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Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. The

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Speaker 1: light bulbs may have finally gone off over the heads

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Speaker 1: of the Biden campaign at two three pm Eastern daylight

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Speaker 1: time yesterday. They had used the phrase before, and they

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Speaker 1: had said the phrase before, but it was at that

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Speaker 1: moment that they sent the phrase out into the world alone.

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Speaker 1: A Twitter x post reading simply quote convicted felon and

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Speaker 1: under it the close up, sweating modeled face golf picture

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Speaker 1: of convicted felon Donald Trump, the one that looks like

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Speaker 1: it was the before shot in a before and after

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Speaker 1: about your grandpa's risk of having a stroke. Elections are

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Speaker 1: not decided by social media posts, and they are not

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Speaker 1: decided by nicknames, and they are not decided by bad photos.

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Speaker 1: But you can probably decide one percentage point in an

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Speaker 1: election with all of those, or two or five. We

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Speaker 1: may hate this, but we live in in America where

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Speaker 1: the name crooked Hillary stuck, and the phrase lock her

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Speaker 1: up stuck, and the acronym maga maga one of the

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Speaker 1: stupidest and most discordant acronyms of all time stuck, And

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Speaker 1: here Joe Biden now has been gifted an answer to

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Speaker 1: every insult and every meme and every catchphrase used by

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Speaker 1: Trump and his cult. And it's not only a great answer,

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Speaker 1: but it has the added benefit of being entirely true.

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Speaker 1: And it has the even greater benefit of utterly deranging

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Speaker 1: the entirety of the Trump horror cult. They have spent

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Speaker 1: every day since the convictions screaming, shouting, whining, crying, don't

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Speaker 1: say that. Don't call me that like you did the

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Speaker 1: day that the kids gave you your first mean nickname in

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Speaker 1: the third or fourth grade. The musk flunky David Sachs

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Speaker 1: is calling it the convicted felon hoax. More of that,

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Speaker 1: mister Sachs. The conspiracy driven right is claiming this is

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Speaker 1: a George Sorrow's plot because his son tweeted about using

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Speaker 1: the phrase. The idiot senator from Utah Mike Lee says

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Speaker 1: the use of this phrase is quote a departure from

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Speaker 1: the norm including norms involving the left's use of words

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Speaker 1: like convict and I know Mike Lee rarely makes sense,

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Speaker 1: but I honestly don't even know what he's talking about,

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Speaker 1: and neither does he. Within a twenty one minute span,

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Speaker 1: Mike Lee congratulated Democrats on guaranteeing Trump's election with the convictions,

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Speaker 1: and then forgot he had tweeted that and insisted there

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Speaker 1: could be no bigger, more impactful donation to the Biden campaign.

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Speaker 1: They have been deranged. The gravity has been turned off

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Speaker 1: in their world. Make sure it stays off. And again,

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Speaker 1: as I pointed out in the special Bonus bulletin on Saturday,

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Speaker 1: there has been and will continue to be an impact

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Speaker 1: on the perception of Trump by Republican voters. And the

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Speaker 1: earliest polling shows, No, it's not going to peel off

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Speaker 1: twenty percent of them, and it doesn't have to peel

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Speaker 1: off twenty percent of them. Five percent of them is

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Speaker 1: worth roughly twelve electoral votes, and two percent in Michigan

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Speaker 1: and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin would have meant President Hillary Clinton.

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Speaker 1: In twenty seventeen, the newest polling CBS you Gov, the

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Speaker 1: number of Republicans saying he's now not considered fit to

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Speaker 1: be president is up to ten percent. The number of

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Speaker 1: Independents saying he's not fit to be president is now

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Speaker 1: fifty percent. Echelon Insights run by a conservative Kristin Sultis

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Speaker 1: Anderson went back to four hundred and seventy seven people

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Speaker 1: it had previously pulled who had had it forty seven

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Speaker 1: forty seven, and after the verdict they asked them again

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Speaker 1: and now they are coming back forty nine forty seven

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Speaker 1: for Biden. Put these on the pile next to the

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Speaker 1: IPSOS Reuter's poll Ticke and last Thursday and Friday, a

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Speaker 1: quarter of independents saying they are now less likely to

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Speaker 1: vote for him, ten percent of Republicans saying that. And

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Speaker 1: Morning consult took the other tack and asked should he

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Speaker 1: end his campaign, and half of independence and fifteen percent

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Speaker 1: of Republicans said yes, Trump should end his campaign now

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Speaker 1: convicted felon Donald Trump and no, the numbers will not hold,

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Speaker 1: they will soften. The access Hollywood tape experience is useful

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Speaker 1: and instructive. It doesn't all have to last forever. It

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Speaker 1: only has to impact this one percent or two percent

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Speaker 1: less than that in the key swinging states. And there

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Speaker 1: is nothing right now and maybe nothing for the rest

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Speaker 1: of this campaign that Joe Biden could do to lower

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Speaker 1: supermarket prices or cheapen gas, or make anything else positive

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Speaker 1: happen that could have that sized impact and have it

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Speaker 1: happen that quickly. So to the Biden campaign to every

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Speaker 1: Democratic senator and representative and governor and every pro democracy

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Speaker 1: commentator keep calling him convicted felon Donald Trump every time

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Speaker 1: first reference, like he legally changed his name to that.

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Speaker 1: And this goes for the President of the United States

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Speaker 1: as well, because if they play this right, they can

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Speaker 1: get a second, maybe bigger convicted felon Donald Trump. Bump

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Speaker 1: out of this because the moment Joe Biden says that

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Speaker 1: himself or puts it in a campaign commercial, I'm Joe Biden,

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Speaker 1: and I approved this message because he's convicted fella Donald Trump.

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Speaker 1: The moment that happens, the political media will lose their minds.

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Speaker 1: Can you imagine the idiots in all of the newspapers.

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Speaker 1: Can you imagine Maggie Haberman and Katie Turr trampling each

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Speaker 1: other to get their forty four thousand stories written about it,

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Speaker 1: and get the reaction from every Trumpist and every Republican

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Speaker 1: and every Democrat and spread this phrase further and further

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Speaker 1: until it is inescapable and it is inseparable from Trump's identity. Also,

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Speaker 1: every Democratic group doing a poll, I want those questions asked,

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Speaker 1: are you less likely to vote for Trump now that

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Speaker 1: he is a convicted felon. Should he drop out now

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Speaker 1: that he is a convicted felon? You feel about this phrase?

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Speaker 1: Donald Trump is a convicted felon. And while you're at it,

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Speaker 1: make hats. I want hats. I want red hats. I

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Speaker 1: want red hats with that same stupid fonts. Convicted fellon

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Speaker 1: Donald Trump. And for God's sake, get it on social

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Speaker 1: media the two three pm tweet yesterday. I want a

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Speaker 1: million of them. I want Facebook and Insta and TikTok

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Speaker 1: users waiting knee deep in videos, all of which say

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Speaker 1: convicted felon Donald Trump. And the reason a second bump

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Speaker 1: from the New York trial is a necessity is it

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Speaker 1: is now unavoidable. We will not be completing any other

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Speaker 1: Trump trials before the election. Georgia just vanished the hearing

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Speaker 1: into the latest attempt to disqualify Fannie Willis from helming.

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Speaker 1: That election interference case will begin on October fourth. Even

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Speaker 1: if the three Appeals court judges appointed by Republican Georgia

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Speaker 1: governors violate their Siegfried oath and rule in her favor,

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Speaker 1: they will not get that trial going quickly enough. And incredibly,

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Speaker 1: this does not appear to be Eileen cannon style footdragging.

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Speaker 1: Atlanta Media reports that the standard turnaround on a big

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Speaker 1: procedural appeal like this in Georgia is now eight months.

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Speaker 1: This is actually expedited. And this is all because Fannie

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Speaker 1: willis needed to be untouchable in this case, and I

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Speaker 1: wish life were not like this, but she wasn't untouchable.

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Speaker 1: So the New York case resumes July eleventh. Asterisk could

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Speaker 1: be delayed with the Republican Convention starting July fifteenth, and

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Speaker 1: CBS News reporting GOP leaders will not dismiss the possibility

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Speaker 1: that Trump will have to accept his nomination from behind

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Speaker 1: bars in jail, slipping out a message, writing it on

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Speaker 1: a bar of soap, baking it into a cake. Please

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Speaker 1: do not use the image of a conjugal visit. Also,

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Speaker 1: get all the Eugene v. Debs jazz out of your mind.

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Speaker 1: This was not a murder trial. Even if Judge Mayr

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Speaker 1: Shaan somehow does not grant the delay in sentencing, he

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Speaker 1: will not end the hearing by having Trump dragged off

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Speaker 1: by his feet directly to Riker's Island. There will be

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Speaker 1: an appeal on the sentencing. Whatever it is or similar delay.

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Speaker 1: Trump might or might not get prison time. Seems to

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Speaker 1: think he could face a brief prison spell weekends. Maybe

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Speaker 1: that's been mentioned a lot or house arrest, tells Fox,

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Speaker 1: I'm okay with it, which means he hears house arrest

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Speaker 1: and he thinks more golf by the way back to

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Speaker 1: convicted fellon Donald Trump, and that Biden Harris Headquarters tweet

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Speaker 1: the golf photo with it essential. If you do it right,

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Speaker 1: you can now tie a second association to it and

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Speaker 1: get the bonfire glowing even higher into the night sky.

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Speaker 1: Convicted felon means Donald Trump, and any photograph of Donald

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Speaker 1: Trump at a golf course means convicted felon. Meanwhile, the

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Speaker 1: Supreme Court is coming apart at the seams. The civilian

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Speaker 1: victim in the Alito flag scandal now says that both

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Speaker 1: in late twenty twenty early twenty twenty one, and then

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Speaker 1: again as recently as two weeks ago, a black suv

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Speaker 1: from the Alito's security detail parked not in front of

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Speaker 1: Alito's house, but in front of her own mother's home

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Speaker 1: in Alexandria, Virginia. Quote. I couldn't say who was in

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Speaker 1: the car because of the tinted glass, Emily Baden told

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Speaker 1: the newspaper The Guardian, and nobody ever said anything. I

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Speaker 1: took it as a general threat. The message was we

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Speaker 1: could do terrible things to you and nobody would be

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Speaker 1: able to do anything about it. When it comes to

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Speaker 1: justices at the Supreme Court, they make the laws, but

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Speaker 1: the laws don't apply to them. Yeah, pretty much. Mss

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Speaker 1: Baden says it happened a handful of times after the

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Speaker 1: confrontations with Martha an Alito in late twenty twenty and

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Speaker 1: early twenty two, and then again after The New York

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Speaker 1: Times finally put the story out there last month, after

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Speaker 1: the Washington Post sat on it for three years. Miss

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Speaker 1: Baden notes ominously that none of the initial news stories

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Speaker 1: included her name or her mother's Guess what the Elito

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Speaker 1: security detail They already had all that information, and where

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Speaker 1: Baden's mother lived after the infamous expletive Ladden conversation in

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Speaker 1: early twenty twenty one, cooting Baden's husband right after a

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Speaker 1: security vehicle moved in front of our house and stayed

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Speaker 1: for the remainder of the night. This is not about

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Speaker 1: scarcity of parking on that block. Baden's mother lives several

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Speaker 1: houses down the street from where the Alito. Black cars

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Speaker 1: normally linger in front of the Alito's house or directly

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Speaker 1: across the street. If the implied threat was not enough,

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Speaker 1: the cliche of the unmarked power vehicle parked in front

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Speaker 1: of your house all night with tinted windows. Baden also

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Speaker 1: says that Justice Lilleid's statement blaming everything on her and

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Speaker 1: on his wife is full of lies. Quoting her, he's

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Speaker 1: lying about many many things in that statement. She says

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Speaker 1: she never initiated any confrontation with the Alitos, and moreover,

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Speaker 1: Alitos claim that her law and signs directly insulted the

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Speaker 1: Alitos not true. Mss Baden says she had hoped to

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Speaker 1: stay anonymous in this as the Supreme Court disaster. This

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Speaker 1: Supreme Court disaster plays out, but then the other's story

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Speaker 1: broke about the appeal to Heaven flag at the Alito's

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Speaker 1: summer home and quoting her again, that other flag sealed

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Speaker 1: the deal for me. I thought, if I don't use

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Speaker 1: my name, I will not be true to myself and

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Speaker 1: my lifelong convictions. I believe in resistance to fascism. My

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Speaker 1: grandpa fought in World War II. He was a person

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Speaker 1: who quite literally fought against fascism, So what do we

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Speaker 1: do about this, or importantly, what can we do about this?

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Speaker 1: Apparently the Chief Justice of the United States wants us

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Speaker 1: to acknowledge that he runs the country now and f

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Speaker 1: everybody else. On Thursday, Chief Justice Roberts refused to meet

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Speaker 1: informally with Senators Durbin and White House to discuss the

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Speaker 1: crisis because quote, a meeting with leaders of only one

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Speaker 1: party would be inadvisable. On Friday, Speaker of the House

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Speaker 1: Mike Johnson said the Supreme Court must quote step in

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Speaker 1: unquote to overturn convicted felon Donald Trump's thirty four guilty verdicts,

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Speaker 1: and he said he was sure they would because quote,

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Speaker 1: I know many of them personally, and I think they

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Speaker 1: are deeply concerned that this is totally unprecedented. So I

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Speaker 1: think they'll set this straight. In other words, the Chief

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Speaker 1: Justice can't meet with Democrats because that would be a

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Speaker 1: bad look. But an untold number of Associate Justices many

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Speaker 1: they know the Leader of the House personally, and that

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Speaker 1: leader a Republican and not a Republican and Democrat himself

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Speaker 1: just a member of one party. That leader implies that

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Speaker 1: he's spoken to them or communicated with them about a

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Speaker 1: criminal case that it only took the jury twenty four

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Speaker 1: hours to convict on, and they all agree that that

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Speaker 1: criminal case needs to be overturned. This is such a

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Speaker 1: bad look that even tiny little Johnson noticed. He went

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Speaker 1: back on Fox to try to make it better and

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Speaker 1: made it worse. Of course, I haven't had conversations with

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Speaker 1: the justices, he explained, with the nonchalance of a doctor

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Speaker 1: who does not actually have a license. I just know

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Speaker 1: their character, their personality. That's worse. That's saying the Speaker

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Speaker 1: of the House is confident that the Supreme Court will

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Speaker 1: interfere with a criminal prosecution of a criminal on behalf

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Speaker 1: of the criminal and against representative government, so confident that

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Speaker 1: he didn't and doesn't even have to talk to them

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Speaker 1: about it, like they communicate telepathically or something, or maybe

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Speaker 1: he just talks to Thomas and Alito the way the

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Speaker 1: rest of the world does with cash. There are still

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Speaker 1: a few ways to turn this John Robert Sam Alito,

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Speaker 1: Clarence Thomas, Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, friends of Mike Johnson's

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Speaker 1: Supreme Court into a complete glittering whorehouse. But there aren't

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Speaker 1: many of them left, and none of them are really

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Speaker 1: necessary for the project, whether Roberts knows it and he's

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Speaker 1: faking it, or he's really so stupid that he does

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Speaker 1: not see that his building is metaphorically on fire, and

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Speaker 1: thus the democracy it is supposed to protect may follow.

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Speaker 1: I don't care which anymore. The Supreme Court is right

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Speaker 1: now so corrupt that it is beyond redemption. Now. The

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Speaker 1: best and most correct solution to this ethical disaster is

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Speaker 1: to get everybody and every important document and every artifact

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Speaker 1: out of the Supreme Court and implode the building and

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Speaker 1: start all over again. But that's not exactly doable just now.

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Speaker 1: The next and most correct decision would be for the

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Speaker 1: current presidential administration and its Department of Justice to stop

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Speaker 1: participating in the Supreme Court and to explain to its

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Speaker 1: justices and to the Chief Justice that it can keep

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Speaker 1: staging all the hearings it wants and rule however it pleases,

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Speaker 1: but as during the Civil War, the government will henceforth

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Speaker 1: be ignoring it. Then, if the Supreme Court really wants

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Speaker 1: to enforce its lamentably prejudiced and purchased decisions, maybe it

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Speaker 1: should send Alito door to door to try to convince

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Speaker 1: people that his fraudulence doesn't matter. Maybe he could bring

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Speaker 1: some of his flags with him. It would be a

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Speaker 1: stunning and possibly impactful site. Long term, the only solution

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Speaker 1: is for a unified government, a democratic White House, democratic Senate,

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Speaker 1: democratic House, to expand the Court by as many members

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Speaker 1: is as necessary, say sixty or seventy. I am not

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Speaker 1: optimistic that this opportunity is going to arise, largely because

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Speaker 1: if Speaker Johnson isn't lying, and who can be sure

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Speaker 1: about that he must have lied in one of those

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Speaker 1: two comments to Fox, then the Supreme Court is even

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Speaker 1: more completely owned by the Republicans and the Federalist Society

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Speaker 1: and the fascists than we suspect it in our worst nightmares.

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Speaker 1: And so if they can correctly throw the election to Trump,

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Speaker 1: we should assume they are going to. Having said that

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Speaker 1: this is still not beyond correction, Congressman Jamie Raskin wrote

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Speaker 1: a op ed for The New York Times that unfortunately

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Speaker 1: was published the day before the Trump verdicts, and so

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Speaker 1: it vanished from any and all screens. But in it

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Speaker 1: he slowly gets around to actual action, action that the

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Speaker 1: Democrats and the Biden administration could take right now, And

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Speaker 1: the good news is it's all doable, and the bad

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Speaker 1: news is it requires Merrick Garland to do it. I'm

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Speaker 1: not going to paraphrase this because I can read and

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Speaker 1: even sometimes understand the law, but Congress and Raskin can

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Speaker 1: practice and write it. Quoting him, Rascin argues, the US

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Speaker 1: Department of Justice, including the US Attorney for the District

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Speaker 1: of Columbia, an appointed US Special Council, and the Solicitor General,

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Speaker 1: all of whom were involved in different ways in the

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Speaker 1: criminal prosecutions underlying these cases and are opposing mister Trump's

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Speaker 1: constitutional and statutory claims, can petition the other seven justices

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Speaker 1: to require Justices Alito and Thomas to recuse themselves in

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Speaker 1: the Trump presidential immunity case. He adds, not as a

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Speaker 1: matter of grace, but as a matter of law, the

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Speaker 1: Justice Department and Attorney General Merrick Garland can invoke two

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Speaker 1: powerful textual authorities for this motion, the Constitution of the

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Speaker 1: United States, specifically the due process clause and the federal

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Speaker 1: statute mandating judicial disqualification for questionable impartiality twenty eight USC.

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Speaker 1: Section four, five to five. The Constitution, Congressman Rascin writes,

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Speaker 1: has come into play in several recent Supreme Court decisions

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Speaker 1: striking down rulings by stubborn judges in lower courts whose

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Speaker 1: political impartiality has been reasonably questioned, but who threw caution

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Speaker 1: to the win to hear a case anyway. This statute

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Speaker 1: requires potentially biased judges throughout the federal system to recuse

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Speaker 1: themselves at the start of the process to avoid judicial

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Speaker 1: unfairness and embarrassing controversies and reversals. He concludes, the constitutional

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Speaker 1: and statutory standards apply to Supreme Court justices. The Constitution

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Speaker 1: and the federal laws under it is the supreme law

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Speaker 1: of the land, and the recusal statute explicitly treats Supreme

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Speaker 1: Court justice is like other judges, quoting any justice, judge

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Speaker 1: or magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify himself

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Speaker 1: in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.

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Speaker 1: And the only justices in the federal judiciary are the

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Speaker 1: ones on the Supreme Court, unquote Jamie Raskin. So there

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Speaker 1: is law ready to be used break glass an event

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Speaker 1: of emergency to stop this politically corrupt, biased, unprofessional, destructive

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Speaker 1: cabal of justices. Mike Johnson knows personally to stop them

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Speaker 1: from screwing the country into the ground any further or

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Speaker 1: any faster. The irony, of course, is that the real

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Speaker 1: impediment right now is the attorney general. It goes without

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Speaker 1: saying that he should resign or that President Biden should

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Speaker 1: fire him today, but that was also true last week,

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Speaker 1: and last month, and last year and the day Merrick

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Speaker 1: Garland took office. Because what we need out of an

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Speaker 1: Attorney general is not a partisan Democrat, nor a Biden

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Speaker 1: version of Bill Spanish inquisition bar. What we need is

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Speaker 1: an advocate for, you know, continuing representative government in this country.

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Speaker 1: And it's pretty clear by now that Merrick Garland has

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Speaker 1: no idea that it is even warm in here, let

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Speaker 1: alone any idea about this goddamned fire thing in the room.

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Speaker 1: Also of interest here, the good news is at least

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Speaker 1: nobody's threatening right wing fascist vigilante violence over the Trump verdicts.

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Speaker 1: And when I say nobody, I mean only his lawyer,

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Speaker 1: the one who wanted to seize all the ballot boxes

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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty, and only his former staffer now pretends

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Speaker 1: to anchor newscasts, and only Trump himself. Nobody but them.

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Speaker 1: That's next, This his countdown, This his countdown with Keith

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Speaker 1: Oldwoman Stelle ahead of us on this initiative countdown. Thursday

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Speaker 1: will be the eightieth anniversary of D Day, and that

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Speaker 1: means all kinds of things for any American who hates

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Speaker 1: fascists and Nazis, so like fifty seven percent of us now,

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Speaker 1: But for some of us, this eightieth anniversary invokes memory

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Speaker 1: of the sixtieth anniversary, for which the then new president

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Speaker 1: of MSNBC pulled out all the stops and decided to

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Speaker 1: go wall to wall with live reports from Normandy and

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Speaker 1: Me and lesterr Holt anchoring all day and and and

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Speaker 1: then breaking news happened, big breaking news which broke up

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Speaker 1: the president's plans and broke his heart things I promised

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Speaker 1: not to tell next but first. As ever, there are

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Speaker 1: still more new idiots talk about the daily roundup of

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Speaker 1: the misgrants, morons and Dunning Kruger effects specimens who constitute

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Speaker 1: two days Where's persons in the world. The runner up

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Speaker 1: worse convicted Felon Denesh Desuza probably missed this since they

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Speaker 1: announced it late on a Friday night, and hopes that

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Speaker 1: you would miss it. But the executive producer and publisher

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Speaker 1: of Desuza's movie length lie called Two Thousand Mules, repudiated

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Speaker 1: the film and him and the True the Vote organization,

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Speaker 1: and the publisher and producer apologized to one of Desuza's

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Speaker 1: victims and pulled the film out of circulation. Desusa accused

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Speaker 1: a Georgia man named Mark Andrews a ballot stuffing. Desusa

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Speaker 1: actually did the voice over saying why you know our

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Speaker 1: things and crime Na Franklin bounce They weren't. He didn't,

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Speaker 1: but he did sue. Suddenly, Salem Media and it's publishing

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Speaker 1: film affirm Rather Regnery said sorry, sorry, it was all

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Speaker 1: that guy's fault. Quote. It was never our intent that

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Speaker 1: the publication of the Two Thousand Mules film and book

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Speaker 1: would harm mister Andrews. We apologize. We have removed the

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Speaker 1: film from mister Salem's platforms, and there will be no

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Speaker 1: future distribution of the film or the book by Salem.

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Speaker 1: And then here's the kill sentence. In publishing the film

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Speaker 1: and the book, we relied on representations made to us

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Speaker 1: by Denesh Desuza and True the Vote Inc. Unquote. Bye, Felicia,

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Speaker 1: you relied on Denesh Desuza. Hell, there's your problem right there.

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Speaker 1: By the way mister Andrews, he has not dropped his lawsuit.

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Speaker 1: The runner up, Senator Josh the running Man Hawley, who

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Speaker 1: went on Denesh Desuz's old girlfriend's show and told Laura

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Speaker 1: Ingram that he predicts, quote, We're going to find out

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Speaker 1: soon that US soldiers are in Ukraine, that US soldiers

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Speaker 1: are advising like in Vietnam. Well, there's only two choices here.

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Speaker 1: Hally is either lying, accusing the Biden administration of conducting

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Speaker 1: a clandestine war in Ukraine, or he's just revealed military secrets.

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Speaker 1: Can't do anything about the lying part. But if it's

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Speaker 1: the latter, prosecute him. When are we going to stop

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Speaker 1: lending Schmucks like Josh Hawley drive steam rollers through this

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Speaker 1: country and it's laws, prosecute him. But our winner, Carl

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Speaker 1: Higbee Newsmax, Carl is big mad after convicted fellaon Donald

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Speaker 1: Trump was convicted, Big mad, Carl has decided he's going

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Speaker 1: to start shooting people, or somebody's going to start shooting people,

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Speaker 1: or Trump's going to start shooting people or Carl was

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Speaker 1: interrack and once again, I don't think we know one

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Speaker 1: percent of all that we are going to know someday

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Speaker 1: about PTSD.

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Speaker 2: Oh, Carl, you tyrants are about to awaken a machinery

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Speaker 2: you don't want. You are pushing people to the edge.

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Speaker 2: The same party that is offended by the wrong pronouns

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Speaker 2: as pushing the party that owns ninety percent of the

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Speaker 2: guns of which the majority defends our nation, who mine

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Speaker 2: our minerals, who build our skyscrapers and drive our trucks.

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Speaker 2: You weak people have no idea. You people in your

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Speaker 2: cities with your white shoe consultants' country clubs, who thought

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Speaker 2: prosecuting Trump was a good idea, You have never met America.

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Speaker 1: Carl Higbee works in New York, lived somewhere around here.

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Speaker 1: He sued for permission to open carry here, and he's nuts, obviously.

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Speaker 1: But let's start with this widespread right wing idea that

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Speaker 1: they're going to shoot all the rest of us and

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Speaker 1: that'll show us two points their boy wins the election.

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Speaker 1: It's academic. The government will do that for them. You

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Speaker 1: boys can just keep your gun in your house and

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Speaker 1: just stay home and rub it all day. But if not,

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Speaker 1: and I mean Trump said something like this over the

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Speaker 1: weekend too, again another stochastic terrorist outreach about the American

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Speaker 1: people's breaking point. And just yesterday John Eastman broke into

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Speaker 1: a thing about how MAGA will take it into their

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Speaker 1: own hands. I mean, what do you think your guns

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Speaker 1: are going to do? Pushing the party that owns ninety

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Speaker 1: percent of the guns, of which the majority defends our nation? Boyo,

404
00:28:56,915 --> 00:29:00,955
Speaker 1: who owns all the tanks, who owns all the planes,

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Speaker 1: who owns all the military bases? Ever understand this? You're

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Speaker 1: gonna start shooting. Do you think the response is gonna

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Speaker 1: be like January sixth, where there's no response? Oh? Nos,

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Speaker 1: they're shooting. Don't use the tanks or the planes, complain

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Speaker 1: about their adverbs. Thank god. These fascists are this effing stupid.

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Speaker 1: They start shooting. What's the what's what going? We quote

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Speaker 1: John Eastman, what's that's why we have an insurrection Act.

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Speaker 1: I'll also point out that this Carl Higbee nut job

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Speaker 1: was in the Trump administration. He was chief of External

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Speaker 1: affairs of the Federal Government Volunteer Service Organization CNCs, and

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Speaker 1: then CNN found the archive of his twenty thirteen internet

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Speaker 1: radio show in which Karl made insulting and derogatory comments

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Speaker 1: about Blacks, Muslims, women, LGBTQ plus people, and immigrants. He

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Speaker 1: suggested welfare recipients should permanently lose the right to vote.

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Speaker 1: He suggested civilian should be permitted to go to the

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Speaker 1: border and shoot undocumented immigrants, and he suggested that three

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Speaker 1: quarters of service members with PTSD were just faking it.

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Speaker 1: Did you say that? Carl? What a guy? Carl Higbee?

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Speaker 1: Two days worst person guns versus tanks in the world

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Speaker 1: to my favorite topic, me and things I promised not

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Speaker 1: to tell, and D Day plus sixty. It was June sixth,

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Speaker 1: two thousand and four, and MSNBC's new president Rick Kaplan

427
00:31:03,675 --> 00:31:05,475
Speaker 1: needed to make a mark on the network for his

428
00:31:05,515 --> 00:31:08,395
Speaker 1: new bosses, and he decided this was gonna be it

429
00:31:09,035 --> 00:31:12,315
Speaker 1: on June six, two thousand and four, maybe the last

430
00:31:12,595 --> 00:31:16,195
Speaker 1: even numbered anniversary of D Day, where we'd have a

431
00:31:16,235 --> 00:31:19,355
Speaker 1: lot of people left who were there. We'd turned the

432
00:31:19,395 --> 00:31:23,555
Speaker 1: network all D Day. June six, two thousand and four

433
00:31:23,675 --> 00:31:26,275
Speaker 1: basically was going to be June sixth, nineteen forty four,

434
00:31:26,355 --> 00:31:30,755
Speaker 1: relived Tom Brokaw live on the visius of Normandy and

435
00:31:30,835 --> 00:31:34,315
Speaker 1: Somebody There and Somebody Here and his main two MSNBC

436
00:31:34,435 --> 00:31:38,555
Speaker 1: news anchors, me and Lester Holt, anchoring two hour blocks

437
00:31:38,595 --> 00:31:40,915
Speaker 1: devoted to the anniversary and then switching off and he

438
00:31:40,955 --> 00:31:42,915
Speaker 1: came back, and I would go away, and then I'd

439
00:31:42,915 --> 00:31:44,995
Speaker 1: come back and he would go just wall to wall.

440
00:31:45,475 --> 00:31:47,755
Speaker 1: I'm Rick Kaplan, and I used to produce for Walter

441
00:31:47,835 --> 00:31:51,275
Speaker 1: Cronkite to not only lock in his new gig at MSNBC,

442
00:31:51,395 --> 00:31:53,915
Speaker 1: but set himself up for his next goal executive in

443
00:31:53,995 --> 00:31:56,715
Speaker 1: charge of the Today Show or NBC Nightly News, or

444
00:31:56,755 --> 00:31:59,955
Speaker 1: something bigger than that little crapshack we ran at MSNBC.

445
00:32:00,795 --> 00:32:04,355
Speaker 1: For my part, I was dispatched first to interview one

446
00:32:04,355 --> 00:32:07,235
Speaker 1: of the prizingly large number of soldiers and sailors and

447
00:32:07,275 --> 00:32:11,555
Speaker 1: airmen who survived D Day and went on to fame.

448
00:32:12,355 --> 00:32:15,755
Speaker 1: There were actors Charles Derning and James Dewhan Scotty on

449
00:32:15,795 --> 00:32:18,955
Speaker 1: Star Trek, and the author J. D. Salinger and Sieman's

450
00:32:19,035 --> 00:32:23,675
Speaker 1: second class, Yogi Bearra. I met Yogi at his museum

451
00:32:23,715 --> 00:32:25,595
Speaker 1: in New Jersey, and I swear to God he and

452
00:32:25,635 --> 00:32:29,515
Speaker 1: his son demanded a friendly bribe to do the interview.

453
00:32:29,555 --> 00:32:32,355
Speaker 1: And what they wanted was my copy of the nineteen

454
00:32:32,435 --> 00:32:37,475
Speaker 1: sixty three tops Yogi Bearra baseball card. Seriously, that's the

455
00:32:37,515 --> 00:32:41,235
Speaker 1: toughest one to find. Yogi said, we never have enough

456
00:32:41,275 --> 00:32:44,715
Speaker 1: of them here. I always enjoyed Yogi. But he had

457
00:32:44,755 --> 00:32:47,155
Speaker 1: more to say about his nineteen sixty three baseball card

458
00:32:47,155 --> 00:32:49,555
Speaker 1: and its relative scarcity than he did about the D

459
00:32:49,675 --> 00:32:53,435
Speaker 1: Day invasion and his chief on his rocket launcher boat

460
00:32:53,715 --> 00:32:55,555
Speaker 1: telling him to keep his head down or he might

461
00:32:55,595 --> 00:32:58,875
Speaker 1: get to watch it fly off his neck. Anyway, the

462
00:32:58,915 --> 00:33:02,155
Speaker 1: Bearra interview was fine, and it was done, and we

463
00:33:02,315 --> 00:33:05,555
Speaker 1: edited like fifteen very very short answer into about two

464
00:33:05,555 --> 00:33:09,035
Speaker 1: minutes of not bad narrative. And I had written a

465
00:33:09,075 --> 00:33:11,155
Speaker 1: couple of other D Day features, and I'd written some

466
00:33:11,235 --> 00:33:13,435
Speaker 1: other scripts on Friday, and by Sunday we were all

467
00:33:13,515 --> 00:33:17,195
Speaker 1: crammed into the main MSNBC conference room in Secaucus, New Jersey,

468
00:33:17,475 --> 00:33:20,355
Speaker 1: everybody working a sixth day. And you would have thought

469
00:33:20,395 --> 00:33:23,315
Speaker 1: this guy, Rick Kaplan, president of the network, was leading

470
00:33:23,675 --> 00:33:28,915
Speaker 1: the actual invasion of Normandy, not merely a cable TV

471
00:33:29,035 --> 00:33:34,035
Speaker 1: network coverage of the sixtieth anniversary. Thereof, Kaplin was waxing

472
00:33:34,075 --> 00:33:36,475
Speaker 1: poetic about how important this was for us, and how

473
00:33:36,515 --> 00:33:39,515
Speaker 1: it would put us on the map against CNN and Fox,

474
00:33:39,555 --> 00:33:42,235
Speaker 1: and how he had covered all the contingencies. And that's

475
00:33:42,235 --> 00:33:46,635
Speaker 1: when people's phones started vibrating and ringing. Kaplan was still

476
00:33:46,755 --> 00:33:49,795
Speaker 1: enjoying the sound of his own voice as these phones

477
00:33:49,835 --> 00:33:52,835
Speaker 1: gradually drowned him out. When one of the producers finished

478
00:33:52,835 --> 00:33:56,515
Speaker 1: whispering into his BlackBerry and then said, excuse me, Rick,

479
00:33:56,875 --> 00:34:01,315
Speaker 1: we have a problem. Ronald Reagan has just died. Without

480
00:34:01,355 --> 00:34:05,035
Speaker 1: a word, twenty people at that conference table rose and

481
00:34:05,075 --> 00:34:09,355
Speaker 1: then froze, realizing that before they abandoned this meeting to

482
00:34:09,475 --> 00:34:11,595
Speaker 1: go get on the air as quickly as possible, and

483
00:34:11,635 --> 00:34:14,075
Speaker 1: then to lay out what would be rolling coverage till

484
00:34:14,155 --> 00:34:17,435
Speaker 1: at least midnight of Reagan's death and life and reaction

485
00:34:17,635 --> 00:34:22,235
Speaker 1: to it till further notice. We couldn't just start. We

486
00:34:22,315 --> 00:34:24,235
Speaker 1: basically had to wait for the president of the network,

487
00:34:24,235 --> 00:34:26,475
Speaker 1: who was sitting there, Rick Camplan, to say, Okay, we'll

488
00:34:26,515 --> 00:34:28,675
Speaker 1: figure out the D Day stuff later. It's Reagan day.

