Now it can be told: NY Times reports on Hunter Biden Burisma ask (08-14-2024--Hour3)

[00:00:04] [SPEAKER_00]: What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to 3 on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to thepetecalendershow.com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button, get every episode for free, right to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support.

[00:00:29] [SPEAKER_00]: We've got some people who have been holding on the line. Let me get to them. Next here is Neil. Welcome to the show. Hi, Neil.

[00:00:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Hey, good afternoon. First of all, I live at Smith Mountain Lake and I know you talked to another radio station in the mornings and I do your commentary.

[00:00:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, thanks.

[00:00:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Now, this is how you beat heiress. You talk to females. Do you support sex trafficking? The answer is going to be no. Do you support child abuse? The answer is going to be no.

[00:00:56] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, do you support missing children? The answer is going to be no. Then why do you support Harris?

[00:01:01] [SPEAKER_01]: You have to get him on the internet.

[00:01:04] [SPEAKER_01]: A woman is going to be interviewed.

[00:01:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, no.

[00:01:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Neil, I...

[00:01:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Neil, your phone...

[00:01:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Neil, your phone is breaking up.

[00:01:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, am I?

[00:01:17] Okay.

[00:01:18] [SPEAKER_00]: No, it's...

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's bad.

[00:01:20] [SPEAKER_00]: It's a bad connection.

[00:01:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Neil, try to call back and I'll bring you back.

[00:01:23] [SPEAKER_00]: We just...

[00:01:23] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm getting like every fourth or fifth word, it sounds like.

[00:01:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Ernest, welcome to the show.

[00:01:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Hello, Ernest.

[00:01:30] [SPEAKER_04]: Hey, Pete.

[00:01:31] [SPEAKER_04]: Just a brief comment on that caller before last.

[00:01:37] [SPEAKER_04]: You know, I don't know where these individuals are getting their news or their information,

[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_04]: but a lot of it goes there because probably one of the most dangerous things to our democracy is the way the news media has been able to basically intertwine itself with the Democratic Party to hide, to propagandize, and support going after Trump probably since the day he was born.

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_04]: But...

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_00]: No, no, no.

[00:02:10] [SPEAKER_00]: He was fine when he was a Democrat real estate guy.

[00:02:13] [SPEAKER_04]: But my comment is Donald Trump goes out and gives everything for free all the time, doesn't ask for anything back.

[00:02:23] [SPEAKER_04]: The next time he has a...

[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_04]: When he has a press gaggle, he ought to do the following just one time, make sure the videos are running.

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_04]: Ask the reporters.

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_04]: I'm going to ask you a question today.

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_04]: What would you ask Kamala Harris if she was standing here in front of you instead of me?

[00:02:44] [SPEAKER_04]: And it's going to be silence.

[00:02:46] [SPEAKER_04]: And he can say that again.

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_04]: What questions would you want to know from Kamala Harris if she was standing here instead of me?

[00:02:55] [SPEAKER_04]: Silence.

[00:02:56] [SPEAKER_04]: Third time he says it.

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_04]: And then he can say as he walks away,

[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_04]: when you determine what questions you want to ask Kamala Harris, I will be back here and answer your questions.

[00:03:07] [SPEAKER_04]: I mean, put the onus on the press.

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_04]: They're not asking any questions, but that's...

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_04]: I think Trump goes out there.

[00:03:16] [SPEAKER_04]: I would demand to know what they want to know from Kamala Harris.

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_04]: And that's my comment.

[00:03:22] [SPEAKER_00]: All right, Ernest, I appreciate the call.

[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_00]: And that will be a clip and then nothing.

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Nothing will come of that.

[00:03:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Because the media...

[00:03:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Reporters are not going to answer that question.

[00:03:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Because whenever reporters go to a press conference, they don't take questions.

[00:03:39] [SPEAKER_00]: They ask the questions.

[00:03:40] [SPEAKER_00]: They will never...

[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_00]: They will never start going into a Q&A where the person at the microphone is asking the questions

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_00]: and the reporters are called to answer them.

[00:03:53] [SPEAKER_00]: That's not how they...

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_00]: They will refuse to do it.

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_00]: So you will end up with silence and then he'll walk off and you have your viral moment, but that's it.

[00:04:01] [SPEAKER_00]: And then, of course, you're banking on the journalists to be shamed into asking Kamala Harris questions or something.

[00:04:11] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's not going to happen either because it is impossible to shame them.

[00:04:16] [SPEAKER_00]: And if you want any evidence of that, just look at the last five weeks.

[00:04:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[00:04:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Time Magazine just did a hagiography of Kamala Harris.

[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_00]: And in the story itself, it says that she refused to participate in the interview request.

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Even in a story that is elevating her to near sainthood, she would not make any time to do the interview.

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_00]: And she doesn't have to.

[00:04:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Because again, when you catastrophize, when you say Donald Trump is the existential threat to democracy,

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_00]: we're all going to die if Donald Trump in America is going to die, if Donald Trump wins,

[00:05:03] [SPEAKER_00]: then you have the permission structure to do whatever you need to do to prevent that from happening.

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_00]: And so the media in these major nodes, New York, Washington, Los Angeles, right?

[00:05:17] [SPEAKER_00]: These legacy media outlets and the people that populate them, they are of the same class.

[00:05:25] [SPEAKER_00]: They have the same mores.

[00:05:28] [SPEAKER_00]: They have the same attitudes.

[00:05:31] [SPEAKER_00]: They swim in the same circles.

[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_00]: So there's a stigmatization that they risk if they do something that then could be perceived as helping Donald Trump win.

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_00]: I've said this for years.

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Ever since Mitt Romney's campaign, elections are about what media make them.

[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_00]: And if you doubt that, look at the last five weeks.

[00:05:56] [SPEAKER_00]: This election is about vibes.

[00:05:59] [SPEAKER_00]: That's what we're told.

[00:06:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Joy, right?

[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Joyful warriors and such.

[00:06:04] [SPEAKER_00]: And all of this just gets regurgitated.

[00:06:07] [SPEAKER_00]: The fact that half the country had no idea of how bad Joe Biden had gotten is like.

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, plaintiffs exhibit number one here.

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Like that's that's absurd.

[00:06:22] [SPEAKER_00]: That half the country had no idea that he had been in mental decline until that debate.

[00:06:28] [SPEAKER_00]: When media couldn't protect him any longer.

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_00]: People on the right knew this because we had been talking about it.

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Right now, you've got New York Times readers.

[00:06:39] [SPEAKER_00]: That.

[00:06:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Have probably just become aware that Hunter Biden is in some deep crap when it comes to FARA.

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_00]: The Foreign Agents Registration Act, the FARA.

[00:06:52] [SPEAKER_00]: The New York Times today did a story that should have been done five years ago.

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Why?

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Because they had the information from the laptop.

[00:07:02] [SPEAKER_00]: It was confirmed by the DOJ to be legitimate, even though we were told during the last election that it wasn't.

[00:07:10] [SPEAKER_00]: But it was.

[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_00]: They knew it.

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_00]: They lied.

[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_00]: Media took the lie because why?

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Existential threat of Donald Trump.

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Catastrophization.

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_00]: You can't let Trump win.

[00:07:23] [SPEAKER_00]: So we're not going to run with the laptop story.

[00:07:25] [SPEAKER_00]: And then, of course, you get big tech to pile on because, again, the folks who are in these organizations, they have the same attitudes.

[00:07:32] [SPEAKER_00]: They have the same philosophies, the same beliefs, and they don't want to be stigmatized.

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_00]: They don't want to get fired.

[00:07:37] [SPEAKER_00]: They don't want to be ostracized in their peer group.

[00:07:40] [SPEAKER_00]: So they go along.

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_00]: OK, we're going to block that laptop story from being shared, even though the New York Post reported it.

[00:07:49] [SPEAKER_00]: A legitimate news organization, the oldest newspaper in America, for the love of me.

[00:07:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[00:07:55] [SPEAKER_00]: After President Biden dropped his reelection bid, his administration released records showing that while he was vice president,

[00:08:03] [SPEAKER_00]: his son solicited U.S. government assistance, Hunter Biden sought assistance from the government for a potentially lucrative energy project in Italy while his dad was veep.

[00:08:16] [SPEAKER_00]: The records, which the Biden administration had withheld for years, indicate that Hunter Biden wrote at least one letter to the U.S. ambassador to Italy in 2016,

[00:08:30] [SPEAKER_00]: seeking assistance for the Ukrainian gas company Burisma, where he was a board member.

[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_00]: However, embassy officials appear to have been uneasy with the request from the son of the sitting vice president on behalf of a foreign company.

[00:08:45] [SPEAKER_00]: I have made this argument since, well, 2016, I guess, or no, since 2019, which is that Biden and family, the Biden family was looking for their own Clinton Foundation.

[00:09:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Right. The Clinton Global Initiative. They were looking for the way to monetize his access, Joe Biden's access, because he was getting ready to retire.

[00:09:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Hillary Clinton was the next in line to be the Democrat nominee.

[00:09:18] [SPEAKER_00]: She was probably going to win. Everybody thought she was going to win.

[00:09:20] [SPEAKER_00]: So Joe was done. All right. Well, how do we get the taps flowing?

[00:09:25] [SPEAKER_00]: And enter Hunter Biden with all of his problems. And he's trying to do all of these deals and all of these foreign countries that have unsavory governments.

[00:09:33] [SPEAKER_00]: And they're like, hmm, yeah, this might be a good way to get influence.

[00:09:38] [SPEAKER_00]: And so he's writing letters while his dad is vice president.

[00:09:42] [SPEAKER_00]: He took flights with his father on Air Force Two.

[00:09:46] [SPEAKER_00]: To go do business. And dad never asks him, hey, son, what are you doing on this plane with me?

[00:09:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, nothing, dad. Just, you know, going to hang out in Ukraine for no reason at all. Bull.

[00:09:59] [SPEAKER_00]: The whole point here was to create the retirement package.

[00:10:03] [SPEAKER_00]: And then, of course, Hillary loses and everything gets thrown open.

[00:10:06] [SPEAKER_00]: And now it's like, oh, my gosh, what are we going to do?

[00:10:08] [SPEAKER_00]: And then, of course, he announces he's going to run. Slight problem.

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Hunter Biden's a complete mess up. And he has any mess stuff up.

[00:10:17] [SPEAKER_00]: That's the and that's why we ended up where we were.

[00:10:20] [SPEAKER_00]: This story is not new. I've covered this story.

[00:10:22] [SPEAKER_00]: But now the New York Times is reporting it.

[00:10:24] [SPEAKER_00]: And keep in mind, now you have the space for New York Times reporters to report the story and for their audience to receive it.

[00:10:35] [SPEAKER_00]: And that must be a pretty disturbing thing if you're a New York Times subscriber.

[00:10:39] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, just for the fact that you're still a subscriber to the New York Times.

[00:10:42] [SPEAKER_00]: But also, you have no idea that that this had occurred.

[00:10:47] [SPEAKER_00]: This is brand new to you.

[00:10:49] [SPEAKER_00]: If that's where you get your news, this is brand new to you.

[00:10:52] [SPEAKER_00]: And therein lies the problem.

[00:10:54] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's why I say elections are about what media make them.

[00:10:57] [SPEAKER_00]: All right. Hey, real quick.

[00:10:58] [SPEAKER_00]: If you would like to get your product or service in front of about 10,000 people multiple times a day, send me an email at Pete at the Pete Calendar Show dot com and ask me about advertising.

[00:11:09] [SPEAKER_00]: It's super affordable.

[00:11:10] [SPEAKER_00]: It's baked into this podcast forever.

[00:11:12] [SPEAKER_00]: And podcasts have a higher conversion rate than other social media platforms, making it the best bang for your buck.

[00:11:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Send me a message.

[00:11:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Pete at the Pete Calendar Show dot com.

[00:11:21] [SPEAKER_00]: And I can show you how it works.

[00:11:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Run the numbers with you.

[00:11:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Again, that's Pete at the Pete Calendar Show dot com.

[00:11:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Abby Lowell, a lawyer for Mr. Biden, Hunter Biden, said that his client asked various people, including the U.S. ambassador to Italy at the time, John Phillips, whether they could arrange an introduction between Burisma and the president of the Tuscany region of Italy, where Burisma was trying to get a geothermal project.

[00:11:49] [SPEAKER_00]: No meeting occurred.

[00:11:51] [SPEAKER_00]: No project materialized.

[00:11:52] [SPEAKER_00]: No request for anything in the U.S. was ever sought.

[00:11:55] [SPEAKER_00]: And only an introduction in Italy was requested.

[00:11:58] [SPEAKER_00]: That's it.

[00:11:59] [SPEAKER_00]: See that?

[00:11:59] [SPEAKER_00]: How do you guys?

[00:12:00] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know why you guys are freaking out about this.

[00:12:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Just because he's the vice president's son using his government contacts to get him face to face meeting in order to help the company that put him on the board to the tune of, oh, is it 50 grand a month or something?

[00:12:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Because of all of his experience.

[00:12:19] [SPEAKER_00]: In the natural gas industry.

[00:12:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, wait, he didn't have any.

[00:12:23] [SPEAKER_00]: The State Department did not release the actual text of the letter.

[00:12:27] [SPEAKER_00]: A White House spokesman said the president was not aware when he was veep that his son had reached out to the U.S. embassy in Italy on behalf of Burisma because they never talked about business.

[00:12:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Remember the department's release of documents to The New York Times came shortly after President Biden dropped out of the presidential race.

[00:12:46] [SPEAKER_00]: And as his son prepares to stand trial next month on charges of evading taxes on millions of dollars in income from Burisma and other foreign businesses.

[00:12:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Hunter Biden was not charged and hasn't been with violating the FARA, the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which requires people to disclose when they lobby the U.S. government on behalf of foreign interests.

[00:13:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Later on in the New York Times piece, the embassy outreach was revealed in emails released by the State Department to The New York Times in response to a request for public records.

[00:13:22] [SPEAKER_00]: The request was initially filed under the FOIA in June of 2021.

[00:13:28] [SPEAKER_00]: After nearly eight months, the State Department had not released any records.

[00:13:33] [SPEAKER_00]: And so The New York Times sued.

[00:13:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Eighteen months later, the department moved to close the case after releasing thousands of pages of records, none of which shed light on Hunter Biden's outreach to the U.S. government.

[00:13:44] [SPEAKER_00]: The Times challenged the thoroughness of the search, noting that the department had failed to produce responsive records contained in a cache of files connected to a laptop Biden had abandoned at a Delaware repair shop.

[00:13:58] [SPEAKER_00]: So The New York Times report here would lead you to believe what?

[00:14:00] [SPEAKER_00]: That they were on this case.

[00:14:03] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's just because the State Department had slow walked them and stonewalled and all this, right?

[00:14:10] [SPEAKER_00]: But if what they're reporting is true, then that means that they were using the laptop in order to try to extract more documents from the government.

[00:14:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Which means what?

[00:14:24] [SPEAKER_00]: That they believed in the veracity of the laptop.

[00:14:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Huh, it looks different in hindsight all of a sudden.

[00:14:32] [SPEAKER_00]: The department resumed the search in periodic productions, but had produced few documents related to the case until the week after his dad ended his reelection campaign.

[00:14:42] [SPEAKER_00]: A State Department spokeswoman suggested that the timing of the release of this information, purely coincidental.

[00:14:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Noting that the department had released batches of documents in each of the last three months before this final batch got released.

[00:14:59] [SPEAKER_00]: A person familiar with the timing said the release of the Italy documents was planned by the State Department weeks before Joe announced his decision to drop out.

[00:15:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Still, the New York Times says the records are likely to fuel suspicion among Republicans.

[00:15:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Pouncing!

[00:15:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Pouncing, I say!

[00:15:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Seizing, if you will.

[00:15:26] [SPEAKER_00]: That is what Republicans do.

[00:15:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Let me get to some calls and some messages.

[00:15:31] [SPEAKER_00]: First, we go to Twitter, formerly X.

[00:15:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Andy says, Pete, you should ask your callers what the reasons are to vote for Harris.

[00:15:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Also, can white guilt get Harris elected?

[00:15:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Or did Obama capture it all?

[00:15:45] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that's a...

[00:15:46] [SPEAKER_00]: This was an earlier caller who said that he did not believe that...

[00:15:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, he believed there are some voters who will never vote for a black woman for president.

[00:15:58] [SPEAKER_00]: And I have no doubt that that's true.

[00:16:00] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what that number is.

[00:16:02] [SPEAKER_00]: I have heard that there are people that...

[00:16:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Like, I remember there was a woman who called in to my show years ago, like 15 years ago,

[00:16:09] [SPEAKER_00]: and she said something like,

[00:16:11] [SPEAKER_00]: she doesn't trust newscasters if they're women.

[00:16:14] [SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, why?

[00:16:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Why?

[00:16:18] [SPEAKER_00]: She said she didn't know why.

[00:16:19] [SPEAKER_00]: She just thought, like, men delivering the news just sounded more newsy or something.

[00:16:24] [SPEAKER_00]: So, like, that...

[00:16:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Like, these types of intangibles do affect people's voting habits.

[00:16:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Let's see.

[00:16:36] [SPEAKER_00]: This is from The Hellion.

[00:16:37] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to predict a media round of,

[00:16:39] [SPEAKER_00]: well, you know, Kamala really has been president for a while,

[00:16:42] [SPEAKER_00]: so she has the experience now on TV and newspapers, etc.

[00:16:46] [SPEAKER_00]: I just don't know if they'll do it.

[00:16:48] [SPEAKER_00]: I just don't know if they will do it if she's losing and desperate,

[00:16:52] [SPEAKER_00]: or if they get overconfident and think they have it in the bag, it will slip then.

[00:16:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I actually have something on that very line of thinking.

[00:17:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Timoteo says,

[00:17:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Just a thought.

[00:17:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I think Joe Biden is really going to be smarting

[00:17:03] [SPEAKER_00]: when he resigns the presidency after the convention.

[00:17:06] [SPEAKER_00]: They have to get Kamala installed to keep the joyful energy flowing past the convention.

[00:17:13] [SPEAKER_00]: Just a hunch.

[00:17:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Also, Trump was a billionaire playboy.

[00:17:16] [SPEAKER_00]: He knows Kamala's type very well, too.

[00:17:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Russ says,

[00:17:23] [SPEAKER_00]: I can't believe I once thought spending an evening with Tony would be interesting and fun.

[00:17:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Do you sense a change,

[00:17:28] [SPEAKER_00]: or is it we have just gotten more of a peek into his head?

[00:17:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.

[00:17:33] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, yeah.

[00:17:34] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, when it comes to this stuff,

[00:17:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Tony was the caller earlier in the show.

[00:17:40] [SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, I try to have logical, rational conversations with people.

[00:17:44] [SPEAKER_00]: And I thought Tony and Sean both, they approached the conversation in good faith.

[00:17:50] [SPEAKER_00]: And so I try to have good faith conversations with people about that.

[00:17:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.

[00:17:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Look, anytime people that disagree with me want to call in and test the boundaries of their own argument,

[00:18:04] [SPEAKER_00]: I am happy to help them do that.

[00:18:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Because that's what you heard Tony doing and Sean doing also.

[00:18:12] [SPEAKER_00]: And a lot of times, they never get those types of boundary tests.

[00:18:17] [SPEAKER_00]: So I'm happy to provide that service.

[00:18:19] [SPEAKER_00]: You know me.

[00:18:19] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm a giver.

[00:18:20] [SPEAKER_00]: What can I say?

[00:18:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do.

[00:18:24] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm just checking.

[00:18:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

[00:18:25] [SPEAKER_00]: I think I've cleared the, I think I've cleared those.

[00:18:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Let me clear this call.

[00:18:29] [SPEAKER_00]: This is from Ray.

[00:18:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Hello, Ray.

[00:18:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the show.

[00:18:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Hello, Pete.

[00:18:33] [SPEAKER_00]: How are you doing?

[00:18:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Hey, I'm good, man.

[00:18:41] [SPEAKER_02]: I liken a, excuse me, I liken a conservative being interviewed or at a press conference with the mainstream media as a boxer in the ring,

[00:18:58] [SPEAKER_02]: having to fight his opponent and the referee also.

[00:19:03] [SPEAKER_02]: And what I was, I'm kind of like you.

[00:19:07] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm all about solutions.

[00:19:08] [SPEAKER_02]: When I hear about problems of things, my mind immediately goes to what can we do to fix it?

[00:19:14] [SPEAKER_02]: And I've often wondered, I wanted to get your opinion.

[00:19:17] [SPEAKER_02]: How about, how about a conservative media like Fox or other places sort of followed the model of the, as Trump calls it, the fake news media,

[00:19:32] [SPEAKER_02]: and on their TV shows, come out and have like the morning show, have music on the square with popular young singers.

[00:19:42] [SPEAKER_02]: And that would give them more credibility with the age group.

[00:19:47] [SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, I think you get what I'm saying there.

[00:19:50] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, I do that.

[00:19:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I think Fox tries to do that.

[00:19:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Fox.

[00:19:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I haven't watched Fox News in a long time.

[00:19:56] [SPEAKER_00]: And here's the thing, like there's a disintegration occurring in these legacy media outlets.

[00:20:03] [SPEAKER_00]: And they, people are more and more, especially young people are getting their news on social media.

[00:20:08] [SPEAKER_00]: So that's where I think a lot of this fight is going to move to.

[00:20:12] [SPEAKER_00]: And the good news for conservatives is that there, as long as they have equal access to the platforms,

[00:20:17] [SPEAKER_00]: as long as they're not being censored and throttled, they can compete there.

[00:20:21] [SPEAKER_00]: And they do very well, actually.

[00:20:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Like the Daily Wire, Ben Shapiro, they do very well on the podcasting platforms and in social media.

[00:20:30] [SPEAKER_00]: So, Ray, I do appreciate the call.

[00:20:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I think they are trying to do that very thing.

[00:20:33] [SPEAKER_00]: The problem, Fox has a brand, and it is tied to the Republican Party.

[00:20:37] [SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, MSNBC also and CNN, because it's got deals and they're on in all the airports and all this,

[00:20:43] [SPEAKER_00]: they have this reputation as being, you know, the middle or, well, what always happens when Marxists get into institutions, right?

[00:20:53] [SPEAKER_00]: They hollow them out and then they parade around in the skin of the institution.

[00:20:57] [SPEAKER_00]: And they use the built-up reputation and credibility and credentials of the institution while undermining all of the things that built that institution up.

[00:21:13] [SPEAKER_00]: That's sort of what Marxists do.

[00:21:15] [SPEAKER_00]: You see it in every institution that they take over.

[00:21:18] [SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, I think CNN is probably at that point right now.

[00:21:21] [SPEAKER_00]: But I don't know, like every now and again, like they hire some new guy in there and like, we're going to try to do what we used to do.

[00:21:27] [SPEAKER_00]: And it never works because it's, you know, it's too expensive.

[00:21:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's too expensive to do the kind of old school journalism that they did.

[00:21:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Here's another example of it.

[00:21:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Axios had a story.

[00:21:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Behind the curtain, the Harris plan to redefine herself.

[00:21:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Vice President Harris, hoping to distance herself from Biden's unpopularity on the economy, plans a new focus on middle class worries and woes.

[00:21:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Beginning in North Carolina this week with her first policy speech and continuing next week with the Democrat convention,

[00:21:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Harris will tell Americans, most for the first time, who she is and how she'd govern.

[00:22:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Harris won't say this bluntly in public, but her advisors do so privately.

[00:22:08] [SPEAKER_00]: That she wants to break with Biden on issues on which he's unpopular.

[00:22:15] [SPEAKER_00]: First up, rising prices.

[00:22:17] [SPEAKER_00]: This is part of a highly choreographed effort to define herself, in some cases, redefine herself as a different kind of Democrat.

[00:22:25] [SPEAKER_00]: She's going to start in Raleigh.

[00:22:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Listen to this part.

[00:22:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Harris doesn't want to be completely defined by the Biden-Harris record.

[00:22:32] [SPEAKER_00]: And she needs some distance.

[00:22:35] [SPEAKER_00]: She also wants a clean break from Biden's often backward looking lens on democracy and other issues.

[00:22:42] [SPEAKER_00]: A big part of the plan is to unapologetically change some of her more liberal positions and claim her White House experience helped change her mind.

[00:22:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, when she was running for president in 2019, she was against fracking, for decriminalizing illegal border crossings and for single payer health care.

[00:23:06] [SPEAKER_00]: But no more.

[00:23:07] [SPEAKER_00]: She has backed off all three.

[00:23:09] [SPEAKER_00]: And a big and fair question is, what does she really believe?

[00:23:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Her bet is, whatever she says in the small three-month window will be what sticks.

[00:23:21] [SPEAKER_00]: And media will allow that to be so.

[00:23:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Jan wanted to know if callers are being affected by something new in the air.

[00:23:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe with Trump in Asheville.

[00:23:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps some folks cannot stand the fact that they are sort of breathing the same air.

[00:23:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, with the prevailing westerlies, it does come this way.

[00:23:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, usually you do not get that many frantic pinball type arguments in the same hour.

[00:23:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, well, I don't know.

[00:23:46] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what happened today.

[00:23:50] [SPEAKER_00]: If the DOJ hadn't used the excuse not to pursue justice against Joe Biden because of his reduced cognitive state and the assumption that a jury might be sympathetic to him because of that,

[00:24:01] [SPEAKER_00]: then Joe might also be a convicted felon for his illegal possession and gross mishandling of top secret and confidential U.S. intelligence.

[00:24:07] [SPEAKER_00]: The fact that he broke the law wasn't disputed.

[00:24:10] [SPEAKER_00]: It just wasn't pursued.

[00:24:12] [SPEAKER_00]: And who knows what else he has done that is not being pursued for the same excuses.

[00:24:19] [SPEAKER_00]: That is from Dinah or Dina.

[00:24:22] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.

[00:24:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Tony gives mush mouth Mike a run for his money, although I think Mike is smart enough to shoehorn his argument behind some contrived logic.

[00:24:34] [SPEAKER_00]: While Tony is just OK, well, I'm not going to read.

[00:24:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Come on, Joseph.

[00:24:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Tony is a truck driver.

[00:24:42] [SPEAKER_00]: I hope he drives better than he argues.

[00:24:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, let's all let's all hope that's the case.

[00:24:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Alan again about caller Tony.

[00:24:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Once again, Tony showed the intellectual limits of the interstate bubble.

[00:24:53] [SPEAKER_00]: He travels in around in paranoia is his constant companion.

[00:24:59] [SPEAKER_00]: And John says, Pete, you know that you're never getting that time back, right?

[00:25:03] [SPEAKER_00]: With Tony.

[00:25:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Like, yes, that's.

[00:25:05] [SPEAKER_00]: But Brett says, thanks so much for allowing guys like Tony on your program.

[00:25:09] [SPEAKER_00]: It just reinforces how stupid and idiotic a lot of people are.

[00:25:14] [SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, didn't he have a different name a couple of years ago?

[00:25:16] [SPEAKER_00]: I recognize the voice from calling into various programs over the years.

[00:25:20] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.

[00:25:20] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.

[00:25:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Let's go down to Steve.

[00:25:24] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry, Winston.

[00:25:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Hello, Winston.

[00:25:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the show.

[00:25:28] [SPEAKER_03]: I almost passed out waiting, but that's OK.

[00:25:31] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm not complaining.

[00:25:33] [SPEAKER_03]: No, you're just wasting time here, but go ahead.

[00:25:35] [SPEAKER_03]: Real quick.

[00:25:37] [SPEAKER_03]: You were talking about where the generation today gets their news.

[00:25:41] [SPEAKER_03]: The podcasters love their information and are shot away from the big network.

[00:25:46] [SPEAKER_03]: Social media.

[00:25:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:25:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, did we lose you, Winston?

[00:25:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Winston.

[00:25:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Winston, blink if the government has captured you.

[00:25:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Blink twice.

[00:25:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Or just once.

[00:25:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Press a button on the phone.

[00:25:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Do you need help?

[00:26:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Do you need assistance?

[00:26:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Have you been swatted?

[00:26:03] [SPEAKER_00]: OK.

[00:26:03] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what happened to him.

[00:26:05] [SPEAKER_00]: That's very weird.

[00:26:06] [SPEAKER_00]: He may have hit the mute button on his phone.

[00:26:08] [SPEAKER_00]: You want to check and see if he's still there?

[00:26:10] [SPEAKER_00]: I'll try to get him back if I can.

[00:26:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Um.

[00:26:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Because I kind of feel like he didn't make any kind of a point there.

[00:26:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Surely nobody would hold on for 43 minutes.

[00:26:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Anyway.

[00:26:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Um.

[00:26:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:26:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Donald Trump is in Asheville.

[00:26:27] [SPEAKER_00]: he'll be speaking at I believe four o'clock this afternoon um and his campaign was forced to pay

[00:26:34] [SPEAKER_00]: more than eighty two thousand dollars in advance for this week's rally in Asheville 82 grand up

[00:26:40] [SPEAKER_00]: front which is a that's a good bet or a good thing for the city to do get that money up front

[00:26:45] [SPEAKER_00]: because the Trump campaign has skipped out on a bunch of costs that they owe for rallies over the

[00:26:50] [SPEAKER_00]: years so Trump is set to take the stage at Asheville's Thomas Wolfe auditorium wait a minute

[00:26:58] [SPEAKER_00]: I thought he was going to be at the civics well okay so there are two parts of the

[00:27:02] [SPEAKER_00]: U.S. or now I'm sorry now it's called the Harrah's Cherokee Casino Civic Center I believe um they

[00:27:10] [SPEAKER_00]: they bought the naming rights like two years ago or something um so you've got the smaller auditorium

[00:27:16] [SPEAKER_00]: and then you have the larger arena space I assumed that that's where he was doing it but he's going to

[00:27:22] [SPEAKER_00]: the he's going to the Thomas Wolfe that's much smaller um this is from Newsweek citing Blue Ridge

[00:27:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Public Radio um that the oh it's a breakdown of the cost here uh they booked two the smaller of the

[00:27:41] [SPEAKER_00]: two venues at the same complex Thomas Wolfe auditorium as a capacity of just 2,400 people

[00:27:47] [SPEAKER_00]: while the larger arena next door that's not hosting him as a capacity of 7,200

[00:27:56] [SPEAKER_00]: just a heads up people if you're going to the Asheville

[00:28:00] [SPEAKER_00]: rally head on a swivel last time Trump was there people got assaulted the cops and the local officials

[00:28:08] [SPEAKER_00]: they they made all of the the rally goers run a gauntlet on the way out and they were they were

[00:28:16] [SPEAKER_00]: abused on the way out so just a heads up on that head on a swivel people look get each other's backs

[00:28:20] [SPEAKER_00]: all right Winston now we only have about a minute so what's your what was your comment

[00:28:24] [SPEAKER_03]: well Joe Rogan basically uh said that he he wants uh he like he really likes the RFK Jr.

[00:28:31] [SPEAKER_03]: and a lot of his listeners out there probably uh are probably taking his advice and shying away

[00:28:37] [SPEAKER_03]: from Donald Trump and so uh primarily because uh uh Rogan read uh uh RFK Jr.'s book about Fauci

[00:28:45] [SPEAKER_03]: and how Fauci is corrupt and you notice that Trump doesn't go after any corrupt politicians nobody

[00:28:52] [SPEAKER_03]: corrupt and he does he didn't try to drain the swampy.

[00:28:55] [SPEAKER_03]: Wayne, weren't you a big Trump fan?

[00:28:57] [SPEAKER_03]: I had two autographs he autographed my business card

[00:29:01] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm going to sell my my my yard sign autograph I'll take a hundred dollars today

[00:29:07] [SPEAKER_00]: whoa whoa whoa whoa Winston hang on a second

[00:29:09] [SPEAKER_00]: this ain't no swap shop what are you doing to my show here

[00:29:13] [SPEAKER_00]: like I'm not running some sort of uh uh local radio swap shop

[00:29:17] [SPEAKER_00]: I take I take that

[00:29:18] [SPEAKER_00]: no no no don't be soliciting you do that stuff on Facebook man

[00:29:23] [SPEAKER_00]: all right uh so Winston is uh firmly in the RFK camp

[00:29:28] [SPEAKER_00]: and uh Joe Rogan did have some kind words for uh RFK Jr. and uh that got Trump world very upset

[00:29:36] [SPEAKER_00]: but will it make an impact will it move the needle I don't know

[00:29:41] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't make predictions on elections anymore

[00:29:43] [SPEAKER_00]: thank you 2016

[00:29:44] [SPEAKER_00]: all right that'll do it for this episode thank you so much for listening

[00:29:48] [SPEAKER_00]: I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast

[00:29:53] [SPEAKER_00]: so if you'd like please support them too and tell them you heard it here

[00:29:56] [SPEAKER_00]: you can also become a patron at my patreon page or go to thepcalendershow.com

[00:30:02] [SPEAKER_00]: again thank you so much for listening and uh don't break anything while I'm gone