1 00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:05,080 Speaker 1: Michael, let's pronounced gentle, not gentile. Don't make us goobers 2 00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:05,640 Speaker 1: look stupid. 3 00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:09,760 Speaker 2: Thank you, corn a fair Bays Morning ding Dong. Hey Mike, 4 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:13,520 Speaker 2: I've got to disagree with you in this sense. Everybody 5 00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:16,560 Speaker 2: keeps talking about radical Islam and how they want to 6 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:17,919 Speaker 2: kill everybody. 7 00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:19,880 Speaker 3: I disagree. 8 00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:26,240 Speaker 2: That is mainstream Islam. Radical Islam are the ones that 9 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:29,880 Speaker 2: want to live in peace with everybody else and. 10 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:34,640 Speaker 3: Not show their true colors. I think we're calling it wrong. 11 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:42,319 Speaker 4: I think there I think there is. I can't call 12 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:47,720 Speaker 4: it a sect, but I think there probably are some 13 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:54,160 Speaker 4: Muslims who are not out to start a bud into fada, 14 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:56,200 Speaker 4: and they they don't. 15 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:02,760 Speaker 1: They're they're kind of like this, this is touchy territory. 16 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:06,400 Speaker 4: I say, they're kind of like nonpracticing Catholics or non 17 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:10,319 Speaker 4: practicing Jews or non practicing Christians that well, well, i'll 18 00:01:10,319 --> 00:01:11,959 Speaker 4: take this little part, and I'll take this little part, 19 00:01:11,959 --> 00:01:13,640 Speaker 4: and I'll take this little part, and they don't take 20 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:14,160 Speaker 4: the whole part. 21 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:16,880 Speaker 1: But I think I. 22 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:22,880 Speaker 4: Think whether you are right or I'm right is immaterial. 23 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:29,759 Speaker 4: What I do believe is that the radical Islamas are 24 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:34,240 Speaker 4: the ones that are causing the problems those Muslims that 25 00:01:34,319 --> 00:01:37,120 Speaker 4: may live among us, that are not out to kill 26 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:39,120 Speaker 4: everybody are not the problem. 27 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:40,880 Speaker 1: It's the radicals. 28 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:46,760 Speaker 4: Elon must recently ask a question I think probably a 29 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:50,960 Speaker 4: lot of Americans have been asking for years, and Republicans 30 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:54,640 Speaker 4: used to be accused of this all the time. I 31 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:57,000 Speaker 4: don't remember how long ago it was, but when when 32 00:01:57,080 --> 00:02:00,280 Speaker 4: Rush was on air, Rush Rush made a comment one 33 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:04,080 Speaker 4: time joking about how you know he'll get from He 34 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:08,200 Speaker 4: called them seminar I think seminar callers, or he get 35 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:11,120 Speaker 4: emails about you know, wow, you just get your talking 36 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:14,560 Speaker 4: points from the Republican National Committee every day. Well, if 37 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:18,880 Speaker 4: you ever listen to Rush, you knew that he, of anyone, 38 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:20,639 Speaker 4: never took talking points. 39 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:24,880 Speaker 1: That was all original Rush. 40 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:27,560 Speaker 4: And I've gotten the same accusation before, all you're just 41 00:02:27,639 --> 00:02:30,200 Speaker 4: you know, on a text message because oh, you're just 42 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:34,079 Speaker 4: you're just mouthing the Trump talking points or whatever. No, actually, 43 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:36,520 Speaker 4: there's a lot of things about Trump that Trump does 44 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:38,640 Speaker 4: that I disagree with, and some of the ways that 45 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:41,400 Speaker 4: he actually behaves or says that I disagree with. So no, 46 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:46,520 Speaker 4: I don't get In fact, I pretty much severed my 47 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:50,520 Speaker 4: relationships with what I would call the so called muggety 48 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:53,560 Speaker 4: munks of the Republican Party A long time ago, A 49 00:02:53,600 --> 00:02:56,519 Speaker 4: long long time ago. If you heard the first hour 50 00:02:56,560 --> 00:03:00,720 Speaker 4: of this program today, in which I hopefully have disrated 51 00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:05,480 Speaker 4: the Douglas County commissioners and the Douglas County George Brockler 52 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:07,919 Speaker 4: of the DA down there and the Douglas County sheriff 53 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 4: and the US say I'm just a mouthpiece for Republicans. 54 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:15,480 Speaker 1: You got to go listen to that and then come 55 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:16,840 Speaker 1: back talk to me again. 56 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:25,000 Speaker 4: Anyway, Musk was reacting to a familiar spectacle within minutes 57 00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:29,399 Speaker 4: or hours of any event, leading Democrats, left leaning pundits, 58 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:33,000 Speaker 4: and of course the cabal. But I repeat myself, suddenly 59 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:36,120 Speaker 4: begin using the same phrase, the same framing, sometimes almost 60 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:38,920 Speaker 4: exactly the same sentence on TV, on X, all across 61 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:43,400 Speaker 4: the interwebs, and the pattern becomes so obvious that it's 62 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:46,760 Speaker 4: kind of a dark joke for those of us who 63 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:51,200 Speaker 4: are steeped in all of this. We all see the copies. 64 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:57,320 Speaker 4: The question is whether there is in fact a script. Well, 65 00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:01,720 Speaker 4: there is not a single from you know, the great 66 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:06,000 Speaker 4: Oz behind the curtain, but something that's actually more durable 67 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:14,080 Speaker 4: and more effective. It's a layered system of lists, war rooms, 68 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:20,440 Speaker 4: donor funded messaging shops, informal chat networks that all work 69 00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:24,760 Speaker 4: together as an organism, kind of a distributed pollup bureau 70 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:30,680 Speaker 4: for the left. I want to trace the history of 71 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:35,480 Speaker 4: that system and describe its current machinery. And then let's 72 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:40,320 Speaker 4: answer elon Musk question as precisely as a public record 73 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:40,960 Speaker 4: might allow. 74 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:44,600 Speaker 1: And the picture emerges, not of some. 75 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:49,640 Speaker 4: Spontaneous hang up a second, not as let me turn 76 00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:52,600 Speaker 4: that off now you can turn it back, Not as 77 00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:59,960 Speaker 4: some sort of spontaneous consensus. It's actually a deliberate coordination. 78 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:03,279 Speaker 4: Here's a montage as an example. You may have heard 79 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:04,000 Speaker 4: this before. 80 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:08,160 Speaker 1: Our latest possibility, Treasure Valley Communities. 81 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:10,200 Speaker 3: Deal Pass West Crucius Communities. 82 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:13,840 Speaker 5: Eastern Iowish Communities, Mister communities. We're extremely proud of the 83 00:05:13,920 --> 00:05:18,080 Speaker 5: quality Dallas journalism that US four news produces, but. 84 00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:25,359 Speaker 1: The sharing of biased and. 85 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:48,080 Speaker 5: Unfortunately dangerous democracy. 86 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:52,679 Speaker 4: Now you mean you mean we call that from the 87 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:57,360 Speaker 4: Sinclair television group in which somebody had captured everybody saying 88 00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:01,839 Speaker 4: all the same thing. So let's start with that from 89 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:05,679 Speaker 4: a president might warn of a border emergency, and within 90 00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:09,320 Speaker 4: hours the Democrats will declare that it's a manufacture crisis. 91 00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:14,279 Speaker 4: So a state titens its voting rules, those same politicians, 92 00:06:14,839 --> 00:06:19,279 Speaker 4: that same cabal will then denounce that as voter suppression. 93 00:06:18,880 --> 00:06:20,120 Speaker 1: Or Jim Crow two point Oh. 94 00:06:20,279 --> 00:06:24,760 Speaker 4: Remember that a republican appointment or a publican policy gets 95 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:31,480 Speaker 4: announced and suddenly everything is a what a threat to democracy? 96 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:37,760 Speaker 4: These phrases are not inevitable descriptions of the facts. Those 97 00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:43,320 Speaker 4: phrases are chosen there, they're tested in front of groups, 98 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:46,719 Speaker 4: and then they get distributed. The oddity is not the 99 00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:49,960 Speaker 4: party uses slogans. Every party has a slogan. Is that 100 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:55,320 Speaker 4: the slogans appear simultaneously everywhere at the same time, all 101 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:58,080 Speaker 4: the way from Senate leadership to cable anchors to mid 102 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:01,800 Speaker 4: level influencers. And it's all with lightning speed and of 103 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:08,760 Speaker 4: course uniformity. If you ask how that became possible, you 104 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:12,119 Speaker 4: go back. This will really take you back. Remember list 105 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:15,040 Speaker 4: serves that took place back in the early two thousands. 106 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:19,560 Speaker 4: It was basic technology, private email list, but the social 107 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:22,760 Speaker 4: innovation of that private those private email lists list serves 108 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:26,880 Speaker 4: was new. I'm still a member of several list serves, yes, 109 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:31,720 Speaker 4: primarily about economies. Then a small group of progressive strategists 110 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:34,320 Speaker 4: and writers realized they could take that what used to 111 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:38,400 Speaker 4: be informal chatter and turn that into a discipline, backroom operation. 112 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:46,080 Speaker 4: The early Townhouse List on the left, it gathered liberal bloggers, activists, 113 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:50,720 Speaker 4: media figures into a single confidential thread where those stories 114 00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:55,080 Speaker 4: could be pitched, spins could be tested, responses coordinated, and 115 00:07:55,160 --> 00:07:57,679 Speaker 4: do all of that before any of it went public. 116 00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:03,200 Speaker 4: That list estable the pattern. It established a private room 117 00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:06,120 Speaker 4: where partisans could plan the next day's narrative while the 118 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:08,800 Speaker 4: public imagine they were watching all these independent. 119 00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:09,000 Speaker 1: Minds at work. 120 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:13,400 Speaker 4: Why I heard I saw it on Facebook, I saw 121 00:08:13,400 --> 00:08:15,040 Speaker 4: it over on Next, I saw it on Channel nine, 122 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:19,040 Speaker 4: I saw on the Denver Compost. The model reached its 123 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:24,360 Speaker 4: most famous and probably infamous, when we discovered the journal List. 124 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:25,560 Speaker 1: Remember the journal List. 125 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:28,680 Speaker 4: That was a private Google group created by Ezra Klimb 126 00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:32,800 Speaker 4: back in seven for about four hundred left leaning journalists, academics, 127 00:08:32,800 --> 00:08:37,760 Speaker 4: and policy professionals. Its state of purpose was to discuss 128 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:41,719 Speaker 4: politics in the media, but the practical effect was, as 129 00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:44,720 Speaker 4: we found out by the leaked emails, was to shape 130 00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:50,320 Speaker 4: the messaging in ways that helped democrats and her Republican. 131 00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:56,160 Speaker 6: Michael in regard to this Australia shooting many many years ago. 132 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:59,359 Speaker 3: They of course had their gun buy back, But here's. 133 00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:03,200 Speaker 6: My question, why the heck would you have a mandatory 134 00:09:03,520 --> 00:09:08,480 Speaker 6: gun buy back only to allow people to get licensed 135 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:10,240 Speaker 6: to buy weapons. 136 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:12,040 Speaker 3: Especially terrorists. 137 00:09:12,080 --> 00:09:19,080 Speaker 6: It's insane, yes it is. 138 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:21,120 Speaker 1: But they're hunting. 139 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:27,480 Speaker 4: Rifles, very different, very different assault weapons, right, They're not 140 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:28,440 Speaker 4: assault weapons. 141 00:09:28,480 --> 00:09:31,520 Speaker 1: They're they're hunting rifles fully semi automatic. 142 00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:35,600 Speaker 4: Yes, and by the way, there are level action shotguns. 143 00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:39,560 Speaker 1: You saw that text too. What you saw that text too, 144 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:43,559 Speaker 1: Back to the. 145 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:47,000 Speaker 4: Back to the narratives and how they you know, the 146 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:50,560 Speaker 4: talking points, how they get you know, established, so this 147 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:56,120 Speaker 4: journal list gets exposed. Yes, the left was as embarrassed 148 00:09:56,160 --> 00:09:58,160 Speaker 4: as the left can get, which is not very much. 149 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:01,800 Speaker 4: But they at least shut down the list. But shutting 150 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:05,560 Speaker 4: down the list doesn't mean that they didn't keep doing 151 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:06,920 Speaker 4: what the list does. 152 00:10:07,679 --> 00:10:11,680 Speaker 1: They just migrated and then something. 153 00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:16,120 Speaker 4: You wonder why I refer to Well, there's many reasons. 154 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:18,319 Speaker 4: But one of many reasons why I refer to the 155 00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:24,760 Speaker 4: Cabal as the Cabal, that unholy alliance of the bruling elite, 156 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:30,400 Speaker 4: tech giants and the dominant media. Well, they have a 157 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:36,000 Speaker 4: smaller group that replaced the journal list called the Cabalist 158 00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:42,600 Speaker 4: c Aba lid, the cabal list that started to take shape, 159 00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:47,439 Speaker 4: and then all the progressive activists built even wider networks 160 00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:50,959 Speaker 4: Game Changer Saloon, that's the closed Google group of more 161 00:10:50,960 --> 00:10:56,640 Speaker 4: than a thousand writers, operaties, and organizers community organizers. Remember 162 00:10:56,640 --> 00:11:00,920 Speaker 4: how obamamus so proud he was a commune unity organizer 163 00:11:01,320 --> 00:11:05,160 Speaker 4: that always scared the crap out of me every time 164 00:11:05,160 --> 00:11:10,120 Speaker 4: he talked about his community organizing days. Because those nngos, 165 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:14,160 Speaker 4: those non government organizations that do all the community organizing 166 00:11:14,360 --> 00:11:16,720 Speaker 4: are paid for by you and me through our tax dollars, 167 00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:22,280 Speaker 4: and they work against our interests. So that group mixed 168 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:26,679 Speaker 4: journalists from you know, CN and or the network's reuters, 169 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:31,880 Speaker 4: all the major online newspapers with staff from Union's environmental groups, 170 00:11:32,040 --> 00:11:36,040 Speaker 4: planned parenthood. They shared talking points, they tested narratives, They 171 00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:38,400 Speaker 4: warned everybody you know, Oh, it was like Skull and 172 00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:41,079 Speaker 4: Bones at Yale. Don't you dare ever talk about this 173 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:44,800 Speaker 4: first rule of fight club. You don't talk about fight club. 174 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:47,320 Speaker 4: And so you end up with the result that is 175 00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:55,000 Speaker 4: an informal but very powerful alignment mechanism. Advocacy professionals supplied 176 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:58,320 Speaker 4: the red meat, the journalists and the commentators supplied the 177 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:01,400 Speaker 4: megaphone and the light house. When it's controlled by the 178 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:04,960 Speaker 4: Democrats and the Democrat National Committee could then count on 179 00:12:05,040 --> 00:12:09,800 Speaker 4: a friendly public sphere. Why we can just depend on 180 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:18,520 Speaker 4: them to defend us. Over time, that improvised architecture actually 181 00:12:18,559 --> 00:12:24,880 Speaker 4: became real institutions. David Brock formed Media Matters for America, 182 00:12:25,200 --> 00:12:28,240 Speaker 4: which started out as a so called watchdog to you know, 183 00:12:28,360 --> 00:12:32,440 Speaker 4: monitor conservative media, and it still plays that role, but 184 00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:35,880 Speaker 4: it's also developed a second face that is a lot 185 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:37,439 Speaker 4: less visible to the public. 186 00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:39,839 Speaker 1: It has not to. 187 00:12:39,760 --> 00:12:42,640 Speaker 4: Be confused with Al Sharpton, but it has something called 188 00:12:42,679 --> 00:12:48,440 Speaker 4: its Action Network and a project called Message Matters. It 189 00:12:48,559 --> 00:12:53,120 Speaker 4: sends out it literally sends out daily talking point memos. No, 190 00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:55,240 Speaker 4: not to the general public, you can't get onto it, 191 00:12:55,640 --> 00:13:02,040 Speaker 4: but to thousands of Democrat aligned progressive talk show hosts 192 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:06,920 Speaker 4: and progressive influencers. So, for example, when a scandal threatened 193 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:10,840 Speaker 4: the Justice Department over the seizures of the reporter's phone records, 194 00:13:11,640 --> 00:13:14,800 Speaker 4: they sent a memo out providing all of the lines 195 00:13:14,840 --> 00:13:18,520 Speaker 4: to defend the administration and to downplay the danger. The 196 00:13:18,559 --> 00:13:22,079 Speaker 4: memo was in the newspaper article. It was a script 197 00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:27,520 Speaker 4: crafted so that a sympathetic coast or a columnist or 198 00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:29,840 Speaker 4: any sort of surrogate out there speaking on behalf of 199 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:32,920 Speaker 4: the administration would use the same arguments, even the same 200 00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:41,040 Speaker 4: phrasing when they appeared on air. It's the Center for 201 00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:49,360 Speaker 4: American Progress, run by Clinton Friends, plays a parallel role 202 00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:53,280 Speaker 4: at the level of forget the day to day minutia 203 00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:56,199 Speaker 4: of whatever the issue of the day is. The Center 204 00:13:56,240 --> 00:14:00,600 Speaker 4: for American Progress plays a similar role for or the 205 00:14:00,679 --> 00:14:04,839 Speaker 4: day to day, you know, rapid responses at the level 206 00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:09,559 Speaker 4: of ideas. At a more strategic level, it started out 207 00:14:09,600 --> 00:14:12,680 Speaker 4: in think tank for you know, they'd issue policy papers, 208 00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:16,559 Speaker 4: they'd hire fellows, but it also ran what was called 209 00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:20,280 Speaker 4: Progressive Media. That was literally the name of it, Progressing Media. 210 00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:26,160 Speaker 4: That group had daily phone calls, they circulated the message 211 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:30,160 Speaker 4: of the day, They coordinated language across left leaning groups, 212 00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:34,240 Speaker 4: and so the public facing blog of Progressing Media and 213 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:36,680 Speaker 4: the newsletters that was just the tip of the spear. 214 00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:38,880 Speaker 4: That was just for you to you know, if you 215 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:41,080 Speaker 4: got if you were able to get on that list, 216 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:44,240 Speaker 4: you just sawve that. But behind that tip of the 217 00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:51,560 Speaker 4: spear was a routine in which Democrat campaigns. The Center 218 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:55,520 Speaker 4: for American Progress staff and all of the allied media, 219 00:14:55,640 --> 00:14:58,600 Speaker 4: which is pretty much to say, everybody except say Fox 220 00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:03,240 Speaker 4: News or OAAN or you know, newsmas. They agreed on 221 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:07,080 Speaker 4: how to describe, how to describe events, and how the 222 00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:13,840 Speaker 4: pillory their opponents. Internal emails were later discovered that revealed 223 00:15:13,880 --> 00:15:18,200 Speaker 4: close coordination between the Center for the American Progress and 224 00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:21,800 Speaker 4: the Clinton campaign. So I mentioned they were friends. It 225 00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:25,840 Speaker 4: simply confirmed what had long been visible to anybody who's 226 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:31,560 Speaker 4: paying attention. The lines between the Democrat Party, the think tanks, 227 00:15:31,640 --> 00:15:34,520 Speaker 4: and the media were portus, and the messaging flowed freely 228 00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:37,000 Speaker 4: among them. And then by the mid twenty twenties of 229 00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:42,880 Speaker 4: mid twenty tens, that messaging ecosystem had drawn actually grown 230 00:15:42,920 --> 00:15:46,680 Speaker 4: a backbone, and at the core were party institutions like 231 00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:52,320 Speaker 4: the Democrat National Committee's Communications shop. They ran the original 232 00:15:52,360 --> 00:15:55,440 Speaker 4: war room, and the explicit mandate was to drive a 233 00:15:55,560 --> 00:16:02,400 Speaker 4: unified daily message. And then armed around that core were 234 00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:06,480 Speaker 4: all the allied organizations media matters, and all of those 235 00:16:06,520 --> 00:16:10,600 Speaker 4: were all aligned with them, all doing exactly the same thing, 236 00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:12,840 Speaker 4: spreading the same messy. 237 00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:16,480 Speaker 3: Good morning, Michael and Dragon. Michael, welcome back to the 238 00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:18,280 Speaker 3: Land of the Living. Hope you had a good time 239 00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:21,600 Speaker 3: in Montucky on Friday. The rest of us normal Americans 240 00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:24,880 Speaker 3: had to work. And you know, despite it not being 241 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:27,400 Speaker 3: calderon Friday, I still had a good time. It was 242 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:29,440 Speaker 3: a good show and welcome back. 243 00:16:31,400 --> 00:16:34,600 Speaker 4: I want you to know that I worked on Friday, 244 00:16:36,800 --> 00:16:45,000 Speaker 4: family like sharing an airbnb in Missoula, Montana, suffering through 245 00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:49,720 Speaker 4: because we had to be there early two hours of 246 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:54,080 Speaker 4: an actual graduation ceremony, plus you know, an hour beforehand 247 00:16:54,480 --> 00:16:57,960 Speaker 4: and then the time you know, the photos and everything afterwards, 248 00:16:58,240 --> 00:17:01,880 Speaker 4: and then the graduation party and then dinner. 249 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:11,040 Speaker 1: It was work. It was real. The onlything good about 250 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:14,080 Speaker 1: it was anything about red Beard once and I didn't 251 00:17:14,119 --> 00:17:15,280 Speaker 1: think about you will. 252 00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:19,800 Speaker 4: You know, as I as I sat holding forth in 253 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:22,879 Speaker 4: the living room of the airbnb, I thought to myself, well, 254 00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:27,040 Speaker 4: at least dragging red Beard's not here, missus. Red Beard 255 00:17:27,080 --> 00:17:28,320 Speaker 4: could have been there and that would have lied in 256 00:17:28,359 --> 00:17:30,400 Speaker 4: the party yet but probably yeah, for sure. 257 00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:32,920 Speaker 1: Yeah. In twenty twenty five. 258 00:17:33,320 --> 00:17:37,119 Speaker 4: Earlier this year, the Democrat National Committee lauched something called 259 00:17:37,359 --> 00:17:42,760 Speaker 4: It's a live Daily Blueprint. That's the name of Daily Blueprint. 260 00:17:43,320 --> 00:17:46,240 Speaker 4: They lost it from their war room. It's a short 261 00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:51,360 Speaker 4: broadcast and it's designed to set the message every single. 262 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:52,560 Speaker 1: Day Monday through Friday. 263 00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:57,600 Speaker 4: So that's actually formalizing what had already been happening in 264 00:17:57,640 --> 00:18:02,760 Speaker 4: those private email and those lists serves for years. It 265 00:18:02,800 --> 00:18:08,199 Speaker 4: provides the central guidance for an entire political ecosystem, and 266 00:18:08,280 --> 00:18:13,280 Speaker 4: for the Democrats, that ecosystem includes not only the party's infrastructure, 267 00:18:14,440 --> 00:18:19,560 Speaker 4: but the country's dominant newsrooms. Let me repeat that, the 268 00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:26,399 Speaker 4: country's dominant root newsrooms think ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MS 269 00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:29,160 Speaker 4: Now or MS Yesterday, whatever they call the stupid thing. 270 00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:32,000 Speaker 1: That's part of the ecosystem. 271 00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:36,800 Speaker 4: So if you and I do mean you or a 272 00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:41,399 Speaker 4: family member or anybody else or friends are watching ABC, CBS, NBC, 273 00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:47,520 Speaker 4: MS NOW, MS Yesterday or CNN, you're getting fed what 274 00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:52,680 Speaker 4: the Democrat National Committee wants you to hear, almost down 275 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:54,359 Speaker 4: to the very words. 276 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:54,800 Speaker 1: That they use. 277 00:18:56,240 --> 00:19:00,200 Speaker 4: Now you think, oh, but Michael, Republicans do the same thing. 278 00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:04,800 Speaker 4: I challenge you to prove it, because on the Republican 279 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:09,080 Speaker 4: side of the political spectrum, the road is it's uphill, 280 00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:14,280 Speaker 4: it's fragmented, it'sn't about as good a shape as Colorado's 281 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:15,840 Speaker 4: highways and roads and bridges. 282 00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:18,880 Speaker 1: We didn't even have a megaphone effect. 283 00:19:19,600 --> 00:19:23,840 Speaker 4: There's no megaphone effects of institutionally aligned media. Even Fox 284 00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:28,200 Speaker 4: News isn't on the reservation. Now you overlay that Democrat 285 00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:32,360 Speaker 4: formal machinery with the communication tools of the last decade. 286 00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:37,720 Speaker 4: You got slacked, you got Signal, wattsapp, whatever encrypted direct 287 00:19:37,760 --> 00:19:40,840 Speaker 4: messaging services they're using, and now you've got. 288 00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:42,040 Speaker 1: Something as even more nimble. 289 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:46,920 Speaker 4: Journal list back in the odds taught us one lesson 290 00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:49,760 Speaker 4: really clearly written records can lead. 291 00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:54,680 Speaker 1: So the response was not to abandon the coordination. 292 00:19:56,280 --> 00:20:00,119 Speaker 4: Instead they moved it into channels that are harder to subpoena, 293 00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:04,040 Speaker 4: harder to search, even harder to find. Or if you 294 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:06,840 Speaker 4: do find them and you want to somehow you're involved 295 00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:09,400 Speaker 4: in some sort of litigation and you want a subpoena, 296 00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:12,880 Speaker 4: well good luck with that, because it's encrypted and they're 297 00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:17,080 Speaker 4: going to protect those platforms are going to protect their users. 298 00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:22,960 Speaker 4: Reporters get embedded with Democrat campaign trade and they trade 299 00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:26,639 Speaker 4: text with staff in real time influence what's stay in 300 00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:30,119 Speaker 4: good standing, get folded into the group chats where the 301 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:34,639 Speaker 4: staff share, oh, it's on background. When you do something 302 00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:38,400 Speaker 4: on background, which I've been doing recently. 303 00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:41,359 Speaker 1: Four of all places. 304 00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:45,360 Speaker 4: CNN, CNN has a particular reporter that's been writing some 305 00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:48,800 Speaker 4: stories about some things, and I've been providing some background. 306 00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:52,840 Speaker 4: And I do that so that he has what, from 307 00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:58,080 Speaker 4: my perspective, is the framing that he needs to understand 308 00:20:58,119 --> 00:21:02,760 Speaker 4: about what's going on with something within homeland security. I 309 00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:05,320 Speaker 4: don't make any bones about it, but I make sure 310 00:21:05,359 --> 00:21:07,320 Speaker 4: it's off the record, because I don't. 311 00:21:07,119 --> 00:21:08,680 Speaker 1: Want to be quoted in any of the stories. 312 00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:13,760 Speaker 4: Well influencers who want to stay in good I don't scar. 313 00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:15,920 Speaker 4: I don't care about staying good standing with CNN. I 314 00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:18,960 Speaker 4: don't give two hoots. I just this guy reached out 315 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:21,240 Speaker 4: to me and asked, Hey, would you provide some background? Yeah, 316 00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:23,760 Speaker 4: and be happy to provide you some background in the 317 00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:27,240 Speaker 4: hopes that it might influence a little objectivity. And what 318 00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:32,320 Speaker 4: his reporting is so far, it's mixed mixed bag. Think 319 00:21:32,359 --> 00:21:34,639 Speaker 4: about do you remember when the Biden White House invited 320 00:21:34,680 --> 00:21:36,960 Speaker 4: all the tick talkers to a special briefing on the 321 00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:41,840 Speaker 4: war in Ukraine and the increase in gas prices. That 322 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:46,800 Speaker 4: wasn't a subtle message. They were deputizing them as an 323 00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:50,600 Speaker 4: arm of the White House communications shop. Here's what you 324 00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:54,080 Speaker 4: should say about putin. Here's how you should explain energy prices. 325 00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:59,880 Speaker 4: Think of it as a press briefing plus direct distribution network. 326 00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:03,199 Speaker 4: That's exactly what it is, and the role of the 327 00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:07,440 Speaker 4: White House itself deserves emphasis. You know, during the debate 328 00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:10,560 Speaker 4: over the Iran nuclear Deal, Deputy National Security Visor bend 329 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:16,359 Speaker 4: Roads openly described building an echo chamber, so his team 330 00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:19,960 Speaker 4: would feed narratives and talking points to all the sympathetic 331 00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:23,560 Speaker 4: experts and reporters who would then echo those talking points 332 00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:27,240 Speaker 4: and op eds in television segments and think tank reports, 333 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:30,719 Speaker 4: and then the administration would then point to that chorus 334 00:22:31,119 --> 00:22:34,359 Speaker 4: as evidence of consensus or how right they were. Oh, look, 335 00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:38,040 Speaker 4: such and such think tank says exactly what we've been saying, 336 00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:39,280 Speaker 4: so we must be right on point. 337 00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:42,320 Speaker 1: I would say. 338 00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:46,960 Speaker 4: The key sentence in my description was that outside voices 339 00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:51,959 Speaker 4: were saying things that validated what we had given them 340 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:56,960 Speaker 4: to say. The White House was telling them say this, 341 00:22:57,520 --> 00:23:00,800 Speaker 4: and then the White House would say, see, it validates 342 00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:03,719 Speaker 4: what we've been telling you. You can replace the words 343 00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:08,680 Speaker 4: Iranian deal with any initiative, whatever it is, climate, healthcare, 344 00:23:08,840 --> 00:23:12,240 Speaker 4: voting rules, and now you've got the template for modern 345 00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:17,000 Speaker 4: progressive messaging. The government writes the sheet music, and all 346 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:20,080 Speaker 4: the friendly institutions the media play it back and then 347 00:23:20,119 --> 00:23:25,760 Speaker 4: the unsuspecting public has assured, oh, we're hearing spontaneous symphony music. 348 00:23:26,359 --> 00:23:29,200 Speaker 4: Now you know, you're in the bull craft that they've 349 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:32,440 Speaker 4: all designed and they want you to hear. So if 350 00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:36,320 Speaker 4: you are listening, if your primary source of the news 351 00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:40,679 Speaker 4: comes from the cabal again, the dominant media NBCCBS, ABC 352 00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:44,680 Speaker 4: or any of the cables I don't I'll include Fox 353 00:23:44,760 --> 00:23:49,560 Speaker 4: in that too, then you're just hearing what they want 354 00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:54,800 Speaker 4: you to hear, which means omission and co mission, and 355 00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:59,439 Speaker 4: sometimes the cooperation is pretty comical. I'll give you an 356 00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:03,480 Speaker 4: example in Brazil. She was a CNN contributor, she became 357 00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:08,080 Speaker 4: the Democrat National Committee chair. She was feeding the primary 358 00:24:08,119 --> 00:24:12,080 Speaker 4: debate questions to the Clinton campaign in advanced Now that's 359 00:24:12,119 --> 00:24:15,399 Speaker 4: crossing an ethical line so clear that even CNN cannot 360 00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:17,880 Speaker 4: ignore it, so they had to get rid of her. 361 00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:21,280 Speaker 4: But the deeper lesson was not that one person cheated. 362 00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:25,880 Speaker 4: It was that a senior party insider felt entirely at 363 00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:30,800 Speaker 4: home using what's supposedly is a neutral news platform to 364 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:37,800 Speaker 4: give a candidate an advantage. The wall, or if you 365 00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:42,680 Speaker 4: think there's a wall between Democrat strategy and media coverage, 366 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:47,840 Speaker 4: that wall is, well, it might be framed up. There's 367 00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:50,960 Speaker 4: no drywall on it. It hasn't been painted, it hasn't 368 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:54,400 Speaker 4: been sealed. It's just a bunch of two before's. It's 369 00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:58,920 Speaker 4: got a giant hole so that outsiders can see right 370 00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:01,920 Speaker 4: in the sea exactly what it is that they're supposed 371 00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:05,320 Speaker 4: to be saying. Now, if you step back in the details, 372 00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:09,320 Speaker 4: you'll see, if you do a thirty thousand foot out 373 00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:13,280 Speaker 4: of body experience, you'll see there's a pattern. There are 374 00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:18,359 Speaker 4: three concentric circles that answer Elon Musk's hey, who sends 375 00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:21,399 Speaker 4: them in these instructions question? Remember that's how we started 376 00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:23,919 Speaker 4: the segment. Nowt Elon Musk is on with Joe Rogan, 377 00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:28,800 Speaker 4: and they say who sends these instructions? Out at the center, 378 00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:34,040 Speaker 4: you got small group of party leaders, primarily the Democrat 379 00:25:34,119 --> 00:25:37,760 Speaker 4: leader's communications staff, so it'll be like Chuck Schumer's staff, 380 00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:41,160 Speaker 4: a Keem Jeffrey's staff, and if they control the White House, 381 00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:43,879 Speaker 4: it would be the White House Comms Office. Then you 382 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:47,600 Speaker 4: got the senior strategists at places like the Center for 383 00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:51,560 Speaker 4: American Progress or Media Matters. They decide the themes. The 384 00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:54,040 Speaker 4: themes have to serve the party's interests in any given day, 385 00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:57,480 Speaker 4: they decide which story to elevate, which scandal to bury, 386 00:25:57,720 --> 00:26:02,320 Speaker 4: what phrases tested well in the focus groups. Slightly further out, 387 00:26:02,359 --> 00:26:04,800 Speaker 4: as you keep looking at the pattern or all the 388 00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:09,120 Speaker 4: institutional nodes. You got the Democrat National Committee's war room, 389 00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:13,320 Speaker 4: you got media matters, list operations, you got American bridges 390 00:26:13,400 --> 00:26:16,800 Speaker 4: research shops. You got the progressive donor consortia that tie 391 00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:22,159 Speaker 4: all the funding to message discipline. They convert themes into 392 00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:28,680 Speaker 4: lines for the consumers, those not very discerning consumers, and 393 00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:31,920 Speaker 4: news they write them memos, they can pile the fact sheets, 394 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:34,880 Speaker 4: they produce the talking points, and all that gets circulated 395 00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:38,760 Speaker 4: every single morning. Now let's go even further out. There's 396 00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:40,600 Speaker 4: an outer ring too. It's kind of like Saturn. Now 397 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:43,560 Speaker 4: you got an outer ring. You have the elected Democrats, 398 00:26:43,600 --> 00:26:45,760 Speaker 4: you have their staffers, you have the cable host you 399 00:26:45,800 --> 00:26:47,680 Speaker 4: have the op ed writers, you have the hosts of 400 00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:48,359 Speaker 4: the podcast. 401 00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:50,360 Speaker 1: You got the social media influencers. 402 00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:52,439 Speaker 4: And a lot of them are not given marketing orders 403 00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:55,600 Speaker 4: in any formal sense. They just sign up for the lists, 404 00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:58,280 Speaker 4: or they just sit in on the calls, or they 405 00:26:58,359 --> 00:27:02,480 Speaker 4: join the signal chats on WhatsApp, and so they absorb 406 00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:07,720 Speaker 4: the norms because the ecosystem filters out all the noise 407 00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:13,160 Speaker 4: to the norms that they want to be broadcast. They 408 00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:17,640 Speaker 4: don't break ranks, they don't contradict the narrative. They simply 409 00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:21,159 Speaker 4: amplify the line of the day. And then when you 410 00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:24,440 Speaker 4: do that, if you're an influencer, you're a podcast host, 411 00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:28,640 Speaker 4: whatever it is, you're even a network host, you get rewarded. 412 00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:33,879 Speaker 4: What's important to all of those people, access and also 413 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:37,719 Speaker 4: positive coverage. If you get positive coverage of you know, 414 00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:41,640 Speaker 4: XYZ podcasts, that helps build your numbers. And if you're 415 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:45,520 Speaker 4: monetizing your podcast now you're increasing your numbers, you're increasing 416 00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:49,520 Speaker 4: your dollar value. So the result is that a phrase, 417 00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:55,280 Speaker 4: just a simple phrase, can move from an internal memo 418 00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:58,800 Speaker 4: written by some you know, junior staffers, some stupid think tank, 419 00:27:59,440 --> 00:28:02,440 Speaker 4: to the mouth of a US senator, and it goes 420 00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:05,240 Speaker 4: from the mouth of US senator to the cairn of 421 00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:07,600 Speaker 4: a cable show in less than twenty four hours. 422 00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:10,280 Speaker 1: And now you've got the narrative. 423 00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:18,400 Speaker 4: The cynics might object to this story that this segment 424 00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:22,760 Speaker 4: makes too much of coordination and too little of genuine 425 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:27,720 Speaker 4: ideological agreement. Now, perhaps every Democrat calls the same law 426 00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:29,560 Speaker 4: voter suppression. 427 00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:31,360 Speaker 1: Because they might truly believe us what it is. 428 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:36,280 Speaker 4: And maybe every stupid cable anchor describes a border emergency 429 00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:40,080 Speaker 4: as a manufactured crisis because they read the same data. 430 00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:43,080 Speaker 4: I'll grant you there might be a little truth in that, 431 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:48,640 Speaker 4: But then you have to recognize that there's a shared worldview, 432 00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:53,960 Speaker 4: and a shared worldview makes certain framings just seem natural. 433 00:28:55,200 --> 00:29:00,400 Speaker 4: Yet the timing, verbatim repetition, and now we know the 434 00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:06,080 Speaker 4: documented existence of organized messaging hubs makes it implausible to 435 00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:07,760 Speaker 4: treat that as coincidence. 436 00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:10,760 Speaker 1: If you see identical. 437 00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:13,200 Speaker 4: Language appearing in one thousand miles at one time, and 438 00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:16,080 Speaker 4: you know there are central institutions that are tasked with 439 00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:20,920 Speaker 4: producing and distributing that language, the more reasonable explanation has 440 00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:26,760 Speaker 4: to be it's not mass telepathy. It's a functioning microsystem. 441 00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:31,880 Speaker 4: It's a functioning organism. It is the cabal at work. 442 00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:36,920 Speaker 4: Now there's another objection worth confronting. Why should a conservative 443 00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:40,360 Speaker 4: care if the other side has built a more professional 444 00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:46,440 Speaker 4: communications machine than conservatives have? After all, Republicans actually envy 445 00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:49,240 Speaker 4: the discipline that I just described for you. I don't 446 00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:53,840 Speaker 4: think there's an easy answer, because a democratic republic does 447 00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:58,160 Speaker 4: not forbid parties from arguing strategically. But there are two 448 00:29:58,240 --> 00:30:01,200 Speaker 4: dangers that ought to concern you. The first is the 449 00:30:01,240 --> 00:30:08,440 Speaker 4: collapse of any meaningful distinction between news and spin, news 450 00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:12,280 Speaker 4: and opinion. And I've always criticized Fox News for this. 451 00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:15,960 Speaker 4: You look at Fox News, are you watching a news 452 00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:20,080 Speaker 4: hour or are you watching an opinion hour? And oftentimes 453 00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:23,479 Speaker 4: it'll be a news hour, but they infuse it with 454 00:30:23,560 --> 00:30:27,200 Speaker 4: opinion because they'll bring on a guest. Oh, we're talking 455 00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:29,480 Speaker 4: today about X y Z that happened. There was a 456 00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:33,160 Speaker 4: car wreck on fifth and main Street. Well, let's bring 457 00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:35,400 Speaker 4: in an expert to give us their opinion about why 458 00:30:35,440 --> 00:30:39,640 Speaker 4: there was an accident on mainland fifth Avenue. That's where 459 00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:45,200 Speaker 4: it becomes almost indiscernible between the news and the opinion. 460 00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:47,720 Speaker 4: And when the journalists see themselves as part of a 461 00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:51,360 Speaker 4: messaging team. When those private lists that I described are 462 00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:54,440 Speaker 4: used to coordinate political attacks rather than to, oh, I 463 00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:57,400 Speaker 4: don't know, test an argument or to share information or 464 00:30:57,440 --> 00:31:00,680 Speaker 4: debate an issue, then we start to there's the benefit 465 00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:04,880 Speaker 4: of independent scrutiny. There's the point that I think the 466 00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:09,880 Speaker 4: one place where you can honestly get independent scrutiny conservative 467 00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:14,880 Speaker 4: talk radio. No I will admit, freely admit not all 468 00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:19,600 Speaker 4: conservative talk radio, because many conservatives just well they just 469 00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:24,120 Speaker 4: they take the cough medicine, they take the dope, and 470 00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:27,640 Speaker 4: they just repeat whatever they hear. You won't hear that. Here, 471 00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:34,160 Speaker 4: the press becomes an extension of one party's communications office. 472 00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:39,480 Speaker 4: And then there's another danger, a manufactured consensus. If donors 473 00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:42,480 Speaker 4: think tanks, party officials, the media can create an echo 474 00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:45,080 Speaker 4: chamber and then point to that echo chamber that everybody 475 00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:48,440 Speaker 4: agrees that. If you're a dissenting citizen, if you're a 476 00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:53,040 Speaker 4: dissenting host like I usually am, you can become more 477 00:31:53,080 --> 00:31:56,320 Speaker 4: easily marginalized and people will call you a crank or 478 00:31:56,320 --> 00:31:59,080 Speaker 4: an extremist. You how many times I get called an 479 00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:01,440 Speaker 4: extremist on a tech do you have? Many times I 480 00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:04,200 Speaker 4: get emails about it, I'm just an extremist or I'm 481 00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:05,600 Speaker 4: just a mouthpiece for Donald Trump. 482 00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:07,840 Speaker 1: That tells me two things. Why you never listened to 483 00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:09,360 Speaker 1: the program or if. 484 00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:11,120 Speaker 4: You did, you listened to about five minutes of it 485 00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:13,200 Speaker 4: where I might happen to agree with something, and you 486 00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:15,920 Speaker 4: miss all the segments where like the first hour of 487 00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:19,320 Speaker 4: I just excoriated the Douglas County Republican Party and the 488 00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:25,040 Speaker 4: leadership in the Douglas County government. In principle, the cure 489 00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:28,960 Speaker 4: for this kind of propaganda is more speech, not less. 490 00:32:30,120 --> 00:32:33,400 Speaker 4: And I think concervatives should build their own shops, and 491 00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:37,160 Speaker 4: some do exist, but we ought to be honest about 492 00:32:37,200 --> 00:32:40,760 Speaker 4: what is happening. It's not paranoid to say that Democrats 493 00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:48,120 Speaker 4: and their allies actually coordinate their messages and indiscriminate listening 494 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:54,040 Speaker 4: and non discerning, discerning consumers of news think, oh, then 495 00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:57,760 Speaker 4: that must be the truth. Guess what it's not.