Comey Indicted, Kamala Word Salad, and Hoda Kotb's Inane Book, with Maureen Callahan, Dave Aronberg, Mike Davis, and John Solomon | Ep 1158

16:09Dave Aronberg:Yeah, that's exactly right. Cruz teed it up when he was getting Comey on the record, because just for the audience at home, because I know this is a lot to follow. Comey was under oath in 17, and Chuck Grassley of Iowa asked him, a Republican, have you leaked? And have you authorized anybody to leak? And he said no and no. Well, if we can't get him on those charges, because that's a long time ago and you have to it's only five year statute of limitations. But in 2020, they had another shot at Comey and Ted Cruz brought up the Grassley testimony and said, do you stand by all that? Because, by the way, Andrew McCabe suggests you did tell him to leak.

16:42Dave Aronberg:But in any event, do you stand by that earlier testimony to Chuck Grassley? And Comey said yes, but it was specifically about did you leak about the Hillary investigation the FBI was doing or the Trump administration? Here's the Ted Cruz exchange that, you know, we believe has led to this indictment. We're pretty sure the Ted Cruz exchange is the basis of the indictment. We're just not sure exactly which leak or article he's talking about here.

17:10Maureen Callahan:On May 3rd, 2017. In this committee, Chairman Grassley asked you point blank, quote, have you ever been an anonymous source in news reports about matters relating to the Trump investigation of the Clinton investigation. You responded under oath, quote, never. He then asked you, quote, have you ever authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports about the Trump investigation or the Clinton administration? You responded again under oath, no. Now, as you know, Mr. McCabe, who works for you, has publicly and repeatedly stated that he leaked information to the Wall Street Journal and that you were directly aware of it.

17:53Maureen Callahan:and that you directly authorized it. Now, what Mr. McCabe is saying and what you testify to this committee cannot both be true. One or the other is false. Who's telling the truth?

18:07Mike Davis:I can only speak to my testimony.

18:09Maureen Callahan:I stand by what the testimony you summarized that I gave in May of 2017. So your testimony is you've never authorized anyone to leak. And Mr. McCabe, if he says contrary is not telling the truth. Is that correct?

18:22Mike Davis:Again, I'm not going to characterize Andy's testimony, but mine is the same today.

18:27Dave Aronberg:Okay. So just to go back to John Solomon for a second, what's your response to Dave's point that the only thing he thinks James Baker was involved in leaking is about a Yahoo article?

18:37Mike Davis:We don't know which one the cost of it. We still don't know what James Baker leaked. We know it's in the same timeframe as the article of that. We know it's the same time frame where they're asking McCain. What I think is problematic for the prosecution there is that Ted Cruz's question goes two different ways. When he starts it, it's, did you ever leak about the Trump administration or Trump investigation in Clinton? And he ends it asking, did you ever leak at all or authorize anyone to leak at all? That's going to be an ambiguous, if they're resting the case on that second follow-up on Ted Cruz, which we don't know yet because we have so little information, a jury's going to say, man, we are really starting to split hairs here on what you're trying to pin Comey down.

19:19Mike Davis:I think one of our problems right now to judge the strength of this indictment is we need to know exactly what the grand jury made the decision on. Grand juries are pretty perceptive. They sometimes have lawyers on them, which is a good thing. There has to be something more than what we're able to speculate on here for the grand jury to make that decision. But we're flying blind. And I think that David has got some really great points. I have wondered for the last 24 hours. I can't tell exactly what they've indicted a company for specifically. I know what they've indicted in legal charges, but it's been very difficult to understand what the actual transmission of information is.

19:55Dave Aronberg:All right. I'm going to go back to Mike Davis. But first, I just want to just say this again for the audience. He told Ted Cruz that he never authorized anyone at the FBI to be an anonymous source on news reports about the Trump investigation or the Hillary investigation. He did affirm that. He said, I'm giving you the same testimony today that I gave in May of 17. My testimony is the same today as it was in May of 17. never authorized someone at the FBI to be an anonymous source on news reports about the Trump investigation or the Hillary investigation. I just want to take one quick look at the original the original testimony.

20:39Dave Aronberg:I think we have this to Senator Grassley in 17 that, again, he affirmed in 2020. It's three.

20:47Maureen Callahan:Director Comey, have you ever been an anonymous source in news reports? about matters relating to the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation?

20:59John Solomon:Never.

21:00Maureen Callahan:Have you ever authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports about the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation?

21:11Dave Aronberg:No.

21:12Maureen Callahan:That's clean. Has any classified information relating to President Trump or his associates lawsuits been declassified or and shared with the media? Not to my knowledge. All right.

21:28Dave Aronberg:Those first two are very clean, Mike. And he did reaffirm it to Ted Cruz. No, never. I did not leak. I did not authorize anyone to leak. And then with Ted Cruz, he says explicitly, I stand by the testimony that I gave in May of 2017. My testimony is the same today. So to me, that is very clear. He's saying I did not authorize anyone to leak about either of those two subjects. What do you make of what John is saying, Mike, about you got Andy McCabe on the one hand, who's already been deemed the liar in that confrontation, you know, between him and Comey by the inspector general. And then the second one, Baker, which Dave is arguing the only leak we can we appear at this point to be able to pin on Baker is about something not having to do with a Trump or Hillary investigation.

22:18John Solomon:Yeah, I mean, I would say this, those clips you just played, Megan, show that James Comey clearly lied when he testified to my former boss, Chuck Grassley, in 2017. He was under oath. That's perjury. We're beyond the statute of limitations for that one. But in 2020, he lied again under oath to Ted Cruz when he reaffirmed that testimony. And so I would say this about James Comey. He's lucky the grand jury did not indict him for perjury. They indicted him for false statements and obstruction of a congressional investigation. And so I think it's very clear that he provided false statements under 18 U.S.C.

23:00John Solomon:1001. I agree that Dave makes good points. Those are arguments that will be made to the jury.

23:07Dave Aronberg:What's the difference between perjury and false statements?

23:11John Solomon:False statements don't have to be under oath, but they're very similar crimes. Perjury is when you are under oath, and false statements is just false statements to federal law enforcement, to Congress. So they're similar.

23:29Dave Aronberg:What can you glean then, Mike, from the fact that they went for the false statements count but not for the perjury count? What do you think the grand jurors are trying to tell us?

23:37John Solomon:I they probably are in the Dave camp that they don't think that this is a slam dunk case. And so they indict it for false statements and they did not indict for perjury. Go ahead, Dave.

23:51Maureen Callahan:What is the false state? I'm just curious, Mike, what is the false statement to you? Like what I don't gather here is the false statement, because when I parse the words, you can say he's playing word games, but I don't see anything that's specifically false in what he said. Which is it?

24:05John Solomon:Well, I mean, I think the grand jury indicted because he reaffirmed his 2017 testimony in 2020. And so they.

24:14Maureen Callahan:But what was the false testimony back in 2017? That he I mean, we just played it.

24:20John Solomon:It was that he never authorized the leak.

24:22Dave Aronberg:Any about those two subjects?

24:24Maureen Callahan:Yeah. Right. Well, and, you know, my response to that is that first, he didn't authorize any leak to McCabe. But in the Arctic Hayes investigation, which I think would be the best argument. No one knows what that is. All right. I was about to explain it. The Arctic Hayes investigation is the leak that Comey did. And he acknowledged he did this back in 2017. Right after he was fired, he told his friend who used to work at the FBI, a guy named Daniel Richman, and he's like a law professor, a confidant. He told him to leak one of Comey's memos about Michael Flynn to the New York Times, and he did.

25:06Maureen Callahan:That was an authorization. That was a leak. The reason why it's not covered here, the reason why I say it's not a lie, it's because at the time, Daniel Richman did not work for the FBI and neither did Comey. So that's why I don't think it's a false statement. But that's what I think is the strongest argument for the prosecution here.

25:29Dave Aronberg:I don't know. John Solomon, you're an expert on this guy, this Columbia law professor who is a friend of Comey's. You and I have talked about him before. There wasn't just that leak. There were leaks by Comey to Richmond while Richmond was a special government employee for the FBI and was leaking for Comey. That that that did happen. I'm not sure whether that's what this indictment is based on. We're all not aboard with the blindfold on. I don't know whether that's true. You take it from here, John, because I know you just did reporting on this.

26:00Mike Davis:I want to. Yeah. Listen, Richmond is very clear that he was leaking on behalf of Comey and trying to craft the narrative for Comey prior to Comey leaving the directorship. And then he's unclear. He's unclear as to whether or not he remembers if Comey specifically authorized it or he just did it because he knew that's what Comey wanted. But remember, there's some evidence we don't know about. As I mentioned earlier, I'm told that there are some text messages and emails that will be dispositive as this case goes forward. So I think we have to wait and see what it is. I think I'd like to go back and Megan, if you could do it when, when Ted Cruz goes back the second time and reaffirms what he just heard from Comey, he broadens the claim.

26:42Mike Davis:And I think that's something I just want to hear again. Maybe we all should hear. He doesn't, he doesn't narrow it to Clinton and Trump anymore. He says, if you, I just want to make sure you're saying you never ask anyone to ever leak. Let's see if you can play that. Cause I think he broadens the claim there. Here we go.

26:55Dave Aronberg:Sop four.

26:56Maureen Callahan:On May 3rd, 2017. In this committee, Chairman Grassley asked you point blank, quote, have you ever been an anonymous source in news reports about matters relating to the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation? You responded under oath, quote, never. He then asked you, quote, have you ever authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports about the Trump investigation or the Clinton administration? You responded again under oath. No. Now, as you know, Mr. McCabe, who works for you, has publicly and repeatedly stated that he leaked information to the Wall Street Journal and that you were directly aware of it and that you directly authorized it.

27:42Now, what Mr.

27:44Maureen Callahan:McCabe is saying and what you testify to this committee cannot both be true. One or the other is false. Who's telling the truth?

27:53Mike Davis:I can only speak to my testimony.

27:55Maureen Callahan:I stand by what the testimony you summarized that I gave in May of 2017. So your testimony is you've never authorized anyone to leak. And Mr. McCabe, if he says contrary, is not telling the truth. Is that correct?

28:08Mike Davis:Again, I'm not going to characterize Andy's testimony, but mine is the same today. That's the piece you're talking about. Yeah, he drops out Clinton and Trump at that point. Now, again, listen, I think we're splitting hairs when we're getting this, and I'm not sure a grand jury would have tolerated that level of splitting hairs. But I did notice that in the follow-up question. And it's very interesting that the indictment makes no reference to 2017 testimony. It's not trying to tie back to 2017. So it'll be very interesting to see if that change of words, that flip from Cruz is part of it. I suspect there's some evidence we don't know about.

28:42Mike Davis:When we got that timeline that I told you about, Megan, there are massive amounts of that timeline that are still blacked out. They're redacted because they're covered by grand jury information. I suspect there's some additional evidence we don't know yet, not yet know about. And that's why I'm eager to see the next version of the indictment, because it needs a little bit more meat on the bones for us to have a really informed debate. Yeah.

29:02Dave Aronberg:OK, so the way the way things stand stand now are he's been indicted by this new acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, clearly brought there because the federal district in Washington, D.C. would be a complete waste of time. That's there's no way they're going to do anything fair for any. There's another reason. Well, I know Comey was there when he gave the testimony, I think. Right.

29:28Mike Davis:That's the jurisdiction. Yeah, that's right. That's where the crime.

29:30Dave Aronberg:I don't think that's the reason. I think I don't think that's the reason. I think that's the hook that they had.

29:34Mike Davis:Yeah, that is.

29:35Dave Aronberg:Yeah, that's right. No, there's nothing improper about bringing it there. I'm just explaining why it was there instead of in D.C. where Congress is. So they they they brought the charges saying Comey lied when he said he never authorized somebody to leak. That's what this case is about. He lied when he said he never authorized anyone to leak. and it depends on whether it's limited. John's suggesting maybe it's him answering the Ted Cruz wider question where he said, so your testimony is you've never authorized anyone to leak. Was he saying, that's my testimony? And so you've got, it goes beyond the Clinton and the Trump investigation or is it limited to Clinton and Trump and they have proof of it in some text or other form that he did so authorize?

30:19Dave Aronberg:OK, so that now we're, you know, Bob's your uncle. We're off on the merits about whether he did that or he didn't. And he's going to get his day in court. However, before we get there, we are going to get a selective or malicious prosecution defense, Mike Davis. And that is something that is raised with the judge on the papers. The jury doesn't decide that the judge looks at the facts. And this guy who's been appointed, well, not appointed, but he pulled the case, Judge Michael Notchmanoff, is an interesting judge. Career, basically, as a federal defender, a federal criminal defender. So he's not a prosecutor.

31:00Dave Aronberg:That's fine. He was appointed by Biden in 21. That's the breaks. We have we have lawyers and we have judges from both Republican and Democrat appointees. Now, somebody we follow on X here on this show, William Shipley, he has very smart legal analysis. And he said the following of all the Biden appointees in the Eastern District of Virginia. Judge Nachmanoff is probably the best potential draw he means for Trump. He does not have a background that suggests progressive activism, as is true of many Biden appointed district judges, particularly those he writes in the last two years of his administration.

31:38Dave Aronberg:Nachmanoff, his entire career in private practice was in federal criminal defense work. That's not the same kind of bubbling cauldron of social justice warrior that you find in public interest law firms on the radical left. He says this is generally not the profile of an activist progressive judge. This is just a trial attorney attracted to criminal defense work. What what is your take on this draw and who it helps?

32:07John Solomon:I mean, I think Bill Shipley, he's a friend. He's a very smart guy. I will say this. You had two Democrat senators in Virginia, so you're not going to have a blue slip problem where the home state senators, there wasn't a Republican home state senator that would have made them pick a more moderate pick. There are a lot of potential picks for the Eastern District of Virginia. It's a very coveted judgeship. And I seriously doubt that the Biden White House put someone who's just going to call balls and strikes in the Eastern District of Virginia because they didn't do it anywhere else where they where they could have put in a radical.

32:46John Solomon:They always did.

32:47Dave Aronberg:So, Dave, this argument and to be honest with you, I don't totally understand the difference between malicious prosecution and selective prosecution. And are those both defenses that can be raised? And also, can you please talk about how they're going to argue that?

33:01Maureen Callahan:Yes, they're going to use the president's words against him. That's where the social media posts will hurt him. And I don't know if that was meant to be a direct message directly to Attorney General Bondi or broadcast to everyone, but he then deleted it. And the fact that he fired Eric Siebert, who was a respected conservative acting U.S. attorney in that district because he refused to prosecute James Comey and replaced him with someone who had never prosecuted a case before and had to go in herself to do it.

33:29Dave Aronberg:Or was it Letitia James that he was dragging his feet on?

33:33Maureen Callahan:He was mad at both. But by the way, I assume that our friend Mike Davis would be friends with him because Mike is friends with every conservative lawyer in the country. So I assume you know Eric Siebert.

33:46John Solomon:He seems like a very nice guy. He seems like a very typical Washington, D.C. Republican. Republican, I would say maybe the Democrats in Virginia, the two Democrat senators in Virginia who agreed to his nomination would be very pleased with a Republican like Siebert.

34:09Dave Aronberg:OK, it is tricky. It is tricky. And what's Mike saying? And I get it is, as you know, Dave, within the Republican Party, you've got the ones who are MAGA and then you've got the more old school, more establishment types. and to get through as the U.S. attorney approved by the two Democrat senators from Virginia, you'd probably do better if you were the more establishment type and not a MAGA acolyte. So that's, I mean, what he seems to be saying.

34:38John Solomon:Can I just say this very fast, Dave? I would not get a blue slip from any Democrat in America. I probably wouldn't get a blue slip from any Republican in America. But Seabird would probably get a blue slip from any Democrat in America. I thought a blue slip is when you're rejected.

34:57Maureen Callahan:I thought that's like a black ball is the blue slip. No, no, the blue slip is green light.

35:02John Solomon:When the senators return these stupid blue slips, then you can get that. It's a hundred year old tradition in the Senate where the home state senators have an absolute veto over U.S. attorney, U.S. marshal and district court judge.

35:15Dave Aronberg:OK, but when I move to Florida or when Dave moves to Connecticut and we become the two state senators or U.S. senators from the state, we would definitely blue slip you, Mike Davis. We would you would sail through no matter what partisan stripes we had.

35:30Maureen Callahan:All right. Keep going. Yes. Well, so when it comes to vindictive prosecution, that's what they're going to rely on. And they're going to use the president's words here rather than the prosecutor's words. Although they'll show that the U.S. attorney, the acting U.S. attorney was someone who was appointed for this purpose. And within days later, she went into court herself. She didn't even use any of her career prosecutors, perhaps because they didn't want to do it. And she got the indictment herself. So when you prove a vindictive prosecution claim, the burden's on the defense. And they have to make a prima facie showing.

36:04Maureen Callahan:You've got to show enough evidence. And then it shifts, the burden shifts to the prosecution to show that they had some sort of legitimate, non-vindictive reason for the charge. So it's tough to prove, but I think this is a legitimate case because the president's words will be used against him. That's why he deleted them shortly thereafter.

36:23Dave Aronberg:I'll read the post that you're referring to. I will say this before I forget on malicious prosecution. typically it is raised as a defense when like the classic example is a defendant um asserts his right to a speedy trial or won't won't cop a plea and insists on a trial which is a pain in the ass for the prosecutor and then the prosecutor ups the ante like now we're going for the death penalty that that would be your classic malicious prosecution claim where the judge says No, no, you can't punish a guy for exercising his constitutional rights like this. This is different. You know, this is like you've only brought the case because you're mad at me for, you know, doing bad things to your people.

37:16Dave Aronberg:And my favorite in the past, you know, whatever it's been, 12, 14 hours since this news broke. My favorite post, once again, it's almost true every day. Stephen L. Miller, not the Stephen Miller. This is a different guy. Goes by Red Steez on X. Keeps posting when everybody says this is retribution. This is retribution. This is retribution. He keeps posting for what? For what? It's exactly right. For what was done to Trump for malicious prosecution that was done to Trump and all of his staff. It's like, yes, that's probably exactly how we got here. I mean, everybody knows that's what we're doing here.

37:51Dave Aronberg:The only question is whether it's still appropriate because there's a good faith basis that he actually did commit a crime. and now he's going to have to feel the punishment of it. But like, I don't think most of us think we'd be here if they hadn't done this to Mike Flynn and they hadn't done this to Steve Bannon and they hadn't gone after Peter Navarro and they hadn't gone after Roger Stone and they hadn't gone after Donald Trump four times. Of course, that was the motivation. Retribution for what? Fill in the blank, New York Times. Here is the post that could prove problematic if they do raise malicious prosecution.

38:23Dave Aronberg:And this happened just a couple of days ago, 9-20-25 is the date. Pam. And there is speculation. We actually never figure it. Trump almost never deletes his true social posts. This one was posted to people who said that reads more like a direct message than a classic Trump post. And then he took it down, which only fueled that fire more. Here's what he writes. Pam, colon, like it's a message to her. I've reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that essentially, same old story as last time, all talk, no action. Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam Shifty Schiff, Letitia? It's very funny if it's a direct message that he even calls him Shifty Schiff in his DMs.

39:05Dave Aronberg:It's not that it's not just for show. They're all guilty as hell, but nothing's going to be done. Then we almost put in a Democrat-supported U.S. attorney in Virginia with a really bad Republican past, a woke rhino who was never going to do his job. That's why two of the worst Dem senators pushed him so hard. You were talking about Siebert here, the guy who either was fired or withdrew this week or Friday. He even lied to the media and said he quit and that we had no case. No, I fired him. And there is a great case. And many lawyers and legal pundits say so. Lindsay Halligan is a really good lawyer and likes you a lot.

39:43Dave Aronberg:We can't delay any longer. It's killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice and indicted me five times over nothing. justice must be served now president djt which is also funny if it's a direct message you have to laugh okay so lindsey halligan is 36 years old seems like a very nice lady but in no world would normally be getting appointed as the u.s attorney for the eastern District of Virginia. Speaking of ozempic infested documents, that's what her resume is when it comes to the qualifications for this particular job. With all due respect, I'm sure she's a good lawyer. She worked for President Trump personally.

40:30Dave Aronberg:That's how he knows her. But I'm just going to say this person's elevation to this level of a post is kind of laughable. It never would happen under normal circumstances. I believe she was put there because she's loyal to Trump and she's probably a decent lawyer, but she has no criminal law experience and zero experience as a prosecutor. Zero. So it's kind of shocking. I think we know why she's there. He didn't delete it. He deleted it and then he reposted it. That's what he did. I'm pretty sure that's what happened. Okay. He added her last name, Halligan, and he added some other stuff. Okay. So then he added more to it, which I'm not going to read because you guys get the general gist.

41:12So that's the evidence, Mike, that this was malicious prosecution.

41:17Dave Aronberg:And I have to just say this before you answer how they're going to argue that it's not. The media is having a meltdown over the fact that Trump has been very vocal about wanting this indictment, which he has, even if he took this, whatever, without this tweet, he's been very vocal about wanting James Comey indicted. And they're horrified by this. And they really think it's obvious that it was under White House pressure. And maybe it was. And 100 percent, so were the Trump indictments. Like, I just have absolutely no tolerance for this argument. Last night, they actually, to their credit, did talk about the fact that there was Biden pressure to indict Trump.

42:01Dave Aronberg:But then they tried to draw a distinction that that was private behind closed doors, that he wasn't public about it, which is a distinction without any difference. That makes no difference legally. The president in both cases made very clear to his DOJ he wanted an indictment. That's what happened to Trump. And that appears to be what happened here. So your thoughts on that?

42:24John Solomon:I would just say that the Trump Justice Department should just go back and use the Biden Justice Department's legal arguments that Jack Smith made when Trump made these same arguments about malicious prosecution. And so that's exactly what the Biden Justice Department did. And, you know, was there a political motivation here? Probably. But you know what? I would say this to these people. You ran unprecedented republic ending lawfare against President Trump, his top aides, his allies, his supporters, parents, Christians. I'm going to use the same damn arguments that they threw at me, which was, well, a grand jury indicted here.

43:09John Solomon:So it's obviously legitimate because the grand jury indicted here. So look, revenge is best served cold. I think that if this is, I want these prosecutions and I'm malicious about it. So does that make it a malicious prosecution? Maybe, but I don't give a damn.

43:31Dave Aronberg:I love your honesty. Let me just show you. You know, one of the things.

43:34Mike Davis:Yeah, go ahead, John. Megan, real quickly. One of the things that will come up in the malicious prosecution arguments, the judge will inquire what the grand jury knew. One of the ways that prosecutors sometimes insulate a malicious prosecution claim is, hey, listen, we want you to know the president's out there saying that he doesn't like James Comey and James Comey has been clear he doesn't like the president. It's not about this. And so if they bring that before the grand jury or if the grand jury raises that question themselves before they bring the bill of indictment. A lot of times a judge will look at and say, listen, there was an informed decision by a grand jury.

44:06Mike Davis:They kind of knew what Trump did, and they were okay with it because they made it on other circumstances. So that'll be something when this case gets into the nitty gritty that will be evaluated by the trial judge.

44:16Dave Aronberg:I also think even if they don't have this prosecutor raising that with the grand jurors, Team Trump's got an argument like, hello, it was everywhere. Again, it's not just down to this one post on True Social. Trump's been making really clear in front of cameras and elsewhere for a long time. He hates James Comey and would love to see him indicted. It was not a mystery, which I would submit to you guys is better than what Joe Biden did, which was while on camera trying to act like a good guy who would never interfere with his DOJ, but then clearly interfering with his DOJ behind the scenes. There is an April 2022 New York Times article that bust that wide open, talked about how behind the scenes he was leaning on Merrick Garland.

45:02Dave Aronberg:He was pissed it was taking so long. Keep in mind, the Trump indictments did not start until 2023. This is before he'd been indicted anywhere, saying, what's taking so long? Hurry it up. We need to see indictments. He was, he wanted him in jail, and there was a very good argument. He wanted him in jail to stop him from winning the presidency again. I mean, talk about malicious. Here's a sampling of how Biden and the Democrats sounded back then. Okay, pressuring the Department of Justice to go after Trump, SOT 13.

45:33Maureen Callahan:The New York Times reports President Biden privately told his inner circle that former President Trump should be prosecuted. Garland's deliberative approach is even

45:42Dave Aronberg:frustrating President Biden himself.

45:44Maureen Callahan:President Biden confided to his inner circle that he believed former president trump was a threat to democracy and should be prosecuted i also have

45:53John Solomon:been somewhat frustrated at the pace that doj has gone this isn't complicated it is ridiculous how

46:00Dave Aronberg:long this is taking and i think the you know justice delayed is justice denied we campaigned

46:06Maureen Callahan:for four years saying we were going to be the party that upholds the rule of law that's going to have an independent justice department so far america garland is failing the united states of

46:15John Solomon:America. How many crimes does somebody have to commit to get prosecuted in this country, at least get investigated by the Department of Justice? The attorney general and the Department of Justice have failed this badly. Will this new reporting perhaps nudge him a little bit?

46:32Maureen Callahan:President Biden is right. What is Merrick Garland waiting for? This is his job, And he's not getting the urgency of the moment.

46:42Dave Aronberg:There was universal pressure on Merrick Garland to go after Donald Trump. And when Alvin Bragg was the first to go and brought this ridiculous indictment against Donald Trump, which was unlike anybody any lawyer had ever seen and they couldn't figure it out. There were lengthy segments on TV, just like we're having now. Like, what does it mean? What is he doing? Only that one had about 40 legal hoops that you had to jump through in order to understand the crime. where they took misdemeanors and inflated them into felonies, and they resurrected dead claims under the statute of limitations. And then we didn't understand exactly what Trump had done anyway.

47:16Dave Aronberg:Like he put in his books payment to lawyer for a payment to his lawyer, but he was expected really to just say in order to pay off porn star or it's a crime. Like all of us were so confused. It was way more confusing than what we're dealing with here, which is just, okay, he lied under oath about not authorizing somebody to leak. And we just don't know what the leaks were. They were all in favor of it. They cheered him. They celebrated Alvin Bragg. Oh, my God. Where was it? My team sent it to me. The Lawrence O'Donnell reaction, it was unbelievable. What did he call him? He was like, oh, he talks about how the Crimson, where is it?

47:55Dave Aronberg:Where is the AM update, Deb? Oh, my God. I'm falling apart out of here. I have so much paper. I can't do it. Is this it? In any event, he was talking about how the Harvard Crimson was celebrating Alvin Bragg as like the next coming. And he really was starting to believe it. That's my point. Okay. So this is, I can't handle the absolute hypocrisy and the defense. Lawrence O'Donnell. Now the phrase trumped up charges has new meaning. Then when Alvin Bragg graduated from Harvard College. The Harvard Crimson ran a profile of him. The title of that profile was The Anointed One.

48:38Dave Aronberg:Come on, Dave. Are you going to defend that?

48:41Maureen Callahan:I was in college with him. I knew him in college. Not well. Is that how you saw him?

48:45Dave Aronberg:Is that how you saw him? Did you do a little genuflection as you walked by? Occasionally. No, no.

48:52Maureen Callahan:Yeah. You know, Megan, you're clearly playing to your strengths. You're in focusing on the Alvin Bragg New York prosecution, because you should never run for office and say, I'm going to go after that guy like Letitia James or Alvin Bragg did. I will push back though about Merrick Garland, who is known for his timidity more than anything on my side of the aisle, who was so scared to go after Trump that he appointed a special prosecutor so he didn't have to do it. And also who refused to prosecute Matt Gaetz when the evidence was there and the investigation was started under Bill Barr and who prosecuted Joe Biden's son.

49:23Maureen Callahan:Let's see if the Justice Department does that. Oh, please.

49:26Dave Aronberg:He was dragged into that kicking and screaming, Mike Davis.

49:31John Solomon:I would say this. I want to remind everyone, Joe Biden's fingerprints are on all four criminal indictments of President Trump. It was Jonathan Suh, Biden's deputy White House counsel, who waived Trump's claim of executive privilege on behalf of Joe Biden that led to the Jack Smith two indictments. It was Matthew Colangelo that deployed from a senior Biden Justice Department political appointment to go work with Alvin Bragg. And it was Nathan Wade, Fannie Willis's dumb, unqualified boyfriend who built six to 16 hours of his time, two hundred and fifty dollars an hour, four thousand dollars for his two meetings with the Biden White House and the White House Council before they indicted Trump down in Georgia.

50:15So before we go, quickly, Mike, what is likely to happen in this case?

50:22John Solomon:you never know. You have a Biden judge. You have an Eastern District of Virginia jury filled with Democrats. It's going to be a tough case.

50:29Dave Aronberg:Go ahead, Dave.

50:31Maureen Callahan:I think he'll be thrown out as a vindictive prosecution and won't even get to a jury.

50:37Dave Aronberg:OK, and final thoughts from you, John.

50:39Mike Davis:I think we're going to get some more evidence that we don't know about that's going to change this conversation.

50:43Dave Aronberg:Oh, and by the way, I heard you say on Hannity last night you also are predicting more indictments.

50:49Mike Davis:Yeah, they're working on other indictments. There's over 150 subpoena requests pending at U.S. Attorney's offices around the country. So there's a lot more investigation going on in this weaponization space and is visible right now.

51:00Dave Aronberg:Any bets on who's next?

51:02Mike Davis:No, I would never bet on that. I thought O.J. was going to get convicted, so I've stopped betting after that.

51:07Dave Aronberg:How about you, Mike? Do you also predict more indictments are coming?

51:12John Solomon:I would say down in Dave's backyard in the Southern District of Florida, look for an investigation on the entire crossfire hurricane conspiracy going back to 2016, and it continues to this day.

51:28Dave Aronberg:The grand conspiracy case. Because there would be a better jury down there, and you can go back as far as the raid and before in order to get more people. And Mike Davis, any predictions on what names might possibly be under consideration?

51:44John Solomon:I would look at all of them. Obama, Biden, Hillary, Comey, Clapper, Brennan, all of them, and all the prosecutions against Trump, Tish, Fannie, Bragg, Jack Smith, Brat, all of them.

51:59Dave Aronberg:Let's just make sure that all three of your Zooms are working because we're going to be seeing a lot of you. Thanks, guys. Maureen Callahan is next.

52:06Maureen Callahan:Thank you, Megan.

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53:57Mike Davis:To realize the future America needs, we understand what's needed from us. To face each threat head on. We've earned our place in the fight for our nation's future. We are Marines. We were made for this.

54:14Dave Aronberg:We absolutely have to keep talking. It's more important now than ever. To cower, to hide, to go silent is not the answer. and all I can tell you is there is no fucking way I am canceling one stop on this tour. Not one stop. I'm going. I'm going to stand on these stages and I'm going to say all the things that we say all the time on this show. We're going to make it safe for me. We're going to make it safe for my team and my guests and you. We're going coast to coast and do something really important, which is say what's true and what's real to honor him. I really now more than ever would love to see you all face to face.

54:56Dave Aronberg:God, I would love to see you face to face. I need to see you face to face. I am doing this tour and I would love for you to join me. MeganKelley.com for the tickets.

55:11Dave Aronberg:Welcome back to the Megan Kelly show. I've been so looking forward to this. It's Friday and we're going into the weekend and we need some lighter stuff. It's been a very heavy couple of weeks of news. Okay, but before we go to the place I've been wanting to go, I want to tell you about some updates on the Megyn Kelly Live Tour. We've been adding some new people to our live shows that start next month. We kick it off next month. I had such a fun conversation with Charlie Sheen a couple of weeks ago. Now we're going to get to do it in person. He's going to be joining me in Bakersfield, California on November 20th.

55:47Dave Aronberg:Very excited about that. We've also added a new guest to Sugar Land, Texas, just outside of Houston. Our first stop on the tour on October 23rd. That's Jesse Kelly. He's going to be there along with Donald Trump Jr. We love Jesse. He tells it like it is. We announced the other day that Erica Kirk will be joining us in Glendale, Arizona. All these tickets are available for you at megankelly.com. Go there now to buy tickets to all 10 stops. And if you want to do the VIP meet and greet with me and the guests of the night, then there's a special little box you can check. So check it out. And now someone else who's coming on the tour, Maureen Callahan.

56:28Dave Aronberg:She's host of The Nerve with Maureen Callahan. You can find it on YouTube, The Nerve Show, on all podcast platforms. Go to thenerveshow.com to subscribe. vibe. Great to have you, my friend. It's great to be back with you, Megan. Oh my God. You look amazing. The show's doing amazing. Oh, thank you. Yeah. We're having so much fun. I know I can tell and I have fun listening to it. And I love doing you on Fridays because it gives me like, I'll go back and listen to this interview in my downtime. So now I have like lots of you to listen to.

56:56Megyn Kelly:It's awesome. Well, there's never enough of you. So I'm very, very happy to see you and see you looking so happy.

57:02Dave Aronberg:Thank you. And let me tell you so many people knew you were coming because they gave us manna from heaven in these subjects that we're going to go over.

57:08Megyn Kelly:It's an embarrassment of riches. It's great because the nerve has been down this week. We've been off, but now I really get to get my aggression out. It's been building up.

57:19Dave Aronberg:Well, that's the perfect place to kick it off is Kamala Harris. Although we were saying before we got started, I think we're too hard on her. She's the gift that keeps on giving. It's almost like she cares about us the way she keeps offering these little ditties.

57:32Megyn Kelly:It's impeccable timing. It's much needed comic relief. She doesn't know it's comic relief, which kind of makes it even funnier.

57:38Dave Aronberg:Right. I guess it's less benevolent than I'm giving her credit for. But here she is. I don't really know who this was. My team says it's Scott Evans and a YouTube show that she sat down with. She's promoting her book, which I understand you're

57:53Megyn Kelly:reading? I just started. It's fourth grade reading level, yet very, very rough going. Oh my gosh. Are you having trouble sleeping or something? Why would you be reading the Kamala Harris book? It's a rubbernecking thing. I don't rubberneck on the road, but I will culturally rubberneck. And I'm really interested, like her, the beginning of the book is like getting the call and it's the fake version of the call. It's not the like, I started scrambling and whipping, people up to my side so I could avoid a primary because there's no other way I'm getting this thing. Oh, Joe's dropping out. No idea that was going to happen.

58:30Megyn Kelly:The shock. We're just making pancakes. Right. Like I do. Yeah. Oh, I have to tell you, when you open the book, the inside art is this very not at all staged photo of Kamala. It's like a recreation, I believe, of her that morning in the call because she describes herself wearing like her Howard University sweatshirt and just hanging out. And she's like, this is a, you know, and it's like, my soul raw. Yeah, exactly. So it sets the tone nicely that you're not at all getting artifice. No, no, it's all raw. Real deal.

59:06Dave Aronberg:Well, so she sits down with this guy and she recalls the fondness of her rallies where everyone loved her. You can see she's actually missing it when people paid attention to her and she felt relevant for once. and just classic Kamala here. Take a listen. Stop 25. Somebody would want me to take a picture

59:27Megyn Kelly:or to hug their child.

59:29Maureen Callahan:Uh-huh. And someone in the back would hand that baby over through the crowd. Up to you. Of people who would hold and tear the... But pass the baby. See. And then pass the baby back.

59:46John Solomon:Pass the baby back.

59:47Megyn Kelly:And I don't know, there was something about that when it would happen. I mean, I could get very emotional about it right now. But, you know, I believe that we should always feel that, you know, the children of the community are the children of the community.

1:00:03Dave Aronberg:Yeah, yeah.

1:00:04Megyn Kelly:Of all of us.

1:00:05John Solomon:Our next leaders, our next thinkers, our next church. Sure, sure they are.

1:00:10Megyn Kelly:Participate in caring about that child. Yeah. And in caring for that child.

1:00:15Maureen Callahan:Yeah.

1:00:16Megyn Kelly:And there was just something about that.

1:00:18Maureen Callahan:And seeing the baby travel from the parents.

1:00:21Megyn Kelly:Yes, and the parents trusted the stranger that was next to them, who trusted the next person, and all of them as though it was their own child.

1:00:29Maureen Callahan:Yeah.

1:00:29Megyn Kelly:There was something so magical in many ways about that and about affirming, about you can create an environment where people feel safe and feel a sense of communal responsibility and community. Yeah.

1:00:48Dave Aronberg:She says nothing. Communal responsibility and community. And the baby, Maureen, the baby. And how about that guy deserves an Oscar.

1:00:57Megyn Kelly:I recognize that guy. He's an offender. He seems nice enough, but he is an Access Hollywood host. Oh, okay. So we're infotainment. That makes more. Yeah, because he was giving it to her like, yeah, this is so interesting. He was really. Babies come. So I'm picturing we're at Bagram Air Force Base. We're withdrawing from Afghanistan. And, you know, those desperate Afghans were like the babies over the barbed wire. That's what she's evoking to me. We're bringing a baby. We're passing a baby through a crowd of strangers. and is going to wind up somehow in Kamala's safe hands. Oh my God. Is America the baby?

1:01:33Megyn Kelly:I don't know. Is that the metaphor?

1:01:35Dave Aronberg:But honestly, what idiot would hand their infant child through a crowd of people in the hopes that Kamala Harris would then touch it or bless it or kiss it? That is absolutely foolish and stupid. I don't even know if I believe it. I don't know if I believe it. Do we have video of this? Exactly. I had the same question. This might be a Kamala invention. And I love how she's like touting, I just feel safe and looked after. Meanwhile, she's married to a guy who has a serious allegation that he abuses women. So I'm like, you know, maybe she is seeking some sort of safety or some place she can go and really feel protected.

1:02:06Dave Aronberg:I really just thought, look, you know what you married, right? He denies it, but I totally believe the allegation and I've spoken with the accuser. Okay, so that's Kamala. She's doing her thing. Now, elsewhere on her book tour, she was in New York City and she was trying to tell everybody how great she is. and she got interrupted by Gaza hecklers. You know, the Hamas nicks are out there. And here's how that went, Sot 26. Let's bring it down. Let's bring it down.

1:02:34Megyn Kelly:And you guys, listen, listen, listen. Please, please. I actually also write about this, okay? Which is about what I know about how and why you are saying what you are saying now and how I felt about it.

1:02:54Maureen Callahan:You're not letting me talk. You know what? I respect your right to speak. You're not going to.

1:03:02Megyn Kelly:Hey, let's bring the temperature down. Let's bring the temperature down. Unlike the current president of the United States. I am. what's happening right now in gaza what is happening to the palestinian people

1:03:18Maureen Callahan:is outrageous and it breaks my heart

1:03:25Dave Aronberg:i love that she tried to hawk her book to the hamas nicks right as i wrote about in my book I got a chapter for you guys. Hey.

1:03:39Megyn Kelly:Right in the middle there. It's in there. By the way, you know, when I went to look at the latest on this, on Kamala being interrupted by pro-Palestinian activists, everything that came up was from the election. What do you mean? In my Google search. Oh. Like, I wasn't getting anything current. Why? Like, on her book tour, I think I saw one article that was like, she was speaking in Times Square. Oh, no, it was the cut. It was about the other Balulus at the cut who believe that she won. Oh, the Balulus. Yeah. But no, you're not seeing any of this, that she's getting any sort of pushback on her tour from the far left.

1:04:18Dave Aronberg:Yes. I'm not surprised. I guess the media still wants to run cover for her. Although, if she actually does declare and put herself in a primary race, that will stop real quick. Please, please, please. I know. So you mentioned the Balulus. There is a group of people. I didn't know this, Maureen, until my producers brought this to us, that believes Kamala Harris won the election. And, you know, as much as the left criticized Trump and his core faithful for saying he won 2020, they're out there saying, I'm quoting here, she's the president. She won. They believe that Elon Musk's Internet provider, Starlink, manipulated votes.

1:04:58Dave Aronberg:How could it not have been voter fraud? One asked. and they call themselves the Balulu crowd. Why again? It's a riff on Delulu.

1:05:09Megyn Kelly:Like delusional.

1:05:10Dave Aronberg:Like you're delusional. But they lean into that. Yeah. So weirdly, I haven't heard this reported anywhere other than the cut. What do you make of this? Is this just an extension of the leftist refusal to believe anything positive about Donald Trump?

1:05:25Megyn Kelly:It's so strange to me. It does feel like a mirror image of those who sort of refuse to believe that Trump lost in 16. So it doesn't feel any, sorry, 20. So that doesn't feel so strange to me, but what does feel strange is the cohort that were profiled on the cut. We're like leaning into all of it. They were basically like, yeah, we're the semi-alcoholic wine mom. Like we're, where's the Chardonnay bar at this joint where we're waiting to hear Kamala speak. And they pay for like an hour of getting a bunch of word salad. I mean, I know we're going to They're like roadies. They are. They're like groupies.

1:06:02Megyn Kelly:They're groupies. They're groupies for what? Right. I don't know what it is.

1:06:08Dave Aronberg:They love salad. It's not clear. But can you be semi-alcoholic? That's another question I have based on your comment. I know we'll have to find out. Now, before we leave presidential politics, President Trump is doing a lot to the White House, put up the flags. He's doing a ballroom. He changed the Rose Garden so that he had like a place to actually sit and meet with people. and he also has rearranged the presidential portraits, which he was showing off the other day. And here's some video. They're all lined up one after the other. You can see them all. There's Nixon. Oh, there's Clinton. Yep, there's George W.

1:06:42Dave Aronberg:Bush. There's Obama. There's Trump. And there's the auto pen.

1:06:51Megyn Kelly:That's hilarious.

1:06:52Dave Aronberg:And then there's Trump again.

1:06:55Megyn Kelly:That is one of the funniest. things I've seen. Can you believe he did that? In a long time. He took away Biden's picture and he put up the auto-pand. I love that. I love it. And again, it just goes to all of this rewriting of history that Kamala is doing right now on tour. Good luck with that. I love his sense of humor. We're going to really miss it when he's gone. We are. I mean, that feels almost like, I don't know if you grew up as I did reading Mad Magazine. Yeah. But that feels like a very Mad Magazine adjacent thing to do.

1:07:28Dave Aronberg:People he's underestimated for his sense of humor and his willingness and desire to make us laugh, which he does so well. I think it's a totally fair thing to do. His predecessor tried to put him in jail for the rest of his life. So it's on. It's fine. He doesn't want to walk by Joe Biden's picture every day. Who could blame him? President Obama. He has some thoughts. and they're not necessarily about presidential politics, though he does continue to weigh in on how terrible Trump is on everything. He tries to bomb in like the voice of God, like I will be the final arbiter of whether Jimmy Kimmel should be canceled.

1:08:03Dave Aronberg:I will be the final arbiter of the James Comey, like everything. Like he doesn't realize that he's totally lost relevance. We don't care. We do not care, as my lady says in the we do not care club. That's how we feel about Barack Obama now. But I did care about this. Oh, we do? Oh, let's watch it. We've cut us out of my lady.

1:08:23Maureen Callahan:Welcome to all new and existing members of the We Do Not Care Club. I started this club for all women in perimenopause, menopause, and postmenopause. We are putting the world on notice that we simply just do not care much anymore. Let's go ahead and get started with today's announcements.

1:08:45Maureen Callahan:we do not care if you come over to our house and there's a pile of laundry on the couch just move it out the way and sit down or fold it we do not care if our hair is thinning on our head and thickening on our chin we do not care that we bought the sharing size bag of eminems and then proceeded to eat the entire bag ourselves. Sharing is overrated. We do not care that we stripped the beds this morning to wash the sheets. It's bedtime. We're tired. Find a sleeping bag. We do not care if something is not dishwasher safe. It is now. I love her.

1:09:29Dave Aronberg:I love her so much. Her name is Melanie Sanders. Melanie without the E at the end. and she's at just being Melanie on Instagram. I live for this woman. I tell me why. Just because I love her, like her affect for the listening audience. She's got the highlighter stuck into like a headband of sorts. She's always got one of those airplane pillows that you buy at the airport so you can sleep better around the back of her neck. She's like, she takes off her, like her notebook is always a mess and she's just like crinkling it with a highlighter pen and the cap in her mouth, crossing out what she's done in her agenda.

1:10:04Dave Aronberg:She treats it like a real board meeting, but she's saying the funniest stuff. And while I will confess that I do care, even though I am now heading for mid fifties, I care. I haven't actually lost all ability to care about these things. I just love some of them. They really hit home like the M &M's thing. Yes, I've been there. Not too long ago, I was at the airport and I desperately wanted a bag of Cheetos. They only had the oversized kind that's clearly to share with like a family. And I ate the entire thing. I love this. It wasn't Maha. It wasn't good for me. I love it. It was so delicious. So like, I can totally relate to some of her moments and I just love her.

1:10:43Megyn Kelly:I love that. You know, I love that. She's also, if you watch it, the thing that struck me is she's got the two, she's got one pair of glasses on and then her readers or whatever her real ones are above it. It's like, she doesn't have the energy to like, just swap one out for the other. Yeah. We do not

1:10:59Dave Aronberg:care. So that is generally what I have to say to Barack Obama. We do not care. But I did care about this little ditty here, Maureen, where he decided to give us a little insight into his relationship with Michelle. Here it is, Sat 29.

1:11:16John Solomon:Since I left office, I have spent over eight years now trying to dig myself out of a hole with Michelle.

1:11:30John Solomon:and uh that's been challenging but i feel like i'm making progress i'm almost i'm almost breaking even at the moment oh my god it's it's perfect that's the

1:11:44Dave Aronberg:he's telling the truth yeah it's the other side of the first side we always cover which is her

1:11:49Megyn Kelly:and how miserable she is i i i again like i know we've talked about this at length and it feels like a real puzzle for the ages, but why is he still whipping himself? Why is he still wearing the hair shirt? Why is he still suffering? I don't know. I don't know the hair shirt.

1:12:09Dave Aronberg:I don't know. It's time. They can easily say it didn't work out. We're going to part ways and he's going to go with Jennifer Aniston or whomever. Whomever.

1:12:19Megyn Kelly:Reggie, love, whomever. Right, right. No judgment. Live your life. But no, it's so strange. And then seeing the photos of them, you know, they're in this very consequential time in American history. They've decided what better time as what they perceive themselves to be as leaders of the Democratic Party to go yachting with Steven Spielberg. Yeah. And she alights first wearing, if we could just talk fashion for a moment. I don't understand what this woman is doing. she's wearing denim on denim on denim with like a denim like scarf wrapped around the hair the hair and and she just looks but she she arrived like five hours before barack arrived on the yacht what yeah they didn't even arrive together that's not a thing nobody wants to do that you always want to go on with your partner but that but she does but they don't she doesn't she and and barack brought his laptop and there are photos of him on spielberg's yacht like having a fine time with his laptop, you know, alone at a table.

1:13:19Dave Aronberg:That's probably how he's happiest. I would bet he is, to be honest. I would bet he is. It's actually, I feel kind of sorry for him, you know, because all she does is rip on him. And it's to the point where, you know, it's like, if this had been a passing comment by her or by him once or twice, we wouldn't make anything out of it. But it's all she says about her marriage. The passing comment by Michelle will be the occasional need to try to rehabilitate things where she comes out like, I love my man and we've worked things out and now things are good. Well, she's never says that, that much positive, but she'll throw out like one compliment in the midst of 30 disses.

1:13:54Dave Aronberg:And what does he say? As soon as he gets in front of it, like he can't even look up. He's like looking down. Like I'm just starting to make some headway and getting out of the enormous hole that I'm in with Michelle.

1:14:06Megyn Kelly:You know, Bill Clinton did a lot worse to his wife on the world stage and he doesn't talk like that. It's true. He seems like he's a happy guy.

1:14:14Dave Aronberg:Well, I don't, I think that comes from women other than Hillary.

1:14:17Megyn Kelly:Well, of course, but what I'm saying, he's not like he's, he hasn't spent his life, even when he got caught, really, it was sort of like he, he did the sort of things that you do, but you could tell he was just like, I'm getting away with it. Yeah, totally. Whatever.

1:14:31Dave Aronberg:Okay. Now, um, what, I don't know whether this person ever cheated. I think he had a reputation for being a loving husband and family man. And that's Robert Redford. Was he, was he a cheater? A little bit. Okay. Nevermind. They all are. Well, in any event, I was a big fan of Robert Redford's and I know you were too. And the news has been so busy. I haven't even gotten a chance to acknowledge that he died. I can't believe he died, but he died 89, 89. I mean, that's a nice long life, especially for someone who's like living as big and as boldly as he was all over the world and jet setting, which can wear you out here.

1:15:07Dave Aronberg:He is wearing or holding his Oscar in that earlier picture at a younger time. And, you know, for virtually every American woman of a certain age, if you didn't love Robert Redford before this movie, you did after you saw The Way We Were. Here's a scene with Barbra Streisand, Stop 55.

1:15:28Megyn Kelly:You never give up, do you?

1:15:43Mike Davis:Only when I'm absolutely forced to. When I'm a very good loser. Better than I am.

1:15:56Megyn Kelly:Well, I've had... more practice.

1:16:06Mike Davis:Your girl is lovely, Hubble. Why don't you bring her for a drink when you come?

1:16:14Maureen Callahan:I can't go. I can't. I know.

1:16:39Dave Aronberg:Oh, my God.

1:16:41Megyn Kelly:I just love that movie. Took me there. I love that movie so much. I love how you just sort of, it's like, they don't make those movies anymore, those 70s movies where you just sort of sink into it and you luxuriate with these characters. Yes. You really get to know them. And what I love about that movie is, you know, famously, Redford knew that Streisand really fell for him while they were filming. and he was very kind about it, but he also used it to help both of their performances and she really shone in that movie because of it. She did. She really did. And what I also love about that movie is she, you know from the beginning it's never going to work.

1:17:22Megyn Kelly:Right. You know from the beginning. And you can sense as the movie progresses her increasing desperation and anger about it, but her attempts to maintain her dignity throughout the whole thing. It's just, I just love that movie so much. The whole premise of it is an interesting one too,

1:17:38Dave Aronberg:because first of all, he's devastatingly handsome. I mean, all American man with the chiseled chin and the tan skin and the blonde haircut just right. The thick hair. With the trench coat up, you know, just, I mean, right on brand. And he's also a rich wasp in this film. You know, they meet at, I can't remember if it's Harvard, but it's some elite Ivy League institution. And she's the more loud Jewish American woman. Like she's a communist when they first meet. And she's got her megaphone and she's trying to rally people to the communist party and to become Marxists. And he's kind of laughing at her, but in a nice way.

1:18:16Dave Aronberg:But they're from totally different worlds, totally different worlds. and you can buy it because waspy, really rich trustafarians tend to be more buttoned up and less showy. And women, it could be Jewish, it could be Italian, tend to be bigger personalities and warm. And you can sense why these two personalities would be like a magnet toward one another. And the whole movie does such a good job of building the tension between them, both sexual and personality. Like you said, it was not meant to be, but they so want to feel the way they feel when they're with this person most of the time that they keep going back for more, even though the other 35 % of the time is really a deal breaker.

1:19:05Megyn Kelly:Yes, yes, and it's so true. It's fire and ice, and they were both attracted to, but I always felt with the Redford character, he, and I haven't seen this movie in a while, and I'm doing a little retrospective, you know? Yeah. And so it's on my list along with, as I told a friend, like my shame watch, which I never saw was Legal Eagles. Oh, yeah. But I'm putting that on my list. Deborah Winger? Yeah. Oh, wow, that came back to me. Yeah. But at least one point in the movie, he says something to her like, you will not let yourself be happy. Like you hide behind all of these causes and this agitation politically as a way to keep yourself from just being happy.

1:19:45Megyn Kelly:And it's so, it really, like he hit her id and she hit his id of like searching for something more meaningful in his life than just his own beauty and wealth.

1:19:57Dave Aronberg:That's right. I tell you, like, not to be over the top, but I'm just going to say one nice thing about Doug. Doug is a little waspy. I mean, he is a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant. He's Presbyterian. He doesn't come from a very rich family, but he does come from a nice family in the main line of Philadelphia. And I love the fact that he's mine. I love that we're married and I have him and he has me. And sometimes I'll have a nightmare that I lose him, you know, that something happens where like we, our family like gets just get torn apart. and those are my worst nightmares, Maureen, because I almost picture that scene where it's like, I'm looking across at this man who I love so much and I feel so lucky to be with.

1:20:43Dave Aronberg:And like something makes it so that we can't be together. And I'm like, so thankful that God, you know, thank God nothing like that has happened, but it's a pleasure. It's like a gift to love somebody like that. And in her case, it's so sad that they can't be together,

1:20:58Megyn Kelly:but in my case, we can. In your case, you can, but that's, and that's the other thing about this movie that I think, you know, I was watching three days, re-watching three days of the Condor the other night, which if you have not seen, do yourself the favor. I mean, oh my God. They've done away. Stunning. Stunning. Like height, both of them at the height of their powers. And what was the thing? Where did I lose my train of thought? It was about, oh, oh. You can't be with him? Yes, but they don't end movies like that anymore. They don't end movies where the couple doesn't wind up together. Yeah.

1:21:29Megyn Kelly:Or where like the hero of the film has an uncertain ending and you like everything's not wrapped up with a bow. And I so appreciate those endings because they get to exactly what you're talking about. Like no matter how perfect anyone's life may look like from the outside on the inside, we're all consumed with anxieties and fears that are existential. Right.

1:21:48Dave Aronberg:That can come haunt you

1:21:49Megyn Kelly:in your sleep. Exactly. I also loved up close and personal with Michelle Pfeiffer.

1:21:53Dave Aronberg:Never saw it. Worth your time. I was resistant to it because it was written by Joan Didion and John Gregory. Oh, well, I can see why then. But I really enjoyed it. I mean, I was not in news when I saw it, I think. Yeah, it was in the 90s. But I enjoyed the segment, and I think it was loosely based on the Jessica Savage story.

1:22:11Megyn Kelly:Yes. I think that was also my resistance because Jessica Savage was so dark. Yes. But so interesting. I want to go full dark. Like, I want to see her snorting cocaine five minutes before air. Same. That's what I want. And they really sort of sanitized it. Yeah. But I'll watch it. I will watch that.

1:22:29Dave Aronberg:Well, they don't give her the same ending as Jessica Savage. Spoiler alert. But you know, Jessica Savage is the reason I am in news. Stop. Yes. So the audience may not even be familiar with her, the younger folks in particular, but she came up in the age of like Connie Chung, Barbara Walters, when there really weren't many women in news at all. She was stunningly beautiful. We'll drop in some pictures of her for the YouTube audience at this point. And, but she had a great voice. She had a great presence. She, she projected tough, like beautiful, but tough. And, um, she decided she wanted to be in news at a time when you just couldn't get in news as a woman.

1:23:05Dave Aronberg:It was very, very, very hard, but just through sheer tenacity, grit and ambition, she did it. And she got hired at NBC where she then became a star. And speaking of like the trench coat with the collar up on the outside of the, like those gray Pentagon walls. That was her. And she became a star, but she was tortured. She was a tortured personality and she had an eating disorder and she was full of anxiety at NBC and she had to be totally perfect. And she actually did a great job of being perfect for a long time. And then drugs started to take over her life. And she infamously had an on-air meltdown while delivering the news into camera on NBC, where she became thick-tongued and started slurring.

1:23:55Dave Aronberg:And it was shocking. I mean, it would be truly like if in the dawn of Peter Jennings, you know, reporting age, he started to go thick-tongued and started slurring a kunga or the orza, you know, like where you're like, is he having a stroke? And you could tell she wasn't having a stroke. It seemed like she was, you know, drug addled and she was. Good evening.

1:24:14Maureen Callahan:President Reagan has canceled his planned visit to the Philippines. The White House blamed the press of congressional business, but did not deny fear for the president's safety. The Supreme Court today left intact rulings of constitutional right to own a handgun.

1:24:30Dave Aronberg:And now this. And then her ending was just so dark. You know, I mean, it's a matter of historical facts. I'm not really spoiling anything, but she dies in this like trench in New Hope, Pennsylvania on a rainy night. And I've seen exactly where she died, where she was like backing out of this restaurant. And I don't even know why there was this huge trench there, but it's almost like a little creek. and she couldn't see. And I think she went over a fence that had been there and she backed in and she was with her dog, Chewy, who she loved and the car flipped so that they were stuck in the muddy, watery ravine.

1:25:10Dave Aronberg:So she had, forgive me, it was going dark now, but she had such a terrible death and such an interesting but tortured life. And I know that part wasn't so inspirational, the drugs and the anxiety and the ending, but the fact that she pulled herself up out of nothing with no connections and made it in a business, you know, at a time when it was much tougher than when I wanted to get in was my inspo. I saw the Jessica Savage story on lifetime TV. When I was an unhappy lawyer, I had made a resume tape. That's all I had, but no connections and no will to call anybody. Cause I was afraid of rejection.

1:25:42Dave Aronberg:And that day I was like, fuck it. I'm going to start calling cold calling news directors.

1:25:47Megyn Kelly:Incredible. If you do like a second memoir, I like, you got to put this in. Like, so I find this fascinating too, because I find Jessica Savage, just as compelling as much for the dark stuff, if not more, because we don't see this anymore, right? And one of the shows I've been talking a lot about on the nerve that I have fallen in love with is The Newsreader, which is an - Oh, yeah. It's on my list because of you. You got to watch it. It's foreign. You and Derek would love it. It's Australian. Yeah. And it's set in the 80s in a newsroom in Australia. And the female anchor is played by this incredible actress named Anna Torv, who is related to the Murdochs.

1:26:22Megyn Kelly:She is a cousin of Lachlan and James, et cetera. And she is very much in the Jessica Savage mold. On air, perfect. Off air, she struggles with what seems like bipolar disorder. She has eating issues, all of it. But it makes her such a... I think that's why people kind of really were drawn to Jessica Savage. They sensed there was something deeper underneath there, you know? And to see a woman like that and all of that complexity making her way through sheer dint of talent and grit, again, something we don't really see. Now we see like the Nepo babies.

1:27:01Dave Aronberg:Yes, exactly right. Yes. Well, one final word on Robert Redford. I will say something about him. He wrote me a personal handwritten note. Now, obviously, he was a Democrat because it came after that debate with Trump. Of course, he went to left love me for that, you know, two minutes. But I'm not going to lie. A note from Robert Redford is a note from Robert Redford. I was thrilled. Can you share what he said? He basically said he was proud of me and he thought I was a great journalist. Yeah.

1:27:33Megyn Kelly:And he didn't mention your looks. No, God, no. No. That's what they used to call in the late 90s, early aughts, a neg. What's that? Have you ever heard of that? No. So I had to have a guy describe this to me as well. after a weird incident at a bar with a guy who was like sort of weird. And he was like, you just got negged. I said, what is negged? He said, that's when a guy will merely insult you or not mention the obvious as to why he's even talking to you. It's sort of a way that like a guy who's trying to punch up a little bit will try to bring you down so they can like engage. Yes. And there was a whole book written by a charlatan who went by the name Mystery.

1:28:13Megyn Kelly:I wound up on the New York Times bestseller list. Anyway, I think Redford was nagging you a little bit.

1:28:18Dave Aronberg:Well, I took it for what it was worth. I was thrilled just to get. No, you should.

1:28:22Megyn Kelly:I mean, even a neg is a is a is a is a take. Yeah. No, it means like he he wasn't going to mention the obvious thing, you know, yes, that you were obviously beautiful. And that was part of why he was writing to you. You know, you had a little crush, maybe.

1:28:35Dave Aronberg:I think it was a it was like I got a lot of admiration from Democrats for that moment. Meanwhile, I was like, let's see if you like me if I ever get to host a Dem debate. You know, like this is I wasn't trying to take down Trump. I was mean to all of them. And I would be even meaner probably if I had a bunch of Dems, but they don't have the stones to sit with me. Then Robert Redford came on my NBC show. No. We have videotape of it. I don't think we have a SOP, but we have a videotape of when he was there. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. He's walking out with Jane Fonda. So it made it very complicated for me.

1:29:06Dave Aronberg:And look, there I am sitting with Robert Redford. And I've got to tell you a crazy story. So do you remember how I asked Jane Fonda about her plastic surgery and it made headlines all around the world? I do. interview people said you're so insensitive meanwhile she had talked about it in every other interview 100 why can everybody else ask about it but i can't ask about it but whatever um the reason i did that the reason i went there is because robert redford's publicist was in the audience like in the front row and hers wasn't and she came to me right before i asked that question whatever break was there i can't remember if it was at the top of the segment or in between two segments, but she came to me and she was like, please don't let her talk about the sex scenes.

1:29:47Dave Aronberg:She's making him totally uncomfortable. She Jane Fonda is making Bob. Yeah. Totally uncomfortable. She's obsessed with the sex scenes. She he's not into her that way. She keeps wanting to talk about them and he hates it. So she like, I was trying to do him a solid by going to a place. I thought Jane Fonda also was very willing to talk about and to protect Robert Redford from having to listen to that shit about their sex scenes, which he was uncomfortable with. And no good deed goes unpunished, Maureen.

1:30:22Megyn Kelly:Poor Robert Redford at like 70, 75. He still can't get off his cross like every co-star. It's like, I just want to ask you, man.

1:30:33Dave Aronberg:Exactly right. Well, we will miss him. But what a legacy. What a life he led. All right. We're going to take a quick break. Maureen's going to be here for plenty more. Don't go away.

1:31:09Dave Aronberg:need to cut deals. They even know which ones have year-end audits and need to get your debt off of their books. So consider getting started with Done With Debt right now, this fall. Done With Debt accomplishes this without bankruptcy or new loans. In fact, most clients end up with more money in their pocket the first month. Get started now while you still have time. Go to donewithdebt.com and speak with one of their specialists for free. Visit donewithdebt.com, donewithdebt.com. Welcome back to The Megyn Kelly Show. Here with me today, Maureen Callahan, host of The Nerve on the MK Media Podcast Network.

1:31:44Dave Aronberg:Go to thenerveshow.com. Subscribe on all podcast platforms and on YouTube. Get in on all the fun. Maureen is back on Tuesday as the show keeps growing. It's a hit by any measure. And if you want to see yours truly and Maureen together on tour, go to megankelly.com and get your tickets now. You won't be sorry you did. So now speaking of my time on the Today Show, our favorite person, Hoda Koppe, who really just wanted to spend time with her daughters. That's why she had to leave her post at the Today Show. She's all about being a mom and doing what matters, is back out with yet another product that she's hawking.

1:32:26Dave Aronberg:This time it's some book, which sounds like it's full of complete inanity.

1:32:31Megyn Kelly:What's going on? I just like to say I normally try to patronize my local bookstores because I believe in that. And I was at a local bookstore yesterday and I was like, I cannot buy this book and approach any register. You could read the Kamala book and you can't buy the Hoda book. I'm buying it, but I'm buying it on Amazon Prime under a pseudonym. You know what I'm saying? Like, I won't. But yes, I'm reading all of this stuff. So I just read the extract in People.

1:32:59Dave Aronberg:Oh, God. Okay. Yes, yes. It sounds ridiculous. I have it here somewhere. Let's say you keep going.

1:33:03Megyn Kelly:So we are revisiting for the 8 millionth time. There are a lot of parallels with Kamala. We're telling the same story over and over and over. Yes. I'm back in her dressing room at the Today Show while she's breaking the news. And it's amazing to have her version of events where like her co-star on The Fourth Hour, Jenna Bush Hager is, um, is quote unquote devastated that she's leaving. She's it's not like an all about Eve thing here where we're like, oh my God, finally the mantle is mine. Let's get real. That's what's going on. This is my show now, bitch. Finally you're leaving. No, Jenna's devastated.

1:33:40Megyn Kelly:She's going, no, no, no. Okay.

1:33:42Dave Aronberg:Wait, I found it. This is what they say. Um, okay. The book it's called jump and find joy book highlights via Amazon. In her quest to better understand change, what, and how to work with, not against it, Hoda relies on her reporting instincts to investigate how change works, who, in all caps, is approaching it with grace, and what she can apply to her own life and share with others about how change works. So you're going to get the wisdom of change experts.

1:34:28Megyn Kelly:Who's an expert on change? A change expert. A change expert. It's a new lane of self-help.

1:34:36Dave Aronberg:Insights from the latest work on resilience and deeply personal stories from celebrities and generally inspirational people in our own communities. And the headline is, it will shed new light on the moment she realized her engagement to Joel Schiffman was over in 2022. She went to the Hoffman Institute and realized she was totally ready to dump him, even though they have two daughters together, very young ones.

1:35:05Megyn Kelly:Well, they were never married. No. So I always found that weird. Like you're adopting with somebody you're not married to. What are you doing to these kids? What are you doing to these kids? But when you hold a copy, they'll give you the kids. Yeah. You're purchasing them, which is my opinion. But she gave this. So, okay, she's going to shed new light. Anytime someone's like, I'm shedding new light, they're lying. They're not shedding anything. She used a bunch of word salad to say, well, the reason we broke up was like, I don't know. I realized at some point this wasn't going to be the thing that was going to manifest for either one of us.

1:35:34Megyn Kelly:It's like, I emailed a friend of mine. I was like, what does this mean? My friend emailed back like lengthy, lengthy explanations. She's saying this. She's saying that. I said, I think she's saying she caught him messing around.

1:35:46Dave Aronberg:Oh, that's it. Oh, that's it. Wait, I got to look back at these quotes that are in here. She said, she said, because she went to this thing called the Hoffman Institute where people go to like work on their issues. And she felt like everything had shifted after she attended a one week retreat there, explaining that she had an epiphany during the retreat and began to feel like she was a total phony on her relationship. Our us felt different. She also called the decision to split from Joel one of the best 10 second decisions of her life. I think sometimes, you know, that a relationship is good, but it's not deepening.

1:36:15Dave Aronberg:We will co-parent in a beautiful way. Okay. I'm sorry, but like their kids are young. It's two daughters. One's eight, one's six. Like maybe decide that before you decide to adopt the two children. Like she just kind of threw away the relationship. It seems to me rather cavalierly after an epiphany at the Hoffman Institute that things were not deepening. I mean, listen, I have a divorce on my record, but my first husband and I got divorced. We did not have kids. I think when you have kids, a six and eight year old, maybe ideally in a perfect world, it would take time for you to end the relationship again.

1:36:51Dave Aronberg:They weren't married without for something more than it's not deepening.

1:36:56Megyn Kelly:Yeah. I mean, listen, I'll say as a product of a difficult home, I do wish my parents had like me good on their multiple threats to divorce. But, you know, which is it? She either had to go to the Hoffman Institute to do deep work for a week or she had a 10 second epiphany.

1:37:12Dave Aronberg:Well, it's perfect that she was at the Hoffman Institute because we've talked about this many times, how the people who are constantly focused

1:37:18Megyn Kelly:on this bullshit are the least happy people. You say this all the time. And it's like, every time you say it's like, it's another epiphany. It's like, yeah, it's like if you're perseverating on, first of all, if your world is that myopic, that it's about you, you, you, you, you are a bore. You are a limited, non-intellectual, non-interesting person. You're a bore. And this is why she's telling the same story over and over. Now we're revisiting Departing the Today Show. Could you imagine, Megan, if you were still like, I'm talking about Departing the Today Show for the millionth time.

1:37:53Dave Aronberg:Honestly, this week I brought it up, the blackface thing because of Jimmy Kimmel and like how he did it all these times. He never got canceled and he never cried any tears for me or stuck up for me. But I hate going back to that because it's like, by this point, it's such a beaten horse. It's like, oh my God, I trust me. I know I and others are like, move on. But she, yeah, she loves to go back. And she did go back. She sat with Savannah and we have a little, we have a little clip of her sitting with Savannah Guthrie talking about her book. Hello. Hello. This is so exciting. I'm so happy. We miss you so much.

1:38:26Dave Aronberg:I like holding your hands. I know.

1:38:28Megyn Kelly:I know. Is this awkward for everyone else? Whenever Haley says something, she goes, Haley is awesome. So I was like, I was in the kitchen. I was like, mom's a CEO. Pow, pow, pow.

1:38:43Megyn Kelly:She's a CEO. Like you could just call yourself a CEO. Founder. You could say a female founder a female flounder i love like she's been gone for a minute i could i can only imagine what like the actual people who are still on the today show like see when they see like hoda's on the roster it's like she's back again and i knew it was grim this week because she also i she did not co-host the fourth hour of today with jenna oh no i don't even know if we got a guest segment at best you know so it's like it's like we're sliding further and further down that pole

1:39:15Dave Aronberg:But they're probably like, we already promoted your stupid app like twice. And now you're back for a book. Like, are you sure you wanted to give up this job? Are you sure?

1:39:22Megyn Kelly:She got like a month long departure. Like I punish myself because I want to know what's getting pumped into the veins of this country. It's barely been like half a year. I think she left eight months ago. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, give people time to miss you. Yes. But like now we found joy, which again, tell me how. Like give me one concrete thing that you're selling this book on. Joy, but really we are talking to experts in change.

1:39:46Dave Aronberg:That's what you're going to find in this book. You know, this, that for me was such a, like a trigger, but not actually, um, it's the many, many times I sat on the show, like the set of the today show and just, I had nothing like in the face of that false enthusiasm, I got nothing. It's so hard to, to like react appropriately to that. You know, you're like, yeah, what would I have done across from pow, pow, pow. I mean, give me your best poker face. What would you have

1:40:17Megyn Kelly:done?

1:40:19Dave Aronberg:We gotta play it again. We have to see that again. Can we play that? Rerack that. Hello. Hello, Hodes. This is so exciting. I'm so happy to see you. We miss you so much. I like holding your hands. I like sitting next to you. I know.

1:40:33Megyn Kelly:Is this awkward for everyone else? Whenever Haley says something, she goes, Haley is awesome. Pow, pow, pow. So I was like, I was in the kitchen. I was like, mom's a CEO. Pow, pow, pow.

1:40:46Dave Aronberg:They're both doing it. She joined it.

1:40:50Megyn Kelly:With her friendship bracelets. She's still wearing the friendship bracelets. So we sent an interloper. We sent a gorilla into Hoda's launch event in Connecticut. in Connecticut the other night, Jenna got conscripted into doing this, like, after work, 7 p.m. book event at a church. And I said, you got to go in wearing the basic bitch uniform and you got to put those friendship bracelets on. And she did it. She armed up to go in incognito. Oh, really? One of our producers, yeah. Yeah, because you said Jenna, and I thought you meant Jenna Boothager. Jenna got conscripted into having the, like, let's talk about things that you and I have talked about ad nauseum.

1:41:29Megyn Kelly:Now I got it. Now I got it. I need to see every second of that.

1:41:33Dave Aronberg:Well, I can only promise you good things. It's coming. Yeah. Be patient. Maybe I'll consult the Bible on change so that I can just get used to the fact that something big is going to change for me when I read this book and watch her segment about Hoda Kotb.

1:41:49Megyn Kelly:Hoda and Jenna and Maria and Maria Shriver, all the great minds of, you know, Socratic.

1:41:55Dave Aronberg:Honestly, I think I was temporarily insane when I agreed to go to NBC. I really do. Sometimes I look back and I think I was suffering a temporary bout of insanity. It's funny, like with perspective and time, which you can see that in the moment seemed like a good idea. My God, pow, pow, pow. We'll be right back. You know what's crazy? Trusting the government or some random insurance agent to give good Medicare support. That's how people could wind up stuck in the wrong plan. Get this. Trump's Department of Justice sued three major Medicare brokers for pretending to be unbiased while allegedly pushing people into the plans that got the brokers the biggest kickbacks.

1:42:36Dave Aronberg:Let's be honest here. The government made a mess of Medicare. No one should have to untangle that mess alone. This is why I want to tell you about Chapter. Now, Chapter will compare every single plan nationwide, not just the ones that pay the biggest commissions. And because of that, they can save people an average of$1 ,100 a year. That's real money. especially in the economy that we've been dealing with for the past couple of years. So whether you are brand new to Medicare or you've been on it for years, consider making the call and finding out more. If you're already in the best plan, Chapter will tell you.

1:43:05Dave Aronberg:If not, they could help you save thousands. It's free, it's fast, and in less than 20 minutes, they will review your options. Call the number 27 Medicare today. That's 27 Medicare. And finally, feel confident about your Medicare.

1:43:19John Solomon:To tip off this NBA season on FanDuel, you can choose your own rewards, which means you can play your game any way you want. I get to choose my rewards?

1:43:27Maureen Callahan:Yep. Great. Now, excuse me while I lock in. All customers choose your own reward right now in the FanDuel app.

1:43:33John Solomon:21 plus and present in New York. Opt-in required. Rewards are non-withdrawable. Restrictions apply, including bonus and token expiration, leg requirement, and max wager amount. See full terms at fanduel.com slash sportsbook. For help with a gambling problem, call 1-877-8HOPE-NY or text HOPE-NY 467-369.

1:43:49Dave Aronberg:Performance comes down to controlling what you can. For tennis pro, Jessica Pagula, that means starting with the air around her. She can't control her opponent or the match, but she can control her rest and recovery. That's why she's trusted Blue Air for five years and counting. Blue Signature air purifiers are engineered to perform and designed to impress, with seven stages of advanced filtration, up to ten times more odor removal, and customizable colors and accessories. Shop blueair.com and use code SIGNATURE30 to save. We absolutely have to keep talking. It's more important now than ever.

1:44:25Maureen Callahan:This fall, Megan Kelly is taking her show live to cities nationwide.

1:44:30Dave Aronberg:To go silent is not the answer. I'm going. I'm going to stand on these stages, and I'm going to say all the things that we say all the time on this show. We're going to make it safe for me. We're going to make it safe for my team and my guests and you and do something really important, which is say what's true and what's real. And I would love for you to join me. megankelly.com for the tickets. You can stream the Megan Kelly show on Sirius XM at home or anywhere you are. No car required. I do it all the time. I love the Sirius XM app. It has ad-free music coverage of every major sport, comedy talk, podcast, and more.

1:45:05Dave Aronberg:Subscribe now. Get your first three months for free.

1:45:07Maureen Callahan:Go to SiriusXM.com slash MK show to subscribe and get three months free. That's SiriusXM.com slash MK show and get three months free offer details apply.

1:45:23Dave Aronberg:And we're back with Maureen Callahan host of the nerve. All right. Serena Williams is in the news. Why? Because she was in New York to support her friend Kim Kardashian with something she's doing with Nike and Serena Williams was in town to like attend to it. And she's in some hotel. We do not know which hotel she was staying in. She did not publicize that. But Serena Williams, who is one of the richest Americans alive, was triggered by something, Maureen. And I'm going to show you what it was.

1:45:59Maureen Callahan:All right, everyone. How do we feel about cotton as decoration?

1:46:06Dave Aronberg:Personally, for me, it doesn't feel great.

1:46:10Maureen Callahan:So actually it feels like no polish remover cotton, natural.

1:46:21Okay.

1:46:22Dave Aronberg:So at the end of that video, she's, she's plucked one of the cotton balls off of the plant and she's using it to buff her nails. And then she, she does the hand gesture of like, ew, like where you shake your hands like, ew, gross, and she drops it. Now, Serena Williams is triggered by cotton, I guess, because it used to be picked by slaves and she's a black American. It's 2025. Serena Williams is estimated by Forbes to be worth$350 million. She's married to a very, very rich man too. She hung up her racket in 2022, ending a career in which she earned 95 million in prize money. more prize money than any female athlete in history.

1:47:05Dave Aronberg:She has endorsement deals to this day with more than a dozen brands. She's active as an investor in her own venture capital firm. She's got a licensing deal with a beauty line. She's launched a multimedia company. She owns part of the Miami Dolphins, but she is an oppressed direct descendant of slaves, I guess. And that's how she sees herself to this day, because I guess generational trauma, as the kids call it. She can't walk by a cotton plant in a luxury hotel to go promote Kim Kardashian's skims line without feeling trauma that she has to videotape and post on Insta. In her new Olympic body.

1:47:46Megyn Kelly:Yes. Or whatever the GLP one is. I'm sorry. It's not as it's but she's on it and she's getting endorsement money for that. Very clearly. Well, if it's really, really that triggering, why not name him and shame him, Serena? Why not name and shame that luxury hotel? You want to know why? I bet she's getting a really sweetheart deal staying there, if not comped. So she's probably staying in a$25 ,000 a night presidential suite, but she doesn't want to upset the powers that be by saying this is the whatever. And by the way, this, first of all, Meghan Markle's like, what happened to me? I thought I was your best friend.

1:48:17Megyn Kelly:And they're over in New York with Kim Kardashian, who, by the way, is befouling the steps of the New York Public Library doing a Skims event. Like there are models like on every step in like Skims shapewear. And it's like, is the New York Public Library in need of this much money? Have they no standards whatsoever? It really does upset me. Like not much upsets me, but like that to me is like hallowed ground. Like what's Kim and Skims doing there?

1:48:47Dave Aronberg:Yeah. Is there no standard whatsoever? Yeah. Well, I just can't believe how much like the woke leftist types lean into victimhood. Like this woman has it made. She is so lucky. She was born in the United States of America and was raised here and was given all the opportunities that she got, made the most out of them by sheer grit, determination and talent. Absolutely. Nobody would take that away from her. why does she want to associate herself with some sort of trigger by walking by cotton that because it just reminds you of slavery that's it like who honestly like we all know about slavery and by the way that's like me being like i can't walk by the potatoes in the in the whole foods because i'm triggered my people my irish people the potato famine and what was done to the irish when they came to america like we can all do that that's the great douglas murray line we can all do that

1:49:40Megyn Kelly:We can all do that. Have you ever heard the joke about the potato famine? No. Why didn't they just go fishing?

1:49:50Megyn Kelly:Anyway. Did not. No, but this is the thing about Serena. She was always a brat. Like, she was always a brat on the tennis court. Like, towards the end of her career, at her final U.S. Open, it was one or two maybe before the final. I forget. But she was losing. And she wasn't supposed to lose. It was the narrative in all of USTA. They all wanted her to win and go out as the queen. And Naomi, along came Naomi Osaka, who was like derailing that narrative. And when Serena realized Naomi, the 17-year-old was beating her, she started throwing these fits. And that's a psychological trick to try to throw off your opponent.

1:50:26Megyn Kelly:And at one point, she goes up to that. She got a foul or some sort of technical call. Was this when she yelled at the line ref? I'm a mother. She went into that. I'm a mother. You think I would lie? I'm a mother. Oh yeah. That was like my favorite. All mothers are good.

1:50:42Dave Aronberg:That wasn't that she was accused of taking coaching from her coach. Oh yeah. And it was banned back then.

1:50:47Megyn Kelly:It's not now her hot coach. Yeah. Who was like doing this. What I found a very sexual movement. She had had a relationship with him. Oh, whoa. Oh yeah. And the coaching from the stand was like this. It was like, I swear to God, I swear. Once you see it, you could never unsee it. You could never unsee it.

1:51:05Dave Aronberg:You've got to watch this on YouTube. If you're not watching this on YouTube, go to the one hour, three minute Mark Seymour-Heinz invitation. Wow. Well, I say, please just stop. She's got homes in Paris, Beverly Hills, in Jupiter, Florida, which is one of the most posh, expensive areas you can buy in. Her husband, by the way, was I think the CEO of Reddit. Yes, or a co-founder. Yeah, co-founder. And he resigned his post during the Black Lives Matter. George Floyd, a Palooza period so that a white so that a black person can have it. He's white.

1:51:40Megyn Kelly:OK, he seems scared of her to me all the time. Whenever I did other. Yeah, yeah. That's where I was going. Like, he seems afraid.

1:51:48Dave Aronberg:It's ridiculous. I mean, like you are hashtag part of the problem, sir. And I'm sure he's nurturing her fear of cotton right now as we speak. OK, while we're on the subject of absurd people, Megan Markle's back in the news. our favorite. She gave an interview to Bloomberg. I know you're aware of this, Emily Chang at Bloomberg. And they had some casual conversation. We'll start with, I guess, 39 for Kix. Is there an inherent tension in trying to be relatable while also being

1:52:25Maureen Callahan:a duchess.

1:52:27Dave Aronberg:Oh, God.

1:52:28Maureen Callahan:No, I don't find... I'm just being myself. So I think probably it was different several years ago where I couldn't be as vocal and I had to wear nude pantyhose all the time. Let's be honest. That was not very myself. I hadn't seen pantyhose since movies in the 80s. When they came in The Little Egg, that felt a little bit inauthentic, but that's a silly example. But it is an example of when you're able to dress the way you want to dress and you're able to say the things that are true and you're able to show up in the space really organically and authentically. Single tear.

1:53:09Megyn Kelly:Show up in the space organically and authentically. It's the Hoda Lexicon.

1:53:14Dave Aronberg:She had it so tough, Maureen.

1:53:16Megyn Kelly:She couldn't be her true self because they made her wear the nude pantyhose. And to say what you want to say. But I don't know what it is. What is it you want to say? Like, get it out. It's been 10 years. Spit it out. What are you trying to say, lady?

1:53:29Dave Aronberg:For once and for all. Spit it out is right. Yeah, no, I mean, I'm just my authentic self. That's it. I mean, truer words were never not spoken by her. She's like, no one knows who she is. What we hear behind the scenes is that she's a bully who fires everybody, runs around only worried about herself. But when she gets on camera, she actually is a decent actress in being like, I'm just this super relatable person with her own flower sprinkles and, you know, candle line. And I just sit around being like a working mom. I'm just like all the other working moms. Right.

1:54:05Megyn Kelly:That's me. Right. There's a there. I think it's before that part in the Emily episode, which is they're eating smash burgers at her favorite

1:54:15Dave Aronberg:burger joint. We have it. We think you're talking about 37. Let's see.

1:54:21Maureen Callahan:Things got real all before noon on a Tuesday. When do you feel the least Duchess of Sussex?

1:54:27Dave Aronberg:Oh my God. This woman's an idiot. I'm having the same vibe as pow, pow, pow.

1:54:37Megyn Kelly:Oh my God. Yes. Yes. And also what an insult to your interviewer who flew to Montecito. When do you feel the least Duchess of Sussex sitting here with you. Sitting here with you. She deserved it.

1:54:48Dave Aronberg:That girl's an idiot. I'm sorry, but that interview was painful. She's obsessed

1:54:53Megyn Kelly:with the Duchess thing. She is, but also again, you want a really interesting interview. You really want to go viral and make some noise. You sit down with an antagonist. She should sit down with the likes of you. Oh my God. Can you imagine? Or the likes of me. Or like I said on the Nerve the other day, I think the smartest thing Megan could have done was after we did, which the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, how they ignored with love, Megan, with a Y. We were dissed. It was wrong. We were robbed. Yeah, we were totally robbed. I think the smartest play for her would have been to have her people reach out to you and say, hey, I'd like to come play.

1:55:29Megyn Kelly:Like, can I come and do that version with you guys? And she would have been like the next door neighbor that you didn't know moved in. And we're just having like fancy, whatever we were, I don't even remember. That would have made us like her. yeah you would have had no choice it would have been kind of sad you have a sense of humor right

1:55:47Dave Aronberg:but there's it's no accident she didn't do it because she doesn't have a sense of humor about

1:55:50Megyn Kelly:herself no no no i think she's got voodoo dolls of you yeah and you don't drag me into this you're in it sister supporting player here's 38 we got one more to go

1:56:03Maureen Callahan:and yet there were mixed reviews how did that land for you i think i knew who i was trying to I think oftentimes the negative voices, are they saying negative things and then secretly going home and making single skillet spaghetti? Possibly. And that's all right. They're trying to pay their bills, and that's for them to sort out if they're comfortable doing it at someone else's detriment. From my standpoint, the intention of the show was to share more of myself, to share tips that I love in my life, and to have fun. But there's this take that you're glorifying homemaking or glorifying trad wives.

1:56:37Maureen Callahan:Oh, really? That feels odd to me. Yeah, how do you respond to that? That feels odd to me. I mean, I hadn't heard that. But I'm really unapologetic about the fact that I, though, would it be lovely to go and churn your own butter? Sure, maybe. I don't have time for that. I don't have time for that. And I don't think you get an extra gold star if you do that.

1:57:02Dave Aronberg:Oh, my God. I hate them both so much with every fiber of my being. that interviewer is an idiot. Emily Chang, how dumb is she that there's that, you know, there's a criticism that it's like promoting trad wives. Like who would ever want to be like, you actually promoted domesticity. Who would ever want to do that?

1:57:20Megyn Kelly:Right. You're promoting, uh, cooking and homemaking and taking care of your children and building a warm, loving environment. But Emily, you know, Emily's really, uh, she's a very serious person because she puts her hand on her chin. Yeah. She leans in a lot. And she's got the super short hair. Yes. We're very serious. We're very, very serious. And,

1:57:41Dave Aronberg:and then what a missed opportunity for Megan Markle there. She should have said, first of all, you're an idiot. Let's start with that. And then she should have said, why would that be a bad thing? Right. What's wrong with staying home? Right. Creating a great home for your family. I would have loved for her to turn it back on that interviewer, but instead she's like, Oh my God, I'm getting out progressived by my progressive interviewer. So I'd love to stay at home and churn butter, but I don't have time for that. Meanwhile, you fucking showed us your beehive.

1:58:12Maureen Callahan:What do you, pick a lane.

1:58:14Megyn Kelly:100 % she is exactly doing that shit because she's part of the 1%. The reason she couldn't respond, I think quickly to that is because she's got a staff raising her kids. If she were really raising her kids, she would know that's the hardest job on the planet. She would feel attacked. And you never get time off. And you would say, you know what? There's nothing wrong with that. Right. In fact, that's the hardest job there is.

1:58:37Dave Aronberg:So yeah, I would lean into that. Right. She wasn't offended because she doesn't actually do that. She actually does look down on that, just like the interviewer does. That's what happened there.

1:58:45Megyn Kelly:That's what she's doing, by the way, when she's not taking Emily to her favorite bookstore where Emily's asking, what have you read lately? And she says, I don't have time to read. Okay. But this is my favorite place to go. Okay. The bookstore. Okay. Is it Jump for Joy? Is she secretly ordering?

1:58:59Dave Aronberg:Okay. So I just want to say that business about, well, are some people attack me to pay their bills, but then are they eating one pot pasta? I feel attacked. I think that was at us. I do too, but we weren't even secretly doing it. We made one pot pasta to mock you. We didn't actually make it to enjoy it.

1:59:18Megyn Kelly:No, we didn't. But then I, so I believe this happened after we started, we stopped filming it, but didn't we try it? Yeah, it actually was pretty good. It was pretty good. But we can say that. We can say that. But it was Martha Stewart's recipe.

1:59:31Dave Aronberg:That's why it was good.

1:59:32Megyn Kelly:Right, right, right. We worked off of Martha's recipe just like you did, Duchess. And I love how she says, if you feel comfortable denigrating people, yeah, I do. I do. I deserve it. I totally do. I absolutely freaking do. Yes. I feel that aligns completely with my values. And she did it to the British royal family until she killed off the Queen and Prince Philip.

1:59:55Dave Aronberg:So, you know, I didn't call my whole country racist like you did. Exactly. I didn't kill my grandmother in law. No, none of that happened in my world. No, I didn't.

2:00:04Megyn Kelly:I didn't cut my husband off from his entire family of origin and keep my children from a historical lineage, the likes of which has never been seen since. Oh, my God, Megan, I tell you something before I forget. There is this documentary on Netflix that you will love. It is called Rebel Royals. Oh, it is. It's like if the Harry and Megan story was funny. so it's about uh princess uh marta luis of norway who falls in love with a black american shaman oh from la wow he's gay oh that's a problem but not for her what do you mean it's like it's like it's like this like you see them like planning their wedding and like and it's so funny because like he starts off he's on camera first and two two two words out of his mouth and i'm saying this guy's this guy's gay guy like what's he doing four four words in he's like now i am a gay man is this a problem not really what yeah because he's like he's like he's he's coming into his full flower because he's going to become a royal oh my god well yeah who could blame him this has got cory booker vibes but it's but it's but it's like the opposite of because like you know megan was exactly like the theater kid and megan was like what's a bigger stage than royal yes but she resists it but but like this guy's like all in and like even like uh the princess is divorced and um in norway it's a huge deal because like the royal family's really all they have culturally and historically it's a huge huge deal so they take it very seriously and she's got these three uh children girls from her first marriage and they're like sitting around the table in la and they're they're they're just talking to him like yeah i like you're like my favorite gay uncle This is hilarious.

2:01:43Dave Aronberg:So they actually get married? Do you want to spoil it? Oh, no, no, no, I don't. No, I've got it in the rebel oils. You'll love it. Now, the thing about the beekeeping reminded me of something. Guess what happened to me the other day? I went out on our side deck and I was reading. And then it got sunny, too sunny. I was getting hot. And so I went over to, we have one of those umbrellas, you know, that blocks the sun. One of those big like patio umbrellas. And I went over to raise the umbrella part and I put my hand underneath. I got stung and then all these bees came out. I ran, I ran back into the house.

2:02:29Dave Aronberg:I was under attack. I've never been stung by a bee before. Wow. Yeah. I've gone 54 years without ever having a bee sting. I'm like, where's this going? So then we called like the bee guy to come deal with this. And he told me I had been attacked by the bees who were at the outpost. The big, what he said was aggressive hornet's nest was up a little higher on the house, like by the gutter in a corner, which we hadn't seen. It was huge. I can't believe we haven't been all killed by these hornets, which if I showed you this, you would like you'd run in fear. I had my hand up there. There was a second hive.

2:03:18Dave Aronberg:I was attacked. And as it turns out, I have no bee allergy.

2:03:22Megyn Kelly:Well, you're lucky. That is, that is terrifying. That is terrifying. You think it's like not going to happen. And like, you know, like a nice porch, mac or whatever. Everything's clean.

2:03:32Dave Aronberg:We hadn't raised that umbrella in forever. You know, that was the problem. Like we just never raised that umbrella. And unfortunately, I was the first one to go after like two years and try to raise it up. And I went on ChatGPT immediately to say like, what do you do for a bee sting? And I did get some good advice. It said, get a credit card and rub it along where you can, because I could see the stinger like in my, it was sort of on the side of my thumb and rub it. and that'll get the stinger out because if the stinger stays in, it continues delivering the poison. And it came right out. And sure enough, can I tell you,

2:04:06Megyn Kelly:it didn't hurt that bad. Yeah, it's not that bad. Have you ever been stung by a bee? Yeah, like once or twice. It's not that bad. It was not pleasant, but I would have expected it to be horrible. No, it's not that bad. Is a wasp worse? I don't know. I've never been stung by a wasp. Mosquitoes to me are the worst.

2:04:22Dave Aronberg:Taking your text, your emails now, you can email me, megan at megankelly.com. Sometimes I give out my personal email by mistake, and that's... I remember not to do that. That's the show email, but I do read them. But anyway, that credit card will take out the stinger and save you, I think, considerable pain. So how about that for a little fun tip? Now, while we're on the subject of the Royals... And things are happening. Prince Harry, unfortunately, seems to be making up with the king.

2:04:55Megyn Kelly:I know.

2:04:55Dave Aronberg:They had tea and cake.

2:04:57Megyn Kelly:I know.

2:04:58Dave Aronberg:And he's planning on spending a lot more time in the UK. And while I feel for King Charles, like every parent wants to be with the son or the daughter, even if they're ne 'er-do-well, I object to this so strongly. I do not want those two going back into the royal family. And it seems like the groundwork is being laid.

2:05:19Megyn Kelly:I object strenuously. And I think, you know, I also read that Harry has said he is going to enroll his children at Eton. Oh, no. Yeah. Oh, my God. And I feel this is my theory. I feel as though this is Charles waging war on William. Oh. Charles and William have a fractious relationship at best. and William is dead set on slim lining the monarchy, slimming it down rather. And did you see that Andrew next to him at that funeral for the Duchess of Kent? Andrew was trying to talk to William. They were together and William's like anywhere else, anywhere else. And I kind of love, I love William's energy right now.

2:06:08Megyn Kelly:I find it very attractive. He's like, don't F with me. You know, like I'm like, I mean business And Harry's not getting back in, but I feel like Charles is trying to, he resents William in many ways, apparently, is the line. And in welcoming, in making it clear that Harry may have a way back in, it's a dagger. To me, it's a Cain and Abel story. It's the good son versus the bad son. And as so often in families where you have a ne 'er-do-well or a problem child who's always causing grief, It's always those ones who get like chance after chance.

2:06:43Dave Aronberg:I know. It's infuriating. Yeah. Long past the point where the siblings are done with his person. Exactly. Well, Prince William did give an interview and it wasn't about this, but it was kind of personal. He, it was a, it was a preview. Oh, Eugene Levy of Schmitz Creek did the interview. He has a new show called The Reluctant Traveler. And he actually, what a get to get Prince William to sit down with you. What a get. And here's a bit of it in Sop 40.

2:07:10Mike Davis:Why don't you pop down to the castle, William, from the Prince of Wales? Your Royal Highness. Nice to see you.

2:07:19John Solomon:We provide this service for everyone. We do personalized tours everywhere.

2:07:22Mike Davis:What do you do when you're home?

2:07:25John Solomon:Sleep. Really? When you've got three small children, sleep was an important part of my life. I'd say 2024 was the hardest year I've ever had. You know, life is sent to test us as well, and being able to overcome that is what makes us who we are.

2:07:39Dave Aronberg:his accent is so divine. I know. Isn't it? I know. It's so nice. It's the upper crust British accent without like a moment spent on the wrong side of the tracks. Yes. Very, very lovely to listen to.

2:07:52Megyn Kelly:And economy of words.

2:07:54Dave Aronberg:Yeah.

2:07:54Megyn Kelly:Not a lot of filler like we get from the Kamalas and the Meghans of the world. We're trying to squeeze a cogent thought out. So we're buying time. Can you imagine him across from her having to listen to that? I always say it's the greatest favor she ever did that royal family. Can you imagine having to sit across from her and listen to the like nonsense and the social justice warrior language and this? I mean, no, no. And every comment about herself. Everything about herself. Literally. Back to me. Did you know that when I was a kid, I wrote a letter to a dish soap company?

2:08:31Megyn Kelly:Have you heard that one before? Exactly. I was a feminist right from the beginning. That's why I relate to you, Madam Queen. Yes, exactly. You know, yeah, I used to eat. I used to read Ms. Magazine while eating my tray table. What do you call those? TV dinners? Also, I'm totally ready to dump my own family. Right, right. I'm a person of real morals and character. And I totally, I'll dump any, I'll throw anybody under the bus. Take me. Pick me. Pick me.

2:08:57Dave Aronberg:This is a nice story that I wanted to get to. Tim Allen, you know, home improvement. Tim Allen, he's great. He came out with this amazing revelation. today. I think he posted it on X. Is that where he did it? Yeah, it was on X. And it relates to Erica Kirk, Charlie's widow, of course, and that extraordinary moment that we saw at Charlie's memorial. My husband, Charlie, he wanted to save

2:09:33Megyn Kelly:young men

2:09:36Dave Aronberg:just like the one who took his life.

2:09:55Megyn Kelly:That young man. That young man. On the cross, our Savior said, Father, forgive them for they not know what they do. That man, that young man, I forgive him.

2:10:39Dave Aronberg:I feel like in a year, that's going to be Charlie getting murdered and Erica forgiving the killer. Those are going to be the two moments that we remember about this story. Those two just almost equally extraordinary moments. And Tim Allen was watching and he posted on X, When Erica Kirk spoke the words on the man who killed her husband, that man, that young man, I forgive him. That moment deeply affected me. I have struggled for over 60 years to forgive the man who killed my dad. I will say those words now as I type. I forgive the man who killed my father. Peace be with you all. And it turns out Tim Allen's dad was killed by a drunk driver.

2:11:27Dave Aronberg:And the dad, Tim Allen's dad, was in the car with his wife and the kids. Tim was 11. I think he was one of them. I'm not totally sure. And his mom was killed. So can you imagine this poor guy who's gone on to become an international star? I'm sure he's got plenty of money. all these Hollywood contacts, very sensible. I think he's right-leaning, though he doesn't totally come out and in your face with it. And to say he was inspired by this 36-year-old woman at the height of her grieving who did an extraordinary thing. And they say forgiveness, if you can do it, releases you. It's a gift you give to yourself.

2:12:06Dave Aronberg:It releases you from harboring resentment and anger and these things that can be corrosive. What a gift she gave to him, which obviously wasn't the intention, but like it has the effect of, you know, helping others when you do an extraordinary act of kindness.

2:12:22Megyn Kelly:I had no idea that his father was killed and that he carried that around. There's so many people who have these, you know, Kelsey Grammer is another who had family members who were murdered. It's so interesting. You know, I heard that and I thought, I don't think I could ever really get there. I know. I believe in, I believe that there, so this is just me speaking for me. I do believe there are people who don't deserve it. I do believe that. And I believe there's, you can make your peace with something that happened that is tragic, senseless, unfair, unjust, a targeted, deliberate act that was thought through.

2:13:07Megyn Kelly:I personally would not feel the need to forgive. That's just me. I would feel the need to make my peace with what happened. But as for what became of that person, not my, you know. In fact, I'd probably make it my business to make sure that when we were talking about Brian Koberger last time. Yeah. And I was like, I believe in the God of the Old Testament. Yeah.

2:13:30Dave Aronberg:Wrath and vengeance sometimes, that's what's necessary. I want him to suffer. I know exactly what you're saying. I am more in your camp and I shouldn't be. You know, I'm a Catholic. I know I'm supposed to forgive. We're meant to be persecuted and accept that as part of our lives. And we are called upon to forgive, you know, those who trespass, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And it's just so hard. Like, I think eventually I can get there. You know, eventually on most things I get there, I'm definitely not in that mode on Charlie's killer yet. I mean, that's why Erica is so extraordinary, which, but she is a truly deeply faithful person.

2:14:09Dave Aronberg:And, you know, there are sliding scales of how deep your faith is. I definitely think hers is deeper than mine and it's uplifted her life probably more than mine is uplifted mine. It's an inspiration for me, like try harder, read more, do better. Charlie was too. I don't know. I mean, we haven't really talked about the Charlie situation. You didn't know him, but did you see it?

2:14:30Megyn Kelly:Did you watch it? I didn't watch it deliberately. My editor called and told me and said that he had seen it and that it was very clear that he was not going to come back from it, that he clearly had been killed instantly. And then, you know, what I did was I was out. I came home and I immediately turned you on because I was like, this is the only person that I'm going to get the real story from, the real thing. And to see you and Mark and Rich talking about it and holding out the hope and you find yourself in that moment wanting to believe there is hope when you know there probably is no hope.

2:15:11Megyn Kelly:And all of it just seeming so surreal and so truly senseless and just a hideous act of violence that took the life of above and beyond anything, a young husband and father.

2:15:31Megyn Kelly:I don't know. It's something I wrestle with. I was raised Catholic and I'm not practicing, but I really wrestle with issues. Like, what is moral? What is moral? Is it moral to make sure that someone who would methodically plan out a murder such as this and revel in it, is it more moral for that person to suffer or to be removed from society permanently? Is that what I do? I do wonder.

2:16:07Dave Aronberg:You mean like death penalty versus a terrible life in a super max prison where he has to linger and both.

2:16:15Megyn Kelly:So both are satisfactory to me, though. I believe a person like Erica would say, well, no, the true the true highest level would be to forgive.

2:16:25Dave Aronberg:Well, she wants I mean, I don't know. Actually, I shouldn't say because she specifically said she said to me personally and she said in an interview with The New York Times, She said, just leave that up to law enforcement because I don't want that on my soul. She's so sweet and loving. She's worried that if she endorses the death penalty for him, it could come back to haunt her when she tries to get into heaven. She pictures Charlie there with Jesus. And if this is not moral to call for a man's death, she doesn't want it to count against her. She feels like it could keep her divided from Charlie forever.

2:16:59Dave Aronberg:That's how observant she is and how thoughtful she is. And meanwhile, I was like, you do whatever you have to do. The rest of us got this. Like you actually don't, you're handling it perfectly. Because there's plenty of us out there who are calling for the death penalty and whose role that is. We all have our role. You know, Charlie used to say that. Charlie used to say like, there's some people who are called to be like evangelists for the faith. And there are some people who are called to go on missions and spread the faith. And then there are other people who are called to be more rhetorical warriors where, you know, we have to make points and we have to make arguments and we have to make sure that we argue for justice and make sure that there are clear facts around why we need it and so on.

2:17:36Dave Aronberg:And I definitely see myself in that latter camp. But Erica's role is, I actually see her right now as a very consequential figure. You know, I've been thinking a lot lately about faith and God and God's plan and why, why, why, why, why, why, why, if you would live the life Charlie led, would this happen to you? And I know that many people believe, my fellow Christians believe that this too was part of God's plan, you know, that, and also you can argue it's free will, basically, that the master plan of Charlie coming home was God's plan, but that there's free will and that Charlie's decision to go that day and so on, that was his decision.

2:18:14Dave Aronberg:I still can't like quite get my arms around it, but I do see Erica as like this hugely consequential figure because millions of people have been inspired by what she did at that funeral and feel extra connected their faith because of her, the Tim Allen thing. And it got me thinking like, what if Erica was always meant, if you believe in a master plan, to be the one who would have the biggest impact on the world, on America, on young people? I don't know. Her journey professionally in the public eye is really just beginning in earnest. And God willing, she'll have 50, 60 more years to do it, but she's so extraordinary.

2:18:57Dave Aronberg:She has a very different skillset than Charlie had. They're not lined up exactly. But what if her skillset and what she's about to bring to the world turns out to be equally extraordinary, you know, to what we got from Charlie. It's not to justify anything that happened to Charlie. I'm just saying like, maybe we've been given this extremely gifted person because that's what exactly what we need for the next 36, you

2:19:23Megyn Kelly:You know, it's funny you say that because I've been thinking about that a lot. You know, she before this tragedy, her her role as as as they both saw it and agreed and enjoyed was that she was his his helper. She was the one who was the support. She was behind the scenes. and the way she stepped into a public role so seamlessly in the midst of an unthinkable, unthinkable tragedy. I thought to myself, you know, this woman, whether she realized it before or not, she's like a natural leader. She's a natural public person. She has something to say and something to offer. and what I find is such a fascinating takeaway is this is still so fresh and raw and it's only been two weeks but what's emerged from it is even amid conversations like you and I are having which is the more moral thing it seems that there's been a shift towards wanting good to come of this and light to come of it from the normies anyway But it's such a stark contrast to what happened after George Floyd or, you know, like this sort of desire to destroy and to vent rage.

2:20:50Megyn Kelly:And everybody feels rage. I mean, I feel even in listening to you over the past couple of weeks when this has happened, I hear the rage in your voice. And when I hear it, I think to myself, that's good. That's healthy. Like you've got to get through the rage of it because it's so unfair. Yeah. And that's a healthy part of mourning is being furious, furious. And then you get to the other side where you can really begin to see after the dust settles what the larger point of it may be that is so beyond our own understanding.

2:21:24Dave Aronberg:Yeah. I feel like I'm at the beginning of that. I'm just putting a toe into reconciliation and acceptance and understanding. But yeah, I have felt rageful for sure. And I have, it has been cathartic. You know, people ask me about the show all the time that this is my therapy. This is my catharsis to sit on this set and be able to say what's real, what I think about the news to help other people who are trying to navigate a very difficult news landscape. If I don't do this, I don't know what I'd be doing. I'd be, I'd be, if I have a day off, Maureen, you should see me kicking around the house. Like, I don't, I like, I accomplished nothing.

2:22:00Dave Aronberg:I can't do anything. I'm just like, it's four o 'clock in the afternoon. I've done nothing. I just like, I don't even know what to do with myself. Now on the weekend, we have it structured. We're like, no one expects me to be at work. So like my kids are there and Doug is there. And we like, I know what to do. But if I have like an unexpected weekday off, I'm like, who am I? I have no habits, no hobbies. I don't know what to do. So I love coming out here and having my say. And I've definitely felt rageful. And that thing you said about the day it happened, you mentioned Mark Halperin. That is one of the lasting images I'll have is Mark, who is such a like tough reporter.

2:22:37Dave Aronberg:He's a reporter's reporter, you know? And I was shocked to see Mark openly weeping and really with the handkerchief, like nonstop. And I was feeling it too, but you know, I kind of expected that for myself. And it was something that really moved me because, you know, here he is, this man, like this chiseled reporter, you know, shoe leather guy. And it was just a moment where your humanity took over no matter whether you were a man or a woman or, you know, shoe leather or not. And I heard from so many of the audience, men and women who are feeling and going through exactly the same thing at the same time.

2:23:14Megyn Kelly:When I saw that, my heart just went out to him. It went out to him because I could see him looking out of frame down at his phone and knowing that he was getting updates, updates, updates, and that they were terrible. And he looked like he was just somewhere, like he just had to rush himself into some sort of closed room that was like a conference center or whatever. So you're already probably feeling very discombobulated and you're getting this and you're trying to relay what you know of this person. And like when he said, I just caught myself speaking of Charlie in the past tense. And I hope that I will be having a beer with him down the line and saying, remember that, you know, and we all relate to those moments when we've heard a loved one has, and it's sudden, you know, Matthew McConaughey was talking about this with you.

2:24:00Megyn Kelly:Yep. And God, like what an impressive guy he is. Wasn't he amazing? Like if you said Matthew McConaughey, deep thinker, you know, but what a deep thinker.

2:24:14Dave Aronberg:Yeah, his image doesn't necessarily line up with what we experienced in that hour. And the way he was talking about raising his kids. Yeah. You know, he lived it. You know, he intentionally left Hollywood. He went back to Texas. He raised his kids there for a reason. you know, with intention. He's from Texas. He's not one of these like celebs who gloms on and like puts on a pair of cowboy boots and is like, I'm from Texas. You know, like, no, he is, he's a Texan. He donates to the university, his time, his money. Like I found him very impressive. And to have been writing those poems his whole life, he's clearly a reflective, thoughtful guy.

2:24:50Megyn Kelly:He really is. And when he, he talked about revisiting them and going, oh, this was a really, this was a kid who was really trying to impress himself in the world and use, I have the thesaurus next to me. And that really just melted my heart. I just thought like, God, somebody with a lot of self-awareness who can kind of laugh at himself. And I remember watching him in that first true detective. Yes. So good. Blown away by him. Blown away. And honestly, there are very few Hollywood stars where when something terrible happens, you're like, you know, I'd really like to hear from this person. And after Uvalde and he and his wife, because they were natives, because they're from there and they can speak to it and everything about it felt genuine.

2:25:37Megyn Kelly:It didn't feel as though he was using as, as one Megan Markle's blew down there, like someone else, you know, which she should never be forgiven for. Talk about things you never forgive that I would never forgive that. That's disgusting, you know, but yeah, I just loved him. And oh, by the way, speaking of rage, I think one of your favorite targets of mine that you did the other day is Jimmy Kimmel. Oh my gosh. With his leave with the tears. May I share my theory? Oh, please do. So I watched that, you know, I had to. And all I could think of was remember John Boehner. Yes. How speaker John Boehner, who would get on the floor and start weeping about anything and cried a lot everybody the working theory which i subscribe to is like either just my opinion a dry drunk or an active alcoholic and the emotions are always up here and so you could be talking about the price of milk but we're gonna start weeping jimmy kimmel allegedly allegedly jimmy kimmel i look at the the sudden weeping out of nowhere and i'm like this guy this guy's not well yeah i mean i think he's terrible and i think he he was a liar like You said what you said.

2:26:47Megyn Kelly:We all heard it. It's on videotape. What are you talking about? That's right. But the weeping. I'm like, did you lose a husband? Like, shut up. What are you crying for?

2:26:56Dave Aronberg:It's true. And he didn't cry one tear for Erica Kirk. No. Not one tear. They were all for himself. It was so obvious. It's like if he actually had tears to shed for Erica, it would have happened right after Charlie was killed. He got out there and cried because he almost lost his favorite thing, his special show, his ability to feel like a star because he can read jokes other people write for him. I mean, that's his special talent. He's not some great interviewer. He's actually not even that great a comedian. Somebody else writes these so-called jokes, which are not even funny, by the way.

2:27:32Megyn Kelly:They're not. The quote-unquote jokes in the monologue were not funny, not funny at all. And so my favorite thing about this is, you know, we had so many of Jimmy's famous friends coming to his defense, you know, First Amendment's on the line. First Amendment, you know, our way of life, very way of life is being threatened. His most famous, famous, powerful A-list friends, Jennifer Aniston and one Matthew Damon, kept their mouths shut. Yes. What's up with that? Oh, I wonder. They're too smart. They're not going to go near this third rail. Yes. So is the First Amendment under attack or is it not?

2:28:10Megyn Kelly:Because if Jennifer Aniston doesn't think so, then I sure do not.

2:28:15Dave Aronberg:I noticed the same thing, like the ones that he's having the weekly dinner parties with. The flights to Mexico, the yearly Johns to Cabo. Can I tell you something? So I don't really know Matt Damon, but I know him a little. We ski at the same place. So I see him every winter. And he is a good guy. He seems like a great guy. He's definitely a dem and he was raised by, I think, a school teacher. And, you know, he's got that like union and teacher and, you know, blue collar thing. That's great. But he's he doesn't put his politics in your face like all of them do. Yeah. And he's somebody who's he's always been very nice to me.

2:28:50Dave Aronberg:And he knows my politics. Of course, I don't make any secret of them. And that's that's to his credit, right? Because they don't all like that's true that some committed leftists will hate you when they find out you're on the right or never mind a Trump supporter. Yeah. Like you're immediately moved into the bad person category. Yeah. So that's to his credit. Now you're right. He was probably way too smart to touch that with a 10 foot pole.

2:29:08Megyn Kelly:I like Matt Damon a lot. I do. And I think he's very, very smart. I think he knows exactly what's up. And I don't, I didn't believe Jimmy Kimmel when he said, you know, I have a lot of people in my life who are on the other side, like his eyes couldn't stay to the camera. That's it. Oh, Adam Carolla. That's it.

2:29:24Dave Aronberg:We love Adam, but that's, it's a list of what I don't believe that he's got a bunch of Republicans in his family. Bull.

2:29:29Megyn Kelly:No way. You know, but you know, okay, Jimmy, Jimmy saved his. failing talk show for another, I guess, eight months. I mean, I think he wanted out. I think he was going to, I thought he was going to use that as his power sheet out.

2:29:40Dave Aronberg:I don't think he wants out. I think he wants to stay there forever. He would never feel okay in the podcast lane. I think he thinks that's beneath him. Oh, you think so? Yeah. I think he desperately wants to hold onto this show. He keeps telling us how it's like, it's doing well. No, it's not. It's not doing well at all. He's making the argument for why it's still relevant and deserves to be on the air. Now, I didn't hear this person's thoughts, but I do know why she's busy. Hilaria Baldwin. She did not weigh in on the Jimmy Kimmel saga, as far as I know.

2:30:08Megyn Kelly:Well, he didn't he didn't give a speech in Spanish, so she didn't understand the whole thing. English is her second language.

2:30:14Dave Aronberg:She's doing Dancing with the Stars. This is like I'm starting to feel bad for her. Like she's basically just doing anything she can to keep herself in the news. You know, it's like whatever I can to be on camera, like that ridiculous reality show that she and Alec were doing. You know, her weird stints is like a cook or some sort of home expert on the Today Show. And now dancing with the stars. And she gave an interview on GMA where something familiar came back. See if you can detect it. Sot 41.

2:30:49Maureen Callahan:I mean, this was just like an insane thing that I did. And I've had so many times. I'm less and less now because my kids are so happy. But at the beginning, I was like, am I crazy? Like, because this really was like a few days. I signed the paperwork between landing and getting my bags. Like, that's how fast this whole thing was. It was like a really, it was interesting because fans started to write into the show just saying, you should be on Dance with the Stars. And I was kind of like, really, really? and then dance going to the stars and I connected and now we're here it was just a very interesting experience like very organic how it happened and so I mean I wouldn't have taken this if I couldn't bring my kids but it meant you know they were set to go to school, we had all their backpacks we had their extra activities and it was transferred down here and they're so happy because it's an adventure you know I was worried that it was going to be not fair to them but actually it's been one of the best things that's ever happened to them

2:31:46Dave Aronberg:you are a white girl from Rhode Island.

2:31:50Megyn Kelly:She's wearing a lot of body makeup. Yes. She either went to the tanning bed or, you know, we were buffed up by some makeup artists. She's camouflaging who she is in many ways. In many ways. And, you know, so my favorite thing was watching the expression on her partner's face. She's like, make it stop. Oh, my God. I'm dying. She's doing the accent. Oh, my God. I don't want to be standing here for this. Backpacks. Get me out of here. She can't stab herself. She can't. It's like a pathological, like the DSM needs like a new categorization. I don't know if it's like, name it Hilaria Baldwin. Yeah, Hilaria.

2:32:27Megyn Kelly:Silent H.

2:32:28Dave Aronberg:She's Hillary from Rhode Island. She went to Boston University. She has a trust fund. She went to a fancy Tony private school out there. Like this person is not Spanish.

2:32:41Megyn Kelly:I just, why does everybody play along though? Why doesn't her interviewer for Dancing with the Stars say, why are you speaking in a Spanish accent right now? Are you crazy? That person is like TV gold, keep going. But I just want somebody anywhere to just stick, just somebody from an Access or an Entertainment Tonight just say, I mean, I know she gave the explanation on the unwatchable reality show, which is she's multi. I don't know, yeah. Whatever. But the partner's face just dying, just like exit me now.

2:33:13Dave Aronberg:What would be great is if a white non-Spanish interviewer started to do it too. Like, go on.

2:33:20Megyn Kelly:Or just start speaking. Like, get me a real Spanish speaker.

2:33:23Dave Aronberg:Yes.

2:33:24Megyn Kelly:Like, let's do this in your native, right?

2:33:25Dave Aronberg:She can speak Spanish. Oh, she can? Of course. She's leaned in. She's method. But she's got this thing she does. Like, she's doing some weird podcast with her 11-year-old daughter. I think we have it. Yeah. Yeah. Do we have it? It's 43. She does this thing. Let me see if we have it in this clip, but she does this thing. She did it to Alec and I read in the longer clip here. I don't know if this is in there, but she's like to Alec. She was like, when I'm talking, you're not talking. And to this daughter, same thing. Like what I want to hear from you is anyway, here she is. Oh, 42. Let's listen to 42.

2:33:57Maureen Callahan:Is your experience of this, your excitement, your fears. What do you think about that? What do you, do you think I'm crazy? Yes. In like a good way or a bad way or both ways?

2:34:08John Solomon:You're a crazy person.

2:34:10Maureen Callahan:Yeah, and what's it like to have a crazy mommy? It's fun. You're not necessarily crazy. It's you let me be crazy. Like you let me do things and you have crazy ideas

2:34:23Mike Davis:because when it was up until this year,

2:34:27Maureen Callahan:we didn't travel. We were just, we would always stay at home. We'd go to Vermont. But do you know why? Crystal Springs. No, why? I don't know why. Because we were dealing with the trial. We were dealing with your dad who was very sick. The spring break before that, he almost died and was in the hospital. We're allowed to talk about that. Yes. I've talked about it. I wrote about it in my book.

2:34:57Dave Aronberg:Oh, my God. There's a lot happening there, Maureen. Me, me, me, me. What do you think of me? Mimi. Devastating news about your father. And it was in my book.

2:35:07Megyn Kelly:It was in my book. You didn't read my book? You didn't read my book, kid? Oh, my God. She's 11. And she's already mimicking mommy's yoga poses in that chair. Yes. Very sad. Why does this feel so exploitative? It feels very Red Table Talk adjacent, you know, where Jada would have the kids come on and talk and will and talk about how she was having a sexual relationship with their, young son's friend in front of Will who is cuckolded. And like, this all feels so like, like, I think this is a form of child abuse. I do. I think it's very dark.

2:35:43Dave Aronberg:I like, I don't, I think 11 is very young to be doing something like this. Like that's really young. And like, you shouldn't be talking about family secrets and like how the father was devastated and almost died and was in the hospital. Like this should not be revealed to your child on camera so loosely. obviously the mother's a narcissist that was a lot too none of that seems healthy to me by the way you'll be shocked to learn that their YouTube channel has 28 subscribers episode 1 has 91 views so it's not going that well here's Lauren my producer really wants to play one other one go ahead Lauren, play it

2:36:20Maureen Callahan:yes, at least I tried I'm being so honest you are one of the best people on Dancing with the Stars who is not a pro. Gleb is one of the best pros. The only problem is popularity. You have not that many, like, you're known, but you're not, like, super, super well-known than all these people. But you're more skilled than them.

2:36:43Megyn Kelly:Notwithstanding your best efforts. She put the shiv in, like you learn. Product of a difficult mother. I know how to do this. Yeah, she put the shiv. Like, you know, your problem is, I mean, you're better than they are, but nobody really likes you. That's what she was saying. People don't like you. Work on that. Try. Try your best.

2:37:03Dave Aronberg:That's going to get them all the way up to 100 viewers. 100%. I think they really changed things. Before we leave the story of Hilaria, we've got to have the oldie book goodie. Do we have the oldie? Yeah, we do. Sop 46, please.

2:37:17Maureen Callahan:We have very few ingredients. We have tomatoes. We have, how do you say it? Cucumbers. Cucumbers.

2:37:24Dave Aronberg:How do you say it in English? How do you say it in English? She knows how you say it in English. And speaking of Hollywood kids who clearly have not been well served by their parents, Violet Affleck, the daughter of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner. by this point, you guys have heard this story, showed up at the UN this week in an N95 mask, which she has never stopped wearing since COVID, and gave testimony on how we all need to be wearing these masks everywhere. Here she is, Sat 48. But when it comes to the ongoing pandemic, our present is being stolen right in front of our eyes. For adults, the relentless beat of back to normal, ignoring, downplaying, and concealing both the prevalence of airborne transmission and the threat of long COVID manifested in a series of choices.

2:38:20Dave Aronberg:Young people lacked both real choice in the matter and information about what was being chosen for us. It is neglect of the highest order to look children in the eyes and say, we knew how to protect you and we didn't do it. We have access to a technology to prevent airborne disease, something that millions of our ancestors and millions of people around the world today would kill for. And we refuse to use it. And I shudder to think of where we will be in another five years of unmitigated infection and reinfection.

2:38:52Megyn Kelly:That's abuse. This poor girl is not well, but not in the way she thinks. That's exactly right.

2:38:58Dave Aronberg:You know what I mean? That's a form of child abuse, to let your child grow up and be that paranoid about disease that she thinks the whole world needs a mandatory mask mandate. And then to allow a platform based on your parents' fame

2:39:13Megyn Kelly:so that you find yourself at 19 and a college freshman at the UN. Why is Violet Affleck at the United Nations? The biggest problems are Israel, Palestine, Russia, Ukraine, and she's at the United Nations, by the way, making a nonsensical argument saying that this technology, which is a physical barrier, it's not Elon Musk's SpaceX, okay, sister, that our ancestors would have killed for. I mean, we got here through immunology and virology, like that's the propagation of the human species. Good point. Thirdly, this is the legacy of Greta Thunberg. Totally getting Greta Thunberg vibes.

2:39:55Dave Aronberg:How dare you? How dare you? You've stolen my childhood. Yo, it's ridiculous. I can't believe somebody didn't show her Greta Thunberg beforehand and said, do the opposite of that.

2:40:08Megyn Kelly:So I just read that the latest attempt at thwarting Greta's like third flotilla attempt was to play ABBA. As like a sort of like, this is your, this is the biggest cultural thing you got. Like is ABBA.

2:40:21Dave Aronberg:But that's, ABBA's great. I love ABBA. No, no, no. I love.

2:40:25Megyn Kelly:ABBA's amazing. But yeah, no, this is, this is wild to me. And I, you know, the other, my favorite, my other favorite story was, you know, she'll be photographed in LA rolling around in like$2 ,000 Chloe handbags with her N95 on. Of course. And she reportedly, I mean, the Daily Mail had this story that during the LA wildfires, Jennifer Garner, remember Ben scooped them up. He was J-Lo. He was in the. Yep. And they went to the Beverly Hills Hotel, reportedly, and Violet threw a fit because she was like, this is some 1 % shit. Like, we shouldn't be staying here. Oh, my God.

2:41:00Dave Aronberg:It's like, this is, this is where would you like to be holiday in what motel six? Yeah. Then you'll be happy. Yeah. So this is a parenting failure. I entirely blame the parents and don't they have another kid who's trans? Allegedly. Yeah. I have another kid who they say is trans. And then he was with JLo and she has a kid who's Mark Anthony's who has declared themselves non-binary. So great job. Great job. Now, you've got three kids who seem pretty addled with mental challenges. And I'm sorry, but Violet Affleck put herself out there. So she is fair game. Yes. This is very wrong. This girl is as addled as somebody who's an active anorexic or in a deep depression or has, you know, crippling anxiety, which is clearly what we're looking at there.

2:41:50Dave Aronberg:I think so. The proper response from the parent is to say, take that off. You're fine. I mean, and to not even get her to the point where when we're putting on the masks, she's that terrified to begin with. Like, clearly this girl needs an unorthodox, unhealthy way of showing the world she matters. Yes. Of getting attention. Yes. Born to two parents who clearly love attention on themselves. That's obvious. Who couldn't keep their marriage together. Okay, fine. It happens. but all the more reason your attention should be flowing into your child because divorce can create issues. Clearly you didn't do that.

2:42:28Dave Aronberg:And now she's created this new unhealthy way for herself, in my opinion, to make herself feel important and relevant. And like, she's the star instead of all these fucked up parents around her.

2:42:43Megyn Kelly:You know, it's interesting with the Greta comparison, you know, her parents are failed performers. Like her parents are failed actors. Like I think her mother's a failed rock star and her father's a failed actor or vice versa. And they sort of, this was their way of like vicariously getting that, like that kind of level of fame. And with Violet Affleck, you know, it was fascinating to me is, and I think I would be alarmed as if I were her parent, that like the way this is manifesting is through masking oneself. Which if you want to unlayer the metaphors of that, you know, it's deep. And she's coming at the world from a very fearful place.

2:43:16Megyn Kelly:like you should be spreading your wings at college, especially like you're a kid who can fly home private. You can go on these lavish vacations. You can, you know, you have access to the best and you should be having the time of your life. And this girl is hunkering down in her dorm room, afraid to go to like a party. That's like tragic. They turned her into a Taylor Lorenz.

2:43:37Dave Aronberg:Who's like, put on your masks. It's, this is inhumane what you're all doing to me, walking around out there, breathing freely. Like, how is she going to function in the world? How is she ever going to get a job in a workplace? I realize she never has to work if she doesn't want to, but like, who doesn't want their child to get a job and work and be a contributing member of society? She's already crossed over to the far left lecturing us phase of progressivism.

2:44:00Megyn Kelly:Yeah, it's like, it's almost like, this is the kind of thing where you feel like you just take the child. And at 19, I mean, she's, you know, she's on the cusp of adulthood, but you get her to the best of the best in psychiatry and psychology. You get her to the best and you work on what to me seems like, you know, and I say that, you know, I've talked to you about like being a kid who had real OCD. Like this feels like a kind of obsessive, compulsive manifestation of like what really is like deep anxiety and maybe some anger. Because a lot of depression is actually self-directed anger because it's too scary to unleash it.

2:44:35Megyn Kelly:Like at the places and people you really have it for, you know?

2:44:39Dave Aronberg:I just think if this were my child, this wouldn't be my child. I would not raise my child to be like this. But if this were for some reason, I would not be going to the therapist. I would be taking off my work for a year and she and I would be traveling. We'd be going coast to coast in America in our car. We'd be going over to Europe, maybe go back to Provence. That was pretty damn good. We'd be together all the time. We'd drive each other crazy. I'm sure if that were my kid for the beginning. And then there'd come a period where we'd settle down into a rhythm and we'd get closer and closer and closer.

2:45:14Dave Aronberg:And I'd be giving her all the attention and love that she needed that I clearly failed to give her before this point. And we would get super tight and she would be reminded of what matters and who she is and that she doesn't need to do this crap in order to feel of value. But I will say, I think that Dr. Leonard Sachs, who comes on the show sometimes and talks about parenting advice, you do get to a point beyond which you can't fix what you did, you know, and 19 is probably pretty close to that point. Like this needed to be addressed a lot earlier. And she's, it's been five years since COVID. She has been in a mask for five years.

2:45:53Megyn Kelly:It's, you know, it's, it makes you wonder too about like her peer group and who her friends are, because, you know, of course, even before that age, they have a lot more influence than your parents as you're breaking away and as you're healthy. And you would think that her peer group would encourage her like, Violet, let's go out one night on the quad. It's like fresh air. Let's go to a party. Don't you think it's probably like, Violet's got her special thing.

2:46:20Dave Aronberg:You know, Violet wants to talk to the class about her special thing, her weird mask obsession. I'll bet you on Hollywood, They're all leaning into this. And by the way, there's no way every single one of her friends is not masked. You think? Yes. She's pissed off you and I aren't masked. Can you imagine her hanging out with people who are free faced?

2:46:39Megyn Kelly:But she does it. She walks with her mother. She walks with her father. Oh, this is the best part. The Daily Mail pointed this out. So smart. She talked about like smoking being a difficult thing. Like Ben is a chain smoker. We see the pictures of him all the time. Like it can't be both, right? Your parents can't be out in the world bringing in whatever they're bringing in from the community. Your father can't be a chain smoker. And you are in it like, and like, I find the N95 mask, the metaphor of all metaphors for like growing up in that house. Like I am, I am, I am uncontaminating myself from the pollutants in the Garner Affleck household.

2:47:19Dave Aronberg:Yes. It is just a reminder. I would say this all the time, but you look from the outside at these like very wealthy, very famous families. And there tends to be a, you know, knee jerk of like, oh, they have it all. They've got these multimillion dollar mansions in the Hollywood Hills, these amazing swimming pools and all this staff, the fancy airplane and cars. No, no, I'm sorry. But like, I hope that Violet Affleck gets past this. I really hope the trans kid and the non-binary kid, which is not a thing, get pulled out of that dangerous, dangerous delusion. but I don't have a ton of like optimism about it because it would require stronger parents than they apparently have.

2:48:00Megyn Kelly:I hope, you know, sometimes it's like a kid can get there on their own. And if this is, let's just say this is some sort of her version of rebellion. It's not sex. It's not drugs. It's not rock and roll. It's an N95. Like, let's hope that like she can get herself to the other side of this. And this is just a, you know, it's a very difficult time, 19, really. It's really hard. I had a really hard time. I had an eating disorder at 19. It was not easy. But, you know, I got myself out of it. It wasn't my parents who got me out of it. I got myself out of it, you know. Wow, did something happen? Yeah, well, I actually had a mentor who was also a very close friend of mine.

2:48:39Megyn Kelly:And we worked together and she took me out. She'll know who she is if she's listening. She took me out to lunch one day And she said, we are sitting here until you eat what's on your plate. And we're not leaving until you do. And I actually had to confess and break down and have this sort of come to Jesus that I hadn't really had with myself. And I was so weak and depleted. And I said, I don't know if I physically can because my stomach has shrunk so much and my brain has rewired so much that it doesn't want food. And I'm going to get sick. And she said, just do what you can do. It was like one of the most loving things anybody has ever done for me.

2:49:22Megyn Kelly:And she pulled me back by the scruff of my neck because I was this close to needing professional help, like that close. So, you know, sometimes it's the kid does find their way or they find the people they need to like influence them in the right way. So maybe she has that down the line. I hope that happens for her.

2:49:39Dave Aronberg:We have to end it on a positive note. All right, we're hoping that A, she gets out of that Hollywood circle and finds people who can be a genuinely good influence on her. The best thing that happened to me this week was my daughter's playing soccer in her high school. And it's nothing extraordinary, but it's the games come right after this show goes off the air. So I have time. You know, if Abby knows that we have a home game, she blocks my afternoon and I go. And I'm telling you, Maureen, it is so wonderful over there. It's just a high school soccer game. This is not the Olympics or the World Cup or what have you.

2:50:18Dave Aronberg:Just yesterday, we went, we were playing our rival. When we got there, it was 1-1 because we got there like 20 minutes late. And so it was tense. It was like tight. Finally, we went up one goal and it was 2-1. And then all you can do is watch your watch. Like, please make time go faster. You know, you're praying. And the other team's praying for exactly the opposite. We can still do it. We've been there, too. And, you know, you're watching your kid out there doing her thing. You're like, oh, please, God, you know, make it go well for her. Make everybody have a good time. And all the parents who we don't know, you know, because we're new.

2:50:52Dave Aronberg:She's a freshman. So this is a bunch of people who've been on this team for a while. Now, suddenly we're high fiving people. We have no idea who they are, you know, but these are going to be our parents on this team for a while. You come together. It was like the ending seconds when they had the ball down by our goal. and the other team was almost scoring over and over and over. They had the ball right in front of our goal for too long. And the parents on our team started yelling, blow the whistle! You know, blow the whistle, like end the game. Like we were over. It seemed like we were way over.

2:51:18Dave Aronberg:It was just such a dumb chant. It was like the ref is going to blow the whistle when the time is over. But you just, you feel so powerless. Like, yes, please blow the whistle. And we did win. And it was disproportionately joyful to what was actually happening in front of us. But that is the stuff. Yes. That's it. That's it. That's what you need. You need moments with your friends or your family or sitting here together talking and laughing.

2:51:41Megyn Kelly:This is the good stuff that gets us through. That's it. Again, I think about this all the time. You can have the trappings. You can have whatever, and it doesn't fill anything the way that meaningful relationships with people you love and want the best for. And that's a rare thing, too. Not everybody wants the best for everybody else. It's true. But when you find those people and they're like rare birds and I consider you one of them, you know, not to have an Oprah Gale thing, you know, but like, you know, we're at least Gilbert's over there and Oprah and Gail are like, you're my river person.

2:52:18But, you know, you know what I'm saying?

2:52:20Megyn Kelly:It's like, those are, those are like, those are like the, that's, that's like the stuff where it's like, you feel like there's a bit of like what Matthew McConaughey would probably say stardust at work, you know, where it's like, yes, things line up. And we need it.

2:52:32Dave Aronberg:it's like, it's been such a hard two weeks. It's when those little moments come just sitting here with you laughing that the soccer game, we have to take them. We have to recognize like, it's not the extraordinary thing. Like you win an Oscar or whatever the equivalent is, you know, it's that it's this. So I'm so glad we gave it to the audience too, because I know they're at home feeling it too. They know you, they, they know me and I know they love when we get together because we're saying all the things they're thinking too.

2:52:59Megyn Kelly:I think so too. And I think, um, I'm really, I'm just happy to see you in person. As you know, I've been thinking about you a lot these past two weeks. And I'm just so happy to see you looking good and doing well. Thank you. I am doing well. Great to see you. All right.

2:53:12Dave Aronberg:And thanks to all of you for sticking with us. This is a long one. You know, we knew we were going to have to do a good chunk on the indictment of James Comey. I'm like, there's no way we're shortening Maureen. So we did a long show today. You can take it however it works for you this weekend. But enjoy. Lots of love. And we'll see you all on Monday.

2:53:34Dave Aronberg:Thanks for listening to The Megyn Kelly Show. No BS, no agenda, and no fear.

2:54:07John Solomon:We'll be right back.

2:54:09Maureen Callahan:Call 1-877-8HOPE-NY or text HOPE-NY-467-369. A KFC tale in the pursuit of flavor. The greatest insult the colonel ever suffered was being served a wrap that was just a snack by a friend. So he took two crispy tenders, lettuce, tomatoes, and pepper mayo, and wrapped them in a soft tortilla. It wasn't a snack, it was a meal. He called it a twister and never called that friend again. The colonel lived, so we could chicken. The Twister. Now back at KFC, classic or with bacon. Also try it spicy. It's finger licking good. Prices and participation may vary.