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Episode Two Hundred Seventy One: The End Of Hollywood · The Death Of Journalism

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Speaker 1: Welcome to episode two hundred and seventy one of the
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Speaker 1: Death of Journalism podcast. My name is John Zigler. I'm
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Speaker 1: your host in today's show. The Warner Discovery sale finally
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Speaker 1: breaks through with great uncertainty and huge implications for our media.
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Speaker 1: CBS makes a great and telling choice for their new
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Speaker 1: evening news anchor. It appears I nailed it on the
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Speaker 1: Marjorie Taylor Green situation. Trump seems to be screwing up
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Speaker 1: on AI much as I had feared, and the college
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Speaker 1: football playoff system is now somehow probably an even bigger
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Speaker 1: cluster fark than I have been predicting. I have mentioned
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Speaker 1: several times over the last year or so that Warner
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Speaker 1: Brothers Discovery was probably gonna get sold, and I've been
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Speaker 1: talking about this subject from several different perspectives, including one
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Speaker 1: that was extremely personal to me. And I've been telling
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Speaker 1: you that this was going to become a major news
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Speaker 1: story at some point.
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Speaker 2: Well, it finally.
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Speaker 1: Did over the last week because the bidding process ended,
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Speaker 1: at least it was supposed to have ended with Netflix
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Speaker 1: winning quote unquote, the ability to buy Warner Brothers Discovery,
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Speaker 1: which would be an absolutely huge deal in the media world.
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Speaker 1: On so many different levels. But the story got even
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Speaker 1: larger because, in the immediate aftermath of Netflix supposedly winning
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Speaker 1: this bidding, war Paramount announced that they were going to
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Speaker 1: attempt a hostile takeover of Warner Brothers Discovery. So this
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Speaker 1: situation is very much in the up in the air.
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Speaker 1: No one really knows how it's all going to end.
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Speaker 1: But I wanted to start today's episode of the podcast
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Speaker 1: with a little bit of analysis of where this situation
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Speaker 1: currently is and what implications it might have. I want
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Speaker 1: to begin from the business angle and just take a
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Speaker 1: moment to reflect on just how utterly insane, or incredible
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Speaker 1: or bizarre it is than in twenty twenty five, we
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Speaker 1: are living in a world where Netflix is buying Warner
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Speaker 1: Brothers Discovery. Now, Warner Brother's Discovery is a massive media company,
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Speaker 1: But for Netflix in twenty twenty five to purchase Warner
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Speaker 1: Brothers Discovery is extraordinary when you consider that what fifteen
2:31
Speaker 1: years ago, maybe even a little less than fifteen years ago,
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Speaker 1: Netflix was basically a digital blockbuster. They were competing with Blockbuster.
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Speaker 1: Blockbuster didn't take them seriously. Blockbuster is no more, and
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Speaker 1: now Netflix has somehow gotten so large and so powerful
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Speaker 1: that they are able, at least on paper, to purchase
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Speaker 1: Warner Brother's Discovery. And what happened in the meantime, Well,
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Speaker 1: Netflix create a lot of content, most of it sucked.
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Speaker 1: I mean, that's maybe the most extraordinary part of this
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Speaker 1: whole equation. The Netflix went from nothing to being able
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Speaker 1: to be powerful and wealthy enough to purchase Warner Brothers Discovery,
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Speaker 1: and all they did in the meantime was make a
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Speaker 1: lot of really mediocre content. I mean, they made some
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Speaker 1: good stuff, nothing spectacular. Most of their movies are just terrible.
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Speaker 1: Their series are okay.
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Speaker 2: Some of them have been very popular.
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Speaker 1: I think their documentaries are really good from a production standpoint,
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Speaker 1: but from a content perspective, I find them to be lacking,
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Speaker 1: sometimes dramatically. So I'm not a huge fan of Netflix,
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Speaker 1: even though like most of the country, we are subscribers
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Speaker 1: to Netflix and watch a lot of their content. But
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Speaker 1: it's just a remarkable story from a corporate and business perspective,
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Speaker 1: the best analogy I can come up with on short
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Speaker 1: notice is and this is not perfect, but I think
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Speaker 1: this is a decent analogy. Netflix getting this big and
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Speaker 1: this large and being able to overtake and take over
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Speaker 1: Warner Brothers. Discovery is a bit like if Heinz catchup,
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Speaker 1: there'll be Blockbuster. In this analogy, had a competitor that
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Speaker 1: put Heinz out of business, and the catchup competitor became
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Speaker 1: so powerful that they were able to buy McDonald's.
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Speaker 2: It's not really perfect, but it's close.
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Speaker 1: If you want to understand from a business perspective, it
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Speaker 1: is how insane this is and how remarkable it is.
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Speaker 1: And President Trump was going to have a major say
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Speaker 1: and how this all ends up. Has praised Netflix for
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Speaker 1: basically this miracle that they have pulled off. From a
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Speaker 1: business standpoint, Now, what would be the implications of Netflix
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Speaker 1: actually being able to have this deal come to fruition
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Speaker 1: Because there's a lot of people who believe this thing
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Speaker 1: is DOA.
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Speaker 2: I don't believe.
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Speaker 1: It's DOA, but I do think there's a very good
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Speaker 1: chance never actually gets approved. Trump has been somewhat lukewarm
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Speaker 1: on the issue and difficult to discern exactly what he
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Speaker 1: might do. First of all, it shouldn't be his decision alone.
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Speaker 1: In fact, in previous presidential administrations, the president would have
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Speaker 1: very little of any say over it. It would have
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Speaker 1: to do with whether or not the Department of Justice
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Speaker 1: decided that it was an antitrust situation. But we're not
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Speaker 1: living in that world anymore. But if this deal were
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Speaker 1: to actually be approved, Hollywood believes it would destroy what
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Speaker 1: is left of the economy of Los Angeles, California or
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Speaker 1: the old school Hollywood, if you know, it depends on
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Speaker 1: what you think of Hollywood, or you thinking of Hollywood
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Speaker 1: as Los Angeles and the entertainment industry, or Hollywood is
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Speaker 1: the movie industry in its totality, Los Angeles is no
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Speaker 1: longer by you know, the most dominant force in that.
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Speaker 2: Like it used to be.
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Speaker 1: Most productions are not even taking place in Los Angeles
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Speaker 1: or California anymore. But anyway, just to use the term
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Speaker 1: Hollywood generically, Hollywood is freaking out because if this in
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Speaker 1: fact happens, then there'll be consolidation. They'll be essentially a monopoly.
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Speaker 1: There'll be one less major buyer of content, so the
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Speaker 1: you know, laws of supply and demand will shift even
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Speaker 1: further in the corporate direction and against the creators. So
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Speaker 1: Hollywood believes this is the end, and especially they believe
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Speaker 1: it's the end because Hollywood still loves HBO. HBO is
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Speaker 1: still considered to be the most prestigious outlet to work
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Speaker 1: for if you're a movie creator, And part of this
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Speaker 1: deal would mean that HBO would be owned by Netflix,
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Speaker 1: and I don't think, you know, well, Netflix has created
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Speaker 1: a lot of jobs in the last decade or so.
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Speaker 1: I don't think that they have a lot of respect
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Speaker 1: within the Hollywood elites for the actual content that they create.
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Speaker 1: And I think the presumption is going to be, oh
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Speaker 1: my gosh, so we're gonna have fewer jobs, less bargaining power,
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Speaker 1: and the content that's gonna be created is gonna be
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Speaker 1: crappier than it currently is. And that seems to be
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Speaker 1: the conventional wisdom in Hollywood, and that may end up
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Speaker 1: being the case, by the way, that might be part
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Speaker 1: of why this deal never gets approved by the federal government.
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Speaker 1: So I don't know which scenario would actually be better
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Speaker 1: or worse for quote unquote Hollywood, whether or not Netflix
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Speaker 1: owns Warner Brothers Discovery, or whether or not Paramount is
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Speaker 1: successful with their hostile takeover. I honestly don't know, because
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Speaker 1: in the Paramount situation, you're gonna have maybe even more consolidation,
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Speaker 1: more layoffs. Paramount is looked at as a legacy, which
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Speaker 1: obviously is a legacy studio, so it wouldn't create quite
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Speaker 1: as much upheaval in the Hollywood system as would Netflix
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Speaker 1: now be coming by far the dominant force in the
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Speaker 1: way that things are done in Hollywood. But I don't
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Speaker 1: know that there's a really good scenario in any direction
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Speaker 1: for Hollywood now. From a media perspective, in the news business,
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Speaker 1: the part of this equation that I don't think has
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Speaker 1: gotten nearly enough attention, mainly because from an economic perspective
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Speaker 1: it's small potatoes is CNN. CNN is owned by Warner
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Speaker 1: Brothers Discovery. CNN is not part of the Netflix deal,
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Speaker 1: which is very interesting on a number of levels. It
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Speaker 1: has been presumed, and I think there's logic to this,
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Speaker 1: that Paramount really wants CNN. Paramount's owner, the Ellison family,
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Speaker 1: has made it clear that they're more than.
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Speaker 2: Willing to do Trump's bidding.
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Speaker 1: They are seen as more conservative, you know, they just
8:58
Speaker 1: you know, for instance, they just put in an on
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Speaker 1: liberal Bari Weiss as the head of CBS News. Paramount
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Speaker 1: owns CBS News. Yes, they've had their battles with Trump
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Speaker 1: over sixty minutes, but by and large, Paramount is seen,
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Speaker 1: at least in perception as.
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Speaker 2: Being far more pro Trump than.
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Speaker 1: Any other major media outlet would be in this realm,
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Speaker 1: and so they want CNN.
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Speaker 2: Netflix doesn't seem to want CNN.
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Speaker 1: If Paramount bought somehow Warner Brothers Discovery in this hostile takeover,
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Speaker 1: the most obvious result of that would be CNN would
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Speaker 1: get folded into CBS News or vice versa, and that
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Speaker 1: would create an awful lot of consolidation and a lot
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Speaker 1: of lost jobs. Now would it create a news giant
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Speaker 1: that would not be nearly as liberal as it would
9:55
Speaker 1: have been a few years ago. Yeah, I think that's
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Speaker 1: pretty clear, especially if Bari White is running the show,
10:01
Speaker 1: which is also bizarre considering the fact that she got
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Speaker 1: essentially canned from The New York Times is not a
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Speaker 1: significant news figure just a couple of years ago. It
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Speaker 1: has now somehow turned herself into maybe one of the
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Speaker 1: most powerful people in all news, and if this Paramount
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Speaker 1: hostile takeover is successful, she may end up being the
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Speaker 1: most powerful person in the news business by far. And
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Speaker 1: I'm okay with that because while she's clearly a liberal,
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Speaker 1: she's not woke.
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Speaker 2: In fact, that's her branding. She's an anti woke liberal.
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Speaker 1: She got it more than any other liberal did on
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Speaker 1: the whole COVID panic.
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Speaker 2: I disagree with.
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Speaker 1: Her on some things very strongly, but by and large,
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Speaker 1: she's less liberal than the type of person that has
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Speaker 1: dominated the legacy news business for the last several decades. Now,
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Speaker 1: what I don't understand, and I have no inside information
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Speaker 1: on this, despite the fact that in the past I've
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Speaker 1: been told that I was being given inside information on
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Speaker 1: what was happening at One's Discovery. But I don't understand why.
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Speaker 1: If Paramount wants CNN and I guess the other cable properties,
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Speaker 1: obviously that's not the most valuable part of Warner Brothers Discovery,
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Speaker 1: but you would think that there would be a way
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Speaker 1: for Netflix to get what they want and Paramount to
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Speaker 1: take over CNN and the other cable news networks. Now,
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Speaker 1: maybe that other doesn't work financially for Paramount. Maybe Paramount
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Speaker 1: only wants CNN if they're part of the larger package
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Speaker 1: of Warner Brothers Discovery.
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Speaker 2: I honestly don't know.
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Speaker 1: But it would seem to me that that would be
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Speaker 1: the most logical conclusion of this whole thing. I mean,
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Speaker 1: if Netflix makes it clear they don't want CNN and
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Speaker 1: Paramount wants CNN, you know why.
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Speaker 2: They wouldn't be able to figure this out. I don't know.
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Speaker 1: Now as far as the Paramount Deal is concerned, there's
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Speaker 1: an element of this that has me agitated from the
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Speaker 1: perspective of consistency and how utterly consistent MAGA world is
12:02
Speaker 1: and the Magamedia is when it comes to how they
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Speaker 1: react or don't react to certain outrages, because a large
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Speaker 1: part of this Paramount deal is being driven by Saudi money,
12:17
Speaker 1: and the Saudi money is coming from Jared Kushner, Donald
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Speaker 1: Trump's son in law, effectively a son of his now,
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Speaker 1: Jared Kushner. I don't know how the hell he has
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Speaker 1: enough time to be even running his own businesses these days,
12:31
Speaker 1: because you're trying to do beast deals with Russia and Ukraine,
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Speaker 1: seemingly on behalf of Russia.
12:38
Speaker 2: He supposedly did the deal between Israel and.
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Speaker 1: Rmas and now here he is raising lots and lots
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Speaker 1: of Saudi money so that a Trump ally can take
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Speaker 1: over Warner Brothers Discovery, including CNN.
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Speaker 2: Now, I want you, if.
