KAMALA SMOKES TRUMP IN FIRST POLLS - 7.24.24

You have heard the poll ipsos for Reuters Harris forty two Trump thirty h Kennedy h in the three party race, and Harris forty four Trump forty two head to head, a four point shift to Kamala Harris in one week. But have you heard the other polls Maris for NPR and the PBS News Hour Harris forty two, Trump forty two, Kennedy seven Trump forty six, Harris forty five. You Gov for Yahoo News Harris forty six, Trump forty six. These numbers are from at the latest, the first full day

of the Harris campaign. There are voters who do not know she is going to be the Democratic nominee for president. Could be a million of them, could be twenty million of them. It is hard to say. And she is already in a statistical tie. And yet the most jaw

dropping poll is none of these. It is from a state and I had to look up the pollster, whereupon my jaw dropped a second time in the same poll Georgia conducted Monday, Trump forty eight Harris forty seven by Landmark Communications, And who in the hell is Landmark Communications? Oh my god, it's a Republican internal pollster in Georgia. From its website. Mark Rowntree is president of Landmark Communications,

which he founded in nineteen ninety one. He's been professionally engaged as run more than two thousand different Georgia elections, including statewide, congressional, legislative and local campaigns and elections magazine I Let my subscription lapse. Campaign and Elections magazine has recognized Mark as one of Georgia's five top influencers, as well as quote the go to man for GOP legislative candidates. Landmark regularly polls Georgia and is rated in an A

minus grade by five thirty eight dot com. Sweet Jesus on hockey skates, Kamala Harris trails Trump in Georgia by one according to the leading Republican pollster. The last Trump Biden polled there earlier this month. Trump by five, four June Trump by five, January Trump by eight. Also back to the National Poll's marist, what is your impression of Kamala Harris registered voters Monday? Favorable forty four, unfavorable forty six. So she's two points underwater. That sounds meh. Trump is

nineteen points underwater nineteen. Joe Biden is eighteen points underwater. Kamala Harris minus two. We joined the Trump campaign in full fledged pole panic, frantically lowering the bar already in progress. A memo at midday yesterday from Tony Fabrizio, Trump polster who now works at MAGA Inc. Even though Trump tried to stiff him for seven hundred and sixty seven thousand dollars, it owed him from polling during the twenty sixteen campaign.

Part of his memo quote, many of you have heard me refer to the upcoming Harris honeymoon that I expect to see in the public polling over the next couple of weeks, he wrote an hour before it began. As I've explained, the honeymoon will be a manifestation of the wall to wall coverage Harris receives from the MSM. The coverage will be largely positive and will certainly energize Democrats and some other parts of their coalition, at least in

the short term. That means we will start to see public polling, particularly national public polls, where Harris is gaining on or even leading Trump. Obviously, the situation we find ourselves in today is totally uncharted territory and has no modern historical parallel, but there are some things that haven't changed due to the events of the past two weeks, including our highly successful convention. Did you see the speech Tony?

President Trump has seen a bump in his numbers in a number of recent public polls, not surprising given that most candidates historically receive some type of bump. Given what has happened over the past last couple of days and her impending VP choice, there is no question that Harris will get her bump earlier than the Democrats convention, and that bump is likely to start showing itself over the

next few days. Tick tick ticket forty five minutes later and will last a while until the race settles back down. The Democrats and the MSM Fabrizio Rights will try and tout these polls as proof that the race has changed, but the fundamentals of the race stay the same. The Democrats deposing one nominee for another does not change voter's discontent over the economy, inflation, crime, the open border housing costs,

not to mention concern over two foreign wars. Before long, Harris's honeymoon will end and voters will refocus on her role as Biden's partner and co pilot. Copilot is the funniest word I've ever heard used as an attempt to slur somebody. So Trump's convention bump and the so somebody nearly shot him with a paper clip. No, no bullet bump. They're already baked in here. But it's Harris who has the honeymoon at the moment. Here's the graveyard, and right

next to it, here's Team Trump whistling past it. Because there's one little thing Tony left out of his memo. Did you notice one small detail that we can now stop wasting so much of our energy, devoting so much of this campaign to denying and finessing and finding the very real silver linings while trying to deprioritize the equally real thunderstorm clouds that contain them. Nowhere in the Trump internal polling memo is a reference to that pesky little

age thing. I wonder did anybody pull the new campaign between Trump and Harris on the age thing? Oh oh, look here it is. It's Ipsos for routers. Thank you God for ipsos for routers Monday and some yesterday. Do you agree or disagree? At seventy eight years old, Trump is too old to work in government. Agree fifty three percent, disagree forty three percent. But wait, there's more? Do you agree or disagree? Kamala Harris is mentally sharp and able

to deal with challenges. Agree fifty six percent, disagree thirty seven percent. Check plays now, polls change, and Tony the unpaid Trump pollster is right about honeymoons and bumps and fundamentals, And though he didn't mention it in the memo, the fact that you always should get Trump to pay you up front. But the reason I began to say that we would soon be saying, can you believe we came

this close to not making vice president Harris? The nominee was not about those which blunt we are unforeseeably great bump or no bumps and honeymoons or no honeymoons. Now, this is about something else. I actually first felt a version of this question before the debate, the same time I heard, for the first time, perhaps a year, Vice President Harris give a speech. I had stopped listening to

her speeches, and I'll explain why in a moment. But first, this is the candidate yesterday throwing out the opening pitch on opening day in Milwaukee.

just enough to drive you crazy within minutes. I heard it during the twenty nineteen twenty twenty primary season, and I thought she could never get elected. The click, in short order becomes all you can hear. The click is gone. I don't know what she did. I don't know if it was conscious. I don't know if they worked on it for two years. It's gone. The click is gone, and honestly, I think so are Trump's chances. Famous last words, I know these poll numbers could be a honeymoon, though,

tell me when was the last American political honeymoon? Maybe Obama? Maybe, I mean in the late primaries. It could be just a bump. Or it could be this other thing that we tended to discount much of this year. It could be the voters who have been screaming at everybody. We told you we didn't want either of them. We told you we wanted somebody younger, almost anybody younger. Oh thanks, there's somebody younger. If that's what this is, this could

be a democratic landslide. Can you believe we came this close to not making Vice President Harris the nominee? By the way, A PostScript I think the polls that Nancy showed President Biden Nancy Pelosi. That is sure. There were the polls about how he was losing all the swing states and creating new swing states, and the national polls. I think she also showed him ones that we have not yet seen that look like those hypotheticals I quoted last week in which we go from Biden down five

in the swing states to somebody else up seven. Only it's not some tiononary somebody else in the ones I think Pelosi showed Biden. It's Kamala somebody else Harris who's up by seven in the Swing states, or can be Ohwen. She probably also showed Joe Biden fundraising expectations, and my god, it just keeps coming. Plus now there are Harris jokes, good Harris jokes about Harris fundraising. I don't see an

official update as I record this. I expect that the two hundred and twenty three thousand dollars a minute clip will have leveled off somewhat. But we did get this in the inbox quote over one hundred million dollars raised for Kamala that was sent by JD Vance. Thanks JD by the way, that was one hundred million dollars as of our thirty six. The fundraising jokes too. I wanted to mention from the comedian Paul Rudnick. Kamala raises any

more money, Millennia marry her good from Heather Thomas. Kamala Harris has raised so much money, Clarence Thomas wants to vacation with her. We had another example of the media being too stupid for words talk about jokes. A debate A Harris Trump debate. The headline at the website The Hill, Trump commits to debating Harris, would be willing to do

more than one. In point of fact, as the story reveals, Trump was uncommitting from the scheduled debate against Harris on ABC in September and committing to other hypothetical ones, but only on his terms. In other words, they got the story entirely incorrect. Quote I have at least equals say, and I don't like the idea of ABC, Trump told reporters on a press call, I would be willing to do more than one debate, actually, but he added that he had not agreed to anything as far as to

a debate with Harris. I agreed to a debate with Joe Biden. Why don't you go do that? Maybe they'll put it on radio. I agreed to a debate with Joe Biden, but I want to debate her. They have the same policies. I think debating is important for a presidential race. I'm only seventy eight and a half years old.

My name is Elmer j FID millionaire. I own a mansion in a yacht I was suggested to this crazy old man that he take whatever terms he can get in a debate, because it may shortly be clear, even to him in his adult state of mind, that his only chance is if she bothers to debate him. Now happily in the background, it's not like the Republican rank

and file is panicking or anything. From Politico. House Republican leaders told law makers to focus on criticizing Harris's record without reference to her race and gender, following caustic remarks from some Republicans attacking her on the basis of identity. One hundred percent is some right. During a closed door meeting yesterday, chair of the House GOP campaign arm Richard Hudson and others issued the warning after a series of comments by their members that focused on Harris's race, as

well as claims she is a quote DEI pick. According to two people in the room, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, who is really dumb. This should not be about personalities. It should be about policy. And we have a record to compare DEI. You're trying to get them to not say DEI. I mean, what is it. It's a week since the Trump crony Sebastian Gorka called Kamala Harris quote colored unquote, and you're trying to stop them from saying DEI. You are telling your collection of white

supremacist morons not to call her DEI. Well, guess what, here's a shock. They're not listening to you, Richard Hudson, Mike Johnson. They're listening to Sebastian Gorka. This is Harriet Hageman, who primaried and beat Liz Cheney and who is as widely noted. Well, maybe also George Santos. When George Santos is dressed up as Katara Ravasche dead ringers, they're dead ringers for one another. Also, as you listen to Harriet George Katara Ravasch Santos Hagman to get the full flavor

of the thing of what she means. Imagine at the end that she does not say DEI, but what she and the others really want to say, that she's saying the N word.

inflated or stuffed or both. He's not making a good impression. Also, there's the little matter of CNN breaking the story that he repeatedly indicated in twenty sixteen that he believed Donald Trump had committed sexual assault. CNN reported that Vance appeared on an MSNBC segment in October that year on Trump's alleged misconduct sexual misconduct, in which an interview with Jessica Leads, who accused Trump of groping and forcibly kissing her during

a flight in the nineteen seventies. The tape was played, Vance said it was hard to believe Trump's denials. Quote at a fundamental level, this is sort of a he said, She said, right, And at the end of the day, Trump's vice presidential nominee JD. Vance said, do you believe Donald Trump, who always tells the truth just kidding? Or do you believe that woman on the tape? Can they have another convention since that last convention went so so

well for them and picked somebody else? Anybody else? Anybody know where Mike Pence is at the moment. Hello, I'm Vice President Mike Pence for the Trump Pence twenty twenty four campaign. I know, I know you're asking why one more item here? Trump and the Magic Bullet this is

finally sneaking into the mainstream again. A CNN piece not on the air on the website, Sanjay Gupta writes, although the images we've seen of Trump since his attempted assassination have been those of a person who was barely injured and is now in high spirits, what we've been told by the campaign offers very little insight into the former president's condition, what kind of care he received, or how his medical team will monitor him in the days and

weeks ahead. Oh really, I hadn't noticed this. A full public assessment of Trump's injuries is necessary for both the former president's own health yeah okay, and the clarity it can provide for voters about the recovery of the man who could become president of the United States once again. The concern is that gunshot blasts near the head can cause injuries that aren't immediably noticeable, such as bleeding in or on the brain, damage to the inner ear, or

even psychological trauma. His head is not big enough to contain any more psychological trauma. This has to be it. He is already the craziest man in public discourse in the United States, certainly North America, probably the entire hemisphere. Oh, he might have a little bit more psychological trauma. Well, then he'll be an axe murderer by the end of

the week. As a trauma neurosurgeon, I have seen how a thorough evaluation after any kind of gunshot wound can provide a complete picture and lead to a speedier recovery. Sonjay's spoiler alert, it wasn't a bullet, bottle cap, piece

of plastic, possibly a very old hard gum ball. Why are they keeping this a secret because they can't face the idea one particular aspect apart from the martyrdom, apart from the he can stop a bullet with his bare ear, apart from the he took a bullet from democracy, all of these lines that would instantly vanish if there were in fact, open proof that he was hit by some sort of debris, even though to you and I they tried to kill him and he got hit by something

and it opened up a wound on his ear, and if he just played it straight, we couldn't have said anything about it. We couldn't have mocked him for it. We couldn't have accused him of exaggerating it. We couldn't have used it against him, And here he has created this entire situation simply by not telling the truth. If people shoot at you and you are running for president of the United States, and other people get killed and wounded because of those bullets, and you get hit by

some sort of essentially improvised shrapnel, that counts. That was an assassination attempt. That was an assassination attempt by gun. That counts. But they can't let it happen that way because of one line that would result the idea that when Trump dived under that podium, he was diving to get out of the way of a bottle cap. They cannot face the idea that Trump would have had to dive under the podium unless it was a bullet. What

if it wasn't a lethal threat to him? What if it had hit him in the back of the head, whatever it was, and it wasn't a bullet. Even if the other bullet in that photograph whizzed right past him and didn't strike him, and he got hit by some sort of debris struck somewhere along the way, buy that bullet or some other bullet. We don't see the difference.

They are living and dying over it. It could become something that would do as much damage to the Trump campaign as Kamala Harris is doing to the Trump campaign. And I'll explain to you again from my personal experience where this comes from, in this kind of reptile mind that is at the back of every Republican candidate and voter. In September of two thousand and six, I received a package of fake anthrax in my mail at home. From the beginning, it was obvious it was fake anthrax, except

what if it wasn't. I knew, because I happened to be at that moment on antibiotics, that I was not going to get anthrax, let alone die from it. But the building was full of ninety three year old ladies. What if the one in a billion chants were true that it was anthrax, and so somehow somebody dealing with anthrax who did not kill themselves while dealing with anthrax,

managed to put anthrax in the mail to me. What if that happened and the ninety three year old ladies all got it and died, which is exactly the scenario

that took place in the actual anthrax attacks. After nine to eleven in the early winter of two thousand and one, including one at the Rupert Murdoch paper the New York Post, but because it was not actually anthrax, and when I called the Department of Homeland Security, and a wonderful exhibition of your tax dollars in action was played out in front of me as has Matt suit after has Matt's suit marched through my apartment and the departments adjoining, and

they finally ordered me into the ambulance at threat of arrest, to spend the night being checked for anthrax just in case, on the same premise that I had called them just in case. After that was leaked the New York Post, when the FBI asked me not to report it so they could get a head start on finding the guy

who did it, and ultimately they did. As I have described here in previous episodes, this fake anthrax attack was very much a terrorist act, and the man who did it and sent similar packages to others and ultimately sent me four different packages of fake anthrax went to prison.

I believe it was for three years. I think he still has a parole officer or at least a probation officer, and he literally lived in his mother's basement in southern California and thought the two most beautiful women in the world were Laura Ingram and culture. But what was the reaction to this? This was exactly what The New York Post,

when it was leaked to them wrote, MSNBC. Oh the headline powder puff spooks Keith, not something about how taking precaution here MSNBC loudmouth Keith Alderman flipped out when he opened his home yesterday. The acerbic cob was terrified when he opened a suspicious looking letter with a California postmark and a batch of white powder poured out a note inside. Warrened Olderman, who's a frequent critic of President Bush's policies, that it was payback for some of his on air stick.

The caustic commentator panicked and frantically called nine to one one at about twelve thirty am. Sources told the post's Philip Messing himself? Is that Philip Messing? That's Philip Messing himself. An NYPD has Matt Unit rushed to Olberman's pad, but preliminary tests indicated the substance was harmless soap powder. However, that wasn't enough to satisfy Olberman, who insisted on a checkup, as I pointed out, no, I said, why do you have to Why do I have to go to the

hospital all night just in case? Okay, what if I don't, we'll arrest you under public health charges. He asked to be taken to Saint Luke's Hospital, where looked him over and sent him home. Whether they gave him a lollipop on the way out is it known? Alderman had no comment. Imagine the right wing media having to deal with the reality that Donald Trump was not hit by a bullet, but was hit by I don't know, fake anthrax, harmless soap powder, a lollipop, debris from an assassin's bullet is

not to them the same as an assassin's bullet. Ultimately, this christ like act by Trump taking a bullet for democracy suddenly that turns into powder puff spooks Trump and that's why they are doing this and why Trump continues to hide the real story of how his ear got nearly fail scratched. Don't you say it wasn't real. Don't you say it wasn't a real bullet. He didn't just he didn't dive and hide under that lectern because he was a bullet he was almost dead. In fact, his

head came off. I saw him put his head back on. He stitched it himself. He's Jesus. But let us not get lost in the conservative weeds. Kamala Harris, first full day on the camp. For first full day on the campaign, thrown in at the last minute. The award winning actor

can't perform. You have to go on. A star is born, starring Kamala Harris, first day out of the box with an epic speech, a declaration of war on Trump in said speech, millions more in don nations and of course ahead in the Reuter's poll, a point back in the Georgia poll. Approval poll number is seventeen points better than Trump. To start with, polling, polling, polling, polling pole Oh wait, wait, wait, wait wait, oh, Nancy, the same melody, different lyrics, polland

polland poll in. Keep those numbers rolling, get them margin swollen, vice press day three ONSU already kicking drop. He wants to see the manager and soon two points the top of the match up. Now make sure he don't catch up. Remember don vote for the old guy. I can Nancy fast theme from ra Hind also of interest here. So another Republican elected official has threatened civil war, only this one tried to take it back, and he says we

all need to watch our words. Dude, you said that if you didn't get your way and the Republicans did not win the election, you would start a civil war with your little guns. The government has all the tanks and the jets, and the government the governments. The government's run by Democrats. We all need to watch our words. Bullshit, dude, you need to watch your words. That's next. This is countdown. This is countdown, with Keith Olberman still ahead of us.

On this edition of Countdown, I slammed Aaron Sorkin yesterday for his classic and perfectly timed New York Times op ed Sunday morning that yes, Joe Biden should step aside to be replaced by Mitt Romney. I mentioned that Aaron Sorkin had, over the years, gone from being a friend who I admired and who apparently admired me, to a guy who admired me too much and started borrowing stuff from me, like my career, all the stories in it

for free. If you don't know that story, let me tell you of the day I heard my own father's favorite phrase come out of the mouth of Aaron Sorkin's lead character in Things I Promised Not to Tell First. There are still more new idiots to talk about. The daily roundup of the miss Grants, morons and Dunning Kruger effects specimens who constitute today worst persons in the world.

The Bronze Valentina Gomez, the twenty five year old Colombian born anti immigration candidate for Secretary of State in Missouri. Anti immigration because of course she is. She's here already. Why do we need other immigrants? Valentina does videos, usually with weapons, and she's often seen wearing a size seven Maga hat, even though her head seems to be about a four. Recently, this Gomez attacked Missouri State Senator Barbara Pheiffer,

who has a trans grandchild. As they reported, the tension escalated when Gomez launched a personal attack on Pfeiffer via social media. You have a trans grandchild, she wrote, that means you raised a r you failed your children, and they failed your grandchildren. Also, you're irrelevant and you belong in a nursing home. Pfeiffer is and has been for forty years, a Methodist minister. Her response it's concerning anytime a person attacks a child. Attacks on children have no

place anywhere on anything. Miss Gomez has not been listening. There's another video of her burning LGBTQ themed books with a flamethrower. There's another one in which she urged voters not to be quote weak and gay. And now she has filmed a campaign ad on the balcony of the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the Capitol in Washington, where campaign politics is explicitly prohibited by law and by custom.

In it, she says something. Miss Gomez has a fairly standard Colombian sibilant s. So all I ever hear is I'm Valentina and I'm seeking the office of Secretary of State. She's not likely to be in trouble, even though the video boasts about how they don't like her on the speaker's balcony and says she's on the speaker's balcony, and then she shows a picture of herself with an AR fifteen.

Of course, but if somebody wants to file an ethics complaint about Speaker Mike Johnson for letting his speaker's balcony be used illegally, well, you know, try to find him, you should first look in a church where he will be pretending to pray. Above that new video shot on the speaker's balcony, Miss Gomez claims she's quote on fire with the truth. Now I'm going to need to see that video to confirm that optimistic statement. Run her up.

And once again, if you think National Republicans are idiots and psychotics, you really haven't taken a good look at the people they have elected at the state and even the city level. The runner up worser George Lang, Ohio state Senator, who now says he regrets the divisive remarks he made in the excitement of the moment on stage, especially in light of the assassination attempt of President Trump last week, We should all be mindful of what is

said at political events. Myself included what did he say? I'll play it for you in a moment. First, I'd like to point out that he's an Ohio State senator. He got the office, he was appointed to it. His background he was on the zoning board for Westchester Township and he was a trustee there for fourteen years. And he used to work at Procter and Gamble. And it says quote Lang is a member of the Boy Scouts of America. What did he say own nothing at a

JD Vance rally. He simply threatened civil war if he doesn't get what he and the other white folk want.

entirely confined to Westchester, Ohio. But our winners the New York Post and Senator Mike Lee of Utah, who led the charge yesterday, the attempt to kill former President Jimmy Carter yesterday. This is a screenshot, apparently of a Google search of an article that The New York Post posted and then quickly got rid of. And it has the Post logo. We believe it's accurate, and it has the headline former President Jimmy Carter dead at ninety nine New

York Post, which isn't true. He's not dead, but the synopsis reads today Jimmy Carter, the Georgia peanut farmer who became the thirty ninth President of the United States during a time of gas shortages, Cold War drama and ellipses. That's as much as they could get into the Google search. Then they killed it. The New York Posts post it first, try to find out if it's real later or not

at all. New York Post, which, if it were required to make a profit rather than simply massage Rupert Murdoch's ego, i e. His balls, it would have gone out of business in nineteen ninety four. Rupert Murdoch and The New York Post. If you ever read something in The New York Post it sounds too good to be true, or too bad to be true, or simply badly written, you know it's not the truth because it's in the New

York Post. And all the good people who work for the New York Posts say, in the sports department, you are contributing to Rupert Murdoch's attempt to destroy the United States of America. I got into a long argument once with a Post sports writer who says, you're harming my business, and I said, your business is predicated on putting the United States out of business. It's not my department. It

doesn't matter if it's not your department. The line for you to get into hell with the other Rupert Murdoch employees is not going to discriminate between those who worked in sports and those who worked in killing Jimmy Carter in the paper. And by the way, the Post is not the worst. It's only tied for the worst because the worst is Mike Lee, possibly the dumbest man ever to serve in government, including that Lang guy from Ohio.

The reason the Post posted what it apparently did, and what Mike Lee posted was there was a letter with a faked heading on it office of Jimmy Carter, dated yesterday's date, and Mike Lee simply copied it, pasted it, and posted it on Twitter X. Mike Lee at based Mike Lee former President Jimmy Carter has died. Mike Lee said, well, if Mike Lee says it, you know it's not true. It's not true. My thoughts and prayers are with his family. I'll mention this in the Reuter's article about this disaster

by Mike Lee and The New York Post. In response to a request for comment, the owner of the account took credit for creating the fake Jimmy Carter letter, telling Reuters in a direct message, I created it last that would be Monday night. The amount of misinformation which spread throughout the weekend surrounding the state of President Biden's health was maddening. I wanted to prove that many people on X often spread sensationalist news and headlines without fact checking

or double checking the source content. You think the rest of this stuff After the initial former President Jimmy Carter James Earl of Carter Junior aka passionate, champion of human rights, democracy, World War Two, veteran blah blah blah. With family by his side, President Carter did this foreign policy ecomma. That's the second paragraph, third of a Domestically President carter achievement included installing solar panels on the White House blah blah

blah blah blah the fourth one. Despite these successes as president, now you think you would have read some of this, or somebody would have read some of this. No, he's Mike Lee. He has the IQ of a fish and not a brightfish. Despite these successes as president all his life, President Carter considered his marriage to former First Lady Rosalind Carter his life's greatest achievement. At her passing last November, President Carter said Roseland was a battie. Jill Milania, even

throat goat Nancy Reagan had nothing on Rosalind. She was the original brat. She gave me wise, guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalind was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me. They were married for seventy seven years. That the question of the quote in here about calling her a baddie or referring to Nancy Reagan as throat goat. That didn't get anybody's attention, That didn't send up a red flag.

What was trueth in nineteen ninety nine is trueth today? No one hath read it the link, No one clickth, no one readeth the New York Post. It's Murdoch, of course it's wrong, and Mike, but the quoted here from Carter's scholar, Oh wah tunas I am. That means it's true, right Lee, two days worse persons, Jimmy Carter is not dead in the world. Finally our number one story in the countdown things I promised not to tell And back

to my favorite topic me. I heard Jeff Daniels say the words, and in the next minute my cell phone rang. It was an ex girlfriend. While we were talking, an email arrived from another ex girlfriend, and then in came a text from the current girlfriend at her folks house, and two more emails, and before I was off the phone to voicemails, and then regular friends started to contact me. This is just over ten years ago now. It was Sunday,

August fifth, twenty twelve. Jeff Daniels was playing the controversial newscaster and commentator on Aaron Sorkin's HBO series Newsroom, which was based structurally on Me and Countdown. And I know this because Aaron Sorkin told me so before he filmed any of it. And I know this because he asked me if he could base the pilot episode on what happened to me at MSNBC in the spring and summer of twenty ten. And I know this because he came in and shadowed the staff of Countdown for two days

to get the feel for the place. And I know this because he wound up basing one character, Maggie Jordan, on my assistant, Margaret Judson, and then hiring Margaret Judson as a consultant, and then hiring her as an actress to play a part that wasn't supposed to be her. And I know this because he was He's furious when I would not fly to Denver. I think it was to do a cameo in the pilot. And I know this because he said he was hiring me as a consultant. And I know this because I never saw a dime

out of it. This was the second time Aaron Sorkin had based one of his TV series on one of my TV series. The other was called Sports Night, and Esquire magazine once asked me to interview Sorkin about Sports Night, and I asked him the real tough question, what was the origin of Sports Night? And his answer was, quote, you are the origin. So when The New York Times had called me about Newsroom, I lightheartedly said it was nice to know in advance this time that Aaron Sorkin

was making a TV series about me. Sorkin did not like this at all, and he told all his actors to tell all their interviewers that this was not true. And I know that because Jeff Daniels told me that that was what Sorkin had told him. Sorkin is interesting. I had known him him for about ten or twelve years when he came in to countdown to see what it looked and felt like, and he was twenty minutes late.

And my assistant Margaret after whom he named Maggie Jordan, whom he then hired away from me, and whom he finally hired as an actress to play Tess Weston, and she was great. By the way. Margaret brings him in and he apologizes for being late, and he says, he's staying in a hotel two blocks away and he should have just walked, but instead he got in a car, and the next thing he knew, he was six blocks away, caught in traffic caused by the complete shutdown of one

of the crosstown streets for midday construction. And I laughed, and I said, well, like my late father, the architect, used to say, New York, it'll be a great town whenever they finish it. And he laughed, and I laughed.

And two years later, in the seventh episode of the HBO Newsroom series, first aired on August fifth, twenty twelve, and re aired throughout the week, Jeff Daniels as the anchorman, Will McAvoy, who wasn't me but actually kind of was me, is late to his newsroom because he gets caught in Manhattan traffic caused by Sunday night street construction, and he says to his exasperated producer, new York, it'll be a great town whenever they finish it. That's when my phone

and email blew up. And the then girlfriend, and like forty percent of all of my exes ever, all had the same question, New York, It'll be a great town whenever they finish it. Isn't that what your dad used to say? Even the ones who never met my dad knew this because I used to quote him constantly, because the real humor in the quote is the fact that my dad was an architect and construction was his business. New York, It'll be a great town whenever they finish it.

And then one of the last of the exes reached out. She waited until the show was over. Now, I don't think any of us is proud of this, but she had also dated Sorkin once or twice, and since she had written celebrity stories for a New York newspaper, he had later asked her by email what the world of gossip reporting was like, and she told him by email. And what she now told me made Aaron Sorkin's use of my dad's quote and other parts of my life

seem like possible coincidences. She said she was watching the third, maybe fourth episode of Newsroom and in walked a new character, a gossip columnist, a woman, and the first sentence the character said was my friend, and X said word for word something she had sent to Sorkin in one of the emails about the gossip business. She said when she heard it, her face started to get read, and it

would keep getting reader. The gossip columnist character's second line had also been cut and pasted from my ex's email, then her long speech, then all of her dialogue. She said in her second scene. My ex actually managed to record that episode and to find her own email to Sorkin and to compare them, and she said, other than changing a couple of tenses, he had used her answers verbatim. I met the actor Josh Charles during the two thousand World Series. I was there anchoring it for Fox Sports.

Josh was there promoting his new show on Fox. Josh had played Dan Rydell on Sorkin's Sports Night series, and even Sorkin and I agree, dan Rydell is just me with a different haircut. I was walking up Sixth Avenue one day in October two thousand and from several blocks away, I saw Josh Charles walking towards me, so I had several minutes to prepare what I could say to him.

This was not spontaneous, sadly, but after our eyes met and I smiled, and he gave me that, yes, I'm on TV, look that I recognize and have myself deployed. He switched suddenly to shock and even a little apprehension, and I said the line I had been rehearsing in my head for several minutes. Excuse me. You don't get to say this often in life, But didn't you use to play me on TV? Right there on sixth? That

and you? Josh told me about the ordeal of working with and for Aaron Sorkin, and I thought he just meant for actors, but I later found out because New York, it'll be a great time whenever they finish it. Josh and I are still friends. We've gone to ballgames together. We were in a fantasy baseball league together. And one night on my ESPN two show, we came back from commercial, giving the audience no warning or explanation, and we simply started co anchoring the show and calling it Sports Night

and making references to the program and to newsroom. And then he said, why did we keep reading this? And I said, I don't know. I just assumed Sorkin had run out of new ideas. The mutual laughter that followed was sincere. There is one more punchline to the newsroom Sorkin story because I was like his seventh guest ever. When Stephen Colbert wrapped up the Colbert Report on Comedy Central, I was invited to be on the final farewell episode,

me and like ninety nine other people. There were so many of us, ranging from Barrymanilow to Brian Cranston to Big Bird, that they had like nine green rooms in the Comedy Central building. And I get there and they send me to the green room I would be sharing with several other people, and I'd trudge up a bunch of stairs to the top floor and in this big room there is only one other performer there yet it's Jeff Daniels. Without saying hello, he says, now, wait, let

me explain. Sorkin told me, and I explained, and then he explained, and then I explained some more, and Jeff said, oh a lot, and once he said oops, and Sorkin didn't tell me that. And after about three minutes he said, so I owe you an apology, and I said, no, you don't, it's not your fault. And he smiled and he said, well great, I'm glad. So can we take a picture together that I can put out on Twitter, and I said, yeah, absolutely, but only if you capture

it New York. It'll be a great town. Whenever they finish it. I've done all the damage I can do here. Thank you for listening. Count On musical directors Brian Ray and John Phillip Shanelle arranged, produced, and performed most of our music. Mister Ray was on guitars, bass and drums, and mister Shanale handled the orchestration and the keyboards, and it was produced by Tko Brothers. Another music, including some of the Beethoven, arranged and performed by the group No

Horns Allowed. The sports music is the Alderman theme from ESPN two, written by Mitch Warren Davis, courtesy of ESPN Inc. At this rate, I should just play it for you so you remember what it sounds like. Our satirical and pithy musical comments are by Nancy Fauss, the best baseball stadium organist ever and now my accompany ist. My announcer today was my friend Larry David, who does not accompany

me anywhere. Everything else was freeing launch my fault. That's countdown for this the one hundred and fifth day until the twenty twenty four presidential election. The two hundred and ninety fourth day since convicted fellon Donald J. Trump. I want to see the manager's first attempted coup against the democratically elected government of the United States. Use the September eighteenth sentencing hearing. Use the mental health system. You've got it,

President Biden. Use presidential immunity to stop him from doing it again while we still can. And Republicans please stop shooting at Trump. The next scheduled countdown is tomorrow. Bulletins as the news requires. Till then, I'm Keith Oldroman. Good morning, good afternoon, good night, and good luck. Poll in Poland, Poland, keep those numbers rolling, get them margin swollen, Vice press

day three on the stuff already kicking jump. He wants to see the manager and soon two points atop the matchup. Now make sure he don't catch up. Remember, don't vote for the old guy. Fink. A Nancy Faust Countdown with Keith Oldreman is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.