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There is no safe like simply Safe. 30 00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:30.280 Welcome to Plot Save America. 31 00:01:30.280 --> 00:01:32.359 I'm John favor, I'm John Love It Tommy de Tour. 32 00:01:32.760 --> 00:01:34.879 On today's show, we'll talk about the biggest outbreak of 33 00:01:34.920 --> 00:01:37.280 violence in the Middle East since the so called ceasefire 34 00:01:37.319 --> 00:01:39.719 went into effect, the growing split between Trump and net 35 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:43.480 and Yahoo, why Trump ripped off his mic and stormed 36 00:01:43.480 --> 00:01:46.319 out of a Meet the Press interview, his new conspiracy 37 00:01:46.359 --> 00:01:48.719 about voter fraud here in California, and what that could 38 00:01:48.719 --> 00:01:51.959 mean for November, Scott Pelly going public with his allegations 39 00:01:51.959 --> 00:01:55.519 against Barry Weiss, and Trump's decision to attend Game three 40 00:01:55.519 --> 00:01:59.040 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden. Then Tommy 41 00:01:59.040 --> 00:02:01.159 talks to Roger Bennett, Men and Blazers about the World 42 00:02:01.200 --> 00:02:04.239 Cup kicking off on Thursday and the implications for global 43 00:02:04.280 --> 00:02:08.759 politics before we start. If you don't like listening to 44 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:12.879 podcast ads, subscribe to Crooked Media and become a friend 45 00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:15.479 of the pod because you get ad free episodes of 46 00:02:15.479 --> 00:02:17.759 all your favorite Crooked pods. Plus you get to support 47 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:23.280 pro democracy independent media. Scott Pelley hasn't accused us of 48 00:02:23.319 --> 00:02:29.159 injecting any any bias yet yet into any of his reporting, 49 00:02:29.240 --> 00:02:32.879 but once once he starts, yeah, we hearic crooked, Hopefully 50 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:34.560 we'll keep the bias out of his reporters. 51 00:02:34.639 --> 00:02:36.759 We don't time to inject bias in the Scott Pelley reporting. 52 00:02:36.759 --> 00:02:38.719 We're too busy injecting and bias into everything we do. 53 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:40.280 There you go, That's what I was trying to get at. 54 00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:40.639 Thank you. 55 00:02:40.680 --> 00:02:44.199 That's perfect. Let's put that right in. Yeah, and you 56 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:47.039 also get access to all of our great substacks. You 57 00:02:47.080 --> 00:02:49.599 get our subscriber only shows like Pullar Coaster with Dan 58 00:02:49.639 --> 00:02:53.680 Pfeiffer and lots of other fun perks. So consider subscribing. 59 00:02:53.759 --> 00:02:56.439 All right, Happy one hundred day anniversary to the war 60 00:02:56.439 --> 00:02:58.400 that was supposed to be over in just a few weeks. 61 00:02:59.039 --> 00:03:01.319 Here's where things stand with Iran in the Middle East 62 00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:03.599 as of this recording. Over the weekend, the US and 63 00:03:03.599 --> 00:03:05.879 Iran were shooting drones and missiles at each other after 64 00:03:05.879 --> 00:03:08.039 oil tankers tried to pass through the Strait of Hor 65 00:03:08.120 --> 00:03:12.800 Moves without the IRGC's permission. Then, the newly negotiated ceasefire 66 00:03:12.840 --> 00:03:16.199 between Israel and Lebanon fell apart when Israel bombed Beirut 67 00:03:16.360 --> 00:03:19.879 after claiming that has Bela targeted them first. Iran responded 68 00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:22.319 by launching missiles at Israel for the first time since 69 00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:24.800 the April ceasefire. Trump then told Axios that he would 70 00:03:24.840 --> 00:03:28.560 warn Netan Yahoo quote not to retaliate, and told The 71 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:32.680 Financial Times that he quote calls the shots. Netan Yahoo 72 00:03:32.719 --> 00:03:36.960 doesn't call the shots. Then net Yahoo essentially said yes, 73 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:40.240 I do call the shots and struck Iran. So for now, 74 00:03:40.280 --> 00:03:42.520 both sides seem to have de escalated, and on Monday morning, 75 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:47.000 Trump hosted that final peace negotiations or quote subject to 76 00:03:47.159 --> 00:03:50.919 ignorance or stupidity getting in its way. The President was 77 00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:53.280 asked about the war in a pre recorded Meet the 78 00:03:53.280 --> 00:03:56.840 Press interview that ran on Sunday. Here's some of what 79 00:03:56.960 --> 00:03:59.800 he said as it rained heavily in the background. 80 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:02.039 Is the United States it war with Iran? 81 00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:05.039 Well, they've been largely decapitated. 82 00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:07.840 And I call it a military exercise because people would 83 00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:09.360 rather have it called that. 84 00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:11.280 It's not a big. 85 00:04:11.039 --> 00:04:11.719 War for us. 86 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:16.000 How long are you willing to give Iran to make 87 00:04:16.040 --> 00:04:18.560 a deal? How much longer you've been talking for light 88 00:04:18.600 --> 00:04:19.079 and time? 89 00:04:19.319 --> 00:04:21.920 Well, and you really haven't you again, you were in 90 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:24.519 Vietnam for nineteen years, you were. 91 00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:25.959 In Iraq for many years. 92 00:04:26.360 --> 00:04:28.240 Gas is up, diesel is up. 93 00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:30.199 It's all coming down as soon as the war's up. 94 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:34.600 Seventy percent of farmers say they can't afford fertilizers. 95 00:04:35.319 --> 00:04:36.279 You're doing very well. 96 00:04:36.279 --> 00:04:41.360 I mean, one of your consistent campaign promises was no 97 00:04:41.519 --> 00:04:44.079 new wars going all the way back to twenty fifteen. 98 00:04:44.639 --> 00:04:47.120 Did you break that promise to the American people? 99 00:04:47.759 --> 00:04:50.160 What changed because you interisted? No? 100 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:54.120 So because I didn't guarantee. 101 00:04:53.600 --> 00:04:56.600 Any war, didn't guarantee no war. 102 00:04:57.439 --> 00:05:00.040 The rain on this interview or it's boring rain and 103 00:05:00.360 --> 00:05:02.519 they have to stop for periods of time. I can't 104 00:05:02.560 --> 00:05:04.680 imagine anything more unpleasant than sitting in front of a 105 00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:07.240 tractor for five minutes while you wait for the rain 106 00:05:07.319 --> 00:05:09.959 to quiet down. In between questions about fertilizers. 107 00:05:09.439 --> 00:05:11.480 Probably hammering on a tin roof. And I know they 108 00:05:11.480 --> 00:05:14.240 had the John Deere tractors like strategically placed. But those 109 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:17.279 are the haspul of flag colors. By the way, feel 110 00:05:17.279 --> 00:05:20.519 free to google it. That's those yellow and green just 111 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:23.160 like that. So you and Hassan are big fans of 112 00:05:23.160 --> 00:05:27.720 that play. Here's so Trump said, Uh, of course, I 113 00:05:27.879 --> 00:05:30.160 what promise. I didn't make any promise about no new wars. 114 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:33.560 And here's a here's a not so fast montage put 115 00:05:33.560 --> 00:05:36.720 together by decoding Fox News. Oh, we can't vote for him. 116 00:05:36.759 --> 00:05:38.120 He's going to start to with no. I used my 117 00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:40.199 personality that we didn't have to have wars. 118 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:43.439 I was the first president in decades who started. 119 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:48.120 No new wars, who started no new wars. Wait, don't 120 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:49.399 need the wars. 121 00:05:49.480 --> 00:05:52.439 Foreign lands, countries you've never heard of, countries. 122 00:05:52.079 --> 00:05:53.319 That don't even want us there. 123 00:05:53.439 --> 00:05:56.480 We will expel the war mongers from our government. 124 00:05:56.720 --> 00:05:57.240 Look at me. 125 00:05:57.399 --> 00:05:58.600 I'm the one that kept us. 126 00:05:58.519 --> 00:05:58.959 Out of war. 127 00:05:59.079 --> 00:06:00.800 I'm going to keep you out of wars. I kept 128 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:01.480 you out of wars. 129 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:03.240 We had no wars with Donald Trump. 130 00:06:03.639 --> 00:06:05.120 You're not gonna have a war with me. 131 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:07.000 And you're not going to have a Third World war 132 00:06:07.040 --> 00:06:07.319 with me. 133 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:08.240 That I can tell you. 134 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:12.319 The warmongers is a third World war, I think. 135 00:06:12.600 --> 00:06:17.199 I think a third World war a war, oh like yeah, yeah, 136 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:21.199 I mean you're like, excuse me, mister president, developing nation war. 137 00:06:21.319 --> 00:06:24.399 Yeah, very dated Cold War terminologies. 138 00:06:24.519 --> 00:06:25.839 It's a global South war. 139 00:06:25.959 --> 00:06:27.879 Yeah, we're not aligned with the Soviets anymore. 140 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:30.800 To go on that tangent. Do you think he's just 141 00:06:30.839 --> 00:06:34.000 convinced himself that Iran doesn't count as a real war. 142 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:37.720 What's the alternative he's not telling the truth? Yeah, Like, 143 00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:39.680 I do think he's trying to make us believe this, Like, no, 144 00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:41.720 the real wars are the ones where you send troops 145 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:45.040 overseas and they're deployed on the ground and they occupy country. 146 00:06:45.079 --> 00:06:46.879 And by the way, Vietnam was nineteen years Has it 147 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:49.680 been nineteen years, folks? No, this is a little excursion 148 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:51.720 as he calls it, when we all think he means incursion. 149 00:06:51.800 --> 00:06:53.959 Still right, Yeah, So that I do think that's like 150 00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:57.279 their attempt at selling this. It's pretty tough though, given 151 00:06:57.319 --> 00:07:00.000 the outside's economic costs, given the closure, the straight hor moves. 152 00:07:00.199 --> 00:07:03.240 Yeah, there's just you know, there's a big space between 153 00:07:03.639 --> 00:07:07.120 no War and Vietnam. Right, it's like, wow, we're so 154 00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:11.800 grateful you didn't launch another Vietnam h Well, that's not 155 00:07:11.839 --> 00:07:13.000 the standard. 156 00:07:12.720 --> 00:07:14.680 It'd be worse if this war had been. 157 00:07:14.600 --> 00:07:16.879 Going on as long as the Vietnam War. There's also 158 00:07:16.920 --> 00:07:19.519 something he's done it before. But he is so clib 159 00:07:19.560 --> 00:07:21.480 when he talks about people who died. He's like, oh, 160 00:07:21.480 --> 00:07:23.519 there's not a big war. It's not a big conflict. 161 00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:26.519 He lost thousands in these other other conflicts. We've only 162 00:07:26.519 --> 00:07:29.240 lost thirteen. And he adds a perfunctory and any death 163 00:07:29.319 --> 00:07:32.680 is unacceptable. But you're like an American president refer to 164 00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:36.040 the deaths as being minimal in this way, as if 165 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:39.519 like that is acceptable or that makes it okay. It's like, 166 00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:42.480 it's just it's it's it's still drawing. 167 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:46.639 Yeah, And it's not just the fuel prices either. It's 168 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:51.160 like fertilizer prices. It's actually hitting farmers pretty hard. His only, 169 00:07:51.240 --> 00:07:54.079 his only real message for farmers is like, just wait 170 00:07:54.120 --> 00:07:56.759 till it's over, right, it'll get better. It'll get so 171 00:07:56.839 --> 00:07:58.120 much better it's over. 172 00:07:58.199 --> 00:07:59.319 But by the way, that that's. 173 00:07:59.160 --> 00:08:01.199 Also of course not true, right, Like prices aren't going 174 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:03.399 to suddenly drop it there's an agreement, and maybe there's 175 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:06.839 some like immediate effect, but like the ramifications of the 176 00:08:06.839 --> 00:08:08.279 of the closure of the straight up, our mooves are 177 00:08:08.279 --> 00:08:09.800 gonna last for a very long time. 178 00:08:10.199 --> 00:08:11.800 So, Tommy, what did you make of the Wall Street 179 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:14.480 Journal report on how Trump failed to reign in net 180 00:08:14.600 --> 00:08:17.399 Yahoo over these latest strikes? The New York Times had 181 00:08:17.680 --> 00:08:20.439 kind of the opposite take, which is that the eventual 182 00:08:20.519 --> 00:08:22.560 halts of the fighting on Monday left nt Nyah, who 183 00:08:22.600 --> 00:08:24.560 appearing is beholden to Trump. 184 00:08:24.279 --> 00:08:27.519 As ever, So I think the context people you understand 185 00:08:27.560 --> 00:08:29.439 is that the Israelis also have an election coming up. 186 00:08:29.480 --> 00:08:32.399 It will probably be sometime between now and October twenty 187 00:08:32.480 --> 00:08:35.200 seventh is when it will get schedule. And so for Trump, 188 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:37.759 we know he has a midterm. A bad result will 189 00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:40.360 make his life complicated because of investigations and Democrats being 190 00:08:40.360 --> 00:08:42.720 in power. But for net Yaho's staying in power is 191 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:45.120 existential because that could be the only way stays out 192 00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:48.399 of jail because there's all these corruption allegations and investigations 193 00:08:48.480 --> 00:08:52.120 and so. But politically, Americans and Israelis feel very differently 194 00:08:52.120 --> 00:08:54.279 about the war. Americans are like, this is dumb, why 195 00:08:54.320 --> 00:08:56.279 are we doing this? We heard that super cut of 196 00:08:56.360 --> 00:08:58.360 him saying there would be no wars. They're like, end it. 197 00:08:58.440 --> 00:09:01.480 Gas prices are high, end it. Israelis feel like this 198 00:09:01.559 --> 00:09:05.080 is not going well. We have not won. Net Yeah, 199 00:09:05.080 --> 00:09:07.320 who looks weak, and men Yea was actually getting attacked 200 00:09:07.720 --> 00:09:09.879 from the left and from the right for not finishing 201 00:09:09.879 --> 00:09:12.519 the war. And so he's in a tough place politically, 202 00:09:12.600 --> 00:09:17.399 and so Iran firing ballistic missiles directly at Israel because 203 00:09:17.399 --> 00:09:20.240 of something Israel did Lebanon exacerbates that problem for dan 204 00:09:20.279 --> 00:09:22.600 Yao further. So now n Yah is in a very 205 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:25.840 tough political situation. He wants the Trump peace talks to fail, 206 00:09:26.279 --> 00:09:29.320 but he can't be completely overt in his meddling with 207 00:09:29.399 --> 00:09:31.639 those peace talks because he doesn't want to piss Trump 208 00:09:31.639 --> 00:09:34.320 off and then lose his political support and the military support. 209 00:09:34.799 --> 00:09:38.360 And so he also can't look like he's being fully 210 00:09:38.360 --> 00:09:41.399 controlled by Trump, like when Trump calls the FTE and 211 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:43.720 is like I own this bitch, you know, Like that's 212 00:09:43.759 --> 00:09:46.279 a tough place for him to be politically. And he 213 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:48.159 also doesn't want to look like he's gonna let Iran 214 00:09:48.200 --> 00:09:51.679 fire missiles and me mister security bet Nen Yahoo without responding. 215 00:09:52.639 --> 00:09:54.759 So it was just he's in a very tough place. 216 00:09:55.720 --> 00:09:59.840 It sounds like they navigated it better on Sunday than 217 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:02.120 they did in the last call, where I guess Trump 218 00:10:02.159 --> 00:10:03.799 was like, hey, man, you're a fucking asshole. You'd be 219 00:10:03.799 --> 00:10:06.960 in jail if not for me. But you know this, 220 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:10.120 the diversion interests are making this more and more complicated 221 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:10.600 every day. 222 00:10:10.759 --> 00:10:13.679 Did you see it? One one US official told Axios. 223 00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:17.080 They describe the call between Trump and Netanyahu as quote polite, 224 00:10:17.360 --> 00:10:20.200 while a second US official noted that nobody shouted. 225 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:22.159 So that's one. There we go. 226 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:24.840 That is the standard. Yeah, it is. It is difficult 227 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:28.720 for uh, it makes diplomacy a little bit harder when 228 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:31.879 Trump makes all of the subtext text all the time. 229 00:10:32.120 --> 00:10:33.799 Yeah right, yeah. 230 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:37.399 Well, as a rule, when someone says I call the 231 00:10:37.399 --> 00:10:41.120 shots around here, that's rarely said from a position of strength. 232 00:10:41.159 --> 00:10:43.519 You don't usually have to say if people know people, 233 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:45.120 if you're calling the shots, you don't have to say it. 234 00:10:45.120 --> 00:10:47.039 You're just in the midst of calling the shots. 235 00:10:46.759 --> 00:10:49.000 Like he's like, as he's been saying, he holds all 236 00:10:49.039 --> 00:10:50.919 the cards. I hold all the cards in this war, 237 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:51.840 and I call all the shots. 238 00:10:51.840 --> 00:10:53.799 Well, also he's saying he calls all the shots and 239 00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:55.759 a call to the reporter before he calls the other 240 00:10:55.799 --> 00:10:58.039 guy who's stop shooting. 241 00:10:58.279 --> 00:11:00.519 Get the sequencing wrong, Sir he Be said, I thought 242 00:11:00.519 --> 00:11:03.559 this was captured the situation. Israel has a full right 243 00:11:03.639 --> 00:11:06.159 to self defense and we are exercising it. I say 244 00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:09.279 this with appreciation and respect for my good conversations with 245 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:11.840 President Trump. And so he just does the praise piece, 246 00:11:11.879 --> 00:11:14.080 but then he does whatever he wants. And maybe he's 247 00:11:14.120 --> 00:11:16.600 being limited in some ways and not in others. 248 00:11:17.039 --> 00:11:17.879 But if the. 249 00:11:17.960 --> 00:11:23.960 US cannot constrain Israel from escalating in Lebanon, how can 250 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:27.600 there be a deal between Iran and the US in 251 00:11:27.639 --> 00:11:30.440 which Israel at any moment can break the seasefire? And 252 00:11:30.480 --> 00:11:32.639 so like any ways in which the US cannot constrain 253 00:11:32.759 --> 00:11:36.240 Israel is proof that a deal will not be upheld 254 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:38.080 by our side. And so we're just in this place 255 00:11:38.120 --> 00:11:43.279 where everyone's testing each other. And like, if the idea 256 00:11:43.320 --> 00:11:47.200 of success is getting Bejamin net Yahou to only bomb 257 00:11:47.320 --> 00:11:50.320 outside of Beirut and not Beirut proper, and that's Donald 258 00:11:50.320 --> 00:11:52.559 Trump exerting his power, Like, I don't know how that 259 00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:55.919 ends with Iran having confidence that we can maintain a 260 00:11:55.960 --> 00:11:56.360 seas fire. 261 00:11:56.639 --> 00:11:58.879 This is the rub Iran Is, I think very successfully 262 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:01.159 made a peace deal, continue on the war, ending on 263 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:03.480 all the front so in around itself, but also in 264 00:12:03.559 --> 00:12:06.720 Lebanon and so other Lebanon, where as the Israelis are like, Nah, 265 00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:09.440 these are different conflicts with different timelines, and we want 266 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:12.679 to keep prosecuting this fight against Tesbula because people in 267 00:12:12.720 --> 00:12:15.360 northern Israel are still under threat from drone attacks and 268 00:12:15.399 --> 00:12:17.720 I think that's going to again come to conflict here. 269 00:12:17.559 --> 00:12:19.960 And from the other side, right, Auran has an interest 270 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:22.919 in making this a larger conflict in which they can 271 00:12:23.039 --> 00:12:26.519 use the Hesbela Israel conflict as as like a part 272 00:12:26.519 --> 00:12:28.919 of their negotiation, and so they can prolong it there 273 00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:31.759 and then walk away from the table saying they're blaming Israel, 274 00:12:31.840 --> 00:12:33.000 right like everybody is using the. 275 00:12:32.960 --> 00:12:33.639 Leverage that they have. 276 00:12:33.840 --> 00:12:36.399 Reportedly, the argument that Trump made to net Yahoo too 277 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:39.840 was don't retaliate because I think I'm a few days 278 00:12:39.879 --> 00:12:42.240 away from a deal, and then if we don't get 279 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:45.799 the deal, then maybe maybe I'll lead the strikes next 280 00:12:45.799 --> 00:12:49.440 time with you. So he really does. That's another on 281 00:12:49.480 --> 00:12:51.519 where like I think he genuinely believes or at least 282 00:12:51.519 --> 00:12:53.440 his team keeps leading him on, like we're so close, 283 00:12:53.480 --> 00:12:55.080 We're so we're on the one yard line, We're so 284 00:12:55.159 --> 00:12:57.639 close to a deal, and it just never actually happens. 285 00:12:57.720 --> 00:12:59.759 Yeah, I mean, I just I'll believe it when I 286 00:12:59.759 --> 00:13:02.200 see and I think, yeah, I was going to hate 287 00:13:02.639 --> 00:13:05.080 the deal that's on the table. Reportedly, we don't go 288 00:13:05.080 --> 00:13:06.480 through all the details, but it's a lot of sanctions 289 00:13:06.519 --> 00:13:09.840 relief and unfrozen assets and so yeah, again, it just 290 00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:12.480 seems like they're in very different pages here Bb and Trump. 291 00:13:12.519 --> 00:13:14.639 Well, even if it's this like mini deal where it's 292 00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:17.000 just reopening the Strait and you don't even get into 293 00:13:17.039 --> 00:13:19.639 a ton of sanctions relief somehow, that doesn't really do 294 00:13:19.720 --> 00:13:21.120 anything about Israel and Lebanon. 295 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:23.279 No or saw the nuclear shape. Yeah, of course. 296 00:13:24.600 --> 00:13:29.000 So meanwhile, as the ceasefire was teetering, Pete Hegseth was 297 00:13:29.000 --> 00:13:31.840 in Europe to mark the eighty second anniversary of D Day, 298 00:13:32.440 --> 00:13:34.759 where he insulted our European allies with a speech that 299 00:13:34.799 --> 00:13:36.440 included lines like this. 300 00:13:37.240 --> 00:13:45.120 Sadly, today, different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies. 301 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:51.519 Beaches in Spain, in Italy and Greece and Bulgaria, boats 302 00:13:52.240 --> 00:13:58.720 and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about 303 00:13:58.840 --> 00:13:59.879 that invasion? 304 00:14:00.919 --> 00:14:03.039 This is one of my favorite analogies I've ever seen 305 00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:05.559 in the history of speech rating, because in that analogy 306 00:14:06.440 --> 00:14:09.519 he is he is putting current European leaders they are 307 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:13.720 the Nazis, right, and the migrant caravans or boats. That's 308 00:14:13.799 --> 00:14:17.960 d Day And so what why is your in your 309 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:20.919 analogy you're making You're making the Germans the Nazis. 310 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:23.200 Again, well, he definitely wanted to twist it so that 311 00:14:23.240 --> 00:14:27.279 it's like different dangerous ideologies around the continent, but then 312 00:14:27.320 --> 00:14:30.480 also wanted to compare the boat's landing with the boats landing. 313 00:14:30.519 --> 00:14:31.240 It didn't It. 314 00:14:31.200 --> 00:14:34.960 Didn't work on a number of levels. Yeah, no, need 315 00:14:35.039 --> 00:14:37.720 to pick just one, but yeah, yeah, the good guys. 316 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:39.440 Were in the boats storming the beaches, and now the 317 00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:42.759 dangerous ideologies are storming the beaches. So it's like, sir, 318 00:14:42.799 --> 00:14:45.759 did the dangerous ideologies raise the flagg ofy Regima? Because 319 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:47.360 I feel like you've got this whole thing backwards. 320 00:14:47.399 --> 00:14:50.200 Well, I listened to the whole speech and it's so bad. 321 00:14:50.240 --> 00:14:52.320 It's obviously we can get into the actual substance of 322 00:14:53.039 --> 00:14:55.519 going going to going to Normandy on D Day to 323 00:14:56.120 --> 00:14:57.519 pick a fight for some reason. 324 00:14:57.799 --> 00:14:59.440 But he also makes this point. 325 00:14:59.559 --> 00:15:01.320 It's always in this sort of like the kind of 326 00:15:01.360 --> 00:15:05.240 like whatever Christian nationalism Western ideology thing that he's always doing. 327 00:15:05.240 --> 00:15:08.159 But he's like, you know, we defended Western values that 328 00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:10.759 here at D Day or some something to that effect. Guys, 329 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:13.200 do you remember who the sides were in Europe? It 330 00:15:13.240 --> 00:15:15.879 was West on West violence. You know, it's like, you 331 00:15:15.960 --> 00:15:18.759 know what I mean, it's it's just stupid. It's just stupid. 332 00:15:18.919 --> 00:15:20.879 It's also just like when you get underneath the bad 333 00:15:20.919 --> 00:15:26.279 analogies and pdxth not being the best speaker, like the 334 00:15:26.360 --> 00:15:30.279 fact that you know, replacement, the great replacement theory, which 335 00:15:30.360 --> 00:15:34.840 once used to be like this far right extremist thing 336 00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:36.639 that we talk about once a while. Now it's like 337 00:15:37.039 --> 00:15:40.080 the US Secretary of Defense goes to Europe and it's 338 00:15:40.120 --> 00:15:43.440 like the official position of the US government that the 339 00:15:43.759 --> 00:15:46.399 problem with mass migration. We're not even going to pretend 340 00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:49.960 it's border security or its job competition or it's like, 341 00:15:50.200 --> 00:15:52.679 you know, government's having to spend too much money to 342 00:15:52.759 --> 00:15:55.200 house migrants or anything like that. No, it's just it's 343 00:15:55.360 --> 00:15:59.799 dangerous ideologies. It is people who come ashore most of 344 00:15:59.799 --> 00:16:04.759 them women and children, some of them dead because there's men, yes, passment, 345 00:16:05.320 --> 00:16:08.200 because they're so desperate in the countries. And this is 346 00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:11.879 this represents a dangerous evil ideology in the eyes of 347 00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:15.600 the US government and what you said, Christian nationalism. The Pope, 348 00:16:15.720 --> 00:16:18.759 the first American Pope, is going to spend July fourth 349 00:16:18.840 --> 00:16:22.039 on one of those islands, Lampadusa where migrants come ashore, 350 00:16:22.360 --> 00:16:25.519 which he's doing because the last pope also would do 351 00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:27.279 that all the time, and so he's doing it in 352 00:16:27.320 --> 00:16:29.279 honor of Pope Francis. And this is like you know, 353 00:16:29.320 --> 00:16:30.799 Pete Hegseth is talking about, this is. 354 00:16:30.759 --> 00:16:34.440 Like evil migrants are as dangerous to Europe today as 355 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:37.679 Americans were to the nothings. That's that's the analogy. He 356 00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:40.639 says in the speech that that what was being defended 357 00:16:40.679 --> 00:16:43.360 on D Day was the Western tradition of freedom. 358 00:16:43.080 --> 00:16:45.960 As if like. 359 00:16:45.399 --> 00:16:47.519 Again, it's just sort of going back to Christian nationalism 360 00:16:47.519 --> 00:16:49.879 and a sort of whole like Western ideology. But like, 361 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:52.559 what are you talking about, Like we weren't there was 362 00:16:52.600 --> 00:16:53.759 a Western it was Western West. 363 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:55.960 Violence doesn't make any sense. Yeah, they're also like there 364 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:59.159 seem to be two criticisms in the speech. Part of 365 00:16:59.159 --> 00:17:02.120 it is a criticism of like defense spending or lack 366 00:17:02.120 --> 00:17:04.839 of defense spending in Europe and kind the typical free 367 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:07.000 you've been free riding on the US and NATO argument 368 00:17:07.000 --> 00:17:10.440 that we hear it. And then there was this criticism 369 00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:14.359 of European immigration policy and European countries letting in migrants, 370 00:17:14.440 --> 00:17:16.319 many of whom were escaping wars, by the way, in 371 00:17:16.440 --> 00:17:19.720 some cases were started by the United States. Either way, 372 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:22.640 it's just a wildly inappropriate place to be such a dickhead, 373 00:17:22.839 --> 00:17:25.880 Like usually cemetery. Usually these are just celebrations of the 374 00:17:25.880 --> 00:17:29.839 few remaining veterans and the people we've lost in the war. 375 00:17:30.720 --> 00:17:33.240 It's also like an example of how the free world 376 00:17:33.240 --> 00:17:36.680 came together to defeat fascism. Meanwhile, like Pete Hegseth and 377 00:17:36.759 --> 00:17:39.799 Trump and the Pentagon are allowing the Ukrainians to just 378 00:17:39.880 --> 00:17:42.079 kind of dangle in the wind in their effort to 379 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:45.440 fight back against Vladimir Putin. So it's like, I don't know, 380 00:17:45.599 --> 00:17:47.279 just the whole thing felt so inappropriate, And how many 381 00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:50.000 times have Republicans told us like, that's not the forum 382 00:17:50.039 --> 00:17:52.160 to have a policy dispute, right, Like the memorials not 383 00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:55.279 where you talk about gun control or like actual efforts 384 00:17:55.319 --> 00:17:57.480 to stop gun violence. And he's just going there and 385 00:17:57.880 --> 00:18:00.200 yelling at people for thirteen minutes and this weird. 386 00:18:00.119 --> 00:18:02.279 Speech about the long Way from a long Way from 387 00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:04.160 Reagan's Ponda Hawk spyn Okay. 388 00:18:03.960 --> 00:18:06.039 Well you know I was thinking about that. That's he 389 00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:08.079 was thinking about that speech when he was trying to 390 00:18:08.119 --> 00:18:09.759 do this. Yeah, it's also like you know, you have 391 00:18:09.880 --> 00:18:13.480 vance weighing in on uh, like a horrible death in 392 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:14.759 the UK. 393 00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:15.599 It's there. 394 00:18:15.880 --> 00:18:17.599 He's just traveling all the way to Normandy to weigh 395 00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:20.000 and like immigration is a domestic issue, like you're talking 396 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:22.680 about domestic policy issue. He also at the in the 397 00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:25.359 Tommy's points, I was like, no, you know, in World 398 00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:27.599 War two like there was we really put ourselves on 399 00:18:27.640 --> 00:18:30.440 the line for each other. It wasn't just slogans, summits 400 00:18:30.480 --> 00:18:32.960 and communicates like yeah, man, it was World War two 401 00:18:33.319 --> 00:18:36.720 like there, It wasn't up. We were at war, you 402 00:18:36.799 --> 00:18:39.200 do you know you had to actually fight everybody like 403 00:18:39.359 --> 00:18:41.079 in peace right and you would work with your ally, 404 00:18:41.119 --> 00:18:44.680 presumably having some kind of conversations via whatever means you'd want. 405 00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:48.640 It's this very like stupid, like stupid. 406 00:18:48.200 --> 00:18:52.319 Guy, h but it is just it's just just stupid guy. 407 00:18:52.440 --> 00:18:55.759 Uh no, slow There wasn't just slow bag day speech, right, yeah, 408 00:18:55.759 --> 00:18:57.000 it's like, yeah, I got to go there and tell 409 00:18:57.039 --> 00:18:57.839 you know, I don't for me. 410 00:18:57.920 --> 00:19:01.240 World War two. It wasn't just slogans. Yeah, man, did 411 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:03.960 you catch how it started? The most offensive line maybe 412 00:19:04.039 --> 00:19:06.400 was the very first line was thank you, Ambassador Kushner. 413 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:10.039 I didn't care. It corrupts dad. Oh my god, our 414 00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:11.359 ambassador to France? Ose? 415 00:19:11.599 --> 00:19:12.079 Is he France? 416 00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:13.119 Isn't that depressing? Yeah? 417 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:16.519 I forgot about that soccer and good stuff? Well, Happy 418 00:19:16.640 --> 00:19:17.640 Happy d Day. 419 00:19:24.960 --> 00:19:27.640 Pazi of America is brought to you by Aura Frames. 420 00:19:27.880 --> 00:19:30.160 Dads love to tell stories, sometimes more often and for 421 00:19:30.200 --> 00:19:32.839 longer durations than they wish they would. This Father's day, 422 00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:35.480 share some reference photos of the moments he's always talking 423 00:19:35.480 --> 00:19:37.839 about with Aura Frames. 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Make sure 471 00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:38.960 you use ur ur L so they know we sent you. 472 00:21:41.240 --> 00:21:44.039 All right, So the most viral moment from Trump's Meet 473 00:21:44.119 --> 00:21:46.240 the Press interview was when the president ripped off his 474 00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:47.920 mic and stormed off set. 475 00:21:48.039 --> 00:21:49.519 Did he stump on the mic? A lot of people 476 00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:52.079 are saying that you threw on the ground and stun all. 477 00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:53.920 We can watch a second. It's unclear. 478 00:21:54.440 --> 00:21:57.720 It started with some tough questions from Kristen Welker about 479 00:21:57.720 --> 00:22:01.000 the insurrection a slush fund, which led to Trump repeating 480 00:22:01.039 --> 00:22:04.039 his favorite conspiracies about January sixth and the twenty twenty election, 481 00:22:04.599 --> 00:22:07.480 and then things just evolved from there. The whole sequence 482 00:22:07.559 --> 00:22:09.519 lasted about six minutes, which we won't play in full, 483 00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:10.759 but here are the highlights. 484 00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:13.759 I don't know what's going to happen with the representation front. 485 00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:17.960 I love the idea they sent people to jail who 486 00:22:18.039 --> 00:22:19.039 did nothing wrong. 487 00:22:19.160 --> 00:22:22.119 Just be very clear, there's no evidence of what you're saying. 488 00:22:22.200 --> 00:22:25.480 But Toddlin, the election was rigged. 489 00:22:25.880 --> 00:22:28.640 It was a dirty election. This is happening again right 490 00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:32.400 now in California. Happening right now in. 491 00:22:32.519 --> 00:22:35.839 California, right now, it's looking look at what's happened in 492 00:22:35.880 --> 00:22:40.359 California that it's four days and they aren't even close 493 00:22:40.440 --> 00:22:42.519 to coming up with it. You know why they're doing 494 00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:44.160 that because they're cheating on the election. 495 00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:46.960 What do you have evidence you have to do? 496 00:22:47.839 --> 00:22:50.720 You're either crooked or you're stupid. You play right into 497 00:22:50.799 --> 00:22:54.119 their hands with this rep Your elections are crooked, and 498 00:22:54.240 --> 00:22:56.920 you and West Depresses crooked, and so. 499 00:22:57.119 --> 00:23:01.359 Is ABC and CBS and the mister press, the. 500 00:23:01.400 --> 00:23:04.640 One shided crooked network shot let's waller switch because I've 501 00:23:04.680 --> 00:23:07.680 had a though, thank you, darling, have you go please? 502 00:23:07.799 --> 00:23:12.079 I traveled all the way to Wisconsin, im I know 503 00:23:12.319 --> 00:23:14.519 IA on. 504 00:23:14.680 --> 00:23:16.880 And off in the ring, and I've given you enough 505 00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:19.680 time you would to straighten out your pressed because. 506 00:23:19.400 --> 00:23:20.440 You know what, mister prof. 507 00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:24.079 Country can never be great travel with a We traveled 508 00:23:24.160 --> 00:23:27.720 all the way to Wisconsin for the I can't till 509 00:23:27.759 --> 00:23:28.000 he did. 510 00:23:27.960 --> 00:23:28.400 It on purpose? 511 00:23:28.440 --> 00:23:30.720 Think he accidentally crunched it, okay, reminds me of when 512 00:23:30.920 --> 00:23:32.039 everything else was on purpose. 513 00:23:32.119 --> 00:23:34.359 But that but when I went to when. 514 00:23:34.200 --> 00:23:36.440 I'm into Michigan and interview Bernie and then like about 515 00:23:36.519 --> 00:23:39.640 twelve minutes and he's like this, that was a tough 516 00:23:39.640 --> 00:23:40.759 remember that, Austin, wrap it up? 517 00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:42.559 That was that was that was a gut punch. It's 518 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:43.480 good punch. 519 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:46.799 You're either crooked or you're stupid. Actually, that's a great 520 00:23:46.920 --> 00:23:52.240 slogan for ourself from now, please consider subscribing in front 521 00:23:52.240 --> 00:23:53.279 of the pod because you're either. 522 00:23:53.160 --> 00:23:55.640 Crooked or you're stupid dot com slash friends. 523 00:23:56.960 --> 00:23:58.759 That was he was very mad there. 524 00:23:58.799 --> 00:24:00.240 He really rose like you're crooked. He was. 525 00:24:00.319 --> 00:24:01.559 He was like the part of the I'm gonna put 526 00:24:01.559 --> 00:24:04.359 the whole godamn system on trial there. 527 00:24:04.240 --> 00:24:07.319 Crooked, CNN, NBC, ABC, Is there anyone else? 528 00:24:07.400 --> 00:24:09.960 Lest Schwartz was worse but apprentice than I was. 529 00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:14.759 Yells at Christen Welker like she's, yeah, elections, but did 530 00:24:14.799 --> 00:24:17.359 you get when they came back? I watched the Meet 531 00:24:17.400 --> 00:24:21.279 the Press version and when Welker comes back after the interview, 532 00:24:21.359 --> 00:24:23.200 she that I spoke to the president again and he 533 00:24:23.240 --> 00:24:25.079 said he'd happily come on and get into the future. 534 00:24:25.119 --> 00:24:27.519 So he called her. So it's just it's all, it's 535 00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:29.640 all a show. He loves her also, like she's such 536 00:24:29.640 --> 00:24:32.440 a nice, calm, measured person. The idea that you would 537 00:24:32.440 --> 00:24:34.720 flip out on Christen Welker like that is so funny, 538 00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:35.759 you know, such a baby. 539 00:24:35.880 --> 00:24:39.480 He flipped out because she said, do you have the evidence? 540 00:24:39.480 --> 00:24:42.039 Where's the evidence? It's like, man, in his mind, it's 541 00:24:42.119 --> 00:24:43.920 just like, well, that's what my people told me. And 542 00:24:43.960 --> 00:24:45.920 I saw it on the TV, and I saw it 543 00:24:45.960 --> 00:24:48.480 in the pote and the truths that I that I reposted, 544 00:24:48.559 --> 00:24:50.920 that I retruthed, and so he has no fucking ideas. 545 00:24:51.000 --> 00:24:52.680 All you have to do is look, if everyone would 546 00:24:52.720 --> 00:24:54.319 just look at what I looked at, you'd know that 547 00:24:54.400 --> 00:24:55.079 it was crooked. 548 00:24:55.200 --> 00:24:57.160 I think it's you're asking for evidence. You know I 549 00:24:57.200 --> 00:24:59.599 don't have that. Fuck you, I've got to make it 550 00:24:59.759 --> 00:25:01.640 up on television, you know that, so mad about the 551 00:25:01.720 --> 00:25:02.960 rain as if she's making rain. 552 00:25:03.160 --> 00:25:05.640 He also did the because it was too long, we 553 00:25:05.720 --> 00:25:07.680 didn't play it, but he did the whole thing again 554 00:25:07.799 --> 00:25:11.160 on where on January sixth, the FBI agents the credit 555 00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:15.079 FBI was standing outside sending people in to the to 556 00:25:15.480 --> 00:25:18.200 the Capitol. It's like you were fucking president dog. 557 00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:21.119 They only pleaded guilty because they were threatened with jails. 558 00:25:21.400 --> 00:25:24.119 Were talking about they're on video beating up cops. 559 00:25:24.319 --> 00:25:27.240 Yeah, everyone has knocked down this dumb conspiracy that the 560 00:25:27.400 --> 00:25:30.039 FBI set up. The January sixth rioders the. 561 00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:33.839 FBI that was under the control of Donald Trump on 562 00:25:33.960 --> 00:25:35.559 the slush fund. We'll start there and then we can 563 00:25:35.599 --> 00:25:39.079 get to the fraud in California. We talked last episode 564 00:25:39.079 --> 00:25:41.599 about Todd Blanche tell in Congress that the administration would 565 00:25:41.640 --> 00:25:44.720 not be moving forward with the idea, even though Trump 566 00:25:44.759 --> 00:25:49.599 says still he loves it, and then Senate Republicans blocked 567 00:25:49.640 --> 00:25:52.400 the bipartisan attempts to actually ban the slush fund just 568 00:25:52.440 --> 00:25:55.519 in case Trump changes his mind. Now the House is 569 00:25:55.519 --> 00:25:58.039 going to give it a go. Democrat Tom Swazi and 570 00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:01.119 Republican Brian Fitzpatrick will launch a charge petition this week 571 00:26:01.200 --> 00:26:03.799 to force a vote on their bill to ban the 572 00:26:03.920 --> 00:26:08.559 slush fund. Two questions, You think the vulnerable Republicans who 573 00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:12.880 voted to kill the fund have successfully neutralized their political risk? 574 00:26:13.079 --> 00:26:18.599 I think that was Collins, Housted and Dan Sullivan all 575 00:26:18.759 --> 00:26:21.279 up for reelection. They vote, but then they voted for 576 00:26:21.319 --> 00:26:24.759 the final bill. And do you think Trump will actually 577 00:26:24.839 --> 00:26:27.000 just let this thing die? Or is this not the 578 00:26:27.079 --> 00:26:27.799 last we've heard of it? 579 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:32.200 So he also says to Welker at some point he 580 00:26:32.319 --> 00:26:36.480 still likes the fund, but you have to get it approved. 581 00:26:36.839 --> 00:26:38.960 And if it didn't get approved, I'd be disappointed. So 582 00:26:39.079 --> 00:26:41.640 that's where he's at now. Approved they didn't. He didn't 583 00:26:41.640 --> 00:26:43.279 claim to need it approved in the first place, And 584 00:26:43.319 --> 00:26:45.319 I was hiding behind the idea of it being approved 585 00:26:45.400 --> 00:26:48.119 in some way. So he's sort of leaving his options open, 586 00:26:48.160 --> 00:26:49.279 I think, to let it go or do it in 587 00:26:49.359 --> 00:26:53.039 some other fashion. I think the like it's very clear 588 00:26:53.119 --> 00:26:55.279 that they did not appreciate how big of a political 589 00:26:55.279 --> 00:26:58.400 problem it would be to launch this thing. Todd Blanche 590 00:26:58.599 --> 00:27:00.359 clearly thought this was going to be He was doing 591 00:27:00.400 --> 00:27:02.640 what he Trump wanted and got him the nomination to 592 00:27:02.720 --> 00:27:04.799 be Attorney general, and then it just. 593 00:27:04.880 --> 00:27:08.000 The whole thing blew up. Yeah. To me, he sounds 594 00:27:08.079 --> 00:27:11.839 like a man who is not ashamed by the fund 595 00:27:12.039 --> 00:27:13.759 or worried about the politics. It sounds like he thinks 596 00:27:13.799 --> 00:27:16.720 he's owed this, genuinely thinks he has owed this money. 597 00:27:16.960 --> 00:27:19.240 He deserves this money, just like he has owed the 598 00:27:19.319 --> 00:27:22.319 money from CBS because of that lawsuit, or the bribes 599 00:27:22.319 --> 00:27:24.799 from the tech companies to build his ballroom, and goddamn it, 600 00:27:24.839 --> 00:27:26.559 he's going to get it. And that's why, to me, 601 00:27:27.200 --> 00:27:29.880 the political risk for all the vulnerable members does not 602 00:27:30.039 --> 00:27:32.039 go away, because I don't think he's going to drop it, 603 00:27:32.119 --> 00:27:34.039 and I think it's going to be an ongoing issue, 604 00:27:34.440 --> 00:27:37.759 and just like to be to be having this conversation 605 00:27:37.960 --> 00:27:40.160 is so politically damaging, Like this man is trying to 606 00:27:40.240 --> 00:27:43.279 extort us taxpayers for one point eight billion dollars to 607 00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:46.319 pay off people who beat up cops. That is crazy. 608 00:27:46.519 --> 00:27:50.839 This is the taxpayer funded transition Surgery for prisoners issue 609 00:27:51.119 --> 00:27:54.079 of from twenty twenty four in the twenty twenty six 610 00:27:54.160 --> 00:27:56.279 mid terms. Like I have not seen a pole yet 611 00:27:56.319 --> 00:27:59.680 about this, but like throwing a poll at one point 612 00:27:59.720 --> 00:28:04.519 eight billion dollars from the taxpayers to pay out people 613 00:28:04.920 --> 00:28:09.960 who were convicted criminals on camera trying to murder cops. 614 00:28:10.599 --> 00:28:12.599 That's that's what we're doing. That's where tax paramney is 615 00:28:12.599 --> 00:28:16.079 going at a time of inflation and high gas prices. 616 00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:19.160 It's like, I can't great. And also for like Susan 617 00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:24.240 Collins and John Houstead and Dan Sullivan, they voted for 618 00:28:24.319 --> 00:28:26.480 the bill. They voted for the like they tried to, 619 00:28:26.759 --> 00:28:28.359 you know, vote for the provision that would block it, 620 00:28:28.440 --> 00:28:30.440 but then when that failed, they gave the green light 621 00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:32.160 to the whole bill that went forward and they didn't 622 00:28:32.200 --> 00:28:34.000 do anything to stop it. They could have voted again 623 00:28:34.119 --> 00:28:35.799 because you know who did vote against the final bill, 624 00:28:35.920 --> 00:28:38.599 Lisa Murcusky, And she's the only Republican who did, and 625 00:28:38.680 --> 00:28:40.160 the rest of them just said fuck it, I'm just 626 00:28:40.160 --> 00:28:41.119 gonna vote for the bill anyway. 627 00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:43.480 It is this sort of like even on the merits 628 00:28:43.519 --> 00:28:45.640 like this is the core of the problem of someone 629 00:28:45.680 --> 00:28:48.400 like Susan Collins or these Republicans who tried it once 630 00:28:48.440 --> 00:28:50.319 in a while, stake out and anti Trump view, but 631 00:28:50.359 --> 00:28:51.920 for the most part vote with the caucus, which is 632 00:28:52.759 --> 00:28:55.920 they are part of enabling Donald Trump. And the only 633 00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:57.440 reason we got to the point where this fund could 634 00:28:57.480 --> 00:28:59.920 be proposed is because Donald Trump believes that he has 635 00:29:00.119 --> 00:29:02.680 the Republican Caucus in his pocket and he is right 636 00:29:02.839 --> 00:29:04.839 and for all their kind of hemming and high and 637 00:29:04.880 --> 00:29:07.160 all the concerns, who's in Collins has shown she is 638 00:29:07.319 --> 00:29:10.599 one of the fifty enablers of Donald Trump time and 639 00:29:10.640 --> 00:29:13.559 time again. And you can go to the podium and 640 00:29:13.759 --> 00:29:15.319 give these statements, but at the end of the day, 641 00:29:15.480 --> 00:29:18.200 you support a Senate majority in a Senate, you support 642 00:29:18.279 --> 00:29:20.079 Donald Trump being able to do whatever he wants without 643 00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:21.119 any kind of accountability. 644 00:29:21.680 --> 00:29:24.279 So let's talk about the fraud claims from Trump and 645 00:29:24.319 --> 00:29:27.359 night Meet the Press interview, which again started with his 646 00:29:27.480 --> 00:29:30.039 usual bullshit about twenty twenty, but also included some fresh 647 00:29:30.119 --> 00:29:33.960 material on last week's California primaries where the votes are 648 00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:37.680 still being counted. A reminder that everyone here in California 649 00:29:37.680 --> 00:29:39.920 gets a ballot in the mail, which you can return 650 00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:42.880 by mail or drop off in person, and as long 651 00:29:42.920 --> 00:29:45.119 as you get it postmarked by election day and it 652 00:29:45.279 --> 00:29:48.880 arrives within seven days, it does get counted. That process 653 00:29:48.960 --> 00:29:51.559 means the count is very slow and big changes can 654 00:29:51.599 --> 00:29:54.319 happen late, especially in an election like this where a 655 00:29:54.440 --> 00:29:58.240 lot of voters, especially Democrats, were undecided until the very end. 656 00:29:58.799 --> 00:30:00.680 And that is of course what is ha happening right now. 657 00:30:01.200 --> 00:30:04.079 In the LA mayor's race. Nathie Rahman has now overtaken 658 00:30:04.200 --> 00:30:07.440 Spencer Pratt in account and it appears she will make 659 00:30:07.440 --> 00:30:10.319 the runoff and face Karen Bass in November. That's what 660 00:30:10.519 --> 00:30:13.559 some organizations are projecting. AP hasn't gone with it yet, 661 00:30:13.640 --> 00:30:17.559 but it's definitely trending that way. This led to many 662 00:30:17.640 --> 00:30:20.640 Trump posts, the most recent as of this recording being 663 00:30:20.759 --> 00:30:23.799 quote not possible for Spencer Pratt to have lost the 664 00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:27.160 LA runoffs after the big lead he had Third world 665 00:30:27.319 --> 00:30:30.920 nation rigged elections. Now they'll be working on a great guy, 666 00:30:31.119 --> 00:30:34.440 Steve Hilton. Hilton is the Trump endorsed Republican in the 667 00:30:34.480 --> 00:30:37.440 governor's race, who's currently sitting in the second general election slot, 668 00:30:38.079 --> 00:30:41.039 though Tom Steyer is gaining on him. Unclear if Styer 669 00:30:41.079 --> 00:30:44.119 will actually catch him. And plenty of maga dipshit's are 670 00:30:44.160 --> 00:30:47.279 following Trump's lead on this. Here's just a sample. 671 00:30:47.720 --> 00:30:49.519 I'm not saying it's rigged. I'm saying it stinks to 672 00:30:49.599 --> 00:30:53.079 high heaven. And everybody knows that California is playing around 673 00:30:53.119 --> 00:30:53.400 with us. 674 00:30:53.559 --> 00:30:55.279 But what evidence is there to prove that that it. 675 00:30:55.359 --> 00:30:55.839 Was his rank? 676 00:30:55.960 --> 00:30:58.759 I don't Some of these efforts are so diabolical and 677 00:30:58.880 --> 00:31:01.359 so far upstream it is impossible to prove. But I 678 00:31:01.400 --> 00:31:03.880 think everybody knows instinctively something is wrong here. 679 00:31:04.240 --> 00:31:07.640 So people can just dig through garbage cans, find ballots 680 00:31:07.680 --> 00:31:11.200 and send them in apparently forever after an election is over. 681 00:31:11.680 --> 00:31:14.839 It's not okay. Really smart people need to go to 682 00:31:14.880 --> 00:31:17.200 the acts. Dum smart. That's what Randy Fine looks like. 683 00:31:17.319 --> 00:31:21.079 Randy Randy Fine, Harvard Harvard twice. Let me check it. 684 00:31:21.119 --> 00:31:22.039 I'm gonna check the facts. 685 00:31:22.160 --> 00:31:25.400 Check the fine. 686 00:31:25.839 --> 00:31:27.640 Randy Fine, Harvard. 687 00:31:27.680 --> 00:31:30.839 Undergrad and grad. What was his I don't know what 688 00:31:31.039 --> 00:31:32.000 the graduate degree. 689 00:31:31.880 --> 00:31:37.200 Is Harvard Harvard University b A N B a. 690 00:31:37.640 --> 00:31:39.319 Wow, NBA, it was a school. 691 00:31:39.440 --> 00:31:41.880 There we go, There we go. Sounds like a good time. 692 00:31:41.960 --> 00:31:42.119 Yeah. 693 00:31:42.119 --> 00:31:43.680 I mean, look, a lot of people get into Harvard, 694 00:31:44.279 --> 00:31:47.079 but he's sparking a lot of people don't get it. 695 00:31:47.920 --> 00:31:49.000 So that's the cool thing about Harvard. 696 00:31:49.640 --> 00:31:52.720 So before we even get to the fraud part, thoughts 697 00:31:52.759 --> 00:31:54.440 on Mithia overtaking Pratt. 698 00:31:55.160 --> 00:31:57.119 It's a bad day for Karen Bash. 699 00:31:57.319 --> 00:32:01.440 They thought they could have a nice little runoff where 700 00:32:01.559 --> 00:32:04.000 basically she got to run against Rick Caruso with a 701 00:32:04.039 --> 00:32:04.759 head injury. 702 00:32:04.519 --> 00:32:06.359 And instead it's. 703 00:32:07.799 --> 00:32:12.039 Instead instead, and instead she's going to face somebody that 704 00:32:12.119 --> 00:32:14.559 has a hot that actually, like, you know, Karen Bass 705 00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:17.200 is unpopular Nythia. I think a lot of people don't 706 00:32:17.240 --> 00:32:19.799 know Nythia, but she has a positive approval rating among 707 00:32:19.839 --> 00:32:21.839 people who do know her. It doesn't surprise me that 708 00:32:21.960 --> 00:32:24.319 a lot of the kind of hyper engage LA voter 709 00:32:24.480 --> 00:32:26.119 who didn't want to vote for the governor's race to 710 00:32:26.119 --> 00:32:28.519 the last possible minute were a bunch of Nythia Rahman 711 00:32:28.599 --> 00:32:31.759 voters that were paying really close attention. But I do 712 00:32:31.880 --> 00:32:33.839 think it's very good for Los Angeles because it means 713 00:32:33.880 --> 00:32:39.599 we now get a runoff where with real stakes about 714 00:32:39.759 --> 00:32:42.480 what kind of democratic leadership we want as opposed to 715 00:32:42.640 --> 00:32:44.079 what we would have had, which is six months. 716 00:32:43.880 --> 00:32:46.319 I fear mongering run spen spread. Yeah, just to be clear, 717 00:32:46.400 --> 00:32:49.960 establishment Democrats in California are rigging the election to make 718 00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:52.720 it harder for the incumbent mayor to win the mayoral 719 00:32:52.759 --> 00:32:55.359 here in Los Angeles, but also rigging it so the 720 00:32:55.440 --> 00:32:58.720 statewide race will include a Republican so that Steve Hilton 721 00:32:58.720 --> 00:32:59.960 has a chance to become governor. 722 00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:01.720 It's because we know what's up here in Los Angeles. 723 00:33:01.799 --> 00:33:04.359 That makes sense, that makes sense. He did love his point. 724 00:33:05.440 --> 00:33:07.799 You know, head injuries is whaxed by a big crystal 725 00:33:08.119 --> 00:33:10.440 and the like. Now it's a real race, like Karen 726 00:33:10.480 --> 00:33:13.640 bass is a week incumbent because of handling of the fires, homelessness, 727 00:33:14.400 --> 00:33:17.440 cost of living, like anger at incumbents generally, and Spencer 728 00:33:17.519 --> 00:33:22.359 Pratt was was dominating the battle for attention for super 729 00:33:22.440 --> 00:33:25.200 online people, if you're a Twitter power user, if you're 730 00:33:25.240 --> 00:33:28.799 super politically engaged. Spencer Pratt was everywhere because our algorithms 731 00:33:28.799 --> 00:33:30.960 were feeding us his AI slop crap, and you know, 732 00:33:31.119 --> 00:33:34.160 just felt like he was all over And that's a 733 00:33:34.200 --> 00:33:36.079 small slice of the electorate. It turns out because the 734 00:33:36.160 --> 00:33:38.880 LA Times did a poll right before the election where 735 00:33:38.920 --> 00:33:41.359 they modeled the actual electorate, and that poll looks like 736 00:33:41.400 --> 00:33:44.240 it was pretty much spot on at this point. And 737 00:33:44.440 --> 00:33:49.039 so what actually happened is what I think that political 738 00:33:49.079 --> 00:33:54.240 professionals always assumed would happen, which is the MAGA adjacent candidate. 739 00:33:54.279 --> 00:33:56.640 Spencer Pratt was never going to do very well in 740 00:33:56.720 --> 00:33:59.960 Los Angeles in a county where fifteen percent of Regis 741 00:34:00.200 --> 00:34:03.519 voters are Republican and Trump is fifty five points underwater, 742 00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:06.880 and Pratt was aligned with Trump like that of course 743 00:34:06.960 --> 00:34:07.920 that was what's going to happen here. 744 00:34:08.480 --> 00:34:12.599 In fact, Spencer Pratt's campaign was nothing special at all, 745 00:34:13.239 --> 00:34:16.159 and and like you know, I think you could look 746 00:34:16.159 --> 00:34:18.920 at the media tactics and say, there's there's things for 747 00:34:19.000 --> 00:34:22.599 other candidates to learn about how to grab attention. But yeah, 748 00:34:22.880 --> 00:34:25.639 the La TA the La Times poll that you mentioned, Tommy, 749 00:34:26.079 --> 00:34:29.000 it was it was May twenty eighth, so like a 750 00:34:29.039 --> 00:34:31.519 couple of weeks before the election, and it was Bass 751 00:34:31.559 --> 00:34:35.039 twenty six, Romen twenty five. Pratt twenty two. Didn't get 752 00:34:35.039 --> 00:34:36.840 as much attention because it sort of went against the 753 00:34:36.920 --> 00:34:39.639 prevailing narrative of like the super online set, which is 754 00:34:39.840 --> 00:34:42.320 journalists and all of us, and people are all us 755 00:34:42.400 --> 00:34:46.159 for sure, and then but today it's right now, it's 756 00:34:46.239 --> 00:34:48.840 Bass thirty four, Romen twenty seven, Pratt twenty six. And 757 00:34:49.039 --> 00:34:51.840 you know, you could see sort of Pratt going even 758 00:34:51.920 --> 00:34:53.840 lower and maybe Bass going a little bit lower as 759 00:34:53.880 --> 00:34:55.960 the as the final vote comes in. But we'll see, 760 00:34:57.360 --> 00:35:00.599 and it turns out that Spencer Pratt is it's probably 761 00:35:00.639 --> 00:35:04.719 going to finish almost where Donald Trump finished in twenty 762 00:35:04.920 --> 00:35:08.000 twenty four in this city. And now that's a bigger 763 00:35:08.039 --> 00:35:10.960 electric so like you can't it's not exactly apples to apples. 764 00:35:11.000 --> 00:35:14.039 But he also he did much worse than Caruso did. Uh, 765 00:35:14.159 --> 00:35:17.480 Cruzo spent more money, but also Spencer Pratt raised more 766 00:35:17.559 --> 00:35:21.920 than Karen Bass or Nythia spent more, had crazy amount 767 00:35:21.920 --> 00:35:26.639 of attention, and basically performed like a standard issue Republican 768 00:35:27.039 --> 00:35:29.320 in Los Angeles, absolutely no better at all. 769 00:35:29.480 --> 00:35:31.679 Imagine if like Joe Biden had give an interview saying that, 770 00:35:31.800 --> 00:35:35.000 like Amy McGrath's loss is because of fraud in Kentucky, 771 00:35:35.079 --> 00:35:37.920 because everybody loves Amy McGrath and Amy grath is doing 772 00:35:38.000 --> 00:35:41.360 incredible stuff out there. Look, there are people that, like 773 00:35:41.760 --> 00:35:45.119 you know, they are they're captivating to the kind of 774 00:35:45.159 --> 00:35:47.800 people that are watching really closely that are hyperpartisan. But 775 00:35:47.880 --> 00:35:51.119 then voters in LA who I think are really frustrated 776 00:35:51.239 --> 00:35:54.880 with Karen Bass, really frustrated with Democrats, they would and 777 00:35:55.159 --> 00:35:57.320 for all we know, we don't know, right, if Nythia 778 00:35:57.440 --> 00:35:59.679 Ramin weren't in the race, like, how many anti incumbent 779 00:35:59.760 --> 00:36:01.119 votes might have gone to Spencer Pratt. 780 00:36:01.159 --> 00:36:02.079 Like I think it's a. 781 00:36:03.880 --> 00:36:05.440 I think it's a little bit more than just the 782 00:36:05.519 --> 00:36:08.239 kind of he got, the kind of standard Republican vote. 783 00:36:08.239 --> 00:36:10.760 You know, we don't know how many votes for Ramen 784 00:36:10.960 --> 00:36:13.920 are Democrats who are just anti incumbent and maybe they 785 00:36:13.960 --> 00:36:15.880 could have been Spencer Pratt voters, right, because they just 786 00:36:15.960 --> 00:36:17.960 did not want to vote for Karen Bass. But regardless, 787 00:36:18.079 --> 00:36:20.360 as much as people in this city are really frustrated 788 00:36:20.400 --> 00:36:23.800 with Democratic leadership, they're not going to vote for someone 789 00:36:23.840 --> 00:36:28.039 aligned with Trump who was going around saying crazy shit 790 00:36:29.400 --> 00:36:30.360 about the city. 791 00:36:30.480 --> 00:36:33.960 He ran a horrible campaign, and he actually became more 792 00:36:34.079 --> 00:36:37.880 maga the closer it got to election day, like he's 793 00:36:38.239 --> 00:36:41.320 I think we talked about this, maybe off Mike or Onike, 794 00:36:41.320 --> 00:36:44.079 I can't remember anymore. But he spent the weekend before 795 00:36:44.159 --> 00:36:46.719 the election in New York on Fox and Friends. It 796 00:36:46.840 --> 00:36:50.599 was not Gutfeld too, calling for Nithia and Karen Bass 797 00:36:50.679 --> 00:36:53.559 to be jailed and then talking about how people were 798 00:36:53.679 --> 00:36:56.960 raping dogs in skid row, like that's how That's how 799 00:36:57.039 --> 00:36:59.679 he ended the race. He became more of like a 800 00:37:00.079 --> 00:37:02.760 meglomaniac at the end, or at least openly. He didn't 801 00:37:02.800 --> 00:37:05.920 try at all to distance himself from Republicans at all, 802 00:37:06.079 --> 00:37:09.280 like Rick Caruso ran a race where he was at 803 00:37:09.360 --> 00:37:11.440 least like, I'm going to listen to both sides, like 804 00:37:11.519 --> 00:37:14.199 he tried to be as nonpartisan as possible, which is 805 00:37:14.239 --> 00:37:17.280 probably why he ended up doing better than Spencer Pratt. 806 00:37:17.400 --> 00:37:20.320 But Spencer Pratt actually got more maga seeming the closer 807 00:37:20.320 --> 00:37:22.119 he got to election day. So andyone was like, oh, 808 00:37:22.159 --> 00:37:24.039 it was a brilliant campaign this and that's like, no, 809 00:37:24.199 --> 00:37:26.639 it wasn't. He had the possibility of maybe running a 810 00:37:26.719 --> 00:37:30.079 campaign where he had this like angry populist message and 811 00:37:30.159 --> 00:37:31.960 he sort of tapped into the frustration with the government, 812 00:37:32.000 --> 00:37:34.400 but he just fucking blew it as the as the 813 00:37:34.519 --> 00:37:35.360 race got closer. 814 00:37:35.440 --> 00:37:37.280 Yeah, and I should say, like, obviously I've been very 815 00:37:37.519 --> 00:37:40.159 insulting to Spencer Pratt, and there's a there, like he 816 00:37:40.559 --> 00:37:42.440 lost his house. There's a lot of anger about the 817 00:37:42.480 --> 00:37:44.280 way the fires were managed, but he just didn't run 818 00:37:44.719 --> 00:37:46.360 that campaign. And I do think there's like a kind 819 00:37:46.360 --> 00:37:48.239 of insular conversation that happened. If you look at the 820 00:37:48.280 --> 00:37:50.920 map of where Spencer Pratt vote came from, there's this 821 00:37:51.079 --> 00:37:54.199 kind of ring of like wealthier places around the city 822 00:37:55.159 --> 00:37:59.039 that like are people that are very online, I think, 823 00:37:59.199 --> 00:38:03.440 very kind of like Bill Maher fairy Weiss world kind 824 00:38:03.480 --> 00:38:05.360 of coded at least like like just sort of tapped 825 00:38:05.360 --> 00:38:08.239 into that world who are really frustrated with Democrats, who 826 00:38:08.239 --> 00:38:10.440 think the Democrats have gone crazy and moved too far 827 00:38:10.639 --> 00:38:12.960 left right, And there's just not that that's that is 828 00:38:12.960 --> 00:38:15.159 a big pool of people on the internet, right, And it's. 829 00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:17.239 A big pool of people who yeah, on the Internet 830 00:38:17.280 --> 00:38:20.360 and just who have like outsized influences and louder megaphones 831 00:38:20.400 --> 00:38:22.800 and other people. Because it wasn't I will say, it 832 00:38:22.840 --> 00:38:25.440 wasn't purely an online phenomenon, and that like we all 833 00:38:25.519 --> 00:38:27.719 know people and we were in circles where someone's like, oh, 834 00:38:27.880 --> 00:38:30.760 I've talked to some Democrats who were voting for Spencer Pratten, 835 00:38:30.920 --> 00:38:32.559 and now I would always ask him like, are you 836 00:38:32.920 --> 00:38:36.119 are they Democrats who voted for Karen Bass last time 837 00:38:36.199 --> 00:38:38.360 or are they Caruso voters who were now Pratt voters? 838 00:38:38.400 --> 00:38:41.840 And you didn't find too many Bass Pratt voters out there. 839 00:38:41.960 --> 00:38:45.599 Right, There was a genuine frustration with Karen Bass. I 840 00:38:45.639 --> 00:38:47.440 personally felt it. We talked about this on the show. 841 00:38:47.519 --> 00:38:50.159 Her management of the city around the fire, as I thought, 842 00:38:50.280 --> 00:38:52.159 was really really bad. And I think for Spencer Pratt 843 00:38:52.239 --> 00:38:55.320 having his house burned down, understandably he was channeling some 844 00:38:55.480 --> 00:38:59.760 legitimate and righteous rage about all things LA and the fires. 845 00:39:00.920 --> 00:39:02.599 If Rick Cruso had won again, I think there's a 846 00:39:02.679 --> 00:39:04.480 very good chance he could have done well and made 847 00:39:04.519 --> 00:39:07.119 the runoff maybe one outright, yeah, because he had a 848 00:39:07.159 --> 00:39:09.519 track record. He was like I built the grove and 849 00:39:09.679 --> 00:39:12.800 and Spencer Prats like I coined the term Spidey and 850 00:39:12.920 --> 00:39:16.280 maybe leaked a sex tape about LC. Yeah it's for me, 851 00:39:16.440 --> 00:39:18.760 Like he just let you self evidently not qualified for 852 00:39:18.840 --> 00:39:21.440 the job. So I mean like that, this is what 853 00:39:21.599 --> 00:39:23.519 was so frustrating. And I think about the boomlet about 854 00:39:23.559 --> 00:39:25.880 the guy was it was just like kind of like 855 00:39:26.000 --> 00:39:30.960 TMG adjacent Twitter algorithm pumped bullshit and hype backed by. 856 00:39:30.920 --> 00:39:33.159 Nothing well, and to your point, love it about the map. 857 00:39:33.519 --> 00:39:36.280 It's it's analogous too for those of you listening from 858 00:39:36.360 --> 00:39:39.480 DC or have been to DC. Like how people in 859 00:39:39.559 --> 00:39:41.960 northwest DC and northwest d C think like that's the 860 00:39:42.000 --> 00:39:44.559 whole city and there's actually three other quadrants in d 861 00:39:44.719 --> 00:39:47.800 C where a ton of fucking people live. They're just 862 00:39:47.880 --> 00:39:50.760 not as loud or as privileged as everyone in the northwest. 863 00:39:51.000 --> 00:39:52.800 And that, I think is what happened in LA too, 864 00:39:52.960 --> 00:39:55.400 is like there's this is a big, big city and 865 00:39:55.679 --> 00:39:59.880 all those places they voted for Bass, especially in southern 866 00:40:00.119 --> 00:40:03.719 in eastern LA and Nythia as well, like they're just 867 00:40:03.840 --> 00:40:07.320 not a Nythea's areas are definitely wealthier, for sure, but 868 00:40:08.000 --> 00:40:12.119 there's just it's just an outsize influence and loudness you 869 00:40:12.199 --> 00:40:15.119 get from people on the west side that doesn't actually 870 00:40:15.199 --> 00:40:20.039 represent most of LA. So on the fraud allegations, how 871 00:40:20.119 --> 00:40:24.159 seriously do you guys take those allegations from Trump and 872 00:40:24.239 --> 00:40:28.119 other Republicans as a potential harbinger of things to come 873 00:40:28.159 --> 00:40:29.679 in November or future elections? 874 00:40:29.719 --> 00:40:31.800 I guess I mean Trump's gonna say that any election 875 00:40:32.079 --> 00:40:35.519 he or Republicans did not win was stolen, right, It's 876 00:40:35.559 --> 00:40:38.000 a headside wind tells you lose set up. I think 877 00:40:38.039 --> 00:40:40.760 this was kind of the perfect storms. The Spencer Boomlet, 878 00:40:41.119 --> 00:40:43.360 this expectation that just built and built and built, that 879 00:40:43.400 --> 00:40:45.840 he was some great candidate and going to win. Then 880 00:40:45.920 --> 00:40:48.239 there's the California voting process and how slow it is, 881 00:40:48.280 --> 00:40:50.159 and we'll talk about that in a second, and then 882 00:40:50.360 --> 00:40:51.880 you know this just it wasn't like a big election 883 00:40:52.039 --> 00:40:53.480 night with a lot of other things to talk about. 884 00:40:53.519 --> 00:40:55.000 It was a lot of people focusing on this in 885 00:40:55.079 --> 00:40:58.000 this still counting. And so I think what I found 886 00:40:58.079 --> 00:41:01.360 personally so annoying about this is how much information you 887 00:41:01.480 --> 00:41:04.559 can find about the process if you try to find it. 888 00:41:04.880 --> 00:41:06.639 Like I got in a little exchange with Megan McCain 889 00:41:06.679 --> 00:41:09.000 about this on Sunday, I was bored on a flight. 890 00:41:09.360 --> 00:41:13.400 She's an unpleasant person who doesn't apparently want to educate herself. 891 00:41:13.440 --> 00:41:17.440 But like, you could go reporters, the counting process is 892 00:41:17.480 --> 00:41:21.079 live streamed. Reporters can and do go to the processing center. 893 00:41:22.440 --> 00:41:25.599 The general public can and do go to observe the 894 00:41:25.719 --> 00:41:28.599 counting if you want to. There are representatives from the 895 00:41:28.719 --> 00:41:33.000 campaigns observing the counting. Like the problems are well documented, 896 00:41:33.159 --> 00:41:36.159 LA County is the largest election jurisdiction in the country. 897 00:41:36.239 --> 00:41:39.519 They are more registered voters in this county than forty 898 00:41:39.639 --> 00:41:41.519 one states have statewide. 899 00:41:41.639 --> 00:41:43.960 I know ten million people in LA County. People don't 900 00:41:44.039 --> 00:41:46.440 understand this. It's really big, people, it's really big here. 901 00:41:46.480 --> 00:41:50.199 Everyone come visit. And in California, most of us vote 902 00:41:50.199 --> 00:41:52.039 by mail. It's like eighty or ninety percent of California 903 00:41:52.119 --> 00:41:54.159 voters use the valve that gets mailed to your house, 904 00:41:54.599 --> 00:41:56.760 compared to fifteen percent in Texas. And I love that 905 00:41:57.440 --> 00:41:59.880 because our ballot is really long and complicated. There's a 906 00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:01.679 lot of stuff you got to google and it takes hours. 907 00:42:01.719 --> 00:42:03.000 And like, I'm glad I could do that at home. 908 00:42:04.079 --> 00:42:06.800 And so, like you mentioned, vote by mail ballots, if 909 00:42:06.840 --> 00:42:09.960 they're postmarked on election day, received within seven days, they 910 00:42:10.039 --> 00:42:13.159 get counted. The signature matching process can take a lot 911 00:42:13.199 --> 00:42:15.960 of time. Again, that's a thing Republicans like I was gonna, yeah, 912 00:42:15.960 --> 00:42:18.039 I think you guys like the signature matching process. That's 913 00:42:18.039 --> 00:42:21.280 called voter verification. And if there's an issue with your signature, 914 00:42:21.320 --> 00:42:22.960 there's time to cure it and fix it. That can 915 00:42:23.039 --> 00:42:25.960 take time. Takes time to open the ballots, check the signatures, 916 00:42:26.320 --> 00:42:28.400 like what we should do is put more money, more time, 917 00:42:28.440 --> 00:42:31.440 more resources, more people, more machines, throw it at this problem, 918 00:42:31.599 --> 00:42:32.840 try to speed it up a little bit. 919 00:42:33.639 --> 00:42:35.840 That would be helpful. But like, we have a lot 920 00:42:35.880 --> 00:42:38.280 of people here, this is how we vote. Yeah, I 921 00:42:38.639 --> 00:42:42.679 mean we have a lot of people, but the scale shouldn't. 922 00:42:42.239 --> 00:42:42.679 Be a factor. 923 00:42:42.719 --> 00:42:45.039 And how quickly we count the ballots, right like Texas 924 00:42:45.079 --> 00:42:45.519 can count the. 925 00:42:45.480 --> 00:42:47.039 Faster for other reasons. I'm saying that there. 926 00:42:47.199 --> 00:42:48.679 I think there's there are ways in which we can 927 00:42:48.760 --> 00:42:52.039 keep postmarked by election day, we keep all the kind 928 00:42:52.079 --> 00:42:53.639 of pro voter policies that we have, and it can 929 00:42:53.679 --> 00:42:55.440 be done. Should be faster, It'd be much faster now. 930 00:42:55.440 --> 00:42:57.199 I do think one part of this is a lot 931 00:42:57.239 --> 00:42:59.280 of people held their ballots because they were waiting. They're 932 00:42:59.320 --> 00:43:01.760 being strategic about the governor's race, or maybe they just 933 00:43:02.079 --> 00:43:04.960 weren't and just actually didn't feel inspired by their choices. Whatever, 934 00:43:05.320 --> 00:43:07.280 people really helped them to their ballots. I think the 935 00:43:07.840 --> 00:43:11.559 two things should happen one going into November in California. 936 00:43:11.679 --> 00:43:13.480 I think we all really need to view it as 937 00:43:13.639 --> 00:43:16.360 kind of a civic responsibility to get our ballots in sooner, right, Like, 938 00:43:16.400 --> 00:43:18.559 I think we can all help by having more ballots 939 00:43:18.599 --> 00:43:22.760 in and then two. So California now counties have to 940 00:43:23.039 --> 00:43:26.039 have to count the most of the votes within thirteen days, 941 00:43:26.960 --> 00:43:30.159 or they have to notify their provisional ballots and exceptions, 942 00:43:30.199 --> 00:43:33.119 but they have to count within thirteen days. But with 943 00:43:33.280 --> 00:43:36.960 some more resources, it should be possible that on election 944 00:43:37.159 --> 00:43:39.440 night they've counted all the ballots they've already received and 945 00:43:39.519 --> 00:43:41.440 can put those numbers up and then kind of the 946 00:43:41.559 --> 00:43:44.239 counts can be happening quicker. And that is a resource question. 947 00:43:44.400 --> 00:43:44.559 You have. 948 00:43:46.280 --> 00:43:49.000 Counties where they're still taking you know, it's days and 949 00:43:49.119 --> 00:43:51.000 days and days after they're getting ballots that they can 950 00:43:51.039 --> 00:43:52.920 ultimately get to counting them. They have limited hours, they've 951 00:43:52.960 --> 00:43:55.000 limited space, like all of this could be resolved, and 952 00:43:55.320 --> 00:43:57.800 you know Governor govin Newsim has talked about this about 953 00:43:57.840 --> 00:44:00.800 wanting the ballots to be faster. I just don't appreciate 954 00:44:00.840 --> 00:44:02.559 when the Secretary of State of California is like, we 955 00:44:02.639 --> 00:44:05.039 want to be it's accuracy, not speed. I wish there 956 00:44:05.119 --> 00:44:07.039 was more acknowledgement that the process could be faster, what 957 00:44:07.119 --> 00:44:10.039 the resources would be required, because it's a huge problem. 958 00:44:10.159 --> 00:44:11.880 And look, there's nothing you can do to account for 959 00:44:11.880 --> 00:44:13.199 the fact that these people are going to accuse us 960 00:44:13.199 --> 00:44:13.480 a fraud. 961 00:44:13.760 --> 00:44:15.239 But I do think we should be able. 962 00:44:15.119 --> 00:44:17.400 To count our ballots faster, even at this size. 963 00:44:17.199 --> 00:44:20.159 Right, I agree, Like that's why I said no more money, 964 00:44:20.239 --> 00:44:23.719 more resources, Like we should count faster. It sucks, it's frustrating, 965 00:44:23.760 --> 00:44:25.960 it's embarrassing. What I just have no time for is 966 00:44:26.079 --> 00:44:29.239 the people who don't spend one second trying to find 967 00:44:29.280 --> 00:44:31.960 good information. They spread the meme that they got forwarded 968 00:44:32.039 --> 00:44:35.639 by their aunt on Facebook, and like they're like people 969 00:44:35.760 --> 00:44:38.519 kicking up the quote from Trump. It's like he doesn't 970 00:44:38.559 --> 00:44:40.159 know a goddamn thing about what's happening. 971 00:44:40.760 --> 00:44:44.119 Also, let's let's be clear here. The reason we all 972 00:44:44.199 --> 00:44:47.559 want it counted faster is because we know that if 973 00:44:47.599 --> 00:44:51.960 it's not being counted fast enough, then Republicans now cry. 974 00:44:51.920 --> 00:44:52.800 Fraud in the election. 975 00:44:53.320 --> 00:44:57.920 There's no civic, governmental reason for it to be counted faster. 976 00:44:58.159 --> 00:45:00.320 It would be nice. We're all fucking impatient people and 977 00:45:00.400 --> 00:45:03.559 just want results really fast. But like, now, look to 978 00:45:03.639 --> 00:45:06.679 your point, love it. There are other states with mostly 979 00:45:06.760 --> 00:45:09.599 mail in ballots where you can postmark by election day, 980 00:45:10.079 --> 00:45:13.760 Washington State, Colorado, et cetera. And they're all faster than us. 981 00:45:13.840 --> 00:45:15.840 Now they are smaller states. I do think the biggest 982 00:45:15.840 --> 00:45:18.519 problem with California is we leave it to the counties still, 983 00:45:19.039 --> 00:45:22.760 and so like Los Angeles, actually Los Angeles County was 984 00:45:22.800 --> 00:45:25.320 still posting updates over the weekend. A lot of counties 985 00:45:25.480 --> 00:45:27.840 just no one works on the weekend to count the ballots. 986 00:45:27.880 --> 00:45:29.639 They don't have enough staff, they don't post anything on 987 00:45:29.639 --> 00:45:32.480 the weekends, and there's just not enough machinery. So I 988 00:45:32.559 --> 00:45:35.400 think there is no excuse for the state legislature, which 989 00:45:35.440 --> 00:45:37.960 is controlled by Democrats and there's a democratic governor to 990 00:45:38.039 --> 00:45:42.559 pass more funding for staff or resources for a faster 991 00:45:42.840 --> 00:45:46.199 signature verification process, which you could probably do as well. 992 00:45:46.360 --> 00:45:49.639 You could probably limit the window for curing your ballot 993 00:45:49.719 --> 00:45:53.239 if the signature doesn't match, because you have like twenty 994 00:45:53.360 --> 00:45:55.400 days I think to cure your ballot at this point, 995 00:45:55.400 --> 00:45:58.079 which is it's pretty long, right, So there's there's definitely 996 00:45:58.159 --> 00:46:01.239 things you can do on the margin to make it 997 00:46:01.480 --> 00:46:04.400 faster by making it a whole state thing instead of 998 00:46:04.400 --> 00:46:05.039 county by county. 999 00:46:05.079 --> 00:46:09.079 Yeah, and yes, it is to answer totally bullshit allegations 1000 00:46:09.119 --> 00:46:11.920 of fraud, but also we're the fourth fifth largest economy 1001 00:46:12.159 --> 00:46:14.960 on Earth. 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Zibiotics is back to a 1059 00:48:54.840 --> 00:48:57.039 one hundred percent money back guarantee, so if you're unsatisfied 1060 00:48:57.079 --> 00:48:59.119 for any reason, they'll refund your money, no questions, ask 1061 00:48:59.199 --> 00:49:02.079 remember at zibiotics dot com, slash cricket and use the 1062 00:49:02.119 --> 00:49:04.280 code cricket to check out for fifteen percent off. 1063 00:49:06.960 --> 00:49:09.719 All right, So, Alex and I talked on Friday about 1064 00:49:09.719 --> 00:49:12.400 the mess at sixty minutes and Scott Pelly's decision to 1065 00:49:12.800 --> 00:49:15.199 sound the alarm about what he says is conservative bias 1066 00:49:15.239 --> 00:49:19.400 at CBS News under Barry Weiss, which led to Pelly's firing. 1067 00:49:20.199 --> 00:49:21.679 He then sat down with The New York Times for 1068 00:49:21.679 --> 00:49:25.960 a conversation with Lulugarcianavarro at the interview, which published over 1069 00:49:26.000 --> 00:49:28.360 the weekend, where he elaborated on his claims for the 1070 00:49:28.400 --> 00:49:30.000 first time. Let's take a listen. 1071 00:49:30.360 --> 00:49:39.079 About four hours after our deadline, Barry Weiss sends an 1072 00:49:39.119 --> 00:49:44.840 email to my boss, Tanya Simon. Two of the things 1073 00:49:44.880 --> 00:49:49.760 in the email include, can we make the protesters look 1074 00:49:49.880 --> 00:49:55.000 more violent? Now I'm paraphrasing. I don't have the quote, 1075 00:49:55.519 --> 00:50:01.320 but that's what was communicated to me. And the other 1076 00:50:01.480 --> 00:50:05.679 thing was Renee Goods car you need to describe her 1077 00:50:06.119 --> 00:50:10.239 as driving toward the officer. There was a thumb on 1078 00:50:10.320 --> 00:50:16.599 the scale for the President's version of events that I 1079 00:50:16.800 --> 00:50:21.599 felt was a level of political influence that I had 1080 00:50:21.679 --> 00:50:25.599 never seen in thirty seven years at CBS News. 1081 00:50:25.840 --> 00:50:27.639 Did you guys listen to the whole interview and what 1082 00:50:27.719 --> 00:50:28.079 do you think? 1083 00:50:28.920 --> 00:50:31.559 Yeah, I watched the whole thing. The thing that jumped 1084 00:50:31.559 --> 00:50:33.000 out to me was. 1085 00:50:34.480 --> 00:50:38.639 Pelly makes he talks about the bias and of pushing 1086 00:50:38.719 --> 00:50:43.800 on these stories. And CBS gave a comment to The 1087 00:50:43.880 --> 00:50:46.320 Times basically saying there was a back and forth, not 1088 00:50:46.400 --> 00:50:49.480 everything that was requested ended up in the final piece whatever. 1089 00:50:49.519 --> 00:50:50.800 So they're saying, look, we had a back and forth 1090 00:50:50.840 --> 00:50:53.079 about it, but let's assume that there is some bias. 1091 00:50:53.360 --> 00:50:56.159 The point that Pelly makes is just what I take 1092 00:50:56.239 --> 00:50:58.920 from his broader interview and the story here is that 1093 00:50:59.400 --> 00:51:01.760 it's not just about the biased, about the incompetence of 1094 00:51:01.800 --> 00:51:07.360 the whole operation that like that they just have not communicated. Well, now, 1095 00:51:07.480 --> 00:51:09.320 I think some of this has been motivated reasoning, right, 1096 00:51:09.360 --> 00:51:14.199 Because then like he then also refuses to meet It 1097 00:51:14.280 --> 00:51:15.880 sounds like he did refuse to meet with them for 1098 00:51:15.960 --> 00:51:18.400 a time as well, right, So like tempers were clearly high, 1099 00:51:18.440 --> 00:51:20.119 but like you do get the sense like he makes 1100 00:51:20.159 --> 00:51:22.000 the point that Nick Bilton, who is a friend of mine, 1101 00:51:22.440 --> 00:51:24.719 was it was reading from his phone in one of 1102 00:51:24.760 --> 00:51:26.920 the meetings, and clearly like that was making Pelly get 1103 00:51:27.079 --> 00:51:28.920 mad in the moment, right, and like so some of 1104 00:51:29.000 --> 00:51:32.400 this is just people that have been accused of being 1105 00:51:32.480 --> 00:51:35.800 brought in to be pro Trump, to have bias to 1106 00:51:35.800 --> 00:51:40.400 help Ellison gets deals done, and then like sort of 1107 00:51:40.440 --> 00:51:44.199 hamphysically firing people trying to kind of have editorial opinions. 1108 00:51:44.280 --> 00:51:47.599 It confirming people's worst expectations, and it kind of spiraling 1109 00:51:47.639 --> 00:51:48.159 out of control. 1110 00:51:48.480 --> 00:51:50.039 Yeah, I look, I thought what we just watched there 1111 00:51:50.039 --> 00:51:52.239 were some pretty damning allegations that, you know, Barry Weiss 1112 00:51:52.320 --> 00:51:55.360 is just interfering with segments, not just in a political way, 1113 00:51:55.440 --> 00:51:57.920 but like in a way that was not factual, Like 1114 00:51:58.000 --> 00:51:59.880 make it look like Reney Goods driving at the cops 1115 00:52:00.400 --> 00:52:03.880 pretty clearly was not with your own eyes. I also 1116 00:52:04.000 --> 00:52:07.719 was taken by just how incompetent he described the new 1117 00:52:07.800 --> 00:52:10.679 team as being like entire episodes of sixty minutes almost 1118 00:52:10.719 --> 00:52:13.840 didn't make air. That seems bad. They couldn't get Tony 1119 00:52:13.920 --> 00:52:16.679 ducoppol a visa to cover the President's trip to China, 1120 00:52:17.159 --> 00:52:21.360 also a pretty big deal. Pretty bad. Pelly also overtly 1121 00:52:21.599 --> 00:52:24.000 uses the words he accuses the CBS of paying a 1122 00:52:24.079 --> 00:52:27.159 multi billion dollar bribe to President Trump when they settled 1123 00:52:27.159 --> 00:52:31.519 the lawsuit around the sixty Minutes edit of Kamala Harris's interview, 1124 00:52:32.239 --> 00:52:34.840 and so look like, you know, I don't know Barry Weiss. 1125 00:52:34.880 --> 00:52:37.480 Some people say she's lovely and charming, some people think she's, 1126 00:52:37.679 --> 00:52:39.880 you know, the devil like right, The truth is obviously 1127 00:52:39.920 --> 00:52:42.719 somewhere in between. I've met Nick Bilton before. Seems like 1128 00:52:42.760 --> 00:52:45.760 a nice guy, good author, smart screenwriter. Neither of him 1129 00:52:45.800 --> 00:52:50.840 has any TV experience and seemingly have no business overseeing 1130 00:52:51.519 --> 00:52:55.159 the most successful TV news show with this network. I mean, 1131 00:52:55.400 --> 00:52:58.960 Barry Weiss is the editor in chief of CBS TV 1132 00:52:59.239 --> 00:53:02.480 CBS News, but Nick Bilton's never worked in TV, and 1133 00:53:02.559 --> 00:53:04.880 he's getting put in charge of sixty Minutes, which is 1134 00:53:05.400 --> 00:53:08.000 by every measure of success. The ratings are up nine percent. 1135 00:53:08.400 --> 00:53:11.119 They make nearly seventy million dollars in AD revenue in 1136 00:53:11.199 --> 00:53:13.320 twenty twenty five. Like it's not a thing that's broken 1137 00:53:13.440 --> 00:53:16.159 needs fixing, which is a lot of Pelly's point. And 1138 00:53:16.239 --> 00:53:19.599 I think ultimately like Weiss and built In were brought 1139 00:53:19.639 --> 00:53:23.880 in as part of a corrupt project to change CBS News, 1140 00:53:24.320 --> 00:53:27.199 to make it okay for President Trump in some way 1141 00:53:27.400 --> 00:53:30.599 to grease the Paramount Skydance merger or whatever merger they 1142 00:53:30.679 --> 00:53:32.039 want to do in the future. That's what I think 1143 00:53:32.400 --> 00:53:35.880 Pelly thinks happened here. And there were times in this 1144 00:53:36.000 --> 00:53:39.320 interview where it can seem a little pompous and sound 1145 00:53:39.360 --> 00:53:41.800 like self righteous, and it's very emotional, right, Like Pelley 1146 00:53:41.800 --> 00:53:45.039 seems to compare himself to like a veterans in combat 1147 00:53:45.039 --> 00:53:46.880 at one point, which is a little odd, refers to 1148 00:53:47.039 --> 00:53:50.840 sixty minutes as his spouse being murdered. Yeah, so he's 1149 00:53:50.960 --> 00:53:53.119 very emotional. But like clear, this guy who loves his job, 1150 00:53:53.239 --> 00:53:55.039 never want to do anything else, never wanted to leave, 1151 00:53:55.519 --> 00:53:58.239 didn't seemingly didn't think he'd get fired, even when he 1152 00:53:58.400 --> 00:54:00.920 like lit his new boss on fire in front of 1153 00:54:01.000 --> 00:54:03.880 the entire group. But it's worth the listen. 1154 00:54:03.920 --> 00:54:07.079 I think he also, I think gets most emotional when 1155 00:54:07.079 --> 00:54:09.840 he's talking about Tinya Simon and some of the other 1156 00:54:10.039 --> 00:54:13.079 people who've been fired and who have been treated poorly, 1157 00:54:14.079 --> 00:54:16.639 which I think is telling. I actually think that if 1158 00:54:16.679 --> 00:54:19.079 you took Trump out of the equation, I think Barry 1159 00:54:19.079 --> 00:54:22.320 Wise still would have sent that email, those emails about 1160 00:54:22.360 --> 00:54:24.800 Renee Good because this could be happening she might not 1161 00:54:24.920 --> 00:54:27.719 think to herself, I am doing Donald Trump's bidding. But 1162 00:54:28.880 --> 00:54:32.119 if anyone has experienced the free press, read the free press, 1163 00:54:32.679 --> 00:54:35.719 or trafficked in any of the circles of the anti 1164 00:54:35.880 --> 00:54:39.119 anti Trump Republicans who are always making excuses for Trump, 1165 00:54:39.320 --> 00:54:43.199 but they think that they're more like moral and normal 1166 00:54:43.320 --> 00:54:44.119 and sane. 1167 00:54:44.559 --> 00:54:47.280 People who haven't lost their minds. That's to the people 1168 00:54:47.320 --> 00:54:48.639 that haven't gone crazy, right. 1169 00:54:48.719 --> 00:54:51.639 Like if that was like, and we saw this split 1170 00:54:51.800 --> 00:54:54.679 in the conservative movement between the Renee Good killing and 1171 00:54:54.679 --> 00:54:57.000 the Alex Prettie killing, and that some of them who 1172 00:54:57.079 --> 00:55:00.079 were who tried to, you know, push this narrative that 1173 00:55:00.159 --> 00:55:02.960 Renee Good was driving at the cops and stuff like that, 1174 00:55:03.239 --> 00:55:05.199 they kind of broke off when it was Alex pretty 1175 00:55:05.199 --> 00:55:06.840 and it was even more obvious, and they were like, Okay, 1176 00:55:06.920 --> 00:55:09.280 this one is bad, you know. So it actually made 1177 00:55:09.320 --> 00:55:11.079 sense to me that Barry Weis would do this because 1178 00:55:11.320 --> 00:55:13.280 and I think this is probably indicative of what happened 1179 00:55:13.320 --> 00:55:16.199 at CBS and why sixty minutes and the people at 1180 00:55:16.199 --> 00:55:18.599 sixty minutes were so angry. Is I think Barry Weiss 1181 00:55:18.679 --> 00:55:22.440 came in and I'm and I having seen Nick Bilton's 1182 00:55:22.440 --> 00:55:24.679 tweets and commentary here and there. I think he's someone 1183 00:55:24.719 --> 00:55:27.280 who's like, Okay, the Libs have gone crazy too. They 1184 00:55:27.360 --> 00:55:29.320 both get in there and they're thinking like, this is 1185 00:55:29.360 --> 00:55:32.599 another evidence of liberal media that we got to fix. 1186 00:55:32.639 --> 00:55:34.440 And I'm sure the staff at sixty Minutes and the 1187 00:55:34.480 --> 00:55:36.559 reporters there are like, you know what, we take our 1188 00:55:36.639 --> 00:55:39.199 jobs very fucking seriously and do really good reporting in 1189 00:55:39.280 --> 00:55:42.320 fact check it a lot, and we don't consider ourselves 1190 00:55:42.440 --> 00:55:44.760 like part of like the liberal media and bias. And 1191 00:55:44.840 --> 00:55:49.000 so I think there was that probably that clash, yes, ideologies. 1192 00:55:48.480 --> 00:55:50.480 There's I think like a revealing point where at some 1193 00:55:50.519 --> 00:55:52.679 point Barry Weiss says, some versions, if you're not biased, 1194 00:55:52.679 --> 00:55:55.480 why does the country why does the country think you're biased? 1195 00:55:55.559 --> 00:55:57.199 Right? Which is an article of faith. They're like, well, 1196 00:55:57.239 --> 00:56:00.599 what's the evidence for that? Right? And so look like 1197 00:56:01.079 --> 00:56:02.480 Scott Pelly in that clip. 1198 00:56:02.400 --> 00:56:05.800 Is paraphrasing an email he didn't see, right, Like that 1199 00:56:06.000 --> 00:56:07.719 is like I don't know what the exact text of 1200 00:56:07.760 --> 00:56:09.480 it is. I don't know how they I am sure 1201 00:56:09.639 --> 00:56:11.599 was trying to push it sort of more kind of 1202 00:56:11.880 --> 00:56:13.760 in a way that was sort of like more favorable 1203 00:56:13.840 --> 00:56:16.960 to the Trump version of events. But the non liberal 1204 00:56:17.039 --> 00:56:17.639 version of events. 1205 00:56:17.960 --> 00:56:21.280 It was the entire right wing media ecosystem version of events. 1206 00:56:21.320 --> 00:56:23.440 But the other thing that's strange about this interview, right 1207 00:56:23.719 --> 00:56:27.280 is like he had I mean, he wants Barry Wise fire, right, 1208 00:56:27.440 --> 00:56:31.519 he but he also has a lot of like nice 1209 00:56:31.559 --> 00:56:34.360 words to say about Ellison, which is really strange. Right, 1210 00:56:34.679 --> 00:56:36.960 And what I took from this interview is like he's like, oh, 1211 00:56:36.960 --> 00:56:39.119 we were excited when Ellison came to the newsroom. He 1212 00:56:39.199 --> 00:56:41.760 greeted us, he called me sir, right, Like, there's this 1213 00:56:41.920 --> 00:56:43.320 way in which was what I was wondering when I 1214 00:56:43.320 --> 00:56:44.639 was bouting to the interview, is this somebody who was 1215 00:56:44.639 --> 00:56:47.320 trying to get Barry Weise's shit canned and then someone 1216 00:56:47.360 --> 00:56:48.719 who can go back to CBS. 1217 00:56:49.320 --> 00:56:52.840 And he's saying to he's saying to Ellison, hey, I'm not. 1218 00:56:52.920 --> 00:56:55.760 A problem if Barry Weiss isn't there, Right, You're good 1219 00:56:56.480 --> 00:56:58.679 Barry Weiss's I'm not your problem. Barry Weiss is your 1220 00:56:58.719 --> 00:57:00.639 problem because now I'm talking about how great you were 1221 00:57:00.679 --> 00:57:02.920 when you came and she's the one that's got to go. 1222 00:57:04.199 --> 00:57:06.079 So I thought that was sort of like, because if 1223 00:57:06.159 --> 00:57:09.840 Barry Weis is part of some Ellison project to kind 1224 00:57:09.880 --> 00:57:13.719 of grease the skids for a deal, right, it would 1225 00:57:13.719 --> 00:57:15.400 be it would be Ellison at fault too, But that's 1226 00:57:15.440 --> 00:57:16.440 not how Pelly talks about. No. 1227 00:57:16.639 --> 00:57:18.920 What he says about that David Ellison is this like 1228 00:57:19.000 --> 00:57:21.480 he's pissed at Sherry red Zone for doing a deal 1229 00:57:21.519 --> 00:57:24.000 with Trump and paying the bribe to make the lawsuit 1230 00:57:24.039 --> 00:57:26.480 go away. And the lawsuit was obviously bullshit, and I 1231 00:57:26.559 --> 00:57:29.159 think he views that as unforgivable. Then it permanently damaged 1232 00:57:29.519 --> 00:57:31.719 sixty minutes, and so he's like, look, a new guy 1233 00:57:31.800 --> 00:57:34.440 came in, had some money, had some political swat, Like 1234 00:57:34.920 --> 00:57:36.519 we're all good there, Like if you want to support 1235 00:57:36.559 --> 00:57:38.480 our project here and you've got the balls to stand 1236 00:57:38.559 --> 00:57:40.920 up to people, I'm there with you it did you know? 1237 00:57:41.000 --> 00:57:43.039 It could be strategic? And then he's trying to divide 1238 00:57:43.079 --> 00:57:45.320 the two of them. But like, you know, I found 1239 00:57:45.360 --> 00:57:49.519 that interesting too, in pretty notable and maybe believable. Got it. 1240 00:57:49.599 --> 00:57:53.360 But also it's like he's not dealing with David Ellison, 1241 00:57:53.440 --> 00:57:55.480 He's dealing with Barry Weiss, you know, like you can 1242 00:57:55.559 --> 00:57:58.440 be nice to the boss's boss, who when they greet 1243 00:57:58.480 --> 00:58:01.639 you is like heiser nice, and then like Barry Weiss 1244 00:58:01.719 --> 00:58:05.559 is the one who's murdering sixty minutes right right else 1245 00:58:05.599 --> 00:58:07.800 and then and then and then also Hilton, who she 1246 00:58:07.960 --> 00:58:10.360 just sent in with and didn't even go to the 1247 00:58:10.440 --> 00:58:12.480 meeting herself and just made him deal with that. 1248 00:58:12.880 --> 00:58:14.159 Look I stand by with Nick. 1249 00:58:14.480 --> 00:58:17.719 Look you go to that first meeting and think, all right, 1250 00:58:17.760 --> 00:58:19.960 I'm going to kiss everybody's ass and get her back, 1251 00:58:20.039 --> 00:58:22.079 get her back on side, and you're like, oh fuck, 1252 00:58:23.199 --> 00:58:24.199 this is mad. 1253 00:58:24.480 --> 00:58:25.079 Could you imagine? 1254 00:58:25.199 --> 00:58:27.559 Just like trying to imagine too, Like you're just your aunt, 1255 00:58:27.599 --> 00:58:30.079 You're at your first day at work, and Scott Pelley, 1256 00:58:30.119 --> 00:58:31.880 one of the most famous journalists in the world, is like, 1257 00:58:31.920 --> 00:58:34.119 you're murdering the most beautiful thing that any of us 1258 00:58:34.159 --> 00:58:34.719 has ever seen? 1259 00:58:35.119 --> 00:58:39.639 Round of applause. Do you think someone's holding up? I 1260 00:58:39.760 --> 00:58:40.440 just don't think that. 1261 00:58:40.559 --> 00:58:43.360 Like, how can you expect anything else when you have 1262 00:58:43.719 --> 00:58:46.880 obviously been following along what Barry Weiss has been doing 1263 00:58:47.159 --> 00:58:50.000 and the firings just happened right like of course, Like 1264 00:58:50.079 --> 00:58:51.480 it's not like it's not like he got to the 1265 00:58:51.519 --> 00:58:53.159 meeting and all of a sudden someone's like, excuse me, 1266 00:58:53.440 --> 00:58:55.199 Nick building, they just fired a bunch of the staff. 1267 00:58:55.239 --> 00:58:57.440 And again, like I met Nick a couple of times 1268 00:58:57.480 --> 00:58:59.360 he's always seemed nice, but he did a series of 1269 00:58:59.440 --> 00:59:02.960 interviews media journalists where he just could not have sounded 1270 00:59:03.039 --> 00:59:05.840 more pompous and insulting, and like, I know this is 1271 00:59:06.000 --> 00:59:08.639 going to be easy. I know everything. You know, Like 1272 00:59:08.719 --> 00:59:11.079 I'm going to be the one like uploading the video 1273 00:59:11.239 --> 00:59:13.679 to the satellite truck is like okay, buddy, Well, like. 1274 00:59:13.719 --> 00:59:16.920 It's a Barry Wise free press salon party circuit. It's 1275 00:59:16.960 --> 00:59:20.000 the exact kind of language. It's it's there's just a 1276 00:59:20.039 --> 00:59:20.679 whole set of them. 1277 00:59:20.880 --> 00:59:21.079 Yeah. 1278 00:59:22.079 --> 00:59:24.280 The point that Pelly made in that conversation is like, 1279 00:59:24.760 --> 00:59:27.599 how could you take a job like this given the circumstances? 1280 00:59:27.800 --> 00:59:27.960 Right? 1281 00:59:28.079 --> 00:59:30.119 And that does mean whoever is going to run sixty 1282 00:59:30.119 --> 00:59:32.119 minutes if it wants to prove something to these journalists, 1283 00:59:32.360 --> 00:59:34.840 has a lot of work to do, right, And like 1284 00:59:35.480 --> 00:59:39.079 the fact I'm like used to Leslie Stall and some 1285 00:59:39.599 --> 00:59:43.760 other people are staying right and like, I don't know 1286 00:59:43.840 --> 00:59:46.480 what the what the future of this thing looks like, 1287 00:59:46.599 --> 00:59:48.440 but I do think that a world of war sixty 1288 00:59:48.480 --> 00:59:50.800 minutes gets to kind of continue to exist, and there's 1289 00:59:50.960 --> 00:59:53.519 and maybe this continues to like boil over into the public, 1290 00:59:53.599 --> 00:59:55.559 and that's I don't know, Like if you're taking the 1291 00:59:55.679 --> 00:59:58.079 job right and you've never had TV experience, you're doing 1292 00:59:58.119 --> 00:59:59.960 it after all these firings and you walk in expect 1293 01:00:00.400 --> 01:00:01.559 to be given the benefit out. 1294 01:00:01.559 --> 01:00:03.320 It's just like, not what's gonna happen? Right? 1295 01:00:03.719 --> 01:00:07.280 And like Barry Wise doesn't have TV experience, Nick doesn't 1296 01:00:07.280 --> 01:00:09.280 have TV experience. You're taking over like one of the 1297 01:00:09.320 --> 01:00:11.000 most important jobs in all of television. 1298 01:00:11.000 --> 01:00:13.039 They're not qualified for the job. They're just not And 1299 01:00:13.480 --> 01:00:15.280 it's not mean or insulting to say that, like you 1300 01:00:15.480 --> 01:00:17.800 never worked in TV, you are not qualified for this 1301 01:00:17.960 --> 01:00:20.320 job and taking it is ridiculous. And what do you 1302 01:00:20.400 --> 01:00:22.599 think is gonna happen? Just to give me a break? 1303 01:00:22.760 --> 01:00:24.840 So the last ten years have been just a rash 1304 01:00:24.920 --> 01:00:27.920 of people who are like wealthy and powerful and influential 1305 01:00:28.159 --> 01:00:29.800 thinking that because they're good at one thing, they can 1306 01:00:29.840 --> 01:00:31.639 be good at other things. That it's a real fucking 1307 01:00:31.719 --> 01:00:34.039 problem that we have in this country right now. Just 1308 01:00:34.079 --> 01:00:36.639 talk to any of the tech pros. Trump exactly what 1309 01:00:36.760 --> 01:00:38.480 Donald Trump? One last new story to get you here. 1310 01:00:38.719 --> 01:00:41.920 We are recording on Monday afternoon, California time. Shortly after 1311 01:00:41.960 --> 01:00:43.920 we leave the studio, Trumpell to part his Golf Club 1312 01:00:43.960 --> 01:00:46.239 in New Jersey from Midtown Manhattan, where he will attend 1313 01:00:46.280 --> 01:00:48.599 Game three of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden, 1314 01:00:49.239 --> 01:00:52.199 which will bring traffic to a standstill, require ticket holders 1315 01:00:52.239 --> 01:00:55.280 to arrive hours early for security checks, and force the 1316 01:00:55.320 --> 01:00:58.159 cancelation of the watch party outside MSG for people who 1317 01:00:58.199 --> 01:01:00.480 don't have tickets, which is just about ever. Ever, so, 1318 01:01:00.559 --> 01:01:03.320 how are people feeling about the decision? Quote Of all 1319 01:01:03.360 --> 01:01:07.360 the selfish, narcissistic things Trump has done, attending MSG to 1320 01:01:07.440 --> 01:01:09.239 see the Knicks play in person Monday night is the 1321 01:01:09.400 --> 01:01:12.519 absolute worst. These are the sentiments of none other than 1322 01:01:12.599 --> 01:01:17.239 and Coulter, but the feeling also seems pretty widespread. Let's listen, 1323 01:01:17.639 --> 01:01:20.679 since when Trump the Mixed Games now all of a 1324 01:01:20.719 --> 01:01:21.719 sudden weren't winning. 1325 01:01:21.599 --> 01:01:22.360 He wanted to be here. 1326 01:01:22.599 --> 01:01:25.599 If the Knicks lose tonight, I blame Trump. I don't 1327 01:01:25.599 --> 01:01:27.800 want Trump had the game is. I don't want no 1328 01:01:28.039 --> 01:01:30.920 new people at the games come into Game three of 1329 01:01:31.000 --> 01:01:33.320 the Finals, and I don't want them there. It has 1330 01:01:33.480 --> 01:01:35.199 everything to do with him. 1331 01:01:36.920 --> 01:01:40.840 Disrupt thing and contributing at the same time to the chaos. 1332 01:01:41.440 --> 01:01:43.639 If it causes the New York Knicks to win, to 1333 01:01:43.760 --> 01:01:45.519 lose to Night, I'm blaming him. 1334 01:01:46.000 --> 01:01:47.920 I'm blaming the president of the United States. 1335 01:01:48.360 --> 01:01:51.840 Of course, everyone probably recognizes stephen A. There before stephen 1336 01:01:51.880 --> 01:01:52.920 A was Mace. 1337 01:01:53.199 --> 01:01:56.360 That was excuse stephen a guest on this show. I 1338 01:01:56.480 --> 01:01:59.239 listened stephen A in a bright pink suit, in a 1339 01:01:59.280 --> 01:02:01.400 bright pink tie, ranting about Donald Trump going to a 1340 01:02:01.480 --> 01:02:04.039 next game. That's what I want out of sports media. 1341 01:02:04.320 --> 01:02:05.519 That is, that's perfection. 1342 01:02:07.000 --> 01:02:09.639 You know, Trump is expected to be uh to booed, 1343 01:02:10.000 --> 01:02:10.519 to be booed. 1344 01:02:10.599 --> 01:02:10.960 Probably. 1345 01:02:11.800 --> 01:02:15.039 Also, there's gonna be an unfavorable split screen with actual 1346 01:02:15.119 --> 01:02:18.079 Knicks fan Zorn Mumdani, who coughed up a thousand bucks 1347 01:02:18.119 --> 01:02:21.239 for a standing room only ticket, So that's gonna be 1348 01:02:21.239 --> 01:02:24.360 an interesting thing. Mumdannie. Also, uh decided to throw free 1349 01:02:24.679 --> 01:02:26.960 watch parties in Bryant Park and I think two other 1350 01:02:27.039 --> 01:02:31.079 locations as well, because the area around MSG is closed down. 1351 01:02:32.000 --> 01:02:33.320 Why do you guys think Trump's doing this? 1352 01:02:33.639 --> 01:02:36.159 I mean, he knows the power of live professional sports, 1353 01:02:36.199 --> 01:02:38.480 and that's the only like kind of monocultural events we 1354 01:02:38.599 --> 01:02:40.320 really have left. It's why he goes to a lot 1355 01:02:40.360 --> 01:02:42.400 of games, usually the NFL. I went to the Super Bowl. 1356 01:02:42.519 --> 01:02:44.519 What do you think the SEC champions? What's something like 1357 01:02:45.039 --> 01:02:47.400 a college football championship in NASCAR. You in Nascar? Yeah, 1358 01:02:47.400 --> 01:02:50.920 I think he's been a NASCAR you know, so usually 1359 01:02:50.960 --> 01:02:53.119 he's more welcome in those, you know, sort of southern 1360 01:02:53.519 --> 01:02:56.280 NFL spaces. I don't think he will be here. I mean, 1361 01:02:56.280 --> 01:02:58.199 he's also buddies with James Dolan, I think, the owner 1362 01:02:58.199 --> 01:03:01.199 of the Knicks, who's a terrible guy who likes because 1363 01:03:01.360 --> 01:03:04.159 he surveils people who like are mean to him at games, 1364 01:03:04.400 --> 01:03:05.599 always pals with the owners. 1365 01:03:05.719 --> 01:03:07.159 Yeah, not a real player guy. 1366 01:03:07.320 --> 01:03:09.559 Yeah no, But like look Roger Bennett and I talk 1367 01:03:09.559 --> 01:03:11.639 about this in the interview. I mean because remember last 1368 01:03:11.719 --> 01:03:14.519 year Trump went to the FIFA Club Championship in the 1369 01:03:14.599 --> 01:03:16.880 US and he was supposed to walk up with Johnny 1370 01:03:16.880 --> 01:03:19.800 and Pattina, the head of FIFA, hand the trophy to 1371 01:03:19.840 --> 01:03:22.559 the Chelsea players, and then walk off the stage so 1372 01:03:22.679 --> 01:03:25.119 they could celebrate, and he just stood there and jumped 1373 01:03:25.159 --> 01:03:27.320 with them and like celebrate with them. So he makes 1374 01:03:27.360 --> 01:03:31.400 it about himself because he loves the limelight. He loves 1375 01:03:31.440 --> 01:03:34.880 every spotlight, and he will attempt to co opt this 1376 01:03:35.000 --> 01:03:35.320 one too. 1377 01:03:35.480 --> 01:03:38.239 Yeah, he doesn't give a shit about anyone by himself. Like, right, 1378 01:03:38.400 --> 01:03:40.800 we know this when when you have to decide whether 1379 01:03:40.840 --> 01:03:42.719 the president of United States is going to attend an 1380 01:03:42.760 --> 01:03:45.840 event like that. The biggest consideration, Well, first of all, 1381 01:03:46.079 --> 01:03:48.000 you talk to Service and be like, okay, what does 1382 01:03:48.039 --> 01:03:50.360 the security have to look like? And you need to 1383 01:03:50.559 --> 01:03:53.079 listen to Secret Service, and especially Donald Trump, he's been 1384 01:03:53.199 --> 01:03:56.480 you know, survived multiple assassin to nation attempts now right. 1385 01:03:56.880 --> 01:03:59.679 But then when the Service tells you what it's going 1386 01:03:59.719 --> 01:04:02.480 to choir security wise, and they tell you that, well, 1387 01:04:02.639 --> 01:04:06.239 as a consequence, it's going to you know, inconvenience quite 1388 01:04:06.239 --> 01:04:09.599 a few Americans. Then sometimes the President's like, well, do 1389 01:04:09.719 --> 01:04:11.880 I really want to piss off that many people by 1390 01:04:11.960 --> 01:04:14.199 doing this? Is it really that important if my going 1391 01:04:14.320 --> 01:04:15.800 means a whole bunch of mother And then you say, 1392 01:04:15.880 --> 01:04:17.880 well maybe not, Maybe it's not that important. 1393 01:04:17.559 --> 01:04:17.880 For me to go. 1394 01:04:18.599 --> 01:04:20.199 Imagine Trump would never say that. Yeah. 1395 01:04:20.320 --> 01:04:21.280 I think he just wants to go to the game. 1396 01:04:21.280 --> 01:04:22.320 He doesn't give a fuck. He wants to go to 1397 01:04:22.360 --> 01:04:22.599 the game. 1398 01:04:22.679 --> 01:04:24.159 He wants to sit there, he wants to be booed 1399 01:04:24.199 --> 01:04:26.639 by New Yorkers. Uh, he wants to he wants to 1400 01:04:26.760 --> 01:04:27.880 like be the center of attention. 1401 01:04:28.519 --> 01:04:28.639 Uh. 1402 01:04:29.079 --> 01:04:32.280 And he doesn't care there'd be two hour waits outside 1403 01:04:32.320 --> 01:04:35.280 that to barricade whole parts of Midtown Manhattan to make 1404 01:04:35.320 --> 01:04:36.400 this pause by the cancel the watch. 1405 01:04:36.400 --> 01:04:37.039 He didn't give a fuck. 1406 01:04:37.079 --> 01:04:39.400 I mean, arguably worse is when he always wants to, like, 1407 01:04:39.480 --> 01:04:41.480 if there's a natural disaster somewhere and he's got to 1408 01:04:41.519 --> 01:04:43.800 go be on the scene immediately, even when local officials 1409 01:04:43.840 --> 01:04:46.199 are like, please, we're trying to clean up the disaster 1410 01:04:46.320 --> 01:04:48.519 here and we can't have a presidential visit because it's 1411 01:04:48.559 --> 01:04:50.920 too much mess and security right now and just come later. 1412 01:04:50.960 --> 01:04:51.880 He's like, I don't give a fuck. 1413 01:04:52.159 --> 01:04:54.000 He also he thinks he's a New Yorker and that 1414 01:04:54.119 --> 01:04:55.760 New York likes him and they do not. 1415 01:04:56.280 --> 01:04:58.079 Well, he's because he's also like shit all over it 1416 01:04:58.119 --> 01:05:01.960 when he left, Yeah, mar blurredy like New York that 1417 01:05:03.000 --> 01:05:04.039 it's become trash now. 1418 01:05:04.599 --> 01:05:06.599 Yeah, I don't think he's gonna love the split screen. 1419 01:05:06.760 --> 01:05:09.039 I hope whoever is on the ones and twos it 1420 01:05:09.199 --> 01:05:12.199 just go man, Donnie cheers like crazy Trump booz go 1421 01:05:12.320 --> 01:05:14.039 back and forth, give us a couple back for us. 1422 01:05:14.079 --> 01:05:16.719 And because mom Donnie's so talented, he's gonna be He's 1423 01:05:16.760 --> 01:05:19.519 gonna be so nice about it too, Like he's not 1424 01:05:19.599 --> 01:05:21.360 gonna try to you know, jab Trump at all. 1425 01:05:21.760 --> 01:05:23.599 They're gonna they're gonna have They're gonna have a shot 1426 01:05:23.679 --> 01:05:26.280 of Donald Trump being booed while I'm Donnie's like gonna 1427 01:05:26.360 --> 01:05:28.960 be nice, and it's gonna be I hope we get that. 1428 01:05:29.039 --> 01:05:31.880 There's also only that a bunch of cool celebrities who 1429 01:05:31.920 --> 01:05:35.239 always go to games, like Timothy Shallome and Tracy Morgan 1430 01:05:35.320 --> 01:05:37.199 and Ben Stiller, who will be like on the wood 1431 01:05:37.360 --> 01:05:39.679 with the people, like join the game and trouble will 1432 01:05:39.679 --> 01:05:41.800 be up hiding in a luxury box like kind of 1433 01:05:42.440 --> 01:05:44.920 lurking from behind, hoping he doesn't get booed. We can't 1434 01:05:44.920 --> 01:05:47.159 say courtside. No, it would be great if you tried 1435 01:05:47.719 --> 01:05:48.239 walk down there. 1436 01:05:48.320 --> 01:05:51.760 People were retweeting some old tweets from Josh Hart today 1437 01:05:51.880 --> 01:05:54.159 Next Player just like shitting all over Trump. But he's 1438 01:05:54.239 --> 01:05:56.119 not a I don't think he's beloved by the next No. 1439 01:05:56.199 --> 01:05:59.519 We also remember like Trump very specifically, I think yelled 1440 01:05:59.559 --> 01:06:04.280 at or does me the lebron James shut up and 1441 01:06:04.360 --> 01:06:04.840 dribbled guy. 1442 01:06:04.920 --> 01:06:07.400 It's also like basketball, it's so much smaller, it's so 1443 01:06:07.480 --> 01:06:09.519 much closer. They're just like right there, like it's going 1444 01:06:09.599 --> 01:06:11.119 to be part of the game that Trump is at 1445 01:06:11.199 --> 01:06:11.559 this game. 1446 01:06:11.719 --> 01:06:13.360 Yeah, I mean, look at Fox News and Trump. They 1447 01:06:13.440 --> 01:06:16.559 love to tell athletes, especially black athletes, to not have 1448 01:06:16.679 --> 01:06:19.280 political opinions. But if you like Trump, then you are 1449 01:06:19.320 --> 01:06:20.880 allowed to have a political opinion. You can come to 1450 01:06:20.920 --> 01:06:23.079 the White House. Maybe you can participate in Ultimate Fighting 1451 01:06:23.159 --> 01:06:26.159 Championship event on the South Lawn. Right, that's how this works. Yeah, 1452 01:06:26.480 --> 01:06:28.239 sadly not no John at that one. Yeah, I faver 1453 01:06:28.320 --> 01:06:30.920 didn't make the cut just a realm so close. I 1454 01:06:31.000 --> 01:06:33.519 read that it would have been very funny. 1455 01:06:33.719 --> 01:06:34.679 It would have been very funny. 1456 01:06:34.880 --> 01:06:36.199 I think what would have happened is you would have 1457 01:06:36.199 --> 01:06:38.519 shown up at the place where you get the van 1458 01:06:38.760 --> 01:06:41.239 to go to the thing, and someone would like clock 1459 01:06:41.320 --> 01:06:42.960 your face and be like, oh no, that's. 1460 01:06:43.000 --> 01:06:45.480 I had thought that. But like four thousand people on 1461 01:06:45.559 --> 01:06:47.599 the South Line, it's a lot of people to really 1462 01:06:47.719 --> 01:06:49.679 be like doing the face sheet because it's not I 1463 01:06:49.679 --> 01:06:51.159 it was inside the White House, it'd be like yeah, 1464 01:06:51.199 --> 01:06:52.480 no way. But I don't know. 1465 01:06:52.800 --> 01:06:53.760 I think I think there was. 1466 01:06:53.920 --> 01:06:55.880 I think if once you're at that point that nobody 1467 01:06:55.960 --> 01:06:58.360 knows that they random people like celebrities are showing up 1468 01:06:58.360 --> 01:06:59.679 all the time. You never know what part of some 1469 01:06:59.760 --> 01:07:00.440 Trump drug. 1470 01:07:00.280 --> 01:07:02.400 Deal suddenly I'm walking. I'm taking my seat right next 1471 01:07:02.440 --> 01:07:05.000 to Vince Vaughn and anybody. He's like, what are you doing? 1472 01:07:05.239 --> 01:07:08.960 Love swingers? Loved even swingers. It's going to be so 1473 01:07:09.239 --> 01:07:11.039 hot and so miserable out there, and. 1474 01:07:11.079 --> 01:07:12.760 So so I was looking at the weather for this 1475 01:07:12.840 --> 01:07:15.639 because there's like a like a chance of thunderstorms now too, 1476 01:07:15.760 --> 01:07:18.559 and it's ninety one and maybe thunder storm any one. 1477 01:07:18.480 --> 01:07:23.719 Degrees like humid, bugs everywhere, awful people all around you. 1478 01:07:23.880 --> 01:07:26.639 Imagine I have to fight in that. Yeah, and then 1479 01:07:26.639 --> 01:07:27.199 they get. 1480 01:07:27.159 --> 01:07:28.679 In a white said too. He was like, it's not 1481 01:07:28.760 --> 01:07:32.039 the ideal it's the ideal environment usf. 1482 01:07:32.159 --> 01:07:33.960 Imagine they're like, we got to pull it down because 1483 01:07:33.960 --> 01:07:35.920 of lightning. They don't want to pull it down because 1484 01:07:35.920 --> 01:07:37.440 of lightning. And all of a sudden, you have basically 1485 01:07:37.440 --> 01:07:40.960 a biblical event hits that just a metal things and 1486 01:07:41.559 --> 01:07:42.559 are possible. 1487 01:07:42.599 --> 01:07:44.599 I can't wait to check it out, all right when 1488 01:07:44.639 --> 01:07:47.280 we come back. Tommy's conversation with Roger Bennett of Men 1489 01:07:47.360 --> 01:07:47.880 in Blazers. 1490 01:07:55.599 --> 01:07:59.119 Today's show is sponsored by Strawberry dot Me. Think about 1491 01:07:59.119 --> 01:08:02.360 your career, close your eyes. Maybe it looks good on paper, 1492 01:08:02.599 --> 01:08:05.840 but does something feel a bit off? Maybe you're stuck, 1493 01:08:06.199 --> 01:08:08.239 maybe you're burned out, maybe you're ready to move up 1494 01:08:08.440 --> 01:08:10.559 to that next level, or maybe you just want clarity 1495 01:08:10.920 --> 01:08:14.599 on what's next. That's where a mentor comes in, or 1496 01:08:14.639 --> 01:08:16.720 a coach, or just someone to help you figure out 1497 01:08:17.159 --> 01:08:19.760 that path to the next rung up on your journey. 1498 01:08:20.039 --> 01:08:23.079 That's where today's sponsors, Strawberry dot Me comes in. Strawberry 1499 01:08:23.119 --> 01:08:26.279 dot Me matches you with a real career coach, carefully 1500 01:08:26.319 --> 01:08:29.159 selected based on your goals, your personality, and your professional background. 1501 01:08:29.359 --> 01:08:32.279 These aren't random Internet gurus selling their advice. Coaches on 1502 01:08:32.359 --> 01:08:35.399 the platform average sixteen or more years of experience across 1503 01:08:35.600 --> 01:08:39.399 nine hundred companies in thirty seven industries and have been leaders, founders, 1504 01:08:39.439 --> 01:08:42.279 and executives themselves. And it's not just a single conversation. 1505 01:08:42.399 --> 01:08:44.119 You have one on one video call with your coach, 1506 01:08:44.319 --> 01:08:47.159 build a personalized plan together, and stay connected between sessions. 1507 01:08:47.199 --> 01:08:50.119 When real life challenges arise, most people had a meaningful 1508 01:08:50.159 --> 01:08:52.920 milestone within four to six sessions, whether that's landing a 1509 01:08:52.960 --> 01:08:55.960 new role, getting unstuck, building confidence, or finally taking action 1510 01:08:56.279 --> 01:08:58.560 on something they've been putting off for too many years. 1511 01:08:59.000 --> 01:09:02.359 Visit Strawberry Me and start with the coaching trial today. 1512 01:09:02.600 --> 01:09:04.840 Tell them pot Save America sent you a get fifty 1513 01:09:04.920 --> 01:09:08.399 percent off your first session. That's Strawberry dot Me. Tell 1514 01:09:08.439 --> 01:09:10.840 them pot Save America sent you for fifty percent off 1515 01:09:11.039 --> 01:09:18.840 your first session. My guest today is the co creator 1516 01:09:18.920 --> 01:09:22.359 and longtime host at the smash hit Men in Blazers 1517 01:09:22.399 --> 01:09:25.039 podcast the Men in Blazers Media Network. Really, he's a 1518 01:09:25.079 --> 01:09:27.439 New York Times bestselling author whose most recent book is 1519 01:09:27.520 --> 01:09:30.680 called We Are the World Cup. By it Now. It's 1520 01:09:30.680 --> 01:09:33.039 also an international man of mystery and a sex symbol. 1521 01:09:33.399 --> 01:09:35.039 Roger Bennett, How you doing, buddy? 1522 01:09:35.319 --> 01:09:37.399 It was good until he just said that to me. 1523 01:09:37.920 --> 01:09:40.439 It's so lovely to see that. You look amazing man. 1524 01:09:40.600 --> 01:09:43.760 You two longtime no see, I'm thrilled to talk to 1525 01:09:43.800 --> 01:09:46.960 you now, because boy, there's a lot going on. There's 1526 01:09:46.960 --> 01:09:48.680 a lot of football, a lot of soccer in the world. 1527 01:09:48.960 --> 01:09:51.600 For anyone who wants to learn more about the World Cup. 1528 01:09:51.680 --> 01:09:54.479 You still have time, and I cannot recommend enough We 1529 01:09:54.720 --> 01:09:57.800 Are the World Cup. You'll learn about the highs, the lows, 1530 01:09:58.359 --> 01:10:03.319 the agony, the more through Rogers eyes. Right, I mean 1531 01:10:03.920 --> 01:10:04.640 I wrote the book. 1532 01:10:04.760 --> 01:10:06.760 If you have had the memories of the World Cup, 1533 01:10:06.800 --> 01:10:09.039 it will reignite them. I hope you can relive them 1534 01:10:09.079 --> 01:10:11.600 again as powerfully as you did the first time. And 1535 01:10:11.680 --> 01:10:14.520 if you're a newcomer planning to watch the World Cup, 1536 01:10:14.600 --> 01:10:17.880 it will give you the depths, the nuances to understand 1537 01:10:17.920 --> 01:10:21.520 them fail all the things that Edward de Galiono, the 1538 01:10:22.399 --> 01:10:26.880 Uruguayan poet, it once. Very football is a pleasure that hurts, 1539 01:10:27.720 --> 01:10:29.399 and we're about to experience all of it. 1540 01:10:29.920 --> 01:10:31.840 Weeks and weeks of it, and I literally cannot wait. 1541 01:10:31.920 --> 01:10:34.079 I love the World Cup. This is gonna be so 1542 01:10:34.159 --> 01:10:37.439 much fun. And so before we ruin this conversation with 1543 01:10:37.479 --> 01:10:38.960 a little bit of politics at the end, let's just 1544 01:10:39.039 --> 01:10:42.640 talk soccer. So starting with Team USA. I know they 1545 01:10:42.680 --> 01:10:46.039 are hardly favorites to win the tournament, but you know 1546 01:10:46.520 --> 01:10:49.399 interest has gone up, expectations go up every year for 1547 01:10:49.479 --> 01:10:52.680 Team USA. Who should we be watching and what's a 1548 01:10:52.800 --> 01:10:55.119 good result do you think for Team USA this year? 1549 01:10:55.800 --> 01:10:56.199 Winning it? 1550 01:10:56.600 --> 01:10:58.920 Tommy, I know a sound too many of your new 1551 01:10:59.359 --> 01:11:04.279 listeners that I'm from England, but I love America so 1552 01:11:04.439 --> 01:11:07.319 profoundly in like a way I like to believe slips 1553 01:11:07.359 --> 01:11:11.960 me somewhere between Bruce Springsteen and Kenny Powers. So adore 1554 01:11:12.039 --> 01:11:15.039 this team I first came over here in nineteen ninety four, 1555 01:11:15.119 --> 01:11:17.520 ahead of the last time the Men's World Cup was here. 1556 01:11:17.880 --> 01:11:20.439 It was meant to turn America immediately into a football 1557 01:11:20.520 --> 01:11:24.399 loving nation. It's taken a lot longer, but the United 1558 01:11:24.439 --> 01:11:27.039 States and the economists was just found to have soccer 1559 01:11:27.319 --> 01:11:29.800 be the third most popular sport in the world, which 1560 01:11:29.880 --> 01:11:32.479 is mind blowing amazing because I write in my book. 1561 01:11:32.520 --> 01:11:36.000 But before the ninety four World Cup Tommy, a similar 1562 01:11:36.039 --> 01:11:39.319 study found out soccer was sixty seventh most favorite sport 1563 01:11:39.399 --> 01:11:42.640 and tractor pulling, I crap you not was sixty six. 1564 01:11:42.720 --> 01:11:45.319 Where are you now tractor pulling? So to some degree, 1565 01:11:46.079 --> 01:11:48.399 the winner of the World Cup from a US perspective 1566 01:11:48.399 --> 01:11:52.199 will be the massive fan base that it leaves behind. 1567 01:11:52.319 --> 01:11:55.680 We've always joked on our show soccer is America's sport 1568 01:11:55.760 --> 01:11:58.520 of the future, as it has been since nineteen seventy two, 1569 01:11:59.000 --> 01:12:01.359 like it's perpetually the next big thing. I think this 1570 01:12:01.520 --> 01:12:05.359 World Cup will will cement it normalize football in our 1571 01:12:05.640 --> 01:12:10.119 sporting reality. But from an actual competitive POV, this is 1572 01:12:10.159 --> 01:12:12.960 the most talented group of individuals we've ever had. But 1573 01:12:13.079 --> 01:12:16.199 the crazy thing is, you know, our women kick ass 1574 01:12:16.279 --> 01:12:20.119 teake names, win things on men in the whole history 1575 01:12:20.159 --> 01:12:22.800 of our nation, going right back to George Washington, who 1576 01:12:22.800 --> 01:12:25.760 I like to believe what I loved the football. We've 1577 01:12:25.800 --> 01:12:29.119 won one knockout game in World Cup history, which is 1578 01:12:29.359 --> 01:12:33.840 shocking for a nation like ours that invented animal style 1579 01:12:33.920 --> 01:12:37.560 burgers in and out and you know the Kroner put, 1580 01:12:37.720 --> 01:12:41.199 you know, human beings on the moon, democracy, all those things. 1581 01:12:41.840 --> 01:12:44.800 So I'd say if we can win two knockout games, 1582 01:12:44.840 --> 01:12:47.399 which we stand a good chance of in this very bloated, 1583 01:12:47.520 --> 01:12:50.600 big goalt, massive World Cup, it would be an incredible 1584 01:12:50.680 --> 01:12:53.079 result in that this World Cup is going to be big, 1585 01:12:53.239 --> 01:12:55.880 whether the US do well or not. But the US 1586 01:12:55.960 --> 01:12:58.880 boys will write their narrative into it, which is critical. 1587 01:12:59.119 --> 01:13:02.000 As Christian Polus the one where we're watching most or 1588 01:13:02.199 --> 01:13:03.359 what other names do we be looking at? 1589 01:13:03.560 --> 01:13:07.359 Christian poliitic Is. If you're a football fan, you'll know 1590 01:13:08.079 --> 01:13:12.840 he's jokingly called the Lebron James of soccer. He's from Hershey, Pennsylvania. 1591 01:13:12.960 --> 01:13:15.239 He was the prince that was promised. He broke through 1592 01:13:15.319 --> 01:13:18.279 into this team when he was seventeen. He is probably 1593 01:13:18.319 --> 01:13:22.439 the most talented outfield player we've ever had in terms 1594 01:13:22.479 --> 01:13:26.039 of his accomplishments in European football. He's a very sensitive 1595 01:13:26.119 --> 01:13:29.159 human being. He needs to love and be loved. I 1596 01:13:29.399 --> 01:13:32.039 just went on first hate with Stephen A. Smith and 1597 01:13:32.119 --> 01:13:34.680 compared him to Trey Young as a player that can 1598 01:13:34.760 --> 01:13:37.800 do unbelievable things if he feels great. Stephen A. Smith 1599 01:13:37.880 --> 01:13:40.960 slapped me down, went mad. That's a terrible comparison, he said, 1600 01:13:41.279 --> 01:13:43.479 and then went off on Trey Young for a long 1601 01:13:43.520 --> 01:13:46.920 long period of time. But I'll stand by it. And 1602 01:13:47.000 --> 01:13:49.399 then there's so many remarkable human beings. I really do 1603 01:13:49.560 --> 01:13:52.760 root for this team as individuals. As a beautiful man. 1604 01:13:53.159 --> 01:13:57.840 Chris richards Son of Alabama Boomingham, Alabama sec country role 1605 01:13:57.960 --> 01:14:01.760 tide who must have been a big fish on every 1606 01:14:01.920 --> 01:14:05.800 playing field he was in in Alabama and then went 1607 01:14:05.880 --> 01:14:08.279 over as a teen to one of the greatest teams 1608 01:14:08.319 --> 01:14:11.159 in the world by Munich, suddenly became a tiny fish 1609 01:14:11.199 --> 01:14:13.800 in an enormous trout form, kind of lost all of 1610 01:14:13.880 --> 01:14:17.920 his confidence, got complete cultural this location, but has been 1611 01:14:17.960 --> 01:14:22.319 able tenaciously to re summon his presence as a defender, 1612 01:14:22.800 --> 01:14:25.760 kind of like a lockdown cornerback. Now in the Premier League. 1613 01:14:25.760 --> 01:14:30.920 He's won things. Still a sweet, soft, soulful wonderful human being. 1614 01:14:31.479 --> 01:14:34.720 I mean, there's many many players like him that I 1615 01:14:34.880 --> 01:14:38.960 root for. The one touch, one goal, one moment, the 1616 01:14:39.039 --> 01:14:41.640 commercial upside for this World Cup, to become the face 1617 01:14:41.680 --> 01:14:44.119 of this team, to have a TikTok that goes viral 1618 01:14:44.239 --> 01:14:47.880 because of something beautiful that you do. It's a diverse team. 1619 01:14:47.920 --> 01:14:49.600 I think they were a great face of our nation. 1620 01:14:50.760 --> 01:14:55.079 They're led by a manager and Argentinian Maricho Pocchettino, who's 1621 01:14:55.119 --> 01:14:58.239 like a globally revered manager. He's either going to lift 1622 01:14:58.319 --> 01:15:03.960 us up, like you know, a basketball coach going to 1623 01:15:04.319 --> 01:15:08.640 Iona state and taking them what's that guy? Yeah, yeah, 1624 01:15:09.000 --> 01:15:11.560 you'll have a Patino take us up to his standard. 1625 01:15:11.960 --> 01:15:15.000 We'll build belicheck it and just suddenly be you know, 1626 01:15:15.199 --> 01:15:19.119 chasing after floundering on the floor at North Carolina. 1627 01:15:20.920 --> 01:15:25.239 Or something like that. Yeah, that's exactly right. 1628 01:15:25.279 --> 01:15:27.680 You can't wait to leave him many ways, but we 1629 01:15:28.239 --> 01:15:30.439 will go as he goes. If he you know, if 1630 01:15:30.479 --> 01:15:34.239 he does his thing and raises us up, joy can 1631 01:15:34.319 --> 01:15:37.520 be ours. We could be just lollopping around on the 1632 01:15:37.600 --> 01:15:41.159 floor chasing after a cheeseburger in Hasselhoffee and fashion. It 1633 01:15:41.199 --> 01:15:43.800 could be, It could be great. It could be darkness. 1634 01:15:43.920 --> 01:15:44.520 We do not know. 1635 01:15:45.079 --> 01:15:48.560 We only have until, you know, three days to find out. 1636 01:15:48.760 --> 01:15:51.000 Yeah, well, I'll hope ahead of us. All right, let's 1637 01:15:51.000 --> 01:15:53.279 talk about the big dogs, some of the best teams, 1638 01:15:53.319 --> 01:15:56.800 some of the best players that you're watching. I've heard France, Spain, 1639 01:15:57.760 --> 01:16:03.640 UK mentioned a lot like any sleepers the UK. Well, 1640 01:16:03.680 --> 01:16:05.119 that would be amazing, Tommy. 1641 01:16:05.239 --> 01:16:09.119 Can you imagine if it was cities, Oh the world 1642 01:16:09.159 --> 01:16:11.800 cover cities that's actually for the future, then they can 1643 01:16:11.840 --> 01:16:15.000 get far more than forty eighteens in. It would be amazing. 1644 01:16:15.199 --> 01:16:19.479 Come on, Sarajevo, England, Scotland, they are also in it. 1645 01:16:19.600 --> 01:16:20.199 God blessed. 1646 01:16:20.319 --> 01:16:22.840 They're coming over here with a very different goal than 1647 01:16:22.880 --> 01:16:25.880 everybody else. Their goal is to just drink Boston and 1648 01:16:26.000 --> 01:16:28.960 Miami dry in the first two weeks of the tournament, 1649 01:16:29.000 --> 01:16:31.479 and I think they'll probably do it. The Tartan Army, 1650 01:16:32.079 --> 01:16:34.600 I think America. One of the joys of this tournament. 1651 01:16:34.920 --> 01:16:39.359 Who we get to talk about is the world coming 1652 01:16:39.439 --> 01:16:42.119 to terms with the United States. You seeing it now 1653 01:16:42.199 --> 01:16:46.319 all over social media, German fans going to waffle House 1654 01:16:46.399 --> 01:16:49.600 for the first time, having their mind blow and you know, 1655 01:16:49.720 --> 01:16:52.479 going to eat lemon pepper wet. What is this and 1656 01:16:52.560 --> 01:16:57.439 also American sports fan seeing global football culture, many of 1657 01:16:57.479 --> 01:17:01.439 them for the first time seeing sixty seventeen year seeing 1658 01:17:01.600 --> 01:17:04.880 thousands of Dutch sands march down the streets of Kansas 1659 01:17:04.960 --> 01:17:07.760 City before a game in their orange clad shirt, bouncing 1660 01:17:07.800 --> 01:17:09.800 to the left and the right behind a large bus. 1661 01:17:09.920 --> 01:17:12.000 No one quite knows why, it's just what they do. 1662 01:17:12.439 --> 01:17:16.039 It's gonna be quite ecstatic. So Scotland, England, I mean 1663 01:17:16.079 --> 01:17:19.840 England are fascinating. I mean they used to have an empire, 1664 01:17:21.439 --> 01:17:24.359 then they lost that. They used to have a monarchy 1665 01:17:24.680 --> 01:17:27.600 not doing so well nowadays, they had down to Avy 1666 01:17:28.359 --> 01:17:30.039 no longer on the air. So what they have is 1667 01:17:30.119 --> 01:17:33.520 football and they invented it. So they think they should win. 1668 01:17:33.560 --> 01:17:36.359 They've won once nineteen sixty six, which is like ten 1669 01:17:36.520 --> 01:17:39.840 sixty six in the English school kids imagination, and since 1670 01:17:39.840 --> 01:17:43.560 then they've always believed with great surety they're gonna win 1671 01:17:44.319 --> 01:17:47.279 very quickly, crapping the bed, shattering a nation's heart. They're 1672 01:17:47.359 --> 01:17:50.640 like Charlie Brown running at a football with Lucy holding. 1673 01:17:50.840 --> 01:17:54.119 Apart from this time round, they're pretty bloody good, Tommy. 1674 01:17:55.199 --> 01:17:58.039 So it is quite fascinating to think of an England 1675 01:17:58.319 --> 01:18:01.640 winning the World Cup in America when it's the two 1676 01:18:01.760 --> 01:18:06.199 hundred and fiftieth anniversary of independence. Is is mind melding. 1677 01:18:06.960 --> 01:18:08.960 So we think we're going to say bye to some 1678 01:18:09.039 --> 01:18:13.239 great players this this tournament. Lionel Messi it's probably we 1679 01:18:13.520 --> 01:18:15.640 assume it's his last tournament, although people said that in 1680 01:18:15.680 --> 01:18:18.880 twenty eighteen and twenty twenty two Christiano Ronaldo will say 1681 01:18:18.920 --> 01:18:21.079 goodbye to him by to all of his abs. 1682 01:18:21.319 --> 01:18:24.359 Maybe maybe, although he's like mostly I think he's the 1683 01:18:24.399 --> 01:18:27.199 football player most likely to go like Ted Williams and 1684 01:18:27.359 --> 01:18:29.359 putting his head in the crygantic chambers. 1685 01:18:29.520 --> 01:18:33.680 Just freeze it up those abs same later, Yeah, is 1686 01:18:33.720 --> 01:18:35.720 there a next up? Like, so those two they're not 1687 01:18:35.880 --> 01:18:38.439 just the biggest stars in soccer, they are some of 1688 01:18:38.479 --> 01:18:41.319 the biggest celebrities on the planet, the most famous people 1689 01:18:41.359 --> 01:18:43.119 on the planet. Is there anyone you're watching that can 1690 01:18:43.159 --> 01:18:45.680 fill their shoes? Any stars that are going to transcend 1691 01:18:45.720 --> 01:18:46.159 this tournament? 1692 01:18:46.239 --> 01:18:48.960 We hope the stars young stars, and there is that 1693 01:18:49.279 --> 01:18:52.520 there's this aged I mean deeply aged. We're talking about 1694 01:18:52.560 --> 01:18:57.600 like footballing lebron age, I mean Ronaldo is I mean, 1695 01:18:58.560 --> 01:19:04.479 it's it's like forty one Linnel Messi late thirties. This 1696 01:19:04.720 --> 01:19:08.800 is or should be their last dance. And then there's 1697 01:19:08.920 --> 01:19:13.159 a slew of teens coming through nature of bards, a vacuum. 1698 01:19:13.239 --> 01:19:17.880 So this football a Spanish wonder child eighteen years old, 1699 01:19:17.960 --> 01:19:23.000 Lamina Marl who's already won massive tournaments. You know, he's 1700 01:19:23.119 --> 01:19:25.720 almost if he wins the World Cup with Spain having won, 1701 01:19:25.760 --> 01:19:28.079 when he's won already, he'll be like Alexander the Great, 1702 01:19:28.279 --> 01:19:32.039 you know, tearing up because there is no more world 1703 01:19:32.159 --> 01:19:36.560 left to conquer. So the early in Harlan, a young 1704 01:19:37.119 --> 01:19:42.760 Norwegian who is other than Shaquille O'Neal, entering the NBA 1705 01:19:42.880 --> 01:19:47.960 and just breaking backboards, shattering them, you know, gaming game out. 1706 01:19:48.479 --> 01:19:51.560 I've never seen anyone score goals. It's like as if 1707 01:19:51.760 --> 01:19:55.199 Dolph Lundram was a football player for Ai created just 1708 01:19:55.319 --> 01:19:58.920 a some kind of Norse Demi God, he's bringing Norway over. 1709 01:19:59.199 --> 01:20:01.479 So there is that bat and again because it's here, 1710 01:20:01.560 --> 01:20:05.840 Tommy in the United States, this commercial hotbed of sports, 1711 01:20:06.560 --> 01:20:09.199 all of these footballers and a spring to a slew 1712 01:20:09.279 --> 01:20:12.439 of the great footballers in the world. They're all looking 1713 01:20:12.600 --> 01:20:16.479 at the United States market knowing one deep run, one 1714 01:20:16.920 --> 01:20:21.319 you know, set of ecstatic moments, the financial payoff for 1715 01:20:21.399 --> 01:20:24.439 this World Cup commercially to kind of be what Pela 1716 01:20:24.760 --> 01:20:27.159 was to previous generation, the face of the game. In 1717 01:20:27.239 --> 01:20:31.439 the United States, there's the sporting competition, but there's also 1718 01:20:31.560 --> 01:20:35.399 the commercial competition to be that footballer. They all think 1719 01:20:35.439 --> 01:20:37.720 they can, you know, be the next play. They don't 1720 01:20:37.760 --> 01:20:40.479 quite know that David Beckham's already won the World Cup. 1721 01:20:40.560 --> 01:20:43.399 That man is in almost every single commercial and there's 1722 01:20:43.439 --> 01:20:47.000 not giving up his hold on our imagination anytime soon. 1723 01:20:47.279 --> 01:20:52.079 But they're also incredible stories that will fill the World 1724 01:20:52.159 --> 01:20:56.560 Cup up. Like Haiti, this tiny team for whom, you know, 1725 01:20:57.000 --> 01:21:01.359 just qualifying is everything. The political chaos it's unspooled over there, 1726 01:21:01.399 --> 01:21:06.720 which has impacted football. The football stadium, their trading center 1727 01:21:06.880 --> 01:21:12.119 was set fire to by insurgent gangs importer prints. The 1728 01:21:12.199 --> 01:21:16.079 fact that they've even qualified is remarkable. They had to 1729 01:21:16.159 --> 01:21:19.840 play all their games on neighboring Curisow. Their football is 1730 01:21:21.119 --> 01:21:24.439 a broad from all over in the Haitian diaspora. Just 1731 01:21:24.560 --> 01:21:28.279 taking the field for them is going to be just 1732 01:21:28.399 --> 01:21:33.239 a joyous geopolitical moment where the word Haiti is seen 1733 01:21:33.319 --> 01:21:37.000 in a joyous spotlight, a wonderful spotlight so desperately needed, 1734 01:21:37.840 --> 01:21:39.960 and it could be one of the most powerful storylines 1735 01:21:40.000 --> 01:21:40.840 in the opening round. 1736 01:21:41.119 --> 01:21:44.079 Yeah, that's exciting to watch. So you know you got 1737 01:21:44.119 --> 01:21:46.079 you touched on this rager. Like, the scale of this 1738 01:21:46.199 --> 01:21:49.479 tournament is just like unlike anything we've seen before. It's 1739 01:21:49.520 --> 01:21:52.960 happening in three different countries. I think there's sixteen host cities. 1740 01:21:53.000 --> 01:21:55.880 There's forty eight teams. I think at some point in 1741 01:21:55.960 --> 01:21:58.279 the tournament there's going to be six games a day. 1742 01:21:58.920 --> 01:22:01.880 How the hell are you going to pace yourself here? Buddy? 1743 01:22:02.119 --> 01:22:04.680 What are you going to do to get through this? Yeah? 1744 01:22:04.720 --> 01:22:06.560 I mean I feel like I was laughing with you. 1745 01:22:06.600 --> 01:22:09.079 I already feel like I'm halfway through, but it's not 1746 01:22:09.199 --> 01:22:12.159 kicked off yet. It is epic in scope. Three nations 1747 01:22:12.319 --> 01:22:16.720 hosting for the first time Canada, the United States, Mexico. 1748 01:22:17.239 --> 01:22:20.039 When it was given twenty eighteen, it was talked about 1749 01:22:20.079 --> 01:22:24.239 as a unified almost the NAFTA World Cup. Obviously the 1750 01:22:24.319 --> 01:22:27.600 realities have changed. It feels almost like three parallel track 1751 01:22:28.840 --> 01:22:33.479 World Cups. But what drives me in any World Cup 1752 01:22:33.680 --> 01:22:37.119 is the narrative, is the story is the human wonder. 1753 01:22:37.960 --> 01:22:42.199 The scale of it is epic. I think it's projected 1754 01:22:42.319 --> 01:22:47.680 to revenue wise reported eighty billion dollars will be made, 1755 01:22:47.960 --> 01:22:51.960 which apparently is the GDP of Belarus. But I'm sure 1756 01:22:51.960 --> 01:22:54.560 you knew that, Tommy, That's probably the first thing that went. 1757 01:22:54.520 --> 01:22:55.079 Into your head. 1758 01:22:56.479 --> 01:23:00.800 You know, it's really a human x to say, two 1759 01:23:01.000 --> 01:23:03.680 hundred million people watch the Super Bowl, we think of 1760 01:23:03.760 --> 01:23:07.319 that as the ultimate. In the United States, five billion 1761 01:23:07.439 --> 01:23:10.640 people watch the World Cup. What is the World Cup? 1762 01:23:10.720 --> 01:23:13.159 And this is what I wrote in my book. It's 1763 01:23:13.199 --> 01:23:16.560 like a global eclipse that emanates from the game, sweeps 1764 01:23:16.680 --> 01:23:20.840 the entire world instantaneously and holds it in its thrall 1765 01:23:21.439 --> 01:23:25.680 for thirty nine straight days. And so that's the magic 1766 01:23:25.760 --> 01:23:29.199 of it, the energizing magic. What keeps me going is 1767 01:23:29.239 --> 01:23:32.479 a sense that when these games go on, we're watching 1768 01:23:32.640 --> 01:23:37.039 human beings live out under the Crucibler pressure. You know, 1769 01:23:37.199 --> 01:23:40.279 human decision making, what separates good players from the truly 1770 01:23:40.399 --> 01:23:44.359 greatest decisions they make under those pressures. There's going to 1771 01:23:44.399 --> 01:23:47.439 be heroes whose names we don't even know, who are 1772 01:23:47.479 --> 01:23:51.800 going to reveal themselves and within seconds of some kind 1773 01:23:51.840 --> 01:23:55.039 of kung fu fighting s goal, their name is going 1774 01:23:55.079 --> 01:23:57.560 to be blared out by millions of children in school 1775 01:23:57.600 --> 01:24:00.479 yards across the globe. You know, there's going to be 1776 01:24:00.680 --> 01:24:06.119 heroes who will fall in tragy comic ways. We're going 1777 01:24:06.199 --> 01:24:08.680 to watch the greatest telenovela. And the thing I'm most 1778 01:24:08.720 --> 01:24:11.600 excited about, Tommy is, I don't know if you've noticed, 1779 01:24:11.680 --> 01:24:14.000 it's a very dark world. We're living in a time 1780 01:24:14.159 --> 01:24:19.039 of challenge. I hope, I hope when this kicks off, 1781 01:24:19.319 --> 01:24:22.159 you know, when Lionel Messi takes the field, all of 1782 01:24:22.239 --> 01:24:25.640 the darkness kind of is smothered. It's almost like the 1783 01:24:25.800 --> 01:24:29.199 rational is replaced by the emotional, and it's that sense 1784 01:24:29.279 --> 01:24:34.399 of global unity. Obviously an illusion, obviously fleeting, but knowing 1785 01:24:34.479 --> 01:24:37.640 that you're making memories, profound memories. It's like the theory 1786 01:24:37.640 --> 01:24:39.720 of my book. Most of I'd say eighty seven percent 1787 01:24:39.760 --> 01:24:42.560 of my most important memories are located in world cups, 1788 01:24:42.640 --> 01:24:46.479 the cross generational memories with my dad, my mom, my grandpa, 1789 01:24:46.800 --> 01:24:49.600 my children. It's the same for millions around the world. 1790 01:24:49.640 --> 01:24:52.199 That conscious act of memory making that you're sharing with 1791 01:24:52.279 --> 01:24:54.319 the planet is really what drives me onwards. 1792 01:24:54.479 --> 01:24:58.359 I think we've all earned that release, that reprieve from reality, 1793 01:24:58.880 --> 01:25:00.720 and that moment has come tog other and enjoy it. 1794 01:25:01.000 --> 01:25:02.800 Just to ruin this whole thing with politics though, I 1795 01:25:02.840 --> 01:25:06.399 mean President Trump understands the scale of the stage, right, 1796 01:25:06.439 --> 01:25:09.119 He's got this preternatural understanding for the role that sports 1797 01:25:09.159 --> 01:25:11.439 plays and culture. As we talk today, I think he's 1798 01:25:11.479 --> 01:25:13.560 preparing to fly up to New York for the next game. 1799 01:25:14.359 --> 01:25:17.279 Do we know, like, does he deliver remarks at any 1800 01:25:17.279 --> 01:25:19.319 of these events? Is he going to attend games? 1801 01:25:19.359 --> 01:25:19.399 Like? 1802 01:25:19.479 --> 01:25:21.000 What do we know about his participation? 1803 01:25:22.039 --> 01:25:24.760 Not a lot yet? But football is he mean I 1804 01:25:24.840 --> 01:25:27.399 talked about the number of people watching. It is the 1805 01:25:28.199 --> 01:25:34.840 last global megaphone that is audible across the entire planet. 1806 01:25:35.399 --> 01:25:38.000 There's nothing like it. There's nothing like a World Cup. 1807 01:25:38.199 --> 01:25:41.439 Even Salt Bay inserted himself into the final seasons at 1808 01:25:41.520 --> 01:25:45.520 that massive it is. Yeah, go bless. I mean, he's 1809 01:25:45.520 --> 01:25:48.800 still got me talking about it four years later. And 1810 01:25:49.039 --> 01:25:53.640 so ultimately, politicians of all stripes are drown to football. 1811 01:25:53.720 --> 01:25:56.960 And happened since the very beginning. Nineteen thirty four. Second 1812 01:25:57.000 --> 01:26:00.119 World Cup was held in Italy by Mussolini, who who 1813 01:26:00.880 --> 01:26:04.640 wanted to present Italy to the world, subsidize foreign travel 1814 01:26:04.720 --> 01:26:07.600 to Italy for the tournament. The detail of most about 1815 01:26:07.640 --> 01:26:10.399 this story is that he made sure the tickets were 1816 01:26:10.520 --> 01:26:14.760 intricate paper cuts so that fans would go home afterwards, 1817 01:26:14.840 --> 01:26:17.439 I crap, you're not Tommy, and be like, these are 1818 01:26:17.479 --> 01:26:20.399 the tickets in Italy, look on the advanced country. It 1819 01:26:20.560 --> 01:26:23.439 is so from the very beginning, the roots of the 1820 01:26:23.520 --> 01:26:28.319 tournament have always had a geopolitical reality. When two teams 1821 01:26:28.399 --> 01:26:31.920 take the field, the nation's history, the nation's politics, the 1822 01:26:32.039 --> 01:26:35.279 nations culture takes a field alongside, and that's what gives it. 1823 01:26:35.399 --> 01:26:38.800 It's epic power. Everything matters. 1824 01:26:38.840 --> 01:26:39.079 It's not. 1825 01:26:39.439 --> 01:26:43.840 You know, I love American sports. When my Chicago Bears play, 1826 01:26:44.359 --> 01:26:48.840 you know, the La Rams, it's a big game, it's exciting, 1827 01:26:48.960 --> 01:26:56.680 I know the narrative. But when Germany plays England, the 1828 01:26:56.920 --> 01:27:00.800 levels of history, you know. I think was Emerson who 1829 01:27:00.840 --> 01:27:04.920 said it contains multitudes. The World Cup contains multitudes, and 1830 01:27:05.319 --> 01:27:10.199 every politician knows that, you know. And President Trump has 1831 01:27:11.359 --> 01:27:16.119 embraced football. There was a tournament here last almost a 1832 01:27:16.239 --> 01:27:20.039 dry runt called the Club World Cup. He presented the 1833 01:27:20.119 --> 01:27:23.640 trophy right at the end the route that the ritual 1834 01:27:23.680 --> 01:27:26.520 of trophy presenting in football is that whoever gives it, 1835 01:27:26.680 --> 01:27:28.920 and it's often a head of state will hand the 1836 01:27:29.000 --> 01:27:32.239 truth over to the you know, the sweaty footballers on 1837 01:27:32.359 --> 01:27:35.199 a podium and then step out of the way so 1838 01:27:35.319 --> 01:27:37.720 that they can lift it up and smoke comes off 1839 01:27:37.800 --> 01:27:40.840 and confetti blows up, and then the footballers bounce up 1840 01:27:40.880 --> 01:27:43.119 and down waving their arms like this, which is the 1841 01:27:43.239 --> 01:27:47.399 standard football guy dance at Chelsea Football Club. 1842 01:27:47.479 --> 01:27:47.680 Won. 1843 01:27:48.199 --> 01:27:51.000 He hands the trophy over and then stands in the 1844 01:27:51.079 --> 01:27:55.840 midst of them, and you know, the footballers are confused, 1845 01:27:55.880 --> 01:27:57.800 they don't quite know what to do. There's a standard 1846 01:27:57.880 --> 01:27:59.680 way of doing this, and then in the end they 1847 01:27:59.800 --> 01:28:01.640 just like saw it and they did it with him 1848 01:28:01.680 --> 01:28:06.760 in the midst of it. It's a remarkable image. You know, 1849 01:28:06.880 --> 01:28:09.439 the smoke goes off, the confetti blows up, some of 1850 01:28:09.479 --> 01:28:11.560 them were dancing, some of them are looking at at 1851 01:28:11.560 --> 01:28:13.680 the present. He knew exactly what he was doing. He 1852 01:28:13.760 --> 01:28:16.199 knew that was the photo moment that would go around 1853 01:28:16.239 --> 01:28:19.359 the world and that he'd become front and center. So 1854 01:28:19.760 --> 01:28:24.880 the World Cup contains that power times a million. Twenty eighteen, 1855 01:28:25.600 --> 01:28:29.199 Putin ran the World Cup and was very front and center. 1856 01:28:29.520 --> 01:28:32.399 Twenty twenty two, it was in Katar. First game you 1857 01:28:32.479 --> 01:28:35.960 and I watched, they had the Katari leader sitting right 1858 01:28:36.039 --> 01:28:40.439 by the Saudi Arabian Mohammed bin Salman. I believe this 1859 01:28:40.560 --> 01:28:43.039 is your expertise, not mine, but the two of them 1860 01:28:43.039 --> 01:28:46.399 had had frosty relations before that. To see them unite 1861 01:28:46.680 --> 01:28:51.199 was deeply symbol like a symbol. I think one was 1862 01:28:51.239 --> 01:28:54.720 even wearing a scar for the other country. So there's 1863 01:28:54.760 --> 01:28:57.680 a story on the field. There's always the story of it. 1864 01:28:57.760 --> 01:29:01.720 And the optics, the soft power, the odd power is 1865 01:29:01.800 --> 01:29:04.680 written all over this tournament every time it occurs. 1866 01:29:04.920 --> 01:29:07.039 You know, President Trump is both head of state and 1867 01:29:07.159 --> 01:29:11.079 also famously won the FIFA Peace Prize, So maybe he 1868 01:29:11.159 --> 01:29:13.520 could invite the new Iranian Supreme Leader to the US 1869 01:29:13.600 --> 01:29:14.840 to sit next to him at a game and we 1870 01:29:14.880 --> 01:29:17.359 could have another moment like the one you just described. 1871 01:29:17.520 --> 01:29:20.960 I'm just catching ideas, Yeah, I mean, well, we're pitching ideas. 1872 01:29:21.000 --> 01:29:23.880 I think this should be a FIFA music award, like 1873 01:29:23.920 --> 01:29:27.840 a Grammy for like kid Rock or Vanilla. I. I 1874 01:29:29.199 --> 01:29:32.119 would say, you will watch this World Cup with a 1875 01:29:32.199 --> 01:29:35.000 split lens, and who is invited and where they sit 1876 01:29:35.600 --> 01:29:39.159 is for you and pod save the World is a 1877 01:29:39.920 --> 01:29:42.479 is going to be? You know, I'd say a sport 1878 01:29:42.560 --> 01:29:44.800 in itself, but it's not a sport that gives it 1879 01:29:45.079 --> 01:29:47.960 a sense of a lack of meaning. But that narrative 1880 01:29:48.119 --> 01:29:53.119 will be enormous in macro ways and in microwaves. We 1881 01:29:53.239 --> 01:29:59.079 just had Wagner Moora, the Oscar nominated actor Pablo Escovar 1882 01:29:59.199 --> 01:30:02.119 from northaast I want to shows Football Mad and he 1883 01:30:02.279 --> 01:30:06.840 talked with an amazing passion about how Brazil, Brazil wears 1884 01:30:06.880 --> 01:30:10.760 a yellow shirt. It's iconic, you know, it's synonymous with 1885 01:30:11.600 --> 01:30:15.760 a beautiful style of football that kind of coincides with 1886 01:30:15.840 --> 01:30:20.399 the advent of color television. And he talked about how 1887 01:30:20.479 --> 01:30:27.439 when Bolscenario was president, he co opted the Brazilian shirt 1888 01:30:27.520 --> 01:30:31.000 and that shirt became a symbol of his regime. And 1889 01:30:31.199 --> 01:30:33.199 Vakta Moore talked about how this World Cup in a 1890 01:30:33.279 --> 01:30:37.800 post Bolsonario realm is a chance to reclaim it. So 1891 01:30:37.880 --> 01:30:41.239 the narratives within this thing, if you're a football fan, 1892 01:30:41.880 --> 01:30:45.439 you know it's the Ronaldo, the Messy, the Portugal of France, 1893 01:30:45.600 --> 01:30:48.920 the Spain. But if you're a pod Save the World fan, 1894 01:30:49.119 --> 01:30:51.920 you know the World Cup is is all of that 1895 01:30:52.079 --> 01:30:52.359 and more. 1896 01:30:52.640 --> 01:30:55.000 Yeah, So there's always sort of like issues and anxieties 1897 01:30:55.000 --> 01:30:57.760 going into these World Cups. Sometimes it's political, sometimes it's 1898 01:30:57.840 --> 01:31:01.039 you know, security or logistics. This year people were talking 1899 01:31:01.039 --> 01:31:04.800 about potential ice presence of games there are questions about 1900 01:31:04.840 --> 01:31:08.880 travel restrictions or visas. More recently, you know, there's a 1901 01:31:08.960 --> 01:31:13.119 lot of discussion about ticket prices. Has any of that 1902 01:31:13.600 --> 01:31:16.680 deterred attendance as far as you can tell? Is the 1903 01:31:16.720 --> 01:31:18.520 world still coming to the US for these games in 1904 01:31:18.560 --> 01:31:19.319 Mexico and Canada. 1905 01:31:19.720 --> 01:31:23.239 You know, the narrative of any World Cup is decided afterwards, 1906 01:31:24.640 --> 01:31:28.199 and this one in the run up has been about 1907 01:31:28.399 --> 01:31:31.800 safety fears. But not just in the United States. In Mexican, 1908 01:31:32.079 --> 01:31:36.359 the you know, the drug cartel violence, the global tensions, 1909 01:31:36.479 --> 01:31:39.439 the travel restrictions. Look, one of the reasons I love 1910 01:31:39.520 --> 01:31:44.640 football is that, more than any other sport, it holds 1911 01:31:44.720 --> 01:31:47.840 up a mirror to the world that surrounds it. I've 1912 01:31:47.840 --> 01:31:53.079 always loved that. It's always one of my definitive moments 1913 01:31:54.560 --> 01:31:58.520 in life, not just in football. Is nineteen eighty six 1914 01:31:58.720 --> 01:32:04.239 England played old Argentina. Diego Maradona. His Argentina, one of 1915 01:32:04.279 --> 01:32:06.680 the greatest to ever play the game, just a pick, 1916 01:32:06.960 --> 01:32:11.279 just a street urchin turned you know, kid of gold. 1917 01:32:11.399 --> 01:32:15.399 They called him Pbade, the Oro in the shadow of 1918 01:32:15.439 --> 01:32:21.479 the Falklands walk and England they were our heroes and 1919 01:32:22.039 --> 01:32:27.840 Argentina destroyed them one goal, tiny asl Diego punched it 1920 01:32:27.920 --> 01:32:32.680 in in the era before before video referees. He punched 1921 01:32:32.680 --> 01:32:35.439 it in over a six foot two goalkeeper used his 1922 01:32:35.560 --> 01:32:37.680 hand and immediately when asked did you did you punch 1923 01:32:37.760 --> 01:32:40.439 that in? He came up brilliantly with his own marketing. 1924 01:32:40.600 --> 01:32:42.039 He said it was a little bit the head of 1925 01:32:42.119 --> 01:32:45.640 Diego and a little bit the hand of God. And 1926 01:32:46.079 --> 01:32:48.520 then when we were reeling in agony as an English nation, 1927 01:32:48.840 --> 01:32:51.159 he picked the ball up deep in his own half 1928 01:32:51.239 --> 01:32:53.960 and then just ran through the entire team single handedly, 1929 01:32:54.119 --> 01:32:56.960 every hero. He eviscerated all of them and then just 1930 01:32:57.079 --> 01:32:59.439 rolled the ball home, which kind of echoed the first goal. 1931 01:32:59.520 --> 01:33:02.439 I did that cheated because I could, but I also 1932 01:33:02.520 --> 01:33:04.880 could have destroyed you single handedly if I wanted to, 1933 01:33:05.000 --> 01:33:08.039 and I just did. That goal was an agony and 1934 01:33:08.279 --> 01:33:10.760 as an English human being, it kind of put us 1935 01:33:10.800 --> 01:33:12.800 all in our place, showed us where we were in 1936 01:33:12.920 --> 01:33:16.880 the in the global food chain. But now it's actually 1937 01:33:17.039 --> 01:33:20.159 the post that that a photograph I have in my 1938 01:33:20.279 --> 01:33:23.680 office on my wall, signed by him. It makes you 1939 01:33:23.800 --> 01:33:26.880 feel things, it makes you feel alive. That agony is 1940 01:33:26.960 --> 01:33:30.079 like one of my proudest agonies. It's an honor to 1941 01:33:30.199 --> 01:33:35.119 have that agony. So everything is always geopolitical. The run 1942 01:33:35.239 --> 01:33:37.520 up to any World Cup in the modern period is 1943 01:33:37.560 --> 01:33:41.399 always a human darkness. The South African World Cup twenty ten, 1944 01:33:42.880 --> 01:33:45.520 the whole reporting going in was how everybody was going 1945 01:33:45.600 --> 01:33:47.960 to be, you know, carjacked. 1946 01:33:48.039 --> 01:33:48.399 There was an. 1947 01:33:48.359 --> 01:33:51.039 Epidemic, just the violence was going to destroy the thing. 1948 01:33:51.319 --> 01:33:55.239 The electricity belt was not enough to power the state. 1949 01:33:55.319 --> 01:33:58.199 It was a disaster. Why is Africa hosting this? It 1950 01:33:58.319 --> 01:34:00.279 turned out to be one of the most significant World 1951 01:34:00.319 --> 01:34:03.920 Cups of my lifetime. Melson Mandela Africa presenting it to 1952 01:34:04.000 --> 01:34:08.319 the world in majestic fashion. Same with Brazil twenty fourteen. 1953 01:34:08.720 --> 01:34:15.520 The violence rioting social unrest in twenty thirteen, you know, 1954 01:34:16.359 --> 01:34:19.399 the people rose up around games, marched on the stadia. 1955 01:34:19.560 --> 01:34:23.399 Every stadium I was in, there were riots, demonstrations for 1956 01:34:23.920 --> 01:34:27.359 social justice, for education, not football. It's meant to be 1957 01:34:27.399 --> 01:34:30.199 a disaster. And then once a ball is kicked, Tommy, 1958 01:34:31.239 --> 01:34:33.479 cognitive dissonance kicks in. I'm not sure this is a 1959 01:34:33.520 --> 01:34:35.279 good thing or a bad thing, to be honest, but 1960 01:34:35.359 --> 01:34:38.319 it's what happens once the Lionel Messi takes the field. 1961 01:34:38.600 --> 01:34:41.359 You know, all the storyline just falls away and we 1962 01:34:41.520 --> 01:34:45.000 kind of become mesmerized by that global eclipse thing. So 1963 01:34:45.159 --> 01:34:47.640 it is a lot of global tension. It is a 1964 01:34:47.760 --> 01:34:51.680 mirror to the world. The world is understandably challenging. But again, 1965 01:34:51.840 --> 01:34:55.319 once that opening whistle goes the past World Cups, everyone 1966 01:34:55.399 --> 01:35:01.279 has gone from fear and darkness and catastrophizing to a 1967 01:35:01.399 --> 01:35:04.000 sense of albeit fleeting, sense of wonder. 1968 01:35:04.319 --> 01:35:06.359 Yeah, well I cannot wait for it to start. But again, 1969 01:35:06.840 --> 01:35:08.880 the book is we are the World Cup. So pick 1970 01:35:08.960 --> 01:35:11.399 up a copy now and then, Roger, if listeners want 1971 01:35:11.439 --> 01:35:13.159 to just hear more from you throughout the World Cup, 1972 01:35:13.199 --> 01:35:13.880 where should. 1973 01:35:13.640 --> 01:35:16.800 They look, Tommy, We're headed to you tomorrow. We're going 1974 01:35:16.800 --> 01:35:20.039 to LA. We have a bus in the style of 1975 01:35:20.159 --> 01:35:24.239 John Madden, a big orange bus. We're driving it across country. 1976 01:35:24.479 --> 01:35:26.920 Can't tell if this is the greatest idea we've ever had, 1977 01:35:27.000 --> 01:35:30.039 all the worst. We'll find out. Starting in LA, we're 1978 01:35:30.079 --> 01:35:33.000 going up to Seattle, coming back to LA We're doing 1979 01:35:33.600 --> 01:35:36.600 and then going across the country through Texas to Atlanta. 1980 01:35:37.960 --> 01:35:40.159 We're going to be doing college game days before the 1981 01:35:40.199 --> 01:35:42.560 biggest game, starting with the United States. We're going to 1982 01:35:42.600 --> 01:35:46.000 be on Santa Monica Pia on that first US game 1983 01:35:46.079 --> 01:35:48.840 on the twelfth with Rob Mack. And then we're going 1984 01:35:48.920 --> 01:35:52.279 up to Seattle, where we've got John Green, the great 1985 01:35:52.479 --> 01:35:56.159 the greatest novelist. I think everyone would agree Old Skittles, 1986 01:35:56.600 --> 01:36:00.640 you man, the greatest Seahawk of all time. It's going 1987 01:36:00.680 --> 01:36:03.199 to be joining us and more and then back to 1988 01:36:03.439 --> 01:36:05.760 La and then we're going across. And I will say 1989 01:36:05.840 --> 01:36:09.760 as we go across, this is a wild time, Tommy, 1990 01:36:10.800 --> 01:36:14.039 in many sports fans in America will be turned onto 1991 01:36:14.079 --> 01:36:18.600 football for the first time. America loves the circus, they 1992 01:36:18.680 --> 01:36:21.680 love an excuse, the daytime drink, they love, you know, 1993 01:36:22.199 --> 01:36:25.760 mass desire to cut work, which is approved for thirty 1994 01:36:25.880 --> 01:36:29.279 nine days. But I will say seeing these fans and 1995 01:36:29.319 --> 01:36:32.079 there will be thousands of fans coming in. There have 1996 01:36:32.199 --> 01:36:37.439 been travel bands, you know, there are some teams who 1997 01:36:37.560 --> 01:36:40.079 have no fans able to get visas because of the 1998 01:36:40.159 --> 01:36:44.600 modern reality. They've been caught up in in that issue, 1999 01:36:44.920 --> 01:36:48.600 so like Haiti, Iran, Senegal, Ivory Coast. But there are 2000 01:36:48.760 --> 01:36:52.720 thousands and thousands of fans coming and this moment for 2001 01:36:52.920 --> 01:36:56.880 thirty nine days for the world to shine a spotlight 2002 01:36:57.119 --> 01:37:02.680 on not just La San Francisco, Seattle, but cities at Houston, 2003 01:37:02.800 --> 01:37:07.079 which are you know about to be beloved. When the 2004 01:37:07.119 --> 01:37:12.359 wolf finds lemon pepper wet in Atlanta, When there's twenty 2005 01:37:12.479 --> 01:37:18.840 thousand Argentinians running around Kansas City tasting Arthur Bryant's slaps 2006 01:37:18.880 --> 01:37:21.159 and going, oh my god, we've been doing barbecue all 2007 01:37:21.199 --> 01:37:26.359 wrong all this time. That to me is I hope 2008 01:37:26.680 --> 01:37:29.359 how America can be a winner for thirty nine days, 2009 01:37:29.399 --> 01:37:33.359 showing a face of ourselves which is meaningful and warm 2010 01:37:33.560 --> 01:37:36.359 and welcoming. I'm filled with a kind of joy. I 2011 01:37:36.479 --> 01:37:38.520 want saw from Liverpool. 2012 01:37:38.880 --> 01:37:40.560 It's going to be beautiful. I can't wait for much 2013 01:37:40.600 --> 01:37:43.479 of Europeans to try dunkin Donuts from make Up for 2014 01:37:43.520 --> 01:37:46.319 Boston for the first time. Roger, great to see you, 2015 01:37:46.520 --> 01:37:48.880 great to talk with you. Good luck with this tournament, buddy. 2016 01:37:49.479 --> 01:37:50.840 I'm excited to watch through your eyes. 2017 01:37:51.000 --> 01:37:53.279 I'll see you in La Beautiful. So I'm really really 2018 01:37:53.359 --> 01:37:54.960 excited to be of courage. 2019 01:37:55.199 --> 01:37:57.000 That's our show for today. Thanks to Roger Bennett for 2020 01:37:57.000 --> 01:37:58.560 coming on. Alex and I will be back with a 2021 01:37:58.640 --> 01:38:02.119 new show on Friday. Bye everyone. Positive America is a 2022 01:38:02.159 --> 01:38:04.640 Crooked Media production. Our show is produced by Austin Fisher, 2023 01:38:04.680 --> 01:38:07.399 Saul Ruben, McKenna, Roberts and Ferris Safari with re Jerlin, 2024 01:38:07.439 --> 01:38:10.119 Elijah Cone and Adrian Hill. Our team includes Matt de Groat, 2025 01:38:10.199 --> 01:38:13.239 Ben Hefcote, Jordan Cantor, Charlottelandis Krol pel Avive, David Toles, 2026 01:38:13.279 --> 01:38:15.760 Mia Kelman, Ryan Young and Naomi Single. Our staff is 2027 01:38:15.800 --> 01:38:17.800 probably unionized with the Writers Guild of America East