1 00:00:04,795 --> 00:00:20,955 Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. Trump 2 00:00:21,635 --> 00:00:27,275 Speaker 1: is so aft, He's so aft. He says he's going 3 00:00:27,315 --> 00:00:31,155 Speaker 1: to appeal the judge's decision that he's aft, and that 4 00:00:31,355 --> 00:00:34,315 Speaker 1: means he does not even know you can't appeal the 5 00:00:34,395 --> 00:00:40,795 Speaker 1: judge's decision. That means he's aft. He's so aft. Today 6 00:00:40,835 --> 00:00:43,755 Speaker 1: the DC trial was scheduled to start March fourth, one 7 00:00:43,835 --> 00:00:46,395 Speaker 1: hundred and ninety days from now. Forgive me, let me 8 00:00:46,475 --> 00:00:49,435 Speaker 1: quote myself from this morning's regular edition. I don't have 9 00:00:49,475 --> 00:00:52,635 Speaker 1: a clue where she Judge Chutkin, will end up, but 10 00:00:52,675 --> 00:00:55,435 Speaker 1: if she goes where any date in January or February, 11 00:00:55,675 --> 00:01:00,475 Speaker 1: Trump is aft unquote March fourth, within four days of February. 12 00:01:00,475 --> 00:01:04,595 Speaker 1: Close enough. Trump is aft. Not only aft, but he 13 00:01:04,675 --> 00:01:07,075 Speaker 1: he's being rushed to the front of the line to 14 00:01:07,235 --> 00:01:10,995 Speaker 1: get ft. Not only f't but so aft that they'll 15 00:01:11,035 --> 00:01:14,195 Speaker 1: be rescheduling his getting locally f't here in New York 16 00:01:14,755 --> 00:01:17,835 Speaker 1: from March twenty fifth to maybe April or May. And 17 00:01:17,995 --> 00:01:20,995 Speaker 1: they may also be rescheduling the Florida tour stop of 18 00:01:21,035 --> 00:01:24,435 Speaker 1: the United States of America versus Donald JA get ft Trump, 19 00:01:24,755 --> 00:01:27,875 Speaker 1: which is supposed to start May twentieth, but his getting 20 00:01:28,075 --> 00:01:31,795 Speaker 1: ft may also have to be postponed. There this man's 21 00:01:31,835 --> 00:01:35,395 Speaker 1: liberty and life is at stake, said Trump's subversion of 22 00:01:35,475 --> 00:01:39,115 Speaker 1: the election lawyer John Loro today, and they're gonna have 23 00:01:39,235 --> 00:01:41,955 Speaker 1: to start numbering these lawyers for God's sake, give me 24 00:01:41,995 --> 00:01:46,235 Speaker 1: a break here. He's no different than any American, and 25 00:01:46,395 --> 00:01:49,115 Speaker 1: this morning Judge Tanya Tchutkin took that to heart and 26 00:01:49,195 --> 00:01:52,195 Speaker 1: treated the scheduling as she would have for any other American, 27 00:01:52,475 --> 00:01:55,715 Speaker 1: noting that Trump's personal and professional schedule means nothing to 28 00:01:55,755 --> 00:01:59,555 Speaker 1: her and the scheduling of the trial. The judge compared 29 00:01:59,555 --> 00:02:02,755 Speaker 1: it to a pro athlete facing trial, which would be 30 00:02:02,835 --> 00:02:06,555 Speaker 1: laugh out loud funny given Trump's amazing failure at sports 31 00:02:06,595 --> 00:02:09,955 Speaker 1: and lying about sports. But it will probably please him 32 00:02:10,035 --> 00:02:13,235 Speaker 1: enough that he might even make some begrudging, grunting noises, 33 00:02:13,475 --> 00:02:16,635 Speaker 1: and he may even try to bother to learn how 34 00:02:16,675 --> 00:02:21,195 Speaker 1: to spell Judge Chutkin's name correctly. I mean he misspelled 35 00:02:21,275 --> 00:02:26,035 Speaker 1: fascist this morning, John Laurow, and let's call him Attorney 36 00:02:26,075 --> 00:02:29,755 Speaker 1: number one sixty seven B. John Laurel won sixty seven 37 00:02:29,795 --> 00:02:33,195 Speaker 1: B was good enough to raise his voice in court 38 00:02:33,355 --> 00:02:36,635 Speaker 1: during the hearing, to the point that Judge Chutkin told 39 00:02:36,675 --> 00:02:39,515 Speaker 1: him to lower the temperature. So maybe we want to 40 00:02:39,515 --> 00:02:42,195 Speaker 1: find out who the candidates are for attorney one sixty 41 00:02:42,235 --> 00:02:47,515 Speaker 1: seven C. You may recall that instead of slapping Trump's 42 00:02:47,595 --> 00:02:50,715 Speaker 1: as if he were a pro athlete ass in jail, 43 00:02:51,235 --> 00:02:54,075 Speaker 1: when earlier this month he began to Harris and obliquely 44 00:02:54,075 --> 00:02:58,075 Speaker 1: threaten her and Jack Smith and Biden and Mankind online, 45 00:02:58,475 --> 00:03:01,195 Speaker 1: she warned his attorneys that her response to him doing 46 00:03:01,235 --> 00:03:04,395 Speaker 1: that would be to give him an even speedier trial. 47 00:03:04,755 --> 00:03:08,795 Speaker 1: And that's why I keep saying he's soft. She just 48 00:03:08,915 --> 00:03:11,795 Speaker 1: did that. She just did that today, just today. She 49 00:03:11,915 --> 00:03:14,995 Speaker 1: gave the prosecution a start date that's only two months 50 00:03:14,995 --> 00:03:18,355 Speaker 1: behind their request. She gave the defense a start date 51 00:03:18,395 --> 00:03:21,755 Speaker 1: that's twenty five months ahead of their request. That's ft, 52 00:03:22,475 --> 00:03:25,915 Speaker 1: He's ft, and she is apparently only going to get stricter. 53 00:03:26,275 --> 00:03:29,515 Speaker 1: She says she is quote watching carefully for anything that 54 00:03:29,635 --> 00:03:35,475 Speaker 1: might impact or poison her word, poison the jury pool. Nominally, 55 00:03:35,595 --> 00:03:37,595 Speaker 1: she means this report that there's going to be a 56 00:03:37,635 --> 00:03:42,035 Speaker 1: Trump poll of DC residents or their attitudes towards him, 57 00:03:42,075 --> 00:03:44,595 Speaker 1: designed to support their lunatic motion for a change of 58 00:03:44,715 --> 00:03:47,315 Speaker 1: venue by supporting the idea that they could not get 59 00:03:47,315 --> 00:03:50,075 Speaker 1: a fair trial for him in the district of Columbia. 60 00:03:50,115 --> 00:03:54,235 Speaker 1: But that statement watching carefully for poison will also apply 61 00:03:54,315 --> 00:03:57,995 Speaker 1: to Trump's inability to control himself online, which he displayed 62 00:03:58,035 --> 00:04:01,875 Speaker 1: within hours of the decision. Message from Tanya to don 63 00:04:02,115 --> 00:04:05,195 Speaker 1: you don't like March fourth, how about February twe twenty sixth, 64 00:04:05,835 --> 00:04:11,395 Speaker 1: February twelfth. Also, here's your full trial schedule. Remember your 65 00:04:11,435 --> 00:04:16,755 Speaker 1: Christmas vacation, boys, cancel it. Disclosure of exhibits December eighteenth, 66 00:04:17,155 --> 00:04:21,995 Speaker 1: motions December twenty seventh. Your guy is f't hearing January fourth. 67 00:04:23,355 --> 00:04:26,835 Speaker 1: I made the last one up. Also, John Lauro one 68 00:04:26,915 --> 00:04:29,555 Speaker 1: hundred and sixty seven b hinted that they will be 69 00:04:29,635 --> 00:04:33,595 Speaker 1: introducing motions supporting their idea that when it came to 70 00:04:33,715 --> 00:04:36,955 Speaker 1: questioning the election, Trump had something they have made up 71 00:04:36,995 --> 00:04:44,755 Speaker 1: called presidential immunity, which apparently also covers coup's blackmail, bribery, conspiracy, subversion, 72 00:04:44,955 --> 00:04:49,315 Speaker 1: overthrowing the Constitution of the United States treason. Judge Chutkin 73 00:04:49,355 --> 00:04:52,795 Speaker 1: did not bust out laughing, but witnesses in the courtroom 74 00:04:52,835 --> 00:04:54,795 Speaker 1: said when she heard this, she seemed cool to the 75 00:04:54,835 --> 00:05:01,315 Speaker 1: premise Trump is so ft. At two thirty seven today, 76 00:05:01,315 --> 00:05:03,955 Speaker 1: he posted he will appeal when you can't appeal that 77 00:05:04,035 --> 00:05:07,035 Speaker 1: judge's decis. On the start of the trial at three 78 00:05:07,075 --> 00:05:10,435 Speaker 1: zero three pm, he demanded Special Counsel Jack Smith indict 79 00:05:10,795 --> 00:05:16,155 Speaker 1: the January sixth committee. He's so ft and he'll be 80 00:05:16,355 --> 00:05:20,115 Speaker 1: FT in Atlanta to arraignment at the Fulton County Courthouse, 81 00:05:20,195 --> 00:05:23,355 Speaker 1: now scheduled as of today for next Wednesday at nine 82 00:05:23,475 --> 00:05:28,035 Speaker 1: thirty am and televised. But defendants don't necessarily have to 83 00:05:28,035 --> 00:05:31,235 Speaker 1: be there, so we will see. But speaking of Atlanta 84 00:05:31,315 --> 00:05:34,155 Speaker 1: and FT, there's the Mark Meadows hearing, which, in a 85 00:05:34,235 --> 00:05:36,515 Speaker 1: harbinger of things to come for Trump, began at the 86 00:05:36,555 --> 00:05:40,235 Speaker 1: exact same hour in Atlanta today that Trump's lawyers were 87 00:05:40,275 --> 00:05:42,955 Speaker 1: facing Judge Trutkin in DC. They both started at ten 88 00:05:42,995 --> 00:05:46,555 Speaker 1: am at the airports. They used to call this gate saturation, 89 00:05:47,715 --> 00:05:51,875 Speaker 1: and what Meadows seems to have is lousy lawyers saturation. 