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Speaker 1: You know, I want you to do this regardless of
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Speaker 1: your political persuasion, But for just a moment, I want
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Speaker 1: you to think about how the MAGA media industrial complex
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Speaker 1: would have responded if we flip all of this, Let's
13:12
Speaker 1: say Joe Biden as president, and let's say that Hunter
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Speaker 1: Biden is raising tons and tons of Saudi money to
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Speaker 1: fund a hostile takeover of News Corp, which owns Fox
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Speaker 1: News Channel and the New York Post and a whole
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Speaker 1: lot of other media outlets that tend to be conservative,
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Speaker 1: and that that corporate entity that was trying to pull
13:39
Speaker 1: a hostile takeover of news Corp was led by an
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Speaker 1: unabashed liberal who wanted the takeover Fox News Channel and
13:48
Speaker 1: the New York Post and other media outlets and seemingly
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Speaker 1: turned them from conservative to liberal. What would be the
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Speaker 1: MAGA media world.
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Speaker 2: Reaction to that?
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Speaker 1: I would suggest to you that that would be a
14:02
Speaker 1: ten alarm fire. Everyone's hair would be on fire. They'd
14:06
Speaker 1: be running around screaming bloody murder. There'd be meltdowns, and
14:10
Speaker 1: by the way, it would be at least somewhat justified,
14:15
Speaker 1: because that would be outrageous. That would be outrageous. But
14:19
Speaker 1: that's effectively what's happening here. And I'm not hearing one word,
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Speaker 1: not one word from the Magamedia industrial complex. Frankly, even
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Speaker 1: the liberal media I think has been.
14:32
Speaker 2: I think they're just exhausted on this.
14:34
Speaker 1: I think they're naves, don't understand it or what. I
14:38
Speaker 1: actually tweeted about this, and I sent this to several
14:41
Speaker 1: members of the liberal media or several liberals in the media.
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Speaker 2: That I know, and I got some reaction and some.
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Speaker 1: People in agreement that yeah, can you imagine what would
14:51
Speaker 1: happen if this was reversed. But there's not been the
14:54
Speaker 1: hue and cry on the left that I would have anticipated,
14:57
Speaker 1: because that's what's effectively happening here. To be clear, we
15:01
Speaker 1: have the president's son in law raising Saudi money, not
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Speaker 1: a little bit, a ton of it's it's the essence
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Speaker 1: of why Paramount might be able to pull this off,
15:12
Speaker 1: raising Saudi money to fund a hostile takeover so that
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Speaker 1: a Trump ally would get control of CNN, a liberal
15:23
Speaker 1: news network. Now again, as a conservative, I'd be fine
15:28
Speaker 1: with CNN being taken over with by a conservative, but
15:32
Speaker 1: this is this is really troubling.
15:35
Speaker 2: There's conflicts of interest.
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Speaker 1: All over the place here, and I've already referenced the
15:41
Speaker 1: idea that it's absolutely absurd. This is the whole Trump
15:44
Speaker 1: is a King thing which has been bothering me since
15:48
Speaker 1: you know, basically the moment the assassination attempt against Trump
15:51
Speaker 1: failed in twenty twenty four, I told you, you know,
15:55
Speaker 1: my biggest reservation about Trump two point zero is that
15:58
Speaker 1: he's going to be treated as a king, and that
16:01
Speaker 1: unfortunately has come to fruition in many, many ways. And
16:05
Speaker 1: this is a perfect example of this. And frankly, I
16:07
Speaker 1: think the legacy media isn't pushing back.
16:10
Speaker 2: Enough against this.
16:11
Speaker 1: This is this decision as to whether or not the
16:14
Speaker 1: Netflix Warner Brothers deal gets approved should not be made
16:19
Speaker 1: by the President of the United States, especially when the
16:21
Speaker 1: President of the States has enormous conflicts of interest here,
16:26
Speaker 1: and it certainly shouldn't be.
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Speaker 2: In a situation where his son in law.
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Speaker 1: I mean, how the hell can Trump and his administration
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Speaker 1: and the people that are kissing his ass, because that's
16:36
Speaker 1: what his administration is all about. How can they possibly
16:39
Speaker 1: be objective in evaluating the Netflix Warner Brothers deal when
16:43
Speaker 1: the president's son in law is helping to fund a
16:47
Speaker 1: hostile takeover of the same company. It's ridiculous, it's absurd.
16:54
Speaker 1: So I don't know what's gonna happen here. I just
16:58
Speaker 1: know that whatever occurs, it is going to be very
17:01
Speaker 1: very significant for both the entertainment business as well as
17:05
Speaker 1: the news media business, specifically with regard to CNN. Now,
17:10
Speaker 1: if you're an avid listener to the podcast, you're probably wondering, hey, Zig,
17:14
Speaker 1: how does this play into the whole black Swan situation
17:19
Speaker 1: that you referenced many many times over the last couple
17:21
Speaker 1: of years, and into which you went very deeply several
17:25
Speaker 1: months ago on this podcast. And for those of you
17:28
Speaker 1: who may dismissed that or don't remember, for a larger
17:33
Speaker 1: part of the last three and a half years, most
17:35
Speaker 1: of the last three and a half years, up until
17:37
Speaker 1: a few months ago, I had been being told that
17:40
Speaker 1: there was going to be this black Swan event, as
17:42
Speaker 1: I've been referencing it, describing it black Swan, meaning this
17:47
Speaker 1: surprise event comes out of nowhere and changes everything that
17:52
Speaker 1: John Malone, the largest shareholder of Warner Brothers and Discovery,
17:58
Speaker 1: was trying to a situation where CNN would no longer
18:03
Speaker 1: be a left wing network. And that is part of
18:06
Speaker 1: that effort. And this again, this started almost four years ago,
18:11
Speaker 1: almost four years ago. It was January I think of
18:15
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two when I was first approached by a
18:18
Speaker 1: person that I had worked with that I considered a friend,
18:21
Speaker 1: had a good working relationship with. It was a credible person,
18:24
Speaker 1: but a person with a very, very sketchy background, especially
18:28
Speaker 1: very early on in their life many many years ago,
18:30
Speaker 1: decades ago, when they actually went to prison for fraud,
18:34
Speaker 1: which had me extremely on edge and unwilling to buy
18:38
Speaker 1: anything that they were telling me, especially when it sounded
18:40
Speaker 1: too good to be true.
18:42
Speaker 2: But for years an.
18:44
Speaker 1: Incredibly excruciating detail with all sorts of fascinations, I was told,
18:51
Speaker 1: I'm not going to go into all the details again
18:53
Speaker 1: because I've done so previously, although I've probably left out
18:56
Speaker 1: eighty percent of the craziness in the detail of the story.
19:01
Speaker 1: But I have told you before that I was told,
19:04
Speaker 1: in no uncertain terms that John Malone wanted to hire me,
19:09
Speaker 1: who happens to be, as I had said, the largest
19:11
Speaker 1: shareholder of Warner Brothers Discovery wanted to hire me at CNN,
19:16
Speaker 1: and I thought that was impossible, except I was provided
19:19
Speaker 1: a scenario where at least it seemed theoretically within the
19:24
Speaker 1: realm of possibility. I never believed it was going to happen,
19:27
Speaker 1: and I was also suspecting that a lot of what
19:31
Speaker 1: I was being told may not be true, that it
19:33
Speaker 1: was possible that maybe the whole thing was some sort
19:35
Speaker 1: of bizarre, nonsensical, incredibly intricate farce or scam with no
19:42
Speaker 1: end because there was no money to be made, there's
19:44
Speaker 1: no motivation. It made no sense, but I had to
19:47
Speaker 1: go along with it because what was theoretically being offered
19:52
Speaker 1: was so clearly enticing and world changing. Plus I was
19:56
Speaker 1: just curious as to how the hell this whole thing
19:58
Speaker 1: was going to turn out that I allowed it to
20:02
Speaker 1: basically ruin my life for three years. I tried extremely
20:05
Speaker 1: hard to separate it, to compartmentalize, to just basically look
20:10
Speaker 1: at it as entertainment, but I just couldn't do it,
20:13
Speaker 1: mainly because, to be clear, this wasn't portrayed to me
20:17
Speaker 1: as something that might happen. This was portrayed to me
20:20
Speaker 1: as something that was a done deal. It's just a
20:22
Speaker 1: matter of when and how, And it kept getting delayed
20:25
Speaker 1: and delayed and delayed, and then earlier this year, basically
20:31
Speaker 1: when it became clear that Warner Brothers Discovery was gonna
20:34
Speaker 1: be sold, it was obvious to me that if this
20:39
Speaker 1: was ever real at any level, it wasn't anymore. And
20:44
Speaker 1: I was really just curious as to Okay, was any
20:47
Speaker 1: of us ever real Was this a total, bizarre, nonsensical,
20:52
Speaker 1: incredibly intricate, and at times convincing fraud because some of
20:57
Speaker 1: what I was being told turned out to be true,
21:00
Speaker 1: gluting elements of the Warner Brothers Discovery sale situation, and
21:06
Speaker 1: even this past week, even this past week, I was
21:12
Speaker 1: really brought back into this, not at one hundred percent,
21:14
Speaker 1: but I was psychologically. I was like, oh no, here
21:18
Speaker 1: we go again, because when the Netflix dea was announced,
21:23
Speaker 1: it was made clear that CNN was not part of
21:27
Speaker 1: that equation, and part of what I had been told
21:31
Speaker 1: earlier this year. As this never ending machinations of this
21:36
Speaker 1: alleged black swan event kept being communicated to me in
21:40
Speaker 1: very bizarre ways. The really one of the last pieces
21:45
Speaker 1: of the narrative was I was told that John Malone
21:48
Speaker 1: was gonna purchase CNN himself. I don't think he could
21:52
Speaker 1: do it by himself, but I mean he would take
21:54
Speaker 1: effectively under this scenario, controlling interest of CNN. And so
21:59
Speaker 1: when I heard, okay, Netflix is buying Warner Brothers Discovery,
22:04
Speaker 1: but they're not buying CNN, does that mean that that's
22:07
Speaker 1: still a possibility and by the way, just to be clear,
22:10
Speaker 1: I didn't want that to be a possibility. I want
22:12
Speaker 1: this to be done. I want this to have never
22:14
Speaker 1: been a possible scenario. I would at this point I'd
22:18
Speaker 1: rather have been somehow scammed out of three years of
22:21
Speaker 1: my life and be done with it, rather than have
22:24
Speaker 1: a situation where somehow, some way this actually occurs, but
22:29
Speaker 1: I end up missing the boat in some way, shape
22:32
Speaker 1: or forward somehow do I have no idea why that
22:35
Speaker 1: would have occurred. I didn't do anything wrong. In fact,
22:38
Speaker 1: I think I handled the situation better than anybody else
22:41
Speaker 1: I know possibly could have under the circumstances. But I
22:44
Speaker 1: would much rather this have just been something that was
22:47
Speaker 1: never gonna happen, and I would most like to know
22:51
Speaker 1: what the fuck actually did occur, if anything, But I'm
22:54
Speaker 1: also convinced that that's never gonna happen.
22:56
Speaker 2: I'm never gonna get closure on this.
22:59
Speaker 1: Well, when the paramount hostile takeover story hit, my friend
23:05
Speaker 1: who has only communicated with me very sporadically over the
23:10
Speaker 1: last few months, claiming that he's near death, which is
23:13
Speaker 1: another incredibly bizarre part of this whole inexplicable and excruciatingly
23:19
Speaker 1: difficult situation. He didn't communicate with me directly, but he
23:24
Speaker 1: tweeted that if Paramount does in fact purchase Warner Brothers
23:30
Speaker 1: Communications and Discovery and gets CNN, that it would be
23:35
Speaker 1: a crowning achievement for Trump. Now, when I saw that,
23:40
Speaker 1: I'm like, ah, okay, that to me is as close
23:44
Speaker 1: as I'm ever going to get to the realization or
23:48
Speaker 1: the proof that my source was full of shit, because
23:52
Speaker 1: that goes against a huge part of the narrative that
23:56
Speaker 1: he had been selling to me even earlier than this year. Now,
24:01
Speaker 1: I messaged him very very directly and quite harshly about
24:07
Speaker 1: what he tweeted, and he didn't even respond, which would
24:11
Speaker 1: have never happened six seven months ago. For whatever reasons.
24:16
Speaker 1: I'll never know if it's if it's political, if it's cowardice,
24:20
Speaker 1: if it's logistical with regard to health. I have no
24:24
Speaker 1: fucking idea, And I'm starting to not care because I've
24:28
Speaker 1: concluded I'm never gonna know.
24:30
Speaker 2: I'm never gonna have closure on this.
24:32
Speaker 1: I'm never gonna have an understanding as to what really transpired.
24:36
Speaker 1: There's still, in my mind a few different possibilities. Is
24:39
Speaker 1: it possible that there was some reality to this and
24:42
Speaker 1: then I got caught up in corporate machinations, and the
24:45
Speaker 1: entire John Malone plan got jettison because they just decided,
24:50
Speaker 1: fuck it, we can't make Warner Brothers work, and so
24:54
Speaker 1: we're just gonna put the thing up forbid and see
24:57
Speaker 1: what we get.
24:58
Speaker 2: I think that's actually a possibility.
25:01
Speaker 1: Under that scenario, a lot of what I would have
25:03
Speaker 1: been told would have been exaggerated, maybe some of it
25:05
Speaker 1: would have been made up. There might have been a
25:08
Speaker 1: kernel of truth to it, or I'm also very open
25:11
Speaker 1: to the idea of the whole thing was just the
25:12
Speaker 1: most bizarre, nonsensical fraud ever perpetrated on somebody. And I'm
25:17
Speaker 1: even to the point where I'm now accepted that I'm never.
25:20
Speaker 2: Gonna know, even though the last communication I had.
25:23
Speaker 1: With my quote unquote friend slash source was that I
25:27
Speaker 1: will soon know that the full truth of the situation.
25:30
Speaker 1: I presume he was implying when he dies, because he's
25:33
Speaker 1: been telling me that when he dies, I'll be getting
25:36
Speaker 1: all this proof of what he's been telling me, which I.
25:38
Speaker 2: Don't believe for a second, because why would I.
25:41
Speaker 1: I mean, again, I hesitate to even tell parts of
25:44
Speaker 1: this incredibly crazy story that my friend Matt Lauer from
25:48
Speaker 1: her NBC Today's Show host has said many times ought
25:50
Speaker 1: to be a movie, and he's even suggested who should
25:53
Speaker 1: play him in the movie, Stanley Tucci, guess because they're
25:56
Speaker 1: both bald. But you know, because if I start down
26:00
Speaker 1: this path, there's no going back. I mean, it's just
26:02
Speaker 1: it is the absolutely most insane story I've ever been
26:06
Speaker 1: involved with. And I've been involved with a lot of
26:08
Speaker 1: crazy shit and it's been excruciating, and this whole Warner
26:14
Speaker 1: Brothers sale has brought it back up. But I also
26:18
Speaker 1: fully realize I'm never going to know what was real
26:22
Speaker 1: what wasn't and I've known for a long time that
26:25
Speaker 1: nothing good was going to come of this.
26:27
Speaker 2: But you know, the last thing I want to hear,
26:30
Speaker 2: the last thing I want to hear.
26:31
Speaker 1: In this whole situation, is the Netflix sale goes through
26:35
Speaker 1: and John Malone has somehow figured out a way to take.
26:38
Speaker 2: Controlling interest of c it ed, because that would be
26:41
Speaker 2: salt into the wounds.
26:43
Speaker 1: And that's really been you know, the fact that some
26:46
Speaker 1: of what I was told has turned out either to
26:49
Speaker 1: be true or partially true or plausibly true is one
26:53
Speaker 1: of the more excruciating elements of this whole situation, because
26:58
Speaker 1: every time I think, Okay, this was just all bullshit,
27:02
Speaker 1: you know, there's there's all there's a pulse to the
27:05
Speaker 1: idea that maybe there it.
27:07
Speaker 2: Wasn't all bullshit. So I don't know. That's the bottom
27:10
Speaker 2: line on that.
27:11
Speaker 1: I don't know, you know, as far as what's going
27:15
Speaker 1: to happen with the Paramount versus Netflix thing, it's really
27:19
Speaker 1: hard for me to understand how it is that you're
27:21
Speaker 1: going to have somebody in the Trump administration approve a
27:25
Speaker 1: Netflix sale that has clear antitrust problems associated with it
27:31
Speaker 1: when an ally of the president and the president's son
27:35
Speaker 1: in law are working on a hostile takeover of the
27:39
Speaker 1: same company. I mean that you cannot get a larger
27:42
Speaker 1: conflict of interest than that, And and that's not you know,
27:45
Speaker 1: that's not American in my view, that that is, that
27:48
Speaker 1: is something that, regardless of your politics, should be extremely
27:52
Speaker 1: concerning to you. But we don't live in that world
27:54
Speaker 1: anymore where principles and conflicts of interests and and that
27:59
Speaker 1: kind of thing have any significance whatsoever. So obviously we'll
28:03
Speaker 1: continue to keep an eye on it. I don't think
28:06
Speaker 1: we're going to see any kind of conclusion to this
28:08
Speaker 1: for a very long time, although we should know in
28:11
Speaker 1: a fairly short amount of time whether or not the
28:14
Speaker 1: Paramount hostile takeover is even viable or even remotely successful,
28:20
Speaker 1: So we may have some more news on that in
28:23
Speaker 1: the next few episodes of the podcast. Now, speaking of
28:26
Speaker 1: Paramount and CBS and their relationship with Donald Trump, there's
28:32
Speaker 1: been a couple of developments on that front. So I
28:36
Speaker 1: mentioned that Barry Weiss now effectively runs CBS News, which
28:40
Speaker 1: is amazing, and I know amazing in the fact that
28:43
Speaker 1: it's bizarre and a remarkable development, but I also think
28:47
Speaker 1: it's it's good because I generally like Barry Weiss. But
28:51
Speaker 1: Bari Weiss is now essentially hired a new evening news
28:56
Speaker 1: host or anchor person for the CBS Evening News. This is,
29:00
Speaker 1: you know, used to be the most prestigious position in
29:02
Speaker 1: all of news. This is the old Walter Cronkite seat,
29:06
Speaker 1: the old Dan Rather seat, and that position is now
29:09
Speaker 1: going to be filled next year by Tony Ducapill.
29:12
Speaker 2: Now.
29:12
Speaker 1: Tony Dukapill is a guy I mentioned many times on
29:15
Speaker 1: this podcast, partially because during the COVID panic, he went
29:20
Speaker 1: out of his way to highlight a clip from my
29:24
Speaker 1: daughter Grace she was just a little girl back in
29:28
Speaker 1: twenty twenty, twenty twenty one, where my daughter submitted I
29:33
Speaker 1: submitted it for her a video to CBS Evening News.
29:36
Speaker 1: They had asked for kids reaction to what was going
29:39
Speaker 1: on with schools either reopening or not reopening in the
29:44
Speaker 1: midst of the COVID panic, and they used Grace rather
29:48
Speaker 1: prominently in the actual feature that they did, but Tony
29:51
Speaker 1: Ducapill actually used it in the teas, so Grace's clip
29:57
Speaker 1: was played twice. So Tony used it in the teas
30:01
Speaker 1: or the promo for the actual segment, and he didn't
30:04
Speaker 1: just play Grace's clip, which was not surprising because you know,
30:08
Speaker 1: she's a beautiful blonde girl with some charisma even back then.
30:14
Speaker 1: But what was really interesting to me, and we played
30:17
Speaker 1: this clip several times in the past on the program,
30:20
Speaker 1: is that Tony mimicked Grace saying why why why? In
30:26
Speaker 1: other words, Grace was asking why are we doing this?
30:29
Speaker 1: Why aren't we doing this? And Tony said.
30:31
Speaker 2: Why why why? And he wasn't mocking Grace.
30:35
Speaker 1: I interpreted as Tony was amplifying Grace, and I took
30:41
Speaker 1: it as a sign and you got to remember, the
30:44
Speaker 1: atmosphere at the time was that the news media was
30:47
Speaker 1: completely one thousand percent down with the narrative of the
30:51
Speaker 1: COVID panic.
30:52
Speaker 2: So any sign of any kind.
30:56
Speaker 1: Of pushback was like, Oh my god, that's amazing. And
31:02
Speaker 1: that was from a legacy media perspective, one of the
31:05
Speaker 1: first times I saw anybody willing to push back at all.
31:09
Speaker 1: And Tony was essentially using grace, in my opinion, to
31:14
Speaker 1: give a wink.
31:14
Speaker 2: And a nod to the audience that he believed that
31:18
Speaker 2: this was a lot of bullshit. That was my interpretation.
31:21
Speaker 1: Well, that interpretation, I think has been vindicated many many
31:25
Speaker 1: times in the five years or whatever it's been four
31:28
Speaker 1: or five years since, and we've documented that on this
31:31
Speaker 1: podcast several times. I think Tony does a great job
31:34
Speaker 1: on the CBS Morning News Show. In fact, he does
31:37
Speaker 1: such a great job on the morning news show. I'm
31:39
Speaker 1: kind of surprised as getting the evening news anchor position
31:42
Speaker 1: because I think he's better suited as a morning show
31:46
Speaker 1: host than as an evening news anchor. But it's a
31:50
Speaker 1: more prestigious position, it's a more powerful position. It's possible
31:54
Speaker 1: that Tony was in a toxic situation in the mornings
31:58
Speaker 1: there because his co hosts are liberals, and you may
32:02
Speaker 1: recall we talked about this on the podcast. I think
32:04
Speaker 1: this was at the beginning of this year where he
32:07
Speaker 1: got embroiled in a bullshit controversy because he asked some
32:11
Speaker 1: very legitimate questions from a non liberal perspective and liberals
32:15
Speaker 1: went bananas. By the way, liberals are going crazy over
32:18
Speaker 1: the fact that Tony has gotten this position.
32:21
Speaker 2: There's a lot of.
32:21
Speaker 1: Internal discord apparently at CBS, according to one news article,
32:27
Speaker 1: where CBS staffers are very upset that Tony has gotten
32:30
Speaker 1: this position, which only furthers my belief that Tony is
32:34
Speaker 1: at the very least a moderate, if not a closet conservative.
32:39
Speaker 1: And the fact that Bari Weiss is the one making
32:43
Speaker 1: this decision, I think is very telling. I mean, she's
32:47
Speaker 1: a non liberal, or at least based upon the current
32:50
Speaker 1: definition of liberals, she's non woke. Tony is clearly non woke.
32:53
Speaker 1: By the way, Bari was, as I've already said, very
32:57
Speaker 1: contrarian during COVID. I think she probably sees the same
33:01
Speaker 1: thing with regard to Tony, and now Tony is getting
33:04
Speaker 1: this very very plumb position. Now it's not nearly as
33:07
Speaker 1: prestigious as it used to be. But I think it's
33:10
Speaker 1: a positive development and it's a sign that Bory Weis
33:14
Speaker 1: is serious about moving CBS away from the left as
33:19
Speaker 1: much as they have been over the last several decades.
33:21
Speaker 2: And it's also.
33:22
Speaker 1: Maybe a sign who knows, everyone's looking at the tea
33:25
Speaker 1: leaves here? Is it a sign that CBS is trying
33:30
Speaker 1: to continue to kiss up to Donald Trump in the
33:33
Speaker 1: wake of the whole sixty Minutes Kamala Harris Bill Whittaker
33:38
Speaker 1: interview controversy where there was a settlement between CBS and
33:43
Speaker 1: Donald Trump.
33:44
Speaker 2: I don't know.
33:44
Speaker 1: I mean, maybe Bori Weis just decided Tony was the
33:47
Speaker 1: right person for the job and that was it. But
33:50
Speaker 1: because we're living in this game of throne situation when
33:53
Speaker 1: it comes to all the corporate machinations and we have
33:56
Speaker 1: the parent company Paramount trying to make a bide which
34:01
Speaker 1: would have to be approved by the Trump administration, you know,
34:05
Speaker 1: everything in.
34:06
Speaker 2: This realm is a possibility.
34:09
Speaker 1: You know, it could be much more significant than it
34:11
Speaker 1: appears to be on paper. Now when it comes to
34:15
Speaker 1: CBS in sixty minutes, I think they've actually been doing
34:18
Speaker 1: some really good shows recently. We've talked a lot about
34:21
Speaker 1: sixty Minutes in the last few weeks, more so than
34:23
Speaker 1: we normally do. They had another really good segment about
34:26
Speaker 1: the dangers of AI and specifically on young people becoming
34:32
Speaker 1: too involved and too invested in their quote unquote personal
34:37
Speaker 1: relationships with AI, and some young people even committing suicide
34:43
Speaker 1: partially because of.
34:43
Speaker 2: The influence of AI.
34:45
Speaker 1: But I want to reference what sixty Minutes did in
34:49
Speaker 1: an interview that Leslie Stall conducted with Marjorie Taylor Green,
34:54
Speaker 1: because I think that not only is this interesting and significant,
34:58
Speaker 1: but I also believe that what occurred here is close
35:02
Speaker 1: to vindicating my analysis of what's really going on with
35:07
Speaker 1: Marjorie Taylor Green. She is the soon to be former
35:10
Speaker 1: Republican congress person from Georgia who was a huge Donald
35:14
Speaker 1: Trump supporter, a massive cog in the in the MAGA
35:19
Speaker 1: wheel until recently where she essentially got fired from MAGA
35:23
Speaker 1: by Donald Trump, and then she all of a sudden
35:25
Speaker 1: started to criticize Donald Trump, and she used the Epstein files,
35:30
Speaker 1: I believe as an excuse to be able to say, see,
35:34
Speaker 1: I stood up on principle. I got fired from MAGA
35:38
Speaker 1: because Donald Trump is terrified of the Epstein files, and
35:42
Speaker 1: therefore I am dying on a hill worthy of death.
35:48
Speaker 1: I got killed because I stood up for principal, and
35:52
Speaker 1: I don't really believe that. I believe that she got
35:54
Speaker 1: fired from MAGA for a variety of reasons. And now
35:58
Speaker 1: she's trying to rationalize, which is to natural, especially among
36:02
Speaker 1: people in prominent positions. You never want to be able
36:05
Speaker 1: to be forced to accept it you just got fired.
36:08
Speaker 1: You want to be able to spin it in the
36:10
Speaker 1: most positive way possible. And I also theorized that Marjorie
36:15
Speaker 1: Taylor Green was leaving Congress, which she'll be doing in
36:18
Speaker 1: early January, at least in part because she wants to
36:23
Speaker 1: have a full year while Republicans still control Congress, and
36:27
Speaker 1: she clearly doesn't believe that that's going to maintain itself
36:31
Speaker 1: after the midterms of next year.
36:33
Speaker 2: And I'm right there with her. I don't think there's
36:35
Speaker 2: very much chance.
36:36
Speaker 1: I mean a chance, but it certainly a strong likelihood
36:40
Speaker 1: the Democrats are going to win the House of Representatives
36:43
Speaker 1: in the next midterm. And if you're going to do
36:46
Speaker 1: what I think Marjorie Taylor Green is going to do
36:49
Speaker 1: and become a media commentator for a major network.
36:52
Speaker 2: Your value goes down.
36:54
Speaker 1: Significantly as a former Republican if Republicans no longer control
36:59
Speaker 1: the house, because now you're irrelevant. And so I've said
37:03
Speaker 1: recently that I think Marjorie Taylor Green is going to
37:05
Speaker 1: make a play to be a media commentator, probably on CNN. Well,
37:11
Speaker 1: there's no better way to cleanse yourself of MAGA and
37:17
Speaker 1: make yourself clean enough to be able to be hired
37:22
Speaker 1: by a CNN then for sixty minutes, which is still
37:27
Speaker 1: considered to be extremely prestigious within the legacy media world.
37:31
Speaker 2: To do a softball feature on you.
37:35
Speaker 1: And that's exactly what Marjorie Taylor Green had done this
37:39
Speaker 1: past weekend. She was cleansed of her maganess, and I
37:45
Speaker 1: think she did so for very cynical reasons and probably
37:49
Speaker 1: very effectively, because, as it turned out, I had to
37:53
Speaker 1: laugh about this. Not only did she get the sixty
37:57
Speaker 1: minutes treatment, but then she immediately right after the she
38:01
Speaker 1: immediately did a major interview on CNN where she said
38:05
Speaker 1: basically the same kind of stuff. So now now that
38:08
Speaker 1: she's been cleansed of the MAGA, it's been washed off
38:12
Speaker 1: of her. The stench is gone. In the minds of
38:15
Speaker 1: the legacy media.
38:17
Speaker 2: Now I think.
38:18
Speaker 1: We'll probably I'm almost positive we're going to hear that
38:20
Speaker 1: she gets hired, probably by CNN as a commentator, as
38:25
Speaker 1: soon as her days as an official congress person are
38:28
Speaker 1: up in early January. As far as what she said
38:32
Speaker 1: to Leslie Stall, there was one clip in particular that
38:36
Speaker 1: I found to be very, very very interesting. Now I
38:41
Speaker 1: acknowledge my bias here as any human being, as a
38:45
Speaker 1: bias towards Hey, I was right about this, especially when
38:48
Speaker 1: you take a contrarian and you know, seemingly unpopular position.
38:54
Speaker 1: But my position on Donald Trump's opposition to the release
38:59
Speaker 1: of the Epstein files, I understand very few people, especially
39:04
Speaker 1: people that don't like Donald Trump, have agreed with me
39:06
Speaker 1: on this. My position has been that Trump understands two
39:11
Speaker 1: things very very well in this story. He understands the
39:16
Speaker 1: media and media firestorms, and how incompetent the media is
39:20
Speaker 1: and how big a story this has become, to the
39:24
Speaker 1: point where whatever is in the Epstein files is going
39:27
Speaker 1: to be completely taken out of context, and that people
39:31
Speaker 1: are going to get destroyed, whether they deserve to be
39:33
Speaker 1: destroyed or not. He understands that he also knew Epstein
39:39
Speaker 1: and he knew Glenne Maxwell, so and he knows that
39:42
Speaker 1: Epstein wasn't murdered in a federal prison. So it's my
39:47
Speaker 1: belief that Trump probably has enough information or knowledge about
39:51
Speaker 1: this case to understand the basic reality that there's nothing
39:57
Speaker 1: earth shattering in these quote unquote files, that the story
40:01
Speaker 1: has been completely blown out of proportion. And when Trump
40:04
Speaker 1: calls it a quote unquote hoax, that's what he means.
40:08
Speaker 1: In my opinion, he's referring to the Epstein narrative, the larger,
40:14
Speaker 1: massive conspiracy, huge child sex trafficking ring narrative, that's the hoax.
40:23
Speaker 1: And so I have theorized that Trump, even though it
40:27
Speaker 1: doesn't sound like Trump, because he's not a guy that
40:30
Speaker 1: really cares about others or stands on principle very much,
40:34
Speaker 1: has been against the opening of the quote unquote Epstein
40:39
Speaker 1: files because he knows that innocent people are gonna get harmed.
40:44
Speaker 2: Now, maybe he thinks he's one of those.
40:46
Speaker 1: Innocent people that's going to get harmed, or maybe people
40:49
Speaker 1: close to him, buddies of his, are innocent people that
40:51
Speaker 1: are gonna get harmed, which would give him enough of
40:54
Speaker 1: a motivation to say, hey, look, we really don't need
40:57
Speaker 1: to be making this bullshit information public because the media
41:01
Speaker 1: is going to run hogwild with it. But then, finally,
41:05
Speaker 1: especially once he realized he was going to lose the
41:08
Speaker 1: vote to quote unquote open the Epstein files, Trump flipped
41:13
Speaker 1: and said, no, let's go ahead and do it. Basically,
41:16
Speaker 1: in my opinion, he said, Okay, fuck it, I don't
41:18
Speaker 1: care about it. This is people getting harmed. And he
41:21
Speaker 1: immediately shifted to, all right, let's take a look at
41:24
Speaker 1: all the Democrats that are named in the Epstein files,
41:28
Speaker 1: because you know, he's trying to shift the narrative. Okay,
41:31
Speaker 1: we're going to destroy innocent people. Let's make sure it's
41:34
Speaker 1: my enemies, or at least people that I perceive as
41:37
Speaker 1: my enemies today. So I was of that belief even
41:43
Speaker 1: before the Marjorie Taylor Green interview with sixty Minutes in
41:48
Speaker 1: Leslie Stall. But then Leslie Stall asked her about this
41:51
Speaker 1: very issue, and at first, Marjorie Taylor Green is playing
41:57
Speaker 1: up the whole idea that she fought against Trump on
42:01
Speaker 1: releasing the Epstein files, and you know, creating that whole
42:06
Speaker 1: narrative of that she got canned from MAGA for standing
42:10
Speaker 1: up for principle, standing up for the victims so that
42:13
Speaker 1: they could have a voice. And then at the very end,
42:17
Speaker 1: at the very end, Leslie Stahl asks a very simple
42:21
Speaker 1: but profound question. She asks Marjorie Taylor Green to tell
42:25
Speaker 1: her what Trump's explanation for why he didn't want to
42:30
Speaker 1: release the files was. And that's when I think we
42:34
Speaker 1: may have actually gotten to the truth of the matter,
42:37
Speaker 1: which is one consistent with what I have been saying
42:42
Speaker 1: all along and what I just told you a few
42:44
Speaker 1: moments ago. And here's what that sounded like on CBS
42:48
Speaker 1: and sixty minutes.
42:50
Speaker 3: We did talk about the Epstein files, and he was
42:53
Speaker 3: extremely angry at me that I had signed the discharge
42:57
Speaker 3: petition to release the files. Fully believe that those women
43:01
Speaker 3: deserve everything they're asking. They're asking for all of it
43:04
Speaker 3: to come out. They deserve it. And he was furious
43:08
Speaker 3: with me. What did he say? He said that it
43:12
Speaker 3: was going to hurt people.
43:14
Speaker 1: Now the way Marjorie Taylor Green said that it was
43:17
Speaker 1: almost like a concession, Like the tone of her voice
43:22
Speaker 1: changed when she said, well, yeah, he doesn't want people
43:26
Speaker 1: to get hurt, which I think is the most likely
43:32
Speaker 1: and the most logical scenario here, even though that doesn't
43:35
Speaker 1: sound very much like the Donald Trump that we know now. Look,
43:41
Speaker 1: I have said time and time again that the media
43:44
Speaker 1: is gonna find what they want in these Epstein files
43:47
Speaker 1: when they're finally released.
43:48
Speaker 2: The narrative is too big to fail.
43:51
Speaker 1: There are gonna be innocent people destroyed, whether they deserve
43:55
Speaker 1: to be or not. Obviously, innocent people inherently don't deserve
43:58
Speaker 1: to be destroyed, but that's gonna happen in this situation
44:01
Speaker 1: because the story is too large. The masses were promised
44:05
Speaker 1: a public execution of elites, and the media has effectively
44:09
Speaker 1: promised to give it to them, and so that's gonna happen.
44:13
Speaker 1: So there's no way that we're gonna get a conclusive,
44:17
Speaker 1: clear cut narrative of there was nothing in the Epstein files.
44:20
Speaker 2: That's not gonna happen. I believe that that.
44:23
Speaker 1: Will be the essence of the reality, but I'm a
44:28
Speaker 1: thousand percent positive that that reality is not going to
44:32
Speaker 1: be properly portrayed because the media has zero incentive for
44:38
Speaker 1: that to be the way that the narrative is portrayed.
44:42
Speaker 1: The audience doesn't want that, the media doesn't want that.
44:44
Speaker 1: They're deeply invested in this concocted, massive conspiracy narrative that
44:50
Speaker 1: they have created, so they're gonna find evidence to support
44:54
Speaker 1: that narrative. They have a conclusion, they're gonna find something
44:58
Speaker 1: to support it. And when you we have that much
45:01
Speaker 1: information and that much bullshit, and that's what grand jury
45:06
Speaker 1: findings or or documents are really all about. It's just
45:09
Speaker 1: throwing everything you have up against the wall. I Mean,
45:13
Speaker 1: one of the dumbest things in our entire judicial system
45:16
Speaker 1: is the idea that people take grand jury to be
45:20
Speaker 1: credible or serious.
45:22
Speaker 2: I mean, that's a huge.
45:24
Speaker 1: Part of what happened in the Penn State Joe Paterno
45:26
Speaker 1: Jerry Sandusky case.
45:28
Speaker 2: People have a misunderstanding of what.
45:30
Speaker 1: A grand jury is. It sounds very significant, powerful, credible.
45:35
Speaker 1: It's total bullshit. I mean it's literally bullshit. And that's
45:41
Speaker 1: what we're going to fight out of these Epstein files
45:44
Speaker 1: for lack of a better term, and I am very
45:47
Speaker 1: confident that there's no one is going to be found
45:50
Speaker 1: to have committed, you know, significant crimes that they were
45:55
Speaker 1: never prosecuted for.
45:56
Speaker 2: That's not gonna happen.
45:57
Speaker 1: But I'm also real enough to know the media is
46:02
Speaker 1: going to give us the narrative that we want, meaning
46:05
Speaker 1: we the masses and which fits their agenda. No one's
46:08
Speaker 1: going to admit that they were wrong on this. No
46:10
Speaker 1: one ever admits they're wrong on anything, but they're definitely
46:13
Speaker 1: got not going to admit they were wrong on something
46:14
Speaker 1: this big. But I believe that Marjorie Taylor Green, in
46:18
Speaker 1: all likelihood, essentially revealed the truth of this situation. And
46:25
Speaker 1: by the way, I've said this before, but it bears repeating.
46:28
Speaker 1: If she really believed that she was going to be
46:31
Speaker 1: totally vindicated on the Epstein files, why would she have
46:36
Speaker 1: already announced the exact date when she was leaving Congress.
46:42
Speaker 2: Why would she do that?
46:44
Speaker 1: To me, that's completely inconsistent with the entire theory of
46:50
Speaker 1: this situation. I mean, if she was going to be
46:53
Speaker 1: totally vindicated, then the whole world would have changed. She
46:58
Speaker 1: would at least have a chance of holding on to
47:00
Speaker 1: her congressional seed. I mean, she'd be able to take
47:03
Speaker 1: this massive victory lap.
47:06
Speaker 2: I don't know.
47:06
Speaker 1: I guess there's a scenario where they come out in
47:09
Speaker 1: mid December, she takes her victory lap, and she leaves
47:11
Speaker 1: to go into a media gig. I guess that's possible.
47:15
Speaker 1: But to me, if I really, if I put all
47:18
Speaker 1: my chips down on Trump being destroyed by these Epstein files,
47:24
Speaker 1: and because that's the premise, you have to believe, right
47:28
Speaker 1: to believe, that's the whole argument that the left and
47:32
Speaker 1: people like Marjorie Taylor Green, now whatever you want to
47:34
Speaker 1: describe her as left, right, center, MAGA, whatever, former MAGA,
47:37
Speaker 1: the whole premise is Trump doesn't want the Epstein files
47:41
Speaker 1: released because he has something to hide personally, which makes
47:46
Speaker 1: no goddamn sense because he's never.
47:48
Speaker 2: Been sued in this case.
47:49
Speaker 1: The accusers have only praised him, and most importantly, we
47:52
Speaker 1: had a goddamn Biden administration for four years that was
47:56
Speaker 1: willing to indict him over everything. They never elked anything
48:01
Speaker 1: from the Epstein files. It just makes no goddamn sense.
48:06
Speaker 1: And I really believe that at some level Marjorie Taylor
48:09
Speaker 1: Green understands this, and that she's grand standing on the
48:12
Speaker 1: Epstein file situation to come up with an explanation for
48:16
Speaker 1: why she got fired from MAGA and to set herself
48:19
Speaker 1: up for a media career actress. She leaves Congress in
48:23
Speaker 1: early January. So that's my prediction on that particular situation,
48:27
Speaker 1: and so far, I think I've nailed it on the
48:30
Speaker 1: whole Marjorie Taylor Green Situation. Thanks for listening to today's
48:34
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