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

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Speaker 1: that we can say with some certainty that if Tyler

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Speaker 1: Robinson indeed shot Charlie Kirk, he shot him for personal reasons,

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Speaker 1: that he saw Kirk as a direct threat to someone

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Speaker 1: he loved, That Robinson was not a stochastic proxy murderer

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Speaker 1: from Antifa or the gropers or the right wingers who

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Speaker 1: had so recently called Kirk a fraud, you know, like

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Speaker 1: Laura Loomer. It is also clear that there is truly

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Speaker 1: only one person whose words created, amplified, mainstreamed, and manufactured

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Speaker 1: the nightmarish environment that has led to Charlie Kirk's death.

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Speaker 1: The leading threat in this country in this moment to

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Speaker 1: the safety and the lives of conservatives and Republicans and

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Speaker 1: MAGA commentators, The leading threat in this country in this moment,

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Speaker 1: to the safety and the lives of conservatives and Republicans

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Speaker 1: and MAGA politicians, The leading threat in this country in

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Speaker 1: this moment, to the safety and the lives of conservatives

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Speaker 1: and Republicans and MAGA civilians is not George Soros, is

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Speaker 1: not Antifa, is not Gavin Newsom, is not a Democrat.

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Speaker 1: He's not a liberal. It's not a socialist. It's not

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Speaker 1: an immigrant, it's not a transgendered person. The leading threat

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Speaker 1: in this country in this moment, to the safety and

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Speaker 1: the lives of conservatives and Republicans and maga is Donald Trump,

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Speaker 1: the individual who, for a decade has slowly, but steadily

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Speaker 1: and ceaselessly erased the lines past the most partisan of

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Speaker 1: partisans would go. The individual who has mainstreamed political threats,

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Speaker 1: the individual who has normalized political violence, the individual who

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Speaker 1: has perfected stochastic terrorism. Is Donald Trump. The individual who's

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Speaker 1: done the most to put the lives and welfare and

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Speaker 1: safety of all of us directly and by his perverted

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Speaker 1: lead and demonic inspiration of others, is Donald Trump. The

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Speaker 1: America in which Charlie Kirk was murdered, the America in

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Speaker 1: which Melissa and Mark Hortman were murdered, the America in

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Speaker 1: which Paul Pelosi was beaten, the America in which Donald

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Speaker 1: Trump himself was shot, is Donald Trump's America. This is

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Speaker 1: Donald Trump's America, and all those who are endangered by it,

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Speaker 1: and all those who fall dead at its feet, are

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Speaker 1: the victims of one man, and one man alone, Donald Trump.

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Speaker 1: The institutionalization of vengeance is Donald Trump. The introduction of

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Speaker 1: political persecution is Donald Trump. The inspiration for the only

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Speaker 1: attempted island overthrow and coup against the government of the

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Speaker 1: United States is Donald Trump. The weaponization of the mob

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Speaker 1: and the government against individuals he names and hopes somebody

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Speaker 1: else hurts is Donald Trump. The transformation of a flawed

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Speaker 1: democracy into a lethal autocracy is Donald Trump. The terror

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Speaker 1: is Donald Trump. At the heart of all the answers

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Speaker 1: to the endless right wing obsession with the indefensible murder

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Speaker 1: of Charlie Kirk and the right winger's equally indefensible exploitation

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Speaker 1: of the indefensible murder of Charlie Kirk, is the reality

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Speaker 1: that all of this, all of this in front of

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Speaker 1: us right now, all of this in this past decade

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Speaker 1: of destabilization and rot and destruction from within, all of

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Speaker 1: this ahead of us in an uncertain but daunting decade ahead.

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Speaker 1: All of this, all of this, including the true answer

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Speaker 1: to whose words killed Charlie Kirk, is Donald Trump. Trump

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Speaker 1: said he could quote shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters.

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Speaker 1: Trump reportedly asked his own defense secretary about handling protesters.

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Speaker 1: Quote can't you just shoot them. Trump said he wanted

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Speaker 1: to see Liz Cheney surrounded by nine men with guns.

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Speaker 1: Trump said Hillary Clinton's secret Service agents quote should disarm,

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Speaker 1: take their guns away. Let's see what happens to her.

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Speaker 1: Trump said she could be kept from picking judges by

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Speaker 1: his quote Second Amendment people. Trump demanded of his followers

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Speaker 1: that they quote liberate Michigan, Liberate Minnesota, liberate Virginia, and

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Speaker 1: save the Second Amendment. Trump told the proud Boys fascist

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Speaker 1: vigilantes to stand back and stand by. Trump poasted of

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Speaker 1: his own violent fantasy that he somehow gave an adult

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Speaker 1: teacher a black eye in the second grade. Trump sent

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Speaker 1: the National Guard and even troops positioned the military to

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Speaker 1: molested civilians to help ice, terrorize residents and quell trouble

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Speaker 1: that did not exist in Los Angeles and Washington, d C.

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Speaker 1: And threatened to do so in Chicago and Memphis and

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Speaker 1: Baltimore and elsewhere. Trump reportedly wanted to keep migrants out

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Speaker 1: with a moat filled with snakes or alligators. Trump spent

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Speaker 1: the George Floyd protests in Washington in an underground white

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Speaker 1: House bunker while protesters were outside being attacked with teargas.

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Speaker 1: Trump pardoned January sixth terrorists who tried to kill police officers.

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Speaker 1: Trump posted what was claimed to be Obama's address, and

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Speaker 1: one of the January sixth terrorists went there. Trump said

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Speaker 1: judges were quote on a mission to keep people in

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Speaker 1: this country so they can quote rape again. Trump said

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Speaker 1: the press was quote the enemy of the people. Trump

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Speaker 1: said the president of the United States was the destroyer

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Speaker 1: of democracy. Trump said the president of the United States

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Speaker 1: was a quote threat to democracy. Trump posted a photoshop

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Speaker 1: of that President Joe Biden hogtied, kidnapped, and thrown in

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Speaker 1: the back of a pickup. Trump posted a photoshop of

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Speaker 1: himself standing behind the District Attorney of New York with

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Speaker 1: a baseball bat. Trump said, as a protester was murdered

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Speaker 1: by fascists at Charlottesville that there were quote very fine

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Speaker 1: people on both sides. Trump laughed at the attack on

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Speaker 1: the pelosis. Trump responded to his own indictment by threatening,

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Speaker 1: if you go after me, I'm coming after you. Trump

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Speaker 1: said a Republican who had attacked a reporter was quote

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Speaker 1: my kind of guy. Trump said his followers should quote

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Speaker 1: knock the crap out of those who protested him. Trump

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Speaker 1: said one of those protesting him. I'd like to punch

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Speaker 1: him in the face unquote. Trump said of another protester

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Speaker 1: that he had quote ties to Isis. Trump told American

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Speaker 1: Jews who voted for Democrats that they had quote better

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Speaker 1: get their act together and be quote more grateful to

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Speaker 1: him before quote it's too late. Trump said he was

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Speaker 1: not familiar with the murdered Minnesota Democrat Melissa Hortman or

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Speaker 1: her husband. Trump reposted a video of a supporter saying

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Speaker 1: the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat. Trump inspired

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Speaker 1: physical attacks and threats against Judge Chutkin, Judge Curiel, Judge Engern,

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Speaker 1: Judge Edgerun's clerk, the justices of the Colorado Supreme Court,

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Speaker 1: the Secretary of State for Maine, Special Counsel Smith, Attorney

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Speaker 1: General James, District Attorney Bragg, District Attorney Willis, and so

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Speaker 1: many others, hundreds thousands of us. The list is so

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Speaker 1: long it eventually even gets down to me and a

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Speaker 1: woman newscaster I used to live with. And most broadly

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Speaker 1: and most impactfully, Trump said, the Democrats quote are the

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Speaker 1: scum of the earth, and the left was quote the

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Speaker 1: scum that spent the last four years trying to destroy

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Speaker 1: our country.

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Speaker 2: Leaders cannot call their political opponent opponents, not seasoned fascists

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Speaker 2: and enemies of the state because they disagree with their

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Speaker 2: policy priorities. I mean, this is something we should have

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Speaker 2: learned in grade school. This type of language spurs, spurs

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Speaker 2: on depraved people, derange people who take that as a cue.

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Speaker 1: But it has not just been ugly. Little Johnson this

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Speaker 1: week unintentionally describing Donald Trump, describing all there is to

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Speaker 1: Donald Trump, without which there would be no Donald Trump.

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Speaker 1: But Johnson was also simultaneously unknowingly describing somebody else who

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Speaker 1: is in this equation at the moment. I mean, Joe

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Speaker 1: Biden is a bumbling dementia phild Alzheimer's corrupt tyrant who

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Speaker 1: should honestly be put in prison and or given the

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Speaker 1: death penalty for his crimes against America. The late Charlie

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Speaker 1: Kirk July twenty fourth, twenty twenty three, of whom the

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Speaker 1: laugh out loud stupid Congressman Troy Nells said yesterday that

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Speaker 1: if Kirk had lived in Biblical times, he would have

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Speaker 1: been the thirteenth Disciple. I guess nails meant of Jesus.

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Speaker 1: I can't imagine he's serious. Charlie Kirk was killed in

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Speaker 1: Donald Trump's America. It is not just that Trump is

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Speaker 1: the leading threat in this country in this moment to

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Speaker 1: the safety and the lives of Conservatives and Republicans and

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Speaker 1: maga it is that he has been for a decade.

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Speaker 1: Charlie Kirk is dead, as so many others are dead

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Speaker 1: or threatened, or wounded or living in fear because there

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Speaker 1: is a Donald Trump. As to what precipitated all this,

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Speaker 1: the current state of the Charlie Kirk shooting investigation is

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Speaker 1: almost nothing but a string of extraordinary ironies. The first

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Speaker 1: of them as the wild, unstable right wing now openly

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Speaker 1: targets and blames transgendered people for the death of Kirk.

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Speaker 1: The iron is that the transgender person in this case

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Speaker 1: put her country and the law ahead of her own

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Speaker 1: love for the alleged shooter. He told her to delete

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Speaker 1: his messages, not to talk to the cops. She preserved

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Speaker 1: the messages and everything else and gave it all to

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Speaker 1: the cops. She was a model citizen. The magas are

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Speaker 1: acting like vigilantes, waiting to get at her, waiting to

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Speaker 1: break the law, while she put America first. Second irony,

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Speaker 1: The discord channel on which Tyler Robinson chatted the place

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Speaker 1: full of people. Pam Bondi has promised to pursuit of

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Speaker 1: the ends of the Earth turns out to have been

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Speaker 1: broken hearted at what he did. Calm mature all Second

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Speaker 1: Amendment types who played a lot of video games and

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Speaker 1: didn't understand the whole trans thing, But after he confessed

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Speaker 1: to them, they were praying for him, and for Charlie

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Speaker 1: Kirk's soul, and for Charlie Kirk's family, and for Robinson's family.

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Speaker 1: Third irony, Trump's minions are trying to exploit Kirk's death.

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Speaker 1: The most popular phrase used by an adherent to Trump

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Speaker 1: is Reichstag fire. Kirk's adherents they are enraged by how

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Speaker 1: Trump is proceeding. The blind, stupid world of the Trump

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Speaker 1: Cabinet with the intellectual depth and literal breadth of an

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Speaker 1: Internet meme will not crash and burn because of Pam Bondy,

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Speaker 1: but the confidence of even the most lurid maga in

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Speaker 1: Pambondy is draining out. They all reposted Kirk from May

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Speaker 1: of twenty twenty four quote hate speech does not exist

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Speaker 1: legally in America. Kirk wrote, there's ugly speech, there's gross speech,

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Speaker 1: there's evil speech, and all of it is protected by

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Speaker 1: the First Amendment. Keep America free. Unquote Charlie Kirk. Pam

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Speaker 1: Bondi promptly insisted hate speech exists legally in America, and

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Speaker 1: none of it is protected by the First Amendment. And

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Speaker 1: she'll find somebody to prosecute for talking Charlie Kirk to death.

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Speaker 1: Better look at the White House.

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Speaker 2: There's free speech and then there's hate speech. And there

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Speaker 2: is no place, especially now, especially.

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Speaker 1: After what happened to Charlie in our society.

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Speaker 2: Do you see more law enforcement going after these groups

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Speaker 2: who are using hate speech and putting cuffs on people.

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Speaker 1: So we show them that some action is better than

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Speaker 1: no action.

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Speaker 2: We will absolutely target you, go after you if you

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Speaker 2: are targeting anyone with hate speech anything.

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Speaker 1: And that's across the aisle. The FCC chair, Brendan Gebel's

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Speaker 1: car said, no, the First Amendment protects virtually all speech. Quote.

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Speaker 1: Our Attorney General wrote, the occasionally clear headed Eric Erickson

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Speaker 1: quote is apparently a moron. I have met Miss Bondi,

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Speaker 1: thus I can confirm this for mister Erickson, She's a moron.

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Speaker 1: The last irony, of course, is that actor the tug

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Speaker 1: of war over who radicalized Tyler Robinson and who is

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Speaker 1: to be blamed left right Groper's Antifa. The more and

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Speaker 1: more we learn, the more and more it is evident

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Speaker 1: that the shooting was almost a political and certainly personal.

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Speaker 1: There has been pushback from almost every quarter about the

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Speaker 1: texts that tell them that personal story, and no, they

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Speaker 1: don't read like the texts of your average twenty two

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Speaker 1: year old. There are, however, two salient facts to remember

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Speaker 1: when you reach that conclusion. One, if those texts were

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Speaker 1: faked or altered, that would instantly end the careers of

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Speaker 1: everybody involved in this investigation and prosecution, and would result

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Speaker 1: in the immediate dismissal of all the charges against Robinson. Period.

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Speaker 1: If there is one thing left in the American form

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Speaker 1: of government, it is the chain of evidence. And as

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Speaker 1: we know, if there is the slightest thing to miss

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Speaker 1: or even just sloppy about the chain of evidence, or

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Speaker 1: you can make it look like there's something sloppy about

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Speaker 1: the chain of evidence, your case is over. Ask oj

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Speaker 1: Simpson and Mark Furman and Judge Itto. Secondly, yes, complete

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Speaker 1: sentences by text. Who knew that was possible? I don't

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Speaker 1: want to feed cliches about groups or religions. But bluntly

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Speaker 1: Robinson is or was a Mormon, and I say this

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Speaker 1: as a compliment as a believer in complete sentences and ties.

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Speaker 1: The last complete sentence that will be sent electronically in

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Speaker 1: this country by somebody wearing a tie as he hits

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Speaker 1: sin will be sent by a Mormon. Probably. Robinson was

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Speaker 1: also raised by hard right, gun obsessed Trumpists, but a

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Speaker 1: slight change in direction. He was bisexual. Reportedly, he said

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Speaker 1: he was in love with a biological man transitioning to

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Speaker 1: being a woman. He saw the mounting scapegoating of trans people.

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Speaker 1: He heard Charlie Kirk selling it hard. He wrote, quote,

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Speaker 1: some hate can't be negotiated out. If he shot him,

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Speaker 1: he shot him. Certainly somebody shot him. At the moment

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Speaker 1: in his speech that Kirk started to connect all transgendered people,

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Speaker 1: started to try to put cause and effect between transitioning

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Speaker 1: and shooting up schools. To the suspect, Charlie Kirk was

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Speaker 1: threatening someone he loved. Ultimately, all of this nightmare may

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Speaker 1: have not been more complicated than that it may have

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Speaker 1: been no more hard to understand than that the alleged

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Speaker 1: shooter felt Charlie Kirk was threatening someone he loved. My

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Speaker 1: thanks go out today to that pimple in a suit,

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Speaker 1: Cash Patel. He is the latest to reinvigorate trump Stein.

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Speaker 1: Honest to god, I can't believe I'm saying this, but

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Speaker 1: Cash Patel is dumber than I thought he was.

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Speaker 2: You've seen most of the files.

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Speaker 3: Who if anyone did Epstein traffic these young women too?

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Speaker 3: Besides himself himself? There is no credible information none. If

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Speaker 3: there were, I would bring the case yesterday that he

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Speaker 3: trafficked to other individual And the information we have, again

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Speaker 3: is limited. So the answer is no one for the

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Speaker 3: information that we have in the files, in the case.

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Speaker 2: File, in the Epstein file, was there that creepy birthday

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Speaker 2: message and Donald Trump had written Depstein.

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Speaker 3: That's what I was trying to tell you. You raise

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Speaker 3: a great point. The estate of Jeffrey Epstein has a

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Speaker 3: voluminous amount of information that they have not released before.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so that's great. So wouldn't be great of FBI

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Speaker 2: subpoena the State of Jeffrey est for all that information.

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Speaker 3: The estate is under no obligation to provide the material,

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Speaker 3: even pursuing too a subpoena. That's a great joint. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: that's just false, okay and just false.

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Speaker 1: You're the frickin' FBI.

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Speaker 3: You can subpene in the information from this state, and

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Speaker 3: you better do that.

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Speaker 1: Representative Ted Lou getting Patel to reveal a the doj

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Speaker 1: N FBI have not subpoenaed the estate of Jeffrey Epstein

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Speaker 1: and B that Patel is so stupid he doesn't know that. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: if if they subpoenaed the estate of Jeffrey Epstein in

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Speaker 1: the estate would have to provide whatever was subpoena or

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Speaker 1: go to court to try to quash the subpoena. So

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Speaker 1: now there's another Trump cover up courtesy Cash Bettel. Why

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Speaker 1: hasn't the FBI subpoena of the Epstein estate, especially when

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Speaker 1: Trump claims the estate's biggest contribution to our knowledge of

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Speaker 1: that straight line from Epstein to Trump is a fake.

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Speaker 1: Representative Jared Moskowitz then trapped Patel into promising to investigate

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Speaker 1: the Epstein estate and how they made or provided or

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Speaker 1: promulgated a fake documents attributed to the president. Ooh, maybe

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Speaker 1: they did it with time travel. And then the Republicans

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Speaker 1: in the House Judiciary Committee created yet another Trump cover

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Speaker 1: up of Trumpstein the Democrats moved to subpoena the suspicious

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Speaker 1: activity reports about Epstein by his bankers. The Republicans blocked

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Speaker 1: that move before Representative Mary Gay Scanlan could finish reading

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Speaker 1: it aloud. Thank you, boys, we couldn't not keep the

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Speaker 1: story of the Trump cover ups of Epstein's pedophilia alive

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Speaker 1: without you. Let me also mention Phil Pulty, the Trump

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Speaker 1: banking lunatic who has tried to get Fed Governor Eliza

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Speaker 1: Cook fired for allegedly listing two primary residents on mortgage apps,

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Speaker 1: until oops, turned out she listed one of them as

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Speaker 1: a vacation home. Remember him. Then it turned out that

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Speaker 1: three Trump Cabinet members Zelden Chavezda Riemer, and Duffy actually

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Speaker 1: did do that legal contradiction, if not crime. Then it

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Speaker 1: turned out Pulty's own father and stepmother did it. Then

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Speaker 1: we found out they had to stop Treasury Secretary Scott

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Speaker 1: Besson from beating the crap out of Pulty. Now Bloomberg

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Speaker 1: News reports a source tells them Scott Bessen did it too.

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Speaker 1: However did they get hold of that? Here the judge

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Speaker 1: in the Luigi Mengione trial, we're killing the healthcare CEO

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Speaker 1: throughout the state's terrorism charge because well, because that charge

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Speaker 1: was bullshit. It's murder. He's facing the death penalty on

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Speaker 1: a parallel federal charge. And just because a murder has

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Speaker 1: a political undertone or overtone, that's not necessarily terrorism. And

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Speaker 1: Semaphore broke a new Data for Progress poll on what

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Speaker 1: rank and file Democrats really want their party to do,

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Speaker 1: and guess what it isn't Senator Fetterman. It's none of

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Speaker 1: this centrist bi partisan crap weakness and none of this

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Speaker 1: Chuck Schumer diffidence bullshit, especially about the just starting prospect

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Speaker 1: of the government shutdown. I'll just read what Semaphore wrote.

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Speaker 1: Shows seven to ten Democrats support their party with holding

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Speaker 1: votes unless Republicans make changes, even if it risks a shutdown,

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Speaker 1: while a similar share backed their party taking a firmer

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Speaker 1: stand than they did in March. What's more, Democrats are

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Speaker 1: arguing voters will blame the Republicans who control government for

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Speaker 1: a shutdown, and the poll shows their voters share that

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Speaker 1: view eighty two to fourteen. Eighty two eighty two percent

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Speaker 1: of Democrats believe that the Republicans will get the blame.

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Speaker 1: Large majorities of Democrats also think the party should fight

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Speaker 1: President Trump harder even if they don't win. House Republicans

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Speaker 1: plan to vote this week on a short term spending

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Speaker 1: bill that would extend current funding levels through November twenty one,

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Speaker 1: with the Senate following suit. Oh no, we need more centrism.

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Speaker 1: The ideal Democratic candidate would be Josh Guardrout. One last note, Yes,

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Speaker 1: it is disgusting that the Brits are giving President Dictator

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Speaker 1: an unprecedented second state visit, but that's largely because we're

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Speaker 1: missing the point. The UK's Prime Minister Kure Starmer and

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Speaker 1: is seeming obsequiousness to Trump already got his country a

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Speaker 1: much better tariff deal from Trump than anybody else got.

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Speaker 1: You know what, this second trip is clearly an effort

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Speaker 1: to do. It is, in effect, to take even more

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Speaker 1: money out of Trump's pockets and give it to England.

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Speaker 1: We should be applauding this. Starmer and King Charles are

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Speaker 1: playing Trump not like a two dollar banjo, but like

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Speaker 1: a ninety nine cent banjo. Also, even as Trump revealed

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Speaker 1: to ABC's John Carl that he thinks the term hate

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Speaker 1: speech means people who hate Trump, and even as he

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Speaker 1: threatened the Australian Reporter, and even as they're trying to

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Speaker 1: reduce the length of time that foreign reporters can stay

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Speaker 1: in this country, which sounds kind of vaguely like a

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Speaker 1: distant cousin of sealing the borders. A lawsuit has been

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Speaker 1: filed or is going to be filed or will never

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Speaker 1: be filed, by Trump against the New York Times because

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Speaker 1: they told the truth about him, and he doesn't know

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Speaker 1: what legal malice means. He thinks again it's being mean

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Speaker 1: to him because he's a stupid guy, and the lawyers

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Speaker 1: know that the money from a stupid guy counts as

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Speaker 1: much as the money from a smart guy. This lawsuit,

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Speaker 1: one wag compared it to putting a paper bag over

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Speaker 1: a gun and pointing it at you, only there's no gun,

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Speaker 1: just the paper bag. Our dying news media, despite all

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Speaker 1: this in this country, our dying news media, might learn

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Speaker 1: something from the British television network Channel four. While our

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Speaker 1: TV types are still sucking up to Trump on his

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Speaker 1: royal Viva Oh Boy sparklers. Trump got from Channel four

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Speaker 1: this greeting upon arrival Channel Four's marathon newscast of Trump's lies.

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Speaker 1: Channel four called it Trump versus the Truth, while only

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Speaker 1: his top one hundred lies, even a marathon couldn't get

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Speaker 1: them all. In the Jimmy Kimmels story, Bob Iger's moral collapse,

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Speaker 1: and how fascism can only actually be institutionalized in this

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Speaker 1: country if companies like Disney make sure it happens, and

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Speaker 1: yesterday they did something that may have made sure it

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Speaker 1: will happen. The full Eiger story, and I'll explain to

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Speaker 1: you why Jimmy Kimmel has no recourse after he has

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Speaker 1: been essentially dropped by ABC at least for the time being.

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Speaker 1: That's next. This is countdown, all right. I will try

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Speaker 1: to tell you that Jimmy Kimmel's story while suppressing my

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Speaker 1: rage over it. On Monday night, Jimmy Kimmel in his

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Speaker 1: program on ABC Late Night said, quote, we hit some

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Speaker 1: new lows over the weekend with the Maga gang desperately

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Speaker 1: trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as

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Speaker 1: anything other than one of them and doing everything they

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Speaker 1: can to score political points from it. There is some

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Speaker 1: reason to think that to say Charlie Kirk's murder was

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Speaker 1: anything other than one of them was a little broad. Otherwise,

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Speaker 1: that script could have gone into any newscast in America.

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Speaker 1: It is that close to what has proven to be true,

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Speaker 1: And that statement was made before the news conference explaining

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Speaker 1: all of the correspondence between the alleged murderer and his

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Speaker 1: girlfriend and the motivation for it. Yes, that's all they

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Speaker 1: have done since Charlie Kirk died, and many of them

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Speaker 1: are doing them, as I mentioned the other day, from

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Speaker 1: a position of knowing only of the Charlie Kirk who

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Speaker 1: was a Bible thumper. This weird position we are in

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Speaker 1: in which somebody can have two sets of video feeds.

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Speaker 1: One is seen by normal people like presumably you and me,

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Speaker 1: although I don't necessarily mean to speak for you, and

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Speaker 1: another that is seen by ultra right wingers and Bible

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Speaker 1: thumpers and religious nuts and people who would never have

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Speaker 1: heard that cut that I played earlier Charlie Kirk saying

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Speaker 1: that Joe Biden should be executed. They would only have

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Speaker 1: heard the ones about stay in school and read your

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Speaker 1: Bible and the family's most important and they would never

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Speaker 1: have seen the rest of it. So there are some

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Speaker 1: people operating from a position of at least authenticity within

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Speaker 1: their own world. Then there are the politicians and the

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Speaker 1: political figures who know Charlie Kirk for what he was

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Speaker 1: and are taking advantage of the fact that there are

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Speaker 1: people who do not know what Charlie Kirk really was

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Speaker 1: and the kind of filth that he put out every day,

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Speaker 1: hour upon hour in the guise of being the Bible thumper.

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Speaker 1: Jimmy Kimmel cut through that. In the wake of the

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Speaker 1: cancelation of Stephen Colbert. I continued to maintain that CBS's

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Speaker 1: decision about Colbert was actually almost ninety nine percent financial.

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Speaker 1: These shows are not making money, and just because you

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Speaker 1: have the top rated one does not mean you are

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Speaker 1: not losing money for your company. The whole genre is dying.

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Speaker 1: The audiences under fifty under thirty from which these shows

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Speaker 1: were springing and making all kinds of money, they are

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Speaker 1: leaving in droves the percentages in just the last eighteen months,

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Speaker 1: I believe the audience number under thirty for Kimmel and

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Speaker 1: for Colbert and for the NBC shows was now down

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Speaker 1: fifty percent. It's not sustainable. However, the Kimmel move, in

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Speaker 1: which they announced late yesterday that Kimmel was off the

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Speaker 1: air effective immediately on the ABC network because a series

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Speaker 1: of local stations owned by a company called Nexstar, which

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Speaker 1: has its own history of repression of freedom speech, that

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Speaker 1: those stations would not carry Kimmel and were pressuring ABC

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Speaker 1: to drop or suspend the show, and ABC did this

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Speaker 1: also late afternoon yesterday. The man I referred to in

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Speaker 1: the first segment Brendan Carr, Brendan Goebbels. Car did something

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Speaker 1: that is quite literally exactly something that Goebels did in

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Speaker 1: the early years of Nazi Germany in his role as

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Speaker 1: the media controller and chief propagandist for Adolf Hitler. He

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Speaker 1: silenced all criticism by taking the broadcasting companies. In those days,

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Speaker 1: almost all broadcasting in Germany was radio. He took all

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Speaker 1: the private radio companies away from their owners, the few

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Speaker 1: that maintained some kind of viability, and also the newspapers.

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Speaker 1: The few that maintained viability in Nazi Germany were the

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Speaker 1: ones that never criticized the Nazis thereafter. That's what they want.

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Speaker 1: Brendan Carr may have said something appropriate about the First Amendment,

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Speaker 1: but of course he doesn't want the First Amendment to

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Speaker 1: apply to private broadcasting because his argument was, we can

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Speaker 1: take the licenses away from ABC, ABC, the network, the

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Speaker 1: Jimmy Kimmel Show, Fox News Channel, all of cable. There

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Speaker 1: are no licenses for them. There are licenses for the

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Speaker 1: individual stations that ABC owns, that Fox owns, that CBS owns,

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Speaker 1: that NBC owns. There are individual licenses, and they can

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Speaker 1: be challenged, and they can be taken away from the

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Speaker 1: owners no matter who they are. Usually it's under the

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00:31:28,275 --> 00:31:32,195
Speaker 1: most dire and extraordinary of circumstances. I don't know the

430
00:31:32,315 --> 00:31:35,035
Speaker 1: last time a license was actually taken away from an

431
00:31:35,035 --> 00:31:39,995
Speaker 1: American TV license holder. Now the Trump administration, under this

432
00:31:40,515 --> 00:31:45,595
Speaker 1: despot car would take somebody's license away for being critical

433
00:31:45,795 --> 00:31:51,475
Speaker 1: of Trump. There is no pretext being made anymore about

434
00:31:51,755 --> 00:31:55,875
Speaker 1: why they would go after ABC licenses. The other reason

435
00:31:55,915 --> 00:31:59,235
Speaker 1: they're going after ABC licenses is they know Bob Iger

436
00:31:59,435 --> 00:32:03,795
Speaker 1: is now a collaborator. He is a quizzling Bob Iger

437
00:32:03,795 --> 00:32:08,435
Speaker 1: who stood up many times, not just for ABC News,

438
00:32:09,035 --> 00:32:13,315
Speaker 1: for ABC Sports, for ESPN after Disney and ABC bought ESPN.

439
00:32:13,355 --> 00:32:16,395
Speaker 1: Why I was there, stood up for me personally. Has

440
00:32:16,435 --> 00:32:19,715
Speaker 1: now abandoned all of that because Bob Iger is the

441
00:32:19,835 --> 00:32:25,595
Speaker 1: classic person who is vulnerable to professional blackmail. Bob Iger

442
00:32:25,675 --> 00:32:29,955
Speaker 1: retired as chairman of ABC and found that he no

443
00:32:30,035 --> 00:32:35,075
Speaker 1: longer had anything to do. He wanted the power back.

444
00:32:35,235 --> 00:32:38,795
Speaker 1: His successor was not who he thought he was, and

445
00:32:38,875 --> 00:32:41,475
Speaker 1: he believed and those around him believed too, that he

446
00:32:41,515 --> 00:32:43,955
Speaker 1: was essential to the future success of Disney, and so

447
00:32:44,675 --> 00:32:48,155
Speaker 1: he Jay lenoed this guy who succeeded him. It is

448
00:32:48,595 --> 00:32:52,035
Speaker 1: pardon parcel of retirement. I have felt it too, watching

449
00:32:52,035 --> 00:32:54,875
Speaker 1: people who succeeded me and gone, what the hell are

450
00:32:54,875 --> 00:32:59,035
Speaker 1: they doing? Why did I leave? Why did I semi retire?

451
00:32:59,075 --> 00:33:01,035
Speaker 1: Why did I go into this? Instead of saying there,

452
00:33:01,595 --> 00:33:05,835
Speaker 1: imagine when it's the level of finance, tens of millions

453
00:33:05,875 --> 00:33:08,955
Speaker 1: of dollars in salary, hundreds of millions of dollars in

454
00:33:09,075 --> 00:33:14,075
Speaker 1: value that people like Bob Iger make. And so Bob

455
00:33:14,115 --> 00:33:17,795
Speaker 1: Iger came back. And Bob Iger is a man who

456
00:33:17,875 --> 00:33:23,915
Speaker 1: wants the money and wants the job, and frankly, he

457
00:33:23,995 --> 00:33:26,915
Speaker 1: is a coward who values his job over democracy and

458
00:33:27,075 --> 00:33:32,595
Speaker 1: ultimately values his job running Disney over America. He has

459
00:33:32,715 --> 00:33:35,995
Speaker 1: just sold America out by taking Kimmel off the air

460
00:33:36,635 --> 00:33:44,915
Speaker 1: till further notice. It is extraordinary. I'm not utterly surprised.

461
00:33:46,435 --> 00:33:50,515
Speaker 1: On Tuesday, Kimmel came back and said, many in Magaland

462
00:33:50,515 --> 00:33:52,955
Speaker 1: are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of

463
00:33:53,035 --> 00:33:56,915
Speaker 1: Charlie Kirk. Yesterday, JD. Vance, who himself famously called Trump's

464
00:33:56,915 --> 00:34:00,275
Speaker 1: America as Hitler, hosted the Charlie Kirk Podcast from the

465
00:34:00,275 --> 00:34:03,275
Speaker 1: White House, where he pointed his little mascara stained finger

466
00:34:03,355 --> 00:34:06,835
Speaker 1: directly at the left, and then they played the tape

467
00:34:06,875 --> 00:34:09,395
Speaker 1: of Vance saying most of the lunatics in American politics

468
00:34:09,395 --> 00:34:11,635
Speaker 1: today are proud members of the far left. And Kimmel

469
00:34:11,675 --> 00:34:14,155
Speaker 1: came back on and said, and by statistical fact he

470
00:34:14,235 --> 00:34:18,755
Speaker 1: means complete bullshit. Again, probably wouldn't use the word bullshit

471
00:34:18,795 --> 00:34:23,275
Speaker 1: in a newscast. Otherwise completely accurate and worthy of an

472
00:34:23,315 --> 00:34:29,875
Speaker 1: inclusion on ABC World News. Let me explain to you

473
00:34:29,955 --> 00:34:33,915
Speaker 1: why they did this again. Primarily, Iiger did it to

474
00:34:33,955 --> 00:34:37,275
Speaker 1: protect Iiger to some degree, he did it to protect ABC.

475
00:34:38,395 --> 00:34:42,235
Speaker 1: They already gave up sixteen million dollars to Trump as

476
00:34:42,275 --> 00:34:45,715
Speaker 1: a bribe to keep them from suing. Further over, the

477
00:34:45,835 --> 00:34:52,675
Speaker 1: Stephanopoulos quotes about Trump and the Egene Carrol case, so

478
00:34:52,675 --> 00:34:55,195
Speaker 1: there's already a history there. They already knew Bob Eiger

479
00:34:55,315 --> 00:34:58,315
Speaker 1: was a soft target who could be blackmailed into doing

480
00:34:58,315 --> 00:35:03,875
Speaker 1: what they wanted. The Kimmel stuff, although it is factually verifiable,

481
00:35:04,715 --> 00:35:08,795
Speaker 1: still so pointed that it became an easy weapon to

482
00:35:08,955 --> 00:35:12,235
Speaker 1: use against Iiger, and no doubt there were phone calls

483
00:35:12,235 --> 00:35:15,715
Speaker 1: made directly to people around Eigre saying, we will go

484
00:35:15,795 --> 00:35:18,795
Speaker 1: after your licenses, we will go after your theme parks,

485
00:35:18,955 --> 00:35:24,875
Speaker 1: we will go after everything Disney has that's worth anything. Ironically,

486
00:35:24,955 --> 00:35:27,955
Speaker 1: of course, the station licenses are probably the least valuable

487
00:35:27,995 --> 00:35:31,235
Speaker 1: thing in the equation, because local TV stations are not

488
00:35:31,355 --> 00:35:33,675
Speaker 1: something you would want to invest in, even if you

489
00:35:33,675 --> 00:35:36,835
Speaker 1: were only investing fifty dollars, a local TV station is

490
00:35:36,835 --> 00:35:42,555
Speaker 1: not a big deal anymore. The network properties, the syndication

491
00:35:42,715 --> 00:35:46,355
Speaker 1: rights to shows on networks, the shows that networks produce

492
00:35:46,515 --> 00:35:49,235
Speaker 1: or are involved in the production of, that's a different story.

493
00:35:49,275 --> 00:35:52,795
Speaker 1: But the local stations, yeah, you're probably better off just

494
00:35:53,035 --> 00:35:59,635
Speaker 1: affiliating your programs with independent stations that you do not own. Nevertheless,

495
00:36:00,035 --> 00:36:04,635
Speaker 1: the implication here was we already bought you whore, Blifie,

496
00:36:05,155 --> 00:36:07,835
Speaker 1: we are going to make you whore some more, or

497
00:36:07,875 --> 00:36:11,235
Speaker 1: we are coming after what we already told you was yours,

498
00:36:11,235 --> 00:36:15,755
Speaker 1: and we wouldn't come after again. And Iiger folded. It

499
00:36:15,835 --> 00:36:21,155
Speaker 1: is shameful. It is the only thing he will be

500
00:36:21,195 --> 00:36:26,155
Speaker 1: remembered for. After a tremendous career fifty years in broadcasting.

501
00:36:26,595 --> 00:36:29,395
Speaker 1: As I said, personal relationship with me that dates back

502
00:36:29,475 --> 00:36:32,675
Speaker 1: literally to before I went on the air professionally in

503
00:36:32,715 --> 00:36:35,035
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy nine, some of the greatest advice I have

504
00:36:35,115 --> 00:36:37,755
Speaker 1: ever been given. I always had tremendous respect for him,

505
00:36:37,875 --> 00:36:40,635
Speaker 1: and he made overtures again and again, offering me the

506
00:36:40,635 --> 00:36:44,155
Speaker 1: opportunity to go back to ESPN after I left. Called

507
00:36:44,195 --> 00:36:48,235
Speaker 1: when I was leaving, expressed his regrets, criticized the management

508
00:36:48,235 --> 00:36:50,555
Speaker 1: beneath him, saying he didn't know I was about to leave.

509
00:36:50,595 --> 00:36:52,555
Speaker 1: I had all the respect in the world for this

510
00:36:52,675 --> 00:36:56,755
Speaker 1: man until the last year, because there is nothing more

511
00:36:56,835 --> 00:36:59,395
Speaker 1: dangerous than a man who retires and sees that the

512
00:36:59,395 --> 00:37:02,115
Speaker 1: only thing next in his life is his own death,

513
00:37:02,675 --> 00:37:06,395
Speaker 1: whenever that may come. So you have to go back

514
00:37:06,515 --> 00:37:09,355
Speaker 1: and reclaim your old job, and once you reclaim it,

515
00:37:09,675 --> 00:37:14,075
Speaker 1: you will kill to maintain it, metaphorically speaking. And what

516
00:37:14,195 --> 00:37:18,595
Speaker 1: he just metaphorically killed was freedom of commentary in this country.

517
00:37:20,155 --> 00:37:22,835
Speaker 1: Several people ask me in the wake of this announcement

518
00:37:23,275 --> 00:37:28,515
Speaker 1: late last afternoon early evening, can't Kimmel sue about this?

519
00:37:28,795 --> 00:37:32,875
Speaker 1: Isn't this obviously damage to Jimmy Kimmel and against the contract,

520
00:37:32,875 --> 00:37:35,235
Speaker 1: And doesn't the contract say you're doing the show and

521
00:37:35,275 --> 00:37:38,675
Speaker 1: you're being paid this much money. All television contracts are

522
00:37:38,795 --> 00:37:41,955
Speaker 1: pay or play. All the company has to do is

523
00:37:42,075 --> 00:37:46,995
Speaker 1: pay you. They don't have to play you. So the

524
00:37:47,355 --> 00:37:50,515
Speaker 1: roughly sixteen million dollars that Jimmy Kimmel is still owed

525
00:37:50,955 --> 00:37:53,315
Speaker 1: in the twenty twenty five to twenty six television season

526
00:37:53,355 --> 00:37:56,995
Speaker 1: that just began and ends May June July of next year,

527
00:37:58,275 --> 00:38:00,155
Speaker 1: as long as they pay him that money, he has

528
00:38:00,195 --> 00:38:05,075
Speaker 1: no recourse. If they do not absolutely slander him in

529
00:38:05,235 --> 00:38:09,435
Speaker 1: any announcement about canceling the show or in any suspension

530
00:38:09,435 --> 00:38:12,275
Speaker 1: of the show, if they do not materially damage him,

531
00:38:12,315 --> 00:38:15,475
Speaker 1: he has no recourse. He can only do one of

532
00:38:15,475 --> 00:38:19,035
Speaker 1: two things, take the money, or come out and slam

533
00:38:19,075 --> 00:38:22,155
Speaker 1: ABC back and then probably forfeit the money because then

534
00:38:22,195 --> 00:38:24,395
Speaker 1: they could fire him for cause. And I know this

535
00:38:24,515 --> 00:38:27,315
Speaker 1: intimately because this is exactly what Fox did to me

536
00:38:27,755 --> 00:38:32,115
Speaker 1: on a much smaller scale, literally one twentieth size, in

537
00:38:32,155 --> 00:38:36,515
Speaker 1: two thousand and one. Fox wanted me out. They were

538
00:38:36,835 --> 00:38:41,115
Speaker 1: overspending on their cable sports operation, and I was something

539
00:38:41,275 --> 00:38:44,115
Speaker 1: like forty percent of the budget. When I found that out,

540
00:38:44,195 --> 00:38:46,275
Speaker 1: I sold my house because I knew the thing couldn't

541
00:38:46,315 --> 00:38:49,075
Speaker 1: last much longer. But what Fox realized early in two

542
00:38:49,115 --> 00:38:51,035
Speaker 1: thousand and one was they were paying me an inordinate

543
00:38:51,115 --> 00:38:53,075
Speaker 1: amount of money for something that was not going to

544
00:38:53,155 --> 00:38:56,075
Speaker 1: last much longer, and they needed to take a gamble. Yes,

545
00:38:56,115 --> 00:38:58,235
Speaker 1: they owed me one hundred thousand dollars a month for

546
00:38:58,275 --> 00:39:00,755
Speaker 1: the remaining eight months of my contracts, but they could

547
00:39:00,835 --> 00:39:03,555
Speaker 1: probably piss me off enough that I would say something

548
00:39:03,755 --> 00:39:07,795
Speaker 1: incredibly stupid and they could fire me for cause instead

549
00:39:07,835 --> 00:39:10,555
Speaker 1: of paying me eight hundred thousand dollars to do nothing

550
00:39:10,595 --> 00:39:12,915
Speaker 1: for the next eight months while I was free to

551
00:39:12,955 --> 00:39:14,995
Speaker 1: look around and try to get a new job and

552
00:39:15,035 --> 00:39:17,635
Speaker 1: then trash them once I got the new job, and

553
00:39:17,715 --> 00:39:21,755
Speaker 1: not before bad call on their part on my worst day.

554
00:39:21,795 --> 00:39:24,035
Speaker 1: I'm always going to take that eight hundred thousand dollars

555
00:39:24,075 --> 00:39:26,635
Speaker 1: to do nothing and just save up all the terrible

556
00:39:26,635 --> 00:39:28,915
Speaker 1: things I intended to say about Fox, which I have

557
00:39:28,995 --> 00:39:31,755
Speaker 1: been saying NonStop since January first, two thousand and two.

558
00:39:32,635 --> 00:39:36,235
Speaker 1: But it's exactly the same situation. There is nothing, and

559
00:39:36,275 --> 00:39:38,755
Speaker 1: there was nothing in my contract, and there is nothing

560
00:39:38,795 --> 00:39:42,075
Speaker 1: in Jimmy Kimmel's contract that says you have to be

561
00:39:42,155 --> 00:39:44,435
Speaker 1: on the air. You do not have to be on

562
00:39:44,475 --> 00:39:47,515
Speaker 1: the air. You only have to be paid. That's it.

563
00:39:48,035 --> 00:39:52,955
Speaker 1: There are no other elements. Sometimes something can be twisted

564
00:39:52,995 --> 00:39:55,915
Speaker 1: in such a way that you may be able to

565
00:39:56,075 --> 00:39:59,355
Speaker 1: say to your employer, you took me off that show,

566
00:39:59,635 --> 00:40:02,515
Speaker 1: you have breached my contract, you owe me all the money,

567
00:40:02,515 --> 00:40:04,555
Speaker 1: and I'm free to leave now, which also happened to

568
00:40:04,595 --> 00:40:07,875
Speaker 1: me at NBC. But you really cannot force your way

569
00:40:07,875 --> 00:40:10,755
Speaker 1: back onto a television show or onto a television network

570
00:40:10,835 --> 00:40:14,595
Speaker 1: just because you have a contract. Your contract is to

571
00:40:14,675 --> 00:40:18,555
Speaker 1: do the show if they let you. Their contract is

572
00:40:18,595 --> 00:40:20,955
Speaker 1: to pay you whether you do the show or not.

573
00:40:22,435 --> 00:40:25,915
Speaker 1: So no, there is no recourse for Jimmy Kimmel, and

574
00:40:25,995 --> 00:40:30,395
Speaker 1: there is, efidentally, no recourse for America. ABC could have

575
00:40:30,635 --> 00:40:34,035
Speaker 1: stood up, could have whether the storm that would be coming,

576
00:40:34,635 --> 00:40:39,355
Speaker 1: could have fought back, And unfortunately, as I explained earlier,

577
00:40:39,835 --> 00:40:44,675
Speaker 1: of all times, for an egotistical old man holding on

578
00:40:44,715 --> 00:40:48,875
Speaker 1: to his last remaining glory before death, for him to

579
00:40:48,875 --> 00:40:51,755
Speaker 1: be in charge of a company like Disney, this is

580
00:40:51,795 --> 00:40:56,115
Speaker 1: the worst for the purposes of freedom of press in America,

581
00:40:56,395 --> 00:41:01,675
Speaker 1: freedom of comment, freedom of political expression, simply freedom. Bob

582
00:41:01,715 --> 00:41:05,515
Speaker 1: Iger on the side of the devils, taking it out

583
00:41:05,795 --> 00:41:09,395
Speaker 1: on America so he can maintain his power. I don't

584
00:41:09,435 --> 00:41:12,035
Speaker 1: know how this turns out. Perhaps Bob will get some

585
00:41:12,075 --> 00:41:15,755
Speaker 1: sort of inspiration from the realization that he's about to

586
00:41:15,795 --> 00:41:19,275
Speaker 1: sell his country to the fascists and participate even further

587
00:41:19,315 --> 00:41:22,595
Speaker 1: in that process. Perhaps the ABC people will all walk out.

588
00:41:22,835 --> 00:41:27,155
Speaker 1: The problem, of course, is this the same financial considerations

589
00:41:27,435 --> 00:41:32,395
Speaker 1: that essentially made the Stephen Colbert Show a financial impossibility. Certainly,

590
00:41:32,435 --> 00:41:38,235
Speaker 1: going forward, we'll make the Jimmy Kimmel Show a financial impossibility.

591
00:41:38,955 --> 00:41:42,035
Speaker 1: If they're not making money with the highest rated late

592
00:41:42,115 --> 00:41:44,555
Speaker 1: night show, why would they be making money with the

593
00:41:44,555 --> 00:41:47,635
Speaker 1: second highest rated show. And I know Kimmel disagrees with

594
00:41:47,875 --> 00:41:50,915
Speaker 1: all of the finances and all of the accounting, and

595
00:41:50,955 --> 00:41:53,275
Speaker 1: I understand that because I have said that before in

596
00:41:53,315 --> 00:41:55,715
Speaker 1: the past. I happen to think in this case that

597
00:41:55,875 --> 00:41:59,595
Speaker 1: part is legit. I will repeat, I believe. And it

598
00:41:59,675 --> 00:42:02,595
Speaker 1: certainly isn't an indicator that Colbert was not fired for

599
00:42:02,595 --> 00:42:06,195
Speaker 1: political reasons. Because Colbert is still on the air. Depending

600
00:42:06,195 --> 00:42:09,155
Speaker 1: on what he says about Kimmel, perhaps they will try

601
00:42:09,155 --> 00:42:10,915
Speaker 1: to fire him for cause at some point, but they

602
00:42:10,915 --> 00:42:13,955
Speaker 1: have not done that yet, and the schedule is for

603
00:42:13,995 --> 00:42:17,715
Speaker 1: Colbert to continue into next year. The only thing, though,

604
00:42:17,755 --> 00:42:20,395
Speaker 1: that CBS would be required to do into next year

605
00:42:20,515 --> 00:42:23,555
Speaker 1: is pay Colbert, and there could be at any point

606
00:42:23,595 --> 00:42:26,955
Speaker 1: in the next eight months or so the opportunity for

607
00:42:26,995 --> 00:42:28,875
Speaker 1: them simply to take him off the air and hand

608
00:42:28,915 --> 00:42:32,835
Speaker 1: him the cash. Sadly, that is the way commercial broadcasting

609
00:42:32,835 --> 00:42:36,395
Speaker 1: works in this country. It is dependent on the goodwill

610
00:42:36,435 --> 00:42:39,235
Speaker 1: and the courage of the people who run it. I

611
00:42:39,235 --> 00:42:43,355
Speaker 1: can tell you, having now worked in television for forty

612
00:42:43,555 --> 00:42:47,635
Speaker 1: four years, that the amount of courage and goodwill among

613
00:42:47,675 --> 00:42:51,315
Speaker 1: the people who manage and own television operations in this country,

614
00:42:51,555 --> 00:42:56,555
Speaker 1: news and otherwise, it could fit into a thimble. And

615
00:42:56,595 --> 00:43:07,875
Speaker 1: nobody knows that better right now than Jimmy Kimmel. Also

616
00:43:07,875 --> 00:43:10,875
Speaker 1: of interest here, Robert Redford died. I interviewed him once,

617
00:43:11,475 --> 00:43:15,755
Speaker 1: I interviewed baseball immortal Ted Williams about him once, and

618
00:43:15,835 --> 00:43:20,675
Speaker 1: a producer of mine humiliated me in front of Robert

619
00:43:20,715 --> 00:43:29,915
Speaker 1: Redford once. That's next. This is countdown through the number

620
00:43:29,915 --> 00:43:32,235
Speaker 1: one story on the Countdown and things I promised not

621
00:43:32,355 --> 00:43:35,635
Speaker 1: to tell in my favorite topic, me and particularly when

622
00:43:35,675 --> 00:43:39,955
Speaker 1: I make the recent news into something else about me.

623
00:43:40,675 --> 00:43:43,755
Speaker 1: This is about the passing of Robert Redford, who lived

624
00:43:43,795 --> 00:43:48,515
Speaker 1: a good, long, happy life with great success and extraordinary

625
00:43:48,555 --> 00:43:52,115
Speaker 1: popularity and a very happy family life, and he was

626
00:43:52,155 --> 00:43:54,755
Speaker 1: able to use his fame for good works. At the

627
00:43:54,875 --> 00:43:59,515
Speaker 1: end of it. I had a brief encounter with Robert Redford,

628
00:43:59,715 --> 00:44:05,315
Speaker 1: an interview which was very warm and very and I

629
00:44:05,355 --> 00:44:07,235
Speaker 1: will get to it in a minute because it also

630
00:44:07,355 --> 00:44:10,715
Speaker 1: has one of the stupidest things that ever happened to

631
00:44:10,755 --> 00:44:14,155
Speaker 1: me in television connected to it. But two preliminary things.

632
00:44:14,395 --> 00:44:18,195
Speaker 1: First off, as people review the life and particularly the

633
00:44:18,275 --> 00:44:22,875
Speaker 1: movies of Robert Redford, Yes, The Natural, The Way We Were,

634
00:44:24,755 --> 00:44:28,555
Speaker 1: Butch Cassidy in the Sun Dance Kid, and I would

635
00:44:28,555 --> 00:44:31,835
Speaker 1: recommend one that's probably not in most top ten lists

636
00:44:31,835 --> 00:44:35,115
Speaker 1: with Robert Redford, a movie called The Hot Rock, which

637
00:44:35,195 --> 00:44:39,715
Speaker 1: is about the burglary of a very big, famous diamond.

638
00:44:39,995 --> 00:44:44,035
Speaker 1: And it is really not Robert Redford's best work, but

639
00:44:44,075 --> 00:44:46,955
Speaker 1: there's something about him in the middle of this cast

640
00:44:47,195 --> 00:44:52,155
Speaker 1: of extraordinary character actors, the stars of character acting in

641
00:44:52,195 --> 00:44:57,475
Speaker 1: the sixties and seventies, and Robert Redford is the centerpiece

642
00:44:57,515 --> 00:45:01,835
Speaker 1: to this Zero Mostelle is in this movie, and Paul

643
00:45:02,075 --> 00:45:05,155
Speaker 1: sand is in this movie. And there is a guest

644
00:45:05,155 --> 00:45:10,195
Speaker 1: appearance a cameo by Christopher Guest as a young man,

645
00:45:10,635 --> 00:45:13,955
Speaker 1: and the score is by Quincy Jones. It's just right,

646
00:45:14,075 --> 00:45:17,875
Speaker 1: and it also contains one of the things about Robert

647
00:45:17,915 --> 00:45:20,955
Speaker 1: Redford that people are only noting now in retrospect, after

648
00:45:20,995 --> 00:45:23,315
Speaker 1: he had announced his retirement from acting, and he hadn't

649
00:45:23,355 --> 00:45:27,515
Speaker 1: acted in a full leading man's role in many years.

650
00:45:27,835 --> 00:45:31,835
Speaker 1: But something people noticed Robert Redford was perhaps the best

651
00:45:31,955 --> 00:45:35,195
Speaker 1: actor in which he had to pretend there was another

652
00:45:35,235 --> 00:45:39,515
Speaker 1: actor involved, and there wasn't on the phone acting, as

653
00:45:39,555 --> 00:45:41,875
Speaker 1: they said, if you watch All the President's Men, another

654
00:45:41,915 --> 00:45:46,515
Speaker 1: great must see Robert Redford film. He's fantastic getting on

655
00:45:46,555 --> 00:45:50,715
Speaker 1: the phone playing to somebody who is not visible and

656
00:45:50,755 --> 00:45:54,315
Speaker 1: who is presumably not even audible while the scene is

657
00:45:54,355 --> 00:45:57,995
Speaker 1: being recorded being filmed. He's great at that. And he's

658
00:45:58,075 --> 00:46:04,115
Speaker 1: also great in sort of a sublimated ham bit. In

659
00:46:04,115 --> 00:46:07,035
Speaker 1: other words, the end of The Hot Rock is of

660
00:46:07,155 --> 00:46:14,875
Speaker 1: him walking through the streets of New York and emitting joy.

661
00:46:15,475 --> 00:46:16,915
Speaker 1: And I don't want to in case you're going to

662
00:46:16,955 --> 00:46:18,835
Speaker 1: go see it, I don't want to go into the details.

663
00:46:18,875 --> 00:46:21,475
Speaker 1: I guess to some degree that's as spoiler as it is,

664
00:46:21,835 --> 00:46:27,195
Speaker 1: but he's emitting absolute joy. My father liked the closing

665
00:46:27,315 --> 00:46:31,195
Speaker 1: sequence of The Hot Rock. He said, it was the

666
00:46:31,275 --> 00:46:37,435
Speaker 1: feeling that he has striven for his entire life. And

667
00:46:37,715 --> 00:46:39,755
Speaker 1: to see Robert Redford at the end of this film

668
00:46:39,915 --> 00:46:42,035
Speaker 1: makes me think of my father and his goals in

669
00:46:42,075 --> 00:46:46,155
Speaker 1: his life, and particularly it is it's several minutes of

670
00:46:46,235 --> 00:46:49,195
Speaker 1: him going through the streets of early seventies New York,

671
00:46:49,275 --> 00:46:53,115
Speaker 1: so visually to me, it's my childhood. Plus he's just

672
00:46:53,795 --> 00:46:56,835
Speaker 1: at his best in that film in those few minutes,

673
00:46:57,075 --> 00:47:00,875
Speaker 1: and he doesn't say a word. And again it's all

674
00:47:01,075 --> 00:47:04,995
Speaker 1: of the non acting acting that made Robert red It's

675
00:47:05,035 --> 00:47:10,755
Speaker 1: so good. The Natural, of course he's superb in even

676
00:47:10,795 --> 00:47:15,115
Speaker 1: though that film bears almost no resemblance to the novel

677
00:47:15,315 --> 00:47:18,115
Speaker 1: and the point of the novel. I will now do

678
00:47:18,195 --> 00:47:20,635
Speaker 1: a spoiler alert in case you have not seen The

679
00:47:20,715 --> 00:47:22,275
Speaker 1: Natural and you're going to go see it in some

680
00:47:22,315 --> 00:47:25,315
Speaker 1: sort of personal retrospective on the movies of Robert Redford

681
00:47:25,315 --> 00:47:29,995
Speaker 1: that you have not seen. In the book, Robert Redford's

682
00:47:30,035 --> 00:47:35,075
Speaker 1: character Roy Hobbs throws the game. In the movie, he

683
00:47:35,155 --> 00:47:38,315
Speaker 1: doesn't and becomes the hero and retires and is reunited

684
00:47:38,355 --> 00:47:43,195
Speaker 1: with his son from his true love played by Glenn Close.

685
00:47:44,115 --> 00:47:46,675
Speaker 1: That's not the Sun played by Glenn Close. It's his

686
00:47:46,755 --> 00:47:49,635
Speaker 1: true love was played by Glen Close. The book The

687
00:47:49,755 --> 00:47:56,555
Speaker 1: Natural is a cynical deconstruction of every baseball cliche and

688
00:47:57,235 --> 00:48:00,155
Speaker 1: mythical story. And as you know if you have seen

689
00:48:00,235 --> 00:48:02,995
Speaker 1: The Natural, and it's I think a great entertaining film,

690
00:48:03,035 --> 00:48:05,875
Speaker 1: although it's totally different than the book and defeats the

691
00:48:05,875 --> 00:48:07,835
Speaker 1: purpose of the book and just becomes a good film

692
00:48:07,835 --> 00:48:11,795
Speaker 1: as opposed to a real cynical story that Bernard Malamad

693
00:48:11,835 --> 00:48:14,395
Speaker 1: told in the novel. You've got the home run that

694
00:48:14,475 --> 00:48:16,915
Speaker 1: wins the pennant, which is Bobby Thompson from the nineteen

695
00:48:16,995 --> 00:48:20,675
Speaker 1: fifty one season. You've got the magical bat, which is

696
00:48:20,675 --> 00:48:23,715
Speaker 1: from somewhere. You've got the thrown games from the nineteen

697
00:48:23,835 --> 00:48:29,395
Speaker 1: nineteen World Series. You've got the Derrelic franchises. You've got

698
00:48:29,435 --> 00:48:32,355
Speaker 1: the story of the baseball being hit so hard that

699
00:48:32,435 --> 00:48:35,275
Speaker 1: it unraveled in mid air. I forget who the batter

700
00:48:35,435 --> 00:48:37,955
Speaker 1: was in that, and the one scene that they always

701
00:48:37,995 --> 00:48:39,715
Speaker 1: play from it in which he hits a home run

702
00:48:39,955 --> 00:48:44,195
Speaker 1: off the clock, supposedly the big glass enclosed clock on

703
00:48:44,235 --> 00:48:46,995
Speaker 1: the scoreboard at Wrigley Field in Chicago, and it shatters

704
00:48:47,075 --> 00:48:52,715
Speaker 1: Da Da Da da da Randy Newman's score at its brassiest,

705
00:48:52,755 --> 00:48:55,395
Speaker 1: and you see all the glass fall, and that actually

706
00:48:55,475 --> 00:48:58,075
Speaker 1: happened and was a home run hit by a baseball

707
00:48:58,115 --> 00:49:00,795
Speaker 1: player and I think nineteen forty five named Bama Rowel.

708
00:49:01,235 --> 00:49:03,835
Speaker 1: So all of these stories are rolled into one, and

709
00:49:04,035 --> 00:49:07,395
Speaker 1: The Natural is a tremendous film. But in the Natural

710
00:49:07,475 --> 00:49:11,635
Speaker 1: they emphasize the obscurity of the character that Redford would

711
00:49:11,635 --> 00:49:15,235
Speaker 1: play in the movie that in the novel of The Natural,

712
00:49:15,715 --> 00:49:19,195
Speaker 1: Roy Hobbs, I think, wears number sixty one at a

713
00:49:19,235 --> 00:49:21,675
Speaker 1: time when if you had a baseball player's number that

714
00:49:21,715 --> 00:49:25,115
Speaker 1: was higher than thirty, he was a derelict or a

715
00:49:25,235 --> 00:49:28,115
Speaker 1: temp or, a nineteen year old rookie. And Roy Hobbs

716
00:49:28,155 --> 00:49:30,275
Speaker 1: wore number sixty one, he might as well have warn

717
00:49:30,315 --> 00:49:33,955
Speaker 1: number one hundred and ninety three. And in the film,

718
00:49:34,075 --> 00:49:36,635
Speaker 1: and this was widely known. In nineteen eighty four when

719
00:49:36,635 --> 00:49:40,675
Speaker 1: the film came out, Robert Redford said, I'll do this,

720
00:49:40,755 --> 00:49:42,995
Speaker 1: but I'm not wearing that number. Give me number nine

721
00:49:43,955 --> 00:49:47,835
Speaker 1: for Ted Williams. So they filmed the movie at the

722
00:49:47,875 --> 00:49:50,875
Speaker 1: Old War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo, which they dress up

723
00:49:50,875 --> 00:49:53,555
Speaker 1: to look like nineteen thirty nine. It didn't take much

724
00:49:53,715 --> 00:49:56,075
Speaker 1: because it looked like they had not cleaned War Memorial

725
00:49:56,075 --> 00:49:59,075
Speaker 1: Stadium in Buffalo since nineteen thirty nine. And they film

726
00:49:59,075 --> 00:50:02,635
Speaker 1: it and they do an absolutely terrific job of making

727
00:50:03,515 --> 00:50:07,115
Speaker 1: everything looknineteen thirty nine ish. Many times you go and

728
00:50:07,115 --> 00:50:09,435
Speaker 1: you see a movie set in the past, and everybody's

729
00:50:09,475 --> 00:50:13,555
Speaker 1: hair is wrong sideburns, of the wrong length, people are

730
00:50:14,595 --> 00:50:17,275
Speaker 1: they don't look right. They've got a bunch of guys

731
00:50:17,355 --> 00:50:19,995
Speaker 1: in that movie who look like they came off baseball

732
00:50:20,035 --> 00:50:23,355
Speaker 1: cards from nineteen thirty nine. So it's great in that respect.

733
00:50:23,675 --> 00:50:26,195
Speaker 1: When the film came out, I was working in Boston

734
00:50:26,795 --> 00:50:29,635
Speaker 1: and they sent me to cover for the local news

735
00:50:29,755 --> 00:50:32,115
Speaker 1: in the sports cast. We had such a long seven

736
00:50:32,195 --> 00:50:34,315
Speaker 1: or eight minute sports cast in the six o'clock news

737
00:50:34,315 --> 00:50:36,195
Speaker 1: in those days, that they sent me to do a

738
00:50:36,235 --> 00:50:39,115
Speaker 1: live shot from the premiere and then do a report

739
00:50:39,195 --> 00:50:42,235
Speaker 1: on the movie in the sports cast at eleven o'clock.

740
00:50:42,755 --> 00:50:46,475
Speaker 1: So I'm reporting, and I'm wherever this film premiered in Boston,

741
00:50:46,715 --> 00:50:51,475
Speaker 1: and I came back in eleven o'clock and did a review,

742
00:50:51,675 --> 00:50:53,915
Speaker 1: a mini review with a little highlights, and I said,

743
00:50:53,955 --> 00:50:56,955
Speaker 1: this has this film has enough syrup in it to

744
00:50:57,035 --> 00:51:00,835
Speaker 1: cover every pancake that will be served tomorrow morning here

745
00:51:00,835 --> 00:51:03,235
Speaker 1: in New England, which I thought was a pretty good line,

746
00:51:03,275 --> 00:51:05,875
Speaker 1: and they apparently liked it. The Channel five in Boston,

747
00:51:05,915 --> 00:51:09,275
Speaker 1: where I worked. A couple of weeks later, the Red

748
00:51:09,315 --> 00:51:13,355
Speaker 1: Sox held an old Timers Day. And this is long

749
00:51:13,395 --> 00:51:15,875
Speaker 1: before the death of their immortal Ted Williams. But he'd

750
00:51:15,915 --> 00:51:18,715
Speaker 1: been retired for twenty five years, and his relationship with

751
00:51:18,755 --> 00:51:22,075
Speaker 1: the Red Sox was intermittent and difficult at times, and

752
00:51:22,155 --> 00:51:24,155
Speaker 1: yet this was one of the good periods, and he

753
00:51:24,235 --> 00:51:28,115
Speaker 1: came back and he participated in Old Timers Day, and

754
00:51:28,195 --> 00:51:32,915
Speaker 1: in batting practice he hit a home run to the

755
00:51:33,035 --> 00:51:36,275
Speaker 1: right field corner at Fenway Park, probably about three hundred

756
00:51:36,275 --> 00:51:38,755
Speaker 1: and fifty feet away, and he had another one into

757
00:51:38,795 --> 00:51:43,195
Speaker 1: the bleachers in right center field, over the bullpen, somewhere

758
00:51:43,355 --> 00:51:46,275
Speaker 1: near the red seat where he once hit a home

759
00:51:46,355 --> 00:51:48,715
Speaker 1: run which was I forget, I think something like five

760
00:51:48,795 --> 00:51:51,115
Speaker 1: hundred feet away from home plate, but this one was

761
00:51:51,195 --> 00:51:53,155
Speaker 1: just barely into the bleacher, so it was probably only

762
00:51:53,315 --> 00:51:55,835
Speaker 1: four hundred something feet away. And then he hit a

763
00:51:55,835 --> 00:52:01,035
Speaker 1: couple opposite field shots as well, and the couple were

764
00:52:01,075 --> 00:52:07,355
Speaker 1: pulled down the line at the Monster and I just

765
00:52:07,475 --> 00:52:10,115
Speaker 1: double check to make sure that the number was correct.

766
00:52:10,315 --> 00:52:13,355
Speaker 1: He did this he was sixty six years old, and

767
00:52:13,395 --> 00:52:16,075
Speaker 1: now I'm sixty six years old and I could not

768
00:52:16,195 --> 00:52:19,315
Speaker 1: hit the ball past the pitcher's mount. I'm not saying

769
00:52:19,395 --> 00:52:21,235
Speaker 1: this is some sort of failure on my part. I'm

770
00:52:21,275 --> 00:52:25,795
Speaker 1: just using it for comparison purposes. And now I'm trying

771
00:52:25,835 --> 00:52:29,075
Speaker 1: to interview Ted Williams, and he agrees to talk to

772
00:52:29,115 --> 00:52:32,435
Speaker 1: me if we do not stop. So we are walking

773
00:52:32,515 --> 00:52:36,515
Speaker 1: with Ted Williams off the field, up the staircase into

774
00:52:36,555 --> 00:52:40,475
Speaker 1: the Red Sox clubhouse that was being used for old timers,

775
00:52:40,675 --> 00:52:42,715
Speaker 1: and I only get in two questions, and one of

776
00:52:42,715 --> 00:52:46,475
Speaker 1: them is did you know have you seen the Naturally? Yeah?

777
00:52:47,035 --> 00:52:49,115
Speaker 1: It was pretty good Redford? I met Redford. He's a

778
00:52:49,155 --> 00:52:51,235
Speaker 1: great actor and he looks like a ballplayer in that film.

779
00:52:51,355 --> 00:52:53,995
Speaker 1: I said, did you know that he changed Roy Hobb's

780
00:52:54,075 --> 00:52:57,955
Speaker 1: number to nine because you wore number nine and you

781
00:52:57,995 --> 00:53:01,155
Speaker 1: were his favorite player? And he stopped. Ted Williams, who

782
00:53:01,235 --> 00:53:02,515
Speaker 1: was in the hurry to get away from me and

783
00:53:02,555 --> 00:53:07,795
Speaker 1: every other reporter, stopped and went really, And I said, yeah,

784
00:53:07,795 --> 00:53:10,355
Speaker 1: that's terrific. Thanks for telling me that shook my hand,

785
00:53:10,675 --> 00:53:13,875
Speaker 1: then starts walking again, goes and closes the clubhouse door

786
00:53:13,875 --> 00:53:16,355
Speaker 1: behind him, and I never saw him again. But that's

787
00:53:16,395 --> 00:53:20,995
Speaker 1: my little Robert Redford's side story into meeting Ted Williams

788
00:53:21,075 --> 00:53:23,435
Speaker 1: and get in kind of a thank you from Ted Williams.

789
00:53:24,195 --> 00:53:26,835
Speaker 1: So now at the other end of my career, literally

790
00:53:26,955 --> 00:53:30,795
Speaker 1: twenty five years later, I'm doing the newscast on MSNBC

791
00:53:31,115 --> 00:53:34,235
Speaker 1: and somebody comes in one day in my office and says,

792
00:53:35,915 --> 00:53:38,115
Speaker 1: would you like to have Robert Redford on the show?

793
00:53:38,155 --> 00:53:43,115
Speaker 1: And I said, sure about what? And it was environmental

794
00:53:43,155 --> 00:53:47,675
Speaker 1: issues relative to some bill that I think was on

795
00:53:47,715 --> 00:53:52,515
Speaker 1: the table either in Colorado or in the Congress or Senate.

796
00:53:53,195 --> 00:53:58,915
Speaker 1: And we have this arranged by one producer who was

797
00:53:59,035 --> 00:54:01,715
Speaker 1: working at the assignment desk, so she was technically a

798
00:54:01,755 --> 00:54:05,235
Speaker 1: booker hoping to become a producer, and she produced segments

799
00:54:05,715 --> 00:54:08,915
Speaker 1: in her spare time. The roster size of a show

800
00:54:09,035 --> 00:54:14,195
Speaker 1: like Countdown would have had usually four employed full time

801
00:54:14,315 --> 00:54:19,355
Speaker 1: segment producers who were responsible soup to nuts for all

802
00:54:19,435 --> 00:54:21,955
Speaker 1: the stuff in the number four story or everything in

803
00:54:21,995 --> 00:54:25,555
Speaker 1: the number one story, making sure the guests was there,

804
00:54:25,915 --> 00:54:30,275
Speaker 1: making sure there were good graphics done, making sure getting

805
00:54:30,315 --> 00:54:32,795
Speaker 1: it on the air, getting it all done, and making

806
00:54:32,835 --> 00:54:37,715
Speaker 1: sure and not being responsible for booking the guests. That

807
00:54:37,875 --> 00:54:41,995
Speaker 1: was not the responsibility of the segment producer. In this case,

808
00:54:43,075 --> 00:54:46,675
Speaker 1: the segment producer because we were short, somebody was on vacation,

809
00:54:47,235 --> 00:54:50,315
Speaker 1: was the booker. So the woman who made the arrangements

810
00:54:50,635 --> 00:54:54,155
Speaker 1: and we'll just call her that made the arrangements to

811
00:54:54,195 --> 00:54:57,835
Speaker 1: get Robert Redford was the person who had actually produced

812
00:54:57,835 --> 00:55:00,195
Speaker 1: that segment and she wanted not to be a booker anymore,

813
00:55:00,235 --> 00:55:02,075
Speaker 1: not that there's anything wrong with that job. It's probably

814
00:55:02,155 --> 00:55:05,675
Speaker 1: much tougher than producer. She wanted to be come a

815
00:55:05,755 --> 00:55:08,555
Speaker 1: segment producer because it paid more. So fine. This was

816
00:55:08,675 --> 00:55:12,115
Speaker 1: kind of an audition, and we put necessarily Robert Redford

817
00:55:12,115 --> 00:55:14,075
Speaker 1: in is the number one story, the last thing in

818
00:55:14,115 --> 00:55:17,675
Speaker 1: the show. And most segments, most interviews were only four minutes,

819
00:55:17,715 --> 00:55:20,755
Speaker 1: maybe five Robert Redford. We gave something closer to ten.

820
00:55:21,275 --> 00:55:24,035
Speaker 1: With the theory that it's Robert Redford. We can keep

821
00:55:24,075 --> 00:55:26,755
Speaker 1: talking about it all show and people will stick around

822
00:55:27,275 --> 00:55:31,355
Speaker 1: to watch Robert Redford. And we warned Rachel Maddows producers, Okay,

823
00:55:31,395 --> 00:55:34,155
Speaker 1: we're going to have this. We're not necessarily going to

824
00:55:34,155 --> 00:55:37,555
Speaker 1: finish on time stroke of nine o'clock. No, no problem,

825
00:55:37,675 --> 00:55:39,555
Speaker 1: Because of course they would get the ratings at nine

826
00:55:39,555 --> 00:55:42,875
Speaker 1: o'clock whether we were done or not, so their first

827
00:55:42,915 --> 00:55:46,275
Speaker 1: item would be the tail end of my interview with

828
00:55:46,355 --> 00:55:48,835
Speaker 1: Robert Redford. So no work on their part except being

829
00:55:48,835 --> 00:55:53,995
Speaker 1: willing to come on at like nine thirty two or

830
00:55:54,035 --> 00:55:57,635
Speaker 1: something or nine oh one pm. So we're all set

831
00:55:58,715 --> 00:56:01,875
Speaker 1: and there's Robert Redford and I didn't. I don't didn't

832
00:56:01,955 --> 00:56:05,355
Speaker 1: usually talk to the guests in advance, not for time guests.

833
00:56:05,395 --> 00:56:07,835
Speaker 1: And I did, like, oh yeah, get Bob on the

834
00:56:07,875 --> 00:56:10,875
Speaker 1: phone for me. It wasn't like that. All I know

835
00:56:11,195 --> 00:56:15,355
Speaker 1: is the producer her. She says to me, he likes

836
00:56:15,395 --> 00:56:17,675
Speaker 1: the show. Well that's good, that's comforting. Then I don't

837
00:56:17,675 --> 00:56:19,435
Speaker 1: have to try to explain what the hell I'm talking

838
00:56:19,515 --> 00:56:25,355
Speaker 1: about too. So we come into this and live joining

839
00:56:25,435 --> 00:56:28,875
Speaker 1: us now from his home. I guess it was in wherever,

840
00:56:29,315 --> 00:56:33,195
Speaker 1: in either Utah or Colorado. The great actor and director

841
00:56:33,235 --> 00:56:37,315
Speaker 1: and environmentalist Robert Redford. And a great pleasure to have you, sir,

842
00:56:37,595 --> 00:56:41,035
Speaker 1: And he says, Keith, I watch this show almost every night.

843
00:56:41,515 --> 00:56:43,475
Speaker 1: It's my pleasure to be here. This is one of

844
00:56:43,515 --> 00:56:48,435
Speaker 1: the highlights of my career. Well where do you go

845
00:56:48,515 --> 00:56:50,835
Speaker 1: from that? Well, the only thing I could think to

846
00:56:50,835 --> 00:56:54,355
Speaker 1: say was well, I doubt that's true, but I hope

847
00:56:54,395 --> 00:56:56,355
Speaker 1: not to screw it up too much. And he laughed,

848
00:56:56,355 --> 00:56:57,755
Speaker 1: and I laughed, and we went on and had a

849
00:56:57,915 --> 00:57:01,475
Speaker 1: very nice, warm conversation about some very important issues. He

850
00:57:01,555 --> 00:57:04,475
Speaker 1: indulged me with a couple of questions about the Natural

851
00:57:04,515 --> 00:57:08,475
Speaker 1: and Ted Williams in Uniform number nine, and I did

852
00:57:08,475 --> 00:57:10,555
Speaker 1: a plug as I just did now for the Hot Rock,

853
00:57:10,595 --> 00:57:13,155
Speaker 1: and he said, I'm glad you liked that film, and

854
00:57:13,195 --> 00:57:15,115
Speaker 1: I told him the story of my father. He said,

855
00:57:16,115 --> 00:57:19,115
Speaker 1: I'm very moved by that. I worked very hard on

856
00:57:19,155 --> 00:57:22,755
Speaker 1: that particular scene, and I always thought those were special

857
00:57:22,795 --> 00:57:26,115
Speaker 1: events that really needed to convey emotion. And I don't

858
00:57:26,155 --> 00:57:28,315
Speaker 1: want to pat myself on the back, but I'm glad

859
00:57:28,395 --> 00:57:31,115
Speaker 1: he liked it, because I don't know that film went

860
00:57:31,155 --> 00:57:33,115
Speaker 1: over that well. So I'm glad both of you liked it,

861
00:57:33,155 --> 00:57:36,875
Speaker 1: and I'm really I'm delighted by that. That has also

862
00:57:36,955 --> 00:57:38,835
Speaker 1: made my day. So there's a great interview with Robert

863
00:57:38,835 --> 00:57:41,435
Speaker 1: Redford and we're just finishing. We're in the last question

864
00:57:41,715 --> 00:57:45,395
Speaker 1: and it's probably eight fifty nine and forty five seconds

865
00:57:45,395 --> 00:57:47,675
Speaker 1: and he's still at full steam in his last answer,

866
00:57:47,835 --> 00:57:50,275
Speaker 1: and he's talking to me like this, and we're prepared

867
00:57:50,315 --> 00:57:53,835
Speaker 1: to go long as they say, past the nine o'clock deadline.

868
00:57:54,035 --> 00:57:56,755
Speaker 1: And Rachel knows about this, and her staff knows about this,

869
00:57:56,795 --> 00:58:00,035
Speaker 1: and everybody knows about this, and Redford is going on

870
00:58:00,075 --> 00:58:02,875
Speaker 1: about this topic. We're back on one last environmental point

871
00:58:02,915 --> 00:58:05,715
Speaker 1: that he wanted to make. Finally, and he says, and

872
00:58:05,755 --> 00:58:10,315
Speaker 1: the on it. Wait, did somebody say, excuse me, Keith,

873
00:58:10,355 --> 00:58:14,635
Speaker 1: did you say rap? And I said no, I didn't.

874
00:58:14,955 --> 00:58:17,835
Speaker 1: Somebody he's Robert Redford says somebody, somebody just told me

875
00:58:17,875 --> 00:58:20,835
Speaker 1: to rap. I said, well you can. You can ignore that.

876
00:58:21,035 --> 00:58:25,675
Speaker 1: Please pick up your point. The booker, who wanted to

877
00:58:25,715 --> 00:58:31,355
Speaker 1: be a segment producer her decides that it's almost nine

878
00:58:31,355 --> 00:58:35,355
Speaker 1: o'clock and she has to conclude the interview with Robert

879
00:58:35,395 --> 00:58:39,075
Speaker 1: Redford because whatever Rachel Maddow has on at nine o'clock

880
00:58:39,675 --> 00:58:42,515
Speaker 1: won't last till nine oh one, and they don't want

881
00:58:42,595 --> 00:58:45,995
Speaker 1: Robert red It was the stupidest thing I think I

882
00:58:46,155 --> 00:58:51,155
Speaker 1: ever saw a line level person do in broadcasting. And

883
00:58:51,315 --> 00:58:55,195
Speaker 1: since then, and as I think we've discussed, this is

884
00:58:55,755 --> 00:59:00,315
Speaker 1: about to be the fiftieth anniversary of my first commercial broadcast,

885
00:59:00,475 --> 00:59:02,435
Speaker 1: so I've seen a lot of stupid things, and I've

886
00:59:02,475 --> 00:59:05,755
Speaker 1: done a lot of stupid things, but rapping Robert Redford

887
00:59:06,155 --> 00:59:08,875
Speaker 1: telling him to shut up, basically during the end of

888
00:59:08,915 --> 00:59:13,275
Speaker 1: his interview. When he didn't do live TV interviews, he

889
00:59:13,355 --> 00:59:15,555
Speaker 1: just didn't do these things. And here he was, and

890
00:59:15,555 --> 00:59:18,155
Speaker 1: we're having a great time, and people are probably sitting

891
00:59:18,155 --> 00:59:21,435
Speaker 1: at home saying that's great. You interrupt him while he's

892
00:59:21,515 --> 00:59:26,435
Speaker 1: talking live on national television, and you, while he's making

893
00:59:26,475 --> 00:59:29,515
Speaker 1: his final pitch about the environment, trying to convince people

894
00:59:29,515 --> 00:59:31,875
Speaker 1: who are there to look at the star as he

895
00:59:31,875 --> 00:59:34,555
Speaker 1: did for the last thirty years of his life, trying

896
00:59:34,595 --> 00:59:36,915
Speaker 1: to use his fame to get you to think about

897
00:59:36,955 --> 00:59:40,075
Speaker 1: the environment. This woman gets in his ear and goes

898
00:59:40,635 --> 00:59:46,075
Speaker 1: rap like this, and I just I just thought, to

899
00:59:46,155 --> 00:59:49,515
Speaker 1: that day, I could not have been more embarrassed by

900
00:59:49,515 --> 00:59:52,915
Speaker 1: anything that had to that point been going well if

901
00:59:52,915 --> 00:59:58,115
Speaker 1: we had planned it. And the thing I did do,

902
00:59:58,195 --> 01:00:01,515
Speaker 1: which I rarely ever did, was say, when we finished,

903
01:00:02,435 --> 01:00:05,475
Speaker 1: open up his ear piece, please let me. He apologized

904
01:00:05,515 --> 01:00:08,235
Speaker 1: to him, and I did, and he said it's no problem.

905
01:00:08,555 --> 01:00:10,955
Speaker 1: And I said, well again, thank you for saying that,

906
01:00:11,035 --> 01:00:13,635
Speaker 1: even though frankly I don't believe it, and he laughed

907
01:00:13,635 --> 01:00:16,675
Speaker 1: and he said, great to talk to you. Anytime you

908
01:00:16,715 --> 01:00:19,275
Speaker 1: need me, give me a call. I'll come on the

909
01:00:19,315 --> 01:00:23,115
Speaker 1: show whatever you need me. And he was absolutely fantastic.

910
01:00:23,235 --> 01:00:28,195
Speaker 1: And the producer told him to rap, and I'd just

911
01:00:28,315 --> 01:00:44,675
Speaker 1: like to add she did not get the promotion. I've

912
01:00:44,715 --> 01:00:46,395
Speaker 1: done all the damage I can do here. Thank you

913
01:00:46,435 --> 01:00:49,595
Speaker 1: for listening. Sorry for the short close here. A bit

914
01:00:49,635 --> 01:00:52,435
Speaker 1: of an eye problem going on, nothing serious, but I

915
01:00:53,195 --> 01:00:57,195
Speaker 1: really can't see the scripts. Most of our Countdown music

916
01:00:57,275 --> 01:01:05,275
Speaker 1: was arranged, produced, and performed by Brian Ray, John Philip Chanelle.

917
01:01:05,315 --> 01:01:07,515
Speaker 1: Our musical directors have Countdown. You would think I could

918
01:01:07,515 --> 01:01:13,035
Speaker 1: memorize this part secret inside the world of the program

919
01:01:13,075 --> 01:01:18,075
Speaker 1: and all my previous programs. I'm terrible at memorization. All

920
01:01:18,115 --> 01:01:20,635
Speaker 1: of the music performed by Brian Ray and John Phillip Shanel.

921
01:01:20,675 --> 01:01:23,835
Speaker 1: The musical directors have Countdown produced by Tko Brothers. Mister

922
01:01:23,955 --> 01:01:27,275
Speaker 1: Ray on guitars, bass and drums, mister Chaneil on orchestration

923
01:01:27,315 --> 01:01:31,355
Speaker 1: and keyboards. Our satirical and pithy musical comments are by

924
01:01:31,395 --> 01:01:35,475
Speaker 1: the best baseball stadium organist ever, Nancy Faust. The Olderman

925
01:01:35,595 --> 01:01:38,435
Speaker 1: theme from ESPN two was written by Mitch Warren Davis

926
01:01:39,195 --> 01:01:42,915
Speaker 1: ESPN Inc. Provided it. It is the sports music, other

927
01:01:43,035 --> 01:01:45,595
Speaker 1: music arranged and performed by the group, No horns allowed,

928
01:01:45,595 --> 01:01:51,555
Speaker 1: and everything else was as ever my fault. That's countdown

929
01:01:51,595 --> 01:01:54,435
Speaker 1: for today, Day two hundred and forty three of America

930
01:01:54,475 --> 01:01:58,515
Speaker 1: held hostage again, just two hundred and thirty days until

931
01:01:58,515 --> 01:02:00,875
Speaker 1: the scheduled end of his lame duck and lame brained term,

932
01:02:00,955 --> 01:02:05,995
Speaker 1: unless he is removed sooner by Maga trump Steen or

933
01:02:06,035 --> 01:02:11,235
Speaker 1: that pavement on his hand, or who knows. The next

934
01:02:11,235 --> 01:02:15,315
Speaker 1: scheduled countdown is Monday till then. I'm Keith Olderman. Good morning,

935
01:02:15,355 --> 01:02:39,675
Speaker 1: good afternoon, goodnight, and good luck. Countdown with Keith Olderman

936
01:02:39,835 --> 01:02:44,315
Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,

937
01:02:44,475 --> 01:02:48,515
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get

938
01:02:48,555 --> 01:02:49,435
Speaker 1: your podcasts.