WEBVTT - Karol Markowicz Show: The Evolution of the White House Press Briefing with Curtis Houck 0:00:03.880 --> 0:00:07.280 Hi, and welcome back to the Carol Markowitz Show on iHeartRadio. 0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:10.480 People who have listened to this show for a while 0:00:11.080 --> 0:00:15.480 know that one of my things is that I'm actually 0:00:15.520 --> 0:00:21.640 really worried about people turning to AI to replace actual relationships. 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:27.240 Friendship rates are down, people aren't dating, they aren't getting married. 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:30.479 All of this is concerning to me. And having this 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:35.280 AI outlet that people have now it's worrisome. I think 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:38.839 it's a real problem and it could lead us in 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:42.600 a really bad direction. There was a clip that circulated 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:47.760 on X of Mark Zuckerberg talking about just this issue 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:52.199 about how AI could replicate friendships, and he was kind 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:54.560 of talking about it in a positive way, about how 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:58.400 it can combat loneliness. Let's roll the clip and I'll 0:00:58.400 --> 0:00:59.440 discuss it. 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:03.680 The personalization loop kicks in and the AI just starts 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:07.800 to get to know you better and better. I think 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:13.479 that will just be really compelling. You know, one thing, 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:15.800 just from working on social media for a long time 0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:20.560 is there's the stat that I think is crazy. The 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:24.319 average American, I think has I think it's fewer than 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:28.120 three friends, three people if they'd consider friends, and the 0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:32.200 average person has demand for meaningfully more. I think it's 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:34.840 like fifteen friends or something, right. I guess there's probably 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:36.640 some point where you're like, all right, I'm just too busy. 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:39.800 I can't deal with more people. But the average person 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:45.600 wants more connectivity connection than they have. So you know, 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:48.000 there's a lot of questions that people ask of stuff 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:53.360 like Okay, is this going to replace kind of in 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:58.120 person connections or real life connections, And my default is 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:00.680 that the answer to that is probably no. I think 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:02.840 it it it, you know, I think that there are 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:05.200 all these things that are better about kind of physical 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:08.760 connections when you can have them, But the reality is 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:11.600 that people just don't have the connection and they feel 0:02:11.800 --> 0:02:15.000 more alone a lot of the time than they would like. 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:17.720 So I think that a lot of these things that 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:22.440 today there might be a little bit of a stigma around. 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:26.480 I would guess that over time we will find the 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:30.200 vocabulary as a society to be able to articulate why 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:32.240 that is valuable and why the people who are doing 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:35.320 these things are like why they are rational for doing 0:02:35.360 --> 0:02:37.480 it and like and how it is adding value for 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:39.760 their for their lives. But but also I think that 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:43.280 the field is very early, So I mean, it's like 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:45.760 I think, you know, they're a handful of companies and stuff. 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:48.640 We are doing virtual therapist, and you know, there's like virtual 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:52.320 girlfriend type stuff. But it's it's very early. 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:57.200 So I get what you're saying that people are hungry 0:02:57.240 --> 0:03:01.320 for friendship. They're not getting it. Here's outlet for those people. 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:05.160 People want to have fifteen friends, he says, but they 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:08.800 only have three. Maybe maybe they have three, maybe they don't. 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:11.839 Maybe they have fewer than that, so maybe they could 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:17.280 turn to AI for that need that they have. But no, no, 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:21.360 you can't. If you have three friends and you add AI, 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:25.880 you still only have three friends. The AI is something 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:28.760 you spend your time doing, like scrolling. I mean, we 0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:31.280 don't say Instagram is your friend because you spend two 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:34.240 hours on at a night before bed scrolling videos. The 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:37.840 AI could feel like a friend sometimes, but it's not 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:41.320 because a friend can take in your mail when you're away, 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:44.440 or remind you of a funny experience you had in high school, 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:48.080 or make you laugh by saying something ridiculous, or go 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:51.640 on vacation with you. This idea that oh AI will 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:55.440 soon do all these things too, that still won't make 0:03:55.640 --> 0:03:59.120 AI your friend. AI will not be sad when you die. 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:02.600 AI I will not miss you when you're gone. You 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:06.560 get no actual feeling, no reciprocation. You get just the 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:10.640 simulation of feeling and know people are lonely and this 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:14.320 feels like, well, it's something. But just like online dating 0:04:14.520 --> 0:04:17.960 is only useful when it translates to real life dating, 0:04:18.400 --> 0:04:22.719 AI can never become something real. And every minute you 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:27.080 spend talking to let's be serious here yourself alone in 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:30.440 your room is a minute you don't spend out there 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:35.640 in our big, amazing, beautiful world with real people who 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:38.320 exist even when you're not typing anything to let them 0:04:38.360 --> 0:04:40.599 know what you'd like them to say. It's important to 0:04:40.600 --> 0:04:44.799 tell your children real is better. Real is the only 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:48.600 thing there is. Thanks for listening. Coming up next and 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:55.080 interview with Curtis Helck. Join us after the break. Welcome 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:58.520 back to the Carol Markowitz Show on iHeartRadio. My guest 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:03.520 today is Curtis Helk. Curtis is managing editor at NewsBusters. Hi, Curtis, 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:07.080 thanks with you. I'm so glad to talk to you. 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:11.280 I love NewsBusters. How did you get into this world? 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:12.599 Yeah? 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:16.440 So, I think my first kind of peak was actually 0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:18.360 when I was nine years old. I was in third grade, 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:21.400 and it was that was in peak, yeah, two thousand 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:25.279 presidential election. And you know, just as a little kid, 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:27.760 the notion that my parents explains that there'd be an 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:29.600 election and then then there would be a president when 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:30.120 you wake up the. 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:33.440 Next morning, and then there wasn't. Right as a kid, 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:35.800 you're like, you know kind of what you deal with that. 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:40.400 So my teacher, uh, missus Luck and Ball. You know, 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:42.680 we all have those teachers who really change our lives, 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:45.839 and she did. My third grade teacher, she set me 0:05:46.000 --> 0:05:50.240 on a special assignment. The American Presidency exhibit at the 0:05:50.279 --> 0:05:53.240 Smithsonian had just opened, and she sent me on a 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:56.599 project to cover pick four or five presidents. And so 0:05:56.680 --> 0:06:00.159 I picked these really obscure presidents like most. 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:00.760 Do you remember who? 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:05.479 Yes, I did Gerald Ford, John Tyler. I think I 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:09.840 did Chester, Arthur or Garfield. 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:13.800 But then I did take FDR as like the more 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:18.159 well known president. And so that was kind of got 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:20.440 piqued my interests but really set me on the course. 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:20.880 Carol was. 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:24.480 The next year was nine to eleven. My birthday is 0:06:24.520 --> 0:06:27.080 nine to eleven. Actually, wow, So I turned ten years 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:31.160 old on that day and I think, like a lot 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:34.359 of people, even adults who probably didn't pay attention to 0:06:34.360 --> 0:06:37.400 the news very much until then. I know, my wife 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:42.040 has said that was when my father in law got cable, because. 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:45.440 I didn't have a TV, and not until people. 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:47.840 Were I mean some people were news junkies and they 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:48.560 were really. 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:52.800 Invested in cable even then in its semi infancy, but 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:54.680 that really changed things. 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:56.400 And my dad. 0:06:56.560 --> 0:06:59.640 I'm from Leicester, Pennsylvania, and so a couple hours outside 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:03.279 of New York, but far enough down. My dad who 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:06.520 did search and rescue on the side looking for lost children, 0:07:06.680 --> 0:07:10.280 Alzheimer's patients, that kind of thing in the wilderness. He 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:13.480 actually was sent up to Staten Island to go through 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:17.560 debrief that was hauled over and he and his friends 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:21.600 were there for a few days looking for remains and 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:23.080 personal artifacts. 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:26.520 So between those two events. 0:07:27.000 --> 0:07:29.400 That really got me interested in the news, wanting to 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:32.240 watch the news how it's made. I started actually reading 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:36.680 NewsBusters in probably middle school at this point, so I'm 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:40.480 a big fan of the work that I now do 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:41.640 well before that. 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:44.680 So so that was probably two four, two thousand and five. 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:50.080 Yeah, it's funny because that two thousand election is also 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:52.840 what radicalized me. I looked at a little back of 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:55.080 the envelope Matt as we were talking. Though I was 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:59.440 not ten at the time, I was in my early twenties, 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:05.840 and I sought out other Republicans after that happened, because 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:07.880 to me, it seemed very obvious that al Gore was 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:10.800 trying to steal the election. I was a conservative, but 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:14.640 I didn't care about parties or whatever. But I felt 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:16.720 like I needed to go find people to talk to 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:18.960 about this because I thought I was losing my mind. 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:21.520 I was like, this is the most obvious thing ever. 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:24.160 George W. Bush won and they're trying to steal it. 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:27.520 So yeah, that was the moment for me too. And 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:32.280 then obviously nine to eleven, almost a year later, was 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:34.720 also a big, huge event in my life. I was 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:36.160 in New York at the time and I didn't have 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:39.040 a TV, and I watched it all happen on the 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:43.240 early blogs. I watched it on instapundit for example, early 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:47.920 early internet. So yeah, it's interesting. Do you go back 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:48.920 to Pennsylvania a lot? 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:52.840 Yeah, my wife and I My wife is from there too. 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:55.720 Actually we met down here in the DC area, but 0:08:56.200 --> 0:09:02.040 she's from Lynnetts, Pennsylvania. So we both go up fair amount, 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:05.720 probably once a month, once every six weeks. Most of 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:10.840 our family is still there, cousins, aunts, uncles, her sister's 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:15.440 in New Jersey, but my brother's there. Yeah, we're a 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:17.000 lot of our family is still there. We hope to 0:09:17.120 --> 0:09:21.559 one day move back there, but right now working here 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:24.120 in DC, and my wife works at a museum in 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:27.720 DC as well, So that feel too kind of limits 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:31.079 you a little bit Topaci's in terms of your options. 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:33.160 So yeah, it's a great place. 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:36.520 Do you have a beat at NewsBusters or do you 0:09:36.559 --> 0:09:37.800 cover all kinds of stuff? 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:43.000 So in my almost eleven years, I've covered all kinds 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:46.520 of things. Primarily it started out as the evening newscasts 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:50.840 ABCCBSMEC because that's the basis for a lot of our 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:55.520 studies that listeners may see. And I also covered everything 0:09:55.559 --> 0:10:00.160 into cable. I then watch Chris Matthews every night once 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:01.640 they became managing editor. 0:10:03.000 --> 0:10:03.800 That was something. 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:06.040 Yeah, and and so towards the end of the last 0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:09.959 Obama year with Josh Ernest, I started taking interest in 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:12.960 the White House Press briefing because there would be moments 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:17.080 when reporters would ask about certain things that were in 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:19.120 the news that weren't then being covered on the broadcast 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:22.120 at which repair was covering them on Fox but nobody 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:24.720 else was, and so that got me interested. I'm like, 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:27.960 why should watch these on a daily basis? So with 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:30.280 the advent, then if the Trumpet first Trump administration and 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:35.320 Sean Spicer, I started watching every day. I started watching 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:38.559 and consuming that every day before even Jim Acosta really 0:10:38.559 --> 0:10:42.240 made himself known to the country. So I've been on 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:49.000 that beat ever since, and that's my main project. You know, 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:53.760 knowing who the reporters are in the room. 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:52.640 It's fun. 0:10:52.679 --> 0:10:54.640 I've been told by different people over the years that 0:10:55.120 --> 0:10:58.160 people in the room definitely care about what I tweet. 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:02.199 Ye they noticed when I tweek their question and when 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:06.000 I write about them, and they wanted they want to 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:11.120 be noticed. And I think I probably, unfortunately, maybe to 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:14.720 their detriment with their bosses, it helps probably humanize conservative 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:15.360 media a little bit. 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:18.520 That I'm a guy who's called balls and strikes before. 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:22.520 Yeah, absolutely that there are certain moments, there are certain single, 0:11:22.880 --> 0:11:26.920 singular days, like at least in the Biden administration, where 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:29.280 you know, I would watch a press briefing in the 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:33.160 press would do their jobs for that forty five minutes 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:36.960 to an hour that the questions from Fox news to 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:39.600 the New York Post were exactly the same and just 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:44.040 as tough as those from ABC, CBS, NBC, and so 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:49.880 I think it's helped the NewsBusters readership see too the 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:53.120 way the biased media work as well, that it's not 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:56.240 that for some of them it is entirely partisan and 0:11:56.280 --> 0:11:58.560 they see the world completely differently than us. But I 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:00.840 think it's shown that it least for some of them, 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:03.080 it is a conscious choice. It is a conscious choice 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:05.560 to engage in what they cover and don't cover on 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:11.040 a daily basis. So I found that particularly rewarding, and 0:12:11.120 --> 0:12:14.520 to in my tweeting just tweet the know who the 0:12:14.559 --> 0:12:17.040 reporter's name is. And I think people appreciate that versus 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:19.360 just reporters right right. 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:23.360 Yeah, again, everybody wants to recognition what does the average 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:27.400 American normy, you know, who doesn't follow this the way 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:31.240 that we do not know or misunderstand about the White 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:33.640 House briefing room. 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:36.959 Yeah, that's that's pretty that's a good question. I would 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:41.720 say that there's definitely a process too. I think Americans 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:46.240 have learned a lot more with the AP situation in 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:48.280 the in the role that the AP plays kind of 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:50.880 as the gatekeeper for when briefings end. 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:54.040 And you were talking about the ap situation, just so 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:55.840 like a fill in my listeners, it's it's when they 0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:59.000 refuse to say Gulf of America and they. 0:12:59.240 --> 0:13:01.000 And remove them from impoval. 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:01.640 From the press pool. 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:04.640 Right, but they still participate in the White House press briefing. 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:08.920 But you know, because traditions said so, they always start 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:11.840 the questioning, so they set the agenda and then it 0:13:11.920 --> 0:13:14.600 usually goes to the front row. But what Caroline has 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:19.600 done is go around the room. And I think that's 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:22.040 something that I don't I probably don't think a lot 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:24.600 of people may have considered or thought about. Right, there 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:26.960 was kind of this unofficial way of doing things for 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:31.480 a long time, but now it's completely changed where Caroline, 0:13:31.840 --> 0:13:34.200 you know, and Kaylee did this too, and Sarah did 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:37.760 as well on the first arm nization. Yes, obviously you're 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:40.880 gonna get to the big TV, but there's a lot 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:43.080 of people in there. There's there's dozens of people that 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:45.160 cover the White House day in and day out too, 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:48.199 and they've got plenty of valid questions too about all 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:48.960 kinds of things. 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:54.319 So they sometimes have more listeners, followers, you know, viewers 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:56.800 than the major networks at this point, right. 0:13:56.720 --> 0:14:00.520 Yeah, Yeah, the New York Posts, Daily Wire for sure. 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:04.080 Yeah, a few others. They definitely have more readers. The 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:07.920 Daily Caller, so yeah, bringers, The Caller, Mary Margaret, the 0:14:07.960 --> 0:14:09.760 Daily Wire, Stephen Nelson at the New York Post. 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:12.800 They do incredible jobs representing. 0:14:12.240 --> 0:14:17.720 Their viewers and readers, which number, you know, at minimum 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:20.320 equal to number, if not greater than some of these 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:22.960 broadcast networks on a daily basis. 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:25.840 Yeah, So why should it be only the broadcast networks 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:30.040 that get the questions? And I think Americans understand that 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:33.720 there is a new kind of media that has emerged. 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:37.080 It's not even that new anymore. Right, It's like podcasts 0:14:37.120 --> 0:14:40.880 and I wouldn't say blogs and that type of things. 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:43.520 It's been at this point, you know, a decade plus. 0:14:43.560 --> 0:14:46.400 It's not like it just came out last month. So 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:50.120 it's interesting that they're getting a chance to actually ask 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:54.320 the questions and get to a different conversation than the 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:56.040 news media might want to have. 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:59.720 Yeah, they can still coordinate their questions and stack their questions. 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:03.440 My boss, Tim Graham was the White House correspondent for 0:15:03.480 --> 0:15:07.400 World Magazine the first few years of the Bush administration 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:11.120 under Ari Fleischer, and he saw that up close too, 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:15.400 that reporters could clearly were lining up their questions and 0:15:15.440 --> 0:15:19.480 considering what each other was saying. That to the point 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:21.520 it almost seemed like it was scripted ahead of time. 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:26.240 So you know what we see now is, you know, 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:29.040 reporters can still ask their questions, Caroline still calls on them. 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:32.320 It's not completely being shut out. It's just that she's 0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:37.280 mixing in different viewpoints. And I think to the misnomer 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:42.680 that people might have too, is the conservative reporters thus 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:47.280 far are asking tough questions. You know, Sager and Jetty 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:49.800 who you speak the Daily Caller Now he's on his 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:54.000 own independent breaking points with Crystal Ball, former MSNBC host. 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:57.920 He asked about Thomas Massey when President Trump called for 0:15:57.960 --> 0:16:01.680 Thomas Massey to be primaried a few weeks ago, and 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:04.040 you know, he pointed out all of these things. Thomas 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:07.640 Massey is in support of and locks up with the president, 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:10.800 but not on spent a spending bill. So why call 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:13.080 for him to be primary? You know, that's probably not 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:15.560 a question Carolyn Lovett wanted to be asked, but. 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:19.560 He asked any softballs, Yeah, exactly, or Mary Margaret. 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:24.080 Last week, the Daily Wire asked about Hey, so the 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:26.359 Supreme Court draft. 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:27.680 Opinion, Dobb's opinion leak. 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:30.880 Is the Justice Department interested in this because there's still 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:32.880 no answer these many years later? 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:33.680 It's interesting. 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:38.440 Yeah, and so you know, liberal media, legacy media may 0:16:38.480 --> 0:16:41.960 think this is a very niche issue or not, but 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:48.120 it's not. It matters to a huge. 0:16:46.000 --> 0:16:48.840 Their voice is heard generally in that room. Yeah, Mary 0:16:48.880 --> 0:16:51.720 Margaret's been on the show. She's fantastic, And yeah, I 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:54.920 love that she asked that what would you be doing 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:57.640 if it wasn't this, If there was, what would be 0:16:57.640 --> 0:16:59.280 the plan be for Curtis? 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:00.800 Yeah? 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:05.600 Actually weather was is something that I that was my 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:08.160 two That was my other track that I was interested 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:09.600 in meteorology. 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:11.280 I there's a picture. 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:14.040 Of sane job like Fox. Yeah. 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:17.399 Yeah, my mom has a picture of me in my 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:21.080 playpen watching the Weather Channel, the weather on the eighths 0:17:21.440 --> 0:17:24.800 the nineties graphics. I mean, people can probably hear this 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:29.040 and they're see it in their heads like that just 0:17:29.040 --> 0:17:33.040 just completely you know, it sucked me in and so 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:35.919 I always just again it's part of I guess curiosity 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:40.479 about the world around me and extreme weather, how nature 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:44.639 can do this or do that on a dime, is 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:49.600 just just fascinated me. Math has been a little hard 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:52.640 for me growing up, still is. But so that would 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:56.119 be a little difficult because I very quickly learned, you know, 0:17:56.240 --> 0:17:58.879 involves chemistry and physics, and he got a new geometry 0:17:58.920 --> 0:17:59.639 and all these things. 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:00.480 Yeah, that's too much. 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:03.240 I try to put that to the wayside a little 0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:05.440 bit once I got deeper media in college. 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:06.679 Yeah, media it is. 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:08.520 Yeah, that's a lot. 0:18:08.680 --> 0:18:10.640 We're going to take a quick break and be right 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:17.080 back on the Carol Markowitch Show. What do you worry about? 0:18:17.320 --> 0:18:17.639 Elf? 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:22.280 I think always my greatest fear is being alone. You 0:18:22.320 --> 0:18:23.600 know this, Carol, And this is something. 0:18:23.440 --> 0:18:25.320 That I I talk about. 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:28.000 It still my pin thread on Twitter talking about my 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:31.120 battles with depression and suicide. And it's coming upon ten 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:33.920 years since that really first came up. I think that's 0:18:34.280 --> 0:18:36.320 one of my greatest fears. 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:39.960 I think I think we all want. 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:44.240 To be accepted, and I don't necessarily always care what 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:46.880 people think about me, but just knowing that I have friends, 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:48.840 I've always been one of those people that just has 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:49.920 a lot of like acquaintance. 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:51.560 I just know a lot of people. 0:18:51.280 --> 0:18:54.200 But in terms of like world yeah, but in terms 0:18:54.240 --> 0:18:57.720 of like close close friends, you know, it's tight or die. 0:18:58.200 --> 0:19:00.760 It's all That's always been a struggle for me over 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:02.400 the years. So that's something that. 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:06.639 I think in the background my mind, it's always something 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:08.560 that I really really worry about. 0:19:09.119 --> 0:19:12.879 Credit therapy, you know, the Lord, and a lot of 0:19:12.880 --> 0:19:16.280 different circumstances God moments in my life over the years. 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:19.240 But that is probably. 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:21.440 Something that you know, when I'm like having a really 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:26.960 bad day or really struggling, that's something that that that 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:27.439 hits me. 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:31.399 That thread was so powerful. I think you gave voice 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:34.119 to what a lot of people feel and that comment 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:37.280 about you know, having close friends. It is an issue 0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:39.240 that I feel like comes up on this show a lot. 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:41.440 I have people write into me a lot about how 0:19:41.440 --> 0:19:43.480 to make friends or how to get closer to people. 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:47.119 It's tough, it's really tough, and it's it's getting tougher 0:19:47.240 --> 0:19:49.520 with the phones and the fact that we're you know, 0:19:49.680 --> 0:19:53.560 kind of a part. But it's so good that you 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:57.160 are aware of it and see it as a problem. 0:19:57.240 --> 0:19:58.760 Whereas that I feel like I hear from a lot 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:01.360 of people who are like, I don't have close friends. 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:08.040 That's fine with me. It's good that you're like, you know, invested. 0:20:07.600 --> 0:20:13.119 In it, name it in putting your putting a finger 0:20:13.160 --> 0:20:13.399 on it. 0:20:13.480 --> 0:20:16.000 Yeah, And that's one of the things about COVID that 0:20:16.119 --> 0:20:22.439 just continually aggravates me. The social isolation that created it 0:20:22.520 --> 0:20:25.640 exacerbated it. It was already there, but it just made 0:20:25.680 --> 0:20:29.720 that even worse. And it's just the epidemic of loneliness 0:20:29.840 --> 0:20:30.640 in this country. 0:20:30.840 --> 0:20:32.960 That's right, And I just think where we have to 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:36.960 like identify it and do something about it, otherwise it 0:20:37.000 --> 0:20:42.360 will obviously spiral. What advice would you give a sixteen 0:20:42.440 --> 0:20:43.680 year old Curtis help. 0:20:45.000 --> 0:20:48.040 That it's going to borrow a Dana Perino book. It's 0:20:48.080 --> 0:20:50.280 going to be okay book title, It's going to be okay. 0:20:51.720 --> 0:20:58.080 I in high school I struggled a lot with acceptance. 0:20:58.359 --> 0:21:04.040 I was kind of a drama queen, drama lama of sorts. 0:21:05.359 --> 0:21:07.920 And I think I worried too about friendship. That kind 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:10.480 of that point that I was just talking about that 0:21:10.600 --> 0:21:14.800 really continued to grow and that it wasn't just that. 0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:17.240 I realized it wasn't just me years later, so I 0:21:17.240 --> 0:21:20.639 would tell myself, it's not just you that you're struggling, 0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:23.119 or just because you're struggling to make friends at this 0:21:23.359 --> 0:21:26.920 high school. You know, you go to the next high 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:30.639 school north of you, and you'll make lifelong friends. 0:21:30.960 --> 0:21:32.439 Yeah, you know, I didn't know. 0:21:32.800 --> 0:21:35.040 Almost like how I met your mother's situation. My wife 0:21:35.280 --> 0:21:38.720 was living her life. You know, we briefly. I ran 0:21:38.760 --> 0:21:40.600 track for a few years. She was a D one athlete, 0:21:40.640 --> 0:21:43.240 but we were at the same meets. I didn't even 0:21:43.240 --> 0:21:46.480 know it, team football games. Our teams played each other. 0:21:46.760 --> 0:21:49.280 She was there, I didn't even know it. So I 0:21:49.280 --> 0:21:52.320 think I would tell myself that, yeah, that everything's going 0:21:52.400 --> 0:21:55.560 to be okay, and that, like you're, the insecurities and 0:21:56.080 --> 0:21:59.560