
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: to be done not on a blanket basis, but more
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: of a you know, kind of a surgeon scalpel situation,
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: where there was going to be scrutiny of each case
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: and that maybe some of these cases were going to
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: be seen as too egregious, as to result in presidential pardons,
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: but that turned out not to be the case. For
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: all intensive purposes, this was a blanket pardon for everybody
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: who was convicted when it came to January sixth, and
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: I think that's wrong. I don't think that's necessary because
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: I think that there were several I don't know what
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: the number would be. I've read a few articles about this,
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: but there was there were clearly more than a handful
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: of people who committed violent crimes that absolutely were legitimate
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: and should have been punished on January sixth. But Trump
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: decided that it was in his interest. You know, if
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: I give them all the credit that he could possibly
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: ask for, it was in the interest of the MAGA
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: movement or the country to just have everybody be pardon
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: or their sentences commuted, And that way you send a
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: stronger message that the whole January sixth issue was illegitimate.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: And I don't think that's the case. Again, I'm somewhere
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: in the middle here. I think both sides completely butchered
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: the narrative surrounding January sixth. Both sides and January sixth
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: was an embarrassing, horrible day, but the left went way overboard,
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: way overplayed their hand. The January sixth Committee was overly
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: an overtly political. One of the things that has driven
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: me nuts about this, and I've mentioned this many many times,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: but it continued even in the aftermath of Donald Trump
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: issuing these January sixth pardons, is this blatant lie that
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: the President of the United States, Joe Biden, promoted at
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: every turn, which was that five police officers were killed
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: that day. That did not happen. There were no police
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: officers that were killed that day. One died the day
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: a day later. No one was ever convicted of having
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: a committed murder or even manslaughter against that police officer.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: There was an assault, but there's no evidence that that
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: assault directly caused that police officers that the next day.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: If there had been, there would have been a murder charge,
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: because we had sorts of evidence and video, and there
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: was an enormous amount of desire for there to be
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: prosecutions that really weren't even warranted. I mean, this was
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: the most over prosecuted event, maybe in American history, and
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: so that's why I have some sympathy for the pardons.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: But if there had been an actual murder of a
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: police officer, some would have been charged with that, and
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: that didn't happen because it never occurred. And the other
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: four police officers all died a suicide significantly amounts of time,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: significant amounts of time later. And yet somehow, if you
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: were there on January sixth, then you died of not
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: natural causes or suddenly within a certain period of time,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: you were counted as having been killed on January sixth,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: which is just the lie. And once again I'll give
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump credit for this. He has done a very
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: good job of continually mentioning this that the only person
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: that was murdered that day was Ashley Babbitt, an unarmed
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: Trump supporter. And it's remarkable how the news media has
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: effectively covered up that entire situation. It's indicative of their
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: agenda when it comes to January sixth. But on the
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: other side, the Trump team and his supporters have totally
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: diminished what actually happened, have tried to make this sounded
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: like it was a deep state conspiracy to make Trump
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: and Trump's supporters look bad. And now we have a
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: situation where Trump has provided blanket pardons even for a
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: lot of people who did some things that were very,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: very wrong, and if they had ever been done in
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: the name of a liberal cause, Republicans and conservatives would
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: be absolutely outraged, and a pardon, especially on the first
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: day in office, without any real scrutiny over individual cases.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: So the hypocrisy here is extremely strong. Now my sense is,
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: and this is just a guess, educated guess, that JD.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: Vance was probably accurate in what was intended, but that
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: Trump probably changed his mind, And if he did indeed
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: change his mind, he was probably provoked by the pardons
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: given by Joe Biden right up to the very end,
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: and it was obvious that Trump was very irritated by
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: Joe Joe Biden pardoning members of his own family, even
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: during his speech. I think that really pissed Trump off
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: because I think he felt like it was upstaging him
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: a bit, and Biden did not even tell him that
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: that was happening. And of course, you know, we played
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: the clip in the last episode of the podcast. I mean,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: holy hypocrisy. Batman, the news media, and Joe Biden himself
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: all condemned Donald Trump after the twenty twenty election based
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: upon the idea that he might issue preemptive pardons. By
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: the way, we don't even know if preemptive pardons is
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: a real thing, whether it has any real legal impact
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: or not. It appears to be made up. It appears
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: to be outside the realm of the constitutional powers of
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: the president. But when it was even rumored that Trump
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: might do the same thing for his family in twenty twenty,
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: he was castigated roundly in the news media and by
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: Joe Biden himself, and then Joe Biden as his last
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: as president, effectively somewhat upstaging Donald Trump's inaugural address, does
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: exactly the same thing, not to mention issuing Briant to
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: pardons d Anthony Fauci and some other people. And it's
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: just utterly absurd and outrageous. And this is on the
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: fact that Joe Biden issued more pardons than anybody else,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: and certainly in at least modern American history, but maybe
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: in the entire history of the presidency. The floodgates just
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: opened when it came to pardons and Joe Biden. So
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: I think, whether it was conscious or subconscious, and there's
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: some logic to this, the Biden pardons, in Trump's mind,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: gave him cover both politically and morally for issuing Blanket
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: Pardons on January sixth. And I get that from a
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: psychological perspective, a political standpoint, but this is where does
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: this end. I always talking about the slippery slot. You
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: know this tip for tat idea of government, and you
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: know this this governing by executive order, and you know
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: on your first day in office, you're gonna undo everything
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: that the previous president did, and then you're gonna do
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: a whole bunch of things. And the next president, if
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: they're from a different party, is going to undo on
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: their first day in office. This was not at all
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: as the founding fathers intended. This is very much like
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: a monarchy and that's very very concerning to me. And
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: speaking of acting like a monarch, I have to mention
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: that Trump has canceled his former National security advisor, John
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: Bolton's Secret Service protection. And the reason why John Bolton
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: had Secret Service protection is that he has received threats
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: on his life from Iran. Well. On his first day
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: in office, Trump revoked both his security clearance as well
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: as his Secret Service protection. This is the guy remember
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: that Donald Trump hired to be the National Security Advisor
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: of the United States of America. Now, I've always been
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: a little conflicted about John Bolton. I like some of
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: what he's about. I dislike other elements of what he's about.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: But of course he turned into a strong Trump critic actor.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: He was fired by Donald Trump, and that's the worst
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: thing you can do in Donald Trump's world. I mean,
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: it's actually worse to have worked for him and then
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: become a Trump critic than to have never worked for
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: him in the first place. There's no greater sin you
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: can commit then to be seen as a trader to
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: the cause of Donald Trump. I sense that John Bolton
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: is a guy a principle. I don't know always agree
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: with him, but I do believe he's a smart guy
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: and a guy a principal. I've interacted with him many
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: many years ago at an event, asked him an interesting question,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: talk to him afterwards. Again, I have a generally positive
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: view of John Bolton, but I disagree with him on
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: a lot of things. I can understand why some people
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: think he's a warmonger. So I'm not a John Bolton fan.
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: But this is the act of a petty king. In fact,
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: I tweeted out in relation to this story, make America
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: petty again, that's what this is. This is a petty,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: small move that who knows, might even cost John Bolton
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: his life. Let's hope that's not the case. I don't
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: think that's going to be the case. But there is
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: no benefit to doing this in the national security of
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: the United States. It's not a significant amount of money. Obviously,
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: this was done purely out of retribution. You know, Donald
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: Trump's original campaign slogan when he announced for his run
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four was I am your retribution. Well,
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: this is histribution. This is him acting as a king,
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: acting as a monarch, exerting revenge, using his power to
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: get revenge on someone he perceives has betrayed him in
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: John bolt And it's wrong, and it's petty, and it
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: might even be dangerous. And this is the type of
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: thing that drives me crazy about Donald Trump. Now, I
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: mentioned earlier that Elon Musk got involved in maybe the
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: largest controversy that occurred on Inauguration Day. And this is
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: another classic example of why. You know, frankly, analyzing the
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: news in this day and age is exhausting and seemingly
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: pointless from a rational perspective, from a truth based standpoint,
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: and why I hate both sides in the media divide
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: because virtually everybody has gotten this Elon Musk Nazi salute
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: story wrong in my opinion. Now, obviously this is an
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: audio podcast. You may have seen the video. You've probably
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: seen the video, But Musk was giving an address, and
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: I think the context here is extremely important. Obviously, this
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: was an inaugural event. He's talking about how important it
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: was to humanity that Donald Trump won the election. He
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: then very strongly hounds not his part, but kind of
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: the left side of his chest, almost to his left shoulder,
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: and then he very dramatically puts out his arm in
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: what certainly looks like the classic Nazi high hitler salute. Now,
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: I want to make something clear. I don't believe that
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: that's what Elon Musk intended at all. I think that
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: that would be silly to presume that that's what he intended.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: There's no evidence that that's what he intended. But the
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: video is startling because it's obviously one of those things
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: that in twenty twenty five, you just don't do unless
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: you're an idiot or unless you are looking for trouble.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: I mean, this is almost like saying the N word
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: or wearing blackface. Right, I can argue that in irrational world,
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: you know, if you're allowed to say the N word,
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: if you have a certain level of pigmentation in your skin,
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: then you ought to be allowed to say it in
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: proper context. It's certainly in an intellectual context if you
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: don't have enough pigmentation in your skin. I think that's
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: incredibly stupid, it's irrational, it's childlike. I disagree with it.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: I have been punished many, many, many years ago, back
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety seven for fighting against what I perceive
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: to be the absurd of that rule. But that's the rule. Now,
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: that's the rule. Everybody knows what the rule is, and
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: even I have accepted that that's the rule, even as
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: dumb as it is, and I think frankly counterproductive to
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: race relations. As it is, that's the rule. Similarly, with blackface,
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: you don't wear blackface if you're a white person. It's stupid.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: I mean, there's certain contexts in which it should be
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: perfectly fine, like Halloween, that type of thing. If you know, apparently,
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: if you're Jimmy Kimmel or Justin Trudeau, you're allowed to
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: do it and get away with it because you're a liberal.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: But you know, and if you joke about it or
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: make a comment about it, like Megan Kelly did, they
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: use as an excuse to get rid of you on
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: the NBC Today Show. So I'm not in agreement that
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: blackface should be always wrong and always condemned and always
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: be a reason for cancelation. But that's the rule. And
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: so unless we're able to change the rule, you know,
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to engage in it. I don't think
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: anyone else else should either. It would be dumb to
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: do so. Well. Similarly, if you're a white guy, especially
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: given Elon Musk's political views and his background and the
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: fact that he's obviously a huge Donald Trump supporter, you
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: don't do something that looks like the Nazi salute, and
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: you especially don't do it at an inaugural event. It's dumb.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: It's absolutely idiotic. Now. I know some people have blamed
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: this on his autism, on having aspergers, and I mean,
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: it certainly did kind of look like this was one
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: of those weird Elon Musk moments, but it was done
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: in such an emphatic, in such a dramatic fashion, that
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: it was jarring. I want to emphasize to be clear,
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: and don't believe that was the intent. My point here
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: is it was dumb. It was absolutely idiotic, and he's
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: ways too smart to understand that. You just don't do that,
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: especially at an inaugural event. It looked terrible, and the
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: left wing went bananas, both in the media and many
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: liberal politicians AOC and Senator Murphy and some you know
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: a lot of other Democrats immediately jumped all over this
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: as ah, this is Elon Musk, the co president, engaging
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: in the Nazi salute. And that was wrong too. That's
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: absolutely wrong. Now should must be asked about it. Sure,
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: I have no problem with that, but you know, I
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: think the liberal reaction to this was absolutely stupid, wrong,
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: PC an indication that they still don't fully understand why
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: they lost the twenty twenty four election. So they weigh
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: as they always do, they way overplayed their hand on this.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: At most, this should have been a situation, Hey, Elon Musk,
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: what was that all about? And can you understand why
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: people might have thought you were, you know, mimicking the
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: Nazi salute. I would be fine with that, and you know,
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: hopefully Musk would give a coherent answer and that would
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: be the end of it. So the left totally overplayed
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: their hand, and they were wrong in condemning Musk for
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: somehow exposing himself as a Nazi. But then the right
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: wing media in a despert attempt to protect Musk. And
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: let's be clear, you know, one of the many things
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: that Musk has going for him now that he owns
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: Twitter and that he's seen as Donald Trump's right hand man,
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: is that there is a massive market on Twitter, especially
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: to protect and defend Elon Musk. I mean, people fall
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: all over themselves to defend Elon Musk. One because he's
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: extremely popular on the platform. And two there's a decent
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: chance he's going to retweet your tweet or quote tweet
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: your tweet, and you're going to get tens and tens
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: of millions of impressions. And so of course the right
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: wing social media influencers felt as if they had to
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: go overboard in defending Musk, condemning those on the left
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: who went after Musk. And then also, and this really
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: drove me crazy, finding any example they possibly can of
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: a left wing politician making a gesture that, at least
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: in a still photograph, looks like the Nazi salute and
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: saying see hypocrite, was this Kyle Hitler, And I'm just like, oh,
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: come on, people, are we really this stupid? Are we
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: really in third grade here? I mean, it's not the
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: same thing to take a still photo. I mean, you
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: can be raising your arm in that direction for a
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: whole series of potential reasons. But this was at an
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: inaugural event. And when you watch the video, see to me,
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: if this was must casually pointing out towards the crowd
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: and his hand for a second happened to go in
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: the angle and the direction that is perceived as the
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: Nazi Hi Hitler's salute, I would be like, Okay, you know,
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: come on, people, that's totally wrong. You're taking this out
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: of context on purpose. And I would be one thousand
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: percent on the side of the of the right wing
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: commentators who are condemning the left for going after Elon Musk.
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: But that's not what happened. This video was rather dramatic.
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: It was emphatic, and if you've watched it for yourself,
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: this was not a casual movement. This seemed as if
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: it was done on purpose. And I am giving Musk
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: every possible benefit of the doubt, and I'm defending him
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: on the idea that that was not his intention. But
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: this was not a normal casual arm racing. This looked really,
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: really bad, which is why I said it was stupid,
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: and so I condemn everybody on this. I condemned Musk
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: for being stupid. I condemned the left for way over
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: playing their hand on it. I condemned the right wing
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: media influencers for attacking the left and for defending Musk
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: and for coming up with bogus examples of alleged hypocrisy.
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: And this is why I dread this entire era of
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: our politics, because I'm going to find myself in this
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: kind of situation constantly, where I just I loathe everybody
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: and I have nobody really to root for, and I'm
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: trying to sif through and find the truth and tell
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: you what's really going on here. The bottom line is
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: this was much ado about very little. This to me,
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: once again, this should have been very simple. Hey, elon,
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: what was that all about. Some people thought it looked
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: like the Nazi salute. He answers hopefully properly, and we're
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: done with it. In a grown up world, the rats world,
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: that's what would have happened. But we don't live in
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: that world anymore. Now, speaking of Elon Musk, we now
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: have confirmation of something that I referenced in the last
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: episode of the podcast, which is that the fake Obama
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: swamy is indeed out at DOGE, which is being led
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: by Elon Musk, the Department of Government Efficiency. Apparently he
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: burned too many bridges and pissed off Elon Musk, and
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: now he's going to run for governor of Ohio. I
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: have to say, you know, I have strengths and weaknesses
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: as a commentator. I believe that my greatest strength is
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: telling you who the good guys are and the bad
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: guys are. And I'm not one hundred percent right, but
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: my track record is a lot stronger than most people,
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: and I would put it up against almost anybody. And
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: when it comes to the fake Obama swamy, I think
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: I've nailed it from the very beginning. I told you
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: he was a fraud. I told you he was a
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: Trump surrogate. I told you he was not to be trusted.
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: I told you that when he was named to DOGE,
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: that this was a way to isolate or sideline him,
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: and that he would be in the shadow of Elon Musk.
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: And it turned out. He couldn't even last until inauguration
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: day when this thing actually began to be in the
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: shadow of Elon Musk, and he's already out. And what
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: I don't know yet is does he still have the
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: support of Donald Trump. Trump did very very briefly mention
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: his name the day before the inauguration. The fake was
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: at the inauguration in a prominent seat. But you know,
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: the big question is will he have Trump's support running
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: for the governor of Ohio. My sense is that JD.
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: Vance is going to play a big role in this
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: because obviously JD. Vance, former Senator from Ohio. If Obama
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: Swamy still has JD. Vance's support, he probably then has
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: Trump support. If he doesn't have Vance's support, then I
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: think there's a good chance he doesn't get Trump's And
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: without Vance or Trump's support, I think he's very very
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: beatable in a Republican primary. I don't have an answer
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: or any insight as to where Vance or Trump will
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: stand on that, but I certainly hope, I certainly hope
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: that Vivek Obama Swami is defeated in a primary to
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: be the next governor of Ohio, and that he is
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: then therefore rendered irrelevant for all time sake, but I
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: think that might be a little too optimistic at this point,
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: probably too soon to tell. Now I want to turn
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: to the other side of the news media blowing it.
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: I've taken some shots at the right wing media for
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: the way they have overly defended Elon Musk, but there's
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: no ambiguity about how the news media has blown it
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: once again when it comes to Pete Hegsath, who is
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: perceived as being on the verge of the next Defense
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: Secretary of the United States in America. We've talked a
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: lot about Pete he Said and how I like him,
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: but I also think the right wing media has been
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: too willing to defend him against charges that if it
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: was against a liberal, they would be all over I
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: have also taken issue with some of his excuses for
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: his past behavior, but I also believe that he is
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: essentially at this point a cinch to be nominated. He
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: was certainly a sinch to be nominated up until the
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: last thirty six hours or so when the lat wing
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: news media used a statement from his former sister in
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: law hexs has former sister in law to take one
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: last desperate shot at torpedoing his nomination, and they did
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: so in an incredibly deceitful way even by the standards
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: of the modern legacy news media, and the worst defender
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: he was, in my view clearly the New York Times.
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: This is really astonishing, even by the standards of the
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: modern New York Times. The Time sent out a breaking
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: news email alert on this story with the headline Pete
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: hegsas ex sister in law tells senators he was abusive
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: to second wife, meaning her sister. And you know then
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: they go into this story. This is in the email
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: sent out to all subscribers to The New York Times
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: and many other people as well. Pete excess ex sister
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: in law tell senators he was abusive to second wife
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: in a sworn statement to the Senate. Because that means
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: you must be telling the truth. We learned from Christine
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: Blasi Ford that that doesn't mean a sworn statement to
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: the Senate, but it sounds very very serious. In a
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: sworn statement to the Senate, she said the Secretary of
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: Defense nominees ex wife once hid in a closet from
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: him and had a safe word to call for help
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: if she needed to get away from him. Hexcess attorney
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: denied her account. Hexcess attorney denied her account. Now that's preposterous. Well,
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: it's accurate, it's preposterous. The reason why it's absurd is
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: it wasn't heg Set's attorney that denied her account. I
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: mean that sounds pathetic, right, It doesn't even say Hexcess
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: denied it, it's Hexset's attorney. Well, no, you've missed the
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: headline here. You've buried the lead. The lead is that
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: Hexs's ex wife has strongly and definitively denied this account
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: from her sister. Now does that end It doesn't end it,
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: But it means that we need some real evidence. I mean,
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: there's a scenario where his ex wife might be incentivized
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: to not tell the truth about the situation. But if
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: it's simply a situation of her sister, his ex sister
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: in law coming forward at the lock sentence, what could
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: be an obviously politically motivated attempt to take heck Set down.
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: I don't know her politics, but it certainly wouldn't be
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: a stretch that this would be, much like in the
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: Christine blasi Ford situation, politically motivated unless you have some evidence,
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: some actual, real evidence, not just your word that this
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: is what you had as a conversation with your sister.
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: When your sister is strongly denying it, emphatically denying it,
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: then it's over with. That's not going to hack it.
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: We can't take that seriously without supporting corroborating evidence. Once
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: the sister, the ex wife herself, has strongly denied it,
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: that should be it. There should be a womp, womp
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: womp in the newsroom of the New York Times, and
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: at the very least that the story here should be
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: headset's ex wife denies allegation from her sister. But that's
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: not even mentioned here in the first portion of the
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: email alert, and the same thing happened online. Peter Baker,
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: the White House correspondent, the chief White House correspondent for
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: the New York Times tweeted out this story with the
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: description and ex sister in law submits a sworn statement
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: to senators accusing Hegsept of being so quote unquote abusive
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: toward his second wife, that she once hid in the
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: closet from him and had a safe word to call
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: for help if she needed to get away from him.
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: Not a word about the fact that the actual ex
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: wife strongly and definitively declaratively denies this ever happen. That's
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: the headline here, and so to me, this reeks, I mean,
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: this reeks in so many ways, but it really reeks
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: of what happened with Brett Kavanaugh and Christine blasi Ford
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: in fact, in a weird way. To me, this whole story,
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: this episode here further proves just how obviously innocent Brett
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: Kavanaugh really was, because this is exactly the same playbook.
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: It's exactly the same situation. It's a Senate confirmation, it's
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: a last second witness coming forward to Democratic senators. I mean,
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: it's exactly the same playbook. It didn't work ultimately against
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: Brett Kavanaugh, it almost did, and it's not going to
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: work against Pete Hegsept because now the news media has
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: lost so much credibility, the Democratic Party has lost so
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: much credibility, especially in Donald Trump's mind. So Trump, as
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: long as the sister is denying this, is not going
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: to be moved by this. And if Trump isn't moved,
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: no Republican senators are very are likely at all to
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: be moved by this, and Heseth will still be confirmed.
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: But this was a really low blow move by the
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: news media to treat this story in the way that
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: they did, and it's another indication that they're just not
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: getting it. Frankly, I think it's a stronger indication that
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: they're not getting how much the world has changed than
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: the way they reacted inappropriately. As I've already said, way
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: were playing their hand on the Elon Musk Nazi controversy.
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: But both of those stories, I think are in the
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: boat of okay. So you just don't understand. You don't
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: understand how the world has changed. You don't understand why
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: you guys lost in twenty twenty four. You don't understand
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: why your credibility is shot and why no one trusts
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: you now. I also want to provide an example of
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: something else that I've referenced with regard to potentially good
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: news in the news media and how at least one
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: media outlet is showing signs of actually getting it. And
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: it's maybe the most surprising thing that has occurred in
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: the last several weeks in the news media, and that
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: is the La Times, the Los Angeles Times, which is
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: one of the most liberal news outlets in the country.
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: I've played a couple of clips recently from their owner
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: in the aftermath of the wildfires here in southern California,
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: where he has been acting and speaking very much like
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: a moderate, like a common sense guy who actually suddenly
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: cares about fairness and is not being partisan anymore. Well,
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: this doesn't appear to be a one off. This appears
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: to be a new philosophy that is being instituted by
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: the owner of the Los Angeles Times, because this was
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: their headline in the aftermath of the inauguration. This is
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: the front page of the LA Times with a beautiful
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: large picture of Donald Trump speaking as inauguration inside the Capitol.
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: I mean, Trump would absolutely approve of this photograph in
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: every possible way. Headline Trump Vowl's new bolden age for
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: US sub headline had to return to capitol. He issues
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: a wave of executive orders and then off to the
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: side oath of office caps a historic comeback. I mean,
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: I mean that might as well have been the New
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: York Post. I mean that's the Los Angeles Times. And
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: then the owner of the LA Times. Again, We've we
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: played clips from him on multiple occasions. Recently. He actually
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: shared the image of that front page on Twitter and
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: then responded to people who were surprised by it, indicating
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: that he thought that it was a sign of a
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: new age at the paper. That's my paraphrase of what
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: he said. But this is a startling development and it
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: appears to be at least somewhat real at the Los
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: Angeles Times, which is really amazing and potentially very beneficial,
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: although the LA Times has nowhere near the same kind
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: of influence as they used to have, which is unfortunately
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: the case for almost all local newspapers and local news
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: outlets have I mentioned in the last episode of the
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: podcast that this is one of the most under talked
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: about elements of what's happening with regard to the news media,
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: how localism is dying and local news is dying, And
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: we had yet another exis example of that occur with
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: regard to local weather casters meteorologists. This was kind of
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: an extraordinary story to me and really does tell you
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: what's happening on the local level with regard to the
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: death of local news. This is a CNN headline Local
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: TV meteorologists delivered tearful farewell as stations replace staff with
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: the weather channel feed, and this story is about a
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: couple of weather casters on a station, a television station
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: in Tara, Hate, Indiana, who on the air were devastated
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: by the news that they were going to be replaced
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: effectively by the Weather Channel. The CNN article goes on
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: to say the on air duo, who have long been
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: household names in western Indiana, delivered a tearful farewell to
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: viewers last week after the station's parent company, Allen Media Group,
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: owned by Brian Allen, and announced sweeping cuts that will
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: see all local meteorologists eliminated or reassigned at its nearly
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: two dozen stations nationwide. In place of the local weather
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: forecasters will be a national hub based in Atlanta, led
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: by Carl Parker, a veteran storm and climate specialist at
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: the Weather Channel, which the Byron Allen owned media group
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: acquired for three hundred million dollars in March of twenty eighteen.
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: The plan will see the locally produced segments replaced by
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: a feed beamed to individual stations from the Weather Channel. Now,
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: to me, this is a huge deal. It may not
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: sound like a big deal to you because you know,
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: as a guy who used to do local television sports
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: in Steubenville, Ohio, Wheeling, West Virginia, and Raleigh, North Carolina.
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: The most untouchable part of the local news team was
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: the weather guys. I actually used to resent the hell
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: out of. This probably actually was a big part of
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: why I eventually loved television sports, partly because I was
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: too controversial for television sports, especially back in that day
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: and age. So this may not have been fully my choice,
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: but one of my great frustrations as a television sportscaster
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: as a local and a local network affiliate was working
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: my ass off all day long, and I probably worked
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: too hard. That was one of my many mistakes that
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: I made as a television sportscaster. I would prepare way
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: too much, and it created a lot of tension and
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: potential conflict, especially in newsrooms, because I took my job
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: very very, very very far far far too seriously, frankly,
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: but I really loved it too, and I prepared very hard,
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: and I would work my ass off, and our weather
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: days would you know, duds come in after having dinner
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: and have five minutes of preparation, and it would get
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: more time than me, and they were considered more important
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: than the sports department because people really really care about
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: the weather, and especially in that day and agees was
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: in the dark ages of the early nineteen nineties, mid
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: nineteen nineties, you know, that was the only way you
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: could really get your local weather. And so boys have
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: times changed that. Even in a place where like Terrahooede, Indiana,
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: a small city in Indiana where you can get some
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: significant weather events like tornadoes, where you know, having the
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: local weather guy is incredibly important. Now that's being replaced
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: because it makes sense from the corporate perspective. Oh, we
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: own the Weather Channel, so we're you know, we own
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: these local stations. We're gonna save all this money getting
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: rid of meteorologists, and we're gonna just simply replace everybody
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: with a feed from the Weather Channel. And you know what,
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: ninety nine ninety eight percent of the time, it's probably
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: not gonna matter other than the fact that people like
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: their local weather guy or weather woman and you know,
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: their local celebrities, and it gives them a connection to
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: the station. And it's a little bit like what I
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: talked about with the death of Bob Buker and how
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: that kind of thing is going away, and I think
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: there's something being lost in America that way. Here we
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: are in another situation where we're going national instead of local,
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: and everything is going national. Podcasting is national, streaming is national,
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: Cable news is national, obviously, the Internet is national. Local
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: is suffering in an extraordinary way. And now it's even
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: hitting weather. I mean even hitting weather. To me is
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: absolutely amazing that that's actually happening, and you know, we're
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: seeing it all over the place here in Law Los Angeles.
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: My old radio station KFI Radio, which has been one
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: of the top talk stations in America for decades, they
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: got rid of almost their entire news team. I mean,
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: this was a very well respected news team. They got
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: rid of for budgetary reasons, almost the entire news team.
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: Just before southern California got hit with historic wildfires. Well
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: that's when you need a local news team. But that,
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: you know, because the business model is broken, these corporations
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: aren't thinking about that anymore. They're thinking about the percent
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: of the time where they can survive without local weathercasters
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: or local newscasters. What happens in another one or two
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: percent of the time when you really really need them.
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: And you know, I frankly think and I'm against government
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: being proactive in this area, but I think the FC
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: and that's suggesting they're going to do this because I
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: have no knowledge of Trump's view of this, but I
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: think the FCC has got to jump in and do
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: something to help support local news, local weather, local broadcasting,
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: because without it, it is going away, and that is
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: going to cause all sorts of problems, not just from
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: a social, cultural, and community perspective, but when big news
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: really breaks, like wildfires or major weather events, tornadoes, what
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: have you, we're going to see very very significant problems
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: that occur because of the death of the news media,
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: the death of journalism, and in this case, the death
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: of even basic weather casting and newscasting. By the way,
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: speaking of weather, I've got to at least mention that
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: we have seen snow, significant snow in Louisiana and in
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: Florida this week. A lot of has been made of this.
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: Of course, some people are trying to claim this is
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: further evidence of climate change, which drives me crazy. I
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: don't think it's evidence of climate change in any direction.
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: I think it's just an abnormality. It's a weird thing
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: that happened. I'm not claiming that it disproves global warming.
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: And I can never get over the change of the
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: global warming narrative to being climate change because of the
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: fear of events exactly like this. This is why they
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: went from global warming to climate change. They're still claiming
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: it's global warming. I mean, we're still seeing stories every
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: friaking year. Oh this was the warmest year on record,
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: which I don't really believe. And I think there's explanations
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: for why the data says that. But that's another story
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: for another day. But they're constantly still claiming that it's
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: about warming. But they don't call it global warming because
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: then it's too vulnerable to being contradicted. When we get
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: snow in Louisiana and in Florida, how does that make
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: sense with the global warming narrative. Oh no, no, no,
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: it's climate change now. And look, I am someone who
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: abides by this idea that a strange weather event does
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: not in either direction tell you anything about where the
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: climate is going. But here's where I draw the line.
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: If instead of snow in Florida and in Louisiana this week,
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: it had been sixty five degrees in Green Bay, Wisconsin,
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: instead of minus fourteen, which was at one point on
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: Tuesday of this week, it was minus fourteen degrees in
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: Green Bay, Wisconsin at one point on Tuesday. But if
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: it had been sixty five degrees on Tuesday instead of
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: minus fourteen as a low, what do you think the
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: media coverage of that situation would have been. It would
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: have been, Ah, we have evidence of global warming. This
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: is so unus usual, this can only be the result
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: of global warming. And we're not going to see winters anymore.
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: We're not going to see snow anymore. I mean, that's
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: the other part of this. These nutjobs, these political activists
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: disguised as science experts, have been claiming that we're not
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: going to see snow anymore. That's actually been real predictions
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: by supposedly serious people, And now here we have snow
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: in Louisiana and Florida and Georgia. I mean, does this work?
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: How do these people keep their credibility? Well, because the
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: news media just you know, either goes to the ridiculous
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: extreme of trying to say this is evidence of climate change,
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: or they just say, oh, this is this weird, let's
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: move on, because they don't want to have it hit
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: at the heart of their religion, which is what global
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: warming climate change really is. Turning down to the end
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: of the college football playoffs and the national chamampionship game,
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: which was won by Ohio State over Notre Dame in
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: a game that really, for three quarters looked more like
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: a spring scrimmage. To me, I thought Ohio State really
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: wasn't challenged very much by Notre Dame's defense. Notre Dame,
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: to their credit, did come back to make somewhat of
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: a game of it at the end, and Ohio State
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: wins the national Championship. And of course I've been a
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: very strong critic of the twelve team playoff from the
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: very beginning. I think a lot of my predictions about
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: it have been vindicated, specifically how the playoff would destroy
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 1: the rivalries and the conference championship games. The results here
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: could not have done that more dramatically. I have been
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: gratified to see that at least some people now are
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: starting to get it, specifically with regard to the impact
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: on the Ohio State Michigan game. I mean, let's be clear,
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: the most talked about, most highly rated regular season game
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: was Michigan upsetting Ohio State and that great rivalry at
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: Ohio State, and that game was rendered completely and totally meaningless,
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: totally meaningless. I warned you about I warned you about
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: this last year that Ohio State Michigan was very vulnerable
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 1: to being destroyed by this new playoff system, especially since
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: the divisions were going to be eliminated in the conferences.
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: And this happened more dramatically and more quickly than even
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: I could have anticipated. And so we have two teams,
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: neither of which played in a conference championship game because
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: Ohio State didn't make it then ended up being a
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: benefit for them. Losing to Michigan was a benefit to
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: Ohio State. Those are things that I never would have
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: thought would be plausible in the history of college football.
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's it almost makes me want to vomit
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: saying it. Losing to Michigan at home was good for
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: Ohio State. That's how fucked up this system is. That's
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: how you know how much this system has destroyed the
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: essence of what was the religion of college football. And thankfully,
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: somewhat surprisingly to me, some people in the aftermath of
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: Ohio State winning the national championship have started to get this.
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 1: I've seen numerous commentators and influencers, especially on social media
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: Twitter and TikTok, starting to assess the damage in a
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: way that you know, to me, I guess I'm gratified
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: that it's finally happened, but I'm a bit confused. Okay,
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: what took you so long? That has been obvious for
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: quite a while. Let me give you an interesting example.
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: A god by the name of Brandon Zimmerman, who is
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: an ESPN producer on college football works for the SEC Network.
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: He wrote on Twitter, I think Ohio State's all in
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: quest for a national title ending at the hands of
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: Michigan would have been a much more interesting outcome. Overall,
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: college football is just like every other sport. Now, I
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: was like, oh wow, Okay, that's coming from inside the
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 1: Death Star. That's from an ESPN college football guy. Now,
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: obviously it's not Kirk Herbstreet who was thrilled to ohow
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: State one because we now learned that his son is
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: effectively a student coach on the team and got he
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: was in tears after the game, which is, frankly, I
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: gotta say, kind of weird, you know, for someone to
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: be broadcasting that game with that not being fully transparent,
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: And it also kind of puts a new context on
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 1: the on the conflict between Kirk HERP Street and Shannon
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: Sharp and Stephen A. Smith over Ryan Day, the head
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: coach at Ohio State. Herbstreet was right in defending Day
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: because obviously Day is now a national championship coach, and
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: Stephen A. Smith and Sterling Sharp were saying that he
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: should get fired if they lose the first round game
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: against Tennessee, and when that didn't happen, Herb Street really
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 1: went after them. But well, okay, you know, for a
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 1: conflict of interest standpoint, maybe we should have known. I
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: didn't know. I don't think many people did that. Herbstreet's
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: son was effectively on Ohio State's team. We always knew
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: that Ohio State was his alma mater. But anyway, I digress.
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: The point here is I'm seeing some signs of hope,
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: and this Zimmerman guy is just one example of other
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: people that I'm seeing going, hey, wait a minute, what
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: did we do here? You mean that Michigan game meant nothing?
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: In fact, I would argue that Ohio State was benefited.
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: I'll say it one more time, as much as it
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: makes me ill, Ohio State was benefited by losing to Michigan.
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: It caused them effectively to get a buy and missed
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: their conference championship game. It gave them a home game
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: in the first round of the playoffs. It gave them
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: great motivation. It was a wake up call, and they
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: ended up going on a great run and winning the
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: national championship. But there was a lot lost. A lot
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: was lost here for very little game. There turned out
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: to be basically three maybe four decent games out of eleven,
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 1: and we gave up the rivalries. We gave up the
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: Michigan Ohio State game, we gave up the conference title games.
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: It was obviously mean nothing. I mean, the conference title
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 1: winners went zero to five, and the two teams that
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: made the national championship did not play in a conference
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: championship game. And Notre Dame ends up getting to take
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: home all the money because they don't have to share
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: it with anybody else in the conference because they're independent.
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: That part of this thing has not gotten nearly enough
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 1: attention considering how many Notre Dame haters there are out there.
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: So I don't know what was gained in all this.
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: I mean, I'm guessing ESPN probably thinks this was fantastic
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 1: because those eleven games, when you add them all up,
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: the audience was very strong and certainly larger than it
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: would have been for the top eleven bowl games in
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 1: previous years, It's probably not even close now. Unfortunately, as
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: of this taping, I don't have the ratings for the
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: Ohio State Notre Dame game. There's been a lot of speculation,
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 1: and I think it makes some sense that the ratings
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: are going to be very disappointing because there was so
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: little buzz it appeared before the game, partially because of
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 1: the fact that it's on a Monday night after the
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: NFL playoffs. Obviously it was Inauguration Day MLK Day. I
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: actually think Inauguration Day may have taken a bite out
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 1: of these ratings because I think there are a lot
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 1: of Trump fans who would theoretically have watched the National
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: Championship football game that we're actually tuning in to the
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: festivities in Washington, DC. I will be fascinated to see
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 1: what the final numbers are, but I am as of
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: this taping, I am buying the narrative that these are
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: going to be disappointing final numbers. And when I say disappointing,
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 1: to me, anything that doesn't at least reach what the
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: Alabama Michigan semi final Rose Bowl game was last year,
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 1: which was twenty seven million. Anything that doesn't reach that
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: is a disappointment, and I think there's a very good
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 1: chance that they will not get twenty seven million. I
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 1: think they might end up in the twenty four to
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: twenty five million range. Theoretically they could even do slightly
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 1: worse than that, but I think it's going to be
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: somewhere in the mid to low twenty million range. And
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: if you can't even get what the set my final
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: Rose Bowl game got last year, then that's a problem.
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 1: Now we don't know that yet, I'm guessing, but if
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: that indeed is the case, then that's an indication that
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 1: this whole thing has a flaw that has a vulnerability.
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 1: I'm still in the camp that this is all too
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: big to fail, but I have been given some solace
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: that I'm seeing some signs that some people are starting
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: to get this, that there are some signs of weakness,
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: that there is a desire for at least a tweaking
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 1: of the system. There are some people that are delusional
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: and claiming this was the greatest thing that ever happened
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 1: to college football, which is just absurd. But I do
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: feel pretty vindicated by how this whole thing has turned
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: out because I have been among the most vocal. There's
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: not that many of us because the sports media is
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: made up of morons and people that are invested in
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 1: not pissing off the establishment. But you know, among those
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: who have been vocal in being critical of this twelve
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 1: team playoff, I think I have been shouting among the loudest,
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: and I think in large part I have been vindicated.
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: But well, I'm going to wait until I find out
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 1: what that final rating for the Ohio State Notre Dame
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: National Championship game is before I come and come to
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 1: any final conclusions. But unfortunately, that'll have to happen in
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: the next episode of the podcast. Speaking of vindication, and
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 1: I do try to track when I make good predictions
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: as well as bad predictions. I've made a prediction with
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: regard to sports and interviews that I think that the
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: sports interview, especially the post game sports interview, is in
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: grave jeopardy, that it might be an endangered species. And
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: something has happened in the world of tennis that I
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: think very much goes to my exact point and why
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 1: I have made this prediction. I'm referring to the Australian
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 1: Open Tennis tournament, which is one of the four major
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 1: tennis tournaments, and what has happened with Novak Djokovic. Now,
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 1: Novak Djokovic is a guy I like. He's arguably the
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 1: greatest tennis player of all times, only one of the
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: top two or three. I respect the hell out of
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: how he handled the whole vaccine mandate issue. He's clearly
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: a guy of principle. He's clearly a very smart person
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: and obviously a great tennis player. So I like Novak Djokovic.
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: But Novak Djokovic boycotted a post tournament round interview, a
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: post match interview with the Australian broadcaster of the Australian Open.
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 1: And let's be clear, this is the type of thing
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 1: where it's very very difficult to avoid because it's expected
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: after the match, if you win, you're going to do
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: an interview with the broadcaster of the Australian Open. A
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 1: major championships do this now. But so this is not
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 1: a situation where it's usually easy to get out of.
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: But Djokovic made a very big point of telling the
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 1: crowd and the audience that he was boycotting this postmatch interview.
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 1: And the reason why, as he would later explain, was
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 1: that he was upset with some commentary that was done
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: on the Australian broadcast outlet, not by the person that
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 1: was trying to interview him after he won his match,
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: by another analyst, and his concern was that that this analyst,
• 1:11:41
  Speaker 1: this commentator had been critical of him and had been
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: critical of Serbian tennis fans and because of that, unless
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: he got an apology, he was not going to do
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 1: any more interviews with the Australian broadcast outlet that carries
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: the Australian Open. And you know which is expected everyone
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 1: after they finished their match or they're winning match, if
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 1: they win the match, they're going to participate in an interview.
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 1: And sure enough, the analyst at the Australian outlet did apologize.
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 1: And I think this is a Canarian the coal mine situation.
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 1: This is a slippery slope. This proves my point that
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 1: post sports event interviews are in grave jeopardy because look,
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 1: you know, the analyst said that they regret some of
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: the things that they said. They were intending some of
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: this to be jokes and he was trying to be
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 1: jovial to me. There was nothing said that was way
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 1: over the line. Djokovic should have had tougher skin. It
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: wasn't even a situation where he was being interviewed by
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: the analysts that had made the offending remarks. It was
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 1: just the same outlet. I think you have an obligation,
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 1: especially when you win a match, if only to the crowd,
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 1: to do that interview. It's expected now. But the fact
• 1:13:07
  Speaker 1: that Novak Djokovic was able to boycott that interview and
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: then get the Australian analyst to apologize for things that
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 1: he probably shouldn't have apologized for, at least not in
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 1: a world where we had free expression and freedom of
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 1: the press and people could say what they wanted within reason,
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: I think is very very telling, very telling. Because the
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 1: stars have all the power. Now, that's really why I've
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 1: made this prediction. Because the stars have all the power,
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: and because of social media, they have no real need
• 1:13:45
  Speaker 1: to do the interview because they can just go on
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: their social media platform and put out a video, or
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 1: in the case of Novak Djokovic, they just go into
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 1: the press conference, they make their statements to why they boycott,
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 1: and then that gets put on social media. So they've
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 1: the outlets have lost the monopoly, they've lost the leverage,
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: they've lost the power, and you know, the inmates are
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: effectively running the asylum now. And while I'm a fan
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 1: of Djokovic, I don't agree with what he did here,
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 1: I don't agree with how this was handled. And I
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 1: think this is a very telling moment for especially when
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 1: it comes to sports. What is going to happen here
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 1: in the future. I think that the post sports event, game, match, tournament, whatever,
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 1: interview is in grave jeopardy, and Novak Djokovic just pushed
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: it further down the slippery slope. Thanks for listening to
• 1:14:41
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• 1:14:45
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• 1:14:49
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• 1:14:59
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• 1:15:04
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• 1:15:08
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• 1:15:14
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• 1:15:17
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