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The Jim Acosta Show
The Downfall of CNN and the Complicity of Corporate Media with Jim Acosta
00:46:13
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- [00:01]
Wajahat Ali
This is with Jim Acosta. You know him, you love him. He has his own show. You gotta subscribe on Substack. Jim Acosta. My parents used to watch him all the time on cnn. They're like, that. Jim Acosta. Where'd he go? He's on Substack. And I have Jim today because I want to talk about, I say this sadly.
- [00:19]
Jim Acosta
Yeah.
- [00:19]
Wajahat Ali
The downfall of CNN and the complicity of corporate media. And specifically, I want to start with CNN's, because, Jim, I think it's one of the things where, yeah, CNN becomes an easy punching bag. But when you travel internationally and you talk to people, and I could tell you, as a son of Pakistani immigrants, I always joke, you know, I wrote and published a play. I was in the New York Times. You know, I wrote a book. I did some cool things. It wasn't until I was on cnn and Pakistani uncles and aunties in my community saw me talking to, like, you know, Anderson Cooper. They were like, beta, you have finally made it. I'm like, I've been doing. You are talking to the Silver Fox. You have made it. Talk to us about what CNN was, the reputation that CNN had internationally back in the day.
- [01:08]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, I mean, Waj, you're absolutely right. And I mean, I, I would witness this up close when I would travel all over the world with potus, you know, under Obama and Trump, and you would go to these different countries and you would, you know, you would talk to members of the press, you know, the press who were, you know, there gathered for a press conference thing, and you would hear exactly what you're saying. There, there's, there was just a tremendous amount of respect for CNN as a global news organization. And, you know, listen, there's, there's a lot that they're, you know, that they're still doing, right? It's, it's not really my style to, to bash my old place. You know, it can come across as sour grapes and that kind of thing. But, you know, there, there are places where I think criticism is warranted. But just as I was saying, you know, the global coverage, the, some of the very fine journalists who are there, you know, a lot of them do terrific work, go into dangerous situations and, and do amazing reporting. The problem is right now is, you know, we have people like Scott Jennings, you know, on, In Prime Time, just, just trashing, you know, the good name of that company. And so I, I, I'm concerned about it. And when I saw him on, you know what, it was at Thursday night with Adam Mockler saying, get Your effing finger out of my face or hand out of my face or whatever he said. I just thought, you know, what, what is going on over there? You know, this guy shouldn't be on cnn. But, you know, hey, I, I don't have as much pull there as I used to. What can I say?
- [02:40]
Wajahat Ali
Yeah. You know, I don't want you to, you know, do a, I don't think it's grievance. I think we have to use, use it as a textbook example. Right. Because I always tell people, and I was, I was always fair during my year at cnn, they asked me to join as a CNN contributor right before COVID I always tell people fairly. People were nice to me, I was nice to people. The producers really loved me, the anchors loved me. I had a great relationship with most folks. No sour grapes or grievances. I had a feeling I wouldn't get my contract renewed. And I told my agent, I said, you know what? This Covid, this Covid's gonna stick around and I think they're gonna cut a lot of us and bring on a lot of doctors and scientists. That's what happened. Yeah. When they let me go, I, I, I wasn't even bitter about it. Right. Like some people said, oh, they let you go because you're so bold in this, on, on this certain issue. I'm like, I don't think so. However, what I did notice, and you saw this with Scott Jennings, you brought it up and you see this for corporate media, and I want to talk about Tucker later on, is a double standard, an egregious double standard for terrible right wing conservatives and Trump supporters. And it's always been this way in corporate media. They've always worked the refs. But I remember even during my time him, you know, I got three and a half warnings and Rebecca Cutler was now at msnbc. And I could tell she, that was her job at the time. She was taking care of on her talent. I could tell each time she called me, she didn't want to call me. I could tell she was rolling. I saying, I really don't want to do this, but I have to. Hey, you have to be nicer. Each warning was because a right winger who was employed by the network, narc. And was that I was too mean to them. Jim.
- [04:13]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, no, and no, I know. And Scott, I mean, I will just tell you from personal experience, I mean, Scott has done that. You know, he is very well known inside as a whiner. You know, if he doesn't like the way things Go down during a segment, he will complain internally. And you know, it's kind of a joke. It's like, you know, it's what you and I have talked about before when it comes to these MAGA pundits. They can dish it out, but they can't take it. And Scott Jennings is the perfect example of that. I mean, this is somebody who used to be a Trump critic and you could bring him on and he sort of called balls and strikes and you know, if he, if there was something that Donald Trump did that he didn't like, he would say something. He was critical of Trump. After January 6th, all of that changed. And you know, I just think that if you're going to come on and, and you're from the, from the right, you're Republican, you're conservative, and, and a company wants to have both sides arguing things out and the, the person on the right is, you know, coming to this from sort of a, you know, well intentioned standpoint. There aren't many, aren't many of those anymore. I, I suppose that's okay, but I don't think Scott does that at all. He, he performs, he plays a part on tv and it just makes it a dishonest exercise. And I just don't know why, you know, these, these companies are in the business of doing this. It's not just cnn. There's a whole slew of them that do this on a regular basis. And I don't think it adds to the public discourse at all.
- [05:40]
Wajahat Ali
You know, it doesn't. And I think now with Scott, it's egregious. Right, because anytime we used to say this, we used to get drowned out. All liberal snowflake whining, whining, whining. But let's just stick with cnn. Look, the evolution, there's always been this case, right? Affirmative action. So they can say things that you and I can never say. If we say a fraction of what they said. Oh my God. I mean, you went through it, Jim, like non stop headlines. And the right wing just attacks, attacks, attacks, and corporate media bends the knee to right wing bad faith attacks. But I remember there used to be a standard, so, you know, before Tucker Carlson and before Jesse Watters, there was Bill O'Reilly. It's like Hydra, they just keep getting replaced. Yeah, or Scott Jennings. There was Rick Santorum, and before Rick Santor, Jeffrey Lord. I took on all three. Jeffrey Lord. But there were standards, Jim. Jeffrey Lord. Yeah, like Zucker. Why do you let this guy on? And Zucker said, hey, he's Good tv. You know his name, which I thought was cynical, but okay, that was a calculation Zucker made. But then Jeffrey Lord, if you remember, did like a mock Heil Hitler. Sig Heil. He goes, oh, you think we're all Nazis? And he did like a sick.
- [06:50]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, that was nuts. Yeah, Got fired, gets rid of him.
- [06:53]
Wajahat Ali
Rick Santorum, right? I used to go on with Rick Santorum. Same thing. Rick Santorum. Look at his background. The stuff he used to say. Still got paid at that. That was troubling. In order for a progressive Rick Santorum, we would have to be, like violent anarchists. But I digress. Despite all that, Rick Sander comes on and he says, america was a nation birthed from white men. Everyone is offended. He gets a second chance, Jim. Don Lemon says, hey, do you want to, like, hey, backtrack? He says, no, he gets fired. Scott Jennings does something even worse. He drops an F bomb during live television against a kid half his age who really didn't do anything. Jim, as of now, no reprimand, no nothing. No slap on the. Yeah, that has changed, Right?
- [07:43]
Jim Acosta
I know. I sort of feel like the Erica Kirk meme, where she's just looking into the camera and breathing. You know, every time I see that Scott Jennings has not been fired, I'm
- [07:51]
Wajahat Ali
like,
- [07:54]
Jim Acosta
you know, that's basically.
- [07:56]
Wajahat Ali
That was very good. Excellent. Erica Kirk, by the way, I'm sorry,
- [07:59]
Jim Acosta
I'm wearing navy instead of black, and I don't have the.
- [08:03]
Wajahat Ali
The Janet Jackson rhythmless nation Janet Jackson hat. Yeah.
- [08:07]
Jim Acosta
But I. I mean, I will say, you know, a couple of things. One is, you know, obviously there's a huge double standard. I mean, over at Fox, you have Jesse Waters doing ridiculous crap on a daily basis. He keeps his job. You know, they. They. It's Trump State tv. They lie all the time on. On his behalf. They carry his water. It's prop. It's a propaganda network. And, you know, people on the left obviously just can't get away with it. The other thing that I think is going on Wash and I. It's you and I are here and other folks are here, people like Terry Moran and Joy and Don and so on, is that the Trump people, I believe, went behind the scenes to these various networks and said, we want that guy gone. We want that guy gone. We want this guy gone. And if you want your access, that's what you have to do. And I just think that Colbert, they. They try to do it with Jimmy Kimmel. It's out in the open now where they just try that on a Daily basis, Trump is practically, you know, he's almost every day calling for Jimmy Kimmel to be fired. And these companies are, are buckling and, and bending and saying, okay, whatever you want, we'll throw out the, the sacrificial lamb of the day. And, and that way we can keep our access and hopefully we'll get some interview where you'll just lie to us all the time. I mean, I, I don't understand what these companies are getting in exchange for doing this kind of stuff, doing these favors and turning these tricks. It's prostituting America's media networks. And it's one of the reasons why I've been jumping up and down and saying, you know, anywhere that I can, that, you know, we are seeing the early stages and maybe early to middle stages of a state media system or state compromised media system in this country. If the President of the United States or the administration that's in power has leverage over news organizations, then you don't really have a free press. And when people like Scott Jennings can do something that clearly violates a standard of a television company and doesn't get punished in any kind of meaningful way, what that says to me is that there's accountability for thee and not for me. And that is also another one of the hallmarks of kind of a state media apparatus system where a state compromised or state influenced media system and we just have to call it out for what it is. And, you know, does it make me feel good to say this kind of stuff? No, it doesn't. I wish I didn't have to say it. But it has to be said because the American people need to understand that what they're seeing on their TV screens is sort of watered down kid glove news coverage of the President of the United States. Where's the coverage of his bananas truth social posts? Where's the coverage of his, of the crazy stuff that he says at these press conferences and press availabilities? A lot of this stuff is like yesterday where he's again talking about taking cognitive tests and so on. A lot of this stuff is sanitized and it's not reported because if it's reported, then Trump's media henchmen will start breathing down their necks. And these corporate executives are basically saying, hey, I don't want to deal with that. You know, I want to, I want to be able to go home at 6 o' clock and have my glass of wine at home or go out to dinner and not take calls at 9 o' clock at night from Trump's media henchmen. And so they, they choose the path of least resistance instead of the path of courage and it just screws the rest of us.
- [11:22]
Wajahat Ali
Yeah, I think that's the last point is key is that they choose a path of least resistance and they think, okay, if I bend the knee me, my neck will be spared. And what we've seen is no one spared. Right. And yes, you, you did your job. You continued doing your job. I remember when you were the White House correspondent, they still used to pick on you, but back in the day that CNN had your back and, and the right wing was trying. And you're like a test case, honestly, they tried years to come for your scalp. Can you find people? Because I think people, I sort of
- [11:53]
Jim Acosta
felt like Saddam Hussein's statue, they finally, they finally tore the fucker down, you know?
- [11:57]
Wajahat Ali
Yeah, yeah, they finally got you down, but you didn't bend the. At that time it said CNN had your back. But that was before Trump won for the second time. Trump wins for the second time. And goodbye Jim Acosta. You know, I was like, oh, Jim's gonna have his own show. Nope, that's gone too. And your scalp was first scalp. Stephen Colbert's was a second scalp. But I just wanna remind people because people forget. Just remind people what they did to you. Because I brought this up when last time we talked and I think people were shocked. I kept this receipt. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who was the press secretary for Donald Trump, openly shared straight up, just a digital fake video, an image of you, a deep fake. You were one of the.
- [12:37]
Jim Acosta
Remember when you called it that?
- [12:38]
Wajahat Ali
Yeah, they, that you, they, they literally. And I think she still has it up. A deep fake video that they knew was completely bullshit of you assaulting a staffer. Can you talk to us about that?
- [12:50]
Jim Acosta
Yeah.
- [12:51]
Wajahat Ali
Does that like this is scary friggin dictator stuff that people.
- [12:55]
Jim Acosta
No, I know, I know. And I was in the middle of it. I thought the same thing. I was. It was a totally surreal out of body experience. But basically there was the press conference right after the midterms, which by the way, folks, we're heading towards another one of those midterms now where, you know, Trump got his clock cleaned. This is back in 2018. And the next day there was a news conference that he was going to have to talk about all this stuff. And of course he was totally pissed and hadn't slept all night and wanted to go nuts. And so he came in there and it was a totally bananas news conference. And I asked him about the the ads that they ran during the midterms that demonized immigrants and said there was an invasion and showed these people climbing over fences like it was World War Z with Brad Pitt and all this stuff. And so I, you know, I was like, you know, this is. You're just demonizing immigrants. Why are you. And he, you know, obviously said that that wasn't the case and lied. And he got so upset that he started to blow his top and call me fake news and so on. Enemy of the People. And the. An intern came over and started to pull my microphone away. And I was like, what's going on here? I just kind of pulled back because I didn't know what was happening. And it was in that motion that they said, they, they said, you know, that I somehow assaulted the intern or made contact with the intern. First it was assault, and then I think they, they later changed the language to I made contact with the intern. But Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and announcing that they took away my press pass that night, tweeted out a, an image. And I think they got it from somebody on Infowars or something like that where somebody had gone in and digitally altered the video where they took out a couple of frames or a few frames of video. So it sped up the motion of me pulling the microphone. And it looked like I was karate chopping the intern. And it was just as Jim does. Nuts.
- [14:39]
Wajahat Ali
Yeah. If you piss him off, he does karate chop you. I just want to say no, I
- [14:44]
Jim Acosta
used to do, I used to do speeches around this stuff. It's almost feels like ancient history now. It's eight years ago, but I used to say pork chops. I know. Karate chops. I don't, but I know. And it was, and I, you know, I wrote about this in my book and so on and so forth, but it was just kind of nuts that they, they tried to pull that. You know, the White House press secretary on a taxpayer funded Twitter account tweeted out a deep fake. And it was, it was totally crazy. And then we went to court to get the press pass back. I'm going on too long telling the story, but the federal judge said, you know, that this video was, you know, basically not worth, you know, anything. And I can't remember the exact language, but I remember thinking from a federal judge, it was a sick burn. And this was a Trump appointed federal judge who, you know, kind of smack back the Trump White House and Sarah Huckabee Sanders. And within days I had my press pass back. But yeah, that's, that that is what they, that is what they did. And you know, make no mistake, they're still doing it now. And it's, it's gone much farther, watch. Than what we were dealing with back then, where now he's, yeah, he's banned the Associated Press. You know, he's, he had. They hand select who's in the press pool now. You know, they, they rearrange the chairs in the briefing room. They do all of these. They bring in Marjorie Taylor Green. Is he, is he still the boyfriend? I don't know who he is, but Brian Glenn, I think is his name.
- [16:10]
Wajahat Ali
Fiance now.
- [16:12]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, fiance now. And hey, you know, I wish them well. But Trump, you know, in the beginning, he would call on Brian Glenn all the time. I don't think he calls on him as much anymore. But that was. They were trying to stock the press pool with ringers. So he was just taking questions from mostly people that he liked. And this is all nuts. It's crazy. It's like what's happening at the Pentagon where they put all these ridiculous press restrictions and I, you know, to me, these news organizations should be suing the White House to eliminate all of this nonsense. But that's not what's happening.
- [16:48]
Wajahat Ali
No, I appreciate that history because I, yeah, ever since then I've been following it. I'm like, this is scary authoritarian shit. And I use the word and F word authoritarian and fascism. Because I'm like, the fact that the White House press secretary is knowingly promoting a digitally altered video of a White House press correspondent allegedly assaulting an intern in order to get the person arrested, in order to target this person, in order to take away their credentials. This is the type of stuff that happens at, I don't know, dictatorships in Latin America, in Russia, this is what happens in Hungary. This is the stuff that we read about in, you know, in like 1984. And folks, this was eight years ago. And this was while Donald Trump was calling the press the enemy of the people, the enemy of the state, who also use that language. Stalin before he purged and killed these people. Right. And so then you saw and I Jim, because it's important, because unfortunately, you were the canary in the coal mine who survived. Thank thankfully. But at that time we were saying, hey, other White House press correspondents, you might want to have Jim's back. And I realized, Jim, at that time, because, you know, I was an outsider looking in, a lot of these people were like rolling their eyes and they're like, Jim's making himself the center of the story.
- [17:59]
Jim Acosta
Yeah.
- [18:00]
Wajahat Ali
Is getting all the attention. And instead of saying, hey, my colleague didn't say that. That's wrong. They were perfectly fine. Throwing you under the bus. Or as we see now, just quickly moving on as Donald Trump mocks and ridicules another female journalist and another female journalist. Oh, it's, it's appalling, man. Show some spine. He's going to come after you next.
- [18:22]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, no, and I will say, you know, at the time when the whole thing went down, you know, calling the, the enemy of the people before they took my press pass. Peter Alexander of NBC, at that press conference that day, he did stand up for me, and there were some news organizations that stood by my, my side, I guess you could say, when we were trying to get my press pass back. But to your point, there were some folks who obviously, you know, would grumble, you know, to Politico, whoever, whenever somebody would write a press piece or what's going on in the, in the White House press corps, you know, that you would have some people taking shots at me and so on. That's okay. It's part of the job. I can, I can handle it. But one of the problems that we have now, and you just mentioned this, is like when Trump says quiet piggy to another reporter and nobody else says anything or say he calls somebody stupid. I just, you know, I, to me, the gold star, the next gold star goes to the reporter, says, Mr. President, that, that's not appropriate. That, you know, I don't think you should say that. And by the way, why don't you answer that person's question?
- [19:24]
Wajahat Ali
That's right.
- [19:24]
Jim Acosta
You know, I think he was, he said quiet piggy to that reporter. I believe it was Catherine Lucy of the Wall Street Journal, and she was asking about Epstein. So he does this, he lashes out. I, you know, I usually describe it this way. He usually lashes out this way when he's being called out for his lying or his racism. But now I think it's his lying, his racism, or Jeffrey Epstein. Those are the questions that make him go volcanic. And that's when he starts to level these personal attacks. And I think the reporters in that situation, two options. One is, you say, that's not appropriate. Please don't refer to my colleague in that fashion. Or you say, you know what? You didn't answer the question. Why don't we try that again? I'd like to ask her question. I'd like to ask his question and watch him. Let's just see what happens.
- [20:12]
Wajahat Ali
You know, it would make for a viral clip and it would actually be better for the reporter, it would actually be better for their career, it'd be better for their popularity. But they don't do that because they're still operating from this mindset of scarcity. There can be only one. And I want to tell him, I've looked at this for the past 10 years as an observer. He's going to go after all of your heads, unite your chicken heads, make it harder for him, for Colonel Sanders to take your head. He might get one or two, but you'll save 18. But they don't do it, Jim. They still don't do it.
- [20:43]
Jim Acosta
I know.
- [20:43]
Wajahat Ali
I wanted to ask you this. When did you have a feeling? Was it when he was elected? The second time when he had a feeling, ah, the landscape is changing. I might have to look for something else because at least during the first, CNN had your back. Now CNN is merging with Paramount and you have the Ellison's, these billionaires where literally Nepo baby's son, David Ellison openly has admitted to the press. Yeah, I met with Donald Trump and yeah, we got to make changes at cnn and. Right. Yeah, the whitest correspondence dinner. They had a party in D.C. and guess who came and spoke. Donald Trump.
- [21:19]
Jim Acosta
Insane. I know, it's totally crazy. And you know, a couple of things. One, yes, when, when he got reelected, I thought that might not be good for me because I know how they are.
- [21:31]
Wajahat Ali
Yeah.
- [21:31]
Jim Acosta
And I had been warned during, you know, the Biden presidency, I had lunch with this longtime Trump adviser and he made it very clear to me that I had a bullseye on my back and if they got back into power, they were going to come after me. And, you know, I've thought about writing a book about it and, you know, writing about that particular point, but I, I knew I was pretty clear to me that they were going to try to come and get me if somehow he got back into the White House. Now, I mean, the other thing that you mentioned is the, you know, the Warner Brothers Discovery Paramount merger, which I have spoken out about. And I know people will say, oh, you're a journalist, you shouldn't do that. I, I think this, the stakes are so high right now that, you know, we, we have to, you know, have to be a little bit more outspoken about what's happening to our country. And that is that we have the beginnings or perhaps middle stages of corporate, you know, media transforming into kind of a state media system in this country. And it's sort of like what we saw in Hungary, sort of like what we saw in Early Putin days in Russia. And we just have to, we have to stop it, we have to stop this from happening. And you know, the Ellisons, I think David Ellison has said, oh no, no, we're not going to, at cnn. Everything's gonna be fine at cnn. But then, but look at what they did at cbs. They put Barry Weiss in charge of CBS News. A 60 Minutes correspondent, Sharon Alfonsi, just the other day was giving us a press speech where she got an award. And she talked about how under Barry Weiss, 60 Minutes attempted to shelve her piece on Seacot, the notorious prison in El Salvador. And for reasons that didn't make any sense to, to Sharon as a, as a, you know, honest to goodness tried and true meat and potatoes, you know, broadcast journalist. And the only thing that makes any sense is that they were doing it for political reasons. And you, and you've had numerous people at CBS News resign as a result of these corporate pressures. And they're not really corporate pressures. They're, they're corporate and government pressures. They're, they're, they're, they're government pressures through the corporation to the individual journalists. And if you have that taking place over at cnn, that is going to be a very serious situation. Because CBS News, you know that yes, they cover the world, but it is primarily a domestic US based news organization that services Americans who live in the United States. You know, they may argue with that and say they have a website and so on. CNN is a global news organization. It is probably, it may maybe next to the BBC, it is the biggest, if not one of the biggest news organizations in the world. And you know, I think one of the things that's going to happen if you merge these two companies is they're obviously going to have lots of layoffs, they're going to close bureaus, they're going to fire journalists and photographers and producers and writers and so on. And the other thing is that you might have these kinds of same government and corporate pressures. You're very likely to have, not might likely to have the same corporate pressures and government pressures over at CNN that you've had at cbs. And then you would have basically a media conglomerate that I think rivals Fox in terms of, you know, putting out government propaganda, Trump MAGA propaganda. And I don't think that's being hyperbolic. I think that's a real scenario that we can see coming down the pike. And it's to me very worrisome, which is why I, I speak out about it and I say this is wrong. This shouldn't happen.
- [24:56]
Wajahat Ali
I've been warning about it for over a year now because I knew this was gonna happen. Sherry Redstone of Paramount was already dangling the carrot and he knew the Ellisons wanted to take over. They the Paramount Skydance merger. For folks who don't know, that means they now own Paramount, which is one of the major five major Hollywood studios. They also own CBS News, tnt, tbs, Viacom, mtv. With the hbo. Warner Brothers merger, they will now own Warner Brothers as well. That means two of the five Hollywood studios are owned by the Ellison father and son billionaires. Larry Ellison of Oracle, another troubling company, is a billionaire. One of the richest people on Earth. The largest single donor to the Friends of Israel, hardcore supportive of Netanyahu and Donald Trump. His Nepo baby son, David Ellison has taken over Paramount, Skydance, they'll have Paramount, they'll have Warner brothers, they'll have HBO, they'll have CNN, they'll have CBS. And Larry Ellison also bought up, wait for it, TikTok and CBS.
- [25:56]
Jim Acosta
Exactly.
- [25:57]
Wajahat Ali
I'm so glad you talked about CBS. It's a very instructive example of what's going to happen across the media landscape, especially at cnn. It's not just. What's this journalist named Sherry Alfonsi, Right? Yeah. Not just her. Remember folks, Anderson Cooper. Why is he quitting? Because Barry White interfered. Why? Because he was doing a coverage on the bullshit white genocide conspiracy that brought over South African refugees. She interfered. He goes, I'm done. Then you had Scott McFarlane gone. He's now on substack. Why? He goes on, I want independence. Then he just had what? Last week another one, a woman in Based Abroad said, you know, she keeps interfering, especially with our Gaza coverage. And then you see Tony decouple who has the CBS News seat and he was handpicked because he attacked Ta Nehisi Coates and, you know, made many disparaging calls.
- [26:47]
Jim Acosta
And he was the one, he was the one on the CBS Evening News who said, marco Rubio, we salute you. You're the ultimate Florida man. Or whatever he said at that, yes, the end of that newscast and I thought to myself, this is, this is bizarro world. This is like something you would see in state TV in Russia or Cuba or something like that, or China. Totally, totally crazy stuff. And it's on a, it's on a CBS News broadcast. The, what used to be the, the seat that Dan Rather and Walter Cronkite sat in.
- [27:13]
Wajahat Ali
So it's totally, you know, cbs.
- [27:16]
Jim Acosta
It's crazy. I, I used to work there you know, many years ago, and we used to revere some of the people that, you know, walked in our, in those footsteps before us. And to think that somebody like that is now in that position doing those kinds of newscasts. There was another night where he was both sizing January 6th and so on. And it's, it's crazy Orwellian scary stuff. And I just, it, it's deeply worrisome. I, I really worry. Watch that, you know, they're just kind of one by one, you know, notches on the belt, trying to knock, knock people out of these positions. Bill Owens, he was the executive producer of 60 Minutes. He also resigned there because of corporate pressures. And this is why I say to people all the time, when 60 Minutes is in trouble, we're all in trouble.
- [28:03]
Wajahat Ali
Last year. Exactly. I was going to go there. And you went there when Bill Owens, folks, 60 Minutes is the crown jewel of CBS News has only had three executive producers in a storied history. Bill Owens was a third one last year. Bill Owens resigns, he falls on his own sword. And he sends a warning signal last year saying, folks, I'm telling you, this is where it's going. Resist, resist, resist. And specifically he said that Barry Weiss is interfering when it comes to two major news stories. Israel, Palestine, because Gaza, it's still ongoing. And also the Trump administration. So he says, I can't operate like this. Resigning. Everyone resist. He resigns in protest to make a big deal out of it because he knows it would shake and move the waters, if you will, in the media world. And since then, we're like, let's hope this merger doesn't go through. Paramount merger went through. Let's hope this hbo, Warner Brothers merger doesn't go through. It seems like it's going to go through. And now you're seeing it, folks, which is why you've had over 4,000 signatures in Hollywood. A listers. I signed that as well. I'm a Z lister. But against this merger because not only will it just destroy jobs, but also, you see, consolidation. Let's just do the list now. Yeah. TikTok, CNN, Comedy Central. So there goes Daily Show, John Oliver, there goes hbo, Paramount. Think about the movies, the content that we make. TV shows, Warner Brothers, TNT, TBS, Discovery, TikTok.
- [29:29]
Jim Acosta
Right, right.
- [29:30]
Wajahat Ali
It's all, it's all in service of Netanyahu and Trump.
- [29:34]
Jim Acosta
And that's why I say that this is not just about the news. This is also about the arts. And, you know, I think a lot of the artists who work with these, Paramount and Warner Brothers, they're, they're deeply worried about the content that's going to be, you know, rammed down their throats, that they're going to be asked to perform in, you know, propaganda like movies and TV shows that, that prop up Donald Trump and maga. I mean, look at the, the bananas documentary that they did on Melania. You know, and now Donald Trump, when he does these press conferences, he talks about Melania, how she's a movie star and all this stuff and it's totally goofy, nutty stuff. And that may be, that may be more of what we're going to be seeing in this country. You're going to see the administration putting pressure on Warner Brothers and on Paramount to churn out fictional content that has overtones and themes and, and whatnot that are much more far right than what you would normally see if you had independent, decentralized media in this country. So and the other thing too is, you know, you know, yeah, it's a big deal that, that CBS is gobbling up cnn. But don't, don't think it's out of the question that that kind of a media conglomerate could then gobble up NBC or ABC and that this conglomerate could get larger and larger. There's supposed to be antitrust laws, you know, laws against monopolies in this country. And this used to be stuff that conservatives and Republicans cared about. And they're obviously saying, no, we don't care anymore because it benefits us. Yeah, let's have more monopolies. Let's, let's do, let's do all this stuff. And so there's going to be, I think there's going to be a movement in this country watch to break up not just big tech, but big media.
- [31:16]
Wajahat Ali
Absolutely.
- [31:16]
Jim Acosta
And you know, I think that what we're seeing right now is very, very dangerous.
- [31:22]
Wajahat Ali
And also, I mean, this is why I love having Jim on, because he takes me exactly naturally to my next question on his own. I want to ask you two more before I let you go. There's also Sinclair Broadcasting, which is right wing and pro maga, and Trump that takes over all of our local affiliates and news channels. So that's one. You also have Fox. That's another. Now you have this conglomerate of Warner brothers and Paramount, CNN. You also have, they've taken over TikTok and they've also used these social media giants where a lot of people get their news to basically, as you, as you mentioned, do their bidding. And these social media giants, these broligarchs were in the front row. I always tell People, when, when history looks back, look at the inauguration of Donald Trump. Don't look at the second row or third row. Look in the front row and the front row, you'll find Bezos. In the front row, you'll find Zuckerberg. In the front row, you'll find Musk, Altman. These people own Facebook, they own YouTube, they own Google, they own Amazon. And speaking about Bezos, Amazon not only sells books. You and I are old enough. We remember when I only used to sell books. But it also produces content. It produces movies and TV shows. Right? And increasingly, as Hollywood is becoming more and more balkanized and monopolized, more and more a listers have to go on Amazon or Apple tv. Apple shows Apple movies, right? Because that's how their, their movies are funded. Martin Scorsese, you can't get movies made in the theater anymore, so Apple gives them like $200 million. Apple another boulevard. Tim Apple, who was there bending the knee for Donald Trump. Bezos sees that Donald Trump gets elected, says, okay, let me curry a favor with you. I'll spend $40 million, which I know will be a complete loss, but doesn't matter. I'll do a puff peas documentary on Melania. I'll get Brett Ratner, the guy who right now lives in Israel, had to flee Hollywood because of me too. And his friends with, wait for it, Netanyahu and can't make this shit up. Epstein to direct the movie. I'll release it, you know, and guess what? I'll also take the Washington Post. I'll remove a Democracy dies in darkness. We, for the first time ever, will not have our editorial, you know, pick a presidential candidate because they were going to go for a Kamala Harris. Yesterday. The Washington Post wins a Pulitzer for their reporting on Doge and how Elon Musk and Donald Trump have stolen our data and dismantled the government. And the irony is that yesterday, the owner of Washington Post, Jeffrey Bezos, and his wife spent $25 million to the. To be the patrons of the Met gala attended by celebrities. It was just.
- [33:51]
Jim Acosta
Yeah.
- [33:52]
Wajahat Ali
Chef's kiss. Your, your response to what you saw yesterday.
- [33:55]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, no, I mean, I think that first of all, some amazing journalists were awarded Pulitzers, including Julie K. Brown. Oh, yeah. Who's done an incredible job on Epstein and I, I, you know, the Washington Post, I'm, I'm very happy that they won that award for the Doge reporting. You know, I guess it does go to show you that, that, that Bezos has not been able to completely decimate that news organization. But I Mean, they've already been hammered really hard by the cuts that he's, you know, overseen over there. So it's, it's a very, it's a very big problem. But, no, I mean, I, when you see Jeff Bezos and what's, what's his wife's name, Lauren Sanchez, showing up at the Met gala like this, I mean, it also raises, I think, some, some pretty important questions, Wash, about, you know, the society that we are, you know, becoming here in the United States, where it's just out of control super wealth on the, on the part of these oligarchs. It is very much an oligarchal world that we now live in in America. And it. That's just so contrary to our experience as Americans. For the last, I don't know, since you and I have been alive, for sure, it, this goes back to the Gilded Age in terms of the disparity of wealth that we're seeing in this country. And Bezos appears to be kind of the poster child for this. And you're absolutely right. When you go back to the inauguration and the documentaries, when we look back at this, the films, you know, look back at this era, if we're still allowed to make independent documentaries at that point. And to see those tech oligarchs sitting in the front row, you know, barking and clapping like seals for Donald Trump's approval on his inauguration day, I thought that was a very sinister and menacing image for the American people to absorb because these companies have so much influence, not only over us as adults, but over our kids and so on. And to think that they felt like they had to show up and bend the knee and kiss his ass like that is extraordinary. I mean, and just the other day, you know, Trump's putting on Truth Social. He's bragging about how Tim Cook kicks his, his kisses his ass. I mean, you know, at some point, don't some of these tech guys, these tech bros, don't they look at themselves in the mirror and ask themselves, what have I done with my life? You know, I guess they're, they're so wealthy that it doesn't matter and they can just go and, and kiss his butt and, and look like, you know, ridiculous sycophants, and then they just hop back in their personal jet and they're fine. But I don't know, maybe I'm just.
- [36:29]
Wajahat Ali
Well, to answer wired a different way,
- [36:30]
Jim Acosta
I wouldn't be able to live with it.
- [36:32]
Wajahat Ali
To answer your question, a billionaire who is complicit with this techno fascist movement and is Terrified of everything, including his own shadow, because his shadow is black, is Mark Anderstein. And Mark Anderstein this year said, I don't self reflect. Very proudly said in an interview, I don't self reflect. And they see empathy as weakness. And my final question for you is, you know, Mehdi and I always say this. Mehdi has. And I. Because we always talk about this. These people, people, especially the right wingers, they're rich, they're engaged in debauched activities. They sit there privately and they mock Trump, and then publicly they praise Trump. And I'm like, man, how would you do it? Because Mehdi and I always talk about this, right? Like, you know, like, yeah, sure, in life, you've lied before, but you always feel guilty. Your face contorts, you start sweating. Your. Your immigrant mom can sniff out a lie in a second, right? You get red. Right?
- [37:26]
Jim Acosta
Yeah.
- [37:26]
Wajahat Ali
Squirming. You have shame. But how do you shame shameless people? And this takes me to the final question I have for you about Tucker Carlson. Because Tucker Carlson has now rebranded himself or is trying to rebrand himself yet again. He is a man who. Cnn, msnbc, Fox. This is a man who now says, ah, I was misled. I misled people. I'm sorry, I should have known. But we sit there and we have the receipts and we're like, tucker, thanks to the Dominion lawsuit, we saw your texts. You hated Donald Trump. You thought he was an idiot. You thought he was right. You knew that January 6th was not a conspiracy, and yet you went on television, you rallied for Trump. You were there sitting next to Trump at the 2024 Republican National Convention. You literally were in the White House in February. And now you've seen the light. And I just had finished the interview with Al Jazeera English's Listening post that came to my house, which is why I'm wearing this. Not for you, Jim. Yeah. Next time I will wear a suit and tie brief. But I said, you know, Tucker's gift is he always knows how to stay relevant in the media. He'll bend with the wind. And he's shameless. And I. He knows that we live in the United States of Amnesia, and conservatives get redeemed quicker than you and me. Your take on Tucker Carlson's rehabilitation.
- [38:40]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, I mean, Tucker Carlson is a fraud. He's a phony. I mean, let's just be honest about this. When he was on Fox, he was peddling conspiracy theories about January 6th. Remember when he had that documentary that Fox ran, False Flag.
- [38:53]
Wajahat Ali
The False Flag.
- [38:54]
Jim Acosta
The False Flag. You know, and that it was an inside job and all this stuff. Tucker will do anything for a buck. And, you know, he's made a lot of money over the years, and it's, it's disgraceful. And a lot of young people are, are susceptible to this stuff. And he, he is an excellent communicator, there's no question about it. He knows how to craft a message and sell it to a wide audience, and he's done very well by that. But at the same time, we have to recognize, you know, what he is. He is a dangerous demagogue and fascist. And I think what he's done right now, and I, I posted about this over the weekend, I'll probably write some more about it, although I don't like writing about him because I feel like it fuels, it adds oxygen to, you know, all of the conversation around him is that, you know, he, he is basically trying to distance himself from Trump in the same way that Megyn Kelly has done it. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Joe Rogan. They all see threats to their empires. They see threats to their media empires, and they know that if they continue to associate themselves with Donald Trump, that it's going to hurt their business. And so they are now trying to detach themselves like pilot fish from the larger fish in the ocean and try to hang on to what they have. And I don't think it's any accident that, that, that Trump invited Joe Rogan over to the White House the other day for some crazy, you know, event about psychedelics and, and so on. I mean, it was just, it was obviously a ploy by Donald Trump to keep Joe Rogan in, in the, in the orbit and in the Trump MAGA orbit. And, you know, and, and maybe Rogan responds by saying some nice things from Donald Trump about Donald Trump from time to time on his show. And so this is, it's also, it's also, to me, transparently fraudulent and transparently, I mean, just sick and twisted. And I just, you know, anybody who buys that Tucker Carlson has somehow seen the light about Donald Trump. I mean, you really need to go have your head examined because there's just no possible way that that is occurring. And the thing that's scary about, about Tucker Carlson is that he, I think he is a white nationalist.
- [41:09]
Wajahat Ali
Yeah.
- [41:10]
Jim Acosta
And, you know, if he is successful in shedding Donald Trump, but somehow maintaining the MAGA movement and this white nationalist, this white Christian nationalist movement in this country, I'm not the only one to say this. I think it makes him, you know, maybe not a front runner for the GOP nomination in 2028. It puts him in that conversation. And he is a dangerous person, but somebody who is also, like Donald Trump, a very skilled communicator. And that's a lethal combination for this country.
- [41:40]
Wajahat Ali
Don't listen to me, folks. Listen to Jim. I agree with you. And what I told Al Jazeera English was don't underestimate how people get their news. They get their news in bites on Instagram, correct on Twitter. And I cannot tell you how many people, people, intelligent people, informed people, Democrats, liberals, now come to me and say this. Tucker Carlson, he's saying things on Israel. No one else is saying. This Tucker Carlson, he's reformed. I'm like, he saw a wide open lane. He saw the failure of corporate media when it came to reporting on Israel, Palestine. He took it. So did Nick Fuentes, so did Candace Owens. And they're using it as a Trojan horse for their rehabilitation, for their grift and for their white Christian nationalist project. Don't be fooled. But alas, we live in the United States of Indonesia. Jim. Jim, Fantastic conversation. Aimlessly. Promote yourself, sir.
- [42:33]
Jim Acosta
Hey. Yes. Any, any folks out there who want to watch, we'll be up later today at 4:00'. Clock. Jim Acosta show on Substack and it plays later on other platforms. If you miss it at 4 o', clock, stay tuned. I think we've got, we do have Joyce Vance of the wonderful Joyce Vance on later on today. Tons of stuff to talk about when it comes to the Department of Justice, another dangerous institution that, you know, is very, you know, right now being led by Donald Trump's personal attorney, basically. No, no, he was Todd Blanche and he's still acting as his defense attorney, it seems to me. And so we're going to talk about that lot to talk about later today at 4:00.
- [43:12]
Wajahat Ali
And Jim invited me at 4:20. I don't know if I can make it, but I'm going to hold you up to it. Maybe you can invite me. I'll, I'll come. I'll come back in if you want,
- [43:20]
Jim Acosta
if you still need me, if you can. No, I, because I.
- [43:22]
Wajahat Ali
What?
- [43:22]
Jim Acosta
I, we do need to talk about the Strait of Hormuz and are we at war? Do we have a ceasefire?
- [43:27]
Wajahat Ali
What? Is Donald Trump terminated? The conflict's terminated, which is why yesterday we blew up six Iranian warships and they flew missiles and drones at our ships. And the strait is still closed, but it's terminated. Four days ago, the conflict's terminated. Then yesterday they bragged about bombing six boats so you make sense, Jim. Thank you all for watching. This is a live talk. Everything is free. There's no paywalls. If you can become a paid subscriber, please do. Because I have 800 kids, I have a 25% off special thelefthook.se.com special. And if I may, Jim, I have one proud sponsor. I I don't solicit any advertisements. They came to me. But they actually support a lot of my friends. It's Ground News. And Ground News was started by a woman. A woman of color was a NASA scientist. They get their money from all of you. The reason why I support them is it's an aggregator of world news. So suppose strait of Hormuz, they'll aggregate all the world news in one place. Ground News. But the reason why I support them is they audit the news. So every news source tell you who owns it, which is increasingly important. If you were listening to this conversation, the bias, whether they lean all the way right or left and also if they're trustworthy or not. And they also do this great segment called Spotlight. So you'll see a news as it's analyzed by the right wing versus reality. And so they support the Left Hook. They support a lot of our friends and anyone who's watching, even Jim's viewers who joined 2500. If you use groundnews.comhook groundnews.comhook you get 40% off. I don't get the money. Try it out. Just use it. 40% off. And if it's useful, let me know. So that's Ground News. Thanks Ground News for supporting the Left Hook. It's independent. Everything here is free. Pay if you can. If you can't, it's all good. At least be informed. Spread the good news. Subscribe to Jim. Anyone who's watching from the Left hook. Watch a Show today at 4pm everyone. I'll be back at 1pm with Joanne Reid and 2pm with Jen Welsh. We're having the three J's, the powerhouse J's Jim, busy man. Joy Ann Reid and Jen Welsh of I have. Thank you all for joining. Thanks, Jim. Everyone. Be informed, be kind and please, oh please don't be a fascist. Take care, buddy.
- [45:42]
Jim Acosta
Good to see you watch. Take care. Thanks, guys.