Speaker 1: Hey, the folks.
Speaker 2: In this episode, Robot and I continue our travels in Italy,
Speaker 2: but we take a break from hanging out with Italians
Speaker 2: because we wanted to talk to three Americans, but not
Speaker 2: just any three Americans.
Speaker 1: Three in particular. Two of them were there at that
Speaker 1: Trump rally where he was shot, and the other was
Speaker 1: at the R and C convention on night one for
Speaker 1: a hell of a moment when Trump walked in and
Speaker 1: with that, Welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ.
Speaker 1: Coming to you today from Rome, and it is weird.
Speaker 3: Rose.
Speaker 1: We've been here for a while now, it's gonna be
Speaker 1: a week and a half here pretty soon, and we
Speaker 1: have taken a break to do some work. But it's
Speaker 1: not a complaint that we took a break, and we
Speaker 1: shouldn't be celebrated for doing so. We actually wanted to
Speaker 1: be more engaged. What's going on at home?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think we talked about it in the last podcast.
Speaker 4: As journalist, you know when major events happen and you're
Speaker 4: not home or you're going to wherever the event took place.
Speaker 4: And so now to be in this situation, yes we're
Speaker 4: on vacation, but we still very much want to be
Speaker 4: a part of what's happening back home, what's happening politically,
Speaker 4: what's happening to so many Americans. This is something the
Speaker 4: attempted assassination of President Trump or former President Trump has
Speaker 4: affected everybody in some way, and so we wanted to
Speaker 4: hear from the people who were there when it happened
Speaker 4: and who are following where the politics are taking us
Speaker 4: from that moment on.
Speaker 1: You know, I we've all had this moment, no matter
Speaker 1: who you are, We've all called back home to fail. Right.
Speaker 1: You move away from home and something happened. They tell
Speaker 1: you your aunt's an hospital, well, your grandfather's sick or
Speaker 1: something going on, and you call, you talk to your
Speaker 1: mom and dad, and they always tell you the same thing.
Speaker 1: You know, it's no reason to early come home. There's
Speaker 1: nothing you can do right now, but you always feel
Speaker 1: that pool and want to be back home. It's an
Speaker 1: odd comparison, but that's what it feels like being here
Speaker 1: in Italy when so much is happening back home.
Speaker 4: Right, and so much of it is going to affect
Speaker 4: all of our lives, and it's you know, I'm curious,
Speaker 4: as I think a lot of people are, as to
Speaker 4: whether or not this tragic event. I mean, a man
Speaker 4: lost his life, the shooter, his family is dealing with
Speaker 4: the aftermath of that, and then of course you've got
Speaker 4: two people critically injured. Still, so you know, this is
Speaker 4: a serious like and an almost an unprecedented Ronald Reagan
Speaker 4: back in nineteen eighty one. And so the truth of
Speaker 4: the matter is we have been so politically divided as
Speaker 4: a nation and it's just gotten worse and worse and worse.
Speaker 4: And so the question is, with what happened at that
Speaker 4: political rally in Pennsylvania, does it make the things get
Speaker 4: even worse? Do people start pointing fingers even more? Do
Speaker 4: we blame one another for this young man's decision? Or
Speaker 4: is this a moment of being actually able to put
Speaker 4: some of the mud slinging away, to find some sort
Speaker 4: of unity or at least having a more civil conversation
Speaker 4: about what each presidential candidate could bring to this country
Speaker 4: instead of showing each other you know how horrible the
Speaker 4: other is.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm just let's go which way is it
Speaker 1: going to go?
Speaker 4: I think initially people will fill that sense of you know,
Speaker 4: we are on America. Let's let's tone down the rhetoric.
Speaker 4: Let's let's change how we're talking about one another, how
Speaker 4: we're describing political parties us versus them. But then eventually
Speaker 4: I fear that it will turn and it might even
Speaker 4: get out later.
Speaker 1: See, I can't, can't. I'm not gonna be able to
Speaker 1: remember the journalist's name. It wasn't an on air of
Speaker 1: someone who was prominent, but I believe was just fired
Speaker 1: or at least suspended reprimanded for a social media post
Speaker 1: in which I guess they thought they were being funny,
Speaker 1: but was almost complaining that the guy was a bad shot.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, that kind of stuff. That's awful, that
Speaker 1: kind of stuff. And again, this is only the one
Speaker 1: that I saw, but I bet there's a lot of
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff out there. A lot is going
Speaker 1: to weigh on what Trump does on at Thornz convention.
Speaker 1: What is that speech going to sound like and look like?
Speaker 1: But what do you compare? What was it? I remember
Speaker 1: nine to eleven. There's something since nine eleven, but we
Speaker 1: came together at nine eleven. Absolute like nobody's business as
Speaker 1: a country didn't last that long. I remember the politicians
Speaker 1: coming out on the steps of the Capitol and they
Speaker 1: all I think they're saying that godless murders did something right,
Speaker 1: and that was like, Wow, what unity did it in
Speaker 1: the last three months?
Speaker 4: I didn't last very long at all. Yeah, at that point, wasn't.
Speaker 4: President Bush had the highest OBAL rating out of any
Speaker 4: recent president because of that sense of unity and that
Speaker 4: we had to band together as a country. But this
Speaker 4: is really disturbing on so many levels. Think about all
Speaker 4: the school shootings that we've covered. You know, it was
Speaker 4: again fingerpointing between you know, should ar fifteens be allowed
Speaker 4: in just baldy u WALDI, I mean, my god.
Speaker 1: Baby's kill and we still didn't necessarily come together as
Speaker 1: a country to do anything about.
Speaker 4: No. I remember interviewing the mayor of Uvaldi and he
Speaker 4: was blaming everything but the guns and got really upset
Speaker 4: with me when I pushed back a little bit, and
Speaker 4: it just it felt even more divisive. So sadly, a
Speaker 4: lot of this violence that we've seen has not done that.
Speaker 4: Maybe the in me is hopeful that maybe this time
Speaker 4: it could be different, because this is such a serious.
Speaker 4: We we're talking millimeters away. We can ending president former
Speaker 4: President Trump's life. Klimeters.
Speaker 1: We can't be taking a shot, said no, leaders, we
Speaker 1: just that just can't be done. And you said something,
Speaker 1: I hadn't thought about that young man's family. Right, he's dead.
Speaker 1: They've lost someone. That's tragic enough, but now all the
Speaker 1: scrutiny and the I mean, when could those folks ever
Speaker 1: get their lives back. I have no idea who these
Speaker 1: people are, what they're about, where they're from, who how
Speaker 1: good of folks they are. But I'm at this point
Speaker 1: at least being as a human being and thinking about
Speaker 1: that is a young man. I have no idea what's
Speaker 1: going on his life, but his family now is dealing
Speaker 1: with something I can't imagine. Maybe some people think that's
Speaker 1: not what we should be talking about today, but I
Speaker 1: think that's a part of all of our conversations, is
Speaker 1: that we have got to consider everybody in it. And
Speaker 1: don't get me wrong, he's not the forefront of people's
Speaker 1: mind and sympathy. But at the same time, there are
Speaker 1: just so many people impacted in such a significant way,
Speaker 1: in a personal way, and I can't imagine what this
Speaker 1: family is dealing with, his community, his high school, his friends.
Speaker 1: Everybody is confused and hurt and saddened, and a lot
Speaker 1: of people want to take a lot of anger out
Speaker 1: on the people that were close to him, with him
Speaker 1: and his family. So we'll see how that happens, which is.
Speaker 4: The exact opposite of what I think so many people
Speaker 4: would hope could happen, where there's empathy, sympathy, and curiosity
Speaker 4: in the sense of how we always have this conversation,
Speaker 4: how could we have prevented it? Were there signs? All
Speaker 4: of those things. Those are good conversations to have, But
Speaker 4: it's still frustrating, nonetheless, and it's still a very frightening
Speaker 4: time we're in right now from a political standpoint, which
Speaker 4: affects every single person in this country. To think that
Speaker 4: we have been prosecuting politicians and politicians family members and
Speaker 4: now it's just elevated from the court system to now
Speaker 4: gun vis it's just awful.
Speaker 1: But with that, and I know a lot of folks
Speaker 1: listen to us, I've seen probably everybody listening to us
Speaker 1: has seen more bridge then we have because we are
Speaker 1: here it is where we haven't been able to get
Speaker 1: American television for the most part, and just was able
Speaker 1: to watch a little bit on that the morning after.
Speaker 1: But there are I know a lot of folks that
Speaker 1: heard reports and eyewitness accounts and so we're going to
Speaker 1: let you hear from We're going to let you hear conversations.
Speaker 1: We had with two folks who were at the rally.
Speaker 1: One of them, I believe you said, he was only
Speaker 1: eight or ten rows back, so he just fairly folks.
Speaker 1: But the other is a political report, a long time
Speaker 1: political reporter, who was at the R and C convention. Now,
Speaker 1: how many do you even know how many conventions?
Speaker 4: You No, there have been several, and they're all usually,
Speaker 4: you know, they're filled with pomp and circumstance. They have
Speaker 4: the four day rundown, you have obviously we hear who
Speaker 4: the vice presidential nominee or the candidate is going to
Speaker 4: be on the non incumbent side, So there's just protocol,
Speaker 4: and it's just kind of you know, you're rallying the base,
Speaker 4: you're rallying the Republics and the Democrats, and it's it's
Speaker 4: kind of, you know what you expect. It's not usually
Speaker 4: a lot of surprises, but this time it was very, very,
Speaker 4: very different.
Speaker 1: And only because again, folks, that one of the people
Speaker 1: you're gonna hear us talk about it was a reporter
Speaker 1: and he was at the RNC convention, and I asked
Speaker 1: you what about yours, Because every convention I find to
Speaker 1: be released, they're just they're planned down to the letter,
Speaker 1: the just the pageantry and to see kind of democracy
Speaker 1: or our system on display like that, But you agree
Speaker 1: with it not It's just it's an event. It's a
Speaker 1: big party, and I've always enjoyed going to the convention
Speaker 1: on both sides. I'm very curious and i want everybody
Speaker 1: to hear from the guy we're going to talk to
Speaker 1: about what it was like when Trump walked in that room.
Speaker 1: That's that's a moment like we have never ever seen before,
Speaker 1: and I'm wondering if he thought it was different as well.
Speaker 1: So folks, with that again, we want you to hear.
Speaker 1: We are coming to you now from it from Rome
Speaker 1: in particular today. But we have three people we want
Speaker 1: to talk to. One is Nico Mitchell.
Speaker 4: He was the bystander who this was his first political rally,
Speaker 4: by the way, that he had ever attended, and so
Speaker 4: you know, he had no point of reference and didn't
Speaker 4: really even know what to expect. So we're going to
Speaker 4: hear how he handled witnessing, what he saw, and what
Speaker 4: he's feeling like now. And we're also going to talk
Speaker 4: to Robert Truman, you mentioned he is a political reporter,
Speaker 4: a national correspondent for News Nation. And then finally one
Speaker 4: of my actually a former colleague of mine, Mike Kera.
Speaker 1: So folks, take a listen now to our conversation with Nico, Mike,
Speaker 1: and Robert, three people who had front row seats to
Speaker 1: some of the most historical political drama this country has
Speaker 1: ever seen. And we do have Nico Mitchell here with
Speaker 1: us now, who was at that rally. Nico, I know
Speaker 1: we're several days removed from that rally where Trump was shot.
Speaker 1: You talked about how the next day you were still
Speaker 1: shaken by it. Now a few days removed, when I
Speaker 1: know you had to be thinking about all the what ifs.
Speaker 1: If what if I would have been here, I had
Speaker 1: have sat there, what if? Just first of all, can
Speaker 1: you tell me how are you after experiencing such a
Speaker 1: traumatic event.
Speaker 5: I'm doing well.
Speaker 3: I'm in good spirits.
Speaker 5: I would say, it's just a lot to process after
Speaker 5: what happened that day and after that rally. In fact,
Speaker 5: I hate to say this, but I went to Pittsburgh,
Speaker 5: PA for dinner and I was assaulted by two men
Speaker 5: after that rally. So this is a very volatile situation
Speaker 5: that day. For me, I was just shaken by what
Speaker 5: happened to Donald Trump. Seeing that and witnessing that in
Speaker 5: real time is something that you can't forget. It's in
Speaker 5: history now and having that happen to me as well,
Speaker 5: it was surely a big day for me too.
Speaker 4: Wow, Nikola, are you okay? Like I feel free to
Speaker 4: share whatever happened? And it was obviously I'm hoping it
Speaker 4: was unrelated. Can you just give us a sense of
Speaker 4: what happened?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 5: I went to a restaurant where I had a group
Speaker 5: of people who were agitated at the fact that I
Speaker 5: had a Trump had on and realiation. I will tell
Speaker 5: you I did say the words make America great again.
Speaker 5: And that's when all broke loose. It wasn't even the
Speaker 5: group that I was engaging with that assaulted me. It
Speaker 5: was the kitchen workers at the restaurant. So this is
Speaker 5: a big thing. I have to call the police department
Speaker 5: back tomorrow to see how I'm able to proceed forward.
Speaker 1: I was expecting one thing, and we were talking here
Speaker 1: right before we came on about which direction things are
Speaker 1: going to go, Like we're opening this, people will calm down.
Speaker 1: We all come together. And you're telling me you left
Speaker 1: a rally where a presidential candidate was shot and you
Speaker 1: were assaulted because of your support for that candidate. Do
Speaker 1: I have that right?
Speaker 5: Yes, that's correct, and I don't care where you fall
Speaker 5: in politics. We need to show love first in the
Speaker 5: society because everything is too volatile. We've gotten to the
Speaker 5: point where hatred is spewing out of people's spirits. They're
Speaker 5: calling for the death of Trump, They're calling for the
Speaker 5: death of whoever it may be. We need to step
Speaker 5: back and show humanity again. Where is the humane being
Speaker 5: inside of each other? We have to be able to
Speaker 5: show that first, so that way we're able to unite again.
Speaker 5: Because after all, if we're talking about these issues, we
Speaker 5: can come into agreement with a lot. But what happens
Speaker 5: is media and other factors fall into play where there's
Speaker 5: there's divisional you know, all this division and this hatred
Speaker 5: being spewed. So we just need to come together. So
Speaker 5: I really can say about it, it's just it's just
Speaker 5: sad right now, Are.
Speaker 4: O Nica That that is absolutely heartbreaking? TJ just mentioned.
Speaker 4: I was actually like positive Polly, hopeful that this would
Speaker 4: be a wake up call to the vitriol, to the
Speaker 4: just the mean spiritedness of people. We can disagree, we
Speaker 4: can prefer each other's candidates, but it doesn't mean it
Speaker 4: has to resort to the extremes. Can you give me
Speaker 4: a sense of what what happened in the in the
Speaker 4: assault afterwards? Did was it throwing punches? Was it? Give
Speaker 4: me a sense of just what that attack was like?
Speaker 5: It was it was me and a woman. I was
Speaker 5: verbal to her, she was verbal to me, so it
Speaker 5: was a verbal argument, and then it escalated to two
Speaker 5: men going outside waiting for me. I had no idea
Speaker 5: that they had weapons on them, so that was something
Speaker 5: that was a big deal to me. At that point,
Speaker 5: I wanted the police to be called, and the restaurant
Speaker 5: decided for two men who were kitchen workers to come out.
Speaker 5: They both grabbed me. They slammed me on the table,
Speaker 5: and then they took me outside and then they rammed
Speaker 5: me into the pavement. And I still have wounds on
Speaker 5: my hands, i have bruising on my body, bruising up
Speaker 5: on my upper arms, and I'm going to go to
Speaker 5: the doctor's office very soon so I can have all
Speaker 5: of that it documented.
Speaker 1: Because this is a big deal a big deal. Why
Speaker 1: did you and we were talking to you went from
Speaker 1: New York to the rally in Pennsylvania where Trump was shot.
Speaker 1: But why did you want to make a six plus out?
Speaker 1: Why was it important to you to make that six
Speaker 1: plus hour journey to be at that round?
Speaker 5: To be quite honest with you, I'm a Christian first,
Speaker 5: and I believe in Jesus. I believe in God, and
Speaker 5: I had this conviction that came over me to support him.
Speaker 5: I know he's a very volad old candidate. He's someone
Speaker 5: who was there he talked about positively and negatively, but
Speaker 5: I felt the need to in this election cycle that
Speaker 5: we're living in a point of history that is unprecedented.
Speaker 5: We've never seen politics the way it is today. So
Speaker 5: that was my own personal conviction to go out there.
Speaker 5: But I've been to a Trump rally before, but I
Speaker 5: was there for journalistic reasons. So I've covered a Trump rally.
Speaker 5: I've covered Bernie Sanders rally, so it's not just a
Speaker 5: right wing thing. I've also covered the Democrat side. So
Speaker 5: I just felt the need in this election cycle to
Speaker 5: do it, and I went out there in support and
Speaker 5: low and behold, I'm witnessing history unfold right before my
Speaker 5: very eyes. I'll tell you I was scared at that
Speaker 5: moment when Trump dropped down where the podium was, I
Speaker 5: thought he was dead in that moment. And the other
Speaker 5: concern that I had was we've had so many actives
Speaker 5: shits that happened in the United States. There was a
Speaker 5: possibility that the active shooter could have turned around and
Speaker 5: started opening fire on the crowd.
Speaker 4: Yeah, oh, I mean, I can't even did you know
Speaker 4: immediately that it was gun fire? I know a lot
Speaker 4: of folks said they thought it was fireworks and it
Speaker 4: was chaotic, and it's just not something you're expecting to
Speaker 4: hear or see. How quickly did you know this is scary,
Speaker 4: this is bad? And then how did you react?
Speaker 5: A lot of people online because when I posted that
Speaker 5: video initially said to themselves or why didn't he run?
Speaker 5: Or why didn't he do this or that? When you
Speaker 5: are in a literal situation such as that, you don't
Speaker 5: know how your body is going to respond, and you're
Speaker 5: not expecting it, like you were saying. So when I
Speaker 5: was just standing there, initially I thought it was fireworks.
Speaker 5: I was confused at that point because I saw a
Speaker 5: build a wing of smoke, and then there was a
Speaker 5: water hose on the other side that burst it open
Speaker 5: and water is spewing everywhere. So I'm saying to myself,
Speaker 5: what is going on? Until I saw Trump drop down,
Speaker 5: and I said to myself, I'm witnessing the death of
Speaker 5: Trump right before my eyes. But thank God that the
Speaker 5: Secret Service rushed over to shield him and he.
Speaker 1: Was able to get back up.
Speaker 5: And my heart goes out to the victim who was
Speaker 5: tragically taken in this situation.
Speaker 1: Nigo, can you help me with the emotions that you
Speaker 1: must have gone through. I can't imagine how many and
Speaker 1: maybe a thirty second period for hearing the snap snap,
Speaker 1: steps and steps now where that's confusion. Maybe initially you
Speaker 1: see him go down, that's absolute terror and fear that
Speaker 1: President Trump has just been shot and killed. Then you
Speaker 1: have to think, wow, is somebody still shooting in the crowd?
Speaker 6: Wow?
Speaker 1: Should I take off running? Can you take me through?
Speaker 1: I guess there were several steps and emotions that had
Speaker 1: to have you going all over the place. So can
Speaker 1: you take me through how those emotions were coming.
Speaker 5: They weren't from excitement from being at the rally, to
Speaker 5: confusion to dreadful fear, and the only thing that you're
Speaker 5: able to do is duck down and pray, because if
Speaker 5: you've ever been to a concert or any large venue
Speaker 5: for that matter, you're unable to go anywhere. The only
Speaker 5: thing that you're able to do is is sit there
Speaker 5: and hope for the best, because if you try running anywhere,
Speaker 5: the crowd is blocking you. So I said to myself,
Speaker 5: Dear Lord, I'm praying that I'm able to get out
Speaker 5: of this situation alive. I've seen the situations that have
Speaker 5: happened in the United States before, such as Las Vegas
Speaker 5: where those four people were taken just doing casual things
Speaker 5: as any other American would do. So these situations are
Speaker 5: heart wrenching. And I've been in a situation before where
Speaker 5: I was at a mall, I was entering the all
Speaker 5: people started rushing outwards past me in the alarms going off,
Speaker 5: and that was an active shooting situation before that was
Speaker 5: in North Carolina. So but to be there and to
Speaker 5: hear the shots ring out, it's it was certainly something
Speaker 5: to remember.
Speaker 4: WOWK, that's just it's it's gutting to have experienced that.
Speaker 4: And what was it like once they got the Secret
Speaker 4: Service members got Trump off as they were taking off
Speaker 4: the stage. I know he was yelling fight, fight, fight.
Speaker 4: Can you give us a sense of what that was
Speaker 4: like being in the crowd knowing what you've just seen,
Speaker 4: but not having had time to process it, Like, what
Speaker 4: did everyone do as he was being ushered off? And
Speaker 4: after he left, the.
Speaker 3: People were very supportive.
Speaker 5: Uh, it was almost it was a rally cry for
Speaker 5: being able to fight the good fight. Still, there's a
Speaker 5: lot that has happened to this man and he continues
Speaker 5: on with his political motivation to become the president once again.
Speaker 5: So his supporter are there for him. I see that,
Speaker 5: I feel that, and I've never been always a supporter
Speaker 5: of his, but I definitely can see it through the crowd,
Speaker 5: and it surely is something that if you're there, it
Speaker 5: does feel I will say, it does feel like family
Speaker 5: being there. People are very nice, they're cordial. So it
Speaker 5: was a rally cry. And now, from my understanding with Trump,
Speaker 5: he actually has a hole in his ear because he
Speaker 5: still has the patch over him and he's still going
Speaker 5: through everything. Now he's in Milwaukee doing the convention, so
Speaker 5: this is this is a pivotal moment for him, and
Speaker 5: praying for his safety.
Speaker 3: Going forward as well.
Speaker 1: Nikot, I don't know if you can if you had
Speaker 1: gotten past all the fear and confusion enough to then
Speaker 1: take in the emotion of the crowd. But that moment
Speaker 1: when you all saw him get up, you saw him
Speaker 1: put his fists in the air, you heard heard him screaming.
Speaker 1: Describe then, I guess what came out of the crowd,
Speaker 1: the emotion of that moment, which will go down in history.
Speaker 5: It went from dreadful fear because the people who were
Speaker 5: around me were screaming in horror, and they were laying
Speaker 5: low because they weren't sure what was going to happen next. Initially,
Speaker 5: when I went down to the ground with my camera,
Speaker 5: the lady next to me was saying, baby, get down,
Speaker 5: get down, get down, And I heard the screams from
Speaker 5: others in the crowd. When Trumpet arose from back of
Speaker 5: the podium, it was a momentous feeling. It almost felt
Speaker 5: like there was a victory in the air. It was
Speaker 5: a feeling that a moment in history would only be
Speaker 5: able to describe as if you were witnessing another pivotal
Speaker 5: point that happened along the ways back then and maybe
Speaker 5: even nineteen twenties nineteen forties World War Two. So this
Speaker 5: was a very, very visceral feeling. I felt as though joy,
Speaker 5: happiness came over the crowd in that moment and they
Speaker 5: were ready to fight onwards. So there was not even
Speaker 5: a question of how are we able to move forward?
Speaker 5: But we're going to move forward regardless.
Speaker 4: Niko, are you concerned about what the next few weeks
Speaker 4: and months are going to be like leading up to
Speaker 4: the actual presidential election in November? Where are your emotions
Speaker 4: about what you're expecting or anticipating.
Speaker 5: To be quite honest, I am concerned about his safety.
Speaker 5: I'm not sure how all of this is going to
Speaker 5: play out. We are very volatile in the United States
Speaker 5: of America today. It's a very scary feeling, and I'm
Speaker 5: praying for everyone's safety. I don't care if you are
Speaker 5: a Republican, Democrat, independent. I'm registered as an independent myself,
Speaker 5: and I just want people to be safe. I want
Speaker 5: people to be able to show love once again. I
Speaker 5: want people to have civil discussion once again. If you
Speaker 5: even try to have a debate anymore, it's not even
Speaker 5: a debate, it's a shouting match, and you're not even
Speaker 5: trying to find common ground. It's now just demonizing each other.
Speaker 5: So I just want people to be able to come
Speaker 5: together at some point. But I see in the coming
Speaker 5: weeks more volatile situations arising, unfortunately, just because of the
Speaker 5: state of the world today.
Speaker 4: Will you still wear your Maga hat out after what happened?
Speaker 5: I thought about this critically. Probably I'm going to say yes,
Speaker 5: because I'm gonna be honest with you after what I
Speaker 5: saw with Donald Trump and then the assault that happened
Speaker 5: to me, I felt a connection in that moment where
Speaker 5: what happened, and so we both shed blood that day,
Speaker 5: and I said to myself, I'm still going to support
Speaker 5: this man, even in the face of adversity.
Speaker 1: But Nico, you can support them, support them. You got
Speaker 1: to have family friends saying, dude, why is it worth it.
Speaker 1: You can support them without the shirt, without them, without
Speaker 1: talking to the woman in the restaurant, right, So you
Speaker 1: got to have people that love you saying, come o,
Speaker 1: dco just leave the red hat at the house for
Speaker 1: the Knights.
Speaker 5: Well, I'll be honest with you. I did take it
Speaker 5: off on occasion, and then when that happened, I did
Speaker 5: take it off because I still have people who are
Speaker 5: looking at me and that moment after that happened, I
Speaker 5: said to myself, people are so volatile right now, especially
Speaker 5: in the area that I was, I felt as though
Speaker 5: I could be killed.
Speaker 3: And so.
Speaker 5: I do feel as though I have to still represent
Speaker 5: him in some capacity. And the only reason why I
Speaker 5: feel the need to even support him is because I
Speaker 5: had a conviction that came spiritually from God to support
Speaker 5: this man. And I know a lot of people will
Speaker 5: question that as to why I would feel that way,
Speaker 5: but I would just say, pray on it and and
Speaker 5: if you have a connection to God, you know, just
Speaker 5: do your due diligence with it.
Speaker 1: Well, you make a good point to that. We we're
Speaker 1: gonna leavi youa that. But you said, I know people
Speaker 1: are going to question when I say I had a
Speaker 1: spiritual connection. What if we just can all take a
Speaker 1: chance and not question and just respect it whatever. You know,
Speaker 1: an atheist out there, you still respect where you're coming from.
Speaker 1: And that's just so key. I think we don't.
Speaker 4: We don't. We don't get people enough credit or at
Speaker 4: least in a grace for that song.
Speaker 5: I've had people told me that I had some type
Speaker 5: of mental illness because I'm supporting Trump. I've had people
Speaker 5: tell me that on my platforms, and I said to myself,
Speaker 5: this is not good. If you support Biden, I love
Speaker 5: you and I respect you. I've had people that I've
Speaker 5: walked up to and asked do you support him? And
Speaker 5: they would tell me no, or I'm indifferent, or I'm
Speaker 5: supporting Biden, and I would say, I love you regardless.
Speaker 5: God bless you, and if you need anything, I'm still
Speaker 5: here for you.
Speaker 4: We hope there are more people like you, Nico in
Speaker 4: the world, and we're just glad you're safe and thank
Speaker 4: you so much for sharing your story, and we hope
Speaker 4: you get checked out and get a good bill of
Speaker 4: health from the doctor. But we wish you well in
Speaker 4: making sure that you can find some peace and yes,
Speaker 4: spread that love. Thank you so much for being with us, Nico.
Speaker 5: Thank you, Amy and TJ. I appreciate being on here,
Speaker 5: and God bless both of you and Jesus name.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Thank you so much.
Speaker 4: And joining us now is Robert Sherman. Robert is a
Speaker 4: national correspondent for News Nation and also he was at
Speaker 4: the rally at the time of the attempted assassination and
Speaker 4: he's now currently at the Republican National Convention. So, Robert,
Speaker 4: you have had a front row seat to all of
Speaker 4: the major events over the last few days, and so
Speaker 4: thank you for being with us and joining us. You
Speaker 4: are not just a political reporter, you're also a conflict reporter.
Speaker 4: So gunfire is not an unusual sound for you. You
Speaker 4: have been around it and in it for your career.
Speaker 4: So take us back to that rally and what your
Speaker 4: immediate reaction was to what was happening.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, what I would just say is is
Speaker 6: that we've covered so many of the former president's rallies
Speaker 6: over the years, and this one was really no different.
Speaker 6: The same kind of people who were dancing, singing, having
Speaker 6: a good time, massive security presence with the Secret Service,
Speaker 6: and so the idea of some kind of an attack
Speaker 6: being carried out one of these events, I mean, we've
Speaker 6: been to so many any of these that, but it's
Speaker 6: never something that would ever cross your mind as being
Speaker 6: within the realm of possibility. But then you see the
Speaker 6: pandemonium breaking out and you see all the concern and
Speaker 6: it was amazing. I mean, just in a couple of minutes,
Speaker 6: just about everybody in Butler, Pennsylvania knew what had happened
Speaker 6: as law enforcement tried to regather control of the situation,
Speaker 6: and then segueing here into the RNC, what I would
Speaker 6: say is is that very rarely is there much mystery
Speaker 6: when it comes into one of these events. We typically
Speaker 6: know how a political convention is going to go. But
Speaker 6: there's so much anticipation heading into Monday night with the
Speaker 6: first public appearance of the former president since this assassination attempt,
Speaker 6: as well as the mystery about who is vice presidential
Speaker 6: pick would be. And it has just been a very
Speaker 6: surreal forty eight seventy two hours from Saturday until this point.
Speaker 1: Have you gotten a sense that there's an increased a
Speaker 1: little I won't say security, but what about just fear
Speaker 1: among the people who are attending the convention? And quite frankly, Robert,
Speaker 1: what about you. We've been around a lot of politicians
Speaker 1: and conventions and whatnot over the years. The security makes
Speaker 1: you feel safe, and it also makes you feel uncomfortable
Speaker 1: sometimes like wow, all the securities needed. But you tell me, man,
Speaker 1: how does is there an increased sense of fear there?
Speaker 3: Would you say?
Speaker 6: I wouldn't necessarily say so, but there are a couple
Speaker 6: of distinctions be made from before the event and now
Speaker 6: that we're in the event, there are were concerns about
Speaker 6: security from some people here because I wouldn't really know
Speaker 6: what the security situation was like. But when you walk
Speaker 6: around downtown Milwaukee right now, it is impossible to not
Speaker 6: run into a massive law enforcement presence. It's very difficult
Speaker 6: to get down get around the heart of the city,
Speaker 6: not just by driving but by walking as well. They
Speaker 6: are entire blocks that are corded off. And so when
Speaker 6: you see that security presence massively, whether it is stay troopers,
Speaker 6: local police, or the massive security presence just in general
Speaker 6: from the Secret Service that you see about. I mean
Speaker 6: that is what people have talked to us, that they
Speaker 6: wanted to see that show of force more or less,
Speaker 6: and I would say that is a thing that has
Speaker 6: put most people at ease here. But of course, going
Speaker 6: back to Saturdays, is that there's always been the understanding that,
Speaker 6: you know, any kind of a security breach at a
Speaker 6: Trump that just seemed impossible up until this point. So
Speaker 6: people have been on guard, I would say, you know,
Speaker 6: from a healthy, cautious standpoint, but people have felt pretty
Speaker 6: good here from those who we've talked to. But it
Speaker 6: was on the mind coming in before seeing this whole
Speaker 6: security presence up close.
Speaker 1: But Robert, was it on your mind from a personal standpoint? Again,
Speaker 1: she just said, your guy that's been around and been
Speaker 1: all over the world in conflict. But for you, and
Speaker 1: I don't want to say you change anything, but is
Speaker 1: it on your mind in any different way?
Speaker 6: You know, It's just it just opens the door of
Speaker 6: possible abilities, right because I mean, once you, you know, have
Speaker 6: the bubble popped the first time, when it comes to
Speaker 6: your own sense of security, then you know, you start
Speaker 6: to ask the question about you know, well, if if
Speaker 6: you know this wasn't as secure as we all thought
Speaker 6: it was, you know what else is truly secure? So
Speaker 6: I'm it something that was on our mind. But I
Speaker 6: mean not an overwhelming fear, I would say, just something
Speaker 6: to be on guard about. There have been demonstrations that
Speaker 6: have been taking place here in Milwaukee, but those have
Speaker 6: remained pretty tame up until this point. So it's it's
Speaker 6: it's not something that has you know, definitely commanded your mind,
Speaker 6: but it's something that is always playing in the back
Speaker 6: of your skull a little bit, especially after what happened Saturday.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I can only imagine and obviously, Robert. You know,
Speaker 4: we've been on the ground and we've covered a lot
Speaker 4: of really scary, violent, awful events around the world, and
Speaker 4: yet I've never been somewhere where an active shooting is
Speaker 4: taking place as a human, not even as a reporter.
Speaker 4: I mean, did you were you in reporter mindset or
Speaker 4: when you heard those gunshots and you saw the president
Speaker 4: go down? Did the human sidekick in I'm just curious
Speaker 4: what that must have been like for you, even as
Speaker 4: a seasoned journalist, as a human being.
Speaker 6: It's just, you know, hearing all of this, it was
Speaker 6: just a shock to so many people here. We actually
Speaker 6: had to pull back just a little bit from the
Speaker 6: event due to connectivity issues. But then, I mean, you
Speaker 6: hear the gunshots and you you know, hear the pandemonium
Speaker 6: that is breaking out. I mean, it's just shock.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 6: I don't know how else to describe it as is
Speaker 6: that you you know, we're all looking at each other.
Speaker 6: It's like that there's no way that that's what it
Speaker 6: could have been, right, I mean, we must have misheard something.
Speaker 6: When you talk to people on the ground, everybody describes
Speaker 6: it the same way, probably the way that you've heard
Speaker 6: people describe similar situations in your reporting careers, everyone says, well,
Speaker 6: it sounds like fireworks. You would just never think that
Speaker 6: that's what it was, that it was actually gunshots or
Speaker 6: anything like that. But then, I mean, you see people
Speaker 6: running around, you see people concerned. You just don't know
Speaker 6: what to think of that situation. It was just something
Speaker 6: that was so out of sight, out of mind up
Speaker 6: until that moment.
Speaker 1: Were you and again, given your experience and reporting, and
Speaker 1: everybody say it sounds like firecrackers? Did you right? Your training,
Speaker 1: your experience might tell you I'm hearing gunfire, but also
Speaker 1: your experience in politics, like, no, there's no way there's gunfire.
Speaker 1: There's no way anybody shooting. Did you know immediately when
Speaker 1: you heard it that is gunfire?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 6: No, I definitely did not. I mean, especially someone coming
Speaker 6: from Israel, you know where you hear rockets exploding overhead
Speaker 6: on a rather consistent basis.
Speaker 3: It was not.
Speaker 6: It was not something that that's what that I thought
Speaker 6: it was.
Speaker 4: Well, Robert, thank you so much for sharing your story
Speaker 4: with us and come to us from Milwaukee. There on
Speaker 4: the floor of the Republican National Convention. And speaking of Milwaukee,
Speaker 4: we have Mike Thecara joining us from another location in Milwaukee.
Speaker 4: But yeah, Mike, we go way back. Nice to see
Speaker 4: you and hear from you. We were MSNBC colleagues back
Speaker 4: in the.
Speaker 3: Day, that's right.
Speaker 7: And I think you were on Weekend today for a
Speaker 7: time and I was filing for them as well.
Speaker 3: So yeah, indeed we have a.
Speaker 4: Lot of history, and I can't to hear about your
Speaker 4: perspective with all that's happened. You've had a very busy
Speaker 4: last few days. Tell us what those have been like,
Speaker 4: where you are right now and what you've been dealing
Speaker 4: with professionally.
Speaker 3: Well professionally right.
Speaker 7: So, I'm the Washington Bureau chief and as such I
Speaker 7: sort of organized the coverage for News Nation.
Speaker 3: We've got a great.
Speaker 7: Spot right on the floor our studios, right on the
Speaker 7: floor of the convention, where we're anchoring a lot of
Speaker 7: our special programming. You know, it's an amazing you know,
Speaker 7: it's eighty five million dollars. It has to put this
Speaker 7: thing on. And another former colleague of ours, Amy Philology,
Speaker 7: is the person producing and organizing and setting up all
Speaker 7: the camera angles and everything else, and he gave us
Speaker 7: a little backstage tour of that, which was really fascinating.
Speaker 7: Of everything in the convention, but for me personally, it's
Speaker 7: mostly about management. I'm still on the air a lot.
Speaker 7: Yesterday I was on the air a lot from the
Speaker 7: floor where Robert was today reporting on the surprise pick
Speaker 7: of Jade Vance. I guess it wasn't much a surprised,
Speaker 7: but it was really amazing how that secret was kept
Speaker 7: up until the very last moment, and the former president
Speaker 7: himself was able to announce it and surprise everybody because
Speaker 7: as far as I know, it had not been reported
Speaker 7: up until he posted on his truth social page.
Speaker 3: So you know, it's crazy, it's hectic.
Speaker 7: There are thousands of reporters here, there are more delegates,
Speaker 7: there are more party officials. It's a big party. They
Speaker 7: have events every day. You know, there's a certain giddiness
Speaker 7: among the people on the foreign and the Republican Party.
Speaker 7: I would say that's not unusual for conventions, but it
Speaker 7: seems be really sort of turbo charged this year for Republicans.
Speaker 7: So it is a convention atmosphere and everything that goes
Speaker 7: with it, and now we have some added drama of course,
Speaker 7: as we saw on the floor last night. So you know,
Speaker 7: as a professional journalist, these things are sort of the
Speaker 7: Super Bowl leading up to the election, and certainly the
Speaker 7: production and organizing our Super Bowl level. And it's a
Speaker 7: privilege to be here to cover history. It's all I'll
Speaker 7: say I can say about that.
Speaker 1: How long have you been covering politics? Just give our
Speaker 1: listeners some perspective of who we got here? How long
Speaker 1: you been government politics? Wow?
Speaker 3: This is like my favorite subject me. I started in
Speaker 3: nineteen ninety.
Speaker 7: I actually started with NHK, which is sort of the
Speaker 7: BBC of Japan, a large Japanese broadcaster in Washington, at
Speaker 7: Washington Bureau at n HK, because I had been goofing
Speaker 7: around teaching, doing the English teacher thing after college in Japan.
Speaker 3: So what is that thirty four years?
Speaker 1: Thirty four years? How many conventions do you do? You
Speaker 1: have account how many conventions you've done?
Speaker 3: I don't, you know. I should sit down and think
Speaker 3: about that a lot.
Speaker 1: It's been a bunch.
Speaker 3: Six, you know, and on and on.
Speaker 1: It's been a bunch. So I asked that for this reason,
Speaker 1: h we've covered conventions as well. And it doesn't matter
Speaker 1: about your political leanings, it doesn't matter. You're there to
Speaker 1: do a job. But there is just something cool about
Speaker 1: a convention, right it's just the pump and circumstances and
Speaker 1: the pageantry and the planning. It's just wonderful and the energy,
Speaker 1: and everybody's excited about their candidate. But this is what
Speaker 1: I why I want to ask Mike, what did that
Speaker 1: feel like? What is the energy like? After that shooting
Speaker 1: that we saw in Pennsylvania. Now he comes back to
Speaker 1: even a greater heroes welcome that you can imagine. I'm
Speaker 1: trying to get some perspective, because these things are great, wonderful,
Speaker 1: energetic events. But how did that feel different when he
Speaker 1: walked in?
Speaker 7: Well, first of all, you know, as journalists, and I
Speaker 7: know you guys know this, you have to a certain detachment.
Speaker 7: You can't get swept in it, up in it. You know,
Speaker 7: you're not there as a participant. You're there as an
Speaker 7: objective observer. And I still believe that's the best way
Speaker 7: to go about being a journalist, especially in politics, although
Speaker 7: others seem to disagree. These days, I would say that
Speaker 7: the events of the last forty eight to seventy two
Speaker 7: hours in Butler, Pennsylvania have not only you know, there's
Speaker 7: a lot of talk of anger and tension, particularly towards
Speaker 7: the media. Let's face it and some of the things
Speaker 7: that we've heard of the course last several days. But
Speaker 7: I think there's a conscious effort on the part of
Speaker 7: from the Candida on.
Speaker 3: Down to de emphasize.
Speaker 7: They're trying to accentuate the positive eliminate the negative, like
Speaker 7: the old song goes. I do think that what has
Speaker 7: happened and the way the President has reacted initially after
Speaker 7: that horrifying sort you know, it's a day of infamy
Speaker 7: really no matter where you stand.
Speaker 3: I believe there is a feeling among a lot of
Speaker 3: the folks that are.
Speaker 7: There, whether they be members of Congress that I've talked to,
Speaker 7: or it gets or just conversations in the hall that
Speaker 7: President Trump has a you know, is pretty much the
Speaker 7: odds on favor. And I don't want to say people
Speaker 7: are taking it for granted that he's going to be
Speaker 7: vaulted back into the White House, which after all, is
Speaker 7: the intention of these what are essentially television show productions
Speaker 7: every night for four nights.
Speaker 3: And so there's a like I said, there's usually a giddiness.
Speaker 7: People in funny clothes, and there's plenty of cowboy hats
Speaker 7: and people in costumes and cheering and laughter bordering on
Speaker 7: goofiness really, but now there is that extra element that's
Speaker 7: sort of jet fuel that has infused a lot of
Speaker 7: the folks here. I think who, Yes, like the rest
Speaker 7: of us, were shocked at what happened and the images
Speaker 7: that we saw from Saturday night. But I feel as though,
Speaker 7: you know, the way the President reacted, speaking for the
Speaker 7: delegates and the people that I've talked to, the way
Speaker 7: the President reacted, you know, further lionizes him in their
Speaker 7: mind and sort of inspires them. So there's that extra
Speaker 7: element that on the floor of the convention, that extra
Speaker 7: element of enthusiasm.
Speaker 4: I think, Yeah, we've been we've been watching what we
Speaker 4: can from from Italy, but it hasn't been a lot.
Speaker 4: We've were seeing Trump walk into the convention hall to
Speaker 4: Lee Greenwoods, God Bless the USA, and just mis his
Speaker 4: bandage on his ear. Can you just give us a
Speaker 4: sense of.
Speaker 3: The tone and.
Speaker 4: The mood of the convention hall given what happened in
Speaker 4: Pennsylvania and what you're expecting from the President when he
Speaker 4: gives that speech at the end of the week.
Speaker 7: Well, you know, the President himself has said in an interview,
Speaker 7: I think it was on the airplane actually with the
Speaker 7: Washington Examiner did two interviews the New York Post and
Speaker 7: the Washington Examiner, obviously two media outlets associated with the
Speaker 7: conservative side of things.
Speaker 3: He said he was going to retool it, make it
Speaker 3: about unity, you.
Speaker 7: Know, coming together, because I think there's a sense that
Speaker 7: probably just fiab way, that people are sick of it.
Speaker 7: You know, people are sick of divisions, people are sick
Speaker 7: of polarization, and the fact that Donald Trump narrowly escaped
Speaker 7: with his life sort of resets things in a way.
Speaker 7: At least that's the feeling that you get talking to
Speaker 7: folks in terms of their messaging strategy and the way
Speaker 7: they feel as though with their finger on the pulse
Speaker 7: of their constituencies that they wanted the direction they want
Speaker 7: to go in. Look, the convention is not going to
Speaker 7: be one or lost by how the people in that
Speaker 7: hall are going to be voting. I think we all
Speaker 7: know that the convention is going to be one or
Speaker 7: lost by people in the suburbs of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh
Speaker 7: and Detroit and here in Milwaukee, which is of course
Speaker 7: one reason why this is.
Speaker 3: Being staged in Milwaukee.
Speaker 7: And so a message of unity is probably something that's
Speaker 7: going to appeal to them more as opposed to some
Speaker 7: of the more personal attacks and you know, the schoolyard
Speaker 7: taunts that are sort of the trademark or President Trump. Now,
Speaker 7: whether he can suppress his natural inclination to do those things,
Speaker 7: which you know has worked for him in the past
Speaker 7: is another question, and that's something we're going to have
Speaker 7: to wait and see.
Speaker 1: Mike, do you all have you all made any adjustments
Speaker 1: in your coverage, how you cover politics, or even in
Speaker 1: your security as a news organization. Have you all had
Speaker 1: to make any adjustments based on where we are now
Speaker 1: at the events in Pennsylvania.
Speaker 7: Well, not really, And mind you, we're not even seventy
Speaker 7: two hours away from that hard as it is to believe,
Speaker 7: because so much has happened in between, and so you know,
Speaker 7: whether there will be adjustments later down the road, I
Speaker 7: don't know. I mean a large part I think. I
Speaker 7: don't think it's a secret to anybody that the press
Speaker 7: has come under heavier criticism. And yes, at Trump rallies,
Speaker 7: the presidents frequently pointed to the riser who are chronicling
Speaker 7: the people, and that riser a chronicling what he's saying
Speaker 7: and doing and being critical. That's another trademarket is He's
Speaker 7: done that since the twenty sixteen campaign as well, and
Speaker 7: there's been increasing amounts of vitriol and hatred pointed towards
Speaker 7: the press. And I think you actually saw an example
Speaker 7: of that of all times, right after the shooting, where
Speaker 7: people were turning in the crowd were turning as the
Speaker 7: President was being whisked off the stage as he's pumping
Speaker 7: his fist. Who were giving them press riser the platform
Speaker 7: where the cameras and the reporters are set up towards
Speaker 7: the back of the event giving us the finger. I
Speaker 7: wasn't there, Robert was there, and so that's sort of
Speaker 7: been building over time. January sixth, there was a lot
Speaker 7: of anger directed towards the press. You know, they kept
Speaker 7: there's an area of cameras outside the Capitol we call
Speaker 7: the swamp just at the bottom of the Sense steps,
Speaker 7: and you know, folks came along and cut the cables
Speaker 7: and the wires and fiber lines that enable us to
Speaker 7: get on the air.
Speaker 3: So that's something that's been building.
Speaker 7: I don't think about it too much, perhaps out of
Speaker 7: self preservation, so I don't go crazy, but we do
Speaker 7: take you know, I want to get into the security
Speaker 7: steps that we take. But you know, we do take
Speaker 7: steps to ensure the security of our reporters when they
Speaker 7: go out into the field to it whether it's a
Speaker 7: protest or anything else. You know, you guys know, part
Speaker 7: of what we do is to run towards danger. I mean,
Speaker 7: we're not heroes, but we're there. And some of us
Speaker 7: believe this. It's journalism is altruism for cynics. I'm a cynic,
Speaker 7: but I get to feel good about what I'm doing.
Speaker 7: And if I can chronicle history and if I can
Speaker 7: be an eyewitness to historic events, then I'm going to
Speaker 7: go try to do my best to do that.
Speaker 3: I mean within limits.
Speaker 7: I don't want to die, but these those are you know,
Speaker 7: that's part of the ethos of what we do.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm curious, Mike. You know, we we've been talking
Speaker 4: a little bit about this in the podcast because the
Speaker 4: hope would be that things got to this point where yes,
Speaker 4: a presidential candidate, a former president was shot at and
Speaker 4: came within rable millimeters of dying. How is that going
Speaker 4: to change? Is it going to change or change how
Speaker 4: we treat each other, how candidates treat each other. Do
Speaker 4: you think this has any impact on the mud slinging
Speaker 4: and what we've seen from Trump himself, but from both
Speaker 4: sides of the aisle, in terms of how they talk
Speaker 4: about each other, how they treat each other, what they
Speaker 4: say about each other. Do you think this is going
Speaker 4: to change anything?
Speaker 3: You know, it's a great question. I don't know, and
Speaker 3: I think everybody wants to know that.
Speaker 7: And I think that anybody whos been around politics for
Speaker 7: as long as we have is skeptical. Frankly, and in
Speaker 7: these initial days and hours after the attack, the assassination
Speaker 7: attempt that nearly killed Donald Trump, I think a lot
Speaker 7: of people are hoping that that's the case. And certainly,
Speaker 7: as we were talking about earlier, the rhetoric is being
Speaker 7: recalibrated and retooled. I mean, we saw President Biden in
Speaker 7: the Oval Office calling for I don't know if you
Speaker 7: use the word civility, but calling for civility and a
Speaker 7: toning down of the rhetoric. We're seeing Republicans at the
Speaker 7: convention here in Milwaukee making a conscious effort to tone
Speaker 7: that down. You know, I covered the House of Representatives
Speaker 7: for eleven years every day, and I guess I was
Speaker 7: a little bit naive when I showed up because I
Speaker 7: was under the impression that things were not quite as
Speaker 7: partisan as they are. But you know, after a while,
Speaker 7: you realize it's not necessarily unique in American history, and
Speaker 7: the system is designed with such genius that it's intended
Speaker 7: to channel all of human nature's tendencies to join a
Speaker 7: group and fight it out right your shirt, skins, red, blue.
Speaker 3: Whatever the case may be.
Speaker 7: But it's sort of, as we said, sort of entering
Speaker 7: another level of scariness over the course of the last
Speaker 7: few days, culminating what we saw Saturday. So is what
Speaker 7: the images, the shocking images and the sort of disquiet
Speaker 7: that everybody's experienced, some of us anyway over after seeing
Speaker 7: what happened Saturday, will let last. I guess a lot
Speaker 7: of people are hoping, so I would admit that I'm
Speaker 7: kind of hoping so, but I don't know, I'm a
Speaker 7: little skeptical myself.
Speaker 3: After eleven years in the house for every tent.
Speaker 8: Yeah, Oh, they very honest, spoken from someone who has
Speaker 8: been there in the swamp and all around.
Speaker 4: So we really appreciate your perspective as somebody who has
Speaker 4: been immersed in politics and covering politics for as long
Speaker 4: as you have. We just really appreciate your perspective and
Speaker 4: stay safe, Mike. And it was so great to see
Speaker 4: you again, to hear from you again, and we wish
Speaker 4: you all the best and just want to thank you
Speaker 4: for being on the podcast.
Speaker 3: Okay, you guys, keep living the La dolce vita.
Speaker 4: Okay, all right, thank you everybody for listening, and you
Speaker 4: know where to find us on Instagram, Amy and TJ
Speaker 4: Podcast and you're gonna hear another final podcast from us
Speaker 4: from Italy and then we'll be back home stateside. So
Speaker 4: thanks for listening and we'll see you soon