WEBVTT - TRUMP IS TALKING ABOUT HIS MORTALITY AGAIN. AND WEAPONS - 10.9.25 0:00:04.795 --> 0:00:24.075 Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio Now. 0:00:24.115 --> 0:00:26.475 I don't want to leave the incorrect impression that I 0:00:26.515 --> 0:00:30.395 am opposed to this. But Trump is talking about his 0:00:30.475 --> 0:00:34.235 own mortality, or his own career mortality, or going to 0:00:34.315 --> 0:00:39.795 heaven or all of the above again. At the same time, 0:00:40.635 --> 0:00:44.635 he's talking about declaring insurrections and jailing more political opponents 0:00:44.715 --> 0:00:46.955 like Mayor Johnson and Governor Pritzker and any one of 0:00:46.995 --> 0:00:49.675 a dozen judges, including at least one he appointed. Not 0:00:49.835 --> 0:00:53.355 prosecuting them this time, just jailing them. And as if 0:00:53.355 --> 0:00:56.875 it could get any worse, he specifically segued from the 0:00:56.915 --> 0:00:59.475 issue of wanting to prove to God that he's been 0:00:59.555 --> 0:01:04.915 good to how great all those missiles are at his 0:01:05.115 --> 0:01:11.275 naval base. Honestly, I don't know why the few remaining 0:01:11.355 --> 0:01:16.315 news organizations do not have entire departments devoted to analysis 0:01:16.835 --> 0:01:22.195 about which heart of Trump's insanity is in charge today. 0:01:22.515 --> 0:01:24.395 It'll be very hard to be a good country. You know, 0:01:24.435 --> 0:01:27.475 there's no reason to be good. I want to be 0:01:27.555 --> 0:01:29.715 good because you want to prove to God that you're good, 0:01:29.715 --> 0:01:33.435 so you go to that next step, right, So that's 0:01:33.515 --> 0:01:35.915 very important to me. I think it's really very important. 0:01:35.955 --> 0:01:40.355 And yesterday was amazing. We went out, we went to 0:01:40.515 --> 0:01:43.675 the naval base, largest in the world actually, and I 0:01:43.715 --> 0:01:45.835 saw things that were incredible, the level. 0:01:45.555 --> 0:01:46.875 Of uh. 0:01:48.315 --> 0:01:49.755 I don't want to use the word weapons, but. 0:01:49.795 --> 0:01:56.915 They are weapons. The missiles are flying. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Quote 0:01:57.035 --> 0:02:00.435 Chicago mayor should be in jail for failing to protect 0:02:00.555 --> 0:02:07.955 ice officers. Governor Pritzker also unquote. You could read that 0:02:08.035 --> 0:02:10.875 as saying that the Chicago mayor should be in jail 0:02:10.915 --> 0:02:13.395 for failing to protect Governor Pritzker, but I don't think 0:02:13.435 --> 0:02:17.995 that's what Trump meant. Then again, who knows you? And 0:02:18.035 --> 0:02:20.595 I know it should be Trump in jail because he's 0:02:20.635 --> 0:02:24.235 not only broken laws, he's nearly collected the complete set 0:02:24.355 --> 0:02:27.795 of broken laws already, to say nothing of him being 0:02:27.835 --> 0:02:31.035 in some kind of psychiatric facility, because whatever is wrong 0:02:31.075 --> 0:02:34.915 with him, it's going faster to say nothing of his 0:02:35.035 --> 0:02:39.075 ren Field Stephen Miller, who talk about having news departments 0:02:39.075 --> 0:02:42.555 devoted to studying what's wrong with him Today Stephen Miller 0:02:42.635 --> 0:02:47.035 is manipulating Trump's untetheredness to reality and convincing Trump there 0:02:47.035 --> 0:02:50.675 really are insurrections. Then that Cash Pittzel isn't crazy when 0:02:50.675 --> 0:02:54.195 he says five percent of Chicago residents are active gang members, 0:02:54.515 --> 0:03:00.355 and Trump has long been one of those. Does what 0:03:00.515 --> 0:03:03.515 the last person to talk to him tells him? People. 0:03:04.235 --> 0:03:07.835 Miller has refined this into a self fulfilling prophecy machine. 0:03:08.595 --> 0:03:12.755 Tell Trump there is an insurrection in Portland. No, no, Chicago, 0:03:13.115 --> 0:03:16.435 Chicago turns out is easier right now. Tell him there's 0:03:17.075 --> 0:03:21.155 ice agents imperiled. Get him to send troops to Chicago. 0:03:22.715 --> 0:03:25.475 What troops? Who knows which ones are the worst, the 0:03:25.515 --> 0:03:29.635 most paranoid, the least traceable. Get the troops to try 0:03:29.675 --> 0:03:34.115 to provoke Chicago residents, and if they succeed, show that 0:03:34.235 --> 0:03:36.995 to Trump on Fox News and get him to declare 0:03:37.035 --> 0:03:40.715 whatever the residents do to be an insurrection, and poof, 0:03:40.755 --> 0:03:45.115 Steven Miller has just fabricated an insurrection out of nothing 0:03:45.475 --> 0:03:50.155 in Chicago. This formula is how they get Trump to 0:03:50.235 --> 0:03:55.235 do anything. Really, the whole mechanism of jailing his opponents 0:03:55.235 --> 0:03:57.875 has never been clearer than right now. You keep firing 0:03:57.955 --> 0:04:02.795 prosecutors until somebody, the one who won Miss Uncongeniality in 0:04:02.835 --> 0:04:06.395 the Beauty pageant is willing to the documents and bang 0:04:06.955 --> 0:04:09.835 James Comy is indicted, and you can say, see, mister President, 0:04:10.035 --> 0:04:14.635 he's been indicted. It's on Fox News. Even though ABC 0:04:14.795 --> 0:04:18.395 reported yesterday that Trump's main government witness will testify that 0:04:18.515 --> 0:04:22.715 Komy told him not to leak to the media, and 0:04:22.795 --> 0:04:26.035 this witness will almost certainly be branded a hostile witness. 0:04:26.315 --> 0:04:29.475 And the motion to dismiss will be filed by Komy's 0:04:29.515 --> 0:04:32.915 defense by a week from next Monday, the twentieth, as 0:04:32.955 --> 0:04:37.755 will the motion to unseat the fraudulently appointed HAIRD prosecutor. 0:04:38.395 --> 0:04:40.915 And the judge yesterday said, no, we're not slow tracking 0:04:40.955 --> 0:04:43.515 this process just so you can keep telling Trump. Look, 0:04:43.555 --> 0:04:48.035 the Komy trials now three months long. Your damn indictment 0:04:48.155 --> 0:04:53.635 was a page and a half. What Miller and Patel 0:04:54.395 --> 0:04:59.195 and Pam Bondi do. And once again my judgment was 0:04:59.315 --> 0:05:01.875 proved correct. From two thousand and six, I think it 0:05:01.995 --> 0:05:05.515 was when Pam Bondy hit on me outside men's room 0:05:05.835 --> 0:05:10.675 in the PBS station in Tampa. I think I said, dere, 0:05:11.355 --> 0:05:14.235 I'm just getting in the car. I gotta go to 0:05:14.315 --> 0:05:22.715 the airport to go to the moon. Anyway, what they 0:05:22.755 --> 0:05:25.715 all do when the judge rules in favor of the 0:05:25.755 --> 0:05:28.795 motion to dismiss the indictment of James Comy. I'm not sure. 0:05:29.435 --> 0:05:33.435 Maybe just pull Trump's TVs out of the wall. I've 0:05:33.435 --> 0:05:35.315 never understood why they didn't just set up their own 0:05:35.395 --> 0:05:37.795 version of Fox News in the White House basement or 0:05:37.835 --> 0:05:41.715 something and Taylor twenty four hours of programming just to him. 0:05:42.755 --> 0:05:45.915 I mean, Laura Ingram would work there instead in a heartbeat. 0:05:45.955 --> 0:05:49.395 I mean for the same money, maybe less. Only one 0:05:49.435 --> 0:05:51.435 demand would, which would be that you'd have to give 0:05:51.475 --> 0:05:55.915 Laura three hours instead of one. I guess they don't 0:05:55.955 --> 0:05:58.155 need a fake Fox News of their own when they 0:05:58.155 --> 0:06:01.035 have the fake Fox News that Rupert Murdoch gives them 0:06:01.075 --> 0:06:04.115 for free. Although they are always running the risks, something 0:06:04.115 --> 0:06:06.155 will happen to the real world that Fox will have 0:06:06.275 --> 0:06:09.835 to report anyway, and Trump will see it, which is 0:06:09.875 --> 0:06:12.755 why you will still see these spasms of rage by 0:06:12.875 --> 0:06:17.795 him against Fox. Still, it's largely a good and efficient system, 0:06:17.795 --> 0:06:21.235 and it's not very much larger nor more original in 0:06:21.315 --> 0:06:24.315 scope than the means by which the Maga cult itself 0:06:24.395 --> 0:06:27.635 is manipulated. Decide what you want the outcome to be, 0:06:28.515 --> 0:06:32.435 create a phony news narrative that supports it, especially if 0:06:32.475 --> 0:06:36.115 you can work in paranoia and racism and disguise them 0:06:36.155 --> 0:06:40.555 as something else. Have some faithful maga Republicans say it 0:06:40.595 --> 0:06:43.715 while a fax camera is on him or on her. 0:06:44.555 --> 0:06:47.635 Put that on Fox. Trump sees it, the cult sees it. 0:06:47.635 --> 0:06:54.195 It becomes their reality. There are pitfalls. What do you 0:06:54.195 --> 0:06:57.955 do when Fox lies and CNN or the Washington Post 0:06:57.995 --> 0:07:01.435 tell the truth? Well, sir, you buy CNN and the 0:07:01.555 --> 0:07:05.435 Washington Post and you convert them to maga parrots. Yeah, 0:07:05.555 --> 0:07:09.995 all that. What do you do about CBS News? Oh, 0:07:10.115 --> 0:07:12.235 you buy CBS News and you convert it, and you 0:07:12.275 --> 0:07:16.115 put an actual parrot named Barry Weiss in charge, which 0:07:16.115 --> 0:07:19.235 I will get to at length in a moment with 0:07:19.355 --> 0:07:25.995 the mystery of the broken number three CBS pencils story. Anyway, 0:07:25.995 --> 0:07:28.995 when the process creates an uncomfortable clash for one of 0:07:29.035 --> 0:07:35.235 Trump's slaves, like Speaker Mike Tiny Johnson, between Trump reality 0:07:35.235 --> 0:07:40.275 and reality reality, Johnson can then just employ the universal solvent, 0:07:40.355 --> 0:07:43.515 the three monkeys process. I didn't see it, I didn't 0:07:43.515 --> 0:07:47.875 hear it. I didn't say it. Should Mayor Johnson of 0:07:47.995 --> 0:07:51.635 Chicago and Governor Pritzker of Illinois be in prison? Speaker Johnson, 0:07:53.275 --> 0:08:01.275 Mayor of Should they be in prison? Should the mayor 0:08:01.315 --> 0:08:03.755 of Chicago and the governor of Illinois be in prison. 0:08:04.875 --> 0:08:07.155 I'm not the attorney general. I'm the Speaker of the House, 0:08:07.155 --> 0:08:09.075 and I'm trying to manage the chaos here. I'm not 0:08:09.155 --> 0:08:12.715 following the day to day on that sure, Trump's invading cities, 0:08:13.235 --> 0:08:17.755 threatening elected officials, and like every eleventh of those officials 0:08:17.875 --> 0:08:22.515 is somebody Trump once appointed or favored or defended. You 0:08:22.595 --> 0:08:26.115 remember Mike Pence, don't you, Mike Johnson? What are you 0:08:26.115 --> 0:08:28.235 going to do on that day when you were Mike Pence? 0:08:29.315 --> 0:08:33.075 But you're not following the day to day. We're all 0:08:33.155 --> 0:08:38.515 day to day, Mike Johnson. Mike, of course, then proceeded 0:08:38.515 --> 0:08:40.635 to go into the details of the day to day, 0:08:40.635 --> 0:08:44.915 because like everything else, it's bullshit multiplied by stupidity. And unfortunately, 0:08:44.955 --> 0:08:47.995 most of our Trump infested nation either doesn't understand or 0:08:48.035 --> 0:08:50.595 doesn't know about it. And then there's that tiny sliver 0:08:50.675 --> 0:08:54.475 that actually supports it, which looks sometimes like a majority, 0:08:54.515 --> 0:08:59.395 because we forget the majority actually has no idea about this, 0:08:59.475 --> 0:09:01.955 because it's got nothing to do with entertainment news or 0:09:02.075 --> 0:09:05.195 sports news. Oh, Ronaldo is worth a billion dollars, Yes, 0:09:05.795 --> 0:09:07.555 I know who he is. Why do I care how 0:09:07.595 --> 0:09:10.555 much money he has, Why don't you do a segment 0:09:10.755 --> 0:09:13.435 on instead, whether or not at forty he's still any 0:09:13.435 --> 0:09:18.115 good at the soccer. Mike Johnson actually blew that one. 0:09:18.155 --> 0:09:20.275 Mike Johnson should have said, I'm not following the day 0:09:20.355 --> 0:09:23.555 to day. In fact, this morning I spent in retreat praying, 0:09:23.835 --> 0:09:25.915 and I took a vow of silence and a vow 0:09:26.195 --> 0:09:29.435 to not follow the day to day. Amen, thank you Jesus. 0:09:29.475 --> 0:09:36.955 The missiles are flying. Hallelujah, Hallelujah. The idea that they 0:09:37.115 --> 0:09:41.915 all know Trump's nuts and they believe they have simply 0:09:41.955 --> 0:09:44.755 learned to ride that wave and not drown is in 0:09:44.835 --> 0:09:52.315 fact part of the Trump origin story. In February twenty seventeen, 0:09:53.275 --> 0:09:58.195 I looked it up February thirteenth, twenty seventeen. I was, 0:09:58.635 --> 0:10:02.755 if you can imagine this, one of three guests in 0:10:02.795 --> 0:10:06.555 the Bloomberg building here in Funds City on the Charlie 0:10:06.755 --> 0:10:11.835 Rose Show, which used to run on PBS and Bloomberg 0:10:11.875 --> 0:10:16.115 before Charlie's little problem with knowing where his pants and 0:10:16.355 --> 0:10:19.435 hands were at a given moment. When that cropped up, 0:10:20.995 --> 0:10:25.395 there was a guest host, Judd Apatow, and this lineup, 0:10:26.035 --> 0:10:29.275 if you can imagine Republican strategist Ed Rollins, with whom 0:10:29.275 --> 0:10:33.155 I had shared grudging respect and a glimmer of like 0:10:33.395 --> 0:10:37.515 for about twenty years by that point, and Maggie Haberman, 0:10:37.595 --> 0:10:43.315 for God's sake and me Rollins and Apatow took me seriously. 0:10:43.595 --> 0:10:47.955 Haberman was condescending and dents I mentioned several times during 0:10:47.995 --> 0:10:50.435 the taping that we were all kind of missing the 0:10:50.435 --> 0:10:54.155 big picture, that all the analysis of what Trump had 0:10:54.195 --> 0:10:57.235 done was discounting this fact that there had been nothing 0:10:57.315 --> 0:10:59.675 in Trump's first three or four weeks in office that 0:10:59.755 --> 0:11:03.795 contradicted the idea that he was crazy. And I made 0:11:03.795 --> 0:11:05.875 a few references to the piece that I read here 0:11:05.955 --> 0:11:09.235 last week, which had been written the year before. Could 0:11:09.275 --> 0:11:12.435 Trump pass a sanity test? Well? As we finished this 0:11:12.555 --> 0:11:16.275 surprisingly informative and non violent show, even though Maggie Haberman 0:11:16.435 --> 0:11:19.555 was there and cameras were powered down and Mike's put away, 0:11:19.995 --> 0:11:23.115 Ed Rollins extended his hand and smiled and it looked sincere, 0:11:23.675 --> 0:11:26.075 and he said he always enjoyed our conversations, even though 0:11:26.075 --> 0:11:29.595 he often thought I was crazy. He then laughed and said, 0:11:30.155 --> 0:11:33.955 but you know about crazy about your Trump sanity test. 0:11:35.155 --> 0:11:40.035 There was a long pause, and then Ed Rollins said, 0:11:43.275 --> 0:11:48.435 you know, he is crazy. Ed Rollins gathered his belongings 0:11:48.435 --> 0:11:52.875 and made for the studio exit door. Of course he's crazy, Keith, 0:11:54.075 --> 0:12:17.955 I don't know why you need a test. Every once 0:12:17.995 --> 0:12:21.475 in a while, the degradation and deterioration of American society 0:12:21.515 --> 0:12:25.035 and particularly American journalism just sort of seeps into the 0:12:25.075 --> 0:12:28.315 background and we stop looking at how remarkable it actually is. 0:12:29.075 --> 0:12:31.355 At any other point in our history, if the daughter 0:12:31.475 --> 0:12:34.675 in law of the President of the United States had 0:12:34.715 --> 0:12:39.635 her own nominal news show on a cable news channel, 0:12:39.715 --> 0:12:43.755 it would be a scandal of unbelievable proportions, even if 0:12:43.755 --> 0:12:48.675 she were qualified. Lara Trump is qualified in the sense 0:12:48.715 --> 0:12:51.835 that she's almost as stupid as a native born Trump, 0:12:53.515 --> 0:12:56.435 but we no longer notice these things. I was thinking 0:12:56.435 --> 0:13:00.955 of Lara Trump because she is wonderfully incompetent, even in 0:13:01.035 --> 0:13:06.395 her role as propagandist on Fox News, lobbing softballs at 0:13:06.435 --> 0:13:09.595 people who are barely able to answer softballs. On behalf 0:13:09.635 --> 0:13:12.395 of her father in law. She is both the question 0:13:12.915 --> 0:13:16.115 and the answer. But I was thinking about her because 0:13:16.195 --> 0:13:18.715 I was trying to find somebody in my mind who 0:13:18.795 --> 0:13:23.755 would be worse than Barry Weiss. To run CBS News. 0:13:24.875 --> 0:13:27.555 Barry Weiss, if you don't know who she is, has 0:13:27.675 --> 0:13:33.155 failed upwards from being the naivete and dumbing down editor 0:13:33.235 --> 0:13:39.115 of New York Times Opinions. She was encouraged to leave 0:13:39.275 --> 0:13:41.955 and left and formed a new place called the Free Press, 0:13:41.995 --> 0:13:44.155 which is, of course, like everything else with a name 0:13:44.235 --> 0:13:47.395 on it in media today, it is the exact opposite 0:13:47.395 --> 0:13:49.395 of its title. It is not the free Press. It 0:13:49.475 --> 0:13:52.315 is not free. There's nothing to do with freedom of 0:13:52.355 --> 0:13:55.715 the press in it. It is just another rationalization for 0:13:55.835 --> 0:14:00.275 fascism blog and for some reason, because it has been 0:14:00.355 --> 0:14:04.555 dumbed down, it is essentially a substack for idiots. It 0:14:04.795 --> 0:14:06.835 was worth one hundred and fifty million dollars to the 0:14:06.875 --> 0:14:11.075 Ellison people, partially because they are still trying to curry 0:14:11.115 --> 0:14:14.955 favor with Trump, and this was another way of lifting 0:14:15.035 --> 0:14:18.595 up fascists who don't get enough help in this society. 0:14:18.635 --> 0:14:21.675 As you know, there is no oppressed group in this 0:14:21.755 --> 0:14:28.595 country today like fascists, except short, unappealing fascists. They are 0:14:28.635 --> 0:14:32.755 even in worse positions than regular fascists. So in any event, 0:14:32.795 --> 0:14:35.075 Barry Weiss was bought out for about one hundred and 0:14:35.075 --> 0:14:38.275 fifty million dollars that's one of the reports of her 0:14:38.555 --> 0:14:42.195 free press site. And as part of the deal, she 0:14:42.355 --> 0:14:44.235 was put in charge of CBS News. And I was 0:14:44.275 --> 0:14:47.275 just thinking, would Lara Trump be worse or better for 0:14:47.355 --> 0:14:51.555 CBS News. Well, Lara Trump has now about a year's 0:14:51.555 --> 0:14:54.795 worth of experience in television, so she'd be better qualified 0:14:54.795 --> 0:15:00.875 than Barry Wise. We are watching once again those organizations 0:15:00.955 --> 0:15:03.075 in the news when they are needed the most in 0:15:03.115 --> 0:15:07.715 the history of this country, not only failing but voluntarily 0:15:07.915 --> 0:15:14.475 jumping off cliffs. Here's the first step. You build up 0:15:14.515 --> 0:15:19.275 a center and left intelligence audience that has come to 0:15:19.355 --> 0:15:22.715 depend upon you over the decades, as The Washington Post did, 0:15:23.115 --> 0:15:26.915 as CNN did. You make no bones about the fact 0:15:26.955 --> 0:15:30.235 that the thing probably does tend to lean a little 0:15:30.235 --> 0:15:34.875 bit liberal, because well, facts, as they say, do lean 0:15:34.995 --> 0:15:41.115 a little bit liberal, but money leans in both directions, 0:15:41.155 --> 0:15:46.755 and especially leans on liberals. And so no matter the 0:15:46.755 --> 0:15:49.435 news organization or its origins, or its history or its 0:15:49.475 --> 0:15:51.715 importance at the moment, if it can be sold, it 0:15:51.755 --> 0:15:54.355 will be sold, and usually to the wrong person, even 0:15:54.395 --> 0:15:56.195 to a person who does the right thing at first 0:15:56.195 --> 0:16:00.115 and then figures, oh no, this is hurting my other products. 0:16:00.635 --> 0:16:04.635 And also it's encouraging Trump to blackmail me. Hi, Jeff 0:16:04.715 --> 0:16:08.715 Bezos talking to you. Bezos apparently got away with it 0:16:08.715 --> 0:16:11.475 the first time he announced that he was being blackmailed 0:16:11.475 --> 0:16:13.835 and he wasn't going to subject himself to it or 0:16:13.875 --> 0:16:17.155 his now ex wife. And he stood up nobly in 0:16:17.155 --> 0:16:20.155 the Washington Post. Was there to say that democracy dies 0:16:20.195 --> 0:16:22.155 in darkness, and it was going to shine the light. 0:16:22.195 --> 0:16:24.315 And then something else happened, and we don't know what 0:16:24.395 --> 0:16:26.875 it is. But then he got married to Lauren Sanchez, 0:16:26.915 --> 0:16:30.755 and all the fascists came to the wedding, and the 0:16:30.795 --> 0:16:33.435 next thing you know, the Washington Post is throwing all 0:16:33.435 --> 0:16:36.195 of its traditions and all of its readers out the 0:16:36.195 --> 0:16:40.355 effing window. There is a report from the invaluable and 0:16:40.435 --> 0:16:45.755 irreplaceable Oliver Darcy of status, formerly of CNN, who is 0:16:45.795 --> 0:16:47.955 so important that I would expect him to be bought 0:16:47.995 --> 0:16:53.155 by an Ellison anytime now, about more changes at the 0:16:53.275 --> 0:16:56.915 Washington Post this week. Benji sorrowin the editor he reports 0:16:57.035 --> 0:16:59.155 is gone. Benji used to work with me. He was 0:16:59.195 --> 0:17:03.675 on countdown and several other people, according to people familiar 0:17:03.715 --> 0:17:06.115 with the matter, are out. Contractors were not spared. He 0:17:06.155 --> 0:17:09.435 says the legendary journalist Mark Fisher is out, who'd been 0:17:09.435 --> 0:17:12.995 with the Post for nearly four decades. The Pulitzer Prize 0:17:13.035 --> 0:17:15.555 winner David Hoffman has gone. Jack Schaefer, who I know 0:17:15.635 --> 0:17:18.875 the media critic, is gone, and the economic columnist Heather 0:17:18.955 --> 0:17:23.675 Long all out at the Washington Post. This while the 0:17:23.795 --> 0:17:27.235 aforementioned Barry Weiss is taking over CBS News. Actually it's 0:17:27.315 --> 0:17:30.315 Larry Ellison and my old friend Jeff Shell, who having 0:17:30.395 --> 0:17:34.915 been basically career ended at NBC by Oh, Jeff Shell 0:17:35.475 --> 0:17:38.355 got another chance and now we'll do whatever the fascist wants. 0:17:39.715 --> 0:17:42.155 He is now running CBS News along with the Ellisons 0:17:42.195 --> 0:17:46.275 and Barry Weiss, who I believe has the following experience 0:17:46.315 --> 0:17:50.075 in television. She's managed to turn a set on once. 0:17:52.435 --> 0:17:56.755 And the statement from Larry Ellison going into this debacle 0:17:56.795 --> 0:17:59.315 in which CBS News will be what remains of it 0:17:59.435 --> 0:18:03.755 totally dismantled and destroyed, and everybody who works there forever 0:18:04.275 --> 0:18:07.195 have this stink of being in at the end in 0:18:07.235 --> 0:18:10.435 which the place was killed from the inside deliberately so 0:18:10.515 --> 0:18:13.115 that it would be silenced. Not that CBS News is 0:18:13.155 --> 0:18:15.955 the leader in anything, but it is part of the firmament, 0:18:16.275 --> 0:18:20.835 part of that remaining now porous c through skeleton of 0:18:20.835 --> 0:18:25.155 American journalism. It's also its value, like in some respects 0:18:25.155 --> 0:18:28.075 recently the Washington Post is more symbolic than anything else. 0:18:30.195 --> 0:18:33.835 It's as if the Democratic Congressional Committee were now run 0:18:33.915 --> 0:18:41.355 by Hawlly of Missouri. Well, he looks better in the 0:18:41.355 --> 0:18:43.635 pictures we name. I know he's not a Democrat, but 0:18:43.635 --> 0:18:48.635 he's really good. Larry Ellison, who made money in tech, 0:18:50.675 --> 0:18:53.635 did a Wall Street Journal interview Monday in which he said, quote, 0:18:53.635 --> 0:18:55.955 we want CBS to speak to that seventy percent of 0:18:55.995 --> 0:18:58.915 the audience that would really define themselves at center left 0:18:59.195 --> 0:19:05.035 to center right. Wow, you do see nobody ever thought 0:19:05.035 --> 0:19:07.715 about that, trying to maximize the audience. Nobody in American 0:19:07.755 --> 0:19:12.195 media ever thought once about trying to maximize the audience. Well, 0:19:12.635 --> 0:19:15.995 what a genius Larry Ellison is. He's going to go 0:19:16.075 --> 0:19:19.795 for a larger audience. Reminds me of the Bob and 0:19:19.875 --> 0:19:22.435 Ray character from their political sketch. The guy's running for 0:19:22.475 --> 0:19:24.835 president and they said, which party of these nomination you're 0:19:24.875 --> 0:19:27.115 going for? And he went, I figured out a mistake 0:19:27.155 --> 0:19:29.635 that they've all made. I'm going for both of them. 0:19:29.915 --> 0:19:33.315 That way I can get all the votes we want 0:19:33.395 --> 0:19:35.595 CBS to speak to that seventy percent of the audience 0:19:35.635 --> 0:19:38.595 that would really define themselves at setter left to Setter right. 0:19:38.995 --> 0:19:42.155 Mister Ellison, I understand you don't know any of this 0:19:42.275 --> 0:19:45.835 because you've spent the last couple of decades simply counting money. 0:19:46.235 --> 0:19:49.435 And if you're willing to spend your entire life dealing 0:19:49.475 --> 0:19:52.115 with money, you can make all the money in the 0:19:52.115 --> 0:19:54.675 world and miss everything else that happens in it, like 0:19:54.715 --> 0:19:57.875 the fact that all those people at Ceter left no 0:19:57.955 --> 0:20:00.115 longer want to talk to all those people at Ceter 0:20:00.235 --> 0:20:03.475 right and vice versa. And more importantly, they do not respect, 0:20:03.515 --> 0:20:06.995 nor understand nor eve acknowledge the existence of the other 0:20:07.155 --> 0:20:13.515 sides institutions like CBS News, like The Washington Post, like CNN. 0:20:13.835 --> 0:20:18.075 So what Ellison is doing at CBS with Barry Weiss 0:20:19.795 --> 0:20:24.275 is to replace everything that exists in the history of 0:20:24.315 --> 0:20:28.555 CBS News, from Edward R. Murrow to Dan Rather to 0:20:28.755 --> 0:20:35.475 Katie Kirk. For God's sakes, everything in that entire roster, good, bad, 0:20:35.515 --> 0:20:40.115 and okay will be replaced by right wing sewer droppings 0:20:40.155 --> 0:20:44.675 like Barry Weise, and then just magically assume because you 0:20:44.755 --> 0:20:48.395 have dumbed it down and made it available to right 0:20:48.435 --> 0:20:50.755 wing and center right people that they will now start 0:20:50.795 --> 0:20:53.075 watching it too. I mean, where are those left wing 0:20:53.075 --> 0:20:54.715 people going to go. It's not like there are other 0:20:54.835 --> 0:21:01.755 news networks. CNN did this and self destructed. The ratings 0:21:01.795 --> 0:21:06.915 at CNN were competitive with MSNBC three years ago. Then 0:21:07.675 --> 0:21:13.555 we all got licked. Chris licked as this podcast began, 0:21:13.715 --> 0:21:16.835 so too did his reign of terror inside CNN. We 0:21:16.915 --> 0:21:20.235 saw what happened. Everybody thought what a failure that was. 0:21:20.275 --> 0:21:22.355 Now it was a total success. They brought him in 0:21:22.395 --> 0:21:25.675 there to do that, to discredit everything that CNN did, 0:21:25.835 --> 0:21:29.155 to destroy everything that worked well, to take people off 0:21:29.195 --> 0:21:32.715 the air who were functioning in unusual positions because they 0:21:32.715 --> 0:21:35.395 were kind of protected, like Don Lemon, who had a 0:21:35.435 --> 0:21:39.475 purpose in this media ferment and who they immediately put 0:21:39.515 --> 0:21:41.515 in a position where he could not be comfortable with 0:21:41.555 --> 0:21:43.875 the people he was working with. Is that Don Lemon's 0:21:43.875 --> 0:21:47.035 fault on a personal basis, Yes, But anybody who would 0:21:47.035 --> 0:21:49.075 look at that situation and say, we're getting our money's 0:21:49.115 --> 0:21:51.035 worth out of Don Lemon, let's move him into a 0:21:51.075 --> 0:21:53.715 position where we can't possibly get thirty five cents out 0:21:53.715 --> 0:21:59.475 of him, it's their fault. Then CNN did it, The 0:21:59.555 --> 0:22:03.275 Washington Post did it, million and a half cancelations, something 0:22:03.355 --> 0:22:06.755 like that in subscriptions and NOWBS under Barry Weiss, the 0:22:06.795 --> 0:22:11.275 former naivete and dumbing down editor from New York Times Opinions, 0:22:13.435 --> 0:22:15.835 a quote that The New York Times a little too 0:22:15.915 --> 0:22:20.235 late used in its profile of mis Weiss. As she 0:22:20.555 --> 0:22:24.875 ascended to the throne at CBS News, she told the 0:22:24.875 --> 0:22:29.995 Federalist Society, the influential conservative legal group, you know, like 0:22:30.035 --> 0:22:33.635 the way the Luftwaffa was influential, she told them. According 0:22:33.635 --> 0:22:37.635 to The Times in twenty twenty three, ms Weiss, who 0:22:37.715 --> 0:22:39.955 is married to a woman, quote, I know that there 0:22:39.995 --> 0:22:42.195 are some people in this room who don't believe that 0:22:42.275 --> 0:22:46.275 my marriage should have been legal. And that's okay because 0:22:46.955 --> 0:22:53.635 we're all Americans who want lower taxes. Sure you don't 0:22:53.675 --> 0:22:56.315 have to respect my human rights as long as we 0:22:56.435 --> 0:23:01.475 all keep more money. This is the creature now running 0:23:01.515 --> 0:23:07.115 CBS News as editor in chief. Sure we'll send these 0:23:07.155 --> 0:23:11.755 people to prison camps. Sure we'll raid their homes and 0:23:11.955 --> 0:23:17.115 march their children naked into vans while pretending we are 0:23:17.115 --> 0:23:21.435 opposed to pedophilia. Sure we'll do that as long as 0:23:21.475 --> 0:23:25.075 our taxes come down. That's my job as the editor 0:23:25.115 --> 0:23:30.595 in chief of CBS News because I've got my marriage 0:23:30.595 --> 0:23:33.355 and it's okay, and you guys are going to leave 0:23:33.355 --> 0:23:37.635 me alone because I'm doing your bidding here. I believe, 0:23:38.235 --> 0:23:40.595 if you look carefully, Ms Weiss, the deal you have 0:23:40.715 --> 0:23:43.795 made is not with CBS News and the Allisons, but 0:23:43.875 --> 0:23:48.075 with the devil. I close from something that Oliver Darcy 0:23:48.155 --> 0:23:50.475 again wrote, and sometimes I feel as if I should 0:23:50.515 --> 0:23:54.315 just read his piece, his newsletter when it comes to 0:23:54.355 --> 0:23:58.675 the media. I'm quoting him, quoting Max Tanney from Semaphore. 0:23:59.035 --> 0:24:02.755 Barry Weiss met apparently with the employees of CBS News 0:24:03.315 --> 0:24:05.435 as they sat there trying to figure out what else 0:24:05.435 --> 0:24:07.235 they could do for a living, or at least where 0:24:07.235 --> 0:24:10.195 else they could do it, and her last line to them. 0:24:10.275 --> 0:24:13.715 Her exhortation to them was, according to Tanny of Semaphore, 0:24:15.795 --> 0:24:20.915 let's do the fucking news. Unquote the line, as mister 0:24:21.035 --> 0:24:24.115 Darcy writes, seemingly intended as a hip rally and cry 0:24:24.355 --> 0:24:28.555 hit the wrong note, you think, instead, leaving a number 0:24:28.595 --> 0:24:33.835 of staffers cringing as the independents justin Barragona reported, One 0:24:33.915 --> 0:24:38.435 CBS staffer told our Natalie Koratch that they actually laughed 0:24:38.475 --> 0:24:43.635 at the remark. Suffice to say, if Weiss wants to 0:24:43.675 --> 0:24:45.835 actually win over the hearts and minds of the staffers, 0:24:45.875 --> 0:24:48.555 she now leads, she's going to need to do a 0:24:48.555 --> 0:24:52.115 lot better than that. Well, that's almost unnecessary. She told 0:24:52.115 --> 0:24:55.195 the people at CBS News, the people who have helped 0:24:55.395 --> 0:24:59.955 to maintain CBS News in an environment that is anti news, 0:25:00.275 --> 0:25:08.595 anti intelligence, anti washing your clothes, anti not smelling like conservatives, 0:25:10.355 --> 0:25:13.075 they have kept this place together, and she's telling them, 0:25:13.555 --> 0:25:18.035 let's do the fucking news. As if you have ever 0:25:18.115 --> 0:25:23.475 done anything connected to news in your life, you immoral, 0:25:24.635 --> 0:25:31.875 total loser Barry Weiss. But some things never change. The 0:25:31.955 --> 0:25:34.875 last time I worked for CBS and CBS News was 0:25:34.955 --> 0:25:38.715 nineteen ninety one. I was the lame duck sports director 0:25:38.795 --> 0:25:42.075 of Channel two case CBS in Los Angeles owned and 0:25:42.195 --> 0:25:46.435 operated station. Our sports cast usually finished second in the ratings, 0:25:46.435 --> 0:25:48.555 but the newscast finished third, and they were paying me 0:25:49.075 --> 0:25:51.435 quite a lot of money, and they had an option 0:25:51.515 --> 0:25:53.395 for another two years of quite a lot of money, 0:25:53.435 --> 0:25:56.115 about five hundred thousand dollars a year. And they had 0:25:56.155 --> 0:25:58.275 a newscaster who wasn't very good at it who they 0:25:58.355 --> 0:26:01.275 thought they could make back into the sportscaster and thus 0:26:01.435 --> 0:26:03.915 just eliminate my position, not just get rid of me 0:26:03.995 --> 0:26:07.555 and get somebody, but literally zero out the cost of 0:26:07.635 --> 0:26:12.595 Keith Oulverman save five hundred thousand dollars. In their position, 0:26:12.875 --> 0:26:15.075 I probably would have not picked up the option too, 0:26:16.875 --> 0:26:19.395 I had been notified of this, but because it was CBS, 0:26:19.435 --> 0:26:22.515 and because I actually am a professional and always have been, 0:26:22.955 --> 0:26:26.395