90 00:05:52,675 --> 00:05:54,835 Speaker 1: Just Sunday, he added to his team one of the 91 00:05:54,835 --> 00:05:57,635 Speaker 1: flunkies from the Ken Star investigation of Bill Clinton. And 92 00:05:57,675 --> 00:06:00,635 Speaker 1: I don't know if Meadows is trying to get himself 93 00:06:00,675 --> 00:06:03,275 Speaker 1: sent to prison or he has decided that he should 94 00:06:03,555 --> 00:06:07,115 Speaker 1: scare the hell out of Trump by essentially confessing under 95 00:06:07,115 --> 00:06:11,355 Speaker 1: oath to everything they said he did for Trump, just 96 00:06:11,395 --> 00:06:13,555 Speaker 1: so he can get his part of the Georgia election 97 00:06:13,755 --> 00:06:18,715 Speaker 1: plot trial transferred to federal court. But there's no getting 98 00:06:18,755 --> 00:06:22,555 Speaker 1: around it. That's exactly what this stupid sum beach is doing. 99 00:06:23,115 --> 00:06:26,555 Speaker 1: He took the stand this morning in a procedural hearing 100 00:06:27,475 --> 00:06:31,315 Speaker 1: for three hours before the lunch break. Holy crap. Not 101 00:06:31,355 --> 00:06:34,115 Speaker 1: only did he take the stand, but in this desperate 102 00:06:34,155 --> 00:06:36,995 Speaker 1: bid to prove that everything he did he did under 103 00:06:37,115 --> 00:06:41,955 Speaker 1: color of his office, he basically confessed to everything. I 104 00:06:42,035 --> 00:06:44,875 Speaker 1: would get invited to almost every meeting the president had, 105 00:06:44,995 --> 00:06:49,035 Speaker 1: Meadows testified. People would often meet with him Meadows testify 106 00:06:49,115 --> 00:06:51,675 Speaker 1: and so he could quote get in the President's ear 107 00:06:51,755 --> 00:06:57,355 Speaker 1: and pass along their message dandy, good for you. Yet, 108 00:06:57,435 --> 00:07:01,315 Speaker 1: also today, per the Washington Post quote, Meadows claim to 109 00:07:01,355 --> 00:07:04,515 Speaker 1: have no knowledge of the Trump campaign's efforts to contest 110 00:07:04,755 --> 00:07:07,235 Speaker 1: the election results. He said, sure, he went to the 111 00:07:07,275 --> 00:07:10,275 Speaker 1: meeting with Trump and the Michigan lawmakers that Trump was 112 00:07:10,315 --> 00:07:13,675 Speaker 1: trying to entice to sabotage the election results there, but 113 00:07:13,715 --> 00:07:16,715 Speaker 1: he had no clue the campaign was trying to overturn Michigan, 114 00:07:17,075 --> 00:07:20,355 Speaker 1: and Meadows said, sure he went to Georgia, and sure 115 00:07:20,395 --> 00:07:24,155 Speaker 1: he arranged the infamous call with Ken Raffinsburger, but he 116 00:07:24,195 --> 00:07:26,115 Speaker 1: didn't know that three of the lawyers who were on 117 00:07:26,195 --> 00:07:29,595 Speaker 1: the call had sued Ken Raffinsburger on behalf of the 118 00:07:29,635 --> 00:07:33,275 Speaker 1: Trump campaign. And when they asked him if you arranged it, 119 00:07:33,755 --> 00:07:35,915 Speaker 1: how did you arrange for Cleta Mitchell and the other 120 00:07:35,955 --> 00:07:38,275 Speaker 1: Trump ambulance chasers to get on the call with you? 121 00:07:38,515 --> 00:07:44,435 Speaker 1: He said, I can't remember, and he keeps digging anyway, 122 00:07:44,515 --> 00:07:47,195 Speaker 1: Meadows tells the court the Raffensburger call was just Trump 123 00:07:47,275 --> 00:07:50,675 Speaker 1: hoping to find a quote less litigious way of resolving 124 00:07:50,715 --> 00:07:54,275 Speaker 1: everything in Georgia, which the Georgia prosecutors rightly responded to 125 00:07:54,395 --> 00:07:58,555 Speaker 1: by noting that this made it a campaign litigation phone call, 126 00:07:59,115 --> 00:08:02,355 Speaker 1: and asking your chief of staff at the White House, 127 00:08:02,715 --> 00:08:09,915 Speaker 1: your government, why are you on a campaign litigation phone call. 128 00:08:09,995 --> 00:08:12,075 Speaker 1: I don't have the court record in front of me, 129 00:08:12,115 --> 00:08:17,595 Speaker 1: but I believe Meadows answered, yamanahammanahamanahammahamana. Which is it? Bub 130 00:08:18,355 --> 00:08:21,315 Speaker 1: You were Trump's eyes and ears, and you were at 131 00:08:21,395 --> 00:08:23,875 Speaker 1: all the meetings, but you had no idea what was 132 00:08:23,875 --> 00:08:27,915 Speaker 1: happening at all those meetings. Seems like you shouldn't be 133 00:08:27,955 --> 00:08:32,115 Speaker 1: pleading not guilty. You should be pleading insanity. Bluntly, Mark 134 00:08:32,155 --> 00:08:35,635 Speaker 1: Meadows implicated himself today so many different ways. He was 135 00:08:35,715 --> 00:08:37,755 Speaker 1: lucky he got to go home at the end of 136 00:08:37,795 --> 00:08:43,115 Speaker 1: the day. And the conundrum facing the judge there, Federal 137 00:08:43,115 --> 00:08:45,795 Speaker 1: District Court Judge Steve Jones, is this the bar to 138 00:08:45,915 --> 00:08:49,275 Speaker 1: get a case like this one against Meadows moved to 139 00:08:49,355 --> 00:08:52,675 Speaker 1: federal court. That's not a high bar, particularly so when 140 00:08:52,675 --> 00:08:55,595 Speaker 1: the facts are not in dispute. Mark Meadows was a 141 00:08:55,635 --> 00:08:58,675 Speaker 1: federal official at the time the events he's charged over 142 00:08:58,795 --> 00:09:02,035 Speaker 1: took place. This color of his office thing, it's pretty 143 00:09:02,035 --> 00:09:05,355 Speaker 1: clear it's true. But Meadows seems determined to infest to 144 00:09:05,395 --> 00:09:08,195 Speaker 1: the crimes and to confess to others he hadn't even 145 00:09:08,355 --> 00:09:11,875 Speaker 1: charged with. His motion has two pages about how the 146 00:09:11,955 --> 00:09:15,555 Speaker 1: charges infringe on his First Amendment rights. Quote. All the 147 00:09:15,555 --> 00:09:18,875 Speaker 1: alleged conduct as to mister Meadows relates to protected political 148 00:09:18,955 --> 00:09:21,915 Speaker 1: activity that lies in the heartland of the First Amendment. 149 00:09:22,195 --> 00:09:25,355 Speaker 1: The First Amendment quote has its fullest and most urgent 150 00:09:25,395 --> 00:09:32,195 Speaker 1: application precisely to the conduct of campaigns for political office. Unquote. Cool, cool. 151 00:09:32,755 --> 00:09:34,675 Speaker 1: There's a small problem in there. Though it's called the 152 00:09:34,715 --> 00:09:40,555 Speaker 1: Hatch Act. You are not allowed to conduct conduct relating 153 00:09:40,915 --> 00:09:44,955 Speaker 1: to protected political activity and campaigns for political office while 154 00:09:46,275 --> 00:09:49,515 Speaker 1: you are covered by the color of your office. In short, 155 00:09:49,555 --> 00:09:52,755 Speaker 1: Meadows is asking the judge to protect him from being 156 00:09:52,875 --> 00:09:56,715 Speaker 1: charged with one crime by boasting that he committed a 157 00:09:56,755 --> 00:10:02,195 Speaker 1: whole bunch of other crimes. Judges don't like that particularly. 158 00:10:04,195 --> 00:10:06,955 Speaker 1: We'll see a note here. The rest of this bulletin 159 00:10:06,995 --> 00:10:09,995 Speaker 1: podcast is repeated from the regular edition from Monday morning. 160 00:10:10,515 --> 00:10:12,795 Speaker 1: Why the crowd in Jacksonville was right to boo Roan 161 00:10:12,835 --> 00:10:16,795 Speaker 1: DeSantis at the shooting vigil Sunday night, OJ Simpson endorsing 162 00:10:16,835 --> 00:10:19,635 Speaker 1: a lucky presidential candidate, etc. So if you've heard it 163 00:10:19,675 --> 00:10:21,395 Speaker 1: already and you want to hit stop, I'm not going 164 00:10:21,435 --> 00:10:23,915 Speaker 1: to take it personally. Full coverage of everything as usual 165 00:10:23,995 --> 00:10:28,915 Speaker 1: in Tuesday's regular edition. Of course, Trump's trial status would be, 166 00:10:29,035 --> 00:10:32,195 Speaker 1: if not academic, then less important if Trump is not 167 00:10:32,355 --> 00:10:35,555 Speaker 1: on the ballot next year. You will also remember why 168 00:10:35,595 --> 00:10:38,555 Speaker 1: that might be the disqualification clause of Section three of 169 00:10:38,595 --> 00:10:41,515 Speaker 1: the fourteenth Amendment. And we are finally seeing some early 170 00:10:41,555 --> 00:10:45,915 Speaker 1: stirrings of people who want to make that constitutional theory sing. 171 00:10:47,035 --> 00:10:49,955 Speaker 1: Four years ago, Corky Messner ran for the Senate seat 172 00:10:49,955 --> 00:10:51,915 Speaker 1: from New Hampshire and Trump endorsed him, and yet he's 173 00:10:51,955 --> 00:10:56,995 Speaker 1: loyal to the Constitution. I've taken an oath to this country, 174 00:10:57,035 --> 00:10:59,475 Speaker 1: he says. My sons are serving right now, and I 175 00:10:59,515 --> 00:11:03,835 Speaker 1: believe someone's got to step up to defend the constitution. Corky, 176 00:11:04,715 --> 00:11:08,995 Speaker 1: did you say that? What a guy? Messner says, he's 177 00:11:08,995 --> 00:11:11,275 Speaker 1: not precisely sure how he's going to do it, but 178 00:11:11,315 --> 00:11:13,195 Speaker 1: he's going to try to get Trump barred from the 179 00:11:13,275 --> 00:11:18,995 Speaker 1: New Hampshire ballot based on fourteen three. ABC News reports 180 00:11:19,035 --> 00:11:21,075 Speaker 1: the New Hampshire Secretary of State met with Mesner on 181 00:11:21,115 --> 00:11:23,275 Speaker 1: Friday and will now confer with the state attorney general. 182 00:11:23,435 --> 00:11:25,515 Speaker 1: But he does think this needs to be tested in court. 183 00:11:25,555 --> 00:11:29,395 Speaker 1: And yes, the New Hampshire Republicans are just ornery enough, 184 00:11:29,435 --> 00:11:32,315 Speaker 1: an old school enough that they can be rapidly pro Trump, 185 00:11:32,555 --> 00:11:37,715 Speaker 1: but angrily more pro constitution. And now in Florida, a 186 00:11:37,795 --> 00:11:41,075 Speaker 1: tax attorney named Lawrence Kaplan has sued in federal court 187 00:11:41,155 --> 00:11:44,515 Speaker 1: there to keep Trump off the primary ballot next March nineteenth, 188 00:11:44,715 --> 00:11:50,595 Speaker 1: based on the Fourteenth Amendment fourteen three next Crew Citizens 189 00:11:50,675 --> 00:11:53,715 Speaker 1: for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, it keeps saying it 190 00:11:53,795 --> 00:11:56,635 Speaker 1: is going to be acting shortly on Trump and fourteen three. Meanwhile, 191 00:11:56,795 --> 00:12:00,555 Speaker 1: another ethics group, Free Speech for People, is launching a 192 00:12:00,595 --> 00:12:04,275 Speaker 1: campaign that starts with letters to all fifty state secretaries 193 00:12:04,275 --> 00:12:07,515 Speaker 1: of state going through the fourteen three argument and urging 194 00:12:07,555 --> 00:12:10,755 Speaker 1: them to just bar Trump from their state ballots and 195 00:12:10,835 --> 00:12:14,875 Speaker 1: then see what happens. That's phase one where Doris gets 196 00:12:14,875 --> 00:12:19,595 Speaker 1: her oats. Phase two from the FSFP people legal challenges 197 00:12:19,635 --> 00:12:23,555 Speaker 1: state by state, using state laws where they exist. These 198 00:12:23,595 --> 00:12:26,715 Speaker 1: are not huge developments, but they are a damn site 199 00:12:26,715 --> 00:12:30,115 Speaker 1: better than commentaries about how conservative scholars are convinced that 200 00:12:30,155 --> 00:12:45,835 Speaker 1: fourteen to three disqualifies Trump, even commentaries by me. They 201 00:12:45,955 --> 00:12:48,955 Speaker 1: heckled Ron DeSantis last night at a vigil for the 202 00:12:49,035 --> 00:12:52,235 Speaker 1: victims of the latest mass shooting in Jacksonville, and the 203 00:12:52,315 --> 00:12:56,995 Speaker 1: local district councilwoman told the crowd to be quiet because quote, 204 00:12:57,155 --> 00:13:02,195 Speaker 1: a bullet don't know a party, unquote, and unfortunately she 205 00:13:02,595 --> 00:13:09,075 Speaker 1: was utterly mistaken. Utterly. I understand about grief, and I 206 00:13:09,155 --> 00:13:13,195 Speaker 1: understand about rage. And when a psychopath with Nazi symbols 207 00:13:13,235 --> 00:13:16,595 Speaker 1: on his guns goes to an HBCU and then to 208 00:13:16,675 --> 00:13:20,555 Speaker 1: a dollar store to specifically shoot people because they are 209 00:13:20,675 --> 00:13:23,915 Speaker 1: African American, I think I can just begin to have 210 00:13:23,995 --> 00:13:30,035 Speaker 1: a vague, genuine empathy about why somebody like Councilwoman Jacoby 211 00:13:30,155 --> 00:13:33,995 Speaker 1: Pittman would make such a mistake, defending, even for just 212 00:13:34,075 --> 00:13:39,075 Speaker 1: the moment, slime like Ron DeSantis, who has spent much 213 00:13:39,115 --> 00:13:41,875 Speaker 1: of this year spewing the kind of racist hate that 214 00:13:41,915 --> 00:13:46,595 Speaker 1: the Jacksonville shooter felt somehow entitled to put into murderous form. 215 00:13:47,075 --> 00:13:51,555 Speaker 1: Siding with DeSantis as he strode to the mic and 216 00:13:51,675 --> 00:13:55,595 Speaker 1: boasted he wouldn't let black colleges be targeted by racists 217 00:13:55,835 --> 00:14:00,675 Speaker 1: who already targeted them Saturday, while his idiot wife stands 218 00:14:00,715 --> 00:14:04,675 Speaker 1: there smiling doing her very dime store knockoff him pression 219 00:14:04,835 --> 00:14:08,195 Speaker 1: of Jackie Kennedy. I get why she would make a 220 00:14:08,275 --> 00:14:13,035 Speaker 1: mistake under the circumstances, but it was a mistake. In 221 00:14:13,155 --> 00:14:17,315 Speaker 1: our America of twenty twenty three, a bullet not only 222 00:14:17,475 --> 00:14:22,635 Speaker 1: knows a party, but the bullets are there because of 223 00:14:23,155 --> 00:14:24,395 Speaker 1: a party. 224 00:14:24,555 --> 00:14:27,635 Speaker 2: Lord of Governor Ron DeSantis is here. We're going to 225 00:14:27,675 --> 00:14:35,875 Speaker 2: ask the governor if he would come now and bring remarks. 226 00:14:40,315 --> 00:14:42,635 Speaker 3: Well, thank you for doing this. I want to just 227 00:14:42,675 --> 00:14:49,395 Speaker 3: say to the councilwoman, counsel woman, counsel woman, I got you. 228 00:14:49,555 --> 00:14:52,635 Speaker 3: Don't worry about it. We've already been looking to identify 229 00:14:52,795 --> 00:14:55,995 Speaker 3: funds to be able to help one make sure there's 230 00:14:56,075 --> 00:14:59,995 Speaker 3: adequate security for Edward Waters College. We are not going 231 00:15:00,035 --> 00:15:03,315 Speaker 3: to allow these institutions to be targeted by people. 232 00:15:03,755 --> 00:15:06,595 Speaker 1: We let me let me. 233 00:15:10,115 --> 00:15:12,635 Speaker 4: Okay, let's send y'all. Let me let me tell you 234 00:15:12,635 --> 00:15:15,995 Speaker 4: we finna put parties aside, because it ain't and about 235 00:15:16,115 --> 00:15:21,595 Speaker 4: parties today. A bullet don't know a party, So don't 236 00:15:21,595 --> 00:15:26,995 Speaker 4: get me started. Okay, Jacoby is nice, but Anne is not. Now, 237 00:15:27,155 --> 00:15:29,515 Speaker 4: if the if the if the governor wanted to come 238 00:15:29,555 --> 00:15:33,595 Speaker 4: here and he bringing gifts to my community, y'all know, 239 00:15:33,675 --> 00:15:37,395 Speaker 4: I'm taking the gifts because we've been through enough already 240 00:15:37,635 --> 00:15:40,235 Speaker 4: and I don't want to go through no more. Now, y'all, 241 00:15:40,595 --> 00:15:43,355 Speaker 4: y'all just be quiet just a minute and let the 242 00:15:43,515 --> 00:15:45,995 Speaker 4: let the governor say what he gonna say, and we're 243 00:15:46,035 --> 00:15:49,155 Speaker 4: gonna get this party started. You hear me, Okay, let's 244 00:15:49,195 --> 00:15:49,515 Speaker 4: do it. 245 00:15:49,555 --> 00:15:54,715 Speaker 1: We have mass shootings, and we have nearly unfettered civilian 246 00:15:54,795 --> 00:15:59,315 Speaker 1: access to these weapons of war, and we have this 247 00:15:59,515 --> 00:16:07,795 Speaker 1: decade's old orgy of gun worship because of Republicans period, 248 00:16:08,515 --> 00:16:11,435 Speaker 1: our gun crisis may not be one hundred percent Republican, 249 00:16:11,475 --> 00:16:15,195 Speaker 1: but it's ninety five percent. As our democracy crisis may 250 00:16:15,235 --> 00:16:17,755 Speaker 1: not be one hundred percent Republican, but it's ninety five percent, 251 00:16:18,075 --> 00:16:20,915 Speaker 1: as our climate crisis may not be one hundred percent republican, 252 00:16:20,955 --> 00:16:26,515 Speaker 1: but it's well seventy five percent. Our awareness that at 253 00:16:26,555 --> 00:16:31,675 Speaker 1: any moment, anywhere, anyone in this country could be murdered 254 00:16:31,995 --> 00:16:36,875 Speaker 1: by sentient fecal matter, And the only variables from tragedy 255 00:16:36,915 --> 00:16:40,955 Speaker 1: to tragedy are which minority group this one murdered because? 256 00:16:40,955 --> 00:16:45,475 Speaker 1: If which Republican this one listened to? That waxes and wanes. 257 00:16:46,435 --> 00:16:50,475 Speaker 1: But there are four unswerving constants, and they played out 258 00:16:50,475 --> 00:16:53,915 Speaker 1: in Jacksonville over the weekend. They had the guns because 259 00:16:53,955 --> 00:16:57,275 Speaker 1: of Republicans. If they didn't have the hate already, they 260 00:16:57,315 --> 00:17:00,635 Speaker 1: got it because of Republicans. Nearly all of our news 261 00:17:00,675 --> 00:17:03,675 Speaker 1: media will refuse to say that mass shootings in this 262 00:17:03,715 --> 00:17:08,115 Speaker 1: country are the question fault of Republicans, and no matter 263 00:17:08,155 --> 00:17:12,155 Speaker 1: what the circumstances of this particular one or any gun 264 00:17:12,235 --> 00:17:16,635 Speaker 1: tragedy are, Republicans will insist it is always too soon 265 00:17:16,795 --> 00:17:20,515 Speaker 1: to you know, try to stop them from happening and 266 00:17:20,595 --> 00:17:26,035 Speaker 1: to propose, you know, solutions, And they will say that 267 00:17:26,035 --> 00:17:30,875 Speaker 1: that's trying to exploit a tragedy for political gain, I 268 00:17:30,875 --> 00:17:33,835 Speaker 1: as opposed to trying to exploit a tragedy for donations 269 00:17:33,835 --> 00:17:37,115 Speaker 1: from the National Rifle Association and making sure that nothing 270 00:17:37,275 --> 00:17:45,155 Speaker 1: is ever ever done to stop the next mass murderer. So, 271 00:17:45,315 --> 00:17:50,195 Speaker 1: Councilwoman Pittman, don't get me started. You were wrong. A 272 00:17:50,235 --> 00:17:54,075 Speaker 1: bullet knows a party, A bullet in this country knows 273 00:17:54,115 --> 00:17:59,795 Speaker 1: who its friends are Republicans, and if you don't know that, 274 00:17:59,875 --> 00:18:02,595 Speaker 1: get out. Maybe you've been a great councilwoman in your 275 00:18:02,635 --> 00:18:04,555 Speaker 1: two months in office. I don't know, I hope so. 276 00:18:04,795 --> 00:18:06,795 Speaker 1: But if your response is to kiss the ass of 277 00:18:06,835 --> 00:18:09,555 Speaker 1: the governor who is running for president on a platform 278 00:18:09,595 --> 00:18:12,755 Speaker 1: of slavery had a silver lining of giving its victims 279 00:18:12,955 --> 00:18:17,515 Speaker 1: blacksmithing skills, maybe you want to reconsider which party you 280 00:18:17,595 --> 00:18:21,875 Speaker 1: belonged to. Now, if this was just about the tragedy 281 00:18:21,875 --> 00:18:24,275 Speaker 1: of this weekend and the shock, forgive me for saying 282 00:18:24,355 --> 00:18:29,315 Speaker 1: what I have said. Yes, I think you would deserve 283 00:18:29,355 --> 00:18:33,035 Speaker 1: a pass. But if it isn't and you meant that, 284 00:18:33,835 --> 00:18:37,515 Speaker 1: get out. And to those in that crowd who booed 285 00:18:37,555 --> 00:18:41,795 Speaker 1: this fascist DeSantis, God bless you, and please if words 286 00:18:41,875 --> 00:18:46,875 Speaker 1: like this still have any meaning in our paralyzed, irresponsible, racist, 287 00:18:47,235 --> 00:18:53,075 Speaker 1: failed society. Please accept not just my condolences, but my 288 00:18:53,355 --> 00:18:58,515 Speaker 1: thanks because you all knew which political party killed your 289 00:18:58,555 --> 00:19:02,035 Speaker 1: friends and neighbors Saturday, and you showed the courage the 290 00:19:02,075 --> 00:19:05,475 Speaker 1: rest of us, including the Democratic politicians, including us in 291 00:19:05,555 --> 00:19:09,835 Speaker 1: the media, the kind of courage we have not shown 292 00:19:14,675 --> 00:19:18,675 Speaker 1: before we get to Trump. Let's pivot to Vivek Ramaswami. 293 00:19:19,235 --> 00:19:21,355 Speaker 1: And it is hard to believe that in a timeline 294 00:19:21,355 --> 00:19:25,475 Speaker 1: that has brought us Trump and DeSantis, this Ramaswami guy 295 00:19:25,555 --> 00:19:30,075 Speaker 1: may be the biggest idiot of them all. The primary 296 00:19:30,155 --> 00:19:32,795 Speaker 1: danger of the Trump era is the release of hatred 297 00:19:32,835 --> 00:19:36,155 Speaker 1: and violence and racism and brutality. But the secondary danger 298 00:19:36,515 --> 00:19:42,475 Speaker 1: is this ongoing release of this stupidity. This I will 299 00:19:42,475 --> 00:19:45,475 Speaker 1: again go to Howard Feineman's Pittsburgh term. It fits Ramaswami 300 00:19:45,595 --> 00:19:50,075 Speaker 1: like spandex painted on him. This jag Off goes on 301 00:19:50,195 --> 00:19:52,755 Speaker 1: NBC yesterday and says, no, Mike Fence shouldn't have done 302 00:19:52,795 --> 00:19:55,075 Speaker 1: what Trump wanted him to do on January sixth, but 303 00:19:55,155 --> 00:19:58,595 Speaker 1: he should have refused to certify Biden's election until the 304 00:19:58,635 --> 00:20:02,555 Speaker 1: Senate agreed to instantly institute new laws to mandate the 305 00:20:02,555 --> 00:20:06,915 Speaker 1: most draconian Republican talking points about voting suppression, single day elections, 306 00:20:07,075 --> 00:20:12,355 Speaker 1: paper ballots, government issued IDs, and he said, quote Pence 307 00:20:12,395 --> 00:20:16,675 Speaker 1: should have quote led through that level of reform and 308 00:20:16,755 --> 00:20:20,235 Speaker 1: then under that condition, certify the election, as if every 309 00:20:20,475 --> 00:20:23,555 Speaker 1: moment of the political day is designed to be a 310 00:20:23,595 --> 00:20:27,915 Speaker 1: hostage situation and every law must be optional. Because VIVK. 311 00:20:28,155 --> 00:20:35,515 Speaker 1: Ramaswami sees a loophole to exploit, let's leverage it, let's bargain. 312 00:20:36,675 --> 00:20:41,275 Speaker 1: This jag off had the audacity to get up in 313 00:20:41,275 --> 00:20:44,115 Speaker 1: front of a national television audience and insist that anybody 314 00:20:44,195 --> 00:20:46,595 Speaker 1: under twenty five who wants to vote should have to 315 00:20:46,595 --> 00:20:49,635 Speaker 1: pass a civics test first. And since then he has 316 00:20:49,635 --> 00:20:52,635 Speaker 1: spent his entire week revealing he could not possibly pass 317 00:20:52,755 --> 00:20:56,395 Speaker 1: any civics test. And he has explained that the Constitution, 318 00:20:56,475 --> 00:20:59,275 Speaker 1: which was not written until seventeen eighty seven, won the 319 00:20:59,315 --> 00:21:04,515 Speaker 1: revolution for us in seventeen eighty three, and now he thinks, 320 00:21:04,555 --> 00:21:06,395 Speaker 1: so as long as you can get away with it, 321 00:21:07,115 --> 00:21:09,915 Speaker 1: you should be able to suspend the Constitution and the 322 00:21:10,075 --> 00:21:14,035 Speaker 1: laws a civics test before you can vote. Hell, give 323 00:21:14,075 --> 00:21:21,035 Speaker 1: this Ramaswami a breathalyzer test. But look out. The Ramaswami 324 00:21:21,115 --> 00:21:26,475 Speaker 1: machine may now be unstoppable. Last night, Vivk Ramaswami got 325 00:21:26,515 --> 00:21:31,035 Speaker 1: the most coveted endorsement in the political calendar. This morning, I. 326 00:21:30,995 --> 00:21:33,395 Speaker 2: Got up and I found myself watching Meet the Press. 327 00:21:33,835 --> 00:21:39,955 Speaker 2: They had the babik Lwamaswami on now, just like the debates, 328 00:21:40,355 --> 00:21:43,395 Speaker 2: the Republican debates. I said, Hey, this guy is onto something. 329 00:21:43,515 --> 00:21:45,595 Speaker 2: But I love what he was saying in this book. 330 00:21:45,635 --> 00:21:50,115 Speaker 2: I was saying, it's fresh, it's new. I got a 331 00:21:50,115 --> 00:21:53,435 Speaker 2: little problem with his foreign affairs take and if he 332 00:21:53,955 --> 00:21:58,235 Speaker 2: got himself an experienced person to run with him, an 333 00:21:58,275 --> 00:22:01,635 Speaker 2: experienced person, I would say, like Nikki Haley, somebody that 334 00:22:01,755 --> 00:22:05,995 Speaker 2: knows foreign affairs, this guy would have a chance. I 335 00:22:06,515 --> 00:22:08,555 Speaker 2: think this guy really would have a chance. 336 00:22:09,115 --> 00:22:15,555 Speaker 1: Oh J. Simpson endorses Vivek Ramaswami oh J for the 337 00:22:15,715 --> 00:22:21,115 Speaker 1: Ramaswami Haley ticket. I'd say it's the kiss of death. 338 00:22:21,195 --> 00:22:28,715 Speaker 1: But you know, I mean, how can somebody not just 339 00:22:29,715 --> 00:22:34,115 Speaker 1: this stupid, this stupid, as stupid as Vivic Ramaswami. How 340 00:22:34,155 --> 00:22:36,795 Speaker 1: can somebody not just this stupid, but this stupid he 341 00:22:36,875 --> 00:22:42,155 Speaker 1: thinks he's the smartest man alive run for president? Well, 342 00:22:43,035 --> 00:22:47,115 Speaker 1: how is somebody this stupid. A sitting senator from Tennessee, 343 00:22:48,075 --> 00:22:52,035 Speaker 1: Marsha Blackburn tweeted, the Left is able to release Donald 344 00:22:52,075 --> 00:22:56,155 Speaker 1: Trump's mugshot, but they still can't tell us who brought 345 00:22:56,235 --> 00:23:00,715 Speaker 1: cocaine into the White House. And you wonder is she 346 00:23:00,875 --> 00:23:05,075 Speaker 1: really so imbecilic as to not understand that those two 347 00:23:05,155 --> 00:23:09,195 Speaker 1: things have nothing to do with each other. Oh, and 348 00:23:09,275 --> 00:23:14,235 Speaker 1: that she doesn't know that virtually all mugshots everywhere in 349 00:23:14,235 --> 00:23:18,795 Speaker 1: this country are released, and she hadn't noticed that the 350 00:23:18,875 --> 00:23:22,275 Speaker 1: leading distributor of Trump's mugshot, the one where he tried 351 00:23:22,275 --> 00:23:25,995 Speaker 1: to look like big brother and tried to hide his double, triple, 352 00:23:26,075 --> 00:23:31,235 Speaker 1: quadruple and quintuple chins. She doesn't know that the leading 353 00:23:31,235 --> 00:23:37,675 Speaker 1: distributor of the mugshot was Trump himself. Marsha Blackburn Ramaswami, 354 00:23:38,115 --> 00:23:43,915 Speaker 1: dozens more Republicans. I mean, they can't be naturally this 355 00:23:44,075 --> 00:23:47,795 Speaker 1: stupid and have survived to the ages they have reached. 356 00:23:49,195 --> 00:23:51,835 Speaker 1: They would have walked into open manhole covers by now, 357 00:23:52,155 --> 00:23:56,235 Speaker 1: all of them. There's only one other explanation. They they 358 00:23:56,395 --> 00:24:03,795 Speaker 1: must be high as a kite all the time. One 359 00:24:03,835 --> 00:24:09,795 Speaker 1: more thing. The Russian Investigative Committee now says it's official quote, 360 00:24:10,115 --> 00:24:13,955 Speaker 1: molecular genetic testing has been completed. Unquote, it says and 361 00:24:14,035 --> 00:24:17,715 Speaker 1: yes that one particular pile of ashes from the private 362 00:24:17,795 --> 00:24:22,435 Speaker 1: jet crash northwest of Moscow last Thursday is was the 363 00:24:22,515 --> 00:24:26,235 Speaker 1: Wagner Group leader of Genny Progosion. So it thus becomes 364 00:24:26,275 --> 00:24:30,155 Speaker 1: irresistible to Saturday Night Live fans of a certain vintage 365 00:24:30,395 --> 00:24:35,315 Speaker 1: Good Evening General Lissimo ev Genny Pregosion is still dead. 366 00:24:40,755 --> 00:24:43,595 Speaker 1: Also of interest here, the murmuring is beginning to get louder. 367 00:24:43,595 --> 00:24:47,715 Speaker 1: There is a push starting to get Jonathan Turley fired 368 00:24:47,835 --> 00:24:53,395 Speaker 1: by George Washington University Law School. Can I help? And 369 00:24:53,475 --> 00:24:56,275 Speaker 1: you know whose comments are most directly helping this along? 370 00:24:57,835 --> 00:25:04,275 Speaker 1: Jonathan Turley's. That's next. This is countdown. This is countdown 371 00:25:04,715 --> 00:25:21,235 Speaker 1: with Keith old Woman. This is Sports Center. Wait, check 372 00:25:21,275 --> 00:25:30,075 Speaker 1: that not anymore. This is countdown with Keith Alberman. In sports, 373 00:25:30,315 --> 00:25:34,995 Speaker 1: The Spanish soccer kiss crisis continues to cascade. The world 374 00:25:35,075 --> 00:25:38,795 Speaker 1: governing body for the sport, FIFA, has now suspended the 375 00:25:38,835 --> 00:25:42,875 Speaker 1: president of the Spanish Football Federation for ninety days. He 376 00:25:42,955 --> 00:25:46,555 Speaker 1: has vowed to fight any punishment. Every one of Spain's 377 00:25:46,595 --> 00:25:50,595 Speaker 1: eleven assistant managers and coaches has quit in protest. Each 378 00:25:50,795 --> 00:25:53,955 Speaker 1: Spanish player has refused to play again for their country. 379 00:25:54,315 --> 00:25:57,275 Speaker 1: Other nations are vowing to refuse to play Spain ever 380 00:25:57,355 --> 00:26:02,075 Speaker 1: again because the FIFA suspension is insufficient. The federation chief 381 00:26:02,155 --> 00:26:07,595 Speaker 1: Luis Rubiatis celebrated spain World Cup victory first by grabbing 382 00:26:07,635 --> 00:26:10,555 Speaker 1: his crotch and then by grabbing the back of the 383 00:26:10,595 --> 00:26:14,075 Speaker 1: head of the Spanish player Jenny Hermoso with both hands 384 00:26:14,115 --> 00:26:16,675 Speaker 1: and kissing her on the lips. She said it was 385 00:26:16,715 --> 00:26:20,395 Speaker 1: not consensual. He issued a statement that translates from Spanish 386 00:26:20,395 --> 00:26:24,755 Speaker 1: to English as some sort of gibberish about consent via 387 00:26:24,875 --> 00:26:28,795 Speaker 1: the circumstances, and apparently it's even worse in Spanish. It 388 00:26:28,915 --> 00:26:32,995 Speaker 1: loses something in the original, something about her lifting him 389 00:26:33,035 --> 00:26:36,635 Speaker 1: by the hips. His conclusion, he's not resigning, and if 390 00:26:36,675 --> 00:26:39,355 Speaker 1: you keep trying to make him, he'll just keep saying 391 00:26:39,515 --> 00:26:45,435 Speaker 1: he's not resigning. No medri, no no. 392 00:26:45,235 --> 00:26:52,555 Speaker 3: Bojamid novoya le meidiri, novoya lemidiri. 393 00:26:53,155 --> 00:26:56,595 Speaker 1: Okay, fine, you're not resigning. They'll fire you instead. The 394 00:26:56,635 --> 00:26:59,595 Speaker 1: Spanish government says it is now trying to remove Rubillies 395 00:26:59,635 --> 00:27:02,755 Speaker 1: by legal means. The Spanish Football Federation says it has 396 00:27:02,875 --> 00:27:08,235 Speaker 1: activated its sexual violence protocol and is investigating its own 397 00:27:08,275 --> 00:27:12,475 Speaker 1: federation president in Chicago. We might be able to use 398 00:27:12,515 --> 00:27:15,475 Speaker 1: the Spanish football federation to look into this. Three days 399 00:27:15,555 --> 00:27:18,155 Speaker 1: later and the White Sox are still not clear how 400 00:27:18,195 --> 00:27:22,395 Speaker 1: two fans got shot as they watched Friday's game from 401 00:27:22,395 --> 00:27:25,115 Speaker 1: the bleachers. They don't even know if the shots came 402 00:27:25,115 --> 00:27:28,115 Speaker 1: from inside or outside the stadium. A forty two year 403 00:27:28,155 --> 00:27:30,155 Speaker 1: old woman took a bullet in the leg and was 404 00:27:30,195 --> 00:27:33,395 Speaker 1: hospitalized in fair condition. A twenty six year old woman 405 00:27:33,435 --> 00:27:35,955 Speaker 1: suffered a graze to the abdomen and did not need 406 00:27:35,995 --> 00:27:39,675 Speaker 1: medical attention. Hope this doesn't offend anybody connected to this podcast. 407 00:27:39,675 --> 00:27:42,195 Speaker 1: Do we have anybody with any connections to the White 408 00:27:42,235 --> 00:27:47,555 Speaker 1: Sox on this pod? On this podcast, almost no story, though, 409 00:27:47,635 --> 00:27:50,515 Speaker 1: is without a silver lining, and this one is no different. 410 00:27:50,915 --> 00:27:54,435 Speaker 1: After the shooting, the White Sox canceled that night's Vanilla 411 00:27:54,475 --> 00:28:16,035 Speaker 1: Ice concert. Thank you, Nancy Faust from Oakland back to Cascating. 412 00:28:16,155 --> 00:28:19,275 Speaker 1: As you know, Oakland A's team owner John Fisher starved 413 00:28:19,275 --> 00:28:22,915 Speaker 1: that franchise until it was unwatchable and attendance flat lined, 414 00:28:22,955 --> 00:28:25,075 Speaker 1: and this was his excuse to make a deal to 415 00:28:25,195 --> 00:28:28,355 Speaker 1: move it to Las Vegas. Fisher has just found out 416 00:28:28,395 --> 00:28:31,155 Speaker 1: he has a big problem. No way there is a 417 00:28:31,195 --> 00:28:34,355 Speaker 1: place to play in Las Vegas before twenty twenty eight 418 00:28:34,395 --> 00:28:37,795 Speaker 1: at the earliest, maybe even twenty twenty nine, and he's 419 00:28:37,915 --> 00:28:41,715 Speaker 1: leased in Oakland runs out after next season. He's had 420 00:28:41,755 --> 00:28:45,155 Speaker 1: the gall to ask Oakland for an extension. The Mayor 421 00:28:45,195 --> 00:28:48,835 Speaker 1: of Oakland has replied by telling Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred, 422 00:28:48,875 --> 00:28:52,235 Speaker 1: who is complicit in this staggering betrayal of one of 423 00:28:52,235 --> 00:28:55,435 Speaker 1: its most long suffering markets, that Fisher can have the 424 00:28:55,515 --> 00:28:59,155 Speaker 1: extension provided that when the A's move, they leave the 425 00:28:59,355 --> 00:29:03,555 Speaker 1: name A's in Oakland, and that Baseball promises in writing 426 00:29:03,595 --> 00:29:05,675 Speaker 1: to put an expansion for m ties to replace the 427 00:29:05,715 --> 00:29:09,715 Speaker 1: A's in Oakland, which they'll then call the A's the 428 00:29:09,915 --> 00:29:12,795 Speaker 1: current A's and we know what A stands for here. 429 00:29:13,155 --> 00:29:16,035 Speaker 1: Think they have an alternative, renting out the home of 430 00:29:16,075 --> 00:29:20,235 Speaker 1: the San Francisco Giants for thirty or forty games a year. 431 00:29:20,715 --> 00:29:24,075 Speaker 1: If that doesn't work, plan C is to play in 432 00:29:24,115 --> 00:29:27,715 Speaker 1: the A's Triple A Minor League stadium, which is in Summerland, Nevada, 433 00:29:28,115 --> 00:29:31,795 Speaker 1: and that seats eighty two hundred people and doesn't have 434 00:29:32,035 --> 00:29:48,995 Speaker 1: a roof. Stell ahead on an all new edition of countdown. Oh, 435 00:29:49,075 --> 00:29:52,395 Speaker 1: it's anniversary month. I mean, I've been around so long 436 00:29:52,435 --> 00:29:56,035 Speaker 1: it's always anniversary month for something. This time it's the 437 00:29:56,035 --> 00:29:59,235 Speaker 1: anniversary of the start of my television career. And thus 438 00:29:59,355 --> 00:30:04,515 Speaker 1: previously untold tales of Ted Turner first time for the 439 00:30:04,555 --> 00:30:06,435 Speaker 1: Day round up with the mis grants, morons undone in 440 00:30:06,475 --> 00:30:10,235 Speaker 1: Kruger effects specimens who constitute today's worse persons in the 441 00:30:10,235 --> 00:30:13,715 Speaker 1: world should have done that with a Southern accent. Worst 442 00:30:13,755 --> 00:30:17,195 Speaker 1: person in the world my Ted Turner impression the bronze 443 00:30:17,275 --> 00:30:22,035 Speaker 1: to Zillo, the online home selling site. It posted that 444 00:30:22,275 --> 00:30:25,595 Speaker 1: ten days before Trump was indicted in Georgia, he had 445 00:30:25,715 --> 00:30:28,555 Speaker 1: sold Meri Lago for four hundred and twenty two million 446 00:30:28,635 --> 00:30:35,675 Speaker 1: dollars to his son Junior. You know, even though Zilo 447 00:30:35,915 --> 00:30:38,635 Speaker 1: estimated the value of the place at twenty four million, 448 00:30:38,715 --> 00:30:40,835 Speaker 1: that was the price four hundred and twenty two million. 449 00:30:41,515 --> 00:30:45,475 Speaker 1: Needless to say, this was interesting, sounded like something you know, 450 00:30:45,595 --> 00:30:48,995 Speaker 1: drug lord would do before faking his own death. Five 451 00:30:49,035 --> 00:30:52,315 Speaker 1: hours later, Zillo finally answered a lot of inquiries by saying, 452 00:30:52,355 --> 00:30:56,275 Speaker 1: without further explanation, that this was a thing that was 453 00:30:56,315 --> 00:30:59,795 Speaker 1: posted in error and they took it down an error. 454 00:31:00,035 --> 00:31:03,635 Speaker 1: You bet the runners up, Tucker Carlson and Elon Musk 455 00:31:03,715 --> 00:31:07,035 Speaker 1: continuing to lie about how many people saw the Carlson 456 00:31:07,115 --> 00:31:10,595 Speaker 1: flatulent lap sitting interview with Trump. The number they're now 457 00:31:10,635 --> 00:31:13,995 Speaker 1: claiming who saw it as like a three four hundred, 458 00:31:14,195 --> 00:31:16,515 Speaker 1: I don't know, eleventy billion, whatever it is. In fact, 459 00:31:17,235 --> 00:31:19,595 Speaker 1: that number that they are putting out is how many 460 00:31:19,595 --> 00:31:24,795 Speaker 1: people saw the tweet of the interview in their timelines. 461 00:31:25,315 --> 00:31:28,275 Speaker 1: The old video view number that Musk has now hidden 462 00:31:28,435 --> 00:31:31,995 Speaker 1: from Twitter only required that people watched something for two 463 00:31:32,035 --> 00:31:34,595 Speaker 1: seconds to count as a viewer, so it was bad 464 00:31:34,715 --> 00:31:37,675 Speaker 1: enough measurable reports that the number of people who watched 465 00:31:37,675 --> 00:31:40,835 Speaker 1: the Trump Tucker Carlson interview for at least two seconds 466 00:31:40,915 --> 00:31:46,635 Speaker 1: was only fourteen point eight million two seconds who watched 467 00:31:46,635 --> 00:31:49,675 Speaker 1: it for even a minute way less. The debate, for 468 00:31:49,715 --> 00:31:52,915 Speaker 1: which it was supposedly counterprogramming, got twelve point eight million 469 00:31:52,955 --> 00:31:56,155 Speaker 1: on Fox. The goped debate, for whatever this is worth, 470 00:31:56,355 --> 00:32:00,235 Speaker 1: crushed Tucker Carlson with Trump in terms of actual audience. 471 00:32:00,795 --> 00:32:04,355 Speaker 1: In short, under Musk, Twitter has a new metric which 472 00:32:04,355 --> 00:32:09,715 Speaker 1: includes people who watch something and people who don't watch it. Genius, 473 00:32:09,755 --> 00:32:14,355 Speaker 1: I tell you genius, but the winner Jonathan Turley, people 474 00:32:14,435 --> 00:32:16,715 Speaker 1: keep asking me about Jonathan Turley, who used to be 475 00:32:16,715 --> 00:32:19,435 Speaker 1: a regular on Countdown, and what happened to him. My 476 00:32:19,555 --> 00:32:23,955 Speaker 1: answer is, I assume it's blackmail. The real question is 477 00:32:24,315 --> 00:32:27,115 Speaker 1: what's going to happen to him next. There is mounting 478 00:32:27,155 --> 00:32:30,595 Speaker 1: pressure on George Washington University Law School to get rid 479 00:32:30,595 --> 00:32:34,715 Speaker 1: of him. The latest atrocity from John Turley described online 480 00:32:34,755 --> 00:32:38,635 Speaker 1: by somebody as Mike Lindell with tenure. He is whoring 481 00:32:38,675 --> 00:32:41,315 Speaker 1: out his reputation by telling his new pimps at Fox 482 00:32:41,675 --> 00:32:44,715 Speaker 1: that he can't understand the Trump charges because when Trump 483 00:32:44,795 --> 00:32:47,715 Speaker 1: called Secretary of State Ken Rafsenberger of Georgia and asked 484 00:32:47,755 --> 00:32:50,835 Speaker 1: him to find eleven five hundred and seventy votes, he 485 00:32:50,955 --> 00:32:54,995 Speaker 1: was just demanding a recount. A recount, that's all. It 486 00:32:55,195 --> 00:32:59,395 Speaker 1: was the recount which had already taken place before the 487 00:32:59,395 --> 00:33:04,595 Speaker 1: phone call a month earlier, a month after the audit were. 488 00:33:05,035 --> 00:33:09,395 Speaker 1: Turley is in direct disagreement with somebody very well respected 489 00:33:09,395 --> 00:33:11,915 Speaker 1: in the legal game who tweeted on January third, twenty 490 00:33:11,955 --> 00:33:15,555 Speaker 1: twenty one quote telling Raffensburger to quote find the votes 491 00:33:15,555 --> 00:33:21,595 Speaker 1: on the Saturday before the inauguration is a breathtaking I 492 00:33:21,635 --> 00:33:24,075 Speaker 1: am as mystified by the request, as I am by 493 00:33:24,075 --> 00:33:27,595 Speaker 1: the logic, such an opportunistic move to secure the sixteen 494 00:33:27,595 --> 00:33:31,275 Speaker 1: electoral votes would not work to change the outcome. Who 495 00:33:31,315 --> 00:33:35,195 Speaker 1: tweeted that position, completely contradicting and out arguing John Turley. 496 00:33:36,315 --> 00:33:42,075 Speaker 1: John Turley. John Turley said that the request that Raffensburger 497 00:33:42,075 --> 00:33:45,715 Speaker 1: made no sense. Couldn't figure it out. Now he says, oh, 498 00:33:45,795 --> 00:33:50,555 Speaker 1: it's just a recount. He's being blackmailed. John. Remember when 499 00:33:50,555 --> 00:33:53,675 Speaker 1: they tried to blackmail Jeff Bezos to give Trump good coverage? 500 00:33:53,715 --> 00:33:57,195 Speaker 1: You really think Bezos was the only one looking at you? Turley, Turley, 501 00:33:57,515 --> 00:34:00,515 Speaker 1: Today's worse person. 502 00:34:01,555 --> 00:34:09,675 Speaker 2: Annoy. 503 00:34:13,795 --> 00:34:16,795 Speaker 1: Now to the number one story on this all new 504 00:34:16,955 --> 00:34:19,475 Speaker 1: edition of Countdown. And it's that time of year again. 505 00:34:20,035 --> 00:34:23,115 Speaker 1: It's August when the odometer turns over and my TV 506 00:34:23,315 --> 00:34:30,755 Speaker 1: debut becomes forty three years ago. This holy crap, and 507 00:34:30,795 --> 00:34:35,195 Speaker 1: it all owes to Ted Turner and Lou Dobbs. Part 508 00:34:35,195 --> 00:34:39,435 Speaker 1: of this I've told before. I actually interviewed with Cable 509 00:34:39,475 --> 00:34:44,435 Speaker 1: News Network twice, once in April nineteen eighty when they 510 00:34:44,435 --> 00:34:47,115 Speaker 1: were not yet on the air, and after that interview 511 00:34:47,195 --> 00:34:49,595 Speaker 1: I saw no reason they ever would be. I wrote 512 00:34:49,635 --> 00:34:52,075 Speaker 1: in my diary, there's no chance they're ever going to 513 00:34:52,075 --> 00:34:53,675 Speaker 1: get it on the air in time. They were supposed 514 00:34:53,715 --> 00:34:56,515 Speaker 1: to go on in September because the New York Bureau 515 00:34:56,595 --> 00:35:01,995 Speaker 1: of CNN consisted of one coffee table, a couple of chairs, 516 00:35:02,515 --> 00:35:07,275 Speaker 1: one coffee machine, a stairway well, one unisex bathroom, and 517 00:35:07,395 --> 00:35:11,515 Speaker 1: one staffer New York Bureau chief Mary Alice Williams. Plus 518 00:35:11,515 --> 00:35:14,755 Speaker 1: the day I went there, CNN Sports president Bill McPhail 519 00:35:14,915 --> 00:35:18,035 Speaker 1: made it two staffers. He was up from Atlanta after 520 00:35:18,235 --> 00:35:21,755 Speaker 1: a long year. My phone rang one day and McPhail 521 00:35:21,835 --> 00:35:24,115 Speaker 1: asked me to fill in for two weeks. In two 522 00:35:24,195 --> 00:35:26,995 Speaker 1: weeks for their New York sports reporter. I had no 523 00:35:27,155 --> 00:35:31,755 Speaker 1: television experience at all. Well, I'd watched it. She was 524 00:35:31,795 --> 00:35:35,475 Speaker 1: going on vacation on August third, sooner, McPhail added if 525 00:35:35,515 --> 00:35:38,555 Speaker 1: the baseball strike ended before then. Her name was Debbie Segur, 526 00:35:38,635 --> 00:35:42,755 Speaker 1: and all I knew was vacation me okay. Turned out 527 00:35:43,195 --> 00:35:46,395 Speaker 1: it was part vacation, part get out of town quickly, 528 00:35:46,555 --> 00:35:52,755 Speaker 1: very quickly. See CNN started as not just news news 529 00:35:52,875 --> 00:35:56,915 Speaker 1: or just news and politics and interviews and guests. There 530 00:35:56,995 --> 00:35:59,435 Speaker 1: was a half an hour business show every night and 531 00:35:59,555 --> 00:36:02,435 Speaker 1: a half an hour show business show every night. And 532 00:36:02,475 --> 00:36:04,875 Speaker 1: a half an hour sportscast at seven and the other 533 00:36:04,915 --> 00:36:06,755 Speaker 1: half an hour sports cast at eleven and then one 534 00:36:06,795 --> 00:36:09,035 Speaker 1: in the middle of the night. There was a fashion program, 535 00:36:09,075 --> 00:36:11,195 Speaker 1: and there were hourly stock reports, and they had a 536 00:36:11,235 --> 00:36:14,355 Speaker 1: staff of meteorologists, and they had short sports cast almost 537 00:36:14,435 --> 00:36:17,755 Speaker 1: every hour of the day. And the business anchor based 538 00:36:17,835 --> 00:36:20,515 Speaker 1: in that New York bureau, which had expanded from the 539 00:36:20,515 --> 00:36:25,275 Speaker 1: one unisex bathroom was Lou Dobbs, and as the producer 540 00:36:25,315 --> 00:36:27,035 Speaker 1: they had sent up to work with me when I 541 00:36:27,075 --> 00:36:30,395 Speaker 1: filled in for this Debbie Sigura Phil Griffin, later the 542 00:36:30,395 --> 00:36:32,955 Speaker 1: president of MSNBC. As he explained to me when we 543 00:36:32,995 --> 00:36:34,835 Speaker 1: got in the car to go out to Shaye Stadium 544 00:36:34,835 --> 00:36:38,875 Speaker 1: to interview all those New York Mets guys, Lou Dobbs 545 00:36:38,955 --> 00:36:42,235 Speaker 1: was rumored to be stepping out on his wife with 546 00:36:42,755 --> 00:36:46,315 Speaker 1: the CNN New York sports reporter, and missus Dobbs had 547 00:36:46,355 --> 00:36:48,995 Speaker 1: found out, so there was even a rumor there was 548 00:36:49,035 --> 00:36:51,555 Speaker 1: somebody else who also worked in the CNN New York 549 00:36:51,595 --> 00:36:56,395 Speaker 1: bureau who found out. So Bill McPhail's hurried call asking 550 00:36:56,395 --> 00:36:58,875 Speaker 1: me to fill in for the reporter for two weeks. 551 00:36:58,915 --> 00:37:03,715 Speaker 1: In two weeks was because she was going on quote vacation. 552 00:37:05,555 --> 00:37:08,435 Speaker 1: Not long after all this, Dobbs thought it would be 553 00:37:08,515 --> 00:37:11,435 Speaker 1: smarter to leave New York for a while, like a 554 00:37:11,475 --> 00:37:15,195 Speaker 1: decade or so, and Debbie went with him. They got married. 555 00:37:15,995 --> 00:37:18,555 Speaker 1: This left New York without a sports reporter, and CNN 556 00:37:18,555 --> 00:37:20,635 Speaker 1: tried another one of their Atlanta anchors for a while, 557 00:37:20,675 --> 00:37:23,275 Speaker 1: but they kept giving him extra vacation time, so they 558 00:37:23,275 --> 00:37:25,555 Speaker 1: would have to bring me in freelance every month, and 559 00:37:25,635 --> 00:37:28,195 Speaker 1: finally the following March they offered me the job full time. 560 00:37:28,235 --> 00:37:30,195 Speaker 1: And I have not earned an honest pay check since. 561 00:37:31,155 --> 00:37:34,355 Speaker 1: And I mean that in two ways. CNN was paying 562 00:37:34,355 --> 00:37:38,515 Speaker 1: me five hundred dollars a week, that's one hundred dollars 563 00:37:38,555 --> 00:37:41,955 Speaker 1: a day to go on national television. Even then, this 564 00:37:41,995 --> 00:37:44,835 Speaker 1: seemed a little low, and it was about forty percent 565 00:37:44,915 --> 00:37:46,875 Speaker 1: less than what I was making for like three days 566 00:37:46,875 --> 00:37:52,635 Speaker 1: a week in network radio. I pointed this out acceptingly 567 00:37:53,315 --> 00:37:56,635 Speaker 1: because I was learning how to do TV while on 568 00:37:56,755 --> 00:37:59,075 Speaker 1: TV and getting paid for it. It was a vocational school. 569 00:37:59,715 --> 00:38:01,675 Speaker 1: And that's when they told me that the five hundred 570 00:38:01,715 --> 00:38:03,395 Speaker 1: dollars a week was already more than they had been 571 00:38:03,395 --> 00:38:06,475 Speaker 1: paying Debbie Segura, and more than the guy they were 572 00:38:06,515 --> 00:38:10,075 Speaker 1: paying as their reporter in Los Angeles, and then Bill McPhail, 573 00:38:10,115 --> 00:38:12,075 Speaker 1: the head of Sports, called and offered me a contract 574 00:38:12,115 --> 00:38:15,395 Speaker 1: for twenty five thousand dollars and I said, wait, twenty 575 00:38:15,435 --> 00:38:17,675 Speaker 1: five thousands, five hundred dollars a week is twenty six 576 00:38:17,755 --> 00:38:21,595 Speaker 1: that Wait a minute, you're offering me less for the contract. 577 00:38:21,635 --> 00:38:24,995 Speaker 1: Why would I take less? Is there health insurance or something? 578 00:38:25,035 --> 00:38:27,915 Speaker 1: And he said no, there's just the security of having 579 00:38:27,915 --> 00:38:29,435 Speaker 1: the contract. And I said, well, I'd rather have the 580 00:38:29,515 --> 00:38:33,515 Speaker 1: thousand dollars that you're docking me for signing, and they 581 00:38:33,555 --> 00:38:36,915 Speaker 1: found it somewhere, but they always reminded me how generous 582 00:38:37,155 --> 00:38:39,595 Speaker 1: they had been with that extra thousand dollars, and I 583 00:38:39,675 --> 00:38:44,475 Speaker 1: kept saying, that's not extra. You are already paying me that. Anyway, 584 00:38:45,435 --> 00:38:48,435 Speaker 1: none of that would have happened, though, without Ted Turner, 585 00:38:48,875 --> 00:38:52,475 Speaker 1: because CNN was his idea, and in fact, most of 586 00:38:52,515 --> 00:38:55,955 Speaker 1: what you saw from me on ESPN later that was 587 00:38:56,075 --> 00:39:00,075 Speaker 1: also mostly his idea too, sort of. Anyway, the basic 588 00:39:00,115 --> 00:39:03,515 Speaker 1: idea of Sports Center sports news on national television on 589 00:39:03,635 --> 00:39:06,555 Speaker 1: more or less a daily basis, Ted did that. Not 590 00:39:06,915 --> 00:39:12,795 Speaker 1: ESPN and the daily Sports News studio show on at 591 00:39:12,795 --> 00:39:15,795 Speaker 1: the same time every day or night, with the same 592 00:39:15,915 --> 00:39:19,275 Speaker 1: anchors treated as seriously as a half an hour of news. 593 00:39:19,475 --> 00:39:22,555 Speaker 1: Ted did that, and buying sports teams to have something 594 00:39:22,555 --> 00:39:25,395 Speaker 1: to put on your television station. Ted did that too. 595 00:39:25,835 --> 00:39:31,155 Speaker 1: WTCG Channel seventeen Atlanta was the fringiest of FRINGETV stations 596 00:39:31,315 --> 00:39:34,195 Speaker 1: when Ted Turner bought it in nineteen seventy, But then 597 00:39:34,275 --> 00:39:37,275 Speaker 1: six years later he bought first the Atlanta Braves and 598 00:39:37,315 --> 00:39:39,755 Speaker 1: then the basketball Atlanta Hawks, and he bought a couple 599 00:39:39,795 --> 00:39:43,155 Speaker 1: of satellite dishes, and the FCC made the fateful decision 600 00:39:43,235 --> 00:39:46,715 Speaker 1: to let him put Channel seventeen up on the satellite 601 00:39:47,115 --> 00:39:50,275 Speaker 1: so it could be shown on those fledgling cable systems 602 00:39:50,315 --> 00:39:52,435 Speaker 1: around the country. And the next thing you knew, the 603 00:39:52,475 --> 00:39:57,475 Speaker 1: Atlanta Braves were America's team, and Ted, who was shameless, 604 00:39:57,795 --> 00:40:01,315 Speaker 1: promptly signed the first baseball player ever to take advantage 605 00:40:01,315 --> 00:40:04,515 Speaker 1: of what we now know as free agency, Andy Messersmith. 606 00:40:05,115 --> 00:40:07,675 Speaker 1: Andy messer Smith got what looked like all the money 607 00:40:07,715 --> 00:40:11,355 Speaker 1: in the world, more money than any baseball player had 608 00:40:11,435 --> 00:40:14,515 Speaker 1: ever gotten or or we were certain would ever get, 609 00:40:14,835 --> 00:40:26,155 Speaker 1: one million dollars over three years. With one catch, Andy 610 00:40:26,155 --> 00:40:32,155 Speaker 1: Messersmith had to wear uniform number seventeen WTCG Channel seventeen. 611 00:40:32,475 --> 00:40:34,675 Speaker 1: You see where this was going. He had to wear 612 00:40:34,795 --> 00:40:38,555 Speaker 1: uniform number seventeen, and instead of having Messersmith written on 613 00:40:38,675 --> 00:40:41,235 Speaker 1: the back of the shirt over the seventeen, he had 614 00:40:41,235 --> 00:40:46,995 Speaker 1: to have the word Channel. So Andy Messersmith's uniform when 615 00:40:46,995 --> 00:40:49,115 Speaker 1: he broke in with the Atlanta Braves in nineteen seventy 616 00:40:49,115 --> 00:40:51,595 Speaker 1: six as the highest paid player in baseball history, the 617 00:40:51,635 --> 00:40:57,395 Speaker 1: back of the uniform read Channel seventeen. Baseball stopped that 618 00:40:57,555 --> 00:41:00,995 Speaker 1: right quick, It's not ted. The day he decided that 619 00:41:01,235 --> 00:41:03,075 Speaker 1: he should see what it was like to manage the 620 00:41:03,115 --> 00:41:05,315 Speaker 1: Braves and if it really was his difficult as his 621 00:41:05,395 --> 00:41:09,035 Speaker 1: managers had made it seem. His lifetime record was zero 622 00:41:09,035 --> 00:41:11,475 Speaker 1: to one, and he said, yes, this is very difficult. 623 00:41:11,715 --> 00:41:14,075 Speaker 1: But the cable sports genie that one was out of 624 00:41:14,075 --> 00:41:16,795 Speaker 1: the bottle and nobody was stopping it, and he aspn 625 00:41:16,835 --> 00:41:20,595 Speaker 1: ran with it. But next came news. Even then his 626 00:41:20,715 --> 00:41:24,355 Speaker 1: crazy idea cable news network rested squarely on the first 627 00:41:24,395 --> 00:41:29,195 Speaker 1: regularly scheduled nightly sports newscast in national television history, CNN 628 00:41:29,235 --> 00:41:32,995 Speaker 1: Sports Tonight at seven at eleven and two am Eastern, 629 00:41:34,035 --> 00:41:37,475 Speaker 1: while SportsCenter was on in those days for fifteen minutes 630 00:41:37,515 --> 00:41:39,955 Speaker 1: one night at seven and then an hour the next 631 00:41:40,035 --> 00:41:43,195 Speaker 1: night at ten and sports Tonight. Was there Come News 632 00:41:43,275 --> 00:41:46,995 Speaker 1: or high Water? Seven nights a week. Of course, Ted 633 00:41:46,995 --> 00:41:50,115 Speaker 1: Turner was not just shameless, he was also technically penniless, 634 00:41:50,395 --> 00:41:52,595 Speaker 1: so he hired a couple of real veterans to run 635 00:41:52,635 --> 00:41:55,195 Speaker 1: and anchor the thing. Bill McPhail, who helped invent the 636 00:41:55,315 --> 00:41:58,875 Speaker 1: NFL on CBS and Monday Night Football, was also his idea, 637 00:41:59,235 --> 00:42:02,355 Speaker 1: and his former CBS colleague Bob Wessler, and he hired 638 00:42:02,395 --> 00:42:05,475 Speaker 1: Nick Charles, who was a star of sports casting on 639 00:42:05,595 --> 00:42:10,395 Speaker 1: the Washington and Baltimore newscasts, but everybody else the cheapest 640 00:42:10,555 --> 00:42:14,275 Speaker 1: hires they could find. In nineteen eighty one, Turner sent 641 00:42:14,435 --> 00:42:18,315 Speaker 1: McPhail to hire me. That was our second interview. When 642 00:42:18,315 --> 00:42:20,915 Speaker 1: I told Bill I had made forty two thousand dollars 643 00:42:20,915 --> 00:42:24,155 Speaker 1: the year before working for Charlie Steiner in radio. Bill 644 00:42:24,275 --> 00:42:28,275 Speaker 1: spit his drink halfway across the room. We were planning 645 00:42:28,275 --> 00:42:30,835 Speaker 1: on hiring six guys to start with, for a total 646 00:42:30,875 --> 00:42:33,635 Speaker 1: of ninety five thousand. This is when they were staffing 647 00:42:33,715 --> 00:42:37,355 Speaker 1: up what became CNN Headline News. I answered that I 648 00:42:37,355 --> 00:42:39,155 Speaker 1: hoped that the other five guys he was going to 649 00:42:39,235 --> 00:42:41,475 Speaker 1: hire were prepared to make it on seven grand each, 650 00:42:41,835 --> 00:42:43,915 Speaker 1: because there was no way I was moving to Atlanta 651 00:42:43,955 --> 00:42:47,795 Speaker 1: for less than sixty thousand dollars. Well, they got me anyway, 652 00:42:47,915 --> 00:42:50,235 Speaker 1: and for less than sixty thousand dollars, but I did 653 00:42:50,275 --> 00:42:53,595 Speaker 1: not move to Atlanta, Thank you, Lou Dobbs. And they 654 00:42:53,595 --> 00:42:57,795 Speaker 1: got Dan Patrick and Hannah Storm and Fred Hickman and 655 00:42:57,915 --> 00:43:01,635 Speaker 1: Dan Hicks and Gary Miller and dozens of others and 656 00:43:01,755 --> 00:43:05,635 Speaker 1: reporters and cameramen and producers and executive and editors, and 657 00:43:06,115 --> 00:43:10,235 Speaker 1: one sports production assistant from the original crew of CNN 658 00:43:10,275 --> 00:43:14,715 Speaker 1: Sports wound up becoming the president of CNN Worldwide, and 659 00:43:14,795 --> 00:43:20,355 Speaker 1: another wound up becoming the president of MSNBC. ESPN reshaped 660 00:43:20,395 --> 00:43:27,315 Speaker 1: television sports news anyway, CNN created it, and early on 661 00:43:27,395 --> 00:43:30,315 Speaker 1: CNN staffed ESPN and much of the industry, And I'm 662 00:43:30,315 --> 00:43:33,755 Speaker 1: skipping how Turner mainstreamed World Cup yachting at least for 663 00:43:33,795 --> 00:43:36,795 Speaker 1: a while, and Ted and TNT and TED and the 664 00:43:36,795 --> 00:43:40,275 Speaker 1: Goodwill Games and TED and World Championship Wrestling, whose matches 665 00:43:40,275 --> 00:43:43,715 Speaker 1: were actually held right above the CNN newsroom, so that 666 00:43:43,875 --> 00:43:46,515 Speaker 1: often you could hear the wrestlers slamming each other on 667 00:43:46,635 --> 00:43:50,075 Speaker 1: our ceiling. And by the way, the Braves winning fourteen 668 00:43:50,115 --> 00:43:54,155 Speaker 1: straight division titles and the repopulation of Bison in the country. 669 00:43:54,475 --> 00:43:57,555 Speaker 1: It was also Ted Turner, but my favorite Ted Turner 670 00:43:57,595 --> 00:44:00,155 Speaker 1: story comes from something he did not pull off, not 671 00:44:00,275 --> 00:44:03,315 Speaker 1: that he did not try. When the football owners forced 672 00:44:03,315 --> 00:44:06,115 Speaker 1: the players out on stroke in nineteen eighty two, Ted 673 00:44:06,195 --> 00:44:09,515 Speaker 1: sent me to cover it every day for eight months, 674 00:44:10,835 --> 00:44:13,795 Speaker 1: and one day he showed up at the Football strike 675 00:44:13,835 --> 00:44:16,755 Speaker 1: talks to meet with the players, and when he came out, 676 00:44:16,755 --> 00:44:20,115 Speaker 1: he announced that he would be bankrolling and televising two 677 00:44:20,315 --> 00:44:23,115 Speaker 1: football games in the middle of a football strike, one 678 00:44:23,235 --> 00:44:25,555 Speaker 1: at RFK Stadium in Washington and the other at the 679 00:44:25,675 --> 00:44:28,755 Speaker 1: Rose Bowl in southern California. And basically these two games 680 00:44:28,795 --> 00:44:33,435 Speaker 1: would pit pickup teams of striking players the American Conference 681 00:44:33,715 --> 00:44:36,835 Speaker 1: versus the National Conference. And he called his two games 682 00:44:37,355 --> 00:44:41,875 Speaker 1: the All Star Season. I've mentioned this elsewhere and before. 683 00:44:42,515 --> 00:44:45,035 Speaker 1: When I asked him about the acronym for the All 684 00:44:45,195 --> 00:44:48,955 Speaker 1: Star Season, he winked at me and shushed me, and 685 00:44:48,955 --> 00:44:50,395 Speaker 1: then he took me aside and he asked me what 686 00:44:50,475 --> 00:44:52,755 Speaker 1: I thought. I told him, nobody's gonna watch and he's 687 00:44:52,795 --> 00:44:54,635 Speaker 1: going to lose money. And he looked at me and 688 00:44:54,715 --> 00:44:58,515 Speaker 1: he said, nobody watches you. I lose money on you, 689 00:44:59,195 --> 00:45:04,715 Speaker 1: so what we'll make money eventually. He then explained that 690 00:45:04,715 --> 00:45:08,155 Speaker 1: that was really just designed to set up the owners. 691 00:45:08,995 --> 00:45:11,395 Speaker 1: If he could put the games together and get them 692 00:45:11,435 --> 00:45:14,275 Speaker 1: on TV with no more than one month's lead time, 693 00:45:14,715 --> 00:45:18,195 Speaker 1: the players' union was willing to partner up with him. 694 00:45:18,715 --> 00:45:23,875 Speaker 1: Ted's real motive for the ass the All Star season 695 00:45:24,395 --> 00:45:28,115 Speaker 1: was nothing less than creating his own football league, twenty 696 00:45:28,115 --> 00:45:31,555 Speaker 1: four teams, which would begin play in nineteen eighty three 697 00:45:31,675 --> 00:45:37,795 Speaker 1: or sooner if necessary, and would be televised exclusively on TBS. 698 00:45:38,475 --> 00:45:40,875 Speaker 1: All he needed was the players going along with him, 699 00:45:40,915 --> 00:45:43,755 Speaker 1: and one little labor court ruling that the owners had 700 00:45:43,835 --> 00:45:46,115 Speaker 1: forced the players union to go out on strike and 701 00:45:46,155 --> 00:45:52,195 Speaker 1: that would allow the union to negotiate with other employers. Well, obviously, 702 00:45:52,755 --> 00:45:54,355 Speaker 1: you don't have to be a football expert to know 703 00:45:54,395 --> 00:45:56,595 Speaker 1: that he did not get that court ruling, but they 704 00:45:56,635 --> 00:46:00,755 Speaker 1: went for it. Ted Turner was shooting for nothing less 705 00:46:00,795 --> 00:46:04,035 Speaker 1: than killing off the National Football League and replacing it 706 00:46:04,075 --> 00:46:08,315 Speaker 1: with a new National Football League owned by Ted Turner, 707 00:46:08,795 --> 00:46:11,155 Speaker 1: and he was going to give the players fifty percent 708 00:46:11,195 --> 00:46:14,715 Speaker 1: of the whole league. And don't forget, nearly all of 709 00:46:14,715 --> 00:46:18,195 Speaker 1: this was done on a shoe string budget with borrowed money, 710 00:46:18,315 --> 00:46:20,995 Speaker 1: with all of his employees convinced that he was crazy 711 00:46:21,435 --> 00:46:24,075 Speaker 1: and it wouldn't last until next Tuesday. And when we 712 00:46:24,115 --> 00:46:26,235 Speaker 1: would get our paychecks at CNN in New York, we 713 00:46:26,275 --> 00:46:29,315 Speaker 1: would race each other to the bank to cash them, 714 00:46:29,595 --> 00:46:32,235 Speaker 1: just in case there wasn't going to be enough for everybody. 715 00:46:34,355 --> 00:46:37,115 Speaker 1: So whenever something causes me to get nostalgic about my 716 00:46:37,195 --> 00:46:41,835 Speaker 1: start in TV, I inevitably find myself going back to 717 00:46:42,795 --> 00:46:49,915 Speaker 1: tales of Ted Turner, Owen Lou and Missus Dobbs and 718 00:46:49,955 --> 00:47:06,075 Speaker 1: the Other Missus Dobbs, Missus Dobbs one and Missus Dobbs two. 719 00:47:08,115 --> 00:47:09,915 Speaker 1: I've done all the damage I can do here. Thank 720 00:47:09,955 --> 00:47:11,835 Speaker 1: you for listening. Countdown has come to you from our 721 00:47:11,875 --> 00:47:14,955 Speaker 1: studios high on top the Sports Capsule Building in New York. 722 00:47:15,675 --> 00:47:17,795 Speaker 1: Here are the credits. Most of the music was arranged, 723 00:47:17,795 --> 00:47:20,995 Speaker 1: produced and performed by Brian Ray and John Phillip Schanel. 724 00:47:21,315 --> 00:47:24,595 Speaker 1: They are the Countdown musical directors. All orchestration and keyboards 725 00:47:24,635 --> 00:47:28,355 Speaker 1: by John Phillip Shanel, guitars, bass and drums by Brian Ray, 726 00:47:28,435 --> 00:47:32,475 Speaker 1: produced by Tko Brothers. Other Beethoven selections have been arranged 727 00:47:32,515 --> 00:47:35,315 Speaker 1: and performed by the group No Horns Allowed. The sports 728 00:47:35,395 --> 00:47:37,955 Speaker 1: music is the Olderman theme for ESPN two, and it 729 00:47:37,995 --> 00:47:40,795 Speaker 1: was written by Mitch Warren Davis courtesy of esp and 730 00:47:40,795 --> 00:47:44,035 Speaker 1: e musical comments by Nancy Fauss. The best baseball stadium 731 00:47:44,115 --> 00:47:47,475 Speaker 1: organist ever. Our announcer today was my friend Jonathan Banks. 732 00:47:47,795 --> 00:47:50,555 Speaker 1: Everything else is pretty much my fault. That's countdown for 733 00:47:50,555 --> 00:47:53,035 Speaker 1: this the nine hundred and sixty fourth day since Donald 734 00:47:53,075 --> 00:47:55,915 Speaker 1: Trump's first attempted coup against the democratically elected government of 735 00:47:55,955 --> 00:47:59,715 Speaker 1: the United States. Arrest him again while we still can. 736 00:48:00,955 --> 00:48:03,715 Speaker 1: The next scheduled countdown is tomorrow, Boltons as the news 737 00:48:03,755 --> 00:48:06,675 Speaker 1: warrant still then, I'm Keith Alreman. Good morning, good afternoon, 738 00:48:06,715 --> 00:48:23,275 Speaker 1: good night, and good luck. Countdown with Keith Olreman is 739 00:48:23,315 --> 00:48:28,115 Speaker 1: a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit 740 00:48:28,155 --> 00:48:32,795 Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.