1 00:00:04,795 --> 00:00:28,555 Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. I 2 00:00:28,595 --> 00:00:31,155 Speaker 1: will get to the murder of Charlie Kirk and the 3 00:00:31,195 --> 00:00:35,595 Speaker 1: hot and cold running hypocrisy coming from all directions about 4 00:00:35,635 --> 00:00:38,835 Speaker 1: it and about political violence in this country in a moment. 5 00:00:39,155 --> 00:00:44,075 Speaker 1: But there is a more important story. Rather than reacting 6 00:00:44,115 --> 00:00:47,075 Speaker 1: to Russia's drone attack on Poland the way that he did, 7 00:00:47,395 --> 00:00:51,915 Speaker 1: what's with Russia violating Poland's airspace with drones? Here we go. 8 00:00:52,875 --> 00:00:55,755 Speaker 1: It could have been worse. Trump could have done the 9 00:00:55,835 --> 00:01:00,075 Speaker 1: Martin Sheen bit from the movie Dead Zone, whereas the 10 00:01:00,115 --> 00:01:04,435 Speaker 1: messianic psychopathic president Greg Stilson he starts World War three 11 00:01:04,675 --> 00:01:11,235 Speaker 1: and announces the missiles are flying, Hallelujah, hallelujah. That would 12 00:01:11,275 --> 00:01:15,675 Speaker 1: be worse, although to be fair, it would indicate that 13 00:01:15,715 --> 00:01:19,555 Speaker 1: Trump had had some idea what was happening. What's with 14 00:01:19,675 --> 00:01:28,795 Speaker 1: Russia violating Poland's airspace? Seriously, asshole, that's your job, you 15 00:01:28,955 --> 00:01:33,355 Speaker 1: great decaying pile of burger grease. You are the one 16 00:01:33,395 --> 00:01:37,555 Speaker 1: who is supposed to know what's with Russia violating Poland's airspace? 17 00:01:37,675 --> 00:01:41,075 Speaker 1: And if you don't know, get the f out. Get 18 00:01:41,115 --> 00:01:43,795 Speaker 1: the f out now, turn the government over to a 19 00:01:43,875 --> 00:01:47,595 Speaker 1: general or an ex general or somebody who understands that 20 00:01:47,675 --> 00:01:51,595 Speaker 1: your owner Putin played you again, and that when everybody, 21 00:01:51,955 --> 00:01:54,675 Speaker 1: everybody in this country with an IQ greater than forty seven, 22 00:01:54,715 --> 00:01:57,515 Speaker 1: had said that we have to support Ukraine because if 23 00:01:57,515 --> 00:02:00,155 Speaker 1: we do not stop Putin in Ukraine, his next stop 24 00:02:00,155 --> 00:02:03,955 Speaker 1: would be Poland. And you twisted your bulbous, useless face 25 00:02:04,155 --> 00:02:07,915 Speaker 1: into that stupid forty five degree angled smirk. You were wrong, 26 00:02:08,835 --> 00:02:11,955 Speaker 1: and everybody else in America, everybody else in America, oh, 27 00:02:12,035 --> 00:02:14,795 Speaker 1: three hundred and one hundred and eleven thousand of us, 28 00:02:14,915 --> 00:02:22,315 Speaker 1: we were right. Trump, There are ten thousand American troops 29 00:02:22,315 --> 00:02:28,875 Speaker 1: in Poland. Did you know that what would have happened 30 00:02:29,955 --> 00:02:34,755 Speaker 1: if mere debris from one of the Russian drones destroyed 31 00:02:34,795 --> 00:02:38,715 Speaker 1: in mid air had hit a US base in Poland 32 00:02:38,915 --> 00:02:43,635 Speaker 1: or hit one US soldier in Poland? What would you 33 00:02:43,715 --> 00:02:48,035 Speaker 1: have done? Then, Trump tweet out a shrug emoji. Does 34 00:02:48,075 --> 00:02:52,075 Speaker 1: it even register anymore that, even in the narrowest of 35 00:02:52,195 --> 00:02:56,955 Speaker 1: possible views of this disaster, Trump is the commander in chief. 36 00:02:57,235 --> 00:03:03,795 Speaker 1: He is responsible for keeping American soldiers safe in Poland. 37 00:03:06,755 --> 00:03:08,955 Speaker 1: In many respects, it not only could be worse than this, 38 00:03:08,995 --> 00:03:13,795 Speaker 1: Trump not realizing Putin had attacked Poland. Attacked Poland, just 39 00:03:13,955 --> 00:03:17,195 Speaker 1: did his test marketing for an attempt to rebuild the 40 00:03:17,235 --> 00:03:21,555 Speaker 1: nineteen eighties Soviet Union. Attacked Poland to see if he 41 00:03:21,595 --> 00:03:27,275 Speaker 1: could get any response from Trump besides d ye. It 42 00:03:27,315 --> 00:03:29,755 Speaker 1: not only could be worse than that, it is in 43 00:03:29,795 --> 00:03:33,915 Speaker 1: fact worse than that. For the second time in two days, 44 00:03:34,235 --> 00:03:38,275 Speaker 1: somebody Trump thinks is his friend on the international stage 45 00:03:38,595 --> 00:03:42,795 Speaker 1: deliberately attacked an American ally, an American ally whom Trump 46 00:03:43,075 --> 00:03:47,475 Speaker 1: had personally just been shown with the President of Poland 47 00:03:47,555 --> 00:03:50,435 Speaker 1: was at the White House last week, and Putin sent 48 00:03:50,515 --> 00:03:55,955 Speaker 1: drones over his country this week, just like the way 49 00:03:56,035 --> 00:03:58,395 Speaker 1: Trump took the bribe of a free jet that'll actually 50 00:03:58,475 --> 00:04:01,515 Speaker 1: cost a billion from Qatar in May, and then Netanyahu 51 00:04:01,595 --> 00:04:04,635 Speaker 1: bombed Qatar this week while Katar was trying to negotiate 52 00:04:04,675 --> 00:04:08,715 Speaker 1: a ceasefire, and Trump's inert response to this was to 53 00:04:08,755 --> 00:04:16,835 Speaker 1: say he disapproved. Trump does not realize that Netnyahu first 54 00:04:17,315 --> 00:04:22,635 Speaker 1: and now Putin have attacked him by proxy. They needed 55 00:04:22,635 --> 00:04:26,075 Speaker 1: to see just how brain dead he is, how unfit 56 00:04:26,115 --> 00:04:29,595 Speaker 1: for a true international crisis that they could provoke he 57 00:04:29,635 --> 00:04:35,955 Speaker 1: would be. And the answer is, you have no flippin' idea. 58 00:04:36,435 --> 00:04:38,875 Speaker 1: I mean in the past, Trump has at least pretended 59 00:04:39,115 --> 00:04:42,195 Speaker 1: to be opposed to Putin taking over all of Western 60 00:04:42,195 --> 00:04:45,355 Speaker 1: Europe and then having too much strength for us to 61 00:04:45,395 --> 00:04:47,995 Speaker 1: stop him taking over anything else he wanted on any 62 00:04:47,995 --> 00:04:50,915 Speaker 1: other continent he wanted. I thought there would be something, 63 00:04:51,435 --> 00:04:57,715 Speaker 1: at least pretending to be furious, something that indicated he 64 00:04:57,795 --> 00:05:00,675 Speaker 1: understood the grave implications of what Putin did in Poland, 65 00:05:01,035 --> 00:05:04,595 Speaker 1: even if it were somehow an accident, which it was not. 66 00:05:07,635 --> 00:05:14,715 Speaker 1: The Russian dictator attacked mainstream Europe Tuesday night, and Trump 67 00:05:15,475 --> 00:05:20,755 Speaker 1: couldn't even be bothered to come up with good phony 68 00:05:21,395 --> 00:05:27,235 Speaker 1: outrage or yet another toothless deadline by which Putin had 69 00:05:27,235 --> 00:05:30,835 Speaker 1: better make nice, or or Trump will sanction Russia's import 70 00:05:30,875 --> 00:05:40,555 Speaker 1: of American catchup or gold plated toilet something something. There 71 00:05:40,555 --> 00:05:43,715 Speaker 1: are a thousand problems with having a deteriorating, low iq 72 00:05:43,835 --> 00:05:46,395 Speaker 1: narcissist as the leader of your country, and we discover 73 00:05:46,435 --> 00:05:48,915 Speaker 1: a new one every day. But this is the real problem. 74 00:05:49,435 --> 00:05:52,475 Speaker 1: When the problems he has to confront are not something 75 00:05:52,915 --> 00:05:55,715 Speaker 1: that come from the diseased mind of Stephen Miller nor 76 00:05:55,755 --> 00:05:58,995 Speaker 1: the half baked one of Sean Hannity, he has no 77 00:05:59,435 --> 00:06:07,315 Speaker 1: idea what to do Poland attacked what up debt? You 78 00:06:07,355 --> 00:06:09,355 Speaker 1: would think that at some point even the drunkards and 79 00:06:09,435 --> 00:06:12,675 Speaker 1: religious nuts and terminal PTSD cases who make up the 80 00:06:12,715 --> 00:06:15,515 Speaker 1: Republican caucuses in the House and Senate would realize that 81 00:06:15,595 --> 00:06:18,475 Speaker 1: the you know, future of the planet is at stake. 82 00:06:20,635 --> 00:06:22,675 Speaker 1: You know, when all the President can come up with 83 00:06:23,235 --> 00:06:25,875 Speaker 1: as a response to Russian aggression five hundred miles east 84 00:06:25,915 --> 00:06:30,115 Speaker 1: of Berlin is here we go. Even the Tim Burchett's 85 00:06:30,115 --> 00:06:32,795 Speaker 1: and Derek van Orden's and Tim Scott's would have to 86 00:06:32,835 --> 00:06:36,275 Speaker 1: realize that, never mind the world being exponentially more at 87 00:06:36,355 --> 00:06:38,955 Speaker 1: risk today than it was Tuesday afternoon, that their own 88 00:06:39,155 --> 00:06:42,355 Speaker 1: asses are exponentially more at risk today than they were 89 00:06:42,435 --> 00:06:48,475 Speaker 1: Tuesday afternoon. But who am I kidding? A Democratic congresswoman 90 00:06:48,555 --> 00:06:52,315 Speaker 1: reminds the House yesterday that gender affirming care that they 91 00:06:52,355 --> 00:06:57,795 Speaker 1: want to eliminate includes quotes, boob jobs, and botox, And 92 00:06:58,355 --> 00:07:03,515 Speaker 1: she seriously and steadfastly announces that she supports boob jobs 93 00:07:03,515 --> 00:07:08,475 Speaker 1: and botox. And Nancy Mays starts screaming, literally shouting on 94 00:07:08,515 --> 00:07:11,235 Speaker 1: the floor of the House because she's a little sensitive 95 00:07:11,475 --> 00:07:16,675 Speaker 1: that her ex communications director outed her boob job. I 96 00:07:16,715 --> 00:07:19,955 Speaker 1: think the ex communications director meant the boob job they 97 00:07:19,955 --> 00:07:25,995 Speaker 1: did between Nancy's ears. That's what Republicans are worried about. 98 00:07:27,235 --> 00:07:31,435 Speaker 1: That and Charlie Kirk not Putin going over the edge 99 00:07:31,475 --> 00:07:34,515 Speaker 1: and the Poles having to shoot down the drones. He 100 00:07:34,595 --> 00:07:38,075 Speaker 1: lobbed into their country just to see if anybody, anybody 101 00:07:38,835 --> 00:07:49,235 Speaker 1: would react appropriately. We were just tested. Trump failed. As 102 00:07:49,235 --> 00:07:51,395 Speaker 1: always with Trump and Putin, I am reminded of Nebel, 103 00:07:51,475 --> 00:07:53,795 Speaker 1: Chamberlain and Hitler, but this time it is something new. 104 00:07:54,715 --> 00:07:57,835 Speaker 1: Among the dozens of stupid, gullible mistakes the pre war 105 00:07:57,875 --> 00:08:01,675 Speaker 1: British Prime Minister made was his assumption that his appeasement 106 00:08:01,715 --> 00:08:04,955 Speaker 1: of Hitler meant the Germans would always view russ Usha 107 00:08:05,595 --> 00:08:09,115 Speaker 1: as the enemy, and if war came, Germany and England 108 00:08:09,115 --> 00:08:14,795 Speaker 1: would somehow work together to fight Russia and not each other. Then, 109 00:08:14,915 --> 00:08:17,715 Speaker 1: on the twenty third of August nineteen thirty nine, the 110 00:08:17,795 --> 00:08:22,475 Speaker 1: Nazi foreign minister Ribbentrop flew to the Kremlin and signed 111 00:08:22,835 --> 00:08:28,475 Speaker 1: a non aggression pact with the Soviets. The Malotov ribbentropped pack. 112 00:08:30,235 --> 00:08:32,995 Speaker 1: Chamberlain had a trusted advisor and met even more naive 113 00:08:33,035 --> 00:08:36,995 Speaker 1: than himself, Sir Horace Wilson, And the legend goes that 114 00:08:37,155 --> 00:08:40,795 Speaker 1: as Molotov and ribent Trop were meeting in Moscow, Prime 115 00:08:40,795 --> 00:08:48,675 Speaker 1: Minister Chamberlain was on vacation up country somewhere fishing, and 116 00:08:48,715 --> 00:08:53,195 Speaker 1: that's where Horace Wilson rushed to find Chamberlain the shocking 117 00:08:53,235 --> 00:08:57,955 Speaker 1: news that the Communists and the Nazis were suddenly on 118 00:08:57,995 --> 00:09:03,755 Speaker 1: the same side and England was screwed. He rushed there 119 00:09:03,795 --> 00:09:06,795 Speaker 1: to tell Chamberlaine this. The story goes that Wilson found 120 00:09:06,875 --> 00:09:13,235 Speaker 1: Chamberlain in a stream in waist high boots, waiters trying 121 00:09:13,275 --> 00:09:19,875 Speaker 1: to catch I don't know minnows. Chamberlain blandly asked him, 122 00:09:20,075 --> 00:09:23,795 Speaker 1: what are you doing here, Horace, and Wilson shouted, Hitler 123 00:09:23,835 --> 00:09:26,555 Speaker 1: has done a deal with Stalin. They've signed a non 124 00:09:26,595 --> 00:09:34,235 Speaker 1: aggression pact, and Chamberlain laughed, Oh no, Horace, you must 125 00:09:34,235 --> 00:09:40,515 Speaker 1: have misheard. Wilson then screamed, Ribbentrop is having dinner with 126 00:09:40,595 --> 00:09:43,835 Speaker 1: Molotov in the Kremlin right now, And it finally sunk 127 00:09:43,875 --> 00:09:46,835 Speaker 1: in on Chamberlain that for years Hitler had been playing 128 00:09:46,915 --> 00:09:50,795 Speaker 1: him like the proverbial two dollars banjo. His response then 129 00:09:50,835 --> 00:09:57,595 Speaker 1: supposedly was great, Scott, we must recall Parliament immediately, and 130 00:09:57,675 --> 00:10:01,635 Speaker 1: Chamberlain wasn't deranged or a foreign agent, or another imbecile 131 00:10:01,755 --> 00:10:05,355 Speaker 1: or in mental decline or all of the above like Trump, 132 00:10:05,875 --> 00:10:11,475 Speaker 1: He was just wrong. We have a Chamberlain who doesn't 133 00:10:11,555 --> 00:10:17,155 Speaker 1: even have the presence of mind to shout great Scott 134 00:10:18,075 --> 00:10:24,675 Speaker 1: when Putin attacks Poland my god, Putin could launch nuclear 135 00:10:24,675 --> 00:10:27,075 Speaker 1: missiles at this country, and they could interrupt Trump rereading 136 00:10:27,115 --> 00:10:30,555 Speaker 1: the Epstein files while ketchup bonging, and Trump would say 137 00:10:30,715 --> 00:10:34,875 Speaker 1: here we go, or I disapprove, or oh no, General, 138 00:10:34,955 --> 00:10:38,715 Speaker 1: you must have misheard. And then the next sound would 139 00:10:38,755 --> 00:10:41,955 Speaker 1: have been the astronauts on the space station looking out 140 00:10:41,955 --> 00:10:46,315 Speaker 1: the portholes and one of them saying, hey, what was 141 00:10:46,355 --> 00:11:16,355 Speaker 1: that noise down there? Speaking of nobody noticing anybody noticed 142 00:11:16,355 --> 00:11:19,475 Speaker 1: that Galene Maxwell's previous lawyer went on CNN and admitted 143 00:11:19,475 --> 00:11:22,315 Speaker 1: that there was a quid pro quo that got her 144 00:11:22,355 --> 00:11:25,795 Speaker 1: moved from a high teen Florida prison to club fed 145 00:11:25,835 --> 00:11:30,995 Speaker 1: in Texas. Anybody noticed that at all? But now there 146 00:11:31,075 --> 00:11:35,995 Speaker 1: is yet another trump Stein cover up already in progress. 147 00:11:36,315 --> 00:11:42,475 Speaker 1: Anybody Arthur Aidala, Maxwell's attorney in her sex trafficking trial 148 00:11:42,555 --> 00:11:45,115 Speaker 1: three years ago, Yeah, that went well for both of them, 149 00:11:45,475 --> 00:11:49,075 Speaker 1: goes on CNN and is asked about why Maxwell suddenly 150 00:11:49,115 --> 00:11:53,195 Speaker 1: got better digs after she lied to Trump's ex lawyer, 151 00:11:53,275 --> 00:11:56,355 Speaker 1: the Assistant Attorney General, about how he had nothing to 152 00:11:56,395 --> 00:11:59,235 Speaker 1: do with Epstein, and how she had nothing to do 153 00:11:59,315 --> 00:12:02,235 Speaker 1: with Epstein, and how nobody had nothing to do with Epstein. 154 00:12:03,035 --> 00:12:06,315 Speaker 1: Mister Idala then says, when anybody who's represented by a 155 00:12:06,395 --> 00:12:10,195 Speaker 1: lawyer who knows what they're doing, there's always a quid 156 00:12:10,235 --> 00:12:14,875 Speaker 1: pro quo. The larger context of that quote is important, 157 00:12:14,875 --> 00:12:18,635 Speaker 1: but it doesn't materially change what mister Idallas said, and 158 00:12:18,715 --> 00:12:23,195 Speaker 1: everybody has foolishly skated past. He is asked and he responds, 159 00:12:23,275 --> 00:12:25,795 Speaker 1: here's the full quote. Well, there are things I'm not 160 00:12:25,835 --> 00:12:29,835 Speaker 1: allowed to talk about, right, So there are things I 161 00:12:29,875 --> 00:12:33,235 Speaker 1: can't talk about. Obviously, I can talk in generalities. Anybody 162 00:12:33,275 --> 00:12:35,555 Speaker 1: who's represented by a lawyer who knows what they're doing, 163 00:12:35,795 --> 00:12:38,275 Speaker 1: goes in and meets with the government, there's always a 164 00:12:38,355 --> 00:12:42,075 Speaker 1: quid pro quo. Anytime the government wants information from a citizen, 165 00:12:42,275 --> 00:12:44,715 Speaker 1: the citizen says, well, I have a right to remain silent. 166 00:12:44,915 --> 00:12:46,315 Speaker 1: If you want me to give up that right, I 167 00:12:46,355 --> 00:12:49,195 Speaker 1: need something in return. Usually it's a plea bargain. Usually 168 00:12:49,275 --> 00:12:51,955 Speaker 1: your charges are going to be lowered and your exposure. 169 00:12:54,715 --> 00:12:57,435 Speaker 1: That's the confirmation that Trump has already made a deal 170 00:12:57,475 --> 00:13:03,595 Speaker 1: with Klain Maxwell about the Epstein files. Never mind pardoning 171 00:13:03,715 --> 00:13:06,555 Speaker 1: her later or I muting the sentence, or whatever is 172 00:13:06,595 --> 00:13:09,995 Speaker 1: to come. Trump has already made a deal as part 173 00:13:10,035 --> 00:13:12,675 Speaker 1: of the Trumpstein cover up. And we have as the 174 00:13:12,715 --> 00:13:19,355 Speaker 1: source for this Maxwell's former attorney, which takes us to 175 00:13:19,395 --> 00:13:21,675 Speaker 1: the other new Trumpstein cover up of the week, the 176 00:13:21,715 --> 00:13:27,435 Speaker 1: Birthday book. A. It's his signature. I've already posted my 177 00:13:27,555 --> 00:13:31,875 Speaker 1: letter from Trump online. It's the same signature. He has 178 00:13:31,915 --> 00:13:36,955 Speaker 1: written thousands of suck up letters. I got one. They 179 00:13:36,955 --> 00:13:40,795 Speaker 1: are all his signature. He calls in news crews now 180 00:13:40,795 --> 00:13:45,275 Speaker 1: to watch him sign his name. He loves signing his name. 181 00:13:46,995 --> 00:13:50,715 Speaker 1: It's his signature. There are two forms of it. One 182 00:13:50,795 --> 00:13:57,115 Speaker 1: he just signs Donald and the other he signs Donald Trump. B. 183 00:13:57,795 --> 00:13:59,595 Speaker 1: If you think it isn't his signature, it has to 184 00:13:59,635 --> 00:14:07,075 Speaker 1: have been forged in two thousand and three by Epstein. Bah. 185 00:14:07,595 --> 00:14:14,275 Speaker 1: Somebody actually suggested Epstein forge that whole disgusting drawing and 186 00:14:14,355 --> 00:14:19,555 Speaker 1: maybe the whole book with obviously great prescience. I know 187 00:14:19,595 --> 00:14:21,875 Speaker 1: what's gonna happen twenty two years from now, after I'm 188 00:14:21,875 --> 00:14:26,595 Speaker 1: dead and Trump is re elected president. I mean the 189 00:14:26,635 --> 00:14:28,835 Speaker 1: same kind of prescience that fits the Trump theory that 190 00:14:28,875 --> 00:14:32,355 Speaker 1: the Obama birth certificate was faked in Hawaii in nineteen 191 00:14:32,435 --> 00:14:37,515 Speaker 1: sixty one. That's some long term planning. Man, We need 192 00:14:37,555 --> 00:14:42,195 Speaker 1: those guys running the government. Caro Lyon Levitt said, the 193 00:14:42,195 --> 00:14:44,675 Speaker 1: book isn't fake and the letters aren't fake, but that's 194 00:14:44,715 --> 00:14:48,275 Speaker 1: not Trump's signature. And you could see something new on 195 00:14:48,315 --> 00:14:51,795 Speaker 1: her face as she said that. It was a pout 196 00:14:51,835 --> 00:14:55,715 Speaker 1: of annoyance that she so obviously had to bullshit on 197 00:14:55,755 --> 00:15:02,075 Speaker 1: his behalf once again. I posit that, for whatever perverse reason, 198 00:15:02,115 --> 00:15:05,075 Speaker 1: the guy most interested in keeping the Trumpstein saga alive, 199 00:15:05,395 --> 00:15:08,355 Speaker 1: because part of a predator's nature is to compulsively boast, 200 00:15:09,075 --> 00:15:12,475 Speaker 1: is Trump himself quote. I don't comment on something that's 201 00:15:12,475 --> 00:15:15,075 Speaker 1: a dead issue. I gave all comments to the staff. 202 00:15:15,275 --> 00:15:19,595 Speaker 1: It's a dead issue. Yeah, except Trump had existed. The 203 00:15:19,675 --> 00:15:23,195 Speaker 1: letter from him to Epstein didn't exist. Not I've seen it. 204 00:15:23,195 --> 00:15:29,155 Speaker 1: It's a fake. Jeffrey had that printed up. It didn't exist. Oh, 205 00:15:29,235 --> 00:15:33,395 Speaker 1: it exists, but it's not his signature. But it exists, 206 00:15:33,435 --> 00:15:35,635 Speaker 1: But it didn't exist, but it's not his signature. But 207 00:15:36,515 --> 00:15:39,715 Speaker 1: On and on and on. It's a dead issue. The 208 00:15:39,755 --> 00:15:41,995 Speaker 1: only dead issue around here is the naive belief that 209 00:15:42,035 --> 00:15:46,635 Speaker 1: Trump isn't the star of the Epstein files. Trump can't 210 00:15:46,675 --> 00:15:49,275 Speaker 1: help himself. The other day he said crime in Washington 211 00:15:49,315 --> 00:15:52,275 Speaker 1: would be literally down to zero if only they stopped 212 00:15:52,475 --> 00:15:55,755 Speaker 1: calling those problems that a man and wife have in 213 00:15:55,795 --> 00:16:01,675 Speaker 1: the home crimes, in other words, decriminalized domestic violence. A 214 00:16:01,715 --> 00:16:06,075 Speaker 1: call to decriminalize domestic violence is a look for a 215 00:16:06,075 --> 00:16:09,195 Speaker 1: guy who buried his first wife out back on the 216 00:16:09,235 --> 00:16:16,675 Speaker 1: golf course. The magas who actually cared about the Epstein 217 00:16:16,795 --> 00:16:21,635 Speaker 1: prosecution for whatever reason, Tom Massey and such are still 218 00:16:21,675 --> 00:16:23,595 Speaker 1: pushing to force a House vote to release all the 219 00:16:23,635 --> 00:16:25,995 Speaker 1: DOJ files, a vote by the end of the month. 220 00:16:26,835 --> 00:16:30,315 Speaker 1: Mike Johnson, you know, Mike Trump was an FBI informant, 221 00:16:30,355 --> 00:16:32,155 Speaker 1: But I want to emphasize I never said Trump was 222 00:16:32,155 --> 00:16:37,275 Speaker 1: an FBI informant. Johnson. He can manipulate the rules to 223 00:16:37,315 --> 00:16:40,715 Speaker 1: prevent that vote as is about to happen on that day, 224 00:16:40,715 --> 00:16:43,675 Speaker 1: which of course will only inflame the case again and 225 00:16:43,715 --> 00:16:47,755 Speaker 1: anew at the end of his month. It's as if 226 00:16:47,835 --> 00:16:50,355 Speaker 1: Trump is planning ahead to make sure this story never 227 00:16:50,395 --> 00:16:56,715 Speaker 1: goes away. And once again some of the denials are hilarious. 228 00:16:56,755 --> 00:16:59,275 Speaker 1: You'd think with this much of a story they would 229 00:16:59,275 --> 00:17:02,635 Speaker 1: have worked on them. Just take a day and everybody 230 00:17:02,635 --> 00:17:06,475 Speaker 1: come up with a good denial. President Trump's legal team 231 00:17:06,515 --> 00:17:12,035 Speaker 1: will continue to aggressively pursue litigation, Levitt wrote, that does 232 00:17:12,075 --> 00:17:17,275 Speaker 1: not mean they are suing about this story. Continue to 233 00:17:17,315 --> 00:17:25,515 Speaker 1: aggressively pursue litigation about what and anyway in this story 234 00:17:25,515 --> 00:17:28,195 Speaker 1: they can't sue. There's discovery. And never mind Trump being 235 00:17:28,235 --> 00:17:34,555 Speaker 1: deposed about Epstein and girls. Any records, any records, any letters, 236 00:17:35,075 --> 00:17:38,475 Speaker 1: anything on a computer somewhere would immediately be in the 237 00:17:38,515 --> 00:17:44,515 Speaker 1: hands of Rupert Murdoch. Then there was the denial from 238 00:17:44,555 --> 00:17:48,275 Speaker 1: Congressman Derrick Van Orden, whose CTE seems to be getting worse. 239 00:17:49,035 --> 00:17:54,235 Speaker 1: He called the signature the book the drawing a quote fallacy. 240 00:17:55,235 --> 00:17:57,915 Speaker 1: Fallacy is not only the wrong word. A fallacy is 241 00:17:57,955 --> 00:18:01,555 Speaker 1: an erroneous belief, not a fake item of some kind. 242 00:18:01,835 --> 00:18:07,235 Speaker 1: But fallacy is also a partial hominem for the word phallic, 243 00:18:09,395 --> 00:18:15,355 Speaker 1: nice Freudian slip. Derek, And most interestingly, did you see 244 00:18:15,395 --> 00:18:19,515 Speaker 1: any defense of Trump about this book, about his poem 245 00:18:19,555 --> 00:18:23,995 Speaker 1: about the drawing, about the signature, from his children, from 246 00:18:24,035 --> 00:18:28,675 Speaker 1: his wife, from his friends if he has any. The 247 00:18:28,715 --> 00:18:31,955 Speaker 1: only time the family factored into this was when my 248 00:18:31,995 --> 00:18:35,715 Speaker 1: former ESPN colleague Molly Knight finished the week's adventures in 249 00:18:35,755 --> 00:18:41,595 Speaker 1: trumpstein Land with the searing most that this was an 250 00:18:41,595 --> 00:18:46,155 Speaker 1: awful tough way for Don Junior to find out that 251 00:18:46,315 --> 00:19:00,795 Speaker 1: his dad does two send birthday cards. Lastly, no, I'm 252 00:19:00,835 --> 00:19:07,155 Speaker 1: not in favor of shooting commentators. I'm a commentator, but 253 00:19:07,235 --> 00:19:12,635 Speaker 1: my god, can we stop with the hypocrisy about this. 254 00:19:12,635 --> 00:19:17,835 Speaker 1: This is America. All we have done for virtually all 255 00:19:17,875 --> 00:19:25,355 Speaker 1: of our history isshoot political opponents. The biggest politically based 256 00:19:25,475 --> 00:19:30,275 Speaker 1: entertainment hit of this century is a play about Alexander Hamilton, 257 00:19:32,515 --> 00:19:36,075 Speaker 1: who was shot by the vice president of the United States. 258 00:19:40,115 --> 00:19:45,035 Speaker 1: Add to that two hundred and twenty year legacy, this 259 00:19:45,235 --> 00:19:48,835 Speaker 1: new America that MAGA wanted, where the military is politicized 260 00:19:48,955 --> 00:19:52,515 Speaker 1: and politics are militarized, and the fact that Trump has 261 00:19:52,515 --> 00:19:57,235 Speaker 1: spent the last decade stochastically encouraging terrorism against and assassination 262 00:19:57,395 --> 00:20:01,835 Speaker 1: of his opponents, where conservatives repeatedly call for the killing 263 00:20:01,835 --> 00:20:06,155 Speaker 1: of Trump's opponents. I mean, Trump was shot a year ago, 264 00:20:06,435 --> 00:20:09,955 Speaker 1: and not one of his supporters was willing to support 265 00:20:10,395 --> 00:20:16,115 Speaker 1: meaningful gun restrictions. Well, guns have no place in America. 266 00:20:16,475 --> 00:20:18,835 Speaker 1: We might as well be a gun on the flag. 267 00:20:20,395 --> 00:20:22,755 Speaker 1: So you can have many reactions to the death of 268 00:20:22,875 --> 00:20:26,995 Speaker 1: Charlie Kirk, and I hope sorrow and disgust are among 269 00:20:27,075 --> 00:20:29,955 Speaker 1: them for you, as they are for me. But what 270 00:20:30,035 --> 00:20:33,915 Speaker 1: should not be among them is surprise. And again, you 271 00:20:33,955 --> 00:20:38,395 Speaker 1: can be utterly opposed to shooting people without repeating America's 272 00:20:38,435 --> 00:20:41,955 Speaker 1: age old lie to itself, that comforting lie that violence 273 00:20:41,995 --> 00:20:44,715 Speaker 1: has no part in our political system. It is woven 274 00:20:44,755 --> 00:20:49,515 Speaker 1: in as surely as the stars on the flag. Sorry, 275 00:20:51,115 --> 00:20:55,835 Speaker 1: are you opposed to this? I am say you're opposed 276 00:20:55,835 --> 00:21:03,515 Speaker 1: to it. Don't pretend this is some great shock for 277 00:21:03,555 --> 00:21:06,435 Speaker 1: the record, To be fair, I don't think anybody shouted 278 00:21:06,555 --> 00:21:13,635 Speaker 1: kill yourself at me in public since seventeen, maybe eighteen. 279 00:21:15,555 --> 00:21:17,275 Speaker 1: But do you think the death threats to me have 280 00:21:17,315 --> 00:21:22,435 Speaker 1: ever stopped the ones that started in two thousand and six. 281 00:21:24,795 --> 00:21:30,355 Speaker 1: They have not, and each one of them has not 282 00:21:30,515 --> 00:21:35,395 Speaker 1: surprised me. We've had forty six different presidents, and four 283 00:21:35,435 --> 00:21:37,555 Speaker 1: were killed by guns, and a fifth was injured by 284 00:21:37,555 --> 00:21:40,115 Speaker 1: a gun, and two were shot while campaigning to return 285 00:21:40,155 --> 00:21:43,235 Speaker 1: to office, and at least twelve others were the targets 286 00:21:43,235 --> 00:21:47,915 Speaker 1: of credible assassination plots, almost always involving guns. That's nineteen 287 00:21:49,195 --> 00:21:53,675 Speaker 1: hell Gerald Ford was shot at from close range twice 288 00:21:53,795 --> 00:21:57,955 Speaker 1: in a span of seventeen days. Fifty years ago. This month, 289 00:22:01,275 --> 00:22:03,875 Speaker 1: pick any day on your calendar, and it's the anniversary 290 00:22:03,915 --> 00:22:06,395 Speaker 1: of somebody getting shot or shot at in the political 291 00:22:06,475 --> 00:22:12,155 Speaker 1: environment of this country. And what have we had in 292 00:22:12,195 --> 00:22:14,595 Speaker 1: this country during those times when we haven't just had 293 00:22:14,635 --> 00:22:17,835 Speaker 1: a president or politician shot or shot at, or a 294 00:22:17,835 --> 00:22:21,355 Speaker 1: commentator shot or shot at, we've had a constant, escalating 295 00:22:21,355 --> 00:22:24,555 Speaker 1: call for violence and murder. And the latest rage among 296 00:22:24,675 --> 00:22:32,075 Speaker 1: right wing commentators public executions quote, death penalty should be public, 297 00:22:32,275 --> 00:22:35,315 Speaker 1: should be quick, it should be televised. I think at 298 00:22:35,355 --> 00:22:39,675 Speaker 1: a certain age it's an initiation. One commentator said in 299 00:22:39,715 --> 00:22:43,115 Speaker 1: February of last year. He proposed making kids above the 300 00:22:43,195 --> 00:22:48,475 Speaker 1: age of twelve watch making them watch public executions. He 301 00:22:48,595 --> 00:22:54,315 Speaker 1: suggested guillotines be used. He suggested pay per view television 302 00:22:54,395 --> 00:22:58,515 Speaker 1: of these things sponsored by Coca Cola, and he wanted 303 00:22:58,555 --> 00:23:02,315 Speaker 1: to broaden the definition of capital offenses. The same commentator 304 00:23:02,355 --> 00:23:08,275 Speaker 1: also wanted the death penalty for opposing Trump. Quote. As 305 00:23:08,315 --> 00:23:10,315 Speaker 1: far as other death penalties, I think what some of 306 00:23:10,355 --> 00:23:12,915 Speaker 1: those guys did to Donald Trump to use the instruments 307 00:23:12,915 --> 00:23:16,595 Speaker 1: of government to destroy the constitutional order that should be 308 00:23:16,755 --> 00:23:22,355 Speaker 1: under consideration. And the same commentator thought it was just 309 00:23:22,435 --> 00:23:26,475 Speaker 1: too bad that there's this estimated three hundred and ninety 310 00:23:26,595 --> 00:23:29,995 Speaker 1: three million guns in this country and that there would 311 00:23:30,075 --> 00:23:33,475 Speaker 1: be gun deaths always, but that that was a fair 312 00:23:33,635 --> 00:23:37,435 Speaker 1: trade off because that was the way to protect the 313 00:23:37,475 --> 00:23:41,955 Speaker 1: Second Amendment. And that quote and the one before it, 314 00:23:41,995 --> 00:23:47,355 Speaker 1: and the one before that, those all are from Charlie Kirk. 315 00:23:48,755 --> 00:23:50,835 Speaker 1: This is from April fifth, twenty twenty three. 316 00:23:51,275 --> 00:23:53,475 Speaker 2: You will never live in a society when you have 317 00:23:53,515 --> 00:23:55,755 Speaker 2: an armed citizenry and you won't have a single gun death. 318 00:23:56,075 --> 00:23:59,555 Speaker 2: That is nonsense, it's drivel. But I am I think 319 00:23:59,595 --> 00:24:02,395 Speaker 2: it's I think it's worth it. I think it's worth 320 00:24:02,435 --> 00:24:05,995 Speaker 2: to have a cost of fortunately some gun debts every 321 00:24:06,035 --> 00:24:08,955 Speaker 2: single year so that we can have the Second Amendment 322 00:24:08,995 --> 00:24:12,195 Speaker 2: to protect our other God given rights. That is a 323 00:24:12,275 --> 00:24:16,515 Speaker 2: prudent deal. It is rational. Nobody talks like this. They 324 00:24:16,555 --> 00:24:18,235 Speaker 2: live in a complete alternate universe. 325 00:24:18,795 --> 00:24:22,755 Speaker 1: Charlie Kirk, April five, twenty twenty three. Did he deserve 326 00:24:22,835 --> 00:24:26,995 Speaker 1: to get shot because he said that? No? I have 327 00:24:27,035 --> 00:24:29,715 Speaker 1: a very ask not for whom the bell tolls. It 328 00:24:29,795 --> 00:24:33,635 Speaker 1: tolls for the assessment of this situation, particularly when it 329 00:24:33,635 --> 00:24:39,275 Speaker 1: comes to political commentators. No, we should not kill commentators 330 00:24:39,555 --> 00:24:43,915 Speaker 1: with guns. We should not kill presidents with guns. We 331 00:24:43,915 --> 00:24:50,155 Speaker 1: should not kill Americans with guns. Say it, dedicate yourself 332 00:24:50,155 --> 00:24:53,235 Speaker 1: to it, Live it, act to make America into the 333 00:24:53,315 --> 00:24:56,995 Speaker 1: other place, maybe for the first time in two hundred years. 334 00:24:57,235 --> 00:25:04,515 Speaker 1: But please, the cliches and the empty words and the 335 00:25:04,715 --> 00:25:07,795 Speaker 1: how could this happen in America? And we are in 336 00:25:07,835 --> 00:25:11,195 Speaker 1: a bad place and it's getting worse. They are meaningless. 337 00:25:12,715 --> 00:25:15,555 Speaker 1: We have always been in this place. They are as 338 00:25:15,635 --> 00:25:21,675 Speaker 1: meaningless words as are the insulting fallbacks about thoughts and prayers. 339 00:25:23,395 --> 00:25:26,395 Speaker 1: I wish it were otherwise. In many ways I have 340 00:25:26,475 --> 00:25:29,995 Speaker 1: dedicated my life to trying to make it otherwise. But 341 00:25:31,835 --> 00:25:40,235 Speaker 1: this is who we are. This is Countdown with Keith 342 00:25:40,395 --> 00:26:06,995 Speaker 1: Oberman still ahead on this edition of Countdown twenty four years. 343 00:26:08,355 --> 00:26:11,315 Speaker 1: Using the old midpoint theory of making your jaw drop 344 00:26:11,355 --> 00:26:17,315 Speaker 1: about how long ago something actually was twenty four years 345 00:26:18,395 --> 00:26:23,715 Speaker 1: since nine eleven, The midpoint theory notes that twenty four 346 00:26:23,795 --> 00:26:28,075 Speaker 1: years before nine to eleven would have been September eleventh, 347 00:26:28,915 --> 00:26:34,515 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy seven, I was eighteen, Carter was president. I 348 00:26:34,555 --> 00:26:38,995 Speaker 1: was in college covering World Trade Center future hero Amon 349 00:26:39,075 --> 00:26:42,515 Speaker 1: mckenay as he starred in lacrosse and football. He was 350 00:26:42,555 --> 00:26:45,995 Speaker 1: only twenty two. I covered nine to eleven for forty 351 00:26:46,075 --> 00:26:49,595 Speaker 1: days without a break, on TV, on radio locally, and 352 00:26:49,675 --> 00:26:51,595 Speaker 1: on networks. And I don't know how many people I 353 00:26:51,675 --> 00:26:54,275 Speaker 1: met or stories I covered on the streets of New 354 00:26:54,355 --> 00:26:58,435 Speaker 1: York in those stricken months. But for all the time 355 00:26:58,595 --> 00:27:03,515 Speaker 1: since one guy who that day did not get closer 356 00:27:03,555 --> 00:27:09,395 Speaker 1: than seventy five blocks away from ground zero, his story 357 00:27:09,955 --> 00:27:13,675 Speaker 1: still resonates with me in the way no other story 358 00:27:13,675 --> 00:27:17,195 Speaker 1: from that day does. Let me tell you about Thomas Reyes, 359 00:27:17,795 --> 00:27:21,435 Speaker 1: the man who wasn't there. Next in things I promise 360 00:27:21,515 --> 00:27:24,035 Speaker 1: not to tell first, believe it or not, there's still 361 00:27:24,075 --> 00:27:26,515 Speaker 1: more new idiots to talk about the roundup of the miscrants, 362 00:27:26,515 --> 00:27:30,195 Speaker 1: morons and dunning Krueger effects specimens who constitute today's other 363 00:27:31,035 --> 00:27:38,755 Speaker 1: worst persons in the world, the bronze worse. Remember when J. V. 364 00:27:38,995 --> 00:27:43,595 Speaker 1: Vance wrote quote, killing cartel members who poison our fellow 365 00:27:43,715 --> 00:27:48,435 Speaker 1: citizens is the highest and best use of our military. Well, 366 00:27:48,475 --> 00:27:50,955 Speaker 1: he was raked over the coals for that, and appropriately so, 367 00:27:51,275 --> 00:27:56,755 Speaker 1: except by someone named Jennifer M. Greenberg, who retweeted this 368 00:27:57,035 --> 00:28:01,075 Speaker 1: and added it would be wise for those criticizing jd 369 00:28:01,235 --> 00:28:04,075 Speaker 1: Vance to recall that his mother was a drug addict 370 00:28:04,155 --> 00:28:06,795 Speaker 1: who nearly died mu little times right in front of him. 371 00:28:07,235 --> 00:28:10,635 Speaker 1: This issue is extremely personal to him and he cannot 372 00:28:10,675 --> 00:28:16,195 Speaker 1: be expected to have any sympathy with cartels. Okay, look, 373 00:28:16,355 --> 00:28:18,515 Speaker 1: I get it. We all have something in our lives 374 00:28:18,515 --> 00:28:21,435 Speaker 1: that we view out of proportion, and it's a good 375 00:28:21,475 --> 00:28:24,515 Speaker 1: thing that we do that advocating for something that is 376 00:28:24,555 --> 00:28:27,875 Speaker 1: not the most important thing in the world or the 377 00:28:27,955 --> 00:28:32,315 Speaker 1: most important factor in how the world should be conducted. 378 00:28:33,555 --> 00:28:36,995 Speaker 1: Having people advocate for these things is essential, or these 379 00:28:37,035 --> 00:28:40,995 Speaker 1: things will never get addressed or done or even known about. 380 00:28:41,835 --> 00:28:45,755 Speaker 1: And this is not to diminish addiction or opioids or 381 00:28:45,755 --> 00:28:49,635 Speaker 1: fentanyl or the damage that they can do secondhand to 382 00:28:49,755 --> 00:28:53,595 Speaker 1: a child if their parents succumbs to these things. But 383 00:28:53,755 --> 00:28:57,715 Speaker 1: functioning in the real world, being a real human being, 384 00:28:57,795 --> 00:29:00,635 Speaker 1: is knowing when the greater issue you are dealing with 385 00:29:01,075 --> 00:29:06,075 Speaker 1: is so large and your personal responsibility for that greater 386 00:29:06,195 --> 00:29:09,595 Speaker 1: issue is so large that you have to for a 387 00:29:09,715 --> 00:29:13,555 Speaker 1: moment put your own history aside or at minimum, you 388 00:29:13,595 --> 00:29:15,875 Speaker 1: have to not let it be the decisive part of 389 00:29:15,915 --> 00:29:20,275 Speaker 1: your actions or even of your public pronouncements. For JD. Vance, 390 00:29:20,355 --> 00:29:22,955 Speaker 1: who I think is a failed I think is an 391 00:29:22,955 --> 00:29:28,115 Speaker 1: irreparably failed human being. I grieve about his mother. For JD. Vance, 392 00:29:28,195 --> 00:29:30,835 Speaker 1: Vice President of the United States, you do not have 393 00:29:30,955 --> 00:29:35,675 Speaker 1: the right to violate the constitution turn the US military 394 00:29:35,995 --> 00:29:38,595 Speaker 1: into a death squad against people who may have been 395 00:29:38,635 --> 00:29:41,475 Speaker 1: criminals and may have just been guys on a boat. 396 00:29:41,755 --> 00:29:44,955 Speaker 1: And you certainly do not have the right to glory 397 00:29:45,035 --> 00:29:48,635 Speaker 1: in the war crime you have just participated in because 398 00:29:48,755 --> 00:29:53,195 Speaker 1: of what happened to your mother. War crime, mister Vance, 399 00:29:53,355 --> 00:29:56,755 Speaker 1: war crime, Miss Greenberg, when he goes to trial someday, 400 00:29:56,955 --> 00:29:59,195 Speaker 1: they are not going to let JV. Vance off with 401 00:29:59,275 --> 00:30:02,795 Speaker 1: probation because of what happened to his mother. Tragic as 402 00:30:02,835 --> 00:30:06,675 Speaker 1: it is, on that level, this is almost as stupid 403 00:30:06,675 --> 00:30:09,155 Speaker 1: as pointing to Trump's crazy mother and father and saying 404 00:30:09,275 --> 00:30:11,075 Speaker 1: you want to know what's wrong with them, take a 405 00:30:11,115 --> 00:30:15,315 Speaker 1: look at them. At some point they don't factor into it. 406 00:30:16,355 --> 00:30:20,355 Speaker 1: Vance is long past that point. So no, Miss Greenberg, 407 00:30:20,435 --> 00:30:23,355 Speaker 1: I have no sympathy for the cartels either, and we 408 00:30:23,435 --> 00:30:25,635 Speaker 1: have no evidence the people our government murdered in the 409 00:30:25,635 --> 00:30:28,675 Speaker 1: Caribbean were part of any cartel. So miss Greenberg kindly 410 00:30:28,835 --> 00:30:32,395 Speaker 1: shut the f up, and mister Vance, if that was 411 00:30:32,435 --> 00:30:36,315 Speaker 1: a factor in what she wrote, resign and turn yourself 412 00:30:36,355 --> 00:30:41,075 Speaker 1: in to the International Court of Justice. Runner up. Rarely 413 00:30:41,115 --> 00:30:43,435 Speaker 1: it is that I get surprised by these anymore. But 414 00:30:43,515 --> 00:30:46,595 Speaker 1: this is from a host on the Ben Shapiro shit show, 415 00:30:46,635 --> 00:30:49,715 Speaker 1: The Daily Wire. This guy used to work for Glenn 416 00:30:49,755 --> 00:30:53,195 Speaker 1: Beck's The Blaze, and he's an author of some kind, 417 00:30:53,235 --> 00:30:56,675 Speaker 1: and I'll identify him after I read his quote, which 418 00:30:56,715 --> 00:30:59,915 Speaker 1: I think will speak for itself in many respects. Quote. 419 00:30:59,955 --> 00:31:02,875 Speaker 1: So much of what is tyrannical in this country arose 420 00:31:02,915 --> 00:31:06,275 Speaker 1: from the post Civil War of men and the civil 421 00:31:06,395 --> 00:31:08,835 Speaker 1: rights laws that have been taken over by the left 422 00:31:08,835 --> 00:31:12,435 Speaker 1: and used to silence people and strip us of our 423 00:31:12,475 --> 00:31:16,635 Speaker 1: free association rights. I'm obviously in favor of civil rights 424 00:31:16,675 --> 00:31:19,275 Speaker 1: and that everybody gets treated fairly, but the left takes 425 00:31:19,315 --> 00:31:22,275 Speaker 1: over every social issue, and the Civil War kind of 426 00:31:22,355 --> 00:31:28,635 Speaker 1: left us in many ways less free than we were. No, 427 00:31:28,955 --> 00:31:31,475 Speaker 1: this was not written by Robert E. Lee Back from 428 00:31:31,515 --> 00:31:37,275 Speaker 1: the Dead, nor Jefferson Davis. So opposing political violence with 429 00:31:37,315 --> 00:31:39,435 Speaker 1: all my heart, I still want to say that I 430 00:31:39,475 --> 00:31:41,715 Speaker 1: believe the Second Amendment is as important today as when 431 00:31:41,755 --> 00:31:44,395 Speaker 1: it was written. The Second Amendment was enacted because the 432 00:31:44,435 --> 00:31:47,155 Speaker 1: States asked the question, if the federal government is going 433 00:31:47,195 --> 00:31:50,475 Speaker 1: to have an army, how would we defend ourselves against 434 00:31:50,515 --> 00:31:51,315 Speaker 1: the federal government? 435 00:31:51,475 --> 00:31:51,675 Speaker 2: Right. 436 00:31:53,195 --> 00:31:56,835 Speaker 1: Well, despite that last minute, tangent off into a real 437 00:31:56,915 --> 00:32:00,235 Speaker 1: understanding of what the Second Amendment is. The guy is 438 00:32:00,355 --> 00:32:06,595 Speaker 1: arguing that the Civil War weakened personal freedom, you know, 439 00:32:06,715 --> 00:32:10,555 Speaker 1: abolition and the right to vote for all, first males 440 00:32:10,555 --> 00:32:13,835 Speaker 1: and then people above a given age, and then they 441 00:32:13,875 --> 00:32:20,075 Speaker 1: lowered the age, and then you know, anti segregation and lynching. 442 00:32:20,755 --> 00:32:26,915 Speaker 1: Yet those are all apparently impositions on his rights. The 443 00:32:26,955 --> 00:32:29,835 Speaker 1: subtext here is the ku Klux Klan and the National 444 00:32:29,875 --> 00:32:33,755 Speaker 1: Rifle Association and the Federalist Society, Supreme Court, the leaders 445 00:32:33,795 --> 00:32:37,395 Speaker 1: in domestic terrorism since eighteen sixty five. At how they 446 00:32:37,435 --> 00:32:42,835 Speaker 1: have been mistreated by the Libs. When we gave them 447 00:32:42,875 --> 00:32:46,995 Speaker 1: the right not to be slaves anymore, we never said 448 00:32:47,035 --> 00:32:51,555 Speaker 1: they could be president. Now, the name of the speaker 449 00:32:51,595 --> 00:32:56,035 Speaker 1: of that, Andrew Claven, seventy year old something, son of 450 00:32:57,315 --> 00:33:02,195 Speaker 1: Gene Claven. A lot of people of a certain age 451 00:33:02,675 --> 00:33:06,835 Speaker 1: from the same area that I'm from gasped just now. 452 00:33:07,435 --> 00:33:10,755 Speaker 1: Gene Claven, for forty years was one of the great, generous, 453 00:33:10,875 --> 00:33:14,515 Speaker 1: inclusive people of New York City radio, a legend, a 454 00:33:14,595 --> 00:33:18,915 Speaker 1: brilliant comedian, maybe a creative genius, and a creative genius 455 00:33:18,955 --> 00:33:23,355 Speaker 1: on a morning radio show when most people, myself included 456 00:33:23,355 --> 00:33:27,155 Speaker 1: from a personal experience, most people are zombies on morning radio, 457 00:33:28,195 --> 00:33:31,075 Speaker 1: not Gene Claven. So when they say the apple didn't 458 00:33:31,115 --> 00:33:33,915 Speaker 1: fall far from the tree, sometimes the apple shrivels and 459 00:33:34,035 --> 00:33:38,475 Speaker 1: rots and turns into Andrew Claven. Everything would have been 460 00:33:38,515 --> 00:33:42,475 Speaker 1: fine if we hadn't had that Civil war. But our winner, 461 00:33:43,035 --> 00:33:47,915 Speaker 1: Jeff Schell. I've told my story with Jeff Shell before. 462 00:33:48,635 --> 00:33:51,315 Speaker 1: The short version is this one of three executives at 463 00:33:51,355 --> 00:33:55,435 Speaker 1: Fox Sports working for Rubert Murdoch whom I could trust 464 00:33:55,875 --> 00:33:59,675 Speaker 1: not to lie to me or to everybody else every hour. 465 00:34:00,395 --> 00:34:03,635 Speaker 1: Really enjoyed his company. He gave me advice that benefited 466 00:34:03,675 --> 00:34:07,275 Speaker 1: me at the expence of the company. Sometimes. When he 467 00:34:07,315 --> 00:34:10,555 Speaker 1: switched to NBC and I was leaving MSNBC in twenty 468 00:34:10,635 --> 00:34:13,115 Speaker 1: ten and eleven, he tried to talk me out of it. 469 00:34:13,915 --> 00:34:16,555 Speaker 1: When they made him chairman of NBC in twenty nineteen, 470 00:34:16,595 --> 00:34:19,315 Speaker 1: I reached out the night the rumor broke and he 471 00:34:19,395 --> 00:34:22,155 Speaker 1: reached back like two hours later said he wanted to 472 00:34:22,155 --> 00:34:25,675 Speaker 1: talk about having me go back on the air anchoring 473 00:34:25,715 --> 00:34:29,475 Speaker 1: at MSNBC, And then we went back and forth. There 474 00:34:29,635 --> 00:34:32,555 Speaker 1: was that little pandemic that slowed things down, But after 475 00:34:32,595 --> 00:34:34,715 Speaker 1: the pandemic ended, we still went back and forth for 476 00:34:34,795 --> 00:34:37,435 Speaker 1: nearly two years, with him scheduling meetings with me and 477 00:34:37,435 --> 00:34:40,075 Speaker 1: then canceling the meetings, and then scheduling meetings with me 478 00:34:40,315 --> 00:34:42,715 Speaker 1: and the head of NBC News and him, and then 479 00:34:42,755 --> 00:34:46,035 Speaker 1: canceling those meetings, and then the whole thing finally blew up, 480 00:34:47,075 --> 00:34:50,955 Speaker 1: and ten years of negotiations of various seriousness came to 481 00:34:50,955 --> 00:34:52,955 Speaker 1: a final end in the fall of twenty twenty one, 482 00:34:53,755 --> 00:34:57,355 Speaker 1: and Shell put out a statement to a media reporter 483 00:34:58,515 --> 00:35:01,875 Speaker 1: because it leaked after ten years of secrecy, that he 484 00:35:01,995 --> 00:35:04,155 Speaker 1: was never really thinking of having me come back to 485 00:35:04,395 --> 00:35:07,715 Speaker 1: MSA NBC and it was all my fault because I 486 00:35:07,795 --> 00:35:12,075 Speaker 1: didn't realize that he was lying, and I should have 487 00:35:12,235 --> 00:35:17,835 Speaker 1: known he was lying. Now that's a flex. In twenty 488 00:35:17,875 --> 00:35:21,875 Speaker 1: twenty three, NBC fired Jeffschell on the spot for cause, 489 00:35:22,875 --> 00:35:27,315 Speaker 1: and he was chairman for a really sleazy affair and 490 00:35:27,475 --> 00:35:31,195 Speaker 1: job manipulation thing with a CNBC talent, and he went 491 00:35:31,275 --> 00:35:34,235 Speaker 1: to sue them and all the lawyers in the world. 492 00:35:34,435 --> 00:35:38,035 Speaker 1: He went to my lawyer and she began the process 493 00:35:38,075 --> 00:35:40,315 Speaker 1: of representing him and vetting the case. And I never 494 00:35:40,355 --> 00:35:42,995 Speaker 1: even said anything to her. I didn't say, you can't 495 00:35:43,035 --> 00:35:45,955 Speaker 1: represent him, I will go somewhere. I didn't do anything. 496 00:35:46,195 --> 00:35:48,675 Speaker 1: We never talked about it. I found about it in 497 00:35:48,715 --> 00:35:51,515 Speaker 1: the papers that he was going there. The next thing 498 00:35:51,555 --> 00:35:56,915 Speaker 1: I know, there's no lawsuit. My lawyer sends me a 499 00:35:56,995 --> 00:35:59,075 Speaker 1: quick email going in case you were worried, I'm not 500 00:35:59,155 --> 00:36:04,195 Speaker 1: representing him. He didn't get any money. He was just done. 501 00:36:04,755 --> 00:36:07,035 Speaker 1: They fired him, and in that rare case of somebody 502 00:36:07,035 --> 00:36:10,835 Speaker 1: getting fired from a job like that, it was and 503 00:36:10,915 --> 00:36:12,995 Speaker 1: don't let the door hit you in the ass on 504 00:36:13,035 --> 00:36:17,035 Speaker 1: the way out. Jeffs. Shell and then these fascists, these 505 00:36:17,155 --> 00:36:21,275 Speaker 1: Ellisons who are merging CBS and their company and bringing 506 00:36:21,315 --> 00:36:29,115 Speaker 1: in the ridiculous Barry Weiss hired Jeffschell to run CBS 507 00:36:29,475 --> 00:36:33,355 Speaker 1: and Jeff Shell from whom I have email after email 508 00:36:33,475 --> 00:36:36,835 Speaker 1: after email in which he agrees from twenty nineteen to 509 00:36:36,875 --> 00:36:39,595 Speaker 1: twenty twenty that Trump is going to kill us all 510 00:36:39,675 --> 00:36:43,315 Speaker 1: and Trump must be stopped. Jeff Shell has become a 511 00:36:43,395 --> 00:36:48,075 Speaker 1: Trumpest inside man at CBS. Like the parasite, he actually 512 00:36:48,155 --> 00:36:53,995 Speaker 1: is collaborating with the insertion of a Trumpest plant inside 513 00:36:54,035 --> 00:36:57,875 Speaker 1: CBS News to oversee what CBS News reports from here 514 00:36:57,915 --> 00:37:01,315 Speaker 1: on and what it is no longer permitted to report. 515 00:37:02,435 --> 00:37:05,355 Speaker 1: CBS has appointed a man named Kenneth Weinstein to be 516 00:37:05,395 --> 00:37:10,435 Speaker 1: the new CBS News ombudsman. Could have been worse, could 517 00:37:10,475 --> 00:37:13,875 Speaker 1: have been Stephen Miller. Otherwise, this is as bad as 518 00:37:13,875 --> 00:37:17,555 Speaker 1: it gets. Kenneth Weinstein never worked in news. He was 519 00:37:17,635 --> 00:37:23,515 Speaker 1: CEO of the Hudson Institute, another fascist think tank. Oliver 520 00:37:23,635 --> 00:37:27,275 Speaker 1: Darcy in Status wrote Weinstein's record includes a stream of 521 00:37:27,355 --> 00:37:31,235 Speaker 1: alarmist rhetoric popular in right wing media circles. In February, 522 00:37:31,235 --> 00:37:33,755 Speaker 1: for example, he declared in a New York Post column 523 00:37:33,875 --> 00:37:37,075 Speaker 1: that women in Europe quote can no longer walk safely 524 00:37:37,115 --> 00:37:40,795 Speaker 1: at night in cities because of the influx of Muslim migrants. 525 00:37:41,315 --> 00:37:45,195 Speaker 1: In the same piece, he mocked quote media elites for 526 00:37:45,355 --> 00:37:48,915 Speaker 1: warning about NATO's future, while deriding the alliance as one 527 00:37:48,955 --> 00:37:53,155 Speaker 1: that caters to the interests of progressive elites and insisting 528 00:37:53,195 --> 00:37:58,675 Speaker 1: it needs to undergo a radical shift. So Kenneth Weinstein 529 00:37:58,835 --> 00:38:00,915 Speaker 1: is a to use a phrase similar to that a 530 00:38:01,035 --> 00:38:05,955 Speaker 1: radical shit. The New York Times added installing an ombudsman 531 00:38:05,995 --> 00:38:08,875 Speaker 1: at CBS News was one of sky Dance's commitments to 532 00:38:08,915 --> 00:38:12,875 Speaker 1: the Trump administration. That's a nice way of saying bribe 533 00:38:13,475 --> 00:38:16,035 Speaker 1: this year, when the company sought approval for its merger 534 00:38:16,195 --> 00:38:18,795 Speaker 1: with Paramount. The agreement, in fact, is to keep that 535 00:38:18,875 --> 00:38:22,955 Speaker 1: am boodsman in place, telling on people and preventing things 536 00:38:23,275 --> 00:38:27,755 Speaker 1: Trump does not like from getting on the air or 537 00:38:28,195 --> 00:38:30,875 Speaker 1: punishing the people who somehow managed to get those things 538 00:38:30,915 --> 00:38:33,755 Speaker 1: on the air. That job has to be filled for 539 00:38:33,795 --> 00:38:37,995 Speaker 1: at least two years. That is what CBS gave to 540 00:38:38,155 --> 00:38:42,435 Speaker 1: Donald Trump, not just the money. The money is for show. 541 00:38:42,635 --> 00:38:44,875 Speaker 1: The money is for him to boast. The money is 542 00:38:44,915 --> 00:38:49,235 Speaker 1: for him to stroke his mentally ill ego. The power 543 00:38:49,835 --> 00:38:55,355 Speaker 1: is Donald Trump now by proxy runs CBS News. More 544 00:38:55,395 --> 00:38:59,395 Speaker 1: from The Times, Weinstein donated roughly forty thousand dollars to 545 00:38:59,475 --> 00:39:02,475 Speaker 1: Republican and pro Trump political groups last year, according to 546 00:39:02,515 --> 00:39:06,835 Speaker 1: federal disclosure forums. That's right, CBS News, You're worth forty 547 00:39:06,875 --> 00:39:10,915 Speaker 1: thousand dollars. Mister Weinstein has served on federal advisory boards 548 00:39:11,075 --> 00:39:14,555 Speaker 1: under both Democratic and Republican presidents. In twenty twenty, mister 549 00:39:14,555 --> 00:39:20,235 Speaker 1: Trump nominated him to serve as ambassador to Japan. They 550 00:39:20,275 --> 00:39:23,995 Speaker 1: never voted on that. He didn't become ambassador. Hmmm. A 551 00:39:24,035 --> 00:39:26,875 Speaker 1: statement from Paramount said, mister Weinstein will serve as an 552 00:39:26,955 --> 00:39:32,795 Speaker 1: independent internal advocate for journalistic integrity and transparency. Unquote, no, no, 553 00:39:32,955 --> 00:39:35,675 Speaker 1: he will not. He will serve as a Trump spy 554 00:39:36,275 --> 00:39:40,195 Speaker 1: inside CBS News And unfortunately, for the vast majority of 555 00:39:40,195 --> 00:39:42,555 Speaker 1: people there who want to tell you the truth, this 556 00:39:42,875 --> 00:39:47,315 Speaker 1: is the death of CBS News. So what has this 557 00:39:47,355 --> 00:39:50,195 Speaker 1: got to do with Jeff Shell, the aforementioned worst person 558 00:39:50,235 --> 00:39:53,555 Speaker 1: in the world today? Mister Weinstein quote will report to 559 00:39:53,715 --> 00:39:57,635 Speaker 1: Jeff Shell, the new president of CBS's parent company, Paramount, 560 00:39:57,675 --> 00:40:02,715 Speaker 1: which recently merged with the Hollywood studio Skydance. Quote. I've 561 00:40:02,755 --> 00:40:04,835 Speaker 1: known him for many years and have great respect or 562 00:40:04,835 --> 00:40:09,435 Speaker 1: his integrity, sound judgment, and thoughtful approach to complex issues, 563 00:40:10,115 --> 00:40:13,835 Speaker 1: Jeff Shell liar said in a statement, also praising his 564 00:40:13,995 --> 00:40:19,835 Speaker 1: quote calm measured perspective. Those quotes from Jeff Shell, who 565 00:40:19,875 --> 00:40:22,475 Speaker 1: says you should have known he lies all the time. 566 00:40:24,355 --> 00:40:28,755 Speaker 1: Some men are born whoes, some men achieve hoaring, and 567 00:40:28,875 --> 00:40:32,315 Speaker 1: others have horedem thrust upon them. And then there are 568 00:40:32,355 --> 00:40:37,155 Speaker 1: creatures like Jeff Shell, whose best defense for betrayal is 569 00:40:37,195 --> 00:40:39,675 Speaker 1: to publicly say you should have known they were lying, 570 00:40:39,715 --> 00:40:43,115 Speaker 1: so it's your fault who achieve the goal of a 571 00:40:43,195 --> 00:40:48,435 Speaker 1: lifetime running NBC even in these days. And then they 572 00:40:48,555 --> 00:40:50,635 Speaker 1: f it up so badly that they not only don't 573 00:40:50,675 --> 00:40:53,115 Speaker 1: get any severance, but no lawyer thinks they have ground 574 00:40:53,115 --> 00:40:57,075 Speaker 1: for a lawsuit or even a settlement, or even a 575 00:40:57,195 --> 00:41:02,355 Speaker 1: free uber home. And then they're somehow offered a similar 576 00:41:02,475 --> 00:41:07,955 Speaker 1: job at another network with one little catch. The little 577 00:41:07,995 --> 00:41:11,355 Speaker 1: catch is they have to become a fascist. They have 578 00:41:11,395 --> 00:41:15,515 Speaker 1: to participate in the dismantling of freedom of the press 579 00:41:15,635 --> 00:41:19,235 Speaker 1: in this country from the position of power in their 580 00:41:19,315 --> 00:41:22,835 Speaker 1: own industry, which is supposed to defend freedom of the 581 00:41:22,875 --> 00:41:30,475 Speaker 1: press of their own country, the dismantling of their own 582 00:41:31,115 --> 00:41:37,075 Speaker 1: country traitor, just so they can claim they can be 583 00:41:37,315 --> 00:41:42,595 Speaker 1: president or leader of something again when they should be 584 00:41:43,075 --> 00:41:46,995 Speaker 1: cleaning out toilets. And after five years, as the old 585 00:41:47,115 --> 00:41:51,755 Speaker 1: joke goes, they give them a brush like Quizzling or 586 00:41:51,835 --> 00:41:59,875 Speaker 1: Marshall Patan or Jeff Sheell parasite today's other worst person. 587 00:42:01,075 --> 00:42:02,035 Speaker 2: And Lord. 588 00:42:06,155 --> 00:42:24,875 Speaker 1: Shouldn't learn I was lying. Nothing of importance happened to 589 00:42:24,955 --> 00:42:28,195 Speaker 1: me on September eleventh, two thousand and one. I mean, 590 00:42:28,275 --> 00:42:33,395 Speaker 1: against statistical probability. I had friends acquaintances in each of 591 00:42:33,435 --> 00:42:36,395 Speaker 1: the two towers and three out of the four planes, 592 00:42:37,075 --> 00:42:40,955 Speaker 1: and I only learned of the death of one of 593 00:42:40,955 --> 00:42:45,595 Speaker 1: them from the missing posters. I rather unexpectedly became a 594 00:42:45,635 --> 00:42:48,435 Speaker 1: street news reporter for old friends, one who ran an 595 00:42:48,555 --> 00:42:51,235 Speaker 1: LATV station and one who ran an LA all news 596 00:42:51,315 --> 00:42:54,075 Speaker 1: radio station. I felt more keenly that day than any 597 00:42:54,115 --> 00:42:56,035 Speaker 1: other in my life that I was the descendant of 598 00:42:56,035 --> 00:43:00,075 Speaker 1: countless New York cops and firefighters. My grandfather, my mother's 599 00:43:00,075 --> 00:43:03,155 Speaker 1: father drove a hook and ladder in the Bronx. I 600 00:43:03,195 --> 00:43:06,275 Speaker 1: have his badge. I was taken by cops for a 601 00:43:06,315 --> 00:43:10,515 Speaker 1: series of harrowing behind the police line walks behind ground zero. 602 00:43:10,955 --> 00:43:12,755 Speaker 1: I can still hear in my head the matter of 603 00:43:12,795 --> 00:43:15,275 Speaker 1: factness of a dispatcher's voice coming across one of the 604 00:43:15,355 --> 00:43:19,195 Speaker 1: radios saying body parts found on fourteenth floor of the 605 00:43:19,195 --> 00:43:23,435 Speaker 1: World Financial Center, and another equally weary and broken voice 606 00:43:23,435 --> 00:43:26,675 Speaker 1: repeating it body parts found on fourteenth floor of World 607 00:43:26,675 --> 00:43:31,395 Speaker 1: Financial Center. I didn't see the attacks my apartment then 608 00:43:31,715 --> 00:43:34,995 Speaker 1: only faced uptown. When I woke up that morning, all 609 00:43:35,035 --> 00:43:37,755 Speaker 1: I saw was as beautiful a sky as I had 610 00:43:37,795 --> 00:43:41,115 Speaker 1: ever seen before and to this day have ever seen since. 611 00:43:42,475 --> 00:43:44,315 Speaker 1: By the time I got down to the street, there 612 00:43:44,315 --> 00:43:48,875 Speaker 1: were already people with glazed eyes and dust covered shoes 613 00:43:48,915 --> 00:43:52,275 Speaker 1: and pants who were just reaching my neighborhood from their 614 00:43:52,355 --> 00:43:55,235 Speaker 1: walk from the Trade Center. The Trade Center was seventy 615 00:43:55,275 --> 00:44:00,355 Speaker 1: five blocks south of where I lived. I was the 616 00:44:00,395 --> 00:44:05,875 Speaker 1: witness who didn't see anything. However, I had already been 617 00:44:05,875 --> 00:44:08,155 Speaker 1: on the radio in La three times, and I was 618 00:44:08,155 --> 00:44:10,515 Speaker 1: on my way to Times Square for a television shot 619 00:44:10,675 --> 00:44:13,155 Speaker 1: when I realized it was now hours later and I 620 00:44:13,195 --> 00:44:15,955 Speaker 1: had neton, and I was just passing one of my places, 621 00:44:15,995 --> 00:44:20,315 Speaker 1: a restaurant called Red Eye Grill, and unbelievably it was open, 622 00:44:21,275 --> 00:44:25,595 Speaker 1: half a dozen waiters, familiar faces, hugs, tears. They made 623 00:44:25,595 --> 00:44:27,915 Speaker 1: me my regular meal, they didn't charge me for it. 624 00:44:28,595 --> 00:44:30,675 Speaker 1: Then I went to the restroom to wash up, and 625 00:44:30,715 --> 00:44:32,995 Speaker 1: there was an attendant in there, and I recognized him too. 626 00:44:33,035 --> 00:44:35,475 Speaker 1: And after I was finished, being even more embarrassed than 627 00:44:35,555 --> 00:44:37,475 Speaker 1: usual at the whole process of somebody handing me a 628 00:44:37,635 --> 00:44:41,035 Speaker 1: washcloth in a bathroom, I reached to give him a tip, 629 00:44:41,075 --> 00:44:43,195 Speaker 1: and I found exactly three quarters in my pocket and 630 00:44:43,235 --> 00:44:46,075 Speaker 1: a fifty dollars bill in my wallet, and the attendant said, oh, 631 00:44:46,155 --> 00:44:48,715 Speaker 1: I'll take those quarters. I can't use the payphone with 632 00:44:48,755 --> 00:44:52,475 Speaker 1: a fifty And I didn't understand what he meant, so 633 00:44:52,555 --> 00:44:55,715 Speaker 1: I asked him, what do you mean? He introduced himself. 634 00:44:56,035 --> 00:45:00,995 Speaker 1: His name was Thomas Reyis, he explained. Two weeks earlier, 635 00:45:01,035 --> 00:45:04,035 Speaker 1: Thomas Reyess said he had been laid off by an 636 00:45:04,075 --> 00:45:07,115 Speaker 1: investment firm that he had worked for downtown. They liked him, 637 00:45:07,315 --> 00:45:09,555 Speaker 1: he liked them, but jobs like his came and went, 638 00:45:09,595 --> 00:45:12,995 Speaker 1: and he was out fired on August twenty fourth, two 639 00:45:12,995 --> 00:45:15,955 Speaker 1: thousand and one. But he said they told him that 640 00:45:15,995 --> 00:45:17,755 Speaker 1: if he wanted to, he could keep his desk for 641 00:45:17,795 --> 00:45:19,875 Speaker 1: a couple of weeks, maybe even a month. He could 642 00:45:19,915 --> 00:45:22,475 Speaker 1: come in and use their computer and call around looking 643 00:45:22,475 --> 00:45:24,995 Speaker 1: for work, maybe even pick up a shift at the 644 00:45:24,995 --> 00:45:28,555 Speaker 1: firm here and there freelance. But to that point, in 645 00:45:28,675 --> 00:45:31,715 Speaker 1: large part because labor Day had been the previous Monday, 646 00:45:32,235 --> 00:45:35,115 Speaker 1: and in New York you leave for labor Day a 647 00:45:35,155 --> 00:45:37,955 Speaker 1: week before and you come back a week after. There 648 00:45:37,995 --> 00:45:40,755 Speaker 1: were no openings yet for him in the investment business 649 00:45:40,795 --> 00:45:44,275 Speaker 1: or anything else that he could find. But years before 650 00:45:44,675 --> 00:45:46,955 Speaker 1: he had worked odd jobs at that place, the Red 651 00:45:46,995 --> 00:45:50,195 Speaker 1: Eye Grill, including as the attendant in the men's room, 652 00:45:50,875 --> 00:45:53,715 Speaker 1: and this was the only place where they had offered 653 00:45:53,795 --> 00:45:57,675 Speaker 1: him a paycheck to do anything. He was still going 654 00:45:57,715 --> 00:46:00,115 Speaker 1: to his old job and his old desk every day 655 00:46:00,235 --> 00:46:03,035 Speaker 1: except when Red Eye called and said they needed him 656 00:46:03,035 --> 00:46:08,115 Speaker 1: in the men's room he had been on Wall Street. 657 00:46:08,555 --> 00:46:11,955 Speaker 1: He was now not just the men's room attendant. He 658 00:46:11,995 --> 00:46:16,075 Speaker 1: was the backup men's room attendant at a restaurant in Midtown. 659 00:46:17,075 --> 00:46:20,555 Speaker 1: And that morning, seven am, seven point thirty, he was 660 00:46:20,595 --> 00:46:23,555 Speaker 1: going out the door to his desk in the investment 661 00:46:23,595 --> 00:46:26,795 Speaker 1: firm to work the phones again when his cell phone rang. 662 00:46:27,355 --> 00:46:29,915 Speaker 1: The guy doing the mid day shift in the men's 663 00:46:29,995 --> 00:46:33,395 Speaker 1: room at Red Eye Grill on Seventh Avenue had called 664 00:46:33,395 --> 00:46:37,755 Speaker 1: in sick. He had, if he wanted it, eight hours 665 00:46:37,755 --> 00:46:40,515 Speaker 1: of work coming to him sixty bucks seventy five with 666 00:46:40,675 --> 00:46:44,675 Speaker 1: tips if he wanted it. And so that was how 667 00:46:44,995 --> 00:46:48,075 Speaker 1: Thomas Reyis was in the men's room at the Red 668 00:46:48,075 --> 00:46:50,515 Speaker 1: Eye Grill at fifty seventh Street and sixth Avenue, handing 669 00:46:50,515 --> 00:46:54,555 Speaker 1: out very few towels to very few customers. On September eleventh, 670 00:46:54,555 --> 00:46:57,315 Speaker 1: two thousand and one rather than sitting at his desk 671 00:46:59,155 --> 00:47:02,675 Speaker 1: in the World Trade Center, And that is also why 672 00:47:02,715 --> 00:47:05,035 Speaker 1: he wanted my quarters and not my fifty dollars bill, 673 00:47:05,075 --> 00:47:08,595 Speaker 1: because he was trying to use the restaurant payphone to 674 00:47:08,635 --> 00:47:14,555 Speaker 1: call his friends who still worked at the investment firm's office, 675 00:47:14,595 --> 00:47:16,875 Speaker 1: which was on floors one hundred and one, one hundred 676 00:47:16,875 --> 00:47:18,835 Speaker 1: and two, one hundred three, one hundred four and one 677 00:47:18,875 --> 00:47:23,355 Speaker 1: hundred five of World Trade Center Building number one, because 678 00:47:23,395 --> 00:47:26,955 Speaker 1: his old firm was Canter Fitzgerald, and he was not 679 00:47:27,115 --> 00:47:30,875 Speaker 1: there that day only because the full time men's room 680 00:47:30,915 --> 00:47:35,275 Speaker 1: attendant at the restaurant had called in sick, and I 681 00:47:35,315 --> 00:47:37,235 Speaker 1: wished him luck with his phone calls, and I got 682 00:47:37,235 --> 00:47:38,755 Speaker 1: out of there as quickly as I could because I 683 00:47:38,755 --> 00:47:41,275 Speaker 1: had seen the video and he clearly had not seen 684 00:47:41,315 --> 00:47:44,395 Speaker 1: the video. They were all dead at Canter Fitzgerald, including 685 00:47:44,395 --> 00:47:48,195 Speaker 1: two classmates of mine from college, Amon mcaaney Mike Tanner. 686 00:47:48,875 --> 00:47:50,835 Speaker 1: They were dead in the pyre of the building in 687 00:47:50,835 --> 00:47:54,195 Speaker 1: which I had started my television career twenty years and 688 00:47:54,235 --> 00:47:58,195 Speaker 1: a month before. The brother of another friend of mine 689 00:47:58,315 --> 00:48:01,315 Speaker 1: was in the other tower. I had a friend, one 690 00:48:01,395 --> 00:48:03,995 Speaker 1: of my cameramen on my show at Fox Sports, who 691 00:48:03,995 --> 00:48:07,595 Speaker 1: I'd worked with literally three months before, Tom Peccarelli. He 692 00:48:07,675 --> 00:48:11,755 Speaker 1: was on one plane. The former MSNBC guest Barbara Olson 693 00:48:12,075 --> 00:48:15,955 Speaker 1: was on another. A hockey acquaintance of mine, Garnet Ace Bailey, 694 00:48:16,035 --> 00:48:19,915 Speaker 1: was on a third plane. I went to the bar 695 00:48:19,995 --> 00:48:21,755 Speaker 1: at the Red Eye Grill, and I asked the bartender 696 00:48:21,795 --> 00:48:23,755 Speaker 1: to change the fifty for me and to give me 697 00:48:23,795 --> 00:48:27,915 Speaker 1: all the coins he could spare. It's probably five dollars worth, 698 00:48:28,395 --> 00:48:30,515 Speaker 1: and I kept two tens for myself just in case. 699 00:48:30,515 --> 00:48:31,795 Speaker 1: And I went back to the men's room and I 700 00:48:31,795 --> 00:48:33,715 Speaker 1: gave the rest and all the coins to Thomas Reyes 701 00:48:33,915 --> 00:48:38,555 Speaker 1: for his phone calls. Apparently the battery was gone on 702 00:48:38,635 --> 00:48:41,875 Speaker 1: his cell, and I hope I did a good job 703 00:48:41,955 --> 00:48:44,755 Speaker 1: not letting him know that none of his friends would 704 00:48:44,755 --> 00:48:49,715 Speaker 1: be answering. I mentioned Mike Tanner. I did not know 705 00:48:49,795 --> 00:48:54,595 Speaker 1: he was dead until much later. September twenty fourth About 706 00:48:54,635 --> 00:48:57,195 Speaker 1: Amon Mcanany, I knew right away that morning he had 707 00:48:57,235 --> 00:48:58,995 Speaker 1: been one of the heroes of the nineteen ninety three 708 00:48:58,995 --> 00:49:02,555 Speaker 1: attack on the Trade Center. On that day, he had 709 00:49:02,595 --> 00:49:05,715 Speaker 1: guided a human chain of survivors one hundred flights of 710 00:49:05,715 --> 00:49:09,395 Speaker 1: smoky stairwells. He worked on one of the uppermost floors, 711 00:49:10,315 --> 00:49:12,115 Speaker 1: but this time, in two thousand and one, there were 712 00:49:12,115 --> 00:49:16,395 Speaker 1: no chains for him to lead, though no one who 713 00:49:16,475 --> 00:49:18,995 Speaker 1: knew him has ever had a seconds doubt that he tried. 714 00:49:21,275 --> 00:49:24,355 Speaker 1: Mike Tennor was the starting quarterback and Amon Mcananney the 715 00:49:24,395 --> 00:49:27,075 Speaker 1: starting wide receiver. In the first sporting event I ever 716 00:49:27,155 --> 00:49:31,195 Speaker 1: covered for money fifteen dollars from United Press International to 717 00:49:31,195 --> 00:49:34,075 Speaker 1: cover a Cornell football game in nineteen seventy six. And 718 00:49:34,115 --> 00:49:37,315 Speaker 1: wouldn't you know the only thing that happened all day 719 00:49:38,035 --> 00:49:42,195 Speaker 1: was Amon dropping a punt setting up the other guy's 720 00:49:42,195 --> 00:49:45,195 Speaker 1: field goal. Cornell loses three to nothing, and I'm supposed 721 00:49:45,195 --> 00:49:47,715 Speaker 1: to write two hundred words about it and telling this 722 00:49:47,795 --> 00:49:50,715 Speaker 1: story as methodically as possible. I only summon up about 723 00:49:50,715 --> 00:49:53,755 Speaker 1: one hundred and ten words, and the UPI man in 724 00:49:53,835 --> 00:49:56,755 Speaker 1: Albany taking in my story says, no, that's okay. You 725 00:49:56,795 --> 00:49:58,675 Speaker 1: don't have to pad it out with ninety words on 726 00:49:58,715 --> 00:50:01,635 Speaker 1: the early fall weather. We'll still send you the fifteen 727 00:50:01,675 --> 00:50:06,315 Speaker 1: bucks kid. And I found out about Mike Tanner the 728 00:50:06,315 --> 00:50:08,715 Speaker 1: way too many people found out about loved ones or 729 00:50:08,755 --> 00:50:12,635 Speaker 1: friends or fellow alumni, or just anonymous to them, smiling 730 00:50:12,715 --> 00:50:15,555 Speaker 1: faces who suddenly counted every bit as much as those 731 00:50:15,595 --> 00:50:19,955 Speaker 1: we knew. In that horrible month. Mike's face and name 732 00:50:19,995 --> 00:50:22,955 Speaker 1: were on a missing poster on Canal Street in Manhattan. 733 00:50:23,755 --> 00:50:26,475 Speaker 1: I stopped and stared at it for five minutes. I 734 00:50:26,595 --> 00:50:29,275 Speaker 1: missed a report I was supposed to file for KFWB 735 00:50:29,475 --> 00:50:34,875 Speaker 1: radio in Los Angeles. Somehow the circumstances of finding out 736 00:50:34,955 --> 00:50:39,715 Speaker 1: that way foretold accurately how much shock and pain there 737 00:50:39,875 --> 00:50:43,955 Speaker 1: was yet to come. But the point is I had 738 00:50:43,955 --> 00:50:47,715 Speaker 1: a nine to eleven story, and you did too, probably 739 00:50:48,115 --> 00:50:51,195 Speaker 1: even at remote distances, even friend of a friend of 740 00:50:51,235 --> 00:50:56,435 Speaker 1: a friend. Some lucky ones don't. Some went through their 741 00:50:56,555 --> 00:50:59,115 Speaker 1: entire lives and go through their entire lives still unaffected 742 00:50:59,155 --> 00:51:03,035 Speaker 1: by nine to eleven. And now with time, more and 743 00:51:03,035 --> 00:51:07,075 Speaker 1: more people think of it Pearl Harbor, like World War two, 744 00:51:07,755 --> 00:51:10,715 Speaker 1: like the assassination of Lincoln. Then it has to be 745 00:51:10,795 --> 00:51:15,155 Speaker 1: that way, or we would never survive. But for those 746 00:51:15,155 --> 00:51:17,475 Speaker 1: of us who still have the stories, Democrats have them 747 00:51:17,715 --> 00:51:20,915 Speaker 1: and Republicans have them, and those who thought the Iraq 748 00:51:20,955 --> 00:51:23,955 Speaker 1: War made sense have them, and those who knew it 749 00:51:24,075 --> 00:51:27,555 Speaker 1: for what it was have them. We were all in 750 00:51:27,595 --> 00:51:32,315 Speaker 1: that sad thing together, and we always will be. But Unfortunately, 751 00:51:32,355 --> 00:51:36,715 Speaker 1: as the anniversaries of nine to eleven began, President Bush 752 00:51:36,835 --> 00:51:39,635 Speaker 1: and the Republicans were making it clear that somehow their 753 00:51:39,835 --> 00:51:45,875 Speaker 1: part of this enforced tragic togetherness was more important than 754 00:51:45,915 --> 00:51:50,115 Speaker 1: the part of their critics. The only positive of nine 755 00:51:50,155 --> 00:51:52,155 Speaker 1: to eleven and the days and weeks and years that 756 00:51:52,235 --> 00:51:55,955 Speaker 1: so slowly and painfully followed it was the unanimous humanity 757 00:51:56,435 --> 00:51:59,715 Speaker 1: here in New York and throughout the country. The government, 758 00:52:00,395 --> 00:52:04,435 Speaker 1: the president in particular, was given every possible measure of support. 759 00:52:05,475 --> 00:52:09,915 Speaker 1: Those who did not belong to the President's party tabled 760 00:52:10,315 --> 00:52:14,195 Speaker 1: that reality. Those who doubted the mechanics of his election 761 00:52:14,595 --> 00:52:18,875 Speaker 1: the year before ignored that. Those who wondered about his 762 00:52:18,955 --> 00:52:26,835 Speaker 1: qualifications forgot that nearly unanimous support of his government was granted. 763 00:52:27,955 --> 00:52:30,115 Speaker 1: And that is something that cannot be taken away from 764 00:52:30,155 --> 00:52:33,515 Speaker 1: that government by its critics. It can only be squandered 765 00:52:33,555 --> 00:52:37,075 Speaker 1: by those who use it not to heal a nation's wounds, 766 00:52:37,435 --> 00:52:42,635 Speaker 1: but to take political advantage of them. Terrorists did not 767 00:52:42,755 --> 00:52:46,555 Speaker 1: come and steal our newly regained sense of being American 768 00:52:46,555 --> 00:52:50,115 Speaker 1: first and political fiftieth. Nor did the Democrats, nor did 769 00:52:50,155 --> 00:52:55,315 Speaker 1: the media, nor did the people. The president and those 770 00:52:55,355 --> 00:52:58,835 Speaker 1: around him, and those who followed him in his party. 771 00:52:59,835 --> 00:53:05,395 Speaker 1: They did that. They promised bipartisanship and showed that to 772 00:53:05,475 --> 00:53:08,715 Speaker 1: them bipartisanship meant that their party would rule and the 773 00:53:08,755 --> 00:53:11,675 Speaker 1: rest of us would follow, or be branded with ever 774 00:53:11,875 --> 00:53:17,795 Speaker 1: escalating hysteria, as morally or intellectually confused, as appeasers, as 775 00:53:17,875 --> 00:53:22,435 Speaker 1: those who, in Vice President Cheney's words, validate the strategy 776 00:53:22,555 --> 00:53:29,115 Speaker 1: of the terrorists. These men promised protection and then showed 777 00:53:29,115 --> 00:53:31,355 Speaker 1: that to them protection meant going to war against the 778 00:53:31,435 --> 00:53:36,115 Speaker 1: despot whose hand they had once shaken, who did not 779 00:53:36,235 --> 00:53:39,315 Speaker 1: have WMD, who did not have a damn thing to 780 00:53:39,355 --> 00:53:44,035 Speaker 1: do with nine to eleven, against whom plans have been 781 00:53:44,075 --> 00:53:49,435 Speaker 1: laid many years before nine to eleven. The polite phrase 782 00:53:49,955 --> 00:53:52,555 Speaker 1: for how so many of us were duped into supporting 783 00:53:52,635 --> 00:53:56,475 Speaker 1: a war, or at least acquiescing to it on the 784 00:53:56,515 --> 00:53:58,995 Speaker 1: false premise that it had something to do with nine 785 00:53:58,995 --> 00:54:04,395 Speaker 1: to eleven, is lying by inference. The impolite phrase is 786 00:54:04,755 --> 00:54:09,995 Speaker 1: war crime. The America we live in now, in which 787 00:54:10,035 --> 00:54:14,755 Speaker 1: one party believes its hatred is love, its fascism is freedom, 788 00:54:15,035 --> 00:54:18,675 Speaker 1: it's depravity is purity. That began as the nine to 789 00:54:18,715 --> 00:54:23,355 Speaker 1: eleven anniversaries began to follow one upon the other, after 790 00:54:23,395 --> 00:54:26,675 Speaker 1: taking cynical advantage of the unanimity and the love and 791 00:54:26,795 --> 00:54:31,755 Speaker 1: transmuting it into fraudulent war and needless death, after monstrously 792 00:54:31,835 --> 00:54:35,475 Speaker 1: transforming it into fear and suspicion, and turning that fear 793 00:54:35,515 --> 00:54:39,755 Speaker 1: into the campaign slogan of election after election, we arrived 794 00:54:39,835 --> 00:54:42,755 Speaker 1: in a world in which when Trump enacted the worst 795 00:54:43,155 --> 00:54:48,995 Speaker 1: imaginable cliche wrapping himself in a flag, wrapping himself in 796 00:54:49,075 --> 00:54:58,595 Speaker 1: an American flag, the morons thought that proved he loved America. 797 00:54:59,075 --> 00:55:02,395 Speaker 1: So two have they succeeded in this and are still succeeding, 798 00:55:03,635 --> 00:55:09,035 Speaker 1: and still, although they don't call it that, this government, well, 799 00:55:09,035 --> 00:55:12,635 Speaker 1: the government of Trump, the government in waiting of Trump, 800 00:55:13,435 --> 00:55:16,955 Speaker 1: uses nine to eleven, uses the hatreds of nine to 801 00:55:16,955 --> 00:55:24,355 Speaker 1: eleven as a wedge to pit Americans against Americans. This 802 00:55:24,435 --> 00:55:27,075 Speaker 1: is an odd point at which to site a television program, 803 00:55:27,155 --> 00:55:31,275 Speaker 1: especially one from March nineteen sixty. But long ago, a 804 00:55:31,355 --> 00:55:34,515 Speaker 1: series called The Twilight Zone broadcast a riveting episode called 805 00:55:34,555 --> 00:55:38,675 Speaker 1: The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street. In brief, a 806 00:55:38,795 --> 00:55:44,075 Speaker 1: meteor sparks rumors of an invasion by extraterrestrials disguised as humans. 807 00:55:44,555 --> 00:55:48,075 Speaker 1: The electricity goes out in a neighborhood. One neighbor pleads 808 00:55:48,115 --> 00:55:52,675 Speaker 1: for calm. Suddenly his lights and only the lights in 809 00:55:52,755 --> 00:55:58,035 Speaker 1: his house, go back on. Someone therefore suggests he must 810 00:55:58,075 --> 00:56:05,035 Speaker 1: be the alien. Then another man's car starts suddenly. As 811 00:56:05,155 --> 00:56:09,795 Speaker 1: charges and suspicion and panic overtake the street, guns are 812 00:56:09,795 --> 00:56:14,955 Speaker 1: inevitably produced, an alien is shot. He turns out to 813 00:56:14,995 --> 00:56:17,595 Speaker 1: be just another neighbor who was returning from going for help. 814 00:56:19,155 --> 00:56:21,835 Speaker 1: The camera then pulls back to a nearby hill where 815 00:56:21,875 --> 00:56:26,155 Speaker 1: two extraterrestrials are seen manipulating a small device that can 816 00:56:26,515 --> 00:56:31,475 Speaker 1: jam electricity. The veteran tells his novice that there's no 817 00:56:31,515 --> 00:56:34,475 Speaker 1: need to actually attack, you just turn off a few 818 00:56:34,475 --> 00:56:37,595 Speaker 1: of the human machines, and then quote, they picked the 819 00:56:37,595 --> 00:56:44,595 Speaker 1: most dangerous enemy they can find, and it's themselves. And then, 820 00:56:44,635 --> 00:56:47,435 Speaker 1: in perhaps his finest piece of writing, Rod Serling sums 821 00:56:47,435 --> 00:56:50,315 Speaker 1: it up with words of remarkable prescience, Given where we 822 00:56:50,355 --> 00:56:55,235 Speaker 1: have found ourselves in ever increasing measures since September eleventh, 823 00:56:55,235 --> 00:56:59,755 Speaker 1: two thousand and one, the tools of conquest do not 824 00:56:59,955 --> 00:57:04,955 Speaker 1: necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fall out. There 825 00:57:04,995 --> 00:57:10,555 Speaker 1: are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices to be 826 00:57:10,635 --> 00:57:16,035 Speaker 1: found only in the minds of men. For the record, 827 00:57:16,875 --> 00:57:22,035 Speaker 1: prejudices can kill, and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless, 828 00:57:22,395 --> 00:57:26,115 Speaker 1: frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its 829 00:57:26,155 --> 00:57:45,075 Speaker 1: own for the children, and the children yet unborn. I've 830 00:57:45,115 --> 00:57:46,835 Speaker 1: done all the damage I can do here. Thank you 831 00:57:46,875 --> 00:57:51,435 Speaker 1: for listening. I will never forget mister Rayes. Most of 832 00:57:51,475 --> 00:57:54,355 Speaker 1: our Countdown music was arranged, produced, and performed by Brian 833 00:57:54,435 --> 00:57:57,795 Speaker 1: Ray and John Phillip Shaneil, our musical directors of Countdown. 834 00:57:57,795 --> 00:58:00,675 Speaker 1: It was produced by Tko Brothers. Mister Ray was on 835 00:58:00,715 --> 00:58:04,595 Speaker 1: the guitars, bass and drums. Mister Chanelle handled orchestration and keyboard. 836 00:58:05,395 --> 00:58:08,715 Speaker 1: Our satirical and pithy musical comments are by the best 837 00:58:08,715 --> 00:58:12,915 Speaker 1: baseball stadium organist ever, Nancy Faust. The Olderman theme from 838 00:58:13,195 --> 00:58:17,275 Speaker 1: ESPN two, written by Mitch Warren Davis Curtis CVSPN Inc. 839 00:58:17,555 --> 00:58:20,955 Speaker 1: Is our sports music. Other music arranged and performed by 840 00:58:20,995 --> 00:58:23,635 Speaker 1: the group No Horns Allowed. My announcer today is my 841 00:58:23,635 --> 00:58:28,035 Speaker 1: friend Tony Kornheiser, who has just re upped for another 842 00:58:28,235 --> 00:58:32,555 Speaker 1: three years, co hosting Pardon the Interruption on the Worldwide Leader. 843 00:58:33,075 --> 00:58:35,995 Speaker 1: One of the great fun days of my life. I 844 00:58:36,355 --> 00:58:39,795 Speaker 1: co hosted that show with Tony. I guess three or 845 00:58:39,795 --> 00:58:41,995 Speaker 1: four times. He said it was one of the great 846 00:58:42,035 --> 00:58:44,635 Speaker 1: thrills of his career, and I said, boy, you haven't 847 00:58:44,675 --> 00:58:47,275 Speaker 1: had much of a career, have you. In any event, 848 00:58:47,595 --> 00:58:50,515 Speaker 1: congratulations my friend. I'm delighted to see you will still 849 00:58:50,555 --> 00:58:54,915 Speaker 1: be working at age two hundred and six. Everything else was, 850 00:58:54,955 --> 00:58:57,915 Speaker 1: as always my fault. And that's countdown for today. Day 851 00:58:57,915 --> 00:59:01,155 Speaker 1: two hundred and thirty five of America held hostage again, 852 00:59:01,595 --> 00:59:04,475 Speaker 1: and just one two hundred and thirty seven days until 853 00:59:04,475 --> 00:59:07,755 Speaker 1: this scheduled end of Trump's lame duck and lame brained term, 854 00:59:08,115 --> 00:59:11,995 Speaker 1: unless he is removed sooner by Maga and Epstein, or 855 00:59:12,035 --> 00:59:16,715 Speaker 1: the pavement on his hand, or wherever his signature turns 856 00:59:16,795 --> 00:59:21,675 Speaker 1: up next. In any event, the next schedule countdown is Monday. 857 00:59:21,755 --> 00:59:24,395 Speaker 1: Until then, I'm Keith Olderman. Good morning, good afternoon, good night, 858 00:59:25,395 --> 00:59:46,555 Speaker 1: and good luck. Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production 859 00:59:46,795 --> 00:59:52,075 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 860 00:59:52,155 --> 00:59:55,555 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.