1 00:00:04,795 --> 00:00:24,395 Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. Ever 2 00:00:24,475 --> 00:00:29,915 Speaker 1: heard the alternative rogue theory of religion? The one about 3 00:00:29,955 --> 00:00:34,835 Speaker 1: the place that all the mainstream faiths call hell. That 4 00:00:35,075 --> 00:00:38,395 Speaker 1: hell is not some fiery, eternal nightmare deep in the 5 00:00:38,395 --> 00:00:41,035 Speaker 1: center of the earth, nor anywhere else that in fact, 6 00:00:41,195 --> 00:00:49,755 Speaker 1: this this what we call life, This is hell. I'm 7 00:00:49,795 --> 00:00:52,115 Speaker 1: writing to let you know about a change coming to 8 00:00:52,275 --> 00:00:56,475 Speaker 1: our opinion pages. Jeff Bezos had somebody write for him 9 00:00:56,515 --> 00:00:58,795 Speaker 1: yesterday and stick his name on it, and then email 10 00:00:58,835 --> 00:01:01,915 Speaker 1: it to the Washington Post staff and then post it online, 11 00:01:02,875 --> 00:01:05,355 Speaker 1: resuming the quote, we are going to be writing every 12 00:01:05,435 --> 00:01:09,075 Speaker 1: day in support and defense of two pillars, personal liberties 13 00:01:09,395 --> 00:01:13,555 Speaker 1: and free markets. We'll cover other topics too, of course, 14 00:01:13,595 --> 00:01:16,635 Speaker 1: but few points opposing those pillars will be left to 15 00:01:16,715 --> 00:01:20,755 Speaker 1: be published by others. There was a time when a newspaper, 16 00:01:20,835 --> 00:01:24,035 Speaker 1: especially one that was a local monopoly, might have seen 17 00:01:24,075 --> 00:01:26,675 Speaker 1: it as a service to bring to the reader's doorstep 18 00:01:26,715 --> 00:01:30,075 Speaker 1: every morning a broad paced opinion section that sought to 19 00:01:30,115 --> 00:01:36,275 Speaker 1: cover all views. Today, the Internet does that job. I 20 00:01:36,315 --> 00:01:39,675 Speaker 1: am of America and for America, and proud to be so. 21 00:01:39,875 --> 00:01:42,235 Speaker 1: Our country did not get here by being typical and 22 00:01:42,275 --> 00:01:45,115 Speaker 1: A big part of America's success has been freedom in 23 00:01:45,195 --> 00:01:49,035 Speaker 1: the economic realm and everywhere else. Freedom is ethical, It 24 00:01:49,115 --> 00:01:56,355 Speaker 1: minimizes coercion, and practically it lives creativity, invention, and prosperity. 25 00:01:57,315 --> 00:02:01,435 Speaker 1: Oh nothing, just another fascist throwing around the word freedom. 26 00:02:02,195 --> 00:02:06,395 Speaker 1: What he means is freedom for him to enslave youew 27 00:02:07,555 --> 00:02:11,875 Speaker 1: Oh nothing, just the Washington Post having self defenestrated already, 28 00:02:11,875 --> 00:02:14,395 Speaker 1: and now somehow crawling back to the top of the 29 00:02:14,435 --> 00:02:18,915 Speaker 1: stairwell and throwing itself out a different window, and another 30 00:02:19,035 --> 00:02:23,435 Speaker 1: chunk of freedom of the press along with it. Oh nothing, 31 00:02:24,195 --> 00:02:28,275 Speaker 1: Just confirmation of the rogue theory of eternal life that 32 00:02:28,435 --> 00:02:34,555 Speaker 1: this is hell. As a side note, if that is correct, 33 00:02:34,595 --> 00:02:38,835 Speaker 1: If this is hell, Jeff Bezos's girlfriend, my ex Fox 34 00:02:38,875 --> 00:02:43,235 Speaker 1: Sports colleague, Laurin Sanchez, is reminded not to stand too 35 00:02:43,355 --> 00:02:47,115 Speaker 1: close to any open flames here in hell. The melting 36 00:02:47,275 --> 00:02:54,595 Speaker 1: plastic smell could kill us all. And Jeff Bezos's gleeful 37 00:02:54,915 --> 00:02:58,795 Speaker 1: final transformation of The Washington Post from a newspaper to 38 00:02:58,915 --> 00:03:03,755 Speaker 1: a Trump cheerleading newsletter is only the newest of three 39 00:03:04,075 --> 00:03:07,475 Speaker 1: media cans this week, including the cowardice of the White 40 00:03:07,475 --> 00:03:12,995 Speaker 1: House Correspondence Association and especially the startling reality that Rachel Meadow, 41 00:03:13,475 --> 00:03:16,795 Speaker 1: whom I hired at MSNBC out of my own pocket, 42 00:03:17,475 --> 00:03:21,355 Speaker 1: has avoided the truth on the air, evidently to make 43 00:03:21,395 --> 00:03:24,075 Speaker 1: it look like her corporate masters did not complete a 44 00:03:24,235 --> 00:03:29,155 Speaker 1: race purge at MSNBC, not told the truth for the 45 00:03:29,275 --> 00:03:34,395 Speaker 1: second time about other anchors leaving MSNBC, And I'll tell 46 00:03:34,635 --> 00:03:38,675 Speaker 1: the story of the first time in a few minutes. Look, 47 00:03:38,715 --> 00:03:42,635 Speaker 1: this is not a media podcast, though I do a 48 00:03:42,675 --> 00:03:44,795 Speaker 1: lot of it since I know a lot about it. 49 00:03:45,475 --> 00:03:48,435 Speaker 1: But when the history is written of this increasingly successful 50 00:03:48,435 --> 00:03:52,235 Speaker 1: attempt to overthrow the government of the United States by Trump, 51 00:03:52,835 --> 00:03:55,635 Speaker 1: if he lets anybody write it one of the final straws, 52 00:03:55,635 --> 00:03:59,675 Speaker 1: maybe the final straw will have been how stunningly quickly 53 00:03:59,835 --> 00:04:06,355 Speaker 1: the American free press collapsed, gave in, gave up. And 54 00:04:06,475 --> 00:04:09,675 Speaker 1: then how the same news organizations and networks managed to 55 00:04:09,715 --> 00:04:13,635 Speaker 1: find yet another new lower level to which to descend. 56 00:04:13,915 --> 00:04:17,435 Speaker 1: And then finally, how it all of it managed without 57 00:04:17,515 --> 00:04:21,435 Speaker 1: being really coerced or threatened or even rewarded in any 58 00:04:21,435 --> 00:04:28,515 Speaker 1: way to become cheerleading collaborators of Trump. Because all of 59 00:04:28,595 --> 00:04:33,555 Speaker 1: it today a white supremacist, stoned foreigner being allowed in 60 00:04:33,635 --> 00:04:36,075 Speaker 1: the White House let alone in the Oval office during 61 00:04:36,075 --> 00:04:38,635 Speaker 1: a cabinet meeting, and he and Trump promising to fire 62 00:04:38,715 --> 00:04:43,435 Speaker 1: all federal employees and basically privatize the government. A measles 63 00:04:43,515 --> 00:04:45,635 Speaker 1: outbreak in Texas, and there's now a death and it 64 00:04:45,715 --> 00:04:50,235 Speaker 1: was an unvaccinated child. Polling showing roughly thirty five percent 65 00:04:50,275 --> 00:04:54,675 Speaker 1: of all Republicans favoring eliminating elections and Congress, and fifty 66 00:04:54,675 --> 00:04:58,315 Speaker 1: five percent of Trump Republicans supporting rule by an authoritarian 67 00:04:58,395 --> 00:05:01,795 Speaker 1: strong man. To the Republicans who have for forty years 68 00:05:01,835 --> 00:05:05,195 Speaker 1: done nothing but run up deficits, getting away with pretending 69 00:05:05,235 --> 00:05:08,475 Speaker 1: to be fixing the urgent crisis of deficits that they 70 00:05:08,515 --> 00:05:12,355 Speaker 1: caused and which isn't urgent anyway. To the five million 71 00:05:12,395 --> 00:05:16,875 Speaker 1: dollars citizenship gold cards and the Ukraine extortion and the 72 00:05:16,955 --> 00:05:20,995 Speaker 1: Gaza theft, and the entire protection racket infomercial presidency of 73 00:05:21,035 --> 00:05:27,195 Speaker 1: this asshole. All of that is possible only because our media, 74 00:05:27,675 --> 00:05:31,955 Speaker 1: our news reporting, our journalism, our free press, is broken, 75 00:05:32,835 --> 00:05:39,675 Speaker 1: and probably irretrievably and fatally. So. They didn't start this fire, 76 00:05:40,595 --> 00:05:45,715 Speaker 1: but they did stand there taking great pictures of it. 77 00:05:45,715 --> 00:05:51,515 Speaker 1: It starts with what self absorbed, bubble protected lemmings our 78 00:05:51,635 --> 00:05:57,075 Speaker 1: news media members are reporters, commentators, editors, but especially owners. 79 00:05:59,035 --> 00:06:02,115 Speaker 1: And I've promised here on both podcasts on Monday that 80 00:06:02,195 --> 00:06:05,875 Speaker 1: if Mattow actually said anything about the racist purge by 81 00:06:05,915 --> 00:06:08,275 Speaker 1: her employers, the one that claimed Joy Reid and Katie 82 00:06:08,275 --> 00:06:10,715 Speaker 1: Fang and three other shows fronted by people of color, 83 00:06:10,875 --> 00:06:14,115 Speaker 1: I would apologize to her. Well, I do apologize to her. 84 00:06:14,475 --> 00:06:18,275 Speaker 1: She said something, and I will also apologize for her 85 00:06:19,075 --> 00:06:22,475 Speaker 1: because what Rachel Mattow said was something worse and somehow 86 00:06:22,515 --> 00:06:25,675 Speaker 1: worse than if she'd said nothing and pretended everything was fine, 87 00:06:25,995 --> 00:06:34,355 Speaker 1: because all she did was whitewash it, literally white wash it. 88 00:06:36,115 --> 00:06:41,395 Speaker 1: Let me parse what Maddow said. It is shameful. And 89 00:06:41,475 --> 00:06:44,315 Speaker 1: I don't know if she deliberately rewrote the narrative on 90 00:06:44,395 --> 00:06:47,435 Speaker 1: behalf of her bosses, or she has somehow actually convinced 91 00:06:47,435 --> 00:06:51,515 Speaker 1: herself that this revised, unreal version of what happened to 92 00:06:51,595 --> 00:06:56,595 Speaker 1: Joyreid and the others is the actual truth. Quote Joy 93 00:06:56,755 --> 00:07:03,475 Speaker 1: Reid's show the readout ended tonight unquote. Rachel, you mean 94 00:07:03,515 --> 00:07:08,755 Speaker 1: she was fired. They fired her quote and Joy is 95 00:07:08,795 --> 00:07:13,395 Speaker 1: not taking a different job in the network unquote. That's 96 00:07:13,435 --> 00:07:18,555 Speaker 1: because she was fired, Rachel. Your bosses fired her. Quote, 97 00:07:18,955 --> 00:07:22,435 Speaker 1: she is leaving the network altogether, and that is very 98 00:07:22,955 --> 00:07:29,155 Speaker 1: very very hard to take. Unquote, She's leaving because Rachel, 99 00:07:29,235 --> 00:07:34,155 Speaker 1: she was fired, and it's unfortunate. You've found it very 100 00:07:34,315 --> 00:07:36,635 Speaker 1: very very hard to take. But I'm wondering what you 101 00:07:37,315 --> 00:07:41,675 Speaker 1: with essentially veto power over personnel at that network that 102 00:07:41,715 --> 00:07:44,995 Speaker 1: you have previously exercised. I'm wondering what you did to 103 00:07:45,075 --> 00:07:48,475 Speaker 1: try to prevent it, because if it is very very 104 00:07:48,475 --> 00:07:50,475 Speaker 1: hard to take, maybe you should have stood up a 105 00:07:50,515 --> 00:07:53,675 Speaker 1: little taller, or thrown your weight around a little more adroitly, 106 00:07:53,755 --> 00:07:56,955 Speaker 1: or said, if she leaves this network, so do I. 107 00:07:58,275 --> 00:07:58,755 Speaker 2: Quote. 108 00:07:58,955 --> 00:08:02,275 Speaker 1: I love everything about joy Reid. I've learned so much 109 00:08:02,315 --> 00:08:04,315 Speaker 1: from her. I have so much more to learn from her. 110 00:08:04,475 --> 00:08:06,475 Speaker 1: I do not want to lose her as a colleague 111 00:08:06,475 --> 00:08:08,955 Speaker 1: here at MSNBC, And personally, I think it is a 112 00:08:09,355 --> 00:08:15,555 Speaker 1: bad mistake to let her walk out the door. Unquote Rachel, 113 00:08:15,595 --> 00:08:20,395 Speaker 1: she didn't walk, she was pushed. I walked out the door. 114 00:08:20,835 --> 00:08:25,955 Speaker 1: She was fired. Katie Fang was fired, Alex Wagner, Jonathan 115 00:08:26,035 --> 00:08:29,795 Speaker 1: k Part and Iman were all at best demoted. They 116 00:08:29,795 --> 00:08:33,835 Speaker 1: were in essence fired. Five anchors of color, two outright 117 00:08:33,875 --> 00:08:36,595 Speaker 1: firings and three virtual firings. They didn't walk out the 118 00:08:36,595 --> 00:08:39,075 Speaker 1: goddamn door, Rachel. They were thrown out the window, and 119 00:08:39,115 --> 00:08:42,275 Speaker 1: you are covering up for that, quoting her again, it's 120 00:08:42,315 --> 00:08:46,675 Speaker 1: not my call, and I understand that unquote. At what 121 00:08:46,875 --> 00:08:49,515 Speaker 1: was formerly thirty one million dollars a year to do 122 00:08:49,595 --> 00:08:52,435 Speaker 1: fifty two shows a year and is now twenty five 123 00:08:52,475 --> 00:08:54,115 Speaker 1: million dollars a year to do one hundred and thirty 124 00:08:54,115 --> 00:08:56,115 Speaker 1: two shows a year, you know what, it is your 125 00:08:56,115 --> 00:09:00,435 Speaker 1: goddamn call, Rachel. You go in and you tell these morons. 126 00:09:00,675 --> 00:09:04,355 Speaker 1: She stays, or I go and guess what she stays. 127 00:09:06,395 --> 00:09:10,435 Speaker 1: Could have done that too with your own staff, Rachel. Tuesday. 128 00:09:10,435 --> 00:09:14,435 Speaker 1: Apparently MSNBC informed most of Madow's staff that they were 129 00:09:14,475 --> 00:09:17,555 Speaker 1: being let go as part of this schedule shakeup. And 130 00:09:17,595 --> 00:09:21,795 Speaker 1: once again, when you are the brand, it is your 131 00:09:21,795 --> 00:09:25,995 Speaker 1: goddamn call, Rachel. When I was the MSNBC brand, and 132 00:09:25,995 --> 00:09:29,035 Speaker 1: they refused for six months to even give Rachel Maddow 133 00:09:29,355 --> 00:09:32,715 Speaker 1: a chance to be my guest host for one night, 134 00:09:33,675 --> 00:09:36,075 Speaker 1: and went so far as to lie to me claiming 135 00:09:36,235 --> 00:09:38,595 Speaker 1: they had hired her as a contributor when they hadn't, 136 00:09:38,795 --> 00:09:41,595 Speaker 1: And as a result, she almost left us to go 137 00:09:41,635 --> 00:09:44,755 Speaker 1: to CNN for two hundred and fifty fing dollars. I 138 00:09:44,835 --> 00:09:48,235 Speaker 1: told my bosses, either you hire her within the next 139 00:09:48,235 --> 00:09:50,755 Speaker 1: twenty four hours, or I will walk out during the 140 00:09:50,795 --> 00:09:57,115 Speaker 1: middle of a program. Quoting her again. I will tell 141 00:09:57,115 --> 00:09:58,995 Speaker 1: you it is also unnerving to see that on a 142 00:09:59,035 --> 00:10:01,835 Speaker 1: network where we have two, count them, two non white 143 00:10:01,835 --> 00:10:04,755 Speaker 1: hosts in primetime. Both of our non white hosts in 144 00:10:04,795 --> 00:10:07,635 Speaker 1: primetime are losing their shows, as is Katie Fang on 145 00:10:07,675 --> 00:10:11,755 Speaker 1: the weekend. And that feels worse than bad no matter 146 00:10:11,755 --> 00:10:16,475 Speaker 1: who replaces them. That feels indefensible. And I do not 147 00:10:16,675 --> 00:10:24,395 Speaker 1: defend it. Unquote, ah, you do not defend it. You 148 00:10:24,435 --> 00:10:27,355 Speaker 1: know who. You sound like, Rachel You sound like Senator 149 00:10:27,595 --> 00:10:31,875 Speaker 1: Susan Collins. You sound like the headline writers at the 150 00:10:31,915 --> 00:10:37,195 Speaker 1: New York Times. Leave the impression that Joy Read and 151 00:10:37,275 --> 00:10:40,955 Speaker 1: Katie Fang and the others quote lost quote their shows, 152 00:10:42,995 --> 00:10:48,155 Speaker 1: misplace them perhaps, or or lost them because well, Joy 153 00:10:48,195 --> 00:10:50,075 Speaker 1: Read and Katie Fang and the others they got hit 154 00:10:50,115 --> 00:10:55,595 Speaker 1: by a meteor, rather than you know, your Comcast bosses 155 00:10:55,915 --> 00:11:00,955 Speaker 1: turned them joy Read, especially into human sacrifices in hopes 156 00:11:00,995 --> 00:11:08,275 Speaker 1: of appeasing the evil spirit of the devil Trump. Good God. 157 00:11:08,395 --> 00:11:12,435 Speaker 1: I sat there next to Rachel Meadow on the fifty 158 00:11:12,435 --> 00:11:17,675 Speaker 1: second floor of thirty Rock in Jeff Zucker's office in 159 00:11:17,795 --> 00:11:20,515 Speaker 1: June two thousand and nine, when our bosses at GE 160 00:11:21,235 --> 00:11:25,275 Speaker 1: threatened Zucker personally that they were about to take MSNBC 161 00:11:25,515 --> 00:11:29,635 Speaker 1: off the air, literally throw the off switch, because Bill 162 00:11:29,675 --> 00:11:33,515 Speaker 1: O'Reilly had smeared the chairman of GE, Jeff Immelt, and 163 00:11:33,595 --> 00:11:36,075 Speaker 1: Jeff Immelt's mother was a Bill O'Reilly fan. And in 164 00:11:36,115 --> 00:11:38,515 Speaker 1: a meeting of all the anchors and executive producers and 165 00:11:38,595 --> 00:11:42,075 Speaker 1: Jeff Zucker and everybody else, we agreed on an interim 166 00:11:42,115 --> 00:11:46,275 Speaker 1: emergency solution that I proposed, like a month long moratorium 167 00:11:46,875 --> 00:11:49,235 Speaker 1: on mentioning Fox News, just to do we can figure 168 00:11:49,235 --> 00:11:53,235 Speaker 1: out what the hell to do next. And as we 169 00:11:53,235 --> 00:11:57,875 Speaker 1: were congratulating ourselves on this grim averting of nuclear war 170 00:11:58,715 --> 00:12:01,955 Speaker 1: with our own owners, which we would lose, Rachel stood 171 00:12:02,035 --> 00:12:04,955 Speaker 1: up and said, I will not accept this. If anyone 172 00:12:05,035 --> 00:12:07,515 Speaker 1: attempts to stop me from doing a story about Fox News, 173 00:12:07,555 --> 00:12:10,555 Speaker 1: I will walk out. My audience has to know I 174 00:12:10,635 --> 00:12:13,355 Speaker 1: make the editorial decisions on my show and no one else, 175 00:12:13,435 --> 00:12:15,635 Speaker 1: because if they think I might have let other people 176 00:12:15,675 --> 00:12:18,115 Speaker 1: tell me what I could and couldn't say about Fox News. 177 00:12:18,755 --> 00:12:21,075 Speaker 1: They will be right in assuming that I might have 178 00:12:21,155 --> 00:12:23,355 Speaker 1: let other people tell me what I could and couldn't 179 00:12:23,355 --> 00:12:26,875 Speaker 1: say about every other controversial topic. And she got up 180 00:12:26,875 --> 00:12:30,755 Speaker 1: and left the room, and as the door closed, Jeff 181 00:12:30,795 --> 00:12:33,195 Speaker 1: Zucker screamed at me to get her back on the reservation. 182 00:12:33,475 --> 00:12:35,195 Speaker 1: And I went down to her office and I said, 183 00:12:35,195 --> 00:12:38,395 Speaker 1: give me just as long as the French held out 184 00:12:38,675 --> 00:12:41,875 Speaker 1: against Hitler. I think I know how to make this work. 185 00:12:41,915 --> 00:12:44,355 Speaker 1: I think I know how to retain our editorial control. 186 00:12:44,595 --> 00:12:49,875 Speaker 1: But I need like thirty three days. She nodded, and 187 00:12:49,915 --> 00:12:52,195 Speaker 1: I said, if it doesn't work, or they try to 188 00:12:52,235 --> 00:12:54,395 Speaker 1: do this to us again, I will then come on 189 00:12:54,435 --> 00:12:57,395 Speaker 1: your show and we can tell the story together of 190 00:12:57,435 --> 00:13:00,955 Speaker 1: what they did, and we can quit simultaneously on the 191 00:13:01,035 --> 00:13:06,795 Speaker 1: air and go out and get really drunk, okay, And 192 00:13:06,835 --> 00:13:12,835 Speaker 1: she said she liked that scenario. Rachel Mattow threatened to 193 00:13:12,915 --> 00:13:16,315 Speaker 1: quit over story editing, and then she and I threatened 194 00:13:16,315 --> 00:13:20,915 Speaker 1: to quit over story editing six years earlier, one month 195 00:13:20,995 --> 00:13:24,355 Speaker 1: into countdown on MSNBC and into a new seven figure 196 00:13:24,435 --> 00:13:27,075 Speaker 1: salary that I really enjoyed, and I threatened to walk 197 00:13:27,115 --> 00:13:30,955 Speaker 1: out quit an hour from that moment if they tried 198 00:13:30,995 --> 00:13:34,355 Speaker 1: to run a commentary from the fascist nutjob Michael Savage 199 00:13:34,635 --> 00:13:38,235 Speaker 1: on Countdown and where are we now at MSNBC. We 200 00:13:38,355 --> 00:13:42,675 Speaker 1: gone from that MSNBC to Rachel's quote. I think it 201 00:13:42,755 --> 00:13:45,115 Speaker 1: is a bad mistake to let her walk out the door. 202 00:13:45,675 --> 00:13:52,155 Speaker 1: That feels indefensible, and I do not defend it. What 203 00:13:52,195 --> 00:13:55,835 Speaker 1: Matdow said was as Mealy mouthed at, as cowering, and worse, 204 00:13:56,035 --> 00:13:59,475 Speaker 1: as much of a surrender as what her colleague Ali 205 00:13:59,635 --> 00:14:04,795 Speaker 1: Velshi wrote. My show, he wrote, exists because Joy read 206 00:14:04,795 --> 00:14:07,795 Speaker 1: made that viable and important. Joy is a builder, a 207 00:14:07,835 --> 00:14:11,475 Speaker 1: thought leader, a fierce warrior for justice, fairness and equity. 208 00:14:11,635 --> 00:14:14,635 Speaker 1: Joy is a masterclass in holding power to account. I 209 00:14:14,675 --> 00:14:16,755 Speaker 1: can't wait to see what she ends up doing next 210 00:14:16,955 --> 00:14:23,515 Speaker 1: hashtag my hero unquote. Well apparently it's a masterclass. You 211 00:14:23,675 --> 00:14:26,755 Speaker 1: learn nothing from you, son of a bitch. You not 212 00:14:26,795 --> 00:14:29,795 Speaker 1: only didn't speak truth to power, Ali Belchi, you didn't 213 00:14:29,835 --> 00:14:34,355 Speaker 1: speak truth. She was fired. It was a purge. It 214 00:14:34,435 --> 00:14:39,355 Speaker 1: was a racist purge at MSNBC by Comcast. And they've 215 00:14:39,395 --> 00:14:42,675 Speaker 1: wiped out all the anchors of colors. Oh wait, there's 216 00:14:42,755 --> 00:14:49,195 Speaker 1: one left. His name is Ali Velshie. And none of 217 00:14:49,195 --> 00:14:53,275 Speaker 1: this is the most infuriating part the purge was designed 218 00:14:53,355 --> 00:14:59,875 Speaker 1: to appease Trump. Did it work, of course not? Has 219 00:14:59,915 --> 00:15:03,755 Speaker 1: it ever worked? Of course not. He's not an actual 220 00:15:03,835 --> 00:15:07,635 Speaker 1: human being. He is not satiated. He does not leave 221 00:15:07,755 --> 00:15:12,555 Speaker 1: the table with his winnings. You compromise, he decides you 222 00:15:12,595 --> 00:15:17,195 Speaker 1: are weak. His response to Comcast throwing joy Read into 223 00:15:17,235 --> 00:15:22,075 Speaker 1: the bottomless pit of Trump inside the volcano, He made 224 00:15:22,115 --> 00:15:25,835 Speaker 1: more threats, greater threats. He described MSNBC as a whole 225 00:15:25,875 --> 00:15:28,555 Speaker 1: corrupt operation, nothing more than an illegal arm of the 226 00:15:28,595 --> 00:15:31,555 Speaker 1: Democrat Party. They should be forced to pay vast sums 227 00:15:31,555 --> 00:15:33,835 Speaker 1: of money for the damage they've done to our country. 228 00:15:33,955 --> 00:15:38,755 Speaker 1: Fake news is an unpardonable sin. So good call, Rachel, 229 00:15:39,475 --> 00:15:43,075 Speaker 1: good call to present the corporate version of what happened 230 00:15:43,555 --> 00:15:45,475 Speaker 1: to Joy Read and Katie Fang and the others. Good 231 00:15:45,475 --> 00:15:48,995 Speaker 1: call to refuse to use the word racism, good call 232 00:15:49,515 --> 00:15:54,195 Speaker 1: to sell the cover story, good call to not tell 233 00:15:54,715 --> 00:16:00,075 Speaker 1: the truth about it. And if there is one more 234 00:16:00,155 --> 00:16:03,595 Speaker 1: level of hell to drop down to, how did media 235 00:16:03,675 --> 00:16:07,115 Speaker 1: reporters cover all this? I mean, they are individually and 236 00:16:07,155 --> 00:16:10,435 Speaker 1: collectively dumber than at any other point in my fifty 237 00:16:10,515 --> 00:16:14,395 Speaker 1: years doing this. But now the ones who think they 238 00:16:14,435 --> 00:16:17,835 Speaker 1: are smart see an opportunity. As I said Monday, the 239 00:16:17,875 --> 00:16:20,355 Speaker 1: word liberal is becoming what the word communist was in 240 00:16:20,395 --> 00:16:24,795 Speaker 1: the fifties. And the media reporters who've gone from being 241 00:16:24,835 --> 00:16:27,475 Speaker 1: part of the enabling process for this now see their 242 00:16:27,595 --> 00:16:30,635 Speaker 1: chance to curry favor with the fascists by going along 243 00:16:30,675 --> 00:16:35,995 Speaker 1: with it. They fired Read, they fired Fang, they demoted 244 00:16:35,995 --> 00:16:39,555 Speaker 1: the others, They installed a panel show. I believe it 245 00:16:39,595 --> 00:16:42,315 Speaker 1: will be the one millionth panel show in cable TV 246 00:16:42,435 --> 00:16:44,875 Speaker 1: news at the moment. It will feature the former head 247 00:16:44,875 --> 00:16:47,475 Speaker 1: of the Republican Party, in other words, a political salesman, 248 00:16:47,835 --> 00:16:52,315 Speaker 1: a spokesperson for a brand, not commentator, not analyst, not journalists, 249 00:16:52,315 --> 00:16:56,795 Speaker 1: just a salesman. Another host will be a former Democratic strategist, 250 00:16:56,875 --> 00:17:02,355 Speaker 1: another political salesperson, spokeswoman for a brand, not commentator, not analyst, 251 00:17:02,435 --> 00:17:09,995 Speaker 1: not journalists, just salesperson, the daughter of Senator Menendez. And 252 00:17:10,075 --> 00:17:14,715 Speaker 1: they will put Jensaki, the ultimate political salesperson, on four 253 00:17:14,835 --> 00:17:19,195 Speaker 1: nights a week in the nine pm Meadows slot. And 254 00:17:19,275 --> 00:17:23,475 Speaker 1: how is this lurch from diversity to sameness, from original thought, 255 00:17:23,515 --> 00:17:28,355 Speaker 1: even when it's wrong to literally Democratic Party talking points? 256 00:17:29,675 --> 00:17:31,875 Speaker 1: How is this lurch from the left of the Democratic 257 00:17:31,955 --> 00:17:36,235 Speaker 1: Party to the boring, losing mainstream How is this covered? 258 00:17:36,275 --> 00:17:40,515 Speaker 1: By Sarah Fisher, media writer at Axios. The headline of 259 00:17:40,555 --> 00:17:46,715 Speaker 1: her story about all this quote MSNBC turns farther left 260 00:17:47,315 --> 00:17:51,195 Speaker 1: the completely erroneous conclusion MSNBC. Fisher somehow says with a 261 00:17:51,235 --> 00:17:54,995 Speaker 1: straight face, will quote elevate some of its most progressive voices. 262 00:17:55,315 --> 00:17:57,875 Speaker 1: The changes signaled the network's intent to double down on 263 00:17:57,915 --> 00:18:00,795 Speaker 1: its liberal bent instead of moving towards the center in 264 00:18:00,875 --> 00:18:13,435 Speaker 1: the new Trump era. Unbelievable elevate some of its most 265 00:18:13,475 --> 00:18:17,675 Speaker 1: progressive voices after firing Joyreid and Katie Fang and three 266 00:18:17,755 --> 00:18:21,915 Speaker 1: other of its most progressive voices, and its most progressive 267 00:18:21,955 --> 00:18:28,755 Speaker 1: voice covered for it again fourteen years ago after they 268 00:18:28,835 --> 00:18:32,675 Speaker 1: tried to suspend me for violating NBC News employee rules, 269 00:18:32,875 --> 00:18:35,955 Speaker 1: even though they had written my contract so it repeatedly 270 00:18:36,035 --> 00:18:39,035 Speaker 1: and specifically stated I was not an NBC News employee. 271 00:18:39,435 --> 00:18:42,715 Speaker 1: I prepared to sue NBC for breach of contract, or 272 00:18:42,755 --> 00:18:46,355 Speaker 1: to negotiate a new set of work rules covering their 273 00:18:46,395 --> 00:18:50,475 Speaker 1: complaints as well, I might add, or most likely to 274 00:18:50,515 --> 00:18:54,155 Speaker 1: negotiate an exit so I could go take the money. 275 00:18:54,195 --> 00:18:57,035 Speaker 1: Al Gore was offering me to take countdown to his network, 276 00:18:57,075 --> 00:19:02,355 Speaker 1: Current TV for nearly three months as this was evolving, 277 00:19:03,395 --> 00:19:07,115 Speaker 1: I told one person, and one person alone, about every 278 00:19:07,195 --> 00:19:11,675 Speaker 1: development daily or nearly daily, every Twist at thirty Rock, 279 00:19:11,955 --> 00:19:15,715 Speaker 1: every update on the Gore offer, one person who needed 280 00:19:15,755 --> 00:19:19,115 Speaker 1: to know that if they wanted to come with me, 281 00:19:19,155 --> 00:19:21,555 Speaker 1: I could get the millions, or more likely that when 282 00:19:21,555 --> 00:19:25,595 Speaker 1: I left, NBC would have to give them millions. They 283 00:19:25,715 --> 00:19:29,075 Speaker 1: needed to know, and I needed to tell them. This 284 00:19:29,195 --> 00:19:31,595 Speaker 1: was a person I thought was one of my closest friends, 285 00:19:32,155 --> 00:19:35,235 Speaker 1: and that person in November and December of twenty ten 286 00:19:35,475 --> 00:19:38,195 Speaker 1: and January of twenty eleven, to whom I told everything 287 00:19:38,435 --> 00:19:43,795 Speaker 1: was Rachel Maddow. When NBC and I finally reached an 288 00:19:43,835 --> 00:19:47,515 Speaker 1: exit deal, I signed it during a commercial break during 289 00:19:47,555 --> 00:19:50,115 Speaker 1: my own show and announced the end of the show 290 00:19:50,195 --> 00:19:53,395 Speaker 1: on the air. I apologize again to my staff. There 291 00:19:53,435 --> 00:19:55,835 Speaker 1: was no other way to do it, and by chance, 292 00:19:56,275 --> 00:20:00,755 Speaker 1: that night, as I was literally signing off, Maddow was 293 00:20:00,835 --> 00:20:03,555 Speaker 1: in Los Angeles to be the lead guest on Bill 294 00:20:03,675 --> 00:20:08,475 Speaker 1: Maher's show. So I announced, the show is over at 295 00:20:08,515 --> 00:20:10,755 Speaker 1: eight forty five Eastern, and it's the lead story on 296 00:20:10,915 --> 00:20:13,555 Speaker 1: CNN for twenty two minutes at nine o'clock. At twenty 297 00:20:13,555 --> 00:20:15,995 Speaker 1: two minutes at ten o'clock and mar is on at 298 00:20:15,995 --> 00:20:18,515 Speaker 1: eleven Eastern, and he leads with it, obviously, and most 299 00:20:18,515 --> 00:20:20,555 Speaker 1: of the audience at his show doesn't know, and there's 300 00:20:20,595 --> 00:20:24,595 Speaker 1: a gasp, and then he says, by coincidence, Rachel Meadow 301 00:20:24,635 --> 00:20:27,475 Speaker 1: is here tonight, and mar asks her for her reaction, 302 00:20:27,595 --> 00:20:30,795 Speaker 1: And Rachel, who would have gotten an email update from 303 00:20:30,875 --> 00:20:34,715 Speaker 1: me no later than four hours earlier in which I wrote, 304 00:20:34,955 --> 00:20:38,755 Speaker 1: I think this is it? Says live on National TV 305 00:20:38,915 --> 00:20:43,835 Speaker 1: to Bill Maher, asked about Oberman quitting. This is the 306 00:20:43,835 --> 00:20:46,315 Speaker 1: first I'm hearing about any of this. I know nothing 307 00:20:46,355 --> 00:20:56,515 Speaker 1: about it. An absolute lie, the first one. It is 308 00:20:56,635 --> 00:21:00,155 Speaker 1: one thing to sell your soul, Rachel. It is one 309 00:21:00,195 --> 00:21:03,275 Speaker 1: thing to sell the corporate equivalent of your soul, Comcast, 310 00:21:04,155 --> 00:21:06,595 Speaker 1: but then it's quite another to sell it and discover 311 00:21:06,715 --> 00:21:10,315 Speaker 1: the check with which they paid you was signed by 312 00:21:10,395 --> 00:21:39,555 Speaker 1: Donald Trump in Disappearing Ink. Amazingly, this whole disaster at MSNBC, 313 00:21:39,715 --> 00:21:41,955 Speaker 1: I mean the new one, not the one from twenty eleven, 314 00:21:42,035 --> 00:21:45,235 Speaker 1: might be the only second most important example of what 315 00:21:45,395 --> 00:21:49,595 Speaker 1: happens to those who collaborate with evil. It was two 316 00:21:49,595 --> 00:21:52,515 Speaker 1: weeks ago this past Tuesday, when Trump personally got so 317 00:21:52,555 --> 00:21:55,915 Speaker 1: angry at the Associated Press because the Associated Press refused 318 00:21:55,955 --> 00:21:59,075 Speaker 1: to call it the Gulf of America, that he banned, 319 00:21:59,195 --> 00:22:01,635 Speaker 1: the wire Service from White House Access and the other 320 00:22:01,675 --> 00:22:04,635 Speaker 1: news organizations. Rallied to the AP's defense. And when I 321 00:22:04,795 --> 00:22:07,595 Speaker 1: say rallied to its defense, I mean they did nothing. 322 00:22:08,835 --> 00:22:12,555 Speaker 1: Lots of bad mistake style statements, lots of I do 323 00:22:12,635 --> 00:22:16,275 Speaker 1: not defend it kind of statements, lots of handbringing, lots 324 00:22:16,315 --> 00:22:20,115 Speaker 1: of First Amendment citations. Action like the White House Press 325 00:22:20,115 --> 00:22:23,475 Speaker 1: Corps collectively boycotting the next Trump event or just sending 326 00:22:23,675 --> 00:22:29,315 Speaker 1: one reporter to cover it. No, nothing, nothing from the networks, 327 00:22:29,355 --> 00:22:32,595 Speaker 1: nothing from the New York Times, and most pathetically, nothing 328 00:22:33,595 --> 00:22:38,955 Speaker 1: from the White House Correspondence Association. You would think this 329 00:22:39,035 --> 00:22:42,755 Speaker 1: event in which one of their correspondents, one of their 330 00:22:42,875 --> 00:22:46,795 Speaker 1: major members, gets banned for refusing to edit according to 331 00:22:46,835 --> 00:22:49,755 Speaker 1: Trump's whims, you would think this would be in their wheelhouse. 332 00:22:49,995 --> 00:22:52,315 Speaker 1: You would think somewhere, at some point, at a meeting 333 00:22:52,315 --> 00:22:54,955 Speaker 1: of the White House Correspondence Association, somebody might have said, 334 00:22:54,955 --> 00:22:58,195 Speaker 1: you know, if ever we get a president who's decides 335 00:22:58,235 --> 00:22:59,795 Speaker 1: to write our copy for us, we'll have to do 336 00:22:59,835 --> 00:23:05,115 Speaker 1: something about it. No, apparently not so two weeks without 337 00:23:05,195 --> 00:23:08,395 Speaker 1: paying any price for his censorship. That's what it is. 338 00:23:08,435 --> 00:23:12,035 Speaker 1: Censorship to salitarian style attempts to control the content of 339 00:23:12,075 --> 00:23:16,595 Speaker 1: the news. And the administration correctly reads the weakness in 340 00:23:16,595 --> 00:23:19,715 Speaker 1: the White House Correspondents Association and the White House Press Corps. 341 00:23:19,875 --> 00:23:22,955 Speaker 1: And it goes further. And now the White House pool reporter, 342 00:23:23,315 --> 00:23:26,235 Speaker 1: the gal or the guy who covers for everybody when 343 00:23:26,275 --> 00:23:29,395 Speaker 1: there's no practical way for every reporter to be there, 344 00:23:30,955 --> 00:23:34,555 Speaker 1: always selected by the White House Correspondents Association. And by 345 00:23:34,595 --> 00:23:37,515 Speaker 1: the way, in a rotation basis, it's not like, hey, Gabe, 346 00:23:37,555 --> 00:23:40,755 Speaker 1: you go do this one now. It will now be 347 00:23:40,835 --> 00:23:46,075 Speaker 1: selected by the White House. Trump will pick his own reporter. 348 00:23:48,315 --> 00:23:52,475 Speaker 1: Expect a strongly worded statement from a Washington journalist if 349 00:23:52,515 --> 00:23:56,315 Speaker 1: there is one left. And by the way, the White 350 00:23:56,315 --> 00:24:02,835 Speaker 1: House Correspondence Association inert, incompetent, almost inanimate response that contributed 351 00:24:02,875 --> 00:24:05,555 Speaker 1: to Trump thinking, to Trump knowing he could get away 352 00:24:05,595 --> 00:24:05,835 Speaker 1: with it. 353 00:24:06,675 --> 00:24:07,115 Speaker 2: And more. 354 00:24:08,395 --> 00:24:11,435 Speaker 1: In the wake of MSNBC purging its hosts of Color 355 00:24:11,835 --> 00:24:14,315 Speaker 1: and its true liberals and its true independent thinkers, the 356 00:24:14,395 --> 00:24:16,915 Speaker 1: network leaked anything it could think of to make it 357 00:24:16,995 --> 00:24:20,275 Speaker 1: look better, especially on the People of Color front. One 358 00:24:20,275 --> 00:24:23,715 Speaker 1: of these brand new innovation panel shows innovative as long 359 00:24:23,715 --> 00:24:26,235 Speaker 1: as this is the year nineteen eighty seven that will 360 00:24:26,235 --> 00:24:30,035 Speaker 1: replace the real programs just shot to hell by MSNBC. 361 00:24:30,315 --> 00:24:33,715 Speaker 1: It will be co hosted by the African American Politico 362 00:24:33,915 --> 00:24:37,075 Speaker 1: editor named Eugene Daniels. Oh, by the way, the lame 363 00:24:37,155 --> 00:24:39,715 Speaker 1: duck president of the White House Correspondence Association is. 364 00:24:43,155 --> 00:24:53,595 Speaker 2: Eugene Daniels. 365 00:24:54,515 --> 00:24:56,715 Speaker 1: Who's the lamest, weakest guy we can get in the 366 00:24:56,755 --> 00:24:59,355 Speaker 1: White House Press Corps. Ah, I make him the host 367 00:24:59,395 --> 00:25:03,195 Speaker 1: of the show. By the way, all the sucking of 368 00:25:03,235 --> 00:25:07,435 Speaker 1: Trump sure has paid off. Trump's reaction to these folderous 369 00:25:07,555 --> 00:25:12,355 Speaker 1: by our vaunted free press. Here come the fake books 370 00:25:12,355 --> 00:25:14,675 Speaker 1: and stories with the so called anonymous or off the 371 00:25:14,715 --> 00:25:17,595 Speaker 1: record quotes. At some point, I'm going to sue some 372 00:25:17,715 --> 00:25:21,115 Speaker 1: of these dishonest authors and book publishers, or even media 373 00:25:21,235 --> 00:25:24,115 Speaker 1: in general to find out whether or not these anonymous 374 00:25:24,115 --> 00:25:27,395 Speaker 1: sources even exist, which they largely do not. They are 375 00:25:27,435 --> 00:25:30,075 Speaker 1: made up defamatory fiction, and a big price should be 376 00:25:30,075 --> 00:25:33,115 Speaker 1: paid for this blatant dishonesty. I'll do it as a 377 00:25:33,195 --> 00:25:36,075 Speaker 1: service to our country. Who knows, maybe we will create 378 00:25:36,115 --> 00:25:41,675 Speaker 1: some nice new law. Sure glad you're collaborating with him. 379 00:25:41,755 --> 00:25:46,235 Speaker 1: Jeff Bezos. Sure glad you're collaborating with him, NBC, Comcast, 380 00:25:47,195 --> 00:25:50,435 Speaker 1: Sure glad you're collaborating with him, White House Correspondence Association, 381 00:25:50,715 --> 00:25:54,795 Speaker 1: and I'm sure glad you're by extension, covering for those 382 00:25:54,835 --> 00:26:00,955 Speaker 1: who are collaborating with him. Rachel, what's next? What's going 383 00:26:01,035 --> 00:26:04,675 Speaker 1: to happen next? Oliver Darcy of Status says that before 384 00:26:04,755 --> 00:26:07,355 Speaker 1: four he addresses a joint session of Congress. Next week, 385 00:26:07,515 --> 00:26:10,595 Speaker 1: Trump intends to have lunch with the major network anchors 386 00:26:11,115 --> 00:26:15,435 Speaker 1: a who would that be? Nora O'Donnell was fired and 387 00:26:15,475 --> 00:26:21,795 Speaker 1: replaced by some guys. B Lesterholt just transferred to Dateline. 388 00:26:22,235 --> 00:26:26,195 Speaker 1: Hey maybe this was why? See that would leave David Muir. 389 00:26:27,435 --> 00:26:30,075 Speaker 1: Now if any of them, I assume Lester will go 390 00:26:30,275 --> 00:26:32,235 Speaker 1: and one of the CBS guys are all sixty three 391 00:26:32,275 --> 00:26:35,475 Speaker 1: of them, if any of them have any journalistic or 392 00:26:35,515 --> 00:26:38,075 Speaker 1: patriotic chops, they will go to that lunch and keep 393 00:26:38,115 --> 00:26:41,075 Speaker 1: saying things that not only make Trump so mad he 394 00:26:41,115 --> 00:26:44,435 Speaker 1: throws his ketchup slathered burger against the wall. But there's 395 00:26:44,515 --> 00:26:48,835 Speaker 1: two like just a suggestion, play this tape of him 396 00:26:48,875 --> 00:26:52,115 Speaker 1: from the Cabinet meeting yesterday. This country has gotten bloated 397 00:26:52,195 --> 00:26:57,075 Speaker 1: and fat and disgusting, and incompetently run play that tape 398 00:26:57,075 --> 00:26:59,915 Speaker 1: about the country being bloated and everything else, then say hey, 399 00:27:00,995 --> 00:27:07,675 Speaker 1: the fat same law, Am I right? Yeah? They'll insult 400 00:27:07,755 --> 00:27:10,195 Speaker 1: him to his face or criticize him to his face. 401 00:27:11,635 --> 00:27:16,635 Speaker 1: Who in the hell am I kidding. The older I've gotten, 402 00:27:16,915 --> 00:27:19,235 Speaker 1: the longer I've done this, the more I've realized, and 403 00:27:19,275 --> 00:27:21,635 Speaker 1: the more I've told friends and especially younger colleagues, that 404 00:27:21,675 --> 00:27:24,235 Speaker 1: the greatest of all the thousand shocks my flesh has 405 00:27:24,275 --> 00:27:27,955 Speaker 1: been air to since nineteen seventy five is the realization 406 00:27:28,075 --> 00:27:31,395 Speaker 1: that each of us is on our own. Simply put, 407 00:27:31,435 --> 00:27:34,835 Speaker 1: there are no adults. You have to be your own adult. 408 00:27:35,835 --> 00:27:39,915 Speaker 1: The last generation adults was never replaced. There is no 409 00:27:40,075 --> 00:27:42,835 Speaker 1: group that will do the right thing, no matter the 410 00:27:42,875 --> 00:27:46,275 Speaker 1: personal cost, No group that will sacrifice for the greater good, 411 00:27:46,795 --> 00:27:48,755 Speaker 1: No one who will say, if you do this, I 412 00:27:48,795 --> 00:27:52,155 Speaker 1: will quit. Well, the op ed editor at the Washington 413 00:27:52,155 --> 00:27:55,555 Speaker 1: Post quit good for him? No adults other than him. 414 00:27:55,675 --> 00:27:59,555 Speaker 1: Right now, I will again quote Jean Renoir as actav 415 00:27:59,795 --> 00:28:02,755 Speaker 1: in Renoire's nineteen thirty nine French film Rules of the Game, 416 00:28:02,995 --> 00:28:05,995 Speaker 1: about the loss of personal moral and courage and just 417 00:28:06,355 --> 00:28:11,035 Speaker 1: a minimal effort to just maybe occasionally do what's effing right. 418 00:28:12,115 --> 00:28:15,635 Speaker 1: You see, in this world, there is one awful thing 419 00:28:16,275 --> 00:28:22,035 Speaker 1: Octob says, seemingly fighting back, and then he gives up 420 00:28:22,035 --> 00:28:27,075 Speaker 1: to with his own shrug, and that is that everyone 421 00:28:27,275 --> 00:28:34,475 Speaker 1: has his reasons. Our reaction to nearly every metaphorical rape 422 00:28:34,475 --> 00:28:36,955 Speaker 1: of this nation by Trump is to list our reasons 423 00:28:37,075 --> 00:28:40,715 Speaker 1: to do nothing about it. The more possible power you 424 00:28:40,795 --> 00:28:45,075 Speaker 1: actually have, your democratic leadership, you're the White House Correspondence Association, 425 00:28:45,355 --> 00:28:48,875 Speaker 1: your Rachel Maddow, the more reasons you have to not 426 00:28:49,155 --> 00:28:53,115 Speaker 1: risk at all. I cannot process this thinking, this lack 427 00:28:53,155 --> 00:28:56,355 Speaker 1: of thinking, but it is now universal in this country. 428 00:28:56,395 --> 00:28:58,475 Speaker 1: And it's no longer a question of the guard rails 429 00:28:58,515 --> 00:29:01,515 Speaker 1: falling to the wayside. It is the roads falling to 430 00:29:01,555 --> 00:29:06,995 Speaker 1: the wayside. But whether it can be understood or accepted 431 00:29:07,075 --> 00:29:10,595 Speaker 1: or processed or not, it's true, there are no adults. 432 00:29:11,595 --> 00:29:13,675 Speaker 1: If we are going to save this country, we are 433 00:29:13,715 --> 00:29:16,955 Speaker 1: going to have to save this country ourselves. Those we 434 00:29:17,115 --> 00:29:21,355 Speaker 1: trusted have all the tools, and we have only imagination 435 00:29:21,475 --> 00:29:24,075 Speaker 1: and despair. And all I can say is I suspect 436 00:29:24,075 --> 00:29:27,715 Speaker 1: the one action you and I can accomplish if we 437 00:29:27,755 --> 00:29:30,755 Speaker 1: can organize. If we can get past our own rules 438 00:29:30,755 --> 00:29:33,635 Speaker 1: of the game, reasons for inaction, if we can be 439 00:29:33,795 --> 00:29:39,435 Speaker 1: our own adults, it's got to be economic in origin. Now, 440 00:29:39,475 --> 00:29:44,835 Speaker 1: this idea of mine is about one percent complete. The 441 00:29:44,955 --> 00:29:50,155 Speaker 1: route may not even exist. That collective will may be illusory. 442 00:29:50,195 --> 00:29:54,355 Speaker 1: But the fascists only understand money. And it's increasingly obvious 443 00:29:54,555 --> 00:29:57,235 Speaker 1: that the middle and the left in whom we hoped 444 00:29:57,275 --> 00:30:00,395 Speaker 1: and relied on, may understand other things as well. But 445 00:30:00,475 --> 00:30:05,235 Speaker 1: even they understand money best. We may have to break 446 00:30:05,435 --> 00:30:09,435 Speaker 1: this nation's economic system. We may have to literally extort 447 00:30:09,475 --> 00:30:13,595 Speaker 1: democracy out of the corporate state. I don't know what 448 00:30:13,635 --> 00:30:16,475 Speaker 1: that means. I don't know if it's a federal tax 449 00:30:16,555 --> 00:30:23,715 Speaker 1: strike or a moratorium on buying unnecessary new consumer goods. 450 00:30:23,755 --> 00:30:25,555 Speaker 1: I mean, what would you do to this country if 451 00:30:25,635 --> 00:30:30,755 Speaker 1: you didn't buy a phone, or a coffee or a 452 00:30:30,835 --> 00:30:36,475 Speaker 1: car for the next five years. Maybe it's something else. 453 00:30:36,515 --> 00:30:38,595 Speaker 1: I don't know. My job has always been just to 454 00:30:38,595 --> 00:30:43,795 Speaker 1: be the annoying stand up and shout this is wrong guy. 455 00:30:43,915 --> 00:30:47,475 Speaker 1: Like I said, this idea is one percent baked. I 456 00:30:47,515 --> 00:30:51,995 Speaker 1: will contend, however, that at one percent it's already better 457 00:30:52,835 --> 00:30:56,315 Speaker 1: than coming on television and saying it's a bad mistake 458 00:30:56,395 --> 00:30:59,235 Speaker 1: to let democracy walk out the door this way, and 459 00:30:59,275 --> 00:31:02,035 Speaker 1: it's very very hard to take, and I do not 460 00:31:02,195 --> 00:31:06,275 Speaker 1: defend it. And thus I have done my part. I 461 00:31:06,435 --> 00:31:10,035 Speaker 1: have earned my one hundred and eighty nine thousand, three 462 00:31:10,155 --> 00:31:20,875 Speaker 1: hundred and ninety four dollars per night, haven't I also 463 00:31:20,915 --> 00:31:25,235 Speaker 1: of interest if you think the idea of cultural black hole, 464 00:31:25,555 --> 00:31:28,835 Speaker 1: a guy like Trump who defines the idea of the 465 00:31:28,835 --> 00:31:32,835 Speaker 1: cultural black hole running the John F. Kennedy Center for 466 00:31:32,915 --> 00:31:35,435 Speaker 1: the Performing Arts in Washington, If you think that is 467 00:31:35,475 --> 00:31:40,395 Speaker 1: the ultimate dark irony, you have not yet heard about 468 00:31:40,395 --> 00:31:43,435 Speaker 1: the new board of trustees at the Kennedy Center that 469 00:31:43,555 --> 00:31:50,875 Speaker 1: includes one of my exes. No, I'm not gonna tell 470 00:31:50,915 --> 00:31:54,635 Speaker 1: you right now. I'm gonna let you guess that's next. 471 00:31:55,115 --> 00:32:22,835 Speaker 1: This is Countdown. This is Countdown with Keith Olberman still 472 00:32:22,875 --> 00:32:25,355 Speaker 1: ahead on this all new edition of Countdown. I don't 473 00:32:25,395 --> 00:32:28,915 Speaker 1: want to spoil the surprise of the winner of Worse Persons, 474 00:32:29,515 --> 00:32:32,275 Speaker 1: so I'll just say that in the next segment, things 475 00:32:32,315 --> 00:32:34,675 Speaker 1: I promised not to tell is about my two dates 476 00:32:35,115 --> 00:32:39,435 Speaker 1: with today's worst person in the world. That was one 477 00:32:39,475 --> 00:32:42,275 Speaker 1: of the last times I thought, you know, this might 478 00:32:42,315 --> 00:32:46,595 Speaker 1: be the night I die that's next first, believe it 479 00:32:46,675 --> 00:32:48,595 Speaker 1: or not, there's still more new idiots to talk about. 480 00:32:48,635 --> 00:32:51,075 Speaker 1: The daily roundup of the mis grants, morons and Dunning 481 00:32:51,115 --> 00:32:54,915 Speaker 1: Krueger effects specimens who constitute today's other worst persons in 482 00:32:54,955 --> 00:33:01,475 Speaker 1: the world. Here are the nominees, the brons worse Stephen A. Smith, 483 00:33:02,075 --> 00:33:06,715 Speaker 1: or if you prefer Stephen A. Smith. Do you see 484 00:33:06,795 --> 00:33:09,795 Speaker 1: what happens? Stephen? Do you see what happens when you 485 00:33:09,835 --> 00:33:12,715 Speaker 1: wade into politics and you think you know everything and 486 00:33:12,755 --> 00:33:17,475 Speaker 1: you don't know Jack Spitt, I'm quoting the site awful Announcing. 487 00:33:18,595 --> 00:33:22,595 Speaker 1: Tuesday night, far right social media account af post shared 488 00:33:22,595 --> 00:33:25,595 Speaker 1: a screenshot of Smith being among those who clicked the 489 00:33:25,835 --> 00:33:31,275 Speaker 1: like button on an Instagram video from Nick Fuentes. In 490 00:33:31,355 --> 00:33:35,435 Speaker 1: the clip, Fuentes, a far right political commentator, accuses the 491 00:33:35,515 --> 00:33:39,835 Speaker 1: United States government of being under Israeli influence. Wednesday morning, 492 00:33:39,875 --> 00:33:44,115 Speaker 1: Smith denied clicking the like button, intently, claiming he didn't 493 00:33:44,155 --> 00:33:48,915 Speaker 1: know what Fuentes or the video was. The exact post 494 00:33:48,955 --> 00:33:51,555 Speaker 1: by Stephen A. Smith, I do not know who this 495 00:33:51,755 --> 00:33:54,555 Speaker 1: is or what that video is. If it was quote 496 00:33:54,715 --> 00:33:59,635 Speaker 1: liked unquote, it was unintentional. Now there are social media 497 00:33:59,715 --> 00:34:01,915 Speaker 1: managers for some of the bigger names at ESPN and 498 00:34:01,955 --> 00:34:04,315 Speaker 1: I wilse swear. But this is why talent is advised 499 00:34:04,995 --> 00:34:10,755 Speaker 1: use one. So I mean, it's possible somebody running his 500 00:34:10,875 --> 00:34:16,275 Speaker 1: accounts did this in Stephen A. Smith's name. But if so, 501 00:34:16,355 --> 00:34:19,035 Speaker 1: why didn't Stephen say that? Why didn't you say I've 502 00:34:19,035 --> 00:34:21,155 Speaker 1: got a social media manager and he must have done this. 503 00:34:21,835 --> 00:34:25,475 Speaker 1: She must have done this, because instead he seems to 504 00:34:25,515 --> 00:34:28,755 Speaker 1: be saying it's a coincidence or an accident. There was 505 00:34:28,795 --> 00:34:32,755 Speaker 1: some unintentional like of a video, a video done by 506 00:34:32,795 --> 00:34:37,715 Speaker 1: a rabid anti Semite and anti immigrant fascist, and accidentally, 507 00:34:38,875 --> 00:34:42,235 Speaker 1: somehow it was accidentally like like the like button was 508 00:34:42,315 --> 00:34:45,955 Speaker 1: hit by another meteor or lightning or something, and the 509 00:34:46,075 --> 00:34:50,795 Speaker 1: like button is somehow connected to Stephen A's account, because 510 00:34:50,795 --> 00:34:54,755 Speaker 1: that happens all the time. No, actually it doesn't. It's 511 00:34:54,755 --> 00:34:57,395 Speaker 1: as unlikely as Stephen A. Smith going on ESPN and 512 00:34:57,435 --> 00:35:03,195 Speaker 1: being right about something. The runner up worser Elong Musk, 513 00:35:03,435 --> 00:35:08,315 Speaker 1: the metaphorical before guy in the penile implant ads he 514 00:35:08,435 --> 00:35:11,155 Speaker 1: was at the cabinet meeting yesterday, showing his unofficial status 515 00:35:11,155 --> 00:35:15,675 Speaker 1: by standing while everybody else was sitting. Politico had just 516 00:35:15,715 --> 00:35:18,755 Speaker 1: published a unique anecdote. It was not Elong's first visit 517 00:35:18,795 --> 00:35:20,755 Speaker 1: to Trump there in the White House in twenty twenty, 518 00:35:20,795 --> 00:35:24,515 Speaker 1: I quote Politico. Before the meeting, Musk, an associate, met 519 00:35:24,515 --> 00:35:26,715 Speaker 1: with Trump's son in law, Jared Kushner, and then were 520 00:35:26,715 --> 00:35:29,795 Speaker 1: hosted by Tim Pataki, who served as assistant to the President, 521 00:35:29,875 --> 00:35:32,395 Speaker 1: the deputy director of the White House Office of Public Liaison, 522 00:35:32,635 --> 00:35:35,635 Speaker 1: a person who was within earshot of Musk, who West 523 00:35:35,635 --> 00:35:39,635 Speaker 1: Wing Playbook granted anonymity to provide to describe a private conversation. 524 00:35:40,395 --> 00:35:43,195 Speaker 1: The immedia, doing its job as usual, later recounted that 525 00:35:43,275 --> 00:35:47,595 Speaker 1: Musk called Trump a fing moron behind his back while 526 00:35:47,635 --> 00:35:50,715 Speaker 1: in the White House. I made the editorial decision not 527 00:35:50,715 --> 00:35:53,435 Speaker 1: to quote hims calling him then you know what effing 528 00:35:53,475 --> 00:35:56,875 Speaker 1: stands for quote. We walk into the Oval and he 529 00:35:57,195 --> 00:35:59,315 Speaker 1: Musk kind of looks around, and he's looking around. This 530 00:35:59,395 --> 00:36:02,035 Speaker 1: person in the room said, He's like, gush, I tell you, 531 00:36:02,275 --> 00:36:04,835 Speaker 1: I mean, I was just in China and man and 532 00:36:05,115 --> 00:36:07,755 Speaker 1: their palaces just make the White House kind of look 533 00:36:07,875 --> 00:36:13,995 Speaker 1: more like an outhouse. Steroids is a hell of a drug. 534 00:36:15,355 --> 00:36:20,595 Speaker 1: So's ozempic and Ketteman. By the way, anybody noticed that 535 00:36:20,635 --> 00:36:24,555 Speaker 1: Elon's South African accent has suddenly had dramatically gotten, even 536 00:36:24,635 --> 00:36:28,795 Speaker 1: more impenetrable and apartheidy than ever mean? Was he hit 537 00:36:28,795 --> 00:36:33,555 Speaker 1: by lightning? But our winner? I've teased it twice. So 538 00:36:33,595 --> 00:36:35,355 Speaker 1: here it is. They made fun of Trump. So Trump 539 00:36:35,355 --> 00:36:38,515 Speaker 1: had to punish the Kennedy Senator for performing arts in Washington. 540 00:36:38,555 --> 00:36:40,075 Speaker 1: And there's no better way to punish a group than 541 00:36:40,115 --> 00:36:42,755 Speaker 1: making Trump a part of it. Ah, you hate me, 542 00:36:42,875 --> 00:36:45,435 Speaker 1: I will now be on your board. So he's now 543 00:36:45,475 --> 00:36:47,835 Speaker 1: in charge of the Kennedy Center. And some of the 544 00:36:47,875 --> 00:36:50,675 Speaker 1: new board of trustees' names have been publicized, but not 545 00:36:50,715 --> 00:36:52,555 Speaker 1: all of them. When I saw the full list, one 546 00:36:52,595 --> 00:36:55,275 Speaker 1: of the names just popped off the page. No, it 547 00:36:55,355 --> 00:36:58,275 Speaker 1: wasn't Lee Greenwood, who shouldn't be admitted even if he 548 00:36:58,275 --> 00:37:01,995 Speaker 1: has a ticket. Wasn't Susie Wiles, Susie, please wipe the 549 00:37:01,995 --> 00:37:05,075 Speaker 1: cow crap off your shoes. It wasn't her statle, mother's 550 00:37:05,155 --> 00:37:09,235 Speaker 1: Cherry Summer, all widow of Pat Pat Summer, all Hai 551 00:37:09,395 --> 00:37:11,795 Speaker 1: pet Some are all here who would have been forgotten 552 00:37:11,835 --> 00:37:14,675 Speaker 1: by now but for John Madden. Let's see. Also on 553 00:37:14,715 --> 00:37:20,315 Speaker 1: this list there's Pam Bondi, Dan Scavino, Dana Craft, Dana Craft, Trophy, 554 00:37:20,395 --> 00:37:24,115 Speaker 1: wife of New England, Patriots owner Robert Kraft. No, I 555 00:37:24,115 --> 00:37:25,955 Speaker 1: don't know if she ever worked at a nail salon. 556 00:37:28,515 --> 00:37:34,955 Speaker 1: And then there's Lauren Ingram. 557 00:37:36,035 --> 00:37:38,515 Speaker 2: Oh Ah. 558 00:37:38,915 --> 00:37:41,555 Speaker 1: I have been scouring my memory to try to remember 559 00:37:41,715 --> 00:37:45,995 Speaker 1: during our two dates if there was any music or 560 00:37:46,075 --> 00:37:50,075 Speaker 1: culture or anything but politics. I mean, she sent me 561 00:37:50,875 --> 00:37:54,915 Speaker 1: a workout tape and it was like all military music. 562 00:37:56,115 --> 00:37:58,995 Speaker 1: I mean, both dates events were her ideas. One was 563 00:37:59,035 --> 00:38:01,595 Speaker 1: a visit to Clarence Thomas's chair at the Supreme Court. 564 00:38:02,555 --> 00:38:04,115 Speaker 1: I did what he did. I sat there and did 565 00:38:04,115 --> 00:38:06,755 Speaker 1: nothing to help the country. The other was crashing the 566 00:38:06,795 --> 00:38:09,475 Speaker 1: party at a museum here in New York that was 567 00:38:09,515 --> 00:38:13,435 Speaker 1: thrown by her former law firm. But plays or entertainment 568 00:38:13,515 --> 00:38:15,875 Speaker 1: or culture or stuff they'd have at the Kennedy Center. 569 00:38:16,555 --> 00:38:19,035 Speaker 1: The only non political thing I remember she was interested 570 00:38:19,075 --> 00:38:24,035 Speaker 1: in was alcohol. For years, I've been trying to remember 571 00:38:24,115 --> 00:38:28,835 Speaker 1: if after we crashed that party she had ten Cosmopolitans 572 00:38:29,555 --> 00:38:32,755 Speaker 1: or was it ten Metropolitans, And it finally dawned on 573 00:38:32,835 --> 00:38:36,835 Speaker 1: me it was five of each. It was ten Cosmopolitans 574 00:38:36,835 --> 00:38:40,475 Speaker 1: and Metropolitans, which was shortly before I discovered what they 575 00:38:40,515 --> 00:38:42,995 Speaker 1: actually mean by the phrase. And then I had to 576 00:38:43,035 --> 00:38:47,195 Speaker 1: pour her into a cab and now she'll be at 577 00:38:47,235 --> 00:38:50,035 Speaker 1: the table with the rest of the board of the 578 00:38:50,235 --> 00:38:54,835 Speaker 1: freaking Kennedy Center, or under the table. 579 00:38:55,675 --> 00:38:56,195 Speaker 2: Laura. 580 00:38:56,915 --> 00:38:58,755 Speaker 1: By the way, did you notice the latest work that 581 00:38:58,835 --> 00:39:00,715 Speaker 1: she's had done on her face? She's made herself look 582 00:39:00,755 --> 00:39:05,275 Speaker 1: like sweet poll purebread from the cartoon underdog Ingram two 583 00:39:05,355 --> 00:39:31,115 Speaker 1: days Worse Person And finally to the number one story 584 00:39:31,195 --> 00:39:34,075 Speaker 1: on the countdown and my favorite topic, me and how 585 00:39:34,075 --> 00:39:38,595 Speaker 1: should we spend these waning months of democracy? I would 586 00:39:38,635 --> 00:39:42,475 Speaker 1: guess that during breaks from you know, fighting and packing, 587 00:39:43,075 --> 00:39:46,595 Speaker 1: we should try to laugh at the fascists. And few 588 00:39:46,635 --> 00:39:49,875 Speaker 1: fascists I have ever met have provided greater dark laughs 589 00:39:50,355 --> 00:39:55,075 Speaker 1: than our winner of Worst Persons today. The anniversary, the 590 00:39:55,595 --> 00:40:01,555 Speaker 1: twenty seventh anniversary is the middle of next month. I 591 00:40:01,595 --> 00:40:03,955 Speaker 1: went on my first date where a guest on my 592 00:40:03,995 --> 00:40:06,995 Speaker 1: original MSN show, a woman who would later boast to 593 00:40:07,035 --> 00:40:09,475 Speaker 1: me that her mother's dying words to her were, why 594 00:40:09,515 --> 00:40:13,075 Speaker 1: are you so bossy? I mean, who would do that? 595 00:40:13,875 --> 00:40:17,755 Speaker 1: Even if it's true? Why wouldn't you make up something else, 596 00:40:19,595 --> 00:40:22,595 Speaker 1: like you've been a wonderful daughter, or at least make 597 00:40:22,635 --> 00:40:26,035 Speaker 1: sure you don't steal my silverware? You witch? I mean, 598 00:40:26,035 --> 00:40:29,515 Speaker 1: who's gonna check. You said these were your mother's last words. 599 00:40:29,515 --> 00:40:32,755 Speaker 1: I presume that means she's gone. Who else would reveal? 600 00:40:33,675 --> 00:40:35,955 Speaker 1: Why are you so bossy? Was her the last thing 601 00:40:35,995 --> 00:40:39,155 Speaker 1: she said? I mean, who else? The full farewell quote 602 00:40:39,195 --> 00:40:41,075 Speaker 1: was why are you so bossy? 603 00:40:42,035 --> 00:40:43,715 Speaker 2: Laura? 604 00:40:44,715 --> 00:40:49,435 Speaker 1: Laura Ingram. This began a process that ended in us 605 00:40:50,435 --> 00:40:53,795 Speaker 1: going out on two dates, and something she told me 606 00:40:53,835 --> 00:40:56,395 Speaker 1: on the first of these dates has resonated with me 607 00:40:56,555 --> 00:41:03,555 Speaker 1: literally every month since and is relevant to politics today. 608 00:41:03,995 --> 00:41:06,755 Speaker 1: I know, I know. I did not so much date 609 00:41:06,835 --> 00:41:11,435 Speaker 1: her as survive her. Even then before nine to eleven 610 00:41:11,475 --> 00:41:15,115 Speaker 1: helped to slide her cheese off her cracker. I find 611 00:41:15,115 --> 00:41:19,235 Speaker 1: a diary entry referring to her as Hurricane Laura. That 612 00:41:19,355 --> 00:41:23,675 Speaker 1: was March fifteenth, nineteen ninety eight. Beware the odds of 613 00:41:23,835 --> 00:41:31,155 Speaker 1: March Julius Caesar. I didn't, honestly, and God helped me. 614 00:41:31,195 --> 00:41:33,195 Speaker 1: Nearly forty eight years of dating, I have not been 615 00:41:33,235 --> 00:41:35,275 Speaker 1: a kiss and tell her I have dated. I don't 616 00:41:35,275 --> 00:41:40,435 Speaker 1: know dozens. We're in a couple of hundred, actually thirteen, seriously, 617 00:41:41,115 --> 00:41:44,315 Speaker 1: with maybe three exceptions. You don't know any of their names. 618 00:41:44,955 --> 00:41:47,755 Speaker 1: One of them, now a political writer, basically lived with 619 00:41:47,835 --> 00:41:52,955 Speaker 1: me for three years. I keep that confidence. So why 620 00:41:52,995 --> 00:41:56,275 Speaker 1: am I telling this story violating that? Because not three 621 00:41:56,315 --> 00:41:59,355 Speaker 1: months after that first date, when we were still going out, 622 00:42:00,075 --> 00:42:01,915 Speaker 1: Laura Ingram asked me if she could look at a 623 00:42:01,955 --> 00:42:04,555 Speaker 1: speech I was going to give it Corneill's graduation weekend 624 00:42:04,955 --> 00:42:09,555 Speaker 1: and offer suggestions. This is so long ago. I literally 625 00:42:09,755 --> 00:42:13,915 Speaker 1: faxed it to her. Sure enough, a couple days later, 626 00:42:14,235 --> 00:42:17,515 Speaker 1: I'm watching Imus in the morning, which was televised by 627 00:42:17,555 --> 00:42:21,275 Speaker 1: my network MSNBC, and there on his desk in front 628 00:42:21,275 --> 00:42:24,795 Speaker 1: of him is the faxed copy of my speech, and 629 00:42:24,835 --> 00:42:29,315 Speaker 1: he is reading from my facts. I could recognize the 630 00:42:29,395 --> 00:42:33,875 Speaker 1: exact sequence of the vertical stripes. My cheap fax machine 631 00:42:33,915 --> 00:42:38,155 Speaker 1: used to streak all my outgoing pages with Laura used 632 00:42:38,155 --> 00:42:40,635 Speaker 1: to go on his show a lot, so to curry 633 00:42:40,675 --> 00:42:45,315 Speaker 1: favor with iMOS, she sent him the speech without asking me. 634 00:42:46,475 --> 00:42:50,155 Speaker 1: As I told her that day, all bets are now off. 635 00:42:51,115 --> 00:42:53,995 Speaker 1: So I've told parts of this story before, like she 636 00:42:54,115 --> 00:42:57,555 Speaker 1: had been a Supreme Court clerk for Clarence Thomas, and 637 00:42:57,715 --> 00:43:00,595 Speaker 1: our first date consisted of taking me on an insider's 638 00:43:00,595 --> 00:43:02,875 Speaker 1: tour of the court and having me sit in his 639 00:43:03,075 --> 00:43:06,035 Speaker 1: chair in tribute to him. I did not say or 640 00:43:06,035 --> 00:43:10,035 Speaker 1: do anything constructive. She then cooked me the largest steak 641 00:43:10,115 --> 00:43:12,475 Speaker 1: I had ever seen that did not have a rodeo 642 00:43:12,595 --> 00:43:16,115 Speaker 1: cowboy riding on it, and we watched a woman later 643 00:43:16,235 --> 00:43:19,555 Speaker 1: discredited because she could not keep her stories straight, go 644 00:43:19,595 --> 00:43:23,115 Speaker 1: on sixty minutes and make allegations against Bill Clinton. This 645 00:43:23,355 --> 00:43:28,355 Speaker 1: is my perfect date, Laura told me, seared into my memory. 646 00:43:29,835 --> 00:43:33,515 Speaker 1: But the important Laura Ingram's story sitting there in the 647 00:43:33,555 --> 00:43:36,395 Speaker 1: middle of all the debris. I don't think I've ever 648 00:43:36,435 --> 00:43:40,715 Speaker 1: told this. The first date was only about six weeks 649 00:43:40,755 --> 00:43:42,995 Speaker 1: after the then First Lady Hillary Clinton got on the 650 00:43:42,995 --> 00:43:46,995 Speaker 1: Today Show and blamed the at best exaggerated scandal about 651 00:43:46,995 --> 00:43:50,715 Speaker 1: her husband at Monica Lewinsky on the quote vast right 652 00:43:50,755 --> 00:43:56,195 Speaker 1: wing conspiracy that is sound stumpid. Laura said that night, 653 00:43:56,195 --> 00:43:59,195 Speaker 1: as she showed me her small office upstairs, I expected 654 00:43:59,195 --> 00:44:01,515 Speaker 1: that she was about to decry the idea that Republicans 655 00:44:01,555 --> 00:44:05,915 Speaker 1: would exploit television, talk radio and the brand new Internet 656 00:44:06,115 --> 00:44:08,395 Speaker 1: to try to bring down a president from the other party. 657 00:44:08,435 --> 00:44:12,355 Speaker 1: And I said, so naive little boy, that I was no, 658 00:44:12,595 --> 00:44:16,235 Speaker 1: not that, of course we're doing that. She was kind 659 00:44:16,275 --> 00:44:19,675 Speaker 1: of offended that I doubted the conspiracy part. I explained, 660 00:44:19,715 --> 00:44:22,715 Speaker 1: I'd only been covering politics for two months. At the 661 00:44:22,835 --> 00:44:26,475 Speaker 1: end of the day, she said, end of the day, constantly, 662 00:44:26,675 --> 00:44:29,395 Speaker 1: at the end of the day, it's that vast part. 663 00:44:29,635 --> 00:44:33,395 Speaker 1: It's not vast, vast right wing conspiracy. Why, I bet 664 00:44:33,435 --> 00:44:38,155 Speaker 1: there's not even thirty of us. Laura Ingram then explained 665 00:44:38,155 --> 00:44:40,395 Speaker 1: that she was essentially the central desk for what she 666 00:44:40,515 --> 00:44:44,075 Speaker 1: called the miniature right wing conspiracy. She showed me a 667 00:44:44,115 --> 00:44:46,595 Speaker 1: printed page that had the facts numbers of about two 668 00:44:46,675 --> 00:44:50,515 Speaker 1: dozen people. There at the top are the sources. She said. 669 00:44:50,795 --> 00:44:53,355 Speaker 1: There was Ted Olsen, the attorney, founder of the so 670 00:44:53,435 --> 00:44:56,475 Speaker 1: called Arkansas Project and the husband of Barbara Olson, a 671 00:44:56,555 --> 00:44:59,995 Speaker 1: constant presence as a talking head on cable news. She 672 00:45:00,155 --> 00:45:04,155 Speaker 1: later died on nine to eleven. Everybody liked her. There 673 00:45:04,155 --> 00:45:07,195 Speaker 1: were several numbers in the office of Independent Counsel ken Starr. 674 00:45:07,275 --> 00:45:11,315 Speaker 1: One of them read B. Cavanaugh. I said, who's that? 675 00:45:11,475 --> 00:45:15,035 Speaker 1: She said, nobody important. The only other name I remember 676 00:45:15,115 --> 00:45:17,755 Speaker 1: was Spencer Abraham, who then was a senator from Michigan. 677 00:45:18,315 --> 00:45:21,035 Speaker 1: She said, they, including the people in ken Starr's office, 678 00:45:21,075 --> 00:45:25,595 Speaker 1: sent her all the rumors, the ideas, stuff about Clinton, 679 00:45:26,115 --> 00:45:29,155 Speaker 1: stuff they made up, and she distributed them to the 680 00:45:29,195 --> 00:45:32,635 Speaker 1: other parts of the list. That's these numbers. One number 681 00:45:32,715 --> 00:45:39,635 Speaker 1: was marked Hannity Radio, another Hannity TV, O'Reilly Radio, O'Reilly TV. 682 00:45:39,755 --> 00:45:43,235 Speaker 1: There was one for Limbaugh. There was one mark Justice Thomas, 683 00:45:43,235 --> 00:45:47,115 Speaker 1: and I pointed to it. He likes to stay and farmed. Now, 684 00:45:47,155 --> 00:45:49,275 Speaker 1: maybe the most important name is not on that list. 685 00:45:49,315 --> 00:45:54,315 Speaker 1: That's Matt Dradge. She said. Matt Drudge used all her stuff, 686 00:45:55,235 --> 00:45:56,915 Speaker 1: but he didn't want any of it to be traceable, 687 00:45:57,035 --> 00:46:00,515 Speaker 1: very big on not traceable, so I never fax it 688 00:46:00,595 --> 00:46:02,675 Speaker 1: to him. She said, I just give it to my brother. 689 00:46:03,155 --> 00:46:06,595 Speaker 1: This is when she still liked her brother. He sees 690 00:46:06,675 --> 00:46:10,515 Speaker 1: Drudge all the time. He gives the stuff to Drudge. Now, Oliver, 691 00:46:10,555 --> 00:46:14,915 Speaker 1: here is my baseball collection. See, there were reasons to 692 00:46:14,915 --> 00:46:19,315 Speaker 1: go out with her. At the time, I could think 693 00:46:19,355 --> 00:46:22,235 Speaker 1: only of an old cartoon I had once seen. It 694 00:46:22,275 --> 00:46:25,835 Speaker 1: was an octopus working in the post office, using all 695 00:46:25,875 --> 00:46:29,755 Speaker 1: eight of its limbs to sort the mail. But every 696 00:46:29,795 --> 00:46:31,675 Speaker 1: couple of weeks it dawns on me afresh. Then I 697 00:46:31,755 --> 00:46:35,595 Speaker 1: was actually a witness to one of the earliest configurations 698 00:46:35,635 --> 00:46:38,795 Speaker 1: of the machinery. And there is no doubt today whether 699 00:46:38,835 --> 00:46:42,795 Speaker 1: it is vast or miniature, it's best the machinery that 700 00:46:42,835 --> 00:46:45,355 Speaker 1: links the right wing politicians and those who are supposed 701 00:46:45,355 --> 00:46:48,355 Speaker 1: to be above the fray, like Supreme Court justices and 702 00:46:48,435 --> 00:46:52,035 Speaker 1: special prosecutors and people like that. There with the right 703 00:46:52,075 --> 00:46:55,355 Speaker 1: wing publicity outlets that pretend to be news organizations like 704 00:46:55,475 --> 00:46:58,875 Speaker 1: Fox and Drudge and Oan and Newsmax, and the ones 705 00:46:58,915 --> 00:47:02,315 Speaker 1: that don't even pretend, like those who succeeded Limbaugh. This 706 00:47:02,475 --> 00:47:08,195 Speaker 1: machine is, in fact every thing that your typical paranoid conservative, 707 00:47:08,315 --> 00:47:13,835 Speaker 1: republican fascist trumpst thinks is being run by George Soros 708 00:47:14,355 --> 00:47:20,115 Speaker 1: or Bill Gates or doctor Fauci or me. You want 709 00:47:20,155 --> 00:47:22,955 Speaker 1: to be able to say, there are reports or accusations 710 00:47:22,955 --> 00:47:25,755 Speaker 1: about some Democrat or a liberal figure or celebrity. Well, 711 00:47:25,755 --> 00:47:29,035 Speaker 1: somebody puts a rumor in at one end of the machinery, 712 00:47:29,795 --> 00:47:31,635 Speaker 1: or somebody makes up a rumor at one end of 713 00:47:31,635 --> 00:47:34,395 Speaker 1: the machinery. It is then sent to dozens of other people. 714 00:47:34,475 --> 00:47:40,075 Speaker 1: They repeat it, voila. Suddenly there are reports. The reports 715 00:47:40,115 --> 00:47:42,995 Speaker 1: then get fed back to Fox News or Breitbart or 716 00:47:43,035 --> 00:47:47,555 Speaker 1: the Wall Street Journal or the Supreme Court, or they're 717 00:47:47,595 --> 00:47:52,355 Speaker 1: just tweeted by a thousand bots simultaneously. You want to 718 00:47:52,435 --> 00:47:56,915 Speaker 1: push this ancient racist, anti Semitic paranoia called the great replacement, 719 00:47:56,995 --> 00:47:59,475 Speaker 1: but you want it to come out washed clean enough 720 00:48:00,075 --> 00:48:04,115 Speaker 1: that soulless opportunists like Elis Stefanic and jd Vance can 721 00:48:04,155 --> 00:48:07,915 Speaker 1: say it aloud on the campaign trail without forfeiting their candidacies. 722 00:48:08,235 --> 00:48:13,235 Speaker 1: This is the machinery. And I saw the machinery when 723 00:48:13,235 --> 00:48:15,555 Speaker 1: it was just a list of twenty and thirty people, 724 00:48:16,275 --> 00:48:18,915 Speaker 1: And at that moment I barely recognized the importance of 725 00:48:18,955 --> 00:48:23,435 Speaker 1: what I saw. Then again, I was still on that night, 726 00:48:23,515 --> 00:48:27,915 Speaker 1: recovering from not just the giant's steak, but something far 727 00:48:27,955 --> 00:48:32,435 Speaker 1: more visceral. Earlier that day, as we were leaving the 728 00:48:32,475 --> 00:48:36,115 Speaker 1: Supreme Court, Laura Ingram had boasted about getting even with 729 00:48:36,155 --> 00:48:39,115 Speaker 1: an ex boyfriend by going back into what had been 730 00:48:39,155 --> 00:48:43,955 Speaker 1: their house and putting up exact copies of all the 731 00:48:43,995 --> 00:48:46,835 Speaker 1: photos of the two of them together that he had 732 00:48:46,835 --> 00:48:50,915 Speaker 1: taken down from his walls. And when he got smart 733 00:48:51,315 --> 00:48:55,035 Speaker 1: and changed the locks, she went back again to finish 734 00:48:55,075 --> 00:49:00,435 Speaker 1: the job. Found her key didn't work so naturally as 735 00:49:00,475 --> 00:49:04,555 Speaker 1: you would. She stuffed his garden hose through the mails 736 00:49:04,675 --> 00:49:07,515 Speaker 1: a lot of his front door, and turned on the outdoors. 737 00:49:07,555 --> 00:49:11,875 Speaker 1: Spagott ten thousand dollars worth of heart. When Florence ruined, 738 00:49:12,235 --> 00:49:18,835 Speaker 1: she said proudly, and part of me screamed, flee, flee 739 00:49:18,875 --> 00:49:26,515 Speaker 1: now I didn't flee. Later, as I tried to sleep, 740 00:49:26,955 --> 00:49:31,435 Speaker 1: two noises kept me awake, snoring, not my own, and 741 00:49:31,515 --> 00:49:35,915 Speaker 1: Laura's dog. Laura's dog kept talking in his sleep, I 742 00:49:35,955 --> 00:49:46,595 Speaker 1: mean almost in syllables, ye like that. It was something 743 00:49:46,675 --> 00:49:48,995 Speaker 1: like twenty five degrees out and I was on the 744 00:49:49,035 --> 00:49:51,995 Speaker 1: second floor. And yet I resolved that if her dog 745 00:49:52,355 --> 00:49:56,675 Speaker 1: really did make that last leap to formulate actual syllables. 746 00:49:57,075 --> 00:49:59,915 Speaker 1: And it turned out her dog was the one telling 747 00:49:59,955 --> 00:50:02,235 Speaker 1: her what to do, I was simply going to leave 748 00:50:02,355 --> 00:50:07,915 Speaker 1: by the window without bothering to open it first. The 749 00:50:07,955 --> 00:50:10,635 Speaker 1: next morning, Laura and I walked her dog. We got 750 00:50:10,635 --> 00:50:12,915 Speaker 1: to an empty field. She threw a tennis ball, He 751 00:50:12,955 --> 00:50:16,035 Speaker 1: went and got it. She cocked her arm back again. 752 00:50:16,115 --> 00:50:20,595 Speaker 1: He took off, loving life as he did. She did 753 00:50:20,595 --> 00:50:23,195 Speaker 1: not throw it. He went forty to fifty sixty feet, 754 00:50:23,435 --> 00:50:28,515 Speaker 1: then stopped and looked back at her with such disappointment 755 00:50:28,595 --> 00:50:33,915 Speaker 1: and even a sense of betrayal, and she said, loudly, 756 00:50:33,995 --> 00:50:36,635 Speaker 1: without a trace of affection for him or anything else, 757 00:50:37,915 --> 00:50:42,635 Speaker 1: wait far at which is when I realized I was 758 00:50:42,675 --> 00:50:43,875 Speaker 1: being courted. 759 00:50:44,435 --> 00:50:45,795 Speaker 2: To be the next dog. 760 00:50:48,915 --> 00:50:50,835 Speaker 1: A few weeks later, back home in New York, I 761 00:50:50,875 --> 00:50:53,355 Speaker 1: got home from working an early morning shift filling in 762 00:50:53,395 --> 00:50:55,995 Speaker 1: for the commentator Paul Harvey at ABC Radio. I was 763 00:50:56,115 --> 00:50:58,515 Speaker 1: just waking up from a tortured nap when the phone 764 00:50:58,595 --> 00:51:01,195 Speaker 1: rang and it's Lara. I'm downstairs. We're going to my 765 00:51:01,235 --> 00:51:04,435 Speaker 1: old law firms party at the Museum. I said. I 766 00:51:04,475 --> 00:51:07,595 Speaker 1: was exhausted. We're going, or I'll just stay here at 767 00:51:07,595 --> 00:51:13,155 Speaker 1: this payphone outside. Your plane's calling you all night. We went. 768 00:51:14,755 --> 00:51:17,795 Speaker 1: The next opportunity probably was going to be me on 769 00:51:17,835 --> 00:51:21,715 Speaker 1: the wrong end of a hostage drama. Turned out she 770 00:51:21,875 --> 00:51:25,035 Speaker 1: was not invited to her party. We're crashing it. I'm 771 00:51:25,075 --> 00:51:27,995 Speaker 1: going to drink heavily. Frankly. It was a great party. 772 00:51:28,315 --> 00:51:31,275 Speaker 1: I got to meet Hillary Clinton's mother and her brother. 773 00:51:31,835 --> 00:51:34,675 Speaker 1: And if you think the fascists are completely sincere about everything, 774 00:51:34,875 --> 00:51:39,275 Speaker 1: even their neuroses and their paranoia, no, Laura Ingram hugged 775 00:51:39,315 --> 00:51:43,195 Speaker 1: Hillary Clinton's mother and Hillary Clinton's brother. They seem to 776 00:51:43,195 --> 00:51:48,115 Speaker 1: be friends. Later we wound up meeting friends of her 777 00:51:48,195 --> 00:51:50,475 Speaker 1: in the Oak bar at the Plaza Hotel, where she 778 00:51:50,675 --> 00:51:56,595 Speaker 1: kept drinking. I was astonished after about her sixth Cosmopolitan 779 00:51:56,675 --> 00:51:58,635 Speaker 1: on top of everything she'd had at the party. She 780 00:51:58,755 --> 00:52:02,035 Speaker 1: began to droop her head, nodding like a bobblehead doll. 781 00:52:02,435 --> 00:52:05,555 Speaker 1: Her friend said, Okay, that's it. We'll take care of 782 00:52:05,555 --> 00:52:09,555 Speaker 1: the check. You take care of her. She had not 783 00:52:09,675 --> 00:52:12,515 Speaker 1: gotten a hotel room or anything. And if you've ever 784 00:52:12,515 --> 00:52:15,555 Speaker 1: heard of anybody who needed to be poured into a 785 00:52:15,635 --> 00:52:18,075 Speaker 1: cab because they were so drunk, you don't really know 786 00:52:18,115 --> 00:52:20,875 Speaker 1: what that means until you have to pour them into 787 00:52:20,915 --> 00:52:25,075 Speaker 1: a cab. Frankly, I wanted to put her in a 788 00:52:25,155 --> 00:52:29,995 Speaker 1: hotel somewhere, but the spectacle would have made the gossip pages. 789 00:52:30,555 --> 00:52:33,995 Speaker 1: She basically could not stand up, so I took her 790 00:52:34,035 --> 00:52:36,155 Speaker 1: to my apartment, put her into my bed, and I 791 00:52:36,195 --> 00:52:38,795 Speaker 1: went and slept on the couch at the far end 792 00:52:38,795 --> 00:52:41,915 Speaker 1: of the apartment, which is where I was hours later 793 00:52:41,955 --> 00:52:44,195 Speaker 1: in the morning when she woke me up because she 794 00:52:44,235 --> 00:52:48,115 Speaker 1: came parading through using my phone to call my assistant 795 00:52:48,115 --> 00:52:50,635 Speaker 1: to get a car sent to my address to take 796 00:52:50,675 --> 00:52:53,155 Speaker 1: her to the airport, and to make sure that everybody 797 00:52:53,155 --> 00:52:56,555 Speaker 1: in my office knew she had stayed overnight at my apartment. 798 00:52:58,235 --> 00:53:01,435 Speaker 1: And all I kept thinking was why didn't I follow 799 00:53:01,475 --> 00:53:11,355 Speaker 1: my instincts, My instincts said flee. I fleed. Not, of course, 800 00:53:11,395 --> 00:53:14,395 Speaker 1: if I had fled, I would have missed seeing the 801 00:53:14,435 --> 00:53:30,755 Speaker 1: telephone tree of the miniature right wing conspiracy, wouldn't I. 802 00:53:30,755 --> 00:53:32,515 Speaker 1: I've done all the damage I can do here. Thank 803 00:53:32,595 --> 00:53:34,915 Speaker 1: you for listening. Brian Ray and John Phillip Chanel, the 804 00:53:34,995 --> 00:53:38,075 Speaker 1: musical directors of Countdown, arranged, produced, and performed most of 805 00:53:38,115 --> 00:53:41,835 Speaker 1: our music. Mister Chanelle handled orchestration in keyboards. Mister Ray 806 00:53:41,915 --> 00:53:45,155 Speaker 1: was on the guitars, bass and drums. It was produced 807 00:53:45,155 --> 00:53:48,595 Speaker 1: by Tko Brothers. Our satirical and fify musical comments are 808 00:53:48,595 --> 00:53:51,555 Speaker 1: by the best baseball stadium organist ever, Nancy Faust. The 809 00:53:51,595 --> 00:53:55,395 Speaker 1: sports music is the Oberman theme from ESPN two, written 810 00:53:55,395 --> 00:53:59,315 Speaker 1: by Mitch Warren Davis courtesy of ESPN Inc. Other music 811 00:53:59,395 --> 00:54:02,235 Speaker 1: arranged and performed by the group No Horns Allowed. My 812 00:54:02,275 --> 00:54:05,915 Speaker 1: announcer today was my friend John Deane. Portions produced by 813 00:54:05,955 --> 00:54:10,955 Speaker 1: Ted and Kit. Kit just got fixed the other day, 814 00:54:10,955 --> 00:54:13,875 Speaker 1: so we can understand why he's growling if you listen carefully. 815 00:54:13,915 --> 00:54:16,915 Speaker 1: Every time Ted growled during the recording, he was in 816 00:54:16,995 --> 00:54:20,675 Speaker 1: an appropriate moment. I believe Ted understands what I'm saying. 817 00:54:21,795 --> 00:54:26,675 Speaker 1: Everything else was as ever. My fault. That's countdown for today, 818 00:54:26,795 --> 00:54:29,995 Speaker 1: just one thousand, twenty four days until the scheduled end 819 00:54:30,355 --> 00:54:33,515 Speaker 1: of his lane duck lame brain term unless Musks removes 820 00:54:33,595 --> 00:54:38,915 Speaker 1: him sooner where the actuarial tables doe. The next scheduled 821 00:54:38,915 --> 00:54:42,555 Speaker 1: countdown is Monday. As always, bulletins, as the news warrants, 822 00:54:42,635 --> 00:54:46,275 Speaker 1: remember impeach Trump. It will not work now, it will 823 00:54:46,315 --> 00:54:49,595 Speaker 1: win the Democrats the mid terms, if there are midterms. 824 00:54:51,075 --> 00:54:55,755 Speaker 1: Get off the stick, kids. Until next time, I'm Keith Olverman. 825 00:54:55,795 --> 00:55:16,115 Speaker 1: Good morning, good afternoon, good night, and good luck. Countdown 826 00:55:16,155 --> 00:55:19,915 Speaker 1: with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. For more 827 00:55:19,995 --> 00:55:24,955 Speaker 1: podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 828 00:55:24,995 --> 00:55:26,795 Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts.