1 00:00:04,795 --> 00:00:20,875 Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. Tucker 2 00:00:20,955 --> 00:00:25,475 Speaker 1: Carlson's January sixth video gas Lighting Fail and his I 3 00:00:25,755 --> 00:00:29,955 Speaker 1: Hate Trump passionately text may prove to be the least 4 00:00:30,035 --> 00:00:34,795 Speaker 1: of his problems. Tucker Carlson praised and disseminated the work 5 00:00:34,835 --> 00:00:39,395 Speaker 1: of a racist Holocaust denier, and just two and a 6 00:00:39,435 --> 00:00:43,475 Speaker 1: half years ago, Media Matters for America found another text 7 00:00:43,515 --> 00:00:46,355 Speaker 1: in round three of the dominion lawsuit document dump, which 8 00:00:46,355 --> 00:00:49,795 Speaker 1: confirms Carlson is as they phrased it quote a reader 9 00:00:50,075 --> 00:00:53,555 Speaker 1: of a Holocaust denier who writes for the white nationalist 10 00:00:53,635 --> 00:00:57,995 Speaker 1: hub Tackie mag Media Matters discovered a text from Carlson 11 00:00:57,995 --> 00:01:01,955 Speaker 1: to an unidentified individual dated November seventeenth, twenty twenty, in 12 00:01:01,995 --> 00:01:04,395 Speaker 1: which Carlson sent that person a link to the taki 13 00:01:04,435 --> 00:01:08,155 Speaker 1: man site and added quote, this is a smart piece. 14 00:01:09,235 --> 00:01:12,755 Speaker 1: The author of that piece was David Cole, a far 15 00:01:12,875 --> 00:01:16,595 Speaker 1: right commentator who claims that Auschwitz was not an extermination 16 00:01:16,635 --> 00:01:19,755 Speaker 1: camp with Gash Chambers and who questions whether six million 17 00:01:19,835 --> 00:01:23,475 Speaker 1: Jews really died in the Holocaust. The piece Carlson texted 18 00:01:24,075 --> 00:01:27,115 Speaker 1: was not about Jewish people. It was about the quote 19 00:01:27,155 --> 00:01:31,235 Speaker 1: third worlding of Chico, California, and in white supremacist circles. 20 00:01:31,635 --> 00:01:36,595 Speaker 1: Third worlding is code for criticism of people of color 21 00:01:36,715 --> 00:01:41,155 Speaker 1: and other minorities, fitting because the site to which Tucker 22 00:01:41,155 --> 00:01:45,835 Speaker 1: Carlson linked, Takie Mag, has had stories headlined quote the 23 00:01:45,955 --> 00:01:50,795 Speaker 1: trouble with Blacks, quote America's black male problem, quote blacks 24 00:01:50,795 --> 00:01:54,995 Speaker 1: behaving badly in Memphis, and quote our de facto anti 25 00:01:55,035 --> 00:01:59,035 Speaker 1: white apartheid. The former managing editor of Takie Mag is 26 00:01:59,035 --> 00:02:03,115 Speaker 1: the white supremacist Richard Spencer, as in neo Nazi Richard 27 00:02:03,155 --> 00:02:05,115 Speaker 1: Spencer who got punched in the face the day of 28 00:02:05,155 --> 00:02:10,395 Speaker 1: Trump's inauguration. I know what you're saying. A white supremacist 29 00:02:11,075 --> 00:02:16,315 Speaker 1: reads and forwards a Holocaust denier and hosts a Russian 30 00:02:16,435 --> 00:02:22,395 Speaker 1: disinformation show on Fox. Quote news unquote. How is this newsworthy, Keith? Well, 31 00:02:23,315 --> 00:02:27,355 Speaker 1: it's newsworthy because it is not news, not to anybody 32 00:02:27,395 --> 00:02:30,635 Speaker 1: who liked me once worked with Tucker Carlson, nor anybody 33 00:02:30,635 --> 00:02:35,035 Speaker 1: paying attention to previous revelations about Tucker Carlson's racism and misogyny. 34 00:02:35,195 --> 00:02:38,555 Speaker 1: It's news because, at this most vulnerable moment in his career, 35 00:02:38,835 --> 00:02:44,395 Speaker 1: it reopens an entire, huge, ugly racist can of worms. 36 00:02:45,515 --> 00:02:49,435 Speaker 1: In twenty nineteen, this same watchdog group, Media Matters, dug 37 00:02:49,515 --> 00:02:53,515 Speaker 1: up the audio tapes of Carlson's regular appearances, which he 38 00:02:53,595 --> 00:02:55,915 Speaker 1: began in two thousand and six when he still worked 39 00:02:55,955 --> 00:03:00,275 Speaker 1: at MSNBC on a crass radio show called Bubba the 40 00:03:00,395 --> 00:03:04,555 Speaker 1: Love Sponge. On tape still posted on the Media Matters 41 00:03:05,315 --> 00:03:08,355 Speaker 1: is segment after segment in which Tucker Carlson makes racist 42 00:03:08,395 --> 00:03:12,075 Speaker 1: remarks in which Tucker Carlson makes sexist remarks. In which 43 00:03:12,115 --> 00:03:17,115 Speaker 1: Tucker Carlson makes remarks justifying statutory rape. On the show, 44 00:03:17,635 --> 00:03:20,755 Speaker 1: Carlson said about Barack Obama, quote, I don't know how 45 00:03:20,795 --> 00:03:24,035 Speaker 1: black he is, but I'm sure he's a good basketball player. 46 00:03:24,275 --> 00:03:26,915 Speaker 1: He later added, how is he black? For one thing? 47 00:03:27,155 --> 00:03:29,915 Speaker 1: He has one white parent, one black parent. I mean, 48 00:03:29,995 --> 00:03:34,835 Speaker 1: why isn't he white? On the show, Carlson dismissed iraqis 49 00:03:34,995 --> 00:03:39,675 Speaker 1: as quote semi literate primitive monkeys who quote don't use 50 00:03:39,795 --> 00:03:43,875 Speaker 1: toilet paper or forks. On that show, Carlson claimed to 51 00:03:43,875 --> 00:03:48,435 Speaker 1: criticize underage marriage, saying, in the case of statutory rape, however, 52 00:03:48,595 --> 00:03:51,395 Speaker 1: quote the rapist in this case has made a lifelong 53 00:03:51,435 --> 00:03:55,035 Speaker 1: commitment to live and take care of the person and 54 00:03:55,195 --> 00:03:58,915 Speaker 1: he later defended the cult leader and convicted child rapist 55 00:03:58,955 --> 00:04:02,875 Speaker 1: Warren Jeffs. Quote He's not accused of touching anybody. He's 56 00:04:02,875 --> 00:04:05,715 Speaker 1: accused of facilitating a marriage between a sixteen year old 57 00:04:05,755 --> 00:04:08,715 Speaker 1: girl and a twenty seven year old man. That's the accusation. 58 00:04:08,955 --> 00:04:14,075 Speaker 1: That's what they're calling felony rape. That's bullshit unquote. On 59 00:04:14,115 --> 00:04:17,035 Speaker 1: this show, Carlson went full misogyny. Quote. I mean, I 60 00:04:17,115 --> 00:04:21,795 Speaker 1: love women, but they're extremely primitive. They're basic. On this show, 61 00:04:21,915 --> 00:04:26,275 Speaker 1: Carlson Crassley attacked everyone from Hillary Clinton to Martha Stewart's 62 00:04:26,395 --> 00:04:29,595 Speaker 1: daughter to Oprah Winfrey quote. The rest of us have 63 00:04:29,715 --> 00:04:33,995 Speaker 1: been bullied into pretending that Oprah's great, that she doesn't 64 00:04:34,115 --> 00:04:38,835 Speaker 1: hate the penis, that she's not anti man unquote, and 65 00:04:39,035 --> 00:04:43,955 Speaker 1: on and on and on, and it will all go 66 00:04:44,115 --> 00:04:46,915 Speaker 1: under the spotlight anew because whether or not Tucker Carlson 67 00:04:46,995 --> 00:04:50,075 Speaker 1: remains on television at Fox quote news unquote, it is 68 00:04:50,155 --> 00:04:53,515 Speaker 1: undeniable that at that company, at Rippert Murdock's level and 69 00:04:53,635 --> 00:04:57,595 Speaker 1: around it. One of the ways out of the blowback 70 00:04:57,635 --> 00:05:01,395 Speaker 1: to the Kevin McCarthy January sixth tape fiasco and the 71 00:05:01,475 --> 00:05:04,315 Speaker 1: Murdoch News Corp. Fox crisis over the one point six 72 00:05:04,315 --> 00:05:08,795 Speaker 1: billion our dominion defamation suit and the paralyzing drip drip 73 00:05:08,875 --> 00:05:12,755 Speaker 1: drip of dominions awe inspiring legal filings. One of the 74 00:05:12,835 --> 00:05:17,795 Speaker 1: ways out Rupert Murdoch is considering is firing Tucker Carlson, 75 00:05:18,355 --> 00:05:22,555 Speaker 1: or firing Sean Hannity or Laura Ingram or CEO Suzanne 76 00:05:22,595 --> 00:05:26,795 Speaker 1: Scott or all of them. Tucker Carlson is on the ropes. 