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3585 - Trump Speech Crackdown; Hasbarist Bari Weiss to Lead CBS w/ David Klion
01:27:21
It's Casual Friday on the Majority Report On Today's Show: Trump's authoritarianism is here and there is no denying it at this point. Meanwhile, the stats on spending show that the economy is benefiting only the top 20%. Unemployment and prices are...
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- [00:00]
Sam Cedar
Hey folks, today's episode is brought to you by one of my favorite sponsors, sunsetlakeseba day.com use the code left is best. You get 20% off your entire order at Sunset Lake. Sunset Lake grows harvest. They ship all of their craft Sabade products directly from its farm in northern Vermont near Burlington straight to your door. You can skip the lines, find your relief and relaxation@sunsetlake sabade.com and the thing is these guys up there, they believe that Sabade should not be a luxury. They, they ship it directly to you. There's no, there's no middlemen. There's no fancy schmancy, sort of like corporate commercialization of their product. They've got all sorts of great products. They got tinctures, tinctures that help you sleep, tinctures that help you relax, tinctures that help your pets relax. They have stuff like gummies, gummies to help you sleep. Gummies with a little tatch. Say they've got Saba Day coffee and Saba Day fudge and lotions and salves. All great products, all third party tested. If you got something wrong with your order or you got questions about what product might be right for you, you call them. You're not going to be talking to a robot. You're going to be talking to a real person and probably a happy person. Because sunsetlikesabaday.com has great business practices. They're mostly employee owned, $20 minimum wage. When they start to do some of their harvesting, you can create an account on Sunset Lake Sabadez website. You can start ordering Reward points. Earn 10% back on all your purchases. If you order over 75 bucks, your order is for free. They're movement partners. They've donated tens of thousands of dollars anywhere from like UNWA to Planned Parenthood to Carceral reform and give directly. I mean just on and on. Strike relief funds. Check them out. You're going to really like supporting this company and you're going to really like their products. Sunset Lake sabade.com use the code left is best for 20% off. Now time for the show the Majority Report with Sam Cedar. Where every day is casual Friday. That means Monday is casual. Monday, Tuesday casual Tuesday, Wednesday casual hump day, Thursday casual Thirs, that's what we call it. And Friday casual Shabbat. The Majority Report with Sam Cedar. It is Friday, September 19, 2025. My name is Sam Cedar. This is the five time award winning Majority Report. We are broadcasting live steps from the industrially ravaged Gowanus Canal in the heartland of America, downtown Brooklyn, usa. On the program today, David Cleon, columnist at the Nation, contributing editor at Jewish Currents, talk about the rise of Barry Weiss, who's now in charge of everything. Also on the program today, Trump and his FCC chair celebrate their power in consolidation over and around the media. Meanwhile, Trump to fire U.S. attorney who wouldn't essentially frame New York Attorney General Letitia James. Speaking of New York state politicians, Lander, Brisport, other New York lawmakers arrested by ICE for insisting on visiting an ICE holding facility. Meanwhile, Charlie Kirk's widow named CEO of Turning Points usa RFK junior Vaccine panel to vote against advising a universal Hep B vaccine for children. Trump wants to reoccupy Afghanistan by retaking Bagram air base. At least seven senators now seeking a resolution recognizing a Palestinian state. As the push grows in Europe for recognition, Senate Republicans confirm a batch of 48 Trump cabinet nominees after their invoking of the Senate nuke option, or I should say nuking the Senate filibuster rule. And US consumers in the top 10% of the income distribution account for nearly 50% of spending in the country, 50% total. All this more on today's Majority Report. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen.
- [05:55]
Emma Viglan
It is Casual Friday.
- [05:58]
Sam Cedar
Casual Friday. Thank you, thank you for the condolences, folks. My uncle lived a very full life. Bunch of grandkids, bunch of great grandkids. And so I head back to central Massachusetts to spend some time with family and, and send him off and so glad to be back.
- [06:35]
Emma Viglan
I mean, glad to have you.
- [06:38]
Sam Cedar
You know, one thing, though, that came up as I was talking to people, the, the idea of living in an authoritarian state, so many people I believe out there are like, well, yeah, it does feel like that now, but, you know, it's not going to last. And I sort of feel like that is a problem because, like, even if we assume that the Republicans don't manage to gerrymander away a Democratic control of the House, which, I mean, frankly, it's a real possibility, folks, there does not seem to be much of a limiting a device to limit what Trump attempts to do and a lot of what he's attempting to do, they've sort of found a successful mechanism to do what he wants to do. And that is basically lording government services and government functions over the various entities that make decisions in our society. And we saw this in the case of Jimmy Kimmel and others. We see it in the case of Mahmoud Khalil, who may be deported to some random country because of his involvement with, frankly, between Colombia and Pro Palestinian protesters and supporters. But you know, the time to worry about authoritarianism existing longer than you think. It's like, it's just like as if it was going to automatically expire. The time to worry about this, I mean, frankly, was probably six months ago, 10 months ago, a year or two ago, maybe 10 years ago. But we're there now. This is what it feels like where people are self censoring, where people are afraid, where people, you know, you have trans folks who are like, I'm trying to figure out how to get out of the country because my literal health and life and liberty is in.
- [09:22]
Emma Viglan
Already.
- [09:23]
Sam Cedar
Concrete terms, not just threatened, but in fact impaired down the road. Those threats, those threats are there down the road. It could be even worse. And it's also the case for a whole cohort of people. I don't know if you got that video too, Brian. I put in about that 80 year old. Maybe you guys played that.
- [09:46]
David Kleon
It's in there.
- [09:47]
Sam Cedar
Okay. I mean, we are living in an authoritarian society now. There's just not, that's not hyperbole, it is just simply the case. Now, are there ranges within that authoritarianism? Of course. But we have crossed the threshold when people are afraid. We're talking about the law firms, we're talking about the universities, we're about talking, talking about corporations, we're talking about individuals. Where the Vice President, United States gets on a radio show and says, go get people fired for not showing enough deference to someone associated with the administration. I'm sorry, that's what authoritarianism is.
- [10:40]
Emma Viglan
And you know, I've been thinking a bit about how leadership and folks in power have an effect on the rest of society. I mean, we've lived in, under Trump, this specter over our politics for around 10 years at this point. And it's not just Trump. I mean, it's obviously what we're seeing with Israel committing genocide, even Russia taking the opportunity to invade Ukraine, where there is a complete breakdown enabled by the failures of liberalism economically in the liberal international order as well, in which might makes right. And that comes home to us eventually. And it also is interesting to me how the nation's like almost character and the way it interacts with the world is reflected to, in this, in what you're describing, this people not being able to fully contemplate this happening to us. So that's what happens in other countries. That's maybe what we do to other countries, but that can't come home to us. And the other leadership that has enabled this is the Democratic Party. That has not met the moment in any capacity that has capitulated over and over again to this. And that level of weakness also has an effect and doesn't give people the oxygen to resist in the way that they were doing in 2016. Post. Right. Like for all of our issues about the resistance and hey, I thought there was too much focus on Russia, less focus on material issues. There was some people being cringe, God forbid, whatever I could, we could I would love for some more earnestness back in our society once again. But that was that showed that we did limit him the first time to a degree. I mean he made a lot, did a lot of damage. But the leadership from Democrats fighting him on everything had an impact.
- [12:47]
Sam Cedar
I mean part of that also was just that they weren't as prepared to do what they're doing as they are this time. I mean Project 2025 incidentally, the FCC chair wrote the the communication section on in Project 2025. A lot of this stuff is part of that playbook. So you know, the Trump and his minions are far more prepared this time around to run this playbook. But it is the case and we'll play a clip from Chuck Schumer where he's starting to show at least setting the table maybe for a government shutdown. But understand he enabled this. He is eight months too late on this and even still he's out there, you know, bemoaning Jimmy Kimmel getting fired, bemoaning the actions of the FCC chair. But up until days ago was and maybe still is 100% earnestly trying to figure out some type of fig leaf deal that Republicans would sign on to that he could pretend like he got something so that he could fund this government that is doing all these bad things that he's talking about. Right. I mean like it is a completely and even still and we will give him a modicum of credit for at least like maybe setting the table for a government shutdown. But still, still the framing of it is still just sort of like they're living in 1995.
- [14:24]
Emma Viglan
How about the optics of being somebody who had his statement on Mahmoud Khalil's detention was very mealy mouthed but now that a wealthy white liberal entertainer is impacted, which want to be clear, this is an enormously scary moment and it's an attack on the First Amendment. And obviously we support Kimmel and his staff. But does the Dem does that the Democratic Party doesn't help their disconnect from the average voter when this is when he decides to basically take a stand here and not the people that were being punished for their speech in the first nine months of this administration or.
- [15:04]
Guest Caller
Even the last administration.
- [15:05]
Emma Viglan
Right.
- [15:06]
Guest Caller
This McCarthy period started under the Democrats.
- [15:09]
Sam Cedar
Look, the fact is that the entire hysteria, and I'm not saying that there is an anti Semitism in our society. I've experienced it as a child, I've experienced it as an adult. It exists. I have a long list. But the hysteria as a way of trying to silence, protest about what Israel is doing and ginning up the anti Semitism that set up everything that happened in terms of Trump going after these universities, that set up everything that Trump did in terms of going after these law firms. That has been used now as the. And it's ironic in many respects, but it has been used, used on Khalil, used on a graduate student who's just writing an op ed in Massachusetts. I mean, on and on. And once it is used under the COVID of antisemitism, suddenly that tool, people are very, very comfortable swinging that hammer around in other contexts. So, I mean so much. I mean, and to the point where, like, he funds the government, and I do mean Chuck Schumer funded the government because it was his, you know, group of seven senators that broke the, the filibuster. He funds the government. And just like, as if to just sort of illustrate what we're talking about, because he's got to go out on book tour for his book about anti.
- [16:58]
Emma Viglan
Semitism, pro Israel, his number one job, according to him.
- [17:03]
Sam Cedar
Yep. And so all of this is tied in, but the point being, we're at a point now where there's two things that are clear, or I should say, one thing is clear. We're living within an authoritarian. Our country is under authoritarian rule. And that doesn't mean it can't get a lot worse. It surely can, but things aren't trending in the right way. And so there's really like, you know, two. Two things we have to do simultaneously. One is we have to fight that authoritarianism. And there's a whole myriad ways of doing that, starting with, like, expand your social circle, organize, you know, just like you're not doing anything, like, directly, but you are building the relationships. Because, you know, Sam Harris once called me or said my behavior was psychopathic because we were going after a Dave Rubin, like he was the wounded elk and. Or something like this, or caribou, Wounded antelope, a car named Logan Antelope. Right. And the idea being, you know, we pull apart the IDW folks one person at a time. And there was Definitely. I mean, we weren't that, I think, calculating about it, but that's how it's done. If you can find people who are isolated, much easier to take them out. If the administration can show that they can take out Jimmy Kimmel, he'll be fine, then it sends a message to everybody else that you are much more vulnerable. So organizing either in the context of your workplace, in your apartment building, just in your neighborhood, amongst your friends, that's really important. Standing up in situations like ice, protecting vulnerable people in your community, immigrants, trans folk, whomever it is, you know, that's important. Standing up to authoritarianism, when you see it sends a message to other people that it's doable. And then the other half of what needs to be done is we need to have a political leadership that addresses the moment and has the ability and the competence to do so. And we don't have that. So, you know, it may seem inconsistent to both say we've got to develop some type of social cohesion to push back against the authoritarianism on one hand, and on the other hand be critical of political leaders who fail to meet the moment, even though ostensibly they are on our side in the sense that they're most likely to be the vehicle for our set of policies that we want. But you need competence, right? I mean, that's important and not being corrupted.
- [20:27]
Emma Viglan
I mean, how do you create more competent Democratic leadership? You make them more responsive to the democratic will of the people. Right? And that's what the critique. I think a lot of people are coming around to this notion that it's not about criticizing Democrats for clicks or for the sake of doing so. It's because there's a recognition amongst folks like us that the Democratic Party at this moment in history is the party that in our two party system that has to get elected to combat this. But we don't. We can't just elect them for the sake of it because we, we saw what that looked like. Right? It's not durable, it's not long lasting if you just run in opposition to one guy.
- [21:11]
Guest Caller
You have to cultivate democracy and do things to cultivate it. Just like the Republicans do things to cultivate fascism.
- [21:17]
Emma Viglan
And they cultivate it by being responsive to their own base. Because in this era of explosion of dark money post Citizens United, where everybody knows our politics are undemocratic and they see it on their phones because no one understands why the f this genocide is still going on, for example, and they see our government doing unspeakable things. That's why the Epstein is a stand in for like a level of democratic responsiveness because people basically feel like this is all they can ask. We have such little civic engagement. Trump has helped killed it. But also a Democratic party that didn't bring anybody in into a primary process with this last election.
- [22:00]
Guest Caller
Miss the cost of living stuff.
- [22:01]
Emma Viglan
Miss the cost of living stuff.
- [22:02]
Sam Cedar
Well, that I think is just talks.
- [22:04]
Emma Viglan
Around and talks down and tries to manipulate the base from the top and cuts off the over 90% of their base right now that say we don't, we don't support what's happening, we don't want to fund Israel anymore. How can you be an opposition party that is, that has effectiveness when you are not democratic? In the smaller lowercase version of democracy. Democracy, the.
- [22:30]
Sam Cedar
And I mean it also, it just ends up being a failure. I mean they specifically told their canvassers, don't send us information as to what voters are saying about Gaza and Israel. Like that is, that is the point, the point of being a small d Democrat or Democratic is because you functionally, you work more, not necessarily efficiently, but better ultimately because, but if you are literally saying we're not gonna record comments on this major issue because we don't wanna know, we know and so we don't want any proof that we know and they buried their heads in the sand and they, and then they missed the ball on the economy. And Trump is also missing the ball on the economy. I think broadly speaking, our society, or at least our media is missing the ball on the economy. We're looking at, let's look at. All right, let's look at this clip number. We're going to get to David Kleon in a few minutes. But here is clip number 10. And this is, you know, this is going to be helpful. It's going to be helpful hopefully in the event that there are elections in 26 and 28. But this is number 10 going to feel that because we do see polling.
- [24:00]
David Kleon
That doesn't pull well in the economy.
- [24:02]
Sam Cedar
The recent Fox polling said 52% say the economy is worse under this administration. Got unemployment at the highest rate in four years. Groceries made a big jump in the last term.
- [24:13]
Emma Viglan
So how is that you're looking forward.
- [24:16]
Sam Cedar
With these plans that you just talked about?
- [24:18]
Emma Viglan
When will people feel that?
- [24:19]
Sam Cedar
Well, when the factories start opening. I mean, right now we're building them. And you know, Fox polling, I have to tell you, I've told you before, it's the worst polling I've ever had. It's always, I mean, during the election they had me Winning by a little bit, not by a. By a massive amount. And can you pause it?
- [24:35]
Emma Viglan
You didn't win by a massive amount. You didn't get to 50% in the popular vote.
- [24:39]
Sam Cedar
What? Okay, okay. Bleeding everywhere.
- [24:42]
David Kleon
Fox Polls.
- [24:45]
Sam Cedar
Okay, okay. Viglan, Polling. Roberta. Okay, okay. Polling I've ever seen them. And you know, Fox Polling, I have to tell you, I've told you before, it's the worst polling I've ever had. It's always. I mean, during the election, they had me winning by a little bit, not by a. By a massive amount. And Fox Polling, I've told Rupert Murdoch, go get yourself a new pollster because he stinks. And this is going to feel that.
- [25:12]
Emma Viglan
Did you tell him that in the litigation when you were suing him in court because the Wall Street Journal accurately reported on you signing Jeffrey Epstein's birthday book? What's the status of that?
- [25:23]
Sam Cedar
What is a birthday book? I never even heard of a birthday. Yeah, I actually bought on a leap year. My understanding is its birthday card book. Oh, okay. Now it's a full book. Well, I'm confused. Okay, Jim, his. His refusal to accept where the economy is at this point is going to be helpful down the road. The economy itself is not going to be helpful. It's going to be painful for people because it's going to get worse. But here's put up 10A just to give an idea of where his polling is on this. And even though.
- [26:01]
Emma Viglan
No, no, this not. Keep going down. Yeah, keep going. One more here. Well, sorry, we're looking for the economy one.
- [26:16]
Sam Cedar
All right. Well, we can't find that. That's okay.
- [26:19]
Emma Viglan
I sent a screenshot.
- [26:21]
Sam Cedar
Let's do number 11.
- [26:27]
Emma Viglan
We have it here.
- [26:28]
Sam Cedar
Okay.
- [26:28]
Emma Viglan
This is.
- [26:29]
Sam Cedar
I mean, this is just showing polling on. Yep, it's bad.
- [26:39]
Emma Viglan
So this is comparing the economy in his first term versus the second term. And you can see he's minus 22 at this point versus basically having positive numbers the entire time. His first term, he dipped low a little bit towards the beginning of his presidency. But even at the end there with COVID I mean, I guess there was the subsidies that were coming out at that time. He's fallen off a cliff, the checks and things like that.
- [27:04]
Sam Cedar
This is his net approval handling an economy. It is minus 22. He's in bad shape. But here is. Here is what's going on with the economy. And this, this is what the Biden people missed. And we talked about this. But there's now much more data to support this theory, which is that we have two, essentially Economies in this country. We have one that exists for rich people, and its numbers obscure what the rest of the country is going through. So here is this. This is clip 11. This is from the BLS. I mean, and there's a story in Bloomberg that, that outlines this as well. Consumers in the top 10% of income distribution. And this shows essentially like the top 20%, top 20% and the, the top, I guess, 4%. The economy is like, their spending is just keeps going up and up and up, and it's basically flat for the rest of the 80% of the country. Consumers in the top 10% of the income distribution accounted for 49.2% of total spending in the second quarter. That is the highest since a blip in 1989. Do we have that other graph? I don't think so. Maybe it was.
- [28:45]
Emma Viglan
Here it is.
- [28:46]
Sam Cedar
Yeah, here it is. You can see this. Look at where you had about one third of the spending. Essentially one third of the economy was a function of the top 10% in income distribution in this country back in 1992, and now it's 50%.
- [29:11]
Guest Caller
Well, I blame immigrants and trans people.
- [29:14]
Sam Cedar
It's all the rich, rich immigrant and trans people who are up there, you know, pushing up the economy for just them and hiding the fact of what's going on in the. The 80% of this country. And so when you have 10% of the country providing 50% of the economic activity, when you have 20% providing probably close to 80% of the economic activity, maybe 75% of the economic activity, all of the measures that we have used traditionally to measure the health of the economy give you skewed numbers. Your gdp, whatever it is, it gives you skewed numbers. And, you know, at one point it may catch up, but it certainly destabilizes society and it certainly makes for a. The vast majority of Americans to be unhappy. And the idea that, like, the Biden administration couldn't figure this out, and obviously the Trump administration doesn't, I don't even know if they care, is a problem. For the bottom line is, like, you have 80% of Americans for whom the economy doesn't work.
- [30:37]
Guest Caller
It's crazy that, you know, decades of tax cuts has led to just a incredibly imbalanced economy.
- [30:42]
Sam Cedar
And this is a wealth inequality story. This is concentrating wealth at the top. And it's incredibly destabilizing, you know, as just a broad. Like, you know, it could lead to things like fascism, authoritarianism, etc. A little disturbance, a little. But we're okay with that.
- [31:07]
Emma Viglan
And by the Way much.
- [31:09]
Sam Cedar
All right, we've got to get to.
- [31:10]
Emma Viglan
Keeps going. We got. But can I just say tax cuts, big ugly ass bill hasn't even hit yet. Which is going to pronounce the situation. Yeah.
- [31:18]
Sam Cedar
Oh, it's going to get much, much worse.
- [31:20]
Emma Viglan
Yeah.
- [31:21]
Sam Cedar
And we're about to crash into a massive bump in health insurance costs. Massive. In a moment we're going to be talking to David Kleon. He's written a piece in, I think it was, it was in the Guardian about. Can't even remember her name now. Again, Barry Weiss. Barry Weiss, essentially taking over our country. But more what she's indicative of. Two, I think. First, couple words from our sponsors. One of our sponsors today is Delete Me. They're a great service. I've been using it for over 10 years. Makes it easy and quick and safe to remove your personal data from the web at a time when surveillance and data breaches are common enough to make everybody vulnerable. Look, it's super easy to find personal information online. Data brokers compile this stuff. They sell it. You get a monthly subscription, you can get as much as you want. And fishers and scammers, they combine that information with information they find on the dark web. They will send you phishing emails and scam you. That way they'll steal your identity, etc. Etc. Really a problem. And then of course, you know, in an authoritarian era like we're living in, frankly, you want to go online and say your piece about various people. You want to do so without feeling like your information is just hanging out there. This is why it's been a service that I've been using for, like I say, at least 10 years. And what they do is they, they keep at it. Broker, you know, info brokers repopulate their sites. Delete Me takes it down. Then they send you a monthly report that gives you a breakdown of what they've done. Want to thank Delete Me for sponsoring the Majority report? Tell you you can take control of your data in your private life. Keep your private life private by signing up for Deleteme. It's now at a special discount for our listeners. Get 20% off your delete me plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com Majority or use the promo code Majority at checkout. Only way to get 20% off, go to JoinDeleteMe.com Majority. Enter the code Majority at checkout. That's JoinDeleteMe.com Majority code is majority. This one you may want to bring Emma back on for because people will laugh at potty jokes. I'm not sure if you know about that, Emma, but second, we need to talk to a doctor about our. Our bottom half. They clam up. Bidets normalize. Talking about your bottom half health while making bathroom visits so much more comfortable. I love my tushy. It was super. Not. No. My tushy bidet. That's a new drop. Yeah. Thank you. I got a tushy. I don't know. Was it during COVID I think it was just at the end of COVID I can't remember but it just screws onto your. Your existing toilet and it's been great. They've upgraded these over the years and now they have one that's electric which is like my. That's my retirement gift I'm hoping to get to win it. Tushy is the everyday luxury bidet that instantly transforms your bathroom habits and bottom health. First life Tushy wave instantly modernizes your daily routine with a super sleek plus two separate front and rear nozzles for the most complete clean. It also features a soft closed lid and that's slam proof for a gentle, luxurious finish. Every Tushy bidet attaches easily to your existing toilet without the need for additional plumbing. This is a daily decadence with practical benefits. Tushy pristinely removes 99% of bacteria while protecting your natural skin barrier thanks to one natural ingredient, fresh water. Look folks, you don't when your hands get dirty, you don't just take a towel and rub it around. Use water. It's also easy to use sit, clean, cleanse and dry using the built in dryer. That's right. Cleaning yourself after using the bathroom is now hands free. Every hello tushy bidet comes with a 30 day hassle free return 12 month warranty. I want to thank Tushy for sponsoring this episode and I use of a bidet. Remember, a hole is only a dirty word if you wipe for a limited time. Our listeners get 10% off their first bidet order when you use the code TMR at checkout. That's 10% off your first bidet order at HelloTushy.com promo code TMR. Quick break. When we come back, David Kleon, columnist at the Nation, contributing editor at Jewish Currents. We'll put all that ad info in the podcast in the YouTube description. See you in a moment.
- [37:03]
David Kleon
Live.
- [37:03]
Sam Cedar
We are back, Sam Cedar on the majority part here with Emma Viglin. Joining us now, David Cleon, columnist at the Nation, contributing editor at Jewish Currents. Just written a big piece in The Guardian, I guess it was, I guess is a week ago, I don't know, a couple of days ago. David, welcome to the show.
- [37:28]
David Kleon
Thanks for having me.
- [37:29]
Sam Cedar
So you go into the merger essentially of Skydance and Paramount, which happened. You don't go too deeply into that, but that is, is another opportunity for these corporate consolidation of our media, corporate subservience to the Trump administration. And there's sort of like a, almost like a bonus aspect to this in terms of Bari Weiss and the question of Israel and Gaza. I mean, Bari Weiss, give us just a rundown for folks who don't know who Bari Weiss is. Give us a rundown on who she is. Because she is a fascinating figure and sadly, increasingly an influential one or going to be in our politics and our media.
- [38:33]
David Kleon
Yeah, I often forget that there are people who don't know who she is. In my world of gossipy New York media. She's kind of inescapable. I, Barry Weiss is reportedly going to be the incoming. It's not exactly clear what the job title is, but let's say senior advisor to whoever runs CBS News coming out of this huge merger you talked about. CBS is owned by Paramount now. It's owned by Paramount, Skydance. There are rumors about who might be running cbs, but Bari Weiss will be whispering in that person's ear Currently. She is the founder and editor of the Free Press, which is a substack based digital media publication that she started four years ago, about a year after her notorious self firing from the New York Times where she had been an opinion editor and writer. And before that she was at the Wall Street Journal and Tablet. Before that she.
- [39:30]
Sam Cedar
Things got too woke for her at the Times.
- [39:33]
David Kleon
Yeah, things got too woke for her at the Times. She did resign. She did not get fired, but she had become a lightning rod for criticism and she had been hired by James Bennett, who was the former editor of the Atlantic and then became the editor of New York Times Opinion, who was essentially forced to resign after this incident in the summer of 2020 when when new York Times op ed published Senator Tom Cotton saying there should be military deployments against Black Lives Matter protesters. This was, you know, this was the famous summer of 2020. George Floyd Peak woke, some on the right would say. And so Bari Weiss resigned not long after Bennett did voluntarily and had a sort of a blistering open letter to the New York Times saying it had become censorious and woke and hostile to people with different political viewpoints. And she went out to sort of be prove the liberal establishment that she had done very well in wrong. And it's hard to argue she hasn't succeeded. The Free Press became a massive success, both with a large paid subscriber base and larger unpaid subscriber base and also venture capital backers going up to the top rungs of Silicon Valley and including people who funded Donald Trump's return to the presidency. Like Marc Andreessen.
- [40:58]
Emma Viglan
Right. And I just want to say like too she, this was also cancel culture as well. Right. Like that's what she was riding and she was unable to be actually canceled and fired from the time. So she had to self cancel to victimize herself to create this kind of branding for the so called Free Press. And given what we're seeing right now with the authoritarian president actually cracking down on free speech in these wildly illegal ways, I think it paints a new light or sheds a new light on the branding that these like right wing figures. But she has an NPR voice, so she hides it. But like that they cynically used at that point and have. And in the face of actual crackdowns on free speech, you see where she lands.
- [41:51]
David Kleon
Well, here's where I should be a little fair to Barry. I try to be fair because. Because my piece makes the case, which I stand by completely and which no one has corrected any facts on, that Barry has, despite originally branding herself as a never Trumper back in 2016, and despite the official categorization of the Free Press as kind of heterodox, non ideological, nonpartisan, has overall had a very clear pro Trump slanted. And in particular, in terms of I focused on the ways that she's used the Free Press over the last 10 months to sort of carry water for the Trump administration's efforts to suppress speech, especially at university campuses, in media orgs like NPR and very likely soon in cbs. But in fairness, and of course this is happening, I don't know if I can claim credit or not, but a week after my piece was published, Barry has actually come out saying that Trump's latest moves, the FCC's moves to sort of blackmail Jimmy Kimmel off the air, she opposes that. How she squares that circle with how she's been acting to date is an interesting question that I can speculate about, but I do have a theory for.
- [43:09]
Emma Viglan
He'S not a Brown person.
- [43:09]
Sam Cedar
Well, wait, I do want you to speculate that, but I think the answer probably lies somewhere in the notion of she got her start at Columbia University as a student literally doing like the TPUSA equivalent of professor watch lists. I mean, that was literally how she got her start was to try and get professors at Columbia. And this is years ago. I mean, she's. What is she like in her early 40s now?
- [43:44]
David Kleon
I mean, this must have been 41.
- [43:46]
Sam Cedar
So this must have been, you know, you tell me, when you were at Columbia, I mean, so you were aware of this as a student, I would imagine less.
- [43:56]
David Kleon
Less than you would think. And I'm a little embarrassed about this, partly, I think, because I was studying abroad at the height of it, partly because I just wasn't as active on campus as I might have been if I could do college over. And so I heard when I first. I think I first got to know Barry, who was the class behind me, even though we were the same age. I think she'd taken a gap year in Israel, which. Israel being a major part of Barry's interests since the beginning. I think I knew there had been a controversy around her, but I didn't really know the details. And, you know, if it were me today, I certainly would have thought to look into them. But I was wrapped up in other things and we were friendly and. But, you know, in hindsight, I know, for instance, she was being funded by an Israeli think tank called the Shalem center, which is associated with the national conservative Yoram Hazoni, basically a fascist intellectual who backs Netanyahu. You know, this was 20 years ago, but even then, I mean, she was. She was playing ball with them and was one of a handful of students at elite campuses around the country. This was reported, I don't know, a decade or more ago in the forward, I think. So there's a long history of Barry.
- [45:13]
Sam Cedar
And to be clear, she was essentially trying to drive professors out of the university who she felt were espousing pro Palestinian information, facts, I mean, opinions, whatnot.
- [45:34]
David Kleon
I believe she has maintained, when pushed on the obvious hypocrisy here when she later became this free speech champion, that she wasn't trying to get anyone fired. She was just trying to call attention to real incidents of anti Semitism against students on campus. I mean, Barry slices these. Barry's very clever about this, and she slices these distinctions very finely. And I think with what's going on this week with the fcc, which is obviously, I'm sure we all agree, an urgent crisis for basic press freedoms in this country and the Constitution. I think that the line she is drawing is you shouldn't directly use the federal government and the hammer of the FCC to try to drive speech off tv. But in fact, as she said in the editorial, I assume she Penned for the Free Press and shared on Twitter. It would have been fine if ABC fired Jimmy Kimmel of its own volition. I should say it's not totally clear if they fired him or just indefinitely suspended him as we record this, but I think she thinks that or she's maintaining that it would have been fine for them to fire him over the anodyne thing he said. But the fact that the FCC chair is saying that's unacceptable makes it a threat to free speech, which is a very, very fine distinction.
- [46:57]
Sam Cedar
I mean, I would agree with that, I think, as far as it goes, because I think that is the difference between what is unconstitutional and what is just. You know, if ABC says we're firing you because of this, the audience in that instance has the opportunity influence that decision.
- [47:18]
David Kleon
Right, right.
- [47:18]
Sam Cedar
I mean people can say like I'm boycotting, but when, when they're, when they're doing it because the FCC has pressured them or when, and frankly we saw it in the context of Skydance in Paramount, when they are acting in a way that they, that is essentially a soft bribe. Right. Like we're, we're going to do X, Y or Z so that you give the approval for this acquisition or merger or whatnot. It's also almost the exact same mechanism. It's just the sort of like opposite side of it. One is the forehand and one is the backhand.
- [47:58]
David Kleon
Right.
- [47:58]
Sam Cedar
In terms of like government influence, we should also say, just so that we have a complete sense of who Barry Weiss is. She is the one who created the idw, the intellectual dark web where popularized it. Anyway, I don't know if they would self identified before then as a phrase.
- [48:18]
David Kleon
They were tossing around. But she wrote the big hilarious New York Times feature that, that sort of put them on the, the map.
- [48:26]
Emma Viglan
The photo shoot of them in the dark magical forest we should also say.
- [48:30]
Sam Cedar
Is completely self negating. Like the idea that these people were relegated to the darkest corners of the web. First of all, we all knew their names beforehand. They all had massive platforms and they were being platformed in the New York Times. The idea that they were not allowed to do what they were doing was, was completely like.
- [48:57]
David Kleon
Well, and she presented them, as she often does herself in her publication as you know, heterodox classical liberals with, you know, different views on things. But virtually to a person, the names that she was highlighting are right wing influencers or have turned out to be in many cases hard right influencers. I mean there's a clear valence when she does this. Bari Weiss is not Surfacing people who turn out to be on the left.
- [49:21]
Sam Cedar
There is one, one thing, I mean there is a little bit of divergence between Harris and the rest of those, but there is one consistent, one consistent element with all those people. They are all Islamophobic.
- [49:33]
David Kleon
Yes.
- [49:34]
Sam Cedar
They have all had a long standing problem with Muslims.
- [49:38]
David Kleon
Mostly transphobic too. Right. I mean, I understand.
- [49:41]
Sam Cedar
I mean, I think probably Harris less so, but I'm not sure. I don't really follow what he's doing these days. But certainly, you know, they're all anti Muslim.
- [49:56]
David Kleon
Yeah, no, I mean this is a real through line in Barry's work. One thing she's always had a knack for though is positioning herself as acceptable to, I guess you could say the center left to sort of, you know, mainstream Democrats of the sort who, who would have been happy at slate in the 90s or early aughts. Right. Or people like Andrew Sullivan who are like a bit right of center but kind of eclectic. She's always been very comfortable in that world and very acceptable at places like Harvard and Columbia and the New York Times previously. And at the same time she has all these ties to sometimes wildly conspiratorial right wing figures, especially coming out of Zionist and Israeli circles. I mean, Tablet which shaped her has gone from being a kind of centrist or even center left publication a decade ago to being really feverishly conspiratorial right wing site now. And she's still, I think, tight with everyone involved there. So very, I would say a major function of hers is kind of laundering far right positions into the mainstream.
- [51:08]
Sam Cedar
Well, in fact, that's what you said in your piece. What is less well understood about Bari Weiss is how she has used the free press to empower right wing factions within established elite institutions and how her efforts have been turbocharged by Trump's return to the White House. I mean, she is like, she is like analogous to what Drudge did back in the aughts where he would launder information from the right wing fever swamps into the mainstream media. But now what she does is not just sort of launder the information because they don't have that as much. What she's doing now is ends up being, I think as you describe here, as almost like a hammer within taking over of these institutions. It's no longer about feeding a narrative because they don't need to do that anymore. Now it's like literally sort of jump the divide and assault the narrative making machine of the mainstream.
- [52:19]
David Kleon
Right. I mean, imagine if Matt Drudge had been put in Charge of a major news broadcaster or in a senior advisory role at a major news broadcaster. And his blog, acquired for, you know, they're saying something like $150 million by a major media conglomerate. I mean, it's just we're in uncharted territory here. You know, Drudge was always understood to be a kind of like outside muckraker figure who had a certain, who developed a certain informal relationship with mainstream media. But Barry is going to be the mainstream media right in the Trump 2.0 era, which is very frightening, I think, not least because CBS News has actually run some, I think, tough coverage on Israel sometimes. There have been 60 minute segments that have been. And there's the. Well, you know, Tony decouple of course, was asking very tough and pointed questions of Ta Naasi Coates, but still Ta Nehisi Coates was on the air and there were people in CBS brass apparently who weren't happy with how decouple did that and were apologetic about it to staff. Barry, as I show in the piece, broke that story at the time, it was about a month before the 2024 election and essentially cast a light on CBS as this terribly woke place. Which is crazy when you consider that Tony decouple was the one doing that interview in the first place and saying the things he was saying. But now she's going to come on, presumably with an eye to, to push it to the right, especially on Israel, probably on other topics too.
- [53:58]
Emma Viglan
Can you expand a little bit on Larry Ellison's son, David Ellison, who is the founder of Skydance and also is kind of leading this effort a little bit? I mean, the timeline of how this merger came to be overlaps obviously with CBS Paramount settling the lawsuit over the 60 minute segment that Trump didn't like and then canceling Colbert. And then what do you know, this merger is approved with one of Trump's benefactor sons leading the effort. And Larry Ellison, did he eclipse Elon Musk at least temporarily, last week as the richest man on the planet? What is their relationship like? Because my understanding is he's also a massive Zionist.
- [54:51]
David Kleon
That is my understanding too. I am not an expert on David Ellison or Larry Ellison. And I think we're all gonna start learning a lot more about them as they conquer our media. I understand that Larry Ellison supported Trump. I understand that they're Zionists and that they ideologically align with Barry. And you know, I don't think it's a surprise they're bringing her on given that. I know that what's particularly alarming right now is that he's having just conquered Paramount, which, you know, includes CBS and Viacom, so, you know, mtv, Comedy Central and other things. He's also just part of this group that's taken over TikTok in the United States that Andreessen is also involved in. And he's apparently looking to buy Warner Brothers Discovery, which would mean he would also control what, cnn, hbo. I mean, this is all off the top of my head, so correct me if I'm wrong about any of this, but basically it sounds like he's threatening to take over half of media, and he's rich enough that maybe he could actually do that. Like, are they possibly going to find a better bidder than him? And you think about that, and then you think about what's going on with Disney this week and the fcc. And it's a very, very frightening time when, you know, in a past life, my work was more focused on Russia and the former Soviet Union than it is now. And as cringe as this kind of stuff sounds, and as much as everyone rolls their eyes at any connection between Putin and Trump now or any analogy between them, this is kind of how it started in Putin's Russia in year one and in other countries like Hungary, too, they essentially use regulatory levers and carrots and sticks to kind of bully any critics off the air. You know, a comedian who might make fun of the president in puppet form or something like that, and they make sure that every TV station ends up in the hands of regime loyalist oligarchs. And I mean, it's happening before our eyes right now. It's very, very unsettling. And Barry, although she is currently coming out against the most egregious example to date of it with the fcc, you know, is a part of this. I mean, she. What the fact that she is about to be brought on by CBS is, is a part of these exact maneuvers and is part of the same process that, for instance, kicked Colbert off.
- [57:22]
Sam Cedar
And let's be clear too, like, you know, where all of these, these characters play their roles, right? Like, I mean, she is, whether consciously or not, I mean, I know that she perceives herself as an Esther figure in referencing the story of Purim where the king was being convinced by people, by Haman, the right, an advisor to kill the Jews, and Esther came and was secretly a Jew and was married to the king and saved her people.
- [58:04]
David Kleon
Like, can. Can you tell us how you know that that Barry has sees herself that way? Sounds plausible, but how does she know that? How do you know that.
- [58:15]
Sam Cedar
People in attendance, do a birthday party, and she was heralded.
- [58:20]
David Kleon
Detail you're breaking here. I like it.
- [58:22]
Sam Cedar
Heralded as an Esther figure. I mean, this is. And so creepy.
- [58:28]
Emma Viglan
A little bit it sounds. I mean, we have evangelical Christians in this country that talk like this, and we accurately describe what they are. So it's creepy.
- [58:38]
Sam Cedar
It's creepy. But, but, but putting that aside, her other function, I think is, you know, almost like Tom Friedman in selling the Iraq War. There is a cohort of people who do not perce themselves as, you know, sort of a MAGA person. And, you know, this is a bone to that sort of quadrant of her supporters and a way that makes her, you know, somewhat reasonable. Now, of course, if she's going into news media, of course, you know, I mean, it's not that hard to say. I don't think the FCC should be interfering with. With networks, but everything else that is being laundered here and this era, like, you know, when we say, like, it's a scary time, I almost am like, starting to have concern that by even assuming that it's going to end by saying time at this point, like, you know, this is just. I've just spent the week with a lot of like, sort of normies who are, you know, sort of like, well, when the election comes, you know, hopefully. Yeah, maybe, maybe.
- [59:53]
David Kleon
Actually, it's funny because when she said this yesterday last night, Barry also said part of how she. First of all, I think you're completely right, that Barry sees herself as sort of maintaining a tent that stretches from the center river to the sea, from the center to the far right. And. And she needs to keep everyone happy in the tent. So she does occasionally punch. Right. A little bit. That is part of her MO and it is part of how she's gotten this far. But also, she said yesterday, sort of making the case to maga, you know, what do you think will happen if we have a Democratic president who can then abuse the same authority? And I thought that was kind of doubly optimistic. First of all, that we're gonna have another Democratic president, which hope so. And second of all, that if we were to have another Democratic president, that it would ever occur to them to play the kind of hardball that the right routinely plays right now.
- [60:50]
Sam Cedar
Right.
- [60:50]
David Kleon
For instance, during the Biden or Obama administrations, you know, they would say, no, it's all fair play. They wouldn't use the FCC this way. I don't think they would put regime allies on tv.
- [61:01]
Sam Cedar
No. I mean, frankly, they won't even threaten now that they Will, I mean, really, you know, I mean, this is an.
- [61:07]
David Kleon
Aside fight, as we know.
- [61:09]
Sam Cedar
It's very asymmetric. And frankly, I think, like, you know, one of the things that people are starting to realize that they're going to have to demand of their democratic politicians to be public and articulate that there will be accountability for this down the road. Like, I mean, like, you know, so that there is something to sort of put the brakes on. But let me, since you brought it up, let's, let's, you know, sort of delve a little bit into your experience in reporting and thinking about Russia in that turn to that, you know, sort of like more controlled authoritarianism. What were there instances where you could see from an academic perspective that things could have gone in a different direction?
- [62:04]
David Kleon
That's a very interesting question. I am hard pressed to think of a time in the last, I mean, the obvious answer, I guess, would be the Balochnaya Square uprisings in, I think it was 2012 or thereabouts. There was a moment about. So, you know, Putin came to power at the end of 1999, beginning of 2000, basically handpicked and very quickly consolidated his authority. But things were a little looser in the first decade, which was actually the time I was living and working in Russia in 2007. Things were a little bit looser then than they've subsequently become. There was a fair amount of personal freedom. There was opposition media. It just wasn't on the big networks. You know, you could start a little magazine or a radio station or something that would reach a more, let's say, NPR type audience, but probably on a smaller scale than a exists in the US and that wasn't a real threat to the regime. People traveled, people had friends abroad, people felt that they could go to protests. And then when Putin, Putin had served two constitutional presidential terms, that's what he was entitled to, and then became the prime minister. And Dmitry Medvedev, who at least at the time presented as a kind of Western friendly liberal face, was the president. And there was a lot of us for a four year term. And there was a lot of speculation about, well, is Putin going to gradually move things in a more liberalizing direction? Then after Medvedev's term was up, Putin said he was going to return to the presidency and basically change the constitution. And at that point there were gigantic street protests of essentially Russia's professional class, millennial generation, especially in Moscow and other major cities. And those, you know, got, they went, they flared for a little bit. They got brutally put down Some people went to jail. Putin has moved, I would say, ideologically and in terms of the substance of his authoritarian rule much further, I guess you could say, to the right since then. And then, of course, the war in Ukraine has sort of made that even worse. Censorship is extremely oppressive now and huge numbers of people of that would be liberal, cosmopolitan cohort have left that. Huge expat communities have formed outside of Russia because people just don't really see a future there now. We're not Russia. And I think, for one thing, there's a much. I mean, Putin has genuinely had majority support probably the whole time he's been in power, though it's hard to know exactly how much. Whereas, you know, Trump is probably hovers around half the population, give or take. I think his popularity is falling. This is a very divided country with a much deeper, much, much deeper liberal democratic tradition than Russia has. So I don't want to say it's all going to go exactly the way it's gone in Putin's Russia. It probably won't. But these are very worrying signs. It's definitely, it's definitely a playbook. And it shouldn't be limited to Russia. I mean, there are definitely, I guess the political science term is elected authoritarian governments all over the world that still hold elections and still maintain some of the outward functioning of the constitutional order, but have basically rigged the whole game for permanent right wing populist rule.
- [65:39]
Emma Viglan
I've seen this compared to Orban and the tactics. I mean, he's used very similar tactics recently on the media. But, but I am curious about, you know, in some of my kind of darkest moments about this, I think about we had Gil Duran on to talk about his reporting on Silicon Valley and the Network State and what these like, Silicon Valley Valley oligarchs anticipate in terms of consolidating power. And I believe that Peter Thiel knows Trump is old and in bad health and he has a servant who owes his entire career basically to him in J.D. vance, who could ascend. And my concern is that they are putting these mechanisms in place to create a structure for democratic opposition, not to even matter if Trump is out of the picture too, because he dies of natural causes, obviously. And so, like, that's where we get into this terrifying territory where I think we can talk about the consolidation of our media by these same tech guys like Larry Ellison, Oracle and such. They're all in the fold.
- [66:59]
David Kleon
Yeah, I mean, I totally agree. I don't think this ends with Trump at all. Not that, you know, he's Necessarily going anywhere soon. But. And I think, yeah, I think the right that will succeed him is illiberal to its core, has, you know, jettisoned any pretense of, God, I don't know, the 20th century Republican Party, not that I want to romanticize that, but is very much in line with Thiel's kind of post Democratic thinking. And Vance, especially Vance, actually, to give an idea of how intimate this assault on media feels right now, Vance just hosted the Charlie Kirk show after Kirk's assassination. And on the show he made a point of attacking the Nation magazine where I write, and attacking a piece it ran that dared to tell the truth about who Charlie Kirk was, you know, a right wing bigot, basically, and just laid that out and said, like, we don't have to mourn this guy. And Vance, you know, attacked it and also just blatantly falsely claimed that the Nation is funded by George Soros Open Society foundation, which, you know, there certainly are left wing publications that are, but the Nation is not one of them. But it's not like he ever, it's not like anyone ever corrects that. I mean, Vance just says whatever he wants. So, I mean, we're really, we're living in a post truth environment. And they're not just attacking, you know, it's a war on immigrants, It's a war on the most powerful TV stations and the biggest names in tv. But, you know, I don't think little left wing magazines are being spared either. I think, I think that everyone's speech rights are under threat right now.
- [68:50]
Sam Cedar
I sort of know the answer to this question, but I'm curious as to how you perceive it. I mean, you're a journalist, you write about this. Barry Weiss, because there is value in people understanding where she comes from, how she functions within the context of our media and political landscape. Well, what outside of that? And you know, that's the reason why you write this stuff. But how should people use this information? Like, what value does it have in the context of dealing with what's coming, what exists now and in what's coming?
- [69:34]
David Kleon
Well, I ask myself that all the time. And I guess the most baseline answer is that we tell the truth because someone has to. Because there has to be a record of people saying these things and saying this was wrong that will inspire somebody or that someone can draw on someday. I have no idea what the immediate plan to stop any of this is. I mean, I'd like to think that TV networks will start to show some spine because ultimately I don't know how they're supposed to run. I understand that they don't want to lose their licenses, but I don't know how they're supposed to run viable businesses if the administration can just kick anyone they want off the air. And, you know, I mean, they're ultimately in the business of finding audiences and making money. Right. And I'd like to think that, you know, Democrats will show spines as well, which is, you know, a few of them do, and that we will still have fair elections and, you know, the tide will turn again. I want to believe that's all still possible. I'm not ruling it out, but I do. At the speed at which they are consolidating power and destroying the normal levers by which, let's say, Richard Nixon was contained 50 years ago. Actually, I just. Apropos of Robert Redford's death, I just rewatched all the President's Men for the first time in a while. So did a few friends who work in media. And we were talking afterwards. First of all, it holds up great. It's a really good movie still. But second of all, you know, you watch it and you're like, oh, wow. A newspaper could, like, systematically expose corruption and wrongdoing and take down the President of the United States who's spying on his political enemies. Like, how quaint. How quaint. That would matter, you know.
- [71:25]
Sam Cedar
Well, that's the thing. I feel like there are papers who would do the same thing. Yeah, they do it all the time. And then by like, okay, comes out on a Thursday, by, you know, Friday, it's like, oh, we've moved on to some other thing. I mean, that's the.
- [71:43]
David Kleon
Yeah, you watch that and you see, like, it's not that Nixon was a better guy than Donald Trump or more honorable guy than Donald Trump. He's probably smarter, but never mind that. He, you know, what was different was institutions mattered in a different way. The public had a certain amount of trust in institutions to betray. They could trust journalists when they didn't trust the President. They trusted the President to hold himself to a certain standard of conduct, which was then he was exposed not to be doing. And even the Republican Party had a breaking point in senators and so on, where they're like, we're not going to stand by the sky. Which means that, you know, real journalism could, could make a real difference. And now it's like, now everyone wants to be Woodward and Bernstein probably more than Bob Woodward does. And it doesn't. It doesn't make.
- [72:36]
Sam Cedar
Doesn't. Doesn't register public.
- [72:37]
David Kleon
Trust us less Than Donald Trump, we.
- [72:39]
Sam Cedar
Should say Nixon did get the Smothers Brothers pulled from the air. Cbs, you just say this. I mean, they could be. But it was not part of a whole, a seemingly whole. I mean, Kimmel just seems to be the latest, right? I mean, we saw this with Colbert and we see this with Kimmel and.
- [73:05]
David Kleon
And also how naked Alan and Myers off the air too. What's that? He just untruth social from Britain the other day. He was like, great news. Colbert's down, Kimmel's down. Now we just have to get rid of Fallon and Myers who.
- [73:19]
Sam Cedar
I mean, right. Does he really want to get rid of Fallon? But I mean, putting that aside, putting that aside. The, the. He's been calling it out, right? I mean, he's been doing a lot of like Babe Ruth, like next up here and then. And everybody's just sitting by. I mean, this is the part that is so insidious, is that everyone, all of the layers of this, who could have pushed back at any given time, successfully, unsuccessfully, have not. The capitulation has come preemptively in every stage. Now, cbs, you know, the executives at CBS may see it as capitulation, but you know, Ellison, like, you know, like, I don't, like we don't. The politics may just be like, yeah, I'll get this guy off my air. And so, you know, from their perspective, it's just like I'm just working hand in glove with this. It is, it is bad. It is bad right now. And the thing is, saying right now is almost mitigates how bad it is because there is no. This isn't necessarily finite at all.
- [74:43]
David Kleon
No, there's no reason to assume normal guardrails apply to apply. As I often find that people who I don't think of as patriotic or jingoistic or whatever, but still have sometimes a deeper seated sense of American exceptionalism than they even realize. Even people who are very far left and anti imperialist and so on, sometimes on some level, I think just believe that, like there are guardrails here that don't exist elsewhere. And I've been skeptical about that for a while. I'd say I'm more skeptical about it than ever. I hope it's true. But we'll see. I mean, with this Guardian piece, you know, I certainly didn't think I was going to stop CBS from hiring Barry. I don't think I'm going to stop Barry from doing what she's gonna do to cbs. Although I guess I could flatter myself that I at least I would say the best I could have done with this article is a. I hope it educates people across liberal media circles. You know, don't treat this person as a joke or as someone people just like to gossip about. Like, she is really insidious, she is really censorious. She is not someone, you know, she's charming to a lot of people personally, but she's not someone to be trusted. And it's going to have a real effect on CBS which people should watch out for. So I'm glad in that sense the piece traveled and people saw how this works and it turned out to be very timely. The piece dropped the morning before Charlie Kirk was shot and since then we've had a week of discussion about press freedom and the implications here. Barry's initial reaction was wall to wall hagiography of Charlie Kirk on the free press, which I would argue definitely sets the stage or helps set the stage. Lots of people are doing this for what the FCC is trying to do right now. Even if she says whoa, whoa, whoa, don't go that far. And I guess the other thing I hope the piece did maybe I'm guessing Barry saw it and I'm guessing that it occurs to her I need to prove this impression of me that I'm just a Trump servant wrong by you know do criticizing the administration sometimes. Which is clever of her and I don't trust it for a second. But you know, I guess, I guess we shouldn't rule out that there are still some people who feel some sense of shame sometimes even Bari Weiss and.
- [77:11]
Sam Cedar
Some, you know and yes. And I think that's, I think that might be generous but I'm, I'm in a charitable mood also. I think there's like a dynamic. Right. I mean she didn't raise, she didn't raise the enormous investment that was put into her substack blog. You know it didn't come from her bank account. Her, you know, whatever it is. Freedom University or Prager University of Austin.
- [77:44]
David Kleon
Which she co founded. Yeah.
- [77:46]
Sam Cedar
Yes. That also it came from a set of donors who she probably in patrons.
- [77:56]
David Kleon
You know UATX was found, was funded at least in significant part by Harlan Crowe. Harlan Crowe who also was Clarence Thomas.
- [78:06]
Sam Cedar
Clarence Thomas's guy. Yeah. I mean so there has to be. And you know these people are not one dimensional. These multi. I would imagine for her image is. Her sensitivity to her image is a direct result of what her sensitivity to her donor set and to those people who fund her and expect returns and expect her to maintain a certain veneer that that is important for whatever their job is. So good. I guess that makes a curb a little bit of thing, but a very important piece, David. Really well done. Really appreciate you coming on and telling us about it. We, of course, will link to that piece in the Guardian and to your work at the Nation and Jewish Currents. Really appreciate it.
- [79:00]
David Kleon
Thanks so much. Great to talk to you, David.
- [79:03]
Sam Cedar
All right, we've got to take a break. Head into the so called fun half of the program wherein we will have fun. And it'll be just about half, almost a minute. So that's pretty good. Hey, I think it's good, folks. It's your support that makes this show possible. You can become a member of JoinTheBajorityReport.com when you do, you not only get the free show, free of commercials, but you get the fun half and you help this show survive and thrive. Hairy times, ladies and gentlemen. Getting a little, you know, it's. It's a.
- [79:52]
David Kleon
Thanks to Neutrophil.
- [79:53]
Sam Cedar
Yeah, you can't make fun of anything. Comedy's not legal. It's like legalized comedy. Oh, my God.
- [80:03]
David Kleon
The left wanted to make comedy illegal.
- [80:05]
Sam Cedar
Oh, God.
- [80:07]
Emma Viglan
We need to have your. That be like the first button in the order because of how much they're gonna try to say you can't make fun of anything. Consequence culture instead of cancel culture. Oh, yeah, Consequence culture, huh?
- [80:22]
Guest Caller
Wait till you HEAR what Kayleigh McEnany has to say.
- [80:24]
Sam Cedar
Oh, my God. Beautiful things.
- [80:27]
Guest Caller
Are Dakota proud.
- [80:30]
Sam Cedar
My point is, things are getting hairy around these parts and it is. It doesn't have to be us, but support, you know, of course we would love it, but support people who are trying to provide you with a narrative that is not bought and paid for by an increasingly sort of like oligarchic elite and, you know, with a political, specific political disposition that's going to be. I don't haven't, you know, over the course of my career really appealed to that notion as much because, you know, at times it was sort of cringy. Independent media is important, without a doubt, and we've definitely had media consolidation, but we're moving into a. Or have moved into, I should say, a different era. One that I don't think is going to get better. Soon. Bezos came, Bill Gates came. I think it's going to get a little bit worse, frankly. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. What are you gonna do? Also, Gary Emden, we're gonna get like, increasingly. There'll be no show. It'll just be soundboards. We're going to be Increasingly, yes. What do you call it? Giddy over the course of this? Like it's sort of that there's not going to be much having an emotional breakdown.
- [82:17]
David Kleon
Right?
- [82:18]
Sam Cedar
Yep, yep. All right. Also, don't forget, just coffee. Co op, Fair trade coffee. They're a co op in Madison, Wisconsin. They got the majority report blend. Check them out. But they also have a bunch of other great coffees and use the coupon code. Majority get 10% off. Matt, left Reckoning.
- [82:46]
Guest Caller
Yeah, Left Reckoning had a great show. Brian Mir on talking about Brazil and Bolsonaro getting put in prison. Look at that. Somebody facing consequences for Cruz. Also, Tom and John talking about the shooting gallery that is a Caribbean and why Caribbean governments are basically just okay with it. Said, hey, maybe give us a heads up next time you blow a fishing boat out of the water. But most importantly, and this is clipped on the YouTube channel of left Reckoning. Tom Alter. People are calling him the Jimmy Kimmel of Texas State Socialists. He's a tenured professor at Texas State who has got fired now because a speech he gave a pretty anodyne speech for a socialism conference over zoom was clipped by a Jan Sixer who has appeared on like Dave Rubin's show and also said, like, Hitler was going to heaven because he, like lived his life with some sort of intentionality. It's. It's pretty out there sort of stuff. She got this professor fired. So I would like more eyeballs on that, particularly if you're in Texas. Just outrageous McCarthyism Trumpism, I guess we could call it now a period we're living through.
- [83:52]
Sam Cedar
Alex from Atlanta writes day one of advocating to call the fun half, the done half, because we are cooked, folks. We will see you in the fun half three months from now, six months from now, nine months from now. And I don't think it's going to be the same as it looks like in six months from now. And I don't know if it's necessarily going to be better six months months from now than it is three months from now, but I think around 18 months out, we're going to look back and go like, wow, what? What is that going on? It's nuts. Wait a second. Hold on for. Hold on for a second. Emma, welcome to the program. Unhack Matt, do fun. What is up, everyone? Fun hat. No m. You did it. Fun hat.
- [84:48]
Emma Viglan
Let's go, Brandon.
- [84:49]
Sam Cedar
Let's go, Brandon. Fun hat. Bradley, you want to say hello? Sorry to disappoint everyone.
- [84:57]
David Kleon
I'm just a random guy.
- [84:58]
Sam Cedar
It's all the boys Today.
- [85:00]
David Kleon
Fundamentally false.
- [85:01]
Emma Viglan
No. I'm sorry.
- [85:02]
David Kleon
Women.
- [85:02]
Sam Cedar
Stop talking for a second. Let me finish.
- [85:05]
David Kleon
Where is this coming from?
- [85:06]
Emma Viglan
Dude.
- [85:06]
Sam Cedar
But. Dude, you Want to smoke? Is 7A.
- [85:10]
Emma Viglan
Yes.
- [85:13]
David Kleon
Hi. Is this me?
- [85:15]
Sam Cedar
Is it? Yes. Is this me?
- [85:21]
David Kleon
Is it me?
- [85:22]
Sam Cedar
It is you. Is this me?
- [85:26]
Guest Caller
Hello?
- [85:27]
David Kleon
It's me.
- [85:27]
Sam Cedar
I think it is you. Who is you? No sound. Every single freaking day. What's on your mind?
- [85:36]
Emma Viglan
Sports.
- [85:36]
Sam Cedar
We can discuss free markets.
- [85:37]
David Kleon
And we can discuss capitalism.
- [85:39]
Sam Cedar
I'm gonna go Skyline Libertarians.
- [85:41]
Guest Caller
They're so stupid.
- [85:42]
Sam Cedar
Though. Common sense says. Of course.
- [85:44]
Emma Viglan
Gobbledygook.
- [85:45]
Sam Cedar
We nailed him.
- [85:47]
Emma Viglan
So what's 79 plus 21?
- [85:49]
Sam Cedar
Challenge.
- [85:49]
David Kleon
Man, I'm positively quivering.
- [85:51]
Sam Cedar
I believe 96. I want to say 8, 5, 7, 2, 1, 0. 35, 5, 0, 1, 1 half. 3, 8, 9, 11. For instance.
- [85:59]
Emma Viglan
$33,400. $1900. 5, 4.
- [86:03]
Sam Cedar
$3 trillion. Sold. It's a zero sum game. Actually.
- [86:07]
Emma Viglan
You're making me think less.
- [86:08]
Sam Cedar
Wait, but let me say this. You can call it satire.
- [86:13]
David Kleon
Sam goes to satire.
- [86:14]
Sam Cedar
On top of it all. Yeah.
- [86:15]
David Kleon
My favorite part about you is just.
- [86:17]
Emma Viglan
Like every day, all day, like everything you do.
- [86:20]
Sam Cedar
Without a doubt. Hey, buddy. All right, folks. Folks. Folks.
- [86:31]
Emma Viglan
It's just the week being weeded out. Obviously.
- [86:33]
Sam Cedar
Yeah. Sun's out, guns out. I. I don't know.
- [86:40]
Emma Viglan
But you should know.
- [86:43]
Sam Cedar
People just don't like to entertain ideas anymore. I have a question. Who cares?
- [86:49]
Guest Caller
Our chat is an.
- [86:51]
Sam Cedar
I love it.
- [86:52]
Emma Viglan
I do love that.
- [86:55]
Sam Cedar
Gotta jump. Gotta be quick. I gotta jump. I'm losing it, bro. Two o', clock, we're already late and the guy's being a dick. So screw him. Sent to a gulag.
- [87:08]
Emma Viglan
Outrageous.
- [87:08]
Sam Cedar
Like. What is wrong with you? Love you.
- [87:12]
David Kleon
Bye.
- [87:14]
Sam Cedar
Love you. Bye. Bye.