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Mark interviews New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin. · The Mark Simone Show

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Well, Michael Goodwin, the best columnist in America. You can
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: read him every Sunday and every Wednesday in the New
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: York Post. All of his columns are up on the
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: New York Post website, if you missed anything. And we
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: got two columns for the price of one this week.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: And it's great to have him with us. Michael Goodwin,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: how are you doing?
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Mark. Thank you.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Hey, first of all, the UN, General Assembly, all these
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: world leaders here, Iran will be here. What should the
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: president do with all this?
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  Speaker 2: Well, sort of a feast of unappetizing food, right? But look,
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: I do think the president is eager to get the
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Iran situation off the front pages and out of the polls.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: for the midterms. And so he's going to be in
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  Speaker 2: New York, and the Iranian leaders are both here on
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: State Department visas for the UN. And the president has
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: never met either of those two Iranians. And I would
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: be shocked if there isn't some way that they do
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: manage to get together. He's also meeting with our Gulf allies,
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: the Gulf of Arabia allies. And so I think that
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  Speaker 2: this is a moment that could turn out to be
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  Speaker 2: very significant. Now, there's no guarantee of that, of course.
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  Speaker 2: Iran has shown no inclination to end the war in
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  Speaker 2: anything close to America's terms, which, of course, have to
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: do with nuclear proliferation primarily. along with funding of Hezbollah
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: and Hamas and groups like that, and getting rid of
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  Speaker 2: its long-range missiles. So we've seen no signs that the
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: Iranians are ready for that. But the two people coming
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: to the UN, they are not of the ruling mullah class.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: These are basically professional, westernized leaders. But we will see
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: if they have any power to actually make a deal.
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  Speaker 2: That's one of the mysteries about who is really running
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: the Iranian government such as it is. And it seems
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  Speaker 2: to be the hardliners, the mullahs, the killers, the corrupt ones.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: So if there's a deal to be made, the UN
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: meeting would be a great place for it. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: But what's the point? They never, ever, ever, ever stick
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  Speaker 1: to an agreement as people say Iran is corrupt. never
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: won a war and never lost an agreement because they
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: just don't follow it. So what's the point? Why even bother?
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  Speaker 2: They've gotten away with it, right? I mean, 50 years almost.
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  Speaker 2: This is how they've conducted themselves. And part of it
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: is everybody's afraid of their militaries and how they activate,
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  Speaker 2: like pushing a button and Hezbollah or Hamas or the
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  Speaker 2: Houthis come out of the ground and kill you. That's
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: how the Iranians have gotten away with it on the
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: foreign policy stage. And there's been no real credible threat
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  Speaker 2: against them domestically for those five decades. So that has
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  Speaker 2: been the conundrum for everybody dealing with Iran. You can't
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  Speaker 2: trust them. You can't trust their motives. and they never
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: live up to any agreement. So this is a real problem,
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: and it's how we ended up in the war in
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: the first place.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Hey, Michael Goodwin, you also wrote a great column
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  Speaker 1: about the New York Times, which you used to work
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  Speaker 1: there back when it was really the New York Times.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: I mean, the real New York Times. Yeah. Do you
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: even recognize the place today when you see it?
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  Speaker 2: No, it's really something entirely different. It's like a different
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: species from what it was. It sort of had a
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: transgender operation or something. But look, the piece I focused
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: on this time, Mark, had to do with the national
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: poverty rate. And it held steady last year. And this
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: very much upset the New York Times because they thought
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: and predicted that it would soar because of Donald Trump's
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: cuts to what it calls the Social Safety Act. And
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: not only that, the median family income rose, and it's
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: the highest ever. So these two things together were bad
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: news for the New York Times. They want suffering, human suffering,
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: to prove that they're right and Donald Trump is wrong.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: Here you get the news doesn't comport to their politics.
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  Speaker 2: And so there's this kind of mournful tone about the
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  Speaker 2: poverty rate not getting higher and the fact that median
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  Speaker 2: family incomes have set a new record. This was the
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: New York Times. This is all bad news. In reality,
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  Speaker 2: of course, of the Americans involved and the country as
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: a whole, it's very good news. But the New York
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: Times hates good news if it makes Trump look good.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: They can't have that.
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  Speaker 1: So, Michael Goodwin, when you used to work there, that's
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: when they had the great leadership. Was it Abe Rosenthal
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: and Arthur Gelb and those kind of people?
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: Correct, yeah. Yeah. Well, you've got Drake. The thing is, Mark,
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  Speaker 2: that the leader sets the tone and the rules. And
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: so everybody... had to follow the basic rules, which is,
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: if you're a reporter or an editor, we don't care
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  Speaker 2: about your opinions. Keep them to yourself. What we put
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  Speaker 2: in the paper are the facts, the news, and we're
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: not taking sides with every story. We're not here pushing
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  Speaker 2: an agenda. We're here to deliver facts and news and
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  Speaker 2: opinion on in a kind of secularized area where it's
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  Speaker 2: roped off from the news. But that roping off has
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  Speaker 2: bled now to where every article is an opinion, such
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: as the one we're just discussing. It's the opinion that
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: always comes clear. You read the New York Times. It's
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: not the facts. It's how the Times interpret those facts
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: and what it wants the facts to be. That's an
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: eruption that I think they've doubled the times and will
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: continue to until somebody blows the whistle there, the owner, presumably,
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  Speaker 2: and says, look, we're going back to the good old days.
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  Speaker 2: We're going back to standards of fairness, and we're not
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: going to run every story.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: With an opinion. Yeah, but the other argument is they
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: were going broke. The Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim had to
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: come bail him out, keep him afloat. And then Trump
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: comes along, and there's an incredible business model here. You
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: just bash Trump all day and night, and there's an
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: audience for that. And you suddenly make a fortune. So
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: with that going on, who's ever going to go back
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: to the old model?
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: That's a very good point, Mark, and I've considered that.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: And I don't have the answer, as you say. One
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: of the shames is that this business model has been
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: successful in a time of changing media landscapes and all that.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: If you ever go and read the readers' responses to
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: an article, which you can see online a lot, many
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: of the readers are crazier than the reporters. I mean...
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  Speaker 2: They want the Times to kill Trump. The Times is
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: too soft on Trump. It's too soft on the Republic.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know where you'll find these people, but what's
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: been nourishing their hatred so long? But the Times is
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: now kind of trapped by feeding the beast a little bit.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: The beast is demanding more and more. So the Times
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: is kind of trapped in this cycle on which its
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: finances are now dependent.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, wow. Well, everybody go read his. It's two Michael
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: Goodwin columns you want to read. The one about the
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: New York Times and the one about Iran and the
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: UN and Trump. And it's all up on the New
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: York Post website. Great stuff. Michael Goodwin, thanks for being
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: with us.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: My pleasure, Mark. Thank you.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Take care. Yeah, and don't forget, it's UN week all
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: this week. It's gridlock all week. Street closures all over
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: the place. Don't drive into Manhattan this week. It's going
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: to be an absolute nightmare. Today's a Of course, Yom Kippur,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: it's a holiday. And it's Monday, which is the day
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: most people don't come into the office. So you won't
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: really feel it as much today. But, oh, tomorrow you'll
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: really feel it. Remember, the president comes into Manhattan tonight. Actually,
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: this afternoon, 4 o'clock, Gracie Mansion. And then he comes
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: into Midtown. It's going to be a lot of gridlock
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: everywhere tonight. It's going to be a mess tonight. So
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: stay out of Manhattan if you're driving. A lot to
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: get to. Don't forget at noon, Buck Saxton and Clay
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Travis with a great show. Then at 3 o'clock, the
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: most listened to radio show in America, Sean Hannity. Got
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: Jesse Kelly at 6. You got the very funny Jimmy
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: Fela every night at 9 here on 710WOR.