77 00:05:27,355 --> 00:05:29,795 Speaker 1: And suddenly there is a text of him from just 78 00:05:29,835 --> 00:05:32,195 Speaker 1: two and a half years ago telling someone close enough 79 00:05:32,195 --> 00:05:34,675 Speaker 1: to him to have his cell phone number that a 80 00:05:34,795 --> 00:05:39,195 Speaker 1: racist column written by a Holocaust denier is quote a 81 00:05:39,275 --> 00:05:44,875 Speaker 1: good piece. That was the last thing Tucker Carlson needed 82 00:05:44,955 --> 00:05:48,315 Speaker 1: Rupert Murdoch to know, because Rupert Murdoch has moved into 83 00:05:48,315 --> 00:05:51,515 Speaker 1: the mode in which he is the most dangerous, the 84 00:05:51,635 --> 00:05:54,635 Speaker 1: mode in which Rupert Murdoch is focused on one thing, 85 00:05:54,675 --> 00:06:01,515 Speaker 1: and one thing alone, saving Rupert Murdoch. And it is 86 00:06:01,555 --> 00:06:05,715 Speaker 1: not as if the holocaust denier racist link somehow erased 87 00:06:05,835 --> 00:06:10,275 Speaker 1: Tucker Carlson's other problems. While last night, Carlson largely backed 88 00:06:10,275 --> 00:06:14,355 Speaker 1: away from the January sixth story and particularly the January 89 00:06:14,395 --> 00:06:18,395 Speaker 1: sixth video story, and did so faster than Haraldo Rivera 90 00:06:18,475 --> 00:06:22,075 Speaker 1: got out of al Capone's vault and instead led his 91 00:06:22,075 --> 00:06:24,795 Speaker 1: show with a transphobic segment which he concluded that of 92 00:06:24,835 --> 00:06:27,715 Speaker 1: those honored on International Women's Day, quote, a lot of 93 00:06:27,715 --> 00:06:32,115 Speaker 1: them weren't actually women. They were lumpy looking dudes unquote. 94 00:06:33,355 --> 00:06:36,715 Speaker 1: Later Carlson came back to January sixth, but only to 95 00:06:36,795 --> 00:06:39,555 Speaker 1: that part of which which he has latched onto, which 96 00:06:39,595 --> 00:06:43,115 Speaker 1: has I am guessing resonated with his viewership. The saga 97 00:06:43,235 --> 00:06:48,755 Speaker 1: of Jacob Chansley, the so called Q Shaman, the guy 98 00:06:48,835 --> 00:06:52,915 Speaker 1: in the hat, the center point of Carlson's four days 99 00:06:52,995 --> 00:06:58,035 Speaker 1: of showing meaningless and not particularly interesting January sixth video, 100 00:06:58,155 --> 00:07:00,635 Speaker 1: including one night with just a few seconds of video 101 00:07:00,955 --> 00:07:04,435 Speaker 1: and two nights of reruns from the first night. Was 102 00:07:04,475 --> 00:07:08,355 Speaker 1: he ever more heated claims that this Jacob Chansley, this 103 00:07:08,515 --> 00:07:12,155 Speaker 1: Q Shaman, was railroaded and betrayed and scapegoaded, and so 104 00:07:12,235 --> 00:07:16,195 Speaker 1: he represents that gas lit reality of Carlson and the 105 00:07:16,235 --> 00:07:19,795 Speaker 1: other conspiracy theorists that all the insurrectionists were just in 106 00:07:19,875 --> 00:07:24,195 Speaker 1: Carlson's word, sightseers who were troubled that day by some 107 00:07:24,675 --> 00:07:29,875 Speaker 1: in his other word, hooligans. The Tucker Carlson pitch is 108 00:07:30,595 --> 00:07:35,235 Speaker 1: Chansley the Q Shaman was innocent. Therefore everybody on January 109 00:07:35,275 --> 00:07:39,075 Speaker 1: six was innocent. Therefore it was an FBI induced false flag. 110 00:07:39,195 --> 00:07:43,035 Speaker 1: Therefore the January six committee members are liars. Therefore they 111 00:07:43,115 --> 00:07:47,115 Speaker 1: must be investigated and prosecute. And therefore Trump is innocent 112 00:07:47,155 --> 00:07:51,035 Speaker 1: and must walk free. And therefore the videotape that showed 113 00:07:51,115 --> 00:07:58,075 Speaker 1: nothing proves all this. Carlson's gaslighting about Chansley had three 114 00:07:58,235 --> 00:08:03,035 Speaker 1: central components. The video of him walking nonchalantly, certainly non 115 00:08:03,195 --> 00:08:07,035 Speaker 1: violently around the Capitol that day, often shown with police 116 00:08:07,155 --> 00:08:11,475 Speaker 1: around him. Carlson showed that again last night, again insisting 117 00:08:11,755 --> 00:08:15,915 Speaker 1: the video proved Chansly was being escorted around the Capitol 118 00:08:15,995 --> 00:08:20,195 Speaker 1: by the police. That's his second major central point. This, 119 00:08:20,315 --> 00:08:23,075 Speaker 1: of course, is rather than the other explanation, which would 120 00:08:23,115 --> 00:08:26,555 Speaker 1: be that Chansly was not being escorted by police. Chansly 121 00:08:26,675 --> 00:08:30,195 Speaker 1: was being followed by police, police who were trying to 122 00:08:30,275 --> 00:08:35,435 Speaker 1: avoid escalation and violence. The third element in the Tucker 123 00:08:35,475 --> 00:08:39,835 Speaker 1: Carlson saga was the interview with Chansly's first lawyer, Albert 124 00:08:39,835 --> 00:08:44,155 Speaker 1: Watkins wis was on Wednesday night, in which Watkins claimed 125 00:08:44,195 --> 00:08:46,835 Speaker 1: he never saw any of that January sixth video before 126 00:08:46,915 --> 00:08:50,075 Speaker 1: nor did Chansly so that Chansly's guilty plea was a 127 00:08:50,115 --> 00:08:53,155 Speaker 1: miscarriage of justice and somehow needs to be overturned and 128 00:08:53,195 --> 00:08:57,875 Speaker 1: blah blah blah blah blah. Then last night, Chansly's current 129 00:08:57,995 --> 00:09:03,755 Speaker 1: lawyer appeared and he and Tucker Carlson slimed Chansley's first lawyer, 130 00:09:03,915 --> 00:09:06,515 Speaker 1: whom Carlson applauded and praised as a truth teller the 131 00:09:06,635 --> 00:09:11,355 Speaker 1: night before. Carlson's audience was to believe Chansley's first lawyer 132 00:09:11,395 --> 00:09:14,555 Speaker 1: on Wednesday night, but then not believe him and in 133 00:09:14,555 --> 00:09:19,595 Speaker 1: fact hate him on Thursday night. My friend Scott McFarland 134 00:09:19,595 --> 00:09:22,115 Speaker 1: of CBS News reminded us on Twitter of one important 135 00:09:22,115 --> 00:09:24,555 Speaker 1: detail that Tucker Carlson ignored when he interviewed the Q 136 00:09:24,675 --> 00:09:27,915 Speaker 1: Shaman's first lawyer and did not even bring up when 137 00:09:27,915 --> 00:09:30,435 Speaker 1: he interviewed the Q Shaman's second lawyer last night, the 138 00:09:30,515 --> 00:09:34,275 Speaker 1: Q Shaman fired his first lawyer. In fact, I can 139 00:09:34,315 --> 00:09:37,875 Speaker 1: add that when in November twenty twenty one, Chansley fired 140 00:09:37,915 --> 00:09:41,315 Speaker 1: Albert Watkins, who on Fox was reliable Wednesday, but a 141 00:09:41,395 --> 00:09:45,955 Speaker 1: jerk Thursday when he fired Watkins and hired John Pierce A. 142 00:09:46,075 --> 00:09:49,235 Speaker 1: Kearney for countless January sixth defendants and the original attorney 143 00:09:49,235 --> 00:09:54,795 Speaker 1: for Kyle Rittenhouse. Chansley did so, claiming ineffective assistance of counsel, 144 00:09:55,515 --> 00:09:58,955 Speaker 1: referring to Watkins, his first lawyer, and that is when 145 00:09:58,995 --> 00:10:03,395 Speaker 1: that first lawyer, Watkins, denied Chansley had fired him, and 146 00:10:03,595 --> 00:10:06,395 Speaker 1: he Watkins and the second attorney, Pierce, had a public 147 00:10:06,555 --> 00:10:11,995 Speaker 1: verbal brawl over who was representing the q shaman. The 148 00:10:12,155 --> 00:10:15,915 Speaker 1: first attorney, Watkins had called Chansley and other defendants from 149 00:10:15,995 --> 00:10:20,235 Speaker 1: January sixth a string of offensive names. Quote they're all 150 00:10:20,515 --> 00:10:25,875 Speaker 1: effing short bus people. Quote these are people with brain damage. 151 00:10:26,155 --> 00:10:31,195 Speaker 1: Quote their effing retarded. Quote they're on the goddamned spectrum. 152 00:10:32,515 --> 00:10:35,555 Speaker 1: Watkins later insisted he only used those phrases to force 153 00:10:35,635 --> 00:10:40,915 Speaker 1: the court to get Chansley the psychological treatment he needed. Regardless, 154 00:10:41,595 --> 00:10:45,595 Speaker 1: Chansley then fired Albert Watkins, and that was sixteen months ago, 155 00:10:46,155 --> 00:10:49,275 Speaker 1: and he claimed ineffective assistance of counsel. The FBI and 156 00:10:49,315 --> 00:10:52,995 Speaker 1: the Capitol Police still insist all January sixth defendants had 157 00:10:53,115 --> 00:10:56,355 Speaker 1: all access to all security video, including the stuff that 158 00:10:56,475 --> 00:11:03,395 Speaker 1: Kevin McCarthy still inexplicably gave to Tucker Carlson the reality 159 00:11:03,435 --> 00:11:06,475 Speaker 1: of the Q Shaman's case and by the way, he's 160 00:11:06,515 --> 00:11:09,555 Speaker 1: now projected to be released from prison in July, and 161 00:11:09,675 --> 00:11:13,315 Speaker 1: Carlson did not mention that either. Is that Jacob Chansley's 162 00:11:13,395 --> 00:11:16,955 Speaker 1: first lawyer called him quote retarded with brain damage on 163 00:11:17,035 --> 00:11:21,355 Speaker 1: the goddamn spectrum and on a short bus, and Chansley 164 00:11:21,395 --> 00:11:25,515 Speaker 1: fired him. The easiest explanation for the Q Shaman's current 165 00:11:25,515 --> 00:11:30,835 Speaker 1: predicament is not a vast, labyrinthine governmental conspiracy that was 166 00:11:30,875 --> 00:11:34,355 Speaker 1: successfully utterly hidden from the world for two years and 167 00:11:34,395 --> 00:11:37,555 Speaker 1: that somebody as clever and cunning but as stupid as 168 00:11:37,595 --> 00:11:42,595 Speaker 1: Tucker Carlson alone has cracked and which proved somehow that 169 00:11:42,675 --> 00:11:47,555 Speaker 1: January sixth was a false flag. The easiest explanation is 170 00:11:47,595 --> 00:11:51,315 Speaker 1: that Chansley had a lousy lawyer, that Chansley didn't figure 171 00:11:51,355 --> 00:11:53,235 Speaker 1: this out for ten months, and that the new guy 172 00:11:54,155 --> 00:11:57,035 Speaker 1: also hasn't done crap for him in the sixteen months since. 173 00:11:59,155 --> 00:12:04,195 Speaker 1: Right now Fox and Tucker Carlson and Rupert Murdoch are 174 00:12:04,315 --> 00:12:09,995 Speaker 1: under water. God knows what else is in those dominion files, 175 00:12:10,555 --> 00:12:13,275 Speaker 1: or if or when that company will make more of 176 00:12:13,315 --> 00:12:16,155 Speaker 1: it public. The first three rounds suggest that its attorneys 177 00:12:16,155 --> 00:12:20,355 Speaker 1: have employed an unusual strategy of metaphorically publicly torturing the 178 00:12:20,355 --> 00:12:25,835 Speaker 1: defendance to litigation death and as evidenced, there are still 179 00:12:25,835 --> 00:12:30,235 Speaker 1: things being unearthed from the first three dominion document dumps. 180 00:12:30,355 --> 00:12:33,995 Speaker 1: Media Matters just found Carlson sending somebody that link to 181 00:12:34,035 --> 00:12:37,155 Speaker 1: the racist holocaust denier's column and insisting this is a 182 00:12:37,195 --> 00:12:40,315 Speaker 1: good piece. Media Matters also came up with an email 183 00:12:40,315 --> 00:12:43,915 Speaker 1: from CEO Suzanne Scott to the infamous Fox pr person 184 00:12:43,955 --> 00:12:48,195 Speaker 1: Irina Briganti, who is from personal experience, the scum of 185 00:12:48,235 --> 00:12:52,155 Speaker 1: the earth, and yet she seems to have been one 186 00:12:52,195 --> 00:12:57,275 Speaker 1: of the very few Fox executives with one lone principle 187 00:12:57,835 --> 00:13:02,995 Speaker 1: floating around in their brains. CEO Scott is clearly challenging 188 00:13:03,075 --> 00:13:07,315 Speaker 1: someone's assertion that it was quote unarguable that high profile 189 00:13:07,395 --> 00:13:10,635 Speaker 1: Fox voices fed the story that the election was stolen 190 00:13:10,675 --> 00:13:12,715 Speaker 1: and that January sixth was an important chance to have 191 00:13:12,715 --> 00:13:17,035 Speaker 1: the result overturned, and Scott, writing to Burgante, adds, quote, 192 00:13:17,075 --> 00:13:23,435 Speaker 1: please sends specifics if so brank Gante replied with just 193 00:13:23,475 --> 00:13:29,075 Speaker 1: a few specifics, at least forty nine of them. Forty 194 00:13:29,115 --> 00:13:33,755 Speaker 1: nine or more examples of Fox voices feeding the story 195 00:13:33,795 --> 00:13:35,835 Speaker 1: that the election was stolen, and that January sixth was 196 00:13:35,875 --> 00:13:39,195 Speaker 1: an important chance to have the result overturned. Forty nine 197 00:13:39,235 --> 00:13:44,315 Speaker 1: examples from Jeanine Piero and Maria Bardaromo and Mark Levin 198 00:13:44,955 --> 00:13:51,875 Speaker 1: and Sean Hannity. Fox quote News unquote is on the ropes. 199 00:13:52,795 --> 00:13:56,795 Speaker 1: Tucker Carlson is on the ropes. Both may very well 200 00:13:57,035 --> 00:14:01,195 Speaker 1: escape more or less intact Fox has before. It survived 201 00:14:01,235 --> 00:14:04,635 Speaker 1: the Roger Ales rape scandal. It survived the Bill o'right 202 00:14:04,995 --> 00:14:10,315 Speaker 1: harrassment scandals. It survived the Glenn Beck anti semitism scandal. However, 203 00:14:11,515 --> 00:14:16,155 Speaker 1: it survived the Glenn Beck anti semitism scandal by firing 204 00:14:16,235 --> 00:14:21,835 Speaker 1: Glenn Beck. It survived the Bill O'Reilly harrassment scandal by 205 00:14:21,875 --> 00:14:26,675 Speaker 1: firing Bill O'Reilly. It survived the Roger Ales rape scandal 206 00:14:27,275 --> 00:14:33,395 Speaker 1: by firing Roger Ales. If it survives the combined dominion 207 00:14:33,475 --> 00:14:37,955 Speaker 1: and January sixth video scandals, it will do so by 208 00:14:38,075 --> 00:14:57,835 Speaker 1: firing somebody still ahead of us in this edition of Countdown, 209 00:14:58,435 --> 00:15:01,995 Speaker 1: Hence that Trump may be indicted in New York. This 210 00:15:02,115 --> 00:15:04,875 Speaker 1: is not a flashback to any of the previous two years. 211 00:15:04,875 --> 00:15:07,275 Speaker 1: This is a new story. You'll see if there's any 212 00:15:07,275 --> 00:15:09,915 Speaker 1: weight to it. Lauren Bulbert brings a new meaning to 213 00:15:09,915 --> 00:15:13,995 Speaker 1: the title House Oversight Committee. The nitwit who boasted about 214 00:15:14,075 --> 00:15:18,275 Speaker 1: becoming a thirty six year old grandmother proves again other 215 00:15:18,315 --> 00:15:20,995 Speaker 1: than that she can't add and she does not remember 216 00:15:20,995 --> 00:15:24,355 Speaker 1: who the president was in the year twenty twenty. Jenna 217 00:15:24,435 --> 00:15:28,595 Speaker 1: Ellis faces up admits she misrepresented facts about the campaign 218 00:15:28,715 --> 00:15:31,755 Speaker 1: that very same year. And it is Friday's with Thurber. 219 00:15:31,835 --> 00:15:34,315 Speaker 1: And of all the Thurber stories, I'm going to read 220 00:15:34,355 --> 00:15:37,235 Speaker 1: you the one that was my father's favorite. I went 221 00:15:37,435 --> 00:15:42,715 Speaker 1: to Sullivan Tales of Thurber's childhood school. And it wasn't 222 00:15:42,795 --> 00:15:45,995 Speaker 1: just that it was my dad's favorite. It was literally, 223 00:15:46,395 --> 00:15:49,075 Speaker 1: and I know how very weird a flex this is. 224 00:15:49,275 --> 00:15:52,915 Speaker 1: It was literally the last thing my dad heard before 225 00:15:52,915 --> 00:15:56,995 Speaker 1: he died. That's happier than it sounds. Actually, that's next 226 00:15:57,035 --> 00:16:11,355 Speaker 1: This discountdown. This is countdown with Keith Olberman. Postscripts to 227 00:16:11,435 --> 00:16:14,955 Speaker 1: the news, some headlines, some updates, some snarks, some predictions. 228 00:16:15,075 --> 00:16:17,595 Speaker 1: Date line New York In fact at the corner of 229 00:16:17,755 --> 00:16:21,795 Speaker 1: stop me and if you've heard this before, the New 230 00:16:21,875 --> 00:16:25,075 Speaker 1: York Times reporting Trump may face criminal charges in the 231 00:16:25,155 --> 00:16:29,075 Speaker 1: Stormy Daniels hush money case. Here, where were you and 232 00:16:29,275 --> 00:16:31,555 Speaker 1: what were you? Doing when you first heard that song. 233 00:16:32,035 --> 00:16:35,795 Speaker 1: The clue, as The Times phrases it, quote prosecutors offered 234 00:16:35,795 --> 00:16:38,795 Speaker 1: mister Trump the chance to testify next week before the 235 00:16:38,835 --> 00:16:42,915 Speaker 1: grand jury. Such offers almost always indicate an indictment is close. 236 00:16:43,395 --> 00:16:46,795 Speaker 1: Trump calmly responded in a seven or eight part social 237 00:16:46,795 --> 00:16:50,395 Speaker 1: media post and claimed hundreds of millions of Americans support him. 238 00:16:50,915 --> 00:16:54,555 Speaker 1: Date Line Colorado, one of Trump's hundreds of millions of lawyers, 239 00:16:54,915 --> 00:16:58,315 Speaker 1: has admitted to lying. Jenna Ellis heretofore, best known as 240 00:16:58,355 --> 00:17:03,355 Speaker 1: the canary in the Rudy Giuliani gas coal mine, has 241 00:17:03,395 --> 00:17:07,435 Speaker 1: been publicly sent after she swore a statement confessing that 242 00:17:07,515 --> 00:17:10,355 Speaker 1: she knowingly misrepresented the facts in some of her public 243 00:17:10,395 --> 00:17:13,755 Speaker 1: statements that the twenty twenty election had been stolen from trouble. 244 00:17:13,755 --> 00:17:16,155 Speaker 1: A lot of those statements on TV. Hey does Dominion 245 00:17:16,235 --> 00:17:19,555 Speaker 1: know about this? Dateline Capitol Hill. The sad reality is 246 00:17:19,595 --> 00:17:21,795 Speaker 1: that for the whole of the history of this country, 247 00:17:22,195 --> 00:17:26,235 Speaker 1: some people have run for Congress because they needed the work. 248 00:17:26,715 --> 00:17:30,115 Speaker 1: Lauren Bobert just proudly announced that her sixteen year old 249 00:17:30,155 --> 00:17:32,715 Speaker 1: son had knocked up his girlfriend, so she will be 250 00:17:32,795 --> 00:17:36,475 Speaker 1: a thirty six year old grandmother. Looks like this was 251 00:17:36,555 --> 00:17:39,155 Speaker 1: the limit of her math skills. However, during a hearing 252 00:17:39,195 --> 00:17:41,835 Speaker 1: of the House Oversight Committee yesterday, she had a gotcha 253 00:17:41,915 --> 00:17:45,835 Speaker 1: moment with Director of the Office of Personnel Management, Kiran Ahuja, 254 00:17:46,155 --> 00:17:50,715 Speaker 1: except Bobert had a problem with a different subtraction question, 255 00:17:51,235 --> 00:17:55,875 Speaker 1: what is twenty twenty three minus three? You're not aware 256 00:17:55,995 --> 00:17:59,995 Speaker 1: of any employee taking something that one would consider a 257 00:18:00,075 --> 00:18:03,355 Speaker 1: vacation time and bringing their computer and maybe logging in 258 00:18:03,395 --> 00:18:05,715 Speaker 1: just a portion of that time or not at all. 259 00:18:06,075 --> 00:18:09,115 Speaker 1: We have more than twenty five percent of federal employees 260 00:18:09,195 --> 00:18:14,235 Speaker 1: not logging, not logging into work, and they're teleworking. Congressmoman, 261 00:18:14,395 --> 00:18:17,395 Speaker 1: I do take issue with the characterization that twenty five 262 00:18:17,435 --> 00:18:20,395 Speaker 1: percent of individuals are not logs in this leaked document 263 00:18:20,515 --> 00:18:23,675 Speaker 1: right here that we just submitted into you're the record. 264 00:18:23,715 --> 00:18:25,595 Speaker 1: You're basing that from twenty twenty, which is in the 265 00:18:25,675 --> 00:18:28,755 Speaker 1: last administration, and I can't speak to that. The Elite 266 00:18:28,795 --> 00:18:34,195 Speaker 1: document was from twenty twenty one. Moron and dateline the FBI, 267 00:18:34,315 --> 00:18:37,275 Speaker 1: Secret Service and US Attorney's offices here in New York. 268 00:18:37,515 --> 00:18:41,635 Speaker 1: It is apparent now all of human history divides neatly 269 00:18:41,675 --> 00:18:45,715 Speaker 1: into two nearly equal and distinct components. Those times when 270 00:18:45,755 --> 00:18:49,315 Speaker 1: there is a new George Santos scandal, and those times 271 00:18:49,315 --> 00:18:51,195 Speaker 1: when we all know there is about to be a 272 00:18:51,275 --> 00:18:55,675 Speaker 1: new George Santos scandal, we jumped the cusp yesterday when 273 00:18:55,715 --> 00:19:00,715 Speaker 1: Gustavo Riiro Treja, a Brazilian man, sent a sworn declaration 274 00:19:00,755 --> 00:19:04,035 Speaker 1: to those authorities that a credit card skimming operation in 275 00:19:04,075 --> 00:19:07,275 Speaker 1: Seattle for which he was convicted in twenty seventeen, was 276 00:19:07,355 --> 00:19:12,155 Speaker 1: masterminded by the man who calls himself George Santos. Treja 277 00:19:12,315 --> 00:19:15,795 Speaker 1: says Santos taught him how to skim card numbers off 278 00:19:15,835 --> 00:19:18,715 Speaker 1: ATMs and gave him the equipment to do that with. 279 00:19:19,075 --> 00:19:22,555 Speaker 1: Santos says it's not true. He adds he'll expand on 280 00:19:22,595 --> 00:19:25,115 Speaker 1: his denial in a moment, but first he just has 281 00:19:25,195 --> 00:19:49,715 Speaker 1: to make a quick run to the bank. Thank you, 282 00:19:49,835 --> 00:19:52,875 Speaker 1: Nancy Faust. By the way, I may have just embellished 283 00:19:52,875 --> 00:20:08,915 Speaker 1: the last part of that story. Ahead Fridays with Thurber 284 00:20:09,035 --> 00:20:11,515 Speaker 1: and the story of going to school at the turn 285 00:20:11,515 --> 00:20:14,155 Speaker 1: of the century in Columbus, Ohio, the turn of the 286 00:20:14,275 --> 00:20:17,595 Speaker 1: nineteenth to the twentieth centuries, when if you failed the 287 00:20:17,675 --> 00:20:21,635 Speaker 1: fourth grade, you stayed in the fourth grade, or a 288 00:20:21,755 --> 00:20:27,755 Speaker 1: year after year and decade after decade. I went to 289 00:20:27,955 --> 00:20:30,835 Speaker 1: Sullivant ahead first time for the daily round of the 290 00:20:30,835 --> 00:20:34,875 Speaker 1: miss Grants, Morons and Dunning kruegerfexpetiments who constitute today's worst 291 00:20:34,915 --> 00:20:40,875 Speaker 1: persons in the world. The Bronze Trump with great fanfare Axios, 292 00:20:40,955 --> 00:20:43,435 Speaker 1: one of those political websites for people who love politics 293 00:20:43,475 --> 00:20:45,795 Speaker 1: would have no idea what it has to do with 294 00:20:45,915 --> 00:20:50,195 Speaker 1: government or real life, has scooped the world. Trump is 295 00:20:50,235 --> 00:20:53,875 Speaker 1: coming out with another book next April twenty fifth, called 296 00:20:54,595 --> 00:20:58,315 Speaker 1: Letters to Trump. He is publishing the stuff that other 297 00:20:58,395 --> 00:21:01,995 Speaker 1: people wrote to him, letters from such up and coming 298 00:21:02,235 --> 00:21:07,515 Speaker 1: and current big names as Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Princess Danna, 299 00:21:08,235 --> 00:21:12,035 Speaker 1: and Regis Philbin. I should point out that this may 300 00:21:12,075 --> 00:21:14,995 Speaker 1: require that I published the letter that Trump wrote to me. 301 00:21:15,795 --> 00:21:17,875 Speaker 1: It is from a decade ago. It is about my 302 00:21:17,955 --> 00:21:21,595 Speaker 1: coverage of my former employer, Ted Turner, and it underscores 303 00:21:21,635 --> 00:21:27,915 Speaker 1: what he thought of me. He was a fan, silly him. 304 00:21:28,075 --> 00:21:30,795 Speaker 1: One thing about Letters to Trump strikes me might actually 305 00:21:30,835 --> 00:21:34,315 Speaker 1: be important. Axios reports one of the letters was written 306 00:21:34,355 --> 00:21:38,875 Speaker 1: by Kim Jong Un. Does special counsel Jack Smith know this? 307 00:21:39,355 --> 00:21:42,475 Speaker 1: What kind of letter is he publishing? The Bronze Elon 308 00:21:42,595 --> 00:21:46,955 Speaker 1: Musk again. England's Independent reports that when he took over Twitter, 309 00:21:47,235 --> 00:21:51,195 Speaker 1: he asked many department managers in the company to nominate 310 00:21:51,315 --> 00:21:54,595 Speaker 1: their employees who they thought were best suited for promotion, 311 00:21:55,555 --> 00:21:59,235 Speaker 1: whereupon Musk fired all the managers and replaced them with 312 00:21:59,755 --> 00:22:04,195 Speaker 1: the employees they just nominated for promotion at lower salaries. 313 00:22:04,235 --> 00:22:07,275 Speaker 1: Of course, thank goodness, there have not been any quality 314 00:22:07,315 --> 00:22:10,915 Speaker 1: control problems at Twitter since then. But our winner the 315 00:22:10,915 --> 00:22:16,835 Speaker 1: host of the Patriot Barbie podcast. That's Patriot Barbie. This 316 00:22:17,035 --> 00:22:19,155 Speaker 1: is a woman who went on the Newsmax channel to 317 00:22:19,195 --> 00:22:22,995 Speaker 1: complain that another American crisis has happened to US News 318 00:22:23,035 --> 00:22:27,275 Speaker 1: that the actresses portraying Disney princesses at the Disney theme 319 00:22:27,355 --> 00:22:31,595 Speaker 1: parks don't want to wear corsets anymore. The host of 320 00:22:31,595 --> 00:22:35,315 Speaker 1: the Patriot Barbie podcast says, liberal women now do not 321 00:22:35,435 --> 00:22:38,075 Speaker 1: care about trying to look attractive, and ordinarily I would 322 00:22:38,115 --> 00:22:40,675 Speaker 1: not make a big deal out of this, except the 323 00:22:40,755 --> 00:22:44,595 Speaker 1: host of the Patriot Barbie podcast is a woman named 324 00:22:46,035 --> 00:22:53,715 Speaker 1: Lindsay Graham. Lindsay l I n d Sey. Just like 325 00:22:53,835 --> 00:22:57,315 Speaker 1: the Senator, it's the end of the week. I'm tired. 326 00:22:57,395 --> 00:23:00,395 Speaker 1: Just do your own jokes here, Lindsay No he's the 327 00:23:00,475 --> 00:23:05,195 Speaker 1: other one. Graham of the Patriot Barbie bodcast or a 328 00:23:05,275 --> 00:23:26,195 Speaker 1: podcast Today's Worst Person and to the number one story 329 00:23:26,235 --> 00:23:28,995 Speaker 1: on the Countdown and Friday's were Thurber. And I don't 330 00:23:29,035 --> 00:23:34,315 Speaker 1: know when I went to Sullivan became my father's favorite 331 00:23:34,315 --> 00:23:37,235 Speaker 1: Thurber story. I suspect it was in the hospital when 332 00:23:37,235 --> 00:23:39,115 Speaker 1: I was reading to him in the last six months 333 00:23:39,115 --> 00:23:41,235 Speaker 1: of his life. I know I read it to him 334 00:23:41,275 --> 00:23:43,675 Speaker 1: at least half a dozen times, the first five by 335 00:23:43,755 --> 00:23:48,195 Speaker 1: his request. The last time he did not request it, 336 00:23:48,355 --> 00:23:50,955 Speaker 1: in fact, and this is the most perverse kind of 337 00:23:51,035 --> 00:23:55,235 Speaker 1: compliment I think any writer has ever received. I read 338 00:23:55,275 --> 00:23:57,955 Speaker 1: this story to him. It was the last thing that 339 00:23:58,075 --> 00:23:59,835 Speaker 1: I read to him. In fact, it was the last 340 00:23:59,835 --> 00:24:01,835 Speaker 1: thing he did on earth, was to listen to this 341 00:24:01,955 --> 00:24:07,115 Speaker 1: story in a state of semi conscious. He waited till 342 00:24:07,155 --> 00:24:09,795 Speaker 1: the end of it. He took one deep, satisfied breath, 343 00:24:09,875 --> 00:24:14,235 Speaker 1: and he died. I don't recommend this, but I think 344 00:24:14,275 --> 00:24:16,955 Speaker 1: it does speak to the quality of the writing. I 345 00:24:17,035 --> 00:24:22,835 Speaker 1: went to Sullivant by James Thurber. I was reminded the 346 00:24:22,875 --> 00:24:25,475 Speaker 1: other morning by what I don't remember, and it doesn't 347 00:24:25,475 --> 00:24:28,475 Speaker 1: matter of a crisp September morning last year when I 348 00:24:28,515 --> 00:24:31,155 Speaker 1: went to the Grand Central to see a little boy 349 00:24:31,155 --> 00:24:34,275 Speaker 1: of ten get excitedly on a special coach that was 350 00:24:34,315 --> 00:24:37,915 Speaker 1: to take him to a boys school somewhere north of Boston. 351 00:24:38,515 --> 00:24:41,635 Speaker 1: He had never been away to school before. The coach 352 00:24:41,795 --> 00:24:45,275 Speaker 1: was squirming with youngsters. You could tell after a while 353 00:24:45,635 --> 00:24:49,795 Speaker 1: the novitiates shining and tremulous and a little odd from 354 00:24:49,795 --> 00:24:52,675 Speaker 1: the more aloof boys who had been away to school before. 355 00:24:53,355 --> 00:24:57,235 Speaker 1: But they were very much alike at first glance. There 356 00:24:57,435 --> 00:24:59,395 Speaker 1: was for me, in case you thought I was leading 357 00:24:59,435 --> 00:25:03,395 Speaker 1: up to that, no sharp feeling of old lost years 358 00:25:03,875 --> 00:25:06,595 Speaker 1: in the tense atmosphere of that coach, Because I never 359 00:25:06,635 --> 00:25:08,195 Speaker 1: went away to a private school when I was a 360 00:25:08,195 --> 00:25:13,155 Speaker 1: little boy. I went to Sullivant School in Columbus. I 361 00:25:13,235 --> 00:25:15,155 Speaker 1: thought about it as I walked back to my hotel. 362 00:25:16,195 --> 00:25:19,555 Speaker 1: Sullivant was an ordinary public school, and yet it was 363 00:25:19,595 --> 00:25:23,075 Speaker 1: not like any other I have ever known of. In 364 00:25:23,195 --> 00:25:26,595 Speaker 1: seeking an adjective to describe the Sullivant School of my 365 00:25:26,715 --> 00:25:31,235 Speaker 1: years nineteen hundred and eight, I can only think of tough. 366 00:25:32,115 --> 00:25:37,435 Speaker 1: Sullivant School was tough. The boys of Sullivant came mostly 367 00:25:37,435 --> 00:25:40,915 Speaker 1: from the region around Central Market, a poorish district with 368 00:25:41,035 --> 00:25:44,835 Speaker 1: many families of the laboring class. The school district also 369 00:25:44,835 --> 00:25:47,355 Speaker 1: included a number of homes of the upper classes, because 370 00:25:47,355 --> 00:25:49,755 Speaker 1: at the turn of the century one or two old 371 00:25:49,835 --> 00:25:53,515 Speaker 1: residential streets still lingered near the shouting and rumbling of 372 00:25:53,555 --> 00:25:56,835 Speaker 1: the market, reluctant to surrender their fine old houses to 373 00:25:56,875 --> 00:26:00,555 Speaker 1: the encroaching rabble of commerce and become as a last 374 00:26:00,635 --> 00:26:06,875 Speaker 1: they now have more vulgar business streets. I remember always, 375 00:26:06,995 --> 00:26:11,675 Speaker 1: first of all, the Sullivant baseball team. Most grammar school 376 00:26:11,675 --> 00:26:13,835 Speaker 1: baseball teams are made up of boys in the seventh 377 00:26:13,835 --> 00:26:15,955 Speaker 1: and eighth grades, or they were in my day, but 378 00:26:16,075 --> 00:26:19,595 Speaker 1: with Sullivant it was different. Several of its best players 379 00:26:19,595 --> 00:26:22,435 Speaker 1: were in the fourth grade, known to the teachers of 380 00:26:22,435 --> 00:26:26,675 Speaker 1: the school as the terrible fourth. In that grade you 381 00:26:26,795 --> 00:26:36,115 Speaker 1: first encountered fractions and long division, and many pupils lodged 382 00:26:36,195 --> 00:26:42,435 Speaker 1: there for years, like logs in a brook. Some of 383 00:26:42,475 --> 00:26:44,795 Speaker 1: the more able baseball players have been in the fourth 384 00:26:44,795 --> 00:26:49,035 Speaker 1: grade for seven or eight years then two. There were 385 00:26:49,075 --> 00:26:51,315 Speaker 1: a number of boys who had not been in the 386 00:26:51,315 --> 00:26:54,155 Speaker 1: class past the normal time, but were nevertheless deep into 387 00:26:54,195 --> 00:26:59,155 Speaker 1: their teams. They had avoided starting to school by eluding 388 00:26:59,195 --> 00:27:01,755 Speaker 1: the truant officer until they were ready to go into 389 00:27:01,835 --> 00:27:04,555 Speaker 1: long pants, but he always got them in the end. 390 00:27:05,395 --> 00:27:08,115 Speaker 1: One or two of these fourth graders were seventeen or 391 00:27:08,155 --> 00:27:12,235 Speaker 1: eighteen years old, but the dean of the squad was 392 00:27:12,275 --> 00:27:16,035 Speaker 1: a tall, husky young man of twenty two who was 393 00:27:16,075 --> 00:27:18,955 Speaker 1: in the fifth grade. The teachers of the third and 394 00:27:19,035 --> 00:27:20,995 Speaker 1: fourth had got tired of having him around as the 395 00:27:21,075 --> 00:27:24,555 Speaker 1: years rolled along and had pushed him on. His name 396 00:27:24,595 --> 00:27:29,955 Speaker 1: was Dana Wainey, and he had a mustache. Don't ask 397 00:27:29,995 --> 00:27:32,355 Speaker 1: me why his parents allowed him to stay in school 398 00:27:32,355 --> 00:27:35,515 Speaker 1: so long. There were many mysteries at Sullivant that were 399 00:27:35,595 --> 00:27:38,715 Speaker 1: never cleared up. All I know is why he kept 400 00:27:38,755 --> 00:27:42,235 Speaker 1: on in school and didn't go to work. He liked 401 00:27:42,355 --> 00:27:45,395 Speaker 1: playing on the baseball team, and he had a pretty 402 00:27:45,435 --> 00:27:47,915 Speaker 1: easy time in class because the teachers had given up 403 00:27:47,915 --> 00:27:52,795 Speaker 1: asking him any questions at all years before. The story 404 00:27:52,995 --> 00:27:55,235 Speaker 1: was that he had answered but one question in the 405 00:27:55,315 --> 00:27:58,275 Speaker 1: seventeen years he had been going to classes at Sullivant, 406 00:27:58,515 --> 00:28:03,395 Speaker 1: and that what is one use of the comma the 407 00:28:03,595 --> 00:28:09,035 Speaker 1: COMMI Dana embarrassedly unsnarling his long legs from beneath a 408 00:28:09,115 --> 00:28:12,035 Speaker 1: desk much too low for him, is used to shoot 409 00:28:12,115 --> 00:28:16,195 Speaker 1: marbles with commies was our word for those cheap ten 410 00:28:16,275 --> 00:28:19,675 Speaker 1: for a cent marbles in case it wasn't yours. The 411 00:28:19,715 --> 00:28:24,075 Speaker 1: Sullivant School baseball team of nineteen hundred and five defeated 412 00:28:24,155 --> 00:28:26,755 Speaker 1: several high school teams in the city and claimed the 413 00:28:26,795 --> 00:28:29,395 Speaker 1: high school championship of the state, to which title it had, 414 00:28:29,435 --> 00:28:33,275 Speaker 1: of course, no technical right. I believe the boys could 415 00:28:33,315 --> 00:28:36,595 Speaker 1: have proved their moral right to the championship, however, if 416 00:28:36,635 --> 00:28:38,555 Speaker 1: they had been allowed to go out of town and 417 00:28:38,675 --> 00:28:41,795 Speaker 1: play all the teams they challenged, such as the powerful 418 00:28:41,875 --> 00:28:45,635 Speaker 1: Dayton and Toledo Nines. But their road season was called 419 00:28:45,675 --> 00:28:49,515 Speaker 1: off after a terrific fight that it occurred during one 420 00:28:49,555 --> 00:28:55,635 Speaker 1: game at Mount Sterling or Piqua or Zenia, I can't 421 00:28:55,635 --> 00:29:00,315 Speaker 1: remember which. Our first baseman, Dana Wayney, crowned the umpire 422 00:29:00,355 --> 00:29:03,955 Speaker 1: with a bat during altercation overcalled strike and the fight 423 00:29:04,115 --> 00:29:06,875 Speaker 1: was on. It took place in the fourth inning, so 424 00:29:06,915 --> 00:29:09,595 Speaker 1: of course the game was never finished. The battle continued 425 00:29:09,675 --> 00:29:11,995 Speaker 1: on down into the business section of the town and 426 00:29:12,115 --> 00:29:16,235 Speaker 1: raged for hours with much destruction of property. But since 427 00:29:16,235 --> 00:29:19,995 Speaker 1: sullimet was ahead of the time seventeen to nothing, there 428 00:29:19,995 --> 00:29:23,755 Speaker 1: could have been no doubt as to the outcome, nobody 429 00:29:23,835 --> 00:29:27,235 Speaker 1: was killed. All of us boys were sure our team 430 00:29:27,315 --> 00:29:30,075 Speaker 1: could have beaten Ohio State University that year, but they 431 00:29:30,115 --> 00:29:35,355 Speaker 1: wouldn't play us. They were scared. Wayney was by no 432 00:29:35,475 --> 00:29:38,315 Speaker 1: means the biggest or toughest guy on the Grammar School team. 433 00:29:38,355 --> 00:29:40,835 Speaker 1: He was merely the oldest, being about a year the 434 00:29:40,955 --> 00:29:45,155 Speaker 1: senior of Floyd, the center fielder who could jump five 435 00:29:45,235 --> 00:29:47,555 Speaker 1: feet straight into the air without taking a running start. 436 00:29:48,555 --> 00:29:52,275 Speaker 1: Nobody knew, not even the Board of Education, which once 437 00:29:52,435 --> 00:29:56,995 Speaker 1: tried to find out whether Floyd was Floyd's first name 438 00:29:57,675 --> 00:30:03,155 Speaker 1: or his last name. He apparently only had one. He 439 00:30:03,195 --> 00:30:06,315 Speaker 1: didn't have any parents, and nobody, including himself, seemed to 440 00:30:06,355 --> 00:30:09,795 Speaker 1: know where he lived. When teachers insisted that he must 441 00:30:09,795 --> 00:30:11,715 Speaker 1: have another name to go with Floyd, he would grow 442 00:30:11,795 --> 00:30:16,195 Speaker 1: sullen and ominous, and they would cease questioning him because 443 00:30:16,355 --> 00:30:19,875 Speaker 1: he was a dangerous scholar in his schoolroom brawl, as 444 00:30:19,915 --> 00:30:22,555 Speaker 1: mister Harrigan, the janitor found out one morning when he 445 00:30:22,595 --> 00:30:26,475 Speaker 1: was called in by a screaming teacher. All our teachers 446 00:30:26,515 --> 00:30:30,155 Speaker 1: were women to get Floyd under control after she had 447 00:30:30,155 --> 00:30:33,595 Speaker 1: tried to whip him, and he had begun to take 448 00:30:33,675 --> 00:30:39,075 Speaker 1: the room apart, beginning with the desks. Floyd broke into 449 00:30:39,155 --> 00:30:42,435 Speaker 1: small pieces the switch she had used on him. Some 450 00:30:42,555 --> 00:30:45,875 Speaker 1: said he also ate it. I don't know, because I 451 00:30:45,915 --> 00:30:47,995 Speaker 1: was home sick at the time with mumps or something. 452 00:30:48,915 --> 00:30:52,795 Speaker 1: Harrigan was a burly, iron muscle janitor, a man come 453 00:30:52,875 --> 00:30:55,675 Speaker 1: from a long line of coal shovelers, but he was 454 00:30:55,755 --> 00:30:58,195 Speaker 1: no match for Floyd, who had to be sure the 455 00:30:58,195 --> 00:31:01,715 Speaker 1: considerable advantage of being more aroused than mister Harrigan. When 456 00:31:01,715 --> 00:31:05,115 Speaker 1: their fight started. Floyd had him down and was sitting 457 00:31:05,115 --> 00:31:07,075 Speaker 1: on his chest in no time, and Harrigan had a 458 00:31:07,155 --> 00:31:09,555 Speaker 1: promise to be good and to say that's what I 459 00:31:09,635 --> 00:31:14,995 Speaker 1: get ten times before Floyd would let him up. I 460 00:31:15,075 --> 00:31:18,275 Speaker 1: don't suppose I would ever have got through Sullivant School 461 00:31:18,315 --> 00:31:22,035 Speaker 1: alive if it hadn't been for Floyd. For some reason, 462 00:31:22,075 --> 00:31:26,275 Speaker 1: he appointed himself my protector, and I needed one. If 463 00:31:26,315 --> 00:31:28,915 Speaker 1: Floyd was known to be on your side, nobody in 464 00:31:28,915 --> 00:31:32,155 Speaker 1: the school would dare be after you and chase you home. 465 00:31:32,675 --> 00:31:34,955 Speaker 1: I was one of the ten or fifteen male pupils 466 00:31:34,995 --> 00:31:39,435 Speaker 1: in Sullivant School who always are almost always knew their lessons, 467 00:31:39,875 --> 00:31:42,875 Speaker 1: and I believe Floyd admired the mental prowess of a 468 00:31:42,875 --> 00:31:46,395 Speaker 1: youngster who knew how many continents there were and whether 469 00:31:46,475 --> 00:31:50,675 Speaker 1: or not the sun was inhabited. Also, one time, when 470 00:31:50,715 --> 00:31:53,275 Speaker 1: it came to be my turn to read to the class, 471 00:31:53,315 --> 00:31:56,995 Speaker 1: we used to take turns reading American history aloud, I 472 00:31:57,035 --> 00:32:00,875 Speaker 1: came across the word ducane and knew how to pronounce it. 473 00:32:01,635 --> 00:32:05,995 Speaker 1: That charmed Floyd, who had been slouched in his seat 474 00:32:06,035 --> 00:32:09,475 Speaker 1: idly following the printed page of his worn and penciled textbook. 475 00:32:10,555 --> 00:32:13,755 Speaker 1: How you know that was Duquesne boy, he asked me 476 00:32:13,795 --> 00:32:17,595 Speaker 1: after class. I don't know, I said, I just knew it. 477 00:32:18,435 --> 00:32:21,675 Speaker 1: He looked at me with round eyes. Oh that's something 478 00:32:21,915 --> 00:32:25,115 Speaker 1: he said. After that word got around that Floyd would 479 00:32:25,115 --> 00:32:27,555 Speaker 1: beat the tar out of anybody that messed around with me. 480 00:32:28,755 --> 00:32:30,875 Speaker 1: I wore glasses from the time I was eight, and 481 00:32:30,955 --> 00:32:33,115 Speaker 1: I knew my lessons, and both of those things were 482 00:32:33,115 --> 00:32:38,355 Speaker 1: considered pretty terrible at Sullivant. Floyd had one idiosyncrasy though. 483 00:32:38,595 --> 00:32:42,435 Speaker 1: In the early nineteen hundreds, long, warm, furry gloves that 484 00:32:42,515 --> 00:32:46,755 Speaker 1: came almost your elbows were popular with boys, and Floyd 485 00:32:46,795 --> 00:32:50,275 Speaker 1: had one of the biggest pairs in school. He wore 486 00:32:50,315 --> 00:32:55,395 Speaker 1: them the year round. Dick Peterson was an either greater 487 00:32:55,435 --> 00:32:57,315 Speaker 1: figure on the baseball team and in the school than 488 00:32:57,355 --> 00:32:59,875 Speaker 1: Floyd was. He had a way in the classroom of 489 00:32:59,955 --> 00:33:08,675 Speaker 1: blurting out a long, deep, rolling be for no reason 490 00:33:08,835 --> 00:33:12,475 Speaker 1: at all. Once he licked three boys his own size 491 00:33:12,555 --> 00:33:15,955 Speaker 1: single handed, really single handed, for he fought with his 492 00:33:16,075 --> 00:33:19,195 Speaker 1: right hand and held a mandolin in his left hand 493 00:33:19,275 --> 00:33:24,515 Speaker 1: all the time. It came out uninjured. Dick and Floyd 494 00:33:24,555 --> 00:33:27,395 Speaker 1: never met in Mortal Kombat, so nobody ever knew which 495 00:33:27,395 --> 00:33:31,035 Speaker 1: one could beat, and the scholars were about evenly divided 496 00:33:31,035 --> 00:33:34,595 Speaker 1: in their opinions. Many a fight started among them after 497 00:33:34,635 --> 00:33:37,875 Speaker 1: school when the argument came up. I think school never 498 00:33:37,955 --> 00:33:41,395 Speaker 1: let out at Sullivant without at least one fight starting up, 499 00:33:41,395 --> 00:33:43,675 Speaker 1: and sometimes there was many as five or six raging 500 00:33:43,675 --> 00:33:46,035 Speaker 1: between the corner of Oak and sixth Streets and the 501 00:33:46,075 --> 00:33:50,915 Speaker 1: corner of Rich and Fourth Streets four blocks away. Now 502 00:33:50,915 --> 00:33:53,795 Speaker 1: and again, virtually the whole school turned out to fight 503 00:33:53,835 --> 00:33:57,115 Speaker 1: the Catholic boys of the Holy Cross Academy in Fifth 504 00:33:57,155 --> 00:34:01,395 Speaker 1: Street near town for no reason at all. In winter 505 00:34:01,515 --> 00:34:04,595 Speaker 1: with snowballs and ice balls, in other seasons with fifth 506 00:34:05,115 --> 00:34:10,955 Speaker 1: brick bats and clubs. Dick Peterson was always in the van, yelling, singing, 507 00:34:11,355 --> 00:34:15,395 Speaker 1: being whirling all the way around when he swung with 508 00:34:15,435 --> 00:34:17,435 Speaker 1: his right, or if he hadn't brought his mandolin his 509 00:34:17,555 --> 00:34:21,315 Speaker 1: left and missed. He made himself the pitcher on the 510 00:34:21,315 --> 00:34:24,475 Speaker 1: baseball team because he was the captain. He was the 511 00:34:24,515 --> 00:34:27,555 Speaker 1: captain because everybody else was afraid to challenge his self 512 00:34:27,555 --> 00:34:32,115 Speaker 1: election except Floyd. Floyd was too lazy to pitch, and 513 00:34:32,155 --> 00:34:34,355 Speaker 1: he didn't care who was captain because he didn't fully 514 00:34:34,355 --> 00:34:39,035 Speaker 1: incomprehend what that meant. On one occasion, when Earl Baddock, 515 00:34:39,475 --> 00:34:42,795 Speaker 1: a steam fitter's son, had shut out Mound Street School 516 00:34:42,795 --> 00:34:45,555 Speaker 1: for six innings without a hit, Dick took him out 517 00:34:45,595 --> 00:34:49,035 Speaker 1: of the pitcher's box and went in himself. He was 518 00:34:49,155 --> 00:34:51,155 Speaker 1: hit hard, and the other team scored, but it didn't 519 00:34:51,155 --> 00:34:54,035 Speaker 1: make much difference because the margin of Sullivan's victory was 520 00:34:54,115 --> 00:34:57,875 Speaker 1: so great. The team didn't lose a game for five 521 00:34:58,235 --> 00:35:02,155 Speaker 1: years to another grammar school. When Dick Peterson was in 522 00:35:02,155 --> 00:35:05,555 Speaker 1: the sixth grade, he got into a saloon brawl and 523 00:35:05,795 --> 00:35:10,435 Speaker 1: was killed. When I go back to Columbus, I always 524 00:35:10,475 --> 00:35:13,635 Speaker 1: walked past Sullivant School. I have never happened to get 525 00:35:13,675 --> 00:35:15,835 Speaker 1: there when classes were letting out, so I don't know 526 00:35:15,835 --> 00:35:18,955 Speaker 1: what the pupils are like. Now I am sure there 527 00:35:18,995 --> 00:35:24,315 Speaker 1: are no more Dick Peterson's and no more Floyd's, unless 528 00:35:24,435 --> 00:35:29,355 Speaker 1: Floyd is still going to school there. The playyard is 529 00:35:29,355 --> 00:35:32,435 Speaker 1: still entirely bare of grass and covered with gravel, and 530 00:35:32,475 --> 00:35:35,235 Speaker 1: the sycamore is still line the curve between the schoolhouse 531 00:35:35,275 --> 00:35:38,635 Speaker 1: fence and the Oak Street car line. A street car 532 00:35:38,675 --> 00:35:41,395 Speaker 1: line running past a schoolhouse is a dangerous thing as 533 00:35:41,435 --> 00:35:43,995 Speaker 1: a rule, but I remember no one being injured while 534 00:35:44,035 --> 00:35:47,555 Speaker 1: I was attending Sullivant. I do remember, however, one person 535 00:35:47,595 --> 00:35:50,755 Speaker 1: who came very near being injured. He was a motorman 536 00:35:51,395 --> 00:35:54,555 Speaker 1: on the Oak Street line, and once when his car 537 00:35:54,635 --> 00:35:57,235 Speaker 1: stopped at the corner of six to let off passengers, 538 00:35:57,235 --> 00:35:59,955 Speaker 1: he yelled at Chudy Davidson, who played a third base 539 00:35:59,995 --> 00:36:01,275 Speaker 1: on the ball team and was a member of the 540 00:36:01,395 --> 00:36:04,515 Speaker 1: Terrible Fourth, to get out of the way. Chuty was 541 00:36:04,755 --> 00:36:07,835 Speaker 1: fourteen years old, but huge for his age, and he 542 00:36:07,915 --> 00:36:10,395 Speaker 1: was standing on the tracks taking a chew of tobacco. 543 00:36:12,035 --> 00:36:14,195 Speaker 1: Come on down off at that con I'll not keep 544 00:36:14,315 --> 00:36:17,795 Speaker 1: locked off, said Shooty, and what I can only describe 545 00:36:17,795 --> 00:36:22,035 Speaker 1: as a sullivant tone of voice. The motorman waited until 546 00:36:22,315 --> 00:36:25,715 Speaker 1: Shooty moved slowly off the tracks. Then he went on 547 00:36:25,715 --> 00:36:28,915 Speaker 1: about his business. I think it was lucky for him 548 00:36:28,955 --> 00:36:35,875 Speaker 1: that he did. There were boys in those days. I 549 00:36:35,915 --> 00:36:53,755 Speaker 1: went to Sullivant by James Thurber. Thank you for listening. 550 00:36:53,915 --> 00:36:56,235 Speaker 1: Countdown has come to you from the studios of the 551 00:36:56,235 --> 00:36:59,435 Speaker 1: old Ruin Broadcasting Empire, High Top, its headquarters in the 552 00:36:59,475 --> 00:37:03,795 Speaker 1: Sports Capsule Building here in New York. Here are the credits. 553 00:37:03,835 --> 00:37:06,195 Speaker 1: Most of the music was arranged, produced and performed by 554 00:37:06,195 --> 00:37:08,955 Speaker 1: Brian Ray and John Philip Channel, who are the Countdown 555 00:37:09,075 --> 00:37:12,875 Speaker 1: musical directors. Produced by t Ko Brothers. All orchestration and 556 00:37:12,955 --> 00:37:16,555 Speaker 1: keyboards by John Philip Channel, guitarist, bass and drums by 557 00:37:16,595 --> 00:37:20,715 Speaker 1: Brian Ray. Other Beethoven selections have been arranged and performed 558 00:37:20,755 --> 00:37:24,315 Speaker 1: by No Horns allowed. The sports music is the Aulderman 559 00:37:24,395 --> 00:37:27,235 Speaker 1: theme from ESPN two. It was written by Mitch Warren 560 00:37:27,315 --> 00:37:31,395 Speaker 1: Davis courtesy of ESPN Inc. Musical comments by Nancy Faust. 561 00:37:31,435 --> 00:37:34,675 Speaker 1: The best baseball stadium organist ever. Our announcer today was 562 00:37:34,755 --> 00:37:37,515 Speaker 1: Kenny Maine, and everything else is pretty much my fault. 563 00:37:37,915 --> 00:37:40,235 Speaker 1: So let's countdown for this the seven hundred and ninety 564 00:37:40,315 --> 00:37:43,595 Speaker 1: fourth day since Donald Trump's first attempted coup against the 565 00:37:43,635 --> 00:37:47,315 Speaker 1: democratically elected government of the United States arrest him now 566 00:37:47,475 --> 00:37:51,315 Speaker 1: while we still can. The next scheduled countdown is Monday. 567 00:37:51,435 --> 00:37:54,235 Speaker 1: Until then, I'm Keith Olderman. Good morning, good afternoon, goodnight, 568 00:37:54,795 --> 00:38:09,235 Speaker 1: and good luck. Countdown with Keith Alerman is a production 569 00:38:09,395 --> 00:38:14,715 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 570 00:38:14,795 --> 00:38:18,155 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.