WEBVTT - Part Three: Morton Downey Junior: The Ur-Media Grifter 0:00:02.560 --> 0:00:08.799 Fall schworm Jagger. That was a German named for paratrooper. 0:00:08.880 --> 0:00:12.560 I don't know why I started the episode saying, Tom, 0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:14.360 how are you? How are you doing? Do you know 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:17.800 that the German word for paratrooper is falseh room jagger? 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:19.880 I did not know that. Well, now you do, thank you. 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:23.759 They had, you know, the Nazis had an aquatic little 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:25.599 jeep that could go on the water. They called a 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:30.600 schwimmin wagin. That's sweet, that's kind of funny. What do 0:00:30.640 --> 0:00:35.839 we call it? That's our swimming wagon? Head is ye vehicle? 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:40.280 It does the old Tom? Yeah, how are you feeling? 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:43.879 Two pieces of ship into this? I'm vibing on some 0:00:43.960 --> 0:00:46.960 clown shoes right now. You are vibing on some clown shoes. Well, 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:51.440 right now, Tom, this exact moment, the second in time 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:54.160 that we both inhabit, which may be eternal if if 0:00:54.200 --> 0:00:57.560 certain philosophers are right, this very moment could go on forever, 0:00:57.680 --> 0:01:01.760 both forwards and backwards in time, be completely encompassing, as 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:04.839 all moments are. This moment we're going to talk about 0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:12.160 a guy you have heard of. Mr Morton Downey dances 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:16.520 all the way down just just my ears. Yeah, that's 0:01:16.520 --> 0:01:19.640 a name. That's a name. Yeah, Tom, what do you 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:23.360 know about Morton Danny Jr. J As we call him. 0:01:23.440 --> 0:01:26.039 He's like a pinky ring that fell into a puddle 0:01:26.080 --> 0:01:30.839 of toxic waste to became a man. He's he's played. 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:35.120 He plays the slick, he plays the slimy journalist that 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:38.280 Danny Glover punches in the face and Predator to And 0:01:38.600 --> 0:01:43.080 he sure isn't Predator to you, God damn right playing himself. Yeah, 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:49.640 he's absolutely playing himself in Predator to, which is incredible. Yeah, 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:53.680 easily the second best Predator movie. It's it's easily the 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:57.280 second Predator film. Yeah, definitely, you can't take that away 0:01:57.320 --> 0:01:59.920 from it. It is the second one of the Insure 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:02.480 dobly the second Predator film. Yeah, I know, he's like, 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:05.560 he's he's uh. He was sort of like um the 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:09.600 uh the yeng to Phil Donna Hughes Yang at the time, 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:11.919 where Phil Donna Hue was like kind of nice and 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:14.320 personable and Morton Downey was a real son of a 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:17.360 bitch when he was a real piece of shit. And 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:20.760 the fun thing about Morton Downey Junior, Tom Uh is 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:23.680 that if you start researching Morton Downey Jr. The first 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:26.160 like Google result that tries to auto fill when you 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:28.960 start typing his name in is is Morton Downey Junior 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:31.600 related to Robert Downey Jr. And my answer to that 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:34.400 is it does not appear to be, so just just 0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:38.600 just a fun coincidence, which is weird because he does 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:42.040 have a famous dad like Robert Downey Jr. Um, but 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:47.040 just a completely different one. I just that's that's very funny. Yeah. Um, 0:02:47.160 --> 0:02:51.200 so uh, let's let's let's let's talk about m d j. So. 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:54.960 Morton Downey Jr. Was born on December nine, nineteen thirty two, 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:58.880 in Los Angeles, California. His father was obviously a guy 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:01.880 named Morton Downey. Two thirds of these guys are Californians. 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:06.680 Well that in the thirties, I'm like, funk, he's old, ancient, dusty, 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:10.120 old racist mummies. That's because they were established by the 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:12.120 time the eighties got going and they could really start 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:14.680 fucking some ship up for everybody. That's true. I keep 0:03:14.720 --> 0:03:17.600 saying at the eighties was four decades ago. Yeah, it's 0:03:17.600 --> 0:03:21.680 been a long time since the eighties, thank god. So. Um. 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:25.280 His father was obviously Morton Downey, which probably means nothing 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:27.839 to everyone listening, but it meant an awful lot to people. 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:31.440 In the nineteen twenties and early thirties. Morton Downey's nickname 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:34.120 was the Irish Nightingale, and he was one of the 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:38.160 most popular singers of his day. He had Morton Downey Jr. 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:41.320 Whose first name was Sean, with his first wife, Barbara Bennett, 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:43.520 and Barbara was famous because she was the sister of 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:47.240 two women who were famous actresses. Morton Downey Senior would 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:50.280 ultimately have five children, four sons and a daughter. He 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:52.240 was not a nice man, or at least people who 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:54.480 knew Morton Downey Jr. Say he did not think well 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:57.200 of his father. There is, in fact, significant evidence that 0:03:57.240 --> 0:04:00.560 he despised the man. He desperately wanted to succeed as 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:03.000 a singer, and he tried repeatedly as a young man 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:06.240 to follow in his father's footsteps, appearing on early game shows, 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:09.920 where his performance was reviewed positively by guys like Dean Martin. 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:12.400 I thought he had an alright voice, but most experts 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:15.440 agree he just didn't have what his father had. There 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:17.520 was something lacking in his voice that like he was 0:04:17.560 --> 0:04:19.359 just never going to have the kind of career his 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:22.800 dad had. The Downey family were well to do he 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:25.960 grew up, you know rich Ish. Um they lived in 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:27.800 I mean, if you want to know how well to 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:31.159 do they were, they lived in Hyannas Sport in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:34.120 And their next door neighbors worth the Kennedy's. Yeah, yes, 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:36.800 it's like that's how that's how much money they got. 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:40.720 His kids which ish Yeah, Yeah, they're hanging there, hanging 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:43.640 with the Kennedy's. Morton Downey Jr. Was good friends with 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:46.400 Joe Kennedy. Well, Morton or Morton Downey Senior was good 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:49.080 friends with Joe Kennedy one and um as When Morton 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:51.719 Downy Jr. Was a child, he would hang out regularly 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:54.279 with the Kennedy boys, you know, like he knew Robert 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:57.440 and JFK when they were younger. Um, like they were 0:04:57.480 --> 0:05:01.080 all buds together. I guess down Emmy's a bit younger. 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:03.640 But Downey attended New York University, and like the others 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:06.120 and like our other subjects, seems to have immediately known 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:08.680 he wanted a career in radio. He got a job 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:11.440 as the program director and announcer for a radio station 0:05:11.440 --> 0:05:14.719 in Hartford, Connecticut, in the early nineteen fifties. Over the 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:17.480 next decade, and change. He was hired primarily as a DJ, 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:20.440 although he also sang for several pop and country records 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:23.120 and wrote a handful of songs that saw modest success. 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:29.040 Like Wally, George Morton Downey Jr. Bounced around various markets Phoenix, Miami, 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:33.039 Kansas City, San Diego, and Seattle. Also, like Wally, he 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:35.520 was a huge asshole and had trouble working with people. 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:38.200 He was forced to resign from a Miami network when 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:40.679 he gave the home phone number for a competing DJ 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:44.640 out on the air and insulted the man's wife, like 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:49.159 doc's the guy on live on the air. I want 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:51.200 to I want to hear I hear him croon. I 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:53.520 had no idea that was his background. Oh, I mean 0:05:53.560 --> 0:05:56.279 we can he cut an album? Tom? You know what, Tom, 0:05:56.480 --> 0:05:59.640 We'll play this right now, see it? Yeah, let's let's 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:01.440 do this now. I need you to hear his song 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:04.400 about the war on drugs? What's it called? Hey there, 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:17.320 Mr dealer man? Mr dealer pushes. So that's the kids 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:27.720 of America. Just make that Dyn sleeves bag country comb 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:32.920 a la. He's like attacking the microphone. Yeah, feel welcome 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:42.320 to his eternal laugh. He looks like a skeleton at 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:47.320 a costume contest, dressed his team. All right, that's probably 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:51.240 enough of Hey there, Mr dealer, So this will mean 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:56.240 more when you've had Dean Martin was too kind to him. 0:06:56.279 --> 0:07:00.640 He was better when he was younger too, his earlier 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:02.960 his earlier ship is I think because he's he's he 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:07.040 was famous when he recorded, so he was like doing yeah, 0:07:07.040 --> 0:07:10.920 but he's still like yeah, it's yeah, yeah. I don't 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:12.960 think he had a bad voice and the stuff you 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:16.600 can hear from younger. There's a good documentary about but 0:07:16.680 --> 0:07:20.360 yeah he has he has going real agro there um. 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:22.360 And it's because you know, he was already a name 0:07:22.400 --> 0:07:24.040 at that point and he was he was doing a 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:26.840 bit or maybe he just like was out of his mind, 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:28.800 because that's what being famous does to you after a while. 0:07:28.920 --> 0:07:31.120 I don't know. You can see the cocaine just like 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:35.000 in an aura. Yeah, yeah, it followed him around. In 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:37.840 nineteen sixty eight, Morton took a break from his work, 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:39.840 his career, which was again he was kind of a 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:41.920 mix of a DJ and and a kind of a 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:43.960 pinch hitter in the music industry, coming in to do 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:46.880 background vocals and stuff to work on that campaign for 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:51.280 his good childhood friend Bobby Kennedy. When Kennedy was assassinated, 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:54.360 Morton wrote a book of poetry with the title Quiet 0:07:54.400 --> 0:07:57.560 Thoughts Make the Loudest Noise. The book was a way 0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:00.000 of processing grief. And you can still find a handful 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:02.400 of hardcover copies on Amazon for like a hundred and 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:06.320 forty eight dollars. I am not buying one of them, 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:08.560 but I did transcribe one of the poems he wrote 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:12.040 specifically about Robert Kennedy's death. Um from the documentary A 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:14.080 Bocketur and I'm gonna read that to you now, row 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:18.000 upon row of grief racked followers, sunken cheeks replacing their 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:21.600 years ago happy faces, saying proudly for their departed friend, 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:24.720 their final hope, and wondered why a man must die 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:27.800 to be a hero, and whether we honor only those 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:31.680 our own selfish hearts destroy. Yeah. I don't think sunken 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:34.280 cheeks is what he meant to say, but um, but yeah, 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:37.400 that's kind of you know, it's kind of profound, right, Al. 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:40.560 He's certainly like a man who's thinking about like the 0:08:40.640 --> 0:08:43.199 nature of Yeah, that was it was thoughtful. You wouldn't 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:46.360 call him a shallow man based on that, Um, he's 0:08:46.360 --> 0:08:49.720 a man who's trying to process complicated, in sorrowful emotions 0:08:49.720 --> 0:08:52.880 in a in an artistic way. Clearly a person capable 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:56.640 of not just feeling grief, but of expressing it artistically. Um. 0:08:56.679 --> 0:08:59.360 He continued to sing occasionally, and he made his living 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:02.720 as yet another disc jockey until in nineteen eighty three, 0:09:03.120 --> 0:09:06.240 the same year that the Wally George TV Show starts, 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:09.199 a year before Rush Limbaugh gots on talk radio, he 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:11.720 gets a job as a talk radio host on w 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:15.679 d b O in Orlando, Florida. So yeah, and again 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:17.640 they're both kind of writing this wave of right wing 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:20.080 populism and the rise of the religious right and Ronald 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:23.040 Reagan like they're part of a thing. They're not starting it, 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:27.160 but they are also influencing the way this thing grows. 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:30.440 So Wally George and Morton Danny Jr. Both rode that 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:32.920 right wing wave and helped to shape it. Morton Danny Jr. 0:09:32.920 --> 0:09:36.240 Was even more incendiary and control uncontrolled than Wally. He 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:39.320 lost his first talk show gig after he punched a guest, 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:42.760 an abortion rights activist named Bill Baird, who he then 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:48.400 called a son of a bitch, so how many episodes 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:54.240 in that? So yeah, Wally George screams at people and stuff. 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:56.600 Uh and I think shoved some folks a few times. 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:01.200 Or Nanny Jr. Just called Cox some motherfucker like months 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:05.040 into his first talk show and again a radio talk show. 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:08.480 I wonder if you can hear like the meat sound 0:10:08.760 --> 0:10:11.800 on the on the microphone. I haven't found this audio, 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:14.560 but I bet it's great. Next. According to the New 0:10:14.640 --> 0:10:18.000 York Times quote, Mr Downey was soon hired by kf 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:22.160 b K a M radio, a news talk station in Sacramento, California. 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:24.280 There he told a joke in which he used the 0:10:24.320 --> 0:10:29.800 word Chinaman several times, angering Tom Yeah. Not that surprising, 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:33.680 is it, um um? So yeah, he tells a joke 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:35.880 in which he uses the word chinaman several times, which 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:39.240 pisces off Tom Chin, a Chinese American member of Sacramento 0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:42.199 City Council who was listening in his car. And why 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:44.360 I wonder why that bothered him? Wonder why he get 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:48.080 angry at that? Mr Chin called the station. According to 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:50.600 the councilman and to Paul our errand then the station's 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:53.240 program director. Mr Chin was put through to Mr Downey, 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:56.400 who let loose a verbal tirade against him. Mr Downey 0:10:56.480 --> 0:10:59.400 was discharged the next day. So he tells a racist 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:02.439 joke on air. It offends the member of the city 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:05.320 council who calls, and then he proceeds to be racist 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:08.600 to that guy laugh on the air and loses his job. Yeah. Yeah, 0:11:08.640 --> 0:11:11.880 that's usually probably should be what happens. Yeah. Yeah, Now 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:14.440 the station had to obviously had to shoot can Morton. 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:16.400 Danny june I liked that. He was like, Oh, I'm sorry, 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:18.840 I'll just be racist to you directly then, Yeah, do 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:20.000 you do what would you like me to just be 0:11:20.040 --> 0:11:22.120 a piece of ship to your face? I did not 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:23.800 mean to do it to your back on the air, 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:27.200 absolutely not. Forgive me. Let me be an asshole directly 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:29.280 to me, to be an asshole directly to you, I 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:34.079 don't mean to be rude. Um. So they had to 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:36.200 fire him. But he was also and you'll you'll hear 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:39.600 different things about how popular he was. By some accounts 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:41.960 he was he was very successful. By some accounts just 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:45.720 modestly successful. I I can't tell you which. Um, but 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:47.880 he did well enough that the station was like, well, 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:51.520 this guy's built an audience. They're very dedicated and so 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:53.719 when he leaves, they decide they need to replace him 0:11:53.720 --> 0:11:56.520 with another right wing firebrand, someone who can still stir 0:11:56.640 --> 0:11:59.160 up the same kind of populist rage, but also isn't 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:01.920 quite as race sist. You know, they picked Tom. I 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:04.319 don't wanna know who followed him into the job. You 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:05.760 might have heard of this guy, little fella. He might 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:10.640 know his name, Rush Limbaugh. Oh yeah, that's how Rush 0:12:10.720 --> 0:12:15.400 gets his first big political gig. It was Morton Downey 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:18.120 being too racist on the air. It was too racist, 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:20.480 and so Rush Limbaugh came in and said, I can 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:24.600 be slightly less racist than that. I can for a while, 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:27.840 for a little while. Eventually I'll be much more racist 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:31.800 than that. I could be slightly less racist. Two people's faces. 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:36.120 Yeah again for a while, for a for a while. 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:39.640 I love like, man, that was too racist. Let's get 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:42.200 Rush in here. Let's get you get that Rush Limbach 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:46.640 hit in here. Tone things down somewhat. Tom, Where do 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:48.839 you go when you've just gotten fired from your right 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:51.160 wing radio job for being too much of a racist 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:54.400 television No? I mean, but what city do you go to? 0:12:56.760 --> 0:13:02.640 I don't know. Cleveland? Cleveland? Yeah, you get you get 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:05.240 your ass on down to Cleveland. Hey, our rivers are 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:09.760 very rarely on fire, um, unlike Cleveland. So he gets 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:12.600 hired by W E. R. E a M. To improve 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:15.240 the poor ratings of its talk show department. He was 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:18.080 forced out there when he again hurld racial slurs at 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:21.720 an elected leader. This one of you municipal court judge? 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:26.200 Who seeing this coming? Who could have guessed? Wally George, 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:29.360 the man who punched an abortion rights activist and lost 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:33.200 his first radio show, lost his second for screaming racial 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:36.120 slurs at a city councilor would lose his third show 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:40.760 for screaming racial slurs at a municipal court Judgeops among us, 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:43.959 who among us has not on a bad day hurld 0:13:44.040 --> 0:13:46.880 racial slurs at a circuit court judge? Or where was 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:49.360 those of us who have not gone to jail have 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:55.240 done that? Um? So while his former employer wrestled with 0:13:55.280 --> 0:13:57.920 a lawsuit as a result of this, Morton Downey Jr. 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:00.040 Moved to Chicago to do it all over again. And 0:14:00.840 --> 0:14:05.800 so during both of the state Yeah the strategy Chicago Yeah, 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:12.600 Chicago forgives all sense. During his first two dalliances with 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:15.560 talk radio, Morton Downey Jr. Had a regular segment on 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:19.160 his shows called the Executive Intelligence Report, which is him 0:14:19.280 --> 0:14:23.240 reading from a magazine published by Lyndon LaRouche. We're gonna 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:26.240 have to do a whole episode on Lyndon LaRouche at 0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:28.920 some point, um, but for now you'll have to be 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:31.720 satisfied with this quick description of Lyndon courtesy of a 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:35.000 New York Times obituary. And again this is the source 0:14:35.040 --> 0:14:39.400 of of Morton Downey Junior's Executive Intelligence Report quote. Lyndon Larus, 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:42.960 the quixotic, apocalyptic leader of a cult like political organization 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:46.040 who ran for president eight times once more a prison cell, 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:51.120 died on Tuesday. He was nineties six. Defining what yeah, 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:56.119 all right, that's a motherfucking sentence as an entire sentence, 0:14:57.800 --> 0:15:01.080 Defining what Mr Laruche stood for or was no easy task. 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:03.360 He began his political career on the far left and 0:15:03.480 --> 0:15:05.560 ended it on the far right. He said he admired 0:15:05.600 --> 0:15:09.440 Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Abraham Lincoln, and Ronald Reagan and 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:12.840 loathed Hitler the composure Richard Wagner and other anti Semites, 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:16.120 though he himself made anti Semitic statements, and boy did 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:18.880 he a lot of them. He was a fascist Tom 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:23.400 he was a fascist political cult leader, was like, we 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:27.280 don't know what the funk he believed. He believed in 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:29.280 Lyndon Laruge having a bunch of like he had a 0:15:29.280 --> 0:15:32.000 bunch of followers who basically it was a cult, like 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:34.440 they lived for this man, and they would go out 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:36.720 and proselytize on the street. They would hand out papers 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:40.360 at college campuses. Laruche argued that environmentalists were trying to 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:42.080 wipe out the human race, which is a claim that 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:44.800 Alex Jones now parents. He believed Clean Queen Elizabeth was 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:47.960 trying to murder him personally. He argued that Jews had 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:52.760 founded the KKK, and he described Indigenous Americans as lower beasts. 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:56.240 So this is the source of Morton Downey Jr's intel 0:15:56.400 --> 0:15:59.000 of finding a couple of consistent threads in his belief 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:04.360 structure that perhaps his obituary could have latched onto he 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:06.160 may and I think they may have gotten into that later. 0:16:06.240 --> 0:16:09.320 That was like the first two paragraphs. I just read 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:12.800 that obituary and was like, my god, that is a sentence. Yeah, 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:15.680 that first sentence almost knocked me out of my chair. Yeah, 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:20.160 what a fucking life. The president eight times once from prison, 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:25.640 but it was a tax thing. I think, um again, 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:27.560 we'll do I'll have to read into him and we'll 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:30.760 do a whole episode on Lyndon Laruche. He's quite a character. 0:16:31.160 --> 0:16:34.520 But yeah, the head of Morton Downey Jr's Intel program. Now, 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:36.720 the fact that Morton Downy Junior platform this guy is 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:39.080 very fucked up, and it's arguably more fucked up because 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:41.960 Morton Downey Jr. Did not really like him. As he 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:44.280 told The New York Times, I decided I was going 0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:46.360 to be as friendly towards these people and get as 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:48.800 much information out of them as I could, because someday 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:52.000 I would expose them. Now that's bullshit. It's true that 0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:54.800 he did eventually get Lyndon Laruche on his TV show 0:16:54.840 --> 0:16:56.720 and he tore him apart like it was a very 0:16:56.760 --> 0:16:59.960 aggressive interview with Lyndon, but he also continued to spread 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:03.600 Larusha's newsletter and other publications after that point, calling the 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:07.600 fascist cult leaders intelligence information quote the second or third 0:17:07.600 --> 0:17:10.920 best in the world based on what Morton Downey Jr. 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:15.919 Morton Downey Junior doesn't know. Ninth build cast member of 0:17:16.000 --> 0:17:20.080 Predator to yeah, mother, I mean he did make the 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:24.160 top ten. Look look in fairness, that's more than either 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:26.359 of us have ever done in terms of predators. But 0:17:26.400 --> 0:17:28.399 I'm not out here saying this is the second or 0:17:28.480 --> 0:17:32.280 third most reputable intelligence with mort in the world. No, 0:17:32.359 --> 0:17:35.760 you're not. No, based on your your experience, which is 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:37.840 you and I both did get to look at the 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:41.639 predator costume. Yes, O wait, No I didn't. Well you 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:44.360 weren't there. That wasn't to but I saw the video. 0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:50.600 It was radem just knowing that I was that close 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:53.879 to something that had touched Morton Downey Jr. Was It 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:57.480 was just powerful, Tom, really powerful. You know what else 0:17:57.520 --> 0:18:00.880 has touched Morton Downey Jr. In a secual These products 0:18:00.920 --> 0:18:04.560 and services Probably they fucked him. They fucked him. Products 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:08.280 and services have been inserted into Morton Downey Jr. Absolutely, 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:11.240 That is again the only promise we make about our sponsors. 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:12.760 So if he seems fine with us, so I'm just 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:15.800 going to continue. That's an ad that's an AD throw. 0:18:16.200 --> 0:18:26.800 That's an AD throw. Baby. Oh we're back. So by 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:31.199 nine seven, Rush Limbaugh Show had exploded in popularity. Wally 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:33.359 George was the talk of Orange County. This is kind 0:18:33.359 --> 0:18:35.480 of the height of the Wally George Show too, and 0:18:35.520 --> 0:18:38.680 despite Morton's mixed success on radio a station in New 0:18:38.760 --> 0:18:41.840 York slash New Jersey. I guess it covered both decided 0:18:42.040 --> 0:18:44.479 let's give this guy a TV show. And I think 0:18:44.520 --> 0:18:46.800 they're looking at Wally George over in OC. They're seeing 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:48.960 Rush Limbabo in the radio and they're like, this guy 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:51.119 could be a could be a hit on TV. And 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:54.520 in fairness, they're not wrong. He was. Yeah, he was 0:18:54.720 --> 0:18:57.639 filmed in c Caucus. The Morton Downey Junior Show was 0:18:57.680 --> 0:19:00.119 cut very much in the shape of Wally George his 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:03.119 hot seat. In fact, while he even had Morton on 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:05.679 his show in the late nineteen eighties and it was 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:08.119 immediately hostile. And I'm first going to play this clip 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:14.040 more than Daddy Jr. On the It's really a Freddie 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:19.680 versus Jason moment, say, two rats fighting over a dead cato. 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:21.639 And I have to say before if you're wondering what 0:19:21.720 --> 0:19:23.680 Morton Downey Jr. Looks like, well, so if he gets 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:26.800 this clip together, remember Iron Giant, Remember the bad guy 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:30.439 from Iron Giant. He looks like Christopher's sleazy fed. Yeah, 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:33.520 he looks like he looks like Shooter McGavin. He looks 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:37.439 he does who was the same. I was blew me 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:40.720 away to learn that Shooter McGavin and the fed from 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:44.880 uh the Iron Giant are the same guy. Incredible thing 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:48.080 it he looks like he looks like Shooter McGavin with 0:19:48.119 --> 0:19:54.720 novelty teeth, Shooter McGavin. If Shooter McGavin did like birthday 0:19:54.760 --> 0:20:02.959 parties for children here it is. You're you're coming up 0:20:03.000 --> 0:20:07.200 with the usual simplistic answers. Wally that conservatives who don't 0:20:07.240 --> 0:20:11.280 know what the hell they're talking about. I've got an 0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:15.000 audience out here. You've got an audience of monkeys out here. 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:19.800 We'll do everything that you tell them to do. He's 0:20:19.880 --> 0:20:23.399 I'm wrong. I'm warning the next time you don't warn me. 0:20:23.640 --> 0:20:32.880 Punk God, Wally George looks incredible a man. It looks 0:20:32.880 --> 0:20:35.520 like the entertainment director and a cruise ship, like a 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:39.159 bad cruise ship. The cops have come on now and 0:20:39.160 --> 0:20:43.760 they're pulling Morton Downey Jr. Off the show and tackling 0:20:44.560 --> 0:20:50.879 he gets tackled by here, total Roger Stone vibes from 0:20:50.920 --> 0:20:54.600 that guy. Was like yeah, And obviously all of that 0:20:54.680 --> 0:20:56.719 was set up ahead of time. The plan was always 0:20:56.760 --> 0:20:59.159 I suspect from Morton Downey Junior to get tackled by 0:20:59.200 --> 0:21:02.080 share stepput Saw on the seat of Wally George's hot seat. 0:21:02.240 --> 0:21:04.800 It seems so extreme and he's already so famous at 0:21:04.840 --> 0:21:07.359 that point that they wouldn't Yeah, they would not dare 0:21:07.440 --> 0:21:10.200 do that to him and listen to stage. Yeah, I 0:21:10.240 --> 0:21:13.960 mean while yeah, yeah, it's it's very funny. Um and 0:21:13.960 --> 0:21:15.639 and honestly, I can't tell you it may not have 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:18.360 been pre planned as much as both men just naturally 0:21:18.520 --> 0:21:21.120 new going in. This is how this is going to end. 0:21:21.520 --> 0:21:24.080 Like I'm I'm Morton Downy Jr. And the Wally George Show. 0:21:24.080 --> 0:21:26.160 Of course I'm going to get tackled off stage during 0:21:26.200 --> 0:21:28.439 like a nearly physical fight between the two of us. 0:21:28.640 --> 0:21:30.720 This is just how this has to happen. I am 0:21:30.840 --> 0:21:34.200 naturally enough of a right wing ship head firebrand that 0:21:34.200 --> 0:21:36.399 that's just in my blood. The thing that the moment 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:38.520 we were on a camera together, this was what had 0:21:38.560 --> 0:21:42.560 to happen. Right, whoever wins, we lose. Yeah. The real 0:21:42.600 --> 0:21:45.600 Freddy Jason situation they stuck out to me was when 0:21:45.960 --> 0:21:48.320 there's a scene, were not a scene. I'm talking about 0:21:48.320 --> 0:21:50.560 this like it's a movie because it's so stage. Uh, 0:21:50.600 --> 0:21:53.160 there's a part of the cliff where Wally George stands 0:21:53.240 --> 0:21:57.840 up after uh, Morton Downey says, don't don't warn me. 0:21:57.880 --> 0:22:00.200 He stands up like he's going to fight. But he 0:22:00.200 --> 0:22:02.840 he says, he buttons his coat. He buttons his fucking coat. 0:22:02.960 --> 0:22:04.640 That's the thing you do when you know you're gonna 0:22:04.640 --> 0:22:06.639 be on camera. Do you do the opposite when you 0:22:06.640 --> 0:22:08.640 know you're about to start throwing hands as you want 0:22:08.640 --> 0:22:10.800 to unbutton that coat? So it's like you want to 0:22:11.040 --> 0:22:12.480 but you might even want to take that if you're 0:22:12.480 --> 0:22:14.720 really gonna throw hands, you take that shirt off and 0:22:14.720 --> 0:22:17.240 you folded on the table. What you say, All right, 0:22:17.320 --> 0:22:19.439 here's how things are gonna go, you know. So the 0:22:19.440 --> 0:22:21.960