WE'VE SHAMED THE ANNIVERSARY OF "GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH" - 3.24.25

WE'VE SHAMED THE ANNIVERSARY OF "GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH" - 3.24.25

Released Monday, 24th March 2025
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WE'VE SHAMED THE ANNIVERSARY OF "GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH" - 3.24.25

WE'VE SHAMED THE ANNIVERSARY OF "GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH" - 3.24.25

WE'VE SHAMED THE ANNIVERSARY OF "GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH" - 3.24.25

WE'VE SHAMED THE ANNIVERSARY OF "GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH" - 3.24.25

Monday, 24th March 2025
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Episode Transcript

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2:11

Give me liberty

2:13

or give me

2:15

liberty or give

2:17

me death. Patrick

2:20

Henry said that

2:22

250 years ago,

2:25

yesterday. to

2:27

galvanize Americans against the tyranny

2:30

growing around them brought by

2:32

an insane dictator king. Not whatever

2:34

was manifesting near St. John's

2:37

Church in Richmond, where the

2:39

Second Virginia Convention he was

2:41

addressing was meeting, not what

2:43

threatened them individually, not what

2:45

was at their door, but what they

2:48

knew would be at their door soon

2:50

or late, because it was already inside

2:52

the homes of their fellow Americans

2:54

in far off Boston. Give me

2:56

liberty or death. Because whether

2:59

or not the tyrant is

3:01

here for us now, he

3:03

is here already for our

3:05

brothers and sisters. He will

3:08

be here for us soon

3:10

enough. And soon, the Virginia

3:13

militia embroidered their

3:15

battle shirts with

3:17

liberty or death. And soon

3:20

an entirely new

3:22

concept. Americans had

3:25

destroyed those who

3:27

intended to enslave

3:29

them and they had

3:32

won a liberty that

3:35

lasted 250 years.

3:37

Well nearly, closer

3:39

to what? 2025

3:41

minus 242 years.

3:43

Give me liberty

3:45

or give me death.

3:48

March 23rd, 1775. And

3:50

what would our

3:53

Patrick Henry have

3:55

said on March

3:57

23rd 2025? Give

3:59

me... or give me a free 12-ounce

4:02

coffee with the purchase

4:05

of a dozen donuts

4:07

while supplies last at

4:09

participating outlets only.

4:11

Our collective selfishness

4:14

and self-obsession

4:16

is virtually total.

4:19

Our collective incapacity to

4:21

see anything further than our

4:23

own needs, for that matter,

4:25

our own needs for no

4:27

span of time longer than

4:30

a couple of weeks, is

4:32

so powerful, so ritualized,

4:34

so rewarded, that we

4:37

barely see it anymore. Even

4:39

when our laws, our courts,

4:41

our institutions, our leaders, our

4:44

media, our political parties, our

4:46

handful of responsible corporations, even

4:48

when they fold under pressure,

4:50

or just the fear of

4:52

pressure, or worst of all,

4:55

even without any pressure whatsoever,

4:57

we sit there pointing at

4:59

them, and at those applying the

5:01

pressure. As if pointing at

5:03

them were somehow enough, as

5:06

if shame would be enough

5:08

to make them stiffen and

5:10

fight back and risk something,

5:12

risk anything, to save democracy.

5:15

And in that word hour,

5:17

I include myself, and I

5:19

exclude... literally no more

5:22

than a handful of

5:24

others, like Alexandria Ocasio

5:26

Cortez and Bernie Sanders,

5:29

who are at least out there.

5:31

yelling and warning, and being

5:33

the focal points for the

5:36

crowds, and inviting the hatred

5:38

and the pressure of the

5:40

fascists, and inviting worse than

5:42

just pressure. The rest of

5:44

us are celebrating the

5:46

250th anniversary of Patrick Henry

5:49

by proclaiming, Give me liberty

5:51

or give me unlimited

5:53

text and data when I trade

5:56

in my iPhone. The

6:00

institutions that made

6:02

their bones in this country

6:04

that grew their gravitas,

6:06

that were supposed to do

6:08

this, when we needed them

6:10

to do this, that earned

6:12

some trust, even as trust,

6:15

shrank in every corner with

6:17

every passing year, are now

6:19

racing each other to capitulate

6:21

and to collaborate before

6:24

their rivals do. Columbia

6:26

University. whose board

6:28

of trustees co-chair is one

6:30

of my oldest professional friends

6:32

and one of the reporters

6:35

I had the most respect for,

6:37

was barely done humiliating and

6:40

prostrating itself in front of

6:42

Trump in hopes of getting

6:44

back $400 million in federal

6:47

grants. When Colombia's endowment is

6:49

14.5 billion, Colombia was

6:51

barely done getting the

6:53

public praise yesterday from

6:56

the idiot former head

6:58

of wrestling, who is

7:00

now Secretary of Education,

7:02

without telling her to shove

7:04

the $400 million, up Trump's

7:07

ass, one silver dollar at

7:09

a time, without the student

7:11

body walking out... or taking

7:14

over upper Manhattan or shutting

7:16

down the entire god-damned city

7:18

of New York. Columbia was

7:21

barely done collaborating when the

7:23

entire infrastructure of my alma mater,

7:25

Cornell, did nothing about

7:27

ice. The Gestapo, demanding

7:29

that one of Cornell's

7:32

students turn himself in

7:34

for deportation today. Because

7:36

of anti-Israel protests, and let me

7:39

tell you, shutting down Ithaca, New

7:41

York would be a lot god-damned

7:43

easier than shutting down half

7:45

of Manhattan. And when I was still

7:47

there, the majority of the

7:50

faculty and even some

7:52

students had witnessed the

7:54

response to rampant racism,

7:56

including a cross-burning at a

7:58

black women's dorm. And the response

8:01

was for students to take

8:03

over the student union while

8:05

carrying long guns and wearing

8:07

bandoliers. And even in 1979

8:09

when I graduated a decade

8:12

after that and a group

8:14

of low-income minority students felt

8:16

they had been discriminated against

8:18

because their degrees were being

8:20

withheld because they hadn't fully

8:23

paid back tuition extensions when

8:25

they were black. Even they

8:27

peacefully and without weapons took

8:29

over an administration building. for

8:31

a few hours. Just to

8:34

say, this is wrong, you

8:36

didn't do this with the

8:38

white students who were late

8:40

with their money. Just to

8:42

do something. To do anything

8:45

but obey in advance. Now

8:47

I don't give a damn

8:49

if the protesters at Cornell

8:51

and Columbia or anywhere else

8:53

are anti-Semites. or are defending

8:55

a really unpopular cause, or

8:58

seemingly have carefully chosen every

9:00

possible strategic move to make

9:02

themselves and their causes more

9:04

unpopular and less palatable in

9:06

this country, I don't care

9:09

who they are, or what

9:11

you think you have to

9:13

do to establish parameters for

9:15

them. The parameters Columbia cannot

9:17

include establishing a campus thought

9:20

police that can now arrest

9:22

the protesters it and you

9:24

do not like, and Trump

9:26

does not like, and not

9:28

arrest the protesters who are

9:31

demanding faster transfer of academic

9:33

records for postgraduate applications or

9:35

job interviews. And I don't

9:37

care who they are, or

9:39

what you think you have

9:42

to do to establish parameters

9:44

for them, the parameters Cornell...

9:46

cannot include completely ignoring the

9:48

demand that one of you

9:50

gets yanked off campus in

9:53

the middle of the god-damned

9:55

spring semester and deported to

9:57

where where they sent the

9:59

gay barber they decided was

10:01

a terrorist or where they

10:03

the guy with the Rayal

10:06

Madrid soccer tattoo? It cannot

10:08

Cornell include ignoring the disappearing

10:10

of a Cornell student because

10:12

it doesn't effing matter which

10:14

Cornell student they are disappearing

10:17

for which unpopular opinion because

10:19

next time that Cornell student

10:21

could be you and at

10:23

this rate eventually it will

10:25

be you. And it doesn't

10:28

matter what your campuses did

10:30

not do when they came

10:32

for these Ah, mistaken and

10:34

incompetent protesters, because your collaboration

10:36

will earn you nothing. Except

10:39

the Trump dictatorship's recognition that

10:41

Cornell and Columbia are officially

10:43

pushovers. And the next time,

10:45

they need somebody for a

10:47

show trial. They will go

10:50

to Cornell and Columbia first,

10:52

because Cornell and Columbia will

10:54

help you round up whoever

10:56

you want, whether it's a

10:58

student, a professor, or the

11:00

head of the Board of

11:03

Trustees. And if you didn't

11:05

learn all this at Cornell,

11:07

and if you didn't learn

11:09

all this at Columbia, Columbia,

11:11

go out of business. and

11:15

close Columbia and close Cornell

11:17

and sell the campuses and

11:20

do it today because that

11:22

what you just did not

11:25

do that was your purpose

11:27

that was why you existed

11:29

to teach that liberty requires

11:32

us to defend our liberty

11:34

and the other guys liberty

11:37

And if you didn't learn

11:39

all this at every college

11:41

and university and Juko and

11:44

community college in this country,

11:46

close them to! You have

11:49

all lost the plot! Happily,

11:51

the students imperiled can always

11:54

call the noted law firm.

11:56

of Paul Kama Weiss and

11:58

its chairman Brad S. Karp,

12:01

advocate for corporations and protesters

12:03

alike, and rich and poor

12:06

alike. Except Mr. Karp and

12:08

Paul Kama Weiss tried to

12:11

challenge a threat from Trump

12:13

and have a pro- trump

12:15

firm called Quinn Kama Emmanuel

12:18

Kama, Kama Kama and Sullivan

12:20

join them. And when those

12:23

pro- Trumpists saw the opportunity

12:25

to destroy a rival, and

12:28

so what if it destroyed

12:30

the rule of law in

12:32

the process, and when that

12:35

rival said, no, Paul Kama

12:37

Weiss capitulated, Paul Kama Weiss

12:40

will now bribe Trump, with

12:42

$40 million in free lawyer

12:45

hours to help Trump, because,

12:47

you know... Somebody's got to

12:49

litigate whatever Trump's version of

12:52

the Nuremberg race laws turns

12:54

out to be. Thank you

12:57

all for your patience during

12:59

this time, said Karp of

13:02

Paul Kama Weiss to his

13:04

staff. With this behind us,

13:06

we can devote our complete

13:09

focus, as we always do,

13:11

to our clients, our work,

13:14

our colleagues, and our firm.

13:16

Mr. Karp. You are an

13:18

idiot. With this behind us.

13:21

It is not behind you.

13:23

You have assured that it

13:26

will forever be in front

13:28

of you. Trump will be

13:31

back soon, Mr. Karp, to

13:33

tell you who you can

13:35

and cannot hire, and who

13:38

you can and cannot represent,

13:40

and which other clients' confidential

13:43

records, Trump does and does

13:45

not want. Because hours after

13:48

this... idiot self-interested self-deluding lawyer

13:50

told the thousand lawyers who

13:52

work for him that it

13:55

would all be fine now

13:57

now that he had sold

14:00

their souls to the devil.

14:02

The White House sent out

14:05

a memo Saturday to the

14:07

little witch now running the

14:09

Department of Justice, which reads

14:12

in part, quote, that she

14:14

should seek sanctions against attorneys

14:17

and law firms who engage

14:19

in frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious

14:22

litigation against the government. The

14:27

slave overseers who work for

14:30

Trump also instructed the dog

14:32

murdering head of homeland security

14:35

dress up Barbie with a

14:37

thousand different action adventure outfits

14:39

in her closet to quote

14:42

prioritize enforcement of those regulations

14:44

governing what lawyers can do

14:47

inside the immigration courts. That

14:49

is a somewhat cloudy way

14:51

of saying represent somebody we

14:54

are trying to deport and

14:56

if we can we will

14:59

deport you with them or

15:01

we will deport your employee

15:03

or your friend or another

15:06

student at Cornell or Columbia.

15:08

The Columbia case was Trump

15:11

testing how much educational money

15:13

would need to be threatened.

15:15

before the universities were willing

15:18

to sell their core values.

15:20

That figure turned out to

15:23

be $400 million. Not very

15:25

much, if your endowment is

15:27

$14.8-something billion. The Paul-Wice case

15:30

was Trump testing how much

15:32

litigation money would be needed

15:35

to be threatened before the

15:37

big law firms were willing

15:40

to sell their core values.

15:42

That turned out to be

15:44

$40 million. Lawyers are cheaper

15:47

than universities. Turned out though

15:49

in both cases, they're very

15:52

cheap and the cost wasn't

15:54

very much at all. By

15:56

the way, lawyers, all lawyers.

15:59

The cowardice, the complicity of

16:01

Paul comma Weiss, has now

16:04

emboldened Trump to tell Pam

16:06

Bondi, to try to punish

16:08

law firms who take asylum

16:11

cases pro bono, to give

16:13

her the right to start

16:16

to poll security clearances for

16:18

firms she doesn't like, and

16:20

to try to prosecute lawyers

16:23

who sued the government starting

16:25

in, oh, 2017. You know...

16:28

the year when Trump took

16:30

over the first time. Four

16:32

years before we Napoleoned him

16:35

instead of putting him in

16:37

prison. Because, give me liberty

16:40

or I'm not going to

16:42

pay a lot for this

16:44

muffler. And

17:10

so we can add the

17:12

universities and the lawyers to

17:14

the list. The list of

17:17

the guardrails that turned out

17:19

to be made out of

17:21

paper mache filled with oatmeal.

17:23

The list that includes pretty

17:25

much every American institution of

17:27

any importance except the visiting

17:29

nurse association. The owners of

17:31

the television networks, for instance.

17:34

The other news organizations. More

17:36

on them presently. The Republican

17:38

Party obviously I mean why

17:40

should any of them risk

17:42

what they have the increased

17:44

power? Trump's dictatorship has given

17:46

them. It's not like it's

17:49

not like Trump's gonna deport

17:51

me or take away my

17:53

power yet On the list

17:55

of course the Democratic Party

17:57

leadership and thank you to

17:59

the TV for putting on

18:01

Chuck Schumer every god-damned day

18:04

since he sold out this

18:06

country so he can keep

18:08

selling his effing book without

18:10

having to face one single

18:12

protester or obviously on the

18:14

TV political shows having to

18:16

face one difficult question. Thank

18:19

you to the Democratic leaders

18:21

out of office who have

18:23

joined this list. Has any

18:25

man squandered his post-presidency? More

18:27

than Barack Obama? No

18:30

one in this country

18:33

could enrage Trump faster

18:35

or more thoroughly than

18:38

Barack Obama. He stops

18:41

Trump so thoroughly in

18:43

his tracks that Trump

18:46

thinks he ran a

18:49

presidential race against Obama.

18:51

Almost no one in

18:54

this country. No one

18:57

in this country. could

19:00

rally the dispirited and

19:02

confused opposition begging for

19:04

leadership now than could

19:07

Obama. Well, happily he

19:09

is all over the

19:11

news at the moment

19:13

with his college basketball

19:15

picks. South Carolina over...

19:18

I don't know, Southern,

19:20

I don't know, because

19:22

give me liberty... or

19:24

give me a $200

19:26

bonus bet when I

19:28

sign up with sports

19:31

betting ink. Must be

19:33

21 or over gambling

19:35

problem? Call one 800

19:37

gambler. And most importantly

19:39

on the list the

19:42

law and the courts.

19:44

The Supreme Court. The

19:46

Chief Justice. I begin

19:48

to think his family

19:50

name is Justice. Because

19:53

there's nothing justice about

19:55

his work. Trump

19:57

as president. As

20:00

he did before, publicly demands

20:02

the removal of a judge

20:05

who thwarted him, and in

20:07

so, he is testing to

20:09

see if he can get

20:12

away with that, and John

20:14

Roberts comes out with a

20:16

robust, profound, dramatic warning in

20:19

response. I'm kidding. He issued

20:21

boilerplate pablam. Quote, for more

20:23

than two centuries it has

20:26

been established that impeachment is

20:28

not an appropriate response to

20:30

disagreement concerning a judicial decision,

20:32

the normal appellate review process

20:35

exists for that purpose. There's

20:37

got to be something else

20:39

on this sheet. That's all

20:42

he said. Thank you, Justice.

20:44

Thank you, Chief Justice Roberts.

20:46

Thank you for the three,

20:49

three and a half minutes

20:51

you devoted to this statement

20:53

trying to defend democracy and

20:56

the rule of law. Not

20:58

the faintest glimmer of understanding

21:00

that Roberts, as Chief Justice,

21:03

as the supposed restraint against

21:05

the corrupt influence peddling religious

21:07

nuts on his own court,

21:10

Roberts still immunize Trump against

21:12

virtually any prosecution for virtually

21:14

any crime and now seems

21:17

surprised. when Trump decides to

21:19

arrest Chuck Schumer, or AOC,

21:21

or Sonia Sotomayor, or Meddy

21:24

political opponents. Oh, dismantling the

21:26

judiciary, arresting political opponents. I'm

21:28

sorry, I'm getting ahead of

21:31

myself. I'm reading one of

21:33

my commentaries from next fall.

21:35

When Trump tries to arrest

21:38

Chuck Schumer, or AOC, or

21:40

Sonia Sotomayor, or Meddy Hassan.

21:44

Actually, I'm just reading the

21:47

news from Turkey. Try out

21:49

the crime of threatening judges

21:51

and dismantling the judiciary and

21:54

arresting political opponents. Oh, dismantling

21:56

the judiciary, arresting political... opponents.

21:58

I'm sorry, I'm getting ahead

22:01

of myself. I'm reading one

22:03

of my commentaries from next

22:05

fall when Trump tries to

22:08

arrest Chuck Schumer or AOC

22:10

or Sonia Sotomayor or Mehdi

22:12

Hassan. Actually, I'm just reading

22:15

the news from Turkey. The

22:17

same day the opposition voted

22:19

for its choice to run

22:22

against the quasi-dictator Erwan in

22:24

2028, Erwan had that man,

22:26

the mayor of Istanbul, formally

22:28

arrested and charged with corruption.

22:31

Ekram Imamaglu can still run

22:33

for president even if they

22:35

keep him... in detention until

22:38

2028, but if he's convicted

22:40

of anything, and how could

22:42

he be convicted of anything

22:45

in a Turkish judicial system

22:47

that at minimum exaggerated the

22:49

severity of the 2016 quote,

22:52

coup, unquote, against Erdogan, if

22:54

he's convicted of anything, he

22:56

cannot serve. Now, of course,

22:59

Erdogan is prevented from running

23:01

again in 2028, but of

23:03

course he can't run again

23:06

in 2028 because of term

23:08

limits. in the Constitution, which

23:10

is why he's now trying

23:12

to change the Constitution. Why

23:15

does this all sound so

23:17

familiar? The Turks have been

23:19

protesting for five nights. It

23:22

now seems after years of

23:24

this, as if they will

23:26

have only one option, which

23:29

would be to remove their

23:31

dictator by force. I assume

23:33

they are at this point,

23:36

because ten or twenty or

23:38

whenever years ago... when celebrating

23:40

the anniversary of their Patrick

23:43

Henry. It came out. Give

23:45

me liberty or give me

23:47

up to 30% on rooms

23:50

at Select Disney Resort hotels

23:52

when I stay five nights

23:54

or longer. While

24:04

I am burning things to

24:06

the ground on your time,

24:08

back to the media for

24:10

a moment, please. We have

24:12

both long since discovered and

24:14

paid for the incompetence of

24:16

the modern, insulated, self-referential, sealed

24:18

in both a bubble and

24:20

in bubble-plastic political media complex.

24:22

But here's something new and

24:24

terrible even for them, hot

24:26

off the presses, as it

24:28

were. The ground

24:30

zero of a world in

24:32

which access is the only

24:35

thing that matters, or is

24:37

understood, and in which there

24:39

is no comprehension of the

24:41

dangers, to which that access

24:43

provides front row seats, the

24:46

ground zero of that world,

24:48

is not the Washington Post,

24:50

it's not even the New

24:52

York Times, it's politico. Its

24:55

lead item, day before yesterday,

24:57

was a breathless account, a

24:59

doubly... fake scoop, a book

25:01

excerpt. It's from a book

25:03

by Jonathan Allen and Amy

25:06

Parnes, and Politico can't decide

25:08

which is the bigger news,

25:10

an anecdote about Joe Biden's

25:12

memory, or the fact that

25:14

it somehow obtained a copy

25:17

of this book long before

25:19

it's supposed to be available

25:21

April 1st, and they got

25:23

it here at the March

25:26

22nd or something. As

25:29

to that second point, it is

25:31

amazing, but deeply symbolic, that political

25:33

writers keep pulling this stunt year

25:35

after year after year and expecting

25:37

anybody to fall for it, and

25:39

there's always somebody at Politico to

25:41

fall for it. You got a

25:43

copy of a book before the

25:45

publication date? You must be the

25:47

greatest reporter since Woodward and Bernstein!

25:49

How is such a mighty feat

25:51

possible by mere humans? The answer

25:53

is, of course, that proof copies

25:55

of a book come out months

25:57

before publication. I

26:01

used to get a box

26:03

of them at least six

26:05

weeks before publication, two months,

26:08

mailed them to friends. If

26:10

I'd found a way to

26:12

sell them on eBay, I

26:15

would have done it. These

26:17

inexplicable pre-publicity, pre-publication leaks happen

26:19

as follows. Hey, Politico, says

26:22

the author, my book is

26:24

coming out in a month.

26:26

I need some pub. I

26:29

need some pub. The political

26:31

guy replies, well what's good

26:33

in it? The author responds,

26:36

well I can give you

26:38

this anecdote, because I already

26:40

promised the other good one

26:43

to the post. Take that

26:45

axios, the political guy says

26:47

quietly to himself. Another scoop

26:50

for yours truly. I bet

26:52

my European bosses will give

26:54

me a $5 bonus. The

26:57

new one Saturday from Politico

26:59

has the added embarrassment of

27:01

underscoring how the authors do

27:04

not understand politics. or America,

27:06

or in fact, life. I'll

27:08

just read what Politico excerpted

27:11

about how one Democrat who

27:13

had run for the Democratic

27:15

nomination in 2019, quote, became

27:18

concerned about Biden's mental acuity

27:20

at a June 2023 White

27:22

House picnic for members of

27:25

Congress. When they came face-to-face,

27:27

Biden did not immediately recognize

27:29

his one-time rival for the

27:32

party's nomination, unquote. The candidate,

27:34

quote, had to cue Biden

27:36

with personal details to remind

27:39

him. That sounds bad. About

27:41

last year's big story. Which

27:43

X would be nominee was

27:46

so supposedly struck? that Biden

27:48

didn't remember, that both of

27:50

them had run for president,

27:53

could not identify his former

27:55

rival on the debate stage?

27:57

Which one of them? Eric

28:01

Swalwell. Now, if

28:04

you're anything like

28:06

me, your response

28:09

to hearing this

28:11

anecdote was, wait,

28:14

Eric Swalwell ran

28:17

from president? The

28:19

congressman, right? Good

28:22

guy, but congressman

28:24

from New York.

28:27

California. California. Yes.

28:31

I had no memory at all

28:33

that Swalwell had run. Just like

28:35

Biden had no memory at all

28:38

that Swalwell had run. I'm guessing

28:40

just like you had no memory

28:42

that Swalwell had run. In fact,

28:44

my surprise is that Swalwell remembered

28:47

that he had run. Writing Jonathan

28:49

Allen about how somebody forgot he

28:51

ran, and I'm still taking his

28:53

word for this that he did

28:56

run, is not the negative flex

28:58

against Joe Biden you think it

29:00

is. But wait, there's more. The

29:02

official Swalwell response to Politico was

29:05

that there was no White House

29:07

party, remembers of Congress, on the

29:09

date Alan has given June 2023,

29:11

and it turns out he's right.

29:14

There was none. Politico then dives

29:16

into showing how great it is

29:18

by proving that there was one

29:20

in July of 2023, and Swalwell

29:23

was there. See, we're journalists! We

29:25

and the authors and the editors

29:27

forgot when the party was, got

29:29

it wrong. But it's Biden who

29:32

was already having trouble remembering things

29:34

in 2023 and Swalwell didn't go

29:36

public about it. See, we're smarter

29:38

than they is. Wait, there's even

29:41

more. Politico's Adam Wren foolishly took

29:43

credit for writing this. He

29:48

managed to please his new

29:50

neo-fascist European owners by turning

29:52

this story into a story,

29:55

by the way, of an

29:57

author getting a date wrong

29:59

about a piece of trivia,

30:01

at which somebody forgot a

30:04

piece of trivia. He turned

30:06

this into a Democrats lied

30:08

about Biden and now everybody

30:10

hates the Democrats and the

30:13

Democrats is dead story. Quote,

30:15

Adam ran political. Biden's refusal

30:17

to pass the torch until

30:20

more than a year later

30:22

still looms over the party.

30:24

And the Democrats are still

30:26

facing questions about who knew

30:29

what and when about Biden's

30:31

faculties. It's not difficult to

30:33

see more of these anecdotes

30:36

surfacing in the coming weeks

30:38

and months. What's harder is

30:40

seeing how the party regains

30:42

voters' trust. Trust? Jonathan Allen?

30:45

Joe Biden? And the Democrats?

30:47

aren't the ones who can't

30:49

tell the difference between a

30:51

president forgetting an actual campaign

30:54

rival and an utterly and

30:56

literally forgetable vanity campaign for

30:58

the nomination that lasted exactly

31:01

three months and out of

31:03

which the guy himself bailed

31:05

211 days before the first

31:07

primary and Biden wasn't the

31:10

one who got the month

31:12

of the party wrong and

31:14

published it anyway? And

31:19

none of us out

31:21

here let our political

31:23

White House Bureau Chief

31:26

conduct an official on-stage

31:28

event at CPAC, Nazi

31:30

party memberships for people

31:33

who don't like the

31:35

letter Z. The

31:40

real memory loss about

31:42

Politico that Politico should

31:44

address is after it

31:46

goes out of business.

31:49

Will anybody remember it

31:51

was ever there? Also

31:53

of interest here, because

31:55

believe it or not

31:57

I have some venom

31:59

left. If

32:01

not much voice, there's also

32:03

something up at NBC. I'm

32:06

not sure what it is,

32:08

but Trump has now threatened

32:10

them again about MS NBC,

32:13

and it's four months since

32:15

Scarborough re-horrid himself to Trump,

32:17

and it's a month tomorrow

32:20

since they fired Joy Reed

32:22

and the other hosts of

32:24

color. So NBC is preparing

32:27

to throw somebody or something...

32:29

out the windows at the

32:31

52nd floor corporate offices at

32:34

30 Rock. What is it?

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35:19

scripts to the news some

35:22

headlines some updates some stark

35:24

still ahead of course worst

35:26

persons and you know why

35:29

you need a Department of

35:31

Education so idiots like the

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South African Elon Musk can

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learn English correctly and not

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wind up publicly misspelling the

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words Department of Education first

35:46

This is the countdown podcast and

35:48

these are the places where there's

35:50

news. Dateline 30 Rock. I live

35:53

a few blocks from where I

35:55

used to work. This of course

35:57

is an evergreen statement almost anywhere

35:59

I've ever... I lived in New

36:01

York, I could say that, about

36:04

one of the places I used

36:06

to work, but this time I

36:08

am being specific about 30 Rock.

36:10

30 Rockefeller Center, 30 Rockefeller Plaza,

36:13

the heart of New York City,

36:15

the home of the national broadcasting

36:17

company, and the corporation that owns

36:19

it. I'm not sure what specific

36:22

ass kissing they have planned for

36:24

Trump, as our business quasi-human's rush

36:26

for the exits to get the

36:28

best deal from the fascist state,

36:30

but I can tell from the

36:33

looks on their faces they're thinking

36:35

about it. In the month just

36:37

closing, Trump was nice enough to

36:39

declare that MSNBC and CNN are

36:42

illegal. He used the word three

36:44

times in his Reichs Partitog at

36:46

the Ministry of Love, I'm sorry,

36:48

the Department of Justice, the Ministry

36:51

of Love was in the book

36:53

1984. Anyway, when indictments did not

36:55

immediately follow his thrice use of

36:57

the word illegal, he brought the

36:59

subject up again last week. And

37:02

blocks away, I can smell the

37:04

fear from the 52nd floor at

37:06

30 Rock. It's not all I

37:08

smell from there, but mostly it's

37:11

fear. They are planning to fold

37:13

to Trump. It's just a question

37:15

of which way. I don't think

37:17

they're literally going to do what

37:20

he suggested last week because frankly

37:22

that would not be enough for

37:24

Trump at this point. He doesn't

37:26

want that. He doesn't want MSNBC

37:28

switched off. He wants them to

37:31

go all Scarborough. He wants MSN

37:33

VC. Keep the brand name. Keep

37:35

a lot of the same people.

37:37

Pretend they are being critical of

37:40

him and the Republicans. Become the

37:42

official authorized... controlled resistance which offers

37:44

no resistance at all. Except maybe

37:46

complaining that Trump hasn't praised his

37:49

own bit-con brand recently enough. God

37:51

knows NBC has done it before

37:53

with Republicans when Republicans have said

37:55

something like this. We just need

37:57

honest journalism and we don't have

38:00

it. When you have a CNN

38:02

I watch you have to watch

38:04

these people every once in a

38:06

watch just to see where they're

38:09

coming from and it's so dishonest

38:11

MS NBC is I think probably

38:13

worse and they're both doing horribly

38:15

in the ratings. I think they're

38:17

going to be turned off. I

38:20

don't think they're not doing any

38:22

ratings. Well how does this crap

38:24

sound familiar. NBC, corporate NBC, is

38:26

in reruns. They were already blackmailed

38:29

once by the Republicans, long before

38:31

Trump was sent here by the

38:33

devil. And boy did this flash

38:35

me back, because this happened to

38:38

me at MS NBC in 2008,

38:40

courtesy the supposed, sane Republicans, and

38:42

it underscores that they have never

38:44

been sane. There have never been

38:46

sane Republicans. They have always longed

38:49

to dictate to the media what

38:51

it can and cannot say about

38:53

whichever asshole is its presidential candidate.

38:55

And thanks to people like Tom

38:58

Brokaw, they often get away with

39:00

it. Chris Matthews and I were

39:02

co-anchoring the Republican Convention on MS

39:04

NBC in 2008. He was there

39:07

at the convention in Minnesota. I

39:09

was in the studios at 30

39:11

Rock in New York ostensibly, so

39:13

I could also anchor hurricane coverage,

39:15

though it was pretty clear that

39:18

at least half the reason I

39:20

was not in Minneapolis was because

39:22

the Republicans had threatened NBC or

39:24

said they could not guarantee my

39:27

safety there or something like that.

39:29

So I was the one on

39:31

September 2nd 2008 who had to

39:33

throw it to a video That

39:36

we had been told by the

39:38

Republicans was a tribute to the

39:40

dead of 9-11 that they were

39:42

playing in the theater in their

39:44

convention in Minnesota It was not

39:47

a tribute. It was a snuff

39:49

film all the images that the

39:51

networks had stopped showing of 9-11

39:53

within weeks or even days of

39:56

the attacks. All of them were

39:58

in this snuff film, people jumping.

40:00

falling to their deaths from the

40:02

World Trade Center, endless replays of

40:05

the planes hitting the towers, dismembered

40:07

bodies in the plaza, the building

40:09

collapses, the equally terrifying scenes at

40:11

the Pentagon, and all with the

40:13

grotesque voiceover from that fake Robert

40:16

Davy, emphasizing that this was all

40:18

the Democrats' fault. The message was,

40:20

they might as well have praised

40:22

it this way, elect Obama and

40:25

you will die, and you will

40:27

die like this. I was angry,

40:29

just on that base level. For

40:31

that five and a half years

40:34

I had been back at MS

40:36

NBC, we had been rigorous about

40:38

not showing any of that video

40:40

that the Republicans had just forced

40:42

upon us by lying to us

40:45

about it. There were rules that

40:47

if we had to, for some

40:49

reason, need some snippet, we would

40:51

show only still images and even

40:54

then only with extensive warnings to

40:56

the viewers. But I knew from

40:58

my conversations with the President of

41:00

MS NBC Phil Griffin, who I

41:03

had known for 28 years at

41:05

that point, that he would insist

41:07

that on the scene in Minneapolis,

41:09

Matthews, and Tom Brokaw, whose career

41:11

at NBC I had resuscitated after

41:14

Brian Williams had buried him alive

41:16

two years earlier. I knew, from

41:18

what Griffin told me, that one

41:20

or both of them would rebuke

41:23

the GOP for showing not a

41:25

9-11 tribute, but as I just

41:27

said, a 9-11 snuff film. The

41:30

snuff film ended. We came out

41:32

to Brokaw and Matthews. And Brokaw

41:34

kind of coughed. And Matthews said,

41:37

well. And he turned to Brokaw

41:39

and said in that loose fire

41:41

hose delivery he had, Tom, the

41:43

kind on your scores, terrorism, big

41:45

thing for Republicans. They'd try to

41:48

stop Obama. Brokaw droned on approvingly.

41:50

The Republicans sneaking a snuff film,

41:52

a banned video onto MS NBC.

41:54

without any warning. That was not

41:56

mentioned. Back to New York and

41:58

Keith. I was supposed to add

42:01

liberties about what we were expecting

42:03

from the Republican Convention for the

42:05

rest of the night and then

42:07

throw to a commercial. Instead, I

42:09

said, and this is a paraphrase,

42:12

the original tape disappeared that night,

42:14

that before we moved on, I

42:16

felt I needed to apologize. That

42:18

we at MS NBC, and for

42:20

that matter at NBC News, at

42:23

extremely strict rules about not showing

42:25

the video, The Republicans had just

42:27

shown you via our network without

42:29

any warning, without any context, and

42:31

by lying to us. And we

42:34

certainly would not have shown the

42:36

horror and death, and blamed it

42:38

on the Democrats, or for that

42:40

matter, on the Republicans. I said

42:42

if we had done such a

42:45

thing ourselves, there would have been

42:47

people fired. The public program the

42:49

GOP provided said that was going

42:51

to be a 9-11 tribute film

42:53

I said and so did the

42:55

private conversations with the network which

42:58

included the reminder from NBC and

43:00

MS NBC that we had rules

43:02

Against showing the scenes of horrible

43:04

death and mutilation and destruction So

43:06

I apologized on behalf of whoever

43:09

trusted the Republicans to live up

43:11

to their word that MS NBC

43:13

viewers were forced to see the

43:15

video our network had promised never

43:17

to show them So,

43:21

three nights later, without as much

43:23

as an email to me, this

43:25

Griffin had called my agent and

43:27

told her I was fired and

43:29

Matthews II from our coverage of

43:32

the upcoming McCain Obama debates. I

43:34

happened to be off that night

43:36

in the press box watching a

43:38

Mets-fillies game at Shea Stadium hearing

43:40

elsewhere. Tom Brokaw is going around

43:43

NBC saying he got you fired

43:45

from the debates because the Republicans

43:47

told him too. Nine,

43:50

maybe ten months earlier, the same

43:52

Phil Griffin had come to me

43:54

and asked me if I would

43:56

be okay with Brokaw appearing during

43:58

our weekly coverage of the Democratic

44:01

and Republican primaries. Just a couple

44:03

of minutes, but... like from a

44:05

perspective desk. That's all he wants

44:07

to do. He's so unhappy. Brian

44:09

Williams is frozen him out of

44:11

everything." I was appalled, but not

44:14

surprised. The power had gone to

44:16

Brian's head. And of course there,

44:18

it had not met very much

44:20

resistance. Plus, as I said to

44:22

Griffin, you're asking me if I'd

44:25

like to add Tom Brokaw's experience

44:27

and Tom Brokaw's gravitas to stuff

44:29

I'm anchoring. When I'm not sure

44:31

I know as much as I

44:33

really know to do this the

44:35

right way, Tom, to be fair

44:38

fit in beautifully, and twice, after

44:40

those long Tuesday evenings during the

44:42

primaries, he sent me brief emails

44:44

awarding me what he called the

44:46

game ball, because he was so

44:49

impressed by my ability to balance

44:51

the roles of political anchor and

44:53

political commentator. Having tried this myself,

44:55

he wrote, I know what a

44:57

perilous tightroop this is. Game ball

44:59

to K.O. I mocked them now,

45:02

but they meant so much to

45:04

me then that I printed them

45:06

out and carried them in my

45:08

wallet. Until September. And now Brokaw

45:10

had gotten me fired, because as

45:13

my newspaper friend said, the Republicans

45:15

told him to. Well, that wasn't

45:17

hard to unpack either. Tim Russert

45:19

had died on the 3rd of

45:21

June that year. I anchored that

45:24

night until 2 in the morning.

45:26

It was still an open wound.

45:28

There were still tears. We didn't

45:30

know it then, but the structure

45:32

of NBC News and the perilous

45:34

tightroop balancing NBC and MS NBC

45:37

had died with Tim Russert. So

45:39

did the role of moderator of

45:41

the second debate between John McCain

45:43

and Barack Obama, scheduled for about

45:45

a month from my subway ride

45:48

on October 7th 2008 in Nashville.

45:50

Tim had not even been buried

45:52

yet when Brokaw began to angle

45:54

to get that assignment that was

45:56

now vacant, along with brushing away

45:58

the dirt of his penny ante

46:01

roll on the MSNBs. perspective desk

46:03

leaving us in the lurch in

46:05

order to take over Tim's spot

46:07

as Brian's sage sidekick on big

46:09

NBC. The month of four, August.

46:12

There had been a story coming

46:14

out of the east end of

46:16

the third floor at 30 Rock

46:18

where NBC news managers sat around

46:20

not doing much of anything. That

46:22

a Republican goon named Ed Gillespie

46:25

had been in there with Griffin

46:27

and the idiot NBC news president

46:29

Steve Capus. trying to get me

46:31

silenced or fired or off the

46:33

convention coverage or something, and that

46:36

somebody prominent from NBC News was

46:38

in there with Gillespie or was

46:40

invoked by Gillespie, the rumor mill

46:42

was not confident in who it

46:44

was or what exactly they were

46:46

doing. That Friday night, in September

46:49

2008, as I switched from the

46:51

elevated 7 train to the underground

46:53

F, the whole thing came together.

46:55

Before my comments about the GOP

46:57

convention 9-11 snuff film, Gillespie had

47:00

come in and had somehow vaguely

47:02

threatened Capis and Griffin about me,

47:04

using as leverage the debate which

47:06

Tom Brokaw was now supposed to

47:08

moderate, the one that had been

47:11

Russerts. And when I apologized for

47:13

their snuff video on our air,

47:15

Gillespie must have turned it into

47:17

an either-or get rid of me,

47:19

or McCain would refuse to participate

47:21

in any debate moderated by Brokaw.

47:24

Tom Brokaw had already come back

47:26

from the dead once in 2008.

47:28

I had made that happen, and

47:30

he would be damned if he

47:32

would be forced to do it

47:35

a second time. But

47:37

as the train took me home

47:39

to an apartment, I was now

47:41

going to have to sell, since

47:43

I had quit MS NBC on

47:45

the spot for folding to such

47:48

obvious blackmail, something else now occurred

47:50

to me. Why would MS NBC

47:52

or our apparent corporation GE actually

47:54

think that they could remove me

47:56

from the debate coverage on MS

47:58

NBC, where the Rachel Maddo... had

48:01

not yet been born and was

48:03

only going to premiere the next

48:05

week, and the three times a

48:07

night my show ran accounted for

48:09

something like 60% of the entire

48:12

day's network audience and all of

48:14

its profits, how did they think

48:16

they were going to get away

48:18

with that without a really bad

48:20

reaction from our audience? Plus, if

48:22

a newspaper man already knew the

48:25

Brokaw part, how could this story

48:27

be avoided? Something like this. MS

48:29

NBC has announced it had removed

48:31

its liberal star Keith Ulriman from

48:33

coverage of the McCain Obama presidential

48:36

debates. Sources confirmed former NBC news

48:38

anchorman Tom Brokaw, now an MS

48:40

NBC commentator, had helped the Republican

48:42

Party to blackmail NBC into the

48:44

decision. Alderman immediately resigned, saying, quote,

48:46

in succumbing to this coercion on

48:49

behalf of John McCain, NBC has

48:51

now forfeited any further right to

48:53

be called a news organization, and

48:55

I'm sad to say MS NBC,

48:57

which I built, is now dead.

48:59

At that point, it dawned on

49:02

me that the only thing that

49:04

could save the credibility of the

49:06

whole NBC News Division, and the

49:08

careers of Griffin and Capus, and

49:10

NBC network president Jeff Zooker, and

49:13

especially Tom Brocaw, was for me

49:15

to publicly state to lie that

49:17

I had asked to be removed

49:19

from anchoring the debates because the

49:21

whatever was just too much blah

49:23

blah blah for me and I

49:26

felt I should just stick to

49:28

the post debate analysis and commentary

49:30

and blah blah blah blah blah

49:32

blah blah. In short they would

49:34

have a choice. They could fire

49:37

me from the debates and destroy

49:39

everything, including the $100 million a

49:41

year or so in profits. NBC

49:43

was suddenly making off MS NBC

49:45

after years of losing about that

49:47

much. Or I could lie and

49:50

claim it was my idea and

49:52

I could save everybody's ass and

49:54

their money, including my own. I

49:56

got out of the subway and

49:58

raced home. I called my agent.

50:01

I explained it to her. I'm

50:03

not quitting. In fact, I'm going

50:05

to get a huge raise. Listen

50:07

carefully, you call Griffin back and

50:09

explain to him, I will now

50:11

personally save his job even though

50:14

he doesn't deserve it. And capaces,

50:16

and zookers, and broke cause and

50:18

everybody else's. I'll take the fall.

50:20

Instead of letting them get fired

50:22

by the MS NBC audience, I'll

50:25

say this was my idea, and

50:27

it will cost him only $12

50:29

million. Oh, and he has to

50:31

leak the fact that it cost

50:33

him $12 million. That's the deal.

50:35

And she paused for a second

50:38

and she said, Hey, that's genius.

50:40

It might not quite be 12,

50:42

but I bet I get at

50:44

least nine million. On Sunday, several

50:46

news organizations reported I had asked

50:48

to be taken off the anchor

50:51

desk for the debates. Two months

50:53

and one week later, the New

50:55

York Times wrote, quote, Keith Alderman,

50:57

the anchor of countdown on MSNBC,

50:59

has extended his contract through the

51:02

next presidential election season, the networked

51:04

out. Mr. Alderman and MSNBC essentially

51:06

tore up the four-year, four million

51:08

dollar a year contract they signed

51:10

last year and replaced it with

51:12

one worth about seven and a

51:15

half million a year. So that

51:17

was a three and a half

51:19

million dollar raise for four years

51:21

to a total of 14 million

51:23

dollars, except the new contract added

51:26

two years to my old deal,

51:28

so the raise was actually 22

51:30

million dollars. All stories have punch

51:32

lines. This punchline is about broker.

51:34

We would have gotten away with

51:36

this. NBC would have gotten its

51:39

monies worth for the 22 million

51:41

and hush money it had to

51:43

pay me because it had rolled

51:45

over for Republican Party blackmail. except

51:47

Brokaw couldn't keep his mouth shut.

51:50

So proud was he of preserving

51:52

his role as moderator of the

51:54

October 7th debate that he had

51:56

to explain in explicit detail how

51:58

he went to his bosses at

52:00

NBC News and threatened them on

52:03

behalf of the GOP. I mean

52:05

on the record he said this,

52:07

September 29th, a length... and glowing

52:09

Brokaw profile in the New York

52:11

Times. Quote, Mr. Brokaw said that

52:13

over the summer he'd, quote, advocated

52:16

within the executive suite of NBC

52:18

news to modify the anchor duties

52:20

of the MS NBC hosts Keith

52:22

Ulverman and Chris Matthews on election

52:24

night and on nights where there

52:27

were presidential debates. Mr. Brokaw said

52:29

he had also conducted some shuttle

52:31

diplomacy in recent weeks between NBC

52:33

and the McCain campaign. His mission,

52:35

he said, was to assure the

52:37

candidates' aides that despite some negative

52:40

on-air commentary by Mr. Oberman in

52:42

particular, Mr. McCain, could still get

52:44

a fair shake from NBC news,

52:46

unquote. That was his mission. The

52:48

hell that was his mission. Happily,

52:51

RoCaut just could not resist boasting

52:53

even further. The next sentence reads,

52:55

quote, Mr. Brokaw said he had

52:57

been told by a senior McCain

52:59

aide, whom he did not name,

53:01

that the campaign had been reluctant

53:04

to accept an NBC representative as

53:06

one of the moderators of the

53:08

three presidential debates, until his name

53:10

was invoked. One of the things

53:12

I was told by this person

53:15

was that they were so irritated,

53:17

they said, if it's an NBC

53:19

molarator for any of these debates,

53:21

we won't go. Mr. Brokaw said,

53:23

my name came up and they

53:25

said, oh hell, we have to

53:28

do it because it's going to

53:30

be Brokaw. No insufferable person in

53:32

all of broadcasting history has a

53:34

better rep and a better and

53:36

more undeserved rep than Tom Brokaw.

53:39

So, when a Trump leans on

53:41

NBC management because coverage that he

53:43

got was not the coverage he

53:45

wanted, don't think it won't have

53:47

an effect. Because in 2008 they

53:49

loved me then, as they loved

53:52

Maddo now, but what they loved

53:54

about each of us was, not

53:56

the truth we provided, but the

53:58

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54:32

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I journey across the nation and

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through the years to uncover the

54:41

stories that have made the United

54:43

States. From first flight to first

54:45

ladies, from stitching the star-spangled banner

54:47

to striking gold in California, to

54:49

shooting for the moon with Apollo.

54:51

We've got you covered. Catch new

54:53

episodes of American history hit, a

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and Thursday, wherever you get your

55:00

podcasts. For

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some of us, personal finances aren't

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Thrivent, where money means more. Connect

55:31

with us at Thrivent. thrivent.com. That's

57:54

a hockey joke. The runner-up

57:56

worseer, New York Mayor Eric Adams,

57:58

who's just a joke joke.

58:00

His re-election campaign has raised this

58:03

year $36,000. Oh wait, that's

58:05

before he had to give

58:07

$18,000 back to donors who were

58:09

over the legal limit. For

58:11

comparison, $845,000 has been raised this

58:14

year by the campaign of

58:16

Zoran Mamdani. Who is Zoran Mamdani?

58:18

I had no idea, and I

58:20

live here, until I looked

58:22

him up. He is the socialist

58:25

candidate for mayor. He outraised

58:27

the mayor mayor, same time span,

58:29

by a factor of 47. On

58:32

the other hand, Mayor Adams

58:34

doesn't seem to understand the implications

58:36

here. He held a town

58:38

hall in the ocean side neighborhood

58:40

of the rockaways, and decided, instead

58:43

of talking about what he

58:45

could do to save the city

58:47

and himself, he decided to

58:49

reminisce about riding the subways without

58:52

paying. So he could visit his

58:54

quote short he unquote who

58:56

lived in the distant rockaways The

58:58

term short he means many

59:00

things in the urban lingo

59:02

This time it appears to be

59:05

a reference to a girlfriend

59:07

Possibly a girlfriend on the side

59:09

of another relationship or it's

59:11

Eric Adams. Who the hell knows

59:14

what he means? There's a real

59:16

history for me. I had

59:18

a shortie that lived out here,

59:21

you know, you should come

59:23

out Come out

59:25

taking that long A-train ride,

59:27

you know in the cold,

59:29

you know, love is blind

59:32

and you know Taking that

59:34

long long A-train. I did

59:37

not have a car And

59:39

one or two times I

59:42

didn't have a token. So

59:44

yes, I did jump up

59:47

with a turnstile. I'm like

59:49

a it's over the statue

59:52

of limitation is over But

59:54

the winner worst, Ellen Musk.

59:57

Wait, I may have mispronounced

59:59

that. Elon? Elon? Elon Musk.

1:00:01

Now that he and Trump have

1:00:03

eliminated the Department

1:00:06

of Education, which Mayor

1:00:08

Adams so desperately needed,

1:00:10

who knows how much more stupid

1:00:12

we will each become. Musk, of

1:00:15

course, does not have much further

1:00:17

to descend. He celebrated

1:00:19

the thing that will increase

1:00:21

those non-college white trash men

1:00:23

for Trump numbers by doing

1:00:25

the grave-side meme with the

1:00:27

guy kneeling in front of

1:00:29

the tombstone, giving the two-finger

1:00:31

piece or V for victory

1:00:33

sign. Only in this one

1:00:35

the guy is Trump and

1:00:37

on the tombstone it reads,

1:00:39

Department of Education. Yes, depart

1:00:42

men. D-E-P-R-T-M-E-N

1:00:44

because Musk has misspelled

1:00:47

department because he's a

1:00:49

clucking idiot. Elon, department

1:00:52

of education, Musk.

1:00:54

The law of proving Darwin

1:00:56

was right. This has to come

1:00:59

into play with this loser at

1:01:01

some point, doesn't it? I mean,

1:01:03

he's got to try to get

1:01:06

the toast out with a fork

1:01:08

sooner rather than later, doesn't

1:01:10

he? Elon Musk!

1:01:12

Today's worst person

1:01:15

in the world.

1:01:56

I've done all the damage I can do

1:01:58

here. Thank you for listening. Brian Ray. John

1:02:00

Philip Chanel, the musical directors of Countdown,

1:02:02

arranged, produced and performed most of

1:02:04

our music. Mr. Chanel handled orchestration and

1:02:06

keyboards. Mr. Ray was on the

1:02:08

guitars, bass and drums, and it was

1:02:11

produced by TKO Brothers. Our satirical

1:02:13

and pithy musical comments are by the

1:02:15

best baseball stadium organist ever, Nancy

1:02:17

Faust. The sports music is the Olderman

1:02:19

theme from ESPN2, written by Mitch

1:02:21

Warren Davis, courtesy of ESPN Inc. Other

1:02:23

music arranged and performed by the

1:02:25

group No Horns Allowed, and my announcer

1:02:28

today is my friend Larry David. Everything

1:02:31

else was, as ever,

1:02:33

my fault. That's Countdown for

1:02:35

today, just 1 ,399 days.

1:02:37

We've cleared 1 ,400 until

1:02:40

the scheduled end of

1:02:42

his lame duck, lame -rained

1:02:44

term, unless Musk removes him

1:02:46

sooner, or the actuarial

1:02:48

tables do. The next scheduled

1:02:50

Countdown is Thursday, voiced

1:02:54

still tentative, as always bulletins

1:02:56

as the news warrants. Remember, impeach

1:02:58

Trump, it won't work now,

1:03:00

it will win the Democrats the

1:03:02

midterms if there are midterms,

1:03:04

and remove Schumer immediately. Until next

1:03:07

time, I'm Keith Olderman. Good

1:03:09

morning, good afternoon, good night, and

1:03:11

good luck. The

1:03:20

Statue of Limitation is over. Countdown

1:03:22

with Keith Olderman is a production of

1:03:24

I Heart Radio. For more podcasts

1:03:27

from I Heart Radio, visit the I

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I journey across the nation and

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stories that have made the United

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