1 00:00:04,795 --> 00:00:21,235 Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. Under 2 00:00:21,355 --> 00:00:25,075 Speaker 1: eighteen US Code four to two four one, a prosecutor 3 00:00:25,155 --> 00:00:28,195 Speaker 1: can request that the judge order the defendant undergo a 4 00:00:28,235 --> 00:00:33,155 Speaker 1: psych eval a psychiatric or psychological examination to determine if 5 00:00:33,155 --> 00:00:36,435 Speaker 1: he is confident to stand trial or unable to aid 6 00:00:36,475 --> 00:00:39,035 Speaker 1: in his own defense, and when it is proved that 7 00:00:39,115 --> 00:00:42,595 Speaker 1: he is not, the judge can then order him institutionalized. 8 00:00:43,035 --> 00:00:46,075 Speaker 1: And Jack Smith should make that request and Judge Tanya 9 00:00:46,155 --> 00:00:49,275 Speaker 1: Chutkin should grant it, because in the seventy two hours 10 00:00:49,475 --> 00:00:52,835 Speaker 1: before his lawyers were supposed to submit an argument against 11 00:00:52,875 --> 00:00:55,955 Speaker 1: issuing a gag order against him, as they did with 12 00:00:56,155 --> 00:01:00,115 Speaker 1: exceptional lameness just before the clock struck midnight Eastern last night, 13 00:01:00,515 --> 00:01:02,795 Speaker 1: after he'd threatened the court and tried to poison the 14 00:01:02,875 --> 00:01:07,755 Speaker 1: jury pool. In that last seventy two hours, Trump demanded 15 00:01:07,755 --> 00:01:10,835 Speaker 1: that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff be executed, 16 00:01:11,235 --> 00:01:14,275 Speaker 1: insisted that NBC News was guilty of something he had 17 00:01:14,315 --> 00:01:18,515 Speaker 1: made up called country threatening treason because it published a 18 00:01:18,635 --> 00:01:22,035 Speaker 1: poll about him that he didn't like, promised that as president, 19 00:01:22,035 --> 00:01:25,115 Speaker 1: he would make NBC and other news organizations quote pay 20 00:01:25,195 --> 00:01:28,315 Speaker 1: a big price, and argued that the homes of all 21 00:01:28,395 --> 00:01:34,075 Speaker 1: Democratic senators be rated just because he bought a gun 22 00:01:34,275 --> 00:01:37,395 Speaker 1: or tried to, and he conflated the Bush brothers and 23 00:01:37,435 --> 00:01:41,635 Speaker 1: I don't mean Billy. Then came the just before midnight 24 00:01:41,755 --> 00:01:45,675 Speaker 1: answer to the gag order request, as insane as anything 25 00:01:45,715 --> 00:01:48,475 Speaker 1: else since Friday of last week, written not for legal 26 00:01:48,515 --> 00:01:53,355 Speaker 1: purposes but to please and arouse Donald Trump. Quote, the 27 00:01:53,435 --> 00:01:56,555 Speaker 1: proposed gag order is nothing more than an obvious attempt 28 00:01:56,635 --> 00:02:00,715 Speaker 1: by the Biden administration to unlawfully silence its most prominent 29 00:02:00,755 --> 00:02:03,915 Speaker 1: political opponent, who has now taken a commanding lead in 30 00:02:03,955 --> 00:02:07,595 Speaker 1: the polls keenly aware that it is losing that race 31 00:02:07,675 --> 00:02:13,435 Speaker 1: for twenty twenty four. The prosecution seeks to unconstitutionally silence Trump's, 32 00:02:13,795 --> 00:02:17,715 Speaker 1: but not President Biden's political speech, on pain of contempt. 33 00:02:18,875 --> 00:02:23,155 Speaker 1: Trump's ambulance chasers slip streamed behind his threats against NBC. 34 00:02:23,635 --> 00:02:27,675 Speaker 1: Referring in the document to President Biden and his surrogates, 35 00:02:27,715 --> 00:02:31,515 Speaker 1: including those in the corporate media, they dance along the 36 00:02:31,555 --> 00:02:35,755 Speaker 1: lines of absurdity. There has been no intimidation of witnesses, 37 00:02:35,795 --> 00:02:38,875 Speaker 1: they say, because quote, no witness has suggested that he 38 00:02:39,115 --> 00:02:42,635 Speaker 1: or she will not testify because of anything. President Trump 39 00:02:42,675 --> 00:02:46,555 Speaker 1: has said. It is impossible to believe that their rhetoric 40 00:02:46,595 --> 00:02:50,115 Speaker 1: will have any impact on Judge Chutkin. It doesn't have to. 41 00:02:50,555 --> 00:02:53,875 Speaker 1: This was written so Trump could get aroused by it. 42 00:02:54,555 --> 00:02:58,555 Speaker 1: Jack Smith has until Saturday to answer, and that late 43 00:02:58,675 --> 00:03:02,235 Speaker 1: response was only the last of a string of insane 44 00:03:02,355 --> 00:03:06,675 Speaker 1: moments from Trump or on his behalf. Yesterday, ten days 45 00:03:06,715 --> 00:03:09,835 Speaker 1: after Hunter Biden was indicted for buying a gun when 46 00:03:09,835 --> 00:03:13,275 Speaker 1: he was legally ineligible to do so, Trump, in South 47 00:03:13,315 --> 00:03:18,035 Speaker 1: Carolina bought a gun or tried to when he was 48 00:03:18,155 --> 00:03:34,275 Speaker 1: legally ineligible to do so. That audio tweeted with video 49 00:03:34,475 --> 00:03:38,315 Speaker 1: by his spokesman Stephen Chung, who wrote, President Trump purchases 50 00:03:38,395 --> 00:03:42,995 Speaker 1: a glock in South Carolina exclamation point, which would be 51 00:03:43,035 --> 00:03:47,475 Speaker 1: an inarguable violation of Trump's bail. You cannot buy a 52 00:03:47,515 --> 00:03:51,995 Speaker 1: gun while under felony indictment. You do it, you do it, 53 00:03:52,515 --> 00:03:56,715 Speaker 1: bail is revoked, You go inside. Chung deleted the tweet, 54 00:03:56,755 --> 00:03:59,075 Speaker 1: denied the purchase was completed. It will now have to 55 00:03:59,075 --> 00:04:02,195 Speaker 1: be investigated, and then Trump went on to continue his 56 00:04:02,315 --> 00:04:07,555 Speaker 1: mental deterioration personal tour. He has already warned Biden may 57 00:04:07,595 --> 00:04:12,035 Speaker 1: start World War two. He claimed he ran against Obama 58 00:04:12,115 --> 00:04:15,475 Speaker 1: in twenty sixteen, and now in Iowa. He has decided 59 00:04:15,755 --> 00:04:19,355 Speaker 1: that George W. Bush and Jeb Bush were the same person, 60 00:04:19,795 --> 00:04:22,635 Speaker 1: and after two terms as president, they came back to 61 00:04:22,715 --> 00:04:25,275 Speaker 1: run against him seeking a third term. In the Iowa 62 00:04:25,315 --> 00:04:27,115 Speaker 1: primary of twenty sixteen. 63 00:04:27,355 --> 00:04:29,515 Speaker 2: When I came here, everyone thought Bush was going to win. 64 00:04:30,315 --> 00:04:31,915 Speaker 2: And then they took a poll and they found out 65 00:04:31,955 --> 00:04:34,315 Speaker 2: Trump was up by about fifty points Sevenone said, what's 66 00:04:34,355 --> 00:04:36,755 Speaker 2: going on right here? They thought Bush, because Bush supposedly 67 00:04:36,795 --> 00:04:38,755 Speaker 2: was a military persaid, great, you know what he was? 68 00:04:38,755 --> 00:04:39,035 Speaker 1: All? 69 00:04:39,195 --> 00:04:41,635 Speaker 2: He got us into the he got us into the 70 00:04:41,635 --> 00:04:44,515 Speaker 2: Middle East. I did that workout right? But they all 71 00:04:44,555 --> 00:04:48,595 Speaker 2: thought that Bush might win. Jeb, remember Jeb he is 72 00:04:48,875 --> 00:04:50,875 Speaker 2: he is the word Jeb. He didn't use the word Bush. 73 00:04:50,915 --> 00:04:55,115 Speaker 1: I said, you mean Trump is not mentally competent. And 74 00:04:55,195 --> 00:04:57,715 Speaker 1: we have been tiptoeing around this obvious fact for the 75 00:04:57,755 --> 00:05:00,275 Speaker 1: last eight years, in fact, probably for the last seventy 76 00:05:00,315 --> 00:05:04,235 Speaker 1: five years. So while this reality that his occasional bouts 77 00:05:04,235 --> 00:05:07,395 Speaker 1: of scene i mean clarity are in fact just careful 78 00:05:07,475 --> 00:05:11,875 Speaker 1: and skilled impersonations of human behavior. While that is nothing new, 79 00:05:12,435 --> 00:05:16,475 Speaker 1: the patience of a nation has been exhausted. The window 80 00:05:16,675 --> 00:05:19,795 Speaker 1: is closing, during which we might yet roll back Trump's 81 00:05:19,835 --> 00:05:23,435 Speaker 1: introduction of violence and the threat of violence as components 82 00:05:23,475 --> 00:05:27,715 Speaker 1: of our political ecosystem, as common as bribing Clarence Thomas 83 00:05:27,835 --> 00:05:31,115 Speaker 1: or making up stories about letterboxes and grammar schools. And 84 00:05:31,275 --> 00:05:36,355 Speaker 1: all legal measures available to defeat him, destroy him, remove him, 85 00:05:36,475 --> 00:05:40,715 Speaker 1: and send his cultists scurrying back into their sewers must 86 00:05:40,755 --> 00:05:44,235 Speaker 1: be utilized before the gates slam shut, and we turn 87 00:05:44,315 --> 00:05:47,715 Speaker 1: the United States of America permanently over to a lunatic 88 00:05:47,955 --> 00:05:50,675 Speaker 1: with the soul of a terrorist and the conscience of 89 00:05:50,675 --> 00:05:54,875 Speaker 1: a mass murderer, who is also now bent on universal retribution. 90 00:05:55,715 --> 00:06:00,995 Speaker 1: Trump is insane. He is more than likely criminally insane. 91 00:06:01,035 --> 00:06:04,555 Speaker 1: His mental stability is clearly declining now from weak too, 92 00:06:05,475 --> 00:06:07,755 Speaker 1: and it's not like he started the year with very 93 00:06:07,835 --> 00:06:12,315 Speaker 1: much of it left in the first place. Every single day, 94 00:06:12,995 --> 00:06:17,355 Speaker 1: judges institutionalize people far less dangerous to others who have 95 00:06:17,435 --> 00:06:21,755 Speaker 1: made far fewer threats or issued carefully phrased stochastic calls 96 00:06:21,755 --> 00:06:26,995 Speaker 1: for violence and public disorder every day, and now one 97 00:06:27,035 --> 00:06:33,435 Speaker 1: of them must institutionalize him. You cannot metaphorically stand before 98 00:06:33,435 --> 00:06:36,635 Speaker 1: a crowd of violent, armed thugs who have proved again 99 00:06:36,715 --> 00:06:40,035 Speaker 1: and again that they await your commands and say of 100 00:06:40,115 --> 00:06:42,555 Speaker 1: the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that he 101 00:06:42,595 --> 00:06:46,555 Speaker 1: has committed quote, an act so egregious that in times 102 00:06:46,635 --> 00:06:50,635 Speaker 1: gone by, the punishment would have been death. You can't 103 00:06:50,675 --> 00:06:54,035 Speaker 1: do that, nor should Trump be allowed to do that. 104 00:06:55,275 --> 00:06:58,035 Speaker 1: More practically, there is every reason to believe that General 105 00:06:58,075 --> 00:07:01,115 Speaker 1: Millie is on the witness list in both federal cases 106 00:07:01,155 --> 00:07:04,355 Speaker 1: against Trump, and Trump's threats by proxy against him are 107 00:07:04,355 --> 00:07:07,715 Speaker 1: an other direct violation of the terms under which Judge 108 00:07:07,755 --> 00:07:10,835 Speaker 1: Trutkin granted him bail in the election fraud trial in 109 00:07:10,995 --> 00:07:14,195 Speaker 1: Washington and the terms under which Judge Cannon granted him 110 00:07:14,235 --> 00:07:18,355 Speaker 1: bail in the classified documents trial in Florida. Milly was 111 00:07:18,435 --> 00:07:22,155 Speaker 1: a witness before the January sixth Committee. He testified Trump 112 00:07:22,235 --> 00:07:25,875 Speaker 1: had privately admitted he had lost the election, an essential 113 00:07:25,915 --> 00:07:28,755 Speaker 1: element of Jack Smith's case in Washington, and it was 114 00:07:28,915 --> 00:07:33,595 Speaker 1: Milly's iran document which Trump waved around to Liz Harrington 115 00:07:33,835 --> 00:07:37,355 Speaker 1: and Mark Meadow's publishers in what became the thirty second 116 00:07:37,435 --> 00:07:42,075 Speaker 1: count against Trump in the indictment in Florida. Trump has 117 00:07:42,195 --> 00:07:47,915 Speaker 1: directly threatened a witness directly in times gone by, the 118 00:07:47,955 --> 00:07:51,395 Speaker 1: punishment would have been death. It's not just poisoning the 119 00:07:51,475 --> 00:07:55,315 Speaker 1: jury pool. It is a call to kill a witness 120 00:07:55,475 --> 00:08:00,835 Speaker 1: who may testify against him. Al Capone would have cleaned 121 00:08:00,915 --> 00:08:04,515 Speaker 1: this up. And the witness happens to be chairman of 122 00:08:04,515 --> 00:08:09,235 Speaker 1: the joints chiefs of Staff. There are no circumstances in 123 00:08:09,315 --> 00:08:14,075 Speaker 1: which such a threat can be tolerated by this country. However, 124 00:08:14,275 --> 00:08:18,275 Speaker 1: lame the arguments Trump's lawyers made against a gag order. Yesterday. 125 00:08:18,595 --> 00:08:21,555 Speaker 1: Jack Smith's answer is due by Saturday, and it should 126 00:08:21,555 --> 00:08:25,275 Speaker 1: be He named one of the witnesses and suggested that 127 00:08:25,315 --> 00:08:29,035 Speaker 1: the witness should be punished by death. A gag order 128 00:08:29,115 --> 00:08:33,715 Speaker 1: is now insufficient. You must revoke his veil and detain him. 129 00:08:33,995 --> 00:08:36,755 Speaker 1: And by the way, he's clearly not competent to aid 130 00:08:36,755 --> 00:08:39,035 Speaker 1: in his own defense at trial, and he is a 131 00:08:39,115 --> 00:08:42,915 Speaker 1: manifest danger to the lives of this witness and all 132 00:08:42,955 --> 00:08:46,515 Speaker 1: the other witnesses, and yourself your honor. So under code 133 00:08:46,635 --> 00:08:51,395 Speaker 1: four two four one, I request a pre trial competency test. 134 00:08:51,955 --> 00:08:55,555 Speaker 1: Hell Smith can just write, damn straight, you should grant 135 00:08:55,555 --> 00:08:57,755 Speaker 1: a gag order. Literally, put a gag in his mouth 136 00:08:57,755 --> 00:09:01,075 Speaker 1: and put him in a straight jacket. Whatever. We cannot 137 00:09:01,195 --> 00:09:05,235 Speaker 1: normalize Trump's behavior any longer, and we cannot promit Trump's 138 00:09:05,315 --> 00:09:11,595 Speaker 1: behavior anymore. And in the tragedy unfolding in the background, 139 00:09:11,915 --> 00:09:15,435 Speaker 1: the most obvious barometer of how sick a society is. 140 00:09:16,355 --> 00:09:19,875 Speaker 1: It is at the flashing red alert stage of dangerous 141 00:09:19,995 --> 00:09:23,475 Speaker 1: sick normalization of Trump and his murderous, psychotic threats. Because 142 00:09:23,475 --> 00:09:26,475 Speaker 1: on Friday night, Donald Trump threatens the life of the 143 00:09:26,555 --> 00:09:29,555 Speaker 1: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the witness against him, 144 00:09:29,635 --> 00:09:33,155 Speaker 1: Mark Milly. And on Monday morning, CNN publishes an article 145 00:09:33,195 --> 00:09:39,235 Speaker 1: headlined Mark Milly leaves a controversial legacy as America's top general, 146 00:09:40,075 --> 00:09:44,555 Speaker 1: and Politico headlines its coverage in its morning newsletter of 147 00:09:44,595 --> 00:09:47,355 Speaker 1: Trump's attempt to talk to somebody as crazy as he 148 00:09:47,475 --> 00:09:52,595 Speaker 1: is into killing Mark Milly quote speaking of threats, and 149 00:09:52,675 --> 00:09:56,755 Speaker 1: Politico devotes exactly eleven lines to it, while it gives 150 00:09:56,795 --> 00:09:59,195 Speaker 1: twenty three lines to letting us know the really important 151 00:09:59,195 --> 00:10:02,315 Speaker 1: news from Washington, the thirty five members of the media 152 00:10:02,355 --> 00:10:07,035 Speaker 1: political complex whose birthday it was? And then Mike Allen 153 00:10:07,635 --> 00:10:12,555 Speaker 1: and Axios somehow do even worse for its newsletter. Its headline, 154 00:10:12,795 --> 00:10:16,355 Speaker 1: forty eight hours after Trump's threat against Millie was Trump 155 00:10:16,955 --> 00:10:23,755 Speaker 1: dodges threat. No, I'm not making that up. Trump dodges threat, 156 00:10:23,795 --> 00:10:27,835 Speaker 1: referring to Axios's inexplicable conclusion that Trump does not have 157 00:10:27,915 --> 00:10:31,235 Speaker 1: to worry about the fourteenth Amendment anymore because several state 158 00:10:31,355 --> 00:10:33,555 Speaker 1: secretaries of State are saying they will not use it 159 00:10:33,595 --> 00:10:36,155 Speaker 1: to keep the murderous psychopath off the ballot. They will 160 00:10:36,235 --> 00:10:38,355 Speaker 1: let the juries do that if the juries want to. 161 00:10:40,115 --> 00:10:45,835 Speaker 1: Mike Allen, john Harris, Daphnel Lindzer, sarahgu Nick Johnson, when 162 00:10:45,995 --> 00:10:50,035 Speaker 1: Trump writes, I say upfront, openly and proudly that when 163 00:10:50,075 --> 00:10:52,915 Speaker 1: I win the presidency of the United States, they and 164 00:10:53,075 --> 00:10:57,195 Speaker 1: others of the lame stream media will be thoroughly scrutinized 165 00:10:57,555 --> 00:11:00,515 Speaker 1: for their knowingly dishonest and corrupt coverage of people, things, 166 00:11:00,555 --> 00:11:04,115 Speaker 1: and events. Who the hell do you think he's threatening? 167 00:11:04,955 --> 00:11:07,715 Speaker 1: Just the Times in the post. They are a true 168 00:11:07,835 --> 00:11:11,195 Speaker 1: threat to democracy and are in fact the enemy of 169 00:11:11,315 --> 00:11:15,355 Speaker 1: the people. Don't worry, He's only talking about Mother Jones there. 170 00:11:15,995 --> 00:11:19,835 Speaker 1: The fake news media should pay a big price for 171 00:11:19,955 --> 00:11:23,195 Speaker 1: what they have done to our once great country. Now 172 00:11:23,235 --> 00:11:26,475 Speaker 1: that's unfortunate, but happily he's just mad at NBC and ABC. 173 00:11:26,715 --> 00:11:29,355 Speaker 1: We here at Politico and Axios, We'll be fine. We 174 00:11:29,515 --> 00:11:33,475 Speaker 1: publish those devastating analysis of how weak the resistance was. 175 00:11:33,515 --> 00:11:36,635 Speaker 1: And of course, Mike led his email by attacking the 176 00:11:36,675 --> 00:11:39,555 Speaker 1: fourteenth Amendment, and he and Trump had burgers together once 177 00:11:39,715 --> 00:11:45,675 Speaker 1: we're on his good side. In the bursts of violence, 178 00:11:45,995 --> 00:11:51,355 Speaker 1: vengeance fantasies that dance across the cesspool of his brain. 179 00:11:51,835 --> 00:11:59,355 Speaker 1: As he composes these nightmarish posts, Trump envisions crowds dragging you, 180 00:12:00,315 --> 00:12:04,675 Speaker 1: Mike Allen and the others dragging you out of your office. 181 00:12:04,675 --> 00:12:09,395 Speaker 1: This is buy your feet and killing you, killing you, 182 00:12:10,795 --> 00:12:14,435 Speaker 1: or if he's in a good mood, just having the 183 00:12:14,435 --> 00:12:17,835 Speaker 1: crowds take you to some camp where you will find 184 00:12:18,435 --> 00:12:23,115 Speaker 1: already behind bars me and oh, by the way, saysar 185 00:12:23,235 --> 00:12:27,475 Speaker 1: Conde from NBC, and President Kim Godwin from ABC, and 186 00:12:27,835 --> 00:12:30,795 Speaker 1: Chuck Todd and Kristin Welker. And here's the best case 187 00:12:30,835 --> 00:12:33,355 Speaker 1: scenario for you, guys. You'll have to listen to me 188 00:12:33,435 --> 00:12:37,475 Speaker 1: screaming I told you so between our respective trips to 189 00:12:37,515 --> 00:12:42,475 Speaker 1: the torture block, because two weeks ago, I guarantee you 190 00:12:42,515 --> 00:12:46,235 Speaker 1: that more than one person inside the surprisingly nondescript executive 191 00:12:46,235 --> 00:12:50,155 Speaker 1: offices of NBC News beamed at the thought that not 192 00:12:50,195 --> 00:12:54,315 Speaker 1: only would a Trump interview guarantee Kristin Welker a terrific 193 00:12:54,435 --> 00:12:57,195 Speaker 1: debut number as the host to meet the press. But 194 00:12:57,235 --> 00:13:00,075 Speaker 1: it would get NBC back in the good graces of 195 00:13:00,155 --> 00:13:04,195 Speaker 1: Trump and secure a debate and maybe, just maybe a 196 00:13:04,275 --> 00:13:07,955 Speaker 1: republic primary debate, to say nothing of the advantages if 197 00:13:07,955 --> 00:13:11,315 Speaker 1: Trump were to regain the White House. And one week 198 00:13:11,675 --> 00:13:15,275 Speaker 1: and ten hours after they platformed him and softballed him 199 00:13:15,515 --> 00:13:17,835 Speaker 1: and did in fact check him in real time, he 200 00:13:17,915 --> 00:13:23,035 Speaker 1: called them the enemy of the people in all caps, 201 00:13:23,075 --> 00:13:32,075 Speaker 1: guilty of country, threatening treason. Nice work, Kristen Welker. And 202 00:13:32,155 --> 00:13:37,515 Speaker 1: of course, the craziest thing about Trump's explosion against NBC, 203 00:13:38,235 --> 00:13:40,555 Speaker 1: as if we really had to pict just one craziest 204 00:13:40,675 --> 00:13:44,915 Speaker 1: thing was the assumption that when he threatened them, it 205 00:13:45,075 --> 00:13:49,075 Speaker 1: meant NBC had to be working on some really devastating 206 00:13:49,275 --> 00:13:52,555 Speaker 1: new story about Trump or was about to drop something 207 00:13:52,635 --> 00:13:56,595 Speaker 1: new and explosive, and everybody missed the reality of the thing. 208 00:13:56,875 --> 00:14:04,155 Speaker 1: Trump was angry about NBC's whole from Sunday. That's it. 209 00:14:04,955 --> 00:14:09,715 Speaker 1: There's no NBC scoop coming. Trump didn't get wind of anything. 210 00:14:10,035 --> 00:14:13,995 Speaker 1: He's not attacking them before they can attack him. The 211 00:14:14,155 --> 00:14:17,835 Speaker 1: NBC poll story began three quarters of voters say they're 212 00:14:17,875 --> 00:14:22,635 Speaker 1: concerned about President Joe Biden's age and mental fitness. But 213 00:14:22,675 --> 00:14:25,635 Speaker 1: Trump didn't notice that. He noticed the next half of 214 00:14:25,675 --> 00:14:29,635 Speaker 1: the same first sentence quote, while nearly two thirds are 215 00:14:29,675 --> 00:14:34,275 Speaker 1: concerned about the multiple trials former President Donald Trump faces, 216 00:14:35,235 --> 00:14:38,995 Speaker 1: and he noticed forty seven percent have either major concerns 217 00:14:38,995 --> 00:14:43,435 Speaker 1: thirty four percent or moderate concerns thirteen percent about Trump, 218 00:14:43,715 --> 00:14:48,835 Speaker 1: at age seventy seven, not having the necessary mental and 219 00:14:48,915 --> 00:14:54,635 Speaker 1: physical health to be president. That is the country threatening 220 00:14:54,715 --> 00:15:00,275 Speaker 1: treason that Trump referred to to merely acknowledge that people 221 00:15:00,315 --> 00:15:03,195 Speaker 1: are concerned about Trump's mental health. And by the way, 222 00:15:03,355 --> 00:15:07,755 Speaker 1: the accurate number is six major, moderate, or minor concerns. 223 00:15:08,115 --> 00:15:11,515 Speaker 1: NBC shaved the number to make Trump look better because 224 00:15:11,515 --> 00:15:14,035 Speaker 1: they're not going to let their dividends drop when this 225 00:15:14,075 --> 00:15:19,635 Speaker 1: country goes fascist. No Surrey Bob a poll. Trump went 226 00:15:19,715 --> 00:15:23,915 Speaker 1: ballistic about a pole. If you think I'm mistaken, His 227 00:15:23,955 --> 00:15:26,995 Speaker 1: attack on NBC and MSNBC was posted at seven point 228 00:15:26,995 --> 00:15:30,795 Speaker 1: fifty three pm Eastern on Sunday. At nine to fifty 229 00:15:30,835 --> 00:15:33,075 Speaker 1: pm Eastern on Sunday, he gave it away. He attacked 230 00:15:33,115 --> 00:15:37,955 Speaker 1: ABC about its pole, which showed him up by ten points, 231 00:15:38,315 --> 00:15:41,675 Speaker 1: but they didn't mention the ten points enough to satisfy 232 00:15:41,835 --> 00:15:47,155 Speaker 1: Trump's unquenchable need for validation. Quote, they spend millions of 233 00:15:47,195 --> 00:15:49,395 Speaker 1: dollars on these poles, and then if the result isn't 234 00:15:49,435 --> 00:15:53,555 Speaker 1: what they wanted to be, refused to properly report the results. 235 00:15:54,195 --> 00:16:00,915 Speaker 1: What is properly? It's whatever underlines Trump is as he 236 00:16:00,995 --> 00:16:05,235 Speaker 1: is so often and so pathetically refers to himself, your 237 00:16:05,435 --> 00:16:11,515 Speaker 1: favorite president, me, And who decides whether it is or 238 00:16:11,555 --> 00:16:17,195 Speaker 1: isn't properly. You already know the answer to that one. 239 00:16:17,515 --> 00:16:21,715 Speaker 1: He's insane. He's declared his desire to get Mark Milly killed. 240 00:16:22,595 --> 00:16:27,355 Speaker 1: And Governor Shapiro of Pennsylvania because voting is Marxist, and 241 00:16:27,475 --> 00:16:30,835 Speaker 1: Letitia James and Judge Engern of New York we went 242 00:16:30,875 --> 00:16:33,515 Speaker 1: after yesterday afternoon, mostly because they said he had less 243 00:16:33,555 --> 00:16:35,555 Speaker 1: money than he says he has. And the people at 244 00:16:35,635 --> 00:16:39,075 Speaker 1: NBC News and the people at ABC News and CBS 245 00:16:39,195 --> 00:16:43,315 Speaker 1: and Fox and Politico and Axios and anybody who thwarts him, 246 00:16:43,315 --> 00:16:45,835 Speaker 1: and anybody who disagrees with him, and anybody who points 247 00:16:45,875 --> 00:16:48,915 Speaker 1: out that when he tells the striking auto workers quote, 248 00:16:48,995 --> 00:16:51,755 Speaker 1: I will keep your jobs and make you rich, he 249 00:16:51,915 --> 00:16:56,275 Speaker 1: sounds like the text content of an email from another 250 00:16:56,355 --> 00:17:00,155 Speaker 1: human being, who, like Trump himself, does not actually exist, 251 00:17:00,875 --> 00:17:07,795 Speaker 1: the proverbial fictional Nigerian prince. He threatened by proxy to 252 00:17:07,795 --> 00:17:09,955 Speaker 1: get the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff killed. 253 00:17:10,635 --> 00:17:13,835 Speaker 1: He threatened directly to punish the news media NBC and 254 00:17:13,915 --> 00:17:18,155 Speaker 1: ABC in particular. He demanded the Republican Party shut down 255 00:17:18,235 --> 00:17:21,475 Speaker 1: the government because he is under the delusion that that 256 00:17:21,635 --> 00:17:24,355 Speaker 1: will shut down the Office of the Special Council. He 257 00:17:24,475 --> 00:17:28,915 Speaker 1: bought a gun while under felony indictment. There are witnesses, 258 00:17:29,235 --> 00:17:32,355 Speaker 1: there is video, There is a tweet from his spokesman. 259 00:17:33,515 --> 00:17:38,435 Speaker 1: Revoke his bail, send the marshals, let the chips fall 260 00:17:38,475 --> 00:17:40,915 Speaker 1: where they may, and if there is a gag order, 261 00:17:41,355 --> 00:17:44,315 Speaker 1: go ahead, make it a literal one. Put a goddamned 262 00:17:44,395 --> 00:17:47,435 Speaker 1: gag in his mouth and put him in a straitjacket 263 00:17:47,875 --> 00:17:52,435 Speaker 1: where he belongs. We have a fascist takeover to stave off. 264 00:17:52,715 --> 00:18:01,995 Speaker 1: And this guy is the fascist. Oh, by the way. 265 00:18:02,795 --> 00:18:09,155 Speaker 1: Cassidy Hutchinson's first life lawyer Trump's ambulance chaser Stefan Pasentino. 266 00:18:09,635 --> 00:18:13,315 Speaker 1: He has sued the lawyer and talking head Andrew Weissman 267 00:18:13,955 --> 00:18:21,355 Speaker 1: for libel assault by talking mean slander for claiming Pasentino 268 00:18:21,355 --> 00:18:25,395 Speaker 1: coached Hutchinson July to the January sixth committee. And it's 269 00:18:25,475 --> 00:18:27,795 Speaker 1: hilarious enough that the minimum amount that he wants for 270 00:18:27,875 --> 00:18:31,155 Speaker 1: damage to his reputation is seventy five thousand dollars. And 271 00:18:31,275 --> 00:18:35,555 Speaker 1: who thinks it's a good idea for anybody to tell 272 00:18:35,595 --> 00:18:38,395 Speaker 1: the world that his own reputation is only worth seventy 273 00:18:38,435 --> 00:18:42,515 Speaker 1: five thousand dollars. But now on top of that, for 274 00:18:42,635 --> 00:18:47,915 Speaker 1: Stefan Pasentino comes the d Umont Stephan. Pasentino's suit against 275 00:18:47,915 --> 00:18:55,035 Speaker 1: Andrew Weisman has been assigned to Judge Tanya Chutkin. Also 276 00:18:55,075 --> 00:18:57,315 Speaker 1: of interest here on an all new edition of Countdown, 277 00:18:57,395 --> 00:19:00,795 Speaker 1: Fox News just proved there is no Ukraine case against 278 00:19:00,795 --> 00:19:07,275 Speaker 1: President Biden. Republicans cleverly attack Taylor Swift and her fans. 279 00:19:07,915 --> 00:19:11,155 Speaker 1: And if you thought we were all done roasting David 280 00:19:11,275 --> 00:19:17,395 Speaker 1: Brooks for the airport burger tweet, I'm not done. I'm 281 00:19:17,435 --> 00:19:21,715 Speaker 1: going to let David Brooks destroy himself with his own words. 282 00:19:22,475 --> 00:19:28,515 Speaker 1: That's next. This is Countdown. This is Countdown with Keith Overman. 283 00:19:36,995 --> 00:19:40,275 Speaker 1: Postscripts to the news, some headlines, some updates, some snarks, 284 00:19:40,355 --> 00:19:44,275 Speaker 1: some predictions. Dateline, Union City, New Jersey. I don't know 285 00:19:44,315 --> 00:19:46,755 Speaker 1: about you. I'm kind of indifferent to the money part 286 00:19:46,795 --> 00:19:49,395 Speaker 1: of the Bob Menendez scandal. In fact, the idea that 287 00:19:49,435 --> 00:19:54,115 Speaker 1: he took gold bars is kind of epic. See. My 288 00:19:54,355 --> 00:19:57,595 Speaker 1: problem is that the senator from this vantage point sure 289 00:19:57,595 --> 00:20:01,915 Speaker 1: seems like he was what's the word spying for what's 290 00:20:01,955 --> 00:20:08,275 Speaker 1: the word EGYPTI chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, may 291 00:20:08,315 --> 00:20:11,755 Speaker 1: have been tipping them off about what questions the Senate 292 00:20:11,755 --> 00:20:14,915 Speaker 1: would be asking about the Egyptian part of the murder 293 00:20:14,955 --> 00:20:19,115 Speaker 1: of Jamal Kashagi. And maybe when they arragn him tomorrow, 294 00:20:19,395 --> 00:20:22,555 Speaker 1: you know, if he was supplying information to another country 295 00:20:22,595 --> 00:20:28,035 Speaker 1: sensitive American information, confidential information, maybe he should not be 296 00:20:28,115 --> 00:20:34,515 Speaker 1: released on bail. Also, the idea that you keep, in 297 00:20:34,555 --> 00:20:38,355 Speaker 1: the event of emergencies four hundred and eighty thousand dollars 298 00:20:38,395 --> 00:20:41,595 Speaker 1: in cash around the house, with drawn a little bit 299 00:20:41,595 --> 00:20:44,835 Speaker 1: at a time, over the course of seven or eight centuries, 300 00:20:44,875 --> 00:20:51,275 Speaker 1: I guess, I mean, what were the emergencies? Oh right, 301 00:20:51,795 --> 00:20:57,395 Speaker 1: getting arrested for accepting bribes? Duh, I'm sorry, were those, Bob? 302 00:20:57,795 --> 00:21:00,995 Speaker 1: Were those emergency gold bars too? I mean, as opposed 303 00:21:00,995 --> 00:21:04,475 Speaker 1: to a regular stash of gold bars that you kept 304 00:21:04,515 --> 00:21:36,715 Speaker 1: in a bank or a fort or somewhere. Thank you, 305 00:21:36,835 --> 00:21:40,955 Speaker 1: Nancy Faust smooth criminal indeed dateline sixth Avenue, New York. 306 00:21:41,035 --> 00:21:44,635 Speaker 1: Some more of them. Fox really screwed up, really screwed up. 307 00:21:45,075 --> 00:21:49,675 Speaker 1: Ryan Kilmead put on the fired Ukrainian prosecutor Victor Chokun, 308 00:21:49,715 --> 00:21:54,035 Speaker 1: who claims he was fired when then Vice President Biden 309 00:21:54,075 --> 00:21:56,915 Speaker 1: demanded it because Chokun was getting too close to Hunter. Biden, 310 00:21:57,395 --> 00:21:59,875 Speaker 1: you know, all the crap that was disproved seven years ago, 311 00:21:59,955 --> 00:22:02,995 Speaker 1: seven years before Trump bought a gun under exactly the 312 00:22:03,035 --> 00:22:07,795 Speaker 1: same circumstances as Hunter. Oops. Instead of doing that, just 313 00:22:08,035 --> 00:22:12,115 Speaker 1: sticking with that, having the bullshit interview on, they then 314 00:22:12,235 --> 00:22:16,035 Speaker 1: had kill Mead interview the former president of Ukraine Petro 315 00:22:16,155 --> 00:22:21,035 Speaker 1: Poroshenko for reaction, and President Poroshenko called Victor Choken quote 316 00:22:21,275 --> 00:22:26,235 Speaker 1: a completely crazy person and added there's something wrong with him. 317 00:22:26,635 --> 00:22:30,635 Speaker 1: And then at the end, kill Mead asks Poroshenko Choken 318 00:22:31,195 --> 00:22:35,235 Speaker 1: didn't get fired because of Joe Biden, and Paroshenko answered 319 00:22:35,875 --> 00:22:39,555 Speaker 1: he was fired because of his own statement, and kill 320 00:22:39,595 --> 00:22:42,875 Speaker 1: Mead hurriedly says, all right, mister president, thanks so much. 321 00:22:42,915 --> 00:22:47,035 Speaker 1: I have to go. My uh grandmother is on fire. 322 00:22:48,115 --> 00:22:50,395 Speaker 1: All right. I made the last part up about the grandmother, 323 00:22:50,475 --> 00:22:54,635 Speaker 1: but it is an absolute shock that Fox did not 324 00:22:54,955 --> 00:22:59,395 Speaker 1: fire Brian Killmead or the producer after that segment. Just 325 00:22:59,715 --> 00:23:02,715 Speaker 1: play the tape on a loop the next time somebody 326 00:23:02,795 --> 00:23:09,515 Speaker 1: asks about Hunter Biden, like Jim Jordan and Dateline Washington. 327 00:23:09,595 --> 00:23:13,675 Speaker 1: A week ago today, on National Voting Day, Taylor Swift 328 00:23:14,075 --> 00:23:18,235 Speaker 1: posted a message encouraging people to register to vote at 329 00:23:18,275 --> 00:23:22,955 Speaker 1: the nonpartisan vote dot org, and thirty five thousand people 330 00:23:23,075 --> 00:23:27,515 Speaker 1: registered to vote. She could decide the presidential election if 331 00:23:27,515 --> 00:23:32,635 Speaker 1: she wanted to or win it. So what appears on 332 00:23:32,715 --> 00:23:37,275 Speaker 1: the right wing site The Federalists yesterday, twenty six hundred 333 00:23:37,395 --> 00:23:43,395 Speaker 1: impenetrable words by Molly Hemingway's husband Mark, under the headline 334 00:23:43,875 --> 00:23:47,395 Speaker 1: Taylor Swift's popularity is a sign of societal decline. And 335 00:23:47,435 --> 00:23:50,435 Speaker 1: I'd love to tell you why this idiot decided to 336 00:23:50,475 --> 00:23:54,235 Speaker 1: represent the Republican Party as it attacked the most popular 337 00:23:54,355 --> 00:23:58,115 Speaker 1: entertainer in America and her fans. But all I got 338 00:23:58,155 --> 00:24:02,075 Speaker 1: out of reading this was something something me music, something something, 339 00:24:02,475 --> 00:24:06,515 Speaker 1: She's no Tom Petty. And just to add to the stupidity, 340 00:24:06,795 --> 00:24:11,755 Speaker 1: the article begins quote after Taylor's Swift's massive eras tour, 341 00:24:12,595 --> 00:24:24,835 Speaker 1: he misspelled Taylor. It reads Taylor Swift Tayr. Please everybody 342 00:24:24,875 --> 00:24:29,875 Speaker 1: on the right, please continue to attack Taylor Swift and 343 00:24:29,955 --> 00:24:35,675 Speaker 1: her fans every day and whenever you can remember to 344 00:24:36,315 --> 00:24:53,875 Speaker 1: misspell her name, still ahead on countdown. Instead of things, 345 00:24:53,915 --> 00:24:57,835 Speaker 1: I promise not to tell something a little different. Remember 346 00:24:57,875 --> 00:25:00,435 Speaker 1: the whole thing with David Brooks and the Newark Airport 347 00:25:00,515 --> 00:25:02,995 Speaker 1: and the whiskey and the other whiskey and the other 348 00:25:03,035 --> 00:25:06,875 Speaker 1: whiskey after that, and the seventy eight dollar burger. I'm 349 00:25:06,875 --> 00:25:10,995 Speaker 1: gonna let David Brooks metaphorically hang himself with his own words, 350 00:25:11,395 --> 00:25:14,035 Speaker 1: because here's the little secret about David Brooks in twenty 351 00:25:14,115 --> 00:25:18,315 Speaker 1: years of the New York Times, He's an idiot first 352 00:25:18,355 --> 00:25:19,995 Speaker 1: time for the daily round up of the miss Greens, 353 00:25:20,035 --> 00:25:23,515 Speaker 1: morons and Dunning Kruger effect specimens who constitute two day's 354 00:25:23,715 --> 00:25:28,315 Speaker 1: worst persons in the world, besides David Brooks the Bronze. 355 00:25:28,995 --> 00:25:32,195 Speaker 1: When you sit there and you ask rhetorically, how could 356 00:25:32,275 --> 00:25:36,595 Speaker 1: this freaking timeline get any worse? And somewhere in the universe, 357 00:25:37,115 --> 00:25:42,035 Speaker 1: a god or an algorithm or something hears you say 358 00:25:42,075 --> 00:25:47,475 Speaker 1: that and says ha ha oh okay. Connecticut Republicans are 359 00:25:47,515 --> 00:25:51,275 Speaker 1: reportedly trying to recruit a former media figure to run 360 00:25:51,315 --> 00:25:55,395 Speaker 1: for the House of Representatives in the Connecticut fifth district 361 00:25:56,275 --> 00:26:02,715 Speaker 1: former SportsCenter anchor Sage Steele. The biggest news here is that, 362 00:26:02,755 --> 00:26:05,275 Speaker 1: when asked by the Indianapolis Star a new if this 363 00:26:05,315 --> 00:26:09,355 Speaker 1: were true, my least favorite co anchor this century anyway, 364 00:26:09,595 --> 00:26:13,155 Speaker 1: replied no comment on this, but I appreciate you asking. 365 00:26:13,915 --> 00:26:16,635 Speaker 1: This marks the first time Sage Steele has ever not 366 00:26:16,835 --> 00:26:22,355 Speaker 1: commented on anything. One note here, The Connecticut fifth Congressional 367 00:26:22,395 --> 00:26:26,155 Speaker 1: District is drawn really weirdly, even for a congressional district, 368 00:26:26,395 --> 00:26:29,755 Speaker 1: kind of like a rabbit standing on its head, Danbury 369 00:26:29,795 --> 00:26:33,475 Speaker 1: at the southwest corner, Avon at the northeast, New Britain, 370 00:26:33,835 --> 00:26:39,035 Speaker 1: and Plainville, Plainville, Connecticut at its southeast. But it wraps 371 00:26:39,075 --> 00:26:43,435 Speaker 1: around weirdly so that it does not include the ESPN 372 00:26:43,555 --> 00:26:48,635 Speaker 1: campus in Bristol, Connecticut, which is literally walking distance of Plainville, Connecticut. 373 00:26:49,075 --> 00:26:51,235 Speaker 1: But it's smart that they did that because she would 374 00:26:51,315 --> 00:26:55,675 Speaker 1: lose seventeen hundred to three there. The Connecticut fifth, however, 375 00:26:55,795 --> 00:26:59,355 Speaker 1: does include Palyachi's restaurant in Plainville on East Street. I 376 00:26:59,395 --> 00:27:03,435 Speaker 1: highly recommend it where the ESPN elite meet to eat 377 00:27:04,715 --> 00:27:07,675 Speaker 1: hunner up. This is the kind of house Republican. They 378 00:27:07,675 --> 00:27:10,595 Speaker 1: think that Sage Steele would fit in with Congressman Jeff 379 00:27:10,675 --> 00:27:14,075 Speaker 1: Duncan of the South Carolina fifth twenty twenty two winner 380 00:27:14,115 --> 00:27:16,355 Speaker 1: of the Friend of the Family Award from the Faith 381 00:27:16,395 --> 00:27:20,595 Speaker 1: and Freedom Coalition, and twenty months later, Missus Duncan, mother 382 00:27:20,675 --> 00:27:23,595 Speaker 1: of his three adult children, has filed on him, saying 383 00:27:23,635 --> 00:27:26,155 Speaker 1: he said multiple affairs and he moved out of the 384 00:27:26,155 --> 00:27:28,835 Speaker 1: house to go live with one of the Hussies. Duncan 385 00:27:28,915 --> 00:27:32,235 Speaker 1: is a member of the Freedom Caucus, and based on 386 00:27:32,475 --> 00:27:34,835 Speaker 1: how they've been doing lately, we now know what it's 387 00:27:34,835 --> 00:27:40,275 Speaker 1: freedom from Its freedom from personal responsibility and ethics. But 388 00:27:40,355 --> 00:27:44,275 Speaker 1: our winner Kathleen Parker of The Washington Post. As the 389 00:27:44,275 --> 00:27:49,075 Speaker 1: Post continues to cover itself in glory or cover itself 390 00:27:49,075 --> 00:27:52,515 Speaker 1: in something, you thought her famous column before the twenty 391 00:27:52,595 --> 00:27:54,955 Speaker 1: sixteen election insisting everything would be okay no matter who 392 00:27:55,035 --> 00:27:58,395 Speaker 1: was elected, was a career ender. Evidently not. Evidently she's 393 00:27:58,435 --> 00:28:02,955 Speaker 1: still writing for the Post. It's amazing you thought her 394 00:28:02,995 --> 00:28:05,835 Speaker 1: turn as co anchor of CNN's eight pm newscast might 395 00:28:05,875 --> 00:28:08,715 Speaker 1: have done it. Now she survived, although to be fair, 396 00:28:09,035 --> 00:28:13,995 Speaker 1: the CNN eight Pm Hour did not. Now Kathleen Parker 397 00:28:14,035 --> 00:28:17,435 Speaker 1: has joined this mindless assault on John Fetterman and the 398 00:28:17,475 --> 00:28:21,435 Speaker 1: relaxation of Senate dress rules. As little as I have 399 00:28:21,595 --> 00:28:25,315 Speaker 1: loved Republicans these past few years, she wrote, coinciding with 400 00:28:25,355 --> 00:28:28,595 Speaker 1: the rise of our own little autocrat. At least Donald 401 00:28:28,635 --> 00:28:31,995 Speaker 1: Trump knows how to dress. I can't imagine that even 402 00:28:31,995 --> 00:28:35,155 Speaker 1: he would demean his office or his country by dressing down. 403 00:28:36,555 --> 00:28:41,915 Speaker 1: What Donald Trump knows how to dress wouldn't dress in death. 404 00:28:42,355 --> 00:28:46,155 Speaker 1: What the baseball cap is. Knowing how to dress, the 405 00:28:46,235 --> 00:28:49,755 Speaker 1: cheap kind with a plastic extender in the back, spraying 406 00:28:49,875 --> 00:28:52,835 Speaker 1: rustolium gold number two four five two t one on 407 00:28:52,875 --> 00:28:56,675 Speaker 1: his hair is knowing how to dress. Wearing a tie 408 00:28:56,675 --> 00:29:00,195 Speaker 1: that hangs twelve inches below his belt so you don't 409 00:29:00,355 --> 00:29:04,395 Speaker 1: look at his gut. That's a that's knowing how to dress. 410 00:29:04,955 --> 00:29:08,795 Speaker 1: The rotating selection of thirty five suits that he bought 411 00:29:08,795 --> 00:29:12,595 Speaker 1: in bulk from Rochester, big and tall. I don't want 412 00:29:12,595 --> 00:29:14,075 Speaker 1: to go out on a limb here, but I'm beginning 413 00:29:14,075 --> 00:29:17,155 Speaker 1: to wonder maybe Kathleen Parker isn't qualified for her job. 414 00:29:17,955 --> 00:29:21,715 Speaker 1: Kathleen knows how to dress. Parker knows how to dress. 415 00:29:21,995 --> 00:29:26,315 Speaker 1: I've seen cadavers dug up by court orders. Six months 416 00:29:26,355 --> 00:29:29,995 Speaker 1: after burial that look better dressed than Trump has on 417 00:29:30,075 --> 00:29:36,355 Speaker 1: his best day two days, worst parker in the world. 418 00:29:53,955 --> 00:29:56,795 Speaker 1: Let's close with something different today. Instead of my favorite 419 00:29:56,795 --> 00:29:59,875 Speaker 1: topic me, I'd like to look instead at the favorite 420 00:29:59,915 --> 00:30:03,075 Speaker 1: topic of everybody else from the last week, the David 421 00:30:03,195 --> 00:30:07,595 Speaker 1: Brooks airport tweet. You know, this meal just cost me 422 00:30:07,675 --> 00:30:11,075 Speaker 1: seventy eight dollars at Newark Airport. This is why Americans 423 00:30:11,075 --> 00:30:13,755 Speaker 1: think the economy is terrible. And then there's a picture 424 00:30:13,755 --> 00:30:18,555 Speaker 1: of a burger fries, a lot of salad, two or 425 00:30:18,595 --> 00:30:21,835 Speaker 1: three hundred empty catchup packets, and what must have been 426 00:30:21,875 --> 00:30:25,875 Speaker 1: David Brooks's nineteenth Scotch. Let me note briefly that I 427 00:30:25,915 --> 00:30:28,315 Speaker 1: don't think of David Brooks the way most people seem to, 428 00:30:28,715 --> 00:30:32,715 Speaker 1: as that kind of passive, largely benign conservative who only 429 00:30:32,795 --> 00:30:35,595 Speaker 1: disgraces The New York Times every couple weeks and think 430 00:30:35,635 --> 00:30:39,795 Speaker 1: how much it could be worse than this. He's a 431 00:30:39,835 --> 00:30:44,835 Speaker 1: liar and a propagandist and a con man and a 432 00:30:44,995 --> 00:30:48,915 Speaker 1: bad writer, and the worst kind of each of those categories, 433 00:30:48,955 --> 00:30:52,995 Speaker 1: the unctuous suck up kind. He's in fact much more 434 00:30:53,115 --> 00:30:55,595 Speaker 1: dangerous than the other kind, because when he lies, as 435 00:30:55,595 --> 00:30:58,315 Speaker 1: he did in that tweet, unless he was drunk enough 436 00:30:58,315 --> 00:31:00,875 Speaker 1: to risk spontaneous combustion. Who did he think he would 437 00:31:00,915 --> 00:31:03,995 Speaker 1: be fooling with the idea that that costs seventy eight dollars? 438 00:31:04,195 --> 00:31:07,915 Speaker 1: He died to advance an agenda that the economy is 439 00:31:07,955 --> 00:31:12,955 Speaker 1: worsening rather than improving, despite Corporate America's manipulations to the contrary. 440 00:31:13,355 --> 00:31:18,355 Speaker 1: He lied like the columns are all lies. They may 441 00:31:18,395 --> 00:31:21,435 Speaker 1: be smooth, they may be stupid, they're full of lies. 442 00:31:22,075 --> 00:31:25,795 Speaker 1: And he has been doing this subtle, respectable face of 443 00:31:25,875 --> 00:31:30,755 Speaker 1: fascism crap at the New York Times for twenty years now. 444 00:31:31,635 --> 00:31:33,915 Speaker 1: I am indebted to the author of the Great Nixon 445 00:31:33,995 --> 00:31:37,475 Speaker 1: Land book, Rick Pearlstein, for pointing out the column that 446 00:31:37,595 --> 00:31:40,675 Speaker 1: got David Brooks his job at the Times more than 447 00:31:40,715 --> 00:31:43,595 Speaker 1: twenty years ago. It was in the Weekly Standard April 448 00:31:43,595 --> 00:31:45,635 Speaker 1: twenty eight, two thousand and three. And I'm not reading 449 00:31:45,635 --> 00:31:49,755 Speaker 1: the whole thing. It's three thousand words. He could have 450 00:31:49,795 --> 00:31:52,955 Speaker 1: written the same thing in about four hundred words. But 451 00:31:52,995 --> 00:31:54,875 Speaker 1: I'm going to read a lot of it because frankly, 452 00:31:56,115 --> 00:32:01,355 Speaker 1: it's so bad, it's so condescending, it's so wrong that 453 00:32:01,435 --> 00:32:04,115 Speaker 1: it should have been the end of a career, and 454 00:32:04,155 --> 00:32:07,715 Speaker 1: they should have I've built a monument to it. Don't 455 00:32:07,795 --> 00:32:11,715 Speaker 1: do what he did in this column. It should have 456 00:32:11,715 --> 00:32:13,675 Speaker 1: been the end of a career, not the entree to 457 00:32:13,715 --> 00:32:18,755 Speaker 1: The New York Times. The Collapse of the Dream Palaces 458 00:32:19,195 --> 00:32:21,675 Speaker 1: by David Brooks, April twenty eight, two thousand and three, 459 00:32:21,955 --> 00:32:29,395 Speaker 1: twelve zero zero Am, George Orwell was a genuinely modest man. 460 00:32:30,155 --> 00:32:33,835 Speaker 1: All right. I'm going to interrupt periodically here. His name 461 00:32:33,915 --> 00:32:38,675 Speaker 1: was Eric Blair. George Orwell was his pen name. That 462 00:32:38,875 --> 00:32:42,035 Speaker 1: was the name of the character who wrote the books. 463 00:32:42,235 --> 00:32:45,035 Speaker 1: In a manner of speaking. I understand it's clunky to 464 00:32:45,115 --> 00:32:49,915 Speaker 1: explain that in the first sentence, but saying George Orwell 465 00:32:50,075 --> 00:32:53,835 Speaker 1: was a genuinely modest man, well, no, there's no George Orwell. 466 00:32:54,395 --> 00:32:57,155 Speaker 1: It's like starting your very serious column on this subject 467 00:32:57,195 --> 00:33:02,595 Speaker 1: by saying Batman was a genuinely modest man. I knew him, 468 00:33:02,635 --> 00:33:06,995 Speaker 1: George W. Batman, all right. I said this was not 469 00:33:06,995 --> 00:33:08,115 Speaker 1: going to be about me. It was going to be 470 00:33:08,155 --> 00:33:10,795 Speaker 1: about David Brooks. But he knew he had a talent 471 00:33:10,875 --> 00:33:15,995 Speaker 1: for facing unpleasant facts. That doesn't seem at first glance 472 00:33:16,115 --> 00:33:18,915 Speaker 1: like much of a gift, but when one looks around 473 00:33:18,955 --> 00:33:22,515 Speaker 1: the world, one quickly sees how rare it is. Most 474 00:33:22,555 --> 00:33:25,955 Speaker 1: people nurture the facts that confirm their worldview and ignore 475 00:33:26,115 --> 00:33:29,555 Speaker 1: or marginalize the ones that don't, unable to achieve enough 476 00:33:29,555 --> 00:33:32,795 Speaker 1: emotional detachment from their own political passions to see the 477 00:33:32,835 --> 00:33:37,035 Speaker 1: world as it really is. Well, that's kind of a 478 00:33:37,035 --> 00:33:41,875 Speaker 1: good sentence because he's confessing. He's not confessing. Listen to 479 00:33:41,915 --> 00:33:45,675 Speaker 1: this again. April twenty eighth, two thousand and three. Now 480 00:33:45,715 --> 00:33:49,715 Speaker 1: that the war in Iraq is over, we'll find out 481 00:33:49,755 --> 00:33:52,155 Speaker 1: how many people around the world are capable of facing 482 00:33:52,275 --> 00:33:57,275 Speaker 1: unpleasant facts. This is after the mission accomplished. Crap, Now 483 00:33:57,315 --> 00:34:00,595 Speaker 1: that the war in Iraq is over. Yeah, you're wrong 484 00:34:00,635 --> 00:34:04,395 Speaker 1: on that by about two even nineteen years and eleven 485 00:34:04,435 --> 00:34:09,115 Speaker 1: months in twenty nine days. For the events of recent 486 00:34:09,155 --> 00:34:11,875 Speaker 1: months confirmed that millions of human beings are living in 487 00:34:11,995 --> 00:34:16,355 Speaker 1: dream palaces. There is the first dream palace of the Arabists. 488 00:34:16,395 --> 00:34:18,835 Speaker 1: In this dream palace, it is always the twelfth century, 489 00:34:18,835 --> 00:34:22,035 Speaker 1: and every Western incursion into the Middle East is a crusade. 490 00:34:22,115 --> 00:34:29,595 Speaker 1: The Americans are always invaders and occupiers. Yeah, David, two 491 00:34:29,595 --> 00:34:31,555 Speaker 1: thousand and three, I have this question for you, So 492 00:34:31,755 --> 00:34:36,355 Speaker 1: it's a one word question. Afghanistan. Then there is the 493 00:34:36,435 --> 00:34:39,635 Speaker 1: dream Palace of the Europeans. In this palace, America is 494 00:34:39,635 --> 00:34:42,715 Speaker 1: a bigger threat to world peace than Sodom Hussein. America 495 00:34:42,755 --> 00:34:46,515 Speaker 1: is the land of rotting cities, the electric chair, serial killers, 496 00:34:46,555 --> 00:34:52,795 Speaker 1: gun crazed hunters, shallow materialists, religious nuts, savage capitalists, the 497 00:34:52,835 --> 00:34:59,315 Speaker 1: oil lobby, the military industrial complex, and bloodthirsty cowboy presidents. Well, 498 00:34:59,355 --> 00:35:01,395 Speaker 1: I mean, that's the Trump administration there, except for the 499 00:35:01,435 --> 00:35:06,115 Speaker 1: cowboy president part. In this dream Palace, the Hollywood cliches 500 00:35:06,155 --> 00:35:08,675 Speaker 1: are taken to be real. George Bush really is Rambo, 501 00:35:08,835 --> 00:35:12,435 Speaker 1: Clint Eastwood and John Wayne rolled into one. Will we 502 00:35:12,475 --> 00:35:15,675 Speaker 1: see what happened to Clint Eastwood after this? John Wayne 503 00:35:15,715 --> 00:35:19,995 Speaker 1: was already dead. Rambo is a fictional character. American life 504 00:35:20,075 --> 00:35:25,435 Speaker 1: really is NYPD Blue and Baywatch, those cultural references held 505 00:35:25,475 --> 00:35:28,795 Speaker 1: up David In this dream Palace, Oliver Stone is as 506 00:35:28,835 --> 00:35:33,355 Speaker 1: trustworthy as the Washington Post. Michael Moore accurately depicts the 507 00:35:33,355 --> 00:35:36,715 Speaker 1: American soul. Doctor Strangelove is a textbook of American government, 508 00:35:36,915 --> 00:35:40,995 Speaker 1: and Noam Chomsky tells it like it is. You see 509 00:35:40,995 --> 00:35:43,075 Speaker 1: where he's going here. The point of this piece in 510 00:35:43,195 --> 00:35:46,675 Speaker 1: April two thousand and three was to insist that George 511 00:35:46,715 --> 00:35:50,115 Speaker 1: Bush was right and everybody else was wrong, and it 512 00:35:50,155 --> 00:35:52,435 Speaker 1: had been decided for all time. And now don't you 513 00:35:52,475 --> 00:35:55,635 Speaker 1: feel stupid? April two thousand and three, we already knew 514 00:35:55,635 --> 00:35:58,595 Speaker 1: there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. David 515 00:35:58,635 --> 00:36:02,675 Speaker 1: Brooks was pretending it was proof. Case closed seventy eight 516 00:36:02,675 --> 00:36:07,955 Speaker 1: dollars Scotchenburger. Finally, there is the dream Palace of the 517 00:36:07,955 --> 00:36:10,995 Speaker 1: American Bush haters. Oh hi, this is my part of 518 00:36:10,995 --> 00:36:13,835 Speaker 1: the article. Huh. In this dream palace there is so 519 00:36:13,955 --> 00:36:15,995 Speaker 1: much contempt for Bush that none is left over for 520 00:36:16,075 --> 00:36:19,235 Speaker 1: sodom or for tyranny, whatever the question, the answer is 521 00:36:19,275 --> 00:36:22,875 Speaker 1: that Bush and his cronies are evil. Yeah. What to 522 00:36:22,875 --> 00:36:26,515 Speaker 1: do about Iraq? Bush is evil? Yeah? What to do 523 00:36:26,555 --> 00:36:30,595 Speaker 1: about the economy? Bush is venal? What to do about 524 00:36:30,635 --> 00:36:35,595 Speaker 1: North Korea? Bush is a hypocrite? Yeah. I don't see 525 00:36:35,595 --> 00:36:38,355 Speaker 1: how this works to your advantage or or argument, David Brooks. 526 00:36:38,875 --> 00:36:41,315 Speaker 1: In this dream palace, Bush, Cheney and a hunt of 527 00:36:41,355 --> 00:36:45,515 Speaker 1: corporate oligarchs stole the presidential election, then declared war in 528 00:36:45,555 --> 00:36:47,835 Speaker 1: Iraq to seize its oil and hand out the spoils 529 00:36:47,915 --> 00:36:54,955 Speaker 1: to Halliburton and Bechtel. Well, just Halliburton. In this dream palace, 530 00:36:55,035 --> 00:36:58,475 Speaker 1: the war mongering Lekudniks in the administration sit around dreaming 531 00:36:58,475 --> 00:37:02,515 Speaker 1: of conquests in Syria, Iran and beyond. Yeah, pretty much. 532 00:37:02,715 --> 00:37:06,635 Speaker 1: In this dream palace. The boy genius Carl Rove, this 533 00:37:06,955 --> 00:37:10,515 Speaker 1: was written a long time ago, hatches schemes to use 534 00:37:10,555 --> 00:37:15,155 Speaker 1: the Confederate flag issue to win more elections. Yeah, that's 535 00:37:15,235 --> 00:37:17,195 Speaker 1: also kind of prophetic, David, but not in the way 536 00:37:17,235 --> 00:37:19,715 Speaker 1: you must have thought when you wrote this, starting off 537 00:37:19,755 --> 00:37:27,795 Speaker 1: with the words George Orwell was a modest man. Ah, 538 00:37:27,955 --> 00:37:30,355 Speaker 1: The boy genius Karl Rove hatches schemes to use the 539 00:37:30,355 --> 00:37:34,075 Speaker 1: Confederate flag issue to win more elections. John Ashcroft wages 540 00:37:34,115 --> 00:37:37,515 Speaker 1: holy war on American liberties, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and 541 00:37:37,555 --> 00:37:40,715 Speaker 1: his cabal of neo conservatives long for global empire. In 542 00:37:40,795 --> 00:37:44,435 Speaker 1: this dream palace, every story of Republican villainy is believed, 543 00:37:44,595 --> 00:37:48,675 Speaker 1: and all the windows are shuttered with hate. Well, he 544 00:37:48,755 --> 00:37:50,795 Speaker 1: got the names wrong, But you tell me. If you 545 00:37:50,875 --> 00:37:54,715 Speaker 1: said Trump wages holy war on American liberties and putin 546 00:37:54,835 --> 00:38:00,835 Speaker 1: longs for global empire, it becomes instead chilling prophecy. Except Brooks's, well, 547 00:38:00,915 --> 00:38:02,875 Speaker 1: this is all a seventy eight dollars burger to him, 548 00:38:02,915 --> 00:38:06,675 Speaker 1: isn't it. These palaces have taken a beating over the 549 00:38:06,715 --> 00:38:09,835 Speaker 1: past month. As the scientists would say, they are conceptual 550 00:38:09,875 --> 00:38:14,915 Speaker 1: models that failed to predict events. David doesn't know what 551 00:38:14,955 --> 00:38:17,635 Speaker 1: that phrase means. But as we try to understand the 552 00:38:17,635 --> 00:38:20,195 Speaker 1: political and cultural importance of the war in Iraq, the 553 00:38:20,275 --> 00:38:23,075 Speaker 1: question is this, Will they crumble under the weight of 554 00:38:23,235 --> 00:38:28,475 Speaker 1: undeniable facts? Will the illusions fall on the political landscape change? 555 00:38:29,915 --> 00:38:32,595 Speaker 1: My guess is that the Bush haters will grow more 556 00:38:32,675 --> 00:38:39,715 Speaker 1: vociferous as their numbers shrink. Well, he sure got that right. 557 00:38:39,835 --> 00:38:42,635 Speaker 1: Our numbers truly shrank so much that within three years 558 00:38:42,675 --> 00:38:45,835 Speaker 1: of this piece being written, Bush had completely spent his 559 00:38:46,155 --> 00:38:50,355 Speaker 1: entire post nine to eleven universal benefit of the doubt mandate, 560 00:38:50,435 --> 00:38:55,595 Speaker 1: and he got wiped out in the midterms. Even progress 561 00:38:55,595 --> 00:38:58,115 Speaker 1: in Iraq will not dampen their anger, because, as many 562 00:38:58,155 --> 00:39:00,795 Speaker 1: people have noted, hatred of Bush and his corporate cronies 563 00:39:00,875 --> 00:39:03,715 Speaker 1: is all that is left of their leftism. Oh see, 564 00:39:03,755 --> 00:39:07,355 Speaker 1: that's clever, left of their leftism. Hire this band for 565 00:39:07,395 --> 00:39:09,235 Speaker 1: the New York Times. In fact, I let him write 566 00:39:09,275 --> 00:39:11,995 Speaker 1: all of the opinion columns of the New York Times. 567 00:39:12,155 --> 00:39:14,435 Speaker 1: That's not quite a sentence. That is all that is 568 00:39:14,555 --> 00:39:18,035 Speaker 1: left of their leftism and all that is right of 569 00:39:18,075 --> 00:39:22,435 Speaker 1: their rightism. I'm sorry, that's your next column. Oh, I'm sorry, David. 570 00:39:23,155 --> 00:39:27,315 Speaker 1: And this hatred is tribal, not ideological. And so they 571 00:39:27,475 --> 00:39:31,555 Speaker 1: will still have their rallies, their alternative weeklies, and their 572 00:39:31,635 --> 00:39:36,075 Speaker 1: Gorvidal polemics. They will still have a huge influence over 573 00:39:36,115 --> 00:39:41,035 Speaker 1: the Democratic Party, perhaps even determining its next presidential nominee. 574 00:39:42,715 --> 00:39:44,675 Speaker 1: Who'd that turn out to be? David? I forget two 575 00:39:44,715 --> 00:39:49,875 Speaker 1: thousand and eight? Who is that guy? What happened in? 576 00:39:49,875 --> 00:39:52,435 Speaker 1: In other words, there will be no magic aha moment 577 00:39:52,475 --> 00:39:56,355 Speaker 1: that brings the dream palaces down, even if Saddam's remains 578 00:39:56,435 --> 00:39:59,955 Speaker 1: are found, even if weapons of mass destruction are displayed, 579 00:40:00,115 --> 00:40:02,795 Speaker 1: even if Iraq starts to move along a winding, muddled 580 00:40:02,795 --> 00:40:06,075 Speaker 1: path towards normalcy. No will come when the enemies of 581 00:40:06,075 --> 00:40:09,315 Speaker 1: this endeavor turn around and say we were wrong. Bush 582 00:40:09,475 --> 00:40:16,235 Speaker 1: was right, Probably because we were right. Bush was wrong. 583 00:40:18,035 --> 00:40:22,435 Speaker 1: We didn't find Sodom Hussein's remains because this terrible, evil 584 00:40:22,475 --> 00:40:26,035 Speaker 1: monster who could never be defeated was hiding in what 585 00:40:26,155 --> 00:40:29,835 Speaker 1: amounted to an underground outhouse, and then we executed him, 586 00:40:30,355 --> 00:40:33,195 Speaker 1: and there were no weapons of mass destruction to display. 587 00:40:33,595 --> 00:40:36,395 Speaker 1: Let me know when Iraq starts moving towards normalcy. Also, 588 00:40:36,475 --> 00:40:39,595 Speaker 1: let me know the name of any Republican, any Republican, 589 00:40:39,635 --> 00:40:41,995 Speaker 1: not just Trump, but any Republican of twenty twenty three 590 00:40:42,115 --> 00:40:47,275 Speaker 1: who will now say Bush was right about Iraq. But 591 00:40:47,355 --> 00:40:50,035 Speaker 1: there is another larger group of people whose world views 592 00:40:50,075 --> 00:40:52,835 Speaker 1: will be permanently altered by the war in Iraq. Members 593 00:40:52,835 --> 00:40:55,075 Speaker 1: of this group were not firm opponents of the war. 594 00:40:55,435 --> 00:40:57,435 Speaker 1: What lessons will they draw from the events of the 595 00:40:57,475 --> 00:40:59,915 Speaker 1: past month. How will the fall of Saddam effect their 596 00:40:59,995 --> 00:41:03,635 Speaker 1: voting patterns, their approach to the next global crisis. One 597 00:41:03,715 --> 00:41:06,675 Speaker 1: way to think about this is to conduct a thought experiment. 598 00:41:07,995 --> 00:41:12,195 Speaker 1: This was written for money. One way to think about 599 00:41:12,195 --> 00:41:15,275 Speaker 1: this is to conduct a thought experiment event a representative 600 00:41:15,355 --> 00:41:20,675 Speaker 1: twenty year old Joey Tabula Rasa and try to imagine 601 00:41:20,755 --> 00:41:23,435 Speaker 1: how he would have perceived the events of the past month. 602 00:41:23,635 --> 00:41:30,635 Speaker 1: Oh my god, Joey tabular Rasa. Oddly enough, the guy 603 00:41:30,675 --> 00:41:34,515 Speaker 1: who served David Brooks' seventy eight dollars burger at Newark Airport. 604 00:41:35,275 --> 00:41:42,155 Speaker 1: Joey Tabula Rasa from Nutley. Joey doesn't know much about history, 605 00:41:43,795 --> 00:41:47,155 Speaker 1: not much biology either. I believe. According to the song, 606 00:41:47,315 --> 00:41:49,355 Speaker 1: he was born in nineteen eighty three and was only 607 00:41:49,395 --> 00:41:52,035 Speaker 1: six when the Berlin Wall fell. He really has no 608 00:41:52,115 --> 00:41:55,075 Speaker 1: firm idea of what labels like liberal and conservative mean. 609 00:41:55,395 --> 00:41:57,515 Speaker 1: But now he is in college and he's been glued 610 00:41:57,555 --> 00:41:59,555 Speaker 1: to the cable coverage of the war and is ready 611 00:41:59,555 --> 00:42:02,995 Speaker 1: to form some opinions. Over the past months, certain facts 612 00:42:02,995 --> 00:42:05,875 Speaker 1: and characters have entered his consciousness, like characters in a 613 00:42:05,915 --> 00:42:09,035 Speaker 1: play he is seeing for the first time. The first 614 00:42:09,075 --> 00:42:11,675 Speaker 1: character is America itself. He sees that his country is 615 00:42:11,835 --> 00:42:16,715 Speaker 1: an incredibly effective colossus that can drop bombs onto pinpoints, 616 00:42:16,915 --> 00:42:19,435 Speaker 1: destroy enemies that already even aware they are under attack. 617 00:42:20,595 --> 00:42:23,115 Speaker 1: That's why everything's so good in Iraq and Afghanistan today. 618 00:42:23,115 --> 00:42:25,875 Speaker 1: He sees a ruling establishment that can conduct wars with 619 00:42:25,995 --> 00:42:31,075 Speaker 1: incredible confidence and skill, and of course lying about Saint 620 00:42:31,195 --> 00:42:34,915 Speaker 1: pat Tillman or what was her name, Private Blair? Wasn't 621 00:42:34,955 --> 00:42:39,675 Speaker 1: it Blair? No Lynch? Private Jessica Lynch? Blair? Was George 622 00:42:39,835 --> 00:42:42,635 Speaker 1: Orwell's name? Did I mention that George Orwell was a 623 00:42:42,675 --> 00:42:48,635 Speaker 1: modest man? Well? Back to Joey Tabula Rossa. He sees 624 00:42:48,635 --> 00:42:52,115 Speaker 1: a federal government that can perform its primary task protecting 625 00:42:52,195 --> 00:42:58,075 Speaker 1: the American people magnificently except for nine to eleven. Of course. 626 00:42:58,315 --> 00:43:01,595 Speaker 1: The second great character in Joey's mind is the American soldier. 627 00:43:01,915 --> 00:43:04,275 Speaker 1: When Joey thinks of youthful idealism, he doesn't think of 628 00:43:04,315 --> 00:43:06,955 Speaker 1: college students protesting in the streets. He thinks of young 629 00:43:07,035 --> 00:43:12,235 Speaker 1: soldiers risking their lives to liberate a people. These are 630 00:43:12,275 --> 00:43:14,635 Speaker 1: the men and women Joey saw interviewed by the Dozen 631 00:43:14,755 --> 00:43:17,635 Speaker 1: on TV. They seem to enjoy being in the military. 632 00:43:17,675 --> 00:43:19,515 Speaker 1: They seem to believe in their mission. They seem to 633 00:43:19,515 --> 00:43:21,595 Speaker 1: be involved in something large and noble, even at a 634 00:43:21,635 --> 00:43:25,355 Speaker 1: young age. They seem to not realize they were going 635 00:43:25,395 --> 00:43:27,355 Speaker 1: to get PTSD and struggle with it for the rest 636 00:43:27,395 --> 00:43:29,635 Speaker 1: of their lives. When Joey looks at the talking heads 637 00:43:29,635 --> 00:43:32,235 Speaker 1: on TV, he begins to form judgments about this country's 638 00:43:32,235 --> 00:43:34,835 Speaker 1: political device. First, he sees the broad majority of people 639 00:43:34,875 --> 00:43:37,115 Speaker 1: who support the war, who, it seems to him, deserve 640 00:43:37,155 --> 00:43:41,115 Speaker 1: to be called the progressives. These people talk optimistically of 641 00:43:41,155 --> 00:43:45,715 Speaker 1: spreading democracy and creating a new Middle East. How's that going? 642 00:43:46,555 --> 00:43:50,035 Speaker 1: How are we doing spreading democracy to Israel? For instance? 643 00:43:51,675 --> 00:43:53,955 Speaker 1: They have a very confident approach to what America can 644 00:43:53,995 --> 00:43:56,235 Speaker 1: achieve in the world. People in this political movement include 645 00:43:56,275 --> 00:44:03,995 Speaker 1: Christopher Hitchens, Dennis Miller, Dennis Miller, Paul Wolfowitz, Joseph Lieberman, 646 00:44:04,115 --> 00:44:07,835 Speaker 1: John McCay, Dane, Richard Holbrook, Charles Crowdhammer, the staff of 647 00:44:07,955 --> 00:44:13,595 Speaker 1: Fox News, Bernard Lewis, and George Bush. Let's see Hitchens 648 00:44:13,755 --> 00:44:18,755 Speaker 1: drunk and then dead. Dennis Miller professionally dead, wolf of Witz. 649 00:44:18,875 --> 00:44:21,635 Speaker 1: I don't know what happened to Wolfa Witz. Lieberman still 650 00:44:21,635 --> 00:44:25,715 Speaker 1: out there trying to get Trump elected. McCain lost, humiliated 651 00:44:25,715 --> 00:44:28,315 Speaker 1: by Trump. Holbrook, you know CNN wanted him to co 652 00:44:28,435 --> 00:44:32,795 Speaker 1: anchor Mornings with Paula's on and Fox News. Yes, they're 653 00:44:32,835 --> 00:44:37,515 Speaker 1: the progressives, aren't they? The second group Joey ces he 654 00:44:37,675 --> 00:44:40,475 Speaker 1: calls the conservatives. These people are far more skeptical of 655 00:44:40,515 --> 00:44:43,275 Speaker 1: the war and grand endeavorors of that sort. They emphasize 656 00:44:43,315 --> 00:44:45,555 Speaker 1: all the things that could go wrong. They seem more 657 00:44:45,595 --> 00:44:49,675 Speaker 1: prudent and less idealistic revisionary. They were not necessarily implacably 658 00:44:49,715 --> 00:44:52,835 Speaker 1: opposed to the effort in Iraq, but they thought it imprudent. 659 00:44:53,315 --> 00:44:57,635 Speaker 1: People in the conservative camp include Brent Scowcroft, Joe Klein, 660 00:44:58,155 --> 00:45:04,075 Speaker 1: the State Department, John Kerry, Chris Matthews, Robert Novak, and 661 00:45:04,155 --> 00:45:09,795 Speaker 1: most of the press corps. George Orwell was a modest man. 662 00:45:11,035 --> 00:45:15,115 Speaker 1: When Joey listens to these conservatives, he thinks they raised 663 00:45:15,155 --> 00:45:17,355 Speaker 1: some ballid concerns. They serve as a useful break on 664 00:45:17,395 --> 00:45:20,755 Speaker 1: the progressives, but they're not exactly inspiring or hopeful, and 665 00:45:20,795 --> 00:45:24,435 Speaker 1: their prognostications on Iraq proved more wrong than right. I'm 666 00:45:24,475 --> 00:45:25,955 Speaker 1: now going to say something I don't know that I've 667 00:45:25,995 --> 00:45:29,515 Speaker 1: ever said before. I think I was pretty much right 668 00:45:29,555 --> 00:45:32,875 Speaker 1: about Iraq and was one of the first ones to 669 00:45:32,875 --> 00:45:36,275 Speaker 1: say anything about Iraq. But you know what, Chris Matthews's 670 00:45:36,395 --> 00:45:44,275 Speaker 1: predictions about Iraq were actually eventually, not immediately, but eventually correct. 671 00:45:46,395 --> 00:45:48,755 Speaker 1: He jumped off the ship too, took up a little longer. 672 00:45:48,795 --> 00:45:52,075 Speaker 1: But I'm actually complimenting Chris Matthews. The whole point of 673 00:45:52,115 --> 00:45:54,155 Speaker 1: this article, on my reading it to you, is it's 674 00:45:54,195 --> 00:45:56,675 Speaker 1: April twenty eight, two thousand and three, and David Brooks 675 00:45:56,795 --> 00:45:58,795 Speaker 1: is writing this as if these events had happened a 676 00:45:58,835 --> 00:46:01,475 Speaker 1: thousand years ago and nothing had changed. Well, I guess 677 00:46:01,515 --> 00:46:04,555 Speaker 1: things are stable now. We can just write this as history. 678 00:46:04,715 --> 00:46:10,515 Speaker 1: It's never gonna chack back to Joey Tabula rasa. Joey 679 00:46:10,595 --> 00:46:12,995 Speaker 1: likes to think of himself as fundamentally independent. He looks 680 00:46:13,035 --> 00:46:16,195 Speaker 1: at the people living in their dream palaces, the Arabists, 681 00:46:16,195 --> 00:46:18,835 Speaker 1: the European elites, the bush haters, and he knows he 682 00:46:18,835 --> 00:46:20,675 Speaker 1: doesn't want to be like them. He doesn't want to 683 00:46:20,715 --> 00:46:24,195 Speaker 1: be so zealous and detach from reality. He wants to 684 00:46:24,195 --> 00:46:26,315 Speaker 1: have a seventy eight dollars burger. He's not even into 685 00:46:26,435 --> 00:46:28,875 Speaker 1: joining political movements at home. But he is less independent 686 00:46:28,875 --> 00:46:31,715 Speaker 1: than he thinks. He has started to acquire certain assumptions 687 00:46:31,755 --> 00:46:34,155 Speaker 1: over the past months which will shape his thinking in 688 00:46:34,275 --> 00:46:37,915 Speaker 1: years to come. As a rule, these assumptions are the 689 00:46:37,955 --> 00:46:40,995 Speaker 1: exact opposite of the assumptions he would have formed if 690 00:46:40,995 --> 00:46:44,915 Speaker 1: he had been watching the Vietnam War unfold. His politics 691 00:46:44,955 --> 00:46:48,315 Speaker 1: will be radically different from those of the Vietnam generation. 692 00:46:49,675 --> 00:46:52,315 Speaker 1: Joey isn't one of a kind. There are millions of 693 00:46:52,435 --> 00:46:57,555 Speaker 1: Joey's and variations on Joey. Inevitably, then, in ways subtle 694 00:46:57,555 --> 00:47:00,635 Speaker 1: and profound, the events of the past month will shape 695 00:47:00,635 --> 00:47:06,155 Speaker 1: our politics for the rest of our lives. Wait, that's it, 696 00:47:07,075 --> 00:47:11,155 Speaker 1: not even something in here about. In conclusion, Iraq is 697 00:47:11,195 --> 00:47:14,875 Speaker 1: a land of contrasts. Turns out it did not shape 698 00:47:14,875 --> 00:47:19,515 Speaker 1: our politics for the rest of our lives. David Brooks 699 00:47:19,515 --> 00:47:21,835 Speaker 1: got it everything wrong that he could get wrong in 700 00:47:21,875 --> 00:47:24,275 Speaker 1: this piece, and there's another fifteen hundred words. I did 701 00:47:24,275 --> 00:47:26,675 Speaker 1: not read everything. And he got a job with The 702 00:47:26,715 --> 00:47:29,635 Speaker 1: New York Times out of this at which for two 703 00:47:29,675 --> 00:47:32,315 Speaker 1: decades he has lied about big things, and he has 704 00:47:32,355 --> 00:47:35,795 Speaker 1: lied about small things like seventy eight dollars burgers at 705 00:47:35,835 --> 00:47:39,595 Speaker 1: Newark Airport. And I think we should never let him 706 00:47:39,835 --> 00:47:43,835 Speaker 1: forget everything he writes. Every time he appears in public, 707 00:47:44,115 --> 00:47:47,635 Speaker 1: somebody has to offer him a seventy eight dollars burger 708 00:47:47,795 --> 00:47:57,595 Speaker 1: and sixty two whiskies plus Joey Tabula rasa. You know 709 00:47:57,635 --> 00:48:00,595 Speaker 1: what I think this explains. I think the Times hired 710 00:48:00,675 --> 00:48:03,235 Speaker 1: David Brooks in two thousand and three after this column 711 00:48:03,555 --> 00:48:08,795 Speaker 1: because he, his imagery and his characters were actually dumber 712 00:48:09,795 --> 00:48:25,875 Speaker 1: than Maureen Dowd's. I've done all the damage I can 713 00:48:25,915 --> 00:48:27,715 Speaker 1: do here. Thank you for listening. Just had to get 714 00:48:27,715 --> 00:48:32,395 Speaker 1: that off my chest. We'll do that periodically as David 715 00:48:32,395 --> 00:48:35,755 Speaker 1: Brooks's columns appears. Countdown has come to you from the 716 00:48:35,755 --> 00:48:38,675 Speaker 1: studios of the Olderman Broadcasting Empire. The music you heard 717 00:48:38,835 --> 00:48:41,275 Speaker 1: was for the most part arranged and produced by Countdown 718 00:48:41,315 --> 00:48:44,755 Speaker 1: musical directors Brian Ray and John Phillip Shaneil. Brian Ray 719 00:48:44,755 --> 00:48:47,915 Speaker 1: handled guitars, bass and drums. John Phillip Shaneil. The orchestration 720 00:48:47,955 --> 00:48:51,195 Speaker 1: and the keyboards produced by T. K OBErs. Other music, 721 00:48:51,235 --> 00:48:55,195 Speaker 1: including other Beethoven tunage, arranged and performed by the group 722 00:48:55,235 --> 00:48:58,755 Speaker 1: No Horns Allowed. Sports music is courtesy of ESPN, Inc. 723 00:48:58,795 --> 00:49:00,715 Speaker 1: It was written by Mitch Warren Davis. We call it 724 00:49:00,755 --> 00:49:04,395 Speaker 1: the Olderman theme from ESPN two. Our satirical and pithy 725 00:49:04,475 --> 00:49:07,715 Speaker 1: m musical comments, which we resumed thankfully in this episode, 726 00:49:07,835 --> 00:49:10,635 Speaker 1: are by Nancy Fauss, the best baseball stadium organist ever. 727 00:49:11,115 --> 00:49:13,795 Speaker 1: Our announcer today was my friend Howard Feineman, and everything 728 00:49:13,835 --> 00:49:16,675 Speaker 1: else was pretty much my fault. That's countdown for this 729 00:49:16,715 --> 00:49:19,555 Speaker 1: the nine hundred and ninety fourth day since Donald Trump's 730 00:49:19,555 --> 00:49:22,155 Speaker 1: first attempted coup against the democratically elected government of the 731 00:49:22,275 --> 00:49:26,395 Speaker 1: United States. Convict him now while we still can. The 732 00:49:26,475 --> 00:49:29,555 Speaker 1: next scheduled countdown is tomorrow. Bulletins as the news warrants 733 00:49:29,595 --> 00:49:32,555 Speaker 1: till then. For Joey Tabula Rasa and the rest of 734 00:49:32,595 --> 00:49:36,395 Speaker 1: the staff, I'm Keith Alderman, good morning, good afternoon, good night, 735 00:49:37,115 --> 00:49:51,795 Speaker 1: and good luck George Orwell was a genuinely modest man 736 00:49:54,755 --> 00:49:58,715 Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olreman is a production of iHeartRadio. For 737 00:49:58,875 --> 00:50:03,795 Speaker 1: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 738 00:50:04,035 --> 00:50:06,035 Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts.