1 00:00:04,795 --> 00:00:21,195 Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. For 2 00:00:21,355 --> 00:00:24,635 Speaker 1: an all too brief forty five minutes. This afternoon, the 3 00:00:24,795 --> 00:00:28,635 Speaker 1: dark and threatening streets of the American hellscape were a 4 00:00:28,675 --> 00:00:33,435 Speaker 1: little safer, a little brighter, And then they let Donald 5 00:00:33,475 --> 00:00:36,875 Speaker 1: Trump leave the court house, perhaps to the eternal regret 6 00:00:37,075 --> 00:00:42,195 Speaker 1: of mankind. On this day of Trump arraignment syndrome, my 7 00:00:42,355 --> 00:00:45,435 Speaker 1: ex landlord has been charged with thirty four counts of 8 00:00:45,515 --> 00:00:49,555 Speaker 1: felony falsification of business records, each one part of a 9 00:00:49,595 --> 00:00:55,155 Speaker 1: conspiracy to unlawfully quote influenced the twenty sixteen presidential election. 10 00:00:55,555 --> 00:00:59,515 Speaker 1: That is the headline. Trump is being charged not just 11 00:00:59,635 --> 00:01:04,235 Speaker 1: with falsifying business records, but with falsifying business records in 12 00:01:04,355 --> 00:01:10,395 Speaker 1: order to illegally influence the twenty sixteen presidential election. Trump 13 00:01:10,595 --> 00:01:16,355 Speaker 1: is being prosecuted for election interference. Trump, or as we 14 00:01:16,435 --> 00:01:20,635 Speaker 1: may now call him, the defendant, said nothing in New York. 15 00:01:20,755 --> 00:01:23,515 Speaker 1: All we saw was him scowling on the way into 16 00:01:23,515 --> 00:01:28,355 Speaker 1: the courtroom, then peering through bloodshot eyes towards the judge. 17 00:01:28,715 --> 00:01:33,115 Speaker 1: Then the always alarming shot of his hairstyle as seen 18 00:01:33,275 --> 00:01:35,475 Speaker 1: from the vantage point of the back of his head 19 00:01:35,715 --> 00:01:39,515 Speaker 1: as he left for LaGuardia where alone and without the 20 00:01:39,555 --> 00:01:44,795 Speaker 1: former first Lady the flotus for some reason, oh right, sorry, 21 00:01:45,355 --> 00:01:48,515 Speaker 1: Trump slowly climbed the stairs of the jetway, and for 22 00:01:48,555 --> 00:01:52,635 Speaker 1: a brief moment, his flapping extra extra extra, extra extra 23 00:01:52,715 --> 00:01:56,435 Speaker 1: extra long red tie teased us with the thought that 24 00:01:56,555 --> 00:02:00,355 Speaker 1: it might finally get caught in his planes rear wing 25 00:02:00,435 --> 00:02:05,995 Speaker 1: horizontal stabilizer. Trump is being arged not for the payoff 26 00:02:06,035 --> 00:02:09,075 Speaker 1: to Stormy Daniels, nor, in a new development, for a 27 00:02:09,195 --> 00:02:13,035 Speaker 1: thirty thousand dollars payoff to a Trump Tower doorman who 28 00:02:13,075 --> 00:02:17,355 Speaker 1: thought he knew something about a child Trump had fathered 29 00:02:17,395 --> 00:02:21,395 Speaker 1: out of wedlock. That's right, The case now has a 30 00:02:21,515 --> 00:02:26,035 Speaker 1: once rumored Trump love child. No, Trump is not being 31 00:02:26,115 --> 00:02:30,075 Speaker 1: charged for love or money. He's being charged for, as 32 00:02:30,115 --> 00:02:33,995 Speaker 1: the DA said, trying to illegally influence the two sixteen 33 00:02:34,235 --> 00:02:38,195 Speaker 1: presidential election, and in doing so, violating New York state 34 00:02:38,235 --> 00:02:42,755 Speaker 1: election law, to conspire to promote a candidate by unlawful means, 35 00:02:43,075 --> 00:02:46,915 Speaker 1: and exceeding the political contribution cap by paying to suppress 36 00:02:47,115 --> 00:02:51,835 Speaker 1: the Stormy Daniel's story to deceive the public. Trump has 37 00:02:51,875 --> 00:02:56,355 Speaker 1: been indicted thirty four felonies for trying to defraud and 38 00:02:56,435 --> 00:02:59,835 Speaker 1: to conceal a separate crime when he reimbursed his lawyer, 39 00:02:59,875 --> 00:03:03,995 Speaker 1: Michael Cohen in a deal prosecutors alleged was reached inside 40 00:03:03,995 --> 00:03:08,755 Speaker 1: the Oval office to hide those Daniels payments as legitimate 41 00:03:08,795 --> 00:03:14,555 Speaker 1: business expenses for legal services. And if those business expenses 42 00:03:15,035 --> 00:03:19,155 Speaker 1: are business expenses, America is in a new and different 43 00:03:19,195 --> 00:03:23,915 Speaker 1: world of hiring porn stars so their services can help 44 00:03:23,955 --> 00:03:28,635 Speaker 1: you write off And at the exact hour that Trump 45 00:03:28,715 --> 00:03:31,515 Speaker 1: was entering the fifteenth floor courthouse at one hundred Center 46 00:03:31,555 --> 00:03:35,475 Speaker 1: Street in Manhattan, his sons were sharing on several social 47 00:03:35,475 --> 00:03:39,555 Speaker 1: media sites a British tabloid story about the daughter of 48 00:03:39,595 --> 00:03:43,115 Speaker 1: the judge in the case, complete with her photo, doxing 49 00:03:43,195 --> 00:03:47,355 Speaker 1: her and launching a phony conspiracy theory that because of 50 00:03:47,355 --> 00:03:49,395 Speaker 1: her work with a digital firm that worked with the 51 00:03:49,435 --> 00:03:54,515 Speaker 1: Kamala Harris and Joe Biden presidential campaigns. This is as 52 00:03:54,635 --> 00:03:58,475 Speaker 1: Donald Trump, in his paranoia and megalomania, believes everything else 53 00:03:58,795 --> 00:04:02,715 Speaker 1: in the history of the world is a plot against him. 54 00:04:03,475 --> 00:04:08,835 Speaker 1: They doxed the judge's daughter while Junior and Fredo were posting. 55 00:04:09,115 --> 00:04:12,955 Speaker 1: The District Attorney's office was handing out multiple combies in 56 00:04:12,995 --> 00:04:16,635 Speaker 1: the courtroom of the various online threats of violence and 57 00:04:16,835 --> 00:04:19,475 Speaker 1: terrorism that Trump has made in the days and weeks 58 00:04:19,555 --> 00:04:22,835 Speaker 1: leading up to today, the baseball bat image, the death 59 00:04:22,875 --> 00:04:26,795 Speaker 1: and destruction warning, calling the district attorney a quote animal, 60 00:04:27,155 --> 00:04:31,235 Speaker 1: and presumably others. Nobody is sure if the other posts 61 00:04:31,235 --> 00:04:34,315 Speaker 1: included the attacks Trump made not four hours before the 62 00:04:34,395 --> 00:04:38,955 Speaker 1: hearing began against Judge Juan Marshawan himself, calling him quote 63 00:04:39,035 --> 00:04:43,395 Speaker 1: highly partisan and quote an unfair disaster belonging to a 64 00:04:43,435 --> 00:04:47,235 Speaker 1: family of quote well known Trump haters, including quote his 65 00:04:47,435 --> 00:04:51,115 Speaker 1: daughter who worked for Kamala and now the Biden Harris 66 00:04:51,195 --> 00:04:57,235 Speaker 1: campaign Kangaroo Court. Judge Marshan, showing the kind of restraint 67 00:04:57,275 --> 00:04:59,315 Speaker 1: that you and I and most of the planets eight 68 00:04:59,795 --> 00:05:02,955 Speaker 1: twenty five million, eight hundred and fifty three thousand other 69 00:05:03,035 --> 00:05:07,715 Speaker 1: people would not, did not immediately impose a gag order, 70 00:05:07,875 --> 00:05:10,675 Speaker 1: nor even a specific set of warnings against Trump and 71 00:05:10,795 --> 00:05:14,435 Speaker 1: what he might say tonight or going forward. Marshaan did 72 00:05:14,595 --> 00:05:17,755 Speaker 1: warn both sides not to make any statement that incites 73 00:05:17,835 --> 00:05:22,035 Speaker 1: violence and to tamp down the rhetoric. As to rhetoric, 74 00:05:22,435 --> 00:05:26,035 Speaker 1: Alvin Bragg promptly gave a measured and quiet and even 75 00:05:26,275 --> 00:05:30,955 Speaker 1: dull news conference. Trump canceled his reported plans to talk 76 00:05:30,955 --> 00:05:33,435 Speaker 1: to the media on the way in and again on 77 00:05:33,475 --> 00:05:36,555 Speaker 1: the way out of the courtroom. His attorneys, though, gave 78 00:05:36,595 --> 00:05:39,795 Speaker 1: a bizarre and ill fated news conference in the middle 79 00:05:39,835 --> 00:05:44,195 Speaker 1: of the throng outside the courthouse, as media outnumbered protesters 80 00:05:44,195 --> 00:05:47,635 Speaker 1: and even passers by by perhaps one hundred to one. 81 00:05:48,115 --> 00:05:51,795 Speaker 1: At this press conference, the new guy, Todd Blanche had 82 00:05:52,475 --> 00:05:58,555 Speaker 1: a problem about speaking in public um without um, interrupting 83 00:05:58,595 --> 00:06:02,115 Speaker 1: himself frequently with the um verbal crunch Um and I 84 00:06:02,275 --> 00:06:05,595 Speaker 1: wondered if this was the best attorney of all the guys. 85 00:06:05,635 --> 00:06:11,595 Speaker 1: They considered what kind of impression the other guys UM left. Meanwhile, 86 00:06:11,715 --> 00:06:15,355 Speaker 1: Joe Tacopina said that this was the day quote the 87 00:06:15,435 --> 00:06:20,955 Speaker 1: rule of law died in this country, as a spectator 88 00:06:21,035 --> 00:06:24,995 Speaker 1: standing behind him held a mannequin's leg over Tacopina's head 89 00:06:25,555 --> 00:06:28,035 Speaker 1: like this was a live revival of the movie A 90 00:06:28,155 --> 00:06:32,075 Speaker 1: Christmas Story, and Trump had just gotten a major award. 91 00:06:33,035 --> 00:06:37,995 Speaker 1: Yet inside the court everything was apparently businesslike, and while 92 00:06:38,075 --> 00:06:41,075 Speaker 1: Trump may have tried to stare daggers at Judge Marshawn 93 00:06:41,395 --> 00:06:45,035 Speaker 1: through what had become his own slit like bloodshot eyes, 94 00:06:45,635 --> 00:06:49,835 Speaker 1: Trump evidently pleaded not guilty time and time again, to 95 00:06:50,075 --> 00:07:06,075 Speaker 1: charge after charge after charge. Thank you, see Faust. It 96 00:07:06,275 --> 00:07:08,835 Speaker 1: is certain, though in what order. No one can yet 97 00:07:08,915 --> 00:07:12,115 Speaker 1: say that Trump's lawyers, and how many of them there are. 98 00:07:12,395 --> 00:07:16,595 Speaker 1: No one can also say, we'll move to dismiss the indictment, 99 00:07:16,955 --> 00:07:20,475 Speaker 1: move to dismiss each charge in the indictment, moved to 100 00:07:20,515 --> 00:07:23,995 Speaker 1: have the judge recuse, move for a change of venue. 101 00:07:24,035 --> 00:07:29,395 Speaker 1: Trump himself argued to go voluntarily to Staten Island, which 102 00:07:29,435 --> 00:07:33,595 Speaker 1: indicates just how desperate he really is. If they cannot 103 00:07:33,675 --> 00:07:36,555 Speaker 1: kill this thing before it starts, the trial will unfold 104 00:07:36,955 --> 00:07:39,755 Speaker 1: in the midst of the heart of the presidential campaign. 105 00:07:40,115 --> 00:07:43,435 Speaker 1: The trial would begin, per the court schedule, at the 106 00:07:43,515 --> 00:07:48,355 Speaker 1: earliest next January. The next pre trial hearing isn't scheduled 107 00:07:48,435 --> 00:07:53,235 Speaker 1: until December. The first Republican presidential primary debate will be 108 00:07:53,275 --> 00:07:58,835 Speaker 1: in Milwaukee in August. We learned one other new thing 109 00:07:58,875 --> 00:08:01,595 Speaker 1: at this hearing and with this filing. The star witness 110 00:08:01,635 --> 00:08:04,395 Speaker 1: for the prosecution would not be the former Trump attorney 111 00:08:04,395 --> 00:08:09,435 Speaker 1: Michael Cohen. It would be former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker. 112 00:08:09,915 --> 00:08:12,875 Speaker 1: It is Pecker who set up the process for which 113 00:08:12,915 --> 00:08:16,795 Speaker 1: the prosecution alleges all thirty four crimes were committed starting 114 00:08:16,795 --> 00:08:20,155 Speaker 1: at a meeting with Trump and Cohen in August twenty fifteen, 115 00:08:20,555 --> 00:08:23,315 Speaker 1: moving on to a quote series of discussions among the 116 00:08:23,355 --> 00:08:26,915 Speaker 1: three men in two sixteen to suppress first the Karen 117 00:08:26,995 --> 00:08:30,795 Speaker 1: McDougall's story, and then the stormy Daniel's case, and now 118 00:08:30,835 --> 00:08:34,395 Speaker 1: we know the story of the doorman and the apparently 119 00:08:34,435 --> 00:08:40,035 Speaker 1: apocryphal Trump love child. Then post election was the meeting 120 00:08:40,035 --> 00:08:43,315 Speaker 1: at which Trump personally thanked Pecker, and in the summer 121 00:08:43,355 --> 00:08:47,395 Speaker 1: of twenty seventeen, he took Pecker to dinner to quote 122 00:08:47,395 --> 00:08:51,155 Speaker 1: thank him for his help during the campaign. All of this, 123 00:08:51,835 --> 00:08:55,355 Speaker 1: if it leads to Trump being convicted, invites the future 124 00:08:55,355 --> 00:09:02,195 Speaker 1: headline Pecker screws Trump. Believe it or not. All this 125 00:09:02,435 --> 00:09:05,395 Speaker 1: has been the serious part of the day. The rest 126 00:09:05,435 --> 00:09:10,035 Speaker 1: of the day descended quickly into farce upon farce. The protests, 127 00:09:10,075 --> 00:09:13,675 Speaker 1: which Trump presumably envisioned would be a kind of litigation 128 00:09:13,875 --> 00:09:16,995 Speaker 1: version of January sixth, instead turned out to have been 129 00:09:17,035 --> 00:09:20,835 Speaker 1: so poorly planned and so poorly received that the star 130 00:09:20,995 --> 00:09:25,235 Speaker 1: complainer fled without anybody in the crowd really knowing that 131 00:09:25,315 --> 00:09:29,635 Speaker 1: she had been there. This is Marjorie Taylor Greene's speech 132 00:09:29,835 --> 00:09:32,875 Speaker 1: as it would have been heard by the crowd assembled 133 00:09:33,035 --> 00:09:46,635 Speaker 1: by the New York Young Republicans Club. After about fifteen 134 00:09:46,715 --> 00:09:50,275 Speaker 1: minutes of that, Barney Rubble left as quickly as she 135 00:09:50,395 --> 00:09:54,355 Speaker 1: could in a white suv, not a Bronco, and was 136 00:09:54,435 --> 00:09:57,835 Speaker 1: interviewed live from the back seat by a performer from 137 00:09:57,875 --> 00:10:03,115 Speaker 1: the Right Side News RSN named Brian Glenn. And if 138 00:10:03,155 --> 00:10:07,115 Speaker 1: we didn't already know that Brian Glenn and Marjorie Taylor 139 00:10:07,195 --> 00:10:11,715 Speaker 1: Green are dating, we do now because the interview ended 140 00:10:11,755 --> 00:10:15,035 Speaker 1: with him giving her a kiss on the cheek. So 141 00:10:15,275 --> 00:10:20,315 Speaker 1: all right, all right, In response on behalf of a 142 00:10:20,395 --> 00:10:29,115 Speaker 1: mortified world, I say you, there was an unexpected appearance 143 00:10:29,155 --> 00:10:32,355 Speaker 1: at that protest, And again each protester had his own 144 00:10:32,395 --> 00:10:36,515 Speaker 1: supply of maybe ten, maybe one hundred reporters. It was 145 00:10:36,555 --> 00:10:39,795 Speaker 1: by the last person Trump would have presumably asked to attend, 146 00:10:39,875 --> 00:10:43,595 Speaker 1: other than Stormy Daniels and the apocryphal Trump love child. 147 00:10:43,955 --> 00:10:49,035 Speaker 1: It was Congressman George Santos. As he grandstanded for reporters, 148 00:10:49,155 --> 00:10:53,475 Speaker 1: Santos apparently discovered that he is afraid of crowds, and 149 00:10:53,595 --> 00:10:57,835 Speaker 1: after asking everybody to move back, he too quickly left 150 00:10:57,875 --> 00:11:01,435 Speaker 1: the scene. The Trump campaign is now selling what it 151 00:11:01,515 --> 00:11:04,955 Speaker 1: calls official mugshot t shirts, even though it seems evident 152 00:11:05,155 --> 00:11:09,075 Speaker 1: that no mug shot was taken. Certainly no mugshot was released. 153 00:11:09,475 --> 00:11:12,435 Speaker 1: Certainly Trump's people would not do anything with a mug 154 00:11:12,435 --> 00:11:15,275 Speaker 1: shot in which Trump's eyes looked like he hadn't slept 155 00:11:15,275 --> 00:11:20,355 Speaker 1: in twenty four days, tiny slits rimmed in red. Lastly, 156 00:11:20,835 --> 00:11:23,795 Speaker 1: many observers noted that as Trump entered the courtroom, he 157 00:11:23,835 --> 00:11:28,315 Speaker 1: experienced something he probably has not for years. Nobody opened 158 00:11:28,355 --> 00:11:31,675 Speaker 1: the door open for him, nor held it open for him. 159 00:11:32,315 --> 00:11:34,715 Speaker 1: On the other hand, in conclusion, I think the importance 160 00:11:34,755 --> 00:11:36,875 Speaker 1: of this day, even if these charges were to get 161 00:11:36,875 --> 00:11:40,835 Speaker 1: thrown out tomorrow morning, is that they opened a metaphorical 162 00:11:40,955 --> 00:11:45,835 Speaker 1: door to all the other indictments. Fittingly, in terms of 163 00:11:45,875 --> 00:11:49,915 Speaker 1: real news. In terms of other indictments, the first arraignment 164 00:11:49,995 --> 00:11:53,475 Speaker 1: of a former president of the United States only because 165 00:11:53,515 --> 00:11:56,595 Speaker 1: Ford pardoned the guy who made him President Nixon. The 166 00:11:56,795 --> 00:11:59,795 Speaker 1: first arraignment of a former president of the United States 167 00:11:59,835 --> 00:12:03,955 Speaker 1: was actually overshadowed by the third major story of the 168 00:12:03,995 --> 00:12:07,555 Speaker 1: week from the world of the Special Counsel, Jack Smith, 169 00:12:07,675 --> 00:12:11,835 Speaker 1: and its only Tuesday. A federal appeals court in DC 170 00:12:12,075 --> 00:12:16,115 Speaker 1: has rejected an emergency motion from Trump's lawyers to block 171 00:12:16,355 --> 00:12:20,955 Speaker 1: Key Trump aids from testifying to the Special Counsel's Grand Jury. 172 00:12:20,995 --> 00:12:23,955 Speaker 1: In another series of up all night at the court, 173 00:12:24,235 --> 00:12:27,515 Speaker 1: The lawyers filed late Monday night, and the three judge 174 00:12:27,555 --> 00:12:31,755 Speaker 1: appeals panel ruled early Tuesday morning. It's sealed, so we 175 00:12:31,835 --> 00:12:35,075 Speaker 1: don't know officially who is and isn't now without a 176 00:12:35,115 --> 00:12:37,915 Speaker 1: way to get out of testifying to the Special Council 177 00:12:38,035 --> 00:12:41,035 Speaker 1: Grand Jury. But putting together bits and pieces of the thing, 178 00:12:41,115 --> 00:12:45,715 Speaker 1: it seems to cover Mark Meadows, Dan Scovino, Stephen Miller, 179 00:12:46,115 --> 00:12:50,555 Speaker 1: Robert O'Brien, John Ratcliffe, and Ken Cuccinelli. That is a 180 00:12:50,635 --> 00:12:54,195 Speaker 1: lot of testimony, and it all seems to pertain to 181 00:12:54,275 --> 00:12:57,195 Speaker 1: that half of Smith's case, which seems to be lagging 182 00:12:57,275 --> 00:13:01,115 Speaker 1: behind the other Meadows and company would be coup witnesses, 183 00:13:01,155 --> 00:13:04,875 Speaker 1: not Marilago document witnesses. And we found out only Sunday 184 00:13:04,915 --> 00:13:07,995 Speaker 1: that Smith has a paper trail at Marilago courtesy a 185 00:13:08,035 --> 00:13:11,075 Speaker 1: Trump assistant who used to do his emailing for Trump 186 00:13:11,435 --> 00:13:15,155 Speaker 1: and video of another assistant actually moving the boxes. And 187 00:13:15,355 --> 00:13:18,835 Speaker 1: yesterday we learned that Smith will get the testimony from 188 00:13:18,835 --> 00:13:23,635 Speaker 1: Trump's Florida's Secret Service detail. That's the real story of 189 00:13:23,755 --> 00:13:28,875 Speaker 1: Stormy Daniel's indictment Polloza. It was I think clear even 190 00:13:28,955 --> 00:13:33,435 Speaker 1: before the hearing began. After days and weeks of threats 191 00:13:33,515 --> 00:13:38,195 Speaker 1: and insults and terroristic warnings, Trump inadvertently confessed on his 192 00:13:38,315 --> 00:13:42,915 Speaker 1: social media site just how serious this all is, So 193 00:13:43,035 --> 00:13:47,195 Speaker 1: serious that it has even pierced his own self induced 194 00:13:47,395 --> 00:13:52,275 Speaker 1: bubble of invincibility. At one twenty two pm Eastern daylight time, 195 00:13:52,355 --> 00:13:57,115 Speaker 1: he wrote on his website quote, heading to Lower Manhattan 196 00:13:57,195 --> 00:14:02,515 Speaker 1: the courthouse seems so surreal. Wow, they are going to 197 00:14:02,675 --> 00:14:06,835 Speaker 1: arrest me. Can't pull the this is happening in America 198 00:14:07,355 --> 00:14:13,595 Speaker 1: to translate, Trump admits, and this is ultimately white today mattered. 199 00:14:14,435 --> 00:14:18,795 Speaker 1: Trump admits that he has had the crap scared out 200 00:14:18,795 --> 00:14:35,635 Speaker 1: of him. Tomorrow's brand new edition of this podcast will 201 00:14:35,675 --> 00:14:39,235 Speaker 1: obviously have Trump's reaction if it actually happens from Marilago. 202 00:14:39,995 --> 00:14:43,235 Speaker 1: On another note, here the ratings for the sixty minutes 203 00:14:43,395 --> 00:14:45,915 Speaker 1: edition Sunday, in which Leslie Stall might as well have 204 00:14:46,075 --> 00:14:49,115 Speaker 1: not done any research at all and certainly did not 205 00:14:49,155 --> 00:14:53,315 Speaker 1: seem to really comprehend who Marjorie Barney Rubble was. It 206 00:14:53,355 --> 00:14:57,435 Speaker 1: earned terrible ratings. The Live plus DVR rating of over 207 00:14:57,515 --> 00:15:00,155 Speaker 1: eight million down by about a third from the previous 208 00:15:00,155 --> 00:15:03,475 Speaker 1: week's episode of sixty Minutes. The live only viewers those 209 00:15:03,515 --> 00:15:07,635 Speaker 1: who actually watched Sunday night, they finished at an unbelievable 210 00:15:07,715 --> 00:15:12,595 Speaker 1: number six point six six million. And also on the 211 00:15:12,595 --> 00:15:14,835 Speaker 1: subject of TV, it was more than just the attempt 212 00:15:14,915 --> 00:15:18,835 Speaker 1: to fill time with moving pictures of ever exciting highway traffic. 213 00:15:19,235 --> 00:15:22,035 Speaker 1: Monday's wall to wall coverage of Trump in a car, 214 00:15:22,235 --> 00:15:24,955 Speaker 1: then in a plane, then in another car on the 215 00:15:25,035 --> 00:15:27,915 Speaker 1: cable networks was more than just showing the audience some 216 00:15:28,035 --> 00:15:32,515 Speaker 1: shiny objects. CNN in particular is trying to cozy up 217 00:15:32,515 --> 00:15:35,995 Speaker 1: to the Trump audience. I have seen this before firsthand, 218 00:15:36,275 --> 00:15:40,195 Speaker 1: when executives at MSNBC twenty years ago tried to move 219 00:15:40,275 --> 00:15:43,515 Speaker 1: to the right of Fox and hired a psycho named 220 00:15:43,555 --> 00:15:47,355 Speaker 1: Michael Savage to be the centerpiece of their new ultra 221 00:15:47,515 --> 00:15:51,835 Speaker 1: fascist network. They paid a big price. Things I promised 222 00:15:51,875 --> 00:15:55,515 Speaker 1: not to tell Coming up and next, a sad anniversary here. 223 00:15:55,915 --> 00:16:00,315 Speaker 1: April fourth is the day my mother died. That's next. 224 00:16:00,475 --> 00:16:14,875 Speaker 1: This is countdown. Thisis is Countdown with Keith Alberman a 225 00:16:14,915 --> 00:16:18,235 Speaker 1: little different format today because you look up one day 226 00:16:18,395 --> 00:16:21,435 Speaker 1: and it turns out it's the anniversary of your mother passing. 227 00:16:21,475 --> 00:16:26,515 Speaker 1: And you do the math, and it's fourteen years. My 228 00:16:26,555 --> 00:16:29,875 Speaker 1: mother died right after my fiftieth birthday. Fifty years and 229 00:16:29,995 --> 00:16:33,715 Speaker 1: she's gone nearly a third as long as she and 230 00:16:33,755 --> 00:16:38,675 Speaker 1: I were both here together. It is startling. I find 231 00:16:38,675 --> 00:16:41,395 Speaker 1: I've been bringing my mom up a lot these last 232 00:16:41,435 --> 00:16:44,915 Speaker 1: few years, mostly because any of my friends, my contemporaries 233 00:16:44,915 --> 00:16:48,435 Speaker 1: who have not yet lost both parents are sadly doing 234 00:16:48,475 --> 00:16:52,275 Speaker 1: so now. And there's something I learned when my mom 235 00:16:52,355 --> 00:16:55,195 Speaker 1: died on April fourth, two thousand and nine, and then 236 00:16:55,235 --> 00:16:57,955 Speaker 1: my dad died on March thirteenth, two ten. And if 237 00:16:57,955 --> 00:17:01,235 Speaker 1: you've gone through this lately or even not lately, and 238 00:17:01,355 --> 00:17:04,035 Speaker 1: it still hurts, this might help. If you have yet 239 00:17:04,035 --> 00:17:08,595 Speaker 1: to go through it, write this down somewhere. First of all, 240 00:17:08,835 --> 00:17:10,915 Speaker 1: you are never too old to be an orphan. Do 241 00:17:10,995 --> 00:17:15,475 Speaker 1: not be shocked if it feels like you are an orphan. Secondly, 242 00:17:15,515 --> 00:17:17,555 Speaker 1: if you think you have come to terms with the 243 00:17:17,635 --> 00:17:20,755 Speaker 1: loss of a parent and things are getting better inside, 244 00:17:21,395 --> 00:17:25,675 Speaker 1: utilize my experience. In my case, neither death was a surprise. 245 00:17:25,835 --> 00:17:29,355 Speaker 1: I was prepared for both, and I leveled off from 246 00:17:29,395 --> 00:17:33,195 Speaker 1: the immediate grief surprisingly quickly, and then a week or 247 00:17:33,235 --> 00:17:38,835 Speaker 1: so later. In each case, I collapsed weeping, not when 248 00:17:38,875 --> 00:17:43,355 Speaker 1: it happened, but like ten days later, and finally, with 249 00:17:43,395 --> 00:17:47,395 Speaker 1: a little introspection, I recalled something that I have since 250 00:17:47,515 --> 00:17:49,915 Speaker 1: told a hundred people, and they've all literally said, yeah, 251 00:17:49,995 --> 00:17:53,995 Speaker 1: that's it. When you are a kid, unless you have 252 00:17:54,075 --> 00:18:00,275 Speaker 1: suffered direct trauma, death, physical harm, abuse, the first day 253 00:18:00,315 --> 00:18:04,315 Speaker 1: you actually understand that this is not the garden of Eden. 254 00:18:05,355 --> 00:18:07,395 Speaker 1: That day is when you put two and two together 255 00:18:07,435 --> 00:18:10,075 Speaker 1: and you realize that your parents are going to die, 256 00:18:11,115 --> 00:18:14,595 Speaker 1: and that that could happen at any time. It is 257 00:18:14,635 --> 00:18:17,635 Speaker 1: your original fear. It is burned into a part of 258 00:18:17,635 --> 00:18:22,035 Speaker 1: your brain that had until that moment nothing else in it. 259 00:18:23,035 --> 00:18:25,435 Speaker 1: And when it finally happens in real life, whether you 260 00:18:25,475 --> 00:18:28,555 Speaker 1: are six or you are sixty, you suffer the pain 261 00:18:28,635 --> 00:18:31,755 Speaker 1: of the event as you interpret it in real time, 262 00:18:31,755 --> 00:18:35,315 Speaker 1: hopefully as an adult, and then you also suffer the 263 00:18:35,355 --> 00:18:37,915 Speaker 1: pain that you feared first when you were four or 264 00:18:37,915 --> 00:18:40,715 Speaker 1: five or six, and you realize someday it would happen. 265 00:18:41,275 --> 00:18:45,155 Speaker 1: That fear has sat untouched and unrelieved, and it is 266 00:18:45,195 --> 00:18:46,915 Speaker 1: as bad as you thought it was going to be 267 00:18:46,995 --> 00:18:51,195 Speaker 1: that childhood day so many years ago. And if you 268 00:18:51,195 --> 00:18:54,875 Speaker 1: can recognize that, it should ease a little bit as 269 00:18:54,875 --> 00:18:58,595 Speaker 1: it did for me. Of course, you're hurting again. You 270 00:18:58,675 --> 00:19:03,715 Speaker 1: have lost mom or dad, and separately, six year old 271 00:19:03,795 --> 00:19:07,795 Speaker 1: you has lost or dad. Realize that and the childhood 272 00:19:07,795 --> 00:19:10,195 Speaker 1: pain will pass, or it will lessen, or it will 273 00:19:10,235 --> 00:19:12,795 Speaker 1: just merge with the pain of today, and you can 274 00:19:12,795 --> 00:19:17,355 Speaker 1: get about the business of healing. So back to my mom. 275 00:19:17,555 --> 00:19:21,395 Speaker 1: My childhood fear was oddly a little easier because the 276 00:19:21,475 --> 00:19:24,355 Speaker 1: night before I started the fourth grade. I swear this 277 00:19:24,435 --> 00:19:26,635 Speaker 1: is true, and this makes me seven and a half 278 00:19:26,715 --> 00:19:30,315 Speaker 1: years old. I was sitting on my mom's bed at 279 00:19:30,315 --> 00:19:33,915 Speaker 1: the Dobbs Ferry Hospital north of New York City. She 280 00:19:34,035 --> 00:19:37,235 Speaker 1: had phlebitis and one leg was swollen to what seemed 281 00:19:37,355 --> 00:19:40,475 Speaker 1: to me to be the size of Manitoba in Canada. 282 00:19:40,555 --> 00:19:43,955 Speaker 1: And she said, and you will immediately recognize where I 283 00:19:44,035 --> 00:19:47,435 Speaker 1: get my sense of drama from Keith. This could be 284 00:19:47,475 --> 00:19:52,195 Speaker 1: the last time you see me alive. And I went, 285 00:19:54,435 --> 00:19:57,315 Speaker 1: I don't think so. And then in the car on 286 00:19:57,355 --> 00:20:00,675 Speaker 1: the way home, my dad reassured me, yeah, I don't 287 00:20:00,715 --> 00:20:02,795 Speaker 1: think so. It's serious. I'm not going to cadge if 288 00:20:02,795 --> 00:20:05,995 Speaker 1: people do die from this, She's not going to The 289 00:20:06,035 --> 00:20:08,595 Speaker 1: swelling is like half of what it was yesterday. The 290 00:20:08,635 --> 00:20:11,795 Speaker 1: doctors told me she'll be home tomorrow or the day after. 291 00:20:12,315 --> 00:20:15,155 Speaker 1: You know her. She kind of enjoys people worrying about her, 292 00:20:15,315 --> 00:20:18,595 Speaker 1: and why not, She's your mom. Worry about her. She'll 293 00:20:18,635 --> 00:20:22,875 Speaker 1: love it, and she loved it. The damnedest thing was 294 00:20:22,955 --> 00:20:27,995 Speaker 1: that was in nineteen sixty six. Mom outlived her warning 295 00:20:28,035 --> 00:20:32,355 Speaker 1: to me by nearly forty three years. But when she died, 296 00:20:32,475 --> 00:20:37,995 Speaker 1: she died in Dobb's Ferry Hospital, the same place where 297 00:20:37,995 --> 00:20:42,315 Speaker 1: she made her warning. Of course, it was a different century. 298 00:20:42,475 --> 00:20:44,995 Speaker 1: This remembrance is not going to be her medical history, 299 00:20:44,995 --> 00:20:47,875 Speaker 1: though lord knows Mom was the world's foremost authority on 300 00:20:47,915 --> 00:20:49,915 Speaker 1: her own health. Nor is it going to consist of 301 00:20:49,915 --> 00:20:52,275 Speaker 1: me telling you she was the proverbial saint, although I 302 00:20:52,275 --> 00:20:54,475 Speaker 1: can hear her saying, go ahead, I'm not going to 303 00:20:54,555 --> 00:20:57,595 Speaker 1: disagree with you. Who's going to contradict you. It is 304 00:20:57,595 --> 00:21:00,075 Speaker 1: not going to be a full biography, suffice to say 305 00:21:00,115 --> 00:21:03,595 Speaker 1: she was a gifted preschool teacher and a legendary authority 306 00:21:03,675 --> 00:21:07,275 Speaker 1: on opera and somewhere. She remains genuinely disappointed that I 307 00:21:07,315 --> 00:21:10,955 Speaker 1: did not get Placido Domingo to sing at her memorial 308 00:21:11,035 --> 00:21:15,755 Speaker 1: service instead of the full medical history. I thought that 309 00:21:15,875 --> 00:21:17,995 Speaker 1: it was best to focus on something for which she 310 00:21:18,075 --> 00:21:21,635 Speaker 1: became and remained pretty famous, literally until the day she died. 311 00:21:22,515 --> 00:21:26,635 Speaker 1: My mother was one of the best known baseball fans 312 00:21:26,835 --> 00:21:30,915 Speaker 1: in this country. She attended Yankees games from nineteen thirty 313 00:21:30,915 --> 00:21:34,075 Speaker 1: four through two thousand and four, and she watched or 314 00:21:34,115 --> 00:21:37,155 Speaker 1: listened to everyone that she did not go to up 315 00:21:37,275 --> 00:21:42,635 Speaker 1: until the last year of her life. My guess is 316 00:21:42,835 --> 00:21:46,315 Speaker 1: she went to at least fifteen hundred Yankee games, most 317 00:21:46,355 --> 00:21:50,435 Speaker 1: of them in Box forty seven E in the Yankee 318 00:21:50,475 --> 00:21:54,755 Speaker 1: Stadium that preceded the current one, and this was the effect. 319 00:21:54,875 --> 00:21:58,875 Speaker 1: In March of twenty ten, the Mets manager Jerry Manuel 320 00:21:59,155 --> 00:22:01,835 Speaker 1: came over to me before his team's exhibition game against 321 00:22:01,875 --> 00:22:05,115 Speaker 1: the Detroit Tigers in Lakeland, Florida, and he asked me, 322 00:22:05,955 --> 00:22:08,995 Speaker 1: how's your mother? And he was the fifth or sixth 323 00:22:09,035 --> 00:22:12,435 Speaker 1: active baseball figure to do so in that month while 324 00:22:12,435 --> 00:22:17,075 Speaker 1: I was at spring training. They averaged at least one 325 00:22:17,315 --> 00:22:20,835 Speaker 1: or two a month baseball figures asking about how my 326 00:22:20,915 --> 00:22:25,755 Speaker 1: mom was for about fourteen years. One day I popped 327 00:22:25,755 --> 00:22:28,395 Speaker 1: out into the Yankees dug out before a playoff game. 328 00:22:28,715 --> 00:22:30,835 Speaker 1: I'm guessing this is two thousand and five. And there 329 00:22:30,915 --> 00:22:33,635 Speaker 1: was a lighter of the Yankees talking to two other pitchers, 330 00:22:33,835 --> 00:22:36,755 Speaker 1: Scott Procter and the future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson. 331 00:22:36,915 --> 00:22:39,035 Speaker 1: And Alice suddenly stopped and looked at me and said, 332 00:22:39,195 --> 00:22:41,915 Speaker 1: what did you hear me telling them about your mother? 333 00:22:42,875 --> 00:22:46,395 Speaker 1: Sure enough, I had interrupted him as he told Randy 334 00:22:46,435 --> 00:22:51,915 Speaker 1: Johnson and Scott Procter the Chuck Knoblock story, which I 335 00:22:51,955 --> 00:22:53,915 Speaker 1: will tell you in a moment. But after that game 336 00:22:54,035 --> 00:22:56,555 Speaker 1: ended and the Yankees were eliminated from the playoffs in 337 00:22:56,555 --> 00:22:58,315 Speaker 1: that game, I went into the clubhouse to wish my 338 00:22:58,355 --> 00:23:01,475 Speaker 1: friends among the players a good offseason, and Randy Johnson 339 00:23:01,515 --> 00:23:03,475 Speaker 1: shook my head and he got his little suitcase on 340 00:23:03,515 --> 00:23:06,355 Speaker 1: wheels and he at the clubhouse. It's guy's like eight 341 00:23:06,395 --> 00:23:08,555 Speaker 1: feet tall and a little tiny suitcase on wheels, and 342 00:23:08,555 --> 00:23:12,875 Speaker 1: it looked adorable. Anyway, About ninety seconds later that Randy 343 00:23:12,955 --> 00:23:15,395 Speaker 1: Johnson comes back into the clubhouse and comes over to me. 344 00:23:15,555 --> 00:23:17,675 Speaker 1: I'm glad you're still here. I forgot to tell you. 345 00:23:17,915 --> 00:23:20,595 Speaker 1: That story about your mother is wonderful and it's very warm. 346 00:23:20,875 --> 00:23:23,475 Speaker 1: It made my day. Thanks for sharing it. Have a 347 00:23:23,475 --> 00:23:26,955 Speaker 1: good winter. It was the effect that my mother had 348 00:23:26,995 --> 00:23:31,795 Speaker 1: on people. And four years later, I guess not six 349 00:23:31,875 --> 00:23:35,675 Speaker 1: hours before Mom died, a New York Yankees executive made 350 00:23:35,715 --> 00:23:38,315 Speaker 1: reference to that which had made Mom famous in the 351 00:23:38,315 --> 00:23:43,235 Speaker 1: ballpark the day she died, and trust me, Mom loved 352 00:23:43,355 --> 00:23:48,875 Speaker 1: being famous in the ballparks. And finally, the story, which 353 00:23:48,875 --> 00:23:51,835 Speaker 1: I have not told you, not in full, my mother's 354 00:23:51,915 --> 00:23:56,635 Speaker 1: fame was achieved in the way it was on June seventeenth, 355 00:23:56,795 --> 00:24:00,555 Speaker 1: two thousand, when the sudden and growing inability of the 356 00:24:00,635 --> 00:24:04,395 Speaker 1: ill fortuned Yankees second baseman Chuck Knoblock to make any 357 00:24:04,715 --> 00:24:08,035 Speaker 1: kind of successful throw easy or hard to first base 358 00:24:08,515 --> 00:24:11,355 Speaker 1: culminated in him picking up a squib off the bat 359 00:24:11,355 --> 00:24:14,075 Speaker 1: of Greg Norton of the Chicago White Sox and throwing 360 00:24:14,075 --> 00:24:17,635 Speaker 1: it not back towards first base, but instead off the 361 00:24:17,715 --> 00:24:21,075 Speaker 1: roof of the Yankees dugout, where it somehow picked up 362 00:24:21,075 --> 00:24:25,355 Speaker 1: a little reverse English and then smacked my mother right 363 00:24:25,395 --> 00:24:27,955 Speaker 1: in the bridge of her glasses as she sat a 364 00:24:27,995 --> 00:24:31,755 Speaker 1: couple of rows back of the dugout. Chuck Nablock was 365 00:24:31,755 --> 00:24:34,395 Speaker 1: in the middle of losing his beloved father at that time, 366 00:24:34,395 --> 00:24:36,475 Speaker 1: and though I thought I got what that meant to him, 367 00:24:36,475 --> 00:24:40,515 Speaker 1: I didn't really understand it until the days I began 368 00:24:40,555 --> 00:24:43,555 Speaker 1: to write this, and I struggled to find the right keys, 369 00:24:43,675 --> 00:24:46,835 Speaker 1: let alone the right words. In any event, for those 370 00:24:46,955 --> 00:24:50,355 Speaker 1: three days in the year two thousand, Mom was on 371 00:24:50,355 --> 00:24:53,035 Speaker 1: one or both of the covers of the New York 372 00:24:53,075 --> 00:24:56,475 Speaker 1: Post and the New York Daily News and New York 373 00:24:56,515 --> 00:25:02,395 Speaker 1: News Day. She was somewhere in almost every newspaper in America. 374 00:25:02,555 --> 00:25:07,195 Speaker 1: That is not hyperbole, it is literal act. And all 375 00:25:07,235 --> 00:25:10,115 Speaker 1: this happened while I was the host of the baseball 376 00:25:10,155 --> 00:25:13,715 Speaker 1: Game of the Week for Fox, literally sitting in a 377 00:25:13,715 --> 00:25:16,435 Speaker 1: studio in Los Angeles, watching a bank of monitors with 378 00:25:16,475 --> 00:25:19,635 Speaker 1: a different game on every monitor, and recognizing instantly what 379 00:25:19,755 --> 00:25:21,955 Speaker 1: must have happened, based on a lifetime of knowing the 380 00:25:22,035 --> 00:25:25,035 Speaker 1: camera angles in Yankee Stadium, the ballpark in which I 381 00:25:25,075 --> 00:25:28,595 Speaker 1: grew up. I said, maybe two, matter of fact, lee, 382 00:25:29,715 --> 00:25:34,235 Speaker 1: that probably hit my mother. The crew laughed, and I 383 00:25:34,275 --> 00:25:38,795 Speaker 1: repeat it, that probably hit my mother. More laughs. Then 384 00:25:38,835 --> 00:25:41,355 Speaker 1: the next shot was of an older woman being led 385 00:25:41,435 --> 00:25:44,315 Speaker 1: up the aisle towards an AID station, and it was 386 00:25:44,355 --> 00:25:48,675 Speaker 1: my mother. End of laughter. So moments later, when the 387 00:25:48,715 --> 00:25:51,155 Speaker 1: announcers Joe Buck and Tim McCarver through to me for 388 00:25:51,235 --> 00:25:54,595 Speaker 1: a Fox game break, I narrated that exact highlight, and 389 00:25:54,675 --> 00:25:56,835 Speaker 1: I said that Chuck now blocks throwing problems had now 390 00:25:56,875 --> 00:26:00,915 Speaker 1: gotten personal, that he had now hit my mother. Her 391 00:26:00,915 --> 00:26:03,355 Speaker 1: glasses are broken, Joe and Tim, and she's going home. 392 00:26:03,355 --> 00:26:06,635 Speaker 1: But I've just spoken to her. She's okay. Goope, Tim. 393 00:26:06,675 --> 00:26:10,475 Speaker 1: There was silence from their booth at Dodger Stadium. Finally, 394 00:26:10,515 --> 00:26:15,355 Speaker 1: Tim McCarver said, long, Hu, is that I'm speechless? Is 395 00:26:15,355 --> 00:26:17,435 Speaker 1: that one of Keith's jokes? Keith, are you still there? 396 00:26:17,515 --> 00:26:20,955 Speaker 1: Was that? Really? Your mother? I'm here, Tim? My goodness? 397 00:26:20,995 --> 00:26:23,675 Speaker 1: Is she? Well? What are the odds against Tim? She's 398 00:26:23,715 --> 00:26:25,875 Speaker 1: been going to Yankee games since nineteen thirty four and 399 00:26:25,955 --> 00:26:28,195 Speaker 1: nothing bad's ever happened to her. I'd say the odds 400 00:26:28,195 --> 00:26:31,915 Speaker 1: are pretty good. But is she She's fine to be 401 00:26:31,955 --> 00:26:34,675 Speaker 1: back in that same seat tomorrow. She's a gamer. Also, 402 00:26:34,715 --> 00:26:36,315 Speaker 1: she asked me to tell you she likes you better 403 00:26:36,355 --> 00:26:38,155 Speaker 1: now that you're with the Yankees and not the Mets. 404 00:26:39,555 --> 00:26:41,715 Speaker 1: After that, I never saw Tim McCarver again without him 405 00:26:41,755 --> 00:26:43,795 Speaker 1: asking how my mother was. In fact, he called me 406 00:26:43,835 --> 00:26:47,635 Speaker 1: after his game ended to make sure she was okay. 407 00:26:47,795 --> 00:26:51,115 Speaker 1: That day. The next week, Mom and I pre taped 408 00:26:51,115 --> 00:26:54,355 Speaker 1: an interview for the pregame show. I was in our 409 00:26:54,555 --> 00:26:59,235 Speaker 1: LA studios and Mom was in my childhood home. I 410 00:26:59,315 --> 00:27:03,155 Speaker 1: concluded the interview by noting my status as a memorabilia collector, 411 00:27:03,195 --> 00:27:04,875 Speaker 1: and I asked Mom if she would get of me 412 00:27:04,915 --> 00:27:07,835 Speaker 1: the baseball with which she was hit. She said I 413 00:27:07,875 --> 00:27:11,595 Speaker 1: could bid on it like anybody else. For the rest 414 00:27:11,635 --> 00:27:14,795 Speaker 1: of that season of two thousand, anytime Fox broadcast a 415 00:27:14,875 --> 00:27:18,195 Speaker 1: game from Yankee Stadium, Mom got on TV. They gave 416 00:27:18,235 --> 00:27:20,555 Speaker 1: her a Fox hat to make her easier to spot 417 00:27:20,595 --> 00:27:23,235 Speaker 1: in the crowd. We even talked about her during the 418 00:27:23,235 --> 00:27:26,915 Speaker 1: World Series broadcasts that fall, during which began the ritual 419 00:27:26,955 --> 00:27:31,555 Speaker 1: that continues even to this day, fourteen years after her death. 420 00:27:32,195 --> 00:27:36,195 Speaker 1: Twenty three years after this happened. The ritual continues players 421 00:27:36,475 --> 00:27:39,315 Speaker 1: players who were at the game, players who only heard 422 00:27:39,315 --> 00:27:42,955 Speaker 1: about the game, Players of all kind, players who were 423 00:27:43,035 --> 00:27:46,555 Speaker 1: not born when it happened. They asked me about my 424 00:27:46,635 --> 00:27:52,755 Speaker 1: mom and the Chuck Knoblock throw. Since the day had happened, 425 00:27:52,835 --> 00:27:56,875 Speaker 1: Chuck Knoblock himself has been mortified by it. I was 426 00:27:56,915 --> 00:27:59,915 Speaker 1: told not long after that he was really worried that 427 00:28:00,115 --> 00:28:03,755 Speaker 1: I thought he had done it deliberately. As I pointed 428 00:28:03,755 --> 00:28:05,875 Speaker 1: out to him some years later when we finally got 429 00:28:05,875 --> 00:28:07,315 Speaker 1: to talk about it. If there was one thing we 430 00:28:07,355 --> 00:28:09,795 Speaker 1: could know for sure was that if he had been 431 00:28:09,835 --> 00:28:15,355 Speaker 1: aiming for my mom, he would have missed her. Chuck laughed. 432 00:28:16,395 --> 00:28:19,995 Speaker 1: I said to him, you made her famous. She loved it. 433 00:28:20,395 --> 00:28:22,515 Speaker 1: She couldn't have been happier if they had let her 434 00:28:22,595 --> 00:28:26,515 Speaker 1: pinch hit for you. It was my mother who was 435 00:28:26,555 --> 00:28:29,395 Speaker 1: the fan in our family. My dad liked the game enough, 436 00:28:29,555 --> 00:28:33,115 Speaker 1: but the Yankees traded his favorite player, and on his 437 00:28:33,195 --> 00:28:36,075 Speaker 1: deathbed a year later, he was still mad at them 438 00:28:36,115 --> 00:28:39,755 Speaker 1: for doing that. This happened late in nineteen forty eight. 439 00:28:40,995 --> 00:28:44,795 Speaker 1: The player's name was Steve su Chok. My dad's next 440 00:28:44,795 --> 00:28:47,675 Speaker 1: favorite player was George Sternweise. The Yankees traded him in 441 00:28:47,755 --> 00:28:52,235 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty. This led my father to say to me, yeah, 442 00:28:52,275 --> 00:28:54,195 Speaker 1: you're a Yankee fan. Now watch out. They're going to 443 00:28:54,235 --> 00:28:59,315 Speaker 1: betray you eventually, like they'd betrayed me. Then they did. So. 444 00:28:59,475 --> 00:29:01,595 Speaker 1: Dad wasn't much of a fan, and it was mom 445 00:29:01,635 --> 00:29:04,595 Speaker 1: who introduced me to baseball, and in my teenaged years, 446 00:29:04,755 --> 00:29:07,235 Speaker 1: when we went nearly every day, it was she who 447 00:29:07,275 --> 00:29:10,195 Speaker 1: trundled me and my sister to the ballparks. It was 448 00:29:10,315 --> 00:29:12,635 Speaker 1: on her TV that I came to love the sport, 449 00:29:12,675 --> 00:29:15,275 Speaker 1: and by her side that I began to understand it. 450 00:29:15,315 --> 00:29:18,075 Speaker 1: And sitting next to her, that's when I began to 451 00:29:18,155 --> 00:29:20,315 Speaker 1: understand that I was not going to be any damn 452 00:29:20,395 --> 00:29:23,115 Speaker 1: good playing baseball, and if I wanted in, maybe i'd 453 00:29:23,155 --> 00:29:28,195 Speaker 1: better try talking about it. Thus was born a career. Obviously, 454 00:29:28,235 --> 00:29:30,915 Speaker 1: at least half of the ham in me comes from her. 455 00:29:31,355 --> 00:29:34,875 Speaker 1: She was an aspiring ballerina, and when I keep talking 456 00:29:34,875 --> 00:29:37,075 Speaker 1: and talking for good or for ill, that's pretty much 457 00:29:37,115 --> 00:29:40,795 Speaker 1: all her. What I do not have evidence of are 458 00:29:40,835 --> 00:29:43,475 Speaker 1: the thousand hours she spent driving me to and from 459 00:29:43,555 --> 00:29:46,555 Speaker 1: school so I could work on the newspaper, or announce 460 00:29:46,635 --> 00:29:50,315 Speaker 1: the hockey game, or get to Yankee Stadium early to 461 00:29:50,715 --> 00:29:53,315 Speaker 1: take photographs of the players, to meet a few of 462 00:29:53,355 --> 00:29:56,395 Speaker 1: them to interview them when I was a teenager. In retrospect, 463 00:29:56,395 --> 00:30:00,235 Speaker 1: it's obvious she was, to adapt a phrase a media mom. 464 00:30:03,075 --> 00:30:06,835 Speaker 1: She was taken by the perverb sudden illness in the 465 00:30:06,835 --> 00:30:09,795 Speaker 1: best of senses. She had no apparent symptoms until two 466 00:30:09,795 --> 00:30:12,715 Speaker 1: weeks before she died. She was not severely afflicted until 467 00:30:12,795 --> 00:30:16,275 Speaker 1: ten days before she died. The treatment she received lessened 468 00:30:16,315 --> 00:30:19,715 Speaker 1: her pain, and she never awakened and thus never had 469 00:30:19,755 --> 00:30:22,275 Speaker 1: to hear nor did any of us have to say 470 00:30:22,315 --> 00:30:27,715 Speaker 1: to her, a, Mom, you have terminal cancer. I'm not 471 00:30:27,755 --> 00:30:29,595 Speaker 1: going to give you the harangue about how you need 472 00:30:29,635 --> 00:30:31,995 Speaker 1: to go see your doctor, because not feeling so bad 473 00:30:32,035 --> 00:30:33,795 Speaker 1: does not mean you are not sick, though you might 474 00:30:33,795 --> 00:30:36,475 Speaker 1: want to keep that in mind. I do have one 475 00:30:36,555 --> 00:30:39,395 Speaker 1: other story about Mom and baseball that I love telling, 476 00:30:39,395 --> 00:30:41,755 Speaker 1: and this is the way to finish this reminiscence on 477 00:30:41,835 --> 00:30:45,955 Speaker 1: this anniversary. It's about George Steinbrenner. In two thousand, the 478 00:30:46,035 --> 00:30:47,915 Speaker 1: year Mom got hit by the throw, I had the 479 00:30:47,955 --> 00:30:51,235 Speaker 1: privilege of being the reporter for Fox as the Commissioner 480 00:30:51,275 --> 00:30:55,035 Speaker 1: Baseball presented the Yankees with their third straight World Championship 481 00:30:55,075 --> 00:30:57,315 Speaker 1: trophy after they beat the Mets in the World Series. 482 00:30:57,755 --> 00:31:00,915 Speaker 1: George Steinbrenner, who I had known since nineteen seventy three 483 00:31:00,955 --> 00:31:04,115 Speaker 1: and who had inexplicably become the kind of friend you 484 00:31:04,155 --> 00:31:07,595 Speaker 1: greet with a double handshake or a hug, was standing 485 00:31:07,635 --> 00:31:09,955 Speaker 1: next to me as we waited for an on field 486 00:31:09,995 --> 00:31:14,075 Speaker 1: interview to end and the presentation of the award to begin, 487 00:31:14,675 --> 00:31:19,635 Speaker 1: and Steinbrenner, for that year, for some reason, was incredibly emotional. 488 00:31:20,595 --> 00:31:22,995 Speaker 1: Is your mother here to see this, he said, And 489 00:31:23,115 --> 00:31:26,075 Speaker 1: I said, George, where at Shay Stadium? She had to 490 00:31:26,155 --> 00:31:28,515 Speaker 1: drive here for two seasons in nineteen seventy four, in 491 00:31:28,595 --> 00:31:32,355 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy five when you were refurbishing Yankee Stadium. She 492 00:31:32,595 --> 00:31:35,755 Speaker 1: hates this place more than you do. She told me 493 00:31:35,795 --> 00:31:38,035 Speaker 1: she wouldn't have come here even if you let her 494 00:31:38,035 --> 00:31:44,115 Speaker 1: play third base. George's mouth shook and tears welled in 495 00:31:44,235 --> 00:31:48,795 Speaker 1: his eyes, and finally he blurted out, I love her 496 00:31:48,835 --> 00:31:53,795 Speaker 1: even more now. Mom had that kind of effect on people. 497 00:31:55,515 --> 00:31:57,515 Speaker 1: I'll be back with things I promised not to tell 498 00:31:57,755 --> 00:32:06,115 Speaker 1: after this Still ahead on Countdown. Hey, I don't know 499 00:32:06,115 --> 00:32:09,195 Speaker 1: if you've heard about this, but Trump came back into 500 00:32:09,235 --> 00:32:12,315 Speaker 1: town yesterday like flew in for this indictment court hearing. 