The Megyn Kelly Show - Biden Mumbles Through Farewell Speech, and Jill's Mean Girl Exit, with Ana Kasparian, Kevin Madden, Amala Ekpunobi, and Link Lauren ｜ Ep. 984

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00:00:31.180 Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show, live on Sirius XM Channel 111 every weekday at New East.

00:00:42.820 Hey everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly. Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show.

00:00:46.080 More of President-elect Donald Trump's top cabinet nominees are on Capitol Hill today

00:00:50.500 after Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi's dominating performance yesterday.

00:00:54.800 She Crushed It. We will bring you more of those highlights.

00:00:58.180 They really are highlights. It's like these nominees are changing the game

00:01:02.100 on how this whole thing is done. There's no genuflecting.

00:01:05.840 There's no kissing of the ring. These Democrat senators,

00:01:09.420 they don't need their votes.

00:01:12.100 They don't go in there trying to be rude or looking for a fight, 1.00

00:01:15.960 but if you're going to treat them like shit, which is clearly what's happening, 1.00

00:01:19.700 they're going to fight back. They're going to stand their ground. 1.00

00:01:22.020 And I am loving it. It comes as President Joe Biden bid farewell to the White House,

00:01:28.920 finally, and his 50-year political career from the Oval Office by talking about his huge account.

00:01:35.720 No, by mumbling about Elon Musk. 50 years in office, and it comes down to Elon Musk.

00:01:42.760 But don't worry, part two is tonight, where he sits down with the venerable Lawrence O'Donnell,

00:01:50.400 who I think might go from two viewers to four, as he does, I guess, an exit interview.

00:01:58.140 But he won't do a final press conference, as virtually every president has done before him in modern history.

00:02:04.800 And Curry and Jean-Pierre, you'll be shocked to learn, had absolutely no reasons for why.

00:02:10.520 Just a bunch of mumbling muck produced by her on why he won't actually answer to the rest of us.

00:02:16.700 Why won't he speak to us and our representatives, which, like it or not, are the American media.

00:02:22.240 Joining me now on those stories and more, two first-time guests on the show.

00:02:25.720 Well, are they? I know Anna is.

00:02:27.540 Anna Kasparian is a host and producer of The Young Turks,

00:02:30.220 who's been making headlines for calling out her own side recently. 0.94

00:02:33.520 And Kevin Madden. I guess, Kevin, it's your first on this program,

00:02:36.440 but you've been on my shows many times.

00:02:37.660 He's a Republican strategist and senior partner at The Penta Group.

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00:03:48.420 Guys, welcome to the show.

00:03:49.620 Great to have you both.

00:03:50.640 Thank you.

00:03:51.140 Good to be here.

00:03:51.720 Yeah, great to be with you.

00:03:52.480 Yeah, I mean, Kevin, my God, we go way back, but I guess it's the first time we've done this particular platform.

00:03:59.160 So great to see you again.

00:04:00.200 And Anna, I've been watching your evolution and your sort of speaking out about your ideas with great interest.

00:04:06.480 It's been very interesting.

00:04:08.540 I feel like in some ways I experienced something similar myself where I was certainly more, I think, on the left 10 years ago than I am now, for sure.

00:04:17.980 Um, I would never have described myself as a liberal past, like, college. 0.93

00:04:23.160 But I see what you're going through, and I think a lot of people can relate to where it's like you just get so aggravated with shit breaking down that you believed in.

00:04:33.180 You feel like you have no choice, but you just start calling it out. 0.62

00:04:37.140 So I guess that's that's a fine place to start.

00:04:39.220 Do you want to explain to the audience who hasn't seen you on, like, Glenn Beck or elsewhere kind of where you are?

00:04:44.740 Because most people know you as part of the Young Turks, which is a, you know, a left, a left leaning podcast is very successful, but it's certainly not center or center right.

00:04:55.120 Yes.

00:04:55.680 So it is true.

00:04:57.520 It's a left wing show.

00:04:58.380 And I still consider myself for the most part on the left.

00:05:01.760 But, you know, there's been this growing culture among the Democratic Party in particular, where there seems to be a lack of self-reflection, maybe even, you know, kind of taking note or inventory of some of the policies that we've been championing or supporting, endorsing.

00:05:18.860 Once some of those policies are implemented, there might be flaws, there might be some issues that policymakers didn't see coming into it.

00:05:28.340 But once you see some of the negative ramifications of these policies, I mean, I used to be under the assumption, and this was, I guess, a terrible assumption to have because it's not true, that there would be a recalibration of some of these policies in order to actually serve the best interests of the American people.

00:05:45.500 But what I've noticed, certainly on a local level, is that there's absolutely no self-reflection, no recalibration of said policies.

00:05:53.560 And on a national level, there seems to be more interest in serving the egos and, you know, the narcissism of Democratic leadership.

00:06:03.620 And so the cover-up involving Joe Biden's mental decline really bothered me.

00:06:10.080 The fact that he was pushed out of, you know, running for re-election and then Kamala Harris was anointed really bothered me, especially when, you know, the whole centerpiece of the Democratic campaign was protecting democracy.

00:06:26.740 Well, Democratic voters didn't get a say in who their Democratic nominee would be. 0.98

00:06:31.520 So there are all sorts of issues, and it doesn't mean that I've completely changed my political identity.

00:06:36.460 If anything, I'm holding true to my political identity, and I feel that the Democrats do a lot of projection.

00:06:43.820 They like to point fingers at the right for engaging in all sorts of nefarious behavior, but then they themselves engage in the same nefarious behavior.

00:06:52.480 After Biden lost the election, you know, on Pod Save America, you hear, I'm sorry, after Harris lost the election, on Pod Save America, you have members of her campaign talking about what they've learned following the Democrats' loss.

00:07:06.740 And what really bothered me is one of the things that they believe they did wrong was they didn't break campaign finance laws enough by having the campaign coordinate with the super PACs.

00:07:18.460 That's against the law. They accused Trump of doing that without providing any evidence, and then they said, we need to stop listening to our lawyers, and we need to do a little more of what the Trump campaign did.

00:07:28.120 I'm paraphrasing, but that was essentially the message.

00:07:30.620 That goes against my values and principles.

00:07:32.580 So interesting. I mean, I just feel like we've heard so much of that kind of messaging, especially from the left.

00:07:40.160 The right had its big breakup when Trump was elected in 16, you know, and it was fierce and it was ugly, and now there's been a resettling, I think, as he's come into office, coming into office for the second time.

00:07:50.940 And the left is having a lot of defectors, it seems to me, as of late.

00:07:55.960 Maybe it's because they're looking at things a new way.

00:07:58.100 Maybe it's because some of them are excited about this very interesting Trump coalition, you know, or maybe some, like the Biden thing, I think, really did hurt on the left more than people realize, like the lies.

00:08:07.620 People knew that you can't look at him and tell me this is the best Joe Biden ever and then ask me to continue believing you.

00:08:14.560 Okay, but let's, well, let's start with Biden because he's in the news after his big farewell address last night.

00:08:20.740 Kevin, John Podoritz, who hosts a podcast in Commentary Magazine and runs Commentary Magazine and used to be a presidential speech writer for Reagan and beyond, said it's the worst presidential address he's ever heard in his life.

00:08:34.220 He said it was the number one least effective, most painful speech he's ever heard.

00:08:39.660 He said the first half, in his view, was written by AI, and the second was written by somebody who did policy back in 1975 who must be on the Biden staff, but he was completely underwhelmed.

00:08:50.420 What did you think?

00:08:51.960 I agree 100%.

00:08:53.760 It seemed like it was like mailed in by not only Biden, but the speech writing staff of the White House.

00:09:03.480 Like they're probably thinking, okay, we've got another week to go.

00:09:06.240 Let's just see what we can do and just, you know, let's give this to the boss and let him let him let it rip and then move on, right?

00:09:12.660 Find our next job.

00:09:14.280 It was also, you know, a bit of like a microcosm of the Biden presidency in that sense.

00:09:19.200 And in that, like, you know, it, I'm sure it was well-intentioned, right?

00:09:23.280 And they came in with like lofty goals for it, but it quickly descended into incoherence.

00:09:30.620 And then that was matched with a lot of the hypocrisy, like just the idea of, you know, delivering this message about how America is being controlled by this wealthy oligarchy one week after you just hung a medal around George Soros' neck in the White House.

00:09:47.040 It's a bit rich, so to speak.

00:09:49.440 You know, I, you know, and I think as a staffer, I, one of the things I said to myself immediately upon hearing that was like, who thought that was a good idea to push that given the optics and the pageantry of the last week?

00:10:03.520 Yeah, who didn't see the vulnerability?

00:10:05.920 Right.

00:10:06.160 Nobody thought that that would not like go over well and that we'd be called on for the hypocrisy of it, you know?

00:10:12.120 Stand by, let me play that so the audience can hear it.

00:10:14.180 Hold your second thought.

00:10:14.900 Here it is, SOT 9.

00:10:17.040 I have no doubt that America is in a position to continue to succeed.

00:10:21.700 That's why my farewell address tonight, I want to warn the country of some things that give me great concern.

00:10:29.640 This is a dangerous concern, and that's a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra-wealthy people.

00:10:37.320 The dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked.

00:10:41.780 Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.

00:10:57.620 Keep going, Kevin.

00:11:00.720 So, you know, here we are where, you know, they just spent an election where they tried to frame everything as this pivot point for American democracy.

00:11:11.120 And every single public poll shows that people were more worried about the Biden administration and its threat to democracy.

00:11:17.580 So, you know, it just not only did it, is it, I think it's, you know, there's a false sense of alarmism that they're trying to continue to push, but it's just the hypocrisy of the message and how that message continues to land very poorly with the public.

00:11:33.200 Like, it just, it continues to boggle my mind why they continue to push that.

00:11:36.820 And then I think the last thing is...

00:11:38.020 Oh, yeah, sorry, go ahead.

00:11:39.340 Yeah, there's just, there's a whole bunch of empty platitudes.

00:11:41.440 Like, Joe Biden's sort of go-to move is to always say, and there's nothing America can't achieve if we put our minds to it.

00:11:48.140 You know, five minutes after he just listed all of the things that are sort of dangerous and destructive about what the other half of the country believes and has essentially taken to an electorate and won on.

00:12:01.240 So, I just, you know, and like the last thing I'd say is like, it was 15 minutes long.

00:12:05.700 Most of the people that I talked to about it when I asked their reaction said they didn't even get their way through it.

00:12:10.460 Now, that's a 15-minute speech that people couldn't sit through.

00:12:13.860 And, you know, it harkens back to the Capitol, I'm sorry, the State of the Union speech, which the Biden administration had swore was going to be this, you know, big energizing jolt to the American electorate to reframe the 2020 race.

00:12:28.360 And, you know, all of the reviews of that State of the Union, they all said that that was going to be a, you know, a game changer for their campaign.

00:12:36.480 48 hours later from the State of the Union, just like this, instantly forgettable.

00:12:42.220 It's almost like it's like, I always call it like cotton candy messaging.

00:12:45.620 Like, it melts on contact.

00:12:47.100 No one's even going to remember it 48 hours from now.

00:12:49.700 Well, I mean, your hips remember the cotton candy, so there's that distinction. 0.99

00:12:53.600 Here's one of the things, the galling things.

00:12:55.900 Kevin mentions, you know, George Soros.

00:12:58.040 There's a very long list of billionaires on both sides that make donations, but it's two to one Dems to Republicans.

00:13:04.180 The Democrats definitely outweigh the Republicans when it comes to billionaire donors.

00:13:08.160 It's to the point where you may remember this moment, too, during the Kamala Harris campaign.

00:13:13.100 She went on with Stephen Colbert, and they had this moment.

00:13:16.800 Like, there are quite a few billionaires who support you.

00:13:21.120 You are from Northern California, after all, where they grow them in fields out there.

00:13:25.900 Who's your favorite billionaire?

00:13:27.280 Because we all have a favorite billionaire.

00:13:29.300 On three.

00:13:30.140 One, two, three.

00:13:31.440 Oprah.

00:13:32.240 I'm sorry.

00:13:34.100 I claimed Oprah.

00:13:36.060 You can't take her now.

00:13:38.680 I mean, like, we all know this.

00:13:40.720 So what is it?

00:13:41.340 Why is Biden doing it?

00:13:42.240 Is it it's just if you're a tech billionaire and suddenly you're part of this oligopoly

00:13:47.960 that's trying to rule America with a tech iron fist? 0.99

00:13:52.100 I mean, honestly, I agree with the message that Biden was trying to put out there in this

00:14:00.360 speech, which I also agree.

00:14:02.400 I had a difficult time getting through it.

00:14:04.280 It was kind of boring for me.

00:14:05.740 So I got through maybe 25 percent, tried to watch it multiple times, could not get through

00:14:11.440 it.

00:14:12.260 But in regard to the message that he's trying to put out there in regard to, you know,

00:14:16.380 corporate rule in America and money in politics in America, that is an accurate message.

00:14:20.600 But you both make a great point about how money in politics has corrupted both political

00:14:26.300 parties. 0.96

00:14:26.720 And for the Democrats to pretend as though they're totally innocent of this is ridiculous 0.81

00:14:32.160 to me, especially considering what we experienced in the last election cycle.

00:14:36.460 I mean, Kamala Harris raised far more money than the Trump campaign did.

00:14:41.480 And in fact, she raised far more dark money than the Trump campaign did. 0.87

00:14:46.860 And then she moved forward in essentially squandering all of that money. 1.00

00:14:51.780 And I think this past election really shows the kind of grift that exists within our election

00:14:58.080 cycles because that money gets spent with all these consultants and all these various,

00:15:03.940 you know, PR groups and the amount of money they charge for their services, which have

00:15:08.980 proven to be a failure in this past election cycle for the Democrats, is absolutely outrageous.

00:15:13.620 And so I feel like our elections have become more about, you know, a business for various

00:15:20.680 industries that surround.

00:15:22.180 What do you think he's talking about there?

00:15:23.840 Do you think he's talking about money in politics or do you think he's talking about Elon

00:15:29.020 Musk? 0.97

00:15:29.340 Like, I'm angry that Elon is the world's richest man and has joined BFF style with the sitting

00:15:35.380 president.

00:15:36.120 And and also Zuckerberg is bent the knee and Bezos is bent the knee.

00:15:40.460 And therefore, I see this as an as an emerging oligarchy.

00:15:43.580 Like, I I feel like he was a complaint about Elon Musk and his outsized role in politics.

00:15:49.980 That's how I read it, too.

00:15:51.580 Yeah.

00:15:51.780 Yeah, I was gonna say, Anna, I read it as a as a sort of veiled criticism of of the big

00:15:58.920 three, so to speak.

00:16:00.700 And the interesting thing on that, again, is the hypocrisy is so apparent just because

00:16:04.620 all three, Matt Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg have a history of having supported Democrats

00:16:13.740 and have a history of supporting left leaning causes previously.

00:16:17.280 And so it was fine then.

00:16:19.800 But now, yeah, now it's not now it's now it's a huge threat.

00:16:24.200 And I think there is a there is a very to your point, there is a very worthy, substantive

00:16:30.620 debate that we can have about this in the country.

00:16:33.120 But if you're not going to be honest about it and why all of a sudden you believe it's

00:16:38.020 a threat, then I think you actually, you know, broadly lose the American public's of the

00:16:42.380 ability to persuade them and the ability to raise it as a priority for them.

00:16:45.700 And so this is this is why one of the reasons why I think he complained.

00:16:51.380 Yes, he doesn't like Elon.

00:16:52.800 He doesn't like all that money.

00:16:54.260 And of course, Elon's using it.

00:16:55.760 I mean, he's he bought X, which has changed the national conversation, then Twitter.

00:16:59.980 He's threatening to primary people who are trying to stop or threatening to stop Trump's

00:17:04.040 agenda.

00:17:04.320 So he's definitely a thorn in the Democrats side, but no more so than George Soros, who's

00:17:10.040 funded every left wing initiative that we've seen for the past decade plus.

00:17:13.320 However, he goes on to talk about one of his other complaints, his big complaints about,

00:17:18.900 you know, what he's worried about in America.

00:17:20.220 And it kind of is revealing about one of the things he hates about these tech so-called

00:17:25.240 oligarchs in Sot-10.

00:17:27.460 President Eisenhower spoke of the dangers of the military industrial complex.

00:17:32.160 He warned us then about, and I quote, the potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced

00:17:39.660 power.

00:17:40.240 End of quote.

00:17:41.920 Six days, six decades later, I'm equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech industrial

00:17:49.440 complex that could pose real dangers for our country as well.

00:17:53.580 Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation, enabling

00:18:01.700 the abuse of power.

00:18:03.560 The free press is crumbling.

00:18:05.660 Editors are disappearing.

00:18:07.840 Social media is giving up on fact checking.

00:18:11.380 The truth is smothered by lies told for power and for profit.

00:18:16.000 Okay, just for those of you playing at home, that was editors are disappearing.

00:18:20.480 Errors is disappearing.

00:18:21.860 It was editors, I guess you say.

00:18:23.780 So he's lamenting, in essence, the Facebook change in policy, the meta change in policy,

00:18:29.840 Kevin, saying we're not going to be doing fact checking anymore.

00:18:32.320 Elon Musk leaves it up to community notes.

00:18:34.980 Zuckerberg is going to be doing that as well.

00:18:36.840 Something akin to that he has said.

00:18:39.060 And he, as the man behind the pressure campaign to get them to do what he wanted during COVID and

00:18:45.500 around his son's laptop, is, I think, feeling genuine sadness that they're no longer going

00:18:50.700 to listen.

00:18:52.400 I think that's right.

00:18:53.300 First, I mean, just for a scene setter, I believe that since technology and the technology

00:18:58.160 industry is one of our greatest, strongest exports around the globe, that it's important

00:19:04.400 for business leaders to have a voice in public policy, for them to have interactions with

00:19:10.460 policymakers.

00:19:11.340 That's a really good, smart, important thing.

00:19:13.580 And so that's the thing that's missing from the context, I think, of his criticism is

00:19:20.500 exactly what you mentioned, Megan, is that there was undue pressure put on a lot of these

00:19:25.600 leaders when it was about Hunter's laptop and some of the information that was involved

00:19:32.860 there and how that shaped the outcome of the election.

00:19:37.220 So, you know, that's one of the things that I think has been lost on the Biden administration

00:19:42.900 is, again, they don't have an accurate reflection on just how hypocritical so much of their criticism

00:19:50.920 is really coming off with the public.

00:19:54.860 There's no come to Jesus, Anna.

00:19:56.260 It's like Zuckerberg was on with Rogan a week ago talking about the bullies in the White

00:20:01.940 House who tried to make them censor people's discussions, in particular during COVID, around

00:20:07.000 vaccine side effects, which are real.

00:20:10.020 It's a real issue.

00:20:11.680 Not everybody on earth suffered them, but a significant enough portion, especially teenage

00:20:17.660 boys, that it was absolutely criminal not to let this discussion flow freely and doctors

00:20:24.460 speak freely about it.

00:20:25.960 And here's Zuckerberg talking about the Biden administration and vaccine side effects in

00:20:30.100 SOT 14 on Rogan.

00:20:31.620 They pushed us super hard to take down things that were honestly were true, right?

00:20:38.160 I mean, they basically pushed us and said, you know, anything that says that vaccines might

00:20:45.400 have side effects, you basically need to take down.

00:20:50.380 That's crazy.

00:20:51.560 And now he has the nerve to get up there and say, we're going in a dark period where misinformation

00:20:56.060 is going to run wild.

00:20:58.560 Yeah, it feels like, yeah, sorry about that.

00:21:01.260 Yeah, go ahead.

00:21:01.760 I just wanted to say, I think that the Democrats really leaning into campaigning on fear is a

00:21:08.040 bad idea because people are sick of it.

00:21:10.400 They're fatigued by it.

00:21:11.540 I don't think most people are buying it at this point.

00:21:14.000 Right. And voters are looking at their own households, their own personal finances, and

00:21:20.360 they want representation that improves their lives and just constantly voting for someone

00:21:28.080 because he's not Donald Trump or she's not Donald Trump is not really an inspiring message.

00:21:33.380 So I just, I really hope that they wake up to that fact.

00:21:37.560 Yeah, yeah, exactly.

00:21:39.100 And look, the other thing I'll say is, I actually think that one of the things that Musk did with

00:21:45.740 X, and I will admit, I was very skeptical going into it, but Community Notes ended up being

00:21:50.660 fantastic.

00:21:52.240 And in fact, the era of, you know, censorship on social media really did lead to platforms

00:22:00.140 like Facebook, for instance, throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

00:22:03.900 So Facebook as a platform was great for independent news sources in order to get their message out,

00:22:11.780 get their content out.

00:22:12.880 And then because of the censorious era, Facebook deprioritized news entirely.

00:22:18.500 And I thought that that was a terrible way of responding to what was going on.

00:22:22.620 I think the best way to fight misinformation is through more speech.

00:22:27.400 And the way that it's been implemented on X is excellent.

00:22:31.860 I think Community Notes is fantastic.

00:22:33.640 So that's what Facebook wants to do.

00:22:35.160 I think that's the right way to go about it.

00:22:36.880 Can I just ask you guys about Zuckerberg for a minute?

00:22:38.720 Because we haven't gotten to this, his appearance on Rogan yet on this show.

00:22:42.120 And I do wonder, like, okay, it's a new administration.

00:22:46.240 Trump's in power.

00:22:47.060 I get it.

00:22:47.600 Like, he wants to be cozying up to the president who's in power.

00:22:51.700 But that makes sense to me for some of this turnaround that he's purporting to have made.

00:22:56.020 But for me, like, Facebook is very dated.

00:23:01.860 You know, Facebook is not the cool, hip app that young people are turning to at all.

00:23:06.820 You know, when I first started at Fox 20 years ago,

00:23:11.420 Rupert had just bought MySpace.

00:23:13.640 And there was a question back then, which one will prevail?

00:23:16.340 MySpace or Facebook?

00:23:18.660 And, I mean, then Facebook had its apex.

00:23:20.920 And it's long past that now, right?

00:23:23.280 Now it's something older people use to share photos and updates on their lives.

00:23:27.780 But the younger people are on Snap and they're on TikTok.

00:23:30.980 And they're, you know, to some extent on Insta.

00:23:33.340 But it's not really Facebook.

00:23:34.720 And I realize Meta also owns Insta.

00:23:36.780 But my point is, like, how much do you think Zuckerberg is worried that his photo sharing family update piece of his platform is quickly becoming obsolete?

00:23:49.440 And the one thing that was making him good money and that was doing really well, he killed, which was the news feed.

00:23:56.180 He killed it for the reasons you just outlined, Anna. 0.99

00:23:59.280 And now he's looking at this saying, holy shit, I had a viable business model. 0.99

00:24:04.320 It was with conservatives. 0.99

00:24:06.020 They were the ones who were dominating his platform when he came to news sharing.

00:24:08.820 Not entirely, but they were dominating.

00:24:10.220 And if I am smart, I will go back to them on bended knee and say, I'm sorry I censored you.

00:24:17.440 I got rid of news.

00:24:19.060 And I'm sorry I spent $425 million to elect Joe Biden.

00:24:22.540 Kevin, thoughts?

00:24:24.260 Well, first of all, I still think back.

00:24:26.200 You're right.

00:24:26.740 I mean, Facebook is kind of for the olds like me.

00:24:29.120 I still think back to when I first joined Facebook.

00:24:31.560 It was somewhere in 2007 or 2008 when I was working on the Romney campaign.

00:24:36.860 And that was a key part of our sort of emerging e-campaign was to be on social media.

00:24:41.940 And I signed up for it.

00:24:43.860 Never went back until it got our Facebook pages and some of our other social media pages had gotten hacked.

00:24:50.040 And so I had to go and go into my page to look at it to see what the hacking issue was for the Romney campaign Facebook.

00:24:58.280 And then I found there's like 20 or 30 people that I went to grammar school with that were looking for me.

00:25:02.520 So it was an education then.

00:25:03.720 But if we fast forward to where we are.

00:25:05.720 Isn't there a reason we disconnect from those people?

00:25:06.860 Now I talk to them like once a week.

00:25:10.520 It's crazy.

00:25:12.260 But the thing that I think is changing is that we are in this, I think, technology and workforce around technology, the tax policy, trade policy around our technology.

00:25:25.060 And the next five years and even the information system around technology is going to change in the next five years.

00:25:32.460 That's really going to affect the economy of the next 25 years.

00:25:35.360 And Mark Zuckerberg and Meta want to be a part of that conversation.

00:25:40.860 And that is why I think he is engaging this administration.

00:25:45.660 And it's smart.

00:25:46.660 It would be as a CEO.

00:25:48.020 It would be an abdication of his responsibilities and duties as a CEO if he wasn't doing it with this administration.

00:25:53.780 And Meta, the company that is now like where the future for Meta and its sort of product and its approach is going to be in the metaverse.

00:26:05.160 And a lot of that technology and a lot of the laws and the regulations related to AI and automation, all that is going to be written and it's going to be worked out over the next five years.

00:26:16.560 So he needs to be at the table on that.

00:26:18.480 So I think it's important for him.

00:26:21.000 I think it's important.

00:26:21.940 Right.

00:26:22.180 I think it's important for him and other leaders to make sure that they are engaged in his policy.

00:26:27.860 The thing I thought was most important in his remarks on Joe Rogan.

00:26:31.760 And remember, this is a three hour conversation that really got atomized down to a couple of soundbites.

00:26:37.080 But one of the key soundbites was that we were at a cultural tipping point when it came to our politics and how we discuss our politics.

00:26:45.680 And Trump has changed that.

00:26:46.960 That's the one thing, like, as somebody who, you know, more of a classical liberal and a small C conservative Republican in the Mitt Romney mold has, you know, I've become a political anthropologist of sorts since 2016, too, which is Trump has dramatically changed the profile of the party.

00:27:05.380 He's dramatically changed how we campaign, how we talk about issues, how we persuade public, how we build public coalitions.

00:27:12.500 And I think Zuckerberg sees a lot of that as a social sort of anthropologist on this stuff.

00:27:20.220 And he's interested in learning more and he's interested in engaging rather than you cannot as a CEO or any business leader or any organizational leader.

00:27:27.900 You cannot sit on the curb and clap as the parade goes by.

00:27:31.160 You have to be a part of it.

00:27:32.700 I think that was the main takeaway I got from that interview with Joe Rogan.

00:27:36.360 We have a little bit of that.

00:27:38.540 Let's take a listen.

00:27:40.260 This is like a very big sea change in terms of, like, who are the voices that matter?

00:27:45.660 And, you know, what we do is we try to build a platform that gives people a voice.

00:27:49.380 But I think that there's this wholesale generational shift in who are the people who are being listened to.

00:27:56.300 And I think that that's, like, a very fascinating thing that is going on because I think that that's, like, what is what's going on here.

00:28:03.200 It's not just the government and people saying, hey, we want, like, a very big change here.

00:28:09.480 I think it's just, like, a wholesale shift in saying we just want different people who we actually trust who are actually going to, like, tell us the truth.

00:28:17.920 And not give us, like, the bullshit opinions that you're supposed to say, but, like, the type of stuff that I would actually, like, when I'm sitting in my living room with my friends, like, the stuff that we know is true.

00:28:28.940 Like, who are the people who kind of have the courage to actually just say that stuff? 0.96

00:28:33.200 I don't know.

00:28:33.980 I think that whole, like, cultural elite class needs to get repopulated with people who people actually trust.

00:28:38.920 I've got to say, I have nothing against Mark Zuckerberg, but it's somewhat galling to listen to him.

00:28:47.320 Hello.

00:28:48.660 There are many of us in the country who have been saying that for decades now, and you've been stifling us.

00:28:55.540 You know, I mean, especially conservatives.

00:28:57.680 His platform has been stifling conservative speech from the, I'm sure, the very people he's referencing there as these breaths of fresh air.

00:29:06.120 Oh, well, if only we could have heard from them earlier.

00:29:08.820 Why didn't we?

00:29:09.560 I have some thoughts, Mark.

00:29:10.920 What do you make of it?

00:29:11.480 Yeah, but my quick thought on that, though, is declare victory.

00:29:15.820 Do not criticize it.

00:29:17.100 Like, when you've won.

00:29:18.140 Too late.

00:29:18.700 And you've pursued.

00:29:19.440 No, you're saying be classy.

00:29:21.280 That ship has sailed.

00:29:22.080 No, it's not necessarily be classy.

00:29:23.800 It's be like, it's like, hey, you know, like, you engaged the audience, you made your case publicly, and now you've won.

00:29:30.740 And I don't think it's time to sort of, like, you know, beat your chest on it.

00:29:35.040 But it's like, take this as the opportunity for exactly what it is, which is you engage the audience and you persuade.

00:29:39.580 He's welcome aboard the free speech train.

00:29:42.540 But forgive me if I want to spend a few minutes, you know, I don't want to say rubbing his nose in it, but, like, hello, he was wrong.

00:29:52.800 He was 100% wrong in what he did, and it was un-American. 0.96

00:29:57.620 It was really un-American what he and the Biden administration were doing on the stifling of speech.

00:30:01.720 And I would have liked, Anna, to have heard more of a mea culpa.

00:30:06.120 I was really wrong, and I'm really sorry, and I was 100% hashtag part of the problem.

00:30:13.120 Before we get to the healing phase.

00:30:14.920 Yeah, well, look, I find what he said there entirely dubious, because he had pushed for the type of culture that we're currently dealing with right now,

00:30:29.080 because everything that was incentivized on his platform was the extreme ends of the political spectrum.

00:30:36.560 So he says, you know, people are really looking for the truth.

00:30:39.500 Well, the people that were really promoted on your platform for a long time were individuals who were on the extreme left or the extreme right,

00:30:47.600 especially when it comes to some of the cultural issues.

00:30:50.120 Anyone who wanted to be reasonable, who wanted to be fair, who wanted to, you know, go for evidence-based commentary

00:30:58.160 was not really incentivized on that platform for a long, long time.

00:31:03.580 And so I think that's part of the reason why you now have two political parties that have a difficult time speaking to each other.

00:31:09.500 And I'm not talking about those in power.

00:31:11.900 I'm talking about the actual voters.

00:31:13.700 And what I'm trying to do through the work I'm putting out there at TYT is to get Democratic voters to understand

00:31:21.460 that the voters on the other side of the aisle are not a monolith.

00:31:26.260 They're not Nazis.

00:31:27.820 They're not going to come for you.

00:31:29.600 They're not going to imprison you.

00:31:31.100 They're not going to, you know, bust into your home with guns and murder you.

00:31:34.440 Like all of the fear mongering that was promoted on these platforms is untrue.

00:31:39.840 And the only way that we're going to save this country is if we open up lines of dialogue and speak to each other again

00:31:47.200 and actually see each other as human beings who might have political disagreements,

00:31:51.400 who might want to engage in hot debates.

00:31:53.540 And that's totally fine.

00:31:54.800 But you have to see the humanity in people first.

00:31:57.900 And that has been disincentivized over the last, I would say, 10 years.

00:32:02.740 Mm hmm.

00:32:03.260 It was amazing to hear some of those lies repeated at the Senate confirmation hearing of Pam Bondi yesterday,

00:32:07.080 where they were trying to suggest that, you know, would you as attorney general enforce an order or maybe no, it was Hegseth.

00:32:14.580 Would you enforce an order to send the military in against President Trump's enemy from within?

00:32:20.620 Like, OK, you've conflated so many different remarks that Trump made there.

00:32:24.000 He did say enemy within. He did not say he would unleash the military on the enemy within,

00:32:27.920 which is a political body or animal or opponent that he doesn't like.

00:32:31.680 But what he said was asked by Maria Bartiromo was if things get crazy around the election and we have mass riots,

00:32:38.600 would you bring in the military? And in that context, he said yes.

00:32:42.200 Anyway, it's it's turned into like this a Senate question that has to be asked of all the nominees whether they'll do it.

00:32:47.400 It's a lie. It is divisive.

00:32:49.140 And it's probably one of the reasons that Anna's listeners or some of them think Trump might show up with, you know,

00:32:53.840 a machete and a Marine to arrest them if they voted for Kamala, which is not what's going to happen. 0.99

00:33:01.580 Yeah. And look, I would say that one of Trump's flaws is the fact that he says things that are extreme and irresponsible.

00:33:10.160 And he hurts himself that way because I think that he does have some good instincts.

00:33:14.340 And those good instincts get totally drowned out by some of the more irresponsible rhetoric he engages in.

00:33:19.920 And of course, the Democratic Party is going to capitalize on that.

00:33:23.500 They're going to exploit that for their own political purposes. 0.97

00:33:27.260 And so I think Susie Wiles has actually been a really good influence on Donald Trump.

00:33:33.060 I think that she has managed to kind of keep him on the straight and narrow.

00:33:37.660 And as a result of that, there's been a lot more focus on what he wants to do policy wise as opposed to his rhetoric.

00:33:46.140 So hopefully that continues.

00:33:48.000 And I don't agree with everything he does.

00:33:49.980 Obviously, I don't agree with all of his policies, but at least we're having a conversation about policy.

00:33:54.440 All right. He's changed all the conversations we're having in this country versus where we were 10 years ago.

00:33:58.980 All right. Let me spend some time on the nominees because I do think it's very interesting what's happening on Capitol Hill.

00:34:03.240 And we left off yesterday with Pam Bondi, who was on the hot seat while we were on the air. 0.89

00:34:07.420 And it didn't get any nicer for her after we went off the air, but she handled herself so beautifully.

00:34:13.780 I mean, like a pro, it's very hard to shake a seasoned lawyer with your purported tough cross-examination.

00:34:21.920 A lot of these lawmakers on Capitol Hill are, in fact, lawyers.

00:34:24.940 Most of the ones who were questioning yesterday didn't seem like they were.

00:34:28.220 I'll put it that way. And she just like a boss was in there. 1.00

00:34:32.660 I was very impressed by her. I've known her for a long time, but she was at her best.

00:34:36.380 And here are a couple of examples.

00:34:39.120 Here she is with Senator Alex Padilla of California, Democrat, holding her ground in Sot 1.

00:34:46.160 Senator, you were speaking. May I speak?

00:34:49.480 I'm going to ask you the next question. You can speak, and I hope you answer, Ms. Bondi.

00:34:52.680 Well, I'd like to answer the previous one, Senator.

00:34:55.220 When we met yesterday, you pointed your finger at me and said you were speaking.

00:34:58.060 You did not seem to be familiar with the citizenship clause.

00:35:03.320 That was good. Okay.

00:35:04.740 I just started setting the ground rules like I'm here and I'm not a pushover.

00:35:08.320 Here's the second one.

00:35:10.060 Same, same two. Watch. Same two people.

00:35:13.020 You gave an opportunity to study overnight.

00:35:15.760 So can you tell me in this committee what the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment says?

00:35:20.880 Senator, I'm here to answer your questions.

00:35:23.840 I'm not here to do your homework and study for you.

00:35:26.220 If I am confirmed as attorney general.

00:35:27.900 I'm asking for a confirmation vote, ma'am.

00:35:29.060 Hey, you cut me off. Can I please finish?

00:35:31.280 What does the 14th Amendment say?

00:35:32.680 Senator, Senator, the 14th Amendment we all know addresses birthright citizenship.

00:35:37.120 I've been a state prosecutor.

00:35:38.800 I've been a state AG.

00:35:40.300 I look forward to, even given your remarks today,

00:35:43.860 working with you and the people of California,

00:35:46.620 if I am confirmed as the 87th attorney general of the United States of America.

00:35:51.840 I didn't take your homework assignment.

00:35:53.800 I'm sorry. I was preparing for today.

00:35:57.460 Kevin, I don't know how you do better than that.

00:36:00.720 You know, one of the things that Bondi, I think, benefited from in particular is that there's this inside the bubble,

00:36:11.040 and a lot of it's from inside the beltway,

00:36:14.120 but there's this inside the bubble sort of assessment of anybody who's a Trump supporter

00:36:17.720 and any of Trump's nominees that they, so many of these Democratic senators just bought into.

00:36:24.080 And they didn't really do, or I think do their due diligence,

00:36:28.340 or really sort of get as good an assessment as they should have about the long and lengthy resume of accomplishment

00:36:37.680 and the long and lengthy resume of, and the history that they have as elected officials.

00:36:43.840 And that, you know, Pam Bondi, having been an elected attorney general in Florida, 0.97

00:36:48.900 which is a very, very tough place to prosper as an elected official,

00:36:54.080 you know, really has a lot of public strengths.

00:36:57.860 And that was on display in this hearing.

00:37:02.740 And I think the other benefit that Pam Bondi had is that she tended to really benefit from,

00:37:09.500 I think, the incompetence of her opponents.

00:37:12.820 And the way that the questioning went about, the personal criticism,

00:37:16.480 and just like the impolite nature of it all just really played to her strengths.

00:37:21.840 Now, if this had happened, if this was a flip,

00:37:23.900 if this were Republicans that were questioning a Democratic woman in this way,

00:37:31.100 there would have been outrage across a lot of the cable networks about how rude they were

00:37:34.920 and how insensitive they were and how this was going to turn off women voters all across the country. 1.00

00:37:40.000 And so, you know, those were my immediate thoughts upon watching it and witnessing it yesterday.

00:37:46.320 But they know that the media won't do that because she's a Republican,

00:37:49.660 but also because she was so solid, like she was unbullyable.

00:37:53.900 Which is lovely to see.

00:37:56.000 I have to say, after watching the Democratic female senators at the Hegseth hearing on Monday, 1.00

00:38:00.800 it was a delight, or whatever the day Tuesday was,

00:38:03.100 it was a delight to see a strong, smart, composed woman being on the hot seat 1.00

00:38:08.160 and handling herself like a professional,

00:38:11.120 which is what the vast majority of women behave like. 1.00

00:38:14.100 Not like the hysterics we saw on Tuesday.

00:38:17.880 What you said was mean!

00:38:19.640 Those remarks are very hurtful.

00:38:21.520 Like, what did you do here, U.S. senator?

00:38:23.340 Stop talking about people's feelings for the love of God.

00:38:26.020 Well, I'm curious what you guys thought.

00:38:27.680 What you guys thought.

00:38:28.780 Oh, I was going to ask about Gillibrand.

00:38:30.520 I actually think Gillibrand did a pretty fantastic job talking about, you know,

00:38:34.700 the role of women in the military.

00:38:36.880 I mean, look, I got to be honest.

00:38:38.520 At this moment, when the military is having an incredibly difficult time recruiting,

00:38:42.820 at a time when America is still struggling with obesity,

00:38:47.380 beggars can't be choosers.

00:38:48.640 And if you have women who are fit enough, who are able to pass that fitness test 1.00

00:38:53.880 in order to be in combat roles,

00:38:55.580 I think it's fair to ask Pete Hegseth why he has an issue with women being included

00:39:00.760 in said combat roles.

00:39:02.920 So I thought Gillibrand did an okay job.

00:39:04.720 I will answer.

00:39:05.160 I actually didn't really have a problem with the questions themselves that she asked.

00:39:10.100 I didn't really agree with the premise,

00:39:11.980 because I do understand what Pete's position has been,

00:39:14.740 having listened to it a long, long time for many, many years.

00:39:17.020 It's not about women in general.

00:39:18.800 It is about, we just can't lower standards.

00:39:20.680 And her response, which was, we haven't.

00:39:24.020 Like, give me specific examples where we have.

00:39:26.140 That was totally fair game.

00:39:27.340 It was a good response.

00:39:28.380 What, and he had an answer to it.

00:39:29.680 But what I objected to with her was the nature of the delivery, the hysterics. 0.89

00:39:34.200 She sounded, I cringe when our fellow women who make their way into these, 1.00

00:39:39.360 you know, halls of power, behave like the hysterical women. 1.00

00:39:42.880 And many men still believe they always are.

00:39:45.680 Like, would you keep it together for the love of God?

00:39:48.740 Like, she was shouting.

00:39:50.040 I was in the room.

00:39:51.020 And she was like, what you said is hurtful.

00:39:54.100 It's mean.

00:39:55.420 She sounded, her facial expressions looked like she was losing it.

00:39:59.200 She looked overly emotional, playing right to stereotype.

00:40:02.840 And it was unbecoming.

00:40:04.920 And then you went down the line, just got worse.

00:40:06.780 She was the best of the Democrats, but they just got worse.

00:40:09.520 I mean, Hirono was a nightmare.

00:40:11.800 Tammy Duckworth.

00:40:12.980 Who you think would have been the most composed.

00:40:15.180 I mean, an actual soldier who'd been in war.

00:40:17.300 No.

00:40:17.940 No, she wasn't.

00:40:18.900 So I, a lot of what I objected to was there.

00:40:21.540 You don't hear men behaving like that.

00:40:23.600 And we really need to, like, be a little bit more professional.

00:40:27.180 You can punch as hard as you want to with the rhetoric and the words.

00:40:31.200 But keep your tone, the nasal nature of the comments, the facial expressions,

00:40:37.000 the near tears look that the unbotoxed eyebrows will allow.

00:40:41.000 Those are bad.

00:40:43.420 Yeah.

00:40:43.940 I mean, look, I think a lot of these hearings end up being performances.

00:40:48.740 You know, it's really political theater.

00:40:50.120 And at the moment.

00:40:51.200 Good point.

00:40:51.620 Right now for Democrats, it's nothing but political theater because all you need is a simple majority in the Senate to, you know, confirm these Trump nominees.

00:41:01.080 And so they're using this as a moment to kind of do their own political virtue signaling to their base.

00:41:07.140 And so I understand that.

00:41:08.640 And look, I mean, what you're saying is really subjective.

00:41:11.660 Some women are super into it. 1.00

00:41:13.060 Some people are really into seeing, like, a strong fighter, especially a woman in the Senate. 0.99

00:41:18.280 Others are turned off by it.

00:41:19.580 So I totally hear what you're saying.

00:41:21.100 But I do think that Gillibrand has some pretty good questions.

00:41:23.900 So we'll see what happens.

00:41:24.900 And it's right.

00:41:26.240 Just real quick, Megan.

00:41:28.180 Yeah.

00:41:28.580 Yeah.

00:41:28.860 And it makes a great point here.

00:41:31.040 I didn't find it offensive for any of those other reasons.

00:41:33.480 I found it offensive as a purported professional communicator because, for me, I couldn't figure out who the audience was that was persuadable or who they were seeking to mobilize beyond their most active base.

00:41:47.840 And I think that's the big problem, right?

00:41:49.980 And I think that's consistent with Anna's assessment of it, too, which is that if you're only communicating to this already converted part of your party, what's the real political objective here?

00:42:03.900 And if the Democratic Party has to find a way to get back with Latino voters, get back its strength with working class voters, get back its strength with outside of the urban areas and more suburban and rural areas and build up that support, given what happened in 2024.

00:42:21.420 None of whom is watching this.

00:42:23.320 None of them are watching it, but they are seeing the atomized version of it all.

00:42:26.520 And if it's not focused in a way that really sort of motivates them to care, motivates them to sort of feel that they have a stake in it, and it's only Matsi Hirono and Kirsten Gillibrand or Sheldon Whitehouse, you know, very harsh, active liberal voices inside the party berating, you know, nominees who I think, you know, the thing I think about that's most that's most the strongest about Hegsest nomination is.

00:42:54.280 And again, I think it was an entire discussion we should have about how he brought it back, how he resuscitated it, because it was hanging on a thread there for a while.

00:43:02.280 But like, it's that there's, he wants to bring an infantry perspective to national security decision making and to the posture of the armed services.

00:43:12.000 And there is a focus on making sure that the president's vision is executed and implemented, despite what some of the military brass who would disagree.

00:43:26.620 Like, that's a, however you fall on that, that's a really good, strong place to argue, rather than some of the, some of the topics that they choose to fight on, which were very specifically tailored to an already converted liberal democratic base.

00:43:41.660 Yeah. You cheated on your wives. Oh, like, okay. Um, I want to say this, having practiced law for many years and sat in the Supreme court as a correspondent for three, they should be more like the Supreme court justices who disagree vehemently, but it's almost never 1% of the time.

00:43:58.260 Maybe if that, maybe not, maybe I'm being ungenerous. Do you ever hear hysterics from the left or the right, from the women or the men, the women on, on this U S Supreme court far left, though, they may be, you know, Sotomayor, Brown Jackson, you, they don't behave that way. 0.56

00:44:13.760 They maintain their composure and their dignity, and they can slice and dice with the best of them. And I realized they have a different audience.

00:44:21.340 They're trying to persuade, which is most of the righties down the, down the way. But, uh, and, and they're to your point, Anna, that these women were trying to get sound bites that would be energetic or motivating or soothing in some way to their base. 0.95

00:44:34.200 Um, but I think womankind suffers when they behave like the hysterical fifties housewives who men would rush to drug up when they behave that way. Okay. Let's move on because I want to play you another soundbite. Um, where did it go? Number four. 1.00

00:44:51.340 This is Adam Schiff and Pam Bondi.

00:44:56.120 You have the independence to say that you have the, the gravitas, the stature, the, the intestinal fortitude to say, Donald Trump, you lost the 2020 election. Can you tell us that here today?

00:45:06.820 Senator, what I can tell you is I will never play politics. You're trying to engage me in a gotcha. I won't play politics with any ongoing investigation, like you did leaking your colleague Devin Nunes' memo.

00:45:20.980 All right, Anna, what I see there is a page out of the Kayleigh McEnany book. Remember when, you know, Trump went through all these press secretaries and he settled on Kayleigh McEnany, who was young, like a sort of an ingenue,

00:45:37.720 recently out of Harvard law and had spent some time at CNN. And she got up there and turned the tables inside that press briefing, briefing room where she would attack the press and Republicans hate the press. So it was absolutely risk-free for her. And it worked. It worked really well. Trump loved it. Republicans enjoyed it. People started watching the briefings again.

00:46:07.720 But there's, like, this is an effective tactic that, most importantly, I think, the boss enjoys.

00:46:14.500 Yeah, definitely. I mean, I'm sure if Trump was watching, he absolutely loved the way she handled the confirmation hearing yesterday. But I will say this. Look, I think she did a good job in terms of optics, for sure.

00:46:27.980 I wish that these Senate confirmation hearings were less about the optics and politics and more about the records of these individuals.

00:46:37.020 And so I would have preferred that she just said Biden won the 2020 election.

00:46:42.540 That way it would take the one and only question away from the Democrats. Well, she said he won. She said he's president. Yeah, exactly.

00:46:50.400 And so that allowed for the Democrats to continue asking the same boring question over and over and over and over again.

00:46:56.480 And I would have loved for them to delve into her record in Florida. Right. I want to learn more about her.

00:47:01.980 I'm sure the American people want to learn more about her. But honestly, at this point, the Democratic Party has one speed and one speed only. 0.82

00:47:09.240 And I'm sure it was aggravating for her as well to be asked the exact same question over and over again.

00:47:15.440 And to talk about optics briefly, I think that the way Adam Schiff behaved in that Senate confirmation hearing was the absolute worst because he wasn't really interested in hearing her answers at all and seemed to be interrupting her before she could answer.

00:47:31.020 It came across as bullying. And I don't think it's a good look at all.

00:47:34.760 So Democrats aren't really thinking about the optics. They're not really delving into the records of these individuals. And I think that's a big problem.

00:47:42.260 All right. I'm going to shock the world right now and defend Adam Schiff, not in response to what you just said, but in response to the heat he's getting for the following clip.

00:47:51.000 I defend Adam Schiff because these confirmation hearings are boring.

00:48:18.560 We put the highlights on TV, but having just sat through the one on Tuesday and that was the spiciest of them all. 1.00

00:48:24.880 They're boring. It's hard. And I even said to one of the senators after the fact, I'm like, God, that's boring.

00:48:30.100 And this person said to me, normally we don't sit in there the whole time.

00:48:33.200 They said we all just sat in there because there were so many people and this was an exciting one and we knew it was going to be spicy.

00:48:39.340 But normally we just do our part and we get out of there because, Kevin, it's boring.

00:48:45.260 It is. They, you know, having worked up on Capitol Hill for a long time, I know that it is when you're sitting through, especially in those places are not comfortable.

00:48:53.900 Right. I mean, if you've ever been in one of those hearing rooms, there's a lot of droning on.

00:48:58.140 There's a lot of talking, but it's also not very comfortable and there are also very stuffy.

00:49:02.300 So I would not hold it against anybody to take a little I 10 minute I close now.

00:49:08.500 Who could blame him?

00:49:10.500 She was asleep half the time her last couple of years on the bench like I get 80 percent of the time. 0.93

00:49:16.640 These folks that get caught on camera doing that are actually just probably looking at their cell phone, looking down at their cell phone.

00:49:21.500 So but yeah, I don't blame anybody for taking a little eye rest during one of these.

00:49:26.980 All right. So final question before I let you go. We got a minute left.

00:49:29.280 Do any one of these nominees get stopped?

00:49:33.540 Is there a single nominee who's not going to get through Kevin and then Anna?

00:49:38.120 No, I think they're all going to make their I think headset will probably be the closest followed by Tulsi Gabbard. 0.87

00:49:45.780 But I think they'll all find their way through.

00:49:48.220 Anna, what do you agree? I agree.

00:49:50.180 I think all of them will very likely be confirmed.

00:49:53.300 Just my personal preferences.

00:49:55.460 I have the biggest issue with Pete Hegseth, given the allegations against him.

00:50:01.200 I'm pretty sure everyone in your audience disagrees with me, but it's not just the allegations.

00:50:05.440 I'm concerned about the lack of experience for an incredibly important role.

00:50:09.840 Secretary of Defense is not a small thing.

00:50:12.720 And I'm worried that, you know, at a time when we're involved in conflicts abroad, that we're going to have someone at the helm who is not experienced for this position.

00:50:22.000 I got you. Although I will point out that Barack Obama became our commander in chief after being a community organizer.

00:50:27.600 So it's like it's all relative.

00:50:29.580 I think you're right.

00:50:30.560 They're all getting through.

00:50:31.680 And I think that's a good thing.

00:50:32.760 And if they stink, we've got the firer in chief in the Oval Office.

00:50:36.700 He loves to fire people.

00:50:37.800 He's proven he'll do it over and over.

00:50:39.200 So we've got that fail safe.

00:50:40.380 Anna, Kevin, thank you both so much.

00:50:42.120 That was great.

00:50:42.700 We appreciate it.

00:50:43.580 Up next, Link and Amala are back and much, much more to discuss.

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00:52:28.160 Well, the inauguration of Donald Trump is next week.

00:52:32.300 It's down to days now.

00:52:33.480 Can you believe it that we will finally be saying goodbye to Joe Biden and hello again to Mr. Trump?

00:52:38.980 And the left is melting down over Carrie Underwood accepting an invitation to perform at the inauguration.

00:52:47.180 Meantime, Jill Biden, that's Dr. Jill, for those of you playing at home,

00:52:50.880 takes the first shot at Nancy Pelosi.

00:52:53.560 Well, I mean, the first shot publicly.

00:52:55.940 I do believe Nancy fired the first shot at them in a Washington Post exit interview

00:53:01.720 that will make your stomach turn, but also has some interesting things in it.

00:53:05.700 Joining me now to discuss it all, Amala Epanobi, host of the Amala Epanobi podcast,

00:53:10.580 and Link Lauren, former senior advisor to RFK Jr. and social media influencer.

00:53:16.780 Welcome back, guys. Great to see you.

00:53:19.460 There's so much to go over here.

00:53:21.420 I love the Dr. Jill sit-down piece with the Washington Post.

00:53:26.260 This is how it begins.

00:53:27.860 Okay, hold on.

00:53:28.640 I got to put on my glasses because the print is so teeny tiny.

00:53:31.440 It says, okay, the first lady says she's at peace with this ending, but, this is in quotes,

00:53:40.140 let's just say I was disappointed with how it unfolded.

00:53:43.000 Why?

00:53:43.840 I don't know.

00:53:44.960 I learned a lot about human nature.

00:53:47.260 There are scores of relationships, good and bad, that pinwheel outward from her marriage,

00:53:51.560 in which Jill is the keeper of the family grudges. 0.98

00:53:54.620 Quote, you said that, I didn't, she interrupts, laughing.

00:53:57.700 I don't think I said that, continues the writer.

00:54:01.240 She did, in fact, say that.

00:54:03.240 And then, quoting Jill, Joe has an incredible capacity to forgive, and he's incapable of

00:54:08.580 holding a grudge.

00:54:09.860 End quote.

00:54:10.460 This is what Jill wrote in her 2019 memoir.

00:54:12.760 But that means I end up being the holder of grudges, the one who recalls every slight

00:54:18.980 committed, every slight committed against the people I love.

00:54:22.400 Which brings us to Nancy Pelosi, whom Jill has known as long, nearly, as Joe.

00:54:26.760 Her face, nearly pearlescent with lustrous foundation, betrays no particular emotion.

00:54:35.440 She's holding a china cup, tea with honey and lemon.

00:54:40.460 It's been on my mind a lot lately.

00:54:42.400 And Jill pauses.

00:54:44.500 We were friends for 50 years.

00:54:47.320 She's using her teacher's voice now.

00:54:49.480 It was disappointing.

00:54:51.200 So, they're not loving NANPAL. 0.98

00:54:55.600 And who could blame them?

00:54:58.100 But Joe Biden, he holds no grudges whatsoever, Amala.

00:55:02.260 Fear not.

00:55:03.040 It's just Dr. Jill.

00:55:04.380 Yeah, you know, I don't know if Joe Biden has an incredible capacity to forgive, or it's

00:55:09.920 his incredible capacity to forget, because we all know how he's doing cognitively with

00:55:14.380 all of these things.

00:55:15.400 I think Jill Biden is so upset, because she was really a conduit of power through Joe Biden.

00:55:21.060 She was doing so much behind the scenes.

00:55:22.800 You know, Joe, you've answered all the questions.

00:55:24.900 She was on stage, and through his presidency, she was kind of, you know, a little bit of the

00:55:28.760 president, if we're all looking at this, the way we're looking at it.

00:55:31.280 So, to be slighted by Nancy Pelosi, who she knows has a dark history and a dark present,

00:55:37.080 she's just not happy about that.

00:55:38.860 I think we've been seeing Jill Biden in the background just be more of herself, be more 0.99

00:55:43.200 open about what she's truly thinking, about what's happening behind the scenes.

00:55:46.880 And this is just one of those times where, I guess, when she's on the way out, she's just

00:55:49.680 going to pull the strings and say what she wants to say.

00:55:52.460 But to me, Link, like the fact that they continue at magazine after magazine, newspaper after

00:55:58.720 newspaper are trying to convince us of Jill Biden's just preternatural beauty and fashion 1.00

00:56:06.140 set.

00:56:06.560 I'm like, I'm sick of, this is a pattern with her.

00:56:08.900 Like, honestly, they have her on Vogue like she truly is some supermodel. 0.99

00:56:12.820 They never put Melania on there.

00:56:13.960 So, it's like, can you stop with the pearlescent skin?

00:56:19.200 Like, just come on.

00:56:21.300 It's over the top.

00:56:24.540 Absolutely.

00:56:25.220 I mean, they put her on the cover of Vogue three times and then they gave Anna Wintour

00:56:28.580 a Medal of Freedom.

00:56:29.460 So, I guess that was the trade-off.

00:56:30.900 But Jill Biden, in my opinion, she is going to go down as one of the most unlikable women 1.00

00:56:35.920 in politics.

00:56:36.860 She has no one else to blame for herself, for the position that she is in.

00:56:40.600 She has beefs with Nancy Pelosi right now, with Kamala Harris.

00:56:44.120 She is like the Regina George of Washington, D.C.

00:56:47.040 This is like senior citizen mean girls, okay? 0.98

00:56:49.520 Geriatric mean girls right now. 1.00

00:56:51.840 Jill Biden is burning every bridge. 1.00

00:56:54.140 She's stabbing people in the back. 1.00

00:56:55.680 She's shanking people. 1.00

00:56:56.640 She's like Harry and Meghan in that way. 0.71

00:56:58.500 But Jill Biden, she has to blame herself because I don't know any wife or any woman who would 0.99

00:57:03.740 have allowed their husband to go on national TV on June 27th and do what he did in that

00:57:09.020 debate.

00:57:09.360 If you had any dignity or respect for your man, you would have said, you know what?

00:57:13.680 It's time to retire years ago.

00:57:15.420 But you were so power hungry, and Hunter as well, they kept pushing Joe and pushing Joe

00:57:19.480 when they knew he was cognitively impaired.

00:57:22.400 Yeah, because she wanted access to power.

00:57:24.540 And that's why she's so super upset with Nancy Pelosi. 1.00

00:57:27.580 All right.

00:57:27.860 So, Nancy Pelosi, speaking of, is not going to be at the inauguration on Monday. 0.73

00:57:33.120 Okay, we don't know why she recently-

00:57:35.820 Yay! 0.99

00:57:35.920 Giffy! 0.99

00:57:37.200 Stocker.

00:57:37.860 Are you more sad that she won't be their link or Michelle Obama?

00:57:41.140 Which one will you miss more?

00:57:42.400 Oh, okay.

00:57:44.140 Everybody's saying maybe Michelle Obama, she just has morals and principles, and she doesn't 0.97

00:57:48.260 want to be around Donald Trump.

00:57:49.520 I think she got a facelift or a neck lift.

00:57:51.540 Maybe she's not healed.

00:57:52.620 Pelosi, too.

00:57:53.300 I don't think there's some big reason Michelle Obama isn't going to the inauguration, but

00:57:57.640 I digress.

00:57:58.420 Back to you.

00:57:58.940 It would have been ill-timed if she had planned to go to the inauguration to schedule it right

00:58:03.420 before J-20.

00:58:04.180 It's either that or divorce.

00:58:04.960 Yeah, something going on there.

00:58:06.680 Oh, okay.

00:58:07.820 Well, the WIME continues to tune, and we'll continue to watch it.

00:58:11.500 But the big inauguration news today is not Pelosi.

00:58:15.640 Yesterday it was Michelle.

00:58:16.680 It's Carrie Underwood.

00:58:18.000 And apparently she's losing all sorts of fan groups. 0.98

00:58:22.800 The LGBTQ community in particular, I guess, is very upset about the fact that she's agreed

00:58:27.860 to sing at the inauguration.

00:58:30.860 And she's saying, I love my country.

00:58:32.660 I think this is a great chance to express that love and participate in a moment of unity.

00:58:38.740 Her leftist base is not having it, Amala. 0.78

00:58:43.400 Yeah, I mean, I'm not surprised by this whatsoever.

00:58:45.580 If you have any sort of association with Donald Trump, even if that's just singing at the inauguration,

00:58:50.700 you're going to be cut off by every single left-leaning person who used to be a fan of yours.

00:58:55.120 But really, are we surprised?

00:58:56.220 I mean, just look at Carrie Underwood. 0.95

00:58:58.060 Have you guys seen the CMAs?

00:58:59.500 Do you know what's going on in country music?

00:59:01.540 It's pretty typical, I would think, that these people would either be supporters of Donald

00:59:05.780 Trump or love their country so much that they're willing to represent it at the inauguration.

00:59:10.740 And that's exactly what Carrie Underwood has taxed herself with. 1.00

00:59:13.680 And let's be real.

00:59:14.640 She hasn't come out and given any statement about her politics or how she feels about the

00:59:19.740 2024 election.

00:59:21.020 So let her be her and let her love this country.

00:59:23.720 We used to be under the umbrella of a shared love for country, but differences in politics.

00:59:28.800 And now it's if you love your country, if you want to represent America, you're a white 0.99

00:59:33.280 supremacist MAGA supporter.

00:59:36.140 No, here's what she said to TMZ.

00:59:38.600 I love our country, and I'm honored to have been asked to sing at the inauguration and

00:59:42.100 to be a small part of this historic event.

00:59:43.740 I am humbled to answer the call at a time when we must all come together in the spirit

00:59:47.320 of unity and looking at the future.

00:59:49.820 She will be performing America the Beautiful.

00:59:52.920 It's like, great.

00:59:54.200 That's what performers do.

00:59:56.480 And the inauguration is not just for Cora Maga, Link.

00:59:59.540 It's for all of America.

01:00:01.380 Why would she say it's the fact that she doesn't hate him?

01:00:04.940 And by the way, she's actually made fun of him in the past.

01:00:07.480 We don't know what her politics are when it comes to Trump, because even some Republicans

01:00:10.240 historically have not liked him.

01:00:12.020 We don't know what her faith is.

01:00:13.820 But why wouldn't she take this amazing performative opportunity on behalf of the country to try

01:00:21.260 to unify some?

01:00:23.900 Exactly.

01:00:24.500 I mean, Carrie Underwood should 100 percent perform at the inauguration. 0.99

01:00:27.900 But this is what happens with the left or this woke mob on the left, especially in

01:00:31.580 the entertainment industry.

01:00:32.540 They preach about diversity all the time, but not diversity of thought, because God

01:00:37.320 forbid you go and perform at a Republican's inauguration, you're suddenly persona non grata.

01:00:42.760 Well, I hate to tell you, Trump just won in a historic landslide.

01:00:46.500 The popular vote, the House, the Senate, the Electoral College.

01:00:49.540 Carrie Underwood should 100 percent be there. 0.99

01:00:51.640 And the fans she might lose on the left, I'm sure she's going to gain on the right and 0.99

01:00:54.840 she's going to sound amazing doing it.

01:00:56.380 This is what Rolling Stone is reporting, that this cohort of queer fans of Underwood have

01:01:03.660 spent more than a decade believing the singer supported them.

01:01:08.200 Now they're in the midst of unraveling what it means to be suddenly shocked into a reality

01:01:13.060 that does not align with their own.

01:01:15.880 Fan accounts dedicated to Underwood have continued to voice their disappointment in her decision.

01:01:19.360 Quote, while I will always love and support Carrie, this account will not be covering her

01:01:23.360 upcoming appearance at Trump's inauguration, nor any other comments or appearances she makes

01:01:27.180 in support of this convicted felon.

01:01:29.140 The Carrie Underwood UK account shared with its 14,000 followers on X.

01:01:34.000 Other social media users are encouraging listeners who are removing Underwood from their playlists

01:01:39.000 to tune into other artists with more outspoken track records, I think, on LGBTQ or anti-Trump matters. 0.99

01:01:45.780 If you need another female country artist that actually gives a shit about society and women, 1.00

01:01:49.660 I present to you Casey Musgraves and Maren Morris, one ex-post read. 0.99

01:01:56.020 Time and time again, they explicitly support what's right and publicly reject racist, homophobic BS.

01:02:03.240 I mean, that's actually surprising to me in country music, Amala, that you've got these two who I don't

01:02:08.380 really know them or what their social media posts are, but that even countries getting divided in the

01:02:13.280 way the rest of the actual country, America, is.

01:02:17.840 Oh, absolutely, 100%.

01:02:19.580 And we've been covering this sort of split that's taking place within country music,

01:02:23.260 and it's been happening over the last few years with Casey Musgraves and Maren Morris.

01:02:27.080 They're extremely pro-LGBTQ.

01:02:29.740 Casey Musgraves has music videos online where she has drag queens running around behind the scenes 1.00

01:02:34.300 talking about pride and how love is love.

01:02:36.720 Maren Morris very famously endorsed trans children and transitioning kids

01:02:41.020 and says that we need to protect trans kids, which we all know don't exist.

01:02:45.120 But that created a major rift within country music where a lot of people, artists,

01:02:50.540 were dividing over this and their support of Donald Trump and whether or not that makes them homophobic.

01:02:54.700 I have to point out, though, the sense of entitlement that fans have.

01:02:58.200 The most you know about Carrie Underwood is her music and what she looks like.

01:03:02.340 And you think you have some sense of entitlement over her opinion, her political affiliation.

01:03:06.780 And if she doesn't abide by your or in tow the line of your ideology,

01:03:10.420 you're no longer going to listen to music that you once enjoyed.

01:03:13.800 These are just people robbing themselves of good experiences, of good music,

01:03:17.240 and they can't recognize that there is a divide between you and the artist.

01:03:21.800 You might feel like you have this social relationship with them,

01:03:24.380 but it's a parasocial one and you're not entitled to their opinion.

01:03:27.900 Yeah. And by the way, she hasn't even expressed one.

01:03:30.180 You're actually like literally just going to sing America the Beautiful.

01:03:33.460 So calm down. It's ridiculous. 0.98

01:03:35.380 Yes. Here is the view link weighing in. 0.74

01:03:38.060 I know you were waiting to hear what Whoopi Goldberg had to say.

01:03:40.380 And I have it for you. Take a listen.

01:03:42.120 We all were.

01:03:42.960 I wouldn't do it, even though I can't sing.

01:03:44.540 You would not sing?

01:03:45.440 No, I would not. I would not normalize him.

01:03:47.700 And she says, I love our country.

01:03:49.400 How do you love your country and support and normalize somebody who was a convicted felon

01:03:54.020 who really wants to destroy the country, in my opinion?

01:03:56.740 I don't understand how you say you love your country at the same time as you normalize this convicted felon,

01:04:02.160 which I can say now every day.

01:04:03.500 I agree with you, Joy. I can't sing a lick.

01:04:06.180 But I certainly, and I have not been asked, but if I were asked, it would be a hard no.

01:04:11.480 Well, people do what they do for whatever reasons.

01:04:14.060 It's like Joe and Mika.

01:04:15.660 Yeah.

01:04:15.880 They do what they do.

01:04:16.720 They felt that's what they needed to do.

01:04:18.460 And I got to stand behind them.

01:04:20.120 Yeah.

01:04:20.540 You know?

01:04:21.120 Or not.

01:04:21.180 And I stand behind her if she's, if, no, no, not or not.

01:04:24.640 Because if I believe I have the right to make up my mind to go perform someplace, I believe they have the same right.

01:04:31.600 Of course.

01:04:31.920 And so I have to, yeah, I got to, I have to support.

01:04:35.020 I mean, of course she has the right to do it. 0.58

01:04:40.440 What an inane point to bring them all together.

01:04:43.160 Like what, she's saying absolutely nothing. 0.97

01:04:45.500 And those two cretins at the top, right, Joy and Sonny, no, it's a hard no. 1.00

01:04:50.860 And how can she go perform at the inauguration of a convicted felon? 0.87

01:04:55.120 You can see they just keep wrapping that around themselves, Link, like a lovely little snuggle blanket that a three-year-old uses.

01:05:01.400 No, as if the music industry is this great moral place.

01:05:04.940 There are tons of convicted felons in the music industry, working the music industry, at these record labels.

01:05:10.160 Does she listen to rap music?

01:05:11.060 If Sonny's not careful, her husband's going to be one of them.

01:05:13.140 Her husband.

01:05:14.020 Excuse me, Sonny, her husband.

01:05:16.080 Exactly.

01:05:16.700 He's under investigation.

01:05:17.860 Sonny's going to have to be on that show like, I have a legal note about my husband.

01:05:21.920 But yeah, no, for a second I thought I was watching Pete Hegseth's confirmation with these screeching women talking over each other. 1.00

01:05:28.280 Just painful, painful, painful.

01:05:29.660 I'd rather do anything than watch The View.

01:05:32.240 No, I did not like that.

01:05:33.820 But yeah, no, The View is not a moral authority on anything.

01:05:36.320 I mean, the day I look to Joy Behar for life advice is the day I retire.

01:05:39.980 So no thanks.

01:05:40.900 Wait, can you expand on your reaction to the Pete Hegseth cross-examiners?

01:05:46.020 The Pete Hegseth confirmation hearing was like nails on a chalkboard, okay?

01:05:51.580 If I wanted to hear those women screeching and yelling for three hours, like I said, I would go and watch The View. 1.00

01:05:57.840 And me, I could not do the confirmation hearings because I don't sit in rooms with fluorescent lighting for that long.

01:06:03.120 I mean, it's hard to make Pete Hegseth look bad.

01:06:05.240 The lighting in there was rough.

01:06:07.100 But no, that confirmation hearing was nothing but political theater.

01:06:11.380 Tim Kaine made an ass of himself during that confirmation hearing. 0.97

01:06:14.900 So what an embarrassment. 0.99

01:06:17.540 Yeah, he's gotten angrier and angrier.

01:06:19.680 And one of the things that was weird about him doing the cross-examination is he kept like sinking further in his seat.

01:06:25.340 Like for the listening audience, I'm going down now.

01:06:27.160 You can only see the top like of my head at my desk.

01:06:29.280 He kept slinking down.

01:06:30.700 It was like the lower he went physically is the lower he went rhetorically.

01:06:34.040 And he just looked like a little, like a rat, you know, in the corner, like low and small and the angry eyebrows and, you know, the performance matched it.

01:06:43.520 Well, also, Tim Kaine is a guy who campaigned with Doug Imhoff, who was accused of open face slapping his girlfriend and then never even really denied it.

01:06:52.200 But the liberal press, they never pressed him on it for the 107 days Kamala Harris ran that campaign.

01:06:57.180 He also campaigned with Bill Clinton, who took how many trips to Epstein's Island?

01:07:01.080 So I don't think Tim Kaine is a moral authority either, but he sat there badgering Pete Hegseth about who we may or may not have slept with 10 years ago.

01:07:09.620 This is someone who's turned his life over to God.

01:07:11.700 He's open about his flaws and everything.

01:07:13.600 He has grit.

01:07:14.240 He's a real man.

01:07:15.260 That's why people resonate with him.

01:07:17.580 The last thing I'll say about Pete Hegseth is he might not have the endorsement of the military contractors or all these lobbyists.

01:07:23.320 He has the endorsement of actual men and women in uniform, and that's what should matter for that role.

01:07:28.280 Yeah, there were marches of a couple hundred Navy SEALs through Washington in support of Pete.

01:07:34.180 I don't remember ever seeing that.

01:07:35.820 I mean, like, that's what I think got Joni Ernst in the end.

01:07:38.260 Pete met with her repeatedly.

01:07:39.180 To her credit, she took those meetings.

01:07:40.880 But I believe Joni Ernst, when she says, and she said it a long time, that she listens to the rank and file.

01:07:45.340 That's whose opinion she's most interested in on military matters.

01:07:49.160 And I believe those men and women spoke to her, and she heard them.

01:07:52.820 So good for them, because I think they made a difference.

01:07:54.720 But OK, moving on, Amala, you are are you from L.A.?

01:08:00.060 Because I know you've been out there and you've been helping those who have been hurt by the devastation.

01:08:05.620 I'm not from L.A.

01:08:06.540 I live originally from Florida, but I live here in L.A. and have for the last few years.

01:08:11.260 OK, so were were you or were you not thrilled to see Meghan and Harry show up and offer their support and help?

01:08:18.820 Heartfelt, sincere help.

01:08:20.780 Yeah, you know, I don't know how much a hug accomplishes in this time.

01:08:25.120 I hope they're doing actual work where they're actually bringing, you know, donations, resources, things that people actually need in the wake of these fires to them.

01:08:32.660 If they're doing that, you know, kudos to you.

01:08:35.080 I have a feeling they knew they were going to be some cameras present.

01:08:38.040 And we're seeing a lot of celebrities, some of whom were not directly impacted, showing up to, you know, give a hug here and a slap on the back there.

01:08:46.680 I hope they're actually doing something rather than showing up for their photo op.

01:08:51.340 Did you did you make sure that you were caught by the cameras when you went to help?

01:08:55.480 Did you make sure that your name got in the press?

01:08:59.320 Yes, absolutely.

01:08:59.960 I actually called beforehand and I said, you know what, if there's not at least 10 cameras there, just send me on another day.

01:09:05.120 You know, let me know when to really be there.

01:09:07.420 If it's not documented, it didn't happen.

01:09:09.980 What we've now established is that Amala is the nicest of the three of us, because I know you and I are more like minded about this visit.

01:09:18.560 These two hucksters should have stayed home.

01:09:21.820 OK, the fact that they're out there getting a private tour of Pasadena and walking through the rubble.

01:09:27.600 There are people who lost everything and they haven't been allowed to go back and to see if even a photo album made it.

01:09:32.820 But Harry and Meghan are out traipsing through doing a photo shoot with paparazzi in tow.

01:09:38.120 The Duke and Duchess of White Castle are so delusional.

01:09:41.880 I am sick of seeing them.

01:09:43.420 They should go back to the UK and eat crumpets and scones and beg for forgiveness from King Charles.

01:09:48.360 Express contrition.

01:09:49.580 We don't need them there.

01:09:50.700 Let me just say, Meghan, when I saw the headline that said Meghan Markle was out surveying the damage.

01:09:55.820 Why is she surveying the damage?

01:09:57.640 Is she a first responder?

01:09:59.220 Is she a firefighter?

01:10:00.500 Is she going to say, let's bring in the excavator and the crane?

01:10:03.280 She had no business being there whatsoever.

01:10:07.080 The only silver lining from all of this is that her cringeworthy Netflix show got pushed back.

01:10:11.620 That's the only good thing to come out of all of this.

01:10:13.980 Now they're saying it was only pushed back to March, which is shocking because that is that's way too soon.

01:10:17.720 Good luck to her, who's she's already battling, you know, record low disapproval, record low approval ratings, releasing a show about her fabulous life in Montecito in her mansion and how to create lovely home events when her city is in ashes.

01:10:35.100 In March, nothing will have been rebuilt, never mind even cleaned up.

01:10:39.860 And she's going to be out there in the flowing gown in the middle of her mansion like, oh, let me show you the perfect tea and champagne combo. 0.64

01:10:47.720 Good luck, sister.

01:10:48.740 That's not going to go well.

01:10:49.820 I do want to say this.

01:10:51.400 The Post, New York Post reports that they were offended by Justine Bateman calling them disaster tourists.

01:10:59.820 The Post reports, quote, it's offensive to Meghan and Harry that anybody would think this is merely a photo op.

01:11:06.520 A source exclusively tells Page Six, which is obviously Meghan. 0.58

01:11:10.600 They have dedicated countless hours to volunteering long before the media even caught wind of their involvement, the source tells us.

01:11:20.560 And of course, Bateman had tweeted out their ambulance chasers.

01:11:24.860 This is a repulsive photo op.

01:11:26.900 They're touring the damage.

01:11:28.200 Are they politicians?

01:11:29.800 They don't live here. 0.85

01:11:30.980 They're tourists, disaster tourists.

01:11:33.740 So we'll see whether they actually don't drop that Netflix show because I just I don't see how they can possibly do it in the wake of what the Californians are suffering.

01:11:42.760 Can I add one more thing about Harry and Meghan?

01:11:45.140 Yeah.

01:11:45.880 If I was in a crisis, they would be the last people I call, OK?

01:11:50.080 Their own lives are in shambles.

01:11:52.080 They ran their lives into the ground.

01:11:53.440 So why the hell would I call them in a crisis?

01:11:55.960 Imagine your house is burning down.

01:11:58.100 I was thinking about this the other day when I saw the pictures.

01:12:00.280 Your house is burning down.

01:12:01.380 You're grabbing your dog, your passport, your kids. 0.94

01:12:04.200 You look out the window through the smoke.

01:12:05.820 Oh, my God.

01:12:06.660 Harry and Meghan are here to save me.

01:12:08.700 They had no business being there.

01:12:10.320 Good for Justine Bateman.

01:12:11.600 What a revival for her and her career.

01:12:13.380 She's really getting a lot of press from this, too.

01:12:14.980 So shout out to Justine Bateman. 1.00

01:12:16.440 She's been amazing.

01:12:18.180 Justine's been spectate.

01:12:19.340 If you don't follow her on X, you absolutely should.

01:12:21.520 No, you're exactly right.

01:12:22.240 The people of California have suffered enough.

01:12:24.020 They don't need these two adding to their troubles.

01:12:26.460 Who wants to see them?

01:12:27.560 And by the way, if I were like a man and Meghan Markle came over to hug me, I'd be worried.

01:12:32.120 These two are so sue-happy.

01:12:33.920 I'd be like, next thing she's going to say, I meet Tudor.

01:12:36.640 Don't say anything to Harry because he's definitely going to sue you for defamation, claiming that you said something that was untrue about him.

01:12:41.660 They are sue-happy.

01:12:43.480 They are what we call vexatious litigants. 0.53

01:12:46.880 So I would stay as far away from those two.

01:12:48.680 If I were a property owner and they were on my property, burned or not, I'd be like, oh, my God, don't let them slip and fall.

01:12:53.800 They'll sue me even though my house is in ashes.

01:12:56.120 It's very dangerous.

01:12:57.820 Stay away from them.

01:12:59.140 That's the only possible route forward.

01:13:01.940 All right, speaking of the LA fires, I didn't get to this yesterday because we had breaking news about Israel.

01:13:05.800 But Karen Bass, you knew it was going to happen eventually that the pictures of her in Ghana would get released and they did not disappoint.

01:13:16.320 She was having a grand old time as her city was burning and she was actually asked after the fact.

01:13:23.980 We'll put the pictures up in a second.

01:13:25.080 But she was here.

01:13:26.020 Look at her.

01:13:26.700 Here she is chit-chatting away in an absolutely lovely suite.

01:13:32.140 I mean, I don't know exactly.

01:13:33.980 I am told that she was there.

01:13:37.280 Hold on.

01:13:37.520 I want to find my my notes with the that's the king of Ghana that we see her with.

01:13:43.520 Oh, I can't find my notes.

01:13:44.660 But his name is like tick-o-tick-a-tacky.

01:13:47.100 It's like tick-a-tack-o-tack-a.

01:13:49.900 I can't remember what it is, but it's you're having a great time with this man instead of flying back to L.A.

01:13:56.480 And now now somebody asked her, do you regret going to Ghana when like the National Weather Service was jumping up and down saying you're going to have devastating winds?

01:14:06.160 These are these actually are going to be really dangerous.

01:14:08.040 And here's what she said.

01:14:10.900 Looking back, would you have taken that trip overseas?

01:14:13.740 You know, I am going to focus today.

01:14:17.220 But please.

01:14:17.820 On what we know.

01:14:20.200 No, no regrets being with King Tacky Tiki True Roo, the second tacky Tiki True Roo, the second of of Ghana. 1.00

01:14:33.500 Yeah, no problems whatsoever and no regrets at all.

01:14:35.960 The insensitivity of it, Link, is stunning.

01:14:39.100 Well, the thing about being a Democrat is you get to fail upward.

01:14:42.600 Like Kamala Harris, she's been in utter calamity, but then she gets to be the nominee for 107 days, right? 1.00

01:14:47.780 So this doesn't happen in any other party.

01:14:50.300 And when it comes to Karen Bass, she needs to resign immediately. 1.00

01:14:54.660 What were you doing in Ghana on some eat, pray, love journey safari as your city is burning down?

01:15:00.740 What are you doing, Karen Bass?

01:15:02.040 You need to resign immediately.

01:15:05.700 Okay, we lost the almost fee, but we're trying to fix it.

01:15:09.000 So stand by.

01:15:09.540 We will get her back.

01:15:10.760 No, I think it's actually outrageous.

01:15:12.420 And I have to tell you a fun story, though, about Ghana.

01:15:15.080 My brother has run a number of companies.

01:15:18.600 And in one of his big companies, there was a guy who kept missing work.

01:15:23.500 And my brother sat him down and said, like, you can't, you know, sick leave is fine.

01:15:28.820 Some family leave.

01:15:29.520 I get it.

01:15:30.000 But like, you can't just keep missing work.

01:15:31.320 You got to show up at the office more regularly.

01:15:32.980 And the guy said, well, you know, what about, I don't know what the guy's name was, Joe.

01:15:37.360 Joe, he keeps missing work all the time.

01:15:39.640 And it turns out that Joe, who worked for my brother, this is years ago, was the youngest son of the king of Ghana.

01:15:47.180 And the tradition in Ghana is that the youngest son has to be the one to go take care of the king of Ghana if he's ill.

01:15:54.720 And so my brother looked at the first guy and he said, he is the youngest son of the king of Ghana.

01:16:01.960 And you are not.

01:16:03.900 So you do have to be here and sorry.

01:16:07.100 I mean, I would understand if Joe were in Ghana taking care of, again, King Taki Tiki Truru II, that I would understand.

01:16:16.960 But Karen Bass did not need to be there. 0.98

01:16:19.020 And the fact that she's out there, like, no, I don't regret going, is an absurdity that I think will come back to haunt her.

01:16:25.480 Amala, your thoughts?

01:16:26.160 Yeah, I mean, absolutely.

01:16:28.940 The devastation that she missed out on, which she was part of and privy to, is just absolutely unbelievable.

01:16:35.320 Just the question is, what are you doing there?

01:16:37.640 What could you have possibly gained in any way, shape, or form being in Ghana at the time that this was taking place?

01:16:42.680 And mind you, this is not typically characteristic of when wildfires start here in Los Angeles.

01:16:47.800 But you are the mayor.

01:16:49.540 Shouldn't you be spending most, if not all, of your time in the city that you are a leader in?

01:16:54.340 And it was just unbelievable for her to get here and take no accountability whatsoever for being gone and saying, you know, well, as soon as I heard, I jumped on the quickest flight and I've been doing this and that.

01:17:05.160 Meanwhile, she cut the budget that very well contributed to this entire disaster that we're experiencing right now and would take no sense of accountability for all the leadership mistakes she made leading up to her big trip to Ghana that landed us in this position. 0.68

01:17:19.320 Here's what's really galling.

01:17:20.600 You've got MSNBC's Alex Wagner, and she's not the only one, out there trying to make it sound like it's conservatives who are making an issue of the gender or DEI status of these firefighters, etc. 0.95

01:17:39.160 Like that it's conservatives who have brought up, for example, the lesbianism of the top three fire officials in the LAFD.

01:17:46.780 Take a listen here, SOT 25.

01:17:47.960 You want to talk about fires, they want to talk about DEI.

01:17:52.340 You want to talk about the heroes that have been putting these fires out, they want to talk about the fact that the women that run the fire department are, well, the people that run the fire department are women.

01:18:00.820 They want to talk about DEI.

01:18:02.220 They want to smear a Democrat because he's the guy in charge, if only because he's a Democrat.

01:18:07.560 Link, this is infuriating.

01:18:11.260 There isn't a conservative who wants to talk about the sexual preferences of the fire chief.

01:18:16.860 Not a single person.

01:18:19.080 No one.

01:18:20.340 She wanted to talk about it, which is the reason we are reacting to her making it a thing.

01:18:26.820 Right.

01:18:28.480 I mean, you can tell MSNBC is all about all about DEI because the entire primetime lineup looks transgender. 0.94

01:18:34.460 But one thing Alex Wagner forgot to mention was there were tons of firefighters who were fired for not getting the vaccination.

01:18:41.200 Right. So they were great men and women who were fired for not getting the vaccination.

01:18:45.900 Also, I don't care if someone is black, white, Asian, Hispanic, Indian, male, female, as long as the hydrants have water in them and you can pick me up, scoop me up and carry me out of the burning building.

01:18:58.020 Other than that, I don't really care who you love, who you go to sleep with, anything like that.

01:19:02.640 But Alex Wagner, all she knows is identity politics.

01:19:05.140 These are her talking points.

01:19:06.160 She's on that show, a very liberal show with a very liberal audience.

01:19:09.660 So, of course, she's preaching to the choir.

01:19:11.740 It's amazing how they do this every time.

01:19:14.060 They make identity an issue in the first line of the bio in the case of the L.A.F.D.

01:19:20.640 But so many videos that they've put out pushing how they have too many white men and they need more diversity and they need more women.

01:19:27.640 And yeah, yeah, I'm a lesbian as if anybody cares who she's sleeping with. 0.98

01:19:31.140 Never mind her second and third in command.

01:19:32.980 And then when conservatives after a massive disaster and by the way, it's not just the right.

01:19:37.160 There are many people who are like, why has this been such an issue?

01:19:39.700 Why did taxpayer dollars go to this instead of filling the hydrants?

01:19:43.380 Then they say, oh, it's a conservative pounce situation.

01:19:46.340 Look what care.

01:19:46.800 Well, look what the conservatives care about.

01:19:48.200 They want to talk about the color or the gender or the sexual orientation of the people involved here.

01:19:54.300 No, that's not how it went down.

01:19:57.220 Yeah, 100 percent.

01:19:58.460 You know, they say every time you see somebody who you do not like, you call them a DEI hire.

01:20:02.660 Excuse me.

01:20:03.340 We don't have to call you DEI hires.

01:20:05.140 You do it yourself.

01:20:06.340 We've seen the diversity, equity and inclusion rollout all through L.A.F.D.

01:20:10.380 And people are retorting back and saying, look at this fire chief.

01:20:13.220 She's not just a lesbian. 1.00

01:20:14.320 She's not just a woman. 0.99

01:20:15.180 She's had 22 years experience as a firefighter and an engineer.

01:20:18.740 Excuse me.

01:20:19.600 You're the ones who didn't tell us about the 22 years of experience.

01:20:22.820 You rolled her out as a lesbian woman who's now the fire chief. 1.00

01:20:26.240 And they've wasted time and resources and money, our money, on training these firefighters on implicit bias and white supremacy and the hierarchy of race.

01:20:36.760 That is time and resources that could have been spent doing brush clearance or controlled fires or making sure the fire hydrants actually had water in them or that we could use the water reservoir that had 117 million gallons of water that was rendered unusable in these wildfires.

01:20:51.420 So that's why we're discussing a diversity, equity, inclusion.

01:20:54.160 Yeah. And that Schellenberger was pointing out that, OK, so they had to make repairs to the cover, which is why it was empty.

01:21:00.260 Why did they have to make it during peak fire season?

01:21:02.720 Why couldn't they wait until we weren't in peak fire season?

01:21:04.880 Like how grossly irresponsible these there are unquestionably management fall downs left and right when it comes to what happened out there.

01:21:12.680 And eventually they will be held to account.

01:21:15.020 I know on this subject of look at me, look at me.

01:21:17.720 I'm this. I'm a first this. I'm a first that.

01:21:20.160 We have to say goodbye to Kareem Jean-Pierre.

01:21:22.160 I am sorry, guys, but she's going.

01:21:25.420 It's like this is the way it's going to you know, it's the one sadness of Trump winning, because let's face it, we're going to miss her a little bit.

01:21:32.260 Like, I mean, I kind of missed her word salads.

01:21:34.620 In fact, I'll start with the word salads just so you two will be feeling the pangs that I've been feeling.

01:21:39.460 Here's a little montage of some of the best slash worst of Kareem Jean-Pierre at the podium.

01:21:44.460 Great.

01:21:45.600 It is hard for us to keep up with this president.

01:21:48.680 What I see is a strong, resolute president.

01:21:50.720 We're seeing these deep fakes, these manipulated videos.

01:21:54.500 By the way, used to make beer brewed here.

01:21:57.720 It is used to make the brew beer.

01:22:00.720 Oh, Earth Rider, thanks for the Great Lakes.

01:22:04.020 Is there any possibility that the president would end up pardoning his son?

01:22:08.240 No.

01:22:08.700 You've also said it several times that the president would not pardon or commute sentences for his son, Hunter.

01:22:15.060 I just want to make sure that that is not going to change over the next six months.

01:22:17.900 The president's saying it would not.

01:22:19.800 It's still a no.

01:22:20.880 It's still a no.

01:22:21.440 It will always be a no.

01:22:22.680 It's still a no.

01:22:23.580 It will be a no.

01:22:24.700 It is a no.

01:22:25.860 And I don't have anything else to add.

01:22:27.280 Three U.S. winners of the 2022 Nobel Prize, who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry, who won the Nobel Prize in physics, who won the Nobel Prize in economic sciences.

01:22:39.500 I don't have anything.

01:22:40.760 I don't have anything.

01:22:41.900 I don't have anything.

01:22:43.000 I don't have anything.

01:22:43.720 I just don't have anything.

01:22:44.900 I don't have anything.

01:22:45.560 We don't have anything.

01:22:47.260 Okay, we could have kept going because let's not forget when he thought that the dead congresswoman was alive.

01:22:53.660 Where's Jackie?

01:22:54.960 She was just top of mind.

01:22:56.520 She was top of mind.

01:22:57.620 That's a cream jump here. 0.87

01:22:58.740 Tried to tell us.

01:23:00.200 And the obsessive note reading, right?

01:23:02.660 She could not do the job without reading for the first two years of it.

01:23:07.400 She got a little better on that towards the end.

01:23:09.500 Well, as she goes out, this is her closing message.

01:23:13.480 SOT 20.

01:23:15.960 The job you do questioning leaders and holding the powerful accountable is important.

01:23:22.540 The give and take that happens here is incredibly healthy and it is part of our democracy.

01:23:27.960 It is my sincere hope that I, while I may, be the first for many things at this podium, behind this lectern, I am not the last.

01:23:37.880 I hope my presence at this podium has served as inspiration to many young girls out there who look at me and look at this job and look at what we've been able to do and have a similar background as me.

01:23:52.580 And hopefully they can follow their dreams.

01:23:56.100 Progress is not always a straight line, but we all must do our part.

01:24:00.940 In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday is a day today, bend it towards justice and pay it forward.

01:24:09.420 Her closing message, Amala, is I hope you've found me as inspirational as I find me and that the little girls of America look up to me.

01:24:23.280 What do you make of that?

01:24:24.440 And let's not forget, not just, not all little girls, the little girls who look like me.

01:24:29.180 Okay, so check your skin color first, make sure that we look alike, and then we can relate on this.

01:24:34.180 Yeah, I mean, she's patting herself on the back for her job. 0.82

01:24:37.000 I don't know how well she did that job.

01:24:39.340 She was really good at skirting questions.

01:24:40.920 One thing I'm really going to miss is the neon highlighter outfits.

01:24:44.080 Like, I can't wait to see what outfits she wears out there sometimes. 0.95

01:24:47.500 And her budding romance with Peter Doocy.

01:24:50.860 I love that relationship.

01:24:52.280 I loved watching that play out.

01:24:53.480 I love the banter and the theater of it all.

01:24:55.740 But I don't know that I'm going to miss Karine Jean-Pierre. 0.56

01:24:58.320 I mean, of course, what she's referring to, Link, is the fact that she's black and she's a lesbian. 1.00

01:25:02.240 Like, this is what the left celebrates.

01:25:03.720 It's that's that's her history making role that she hopes everybody will find inspirational.

01:25:09.400 Like, like lesbian children were growing up all over the country thinking, I'm never going to be press secretary because I'm a lesbian. 0.99

01:25:17.780 I mean, so what are we in 1950?

01:25:20.980 Once again, the left is more obsessed with skin color, race, gender than anybody I know on the right.

01:25:29.600 I don't care what Karine Jean-Pierre looks like.

01:25:31.640 I care that she sat up there and gaslit the American people for the last four years into thinking, Joe Biden's fine.

01:25:37.740 He's doing cartwheels in private.

01:25:39.380 He's in great shape.

01:25:40.300 All the while, we are seeing with our own very eyes the guy is not doing well.

01:25:45.460 So Karine Jean-Pierre, I'm not going to miss her.

01:25:47.500 I hope the door doesn't hit her on her way out with her big binder. 1.00

01:25:50.060 She should have spent less time doing Vogue photo shoots and more time preparing for those briefings because she would get up there and say a whole bunch of nothing. 0.68

01:25:58.020 It's amazing, like how little she obviously knows.

01:26:01.060 I don't think she knows that Nobel is a proper noun, that it's an it's a man.

01:26:05.920 It was an actual person.

01:26:06.760 It was a family.

01:26:07.760 And I don't think she understood.

01:26:09.700 Like, I think she thinks it's actually no, like a noble.

01:26:12.400 It's a prize for being noble people.

01:26:15.100 I don't I don't think she knows.

01:26:16.860 She said it over and over and over.

01:26:18.760 Like, how humiliating, right?

01:26:20.840 Anyway, OK, quick pause.

01:26:22.440 We'll be back in one minute.

01:26:23.880 And I'm going to get Link's take on Mike Pence attacking RFKJ.

01:26:29.960 All right.

01:26:30.300 Stand by for that.

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01:27:00.720 Advice.

01:27:01.200 I'm Megan Kelly, host of The Megan Kelly Show on Sirius XM.

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01:28:04.860 So, Link, you worked for RFKJ, and you are going to be very distressed to learn that a major adversary has emerged to his confirmation.

01:28:14.200 He used to be the vice president of the United States under Donald Trump, and his name is Mike Pence.

01:28:21.000 His organization, Advancing American Freedom, is calling for senators to vote against RFKJ's nomination for health and human services secretary over his past support for abortion access.

01:28:33.380 The letter criticized Kennedy as being pro-abortion.

01:28:35.900 This is via Politico, specifically over his past support for abortions later in pregnancy.

01:28:39.680 This position is, quote, completely out of step with a strong pro-life record of the first Trump administration.

01:28:45.320 Are you shaking in your boots?

01:28:47.940 I mean, this is a powerful adversary.

01:28:51.800 Absolutely not.

01:28:53.440 Mike Pence, I'm sure he's a lovely person at times.

01:28:56.240 We have mutual acquaintances.

01:28:57.820 He does great work with Young America's Foundation.

01:29:00.220 But it's my job to call it like I see it. 0.81

01:29:02.360 And in this instance, Mike Pence looks like a smarmy slimeball.

01:29:06.680 This is nothing but an attempt to get some press, to get some attention a few days before Donald Trump's inauguration.

01:29:13.240 Tell me this isn't some high school stuff.

01:29:15.160 A few days before Trump is inaugurated, you release a statement trying to undermine his cabinet appointees.

01:29:22.460 It is so obvious.

01:29:23.900 There is nobody who is going to fight harder for children in this country than Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

01:29:28.660 When we were out there on the campaign trail talking about seed oils, soil in general, dyes in our food, childhood diabetes, public health, there were other GOP challengers saying we were just curating a vibe, we were a fringe campaign, we were a joke.

01:29:42.580 But as it turns out, these are the top concerns for moms and dads across the country.

01:29:47.940 Kids are sicker than they've ever been before.

01:29:50.640 90% of our health care cost, about $4 trillion, goes to chronic disease.

01:29:55.820 So when doctors, when insurance companies, when the pharmaceutical industries see a sick kid come in, they hear cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching, and dollar signs for decades to come.

01:30:05.740 And my issue with Mike Pence is this.

01:30:07.500 Advancing American freedom, unlike other super PACs, unlike other 501c3s, they do not disclose their donors.

01:30:14.280 So I'm not alleging that he's being influenced, but this is a fair question to say, are you getting money through your organization from pharmaceutical companies?

01:30:21.940 You were in charge of Operation Warp Speed.

01:30:23.720 That is really your wheelhouse. You have a lot of friends in the industry.

01:30:26.920 His presidential campaign was also run by a pretty swampy lobbyist.

01:30:30.840 So I would question what his intentions are.

01:30:32.940 And the next thing I'll say is this.

01:30:34.480 Bobby is very reachable.

01:30:36.880 He is notoriously reachable.

01:30:38.540 The man always has his phone in his hand.

01:30:41.320 If Mike Pence sincerely cared about this issue, if Mike Pence was sincere, which I don't think he is, look at the timing.

01:30:46.700 He just wants press. He could have very well called Bobby and said, you know what, I have reservations about past comments you've made on X, Y, and Z.

01:30:54.740 He could have handled it man-to-man in private, and that's not what he did.

01:30:58.300 He decided to put out the statement to get some press because he's still upset with Donald Trump.

01:31:02.600 But what really bothers Mike Pence, what really bothers him, is that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a real guy with grit and character.

01:31:10.780 He's open about his flaws, warts, and all.

01:31:13.680 And he's going to be much more consequential in the history books than Mike Pence ever will be.

01:31:18.940 And that's what's getting under his skin.

01:31:20.260 And RFKJ is becoming like a superhero.

01:31:23.500 I mean, he's got like-

01:31:24.720 Superstar.

01:31:25.920 He's one of those people who like, now he walks into an airport and everybody's like, oh.

01:31:29.280 I mean, he was persona non grata two years ago.

01:31:32.780 You couldn't even platform him anywhere.

01:31:34.860 And like the transformation has been absolutely remarkable.

01:31:36.880 And akin to what we discussed yesterday about how great things are already starting to happen just with the anticipation of Trump being sworn in, like the deal between the Israelis and Gaza, like, according to Pete, already seeing recruiting numbers go up in the armed forces, like the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act passing in the House.

01:31:59.540 Like, things are already starting to go in the right direction.

01:32:02.540 We got another.

01:32:03.280 It's a smaller piece.

01:32:04.040 But as a mom myself, I love it.

01:32:06.880 Where the FDA has now banned red dye number three from foods.

01:32:11.240 They had it banned from makeup because they recognized it was a carcinogen, but not from foods.

01:32:18.640 What sense does that make?

01:32:21.160 And I have to say, I'll just stick with you on this link since you work for RFKJ.

01:32:24.300 It's another thing that he's been jumping up and down about, but people have been dismissing him as a kook.

01:32:29.260 And now, what do you know?

01:32:30.840 The FDA comes around to see it his way.

01:32:34.860 Right.

01:32:35.220 I mean, not to make this all about me, and let me preface this by saying I'm only speaking for myself.

01:32:39.120 Right now, I love Bobby, his family, I'm close with some of his kids, his wife Cheryl, but I'm only speaking for myself right now.

01:32:45.440 When we were on the campaign trail and speaking about these issues, like the dyes in our food, the mainstream media mocked us, laughed at us, called us a fringe campaign.

01:32:54.580 We were taking bows and arrows, but we knew very deliberately these were top winning issues.

01:33:00.700 And it's why in a recent YouGov CBS poll, RFKJ, as you call him, has the highest favorability of any incoming appointee from the Trump administration.

01:33:09.960 Right. So it's the highest favorability.

01:33:11.220 So it's not surprising that there are bows and arrows coming at him from Mike Pence and some of these swampy creatures.

01:33:16.580 But when we traveled across the country, the moms and the dads, I will say, who came up at events saying, I have a sick child and I can't get answers.

01:33:24.320 It was every single event.

01:33:26.480 I know because I was signed in on all of his social media accounts, thousands of comments and messages every single day.

01:33:32.040 My child has diabetes and asthma and the doctors say they can't figure out what's wrong.

01:33:36.120 We are being mass poisoned by our food.

01:33:38.480 And that's not hyperbole, right?

01:33:39.800 I'm not a conspiracy theorist.

01:33:41.020 I'm actually quite a boring person, but we are being mass poisoned by what we're ingesting.

01:33:45.300 We have things in other countries that we have things here that they don't have in other countries.

01:33:48.840 So I'm not going to sit here and just defend Bobby all day long.

01:33:51.820 But this is what it is.

01:33:53.820 No, now they're going to have to find something else to color the cough syrup like beets the way they do in Europe.

01:34:01.340 Something edible that doesn't cause cancer.

01:34:04.400 This is why I think it's so interesting, Amala, as we get ready for the RFKJ confirmation hearing,

01:34:09.240 that the Democrats are in a tough spot because, first of all, his positions, when actually explained,

01:34:17.200 are going to be very popular, very popular with most Americans when they actually hear him.

01:34:21.900 And second of all, there is not a more effective advocate for said positions than this man,

01:34:29.260 who is extremely articulate and there's no one who will be better prepared on all.

01:34:36.820 He has 70 years of living each one of these issues and debating them in courts, in legal papers, with his critics, his harshest critics.

01:34:46.900 He's not like a Democrat behind closed doors who never has to engage.

01:34:50.300 So it's going to be actually, I think, potentially explosive and highly entertaining for the rest of us.

01:34:55.660 Yeah, and I think they've already exhausted every single avenue of attack in Trump's first term.

01:35:01.240 So I don't know how the media is going to be able to spin everything that this administration is doing when this is truly a bipartisan issue.

01:35:06.780 I mean, we are all experiencing the sickness that is running rampant in this country,

01:35:10.880 the high rates of the obesity of a chronic illness,

01:35:14.300 the industry that the big pharma has become and how much it's become a staple in each of our lives.

01:35:20.880 When you have a nation that is trying to answer childhood obesity rates with putting them on Ozempic,

01:35:26.240 we clearly have a problem.

01:35:28.080 And RFK is going to come in and just point out things that should be blatantly obvious to every single American.

01:35:33.560 So I think there's going to be some initial media poll of calling him a conspiracy theorist and an anti-vaxxer

01:35:39.480 and trying to call out, you know, this connection that he wants to make between vaccines and autism.

01:35:44.380 But once that dies down and he starts effectively working on everyday issues that every single American is struggling through right now,

01:35:51.720 once our food gets better, once we start exercising more, once obesity rates start going down,

01:35:56.220 once rates of chronic illness start going down, there's going to be nothing to say about this man.

01:36:00.980 So I do want to tell the audience that after Casey Means came on the show and I read her amazing book, Good Energy,

01:36:06.160 and she and Callie Means are working with RFKJ on a lot of things,

01:36:09.740 we did do what she recommended, which was get a carbon filter for our entire house.

01:36:17.500 You know, if you have a big water tank in your basement or whatever,

01:36:19.860 they basically just have to replace it with one that has a carbon filter.

01:36:22.980 And so it's big, you know, you have to get one of those and it filters the water.

01:36:25.720 But then on top of that, out of the drinking faucet, the main drinking faucet in the kitchen,

01:36:29.000 we didn't do it on every sink.

01:36:32.240 We got an RO filter.

01:36:33.740 So the water that we drink, you know, most of the time, we drink out of some other faucets too,

01:36:38.180 also goes through the RO filter.

01:36:40.940 And the water is so clean and tastes so good.

01:36:46.240 And it gets rid of so many bad things that are in your water.

01:36:50.660 I don't want fluoride in my water.

01:36:52.400 And my friends at the Fifth Column mocked RFKJ for that.

01:36:55.080 And I said, you just wait.

01:36:55.980 It actually is a neurotoxin.

01:36:57.500 Why is it in our way?

01:36:58.360 We don't need it in our water.

01:36:59.780 I think it's going to come out of the water and it should.

01:37:01.340 And more and more states are starting to do it.

01:37:03.000 Not to mention chlorine that's in there,

01:37:05.360 a bunch of other minerals and metals and things that you don't need.

01:37:09.520 And if you want to re-infuse your water with certain minerals, you can.

01:37:12.480 We chose not to do it.

01:37:13.200 But anyway, I do feel like it's the beginning of a new day with him coming in,

01:37:18.620 talking sense about our food, our agriculture, our medicine, our drugs.

01:37:25.640 Like, thank God, I'm sure he's going to be confirmed.

01:37:28.620 We have somebody who's willing to say these things and is not owned by anyone.

01:37:32.520 His confirmation hearing has not yet been set.

01:37:34.500 It will be.

01:37:35.180 He will be subjected to this horrible, painful cross-examination that these people can come

01:37:39.780 up with.

01:37:40.400 But no one's going to be able to lay a glove on him, Link.

01:37:44.800 Absolutely not.

01:37:45.660 I mean, this man, he loves to argue.

01:37:47.720 He's been an attorney for decades.

01:37:49.420 He's argued massive cases.

01:37:51.260 I mean, look at the Monsanto case, right?

01:37:52.900 So one thing I know about Bobby is he is not stressing or scared about this confirmation

01:37:57.360 hearing whatsoever.

01:37:58.620 If you asked him right now, he would tell you verbatim, it's in God's hands.

01:38:02.200 It's God's will.

01:38:02.880 It's up to God.

01:38:03.740 What's meant to be will be.

01:38:04.960 And he genuinely believes that.

01:38:06.600 And one thing about him also is he is fearless.

01:38:09.120 He is not scared about bad press.

01:38:11.100 He's not scared about being embarrassed, humiliated.

01:38:13.520 They will throw everything in in the kitchen sink at him during this confirmation hearing.

01:38:17.320 But if he can save one child in this country, then he knows it's all worth it.

01:38:22.460 Mm-hmm.

01:38:23.740 Okay.

01:38:24.140 I want to end with this because it's amazing.

01:38:26.880 The iconic photo of Trump in his mugshot, right?

01:38:30.840 Which served as just a rallying cry for so many Americans who were incensed by the law

01:38:37.260 fair against him.

01:38:38.020 All right.

01:38:38.460 You remember that mugshot, right?

01:38:40.580 Well, now he has to, as he's about to be inaugurated for the second time, he needs an

01:38:46.540 official presidential photograph.

01:38:49.140 And last night it was revealed on X by chief photographer for the president-elect Donald

01:38:53.040 J.

01:38:53.280 Trump, Daniel Turok, T-O-R-O-K. 0.97

01:38:56.720 Look at this.

01:38:58.900 Oh my goodness.

01:38:59.260 It's amazing.

01:39:03.020 I love it.

01:39:03.480 He's effectively recreated the mugshot as president.

01:39:10.540 This says so much, doesn't it?

01:39:14.720 Defiant, not afraid to remind you of what they put him through, and back, baby.

01:39:22.720 What do you make of it?

01:39:23.860 Right.

01:39:25.300 I mean, it's absolutely iconic that he's done this.

01:39:28.100 It's finally somebody getting the last lap after everything that he's been subjected

01:39:32.320 to.

01:39:32.680 The tax on his family, the law fair against him, the endless witch hunts, the media propaganda.

01:39:38.040 I mean, it's just been absolutely endless.

01:39:40.000 And the fact that he's even here to make it through to a second term and is willing to

01:39:43.220 do that for this country has just been absolutely amazing.

01:39:46.180 So to make that final shot look so close to that mugshot is simply iconic.

01:39:50.940 And now he has these next four years to really, truly transcend everything and every single

01:39:56.160 attack that anybody has ever made against him, including arresting him in this way.

01:40:00.420 It had to be intentional link.

01:40:02.120 No.

01:40:03.840 Oh, totally intentional.

01:40:05.380 Daniel was a friend of mine and he was texting me yesterday.

01:40:07.440 He's like, check your inbox, check your inbox.

01:40:09.040 I'm like, why, why, why?

01:40:10.220 And then he had tagged me in this picture.

01:40:11.620 I'm like, this is sick.

01:40:13.260 This is exactly what he needed to do.

01:40:15.060 Reclaim that mugshot.

01:40:16.140 All of the law fair against Trump, the millions, probably hundreds of millions of tax dollars

01:40:20.860 that were spent trying to throw him in prison.

01:40:22.840 And it did not work.

01:40:24.700 Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

01:40:26.980 He just came back stronger and won the election in a landslide and is on his way to the inauguration

01:40:31.780 in a few days.

01:40:32.460 So I love the picture.

01:40:33.820 Trump knows good iconography, good imagery.

01:40:35.700 And this was perfect.

01:40:37.180 I love it, too.

01:40:39.100 I'm loving link.

01:40:40.020 Thank you both so much for being here.

01:40:41.800 Love to see you.

01:40:42.800 And we are back tomorrow with Maureen Callahan.

01:40:45.800 We'll see you then.

01:40:48.300 Thanks for listening to The Megyn Kelly Show. 0.94

01:40:50.480 No BS, no agenda, and no fear.

The Megyn Kelly Show - January 16, 2025

Biden Mumbles Through Farewell Speech, and Jill's Mean Girl Exit, with Ana Kasparian, Kevin Madden, Amala Ekpunobi, and Link Lauren ｜ Ep. 984

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