489
00:34:28,755 --> 00:34:35,755
Speaker 1: Let's go. Except he didn't say that, looking crestfallen, looking

490
00:34:35,795 --> 00:34:39,595
Speaker 1: like a kid who's had his toys stolen and then broken.

491
00:34:39,835 --> 00:34:44,755
Speaker 1: As he watched Rick Kaplan swept the room with his gaze,

492
00:34:45,315 --> 00:34:50,675
Speaker 1: he stopped on me, Thanks, couldn't we just couldn't we

493
00:34:50,795 --> 00:34:56,155
Speaker 1: just do half an hour of Reagan and then half

494
00:34:56,195 --> 00:35:00,475
Speaker 1: an hour of my D Day and then half an

495
00:35:00,475 --> 00:35:06,275
Speaker 1: hour and he trailed off, and I said, Rick, it's

496
00:35:06,315 --> 00:35:10,035
Speaker 1: a two term president. I mean, I think he was

497
00:35:10,035 --> 00:35:12,555
Speaker 1: full of crap, but apparently a lot of American thinks

498
00:35:12,595 --> 00:35:15,515
Speaker 1: he's some sort of icon. And by the way, it

499
00:35:15,715 --> 00:35:18,075
Speaker 1: just it just happened like eleven minutes ago. It didn't

500
00:35:18,115 --> 00:35:25,635
Speaker 1: happen sixty years ago. I'm sorry. He was almost literally pouting,

501
00:35:26,675 --> 00:35:30,435
Speaker 1: But what about all my D Day coverage? President of

502
00:35:30,475 --> 00:35:33,475
Speaker 1: the network? And I said, well, we can run those

503
00:35:33,515 --> 00:35:36,875
Speaker 1: pieces throughout the day tomorrow. They won't just disappear. We

504
00:35:36,875 --> 00:35:43,995
Speaker 1: don't have to go degous the tapes. Okay. We realized

505
00:35:44,035 --> 00:35:46,155
Speaker 1: that the president of the news network was not going

506
00:35:46,235 --> 00:35:48,395
Speaker 1: to be any use helping us cover the first big

507
00:35:48,435 --> 00:35:51,555
Speaker 1: breaking news story of his presidency, because it couldn't bear

508
00:35:51,595 --> 00:35:57,475
Speaker 1: to change his plans to accommodate breaking presidential news. This

509
00:35:57,835 --> 00:36:00,075
Speaker 1: was at the end of month three of the Rick

510
00:36:00,155 --> 00:36:03,595
Speaker 1: Kaplan MSNBC presidency. He was already on the ropes with us.

511
00:36:03,795 --> 00:36:05,915
Speaker 1: He would later be the who chased me around the

512
00:36:05,955 --> 00:36:10,115
Speaker 1: studios because he was squeamish and I'd mentioned blood on

513
00:36:10,195 --> 00:36:12,675
Speaker 1: the air and he thought I was trying to sabotage

514
00:36:12,715 --> 00:36:16,915
Speaker 1: his great show with Rita Cosby. He would soon be

515
00:36:16,995 --> 00:36:20,115
Speaker 1: the network president who did not know what was live

516
00:36:20,275 --> 00:36:22,755
Speaker 1: on TV and what was on delay. I'll tell you

517
00:36:22,835 --> 00:36:26,395
Speaker 1: that story in a minute too. However, the Rick Kaplan

518
00:36:26,475 --> 00:36:31,395
Speaker 1: story starts in the men's room at MSNBC. It is

519
00:36:31,515 --> 00:36:35,235
Speaker 1: February seventeenth, two thousand and four, at one of those

520
00:36:35,355 --> 00:36:39,995
Speaker 1: moronic corporate speak town halls. The bosses have just introduced

521
00:36:40,075 --> 00:36:43,115
Speaker 1: Rick Kaplan as the new president of the network. Kaplan

522
00:36:43,155 --> 00:36:46,995
Speaker 1: speaks for an hour without interruption. He does not mention

523
00:36:47,075 --> 00:36:49,955
Speaker 1: that he was the president of CNN when it's nineteen

524
00:36:49,995 --> 00:36:52,155
Speaker 1: year streak at number one in the cable news ratings

525
00:36:52,195 --> 00:36:55,515
Speaker 1: came to an abrupt end. He does, however, mention that

526
00:36:55,595 --> 00:37:00,275
Speaker 1: he is six feet seven inches tall, but he does

527
00:37:00,315 --> 00:37:07,755
Speaker 1: not seem to be six feet seven inches tall. As

528
00:37:07,795 --> 00:37:10,715
Speaker 1: this nonsense ends, I rush into the men's room and find,

529
00:37:10,795 --> 00:37:17,475
Speaker 1: to my amusement, Joe Scarborough, Chris Matthews, Jesse Ventura, Lester Holt,

530
00:37:18,195 --> 00:37:23,235
Speaker 1: and one unoccupied y'urin all. As I moved to occupy it,

531
00:37:23,235 --> 00:37:26,955
Speaker 1: it dawns on me that Ventura, the former professional wrestler,

532
00:37:27,195 --> 00:37:30,915
Speaker 1: is the shortest man in the bathroom at six feet two.

533
00:37:32,475 --> 00:37:35,915
Speaker 1: All five of us are silent. Finally, Matthews says it

534
00:37:36,395 --> 00:37:38,115
Speaker 1: Helen hell, can he say he's six foot seven? He's

535
00:37:38,115 --> 00:37:40,875
Speaker 1: barely taller than I am? And I'm six four, oldman?

536
00:37:40,915 --> 00:37:43,115
Speaker 1: Are you slightly taller than me? You're slightly shorter than me?

537
00:37:44,195 --> 00:37:48,795
Speaker 1: How is he six seven? Everybody keeps looking forward, of course,

538
00:37:48,915 --> 00:37:52,595
Speaker 1: into the wall in front of us. I'm six three

539
00:37:52,635 --> 00:37:55,235
Speaker 1: and a half. Lester, he's your height. I saw you

540
00:37:55,315 --> 00:37:57,555
Speaker 1: standing with him, you tour even. What are you six ' five?

541
00:37:58,395 --> 00:38:03,155
Speaker 1: Lester says, uh huh and flushes. Scarborough chimes in, I'm

542
00:38:03,275 --> 00:38:06,155
Speaker 1: just over sixty four. We're almost eyed aye, he's not

543
00:38:06,315 --> 00:38:10,995
Speaker 1: six seven. Finally, Ventura speaks, I've been thrown around a

544
00:38:11,075 --> 00:38:13,835
Speaker 1: ring by guys or six to seven. This guy's not

545
00:38:13,995 --> 00:38:18,795
Speaker 1: six seven. From the sink, wester Holt now says, have

546
00:38:18,875 --> 00:38:21,915
Speaker 1: any of you known anybody our height who lies and

547
00:38:21,995 --> 00:38:26,075
Speaker 1: says they're taller? Matthews again, who lies about their height?

548
00:38:26,835 --> 00:38:31,475
Speaker 1: Eye flush? This guy does, gentlemen, we are in trouble

549
00:38:31,555 --> 00:38:36,355
Speaker 1: here for the presidency of Rick Kaplan at MSNBC. That

550
00:38:36,475 --> 00:38:39,715
Speaker 1: might have been sorry, I can't resist it the high

551
00:38:39,875 --> 00:38:44,955
Speaker 1: water mark. Later, on Friday March fifth, two thousand and four, Kaplan,

552
00:38:44,955 --> 00:38:47,715
Speaker 1: who had been there, three weeks assembled the hosts and

553
00:38:47,755 --> 00:38:50,115
Speaker 1: producers of the primetime shows on the network that would

554
00:38:50,115 --> 00:38:54,635
Speaker 1: have been me, Scarborough, Dan Abrams, our staffs, the New

555
00:38:54,715 --> 00:38:57,635
Speaker 1: Jersey staff of Chris Matthews Show, and he told us

556
00:38:57,675 --> 00:39:01,155
Speaker 1: that the next day was going to be Monday. Somebody

557
00:39:01,155 --> 00:39:04,995
Speaker 1: from Scarborough's staff helpfully corrected him, mister Kaplan, I'm sorry,

558
00:39:05,075 --> 00:39:09,355
Speaker 1: tomorrow is Saturday. Kaplin sternly explained he was now president

559
00:39:09,395 --> 00:39:11,875
Speaker 1: of this network and we all sucked, and if he

560
00:39:11,915 --> 00:39:15,475
Speaker 1: said today was Friday and tomorrow is Monday, then today

561
00:39:15,555 --> 00:39:18,675
Speaker 1: was Friday and tomorrow was Monday. He wanted to see

562
00:39:18,755 --> 00:39:22,035
Speaker 1: us react to sudden changes in our plans. We were

563
00:39:22,035 --> 00:39:24,235
Speaker 1: being told we were being called into work a sixth

564
00:39:24,315 --> 00:39:29,915
Speaker 1: day tomorrow for no reason. Kaplin then started yelling at us,

565
00:39:30,115 --> 00:39:33,355
Speaker 1: You guys don't get it. You're all working tomorrow. Anybody

566
00:39:33,355 --> 00:39:35,555
Speaker 1: who doesn't come in is fired. We are going to

567
00:39:35,635 --> 00:39:39,075
Speaker 1: do the whole pro primetime lineup. Your breaking news is

568
00:39:39,115 --> 00:39:42,475
Speaker 1: today's breaking news, the guilty verdict in the Martha Stewart case.

569
00:39:42,715 --> 00:39:48,115
Speaker 1: Start booking your guests because tomorrow is Monday, not Saturday.

570
00:39:48,195 --> 00:39:51,435
Speaker 1: Just on my staff, Saturday was supposed to be my

571
00:39:51,635 --> 00:39:55,835
Speaker 1: reporter's engagement party, a surprise party thrown by one of

572
00:39:55,835 --> 00:39:59,115
Speaker 1: my producers for his wife's birthday, and the day another

573
00:39:59,155 --> 00:40:03,835
Speaker 1: producer was closing on buying a house. I have a

574
00:40:03,955 --> 00:40:05,915
Speaker 1: vague memory of what we put on the air. I

575
00:40:05,915 --> 00:40:08,235
Speaker 1: have a stronger memory of the new president of MSNBC

576
00:40:08,595 --> 00:40:12,555
Speaker 1: losing the staffs of all four of his primetime shows

577
00:40:12,595 --> 00:40:15,435
Speaker 1: on his fifth day on the job and never ever

578
00:40:15,515 --> 00:40:19,875
Speaker 1: getting them back. Kaplan then went to a corkboard on

579
00:40:19,995 --> 00:40:23,075
Speaker 1: our office wall on which our show Rundown was displayed.

580
00:40:23,515 --> 00:40:26,635
Speaker 1: He ordered producers to move segments around, and he berated

581
00:40:26,675 --> 00:40:29,195
Speaker 1: me for not having anticipated his whims and at one

582
00:40:29,235 --> 00:40:31,915
Speaker 1: point he screamed, stop, what the hell are you doing?

583
00:40:32,475 --> 00:40:34,635
Speaker 1: And he got up and he grabbed the push pin,

584
00:40:35,195 --> 00:40:37,635
Speaker 1: which held up an index card bearing the name of

585
00:40:37,635 --> 00:40:42,035
Speaker 1: a guest. You don't use green pins with yellow index cards.

586
00:40:43,115 --> 00:40:47,275
Speaker 1: You use yellow pins with yellow index cards. What kind

587
00:40:47,315 --> 00:40:51,955
Speaker 1: of a newsman are You can't imagine how this guy

588
00:40:52,035 --> 00:40:55,715
Speaker 1: choked away CNN's monopoly on cable news ratings. I was

589
00:40:55,795 --> 00:40:59,595
Speaker 1: reminded recently that later on December eighth, two thousand and five,

590
00:41:00,155 --> 00:41:03,035
Speaker 1: seventeen years ago tomorrow, he did one of the most

591
00:41:03,155 --> 00:41:08,515
Speaker 1: unintentionally funniest things I have ever witnessed. A plane slid

592
00:41:08,555 --> 00:41:11,675
Speaker 1: off the runway at Midway Airport in Chicago. Nothing funny

593
00:41:11,675 --> 00:41:15,475
Speaker 1: about that, obviously, But Kaplan called into our control room

594
00:41:15,555 --> 00:41:19,195
Speaker 1: demanding we changed something about our live coverage that he

595
00:41:19,275 --> 00:41:21,515
Speaker 1: didn't like. We promptly made the change. He was right.

596
00:41:22,395 --> 00:41:24,955
Speaker 1: Five minutes later he called in and started swearing at

597
00:41:24,955 --> 00:41:27,195
Speaker 1: one of our producers. I told you to change that

598
00:41:27,515 --> 00:41:31,595
Speaker 1: if you you're fired, And the producer said, we changed

599
00:41:31,595 --> 00:41:35,675
Speaker 1: it five minutes ago. When you called in, silence, Rick,

600
00:41:35,715 --> 00:41:37,955
Speaker 1: Are you watching the network on some sort of delay?

601
00:41:39,155 --> 00:41:44,115
Speaker 1: Are you watching on TVO or something? Silence again. Finally

602
00:41:44,155 --> 00:41:47,035
Speaker 1: he said, okay, good work, see you tomorrow and hung up.

603
00:41:49,235 --> 00:41:51,795
Speaker 1: He didn't know he was watching it on a delay.

604
00:41:52,675 --> 00:41:55,195
Speaker 1: Kaplan was also one of these forget the mean thing

605
00:41:55,235 --> 00:41:57,915
Speaker 1: I said yesterday. God knows I have kind of guys.

606
00:41:58,435 --> 00:42:00,755
Speaker 1: By Monday, he had heard people laughing at some of

607
00:42:00,795 --> 00:42:04,395
Speaker 1: my on air jokes and his front runner instincts took over.

608
00:42:05,235 --> 00:42:07,595
Speaker 1: He called me and the producer in for a meeting.

609
00:42:07,835 --> 00:42:10,475
Speaker 1: I have only one criticism of your show. Which of

610
00:42:10,515 --> 00:42:12,875
Speaker 1: these stories whill you'll be talking about? Thing? Is genius?

611
00:42:13,355 --> 00:42:15,635
Speaker 1: The fifth story? The fourth story then the third story.

612
00:42:15,795 --> 00:42:21,955
Speaker 1: It's original and fresh. I hesitated. I almost said to him, yeah,

613
00:42:21,955 --> 00:42:25,355
Speaker 1: this whole counting thing we just invented that. The music

614
00:42:25,435 --> 00:42:28,275
Speaker 1: is genius, the graphics are genius. You're a genius, but

615
00:42:28,315 --> 00:42:31,315
Speaker 1: you're missing something obvious, something genius. After each one of

616
00:42:31,355 --> 00:42:34,155
Speaker 1: these stories, after you thank your guests, you should do

617
00:42:34,155 --> 00:42:35,995
Speaker 1: a list of the things you didn't tell us about

618
00:42:36,035 --> 00:42:39,155
Speaker 1: those stories. So like, after the fifth story, you should say,

619
00:42:39,195 --> 00:42:41,395
Speaker 1: now here are the other five things we didn't tell

620
00:42:41,395 --> 00:42:43,915
Speaker 1: you about the fifth story, get it a full screen

621
00:42:43,955 --> 00:42:46,515
Speaker 1: graphic and you telling people. And then fourth things for

622
00:42:46,555 --> 00:42:50,955
Speaker 1: the fourth story, and three for the third. I thought

623
00:42:50,955 --> 00:42:52,795
Speaker 1: for a moment, and I said, okay, but what happens

624
00:42:52,835 --> 00:42:55,115
Speaker 1: if we make those graphics up and then a minute beforehand,

625
00:42:55,155 --> 00:42:57,955
Speaker 1: the guest brings up one of those things we claim

626
00:42:58,195 --> 00:43:02,435
Speaker 1: we didn't tell you. When he just told you, we

627
00:43:02,515 --> 00:43:06,475
Speaker 1: had lost Rick Caplan's attention by that point. Hmmm, he grunted.

628
00:43:07,515 --> 00:43:09,955
Speaker 1: For a second. I thought his eyes were pointing outwards

629
00:43:10,035 --> 00:43:13,675
Speaker 1: in different directions, but he snapped himself back into this reality.

630
00:43:14,115 --> 00:43:17,355
Speaker 1: Huh could happen? You'll figure it out anyway, too late

631
00:43:17,395 --> 00:43:19,115
Speaker 1: to do it today. Figure it out and do it tomorrow,

632
00:43:19,195 --> 00:43:24,035
Speaker 1: thanks the producer, and I had to then explain to

633
00:43:24,075 --> 00:43:26,315
Speaker 1: the staff of Countdown that from now on, for every

634
00:43:26,435 --> 00:43:29,755
Speaker 1: story they had to deliberately leave out one or two

635
00:43:29,875 --> 00:43:33,755
Speaker 1: or three or four or five facts or details, something

636
00:43:33,835 --> 00:43:36,155
Speaker 1: interesting enough to be made into a full screen graphic,

637
00:43:36,195 --> 00:43:39,475
Speaker 1: but not interesting enough to be included in their scripts

638
00:43:39,635 --> 00:43:43,515
Speaker 1: or the interviews with the guests. Suddenly I thought a

639
00:43:43,555 --> 00:43:46,675
Speaker 1: lot of people's eyes were pointing outwards in different directions.

640
00:43:47,555 --> 00:43:49,955
Speaker 1: The line producer, Greg Kordick, who was in charge not

641
00:43:50,075 --> 00:43:52,795
Speaker 1: of content but of timing things and making sure things

642
00:43:52,795 --> 00:43:55,995
Speaker 1: like graphics got made, said, matter of factly, this will

643
00:43:55,995 --> 00:44:00,075
Speaker 1: add five hours to everybody's workday. And so it did.

644
00:44:01,475 --> 00:44:03,675
Speaker 1: After the next day's show when we listed the top

645
00:44:03,675 --> 00:44:05,755
Speaker 1: five things we can tell you about today's fifth story

646
00:44:05,795 --> 00:44:07,315
Speaker 1: and the top four things we didn't tell you about

647
00:44:07,315 --> 00:44:10,035
Speaker 1: today's fourth story, et cetera, and we had to shorten

648
00:44:10,075 --> 00:44:12,755
Speaker 1: all the scripts and shorten each interview just to make

649
00:44:12,835 --> 00:44:16,715
Speaker 1: room for all of this extraneous crap. Greg, the producer, said,

650
00:44:17,395 --> 00:44:20,315
Speaker 1: people here will be quitting by Thursday and dying by Monday,

651
00:44:20,395 --> 00:44:22,755
Speaker 1: and I said, you're right. Plus it ruins the interviews

652
00:44:22,755 --> 00:44:24,475
Speaker 1: and it weakens the show. Don't do it tomorrow with

653
00:44:24,515 --> 00:44:28,315
Speaker 1: Kaplan yells I'll take the eight. So now it's Wednesday,

654
00:44:28,675 --> 00:44:31,475
Speaker 1: and not only don't I hear anything from Kaplan about

655
00:44:31,475 --> 00:44:33,795
Speaker 1: the Tuesday show and his the top five things we

656
00:44:33,795 --> 00:44:36,595
Speaker 1: didn't tell you about today's fifth story Jazz, but after

657
00:44:36,635 --> 00:44:39,555
Speaker 1: the Wednesday show when we don't do it, I'm sitting

658
00:44:39,595 --> 00:44:42,675
Speaker 1: there waiting for an enraged phone call because we didn't

659
00:44:43,435 --> 00:44:45,955
Speaker 1: Thursday morning at home, I'm waiting for an enraged email.

660
00:44:46,435 --> 00:44:51,435
Speaker 1: Thursday afternoon, I'm waiting for an enraged Kaplin in person. Nothing.

661
00:44:52,515 --> 00:44:56,475
Speaker 1: He never said a word. The week passes nothing, a month,

662
00:44:56,955 --> 00:45:01,235
Speaker 1: two months, it's summer, nothing. The rest of two thousand

663
00:45:01,275 --> 00:45:05,875
Speaker 1: and four flies by. Nothing. We did once, we never

664
00:45:05,915 --> 00:45:12,675
Speaker 1: did it again, and then he never said anything. It

665
00:45:12,795 --> 00:45:15,035
Speaker 1: is now January two thousand and five, and he still

666
00:45:15,035 --> 00:45:17,515
Speaker 1: hasn't said anything. And I'm told by Phil Griffin, my

667
00:45:17,595 --> 00:45:21,155
Speaker 1: first producer in television sports and sixteen years later of

668
00:45:21,195 --> 00:45:24,475
Speaker 1: my first producer in television news, who has since become

669
00:45:24,475 --> 00:45:27,195
Speaker 1: the vice president of MSNBC, that Kaplan wants to see

670
00:45:27,275 --> 00:45:30,075
Speaker 1: us in his office. It's not a big deal, Phil says,

671
00:45:30,195 --> 00:45:31,995
Speaker 1: he's in a good mood. He just wants to make

672
00:45:32,075 --> 00:45:34,515
Speaker 1: us feel like we have input into his decisions. This

673
00:45:34,595 --> 00:45:37,995
Speaker 1: is a what do you think meeting? Now I have

674
00:45:38,115 --> 00:45:40,515
Speaker 1: to ask you to carefully picture the layout of Rick

675
00:45:40,595 --> 00:45:43,835
Speaker 1: Kaplan's office at MSNBC in the year two thousand and five.

676
00:45:44,035 --> 00:45:49,835
Speaker 1: Envision a long, narrow room. Baseball's MLB network now operates there,

677
00:45:49,875 --> 00:45:54,035
Speaker 1: and they have cleverly turned Kaplan's office into a wardrobe room,

678
00:45:54,395 --> 00:45:57,955
Speaker 1: perfect since it was really just a long closet. Anyways,

679
00:45:58,715 --> 00:46:00,755
Speaker 1: Rick Kaplan, who was six foot five but lied and

680
00:46:00,755 --> 00:46:03,035
Speaker 1: said he was six foot seven, sat at the very

681
00:46:03,195 --> 00:46:06,155
Speaker 1: back of this room. I'm in the front door. You

682
00:46:06,235 --> 00:46:11,115
Speaker 1: turn to your right, and maybe thirty thirty five forty

683
00:46:11,155 --> 00:46:14,115
Speaker 1: feet away from you, in the farthest corner, facing his

684
00:46:14,275 --> 00:46:17,115
Speaker 1: computer on his desk, flush against the left hand wall,

685
00:46:17,435 --> 00:46:20,995
Speaker 1: is the president of MSNBC. A few feet into the

686
00:46:21,075 --> 00:46:24,875
Speaker 1: room is where you sit. Halfway between these two points.

687
00:46:25,155 --> 00:46:28,875
Speaker 1: Against the right hand wall is where another executive can sit,

688
00:46:29,395 --> 00:46:33,515
Speaker 1: so Phil Griffin sits there. I am just inside the door.

689
00:46:33,675 --> 00:46:35,795
Speaker 1: He is fifteen feet ahead of me to the right.

690
00:46:36,155 --> 00:46:38,715
Speaker 1: Rick Kaplan is thirty feet or forty feet ahead of

691
00:46:38,755 --> 00:46:41,955
Speaker 1: me to the left. Picture this carefully. The way these

692
00:46:42,075 --> 00:46:45,955
Speaker 1: chairs and desks are arranged if you're me and Phil

693
00:46:45,995 --> 00:46:49,355
Speaker 1: Griffin is looking at you, Rick Kaplan can only see

694
00:46:49,355 --> 00:46:51,875
Speaker 1: the back of Phil Griffin's head and not his face.

695
00:46:52,755 --> 00:46:55,515
Speaker 1: If they are both looking at you, they cannot see

696
00:46:55,555 --> 00:47:02,035
Speaker 1: each other. Weird, seemingly trivial turned out to be essential.

697
00:47:02,675 --> 00:47:06,915
Speaker 1: We begin this meaningless meeting and talk about guests and graphics, fonts,

698
00:47:07,155 --> 00:47:09,195
Speaker 1: and Kaplan talks about how much the ratings have gone

699
00:47:09,275 --> 00:47:11,835
Speaker 1: up in his year as president. And finally, I say,

700
00:47:12,275 --> 00:47:14,395
Speaker 1: I do have one suggestion. I think the show is

701
00:47:14,435 --> 00:47:16,195
Speaker 1: going to be very successful, and I think if we

702
00:47:16,235 --> 00:47:18,475
Speaker 1: want to make any changes, we should make them now

703
00:47:18,995 --> 00:47:23,235
Speaker 1: before it becomes successful. And I say, I have never

704
00:47:23,315 --> 00:47:27,475
Speaker 1: heard anybody say they like the fifth story, fourth story,

705
00:47:27,675 --> 00:47:30,595
Speaker 1: third story stuff. If you want to continue the name

706
00:47:30,715 --> 00:47:34,555
Speaker 1: countdown because people know it by now, that's great, I guess.

707
00:47:34,715 --> 00:47:37,195
Speaker 1: But the five four three two one numbering is a

708
00:47:37,275 --> 00:47:40,315
Speaker 1: conceit and it's a lot of extra work for everybody,

709
00:47:40,315 --> 00:47:45,955
Speaker 1: and I think we should kill it now. Kaplan is aghast.

710
00:47:46,195 --> 00:47:51,835
Speaker 1: He is pale, He is not angry, he is just stunned.

711
00:47:53,355 --> 00:47:56,635
Speaker 1: But you can't do that. Five four three two one

712
00:47:56,715 --> 00:47:59,635
Speaker 1: is part of the reasons the ratings went up. The

713
00:47:59,715 --> 00:48:01,515
Speaker 1: ratings went up when I came up with the idea

714
00:48:01,915 --> 00:48:03,635
Speaker 1: of the top five things we didn't tell you about

715
00:48:03,635 --> 00:48:06,355
Speaker 1: today's top five story, worries in the top four things

716
00:48:06,355 --> 00:48:09,875
Speaker 1: we didn't tell you about today's number four story, etc.

717
00:48:10,515 --> 00:48:16,355
Speaker 1: We can't stop that. That's why people watch My idea

718
00:48:16,715 --> 00:48:19,275
Speaker 1: took me a split second to even remember what the

719
00:48:19,315 --> 00:48:21,675
Speaker 1: hell it was he was talking about. I had forgotten

720
00:48:22,195 --> 00:48:25,675
Speaker 1: the whole five things we didn't tell you Albatross weeks

721
00:48:25,755 --> 00:48:28,115
Speaker 1: after the one show we did it, and then the

722
00:48:28,155 --> 00:48:30,355
Speaker 1: staff rebelled and I said, screw it, and I'll take

723
00:48:30,395 --> 00:48:32,515
Speaker 1: the heat. And I was about to say this out

724
00:48:32,555 --> 00:48:35,635
Speaker 1: loud when I suddenly realized that Phil Griffin, fifteen feet

725
00:48:35,675 --> 00:48:38,115
Speaker 1: away on the right, his face turned to me and

726
00:48:38,115 --> 00:48:40,515
Speaker 1: thus invisible to Kaplan thirty feet away on the left,

727
00:48:40,675 --> 00:48:43,875
Speaker 1: was making his eyes as wide as possible, and Phil

728
00:48:43,995 --> 00:48:49,195
Speaker 1: was looking right at me and silently mouthing the word no, no, no, no, no,

729
00:48:49,475 --> 00:48:53,275
Speaker 1: all the while keeping his head completely still, so Kaplin

730
00:48:53,395 --> 00:48:59,035
Speaker 1: didn't know he was talking to me. Silently. I got

731
00:48:59,035 --> 00:49:02,275
Speaker 1: Phil's message, I dropped the subject. I didn't say it.

732
00:49:03,395 --> 00:49:05,995
Speaker 1: The meeting ended maybe too minutes later, with Kaplan saying

733
00:49:06,075 --> 00:49:08,195
Speaker 1: keep up the good work and ushering us out by saying,

734
00:49:08,435 --> 00:49:10,235
Speaker 1: and keep up with the top five things we didn't

735
00:49:10,235 --> 00:49:12,595
Speaker 1: tell you about today's five fifth story. Oh that's what's

736
00:49:12,635 --> 00:49:18,235
Speaker 1: making it really cook. When we were out of earshot

737
00:49:18,275 --> 00:49:20,595
Speaker 1: of Rick Kaplan, Griffin thanked me for being able to

738
00:49:20,635 --> 00:49:25,075
Speaker 1: read his panicked lips. I used an oath to liven

739
00:49:25,155 --> 00:49:27,835
Speaker 1: up my question. What the blank was that all about?

740
00:49:28,795 --> 00:49:30,995
Speaker 1: And Griffin said, now you know what every day of

741
00:49:30,995 --> 00:49:33,515
Speaker 1: my life has become. It's not worth it to try

742
00:49:33,515 --> 00:49:36,995
Speaker 1: to correct him. He believes what he believes, and he

743
00:49:37,035 --> 00:49:41,195
Speaker 1: won't be checked or contradicted. And I said, we only

744
00:49:41,235 --> 00:49:44,595
Speaker 1: did the five things. We didn't tell you a thing once,

745
00:49:44,835 --> 00:49:48,235
Speaker 1: only once. It's like a year later. How in the

746
00:49:48,235 --> 00:49:53,355
Speaker 1: hell could he possibly think we're still doing it? Griffin laughed,

747
00:49:53,475 --> 00:49:56,395
Speaker 1: like a soldier on a World War One battlefield who

748
00:49:56,435 --> 00:49:59,715
Speaker 1: has just run out of bullets. See that's the problem, buddy.

749
00:50:00,195 --> 00:50:03,395
Speaker 1: He only watches MSNBC here in the office. The place

750
00:50:03,435 --> 00:50:10,395
Speaker 1: he's renting it doesn't have cable. President of MSNBC doesn't

751
00:50:10,435 --> 00:50:16,155
Speaker 1: have cable at home. On June sixth, two thousand and six,

752
00:50:16,195 --> 00:50:18,595
Speaker 1: they fired Rick Caplan as the president of MSNBC. They

753
00:50:18,675 --> 00:50:22,275
Speaker 1: let him resign. They also let him keep his secret,

754
00:50:22,955 --> 00:50:26,715
Speaker 1: the darkest of secrets, himn for MSNBC that for his

755
00:50:26,795 --> 00:50:30,315
Speaker 1: two years on the throne, the president of an all

756
00:50:30,395 --> 00:50:48,755
Speaker 1: news cable channel did not have cable. The sad thing

757
00:50:48,995 --> 00:50:53,915
Speaker 1: is if Rick Caplan could guarantee CNN the ratings that

758
00:50:53,995 --> 00:50:56,515
Speaker 1: we had at MSNBC on the day he was fired

759
00:50:56,515 --> 00:51:01,755
Speaker 1: at MSNBC, CNN would make him president again before sunrise,

760
00:51:01,875 --> 00:51:07,595
Speaker 1: President for life. Triple digits. I've done all the damage

761
00:51:07,635 --> 00:51:09,835
Speaker 1: I could do here. Thank you for listening. Countdown. Musical

762
00:51:09,835 --> 00:51:12,595
Speaker 1: directors Brian Ray and John Phillip Schanel arranged, produced, and

763
00:51:12,635 --> 00:51:15,955
Speaker 1: performed most of our music. Mister Ray was on the guitars,

764
00:51:15,995 --> 00:51:19,315
Speaker 1: bass and drums. Mister Shanelle handled orchestration and keyboards, and

765
00:51:19,475 --> 00:51:22,315
Speaker 1: was produced by Tko Brothers. Other music, including some of

766
00:51:22,355 --> 00:51:25,435
Speaker 1: the Beethoven compositions, arranged and performed by the group No

767
00:51:25,515 --> 00:51:29,675
Speaker 1: Horns Allowed. Sports music is the Olderman theme from ESPN two,

768
00:51:29,955 --> 00:51:33,355
Speaker 1: written by Mitch Warren Davis courtesy of ESPN Inc. Our

769
00:51:33,435 --> 00:51:36,555
Speaker 1: satirical and pithy musical comments are by Nancy Faust. The

770
00:51:36,595 --> 00:51:39,635
Speaker 1: best baseball stadium organist ever. Our announcer today is my

771
00:51:39,675 --> 00:51:42,475
Speaker 1: friend Jonathan Banks. And everything else was pretty much my fault.

772
00:51:42,755 --> 00:51:45,475
Speaker 1: Once again, I make my request to you. Do me

773
00:51:45,515 --> 00:51:49,035
Speaker 1: a favor, and let's double the audience here. Send this

774
00:51:49,155 --> 00:51:51,995
Speaker 1: to somebody you think might like it who does not listen.

775
00:51:52,755 --> 00:51:55,475
Speaker 1: You don't have to do anything else, just that check

776
00:51:55,515 --> 00:51:57,835
Speaker 1: will be in the mail. That's countdown for this the

777
00:51:57,835 --> 00:52:01,315
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty sixth day until the twenty twenty

778
00:52:01,315 --> 00:52:06,915
Speaker 1: four presidential election and forty fifth since convicted felon Donald J.

779
00:52:07,075 --> 00:52:10,635
Speaker 1: Trump's first attempted coup against the democratically elected government of

780
00:52:10,635 --> 00:52:15,115
Speaker 1: the United States. Use the July eleventh sentencing hearing, use

781
00:52:15,195 --> 00:52:18,955
Speaker 1: the mental health system, use presidential immunity if it happens,

782
00:52:19,275 --> 00:52:23,395
Speaker 1: Use the not regularly given elector objection option to stop

783
00:52:23,475 --> 00:52:30,595
Speaker 1: him from doing it again while we still can. The

784
00:52:30,635 --> 00:52:33,955
Speaker 1: next scheduled countdown is tomorrow. Bulletins is the news warrants

785
00:52:34,395 --> 00:52:38,275
Speaker 1: till then. I'm Keith Olraman. Good morning, good afternoon, good night,

786
00:52:39,075 --> 00:53:02,275
Speaker 1: and good luck. Countdown with Keith Oldraman is a production

787
00:53:02,475 --> 00:53:07,755
Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. For more from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

788
00:53:07,875 --> 00:53:11,235
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.