Join Mike Gallagher and Mark Davis in another lively discussion in today’s M&M experience. The duo dives into Nancy Wilson’s statement about feeling American embarrassment, comparing it to sentiments during the Vietnam War. They also dissect the alleged media bias at NPR and PBS, exploring the nuances of public funding in broadcasting. Through various examples and firsthand accounts, they challenge the rationale behind taxpayer-funded media organizations and the implications of such funding on free speech.
Mike Gallagher. Every day, Mike visits with Mark Davis. Morning host on 660 AM, The Answer in Dallas. Here’s today’s Eminem experience.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yesterday, heart guitarist Nancy Wilson says, it’s more embarrassing to be an American now than during the Vietnam War. Now, this was news to me that it was embarrassing to be an American during the Vietnam War. You could feel however you wanted to feel. Did even the hippies, maybe some did, Say they were. ashamed to be an american they just said we shouldn’t be over there you know fighting and dying a half a world away a point that seems to have some logic these days so i i don’t know and so my first thought was okay free speech absolutely and i will never be necessarily one of the shut up and sing people everybody can weigh in however they want i did however suggest that maybe people might want to rethink their thoughts about the 14th of june at texas trust cu theater in Grand Prairie, where maybe they will not see you in the form of Anne and Nancy Wilson. They might want to adjust their concert plans accordingly.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I mean, I’m with you. I think all voices should have a seat at the table, and they do, but I don’t want to pay for it. And that takes me to the wild testimony yesterday from the head of NPR and PBS. Wowza. Wowza, wowza, wowza. I mean, some of these folks, your guy there locally, the Brandon Gil. Brandon Gil, just here.
SPEAKER 02 :
I’ll play this in the next hour. It is two and a half hours of takedown. And it’s surgically precise. He doesn’t bludgeon her. He’s not mean to her. He asks her questions. You know, do you believe X, Y, Z? Oh, I don’t really think so. Well, then why did you tweet this in 2020? Brings the receipts. It was awesome.
SPEAKER 03 :
I mean, it was point by point where she first she refuted what he was saying. And he says, well, wait a minute. This is what you said when you tweeted this out. Well, I didn’t say that. Well, this is what you said when you tweeted this out. It’s unbelievable. And look, I know they do good work over there. But when you’ve got I think they said 87 members of their newsroom and not a single registered Republican.
SPEAKER 02 :
Not one show devoted to the conservative viewpoint. They got they got podcasts. They got documentaries. You know, they’re a huge empire. And, you know, yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I mean, look, Representative Fallin went through it all. I mean, they they they branded NPR, branded the Hunter Biden laptop story a waste of time. Let’s check this out. Fallin was asking the NPR CEO, how many how many times did you interview Adam Schiff about the Russia collusion hoax? Excellent. She said, I don’t know. Fallon had the receipts 25 times, 25. Then he said, how many times did NPR interview Chairman Comer about the Biden impeachment inquiry and the Biden family’s illegitimate business dealings? I don’t know, she said. Zero, zero times. Zero times. Look, look, there’s no question. We don’t even have to play this game. We know NPR is a biased organization. We know PBS is a biased organization. I’m not against biased organizations. Some would call you and me biased. They better. Well, we’re not doing our job if we’re not. However, we don’t expect the taxpayers to fund us. We don’t have our handout, and we don’t expect any portion of what we do funded by taxpayers. So that’s the problem. And last night, President Trump, he went off on Truth Social, and he said defund NPR and PBS now. 100%. He clearly saw this testimony, and as I thought he would. I mean, I watched it. I thought, oh, my gosh. This isn’t going to go over well with the boss. He saw it, and he said he went through the roof. And he’s right. And I would love for your – you’ve got a lot of – look, Dallas has a great local PBS station, right?
SPEAKER 02 :
Isn’t it KERA? And by the way, here’s the thing. They’re still going to be there locally. They’re not going anywhere. Let’s talk talk shows. Chris Boyd doing Think in the middle of the day. She is awesome. Terry Gross, Fresh Air, one of the best interviews around this American life. One of the best podcasts and things that you can do. Before I found out Rick Steves was a communist. That’s an incredible travel show. But here’s the thing. People got money. Sheryl Crow’s got garage full of Teslas. She used to. They will absolutely be able to survive. I’ll send them $30 a year to keep the shows that I like. The system will work.
SPEAKER 03 :
Here’s what makes me crazy about these guys. There’s all this… And like I said, I would love to ask the pointy-headed intellectuals of Dallas-Fort Worth, why should taxpayers fund any portion at all of what they do? See, we’re lifelong broadcasters. So we know how this works. I’m a little unique in terms of what I focus on. I’m big on the business side of what I do. I look every morning at a spreadsheet. The first thing I do when I walk out the door, how’s my budget? What have I done in March? Am I hitting my numbers? Because I learned a long time ago from one of my earlier bosses and my mentors. Greg Anderson, frankly, who’s my dear, dear mentor and friend who’s retired and happy with his beautiful wife, Linda. Greg taught me, look, Mike, as a host, you hit your budget, ratings will come and go, but you hit your budget, you’ll be fine. And I learned that decades ago, and I’m almost obsessed about it. So I work hard. I started the Mike Gallagher Show nationally as an entrepreneur with my business partner, a great guy out of Pennsylvania, John Dame. We formed Dame Gallagher Networks, and we started this show before it got picked up by Salem. Anyway, I love the business side of things. I know how wrong it is for NPR or PBS to be funded by the taxpayer. That’s all this is about, Mark. That’s all this comes down to. And I don’t think you could make a legitimate argument as to why taxpayers should fund one penny of NPR or PBS.
SPEAKER 02 :
But here’s a funny – as the artsy-fartsy guy that you are and that I often am, let me give you a little wrinkle. Because the reason – and it’s very important that everybody knows that Mike and I would be saying the exact same thing. I hope we would. I trust we would. If NPR were cranking out conservative stuff. Well, I’m saying that about us. I’m saying that about you and me. Of course. There’s proof that you’re absolutely consistent on this. And that NPR and PBS’s liberalism is the second most egregious thing. And it’s not even egregious at all. They got free speech. But it shouldn’t be taxpayer funded. Now, is there a sliver of room for public funding of like a symphony in a town?
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SPEAKER 02 :
An opera company in a town. No. I’m going to say yes, and here’s why. If there is an argument for a sliver of a penny to something that a community simply would not have. If there’s a city where the marketplace just goes, we don’t like opera, then they won’t have an opera. And no 14-year-old girl or boy will see an opera in their town or a symphony in their town. A symphony. Bologna. Bologna. Bologna. Bologna. Bologna. Bologna.
SPEAKER 03 :
We’ve got too many problems in this country with crime, with infrastructure. We’ve got issues that are too pressing. Let me finish my point. We’ve got too many problems and too many people suffering where we’re devoting taxpayer money to an opera in a community that might not normally have an opera so a kid can go see an opera.
SPEAKER 01 :
Look, please, please, please let me, please let me.
SPEAKER 03 :
Please let me finish my point, please. Then get a group of philanthropists and arts-loving people like you and me and put together fundraising and put together efforts that will raise the funds necessary to deliver an opera to a community that might be underserved. The taxpayer funding part is gone. And I’m a guy that loves the arts. I don’t want taxpayers. We’ve got too many pressing things we’ve got to pay for, Mark. I think country’s in bad shape.
SPEAKER 02 :
Let’s have 10 years of Doge, you know, and get to where we’re not wasting as much. And maybe a sliver of a bank and put a symphony in an inner city so a kid can learn how to play the oboe.
SPEAKER 03 :
And by the way, in the same subject, look at what’s going on with this Snow White thing. My Lord. This thing is getting, to quote Senator John Kennedy, this is less popular than chlamydia. I mean, this movie is tanking. Well, the producer, one of the producers of the film is a guy named Mark Platt. Now, Mark Platt is a big time, and I know about him because he produced Wicked. Boy, wouldn’t you like to have that investment? I mean, he produced the Broadway show. He produced the movies. He’s a big-time Hollywood producer. He’s got a couple of acting kids. Ben Platt, who I’ve seen in Dear Evan Hansen. He’s a talented kid. His brother is a guy named Jonah Platt.
SPEAKER 02 :
I think that’s another son. It is. It’s one of the sons of Mark Platt. Yeah, yeah, I’m sorry.
SPEAKER 03 :
I got kind of confusing, but he’s one of the sons of this big-time producer. So it’s been reported that the producer had to fly to L.A. to scold Rachel Ziegler, who’s playing Snow White, and say, pipe down on all your Trump-hating politics. Knock it off. You’re going to hurt the movie. So somebody heard about that and wrote directly to Jonah Platt, the producer’s son, and said, your dad flew, excuse me, it was from L.A. to New York. Your dad flew to New York City to reprimand a young actress? Any words on this, Jonah? Because that’s creepy as hell and uncalled for. People have the right to free speech. No, shame on your father. Now, by the way, part of her free speech is it’s been revealed she’s been posting F.U. Trump. that she literally says F you until she reposts something from Trump says F you. Well, Jonah Platt responded. The son of the Snow White producer gave a response.
SPEAKER 02 :
Everybody, stop what you’re doing right now as Mike shares Jonah Platt’s response to the notion that the producer dad should not go, quote unquote, scold a young actress. The floor is yours.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I quote, quote, you really want to do this? Yeah. My dad, the producer of enormous piece of Disney IP with hundreds of millions of dollars on the line, had to leave his family to fly across the country to reprimand his 20 year old employee. for dragging her personal politics into the middle of promoting the movie for which she signed a multi-million dollar contract to get paid and do publicity for. This is called adult responsibility and accountability. And her actions clearly hurt the film’s box office. Free speech does not mean you’re allowed to say whatever you want in your private employment without repercussions. Tens of thousands of people worked on that film, and she hijacked the conversation for her own immature desires at the risk of all the colleagues and crew and blue-collar workers who depend on that movie to be successful. Narcissism, he concludes, is not something to be coddled or encouraged. Thank you, Jonah Platt.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s how it’s done.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s how you do it. Whoa.
SPEAKER 02 :
Literally 60 seconds. This is a total fail. I’m going to try it. The Mike Gallagher lightning round. You ready? It almost has to be yes or no. Should Jasmine Crockett censured?
SPEAKER 03 :
Maybe. Maybe. I can’t do it.
SPEAKER 02 :
Keep going. I tell you what, honestly, because I know. I don’t know. I mean, she’s repulsive. It’s an obvious argument for yes, because she deserves it. But in a weird way, it almost aggrandizes her. She’d wear it like a badge of honor. I don’t know.
SPEAKER 03 :
There’s a part of me that just wants her to keep doing it because it just ruins their brand.
SPEAKER 02 :
The censure will only energize her further, which is why I’m going to come down with a yes on the censure. I think you helped me with this with Al Green shaking his big old cane at Trump. Of course he deserved to be censured. Well, that was different. I mean, of course it’s different.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, he disrupted a proceeding. She’s just an obnoxious, nasty lady. I mean, making fun of a guy with a disability? Are you kidding? But do you get censured for that? No. But disrupting an official proceeding? Of course you should.
SPEAKER 02 :
There you go. So there’s no light here. We can never do the light.
SPEAKER 03 :
Clarity.
SPEAKER 02 :
Clarity. Clarity takes time.
SPEAKER 03 :
Why are you dressed up today? Why are you all dressed up? I’m going upstairs and doing the Stacey Washington show. Ah, good. Stacey on the right.
SPEAKER 02 :
Salem News Channel. I can’t go slumming in here like I usually do.
SPEAKER 03 :
I know. You got the ward. You got the costume on.
SPEAKER 02 :
You got the outfit. You and me both.
SPEAKER 03 :
We’ll break a leg with Stacey. Love you.
SPEAKER 02 :
See you tomorrow. Mike Gallagher there for us at 10 when we’re done on 660 AM. The answer.
SPEAKER 04 :
For full shows live and on demand, it’s Salem News Channel. Download the podcast and hear all of Mike and Mark’s conversations at MikeOnline.com for the M&M experience.
