1 00:00:04,795 --> 00:00:13,715 Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. This 2 00:00:13,875 --> 00:00:17,355 Speaker 1: is a bullet edition of the Countdown podcast. The Colorado 3 00:00:17,435 --> 00:00:21,275 Speaker 1: State Supreme Court has ruled Trump is disqualified from the 4 00:00:21,315 --> 00:00:24,635 Speaker 1: presidential ballot there under the terms of the fourteenth Amendment. 5 00:00:24,955 --> 00:00:29,355 Speaker 1: And Mary Effing Christmas, and my congratulations to Chief Justice 6 00:00:29,395 --> 00:00:33,795 Speaker 1: boat Right and Justice Berkincotter and Justice Gabriel and Justice 7 00:00:33,795 --> 00:00:37,075 Speaker 1: Hart and Justice Hood and Justice Marquez and Justice Samour. 8 00:00:37,195 --> 00:00:41,915 Speaker 1: There you have unsuspected depth. And I would caution at 9 00:00:41,915 --> 00:00:45,515 Speaker 1: the beginning that I would expect with certainty the Supreme 10 00:00:45,595 --> 00:00:48,395 Speaker 1: Court to take this case up, and take it up 11 00:00:48,475 --> 00:00:52,235 Speaker 1: immediately and overrule the verdict. But on the other hand, 12 00:00:52,275 --> 00:00:54,595 Speaker 1: I would expect that in every state in which there 13 00:00:54,675 --> 00:00:57,715 Speaker 1: was not already an attempt to legally confirm what the 14 00:00:57,755 --> 00:01:03,475 Speaker 1: Constitution clearly says that those engaged in insurrection are automatically 15 00:01:03,515 --> 00:01:09,515 Speaker 1: disqualified from national or state office, including the presidency, there 16 00:01:09,675 --> 00:01:13,955 Speaker 1: will be one new case in every one of those states, 17 00:01:14,395 --> 00:01:17,555 Speaker 1: and that Colorado will be the template for them, and 18 00:01:17,635 --> 00:01:21,635 Speaker 1: that anywhere from a dozen to thirty of them will 19 00:01:21,675 --> 00:01:24,595 Speaker 1: result in verdicts like the one handed down today by 20 00:01:24,635 --> 00:01:28,755 Speaker 1: the justices of the Colorado Supreme Court, and all those 21 00:01:28,835 --> 00:01:32,395 Speaker 1: cases too will wind up before the National Supreme Court, 22 00:01:32,715 --> 00:01:36,195 Speaker 1: and they might come up to Scotus in waves one 23 00:01:36,235 --> 00:01:40,995 Speaker 1: a month until next November. We might even see new 24 00:01:41,075 --> 00:01:45,915 Speaker 1: cases in Arizona, Michigan, and Minnesota, because, contrary to almost 25 00:01:46,075 --> 00:01:50,115 Speaker 1: all the reporting on this, since Colorado handed down its verdict, 26 00:01:50,515 --> 00:01:53,835 Speaker 1: the cases in those states did not rule that Trump 27 00:01:53,875 --> 00:01:57,275 Speaker 1: should not be on the general election ballot next November. 28 00:01:57,675 --> 00:02:01,875 Speaker 1: In those cases Arizona, Michigan, and Minnesota, the courts ruled 29 00:02:01,915 --> 00:02:06,395 Speaker 1: their states could not keep Trump off the primary ballots 30 00:02:06,595 --> 00:02:09,835 Speaker 1: coming up in the next few months, which is probably 31 00:02:10,395 --> 00:02:16,435 Speaker 1: constitutionally correct. Now, the likelihood of multiple similar decisions from 32 00:02:16,555 --> 00:02:20,235 Speaker 1: multiple state courts in those states and in states that 33 00:02:20,275 --> 00:02:23,115 Speaker 1: have not yet tried the fourteenth Amendment, so to speak, 34 00:02:23,595 --> 00:02:29,715 Speaker 1: increases exponentially because, sadly, or in this case, terrifically, the 35 00:02:29,795 --> 00:02:34,995 Speaker 1: courts live in worlds of herd mentality, like movie critics 36 00:02:35,635 --> 00:02:41,195 Speaker 1: or restaurant reviewers or rats, and thus there are three 37 00:02:41,355 --> 00:02:45,275 Speaker 1: additional factors in play besides the fact of the ruling 38 00:02:45,315 --> 00:02:50,195 Speaker 1: from Colorado. Firstly, if the polling is right and thirty 39 00:02:50,235 --> 00:02:53,875 Speaker 1: percent of Republicans would not vote for Trump were he 40 00:02:54,035 --> 00:02:56,715 Speaker 1: to be convicted of a felony crime by a jury. 41 00:02:57,315 --> 00:03:01,195 Speaker 1: I wonder what percentage of them would react similarly to this, 42 00:03:01,715 --> 00:03:06,035 Speaker 1: to him being called disqualified because he involved himself in 43 00:03:06,115 --> 00:03:10,115 Speaker 1: an insurrection. I have seen no polling about this. I 44 00:03:10,155 --> 00:03:13,075 Speaker 1: would expect it would be not thirty percent, but in 45 00:03:13,115 --> 00:03:16,035 Speaker 1: the single digits, and possibly as low as one or 46 00:03:16,075 --> 00:03:19,715 Speaker 1: two percent, as would the number of Republican Party leaders 47 00:03:19,875 --> 00:03:23,715 Speaker 1: who would hesitate to nominate or support Trump if he 48 00:03:23,915 --> 00:03:28,595 Speaker 1: is even preliminarily, even just temporarily off the ballot in 49 00:03:28,675 --> 00:03:34,355 Speaker 1: certain states. However, the practical points here are subtle. Trump 50 00:03:34,395 --> 00:03:37,555 Speaker 1: is not going to respond to this by saying, oh, gosh, yes, 51 00:03:37,955 --> 00:03:41,035 Speaker 1: you're right. That is what the fourteenth Amendment says. I'll 52 00:03:41,075 --> 00:03:44,915 Speaker 1: withdraw now. This is about his life and whether or 53 00:03:44,955 --> 00:03:47,995 Speaker 1: not he dies in prison, and what his cult thinks 54 00:03:48,035 --> 00:03:51,435 Speaker 1: it can demand from this society that it is trying 55 00:03:51,475 --> 00:03:54,755 Speaker 1: to take over. This is about the power structure the 56 00:03:54,875 --> 00:03:59,475 Speaker 1: conservatives and fascists have slowly and intricately built up over 57 00:03:59,515 --> 00:04:03,155 Speaker 1: the last four decades, spending billions of dollars to do so, 58 00:04:03,475 --> 00:04:06,595 Speaker 1: while the rest of us have not been paying full attention. 59 00:04:07,315 --> 00:04:11,235 Speaker 1: This is not going to erase Trump in one dramatic 60 00:04:11,395 --> 00:04:14,875 Speaker 1: sweep because of what the Colorado State Supreme Court says, 61 00:04:15,715 --> 00:04:19,555 Speaker 1: but it doesn't have to. The Fourteenth Amendment process can 62 00:04:19,675 --> 00:04:23,235 Speaker 1: chip away at his support in dozens of states and 63 00:04:23,315 --> 00:04:27,595 Speaker 1: chip away at him and push his mental imbalance even 64 00:04:27,715 --> 00:04:31,675 Speaker 1: further into the red. The Smith prosecution in Washington can 65 00:04:31,755 --> 00:04:34,675 Speaker 1: chip away at his support and at him. The Smith 66 00:04:34,755 --> 00:04:38,635 Speaker 1: prosecution in Florida. Can the Georgia case, Can the Stormy 67 00:04:38,715 --> 00:04:42,315 Speaker 1: Daniel's hush money case? Can the New York business fraud case? 68 00:04:42,395 --> 00:04:48,915 Speaker 1: Can every little bit helps? The second and third elements 69 00:04:48,955 --> 00:04:53,075 Speaker 1: about this ruling from Colorado are about the Federal Supreme Court. 70 00:04:53,635 --> 00:04:58,595 Speaker 1: In retrospect, it now seems unlikely improbable that the letter 71 00:04:58,675 --> 00:05:02,835 Speaker 1: this week from the House Democrats asking Justice Clarence buy 72 00:05:02,875 --> 00:05:05,075 Speaker 1: me an RV or I'll resign while a Demoocrat as 73 00:05:05,155 --> 00:05:09,955 Speaker 1: President Thomas to recuse himself from the Trump presidential immunity 74 00:05:10,075 --> 00:05:14,355 Speaker 1: nonsense decision was a coincidence because there are now going 75 00:05:14,435 --> 00:05:18,115 Speaker 1: to be nothing but such demands that Thomas recuse himself 76 00:05:18,115 --> 00:05:22,955 Speaker 1: from this. Thomas fatally compromised not just by his own corruption, 77 00:05:23,195 --> 00:05:26,715 Speaker 1: but by his wife's intimate involvement in the same insurrection 78 00:05:26,955 --> 00:05:30,235 Speaker 1: that Justice qualified Trump at least for the moment in Colorado, 79 00:05:30,475 --> 00:05:33,555 Speaker 1: demands that he recuse himself from the appeal of the 80 00:05:33,555 --> 00:05:37,675 Speaker 1: Colorado case and from any other cases about Trump's obvious 81 00:05:37,755 --> 00:05:42,515 Speaker 1: ineligibility to ever hold any office again in this country. 82 00:05:43,595 --> 00:05:46,435 Speaker 1: And the third the largest. The final point is of 83 00:05:46,475 --> 00:05:50,075 Speaker 1: course the most dramatic. When this gets to the Supreme Court, 84 00:05:50,435 --> 00:05:53,355 Speaker 1: those nine justices will be asked to make a decision 85 00:05:53,635 --> 00:05:57,035 Speaker 1: that will make Bush v. Gore look like a parking ticket. 86 00:05:57,475 --> 00:06:02,395 Speaker 1: The third clause of the fourteenth Amendment provides a mechanism 87 00:06:02,515 --> 00:06:06,275 Speaker 1: for overriding what it has set up as an automatic 88 00:06:06,355 --> 00:06:11,955 Speaker 1: disqualification for traders and insurrectionists ranging from Jefferson Davis to 89 00:06:12,115 --> 00:06:12,795 Speaker 1: Dementia J. 90 00:06:12,995 --> 00:06:13,355 Speaker 2: Trump. 91 00:06:13,995 --> 00:06:17,995 Speaker 1: If it was not automatic, it would not have an 92 00:06:18,075 --> 00:06:22,795 Speaker 1: overriding mechanism, because if it was not automatic, if it 93 00:06:22,995 --> 00:06:26,755 Speaker 1: was not guilty until proven innocent, it wouldn't need an 94 00:06:26,795 --> 00:06:31,355 Speaker 1: overriding mechanism. It was written by Congressmen and senators who 95 00:06:31,395 --> 00:06:35,275 Speaker 1: had just survived the Civil War, written in part by 96 00:06:35,315 --> 00:06:39,235 Speaker 1: one who helped prosecute and hang the conspirators who helped 97 00:06:39,315 --> 00:06:44,235 Speaker 1: John Wilkes Booth kill Lincoln. There is lots of impenetrable 98 00:06:44,275 --> 00:06:48,515 Speaker 1: stuff in the Constitution, but the Fourteenth Amendment has none 99 00:06:48,595 --> 00:06:52,275 Speaker 1: of that. The whole argument about who is an officer 100 00:06:52,315 --> 00:06:55,595 Speaker 1: of the United States and who is not is nonsense. 101 00:06:55,915 --> 00:06:59,675 Speaker 1: It is a canard. It is corporations are people. It 102 00:06:59,795 --> 00:07:05,795 Speaker 1: is legal bullshit designed to overrule the Constitution. It is 103 00:07:06,035 --> 00:07:11,035 Speaker 1: clear of what the Fourteenth Amendment's founders intended. It is clear, 104 00:07:11,435 --> 00:07:15,195 Speaker 1: and the record of its creation is clear and copious. 105 00:07:15,635 --> 00:07:19,555 Speaker 1: They wanted to keep the Southern rebel leaders from running 106 00:07:19,595 --> 00:07:23,675 Speaker 1: for president and senator and Congress, and they turned several 107 00:07:23,755 --> 00:07:28,715 Speaker 1: of them away by the Fourteenth Amendment. So the Supreme Court, 108 00:07:29,115 --> 00:07:32,795 Speaker 1: crookedly conservative though it may be, We'll have to decide 109 00:07:32,915 --> 00:07:38,595 Speaker 1: whether to uphold the Constitution or you know, invalidate the 110 00:07:38,595 --> 00:07:42,875 Speaker 1: Constitution of the United States terminate, to use another word 111 00:07:43,075 --> 00:07:48,235 Speaker 1: chosen utterly at random. And it would thus invalidate itself. 112 00:07:48,715 --> 00:07:52,595 Speaker 1: And it would thus invite individual states to ignore this 113 00:07:52,715 --> 00:07:56,635 Speaker 1: corrupted Supreme Court and uphold their own responsibilities to the 114 00:07:56,675 --> 00:08:00,715 Speaker 1: Constitution and to justice and keep Trump off the ballot 115 00:08:00,755 --> 00:08:03,435 Speaker 1: in their states no matter what the Roberts Court says. 116 00:08:04,195 --> 00:08:06,755 Speaker 1: And since in the non realistic half of the United 117 00:08:06,755 --> 00:08:09,355 Speaker 1: States there are people just as fervently looking at this 118 00:08:09,635 --> 00:08:11,955 Speaker 1: as a case in which the Court must uphold the 119 00:08:11,995 --> 00:08:15,155 Speaker 1: people who bought them and paid them and put them there. 120 00:08:15,715 --> 00:08:19,075 Speaker 1: Chief Justice Roberts and Alito and Thomas and Gorsetch and 121 00:08:19,155 --> 00:08:22,995 Speaker 1: Kavanaugh and Cony Barrett will literally hold the future of 122 00:08:23,035 --> 00:08:26,555 Speaker 1: the nation in their hands. If they rule in favor 123 00:08:26,635 --> 00:08:31,595 Speaker 1: of the Constitution, they risk extreme civil disorder perpetrated by 124 00:08:31,715 --> 00:08:36,155 Speaker 1: Trump's cult. Again, if they rule in favor of Trump, 125 00:08:36,635 --> 00:08:40,795 Speaker 1: they risk extreme civil disorder by loyal Americans who are 126 00:08:40,915 --> 00:08:43,795 Speaker 1: sick to death of the political prostitution of the Supreme 127 00:08:43,835 --> 00:08:47,075 Speaker 1: Court and the perversion of everything that has mattered in 128 00:08:47,115 --> 00:08:51,995 Speaker 1: this nation for all of our lives. Except that the 129 00:08:52,035 --> 00:08:54,355 Speaker 1: Court will be all too well aware that if it 130 00:08:54,435 --> 00:08:58,035 Speaker 1: finds in favor of the Constitution and against Trump, it 131 00:08:58,075 --> 00:09:02,915 Speaker 1: will find a national government fully supportive of that ruling 132 00:09:03,475 --> 00:09:07,315 Speaker 1: and of the implement of that ruling, a national government 133 00:09:07,395 --> 00:09:10,755 Speaker 1: in which all of the lights will be green for 134 00:09:10,955 --> 00:09:14,515 Speaker 1: ruling in favor of the disqualification of Donald J. 135 00:09:14,715 --> 00:09:15,075 Speaker 2: Trump. 136 00:09:16,195 --> 00:09:20,315 Speaker 1: If it rules for Trump, the Supreme Court will be 137 00:09:20,435 --> 00:09:25,195 Speaker 1: on its own and rightly so, and much of America 138 00:09:25,235 --> 00:09:29,315 Speaker 1: will say, you're the Court, this is your ruling. Let's 139 00:09:29,355 --> 00:09:33,195 Speaker 1: see you enforce it. Now, We'll go into this at 140 00:09:33,315 --> 00:09:36,915 Speaker 1: length in the full Countdown podcast for Wednesday. In the interim, 141 00:09:37,395 --> 00:09:41,595 Speaker 1: enjoy the shock from the fascist insurrectionists who have been 142 00:09:41,635 --> 00:09:45,155 Speaker 1: getting their own way illegally ever since Trump was not 143 00:09:45,475 --> 00:09:49,435 Speaker 1: arrested at twelve oh one pm on January twentieth, twenty 144 00:09:49,515 --> 00:09:54,195 Speaker 1: twenty one. Enjoy newscasters and pundits reacting to this as 145 00:09:54,235 --> 00:09:56,955 Speaker 1: if they have never heard of the fourteenth Amendment before, 146 00:09:57,315 --> 00:09:59,995 Speaker 1: or never heard of Colorado before, or never heard of 147 00:09:59,995 --> 00:10:05,955 Speaker 1: the number fourteen before, and especially enjoy trump Umps rage 148 00:10:06,555 --> 00:10:10,155 Speaker 1: and fear. The rest of this bulletin edition is a 149 00:10:10,195 --> 00:10:13,515 Speaker 1: repeat of Tuesday's full podcast. If you have already heard that, 150 00:10:13,955 --> 00:10:29,435 Speaker 1: feel free to hit stop right now more tomorrow. Trump 151 00:10:29,515 --> 00:10:33,755 Speaker 1: has promised to turn every American cop into a lawless 152 00:10:33,795 --> 00:10:37,475 Speaker 1: stormtrooper and every domestic police force into a miniature SS. 153 00:10:37,995 --> 00:10:41,035 Speaker 1: And the volume of his sadistic fascist threats is so 154 00:10:41,275 --> 00:10:45,995 Speaker 1: large and so loud that when he said this, nobody noticed. 155 00:10:46,955 --> 00:10:50,475 Speaker 1: He wants to co opt every law officer in this country, 156 00:10:50,555 --> 00:10:53,835 Speaker 1: all seven hundred thousand of them, all armed, and in 157 00:10:53,875 --> 00:10:56,515 Speaker 1: the last twenty years nearly all of them equipped with 158 00:10:56,635 --> 00:11:00,555 Speaker 1: military style weapons and vehicles and surveillance equipment, and make 159 00:11:00,635 --> 00:11:04,515 Speaker 1: each and every one of them, in essence untouchable by law, 160 00:11:05,355 --> 00:11:10,515 Speaker 1: beholden to no one responsible ultimately only to the person 161 00:11:10,515 --> 00:11:17,155 Speaker 1: who liberated them from all legal restraints, him Durham, New Hampshire. 162 00:11:17,195 --> 00:11:20,755 Speaker 3: I am also going to indemnify all police offices. 163 00:11:21,155 --> 00:11:22,315 Speaker 1: This is a big thing. 164 00:11:22,155 --> 00:11:24,075 Speaker 3: And it's a brand new thing, and I think it's 165 00:11:24,115 --> 00:11:28,155 Speaker 3: so important. I'm going to indemnify, through the federal government, 166 00:11:28,235 --> 00:11:32,355 Speaker 3: all police officers and law enforcement officials throughout the United 167 00:11:32,435 --> 00:11:36,715 Speaker 3: States from being destroyed by the radical left for taking 168 00:11:36,755 --> 00:11:39,075 Speaker 3: strong actions against crime. 169 00:11:39,355 --> 00:11:43,955 Speaker 1: What do you think he means by indemnify, I'm going 170 00:11:43,995 --> 00:11:50,115 Speaker 1: to indemnify through the federal government all police officers, indemnify, 171 00:11:50,875 --> 00:11:56,995 Speaker 1: relieve of legal liability for their actions. To cut to 172 00:11:57,035 --> 00:11:58,875 Speaker 1: the chase on this, he means that the next Derek 173 00:11:58,915 --> 00:12:02,355 Speaker 1: Chauvan who tortures George Floyd to death on Minneapolis City 174 00:12:02,355 --> 00:12:05,955 Speaker 1: Street cannot be arrested, cannot be prosecuted, cannot be sued, 175 00:12:05,995 --> 00:12:11,275 Speaker 1: cannot be stopped, no legal responsibility or liability for his actions. 176 00:12:12,235 --> 00:12:15,675 Speaker 1: And if there are no longer any means of stopping 177 00:12:15,715 --> 00:12:19,115 Speaker 1: the cops from harassing people or beating people or killing people, 178 00:12:19,355 --> 00:12:21,915 Speaker 1: cops will no longer have any need to even pretend 179 00:12:22,395 --> 00:12:25,195 Speaker 1: that the people they are harassing or beating or killing 180 00:12:25,195 --> 00:12:29,395 Speaker 1: are actually guilty of anything they are then the SS. 181 00:12:31,355 --> 00:12:35,195 Speaker 1: We already know wide swaths of the nation's eighteen thousand 182 00:12:35,275 --> 00:12:39,115 Speaker 1: state and local police forces range from wild conservatism to 183 00:12:39,315 --> 00:12:42,915 Speaker 1: full on fascism and white supremacism and QAnon and election 184 00:12:43,035 --> 00:12:46,835 Speaker 1: denihilism and trump Ism. We already know that since nine eleven, 185 00:12:46,875 --> 00:12:49,635 Speaker 1: the nation's police forces have equipped themselves as if all 186 00:12:49,715 --> 00:12:53,835 Speaker 1: the world's terrorists are going to descend tomorrow morning on 187 00:12:54,475 --> 00:12:59,395 Speaker 1: say Franklin, Indiana, population twenty five thousand, which is why 188 00:12:59,435 --> 00:13:03,355 Speaker 1: the cops there bought themselves an m RAP, a mine 189 00:13:03,515 --> 00:13:08,635 Speaker 1: resistant armored vehicle, just like a dozen other small county 190 00:13:08,675 --> 00:13:15,715 Speaker 1: police forces did in the last decade in Indiana alone. Moreover, 191 00:13:15,795 --> 00:13:19,955 Speaker 1: and just as dangerously, they in big and small towns alike, 192 00:13:20,355 --> 00:13:23,355 Speaker 1: have trained now generation after generation of rookies who have 193 00:13:23,395 --> 00:13:27,675 Speaker 1: become veterans and the chiefs and trainers to believe that 194 00:13:27,715 --> 00:13:32,115 Speaker 1: the purpose of the police is to protect the police, 195 00:13:32,835 --> 00:13:37,275 Speaker 1: that all civilians are threats because all terrorists pose as civilians, 196 00:13:37,755 --> 00:13:40,315 Speaker 1: and anybody who don't know personally as a potential terrorist, 197 00:13:40,475 --> 00:13:42,355 Speaker 1: and I wouldn't be too certain about everybody, you do 198 00:13:42,475 --> 00:13:47,035 Speaker 1: know personally? If most of America has suffered for twenty 199 00:13:47,115 --> 00:13:51,395 Speaker 1: two years now with undiagnosed post traumatic stress disorder, nearly 200 00:13:51,475 --> 00:13:56,235 Speaker 1: all of law enforcement has. We now feed service veterans 201 00:13:56,275 --> 00:13:58,595 Speaker 1: into police forces, the ones who don't go into the 202 00:13:58,635 --> 00:14:01,955 Speaker 1: Republican Party, and we now know that they are literally 203 00:14:02,035 --> 00:14:06,995 Speaker 1: suffering widespread physical brain damage just from using, from handling 204 00:14:07,235 --> 00:14:11,115 Speaker 1: the twenty first century weapons of war. And now Trump 205 00:14:11,195 --> 00:14:17,995 Speaker 1: promises to indemnify them against any legal responsibility. 206 00:14:18,115 --> 00:14:20,315 Speaker 2: For when was the rest of that? 207 00:14:20,355 --> 00:14:23,515 Speaker 3: He said, I'm going to indemnify through the federal government, 208 00:14:23,635 --> 00:14:27,755 Speaker 3: all police officers at law enforcement officials throughout the United 209 00:14:27,795 --> 00:14:30,675 Speaker 3: States from being destroyed by. 210 00:14:30,555 --> 00:14:32,315 Speaker 1: The radical left for taking. 211 00:14:32,115 --> 00:14:34,435 Speaker 3: Strong actions against crime. 212 00:14:34,755 --> 00:14:38,435 Speaker 1: Yeah, I wonder what kind of strong actions Trump is 213 00:14:38,475 --> 00:14:42,035 Speaker 1: talking about. Failure to read them their Miranda rights. I 214 00:14:42,035 --> 00:14:45,555 Speaker 1: don't think so, shooting them, killing them in the backseat 215 00:14:45,595 --> 00:14:49,235 Speaker 1: of cop cars, and again, no longer even needing an 216 00:14:49,315 --> 00:14:54,355 Speaker 1: excuse like selling cigarettes one at a time, or passing 217 00:14:54,435 --> 00:14:58,115 Speaker 1: a counterfeit twenty or being a twelve year old carrying 218 00:14:58,115 --> 00:15:03,075 Speaker 1: a toy gun. How about menacing in a crowded public place, 219 00:15:03,115 --> 00:15:05,555 Speaker 1: A crowded public place that is crowd because there is 220 00:15:05,595 --> 00:15:10,515 Speaker 1: a protest in progress, an anti violence protest, an anti 221 00:15:10,635 --> 00:15:14,995 Speaker 1: cop City Atlanta protest, an anti Trump protest. If seven 222 00:15:15,155 --> 00:15:18,915 Speaker 1: hundred thousand American cops are suddenly out from under the 223 00:15:18,995 --> 00:15:22,755 Speaker 1: yoke of any laws that could even occasionally hold them 224 00:15:22,755 --> 00:15:27,915 Speaker 1: accountable for murdering people, what is to stop trump indemnified 225 00:15:27,995 --> 00:15:34,315 Speaker 1: cops from shooting into a crowd of unarmed protesters. This, 226 00:15:34,435 --> 00:15:38,675 Speaker 1: remember would also be in addition to Trump using the 227 00:15:38,755 --> 00:15:42,395 Speaker 1: National Guard to quell political protest. This would be in 228 00:15:42,435 --> 00:15:45,555 Speaker 1: addition to what Trump staffers would not deny or at 229 00:15:45,635 --> 00:15:49,955 Speaker 1: least considerations, of invoking the Insurrection Act on January twentieth, 230 00:15:49,995 --> 00:15:53,715 Speaker 1: twenty twenty five and leaving it invoked. This would be 231 00:15:53,955 --> 00:15:57,715 Speaker 1: in addition to Trump's jovial promise to be a dictator, 232 00:15:57,755 --> 00:16:00,595 Speaker 1: but only on day one. Haha, I'm only kidding. No, 233 00:16:00,715 --> 00:16:05,715 Speaker 1: I'm not yes, i am no, I'm not indemnified police, 234 00:16:06,555 --> 00:16:11,995 Speaker 1: the Trump waffa. It is one of those moments of 235 00:16:12,075 --> 00:16:16,555 Speaker 1: impossibility when the same thing is both stunning and to 236 00:16:16,755 --> 00:16:20,635 Speaker 1: be expected that Trump could go on a three day 237 00:16:20,915 --> 00:16:26,195 Speaker 1: orgy of threats against democracy, quoting Putin and praising dictators 238 00:16:26,235 --> 00:16:30,595 Speaker 1: like she and Kim Jong un guaranteeing mass deportations at 239 00:16:30,675 --> 00:16:35,155 Speaker 1: very slowly moving his own Overton window from mass deportations 240 00:16:35,155 --> 00:16:38,955 Speaker 1: of undocumented immigrants, which is bad enough to just mass 241 00:16:39,035 --> 00:16:43,435 Speaker 1: deportations without any qualifiers or categories. He's done all that. 242 00:16:43,995 --> 00:16:47,675 Speaker 1: He's vowed personal vengeance, dressed up as de weaponizing the 243 00:16:47,715 --> 00:16:51,155 Speaker 1: Department of Justice, the one that just indicted the actual 244 00:16:51,195 --> 00:16:54,675 Speaker 1: president's son. He called the morons he inspired to attack 245 00:16:54,715 --> 00:16:57,875 Speaker 1: the capitol on January sixth, hostages. He insisted we were 246 00:16:57,915 --> 00:17:01,355 Speaker 1: all better off under him as president in twenty nineteen 247 00:17:01,635 --> 00:17:05,275 Speaker 1: with burgeoning unemployment, and in twenty twenty with co and 248 00:17:05,355 --> 00:17:09,995 Speaker 1: of course he reiterated his favorite Hitler imagery about immigrants 249 00:17:10,035 --> 00:17:14,195 Speaker 1: poisoning the blood of the nation, and now extending who 250 00:17:14,235 --> 00:17:18,155 Speaker 1: he means now he is promising his audience he will 251 00:17:18,195 --> 00:17:23,355 Speaker 1: remove the people from Africa too, and Asia and framing 252 00:17:23,395 --> 00:17:27,555 Speaker 1: immigration as a quote invasion. This is like a military invasion, 253 00:17:27,635 --> 00:17:31,555 Speaker 1: he said. Drugs, criminals, gang members, and terrorists. They're taking 254 00:17:31,595 --> 00:17:37,155 Speaker 1: over our cities. It is stunning, and it is to 255 00:17:37,235 --> 00:17:41,435 Speaker 1: be expected that he could go through all that, all 256 00:17:41,475 --> 00:17:44,435 Speaker 1: of which he has either stated before, often word for word, 257 00:17:44,955 --> 00:17:48,835 Speaker 1: or implied at or hinted at, and the nation and 258 00:17:48,995 --> 00:17:52,515 Speaker 1: even its reporters who are alert to the totalitarianism that 259 00:17:52,595 --> 00:17:57,515 Speaker 1: Trump is now selling, offering, promising, demanding that all of 260 00:17:57,555 --> 00:18:02,355 Speaker 1: them and everybody else, almost everybody missed this one little 261 00:18:03,035 --> 00:18:13,195 Speaker 1: fascist rug that really ties the room together. The Trump Police, 262 00:18:13,275 --> 00:18:16,515 Speaker 1: they will no longer be responsible to anybody, but they 263 00:18:16,515 --> 00:18:19,475 Speaker 1: will have Trump to think. And it's not like he's 264 00:18:19,475 --> 00:18:22,395 Speaker 1: going to have to recruit them, or train them, or 265 00:18:22,435 --> 00:18:26,635 Speaker 1: equip them or even buy them uniforms. They are in 266 00:18:26,675 --> 00:18:34,075 Speaker 1: your town, down your street today. They have m wraps. 267 00:18:37,515 --> 00:18:39,555 Speaker 1: It is the nature of man not to be taken 268 00:18:39,635 --> 00:18:42,315 Speaker 1: unaware by the evil and the madness of other men, 269 00:18:42,355 --> 00:18:45,395 Speaker 1: nor the rapidity and energy with which they will enact 270 00:18:45,515 --> 00:18:49,435 Speaker 1: that evil, not to be surprised by the sheer banality 271 00:18:50,035 --> 00:18:54,155 Speaker 1: and mondanity with which they will happily kill millions because 272 00:18:54,795 --> 00:19:00,195 Speaker 1: they can. It is rather the nature of man to 273 00:19:00,315 --> 00:19:05,355 Speaker 1: receive warning after warning after warning and ignore one of them. 274 00:19:05,755 --> 00:19:09,115 Speaker 1: Because the default position of almost everybody, the smart people, 275 00:19:09,155 --> 00:19:11,915 Speaker 1: the dumb ones, the quiet ones, the loud ones, the 276 00:19:11,955 --> 00:19:15,355 Speaker 1: default position of all of us is it's difficult to 277 00:19:15,435 --> 00:19:22,315 Speaker 1: imagine things that are not currently happening. We are always 278 00:19:22,755 --> 00:19:28,595 Speaker 1: warned when the Trumps appear Hitler tried to overthrow the 279 00:19:28,595 --> 00:19:33,435 Speaker 1: German government in nineteen twenty three. They jailed him. He 280 00:19:33,635 --> 00:19:36,835 Speaker 1: promised more and worse next time. They let him out 281 00:19:36,875 --> 00:19:41,075 Speaker 1: of jail early for good conduct. The German conservatives needed 282 00:19:41,115 --> 00:19:43,595 Speaker 1: him for political leverage. He promised, if given power, he 283 00:19:43,595 --> 00:19:46,395 Speaker 1: would persecute the Jews and all the other politicians. They 284 00:19:46,435 --> 00:19:51,075 Speaker 1: made him Chancellor. The British were told by their industrial 285 00:19:51,155 --> 00:19:56,075 Speaker 1: spies in German factories that Hitler was secretly rearming, especially 286 00:19:56,115 --> 00:20:01,035 Speaker 1: building planes by the thousands. The British government laughed because 287 00:20:01,075 --> 00:20:03,955 Speaker 1: that would be against the Treaty of Versailles, and Germany 288 00:20:03,995 --> 00:20:07,675 Speaker 1: certainly didn't want a repeat of the World War. Our 289 00:20:07,755 --> 00:20:10,755 Speaker 1: country was warned about Hitler at about the Japanese. I mean. 290 00:20:10,795 --> 00:20:13,835 Speaker 1: In nineteen twelve, General Billy Mitchell predicted war with Japan. 291 00:20:13,995 --> 00:20:16,555 Speaker 1: In nineteen twenty four, he predicted the attack on Pearl Harbor, 292 00:20:17,155 --> 00:20:20,355 Speaker 1: and in retrospect, the only thing Osama bin Laden did 293 00:20:20,395 --> 00:20:23,235 Speaker 1: not do in advance was tell this country which day 294 00:20:23,835 --> 00:20:27,915 Speaker 1: he planned to attack on and exactly which buildings he 295 00:20:27,955 --> 00:20:32,315 Speaker 1: planned to attack. The last MSNBC show I did in 296 00:20:32,435 --> 00:20:36,755 Speaker 1: January nineteen ninety eight, before the Clinton Lewinsky Sinkhole opened up. 297 00:20:37,275 --> 00:20:40,115 Speaker 1: We had a terrorism and military expert on named Jim 298 00:20:40,195 --> 00:20:43,355 Speaker 1: Dunnagan who said we were so unprepared. Al Qaeda could 299 00:20:43,435 --> 00:20:47,995 Speaker 1: drive down Lower Broadway with a truck and have its 300 00:20:48,075 --> 00:20:53,635 Speaker 1: guys toss handfuls of anthrax out the back door Lower Broadway. 301 00:20:54,635 --> 00:21:00,875 Speaker 1: Dunnagan nearly got the address right. We are always warned, 302 00:21:01,235 --> 00:21:04,515 Speaker 1: in large part because one of the aspects of fanatis 303 00:21:05,235 --> 00:21:10,715 Speaker 1: Hitler's fanaticism, the Japanese militarists fanaticism, trump S fanaticism. It 304 00:21:10,795 --> 00:21:16,235 Speaker 1: almost always comes attached to unbelievable arrogance and boastfulness and 305 00:21:16,355 --> 00:21:17,595 Speaker 1: not knowing when. 306 00:21:18,075 --> 00:21:19,435 Speaker 2: To shut the hell up. 307 00:21:20,315 --> 00:21:23,275 Speaker 1: It's not just that Trump intends to turn the United 308 00:21:23,315 --> 00:21:27,875 Speaker 1: States into a totalitarian state. It's that he wants everybody 309 00:21:27,915 --> 00:21:32,155 Speaker 1: to love him for doing this, and therefore he cannot 310 00:21:32,195 --> 00:21:38,475 Speaker 1: possibly not tell everybody about it in increasing detail. I 311 00:21:38,515 --> 00:21:44,275 Speaker 1: mean indemnifying the police for taking strong actions against crime, 312 00:21:45,155 --> 00:21:50,635 Speaker 1: the police, anything else you need to know, his plans, 313 00:21:51,115 --> 00:21:55,995 Speaker 1: his sadism, his vengeance, the already extant rosters of stormtroopers, 314 00:21:56,435 --> 00:22:01,475 Speaker 1: already ubiquitously spaced across the land, and just ready for 315 00:22:01,555 --> 00:22:05,555 Speaker 1: that indemnification. And when the symbolism too honest to God, 316 00:22:06,195 --> 00:22:10,835 Speaker 1: the police. Why do you think they call it a 317 00:22:10,995 --> 00:22:18,595 Speaker 1: police state? And of course, besides the warnings we ignore, 318 00:22:19,115 --> 00:22:22,315 Speaker 1: the Washington Post finally used all the actual words actually 319 00:22:22,355 --> 00:22:26,595 Speaker 1: headlined Trump quoting putin about Biden, and they put it 320 00:22:26,635 --> 00:22:31,555 Speaker 1: on page ten. Besides the warnings that we ignore, the 321 00:22:31,635 --> 00:22:34,835 Speaker 1: other universality of the death of representative government and its 322 00:22:34,835 --> 00:22:39,835 Speaker 1: replacement by totalitarianism is the willingness, even the eagerness, of 323 00:22:39,875 --> 00:22:44,755 Speaker 1: the institution supposedly devoted to and dependent on representative government 324 00:22:44,995 --> 00:22:49,395 Speaker 1: to signal that no, they are ready at a moment's notice, 325 00:22:49,435 --> 00:22:55,795 Speaker 1: to screw this silly democracy crap and embrace and serve dictatorship. Yes, sir, 326 00:22:57,635 --> 00:23:00,475 Speaker 1: I have said, I literally don't know how many times 327 00:23:00,515 --> 00:23:04,235 Speaker 1: I have truly lost count that at every actual news 328 00:23:04,315 --> 00:23:08,835 Speaker 1: organism in America except maybe Pro Publica and Democracy Now, 329 00:23:09,475 --> 00:23:12,395 Speaker 1: I have said countless times that at every news organization 330 00:23:12,475 --> 00:23:17,515 Speaker 1: in America, they have had the meeting. Now the quote 331 00:23:17,595 --> 00:23:21,035 Speaker 1: newspeople unquote may not have been there at the meeting, 332 00:23:21,355 --> 00:23:23,795 Speaker 1: they may not have even known about the meeting, But 333 00:23:23,835 --> 00:23:26,955 Speaker 1: the people who decide where the money goes and who 334 00:23:27,035 --> 00:23:29,715 Speaker 1: still works there and who doesn't work there anymore, they 335 00:23:29,755 --> 00:23:32,795 Speaker 1: have had the meeting. At which the key deciders sit 336 00:23:32,835 --> 00:23:36,195 Speaker 1: around and game plan Trump's return to power, and then 337 00:23:36,275 --> 00:23:40,915 Speaker 1: they ask the essential vital life or death questions, just 338 00:23:40,955 --> 00:23:45,115 Speaker 1: as you and I do, only theirs are As an example, 339 00:23:45,595 --> 00:23:49,675 Speaker 1: if Trump regains control, how do we at NBC, Universal 340 00:23:49,715 --> 00:23:56,755 Speaker 1: and Comcast defend our profits even though we have already 341 00:23:56,755 --> 00:24:00,235 Speaker 1: seen what that did to CNN and what that reinforces 342 00:24:00,315 --> 00:24:04,635 Speaker 1: at NBC News and ABC and CBS. This kind of 343 00:24:04,955 --> 00:24:08,595 Speaker 1: dilettanti ish, Well, we don't actually live in America, so 344 00:24:08,635 --> 00:24:12,915 Speaker 1: we don't have a dog in this hunt delusion, as 345 00:24:12,915 --> 00:24:17,395 Speaker 1: if Trump were running to become dictator of Belarus, as 346 00:24:17,395 --> 00:24:20,955 Speaker 1: if everybody you see on MSNBC lived in a cloud 347 00:24:21,115 --> 00:24:26,995 Speaker 1: somewhere above the fricka Still, whenever I say these meetings 348 00:24:27,035 --> 00:24:32,715 Speaker 1: have taken place at your local, popular, seemingly reliable news organization, 349 00:24:32,795 --> 00:24:36,475 Speaker 1: I get responses that are to be polite about it, disbelieving. 350 00:24:37,155 --> 00:24:39,715 Speaker 1: And yet now here it is in front of your 351 00:24:39,755 --> 00:24:44,275 Speaker 1: eyes on one day. What two seemingly neutral pro freedom 352 00:24:44,315 --> 00:24:49,035 Speaker 1: of the press outlets do after they hold the meetings, 353 00:24:49,075 --> 00:24:51,315 Speaker 1: not just the obvious one that would have been The 354 00:24:51,355 --> 00:24:54,235 Speaker 1: New York Times op ed yesterday titled The Secret of 355 00:24:54,275 --> 00:25:00,515 Speaker 1: Trump's Appeal isn't authoritarianism, which claims, no, it's not the 356 00:25:00,515 --> 00:25:03,275 Speaker 1: fact that he wants to turn the country into a 357 00:25:03,315 --> 00:25:07,275 Speaker 1: totalitarian state. All the masochists and the sadists support that. 358 00:25:07,875 --> 00:25:12,435 Speaker 1: It's because he's such a moderate. And it was written 359 00:25:12,435 --> 00:25:14,755 Speaker 1: by the founder of a far right online magazine that 360 00:25:15,035 --> 00:25:17,715 Speaker 1: spends all of its time pretending not to be a 361 00:25:17,755 --> 00:25:21,315 Speaker 1: far right online magazine, and occasionally it will have ultra 362 00:25:21,435 --> 00:25:25,395 Speaker 1: leftists attack democracy and democrats from the lefts he therefore 363 00:25:25,395 --> 00:25:30,635 Speaker 1: it's balanced. We have both kinds of music, country and Western. No. No, 364 00:25:31,115 --> 00:25:35,435 Speaker 1: that was the obvious one, the more insidious one. The 365 00:25:35,515 --> 00:25:39,315 Speaker 1: lead item in the first newsletter and the lead item 366 00:25:39,435 --> 00:25:43,155 Speaker 1: on the political website Axios on the Monday morning of 367 00:25:43,195 --> 00:25:46,635 Speaker 1: the last full business week of the year, a thousand 368 00:25:46,755 --> 00:25:50,355 Speaker 1: words by its co founders Jim Vandehi and Mike Allen 369 00:25:50,755 --> 00:25:55,835 Speaker 1: about Trump, about Trump indemnifying the cops right, about Trump 370 00:25:55,955 --> 00:26:00,475 Speaker 1: using the poisoning of the blood imagery again, about now 371 00:26:00,515 --> 00:26:04,435 Speaker 1: implying he's going to expel illegal immigrants from Africa, or 372 00:26:04,475 --> 00:26:07,435 Speaker 1: may be legal immigrants from Africa, or maybe he's going 373 00:26:07,515 --> 00:26:12,635 Speaker 1: to expel African Americans. About praising Shijingping or Kim Jong 374 00:26:12,675 --> 00:26:17,515 Speaker 1: Ollen or the Putin quote. Now, if former President Trump 375 00:26:17,595 --> 00:26:19,955 Speaker 1: wins next year, he'd have much greater power than in 376 00:26:19,995 --> 00:26:22,515 Speaker 1: his first term and fewer restraints on carrying out his 377 00:26:22,555 --> 00:26:28,835 Speaker 1: political agenda. His political agenda like William Jennings Bryan's political 378 00:26:28,875 --> 00:26:32,155 Speaker 1: agenda about not letting mankind be crucified on a cross 379 00:26:32,195 --> 00:26:37,915 Speaker 1: of gold, or more like Mike Trump's political agenda being 380 00:26:38,755 --> 00:26:42,915 Speaker 1: destroying democracy and getting the cops the permission to kill people. 381 00:26:42,955 --> 00:26:46,715 Speaker 2: He Trump does not like political agendas. 382 00:26:47,955 --> 00:26:52,395 Speaker 1: It was edia means political agenda. That's thanks to the 383 00:26:52,475 --> 00:26:56,915 Speaker 1: trifecta of a more compliant cabinet, government workforce, and Congress 384 00:26:58,315 --> 00:27:00,515 Speaker 1: Alan and Vanda hi Wright in such a bubbly way 385 00:27:00,515 --> 00:27:02,875 Speaker 1: that it reads like an application for a Trump contract 386 00:27:02,875 --> 00:27:06,595 Speaker 1: for something, and perhaps it is. What's happening. Trump, if 387 00:27:06,675 --> 00:27:09,515 Speaker 1: he wins, will enjoy vigorous backing from the vast majority 388 00:27:09,515 --> 00:27:12,715 Speaker 1: of GOP leaders and rank and file Republicans. His biggest 389 00:27:12,715 --> 00:27:18,915 Speaker 1: critics will be long gone. I don't remember exactly when 390 00:27:18,955 --> 00:27:24,035 Speaker 1: I met Mike Allen two thousand and seven. Six struck 391 00:27:24,035 --> 00:27:26,235 Speaker 1: me as one of the weirdest people I've ever met. 392 00:27:29,035 --> 00:27:33,195 Speaker 1: Vanda Hih looked like he was casing the joint so 393 00:27:33,315 --> 00:27:35,675 Speaker 1: his biggest critics, they write, will be long gone. Of course, 394 00:27:35,715 --> 00:27:39,035 Speaker 1: Alan and Vanda High will still be there. If Trump wins, 395 00:27:39,035 --> 00:27:43,075 Speaker 1: he will enjoy vigorous backing from conservatives fearful of being 396 00:27:43,115 --> 00:27:45,995 Speaker 1: sent to concentration camps to join his biggest critics, who 397 00:27:46,035 --> 00:27:51,955 Speaker 1: will be long gone. Now I wrote that last one. 398 00:27:52,515 --> 00:27:54,515 Speaker 1: I will spare you the rest of this kissing of 399 00:27:54,555 --> 00:27:58,995 Speaker 1: the fascist ass by Axios except for the unmissible conclusion quote. 400 00:27:59,635 --> 00:28:02,395 Speaker 1: The bottom line, Trump would have a year's long head 401 00:28:02,435 --> 00:28:05,195 Speaker 1: start with Congress. Yet another way, he'd like leverage the 402 00:28:05,195 --> 00:28:09,235 Speaker 1: most sophisticated preparation in history by an out of power party. 403 00:28:10,315 --> 00:28:17,275 Speaker 1: Not one value judgment, not one moral judgment, not one 404 00:28:18,075 --> 00:28:23,435 Speaker 1: negative word. And I'm not asking for Axios to indorse 405 00:28:24,035 --> 00:28:28,275 Speaker 1: the continuation of the Biden administration. I would just like 406 00:28:28,395 --> 00:28:39,715 Speaker 1: Axios to indorse the continuation of democracy. Also of interest here, 407 00:28:39,835 --> 00:28:43,395 Speaker 1: so the conservative money did not go looking for Clarence Thomas. 408 00:28:43,435 --> 00:28:48,075 Speaker 1: Clarence Thomas made a passive, aggressive threat to resign while 409 00:28:48,115 --> 00:28:50,915 Speaker 1: Bill Clinton was president unless somebody figured out a way 410 00:28:50,955 --> 00:28:52,435 Speaker 1: to get him more cash. I mean, who was going 411 00:28:52,475 --> 00:28:54,555 Speaker 1: to pay for his loan for his new RV? And 412 00:28:54,635 --> 00:29:00,115 Speaker 1: thus fell the money from the Sky and a quick 413 00:29:00,235 --> 00:29:03,235 Speaker 1: quiz which Mayor of New York got sued again for 414 00:29:03,315 --> 00:29:05,635 Speaker 1: lying about election workers he just lost a suit too, 415 00:29:05,915 --> 00:29:09,475 Speaker 1: and responded by lying about them again for a third time, 416 00:29:09,795 --> 00:29:11,555 Speaker 1: And which Mayor of New York just said that what 417 00:29:11,675 --> 00:29:13,595 Speaker 1: makes this city the greatest on the globe is that 418 00:29:13,675 --> 00:29:16,155 Speaker 1: on any given morning, you could wake up to celebrate 419 00:29:16,195 --> 00:29:19,435 Speaker 1: a new business opening, or you could witness a plane 420 00:29:19,475 --> 00:29:25,035 Speaker 1: crashing into our trade center. That's next on an all 421 00:29:25,075 --> 00:29:39,435 Speaker 1: new edition of Countdown. This is Countdown with Keith Overman host. 422 00:29:39,435 --> 00:29:43,635 Speaker 1: Scripts to the news, some headlines, some updates, some snark, 423 00:29:43,795 --> 00:29:50,315 Speaker 1: some predictions, date line. Atlanta, Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss 424 00:29:50,355 --> 00:29:52,915 Speaker 1: were awarded one hundred and forty eight million dollars by 425 00:29:52,915 --> 00:29:56,195 Speaker 1: a jury after Rudy Giuliani lied about them and slandered them. 426 00:29:56,395 --> 00:29:59,115 Speaker 1: Giuliani went out after the verdict last week and insisted 427 00:29:59,115 --> 00:30:01,875 Speaker 1: what he said was true and they were guilty. So 428 00:30:02,115 --> 00:30:04,755 Speaker 1: they sued him again yesterday, this time seeking not money 429 00:30:04,755 --> 00:30:07,515 Speaker 1: but a restraining order preventing him from lying about them again, 430 00:30:07,995 --> 00:30:11,835 Speaker 1: whereupon he went on Newsmax last night and lied about 431 00:30:11,875 --> 00:30:15,115 Speaker 1: them again. Looks like their next lawsuit will have to 432 00:30:15,155 --> 00:30:23,195 Speaker 1: ask the court to epoxy Rudy's lips together dateline Presidential Immunity, 433 00:30:23,275 --> 00:30:26,995 Speaker 1: Imaginary Land two hearings on it. Now the Supreme Court 434 00:30:27,035 --> 00:30:30,755 Speaker 1: wants Trump's answer by four pm tomorrow on Jack Smith's 435 00:30:30,755 --> 00:30:33,835 Speaker 1: petition for search on it that is cut to the 436 00:30:33,915 --> 00:30:37,555 Speaker 1: Chase Clarence rule. Now the US Appeals Court Smith does 437 00:30:37,595 --> 00:30:39,795 Speaker 1: not want to wait for on this now says it 438 00:30:39,835 --> 00:30:46,475 Speaker 1: will conduct its hearing on Tuesday, January ninth. Dateline the 439 00:30:46,555 --> 00:30:50,755 Speaker 1: Supreme Court and lo it is a Christmas miracle. Pro publica, 440 00:30:50,835 --> 00:30:54,595 Speaker 1: quoting public and private records that prove that. Early in 441 00:30:54,635 --> 00:30:58,435 Speaker 1: the year two thousand, Justice Thomas began to muse people 442 00:30:58,475 --> 00:31:02,275 Speaker 1: inside the court and out about his little problem. He 443 00:31:02,595 --> 00:31:05,755 Speaker 1: just wasn't making enough money, and there was that new 444 00:31:05,955 --> 00:31:09,955 Speaker 1: RV to pay for. He might he conveyed to Congressman 445 00:31:09,995 --> 00:31:13,035 Speaker 1: Cliff Stearns, who is good enough to write a letter 446 00:31:13,035 --> 00:31:15,835 Speaker 1: about it to Thomas that is in the archives, he 447 00:31:15,875 --> 00:31:19,555 Speaker 1: would have to resign and go make some money perhaps 448 00:31:20,155 --> 00:31:22,435 Speaker 1: whatever it was. Clarence thought people would be willing to 449 00:31:22,435 --> 00:31:25,875 Speaker 1: pay him for besides corruption anyway, Remember Bill Clint was 450 00:31:25,875 --> 00:31:28,035 Speaker 1: still present in the year two thousand and Clarence had 451 00:31:28,115 --> 00:31:30,675 Speaker 1: not yet made sure George w Bush would succeed him. 452 00:31:31,155 --> 00:31:31,515 Speaker 2: Quote. 453 00:31:31,515 --> 00:31:35,635 Speaker 1: His importance as a conservative was paramount. Stearns said recently 454 00:31:35,675 --> 00:31:38,435 Speaker 1: in connection with the Pro Publica reports. We wanted to 455 00:31:38,475 --> 00:31:41,595 Speaker 1: make sure he felt comfortable in his job and he 456 00:31:41,715 --> 00:31:46,755 Speaker 1: was being paid properly, and lo there felleth from the 457 00:31:46,835 --> 00:31:50,275 Speaker 1: sky people to pay off his RV loan and start 458 00:31:50,315 --> 00:31:52,835 Speaker 1: flying him around the world and hiring his wife for 459 00:31:52,995 --> 00:31:58,675 Speaker 1: bull crap jobs involving insurrection and sedition. And our understanding 460 00:31:58,675 --> 00:32:03,475 Speaker 1: of Thomas's judicial prostitution changes. He wasn't accepting money to 461 00:32:03,675 --> 00:32:09,595 Speaker 1: rule in specific ways on specific cases. He was blackmailing 462 00:32:09,715 --> 00:32:15,195 Speaker 1: Conservative America into paying him not to resign and leave 463 00:32:15,275 --> 00:32:22,715 Speaker 1: the seat open for a liberal dateline Capitol Hill, Golly guests, 464 00:32:22,755 --> 00:32:26,435 Speaker 1: which Supreme Court justice has been asked by seven congressmen 465 00:32:26,515 --> 00:32:32,155 Speaker 1: to recuse himself from that ruling on Trump's imaginary presidential immunity? 466 00:32:32,155 --> 00:32:37,595 Speaker 1: Why yes, Clarence Thomas. Good guess what a coincidence because 467 00:32:37,635 --> 00:32:42,035 Speaker 1: his wife was involved in that whole overthrowing the governmentee 468 00:32:42,035 --> 00:32:45,875 Speaker 1: thing on Trump's behalf. I know, Ginny Thomas, She's everywhere. 469 00:32:46,755 --> 00:32:49,875 Speaker 1: Congressman Hank Johnson signed this. Connolly is on it. Sheila 470 00:32:49,995 --> 00:32:53,595 Speaker 1: Jackson Lee Raskin. They sent it to Clarence in a letter. 471 00:32:54,595 --> 00:32:57,315 Speaker 1: I'm just hoping that they folded up a fifty dollars 472 00:32:57,315 --> 00:33:00,635 Speaker 1: bill and signed that layer because you know what, Clarence's 473 00:33:00,755 --> 00:33:07,715 Speaker 1: new RV. It ain't gonna pay for itself and dateline 474 00:33:07,755 --> 00:33:11,075 Speaker 1: New York City. Circling back to New York mayors haven't 475 00:33:11,075 --> 00:33:14,515 Speaker 1: heard from Mayor Eric Adams lately. Well, he was on 476 00:33:14,755 --> 00:33:19,115 Speaker 1: Picks on Politics Sunday with Dan Mannarino on WPIX TV 477 00:33:19,315 --> 00:33:22,755 Speaker 1: Channel eleven here and Dan asked him something about what 478 00:33:22,915 --> 00:33:26,715 Speaker 1: made twenty twenty three the year It was the softbally 479 00:33:26,875 --> 00:33:31,555 Speaker 1: of softball questions, and the mayor said, it's the city 480 00:33:31,675 --> 00:33:33,955 Speaker 1: because New York is the greatest place in the world, 481 00:33:33,955 --> 00:33:35,875 Speaker 1: because you never know if today is going to be 482 00:33:36,195 --> 00:33:37,675 Speaker 1: another nine to eleven. 483 00:33:39,395 --> 00:33:40,235 Speaker 2: Wait, what. 484 00:34:09,035 --> 00:34:12,275 Speaker 1: You know, Mayor Adams, you should try to work that 485 00:34:12,555 --> 00:34:16,835 Speaker 1: in to the next advertising campaign for us. You know, 486 00:34:17,595 --> 00:34:21,795 Speaker 1: I love New York twenty first century version. It's fun city. 487 00:34:22,155 --> 00:34:25,795 Speaker 1: Stop by. Maybe there'll be another terrorist attack while you're 488 00:34:25,835 --> 00:34:28,755 Speaker 1: hear paid for it by the City of New York, 489 00:34:28,955 --> 00:34:52,995 Speaker 1: Eric Adams, Mayor. You know, I come to think of 490 00:34:53,035 --> 00:34:56,355 Speaker 1: it every once in a while. I think Mayor Adams 491 00:34:56,395 --> 00:34:59,035 Speaker 1: is the terrorist attack that has been sent upon us 492 00:34:59,155 --> 00:35:03,515 Speaker 1: for this century still to come on an all new 493 00:35:03,635 --> 00:35:06,115 Speaker 1: edition of Countdown. Asked about him the other day, Not 494 00:35:06,235 --> 00:35:10,035 Speaker 1: Mayor Adams, this other gentleman. I was his intern, And 495 00:35:10,075 --> 00:35:12,435 Speaker 1: that was in the year nineteen seventy eight, and by 496 00:35:12,475 --> 00:35:14,555 Speaker 1: then he had already been in the business for thirty 497 00:35:14,635 --> 00:35:17,795 Speaker 1: six years. And I was asked about him in December 498 00:35:17,835 --> 00:35:19,995 Speaker 1: twenty twenty three. That tells you what an impact he 499 00:35:20,115 --> 00:35:24,355 Speaker 1: had on people. His story next in a new edition 500 00:35:24,395 --> 00:35:26,475 Speaker 1: of Things I promised not to tell first time for 501 00:35:26,515 --> 00:35:28,635 Speaker 1: the daily roundup of the miss Grants, morons and Dunning 502 00:35:28,675 --> 00:35:32,235 Speaker 1: Kruger effect specimens who constitute two days worse persons in 503 00:35:32,275 --> 00:35:38,715 Speaker 1: the world. The bronze worse wreaths across America. Yes, I'm 504 00:35:38,795 --> 00:35:44,995 Speaker 1: slamming wreaths across America. Three days after thirty thousand volunteers 505 00:35:44,995 --> 00:35:47,915 Speaker 1: showed up at the National Cemetery at Arlington to take 506 00:35:47,915 --> 00:35:50,675 Speaker 1: the wreaths they provide free and honor the fall on 507 00:35:50,715 --> 00:35:53,355 Speaker 1: at the two hundred and sixty thousand graves in the 508 00:35:53,435 --> 00:35:57,155 Speaker 1: National Cemetery. And they're just a fraction of the three 509 00:35:57,315 --> 00:36:01,955 Speaker 1: million volunteers who decorated graves around the country this weekend passed. 510 00:36:02,875 --> 00:36:05,955 Speaker 1: This is not about the volunteers, nor debt, nor the honoring. 511 00:36:06,475 --> 00:36:10,395 Speaker 1: This is about the self dealing. In the last six years, 512 00:36:10,435 --> 00:36:13,955 Speaker 1: the amount of money Wreaths Across America has gotten has 513 00:36:14,035 --> 00:36:18,595 Speaker 1: doubled to thirty million a year. Donors pay seventeen dollars 514 00:36:18,635 --> 00:36:21,555 Speaker 1: for each wreath. About five dollars of that goes to 515 00:36:21,595 --> 00:36:23,835 Speaker 1: the civic and youth groups that help sell the reaths, 516 00:36:24,355 --> 00:36:26,395 Speaker 1: works out to around a million and a half a 517 00:36:26,475 --> 00:36:30,195 Speaker 1: year to those charities, and then about twenty one and 518 00:36:30,235 --> 00:36:34,555 Speaker 1: a half million a year, three quarters of its annual 519 00:36:34,635 --> 00:36:39,355 Speaker 1: revenue goes to the company that makes the wreaths, Worcester 520 00:36:39,555 --> 00:36:43,475 Speaker 1: Wreath Company. Now it's quite a coincidence that the Worcester 521 00:36:43,555 --> 00:36:47,875 Speaker 1: family still owns the Worcester Wreath Company when the executive 522 00:36:47,875 --> 00:36:51,795 Speaker 1: director of Wreaths Across America is Karen Wooster, and three 523 00:36:51,795 --> 00:36:53,635 Speaker 1: of the other members of the board of Waths Across 524 00:36:53,675 --> 00:36:56,755 Speaker 1: America are also members of the Worcester family. And yes, 525 00:36:56,995 --> 00:37:01,395 Speaker 1: that light bulb going off over your head, it's accurate. 526 00:37:01,795 --> 00:37:06,395 Speaker 1: The same family which runs the chair is the same 527 00:37:06,515 --> 00:37:10,115 Speaker 1: family which profits by selling the wreaths to the charity. 528 00:37:11,795 --> 00:37:14,995 Speaker 1: Twenty one million dollars a year, and oh, by the way, 529 00:37:15,075 --> 00:37:18,515 Speaker 1: shipping the wreaths, that's largely donated separately, so nobody's paying 530 00:37:18,555 --> 00:37:22,195 Speaker 1: for that. And a lot of organizations that gadfly charities 531 00:37:22,235 --> 00:37:25,235 Speaker 1: to make sure stuff like this doesn't happen, say yeah, 532 00:37:25,275 --> 00:37:28,835 Speaker 1: this is happening on this this really tawdry look was 533 00:37:28,875 --> 00:37:32,475 Speaker 1: first reported not by some left wing organization or mainstream 534 00:37:32,555 --> 00:37:38,515 Speaker 1: media outlet, by Military Times dot com. The runner up 535 00:37:38,555 --> 00:37:42,315 Speaker 1: worser right wing nutjob Laura Lunier, although I think she 536 00:37:42,395 --> 00:37:46,995 Speaker 1: spells at lomer, Laura Lunier has a vague relationship with 537 00:37:47,075 --> 00:37:51,235 Speaker 1: reality and with the truth. Her latest processing issue, as 538 00:37:51,355 --> 00:37:58,115 Speaker 1: reported by America's leading George Santos scholar Jacqueline Sweet Lumer, 539 00:37:58,235 --> 00:38:01,595 Speaker 1: insists that a Foreign Agent Registration Act filing shows that 540 00:38:01,635 --> 00:38:04,555 Speaker 1: the goofball staffer from Senator Cardin's office, who was called 541 00:38:04,715 --> 00:38:11,315 Speaker 1: on video in the Senate hearing room receiving testimony that 542 00:38:11,395 --> 00:38:15,155 Speaker 1: he's a foreign agent he works for the Dominican Republic, says, 543 00:38:15,195 --> 00:38:18,595 Speaker 1: so right here, it's a scandal. He could be blackmailed, 544 00:38:19,675 --> 00:38:24,315 Speaker 1: even though Laura Lunier doesn't explain that after that tape, 545 00:38:24,995 --> 00:38:28,555 Speaker 1: I mean, what's left to blackmail him? 546 00:38:28,595 --> 00:38:28,715 Speaker 2: With. 547 00:38:29,675 --> 00:38:33,595 Speaker 1: Of course, it doesn't say he's a foreign agent. Laura 548 00:38:33,675 --> 00:38:38,555 Speaker 1: Lunier is that most dangerous of combinations, not too bright 549 00:38:39,355 --> 00:38:43,035 Speaker 1: and not too worried about the truth. The form that 550 00:38:43,115 --> 00:38:46,195 Speaker 1: she screenshoted and presented just a portion of shows that 551 00:38:46,275 --> 00:38:49,955 Speaker 1: somebody who was a representative of the Dominican government sent 552 00:38:50,235 --> 00:38:56,115 Speaker 1: the staffer an email, in fact, sent hundreds of Senate 553 00:38:56,195 --> 00:39:00,755 Speaker 1: Office staffers emails. That's all it says. The staffer is 554 00:39:00,835 --> 00:39:04,235 Speaker 1: not the Dominican agent. He and hundreds of others were 555 00:39:04,275 --> 00:39:10,035 Speaker 1: sent emails by a Dominican agent. Senate staffers get emails 556 00:39:10,035 --> 00:39:12,955 Speaker 1: from representatives of other countries every hour. That's what the 557 00:39:12,955 --> 00:39:16,955 Speaker 1: system is for, to show when the other countries have 558 00:39:17,075 --> 00:39:20,915 Speaker 1: reached out to Senate and how staff in her race 559 00:39:20,995 --> 00:39:23,115 Speaker 1: to try to stir up a scandal. This woman Loomer 560 00:39:23,195 --> 00:39:26,635 Speaker 1: has made a fool out of herself again. But our winners, 561 00:39:26,755 --> 00:39:30,835 Speaker 1: speaking of which, the worst sea pack and the guy 562 00:39:30,875 --> 00:39:33,435 Speaker 1: who is still somehow It's chairman. Nearly a year after 563 00:39:33,435 --> 00:39:36,875 Speaker 1: he was engulfed in an actual scandal, the prophetically named 564 00:39:37,315 --> 00:39:43,595 Speaker 1: Matt Slap you may recall Matt Schlap was sued for 565 00:39:43,635 --> 00:39:47,315 Speaker 1: allegedly groping a male campaign staffer in October twenty twenty two, 566 00:39:47,475 --> 00:39:51,915 Speaker 1: a staffer on the Senate campaign of herschel Walker, Remember 567 00:39:52,075 --> 00:39:56,555 Speaker 1: herschel Walker. Washington Post Now reports that is part of 568 00:39:56,595 --> 00:40:00,355 Speaker 1: discovery for his lawsuit, the alleged victim discovered and added 569 00:40:00,395 --> 00:40:06,075 Speaker 1: to the lawsuit two prior incidents involving Matt Schlap that 570 00:40:06,195 --> 00:40:09,275 Speaker 1: the plaintiff says Seapack knew about and did nothing about 571 00:40:09,315 --> 00:40:12,115 Speaker 1: an attempt to kiss an employee at a Seapack party 572 00:40:12,115 --> 00:40:15,115 Speaker 1: in twenty seventeen and last year what sounds like an 573 00:40:15,115 --> 00:40:19,195 Speaker 1: interesting night exploring conservative values when Slapp was accused of 574 00:40:19,235 --> 00:40:22,195 Speaker 1: stripping to his underwear and rubbing up against another guy 575 00:40:22,555 --> 00:40:25,955 Speaker 1: without the other guy's consent. And the new aspect of 576 00:40:25,995 --> 00:40:27,995 Speaker 1: the suit is the claim that Seapac knew and did 577 00:40:27,995 --> 00:40:34,675 Speaker 1: nothing and let Schlap loose on an unsuspecting world. Matt, Hey, 578 00:40:35,195 --> 00:40:42,675 Speaker 1: I was only talking about polling slap Today's worst person 579 00:40:43,795 --> 00:40:59,395 Speaker 1: in the world. All right, here's Bill maser Ce one 580 00:40:59,475 --> 00:41:09,155 Speaker 1: December nineteenth, three two one and now to the number 581 00:41:09,155 --> 00:41:11,915 Speaker 1: one story on the Countdown. And I was literally asked 582 00:41:11,915 --> 00:41:14,595 Speaker 1: about him the other day by somebody who did not 583 00:41:14,835 --> 00:41:17,475 Speaker 1: know I knew him, And basically I had one of 584 00:41:17,515 --> 00:41:21,715 Speaker 1: those instantaneous moments that proved that Marcel Proust was right. 585 00:41:22,355 --> 00:41:26,475 Speaker 1: If you try to remember something or someone from your youth, 586 00:41:27,275 --> 00:41:30,715 Speaker 1: good luck, you might get a vague image. It might 587 00:41:30,755 --> 00:41:32,995 Speaker 1: be right, it might be wrong. But if you are 588 00:41:33,115 --> 00:41:37,315 Speaker 1: unexpectedly reminded of the moment or the person, you can, 589 00:41:37,475 --> 00:41:41,595 Speaker 1: for at least a brief instant be transported back to 590 00:41:41,795 --> 00:41:45,195 Speaker 1: them and to that time, as certainly as if you 591 00:41:45,235 --> 00:41:49,675 Speaker 1: had a time machine. The man's name was spoken, and 592 00:41:49,835 --> 00:41:52,475 Speaker 1: suddenly I was nineteen years old again, in a brand 593 00:41:52,515 --> 00:41:57,555 Speaker 1: new seersucker suit, stepping in from the always broiling midday 594 00:41:57,595 --> 00:42:02,995 Speaker 1: sun of midtown Manhattan, for the subways had air conditioners, 595 00:42:03,275 --> 00:42:07,035 Speaker 1: and into the seductive pool of a television newsroom, seven 596 00:42:07,115 --> 00:42:10,075 Speaker 1: long hours before the broadcast was to begin, when all 597 00:42:10,075 --> 00:42:13,035 Speaker 1: the elements are in place except the panic and the 598 00:42:13,115 --> 00:42:17,315 Speaker 1: rushing and the shouting, when you can still quietly discuss 599 00:42:17,555 --> 00:42:20,875 Speaker 1: which story should be the lead on the newscast, rather 600 00:42:20,955 --> 00:42:24,675 Speaker 1: than threatening to kill somebody who tried to stop you 601 00:42:24,715 --> 00:42:27,515 Speaker 1: from going with the fire, instead of the boating accident, 602 00:42:28,395 --> 00:42:32,995 Speaker 1: when the film hasn't even been shot, let alone developed yet, 603 00:42:33,955 --> 00:42:36,675 Speaker 1: and yes, in nineteen seventy eight it was still film. 604 00:42:37,315 --> 00:42:40,195 Speaker 1: They were just making the conversion from film to videotape, 605 00:42:40,515 --> 00:42:43,555 Speaker 1: and they were using both, and half the stories could 606 00:42:43,555 --> 00:42:47,715 Speaker 1: be instantly assembled videotape, but the other half were maddeningly 607 00:42:47,755 --> 00:42:50,555 Speaker 1: delayed until the kid ran the film to the lab 608 00:42:50,635 --> 00:42:53,235 Speaker 1: in the basement and waited for it to be developed. 609 00:42:53,235 --> 00:42:55,595 Speaker 1: And yeah, I was often that kid, And I think 610 00:42:55,635 --> 00:42:58,635 Speaker 1: I might be the youngest person in this country who 611 00:42:58,675 --> 00:43:01,555 Speaker 1: can say he ran the news film to the lab 612 00:43:01,675 --> 00:43:07,075 Speaker 1: to be developed. Anyway, the man whose name was mentioned 613 00:43:07,075 --> 00:43:09,555 Speaker 1: to me was the first to succeed on radio in 614 00:43:09,595 --> 00:43:12,515 Speaker 1: a big city in this country by simply talking sports 615 00:43:12,555 --> 00:43:16,755 Speaker 1: with listeners who phoned in. This was in Buffalo, New 616 00:43:16,835 --> 00:43:20,115 Speaker 1: York in the nineteen forties and nineteen fifties and nineteen sixties, 617 00:43:20,435 --> 00:43:23,995 Speaker 1: though he was not from there, born in Kiev, emigrated 618 00:43:23,995 --> 00:43:26,995 Speaker 1: to Brooklyn as an infant pre med at Michigan, a 619 00:43:27,075 --> 00:43:30,355 Speaker 1: quick radio stint in Grand Rapids, and the apt decision 620 00:43:30,395 --> 00:43:34,035 Speaker 1: to not go by his given name of Morris Maser. 621 00:43:34,715 --> 00:43:36,715 Speaker 1: Then to the war, then to Buffalo and the role 622 00:43:36,795 --> 00:43:40,195 Speaker 1: of the sportscaster in town on TV, on radio, on 623 00:43:40,235 --> 00:43:43,035 Speaker 1: the newscasts of the original Buffalo bills of the Minor 624 00:43:43,115 --> 00:43:46,875 Speaker 1: League baseball Buffalo Bisons and the Minor League Hockey Buffalo Bisons. 625 00:43:46,915 --> 00:43:53,635 Speaker 1: Bill not Morris, Bill Maser. Bill Maser came home to 626 00:43:53,715 --> 00:43:55,955 Speaker 1: New York City in the early sixties, and whether you 627 00:43:56,075 --> 00:44:00,315 Speaker 1: like it or hate it, sports talk started with him, 628 00:44:00,715 --> 00:44:03,275 Speaker 1: and it did not get much better than him. And 629 00:44:03,355 --> 00:44:05,155 Speaker 1: what he did was not what you see now, where 630 00:44:05,195 --> 00:44:07,595 Speaker 1: people like Steven A. Smith and Chris Russo are paid 631 00:44:07,915 --> 00:44:11,235 Speaker 1: to kill as much time as possible, where people like 632 00:44:11,275 --> 00:44:14,275 Speaker 1: Skip Bayliss are paid to turn anything into a controversy 633 00:44:14,395 --> 00:44:19,075 Speaker 1: and anything good into something bad. Bill Maser talked to 634 00:44:19,235 --> 00:44:27,555 Speaker 1: people knowledgeably, pleasantly, rarely raising his voice. He talked to athletes, 635 00:44:27,635 --> 00:44:32,475 Speaker 1: other reporters, fans, and he had a singular advantage. Before Internet, 636 00:44:32,515 --> 00:44:35,915 Speaker 1: before the sports history industry, hell, before the first edition 637 00:44:35,955 --> 00:44:41,235 Speaker 1: of the Baseball Encyclopedia came out, Bill Maser knew everything. 638 00:44:42,155 --> 00:44:45,875 Speaker 1: This was largely because he had a virtually photographic memory. 639 00:44:45,875 --> 00:44:48,235 Speaker 1: Bill could of an instant tell you who won the 640 00:44:48,275 --> 00:44:50,755 Speaker 1: one hundred meter dash at the nineteen thirty two Olympics 641 00:44:50,795 --> 00:44:54,155 Speaker 1: in Los Angeles, because he knew how all six finishers 642 00:44:54,195 --> 00:44:57,555 Speaker 1: did that. It was Eddie Tolan, then Ralph Metcalf, then 643 00:44:57,755 --> 00:45:01,395 Speaker 1: Jonath of Germany. Then George Simpson, then Danny Joubert, and 644 00:45:01,435 --> 00:45:04,435 Speaker 1: then the Japanese Yoshioka. And then he'd mentioned that Eddie 645 00:45:04,435 --> 00:45:07,435 Speaker 1: Towlean's cousin was the outfielder Bobby Tolinham of the Cincinnati Reds, 646 00:45:07,475 --> 00:45:09,435 Speaker 1: And before you knew it, he was asking you who 647 00:45:09,435 --> 00:45:12,675 Speaker 1: had the greatest outfield arm ever? And I mentioned this 648 00:45:12,795 --> 00:45:17,275 Speaker 1: because I can remember parts of the conversation I had 649 00:45:17,275 --> 00:45:20,155 Speaker 1: with him that followed that question about the nineteen thirty 650 00:45:20,155 --> 00:45:24,395 Speaker 1: two Olympic one hundred meters. Bill Maser saw the list 651 00:45:24,995 --> 00:45:27,755 Speaker 1: of finishers once and remembered it for the rest of 652 00:45:27,795 --> 00:45:33,035 Speaker 1: his life. Bill also did television network stuff. He worked 653 00:45:33,115 --> 00:45:36,395 Speaker 1: NFL football for CBS, sidelines in the studio and the 654 00:45:36,395 --> 00:45:39,675 Speaker 1: scoreboard shows. He did hockey, he did color, he did 655 00:45:39,675 --> 00:45:42,355 Speaker 1: play by play, did local games of the New York Rangers. 656 00:45:42,355 --> 00:45:45,715 Speaker 1: He did the network broadcast on CBS. He did the Knicks, 657 00:45:45,755 --> 00:45:48,595 Speaker 1: the Rangers, the Nets, the Islanders, the local sports on 658 00:45:48,675 --> 00:45:51,475 Speaker 1: Channel five here. And he had interns, and in the 659 00:45:51,515 --> 00:45:54,875 Speaker 1: summer of nineteen seventy eight at Channel five in my 660 00:45:55,035 --> 00:45:59,515 Speaker 1: seersucker suit, I was one of them. Did he take 661 00:45:59,555 --> 00:46:03,875 Speaker 1: me under his wing? That wasn't his style? Did he 662 00:46:03,955 --> 00:46:08,035 Speaker 1: let me Essentially, he produce his show, choose the highlights 663 00:46:08,075 --> 00:46:11,075 Speaker 1: for him. Watch as he showed me tricks on how 664 00:46:11,115 --> 00:46:17,075 Speaker 1: to narrate those highlights. Ask me why he was including 665 00:46:17,115 --> 00:46:20,755 Speaker 1: some stories and not others. Explain that it was okay 666 00:46:20,795 --> 00:46:22,715 Speaker 1: to make a mistake as long as you corrected yourself 667 00:46:22,755 --> 00:46:26,195 Speaker 1: as soon as you found out. Nod with amusement but 668 00:46:26,235 --> 00:46:29,035 Speaker 1: approval when the actual producer said that one night that 669 00:46:29,075 --> 00:46:30,875 Speaker 1: Bill was going to take off, they should let me 670 00:46:31,075 --> 00:46:35,875 Speaker 1: fill in for him. Yes to all that he treated 671 00:46:35,915 --> 00:46:41,435 Speaker 1: his interns like equals. And then there was that memory thing. 672 00:46:42,115 --> 00:46:44,075 Speaker 1: He used to ask him a trivia question on the 673 00:46:44,115 --> 00:46:46,395 Speaker 1: air every night, a question sent in by a viewer 674 00:46:46,475 --> 00:46:50,675 Speaker 1: Stump the Amazing Maser in the commercial before the sports 675 00:46:50,675 --> 00:46:53,195 Speaker 1: on the ten o'clock news on Channel five, And usually 676 00:46:53,755 --> 00:46:56,595 Speaker 1: he'd start to actually answer it reflexively, and the news 677 00:46:56,635 --> 00:46:58,475 Speaker 1: anchor John Rowland would say, what are you doing? We 678 00:46:58,515 --> 00:47:00,155 Speaker 1: want them to stay through the commercial to find out 679 00:47:00,195 --> 00:47:01,955 Speaker 1: if you know the answer, and they'd both laugh, and 680 00:47:01,995 --> 00:47:05,035 Speaker 1: it was obvious that Bill had started to answer. Nobody 681 00:47:05,075 --> 00:47:07,315 Speaker 1: would ever think he was dashing off during the commercial 682 00:47:07,355 --> 00:47:10,875 Speaker 1: to find the answer in a book somewhere. The newscaster 683 00:47:11,075 --> 00:47:14,195 Speaker 1: Roland even mocked the whole thing one night. This is 684 00:47:14,275 --> 00:47:19,475 Speaker 1: from Eddie Spaghetti of Sheepshead Bay Amazing. On Sunday, April 685 00:47:19,515 --> 00:47:22,635 Speaker 1: twenty second, nineteen seventy nine, the Rangers defeated the Philadelphia 686 00:47:22,675 --> 00:47:26,235 Speaker 1: Flyers six nothing at the garden behind John Davidson shutout 687 00:47:26,475 --> 00:47:28,315 Speaker 1: to take a commanding three games to one lead in 688 00:47:28,355 --> 00:47:32,835 Speaker 1: the Stanley Cup semifinals. By this point Bill looked somewhere 689 00:47:32,835 --> 00:47:36,395 Speaker 1: between amused and be mused. The question included the key details, 690 00:47:36,435 --> 00:47:40,035 Speaker 1: What on earth could the question be? John Rowland resumed 691 00:47:41,515 --> 00:47:44,675 Speaker 1: seventeen thousand, three hundred and eighty fans were at Madison 692 00:47:44,715 --> 00:47:51,635 Speaker 1: Square Garden that night. Give their names and addresses. Bill 693 00:47:51,635 --> 00:47:55,515 Speaker 1: Mazer did not even laugh. Aaron Albert A. One hundred 694 00:47:55,515 --> 00:47:58,515 Speaker 1: and twenty five Bedford Avenue, Apartment four L, Brooklyn, New York. 695 00:47:58,955 --> 00:48:03,835 Speaker 1: Aaron Albert C. Seventeen Golf Courseway, Nutley, New Jersey. Aaron 696 00:48:04,155 --> 00:48:10,715 Speaker 1: Albert V. The director faded to black. I saw him 697 00:48:10,795 --> 00:48:13,875 Speaker 1: last around two thousand and eight in the old Yankee Stadium. 698 00:48:14,395 --> 00:48:17,275 Speaker 1: He was alone in the clubhouse and shaking his head slowly. 699 00:48:18,275 --> 00:48:22,195 Speaker 1: I went up and said, hello, my God, Keith, he said, 700 00:48:22,435 --> 00:48:27,315 Speaker 1: very quietly. Other than Jeter, I don't know anybody here anymore. 701 00:48:28,475 --> 00:48:29,995 Speaker 1: I told him the hell he didn't, he knew me. 702 00:48:31,195 --> 00:48:34,355 Speaker 1: We talked for half an hour. I was his intern 703 00:48:34,395 --> 00:48:36,355 Speaker 1: one summer, and the next July I was covering the 704 00:48:36,355 --> 00:48:38,795 Speaker 1: same games and press conferences he was, And not once 705 00:48:38,835 --> 00:48:42,355 Speaker 1: did he claim he discovered me. He introduced me to 706 00:48:42,395 --> 00:48:45,555 Speaker 1: everybody I did not know. I had the good fortune 707 00:48:45,595 --> 00:48:47,315 Speaker 1: to have this young man as my intern last year. 708 00:48:47,355 --> 00:48:48,235 Speaker 2: I'm very proud of him. 709 00:48:49,355 --> 00:48:52,275 Speaker 1: It was always like that, that conversation about the nineteen 710 00:48:52,315 --> 00:48:54,915 Speaker 1: thirty two Olympic one hundred meters that was at his 711 00:48:55,075 --> 00:48:58,915 Speaker 1: desk in the seductively cool newsroom at Channel five one 712 00:48:58,955 --> 00:49:02,235 Speaker 1: evening when I was still his intern, and it ended 713 00:49:02,275 --> 00:49:05,995 Speaker 1: with me saying, Dwight Evan, so the Boston Red Sox 714 00:49:05,995 --> 00:49:08,195 Speaker 1: had as good an outfield arm as I had ever seen, 715 00:49:08,235 --> 00:49:10,235 Speaker 1: for whatever that was worth. And Bill said that was 716 00:49:10,275 --> 00:49:12,555 Speaker 1: a good choice. But he didn't quite measure up to 717 00:49:12,595 --> 00:49:16,195 Speaker 1: Meryl Hogue. Meryl Hogue in the thirties with the Yankees, 718 00:49:17,755 --> 00:49:23,515 Speaker 1: I added, and the Browns, No corrected Bill, just the Yankees. 719 00:49:24,155 --> 00:49:27,995 Speaker 1: He played only for the Yankees. I was in a pickle. 720 00:49:28,555 --> 00:49:33,275 Speaker 1: Bill Mazer was wrong. I stated my evidence, Bill, I 721 00:49:33,315 --> 00:49:36,795 Speaker 1: have a nineteen forty baseball card of Merril Hogue with 722 00:49:36,915 --> 00:49:41,915 Speaker 1: the Saint Louis Browns. Bill Maser's side must be a misprint, 723 00:49:42,155 --> 00:49:45,755 Speaker 1: he said quietly. He then rose dramatically from his chair, 724 00:49:46,115 --> 00:49:48,275 Speaker 1: cleared his throat, and as he reached to unlock the 725 00:49:48,395 --> 00:49:52,955 Speaker 1: drawer that contained his copy of the finally published Baseball Encyclopedia. 726 00:49:52,995 --> 00:49:55,475 Speaker 1: He was always an early adopter of new tech, he 727 00:49:55,515 --> 00:49:58,435 Speaker 1: said to one of the producers. It's always like this 728 00:49:58,595 --> 00:49:59,435 Speaker 1: with these kids. 729 00:50:00,635 --> 00:50:05,275 Speaker 2: He thumbed through the book. Ye ho, here it is 730 00:50:05,355 --> 00:50:08,595 Speaker 2: nineteen thirty six, Yankees, nineteen thirty seven, Yankees, nineteen thirty eight, 731 00:50:08,675 --> 00:50:16,395 Speaker 2: Yankees nineteen thirty nine Browns. Bill went silent. 732 00:50:16,995 --> 00:50:19,835 Speaker 1: He replaced his copy of the Baseball Encyclopedia and sat 733 00:50:19,875 --> 00:50:23,195 Speaker 1: down slowly and silently. He did not look at me, 734 00:50:23,835 --> 00:50:27,355 Speaker 1: but rather at the news producer. Stanley. Pinsley was his name, 735 00:50:28,835 --> 00:50:32,435 Speaker 1: and as he had taught me, Bill corrected himself this 736 00:50:32,795 --> 00:50:37,035 Speaker 1: in turn. He finally said, this one is almost as 737 00:50:37,075 --> 00:50:43,995 Speaker 1: good as me. That's all I really wanted. I had 738 00:50:44,115 --> 00:50:51,235 Speaker 1: unintentionally stumped the amazing Maser. Bill Maser died at Danbury, Connecticut, 739 00:50:51,275 --> 00:50:53,875 Speaker 1: in October of twenty thirteen at the age of ninety 740 00:50:53,875 --> 00:51:00,995 Speaker 1: two and people are still asking me about him. Congratulations Bill, 741 00:51:02,235 --> 00:51:18,035 Speaker 1: and thank you. I've done all the damage I can 742 00:51:18,075 --> 00:51:20,155 Speaker 1: do here. Thank you for listening. Do me a solid 743 00:51:20,195 --> 00:51:25,635 Speaker 1: and tell somebody who does not listen to listen. Countdowns 744 00:51:25,675 --> 00:51:27,395 Speaker 1: come to you from the Vin Scully Studios at the 745 00:51:27,395 --> 00:51:31,795 Speaker 1: Olderman Broadcasting Empire in New York. Spread the word about 746 00:51:31,795 --> 00:51:34,195 Speaker 1: the podcast. If you would, Facebook would be an especially 747 00:51:34,235 --> 00:51:36,515 Speaker 1: fertile ground like I wouldn't know. I've never actually gone 748 00:51:36,515 --> 00:51:39,915 Speaker 1: on Facebook. Countdown musical directors Brian Ray and John Phillip 749 00:51:39,915 --> 00:51:42,995 Speaker 1: Schaneil arranged, produced, and performed most of our music. Mister 750 00:51:43,075 --> 00:51:46,395 Speaker 1: Chanelle handled orchestration and keyboards. Mister Ray was on the guitars, 751 00:51:46,435 --> 00:51:50,395 Speaker 1: bass and drums produced by Tko Brothers. Other music, including 752 00:51:50,395 --> 00:51:53,675 Speaker 1: some of the Beethoven compositions, were arranged and performed by 753 00:51:53,675 --> 00:51:57,555 Speaker 1: the group No Horns Allowed. Sports music is courtesy of ESPN, Inc. 754 00:51:57,595 --> 00:51:59,435 Speaker 1: And it was written by Mitch Warren Davis and we 755 00:51:59,475 --> 00:52:03,355 Speaker 1: call it the Olderman theme from ESPN two. Our satirical 756 00:52:03,355 --> 00:52:06,435 Speaker 1: and pithy musical comment are by Nancy Fauss, the best 757 00:52:06,435 --> 00:52:09,475 Speaker 1: baseball stadium organist ever. Our announcer today was my friend 758 00:52:09,475 --> 00:52:13,635 Speaker 1: Howard Feineman. Everything else was pretty much my fault. That's 759 00:52:13,675 --> 00:52:15,755 Speaker 1: countdown for this, the one thousand and seventy eighth day 760 00:52:15,835 --> 00:52:19,275 Speaker 1: since dementia Jay Trump's first attempted coup against the democratically 761 00:52:19,275 --> 00:52:23,035 Speaker 1: elected government of the United States. Use the Insurrection Act 762 00:52:23,115 --> 00:52:27,795 Speaker 1: against him and them while we still can. The next 763 00:52:27,795 --> 00:52:30,955 Speaker 1: scheduled countdown is tomorrow. Bulletins as the news warrants till then, 764 00:52:30,995 --> 00:52:34,995 Speaker 1: I'm Keith Oldraman. Good morning, good afternoon, good night, and 765 00:52:35,155 --> 00:52:55,315 Speaker 1: good luck. Countdown with Keith Oldraman is a production of iHeartRadio. 766 00:52:55,595 --> 00:53:00,755 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 767 00:53:00,995 --> 00:53:02,995 Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts.