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

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Speaker 1: Emperor not only has no clothes, he has no clue.

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Speaker 1: Is the Strait of Hormuz open or is it closed?

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Speaker 1: Are there peace talks with Iran in Pakistan tomorrow or nah?

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Speaker 1: Is JV Vance going to them? Is Iran going to them?

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Speaker 1: Has Trump's scheduled peace talks where we're the only ones there?

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Speaker 1: Will it make any difference if we're the only ones there?

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Speaker 1: Doesn't Blowing a hole in the engine room of an

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Speaker 1: Iranian cargo ship yesterday, I mean we are not honoring

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Speaker 1: Trump's own ceasefire. He keeps boasting about are we paying

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Speaker 1: twenty billion dollars for the Irani in Ran and the

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Speaker 1: hostages the same uranium and hostages Obama bought for four

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Speaker 1: hundred million, And Trump called him a trader? Or is

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Speaker 1: that a no? Don't ask Trump. He doesn't know, but

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Speaker 1: that won't stop him from answering anyway. Yes, then no,

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Speaker 1: then yes again, then all of the above. In forty

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Speaker 1: eight hours, Trump went from thirteen posts congratulating himself on

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Speaker 1: winning to insisting he would stop being mister nice guy

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Speaker 1: and blow up all of Iran. And by the way,

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Speaker 1: exactly when was he? Mister nice guy, Trump is entirely

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Speaker 1: full of shit. It is as if you took all

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Speaker 1: the shit in the world, squeezed it into a bag

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Speaker 1: and made it president. He insists he has opened Hormuz,

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Speaker 1: and Iran's leaders fire on chips and insists it's closed.

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Speaker 1: He insists there are talks. Iran's leaders say they know

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Speaker 1: nothing about them. We are losing the war in Iran,

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Speaker 1: and as of today, a total idiot is still president

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Speaker 1: and commander in chief. He gets questions about this pointless

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Speaker 1: war he started to divert attention from Epstein in the

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Speaker 1: economy he has crashed. So he then orders the reporters

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Speaker 1: out of the Oval office and sits there with hapless

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Speaker 1: munchkin little Joe Rogan standing behind him, the shine off

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Speaker 1: his motteled cubeball noggin blinding cameras and journalists alike. Trump

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Speaker 1: has set off a chain of events over which he

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Speaker 1: no longer has any control except to withdraw and flea.

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Speaker 1: And to withdraw and flea would be to acknowledge he

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Speaker 1: has screwed up. And this man would jump off the

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Speaker 1: roof of the White House before admitting he screwed up.

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Speaker 1: It is so bad. It is so bad. The Trump

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Speaker 1: quote administration unquote has so utterly jumped the shark that

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Speaker 1: the truthers are coming out, and the truthers are coming

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Speaker 1: out from inside MAGA. Alex Jones now insist Trump has

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Speaker 1: done all this deliberately because he has made a quote.

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Speaker 2: Deal with the deep state to throw the election to

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Speaker 2: the Democrats. Marjorie Taylor Green has joined the Trump assassination truthers,

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Speaker 2: and Trump himself has floated a kind of conspiracy theory

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Speaker 2: about himself. He wrote Praise Be to Allah on Easter

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Speaker 2: morning to quote seem as unstable and insulting as possible.

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Speaker 2: He wanted to seem as unstable as possible. Mission accomplished. Buddy,

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Speaker 2: you've finally done something you promised Trump you have unsuspected depth.

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Speaker 2: So is that idea he's doing this deliberately? Is that

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Speaker 2: the basis of the Alex Jones theory of TDS That

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Speaker 2: would be Trump defenestration syndrome. I mean, listen to this.

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Speaker 3: We're supposed to sit here and love this crap as

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Speaker 3: his poll numbers go straight down and all the poll

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Speaker 3: sholl republoms are going to lose them in terms of

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Speaker 3: seven months by a landslide eight disaster, a total and

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Speaker 3: complete disaster. Trump is not that stupid. He's made some

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Speaker 3: deal with the deep state to throw the election of Democrats.

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Speaker 3: That's something.

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Speaker 1: This can be only possible explanation, the one about Trump

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Speaker 1: being stupid. That just doesn't work right now. Did Jones

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Speaker 1: read this quote in the Wall Street Journal or did

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Speaker 1: somebody at the journal hear what Jones said there? Quote

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Speaker 1: aids fielded calls from Republican senators and Christian leaders. They asked,

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Speaker 1: why would he say Praise be to Allah on Easter morning?

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Speaker 1: Why would he use the F word? When one advisor

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Speaker 1: later asked Trump about it, he said he came up

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Speaker 1: with the Allah idea himself. He said he wanted to

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Speaker 1: see him as unstable and insulting as possible, believing it

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Speaker 1: could bring the Iranians to the table. Good thinking Chief.

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Speaker 1: And then there's Marjorie Green. Three separate social media posts,

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Speaker 1: one of them a retweet of Tucker Carlson's son, who

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Speaker 1: just quit as Vance's deputy press secretary in protest of

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Speaker 1: the entire administration. The three posts go deeply into trump Trutherism.

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Speaker 1: One of them is a repost of a seven hundred

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Speaker 1: and fifty words screed from a self pronounced Trump twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty four delegate from Texas, questioning the assassination attempts in Butler, Pennsylvania.

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Speaker 1: Butler Trutherism is now coming into focus. It is pinned

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Speaker 1: on three questions. If somebody out there in the fields

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Speaker 1: has been in the last couple minutes trying to kill

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Speaker 1: Trump with a rifle, why on earth did the Secret

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Speaker 1: Service let him stand up and raise his arm over

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Speaker 1: his head and shout fight? And why on earth did

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Speaker 1: a crane reposition a giant American flag during the shooting

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Speaker 1: so it would be in all the photos of Trump's

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Speaker 1: standing like a duck at a county fair shoot gallery.

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Speaker 1: And whoever in the Secret Service who totally screwed up

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Speaker 1: that day? Why didn't Trump fire him and instead made

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Speaker 1: him the head of the Secret Service. Marjorie Taylor Green

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Speaker 1: calls this quote extremely important. Trump, of all people, should

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Speaker 1: be leading the charge. Why isn't he? That's the question?

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Speaker 1: Why the cover up and the final dose before you

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Speaker 1: go full truther or on anything. Quote. I'm not calling

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Speaker 1: the Butler assassination a hoax, but for what does the

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Speaker 1: profit of president if he regaineth Baldy, Joe Rogan, but

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Speaker 1: Loseth MTG and Alex Jones, which takes us back to

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Speaker 1: Iran and the fact that Trump is not only losing

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Speaker 1: in Iran, he's losing about Iran. Politico polled on it,

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Speaker 1: and he's cratering. Support for Trump's war there is down

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Speaker 1: to thirty eight percent, no improvement despite the weeks that

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Speaker 1: Trump and his noise machine have had to try to

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Speaker 1: sell this crap. Only twenty seven percent say he has

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Speaker 1: a plan for resolving Iran one way or the other.

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Speaker 1: Only fifteen percent think he's achieved his goals in Iran,

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Speaker 1: whatever the f they were. And on the overall subject

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Speaker 1: of Iran, an NBC News poll came out yesterday, he's

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Speaker 1: a net thirty four points underwater. By the way, he's

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Speaker 1: a net thirty six on cost of living, so Iran

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Speaker 1: is a relative highlight at this point. Oh when Trump

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Speaker 1: extended the Russian oil license for a month forty eight

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Speaker 1: hours after the Foppish Secretary of Commerce Scott Bessn't insisted

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Speaker 1: they were not going to do that. So at least

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Speaker 1: somebody is coming out of this in good shape. Unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: that somebody is Vladimir Putin and despite that treason. Trump

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Speaker 1: is aiding an enemy of this country, an enemy of

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Speaker 1: this country, that is itself aiding another enemy of this country.

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Speaker 1: That's that's that's treason. The head of the International Energy

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Speaker 1: Agency now says Europe is down to its last six

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Speaker 1: weeks of jet fuel. Quote the largest energy crisis we

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Speaker 1: have ever seen. He says, two dollars gas. Well, Trump

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Speaker 1: can still achieve that. It's an easy fix. Here's how

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Speaker 1: you do it. Instead of quoting the price per gallon,

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Speaker 1: you quote the price per ounce two dollars. Speaking of

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Speaker 1: liquids and ounces that incredible. Bessentt and somebody nailed it.

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Speaker 1: Somebody this week said Scott Bessant seemed to be doing

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Speaker 1: a bad impression of Will Ferrell on Saturday Night Live,

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Speaker 1: doing an impression of Harry Carey, to which somebody else said, no, no, no, no, no,

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Speaker 1: it's worse than that. Bessont seems to be doing a

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Speaker 1: bad impression of himself. Speaking of liquids, announces, Scott Bessont

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Speaker 1: managed to add comic relief to this nightmare by calling

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Speaker 1: the Strait of Hormuz the Strait of Vermouth, providing a

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Speaker 1: delightful sidelight to the sizzle reels of Pete Hegseth getting

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Speaker 1: drunk live on Fox News, which are now accompanied by

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Speaker 1: the new mashups heg Seth reading what he thought was

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Speaker 1: a Bible quote to officers and others at the Pentagon,

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Speaker 1: when in fact he was reading dialogue from Tarantino's pulp fiction,

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Speaker 1: and all of its serving as a a parenteef to

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Speaker 1: the Atlantic profile of Cash Patel, the head of your FBI,

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Speaker 1: the Federal Bureau of Intoxication. The Patel's story provided the

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Speaker 1: first proof of life from that bug eyed bastard who

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Speaker 1: then had to go on Fox yesterday. Hey, look, there's

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Speaker 1: been a Cash Patel sighting. He insisted, he has laser

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Speaker 1: focused on the twenty twenty election, keeping an eye firmly

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Speaker 1: fixed on it. Maybe two eyes. If the Atlantic story

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Speaker 1: about Patel is accurate, and he's not just a drunk,

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Speaker 1: but he's such a drunk that he is a risk

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Speaker 1: for spontaneous combustion. The fact is most of the traction

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Speaker 1: for that story has been provided by his own department

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Speaker 1: and his own attorneys. They keep retweeting it. They have

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Speaker 1: shouted at such length and such volume about suing about

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Speaker 1: this article. Their lawyer letters are filled with each report

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Speaker 1: of each bout of intoxication or paranoida or paranoid intoxication,

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Speaker 1: they have truly proved the streisand effect is real. I mean,

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Speaker 1: how do you possibly erase the image of Patel jock

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Speaker 1: sniffing his way through the US Olympic hockey dressing room

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Speaker 1: in Milan. I'll just make sure everybody in America now

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Speaker 1: has a mental picture of Patel's so impaired that he

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Speaker 1: can't remember his password for his FBI computer and he

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Speaker 1: then fails to enter it correctly so many times the

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Speaker 1: computer automatically locks him out, and he then reaches the

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Speaker 1: only possible conclusion that Trump has fired him, and locking

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Speaker 1: him out of his computer is the way Trump is

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Speaker 1: letting him find out. The second saddest part of the

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Speaker 1: Atlantic saga. After that little risk to national security that

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Speaker 1: a drunken FBI chief would represent, the second saddest part

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Speaker 1: is the profound, damaging, incapacitating alcoholism. That that possibility that

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Speaker 1: he's he's literally a flammable drunk, That that would be

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Speaker 1: the happiest of all the possible explanations for the self

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Speaker 1: destruction of cash Patel's mind. And by the way, Fatel, Hegseeth,

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Speaker 1: and Vessent. They are all still more sober and more

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Speaker 1: sane than Trump. Is bad news everybody. The President's brain

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Speaker 1: is missing. Let's just let Trump roll on three great

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Speaker 1: sound bites, famous things the Pope never actually said, but

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Speaker 1: he thinks he did. This new invention that he made

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Speaker 1: the corner store and the best yet, just because you

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Speaker 1: have no legs doesn't mean you can't run.

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Speaker 4: The Pope made a statement. He says Iran can have

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Speaker 4: a nuclear weapon. I say Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.

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Speaker 1: So I could.

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Speaker 4: Disagree with the puff right, I have a right to

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Speaker 4: disagree with the pulp. Restaurant strip landers corner stores.

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Speaker 1: What is a corner store?

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Speaker 2: I've never heard that term.

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Speaker 4: I know what a corner store is, but I've never

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Speaker 4: heard it described a corner store.

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Speaker 1: Who the hell wrote that?

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Speaker 5: When you see soldiers or others, but soldiers generally walking

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Speaker 5: around with no legs, with no arms of face, that's

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Speaker 5: been smashed, that was solimated. It was Iran that did that.

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Speaker 1: Holy crap, really running around with no legs. Ah, he's fine,

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Speaker 1: And don't sleep on that other line about this term.

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Speaker 1: He doesn't know. Corner stores don't have any corner stores

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Speaker 1: in Queens. They have nothing but corner stores in Queens.

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Speaker 1: We're finally beginning to see the pattern emerge and define itself.

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Speaker 1: The odds are about three to one that at some

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Speaker 1: point in the next week or month, Trump will encounter

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Speaker 1: that term again and claim, oh, corner stores, I just

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Speaker 1: invented that. This is now revealing itself as a pattern

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Speaker 1: that is familiar to those who have dealt with others

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Speaker 1: who have declining mental function of any kind. People who

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Speaker 1: invent new words and insist everybody knows what they mean.

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Speaker 1: That tends to suggest bipolar disorder. But if somebody forgets

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Speaker 1: a common word or phrase and then suddenly remembers it

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Speaker 1: or hears it, they can only rationalize their own confusion

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Speaker 1: by claiming they just invented that phrase or word, and

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Speaker 1: those people are mentally coming apart at the seams. For

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Speaker 1: over a decade this has been happening, and I don't

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Speaker 1: think it's been happening frequently enough to be a pattern.

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Speaker 1: I think with this it is now a pattern. Trump

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Speaker 1: insisted he invented the term priming the pump. He insisted

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Speaker 1: he invented the word caravan. Last year, he came up

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Speaker 1: with the quote new word equalize. He has said that

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Speaker 1: there is a new word affordability. He's claimed he invented

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Speaker 1: the term fake news, except fake news dates to the

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Speaker 1: eighteen nineties, and even his greatest linguistic concoction, make America

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Speaker 1: Great Again, that, of course, bears no connection to the

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Speaker 1: Ronald Reagan campaign slogan from nineteen eighty Let's make America

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Speaker 1: great again. Totally different, totally different. Well, we are here

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Speaker 1: on the subject of Trump's amazing dissolving brain good news

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Speaker 1: from the White House, where as predicted, Trump is not

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Speaker 1: building a ballroom nobody wants or needs, but he has

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Speaker 1: brought it up. Turns out third day this year on average,

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Speaker 1: Trump is building a ballroom atop a deep underground bunker,

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Speaker 1: because building deep underground bunkers is what all hated dictators do. Quote.

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Speaker 1: The underground portion is wetted to and serves the upper portion,

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Speaker 1: including the bomb shelters, a state of the art hospital

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Speaker 1: and medical facilities, protective partitioning, top secret military installations, structures

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Speaker 1: and equipment, protective missile resistant steel columns, roofs and beams,

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Speaker 1: drone proof ceilings and roofs, military grade venting, and bullet

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Speaker 1: ballistic and blast proof glass. These are the things I

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Speaker 1: look for in a nice ballroom.

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Speaker 2: Quote. It's all tied together is one big, expensive and

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Speaker 2: very complex unit which is vital for national security and

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Speaker 2: military operations of the United States of America.

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Speaker 1: Exclamation point.

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Speaker 2: A bunker ballroom, A.

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Speaker 1: Best underground bunker ballroom. Christ because the last White house

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Speaker 1: underground bunker that Trump went and hid in. If you

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Speaker 1: will remember in twenty twenty during the Black Lives Matter protest,

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Speaker 1: where's the president? He's in the underground bunker. Uh okay.

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Speaker 1: Apparently that image was not hit Larryan enough if this

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Speaker 1: boast of his come from the ballroom. But stay for

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Speaker 1: the invocation of where Adolph and Ava met their end.

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Speaker 1: If that boast was not weird enough. Trump also used

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Speaker 1: a really strange and perhaps telling phrase about television and

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Speaker 1: media careers during one of his Diet tribes against the

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Speaker 1: Fox token liberal Jessica Tarlov quote, get her off the air,

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Speaker 1: she is bad for our country. And then here we go.

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Speaker 1: I hear Megan Kelly, Tucker, Carlson and Candace Owens are

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Speaker 1: dying fast, dying dying fast, you say, Donald Trump. Then

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Speaker 1: this quick circle back to that Trump is Jesus image

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Speaker 1: that will haunt him no matter what happens next. Axios

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Speaker 1: supporting that the image mainlined back to two of the

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Speaker 1: towering mental giants of Mago World Housing Finance chief Bill

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Speaker 1: Poulty and the Australian born unintentionally hilarious tweet machine Nick Adams.

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Speaker 1: Nick Adams apparently first boasted and posted Trump Jesus Jesus Trump,

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Speaker 1: although axious in its greatest reporting in years, reassures us

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Speaker 1: that the flying horned thing in the Jesus Trump that

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Speaker 1: looked like the evil statue of Libertory flying through the

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Speaker 1: air that was not in the Adams version. That's what

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Speaker 1: was added later. As to Paulty, who is, of course

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Speaker 1: the guy who tried to prosecute Letitia James and others

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Speaker 1: over procedural uncertainty in Morgan applications, which it turned out

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Speaker 1: his own parents did in identical fashion and is usually

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Speaker 1: treated with a fine, he reportedly showed the Jesus h

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Speaker 1: Trump meme to Trump may or may not have actually

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Speaker 1: forwarded it to Trump, but they talked about it at

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Speaker 1: Mari Lago, where Pulty is a member. You may remember

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Speaker 1: Bill Paulty from such in house Trump disasters as Scott

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Speaker 1: Bessant walking up to Paulty and saying, I'm going to

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Speaker 1: punch you in the effing face. Speaking of effing, I

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Speaker 1: cannot skip the greatest commentary on Trump from the week past.

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Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, stand by for the adult comments from

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Speaker 1: Congresswoman Sidney Kamilinger Dove, who would have been the representative

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Speaker 1: for the district next to mine when I still lived

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Speaker 1: out there and was a local sportscaster in La. Oh, congresswoman,

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Speaker 1: are you concerned about the impact that this morning Iran

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Speaker 1: is having on our national debt? Oh?

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Speaker 6: My god, yes, of course I am, you would. Stevie

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Speaker 6: Wonder can even see how much this is costing us?

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Speaker 6: So gas prices are going up, It's almost ten dollars

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Speaker 6: in California, and fertilizers going up. I mean, you name it.

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Speaker 6: The prices have gone off. And this dude, doctor Jesus Okay,

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Speaker 6: is wanting to spend two billion dollars of your money

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Speaker 6: every single day rather than help you get health care.

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Speaker 1: Fuck his ass, Which leads us finally to this question,

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Speaker 1: what would be the dumbest thing Trump could do right now?

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Speaker 1: With congress people not only dropping f bombs on him,

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Speaker 1: but adding quote his ass with MTG and Alex Jones

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Speaker 1: leading the anti Trump conspiracy theories, with the Iran saga

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Speaker 1: making George W. Bush and Iraq look like FDR and

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Speaker 1: Truman and Germany. What would be the worst dumbest thing

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Speaker 1: Trump could do right now? Invade Cuba, sees Greenland? Well,

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Speaker 1: sure those would be do disasters of biblical proportions. But

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Speaker 1: I would have her that the dumbest thing Trump could

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Speaker 1: do right now would be well, it's under discussion. Let

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Speaker 1: me just read this selection from Politico magazine.

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Speaker 3: Quote.

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Speaker 1: Asked about the chances of a pardon, Attorney David Oscar

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Speaker 1: Marcus appeared somewhat bullish despite the massive political fallout for

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Speaker 1: Trump that would surely follow, But he wouldn't give a

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Speaker 1: firm number. I don't know what the percentages are. He said,

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Speaker 1: there's a good chance, and for good reason, that she

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Speaker 1: would get a pardon. Marcus said he had not yet

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Speaker 1: spoken to the administration about a clemency request. He does

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Speaker 1: not believe this is the right moment. With the heat

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Speaker 1: on the administration over its handling of the release of

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Speaker 1: the Epstein files, she obviously wants clemency. There's no secret

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Speaker 1: about that Who's this she, Who's this client of his?

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Speaker 1: Who's this woman that this lawyer Marcus wants Trump to

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Speaker 1: pardon soon or late. This guy Marcus a professional friend

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Speaker 1: of the acting Attorney General Trump ambulance chaser Todd Blanche.

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Speaker 1: This guy Marcus who says you'll be pressing this idea soon,

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Speaker 1: if not immediately. Who are we talking about Trump pardoning

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Speaker 1: Glaine Maxwell? This guy Marcus represents Gallaine Maxwell. Gallaine Maxwell's

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Speaker 1: lawyer expects Trump will eventually pardon Gallaine Maxwell. I think

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Speaker 1: this will go over real Well, you're right, mister President.

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Speaker 1: Let's do it immediately or just drop her over Iran

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Speaker 1: bomb Iran with Gallaine Maxwell after you pardon her. This

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Speaker 1: is a story Trump considering pardoning Gallaine Maxwell. This should

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Speaker 1: be mentioned every week, every day, every hour. I'm doing

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Speaker 1: my part, now you do yours. Also of interest here,

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Speaker 1: Lauren Bobert thinks Congress has gotten to horny. We'll get

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Speaker 1: her first hand account. And if you think the American

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Speaker 1: news media isn't committing suicide fast enough, this just in

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Speaker 1: stand by for the return of Brian Williams. Thanks Keith.

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Speaker 1: That's next. This is countdown. This is countdown with Keith

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Speaker 1: Oberman still ahead on this edition of Countdown, this all

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Speaker 1: new edition of Countdown. It is decade now since I

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Speaker 1: went into Netflix with the president of a major Hollywood

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Speaker 1: production company and a high powered agent and said to them,

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Speaker 1: I can offer you the entire news business, the entire

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Speaker 1: online and streaming news business. I will audition it for you,

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Speaker 1: do my own commentaries, my own videos for you. You

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Speaker 1: will see that you can have an addition to Netflix.

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Speaker 1: You can have Newsflix little corner, little dot in the

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Speaker 1: corner of your main screen, and take over the news business.

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Speaker 1: Have all the commentators and breaking news, and we will

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Speaker 1: be the test case. I will be the test case

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Speaker 1: to show you you can do this. And their response

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Speaker 1: was what about the Italian subtitles? And how could people

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Speaker 1: binge watch the news if you're you're only going to

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Speaker 1: have one show up at a time. And I thought,

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Speaker 1: these people are going to continue to make a lot

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Speaker 1: of mistakes, aren't they. And now they've made a really

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Speaker 1: big mistake. They're going to get into news with the

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Speaker 1: future of news online, the future of streaming news. The

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Speaker 1: man who will lead us into the middle years of

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Speaker 1: the twenty first century. Brian Williams next and another thing

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Speaker 1: I promised not to tell my own saga of Brian

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Speaker 1: Williams and the day he imploded while I watched in

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Speaker 1: my efforts to save him and his refusal to be saved.

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Speaker 1: All that ahead in the interim, we always have more

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Speaker 1: new idiots to talk about the roundup of the miscreants,

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Speaker 1: morons and Dunning Krueger effects specimens who constitute today's other worst.

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Speaker 2: Per persons in the world.

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Speaker 1: And this addition is dedicated to Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred.

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Speaker 1: The San Diego Padres are being sold. The reported price

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Speaker 1: is three billion, nine hundred million dollars, which is twice

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Speaker 1: what the New York Mets sold for just over five

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Speaker 1: years ago. Now I know what you're saying. Of course,

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Speaker 1: it's twice what the Mets sold for. The Padres are

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Speaker 1: a professional baseball team, not a semi pro organization. Still,

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Speaker 1: the Mets make more money. So when you hear about

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Speaker 1: that price three point nine billion, remember that before the

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Speaker 1: next New Year's Day, after their contract with the players

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Speaker 1: union expires, Commissioner Rob Manfred and the owners will threaten

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Speaker 1: to lock the players out and to even cancel the

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty seven season. A gigantic fu to the fans,

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Speaker 1: because the owners will demand a salary cap, because small

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Speaker 1: markets are dying, because competitive imbalance, because disparity, because owners

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Speaker 1: don't make enough billions, because management still thinks they can

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Speaker 1: make it nineteen seventy Again, the Padres, who are worth

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Speaker 1: three point nine billion dollars. Never mind profits or losses,

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Speaker 1: or how much salaries have gone up, or how much

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Speaker 1: the Dodgers spend compared to the Kansas City Royals. The

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Speaker 1: San Diego Padres just sold basically for four billion bucks.

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Speaker 1: They play in the twelfth smallest market in Big League Baseball.

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Speaker 1: It's like fifteenth or sixteenth smallest in all of professional sports.

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Speaker 1: Not a knock against San Diego, which is a wonderful place,

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Speaker 1: but you shouldn't be able to make any money in

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Speaker 1: San Diego compared to New York or Los Angeles. And

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Speaker 1: right now the Padres are more valuable than the La

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Speaker 1: Dodgers and the New York Mets may be put together.

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Speaker 1: The Padres have never won the World Series. They last

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Speaker 1: played in one in nineteen ninety eight. They got swept.

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Speaker 1: They played in literally what nine World Series games, had

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Speaker 1: lost eight of them in their entire history, and the

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Speaker 1: owners will spend the rest of this year crying that

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Speaker 1: imbalance is killing the sport and the small market teams

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Speaker 1: like the Podres can't win or make any money. They

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Speaker 1: can't win because the owners of the small market teams

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Speaker 1: won't spend the money. They keep the money. The Padres

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Speaker 1: owners somehow either didn't like the economics at baseball or

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Speaker 1: just decided to get out, and they got out for

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Speaker 1: three billion, nine hundred million dollars. This team they bought

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Speaker 1: in twenty twelve for eight hundred million dollars. Now, if

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Speaker 1: math is really problematic for you, let me explain this.

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Speaker 2: In fourteen years they made a profit of three billion,

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Speaker 2: one hundred million dollars on the sales.

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Speaker 1: But the owners are getting crushed. They'd rather cancel the season.

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Speaker 1: Major League baseball dates back to eighteen fifty seven. There

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Speaker 1: were disorganized and vague rules about how you became champion

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Speaker 1: in eighteen fifty seven, but there was big time baseball

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Speaker 1: that people paid money to go see, and it dates

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Speaker 1: back to the president before Abraham Lincoln. And one thing

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Speaker 1: has remained unchanged in all of that time since eighteen

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Speaker 1: fifty seven. It is exemplified by Commissioner Rob Manfred and

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Speaker 1: by the padres being sold for profit of.

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Speaker 2: Three billion dollars over fourteen years, plus whatever they made

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Speaker 2: during the season. This is the sale profit for the

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Speaker 2: entire business. The one thing that's remained unchanged since eighteen

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Speaker 2: fifty seven. Baseball owners are greedy bastards anyway, the medalists.

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Speaker 2: Some hockey owners the bronze worst. They're also greedy bastards.

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Speaker 2: New York City's two hockey teams, the Rangers, whose surveillance

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Speaker 2: prison met Square Garden, is finally getting some national attention,

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Speaker 2: whose owner Jimmy Dolan tries to call local cops on

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Speaker 2: people who write mean tweets about his teams. Dolan, reportedly,

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Speaker 2: according to The New York Post, has met secretly with

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Speaker 2: Trump about maybe moving Madison Square Garden so they can

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Speaker 2: rebuild that roach motel under it that the city hilariously

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Speaker 2: calls Penn's Station. Trump supposedly offered Dolan help getting a

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Speaker 2: new Madison Square Garden built if Dolan would help him

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Speaker 2: get the new Penn Station named after him. Trump, and

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Speaker 2: of course Trump didn't understand why Penn Station was named

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Speaker 2: after Penn. Why it's called Penn.

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Speaker 3: It's for the.

429
00:29:46,275 --> 00:29:49,195
Speaker 1: Railroad that built the original Penn station. He thinks it's

430
00:29:49,235 --> 00:29:53,955
Speaker 1: about Pennsylvania. As I've said frequently, you want to call

431
00:29:53,995 --> 00:29:58,555
Speaker 1: it Trump Station, as long as it's Trump Memorial, I'm in.

432
00:29:59,595 --> 00:30:00,835
Speaker 2: Or let's go the whole route.

433
00:30:00,915 --> 00:30:05,635
Speaker 1: Let's call the hockey and basketball arena mad Trump Square Garden.

434
00:30:06,715 --> 00:30:07,355
Speaker 3: I like that.

435
00:30:08,115 --> 00:30:10,675
Speaker 1: Meanwhile, the other New York hockey team, the Long Island

436
00:30:10,715 --> 00:30:15,235
Speaker 1: Islanders owner John Ledecci, are being criticized after putting a

437
00:30:15,275 --> 00:30:18,995
Speaker 1: promo up on their JumboTron for a fundraiser for a

438
00:30:18,995 --> 00:30:23,595
Speaker 1: New York City police sergeant Eric Duran. Was he injured?

439
00:30:23,875 --> 00:30:27,235
Speaker 1: Was he tragically heard in service to his community? God forbid?

440
00:30:27,515 --> 00:30:31,595
Speaker 1: Killed on duty the way other cops who are honored

441
00:30:31,595 --> 00:30:35,995
Speaker 1: by sports franchises are honored. Why they are honored for

442
00:30:36,115 --> 00:30:40,835
Speaker 1: these tragedies? No, No, The fundraiser is to help Eric Duran.

443
00:30:41,195 --> 00:30:45,315
Speaker 1: Convicted killer. Eric Duran was convicted of causing the death

444
00:30:45,315 --> 00:30:47,555
Speaker 1: of a man who tried to escape arrest during a

445
00:30:47,635 --> 00:30:51,235
Speaker 1: routine drug raid, and Eric Duran was sentenced last week

446
00:30:51,275 --> 00:30:54,195
Speaker 1: to three to nine years in prison. The civilian was

447
00:30:54,195 --> 00:30:57,395
Speaker 1: getting away on a scooter, so the killer, Sergeant Duran,

448
00:30:57,835 --> 00:31:01,915
Speaker 1: threw a cooler full of ice at him and it

449
00:31:02,075 --> 00:31:05,075
Speaker 1: hit the man. He lost control of the bike into

450
00:31:05,075 --> 00:31:08,595
Speaker 1: a tree and was killed almost immediately. Now he's been

451
00:31:08,635 --> 00:31:12,395
Speaker 1: convicted and sent to jail, and the Islanders put up

452
00:31:12,435 --> 00:31:16,635
Speaker 1: a fundraiser for him, also giving a quarter of their

453
00:31:16,675 --> 00:31:19,155
Speaker 1: fifty to fifty raffle to the legal fund for the

454
00:31:19,195 --> 00:31:22,435
Speaker 1: convicted killer. All this also according to the New York Post.

455
00:31:22,635 --> 00:31:26,315
Speaker 1: So remember New York Islander fans, if you get killed

456
00:31:26,355 --> 00:31:28,875
Speaker 1: by a New York City police officer, even though you

457
00:31:29,035 --> 00:31:32,275
Speaker 1: had no weapon and you committed no violence, the New

458
00:31:32,355 --> 00:31:36,715
Speaker 1: York Islanders will give money to your murderer. Or you

459
00:31:36,715 --> 00:31:40,715
Speaker 1: could switch to the Rangers, whose fascist owner is meeting

460
00:31:40,755 --> 00:31:45,395
Speaker 1: with Trump. Hard to believe there are two people worse

461
00:31:45,435 --> 00:31:49,915
Speaker 1: than that, but there are the runner up worser vivek Ramaswami.

462
00:31:50,355 --> 00:31:53,995
Speaker 1: Wondering what happened to vivek Ramaswami after he didn't make

463
00:31:54,035 --> 00:31:57,515
Speaker 1: the cut and somehow didn't make it into the Trump's administration.

464
00:31:57,835 --> 00:32:00,715
Speaker 1: Did you just assume he has spent the last eighteen

465
00:32:00,835 --> 00:32:04,875
Speaker 1: months trying to comb his hair. Nah, he's running for

466
00:32:04,955 --> 00:32:09,155
Speaker 1: governor of Ohio. He's trying to also, at that same time,

467
00:32:09,195 --> 00:32:12,235
Speaker 1: erase any sense that he might be a human being.

468
00:32:13,315 --> 00:32:17,075
Speaker 1: Vivid Ramaswami's opponent is named Amy Acton. Now, I'll play

469
00:32:17,075 --> 00:32:21,155
Speaker 1: this clip of Ramaswami first and then reveal the extraordinarily

470
00:32:21,355 --> 00:32:26,635
Speaker 1: sub human sentiment Ramaswami is expressing here, because this confirms it.

471
00:32:26,675 --> 00:32:30,595
Speaker 1: If you had any doubt, Vivit Ramaswami is just an

472
00:32:30,635 --> 00:32:32,315
Speaker 1: effing scumbag.

473
00:32:32,715 --> 00:32:35,115
Speaker 2: You have a chance to elect the governor who I hope.

474
00:32:35,115 --> 00:32:38,075
Speaker 2: I'll lay it out for you, a positive vision for

475
00:32:38,155 --> 00:32:41,275
Speaker 2: our state versus a governor who has none at all

476
00:32:41,435 --> 00:32:44,835
Speaker 2: other than to complain about what someone else did of her.

477
00:32:45,115 --> 00:32:47,715
Speaker 1: So you heard it. He dismissed Amy Acton, his opponent.

478
00:32:47,995 --> 00:32:51,995
Speaker 1: He dismissed her life story as her quote complaining about

479
00:32:52,155 --> 00:32:56,395
Speaker 1: sut what someone else did to her. What someone else

480
00:32:56,475 --> 00:32:59,915
Speaker 1: did to her was rape her when she was a child.

481
00:33:01,475 --> 00:33:05,035
Speaker 1: What she's complained about, what she has mentioned so she

482
00:33:05,115 --> 00:33:08,995
Speaker 1: can explain to people her background is a childhood of

483
00:33:09,715 --> 00:33:18,035
Speaker 1: extreme privation and sexual abuse that to this sleazy, disturbed fascist,

484
00:33:18,435 --> 00:33:25,795
Speaker 1: Vivit Ramaswami is just somebody complaining, but the winner worser.

485
00:33:26,355 --> 00:33:29,395
Speaker 1: And yes, there is an element of comic relief that

486
00:33:29,515 --> 00:33:32,675
Speaker 1: goes into the judgment on these things. Lauren Bobert is

487
00:33:32,715 --> 00:33:35,435
Speaker 1: probably not worse than Vivik Ramaswami or the owners of

488
00:33:35,435 --> 00:33:38,995
Speaker 1: the two New York hockey teams, supporting cops who murder

489
00:33:39,035 --> 00:33:43,795
Speaker 1: citizens and supporting Donald Trump. But Bobert is just so

490
00:33:44,035 --> 00:33:49,635
Speaker 1: beautifully unaware. There are violent scumbag liars in Congress, like

491
00:33:49,795 --> 00:33:53,235
Speaker 1: Eric Swalwell. Well, he was in Congress, but unlike the

492
00:33:53,275 --> 00:33:55,635
Speaker 1: Republicans who would have put him in the cabinet made

493
00:33:55,675 --> 00:33:59,315
Speaker 1: him Attorney General. Probably Democrats get rid of their scumbags

494
00:33:59,315 --> 00:34:03,115
Speaker 1: as quickly as possible, but there is still an extra

495
00:34:03,195 --> 00:34:08,035
Speaker 1: Republican advantage in the petition here for overall scumbaggery, because

496
00:34:08,035 --> 00:34:10,915
Speaker 1: the Republicans have a monopoly on this subject. I just

497
00:34:11,035 --> 00:34:17,155
Speaker 1: mentioned self unawareness who decided to judge Swawell on his

498
00:34:17,355 --> 00:34:24,595
Speaker 1: sexual misconduct and underrate what he did, undervalue, just not

499
00:34:24,875 --> 00:34:27,995
Speaker 1: damn with faint praise at the same time. How could

500
00:34:28,035 --> 00:34:31,875
Speaker 1: you do both judge Swalwell and sort of dismiss his crimes.

501
00:34:32,395 --> 00:34:37,995
Speaker 1: Who could do that? Lauren Bobert, your sex expert in Congress?

502
00:34:39,035 --> 00:34:42,435
Speaker 1: You remember Lauren Bobert from such live theater spectacles as

503
00:34:42,675 --> 00:34:47,115
Speaker 1: the security video from Betel Juice. Yeah, go to church

504
00:34:47,155 --> 00:34:52,075
Speaker 1: find Jesus, Like, I mean, why is everybody so horny here? Seriously,

505
00:34:52,275 --> 00:34:55,435
Speaker 1: thirty nine year old grandmother and chairperson of the Boulder

506
00:34:55,595 --> 00:35:01,595
Speaker 1: Welcome Wagon Congress is too horny for you, Lauren Bobert.

507
00:35:02,835 --> 00:35:07,595
Speaker 1: Don't worry though. If Congress this is too horny, don't worry.

508
00:35:08,195 --> 00:35:13,915
Speaker 1: Lauren Bobert will get a grip on it because she

509
00:35:14,035 --> 00:35:21,875
Speaker 1: has a firm grasp on the situation. Lauren, her vast

510
00:35:21,955 --> 00:35:28,435
Speaker 1: experience in this area will come in Handy Bobert two

511
00:35:28,475 --> 00:35:34,075
Speaker 1: Day's other worst person in the.

512
00:35:45,075 --> 00:35:45,155
Speaker 3: So.

513
00:35:45,395 --> 00:35:49,475
Speaker 1: Netflix stock tanked late last week, and this was attributed

514
00:35:49,515 --> 00:35:52,795
Speaker 1: to the co founder, Read Hastings saying he would be

515
00:35:52,835 --> 00:35:55,915
Speaker 1: stepping down. I think it was another announcement that Netflix made.

516
00:35:56,235 --> 00:35:59,875
Speaker 1: Netflix is going to start a podcast, a news podcast

517
00:35:59,955 --> 00:36:12,115
Speaker 1: once a week, a podcast on Netflix with Brian Williams.

518
00:36:12,155 --> 00:36:19,035
Speaker 1: Since Brian Williams left was fired from MSNBC's Eleventh Hour,

519
00:36:19,675 --> 00:36:26,435
Speaker 1: he's appeared once. He did Election Night on Amazon. No, seriously,

520
00:36:28,555 --> 00:36:31,955
Speaker 1: there has not been a second edition of the News

521
00:36:31,995 --> 00:36:37,315
Speaker 1: with Brian Williams on Amazon now these days, this is

522
00:36:37,355 --> 00:36:40,475
Speaker 1: not a big deal. Hell CBS changes its evening news

523
00:36:40,475 --> 00:36:44,195
Speaker 1: anchor like every six months. They're overdue. But as late

524
00:36:44,195 --> 00:36:47,835
Speaker 1: as twenty fifteen, it still mattered who was fronting the

525
00:36:47,875 --> 00:36:52,315
Speaker 1: CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, World News Tonight. During

526
00:36:52,355 --> 00:36:55,635
Speaker 1: my first spin on MSNBC in the nineties, they had

527
00:36:55,675 --> 00:37:00,675
Speaker 1: me anchor NBC Weekend Nightly twice, and I remember that

528
00:37:00,755 --> 00:37:04,075
Speaker 1: for a show that had maybe four and a half

529
00:37:04,115 --> 00:37:06,715
Speaker 1: five minutes of on camera time for the anchor me,

530
00:37:07,235 --> 00:37:14,875
Speaker 1: they had six writers, six writers like a separate writer

531
00:37:14,955 --> 00:37:18,835
Speaker 1: for every thirty seconds, and two of them literally spent

532
00:37:18,915 --> 00:37:22,715
Speaker 1: the entire day, the whole time, six seven hours. I

533
00:37:22,795 --> 00:37:27,755
Speaker 1: was in their office with them preparing this show arguing.

534
00:37:27,795 --> 00:37:30,755
Speaker 1: These two guys argued over whether that should be an

535
00:37:30,875 --> 00:37:35,595
Speaker 1: and or an or in the lead in to our

536
00:37:35,675 --> 00:37:41,195
Speaker 1: reporter Soledad O'Brien, who was live from that weekend's hurricane somewhere.

537
00:37:42,275 --> 00:37:45,315
Speaker 1: When they tried to get me not to leave NBC

538
00:37:45,395 --> 00:37:48,195
Speaker 1: News in nineteen ninety eight over the Clinton Lewinsky story,

539
00:37:48,355 --> 00:37:52,195
Speaker 1: the main carot was if I stayed, I could do

540
00:37:52,555 --> 00:37:56,995
Speaker 1: Saturday or Sunday Nightly every week. I would be the

541
00:37:57,115 --> 00:38:00,915
Speaker 1: second backup during the week to Tom Brokaw. I would

542
00:38:00,915 --> 00:38:03,475
Speaker 1: do in nineteen ninety nine and the years to come,

543
00:38:03,915 --> 00:38:08,475
Speaker 1: NBC Night News, and if anything happened to the number

544
00:38:08,475 --> 00:38:14,835
Speaker 1: one backup Brian Williams, I would be Tom Brocau's air apparent. Well,

545
00:38:14,915 --> 00:38:20,555
Speaker 1: guess what something happened to Brian Williams. Okay to the

546
00:38:20,635 --> 00:38:23,195
Speaker 1: number one story on the Countdown, and the day Brian

547
00:38:23,315 --> 00:38:27,555
Speaker 1: Williams imploded, the other day when I tried to save

548
00:38:27,675 --> 00:38:31,035
Speaker 1: Brian Williams, and the day I found out why NBC

549
00:38:31,315 --> 00:38:36,235
Speaker 1: did not fire him even after he imploded. But first

550
00:38:36,275 --> 00:38:40,835
Speaker 1: we start. On Thursday January twenty ninth, twenty fifteen, after

551
00:38:40,875 --> 00:38:44,395
Speaker 1: I finished my late afternoon sportscast on ESPN two, I

552
00:38:44,435 --> 00:38:47,115
Speaker 1: walked the ten blocks to New York's Madison Square Garden

553
00:38:47,155 --> 00:38:49,835
Speaker 1: to see the New York Rangers Montreal Canadians hockey game,

554
00:38:50,115 --> 00:38:53,275
Speaker 1: and within two hours, not only was I convinced I

555
00:38:53,315 --> 00:38:57,675
Speaker 1: had a profound brain injury or illness, but a catastrophe

556
00:38:57,675 --> 00:39:01,515
Speaker 1: would occur so all encompassing in its sweep that it

557
00:39:01,515 --> 00:39:05,435
Speaker 1: would end the then very active negotiations to what else

558
00:39:05,635 --> 00:39:10,915
Speaker 1: put Countdown back on MSNBC. Also, the Rangers got shut out,

559
00:39:10,955 --> 00:39:14,555
Speaker 1: won nothing. I went to the game with Bill Wolf,

560
00:39:14,835 --> 00:39:18,315
Speaker 1: a former ESPN colleague from twenty years earlier, whom I

561
00:39:18,355 --> 00:39:20,635
Speaker 1: had met again at MSNBC and who was in fact,

562
00:39:20,635 --> 00:39:23,435
Speaker 1: the first executive producer of the Racil Meadow Show. We

563
00:39:23,515 --> 00:39:25,715
Speaker 1: had not seen each other in a while, and he

564
00:39:25,795 --> 00:39:28,355
Speaker 1: had just left that job. And so as the skilled

565
00:39:28,475 --> 00:39:32,195
Speaker 1: youth of many nations cavorted below us, threatening each other

566
00:39:32,235 --> 00:39:35,555
Speaker 1: with sticks and razor sharp skates, we caught up on things.

567
00:39:36,115 --> 00:39:40,555
Speaker 1: And that's when it happened. At least once per period

568
00:39:40,595 --> 00:39:43,355
Speaker 1: in a National Hockey League game, an ordinary stoppage of

569
00:39:43,355 --> 00:39:46,115
Speaker 1: play has turned into a lengthy delay during which the

570
00:39:46,155 --> 00:39:51,355
Speaker 1: television broadcasters catch up on any unplayed commercials the TV timeout.

571
00:39:52,035 --> 00:39:55,835
Speaker 1: And during one of these TV timeouts, the public address

572
00:39:55,835 --> 00:39:59,275
Speaker 1: announcer at the garden, Joe Tollison, said, ladies and gentlemen,

573
00:39:59,315 --> 00:40:01,915
Speaker 1: please direct your attention to the video screen, etc. Ice

574
00:40:02,275 --> 00:40:05,475
Speaker 1: where the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News,

575
00:40:05,515 --> 00:40:10,355
Speaker 1: Brian Williams will I didn't actually hear the next part.

576
00:40:10,915 --> 00:40:14,035
Speaker 1: At hearing Brian's name, my friend Bill Wolf shouted a

577
00:40:14,195 --> 00:40:19,075
Speaker 1: f me and I let out a low groan. Since

578
00:40:19,155 --> 00:40:23,315
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety seven, I have done my absolute best to

579
00:40:23,715 --> 00:40:27,075
Speaker 1: like Brian Williams. I have stuck my neck out for

580
00:40:27,155 --> 00:40:30,555
Speaker 1: Brian Williams. I have advocated for Brian Williams. I have

581
00:40:30,715 --> 00:40:34,795
Speaker 1: forgiven Brian Williams, and none of it has been enough.

582
00:40:35,955 --> 00:40:38,715
Speaker 1: No person in my forty three years as a full

583
00:40:38,755 --> 00:40:42,915
Speaker 1: time professional broadcaster has been as insecure nor as mocked

584
00:40:42,955 --> 00:40:46,635
Speaker 1: behind his back as as Brian. It is too bad.

585
00:40:47,115 --> 00:40:53,315
Speaker 1: He is brilliantly talented and this will never be enough

586
00:40:53,515 --> 00:40:56,075
Speaker 1: for him. He is one of those who can only

587
00:40:56,115 --> 00:40:58,875
Speaker 1: be successful if he has convinced himself he has taken

588
00:40:58,955 --> 00:41:03,235
Speaker 1: away some of the success from those around him. I've

589
00:41:03,235 --> 00:41:06,835
Speaker 1: been accused of many, many things, but never that. In

590
00:41:06,915 --> 00:41:08,995
Speaker 1: the nineties, Brian Williams used to appear in the middle

591
00:41:09,035 --> 00:41:12,915
Speaker 1: of my MSNBC show with a promo for his MSNBC

592
00:41:13,035 --> 00:41:16,035
Speaker 1: show which followed mine. One night, I said that in

593
00:41:16,075 --> 00:41:21,235
Speaker 1: five minutes we'd be previewing President Clinton's itinerary in Africa, Nairobi,

594
00:41:21,235 --> 00:41:24,835
Speaker 1: Addis Ababa, Dharsalam, Johannesburg, but first with the preview of

595
00:41:24,835 --> 00:41:27,435
Speaker 1: the news with Brian Williams. Here's Brian Williams. Brian Williams

596
00:41:27,995 --> 00:41:32,075
Speaker 1: and he said, thanks, Keith, as someone who's actually been

597
00:41:32,155 --> 00:41:35,555
Speaker 1: to those places all the time.

598
00:41:35,595 --> 00:41:36,035
Speaker 3: With this.

599
00:41:37,595 --> 00:41:41,035
Speaker 1: Anyway, when Wolf and I came out of our respective rages,

600
00:41:41,555 --> 00:41:45,235
Speaker 1: we heard this over the garden PA system during the

601
00:41:45,235 --> 00:41:49,195
Speaker 1: Iraq invasion. US Army Command Sergeant Major Tim Turpak was

602
00:41:49,275 --> 00:41:51,955
Speaker 1: responsible for the safety of Brian Williams and whose NBC

603
00:41:52,115 --> 00:41:55,835
Speaker 1: news team after their Chinook helicopter was hit and crippled

604
00:41:55,955 --> 00:42:01,235
Speaker 1: by enemy fire. I began to sweat Command. Sergeant Major

605
00:42:01,315 --> 00:42:04,435
Speaker 1: Turpak was awarded three Bronze Stars for combat valor in

606
00:42:04,435 --> 00:42:07,235
Speaker 1: ou and recently retired after twenty three years in the

607
00:42:07,315 --> 00:42:11,315
Speaker 1: US Army. Both men, both Rangers fans, have been reunited

608
00:42:11,355 --> 00:42:13,795
Speaker 1: for the first time in twelve years for tonight's game.

609
00:42:14,155 --> 00:42:20,195
Speaker 1: Please welcome, Come in, Sergeant Major Tim Turpak and Brian Williams.

610
00:42:20,955 --> 00:42:25,955
Speaker 1: Bill Wolf swore again. My reaction was different. I started

611
00:42:25,955 --> 00:42:31,315
Speaker 1: to get lightheaded, and then immediately very very worried Bill.

612
00:42:31,475 --> 00:42:33,315
Speaker 1: I said, in a voice so low that Bill had

613
00:42:33,355 --> 00:42:36,075
Speaker 1: to lean in to hear me. Do you know a

614
00:42:36,075 --> 00:42:41,675
Speaker 1: good neurologist? Bill laughed. For Brian, it wasn't a pleasant laugh.

615
00:42:41,795 --> 00:42:44,995
Speaker 1: He won't go to a neurologist, good or otherwise unless

616
00:42:45,035 --> 00:42:46,635
Speaker 1: he can get videotape of it and put it on

617
00:42:46,675 --> 00:42:52,035
Speaker 1: the effing screen here at Madison Square Garden. And I said, no, no,

618
00:42:52,355 --> 00:42:54,755
Speaker 1: that's not what I mean. I mean, I mean one

619
00:42:54,795 --> 00:42:59,995
Speaker 1: for me. I was anchoring on MSNBC the night that

620
00:43:00,075 --> 00:43:04,155
Speaker 1: Brian Williams story about the helicopters and the and the RPG.

621
00:43:04,355 --> 00:43:07,075
Speaker 1: And I went on to tell Bill that that's all

622
00:43:07,115 --> 00:43:09,195
Speaker 1: I did my first month back at MSNBC in two

623
00:43:09,195 --> 00:43:12,195
Speaker 1: thousand and three. They rehired me only because they did

624
00:43:12,235 --> 00:43:15,195
Speaker 1: not have enough anchors to cover a war. And I

625
00:43:15,275 --> 00:43:18,515
Speaker 1: was on that night and that story about Brian's chopper

626
00:43:18,555 --> 00:43:21,115
Speaker 1: getting hit. That's not the way I remember it, Bill.

627
00:43:21,715 --> 00:43:24,755
Speaker 1: My brain is going I remember a different story, and

628
00:43:24,835 --> 00:43:26,795
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't even remember leading the show with it.

629
00:43:26,955 --> 00:43:29,235
Speaker 1: My god, if the heir apparent as the anchor of

630
00:43:29,315 --> 00:43:31,675
Speaker 1: NBC Nightly News was shot down over the desert in

631
00:43:31,675 --> 00:43:33,955
Speaker 1: the middle of the Iraq War, we would have left

632
00:43:34,275 --> 00:43:36,875
Speaker 1: led with it. I don't remember leading with it. I'm

633
00:43:36,875 --> 00:43:39,235
Speaker 1: only fifty six. I'm way too young for dementia. It

634
00:43:39,315 --> 00:43:41,075
Speaker 1: must be a tumor or something. Do you know a

635
00:43:41,075 --> 00:43:46,435
Speaker 1: good neurologist. Bill Bill Wolf was, as usual, pretty cool

636
00:43:46,555 --> 00:43:48,835
Speaker 1: under the circumstances, and he said, I think maybe you

637
00:43:48,835 --> 00:43:51,835
Speaker 1: should relax, because I don't think it's you. I think

638
00:43:51,875 --> 00:43:55,475
Speaker 1: it's him, because I remember that story too, Bill said,

639
00:43:55,755 --> 00:43:57,555
Speaker 1: And that's not the way he told it. In two

640
00:43:57,555 --> 00:44:02,395
Speaker 1: thousand and three, I think Brian has changed the story.

641
00:44:03,675 --> 00:44:05,835
Speaker 1: When I got home after the Rangers loss that night,

642
00:44:06,355 --> 00:44:08,795
Speaker 1: I looked up everything I could about March twenty six,

643
00:44:08,915 --> 00:44:11,955
Speaker 1: two thousand and three, and the fact that Brian Williams

644
00:44:12,355 --> 00:44:16,155
Speaker 1: was an NBC news field reporter embedded with troops in

645
00:44:16,195 --> 00:44:18,955
Speaker 1: Iraq and in the helicopters with them, and that this

646
00:44:19,115 --> 00:44:22,515
Speaker 1: was not some sort of pr stunt. We had another

647
00:44:22,595 --> 00:44:25,515
Speaker 1: prominent anchor named David Bloom, who hosted the Today Show

648
00:44:25,515 --> 00:44:28,915
Speaker 1: on the weekends and had succeeded Brian as our NBC

649
00:44:29,035 --> 00:44:31,915
Speaker 1: White House correspondent. And David Bloom had died in Iraq

650
00:44:32,195 --> 00:44:34,595
Speaker 1: because after weeks of twisting himself into the shape of

651
00:44:34,635 --> 00:44:38,115
Speaker 1: a pretzel to fit inside a tank, he suffered deep

652
00:44:38,195 --> 00:44:41,275
Speaker 1: vein thrombosis and he was dead because they couldn't treat

653
00:44:41,355 --> 00:44:44,595
Speaker 1: him in time. I even found a video cassette with

654
00:44:44,715 --> 00:44:48,515
Speaker 1: the hours I anchored on MSNBC on March twenty six,

655
00:44:48,555 --> 00:44:51,795
Speaker 1: two thousand and three, and I saw Brian's report and

656
00:44:51,835 --> 00:44:55,235
Speaker 1: I heard him say that he and an NBC analyst,

657
00:44:55,555 --> 00:44:59,475
Speaker 1: retired General Wayne Downing, had been on the ground preparing

658
00:44:59,515 --> 00:45:01,675
Speaker 1: to take off as part of the last helicopters in

659
00:45:01,715 --> 00:45:05,395
Speaker 1: a convoy flying over an Iraqi desert when they got

660
00:45:05,395 --> 00:45:07,555
Speaker 1: word that a chopper an hour ahead of them had

661
00:45:07,595 --> 00:45:10,395
Speaker 1: been threatened by gunfire and was then forced to make

662
00:45:10,435 --> 00:45:15,435
Speaker 1: an emergency landing because of a sandstorm. I remember thinking,

663
00:45:15,595 --> 00:45:19,595
Speaker 1: then in two thousand and three, then in twenty fifteen,

664
00:45:19,875 --> 00:45:22,995
Speaker 1: and now in twenty twenty two, that being in the

665
00:45:22,995 --> 00:45:26,875
Speaker 1: helicopter when they are shooting at the helicopters is an

666
00:45:26,915 --> 00:45:30,275
Speaker 1: act of sufficient bravery that you could brag on yourself forever.

667
00:45:30,995 --> 00:45:34,035
Speaker 1: I would have been bragging thusly, Hey, I'm a civilian.

668
00:45:34,275 --> 00:45:36,235
Speaker 1: I went up in the chopper anyway, and I did

669
00:45:36,235 --> 00:45:40,235
Speaker 1: not crap my pants. The end, I would have been

670
00:45:40,275 --> 00:45:45,955
Speaker 1: stopping passers by to tell them that. As I continued

671
00:45:45,995 --> 00:45:49,035
Speaker 1: to research this, I realized that in the ensuing dozen years,

672
00:45:49,075 --> 00:45:55,075
Speaker 1: Brian Williams had slowly changed the story, almost imperceptibly, almost

673
00:45:55,155 --> 00:45:59,795
Speaker 1: every time he had retold it. Soon the chopper was

674
00:45:59,915 --> 00:46:04,235
Speaker 1: hit by the RPG that actually missed it. Then the

675
00:46:04,315 --> 00:46:06,515
Speaker 1: chopper that was hit was not an hour ahead of them,

676
00:46:06,555 --> 00:46:08,955
Speaker 1: it was the one right in front of them. Soon

677
00:46:09,475 --> 00:46:12,275
Speaker 1: they were all part of the group that could claim quote,

678
00:46:12,315 --> 00:46:15,915
Speaker 1: we were the northern most Americans in Iraq, and by

679
00:46:15,915 --> 00:46:19,115
Speaker 1: twenty thirteen, Brian was claiming it was his chopper that

680
00:46:19,155 --> 00:46:24,555
Speaker 1: got hit in real time. The next day, Friday, January thirtieth,

681
00:46:24,595 --> 00:46:27,035
Speaker 1: twenty fifteen, we found out why Brian had done the

682
00:46:27,035 --> 00:46:29,755
Speaker 1: thing at the hockey game with Command Sergeant Major Turpak.

683
00:46:30,275 --> 00:46:33,995
Speaker 1: He played a clip of it on NBC Nightly News,

684
00:46:34,635 --> 00:46:37,275
Speaker 1: and that is when a lot of Iraq vets began

685
00:46:37,315 --> 00:46:39,715
Speaker 1: to speak up with memories that agreed with Brian on

686
00:46:39,715 --> 00:46:44,795
Speaker 1: one detail only, Yeah, it happened in Iraq. I saw

687
00:46:44,795 --> 00:46:47,235
Speaker 1: the clip from the Rangers game, and I saw the

688
00:46:47,235 --> 00:46:49,395
Speaker 1: train wreck coming up behind it for Brian and for

689
00:46:49,515 --> 00:46:52,995
Speaker 1: NBC News, and I started emailing my remaining friends at NBC.

690
00:46:53,515 --> 00:46:56,955
Speaker 1: Get him drunk, I wrote to one executive. Then take

691
00:46:56,995 --> 00:47:01,115
Speaker 1: him into his office and scatter empty liquor bottles all around,

692
00:47:01,195 --> 00:47:03,315
Speaker 1: and call in photographers from the New York Post, the

693
00:47:03,355 --> 00:47:05,555
Speaker 1: New York Daily News, and then explain he going to rehab.

694
00:47:06,155 --> 00:47:08,315
Speaker 1: You don't have to say anything else. Rehab as they

695
00:47:08,355 --> 00:47:10,635
Speaker 1: get out of jail free card. He comes back in

696
00:47:10,675 --> 00:47:13,155
Speaker 1: a month and they'll throw a freaking parade for him.

697
00:47:15,155 --> 00:47:18,195
Speaker 1: To a former boss still at NBC, I sent this email.

698
00:47:18,715 --> 00:47:20,955
Speaker 1: Put him on tonight and at the start of Nightly

699
00:47:20,995 --> 00:47:24,115
Speaker 1: have him say this, I'm taking a voluntary leave of

700
00:47:24,155 --> 00:47:28,515
Speaker 1: absence for fill in the blank days and during that time,

701
00:47:28,555 --> 00:47:31,355
Speaker 1: the entirety of my salary will be donated to fill

702
00:47:31,355 --> 00:47:34,435
Speaker 1: in the blank with any military charity. Because while I

703
00:47:34,515 --> 00:47:37,675
Speaker 1: did not intend to exaggerate my experience in Iraq in

704
00:47:37,715 --> 00:47:40,835
Speaker 1: two thousand and three, being hit by small arms fire

705
00:47:40,915 --> 00:47:43,715
Speaker 1: is bad enough, being behind the helicopter that got hit

706
00:47:43,755 --> 00:47:47,955
Speaker 1: with an RPG is worse. Nevertheless, I did exaggerate it,

707
00:47:48,275 --> 00:47:52,235
Speaker 1: and a newsman cannot make a mistake like that without consequences.

708
00:47:52,595 --> 00:47:55,075
Speaker 1: Thank you for your forbearance. Now for the rest of

709
00:47:55,075 --> 00:47:57,795
Speaker 1: tonight's news cast, here is fill in the name of

710
00:47:57,915 --> 00:48:02,875
Speaker 1: NBC employee number whatever. I added a PostScript to my

711
00:48:02,915 --> 00:48:06,235
Speaker 1: old boss do this and he could still swerve out

712
00:48:06,275 --> 00:48:11,875
Speaker 1: of this. But everybody in management and NBC News was

713
00:48:11,915 --> 00:48:15,315
Speaker 1: asleep at the switch during this crisis. They're in action

714
00:48:15,875 --> 00:48:20,075
Speaker 1: by News president Deborah Turnus, who now runs a BBC

715
00:48:20,275 --> 00:48:23,555
Speaker 1: apparently did not bring the Williams catastrophe to the attention

716
00:48:23,635 --> 00:48:27,035
Speaker 1: of Comcast News chief Pat Philly, and that would eventually

717
00:48:27,035 --> 00:48:30,315
Speaker 1: cost both of them their jobs. Since I was at

718
00:48:30,315 --> 00:48:34,795
Speaker 1: that exact moment, negotiating directly with Pat Philly to put

719
00:48:34,835 --> 00:48:42,035
Speaker 1: Countdown back on MSNBC that also went down over the desert.

720
00:48:42,435 --> 00:48:47,355
Speaker 1: Philly's successor was Andy Lack. He resumed the countdown negotiations

721
00:48:47,355 --> 00:48:50,915
Speaker 1: with me at the Essex House the following fall. That

722
00:48:51,075 --> 00:48:54,515
Speaker 1: was in New York on October twenty ninth, twenty fifteen,

723
00:48:55,195 --> 00:48:58,875
Speaker 1: just past the anniversary of that. Lack was moaning to

724
00:48:58,915 --> 00:49:00,675
Speaker 1: me about Brian, whom he said he was ready to

725
00:49:00,715 --> 00:49:02,915
Speaker 1: resign outright and was willing to go without much of

726
00:49:02,955 --> 00:49:04,995
Speaker 1: a stink and without demanding much of a set gentleman.

727
00:49:05,235 --> 00:49:08,675
Speaker 1: But it was Brian's wife, Lack said, who pointed out

728
00:49:08,675 --> 00:49:11,835
Speaker 1: that there was a termination clause which was written by

729
00:49:11,835 --> 00:49:14,955
Speaker 1: the self same Andy Lack. The previous time Andy Lack

730
00:49:15,075 --> 00:49:18,915
Speaker 1: ran NBC News that meant if Brian were fired for cause,

731
00:49:19,355 --> 00:49:22,515
Speaker 1: he would be owed twice whatever salary was left on

732
00:49:22,555 --> 00:49:26,355
Speaker 1: his contract. His wife, Lack said, here's a goddamn Pat

733
00:49:26,435 --> 00:49:30,555
Speaker 1: Nixon in this. So instead of firing him and owing

734
00:49:30,635 --> 00:49:35,315
Speaker 1: him twice as much money for some reason, nice contract, Lack,

735
00:49:36,355 --> 00:49:39,675
Speaker 1: Lack reassigned Brian to cover any breaking news during the

736
00:49:39,715 --> 00:49:43,395
Speaker 1: Little Watch daytime hours of MSNBC and then eventually gave

737
00:49:43,475 --> 00:49:48,115
Speaker 1: him his own show there at eleven PM. The punchline,

738
00:49:48,155 --> 00:49:50,875
Speaker 1: of course, is that back in February of twenty fifteen,

739
00:49:50,915 --> 00:49:54,435
Speaker 1: when it turned out Brian had lied about Iraq and

740
00:49:54,555 --> 00:49:57,555
Speaker 1: also maybe lied about seeing a dead body float past

741
00:49:57,635 --> 00:50:01,635
Speaker 1: him during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and about being

742
00:50:01,715 --> 00:50:04,355
Speaker 1: mugged while selling Christmas trees when he was in high school,

743
00:50:04,835 --> 00:50:07,955
Speaker 1: and about saving a puppy when he's a volunteer firefighter.

744
00:50:09,115 --> 00:50:13,355
Speaker 1: I felt dreadful for him. I thought this might be fixable,

745
00:50:14,275 --> 00:50:16,395
Speaker 1: and you know who else felt it might be fixable

746
00:50:16,435 --> 00:50:19,195
Speaker 1: and felt dreadful for him. Our mutual friend David Letterman

747
00:50:19,355 --> 00:50:21,635
Speaker 1: and I was going on Dave's show, and I said

748
00:50:21,635 --> 00:50:24,835
Speaker 1: to Dave, listen, I think Brian's career should not end

749
00:50:24,955 --> 00:50:29,275
Speaker 1: because of this. He just needs help. He's a compulsive exaggerator.

750
00:50:30,195 --> 00:50:32,075
Speaker 1: If you want to give me the opening to say

751
00:50:32,115 --> 00:50:34,075
Speaker 1: that while I'm on with you, just do it. If

752
00:50:34,075 --> 00:50:37,835
Speaker 1: you don't, don't, I won't bring it up myself. Dave

753
00:50:37,915 --> 00:50:41,755
Speaker 1: is a very loyal man, and Dave gave me the opening,

754
00:50:41,835 --> 00:50:45,355
Speaker 1: and then after I defended Brian, he joined me, and

755
00:50:45,475 --> 00:50:47,915
Speaker 1: at that point we were literally the only two people

756
00:50:47,955 --> 00:50:52,035
Speaker 1: working in television to speak out for Brian. Not only

757
00:50:52,835 --> 00:50:55,195
Speaker 1: was it six weeks before Brian as much as sent

758
00:50:55,235 --> 00:50:58,915
Speaker 1: me an email of thanks, but David told me he

759
00:50:58,995 --> 00:51:01,995
Speaker 1: never heard from Brian, and I haven't heard from Brian

760
00:51:02,115 --> 00:51:08,035
Speaker 1: since twenty fifteen. And there is another punchline. As I

761
00:51:08,155 --> 00:51:10,795
Speaker 1: came off the Letterman stage that night that he and

762
00:51:10,835 --> 00:51:14,195
Speaker 1: I both defended Brian Williams, a producer took me aside

763
00:51:14,195 --> 00:51:15,875
Speaker 1: and said it was a nice thing to do, but

764
00:51:16,075 --> 00:51:18,035
Speaker 1: was I sure I wanted to get involved in this?

765
00:51:18,595 --> 00:51:21,115
Speaker 1: And I shrugged my shoulders and I said, who knows.

766
00:51:21,275 --> 00:51:23,715
Speaker 1: Why do you ask? And he said, because one night

767
00:51:23,755 --> 00:51:26,595
Speaker 1: when Brian was coming on the Letterman Show, it was

768
00:51:26,675 --> 00:51:30,195
Speaker 1: the anniversary of the Iraq helicopter story, and in the

769
00:51:30,235 --> 00:51:33,995
Speaker 1: pre interview, Brian explained to this producer that when they

770
00:51:33,995 --> 00:51:37,715
Speaker 1: got hit by the RPG, which didn't happen, this command

771
00:51:37,755 --> 00:51:41,675
Speaker 1: Sergeant Major Turpak had been injured, which didn't happen, And

772
00:51:41,715 --> 00:51:45,035
Speaker 1: when they landed on the desert floor, which didn't happen,

773
00:51:45,395 --> 00:51:53,395
Speaker 1: Brian treated Turpack's injury and dressed Turpack's wound himself. But

774
00:51:53,515 --> 00:51:57,275
Speaker 1: then Brian said, maybe I should keep that between us.

775
00:51:58,915 --> 00:52:01,355
Speaker 1: I guess we were lucky. Brian Williams never claimed that

776
00:52:01,395 --> 00:52:03,635
Speaker 1: he saved the helicopter crew by catching the missile with

777
00:52:03,675 --> 00:52:19,435
Speaker 1: his teeth. I've done all the damage I can do here.

778
00:52:19,635 --> 00:52:23,675
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening. Happily, After the damage was done,

779
00:52:24,075 --> 00:52:26,515
Speaker 1: the chopper pilot and I made it to the desert

780
00:52:26,555 --> 00:52:34,475
Speaker 1: floor and saved three thousand American soldiers. Our musical directors

781
00:52:34,475 --> 00:52:37,475
Speaker 1: of Countdown are John Phillip Scheneil on keyboards and handling

782
00:52:37,555 --> 00:52:41,915
Speaker 1: orchestration and Brian Ray on guitars, bass and drums, and

783
00:52:41,995 --> 00:52:45,915
Speaker 1: their work is produced by Tko Brothers. Nancy Faus, the

784
00:52:45,955 --> 00:52:49,155
Speaker 1: best baseball stadium organist ever, is responsible for these satirical

785
00:52:49,155 --> 00:52:53,075
Speaker 1: and pithy musical comments. When we use the sports music,

786
00:52:53,075 --> 00:52:55,795
Speaker 1: it's from the Old Olderman Show. Theme from The Old

787
00:52:55,915 --> 00:53:00,115
Speaker 1: Alderman Show by Old Olderman from ESPN two, written by

788
00:53:00,155 --> 00:53:04,235
Speaker 1: Mitch Warren Davis courtesy ESPN Inc. Other music arranged and

789
00:53:04,275 --> 00:53:06,515
Speaker 1: performed by the group No Horns Allowed. And my announcer

790
00:53:06,555 --> 00:53:11,075
Speaker 1: today is my friend Tony Kornheiser, also provided by ESPN Inc.

791
00:53:11,955 --> 00:53:16,315
Speaker 1: This program was produced by Ted. Everything else was as

792
00:53:16,355 --> 00:53:20,075
Speaker 1: always my fault. It's Countdown for today, Day four hundred

793
00:53:20,075 --> 00:53:23,475
Speaker 1: and forty six. Of America held hostage again, but just

794
00:53:23,555 --> 00:53:26,195
Speaker 1: one thousand and seven days until the scheduled end of

795
00:53:26,195 --> 00:53:29,475
Speaker 1: Trump's lane duck and lame brained term unless he is

796
00:53:29,515 --> 00:53:34,635
Speaker 1: removed sooner by Jesus or the New York Rangers, or

797
00:53:34,755 --> 00:53:42,115
Speaker 1: Iranian nuclear dust, or by corner stores. The next scheduled

798
00:53:42,155 --> 00:53:46,075
Speaker 1: countdown is Thursday bulletins as the news merits until the

799
00:53:46,115 --> 00:53:48,795
Speaker 1: next one. I'm Keith Olderman. Good morning, good afternoon, goodnight,

800
00:53:49,795 --> 00:53:51,195
Speaker 1: and good luck.

801
00:54:02,115 --> 00:54:05,275
Speaker 5: When you see soldiers or others. But solven, are you

802
00:54:05,315 --> 00:54:06,555
Speaker 5: walking around with no legs?

803
00:54:06,595 --> 00:54:10,555
Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. For

804
00:54:10,715 --> 00:54:15,795
Speaker 1: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

805
00:54:15,875 --> 00:54:17,835
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts.