Speaker 1: For the first time in a long time, somebody in
Speaker 1: the media was on your side. And that's why Megan
Speaker 1: Kelly so upset. N Ri Fleischer and you hew It
Speaker 1: and all the rest of the people who got in
Speaker 1: line stayed in line and will tell you that red
Speaker 1: is blue and blue is yellow, whatever.
Speaker 2: It is.
Speaker 1: That can get them a buck. But at NBC News,
Speaker 1: something extraordinary happened. A group of people did not get
Speaker 1: in line. They stood tall, and that matters a lot.
Speaker 2: This is the warning. The chairman.
Speaker 1: Of NBC News, Caesar Konda, has released a statement taking
Speaker 1: full responsibility, accepting accountability, and severing his news network's ties
Speaker 1: with the former RNC chairwoman and his briefly lived colleague,
Speaker 1: Rana McDaniel. Here is what Caesar Conda said. There is
Speaker 1: no doubt that the last several days have been difficult
Speaker 1: for the news group. After listening to the legitimate concerns
Speaker 1: of many of you, I've decided that Ronna McDaniel will
Speaker 1: not be an NBC News contributor. The criticism from the
Speaker 1: newsroom was more than just understandable. Of course, it was righteous.
Speaker 1: It was indignant. It was a just revolt. It was
Speaker 1: a declaration that integrity matters, that the standards of the
Speaker 1: work matter, they're real, that the concept of truth, and
Speaker 1: that it's assault that the ongoing event that has played
Speaker 1: out as a continuum on the basis of nine long
Speaker 1: years is in fact, authentic, real happening underway and continuing.
Speaker 1: The very first official act of Donald Trump's four year
Speaker 1: administration was a lie. His spokesperson came forward to assert
Speaker 1: that a picture that showed a smaller crowd was in
Speaker 1: fact an image of a crowd that was larger than
Speaker 1: the image that showed the larger crowd. But it wasn't
Speaker 1: just a lie. It wasn't a prevarication of evasion. It
Speaker 1: wasn't a version of I didn't have sexual relations with
Speaker 1: that woman. It wasn't an instance of puffery embellishment, nor
Speaker 1: was it a lie of omission.
Speaker 2: It was a lie of authority.
Speaker 1: It demanded submission of intellectual agency for the purposes of belonging,
Speaker 1: of being in good standing, being part of the team.
Speaker 1: As Ronald McDaniel talked about, this era of American life
Speaker 1: has been defined by an acquiescence of principle and abdication
Speaker 1: of belief, brought on by a hollowness of character. In
Speaker 1: the absence of character and conviction. Our politics has become
Speaker 1: a sick reality show. Why is it that the American
Speaker 1: people know who Nancy Mace is and Lauren Bober and
Speaker 1: Marjorie Taylor Green and all the rest of this pack
Speaker 1: of weirdos, this Star Wars bar scene menagerie of political creatures,
Speaker 1: and not Abigail Spanberger, not the serious people who understand
Speaker 1: the complexities of intricate policy in a consequential moment of
Speaker 1: American history.
Speaker 2: It is because it.
Speaker 1: Is all part of a sick and cynical show, a
Speaker 1: depraved one. The American news media is distrusted and despised
Speaker 1: because the American people revile its cynicism and its dishonesties.
Speaker 1: A perfect case in point was the cynicism of the
Speaker 1: decision by the NBC News executives to do what they
Speaker 1: did to throw away the legacy of the network, its traditions,
Speaker 1: the work, career and sacrifices of the journalists there matter.
Speaker 1: What David Bloom stood for, what Tim Russard stood for,
Speaker 1: the career of Tom Brocaw, his mentorship. It impacted scores
Speaker 1: of men and women to whom the NBC News logo,
Speaker 1: its brand, its ethics, and its integrity means something.
Speaker 2: Ronald mcdebe annual was not let go.
Speaker 1: She was not revolted against because she was the Republican chairwoman.
Speaker 1: She was revolted against because she was a liar who
Speaker 1: was the Republican chairwoman. Had she only told lies to
Speaker 1: her colleagues internally, it likely would not have been a
Speaker 1: disqualification from being a paid colleague of news anchors on
Speaker 1: a television network. But that's not what she did. What
Speaker 1: she did was participate in one of the greatest lies
Speaker 1: in the history of any free peoples, and without question,
Speaker 1: the most dangerous lie of the twenty first century, one
Speaker 1: of the most dangerous lives in all of American history.
Speaker 1: The truth is this, The facts are as follows. The
Speaker 1: election was not stolen. There were no problems with it
Speaker 1: that mattered in its outcome. It was the most honest, fair, legitimate,
Speaker 1: technically secure American election in the entire history of the Republic.
Speaker 1: It has been slandered and defamed because of the authoritarian
Speaker 1: ambitions and ego of a man Donald Trump, who refused
Speaker 1: to concede to the judgment and the will of the
Speaker 1: American people in an act of sedition against the Constitution
Speaker 1: it was an assault on our way of life, on
Speaker 1: our existence, and it was suborned by an army of
Speaker 1: lies and liars in a general of that cause.
Speaker 2: A leader in that effort.
Speaker 1: Was the spectacularly clueless Ronald McDaniel, who, even today, flippantly
Speaker 1: in an appearance on the network where she was so
Speaker 1: shortly lived as an employee, cannot bring herself to acknowledge
Speaker 1: for even a nanosecond the most simple of truths that
Speaker 1: in a democracy, both sides must be prepared to govern,
Speaker 1: as both sides must be prepared to concede. What Trump
Speaker 1: did wasn't just divide the nation. He broke a tradition
Speaker 1: that was the substance of the nation, that connected us
Speaker 1: back to the beginning of the cause of liberty, the
Speaker 1: idea that people in a grand experiment are capable of
Speaker 1: self governance and assigning through the outcome of an election,
Speaker 1: power temporarily with restraints, in the service of something bigger, brander,
Speaker 1: that unites us all. A constitution that asserts the rule
Speaker 1: of law is supreme in this land, not the tat
Speaker 1: of a king or an emperor, or a caesar or
Speaker 1: a Trump. There is a backlash now to the backlash
Speaker 1: as they say. Ari Fleischer, who is a paid Saudi
Speaker 1: agent and a Fox News contributor who flies the Saudi
Speaker 1: flag on that network without it ever being disclosed, has
Speaker 1: demanded retribution. Now he says no Republican should ever appear
Speaker 1: on NBC News, as if what happened to Ronald McDaniel
Speaker 1: is an indictment of a party, an indictment of an idea,
Speaker 1: as opposed to the condemnation of an action, which is
Speaker 1: a lie. That's what she did wrong, and Ari Fleischer
Speaker 1: knows that. But Ari Fleischer doesn't care about it, because
Speaker 1: Ari too is somebody who has no business being on
Speaker 1: a television network because of his absence of character. Ari Fleischer,
Speaker 1: for twenty one years released on nine to eleven a
Speaker 1: series of tweets documenting that day, and then he stopped
Speaker 1: because he became a paid shill of the Saudi government
Speaker 1: and he would be inconvenient to lament one of the
Speaker 1: darkest days in American history lest it offend his new masters.
Speaker 1: Because like Ronald McDaniel, if you buy Ari Fleischer, you
Speaker 1: get his soul. The thing that unites Ari Fleischer and
Speaker 1: Heraldo Rivera and Megan Kelly is shame.
Speaker 2: They know.
Speaker 1: That they did not do, could not do, would not do,
Speaker 1: don't have the guts to ever do. What Chuck Todd did,
Speaker 1: which was historic in an age of the weasel and
Speaker 1: in an era of cowardice. What he said will long
Speaker 1: be remembered, and its mythology will grow. It will become
Speaker 1: a quote that is more expansive over time. Our bosses
Speaker 1: owe you an apology, will come to me, all of
Speaker 1: the media bosses, all of the bosses who put crap.
Speaker 2: Like this on the air.
Speaker 1: And this is what Megan Kelly hasn't understood about America.
Speaker 2: She is like a cloistered person.
Speaker 1: Hidden away from decency at Fox News, and she's had
Speaker 1: a hard time adjusting in America. She's angry at NBC
Speaker 1: News and the journalists there because they drew a line
Speaker 1: at Ronald McDaniel as they drew a line at her comportment.
Speaker 1: It wasn't just that Megan Kelly said it was okay
Speaker 1: to wear blackface in twenty eighteen. It was that Meghan
Speaker 1: Kelly said it was okay to wear blackface in twenty
Speaker 1: and eighteen.
Speaker 3: After doing this, Santa Claus should not be a white
Speaker 3: man anymore. Yet another person claiming it's racist to have
Speaker 3: a white Santa, you know. And by the way, for
Speaker 3: all your kids watching at home, Sanna just is white.
Speaker 3: But this person is just arguing that that maybe we
Speaker 3: should we should also have a black Santa. But you know,
Speaker 3: Santa is what he is. And just so you know,
Speaker 3: we're just debating this because someone wrote about the kids.
Speaker 1: And of course then is heralda Heraldo shows to sit
Speaker 1: in a hive of lying and disinformation as it assaulted
Speaker 1: the bonds of affection between Americans as a propagandized hatred
Speaker 1: as it reawakened and extremism as it helped explode a
Speaker 1: fair election into violence amid accusations of conspiracy, its posts
Speaker 1: became tribunes of a new insanity, a madness.
Speaker 2: One of them is a useful idiot of.
Speaker 1: Such staggering dimensions for Vladimir Putin that his interview is
Speaker 1: now part of the dictator's curriculum in Russian secondary education.
Speaker 1: Quite an accomplishment, Quite a staggering achievement. What all of
Speaker 1: these people do not seem to be able to comprehend,
Speaker 1: perhaps through their shame and the misery it imposes on them,
Speaker 1: is a simple, an elemental.
Speaker 2: Idea. The truth.
Speaker 1: Matters and at NBC News, the audience knows for sure
Speaker 1: that up and down the network, when a liar was
Speaker 1: imposed on the people whose job it is, whose credibility
Speaker 1: is on the line to tell you the truth, those
Speaker 1: people would not be involved in lying to you. And
Speaker 1: for the first time in a long time, somebody in
Speaker 1: the media was on your side.
Speaker 2: And that's why Megan Kelly.
Speaker 1: So upset, and Ari Fleischer and you hear it, and
Speaker 1: all the rest of the people who got.
Speaker 2: In line stayed in line.
Speaker 1: And we'll tell you that red is blue and blue
Speaker 1: is yellow, whatever it is that can get them a buck.
Speaker 1: But at NBC News, something extraordinary happened. A group of
Speaker 1: people did not get in line. They stood tall, and
Speaker 1: that matters a lot in an error where most people
Speaker 1: in positions of power and authority and influence, with credibility
Speaker 1: to spare chose to lie down. Good for them and
Speaker 1: shame on their critics. It's not that the criticism is unjust.
Speaker 1: It's that it's so perfectly clear exactly where it comes from.
Speaker 1: And that's a low place. It's the coward's place, it's
Speaker 1: the liar's place. You deserve better, and you got it.
Speaker 1: That's a good thing. Thank you for listening to my
Speaker 1: political commentary. If you like what you heard today, please
Speaker 1: also consider subscribing to The Warning Daily newsletter on substack