1 00:00:04,795 --> 00:00:22,475 Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. Almost 2 00:00:22,635 --> 00:00:28,715 Speaker 1: nobody has noticed that CNN has changed the time of 3 00:00:28,755 --> 00:00:32,155 Speaker 1: its upcoming betrayal of American journalism at American democracy. And 4 00:00:32,195 --> 00:00:35,275 Speaker 1: this is not trivia. This is another confession of CNN's 5 00:00:35,315 --> 00:00:39,435 Speaker 1: real motives behind its cynical and irresponsible act, and also 6 00:00:39,515 --> 00:00:43,275 Speaker 1: a possible foreshadowing of a coming CNN attempt to launch 7 00:00:43,995 --> 00:00:50,155 Speaker 1: a conservative leaning show in prime time. The original announcement 8 00:00:50,195 --> 00:00:53,715 Speaker 1: and even the promos running on CNN said quite clearly 9 00:00:53,755 --> 00:00:56,595 Speaker 1: that the Trump town Hall was next Wednesday at nine 10 00:00:56,755 --> 00:01:02,395 Speaker 1: pm Eastern. Suddenly yesterday it became next Wednesday at eight 11 00:01:02,595 --> 00:01:08,995 Speaker 1: pm Eastern. So what what used to be on cable 12 00:01:09,035 --> 00:01:14,195 Speaker 1: News at eight pm Eastern as of say, two weeks 13 00:01:14,235 --> 00:01:18,195 Speaker 1: ago tomorrow eight pm Eastern time? What was on Fox 14 00:01:18,395 --> 00:01:19,795 Speaker 1: at eight pm Eastern time? 15 00:01:20,355 --> 00:01:20,595 Speaker 2: Why? 16 00:01:20,915 --> 00:01:27,235 Speaker 1: Eight pm was when Fox put on Tucker Carlson. CNN 17 00:01:27,275 --> 00:01:30,555 Speaker 1: has now trebled down on this Trump town hall madness 18 00:01:30,835 --> 00:01:33,595 Speaker 1: by moving the town hall to the exact hour of 19 00:01:33,675 --> 00:01:37,635 Speaker 1: the conservative viewers discontent, the hour they no longer have 20 00:01:37,795 --> 00:01:43,195 Speaker 1: Tucker Carlson to indoctrinate them. While CNN's executives, especially its 21 00:01:43,235 --> 00:01:47,155 Speaker 1: a moral malefactor CEO Chris Lickt and its unfortunate and 22 00:01:47,275 --> 00:01:51,635 Speaker 1: terrified political director David Shalian continued to spout platitudes about 23 00:01:51,635 --> 00:01:56,435 Speaker 1: the journalistic necessity for turning over editorial control of primetime 24 00:01:56,675 --> 00:02:01,715 Speaker 1: to a manifestly irresponsible and seditious criminal. The real motive 25 00:02:01,875 --> 00:02:06,395 Speaker 1: is as simple as this time shift. Chris Lickt thinks 26 00:02:06,435 --> 00:02:11,795 Speaker 1: he can grab the eight pm conservative audience, the disaffected 27 00:02:11,875 --> 00:02:17,555 Speaker 1: Tucker Carlson crowd next Wednesday. That's all this is. That's 28 00:02:17,755 --> 00:02:22,035 Speaker 1: all that matters to him, that's all he understands, that's 29 00:02:22,195 --> 00:02:27,675 Speaker 1: all he is worth as a human being. And moreover, 30 00:02:28,355 --> 00:02:30,995 Speaker 1: it would not surprise me in the least if licked 31 00:02:31,035 --> 00:02:34,675 Speaker 1: and CNN are contemplating not just a one night pursuit 32 00:02:34,675 --> 00:02:38,675 Speaker 1: of the erstwhile Tucker Carlson crowd, but an actual nightly 33 00:02:38,795 --> 00:02:43,035 Speaker 1: play for it. The new CNN did not have one 34 00:02:43,235 --> 00:02:46,675 Speaker 1: program in the cable news Top twenty five in the 35 00:02:46,675 --> 00:02:50,275 Speaker 1: month of April. Anderson Cooper's eight PM Show was its best. 36 00:02:50,315 --> 00:02:53,955 Speaker 1: It ranked number twenty seven with seven hundred and eighty 37 00:02:53,995 --> 00:02:58,195 Speaker 1: two thousand viewers, five percent less than My Friend Chris 38 00:02:58,275 --> 00:03:02,155 Speaker 1: Jansen Gets on MSNBC and My Friend Chris Jansen is 39 00:03:02,155 --> 00:03:05,755 Speaker 1: on at one in the afternoon on MSNBC, not in 40 00:03:05,835 --> 00:03:12,315 Speaker 1: primetime besides Anderson Cooper's No CNN primetime show even includes 41 00:03:12,355 --> 00:03:15,595 Speaker 1: the name of the anchor or anchors, and last month 42 00:03:15,675 --> 00:03:18,555 Speaker 1: was the first time in four years that CNN lost 43 00:03:18,675 --> 00:03:22,835 Speaker 1: to MSNBC in the so called ad demo of viewers 44 00:03:22,915 --> 00:03:26,715 Speaker 1: age twenty five to fifty four for the entire day, 45 00:03:27,515 --> 00:03:30,275 Speaker 1: and there is somewhere between a million and two million 46 00:03:30,355 --> 00:03:36,675 Speaker 1: Tucker Carlson X viewers up for grabs the booking. As 47 00:03:36,915 --> 00:03:40,995 Speaker 1: puck News naively describes CNN's deal with the Devil, which 48 00:03:41,075 --> 00:03:46,595 Speaker 1: CNN producers, executives, and the events moderator Caitlin Collins spent 49 00:03:46,675 --> 00:03:49,875 Speaker 1: months trying to land finally came together due to a 50 00:03:49,955 --> 00:03:56,395 Speaker 1: confluence of interests. Moderator Caitlin Collins spent months trying to 51 00:03:56,555 --> 00:04:02,115 Speaker 1: land Trump. Hmm. This same article describes the awkward and 52 00:04:02,275 --> 00:04:06,955 Speaker 1: glowering Collins as quote on questionably the network's fastest rising star. 53 00:04:07,475 --> 00:04:12,795 Speaker 1: Her conservative bona fides parentheses Alabama a Daily Caller pedigree 54 00:04:13,035 --> 00:04:17,155 Speaker 1: are instrumental to Licht's efforts to win over conservatives and 55 00:04:17,275 --> 00:04:20,435 Speaker 1: likely played a role in convincing Trump to agree to 56 00:04:20,595 --> 00:04:25,435 Speaker 1: the town Hall. Unquote, the signs are all there and 57 00:04:25,595 --> 00:04:30,955 Speaker 1: in capital letters. CNN sources are pushing not just Trump 58 00:04:31,035 --> 00:04:34,555 Speaker 1: and the town Hall on the more easily manipulated of 59 00:04:34,595 --> 00:04:38,475 Speaker 1: the TV writers, but they are pushing Collins herself. They 60 00:04:38,515 --> 00:04:42,155 Speaker 1: are crediting her in part with getting Trump to return 61 00:04:42,195 --> 00:04:46,675 Speaker 1: to CNN. CNN and its marks among the TV critics 62 00:04:46,875 --> 00:04:49,795 Speaker 1: are sanitizing her past. I mean, do you really want 63 00:04:49,835 --> 00:04:54,075 Speaker 1: to describe her articles in which she compared als charity 64 00:04:54,155 --> 00:04:59,155 Speaker 1: fundraising with the ice bucket challenge to waterboarding at GITMO? 65 00:04:59,355 --> 00:05:04,395 Speaker 1: Do you really want to call that her Daily caller pedigree? 66 00:05:04,835 --> 00:05:07,435 Speaker 1: The ratings say CNN has nothing to lose by moving 67 00:05:07,475 --> 00:05:11,155 Speaker 1: Anderson Cooper elsewhere in primetime from eight o'clock. It's done 68 00:05:11,195 --> 00:05:14,915 Speaker 1: that before. His ratings are as inert, as is his expression. 69 00:05:16,995 --> 00:05:20,355 Speaker 1: So this nightmare scenario is entirely plausible. Stage two of 70 00:05:20,435 --> 00:05:24,275 Speaker 1: Chris Licht's attack on the old, incorrectly perceived as liberal 71 00:05:24,315 --> 00:05:28,155 Speaker 1: CNN could easily be a pursuit of the old Tucker 72 00:05:28,195 --> 00:05:32,035 Speaker 1: Carlson audience. And it could hinge on how well Kitlyn 73 00:05:32,115 --> 00:05:34,755 Speaker 1: Collins does in the town Hall and how well the 74 00:05:34,795 --> 00:05:37,355 Speaker 1: town Hall does in the ratings. And remember, they just 75 00:05:37,435 --> 00:05:40,155 Speaker 1: moved it from nine pm to eight pm and pretended 76 00:05:40,155 --> 00:05:43,875 Speaker 1: they had never ever said it was at nine pm. 77 00:05:45,435 --> 00:05:49,955 Speaker 1: But what does doing well for Kitlyn Collins or for 78 00:05:50,075 --> 00:05:55,075 Speaker 1: CNN at this monstrosity look like? What happens if Collins 79 00:05:55,075 --> 00:05:57,595 Speaker 1: refers to something Trump has previously done or said and 80 00:05:57,635 --> 00:05:59,915 Speaker 1: he denies it ever happened. Do they cut away to 81 00:05:59,995 --> 00:06:03,195 Speaker 1: tape of him doing it or saying it? What exactly 82 00:06:03,195 --> 00:06:08,355 Speaker 1: happens if Trump announces that President Biden eats babies? Does 83 00:06:08,435 --> 00:06:11,435 Speaker 1: Colin say, excuse me, sir, I don't think that's true 84 00:06:11,875 --> 00:06:16,035 Speaker 1: to CNN cut the feed? More realistically, what happens when 85 00:06:16,555 --> 00:06:20,715 Speaker 1: Trump insists the twenty twenty election was fixed, rigged against him, 86 00:06:20,795 --> 00:06:24,315 Speaker 1: as you and I know he will. Is it the 87 00:06:24,395 --> 00:06:27,355 Speaker 1: job of Caitlyn Collins to push back? Or is it 88 00:06:27,435 --> 00:06:31,835 Speaker 1: the job of Kitlyn Collins to not push back? Is 89 00:06:31,915 --> 00:06:35,155 Speaker 1: success for CNN revealing Trump for the psychopath he is? 90 00:06:35,515 --> 00:06:38,555 Speaker 1: Or is success for CNN discovering that among its audience 91 00:06:38,635 --> 00:06:42,675 Speaker 1: next Wednesday night is four hundred thousand displaced Tucker Carlson 92 00:06:42,795 --> 00:06:46,235 Speaker 1: viewers because four hundred thousand more eight pm viewers would 93 00:06:46,235 --> 00:06:51,195 Speaker 1: suddenly put CNN back in the top twenty. Or is 94 00:06:51,195 --> 00:06:56,635 Speaker 1: it something worse still from another website, quote, a Trump 95 00:06:56,715 --> 00:07:01,595 Speaker 1: advisor told semaphores Shlby Talcott that they hope to quote 96 00:07:01,955 --> 00:07:06,835 Speaker 1: jump start the relationship with CNN now that the network 97 00:07:06,875 --> 00:07:13,755 Speaker 1: is under new management. Trump on CNN as a regular feature. 98 00:07:16,475 --> 00:07:19,715 Speaker 1: Nobody who has ever appeared in television has lacked ambition. 99 00:07:20,195 --> 00:07:23,555 Speaker 1: People often say Walter Cronkite would never do that. Well, Hell, 100 00:07:23,675 --> 00:07:26,555 Speaker 1: Walter Cronkite used to go over the daily ratings for 101 00:07:26,635 --> 00:07:29,995 Speaker 1: an hour at a time and analyze the show rundowns 102 00:07:30,035 --> 00:07:35,995 Speaker 1: and curse loudly as warranted. What would Caitlin Collins, seven 103 00:07:36,075 --> 00:07:38,915 Speaker 1: years removed from being an unpaid twenty four year old 104 00:07:38,995 --> 00:07:42,275 Speaker 1: CNN guest be willing to do or say on air 105 00:07:42,955 --> 00:07:46,995 Speaker 1: to become the lead anchor on her network? Well? What 106 00:07:47,155 --> 00:07:51,195 Speaker 1: was Tucker Carlson willing to do or say? As it 107 00:07:51,315 --> 00:07:54,875 Speaker 1: is now the front man for CNN's moral failure. Here 108 00:07:54,955 --> 00:07:59,715 Speaker 1: is its political director, David Shalian quote for us our job, 109 00:07:59,835 --> 00:08:03,795 Speaker 1: despite Trump's unique status, Shally until the Washington Post is 110 00:08:03,955 --> 00:08:06,995 Speaker 1: the same. I don't think our mission is journalist does 111 00:08:06,995 --> 00:08:11,755 Speaker 1: anything less than to cover the news, and he's the news. Unquote. 112 00:08:13,315 --> 00:08:18,675 Speaker 1: Shalian's naivete incredible for anybody in his position anywhere, Stams 113 00:08:18,715 --> 00:08:20,915 Speaker 1: in part from the day when he was the news. 114 00:08:21,115 --> 00:08:24,235 Speaker 1: Shalian was once the Washington bureau chief of Yahoo News. 115 00:08:24,635 --> 00:08:27,595 Speaker 1: He was part of live online coverage of the twenty 116 00:08:27,675 --> 00:08:31,755 Speaker 1: twelve Republican National Convention by Yahoo and ABC News, and 117 00:08:31,795 --> 00:08:34,515 Speaker 1: he was caught on a hot mic making a crash 118 00:08:34,675 --> 00:08:37,995 Speaker 1: joke with racial overtones about Mitt Romney and his wife. 119 00:08:38,675 --> 00:08:42,275 Speaker 1: Yahoo fired him on the spot, and Shalien has been 120 00:08:42,355 --> 00:08:45,715 Speaker 1: terrified of Republican criticism ever since. Just like Chuck Todd, is, 121 00:08:46,115 --> 00:08:48,435 Speaker 1: just like Margaret Brennan, is just like all of them are. 122 00:08:49,395 --> 00:08:54,395 Speaker 1: And this is the guy charged with keeping Trump honest 123 00:08:54,475 --> 00:09:01,435 Speaker 1: on CNN and keeping Caitlin Collins honest too. If there 124 00:09:01,635 --> 00:09:04,555 Speaker 1: is a silver lining here, it is that there have 125 00:09:04,755 --> 00:09:08,115 Speaker 1: finally been some signs of conscience from within CNN about 126 00:09:08,155 --> 00:09:12,755 Speaker 1: this looming debacle. One author record one on the post 127 00:09:12,835 --> 00:09:16,035 Speaker 1: reporting quote. A CNN staffer, speaking on the condition of 128 00:09:16,075 --> 00:09:18,875 Speaker 1: anonymity to be candid about his employer, called the decision 129 00:09:18,915 --> 00:09:22,755 Speaker 1: baffling quote. He's going to be taking questions from voters. 130 00:09:23,075 --> 00:09:25,955 Speaker 1: This staffer asked, this was the guy who tried to 131 00:09:25,995 --> 00:09:29,955 Speaker 1: overturn what voters decided in twenty twenty end quote a 132 00:09:29,955 --> 00:09:33,835 Speaker 1: good point. Except the voters to whom CNN has also 133 00:09:33,995 --> 00:09:37,315 Speaker 1: seeded editorial control at the town hall think that's a 134 00:09:37,395 --> 00:09:42,235 Speaker 1: good thing. Remember, these are not just voter voters. These 135 00:09:42,315 --> 00:09:47,075 Speaker 1: will only be people voting in the New Hampshire Republican primary. 136 00:09:48,675 --> 00:09:52,755 Speaker 1: More owned up to and more disturbing yet, puck News 137 00:09:52,795 --> 00:09:55,795 Speaker 1: reports that the former US Capitol police officer and January 138 00:09:55,835 --> 00:10:00,715 Speaker 1: sixth victim, Michael Fennone, now a CNN contributor, submitted an 139 00:10:00,755 --> 00:10:05,115 Speaker 1: op ed he wrote for CNN's website in which he wrote, quote, 140 00:10:05,235 --> 00:10:08,515 Speaker 1: allowing Donald Trump an open forum on a major television 141 00:10:08,515 --> 00:10:11,715 Speaker 1: news network is the moral equivalent of putting an AR 142 00:10:11,835 --> 00:10:17,475 Speaker 1: fifteen in the hands of someone mentally unstable. Mister Fennone 143 00:10:17,515 --> 00:10:19,675 Speaker 1: says CNN will not run his op ed, which is 144 00:10:19,715 --> 00:10:22,435 Speaker 1: odd since it seems to be pretty much a statement 145 00:10:22,435 --> 00:10:25,595 Speaker 1: of fact. And it's odder since the new Lichti in 146 00:10:25,675 --> 00:10:28,595 Speaker 1: CNN is supposed to be all about nonpartisanship or at 147 00:10:28,675 --> 00:10:33,195 Speaker 1: least balance, and somebody somewhere within the CNN galaxy should 148 00:10:33,235 --> 00:10:36,915 Speaker 1: be publicly pushing back against the whorehouse Chris Lickt has 149 00:10:36,915 --> 00:10:41,715 Speaker 1: turned the place into Fannone also says he asked for 150 00:10:41,755 --> 00:10:44,675 Speaker 1: a forum in which he could debate Chris lickt about 151 00:10:44,675 --> 00:10:47,755 Speaker 1: this town hall. Well, guess what the answer to that was. 152 00:10:49,075 --> 00:10:50,875 Speaker 1: There is a reason I always say that when we 153 00:10:50,875 --> 00:10:54,275 Speaker 1: were at MSNBC together, we used to think Chris licked 154 00:10:54,395 --> 00:11:00,435 Speaker 1: eight paste. There is a second TV news story I 155 00:11:00,475 --> 00:11:03,675 Speaker 1: have something on. It is tangentially related to licked Burning 156 00:11:03,715 --> 00:11:06,995 Speaker 1: down CNN, and he and Caitlyn Collins watching in gleeful 157 00:11:07,115 --> 00:11:10,515 Speaker 1: fascination as it burns. It is the aftermath of the 158 00:11:10,555 --> 00:11:14,435 Speaker 1: Tucker Carlson firing. Oddly enough, the term burning down applies 159 00:11:14,475 --> 00:11:17,075 Speaker 1: here too. Please do not mistake any of this for 160 00:11:17,235 --> 00:11:21,115 Speaker 1: sympathy or empathy. I heard it as early as last week, 161 00:11:21,155 --> 00:11:22,995 Speaker 1: and it has been getting louder and louder. And it 162 00:11:23,035 --> 00:11:25,675 Speaker 1: crested Tuesday night with The New York Times publishing the 163 00:11:25,795 --> 00:11:29,515 Speaker 1: unredacted Exhibit two hundred and seventy six from the Fox 164 00:11:29,555 --> 00:11:33,155 Speaker 1: dominion suit, the now infamous It's not how white men 165 00:11:33,195 --> 00:11:37,795 Speaker 1: fight Tucker Carlson text. The sentiment is not at issue, 166 00:11:38,035 --> 00:11:40,875 Speaker 1: as I said yesterday, from having worked with him, that's 167 00:11:41,035 --> 00:11:45,755 Speaker 1: who he is. It may be his family crest what 168 00:11:45,875 --> 00:11:49,475 Speaker 1: Fox perceived as the damage seems less mysterious. To most 169 00:11:49,515 --> 00:11:51,915 Speaker 1: people than it did initially. If there had been a 170 00:11:51,955 --> 00:11:54,675 Speaker 1: trial and there had not been a Carlson firing, Dominion's 171 00:11:54,675 --> 00:11:57,115 Speaker 1: attorneys would have been within their rights to have called 172 00:11:57,155 --> 00:12:00,115 Speaker 1: Tucker Carlson to testify an open court, then hand him 173 00:12:00,115 --> 00:12:03,515 Speaker 1: that text and have him read it aloud. That alone 174 00:12:03,555 --> 00:12:06,675 Speaker 1: could have sparked backlashes on the Fox board and more importantly, 175 00:12:07,155 --> 00:12:10,035 Speaker 1: among the cable carriers that Fox is trying to get 176 00:12:10,035 --> 00:12:14,075 Speaker 1: more money out of. But no, it's neither of those things. 177 00:12:14,835 --> 00:12:18,475 Speaker 1: People are also struggling to figure out who leaked the 178 00:12:18,595 --> 00:12:22,155 Speaker 1: text and who leaked the details of how much Carlson 179 00:12:22,235 --> 00:12:26,275 Speaker 1: was despised within Fox, and who leaked who keeps leaking 180 00:12:26,635 --> 00:12:31,675 Speaker 1: all of these outtake videos of him? Who? And why? 181 00:12:33,755 --> 00:12:43,995 Speaker 1: Who seriously Fox leaked them? Duh? Why? Ah? Another easy 182 00:12:44,075 --> 00:12:50,315 Speaker 1: question because I don't just know it, I've lived it. 183 00:12:51,875 --> 00:13:09,635 Speaker 1: The answer that's next this is countdown postscripts to the news. So, 184 00:13:09,755 --> 00:13:14,035 Speaker 1: as promised, of course, Fox leaked the it isn't how 185 00:13:14,115 --> 00:13:17,515 Speaker 1: white men fight Tucker Carlson text, just as of course 186 00:13:17,555 --> 00:13:20,835 Speaker 1: Fox leaked the video of Carlson bantering with Pierce Morgan 187 00:13:20,875 --> 00:13:23,955 Speaker 1: and swearing at media. Matters for America meant bellowing about 188 00:13:23,955 --> 00:13:26,635 Speaker 1: how mean the Dominion lawyer was to him during his deposition, 189 00:13:26,955 --> 00:13:31,915 Speaker 1: and then trashing his own employer's website. Not complicated. It 190 00:13:31,995 --> 00:13:37,595 Speaker 1: dirties him up. It reduces, maybe completely, maybe negligibly, the 191 00:13:37,715 --> 00:13:42,315 Speaker 1: chances that somebody else hires Tucker Carlson, given the blind 192 00:13:42,395 --> 00:13:45,035 Speaker 1: Trump like loyalty to Carlson. That may be a pipe dream. 193 00:13:45,235 --> 00:13:47,595 Speaker 1: But the win win out of this for Fox is 194 00:13:47,635 --> 00:13:51,755 Speaker 1: for Tucker Carlson to disappear, to not wind up at 195 00:13:51,755 --> 00:13:58,195 Speaker 1: eight pm on Newsmax Oran or News Nation or America's 196 00:13:58,195 --> 00:14:02,275 Speaker 1: Got Fascists or whatever channel has dropped his name since 197 00:14:02,315 --> 00:14:06,115 Speaker 1: the firing. Make him look like a disloyal employee, like 198 00:14:06,155 --> 00:14:09,475 Speaker 1: a loose cannon, like a perpetual problem, like a whatever. 199 00:14:10,115 --> 00:14:11,995 Speaker 1: Do it well enough, and you might even make those 200 00:14:12,035 --> 00:14:16,315 Speaker 1: who would finance a Tucker Carlson's startup think twice or 201 00:14:16,355 --> 00:14:20,035 Speaker 1: invest less. Even do it superficially, and you can make 202 00:14:20,075 --> 00:14:25,955 Speaker 1: Tucker Carlson in his new job look bad or feel bad. 203 00:14:26,235 --> 00:14:31,035 Speaker 1: At minimum. It is revenge. How do I know this? 204 00:14:31,635 --> 00:14:36,395 Speaker 1: It's been done to me six times that I recall, 205 00:14:36,595 --> 00:14:40,595 Speaker 1: twice in cable news, twice in cable sports, once in 206 00:14:40,635 --> 00:14:43,635 Speaker 1: local TV news thirty nine years ago once in network 207 00:14:43,715 --> 00:14:46,795 Speaker 1: radio longer ago than that. I'll give you the details, 208 00:14:46,835 --> 00:14:49,435 Speaker 1: but first just put yourself for a moment in the 209 00:14:49,515 --> 00:14:54,675 Speaker 1: role of Chris Ruddy at Newsmax or Heinrich Himmler of 210 00:14:54,715 --> 00:14:59,835 Speaker 1: America's Got Fascists. TV executives are the biggest prima donnas 211 00:15:00,075 --> 00:15:03,435 Speaker 1: in the world. I have met maybe three of them 212 00:15:03,435 --> 00:15:06,755 Speaker 1: in my life who would willingly hire a new and 213 00:15:06,915 --> 00:15:12,475 Speaker 1: whiney employee. And I confess to often being said whiney employee. 214 00:15:13,275 --> 00:15:15,955 Speaker 1: Hire that person and ignore the whininess and think only 215 00:15:15,995 --> 00:15:18,475 Speaker 1: of the ratings and the quality and the prophet. One 216 00:15:18,555 --> 00:15:21,155 Speaker 1: of them is Jeff Zucker. One of them, oddly enough, 217 00:15:21,275 --> 00:15:25,835 Speaker 1: is Rupert Murdoch. The rest of them are soft as grapes, 218 00:15:26,355 --> 00:15:29,675 Speaker 1: and they will take no drama, even when it means 219 00:15:29,915 --> 00:15:37,995 Speaker 1: no ratings every damn time. And you thought they were businessmen. Well, 220 00:15:38,035 --> 00:15:42,795 Speaker 1: to be fair, I thought they were businessmen too. You're 221 00:15:42,875 --> 00:15:47,075 Speaker 1: the guy who wants to hire Tucker Carlson, and you 222 00:15:47,195 --> 00:15:52,315 Speaker 1: hear this and you think, what, well, I feel great. 223 00:15:52,435 --> 00:15:56,275 Speaker 3: You know, I can never I can never assess my appearance. 224 00:15:56,435 --> 00:16:00,475 Speaker 3: I wait for my post mental puzzle fans to weigh 225 00:16:00,515 --> 00:16:01,395 Speaker 3: in on that. 226 00:16:02,075 --> 00:16:07,235 Speaker 1: Oh great, postmenopausal fans. So you think at some point 227 00:16:07,275 --> 00:16:09,435 Speaker 1: there'll be a tape of him disparaging the age of 228 00:16:09,475 --> 00:16:15,235 Speaker 1: our female audience. And then then you hear this. 229 00:16:15,235 --> 00:16:17,355 Speaker 3: This is airing on the nighttime show, and I wanted 230 00:16:17,395 --> 00:16:18,955 Speaker 3: to look official. I don't want it to be like 231 00:16:18,995 --> 00:16:23,555 Speaker 3: bro talk, I and I you know what I mean, give. 232 00:16:23,355 --> 00:16:25,435 Speaker 1: It a majority of it, Like if we go like 233 00:16:25,435 --> 00:16:27,555 Speaker 1: forty five minutes, it's gonna be pro Foxnation. 234 00:16:27,715 --> 00:16:31,275 Speaker 3: Nobody's gonna watch it on Foxnation. Nobody watches Foxnation because 235 00:16:31,315 --> 00:16:32,075 Speaker 3: the site sucks. 236 00:16:32,795 --> 00:16:36,595 Speaker 1: Oh great, Ron Vibbentrop and I are trying to build 237 00:16:36,595 --> 00:16:40,075 Speaker 1: our America's Got fascist brand, trying to move up from 238 00:16:40,115 --> 00:16:43,995 Speaker 1: plucky outsiders to challenging Fox, and this idiot will be 239 00:16:44,035 --> 00:16:47,115 Speaker 1: bad mouthing the Marquee show on our sub channel called 240 00:16:47,715 --> 00:16:53,315 Speaker 1: called I did not see that coming. You got it yet, 241 00:16:54,875 --> 00:16:58,835 Speaker 1: That's what they're trying to do to Tucker Carlson, Oh no, stop, 242 00:16:59,595 --> 00:17:03,835 Speaker 1: oh no. So I promised some details on my personal 243 00:17:03,955 --> 00:17:07,635 Speaker 1: experience with this dirtying up process. This was first done 244 00:17:07,635 --> 00:17:09,475 Speaker 1: to me, as I said in radio, when I was 245 00:17:09,555 --> 00:17:13,195 Speaker 1: twenty one years old, on my last scheduled weekend before 246 00:17:13,195 --> 00:17:16,395 Speaker 1: I left my old network, UPI for my new one RKO, 247 00:17:16,795 --> 00:17:20,955 Speaker 1: I caught strep throat and I called in sick. The 248 00:17:21,115 --> 00:17:24,675 Speaker 1: business editor at my old network, a tiny jackass named 249 00:17:24,715 --> 00:17:28,595 Speaker 1: Mike Alibaw, told everybody at UPI and a bunch of 250 00:17:28,635 --> 00:17:31,235 Speaker 1: people at other New York radio outlets that I had 251 00:17:31,315 --> 00:17:34,875 Speaker 1: faked the illness, that he had heard me doing my 252 00:17:35,075 --> 00:17:40,635 Speaker 1: new job that very day. Happily, the enraged UPI general 253 00:17:40,675 --> 00:17:45,755 Speaker 1: manager phoned me at home to threaten me. I answered, olloh, 254 00:17:45,795 --> 00:17:48,555 Speaker 1: and he did not even recognize my voice. Can I 255 00:17:48,595 --> 00:17:53,915 Speaker 1: talk to Keith please, I said, speaking, and he said no, 256 00:17:54,115 --> 00:17:58,435 Speaker 1: can I talk to Keith Olboman please. That got resolved 257 00:17:58,475 --> 00:18:02,115 Speaker 1: fairly quickly, but it was my first experience with dirtying 258 00:18:02,195 --> 00:18:05,875 Speaker 1: up somebody on the way out. After I left a 259 00:18:05,915 --> 00:18:09,595 Speaker 1: TV job in Boston, the GM of that station, James Coppersmith, 260 00:18:09,675 --> 00:18:12,275 Speaker 1: not only told my agent and the local newspapers he 261 00:18:12,315 --> 00:18:15,835 Speaker 1: will never again work in this business, but he called 262 00:18:15,835 --> 00:18:19,195 Speaker 1: the general manager of a rival Boston TV station which 263 00:18:19,195 --> 00:18:21,875 Speaker 1: had previously offered me a job, and he trashed me 264 00:18:21,915 --> 00:18:26,075 Speaker 1: to him too. The first time I left ESPN in 265 00:18:26,155 --> 00:18:29,355 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety seven to go to MSNBC and NBC, the 266 00:18:29,475 --> 00:18:32,995 Speaker 1: parting was actually amicable. The president of the network asked 267 00:18:33,035 --> 00:18:36,155 Speaker 1: me to come back as a guest on some ESPN shows. 268 00:18:36,675 --> 00:18:40,275 Speaker 1: Bob Iiger, chairman of Disney then ends now, said if 269 00:18:40,275 --> 00:18:42,515 Speaker 1: you ever want to work here again, call me personally. 270 00:18:43,435 --> 00:18:45,315 Speaker 1: Then about five months later, I got a call from 271 00:18:45,395 --> 00:18:50,515 Speaker 1: Rudy Martsky, the TV sports columnist from USA Today. Another 272 00:18:50,675 --> 00:18:53,995 Speaker 1: top level ESPN executive had called Rudy and read him 273 00:18:54,475 --> 00:18:59,155 Speaker 1: the ratings of my new MSNBC show. The ratings were microscopic. 274 00:19:00,835 --> 00:19:03,235 Speaker 1: I don't think Rudy remembered. He was not supposed to 275 00:19:03,275 --> 00:19:05,675 Speaker 1: tell me about the call in who it was from, 276 00:19:05,995 --> 00:19:09,075 Speaker 1: but that was Rudy. They tried to dirty me up. 277 00:19:09,635 --> 00:19:11,755 Speaker 1: I got mad, so I tried to dirty them up, 278 00:19:11,755 --> 00:19:13,595 Speaker 1: and the next thing I knew, we were in a 279 00:19:13,755 --> 00:19:18,075 Speaker 1: nuclear war. ESPN and me. Fox Sports did it to 280 00:19:18,155 --> 00:19:20,555 Speaker 1: me in two thousand and one, after Rupert Murdoch fired me. 281 00:19:21,115 --> 00:19:23,595 Speaker 1: They trashed me to a guy named Chris Ballard at 282 00:19:23,595 --> 00:19:26,475 Speaker 1: Sports Illustrated, and then they gave him my email and 283 00:19:26,515 --> 00:19:29,035 Speaker 1: they said I was ready to talk to him, never 284 00:19:29,075 --> 00:19:31,235 Speaker 1: telling me that that's what they told him, Also never 285 00:19:31,315 --> 00:19:33,915 Speaker 1: telling him that before they told him that they'd first 286 00:19:33,955 --> 00:19:37,355 Speaker 1: shut off my access to my email, so it said 287 00:19:37,355 --> 00:19:41,915 Speaker 1: in his article that I didn't comment, don't put it 288 00:19:41,955 --> 00:19:45,715 Speaker 1: in the paper. I was mad. They also planted something 289 00:19:45,715 --> 00:19:48,115 Speaker 1: in the New York Daily News asking why in my 290 00:19:48,235 --> 00:19:51,875 Speaker 1: farewell statement I had not thanked several Fox Sports executives. Well, 291 00:19:51,875 --> 00:19:56,515 Speaker 1: maybe because they and Murdoch had just fired me. MSNBC 292 00:19:56,675 --> 00:19:58,835 Speaker 1: did this to me more pertinently when I left there 293 00:19:58,875 --> 00:20:02,035 Speaker 1: in twenty eleven, after they breached my contract, there was 294 00:20:02,115 --> 00:20:06,635 Speaker 1: a strict non disparagement clause. Then I started reading story 295 00:20:06,675 --> 00:20:09,955 Speaker 1: after story after story about warnings I had been issued 296 00:20:10,115 --> 00:20:13,395 Speaker 1: by executives which never happened, and their version of the 297 00:20:13,475 --> 00:20:15,875 Speaker 1: day the chairman of GE nearly took the network off 298 00:20:15,875 --> 00:20:18,795 Speaker 1: the air because his mommy, the Fox fan, told him to. 299 00:20:19,555 --> 00:20:22,875 Speaker 1: And finally I read about how I had appalled colleagues 300 00:20:22,915 --> 00:20:27,315 Speaker 1: by wearing five toed running shoes in the office. All 301 00:20:27,355 --> 00:20:30,555 Speaker 1: of these stories were from NBC sources unnamed. Of course, 302 00:20:31,795 --> 00:20:34,355 Speaker 1: some of it matched word for word with the same 303 00:20:34,555 --> 00:20:37,835 Speaker 1: unnamed NBC sources had said eight years earlier when they 304 00:20:37,835 --> 00:20:40,635 Speaker 1: had fired Phil Donahue. And I know that because I 305 00:20:40,755 --> 00:20:43,795 Speaker 1: was already at MSNBC when they fired Phil Donahue, and 306 00:20:43,875 --> 00:20:46,635 Speaker 1: I was in the office as one of the anonymous 307 00:20:46,635 --> 00:20:49,395 Speaker 1: sources called a writer he knew and read most of 308 00:20:49,435 --> 00:20:52,475 Speaker 1: the smears about Donahue to that writer off a page 309 00:20:52,475 --> 00:20:58,755 Speaker 1: of talking points. MSNBC's campaign against me in twenty eleven 310 00:20:58,835 --> 00:21:01,235 Speaker 1: was designed to keep me from being hired anywhere else 311 00:21:01,275 --> 00:21:03,955 Speaker 1: in news. Happily, they did not know I had already 312 00:21:03,955 --> 00:21:08,515 Speaker 1: agreed to join Al Gore's Current TV before I left NBC. Unhappily, 313 00:21:08,635 --> 00:21:11,835 Speaker 1: I didn't know that Current TV was just a scam 314 00:21:11,915 --> 00:21:15,235 Speaker 1: by Gore's business partner to raise the price at which 315 00:21:15,235 --> 00:21:18,315 Speaker 1: he could sell the network to Al Jazeera. When he 316 00:21:18,355 --> 00:21:21,995 Speaker 1: got that price, he suddenly stopped paying me. Then he 317 00:21:22,075 --> 00:21:24,595 Speaker 1: hired an ex White House spin doctor who announced to 318 00:21:24,595 --> 00:21:30,235 Speaker 1: the public that I had violated CURRENTS values of respect, openness, collegiality, 319 00:21:30,275 --> 00:21:34,115 Speaker 1: and loyalty. This is after they stopped paying my paycheck. 320 00:21:34,995 --> 00:21:37,915 Speaker 1: The spin doctor then leaked that I was so disrespectful 321 00:21:38,635 --> 00:21:42,555 Speaker 1: that I had insulted car service drivers everywhere by demanding 322 00:21:42,875 --> 00:21:45,675 Speaker 1: that my assistant get a new company to come pick 323 00:21:45,715 --> 00:21:49,035 Speaker 1: me up as it said in my contract, because my 324 00:21:49,275 --> 00:21:54,635 Speaker 1: driver smelled bad. This guy even produced my email and 325 00:21:54,675 --> 00:21:58,635 Speaker 1: showed it to reporters to prove it was true. Of course, 326 00:21:58,675 --> 00:22:00,795 Speaker 1: he left out the fact that the driver did smell 327 00:22:00,835 --> 00:22:04,315 Speaker 1: bad because the driver had been smoking inside the car 328 00:22:04,715 --> 00:22:07,355 Speaker 1: while he was driving me to the Current TV studio. 329 00:22:07,755 --> 00:22:10,715 Speaker 1: And this was the sixth or seventh different car service 330 00:22:10,755 --> 00:22:13,275 Speaker 1: we had in the previous month, because Current TV had 331 00:22:13,275 --> 00:22:17,155 Speaker 1: stopped paying its bills and the good car services would 332 00:22:17,235 --> 00:22:19,955 Speaker 1: no longer pick me up or pick up any of 333 00:22:19,995 --> 00:22:25,795 Speaker 1: our guests for the show. Anyway, the video part of 334 00:22:25,835 --> 00:22:29,075 Speaker 1: the Carlson thing is kind of new. I have seen 335 00:22:29,115 --> 00:22:31,395 Speaker 1: it done before by employers who did not want to 336 00:22:31,555 --> 00:22:34,755 Speaker 1: fire a talent so much as to merely embarrass or 337 00:22:34,835 --> 00:22:37,435 Speaker 1: discipline them. And the next thing you knew, his off 338 00:22:37,515 --> 00:22:41,875 Speaker 1: air comments were on somebody else's website somewhere. Most people, 339 00:22:41,915 --> 00:22:44,035 Speaker 1: of course, who were on TV know not to say 340 00:22:44,115 --> 00:22:50,755 Speaker 1: anything of substance, anything angry, funny, complimentary, or otherwise while 341 00:22:50,795 --> 00:22:54,755 Speaker 1: a camera or a microphone is or could be on. 342 00:22:55,675 --> 00:22:59,115 Speaker 1: But as we have found out this week, somebody who 343 00:22:59,115 --> 00:23:01,915 Speaker 1: does not know that is Tucker Carlson. 344 00:23:02,275 --> 00:23:04,155 Speaker 3: You wouldn't, okay, I'm not you know what, I'm not 345 00:23:04,235 --> 00:23:07,115 Speaker 3: qualified on that score. I will say I thought his 346 00:23:07,155 --> 00:23:08,475 Speaker 3: girlfriend was funny, yummy. 347 00:23:10,515 --> 00:23:15,595 Speaker 2: Just kidding, just kitting cases. Is being pulled off the bird. Yeah, 348 00:23:15,635 --> 00:23:20,995 Speaker 2: the bird. Hey, medium matters for America. Go yourself. 349 00:23:21,395 --> 00:23:44,075 Speaker 3: That's the first thing I want to say. 350 00:23:22,555 --> 00:23:35,715 Speaker 1: To the number one story on the countdown on my 351 00:23:35,755 --> 00:23:38,715 Speaker 1: favorite topic, Me and things I promised not to tell. 352 00:23:39,235 --> 00:23:41,155 Speaker 1: As if the entire show has not been about my 353 00:23:41,195 --> 00:23:44,435 Speaker 1: favorite topic, me, The first two parts of this edition 354 00:23:44,475 --> 00:23:47,515 Speaker 1: of the podcast have been about politics and television and 355 00:23:47,595 --> 00:23:51,555 Speaker 1: Fox Quote News and me. So fittingly so is this 356 00:23:51,635 --> 00:23:56,555 Speaker 1: part just about this time of year? Early May late 357 00:23:56,595 --> 00:24:01,635 Speaker 1: April nineteen ninety eight, twenty five years ago, I went 358 00:24:01,715 --> 00:24:05,795 Speaker 1: on my second and final date with somebody who had 359 00:24:05,795 --> 00:24:09,315 Speaker 1: been one of the originals at MSNBC, and in November 360 00:24:09,355 --> 00:24:11,435 Speaker 1: of nineteen ninety seven she had appeared on my show 361 00:24:11,435 --> 00:24:13,915 Speaker 1: as a guest for the first time. She was paid 362 00:24:13,955 --> 00:24:16,315 Speaker 1: to be there on the show, not the date, and 363 00:24:16,395 --> 00:24:21,435 Speaker 1: her name was Laura Ingram. This began a process that 364 00:24:21,595 --> 00:24:26,435 Speaker 1: ended in us going out on two dates, and something 365 00:24:26,475 --> 00:24:28,595 Speaker 1: she told me on the first of these dates has 366 00:24:28,675 --> 00:24:32,555 Speaker 1: resonated with me literally every month since and is relevant 367 00:24:32,715 --> 00:24:40,195 Speaker 1: to politics today. I did not so much date her 368 00:24:40,315 --> 00:24:44,955 Speaker 1: as survive her. Even then before nine to eleven helped 369 00:24:44,995 --> 00:24:48,395 Speaker 1: to slide her cheese off her cracker. I find a 370 00:24:48,435 --> 00:24:52,595 Speaker 1: diary entry referring to her as Hurricane Laura. That was 371 00:24:52,635 --> 00:24:57,355 Speaker 1: March fifteenth, nineteen ninety eight. Beware the IDEs of March 372 00:24:57,835 --> 00:25:04,555 Speaker 1: Julius Caesar. I didn't, honestly, and God helped me. Nearly 373 00:25:04,675 --> 00:25:06,475 Speaker 1: forty eight years of dating, I have not been a 374 00:25:06,515 --> 00:25:09,675 Speaker 1: kiss and teller. I have dated. I don't know dozens. 375 00:25:09,955 --> 00:25:14,435 Speaker 1: We're in a couple of hundred, actually thirteen, seriously, with 376 00:25:14,475 --> 00:25:17,475 Speaker 1: maybe three exceptions. You don't know any of their names. 377 00:25:18,115 --> 00:25:20,915 Speaker 1: One of them, now a political writer, basically lived with 378 00:25:20,995 --> 00:25:26,155 Speaker 1: me for three years. I keep that confidence. So why 379 00:25:26,195 --> 00:25:29,435 Speaker 1: am I telling this story violating that? Because not three 380 00:25:29,515 --> 00:25:32,515 Speaker 1: months after that first date, when we were still going out, 381 00:25:33,235 --> 00:25:35,115 Speaker 1: Laura Ingram asked me if she could look at a 382 00:25:35,115 --> 00:25:37,755 Speaker 1: speech I was going to give it Corneill's graduation weekend 383 00:25:38,115 --> 00:25:42,715 Speaker 1: and offer suggestions. This is so long ago. I literally 384 00:25:42,915 --> 00:25:47,075 Speaker 1: faxed it to her. Sure Enough, a couple days later, 385 00:25:47,395 --> 00:25:50,675 Speaker 1: I'm watching Imus in the morning, which was televised by 386 00:25:50,715 --> 00:25:54,435 Speaker 1: my network MSNBC, and there on his desk in front 387 00:25:54,475 --> 00:25:57,955 Speaker 1: of him is the FAXT copy of my speech, and 388 00:25:57,995 --> 00:26:02,475 Speaker 1: he is reading from my facts. I could recognize the 389 00:26:02,555 --> 00:26:07,035 Speaker 1: exact sequence of the vertical stripes. My cheap fax machine 390 00:26:07,115 --> 00:26:11,315 Speaker 1: used to streak all my outgoing pages with Laura used 391 00:26:11,315 --> 00:26:13,835 Speaker 1: to go on his show a lot, so to curry 392 00:26:13,835 --> 00:26:18,475 Speaker 1: favor with Imus. She sent him the speech without asking me, 393 00:26:19,635 --> 00:26:23,315 Speaker 1: as I told her that day. All bets are now off. 394 00:26:24,275 --> 00:26:27,155 Speaker 1: So I've told parts of this story before, like she 395 00:26:27,315 --> 00:26:30,715 Speaker 1: had been a Supreme Court clerk for Clarence Thomas, and 396 00:26:30,875 --> 00:26:33,755 Speaker 1: our first date consisted of taking me on an insider's 397 00:26:33,755 --> 00:26:36,035 Speaker 1: tour of the court and having me sit in his 398 00:26:36,275 --> 00:26:39,195 Speaker 1: chair in tribute to him. I did not say or 399 00:26:39,235 --> 00:26:43,235 Speaker 1: do anything constructive. She then cooked me the largest steak 400 00:26:43,275 --> 00:26:45,755 Speaker 1: I had ever seen that did not have a rodeo 401 00:26:45,795 --> 00:26:49,315 Speaker 1: cowboy riding on it, and we watched a woman later 402 00:26:49,395 --> 00:26:52,715 Speaker 1: discredited because she could not keep her stories straight, go 403 00:26:52,755 --> 00:26:56,275 Speaker 1: on sixty minutes and make allegations against Bill Clinton. This 404 00:26:56,515 --> 00:27:01,515 Speaker 1: is my perfect date, Laura told me, seared into my memory. 405 00:27:03,035 --> 00:27:06,715 Speaker 1: But the important Laura Ingram story sitting there in the 406 00:27:06,715 --> 00:27:09,595 Speaker 1: middle of all the debris. I don't think I've ever 407 00:27:09,635 --> 00:27:13,875 Speaker 1: told this. The first date was only about six weeks 408 00:27:13,915 --> 00:27:16,155 Speaker 1: after the then First Lady Hillary Clinton got on the 409 00:27:16,155 --> 00:27:20,155 Speaker 1: Today Show and blamed the at best exaggerated scandal about 410 00:27:20,155 --> 00:27:23,875 Speaker 1: her husband at Monica Lewinsky on the quote vast right 411 00:27:23,915 --> 00:27:29,355 Speaker 1: wing conspiracy that is sound stumpid. Laura said that night, 412 00:27:29,395 --> 00:27:32,355 Speaker 1: as she showed me her small office upstairs, I expected 413 00:27:32,355 --> 00:27:34,715 Speaker 1: that she was about to decry the idea that Republicans 414 00:27:34,715 --> 00:27:39,075 Speaker 1: would exploit television, talk radio and the brand new Internet 415 00:27:39,275 --> 00:27:41,555 Speaker 1: to try to bring down a president from the other party. 416 00:27:41,595 --> 00:27:45,515 Speaker 1: And I said, so naive little boy that I was no, 417 00:27:45,795 --> 00:27:49,435 Speaker 1: not that, of course we're doing that. She was kind 418 00:27:49,435 --> 00:27:52,835 Speaker 1: of offended that I doubted the conspiracy part. I explained, 419 00:27:52,875 --> 00:27:55,875 Speaker 1: I'd only been covering politics for two months. At the 420 00:27:55,995 --> 00:27:59,635 Speaker 1: end of the day, she said, end of the day, constantly, 421 00:27:59,835 --> 00:28:02,555 Speaker 1: at the end of the day, it's that vast part. 422 00:28:02,795 --> 00:28:06,795 Speaker 1: It's not vast, vast wayne conspiracy. Why, I bet there's 423 00:28:06,835 --> 00:28:11,395 Speaker 1: not even thirty of us. Laura Ingram then explained that 424 00:28:11,435 --> 00:28:13,955 Speaker 1: she was essentially the central desk for what she called 425 00:28:13,995 --> 00:28:17,675 Speaker 1: the miniature right wing conspiracy. She showed me a printed 426 00:28:17,715 --> 00:28:20,515 Speaker 1: page that had the facts numbers of about two dozen people. 427 00:28:20,875 --> 00:28:24,115 Speaker 1: There at the top are the sources, She said. There 428 00:28:24,195 --> 00:28:26,795 Speaker 1: was Ted Olsen, the attorney, founder of the so called 429 00:28:26,915 --> 00:28:30,155 Speaker 1: Arkansas Project and the husband of Barbara Olson, a constant 430 00:28:30,275 --> 00:28:33,595 Speaker 1: presence as a talking head on cable news. She later 431 00:28:33,635 --> 00:28:37,515 Speaker 1: died on nine to eleven. Everybody liked her. There were 432 00:28:37,515 --> 00:28:40,435 Speaker 1: several numbers in the Office of Independent Counsel ken Starr. 433 00:28:40,435 --> 00:28:44,475 Speaker 1: One of them read B. Kavanaugh. I said, who's that? 434 00:28:44,635 --> 00:28:48,195 Speaker 1: She said, nobody impartant. The only other name I remember 435 00:28:48,275 --> 00:28:50,915 Speaker 1: was Spencer Abraham, who then was a senator from Michigan. 436 00:28:51,475 --> 00:28:54,195 Speaker 1: She said, they, including the people in ken Starr's office, 437 00:28:54,235 --> 00:28:58,755 Speaker 1: sent her all the rumors, the ideas, stuff about Clinton. 438 00:28:59,275 --> 00:29:02,315 Speaker 1: Stuff they made up, and she distributed them to the 439 00:29:02,355 --> 00:29:05,795 Speaker 1: other parts of the list. That's these numbers. One number 440 00:29:05,875 --> 00:29:12,835 Speaker 1: was marked Hannity Radio, another Hannity TV, O'Reilly Radio, O'Reilly TV. 441 00:29:12,915 --> 00:29:16,395 Speaker 1: There was one for Limbaugh. There was one mark Justice Thomas, 442 00:29:16,395 --> 00:29:20,315 Speaker 1: and I pointed to it. He likes to stay and farmed. Now, 443 00:29:20,315 --> 00:29:22,435 Speaker 1: maybe the most important name is not on that list. 444 00:29:22,475 --> 00:29:27,515 Speaker 1: That's Matt Dradge. She said. Matt Drudge used all her stuff, 445 00:29:28,395 --> 00:29:30,115 Speaker 1: but he didn't want any of it to be traceable, 446 00:29:30,235 --> 00:29:33,675 Speaker 1: very big on not traceable, so I never fax it 447 00:29:33,755 --> 00:29:35,875 Speaker 1: to him. She said, I just give it to my brother. 448 00:29:36,355 --> 00:29:39,755 Speaker 1: This is when she still liked her brother. He sees 449 00:29:39,835 --> 00:29:43,635 Speaker 1: Drudge all the time. He gives the stuff to Drudge now, Oliver, 450 00:29:43,755 --> 00:29:48,075 Speaker 1: here is my baseball collection. See there were reasons to 451 00:29:48,115 --> 00:29:51,795 Speaker 1: go out with her. At the time, I could think 452 00:29:51,835 --> 00:29:54,715 Speaker 1: only of an old cartoon I had once seen. It 453 00:29:54,755 --> 00:29:58,315 Speaker 1: was an octopus working in the post office, using all 454 00:29:58,355 --> 00:30:02,235 Speaker 1: eight of its limbs to sort the mail. But every 455 00:30:02,275 --> 00:30:04,155 Speaker 1: couple of weeks it dawns on me afresh. Then I 456 00:30:04,235 --> 00:30:08,075 Speaker 1: was actually a witness to one of the earliest configurations 457 00:30:08,115 --> 00:30:11,275 Speaker 1: of the machinery. And there is no doubt today whether 458 00:30:11,315 --> 00:30:15,275 Speaker 1: it is vast or miniature. It's best the machinery that 459 00:30:15,315 --> 00:30:17,835 Speaker 1: links the right wing politicians and those who are supposed 460 00:30:17,835 --> 00:30:20,835 Speaker 1: to be above the fray, like Supreme Court justices and 461 00:30:20,915 --> 00:30:24,515 Speaker 1: special prosecutors and people like that. There with the right 462 00:30:24,555 --> 00:30:27,835 Speaker 1: wing publicity outlets that pretend to be news organizations like 463 00:30:27,955 --> 00:30:31,355 Speaker 1: Fox and Drudge and Oaan and Newsmax, and the ones 464 00:30:31,395 --> 00:30:34,795 Speaker 1: that don't even pretend, like those who succeeded Limbaugh. This 465 00:30:34,955 --> 00:30:40,635 Speaker 1: machine is, in fact everything that your typical paranoid conservative, 466 00:30:40,795 --> 00:30:46,355 Speaker 1: republican fascist trumpst thinks is being run by George Soros 467 00:30:46,835 --> 00:30:52,595 Speaker 1: or Bill Gates or doctor Fauci or me. You want 468 00:30:52,635 --> 00:30:55,435 Speaker 1: to be able to say, there are reports or accusations 469 00:30:55,435 --> 00:30:58,235 Speaker 1: about some Democrat or a liberal figure or celebrity. Well, 470 00:30:58,235 --> 00:31:01,515 Speaker 1: somebody puts a rumor in at one end of the machinery, 471 00:31:02,275 --> 00:31:04,115 Speaker 1: or somebody makes up a rumor at one end of 472 00:31:04,115 --> 00:31:06,875 Speaker 1: the machinery. It is then sent to dozens of other people. 473 00:31:06,915 --> 00:31:12,555 Speaker 1: They repeat it, voila. Suddenly there are reports. The reports 474 00:31:12,595 --> 00:31:15,475 Speaker 1: then get fed back to Fox News or Breitbart, or 475 00:31:15,475 --> 00:31:20,035 Speaker 1: the Wall Street Journal or the Supreme Court, or they're 476 00:31:20,075 --> 00:31:24,875 Speaker 1: just tweeted by a thousand bots simultaneously. You want to 477 00:31:24,915 --> 00:31:29,395 Speaker 1: push this ancient racist, anti Semitic paranoia called the Great Replacement, 478 00:31:29,435 --> 00:31:31,955 Speaker 1: but you want it to come out washed clean enough 479 00:31:32,555 --> 00:31:36,635 Speaker 1: that soulless opportunists like Elise Stefanic and jd Vance can 480 00:31:36,675 --> 00:31:40,395 Speaker 1: say it aloud on the campaign trail without forfeiting their candidacies. 481 00:31:40,715 --> 00:31:45,675 Speaker 1: This is the machinery. And I saw the machinery when 482 00:31:45,715 --> 00:31:48,035 Speaker 1: it was just a list of twenty and thirty people, 483 00:31:48,715 --> 00:31:51,395 Speaker 1: And at that moment I barely recognized the importance of 484 00:31:51,435 --> 00:31:55,915 Speaker 1: what I saw. Then again, I was still on that night, 485 00:31:55,995 --> 00:32:00,355 Speaker 1: recovering from not just the Giant's steak, but something far 486 00:32:00,435 --> 00:32:04,915 Speaker 1: more visceral. Earlier that day, as we were leaving the 487 00:32:04,955 --> 00:32:08,595 Speaker 1: Supreme Court, Laura Ingram had boasted about getting even with 488 00:32:08,635 --> 00:32:11,595 Speaker 1: an ex boyfriend by going back into what had been 489 00:32:11,635 --> 00:32:16,435 Speaker 1: their house and putting up exact copies of all the 490 00:32:16,475 --> 00:32:19,315 Speaker 1: photos of the two of them together that he had 491 00:32:19,315 --> 00:32:23,395 Speaker 1: taken down from his walls. And when he got smart 492 00:32:23,795 --> 00:32:27,515 Speaker 1: and changed the locks, she went back again to finish 493 00:32:27,515 --> 00:32:32,915 Speaker 1: the job. Found her key didn't work so naturally as 494 00:32:32,955 --> 00:32:36,955 Speaker 1: you would. She stuffed his garden hose through the mail 495 00:32:37,075 --> 00:32:40,995 Speaker 1: slot of his front door and turned on the outdoor spigot. 496 00:32:41,595 --> 00:32:44,795 Speaker 1: Ten thousand dollars worth of heart. When Florence ruined, she 497 00:32:44,915 --> 00:32:51,595 Speaker 1: said proudly, And part of me screamed, flee, flee Now 498 00:32:53,755 --> 00:32:59,675 Speaker 1: I didn't flee. Later, as I tried to sleep, two 499 00:32:59,715 --> 00:33:04,395 Speaker 1: noises kept me awake, snoring, not my own and Laura's 500 00:33:04,435 --> 00:33:08,635 Speaker 1: daw Laura's dog kept talking in his sleep, I mean 501 00:33:09,195 --> 00:33:19,555 Speaker 1: almost in syllables like that. It was something like twenty 502 00:33:19,595 --> 00:33:22,195 Speaker 1: five degrees out and I was on the second floor. 503 00:33:22,715 --> 00:33:25,635 Speaker 1: And yet I resolved that if her dog really did 504 00:33:26,195 --> 00:33:29,795 Speaker 1: make that last leap to formulate actual syllables. And it 505 00:33:29,875 --> 00:33:32,675 Speaker 1: turned out her dog was the one telling her what 506 00:33:32,795 --> 00:33:35,075 Speaker 1: to do, I was simply going to leave by the 507 00:33:35,115 --> 00:33:40,955 Speaker 1: window without bothering to open it first. The next morning, 508 00:33:40,995 --> 00:33:43,355 Speaker 1: Laura and I walked her dog. We got to an 509 00:33:43,355 --> 00:33:45,795 Speaker 1: empty field. She threw a tennis ball, He went and 510 00:33:45,835 --> 00:33:49,275 Speaker 1: got it. She cocked her arm back again. He took off, 511 00:33:50,515 --> 00:33:53,635 Speaker 1: loving life as he did. She did not throw it. 512 00:33:53,835 --> 00:33:57,595 Speaker 1: He went forty fifty sixty feet, then stopped and looked 513 00:33:57,595 --> 00:34:03,195 Speaker 1: back at her with such disappointment and even a sense 514 00:34:03,235 --> 00:34:07,275 Speaker 1: of betrayal, and she said, loudly, without a trace of 515 00:34:07,315 --> 00:34:12,915 Speaker 1: affection for him or anything else, wait far at, which 516 00:34:12,995 --> 00:34:17,235 Speaker 1: is when I realized I was being courted to be 517 00:34:17,355 --> 00:34:22,795 Speaker 1: the next dog. A few weeks later, back home in 518 00:34:22,835 --> 00:34:25,115 Speaker 1: New York, I got home from working an early morning 519 00:34:25,155 --> 00:34:28,035 Speaker 1: shift filling in for the commentator Paul Harvey at ABC Radio. 520 00:34:28,235 --> 00:34:30,555 Speaker 1: I was just waking up from a tortured nap when 521 00:34:30,555 --> 00:34:33,475 Speaker 1: the phone rang and it's Lara. I'm downstairs. We're going 522 00:34:33,475 --> 00:34:36,875 Speaker 1: to my old law firms party at the museum. I said. 523 00:34:36,875 --> 00:34:39,915 Speaker 1: I was exhausted. We're going, or I'll just stay here 524 00:34:39,915 --> 00:34:42,475 Speaker 1: at this payphone outside your planes calling you all night. 525 00:34:45,235 --> 00:34:49,435 Speaker 1: We went. The next opportunity probably was going to be 526 00:34:49,595 --> 00:34:53,795 Speaker 1: me on the wrong end of a hostage drama. Turned 527 00:34:53,835 --> 00:34:57,315 Speaker 1: out she was not invited to her party. We're crashing it. 528 00:34:57,355 --> 00:35:00,475 Speaker 1: I'm going to drink heavily. Frankly, it was a great party. 529 00:35:00,795 --> 00:35:03,755 Speaker 1: I got to meet Hillary Clinton's mother and her brother, 530 00:35:04,275 --> 00:35:07,155 Speaker 1: and I think the fascists are completely sincere about everything, 531 00:35:07,355 --> 00:35:11,755 Speaker 1: even their neuroses and their paranoia. No, Laura Ingram hugged 532 00:35:11,795 --> 00:35:15,675 Speaker 1: Hillary Clinton's mother and Hillary Clinton's brother. They seem to 533 00:35:15,675 --> 00:35:20,595 Speaker 1: be friends. Later we wound up meeting friends of her 534 00:35:20,675 --> 00:35:23,035 Speaker 1: in the Oak bar at the Plaza Hotel, where she 535 00:35:23,155 --> 00:35:29,115 Speaker 1: kept drinking. I was astonished. After about her sixth Cosmopolitan, 536 00:35:29,155 --> 00:35:31,115 Speaker 1: on top of everything she'd had at the party, she 537 00:35:31,235 --> 00:35:34,515 Speaker 1: began to droop her head, nodding like a bobblehead doll. 538 00:35:34,915 --> 00:35:38,035 Speaker 1: Her friend said, Okay, that's it. We'll take care of 539 00:35:38,035 --> 00:35:42,035 Speaker 1: the check. You take care of her. She had not 540 00:35:42,155 --> 00:35:44,955 Speaker 1: gotten a hotel room or anything. And if you've ever 541 00:35:44,995 --> 00:35:48,035 Speaker 1: heard of anybody who needed to be poured into a 542 00:35:48,115 --> 00:35:50,555 Speaker 1: cab because they were so drunk, you don't really know 543 00:35:50,595 --> 00:35:53,355 Speaker 1: what that means until you have to pour them into 544 00:35:53,395 --> 00:35:57,555 Speaker 1: a cab. Frankly, I wanted to put her in a 545 00:35:57,635 --> 00:36:02,475 Speaker 1: hotel somewhere, but the spectacle would have made the gossip pages. 546 00:36:03,035 --> 00:36:06,475 Speaker 1: She basically could not stand up, so I took her 547 00:36:06,475 --> 00:36:08,635 Speaker 1: to my apartment, put her into my bed, and I 548 00:36:08,675 --> 00:36:11,275 Speaker 1: went and slept on the couch at the far end 549 00:36:11,275 --> 00:36:14,395 Speaker 1: of the apartment, which is where I was hours later 550 00:36:14,435 --> 00:36:16,635 Speaker 1: in the morning when she woke me up, because she 551 00:36:16,715 --> 00:36:20,595 Speaker 1: came parading through using my phone to call my assistant 552 00:36:20,595 --> 00:36:23,115 Speaker 1: to get a car sent to my address to take 553 00:36:23,155 --> 00:36:25,635 Speaker 1: her to the airport, and to make sure that everybody 554 00:36:25,635 --> 00:36:29,035 Speaker 1: in my office knew she had stayed overnight at my apartment. 555 00:36:30,715 --> 00:36:33,915 Speaker 1: And all I kept thinking was why didn't I follow 556 00:36:33,955 --> 00:36:43,835 Speaker 1: my instincts. My instincts, said Flea, I fleed. Not, of course, 557 00:36:43,835 --> 00:36:46,875 Speaker 1: if I had fled, I would have missed seeing the 558 00:36:46,915 --> 00:37:03,315 Speaker 1: telephone tree of the miniature right wing conspiracy, wouldn't I. 559 00:37:03,315 --> 00:37:06,955 Speaker 1: I've done all the damage I can do here. I'll 560 00:37:06,955 --> 00:37:10,675 Speaker 1: have recovered from the Laura Ingram dates anytime. Now. Here 561 00:37:10,715 --> 00:37:12,995 Speaker 1: are the credits. Most of the music was arranged, produced 562 00:37:12,995 --> 00:37:15,875 Speaker 1: and performed by Brian Ray and John Phillip Shaneal. They 563 00:37:15,915 --> 00:37:18,955 Speaker 1: are the Countdown musical directors. All orchestration and keyboards by 564 00:37:18,995 --> 00:37:22,195 Speaker 1: John Phillip Shaneal. Guitars, bass and drums by Brian Ray, 565 00:37:22,315 --> 00:37:25,635 Speaker 1: produced by TKO Brothers. The other Beethoven selections have been 566 00:37:25,675 --> 00:37:29,155 Speaker 1: arranged and performed by No Horns Allowed. The sports music 567 00:37:29,475 --> 00:37:32,395 Speaker 1: is the Oberman theme from ESPN two When We Run It, 568 00:37:32,635 --> 00:37:34,915 Speaker 1: and it was written by Mitch Warren Davis courtesy of 569 00:37:35,115 --> 00:37:39,115 Speaker 1: ESPN Inc. Musical comments by the best baseball stadium organist ever, 570 00:37:39,235 --> 00:37:42,195 Speaker 1: Nancy Faust. We didn't have an announcer today, so it 571 00:37:42,235 --> 00:37:45,435 Speaker 1: was only me and everything else was pretty much my fault. 572 00:37:45,875 --> 00:37:48,115 Speaker 1: So that's countdown for this, the eight hundred and forty 573 00:37:48,195 --> 00:37:51,235 Speaker 1: ninth day since Donald Trump's first attempted coup against the 574 00:37:51,275 --> 00:37:54,515 Speaker 1: democratically elected government of the United States. Don't forget to 575 00:37:54,595 --> 00:37:57,595 Speaker 1: keep arresting him while we still can, and not putting 576 00:37:57,635 --> 00:38:02,275 Speaker 1: him on televised town halls on major networks. A quick 577 00:38:02,315 --> 00:38:05,995 Speaker 1: promo tomorrow, I've got something special, I think on Saturday, 578 00:38:06,395 --> 00:38:09,795 Speaker 1: as on every May sixth, since the year nineteen fifty four, 579 00:38:09,915 --> 00:38:14,835 Speaker 1: the world has celebrated Roger Banister, the mile runner, for 580 00:38:14,955 --> 00:38:17,715 Speaker 1: breaking the four minute mile barrier, the first man ever 581 00:38:17,755 --> 00:38:19,835 Speaker 1: to run a mile in four minutes or least. Except 582 00:38:19,955 --> 00:38:22,235 Speaker 1: he was not the first man to do that. It 583 00:38:22,355 --> 00:38:27,355 Speaker 1: is probably the greatest undeserved record or accomplishment in sports history. 584 00:38:27,435 --> 00:38:31,195 Speaker 1: A long and I think fascinating story that's tomorrow on 585 00:38:31,275 --> 00:38:34,515 Speaker 1: Countdown Till Then. I'm Keith Olderman. Good morning, good afternoon, 586 00:38:34,555 --> 00:38:46,475 Speaker 1: good night, and good luck. Countdown with Keith Olderman is 587 00:38:46,515 --> 00:38:51,315 Speaker 1: a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit 588 00:38:51,355 --> 00:38:56,035 Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.