Our discussion takes a critical look at media integrity with a focus on Terry Moran’s controversial social media activity. What’s become evident is the shift from objective reporting to commentary filled with bias. We also talk about the media’s response to ongoing civil unrest and the tendency to blame, deflect, and politicize rather than report with honesty. Listeners are given a front-row seat to how media mechanics influence public perception and ponder the role of responsibility amidst chaos. The episode closes with a fiery debate on leadership, responsibility, and the interplay of personalities in today’s landscape.
What a difference a day makes. Dinah Washington, what a difference a day makes, and here’s what I mean. 24 little hours. Since I was doing the Stegall Show on one day Friday, the last time Mike and I got together, it was Thursday. The Trump versus Elon feud hadn’t even happened yet. Now it seems like that was a month ago. Holy cow. How time does fly.
SPEAKER 03 :
Every time you’re away, something bad happens.
SPEAKER 02 :
I wasn’t away. What do you mean? You were away from me.
SPEAKER 03 :
You were away from this show. Exactly. You think I care about Chris DeGaulle?
SPEAKER 01 :
You think I care about Hugh Hewitt?
SPEAKER 03 :
You think I care about Larry Elder? I care about the Eminem experience, and you’re off, and all you know what breaks loose. We got riots. We got Terry Moran. We got poor Maxine Waters having the door slammed in her face.
SPEAKER 02 :
Dogs and cats sleeping together.
SPEAKER 03 :
We’ve got Greta… Thunberg being – On the selfie boat. On the Madeline, the USS Madeline. We are being surrounded. Sound the alarm. Sound the alarm. I thought, what alarm does she want to have sounded? She’s a – boy, that poor thing. I mean – and let’s start there real quick because we’ve got so much to catch up on. Welcome back. I did listen to you. I was – I should have boycotted, but I heard you Friday morning. You did great. Thank you. You ruined my day again. Sorry. You threw my whole game off. Because I start my morning, 7.35, and then everything else is good with the world. Let’s start with Greta Thunberg. Tracy just came in and said, did you hear what they’re going to make her do? I thought, oh, Lord, I hope they don’t make her do anything. The Israeli forces surrounded her boat. And for people who don’t know, Greta Thunberg, Thunberg, Thunberg.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thunberg, mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 03 :
She’s now abandoned climate change to adopt the cause of Hamas and the Palestinians. She’s pro-Palestine.
SPEAKER 01 :
Shocker.
SPEAKER 03 :
I mean, color me shock, Mark. So she decided to… Twelve of these kooks got on a boat, and they decided to sail to Gaza. That’s a little bit unlike the—a little bit different from the Patriots Alaska cruise that Harry Elder and I are going to host.
SPEAKER 02 :
The food, not quite as good.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, I don’t think there’s a spa. I don’t think there’s a spa on board. But she’s on this boat, I’m sure funded by some whack job billionaire, and she sails into Gaza, right? Well— The Israeli forces surround her, and she’s on social media saying, sound the alarm, sound the alarm. We’re being surrounded. Well, they’ve obviously kind of confiscated them.
SPEAKER 02 :
They detained them. Well, because the boat was in some improper waters. Correct. Believe you me, you might think Israel has a few security concerns, so there’s some no-go zones for the boating population.
SPEAKER 03 :
So now that they’ve got them, and of course she’s blabbing on social media, I’ve been kidnapped by the oppressive Israelis. I’ve been kidnapped. And so please sound the alarm, sound the alarm. Okay, I’m sounding the alarm. I set off my fog alarm. I put my… Well, but you know the video that I had to sit through and watch, the 37-minute video of the horrific things that the Hamas terrorists did on October 7th? Yeah, let’s talk about that. And it was a video that not everybody saw. They limited it to a select amount of people because they didn’t want to hurt the families to have their loved ones exposed that way. The vulnerability is just unbelievable. They’re going to make Greta Thunberg watch that video. That’s her consequence for deciding to get on a boat and siding with Hamas. Israeli forces are going to sit her in front of a screen and have her watch those 37 minutes.
SPEAKER 02 :
As well they should.
SPEAKER 03 :
Isn’t that brilliant? I don’t know if her heart will be softened or not, but who cares? But I think that’s a novel way for… for maybe truth to prevail. Now, let’s go down the list of truth. I’ve been listening to you, of course, with your monologue today, because I wanted to catch up with you. Terry Moran. I mean, I saw that Saturday morning. I got up. I thought, did he actually post that?
SPEAKER 02 :
This can’t be real. I mean, even for today’s reporters, it’s like a drunk text from Joe Scarborough.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, it was like a late-night drunk test. Maybe he got into the wine coolers or something and decided, I’m going to be… But he is… After all, considered to be an objective newsman. He just sat down with Trump a few weeks ago. Remember the one on one? He’s not an opinion guy. Now, let’s be clear here. A lot of people get this confused. They see a Laura Ingraham. They say, is she a news person? No. You see a Brett Baer. Is he a news person? Yes. Yes. Terry Moran is a news guy, you know, but the ladies on ABC’s The View are not news people.
SPEAKER 02 :
Or when they gather the roundtable on This Week with Stephanopoulos and you have Donna Brazile and stuff like that, these are opinion people, commentators. Terry’s supposed to be a White House correspondent, a reporter.
SPEAKER 03 :
And neutral. Neutral. This is the thing, Mark. I mean, look, I get that we know they’re biased. Look, there’s two things I’m tired of bellyaching about. I’m tired of bellyaching about the Democrats blaming Trump for the riots, and I want to get to that in a moment. But I’m also tired about the media bias. We get it. We understand that. But here’s my question for you. Why is it so hard… to maintain at least a facade of objectivity. If you did a news story, if I said, Mark, if I’m the head of ABC News, and you’re a news, you’re a Terry Moran. And I said, go out and cover the Trump administration for a week. Why is it so difficult, despite your perhaps leftist bias, because you’re Terry Moran, why would it be so hard to say, okay, here’s the one side. This is what the critics say. On the other side, here’s what the White House says. Why is that so difficult for the Terry Morans of the world to do?
SPEAKER 02 :
I have your answer, Mike Gallagher. The answer is twofold. Number one, they don’t want to. Today’s reporter class knows that activism boils within its bloodstream, and they are doing exactly what they wish to do. This objectivity thing, this covering both sides thing, okay, boomer, if that’s what you want to do coming out of journalism school in the Carter administration, kind of like I did, then that’s fine, but that’s not what we do anymore. And reason number two is, it’s no longer expected by the bosses. But it’s But the ivory towers of management no longer deliver the wonderful lecture that you just did. Go out there and be fair. Go out there and be objective. They don’t care anymore. But here’s the thing.
SPEAKER 03 :
It would work. The thing that is crazy to me is you say they don’t want to, but it would be profitable. And look, they are tanking, Mark. They’re at an all-time low. You know, there’s one little spunky network that seems to be kind of trying that. News Nation, have you been on it?
SPEAKER 02 :
Chris Cuomo.
SPEAKER 03 :
Chris Cuomo. I mean, they try. I think they make an effort. And incidentally, I saw one of their reporters get harassed and harangued. She was trying to cover the riots in L.A. They went after her and screamed that you’re in the tank for Trump and blah, blah, blah. She made her composure. She was wonderful. But I’m mystified. They are ultimately in the ratings and revenue business. And so at the end of the day, why don’t you do what would be better for ratings and revenue? Fox News beats MSNBC and CNN combined all the time. All the time. Fox News is beating ABC, NBC, and CBS in primetime. Did you know that? They’re getting…
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SPEAKER 03 :
Bigger numbers now than ABC, NBC, or CBS many nights. So obviously a formula, and you see both views.
SPEAKER 02 :
You see Jessica Tarloff. This is the most important thing because the Fox product, you think, well, that’s just the mirror image of the virulent leftist MSNBC product. No. Liberals get more airtime and more fair time, one might say, more fair treatment. I see Libs on Fox all the time. I mean, they’re getting argued with. They’re engaged in constructive debate. But from Tarloff to Harold Ford Jr. to others, they have a genuinely good time in an atmosphere of goodwill.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, and look at the one show that performs relatively well on CNN. That’s the Abby Phillips Roundtable. And look at look at the presence they have. They have conservatives. They’ve got Scott Jennings. They’ve got the other guy. What’s his name? Sure. Michael or. I mean, they’ve got two or three conservatives there that hold their own. They often bring on our buddy Arthur Idalla, the legal guy, the lawyer from New York. So anyway, I just I’m mystified by that. Let’s look at the riots for just a moment. I’m also tired about. Of course they’re blaming Trump. And it hit me late last night because I’m reading what they’re saying. Oh, Daily Beast says Trump fueled the flames and poured the gas on the fire. Newsom is blaming Trump. That radical former Cuba leftist crazy at Karen Bass, the mayor. Blaming Trump. Well, of course they’re going to blame Trump. They have to blame Trump. What else are they going to do? Are they going to take responsibility for their own failed policies? These are Democrats that are lighting buildings on fire. And we’re back again, Mark, to the mostly peaceful protests.
SPEAKER 02 :
I know.
SPEAKER 03 :
You’ve seen the video, right?
SPEAKER 02 :
And it was the LAPD itself that said that the protests were mostly peaceful, proving we have some corrupt management of the LAPD.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, my gosh. Yeah, but the LAPD is also starting to change their tune and say things like, yeah, National Guard, maybe not such a bad idea after all. That’s right. I mean, but normal people, here’s what I like. You can’t be normal and blame Trump for the riots in L.A. You just can’t. What is a president supposed to do? Karen Bass has encouraged these protests. Democrat legislators, you’ve seen these kooky, wacky, far-left Democrat politicians in L.A. and statewide say, keep it up, keep protesting. Okay, people are saying, okay, I’ll do that, sure thing, Mayor Bass. So if they’re not going to quell the violence, what else is Trump supposed to do? There’s a long history of presidents sending in the troops. And guess what? Just because Trump does it doesn’t make it any different from any of the other presidents.
SPEAKER 02 :
One thing that’s a little different about this one is it’s often after the governor has requested it. Gavin Newsom, not only is he not requesting it, you see Gavin Newsom in the back and forth with the NBC reporter telling Tom Holman, come get me, tough guy. Arrest me.
SPEAKER 03 :
Let’s go. Arrest me. Look, Trump was asked about that, and he said, you know what? If we find out that leaders of cities or counties or state have obstructed the enforcement of the law, they could be facing charges. And would you put that past the Trump administration?
SPEAKER 02 :
No, I would not. Now, Mike, in our last couple of minutes, I know the entire story has risen, bitten America in the butt, and seems to have receded completely. What was your Friday show like? And Trump versus Elon, the three-day DVD set? Because it seems to be. Elon is a nut. This just in, the guy is a big, giant baby. So you may get a weird tantrum like this every once in a while.
SPEAKER 01 :
No harm, no foul.
SPEAKER 02 :
He’s a total nut. In some ways. Like many geniuses. Oh, please. He’s a visionary. He’s a genius. He’s also out of his flippin’ mind sometimes.
SPEAKER 03 :
He appears to regret what he did. If you haven’t paid attention or followed this, he’s deleted all of his tweets. All the Epstein nonsense. He’s allegedly reached out to the White House. And I’m not sure President Trump is going to be in a kiss and make up mood. Not right away. Let him stew on this for a little while. They both bring so much to the table. They’ve been so prominent. I think Elon is going through something. I hate to speculate about somebody’s personal life. A lot of speculation has been about the ketamine that he admits to taking. I don’t know. I’m absolutely mystified by it.
SPEAKER 02 :
I think this is just him. I think we’re looking for some reason. I think it’s just him. I mean, once again, for the millionth time, Walter Isaacson biography, every once in a while in his entire life, business life, personal life, he just weirds out in some colossal way, and then it gets better in like a day or two.
SPEAKER 03 :
Maybe, but don’t you find it bizarre that when people turn on Trump, They turn on him like nothing you’ve ever seen. I mean, it’s not like lukewarm. It’s not like, well, just like a cooling off. Well, Trump’s not lukewarm.
SPEAKER 02 :
No, but why?
SPEAKER 03 :
It’s kind of like Newton’s law. But when they turn on him, my gosh, it’s so personal and it’s so visceral. It’s so off the charts. Look at the list of people that have just gone bonkers. It’s what my friend Mark Davis always says. Trump derangement syndrome makes smart people dumb and makes nice people mean. And funny people, I don’t know. I don’t get it. But I don’t think he suffers from Trump derangement syndrome.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, no, no, no. Not at all. I mean, that’s what was so weird and ironic. And as you said, for about a day, sad. Now just perplexing. I think we’re done here. Is that their Venn diagrams overlap so much. They both love the country. They both want responsible government. The difference between Trump and Elon, Trump understands government.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, all I know is just stay put for a while because every time you go away from here, I’ve got to get my house in order.
SPEAKER 02 :
I was here. I was doing two shows on Friday.
SPEAKER 03 :
No, no, no, no, no. As far as I was concerned, you were in the wilderness. You were gone. I’m sorry. So come back. We’ll see you Tuesday. Happy Monday. And let’s buckle up for a big week.
SPEAKER 02 :
We are ready. Mike is here. We’re both actually here. Confirm that. Mike gets going as soon as we’re done. 10 a.m. right here on 660 AM E-Answer. 660 AM.
