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Episode One Hundred Fifty Four: "Probably Inappropriate" · The Death Of Journalism

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Welcome to episode number one hundred and fifty four, The Death of Journalism Podcast.
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My name is John Zigler. I'm your host on today's show. Michael
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Cohen takes the stand at Trump's trial, The kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs
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gives a remarkably courageous graduation speech. Aaron Rodgers does an interview with Tucker Carlson,
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and the world of golf is in complete disarray and no one is willing
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or able to explain it like I will. We begin this episode of the
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podcast with a little bit of a disclaimer and an explanation. I'm doing the
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taping of this podcast a little bit earlier than normal. Normally we tape on
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Monday and Wednesday mornings. I'm taping this one on Tuesday evening because of a
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golf triument that I'm playing in on Wednesday. So keep that in mind if
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I have missed news that you expect me to discuss. Of course, that's
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why we do two episodes a week. If I miss it this time,
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I'll get to it in the next episode the podcast. We begin with the
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latest in the Trump trial and the star witness for the prosecution, Michael Cohen.
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Trump's so called fixer taking the stand, and I had to say that
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the median narratives about Cohen's testimony to this point are a bit more diverse and
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complicated than they were surrounding Stormy Daniels generally, although there were some exceptions,
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even the left wing media was willing to admit that Stormy Daniels had problems.
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However, at least when it came to the direct testimony of Michael Cohen,
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most of the media, especially on the left, was saying that Cohen did
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an excellent job, that he was calm, cool, and collected, and
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that from a factual basis, the prosecution was able to make the essence of
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their case. Now, I'm not in the courtroom, it's not on television.
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I'm going by what is reported, which is always very very dangerous for
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obvious reasons. But it seems to me is even if you take the prosecution's
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view of Cohen's testimony, there are still reasons for a jur to theoretically come
2:07
up with reasonable doubt as far as what Trump's level of knowledge was about this
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hush money scheme. Now, I happened to believe that the essence of the
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allegations against Trump are sure. I believe he had an affair with Stormy Daniels.
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I believe they tried to cover it up. I believe Trump probably knew
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at least the basics of what Cohen was doing. But it also seems as
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if Cohen was responsible for doing most of the dirty work, because this was
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a mob operation, and there does seem to be at least some inclination on
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Trump's part to make sure that his hands weren't dirty in case anybody ever found
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out about this. So from a factual standpoint, I think the prosecution probably
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did what they expected to do. I am on record, like many many
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other people, saying that this case never should have been brought total bull crap
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from a timing perspective, statute limitations, What the hell's the felony? Would
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anybody else be prosecuted for this crime? The jurisdiction stinks to high hell in
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the middle of a presidential campaign, YadA, YadA, YadA. That's obviously.
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I think most rational people, at least on the right, certainly agree
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with that basic perception of what's happening here. But I've always said that this
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case is much more about jury selection than it is about the facts or the
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actual testimony or the law. And it is the cross examination of Michael Cohen
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that I found to be most interesting, not just because it was apparently very
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combative, but also because the Trump team seems to be taking the strategy or
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using the strategy that I would agree with, which is, you know what,
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we don't need to worry about the stinking facts. This is a feeling
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case. And if we have a couple of jurors on this jury who are
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willing or maybe even wanting to hang this jury, all we got to give
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them is reasons to not trust Michael Cohen, because if you don't trust Michael
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Cohen as a human being, then it doesn't really matter what he says,
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even if the documents back up his allegations. There are many quote unquote legal
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experts, and especially after COVID, I don't believe experts in the elite media
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class at almost any endeavor. But the prevailing conventional wisdom, which is almost
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always wrong, seems to be that the Trump team is making a tactical error.
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The legal experts think they're making a tactical error. I'm going to sound
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like I'm contradicting myself here because I made the argument that the Trump team should
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have stipulated to the affair. And that's part of what is being portrayed in
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a lot of the especially the liberal media, or maybe even the moderate media,
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the so called objective media, when it comes to these legal experts.
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They're saying this was a mistake by Trump's team to not stipulate to the affair
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because it makes them look like liars. By claiming that the affair itself didn't
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happen, They look bad to the jury. I don't know if that's the
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case or not, but I don't think it matters in this situation because I
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think they're just trying one. They have to placate their client who doesn't want
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to admit to the affair for reasons that probably had more to do with his
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marriage than with the trial itself. But they also have a situation where they
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just want to discredit the prosecution witnesses on a feeling level, on a feeling
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level, and I think they've probably done that with Michael Cohen. On cross
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examination, he was not as cool, calm and collected as he was on
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direct examination. He was made to look like a fool. He was exposed
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to somebody who has a clear and obvious vendetta against Trump, as well as
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somebody who has a massive conflict of interest because he's making money from being Michael
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Cohen, donald Trump's greatest, I guess threat in a court of law doing
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TikTok lives that I've mentioned several times before, where he's selling products that have
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Donald Trump on a T shirt in a jail cell. They played all sorts
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of statements from the tiktoks as well as other statements that Cohen has made that
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make it clear he is deeply invested in Trump going to prison, that he's
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not an objective observer, that he's completely contradicting his past view of Trump.
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And then obviously also it's important to point out he is a convicted liar,
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He's a convicted perjurer. He lied to Congress under oath multiple times. And
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so I think the Trump team is trying to make the argument to the jury,
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Hey, look doesn't matter, don't worry about these stupid details. These
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This guy can't be trusted. He has a vendetta, he's angry, he's
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not credible, he's a liar. You can't trust him. And if you
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can't trust him, then you got to throw out the whole case. If
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the glove don't fit, you must have quit. I've always said this is
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going to be a little bit like Ojay, the difference being that the jury
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is going to be dead set against Trump. But is it going to be
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the entire jury that's going to be dead set against Trump? And you?
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Dan Abrams a guy who I respect. He's a friend of mine, former
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boss. I'm on his television show several times a month. I was on
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it just this evening before I tape this podcast on Tuesday evening to talk about
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a media related issue. Well, he was in the courtroom on Tuesday from
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Michael Cohen's testimony, and he said a couple of interesting things on his show
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on which I appeared. But one of them was that there is a perception.
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Now this can be very wrong, but sometimes it can be right.
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There is a perception among people who have been in the courtroom that there are
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at least a couple of jurors. And Dan said he spoke to at least
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three people who had a very similar view about a couple of different specific jurors
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that they felt like they were in Trump's camp. Now, who knows whether
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or not this is right or not. Or true or accurate. But there's
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at least a perception that there are a couple of jurors giving off a vibe
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that they ain't going to convict, that they're just not buying the prosecution's case.
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And if that's the case, then Trump is probably doing the right thing,
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or is legal team is doing the right thing by trying to get a
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hung jury. That seems to be the goal here. They're not even going
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for a full acquittal, which I understand strategically because there's very little chance of
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that. There's very little chance of convincing twelve New York City jurors that Donald
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Trump didn't commit any crime here, especially when it's pretty obvious that he did
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the basics of what is being alleged. So it seems to me as if
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the Trump team is banking everything on just focusing on a handful of jurors giving
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them what they need to hold on to to be able to say no.
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There's a reasonable doubt because these witnesses are not trustworthy. David Pecker is a
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liar, an admitted liar, Stormy Daniels is a liar, an admitted liar,
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and Michael Cohen is legally been determined to be a liar. He has
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perjured himself in front of Congress under oath, and he's lied many many other
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times, both in Trump's direction and now in the Trump's team's view against Donald
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Trump. So I would have to say that right now this is pure guesswork
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that the trial is headed towards what the Trump team wanted. They're focusing on
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getting a hung jury, and I think they've got a shot at it now.
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This is going to happen in fairly short order. There was originally going
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to be a six week's trial, but it looks like the prosecution is going
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to rest certainly by the end of this week, and who knows how long
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the defense is going to take. But this could be in the jury's hands
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in the not too distant future. And I do think this verdict is gonna
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matter politically. I mean, there's a lot of things that Kennon probably will
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happen between now and November. But if you know, if you absolutely forced
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me to make a prediction, I think if Trump gets convicted, he probably
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loses the election. I think if he somehow got acquitted, he would win
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the election for sure. And I think if it's a hung jury, I
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think we're headed right towards somewhere in the middle. That's an incredibly simplistic view,
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but that's where I am at the moment. A couple other comments I
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want to make on this before moving on to other topics. You know,
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this issue of whether or not Trump actually had the affair with Stormy Daniels.
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To me, it's pretty obvious that he had the affair with Stormy Daniels.
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And I have joked many times, although it's not really that much of a
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joke, that if I had had an affair with Karen McDougall, the playboy
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model who's also involved in this case, I would have been paying her to
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tell people that she had an affair with me, especially since she still liked
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me, which Karen McDougall still likes Donald Trump. I have no doubt that
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Trump had an affair with both of these women. Interestingly, forget about the
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legalities of it. Megan Kelly Megan Kelly, who is always very very frustrating
11:26
to me. I like a lot about meg and Kelly. I agree with
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her on a lot either. There's a lot about Megan Kelly to like.
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I think she's smart, she's beautiful, but she drives me crazy on a
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few very specific issues, especially when it comes to the issue of sex,
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sex abuse, sexual harassment. She's all over the map on that, and
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she has now come out and said that she no longer believes that Trump actually
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had the affair with Stormy Dandals that she's willing to go that far in being
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a Trump sycophan to say that she thinks it could have all been a setup,
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that there was no actual sex at the core of the allegation that is
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being put on trial here now. To me, that doesn't jive with logic,
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it doesn't jive with the facts, it doesn't jive with Trump's actions.
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Yes, one hundred and thirty thousand dollars back in twenty sixteen was a lot
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of money, but not a ton of money. But I don't think Trump
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was all that concerned about the allegation. He was a little bit concerned.
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They also didn't think that it was going to cost that much more to have
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Stormy Daniels shut up during the end of the twenty sixteen election. So I
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found it to be hilarious and a bit telling that Megan Kelly is now willing
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to be such a Trump's sycophon that she somehow is leaving her brain at the
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door, and at least claiming publicly that she doesn't even believe that there was
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an affair between Stormy Daniels and Ronald Trump, when obviously, in my view
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there was. But Megan Kelly's hardly the only sycophant that has really exposed themselves
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during this portion of the Trump trial, and probably not even the most embarrassing
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sycophant. That honor goes to the guys. The men who have shown up
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on Trump's behalf Republican leaders, some of whom are still clinging to the belief
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that they could be Trump's vice presidential nominee, have shown up to kiss his
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ass, both to the press as well as to be present in court and
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to stand behind him when he's giving his statements after court. And it's really
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sad and pathetic. I mean, including the Speaker of the House, Mike
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Johnson. They we've got, of course for fake Obama. Swami is there.
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You know, other Senators have been there, congress people have been there.
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And one Twitter user tweeted at me and I do want to give them
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credit for this because it's a great line that the picture of them standing all
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together and basically the same uniform. Waiting for Trump to finish his press conference
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was very reminiscent of a bunch of female NBA groupies at the team hotel waiting
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for the players to get back after the game, so you know, they
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might be able to get lucky with one of them. I mean, that
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seemed to be the vibe that these were basically female NBA groupies, because that's
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what they're there for. They're to get a piece of Donald Trump, to
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show him just how unbelievably loyal they are to him. And he's the mob
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boss, and they're going to stick their noses up as butt as far as
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they can get, and they're hoping to be rewarded in some way, shape
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or form in the future. And you know, let's face it, the
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guy right now is perceived as favorite to be the next president of the United
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States. So it's not that surprising, especially since the Republican Party is now
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a cult, that people would be willing and able to go to New York
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City and embarrass themselves publicly in the process of kissing Trump's ass during his time
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of need. Now, I want to mention a couple other things regarding Trump,
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one of which I probably should have mentioned the last episode of the podcast,
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but for some reason I did not, and that is that Trump has
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gotten another high profile professional sports endorsement. This comes from Lawrence Taylor, former
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New York Giant great pro football Hall of Famer, probably the best defensive player
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of his generation. He endorsed Trump at a rally in Wildwood, New Jersey,
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over this past weekend. And what made this event particularly interesting was that
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there was an enormous amount of discussion about the crowd size. By the way,
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we can add Lawrence Taylor. We can add Lawrence Taylor to Antonio Brown.
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As far as the endorsements, you didn't really see coming in twenty twenty
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four, another pro football great even crazier than Lawrence Taylor. I mean,
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you know, Antonio Brown makes Lawrence Taylor seem like Megan, you know,
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not Mike Megan Kelly, like Peyton Mannick. I mean, that's how crazy
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Antonio Brown is and how crazy Lawrence Taylor used to be, but now seems
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kind of sane in comparison to Antonio Brown. But they've now both publicly endorsed
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Donald Trump, and Taylor did so at this event in Wildwood, New Jersey.
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And the reason why this got a lot of conversation was the size of
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the crowd. That was an unusual rally because it was literally on a beach
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on the Jersey Shore, and there were a lot of people there, no
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question about it, especially considering the fact that New Jersey is clearly a democratic
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status eight that Joe Biden is going to be a heavy, heavy favorite and
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almost a deadlock cinch to win in November. I'm not in one hundred percent
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sure why Trump was doing this other than to maybe highlight the crowd as well
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as an endorsement from Lawrence Taylor, and had nothing better to do. Well,
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he was in New York, couldn't go that far away because he had
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to be back in court on Monday. And it's also important to point out
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that the Jersey Shore, where I've spent a lot of time in my life,
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is very different than the rest of New Jersey, especially southern New Jersey.
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Southern New Jersey is much less liberal than most of northern New Jersey is,
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and the shore tends to be much more conservative or less liberal than the
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rest of the state of New Jersey. So it really wasn't a bad place
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to do a rally for Republican presidential nominee, and it got a lot of
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people. But the estimates that the Trump fans were putting out there of eighty
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to well one hundred thousand people I just thought was completely ridiculous. Now,
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supposedly there were some official estimates that were in that ballpark, but the pictures
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I saw indicated it was closer to maybe thirty twenty thousand. Maybe, who
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knows. I mean, it's always very difficult to determine these things. Trump
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of course, has no credibility because he went to the mat to try to
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claim that his inauguration was the most well attended in history of the pictures made
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it very very clear that that was not even close to the case. But
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I did find it deja vu all over again with regard to arguing over how
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many people actually attended his Wildwood Jersey Shore rally. Again very impressive, not
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nearly as impressive as people were on the Trump side were trying to claim.
18:49
And there's no chance currently, no chance currently in the current environment, that
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Donald Trump wins New Jersey, although you know, they're Trump fans now that
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are getting their expectations completely out of control because they think that the polls are
19:04
actually biased against Trump, and the fact that he's winning the polls indicating that
19:08
he'll win by even more than what the polls say, and I'm just not
19:12
buying any of that. I still think this is a very, very competitive
19:15
race. It's going to be essentially a repeat of twenty twenty with just a
19:21
few states in play. And as I've said many times, I think we're
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very likely headed for a potential, if not a tie, very close to
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a tie. That's based upon the current circumstances in the race. Now,
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speaking of NFL football players who have all of a sudden become very political,
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I have to mention what occurred with Harrison Booker, the kicker for the Kansas
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City Chiefs, over the weekend. Now, I'm really kind of shocked that
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I did not hear about this until I guess it was Monday afternoon. It
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was after we taped episode number one hundred and fifty three of the podcast,
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because if I had heard about this, I absolutely would have mentioned it in
20:03
our previous episode, but I did not, and it happened, I believe,
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on Saturday. And this was a commencement address that Booker gave at Benedictine
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College, a Catholic university, and to say that he went scorched earth would
20:21
be a dramatic understatement. I was stunned by some of the things that Booker
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decided to say in a very very public forum. Now to my knowledge,
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now in his speech, he actually referenced that he's known for controversial comments.
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So I don't know how this never got on my radar, that he was
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this conservative and this willing to lay it out on the line. But okay,
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now not only do I know, but millions of other people know because
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this speech went super viral, and understandably so, because this was extraordinary.
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This would have been extraordinary Booker was retired, But the fact that he's not
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just still playing, but playing on the most high profile team in the National
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Football League, the defending Super Bowl champions, a team that's associated with Taylor
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Swift as their number one fan, obviously dating Travis Kelcey their tight end,
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and I think that's a part of this equation that's not weirdly getting enough attention.
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I think the Taylor Swift part of this story is significant and dramatically increases
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the risks that Booker took in even making this speech, and could still very
21:41
easily face if there are ramvoications for this. Now, I want to make
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clear I don't agree with everything that Booker said. I agree with some of
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it, but as the father of two young daughters, I thought he went
21:55
a little bit too far on what is being perceived, as he didn't really
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say this, but I can understand why it was a perception that he was
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making the argument that basically, you know, women belong in the in the
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kitchen type of thing. And and again that's not what he said, but
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that's the way it's being perceived. And you know, I grew up in
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the Catholic tradition. I went to a Catholic high school, all boys,
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Catholic high school. I went to an allegedly Catholic college at Georgetown University,
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although it's really not Catholic anymore. You know, I came from a very
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Catholic family on both sides, my mother and my father, so you know,
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I know Catholicism. I no longer believe in Catholicism. That's part of
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where Boker and I know no longer agree because he's basing a lot of this
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in his religion and the Catholic religion, which I have no problem with I'm
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a very unusual agnostic or atheist. I actually want people to actually act like
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Christians. Well, I don't really care which variety of Christians. I have
23:00
no problem you know as people living as Catholics, that most Catholics are blatant
23:06
hypocrites and don't live by Catholicism, either in the spirit or the letter of
23:10
the law. But you know, that's the nature of humanity. But a
23:14
lot of what Booker talked about was based in Catholicism. I did like the
23:18
fact that he wants some accountability for the issue of Christianity and Catholicism, that
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it has to change, has to start from within, and that Catholics have
23:30
to be consistent. These are my words evaluating what he said. But I'm
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going to play about a three minute clip here from his speech. It's the
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part that I probably like the most. There's a lot of different topics that
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are covered here. A lot of ground is made up in a variety of
23:51
issues. He covers COVID, he covers DEI, he covers Catholicism, he
23:56
covers transgender issues, homosexuality I think is in there. Abortion is a big
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part of this. I mean when I say scorged earth, I mean scorged
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earth. So this was Harrison Booker's commence been addressed at least part of it
24:11
at Benedictine College. Throughout the COVID fiasco, and how you missed out on
24:15
so many milestones the rest of us older people have taken for granted. While
24:19
COVID might have played a large role throughout your formative years, it is not
24:23
unique. Bad policies and poor leadership have negatively impacted major life issues. Things
24:30
like abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, as well as a growing support
24:36
for degenerate cultural values in media, all stem from the pervasiveness of disorder.
24:41
Our own nation is led by a man who publicly and proudly proclaims his Catholic
24:45
faith, but at the same time is delusional enough to make the sign of
24:49
the Cross during a pro abortion rally. He has been so vocal in his
24:55
support for the murder of innocent babies that I'm sure to many people it appears
24:59
that you can be both Catholic and pro choice. He is not alone from
25:03
the man behind the COVID lockdowns, to the people pushing dangerous gender ideologies onto
25:10
the youth of America. They all have a glaring thing in common. They
25:14
are Catholic. This is an important reminder that being Catholic alone doesn't cut it.
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These are the sorts of things we are told in polite society to not
25:22
bring up, you know, the difficult and unpleasant things. But if we
25:27
are going to be men and women for this time and history, we need
25:30
to stop pretending that the Church of Nice is a winning proposition. We must
25:36
always speak and act in charity, but never mistake charity for cowardice. It
25:41
is safe to say that over the past few years I've gained quite the reputation
25:45
for speaking my mind. I never envisioned myself nor wanted to have this sort
25:49
of a platform, but God has given it to me, so I have
25:52
no other choice but to embrace it and preach more hard truths about accepting your
25:57
lane and staying in it. As members of the church founded by Jesus Christ,
26:02
it is our duty and ultimately privilege to be authentically and unapologetically Catholic.
26:07
Don't be mistaken. Even within the church. People in polite Catholic circles will
26:14
try to persuade you to remain silent. There even was an award winning film
26:18
called silence made by a fellow Catholic wherein one of the main characters, a
26:22
Jesuit priest abandoned the church and as an apostate when he died to seem grasping
26:26
a crucifix, quiet and unknown to anyone but God. As a friend of
26:32
Benedictine College, his Excellency Bishop Robert Baron said in his review of the film,
26:37
it was exactly what the cultural elite want to see in Christianity, private,
26:41
hidden away and harmless. Our Catholic faith has always been countercultural. Our
26:48
Lord, along with countless followers, were all put to death for their adherence
26:52
to her teachings. The world around us says that we should keep our beliefs
26:56
to ourselves whenever they go against the tyranny of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
27:02
We fear speaking truth because now, unfortunately, truth is in the minority.
27:07
Congress just passed a bill We're stating something as basic as the biblical teaching
27:11
of who killed Jesus could land you in jail. But make no mistake,
27:15
before we even attempt to fix any of the issues plaguing in society, we
27:21
must first get our own house in order, and it starts with our leaders.
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I was just completely blown away that a current NFL player in this environment
27:33
was willing to make those statements in such a very public forum. And regardless
27:41
of how much you agree with Booker or disagree with him, you have to
27:45
admire his courage. And I actually think that his courage, the courage element
27:51
of this is being underrated a little bit. Now. The video has gone
27:56
viral on the right, understandably so, and got a lot of coverage on
28:00
the right, especially on social media, But I don't know that people are
28:03
fully appreciating the fact that he's a kicker and the the impact of that and
28:11
why why that is significant here a kicker has by far unless you're you know,
28:19
and he's a very good kicker, but there are very few kickers who
28:22
have real job security, and even they if they miss two or three key
28:29
kicks in a row, they're gone. So he has just put a massive
28:34
target on his back. And now he's clearly a guy, doesn't you know,
28:41
break under pressure. He's already proven that. But he's just increased the
28:45
level of pressure that he's going to face because there's going to be blowback.
28:51
I don't know how much there's going to be. I mean Missouri is a
28:55
conservative state, so you know that goes in his favor playing in Kansas City,
29:00
and obviously you know, butts up with Kansas and other conservative state.
29:04
But this is also a very hope, high profile deal. I do think
29:11
the fact that the Chiefs are led by you know, Travis Kelcey and Patrick
29:15
Mahomes and Taylor Swift is now almost the face of the franchise, and everybody
29:21
knows she's gonna disagree with virtually everything the booker said, and so I think
29:29
that's problematic for him. Now again, if this blows over and he doesn't
29:36
exacerbate it and he keeps kicking, well, I don't think it's going to
29:40
be a big issue. But should he miss a couple of big kicks early
29:42
on in the season, then he could be in big trouble. And it's
29:48
obvious that he doesn't seem to care, which I applaud, I salute.
29:52
I think that's fantastic. I wish we had more people like that that were
29:55
willing to take a risk. Almost I talk about this all the time when
29:59
it comes to why journalism is dead, why the news media is dead,
30:03
because life is too cushy and no one wants to take a risk. No
30:07
one wants to lose the gig. Well, in this case, Bookert seems
30:11
to be willing to. I don't think he thinks he's going to lose the
30:15
gig, but he has to know that he's just made himself more vulnerable.
30:21
The ice is going to be a hell of a lot thinner should he miss
30:23
a kick or too early on in the season, And more power to him,
30:30
congratulations if he understands that and doesn't care, because he clearly, very
30:34
strongly believes in what he's saying, and a lot of what he's saying I
30:38
believe is accurate and important, And he provides a view that needs to be
30:47
stated in a public forum so that people who are on the fence or might
30:52
want to believe in the things that Booker's talking about feel comfortable enough to one
30:59
stand up for the same principles and to share those principles publicly, because it
31:03
becomes a contagion. That's why this kind of thing is so important. To
31:07
do it in a high profile way, as a high profile person willing to
31:11
take a risk. It allows other people, normal people to take up the
31:17
same views, the same principles, to fight the same fight. People who
31:23
might have been shy or felt like no one agreed with them, or that
31:27
they would be ostracized. Now all of a sudden feel as if they're empowered.
31:33
And that's why this kind of stuff is significant. Thanks for listening to
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today's free drop of the abbreviated show. If you're interested in listening to the
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