Transcripts For FOXNEWSW MediaBuzz 20191118

Testimony of Marie Yavanovitch today, you dont have a pulse. She was an inconvenient ambassador x they speared her. Yes, another selfimportant, very narcissistic diplomat snowflake who cant take minor, baby criticism. Howard how are news outlets handling the charge of President Trumps tweeted attacks on Marie Yavanovitch while she was testifying amounted to witness intimidation. Msnbc features lawyer George Conway on its impeachment panel, and cnn asked his wife kellyanne to respond. You want to put it in my husbands voice because you think thatll help your ratings or that youre sticking it to kellyanne conway. You didnt stick it to kellyanne conway. Howard should journal is be pressing the white house counselor on her husbands antitrump crusade . Plus, Pete Buttigieg surges to first mace in iowa, will that bring more scrutiny of the mayor . Im howard kurtz, and this is mediabuzz. There has been, there has been saturation coverage of the house impeachment hearings, gavel to the gavel on the broadcast and Cable News Networks as acting Ambassador William Taylor and state Department Official george kent were lauded by democrats and grilled by republicans. I think its crazy to withhold Security Assistance for help with a political campaign. Where is the Impeachable Offense in that call . I would just like to say that im not here to do anything having to do with, to decide about impeachment, that is not what either of us are hered to do. This is your job. Howard President Trump called the hearings a sham. How about when they is ask these two never trumpers what exactly do you think you would impeach him for . Were fighting the democrats, but much more difficult to fight is the fake news, im telling you. [cheers and applause] and theyre a partnership. I call them a partnership made in hell. Howard dramatic term when ousted ambassador marie e yovanovitch testified i couldnt believe it. I mean, again, shocked, appalled, devastated that the president of the United States would talk about any ambassador like that. Howard and the president tweeted in realtime everywhere Marie Yavanovitch went turned bad. The ukraine january president spoke unfavorably about her in my second phone call with her. Comes out like a joker, jack nicholson, interrupting the hearing today with a stupid, a stupid tweet how this person is needs to be intimidated. Criticizing a witness whos leveling false accusations based on multiple hearsay is not witness intimidation, for god sakes. The president was right to tweet it. Howard joining us now, emily ya sin sky and gene zado. Emily, the president s tweeted attack on Marie Yavanovitch changed the media narrative. Most conservatives didnt rush to cameras to defend him. Did the president give the media some ammunition . Oh, certainly he gave the media ammunition to use against him. I think the media latched onto it because largely and i know theyre a little sensitive, some people on the left are sensitive to this criticism, but the hearings were pretty boring. There wasnt a lot of new information presented, there wasnt a lot of fireworks. This was some grandstanding on both sides of the aisle, but there wasnt a lot new going on. I think when the president tweeted, that was the excitement that they needed. Howard kristin, in fact, several journeyses said the first journalists say the first day was dull, it was a slog. So lets go to moment when democratic chairman adam schiff read the tweet or part of the tweet to witness, marie e yovanovitch, and well see her response. What effect do you think that has on other witnesses willingness to come forward and expose wrongdoing . Well, its very intimidating. Howard she, of course, was abruptly recalled from kiev by the president. So is this the kind of moment that breaks through the media static . This. Its unclear to me yet that this is the kind of thing that breaks through the static because all weve seen over the last few weeks are poll numbers that have sat very fla. They moved pretty quickly after it was announced thered be an inquestion true inquiry, but since then democrats have not moved a lot of people. Swing voters tell pollsters like me that they feel exhausted by impeachment and that theyre not terribly interested in following it. Its really these short sound bites that can end up on other newscasts that may have the potential to breakthrough, but i havent seen any numbers backing that up. Howard i think exhausted is a keyword, but let me go to president s defense on this because he smoke to reporters, i believe the next day, hey, im entitled to free speech. Here are questions he got from abc and shouted questions from april ryan. Why did you attack the ambassador, 34r79 . Why did you attack her . [inaudible] quiet, quiet. Quiet. [inaudible] do you believe your tweets were intimidating . I dont think so at all. Howard with the coverage of the president s tweets, would it have been as critical if he had done them after the hearing, the next day, or was it something about that pact that she was up on the hill at that moment . It absolutely a had to do with the timing. Donald trump was tweeting, this is what he does especially when somebody is criticizing him, so he did i think, gave a gift to the democrats and a gift to the media by tweeting in realtime. You know, hes right, he has a right to say what he wants, but it doesnt make it a good idea. Before earlier in the day the white house had said he is going to listen to devin nunes, and then hes going to do the business of the american people. Thats what he should be doing, not tweeting creatism of this woman while shes criticism of this woman while shes up there because people who werent paying attention then suddenly started paying attention. Howard now, most journalists think the career diplomats came off as sober, serious, unflappable, liberals praised them as heroes, conservatives not so much. But does that matter, theyre fine Public Servants and they may look that way, if the democrats are trying to sell the country on impeachment . I was just going to use that phrase, higher bar. They did come across as sober, they did exactly what they needed to do, i thought. I think largely they were good witnesses to serve the democrats purpose. But at the same time, when you need to move those poll numbers, that is they have a high burden to meet. They need to be bringing new information to the table. You saw compelling personal narratives with yovanovitch, dont think donald trump is going to break through with the american people, thats not shocking, but dont think they met that high bar at all. Howard 13 Million People watched the first day of the hearings, but thats far less than the Kavanaugh Hearing or when james comey testified. Are most people so enstretched now entrenched now that the hearings almost dont matter that much . I think they have the potential to matter if new information is introduced. Next week if any of the witnesses come forward with firsthand information about manager that the president did that suggests an abuse of power, the new term democrats are using is bribery. Theyve shifted from quid pro quo to bribery, if any evidence really suggest that has occurred, i think that could change the narrative. But this past week even though these witnesses were sober, clear, they still were not presenting the are firsthand testimony as i saw the president do bad thing x that i think would have potentially broken through. Howard i understand somebody close to you did not watch the hearings. My son will kill me, but he said a new pokemon game came out, and it took the wind out of the sails for him. [laughter] howard people have priorities. You know, you have to make your decisions. Howard do during the punditry, conservative commentators say these witnesses couldnt tie anything directly to turn, they saw a text, ukraine got the aid that had been held up, that the real scandal is hunter biden, but they didnt really challenge the account of the witness for the most part. Are their arguments breaking through that, basically, this doesnt amount to all that much politically . I think they were smart not to attack the witnesses. I think these were strong witnesses. They said what they wanted to say. But the fact is when you talk about impeachment, this is the Death Penalty for the president. And the fact that she was removed, it wasnt done professionally, i felt badly for her, doesnt rise to the level of impeachment. So maybe next week with sondland and some of these others we hear firsthand accounts, but at this point weve heard three people with important stories to tell, but i think its really, really difficult at this point to think you swayed hearts and minds in those purplered districts where you need to if to get to the point of impeachment. Howard i have a theory about the lacking of pizazz. I dont think that something as serious as impeachment has to be a scintillating tv show. This is the third round. We found out most of what they had to say. Then in the second round they put out the transcripts, the democrats did, and we saw their actual words, and now they do it again for the tv cameras. Why it was certainly while it was certainly interesting to see their demeanor, almost everything in terms of the substance we knew whereas if it had been held back, maybe it would have had a more shocking effect. That is exactly it, because they need to move hearts and minds to go about the process of impeachment. They need to have those poll numbers moving in their direction, and when theyve been presenting this information like you said, this is the third round and the numbers havent moved, it doesnt have to be great television. I think the cup prefers we country prefers we dont see a soap opera impeachment. They didnt bring new information, and we saw the way they land latched on to the information about the phone call that an aide had heard, that was framed as a bombshell, that is not the bombshell they need. Howard since you mentioned that, the let me go to jeannie on this, late friday Embassy Official in kiev named david holmes testified that he was in a restaurant with gordon sondland, theword to e. U. , overheard a phone call from the president in a restaurant in which, according to this testimony, the president says, so hes going to do the investigation, meaning zelensky of ukraine. Sondland replies that he loves your ass, hell do whatever you want. And sondland also said trump only cares about the big stuff, meaning investigating the bidens. The newthe New York Times sayt proves trump is preoccupied with this stuff. It just took me 30 seconds to explain it, but he wasnt even on the call. He overheard this call, apparently, and we may hear from him in open testimony, but, you know, the fact that the president is preoccupied with something or the fact that we dont like the policy the president is pursuing, again, doesnt rise to the level of impeachment. So the democrats, and, you know, and kristin mentioned, you know, they moved from this idea to a quid pro quo, they started moving to bribery, right . They did that based on focus groups in purple states where people are saying they dont understand howard everybody doesnt speak latin. [laughter] so, you know, they are paying attention. They know they have to move of the needle on this, and im not sure theyve gotten there yet. They may next week. Howard when President Trump says this is a joke, this is a witch hunt, this is russia all over again, the hearings shouldnt be allowed, most of the media is pretty dismissive of that. Do you have the sense that the press is sort of taking sides here . In facting theyre somewhat heavily invested in impeachment . Credible polling has about a quarter of america think this is a witch hunt, this is ridiculous. About half want to see trump impeached. Its that remaining quarter who who are the real focus here, consider they dont think this is a joke, they think its important to get the facts, but theyre not yet persuaded that the facts rise to the level of impeachment. And theyre also the folks report most likely being exhausted, uninterested and are probably not watching hour upon hour of these hearingsing. Which is why the individual moments that rise to the level of popping into National Nightly newscasts are going to be so critical if either side wants to move numbers one way or the other. Howard i think the exhaustion all comes from the coffer an of the russia coverage of the russia investigation. In fact, President Trump says this is sort of a replay and though the facts and situation in ukraine is very different. I think the country is heavy with like a brick. When we come back, the media are feasting on the conway versus conway segment. Is that unfair . And later, how roger stones conviction in the russia probe is playing in the press. Chevy silverado hd. It offers headup display. Wow, thats dialed in. I can still keep my eyes on the road. My truck doesnt have that. It offers an Optional Technology package with up to 15 different camera views. Thats quality picture. It even offers one enhanced view that makes your trailer appear invisible to help you see whats behind you. Oh, wow which in this case happens to be the competition since they dont offer the same amount of cameras as the silverado. Literally in the rearview. Where they should be. Is your business still settling for slow internet . Well time is money. Switch to comcast business now and get a great deal when you get fast, reliable internet. With a 30day moneyback guarantee, installation when it works for you, and 24 7 customer support. So what are you waiting for . Get this great deal when you sign up for fast, reliable internet. Call 18005016000 today. Comcast business. Beyond fast. Howard msnbc featured a new antitrump commentator on its impeachment panel, washington lawyer George Conway. Its astonishing, and its just a direct violation of his oath of office. Its foundational. Its the ultimate Impeachable Offense. Howard and that became fodder the next morning for Cnns Wolf Blitzer when he had on the other conway. I dont want to talk about your marriage. I want to talk about a substantive point that your husband, George Conway why . And why are you doing that . Because hes a legal scholar, hes a lawyer, and he was really going after the president to have United States and the relevant and, come on [inaudible] and hes married to me . Well, you know, he happens to be married to you. Howard wolf then played a clip of George Conway and kellyanne unloaded. You wanted to put it in my husbands voice e because you think somehow thatll help your ratings or that youre really sticking it to kellyanne conway, and let me be very clear, you didnt stick it to kellyanne conway. I think you embarrassed yourself, and im embarrassed for you because this is cnn now. I really respected you for all those years as somebody who you know, kellyanne now its what somebodys husband says howard was it unfair for cnn to play a clip of George Conways antitrump remark when he had, after all, been on msnbc all day . I think shes right that wolf blitzer embarrassed himself. I think shes subject to misogynystic, biased coverage on a daily basis. I do think theres a let jilt mate question to be he quit mate question to be asked. I think theres a substantive question to ask. Wolf blitzer wanted to play the clip, he wanted a juicy moment. He said i dont want to talk about your marriage because, obviously, there are issues there. He was going to set her off, and he knew what he was doing, but he wasnt prepared for her defense. I think he came out on top of that, absolutely. Howard well, George Conway is a smart lawyer and has a lot to say about the trump presidency, but shes right, nobody would care what he had to say if he wasnt married to the white house counselor. So despite wolfs disclaimers, wasnt a this a way of getting at her marriage . I think pretty clearly. And you wanted to put this in my husbands words by showing the clip instead of just saying there are commentators who have been making the point x, y and z, specifically meaning her husband. Now, there have been time when youve had, say, james carville, Mary Madeleine howard and they go on tv television. Thats not whats happening here. Kellyanne does not want to be she does not want her marriage to be brought in, and i think thats a fair position for her to have. Howard this has come up before, but did she have to make it so personal with the i used to respect you comeback . I thought her comeback was strong. You know, listen, you know, if George Conway had said something that was different than other people have been saying howard ah, right. But the clip that wolf played was just the same kind of standard argument people have been making. And there was one piece people havent been talking about, but right before he plays the clip, he looks at her in a very paternalistic way and says listen to what your husband had to say, and then he plays the clip. And to me and to some of my it was a little bit shocking because here was this reporter, but he literally cut her off because she was going back and forth. Listen to what your husband had to say, not listen to what this commentator George Conway had to say. And to me, it really showed howard im glad i have women on the panel so i can be more woke about this. [laughter] all right. I want to talk about the cable coverage of [inaudible] fox news was anchored by bret baier, martha maccallum, cnn had anderson cooper, dana bash. All journalists. Msnbc had Brian Williams talking to George Conway, former democratic senator claire mccaskill, an obama solicitor general and nicole wallace, the former republican who despises trump on msnbc. On friday Chris Matthews was the lead anchor, they didnt bother with journalists. And no one in the Mainstream Media raises an eyebrow. I watched the totality of msnbcs coverage on wednesday and friday. I thought it was disgraceful for a news network that purports to be sharing information with news consumers to have absolutely zero balance on their panels, and they did have zero balance. They had George Conway as the person on the right, and he was completely in favor of impeachment. If you want balance, you have to have somebody who doesnt take that position. If you purport to be giving information to people, im perfectly fine with msnbc leaning left, but disgrateful that they would have an entire disgraceful that they would have an entire panel. Howard how do you not mention that they just sort of abandon the notion during the daytime, and another question, why is msnbc having George Conway on in the first place and how is it that his wife, kellyanne, shes a white house official, what do you have to say about her position . And to your point, they did not raise a question about kellyanne or their marriage. The New York Times said it was stunt casting. It was a big get for msnbc. He said at the beginning he doesnt watch tv, he doesnt want to be there but somehow felt compelled to be there. To the point about the lack of balance, it signifies to me that the idea that during the day that these Cable Networks are going to at least be balanced and neutral may be going by the wayside at this point and that prime time may be creeping in, and i think that msnbc has shown theyre willing to do that. Howard i dont have any problem with any network putting on people as long as theres some representation from both sides. Maybe im old fashions. This is the impeachment of a president of the United States, and you dont have journalists as anchors . You have a guy who im not knocking the people individually, but Chris Matthews is a former democratic anchor who does this for a living. I think in a country where you have about 50 50 or close thereof howard gotta go. Well be right back. Health markets compares your current plan with thousands of options nationwide from National Insurance companies. Dont miss the deadline. There are only days remaining in open enrollment. Funny thing about Health Insurance, you dont think about how much you need it until you need it. Hes not going to be okay. With so many changes to Health Insurance plans, are you still sure you have the right fit . Having the wrong fit can cost you thousands. New plans are available that can save you money. Thats why i love healthmarkets, your Insurance Marketplace. They guarantee you wont find a lower price anywhere for the plans they offer. Their new fitscore instantly compares thousands of plans, both on the Government Exchange and off, to find the one that best fits your insurance need. Call or visit healthmarkets to find your fitscore today. In minutes, you can find out if your current plan is the right fit or if theres another one that can get you extra coverage or help save you money. Best of all, their service is completely free. Their new fitscore makes it easy to compare your plan to new ones that could lower your costs and save you money. Try the new fitscore today. You may even qualify for free Health Insurance with no monthly premium. Dont get stuck using the Government Exchange either. Healthmarkets can find you the right health plan and make sure you get all the subsidies you deserve without all the hassle. They even have new alternative options most dont even know about that can save you thousands. They work to help you and do it all for free. Dont assume that your plan is still the right fit. The Healthmarkets Fitscore makes it easy to find the right plan for you. Having helped enroll people in millions of policies with an a Customer Satisfaction rating, you can trust healthmarkets. For this free service, go to healthmarkets. Com or call right now. Your Insurance Market place, healthmarkets. Call healthmarkets before the december 15th enrollment deadline to see if you qualify for 0 premiums. Call the number on your screen now. Howard the forthcoming book by anonymous seems to be, well, a bit of a dud. Why is that . Well, the Senior Administration official who once trashed President Trump in a New York Times oped cant go out and promote it, but more importantly, the early reviews, warning, are pretty awful. Washington post, its like profiles in thinking about coverage. Its mostly stuff you already know because the author avoids specific scenes that might compromise his or her identity. New york times, how can a book thats been denuded of anything too specific do anything more than pale against a formal whistleblower complaint . Its hard to look like a heroic truthteller by comparison. The author admits that by saying behind the curtain, quote some will call this cowardice. My feelings are not hurt, but anonymous also decries the washington parlor game of guessing the authors identity which, lets face it, is driving what interest there is in this book. The students that run the newspaper at Northwestern University have been taking flak, and the irony is they did their job right in the first place. One reporter was assigned to Jeff Sessions and another to cover the pro segment. Thats called journalism. But then the editors apologized for what they had done saying some students found it traumatizing and invasive. They were also sorry for using the School Directory to call and text students to be interviewed. Sorry, this is how reporting works. You track down people for interviews. Protests are public events, and students shouldnt be such snowflakes theyre offended by routine journalism. The Chicago Tribune called the apology campus coddling, and thats exactly right. Ahead, are the media starting to sour on almost candidate Mike Bloomberg . But first, rich lowry on the coverage of impeachment and why hes defending Donald Trumps brand of nationalism. Howard how are this weeks house impeachment hearings playing on the right . Joining us now is rich lowry, editor of national review, and author of the new book, the case for nationalism. Rich, youre a conservative who hasnt always been Donald Trumps biggest fan, especially during the campaign. How do you see the coverage of impeachment as it played out this week . It was just inevitable that these witnesses would be valorized by the media. And taylor and yovanovitch, theyre serious, credible people, but whats been most stark to me and like you, im old enough to remember the last impeachment fight in Washington Republicans were portrayed as a general matter as the partisan fanatic on a doomed mission, and you get zero sense of that now. Even though democrats are on an equally doomed mission to em peach and remove trump. Howard i certainly dont agree that the most likely outcome in the senate that the president will be acquit, but what do you make of some conservative commentators attacking these career diplomats, you know, not on grounds that they dont have any firsthand knowledge, thats fine, not on grounds that they are pursuing policy differences, thats fine, but that theyre snowflakes, theyre bad people, theyre deep state never trumpers . Yeah, i dont like the term deep state. Yes, you have bureaucracy who are dug in, have progressive attitudes, but on this you had people even who are very supportive of the president s agenda who are insiders, Foreign Policy pros who didnt like the call, didnt think it was appropriate and opposed this effort to squeeze some statement about investigations out of the ukrainians with the withheld aid. So i dont think you can chalk this up to deep state conspiracy. Howard well, in fact, you have written that that the, it was improper, using your word, for President Trump to press ukraine for an investigation that at least touched on the bidens, but you also say democrats need something stronger, and im quoting here again, wrong and troubling. They need to shock the conscience. So is that the standard . You have to shock the conscience of america . Yeah, i think so. I mean, thats sort of built into the system, right . You need to get 67 votes in the senate. Its hard to get 67 votes in the senate on anything, and you only get that to remove a president , obviously, if theres a deep National Consensus that what he did justifies it. And youre not even close to that consensus. And we just need to step back, howie. You know, we talk about this being the fourth impeachment inquiry which is extraordinary the on its own, but if youre actually going to impeach and have the senate remove, that would literally be an unprecedented act in american history. So you need a sense of the enormity of the gravity that would justify doing it, and doing it within the 12month window of the campaign that the incumbent president has a significant chance of winning. Howard why is it that the Mainstream Media consensus, i dont think anybody would dispute this, is that what happened with trump and ukraine is shocking to the conscience . Well, because they find everything hes done over the past three years pretty much shocking to the conscience, and this is one reason republicans are jaded on this and think theres a huge pretextual element of it. They, democrats have wanted to impeach him from day one, and the immediate. Ya media was spun up for over two years in a hysteria over russia. We saw the screaming headlines, and it was a bust on the russia front, a complete bust. Theres no apology, no reflection, and immediately were on to the next thing which is this. Howard i want to touch on the president s tweeted criticism of Marie Yavanovitch during the hearing we talked about at the top of the show. Andy mccarthy in your magazine says the tweet was unseemly, it reinforced the idea that President Trump is demoralizing the foreign service, and he says the public saw yovanovitch, not the president , as the victim of an unfair attack. That doesnt mean it rises to the level of impeachment, but whats your thought the on yeah, i agree with all that. I agree with all this. But, howie, this is kind of the weird environment youre in. You is say what andy says, which i think is all sound, and, but the media cant stick with that. They just cant say this is wrong, this is inappropriate. They immediately go to witness tampering, you know . The legal implications, and this could be an article of impeachment, which is completely absurd. So theres a line somewhere between improper and blowing him out of office, and the left and many people in the Mainstream Media see no such line. They immediately go to 11 on every single thing. Howard right. I want to play a clip from msnbc because you talked about the difference between the way republicans impeaching bill clinton was treated versus democrats impeaching or attempting to impeach President Trump, both pretty much party line efforts. This is elise jordan, an msnbc analyst, saying this about the president they know hes a moron. They know hes corrupt. They know that his behavior is just classic scumbag. Howard imagine if a conservative had said that about president obama. I mean, and nobody would run a story about it. Nobody blinks about it. It would be a weeklong story the, you know . It would dominate some element of the news. So it again goes to the people who imagine themselves protecting our norms in the media and institutionally and politically for the last three years have been violating them themselves in their hysterical opposition to the president. Howard right. Now, in your book you say that republicans should embrace the power and legitimacy of President Trumps brand of nationalism. There isnt anything inherently nationalistic about wild president ial tweets, extreme boastfulness, excoriating attacks on the media or even protectionism or populism, but how do you separate that from the larger approach of nationalism that you tend to support . Yeah. I think nationalism at the bottom is concern with your sovereignty, with your border, with your interests and concern with the core elements of your culture. In this country it means speaking english, honoring our founders, honoring our heroes, telling our story as an inspiring one rather than the unrelieved tale of oppression and woe. That is the basics of nationalism. Thats why its very powerful, its very natural sentiment. And the reaction to me saying that in this book has just been outrageous on the part of a lot of people in the left in the media. Theres a New York Times columnist whos called it a cryptoracist piece of trash without even reading it. So thats the level of reaction youve had. Howard yeah. I prefer to read books before i comment on them, but its nice to have you back. Rich lowry, good to see you. Appreciate it. Howard still to come, roger stone upstages the impeachment hearing as hes convicted on all counts. Is the press using that to resurrect the russia scandal . Howard the networks all interrupted their impeachment coverage to cover a courthouse verdict. Roger stone, the longtime political operative and informal adviser to President Trump found guilty of obstructing a congressional probe into russian interference in the 2016 election. Joining us now, National Reporter for npr and a fox news contributor. Sort of feel like i should play a roger stone sound bite there. Hes always been a fringe character going back to the nixon days. This takes us back to the russia probe. Is the press playing this as a big deal or as kind of a footnote to that investigation . I think its kind of a footnote, but because roger stone has spent his entire life making himself into a very colorful character, its really hard. You cant avoid cutting in to put this piece of breaking news out. He was one of the president s confidants, flashy dresser howard yeah. Selfmade dirty trickster howard selfpromoter, yeah. You cant possibly avoid that, yes. Howard stones defense described him as an exaggerator when he claimed to be a conduit e between wikileaks and the trump circle. But since he was convicted of lying, the media cant turn around and say, well, this proves donald trump knew about. Oh, absolutely not. But, you know, he was convicted by a jury of his peers. The only connection is that that was about russia and and tangentially the president holding up or maybe not so tangentially, the president holding up aid e to ukraine helped russia. Howard so the president tweeted about this and he said so thousand they convict roger stone of lying. What about crooked hillary, comey, strzok, page, mccabe, brennan, clapper, shifty schiff, and it goes on with several more names. But to your point, a jury convicted he lied under oath. Theres perjury and then theres just lying which people do in the resource of howard right x. Prosecutors havent charged any of these people who the president feels should face right. Howard so is the double standard charge by the president getting any media traction . I dont think so. I havent seen it. Of course, theres a lot of media, i might have missed something. No because, look, the kind of lying you can be convicted for is different from the everyday exaggerating, lying, shaving the truth, inaccurate statements that many, many public figures do. Howard right. In politics and perhaps the media as well. So the president tweeted on impeachment a quote from Rush Limbaugh saying my support for donald trump has never been greater. Trump often says, well, look, im right because Rush Limbaugh said this, mark levin, other conservative supporters. Is he accomplishing anything more than playing to his base . Thats an excellent question. There is this kind of feedback loop, somebody in rightwing talk radio said something nice about the president , the president tweets they did it. I think, somebody once described this to me as a cable News Business model. You dont necessarily make your base any larger, but you do keep them watching you 24 7. In other words, hes got the engagement and intensity, but he isnt growing his audience. Howard a lot of other news has been squeezed out by this, the dow hitting 28,000, normally the president would get a fair amount of credit for that. Yesterday President Trump went to Walter Reed Medical Center for tests, about two hours of tests, exams, apartment of his annual physical. Part of his annual physical. Since it wasnt scheduled, the media are kind of openly skeptical. And my question is do they now not believe anything the white house says . The guy goes for what he says is a physical . Right. The white house says they took advantage of a kind of down weekend to get started on some portion of his annual physical. Look, curiosity about the president s physical state is absolutely legitimate. Thats really important. Hes the president of the United States. Thats why physicals are done and then the results are reported. Now, wild speculation about why hes going, why it wasnt on the schedule, the white house sometimes doesnt put things on the schedule. I think thats not as legitimate. Howard yeah. It just occurred to me that, you know, i dont see any reason to not believe the white house account, but this is so much baked into the media attack of this president. Well, hes probably sick but hes not telling us well, okay, same thing when Hillary Clinton coughed on the campaign trail, donald trump said she was dying you know, others said that she looked sick, and that became a whole thing. I think thats just, unfortunately, baked into the cake now. Howard hurt are. Mara, great to see you this sunday. Thanks so much for joining us. After the break, Pete Buttigieg now polling in the first place in iowa. Why hes getting so much positive press. When we started our business we were paying an arm and a leg for postage. I remember setting up shipstation. One or two clicks and everything was up and running. I was printing out labels and saving money. Shipstation saves us so much time. It makes it really easy and seamless. Pick an order, print everything you need, slap the label onto the box, and its ready to go. Our costs for shipping were cut in half. Just like that. Shipstation. The 1 choice of online sellers. Go to shipstation. Com tv and get 2 months free. The amount of Student Loan Debt i have, im embarrassed to even say. We just decided we didnt want debt any longer. I didnt realize how easy investing could be. Im Picking Companies that i believe in. I think sofi money is amazing. Thank you sofi. Sofi thank you, we love you. Howard Pete Buttigieg is making headlines this morning as he continues to surge past the other Democratic Candidates in iowa, which the press always treats a make or break state. Joining us from new york, hank, a Democratic Political strategist. Hank, the mayor of south bend finishing first in this poll, 25 in iowa, biden and warren 16 , bernie 15 . Pretty remarkable. Mayor pete, hes done a ton of interviews, he has these on the record bus tours where reporters can ask tons of questions, hes kind of been a favorite of the media, and will this change . Hes new because hes excuse me, hes news because hes new, hes fresh. Six months ago people couldnt pronounce his name. He comes from a state with a maul population and from aty that few people in the United States will ever go to. So whats new here . Hes new and thats why hes getting the coverage. Howard but now, of course, we say this every four years iowa is largely white, largely rural, its unrepresentative, but nevertheless, the press treats it as such a big deal that if he does win in iowa, i would imagine that would be a pretty big milestone. It would be a very big deal. The problem is iowa represents nothing, and its a bad deal for other candidates. Why in because of the small population. Its not reflect f of america overall. Its a caucus state, howie, and guess who controls it . The labor unions. Howard okay. Well, campaigning, i will say that, along with new hampshire. So the former Massachusetts Governor jumped into the race the other day. Generally positive, but some brought up his work for bain capital, others are saying you got into the race so late. We went through a bunch of interviews he did, i couldnt find one that was interesting to put on the air. Hes conflictavert, why do the pundits think he would have a shot . Again, new. Howard were tired of the field already . These polling numbers are all so absurd. Why . Nobodys been tested by the electorate yet howard oh, right. Thats true. The campaigns been going on for a long time, lots of people havent tuned in. You worked in the past for michael bloomberg, i know you think highly of him. There was huge media hype because, look, he could spend zillions of dollars to try to win the nomination and he was a very good mayor of new york city. But lately, theres been a wave of skepticism, can he really win, and the New York Times ran a piece with some of his crude remarks of women in the past, some as long as two decades ago. Is the press now becoming more dismissive, skeptical or antagonistic toward bloomberg . The press has certainly not been helpful to bloomberg in any way. Hes not new, you know . Hes not Pete Buttigieg, hes not the fresh face. Hes been around new york, and new york is the place where the press tends to be. So theyre not giving Mike Bloomberg the kind of shot he ought to get. He is a selfmade man, he is an american success story, middle income guy from medford, massachusetts, who rose become one of the richest men in the world and ran new york city. Thats a good story, but its an old one to reporters where its looking for new and fresh. Howard well, him being in the race is newing but he hasnt quite gotten in, so he could change his mind, and after filing in a couple states he hasnt made a speech, we havent heard from him. So i would think that might be holding them back, not engaging with the media, its all being done through one of his top aides. Howie, i think thats true, and the way to cure that is to make a speech, to figure out the way that he creates a large impact. And you can rest assured that hes surround ised by very, very good people who know what theyre doing and will, frankly, try to make that happen quickly. Howard he just got a little free advice from hank shinecoff. Barack obama warned against revolutionary change. He said americans dont think we have to completely tear down the system and remake it, a pretty clear shot at Elizabeth Warren and bernie sanders. Is the press agreeing, essentially agree with the obama criticism that too far left a candidate is not going to win the general election . Interestingly, this is a repeat of this is kind of an echo of something thats been said for quite some time which is things are moving too far to left on the left, and things are moving too far to the right on the right. Its not a new story, but what it is and when the president , when a former president of the United States says it who was certainly no rightwing fellow and certainly maybe not a centrist by some opinions, when he says it, it is news. Howard its absolutely news. Do you think itll have an impact on the candidates . Just briefly. Elizabeth warren should watch her left flank. Barack obama threw a bomb at her, and guess what . Because the party as he sees it can lose the election in the fall. Howard i love the way you dont actually have to mention the persons name, but Everybody Knows who were talking about. [laughter] thanks, hank, great to see you. Thank you very much. Howard and thats it for this edition of mediabuzz. Hey, check out my podcast, were getting a lot of attention for it, mediabuzz meter. Subscribe at apple itunes, google play or fox news podcast. Com. We hope youll also like our Facebook Page where we post my daily columns, and lets continue our conversation on twitter. In this impeachment environment, i know there are a lot of strong opinions out there, shall we say . Well be back here next sunday, you know the time, 11 eastern. See you then with the latest buzz. Chevy silverado hd. It offers headup display. Wow, thats dialed in. I can still keep my eyes on the road. My truck doesnt have that. It offers an Optional Technology package with up to 15 different camera views. Thats quality picture. It even offers one enhanced view that makes your trailer appear invisible to help you see whats behind you. Oh, wow which in this case happens to be the competition since they dont offer the same amount of cameras as the silverado. Literally in the rearview. Where they should be. Heather good morning. It is monday, november 18th. Happening right now at 4 00 a. M. Here on the east coast, a fox news alert for you. Four people are dead and six more injured after a gunman sprayed bullets into a backyard at a football watch party. What police are revealing about a motive as atf agents go doortodoor overnight. The president could come right before the committee and talk, speak all the truth that he wants if he wants to. You dont expect him to do that . If he wants to take the oath of office. Heather a political weapon, House Speaker pelosi calling on the president to testify during public impeachment hearings. The warning that she just gave democrats in