501 00:32:13,835 --> 00:32:17,355 Speaker 1: Was that on TV or anything? Oh my god, here 502 00:32:17,395 --> 00:32:21,635 Speaker 1: we go again once again. MSNBC and CNN are both 503 00:32:21,675 --> 00:32:24,715 Speaker 1: tipping their hands about their readiness to go right wing 504 00:32:24,755 --> 00:32:28,595 Speaker 1: if necessary to protect their money. I know what I'm 505 00:32:28,635 --> 00:32:30,875 Speaker 1: seeing because I was there the last time they tried this. 506 00:32:31,595 --> 00:32:35,555 Speaker 1: But Michael Savage story coming up in Things I promised 507 00:32:35,555 --> 00:32:38,315 Speaker 1: not to tell first. In each edition of Countdown, we 508 00:32:38,355 --> 00:32:40,435 Speaker 1: feature a dog in need. You can help every dog 509 00:32:40,515 --> 00:32:44,475 Speaker 1: has its day to South La and Kuda a big, 510 00:32:44,595 --> 00:32:47,675 Speaker 1: happy guy, even though he spent two of his three 511 00:32:47,755 --> 00:32:50,115 Speaker 1: years on this earth in that shelter, one of the 512 00:32:50,155 --> 00:32:54,075 Speaker 1: loudest and most crowded in this country. Standard tongue, hanging out, 513 00:32:54,155 --> 00:32:57,755 Speaker 1: happy big boy. But Kuda seems finally to have given up. 514 00:32:57,755 --> 00:33:00,875 Speaker 1: He suddenly becomes so stressed he's spinning around in his cage. 515 00:33:01,515 --> 00:33:03,755 Speaker 1: We need to get him out of there with a 516 00:33:03,875 --> 00:33:07,115 Speaker 1: home and a top or foster or our pledges, so 517 00:33:07,155 --> 00:33:09,875 Speaker 1: a rescue will pull him and save him. Look for 518 00:33:09,955 --> 00:33:13,915 Speaker 1: Kuda on my Twitter feeds. Your retweet can also help him. 519 00:33:14,075 --> 00:33:26,235 Speaker 1: I thank you, and Kuda thanks you. Finally to the 520 00:33:26,315 --> 00:33:29,075 Speaker 1: number one story on the Countdown on my favorite topic, 521 00:33:29,155 --> 00:33:31,315 Speaker 1: me and things I promised not to tell, and I've 522 00:33:31,355 --> 00:33:34,955 Speaker 1: been warning you about CNN and Chris Lick to the 523 00:33:34,955 --> 00:33:37,715 Speaker 1: former Joe Scarborough hitman who when we worked together at 524 00:33:37,835 --> 00:33:42,155 Speaker 1: MSNBC I used to think eight pacede. He was hired 525 00:33:42,155 --> 00:33:44,715 Speaker 1: to run CNN by its new right wing owners in 526 00:33:44,835 --> 00:33:49,275 Speaker 1: orders to neutralize it. A maga broke into Nancy Pelosi's home, 527 00:33:49,315 --> 00:33:51,675 Speaker 1: nearly killed her husband, planned to hold her husband hostage 528 00:33:51,755 --> 00:33:55,235 Speaker 1: until she told the truth. CNN put on the Kentucky 529 00:33:55,275 --> 00:33:59,115 Speaker 1: fascist Congressman James Comer, who explained people and both parties 530 00:33:59,115 --> 00:34:04,315 Speaker 1: should tone down the rhetoric. Yesterday, Trump flies from Florida 531 00:34:04,355 --> 00:34:07,275 Speaker 1: to New York, in fact, to go to his nightmarishly 532 00:34:07,315 --> 00:34:11,155 Speaker 1: decorated crapshack a block from my back door, and the 533 00:34:11,195 --> 00:34:14,235 Speaker 1: flight takeoff, and the landing and the motorcade are covered 534 00:34:14,315 --> 00:34:20,195 Speaker 1: live on CNN and MSNBC like Trump was dead. Frankly, 535 00:34:21,075 --> 00:34:23,555 Speaker 1: and I use that analogy because I was flashed back 536 00:34:23,595 --> 00:34:27,435 Speaker 1: to June fifth, two thousand and four. The then new 537 00:34:27,555 --> 00:34:30,515 Speaker 1: president of MSNBC has us all in there on a 538 00:34:30,555 --> 00:34:33,835 Speaker 1: Saturday because it's the sixtieth anniversary of D Day, the 539 00:34:33,875 --> 00:34:37,035 Speaker 1: Normandy invasion, and he is trying to make a name 540 00:34:37,115 --> 00:34:39,955 Speaker 1: for himself. This guy Rick Kaplan is going to kill it. 541 00:34:40,475 --> 00:34:43,195 Speaker 1: He sent me to interview Yogi Bearra about being on 542 00:34:43,195 --> 00:34:45,635 Speaker 1: one of the landing crafts at Normandy, and he's got 543 00:34:45,675 --> 00:34:49,915 Speaker 1: Tom Brokaw live on Omaha Beach with somebody, and all 544 00:34:49,955 --> 00:34:52,795 Speaker 1: of us anchors are in there covering the breaking news 545 00:34:52,835 --> 00:34:55,795 Speaker 1: of something that happened sixty years earlier. And we're in 546 00:34:55,835 --> 00:34:58,275 Speaker 1: the meeting, the last meeting before we go on the air. 547 00:34:58,475 --> 00:35:01,395 Speaker 1: In the afternoon, and Kaplan is just starting to warm 548 00:35:01,475 --> 00:35:03,635 Speaker 1: up and to yell at us for no reason, which 549 00:35:03,715 --> 00:35:06,955 Speaker 1: was his one play. When somebody leans in through the 550 00:35:07,035 --> 00:35:11,435 Speaker 1: door to the meeting room and says, hey, Ronald Reagan 551 00:35:11,515 --> 00:35:15,395 Speaker 1: just died, and Kaplan tries to prend atend that nothing 552 00:35:15,435 --> 00:35:17,675 Speaker 1: has changed, and he goes on to explaining, Oh, we're 553 00:35:17,675 --> 00:35:19,835 Speaker 1: going to go live to Brokaw. We go live to 554 00:35:19,875 --> 00:35:23,595 Speaker 1: Brokaw while there's still some light in Normandy, he said, 555 00:35:23,635 --> 00:35:26,195 Speaker 1: And I raised my hand and I say, Rick, we 556 00:35:26,355 --> 00:35:30,155 Speaker 1: kind of gotta all go all Reagan, you know, I mean, 557 00:35:30,355 --> 00:35:33,515 Speaker 1: he was the president. And Kaplan starts arguing the point 558 00:35:33,555 --> 00:35:37,355 Speaker 1: with me, and the room just stares at him. It's 559 00:35:37,395 --> 00:35:42,515 Speaker 1: a news network, A living ex president isn't living anymore. 560 00:35:44,075 --> 00:35:47,235 Speaker 1: And then he says, how about half an hour of Reagan, 561 00:35:47,275 --> 00:35:49,035 Speaker 1: and then half an hour of d Day, and then 562 00:35:49,315 --> 00:35:52,155 Speaker 1: then a half an hour of Reagan. And then the 563 00:35:52,275 --> 00:35:57,355 Speaker 1: room now goes silent, finally crestfallen. And this has taken 564 00:35:57,395 --> 00:36:01,715 Speaker 1: five or ten minutes. He says, Okay, oh Reagan, And 565 00:36:01,835 --> 00:36:04,075 Speaker 1: the next thing I know, I'm anchoring chopper coverage of 566 00:36:04,155 --> 00:36:08,035 Speaker 1: Ronald Reagan's dead body being driven through Southern California, and 567 00:36:08,195 --> 00:36:14,515 Speaker 1: that made sense. Yesterday Trump in a car, well, actually 568 00:36:14,515 --> 00:36:16,075 Speaker 1: Trump in a car, then Trump in a plane, then 569 00:36:16,115 --> 00:36:21,635 Speaker 1: Trump in another car. No traffic accidents, no protests, no crowds, 570 00:36:22,115 --> 00:36:25,435 Speaker 1: no impact on New York City at all, no actual 571 00:36:25,515 --> 00:36:27,755 Speaker 1: news out of that clown until the next day, and 572 00:36:28,395 --> 00:36:35,075 Speaker 1: you are looking live at the FDR drive Christ I'll 573 00:36:35,115 --> 00:36:40,035 Speaker 1: repeat my point, this is no boating accident. The reason 574 00:36:40,195 --> 00:36:43,635 Speaker 1: Licked is in charge of CNN is virtually every mainstream 575 00:36:43,635 --> 00:36:46,115 Speaker 1: media organization in this country has already had the meeting 576 00:36:46,315 --> 00:36:50,155 Speaker 1: they had at CNN. Let's discuss how if America goes 577 00:36:50,195 --> 00:36:53,715 Speaker 1: fully fascist in twenty twenty five or earlier, we can 578 00:36:53,755 --> 00:36:57,675 Speaker 1: still protect this company's profits. I say this not merely 579 00:36:57,715 --> 00:37:00,515 Speaker 1: because I know most of the people running the mainstream 580 00:37:00,555 --> 00:37:05,235 Speaker 1: media organizations, but because these conversations have all he happened, 581 00:37:05,235 --> 00:37:09,835 Speaker 1: and they happened long ago, largely because the first not 582 00:37:10,035 --> 00:37:12,915 Speaker 1: white guy president was elected just seven years and two 583 00:37:12,955 --> 00:37:17,155 Speaker 1: months after nine eleven. We forget how seriously and terrifyingly 584 00:37:17,275 --> 00:37:20,275 Speaker 1: we already have teetered on the edge of full fledged 585 00:37:20,275 --> 00:37:23,115 Speaker 1: fascism here after the attacks on the World Trade Center 586 00:37:23,115 --> 00:37:27,075 Speaker 1: and the Pentagon nine to eleven happened between my two 587 00:37:27,115 --> 00:37:30,555 Speaker 1: ten years at MSNBC, but I returned a year and 588 00:37:30,555 --> 00:37:33,675 Speaker 1: a half after it happened, and by then the place 589 00:37:33,715 --> 00:37:35,715 Speaker 1: I went back to work had already hired a sort 590 00:37:35,755 --> 00:37:40,555 Speaker 1: of Alex Jones prototype radio host named Michael Savage, and 591 00:37:40,675 --> 00:37:42,995 Speaker 1: it was slowly trying to build him into the host 592 00:37:43,035 --> 00:37:47,435 Speaker 1: of a weeknight show. Savage was a homophobe plus an 593 00:37:47,435 --> 00:37:51,035 Speaker 1: equal opportunity bigot. His real name was Michael Weener, and 594 00:37:51,155 --> 00:37:52,595 Speaker 1: all you need to know about him is that he 595 00:37:52,635 --> 00:37:55,275 Speaker 1: was a Wiener who pretended he was a Savage. What 596 00:37:55,435 --> 00:37:57,395 Speaker 1: happened to him when they tried to stick him into 597 00:37:57,435 --> 00:38:00,195 Speaker 1: primetime and what he said that led to his firing 598 00:38:00,435 --> 00:38:03,035 Speaker 1: and the blowing up of the let's out Fox Fox 599 00:38:03,115 --> 00:38:06,435 Speaker 1: News plan of the then NBC chairman and CEO Bob 600 00:38:06,435 --> 00:38:09,715 Speaker 1: Wright is a great story I will relish telling you 601 00:38:09,795 --> 00:38:13,795 Speaker 1: in a moment, but first a little context to this. 602 00:38:14,755 --> 00:38:18,675 Speaker 1: MSNBC and Fox Nudes launched within weeks of each other 603 00:38:18,715 --> 00:38:22,235 Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety six, and for a while, in fact, 604 00:38:22,435 --> 00:38:25,555 Speaker 1: until I left MSNBC in December nineteen ninety eight, we 605 00:38:25,555 --> 00:38:29,915 Speaker 1: were ahead of Fox in many time periods, though CNN 606 00:38:30,035 --> 00:38:34,195 Speaker 1: crushed us both then Fox ascended, then came nine to eleven, 607 00:38:34,475 --> 00:38:37,635 Speaker 1: and then Bob Wright thought he saw his opportunity. All 608 00:38:37,675 --> 00:38:39,675 Speaker 1: you need to know about him is that after he 609 00:38:39,835 --> 00:38:44,515 Speaker 1: left the position of running NBC, he became a contributor 610 00:38:44,555 --> 00:38:49,515 Speaker 1: to Fox Business. At MSNBC, Wright gave Oliver North his 611 00:38:49,595 --> 00:38:53,115 Speaker 1: own show and Laura Ingram her own show. He had 612 00:38:53,115 --> 00:38:56,555 Speaker 1: given a program to Alan Keyes, a Republican who somehow 613 00:38:56,635 --> 00:38:59,675 Speaker 1: managed to lose Senate races in two different states and 614 00:38:59,875 --> 00:39:04,515 Speaker 1: washed out three different times in Republican presidential primaries. His 615 00:39:04,795 --> 00:39:08,355 Speaker 1: MSNBC show consisted of him giving speeches. Though he was 616 00:39:08,395 --> 00:39:11,515 Speaker 1: alone in a studio with no audience. Alan Keys could 617 00:39:11,515 --> 00:39:14,195 Speaker 1: not break himself up in his habit of spraying the 618 00:39:14,275 --> 00:39:17,315 Speaker 1: room with his eyes. The viewer at home would see 619 00:39:17,355 --> 00:39:20,155 Speaker 1: him looking off camera to his left, then looking at 620 00:39:20,235 --> 00:39:23,195 Speaker 1: the camera, then looking off camera to the right. He 621 00:39:23,275 --> 00:39:26,195 Speaker 1: went back and forth like a sprinkler. I remember once 622 00:39:26,315 --> 00:39:28,595 Speaker 1: looking at him and yelling at the TV, Hey, al 623 00:39:29,155 --> 00:39:32,675 Speaker 1: over here, I'm the one in the middle. Bob Wright 624 00:39:32,715 --> 00:39:35,555 Speaker 1: also brought in Joe Scarborough, long before Scarborough knew how 625 00:39:35,595 --> 00:39:39,755 Speaker 1: to disguise much of his fascism. Bob Wright fired Phil Donahue, 626 00:39:40,675 --> 00:39:42,675 Speaker 1: although to be fair that was really more about money 627 00:39:42,675 --> 00:39:45,115 Speaker 1: than it was about politics. But he replaced Donna Hue 628 00:39:45,155 --> 00:39:47,275 Speaker 1: Show with what was supposed to be a high speed, 629 00:39:47,955 --> 00:39:52,075 Speaker 1: slightly right leaning newscast produced by a Fox News refugee. 630 00:39:52,075 --> 00:39:58,355 Speaker 1: It was called Countdown with Sam Donaldson, and needless to say, 631 00:39:58,395 --> 00:40:01,555 Speaker 1: the right leaning idea went horribly horribly wrong after they 632 00:40:01,635 --> 00:40:07,115 Speaker 1: changed it to Countdown with Keith Olverman. MSNBC's lineup was 633 00:40:07,235 --> 00:40:11,035 Speaker 1: remarkably unstable at that time. I had hosted its eight 634 00:40:11,035 --> 00:40:14,355 Speaker 1: pm show from October first, nineteen ninety seven, through the 635 00:40:14,355 --> 00:40:16,515 Speaker 1: beginning of December nineteen ninety eight, and then I left 636 00:40:16,555 --> 00:40:20,715 Speaker 1: to go back to sports and baseball at Fox. Then 637 00:40:20,755 --> 00:40:23,755 Speaker 1: the eight pm hour was hosted by John Hockenberry for 638 00:40:23,955 --> 00:40:27,915 Speaker 1: three months. Then Ali North got his shot. A month later. 639 00:40:27,955 --> 00:40:30,835 Speaker 1: They started having rotating liberals co host with Ali North. 640 00:40:31,315 --> 00:40:34,355 Speaker 1: In April nineteen ninety nine, eighty became North and Paul Begala. 641 00:40:34,835 --> 00:40:37,635 Speaker 1: That was five shows in five months. In May they 642 00:40:37,675 --> 00:40:40,555 Speaker 1: cut North and Begala to half an hour. In June 643 00:40:40,595 --> 00:40:42,875 Speaker 1: they canceled them and replaced them with a half hour 644 00:40:42,995 --> 00:40:47,435 Speaker 1: and Curry documentary. In early two thousand, Curry was expanded 645 00:40:47,435 --> 00:40:50,115 Speaker 1: to an hour, but then in May Curry was replaced 646 00:40:50,155 --> 00:40:53,275 Speaker 1: by Lorie Doo. In August two thousand, they started their 647 00:40:53,355 --> 00:40:57,675 Speaker 1: version of Dateline called MSNBC Investigates. In September they cut 648 00:40:57,715 --> 00:41:01,075 Speaker 1: that show to four days a week and launched a 649 00:41:01,155 --> 00:41:04,595 Speaker 1: vanished white Woman of the Week show actually called Missing 650 00:41:04,875 --> 00:41:09,355 Speaker 1: Persons with Diane Diamond, which they canceled after one episode, 651 00:41:09,915 --> 00:41:12,355 Speaker 1: and then they put MSNBC Investigates back on. Then they 652 00:41:12,395 --> 00:41:13,915 Speaker 1: canceled that a month later to make room for a 653 00:41:13,955 --> 00:41:17,035 Speaker 1: newscast with Forrest Sawyer. Then after the uncertainty of the 654 00:41:17,035 --> 00:41:20,275 Speaker 1: two thousand election, they refocused that as Decision two thousand 655 00:41:20,275 --> 00:41:23,275 Speaker 1: Worth Forrest Sawyer. In January two thousand and one, they 656 00:41:23,315 --> 00:41:26,555 Speaker 1: canceled Forrest Sawyer and put MSNBC Investigates back on for 657 00:41:26,595 --> 00:41:29,355 Speaker 1: the third different time. Then in July they moved the 658 00:41:29,435 --> 00:41:32,235 Speaker 1: News with Brian Williams from nine pm to eight pm. 659 00:41:32,395 --> 00:41:35,235 Speaker 1: Then the next September they moved Brian to CNBC and 660 00:41:35,315 --> 00:41:39,275 Speaker 1: instead launched Phil Donahue show in the eight pm MSNBC slot. 661 00:41:39,915 --> 00:41:42,075 Speaker 1: Then in March two thousand and three they off Donahue. 662 00:41:42,475 --> 00:41:45,995 Speaker 1: They started Countdown originally with Lester Holt, Pat Buchanan and 663 00:41:46,075 --> 00:41:48,795 Speaker 1: Bill Press. Then after the war started and there wasn't 664 00:41:48,795 --> 00:41:51,555 Speaker 1: anything to count Down two anymore. They hired me to 665 00:41:51,595 --> 00:41:55,515 Speaker 1: host Operation Iraqi Freedom, and after one week of that show, 666 00:41:56,315 --> 00:41:59,795 Speaker 1: they launched Countdown with Keith ol Ryman. That's twenty different 667 00:41:59,795 --> 00:42:03,675 Speaker 1: shows or formatcy in four years and four months. So 668 00:42:03,835 --> 00:42:07,915 Speaker 1: Bob Wrights next primetime ideas, and you got to give 669 00:42:07,995 --> 00:42:10,795 Speaker 1: him this much. He had a lot of primetime ideas 670 00:42:11,115 --> 00:42:13,755 Speaker 1: and virtually all of them made it onto TV. His 671 00:42:13,995 --> 00:42:16,595 Speaker 1: next set of ideas was a primetime lineup of me 672 00:42:16,755 --> 00:42:20,595 Speaker 1: doing the news at eight, then Scarborough at nine, then 673 00:42:20,675 --> 00:42:24,395 Speaker 1: Jesse Ventura at ten, and then this Michael Savage character. 674 00:42:25,155 --> 00:42:27,995 Speaker 1: They began this plot by giving Savage his own show 675 00:42:28,155 --> 00:42:31,675 Speaker 1: an hour every Saturday afternoon on March eighth, two thousand 676 00:42:31,715 --> 00:42:38,755 Speaker 1: and three. Everybody agreed it was crap. On radio, Savage 677 00:42:38,835 --> 00:42:41,635 Speaker 1: sounded kind of threatening, I guess, a kind of red 678 00:42:41,675 --> 00:42:46,075 Speaker 1: meat fascist. But on TV taking calls from viewers in 679 00:42:46,075 --> 00:42:49,475 Speaker 1: a tiny, little cramp looking studio somewhere in the Bay Area, 680 00:42:49,715 --> 00:42:53,635 Speaker 1: he looked small and whiny and cavetchy, and he was 681 00:42:53,675 --> 00:42:56,515 Speaker 1: wearing a bad tupei and a suit that was far 682 00:42:56,595 --> 00:43:00,955 Speaker 1: worse than that. When I was negotiating my return to 683 00:43:01,075 --> 00:43:03,355 Speaker 1: MSNBC in two thousand and three, I got the executive 684 00:43:03,355 --> 00:43:05,995 Speaker 1: in charge of Primetime to put in my contract that 685 00:43:06,115 --> 00:43:09,435 Speaker 1: Michael Savage would never appear on my newscast in any 686 00:43:09,475 --> 00:43:14,595 Speaker 1: form unless it was an obituary, open and shut. But 687 00:43:14,715 --> 00:43:16,875 Speaker 1: then on Friday April twenty fifth, two thousand and three, 688 00:43:16,915 --> 00:43:19,315 Speaker 1: I came into work. We were about a month into 689 00:43:19,315 --> 00:43:21,875 Speaker 1: the show, and there in the computer rundown of my 690 00:43:21,915 --> 00:43:26,675 Speaker 1: newscast was a prerecorded Michael Savage commentary. As soon as 691 00:43:26,715 --> 00:43:28,875 Speaker 1: he saw I was in the office, the executive pretty 692 00:43:28,915 --> 00:43:31,555 Speaker 1: sure they had hired from Fox, A cross eyed chainsmoker 693 00:43:31,635 --> 00:43:34,515 Speaker 1: named Dennis Murray pushed his way into my office and said, 694 00:43:34,835 --> 00:43:37,395 Speaker 1: we have to run a Michael Savage commentary. There's also 695 00:43:37,435 --> 00:43:40,595 Speaker 1: a mandatory Matt Drudge SoundBite. This is per Phil Griffins. 696 00:43:40,595 --> 00:43:42,475 Speaker 1: So don't think you can call Phil to get it dropped. 697 00:43:42,515 --> 00:43:45,035 Speaker 1: He's not in New York. He's not reachable, and he left. 698 00:43:46,115 --> 00:43:48,355 Speaker 1: I called my agent, I told her the story, and 699 00:43:48,435 --> 00:43:50,595 Speaker 1: I matter of factorily asked, if they don't drop it, 700 00:43:50,635 --> 00:43:53,075 Speaker 1: I have to walk out, don't I mind you? She 701 00:43:53,195 --> 00:43:59,555 Speaker 1: had just exhausted herself negotiating my extremely unlikely return to MSNBC. 702 00:44:00,155 --> 00:44:02,595 Speaker 1: She didn't flinch. Of course, you have to walk out, 703 00:44:02,835 --> 00:44:05,395 Speaker 1: but first call Pillow Griffin's office, tell him you're leaving. 704 00:44:05,395 --> 00:44:07,875 Speaker 1: Give him a chance. It'll help when you sue them. 705 00:44:09,475 --> 00:44:13,075 Speaker 1: It was breach of contract. I find dramatic, life changing 706 00:44:13,075 --> 00:44:16,515 Speaker 1: and potentially costly stuff like that is usually way easier 707 00:44:16,555 --> 00:44:19,395 Speaker 1: if you have the high moral ground. So I called 708 00:44:19,435 --> 00:44:22,355 Speaker 1: Griffin's office. His assistant said he was in Washington in 709 00:44:22,395 --> 00:44:23,955 Speaker 1: meetings and could not be reached. I said, well, you 710 00:44:23,955 --> 00:44:26,715 Speaker 1: should reach somebody there. Tell them I just called a 711 00:44:26,755 --> 00:44:29,115 Speaker 1: car to take me home because my contract says you 712 00:44:29,155 --> 00:44:32,035 Speaker 1: can't put Michael effing Savage on my newscast. And somebody 713 00:44:32,075 --> 00:44:34,315 Speaker 1: just did nice working with you all, And tell Phil 714 00:44:34,355 --> 00:44:40,475 Speaker 1: to give me a call sometime sometime was three minutes later. Griffin, 715 00:44:40,515 --> 00:44:44,715 Speaker 1: who frequently panicked outdid himself on this call. You would 716 00:44:44,715 --> 00:44:47,435 Speaker 1: really walk out, buddy, I said, it was in the contract. 717 00:44:47,795 --> 00:44:49,835 Speaker 1: I was putting my pens and books in a box 718 00:44:49,875 --> 00:44:54,395 Speaker 1: as we spoke. I told him he was repeating himself. 719 00:44:54,595 --> 00:44:58,915 Speaker 1: Finally he said, okay, okay, okay, buddy, can you can 720 00:44:58,955 --> 00:45:01,075 Speaker 1: you look at the commentary and find me a reason, 721 00:45:02,115 --> 00:45:05,115 Speaker 1: a reason that it isn't about politics? Why it should run. 722 00:45:05,955 --> 00:45:10,075 Speaker 1: I said, you mean, like video quality or racist language 723 00:45:10,235 --> 00:45:15,635 Speaker 1: or something. Phil Griffin's voice brightened. Yeah, good racist language 724 00:45:15,715 --> 00:45:19,235 Speaker 1: or something that would be great. Call me back the 725 00:45:19,315 --> 00:45:21,995 Speaker 1: executive producer and I went to the video edit suite 726 00:45:21,995 --> 00:45:24,195 Speaker 1: where a guy named Brendan o'melia was cutting out the 727 00:45:24,195 --> 00:45:27,355 Speaker 1: time Savage had stumbled or flubbed while recording this nonsense. 728 00:45:27,875 --> 00:45:30,635 Speaker 1: First of all, I said to the X Fox guy 729 00:45:30,635 --> 00:45:33,875 Speaker 1: who was the producer, Michael Savage is wearing a brown 730 00:45:34,475 --> 00:45:38,675 Speaker 1: shirt and a brown tie on top of his brown shirt. 731 00:45:38,875 --> 00:45:43,395 Speaker 1: He is literally dressed like a Hitler brown shirt. The 732 00:45:43,595 --> 00:45:45,995 Speaker 1: editor o'melia played the whole video for me, and as 733 00:45:45,995 --> 00:45:49,715 Speaker 1: I dialed Phil Griffin's cell, I started laughing. I said, 734 00:45:49,755 --> 00:45:53,035 Speaker 1: even for racist, homophobic crap, this thing makes no sense. 735 00:45:53,075 --> 00:45:55,595 Speaker 1: He just keeps saying George W. Bush is right, because 736 00:45:55,635 --> 00:45:59,235 Speaker 1: George W. Bush, because he's right. He looks small and 737 00:45:59,275 --> 00:46:01,435 Speaker 1: whiney and covechian. You've got a bad tupe in a 738 00:46:01,435 --> 00:46:04,235 Speaker 1: worst suit. We wouldn't run this as a SoundBite in 739 00:46:04,315 --> 00:46:07,675 Speaker 1: his obituary. And the lighting is terrible, and he's dressed 740 00:46:07,995 --> 00:46:13,755 Speaker 1: as a brown shirt. Apparently that was enough. Phil Griffin 741 00:46:13,875 --> 00:46:16,915 Speaker 1: ordered the piece dropped from my show. I think they 742 00:46:16,995 --> 00:46:19,035 Speaker 1: ran it on Scarborough Show at nine pm. In fact, 743 00:46:19,115 --> 00:46:21,875 Speaker 1: I think I might be wrong. They ran two or 744 00:46:22,035 --> 00:46:26,235 Speaker 1: three Savage commentaries on Scarborough shows. I know they intended to, 745 00:46:26,555 --> 00:46:30,955 Speaker 1: God knows. I never watched Scarborough Show. Happily. This was 746 00:46:30,995 --> 00:46:33,995 Speaker 1: about the time Michael Savage ended his own TV career. 747 00:46:34,595 --> 00:46:38,595 Speaker 1: On Saturday, July fifth, two thousand and three, show fifteen 748 00:46:38,675 --> 00:46:43,955 Speaker 1: out of a series of checks Notes fifteen, Michael Savage 749 00:46:44,035 --> 00:46:46,795 Speaker 1: was on the air live on MSNBC when a caller 750 00:46:46,955 --> 00:46:51,395 Speaker 1: baited him about Gaye. Savage replied, quote, so you're one 751 00:46:51,395 --> 00:46:55,595 Speaker 1: of them sodomists. You a sodomite. The caller said, yes, oh, 752 00:46:55,635 --> 00:46:58,555 Speaker 1: you're one of them sodomites, continuing the quote, you should 753 00:46:58,555 --> 00:47:01,195 Speaker 1: only get aids and die, you pig. How's that? Why 754 00:47:01,195 --> 00:47:03,315 Speaker 1: don't you see if you consume, you pig, you got 755 00:47:03,315 --> 00:47:05,675 Speaker 1: nothing better to put me down? He's of garbage. You 756 00:47:05,795 --> 00:47:07,835 Speaker 1: have nothing better to do today. Go eat a sausage 757 00:47:07,835 --> 00:47:12,995 Speaker 1: and choke on it. Get tricking nottses end quote end 758 00:47:13,195 --> 00:47:16,595 Speaker 1: Michael Savage. And by the way, that quote that I 759 00:47:16,675 --> 00:47:19,475 Speaker 1: just read that was way better than the commentary they 760 00:47:19,475 --> 00:47:24,555 Speaker 1: had him record for countdown. Two days later, on Monday. 761 00:47:24,715 --> 00:47:27,435 Speaker 1: Eric Sorenson the president of MSNBC, and he was president 762 00:47:27,435 --> 00:47:29,355 Speaker 1: of all the boring things Bob Wright didn't want to 763 00:47:29,395 --> 00:47:33,395 Speaker 1: be bothered with. At MSNBC. Eric Sorenson fired Michael Savage. 764 00:47:34,035 --> 00:47:36,955 Speaker 1: Sorenson for whom I worked in Los Angeles in local 765 00:47:36,995 --> 00:47:39,475 Speaker 1: news and who consulted on my show on Current TV 766 00:47:39,835 --> 00:47:42,635 Speaker 1: as recently his twenty eleven took me for a drink 767 00:47:42,675 --> 00:47:46,155 Speaker 1: because he needed to tell somebody what happened next after 768 00:47:46,235 --> 00:47:50,315 Speaker 1: he fired Michael Savage. As soon as the Savage firing 769 00:47:50,395 --> 00:47:53,315 Speaker 1: was announced, Sorenson said, the phone rang in his office 770 00:47:53,355 --> 00:47:57,315 Speaker 1: and it was Bob Wright, the chairman of NBC. Did 771 00:47:57,355 --> 00:48:00,515 Speaker 1: you to fire americ? Wright asked in his nasal long 772 00:48:00,555 --> 00:48:05,835 Speaker 1: Island accent, and Sorenson said he answered, yes, I literally 773 00:48:05,835 --> 00:48:07,955 Speaker 1: had to. I had to fire him. Remember the clause 774 00:48:07,995 --> 00:48:11,355 Speaker 1: in his contract there are forty phrases he's not allowed 775 00:48:11,395 --> 00:48:13,635 Speaker 1: to use on the show. It literally says, if you 776 00:48:13,715 --> 00:48:16,395 Speaker 1: say any of the following forty things, you will be 777 00:48:16,475 --> 00:48:20,515 Speaker 1: automatically fired for cause and get no money. Remember remember 778 00:48:20,515 --> 00:48:23,715 Speaker 1: what number four on that list is. Number four is quote, 779 00:48:24,035 --> 00:48:27,635 Speaker 1: I hope you get aids and die unquote. And then 780 00:48:27,635 --> 00:48:30,635 Speaker 1: he said, I hope you get AIDS and die. Bob, 781 00:48:30,675 --> 00:48:34,715 Speaker 1: I literally had to fire him. I had to fire him. 782 00:48:34,875 --> 00:48:39,195 Speaker 1: It's in the contract, Eric Sorenson told me. There was 783 00:48:39,195 --> 00:48:41,755 Speaker 1: a long pause on the other end of the phone, 784 00:48:42,355 --> 00:48:45,835 Speaker 1: and then Bob Wright said, in anticipation of all that 785 00:48:45,875 --> 00:48:49,115 Speaker 1: we have seen in television news since all the meetings 786 00:48:49,155 --> 00:48:52,315 Speaker 1: about what happens if the country goes fully fascist, and 787 00:48:52,555 --> 00:48:56,235 Speaker 1: NBC and CNN and CBS and ABC all want to 788 00:48:56,275 --> 00:49:00,275 Speaker 1: protect their profits and do the devil's work, Bob Wright said, 789 00:49:00,315 --> 00:49:04,315 Speaker 1: after a long pause to Eric Sorenson, who had just 790 00:49:04,435 --> 00:49:07,275 Speaker 1: fired Michael Savage because it was in the contract. Bob 791 00:49:07,315 --> 00:49:12,035 Speaker 1: Wright said, softly and sadly, but Eric, did you have 792 00:49:12,115 --> 00:49:28,435 Speaker 1: to fire him? I've done all the damage I can 793 00:49:28,475 --> 00:49:31,235 Speaker 1: do here. Thank you for listening. Here the credits. Most 794 00:49:31,275 --> 00:49:33,835 Speaker 1: of the music was arranged, produced, and performed by Brian 795 00:49:33,915 --> 00:49:36,875 Speaker 1: Ray and John Phillip Channel. They are the Countdown musical directors. 796 00:49:37,155 --> 00:49:41,075 Speaker 1: All orchestration and keyboards by John Philip Channel, guitars, bass 797 00:49:41,115 --> 00:49:44,275 Speaker 1: and drums by Brian Ray, produced by t Ko Brothers. 798 00:49:44,595 --> 00:49:48,155 Speaker 1: Other Beethoven selections, such as in our segment about the 799 00:49:48,195 --> 00:49:51,355 Speaker 1: Dog in Need Kuda, have been arranged and performed by 800 00:49:51,395 --> 00:49:54,515 Speaker 1: no horns allowed. The sports music is the Old Woman 801 00:49:54,595 --> 00:49:57,195 Speaker 1: theme from ESPN two. It was written by Mitch Warren 802 00:49:57,275 --> 00:50:01,355 Speaker 1: Davis courtesy of ESPN, Inc. Musical comments by Nancy Faust. 803 00:50:01,395 --> 00:50:04,635 Speaker 1: The best baseball stadium organist ever Our announcer today was 804 00:50:04,795 --> 00:50:07,955 Speaker 1: Richard Lewis. He was chosen for a reason. He once 805 00:50:07,995 --> 00:50:11,115 Speaker 1: had a very memorable phone call with my mom. Ask 806 00:50:11,235 --> 00:50:14,395 Speaker 1: him about it. Everything else is pretty much my fault. 807 00:50:14,395 --> 00:50:16,675 Speaker 1: So that's countdown for this the eight hundred and nineteenth 808 00:50:16,755 --> 00:50:20,275 Speaker 1: day since Donald Trump's first attempted coup against the democratically 809 00:50:20,275 --> 00:50:24,715 Speaker 1: elected government of the United States. Don't forget. Keep arresting 810 00:50:24,795 --> 00:50:29,275 Speaker 1: him while we still can. The next scheduled countdown is tomorrow. 811 00:50:29,315 --> 00:50:31,475 Speaker 1: But it's a good bet that I will revise this 812 00:50:31,515 --> 00:50:36,035 Speaker 1: one sometime today after the court hearing, or whenever if 813 00:50:36,035 --> 00:50:39,395 Speaker 1: he tries to flee, who knows. So subscribe if you 814 00:50:39,435 --> 00:50:43,035 Speaker 1: are not already subscribed, and check your notifications like late 815 00:50:43,075 --> 00:50:46,275 Speaker 1: in the afternoon, and fasten your seat belts. It's going 816 00:50:46,315 --> 00:50:49,515 Speaker 1: to be a bumpy night till then. I'm Keith Ulverman. 817 00:50:49,595 --> 00:51:07,235 Speaker 1: Good morning, good afternoon, good night, and good luck. Countdown 818 00:51:07,275 --> 00:51:11,035 Speaker 1: with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. For more 819 00:51:11,115 --> 00:51:16,115 Speaker 1: podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 820 00:51:16,115 --> 00:51:17,955 Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts.