
Megyn Kelly is joined by John Ashbrook, Michael Duncan, Josh Holmes, and Comfortably Smug, hosts of the Ruthless podcast, to discuss Donald Trump picked as Time’s “Person of the Year,” his incredible comeback story, fascinating details about how Trump came to his abortion position in 2024 and changing his mind on early voting, how Trump plans to pardon many of the January 6 prisoners on day one and the backlash to expect from the media, his deportation plans for day one and how most Americans agree with him, the decline of legacy media, whether Trump's comments about trans issues in his Time interview should concern conservatives, his previous comments about Title IX and other policies, Caitlin Clark’s Time interview where she apologizes for her white privilege, why the comments won't win her over any fans on either side, the double standard with black athletes dominating in predominantly white sports, Kimberly Guilfoyle being named ambassador to Greece, how the current ambassador ...
Loading summary
US Cellular Ad Voice
Gifting is hard, but here's a hint. Give the gift of connection from US Cellular. Not sure what that means. Here's a slightly more specific hint. You can choose four free phones and get four lines for $90 a month from US Cellular. Your family wants new phones. How do we know? They told us. The good news is that compared to wrapping presents, you're great at getting hints. So take the hint and get them four free phones and four lines for $90 a month US cellular built for us.
Megyn Kelly
Welcome to the MEGYN Kelly show live on SiriusXM Channel 111 every weekday at noon East. Hey, everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly. Welcome to the Megyn Kelly Show. It's Time magazine's Person of the Year day, and it's going to be a very MAGA Christmas this year. President Elect Trump graced the COVID and sat for a lengthy interview that had several newsy moments. We'll get into that in a minute. Plus, the latest on the Trump cabinet nomination process. There's a lot to go over, including Caitlin Clark bending the knee to the bullies in the wnba. And I got a lot of thoughts on whether Santa Claus is a bully. Going to get to it. We got the fellas from the ruthless program, Josh Holmes, Michael Duncan, and John Ashbrook. The man known to his minions as comfortably smug is running late. I've been getting an earful that. The October 15 deadline has come and gone. Are you prepared for what's coming? It's scary. Let's do scary and then we'll do the better part. Do you owe back taxes? Are your tax returns still unfiled? Have you missed the deadline to file for an extension? Now that October 15th has come and gone, the IRS may be ramping up enforcement. It's scary stuff. You could face wage garnishments. You could face frozen bank accounts. You could face property seizures if you have not taken action. But here is the hopeful part. Tax Network USA has helped taxpayers save over 1 billion bucks in tax debt and has filed over 10,000 tax returns. These guys specialize in helping people reduce their tax burdens. So visit tnusa.com megan or just call 1-800-958-1000 for a free consultation. Their experts will walk you through a few simple questions to see how much you could save. Give it a try now before the IRS takes more aggressive steps. Take control and visit tnusa.com or call 1-800-958-1000. Guys, welcome back to the show.
Josh Holmes
Thank you so much. We're sorry for Our unprofessionalism. We have one colleague who, shall we say, is a little bit of a diva.
Megyn Kelly
Shocked. Shocked that it's smug. All right, so there's a lot to talk about today. The Time magazine piece, of course, first of all, of course, it's Donald Trump. I mean, I tweeted out saying, obviously that the finalists included Kamala Harris, which would have been an absurdity even if Trump lost. You could make the case that it should have been Trump, given, you know, the assassination attempt and all of that. But, I mean, you have to stop for a moment and just say, what a turnaround. I mean, Time magazine had that picture on the COVID of him with the golf cart right before the election, like trouble, and was part of the media that was calling him Hitler and fascist. And now Person of the Year. How did you do it, Mr. President? What do we make of it?
Josh Holmes
Well, I was sort of pleased that Time magazine still prints a printed issue. You know, it's only like when you. When you see a actual noteworthy person like Donald Trump being Man of the Year, that you know that they actually still print the magazine. I didn't know that previously.
US Cellular Ad Voice
Yeah.
Michael Duncan
I mean, there may be a handful of faded issues sitting on, like, a Jiffy Lube coffee table out there somewhere, but to be honest with you, Megan, your reaction obviously is the right one. I mean, Trump is the man of the Year. You didn't. We didn't need Time magazine to tell us that. It's. I think it's sort of a outdated credential from a legacy media property that's been a cadaver for who knows how long. Like, the last time I actually picked up a Time magazine, it might have been during the cloning debate in the 90s.
John Ashbrook
And he dominated news, highs and lows. I mean, this is a guy who was indicted, what, 47 times. Yeah. In three jurisdictions over the early part of this year. He, you know, two attempted assassination attempts, he clinches the nomination, all of these sort of things, and then, you know, becomes President, United States again. I don't think there's any man in American politics who's been more doubted than Donald Trump, and he proved everyone wrong. I had my doubts myself at various times when it didn't look so super good for him.
Josh Holmes
Right.
John Ashbrook
The man overcame all of it.
Megyn Kelly
Yeah.
Josh Holmes
No question.
Megyn Kelly
I mean, I will say for the record, I said it was going to be Trump all along. Just did I? Do you guys remember that? I mean, I said, of course.
Josh Holmes
Very precious.
Megyn Kelly
Won the nomination.
Josh Holmes
Yeah.
Megyn Kelly
And the election. So that he does make A fair amount of news in the interview that, you know, he gave them an interview in connection with the, with the selection and one of the things he says is they, they get into how he decided on his abortion stance to leave it to the states and apparently this is what they report. He was in the private cabin of his plane flying on April 2 to a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, when he picked up a document that Susie Wiles, campaign manager, now chief of staff, had placed atop a stack of papers. The heading was not subtle. How a national abortion ban will cost Trump the election. Trump raised his eyebrows. Quote, kind of a nasty title, huh? He said before he considered the memo, Trump had been on the verge of supporting a 16 week federal abortion ban. Think about that, how that could have changed this election. Conway, Kellyanne Conway. Another adviser had showed him polling indicating that barring the procedure after 16 weeks was more popular than making the limit 24. But Trump's speech writer and policy adviser, Vince Haley had raised an objection on a late March conference call, according to three people present. Quote, does he know that the 16 week ban will be stricter than existing law in a lot of the states? There was a silence. Hmm, probably not, said Trump's political director, James Blair. After flipping through Blair's presentation on the plane, Trump perked his head up. So we leave it up to the states, right? Advisers agreed. Great, said Trump. We'll do a video. Within a few minutes, he was dictating his remarks to Haley. I do believe you guys were on this show right after he did that. Right. We had a debate about the. His stance on abortion, how it had disappointed some of the more established conservatives in the party, but defended it here as smart politics. Given the state of the electorate, the mood of the country on this issue, it is amazing how Trump got a couple of data points. You know, everything for him is transactional. This one's not deep in his core. He's like, what's going to get me elected? And that's where he landed.
Josh Holmes
Yeah, well, I mean, it goes to show a couple of things. One is that he was getting good advice in this campaign all the way through. I mean, they ran a really good campaign. And all you can ever ask for any candidate that's run, running an office of that level is to get a myriad of viewpoints and paint the full picture before a decision is made. Sounds like in this case that's exactly what he got on a very contentious issue. It's also where he landed is consistent with where the American people have been for 50 years. Right. I mean, you've had this Roe v. Wade decision that had this big sort of federal overlap over all the states, legalizing abortion, preventing any sort of restrictions there within the states, and then when that was overturned, it was kicked back to the everything. The pro life movement had argued for those 40 years, that it should go back to states and localities and people should make these decisions on their own. There shouldn't be this one sided federal government that flips back and forth every four years depending upon who wins elections, outlawing something as significant as abortion in here. So I think he landed honestly in the only place that you could land on a really contentious issue like this in the context of the two years after Dobbs and the first presidential election.
Megyn Kelly
Since it saved him, given how much she highlighted that issue and how big it became, even with Trump saying, I'm not going to touch it. It was a huge campaign issue. Imagine if he had been pushing a 16 week ban. I mean, it really could have changed the course of this election. Here's another couple nuggets. Pretty interesting how advisors got him to stop bashing early voting. Oh, look who's here. Smugglesworth, ladies and gentlemen, Johnny come Smugly has shown up for the party. Great to see you.
Comfortably Smug
Good to be here. Just for President Trump, please ban all motorcades in D.C. while the Megyn Kelly show is being recorded.
Josh Holmes
I greatly appreciate.
Megyn Kelly
It's a simple request, sir. How they got him to stop bashing early voting. This was such an irritant for almost every Republican who's been watching elections. Why is he bashing early voting? It is the only way we're ever going to win again. You know, run up the vote, get our people in there early. Don't, don't bank on election day voting because it rains, they have sick kids, work calls, whatever. And sure enough, this time around, the Republicans did show up early and Trump won. So it was such a hard. It's not like Trump hadn't heard that it's a good idea to encourage Republicans to vote early. He just wouldn't do it. He just refused. In his core, he seemed to believe fraud happens if you mail in your vote or if you vote before election Day. And what they report is that it took a visit from Rob Gleason, former chair of the Pennsylvania Republican Party, to frame the matter in terms that made Trump agree. And I have to say, this is brilliant. This is brilliant because this is how you have to talk to Trump, you know, to sort of get through to him, the way his mind works. Sir, your people are so excited to vote for you that they want to vote as soon as they can. Gleason told him during an April meeting at Mar a Lago, according to two top Trump officials familiar. They don't want to wait, but you got to tell them it's okay. You got to give them permission. From then on, Trump promoted absentee and early voting and directed the RNC to launch a mobile mobilization drive drive targeting male voters. That's so good. Your people are so excited to vote for you. They want to do it as soon as they can. You just got to give them the green light, like they're chomping at the bit, sir. You know, give the people what they want, which is to vote Trump at the earliest, second possible. It's a show of enthusiasm for you. And that was the way in that worked, guys.
Josh Holmes
Yeah, go ahead.
Michael Duncan
Yeah, well, I mean, it happens to be true. I mean, everybody was excited to get out and vote for him. That's why he won the popular vote. And there was some confusion about whether that people should be voting early, whether they shouldn't be voting early. When Trump announced that he was for it, it not only cleared up the confusion, but what he built and what they built at the RNC to turn out the vote was monumental. Charlie Kirk did a lot on this. And in Pennsylvania, what a contrast between how President Trump listened to a guy from Pennsylvania who was telling to win the state and Kamala Harris who refused to even put the governor of Pennsylvania on her ticket. It was a real difference maker. And the one other thing I'll say, Megan, there's a common theme here with the two topics that you pulled out of this article. The first one, Trump knew he needed to win, and he wanted to win so bad. He's willing to do anything. Same thing with this. He knew that he had to do something different to change the outcome this time and not have it taken from him the way Democrats did in 2020.
Josh Holmes
Yeah, I will say I had a little bit of experience with this because I remember, you know, I had the opportunity to have a lot of visits with President Trump in his first term and towards the end when states were changing all of their voting rules to try to accommodate Covid, and as we've since found out, many of them totally irresponsibly and without proper controls and anything else, he was watching all that in real time. And so his reaction to early voting, it like it is a whole bunch of issues. One of the reasons why I think he's going to be a really good president the second Four years. It's based on a life experience. It wasn't. He didn't spend a life watching politics and watching turnout mechanisms and being an operative. He knew what he experienced in 2020 when people were changing all kinds of early voting rules that obviously benefited Democrats a great deal. And he knew he opposed that. And so I think you recontextualize that now to a whole bunch of states that actually put in safeguards and had competent elections, California notwithstanding. Arizona, you can make some questions about, although, you know, they got to the right spot ultimately. Once those are in place, you can make a very logical case. And this is not something he had an ideological opposition to in the sense of his own election. He just knew how it worked out the first time.
John Ashbrook
Well, and if you look back to previous elections before Donald Trump, the Republican Party won elections in state like Arizona on, you know, the, the backbone of their turnout operation, which was absentee by mail and early vote in person. And so getting back to that, of course, was a huge advantage in 2020 because, you know, Trump said only vote on election day is like swinging a weighted bat, like, we made it harder on ourselves. And then, lo and behold, he does this and he wins the popular vote, not just all of the battleground swing states. And then I want to say as well, you know, I think Trump did a great job getting on board with absentee by mail and early vote. But what a fantastic messenger was JD Vance. JD Vance did an incredible job on the stump, on the trail, talking about the mechanics of early voting and absentee.
Josh Holmes
Biden never missed an opportunity.
John Ashbrook
Never missed an opportunity, never missed a media hit to mention it. And he did a fantastic job.
Megyn Kelly
I'm smart. He's a smart man. He knew, he knew what it would take and didn't have the, you know, trauma that Trump had from 2020 to stop him on the messaging. Now, speaking of 2020, he was asked about what he's going to do on day one. And he said one of the first acts that he will take will be to pardon most of the rioters on J 6th. And he said it will start, it's going to start in the first hour, maybe the first nine minutes. He says the pardons of the J6 rioters. It's interesting that it's most, it's most of the J6 rioters. It's not all, which I have no problem with, I have to say, like, I don't want to see pardons of people who assaulted cops. I really don't. That's. No, but all these people who just wandered in there, and many of whom were welcomed by security and then walked around the Capitol for a short time and then left. I mean, this. It's ridiculous. These people have been made prisoners for years. Like, they've paid their. Their dues and then some on any alleged bad acts. But this will be very controversial and will be, if he does it within the first nine minutes, as promised, one of the first acts that turns the media back onto TDS and hating him and writing nothing but bad things about him.
Josh Holmes
Sure.
Comfortably Smug
Well, I think, you know, Joe Biden expressed it very well. There are concerns that the Justice Department said to politicize actions and go out, you know, political enemies. So under that advisement from Joe Biden, I think Trump is well within his bounds to act if he believes the same way Joe Biden, he really did break the seal. That's it.
Josh Holmes
You know, I mean, I think this would be a lot more controversial if not for Joe Biden and Hunter Biden and how he's used it and how he framed it. I mean, you're exactly right. He framed it as though his son was the target of a political prosecution without mentioning, you know, 47 indictments against his political opponent or all the J6ers or everything else. But it opened up this discussion in a way where you could see a very reasonable way of handling all of that. I will say, like I agree with you, Megan, the violent offenders here, people that, you know, had a sinister intent on J6 and they were hitting cops with flagpoles. I don't think that's what we're talking about here. And so, you know, who sort of like, throw up their hands and, oh, my gosh, I can't believe it. I don't think that's true. And that's coming from somebody who had an awful lot of friends who were in that building, who had doors barricaded with desks in front of it, with people trying to break it down. Like, it was very personal for a lot of us who knew people that were in that situation. And there were bad actors, for sure, but the vast majority of them were not. And they were handled by the Justice Department as though they were the ones that were kicking indoors.
John Ashbrook
And the courts told us that some of those sentencing guidelines were excessive. We already learned all the. It's been four years. It's been four years, right. If you paraded through the Capitol on January 6th, you shouldn't be in prison after four years. I mean, that just seems crazy.
Megyn Kelly
Some people were numbskulls and got treated like they were dangerous felons. And some people were completely clueless that they were even violating laws or weren't even supposed to be up there. There is a large category of people in that group which the left won't admit. So that'll. Because this is an interesting thing because I was talking to Paul Murray of Sky News, so I go on his show once a week in Australia. Great guy. About whether. About how the media's been kind of quiet lately about Trump, you know, and he was asking, do you think in America they're gonna like, give him a chance at a second term that's not marred by constant demonization of Trump? And I said, no, no, they're quiet, cuz Trump's been relatively quiet. And I do think Trump's in a better mood and he's a little bit calmer and a little wiser and speaking in a way that's more magnanimous and unifying. None of that's going to last. It's just not going to. That's not America. You guys are in this mix as much as I am the political mix. And you guys both, and I both know the J6 pardons are going to be hugely controversial, even though Hunter Biden. And then we're going to get to immigration and we're going to get to deportation of families, children. Because that was another thing he said immigration plans. He will order US law enforcement agencies and potentially the military to embark on a massive deportation operation designed to remove more than 11 million people from this country. Now, I know the American public supports it, but the media doesn't. And the media is not going to want to see it. And they need to fill their papers and their broadcasts with news every day. And that news is not going to be. Trump's doing a good thing. It's just not going to. So the other thing he said in this before I give it to you guys, is he doesn't plan to restore the policy of separating children from their families. But he says, I don't believe we'll have to because we'll send the whole family back. That's what Homan said, too. And then adds and says, I would much rather deport them together. And then finally says, look, with respect to the general prohibition against using the military to enact deportations or to, you know, against civilians, he says he will use the military to round up and deport these illegal migrants. He says, it does not stop using the military if you're dealing with an invasion of this country. And then there's another report we've seen this before, that his advisors are planning to build more detention centers to hold the migrants until they can be deported. It can happen in a day. So you're going to have the media will call them camps. It'll be treated like a concentration camp. We'll have video of AOC down there in her white outfit again, looking at the children crying. And you're going to show the J6 prisoners getting out while the children are somehow in camps. And the narrative will start and everything will deteriorate back down to its normal, terrible status.
Comfortably Smug
I mean, I think you said a few very critical things. Number one, the vast majority of Americans agree with this action that the law should be followed. If you enter the country illegally, you've broken the law, and the law says you have to go back. And I think there's already been a precedent of how the media is going to be completely biased in this very subject. When we saw images of, oh, my gosh, they've put children in cages, and then it's revealed that actually that photo was shot under the Obama administration. You know, you saw the pod bros out about it. They didn't realize they were working for the guy who did that. So the media has no problem lying in trying to color Trump as being some kind of a dictator going after innocent people. Trump is doing what the American people ask, which is returning these people who enter the country illegally.
John Ashbrook
Right. You said at the top, Megan. You know, they got to fill their newspapers with something. Wouldn't it be great if the headline at the top of the New York Times says Trump doing what voters elected him to do? Vast majority of Americans agree with the policy of deportation, which would be factual and accurate. But you're right, I mean, it is going to cost him some political capital. After all of these stories and the talk of these camps and all this sort of stuff. And they just got to hold strong and know the voters are behind them.
Michael Duncan
Right. And what the media is going to completely blow past are the thousands and thousands of fighting age men from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan who somehow ended up in Mexico and walked over our southern border. There are terrorists in this country that absolutely have to be removed. I mean, we're talking like, there are some estimates that there are more fighting age men who have come into this country illegally over the last four years than we have currently serving in our armed forces today. That is a major emergency for our country. And what President Trump is going to do is protect us from the dangers of the Biden administration. It is, it's terrifying thinking of who Thinking the fact that we don't even know who's here because the Biden administration has lost count. Not to mention there are over a million people who have already been adjudicated as here improperly and scheduled for deportation. They blow right past that. They blow right past the fact that Barack Obama deported 3 million people when he was president.
John Ashbrook
Right. And nobody asked him the cost or the feasibility of that program. No, no, that, that was okay because it was Barack Obama. But if Donald Trump wants to do it, it'll be Adolf Hitler.
Megyn Kelly
But let me tell you, let me tell you something, Rachel Maddow. Just take one when we could take pretty much anybody over on msnbc. Her ratings are down. I mean, I'm going to get you the exact numbers by half. She's down over 50% in the demo. In the overall number, you know, the overall audience, she's down 43%. In total audience, she was averaging 2.4 million. Now she's down by a million to 1.4. Like she could spare it. And this is their highest rated show. In the key demo, the advertising demo of 25 to 54, she has shed 56% of her audience. She is averaging 103,000 in the demo. A hundred. I never, never. I mean, in the prime time. Are you kidding me? Never. I would have, they would have fired me if I had a.
Josh Holmes
Winning is great.
Megyn Kelly
In the key demo.
John Ashbrook
Winning is great. But honestly, I mean, I just will speak for myself. The downfall of our enemies is so much sweeter.
Josh Holmes
Oh, it's so good. It's so good.
Megyn Kelly
But this is.
Josh Holmes
You just made the point, Megan, that I was just about to make, which is the one key difference that's happened since 2017 when the media unleashed a four year campaign to basically try to undermine everything that President Trump was trying to accomplish, was that the media still had a little bit, bit of credibility. It has fallen about 35, 40% since that moment in time where people get that information. I mean, look, sitting on this show right now, we're a perfect example of that. I mean, the Megyn Kelly show has got a hell of a lot more people in demo than MSNBC has ever had in demo. And so, yes, they're falling. Yes, they're going away, but they're also just cling. What they are clinging to is this last partisan remain of this very hardened group that the vast majority of people can't identify with at all. And they're going to seek their information elsewhere. Legacy media sources are going to be shrill, they're going to be terrible. They're going to say all the most horrible things. Unlike 2017, they don't have an audience for it. And I think unlike 17, Republicans in particular have no patience for it. And I think that's how they're going.
Megyn Kelly
To get, that's how they're going to get their audience back. Trust me, the Democrats are licking their wounds right now. They're very sad. They can't believe that they were lied to, that they were wrong, that Kamala didn't really have it, she wasn't joyful, and that we didn't respond to Tim Walz and his jazz hands. They don't get it. Okay, so they're all, you know, watching Little House on the Prairie reruns if they know it's good for them and they could instill values. We talked about that with Dr. Leonard Sacks yesterday. And they are avoiding the TV news. But as soon as Trump, I've been through this on cable news many times, soon as he has sworn in and starts doing things that it's going to be, they're going to come back. They're going to come back to MSNBC and cnn. If those channels do what they are in the business of doing, which is bashing Republicans and Trump in particular, there is no business model for them in going more fair and open minded to Trump. So they will get those numbers up from loss of half of our audience by doing the one trick that these ponies know how to do, which is bash Donald Trump. And Trump, his magnanimous tone will change and we won't be back necessarily to double impeachments and criminal prosecution threats and so on. But we will be back to very divided, hateful media coverage of Trump. So this honeymoon period is going to be super short and I guess he should enjoy it while he can.
Josh Holmes
Yeah, no question. I guess my only point on that, Megan, is that it's now consolidated a Left, right. Your CNNs of the world, your MSNBC is, your Washington Post, your New York Times, even your Associated Press, for crying out loud. It's now a consolidated leftist audience. And where you get into trouble politically for a new president when you're entering into contentious issues is when you start bleeding into the center right or into your base of concern. That is a concern for 100 years of politics or at least since the advent of television with network news. It's not really that big of a concern right now that you're going to start losing those center right voters because they don't live there anymore. They're just not interested in it. He's going to have a longer leash. You're entirely right that they're going to consolidate the left. They're going to make it entirely impossible for him to have fair conversation. But I think his ability to withstand that is much greater than it was eight years ago.
Comfortably Smug
I also think it would be very important. It's incumbent upon independent, reliable sources of information like ourselves and your show as well, Megan, that we highlight when these actions are taking place, that here's the issue. The Biden Harris regime created this broken system where they would say show up to court and then people would go missing. I think during that entire time, independent information sources should highlight the fact that. But here's the problem. These people who were under this Joe Biden system of being handed a slip of paper show up to court and don't show up. That's why this action is having to be taken. We're dealing with the problem that Joe Biden created.
Josh Holmes
You think the on your honor wasn't a great way to enforce the law?
Comfortably Smug
I mean, who knew?
Megyn Kelly
Yeah, it's like that big banner that they put on every Trump rally. Trump will fix it, just like Bob the Builder.
Comfortably Smug
So that's the method that needs to be put out there. When people see that Trump's falling through on his campaign promises that they wanted the.
Megyn Kelly
Yeah, the media is in a panic about what's happening in terms of their fecklessness. And they feel the power and control slipping away. MSNBC and CNN feel their viewers slipping away, but it was embodied in a clip that was on X this week between Leslie Stahl of CBS's 60 Minutes and Peggy Noonan, who used to be a Reagan speechwriter and now writes a column for the Wall Street Journal and has for many years. And I mean, would you take a listen to Leslie Stahl describing her dread over the loss of mainstream media power? If you watch the opinion of us, how many people trust the press anymore? I mean, we're way down there with the lawyers. Yeah, you're way down there with Congress.
Josh Holmes
Exactly.
Megyn Kelly
I mean, way down there with. Congressman, I despair. Seriously, I worry greatly. And I think there are other institutions that have been suffering. And you're right not to blame Donald Trump 100%. Obviously started many years before.
Josh Holmes
But we're at a point where if.
Megyn Kelly
The president of the United States is going to say legacy media is dead. Well, I guess Musk said that legacy media is dead and he wants it dead. He wants other media. But it is kind of sort of hobbling right now. And I don't know how it recovers. I'm very dark about it.
Michael Duncan
Encouraging videos I think I saw all week long. I've never seen something that I wanted to watch over and over and over again. Because they, first of all, she's blaming Trump for the fact that they've been lying to people for the last 30 years. Like, that's his. Like, he was the one who told them to lie about him. Like, get, get out of town.
Megyn Kelly
He fooled them. He fooled them into believing they couldn't trust the legacy media. Ashbrook.
Josh Holmes
Right.
Michael Duncan
And, and I mean, them having such a hard time with it is really one of the greatest developments. And it reminds me of a line that the great coach from the Buffalo Bills, Marv Levy, used to say, if it's too hard for them, it's just right for us.
Megyn Kelly
That's so good. It's amazing. She doesn't know. Like, she's actually genuinely befuddled. She says, I don't know how it meaning legacy media recovers. I have a lot of suggestions for you, Leslie. Should we go over them? Like, maybe don't say the laptop can't be verified. When it can, and then when your own organization verifies it, come out and do a mea culpa and admit that you admit, embarrass yourself. Maybe don't stealth edit the presidential candidate on the Democrats side interview with 60 Minutes, your flagship program that you're an anchor of, without telling us. And then when it becomes a controversy, refuse to release transcript because you're more interested in running cover for the Dems than you are in honest reporting. Maybe don't host a vice presidential debate where you fact check only one side. And then when your fact check gets fact checked by the vice presidential candidate on the Republican side, you cut his mic. Just a few thoughts off the top of my head on what you can do about it.
John Ashbrook
I love it and I love that clip because I think it gets to the heart of the matter in this whole segment. And sort of back to Holmes's point, it's really not about audience. Whether they have half the audience they used to have or they get all that audience back by ginning up all the hatred of Donald Trump after he's sworn in, ultimately the question is, are they going to have any credibility? Is anything that they say actually going to matter, no matter how many people are actually listening or watching? And I think it's going to be a lot less. And I think the demonstration of that is this election. Right. Like, they lost half their audience. Great. I'm very happy about that. They had that audience in June, they had that audience in July. They had it in the run up of the election. And people were pulling their hair out, the thought that Donald Trump would become president of the United States again. And then he won. And then he won. So clearly, all of the things that they're saying, it doesn't have to say.
Josh Holmes
They're damned. If you looked at the opening of every network news broadcast in the final month of that.
Comfortably Smug
Laura O'Donnell was just egregious.
John Ashbrook
Egregious.
Josh Holmes
I mean, it was a straight.
Megyn Kelly
What network is she on again?
Josh Holmes
Hello. There are campaign ad teams that are like, wow, we didn't think of that. That's great. What a great attack, Nora. I'm going to try to repurpose that.
Megyn Kelly
All right, here's another one. So this is some of the more distressing news in his Time magazine interview for me and others like me. But I think Trump will fix it. I think Trump was just sort of shooting off the cuff and will do what he promised to do. But I got to be honest, these are terrible answers he gave on the trans issue. Terrible. He was asked, OK, let's see. In 2016, you said transgender people could use whatever bathroom they chose. Do you still feel that way? I don't want to get into the bathroom issue, he says, because it's a very small number of people we're talking about and it's ripped apart our country, so they'll have to settle whatever. The law finally agrees. I'm a big believer in the Supreme Court. I'm going to go by their rulings, and so far, I think their rulings have been rulings that people are going along with. But we're talking about a very small number of people and we're talking about it and it gets massive coverage and it's not a lot of people. That's the wrong answer, Mr. President Elect. The answer is I don't believe men should be in women's bathrooms or private spaces. That's the proper answer. I realize Trump hasn't been paying attention to this, but that that's. This is the wrong answer for Republicans and for the country and for women. Then they ask. But on that note, there's a big fight on this in Congress. Now the incoming trans member From Delaware, Sarah McBride, says we should all be focused on more important issues. Do you agree? I do agree with that, he says. On that, absolutely. As I was saying, it's a small number of people. It was a big issue, though, on the campaign. The reporter follows up. This is the Reporter saying it's a big issue. And he's saying it's not. I mean, one of the ads that your campaign put the most money behind was the Trump is for us and Harris is for they, them. And he responds, well, it's true. Trump is for us. And the reporter says, right, obviously it strikes the chord. And Trump adds, I mean, Trump is definitely for us, okay? And us is the vast, vast majority of people in this country. And also, I want to have all people treated fairly. You know, forget about the majority or not majority. I want people to be treated well and fairly. And then they ask, last question on the trans issue. Will you reverse Biden's protections for trans kids under Title nine? And his answer is, I'm going to look at it very closely. We're looking at it right now. We're going to look at it. We're going to look at everything. Look, the country's torn apart. We're going to look at everything. That's not the right answer. Sir, with respect, that is the wrong answer. You had the issue correct in your campaign video that features you on camera saying this.
Josh Holmes
My Department of Education will inform states and school districts that if any teacher or school official suggests to a child that they could be trapped in the wrong body, they will be faced with severe consequences, including potential civil rights violations for sex discrimination and the elimination of federal funding. I will ask Congress to pass a bill establishing that the only genders recognized by the United States government are male and female and they are assigned at birth. The bill will also make clear that Title 9 prohibits men from participating in women's sports. And we will protect the rights of parents from being forced to allow their minor child to assume a gender, which is new, and an identity without the parents consent.
Megyn Kelly
That's the correct answer. Please repeat what you said on the campaign trail and everything will be great.
Josh Holmes
Yeah, yeah, I know. Look, I think you're right, and I actually think that is where he's going to land. In fact, you know, I mean, it's happening already. You've got a Republican House of Representatives with an ndaa. It's a defense authorization bill where that action is actually happening right now. I mean, this week, a bill will pass and go into law that has the beginnings of pulling back all these transgender rights that the Biden administration invented out of thin air. So I think there's going to be an appetite to do all that. I actually think he will land on the right side of it. I think what you're struggling with in the transition period is you know, you got only so much political capital. He knows the border issue is the reason why he is where he is. He knows that this tax issue is absolutely imperative to restoring American economy and ultimately what they think of him at the end of the day. And he knows that all of that is going to take the full width of everything that they've got in that administration and all the political capital that they've accumulated. So he probably doesn't want to get out and start making declarations about all kinds of other things that he knows he doesn't have to do on day one. All that being said, Megan, you are right. The answer to that was the answer that he provided during the course of the campaign. I just don't read that as what he said is a, is a walk back. It's less than, you know, what I'd want to hear for sure. But I think we'll still get there.
Megyn Kelly
I believe you're right and I pray you're right because I don't want to have this fight again. But I will. If I have it against a president I support and voted for, I will, I will have it with him. I will have it with anybody. I don't care what their partisan stripes are. Boys should not be playing in girl Sports. And Title 9, by the way, should be revised by Trump the same way Biden revised it, which was through the Department of Education and Miguel Cardona, who did it on his own, accepting comment from the public, which I'm sure was overwhelmingly against these changes. But they did it anyway. And Trump should undo it. He should do to it with Linda McMahon exactly what he did to it with Betsy DeVos. And that's what should happen. I think that's what will happen because I think Trump just isn't focused on this. And I agree the deportations are more important that that should be where he spends most of his political capital. But this is not going to cost him anything. 70% of the American people, plus it's as high as almost 90 in some polls, don't want to see boys and girls sport sports. This is not, this will cost no political capital. So this is a no brainer. Somebody's got to get to the President and make that clear. And I believe Elon Musk is the person to do that because he is totally eyeball to eyeball with me on this issue. That's really clear. Okay, so that there's that. Now, while we're on the topic of Time magazine and its celebration of random people, we need to talk about Caitlin Clark.
Josh Holmes
Yep.
Megyn Kelly
So Caitlin Clark of Iowa, but now playing for Indiana in the wnba, gets honored in. In time as the Athlete of the Year. I don't know. I guess they need a lot of covers or something. I mean, whatever I get. They just want people who are going to sell their shitty magazine. So she gets selected as Athlete of the Year, and what does Caitlin Clark do? Like this woman who's a superstar. She's the Michael Jordan of the wnba, and she's become a phenom, in part because the players of the WNBA can't fucking stand her. Why? Because she's white. It's abject, absolute racism. It's total racism. And one of the things that's been admirable about Caitlin is she just continues to play her game and put points on the board, and she does very well. And she wins games. Games. And she puts butts in the seats and she sells tickets and she gets people tuning in on television and all, really, we want to hear from anybody about this is thank you. Thank you to Caitlin Clark for making our league relevant and so on. But instead, she's been bullied repeatedly by the players in this league. She's been assaulted physically. She's been scratched in the eye. And I mean, all this is on camera. We've covered it repeatedly on the show. So she gets this honor. And all she has to do is continue staying above it. Thank you. I'm grateful. Love being in the wnba, and I love my colleagues who I play with, my teammates. That's it. Instead, she decides to go racial. And what she says is she feels the need to acknowledge her white privilege. Basically, she's sorry she's white. She's. She feels really bad about it, though, so you should give her a pass. And then she makes a point of saying, the ones we really need to be celebrating are the black. The black women on whose backs this league was built, which, I have to tell you, is so condescending. It really, it's true that most of these black women have been bullying her and want her to understand it's their league. Hello. You don't own the league. Blacks don't own the league. Just like whites don't own tennis or golf. Nobody owns the league. This is America. Anybody can play if they're good enough, but they want her on the knee. You'll bend the knee and you'll apologize for being white. And you will suck up to the black women who built this league before you, or you will be beaten, you will be assaulted, and you will be bullied with no friends. So she does it. She finally did it. She bent the knee self flagellated over white privilege. And look at, look at the black women in this league. And I have to tell you, if I were a black woman in that league, I think I'd say screw you because don't treat me like I am the ugly stepsister and you are Cinderella. And no prince is going to look at me unless Cinderella says, oh, give her a little time. Oh, put her for a moment. I would be offended, genuinely offended by her. Like, look over there. Look at them. They're not white. They did a lot too. And here's the other thing. It's totally insincere. And here's how you know it's totally insincere. Because if Caitlin Clark really felt uncomfortable in the spotlight as the newbie who's white, who's, you know, because white people didn't build the league. Build the league, she wouldn't have said yes to being Time magazine's athlete of the year. So either walk the walk or don't. But what you're doing here is trying to have it both ways. You're too cute by half and you've managed to off your fan base. Go ahead and look at my Twitter feed and the comments under my tweet on this. She's lost thousands of fans, maybe more as a result of this. And you will never appease the race bullies in the WNBA ever, because you're too popular, you're too talented and too white. That's it.
Comfortably Smug
Well, I think you completely nailed it. As soon as I saw that statement from her, I was, I was incensed because it was only a couple of days earlier I'd been telling Duncan, Duncan's from Indiana. I was like, wow, you know, I see all these clips of this player you've got. She's amazing, she's done great. And, and I've been following during the season her getting bullied by all these other players who are jealous of her, who are jealous of her success. And meanwhile these statistics would come out where all the road games where she plays sell out. They're the best selling games of the season is when she comes to town. And for her to turn around and bend the knee to these people who've been bullying her, like you said, it's never going to be enough. It's not just her trying to get these people to like her who've been mean to her. It's her complete betrayal of her fan base. People like, for years and years men have been complaining that ESPN doesn't cover sports. They cover critical race theory, and they're sick of it. People watch sports for escapism, to see competition. Caitlin Clark was an inspiration to so many of my friends, daughters, and for her to go out and say something like this, to try to, like you said, being like, oh, no, no, no, no. You know, black players need me as a white savior to bring them and highlight them. This racist equity system, all it does is divide Americans. And the result of this election in large part was Americans saying, we're tired of that. We've had enough of that. And Caitlin Clark's going right back to that.
John Ashbrook
And DEI is so right. DEI is a nonsense thing. But can you think of any profession in which it's more nonsense than athletic competition in which there are statistics and points scored? It's such a preposterous thing to claim somebody has privilege in a competition of athletics. And not to mention the fact, like, you would never say something like that about the NBA, you know, where there are hundreds of black superstars paid millions and millions of dollars and, oh, by the way, that NBA subsidizes the entire WNB NBA, Right. So. And she's walking around talking about her white privilege. It's insane.
Megyn Kelly
But here's the other thing, Duncan. Here's the other question. I don't remember Serena Williams apologizing for her blackness in tennis, which had been dominated mostly by whites. I don't remember Tiger woods apologizing for his blackness in the, you know, whatever pga, which was dominated by whites. No one would even think of such a thing. They celebrated this new figure in sports who maybe didn't look like all the other figures they knew. They thought it was great. He was to be all in common with. People have responded to Caitlyn.
John Ashbrook
What they all had in common is that they fundamentally changed the sport and they brought casual fans into the sport to become lifelong fans of the sport. It didn't matter what the color of their skin was. That's what Tiger woods did to golf. That's what Caitlin Clark did to the wnba. That's the sort of excellence that should be celebrated. And I. It's so weird to me that we had that entire ideology fail at the battle box, at battle ballot box a few weeks ago, and now she's, like, the last one to get the memo. It's crazy.
Michael Duncan
Yeah.
Megyn Kelly
You know, imagine a world just. We got to keep this going because it's like, I'm so fired up about it. But imagine a world in which Serena and Venus take over tennis. They crush, and the and the thought pieces that are being written are, or the comments that they are required to say are, I just want to acknowledge that tennis was built on the back of white people like Chrissy Everett and Martina Navratorola and Billy G. King. And, you know, I have black privilege in being here because of my whatever. However she wants to attribute that, it wasn't explained by Caitlyn either, exactly how her white privilege got her some more attention in the league. That's the theory by some racist that the only reason we want to watch Caitlyn is because she's white and we can't stand watching the blacks, but we'll watch the white, which is absurd. She's by far the best. The stats prove it. That's why she's popular. But in what world would we ever be comfortable saying to these black superstars, you better acknowledge the backs on whose, you know, bodies tennis and golf and whatever white sport you can think of was built. I mean, it's an absurdity. It's racist on its face.
Michael Duncan
Yeah. And you know, the thing that really strikes me if you think about Time magazine, it's not they don't care about sports. It's a religious track for the left wing lunacy in this country. And what they care about is driving their politics forward. There are thousands of athletes who have had great years that they could highlight if they cared about highlighting a top athlete. Caitlin Clark is one of them. But this story and naming her really strikes me as something that was negotiated between her PR agent and Time magazine where the agreement was. She would say what the left wanted to hear, and in exchange, she's named athlete.
Josh Holmes
Well, this is the, this is part of the sports culture and has been here for the last five or six years, that these are the kind of things that you get into when you do these sort of quote unquote mainstream pieces. But I think there's something, something that's much larger than all of this. And one of the reasons why we're so irritated about it is this election. You saw huge participation and definitive in how they came down amongst Gen X and older millennials. And one of the big pieces of that, in my view, is that we all kind of grew up in a social atmosphere where you just didn't think of people in white buckets and black buckets. And like, all my heroes were young black athletes. And I never thought about that.
John Ashbrook
Yeah, when I watched Family Matters, it wasn't like, oh, I'm watching the black sitcom. Yeah, you know, like, you never thought about that as a Kid like the.
Josh Holmes
Cosby show, you're like, yeah. You weren't like, oh man. Well, this, let's watch the black show tonight. Like it just never had. That's not how we grew up. And somehow time over the last 10 years, all of that changed. And it took people a while to try to figure out how and why and what they could do about it. In this election, they finally said, fuck you, we are not doing this anymore. We are not going to discriminate people. We are not going to evaluate their character or their worth based on their skin color. We're not doing any of that anymore. And the extent DEI and all of those people that want to push that agenda are doing that to us, we're going to throw your asses out. And that's exactly what they did. And so now you get the sports agents and all this stuff that apparently didn't get the memo. And my bet didn't. My bet is Megan, I think you're talking about like a 22 year old young woman who's sort of thrust into this cultural icon. I bet five years from now she's gonna wish she had that back. And I don't think that. I don't think that she.
Megyn Kelly
I mean, right now, what we know about Caitlin Clark is she's reportedly dating some very, very woke leftist. But what we know about her is she liked Taylor Swift's endorsement of Kamala Harris. So she seems to be telegraphing something about her politics. Even though she doesn't often tweet or post about politics, it seems pretty clear she was in that lane hoping Kamala Harris got elected. Though when asked about it, she tried to play it off as she was just, you know, really in favor of people informing themselves about the issues and making sure they vote. Okay, sure. There isn't a Trump voter in the world that would have liked the Taylor Swift endorsement of Kamala Harris and Tim Walsh. So she definitely is a Democrat and probably a leftist who believes this crap. I have to think she believes in this crap. This is the first real window we are getting into the way she thinks. And I couldn't care less if she's a Democrat. As I've said many times, the people in my family are Democrats. A lot of people I love are Democrats. It's not about that. It's about this sick ideology and the fact that she bent both knees, she got down on both knees and begged for forgiveness for her whiteness and then was condescending to the black women in the league while she did it. It was an utter Fail. Jason Whitlock has thoughts. She's also responded to my criticism directly. That's next after this quick break. We're all feeling pretty good right now about where our country's headed, right? Better than we were a couple months ago anyway. But it's when we let our guard down that bad things could happen. This is why you always want to prepare for emergencies, no matter how good and comfortable life gets. And for that there is is my Patriot Supply. They have emergency food kits, solar powered generators and water treatment systems. And right now you can get their four week emergency food kit for $50 off. Their four week emergency food kit includes some of my favorite meals like Creamy Alfredo pasta and snacks like sweet banana chips. With warehouses located across America, my Patriot Supply can send your four week emergency food kit in as little as one day. Go to prepare with Megan.com to get your four week emergency food kit now. But don't wait. Emergencies can happen at any time. Prepare with Megan.com to get your four week emergency food kit right now.
US Cellular Ad Voice
Gifting is hard, but here's a hint. Give the gift of connection from US Cellular. Not sure what that means. Here's a slightly more specific hint. You can choose four free phones and get four lines for $90 a month from US Cellular. Your family wants new phones. How do we know? They told us. The good news is that compared to wrapping presents, you're great at getting hints. So take the hint and get them four free phones and four lines for $90 a month US Cellular built for us.
Megyn Kelly
So continuing our discussion of Caitlin Clark, here's exactly what she said, just so if you want to hear it in Time magazine, I want to say I've earned every single thing. But as a white person, there is privilege. A lot of those players in the league that have been really good have players. This league has kind of been built on them. The more we can appreciate that, highlight that, talk about that, and then continue to have brands and companies invest in those players that have made this league incredible. I think that's very important. I have to continue to try to change that. The more we can elevate black women, that's going to be a beautiful thing. I mean, it's the most groveling, pathetic. Please like me. I've tried to elevate you to my level in terms of attention, but there's only so much I can do. I mean, honestly, like, she thinks this is going to work. This is not going to work with these black women. The ones who didn't have a problem with her whiteness are probably like, I'm good white savior. And the ones who did will never be appeased.
Josh Holmes
Yeah, right.
John Ashbrook
They're the ones that are giving her all the flagrant fouls and trying to scratch her eye out. And Smug's point, which is, I think, so true, and it's one that must be remembered in a moment like this is like they're never appeased. You can bend your knees to the mob and they always come back for more. There's nothing you can do to apologize enough.
Megyn Kelly
That's right. So here's. There's a lot of reaction to this. Outkick has done a number of good articles on it. Jason Whitlock, the best, reacted on his podcast Fearless. Here's a bit of what he said.
Josh Holmes
That's what they're turning Caitlin Clark into a woke monster. Caitlyn, if you do these things, say these things, adopt these positions, we'll leave you alone. No one else is going to try.
John Ashbrook
To poke your eye out.
Josh Holmes
We'll quit talking about you in this way and you'll have some peace. Now they've lied to her and she'll find this out shortly, that nothing's going to stop these angry lesbians, the black.
Megyn Kelly
Ones in particular, are going to continue.
Josh Holmes
To try to destroy her.
John Ashbrook
Period.
Josh Holmes
End of story. Just out of just pure jealousy and their racial bigotry. You gotta be like Megan Rapinoe. You gotta hop on board with all the messaging. Welcome to the wnba.
Megyn Kelly
Grab a girlfriend, reject your heterosexuality, reject.
Josh Holmes
Your biblical worldview and join us here in lesbian heaven.
John Ashbrook
The wnba. That's a shame.
Megyn Kelly
Where is he wrong? Okay, I don't know if she's so Caitlin. I haven't yet spoken about this. I just sent out a tweet saying kind of what I've just said in just one tweet. And it got a lot of pickup because people are, I guess, shocked that there's controversy about Caitlin Clark. I don't know. I have no idea. I don't give a shit. But she was asked about it. I don't even know who this reporter is. Who is this person asking her questions? Maria Taylor. Who is she? She's on NBC. Okay, so she asks Caitlin Clark about the comments I made or the Twitter, whatever, the tweet. And here's what happened even today. Earlier today, Megyn Kelly, she was saying.
Josh Holmes
That you were apologizing for your white privilege and the fact that you wanted.
Megyn Kelly
To uplift black female athletes and make.
Josh Holmes
Sure that they were getting the shine. Kind of like your pioneers were getting the shine, that they Deserved. And I just want to know how you feel or how you respond to some of those criticisms when you have to deal with something that it's really not your problem. Like, I feel like it's them looking in a mirror a little bit, but.
Megyn Kelly
It still comes down on your shoulder. I feel like I always have had really good perspective on everything that's kind of happened in my life, whether that's been good, whether that's been bad. And then obviously coming to the wnba. Like I've said, I feel like I've earned every single thing that's happened to me over the course of my career. But also, I grew up a fan of this league from a very young age. Like, my favorite player was Maya Moore. Like, I know what this league was about. And like I said, like, it's only been around 25 plus years, so I know there's been so many amazing black women that have been in this league. And continuing to uplift them, I think is very important. And that's something I'm very aware of. And like I said, like, I try to just be real and authentic and, you know, share my truth. And I think I said I feel like one of my best skills is just blocking things out. Like, I don't. I don't really. The only opinions I really care about are the people that I love. That's good. That's. That's actually smart. And she shouldn't be listening to her critics. But that's not going to stop those of us who have strong thoughts about her bending the knee from speaking out. But she did it again. I earned everything. But show me another athlete who's done that. Who, who does that.
Comfortably Smug
So to me, here's the thing is there should be such a severe cost for what she has done. Her jersey should be boycotted, her games should be boycotted because it's much bigger than her. It's this insidious ideology and she has so many little girls looking up to her, and now they're being told, if you're white, I need you to just, you know, shrug a little. Don't let the spotlight be on you. It's up to you as a white person to be a savior and uplift black players on your team. What a horrible message to send young children that, no, you should not always play your best. No, you should let other people bring you down. It's a horrible thing. And as a minority, there's nothing more offensive than this equity ideology which says, listen, you have no shot. But unless you have a white person who comes along and makes the stage for you. It's unbelievable. You'd have this. Clarence Thomas has a great segment in his book Create Equal where he talks about how he opposed affirmative action because as a minority, people in the office would look at him like, you didn't get there because of your merit. You got there because of the color of your skin.
John Ashbrook
You earned everything but. And you earned everything but is the insidious ideology right there. And yeah, it's easy for Caitlin Clark to say that, but, like, do you want every minority kid who gets into college to think the same way, have this nagging thought in the back of their head, like, maybe I'm not good enough because of this system that set.
Megyn Kelly
Up DEI or every white female basketball player to think, I've got to apologize for my whiteness. I don't belong on this team. I'm somehow taking something that doesn't belong to me.
Josh Holmes
There's also something I didn't detect until that clip, which is there's this false humility involved in it, too, where it's like there's a baked in assumption here that she is the league. Right? I mean, she didn't even make the Olympic team, But there's this baked in assumption that she had. Well, now it's up to me to make sure that everyone else is recognized because obviously I'm the league. I mean, that in and of itself, I missed, like, the first three times. And I don't think you could pick that up in the printed quote, but in that answer, man, it's a really pretty arrogant thing to just surround yourself.
Megyn Kelly
That's why it's such a fail. It's such a fail because it's like, you know, I'm doing my best to try to get you to pay attention to these losers over here, but, I mean, can I help it if I'm the star? I mean, that's really the messaging. That's why I say if I were a woman of color in the NBA, I would be, like, doubling down on the middle finger. Caitlin, like, you know what? Don't do me any favors. But it's such an absurdity. You know, it wasn't that long ago that in journalism there were no women truly. Like, there was Connie Chung and Barbara Walters and Jessica Savage, and that was, you know, like in the seventies, 1980. There were not. I don't remember them needing to say, like, I just want to give a shout out to the men on whose backs this business was built. That's not. Not how it works. And it's never how it works. I mean, like, that's why Serena didn't say anything about whites in tennis and Tiger didn't say anything about whites in golf. We would have been horrified if they had. It's. Why is it. Because that's the power group. You know, the men were in power and whites were in power, and blacks are minority. Well, guess what? White women are in the minority in the NBA, in the wnba. So it works. There's no way of spinning your way out of. There's zero reason for her to apologize, which is what she was doing for her whiteness. Or be so fucking condescending to the black women in her league that she's been completely spun up, probably by agents. I don't care. Maybe the boyfriend. I don't know. Even if that's true about the boyfriend. I'm just saying there's somebody in her life and in her head that's misguiding her. And if she continues down this road, she's going to lose all of her fans.
Comfortably Smug
Okay, well, she's a grown woman. She makes her own choices. She's made herself a star, and she's made the choice to do that and sends such a terrible message to young children, and she should be held accountable for it.
Josh Holmes
Yeah. I'd like. Before we break on this segment, Megan, as a white man, I'd just like you to take a moment to thank Edward R. Murrow for everything that you've accomplished in your career. It's just, you know, a little token of respect.
Megyn Kelly
Yeah, I mean, like, it's all. I've accomplished everything that's mine. But I would be remiss if I didn't point out all the men who've come before me and built this profession. It's so. It reminds me of that line. There's a line in Broadcast News which is literally one of my top favorite movies. I absolutely adore this movie. And Holly Hunter is totally unsparing as this TV news producer. And she's giving. I think it's. Yeah, it's William Hurt, this, like, vain anchor who's rising to the top, notwithstanding his lack of intellectual rigor. And there's some scene where she gets after him and she's like, oh, you know, I've got all these opportunities, and I hopscotched over everybody who put in the work. But at least I feel bad about it. And that's who Caitlin Clark reminded me of. You know, like, I'm at the top and I've earned everything, but at least I feel bad about it. Oh, could you keep Me from the left. That's my good side. Time. Could you just on the COVID And could I wear this very sexy dress in my interview with ESPN where I look amazeballs and everybody's staring at me, but I feel so bad. Are there any black women in my photo? I'd like to get some black women in here. Oh, no, unavailable. Okay, just me. Just me then. Honestly, I'm starting to understand why they don't like her.
Comfortably Smug
Okay, making social team. Can we that and get that up.
Megyn Kelly
Let's spend a minute on Trump's Cabinet. Okay. We're gonna get to the scary drone things happening in New Jersey too. And also Bully Santa. But I got to spend a minute on the Trump cabinet and Kimberly Guilf. Okay, she's not cabinet, but she's been named as Donald Jr. And Kimberly broke up and the same day they announced that she was going to be our ambassador to Greece. Which is fine. The left is freaking out over this. But I did the same thing that I did when Lara Trump got made head of rnc, which was check all your prior biases on what you think an ambassador is or should look like and in Lara's case, head of an rnc, and ask what exactly is the job she's being asked to do and can she do it and who is doing it now? Who is so special that she or he cannot possibly be replaced by this new person. And as soon as you put this choice through that analysis, you are clapping the elevation of Kimberly Guilfoyle. Okay, Kimberly is a smart woman. She's a lawyer. She is totally self made. She did not come from privilege at all. I believe her father was a cop, Irish immigrant, mom was Puerto Rican. She goes to law school, she interns at the DA's office, she gets a job as a DA. She was a successful San Francisco District Attorney. She did wind up marrying Gavin Newsom, who was mayor of San Francisco. Then she got herself into TV news, got herself into Court tv. And then Fox News got her own show, got onto a hit show, the Five, where she was doing legal analysis. Did wind up dating Don Jr. Left Fox News, went with him. There was some scandal in quotes around her departure, which will come back to haunt her to some extent on her confirmation hearing. We'll let that play out. And has been a loyal Trump ally for the past eight years. Even at the times when Trump was at his lowest and the most loathed, she was there for him. She was next to him. She never abandoned Team Trump, not with a tweet, not with a Stormy exit. And she deserves credit for that, if you're talking about the man who now gets to make these choices. And so she's going to be ambassador to Greece. Was it a consolation prize? Maybe. But these roles are always given to rich donors. And so Kimberly's not rich, but she donated another way. She donated her time. She spoke at the rnc, you know, four years earlier, and she defended him at every turn. So there you go. Here's the other piece of it. Can anybody name our current ambassador to Greece under this president?
Josh Holmes
Exactly. I can't, but I can't wait to hear who it is.
Megyn Kelly
I'm going to introduce you to George Tunis. No, he's not the current one. Right. This is Obama's nominee for ambassador to Norway. Okay, the current guy. Wait, this is the same guy? Yeah, he is the current ambassador to Greece and he was Obama's nominee for ambassador to Norway. So he's both. And would you take a listen to this Mensa member?
Josh Holmes
Have you been to Norway? There are.
Michael Duncan
There are a lot of things that will.
Josh Holmes
Beginning to.
Michael Duncan
There were a lot of markets that.
John Ashbrook
Will continue to open up.
Josh Holmes
Let me just ask, as ambassador, how would you promote those trade corporations?
Michael Duncan
Thank you for that.
Josh Holmes
Save Senator Johnson.
John Ashbrook
It's important that we continue.
Josh Holmes
Interesting. Omfg. Look, if.
Michael Duncan
If Kimberly Guilfoyle really wants to be confirmed to this job, she needs to start her opening statement by thanking George Tunis for building the program that she's standing on his shoulders that he basically built what she has now kind of earned.
Megyn Kelly
Yeah, it's like a land acknowledgement.
Josh Holmes
Bobby boy was an ambassador.
Comfortably Smug
Wait, so he's the. He's a current ambassador to Greece?
Josh Holmes
Yeah.
Megyn Kelly
Yes. So he's the current ambassador to Greece, and that was him?
Comfortably Smug
Not a little bit.
Megyn Kelly
That was him. His Obama nomination to be ambassador to Norway. Can we just watch it again? I would love to see the beginning of that again. Look at this bumbler.
Josh Holmes
Have you been to Norway? There are.
Michael Duncan
There are a lot of things that will.
Josh Holmes
Beginning to.
Michael Duncan
There are a lot of markets that.
Josh Holmes
Will continue to open up. Let me just ask. As an ambassador.
Megyn Kelly
You're an idiot. Okay. He did not get confirmed. He did not get confirmed. I think Kimberly's going to be able to tell us whether she's ever been to Greece or not. I. I'm going to put money on it right now. So anyway, it's just nonsense, but of course the media is freaking out because she was Don's girlfriend. So that's Kimberly. So, okay, ambassadors do need to be confirmed. Will she be confirmed? Yes or no?
Josh Holmes
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
Megyn Kelly
Let's keep going. Let's keep going. Go ahead. Holmes. Yeah. If you have a comment, I'd love to hear.
Josh Holmes
The qualifications are not particularly steep for an ambassador. Right. I mean, I remember all the way back when I started in this line of work, there were the Bush Rangers, which basically meant you bundled a whole bunch of money for a campaign and you had a particular interest in some part of the world. And that was basically the fit. And that's how it's always sort of.
Megyn Kelly
Donate money and then you say, I would like it. That's how you become an ambassador. Right. Okay. Let's do it quickly because I really want to get to these other two subjects. Will Pete Hegseth be confirmed yes or no down the line? Start with Holmes.
Josh Holmes
Yeah, I don't know that one yet. I think the hearing is going to be incredibly important. I think it's less about everything you've read in the newspapers right now about all the allegations. He's going to have an opportunity within the confines of the hearing to address that. And there are members like Joni Ernst has expressed she's been a victim of sexual assault. I mean, there are things that need to be addressed within the context of the hearing. I think the larger thing for Pete is how he intends to run the Pentagon. There are a number of senators on the Republican side whose votes are open for business on this deal. They want to be helpful to President Trump, but they're going to need some concrete answers on big ticket military procurement type issues that have had a lot of concerns about Ukraine and everything else. And those are real things that he's going to need to talk about.
Michael Duncan
Yeah.
Megyn Kelly
And so you're, so maybe you won't say yes or no. Go ahead, Ash Brown.
Josh Holmes
Yeah, I don't think it's a no by any stretch, but I'm still open on it.
Michael Duncan
Yeah, I, I think it's, first of all, the guy is extremely impressive. And everything you hear out of these meetings that he's having on the Hill with all these senators is that he's come prepared with answers to their questions, specific questions that they ask. They've done their homework. He's been in there and he is doing a really good job convincing people, from what I understand. So I think it's a maybe lean.
Josh Holmes
Yes.
John Ashbrook
I mean, I think the, I think the attacks against him are absurd. I think, you know, he has done a very good job refuting all of those allegations. And I think in particular when you're talking about the Pentagon, an Institution that has failed seven audits. Or like West Point, who was asked by a reporter if Pete Hegseth ever got a nomination to attend the Academy. And they say no. And then he has to dig up the nomination letter that he got two decades ago to prove them wrong.
Josh Holmes
The hats off.
Megyn Kelly
He was accepted at West Point, and they denied it. When ProPublica called them to ask whether he had ever even applied there, West Point said no, he never even applied, and no, he wasn't accepted.
John Ashbrook
And the inability for the Pentagon to pass audits or this West Point thing are a perfect indication of the dysfunction that currently exists in our Defense Department. How is it possible that Pete Hegseth is going to do a worse job rooting that out than Lloyd Austin? It's insane. I think the guy should be.
Comfortably Smug
Go ahead.
Megyn Kelly
Smug.
Comfortably Smug
I think Pete gets confirmed. I think you've done a terrific job showing the truth on these fake allegations that were brought up against him. I think that he has done a tremendous job supporting the veterans with his work for charity. And I think he is the right person for that job. He's someone who has served. And I think President Trump showed he has a mandate. I hope every senator understands that the American people are completely behind President Trump. Trump. And he made this pick for a reason. It's because Pete's the right guy for the job.
Megyn Kelly
All right, now I'm going to ask you to go faster on the next one.
Josh Holmes
Yeah.
Megyn Kelly
Rfkj. Rfkj. Holmes, does he get confirmed?
Josh Holmes
Yes.
Megyn Kelly
Ashbrook.
Michael Duncan
Yeah.
John Ashbrook
Yep.
Megyn Kelly
Duncan.
Comfortably Smug
Yes.
John Ashbrook
Yeah.
Comfortably Smug
Yes, yes, thank you.
Megyn Kelly
I think he gets confirmed, too. Okay, good. And those are really the most controversial. I will ask you quickly about the wacky Surgeon General candidate who is. Is. I don't know what's happening with this woman. She sounds pretty leftist. She was leftist on the COVID lockdown. She's left it on the language she uses around the trans issue and children. She's been controversial amongst the right, but does she get through or do some of these senators vote her down? Holmes.
Josh Holmes
Yeah, look, I think this has popped up in a couple of different places. I also think the nominee for the Secretary of Labor has not the same set of issues, but also some concern from within. And that's where you start to get nervous, because the Democrat Senate conference is not typically one that doesn't take a skin where they can get it. And they may ideologically be okay with some of these nominees, particularly the labor nominee, but I don't think they're going to give votes for it if they think they can take A scalp, they're going to take it. So I don't know, I mean some of those ones get a little dicey when you're dealing with something less than full throated support from a Republican conference.
Megyn Kelly
Ashbrook. Yeah, General labor.
Michael Duncan
Listen, I agree with everything that Josh just said about this labor nominee. There are, there are concerns about support for the pro act and things like that that Republicans really don't like, conservatives don't like and you can see Democrats trying to, trying to take her out.
John Ashbrook
Yeah, I don't know. I know the pro act thing is an issue on the labor nominee but like at the end of the day, if Nick Papa Giorgio can be the ambassador to Greece, I think the, they should be able to find a way to get confirmed. No, that's the Vegas vacation. Vegas vacation, yeah.
Megyn Kelly
Smug. Do you agree?
Comfortably Smug
I say yes. I think across the board for all of Trump's nominations, I think Tom Cotton made a great point. He said the media is trying to gin up the story that how Senate Republicans need to get some scalp and down vote. Anyone because it's some made up tradition. It's not he had the numbers that the vast majority of presidential picks get confirmed by their own party in the Senate. And I think for President Trump it'll be the same story.
Megyn Kelly
Yeah.
Josh Holmes
You only lost one in seven.
Megyn Kelly
Okay, we've, now we've got to move on to what Rosie O'Donnell has dubbed the alien invasion over New Jersey. And I know you guys have the finger on the pulse of the Rosie news. So by the way, have you been following what's happened to Rosie because she's developed herpes as a result of Donald Trump.
Josh Holmes
Yes. Very, very tough look, I might add it's vampire herpes.
Comfortably Smug
She said it only happens in sunlight.
John Ashbrook
Yeah.
Megyn Kelly
So she's got herpes. I mean just not for nothing, but she, there's an update on her herpes. She actually, she's been keeping us. I've got to play this for, I'm, I, there is news to get to but I'm sorry, first you need to watch this because I had to watch this and therefore. This is where you do it. This is where this comes here. Yeah, this is where we do it to you. Okay. This is what is, what's the one we want? We want. Isn't it 20? It's 20. Is it 20 or 19? Deb?
Josh Holmes
Oh boy, I am nervous.
Megyn Kelly
Oh God. I can't give two minutes over to Rosie O'Donnell. So she gives an update on her herpes saying that it's being treated with a very small, very teeny, tiny tube of Ibriva. And she laments the cost of her new herpes cold sore medication. But then I've got to play this. I don't know. Why do we need to get updated? I'm telling you, next is hemorrhoid. And then like my Preparation H, it got the one on the top but not the one on the bottom. So, okay, so. But then she goes on. She's very focused on New Jersey and the UFOs. You'll see why I'm playing this for you. SOT20 I have people saying, Stop talking about the UFOs. I'm not going to stop talking about the UFOs. You know, when the Native Americans were here and Christopher Columbus pulled up in all of his ships, the consciousness of the Native Americans couldn't even imagine.
Comfortably Smug
That.
Megyn Kelly
Those were boats full of people. And I think that's what's going on with all the UFOs all over the world. It's not just New Jersey. Pay attention.
Comfortably Smug
Right, Their drones from where?
Megyn Kelly
China sent over one balloon and then they sent over thousands of plasma like blinking ships. I mean, really. Excuse me. That was a burp. That was a Diet Coke burp.
Comfortably Smug
Oh, my God.
John Ashbrook
I don't know, guys. I don't know if she got a Breva. I think she got ayahuasca.
Josh Holmes
How about a land acknowledgment? You know, I'm pretty sure Indians knew how to, like, float on water. They had canoes. They did have that.
Megyn Kelly
Like, just when you think she can't get any grosser, why she's burping on care, she's showing her a cold sore.
Comfortably Smug
And she's get unidentified flint object. Like, it's not what I signed up.
Megyn Kelly
Smug. Thank you. I. I don't even know what. I don't know why my team is sending updates.
John Ashbrook
I thought the zoomers were oversharers on Tik Tok. And not to be outdone, the boomers come in strong with the oversharing. I mean, it's unbelievable. I think you're absolutely right. Next thing is going to be the Preparation H and the HEM Wait, I.
Josh Holmes
Can'T even process this.
Megyn Kelly
I feel like somebody needs to send her some Macs or something to get that under control because no one wants to see. Okay, speaking of the alleged UFOs, put together some points because we've got. We've been dying to get to this story. All right, so now I'm going to walk you through what's happening. Obviously, there's been A hell of a year. So why not end it with mystery UFOs or UAPs? That's how they're referred to now. Unidentified I can't remember what they're called. Steve Krakauer is obsessed with UAPs, so he'll tell me. Anyway, they're saying they're drones. What is it? Aerial. Unidentified Aerial or unmanned aerial phenomenon. So they're saying that they are drones. We don't know what they are, but they are terrorizing folks in the good state of New Jersey. This started on 11 18, which I remember because that's my birthday. And there have been a whole lot of new developments in the last week. We're going to go through them all right now. The first sighting, As I say, 1118, the drones have been spotted in the sky every night. Right. Thereafter, they've been seen over reservoirs, highways, military installations, and near President elect Donald Trump's Bedminster golf course. During one incident, the drones prevented a medical helicopter from picking up a person injured in a car crash. What? A spokesperson for the Morris County Sheriff's Office described the drones as similar to small cars. They've said that they look like SUVs. A police chief for the town of Evesham in New Jersey. I don't know it, but they say most of this is happening in Ocean County. County by the Shore in New Jersey said witnesses have called the drones as large as an SUV with blinking lights on them. Here's a compilation of eyewitnesses capturing the objects on camera and describing what they saw.
Josh Holmes
There they are.
Megyn Kelly
There they are.
Josh Holmes
There they are. Marmora, New Jersey. We shouldn't be outside. Go. But here they are. They look like a triangle. They look like a triangle. Oh, my God.
Megyn Kelly
Here we go. Here it is.
Josh Holmes
Look at that sucker.
Megyn Kelly
Are you. Lights are on.
US Cellular Ad Voice
Kidding me right now?
Megyn Kelly
It looks like.
Comfortably Smug
What is that?
Josh Holmes
No way. And an F16 just flew over.
Megyn Kelly
No way. This one is extremely low. It's loud.
US Cellular Ad Voice
That's really cute.
Megyn Kelly
And it's huge. It's so big. It looks so much closer in person. Yeah, my camera doesn't do. It looks like a spaceship. Right? Like that doesn't look like a drone. Right.
Comfortably Smug
That looks like a spaceship.
Megyn Kelly
It's coming right for them. It's like a small plane. It really is like a small plane. These are all drones in the sky. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. 7. Right here. I got this. That's crazy. Young guy heard in that mashup. Also captured one of the only videos we've seen of the drones around dusk. You see it gliding through the sky. And all these are going from dusk to around 11 o'clock at night. They say, look at this. Another eyewitness told the New York Times. The drones show up one after the other, following the same flight path. Path. A New Jersey lawmaker, citing New Jersey State Police, said the sightings, again, they begin around sundown. They go through 11pm and sometimes the drone's lights are turned off, making them harder to spot. And police have indicated they do not appear to emit radio frequencies, which allows them to avoid detection. They don't know where they take off from or land. They do believe they're coming from the water, at least according to some of the officials. Officials. They say that they're not drones, that they're not drones being flown by hobbyists or related to dhs. This is what they're saying. They don't believe they're hobbyists and they don't believe it's coming from dhs. After the initial report, in mid November, the FAA banned drones from flying over a military base in Morris county and over Trump's Bedminster. State leaders told constituents the drones do not pose any threat to the public. No threat whatsoever. They don't know what the hell they are. But don't panic. What the. How are we not supposed to panic or worry if you have no freaking clue what they are? And we had at least one lawmaker come out and say exactly that. On Tuesday, the Governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, came out and talked to reporters again. He said, don't panic. There's nothing to panic over. But he also admitted that he spent all day on the phone with the White House trying to get answers and listen to how he described them. I was on with the White House.
Josh Holmes
And Homeland Security leadership, literally at the very top yesterday, pretty much all day. I'm hoping we'll get answers sooner than later.
Megyn Kelly
I would just ask folks to continue to let the FBI or their local.
Josh Holmes
Law enforcement know when they see something, and we'll continue to do everything we.
Megyn Kelly
Can with our federal partners to get clearer answers.
Josh Holmes
Why is it so hard to get answers?
Megyn Kelly
These are apparently very, as I understand it, very sophisticated.
Josh Holmes
The minute you get eyes on them, they. They go dark.
Michael Duncan
What?
Josh Holmes
And, you know, we're obviously most concerned about sensitive targets and sensitive, critical infrastructure. So we've got military assets, we've got utility assets, we've got the president elects one of his homes here. This is something we're taking deadly seriously. We've got good cooperation out of the feds, but we need more, and that's.
Megyn Kelly
That was my plea. Oh, man. But no answers. And don't panic. After the governor's remarks, Republican State Senator John Bram called on the governor to declare a limited state of emergency and ban all drones until someone explains what the hell's going on here. But so far, that has not happened. New Jersey State Senator Douglas Steinhardt then went on Fox News and in an interview said that the objects are indeed coming from offshore.
Josh Holmes
The best information that we have available.
John Ashbrook
To us to this point suggested that these drones are coming from offshore. That when we try to make contact with them, they become evasive and elusive of.
Josh Holmes
From my perspective, if they are American assets, if they're American military, if they're American drones, and I think we owe.
John Ashbrook
The American people answers or explanations. But if they're not, if they're not.
Josh Holmes
American made, if they're not American drones.
John Ashbrook
Then I think we owe the American people action.
Josh Holmes
And if no one else is saying, I'll be the first one to say it. If these are not American assets, then.
John Ashbrook
We need to get our assets into the air and blow one of these.
Josh Holmes
Things out of the sky, pick up the pieces and figure out what we're dealing with. Because quite frankly, you know, we're the United States of America. I mean, I think we need to.
John Ashbrook
Do a better job here.
Megyn Kelly
Douglas Steinhardt, right on standby. There's more. Also on Tuesday, the Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee questioned the FBI Assistant Director of Critical Incident Response about whether the public is at risk here. That Director Robert Wheeler admitted. We have no idea.
Josh Holmes
We do not attribute that to an individual or a group yet. We're investigating, but I don't have an answer of who's responsible for that, of one or more people that are responsible for those drone flights. It is concerning. Is the public at risk? Is public safety at risk? Are we concerned that there are nefarious intentions that could cause either national security or a public safety incident that would put Americans at risk? There is nothing that is known that would lead me to say that, but we just don't know. And that's the concerning part.
Megyn Kelly
There is something that's known. Hundreds of drones are flying over New Jersey the size of SUVs, and they go dark when you get eyes on them and they won't interact with us. There's something. Yeah. So then yesterday, the story really took a turn when Republican Congressman Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey went on Fox News and claimed that sources told him, this is Iraq. Iran Watch.
Josh Holmes
Iran launched a mothership probably about a month ago that contains these drones that Mothership is off. I'm going to tell you the deal. It's off the east coast of the United States of America. And again, these are from high sources. I don't say this lightly. Know that Iran made a deal with China to purchase drones, motherships and technology in order to go forward. The sources I have are good. They can't reveal who they are because they are speaking to me in confidentiality.
Megyn Kelly
These drones should be shot down.
Josh Holmes
The military is on alert with this.
Megyn Kelly
It's Iran. And only Jeff Van Drew will tell us the truth. There's a mothership in the Atlantic. Well, right off the coast of New Jersey. What? Okay, but hold your horses because not long after his remarks, a spokesman for woman the Pentagon came out and shat all over his claims. There is not any truth to that. There is no Iranian ship off the coast of the United States and there's no so called mothership launching drones towards the United States. What's happening? What's, what's, what's happening? Okay, so so far, New Jersey Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia has given the best wrap up of Where Things Stand. She tweeted a long thread on X yesterday after meeting with New Jersey State Police. Police. Bottom line, she writes, we know nothing, period. She then went on to admit, quote, to state that there is no known or credible threat is incredibly misleading. She said the state is shackled with what it's able to do. Any interception must be done by the feds. She admitted at this point military intervention is the only path forward and said there will be no answers in the absence of proactivity. New Jersey State Representative Brian Bergen told News Nation's Rich McHugh that he actually walked out of the briefing fed up with the lack of information.
Josh Holmes
I walked out because it was, it was worthless. It was the biggest amateur hour presentation I've ever seen about anything. Okay? It was ridiculous. There were no answers. Every question that was asked by a member of the state legislature, great questions, no answers, no resolution. They don't know where the drones are coming from. They don't know who's doing it, they don't know why they're doing it. But they say there's no credible threat. The colonel of state police said that he had a helicopter of his flying over above one of these drones, a six foot drone or something. I can't remember exactly what he said. And he just, he felt unsafe for his helicopter so he just let it go. Just let it go. Where'd it go? Who knows? You know, didn't want to follow it because he didn't feel safe.
Megyn Kelly
That.
Josh Holmes
Is that not the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard? They're saying no threat. But how the hell do they know? They don't know anything. They don't know what it is. They don't know where it come from. They don't know nothing.
Megyn Kelly
Oh, they don't know nothing. And are we sure they're drones, by the way, and not alien spaceships? I mean, could Rosie O'Donnell for once be right? John Greenwald Jr. Has been studying UFOs and UAPs for decades. We actually interviewed him on this program back in 2021, episode 116, if you want to check it out. And he said, these drones are not alien. He wrote on X, an intelligent civilization won't travel light years just to check out New Jersey. Aliens are not going to show up and resemble drone swarms. And this guy doesn't know what he's talking about. He's filed over 10,000 public information requests to the government trying to figure out what's out there and what's not. And he said he's kind of amused at people being so disappointed that he said they're not aliens, but that's his call. Maybe we can also feel comforted by the fact that Elon Musk does not believe that these are aliens at all. Here he is last month talking to Tucker Carlson.
Josh Holmes
If anyone would know about aliens on Earth, it would probably be me, I would think.
John Ashbrook
Yeah, you know, very familiar with space stuff.
Josh Holmes
And I've seen no evidence of aliens.
John Ashbrook
So I would immediately tweet, you know.
Josh Holmes
Tweet it out that says Blitzagnan.
Michael Duncan
That would be like old time.
John Ashbrook
Probably the top tweet of all time.
Josh Holmes
It's a jackpot. Likes, you know, it was like some.
John Ashbrook
General, I think, in the 60s where.
Michael Duncan
They said, like, show us the aliens.
Josh Holmes
Like Area 51, et cetera. And he said, like, listen, we are.
John Ashbrook
Constantly trying to get the defense budget to expand.
Josh Holmes
And you know what would really get? No arguments for anyone. If we pulled out an alien and said, we need money to protect ourselves from these.
Michael Duncan
You guys, how much money do you want?
Josh Holmes
You got it.
Megyn Kelly
Doge would let that. Would let that money stand. Okay, so it's probably not aliens. I guess it's not Iran. That's what the Pentagon says. But they lie to us all the time. Governor Murphy of New Jersey has no idea. The FBI claims to know nothing. The White House isn't saying. So what is going on? A retired Navy seal, Clint Emerson, who now runs a security firm, said, said this is probably A secret US Government program. He spoke with the New York Post and said the program is likely so top secret that when our government officials claim they don't know what it is, it's probably true. They probably actually don't. So is that comforting at all, guys? Do you feel better or worse about.
Josh Holmes
No, but again, like, why would you pick New Jersey to conduct, you know, a densely populated area?
John Ashbrook
Hey, I'm flying here.
Megyn Kelly
But, like, they did find alien life, and then they found out it was just Snooki and the situation turned right back around, back to the Iranian mothership. I like that last explanation the best, don't you think? Why. Why wouldn't we be shooting these out of the sky unless we know it's us or somebody in charge knows it's us?
Josh Holmes
Oh, I'll do it somewhere else. Well, I just scare the shit out of people.
John Ashbrook
I can't imagine an adversary assembling a swarm of drones and then keeping the running lights off on the drums. You know what I mean? Like, so that doesn't make sense to me.
Josh Holmes
It is sort of indicative of why January 20th can't come soon enough. Because you've got, like, state reps and, like, local sheriffs and stuff. Like, you need, like, Roscoe Pico Train is going to be the one that figures out what the thing is flying over your head. And, like, the feds don't say anything. They don't know anything. There's no federal government response. Like, you have an obligation. I mean, the first and most important part of an administration is to make sure that your citizenry is protected, particularly against foreign threats. If there is even given a little bit of a question about whether this Iranian, whether it's whatever, you have an obligation to go out and say, nope, military demonstration or something, that's not giving away secrets. But you gotta. You gotta satisfy that. The fact that these guys let a balloon fly halfway across our country is indicative of this larger problem that maybe they don't have their eye on the ball at all.
Comfortably Smug
That's. I think that's the heart of the issue. Why Americans have no clue what's going on is because the loss of trust in the government to protect them. When you had a Chinese balloon fly all the way across America, and this administration has shown time and time again that American safety is not their priority whatsoever. So now we're left with a vacuum of information, and you have all these people trying to come up with their own theories. It could be aliens, people. Americans aren't feeling safe right there. And it's because The Biden administration has shown that they don't care about protecting Americans. Just today, Joe Biden pardoned two Chinese spies. Do we really believe he's trying to keep us safe in the last days of his administration?
John Ashbrook
By the way, spies who stole technology from aviation companies.
Josh Holmes
Oh, weird.
John Ashbrook
Including General Electric, huh?
Josh Holmes
Interesting.
Megyn Kelly
Here's the question, though. If it's us, then why are we still doing it? Once it became a big story here, wouldn't we have said, well, all right, maybe like, we had our time. We've been doing it since November 18, let's shut it down now that it's the story of every massive media organization. So that's weird. And if it is us, us, whatever team knows that it's us would definitely be feeding a lie out about it. You know, they'd be like, oh, it's this. You know, they wouldn't be just like, gee, we don't know, right? I feel like they'd be feeding us a lie of some sort. Maybe that's why Van Dyke was. Whatever his name is, was sent out there. Maybe somebody tried to get him to pin it on Iran. I don't. I have no idea what's happening here. I'd love to know more, I think. Will. Will this mystery be solved?
Comfortably Smug
I can't believe in a state full of Italians, no one shot one of these down.
Megyn Kelly
As a New Jersey property owner, I would love to see them do it because they do appear to be unmanned. Okay, we're taking your submissions. Members of the audience, email me meganegankelly.com when we come back. Bad Santa. Don't go away. Are you ready to challenge yourself and dive deeper into the ideas that shape America? America Prageru is a conservative nonprofit that promotes American values through educational videos that reach millions of young people every single day. PragerU's five minute videos deliver the best ideas from the best presenters in five focused minutes. Five minute video hosts include Ben Shapiro, Dave Rubin, Vivek Ramaswamy, VDH and more. Right now, PRAGERU is offering you a chance to expand your knowledge on a range of topics through their exclusive 5 minute video challenges. Challenges. Learn everything you ever wanted to know about political science, econ, the Constitution, American wars, and the founding Fathers. When you sign up for a Prager U challenge, which is 100% free, you receive a different top rated 5 minute video every day. You will also receive a special edition ebook for each challenge, exclusively from Prageru. Join the millions of others who are already benefiting from these powerful bite sized lessons. Lessons go to prageru.com challenges and sign up for free today.
US Cellular Ad Voice
Gifting is hard, but here's a hint. Give the gift of connection from US Cellular. Not sure what that means? Here's a slightly more specific hint. You can choose four free phones and get four lines for $90 a month from US Cellular. Your family wants new phones? How do we know? They told us. The good news is that compared to wrapping presents, you're great at getting hints. So take the hint and get them four free phones and four lines for $90 a month US Cellular built for.
Josh Holmes
Us when it comes to hiring, the best way to search for a candidate isn't to search at all with Indeed. Don't search Match Indeed is your matching and hiring platform with over 350 million global monthly visitors, according to Indeed data, and a matching engine that helps you find quality candidates fast.
John Ashbrook
If you need to hire, you need Indeed. You can even use Indeed for scheduling.
Josh Holmes
Screening and messaging to connect with candidates faster. 93% of employers agree that Indeed delivers the highest quality matches compared to other job sites, according to a recent Indeed survey.
John Ashbrook
And since Indeed's matching engine is constantly.
Josh Holmes
Learning from your preferences, the more you use Indeed, the better it gets. Join over 3.5 million businesses worldwide that.
John Ashbrook
Use Indeed to hire great talent fast. Plus listeners get a $75 sponsored job credit.
Megyn Kelly
To get your jobs more visibility at.
Josh Holmes
Indeed.Comsxm just go to indeed.comsxm right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast.
Megyn Kelly
Terms and conditions apply.
Josh Holmes
Need to hire you need Indeed.
Megyn Kelly
I'm Megyn Kelly, host of the Megyn Kelly show on SiriusXM. It's your home for open, honest and provocative conversations with the most interesting and important political, legal and cultural figures. Today you can catch the Megyn Kelly show on Triumph, a SiriusXM channel featuring lots of hosts you may know and probably love. Great people like D, Dr. Laura, Glenn Beck, Nancy Grace, Dave Ramsey and yours truly, Megyn Kelly. You can stream the Megyn Kelly show on Sirius XM at home or anywhere you are. No car required. I do it all the time. I love the Sirius XM app. It has ad free music coverage of every major sport, comedy talk podcast and more. Subscribe now. Get your first three months for free.
Josh Holmes
Go to SiriusX subscribe and get three months free. That's SiriusXM.com MKShow and get three months free offer details apply.
Megyn Kelly
All right guys, so it's the time of year when we all watch our favorite Christmas specials and get ready for the big holiday and we do that even though our kids are now getting older. Now my kids are 15, 13 and 11. But we all still. And so we started with the animated classics. We did Santa Claus is Coming to Town. And we did Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. And it did occur to me at this point in my viewing of these classics that Santa is portrayed as a bit of a prick in these. In the one special in particular, and that is Rudolph. He is ostracizing, somewhat bullying, intolerant of differences. And I will give you exhibit SOT55.
Josh Holmes
He's got a shiny nose.
Megyn Kelly
Shiny?
Josh Holmes
I'd even say it glow. Well, we'll simply have to overlook it. How can you overlook that his beak blinks like a blinking beacon. Well, Doner, where's the new member of the family? Great bouncing iceberg now. I'm sure it'll stop as soon as he grows up.
Megyn Kelly
Santa.
Josh Holmes
Well, let's hope so, if he wants to make the sleigh team someday.
Comfortably Smug
Really?
Josh Holmes
Stop crying out loud. Fireball. What's the matter? Get away. Get away from me. No, no, no, no. What's this nonsense? Here, box after all. Hey, look at the beach. Now stop calling me name. Rudolph the Red Nosed Ranger Donner. You should be ashamed of yourself. What a pity. He had a nice takeoff, too.
Megyn Kelly
Santa. Santa is a bully, and that's not it. Who could forget when the little elves put on a preview of their Christmas concert for Santa and take a look at how he reacts.
Josh Holmes
Well, it needs work. I have to go. What does Papa know?
Megyn Kelly
It's beautiful.
Josh Holmes
Hope you keep it just the way it was. Papa. Papa.
Megyn Kelly
How did I never notice this before? Guys?
Josh Holmes
He likes to run a tight ship. And plus, it's a 1950s classic, if I'm not mistaken. Like, the mantra is Rudolph looks different and different is bad, right?
Comfortably Smug
I mean, here's the thing. Santa's a man with a lot of responsibilities. He has to deliver, like, 4.3 trillion presents in one night. He can't deal with these unknown variables. This guy's nose looks like it's going to blow up. Who knows what's going on? Maybe they've loosened up immigration. You've got these dudes over with his picking nose. He's not taking risks. He's got to take care of kids. And then also, you know, I think it's almost like the problems that we're seeing today with dei. You're trying to highlight someone just because they're different. If he's the best deer for the job, let him fly. And that's the lesson he Proved his worth. Didn't say, I'd like to highlight the other deer who came before me.
John Ashbrook
No, he went.
Comfortably Smug
He went.
John Ashbrook
And they took out the abominable snow monster. And in a blizzard, suddenly this thing that he was ostracized for became an asset for Santa.
Michael Duncan
Yeah, and these elves prepare their concert, and they can't give him number one? A little bit of a Get out of here.
Josh Holmes
He's a quality control guy, you know, I mean, he delivers a lot of toys. They got to make a lot of toys. You got to get it right the first time.
Megyn Kelly
I didn't see this coming. Team Santa, all of it is justified. I get it. It is a new era. It's the dawn of a new day. Post Trump, we defend Santa. We don't care how much of a bully he is.
John Ashbrook
And once we annex Canada, the North Pole will be in the States of America again.
Josh Holmes
That's right.
John Ashbrook
And we can make those toys right here.
Megyn Kelly
I love Smug's line. He can't be dealing with these unknown variables. Love the fellas. And we are back tomorrow, everybody, with Hugh Hewitt and more. We'll see you then. Thanks for listening to the Megyn Kelly show. No bs, no agenda, and no fear.
US Cellular Ad Voice
Gifting is hard, but here's a Give the gift of connection from US Cellular. Not sure what that means. Here's a slightly more specific hint. You can choose four free phones and get four lines for $90 a month from US Cellular. Your family wants new phones. How do we know? They told us. The good news is that compared to wrapping presents, you're great at getting hints. So take the hint and get them. Four free phones and four lines for $90 a month. US Cellular built for us.
The Megyn Kelly Show | Episode 963 Summary
Release Date: December 12, 2024
Title: Trump's Newsy "Person of the Year" Interview, Caitlin Clark Bends the Knee, and Mysterious Jersey "Drones," with Ruthless
Host: Megyn Kelly
SiriusXM Channel: 111
Discussion Highlights:
Notable Quotes:
Megyn Kelly [03:33]: “Time magazine had that picture on the COVID of him with the golf cart right before the election, like trouble, and was part of the media that was calling him Hitler and fascist. And now Person of the Year.”
John Ashbrook [04:17]: “The man overcame all of it.”
Key Points:
Trump’s Strategic Shifts: The panel discusses Trump's strategic adjustments during his campaign, particularly his stance on abortion. Initially considering a 16-week federal ban, Trump shifted to leaving abortion legislation to the states based on polling data.
Encouraging Early Voting: Trump initially opposed early voting due to unfounded fraud concerns but changed his stance after advice from campaign advisor Rob Gleason. This shift significantly boosted Republican voter turnout.
Pardoning January 6th Rioters: Trump plans to pardon most of those involved in the January 6th Capitol riot, a move that is expected to provoke significant media backlash.
Discussion Highlights:
Notable Quotes:
Megyn Kelly [38:41]: “Caitlin Clark...she feels the need to acknowledge her white privilege. Basically, she's sorry she's white.”
John Ashbrook [44:37]: “DEI is a nonsense thing. But can you think of any profession in which it's more nonsense than athletic competition?”
Key Points:
Allegations of Racism: Clark, a standout white athlete in the predominantly Black WNBA, has reportedly been subjected to physical assaults and verbal bullying by other players.
Clark’s Statements on Privilege: During her Time magazine interview, Clark acknowledged her white privilege and expressed a desire to uplift Black women in the league. Panelists criticize her statements as insincere and condescending.
Impact on Clark’s Reputation: The discussions suggest that Clark’s actions may alienate her fan base and fail to address the underlying racial tensions within the league.
Discussion Highlights:
Notable Quotes:
Megyn Kelly [65:12]: “Kimberly Guilfoyle...she deserves credit for that, if you're talking about the man who now gets to make these choices.”
Josh Holmes [69:03]: “I think the qualifications are not particularly steep for an ambassador.”
Key Points:
Qualifications and Background: Guilfoyle’s career is scrutinized, highlighting her rise from a district attorney in San Francisco to a television personality and then her loyalty to Trump.
Confirmation Prospects: Panelists express optimism about her confirmation despite media backlash, emphasizing party loyalty over traditional diplomatic qualifications.
Other Nominations: Discussions also touch on other nominees like Pete Hegseth and Rfkj, analyzing their prospects based on their qualifications and the political climate.
Discussion Highlights:
Notable Quotes:
Megyn Kelly [83:54]: “A retired Navy seal, Clint Emerson...said, 'This is probably a secret US Government program.'”
Josh Holmes [90:21]: “Why is it so hard to get answers?”
Key Points:
Government Response: Officials, including Governor Phil Murphy and members of the New Jersey State Police, have admitted to lacking concrete information about the drones’ origins and intentions.
Public Safety Concerns: The drones have interfered with emergency services, such as preventing a medical helicopter from assisting an injured individual.
Theories and Speculations: Panelists discuss various theories, including potential sources from foreign adversaries like Iran or China, or secretive U.S. government projects.
Call for Action: Republicans on the panel advocate for immediate military response and greater government transparency to address the unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs).
Discussion Highlights:
Notable Quotes:
Key Points:
Cultural Critique: The panel examines Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, interpreting Santa's actions as reflective of modern societal issues like intolerance and bullying.
Symbolism: Santa is used as a metaphor for authority figures who enforce conformity and suppress individual uniqueness.
Ads and Sponsorships: The episode includes advertisements for US Cellular, Tax Network USA, Patriot Supply, PragerU, and Indeed, interspersed throughout the discussions.
Listener Interaction: Megyn Kelly invites listeners to email their comments and participate in discussions, emphasizing audience engagement.
The episode encapsulates a range of current political and cultural issues, from Donald Trump's strategic maneuvers post-election to controversies in the WNBA and unexplained drone sightings in New Jersey. Megyn Kelly and her panelists provide their perspectives, often critical of progressive initiatives and media portrayals, while advocating for conservative values and transparent governance.
Notable Advice for Listeners:
For those who haven’t listened, this summary provides a comprehensive overview of the key discussions and viewpoints presented in Episode 963 of The Megyn Kelly Show.