1 00:00:04,795 --> 00:00:24,075 Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. Who 2 00:00:24,555 --> 00:00:29,635 Speaker 1: could have guessed that a press secretary whose previous public 3 00:00:29,755 --> 00:00:34,115 Speaker 1: speaking high watermark was either when she called the worst 4 00:00:34,155 --> 00:00:40,155 Speaker 1: person in human history hilter or when she insisted there 5 00:00:40,275 --> 00:00:46,595 Speaker 1: was a word damining, as in damining evidence. Who could 6 00:00:46,635 --> 00:00:51,275 Speaker 1: have possibly guessed that this press secretary could manage to 7 00:00:51,355 --> 00:00:54,875 Speaker 1: tweet her new administration into a position where some of 8 00:00:54,915 --> 00:00:59,715 Speaker 1: its lawyers might go to jail for contempt of court. 9 00:01:02,115 --> 00:01:05,275 Speaker 1: I mean, follow the components of this disaster in their 10 00:01:05,355 --> 00:01:09,915 Speaker 1: chronological order. The first time Trump shot himself in the foot. Here, 11 00:01:10,155 --> 00:01:13,315 Speaker 1: Trump issues this government shut down via the back door, 12 00:01:13,795 --> 00:01:18,435 Speaker 1: pausing virtually all domestic spending and closing all the medicaid portals, 13 00:01:18,955 --> 00:01:23,115 Speaker 1: utterly illegal, utterly unconscionable, utterly damaging to his own cult members. 14 00:01:24,635 --> 00:01:27,995 Speaker 1: A judge then issues a temporary restraining order against the 15 00:01:28,035 --> 00:01:32,035 Speaker 1: spending pause, whereupon Trump shoots himself in the foot. A 16 00:01:32,115 --> 00:01:36,795 Speaker 1: second time, Trump's lawyers back away from the pause and 17 00:01:36,955 --> 00:01:42,675 Speaker 1: insist the pause has been rescinded. The third time Trump 18 00:01:42,715 --> 00:01:45,155 Speaker 1: shoots himself in the foot. Even Trump supporters in the 19 00:01:45,195 --> 00:01:48,115 Speaker 1: cowering media realize Trump has just made himself look like 20 00:01:48,155 --> 00:01:52,915 Speaker 1: an idiot. The second dramatic dictatorial edict he has issued 21 00:01:53,395 --> 00:01:56,875 Speaker 1: and then had to back off of or emend in 22 00:01:57,035 --> 00:02:01,995 Speaker 1: like twenty four hours. Trump is wounded, damaged, laughed. At 23 00:02:02,915 --> 00:02:06,715 Speaker 1: the fourth time, Trump shoots himself in the foot, just 24 00:02:06,755 --> 00:02:10,235 Speaker 1: this one time, just this one case. The fourth time, 25 00:02:10,555 --> 00:02:15,195 Speaker 1: Press Secretary Caroline Levitt shoots him in the foot for 26 00:02:15,395 --> 00:02:19,795 Speaker 1: him her tweet, this is not a recision of the 27 00:02:19,795 --> 00:02:25,395 Speaker 1: federal funding freeze. It is simply a recision of themb memo. 28 00:02:26,315 --> 00:02:30,355 Speaker 1: Why to end any confusion created by the court's injunction, 29 00:02:30,875 --> 00:02:34,795 Speaker 1: the President's eos on federal funding remain in full force 30 00:02:34,835 --> 00:02:39,795 Speaker 1: and effect and will be rigorously implemented. So the Press 31 00:02:39,795 --> 00:02:43,515 Speaker 1: secretary says, Trump withdrew the memo about the funding freeze, 32 00:02:43,715 --> 00:02:46,675 Speaker 1: that the judge had unfrozen, but that the freeze is 33 00:02:46,675 --> 00:02:49,955 Speaker 1: still in effect no matter what some judge rules, and 34 00:02:49,995 --> 00:02:54,075 Speaker 1: that Trump deliberately rescinded just the memo in order to 35 00:02:54,115 --> 00:03:00,315 Speaker 1: evade the judge's ruling, and that's contempt of court, and 36 00:03:00,355 --> 00:03:02,915 Speaker 1: Trump's lawyers are going to have to explain to this 37 00:03:03,115 --> 00:03:05,755 Speaker 1: judge why he should not or in this case, why 38 00:03:05,795 --> 00:03:10,795 Speaker 1: she should not put them in jail. Overnight or you know, forever, 39 00:03:11,395 --> 00:03:16,395 Speaker 1: for deliberately ignoring her order and having this nitwit Levitt 40 00:03:16,555 --> 00:03:20,675 Speaker 1: boast about ignoring her order. Oh and just to bury Trump. 41 00:03:20,715 --> 00:03:23,755 Speaker 1: Still further on this, a second federal judge also ruled 42 00:03:23,755 --> 00:03:28,155 Speaker 1: that the recision is meaningless and he's issued a court 43 00:03:28,275 --> 00:03:30,955 Speaker 1: order that stays in effect, and Trump can call it 44 00:03:30,995 --> 00:03:33,075 Speaker 1: whatever he wants in Levitt can call it whatever she wants. 45 00:03:33,435 --> 00:03:38,955 Speaker 1: He can't freeze government spending just because he's president. Can't. 46 00:03:39,835 --> 00:03:44,635 Speaker 1: I have said countless times democracy is preserved less by 47 00:03:44,675 --> 00:03:47,155 Speaker 1: our efforts to save it than by the stupidity of 48 00:03:47,195 --> 00:03:51,035 Speaker 1: those who are trying to destroy it. And these people 49 00:03:51,755 --> 00:03:58,915 Speaker 1: are remarkably stupid. Trump is remarkably stupid. Caroline Levitt is 50 00:03:58,995 --> 00:04:03,315 Speaker 1: remarkably stupid. She really did think the name of the 51 00:04:03,435 --> 00:04:09,795 Speaker 1: Nazi guy was Hilter and that there was a word damining. 52 00:04:10,995 --> 00:04:13,155 Speaker 1: And if you saw her first news conference, she really 53 00:04:13,195 --> 00:04:17,955 Speaker 1: does smile vapidly at all the wrong times, like a robot, 54 00:04:18,675 --> 00:04:23,315 Speaker 1: only like a robot you bought used at Sam's Club. 55 00:04:24,475 --> 00:04:30,355 Speaker 1: Post warranty, I mentioned her public speaking high watermark. Her 56 00:04:30,395 --> 00:04:34,195 Speaker 1: career watermark was getting a softball scholarship to Saint Anselm 57 00:04:34,235 --> 00:04:37,555 Speaker 1: College in New Hampshire, or maybe it was revealing this 58 00:04:37,635 --> 00:04:40,035 Speaker 1: month that she had three hundred and twenty six thousand 59 00:04:40,075 --> 00:04:43,795 Speaker 1: dollars in unpaid campaign debts, two hundred thousand of which 60 00:04:43,795 --> 00:04:47,715 Speaker 1: were improper donations, violating the contribution limit. This is from 61 00:04:47,755 --> 00:04:50,235 Speaker 1: a congressional campaign from two years ago, when she got 62 00:04:50,315 --> 00:04:54,595 Speaker 1: smoked by eight points, possibly because she's a Sam's Club 63 00:04:54,715 --> 00:05:02,755 Speaker 1: robot who thinks it's damining about mister Hilter. Levitt makes 64 00:05:02,875 --> 00:05:06,795 Speaker 1: Kaylee mcananney look like Madame Cure, she makes Sean Spicer 65 00:05:06,835 --> 00:05:10,115 Speaker 1: look like honest Abe Lincoln. And she also factors into 66 00:05:10,195 --> 00:05:13,075 Speaker 1: yet a separate case of just keep shooting your own 67 00:05:13,115 --> 00:05:16,315 Speaker 1: foot off. The toes will be coming off any moment now, 68 00:05:17,155 --> 00:05:21,075 Speaker 1: The New York Times. I mean, if bad Dad Bob 69 00:05:21,475 --> 00:05:24,635 Speaker 1: had had a daylight Caroline Levitt had yesterday, Sodom Hussein 70 00:05:24,675 --> 00:05:26,075 Speaker 1: would have been trying to figure out a way to 71 00:05:26,115 --> 00:05:31,355 Speaker 1: ease him out, because as it unraveled for her, you 72 00:05:31,395 --> 00:05:35,635 Speaker 1: put who at risk of contempt of court. This headline 73 00:05:35,755 --> 00:05:38,195 Speaker 1: was still up at The New York Times about her quote, 74 00:05:38,675 --> 00:05:44,675 Speaker 1: white House Press Secretary makes steely and unflinching debut. Caroline 75 00:05:44,715 --> 00:05:48,075 Speaker 1: Levitt used her first briefing in the role to warn 76 00:05:48,235 --> 00:05:55,755 Speaker 1: veteran reporters that they were increasingly irrelevant. Well, I'll say 77 00:05:55,755 --> 00:06:23,475 Speaker 1: this much for her, She's not irrelevant. By the way. 78 00:06:24,435 --> 00:06:29,515 Speaker 1: As an aside, META, which is short for Mark Zuckerberg, 79 00:06:29,795 --> 00:06:34,035 Speaker 1: is Meta terrified of something Trump has on him. Meta 80 00:06:34,275 --> 00:06:38,235 Speaker 1: just got into the who can collaborate more contest yesterday 81 00:06:38,235 --> 00:06:43,395 Speaker 1: alongside the New York Times, Washington Post ABCCBS. Zuckerberg has 82 00:06:43,475 --> 00:06:50,115 Speaker 1: settled a nuisance suit from Trump about canceling his account 83 00:06:50,875 --> 00:06:54,555 Speaker 1: for twenty five million dollars. Because what you're gonna go 84 00:06:54,595 --> 00:06:57,395 Speaker 1: to the trouble of bribing Trump twenty five million dollars 85 00:06:57,515 --> 00:07:01,155 Speaker 1: when there's a subtle legal way to accomplish the same thing, 86 00:07:03,595 --> 00:07:05,395 Speaker 1: all right? With that? As an a side back to 87 00:07:05,475 --> 00:07:08,995 Speaker 1: the spending freeze chaos, there is a contrarian viewpoint about 88 00:07:08,995 --> 00:07:12,995 Speaker 1: it that you should know that this utter fiasco by 89 00:07:13,075 --> 00:07:16,555 Speaker 1: Trump order a freeze have a court overrule. You tell 90 00:07:16,555 --> 00:07:18,755 Speaker 1: the court you are trying to evade its order, and 91 00:07:18,875 --> 00:07:21,755 Speaker 1: how you are trying to evade its order, that they 92 00:07:21,875 --> 00:07:25,795 Speaker 1: meant to do that. Charlie Savage, one of the great 93 00:07:25,795 --> 00:07:27,875 Speaker 1: New York Times journalists, being buried by a couple of 94 00:07:27,875 --> 00:07:30,875 Speaker 1: headline editors who have apparently begun the quixotic quest to 95 00:07:30,995 --> 00:07:34,555 Speaker 1: drive the Gray Lady out of business. Charlie Savage wrote 96 00:07:34,595 --> 00:07:38,115 Speaker 1: last night that quote Trump abruptly fired dozens of officials 97 00:07:38,115 --> 00:07:41,275 Speaker 1: in the past few days, including inspectors general, a member 98 00:07:41,315 --> 00:07:44,355 Speaker 1: of the National Labor Relations Board, and career prosecutors, in 99 00:07:44,395 --> 00:07:48,035 Speaker 1: ways that apparently violated federal laws, setting up the possibility 100 00:07:48,035 --> 00:07:51,955 Speaker 1: of lawsuits. But the prospect of getting dragged into court 101 00:07:52,075 --> 00:07:55,875 Speaker 1: may be exactly what mister Trump's lawyers are hoping for. 102 00:07:56,355 --> 00:07:59,355 Speaker 1: There is a risk that judges may determine that some 103 00:07:59,435 --> 00:08:03,155 Speaker 1: of the dismissals were illegal, but any rulings in the 104 00:08:03,235 --> 00:08:07,915 Speaker 1: President's favor would establish precedents that would expand presidential power 105 00:08:08,235 --> 00:08:12,555 Speaker 1: to control the federal government. I mean his piece. Savage 106 00:08:12,595 --> 00:08:14,955 Speaker 1: does not mention this fiasco over the spending freeze, or 107 00:08:14,955 --> 00:08:18,355 Speaker 1: the other fiasco over the phony employee buyout program, or 108 00:08:18,355 --> 00:08:20,755 Speaker 1: any of the other fiascos of the first nine days, 109 00:08:21,155 --> 00:08:24,675 Speaker 1: but his point is clear. All of these freezes, included 110 00:08:25,555 --> 00:08:29,795 Speaker 1: are could be to set up test cases so that, 111 00:08:29,875 --> 00:08:32,275 Speaker 1: if there were any doubt, the Supreme Court could eventually 112 00:08:32,315 --> 00:08:36,315 Speaker 1: hear them and begin to specify what exact rights Trump 113 00:08:36,355 --> 00:08:39,755 Speaker 1: has as a dictator, freed from any checks and balances 114 00:08:39,915 --> 00:08:45,315 Speaker 1: and completely liberated from the possibility of criminal prosecution later. Still, 115 00:08:46,155 --> 00:08:49,555 Speaker 1: it's something of a Rube Goldberg way of doing this, 116 00:08:50,435 --> 00:08:54,435 Speaker 1: and once the Supreme Court made up presidential immunity, all 117 00:08:54,515 --> 00:08:59,515 Speaker 1: this as a four D chess kind of thing seems unnecessary. 118 00:09:00,275 --> 00:09:07,595 Speaker 1: But I suppose, I suppose it's possible, if they were smart, 119 00:09:08,955 --> 00:09:11,755 Speaker 1: if they had public support, which by the way, they don't. 120 00:09:13,595 --> 00:09:17,675 Speaker 1: For all the boasting, he cannot say it too often. 121 00:09:17,835 --> 00:09:20,315 Speaker 1: More people voted against Trump than for him last November, 122 00:09:22,155 --> 00:09:25,835 Speaker 1: and our drunken Friend polling is back with this rather 123 00:09:25,955 --> 00:09:29,555 Speaker 1: large outside the margin of error number. The Reuter's IPSOS 124 00:09:29,595 --> 00:09:32,155 Speaker 1: poll taken a week ago Monday and Tuesday, showed Trump 125 00:09:32,195 --> 00:09:37,355 Speaker 1: at his most popular only thirty nine percent disapproval. The 126 00:09:37,435 --> 00:09:42,835 Speaker 1: new Reuter's IPSOS poll, taken over the weekend the weekend 127 00:09:42,875 --> 00:09:47,115 Speaker 1: that followed Monday and Tuesday, shows his disapproval has ballooned 128 00:09:47,155 --> 00:09:51,715 Speaker 1: back to forty six percent, up seven points after five 129 00:09:51,875 --> 00:09:57,715 Speaker 1: days in office. I mean, that's impressive. Pardoning the January 130 00:09:57,755 --> 00:10:00,915 Speaker 1: sixth terrorist was a huge mistake, sixty two percent disapproval. 131 00:10:01,035 --> 00:10:04,315 Speaker 1: Another reason the Democrats should file impeachment bills about the 132 00:10:04,755 --> 00:10:08,955 Speaker 1: were he six pardons, trying to end birthright citizenship fifty 133 00:10:09,035 --> 00:10:14,355 Speaker 1: nine percent disapproval. Ending federal programs to hire women and 134 00:10:14,435 --> 00:10:20,915 Speaker 1: minorities if you don't say that's what DEI is fifty 135 00:10:20,995 --> 00:10:24,755 Speaker 1: nine percent disapproval. Pulling out of the Paris Climate Chords 136 00:10:25,115 --> 00:10:29,915 Speaker 1: fifty six percent disapproval, and in the stupid realm calling 137 00:10:29,955 --> 00:10:38,755 Speaker 1: it the Gulf of America seventy percent disapproval. Those geography 138 00:10:38,835 --> 00:10:44,035 Speaker 1: classes are more popular than you thought. These are omens, 139 00:10:44,155 --> 00:10:48,155 Speaker 1: auguries and four tents. Dire for Trump because this is 140 00:10:48,195 --> 00:10:52,635 Speaker 1: all he's got. I just ran through the essences of 141 00:10:52,675 --> 00:11:00,155 Speaker 1: his his worldview. He can't govern. He's still trying to 142 00:11:00,155 --> 00:11:04,515 Speaker 1: stop shooting himself in the foot. In this context, you're 143 00:11:04,675 --> 00:11:08,035 Speaker 1: problem with overthrowing democracy and replacing it with a dictatorial 144 00:11:08,115 --> 00:11:12,355 Speaker 1: kleptocracy dedicated to revenge, cruelty, threats, and the specter of violence. 145 00:11:13,115 --> 00:11:16,515 Speaker 1: Is that history teaches us when the components of this 146 00:11:16,595 --> 00:11:22,195 Speaker 1: are so unpopular that they score polling numbers like that 147 00:11:22,315 --> 00:11:27,035 Speaker 1: seventy percent against your nido idea and sixty percent over 148 00:11:27,315 --> 00:11:31,995 Speaker 1: against your substantive ideas, History teaches us that in every country, 149 00:11:32,035 --> 00:11:36,275 Speaker 1: in every century, such dictatorial kleptocracies are eventually met and 150 00:11:36,315 --> 00:11:42,075 Speaker 1: eventually disempowered by a defiance, a defiance better skilled at revenge, 151 00:11:42,315 --> 00:11:46,075 Speaker 1: better motivated to use cruelty, more gifted at targeting threats, 152 00:11:46,235 --> 00:11:52,435 Speaker 1: more exact with its violence or warnings of violence. Let 153 00:11:52,435 --> 00:11:54,915 Speaker 1: me say, at the outset, whatever form this takes here, 154 00:11:55,115 --> 00:11:57,035 Speaker 1: and I do not know what that form will be, 155 00:11:57,115 --> 00:11:59,875 Speaker 1: I truly hope it will not be violent. I do 156 00:11:59,995 --> 00:12:06,235 Speaker 1: not want this. I would rather limit protest defiance to 157 00:12:06,395 --> 00:12:10,635 Speaker 1: Thomas Jefferson's approach to slavery, hold the wolf by the ears, 158 00:12:10,635 --> 00:12:13,675 Speaker 1: because you can neither hold him nor safely let him go. 159 00:12:15,435 --> 00:12:17,795 Speaker 1: But in the last week it has seemed to me 160 00:12:18,235 --> 00:12:21,315 Speaker 1: that to avoid it, there would have to be a major, 161 00:12:21,475 --> 00:12:25,075 Speaker 1: nullifying intervention to remove Donald Trump and these moronic pirates 162 00:12:25,235 --> 00:12:30,355 Speaker 1: who adhere to him. I actually, and I'm not sure why, 163 00:12:30,555 --> 00:12:33,675 Speaker 1: have hopes such an intervention will take place, as unlikely 164 00:12:33,715 --> 00:12:37,115 Speaker 1: as it seems at this moment. What kind of interventional 165 00:12:37,115 --> 00:12:41,755 Speaker 1: it could be? A dozen Republicans saying enough the correct 166 00:12:41,995 --> 00:12:47,235 Speaker 1: dozen Republicans could topple this administration tomorrow afternoon, or just 167 00:12:47,315 --> 00:12:52,915 Speaker 1: two conservative Supreme Court justices saying enough, or even Trump's 168 00:12:52,955 --> 00:12:56,635 Speaker 1: supporters suddenly cut off from all those government grants and 169 00:12:56,715 --> 00:13:00,635 Speaker 1: aid saying enough, or it could be a financial rebellion 170 00:13:00,715 --> 00:13:03,795 Speaker 1: led by the key Blue states, or a tax strike, 171 00:13:04,915 --> 00:13:10,475 Speaker 1: general strike, or something worse. Any one of ten thousands 172 00:13:10,475 --> 00:13:13,515 Speaker 1: somethings worse that I do not like to think about, 173 00:13:15,715 --> 00:13:18,835 Speaker 1: and I think pretty much any one of them would work. 174 00:13:22,035 --> 00:13:26,475 Speaker 1: Trump says, believes others will believe, may believe it himself 175 00:13:26,595 --> 00:13:29,355 Speaker 1: keeps repeating that he turned on some sort of giant 176 00:13:29,515 --> 00:13:35,515 Speaker 1: spigot in California and made it rain. The only thing 177 00:13:35,515 --> 00:13:38,515 Speaker 1: that actually happened was just a reservoir undergoing maintenance coming 178 00:13:38,515 --> 00:13:47,155 Speaker 1: back online. Whoever wrote Secretary of Combover's Rubio's International Aid 179 00:13:47,235 --> 00:13:50,795 Speaker 1: freeze had to retract it and add a waiver or 180 00:13:50,795 --> 00:13:54,035 Speaker 1: two or seven life saving medicine, medical services, food shelter, 181 00:13:54,115 --> 00:13:57,115 Speaker 1: and subsistence, as well as essential supplies and reasonable cost 182 00:13:57,315 --> 00:14:01,915 Speaker 1: to deliver such assistance not covered by this. Whoever froze 183 00:14:01,915 --> 00:14:04,395 Speaker 1: the domestic aid and grants never realized everything they did 184 00:14:04,795 --> 00:14:07,315 Speaker 1: thing was illegal, That money authorized by Congress to be 185 00:14:07,355 --> 00:14:11,195 Speaker 1: spent must be spent, that not doing so is prohibited 186 00:14:11,715 --> 00:14:17,475 Speaker 1: by the Impoundment Control Acted nineteen seventy four. And even 187 00:14:17,515 --> 00:14:20,515 Speaker 1: if the Supreme Court were to again erase the law 188 00:14:20,555 --> 00:14:22,955 Speaker 1: and erase the Constitution and sided with Trump, even if 189 00:14:22,995 --> 00:14:27,275 Speaker 1: the Charlie Savage article is theoretically correct, all that Trump 190 00:14:27,275 --> 00:14:29,755 Speaker 1: has done in the first week will be tied up 191 00:14:29,795 --> 00:14:36,275 Speaker 1: in a thousand lawsuits in the lower courts. And whoever 192 00:14:36,435 --> 00:14:40,315 Speaker 1: in the administration at all, I mean, who offered this 193 00:14:40,475 --> 00:14:44,275 Speaker 1: non buyout buyout to every government employee A must be 194 00:14:44,395 --> 00:14:47,555 Speaker 1: too stoned to understand what would happen to the world 195 00:14:47,675 --> 00:14:52,395 Speaker 1: economy if you suddenly paid two million government union employees 196 00:14:52,755 --> 00:14:56,955 Speaker 1: a buyout tomorrow. And B they forgot that The Supreme 197 00:14:56,995 --> 00:15:00,515 Speaker 1: Court may have made the president immune from criminal prosecution 198 00:15:00,595 --> 00:15:03,355 Speaker 1: for what he did in office, but he didn't make 199 00:15:03,395 --> 00:15:06,315 Speaker 1: a goddamn one of Eli Musk and the Musk wannabes 200 00:15:06,515 --> 00:15:13,915 Speaker 1: immune from prosecution. And just as importantly, when you stop 201 00:15:13,995 --> 00:15:21,435 Speaker 1: all domestic government financial assistants, which is what Trump's Caroline 202 00:15:21,515 --> 00:15:28,995 Speaker 1: Levitt says they're still doing, guess who that affects Trump supporters, 203 00:15:29,035 --> 00:15:34,635 Speaker 1: civilian Trump supporters, and maybe more relevantly, Trump congressmen who 204 00:15:34,675 --> 00:15:37,195 Speaker 1: have to go and get the votes of those Trump supporters. 205 00:15:37,555 --> 00:15:42,355 Speaker 1: Just six hundred and forty four days from now and 206 00:15:42,435 --> 00:15:44,835 Speaker 1: even they are beginning to say, you idiots put eighty 207 00:15:45,035 --> 00:15:49,955 Speaker 1: undocumented immigrants on military planes that cost eight hundred and 208 00:15:49,995 --> 00:15:54,555 Speaker 1: fifty thousand dollars per flight. You idiots trying to cont 209 00:15:54,675 --> 00:16:00,275 Speaker 1: trillions from the government expenditures, reduce our tax burdens by 210 00:16:00,275 --> 00:16:03,435 Speaker 1: trillions of dollars. You decided to deport a million people, 211 00:16:04,875 --> 00:16:07,435 Speaker 1: so you're going to spend nine hundred and sixty seven billion, 212 00:16:07,515 --> 00:16:09,915 Speaker 1: nine hundred million dollars of my money on that instead 213 00:16:09,915 --> 00:16:15,155 Speaker 1: of spending it on me at all. The undocumented immigrants 214 00:16:15,275 --> 00:16:17,755 Speaker 1: say nothing of the documented immigrants stop showing up on 215 00:16:17,795 --> 00:16:20,515 Speaker 1: the farms and at the construction sites. And now a 216 00:16:20,635 --> 00:16:23,915 Speaker 1: tomato costs how far is it going to go? Forty 217 00:16:23,915 --> 00:16:26,875 Speaker 1: seven dollars each? Because nearly all of them are rotting 218 00:16:26,915 --> 00:16:29,875 Speaker 1: in the fields. Oh, and the building industry grinds to 219 00:16:29,915 --> 00:16:33,835 Speaker 1: a halt. It is all well and good to crash 220 00:16:33,915 --> 00:16:37,035 Speaker 1: the system until the system turns out to be a 221 00:16:37,155 --> 00:16:40,835 Speaker 1: clown car. And when you crash it, it bursts into 222 00:16:40,835 --> 00:16:48,035 Speaker 1: flames and lights everything on fire. Because every immigrant food 223 00:16:48,075 --> 00:16:50,995 Speaker 1: worker in this country is smarter and tougher than Trump, 224 00:16:52,435 --> 00:16:55,795 Speaker 1: and every immigrant construction worker in this country will survive 225 00:16:56,675 --> 00:17:01,595 Speaker 1: when tom Homan will not, and the Mark Millies, with 226 00:17:01,715 --> 00:17:05,395 Speaker 1: or without a security detail, will always bury the Pete 227 00:17:05,555 --> 00:17:10,275 Speaker 1: Keg breaths, if only because Mark Milly isn't an alcoholic, 228 00:17:11,635 --> 00:17:16,355 Speaker 1: and every New Yorker, every single New Yorker, is more 229 00:17:16,395 --> 00:17:22,795 Speaker 1: resilient and smarter than Christy effing Nome. An old woman 230 00:17:22,875 --> 00:17:26,195 Speaker 1: wearing too much makeup coast playing in an ice uniform 231 00:17:26,395 --> 00:17:29,315 Speaker 1: that looks like the vest belonging to a suicide bomber, 232 00:17:31,635 --> 00:17:33,835 Speaker 1: also known as what she wears when she leaves the 233 00:17:33,875 --> 00:17:46,395 Speaker 1: house to go murder the family dog seems to me. 234 00:17:46,635 --> 00:17:50,795 Speaker 1: The one real risk to my scenario of some peaceful 235 00:17:50,835 --> 00:17:56,315 Speaker 1: blowback is, of course, the cowardice of the Democratic Party, 236 00:17:57,835 --> 00:18:01,035 Speaker 1: as Robert F. Kennedy Junior yesterday denied at his hearing 237 00:18:01,115 --> 00:18:04,275 Speaker 1: everything except that his name was Robert F. Kennedy Junior, 238 00:18:05,755 --> 00:18:09,195 Speaker 1: denying he ever compared COVID lockdowns and vaccines to Nazi 239 00:18:09,235 --> 00:18:13,955 Speaker 1: death Camps said, I never said that. Raphael Warnock read 240 00:18:14,035 --> 00:18:17,875 Speaker 1: him the transcript of him saying it. Then Kennedy said, well, 241 00:18:17,915 --> 00:18:20,755 Speaker 1: I wasn't comparing then, I was just comparing their effect. 242 00:18:22,075 --> 00:18:24,275 Speaker 1: While Kennedy was doing that, they were still rumbling. Some 243 00:18:24,355 --> 00:18:29,035 Speaker 1: Democrats like his law school roommate, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse might 244 00:18:29,115 --> 00:18:32,595 Speaker 1: vote to confirm. Senator, I have always deeply respected and 245 00:18:32,675 --> 00:18:36,795 Speaker 1: admired you. This, though, is existential. Kennedy is a madman. 246 00:18:37,515 --> 00:18:42,075 Speaker 1: His irresponsibility will lead to Americans dying, especially children. If 247 00:18:42,115 --> 00:18:45,835 Speaker 1: you vote to confirm him, Sheldon Whitehouse, you are dead 248 00:18:46,035 --> 00:18:49,875 Speaker 1: in the Democratic Party dead. You are deader than Eric 249 00:18:49,915 --> 00:18:53,915 Speaker 1: Adams is. New York Times is reporting our beloved mayor 250 00:18:53,955 --> 00:18:57,355 Speaker 1: has gotten the Trump Department of Enforcers to consider dropping 251 00:18:57,435 --> 00:19:01,795 Speaker 1: the federal investigation of him. Senator, you would be deater 252 00:19:01,835 --> 00:19:04,635 Speaker 1: than Kathy Hochel, the soon to be ex governor of 253 00:19:04,755 --> 00:19:08,275 Speaker 1: New York, who, like Adams, has pledged cooperation with Ice 254 00:19:09,075 --> 00:19:13,955 Speaker 1: on these Trump gestapo raids in New York. Senator, you 255 00:19:13,995 --> 00:19:17,835 Speaker 1: would be better than Hakeem Jeffries, and I'm sorry right now, 256 00:19:18,275 --> 00:19:22,115 Speaker 1: Hakeem Jeffrey should be removed as minority leader NBC News quote. 257 00:19:22,315 --> 00:19:25,715 Speaker 1: Less than forty eight hours after Trump was inaugurated, House 258 00:19:25,795 --> 00:19:28,355 Speaker 1: Minority Leader A. Kim Jeffries held a closed door meeting 259 00:19:28,355 --> 00:19:31,395 Speaker 1: with Democratic lawmakers to issue a warning and a clarion call. 260 00:19:32,235 --> 00:19:34,995 Speaker 1: The new administration was going to flood the zone and 261 00:19:35,115 --> 00:19:39,235 Speaker 1: Democrats couldn't afford to chase every single outrage or nothing 262 00:19:39,355 --> 00:19:41,155 Speaker 1: was going to sink in for the American people, Jeffreys 263 00:19:41,195 --> 00:19:42,755 Speaker 1: told them. According to a person in the room who 264 00:19:42,755 --> 00:19:47,195 Speaker 1: requested an anemity to discuss the private meeting, Jeffreys urged 265 00:19:47,195 --> 00:19:52,355 Speaker 1: members to focus their message on the cost of living 266 00:19:53,235 --> 00:19:58,195 Speaker 1: along with border security and community safety. Quote. The House 267 00:19:58,235 --> 00:20:04,515 Speaker 1: Republican Contract against America is an extreme plan that will 268 00:20:04,555 --> 00:20:08,115 Speaker 1: not lower costs for everyday Americans, Jeffreys told reporters the 269 00:20:08,115 --> 00:20:10,875 Speaker 1: next day, referring to the GOP agenda and spending cuts 270 00:20:10,875 --> 00:20:14,635 Speaker 1: it is weighing. It will make our country more expensive. Congressman, 271 00:20:15,275 --> 00:20:18,915 Speaker 1: the House Republican Contract against America. That's a line from 272 00:20:18,955 --> 00:20:25,355 Speaker 1: the nineteen ninety four midterms. If you're going to make 273 00:20:25,355 --> 00:20:28,675 Speaker 1: a mistake, at least make a new one. Bottom line, Congressman, 274 00:20:28,715 --> 00:20:32,435 Speaker 1: you are expected to do both of these things. If 275 00:20:32,475 --> 00:20:37,955 Speaker 1: you want to emphasize kitchen table issues along with Trump's 276 00:20:37,955 --> 00:20:40,195 Speaker 1: attempt to, you know, convert our form of government into 277 00:20:40,235 --> 00:20:43,995 Speaker 1: a monarchy. Cool. Cool, I guess it won't hurt if 278 00:20:43,995 --> 00:20:48,315 Speaker 1: you do the economy instead of the end of civilization 279 00:20:48,395 --> 00:20:54,835 Speaker 1: as we know it. You get the f out. I'll 280 00:20:54,835 --> 00:20:58,475 Speaker 1: support primarying you. Hell, I'll primary you myself, even if 281 00:20:58,475 --> 00:21:01,755 Speaker 1: it means I have to move to Coney Island. At 282 00:21:01,835 --> 00:21:04,315 Speaker 1: least they got a nice minor league ballpark in Coney Island. 283 00:21:06,115 --> 00:21:09,635 Speaker 1: As their confirmation hearings now begin. Tulsa Gabbard and Cash 284 00:21:09,675 --> 00:21:14,395 Speaker 1: Bettel were referred to by Russian TV propagandists as our 285 00:21:14,635 --> 00:21:20,075 Speaker 1: Tulsi and our Cash. And you somehow think you have 286 00:21:20,075 --> 00:21:24,275 Speaker 1: to campaign only on the price of eggs because you 287 00:21:24,315 --> 00:21:27,035 Speaker 1: couldn't successfully figure out how to campaign last year on 288 00:21:27,115 --> 00:21:32,675 Speaker 1: an anti dictatorship message. Get the f out of here. 289 00:21:34,675 --> 00:21:37,635 Speaker 1: You are all on the brink of collaborating with the 290 00:21:37,715 --> 00:21:48,875 Speaker 1: Nazis for the worst reason, because you're incompetent. Minority leader Jeffries, 291 00:21:48,915 --> 00:21:53,875 Speaker 1: the cliff is feet in front of you. My advice 292 00:21:53,955 --> 00:22:12,995 Speaker 1: is swerve. So here we are Republican stupidity versus democratic cowardice. 293 00:22:13,195 --> 00:22:17,955 Speaker 1: I feel like singing the national anthem, and yet I 294 00:22:18,035 --> 00:22:24,675 Speaker 1: still have hope our cowards will prevail over their morons, 295 00:22:27,035 --> 00:22:31,875 Speaker 1: because boy are they morons. You heard, of course, that 296 00:22:31,955 --> 00:22:35,395 Speaker 1: the wording in this government employee buyout program is almost 297 00:22:35,435 --> 00:22:40,995 Speaker 1: identical to the wording in Elon Musk's employee buyout program 298 00:22:41,115 --> 00:22:45,595 Speaker 1: for when he bought, crashed, and burned Twitter quote. Upon 299 00:22:45,715 --> 00:22:49,155 Speaker 1: review of the below deferred resignation letter. If you wish 300 00:22:49,235 --> 00:22:53,075 Speaker 1: to resign one select reply to this email. You must 301 00:22:53,115 --> 00:22:56,035 Speaker 1: reply from your government account. A reply from an account 302 00:22:56,075 --> 00:22:59,515 Speaker 1: other than your government account will not be accepted. To 303 00:22:59,555 --> 00:23:03,355 Speaker 1: type the word resign into the body of this reply 304 00:23:03,555 --> 00:23:09,875 Speaker 1: email hit send. Last day to accept the defird resignation 305 00:23:09,875 --> 00:23:16,515 Speaker 1: program is February sex, twenty twenty five. Firstly, you you 306 00:23:16,555 --> 00:23:22,195 Speaker 1: would accept a Trump buyout, a promise of money from 307 00:23:22,275 --> 00:23:27,755 Speaker 1: Trump with his track record of stiffing employees on contractors, 308 00:23:28,995 --> 00:23:33,595 Speaker 1: and as to this Muskian demand to unsubscribe from your job, 309 00:23:33,715 --> 00:23:39,755 Speaker 1: click this link. In other words, to resign. Press one 310 00:23:40,715 --> 00:23:45,075 Speaker 1: to accept as buyout compensation a previously owned Tesla instead 311 00:23:45,075 --> 00:23:50,075 Speaker 1: of money. Press two to join a general stripe to 312 00:23:50,235 --> 00:24:00,155 Speaker 1: unseat the fascists. Press three. Also of interest here in 313 00:24:00,195 --> 00:24:02,595 Speaker 1: this all new edition of Countdown, they are this close 314 00:24:02,635 --> 00:24:08,915 Speaker 1: to drinking kool aid for Trump. A congresswoman, and you 315 00:24:08,915 --> 00:24:10,995 Speaker 1: can take the break here to guess which one. There's 316 00:24:11,035 --> 00:24:16,315 Speaker 1: only like sixteen of them now. A congresswoman, A stupid congresswoman. 317 00:24:17,435 --> 00:24:21,195 Speaker 1: Haven't narrowed it down at all. Have a stupid congresswoman 318 00:24:21,475 --> 00:24:27,915 Speaker 1: has moved to add Trump to Mount Rushmore a bill 319 00:24:28,115 --> 00:24:33,235 Speaker 1: in Congress to add Trump to Mount Rushmore. Unfortunately for her, 320 00:24:33,675 --> 00:24:38,675 Speaker 1: her press release reads as if her bill says it's 321 00:24:38,715 --> 00:24:44,315 Speaker 1: to put Trump's actual head on Mount Rushmore, which, come 322 00:24:44,315 --> 00:24:45,915 Speaker 1: to think of it would be something we could all 323 00:24:45,915 --> 00:24:52,555 Speaker 1: get behind. That's next. This is Countdown. This is Countdown 324 00:24:52,915 --> 00:25:17,195 Speaker 1: with Keith Openman still ahead on an all new edition 325 00:25:17,275 --> 00:25:19,995 Speaker 1: of Countdown. I flashed back yesterday to the day I 326 00:25:20,075 --> 00:25:27,555 Speaker 1: met Jim Thorpe's roommate at the nineteen twelve Olympics at 327 00:25:27,595 --> 00:25:32,275 Speaker 1: a museum designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and that made 328 00:25:32,315 --> 00:25:34,475 Speaker 1: me flash back to the day I met someone who 329 00:25:34,555 --> 00:25:38,715 Speaker 1: knew someone who'd shaken the hand of Hitler. A lot 330 00:25:38,755 --> 00:25:43,955 Speaker 1: of strange things happen when you're coming out of anesthesia. Also, 331 00:25:44,035 --> 00:25:46,515 Speaker 1: this question related to all that, will we be playing 332 00:25:46,515 --> 00:25:52,355 Speaker 1: that handshake game someday with a current dictator? I'm not 333 00:25:52,395 --> 00:25:56,075 Speaker 1: shaking your hand ahead on things I promised not to tell. 334 00:25:56,475 --> 00:25:59,835 Speaker 1: Can't believe I shook this guy's freaking hand. First, there's 335 00:25:59,875 --> 00:26:02,155 Speaker 1: still more new idiots to talk about. The daily roundup 336 00:26:02,155 --> 00:26:04,675 Speaker 1: of the miss Grants, morons and Dunning Kruger effets specimens 337 00:26:04,835 --> 00:26:10,315 Speaker 1: constitute two days. Other worst persons in the world, the 338 00:26:10,395 --> 00:26:16,035 Speaker 1: Bronze Worse, The Washington Post, Penny Saber and Hot Sex News. 339 00:26:17,795 --> 00:26:20,355 Speaker 1: Here's the new low and they find a new one 340 00:26:20,435 --> 00:26:23,595 Speaker 1: daily under the British idiot they brought in to destroy 341 00:26:23,675 --> 00:26:28,915 Speaker 1: the place. He's doing a great job. Anybody left, I 342 00:26:28,915 --> 00:26:31,195 Speaker 1: don't mean anybody left for another paper. I'm just asking 343 00:26:31,355 --> 00:26:33,995 Speaker 1: is there anybody left at the Washington Post? I mean 344 00:26:34,035 --> 00:26:36,395 Speaker 1: I spoke to a reporter last week. I think he's 345 00:26:36,435 --> 00:26:40,315 Speaker 1: still there. But it's been a week. This is the 346 00:26:40,435 --> 00:26:44,195 Speaker 1: latest farce from what the Washington Post has become. It's 347 00:26:44,235 --> 00:26:48,435 Speaker 1: an illustration. On one side is Bobby Kennedy, you know, 348 00:26:48,515 --> 00:26:51,035 Speaker 1: the man without pants who likes to masturbate on the 349 00:26:51,035 --> 00:26:55,915 Speaker 1: phone or on FaceTime. Bobby Kennedy, who would be in 350 00:26:55,995 --> 00:26:59,435 Speaker 1: charge of health and human services, as in ending health 351 00:26:59,555 --> 00:27:03,195 Speaker 1: and denying human services. He's on the left and he's 352 00:27:03,195 --> 00:27:06,235 Speaker 1: in a pink reason they made his picture pink. And 353 00:27:06,275 --> 00:27:07,915 Speaker 1: then over here on the other side is the is 354 00:27:08,035 --> 00:27:10,715 Speaker 1: looking right, Bobby's looking left. On the right side, it's 355 00:27:10,835 --> 00:27:13,435 Speaker 1: Michelle Obama and she's looking to the right and she's 356 00:27:13,435 --> 00:27:16,715 Speaker 1: mostly blue. And in between there's a carrot, and what 357 00:27:16,795 --> 00:27:19,755 Speaker 1: looks to be a radish, and either a strawberry or 358 00:27:19,915 --> 00:27:23,635 Speaker 1: heart is in Michelle Obama's hair. And this is what 359 00:27:23,715 --> 00:27:27,595 Speaker 1: this is the illustration for. Did RFK Junior or Michelle 360 00:27:27,595 --> 00:27:33,515 Speaker 1: Obama say it about food? Take our quiz? Did democracy 361 00:27:33,635 --> 00:27:37,635 Speaker 1: end in twenty seventeen or twenty twenty five? Take our quiz? 362 00:27:39,475 --> 00:27:41,755 Speaker 1: Are you still reading the Washington Post? Or are you 363 00:27:41,875 --> 00:27:47,555 Speaker 1: not seeing this? Take our quiz? Have we become collaborators 364 00:27:47,595 --> 00:27:51,115 Speaker 1: with an evil empire that may or may not be 365 00:27:51,235 --> 00:27:54,115 Speaker 1: willing to leave office when its term is over? Take 366 00:27:54,155 --> 00:27:58,715 Speaker 1: our quiz. I have a suggestion. Take your quiz and 367 00:27:58,955 --> 00:28:05,355 Speaker 1: shove it. Washington Post runner up Lauren Bobert, still congresswoman 368 00:28:05,395 --> 00:28:09,955 Speaker 1: from Colorado, from the particularly dumb place in Colorado where 369 00:28:09,995 --> 00:28:14,715 Speaker 1: they sent all the dumb people. She's complaining that that's right, 370 00:28:15,075 --> 00:28:18,555 Speaker 1: the minimum wage is too high that many of our 371 00:28:18,595 --> 00:28:21,155 Speaker 1: youth have lost the apportunity to mander the workforce. Do 372 00:28:21,275 --> 00:28:24,075 Speaker 1: the high minimum wage requirements seven dollars and twenty five 373 00:28:24,115 --> 00:28:27,715 Speaker 1: cents an hour? High taxes, insurance, and paid leave requirements 374 00:28:27,755 --> 00:28:31,035 Speaker 1: are a few of many issues. As well paid leave requirements. 375 00:28:31,995 --> 00:28:34,995 Speaker 1: Small business owners are unable to invest in first time workers, 376 00:28:35,155 --> 00:28:37,795 Speaker 1: or provide them with skills training for their future. This 377 00:28:37,995 --> 00:28:41,595 Speaker 1: was in response to a Thomas Massey tweet about how 378 00:28:41,915 --> 00:28:46,795 Speaker 1: you shouldn't charge kids who are working taxes. Not an 379 00:28:46,835 --> 00:28:51,995 Speaker 1: unreasonable suggestion from a lunatic like Thomas Massey, and then 380 00:28:52,075 --> 00:28:55,235 Speaker 1: Bobert takes it completely somewhere else, which is kids should 381 00:28:55,315 --> 00:28:57,675 Speaker 1: not have to work for minimum wage. They should work 382 00:28:57,715 --> 00:29:02,275 Speaker 1: for less manual labor, less than seven dollars and twenty 383 00:29:02,315 --> 00:29:07,755 Speaker 1: five cents an hour, stacking boxes, digging trenches, whatever it 384 00:29:07,835 --> 00:29:11,195 Speaker 1: is you want, working in shoe factories, whatever it is 385 00:29:11,315 --> 00:29:17,035 Speaker 1: she has in mind for manual labor, manual labor. Because 386 00:29:17,035 --> 00:29:19,315 Speaker 1: of course seven dollars and twenty five cents an hour, 387 00:29:20,315 --> 00:29:22,235 Speaker 1: that's still the minimum wage. That would be more than 388 00:29:22,595 --> 00:29:28,155 Speaker 1: Lauren Bobert charges for manual labor. Think about it, but 389 00:29:28,275 --> 00:29:32,755 Speaker 1: the winner worst another congresswoman who makes Lauren Bobert look 390 00:29:32,915 --> 00:29:43,915 Speaker 1: like Geraldine Ferraro, Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna. Real name Anna Meyerhoffer. Right, 391 00:29:43,995 --> 00:29:49,235 Speaker 1: your arm is Mayor Hoffer. I've officially introduced legislation to 392 00:29:49,315 --> 00:29:53,395 Speaker 1: put President Trump's face on Mount Rushmore. I swear to God, 393 00:29:53,435 --> 00:29:56,435 Speaker 1: this is actual, This is a real thing. His remarkable 394 00:29:56,475 --> 00:29:59,515 Speaker 1: accomplishments for our country and the success he will continue 395 00:29:59,515 --> 00:30:02,235 Speaker 1: to deliver, deserve the highest recognition and honor on this 396 00:30:02,515 --> 00:30:07,515 Speaker 1: iconic national monument. Let's get at carving. I do like 397 00:30:07,555 --> 00:30:10,155 Speaker 1: the imagery though, but let's get carving. So she has 398 00:30:10,195 --> 00:30:12,275 Speaker 1: a picture of Trump and a picture of her, and 399 00:30:12,315 --> 00:30:17,835 Speaker 1: that stupid pictures of her smile, that fake smile with 400 00:30:17,875 --> 00:30:21,075 Speaker 1: the fake lips and the fake face. And there it 401 00:30:21,155 --> 00:30:26,395 Speaker 1: is the revised Mount Rushmore, Washington on the left, Jefferson 402 00:30:26,435 --> 00:30:30,355 Speaker 1: looking over to the side, Teddy Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, and 403 00:30:30,475 --> 00:30:34,235 Speaker 1: in front of them all Trump. Of course, Trump when 404 00:30:34,235 --> 00:30:40,315 Speaker 1: he was like twenty eight years old. Breaking Representative Luna 405 00:30:40,355 --> 00:30:45,035 Speaker 1: introduces legislation to carve President Trump on Mount Rushmore. See 406 00:30:45,035 --> 00:30:48,715 Speaker 1: there's a problem with your language choice there, Congresswoman. You 407 00:30:48,755 --> 00:30:55,075 Speaker 1: want to carve President Trump on Mount Rushmore. Let's get carving, 408 00:30:55,275 --> 00:30:58,395 Speaker 1: she says, is that does the Secret Service know about this? 409 00:31:01,075 --> 00:31:03,555 Speaker 1: To put President Trump's face on Mount rush Race. See 410 00:31:03,555 --> 00:31:06,275 Speaker 1: I can go along with miss Luna here. Actually she 411 00:31:06,395 --> 00:31:12,715 Speaker 1: wants to carve Trump's face and stick it on Mount Rushmore. Well, 412 00:31:13,395 --> 00:31:17,195 Speaker 1: I believe reading this, Anna Paulina Luna means his face. 413 00:31:18,155 --> 00:31:23,995 Speaker 1: Let's go Anna, Paulina Luna, write your arm Missus Meyerhoffer 414 00:31:24,515 --> 00:31:38,395 Speaker 1: tick two days other worst person in the world. She 415 00:31:38,515 --> 00:31:40,715 Speaker 1: was the number one story on the countdown, and things 416 00:31:40,755 --> 00:31:44,795 Speaker 1: I promised not to tell on my way back from 417 00:31:44,835 --> 00:31:51,235 Speaker 1: the endoscopy. I'm fine. Just as importantly, I didn't wake 418 00:31:51,315 --> 00:31:57,715 Speaker 1: up during the endoscopy. Happily we did this once in 419 00:31:57,715 --> 00:32:00,395 Speaker 1: two thousand and five. That will last me the rest 420 00:32:00,475 --> 00:32:04,155 Speaker 1: of my life. I'm fine. Thank you for asking. It 421 00:32:04,195 --> 00:32:07,355 Speaker 1: was waytown in Manhattan, and it occurred to me that 422 00:32:07,435 --> 00:32:09,795 Speaker 1: although I've been there now twice in the last week 423 00:32:09,875 --> 00:32:13,635 Speaker 1: or so, I had not been passed the fabulous Frank 424 00:32:13,715 --> 00:32:18,595 Speaker 1: Lloyd WRIGHTE. Guggenheim Museum on Upper Fifth Avenue relative to 425 00:32:18,635 --> 00:32:22,715 Speaker 1: Manhattan anyway since nineteen eighty two. I've been there twice 426 00:32:22,755 --> 00:32:25,075 Speaker 1: in a week, and just because it's a downtown street 427 00:32:25,115 --> 00:32:27,275 Speaker 1: and I don't spend a lot of time uptown, and 428 00:32:27,315 --> 00:32:32,195 Speaker 1: it's passed the real museum row on Fifth Avenue. I'd 429 00:32:32,235 --> 00:32:35,035 Speaker 1: been as north as by eighty ninth Street, something like that, 430 00:32:35,555 --> 00:32:38,995 Speaker 1: but i'd never been as far as the Guggenheim for 431 00:32:38,995 --> 00:32:43,995 Speaker 1: forty two and a half years, and I've been passed 432 00:32:43,995 --> 00:32:45,995 Speaker 1: it twice in the last week, and it means only 433 00:32:46,035 --> 00:32:49,835 Speaker 1: one thing to me. Oh, great art itself is great art. 434 00:32:49,915 --> 00:32:54,035 Speaker 1: Frank Lloyd write all those stories the Guggenheim Museum means 435 00:32:54,035 --> 00:33:00,315 Speaker 1: to me Abel Kiviat. I'll explain able Kiviat, but I 436 00:33:00,315 --> 00:33:03,995 Speaker 1: also want to say that because my mind was emptying 437 00:33:04,075 --> 00:33:08,515 Speaker 1: the remainder of the sedations slash anesthesia, which was strong 438 00:33:08,595 --> 00:33:11,035 Speaker 1: enough so that I didn't wake up during it. This time, 439 00:33:11,955 --> 00:33:14,835 Speaker 1: I also thought of, for some reason, the Midpoint game. 440 00:33:15,555 --> 00:33:18,835 Speaker 1: You ever played the midpoint game? Like, this event happened 441 00:33:18,835 --> 00:33:21,435 Speaker 1: this far in my past? And if I double that, 442 00:33:21,595 --> 00:33:24,355 Speaker 1: what happened? You know, if it's ten years ago, what 443 00:33:24,395 --> 00:33:28,235 Speaker 1: happened ten years ago? Exactly before that happened? What was that? 444 00:33:28,315 --> 00:33:30,955 Speaker 1: The midpoint of relative is today? I think that's a 445 00:33:30,955 --> 00:33:32,995 Speaker 1: fun game, and it popped into my head too, because 446 00:33:33,195 --> 00:33:37,715 Speaker 1: strange things pop into your head as it's clearing, relatively speaking, 447 00:33:37,755 --> 00:33:40,595 Speaker 1: and that led me, of course to the famous handshake game. 448 00:33:41,555 --> 00:33:44,315 Speaker 1: We'll leave that for last. Let me tell you about 449 00:33:44,355 --> 00:33:48,315 Speaker 1: Abel Kiviat In the old days here in New York, 450 00:33:48,395 --> 00:33:51,355 Speaker 1: the New York Marathon, which now features like I don't know, 451 00:33:51,515 --> 00:33:55,715 Speaker 1: seventy five million people running on a Sunday as I've 452 00:33:55,715 --> 00:33:59,555 Speaker 1: described it many times, the New York Marathon, your worst neighbor. 453 00:34:00,115 --> 00:34:02,795 Speaker 1: They block all the streets, no matter where you go, 454 00:34:02,955 --> 00:34:06,475 Speaker 1: they're running there. They made the whole thing more and 455 00:34:06,515 --> 00:34:09,555 Speaker 1: more intricate over the years. This started back in the 456 00:34:09,595 --> 00:34:12,795 Speaker 1: old days, when there was no television, no radio, no publicity. 457 00:34:13,075 --> 00:34:16,195 Speaker 1: CNN once sent a live truck, the only live truck 458 00:34:16,235 --> 00:34:18,475 Speaker 1: they had to cover the start of the race on 459 00:34:18,515 --> 00:34:21,795 Speaker 1: the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, and they got this great idea, 460 00:34:21,875 --> 00:34:25,635 Speaker 1: this unbelievable new idea, the first one perhaps ever in 461 00:34:25,715 --> 00:34:29,315 Speaker 1: cable television. Cover it live, but keep the truck moving 462 00:34:29,355 --> 00:34:31,635 Speaker 1: because the signal will work from all points of the 463 00:34:31,715 --> 00:34:34,635 Speaker 1: Verizona Narrows Bridge. You'll get a live, moving shot of 464 00:34:34,675 --> 00:34:36,995 Speaker 1: the start of the race. And they did it, and 465 00:34:36,995 --> 00:34:39,355 Speaker 1: they were so proud of themselves. And then they forgot 466 00:34:39,395 --> 00:34:44,115 Speaker 1: there was a toll booth and a low overhanging bridge 467 00:34:44,115 --> 00:34:48,555 Speaker 1: across the toll booth, and live on television. CNN, in 468 00:34:48,675 --> 00:34:54,955 Speaker 1: its first year, snapped its live truck's arm its mast 469 00:34:55,235 --> 00:35:00,035 Speaker 1: in half. Nobody was injured. Mary Alice Williams, who ran 470 00:35:00,075 --> 00:35:04,195 Speaker 1: the New York bureau for CNN, kept the destroyed sort 471 00:35:04,195 --> 00:35:07,395 Speaker 1: of knuckle of the mast in a frame on her 472 00:35:07,395 --> 00:35:10,035 Speaker 1: office wall, or as long as I knew her working 473 00:35:10,075 --> 00:35:14,355 Speaker 1: at CNN in New York in those old days, Yeah, 474 00:35:14,395 --> 00:35:16,715 Speaker 1: they got so little publicity for the New York Marathon 475 00:35:16,755 --> 00:35:18,835 Speaker 1: that they were happy to have the CNN truck drive 476 00:35:18,955 --> 00:35:22,315 Speaker 1: in front of the runners two thousand runners maybe in 477 00:35:22,355 --> 00:35:24,715 Speaker 1: the first ones in the early eighties, so happy to 478 00:35:24,715 --> 00:35:26,315 Speaker 1: have them there that they were willing to risk the 479 00:35:26,395 --> 00:35:29,035 Speaker 1: runners lives because the guy driving the CNN truck did 480 00:35:29,075 --> 00:35:32,915 Speaker 1: not think to stop at the toll booth. And I 481 00:35:32,955 --> 00:35:35,435 Speaker 1: believe it was Mary Alice Williams's brother, but that may 482 00:35:35,475 --> 00:35:38,355 Speaker 1: not be correct. I don't want to insult him. In 483 00:35:38,435 --> 00:35:40,995 Speaker 1: any event, it was true that in those days, nobody 484 00:35:41,035 --> 00:35:45,035 Speaker 1: cared about the New York Marathon unless nobody knew about 485 00:35:45,035 --> 00:35:47,635 Speaker 1: the New York Marathon, and so they called us up 486 00:35:47,675 --> 00:35:49,875 Speaker 1: one day. The head, the founder of the New York Marathon, 487 00:35:50,195 --> 00:35:54,995 Speaker 1: a little man named Fred Leebow, who ran with a 488 00:35:55,035 --> 00:35:59,555 Speaker 1: bicycle racer's cap from the eighties, a little tiny baseball 489 00:35:59,595 --> 00:36:02,315 Speaker 1: cap only shrunk to the head with the brim pushed upwards. 490 00:36:02,635 --> 00:36:04,995 Speaker 1: He walked around with that all the time, and he 491 00:36:05,115 --> 00:36:06,995 Speaker 1: was I forget from where somewhere in Europe and he 492 00:36:06,995 --> 00:36:10,235 Speaker 1: had a little European accent and he ran the marathon. 493 00:36:10,275 --> 00:36:11,835 Speaker 1: He is the founder of the marathon. I think there 494 00:36:11,875 --> 00:36:13,715 Speaker 1: is a statue to him, and it is deserved. He 495 00:36:13,755 --> 00:36:15,635 Speaker 1: built it out of nothing, and he built it out 496 00:36:15,635 --> 00:36:17,875 Speaker 1: of nothing. This way, I come back from a shoot 497 00:36:17,955 --> 00:36:20,115 Speaker 1: at CNN in nineteen eighty two and there is a 498 00:36:20,155 --> 00:36:23,035 Speaker 1: message for me, call Fred Libo at the New York 499 00:36:23,075 --> 00:36:25,995 Speaker 1: City Marathon. It's like, okay, fine, we need a story. 500 00:36:26,035 --> 00:36:27,955 Speaker 1: Maybe we can do something on the New York City Marathon. 501 00:36:28,115 --> 00:36:30,795 Speaker 1: I'm the sports reporter. Why not. I call up the 502 00:36:30,875 --> 00:36:34,555 Speaker 1: offices New York Roadrunners Club or whatever it was called, 503 00:36:34,955 --> 00:36:36,995 Speaker 1: and I get this, This is the switchboard New York 504 00:36:37,075 --> 00:36:41,315 Speaker 1: road Runners Club. Hi, Fred Libo's office, please, CNN returning 505 00:36:41,315 --> 00:36:49,435 Speaker 1: her call, speaking even though I called him her, he 506 00:36:49,555 --> 00:36:52,195 Speaker 1: was operating the switchboard. Well, it turned out that he said, 507 00:36:52,235 --> 00:36:55,235 Speaker 1: we're going to have an event at the Guggenheim Museum 508 00:36:55,715 --> 00:36:58,915 Speaker 1: for this man, Able Kiviat, and he's not actually going 509 00:36:58,995 --> 00:37:01,195 Speaker 1: to run in the nineteen eighty two New York Marathon, 510 00:37:01,275 --> 00:37:03,475 Speaker 1: but he's going to be like our starter and he's 511 00:37:03,475 --> 00:37:05,955 Speaker 1: going to run a little bit. Becase, because Able's ninety 512 00:37:05,955 --> 00:37:09,315 Speaker 1: four years old, and I said, I know exactly who 513 00:37:09,355 --> 00:37:11,315 Speaker 1: he is. Oh I doct you know who he is? 514 00:37:11,395 --> 00:37:15,515 Speaker 1: I said, he held like ten middle distance running records 515 00:37:15,515 --> 00:37:19,195 Speaker 1: in this country. Is the top middle distance runner sprints 516 00:37:19,355 --> 00:37:22,235 Speaker 1: and you know a thousand yards or whatever it was 517 00:37:22,595 --> 00:37:24,475 Speaker 1: how they measured them in those days. How do you 518 00:37:24,555 --> 00:37:27,115 Speaker 1: know that? I said, I have his his tobacco card 519 00:37:27,155 --> 00:37:29,955 Speaker 1: they made. They used to make cards of great athletes. 520 00:37:30,235 --> 00:37:33,115 Speaker 1: It was a set that had bowlers and golfers and 521 00:37:33,195 --> 00:37:35,555 Speaker 1: Abel Kiviat in it, and it was one of my 522 00:37:35,995 --> 00:37:38,275 Speaker 1: favorite sets of cards. So I knew who he was, 523 00:37:38,595 --> 00:37:41,435 Speaker 1: and I went, he's still alive, yes, and he's a 524 00:37:41,475 --> 00:37:43,715 Speaker 1: pis a pisser. And that's the first time I think 525 00:37:43,755 --> 00:37:47,715 Speaker 1: I ever heard that in publicity language. So we arranged 526 00:37:47,715 --> 00:37:50,635 Speaker 1: to go meet Abel Kiviat at this event. No other 527 00:37:50,715 --> 00:37:53,035 Speaker 1: television cameras were there, as I remember, and they sat 528 00:37:53,075 --> 00:37:55,915 Speaker 1: me next to Able Kiviat for lunch, and he was, 529 00:37:56,075 --> 00:38:01,315 Speaker 1: in fact, as Fred Liebo described him, a pisser was 530 00:38:01,635 --> 00:38:05,515 Speaker 1: Fred was not exaggerating. Abel talked like both my grandfather's 531 00:38:05,675 --> 00:38:08,235 Speaker 1: and he was from somewhere in Queens and he said 532 00:38:08,275 --> 00:38:11,515 Speaker 1: things like Tarty third Street and he was just marvelous, 533 00:38:11,955 --> 00:38:13,875 Speaker 1: and he had a full head of hair, and he 534 00:38:13,955 --> 00:38:18,035 Speaker 1: was shop as attack and he explained to me his 535 00:38:18,035 --> 00:38:20,475 Speaker 1: history as a runner, and I was enthralled by it. 536 00:38:20,515 --> 00:38:24,875 Speaker 1: A professional athlete from nineteen ten talking to me about 537 00:38:24,875 --> 00:38:27,395 Speaker 1: the Olympics, while he was not officially professional, but you 538 00:38:27,475 --> 00:38:30,675 Speaker 1: know what it was like then. This was marvelous to me. 539 00:38:31,075 --> 00:38:34,675 Speaker 1: This man had been on a baseball card, essentially a 540 00:38:34,755 --> 00:38:37,475 Speaker 1: track and field card. But it was like meeting I 541 00:38:37,555 --> 00:38:42,955 Speaker 1: don't know cy young Christy Matthewson, abel kiveat all of 542 00:38:42,995 --> 00:38:47,475 Speaker 1: an era. At some point we started talking about Abele's 543 00:38:47,595 --> 00:38:50,435 Speaker 1: role in the nineteen twelve Olympics, and he said, yeah, 544 00:38:50,435 --> 00:38:53,515 Speaker 1: I was Jim Thorpe's roommate, And I went, you what 545 00:38:54,395 --> 00:38:57,835 Speaker 1: probably the greatest natural athlete of all time in the 546 00:38:57,835 --> 00:39:02,115 Speaker 1: most different sports track and field basically invented professional football, 547 00:39:02,515 --> 00:39:06,635 Speaker 1: basically popularized college football. He could kick, he could pass, 548 00:39:06,715 --> 00:39:09,595 Speaker 1: he could block, he could receive. He sometimes did all 549 00:39:09,635 --> 00:39:12,435 Speaker 1: these things in the same game. He also played pro baseball. 550 00:39:12,555 --> 00:39:15,435 Speaker 1: He was also an actor, and he also achieved a 551 00:39:15,475 --> 00:39:19,955 Speaker 1: modicum of success anyway in a society that completely denigrated 552 00:39:20,075 --> 00:39:21,835 Speaker 1: the fact that he was a Native American, and he 553 00:39:21,875 --> 00:39:25,995 Speaker 1: survived the forcible translation of him from a native American 554 00:39:26,035 --> 00:39:29,475 Speaker 1: to a quote unquote modern American in the early twentieth century, 555 00:39:29,595 --> 00:39:34,555 Speaker 1: one of the great people in our history. And this 556 00:39:34,755 --> 00:39:38,635 Speaker 1: was his roommate. So he says, Abel does in his 557 00:39:38,835 --> 00:39:41,875 Speaker 1: wonderful way, sounding like both my grandfather is from the Bronx. 558 00:39:42,155 --> 00:39:47,115 Speaker 1: He says, Yeah, we went over to England to pick 559 00:39:47,275 --> 00:39:50,195 Speaker 1: up the team in a boat. Went big boat, I said, 560 00:39:50,235 --> 00:39:52,955 Speaker 1: like a cruise ship. Yeah, we're in a cruise ship. 561 00:39:53,155 --> 00:39:54,715 Speaker 1: And we get over there and we meet them in 562 00:39:54,755 --> 00:39:57,235 Speaker 1: Liverpool and they come on board, and then we go 563 00:39:57,275 --> 00:39:59,475 Speaker 1: to the Olympics and we're out there in the a 564 00:39:59,555 --> 00:40:03,875 Speaker 1: Sai Zephery. Was it Denmark? Was it Copenhagen? Was it Oslow? 565 00:40:04,115 --> 00:40:07,435 Speaker 1: I forgot what we were. He's mentioned like four countries 566 00:40:07,475 --> 00:40:09,915 Speaker 1: so far. But he's in there with them, and he says, 567 00:40:09,955 --> 00:40:13,275 Speaker 1: the night before all the lords and ladies of England 568 00:40:13,315 --> 00:40:15,995 Speaker 1: are there and all of our team and all of 569 00:40:16,035 --> 00:40:19,315 Speaker 1: their team, and we're they're we're all in tusas. I 570 00:40:19,355 --> 00:40:21,435 Speaker 1: had to borrow one. They had them on board this 571 00:40:21,595 --> 00:40:25,395 Speaker 1: ship and we're having this this party, and sooner or 572 00:40:25,475 --> 00:40:27,795 Speaker 1: later there's enough drink that every one of these athletes 573 00:40:28,155 --> 00:40:31,235 Speaker 1: decides they're gonna run up and grab this. They had 574 00:40:31,235 --> 00:40:34,635 Speaker 1: this huge chandelier and I went, my god, he could 575 00:40:34,675 --> 00:40:37,435 Speaker 1: be my grandfather. That's how both my grandfathers pronounced the 576 00:40:37,435 --> 00:40:40,995 Speaker 1: word chandelier. And in fact, one of my grandfathers was 577 00:40:41,075 --> 00:40:45,515 Speaker 1: named Charbonier. He pronounced it chabanir like that. He should 578 00:40:45,515 --> 00:40:49,915 Speaker 1: have been Charbonnier, and it should have been chandelier chandelier. 579 00:40:50,275 --> 00:40:52,435 Speaker 1: They had this big chandelier and I don't know how 580 00:40:52,635 --> 00:40:55,755 Speaker 1: high up that thing was, but it was huge, and 581 00:40:55,875 --> 00:41:00,475 Speaker 1: the bottom rung, the bottom sparkler on this chandelier, I 582 00:41:00,515 --> 00:41:03,275 Speaker 1: don't know, fifteen feet in the air off the ground, 583 00:41:03,275 --> 00:41:05,555 Speaker 1: twenty feet. Well, the more we drink, the more we 584 00:41:05,595 --> 00:41:07,555 Speaker 1: all start arguing which one of us can get up 585 00:41:07,555 --> 00:41:09,755 Speaker 1: there and touch the bottom of this damn thing. And 586 00:41:09,835 --> 00:41:11,995 Speaker 1: sure enough we try, and we put a hat down, 587 00:41:12,115 --> 00:41:14,395 Speaker 1: and everybody puts in a dollar or a pound or 588 00:41:14,435 --> 00:41:16,315 Speaker 1: five Bye, I forget what it was. There's a lot 589 00:41:16,355 --> 00:41:19,515 Speaker 1: of money in there for nineteen twelve, and all of 590 00:41:19,515 --> 00:41:22,195 Speaker 1: a sudden, we're doing this on nobody touches. And these 591 00:41:22,195 --> 00:41:24,515 Speaker 1: are the greatest athletes in the world, probably forty percent 592 00:41:24,555 --> 00:41:26,675 Speaker 1: of the greatest athletes in the world, and we're all 593 00:41:26,715 --> 00:41:30,395 Speaker 1: there and none of us come close to this damn thing. 594 00:41:30,515 --> 00:41:33,475 Speaker 1: And now the door opens to this banquet, and in 595 00:41:33,635 --> 00:41:36,915 Speaker 1: walks Thorp, and we hadn't even noticed, really thought, wasn't 596 00:41:36,955 --> 00:41:38,875 Speaker 1: there was a kind of a quiet guy. He's been 597 00:41:38,915 --> 00:41:42,155 Speaker 1: out on shore drinking and he wobbles in and he 598 00:41:42,195 --> 00:41:44,915 Speaker 1: looks at this, and he's wobbling past us, and he stops. 599 00:41:44,955 --> 00:41:49,795 Speaker 1: He goes, hebe what's this? And I explained it to him, 600 00:41:49,835 --> 00:41:52,155 Speaker 1: and he goes, how many of you have touched it? 601 00:41:52,955 --> 00:41:54,355 Speaker 1: And I had to tell him none of us that 602 00:41:54,475 --> 00:41:57,475 Speaker 1: touched it. And he said, you're kidding. How much is 603 00:41:57,475 --> 00:41:59,355 Speaker 1: in the how much is in the hat? And we 604 00:41:59,395 --> 00:42:03,035 Speaker 1: went through it was probably one hundred and fifty dollars. 605 00:42:03,235 --> 00:42:06,435 Speaker 1: He says, hold on, He takes off his hat, hold 606 00:42:06,475 --> 00:42:10,715 Speaker 1: my hat for me. We're j Abel, hold my jacket. 607 00:42:11,115 --> 00:42:13,395 Speaker 1: I can leave the vest on, but I'm gonna unbutton it, 608 00:42:13,595 --> 00:42:19,395 Speaker 1: and he says. Abel Kivat says. Jim Thorpe takes three 609 00:42:19,435 --> 00:42:25,835 Speaker 1: steps backwards and three steps forward and propels himself up 610 00:42:25,875 --> 00:42:29,955 Speaker 1: in the air towards this chandelier and not only touches 611 00:42:29,995 --> 00:42:34,995 Speaker 1: it on the first try in a suit, but grabs 612 00:42:35,035 --> 00:42:38,395 Speaker 1: it and we think, no, Jim, you're gonna bring down 613 00:42:38,395 --> 00:42:40,835 Speaker 1: the whole chandelier. We're all gonna get killed. The night 614 00:42:40,875 --> 00:42:45,475 Speaker 1: before the Olympics starts, Jim knew just when to let go. 615 00:42:46,195 --> 00:42:49,275 Speaker 1: He falls gracefully to the ground, like you were showing 616 00:42:49,275 --> 00:42:54,315 Speaker 1: a film backwards, lands almost in a bow. The hand 617 00:42:54,395 --> 00:42:59,155 Speaker 1: that was just holding the chandelier sweeps down to the hat, 618 00:42:59,475 --> 00:43:02,635 Speaker 1: picks it up, empties all the bills. He stuffs it 619 00:43:02,675 --> 00:43:05,755 Speaker 1: in the pockets of his vest and his pants, asks 620 00:43:05,795 --> 00:43:09,195 Speaker 1: me for on the night jacket and my hat, puts 621 00:43:09,195 --> 00:43:11,675 Speaker 1: the hat on, takes it off and dofts it to everybody, 622 00:43:11,755 --> 00:43:15,075 Speaker 1: and says, gentlemen, will see you in the morning, and 623 00:43:15,195 --> 00:43:22,275 Speaker 1: walks off. Abel Kiviat explained that Jim Thorpe could do 624 00:43:22,355 --> 00:43:25,875 Speaker 1: anything in athletics or anything else if you just showed 625 00:43:25,955 --> 00:43:28,395 Speaker 1: him once how to do it. He said he'd never 626 00:43:28,435 --> 00:43:32,115 Speaker 1: been a high jumper, certainly not a stationary high junker, 627 00:43:32,275 --> 00:43:37,595 Speaker 1: a high jumper, while inebriated, greatest athlete of all time. 628 00:43:37,635 --> 00:43:39,635 Speaker 1: He could take that microphone out of your hand, and 629 00:43:39,675 --> 00:43:41,435 Speaker 1: with a little practice, he could do a better job 630 00:43:41,435 --> 00:43:43,235 Speaker 1: than you could. And I said, well, this is my 631 00:43:43,275 --> 00:43:45,035 Speaker 1: second year on the job, so I have no doubt 632 00:43:45,035 --> 00:43:48,435 Speaker 1: anybody could do that. Ha ha, I like you, kid. 633 00:43:49,395 --> 00:43:53,075 Speaker 1: So now Abele agrees to go the mandatory shot of 634 00:43:53,115 --> 00:43:56,115 Speaker 1: the little old man running up Fifth Avenue and our cameraman, 635 00:43:56,155 --> 00:43:59,555 Speaker 1: who coincidentally his grandfather had played for the New York 636 00:43:59,635 --> 00:44:04,355 Speaker 1: Yankees briefly in nineteen twelve, Danny Danny Marra. Danny stands 637 00:44:04,355 --> 00:44:07,795 Speaker 1: out side and is expecting little old man, who still jogs, 638 00:44:08,035 --> 00:44:11,115 Speaker 1: to just sort of slowly waw, we're making fun of 639 00:44:11,115 --> 00:44:14,755 Speaker 1: the little Danny rolls and he's looking for a long 640 00:44:14,835 --> 00:44:19,395 Speaker 1: shot some b roll and Abel takes one step and 641 00:44:19,555 --> 00:44:22,035 Speaker 1: shoots past Danny so fast that Danny does not have 642 00:44:22,115 --> 00:44:24,555 Speaker 1: time to swing the camera around. The next thing I know, 643 00:44:24,755 --> 00:44:28,195 Speaker 1: Abel is crossing whatever it was eighty seventh Street onto 644 00:44:28,235 --> 00:44:29,795 Speaker 1: the other side. I have to go after him and 645 00:44:29,795 --> 00:44:32,315 Speaker 1: bring him back. So now we rearrange the shot and 646 00:44:32,355 --> 00:44:36,555 Speaker 1: able Kiveat runs in such a way that my cameraman 647 00:44:36,675 --> 00:44:39,715 Speaker 1: shoots him going past us. I said, Abel still runs, 648 00:44:40,075 --> 00:44:43,235 Speaker 1: and you see him take off, and the cameraman pans 649 00:44:43,315 --> 00:44:46,155 Speaker 1: and then stops where I'm standing as Abel disappears into 650 00:44:46,155 --> 00:44:48,515 Speaker 1: the distance. I said, he will not be running in 651 00:44:48,555 --> 00:44:51,155 Speaker 1: this year's New York City Marathon on whatever the date was, 652 00:44:51,555 --> 00:44:54,235 Speaker 1: which is good news for all of you who are 653 00:44:54,875 --> 00:44:59,555 Speaker 1: Keith Alerman, CNN New York. That's what I was reminded 654 00:44:59,555 --> 00:45:02,675 Speaker 1: of in the ten seconds we passed the Guggenheim Museum 655 00:45:02,715 --> 00:45:07,355 Speaker 1: on my way back from my endosc But that also, chandelieh, 656 00:45:07,955 --> 00:45:10,755 Speaker 1: that brought me to the midpoint game. You ever played 657 00:45:10,755 --> 00:45:14,395 Speaker 1: the midpoint game? Like the day I met Abel Caveat 658 00:45:14,435 --> 00:45:17,155 Speaker 1: and heard about Jim Thorpe and what truly a great 659 00:45:17,195 --> 00:45:20,595 Speaker 1: athlete he was was roughly forty two years and seven 660 00:45:20,635 --> 00:45:25,195 Speaker 1: months ago. So what happened forty two years and seven 661 00:45:25,195 --> 00:45:29,275 Speaker 1: months before that? You're applying that same timeframe to the 662 00:45:29,355 --> 00:45:32,115 Speaker 1: day I met him? How long ago is it since 663 00:45:32,155 --> 00:45:34,475 Speaker 1: I met him? How long ago was it to this 664 00:45:34,595 --> 00:45:38,075 Speaker 1: other event on the day I met him? So forty 665 00:45:38,115 --> 00:45:42,475 Speaker 1: two years and seven months is roughly eighty five years ago. 666 00:45:42,635 --> 00:45:44,955 Speaker 1: Forty two times two is eighty four and then seven 667 00:45:44,995 --> 00:45:48,955 Speaker 1: and say, okay, nineteen forty maybe late nineteen thirty nine. 668 00:45:49,355 --> 00:45:51,715 Speaker 1: Got a lot of World War Two vibes in those dates. 669 00:45:51,755 --> 00:45:54,515 Speaker 1: And this is the second time this week that happened. 670 00:45:54,515 --> 00:45:58,115 Speaker 1: Because I was texting with my friend Sam Rosen, my 671 00:45:58,155 --> 00:46:00,075 Speaker 1: first boss the Hall of Fame, voice of the New 672 00:46:00,155 --> 00:46:03,195 Speaker 1: York Rangers hockey team. And we figured out that in 673 00:46:03,275 --> 00:46:05,955 Speaker 1: six weeks or so, it will be exactly forty six 674 00:46:06,075 --> 00:46:09,915 Speaker 1: years since he and I met, and he listened to 675 00:46:09,955 --> 00:46:12,515 Speaker 1: my tape and he decided we should hire this idiot 676 00:46:12,595 --> 00:46:16,915 Speaker 1: kid from Cornell at twenty and forty six years March 677 00:46:16,995 --> 00:46:21,435 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy nine, forty six years at the midpoint game 678 00:46:21,955 --> 00:46:24,555 Speaker 1: forty six years before March nineteen seventy nine was March 679 00:46:24,675 --> 00:46:27,955 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty three, and it was almost exactly the day 680 00:46:28,595 --> 00:46:33,115 Speaker 1: FDR was sworn in for his first term as president. 681 00:46:33,675 --> 00:46:37,035 Speaker 1: That's how long ago it really is that Sam Rosen 682 00:46:37,075 --> 00:46:39,315 Speaker 1: and I met. That's how long ago it was that 683 00:46:39,395 --> 00:46:44,035 Speaker 1: Abel Kiviat and I met. And then, of course, now 684 00:46:44,075 --> 00:46:46,075 Speaker 1: we have two references to the Second World War in 685 00:46:46,155 --> 00:46:47,715 Speaker 1: Hitler and I had to go off in that direction. 686 00:46:47,835 --> 00:46:54,155 Speaker 1: Do you remember the Hitler handshake game on Twitter twenty 687 00:46:54,235 --> 00:46:56,915 Speaker 1: twenty two, twenty twenty three, where people were, you know, 688 00:46:56,955 --> 00:47:01,075 Speaker 1: trying to figure out how many hands stood between themselves 689 00:47:01,115 --> 00:47:06,635 Speaker 1: and Hitler, Like, okay, Queen Elizabeth obviously met her uncle 690 00:47:07,115 --> 00:47:11,275 Speaker 1: Edward the seventh, and Edward the seventh met Hitler. I 691 00:47:11,275 --> 00:47:14,915 Speaker 1: mean Queen Elizabeth at some point shook her uncle's hand, 692 00:47:15,955 --> 00:47:21,395 Speaker 1: and Edward the Seventh shook Hitler's hand. So Queen Elizabeth, 693 00:47:21,555 --> 00:47:23,635 Speaker 1: on this scale of how many people between you and 694 00:47:23,715 --> 00:47:27,315 Speaker 1: Hitler is a one, the one being her uncle Edward 695 00:47:27,315 --> 00:47:31,795 Speaker 1: the Seventh. But if you met Queen Elizabeth, she's standing 696 00:47:31,835 --> 00:47:35,235 Speaker 1: between you and her uncle, and her uncle met Hitler, 697 00:47:35,715 --> 00:47:38,635 Speaker 1: so that would be two people between you and Hitler. 698 00:47:38,755 --> 00:47:43,595 Speaker 1: You are a two on this scale. It's not limited 699 00:47:43,595 --> 00:47:47,515 Speaker 1: to meeting the Queen of England, though, because on March eighth, 700 00:47:47,755 --> 00:47:52,115 Speaker 1: talk about anniversaries nineteen thirty eight, Herbert Hoover, former President 701 00:47:52,155 --> 00:47:56,955 Speaker 1: of the United States, met Hitler forty minutes conversation and dinner. 702 00:47:58,435 --> 00:48:00,915 Speaker 1: Can't imagine how much fun either of those things was. 703 00:48:02,595 --> 00:48:05,275 Speaker 1: On the eighth of August nineteen fifty nine, and Herbert 704 00:48:05,315 --> 00:48:10,315 Speaker 1: Hoover went to the Yankees Cleveland then Indians game Yankee Stadium, 705 00:48:10,595 --> 00:48:14,235 Speaker 1: and they were holding Old Timer's Day where he met 706 00:48:14,595 --> 00:48:18,155 Speaker 1: Baseball Greats Hall of Famers Bob Feller and Joe DiMaggio, 707 00:48:18,275 --> 00:48:21,555 Speaker 1: and where Hoover threw out the first pitch. So Bob 708 00:48:21,595 --> 00:48:25,555 Speaker 1: Feller and Joe DiMaggio met Hoover, who met Hitler so 709 00:48:25,715 --> 00:48:30,635 Speaker 1: Feller and DiMaggio were each ones in this morbid game. However, 710 00:48:30,995 --> 00:48:33,395 Speaker 1: if you met Bob Feller, and there was a point 711 00:48:33,395 --> 00:48:35,595 Speaker 1: in this country where Bob Feller made so many personal 712 00:48:35,635 --> 00:48:37,795 Speaker 1: appearances that the odds were like six to five in 713 00:48:37,875 --> 00:48:41,515 Speaker 1: favor of you meeting Bob Feller and getting an autograph 714 00:48:41,515 --> 00:48:44,275 Speaker 1: from him, the old joke was the scarcest Bob Feller 715 00:48:44,315 --> 00:48:48,715 Speaker 1: item is an unautographed Bob Feller baseball. If you met 716 00:48:48,755 --> 00:48:51,915 Speaker 1: Bob Feller, you would also be a two. It would 717 00:48:51,955 --> 00:48:57,035 Speaker 1: be you, Bob Feller, Herbert Hoover Hitler two between you 718 00:48:57,115 --> 00:49:02,795 Speaker 1: and Hitler. Same thing for DiMaggio. Well I met, I 719 00:49:02,875 --> 00:49:07,035 Speaker 1: met Feller, so I would be at two. Except it 720 00:49:07,595 --> 00:49:13,555 Speaker 1: continues this way. Orson Wells met Hitler. Orson Wells knew 721 00:49:13,635 --> 00:49:20,315 Speaker 1: Joseph Cotton very well, and he knew my friend Norman 722 00:49:20,395 --> 00:49:24,355 Speaker 1: Lloyd very well. They worked together, and my friend Gil 723 00:49:24,395 --> 00:49:27,035 Speaker 1: Stratton they met a couple of times. Gil Stratton interviewed him, 724 00:49:27,155 --> 00:49:30,395 Speaker 1: so they shook hands with Wells, who shook hands with Hitler. 725 00:49:30,435 --> 00:49:33,115 Speaker 1: So they were ones on this. And I knew Gil 726 00:49:33,195 --> 00:49:36,035 Speaker 1: and Norman and Joseph Cotton. I shook all their hands, 727 00:49:36,235 --> 00:49:39,675 Speaker 1: so I would be a two, so try to top that. 728 00:49:39,835 --> 00:49:42,835 Speaker 1: See what you are, and of course you want to 729 00:49:42,835 --> 00:49:45,275 Speaker 1: be like a seventy four. You don't want to be 730 00:49:45,275 --> 00:49:47,075 Speaker 1: a two, and you certainly don't want to be a one. 731 00:49:47,835 --> 00:49:50,515 Speaker 1: And oddly enough, on a last note or next to 732 00:49:50,595 --> 00:49:58,675 Speaker 1: last note here, I'm a one with On Frank. Can 733 00:49:58,715 --> 00:50:03,075 Speaker 1: you believe that I knew a man very well, Peter Lesally, 734 00:50:03,235 --> 00:50:09,395 Speaker 1: the great late TV talk show producer, executive producer, inspiration 735 00:50:09,475 --> 00:50:12,355 Speaker 1: for David Letterman, the man who got Johnny Carson to 736 00:50:12,435 --> 00:50:15,555 Speaker 1: the extra heights that nobody ever thought he'd really achieve 737 00:50:15,755 --> 00:50:18,555 Speaker 1: to immortality in that field, and then worked with Letterman, 738 00:50:18,635 --> 00:50:21,315 Speaker 1: and then worked with Craig Ferguson, and then took me 739 00:50:21,355 --> 00:50:23,075 Speaker 1: out to dinner once because he was a huge fan 740 00:50:23,115 --> 00:50:26,795 Speaker 1: of mine. Peter Lesali kind of casually just sort of 741 00:50:26,915 --> 00:50:30,195 Speaker 1: threw out that he grew up going to school with 742 00:50:30,275 --> 00:50:35,115 Speaker 1: Anne Frank. Yeah, we're in the same class. Knew I 743 00:50:35,195 --> 00:50:38,475 Speaker 1: knew her brother. I think a little better, but yeah, 744 00:50:38,595 --> 00:50:42,235 Speaker 1: Peter Lesali, I shook his hand one on the on 745 00:50:42,435 --> 00:50:47,675 Speaker 1: Fronk scoreboard, which circles us back to the thought that, 746 00:50:48,955 --> 00:50:52,555 Speaker 1: of course, if we're playing the Hitler handshake game on 747 00:50:52,595 --> 00:50:56,515 Speaker 1: Twitter and other social media and other variations of that, 748 00:50:56,635 --> 00:51:00,835 Speaker 1: and other midpoints of that. Will we someday be playing 749 00:51:00,835 --> 00:51:08,515 Speaker 1: the Trump handshake game, in which case, unfortunately, if you 750 00:51:09,115 --> 00:51:15,835 Speaker 1: have met me, you are a one on the Trump 751 00:51:15,875 --> 00:51:35,275 Speaker 1: handshake gap. And the codicilt to that is always remember 752 00:51:35,395 --> 00:51:40,555 Speaker 1: to wash your goddamned hands. You never know where that 753 00:51:40,675 --> 00:51:45,235 Speaker 1: hand you just shook has been. I've done all the 754 00:51:45,275 --> 00:51:47,995 Speaker 1: damage I can do here. Thank you for listening, especially 755 00:51:48,035 --> 00:51:52,355 Speaker 1: to this last part. May all your handshakes be unaffected 756 00:51:52,355 --> 00:51:55,915 Speaker 1: by infamy. Brian Ray and John Phillip Shanelle, the musical 757 00:51:55,955 --> 00:51:58,235 Speaker 1: directors who Countdown, have had nothing to do with this 758 00:51:58,315 --> 00:52:01,595 Speaker 1: last segment, but they arranged, produced, and performed most of 759 00:52:01,595 --> 00:52:05,355 Speaker 1: our music. Mister Chanelle handled orchestration and keyboard words. Mister 760 00:52:05,435 --> 00:52:07,395 Speaker 1: Ray was on the guitars, bass and drums, and it 761 00:52:07,435 --> 00:52:10,915 Speaker 1: was produced by Tko Brothers. Our satirical and fifty musical 762 00:52:10,915 --> 00:52:14,675 Speaker 1: comments are by the best baseball stadium organist ever, Nancy Faust. 763 00:52:14,795 --> 00:52:17,595 Speaker 1: The sports music is the Olberman theme from ESPN two, 764 00:52:17,995 --> 00:52:21,395 Speaker 1: written by Mitch Warren Davis courtesy of ESPN Inc. Other 765 00:52:21,475 --> 00:52:24,075 Speaker 1: music arranged and performed by the group No Horns Allowed. 766 00:52:24,595 --> 00:52:29,235 Speaker 1: My announcer today is my friend, Larry David. Everything else was, 767 00:52:29,315 --> 00:52:33,035 Speaker 1: as ever my fault, especially the part about the handshakes. 768 00:52:33,955 --> 00:52:38,075 Speaker 1: That's countdown for today, just and fifty two days until 769 00:52:38,115 --> 00:52:42,555 Speaker 1: the scheduled end of his lame duck and lame brained term. 770 00:52:42,915 --> 00:52:46,955 Speaker 1: The next scheduled countdown is Monday. As always Bolton's, as 771 00:52:46,995 --> 00:52:50,395 Speaker 1: the news warrants remember in peach trumpet will not work 772 00:52:50,475 --> 00:52:53,915 Speaker 1: now it will win the Democrats the midterms. Until next time, 773 00:52:53,915 --> 00:52:57,955 Speaker 1: I'm Keith Oldraman good morning, good afternoon, goodnight, and good luck. 774 00:53:11,195 --> 00:53:15,155 Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. For 775 00:53:15,315 --> 00:53:20,235 Speaker 1: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 776 00:53:20,475 --> 00:53:22,435 Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts.