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Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. For

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Speaker 1: like an hour and a half yesterday, I thought, oh,

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Speaker 1: I know what he's doing. I know what Trump is

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Speaker 1: doing with this abortion cataclysm. I mean, I know, it

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Speaker 1: looks like a cave in at the policy mine, and

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Speaker 1: it looks like he's trapped beneath the rubble. But what

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Speaker 1: he's doing, it's actually kind of clever. He's going to

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Speaker 1: let everybody keep talking about a national ban and draconian

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Speaker 1: state bands like in Arizona, and then he's going to

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Speaker 1: swing back towards that fifteen week national ban idea or

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Speaker 1: something that will make him look moderate because all of

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Speaker 1: the Republicans have literally gone back to what the law

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Speaker 1: has read in eighteen freaking sixty four. This, this is

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Speaker 1: just clumsy ad hoc shifting of the Overton window. This

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Speaker 1: is not the mind caving in on Trump. This is

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Speaker 1: actually that once a year thing where he does something

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Speaker 1: kind of clever. Nope, no, nope, he's not being clever.

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Speaker 1: It's a mind cave in. The abortion policy mine has

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Speaker 1: caved in on Trump, and he is buried in the rubble.

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Speaker 1: There is no plan, there is no tacking to the middle.

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Speaker 1: There is no looking moderate and there is no Overton window.

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Speaker 1: It is down there in the debris with him. Because

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Speaker 1: Trump matter of factly announced that the eighteen sixty four

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Speaker 1: absolute ban reinstated by the Arizona Supreme Court was too much,

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Speaker 1: and confidently he was sure it would get fixed promptly.

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Speaker 1: And the Republicans and the Arizona State Senate and the

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Speaker 1: Arizona State Legislature then told Trump to go shove his

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Speaker 1: Overton window up his ass. First, this is him on

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Speaker 1: the tarmac in Atlanta saying no way he'd ever sign

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Speaker 1: a national band and shrugging no, and then saying the

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Speaker 1: part about Arizona tempering the ban there just before Arizona

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Speaker 1: Republicans told Trump to go f himself, Arizona, gojamar.

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Speaker 2: Yeah they did, and that'll be stripped down. And as

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Speaker 2: you know, it's all a mistakes sights and'll be sitting

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Speaker 2: down and I'm sure that the governor and everybody else

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Speaker 2: is going to bring it back.

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Speaker 1: Int the reason and that'll be taking care by the

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Speaker 1: curt Quare. So Arizona Republicans listened to their man dispassionate

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Speaker 1: jade Trump, and as a Republican made a motion to

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Speaker 1: repeal the ban. All the other Republicans promptly put the

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Speaker 1: House into recess, and the Arizona Speaker said he was

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Speaker 1: opposed to a repeal and he would never permit a

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Speaker 1: vote on a repeal. And in the Arizona Senate, the

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Speaker 1: Republicans simply removed the repeal bill from the day's agenda.

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Speaker 1: And Trump is screwed, and Carrie Lake is screwed, and

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Speaker 1: the Republican Arizona Congressman Juan Sisco Menni is screwed, and

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Speaker 1: Republican Congressan David Schweikert is screwed. And the best part

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Speaker 1: is that even if they all figure a way out

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Speaker 1: of this mess, the damage has been done. And anybody

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Speaker 1: who forgot that it was Trump's Supreme Court that made

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Speaker 1: all of this possible, and anybody who forgot that it

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Speaker 1: was Trump who said the states could take care of this, well,

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Speaker 1: he would stay above the fray and protect states' rights.

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Speaker 1: And instead Arizona activated a law that they passed the

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Speaker 1: year before Mark Twain published his first short story. And

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Speaker 1: then Trump's response was to immediately tell that state to

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Speaker 1: change what it had decided. How exactly is the letting

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Speaker 1: the states handle it and oh, by the way his

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Speaker 1: own Republicans then ignored him. Anybody who forgot any of

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Speaker 1: that now remembers it. It is time for me to

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Speaker 1: repeat my mantra. Democracy is preserved less by the efforts

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Speaker 1: of those of us fighting to protect it, and more

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Speaker 1: by the stupidity of those seeking to destroy it. And boy,

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Speaker 1: oh boy, oh boy, has Trump never looked more stupid

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Speaker 1: than right now? And if you think that's going badly

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Speaker 1: for him, he's on some kind of legal streak. Here

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Speaker 1: in New York City. For the the hed consecutive day,

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Speaker 1: a different judge has denied Trump's bid to stall the

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Speaker 1: start of the Stormy Daniel's hush money election interference trial

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Speaker 1: next Monday. The week began with an appeals judge laughing

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Speaker 1: him out of court over a demand for a change

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Speaker 1: in venue because he can't get a fair trial in

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Speaker 1: what was his home till a few years ago. Tuesday,

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Speaker 1: a different appeals judge refused to delay the trial or

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Speaker 1: remove the gag order after he tried to get the

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Speaker 1: judge's daughter killed. Now it is an appeals judge, Appeals

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Speaker 1: Judge number three, who in the same day a accepted Trump's

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Speaker 1: request for a hearing on delaying the trial because Judge

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Speaker 1: mer Schan wrongfully failed to recuse himself. B conducted an

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Speaker 1: emergency hearing same day, and C gave Trump an emergency

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Speaker 1: kick in the ass denied. On the other hand, defendant

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Speaker 1: Jay Trump did walk into an Atlanta Chick fil A

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Speaker 1: yesterday and asked can I have thirty milkshakes and also

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Speaker 1: some chicken? And in a surprise bigger than the chaos

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Speaker 1: in Arizona, and managing to lose the same appeal three

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Speaker 1: times in three days in New York, he did not

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Speaker 1: drink all thirty milkshakes and eat all the chicken himself.

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Speaker 1: He gave them out to customers and to staff. You

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Speaker 1: forgot the paper towels pal Trump's next bid to help

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Speaker 1: somebody out at a Chick fil A maybe to get

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Speaker 1: speaker Mike Johnson a job at one of them. As

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Speaker 1: Marjorie Taylor Dolores Umbridge Green continues to torture Johnson to

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Speaker 1: political death over Ukraine and Faiza and the Mayorkis impeachment stunt,

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Speaker 1: we get a glimpse of whatever is going on behind

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Speaker 1: the curtain in Magaland when CNN reported that Johnson is

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Speaker 1: headed tomorrow to Mari Lago to hold a joint news

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Speaker 1: conference with Trump about quote election integrity. In other words,

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Speaker 1: Trump has blackmailed Mike Johnson into doing something Mike Johnson

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Speaker 1: did not want to do. And it is about somehow

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Speaker 1: the Trump manufactured fantasy world in which he was the

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Speaker 1: victim of election fraud, or he is the victim of

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Speaker 1: elector for he will be, or he's selling sneakers with

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Speaker 1: election fraud written on the tongue of the shoe, or

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Speaker 1: god knows what. Whatever it is, it will not be pretty,

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Speaker 1: and the not prettier it is, the more likely Trump

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Speaker 1: will let Johnson metaphorically live. I mean, who knows. Trump

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Speaker 1: may want Johnson to declare that Trump was the rightful

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Speaker 1: winner of the twenty twenty election and the twenty twelve

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Speaker 1: election and two thousand and eight and eighteen seventy six,

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Speaker 1: and this does not need much set up. Trump has

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Speaker 1: gone back to the anti semitism. Well if you missed

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Speaker 1: him late Monday night, explaining to one of the endless

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Speaker 1: right wing propagandist streaming hosts whom they seemingly manufacture by

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Speaker 1: the gross carlowed lot at a secret plant somewhere. As

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Speaker 1: he explained to this guy that anybody who is Jewish

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Speaker 1: who votes for Joe Biden doesn't love Israel and needs

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Speaker 1: to be spoken to. And the spoken to part was

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Speaker 1: that sinister and threatening. Trump clearly thought that went well

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Speaker 1: because he repeated it to the national media too in Atlanta.

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Speaker 1: He is not supporting Israel, he is abandoned Israel, and any.

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Speaker 2: Jewish person that votes for a Democrat who votes for

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Speaker 2: fighting to.

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Speaker 1: Have their head examin I am preaching to the choir

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Speaker 1: with the choir's own hymnals here. But this is the

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Speaker 1: essence of anti Semitism what he just said. Jewish people

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Speaker 1: to Trump are loyal first to another country, not to

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Speaker 1: the United States. Second time he has implied this in

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Speaker 1: the thirty six hour span. Set it to a group

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Speaker 1: at the White House at a Hanukkah event one year,

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Speaker 1: talks to American Jews, refers to their country means Israel.

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Speaker 1: He's an anti Semite, anti Semite, and most importantly, the

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Speaker 1: Biden campaign needs to call him that. There is a

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Speaker 1: catalog of thirty five years of anti Semitism going back

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Speaker 1: to when he kept that book of Hitler's speeches in

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Speaker 1: that little table next to his bed. According to the

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Speaker 1: first wife, the wife near the first t the president

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Speaker 1: does not have to call him an anti semite. Surrogate's

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Speaker 1: doing so will suffice. But this is going to be,

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Speaker 1: one way or the other, the dirtiest campaign an American street,

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Speaker 1: even if Joe Biden never says a word, and Trump's

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Speaker 1: vulgarity gives Biden license. When they go low, we go

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Speaker 1: high unless Trump leaves his middle open to a swift

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Speaker 1: kick right and his Chick fil A. And by the way,

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Speaker 1: if you're wondering where all this stuff, the abortion issue

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Speaker 1: not only threatening to consume Trump's campaign but now showing

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Speaker 1: Trump to have lost control of the issue and to

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Speaker 1: him somehow not being dogmatic enough about it, and the

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Speaker 1: amazing legal losing streak, and oh, by the way, the

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Speaker 1: hot and cold running anti semitism. If you wonder how

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Speaker 1: this fits into political television news, it don't, and it

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Speaker 1: don't because the TV network news operations are focused on

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Speaker 1: the real issue here, why Trump and Biden have failed

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Speaker 1: to do their duty as patriotic Americans and president, why

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Speaker 1: they have yet to commit to made for television pie fights,

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Speaker 1: whereas the networks call them quote debates. We the undersigned

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Speaker 1: national news organizations urged the presumptive presidential nominees to publicly

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Speaker 1: commit to participating in general election debates before November's election.

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Speaker 1: Reads a draft of a letter composed by abccbscn N,

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Speaker 1: Fox News, and NBC to be sent to the Biden

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Speaker 1: and Trump campaigns participating in general election debates before November's election.

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Speaker 1: You think that maybe they could have presidential debates after

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Speaker 1: the election. Yes, it's idiotic. No, I'm not surprised Biden

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Speaker 1: has refused to commit to debates because he and his

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Speaker 1: people rightly think the Commission on Debates is self protective, toothless,

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Speaker 1: and easily bullied by Trump and Republican it is. Trump

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Speaker 1: is obviously trying to position Biden into looking like he

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Speaker 1: has backed out of debates so he Trump, who knows

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Speaker 1: he's in trouble mentally does not have to go to them.

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Speaker 1: And this letter, which translates to why are you denying

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Speaker 1: us the income that five debates would bring us? Shows

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Speaker 1: you how detachrum reality network management is. I moderated one

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Speaker 1: debate officially an afl CIO forum during the Democratic primaries

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Speaker 1: in two thousand and seven, and we had about a

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Speaker 1: week of meetings beforehand designed to make sure that no

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Speaker 1: actual illumination was provided by my questions, and no candidate

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Speaker 1: so seriously challenged that if they were the one who

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Speaker 1: won the nomination, they would be pissed at us. General

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Speaker 1: election debates have a rich tradition in our American democracy.

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Speaker 1: In each of those elections, tens of millions have tuned

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Speaker 1: in to watch the candidates debating side by side in

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Speaker 1: a competent of ideas. Yeah, name one debate in which

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Speaker 1: the candidates hell the competition of ideas, Name me one stretch.

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Speaker 1: In two campaigns full of debates, name me one stretch

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Speaker 1: in which Trump was debating ideas for say a solid minute. Also,

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Speaker 1: we the undersigned national news organizations. Fox is not a

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Speaker 1: national news organization an NBC may have used to be

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Speaker 1: a national news organization. Right now, it's just a badly

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Speaker 1: run whorehouse, which brings us back to the Trump campaign

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Speaker 1: and media. And if you have not noticed, Trump has

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Speaker 1: a new press spokesperson, a set of teeth named Caroline

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Speaker 1: Levitt Caroline with a K no less, whose primary skill

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Speaker 1: is that she can literally keep smiling while saying almost anything.

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Speaker 1: Ms Levitt claims to be twenty five, which is interesting

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Speaker 1: because she also claimed to be twenty five. In the

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Speaker 1: year twenty twenty two, when she ran for Congress in

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Speaker 1: her native New Hampshire. She beat nine others in the

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Speaker 1: Republican primary there, including a guy actually named Gilead Gilead Town,

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Speaker 1: Gilead Town. Caroline Levitt then lost the election to the

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Speaker 1: Democrat by nine points. On her resume, she's been a

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Speaker 1: gopher for Fox News, a producer for Hurst, an assistant

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Speaker 1: press secretary in the Trump White House, the spokesperson for

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Speaker 1: Elise Stephanic, the center fielder for the Saint Anselm College

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Speaker 1: softball team, and then she went back to work for

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Speaker 1: Trump last summer and at some point became his official spokesmodel,

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Speaker 1: the spokesperson. Sorry, oh, and she's an idiot on Newsmax,

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Speaker 1: She's an idiot. Just just listen, Just wait, just wait

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Speaker 1: for this, just just listen.

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Speaker 3: Well, that's because America Garland has completely weaponized our justice department.

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Speaker 3: He is a henchman for Joe Biden. He is protecting him.

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Speaker 3: The transcript in her report was incredibly damining to Joe Biden.

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Speaker 1: Not only did it prove damining, Well, everybody has one

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Speaker 1: of those documents. You probably said something like that before

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Speaker 1: damoning it was just a one shot deal, right, No,

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Speaker 1: and it.

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Speaker 3: Also was extremely damoning to him politically as it showed.

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Speaker 3: But the American people see with their own eyes every

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Speaker 3: single day, and that is Joe Biden can hardly speak,

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Speaker 3: and so they gave us the transcript. But that's why they.

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Speaker 1: Don't want to get dam it's damining. While she's claiming

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Speaker 1: Biden can't speak entirely damining. Now, if that sounded as

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Speaker 1: uncannily familiar to you as it did to me, I

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Speaker 1: think I know why.

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Speaker 4: Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can't locate

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Speaker 4: the US on a world map.

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Speaker 1: Why do you think this is?

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Speaker 4: I personally believe that US Americans are unable to do

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Speaker 4: so because some people out there in our nation don't

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Speaker 4: have mouths. And I believe that our education, like such

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Speaker 4: as in South Africa and Iraq everywhere like such as,

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Speaker 4: and I believe that they should. Our education over here

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Speaker 4: in the US should help the US, or should help

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Speaker 4: South Africa, it should help dirac in the Asian countries,

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Speaker 4: so we will be able to build up our future

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Speaker 4: for our Thank you very much, South Carolina.

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Speaker 1: Thank you indeed, South Carolina. Just to finish it up

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Speaker 1: and tie it all together. That unfortunate woman Miss teen

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Speaker 1: two thousand and seven competition, Caitlin Upton used that moment

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Speaker 1: as a springboard two working for Trump, signing with his

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Speaker 1: modeling agency. Literally, she was a Trump spokesmodel as to

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Speaker 1: her successor her philosophical daughter, this Trump spokesmodel, Miss Demoning.

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Speaker 1: While that is going to be Caroline Levitt's identity going forward,

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Speaker 1: I mean she might as well get t shirts made

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Speaker 1: and tattoos applied. Don't sleep on the other dilly in there,

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Speaker 1: hench Man. He's the hench Man. Henchman, worst superhero ever.

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Speaker 1: We have to fix American education. Also of interest, here

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Speaker 1: a man who has been a Joe Biden advisor off

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Speaker 1: and on for thirty five years, who was his chief

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Speaker 1: of staff until one year ago, was stupid enough to

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Speaker 1: get up at a public event and start f bombing

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Speaker 1: Joe Biden's campaign strategy, complaining that he goes to too

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Speaker 1: many events involving effing bridges. The tape was in the

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Speaker 1: media's hands within an hour, and it is now a

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Speaker 1: gift to the Trump camp. Ron Klaine did this, Ron Klaine, moron.

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Speaker 1: That's next. This is countdown.

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Speaker 2: This is countdown with Keith Oberman, this is Sports Senate.

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Speaker 1: Wait, check that not anymore. This is Countdown with Keith

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Speaker 1: Aulberman in Sports Stateline, Los Angeles. The interpreter did it.

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Speaker 1: The New York Times reported last night that, as implausible

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Speaker 1: as it sounds, Shohei Otani of the Los Angeles Dodgers

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Speaker 1: really did somehow leave one of his bank accounts vulnerable

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Speaker 1: to his interpreter and friend, Ipe Mizuhara. Misuhara did steal

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Speaker 1: probably more than four and a half million dollars from

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Speaker 1: him and wire it from Otani's bank account to the

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Speaker 1: bank account of an illegal bookmaker, and that Misuhara is

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Speaker 1: now in negotiations to plead guilty to a slew of

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Speaker 1: federal crimes. Time says Mizuhara has been under investigation by

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Speaker 1: the IRS, Homeland Security, and the US Attorney for the

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Speaker 1: Central District of California. If like me, you have a

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Speaker 1: money person, or you have ever had an accountant mine

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Speaker 1: demands receipts from me. If I spend like two hundred

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Speaker 1: and twenty dollars on baseball cards off eBay, If like me,

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Speaker 1: you're still thinking, what this from my old friend? Michael

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Speaker 1: Schmidt of The New York Times may explain it a

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Speaker 1: little better. Quote. Authorities think they have evidence that Misuhara

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Speaker 1: was able to change the settings on Otani's bank account,

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Speaker 1: so Otani would not receive alerts and confirmations about transactions.

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Speaker 1: According to sources with skills like that, why was he

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Speaker 1: gambling still ahead of us on this all new edition

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Speaker 1: of Countdown. I have got to get that one restaurant

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Speaker 1: in the lobby of my building to close, or at

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Speaker 1: least remove the tables it puts out on the street.

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Speaker 1: Years ago, I bounded out of my building and there

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Speaker 1: was Laurence O'Donnell literally darkening my door. And it's happened again. No,

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Speaker 1: this time, not the man we called Load, but rather

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Speaker 1: another cable news fraud, this one from Fox. A certified nitwit,

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Speaker 1: a frequent star of Worst Persons, a six time Worst

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Speaker 1: Person's Award winner, including one memorable day when she won

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Speaker 1: the bronze, the silver, and the gold, and I had

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Speaker 1: to get past her to get back into my frickin' home.

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Speaker 1: Next in Things I Promised not to tell First, still

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Speaker 1: more new idiots to talk about. The daily roundup of

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Speaker 1: the miscreants, morons and Dunning Krueger effects specimens who constitute

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Speaker 1: two days worst persons in the world. We start with

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Speaker 1: the bronze worse, Joe Scarborough. Just when the Rona McDaniel

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Speaker 1: crisis was beginning to simmer down and you could turn

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Speaker 1: on MSNBC and only worry about injuring yourself while rolling

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Speaker 1: your eyes, what does Joey scars do? He puts on

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Speaker 1: video of a focus group of supposedly undecided voters, and

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Speaker 1: the group is led by Mark Halprin. Mark Halprin is

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Speaker 1: Scarborough's old, pale and old mourning Joe contributor and the

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Speaker 1: old political director of ABC News who kind of lost

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Speaker 1: his TV career when six different women came forward to

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Speaker 1: accuse him of what was then called merely sexual harassment,

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Speaker 1: which in retrospect would now in a couple of cases

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Speaker 1: at least be considered sexual assault. Rubbing his zippenis on

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Speaker 1: one woman's shoulder in his office, rubbing it against another woman,

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Speaker 1: grabbing another woman's breasts and kissing her in his office,

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Speaker 1: and repeatedly prop positioning, pressuring fellow employees for sex. He

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Speaker 1: was fired. He was finished. And Joe Scarborough and MSNBC

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Speaker 1: and NBC News and Rashida Jones, the president of MSNBC

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Speaker 1: and Sezar Conde, the chairman of NBC News, they all

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Speaker 1: put him back on their network yesterday. I am so

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Speaker 1: ashamed of what that place which I built has become.

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Speaker 1: And I am so ashamed that you will hear nothing

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Speaker 1: about this about Mark Halprin from any of its three

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Speaker 1: primetime hosts whose careers there I launched and whose shows

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Speaker 1: were spun off from mine. I am not ashamed of

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Speaker 1: Scarborough because he's always been an opportunistic scumbag, and trying

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Speaker 1: to resuscitate Mark Halprin's career is so his brand. The

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Speaker 1: runner up Burria Bartiromo, Fox News, who show is called

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Speaker 1: Morning Screech. Yesterday she was hosting an idiot congresswoman from

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Speaker 1: upstate New York. By the way, if you google idiot

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Speaker 1: congresswoman upstate New York, the first result is at least Staffanic,

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Speaker 1: but the second result is Claudia Tenny. And it was

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Speaker 1: Claudia Tenny who was the one who said that when

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Speaker 1: Ben Carson got caught buying the thirty one thousand dollars

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Speaker 1: dining set for his government office on the taxpayer's dime,

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Speaker 1: Claudia Tenny, Congresswoman of New York, said Ben Carson had

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Speaker 1: been the victim of a conspiracy by the deep state. Yesterday,

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Speaker 1: Tenny insisted that New York Governor Kathy Huckle needs to

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Speaker 1: fire the district Attorney Alvin Bragg before Trump's trial starts Monday,

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Speaker 1: because because that's all they have left now. So Bartiromo said,

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Speaker 1: Gabby Tenny is right, and the governor should fire Bragg

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Speaker 1: because recidivism, and she added, we would like an answer.

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Speaker 1: I'll call your office today, Kathy Huckle. I'd love an answer.

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Speaker 1: Tune in tomorrow to morning screech, when we'll hear Maria

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Speaker 1: her ear pressed to the phone say, I'm still unhulled,

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Speaker 1: but our winner, Ron Klaine, he won. Until February first

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Speaker 1: of last year, was still President Biden's White House chief

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Speaker 1: of staff, but has apparently since then forgotten. Ron Klain

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Speaker 1: went to an event Tuesday night in New York held

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Speaker 1: by the publication Democracy, a journal of ideas, and he

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Speaker 1: spoke and he praised the President, he praised the State

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Speaker 1: of the Union address, he praised his presidency as a whole,

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Speaker 1: and then he trashed the Biden campaign and Biden's political strategy,

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Speaker 1: and he swore as he did so, and it was

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Speaker 1: all captured on audio tape. Audio tape which before everybody

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Speaker 1: was in their uber was already in the hands of

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Speaker 1: the website Politico, and Politico already had a story up

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Speaker 1: by eleven nine pm Eastern because ron Klain was apparently

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Speaker 1: born yesterday, And now there is tape tape which the

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Speaker 1: magas can presumably or even if they can't, they can

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Speaker 1: just quote it in which Biden's longtime advisor says Biden

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Speaker 1: is quote out there too much talking about bridges and quote,

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Speaker 1: he does two or three events a week where he's

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Speaker 1: cutting a ribbon on a bridge, and quote, if you

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Speaker 1: go to the grocery store and eggs and milk are expensive,

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Speaker 1: the fact that there's a expletive deleted bridge is inaudible.

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Speaker 1: And quote he's not a congressman, he's not running for congress,

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Speaker 1: and it quote doesn't get covered that much because, look,

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Speaker 1: it's a expletive deleted bridge, Like it's a bridge, and

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Speaker 1: how interesting is a bridge? Look, these may all be

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Speaker 1: valid criticisms. Is the president doing enough to address the

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Speaker 1: checkout line economy, the housing economy? No, I don't think

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Speaker 1: he is. But ron Klain goes back with Biden to

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Speaker 1: his presidential bid in nineteen eighty eight. He was chief

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Speaker 1: of staff when Biden was vice president, he was Gores

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Speaker 1: chief of staff. He helped Obama and Hillary with debate prep.

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Speaker 1: He was chairman of Gore's recount committee. So, to be

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Speaker 1: honest with you, if I were him, I would get

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Speaker 1: a burner account and go in and edit that out

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Speaker 1: of my Wikipedia page every goddamned morning. Ron Klain was

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Speaker 1: not born yesterday, and yet he just blew it. It

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Speaker 1: didn't cost Biden the election. Maybe the Trump people don't

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Speaker 1: run with this stuff or quote it or play it,

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Speaker 1: or even if they do, maybe it doesn't pop. But me,

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Speaker 1: I have only one rule about democratic candidates and democratic

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Speaker 1: campaign operatives, and it was the thing that turned me

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Speaker 1: away from Hillary Clinton and towards Obama in two thousand

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Speaker 1: and seven two thousand and eight. Criticize anyone anytime about anything,

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Speaker 1: but do not leave weapons on the field for Republicans

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Speaker 1: to use later against the Democratic nominee. I don't care

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Speaker 1: how much you think it needs to be said. If,

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Speaker 1: like the Clintons, you hand John McCain a plate full

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Speaker 1: of weapons to use against Obama, screw you. You want

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Speaker 1: to fight for the nomination, do it, But it is

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Speaker 1: not a fight to the death. The election is the

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Speaker 1: fight to the death. In two hundred and nine days,

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00:28:18,315 --> 00:28:21,355
Speaker 1: we have an election that is almost literally that it

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Speaker 1: will decide whether or not we still have a democracy.

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Speaker 1: And ron Klain, a veteran of thirty six years with

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Speaker 1: Joe Biden, is out in public where anybody can record

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Speaker 1: him f bombing Joe Biden, our last hope against a

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Speaker 1: Trump dictatorship. And ron Klain is potentially providing Trump campaign

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Speaker 1: ads because he thinks the president is going to too

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Speaker 1: many bridge openings. What would the Democrats do with comments

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Speaker 1: like that or worse from Trump's past chiefs of staff?

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Speaker 1: I don't know. Has this come up ever? Do we

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Speaker 1: have comments like that from Mark Meadows or Mick mulvaney

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00:29:01,315 --> 00:29:05,635
Speaker 1: or John Kelly? All right, we do have those comments.

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00:29:05,795 --> 00:29:07,995
Speaker 1: What are we doing with them? We're using them to

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00:29:08,035 --> 00:29:10,275
Speaker 1: try to put Trump in jail for the rest of

403
00:29:10,275 --> 00:29:14,155
Speaker 1: his life. And here's ron Klain talking about it's an

404
00:29:14,195 --> 00:29:17,795
Speaker 1: effing bridge and how Biden isn't a congressman. And here's

405
00:29:17,795 --> 00:29:20,475
Speaker 1: an idea for you, ron Klain. It's a two part idea.

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00:29:20,595 --> 00:29:23,915
Speaker 1: Part one is shut the f up until after the election.

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00:29:23,995 --> 00:29:26,915
Speaker 1: I don't want to know you exist. Do not try

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00:29:26,915 --> 00:29:30,235
Speaker 1: to correct the record now, do not campaign for Joe

409
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Speaker 1: Biden and pretend this didn't happen. And the second part is,

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Speaker 1: I don't trust you to do that, ron Klain. So

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00:29:36,155 --> 00:29:39,675
Speaker 1: here's a firmer suggestion. Leave the goddamn country. You can

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Speaker 1: come back in November. Until then, go to political purgatory

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00:29:43,955 --> 00:29:47,195
Speaker 1: somewhere and think about the damage you did. And again,

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Speaker 1: if you want to say that crap to Joe Biden,

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00:29:50,275 --> 00:29:52,555
Speaker 1: I get the feeling you can still get an appointment

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00:29:52,635 --> 00:29:56,235
Speaker 1: to see him, or at least you could until yesterday

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00:29:57,475 --> 00:29:59,635
Speaker 1: and anybody else wants to say that to the president,

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Speaker 1: go ahead, but don't do it in public, and don't

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00:30:01,595 --> 00:30:05,475
Speaker 1: do it where somebody can record you, you moron, And

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Speaker 1: don't act like you just fell off the turnip truck

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Speaker 1: and had no clue that somebody might record you being

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Speaker 1: glib and petty and picky and above it all when

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00:30:14,875 --> 00:30:19,755
Speaker 1: goddamn democracy is on the line, think before you open

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Speaker 1: your mouth. Ron Better still, don't don't open your mouth.

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Speaker 1: You're not enough of an adult to be trusted talking

426
00:30:27,795 --> 00:30:33,635
Speaker 1: in public. Ron Klain, who just helped Trump two day's

427
00:30:34,155 --> 00:30:49,235
Speaker 1: worst person in the world to the number one story

428
00:30:49,275 --> 00:30:51,515
Speaker 1: on the countdown, and things I promised not to tell,

429
00:30:51,555 --> 00:30:54,515
Speaker 1: And here we go again. There's two restaurants in the

430
00:30:54,515 --> 00:30:57,755
Speaker 1: building in which I live. One is great, I eat

431
00:30:57,795 --> 00:31:02,515
Speaker 1: there constantly. The other one I ordered dinner to go

432
00:31:02,675 --> 00:31:05,115
Speaker 1: from right after I moved in years ago, like the

433
00:31:05,115 --> 00:31:08,395
Speaker 1: week I moved in. I did it my phone directly,

434
00:31:08,435 --> 00:31:11,875
Speaker 1: no app and they volunteered to deliver it to me

435
00:31:11,955 --> 00:31:15,195
Speaker 1: in the building, and they screwed it up. I mean,

436
00:31:15,355 --> 00:31:17,555
Speaker 1: cook the food, put the food in the bag, take

437
00:31:17,595 --> 00:31:20,915
Speaker 1: the food out your front door, take a couple of steps,

438
00:31:21,115 --> 00:31:24,195
Speaker 1: then go through the front door into the lobby, head

439
00:31:24,195 --> 00:31:26,075
Speaker 1: it to the guy at the desk and they'll send

440
00:31:26,115 --> 00:31:29,195
Speaker 1: it upstairs to me. And it was an hour late,

441
00:31:29,915 --> 00:31:33,235
Speaker 1: and it was the wrong food. And they were profusely

442
00:31:33,275 --> 00:31:35,995
Speaker 1: apologetic because they'd screwed up a delivery to a guy

443
00:31:35,995 --> 00:31:39,675
Speaker 1: who might you know, buy food from them there every

444
00:31:39,755 --> 00:31:42,995
Speaker 1: week or every day, or twice on Sunday. So they

445
00:31:42,995 --> 00:31:47,395
Speaker 1: did the whole order again, and again they sent the

446
00:31:47,395 --> 00:31:51,075
Speaker 1: wrong food. And finally, this is now two and a

447
00:31:51,115 --> 00:31:54,755
Speaker 1: half hours after I first called them, the general manager

448
00:31:54,755 --> 00:31:57,635
Speaker 1: of the restaurant calls me and apologizes and says, this

449
00:31:57,675 --> 00:32:01,195
Speaker 1: one is on me. I'll be up with your tuna

450
00:32:01,755 --> 00:32:05,075
Speaker 1: in a moment. And he literally shows up at my

451
00:32:05,115 --> 00:32:08,795
Speaker 1: front door and proudly hands me the bag, and I laugh,

452
00:32:08,875 --> 00:32:11,035
Speaker 1: and I say, well, while you're here, why don't I

453
00:32:11,155 --> 00:32:12,995
Speaker 1: just check? And I open it up and it's a

454
00:32:12,995 --> 00:32:18,275
Speaker 1: container full of franks and beans. And that's not the

455
00:32:18,315 --> 00:32:22,235
Speaker 1: worst part about the place. It's a tourist trap, which

456
00:32:22,275 --> 00:32:27,395
Speaker 1: is fine, but it doesn't just draw visitors to the city.

457
00:32:27,435 --> 00:32:30,795
Speaker 1: It draws the other kind of tourists, those people who

458
00:32:30,875 --> 00:32:34,675
Speaker 1: live here but are not from here, and who have

459
00:32:34,755 --> 00:32:37,555
Speaker 1: never really managed to differentiate the good restaurants from the

460
00:32:37,595 --> 00:32:40,795
Speaker 1: tourist traps. As I have told you before and will

461
00:32:40,835 --> 00:32:42,915
Speaker 1: tell you again shortly, I came out one day and

462
00:32:42,955 --> 00:32:45,995
Speaker 1: they're sitting at a table on the avenue was Lawrence O'Donnell,

463
00:32:46,955 --> 00:32:50,075
Speaker 1: who defines what I'm talking about tourists who live here.

464
00:32:51,355 --> 00:32:55,355
Speaker 1: I will spare some of the other gastronomic posers, the

465
00:32:55,435 --> 00:32:58,515
Speaker 1: other not quite New Yorkers I have seen there. I

466
00:32:58,515 --> 00:33:00,635
Speaker 1: will keep them anonymous, but I must tell you, and

467
00:33:00,675 --> 00:33:03,475
Speaker 1: I think it will suffice that when we lived together,

468
00:33:03,995 --> 00:33:10,035
Speaker 1: this place was the favorite restaurant of Katie Terror and

469
00:33:10,115 --> 00:33:16,235
Speaker 1: apparently of Harris Faulkner from Fox News. You know her,

470
00:33:16,355 --> 00:33:18,875
Speaker 1: She's the anchor who made worse persons. Two days ago,

471
00:33:19,675 --> 00:33:24,755
Speaker 1: Biden spokesman slammed those attending a Trump fundraiser as billionaires, scammers, extremists,

472
00:33:24,795 --> 00:33:28,315
Speaker 1: and racists, and Kaylee Mcananey reacted with outrage. Who was

473
00:33:28,355 --> 00:33:31,475
Speaker 1: the racist that was there? Tim Scott was there? Vivik Ramaswamy,

474
00:33:31,595 --> 00:33:34,915
Speaker 1: Woody Johnson, Wilbur Ross, Steve Winn, and Harris Faukner jumped

475
00:33:34,955 --> 00:33:37,995
Speaker 1: in by saying, quote, I want to say this, so

476
00:33:38,035 --> 00:33:40,435
Speaker 1: they bring out the black surrogate to talk about racism,

477
00:33:40,435 --> 00:33:42,995
Speaker 1: because apparently the people you just listed on it list,

478
00:33:43,035 --> 00:33:48,115
Speaker 1: they're all black, but they're not Democrats unquote, which was

479
00:33:48,155 --> 00:33:50,755
Speaker 1: apparently a bit of a surprise to vivik Ramaswami and

480
00:33:50,755 --> 00:33:54,395
Speaker 1: Wilburg Ross, Steve Winn, and especially the New York Jets

481
00:33:54,435 --> 00:33:59,435
Speaker 1: fascist owner Woody Johnson. Harris Faulkner may be the champion

482
00:33:59,475 --> 00:34:04,115
Speaker 1: of Fox's self unawareness. I mean greater even than Greg Guttfeld,

483
00:34:04,435 --> 00:34:07,515
Speaker 1: who has yet to understand that he's not at all funny,

484
00:34:08,395 --> 00:34:11,715
Speaker 1: or even Jesse Waters, who has never been told that

485
00:34:11,795 --> 00:34:15,835
Speaker 1: he has an IQ of a plateful of Franks and Beans.

486
00:34:17,635 --> 00:34:21,355
Speaker 1: Ten years ago, Harris Faulkner discovered that a character in

487
00:34:21,395 --> 00:34:26,035
Speaker 1: the awfully cute Hasbro Littlest Pet Shop Toy, one of

488
00:34:26,035 --> 00:34:30,035
Speaker 1: the characters was a hamster named Harris the Hamster, Harris

489
00:34:30,235 --> 00:34:35,795
Speaker 1: Faulkner the Hamster. So she sued Hasbro for five million dollars.

490
00:34:36,435 --> 00:34:38,835
Speaker 1: Rather than making some sort of deal for the use

491
00:34:38,915 --> 00:34:41,875
Speaker 1: of her name and some of the publicity and all

492
00:34:41,955 --> 00:34:45,835
Speaker 1: of the goodwill, she sued them, and she settled only

493
00:34:45,875 --> 00:34:52,395
Speaker 1: when Hasbro discontinued Harris Faulkner the Hamster, and when she

494
00:34:52,515 --> 00:34:58,995
Speaker 1: had managed to make millions of children cry. And there

495
00:34:59,035 --> 00:35:03,315
Speaker 1: she was visible from half a block away at this

496
00:35:03,435 --> 00:35:06,555
Speaker 1: restaurant because there was a lot of makeup involved, and

497
00:35:06,595 --> 00:35:10,075
Speaker 1: she was talking so loudly she was drowning out Manhattan

498
00:35:10,195 --> 00:35:13,595
Speaker 1: street traffic. And my dogs and I we were just

499
00:35:13,635 --> 00:35:16,795
Speaker 1: trying to get home, so I made sure to avoid

500
00:35:16,955 --> 00:35:20,675
Speaker 1: eye contact. But as I passed her, I loudly addressed

501
00:35:20,715 --> 00:35:27,275
Speaker 1: the dogs in my most announcersh voice, Okay, guys, here

502
00:35:27,315 --> 00:35:32,035
Speaker 1: we are home in the same day, and I nodded

503
00:35:32,075 --> 00:35:33,995
Speaker 1: to our door man, and he followed me into the

504
00:35:34,035 --> 00:35:36,475
Speaker 1: lobby and before I could ask him if Harris Faulkner,

505
00:35:36,515 --> 00:35:39,595
Speaker 1: the Fox propaganda is not the Hamster. If Harris Faulkner

506
00:35:39,595 --> 00:35:42,515
Speaker 1: had heard me, he said, what was wrong with that woman?

507
00:35:42,595 --> 00:35:46,635
Speaker 1: She stopped and pointed at you. Another fan? Huh? I

508
00:35:46,715 --> 00:35:50,515
Speaker 1: reassured him She's not a fan. I don't know if

509
00:35:50,555 --> 00:35:53,515
Speaker 1: she knows about this podcast or that Tuesday had been

510
00:35:53,515 --> 00:35:57,035
Speaker 1: the sixth time she had made the Worst Person's Medal list.

511
00:35:58,315 --> 00:36:00,755
Speaker 1: Last September, she was on it after insisting that the

512
00:36:00,755 --> 00:36:03,515
Speaker 1: Biden's dog commander might have been biting people because maybe

513
00:36:03,555 --> 00:36:06,035
Speaker 1: they were giving him the cocaine that had been found

514
00:36:06,035 --> 00:36:09,075
Speaker 1: at the White House months earlier. Two weeks before that,

515
00:36:09,675 --> 00:36:11,515
Speaker 1: she had complained that here it was twenty two years

516
00:36:11,555 --> 00:36:14,275
Speaker 1: after nine to eleven, and our government still hadn't killed

517
00:36:14,315 --> 00:36:18,235
Speaker 1: the surviving terrorists, and that proved President Biden hated half

518
00:36:18,275 --> 00:36:21,995
Speaker 1: of America and all the military families like hers. And

519
00:36:22,115 --> 00:36:24,075
Speaker 1: never once did she seem aware that if she was

520
00:36:24,155 --> 00:36:27,795
Speaker 1: angry at this president for not ordering the deaths of

521
00:36:27,835 --> 00:36:31,435
Speaker 1: these guys who've been at GITMO for two decades, why

522
00:36:31,555 --> 00:36:35,835
Speaker 1: wasn't she mad at her guide Trump for not having

523
00:36:35,955 --> 00:36:40,875
Speaker 1: ordered their deaths. And before I get to the time

524
00:36:40,875 --> 00:36:43,475
Speaker 1: that Lawrence O'Donnell was at that same restaurant, I think,

525
00:36:43,515 --> 00:36:47,075
Speaker 1: at the same table. In fact, I want to note

526
00:36:47,235 --> 00:36:51,155
Speaker 1: that Harris Faukner once won the most exclusive honor I

527
00:36:51,315 --> 00:36:57,755
Speaker 1: can bestow. She wasn't just a worst person, she was

528
00:36:58,075 --> 00:37:03,115
Speaker 1: all the worst persons. Wait, take you back to June seventh,

529
00:37:03,475 --> 00:37:07,755
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three. Where were you and what were you

530
00:37:07,835 --> 00:37:13,675
Speaker 1: doing when you first heard this the bronze. Harris Faulkner

531
00:37:13,875 --> 00:37:17,355
Speaker 1: of Fox News one of the most inexplicably self righteous,

532
00:37:17,835 --> 00:37:21,875
Speaker 1: shallow people in American media. She is a propagandist of

533
00:37:21,955 --> 00:37:27,355
Speaker 1: Fox quote news unquote, and she is as just to

534
00:37:27,475 --> 00:37:30,795
Speaker 1: pick an apt current analogy, as dim as a sunset

535
00:37:30,875 --> 00:37:36,355
Speaker 1: during Canadian wildfire haze Armie Bratt. Her Twitter handle and

536
00:37:36,395 --> 00:37:39,435
Speaker 1: her Twitter name are both in all caps, and she

537
00:37:39,715 --> 00:37:44,435
Speaker 1: is ceaselessly holier than thou. And Fox Now has given

538
00:37:44,435 --> 00:37:48,315
Speaker 1: her a shot in Tucker Carlson's old primetime because the

539
00:37:48,395 --> 00:37:52,115
Speaker 1: only two people left were her and me. By the way,

540
00:37:52,195 --> 00:37:58,275
Speaker 1: remember Tucker Carlson. Anyway, Faulkner did not disappoint. She disappointed.

541
00:37:58,755 --> 00:38:01,635
Speaker 1: She was complaining about this war on religion, which is

542
00:38:01,635 --> 00:38:04,835
Speaker 1: really funny because the world gives religion more tolerance than

543
00:38:04,875 --> 00:38:08,635
Speaker 1: anything else. I mean, it's not facts, it's beliefs, which

544
00:38:08,635 --> 00:38:12,715
Speaker 1: you're fine, but it can't and hasn't been proven. And

545
00:38:12,755 --> 00:38:15,195
Speaker 1: almost all of the religions are based on books written

546
00:38:15,195 --> 00:38:18,795
Speaker 1: by anonymous authors or rewritten by other anonymous authors. And

547
00:38:18,875 --> 00:38:23,595
Speaker 1: yet we tolerate constant references to religion in our lives,

548
00:38:23,635 --> 00:38:30,155
Speaker 1: from songs to interruptions for prayers to tax exemptions for churches. Anyway,

549
00:38:30,355 --> 00:38:33,755
Speaker 1: that's not how she sees it. Harris Faulkner says you

550
00:38:33,755 --> 00:38:38,915
Speaker 1: should say grace or whatever for meals at restaurants in public,

551
00:38:38,955 --> 00:38:42,515
Speaker 1: and that once when she tried, they threw her out. Quote,

552
00:38:42,835 --> 00:38:45,835
Speaker 1: I've been asked to leave a restaurant for openly bowing

553
00:38:45,915 --> 00:38:51,515
Speaker 1: my head in prayer hands in America. Sadly, she would

554
00:38:51,555 --> 00:38:55,035
Speaker 1: not give a more specific address or a day when

555
00:38:55,075 --> 00:38:58,475
Speaker 1: it happened, or a witness, or would she answer any

556
00:38:58,515 --> 00:39:01,795
Speaker 1: questions about it that followed from members of the media,

557
00:39:01,955 --> 00:39:04,995
Speaker 1: or didn't your religious figures over there say something about

558
00:39:05,035 --> 00:39:09,195
Speaker 1: bearing false witness? The runner up, Why it's Harris Faulkner

559
00:39:09,395 --> 00:39:13,395
Speaker 1: Fox News Again, while she wasn't done chastising the wicked

560
00:39:13,435 --> 00:39:16,475
Speaker 1: ways of twenty first century America, land this is about

561
00:39:16,475 --> 00:39:19,995
Speaker 1: the whole gender thing. Quote. The Lord has determined I

562
00:39:20,035 --> 00:39:26,795
Speaker 1: am a woman, my pronouns are USA. Once again, the

563
00:39:26,915 --> 00:39:30,155
Speaker 1: jury is in. The Lord has also determined that conservatives

564
00:39:30,195 --> 00:39:35,715
Speaker 1: will never understand what the hell pronouns actually are. Harris,

565
00:39:35,715 --> 00:39:40,355
Speaker 1: you should ask the Lord for an education. But our winner, Wow,

566
00:39:40,475 --> 00:39:45,915
Speaker 1: it's Harris Faulkner of Fox News, the trifecta. While she

567
00:39:46,115 --> 00:39:48,955
Speaker 1: was instructing us when to pray and how to eat

568
00:39:49,035 --> 00:39:52,155
Speaker 1: and what her pronouns are, I think she said dumb

569
00:39:52,755 --> 00:39:56,995
Speaker 1: all that time the big banner graphic placed right across

570
00:39:56,995 --> 00:40:04,275
Speaker 1: her Holy blessed condescension read quote American can and will

571
00:40:04,315 --> 00:40:09,075
Speaker 1: be put back together again? American? Not America can and

572
00:40:09,115 --> 00:40:12,755
Speaker 1: will we put back together again? American can and will

573
00:40:12,795 --> 00:40:17,915
Speaker 1: we put back together? American? Harris? What kind of American

574
00:40:18,155 --> 00:40:22,155
Speaker 1: doesn't check the graphics and lets her network misspell America?

575
00:40:22,755 --> 00:40:25,675
Speaker 1: Why didn't you walk out of that place too? Faulkner

576
00:40:26,075 --> 00:40:29,315
Speaker 1: two days worst person?

577
00:40:30,395 --> 00:40:30,875
Speaker 4: Hey, not.

578
00:40:34,635 --> 00:40:38,715
Speaker 1: Early on the afternoon of Monday May twenty third, twenty sixteen,

579
00:40:39,395 --> 00:40:41,995
Speaker 1: I bounced out of my New York City apartment building,

580
00:40:42,115 --> 00:40:45,915
Speaker 1: began to walk past the tourist trap brunch spot in

581
00:40:45,995 --> 00:40:50,115
Speaker 1: the lobby and froze there at one of the cramped

582
00:40:50,155 --> 00:40:54,195
Speaker 1: outdoor tables. Staring up at me in blank surprise. That

583
00:40:54,475 --> 00:40:56,475
Speaker 1: must have matched my own staring down at him in

584
00:40:56,515 --> 00:41:02,835
Speaker 1: blank surprise. Was Laurence O'Donnell. I decided to go silly, Hey,

585
00:41:03,235 --> 00:41:06,595
Speaker 1: get out of my house. He laughed. I laughed. It

586
00:41:06,595 --> 00:41:11,435
Speaker 1: didn't seem forced. He introduced me to his companion, his daughter. This,

587
00:41:11,635 --> 00:41:14,995
Speaker 1: my dear is Keith Ulderman. Keith started us all at

588
00:41:15,075 --> 00:41:18,915
Speaker 1: MSNBC and then he left. And here Lawrence gave one

589
00:41:18,915 --> 00:41:25,715
Speaker 1: of his long pauses, and we crashed it. I wanted

590
00:41:25,755 --> 00:41:28,555
Speaker 1: to be generous, I started to politely contradict him, and

591
00:41:28,595 --> 00:41:34,595
Speaker 1: I just couldn't do it. Yeah, pretty much anyway, About

592
00:41:34,635 --> 00:41:37,515
Speaker 1: thirty seconds of courteous nothingness followed, and I wish the

593
00:41:37,555 --> 00:41:41,275
Speaker 1: O'Donnell's well, and then I left. It was the most

594
00:41:41,435 --> 00:41:44,835
Speaker 1: pleasant experience I ever had with Lawrence O'Donnell. In fact,

595
00:41:44,875 --> 00:41:47,395
Speaker 1: it might have been the only pleasant experience I ever

596
00:41:47,395 --> 00:41:52,395
Speaker 1: had with Lawrence O'Donnell. After I finally convinced and bullied

597
00:41:52,475 --> 00:41:56,435
Speaker 1: and blackmailed MSNBC management into letting Rachel Meadow become the

598
00:41:56,435 --> 00:41:59,035
Speaker 1: regular guest host for my show, and she aced it

599
00:41:59,515 --> 00:42:02,435
Speaker 1: and then rightly got her own show, and she aced

600
00:42:02,475 --> 00:42:06,475
Speaker 1: that and became a star. I went looking for a

601
00:42:06,515 --> 00:42:09,075
Speaker 1: new guest host. My first idea was a frequent guest

602
00:42:09,115 --> 00:42:12,875
Speaker 1: we had named Chris Hayes. I didn't get far. Management

603
00:42:12,915 --> 00:42:15,715
Speaker 1: had its own idea and my input was not required.

604
00:42:16,075 --> 00:42:20,275
Speaker 1: They wanted former Vermont governor and Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean.

605
00:42:21,195 --> 00:42:24,275
Speaker 1: And Howard is a really smart guy and great on TV.

606
00:42:24,755 --> 00:42:27,915
Speaker 1: But Howard had a bit of a teleprompter problem. One

607
00:42:27,955 --> 00:42:32,075
Speaker 1: of my producers swears that Howard once read good Evening.

608
00:42:32,115 --> 00:42:36,715
Speaker 1: I'm Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont, this is countdown.

609
00:42:38,195 --> 00:42:40,275
Speaker 1: I do know. Whatever he did on the air, it

610
00:42:40,315 --> 00:42:42,875
Speaker 1: was bad enough that one week when I was off

611
00:42:42,915 --> 00:42:45,235
Speaker 1: and at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York,

612
00:42:45,315 --> 00:42:47,795
Speaker 1: and a baseball news story broke and he was filling

613
00:42:47,795 --> 00:42:50,595
Speaker 1: in for me. My producers called me there and asked

614
00:42:50,595 --> 00:42:53,875
Speaker 1: me to come on from the streets of Cooperstown and

615
00:42:53,915 --> 00:42:57,195
Speaker 1: be a guest on my own show, just to help

616
00:42:57,355 --> 00:43:02,355
Speaker 1: Howard Dean out. Anyway, Their next idea was a guy

617
00:43:02,395 --> 00:43:05,275
Speaker 1: who had been kicking around MSNBC since its founding in

618
00:43:05,355 --> 00:43:09,715
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety six. Lawrence O'Donnell was one of the original

619
00:43:09,875 --> 00:43:17,155
Speaker 1: MSNBC Friends, The MSNBC friends, political pundits who sat on

620
00:43:17,275 --> 00:43:20,835
Speaker 1: clearstools at a clear table or in a set designed

621
00:43:20,875 --> 00:43:23,995
Speaker 1: to look like a booth at a coffee shop. No,

622
00:43:24,155 --> 00:43:27,955
Speaker 1: I'm not making this up. Among the friends were and

623
00:43:28,275 --> 00:43:32,555
Speaker 1: Colter and Laura Ingram, if you can believe it, once

624
00:43:32,835 --> 00:43:36,675
Speaker 1: or twice an hour, the rather CNN like all news

625
00:43:36,715 --> 00:43:39,395
Speaker 1: coverage on MSNBC in its first couple of years, would

626
00:43:39,395 --> 00:43:44,115
Speaker 1: pause and three or more of these friends would appear,

627
00:43:44,715 --> 00:43:51,035
Speaker 1: chew over the MSNBC headlines and then disappear. Lawrence O'Donnell

628
00:43:51,875 --> 00:43:55,115
Speaker 1: was one of the friends. It was as bad as

629
00:43:55,155 --> 00:43:59,595
Speaker 1: it sounds. Then Lawrence o'donald pretty much disappeared. You would

630
00:43:59,675 --> 00:44:02,195
Speaker 1: see him on MSNBC as a guest every once in

631
00:44:02,275 --> 00:44:05,875
Speaker 1: a while, but mostly he pursued his action and producing career.

632
00:44:05,915 --> 00:44:08,875
Speaker 1: He played President Bartlett's father on the West Wing, the

633
00:44:08,915 --> 00:44:12,995
Speaker 1: one who beat him throughout college. Lawrence was very convincing,

634
00:44:13,915 --> 00:44:16,195
Speaker 1: and then around two thousand and eight we started getting

635
00:44:16,235 --> 00:44:19,115
Speaker 1: pressure to bring him in as a guest on Countdown,

636
00:44:19,395 --> 00:44:21,835
Speaker 1: like once a week or twice a week. I was

637
00:44:21,915 --> 00:44:23,755
Speaker 1: not sure what that was all about, but he had

638
00:44:23,795 --> 00:44:26,755
Speaker 1: been a Senate staffer, and he knew the healthcare debate

639
00:44:26,795 --> 00:44:30,315
Speaker 1: and other wonky stuff pretty well. So I gave my

640
00:44:30,395 --> 00:44:33,675
Speaker 1: assent for whatever that was worth. Not long after that,

641
00:44:33,755 --> 00:44:36,915
Speaker 1: Lawrence came into my office. He really needed my support,

642
00:44:36,955 --> 00:44:39,955
Speaker 1: he said, to get him more involved in MSNBC. He

643
00:44:40,035 --> 00:44:43,115
Speaker 1: knew I had gone to bat for Rachel and before her,

644
00:44:43,635 --> 00:44:46,155
Speaker 1: I'd gone to bat for Tom Brokaw, and for people

645
00:44:46,195 --> 00:44:48,355
Speaker 1: like Chuck Todd and Chris Hayes and others who are

646
00:44:48,355 --> 00:44:52,355
Speaker 1: now getting steady incomes from NBC. I don't remember his

647
00:44:52,595 --> 00:44:55,355
Speaker 1: argument on his own behalf. I do remember I didn't

648
00:44:55,355 --> 00:44:57,595
Speaker 1: have much of a reason to say no, and he

649
00:44:57,675 --> 00:44:59,875
Speaker 1: wasn't asking me to do a lot, so I said yes.

650
00:45:00,915 --> 00:45:03,515
Speaker 1: The next thing I knew, I was reading a memo

651
00:45:03,595 --> 00:45:06,395
Speaker 1: announcing that Lawrence O'Donnell had been appointed as the new

652
00:45:06,475 --> 00:45:10,715
Speaker 1: full time guest host of Countdown. This was in the

653
00:45:10,755 --> 00:45:13,195
Speaker 1: winter of two thousand and nine twenty ten, when my

654
00:45:13,275 --> 00:45:16,315
Speaker 1: late dad was fighting so valiantly to stay alive after

655
00:45:16,435 --> 00:45:20,315
Speaker 1: colon cancer and more importantly, a series of infections. Dad

656
00:45:20,355 --> 00:45:23,795
Speaker 1: had the immune system of an alien. The average white

657
00:45:23,795 --> 00:45:26,435
Speaker 1: cell count in a healthy adult is between four thousand

658
00:45:26,475 --> 00:45:30,435
Speaker 1: and eleven thousand. One night, Dad's was at thirty three thousand,

659
00:45:31,075 --> 00:45:33,315
Speaker 1: and the doctors told me to prepare to make the

660
00:45:33,435 --> 00:45:37,315
Speaker 1: call to let him go. They had one antibiotic left

661
00:45:37,355 --> 00:45:40,515
Speaker 1: to try on him. The next morning, Dad's white cell count,

662
00:45:40,515 --> 00:45:45,475
Speaker 1: which had been thirty three thousand, was eight thousand. Onward,

663
00:45:45,595 --> 00:45:50,795
Speaker 1: he fought. Unfortunately, he was eighty years old and he

664
00:45:50,835 --> 00:45:54,715
Speaker 1: had not exercised since Harry Truman was president, and eventually

665
00:45:54,715 --> 00:45:58,075
Speaker 1: he ran out of Houdini tricks. I had been visiting

666
00:45:58,115 --> 00:46:00,595
Speaker 1: him twice a day for six months while still doing

667
00:46:00,635 --> 00:46:03,955
Speaker 1: Countdown and the NBC Sunday Night Football Show. But now,

668
00:46:04,355 --> 00:46:07,835
Speaker 1: as it hit late February of twenty ten, his bright

669
00:46:07,955 --> 00:46:10,835
Speaker 1: days became fewer and farther in between, and the hope

670
00:46:10,875 --> 00:46:13,475
Speaker 1: that was propelling me to keep being his full time

671
00:46:13,515 --> 00:46:18,115
Speaker 1: caregiver and Countdown's full time host both began to fade.

672
00:46:18,155 --> 00:46:20,075
Speaker 1: In the last two weeks of my dad's life, as

673
00:46:20,075 --> 00:46:22,835
Speaker 1: the doctors tried all the long shot things, I asked

674
00:46:22,955 --> 00:46:27,675
Speaker 1: MSNBC for a leave of absence. Finally the inevitability became

675
00:46:27,795 --> 00:46:31,115
Speaker 1: inarguable and we let Dad go. On Saturday, March thirteenth,

676
00:46:31,195 --> 00:46:34,715
Speaker 1: twenty ten. My sister held his hand and I read

677
00:46:34,795 --> 00:46:37,155
Speaker 1: him his favorite Thurber story, and as soon as I

678
00:46:37,195 --> 00:46:41,075
Speaker 1: finished it, he exhaled deeply and peacefully, and he died.

679
00:46:42,155 --> 00:46:47,035
Speaker 1: I think I took another week off, maybe two, and

680
00:46:47,115 --> 00:46:50,435
Speaker 1: I vaguely recall emails from friends at Countdown that I

681
00:46:50,515 --> 00:46:54,195
Speaker 1: may have paid passing attention to, but I really didn't.

682
00:46:54,635 --> 00:46:57,435
Speaker 1: Most of the staff, including people who came up from Washington,

683
00:46:58,035 --> 00:47:01,475
Speaker 1: like Howard Feynman or Gene Robinson of the Washington Post,

684
00:47:02,115 --> 00:47:05,875
Speaker 1: always friends to me. They attended my as memorial service.

685
00:47:06,475 --> 00:47:09,715
Speaker 1: I believe Lawrence o'donald, who was of course filling in

686
00:47:09,755 --> 00:47:11,835
Speaker 1: for me on Countdown, was there too, but maybe not,

687
00:47:11,955 --> 00:47:15,595
Speaker 1: I do not remember. And then came the day when

688
00:47:15,635 --> 00:47:17,435
Speaker 1: I went back to the office full time, and my

689
00:47:17,475 --> 00:47:22,275
Speaker 1: assistant grabbed me both hands on my wrist. You did

690
00:47:22,315 --> 00:47:24,955
Speaker 1: not answer my emails, she said, with a fervency she

691
00:47:25,155 --> 00:47:29,115
Speaker 1: rarely exhibited. For God's sake, do not ever leave me

692
00:47:29,155 --> 00:47:33,475
Speaker 1: alone with Laurence O'Donnell Again, I snapped back to attention.

693
00:47:33,915 --> 00:47:38,835
Speaker 1: Had he, you know, bothered her? Not that way, she said,

694
00:47:38,955 --> 00:47:40,955
Speaker 1: But he's a son of a bitch. He treats me

695
00:47:40,995 --> 00:47:42,835
Speaker 1: and everybody who was in a producer here like dirt

696
00:47:43,195 --> 00:47:45,435
Speaker 1: and since you didn't read my emails, I just have

697
00:47:45,515 --> 00:47:47,595
Speaker 1: to tell you this. He's trying to get you fired

698
00:47:47,875 --> 00:47:50,115
Speaker 1: so he can take over Countdown. And if you think

699
00:47:50,155 --> 00:47:52,595
Speaker 1: he's nuts, one of your senior producers is in on

700
00:47:52,675 --> 00:47:57,755
Speaker 1: it too with him. I have to admit, even now,

701
00:47:58,075 --> 00:48:00,435
Speaker 1: of all the things I went through at that very

702
00:48:00,715 --> 00:48:07,395
Speaker 1: very strange place MSNBC, even now, this story still shocks me.

703
00:48:08,755 --> 00:48:11,515
Speaker 1: The senior producers of Countdown consisted of a guy who'd

704
00:48:11,555 --> 00:48:16,195
Speaker 1: been a producer who booked satellite transmissions for MSNBC until

705
00:48:16,235 --> 00:48:19,835
Speaker 1: I asked that he'd be promoted, and one was a

706
00:48:19,835 --> 00:48:22,315
Speaker 1: guest booker for the daytime shows until I asked that

707
00:48:22,395 --> 00:48:25,715
Speaker 1: she be promoted. Another was a line producer who was

708
00:48:25,755 --> 00:48:28,195
Speaker 1: well regarded only for his ability to time a show

709
00:48:28,475 --> 00:48:31,355
Speaker 1: until I asked for him to be promoted. And then

710
00:48:31,355 --> 00:48:32,915
Speaker 1: there was the old friend of mine who had been

711
00:48:32,955 --> 00:48:35,875
Speaker 1: blown out of ESPN in a sexual harassment porn link

712
00:48:35,955 --> 00:48:38,875
Speaker 1: email scandal and was headed back to college to start

713
00:48:38,915 --> 00:48:41,955
Speaker 1: his career all over again, until I asked that he'd

714
00:48:41,955 --> 00:48:46,035
Speaker 1: be hired and then promoted. I did some digging, and

715
00:48:46,075 --> 00:48:48,275
Speaker 1: I was going to confront O'Donnell about it when somebody

716
00:48:48,275 --> 00:48:50,755
Speaker 1: told me he had tweeted something negative about me and

717
00:48:50,835 --> 00:48:53,075
Speaker 1: about countdown. So I got a hold of him and

718
00:48:53,115 --> 00:48:54,995
Speaker 1: I said, this did not seem to be in keeping

719
00:48:55,315 --> 00:48:59,035
Speaker 1: with MSNBC traditions and rules, you know, the ones about

720
00:48:59,075 --> 00:49:01,555
Speaker 1: not peeing inside the tent. And he said, what do

721
00:49:01,595 --> 00:49:05,475
Speaker 1: you know about MSNBC traditions. I've been here since nineteen

722
00:49:05,555 --> 00:49:10,355
Speaker 1: ninety six. I never left and came back. So I

723
00:49:10,395 --> 00:49:12,915
Speaker 1: went to my boss, the president of the network, Phil Griffin,

724
00:49:12,955 --> 00:49:15,515
Speaker 1: the one who would not hire Rachel Maddow. And before

725
00:49:15,555 --> 00:49:17,075
Speaker 1: I could say they'd have to get rid of him,

726
00:49:17,115 --> 00:49:19,755
Speaker 1: Griffin said it was all academic. They were preparing the

727
00:49:19,795 --> 00:49:22,555
Speaker 1: press release as we spoke for Lawrence's new show at

728
00:49:22,555 --> 00:49:26,355
Speaker 1: ten o'clock called the Last Word, and oh, by the way, Keith,

729
00:49:26,395 --> 00:49:28,435
Speaker 1: two of your senior producers are going with him to

730
00:49:28,515 --> 00:49:33,315
Speaker 1: run his show. If this sounds vaguely familiar to you,

731
00:49:33,515 --> 00:49:37,035
Speaker 1: it is the plot of the pilot for the old

732
00:49:37,155 --> 00:49:41,755
Speaker 1: Aaron Sorkin HBO series Newsroom. I was still friendly with

733
00:49:41,835 --> 00:49:45,635
Speaker 1: Aaron then, so he actually asked, as I related this

734
00:49:45,715 --> 00:49:48,715
Speaker 1: to him in real time in emails and phone calls,

735
00:49:48,795 --> 00:49:50,955
Speaker 1: he asked if he could use it in the plot

736
00:49:51,075 --> 00:49:54,035
Speaker 1: rather than just what he often did, which was to

737
00:49:54,115 --> 00:49:58,075
Speaker 1: use it without asking. The problem was none of this

738
00:49:58,195 --> 00:50:00,995
Speaker 1: made any sense in the real world. Although it made

739
00:50:00,995 --> 00:50:03,875
Speaker 1: a pretty good pilot for Aaron Sorkin in going into

740
00:50:03,915 --> 00:50:07,355
Speaker 1: the ten PMS slot, Lawrence O'Donnell would be replacing a

741
00:50:07,435 --> 00:50:11,115
Speaker 1: rerun of Countdown, and even if O'Donnell did much better

742
00:50:11,195 --> 00:50:14,035
Speaker 1: in the ratings, much much better, there was no way

743
00:50:14,675 --> 00:50:17,115
Speaker 1: it could ever make enough money to make the move

744
00:50:17,275 --> 00:50:23,555
Speaker 1: make sense. O'Donnell's new show would necessarily cost MSNBC between

745
00:50:23,555 --> 00:50:27,075
Speaker 1: ten and fifteen million dollars to produce every year. Didn't

746
00:50:27,115 --> 00:50:28,915
Speaker 1: have anything to do with him. That was the cost.

747
00:50:29,635 --> 00:50:34,435
Speaker 1: The Countdown rerun cost not ten fifteen million dollars a year.

748
00:50:34,875 --> 00:50:37,395
Speaker 1: It count. However much they paid the guy who pushed

749
00:50:37,395 --> 00:50:40,555
Speaker 1: the play button that fired up the videotape of the

750
00:50:40,595 --> 00:50:49,755
Speaker 1: Countdown replay amortized. Later that day, a sympathetic NBC executive

751
00:50:49,755 --> 00:50:52,355
Speaker 1: called me up and explained the move to me. First,

752
00:50:52,675 --> 00:50:55,755
Speaker 1: Griffin was convinced O'Donnell was about to leave us and

753
00:50:55,875 --> 00:50:59,755
Speaker 1: sign with CNN. I said, well, that's a good idea

754
00:50:59,795 --> 00:51:04,235
Speaker 1: for everybody involved except CNN. Turned out CNN had not

755
00:51:04,315 --> 00:51:08,155
Speaker 1: even to him, But Griffin did not know that. More importantly,

756
00:51:08,275 --> 00:51:11,875
Speaker 1: Comcast had already finalized its agreement to buy NBC effective

757
00:51:11,875 --> 00:51:14,635
Speaker 1: the following January, and as part of the deal, they

758
00:51:14,635 --> 00:51:17,515
Speaker 1: were entitled to review what all the executives in the

759
00:51:17,555 --> 00:51:20,475
Speaker 1: company had done, and they had already looked at MSNBC

760
00:51:20,635 --> 00:51:23,995
Speaker 1: president Phil Griffin and discovered he had never done anything.

761
00:51:25,075 --> 00:51:28,275
Speaker 1: In panic, Griffin told colleagues he had to launch a

762
00:51:28,315 --> 00:51:34,955
Speaker 1: new show of his own immediately. This is the series

763
00:51:34,995 --> 00:51:38,115
Speaker 1: Aaron Sorkin should have made. As to the producers who

764
00:51:38,275 --> 00:51:41,235
Speaker 1: left my show to go with O'Donnell while my father

765
00:51:41,395 --> 00:51:43,915
Speaker 1: was dying, one of them told me a couple of

766
00:51:43,955 --> 00:51:47,875
Speaker 1: years after she left MSNBC for the last time, every

767
00:51:47,955 --> 00:51:50,075
Speaker 1: day when I went into that last word office, I

768
00:51:50,155 --> 00:51:53,915
Speaker 1: realized you were getting your revenge on me without even

769
00:51:53,955 --> 00:51:57,755
Speaker 1: having to lift a finger. Lots of people I've worked with,

770
00:51:58,195 --> 00:52:01,915
Speaker 1: probably a majority of people i've helped, have behaved like

771
00:52:02,035 --> 00:52:05,635
Speaker 1: Lawrence O'Donnell, because remember, it's television, and it is a

772
00:52:05,675 --> 00:52:09,555
Speaker 1: mental illness. The comparatively healthy people are the ones who

773
00:52:09,595 --> 00:52:13,635
Speaker 1: acknowledge it's a mental illness. But Lawrence O'Donnell was something special.

774
00:52:14,755 --> 00:52:18,235
Speaker 1: A year before my dad died, almost to the day,

775
00:52:18,235 --> 00:52:20,435
Speaker 1: in fact, I was in Los Angeles appearing on Bill

776
00:52:20,515 --> 00:52:23,115
Speaker 1: Maher's show, and one of the other guests that night

777
00:52:23,195 --> 00:52:26,035
Speaker 1: was the actress Kerrie Washington. She was very nice to me,

778
00:52:26,275 --> 00:52:29,155
Speaker 1: very sweet, a very big fan, and she asked to

779
00:52:29,195 --> 00:52:32,715
Speaker 1: stay in touch. Sure enough, after my father died after

780
00:52:32,755 --> 00:52:35,275
Speaker 1: the memorial, after I was back at work, I had

781
00:52:35,315 --> 00:52:37,115
Speaker 1: to go to his house for the first time since

782
00:52:37,115 --> 00:52:40,315
Speaker 1: he had passed away. It was about as much fun

783
00:52:40,395 --> 00:52:43,675
Speaker 1: as it sounds. In the car on the way back

784
00:52:43,755 --> 00:52:47,075
Speaker 1: into New York City. The solemnity of it. Both my

785
00:52:47,195 --> 00:52:50,235
Speaker 1: parents died within eleven months of each other. It really

786
00:52:50,315 --> 00:52:53,835
Speaker 1: hit me for some reason for the first time, full force,

787
00:52:54,235 --> 00:52:57,195
Speaker 1: and I was about to lose it when the car

788
00:52:57,715 --> 00:53:00,835
Speaker 1: approached a billboard overlooking the West Side Highway in New

789
00:53:00,915 --> 00:53:03,555
Speaker 1: York City. And whose big smiling face was on the

790
00:53:03,595 --> 00:53:08,515
Speaker 1: ad on that billboard, Carrie Washington. And it flashed me

791
00:53:08,595 --> 00:53:11,155
Speaker 1: right back to her kindness in LA and it helped

792
00:53:11,155 --> 00:53:14,395
Speaker 1: me overcome this bump in my morning. So I wanted

793
00:53:14,395 --> 00:53:18,835
Speaker 1: to drop her a note, nothing big, nothing suggestive. I

794
00:53:18,875 --> 00:53:23,155
Speaker 1: wasn't hinting and asking her out. Just you never know

795
00:53:23,235 --> 00:53:26,035
Speaker 1: how you might help somebody in a time of crisis.

796
00:53:27,275 --> 00:53:30,835
Speaker 1: Thanks for letting me smile. That was the whole message.

797
00:53:30,995 --> 00:53:32,875
Speaker 1: I asked my assistant to figure out how to get

798
00:53:32,915 --> 00:53:34,155
Speaker 1: it to her, and that was the end of it,

799
00:53:34,395 --> 00:53:39,155
Speaker 1: except a week later, the fact that I wrote her

800
00:53:39,195 --> 00:53:44,995
Speaker 1: a note wound up in a column written by an colter.

801
00:53:46,875 --> 00:53:52,235
Speaker 1: I was astonished, how why? And Colter it was her

802
00:53:52,315 --> 00:53:55,715
Speaker 1: usual the brain doesn't quite work right kind of stuff.

803
00:53:55,715 --> 00:53:58,315
Speaker 1: She implied. I was hitting on Carrie Washington and said

804
00:53:58,315 --> 00:54:00,235
Speaker 1: how stupid I had to be to not realize she

805
00:54:00,315 --> 00:54:02,915
Speaker 1: was involved with somebody, and on and on and on,

806
00:54:02,955 --> 00:54:05,715
Speaker 1: no mention of my father's passing, or the mar show

807
00:54:05,875 --> 00:54:09,595
Speaker 1: or the billboard or her smiling face. I went back

808
00:54:09,635 --> 00:54:12,835
Speaker 1: to my assistant and I said, hey, what on earth

809
00:54:12,875 --> 00:54:17,795
Speaker 1: did you do with that note to Carrie Washington? And

810
00:54:17,835 --> 00:54:20,995
Speaker 1: she said, oh, I gave it to this Lawrence O'Donnell guy.

811
00:54:21,715 --> 00:54:24,475
Speaker 1: And I said, good God, why did you do that?

812
00:54:25,195 --> 00:54:27,955
Speaker 1: And she said, well, he's dating Carriye Washington. I thought

813
00:54:27,955 --> 00:54:30,195
Speaker 1: you knew that. I thought that's why you asked me

814
00:54:30,275 --> 00:54:34,315
Speaker 1: to get it to her. So it wasn't hard to

815
00:54:34,315 --> 00:54:37,235
Speaker 1: figure out from there Lawrence had called his old friend

816
00:54:37,275 --> 00:54:41,035
Speaker 1: from the old MSNBC Friends of nineteen ninety six and

817
00:54:41,195 --> 00:54:45,155
Speaker 1: Colter and told her about the note, inventing whatever motive

818
00:54:45,195 --> 00:54:48,155
Speaker 1: his jealous little mind could dream up, it should have

819
00:54:48,195 --> 00:54:51,235
Speaker 1: gotten him fired from NBC, but unfortunately his boss was

820
00:54:51,515 --> 00:54:53,795
Speaker 1: just as much of a fourteen year old emotionally as

821
00:54:53,795 --> 00:54:56,395
Speaker 1: he was. And meanwhile, I had decided to get out

822
00:54:56,395 --> 00:54:59,915
Speaker 1: of MSNBC anyway when the time was ripe. As it

823
00:55:00,035 --> 00:55:03,355
Speaker 1: turned out, it ripened in January twenty eleven. I've told

824
00:55:03,435 --> 00:55:06,795
Speaker 1: that story in other episodisodes, like sixty of them. It's

825
00:55:06,875 --> 00:55:10,515
Speaker 1: kind of complicated. And since nobody ever actually asked me

826
00:55:10,555 --> 00:55:12,995
Speaker 1: why count Down the TV show ended, I've probably got

827
00:55:13,035 --> 00:55:17,795
Speaker 1: another sixty episodes worth of information about that anyway in

828
00:55:17,795 --> 00:55:22,155
Speaker 1: twenty fifteen, since repeatedly over the following ten years, there

829
00:55:22,155 --> 00:55:24,995
Speaker 1: were overtures by both sides to bring Countdown and Me

830
00:55:25,195 --> 00:55:28,835
Speaker 1: back to MSNBC. In twenty fifteen, during the World Series,

831
00:55:28,875 --> 00:55:32,035
Speaker 1: in fact, the then president of NBC News, Andy Lack,

832
00:55:32,675 --> 00:55:34,915
Speaker 1: asked me to come back and do a new show

833
00:55:34,915 --> 00:55:38,435
Speaker 1: at MSNBC and move to Los Angeles and have a

834
00:55:38,475 --> 00:55:43,035
Speaker 1: co host, a conservative, and not do any commentaries. And

835
00:55:43,115 --> 00:55:46,755
Speaker 1: actually this new show is somehow less appealing than it sounds.

836
00:55:47,915 --> 00:55:50,675
Speaker 1: But the punchline of all punchlines is contained in what

837
00:55:50,795 --> 00:55:55,235
Speaker 1: Lack wanted to call my new twenty fifteen MSNBC show

838
00:55:55,235 --> 00:55:57,675
Speaker 1: that never was. It tells you all you really need

839
00:55:57,675 --> 00:56:00,475
Speaker 1: to know about the Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell and

840
00:56:00,675 --> 00:56:04,635
Speaker 1: MSNBC and O'Donnell's place in TV history at its demise

841
00:56:05,715 --> 00:56:10,355
Speaker 1: and the end of MSNBC. NBC new President Lack was

842
00:56:10,475 --> 00:56:13,435
Speaker 1: brimming with enthusiasm about this name that he had come

843
00:56:13,515 --> 00:56:16,515
Speaker 1: up with for my new show, a good the perfect title.

844
00:56:16,835 --> 00:56:20,555
Speaker 1: Lac told me, we're gonna call it The Last Word

845
00:56:20,595 --> 00:56:25,355
Speaker 1: with Keith Olberman, and I didn't laugh for guffaw. I

846
00:56:25,475 --> 00:56:29,035
Speaker 1: just said, Andy, you have a show called the Last

847
00:56:29,075 --> 00:56:35,595
Speaker 1: Word The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell. Andy Lack now laughed, huh,

848
00:56:36,075 --> 00:56:52,115
Speaker 1: hopefully not for much longer. I don't. I've done all

849
00:56:52,155 --> 00:56:54,555
Speaker 1: the damage I can do here. Thank you for listening. Countdown.

850
00:56:54,675 --> 00:56:58,115
Speaker 1: Musical directors Brian Ray and John Phillip Schaneale arranged, produced,

851
00:56:58,155 --> 00:57:01,915
Speaker 1: and performed most of our music. Mister Ray was on guitars,

852
00:57:01,915 --> 00:57:06,075
Speaker 1: bass and drums. Mister Chaneale handled orchestration and keyboards. It

853
00:57:06,235 --> 00:57:09,235
Speaker 1: was produced by Tko Brothers. Other music, including some of

854
00:57:09,235 --> 00:57:12,075
Speaker 1: the Beethoven compositions were arranged and performed by the group

855
00:57:12,075 --> 00:57:15,235
Speaker 1: No Horns Allowed. The sports music is the Olberman theme

856
00:57:15,275 --> 00:57:18,715
Speaker 1: from ESPN two, written by Mitch Warren Davis, courtesy of

857
00:57:18,715 --> 00:57:22,275
Speaker 1: b ESPN Inc. Our satirical and pithy musical comments are

858
00:57:22,275 --> 00:57:25,675
Speaker 1: by Nancy Faust. The best baseball stadium organist ever. Our

859
00:57:25,795 --> 00:57:29,155
Speaker 1: announcer today was my friend Howard Feineman. Everything else was

860
00:57:29,315 --> 00:57:32,675
Speaker 1: pretty much by fault. So that's countdown for this the

861
00:57:32,675 --> 00:57:35,635
Speaker 1: two hundred and ninth day until the twenty twenty four

862
00:57:35,715 --> 00:57:39,755
Speaker 1: presidential election and the one hundred and ninety second day

863
00:57:40,195 --> 00:57:43,955
Speaker 1: since dementia j Trump's first attempted coup against the democratically

864
00:57:43,955 --> 00:57:47,635
Speaker 1: elected government of the United States. Use the fourteenth Amendment

865
00:57:47,795 --> 00:57:51,435
Speaker 1: and the not regularly given elector objection option. Use the

866
00:57:51,435 --> 00:57:54,595
Speaker 1: Insurrection Act, us the justice system, use the mental health

867
00:57:54,635 --> 00:57:58,195
Speaker 1: system to stop him from doing it again while we

868
00:57:58,275 --> 00:58:02,755
Speaker 1: still can. The next scheduled countdown is tomorrow. Bulletins as

869
00:58:02,755 --> 00:58:05,675
Speaker 1: the news warrants till then. I'm Key Auldryman, Good Morning,

870
00:58:05,755 --> 00:58:27,515
Speaker 1: good afternoon, good night, and good Luck. Countdown with Keith

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00:58:27,555 --> 00:58:32,595
Speaker 1: Oldreman is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,

872
00:58:32,755 --> 00:58:36,795
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get

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00:58:36,835 --> 00:58:37,715
Speaker 1: your podcasts.