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The Jim Acosta Show
Actor Jason Isaacs discusses "White Lotus" and his new film, "Words of War" plus comedian Matt Friend and journalist Suzanne Malveaux.
01:00:38
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- [00:00]
Jason Isaacs
Foreign.
- [00:20]
Jim Acosta
Welcome, everybody, to the Jim Acosta show where it's an embarrassment of riches in terms of guests. Today we have the star of White Lotus and the political thriller Words of War, Jason Isaacs. Jason, of course, played Timothy Ratliff, the spiraling, pill popping and occasionally pantsless dad in season three of White Lotus. He was also, of course, Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies. He's here to talk about Words of War, which is a completely different project. Jason, great to see you. Thanks for coming on.
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Jason Isaacs
No, it's a pleasure. And it's, I see that sign behind you, as your audience will see, you know, Jim Costa in a Free Press. And that's what this film is about. And we're talking on a day, I don't know when people watch this, where it's never more appropriate to talk about that because an executive order just came from the White House to cancel all funding for public media for essentially for an independent free press.
- [01:10]
Jim Acosta
That's right. And I do want to talk to you about, but since you mentioned it, you're absolutely right. I mean, the arts are under attack here in Washington. The AP is reporting this morning, Trump signed an executive order aiming to slash public subsidies to PBS and NPR as he alleged bias in their reporting. The order instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, other federal agencies to, quote, cease federal funding for NPR and pbs. I mean, Jason, you're the only services.
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Jason Isaacs
That are telling the truth to people.
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Jim Acosta
Exactly.
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Jason Isaacs
From commercial constraints.
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Jim Acosta
That's right. We do a little of that here, but.
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Jason Isaacs
Right.
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Jim Acosta
But you're absolutely, I mean, you're a Britain. We were just talking about this before we got going in Great Britain, you have the BBC, you have public broadcasting. It's, it's, it's what's expected by the citizens.
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Jason Isaacs
Sure. I mean, look, it's not that the BBC is perfect by any means. There's a, there's all kinds of question marks over it and what it does with its money and what its own political biases are. But, but there's just not to be too cheesy and get back on the soapbox. But the film is about a remarkable woman, an ordinary woman. She was a human interest journalist who was sent to a war zone to try and pick a couple of human interest stories. Her name's Anna Pollock. Politics in Russia in the early 2000s. And she discovered that the country had been lied to, that Putin had lied, actually ended up using, he started using the same playbook he used in Ukraine years later, pretended they were invading a country that had full of Fascists didn't tell the Russian population what was being done in their name. She discovered mass graves, evidence of mass rape, torture, starvation, all the rest of it. And she started to tell the public because she was working for one of the very few independent free media outlets in Russia. And in the end, she lost her life for it. They poisoned her at first, and she meant she was relentless, no matter that it destroyed her marriage and her relationship with her kids and stuff. And she just could not stop herself bearing witness because it was too important. And I was at the White House Correspondents Dinner last weekend. I don't know if you were there also. And the president was very notable by his absence. I've been there when President Obama was there, when President Biden were there. And they were very clear when they gave the speeches to the assembled journalists that as much as they hated having their feet held to the flame, as much as they really were, you know, very worried by the people in the room and what they did to them and made discomfort. It was the central pillar of a free democracy in the west, that we should have free press and they should have access. Of course, AP that you just mentioned does not have access to the White House anymore.
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Jim Acosta
That's right. No, and that's.
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Jason Isaacs
That's one of the ways the measures of a slide from democracy into autocracy is access and the ability to broadcast.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah, I mean, I. I skipped the correspondence dinner this past weekend. I mean, I. I had other plans, I'll put it that way. But I was also not happy that. That the correspondence dinner was happening, you know, in the. In the fashion that it was. Because when.
- [03:53]
Jason Isaacs
Well, you missed something, I have to say.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah.
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Jason Isaacs
Journalism became center stage. You know, the other years that I've been there, what television shows is the comedy speech and the President being funny and stuff like that.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah.
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Jason Isaacs
Actually, it meant that powerful, important, independent journalism was. Was what the evening was about. And only that. Well, that's good. Very speech by Eugene Daniels at the end. He said, he said, you know, we don't invite the President here for entertainment. We don't invite him here because we want to bow down to them. We buy them here to see what the First Amendment is all about.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah.
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Jason Isaacs
And we are not the enemy of the people, and we are not the enemy of the state. And they are the central. You know, you journalists who get to speak the truth to power and to the rest of us are the central pillar of what keeps us free in the world. Yeah.
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Jim Acosta
Well, and the movie is important because it is about the murder of the Russian journalist Anna Politskov. Kaya. And let's show a clip of that and talk about it.
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Jason Isaacs
Okay? Did you know that the war between Russia and Chechnya is the longest ongoing conflict in the world?
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Jim Acosta
Now the Kremlin wants the world to.
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Jason Isaacs
Believe that Russia is waging a war against terrorists. Its real purpose is a dedicated campaign of genocide. I'm a journalist. Journalist. The tactics are employed by the Kremlin is itself creating a wave of violence that has never been experienced. Oh, my God. The war has come home. People are killing each other. You get in the middle and you're dead too. Jeff Schneers, your baby.
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Matt Friend
While this newspaper is mine, there is.
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Jason Isaacs
Nothing of value apart from the truth. And I do not intend to stop.
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Jim Acosta
Looks incredible, Jason. I mean, and you hit the nail right on the head. I mean, this is a cautionary tale. We were talking about this with Sean Penn and, and.
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Jason Isaacs
Sean and Eric Solo came on board when they saw the film because, you know, Eric had championed the bill that didn't pass eventually in Congress for protection of journalists and protection of the press. And Sean has long been a champion of that. And so they came on board and we're doing Q and A's, in fact, all weekend, uh, cinemas in New York and Los Angeles. But it's important to try and, you know, generate interest.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah, and I mean, it shows what happens when the government can crush the press. And that's what took place in Russia. And people think, oh, it's always been this way. I mean, there was that glimpse, that period during Boris Yeltsin where things were opening up. You and I are old enough to remember that it wasn't a perfect democracy or anything like that, but there was hope for Russia. And then Putin came in and slammed the door shut on it. And this was just.
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Jason Isaacs
Look, people, many journalists get killed in Russia and around the world in the last year. More, more than ever. They're also put on trial, they're also sued. Carol Cadwaller in England was sued, not just the Guardian newspaper. She personally had to raise her own war chest to fight that. But the self censorship, certainly commercial organizations, the people who are not funded, NPR and pbs. You know, you saw the people getting rid of their own DEI departments when they weren't under mandate, for instance, for the White House. You know, people are aware of who's in what, the cultural tide is around them and they don't want to say things to stick out. I was advised, for instance, to clear all my social media accounts. And I know that's what A lot of people being told who have been in any way outspoken politically previously, and it's that atmosphere of self century. There's something wrong which is as dangerous.
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Jim Acosta
Isn't there something wrong with. That's a little scary.
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Jason Isaacs
It's a little scary. You know, it's terrifying that things like that should matter. When I work in America all the time. I pay taxes in America, my daughter's American. And you know, I love this country, many of the things this country stands for and has stood for. But I'm told, you know, you really shouldn't be outspoken at all about politics because you might not get a working visa. Well, you know that I remember being. This is going back a long time. I remember being in 2003, I think in a hotel somewhere, and there were a bunch of lobbyists, Washington lobbyists, and they said, are you going back to America or England? I said, I'm going back to England. And I'm quite looking forward to it because, you know, we're about to evade Iraq again. And I, I feel like I want to be around a healthy debate. I want to hear all sides of everything to make my. They went. I, I don't agree. Sorry, what do you mean? They said. And this was two very smart young women who are political lobbyists in Washington during war. I just think you should absolutely support your side and support the troops. And I went. During a war is the time when it's most important to discuss what you're doing, why your young men and some women are being killed upon their lives on and why they're killing other people, often in larger numbers. That's the very time they go out to completely disagree. Well, that attitude you now see multiplied exponentially, that maybe you shouldn't speak out when there might be personal ramifications for you. And, and you know, these are difficult times when the fabric of what's kept the world at peace are being pulled apart. It's the very time that everything needs to be examined very closely because there are dire consequences for all of us, for AI and for world peace.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah. What can artists do in this moment, do you think, Jason? Because we're seeing Trump go after the Kennedy center for the Performing Arts. They're going after funding for artists libraries.
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Jason Isaacs
The NEH is essentially gone. And we were, I was lobbying in Washington last week for National Endowment for the Arts. It does extraordinary things, actually, for the things the Republicans really care about, you know, preserving America's heritage, for treating veterans with ptsd, a whole bunch of community projects they would care about. But this is just a scythe and machete being cut through things. What can we do? Something. The answer is something. Doing nothing just makes you feel bad. If you do nothing and you read all the news all the time, you just feel depressed and scared. If you do something, whether it could be give feeding your next door neighbor who, who nobody visits anymore, or it can be something on a local level, or it can be donating money, or it could just be phoning your representative and saying, I'm upset about this and, and I'm, and I will be voting for this next time. Make sure make your local representative aware of the things you care about. But do something. Don't do nothing. And talk about it at dinner.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah, and I, I do want to go back to the correspondence dinner weekend because you were here and as you said, you're a veteran going to these events in Washington. I hear you ran into the press secretary, Caroline Levitt. What was that?
- [09:49]
Jason Isaacs
I did actually, outside the White House. We'd been to the White House to listen. We very people were very receptive. The staffers we met were very receptive to our arguments about why the arts are important for the entire community, that they're not a politically divisive. It's an apolitical subject. And then I saw somewhere on a newspaper, I had been at the White House correspondent's breakfast, the Tami Hadad holds every year that everybody goes to from across. Right across the aisle. And I'd made a joke about White Lotus. I was presenting and honoring these extraordinary firefighters who had, you know, after the terrible aviation crash there. And I said, you know, sometimes I get to play heroes, selfless heroes like these men here. And sometimes I get to play privileged, elitist, rich scumbags like, like nobody here today, obviously some very irresponsible journalist. Yeah, some very. He got a laugh. I'm, I always looking for the cheap gag. Some terrible journalist somehow conflated that with in the evening, me on the red carpet saying, you know, I was here when Obama was here and here when Biden's here, Trump's not here saying that I had. President Trump has come back. I didn't, I didn't do that because he's president of America and I wish him the best. I don't like the things he does very often, but he is the most powerful man in the free world and I hope he does things for the benefit of all America and all the world. And it's rotten journalists because actually has dire consequences for me, possibly professionally, possibly personally. Someone will think that. And you Know, people get very physical about these things. Journalists have a responsibility not to make up stuff. Because I've been in the White Lotus in the last two months, I've done a billion interviews. And sometimes I said dumb things or try to be funny. And in print, it doesn't look that funny. But. But a couple of times mornings I woke up and I would read an interview that was completely fictitious. Like, literally not someone I met with things I have never would never say. And, like, people get killed for shit like that. So I hear you.
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Jim Acosta
We're not doing that here.
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Jason Isaacs
This is why. But I'm saying I did meet the White House. I did meet the White House press secretary. I had called Sean Spicer Goebbels previously. I didn't call her that to her face, but, you know, I'm trying to be civil. Lady Goebbels, you know, the worst thing you can do is shut down debate and shut down discussion. Just shout someone down, as I see happen often around the issue of the Middle east, for instance. You know, and the most important thing we have in a democracy is the ability to discuss things, because you don't get that in other countries. Look what happened to Anna. Politics.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah, No, I agree with you. And since you brought up White Lotus, I mean, we. We. I can't, you know, not talk about this. The shy elephant in the room, perhaps we'll put it that way. But, see, I got a cheap laugh there. There you go.
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Jason Isaacs
We're.
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Jim Acosta
We're old enough to tell the dad jokes, and we can just go back and forth. But first of all, you're a Brit, but you play guy from Duke, as Parker Posey would say, from Durham, North Carolina.
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Jason Isaacs
He's actually very, very specifically from Durham. Yeah, yeah.
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Jim Acosta
How did you pull that off? I mean, you know, and also the. Oh, I love the Lorazepam and every, you know, the Lora.
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Jason Isaacs
How do I pop the raspberry off? You know, I was a drug addict for a long time. That was easy. No, the truth is that I love an accent. I've had lots of different accents in my life. One of the reasons I'm an actor, I'm sure just to play my own therapist and pop psychologist, is that when I was younger, I really wasn't sure who to be or how to be. I'm not sure I am now. And I would change who I was in every group. What they call code switching now. So I've had a bunch of different accents in my life, and I love it. It's. It's my way into A character. So. So Durham is a very interesting place. The blue blooded Americans who can trace themselves back to the Mayflower there, they have a couple of vowel sounds that are hangovers from the colonial days. So they have a dip on the O sound. People making fun of Parker all the time going, piper, no, that O sound is very English. And. And then the other sound is the off sound. So Americans say God. The Americans say, got, not God. And the certain type of people in, in Durham who want to sound like their grandfather, they say God not, which is very English. And so when I was doing it, there were a bunch of people online going, this guy doesn't sound American at all. Sounds English or Australian. I just. It was frustrating because people from Durham would come finding me all the time in person and online going, oh, my God, you sound exactly my dad.
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Jim Acosta
And there are all these Instagram videos. Yeah, there are all these Instagram videos. I'm sure you've seen some of them where they'll hand somebody, you know, grandmother lines from White Lotus to see if they sound like Parker Posey or. Or like you.
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Jason Isaacs
Nobody's nobody sounds like Parker Posey. To be fair, you'd have to get on one of Jeff Bezos's, you know, Jupiter shots to find that. But she created a grotesquely brilliant comic Persona. And. And you'll be hard pressed to find anybody who spoke like that, I think.
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Jim Acosta
But apparently the folks at Duke. If I could bring this. Kill me if I.
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Jason Isaacs
If I should.
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Jim Acosta
They're pissed. They're so pissed at you. What happened?
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Jason Isaacs
Yeah, well, he, I. We were trying to work out what he would wear to bed, and I didn't want to wear pajamas. That's a bit corny. And I thought, well, I know a lot of people who still, decades afterwards wear all their college stuff. And in fact, with the Ratliffs, I'm pretty sure there'd be a Ratliff Library and a Ratliff Wing at Duke. And, you know, he'd have given money and stuff. And so I said, let's wear a Duke T shirt. They got clearance. Of course they got clearance. You don't do stuff on TV without. And then when I was killing myself and killing my family, some person at Duke who wanted to see their name on the Internet, whatever, went. We're really upset about the implication that, you know, it's very irresponsible suicide. I'm gonna go, dude, look at your alumni. There are some real life notorious people wearing Duke T shirts. You should worry about that for you, Stephen Duke. Well, I wasn't going to name it because I don't want to wake up and find him my front door or any of his thugs. But yeah, him and others too. There are bigger things to worry about than a fictitious TV show. But I did. On the other hand, I was stuck at Charlotte Airport and the only stuff that was available because my bags didn't come through was, was, was Duke merch. I bought one with the devils on it that, you know, and I wore it and then I got in trouble for that. Now people are giving me Duke T shirts and I'm going to wear it whenever I see a camera.
- [15:25]
Jim Acosta
Good.
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Suzanne Malveaux
Well.
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Jim Acosta
And it's a very Duke University thing to do to go after you for, you know, wearing a Duke T shirt. I mean, I just have to say.
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Jason Isaacs
I think I'm being blamed for them losing the game. That's what it is. And it's really not my fault I wasn't there. I was busy at the, at the finale premiere.
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Jim Acosta
Cooper Flag line one.
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Jason Isaacs
No, but I think there goes my honorary degree from Duke that I was hoping for.
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Jim Acosta
I. You'll have to hope for Chapel Hill, but in the mean. But, but White Lotus. I mean you've done so many great roles over the years. I mean, including in Words of War, which, which looks terrific, but I mean, are you a little surprised that this blew up the way it did?
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Jason Isaacs
The White Lotus, the scale of it was, was shocking to me. You know, I, I, my, my lovely kids in the show, Patrick, Sam and Sarah, Catherine allowed me to patronize them or bring my, or bring my Yoda like wisdom to the table, whatever, around various different areas about being an actor, particularly slightly Buddhist and tithers, but, but about enjoying the moment and then never being a destination. It was all journey and not to be thinking about what this might do for their career or not. Maybe no one was going to watch it and maybe it was going to come out the day after some terrible natural disaster or terrorist act or who knew? So just to enjoy the fact we were in Thailand and we're making this extraordinary thing with these people that we like so much. But then it did actually blow up enormously. And, and I'm suddenly lost for words because I never seen it like it. I've been. I'm in the Harry Potter films. They obviously were a global phenomenon, but I still have never seen anything like the kind of blue touch paper and spread like this.
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Jim Acosta
The way, and some of this is the social media, the way it spreads via social media. Because Harry Potter had some of that. But I think just all the videos of you and Parker and the others in the cast.
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Jason Isaacs
It is Jim, but I don't know. I mean, people were. Were having watch parties and people were actually talking about it at a water cooler. That. That notional thing. I studied law originally and you would talk all the time about what does a reasonable man think? And they talked about the man on the Clapham omnibus that was thought to be the average person. That's what the judges refer to. Well, we talk about water cooler conversations, but they haven't really happened for decades, not since, you know, Dynasty or Dallas or whatever. This was a water that genuinely. People would gather and talk about it in offices. They would gather and talk about. And one of the parts of the many areas of brilliance that Mike White doesn't get attention for one is his directing. People talk about his writing all the time, but he creates an atmosphere of play and improvisation and madness, frankly, and anarchy that allows these things to be so human. But the other thing is that he knows how to write. Weekly television show. Now you can binge it on Max. It's still great, But a week in between, like Dickens, who was serialized, allowed it for. Allowed it time to marinate and percolate, to be able to be frustrated and all these nuts theories to come out all over the Internet that people had, you know, the monkeys did it, whatever. And then bizarrely, recently, people are desperately want to pick apart the actual relationships between the actors, as if they're in any way as interesting as the world that Mike created. You know, we're just a bunch of boring gifts. Who cares what we did on holiday, you know?
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Jim Acosta
No. And the Dallas analogy is so good because who shot Junior? I mean, that. That was a phenomenon back in the day. And the brilliant thing about White Lotus is you're waiting until the end of the season who dies?
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Jason Isaacs
Who does?
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Jim Acosta
You know, who's the floating body and the.
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Jason Isaacs
But I. I mean, that's a brilliant red herring because the truth is it's not a who done it or it's not a why done it or who got it done. To them, really, that's just a fabulous conduit for Mike to use his extraordinary powers as a kind of social satirist, social comment, you know, an excavator of the human condition. This series is very different to previous series. I think he's expanded his. His reach, his ambition as an artist. It was really. He dove into existential issues. I mean, yes, it's rich people who are coming to rent spiritual growth in many instances. But me, my character is. Oh, my God, not, not interested at all in anything spiritual enlightened. He's slumming it by staying in this hotel. They normally rent a mansion on an island, but.
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Jim Acosta
And you're spiraling. I said spiraling at the beginning.
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Jason Isaacs
Yeah. Delivers to him the greatest spiritual journey that anybody's ever had. In the season of white lotus it goes.
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Jim Acosta
And there's so many guys in our age group who can totally relate to this dad. Where things just are falling apart and coming apart and you can't put it back together.
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Jason Isaacs
Hopefully there's not that many people who have the utter calamities of being completely wiped out and thinking of murdering their entire family. But you're right. We see ourselves through the prism of someone experiencing the same thing writ large. I think that's true. Yeah.
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Jim Acosta
Jason, I have to ask you just to get serious again because you mentioned you're a Brit, but you have a lot of affection for America and ties to America, many of the principles this.
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Jason Isaacs
Country was set up for and many of the checks and balances built into the Constitution and the government that are currently being dismantle as we speak. Yeah.
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Jim Acosta
And I know you've been advised, you know, be careful about what you say and what you post. And so it sounds like I know too late. But you're, you are, you are concerned. And I, I hear this from a lot of folks that I talk to overseas. They are very concerned about what's happening here. They see us as.
- [20:08]
Jason Isaacs
When I speak out about it. Sorry to interrupt. So when I speak out about it, when I previously spoken out about it, I used to post much more politically. I don't bother now. I've been persuaded that the, the, you know, social media is just for revolting solipsistic narcissism. So I'm posting interviews with me and stuff. But when I speak, you know, when I think about it, first of all, there is a tide of people go, shut up. What's it got to do with you? You're not American. Well, what America does and what America has done for 75 years is keep world peace and do a lot of phenomenal good in the world. Done a lot of terrible things also. Every country has. But you know that these institutions, flawed as they are, NATO, the United nations, but, and I have many criticisms of both of those things, have kept world peace. There are, there's enough nuclear weapons around to destroy the world a billion times over. AI is a much bigger threat. If those people who don't know about it don't bother looking into it, it will scare and depress you. But those people who are at the heart of it, I've had conversations with them, the founders of DeepMind and Google Brain and other things, the unguard railed version of what they are releasing could unquestionably destroy the world as we know it. And they are responsible institutions or trying to be responsible. And we don't know what Iran and China and other non governmental actors can do and what they're building. And so we need unity and we need leadership more than we've ever, ever needed it before for our own future, for our children's future. So that's as being an outsider, being an insider, as someone who works here and loves what this country has stood for and shown the world also. It's a horrifying thing to see how divided it is and how those central planks of what kept this country balanced, those checks and balances, are just being dismantled. Someone has come in with a sledgehammer and gone fine. It's always been done this way and but it's a bit like money. Money's not a real thing. Money is a belief system. And so it says on it, I promise to pay the bearer. You know that it only works when we all buy into it. Same with bitcoin, only works when you will buy into it. And, and democracy only works when you all buy into it. When someone comes in and doesn't buy into it and destroys it like with a bulldozer. We have no idea what's coming. And, and what's happened in the last hundred odd days has been shocking to, to everybody on all sides. Shocking to many, many Republican friends of mine and Republican representatives I was able to talk to this last weekend. And they are not speaking out. And they're not speaking out because they're fearful of being primaried out of their.
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Jim Acosta
Job, you know, but they, they express concerns privately.
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Jason Isaacs
Many, many people and their staff did too. But they'll be primaried out of position. This is an administration full of loyalists. And if you're not a loyalist and pretend to be, you will no longer be inside the tent. And this is people's living and livelihood. And so it reminds me a lot of the death of Stalin, which was a broad social satire. But many of the situations I see I'm seeing paralleled here today and it's.
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Jim Acosta
Truly terrifying in the film Words of War. Also, I think it has to be a reminder to people about what we're dealing with with the Russians and that this is building for many, many years. And what Putin has been doing has been building for many, many years. And this is the sort of the beginning stages of it. This is the preview of.
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Jason Isaacs
This is his playbook. The playbook he used to tell the Russian people lies about why they needed to invade Chechnya and what the Chechnyans were is identical to the playbook he used in Ukraine. And she, Anna Polkowski was the first person to tell Russians that. And they listened, they were interested. And one of the other problems in, in today's world in America and in Britain is that we only listen to people who tell us what we want to hear. And those august institutions that have been around for a century that will only print when they've got three independent sources of corroboration have been their faith in them has been so terribly undermined, not just by this White House, but by other autocrats and right leaning individuals and definitely individuals around the world that the people doing the great work that telling the truth to the people putting their lives on the line and certainly the livelihoods here are not even being listened to or believed. And it's an extremely worrying. Worrying is a horrible euphemistic understatement. It's a terrifying situation to be in.
- [24:07]
Jim Acosta
No, and I talk about this and the importance of the free press all the time on this show. And it, you kind of come across as self righteous and on the soapbox and so on. But I mean, you know, if you.
- [24:18]
Jason Isaacs
You'Re not on the ground in Europe. Jim, let me tell you, I was watching one of our, all of our institutional shows, Newsnight. It's a show that's on every night on 1030 weekdays on the BBC and they have serious journalists on it. And unlike in this country, government ministers and the prime minister will always submit themselves to questions from, from quite aggressive journalists. Often they should. Just a month or two ago there was the ex head of MI6 that our foreign service, CIA, talking very seriously on a mainstream news program, not some French place about how Europe needs to get their army together because we could defeat Russia in the ground war, but we need to have a single leader. And I was thinking am I really watching a show on nightly news about how we, we might be in a ground war with Russia? Where did that come from? Well, it came from President Trump having aped, having having parroted President Putin's talking points about why he invaded Ukraine just the day before and Europe realizing they were being abandoned and NATO was being abandoned and the thing that had held the world at peace was possibly being abandoned. And we had to think for ourselves, not just hey we have a discussion about budget. And you just spend. No, no. That possibly the world order was being ripped up without any sense for what would replace it. Yeah.
- [25:27]
Jim Acosta
And that's why, I mean, I personally am a little suspicious of this peace process, because how do you have a real peace process if Zelensky does not have a full seat at the table? He has been having discussions with Trump and apparently they have this minerals deal and so on. But JD Vance apparently was out today in an interview with CNBC saying, well, the war is going to be going on for, for a long time. It's not going to be ending any, anytime soon. And, you know, you just get the sense, you know, at just about every turn that, you know, it's advantage Putin when it comes to how the Trump White House is dealing with this.
- [25:58]
Jason Isaacs
It's as if he's writing the White House's press releases almost every day. And then that, that grotesque scene where Vance and Trump bullied Zielinski like they were playground bullies. He's not wearing a suit. His country's at war. He's a, he's a symbol of his country. Who cares if he's wearing a tie? People are getting slaughtered. There are graves. There are, you know, torture. There's, there's all kinds of things that no one in the west can imagine happening to them. But, but happens. And what's happening with irresponsible words.
- [26:26]
Jim Acosta
Yeah. Well, one of the brilliant things about social media is that after that happened, after that shameful exchange occurred, there were all these pictures of, of, of Prime Minister Churchill, you know, at the White House with FDR not wearing a suit, you know, so, come on, give me a break, guys.
- [26:45]
Jason Isaacs
But it was, it was a planned ambush. So, yeah, it's obvious it's a very scary time, but there are still in this country many noble people, many Republicans. It's a party that has stood for and done great things in the past. And it just, it's time to speak up. It's not time to hide.
- [27:00]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, well, Jason, I really appreciate your time. I mean, the film is brilliant. You're brilliant as always. And it's just a treat to get to sit down with you and talk to you about all of this because, you know, and I, I'm glad that you were able to share so much of what you're thinking is behind all of these subjects because Americans need to hear this. They need to hear from the outside world. It just can't be voices screaming at each other.
- [27:23]
Jason Isaacs
Well, I'm an outsider and I'm an Insider. You know, I have an American daughter and my most of my work has been here. I pay my taxes here. So I have the right to a voice. When people say, shut up, you're an actor, I want to go, There's a reality star in the Oval Office. So actors are allowed to speak out.
- [27:36]
Jim Acosta
And as we know, reality TV is not reality. So there's that as well, that's for sure. And he's a bit detached from it. But, Jason, great to talk to you. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Best of luck with the movie Words of War. Jason Isaacs. Thanks so much, Jason, but I don't.
- [27:50]
Jason Isaacs
Know how to get out of this thing now. What is that? I've never been on. What is it? What y'all?
- [27:55]
Jim Acosta
Street Stream yard. Yes, that was. That was the great Jason Isaacs. Just terrific. A little later on the program, I'm gonna have Matt friend on with me. Matt was with Jason Isaacs over the weekend at the White House correspondence dinner. And Matt's gonna be joining us to, to talk about. He's got some shows here this weekend. And in case you haven't seen him before, I mean, maybe you in a cave. He's an occasional guest on my show. And so we're going to get a sense of how Matt is doing. That's going to be happening in just a little bit. But first, I have another special treat. I'm really excited about this. My former colleague Suzanne Malvo, who is an anchor and correspondent, White House correspondent at CNN for many years, she's been doing some reporting in Ukraine. And so this is just the perfect guest to come in after Jason Isaacs, who's starring in this film about just the downward trend of democracy in Russia. And there's Suzanne right there. Hey, Suzanne. Great to see you.
- [28:52]
Suzanne Malveaux
Hi, Jim. It's great to see you, too. Congratulations.
- [28:55]
Jim Acosta
I'm doing a thing here, you know. Congrats to you as well. It's great to catch up with you.
- [29:02]
Suzanne Malveaux
Yes, likewise. Likewise. Jim, I love what you're doing.
- [29:05]
Jim Acosta
Oh, thank you so much. And, you know, we just had the great Jason Isaacs on, and it's amazing how, you know, he's done films for all these years and then he does a TV show, the White Lotus, and it blows up. And now everybody wants to talk to him. Everybody wants a piece of him. And he has so many brilliant thoughts. But I mean, what he really shared that I thought was interesting was his thoughts about Russia and what has been taking place with Ukraine and how it ties back to Putin's aggression in in Chechnya and you know, the, the attacks on the press that just happened over years and years. And Suzanne, you know that all too well because you worked at the White House during the Bush administration, the Obama administration and so on. But you just, you just came back from Ukraine or you're there now. I think you just came back from Ukraine. What was your reporting assignment there like? And, and what did you pick up on?
- [29:56]
Suzanne Malveaux
So how much time do we have, Jim?
- [29:58]
Jim Acosta
As much time as you'd like.
- [29:59]
Suzanne Malveaux
Oh my gosh. Okay. Well, first of all, I ended up in Ukraine through the International Women's Media Foundation. It's a, it's an organization. I'm co chair of the board and the Howard Buffett Foundation. They provided a grant to go to Ukraine and on a reporting assignment to mentor young female journalists. And it's a two week trip. There are three trips. I went on the second one, just got back on Wednesday. And so it was my third time in Ukraine. Believe it or not, Jim, I know it's going to age me, but it was back in 98 was the first time I was in Ukraine with then Lady Henry Clinton. She had gone to Russia and six former Soviet Republic republics, including Ukraine. A different time altogether.
- [30:38]
Jim Acosta
I didn't know that.
- [30:40]
Suzanne Malveaux
Yes, I mean, you know, peaceful time. And her mission at the time was to really bolster Ukraine and some of these other republics so that they could have NATO membership. And also they were just budding democracies. And so that was the first trip. Fast forward to May 2022 for CNN. I was there three months into the war and stationed in Lviv, had an amazing opportunity to really capture that moment in, in time where you had so many thousands of Ukrainians who were heading from Poland, from the west, going into Lviv, trying to find their husbands and their sons and their loved ones and figure out what they had salvaged. And then you had thousands of people coming from the east who essentially were escaping, escaping warfare and were trying to re establish their lives in some way. So L'viv was really a central point where people that you had this vast majority of people who had just incredible stories about resilience and determination and where they were. But that was just three months into the war, Jim. So we're talking like three years. And this reporting trip really opened some eyes for me. There is first of all a sense of the whole people, the resilience of the people. Ordinary folks, Jim. You got people on the front lines fighting obviously for the last three years, but you have all of these ordinary folks who are just Picking up and trying to do what they can. So two quick stories if I can.
- [32:13]
Jim Acosta
One, yeah.
- [32:14]
Suzanne Malveaux
Is they call themselves the Combat Witches of Buja. Okay, The Combat Witches of Bucha. And this is an all female unit, volunteer. They are out of Bucha, Ukraine, which you might recall was like just a devastating massacre of civilians, of children, of prisoners of war, you know, torture, rape, the whole thing. Mass graves and just horrific. So these are suburban. These are suburban moms from Bucha who decided that there is a way to express their grief, their grit, their rage by joining this volunteer force. And they have trained themselves with the help of the military, to shoot down drones. And so I got a chance to meet this unit, and it was absolutely amazing to see these suburban moms with this artillery aimed and, you know, they do these shifts, 24 hour shift shifts. I met a similar group, Jim, of men who were also perched on the rooftops. This is now in Kiev. And they sit there overnight. They've got these antiquated, quite frankly, weapons that are defense weapons, and they are aimed at fighting and shooting down these drones. The people I met, Jim, two Supreme Court justices, if you can believe that.
- [33:37]
Jason Isaacs
Can you.
- [33:38]
Suzanne Malveaux
You know, just imagine in our country, right? Two Supreme Court judge justices, an opera singer, an engineer, jeweler, these guys, that's their day job, right? That's the day job. And yeah, for various reasons, whether it's their profession or their medical situation, they were not allowed to join into the military forces on the front lines. So nevertheless, they wanted to do something. So they all volunteered to be a part of this unit. And I met them, you know, on the rooftop, poised and ready to strike down the drones if, in fact, they get through the various defense systems that the military actually offers. So, wow, Just incredible.
- [34:22]
Jim Acosta
And I understand we have a little video of this. Let's show that.
- [34:25]
Suzanne Malveaux
Judge of Supreme Court, Judge of the Supreme Court. Vitali is also judge to Supreme Court Justice.
- [34:31]
Jason Isaacs
I'm an opera singer. Are you serious?
- [34:35]
Jim Acosta
Yes.
- [34:35]
Suzanne Malveaux
An opera singer. An opera singer. I thought you were joking. Excellent. We're now here in this key neighborhood, residential neighborhood. This is the worst, biggest attack in the city this year. They just got pounded with multiple missiles and drones showed at least 8. 8 people and wounding close to 80. This is independence Square. It is really a sacred place for the Ukrainians. This is where they have thousands and thousands of flags that are planted here for those who have lost their lives, given their lives in the war for their independence. And they come from all over the world. Ukrainians say they have. They have no idea how many are actually here, but they represent soldiers from everywhere, including the United States.
- [35:29]
Jim Acosta
Wow. I mean, Suzanne, I mean, it's incredible that you were there when that attack occurred. I mean, and this was after the peace process was supposed to begun between the US And Russia and Ukraine. And, I mean, what is your sense of it? I mean, do they have confidence in this peace process? It seems to me it's. Some of it's for show, and, you know, some of it is because Trump said he would end the war on day one, and he obviously hasn't done that. But, I mean, I just wonder what you're hearing on the ground there. Are they suspicious of this? Are they cynical? Or they. Do they have hope that maybe that they can pull this off?
- [36:04]
Suzanne Malveaux
Sure. Well, I have to tell you, Jim, I think there's a sense of war fatigue and, you know, there's a warrior culture among the Ukrainians, but there's definitely a sense of. Of, you know, they are so done with this. And then. And they've adapted in some. Some ways that it's hard to imagine that there's air raid sirens that go off in Kyiv as well on a regular basis, particularly overnight, and people almost, like, ignore it or put it in the background because they say that they have to live their lives right. They have to go on. They can't let this disrupt ordinary life. They don't have a lot of confidence in the process, in this peace process, but they do believe, for the most part, that their President Zelensky is doing the right thing and that he is the person that can usher in a change. The main thing that I keep hearing from folks is, first of all, a big thank you to the Americans. I didn't meet anybody, Jim, who was upset by the Americans. They seem to have. And several people talked about it actually separating the president, President Trump, from many Americans. They believe that many Americans very much support what they're doing. And I heard nothing but gratitude this. But the second thing is, is that they know that they're on their own, and they feel like they're the only ones that are going to be able to do this. And what they've asked for is moving forward is they said, we will put our bodies on the line, we will shed our blood. What we want the US And Europeans to do is provide us with the resources to shut down the war. Democracy, of course they're fighting for that, but that is not the primary goal, according to folks I talk to, it is stopping this war. And so nobody believes. Well, I can't say nobody, but there are a lot of people who say Crimea is not on the table, that Crimea is Ukraine. Those are the people who share their culture, their families, their identity, their faiths, that they are not going to give up that land. They're not going to give that up, because that is Ukraine. But they still believe that there has got to be a way, if it's overwhelming force by the United States or the Europeans to go ahead and secure the border, shut down the war, and then set up something like the DMZ that we see with North Korea. Korea, if that is possible. That is what people are asking for, what they're not asking for. And they make it very clear when I tell you about the. The combat butches, the combat Witches of Bucha, or these guys, the Supreme Court justices on the rooftops.
- [38:48]
Jim Acosta
Yeah.
- [38:49]
Suzanne Malveaux
They say, we're willing to give up our lives. We're not asking anybody else to do that, but we need the resources to shut down the war.
- [38:56]
Jim Acosta
Wow. Well, Suzanne, it's. It's incredible reporting. It's.
- [38:59]
Matt Friend
It's.
- [39:00]
Jim Acosta
I mean, I can't believe you were there on the ground when. When something like this occurred. And I'm so. I'm glad for your safety as well. And it's so great to be reunited with you and see you again in person, Susan. And I remember our ballot bowl days. I mean, this is our gosh place back in 2008, I think it was when Obama and Hillary Clinton are out on the campaign trail.
- [39:21]
Suzanne Malveaux
We traveled the world, Jim.
- [39:23]
Jason Isaacs
We did.
- [39:24]
Suzanne Malveaux
We did. And, you know, I mean, I guess those were times when it was like, you know, it was. It was fun. You know, it was of, you know, purpose and also levity as well. So I know these are really, really serious times. And thank you for you know, having me on to be able to discuss this. There's another group that's going to be headed out in June through this program that I'm a part of. And it's great to just, like, see this through. You know, I. I feel like I need to go back.
- [39:52]
Jim Acosta
Well, check out Suzanne and her account on Instagram. There's lots of videos there. You can see her reporting there. Any other places where we can see the video and. And you're reporting on the ground there because, I mean, it's just fantastic what you were able to uncover and reveal.
- [40:06]
Suzanne Malveaux
Well, thank you. I. I mean, I'm. Facebook, Instagram, website, the whole thing, you know.
- [40:13]
Jim Acosta
Yeah.
- [40:14]
Suzanne Malveaux
Social media, Jim. I'm working on it.
- [40:15]
Jim Acosta
You got to do it. I know. We got to do it. Or. Or else we go away.
- [40:19]
Suzanne Malveaux
Yeah.
- [40:20]
Jim Acosta
Suzanne, great to see you. Thank you so much.
- [40:23]
Suzanne Malveaux
Thank you.
- [40:24]
Jim Acosta
It's so wonderful to see you again. Take care.
- [40:26]
Suzanne Malveaux
Thank you. You too.
- [40:27]
Jim Acosta
All right, thanks. You as well.
- [40:28]
Jason Isaacs
You as well.
- [40:29]
Jim Acosta
Well, I mean, you know, that's one of the. I sometimes affectionately call this my Friends and family show because I. I get to see folks who. Who are like, old friends or old relatives. And I shouldn't say old in regards to some of the people I'm talking about, because, I mean, as you can see when you see Suzanne on camera, she looks like she did back in the day on cnn. She's incredible. But in the meantime, as I was saying earlier, there's this guy. I don't know, maybe we've heard of him before. He occasionally pops up in your Instagram feed as well. Speaking of Instagram, he does this impersonation of this person that we know for some reason, he hasn't. He's. He hasn't come up with an impersonation of yours truly here, but let's bring him up. It's. It's our friend. It's my friend. It's your friend. It's bad friend. Is Matt here? Is he. Is he in the chat? Can we bring chat? There he is.
- [41:20]
Matt Friend
How's it going, Matt? Did we catch you in the middle.
- [41:24]
Jim Acosta
Of a run to Starbucks or. Tate, what's happening here?
- [41:27]
Matt Friend
Well, this is how you do social media. You go organic on the street. There's better lighting outside. I figured I would come outside instead of being a dark hotel room. And also, you know, I think a little movement is good for the algorithm.
- [41:42]
Jim Acosta
So I'm just. I don't want to see the inside of your hotel room, but that's okay. Anyway, well.
- [41:46]
Matt Friend
Well, I mean, Jim. I mean, what are you, Rudy Giuliani and Sasha Baron Cohen's TV show? I mean, that's a good spot. Yeah. How are you? What's going on?
- [41:56]
Jim Acosta
Matt, it's great to see you.
- [41:58]
Matt Friend
You too. I have to say, I love doing your congratulations on the substack, because, you know, it's becoming a thing now. Like, people are talking about trying to get booked on Jim Acosta's substack.
- [42:09]
Jim Acosta
How about that?
- [42:10]
Matt Friend
I mean, Jason, Isaac, it's a hard thing to achieve. So this is a big deal.
- [42:18]
Jim Acosta
Second time on, you might say it's weird, wild stuff.
- [42:21]
Matt Friend
It's a weird, wild stuff. Absolutely, absolutely. It's like Carson, you know, the news is so crazy. I actually. I said, I'm not saying the Justice Department is bad with names and private information, but they actually forwarded the termination a letter to Tim Walls, and then they forwarded it again to Christoph Waltz. So it's kind of never ending here. Not really sure what's going on.
- [42:43]
Jim Acosta
And they could have just put it instead of Michael.
- [42:45]
Matt Friend
They have to figure this stuff out immediately. Yeah.
- [42:48]
Jim Acosta
Oh, man, that's good stuff. So you're in town, you're doing some shows. I don't want to bury the lead, but a little something happened at last night's show. Can you tell us about that?
- [42:59]
Matt Friend
Well, yeah. I mean, so I'm doing five shows here in D.C. a couple of them are sold out. We have a couple more going. And then last night, you know, it's a very interesting moment in our society and comedy more specifically. As you know, there was no comedic performer at this year's White House Correspondents Dinner, which I've been very opinionated on. I think it was a mistake. Can you hear me? Yeah. Not a comedy. Because I just feel like the second we are unable to lose the ability to laugh at ourselves, then. Then we're in a real, you know, Russian Communist situation. So basically. So last night I was alerted by the manager of this club that they're. He said something. Someone's fishy and suspicious, and I'm like, okay, I don't know why you're telling me this. I'm about to go on and perform. But, okay. So then I go on. Then, like a minute into it, this guy in a sparkly jacket and a red MAGA hat stands up and then he moves from the third row to the front row and, like, clearly disturbing the show. It's all on tape. And I'm going to try to get it too quickly. And then he just starts kind of talking, and I'm like, thinking, oh, my God, am I going to get Chris Rock, Will Smith slapped right now? What's going to happen? And then I'm just starting to kind of make jokes. I'm like. You're like Marjorie Taylor Greene in the State of the Union, interrupting. You're like that old Democrat. You're like that old Democrat guy waving his canes. I'm trying to make it bipartisan. And then. And then I'm like, doing. I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna just. I'm like, you know, we're gonna get you out of here. We're gonna throw you out like a dog. Like, I'm just kind of, like, trying to be funny, doing my Trump impression and then get him out. And then he's kind of reaching into his Pockets. And I'm like. And I'm kind of, like, nervous. I'm like, what's. What's he doing?
- [44:50]
Jason Isaacs
Then?
- [44:50]
Matt Friend
He's, like, popping pills. It's like, almost like a sketch. So he's popping pills, and then, you know, the guy's just, like, kind of flipping me off, like, raising his fist in the air. And then after a few minutes, I'm just basically like, you know what? We got to get you to the back of where you were sitting for. Like, you got to get out of here. And then he stands up and he's like, you want to arrest me? You want to arrest me? You want to call the cop? Basically, it was such a whole ordeal. And then until he stopped. I actually took out my Mitch McConnell glasses and just froze. And I said, I'm going to just stop here. And I just went like this.
- [45:27]
Jim Acosta
Just freeze the show. Like, Mitch Mc.
- [45:29]
Matt Friend
I just froze the show. Exactly. And then after a few minutes, I mean, the guy was. I guess take it up. But I mean, it was definitely troubling.
- [45:37]
Jim Acosta
You know, comedy. Like, don't people understand? They go to a comedy show.
- [45:41]
Matt Friend
Well, in addition, I made a clear point, which is, I don't want to hear any bullshit of getting kicked out of a show because he's a Republican. If he was wearing a Harris Walls camouflage hat, acting that way, I would have done the same goddamn thing.
- [45:56]
Jason Isaacs
Exactly.
- [45:57]
Matt Friend
The point is, don't be a psychopath and don't interrupt shows. So people are going to try to make these partisan. So, yeah, I mean, it's. It's a crazy.
- [46:07]
Jim Acosta
It's a bipartisan thing. Yeah, don't be.
- [46:10]
Matt Friend
This world we live in, it's so crazy. It's insane. But, you know, it's. Interestingly, I performed in Red Naples, Florida, to a probably 95 MAGA crowd, and they were loving it and able to actually have a good time. So there is hope for America that people can, like, be sensible and normal. But, you know, then again, there's a lot of weirdos out there, and I.
- [46:32]
Jim Acosta
Might be coming to one of the shows this weekend, and.
- [46:34]
Matt Friend
And, well, if you can get a ticket. I'm not sure if you can.
- [46:37]
Jim Acosta
If you can. If you can sneak me in. It's. It's sort of like getting into the.
- [46:40]
Matt Friend
Jim, we're gonna sneak you out. We can. Spoiler alert. But to the Substack fans, we're definitely gonna try to reenact. We're not gonna try. We're gonna reenact that famous Jim Acosta moment with Trump at the White House where he says, jim, you're a sad, nasty, terrible person. You're a dog. You're terrible. Get him out. You are the worst person I've ever seen. Get him out.
- [47:04]
Jim Acosta
There might be a struggle over the microphone, but anyway, get him.
- [47:07]
Matt Friend
Exactly. We're gonna move the mic. So I'd like to just reenact all these insane moments.
- [47:12]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, well, thank you. Thank you for thinking. Yeah, yeah, I'll give you insane.
- [47:17]
Jason Isaacs
But anyway.
- [47:18]
Matt Friend
Well, you've definitely had some insane. I mean, like, the Jim Acosta, like, memoir would be a riveting read.
- [47:24]
Jim Acosta
It would. Well, as. As it just so happens, Matt, I did write one, but that's okay. Anyway, I won't.
- [47:29]
Matt Friend
Well, I mean, I think. I think the newer edition. The newer edition.
- [47:32]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, an updated edition.
- [47:34]
Matt Friend
I know, as he's in his guilt status, if you know what I mean. Folks, wait a minute.
- [47:38]
Jim Acosta
Hold on a second. Because we had Jason Isaacs on earlier. You ran into Jason Isaacs this past week?
- [47:43]
Matt Friend
I did.
- [47:44]
Jason Isaacs
What was that like?
- [47:45]
Jim Acosta
He's like a huge star now.
- [47:47]
Matt Friend
Yeah, he's incredible. I. The correspondence weekend, it was actually really funny. There was a dot. There's a Don Rickles line. And he would always. He would go into a room. This is like prime show business. Sinatra and Carson and all these people, they would look around and he would say, it's clear. I'm the biggest name here. And I go to the correspondence weekend, and I actually was thinking to myself, this is not a good sign. I think I'm actually the biggest name here. I'm like, this is, like, not a joke. Because there used to be, like, Jon Hamm and Chris Pine, all these people. And then I'm like, what happened this year? But Jason Isaacs was there to save the day, so he legitimately was the biggest name there. And Jason.
- [48:25]
Jim Acosta
I mean, I used to run into Reese Witherspoon and Jane Fonda and Diane King. I mean, it was the place to be.
- [48:32]
Matt Friend
We had a fun moment where I saw Jason at this party, and then we reenacted the scene from the Lotus where he poisons the family. And. And.
- [48:41]
Jim Acosta
Very good. I was hoping it was that scene and not this other scene that.
- [48:44]
Matt Friend
Anyway, yeah, not the. He played the older brother, and I played the younger brother, and we went into the bathroom and completed the scene. It was.
- [48:51]
Jim Acosta
Oh, my gosh. Well, what happens on correspondence dinner weekend stays in correspondence dinner weekend.
- [48:56]
Matt Friend
Is there anything better than natural light, by the way? I mean, you know this. You're taping your show in sports.
- [49:01]
Jim Acosta
It's a good look. I think it's a good look. The hair looks good. Yeah. And. And it's your story. Last. Last night is reminding me of my time to. Out on the campaign trail when I would go to these Trump rallies and people would come up to you and scream at you and call you a traitor and do all this other stuff. But then there are also people who are like, oh, thank you. You know, I can't. I can't admit this in public, but thank you. And they want to take a selfie and so on. So, Matt, don't, Don't. Don't let this get you down. You know, the show must go.
- [49:28]
Matt Friend
The show goes on. I stayed on, I did 65 more minutes, and I kept rattling off. You know, I did a whole segment, too, which was jokes that should have been made at the White House Correspondents Dinner. I can. I can share one of them if you'd like. Please, everybody, let me just say, to clean this up, this is Barack Obama, and I have to say, Jim Acosta is an exemplary American. He shows that whether you are from a red state or a blue state. Jim Acosta's sub stack is for these United States. Thank you.
- [49:58]
Jim Acosta
There you go. Thank you. I'm Jim Acosta and I approve this message. Matt, I. This was supposed to be it Friday. You and I were supposed to do it Friday, but we're not.
- [50:07]
Jason Isaacs
We didn't really do it.
- [50:09]
Matt Friend
I mean, what. What can we say for Friday? What could we say? I mean, I'm just trying to think. I mean, I. You know, it's almost.
- [50:15]
Jim Acosta
It's almost you Friday to the guy that was trying to give you a hard time last night. But I gotta.
- [50:19]
Matt Friend
I gotta. I gotta say, I mean, the timing of Jim Acosta creating his own sub stack is. It's actually like divine intervention, as Trump says. There's somebody up there watching over us, somebody bigger than all of us. Don't you love what Trump does that, by the way? There's no way he actually believes that. What I am so impressed by is that people actually believe that he thinks there's someone higher than all of us. No, he doesn't. It's television.
- [50:48]
Jim Acosta
Two Corinthians. Yeah.
- [50:50]
Matt Friend
There's somebody bigger than all of us. Then he's, like, looking up, and I think he's thinking, and what's bigger than all of us is Rosie O'Donnell. Okay, folks, I'm kidding. That's.
- [50:59]
Jim Acosta
Apparently he wants to be the Pope, too. Didn't Lindsey Graham or somebody say he should be the Pope? Can you imagine? Trump is The Pope.
- [51:05]
Matt Friend
Speaking of Friday, I'll tell you, Lindsey Graham would like to meet me on a Friday, if you know what I mean. Oh, my God, that's right. I just went there.
- [51:12]
Jim Acosta
Canceled. God damn it, Matt.
- [51:14]
Matt Friend
Jim. Jim, it's too late. That's the beauty of substack, baby. You are your own Lord, baby. Come on. That's. It's a new world. It's a new world. And Jim. And Jim Acosta is leading it.
- [51:27]
Jim Acosta
My man. It's great to see you. I know you. You've got to run and you've got, I don't know, More. More.
- [51:33]
Matt Friend
One more thing for subsect. You know what's amazing? It's that I like bipartisan comedy. Like, you know, I make fun of the libs, as he calls them. The libs. So, like, Bernie Sanders was at Coachella. Imagine you're a 12 year old influencer just getting high on edibles. Then you just hear, we are in danger. There is an existential threat to our democracy today. I'm like, why does Bernie always sound like he's conducting a very tiny Jewish orchestra with his hands all the time? I don't know. And then I'm like. Like, someone should just bring out Ted Cruz at Coachella to even announce. It's so great to be here at Coachella. How much do you all love that Chapel Row? I love Chapel Road. She just lights my skin on fire. He can make nothing sound cool. Yeah, I love it.
- [52:23]
Jim Acosta
I love it. But, you know, to me, a Coachella would not be complete without a Howard Stern.
- [52:29]
Matt Friend
Right. Well, let me just tell you before we go, here's what I want to say. I met Jim Acosta in person, and Robin has met a lot of famous people. She wants to have sex with this guy. Like nobody I've ever seen. Robin asked me, is Jim single? I said, robin, you're crazy. So, Jim, let me ask you this. Who to you? You've done a lot of interviews. Who to you do you think has been the most, you know, flirtatious? Who would you say would be the best date that Jim Acosta could have out of anybody he's ever interviewed outside of Mad Friend?
- [53:03]
Jim Acosta
I mean, I can't think outside of mad French.
- [53:05]
Matt Friend
Who would it be?
- [53:06]
Jim Acosta
Elizabeth, perhaps? I. I don't know.
- [53:08]
Matt Friend
You know, we call it Pocahontas Acasta. That's her name.
- [53:14]
Jim Acosta
Matt.
- [53:15]
Matt Friend
Yeah.
- [53:15]
Jim Acosta
All right. So, Matt, you're going to be at the Arlington.
- [53:17]
Matt Friend
Yeah.
- [53:18]
Jim Acosta
Should we say where you're going to be? I don't know.
- [53:19]
Jason Isaacs
Maybe.
- [53:19]
Matt Friend
Yeah. Yes. Arlington Drafthouse Yeah.
- [53:22]
Jim Acosta
I have four shows theater back in the day.
- [53:26]
Matt Friend
I mean, I think it's where Lauren. I think it's where Lauren Boebert gets naked and meets up with Kid Rock's nephews when she's not with her uncle. I actually asked on stage last night, I said, can you imagine what the smell of the Uber was like when Kid Rock and Lauren Boebert got into it together?
- [53:42]
Jim Acosta
Oh, no. I don't want to think about that at all. Take that straight to the car wash to the detail shop after that. See, I make that. I make Matt laugh every once in a while.
- [53:53]
Matt Friend
Jim Acosta is. Is literally Ron Burgundy now. It's like just Friday. You know, who cares?
- [54:00]
Jason Isaacs
Just plug.
- [54:04]
Matt Friend
Shows the cell. Yeah. So tickets in madfriend.com come around if you're around in. In Arlington. Get your tickets tonight and tomorrow.
- [54:11]
Jim Acosta
And if. And if. And if you do, Matt will freeze in front of you.
- [54:14]
Matt Friend
Texas, next weekend. So mattfriend.com it'll be a lot of fun. Yeah.
- [54:18]
Jim Acosta
Texas.
- [54:19]
Matt Friend
Yeah.
- [54:19]
Jim Acosta
Man. Oh, man. All right, well, yeah, bring your six shooters with you.
- [54:23]
Matt Friend
Yeah, Seriously.
- [54:24]
Jim Acosta
All right, buddy. Well, good to see it. We'll see you. I'll see you this weekend.
- [54:27]
Matt Friend
Good luck. Thanks.
- [54:28]
Jim Acosta
Thanks, pal. All right. That's the great Mad Friend. Oh, my goodness. Okay. For everybody out there who was offended by anything that Matt Friend said, I just want to. This is when I add the disclaimer that the opinions advanced by Matt Friend are those of Matt Friend and his alone. They do not represent the views of this program.
- [54:49]
Jason Isaacs
All right?
- [54:50]
Jim Acosta
So one last thing. I have to mention this, because I got to get going here, and it's. It's the end of the show. But again, I just want to say thanks to Jason Isaacs. The great Jason Isaacs.
- [55:04]
Jason Isaacs
Wow.
- [55:04]
Jim Acosta
I mean, what. I. I just hope everybody enjoyed that interview because he was. He was fascinating. He was brilliant. You know, for people who crap on actors in Hollywood and think that they're bubble heads and they don't know anything, I mean, clearly that is not the case with Jason Isaacs. He was incredible. Go see his movie Words of War. It's out in theaters and a couple of selected cities this weekend, and then it expands to other cities across the country next weekend. It's. It's a very powerful film. And I also want to thank Suzanne Malvo, my former colleague from my old place. She is out there doing it still to this day. Terrific reporting out there. And, of course, my thanks to Matt Friend. And if you're out there seeing Matt Friend this Weekend. Be nice, because I might be in the crowd and I might have something to say to you if you're not nice to my, my buddy Matt Friend. In the meantime, we have to end with an addition of the Dear Leader files. I'm sure you've heard about this. Trump's dictator birthday bash. The planning is already underway. The Associated Press reports that the detailed army plans for a potential military parade on Donald Trump's birthday in June call for more than 6,600 soldiers, at least 150 vehicles, 50 helicopters, seven bands, and possibly a couple thousand civilians, the Associated Press has learned. The planning documents obtained by the AP are dated April 29th and 30th and have not been publicly released. To folks in Washington who think you can suppress information. I just type. When it comes to Donald Trump, sorry, it's just not going to happen. They represent the Army's most recent blueprint for its long planned 250th anniversary festival on the National Mall. No, Trump is not at 250 years old, although he looks to be that case sometimes. It's the 250th anniversary of the US army and that's what's being celebrated on the National Mall. But of course, Trump wants to hold that hostage, take it hostage and make it his birthday celebration. Something straight out of North Korea and Kim Jong Un. I mean, folks, again, just to end on some final thoughts here to end the week, did anybody vote for this? I mean, and, and you know, Matt did mention Elon Musk earlier. Unless I've cut that out of this program, Elon Musk was supposed to be rooting out waste, fraud and abuse here in Washington. And I mean, talk about just a complete contradiction of that, you know, mission statement in every way, shape, form possible. If Donald Trump is going to have a dictator like birthday bash here in Washington, D.C. i'm sorry, you can pay for it yourself. We, the taxpayers of the United States of America do not want to pay for 6,600 soldiers, 150 vehicles, 50 helicopters, seven bands, and possibly a couple thousand civilians. Meanwhile, by the way, 50, 50 helicopters, I'm sorry, this airspace, it's not going to, I mean, think about recent events. The airspace is probably not a good place for that around Washington, D.C. but at the same time, my goodness, my God, the American people do not need to shell out the millions and millions of dollars that are going to be required for this kind of Kim Jong Un appalooza here in Washington, D.C. i'm sorry, you know, I just think that that's a gross waste of taxpayer funds. And by the way, I mean, does Donald Trump really want to call attention to the fact that he's getting another year older? Isn't he now at that point where he and people of MAGA world were ridiculing Joe Biden for his age? Again, the hypocrisy is astounding. Again. Thanks everybody for watching this week. Had a lot of great guests. I mean, my goodness, Jason Isaacs from White Lotus today, Sean Penn, Eric Swalwell yesterday, all of the wonderful guests we've had on all this week want to thank them all. And somehow Duke, I don't. I swear I have. I've not been giving him little doggy downers or anything along those lines. Duke has not tried to make an appearance all week long. I don't know where Duke is right now, but he has just learned to be very quiet and very well behaved. And so the only glimpse you're going to get of Duke is for my mug. And there he is right there. But anyway, at the end of this week, on this, on this TGIF it Friday, slide one more of those one last time. I want to thank everybody for watching. Still reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. Thanks for watching, everybody.