Doj special counsel david weiss disclosing hell indict hunter biden on the gun charge that was to be dropped under that nowdefunct plea bargain deal. But joe bidens core problem is that hes the oldest president in american history, a subject hes been joking about. Someone said, you know, that biden, hes getting old, man, i tell you what. Well, guesses what . Guess what . The the only thing that comes with age is a little bit of wisdom. Howard with more negative polls coming out, many pundits are increasingly down on bidens chances. There is no way to spin this, america is deeply unhappy with joe biden. Howard this is a glowing media issue growing media issue because voters, including a majority of democrats, remain worried about a president whod be 86 at the end of his second term. Im howard kurtz and this is mediabuzz. Howard ahead, my sitdown with president ial candidate Chris Christie and whether his attacks on donald trump are backfiring. Commentators are debating joe biden and the age issue is, but it doesnt always break down along leftright lines. Owe bidens trying to pull off the. Impossible, the president no longer saying, oh, yeah, you think im old . Watch me. Weve watched him, and weve seen him fall down, fall asleep and forget where he is. You cant look at this and not say youre concerned. For me to come on television and say i dont find it troubling at all would be stupid. I wouldnt do that. What democrat voters think or what they want is not relevant to the party establishment. They readily concede that they hear doubts about whether biden is up to the job. Their response . Get other it. Democrats said it then, they said it before the election, they said it after he got elected time and again hes too old, hes outdated, he cant get anything done and then he passes more Bipartisan Legislation than anybody in to 20 the25 years. Howard and when the new book, the the last politician, quoted biden privately fuming after he made a misstatement aboutd Vladimir Putin and his staff had to clarify, was john kennedy ever babied like this . Peter doocy picked up on the anecdote. Reporter President Biden is the oldest president in u. S. History. Why does white house staff treat him like a baby . No one treats the commander in chief like a baby. Thats ridiculous. Reporter theres this book howard joining us now to analyze the coverage, ben domenech of the spectator if and in los angeles, leslie marshall, radio talk show host. Both are fox news contributors. Ben, is the coverage starting to reflect the severe problem that biden has with twothirds of democrats in the latest Wall Street Journal poll saying hes too old to serve a second term . I think that we saw in very close sequence a number of polls come through that detailed that its not just republicans who have issues with bidens age. Its independents and its even democrats. And they really would prefer that they had a different candidate to put up, someone who would speak to the future as opposed to the past, who, you know, hasnt had, you know, he talked about gaining wisdom, hes also gained a lot of baggage during that time. And i think what you actually see here is healthy in the sense that its representative of a broad swath of americans who with all agree about this. The problem, there is no real conceivable way out of this quandary. There is no conceivable way that democrats at this point can push biden away. Had the midterms gone differently, that was potentially a possibility, but they didnt. He is the candidate that they have to run with, and they have to get through the next 14, 15 months in order to try to reelecting the longest president. Howard yeah, thats a long period of time. Leslie, arent many journalists clinging to conventional wisdom, well, okay, bidens got his problems, but he cant possibly lose to donald trump . [laughter] well, it depends which poll you look at and on which day. I think the you have twothirds of americans in the latest poll showing they dont want donald trump the, they wouldnt vote for donald trump again, even people who voted for him twice. 44 of republicans dont want donald trump to run again. But joe biden and donald trump arent looking at polls and who wants them to to run, theyre both running. Will donald trump be the gop nominee . He might. Joe biden will be the democratic nominee, and democrats will vote for him. They complained about his age before and they voted for him in record numbers, and theyre going to, im going to forecast, do that again. One of the things i would agree with with ben is theres nothing that can be done about this. And its very interesting because we live longer now than we ever have. Our children and grandchildren will live longer because of science. Two, in addition to that the, you have people, there are different 80s, different 90s. Heck, some of us have seen there are different 30s. Theres nothing you can do about that. People can complain about you and say, oh, youre too fat and you can lose weight, but you cant change his age. And if youre attacking my age and not my policies, i think thats actually a win. Howard cant turn back the clock. Ben, its not just bidens physical and mental a acuity. The president and his spokesmen have been talking about bidenomics, talking about job creation, but a cnn poll says that 58 believe the president has made the economy worse. Whether thats statistically true or not, you cant just tell them, whats the matter with you . You need to feel better. Yeah, the message you the voter are the problem is not going to do a lot of good there. Leslie talks about the challenges of getting older and the inevitable sort of passage of time. The problem here is that the two issues that were going to be talking about with these two likely candidates are going to be, or you know, on the one hand the Court Challenges that donald trump faces, the legal challenges that he faces, and then on the other side the inevitability of the passage of time with biden. And one of those things, i think, is going to be something where its much, a much simpler story to tell in the sense that on the legal side of the things, you have to advance these complicate cases howard oh, its really complicated, hard to keep straight. And thats something i think that is a tougher thing to say than do you want to reelect a president knowing its very unlikely that hes going to finish out his second term . Howard leslie, cnns own poll has a 39 approval of the president , and you heard at the top dana bash calling this a devastating verdict, yet much of the press is treating this sort of as Business As Usual even though some of the partys liberal intellectuals are now saying were weve got to get another nominee . Because no big name democrat seems willing to challenge President Biden. Well, that happens with democrats and republicans. We all know the game, ben knows the game. If your partys in power, in office, your incumbent has the strongest chance of not only being the the nominee, of winning. Its hard to unseat an incumbent. Nobody runs for president to work for four years, they run for eight. And even though they want to put Governor Newsom in the democrat seat, hes not running this time around howard hed love to. I find it very interesting, howie, im old enough to remember when there were huge concerns about Ronald Reagan and his age and his mental ability, and republicans were like, no, no, no,. No problem. New theyre singing a different tune. Nikki haley says youve got to increases the retirement age. Are we going to the enter a logans run society where theyre putting us down at 30 years of age . Shame on us. And with regard to the economy, that is, honestly, Business As Usual. People feel the numbers later than the success of the numbers that were seeing in this economy. Howard leslie, i think you can relax at least for a few years. [laughter] ben, lets turn to hunter biden who will be indicted on the gun charge by the end of this month. He lied on a Purchase Form about not doing drugs. Hes doing plenty of drugs and could face a jail sentence. Are the media going to say, well, thats just his own conduct . Of course theyre going to say that. Thats predictable, theyve been doing it before. Few do the the narrative around hunter, its not that hes someone who is necessarily a threat currently to performance of the president in office or Something Like that, but its all this stuff in the past. Its everything related to what he did while joe buyen joe biden was Vice President and coming out of that, he used the family name to make money in ways that obviously republicans on capitol hill are just spilling out in front of the American People on a regular basis. This is obviously going to be the case for the an Impeachment Inquirely at this stage. So we also immediate to factor in a very high likelihood that when joe biden is run running for reelection, hes also going to be running as another impeached president. Its gotten to such a low level of threshold within american politics that it doesnt have the same meaning anymore. And quickly to leslies point about logans run, i would just point out that former president bill clinton is younger than both of these candidates. Howard wow. Keep that in mind. Were not doing logans run quite yet. Howard Media Conservatives eviscerated the justice for naming david weiss as the potential counsel saying hes basically protected hunter during that plea bargain that fell apart, but now he is going to bring the gun charge. He may have no choice, the statute of limitations is approaching, but does it diffuse if at least between these four trump trials leaving aside the civil students and the clear problems, legal problems, the president s son has . But, of course, hes a president ial relative, hes not shng somebody in public office. Maybe its because its earlier here on the west coast and i havent had my coffee if yet, but i wish both sides would shut up about indictment. On the left its just like, you know, its seriously, you know, its almost like crack, you know, for the left. And for the right too. On the right with hunter and on the left with donald trump. At the end of day, the the people that love and support donald trump dont care about the indictments. With regard to hunter biden, he is not running im going to put it out again, i dont think hes going to have jail time, and hes not the first kid of a president that has used the family name to make money. Trumps kids have done it, other people have done it in the past, you know . And that, using the family name, necessarily isnt illegal. Its not going to hurt joe biden, it is not a Kitchen Table issue on any voters mind on either side of the the aisle. There are republicans if trumps the nominee that might be looking howard ben, it will hurt joe biden if we find out more about the extent to which the president as Vice President was involved in his sons dealings, getting on phone calls and so forth. Leslies perfectly correct the say there are many people who have made money off of the family name and related to a president or Vice President. What they did not do is directly affect american policy when it came to decisions that were made, you know, in are key issues related to Foreign Policy and the hike that were urn joe bidens purview when he was Vice President. Howard i once covered billy carter, jimmy ifs brother with, and the embarrassing things he got into. When we come back, donald trump makes news by saying hell take the stand at one of his trials, but will that actually happen . Every day can be extraordinary with rich, creamy, Delicious Fage total yogurt. Tech cracked windshield on your new car . You dont have to take it to the dealer. Bring it to safelite. We do more replacements and recalibrations than anyone else. Customer thank you so much. Tech vo schedule now. Singers safelite repair, safelite replace howard as the media keep Plague Up Tangle of legal developments surrounding donald trump, he addressed a crucial question with key radio host hewitt about the classified documents case. Will you testify in your own defense . Oh, yes, absolutely. Youll take the stand . That you would that, i look forward to the. Because thats just like russia, russia, russia. Thats all the fake information from russia, russia, russia. Howard and, of course, donald trump wants to testify and clear his name. That would be a huge story, but something tells me his lawyers are going to do everything they can to block that. [laughter] hugh hewitt a friend and im occasionally a guest on his program, and hes a lawyer himself, and he knows this is a bad idea. [laughter] you should not be answering this question [laughter] no. He absolutely not should not, and i dont think his lawyers will want him to take the stand because its simply too unpredictable in terms of any direction can he could go and the questions directed at him. Howard leslie, im not a lawyer, but ive covered many, many trials. Especially in the document trial, summiting yourself subjects yourself to crossexamination might be unwise. Oh, very unwise. You know, theres two reasons that a witness takes the stand. One is their lawyer thinks it will benefit their case and, two, they cant control their client, ask is and their client demands it and is writing the check that pays them to represent them. And i think i agree with ben that the attorneys, they will and they should do everything. We also is are to remember, and im going to say this as, you know, as respectfully as i can, sometimes the truth and donald trump have a, you know, problem meeting, you know, the lines. You risk perjury and, certainly, on crossexamination that would be difficult for any client, donald trump included. Howard all right. Weve given our legal opinion now. Let me turn to the georgia case with all those defendants including donald trump, complicated case. The District Attorney fulton county, fani willis, released a Special Grand Jury report that redded the the indictment of 39 people recommend ared the the indictment of 39 peopled people including lindsey graham, former senator Kelly Loveler and david purdue. As well as some trump lawyers. Let me play for you the reaction from lindsey graham. This is troubling for the country. We cant criminalize senators doing their job when they have a constitutional requirement to fulfill. Howard willis chose not to charge them, and the media were all over this. But to be fair, how do you conclude they committed no crime that rose to the level where im going to the bring an indictment, but you blacken their reputations anyway . Yeah. I think that was irresponsible and wrong to release that list of names, and i think it also makes the case seem in some ways less serious meaning that if if you had this kind of recommendation to indict, why not pursue it in you didnt, you know, pursue it for reasons that, you know, are unmoan to us in terms of unknown to us in terms of how much of a case they thought they could bring, you still have that power of the indictment. So for them to release the names without pursuing it is much worse, i think, in a way than for the cause of people saying this is a serious case and should be taken seriously. Especially lindsey graham, i think the idea that youre going to go around indicting sitting senators for political fights is very troubling. Howard supporters of fani willis might say shes restrained, he didnt indict everybody recommended. But in terms of prosecution, prosecutors are supposed to put or shut up. In other words, are bring charges or say nothing. Now, there was a famous exception when james comey eviscerated Hillary Clinton but didnt charge her. But this feels like a late hit. I have to say when i think that just people in the General Public who who dont know the law, didnt go to law school for five minutes like me, when you have enough information and you have enough to bring a person before a grand jury and that does grand jury does indict although people say you could indict a ham sandwich, i do think they should go forward. Its very sad, nobody should release names, but in this day and age somebody would have. Maybe she was trying to be transparent and say, look, there were indictments here. Why havent you indict them, thats the information you should be putting out. But the names would have come out, it just couldnt. Howard right. She made this public announcement and put out the report, and the problem, it seems to me, is how do you defend yourselfsome if go to trial, nobody wants to do that, but at least you have a public forum to explain yourself. If you get Media Attention, you can say i did nothing wrong. I find it really troubling. I also think, you know, again, theres this feeling of a lot of messiness around these legal cases. Some of them are more clear cut than others related to trump, but this is one more thing that i think people who add a slow candidate for him are going to throw out there. They were willing to go after everybody, and it only continues to further his argument that, you know, this isnt actually about me, this is about a anybody whos a republican. Thats why you need to be for him. Howard right. Are willing to indict not just a ham sandwich, but a turkey sandwich, and i think this is theres a little bit of a consensus here. Leslie marshall, ben. Com heaven, thanks very much for stopping by. Up next, elon musk is locked in an ugly battle with the Antidefamation League over accusations of antisemitism and cent orship. Postmenopausal women with hr her2 Metastatic Breast Cancer are living longer with kisqali. So, long live family time. Long live dreams. And long live you. Kisqali is a pill proven to help women live longer when taken with an aromatase inhibitor. And kisqali helps preserve quality of life. So youre not just living, youre living well. Kisqali can cause Lung Problems or an abnormal heartbeat which can lead to death. It can cause serious skin reactions, liver problems, and low white blood cell counts that may result in severe infections. Avoid grapefruit during treatment. Tell your doctor right away if you have new or worsening symptoms, including breathing problems, cough, chest pain, a change in your heartbeat, dizziness, yellowing of the skin or eyes, dark urine, tiredness, loss of appetite, abdomen pain, bleeding, bruising, fever, chills, or other symptoms of an infection, a severe or worsening rash, are or plan to become pregnant, or breastfeeding. Long live hugs and kisses. Ask about kisqali. And long live life. Howard elon musk is in a nasty fight with the antidefamation lead who he says launched a boycott against twitter as soon as he bought the site. Looks like we have no choice to file a Defamation Lawsuit against the antitestify mission league. Oh, the irony. Musk says the organization has been hijacked by woke mind virus, and Jonathan Greenblatt is pushing back hard. The platform itself clearly isnt inherently antisemitic. This has been a create eke of your organization and of many. Were you seeking to have some kind of either role at twitter or my kind of coe nations made or other no. I only say that because there have been folks who looked at these situations and felt they were being shaken down. Let me be honest about that, right . I think its antisemitic trope to suggest when jewish people express a degree of9 outrage over antisemitism that somehow thats a shakedown because jews are greedy. Howard joining us now, griff jenkins, fox news correspondent and anchor. Elon musk says, of course, hes not antisemitic. The adl has gone so far left and is boycotting twitter leaving him no choice but to sue is. Hes getting headlines like elon versus the jews. It is nas fate fascinating where i read that Greenblatt Blat had called musk the henry ford of our time. Maybe thats the point that elon wants, to be more here you have the guy in charge of the biggest social media platform, and, used to be twitter, and youve got Zero Tolerance for antisemitism. And then full protection of speech. And now with his lawsuit, you take it to the next level, im not sure how it helps put back in the box the problems that its unleashed. Howard facebook might be a larger platform, but elon gets a lot more press and a lot of receive selfcreated controversy. We saw Andrew Ross Sorkin say is this a shakedown, and Jonathan Green blats greenblatt said that was an antisemitic trope. The Brooklyn Nets donatedded 500,000 to the ark dl after one of their stars promoted a documentary, a gesture to show you dont want any part of that. Theres also a financial component that weve got to bring in because musk says their advertising is down 60 in the u. S. After last november. You had greenblatt at the adl saying pause advertising. Howard right. Not boycott, but lets pause so its a financial matter. Thats how we got here with musk on that front. But then youve got the Hashtag Ban Adl which is out there, and elon musk embracing that howard thats actually what started it. Almost out of nowhere. They seemed to have a good relationship, and suddenly hes jumping on that hashtag. Thats where the adl points out that White Supremacists on the site are pushing that, and he tied it to the actual Florida March by White Supremacists where theyre Holding Signs that said Hashtag Ban Adl. And the adl is saying were seeing a 40year high in antisemitic incidents. Is there a concern here and is this a financial issue. Howard yeah. At the end of the day, youve got what should perhaps be a sitdown between greenblatt and musk away if social media howard yes, cameras. To figure it out. Howard adl was advertising as recently as last are week on twitter. How does this very public battle as opposed to the sitdown that you suggest help elon musk who says hes a Free Speech Champion but at the same time is accused of allowing a rise many in antisemitic postings . And, of course, theres also been a rise in antisemitic hate crimes. I was hoping you wouldnt ask me that because hes clearly one of the most brilliant entrepreneurs of our time. I cant figure out ott how that makes sense. Maybe elon has an answer to it and maybe he just wants to be more controversial howard you dont want to say hes erratic at times . If. [laughter] im just saying he bought the the site. You bought it, youve got to deal with it now. This is obviously a point that has got to be dealt with. Howard yeah. I mean, its really a shame that its turned so ugly, but one of the things about elon musk is he feels these kind of controversies that he drives helps bring eyeballs to twitter. And probably hard to argue with that, but im not sure its worth it for him. Griff jenkins, great to see you. Next on mediabuzz, Chris Christie spends much of his time attacking donald trump, but is that hurting the former governor . Like a porcelain doll. If you have postmenopausal osteoporosis and are at high risk for fracture, you can build new bone with evenity®. Ask your doctor if you can do more than just slowing down bone loss with evenity®. Want stronger bones . Then build new bone; evenity® can help in just 12 months. Evenity® is proven to reduce Spine Fracture Risk by 73 . Evenity® can increase risk of heart attack, stroke, or death from a cardiovascular problem. Do not take evenity® if you have low blood calcium, or are allergic to it. Serious allergic reactions and low blood calcium have occurred. Tell your doctor about jaw bone problems, as they have been reported with evenity®. Or about pain in your hip, groin, or thigh, as unusual Thigh Bone Fractures have occurred. Dont let a break put you on a shelf. Talk to your doctor about Building New Bone with evenity® howard president ial candidate Chris Christie is continuing to get plenty of air time to pound away at donald trump. I spoke with the former new jersey governor from new york. Chris christie, welcome. Thanks for having me, howely. Howard governor, are you worried that theres a gap between the considerable Media Attention that you get and your relatively low standing in the pollings . Im not concerned, howie, because i dont concern myself with these national polls. Theyre useless because we dont have a national primary. If you look at whats happening in New Hampshire, im in second place now at 14 . And those are the polls that im taking the time to Pay Attention to because thats the way we elect president s. Howard well, are you selling republicans and, by the way, i know New Hampshire is a good state for you. Ive seen some lower numbers. But are you selling republicans on a Chris Christie presidency . During the debate, you were talking about your experience as u. S. Attorney, and i remember thinking this is interesting because what mostly gets attention is because, as you to know, when you go after donald trump. Look, i think you have to do all of it. First, you have to make sure that you distinguish yourself from the frontrunner, and im doing that. But also youve got to tell people about what youre for and what your experience will give them a chance to do. On the Law And Order issue, i saw some video recently of people getting their cars broken into on the beach outside San Francisco. 1700 car breakins in San Francisco in the last few weeks. I mean, this is outrageous. And what ill do as president , give my experience as a prosecutor. Ill instruct the Attorney General to have the u. S. Attorneys in our major cities that are having Violent Crime problems have the u. S. Attorneys take over prosecuting that Violent Crime. Howard i looked at a piece in politico that concluded, people go to see christie because he tells them exactly what they want to hear about trump. Hes not persuading anybody who as not already convinced. I take it you have a different view. How did those people get persuaded in the first place . Look, howie, you know, were going to have every pundit in the world giving their opinion from talking to three or four voters when they go to a state and then they think theyre experiences. Ive spoken to now thousands experts. Ive spoken to thousands of voters in three months, and they want the truth. The American People are are tired of being lied to. Theyre tired of being lied to by joe biden when he said the other day that hes reduced the deficit when, in fact, hes going to double the deficit this year. Theyre try tired of being lied to by donald trump when he says the election in 2020 the was stolen and thats all he wants to talk about. The fact that hes out on bail in four different jurisdictions. Lets face it, howie, this is a guy whos going to be sitting in a courtroom for all of march and most of april defending himself for trying to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power rather than making the case against joe biden. Howard well, youve said it would be disastrous for the Republican Party right in the midst of primaries, the First Federal trial of the former e president s supposed to begin day before super tuesday. But 60 of republicans consistently say they dont buy these charges, they think its bogus, they think its partisan, they think its weaponization of law enforcement. So are you misjudging the current state of the gop . Go. I think the questions no. I think the questions are wrong. You can believe that these charges are are unfair. But there are two things. One, we have to deal with them. Whether you think theyre unfair or not, they are going to impact independent voters and soft democrats in the General Election. Both sets of people we need to win a General Election as republicans. And donald trump cannot win those people while hes under indictment in four cases. But secondly, lets look at the conduct. This is a guy who stole classified documents from the white house, hid them from his own lawyers, hid them from the government for 18 months, and on january 6th he told those folks the election was stolen. Thats a lie. He asked them to march up to capitol hill, said he would walk with them but, howie with,ing you and i both know donald trump has the risk of breaking a fingernail, hes not to going to take that risk. He salt in his office for three hours and watched the people that he had lied to and sent up the Capitol Hill December Crate capitol hill. Now, i just think thats conduct thats beneath what we should expect from a president of the United States. And if you dont think that these charges and that conduct are going to be a major focus in the General Election if we nominate if donald trump, youre kidding yourself. And were going to lose. And thats going to the mean huge government even more out of control than it is today with a feeble president of the United States being dictated to by the worst elements of his party. Howard but did trump defuse your strategy of going toe to toe with him by staying off the debate stage and saying since hes got a big lead nationally, in the national polls, that he is not going to do any of the debates . Well, if he doesnt do any of the debates, howie, im sure hes not coming to the reagan debate. Well give him another chance in alabama. But if he doesnt come there, im going to follow him around the country. Wherever he goes, ill go. And well wind up talking to each other one way or other howard youre going to change your Travel Schedule to go where trump goes, just so im clear . You bet. Howard Vivek Ramaswamy has had a series of controversial interviews which often come down to him disputing things hes said in the past and trying to reframe the questions. Has he become, from your point of view, a serious contender . No. No, hes become someone who likes to get interviewed on tv. Yo, i dont think hes a serious contender. Anyone who wants to treat israel like any other country we treat in the middle east, anybody who wants to give taiwan to the chinese by 2028, anybody who thinks that, you know, by, week Vladimir Putin meets with kim jong un, that he thinks hes going to be able to go over to russia and convince Vladimir Putin to break from kim jong un, the mullahs in iran and president xi of china, all autocratic leaders, to be friends with us . This is a guy who lives in his own world and is not a serious candidate for president of the United States. Howard there is a number in the latest Wall Street Journal poll that really jumped out at me. It said that there was a 73 negative or disapproval rating among republicans for you, and i wonder is that the price you pay for coming out swinging . Thats the price you pay for telling the truth. And you know what, howie . I dont believe that number will last. I absolutely one, i dont believe its accurate but, two, i dont believe itll last in whatever form its in. But you cant decide whether to tell the truth or not based upon some poll that they tabling at take at a snapshot in time by the Wall Street Journal. What you have to do is tell the truth. Howard if donald trump had quietly retired to maralago and not contested the election, would you have run . Well, look, you know, i dont know what i would have done, howie, but i would tell you this, that what he did on Election Night, to me, disqualified him from being president of the United States again. When you go in front of the American People and lie to them on Election Night and say that you know the elections been stolen, when you had no evidence then and you have no evidence now that it was stolen because it wasnt, he lost to joe biden. Now, i know his fragile ego cant deal with the idea that he lost to somebody like joe biden who had never beaten anybody outside the state of delaware before. But guess what, donald . You lost to joe biden, and everything thats been done since then is your responsibility because of your selfishness, your selfcenteredness put him in the white house. Howard Chris Christie, thanks very much for joining us. Howie, thanks for having me. Howard Chris Christie says hes going to follow donald trump around the country. After the break, mike pence is finally punching away at his former president , but thats risky business. A top a visor is next. 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With purples new mattresses fall asleep 20 faster have less aches and pains and sleep uninterrupted. Right now save up to 900 off mattresses sets during purples labor day sale. Visit purple. Com or a store near you upbeat music constant contacts advanced automation lets you send the right message at the right time, every time. constant contact. Helping the small stand tall. Howard the gloves are coming off between the former Vice President and the former president. Mike pence accusing donald trump of peddling a form of Poppe Populism that has little to do with real reaganstyle conservativism. Donald trump, along with his imitators, often sound like an echo of the progressives they seek to replace. Howard i took this up with marc short, his former chief of staff and cochair of a pac founded by pence. Marc short, welcome. Thanks, howie, for having me. Howard so let me get this straight. The former vp says hes proud of having served in a fouryear conservative administration with donald trump, but now he says trump is a populist and not a real conservative. Just when did that happen . Howie, i think thats pretty easy to explain. 2016 donald trump made a promise to conservatives and said ill meet you where you are if you make me president. He said tell me9 what the prolife platform is you want, tell me the Tax Relief Plan that you want. For fur years he had a tremendous Conservative Record whether it was historic Tax Releervetion rebuilding our military, prolife legislation, its a great set of accomplishments. But sinces then donald trump has not said e to conservatives heres what ill do for you, he says help me fight my grievances. And where hes gone on those policies is to betray some of the very policies that were successful during the four years of the Administration Whether or not thats backtracking on the global stage the, were going to walk away from entitlements and not address the pending crisis in any way, whether its basically saying now i think that life was the problem for us in the 2022 midterm cycle, so they can see donald trump retract from a lot of the accomplishments of those four years. Howard if trump is an echo of joe biden, isnt that as a bad an insult as you can hurl and risk alienating the maga base . I think hes made the point specifically on entitlement spending. Both joe biden and donald trump have both said thats a future problem and not for us to deal with now. But i think theres a difference between donald trump and joe biden, no doubt about that. But i think the Vice President s argument as well has been much broader than simply donald trump. Hes saying its across the Republican Party, and i think that what hes what hes addressing. Howard mike pence is at 5, trump is at 50 . How is your guy going to win . I think this race is the most unpredictable weve had howard i wouldnt argue with that. Youre saying its early. Certainly, its early. At this point in 2016 donald trump was Single Digits in the summer. If you look back to barack obama and his historic victory over hillary, he was down until late in the fall when he broke through in iowa. Traditionally past labor day is when people pay a a lot. Maria attention. Howard although one guy for the moment isnt debating. Many think mike pence acted admirably on january 6th by refusing to block the certification, which he had no power to do. But many republicans arent happy with pence because they believe the election was stolen as trump tells them. So isnt that the box hes in, its hard to please both sides . I think thats fair, but you have to address both sides. If you go back to his Announcement Speech he addressed january 6th, and hes going to continue to address it gist as he did during the debate. I think people hear the explanation, they understand it. I think republicans have begun to shift about january 6th howard what are you baying thatten . Basing that on in. Ive seen multiple focus groups. People say i understand there was no choice, you wouldnt want Kamala Harris to have that authority this 2024. So i think that has begun to penetrate. Youre right, that is a conundrum, but i think he simply can explain why he did what that he did, whey its what the Constitution Prorequired and provide a vision for the future. Howard yeah. It is a conundrum, but thats why we have campaigns. Lets say that mike pence is the True Reaganite Conservative in this race. Hasnt trump remade the Republican Party . When he ran in 20216 he said, he told me he was not going to cut medicare or Social Security which is not exactly conservative orthodoxy in a way that ronald Ronald Reagan, who was elected more than 40 years ago, wouldnt recognize . I think theres a lot of things that donald trump brought to the party in 2016. I think when he ran there was he connected with a lot of Blue Collar Workers across the midwest in particular. You saw michigan, pennsylvania, ohio, those states fall back in the republican line. But i think that was still built on the basis and the foundation of conservative principles. Thats what he governed as throughout the these four years. And i dont think theres indication thats where hes going now. So i think its a fair Fight For The Future of our parties to say which direction are we going to go, because i think its difficult to say that both. I think that the two visions are are in great conflict with one another because populists want to use the levers of government to punish their opponents. Conservatives advance limited government because we understand that we need to have limited government to protect peoples rights because if you get too much power in the hands of certain people, theyll take away your rights. Howard well, on that score and this is, indeed, a battle for the soul of the republican matter. Marc short, thanks very much for joining us. Thanks for having me. Howard why biden books are bombing, Mitch Mcconnell says hes staying put and jimmy fallon is sorry for driving his staff nuts. E se important things arent worth compromising. At farmers, we offer both Quality Insurance and great savings. crowd cheers here, take mine. Farmers Mnemonic howard when Mitch Mcconnell froze up for the second time, the press couldnt wait to speculate, who would succeed e him as republican leader . He says a doctors examine concluded hes not having any kind of stroke. Calling on you to step down. Do you have any plans to retire anytime soon . [laughter] i have no announcements to make on that subject. Reporter what do you say to those im going to finish my senate term. Howard dr. Rand paul says it looks like a neurological issue to him. During the last administration there was an avalanche of books about donald trump, i wrote one of them, and they flew off the shelves. And the biden presidency, not so much. As politico reports, even those by prominent journalists have sold fewer than 5,000 copies, 2, 500 copies. D. C. Literary agenting keith irvine was quoted as saying there was a sugar high from the trump era, the nonstop drama which was at once exhausting but also generated billions of dollars in clicks, book sales, Cable Ratings and in 2021 that interest fell off a cliff. What makes for stable governance makes for less dramatic copy. Woody allen has just made his 50th and perhaps final film. In france. Its in french. The 87yearold filmmaker tells variety, i dont know if i have the same verve to go out and spend a lot of time raising money. When some guy steps Out Of The Shadow E and says well finance your film in new york, if some foolish person agrees to that, then i will make a film in new york. Howard but thats unlikely to happen in the states where his reputation has taken a huge hit from allegations of child abuse by his daughter dylan farrow which allen vehemently denies saying two Investigations Led to no charges. Woody is still quiet popular in europe but number 50 may be his last. Jimmy fallon seems like such a nice guy, but hes apologizing to his staff. In a zoom call can, fallon says its embarrassing and i feel so bad. Sorry if i embarrass you and your family and friends, i feel so bad, i cant even tell you. The late night comic now on hiatus was responding to a Rolling Stone piece quoting unnamed sources saying fallon would throw hissy fits and in one case appeared destruction during drunk during a rehearsal. Steering away from political humor. Well, thats it for this edition of mediabuzz. Im howard kurtz. Congratulations to coco gauff, 19 years old, the First American teenager to win the u. S. Open. I watched it yesterday, since serena more than two decades ago. You can subscribe to my podcast, media buzzmeter. We talk and talk about all kinds of subjects. Apple i itunes is a good mace to do it. Were back here next sunday, 11. A. M. Eastern. Now were the only Media Analysis Show on the martialal a television. David. Connect with an advisor to create your personalized plan. Lets find the right investments for your goals okay, great. J. P. Morgan wealth management. Charlotte charl every day can be extraordinary with rich, creamy, Delicious Fage total yogurt. 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