1 00:00:04,795 --> 00:00:24,315 Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. He 2 00:00:24,635 --> 00:00:31,075 Speaker 1: who saves his country does not violate any law? Trump Saturday, 3 00:00:32,595 --> 00:00:36,315 Speaker 1: And what about if you believe this country must be 4 00:00:36,475 --> 00:00:43,635 Speaker 1: saved from Trump? It will never occur to Trump, it 5 00:00:43,635 --> 00:00:45,755 Speaker 1: will never occur to a vast majority of his culture, 6 00:00:45,795 --> 00:00:48,755 Speaker 1: will never occur even to a vast majority of commentators 7 00:00:48,755 --> 00:00:52,835 Speaker 1: on both sides, American and Trumpist. But in posting that 8 00:00:52,995 --> 00:00:58,515 Speaker 1: misquote of a probably apocryphal Napoleon quote, Trump has provided 9 00:00:58,595 --> 00:01:04,635 Speaker 1: an excuse to ignore the law. For anybody who hates 10 00:01:04,755 --> 00:01:09,995 Speaker 1: sim there can be no doubt Trump only thought, he 11 00:01:10,035 --> 00:01:13,515 Speaker 1: who saves his country does not violate any law would 12 00:01:13,555 --> 00:01:16,115 Speaker 1: apply to him, would inspire those who wish to act 13 00:01:16,155 --> 00:01:19,475 Speaker 1: on his behalf. That is how crazy Trump really is. 14 00:01:19,675 --> 00:01:23,195 Speaker 1: That's how far he has traveled from reality, traveled further 15 00:01:23,275 --> 00:01:27,035 Speaker 1: from reality since the election. Because implicit in Trump's statement 16 00:01:27,275 --> 00:01:29,955 Speaker 1: is the simple reality that you can never prove the 17 00:01:30,035 --> 00:01:34,755 Speaker 1: negative here, that you can never prove you saved your country. 18 00:01:34,915 --> 00:01:37,155 Speaker 1: You just have to really really believe it, or have 19 00:01:37,315 --> 00:01:42,835 Speaker 1: others believe it. And for every single person who thinks 20 00:01:43,595 --> 00:01:48,635 Speaker 1: Trump saved or is saving or will save this country, 21 00:01:48,835 --> 00:01:52,155 Speaker 1: there is at least one other American who thinks this 22 00:01:52,275 --> 00:01:55,875 Speaker 1: country has been saved, or is being saved or will 23 00:01:55,915 --> 00:02:03,955 Speaker 1: be saved from Trump, and to tell all of them 24 00:02:04,515 --> 00:02:07,755 Speaker 1: that they are not violating any law because they all 25 00:02:07,795 --> 00:02:12,155 Speaker 1: believe they are saving this country. That way lies the 26 00:02:12,275 --> 00:02:18,555 Speaker 1: wild West. Certainly, the media has exclusively treated Trump's post 27 00:02:18,555 --> 00:02:22,515 Speaker 1: as if it applies, even in his warped, dead mind, 28 00:02:23,475 --> 00:02:26,315 Speaker 1: only to him and to his supporters. The New York 29 00:02:26,355 --> 00:02:29,635 Speaker 1: Times actually wrote the story up yesterday and came as 30 00:02:29,715 --> 00:02:32,755 Speaker 1: close as ever it has to saying that might have 31 00:02:32,835 --> 00:02:37,715 Speaker 1: been a stochastic call to terrorism on Trump's behalf, but 32 00:02:37,875 --> 00:02:42,155 Speaker 1: the Times didn't, and nobody else is considering the broader context. 33 00:02:42,235 --> 00:02:45,395 Speaker 1: What if you believe this country must be saved from Trump? 34 00:02:45,755 --> 00:02:50,315 Speaker 1: What if you believe you must save this country from Trump? Well, 35 00:02:50,355 --> 00:02:53,395 Speaker 1: apparently Trump just gave you the thumbs up. He who 36 00:02:53,435 --> 00:02:59,115 Speaker 1: saves his country does not violate any law. I never 37 00:02:59,275 --> 00:03:03,555 Speaker 1: done in that. Trump has now gone from the reality 38 00:03:03,595 --> 00:03:08,475 Speaker 1: of November fifth. He got forty nine point eight percent 39 00:03:08,515 --> 00:03:12,155 Speaker 1: of the vote. Everybody else got a combined fifty point 40 00:03:12,235 --> 00:03:15,275 Speaker 1: two percent of the vote. He is a minority president. 41 00:03:15,955 --> 00:03:18,475 Speaker 1: He went from that reality to this state of madness 42 00:03:18,595 --> 00:03:23,155 Speaker 1: in which he can rationalize breaking any law and quoting 43 00:03:23,235 --> 00:03:27,835 Speaker 1: Napoleon by merely claiming he has saved or is saving 44 00:03:27,955 --> 00:03:30,635 Speaker 1: or will save the country, whichever suits him best at 45 00:03:30,635 --> 00:03:33,395 Speaker 1: the current moment. It's like the wall. What does he 46 00:03:33,475 --> 00:03:35,955 Speaker 1: need to be true right now? I built it already, No, 47 00:03:36,035 --> 00:03:40,155 Speaker 1: I'm building it now, No I will build it. To 48 00:03:40,355 --> 00:03:46,315 Speaker 1: say saving the country rationalizes and legalizes any act would 49 00:03:46,395 --> 00:03:49,595 Speaker 1: be a stretch if you said it while you had, say, 50 00:03:50,155 --> 00:03:56,635 Speaker 1: roughly one hundred percent support. Spoiler alert, he doesn't have 51 00:03:56,715 --> 00:04:00,595 Speaker 1: one hundred percent support. His opinion poll approval numbers, which 52 00:04:00,635 --> 00:04:03,955 Speaker 1: were higher than usual but still sucked, have since decreased, 53 00:04:04,035 --> 00:04:08,155 Speaker 1: especially among young voters, and as they have decreased, his 54 00:04:08,275 --> 00:04:12,515 Speaker 1: madness has increased. Still. If you need any indicator of 55 00:04:12,595 --> 00:04:14,915 Speaker 1: what he intends to do next, he has just told 56 00:04:14,955 --> 00:04:19,155 Speaker 1: you in that sentence everything attempt to stay in power 57 00:04:19,195 --> 00:04:22,955 Speaker 1: past twenty twenty nine, stop elections if need be, arrest 58 00:04:23,035 --> 00:04:28,395 Speaker 1: political opponents or worse, and most obviously ignore all laws. 59 00:04:30,715 --> 00:04:33,475 Speaker 1: And in the last week he has somehow ratcheted this 60 00:04:33,715 --> 00:04:38,155 Speaker 1: up because the now unambiguously declared lawlessness of he who 61 00:04:38,475 --> 00:04:41,315 Speaker 1: uh what is the quote again? He who smelt it 62 00:04:41,395 --> 00:04:44,715 Speaker 1: dealt it nah nah, sorry, He who saves his country 63 00:04:44,715 --> 00:04:48,315 Speaker 1: does not violate any law that has been translated into 64 00:04:48,395 --> 00:04:52,675 Speaker 1: other languages and offered up by Trump by a musk 65 00:04:53,115 --> 00:04:57,755 Speaker 1: to Germany's new Nazis and to Russia's old dictator by 66 00:04:57,755 --> 00:05:00,875 Speaker 1: Trump himself. And it has been shouted at our allies 67 00:05:01,155 --> 00:05:04,315 Speaker 1: and our fellow democracies in Europe by the Vice President 68 00:05:04,355 --> 00:05:09,275 Speaker 1: of I mister Vance and his functional IQ equivalent of 69 00:05:09,315 --> 00:05:12,835 Speaker 1: that of a houseplant on a front porch in Fostoria, Ohio. 70 00:05:15,395 --> 00:05:18,115 Speaker 1: So now it's not just as if Trump were trying 71 00:05:18,155 --> 00:05:21,795 Speaker 1: to destroy America on behalf of another country. It is 72 00:05:21,835 --> 00:05:25,995 Speaker 1: as if Trump were trying to destroy mankind on behalf 73 00:05:26,075 --> 00:05:33,195 Speaker 1: of another planet. While Trump was destroying the Justice Department 74 00:05:33,235 --> 00:05:38,955 Speaker 1: and turning Emil Beauve Beauvet Bloviator, whatever his name is, 75 00:05:39,155 --> 00:05:42,635 Speaker 1: into the world's oldest legal prostitute in the Eric Adams case, 76 00:05:42,715 --> 00:05:45,395 Speaker 1: while he and Eric Adams each wound up shackled to 77 00:05:45,475 --> 00:05:49,475 Speaker 1: a corpse each other. While Trump was loosening the pestilence 78 00:05:50,075 --> 00:05:52,915 Speaker 1: that is RFK Junior on health in this country and 79 00:05:52,995 --> 00:05:56,355 Speaker 1: loosing this illiterate clown who used to be missus wrestling 80 00:05:56,435 --> 00:05:58,675 Speaker 1: on the education system in this country, and while he 81 00:05:58,755 --> 00:06:01,835 Speaker 1: was firing three hundred nuclear safety staffers because he was 82 00:06:01,875 --> 00:06:04,515 Speaker 1: too stupid to realize they were the people who protected 83 00:06:04,515 --> 00:06:07,075 Speaker 1: the national nuclear stockpile. And then he turned out to 84 00:06:07,115 --> 00:06:09,035 Speaker 1: be even more too stupid, and he no longer had 85 00:06:09,075 --> 00:06:11,795 Speaker 1: a way to contact them at home and on fire them. 86 00:06:11,835 --> 00:06:15,515 Speaker 1: While Trump was showing just how majestically stupid he is, 87 00:06:16,475 --> 00:06:21,475 Speaker 1: while he was proving he who saves time in a 88 00:06:21,515 --> 00:06:24,915 Speaker 1: bottle does not have an opener nearby. While Trump was 89 00:06:24,955 --> 00:06:29,755 Speaker 1: doing that himself, his gang of deputy Furres, Vance, Rubio 90 00:06:29,875 --> 00:06:34,155 Speaker 1: and hegseeth, we're doing their impressions of Neville Chamberlain, actually 91 00:06:34,195 --> 00:06:39,555 Speaker 1: doing their Nevil Chamberlain impressions in Munich, trying to set 92 00:06:39,555 --> 00:06:44,235 Speaker 1: out Ukraine, trying to set out Europe, trying to serve Putin, 93 00:06:44,555 --> 00:06:47,075 Speaker 1: trying to encourage China, and in the case of the 94 00:06:47,155 --> 00:06:50,995 Speaker 1: desperately dysfunctional, cloudy brained Vance, try to make the world 95 00:06:51,115 --> 00:06:54,315 Speaker 1: safe for men to wear eyeliner and have a beard. 96 00:06:56,315 --> 00:07:01,955 Speaker 1: Who in the hell is JD Vance? To explain in 97 00:07:02,195 --> 00:07:06,275 Speaker 1: Europe that Europe needs to be more fascist, and in 98 00:07:06,355 --> 00:07:11,395 Speaker 1: being more fascist, to claim that it's free speech and 99 00:07:11,435 --> 00:07:16,155 Speaker 1: it's trusting in the pillars of their own democracies. Oh, 100 00:07:16,195 --> 00:07:18,715 Speaker 1: I know, he's vice president of the United States. Spiro 101 00:07:18,955 --> 00:07:23,675 Speaker 1: Agnew was vice president of the United States. John Calhoun 102 00:07:23,915 --> 00:07:30,035 Speaker 1: was vice president of the United States. JD. Vance works 103 00:07:30,155 --> 00:07:35,235 Speaker 1: for the world's leading purveyor of democracy destruction. JD Vance 104 00:07:35,675 --> 00:07:39,875 Speaker 1: is Donald Trump's whore. And we don't know who Donald 105 00:07:39,875 --> 00:07:42,595 Speaker 1: Trump is a whore for. But if you are now 106 00:07:42,715 --> 00:07:46,315 Speaker 1: or if you have ever been agnostic, Donald Trump is 107 00:07:46,355 --> 00:07:49,195 Speaker 1: the best evidence you have seen in your lifetime that 108 00:07:49,235 --> 00:07:56,435 Speaker 1: there really is a satan. He who saves his country 109 00:07:56,515 --> 00:08:04,955 Speaker 1: does not violate any law. Great, brilliant, very helpful. If 110 00:08:04,995 --> 00:08:10,275 Speaker 1: it has ever crossed Trump's mind, it and its little 111 00:08:10,315 --> 00:08:15,355 Speaker 1: feet echoing thunderously in that otherwise empty gold, rustolium covered space. 112 00:08:16,635 --> 00:08:21,195 Speaker 1: Just how many million Americans currently think that they are 113 00:08:21,235 --> 00:08:27,955 Speaker 1: supposed to save this country right now from him? Make 114 00:08:28,035 --> 00:08:31,435 Speaker 1: sure they know the President of the United States just 115 00:08:31,555 --> 00:08:35,755 Speaker 1: gave them a pass. You think you are in the 116 00:08:35,795 --> 00:08:39,955 Speaker 1: process of saving the country? You follow your star kid, 117 00:08:40,435 --> 00:08:44,075 Speaker 1: You do not violate any law. So what if you're 118 00:08:44,195 --> 00:08:47,675 Speaker 1: just another nut job with a crazy dream. When they 119 00:08:47,795 --> 00:08:50,875 Speaker 1: arrest you, you just say, but the President said, I 120 00:08:51,235 --> 00:09:00,835 Speaker 1: does not violate any laws. Less explosively about this dumbest 121 00:09:00,875 --> 00:09:05,235 Speaker 1: thing Trump has ever said, and maybe of more immediate 122 00:09:05,275 --> 00:09:09,515 Speaker 1: importance about this dumbest thing Trump has ever said, you 123 00:09:09,635 --> 00:09:13,315 Speaker 1: need to save the country from me, Go ahead, You're 124 00:09:13,315 --> 00:09:20,115 Speaker 1: not violating any law. Maybe of more immediate importance about 125 00:09:20,155 --> 00:09:24,275 Speaker 1: this moronic statement. The Democratic National Committee delegate David Atkins 126 00:09:24,315 --> 00:09:27,715 Speaker 1: notes that Trump's post from Saturday, he who saves his 127 00:09:27,755 --> 00:09:31,235 Speaker 1: country does not violate any law, should be used as 128 00:09:31,355 --> 00:09:35,635 Speaker 1: evidence in every court filing against Trump and against the 129 00:09:35,755 --> 00:09:40,195 Speaker 1: Doge scammers, and against Musk, and in the Eric Adams case, 130 00:09:40,235 --> 00:09:45,435 Speaker 1: and in everything that he hasn't even done yet but will. 131 00:09:45,515 --> 00:09:47,675 Speaker 1: In this context, it is the dumbest thing Trump has 132 00:09:47,675 --> 00:09:52,675 Speaker 1: ever said, because it shows foreknowledge of intent to break 133 00:09:52,715 --> 00:09:58,075 Speaker 1: the law. Because this sweeping madness doesn't just encourage assassins, 134 00:09:58,075 --> 00:10:02,075 Speaker 1: it also encourages hacking by Musk employees who answer to 135 00:10:02,195 --> 00:10:06,635 Speaker 1: names like Big Balls or the fop of the country, 136 00:10:07,675 --> 00:10:12,315 Speaker 1: the father of the country. Oh that's Elon Musk. Twelve 137 00:10:12,515 --> 00:10:16,195 Speaker 1: kids with four different women counting the newest claim by 138 00:10:16,235 --> 00:10:19,355 Speaker 1: the fascist nitwit who calls herself Ashley Saint Clair. By 139 00:10:19,395 --> 00:10:22,395 Speaker 1: the way, that appears to be her real name. Ashley 140 00:10:22,475 --> 00:10:26,715 Speaker 1: Saint Clair says she just welcomed Musk's newest spawn five 141 00:10:26,755 --> 00:10:30,875 Speaker 1: months ago. The update on this is now she's apparently 142 00:10:30,955 --> 00:10:35,235 Speaker 1: hinting it was via IVF or, as the fertility experts 143 00:10:35,275 --> 00:10:41,155 Speaker 1: call it, the driverless car of procreation. I mean, I'm 144 00:10:41,155 --> 00:10:43,755 Speaker 1: sure Musk will bring this child to the White House soon, 145 00:10:44,635 --> 00:10:49,035 Speaker 1: because when he does it, it's cute, it's humanizing. If a 146 00:10:49,075 --> 00:10:52,595 Speaker 1: woman did that, if Lauren Bobert did that, or if 147 00:10:52,715 --> 00:10:56,875 Speaker 1: Nancy Mace had twelve kids with four different men, or 148 00:10:57,035 --> 00:10:59,515 Speaker 1: if say, instead of Elon Musk doing that with the 149 00:10:59,595 --> 00:11:02,155 Speaker 1: kid in the Oval office, Ben Carson had done that, 150 00:11:02,635 --> 00:11:06,795 Speaker 1: or Ben Carson had had twelve kids with four different women, 151 00:11:07,555 --> 00:11:11,435 Speaker 1: they would be run out of Maga by Maga. When 152 00:11:11,515 --> 00:11:15,115 Speaker 1: Musk does it, they all bark like seals, like South 153 00:11:15,155 --> 00:11:19,355 Speaker 1: African apartheid friendly seals, and they do features on the 154 00:11:19,435 --> 00:11:22,155 Speaker 1: suit the kid was wearing, and they imply that the 155 00:11:22,355 --> 00:11:26,075 Speaker 1: suit proves Musk is not just a reanimated skeleton with 156 00:11:26,235 --> 00:11:33,115 Speaker 1: botox stretched over its skull. He who's saving all my 157 00:11:33,275 --> 00:12:08,755 Speaker 1: love for you does not violate any law. Incidentally, the 158 00:12:08,795 --> 00:12:11,115 Speaker 1: original version of he who saves his country does not 159 00:12:11,195 --> 00:12:14,355 Speaker 1: violate any law. Was I'm not gonna pay a lot 160 00:12:14,435 --> 00:12:20,235 Speaker 1: for this muffler or for this copy of the Washington Post. 161 00:12:20,715 --> 00:12:23,875 Speaker 1: In the front runner for the twenty twenty five annual 162 00:12:24,075 --> 00:12:29,995 Speaker 1: Hutzpa Award. This headline appeared in the Washington Post yesterday. 163 00:12:30,675 --> 00:12:36,395 Speaker 1: Quote as Musk reshapes the government, some ask where are 164 00:12:36,435 --> 00:12:40,355 Speaker 1: the guardrails? The White House has taken advantage of rules 165 00:12:40,355 --> 00:12:43,475 Speaker 1: with weak enforcement and loopholes, or simply declared it can 166 00:12:43,515 --> 00:12:50,475 Speaker 1: outweigh other laws. Lisa Rhyan then goes on at length 167 00:12:50,515 --> 00:12:53,955 Speaker 1: about the guardrails, without ever mentioning the roles of Jeff 168 00:12:53,955 --> 00:12:57,755 Speaker 1: Bezos and Will Lewis and the other British ass hats 169 00:12:57,795 --> 00:13:00,955 Speaker 1: brought in to neuter the Post in removing all the 170 00:13:00,995 --> 00:13:03,595 Speaker 1: guardrails there and replacing them with ones made out of 171 00:13:03,595 --> 00:13:11,395 Speaker 1: paper mache. Lisa Rhyne Lisa Rain Lisa R. E. I n, 172 00:13:11,555 --> 00:13:15,555 Speaker 1: by the way, is identified in her Washington Post bio 173 00:13:16,635 --> 00:13:20,675 Speaker 1: that the byline links to Lusie. She quote covers federal 174 00:13:20,715 --> 00:13:25,195 Speaker 1: agencies and the management of government in the Biden administration unquote. 175 00:13:25,355 --> 00:13:27,515 Speaker 1: And if that doesn't tell you everything you need to 176 00:13:27,555 --> 00:13:29,635 Speaker 1: know about the Washington Post at the moment, I don't 177 00:13:29,635 --> 00:13:35,715 Speaker 1: know what does covers federal agencies in the management of 178 00:13:35,755 --> 00:13:38,075 Speaker 1: government in the Biden administration. How the hell should just 179 00:13:38,115 --> 00:13:42,715 Speaker 1: get a byline? Then? I mean management failing to update 180 00:13:43,635 --> 00:13:46,635 Speaker 1: you know what what president this is? That's one thing, 181 00:13:46,995 --> 00:13:52,275 Speaker 1: it's the post. But the author herself never looks. Come on, 182 00:13:54,795 --> 00:13:56,835 Speaker 1: not to be outdone. The New York Times offers this 183 00:13:56,995 --> 00:14:00,755 Speaker 1: both sides, just headline. Still still they're doing this. Still, 184 00:14:00,795 --> 00:14:04,075 Speaker 1: the evidence mounts that somebody is blackmailing Joe con Or 185 00:14:04,075 --> 00:14:10,395 Speaker 1: the Selisburg News analysis. Trump officials attack a German consensus 186 00:14:10,635 --> 00:14:15,715 Speaker 1: on Nazis and speech. Vice President J. D. Vance and 187 00:14:15,755 --> 00:14:19,595 Speaker 1: Elon Musk have challenged decades long approaches to political extremism 188 00:14:19,755 --> 00:14:23,435 Speaker 1: that were designed to prevent another Hitler. They won't even 189 00:14:23,475 --> 00:14:27,115 Speaker 1: say in the headline that the Germans were posed to Nazis. 190 00:14:28,075 --> 00:14:30,915 Speaker 1: The consensus on Nazis and speech. I wonder where they've 191 00:14:31,035 --> 00:14:34,435 Speaker 1: they been four or against since the country was destroyed. 192 00:14:34,435 --> 00:14:40,235 Speaker 1: I don't remember. The Times doesn't remember. Consensus challenged extremism 193 00:14:40,315 --> 00:14:46,835 Speaker 1: prevent Vance and Musk on the same field trip as 194 00:14:46,875 --> 00:14:52,195 Speaker 1: this Schlong covered in brill cream Hegseth. Vance and Musk 195 00:14:52,755 --> 00:15:00,835 Speaker 1: sided publicly with Germany's new Nazis as critical elections loom 196 00:15:01,075 --> 00:15:04,835 Speaker 1: in Germany. They didn't attack a consensus. They sided did 197 00:15:04,955 --> 00:15:08,835 Speaker 1: with New Nazis. They're trying to influence the election in 198 00:15:08,915 --> 00:15:12,675 Speaker 1: favor of the New Nazis, and nobody here is even 199 00:15:12,995 --> 00:15:17,395 Speaker 1: publicly humiliating them for this. And I mean, just leave 200 00:15:17,435 --> 00:15:20,475 Speaker 1: the politics of it out for a moment, leave the 201 00:15:20,715 --> 00:15:24,395 Speaker 1: horrific pro fascism of it out for a moment, Just 202 00:15:24,995 --> 00:15:30,475 Speaker 1: humiliate them. Musk and Dvance about their appearance starts simply 203 00:15:30,795 --> 00:15:35,195 Speaker 1: with basic insults that everybody can understand. Pull off those Oh, 204 00:15:35,315 --> 00:15:38,195 Speaker 1: we can't say terrible things about what they look like. 205 00:15:38,355 --> 00:15:42,275 Speaker 1: This is war. You can throw out an insult about 206 00:15:42,395 --> 00:15:47,315 Speaker 1: Musk's dead eyes and how Vance overcame his own dead 207 00:15:47,355 --> 00:15:52,075 Speaker 1: eyes apparently by using Danessa Myrik's beauty line work paintbrush, fluid, 208 00:15:52,115 --> 00:16:00,315 Speaker 1: liquid eyeliner. A little more materially on the subject of media, 209 00:16:00,995 --> 00:16:04,635 Speaker 1: or what's left of it, we need a goddamned new 210 00:16:04,795 --> 00:16:08,635 Speaker 1: use boycott of this White House until the Associated Press 211 00:16:08,755 --> 00:16:14,315 Speaker 1: is fully reinstated. There I'll reuse this line from previous episodes. 212 00:16:14,555 --> 00:16:17,355 Speaker 1: I have neither the time nor enough words to tell 213 00:16:17,395 --> 00:16:20,595 Speaker 1: you how much this isn't going to happen. It could 214 00:16:20,715 --> 00:16:26,115 Speaker 1: cost news organizations ten or twelve dollars each. They would 215 00:16:26,115 --> 00:16:29,235 Speaker 1: never spend ten or twelve dollars each on a principle, 216 00:16:30,275 --> 00:16:37,955 Speaker 1: but still in my dreams, The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, NBCABCCBSNPR, 217 00:16:38,195 --> 00:16:41,875 Speaker 1: all of them need to withdraw their reporters from covering 218 00:16:41,915 --> 00:16:45,435 Speaker 1: Trump and to stop covering Trump on their broadcasts, to 219 00:16:45,555 --> 00:16:50,355 Speaker 1: in fact use only the Associated Press coverage of Trump 220 00:16:50,755 --> 00:16:53,755 Speaker 1: until the Gibbels division of the Trump administration backs off 221 00:16:53,755 --> 00:16:57,275 Speaker 1: its attempts to crack the door open to controlling what 222 00:16:57,435 --> 00:17:01,715 Speaker 1: all reporters say and write, and then ultimately what you 223 00:17:03,435 --> 00:17:08,995 Speaker 1: say and write if you are unfamiliar. Trump insists the 224 00:17:09,035 --> 00:17:12,435 Speaker 1: Gulf of Mexico, which has been called that since at 225 00:17:12,515 --> 00:17:16,435 Speaker 1: least fifteen point fifty, is now the Gulf of America, 226 00:17:17,195 --> 00:17:22,475 Speaker 1: because Trump does not know that he who saves the 227 00:17:22,555 --> 00:17:26,315 Speaker 1: cost of reprinting all the maps, does not violate any law. 228 00:17:28,235 --> 00:17:32,075 Speaker 1: The Associated Press said, this is bullshit. The White House 229 00:17:32,115 --> 00:17:35,435 Speaker 1: then said the Associated Press reporters were banned from the 230 00:17:35,475 --> 00:17:38,955 Speaker 1: White House until it did change the name of the 231 00:17:38,995 --> 00:17:43,395 Speaker 1: Gulf of Mexico because Trump said so, and he is 232 00:17:43,435 --> 00:17:50,355 Speaker 1: the law here. Now. The media solidarity the upside to 233 00:17:50,395 --> 00:17:54,635 Speaker 1: that liberal monolith that rupert I was senile before senile 234 00:17:54,755 --> 00:18:00,955 Speaker 1: was cool. Murdoch believes exists the media solidarity in defense 235 00:18:00,995 --> 00:18:04,635 Speaker 1: of the AP. The Reuter's wire service says it quotes 236 00:18:04,795 --> 00:18:08,675 Speaker 1: stands with the Associated Press in objecting to coverage restrictions 237 00:18:08,835 --> 00:18:12,955 Speaker 1: imposed by the White House. Reuter stands with the AP, 238 00:18:13,235 --> 00:18:17,035 Speaker 1: But of course not next to it is Reuters refusing 239 00:18:17,035 --> 00:18:21,555 Speaker 1: to send a reporter to the White House. No. The 240 00:18:21,675 --> 00:18:25,075 Speaker 1: White House Correspondence Association, its latest president is one of 241 00:18:25,075 --> 00:18:28,315 Speaker 1: the conventional wisdom morons from Politico. It says this is 242 00:18:28,435 --> 00:18:33,395 Speaker 1: unacceptable and its response is to resolutely do nothing about it. 243 00:18:35,435 --> 00:18:39,275 Speaker 1: Axios did the most axios thing possible, showing absolutely no 244 00:18:39,395 --> 00:18:41,555 Speaker 1: sense that if the White House can punish AP, it 245 00:18:41,555 --> 00:18:46,675 Speaker 1: cansures how punish weaklings like Axios. Axios issued a statement saying, quote, 246 00:18:46,755 --> 00:18:49,315 Speaker 1: the AP and all news organizations should be free to 247 00:18:49,355 --> 00:18:52,915 Speaker 1: report as they see fit. And if that line in 248 00:18:52,955 --> 00:18:59,555 Speaker 1: the sand isn't shallow enough, Axios found its own solution, 249 00:18:59,755 --> 00:19:03,635 Speaker 1: quoting again, our standard is to use Gulf of America, 250 00:19:03,875 --> 00:19:13,395 Speaker 1: renamed by US from Gulf of Mexico. Absolute clowns, possibly 251 00:19:13,475 --> 00:19:16,995 Speaker 1: the greatest distance between how they are viewed in this 252 00:19:17,155 --> 00:19:20,555 Speaker 1: country and in the media of this country. Axios, and 253 00:19:20,595 --> 00:19:24,595 Speaker 1: how they think of themselves. The names are Van der 254 00:19:24,675 --> 00:19:31,835 Speaker 1: Hie and Allan, They ares Fops, Fops, they think they 255 00:19:31,835 --> 00:19:38,315 Speaker 1: are Pulitzer and Hearst. And still other news outlets have 256 00:19:38,395 --> 00:19:41,715 Speaker 1: done worse than Axios. Other news outlets have said nothing. 257 00:19:43,155 --> 00:19:47,555 Speaker 1: Hold on, I'll correct myself on that. The Atlantic has 258 00:19:47,555 --> 00:19:51,675 Speaker 1: now published a piece with an amazing headline worse than nothing. 259 00:19:52,475 --> 00:19:55,155 Speaker 1: The Gulf of America is the wrong fight to pick. 260 00:19:56,915 --> 00:20:01,915 Speaker 1: Jelad Edelman writes that quote. It draws attention away from 261 00:20:01,955 --> 00:20:04,395 Speaker 1: his more egregious affronts to the public interest and the 262 00:20:04,475 --> 00:20:06,435 Speaker 1: rule of law. And it's a fight that the AP 263 00:20:06,675 --> 00:20:11,075 Speaker 1: probably should never have picked in the first place. What 264 00:20:11,195 --> 00:20:14,555 Speaker 1: you have just witnessed in one and one half sentences 265 00:20:14,595 --> 00:20:18,075 Speaker 1: from mister Edelman is called the shifting of the Overton window. 266 00:20:19,035 --> 00:20:22,915 Speaker 1: We are no longer arguing about whether psychotic bullies should 267 00:20:22,955 --> 00:20:26,035 Speaker 1: be able to dictate what news organizations right and what 268 00:20:26,195 --> 00:20:30,075 Speaker 1: terms and names they may use, but how often and 269 00:20:30,195 --> 00:20:34,355 Speaker 1: under what circumstances. And more broadly, we are no longer 270 00:20:34,475 --> 00:20:37,115 Speaker 1: arguing whether Trump should run rough shod over the laws 271 00:20:37,155 --> 00:20:39,235 Speaker 1: and customs that have been the only thing holding this 272 00:20:39,275 --> 00:20:41,635 Speaker 1: country together. For two and a half centuries. We're now 273 00:20:41,715 --> 00:20:45,235 Speaker 1: arguing over which laws and customs he can run rough 274 00:20:45,235 --> 00:20:51,195 Speaker 1: shod and which ones we should bother to defend. To 275 00:20:51,275 --> 00:20:55,355 Speaker 1: quote Angela Lansbury as missus John Yerke's Iceland in the 276 00:20:55,355 --> 00:20:59,835 Speaker 1: Manchurian Candidate, what are they saying? Are they saying are 277 00:20:59,875 --> 00:21:02,675 Speaker 1: there any Communists in the Defense Department? No, of course not. 278 00:21:02,875 --> 00:21:05,475 Speaker 1: They're saying how many Commune his star there in the 279 00:21:05,475 --> 00:21:13,475 Speaker 1: Defense Department? And the Atlantic just helped the media continues 280 00:21:13,515 --> 00:21:17,675 Speaker 1: to collapse like a poorly built house of cards. I 281 00:21:17,835 --> 00:21:19,715 Speaker 1: like to think a house of cards made from the 282 00:21:19,835 --> 00:21:24,435 Speaker 1: deck that they use in the Manchurian Candidate. I don't 283 00:21:24,435 --> 00:21:26,875 Speaker 1: think there's any question of it now. Whatever combination of 284 00:21:26,915 --> 00:21:30,195 Speaker 1: blackmail and plain old fear of making only thirty seven 285 00:21:30,235 --> 00:21:32,915 Speaker 1: billion this year, not forty seven billion that caused the 286 00:21:33,035 --> 00:21:35,635 Speaker 1: Washington Post and Facebook and the others to fold under 287 00:21:35,675 --> 00:21:38,835 Speaker 1: the slightest possible pressure. It's clearly at work at the 288 00:21:38,835 --> 00:21:45,435 Speaker 1: New York Times too. That piece I mentioned before about Hitler. Oh, 289 00:21:45,475 --> 00:21:48,515 Speaker 1: we've hurt the consensus about Hitler. We won't say what 290 00:21:48,555 --> 00:21:51,075 Speaker 1: the consensus was. We might offend Hitler. He might be 291 00:21:51,115 --> 00:21:55,035 Speaker 1: still reading somewhere somebody at the New York Times is 292 00:21:55,075 --> 00:22:00,195 Speaker 1: being pressured. A Times guest op ed Trump might have 293 00:22:00,275 --> 00:22:04,635 Speaker 1: a case on birthright citizenships the venue for the Peace, 294 00:22:04,915 --> 00:22:08,275 Speaker 1: and that qualifier might makes you think, well, this must 295 00:22:08,315 --> 00:22:12,035 Speaker 1: be something from a neutral writer or source. Of course 296 00:22:12,075 --> 00:22:13,995 Speaker 1: it isn't. It's a piece that could have run on 297 00:22:14,075 --> 00:22:17,515 Speaker 1: Fox News, or maybe it's stupid enough for Gateway Pundit. 298 00:22:18,195 --> 00:22:21,795 Speaker 1: Two authors, both lawyers, One argued to the Supreme Court 299 00:22:21,835 --> 00:22:25,915 Speaker 1: that Obamacare was unconstitutional and the other one is worse, 300 00:22:27,155 --> 00:22:31,955 Speaker 1: an anti COVID vaccine nut lawyer and Fourteenth Amendment originalist 301 00:22:32,075 --> 00:22:35,395 Speaker 1: whose argument boils down to the belief that Trump expressed 302 00:22:35,395 --> 00:22:38,635 Speaker 1: again yesterday, that the Fourteenth Amendment only applied to and 303 00:22:38,675 --> 00:22:45,475 Speaker 1: thus should now only apply to X slaves, all those 304 00:22:45,635 --> 00:22:48,875 Speaker 1: ex slaves in the country at the moment. That's who 305 00:22:48,915 --> 00:22:53,275 Speaker 1: the Fourteenth Amendment applies to, not anybody else. This is 306 00:22:53,275 --> 00:22:56,315 Speaker 1: in the New York Times. Trump might have a case 307 00:22:56,355 --> 00:23:01,235 Speaker 1: on declaring himself emperor. I'm sorry I was reading ahead. 308 00:23:03,395 --> 00:23:06,555 Speaker 1: Of course. Eventually, all of the spineless, weasel news outlets 309 00:23:06,555 --> 00:23:09,875 Speaker 1: who act like this do get hoisted on their own petard. 310 00:23:10,795 --> 00:23:14,075 Speaker 1: When ABC settled Trump's nuisance lawsuit. I said it was 311 00:23:14,115 --> 00:23:18,675 Speaker 1: a legal bribe. When CBS reportedly began to debate settling 312 00:23:18,715 --> 00:23:21,715 Speaker 1: Trump's nuisance suit against them, I said that would be 313 00:23:21,875 --> 00:23:26,235 Speaker 1: a legal bribe too well. A Wall Street Journal now 314 00:23:26,275 --> 00:23:29,395 Speaker 1: reports that the CBS owner, Paramount Quote, is wrestling with 315 00:23:29,475 --> 00:23:32,755 Speaker 1: Weather to settle Trump's lawsuit against its CBS News unit, 316 00:23:32,795 --> 00:23:35,355 Speaker 1: and how it might do so without exposing executives to 317 00:23:35,555 --> 00:23:45,435 Speaker 1: future legal threats such as accusations of ribery. Told you so, 318 00:23:46,675 --> 00:23:50,915 Speaker 1: But wait, there's more. Paramount executives Quote in recent weeks 319 00:23:50,915 --> 00:23:53,675 Speaker 1: have talked about the risk that paying such a settlement 320 00:23:53,835 --> 00:23:57,915 Speaker 1: could expose directors and officers to liability in potential future 321 00:23:58,035 --> 00:24:05,035 Speaker 1: shareholder litigation. Were criminal charges for bribing a public official 322 00:24:06,315 --> 00:24:11,875 Speaker 1: and an additional concern that such litigation and here's the 323 00:24:12,075 --> 00:24:16,315 Speaker 1: telling point, an additional concern that such litigation may not 324 00:24:16,515 --> 00:24:26,555 Speaker 1: be protected by director and officer insurance. Oh how rich. 325 00:24:27,155 --> 00:24:29,755 Speaker 1: It has only just occurred to them that by bribing 326 00:24:29,755 --> 00:24:33,715 Speaker 1: a president they might be charged with bribery, and worse, 327 00:24:34,435 --> 00:24:37,835 Speaker 1: that their insurance might not cover either the bribe or 328 00:24:37,875 --> 00:24:40,835 Speaker 1: the resultant lawsuits from stockholders who don't want to pay 329 00:24:40,835 --> 00:24:45,835 Speaker 1: the money. Wait until somebody reminds them that theoretically paying 330 00:24:45,915 --> 00:24:50,995 Speaker 1: blackmail to Trump will only encourage him to blackmail them again. 331 00:24:58,195 --> 00:25:01,675 Speaker 1: I can't leave you in this state of depression. There's 332 00:25:01,755 --> 00:25:06,395 Speaker 1: actually a media note that is oddly an unexpectedly encouraging. 333 00:25:07,875 --> 00:25:12,875 Speaker 1: The ex Republican strategist and comm's specialist, Sherry Jacobis, has 334 00:25:12,915 --> 00:25:19,395 Speaker 1: a really really good idea low effort, low danger, high 335 00:25:19,515 --> 00:25:23,235 Speaker 1: yield idea. She has been suggesting for a while that 336 00:25:23,275 --> 00:25:28,595 Speaker 1: the Democrats should hold a daily press briefing on Capitol Hill, 337 00:25:30,915 --> 00:25:35,635 Speaker 1: appoint a kind of shadow press secretary, giving an alternate 338 00:25:35,675 --> 00:25:42,195 Speaker 1: White House press briefing the Democratic press briefing. Name a 339 00:25:42,315 --> 00:25:46,715 Speaker 1: Democratic press secretary, give him a staff, and have him 340 00:25:47,195 --> 00:25:50,235 Speaker 1: or her hold a daily news conference. Last week I 341 00:25:50,275 --> 00:25:52,995 Speaker 1: said AOC should do this every Sunday morning, so she 342 00:25:53,075 --> 00:25:56,275 Speaker 1: could own that news cycle Sunday and Monday and control 343 00:25:56,275 --> 00:26:02,035 Speaker 1: the Sunday news shows. But this is better. Somebody suggested 344 00:26:02,275 --> 00:26:06,355 Speaker 1: Pete Buddhajeedge as Democratic press secretary, and that's gold too. 345 00:26:08,875 --> 00:26:11,915 Speaker 1: You could have guests show up at the press conference, 346 00:26:12,235 --> 00:26:14,595 Speaker 1: but the week should be the work week for the 347 00:26:14,635 --> 00:26:19,475 Speaker 1: press secretary, the Democratic press secretary. And by the way, 348 00:26:19,515 --> 00:26:22,395 Speaker 1: the competition would be the actual White House Press Secretary, 349 00:26:22,795 --> 00:26:30,875 Speaker 1: the former center fielder of Saint Anselm College softball. But 350 00:26:30,955 --> 00:26:33,835 Speaker 1: the week for the Democratic Press Secretary should be not 351 00:26:33,955 --> 00:26:37,635 Speaker 1: Monday through Friday, but Sunday through Thursday. It should start 352 00:26:37,675 --> 00:26:41,435 Speaker 1: at eight am at Sunday. You would own the Sunday 353 00:26:41,475 --> 00:26:52,515 Speaker 1: shows now and forever own the news cycle on Sundays. 354 00:26:53,475 --> 00:26:55,555 Speaker 1: Also of interest here on this all new edition of 355 00:26:55,595 --> 00:27:01,715 Speaker 1: Countdown a Confession, why I really killed the twenty sixteen 356 00:27:01,795 --> 00:27:06,435 Speaker 1: seventeen GQ video commentary series The Resistance. It's not exactly 357 00:27:06,475 --> 00:27:09,875 Speaker 1: what I told you previously. None of that was untrue, 358 00:27:09,875 --> 00:27:14,195 Speaker 1: but there was more to it. More importantly, the explanation 359 00:27:14,755 --> 00:27:19,515 Speaker 1: pertains to what it says now about exhaustion in the 360 00:27:19,555 --> 00:27:24,995 Speaker 1: battle against the forces of President Pimp. He who saves 361 00:27:24,995 --> 00:27:29,795 Speaker 1: his country does not violate any law. Okay, I got 362 00:27:29,835 --> 00:27:33,475 Speaker 1: the message. Thanks, thanks, thanks for giving me immunity. He 363 00:27:33,475 --> 00:27:35,675 Speaker 1: who saves his country does not violate any law. Well, 364 00:27:35,755 --> 00:27:37,835 Speaker 1: I was going to do the rest of this podcast, 365 00:27:37,875 --> 00:27:44,275 Speaker 1: but I'm off to save my country first. The confession 366 00:27:44,315 --> 00:27:49,435 Speaker 1: that's next. This is Countdown. This is Countdown with Keith 367 00:27:49,475 --> 00:28:12,155 Speaker 1: old Woman just going ahead. In this all new edition 368 00:28:12,235 --> 00:28:15,275 Speaker 1: of Countdown a Confession, the real reason I discontinued the 369 00:28:15,355 --> 00:28:19,675 Speaker 1: GQ video series The Resistance in twenty seventeen. Actually it 370 00:28:19,715 --> 00:28:22,915 Speaker 1: is four reasons and why this is relevant to the 371 00:28:23,035 --> 00:28:26,755 Speaker 1: subtext to our current nightmare, the fact that everybody fighting 372 00:28:26,915 --> 00:28:32,155 Speaker 1: these American fascists so goddamn tired. Next on things I 373 00:28:32,195 --> 00:28:35,355 Speaker 1: promise not to tell first, believe it or not, there's 374 00:28:35,395 --> 00:28:37,995 Speaker 1: still more new idiots to talk about. The daily roundup 375 00:28:38,195 --> 00:28:41,555 Speaker 1: of the misgrants, morons and Dunning Kruger effects specimens who 376 00:28:41,635 --> 00:28:51,515 Speaker 1: constitute today's other worse persons in the world Brons worse residents, 377 00:28:51,755 --> 00:28:54,755 Speaker 1: some not all, of Redding, Pennsylvania. This is from the 378 00:28:54,795 --> 00:29:00,115 Speaker 1: New Republic reading Pennsylvania voters. There seventy percent Latino. They 379 00:29:00,155 --> 00:29:04,515 Speaker 1: moved sixteen points towards Trump last year over twenty twenty 380 00:29:04,555 --> 00:29:11,195 Speaker 1: sixteen points. The Democrats still won the town, nevertheless, as 381 00:29:11,235 --> 00:29:15,035 Speaker 1: the Republic rights the New Republic. Indeed, that led some 382 00:29:15,235 --> 00:29:18,875 Speaker 1: Dominicans to develop a particularly hopeful view of Trump. Some 383 00:29:18,995 --> 00:29:23,235 Speaker 1: came to believe that when Trump talked about not wanting 384 00:29:23,395 --> 00:29:28,195 Speaker 1: quote illegals in the country, he was really telegraphing that 385 00:29:28,275 --> 00:29:33,515 Speaker 1: he might pursue some sort of amnesty for the undocumented 386 00:29:33,555 --> 00:29:38,355 Speaker 1: who don't merit removal. Amnesty, the mayor of the town, 387 00:29:38,715 --> 00:29:44,515 Speaker 1: mister Moron said, is something they fondly associate associate with 388 00:29:44,635 --> 00:29:47,675 Speaker 1: a Republican president due to Ronald Reagan's nineteen eighty six 389 00:29:47,875 --> 00:29:53,875 Speaker 1: immigration reform bill. A lot of Dominicans believed that could happen. 390 00:29:54,635 --> 00:29:58,435 Speaker 1: Moron told me, speaking of hopes for Trump amnesty, I 391 00:29:58,515 --> 00:30:03,795 Speaker 1: heard that one too many times. They thought the Leopards 392 00:30:03,835 --> 00:30:08,235 Speaker 1: were going to grant them amnesty because Reagan did thirty 393 00:30:08,275 --> 00:30:13,235 Speaker 1: eight years earlier. It's nice to know people are alike 394 00:30:13,475 --> 00:30:17,875 Speaker 1: all over. The runner up wor Sir Mark Zuckerberg again 395 00:30:17,955 --> 00:30:19,995 Speaker 1: said it before, I'll say it again. Whatever Trump has 396 00:30:20,035 --> 00:30:25,555 Speaker 1: on him, it is a dilly Facebook refused to allow 397 00:30:25,835 --> 00:30:33,155 Speaker 1: ads local ads boosted posts for the Invictus Games. You 398 00:30:33,155 --> 00:30:36,075 Speaker 1: know what the Invictus Games are. You've seen this right. 399 00:30:37,435 --> 00:30:42,595 Speaker 1: Everybody has an opinion about Prince Harry, I suppose except me, 400 00:30:43,515 --> 00:30:45,755 Speaker 1: But whatever you think of him, one of the things 401 00:30:45,755 --> 00:30:47,875 Speaker 1: he's done with his time over the years is to 402 00:30:47,955 --> 00:30:53,435 Speaker 1: establish a kind of Olympics for injured athletes, many of them, 403 00:30:53,795 --> 00:30:58,115 Speaker 1: perhaps a majority, wounded soldiers who wanted to continue continue 404 00:30:58,115 --> 00:31:02,515 Speaker 1: in sports despite the most horrific of injuries and whose 405 00:31:03,155 --> 00:31:08,995 Speaker 1: success comes in their decision not to stop. The Vancouver 406 00:31:09,275 --> 00:31:12,595 Speaker 1: Ad Agency the Invictus Games this year were in Vancouver. 407 00:31:12,995 --> 00:31:18,995 Speaker 1: Running these boosted posts on Facebook was told quote, these 408 00:31:19,155 --> 00:31:23,915 Speaker 1: ads can't run because it is about social issues, elections, 409 00:31:24,035 --> 00:31:27,035 Speaker 1: or politics. But you have not authorized your account to 410 00:31:27,115 --> 00:31:30,795 Speaker 1: run ads with political content. You will either need to 411 00:31:30,835 --> 00:31:34,675 Speaker 1: have an authorized page admin place this ad, or go 412 00:31:34,755 --> 00:31:38,835 Speaker 1: through the authorization process yourself. As part of the authorization's process, 413 00:31:38,915 --> 00:31:41,995 Speaker 1: all page admins and advertisers who want to run these 414 00:31:42,035 --> 00:31:45,635 Speaker 1: ads must enable two factor authentication and verify their identity 415 00:31:45,635 --> 00:31:49,315 Speaker 1: and location. The page admin must also link ad accounts 416 00:31:49,995 --> 00:31:53,875 Speaker 1: used for political content to the page and create an 417 00:31:53,875 --> 00:32:01,075 Speaker 1: approved disclaimer to show who is paying for ads. Once 418 00:32:01,115 --> 00:32:02,995 Speaker 1: you have become authorized, you can go back to the 419 00:32:02,995 --> 00:32:07,315 Speaker 1: ads creation interface and select social issues, elections, or politics 420 00:32:07,475 --> 00:32:11,435 Speaker 1: from the special ad category section during campaign creation. In 421 00:32:11,515 --> 00:32:18,435 Speaker 1: other words, you can't advertise Prince Harry's Invictus Games because 422 00:32:18,435 --> 00:32:25,795 Speaker 1: that's politics and elections and social issues because apparently somebody 423 00:32:25,835 --> 00:32:31,635 Speaker 1: somewhere thinks it's controversial to have injured ex servicemen competing 424 00:32:32,075 --> 00:32:36,315 Speaker 1: in the one mile run. Facebook is no longer fact 425 00:32:36,395 --> 00:32:39,835 Speaker 1: checking President Pimp, but it is requiring a line by 426 00:32:39,915 --> 00:32:42,915 Speaker 1: line detailing of where the money is coming from to 427 00:32:43,035 --> 00:32:46,875 Speaker 1: promote an international sporting event celebrating people who have achieved 428 00:32:46,915 --> 00:32:52,475 Speaker 1: athletic greatness despite getting their limbs blown off. Delete your 429 00:32:52,595 --> 00:32:58,155 Speaker 1: Facebook account today. It is as compromised as Elon Musk, 430 00:33:00,275 --> 00:33:04,035 Speaker 1: but our winners Jim Van de High and Mike Allen 431 00:33:04,235 --> 00:33:11,115 Speaker 1: of a This was written under their bylines. Trump and 432 00:33:11,115 --> 00:33:14,835 Speaker 1: Elon Musk, arguably the two most unorthodox and influential American 433 00:33:14,955 --> 00:33:17,915 Speaker 1: leaders of the twenty first century, are practicing and fine 434 00:33:17,955 --> 00:33:28,595 Speaker 1: tuning a fused theory of governing power masculine maximalism. I'll 435 00:33:28,635 --> 00:33:35,475 Speaker 1: just read that again, masculine maximalism. Why it matters. Trump 436 00:33:35,555 --> 00:33:38,995 Speaker 1: and Musk believe powerfully in maximalist action and language, which 437 00:33:39,035 --> 00:33:43,475 Speaker 1: is being carried out by strong, mostly white men as blunt, 438 00:33:43,595 --> 00:33:46,915 Speaker 1: uncompromising instruments to prove new limits both to power and 439 00:33:46,955 --> 00:33:51,635 Speaker 1: what's possible. I'm still stuck back here on the idea 440 00:33:51,675 --> 00:33:54,795 Speaker 1: that somebody in the world thinks that Trump and Musk 441 00:33:55,315 --> 00:34:01,275 Speaker 1: are masculine, not only masculine, but define masculine maximalism. You 442 00:34:01,315 --> 00:34:08,355 Speaker 1: mean weight Trump, masculine Musk, the Pillsbury dough boy, Trump 443 00:34:08,595 --> 00:34:10,835 Speaker 1: three hundred pounds of shit in a two hundred pounds 444 00:34:10,915 --> 00:34:18,195 Speaker 1: suit and hair and skin dyed with Restolium. Axios I 445 00:34:18,275 --> 00:34:20,835 Speaker 1: mentioned earlier has already sold out to Trump a thousand 446 00:34:20,875 --> 00:34:25,955 Speaker 1: times thinks as the founders do Alan and vanda Hi 447 00:34:26,075 --> 00:34:31,475 Speaker 1: that they are Pulitzer and Hurst. Just now they caved 448 00:34:31,475 --> 00:34:34,155 Speaker 1: by renaming the Gulf of Mexico quote Gulf of America 449 00:34:34,195 --> 00:34:37,555 Speaker 1: renamed by us from Gulf of Mexico, which just flows 450 00:34:37,595 --> 00:34:41,555 Speaker 1: off the tongue and really makes an article sing, while 451 00:34:41,715 --> 00:34:45,755 Speaker 1: insisting that by doing that they were maintaining journalism and independence. 452 00:34:47,235 --> 00:34:50,795 Speaker 1: And Jim Vandahi and Mike Allen of Axios and by 453 00:34:50,835 --> 00:34:58,395 Speaker 1: the way, masculine maximism them. Look, I will never claim 454 00:34:59,195 --> 00:35:02,875 Speaker 1: ever to be Captain Beefcake over here, but have you 455 00:35:02,915 --> 00:35:12,515 Speaker 1: ever seen Mike Allen in Jim van Hi masculine maximalism? 456 00:35:12,715 --> 00:35:17,195 Speaker 1: This is as dumb as calling Musker Trump masculine band 457 00:35:17,275 --> 00:35:25,515 Speaker 1: Hi and Alan today's other worst persons in the world. JD. 458 00:35:25,795 --> 00:35:40,795 Speaker 1: Vans's mathles finally to the number one story on the 459 00:35:40,795 --> 00:35:44,315 Speaker 1: Countdown and Things I Promised not to tell and a confession. 460 00:35:45,715 --> 00:35:48,115 Speaker 1: This is about the video series I used to do 461 00:35:48,755 --> 00:35:53,275 Speaker 1: for GQ dot com. First, it was called the Closer. 462 00:35:53,755 --> 00:35:56,835 Speaker 1: It was supposed to be the closer argument in the 463 00:35:56,835 --> 00:36:00,915 Speaker 1: twenty sixteen presidential election. We all know how ineptly named 464 00:36:01,035 --> 00:36:04,595 Speaker 1: I named it. Then it became the Resistance, which kind 465 00:36:04,595 --> 00:36:08,275 Speaker 1: of took off. One of the Resistance videos was interacted 466 00:36:08,275 --> 00:36:13,595 Speaker 1: with fifty four million times on Facebook in late twenty 467 00:36:13,635 --> 00:36:18,955 Speaker 1: sixteen and early twenty seventeen, and an independent Internet kind 468 00:36:18,955 --> 00:36:24,715 Speaker 1: of thing evaluating interactions between people and say Keith ol 469 00:36:24,795 --> 00:36:28,595 Speaker 1: Ruman videos determined and was quoted by CBS News as 470 00:36:28,635 --> 00:36:31,995 Speaker 1: indicating that that was the most interacted political thing on 471 00:36:32,195 --> 00:36:36,755 Speaker 1: Facebook in the entire year after the election. So the 472 00:36:36,835 --> 00:36:42,075 Speaker 1: GQ series, which was ultimately referred to as the Resistance 473 00:36:42,115 --> 00:36:45,435 Speaker 1: and got I forget how many one hundred million views 474 00:36:45,475 --> 00:36:50,195 Speaker 1: in total now, was something of a success until I 475 00:36:50,315 --> 00:36:56,515 Speaker 1: suddenly canceled it. I have told truths about why it 476 00:36:56,635 --> 00:36:59,555 Speaker 1: was canceled, but they have all been half truths. And 477 00:36:59,755 --> 00:37:02,635 Speaker 1: in the spirit of there are no more f's left, 478 00:37:02,835 --> 00:37:05,635 Speaker 1: let alone fs that I want to get, I think 479 00:37:05,675 --> 00:37:07,675 Speaker 1: I ought to fill in the complete story because it's 480 00:37:07,675 --> 00:37:09,875 Speaker 1: a little bit more complicated that I let on at 481 00:37:09,875 --> 00:37:14,275 Speaker 1: the time, and it is apropos of the current moment 482 00:37:14,355 --> 00:37:17,955 Speaker 1: as well. With so many of us struggling to fight back. 483 00:37:18,435 --> 00:37:22,795 Speaker 1: Now that our worst realizations and dreams have come together, 484 00:37:23,675 --> 00:37:26,755 Speaker 1: we are seeing all the things we said might happen, 485 00:37:27,155 --> 00:37:31,475 Speaker 1: all happening all at once, and we have brilliant responses. 486 00:37:31,515 --> 00:37:34,515 Speaker 1: Like the Washington Post, after a year of not being 487 00:37:34,715 --> 00:37:37,795 Speaker 1: anything resembling the guardrail it was supposed to be, writing 488 00:37:37,835 --> 00:37:43,235 Speaker 1: an article actually headlined what happened to the guardrails? You 489 00:37:43,555 --> 00:37:47,515 Speaker 1: ate them, Jeff Bezos, or you turn them into plastic 490 00:37:47,555 --> 00:37:52,195 Speaker 1: and use them on your girlfriend. Sorry for the analogy, 491 00:37:52,315 --> 00:37:57,915 Speaker 1: and more importantly for the imagery, but here's the point. 492 00:37:59,395 --> 00:38:03,635 Speaker 1: I was doing about three commentaries a week, usually for GQ, 493 00:38:03,875 --> 00:38:07,995 Speaker 1: and we did them, recorded them Monday afternoons, took one 494 00:38:08,075 --> 00:38:10,675 Speaker 1: trip down there. I got no money for it, except 495 00:38:10,675 --> 00:38:15,475 Speaker 1: for some charitable donations to dog charities and carfare, and 496 00:38:15,515 --> 00:38:18,675 Speaker 1: initially it was only carfare in one direction. I swear 497 00:38:18,715 --> 00:38:21,195 Speaker 1: to God, the Conde Nast people were so cheap at 498 00:38:21,235 --> 00:38:24,155 Speaker 1: the beginning. They only gave me carfare and uber in 499 00:38:24,275 --> 00:38:28,155 Speaker 1: one direction. You didn't have to give me any money. 500 00:38:28,195 --> 00:38:30,835 Speaker 1: There's no insurance required. Therefore, you don't have to send 501 00:38:30,875 --> 00:38:34,035 Speaker 1: a car for somebody, which is why TV organizations and 502 00:38:34,155 --> 00:38:37,995 Speaker 1: other video organizations and news organizations send cars for people 503 00:38:37,995 --> 00:38:40,555 Speaker 1: because they are liable for them insurance wise. But of 504 00:38:40,595 --> 00:38:42,835 Speaker 1: course if you're not paying the guy anything, if there's 505 00:38:42,875 --> 00:38:46,915 Speaker 1: no real contract, there's no insurance. I digress. Eventually the 506 00:38:46,955 --> 00:38:49,355 Speaker 1: thing began to make money, even though we were not 507 00:38:49,475 --> 00:38:51,875 Speaker 1: doing it for money, and I'll give Conde Nass credit 508 00:38:51,955 --> 00:38:54,435 Speaker 1: for this. They were not doing it for money either, 509 00:38:54,555 --> 00:38:58,715 Speaker 1: but it did make money. Those pre roll ads on YouTube, 510 00:38:59,235 --> 00:39:03,075 Speaker 1: just those generated something like a million dollars for Conde Nast, 511 00:39:03,275 --> 00:39:06,075 Speaker 1: and we didn't have to do anything other than hire 512 00:39:06,155 --> 00:39:08,875 Speaker 1: a teleprompter once a week so I could record three 513 00:39:08,915 --> 00:39:10,915 Speaker 1: of them. One that was kind of news of the 514 00:39:11,035 --> 00:39:13,795 Speaker 1: day for Monday release in the afternoon, something else that 515 00:39:13,835 --> 00:39:15,555 Speaker 1: would go on Wednesday, and then a third one that 516 00:39:15,595 --> 00:39:17,435 Speaker 1: would run Thursday or Friday that tended to be a 517 00:39:17,475 --> 00:39:20,875 Speaker 1: little bit more philosophical or predictive towards events later in 518 00:39:20,915 --> 00:39:23,835 Speaker 1: the week. The system worked fairly well, and I'm not 519 00:39:23,875 --> 00:39:26,675 Speaker 1: sure it was going to The real benefit I got 520 00:39:26,715 --> 00:39:28,755 Speaker 1: out of it, other than venting my spleen was the 521 00:39:28,795 --> 00:39:33,395 Speaker 1: fact that I was dressed by the head of styling 522 00:39:33,435 --> 00:39:37,755 Speaker 1: for men for GQ magazine, and I have never looked 523 00:39:37,795 --> 00:39:40,875 Speaker 1: better in my life. And the suits that he gave 524 00:39:40,955 --> 00:39:43,435 Speaker 1: me are still in fashion, and some of them were 525 00:39:43,475 --> 00:39:46,795 Speaker 1: ahead of their time. And his advice about how I 526 00:39:46,835 --> 00:39:49,915 Speaker 1: should dress was the first not only good advice I'd 527 00:39:49,915 --> 00:39:53,155 Speaker 1: ever gotten, but the first definitive advice. I literally put 528 00:39:53,155 --> 00:39:55,275 Speaker 1: on the suit that he suggested, and the narrow tie 529 00:39:55,355 --> 00:39:58,195 Speaker 1: he suggested, and the narrow lapels, never having thought for 530 00:39:58,235 --> 00:40:01,115 Speaker 1: a moment that these things mattered at all. And I 531 00:40:01,115 --> 00:40:02,995 Speaker 1: looked at myself on the video and I went, hey, 532 00:40:02,995 --> 00:40:06,715 Speaker 1: when did I lose twenty five pounds? Okay, so we'd 533 00:40:06,715 --> 00:40:08,955 Speaker 1: go down there and record these and I believe they 534 00:40:09,035 --> 00:40:11,835 Speaker 1: have had some value. I think they had value to me, 535 00:40:11,875 --> 00:40:14,035 Speaker 1: and if that fifty four million number was accurate in 536 00:40:14,075 --> 00:40:16,835 Speaker 1: any way, they had value to you. And then one 537 00:40:16,875 --> 00:40:20,795 Speaker 1: day I stopped them. Well, there's a backstory to it. 538 00:40:20,795 --> 00:40:22,955 Speaker 1: It was speculated at the time that I had been 539 00:40:22,995 --> 00:40:26,275 Speaker 1: threatened or blackmailed, that I had been as Jeff Bezos 540 00:40:26,275 --> 00:40:29,715 Speaker 1: has been, or Mark Zuckerberg had been, likely the victim 541 00:40:29,755 --> 00:40:32,115 Speaker 1: of somebody coming to me and saying, hey, remember that 542 00:40:32,195 --> 00:40:36,475 Speaker 1: time that you did this, Well, we have pictures of it. Unfortunately, 543 00:40:37,235 --> 00:40:40,875 Speaker 1: in one respect, my life has largely been totally dull 544 00:40:41,515 --> 00:40:44,835 Speaker 1: and has not included anything that pictures of them would 545 00:40:44,955 --> 00:40:48,155 Speaker 1: make any difference, or anybody would go, that's appalling, We're 546 00:40:48,195 --> 00:40:50,115 Speaker 1: going to put you in jail. We're going to sue you. 547 00:40:50,395 --> 00:40:53,795 Speaker 1: People would go, that's it, that's what you spent your 548 00:40:53,835 --> 00:40:59,995 Speaker 1: life doing. So it wasn't that. But there were other 549 00:41:00,275 --> 00:41:04,875 Speaker 1: psychological components, and again they come to bear now on 550 00:41:05,075 --> 00:41:07,715 Speaker 1: me as they did then, and as they are doing 551 00:41:07,915 --> 00:41:12,995 Speaker 1: in an extraordinary almost epidemic level with those fighting back 552 00:41:13,035 --> 00:41:20,715 Speaker 1: against trump fascism and Elonnodziism right now. There is a 553 00:41:20,755 --> 00:41:24,075 Speaker 1: weariness abroad in the land on top of everything else. 554 00:41:24,115 --> 00:41:26,075 Speaker 1: And you know it, and I do know it. We're 555 00:41:26,075 --> 00:41:33,035 Speaker 1: not just afraid, mortified, depressed. We're tired. All I wanted 556 00:41:33,035 --> 00:41:37,035 Speaker 1: to do after the election was retire from this, or 557 00:41:37,075 --> 00:41:41,315 Speaker 1: maybe do one commentary a month or something like that, 558 00:41:41,675 --> 00:41:45,035 Speaker 1: or I don't know, do a dog series of podcasts 559 00:41:45,155 --> 00:41:48,955 Speaker 1: or a sports series of podcasts, or no podcasts at all. 560 00:41:49,555 --> 00:41:54,635 Speaker 1: I've been on the air or online or on microphone 561 00:41:54,675 --> 00:41:58,675 Speaker 1: pretty much every day since nineteen seventy five. I still 562 00:41:58,675 --> 00:42:02,275 Speaker 1: have many things to say, but frankly, I'd rather not 563 00:42:02,395 --> 00:42:07,955 Speaker 1: say most of them. And you've heard most of them already. Okay, 564 00:42:09,355 --> 00:42:13,235 Speaker 1: One day in the summer, I think the early summer 565 00:42:13,275 --> 00:42:16,795 Speaker 1: of twenty seventeen, I was sitting with my two dogs, 566 00:42:16,835 --> 00:42:20,235 Speaker 1: then the two dogs the two girls in a little 567 00:42:20,275 --> 00:42:27,635 Speaker 1: part of Central Park near the mall, near the Bethesda Fountain, 568 00:42:28,435 --> 00:42:30,875 Speaker 1: where we used to all congregate, all of us who 569 00:42:30,915 --> 00:42:33,795 Speaker 1: had small dogs. And there were twelve or fifteen humans 570 00:42:33,795 --> 00:42:36,195 Speaker 1: and twenty or twenty five dogs, and they'd mix and 571 00:42:36,235 --> 00:42:38,275 Speaker 1: match at various times of the day, but always on 572 00:42:38,315 --> 00:42:41,075 Speaker 1: the weekend there'd be a late crowd in the afternoon somewhere. 573 00:42:41,315 --> 00:42:43,995 Speaker 1: And one day we had almost everybody in this little 574 00:42:43,995 --> 00:42:47,435 Speaker 1: cleiku together, and we were sitting there minding our own business, 575 00:42:47,435 --> 00:42:49,595 Speaker 1: and I was saying something to one of my dogs 576 00:42:49,675 --> 00:42:52,715 Speaker 1: or one of my neighbors. And a guy, a creepy 577 00:42:52,755 --> 00:42:55,635 Speaker 1: looking guy in his late twenties, early thirties, and this 578 00:42:55,715 --> 00:42:59,155 Speaker 1: woman with him, with her head bowed like she was 579 00:42:59,195 --> 00:43:01,635 Speaker 1: out of the handmaid's tail, only she'd left her hat 580 00:43:01,715 --> 00:43:06,115 Speaker 1: at home, wouldn't look up, make eye contact with anybody. 581 00:43:06,195 --> 00:43:08,195 Speaker 1: And this guy is just walking ten or twelve feet 582 00:43:08,195 --> 00:43:10,515 Speaker 1: in front of this gaggle of ten or twelve people 583 00:43:10,555 --> 00:43:12,755 Speaker 1: and then twenty or so dogs and he stops and 584 00:43:12,795 --> 00:43:16,515 Speaker 1: he goes, wait, you're Keith Olderman, and I said yes, 585 00:43:17,315 --> 00:43:20,315 Speaker 1: there's no point in denying it, and he went, kill 586 00:43:20,355 --> 00:43:25,075 Speaker 1: yourself now. Several other people around me gasped when they 587 00:43:25,115 --> 00:43:27,755 Speaker 1: heard this, and I went, here we go. And he 588 00:43:27,835 --> 00:43:29,995 Speaker 1: went on about Trump this and Trump that. We got 589 00:43:30,035 --> 00:43:31,715 Speaker 1: into a shouting match, and I told him I'd see 590 00:43:31,755 --> 00:43:34,395 Speaker 1: him at the impeachments and he'd have a nice time 591 00:43:34,435 --> 00:43:38,635 Speaker 1: in hell. And the woman got her head bowed further down. 592 00:43:38,875 --> 00:43:40,955 Speaker 1: If it had been any lower, she would have been 593 00:43:40,995 --> 00:43:44,595 Speaker 1: a contortionist with her head between her knees. But the 594 00:43:44,635 --> 00:43:46,515 Speaker 1: guy kept saying, no, really, you should go home and 595 00:43:46,595 --> 00:43:51,475 Speaker 1: kill yourself right now. And several of my friends who 596 00:43:51,515 --> 00:43:55,795 Speaker 1: were not at all versed in the history of my 597 00:43:55,955 --> 00:44:01,475 Speaker 1: experiences with listeners, viewers, people who sent me fake anthrax, 598 00:44:01,875 --> 00:44:05,195 Speaker 1: Dodger fans who called into CANX radio in nineteen eight 599 00:44:05,275 --> 00:44:08,275 Speaker 1: complaining that I referred to a Dodger player as a loafer, 600 00:44:08,515 --> 00:44:09,955 Speaker 1: so they were going to come down to the studio 601 00:44:09,995 --> 00:44:12,395 Speaker 1: and cut out my tongue. They didn't understand that, whereas 602 00:44:12,435 --> 00:44:14,955 Speaker 1: this was always going to be a disturbing thing, it 603 00:44:15,035 --> 00:44:17,795 Speaker 1: was not necessarily something I needed to call the cops about. 604 00:44:18,395 --> 00:44:20,195 Speaker 1: I was prepared to have a fight with the guy 605 00:44:20,235 --> 00:44:22,235 Speaker 1: if need be, and I was prepared to get at 606 00:44:22,315 --> 00:44:24,395 Speaker 1: hell out of there if need be, and I was 607 00:44:24,475 --> 00:44:27,355 Speaker 1: prepared to, if necessary, call the cops. But I didn't 608 00:44:27,515 --> 00:44:30,115 Speaker 1: gauge this. This was a bully who was trying to 609 00:44:30,155 --> 00:44:34,515 Speaker 1: impress himself that he was saying. So I gave as 610 00:44:34,515 --> 00:44:36,515 Speaker 1: good as I got and he staggered off and the 611 00:44:36,515 --> 00:44:39,275 Speaker 1: woman behind him, and I just thought, flee, madam, flee. 612 00:44:41,115 --> 00:44:43,475 Speaker 1: And I was thinking about this on the way home 613 00:44:43,555 --> 00:44:47,115 Speaker 1: with the dogs, not about me, but about the dogs, 614 00:44:48,275 --> 00:44:50,755 Speaker 1: because these people, the Trump people, are the kind of 615 00:44:50,795 --> 00:44:54,035 Speaker 1: people who would try to hurt somebody like me by 616 00:44:54,075 --> 00:44:59,955 Speaker 1: hurting the dogs. Simply put, they're bullies. They have very 617 00:44:59,955 --> 00:45:03,075 Speaker 1: little connection to reality, and they certainly have no empathy 618 00:45:03,155 --> 00:45:06,635 Speaker 1: or human understanding. And as many dog lovers as there 619 00:45:06,715 --> 00:45:10,475 Speaker 1: are inside the right wing, these are the same people 620 00:45:10,475 --> 00:45:14,715 Speaker 1: who believe in taking care of their dogs and the 621 00:45:14,795 --> 00:45:18,475 Speaker 1: dogs they rescue, as opposed to all dogs, regardless of 622 00:45:18,475 --> 00:45:23,195 Speaker 1: the denomination of the humans connected to them. And I 623 00:45:23,235 --> 00:45:24,995 Speaker 1: thought about that for a while, and I said, that's 624 00:45:24,995 --> 00:45:28,875 Speaker 1: how bad this situation really is. Coincidentally, two or three 625 00:45:28,955 --> 00:45:31,955 Speaker 1: league weeks later, after doing those two or three commentaries 626 00:45:31,955 --> 00:45:36,955 Speaker 1: every week for GQ, I was in the Apple store 627 00:45:37,275 --> 00:45:40,995 Speaker 1: nearest my home in Manhattan, and somehow or another, as 628 00:45:41,035 --> 00:45:43,835 Speaker 1: I walked in, I walked into just the optimum moment 629 00:45:43,875 --> 00:45:48,275 Speaker 1: where the floor manager, who was the oldest guy in 630 00:45:48,315 --> 00:45:52,475 Speaker 1: the building somewhere in his forties, stopped me and said, 631 00:45:52,515 --> 00:45:56,115 Speaker 1: mister Alderman, welcome, Can I help you? And it quickly 632 00:45:56,195 --> 00:45:58,475 Speaker 1: was revealed that he had grown up on the West coast, 633 00:45:59,515 --> 00:46:01,875 Speaker 1: San Francisco Bay area. If I remember correctly, this is 634 00:46:01,915 --> 00:46:04,915 Speaker 1: after all, twenty seventeen. He's on the West Coast, and 635 00:46:05,115 --> 00:46:10,515 Speaker 1: he might have been the youngest guy who I was 636 00:46:10,635 --> 00:46:12,795 Speaker 1: likely to run into in the year twenty seventeen who 637 00:46:12,835 --> 00:46:15,915 Speaker 1: had watched Sports Center religiously in the years that I 638 00:46:15,915 --> 00:46:18,235 Speaker 1: anchored it from nineteen ninety two to nineteen ninety seven, 639 00:46:19,595 --> 00:46:23,075 Speaker 1: because he was on the West Coast, and what I 640 00:46:23,275 --> 00:46:26,115 Speaker 1: did with Dan Patrick as the eleven PM Sports Center 641 00:46:26,195 --> 00:46:28,555 Speaker 1: was for him the eight PM Sports Center. He watched 642 00:46:28,595 --> 00:46:31,435 Speaker 1: it when he was ten eleven years old before he 643 00:46:31,475 --> 00:46:35,555 Speaker 1: went to bed at night, and he couldn't stop talking 644 00:46:35,555 --> 00:46:37,715 Speaker 1: about it and how things had changed, And I said, well, 645 00:46:37,795 --> 00:46:39,995 Speaker 1: the whole thing has changed. We couldn't do that now, 646 00:46:40,035 --> 00:46:41,755 Speaker 1: and he goes, no, you could do it now. I 647 00:46:41,795 --> 00:46:44,675 Speaker 1: would watch it now. I know I would have all 648 00:46:44,875 --> 00:46:47,955 Speaker 1: seen all the highlights in advance. It doesn't matter. It's 649 00:46:47,955 --> 00:46:50,115 Speaker 1: a question of quality. What they put on the air 650 00:46:50,195 --> 00:46:52,435 Speaker 1: now is terrible. It was the fact that you and 651 00:46:52,515 --> 00:46:54,635 Speaker 1: Dan were doing. And I said, well, the little rosiness 652 00:46:54,675 --> 00:46:58,155 Speaker 1: of nostalgia, all nostalgia is valuable because you were younger 653 00:46:58,195 --> 00:47:01,715 Speaker 1: than and further away from death, among other things. And 654 00:47:01,795 --> 00:47:03,435 Speaker 1: he laughed and I went, no, I'm serious, and he 655 00:47:03,515 --> 00:47:06,675 Speaker 1: laughed again. I went no. We went on for a while, 656 00:47:06,675 --> 00:47:08,155 Speaker 1: and then he brought in a colleague who was a 657 00:47:08,195 --> 00:47:10,315 Speaker 1: little younger than himself, who was also from the West 658 00:47:10,315 --> 00:47:12,995 Speaker 1: Coast and also watched. And these guys could not have 659 00:47:13,155 --> 00:47:16,915 Speaker 1: been happier to have seen me and to have gotten 660 00:47:16,955 --> 00:47:19,755 Speaker 1: all nostalgic and to insist to me that I should 661 00:47:19,755 --> 00:47:21,915 Speaker 1: go back and do Sports Center again. And yes, they 662 00:47:21,955 --> 00:47:25,195 Speaker 1: were arch liberals. They knew of the video series for GQ, 663 00:47:25,395 --> 00:47:28,435 Speaker 1: they knew that the MSNBC show, and they said, this 664 00:47:28,515 --> 00:47:32,195 Speaker 1: is what we need right now. First full year of 665 00:47:32,195 --> 00:47:37,675 Speaker 1: the first Trump presidency or dictatorship. Dictatorship one, the Kingdom 666 00:47:37,675 --> 00:47:41,755 Speaker 1: of Trump, Round one well, it took me an hour 667 00:47:41,835 --> 00:47:43,595 Speaker 1: to get my phone fixed or whatever it is I 668 00:47:43,635 --> 00:47:46,715 Speaker 1: was in there for. And I was walking home by myself, 669 00:47:47,475 --> 00:47:49,755 Speaker 1: juxtaposing the incident in the park, with the guy who 670 00:47:49,835 --> 00:47:54,675 Speaker 1: told me to kill myself, and with these guys who 671 00:47:54,715 --> 00:47:57,755 Speaker 1: were so happy at the memory of SportsCenter, and I 672 00:47:57,835 --> 00:48:00,635 Speaker 1: got all nostalgic about it, forgetting, of course, every negative 673 00:48:00,675 --> 00:48:03,835 Speaker 1: that was associated with doing the show, or working there, 674 00:48:03,955 --> 00:48:06,475 Speaker 1: or living there, or anything else that went on during 675 00:48:06,475 --> 00:48:08,715 Speaker 1: that five and a half year span of my first 676 00:48:08,755 --> 00:48:11,755 Speaker 1: tenure with ESPN. But remember I had just done another 677 00:48:11,915 --> 00:48:15,675 Speaker 1: tenure with ESPN from twenty thirteen to fifteen on ESPN 678 00:48:15,715 --> 00:48:20,075 Speaker 1: two every night, in a kind of kind of flashback 679 00:48:20,155 --> 00:48:22,875 Speaker 1: to that style of Sports Center, only on ESPN two 680 00:48:23,355 --> 00:48:25,835 Speaker 1: at eleven o'clock. Only they never ran at eleven o'clock 681 00:48:25,875 --> 00:48:28,795 Speaker 1: because they bounced this around from network to networking timeslot 682 00:48:28,835 --> 00:48:33,995 Speaker 1: to timeslot. That's another complaint for another time. Regardless, I 683 00:48:34,035 --> 00:48:37,955 Speaker 1: got to thinking about SportsCenter nineteen ninety four and how 684 00:48:38,075 --> 00:48:42,035 Speaker 1: much fun it was to have everybody like me. We're 685 00:48:42,075 --> 00:48:45,555 Speaker 1: in television, we're in media. We want you to like us. 686 00:48:45,955 --> 00:48:49,715 Speaker 1: If one person liking us were sufficient, we wouldn't have 687 00:48:49,795 --> 00:48:53,275 Speaker 1: the mental problems that led us to work into television 688 00:48:53,355 --> 00:48:56,955 Speaker 1: or radio or media of any kind. If you need 689 00:48:56,995 --> 00:49:00,635 Speaker 1: a crowd of people to love you, something's wrong, and 690 00:49:00,755 --> 00:49:05,795 Speaker 1: that is solved by television and also created by television. 691 00:49:07,835 --> 00:49:09,875 Speaker 1: So I was thinking about these two things where I 692 00:49:09,875 --> 00:49:11,715 Speaker 1: would now have to run into for the rest of 693 00:49:11,715 --> 00:49:13,835 Speaker 1: my life. And I wasn't surprised by the guy who 694 00:49:13,835 --> 00:49:18,235 Speaker 1: said kill yourself. But it was just sitting there opposite 695 00:49:18,435 --> 00:49:23,635 Speaker 1: this glowing memory provided to me by two viewers who 696 00:49:23,675 --> 00:49:29,235 Speaker 1: wished as adults that we did that show that they 697 00:49:29,275 --> 00:49:34,235 Speaker 1: so loved when they were kids. By coincidence, I had 698 00:49:34,235 --> 00:49:36,275 Speaker 1: been in touch about something else with several of the 699 00:49:36,315 --> 00:49:40,835 Speaker 1: people I'd worked for at ESPN in twenty thirteen to fifteen, 700 00:49:41,235 --> 00:49:43,555 Speaker 1: and we were talking about the possibility of my going 701 00:49:43,595 --> 00:49:47,635 Speaker 1: back to work there again. Well, now, I escalated that, 702 00:49:47,715 --> 00:49:50,235 Speaker 1: and suddenly we were having meetings every couple of weeks 703 00:49:50,275 --> 00:49:53,075 Speaker 1: about my going back to work there and possibly doing 704 00:49:53,155 --> 00:49:56,915 Speaker 1: the six PM Sports Center. The then president of ESPN, 705 00:49:56,995 --> 00:49:59,995 Speaker 1: John Skipper, wanted me to do baseball play by play, 706 00:49:59,995 --> 00:50:01,595 Speaker 1: and I said I've never done it before. He said, 707 00:50:01,955 --> 00:50:04,035 Speaker 1: I'm sure he'd be great at it. And he said, 708 00:50:04,035 --> 00:50:05,155 Speaker 1: and by the way, I think you should do it 709 00:50:05,195 --> 00:50:07,715 Speaker 1: by yourself with no color announcer. I can't get anybody 710 00:50:07,755 --> 00:50:09,675 Speaker 1: to do that. If Vin Scully doesn't, and he's the 711 00:50:09,675 --> 00:50:13,275 Speaker 1: most popular sports broadcaster of all time, why doesn't anybody 712 00:50:13,275 --> 00:50:17,755 Speaker 1: else do it? You'd be second best. And I was like, well, 713 00:50:18,035 --> 00:50:22,155 Speaker 1: he's Ben Scully in any event. That's another argument again 714 00:50:22,355 --> 00:50:25,995 Speaker 1: for another time. But we were talking about this, and 715 00:50:26,715 --> 00:50:30,395 Speaker 1: we were talking about sports centers or a new show 716 00:50:30,395 --> 00:50:33,275 Speaker 1: in New York, or maybe my moving back to Connecticut 717 00:50:33,515 --> 00:50:38,635 Speaker 1: or something, and it just seemed well, I was then 718 00:50:38,795 --> 00:50:42,075 Speaker 1: fifty eight years old, and I was thinking, I don't 719 00:50:42,115 --> 00:50:43,795 Speaker 1: know how much longer I'm going to do this, but 720 00:50:43,835 --> 00:50:45,875 Speaker 1: you know what I'd like to do. I'd like to 721 00:50:45,915 --> 00:50:48,635 Speaker 1: do a job here before I retire and before I 722 00:50:48,795 --> 00:50:52,635 Speaker 1: die that I simply enjoy at least the parts about 723 00:50:52,715 --> 00:50:56,635 Speaker 1: being on the air that I don't WinCE and wake 724 00:50:56,755 --> 00:50:59,235 Speaker 1: up sweating in the middle of the night over because 725 00:50:59,275 --> 00:51:01,675 Speaker 1: I so hate the man I am talking about, and 726 00:51:01,715 --> 00:51:04,475 Speaker 1: I so wish that the world that he has ruined 727 00:51:05,075 --> 00:51:07,715 Speaker 1: could be fixed. And then I know that I might 728 00:51:07,795 --> 00:51:09,715 Speaker 1: be able to stave some of this off, but I 729 00:51:09,755 --> 00:51:12,315 Speaker 1: can't fix it no matter what I do. I can't 730 00:51:12,355 --> 00:51:14,275 Speaker 1: fix it. I might be able to improve it for 731 00:51:14,355 --> 00:51:16,755 Speaker 1: the ten minutes I'm on the air or in the video, 732 00:51:17,035 --> 00:51:19,675 Speaker 1: but I'm not going to fix it. He has powerful 733 00:51:19,675 --> 00:51:22,115 Speaker 1: forces behind him in a time in which all you 734 00:51:22,235 --> 00:51:29,075 Speaker 1: need is cash, and yet I thought, well, yeah, maybe 735 00:51:29,115 --> 00:51:30,675 Speaker 1: I want to make a decision here based on what 736 00:51:30,755 --> 00:51:34,995 Speaker 1: I want to do. And so we neared a deal 737 00:51:35,075 --> 00:51:38,915 Speaker 1: at ESPN, and it began to be in September and 738 00:51:39,035 --> 00:51:42,155 Speaker 1: October of twenty seventeen evident that I would return to 739 00:51:42,395 --> 00:51:47,395 Speaker 1: ESPN in twenty eighteen, probably anchoring the six PM Sports 740 00:51:47,395 --> 00:51:51,355 Speaker 1: Center by myself in Bristol, Connecticut, with the goal towards 741 00:51:51,355 --> 00:51:55,195 Speaker 1: moving it back to Manhattan within six months. That was 742 00:51:55,235 --> 00:51:58,595 Speaker 1: the plan, and I'd be doing baseball play by play, 743 00:51:58,635 --> 00:52:02,475 Speaker 1: although not by myself. So I knew I would have 744 00:52:02,555 --> 00:52:07,755 Speaker 1: to wrap up the GQ series, and the announced reason 745 00:52:07,875 --> 00:52:11,355 Speaker 1: that I gave for leaving that series was that I 746 00:52:11,435 --> 00:52:15,355 Speaker 1: believed that the mainstream media had finally assessed the reality 747 00:52:15,395 --> 00:52:20,995 Speaker 1: of Trump's threat to mankind, to continued human population of 748 00:52:21,035 --> 00:52:25,395 Speaker 1: this planet, and in fact, any life form on this 749 00:52:25,475 --> 00:52:29,395 Speaker 1: planet menaced every minute, and increasingly so by Trump, as 750 00:52:29,435 --> 00:52:34,795 Speaker 1: we are now seeing again. I thought that the media 751 00:52:34,835 --> 00:52:38,435 Speaker 1: had begun to pick this up. Finally, even the Chuck 752 00:52:38,555 --> 00:52:41,355 Speaker 1: Todds of this world seemed to be understanding just what 753 00:52:41,435 --> 00:52:45,995 Speaker 1: a dire situation we were in. I really did believe 754 00:52:46,035 --> 00:52:48,515 Speaker 1: that was the case, and I also thought the Muller 755 00:52:48,635 --> 00:52:50,555 Speaker 1: report was going to be of some value. And I 756 00:52:50,635 --> 00:52:54,235 Speaker 1: also thought that the media, when Trump inevitably tried to 757 00:52:54,275 --> 00:52:57,715 Speaker 1: bury it as he would and did, that they would 758 00:52:58,035 --> 00:53:00,875 Speaker 1: fight back and read the actual report and do their 759 00:53:00,875 --> 00:53:03,155 Speaker 1: reporting based on the report and not the summary from 760 00:53:04,315 --> 00:53:10,395 Speaker 1: bar Are. Anyway, that was to some degree an excuse 761 00:53:11,035 --> 00:53:14,355 Speaker 1: because there were a couple of other factors. I wrapped 762 00:53:14,395 --> 00:53:17,715 Speaker 1: up the GQ series suddenly in a video saying Okay, 763 00:53:17,755 --> 00:53:20,675 Speaker 1: my work here is done. And I needed to do 764 00:53:20,715 --> 00:53:22,995 Speaker 1: that to clear a little space between the end of 765 00:53:23,035 --> 00:53:26,475 Speaker 1: that series, and I needed perhaps a month until we 766 00:53:26,475 --> 00:53:30,275 Speaker 1: were going to announce my third tenure at ESPN, possibly 767 00:53:30,315 --> 00:53:32,995 Speaker 1: anchoring the six pm Sports Center, or at least going 768 00:53:33,035 --> 00:53:37,435 Speaker 1: back into the Sports Center mix and baseball play by play, 769 00:53:37,515 --> 00:53:40,195 Speaker 1: and a full time job again with ESPN for the 770 00:53:40,275 --> 00:53:43,035 Speaker 1: third time, and the second time since it appeared that 771 00:53:43,115 --> 00:53:48,195 Speaker 1: we had descended into a role of perpetual antagonists in 772 00:53:48,235 --> 00:53:53,595 Speaker 1: a nuclear war. ESPN and me peace. Ain't it wonderful? 773 00:53:54,515 --> 00:53:58,235 Speaker 1: So I needed something to say, Okay, I've decided that 774 00:53:58,835 --> 00:54:01,075 Speaker 1: I can't do anything more here and I need to 775 00:54:01,155 --> 00:54:03,835 Speaker 1: for my own life go and move back to ESPN. 776 00:54:04,555 --> 00:54:12,915 Speaker 1: And then there was the precipitate event. In producing these commentaries, 777 00:54:12,995 --> 00:54:16,275 Speaker 1: the Resistance ones and before that, the Closer ones for GQ, 778 00:54:17,275 --> 00:54:19,315 Speaker 1: I had been in the good hands of a man 779 00:54:19,395 --> 00:54:23,155 Speaker 1: named Jeff Gagnin, who was an editor at GQ, and 780 00:54:23,395 --> 00:54:27,115 Speaker 1: who had suggested through somebody I didn't know who had 781 00:54:27,115 --> 00:54:29,115 Speaker 1: called me for a quote on a story, had said, 782 00:54:29,155 --> 00:54:30,915 Speaker 1: by the way, if you do get to talk to Olderhiman, 783 00:54:30,995 --> 00:54:33,315 Speaker 1: ask him why he's not doing a video series somewhere 784 00:54:33,435 --> 00:54:37,595 Speaker 1: about the upcoming election. And I said, who asked this question? 785 00:54:38,075 --> 00:54:39,795 Speaker 1: And I got his number and I called, and the 786 00:54:39,835 --> 00:54:41,275 Speaker 1: next thing I knew we were having a meeting. And 787 00:54:41,315 --> 00:54:43,675 Speaker 1: the next thing I knew, he said, we can host these, 788 00:54:43,795 --> 00:54:45,555 Speaker 1: we can put them on our platform, and we'll fact 789 00:54:45,635 --> 00:54:47,835 Speaker 1: check them for you. We had a deal between the 790 00:54:47,875 --> 00:54:50,355 Speaker 1: first mention that they might be interested in something or 791 00:54:50,355 --> 00:54:52,875 Speaker 1: at least questioning why there was no series. Between that 792 00:54:53,035 --> 00:54:57,195 Speaker 1: first mention and the first video was ten days and 793 00:54:57,515 --> 00:55:01,075 Speaker 1: Jeff was involved in editing and producing these things, although 794 00:55:01,115 --> 00:55:03,715 Speaker 1: he was more of a magazine editor and still is, 795 00:55:03,995 --> 00:55:09,915 Speaker 1: and he assigned me to their video producer for GQ magazine, 796 00:55:09,955 --> 00:55:12,475 Speaker 1: a woman named Derna Newton, who was from New Zealand, 797 00:55:12,755 --> 00:55:16,915 Speaker 1: who had worked previously at arms distance from Michael Moore, 798 00:55:16,955 --> 00:55:20,915 Speaker 1: but in that group of people, and mostly produced fashion videos. 799 00:55:20,955 --> 00:55:24,235 Speaker 1: Because she worked for GQ, she wasn't in any way 800 00:55:24,275 --> 00:55:26,675 Speaker 1: limited to that kind of material, but that was her world. 801 00:55:26,715 --> 00:55:29,275 Speaker 1: And so when I presented the first script for the 802 00:55:29,315 --> 00:55:33,955 Speaker 1: first Trump commentary for GQ, it was in my mind 803 00:55:33,995 --> 00:55:36,835 Speaker 1: at my timing, seventeen minutes long. And she looked at 804 00:55:36,875 --> 00:55:38,875 Speaker 1: it and she said, you think maybe you could cut 805 00:55:38,875 --> 00:55:40,955 Speaker 1: this to two and a half, And I said, no, 806 00:55:41,035 --> 00:55:43,315 Speaker 1: the point is it's seventeen minutes. You can't put out 807 00:55:43,355 --> 00:55:45,795 Speaker 1: of seventeen minute video. That was the start of a 808 00:55:46,035 --> 00:55:50,475 Speaker 1: very contentious relationship. She brought everything that she knew about video, 809 00:55:51,035 --> 00:55:57,395 Speaker 1: which was celebrities, fashion, rock stars, people dressed in funny hats, 810 00:55:58,435 --> 00:56:02,115 Speaker 1: all that. She brought, that short attention span audience. She 811 00:56:02,275 --> 00:56:04,875 Speaker 1: brought that to the table, and I brought my experierience 812 00:56:04,955 --> 00:56:07,955 Speaker 1: with political commentaries in which seventeen minutes was not the 813 00:56:08,035 --> 00:56:14,675 Speaker 1: longest commentary I'd ever done. And we didn't butt heads. 814 00:56:14,675 --> 00:56:17,915 Speaker 1: We ran from opposite ends of the earth at high 815 00:56:17,995 --> 00:56:21,515 Speaker 1: speed for like an hour in each direction, and then 816 00:56:21,955 --> 00:56:25,715 Speaker 1: hit head to head day after day after day. There 817 00:56:26,115 --> 00:56:29,075 Speaker 1: was no week that passed where I did not say, 818 00:56:29,675 --> 00:56:32,515 Speaker 1: you have got to get Durana off this series. And 819 00:56:32,555 --> 00:56:35,155 Speaker 1: I'm sure there is no week that went by where 820 00:56:35,195 --> 00:56:38,035 Speaker 1: she didn't say I've got to get off this series. 821 00:56:38,395 --> 00:56:40,955 Speaker 1: And this went on for several months, and then something 822 00:56:41,035 --> 00:56:44,115 Speaker 1: happened at a meeting before the recording of the three 823 00:56:44,115 --> 00:56:48,435 Speaker 1: commentaries on Monday afternoon, where Dorenna said to me, you know, 824 00:56:48,475 --> 00:56:50,115 Speaker 1: I've been thinking about what you were doing here and 825 00:56:50,155 --> 00:56:52,435 Speaker 1: what you said, and these are the areas where I 826 00:56:52,475 --> 00:56:55,555 Speaker 1: think you're right. And I had been thinking on the 827 00:56:55,555 --> 00:56:58,675 Speaker 1: way in, now that they were picking up the cost 828 00:56:58,715 --> 00:57:00,795 Speaker 1: of the uber. On the way in, I had been 829 00:57:00,795 --> 00:57:03,115 Speaker 1: thinking that she had been right about something that she 830 00:57:03,195 --> 00:57:05,195 Speaker 1: had wanted to do in terms of production, how she 831 00:57:05,275 --> 00:57:07,635 Speaker 1: wanted to shoot these things. She said, you move your 832 00:57:07,635 --> 00:57:09,835 Speaker 1: hands a lot. I had wanted it tight on my face. 833 00:57:09,995 --> 00:57:12,595 Speaker 1: She said, you move your hands very eloquently. We need 834 00:57:12,635 --> 00:57:14,795 Speaker 1: to see your hands moving. And I thought this was 835 00:57:14,835 --> 00:57:17,715 Speaker 1: the dumbest thing I ever saw until about six people 836 00:57:17,715 --> 00:57:19,235 Speaker 1: in a row said, you know, by the way, the 837 00:57:19,275 --> 00:57:21,875 Speaker 1: other thing I like about those commentaries, you're talking with 838 00:57:21,915 --> 00:57:26,555 Speaker 1: your hands. Finally she had made a good point. I 839 00:57:26,595 --> 00:57:29,115 Speaker 1: had made a good point. Well, that was the beginning 840 00:57:29,195 --> 00:57:32,635 Speaker 1: of one of the great collaborative experiences of my life. 841 00:57:32,875 --> 00:57:36,115 Speaker 1: Suddenly we found that there were vast amounts of material 842 00:57:36,355 --> 00:57:39,955 Speaker 1: that the other one could use and improve upon, and 843 00:57:39,995 --> 00:57:42,995 Speaker 1: then we smoothed out a lot of the rough edges 844 00:57:43,235 --> 00:57:45,675 Speaker 1: of this series, both in terms of what it looked 845 00:57:45,715 --> 00:57:48,155 Speaker 1: like and more importantly, how we produced it. We cut 846 00:57:48,195 --> 00:57:51,075 Speaker 1: the production time in half so I could actually spend 847 00:57:51,115 --> 00:57:53,995 Speaker 1: another two hours every Monday thinking about what I was 848 00:57:53,995 --> 00:57:56,315 Speaker 1: going to say, rather than rushing to record it in time, 849 00:57:56,475 --> 00:57:59,355 Speaker 1: and how to remove the bounce in the audio in 850 00:57:59,395 --> 00:58:02,435 Speaker 1: the room. Because we worked together, and I was delighted 851 00:58:02,435 --> 00:58:06,435 Speaker 1: to see her every week, and one day she came in, 852 00:58:06,555 --> 00:58:08,635 Speaker 1: and I came in, and I was about to wrap 853 00:58:08,675 --> 00:58:10,675 Speaker 1: the series up, and she said, you know, they're going 854 00:58:10,755 --> 00:58:12,875 Speaker 1: to be more cutbacks here. There had already been so 855 00:58:12,915 --> 00:58:15,395 Speaker 1: many cutbacks that during my time there, which was less 856 00:58:15,395 --> 00:58:18,915 Speaker 1: than a year, they had gone from having Durna as 857 00:58:18,955 --> 00:58:22,115 Speaker 1: the head of video for GQ magazine to the head 858 00:58:22,155 --> 00:58:25,835 Speaker 1: of video for all the Conde Nas publications, and she said, 859 00:58:25,995 --> 00:58:27,955 Speaker 1: more layoffs. I'll give you a call later as to 860 00:58:28,315 --> 00:58:30,315 Speaker 1: who got laid off, and I said, oh, Christ, this 861 00:58:30,435 --> 00:58:32,875 Speaker 1: is going to beat him or them or that. She 862 00:58:32,955 --> 00:58:34,795 Speaker 1: called me after I got home that night and it 863 00:58:34,835 --> 00:58:37,035 Speaker 1: turned out the person who they've laid off was her, 864 00:58:37,995 --> 00:58:40,395 Speaker 1: and I said, this is outrageous, and she said, I know, 865 00:58:40,715 --> 00:58:42,235 Speaker 1: I didn't see it coming. I don't know what I'm 866 00:58:42,275 --> 00:58:44,195 Speaker 1: going to do. And I said, well, I'm going to 867 00:58:44,195 --> 00:58:46,355 Speaker 1: be talking to these people about doing this and these 868 00:58:46,395 --> 00:58:48,835 Speaker 1: people about doing that. Maybe we can work something else out, 869 00:58:49,075 --> 00:58:50,395 Speaker 1: but for now, I don't know if I can do 870 00:58:50,435 --> 00:58:53,315 Speaker 1: anything other than I quit. She said, what do you mean. 871 00:58:53,355 --> 00:58:56,515 Speaker 1: I said, I'm quitting right now. I'll come in and 872 00:58:56,555 --> 00:58:58,435 Speaker 1: do one more to wrap it up, and I'll put 873 00:58:58,435 --> 00:59:01,515 Speaker 1: out some excuse me, bullshit story about why we're doing it. 874 00:59:01,595 --> 00:59:03,715 Speaker 1: But I was going to end this anyway now. I'm 875 00:59:03,755 --> 00:59:05,475 Speaker 1: going to do it right now, rather than a month 876 00:59:05,475 --> 00:59:07,515 Speaker 1: from now, or rather than after I signed the new 877 00:59:07,555 --> 00:59:12,075 Speaker 1: contract with ESPN, any of those things, because this is ridiculous. 878 00:59:12,715 --> 00:59:14,795 Speaker 1: I haven't done this too many times in my life. 879 00:59:15,115 --> 00:59:18,315 Speaker 1: Outright quit on the spot. Because somebody else had been mistreated. 880 00:59:18,515 --> 00:59:20,715 Speaker 1: But that was, if not one hundred percent of the 881 00:59:20,755 --> 00:59:24,595 Speaker 1: reasons that I stopped the GQ series. As I've mentioned before, 882 00:59:25,155 --> 00:59:29,395 Speaker 1: the suicide guy, the event at the Apple Store, my 883 00:59:29,555 --> 00:59:31,875 Speaker 1: own sense that I should try to do something I 884 00:59:31,995 --> 00:59:36,835 Speaker 1: enjoyed rather than gave me pain every time, and then 885 00:59:37,155 --> 00:59:40,115 Speaker 1: finally the last straw. So it wasn't the only reason 886 00:59:40,115 --> 00:59:42,315 Speaker 1: I quit, but it was when I quit, and I 887 00:59:42,395 --> 00:59:44,835 Speaker 1: called up the publisher's office and said, or sent him 888 00:59:44,835 --> 00:59:47,715 Speaker 1: an email and said, I understand you've dismissed her and 889 00:59:47,755 --> 00:59:49,915 Speaker 1: a Newton with whom I forged not just a great 890 00:59:49,955 --> 00:59:53,035 Speaker 1: working relationship, but one in which, for the first time ever, 891 00:59:53,595 --> 01:00:01,595 Speaker 1: my blank, unyielding, uncompromising confidence that I knew everything had 892 01:00:01,875 --> 01:00:05,555 Speaker 1: grown from that into a sense of collabor with somebody 893 01:00:05,555 --> 01:00:08,355 Speaker 1: from a totally different background. I worked very hard in 894 01:00:08,395 --> 01:00:15,875 Speaker 1: this relationship, and you just fired her. I quit. So 895 01:00:15,915 --> 01:00:19,515 Speaker 1: the relevance to today, obviously is this The motivating factor 896 01:00:19,595 --> 01:00:22,275 Speaker 1: in all of it was when someone suggested, go back 897 01:00:22,315 --> 01:00:24,915 Speaker 1: and enjoy yourself, have fun, go back and do sports again, 898 01:00:25,035 --> 01:00:30,755 Speaker 1: have fun. The weariness of doing what I did then 899 01:00:30,795 --> 01:00:33,355 Speaker 1: and what I am doing now took over again, and 900 01:00:33,475 --> 01:00:35,715 Speaker 1: I know you know this weariness as well as I do, 901 01:00:35,835 --> 01:00:38,435 Speaker 1: because whereas you don't do a commentary on this twice 902 01:00:38,475 --> 01:00:40,795 Speaker 1: a week or hopefully more in the weeks to come, 903 01:00:42,355 --> 01:00:48,675 Speaker 1: I'm sure it affects you. Nonetheless, it affects all of us. 904 01:00:50,275 --> 01:00:52,915 Speaker 1: There is only one thing you can actually credit Trump for. 905 01:00:53,035 --> 01:00:56,275 Speaker 1: He does have endless amounts of energy. He certainly doesn't 906 01:00:56,315 --> 01:01:00,115 Speaker 1: spend any on anybody else but himself. None of the 907 01:01:00,155 --> 01:01:02,995 Speaker 1: rest of us really exist, of course, he has boundless energy. 908 01:01:03,115 --> 01:01:05,555 Speaker 1: He never thinks of anybody else or the consequences of 909 01:01:05,555 --> 01:01:08,395 Speaker 1: what he's doing, only what it means for him, and 910 01:01:08,555 --> 01:01:15,755 Speaker 1: feeling that infinite void in his soul. If you don't dream, 911 01:01:15,955 --> 01:01:21,475 Speaker 1: if you don't aspire, if you don't need, if you 912 01:01:21,595 --> 01:01:24,995 Speaker 1: don't exist in the same universe as everybody else, you 913 01:01:25,035 --> 01:01:27,875 Speaker 1: don't need to sleep, and you have endless amounts of 914 01:01:27,955 --> 01:01:33,195 Speaker 1: energy to devote to your animal needs. An animal that 915 01:01:33,275 --> 01:01:37,195 Speaker 1: must eat will probably not take a nap. All he 916 01:01:37,235 --> 01:01:39,555 Speaker 1: can do is eat for his ego, because that's all 917 01:01:39,555 --> 01:01:43,635 Speaker 1: he has. So that's his advantage. We who have lives, 918 01:01:43,675 --> 01:01:46,555 Speaker 1: and who have needs, and who have empathies, we tend 919 01:01:46,555 --> 01:01:49,515 Speaker 1: to get exhausted by this, and that's the great advantage 920 01:01:49,515 --> 01:01:53,555 Speaker 1: of being a fascist and a psychotic. They don't need that. 921 01:01:53,795 --> 01:01:58,515 Speaker 1: They are virtual machines. So I don't know if there's 922 01:01:58,555 --> 01:02:02,475 Speaker 1: a conclusion here. I will point out that I went 923 01:02:02,475 --> 01:02:05,515 Speaker 1: through all these machinations, and if not, lies to the 924 01:02:05,555 --> 01:02:08,195 Speaker 1: audience about why the series was stopping. I did think 925 01:02:08,235 --> 01:02:11,915 Speaker 1: the media was picking it up. I did need to 926 01:02:11,915 --> 01:02:13,875 Speaker 1: do something for my own health, But there were these 927 01:02:13,915 --> 01:02:16,995 Speaker 1: other factors in there, including the suicide guy and the 928 01:02:17,035 --> 01:02:23,515 Speaker 1: firing of my friend and Newton. Ah, the end result 929 01:02:23,595 --> 01:02:25,235 Speaker 1: might be, and the lesson might be, and it might 930 01:02:25,275 --> 01:02:27,555 Speaker 1: be pertinent here as I went through all of that 931 01:02:28,075 --> 01:02:31,075 Speaker 1: and made all the arrangements of ESPN and told everybody there, Hey, 932 01:02:31,635 --> 01:02:34,595 Speaker 1: good news, I've got I found the reason to stop 933 01:02:34,635 --> 01:02:37,435 Speaker 1: the GQ series. And it's organic and it's valid, and 934 01:02:37,475 --> 01:02:40,995 Speaker 1: it's true, and it'll give us like six weeks before 935 01:02:41,035 --> 01:02:43,635 Speaker 1: you went ounce this. In the six weeks that I 936 01:02:43,715 --> 01:02:47,315 Speaker 1: prepared the window between the GQ series and the resumption 937 01:02:47,395 --> 01:02:52,235 Speaker 1: of my sports career, the president of ESPN stopped being 938 01:02:52,235 --> 01:02:55,595 Speaker 1: the president of ESPN, and the whole deal went up 939 01:02:55,635 --> 01:02:58,875 Speaker 1: in smoke. It was later revived in small portions by 940 01:02:58,915 --> 01:03:01,515 Speaker 1: an executive. They just got rid of named Norby Williamson, 941 01:03:02,275 --> 01:03:06,475 Speaker 1: who managed somehow in the disaster yearist period after the 942 01:03:06,515 --> 01:03:09,195 Speaker 1: president of ESPN stopped being the president of ESPN to 943 01:03:09,355 --> 01:03:11,995 Speaker 1: get this thing done where I went and worked for 944 01:03:11,995 --> 01:03:14,515 Speaker 1: them part time and did ballgames and had a certain 945 01:03:14,555 --> 01:03:17,075 Speaker 1: guarantee and a part time contract. But I never wound 946 01:03:17,155 --> 01:03:19,155 Speaker 1: up doing the six o'clock Sports Center. I did not 947 01:03:19,275 --> 01:03:22,035 Speaker 1: move back to Bristol, Connecticut. I did go back to Bristol, 948 01:03:22,075 --> 01:03:26,555 Speaker 1: Connecticut three or four different times. And then that whole 949 01:03:26,875 --> 01:03:30,275 Speaker 1: ESPN experience ended because COVID closed the New York studios 950 01:03:30,275 --> 01:03:36,795 Speaker 1: that I largely worked from. So if you are flagging 951 01:03:37,235 --> 01:03:42,675 Speaker 1: and tired in your fight, remember number one that even 952 01:03:42,715 --> 01:03:45,315 Speaker 1: if you leave the fight, the problem is going to 953 01:03:45,355 --> 01:03:49,795 Speaker 1: follow you. And number two, it may very well be 954 01:03:49,915 --> 01:03:54,915 Speaker 1: that the thing that you run to to satisfy yourself 955 01:03:55,035 --> 01:03:57,515 Speaker 1: or to give yourself a happier feeling in your life, 956 01:03:57,635 --> 01:04:00,475 Speaker 1: or to focus on it may or may not still 957 01:04:00,515 --> 01:04:16,435 Speaker 1: be there when you get there. I'd like to say 958 01:04:16,435 --> 01:04:18,275 Speaker 1: I feel a lot better after that, but no, I 959 01:04:18,355 --> 01:04:22,115 Speaker 1: just feel more tired. I've done all the damage I 960 01:04:22,155 --> 01:04:24,475 Speaker 1: can do here. Thanks for listening. Listening, Brian Ray and 961 01:04:24,515 --> 01:04:26,995 Speaker 1: John Phillip Shanelle and musical directors of count impt Sorry 962 01:04:27,355 --> 01:04:31,035 Speaker 1: Brian Ray and John Phillip Shanelle. The musical directors of Countdown, arranged, produced, 963 01:04:31,035 --> 01:04:33,835 Speaker 1: and performed most of our music. Mister Chanelle had at 964 01:04:33,955 --> 01:04:36,675 Speaker 1: orchestration and keyboards, mister Ray was on the guitars, bass 965 01:04:36,755 --> 01:04:39,955 Speaker 1: and drums, and it was produced by TKO Brothers. That's 966 01:04:39,955 --> 01:04:43,715 Speaker 1: the two of them and me, We're your brothers. Our 967 01:04:43,795 --> 01:04:46,355 Speaker 1: satirical and fifty musical comments are by the best baseball 968 01:04:46,395 --> 01:04:49,675 Speaker 1: stadium organist ever, Nancy Faust. The sports music is the 969 01:04:49,715 --> 01:04:52,995 Speaker 1: Old Woman theme from ESPN two, written by Mitch Warren 970 01:04:53,075 --> 01:04:56,755 Speaker 1: Davis and courtesy of ESPN. Other music arranged and performed 971 01:04:56,795 --> 01:04:58,955 Speaker 1: by the group No Horns Allowed. And my announcer today 972 01:04:59,035 --> 01:05:02,915 Speaker 1: was my friend Jonathan Banks. Everything else was as ever 973 01:05:03,075 --> 01:05:07,595 Speaker 1: my fault. That's Countdown for today, Just one four hundred 974 01:05:07,595 --> 01:05:10,155 Speaker 1: and thirty four days until the scheduled end of his 975 01:05:10,275 --> 01:05:13,795 Speaker 1: lame duck, lame brained term, unless Musk removes him sooner 976 01:05:14,235 --> 01:05:20,995 Speaker 1: or the actuarial tables do. But just remember, he who 977 01:05:21,115 --> 01:05:26,315 Speaker 1: saves his country does not violate any law. I didn't 978 01:05:26,315 --> 01:05:33,675 Speaker 1: mean you trying to save your country. The next scheduled 979 01:05:33,715 --> 01:05:37,595 Speaker 1: Countdown is Thursday. As always, bulletins as the news warrants. 980 01:05:37,835 --> 01:05:41,955 Speaker 1: Remember impeach Trump. It won't work now, it will win 981 01:05:42,035 --> 01:05:46,835 Speaker 1: the Democrats the midterms if there are midterms. Until next time, 982 01:05:46,915 --> 01:05:50,915 Speaker 1: I'm Keith Ulruman. Good morning, good afternoon, goodnight, and good luck. 983 01:06:09,595 --> 01:06:13,555 Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Alderman is a production of iHeartRadio. For 984 01:06:13,755 --> 01:06:18,795 Speaker 1: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 985 01:06:18,915 --> 01:06:20,875 Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts.