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Highlights for Curtis and Larry · Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Oh man, let me tell you something. I gotta tell you, Larry. Oh,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: by the way, gotta mention, Natalie's away today, but in
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: her stead is Chris the Quiet Storm, on loan from
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Mark Simone, producer extraordinaire. You wanna get at least one
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: word out before we get started here, Chris? If you
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: were in politics, you would be a disaster.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: It's a good thing I'm not in politics, then. I'm
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: glad I'm not. wow how many words was that a
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: lot more than one or two you're feeling good today
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: a little bit yeah you're a little spunky today i
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: went to bed early last night so wow he may
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: not be quiet today can you imagine when he's texting
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: or responding you're probably one of these guys who just.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Uses simple acronyms sometimes sometimes no explanations so no i
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: actually do like.
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: Putting like correct grammar in my text messages oh i
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: put commas and you know.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Do you really yeah wow yeah i don't know this
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: is more than you have talked and i've worked with
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: you for a year and this is more than you've
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: talked any other time did you take a shot of
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: something No.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Did you use the Larry Menti remedy of 15 caffeinated
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: cups of coffee?
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: No, no.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: I'm not a coffee guy. Let me tell you something.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: We're going to get into it momentarily. Kathy Hochul could
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: have used that coffee in her debate against Blakeman and
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Tish James against Saritha, the AG debate. We didn't even
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: have a chance to talk about because of all the
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: news last week. But yesterday, I was taking a victory
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: lap to Central Park. It's like 150 horses. That are
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: involved in a horse carriage industry with the drivers and
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: the drivers are used to me heckling them. And, you know,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: they're all screaming to me, you'll never be mayor. You'll
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: never be mayor. You're a bum. Go get a job.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: Go get a real job. So I take all that
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: abuse and I walk up to the horses and I'm
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: patting their mane and I'm saying, hey, buddy, hang on.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: You got two years. If you can make it through
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: two years of this torture, you'll be able to frolic
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: with your buddies out there at some horse sanctuary. So
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: it's great. And then as I'm making the rounds and
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: trying to answer some of the questions of the horse
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: carriage drivers who would actually talk to me about how
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: they can segue into a career so they can pay
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: their bills and not get evicted, I passed a statue.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: You got to look at it, ladies and gentlemen, right
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: before you hit Strawberry Fields. right before the spot at
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: the Dakota where John Lennon was assassinated back in 1980,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: there is this huge statue in Central Park. Almost nobody
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: knows who it is. I do because my dad told
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: me and educated me. It's the former Senator Stephen Douglas,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: who had the greatest debates of all time, Larry, with
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: then Abraham Lincoln, 1858. They were running for the U.S. Senate.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: Stephen Douglas was assumed to be the winner, you know,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: in advance. But he allowed for seven debates. He was
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: the Democrat. The Republican Party was just being formed. That
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: came about for the presidential election, and Lincoln won in 1860. And, Larry,
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: these were three-hour debates all over Illinois, as my dad explained.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: People came from everywhere. Reporters covered it for newspapers everywhere.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: all across the nation. And that's really how Lincoln established
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: himself as the anti-slavery guy. And Stephen Douglas was pro-slavery,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: but there were so many other issues they discussed.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: It was slavery for the most part. Almost all of
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: it was about slavery. But listen to the format and
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: compare it to the debates of today. One hour opening address.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: One hour opening address.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: I love that.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: Then an hour and a half counter address. So you
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: give the other guy 30 more minutes, I guess, to
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: talk about what you just said. Then on top of that,
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: a 30 minute rebuttal. And so they allowed Douglas to
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: open four times and Lincoln to open three times. So
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: they had seven debates, but this was the format. So
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: do they ever go back and forth at all?
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure. My dad never explained that.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: I didn't know that until I just read it.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: But the point is, Larry, there was no audio back then.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: There was no amplification. It's not like today. You get
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: a microphone in front of you, so even if you're soft-spoken,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: you could be heard by a crowd. And these people
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: came from everywhere.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: Huge crowds.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Journalists from all over the country came. who then teletyped
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: their stories in the next day, which were carried on
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: the front pages of the major periodicals. And that's really
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: how Lincoln established himself as a great orator. But I
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: give credit to Stephen Douglas. He could have said, I'm
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: way ahead. I'm the established U.S. senator. You know, there's
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: nobody's going to beat me. Why do I have to
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: submit myself to seven debates? There is no rules. There
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: were no rules back then that you had to do
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: seven debates. In three hours, there had to be a bathroom.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: Break, right? I mean, my God, three hours. And do
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: you think you said there's huge crowds? There's no way
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: a crowd stuck around for three hours. But then again,
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: maybe because there's nothing better to do back then.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: But they were great orators, both of them. But three hours?
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: I don't care how great of an orator you are.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Hey, wasn't that, wait a second, the three-hour tour, right?
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: Remember?
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: What was that?
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: Gilligan's Island.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Gilligan's Island, right? But they came from everywhere.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: This is the way his mind works. All of a sudden,
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: a sitcom from the 60s and 70s comes out.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: But remember, you know how people show up for Trump rallies?
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: They'll show up a day or two early. They showed
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: up early to be able to get into a position
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: where they could hear the debate. Again, no amplification whatsoever.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: And I say there should have been established long ago
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: a prerequisite that if you're running for political office, that
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: you have to submit yourself to a minimum of two debates.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: I want to turn to your state of New Jersey.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: Let me give you a fact here, though, to add
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: to what you were just saying. More than 70,000 people.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: Back then, back then, 70,000 is a lot of people.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: More than 70,000 people attended the seven joint debates in total,
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: and they averaged 10,000 to 12,000 spectators at a time.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: You know, there's no arena. There's no microphones. They were
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: probably telling each other what was said.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: Exactly.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: That's amazing.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because you, in fact, I had this discussion with
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: Tom Cuddy the other day, you know, in the recovery
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: of my voice. I used to blow out my voices
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: going to rallies, raising my voice, and then you bruise
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: your vocal cords. You couldn't do that. If they bruise
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: their vocal cords, there's no voice specialist you could go to.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: There's no special medication. That's it. Other than maybe knocking
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: back some Jack Daniels and hoping that would work, which
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: all of them did back then. This is amazing. 10,000
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: to 12,000 people. Again, like you said, there's no way
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: they could hear what Douglas and Lincoln were saying unless
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: they had come early, you know, like days early and
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: they got a good position. It was word of mouth.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the funny thing is, the reason I was saying
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: is word of mouth is because during the Gettysburg Address,
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: if you remember, they had people sitting on other people's
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: shoulders and then repeating what he said. And they just
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: keep going back in the crowd to repeat what he
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: just said. So it must have been the same thing
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: there or something similar.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: So I pay homage in Central Park to the statue
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: of Stephen Douglas because he submitted to allow for that.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: He didn't have to. Now, think of all the people
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: who are ahead in the polls or in incumbent slurry
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: in a lot of these states. Oh, no, I'm not
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: going to do a debate. Oh, I'll do one debate
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: at like three o'clock in the morning on some UHF
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: station just to say I did it. I use New
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: York as an example. Let's compare it with New Jersey.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: You had great debates in New Jersey leading up to
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: the helicopter pilot, Shirell, winning over Jack Cittarelli. See, I
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: got it right.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: Cittarelli.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: He's been saying Cittarelli.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: So remember, Cittarelli goes through a primary. He has debates.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Shirell goes through a primary. She has debates. And then
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: in the final, they're the two finalists. They had two debates.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: Now that's good.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: Well, that's because it was close and there was no incumbent.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: And the problem is if one person says no, they
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: can't have a debate. And to your point, I agree
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: with you. I think debates are healthy. I think debates
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: are important because how else are you going to make
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: up your mind? You want to see how they're going
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: to handle things on their feet.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: So I don't.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: Know if we do need a law. I mean, if
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: you're going to get federal money, if you want to
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: accept federal money, you have to accept debates. And I
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: said debates, at least two debates. That would be wonderful.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: Or another way to do it is if someone says, no,
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: we're not going to show up to the debate, still
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: give them the other guy the airtime. Give the other
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: guy the airtime. It doesn't have to be an hour
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: or two hours. It could be, you know, 15 minutes
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: or half an hour. But he gets free airtime because
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: you said no.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: Well, we're going to talk about it later. Tallarico versus Paxton.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: He had a town hall meeting at CNN last night. Originally,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: that was hopefully for CNN. They wanted a debate. Paxton
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: has yet to agree with 20 days to go. So
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: exactly what I was talking about. That would be wonderful.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: That's amazing that town hall is the way to do it. Yeah,
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: you could do that over and over again. The problem
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: is many of the races don't get as much publicity. Right,
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: but let me applaud you.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: You chose yesterday, and please go to our Instagram account,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: Facebook account. You'll see Larry talking about a guy I
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: didn't even know about, Justin Murphy. I learned from you.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: he had great hair. But I actually started looking at
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: the clips based on your commentary of he smoked Cory Booker.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: He's running for the U.S. Senate. He's a Republican candidate. Now,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: just imagine he has one debate under his belt. Cory Booker.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: That wasn't aired really anywhere.
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: But if there were two mandatory debates on network, then
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Cory would have to buckle down for a second debate
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: because word would get out, whoa, this guy smoked Cory Booker.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: By the way, if you go on social media and
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: just search his name, he's all over the place because
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: his answer on Iran was especially great. And if If
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: you're a conservative, you're really going to love him, too,
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: because he espouses all conservative issues. I mean, seriously, he
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: was a placeholder. He was a sacrificial lamb in this race.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: Nobody thought he was going to do anything. And he
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: got up there, man, and he made a name for himself.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: So Justin Murphy, he will be a name you're going
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: to hear running for Congress. He's going to run for
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: something else. This is not the last we're going to
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: hear of him.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: We would never have known that, most of us, if
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: not for your commentary on our Instagram and Facebook account,
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: which caused me, who didn't know him, I am pretty
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: good about some Jersey politics, to start looking at the
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: clips and say, damn, this guy's good. Not only that,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: like Larry said, man, he's got one thick mane of
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: hair that every politician running would definitely want. By the way,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: we'd love to get your feedback on this on our
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: talkback because it's hit and miss. Maine, they've had five
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: debates in nine days for the U.S. Senate position.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: That's a close race. You can see why everyone that
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: has debates is a close race, which, by the way,
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: can we also talk about Cory Booker? That was great
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: that he had a debate. He didn't have to have
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: that debate. But I think he thought he was going
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: to really trounce him. I think he went into it going,
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: I'm Cory Booker. I'm going to take care of him.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: Just like Hochul thought. She had an easy pass with Blakeman.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: He did a smackdown. And the one we couldn't talk about, Saritha.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: I can't pronounce her last name. Shame on me. She's
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: the Attorney General candidate, Republican Party, former U.S. Attorney, Eastern District.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: She ripped Tish James. She killed her in that debate.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: Can you imagine? People would hear the buzz. Oh, you
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: got to look at this woman, Saritha. She tore up
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: Tish James if there were a second debate. Shame, shame
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: that we don't have that in honor of Abraham Lincoln
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: and Stephen Douglas, who had seven debates.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: We, uh, we want to hear your talkbacks by the way,
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: on all of this, how important are debates to you?
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: Do you agree with us? Everybody should hold debates. If
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: they're going to run for office, go to the I
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: heart radio app. And is it ever, you ever changed
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: your mind because of a debate? That would be interesting.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: Go to the I heart radio app and leave us
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: a talk back. You could win a Curtis Lee, when
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: Larry Menti in the morning t-shirt that's going to be
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: awarded every day to our favorite talk back in the morning.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: And don't forget the best talk back of the week
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: takes home a C crane radio. When we come back, well,
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: we did a, uh, A lost cat that was gone
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: for a year and a half the other day. How
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: about a small dog lost in Yellowstone with all those
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: wild animals and survives? Plus a chance to see Journey
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: at 825. The conversation continues. Curtis Lewa and Larry Menti.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: 710WOR.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: Well, it's good to be John Decker. John Decker got
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: to go to Alaska with the president for his rally there.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: Then he had a one-on-one interview with him. So let's
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: bring him in and find out how that went. John Decker,
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: WOL White House and Washington correspondent. He's host of the podcast,
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: The White House Briefing Room with John Decker. That you
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: can find on the iHeartRadio app. So it seemed like
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: it was a pretty successful rally. I'd love to hear
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: about your interview with the president, but tell me why
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: this pipeline that he said is going to go through
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: now is so important to Alaska.
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: Well, it's important because energy prices are higher there than
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: pretty much anywhere in the entire country, Larry. It is
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: so remote that anything that can bring down energy prices
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: is welcome news.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: Now, the pipeline.
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: It's not like you snap your fingers and the pipeline
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: is built. We're talking about, in a best-case scenario, it
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: being completed by 2030. That's a ways off four years away.
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: That's a best-case scenario. So it's welcome news, but it's
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: interesting that the news is coming, you know, with 21
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: days or so to go until the midterms. You know,
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: I think that for certain individuals, constituents in Alaska who
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: They may be skeptical about certain promises that are made
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: by any politician being made in the final weeks of
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: a campaign.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: This happens all the time, though, during midterm elections. The
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: presidents come and they know what the local issues are
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: and they do something as a gift. to try to
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: help get votes, right? This happens years.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's been happening probably since the dawn of our country.
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: You know, you make promises, you know, in the weeks
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: leading up to an election. And President Trump is no
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: different than anybody else. You know, he's made some promises
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: as it relates to Iowa. There's a very close Senate
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: race in Iowa. You know, he's made promises in other
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: states as well. And of course, the big promise is
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: that if Republicans retain control of the House and the Senate,
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: the president says that will mean a $ 5, 000 check to
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: every American adult. So that's quite a promise to put
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: out there weeks ahead of the midterm as well.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: John Decker, while you were away in Alaska or on
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: your way to Alaska, we were introduced to the new
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: press secretary, Katie Zachariah. Seemed to me and a lot
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: of other people that she had a Rough ride on
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: her first day. You've dealt with so many press secretaries.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: What would you advise as she moves forward? Well, you're right.
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: Katie, who I got a chance to know and meet
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: on this two-day trip, she was on the trip, chatted
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: with her for a little bit. She's the 18th White
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: House press secretary that I'm dealing with now. And I
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: watched her press conference while I was out at Andrews
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: Air Force Base awaiting to board Air Force One. She
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: only took three questions, had a 14-minute long briefing, and
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: that's not going to cut it. You have to take
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: a lot more questions than that. You have to get
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: away from reading everything out of what you've brought to
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: the lectern. and you have to be comfortable with speaking
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: about domestic policy and foreign policy. It means working really hard.
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: Someone who appears on Fox News and does a five-minute
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: hit cannot jump in and be the White House press secretary.
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: It's not an easy job, and so I think that
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: anyone that takes that job, including Katie, needs to recognize
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: that you need to put in some hard work if
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: you want to be good at that job, and I
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: must tell you that Caroline Leavitt, I think, set the
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: bar really high. So I think she's being judged by
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: the standard that Caroline set. I said that when she
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: left in August, you may recall this, I said she
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: will have some big shoes to fill, whoever is the
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: person that the president names to replace her. And Katie
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: has some big shoes to fill now that she has
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: that job.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: When you said that 14 minutes is not going to
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: cut it, I've heard that a lot. I've heard that
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: on CNN. I've heard criticism of her for that. So
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: I take it you're not buying the excuse that the
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: president said, no, I want to get you out there today,
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: but they did have this flight that you had to
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: get on.
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: Oh, because there was a significant amount of time between
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: the conclusion of that press briefing and the time that
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: the president actually left the white house to board Marine
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: one out to Andrews. So she could, you know, even a,
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: even a half hour briefing, you know, 15 minutes longer and,
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: I think she certainly could have done time-wise, and I
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: think it would have been more satisfactory for her. You know,
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: you get better like anything, you know, whatever sport you're
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: talking about with practice, and you're just not going to
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: get better if you just do 14 minutes. You got
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: to take all those questions and get good in terms
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: of how you deal with the White House press corps. And,
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: you know, I think that that is one of those
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: areas where I would recommend for her to have lengthier
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: briefings than just 15 minutes at length if she wants
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: to get better at the job.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: John, I noticed the president is barnstorming. He loves to
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: do this. This is the part of the job he
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: really loves, informing the audience, entertaining the audience, and engaging them.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: But I look at every race he goes to, Republicans,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: if they aren't ahead, they're like at 46, 47, 48,
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: tight races. His numbers are at 36, maybe 38. I'm
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: saying to myself, hey, wait a second. How is he
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: a help to the Republicans? Because the Democrats, they just
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: jump all over the fact that he's coming in and
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: hit him with his negatives.
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: Well, as the president has pointed out, you know, I
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: went to let's see, I went to one, two, three.
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: Three campaign rallies in two days, one in Alaska, one
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: in Arizona, and one last night in Montana. I just
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: got back a few hours ago, by the way. I
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: landed literally three hours ago at Andrews. And I think
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: what the president points out is that he's really popular
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: within the Republican base. And he is. He's maintained that popularity.
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: It's true. So the president believes that if he can
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: energize that base to get them out in the kind
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: of numbers that they typically come out in a presidential
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: election year, Republicans will do well enough to maintain control
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: of the House and the Senate. And so that's the
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: reason behind these various campaign rallies, even in red states
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: like Montana and like Alaska. That's, I think, behind the
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: president's thinking. I asked the president yesterday before we departed
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: from Arizona to Montana, why are we even going to Montana?
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: It's a red state, Mr.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: President.
• 20:26
  Speaker 4: Why aren't you going to Michigan? It seems like I
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: said to the president, it seems like you're playing defense.
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: And he gave me a lengthy answer. He said, no,
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: it's important that I energize the base. It's important that
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: I energize the MAGA base. that I think is entering
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: the president's thinking in this campaign schedule.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and the MAGA base, like my wife, watches every
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: single one of these rallies because they're in that Fox
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: sub-channel that we get in streaming. So she's watching it.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: It doesn't matter that he's in Montana. He might as
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: well have been in New Jersey because she's going to
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: watch it anyway. So I think, I believe he understands that.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: And John, and correct me if I'm wrong on this,
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: but I thought always the traditional theory with midterms is
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: you've got to get your base out. You have to
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: get the people energized and out. And if he can
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: do that, he's going to win a couple races.
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: Well, that is the case. And I think that that
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: is correct. It's also correct to say that independent voters
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: typically decide elections. And that's the reason why the president
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: won in the manner that he won in 2024. It's
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: because independent voters... overwhelmingly broke for Trump over Kamala Harris.
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: The problem now is that if you look at poll
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: after poll after poll, his public approval rating with independents
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: has declined precipitously. And that's the reason why you see
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: his poll numbers now in the mid-30s, even lower in
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: some polls. But they're not in a good place right now.
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: And it's those independent voters that I believe Larry and
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: Curtis will decide who controls both the House and the Senate,
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: for the next two years.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: Now, one thing we're not hearing much about is what
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: we're going to do about the Iranian escalation of hitting
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: tankers in the Straits of Hormuz with rockets and how
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: their surrogates, the Houthis, are in an almost full-scale war
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: with the Saudis. It would almost seem to me, John Decker,
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: they're daring the president to re-engage with before the midterm elections,
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: do they have any plans at all to deal with
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: this growing problem?
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: Yeah, the president says he's evaluating that, you know, and
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: I don't think he has much time because, you know,
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: we speak so often, Curtis, about the Strait of Hormuz,
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: that impact of shutting it down and, you know, the
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: threat that Iran poses in the Strait is having on
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: oil prices. Well, the Houthis, they're threatening to essentially shut
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: down the Red Sea, and that also could impact in
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: a very real way oil prices as well. And the
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: president does not want to see that at all, especially
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: with the midterms, you know, now 20 days away. So, yeah,
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: that could force the president's hand in terms of reengaging
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: with the Houthis, helping out the Saudis and their fight
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: against the Houthis. The president just simply hasn't made a
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: decision on that front just yet.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: All right, John Decker, White House and Washington correspondent, host
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: of the podcast, The White House Briefing Room with John Decker.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: You can find that on the iHeartRadio app. John, thanks
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: as always. Get some rest.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: Will do.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: Have a good one.
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: Bye-bye.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: See you later.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: I'm getting all these calls from reporters about Shane Gillis,
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: the comedian, his opening remarks for Saturday Night Live Saturday,
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: as their messages that they leave on the phone say,
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: you know, in lieu of what has happened at Cornell,
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: the rape case. You know, Shane Gillis played you in
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: that debate on November 1st of 2025 on SNL, where
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: you had Cuomo, the Cuomo character, you had the Zoran character,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: and Shane Gillis was you in the Red Beret. you
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: have any comments, Mr. Sliwa? And very uncharacteristically, a few
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: of them called back and said, are you okay, Curtis?
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: You're always available. Sometimes you actually volunteer comments when we
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: haven't even called you.
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: Well, let's delve into this a little bit. You know
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: Shane Gillis, right? He's a funny guy. You like his comedy,
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: don't you?
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: Go ahead, Larry. Man, I'm walking a tightrope here. All
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: I know him, to be honest with you, and we've
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: had these discussions before, is when I found out that
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: he played me in Saturday Night Live in the debate
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: with the Red Beret, and I thought he did an
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: outstanding job.
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: Here he is.
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: I'm thrilled to be here and not getting shot in
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: the back of a yellow cab five times by the
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: Gottis and Gambinos as I was famously in 1992, 1993,
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: and 94. But I'm the right choice to be your
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: next mayor. No offense to my opponents, Mr. Cuomo, and
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: I believe I'm saying this right, Zoltar Rob Zombie.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Oh, he was great. Even Chris laughed at the quiet storm.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: So that's pretty much all I know about the guy,
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: other than they consider him controversial.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: Well, yes, he's always been controversial. He's always been edgy.
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: And you know what he's like? He's like the funniest
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: guy in the bar. That's who he is. It's like
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: bar humor. And that's what made him what he is.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: But SNL, he was supposed to be a cast member.
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: He was the biggest rising star in the country. He
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: won the biggest comedy festival in the country, the Just
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: for Laughs Comedy Festival. And after that, it launched him
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: and everybody wanted him. He had HBO specials. He got
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: Showtime specials. He got a Netflix special. And then SNL
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: wanted to have him. And then they looked back at
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: his podcast that he did, which, by the way, was
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: a subscription podcast that broke records. He made a lot
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: of money on that podcast. And then they listened to
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: some of the things he said and they called him
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: into legal. And they said, did you say this? And
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: he said, oh, yeah, I said that. And they said, well,
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure we can have you on the show
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: if you said that. He goes, oh, there's a lot
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: more than that.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: So he was very forthcoming. You don't even have to
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: listen to any more of the old tapes. There's a
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: lot more than that.
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: But now he's hosted the show three times, and this
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: is what he's in trouble for.
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: Also, I haven't been to the gym in so long,
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: I didn't know women just dress like whores now.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: Look, I'm sorry. There's no other way to describe.
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: Have you seen it? I've seen it. The shorts. Have
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: you seen the shorts?
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: It was neon.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: They're like the only. You know what? I'm going to
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: cut it off here. I'm going to have better judgment.
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: I was going to let it go to a certain word.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: And I've been asking everybody at the radio station, can
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: I play this?
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: And I gave you a thumbs up.
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, because I think you're trying to set me up.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: So I'm not going to play it. I'm not going
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: to play it there. it's another word for, well, I'm
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: not even going to say that.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: But I think the controversy is not so much what
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: he said, but the timing of it in the middle
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: of the Cornell 7 case. He's been labeled a misogynist,
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: a sexist. There's an outrage out there. I think, in fact,
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: it was a male who called him out first, not
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: even the whole host of females who were coming after him.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: So this is what you get with comedy. That's why
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: I've never before ever come out and tried to defend
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: comedians because they can change on a dime. It's not
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: like politicians or anyone else.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: This is this guy's act. This is his act. He's
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: the everyman guy in the bar that says some outlandish
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: things and is the funniest person in your group. In
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: the people you hang out with, He's the funniest person
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: in that group. And that's what he is. He's never
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: tried to be more than that. And SNL knew that.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: And I'm sure SNL knew what he was going to
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: say and okayed it. So you can blow back all
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: you want. You can criticize him all you want. You're
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: just going to make him bigger. He's going to be
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: more popular. Do you know that he has the record?
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: He has the record for a comedy show. He had
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: over 73,000 people show up for him at Lincoln Financial Field.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: No comedian has come close to getting that kind of number.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: Excuse me, reporters, you want to comment about Shane Gillis,
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: you can call Larry. Larry, I think you somehow identify
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: with him, not because this is your style of talking,
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: But your roots, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, I think you have
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: a lot in common with this guy.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: I wish I had his talent. I mean, I wish
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: I was as funny as him, but no. I mean,
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: he's very funny. He might be the top comedian in
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: the country right now. Let me just finish. He might
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: be the top comedian in the country right now, and
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: there's no taking that away from him. So all the
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: people on social media who are getting upset at him,
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: go look at his other stuff. This is what he does.
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: If you're going to be mad at somebody, be mad
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: at SNL.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: Well, I saw him host the roast of Kevin Hart.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: I thought that was great. And then he hosted the
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: ESPY Awards. I thought that was great.
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: So you're a big fan.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: Not going to say that, Larry. You are.
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: You're a big fan. You've always liked him. You love
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: the impression he did.
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: Oh yes. Of me, of course. It's about me. Yes.
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: But I'm not answering questions about what he said.
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: So what did you think about what he said?
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: You didn't play the whole thing. So Larry, because you
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: decided to, uh, actually take out the straight edge razor
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: and eliminate some of the more controversial elements of what
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: he said, I recuse myself.
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: Well, would you like me? I'll do it because, but
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: this is only because you're telling me to. You would
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: like to hear the whole thing. I'm forcing you, I'm
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: forcing you. You would like to hear the whole thing.
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: Also, I haven't been to the gym in so long,
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: I didn't know women just dress like whores now. Look,
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: I'm sorry, there's no other way to describe. Have you
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: seen it? I've seen it, the shorts. Have you seen
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: the shorts?
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: It was neon.
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: They're like the only, they're like artificial bait colored wrinkles.
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: The wrinkles go like around the cheeks and all combined
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: at the butthole.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: Uh, is there any time for Natalie Migliore to come in?
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: We're talking about Kelly Clarkson and a battle with that
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: little shop on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: I just, just for the record, I didn't want to
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: play that. I played it because Curtis forced me to
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: play that. And, uh, He's a huge fan.