1
00:00:04,795 --> 00:00:25,195
Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. As

2
00:00:25,275 --> 00:00:29,155
Speaker 1: Wall Street prepares for its worst stock market crash since

3
00:00:29,275 --> 00:00:34,155
Speaker 1: nearly Thursday. I want to see polling numbers on a

4
00:00:34,355 --> 00:00:39,875
Speaker 1: presidential recall vote. I know there is no such thing

5
00:00:39,995 --> 00:00:43,675
Speaker 1: as a presidential recall vote, but what the hell? The

6
00:00:43,755 --> 00:00:47,235
Speaker 1: Republicans are always making up laws these days, inside the

7
00:00:47,275 --> 00:00:50,515
Speaker 1: Supreme Court and out, demanding to have their way because

8
00:00:50,515 --> 00:00:53,155
Speaker 1: they say the public wants it, trying to scam the

9
00:00:53,235 --> 00:00:56,675
Speaker 1: Constitution for a third term, claiming the nation voted for Trump,

10
00:00:56,715 --> 00:00:59,595
Speaker 1: and if Trump wants national suicide, then the nation has

11
00:00:59,635 --> 00:01:03,755
Speaker 1: already pre approved national suicide. If they can do this crap,

12
00:01:04,155 --> 00:01:10,435
Speaker 1: so can we. Because I want Republican congressmen and senators

13
00:01:10,635 --> 00:01:14,995
Speaker 1: and state and city and village officials to understand right

14
00:01:15,035 --> 00:01:18,195
Speaker 1: now that if we put it to a vote tomorrow,

15
00:01:18,395 --> 00:01:21,995
Speaker 1: Trump and nearly all of them would be out on

16
00:01:22,075 --> 00:01:26,635
Speaker 1: their asses out of office by Wednesday. I don't want

17
00:01:26,635 --> 00:01:30,315
Speaker 1: to wait for the midterms and for this involuntary harakiri

18
00:01:30,515 --> 00:01:33,475
Speaker 1: to be complete, for the pressure to begin to mount

19
00:01:33,675 --> 00:01:37,435
Speaker 1: on Trump's prostitutes, who continue to insist the Emperor does

20
00:01:37,515 --> 00:01:41,355
Speaker 1: too have clothes and that the insane worm dictator is

21
00:01:41,395 --> 00:01:45,515
Speaker 1: actually a rational human being, and what someone called economic

22
00:01:45,635 --> 00:01:49,515
Speaker 1: Munchausen by proxy, in which you make a nation sick

23
00:01:49,555 --> 00:01:52,315
Speaker 1: in order to claim to be healing a sick nation,

24
00:01:52,915 --> 00:01:57,195
Speaker 1: is somehow survivable. I don't want to wait. I want

25
00:01:57,235 --> 00:02:00,835
Speaker 1: Mike Johnson and Steve Scalise and the House congressman with

26
00:02:00,995 --> 00:02:05,835
Speaker 1: the stronger instincts towards self preservation to understand and today

27
00:02:06,635 --> 00:02:11,195
Speaker 1: that in a parliamentary system, their public careers would already

28
00:02:11,275 --> 00:02:15,875
Speaker 1: be dead, That they are shackled to a corpse in

29
00:02:15,955 --> 00:02:19,515
Speaker 1: the White House, that there is no master plan, that

30
00:02:19,595 --> 00:02:24,315
Speaker 1: the country knows Trump is not playing some long game,

31
00:02:24,515 --> 00:02:29,115
Speaker 1: that the country suddenly understands, there is no Trump derangement syndrome,

32
00:02:29,555 --> 00:02:35,275
Speaker 1: only Trump is deranged syndrome. That the country knows. This

33
00:02:35,355 --> 00:02:41,395
Speaker 1: is an unmitigated, irredeemable by partisan national disaster, and Trump

34
00:02:41,555 --> 00:02:45,595
Speaker 1: caused it deliberately. And their only chance is for them,

35
00:02:45,875 --> 00:02:49,515
Speaker 1: the Republicans, to use the powers they have right now,

36
00:02:49,715 --> 00:02:53,435
Speaker 1: to extract him from office, or at minimum new to

37
00:02:53,595 --> 00:02:56,995
Speaker 1: him where he stands and pull all his powers from him,

38
00:02:57,395 --> 00:03:01,835
Speaker 1: or they, the Republicans, will perish from the earth. I

39
00:03:01,955 --> 00:03:05,595
Speaker 1: want them to know that in five months it's gone

40
00:03:05,595 --> 00:03:10,955
Speaker 1: from their futures, depending on enslaving themselves to Trump, to

41
00:03:11,155 --> 00:03:17,075
Speaker 1: their futures, depending on them removing him from office immediately.

42
00:03:17,915 --> 00:03:24,755
Speaker 1: Them the GOP, the MAGA cult, not Trump but his assholes.

43
00:03:25,475 --> 00:03:30,555
Speaker 1: They are the Roman senators, and metaphorically he is Julius

44
00:03:30,555 --> 00:03:38,555
Speaker 1: Caesar figuratively speaking, obviously, I want to see polling on

45
00:03:38,635 --> 00:03:45,835
Speaker 1: a presidential recall vote. I want one of these moribund, terrified,

46
00:03:46,035 --> 00:03:51,235
Speaker 1: formerly journalistic media outlets to ask voters of every possible

47
00:03:51,275 --> 00:03:55,875
Speaker 1: flavor if the election were rerun today, would you vote

48
00:03:55,915 --> 00:04:00,115
Speaker 1: for Trump or a Democrat? Or would you vote for

49
00:04:00,155 --> 00:04:04,035
Speaker 1: Trump or another Republican? Or would you vote for Trump

50
00:04:04,155 --> 00:04:09,875
Speaker 1: or a fairly intelligent farm animal. I want the poster

51
00:04:09,995 --> 00:04:14,995
Speaker 1: to ask, would you support a special emergency recall vote

52
00:04:15,275 --> 00:04:18,715
Speaker 1: to potentially reverse the outcome of the twenty twenty four

53
00:04:18,835 --> 00:04:23,875
Speaker 1: presidential election. I want them to ask, would you describe

54
00:04:23,955 --> 00:04:28,035
Speaker 1: the current financial panic and the upcoming tsunami of inflation

55
00:04:28,355 --> 00:04:34,475
Speaker 1: and unemployment as a national emergency? I want them to ask,

56
00:04:34,555 --> 00:04:38,115
Speaker 1: do you think Donald Trump has taken leave of his senses?

57
00:04:39,955 --> 00:04:42,675
Speaker 1: I want them to ask, do you think Donald Trump

58
00:04:42,755 --> 00:04:47,635
Speaker 1: is mentally fit to run this country? I want them

59
00:04:47,635 --> 00:04:50,475
Speaker 1: to ask, do you think Donald Trump is acting to

60
00:04:50,635 --> 00:04:54,875
Speaker 1: destroy the United States on behalf of a foreign country.

61
00:04:56,195 --> 00:04:58,195
Speaker 1: I want them to ask, do you think it is

62
00:04:58,315 --> 00:05:04,235
Speaker 1: necessary to act once and only once outside the constitution?

63
00:05:04,395 --> 00:05:09,075
Speaker 1: If necessary to save the United States of America from

64
00:05:09,435 --> 00:05:14,155
Speaker 1: Donald Trump? I want them to ask, if the midterm

65
00:05:14,195 --> 00:05:16,995
Speaker 1: elections for the Senate and the House, where tomorrow would

66
00:05:17,075 --> 00:05:23,675
Speaker 1: you vote Republican or Democrat. Let's see where we really

67
00:05:23,715 --> 00:05:29,155
Speaker 1: stand right now, because we're not going to have a

68
00:05:29,235 --> 00:05:34,635
Speaker 1: presidential recall vote. We're not going to rerun the election.

69
00:05:36,115 --> 00:05:40,355
Speaker 1: We're not going to just this once act outside the constitution.

70
00:05:42,275 --> 00:05:49,875
Speaker 1: We're not Republicans, but the Republicans without whose support Trump

71
00:05:49,955 --> 00:05:54,075
Speaker 1: could not remain in office past noon need to see

72
00:05:54,115 --> 00:05:58,955
Speaker 1: these numbers, need to see that they're elected offices, and

73
00:05:59,035 --> 00:06:02,195
Speaker 1: their hopes for reelection, and their hopes for higher office,

74
00:06:02,275 --> 00:06:06,635
Speaker 1: and their hopes for post governmental money are flying out

75
00:06:06,715 --> 00:06:10,275
Speaker 1: to the effing window because Trump wants to make America

76
00:06:10,355 --> 00:06:14,315
Speaker 1: eighteen ninety four again. Because Trump doesn't know what he's doing,

77
00:06:14,435 --> 00:06:18,475
Speaker 1: because Trump's mind is shattered beyond repair, shattered beyond rational thought.

78
00:06:18,795 --> 00:06:21,715
Speaker 1: They need to see Trump has summoned doomsday, and the

79
00:06:21,795 --> 00:06:24,395
Speaker 1: sooner they stick him with the bill for it, the

80
00:06:24,435 --> 00:06:30,715
Speaker 1: better chance they have of surviving it, because this is

81
00:06:30,795 --> 00:06:34,875
Speaker 1: neither as hopeless nor as complicated as it looks. A

82
00:06:34,955 --> 00:06:37,835
Speaker 1: quarter of Republicans in the House and Sented are full

83
00:06:37,995 --> 00:06:44,115
Speaker 1: kool aid drinkers. A quarter have doubts. The other half no,

84
00:06:44,435 --> 00:06:49,035
Speaker 1: damn well, he's nuts. They've always known he's nuts. They've

85
00:06:49,115 --> 00:06:52,275
Speaker 1: just enjoyed the power and the money and the popularity

86
00:06:52,315 --> 00:06:56,875
Speaker 1: too much to ever dream of letting it go unless

87
00:06:57,515 --> 00:07:03,155
Speaker 1: the choice became he goes or they go. In which

88
00:07:03,235 --> 00:07:09,075
Speaker 1: case he goes, they could force him to resign, more

89
00:07:09,195 --> 00:07:12,795
Speaker 1: likely to simply flee the country, to leave office and

90
00:07:12,995 --> 00:07:17,995
Speaker 1: avoid prison, avoid prison, flee the country, then resign. They

91
00:07:17,995 --> 00:07:20,075
Speaker 1: could force him to resign by making it clear that

92
00:07:20,195 --> 00:07:22,795
Speaker 1: after his travesty of a mockery of a sham, of

93
00:07:22,795 --> 00:07:24,955
Speaker 1: a mockery of two mockeries of a sham, there are

94
00:07:24,995 --> 00:07:27,555
Speaker 1: now enough Republican votes to impeach him in the House

95
00:07:27,595 --> 00:07:29,915
Speaker 1: and convict him in the Senate. They could force him

96
00:07:29,915 --> 00:07:39,315
Speaker 1: out by simply introducing the measure to impeach themselves. Because

97
00:07:39,315 --> 00:07:43,715
Speaker 1: there are two truths about American politics. Everything seems permanent

98
00:07:44,635 --> 00:07:49,835
Speaker 1: and isn't, and the other one is, and it's true

99
00:07:49,875 --> 00:07:53,075
Speaker 1: in this century. It was true last century. It's true

100
00:07:53,075 --> 00:07:56,115
Speaker 1: the century before that. It's that there are always lots

101
00:07:56,155 --> 00:08:00,475
Speaker 1: of politicians who will risk themselves for their leader, as

102
00:08:00,515 --> 00:08:04,075
Speaker 1: long as he demands, they do so one at a time,

103
00:08:04,915 --> 00:08:07,235
Speaker 1: or as long as the nation's business demands, they do

104
00:08:07,395 --> 00:08:10,355
Speaker 1: so one at a time. But there is no group

105
00:08:10,395 --> 00:08:14,195
Speaker 1: of politicians who will collectively risk themselves for their leader.

106
00:08:14,395 --> 00:08:17,955
Speaker 1: When the choices are, they go down with him, or

107
00:08:17,995 --> 00:08:19,955
Speaker 1: he goes down all by himself.

108
00:08:20,235 --> 00:08:24,395
Speaker 2: It is always, always, always.

109
00:08:24,155 --> 00:08:28,475
Speaker 1: He goes down by himself. Damn shame. He had a

110
00:08:28,475 --> 00:08:35,035
Speaker 1: great run. Where are we going to lunch? You don't

111
00:08:35,035 --> 00:08:41,795
Speaker 1: believe me? Ask Richard Nixon. The Democrats didn't finish Richard Nixon.

112
00:08:43,075 --> 00:08:48,755
Speaker 1: Republican Senate and House leadership finished Richard Nixon. Hell, ask

113
00:08:48,875 --> 00:08:53,715
Speaker 1: Abraham Lincoln. Two months before the eighteen sixty four presidential election,

114
00:08:54,675 --> 00:08:58,875
Speaker 1: the referendum on the future of the Civil War, Republican

115
00:08:58,955 --> 00:09:02,355
Speaker 1: leaders were trying to figure out how to remove Lincoln

116
00:09:02,515 --> 00:09:06,955
Speaker 1: from the ballot to two months because he was clearly

117
00:09:06,995 --> 00:09:10,715
Speaker 1: going to lose to McClellan in the election, and McClellan

118
00:09:10,835 --> 00:09:15,515
Speaker 1: was going to surrender days before Sherman took Atlanta. This

119
00:09:15,715 --> 00:09:18,755
Speaker 1: was seven months before Robert E. Lee surrendered the South,

120
00:09:19,155 --> 00:09:21,715
Speaker 1: seven months before. They were going to win the war,

121
00:09:21,995 --> 00:09:28,315
Speaker 1: and they were going to kick Lincoln to the curb. Oh, oh,

122
00:09:28,395 --> 00:09:31,795
Speaker 1: we got it, We got Atlanta. Okay, never mind, not

123
00:09:31,995 --> 00:09:36,915
Speaker 1: enough examples. Try other places. The British Conservatives were the

124
00:09:36,915 --> 00:09:40,595
Speaker 1: ones who knifed Margaret Thatcher, not the Liberals christ They

125
00:09:40,675 --> 00:09:44,995
Speaker 1: knifed David Cameron, then Teresa May, then Boris Johnson, then

126
00:09:45,035 --> 00:09:49,555
Speaker 1: Liz trust All while they were Prime Minister. In the

127
00:09:49,595 --> 00:09:56,035
Speaker 1: last fifteen years, Trump has an iron grip on MAGA,

128
00:09:56,035 --> 00:09:58,195
Speaker 1: on the Republican Party, on the House majority, on the

129
00:09:58,195 --> 00:10:03,595
Speaker 1: Senate majority, on the nation U untill eight maybe ten

130
00:10:03,675 --> 00:10:07,115
Speaker 1: Republicans in the House decide Trump is going to destroy

131
00:10:07,515 --> 00:10:12,635
Speaker 1: them personally, and they get together and they go, let's

132
00:10:12,715 --> 00:10:19,955
Speaker 1: not get destroyed personally until fourteen count them, fourteen Republicans

133
00:10:19,995 --> 00:10:23,155
Speaker 1: in the Senate decide Trump is going to destroy them personally.

134
00:10:23,675 --> 00:10:28,155
Speaker 1: Trump's iron grip is at its largest exactly twenty four

135
00:10:28,715 --> 00:10:36,035
Speaker 1: self interested, amorl disloyal Republicans wide twenty four and trust

136
00:10:36,075 --> 00:10:39,875
Speaker 1: me at least twenty four. House and Senate Republicans have

137
00:10:40,035 --> 00:10:43,795
Speaker 1: always hated Trump's guts and right now at least twenty

138
00:10:43,795 --> 00:10:46,475
Speaker 1: four House and Senate Republicans, probably closer to two hundred

139
00:10:46,515 --> 00:10:53,195
Speaker 1: and four of them hate Trump's guts. So I want

140
00:10:53,275 --> 00:11:26,355
Speaker 1: to see polling numbers on a presidential recall vote? Am

141
00:11:26,395 --> 00:11:30,475
Speaker 1: I expecting to see polding numbers on a presidential recall

142
00:11:30,555 --> 00:11:40,395
Speaker 1: vote commissioned by ABC, by cowering CNN, by MSNVC more

143
00:11:40,475 --> 00:11:43,795
Speaker 1: unlikely still commissioned by some aspect of the Democratic Party.

144
00:11:43,875 --> 00:11:51,115
Speaker 1: I am not. I mean, who listens to me? I

145
00:11:51,155 --> 00:11:54,315
Speaker 1: am right with surprising frequency, but who listens to me?

146
00:11:56,315 --> 00:11:59,355
Speaker 1: On the other hand, I have been pounding for weeks

147
00:11:59,355 --> 00:12:01,995
Speaker 1: the idea of a shadow Democratic Cabinet and a weekly

148
00:12:02,035 --> 00:12:05,635
Speaker 1: news conference every Sunday morning at eight am, which steals

149
00:12:05,675 --> 00:12:08,595
Speaker 1: the agenda for the Sunday morning news shows for all

150
00:12:08,675 --> 00:12:12,395
Speaker 1: of local television news all day Sunday, which steals the

151
00:12:12,435 --> 00:12:15,435
Speaker 1: news agenda for almost all of media for at least

152
00:12:15,435 --> 00:12:19,475
Speaker 1: part of Monday. And what did we get? The new

153
00:12:19,635 --> 00:12:25,715
Speaker 1: DNC chair Ken Martin announced the People's Cabinet to provide

154
00:12:25,755 --> 00:12:28,595
Speaker 1: stuff with which to hit the trumpests in the groin.

155
00:12:30,675 --> 00:12:35,635
Speaker 1: It still sounds a little diffuse to me. He's going

156
00:12:35,715 --> 00:12:40,235
Speaker 1: to have experts and random press conferences and data and

157
00:12:40,355 --> 00:12:43,155
Speaker 1: stuff that you at home? Can you I want prominent,

158
00:12:43,195 --> 00:12:47,475
Speaker 1: popular young Democrats in front of microphones outdoors every Sunday

159
00:12:47,755 --> 00:12:55,075
Speaker 1: raising hell but the people's cabinet. It's a start, do

160
00:12:55,155 --> 00:12:58,955
Speaker 1: you know, Ken Martin? I mean, tell him about polling

161
00:12:58,995 --> 00:13:02,875
Speaker 1: on a presidential recall vote and the impact symbolic at

162
00:13:02,955 --> 00:13:06,955
Speaker 1: least that a large number like seventy percent of the

163
00:13:06,955 --> 00:13:11,275
Speaker 1: public wanting a new vote or or forty seven percent

164
00:13:11,315 --> 00:13:14,315
Speaker 1: of the public wanting a new vote might have on

165
00:13:14,435 --> 00:13:20,515
Speaker 1: current events, namely our twenty four Republicans. I mean, for months,

166
00:13:20,555 --> 00:13:23,755
Speaker 1: I have been putting out apbs on Barack Obama, and

167
00:13:23,795 --> 00:13:29,075
Speaker 1: what happened? He emerged. He did a Q and A

168
00:13:29,075 --> 00:13:35,075
Speaker 1: at Hamilton College and not only spewed facts, spilled teas

169
00:13:35,275 --> 00:13:41,315
Speaker 1: of infinite variety, but he underscored why he is an essential,

170
00:13:41,435 --> 00:13:45,995
Speaker 1: maybe the essential messenger right now, even if it still

171
00:13:45,995 --> 00:13:48,155
Speaker 1: doesn't seem clear to him that he needs to get

172
00:13:48,155 --> 00:13:50,355
Speaker 1: out there at minimum every two weeks and he has

173
00:13:50,395 --> 00:13:55,675
Speaker 1: to stop avoiding calling Trump out by name. But this

174
00:13:55,795 --> 00:14:05,435
Speaker 1: message delivered this way is quietly, concisely, magnetically, brilliantly in inspirational.

175
00:14:07,355 --> 00:14:08,915
Speaker 1: Just sit for two minutes and listen.

176
00:14:09,315 --> 00:14:14,035
Speaker 3: Imagine if I had done any of this. Let me just,

177
00:14:14,115 --> 00:14:16,355
Speaker 3: I just, I just want to be clear about this.

178
00:14:18,915 --> 00:14:29,995
Speaker 2: It may imagine that imagine if I.

179
00:14:29,915 --> 00:14:32,995
Speaker 3: Had pulled Fox News's credentials from the White House Press Court.

180
00:14:34,275 --> 00:14:40,035
Speaker 3: You're laughing, but no, that this is what's happening. It

181
00:14:40,075 --> 00:14:43,955
Speaker 3: may imagine if I had said to law firms that

182
00:14:44,035 --> 00:14:48,635
Speaker 3: were representing parties that were upset with policies my administration

183
00:14:48,715 --> 00:14:55,915
Speaker 3: had initiated that you will not be allowed into government buildings.

184
00:15:01,155 --> 00:15:10,075
Speaker 3: We will punish you economically for decent from the Affordable

185
00:15:10,115 --> 00:15:20,275
Speaker 3: caret or the Around Deal. We will ferret out students

186
00:15:23,195 --> 00:15:38,395
Speaker 3: who protest against my policies. It's unimaginable that the same

187
00:15:38,715 --> 00:15:43,995
Speaker 3: parties that are silent now would have tolerated behavior like

188
00:15:44,075 --> 00:15:48,435
Speaker 3: that for me or a whole bunch of my predecessors.

189
00:15:51,035 --> 00:15:57,755
Speaker 3: So and I say this. I say this not on

190
00:15:57,795 --> 00:16:05,115
Speaker 3: a partisan basis. This has to do with something more ruscious,

191
00:16:06,275 --> 00:16:10,275
Speaker 3: which is who are we as a country and what

192
00:16:10,395 --> 00:16:11,555
Speaker 3: values do we stand for?

193
00:16:11,915 --> 00:16:17,475
Speaker 1: Now you know why he got elected twice. Additionally, very

194
00:16:17,475 --> 00:16:20,035
Speaker 1: matter of factly, President Obama noted that the divide in

195
00:16:20,075 --> 00:16:23,155
Speaker 1: the Democratic Party stick to the kitchen table issues, no,

196
00:16:23,275 --> 00:16:27,515
Speaker 1: stick to the democracy issues. They're the same issue. It's

197
00:16:27,555 --> 00:16:32,035
Speaker 1: one thing without democracy. Trump sets tariffs, and tariffs set

198
00:16:32,075 --> 00:16:39,395
Speaker 1: the prices of what's at your kitchen table. The cost

199
00:16:39,435 --> 00:16:47,155
Speaker 1: of everything is going up under fascism. Again, Obama remains

200
00:16:47,195 --> 00:16:51,955
Speaker 1: the best political speaker in this country. Clinton was once better,

201
00:16:52,115 --> 00:16:54,955
Speaker 1: but age has and I mean this literally hurt his

202
00:16:55,155 --> 00:17:00,755
Speaker 1: instrument and as an unavoidable aside for which I apologize.

203
00:17:00,995 --> 00:17:04,155
Speaker 1: Barack Obama's first political proto speech was also in New

204
00:17:04,235 --> 00:17:08,195
Speaker 1: York State at my high school, the one Will Bunch

205
00:17:08,315 --> 00:17:11,275
Speaker 1: and Chris Berman and I went to years earlier, obviously

206
00:17:12,555 --> 00:17:16,435
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety one, at the behest of the history teacher

207
00:17:17,595 --> 00:17:20,555
Speaker 1: who told me on graduation day the sportscasting thing was nice,

208
00:17:20,555 --> 00:17:22,915
Speaker 1: but someday I would wind up in politics, covering it

209
00:17:22,995 --> 00:17:25,915
Speaker 1: or running in it. I was sixteen. I laughed at him.

210
00:17:25,915 --> 00:17:29,155
Speaker 1: His name was Walter Schneller, and Walter was right about

211
00:17:29,195 --> 00:17:32,355
Speaker 1: me and more importantly about Obama. As he put him

212
00:17:32,395 --> 00:17:34,515
Speaker 1: on the train in Tarrytown, New York, he said, have

213
00:17:34,635 --> 00:17:39,195
Speaker 1: you considered running for office? Now? Back to the point,

214
00:17:39,195 --> 00:17:42,235
Speaker 1: put all these ideas together, the shadow cabinet, the Sunday

215
00:17:42,235 --> 00:17:45,315
Speaker 1: morning news agenda, setting press conference, and having the speaker

216
00:17:45,395 --> 00:17:47,435
Speaker 1: at it be at least once in a while Barack

217
00:17:47,475 --> 00:17:52,475
Speaker 1: Obama armed with polling on a presidential recall vote and

218
00:17:53,195 --> 00:18:03,395
Speaker 1: large protests like this past weekend, at least every other weekend.

219
00:18:03,435 --> 00:18:07,555
Speaker 1: Give Ken Martin my email or just a link to

220
00:18:07,595 --> 00:18:22,075
Speaker 1: the podcast. Christ Why is this such elabyrinth? Wouldn't it

221
00:18:22,155 --> 00:18:24,995
Speaker 1: have been nice to have had Obama doing news conference

222
00:18:25,075 --> 00:18:29,315
Speaker 1: yesterday morning instead of an event at Hamilton College yesterday

223
00:18:29,315 --> 00:18:33,515
Speaker 1: morning Sunday morning, and forced Trump's parade of idiots on

224
00:18:33,555 --> 00:18:37,675
Speaker 1: the Sunday shows to try to follow that, to have

225
00:18:37,795 --> 00:18:41,235
Speaker 1: the headlines now not be about disproving these awful, imbecilic

226
00:18:41,315 --> 00:18:44,915
Speaker 1: liars and their awful, imbecilic lies, but how awful and

227
00:18:44,995 --> 00:18:50,395
Speaker 1: imbecilic they sounded compared to Obama. Also that president will

228
00:18:50,395 --> 00:18:56,995
Speaker 1: recall vote. Dato. That's a stunner, isn't it? Steve Cornecki. Ordinarily,

229
00:18:57,915 --> 00:19:00,795
Speaker 1: even if you were Trump, you would keep radio silence

230
00:19:00,875 --> 00:19:03,355
Speaker 1: after a week in which you imposed tariffs based on

231
00:19:03,395 --> 00:19:07,155
Speaker 1: a formula that you dreamt up. That is basically the

232
00:19:07,275 --> 00:19:12,955
Speaker 1: ratio of our trade deficit with each country and that

233
00:19:12,995 --> 00:19:18,315
Speaker 1: country's total exports to this country, divided by two. In

234
00:19:18,395 --> 00:19:20,475
Speaker 1: Layman's terms, this is the equivalent of how much of

235
00:19:20,515 --> 00:19:23,595
Speaker 1: your money you have lost to one guy when you

236
00:19:23,675 --> 00:19:26,955
Speaker 1: play poker and he's better than you, are, divided by

237
00:19:26,955 --> 00:19:29,955
Speaker 1: how much money he actually won from you, divided by

238
00:19:29,955 --> 00:19:32,835
Speaker 1: two oh, and then you announce that number is the

239
00:19:33,035 --> 00:19:37,875
Speaker 1: cheated by winning. Ordinarily, after a week like that, you

240
00:19:38,035 --> 00:19:41,755
Speaker 1: keep radio silence after not only making up an unbelievably

241
00:19:41,795 --> 00:19:44,875
Speaker 1: bullshit excuse for how Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlanta got

242
00:19:44,875 --> 00:19:49,595
Speaker 1: added to the illegal signal chat about bombing Yemen. I'll

243
00:19:49,675 --> 00:19:52,715
Speaker 1: just read this explanation the way Hugo Lowell scooped it

244
00:19:52,755 --> 00:19:56,515
Speaker 1: in The Guardian. Hugo's got it right, but I still

245
00:19:56,555 --> 00:20:00,435
Speaker 1: think they just made it up. Are you ready you

246
00:20:00,435 --> 00:20:03,755
Speaker 1: have a drink nearby, because if you don't need alcohol

247
00:20:03,835 --> 00:20:05,395
Speaker 1: after this, at least you I want a drink so

248
00:20:05,435 --> 00:20:09,995
Speaker 1: you can do a spit take quote. According to three

249
00:20:10,035 --> 00:20:13,955
Speaker 1: people briefed on the internal investigation, Goldberg had emailed the

250
00:20:13,995 --> 00:20:16,795
Speaker 1: campaign about a story that criticized Trump for his attitude

251
00:20:16,955 --> 00:20:20,875
Speaker 1: towards wounded service members. To push back against the story,

252
00:20:21,035 --> 00:20:24,875
Speaker 1: the campaign enlisted the help of Mike Waltz, their national

253
00:20:24,915 --> 00:20:30,475
Speaker 1: security surrogate. Goldberg's email was forwarded to then Trump's spokesperson

254
00:20:30,555 --> 00:20:34,115
Speaker 1: Brian Hughes, who then copied and pasted the content of

255
00:20:34,155 --> 00:20:38,675
Speaker 1: the email, including the signature block with Goldberg's phone number,

256
00:20:39,235 --> 00:20:42,595
Speaker 1: into a text message that he sent to Waltz so

257
00:20:42,635 --> 00:20:46,235
Speaker 1: that he could be briefed on the forthcoming story. Waltz

258
00:20:46,275 --> 00:20:49,755
Speaker 1: did not ultimately call Goldberg, the people said, but in

259
00:20:49,835 --> 00:20:55,675
Speaker 1: an extraordinary twist, inadvertently ended up saving Goldberg's number in

260
00:20:55,755 --> 00:21:00,395
Speaker 1: his iPhone under the contact card for Hughes, now the

261
00:21:00,435 --> 00:21:10,235
Speaker 1: spokesperson for the National Security COUNCILOT. It took them thirteen

262
00:21:10,355 --> 00:21:14,435
Speaker 1: days to make that up. And you don't think they're

263
00:21:14,515 --> 00:21:19,555
Speaker 1: vulnerable to pressure from twenty four Republicans who would become

264
00:21:19,635 --> 00:21:24,155
Speaker 1: convinced that their careers depend on Trump leaving the White House.

265
00:21:26,995 --> 00:21:28,475
Speaker 1: Day seven, you got anything.

266
00:21:28,235 --> 00:21:29,235
Speaker 2: No on anything.

267
00:21:29,835 --> 00:21:32,435
Speaker 1: Day nine, well, I may have something, something about something

268
00:21:32,435 --> 00:21:35,395
Speaker 1: about cutting and pasting. I'll put a team on it.

269
00:21:36,235 --> 00:21:40,875
Speaker 1: Thirteen days to make that up. The entire Cuban missile

270
00:21:40,915 --> 00:21:47,755
Speaker 1: crisis took thirteen days. We nearly blew up the world,

271
00:21:47,915 --> 00:21:50,875
Speaker 1: then steered it all back from the edge of doomsday

272
00:21:51,315 --> 00:21:53,995
Speaker 1: in thirteen days. And that's how long it took them

273
00:21:53,995 --> 00:21:57,555
Speaker 1: to make that bullshit up. Ordinarily, after that, you'd keep

274
00:21:57,635 --> 00:21:59,795
Speaker 1: radio silence, You keep all of your people off TV.

275
00:22:00,035 --> 00:22:05,315
Speaker 1: You deny there was an attorney general. Sorry, we don't

276
00:22:05,315 --> 00:22:08,315
Speaker 1: have one. No, I went out with that dodge stuff.

277
00:22:10,555 --> 00:22:13,955
Speaker 1: Ordinarily you'd keep radio silence. After you crashed the stock

278
00:22:14,035 --> 00:22:16,795
Speaker 1: market and the economy and then reposted a video saying

279
00:22:16,795 --> 00:22:22,675
Speaker 1: you crashed the stock market intentionally, leaving Janine Piro to say,

280
00:22:23,155 --> 00:22:25,595
Speaker 1: I don't really care about my four oh one K

281
00:22:25,715 --> 00:22:32,635
Speaker 1: today you know why I believe in this man, and

282
00:22:32,715 --> 00:22:35,435
Speaker 1: of course in wine, and you left Benny Johnson to

283
00:22:35,475 --> 00:22:39,715
Speaker 1: say losing money needs nothing digital ones and zeros. In

284
00:22:39,755 --> 00:22:42,115
Speaker 1: the end, you won't miss any of it. Losing your

285
00:22:42,155 --> 00:22:44,395
Speaker 1: country costs you everything. You'll never get that back. Your

286
00:22:44,435 --> 00:22:47,155
Speaker 1: kids will be slaved to foreign powers who hate us.

287
00:22:47,235 --> 00:22:52,115
Speaker 1: Without America First policies, we become slaves. Fight this after

288
00:22:52,155 --> 00:22:55,275
Speaker 1: promising Trump would make all his suckers rich, and Benny

289
00:22:55,315 --> 00:22:59,835
Speaker 1: doesn't have to worry about money. There's always Russia. This

290
00:22:59,995 --> 00:23:03,355
Speaker 1: reminds me of the famous line from the late great

291
00:23:03,395 --> 00:23:08,835
Speaker 1: comic genius Ernie Cooe. The money means nothing. The money

292
00:23:08,955 --> 00:23:14,835
Speaker 1: is nothing. Therefore the money means nothing. Ordinarily, after a

293
00:23:14,875 --> 00:23:18,075
Speaker 1: week like that, you'd shut the f up and shut

294
00:23:18,115 --> 00:23:20,795
Speaker 1: your cabinet, the f up, and not parade your dumbest

295
00:23:20,835 --> 00:23:24,635
Speaker 1: people in front of even the milk toast cowering Sunday shows,

296
00:23:24,715 --> 00:23:30,155
Speaker 1: not trumpy. I really can't decide who was dumbest. On Fox,

297
00:23:30,355 --> 00:23:33,995
Speaker 1: Pam Bondy, who is actually the Attorney General? When she's

298
00:23:34,035 --> 00:23:37,115
Speaker 1: so legally illiterate, she makes Alena Habba sound like Oliver

299
00:23:37,315 --> 00:23:41,475
Speaker 1: fing Wendell Holmes interviewer, do you believe there's a method

300
00:23:41,515 --> 00:23:44,875
Speaker 1: by which Trump could seek a third term? Bondy? I

301
00:23:44,955 --> 00:23:47,555
Speaker 1: wish we could have him for twenty years as our president,

302
00:23:49,715 --> 00:23:52,515
Speaker 1: maybe ninety eight, but I think he's going to be finished,

303
00:23:52,515 --> 00:23:59,235
Speaker 1: probably after this term. Interviewer, Probably, Bondy, we'd have to

304
00:23:59,235 --> 00:24:04,355
Speaker 1: look at the constitution. You do that, Pam, go look

305
00:24:04,395 --> 00:24:07,715
Speaker 1: for of the Constitution, and while you're at it, look

306
00:24:07,715 --> 00:24:09,555
Speaker 1: for a copy of your law degree, because I don't

307
00:24:09,595 --> 00:24:13,995
Speaker 1: believe that exists either, at least you don't have one.

308
00:24:14,155 --> 00:24:19,675
Speaker 1: On CNN, the Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins interviewer, you're imposing

309
00:24:19,675 --> 00:24:23,275
Speaker 1: a ten percent charge on the Herd and MacDonald Islands.

310
00:24:23,475 --> 00:24:26,635
Speaker 1: They have zero human inhabitants. Why are you putting tariffs

311
00:24:26,635 --> 00:24:31,555
Speaker 1: on islands that are entirely populated by Penguins. Brook Rollins,

312
00:24:32,035 --> 00:24:36,235
Speaker 1: Come on, Jake, whatever, listen. The people that are leading

313
00:24:36,275 --> 00:24:40,475
Speaker 1: this are serious, intentional, patriotic, the smartest people I've ever

314
00:24:40,515 --> 00:24:45,875
Speaker 1: worked with. When the nineteen ninety two Cotton Bowl, Queen

315
00:24:46,515 --> 00:24:51,235
Speaker 1: brook Rollins tells you that these are the most serious, intentional, patriotic,

316
00:24:51,675 --> 00:24:55,475
Speaker 1: smartest people she's ever worked with, you do realize, sir,

317
00:24:56,155 --> 00:25:03,395
Speaker 1: she's including the likes of Lou Holtz and George W. Bush.

318
00:25:03,795 --> 00:25:06,715
Speaker 1: Since we're invoking the sweeping stupidity of college football. Theres

319
00:25:06,755 --> 00:25:10,755
Speaker 1: coach Tommy Tubberville, still a senator on Fox. Tommy also

320
00:25:10,795 --> 00:25:16,435
Speaker 1: believes in brownies and elves. Tubberville quote, we have entire

321
00:25:16,515 --> 00:25:21,515
Speaker 1: men's teams crosses country now that are turning trans. Women's

322
00:25:21,555 --> 00:25:25,155
Speaker 1: teams are turning trans. That's gonna be a situation where

323
00:25:25,155 --> 00:25:29,875
Speaker 1: it's gonna pick up speed because these woke globalists are

324
00:25:29,915 --> 00:25:37,315
Speaker 1: pushing these kids. Tommy actually does very well, considering he

325
00:25:37,355 --> 00:25:41,835
Speaker 1: was born without a brain. There are, by the way,

326
00:25:42,195 --> 00:25:47,635
Speaker 1: an estimated nine transgendered athletes in American college sports. Nine.

327
00:25:49,515 --> 00:25:51,515
Speaker 1: And of course you remember when my eye doctor, Rene

328
00:25:51,555 --> 00:25:54,195
Speaker 1: Richards transitioned and played in the US Open starting in

329
00:25:54,235 --> 00:25:58,155
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy seven, and won twenty seven consecutive US women's titles,

330
00:25:58,195 --> 00:26:00,675
Speaker 1: and she destroyed the sport of women's tennis. And nobody

331
00:26:00,715 --> 00:26:03,315
Speaker 1: ever heard of, say Chris Evert or Martinez Averertalova, and

332
00:26:03,355 --> 00:26:05,435
Speaker 1: they don't play women's tennis any more. Oh right, you

333
00:26:05,475 --> 00:26:12,115
Speaker 1: don't remember any of that because it didn't happen, because

334
00:26:12,115 --> 00:26:16,795
Speaker 1: there are nine transgendered college athletes in this country in

335
00:26:16,915 --> 00:26:19,115
Speaker 1: high school. The only data we have is from Michigan,

336
00:26:19,195 --> 00:26:21,635
Speaker 1: where they say they have won. They might have a

337
00:26:21,715 --> 00:26:27,075
Speaker 1: second whole teams is women is changing into what would

338
00:26:27,075 --> 00:26:35,395
Speaker 1: the other one be? Man? Man could be changing into

339
00:26:35,435 --> 00:26:40,955
Speaker 1: the third gender? Tubberville on NBC. Scott besson the Secretary

340
00:26:40,995 --> 00:26:43,715
Speaker 1: of Treasury and if ever there was actually a reason

341
00:26:43,715 --> 00:26:45,995
Speaker 1: to go check if the gold is still at Fort Knox,

342
00:26:46,115 --> 00:26:49,315
Speaker 1: Scott Bessant, is it? Interviewer? The markets lost more than

343
00:26:49,355 --> 00:26:53,195
Speaker 1: six trillion dollars in value? Was this disruption always part

344
00:26:53,195 --> 00:26:57,475
Speaker 1: of the plan? Bessent. We had record volume on Friday,

345
00:26:57,595 --> 00:27:00,435
Speaker 1: and everything is working very smoothly, So the American people

346
00:27:00,435 --> 00:27:07,955
Speaker 1: can take great comfort in that record volume. Oh and

347
00:27:08,075 --> 00:27:10,395
Speaker 1: the machine didn't break great like the day of the

348
00:27:10,475 --> 00:27:15,435
Speaker 1: nineteen twenty nine crash. Well, it's every moment of it

349
00:27:15,475 --> 00:27:18,355
Speaker 1: as a disaster. But look, the machine is just ticking

350
00:27:18,435 --> 00:27:25,195
Speaker 1: out like nobody's business, those humming machines. Besson actually gets

351
00:27:25,235 --> 00:27:27,995
Speaker 1: two entries. He was also asked Trump promised he was

352
00:27:28,035 --> 00:27:29,955
Speaker 1: going to improve the economy starting on day one. What

353
00:27:30,035 --> 00:27:32,515
Speaker 1: is your message to Americans who want to retire right

354
00:27:32,555 --> 00:27:35,675
Speaker 1: now and have just seen their lifetime savings drop significantly?

355
00:27:35,795 --> 00:27:39,515
Speaker 1: Bessen't Most Americans who have put away for years in

356
00:27:39,555 --> 00:27:42,555
Speaker 1: their savings account don't look at the day to day

357
00:27:42,875 --> 00:27:48,635
Speaker 1: fluctuations of what's happening. My heroes, Bob Elliott and Ray

358
00:27:48,675 --> 00:27:50,755
Speaker 1: Goulding did a sketch that I heard first when I

359
00:27:50,795 --> 00:27:54,315
Speaker 1: was fourteen fifteen years old, about a paper clip factory

360
00:27:55,355 --> 00:27:59,635
Speaker 1: somewhere in Ohio, of all places. Their news reporter Wallybloo

361
00:27:59,635 --> 00:28:02,675
Speaker 1: played by Bob, is interviewing the owner of the place,

362
00:28:03,275 --> 00:28:07,875
Speaker 1: the handmade paper clip factory. Literally, they were handmade paper clips,

363
00:28:07,915 --> 00:28:11,475
Speaker 1: cut and bent into shape by hand. Ray, as the

364
00:28:11,515 --> 00:28:15,675
Speaker 1: owner explains, how's that possible, Blue asks they must cost

365
00:28:15,675 --> 00:28:20,075
Speaker 1: a fortune handmade. No, the owner says, they're ten cents

366
00:28:20,075 --> 00:28:23,475
Speaker 1: a box. Fob Akron, we just signed a ninety nine

367
00:28:23,555 --> 00:28:26,875
Speaker 1: year sweetheart deal with our union. We pay our employees

368
00:28:26,915 --> 00:28:31,195
Speaker 1: eight cents a week. Blue screams eight cents a week?

369
00:28:32,475 --> 00:28:34,555
Speaker 1: How do your people live on eight cents a week?

370
00:28:35,435 --> 00:28:39,315
Speaker 1: And the owner says, mister Blue, we don't pry into

371
00:28:39,315 --> 00:28:45,755
Speaker 1: the private lies of our employees. We don't pry into

372
00:28:45,755 --> 00:28:49,955
Speaker 1: the private lives of our employees. People don't have any

373
00:28:49,995 --> 00:28:52,915
Speaker 1: money in their checking account and savings account. They don't

374
00:28:52,955 --> 00:28:55,515
Speaker 1: know that. They don't look day to day fluctuations in

375
00:28:55,555 --> 00:29:03,395
Speaker 1: their account. To that point, possibly the dumbest person in

376
00:29:03,475 --> 00:29:07,595
Speaker 1: any cabinet ever, excluding Trump himself obviously on CBS, Commerce

377
00:29:07,715 --> 00:29:12,795
Speaker 1: Secretary Howard Lutnik, or as he has been unfortunately renamed

378
00:29:13,515 --> 00:29:20,875
Speaker 1: Howard nut Lick Lutnick, you realize tillions of dollars in

379
00:29:20,955 --> 00:29:23,715
Speaker 1: factories are going to be built in America. That's huge, GDP.

380
00:29:24,155 --> 00:29:27,835
Speaker 1: The factories being built in America are huge, interviewer. That

381
00:29:27,955 --> 00:29:30,715
Speaker 1: takes years. And you said that robots are going to

382
00:29:30,755 --> 00:29:34,675
Speaker 1: fill those jobs. So those aren't union worker jobs, Lutnick,

383
00:29:34,995 --> 00:29:37,635
Speaker 1: it's automated factories. The key is who is going to

384
00:29:37,675 --> 00:29:44,315
Speaker 1: build and operate the factories, interviewer, You said robots, Lutnik,

385
00:29:44,555 --> 00:29:47,915
Speaker 1: the army of millions and millions of human beings screwing

386
00:29:47,955 --> 00:29:51,595
Speaker 1: in little screws to make iPhones. That kind of thing

387
00:29:51,715 --> 00:30:01,075
Speaker 1: is going to come to America unquote oh child labor,

388
00:30:05,515 --> 00:30:09,715
Speaker 1: which they are moving to make legal in Florida, where

389
00:30:09,755 --> 00:30:12,475
Speaker 1: they can screw in little screws to make iPhones better

390
00:30:12,515 --> 00:30:19,195
Speaker 1: if you have little hands screwing in little screws ten

391
00:30:19,275 --> 00:30:24,035
Speaker 1: cents of box. Fob Ackron, the Bob and Ray sketch

392
00:30:24,075 --> 00:30:27,715
Speaker 1: had another punchline. When pressed on the living conditions of

393
00:30:27,755 --> 00:30:30,435
Speaker 1: his staff, the head of the handmade paper clip factory

394
00:30:30,635 --> 00:30:34,275
Speaker 1: explained that it was his understanding that most of his

395
00:30:34,355 --> 00:30:38,795
Speaker 1: employees wore old newspapers wrapped around their feet instead of shoes,

396
00:30:39,195 --> 00:30:42,915
Speaker 1: and that they lived in caves on the outskirts of town.

397
00:30:49,395 --> 00:30:57,835
Speaker 1: Twenty four Republicans I want pulling on a presidential we

398
00:30:57,955 --> 00:31:02,555
Speaker 1: call vote. Also of interest on this whole new episode,

399
00:31:02,555 --> 00:31:04,915
Speaker 1: the entire history of who was the first person an

400
00:31:04,915 --> 00:31:10,075
Speaker 1: ever to be photographed giving the cameraman the finger now

401
00:31:10,195 --> 00:31:16,995
Speaker 1: must be rewritten after discoveries from this weekend past and no,

402
00:31:17,995 --> 00:31:24,395
Speaker 1: sorry sports fans, Alexander Ovechkin did not set the all

403
00:31:24,395 --> 00:31:26,915
Speaker 1: time record for most goals scored in Big League hockey,

404
00:31:26,955 --> 00:31:30,195
Speaker 1: and I will answer an additional question from politics. The

405
00:31:30,275 --> 00:31:38,755
Speaker 1: question is Chuck Todd, Why that's next? This Discountdown? This

406
00:31:38,995 --> 00:32:02,755
Speaker 1: is Countdown with Keith Oldwoman still ahead in this all

407
00:32:02,795 --> 00:32:06,835
Speaker 1: new edition of Countdown now has more goals than Gretzky.

408
00:32:07,515 --> 00:32:10,235
Speaker 1: But contrary to what you've heard, that does not mean

409
00:32:10,875 --> 00:32:14,195
Speaker 1: Ovechkin now has the record for the most goals scored.

410
00:32:15,355 --> 00:32:21,115
Speaker 1: I will explain and the history of the flipped finger

411
00:32:21,875 --> 00:32:26,475
Speaker 1: has been entirely rewritten. And I received a question about

412
00:32:26,555 --> 00:32:29,075
Speaker 1: Chuck Todd, and I want to answer it at length.

413
00:32:29,355 --> 00:32:35,075
Speaker 1: The question is basically, why first believe it or not?

414
00:32:35,115 --> 00:32:37,675
Speaker 1: There's still more new idiots to talk about. The roundup

415
00:32:37,675 --> 00:32:40,795
Speaker 1: of the misgrants, morons and Dunning Kruger effects specimens who

416
00:32:40,835 --> 00:32:46,155
Speaker 1: constitute the latest other worst persons in the world. Here

417
00:32:46,355 --> 00:32:52,035
Speaker 1: are the nominees the Bronze Worse Baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates. The

418
00:32:52,115 --> 00:32:55,435
Speaker 1: new season is upon us, and the little murders therein

419
00:32:55,595 --> 00:33:00,035
Speaker 1: are becoming visible, such as the Pirates ballpark, at which

420
00:33:00,075 --> 00:33:03,115
Speaker 1: they have understandably positioned as a shrine to the late

421
00:33:03,195 --> 00:33:07,835
Speaker 1: superstar Roverto Clemente, whose death during a humanitarian mission to

422
00:33:07,875 --> 00:33:11,435
Speaker 1: an earthquake in Icaragua is now fifty two years ago.

423
00:33:11,595 --> 00:33:15,355
Speaker 1: The Pirates have dozens of tributes to Clemente, including a

424
00:33:15,355 --> 00:33:19,235
Speaker 1: statue there's a bridge to the ballpark named after him,

425
00:33:19,715 --> 00:33:22,875
Speaker 1: but none were as prominent, at least to the television

426
00:33:22,915 --> 00:33:27,635
Speaker 1: audience for the games, than the official logo showing Clemente's

427
00:33:27,675 --> 00:33:31,155
Speaker 1: retired uniform number twenty one that rests high up on

428
00:33:31,235 --> 00:33:33,355
Speaker 1: the wall in the right field corner, just next to

429
00:33:33,435 --> 00:33:36,435
Speaker 1: the foul pole. If the ball was hit to right field,

430
00:33:36,715 --> 00:33:42,635
Speaker 1: you at home saw the Clemente logo, Well, it did

431
00:33:42,755 --> 00:33:45,075
Speaker 1: rest high up on that wall in the right field corner.

432
00:33:45,475 --> 00:33:48,875
Speaker 1: A fan noticed Saturday and posted a photo of that

433
00:33:48,995 --> 00:33:52,715
Speaker 1: corner at the Pirates ballpark, and the Clemente uniform number

434
00:33:52,755 --> 00:33:59,035
Speaker 1: plaque is gone, replaced by a very large advertisement for Celtze.

435
00:34:00,515 --> 00:34:04,675
Speaker 1: This was retweeted by Roberto Clemente Junior, who added one

436
00:34:04,795 --> 00:34:10,035
Speaker 1: word wow. The Pirates have confirmed that the Clemente tribute

437
00:34:10,195 --> 00:34:13,195
Speaker 1: had been taken down and the Seltzer ad put up

438
00:34:13,235 --> 00:34:15,475
Speaker 1: in its place, but they said the plaque had only

439
00:34:15,555 --> 00:34:18,115
Speaker 1: been temporary. It was only supposed to be there for

440
00:34:18,155 --> 00:34:20,755
Speaker 1: a short period of time before being taken down the

441
00:34:20,835 --> 00:34:25,195
Speaker 1: last three years, when evidently they couldn't sell the ad

442
00:34:25,235 --> 00:34:29,755
Speaker 1: space I guess. The pirates proceeded to list every tribute

443
00:34:29,795 --> 00:34:33,035
Speaker 1: to Clemente they did not take down and replace with

444
00:34:33,075 --> 00:34:36,355
Speaker 1: an ad for Celtza, which, of course only underscored the

445
00:34:36,355 --> 00:34:39,555
Speaker 1: fact that, yes, they did take the most universally visible

446
00:34:39,595 --> 00:34:43,915
Speaker 1: tribute to Roberto Clemente down so they could sell the

447
00:34:43,995 --> 00:34:50,155
Speaker 1: space for an ad for a giant can of celtza. Oh,

448
00:34:50,235 --> 00:34:53,275
Speaker 1: they never told the Clemente family in advance. They found

449
00:34:53,355 --> 00:34:58,795
Speaker 1: out on Twitter runner up worser a MAGA influencer named

450
00:34:58,875 --> 00:35:04,555
Speaker 1: Blair White, as in Blair White Project, another one apparently

451
00:35:04,835 --> 00:35:09,555
Speaker 1: functioning without thumbs, with which she could google herself or

452
00:35:09,675 --> 00:35:14,395
Speaker 1: google something before humiliating herself in public, but won't. Musician

453
00:35:14,435 --> 00:35:18,635
Speaker 1: and author Michael Jalet observed the obvious foreign influence behind

454
00:35:18,675 --> 00:35:22,995
Speaker 1: Trump's self destructive tariffs. He tweeted, Russia isn't on Trump's

455
00:35:23,035 --> 00:35:27,355
Speaker 1: tariff list and repeated that sentence six times. That's the tweet.

456
00:35:28,275 --> 00:35:32,555
Speaker 1: White retweeted Jalat and added, we don't import anything from Russia,

457
00:35:32,635 --> 00:35:36,515
Speaker 1: repeating that sentence four times and then adding quote you're

458
00:35:36,755 --> 00:35:43,155
Speaker 1: a retard unquote. Ms White was quickly community noted because,

459
00:35:43,155 --> 00:35:47,275
Speaker 1: according to the Trump Office of the US Trade Representative

460
00:35:47,355 --> 00:35:51,395
Speaker 1: the Trump US Trade Representative's office. US exports to Russia

461
00:35:51,475 --> 00:35:54,195
Speaker 1: last year totaled five hundred and twenty six million dollars

462
00:35:54,635 --> 00:35:58,515
Speaker 1: US imports from Russia, which she says there is none,

463
00:35:59,435 --> 00:36:03,475
Speaker 1: in fact total two and a half billion dollars. Slight

464
00:36:03,515 --> 00:36:06,555
Speaker 1: difference in the number here he says none. Trump says

465
00:36:06,595 --> 00:36:09,435
Speaker 1: two and a half billion dollars. The punchline from the

466
00:36:09,435 --> 00:36:12,555
Speaker 1: woman who dropped an R bomb on somebody who was

467
00:36:12,635 --> 00:36:17,715
Speaker 1: right when she was wrong. She's transgender, she's maga transgender.

468
00:36:18,115 --> 00:36:20,475
Speaker 1: Why do I think they're going to make her life

469
00:36:20,515 --> 00:36:23,195
Speaker 1: more complicated? And that she should be nicer to those

470
00:36:23,195 --> 00:36:26,275
Speaker 1: of us who won't because that doesn't make a difference

471
00:36:26,315 --> 00:36:32,395
Speaker 1: to us. She is a moron, but the winner worst

472
00:36:32,595 --> 00:36:37,315
Speaker 1: why he's making the rare two segment appearance. Scott besn't

473
00:36:37,915 --> 00:36:40,395
Speaker 1: the Treasury secretary the maga guy who looks like he's

474
00:36:40,395 --> 00:36:43,315
Speaker 1: been hitting the face with a shovel. Basically he has

475
00:36:43,315 --> 00:36:47,075
Speaker 1: a flat face. He's the one happily responding to the

476
00:36:47,115 --> 00:36:51,435
Speaker 1: crisis by insisting this is the ideal time to cut

477
00:36:51,515 --> 00:36:55,875
Speaker 1: taxes on the rich. He wasn't supposed to say that

478
00:36:55,915 --> 00:36:57,795
Speaker 1: out loud. That's the whole point of this that's the

479
00:36:57,835 --> 00:36:59,835
Speaker 1: whole plan. That's the whole idea. They get rid of

480
00:36:59,915 --> 00:37:01,795
Speaker 1: taxes for the rich. That's why Trump wants it to

481
00:37:01,795 --> 00:37:03,715
Speaker 1: be the eighteen nineties again, and we're in any track.

482
00:37:03,795 --> 00:37:06,275
Speaker 1: Taxes made money, kept, all the damn money. That's all

483
00:37:06,315 --> 00:37:07,955
Speaker 1: he wants. That's all he wants before he dies. He

484
00:37:07,955 --> 00:37:14,195
Speaker 1: wants all the damn money. Politico reports that hours after,

485
00:37:14,235 --> 00:37:17,835
Speaker 1: Secretary Bessont added to his series of ridiculous statements by

486
00:37:17,875 --> 00:37:21,795
Speaker 1: insisting that the correct American response to tariff disaster twenty

487
00:37:21,795 --> 00:37:27,635
Speaker 1: five and terifflation was to quote by American. Seen in

488
00:37:27,715 --> 00:37:30,915
Speaker 1: Scott Besson's driveway and scene parked there from months, according

489
00:37:30,955 --> 00:37:37,355
Speaker 1: to neighbor, was a range Rover, which is manufactured mostly

490
00:37:37,395 --> 00:37:41,355
Speaker 1: in Britain by a company based in India. Treasury Secretary

491
00:37:41,395 --> 00:37:46,395
Speaker 1: Scott when I say buy American, I mean you should

492
00:37:46,475 --> 00:37:50,115
Speaker 1: buy American, not that I have to buy American. Two

493
00:37:50,195 --> 00:37:53,875
Speaker 1: Day's other worst person.

494
00:37:54,835 --> 00:37:56,315
Speaker 2: In the world.

495
00:38:18,955 --> 00:38:25,355
Speaker 4: This is Sports Senate. Wait check that not anymore. This

496
00:38:26,235 --> 00:38:30,395
Speaker 4: is Countdown with Keith Ulberman.

497
00:38:30,195 --> 00:38:32,595
Speaker 1: Still ahead on this all new edition of Countdown. The

498
00:38:32,675 --> 00:38:37,435
Speaker 1: answer to the question Chuck Todd first from the Sports

499
00:38:37,435 --> 00:38:46,035
Speaker 1: Balls Central Center newsdesk tonight Dateline, Washington on the twenty

500
00:38:46,075 --> 00:38:49,315
Speaker 1: first anniversary of the day the Washington Capitals won the

501
00:38:49,355 --> 00:38:51,715
Speaker 1: lottery for the first pick and the amateur draft in

502
00:38:51,755 --> 00:38:56,275
Speaker 1: which they selected him. Alexander Ovechkin broke Wayne Gretzky's goal

503
00:38:56,395 --> 00:38:59,435
Speaker 1: total of eight hundred and ninety four, scoring his eight

504
00:38:59,555 --> 00:39:01,435
Speaker 1: hundred and ninety fifth and a loss in which that

505
00:39:01,555 --> 00:39:04,435
Speaker 1: was the only goal for Washington and Gretzky, of course,

506
00:39:04,755 --> 00:39:07,675
Speaker 1: threw himself off another cliff. And oh, by the way,

507
00:39:07,675 --> 00:39:12,075
Speaker 1: Ovechkin did not set the record for most goals scored

508
00:39:12,155 --> 00:39:14,915
Speaker 1: in a big league career in hockey, no matter how

509
00:39:14,915 --> 00:39:17,595
Speaker 1: hard the National Hockey League and its partners are trying

510
00:39:17,635 --> 00:39:20,835
Speaker 1: to sell you on this idea so you will buy merchandise.

511
00:39:21,555 --> 00:39:25,755
Speaker 1: Gretzky first. When Ovechkin tied the mark Friday night in Washington,

512
00:39:25,795 --> 00:39:28,995
Speaker 1: Wayne Gretzky was there and he was shown on television

513
00:39:29,075 --> 00:39:34,835
Speaker 1: in a suite standing next to Popeye himself, Trump fixer,

514
00:39:34,915 --> 00:39:38,475
Speaker 1: conspiracy theorist, all around nut job FBI director in this

515
00:39:38,755 --> 00:39:43,755
Speaker 1: cheap horror film We're All in Cash Patel. The tying

516
00:39:43,875 --> 00:39:46,595
Speaker 1: of the eight hundred and ninety four total now became

517
00:39:46,715 --> 00:39:50,915
Speaker 1: Gretzky tied to Ovechkin, whose social media still shows imposing

518
00:39:50,915 --> 00:39:54,075
Speaker 1: with Putin, for whom he has campaigned, and Gretzky now

519
00:39:54,115 --> 00:39:59,195
Speaker 1: tied to Cash Patel. That's Gretzky, who three months ago

520
00:39:59,275 --> 00:40:02,355
Speaker 1: was still one of Canada's all time icons and now

521
00:40:02,515 --> 00:40:05,955
Speaker 1: flatley after his buddy Trump decided he's going to attack

522
00:40:06,035 --> 00:40:09,755
Speaker 1: Canada one way or the other. Gretzky is hated in Canada.

523
00:40:10,395 --> 00:40:14,195
Speaker 1: He attended Trump's victory party and inauguration event. He's been

524
00:40:14,195 --> 00:40:17,195
Speaker 1: wearing the hat, He's been playing the golf, he's been

525
00:40:17,235 --> 00:40:21,275
Speaker 1: distributing the kool aid. The depth of the heartbroken sense

526
00:40:21,315 --> 00:40:24,755
Speaker 1: of betrayal in Canada was already pretty much maxed out.

527
00:40:25,235 --> 00:40:28,315
Speaker 1: Then Canada had to watch as Gretzky's record was tied

528
00:40:29,115 --> 00:40:32,155
Speaker 1: while Gretzky was standing next to one of Trump's biggest hoares.

529
00:40:32,675 --> 00:40:37,035
Speaker 1: As Trump continues to threaten Canada with annexation, financial collapse,

530
00:40:37,075 --> 00:40:42,835
Speaker 1: and ultimately inevitably invasion. Patel added to this by tweeting

531
00:40:42,875 --> 00:40:46,795
Speaker 1: photos of himself with Gretzky and Ovechkin and the Washington

532
00:40:46,835 --> 00:40:50,195
Speaker 1: Capitol's team. Somehow they didn't get Putin in the photo.

533
00:40:50,395 --> 00:40:55,275
Speaker 1: Somehow they left Marshall Petan out of that shot anyway. Later,

534
00:40:55,355 --> 00:40:58,715
Speaker 1: one of Gretzky's most accomplished teammates, Hall of Famer Kevin Lowe,

535
00:40:58,755 --> 00:41:01,035
Speaker 1: posted about all this on Facebook, and I'm going to

536
00:41:01,035 --> 00:41:03,915
Speaker 1: read it because it starts as if klow is going

537
00:41:03,955 --> 00:41:08,155
Speaker 1: to end up crying leave Wayner alone into a pillow.

538
00:41:08,595 --> 00:41:12,235
Speaker 1: But then it takes quite a turn. Kevin Lowe, I've

539
00:41:12,235 --> 00:41:16,395
Speaker 1: been heartbroken, disillusioned, frustrated, furious, even from the moment the

540
00:41:16,435 --> 00:41:20,555
Speaker 1: witch hunt towards Wayne Gretzky's name began. I've known Wayne

541
00:41:20,555 --> 00:41:23,875
Speaker 1: for forty five years. We lived together, we grew up together.

542
00:41:23,915 --> 00:41:26,035
Speaker 1: We put our asses on the line to help Canada

543
00:41:26,075 --> 00:41:28,915
Speaker 1: win its first Olympic hockey gold medal in fifty years.

544
00:41:29,355 --> 00:41:31,755
Speaker 1: I'd say few people qualify to know Wayne as well

545
00:41:31,795 --> 00:41:34,795
Speaker 1: as I do. His character and loyalty to Canada have

546
00:41:34,915 --> 00:41:38,755
Speaker 1: always been and will always remain impeccable. One thing I

547
00:41:38,795 --> 00:41:42,275
Speaker 1: know for certain, Wayne may be the least political person alive,

548
00:41:42,835 --> 00:41:47,035
Speaker 1: and as you so astutely presented, shame on anyone who's

549
00:41:47,075 --> 00:41:55,915
Speaker 1: attempted to entrap him in Trump's maniacal orbit. Well, Sir,

550
00:41:56,555 --> 00:41:59,795
Speaker 1: Kevin Lowe, you have unsuspected depth, and I'm not sure

551
00:41:59,795 --> 00:42:02,875
Speaker 1: about the term witch hunt. Gretzky brought this on himself.

552
00:42:03,155 --> 00:42:05,995
Speaker 1: Nobody stitched the maga to his hair while he was

553
00:42:06,035 --> 00:42:10,115
Speaker 1: out cold. But Lowe leaves an intriguing question there. Shame

554
00:42:10,275 --> 00:42:15,075
Speaker 1: on anyone Who's attempted to entrap him in Trump's maniacal orbit.

555
00:42:16,355 --> 00:42:20,155
Speaker 1: Anyone well, who would that be, who could have influence

556
00:42:20,395 --> 00:42:25,275
Speaker 1: sufficient over Gretzky to entrap him to in essence, sell

557
00:42:25,395 --> 00:42:29,155
Speaker 1: out his country that he loves so very well. Another

558
00:42:29,315 --> 00:42:32,155
Speaker 1: social media post may have our answer. This is from

559
00:42:32,195 --> 00:42:36,595
Speaker 1: right after the election. Congratulations mister President Donald J. Trump.

560
00:42:36,995 --> 00:42:40,715
Speaker 1: Red heart, blue heart, American flag. You did it. You

561
00:42:40,835 --> 00:42:43,075
Speaker 1: deserved it, you earned every bit of it. The world

562
00:42:43,155 --> 00:42:45,155
Speaker 1: is a better place to have you as our leader.

563
00:42:45,515 --> 00:42:48,555
Speaker 1: Proud capital, p to be an American. Thank you for

564
00:42:48,595 --> 00:42:51,715
Speaker 1: being such a great friend. May God keep watching over you.

565
00:42:52,195 --> 00:42:55,995
Speaker 1: Red heart prayers, red heart love, our family to yours.

566
00:42:56,395 --> 00:43:05,595
Speaker 1: Space Explanation point Janet Jones Gretzky on Earth? Could any

567
00:43:05,635 --> 00:43:06,875
Speaker 1: of this be salvaged?

568
00:43:06,875 --> 00:43:07,395
Speaker 2: Now?

569
00:43:07,435 --> 00:43:10,955
Speaker 1: What can be inferred as the least political person alive

570
00:43:11,315 --> 00:43:16,995
Speaker 1: being entrapped in Trump's maniacal orbit as missus Gretzky destroying

571
00:43:17,115 --> 00:43:22,275
Speaker 1: mister Gretzky, How can we pull out of this nosedive. Well, sir,

572
00:43:22,755 --> 00:43:27,435
Speaker 1: how about this. Wayne Gretzky does not hold the record

573
00:43:27,435 --> 00:43:30,595
Speaker 1: for the most goals scored, not anymore. Matter of fact,

574
00:43:31,035 --> 00:43:35,835
Speaker 1: he never did. And matter of fact, Alexandrovtchkin also does

575
00:43:35,835 --> 00:43:39,675
Speaker 1: not hold the record for the most goals scored. Ovechkin

576
00:43:39,795 --> 00:43:43,555
Speaker 1: has eight hundred and ninety five goals in the National

577
00:43:43,675 --> 00:43:46,835
Speaker 1: Hockey League, but for nearly all of the nineteen seventies,

578
00:43:46,835 --> 00:43:49,475
Speaker 1: the National Hockey League did not have a monopoly on

579
00:43:49,515 --> 00:43:52,115
Speaker 1: that sport. In the US and Canada, there was the

580
00:43:52,155 --> 00:43:56,115
Speaker 1: World Hockey Association, in which nineteen future Hockey Hall of

581
00:43:56,115 --> 00:44:01,235
Speaker 1: famers worked and played, including Mark Messier, Bobby Hall, Jacques Plantch,

582
00:44:01,475 --> 00:44:05,235
Speaker 1: Bernie Parrott, Frank Mahablich. And this was only seven worth

583
00:44:05,275 --> 00:44:09,755
Speaker 1: of hockey. They had two national television contracts. The National

584
00:44:09,755 --> 00:44:14,475
Speaker 1: Hockey League also does not recognize World Hockey Association statistics,

585
00:44:14,995 --> 00:44:20,475
Speaker 1: which is arrogant, egotistical, nonsense, and utterly inconsistent. The National

586
00:44:20,475 --> 00:44:23,755
Speaker 1: Hockey League recognized the stats from its earlier rival leagues

587
00:44:23,795 --> 00:44:28,035
Speaker 1: like the Pacific Coast Association, the Western Canada League. NHL

588
00:44:28,155 --> 00:44:33,555
Speaker 1: champions played PCCHA and WCHL champions for the Stanley Cup.

589
00:44:33,915 --> 00:44:37,475
Speaker 1: Lost three times in the Stanley Cup. To them, the

590
00:44:37,635 --> 00:44:41,115
Speaker 1: NHL recognizes Stanley Cups won by teams that never played

591
00:44:41,155 --> 00:44:45,275
Speaker 1: in the NHL recognizes the Stanley Cups its teams won

592
00:44:46,035 --> 00:44:49,515
Speaker 1: against those teams that never played in the NHL. But

593
00:44:49,675 --> 00:44:54,195
Speaker 1: for some reason, to this day, the WHA still angers

594
00:44:54,635 --> 00:44:59,715
Speaker 1: some NHL owners and old timers, especially people even older

595
00:44:59,755 --> 00:45:06,115
Speaker 1: than me, and so they decided the WHA never happened,

596
00:45:06,835 --> 00:45:09,995
Speaker 1: which is even stranger considering that in nineteen seventy nine,

597
00:45:10,035 --> 00:45:13,275
Speaker 1: the NHL, although they would not use the word merge,

598
00:45:14,075 --> 00:45:18,515
Speaker 1: absorbed four of the teams from the WHA, and whatever

599
00:45:18,555 --> 00:45:21,115
Speaker 1: anybody thought of the quality of play in the WHA,

600
00:45:21,195 --> 00:45:25,955
Speaker 1: four WHA franchises immediately joined the National Hockey League, and

601
00:45:25,995 --> 00:45:28,555
Speaker 1: in fact all four franchises are still in the National

602
00:45:28,595 --> 00:45:32,315
Speaker 1: Hockey League. The Quebec NORDIQ now the Colorado Avalanche, the

603
00:45:32,315 --> 00:45:34,595
Speaker 1: Winnipeg Jets, who moved to Phoenix and have been succeeded

604
00:45:34,595 --> 00:45:38,435
Speaker 1: by a new Winnipeg Jets franchise, the Hartford Whalers of

605
00:45:38,555 --> 00:45:43,275
Speaker 1: late lamented memory now the Carolina Hurricanes, and the Edmonton Oilers.

606
00:45:43,675 --> 00:45:48,875
Speaker 1: Those four x WHA franchises have won nine of the

607
00:45:48,875 --> 00:45:54,435
Speaker 1: forty four Stanley Cups since since the NHL took them

608
00:45:54,435 --> 00:45:58,675
Speaker 1: in took the WHA over. That's several times the average

609
00:45:58,755 --> 00:46:02,315
Speaker 1: number of Cups won by any four NHL franchises. Oh

610
00:46:02,355 --> 00:46:04,275
Speaker 1: and by the way, those Edmonton Oilers, they came into

611
00:46:04,275 --> 00:46:07,595
Speaker 1: the NHL with a player on their roster named Wayne Gretzky.

612
00:46:08,435 --> 00:46:11,795
Speaker 1: His goals for the NHL Edmonton Oilers they count towards

613
00:46:11,795 --> 00:46:15,115
Speaker 1: his total, but his forty six goals for the WHA

614
00:46:15,275 --> 00:46:21,035
Speaker 1: Edmonton Oilers the same team and the WHA Indianapolis Racers

615
00:46:21,075 --> 00:46:24,435
Speaker 1: for some reason, those goals do not count. In point

616
00:46:24,515 --> 00:46:27,155
Speaker 1: of fact, while Ovechkin has eight hundred and ninety five

617
00:46:27,195 --> 00:46:31,275
Speaker 1: career goals right now, Wayne Gretzky actually has nine hundred

618
00:46:31,315 --> 00:46:35,635
Speaker 1: and forty career goals. Well, where does that put us?

619
00:46:35,755 --> 00:46:37,995
Speaker 1: What good does that do us? Now we're back in

620
00:46:38,035 --> 00:46:42,955
Speaker 1: the situation where Gretzky's in the spotlight and everybody hates Wayne. Well,

621
00:46:43,075 --> 00:46:46,155
Speaker 1: neither of them has the most career goals. Gordy Howe

622
00:46:46,235 --> 00:46:48,875
Speaker 1: scored eight hundred and one goals in the National Hockey

623
00:46:48,915 --> 00:46:51,395
Speaker 1: League and one hundred and seventy four more in the WHA.

624
00:46:51,755 --> 00:46:54,595
Speaker 1: That would be carry on nine hundred and seventy five.

625
00:46:56,035 --> 00:47:00,955
Speaker 1: Gretzky is irrelevant to this discussion, and Ovechkin is still

626
00:47:01,075 --> 00:47:06,675
Speaker 1: eighty short of Gordy Howe's all time goals scored record,

627
00:47:07,395 --> 00:47:11,595
Speaker 1: and that is probably the best solution here for putin

628
00:47:12,235 --> 00:47:17,395
Speaker 1: for a Vechkin, for Gretzki, for Missus Gretzky for Canada.

629
00:47:18,435 --> 00:47:25,315
Speaker 1: The all time leading goal scorer is Gordie Howe. He

630
00:47:25,355 --> 00:47:33,675
Speaker 1: put the biscuit in the basket. Period dateline, Kingston, New York,

631
00:47:33,755 --> 00:47:36,915
Speaker 1: flipping the bird history has been discovered in a sale

632
00:47:36,955 --> 00:47:40,715
Speaker 1: of sports memorabilia there by Love of the Game auctions.

633
00:47:41,435 --> 00:47:44,155
Speaker 1: For decades, it's been acknowledged that Baseball Hall of Famer

634
00:47:44,235 --> 00:47:48,235
Speaker 1: Charles old Hoss Radbourne, the pitcher who won sixty of

635
00:47:48,315 --> 00:47:51,035
Speaker 1: his team's eighty four victories as they won the Pennant

636
00:47:51,075 --> 00:47:54,355
Speaker 1: and the first World Series in eighteen eighty four. Yes,

637
00:47:54,435 --> 00:47:57,355
Speaker 1: his wins above. Replacement that year was nineteen point two.

638
00:47:58,235 --> 00:48:02,755
Speaker 1: Old Hass was the first American probably the first human

639
00:48:03,035 --> 00:48:08,315
Speaker 1: to appear in a photograph giving the finger. It's plain

640
00:48:08,355 --> 00:48:11,635
Speaker 1: as day. He posed with his Boston teammates with the

641
00:48:11,675 --> 00:48:14,155
Speaker 1: New York Giants at the Polo Grounds on opening Day

642
00:48:14,195 --> 00:48:19,435
Speaker 1: in the year eighteen eighty six, about what fifty blocks

643
00:48:19,475 --> 00:48:22,675
Speaker 1: north of my home. And there it is top row,

644
00:48:22,755 --> 00:48:27,195
Speaker 1: far left, left hand, middle finger cradled on the left

645
00:48:27,235 --> 00:48:29,555
Speaker 1: shoulder of the teammate in the row ahead of him,

646
00:48:29,795 --> 00:48:36,355
Speaker 1: Tom Porman. We believe it is the finger high eternity.

647
00:48:37,155 --> 00:48:42,835
Speaker 1: I'm Charlie, turns out, though, that is not the first

648
00:48:42,835 --> 00:48:45,675
Speaker 1: photo of anybody giving the one fingered salute to the photographer,

649
00:48:45,675 --> 00:48:50,355
Speaker 1: certainly not in sports auctioned Saturday Night, the eighteen eighty

650
00:48:50,435 --> 00:48:54,275
Speaker 1: two team photo of the Providence Grays, then a major

651
00:48:54,355 --> 00:48:57,315
Speaker 1: league team in the National League. There hea is Charlie

652
00:48:57,355 --> 00:49:01,115
Speaker 1: Old Hoss Radbourne again back row, second from the left,

653
00:49:01,555 --> 00:49:04,955
Speaker 1: his right hand at his belt and kind of kind

654
00:49:04,955 --> 00:49:08,355
Speaker 1: of hiding it sort of behind teammate George Wright and

655
00:49:08,435 --> 00:49:11,715
Speaker 1: pointed sort of sideways at team manager Harry Wright, kind

656
00:49:11,715 --> 00:49:17,115
Speaker 1: of in profile, Radbourne is again giving the finger, only

657
00:49:17,155 --> 00:49:22,515
Speaker 1: with the other hand. He was ambedextrous baseball and obscene gesture.

658
00:49:22,595 --> 00:49:28,715
Speaker 1: History is thus rewritten. The finger dates it is believed

659
00:49:28,715 --> 00:49:32,955
Speaker 1: to ancient rome. The photographed finger now moves back four

660
00:49:33,035 --> 00:49:36,715
Speaker 1: years in time, at least from eighteen eighty six to

661
00:49:36,795 --> 00:49:41,435
Speaker 1: eighteen eighty two. The price of this priceless photo seventy

662
00:49:41,475 --> 00:49:44,915
Speaker 1: two hundred dollars the year he started forty one of

663
00:49:44,915 --> 00:49:47,795
Speaker 1: his team's last fifty one games and won thirty five

664
00:49:47,835 --> 00:49:51,155
Speaker 1: of them, plus both that were won in the World Series.

665
00:49:51,155 --> 00:49:55,115
Speaker 1: When they won the first World Series. Charles Oldhaus give

666
00:49:55,155 --> 00:49:59,195
Speaker 1: him the finger. Radbourne apparently reportedly made a maximum of

667
00:50:01,395 --> 00:50:06,355
Speaker 1: five thousand dollars. Photo of him is worth seventy two

668
00:50:06,435 --> 00:50:23,915
Speaker 1: hundred dollars, which is why he's giving the finger. Finally,

669
00:50:23,955 --> 00:50:26,515
Speaker 1: on this all new edition of Countdown, things I promised

670
00:50:26,515 --> 00:50:28,955
Speaker 1: not to tell and has promised back to a topic

671
00:50:28,995 --> 00:50:31,515
Speaker 1: we addressed last week. I brought this up when news

672
00:50:31,555 --> 00:50:34,395
Speaker 1: came out that the former host of Meet the Press,

673
00:50:35,195 --> 00:50:40,675
Speaker 1: Chuck Todd, was bargaining with a bank and financiers to

674
00:50:40,955 --> 00:50:44,955
Speaker 1: spend up to two billion dollars to buy some sort

675
00:50:44,995 --> 00:50:49,355
Speaker 1: of media company, and I was thinking, who in the

676
00:50:49,515 --> 00:50:53,995
Speaker 1: hell would trust Chuck Todd with two dollars, let alone

677
00:50:54,115 --> 00:50:59,955
Speaker 1: two billion dollars. I've known him for nearly twenty years.

678
00:51:00,075 --> 00:51:03,195
Speaker 1: We were in fantasy sports leagues for half that time,

679
00:51:03,435 --> 00:51:06,355
Speaker 1: and we worked together at NBC News for the other

680
00:51:06,395 --> 00:51:10,395
Speaker 1: half of that time, and he was one of those

681
00:51:10,435 --> 00:51:13,715
Speaker 1: people who sort of descended in terms of how impressive

682
00:51:13,755 --> 00:51:16,035
Speaker 1: he was the more you got to know him, I'm

683
00:51:16,075 --> 00:51:18,915
Speaker 1: sure he would say the same thing about me. In

684
00:51:18,955 --> 00:51:22,395
Speaker 1: any event, I don't do an ask me anything or

685
00:51:22,435 --> 00:51:25,435
Speaker 1: any of that stuff. I don't solicit questions from the audience.

686
00:51:25,715 --> 00:51:27,795
Speaker 1: I don't ask you to tell me what you want

687
00:51:27,835 --> 00:51:32,115
Speaker 1: me to talk about, because well, if I needed you

688
00:51:32,435 --> 00:51:36,355
Speaker 1: to produce material for me, I would probably pay you

689
00:51:36,435 --> 00:51:39,435
Speaker 1: for it, or at least I should so. I feel

690
00:51:39,475 --> 00:51:43,235
Speaker 1: that my part of this equation is I come up

691
00:51:43,275 --> 00:51:46,955
Speaker 1: with the ideas, and you listen, and you listen to

692
00:51:46,995 --> 00:51:50,715
Speaker 1: the commercials, and the people who buy the commercials indirectly

693
00:51:50,755 --> 00:51:54,355
Speaker 1: pay me. I think that's fair. I don't have to

694
00:51:54,395 --> 00:51:57,915
Speaker 1: mention that you can usually skip through the commercials. In

695
00:51:57,995 --> 00:52:02,315
Speaker 1: any event, I don't do these amas. But occasionally a

696
00:52:02,355 --> 00:52:05,155
Speaker 1: friend or just a listener will get a question true

697
00:52:05,235 --> 00:52:07,275
Speaker 1: to me, and it occurs to me that I have

698
00:52:07,475 --> 00:52:11,715
Speaker 1: left out something extraordinarily interesting or apparently interesting to the

699
00:52:11,755 --> 00:52:15,195
Speaker 1: person at least who asked the question. Such a case

700
00:52:15,435 --> 00:52:19,875
Speaker 1: occurred last week when a friend asked about Chuck Todd,

701
00:52:20,195 --> 00:52:22,555
Speaker 1: not about Chuck Todd and the two billion dollars, not

702
00:52:22,635 --> 00:52:26,635
Speaker 1: about Chuck Todd, and putting the words in Alexandria Acasio

703
00:52:26,715 --> 00:52:31,075
Speaker 1: Cortes's mouth about the concentration camps. She said concentration camps.

704
00:52:31,235 --> 00:52:34,595
Speaker 1: He said Nazi concentration camps, quoting her when she never

705
00:52:34,595 --> 00:52:37,795
Speaker 1: said Nazi. And could not be convinced that there was

706
00:52:37,835 --> 00:52:41,675
Speaker 1: a difference or that he had done anything wrong. Not that,

707
00:52:41,715 --> 00:52:43,955
Speaker 1: and not the two billion dollars, and not what happened

708
00:52:43,955 --> 00:52:47,555
Speaker 1: to him at Meet the Press, and not the bad Combover. Well, no,

709
00:52:47,595 --> 00:52:49,795
Speaker 1: but nobody asked about the bad Combover, and I hadn't

710
00:52:49,835 --> 00:52:53,395
Speaker 1: mentioned the bad comb over till just now, So sorry.

711
00:52:53,755 --> 00:52:56,635
Speaker 1: This was something else and far more elemental. And it's

712
00:52:56,675 --> 00:53:00,115
Speaker 1: the kind of thing I just never think of, because

713
00:53:00,235 --> 00:53:03,275
Speaker 1: the number of times this question could have been asked

714
00:53:03,315 --> 00:53:06,075
Speaker 1: about somebody I worked with, it was probably by now

715
00:53:06,155 --> 00:53:08,675
Speaker 1: in the thousands. I'm sure it's been asked about me

716
00:53:08,795 --> 00:53:11,955
Speaker 1: many times. I've read it about myself. In fact, the

717
00:53:12,075 --> 00:53:16,235
Speaker 1: question was very simple, How in the hell did Chuck

718
00:53:16,315 --> 00:53:20,035
Speaker 1: Todd ever get into the position of being the host

719
00:53:20,195 --> 00:53:24,235
Speaker 1: of Meet the Press or anywhere else in which he

720
00:53:24,275 --> 00:53:28,075
Speaker 1: could have failed so spectacularly, and to be in a

721
00:53:28,115 --> 00:53:31,675
Speaker 1: position where he's so disconnected from reality that he would

722
00:53:31,715 --> 00:53:34,275
Speaker 1: think he could walk into a bank or some sort

723
00:53:34,315 --> 00:53:41,515
Speaker 1: of I don't know corporate investment fund or Trump's using

724
00:53:41,715 --> 00:53:44,715
Speaker 1: taxpayer money for no good reason. I don't know where

725
00:53:44,715 --> 00:53:46,595
Speaker 1: he thought he was going to get two billion dollars

726
00:53:46,675 --> 00:53:48,595
Speaker 1: or where he thinks he's going to get two billion dollars.

727
00:53:48,715 --> 00:53:51,395
Speaker 1: But the point was I was focused on the back

728
00:53:51,475 --> 00:53:54,715
Speaker 1: end of it. And my questioner asked that elemental one

729
00:53:54,755 --> 00:53:57,395
Speaker 1: that I didn't think about, and I thank him for

730
00:53:57,475 --> 00:54:02,995
Speaker 1: asking it. How did Chuck even get that far to

731
00:54:03,195 --> 00:54:09,075
Speaker 1: fail that bad? Well, sir, here's what I know between

732
00:54:09,155 --> 00:54:12,675
Speaker 1: what Tim Russert told me and what others told me

733
00:54:12,715 --> 00:54:17,195
Speaker 1: that Tim Russeer told them people whose confidence or in

734
00:54:17,355 --> 00:54:21,715
Speaker 1: whose confidence Tim was to a greater degree than he

735
00:54:21,875 --> 00:54:23,715
Speaker 1: was with me. We were friends, and he told me

736
00:54:23,795 --> 00:54:26,115
Speaker 1: lots of great stuff, But I'm sure he didn't tell

737
00:54:26,115 --> 00:54:28,075
Speaker 1: me everything, and he told other people things that he

738
00:54:28,115 --> 00:54:31,035
Speaker 1: I know he didn't tell me, and other things that

739
00:54:31,075 --> 00:54:33,395
Speaker 1: I've pieced together over the years, and other things that

740
00:54:33,435 --> 00:54:35,395
Speaker 1: people who didn't like Chuck just as much as I

741
00:54:35,395 --> 00:54:39,715
Speaker 1: didn't like Chuck told me. Here's what happened. There are,

742
00:54:39,915 --> 00:54:45,315
Speaker 1: as always in these situations, circumstances beyond anybody's control. That

743
00:54:45,355 --> 00:54:49,075
Speaker 1: played a huge factor. Tim Russeer told me once that

744
00:54:49,195 --> 00:54:52,155
Speaker 1: years and years ago, at the height of his earliest

745
00:54:52,195 --> 00:54:55,195
Speaker 1: success at NBC. And remember he was the host of

746
00:54:55,235 --> 00:55:00,235
Speaker 1: Meet the Press and the bureau chief of NBC News

747
00:55:00,275 --> 00:55:04,155
Speaker 1: in Washington. He ran the NBC News operation in Washington.

748
00:55:04,315 --> 00:55:06,875
Speaker 1: He did, I don't think put together the schedule for

749
00:55:06,955 --> 00:55:09,515
Speaker 1: the assignment editors, but I'm sure at some point he

750
00:55:09,595 --> 00:55:12,795
Speaker 1: was involved in those, maybe once a year. He did

751
00:55:12,875 --> 00:55:16,755
Speaker 1: bureaucratic work and then got on the phone and traded

752
00:55:16,835 --> 00:55:20,075
Speaker 1: horses with Republicans and Democrats, and met people for drinks

753
00:55:20,075 --> 00:55:22,235
Speaker 1: and tried to arrange guests, and then had to prep

754
00:55:22,555 --> 00:55:24,955
Speaker 1: to trip up the great and the not so great

755
00:55:24,995 --> 00:55:27,155
Speaker 1: on Meet the Press. And he did that job. No

756
00:55:27,195 --> 00:55:29,795
Speaker 1: matter what the criticisms might have been of him, he

757
00:55:29,835 --> 00:55:33,235
Speaker 1: did that job with surprising alacrity in a time in

758
00:55:33,275 --> 00:55:35,955
Speaker 1: which it began to vanish from the other networks, and

759
00:55:35,995 --> 00:55:39,395
Speaker 1: has not been seen since he died. He was also

760
00:55:39,475 --> 00:55:43,355
Speaker 1: a wonderful and engaging human being, and his death was

761
00:55:43,395 --> 00:55:47,755
Speaker 1: one of the great sadnesses of my life, truly, and

762
00:55:47,875 --> 00:55:50,315
Speaker 1: I responded to it the way I could, which was

763
00:55:50,355 --> 00:55:52,635
Speaker 1: to go on the air and relieve everybody else of

764
00:55:52,675 --> 00:55:56,835
Speaker 1: the responsibility of anchoring that night, And I do remember,

765
00:55:56,915 --> 00:56:00,075
Speaker 1: and we'll always remember that the guy who stayed up

766
00:56:00,115 --> 00:56:01,915
Speaker 1: in the middle of the night in Paris and went

767
00:56:01,955 --> 00:56:04,355
Speaker 1: to a street corner in Paris, France where he was

768
00:56:04,395 --> 00:56:08,715
Speaker 1: on vacation to join us four or five different times,

769
00:56:08,755 --> 00:56:12,475
Speaker 1: as late as I believe four am local time Paris

770
00:56:12,475 --> 00:56:16,515
Speaker 1: that night, was Bob Schieffer, who was the host of

771
00:56:16,595 --> 00:56:19,715
Speaker 1: the CBS equivalent to meet the Press face the nation.

772
00:56:20,475 --> 00:56:24,635
Speaker 1: They were very close friends, and his respect for his

773
00:56:24,835 --> 00:56:29,595
Speaker 1: friend and colleague and adversary his competitor, Tim Russert strikes

774
00:56:29,635 --> 00:56:34,395
Speaker 1: me to this day in any event, at the beginning

775
00:56:34,555 --> 00:56:37,035
Speaker 1: when I first knew Tim in the fall of nineteen

776
00:56:37,115 --> 00:56:40,075
Speaker 1: ninety seven and the Lewinsky story broke at the beginning

777
00:56:40,075 --> 00:56:43,195
Speaker 1: of nineteen ninety eight, I got to know Tim in

778
00:56:43,315 --> 00:56:45,795
Speaker 1: bursts where I'd spend an hour with him and he

779
00:56:45,835 --> 00:56:48,835
Speaker 1: would tell me three days worth of information and days

780
00:56:48,915 --> 00:56:50,915
Speaker 1: later I'd be process it. Wait a minute, Russer told

781
00:56:50,955 --> 00:56:52,835
Speaker 1: me this, I forgot all about that. I have to

782
00:56:52,875 --> 00:56:57,795
Speaker 1: start taking notes. Russer told me that that long term

783
00:56:57,835 --> 00:57:00,235
Speaker 1: he had plans to He wasn't sure which he would

784
00:57:00,235 --> 00:57:02,475
Speaker 1: get rid of first, but at some point he could

785
00:57:02,555 --> 00:57:06,555
Speaker 1: not envision doing both. Meet the press and running the

786
00:57:06,675 --> 00:57:09,475
Speaker 1: NBC News bureau, and more than likely he would give

787
00:57:09,515 --> 00:57:12,755
Speaker 1: up the bureaucratic job first because frankly, it didn't pay

788
00:57:12,755 --> 00:57:15,035
Speaker 1: as well and it was not nearly as much fun,

789
00:57:15,395 --> 00:57:17,995
Speaker 1: although it did allow him to influence so many things

790
00:57:17,995 --> 00:57:22,435
Speaker 1: at NBC News. Without that influence, NBC News slowly and

791
00:57:22,475 --> 00:57:26,035
Speaker 1: then with greater rapidity went to hell in a handbasket,

792
00:57:26,075 --> 00:57:28,555
Speaker 1: into the condition that you see it in now. But

793
00:57:28,675 --> 00:57:31,035
Speaker 1: Russert said that he was looking and was always on

794
00:57:31,075 --> 00:57:34,235
Speaker 1: the lookout for somebody with that attention to detail who

795
00:57:34,395 --> 00:57:39,235
Speaker 1: enjoyed dealing with details like the assignment editors' schedules that

796
00:57:39,475 --> 00:57:42,075
Speaker 1: he had had once and then finally had to farm

797
00:57:42,075 --> 00:57:46,035
Speaker 1: out as his on air responsibilities got more and more important.

798
00:57:46,355 --> 00:57:49,475
Speaker 1: But being the NBC News bureau chief in Washington was

799
00:57:49,515 --> 00:57:52,355
Speaker 1: a pretty damn good job to begin with, let alone

800
00:57:52,435 --> 00:57:55,195
Speaker 1: also hosting Meet the Press, So he thought he could

801
00:57:55,195 --> 00:57:58,635
Speaker 1: probably find somebody just right, just nuts enough, was the

802
00:57:58,675 --> 00:58:01,875
Speaker 1: way he put it, and yet talented enough and responsible

803
00:58:01,955 --> 00:58:05,715
Speaker 1: enough to do the job. So I left NBC News

804
00:58:05,915 --> 00:58:09,475
Speaker 1: and MSNBC late in nineteen ninety eight and never finished

805
00:58:09,515 --> 00:58:12,435
Speaker 1: that conversation with him. But I came back with his

806
00:58:12,475 --> 00:58:14,995
Speaker 1: Blessing in two thousand and three, and he quickly got

807
00:58:14,995 --> 00:58:18,755
Speaker 1: involved again in my show on MSNBC whenever he could,

808
00:58:18,995 --> 00:58:21,795
Speaker 1: and stayed late and talked baseball with me in the

809
00:58:21,835 --> 00:58:24,555
Speaker 1: middle of the night after election nights in the primary

810
00:58:24,595 --> 00:58:26,715
Speaker 1: season of two thousand and seven, two thousand and eight,

811
00:58:26,795 --> 00:58:30,035
Speaker 1: just before his passing, and he told me, and had

812
00:58:30,075 --> 00:58:33,195
Speaker 1: told me, I guess in two thousand and three or four,

813
00:58:33,955 --> 00:58:36,555
Speaker 1: that they had found a guy who was kind of

814
00:58:36,755 --> 00:58:41,435
Speaker 1: number obsessed, a fellow who worked for a news outlet,

815
00:58:41,595 --> 00:58:44,395
Speaker 1: a small news outlet called I believe he was with

816
00:58:44,515 --> 00:58:46,955
Speaker 1: Hotline and then The Hill, or it might have been

817
00:58:46,955 --> 00:58:49,275
Speaker 1: the other way around. But this guy who was a

818
00:58:49,315 --> 00:58:52,835
Speaker 1: pretty good guest. He had a kind of funky Fu

819
00:58:52,915 --> 00:58:55,835
Speaker 1: Manchuw mustache going for him and thinning hair. But his

820
00:58:55,915 --> 00:58:58,595
Speaker 1: name was Chuck Todd, and he was pretty good on

821
00:58:58,635 --> 00:59:00,715
Speaker 1: the air. And would I try him out on Countdown?

822
00:59:00,835 --> 00:59:03,395
Speaker 1: They were putting him on Hardball with Chris Matthews a lot.

823
00:59:03,555 --> 00:59:06,835
Speaker 1: Would I try him out and report back to Tim

824
00:59:06,955 --> 00:59:09,195
Speaker 1: what I thought of him, both in terms of his

825
00:59:09,355 --> 00:59:12,915
Speaker 1: capability on the air and if I had that sense

826
00:59:13,035 --> 00:59:15,555
Speaker 1: of whether or not he might make a good executive

827
00:59:15,755 --> 00:59:18,155
Speaker 1: being somebody who had a lot of opinions on what

828
00:59:18,235 --> 00:59:21,235
Speaker 1: made a good executive and what made a bad executive,

829
00:59:22,115 --> 00:59:24,715
Speaker 1: And he said, should we hire him full time? Don't

830
00:59:24,715 --> 00:59:26,835
Speaker 1: give me the answer right away, just thinking about it.

831
00:59:26,875 --> 00:59:29,875
Speaker 1: In the next couple of years. At some point he

832
00:59:29,955 --> 00:59:31,675
Speaker 1: called me back and he said, it's time for me

833
00:59:31,715 --> 00:59:34,835
Speaker 1: to make a decision. What's your vote? And I said yes,

834
00:59:35,555 --> 00:59:38,475
Speaker 1: I said, I think he was at his maximum position.

835
00:59:38,595 --> 00:59:41,515
Speaker 1: I think that he might learn a little bit more television,

836
00:59:41,795 --> 00:59:44,795
Speaker 1: that he might be a good guest, and maybe he

837
00:59:44,835 --> 00:59:48,435
Speaker 1: could be a contributor doing things like exit polls or

838
00:59:48,635 --> 00:59:51,795
Speaker 1: number crunching on election nights, very much the role that

839
00:59:51,835 --> 00:59:56,475
Speaker 1: Steve Kornacki later assumed at NBC News and MSNBC after

840
00:59:56,635 --> 01:00:00,395
Speaker 1: By the way, I started him on television at Court TV,

841
01:00:00,595 --> 01:00:03,755
Speaker 1: excuse me, at Current TV and never got any credit

842
01:00:03,755 --> 01:00:06,275
Speaker 1: from that from him because he's a little strange guy,

843
01:00:06,315 --> 01:00:08,715
Speaker 1: and apparently he forgot that he was on the air

844
01:00:08,755 --> 01:00:11,795
Speaker 1: with us at Current TV, and I was negotiating with

845
01:00:11,915 --> 01:00:14,155
Speaker 1: him to join us full time when one day he

846
01:00:14,195 --> 01:00:16,275
Speaker 1: did not show up for work and it turned out

847
01:00:16,275 --> 01:00:18,995
Speaker 1: he'd signed a deal with MSNBC and never told us

848
01:00:18,995 --> 01:00:21,275
Speaker 1: he was even negotiating it, and did not call to

849
01:00:21,315 --> 01:00:23,395
Speaker 1: say I will not be there tonight because I've signed

850
01:00:23,395 --> 01:00:27,035
Speaker 1: a deal with MSNBC. Quizzed on this later, he did

851
01:00:27,075 --> 01:00:29,795
Speaker 1: not understand why this was a problem, as I said,

852
01:00:29,875 --> 01:00:34,515
Speaker 1: a very very strange guy. The more positive aspects of

853
01:00:34,515 --> 01:00:37,075
Speaker 1: this were the sort of thing I thought Chuck Todd

854
01:00:37,155 --> 01:00:39,435
Speaker 1: might be good at. And Tim said, I'm glad to

855
01:00:39,475 --> 01:00:41,955
Speaker 1: hear you say that. I've tried and tried, and I

856
01:00:42,115 --> 01:00:45,235
Speaker 1: just don't see him being a kind of host. I mean,

857
01:00:45,275 --> 01:00:47,915
Speaker 1: he might be able to host a daytime show on MSNBC.

858
01:00:48,315 --> 01:00:50,875
Speaker 1: Maybe we could do something politically that could get him involved.

859
01:00:50,915 --> 01:00:53,275
Speaker 1: That's what he wants to do. I think he's better

860
01:00:53,315 --> 01:00:55,835
Speaker 1: suited for what you're talking about. Three or four minutes

861
01:00:55,875 --> 01:00:58,515
Speaker 1: at a stretch and I said, okay, he said, what

862
01:00:58,515 --> 01:01:00,795
Speaker 1: do you think of him as an executive? I'm thinking

863
01:01:00,835 --> 01:01:04,155
Speaker 1: maybe he could be political director of NBC News, or

864
01:01:04,155 --> 01:01:06,395
Speaker 1: he could be something in which we make him kind

865
01:01:06,435 --> 01:01:09,235
Speaker 1: of a bureaucratic figure who then has that cachet on

866
01:01:09,315 --> 01:01:12,555
Speaker 1: the air of being the political director of NBC News,

867
01:01:12,555 --> 01:01:14,995
Speaker 1: who only's on the air, say a total of seventeen

868
01:01:14,995 --> 01:01:17,515
Speaker 1: minutes a month. I said, I think that might be

869
01:01:17,555 --> 01:01:20,475
Speaker 1: a good thing. He does seem to be very detail oriented,

870
01:01:20,515 --> 01:01:23,315
Speaker 1: a little too detail oriented. Sometimes we have to steer

871
01:01:23,355 --> 01:01:25,515
Speaker 1: him out of the weeds when he's on as a

872
01:01:25,515 --> 01:01:29,275
Speaker 1: guest to talk about the substantial things. The bigger pictures

873
01:01:29,315 --> 01:01:32,915
Speaker 1: back them off a little bit from the topicality of

874
01:01:32,955 --> 01:01:35,355
Speaker 1: the moment to what it means and why we're having

875
01:01:35,435 --> 01:01:38,155
Speaker 1: him on as a guest. So that's where we left it,

876
01:01:38,195 --> 01:01:43,075
Speaker 1: and that's where Tim Russert died. Originally, Russert had talked

877
01:01:43,115 --> 01:01:45,875
Speaker 1: about as a possible successor as the host of Meet

878
01:01:45,915 --> 01:01:50,235
Speaker 1: the Press, the NBC News chief White House correspondent in

879
01:01:50,275 --> 01:01:54,395
Speaker 1: the late nineties, David Bloom. To lead towards this, they

880
01:01:54,435 --> 01:01:57,195
Speaker 1: had moved David Bloom to New York as the weekend

881
01:01:57,235 --> 01:02:00,395
Speaker 1: host of Today, and then David Bloom in two thousand

882
01:02:00,395 --> 01:02:03,715
Speaker 1: and two went to Iraq in late two thousand and

883
01:02:03,795 --> 01:02:06,115
Speaker 1: two the beginning of two thousand and three, obviously with

884
01:02:06,155 --> 01:02:08,875
Speaker 1: the conflict and the war there and our invasion of

885
01:02:08,875 --> 01:02:12,355
Speaker 1: it under mister Bush, and David Bloom died there. He

886
01:02:12,475 --> 01:02:15,995
Speaker 1: died there of deep vein thrombosis because he was riding

887
01:02:16,035 --> 01:02:19,875
Speaker 1: around in this extraordinary then for the time, live tank.

888
01:02:20,275 --> 01:02:23,035
Speaker 1: He could broadcast live from this tank, and it was

889
01:02:23,075 --> 01:02:25,915
Speaker 1: a great thing for television. Unfortunately it meant that for

890
01:02:26,035 --> 01:02:29,075
Speaker 1: several weeks he slept in a tank in a curled

891
01:02:29,115 --> 01:02:31,795
Speaker 1: position with his knees bent, and as he got sicker

892
01:02:31,795 --> 01:02:33,675
Speaker 1: and sicker and didn't know that it was a problem,

893
01:02:34,115 --> 01:02:36,475
Speaker 1: he was turning greener and greener, and those of us

894
01:02:36,475 --> 01:02:38,555
Speaker 1: who saw him on the air said, what's wrong with him? Oh,

895
01:02:38,595 --> 01:02:41,195
Speaker 1: it's it's just the feeds a little off color, and went, well,

896
01:02:41,195 --> 01:02:44,595
Speaker 1: everything else looks right, why does he look greenish bronze?

897
01:02:45,115 --> 01:02:47,715
Speaker 1: The next day he was dead. It was a tragedy

898
01:02:47,755 --> 01:02:52,595
Speaker 1: of unbelievable proportions. So David Bloom was gone, and then

899
01:02:52,635 --> 01:02:56,635
Speaker 1: there was no apparent successor lined up in Washington. A

900
01:02:56,635 --> 01:02:59,635
Speaker 1: lot of the people at NBC News who might actually

901
01:02:59,675 --> 01:03:02,515
Speaker 1: have been good successors for Tim Russard if he had

902
01:03:02,515 --> 01:03:06,035
Speaker 1: to pick somebody, moved off into different branches of the company.

903
01:03:06,315 --> 01:03:09,395
Speaker 1: Noura O'Donnell was one. Noura O'Donnell was considered for a

904
01:03:09,435 --> 01:03:12,355
Speaker 1: period of time as a possible successor to Russert on

905
01:03:12,475 --> 01:03:15,755
Speaker 1: that show, and then she eventually moved on to CBS

906
01:03:15,835 --> 01:03:19,475
Speaker 1: after Tim's death, and that didn't happen at NBC, but

907
01:03:19,595 --> 01:03:23,595
Speaker 1: the only person that they'd ever really sort of talked about,

908
01:03:23,715 --> 01:03:30,235
Speaker 1: maybe as a guest host, as a replacement if something

909
01:03:30,275 --> 01:03:33,715
Speaker 1: happened where Tim wanted to retire. Apart from the idea

910
01:03:33,755 --> 01:03:36,475
Speaker 1: that Tom Brokaw might make a good fill in, there

911
01:03:36,595 --> 01:03:39,355
Speaker 1: was this idea about David Gregory. And then came the

912
01:03:39,395 --> 01:03:41,395
Speaker 1: tragedy of the summer of two thousand and eight and

913
01:03:41,435 --> 01:03:45,955
Speaker 1: the death of Tom Brokaw rather of Tim Russard, and

914
01:03:46,355 --> 01:03:50,435
Speaker 1: the immediate replacement of him by Tom Brokaw on an

915
01:03:50,475 --> 01:03:54,395
Speaker 1: interim basis, while they tried to get David Gregory up

916
01:03:54,475 --> 01:03:56,555
Speaker 1: to speed to be the host to Meet the Press.

917
01:03:57,075 --> 01:03:59,435
Speaker 1: I didn't think David Gregory did a bad job as

918
01:03:59,475 --> 01:04:01,435
Speaker 1: the host of Meet the Press. Apparently I was in

919
01:04:01,595 --> 01:04:05,195
Speaker 1: a minority of this, but he was very, very tense.

920
01:04:05,235 --> 01:04:08,395
Speaker 1: The job weighed on him heavily, and he was very

921
01:04:08,395 --> 01:04:11,435
Speaker 1: difficult to work with by all the accounts I heard of.

922
01:04:11,515 --> 01:04:15,235
Speaker 1: And Rachel Maddow once played me the voicemail that David

923
01:04:15,235 --> 01:04:19,075
Speaker 1: Gregory left her after she had to cancel for family

924
01:04:19,115 --> 01:04:22,195
Speaker 1: reasons a trip to Washington to be on Meet the Press,

925
01:04:22,235 --> 01:04:27,395
Speaker 1: and it was two minutes of perhaps non stop scatological terms.

926
01:04:27,435 --> 01:04:30,075
Speaker 1: How dare you and then just words I won't even

927
01:04:30,115 --> 01:04:32,515
Speaker 1: repeat here, and then she said and that was only

928
01:04:32,555 --> 01:04:34,675
Speaker 1: the first message. He called right back and there was

929
01:04:34,715 --> 01:04:37,795
Speaker 1: another two minutes of it. So that's that's what she

930
01:04:37,955 --> 01:04:40,795
Speaker 1: played me. David, I don't think could handle the pressure

931
01:04:40,795 --> 01:04:43,435
Speaker 1: of it. David had already flailed out in his role

932
01:04:43,915 --> 01:04:47,355
Speaker 1: as the original replacement for Don iMOS when they fired

933
01:04:47,395 --> 01:04:51,035
Speaker 1: Imus and canceled that show. And because David didn't do that,

934
01:04:51,115 --> 01:04:54,075
Speaker 1: we got Joe Scarborough in the Mornings on MSNBC. And

935
01:04:54,155 --> 01:04:57,115
Speaker 1: because David didn't do Meet the Press, well, although that

936
01:04:57,195 --> 01:04:59,875
Speaker 1: lasted longer than he did on the Mornings, I believe

937
01:05:00,235 --> 01:05:02,235
Speaker 1: they gave him three or four weeks on the Morning

938
01:05:02,275 --> 01:05:05,515
Speaker 1: on MSNBC and then when next and we got Scarborough.

939
01:05:06,075 --> 01:05:09,515
Speaker 1: But the Meat the Press thing went on for several years.

940
01:05:09,915 --> 01:05:12,715
Speaker 1: I don't know. I wasn't at NBC News, I wasn't

941
01:05:12,715 --> 01:05:15,915
Speaker 1: connected to it. I do know that by about twenty

942
01:05:16,435 --> 01:05:19,115
Speaker 1: fourteen or so, they made that change. I do know

943
01:05:19,195 --> 01:05:22,595
Speaker 1: that Chuck Todd then took me out to dinner one time.

944
01:05:23,115 --> 01:05:26,595
Speaker 1: This was transparently designed to get me to convince Katie

945
01:05:26,595 --> 01:05:29,955
Speaker 1: Turr to accept a lesser assignment than she wanted. After

946
01:05:29,995 --> 01:05:34,955
Speaker 1: the twenty sixteen presidential campaign, and Chuck had turned completely

947
01:05:34,995 --> 01:05:39,875
Speaker 1: condescending and completely above himself and completely out of his depth.

948
01:05:39,915 --> 01:05:43,275
Speaker 1: And he had such a conviction that he and he

949
01:05:43,355 --> 01:05:46,795
Speaker 1: alone knew what to do next. It was extraordinary. Any

950
01:05:47,075 --> 01:05:51,275
Speaker 1: level of charm and maybe I don't have this right

951
01:05:52,035 --> 01:05:55,035
Speaker 1: had been gone for a long time. And I think

952
01:05:55,075 --> 01:05:59,955
Speaker 1: it was because Russert died. Because Russert was Chuck's rabbi.

953
01:06:00,195 --> 01:06:03,275
Speaker 1: He was, in fact the man who was guiding Chuck.

954
01:06:03,355 --> 01:06:06,355
Speaker 1: Still had hopes that Chuck might make an anchor, which

955
01:06:06,355 --> 01:06:09,355
Speaker 1: he didn't. But the origins of all of that are

956
01:06:09,435 --> 01:06:11,795
Speaker 1: as I told you. The reason that Chuck Todd got

957
01:06:11,795 --> 01:06:15,355
Speaker 1: into the position that he got into was Tim Russert

958
01:06:15,475 --> 01:06:17,995
Speaker 1: was looking for somebody to succeed him as bureau chief

959
01:06:17,995 --> 01:06:21,755
Speaker 1: of NBC News in Washington. Couldn't find anybody he thought

960
01:06:21,835 --> 01:06:24,755
Speaker 1: of that would be good. He was thinking of looking

961
01:06:24,835 --> 01:06:27,115
Speaker 1: for somebody eventually to take over Meet the Press, and

962
01:06:27,195 --> 01:06:29,315
Speaker 1: didn't really find anybody that he thought of, But he

963
01:06:29,675 --> 01:06:31,955
Speaker 1: certainly thought that David Gregory would be a good choice

964
01:06:31,955 --> 01:06:34,155
Speaker 1: and Chuck Todd would not. He took a poll of

965
01:06:34,195 --> 01:06:36,515
Speaker 1: all the people at NBC News and MSNBC who he

966
01:06:36,555 --> 01:06:38,755
Speaker 1: trusted as to whether or not he should hire Chuck

967
01:06:38,795 --> 01:06:42,795
Speaker 1: Todd for any capacity, and I guess we all voted yes,

968
01:06:43,235 --> 01:06:46,075
Speaker 1: and I apologize for that. What can I tell you

969
01:06:47,075 --> 01:06:50,355
Speaker 1: in any event? I keep saying in any event, But

970
01:06:50,435 --> 01:06:54,995
Speaker 1: that's the key operative word. Chuck Todd wound up in

971
01:06:55,035 --> 01:06:57,115
Speaker 1: a position to be the host of Meet the Press

972
01:06:57,155 --> 01:07:02,195
Speaker 1: because David Bloom died and Tim Russert died and David

973
01:07:02,235 --> 01:07:07,115
Speaker 1: Gregory did not succeed. When you are, in essence, maybe

974
01:07:07,155 --> 01:07:10,635
Speaker 1: the fourth choice, or the fourth reasonable choice, or the

975
01:07:10,635 --> 01:07:16,555
Speaker 1: fourth consensus choice. Sometimes that's just not good enough. And

976
01:07:16,635 --> 01:07:19,555
Speaker 1: that's what happened to Chuck. And I hope they ask

977
01:07:19,675 --> 01:07:24,075
Speaker 1: him those questions before they give him the two billion dollars.

978
01:07:37,755 --> 01:07:39,835
Speaker 1: I've done all the damage I can do here. Thank

979
01:07:39,875 --> 01:07:42,275
Speaker 1: you for listening. Brian Ray and John Phillip Shanelle, the

980
01:07:42,315 --> 01:07:46,395
Speaker 1: musical directors have Countdown, have arranged, produced and performed most

981
01:07:46,395 --> 01:07:49,515
Speaker 1: of our music on this Programmy mister Chanelle handled the

982
01:07:49,635 --> 01:07:52,515
Speaker 1: orchestration and keyboards. Mister Ray was on the guitars based

983
01:07:52,515 --> 01:07:56,715
Speaker 1: on drums. It was produced by Tko Brothers. Our satirical

984
01:07:56,715 --> 01:07:59,875
Speaker 1: and pithy musical comments are by the Best Baseball stadium

985
01:07:59,995 --> 01:08:03,435
Speaker 1: organist ever Nancy Faust. The sports music is the Olderman

986
01:08:03,555 --> 01:08:07,315
Speaker 1: theme from ESPN, which was written by Mitch Warren Davis

987
01:08:07,515 --> 01:08:11,395
Speaker 1: and appears courtesy of ESPN, Inc. Other music arranged and

988
01:08:11,435 --> 01:08:14,635
Speaker 1: performed by the group No Horns Allowed. My announcer today

989
01:08:14,755 --> 01:08:17,875
Speaker 1: was my friend Jonathan Banks from Better Call Saw and

990
01:08:17,955 --> 01:08:23,355
Speaker 1: Breaking Bad and Airplane. Everything else was as ever, pretty

991
01:08:23,435 --> 01:08:28,595
Speaker 1: much my fault. Let's countdown for today, just three and

992
01:08:28,595 --> 01:08:31,715
Speaker 1: eighty five days until the scheduled end of his lame

993
01:08:31,835 --> 01:08:36,835
Speaker 1: doc lame brained term, unless Musk removes him sooner or

994
01:08:36,875 --> 01:08:42,475
Speaker 1: the actuarial tables due. The next scheduled countdown is Thursday.

995
01:08:42,915 --> 01:08:47,075
Speaker 1: As always boldens as the news warrants, remember impeach Trump.

996
01:08:47,115 --> 01:08:49,755
Speaker 1: It will not work well now. It will, however, win

997
01:08:49,795 --> 01:08:53,995
Speaker 1: the Democrats the mid terms, and I want polling on

998
01:08:54,075 --> 01:08:58,635
Speaker 1: a presidential recall vote. Let's put as they said in

999
01:08:58,675 --> 01:09:02,355
Speaker 1: the original British version of House of Cards, let's put

1000
01:09:02,395 --> 01:09:06,435
Speaker 1: a bit of stick about until next time. I'm Keith Olberman.

1001
01:09:06,475 --> 01:09:27,595
Speaker 1: Good morning, good afternoon, good night, and good luck. Countdown

1002
01:09:27,635 --> 01:09:31,395
Speaker 1: with Keith Olberman is a production of iHeartRadio. For more

1003
01:09:31,475 --> 01:09:36,395
Speaker 1: podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio, app, Apple Podcasts, or

1004
01:09:36,475 --> 01:09:38,515
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts.