Shady California Vote Counting, and Dems' Platner Hypocrisy, with Sohrab Ahmari and Sean Davis, Plus James Patterson on Patriotism | Ep. 1333

27:45And when you have really, really close congressional representation where control of Congress might be decided by one or two votes, what you want to do if you are just wanting to get to a result is you want to make sure you're discouraging down ballot voting of your opponent. So what's the best way to do that? You cook your primaries so that the only people at the top of the ticket are one party. And that creates massive down ballot effects for the opposing party. And so it just, you know, California is, I know it's America. I know it's a very advanced economy. It is a third world banana republic when it comes to actual administration and justice and political offices.

28:29This is no way to run a state, but they're not actually interested in running a state. They're just interested in being in charge. And that's the sole reason we're even dealing with all this nonsense about mail-in ballots and month-long voting, is that the people in charge there actually have no interest in governing. All they care about is ruling. All right. So the L.A. mayor race is not going much better. So it's equally flawed, or at least questionable, I guess is a better word. they're showing Bass at, this is the AP vote count, last updated yesterday evening, 10, 14 p.m. They're showing Bass has 35.1 % of the vote, and she's moving on.

29:12Pratt with 29.4 % of the vote, and Nithya Rahman at 23.4 % of the vote. So within six points of Pratt now. Yashar Ali, he's, I don't know if he's originally from L.A. I mean, he's an Iranian-American, he's a great reporter, but he worked out, I think, for then-Mayor Newsom when he was mayor of San Francisco. In any event, he's got some history in California politics. And he posted this, update in Los Angeles, between yesterday and today, and this was at 7.29 p.m. yesterday, so he meant between Tuesday and Wednesday, Karen Bass gained 11 ,700 and change votes. Spencer Pratt gained 6 ,400 in change votes.

29:58Nithya Raman gained 10 ,600 in change votes. Nithya cut Spencer's lead from 37 in change votes to 33 ,000 in change votes. Current rankings, Bass, 195 ,000. Pratt, 163 ,000. Raman, 130 ,000. him. So that means Nithya Raman is going to have to get another 30 ,000 votes here alone just to catch him, to catch Pratt or so. And then she's going to have to whatever, if that makes them even, she's going to have to win whatever outstanding vote there is beyond there. If that happens, I'm going to eat this packet live on the air. That is not going to happen legitimately so wrapped. She is not, there is no way.

30:47Nithya Raman is like the all and also right. She all but collapsed after that debate. How can this be? So I don't, I don't, I don't think she can, but I'd love, you know, next, I don't have a, I don't have a piece of paper, but I have, I have a nice leather shoe and I will, I will, I think based on what we know so far, yeah, a picnic of unpleasant sort of things, things, a crow, I'll hunt a crow and bring it to the show. But, Yeah. Again, you eat a crow and I'll eat a humble pie. Again, a very, very liberal place. But still, you know, none of these questions would even be raised. But for the fact that we're a developed country, this is California is the world's ninth.

31:28If it were a country, it would be the ninth largest economy in the world or something like that in the largest economy in the world as a country. Home, as Sean pointed out, to the most advanced companies in the country still. And yet there is a banana republic style quality to how we count votes and how long it takes to do that. And that that really needs to change. It's destabilizing. It is it's extremely dangerous in a democracy for people to begin to feel that there's something up, even again, if whatever wrongdoing may be going on, if any, is only marginally effective and isn't really important.

32:05given the sort of lopsided democratic leaning of the state. Still, the impression of impropriety, the fact that it feels like elections don't run smoothly, is just devastating for the system. And I hope that I hope there are people wise enough in the California system that there aren't, spoiler alert, to realize that there's good reason to cooperate with whatever Trump process kind of speeds this up and brings greater light to how the process unfolds, because otherwise you're going to have generations building up with this kind of resentment that there's something wrong with the system. Like, it just needs to wrap up in a night.

32:49That's it, really. Elections, election day, and then it wraps up at night. Democracies all over the world do it. Ron DeSantis tweeted this the other day. Florida processes more than 10 million votes in a matter of hours. California takes days or sometimes even weeks to count the votes. It is pathetic and it's corrosive to our civic culture. That's exactly right. 10 million votes in a matter of hours versus, I mean, weeks, stop it. So my crack team tells me that Trump got 30 % of the vote in Los Angeles County last time around, which is pretty remarkable. Now, two things to factor in. That's Trump.

33:33And even though Spencer Pratt has some similarities with Trump, there's only one Trump. So I don't think we can just assume he's going to get 30 percent. On the other hand, on the other hand, the Democrats burned down L.A. So, you know, it's what you would think that they'd be less inclined to reelect Democrats, even though the first one to make it through is Karen Bass, the one who sat by while LA burned. Like you'd think if there was going to be one Democrat who'd make it early, who they were like, okay, yeah, she should go through because we need at least one dem. It'd be this Nithya Raman, you know, like at least some accountability for Karen Bass.

34:13But nope, nope. They're like, how about burning down Beverly Hills next? How about Burbank? Like they don't care. Okay, great. Enjoy the fires. All right, moving forward. That's enough about California politics, which are just an exercise in frustration. Let's talk about this Plattner situation, because now we're talking about a national race that has a lot of scrutiny, and that is who's going to win the Senate seat in Maine. Susan Collins is up for re-election. She's been re-elected there many, many times. She's this moderate Republican, and she's well-liked in Maine. So this time around, she's gotten a very interesting challenger.

34:53It appears that Graham Plattner will easily win this primary on the Dem side this coming Tuesday. But all these allegations are coming out against him in the meantime. And I don't know, I have complicated feelings about this, guys, because it's like, you hate to see like these late dropped allegations, especially about like someone's interpersonal relationships. Now, it's one thing like we found out about Doug Doug Emhoff allegedly beating a woman. Okay, we should know that. We just definitely know if the second gentleman is possibly going to be the first gentleman is a woman beater. It is relevant.

35:34These are short of that. The account in the Times portrays an angry dude who does lay hands on women in a way that's violent and unacceptable. I mean, technically it would qualify as a battery under the law, which is an unwanted touching. But, you know, I am mindful of the fact that guy's a veteran. He said he had PTSD. He came back. He's been in therapy like nobody's business, according to him and his wife, all the therapies. I don't know. I'm a little uncomfortable with it, but I also feel like you got three women on the record saying he's a douchebag, Sean. and one of the women is saying he laid hands on her, not a slap, not a hit, but like aggressive grabbing.

36:21And now she is claiming she's got at least two other women who she seems to be saying are gonna make similar allegations about abuse, not harassment, not bad treatment. So let's just start there. Is this relevant and should we be factoring it in? Yeah, it's a great question. So I'm a big believer in the rule of law. And in the rule of law, you have one standard of justice and kind of one code that you measure everyone against. And Democrats created the code there, and they created it when they went after Brett Kavanaugh. They accused him of running a secret gang rape cartel in suburban Maryland, I believe, in the 80s.

37:04So that was a pretty major escalation and allegation that they levied against someone who, by all accounts, was a total Boy Scout. And the person that they used in this was a woman who could not remember when this alleged rape of her happened, couldn't really remember where it happened. She thinks it might have been this year, it might have been that year, it might have been this neighborhood, or it might have been that neighborhood. But in reality, what we had in that case was no evidence that she and Brett Kavanaugh had ever even met. There was no evidence that they had ever been in the same room.

37:39There was no evidence that this party where she alleged that an assault happened ever occurred. And when you spoke to her close friends about it, they all thought she was full of crap. So that was the standard that Democrats had. And what they decided when looking at all those facts was we don't care if Brett Kavanaugh's a rapist. So I don't think that's a great standard to have. But I have not been given the authority to create standards. The Democrats made that one. So under the standard that they created, under the Kavanaugh standard, Plattner is a serial assaulter and he has to go. And I'm sorry.

38:13Those are the rules they made. I think those are the rules that they should have to live under. You cannot have politics. You cannot have this stuff where one side gets to make these insane allegations and you have to listen to them where when the same thing happens to that side, you have to dismiss them because they're not credible. So I think under the standard that Senate Democrats created for Brett Kavanaugh, we we are required to say that Plattner is guilty and cannot be a candidate. Well, there is that. I mean, here's Senator Sheldon Whitehouse in response to The New York Times piece. He's a Democrat from Rhode Island.

38:47Seems like a lot of nothing. I mean, the only one who had anything to say that seemed unsettling was a woman who works for right wing political operations. Mike Davis points out of the Article three project. Wow. Senator Whitehouse led the fake rape charges against Kavanaugh. Now he's defending a guy who literally threatened to rape women and doesn't deny it. We'll get to that. Whitehouse couldn't stand Kavanaugh's treatment of women with no evidence, but says this is nothing. I mean, he's in a difficult spot. the senator and others who jumped on board the Kavanaugh allegations, not to mention the Hegseth allegations in more recent history, which were utter bullshit.

39:26I mean, we went through it line by line on this show in like a crazy segment that no one could believe as you went through this woman's actual account with the police report, which we went through tooth and comb. And but these Democrats love to use that. He was battered over the head with it at his confirmation hearing, So Rab. And now they're like, no, in fairness to them, those two women, neither of whom I believed were alleging rape. Maybe you need to allege rape to get on their radar. That's not what they're accusing Plattner of. I'm not sure. It sounds like for a White House, a technical legal battery, physical touching against a woman's will and talking about rape as like a fun tool of control.

40:08If somebody were to break into the House, he would rape them, not in a gay way, he said, not in a sexual way, according to her. But in order to dominate and, like, torture somebody. And, okay, whatever. I guess that doesn't rate for White House. Probably rate for White House if he were the one on the receiving end of it. But in any event, your thoughts on the bigger question of, like, how do we handle these? Yeah. You know, because, yeah, you don't want to turn into a Democrat just because it's a Democrat who's under fire here. Yeah, so I should I should lay some of my background for those of you who don't know I.

40:42So I was the op ed editor of the New York Post when the Kavanaugh hearings happened. And I looked up what I wrote at the time, I think it's worth I wrote a column under my own byline, whose headline was the drive to sink Kavanaugh is liberal totalitarianism. Right. So that what happened to Kavanaugh, I've even described to the New Yorker or something once profiled me. I said that was my radicalizing experience where I was like, there's something wrong with how lopsided things are in the media and in the adjudication of especially these kinds of accusation cases. You might think, well, that was like several years ago.

41:18That was nearly eight years ago. But I also basically was the first person to go on the record with a piece for a magazine I then co-founded called Compact about the Hegseth allegations during his hearings. And the headline of the piece kind of gives away the gist. It was smearing Pete Hegseth. I spoke to like former comrades of his who said, yes, you know, he drank a lot. But these particular allegations, you know, don't don't hold water. And I put that out there. So with that in mind, I did. So now I'm at Unheard. And we published this piece by Mike Tracy, who's just like a an equal opportunity doubter of what you might call accusation culture.

41:58So the headline there is the hollow accusation campaign targeting Graham Plattner. So I feel like I've earned my ability to say I think these accusations are very weak. A lot of them are these sort of very subjective standards. It's like it was emotionally wrenching. Really? A relationship in your 20s that was emotionally wrenching? Been there. You know, like I've had some of those. Everyone has. Right. And so physicality is now the physicality point. It's very notable. But the New York Times said that those particular allegations, this one woman, this Lindsay Fifield, that those allegations, the Times could not corroborate.

42:45Now, you might say and the idea that the Times went out of its way to, like, publish this story, but in a way that protects Plattner, ultimately, it just stretches credulity because first of all, if you're a Times reporter, you're out to get like a Pulitzer or whatever. And at the end of the day, if you can say my reporting led to a nominee to drop out of a race or whatever, that's it. Like you got a scalp. And these people, although they're definitely progressive, they still want that like ability to say my scalp, I got the platinum scalp. Second, insofar as the Times is like an organ of the establishment Democratic Party, which it is, if they had something that was stronger that they felt they could corroborate without getting slapped with a libel suit, they would have run it.

43:30So the idea that like they abused the source and didn't really run the things, it's because they looked into it and it wasn't a strong enough allegation. And they had to say that they couldn't independently corroborate it. So with all that in mind, just to wrap this up very quickly. Yes, I agree with Sean, they definitely the left created this set of rules where you're supposed to, quote unquote, believe all women, even though we know some women lie, just like some men lie. I get that. However, the reason I get kind of worked up about it on no matter whom it happens to is I'm also a father to a son.

44:02And I don't want I would like to disarm the entire culture in which we created this sexually depraved culture in which the only values are individual autonomy, whatever you want to do, and after the fact consent adjudication. And lots of people got drunk. Lots of people have all sorts of altercations. You know, he said, she said, whatever. But because that, you know, now we need for politically to take someone down, whether they're on the left or the right, we're going to sort of say, we're going to go back to your record in your 20s. Were you drunk? Did you raise your voice? Did she raise her voice?

44:38Whatever. And your life or your career is destroyed. So it's more important to me as a dad of a son to like disarm that entire culture, if possible, than to like play by the rules the left made, even though again, Sean is 100 percent right. This is the universe these people created. There's no doubt about that. Yes, I know. I agree with what you said, too. It's, it's, look, if, if these women were coming forward and, and, you know, saying he, like, like in the case of Kavanaugh, he raped me. I think we'd all be taking this a lot more seriously, but, and with all due respect to the women who told their stories, including Lindsay, the question is whether we are now at the point where we are revamping difficult relationships under the banner of Me Too, you know, as opposed to like the Me Too movement was supposed to be.

45:30I know because I was there when it started, about workplace harassment that arrested a woman's career. You know, she wasn't allowed to move forward in her career unless she slept with the boss or someone who was her superior. That's what Harvey Weinstein was doing to women. That's what Les Moonves was doing to women. That is what Roger Ailes was accused of doing in a different way, although he, in my experience, did not punish people's career if you didn't sleep with him. He just kind of wanted you to sleep with him. That's kind of a different thing, a little. But in any event, this is more like we had a bad relationship and he was kind of a douche.

46:07I mean, that's, you know, I'm not sure if that's really where we want to take our politics, Sean. I was quoting when the Ken Paxton win happened last Tuesday, Heather McDonald, the great Heather McDonald, who has been saying for a long time now that we don't want to make Eros the stakes of our election. elections because I'm not excusing anything here, any of the allegations, but her basic premise is men and women are hot for each other. It's kind of how we keep the human race alive. And it's, it is built in to the male psyche to pursue a woman. And this is her talking about sort of more of the, in the office setting and how like, it's actually not all that unusual to see a man go after a woman, even if she works for him, because that's where you find women, You know, like that's where you spend all your hours at the workplace.

47:00I don't know what Heather would say about this, but I get the point, which is, do we want to make the field of arrows the stakes for whether we elect a candidate, male, female, Democrat or Republican? Yeah, I think the reality is in politics and we can lose sight of this is that politicians are tools. OK, so you elect them to go do certain things and represent you in a certain way. And at the end of the day, that's kind of like what you're voting for. You're not voting for a pastor. You're not voting for a next door neighbor. You're voting for someone who's going to do what you want them to do in office.

47:35And we are always treated to this perennial thing where people kind of just want to avoid that reality. So we turn into, well, this person's an adulterer. Oh, yeah, well, that person's a raper. OK, well, yeah, but that person's a racist. I would say the Democrats are extremely utilitarian when it comes to their politicians. They want them to do what they want them to do. So I have no doubt that they're just going to be like, you know, Graham Platt or whatever. He said some stuff. We're going to excuse it. You had Trump famously say that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and people would still support him.

48:06I think that's probably true. I would like to say one thing about some of the comments that Plattner allegedly made about rape, where he reportedly said that if someone broke into his house, he would rape them, but not in a gay way, but in a dominant way. OK, so he stole a bit from the comedian Jay Moore. I don't know if we're familiar with Jay Moore. He was on Saturday Night Live. The blonde guy from. Yeah. Is Jay Moore the blonde guy from the Tom Cruise movie? Jerry Maguire? Yes. He's the one who fired him. Yeah, you're fired. It's real. You should deal with it. He does the single greatest Christopher Walken impression on Earth, but he's also a stand-up comedian.

48:46He did a bit that Graham Plattner took almost word for word, except Jay Moore at the end says, you know, I would do it, but not in a gay way. I'd be like a Viking. So, like, in this instance, it's Plattner trying to sound tough and cool and dominant, and he's just ripping off a line from a comedian, which I find just so embarrassing. I haven't seen anyone else discuss it, but I'm a big Jay Moore fan. And so when I read that New York Times article, I was like, this guy, what an idiot. Like, he's such a pathetic tryhard. He's not threatening to really rape somebody, but he is a plagiarist. Yes, he's an embarrassing poser is what he is.

49:24We got to go find those remarks. If we find them, we'll drop them in. Here's the other thing, Saurabh. Sean began by mentioning Sheldon Whitehouse and what he did to Kavanaugh. And, you know, even though now, as I read the tweet, he's kind of like, as I see it, this is just this woman, Lindsay, she she has worked in right wing politics. She worked for the Heritage Organization. And but like, I don't get the point because she also dated a Democrat, Graham Plattner. Like, are we what is she? So she's now she's going to make up a bunch of things about that. I don't I don't think so. I feel like her work history is irrelevant.

49:58And she reportedly did tell friends about the alleged abuse. She's complaining that the Times didn't treat those as verifications at all and also had contemporaneous notes about it at a time before he was running for anything. So that would qualify as, you know, helpful proof that what she was saying actually happened to her. But in any event, Sheldon Whitehouse doesn't think any of this is a big deal. We should move on. Here's Sheldon Whitehouse when Pete Hegseth got accused. The question of whether Hegseth raped this woman or not is not answered by the failure of prosecutors to charge him. We've had quite enough of men shoved by Republicans into high office after investigations into women's claims of sexual misconduct were stifled or corrupted.

50:43Those are his tweets from November 2024. And now he's sounding quite the different tune when it comes to his side. I mean, like the rank hypocrisy is a bit much to swallow, Sareb. I think I think the charge point is very important. Like in so many of these cases, if the behavior rose to a level that would have merited a criminal complaint, why didn't the people in question do it? Or in the case of Hexeth, I mean, I think it is it is important that, you know, she went to the police and the police ultimately decided not to indict the now secretary of war. So, yeah, look, in terms of the hypocrisy, it's really disgusting.

51:24And there's a case to be made for Sean's view, which is unless we mutually learn that this kind of thing destroys each other, we won't stop doing it. So maybe the answer is this kind of mutually assured destruction. And then let's then we can make a piece about these sorts of accusations. At some point, one of the dogs has to stop peeing on the on the fire hydrant, like can't go on forever. One's going to have to stand down. OK, we have more on this. I didn't get to any of Graham's on-camera denials, which I will play when we come back from the break, and much, much more. Don't go away. Saurabh and Sean, stay with us.

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53:42Back with me now, Saurabh Amari of Unheard and Sean Davis of The Federalist. Just a couple of good pieces of sound to show you. So again, this is Sheldon Whitehouse. Not to pick on him because I'm sure there's other Democrats who agree with him, but he says this whole thing seems like a lot of nothing about Graham Plattner. I mean, the only one who had anything to say that seems unsettling was a woman who works for right-wing political operations. Here he was. And let's not forget, Christine Blasey Ford came forward with the help of Democrat lawmakers and their attorneys. I mean, she didn't come forward just like a babe in the woods, like, gee, I have this allegation.

54:15I'd like people to know it was completely handled and shepherded by top Democrat operatives. Sheldon, did he have a problem with that? Did he say, you know what, Ms. Blasey Ford at these hearings, I've got questions about you because seems like you did some work or are being shepherded by left wing political operations. operations. Let's check in on what he said. I believe Dr. Ford. I may be wrong, but I believed her. And I believe Kavanaugh dodged and dissembled, ranted and raved, filibustered and prevaricated. I did not find him credible. I don't believe boof is flatulence I don't believe the devil's triangle is a drinking game And I don't believe calling yourself a girl's alumnus Is being her friend.

55:12It's the least thing a sexual assault victim is entitled to when she comes forward. You cannot tell me Ms. Ford's allegations weren't credible. They were credible enough to get her before the Senate. And yet she was not given the most basic, decent thing that a witness or victim could be given after they come forward. sincere or thorough investigation.

55:47Guys, I'm sensing an inconsistency here, Sean, that we feel the need to point out. But can you believe that? And Christine Blasey Ford, she like that was an obvious hit. OK, whatever. She gave a testimonial that had some compelling aspects to it. But she was a clear liar operative being handled by Democrat lawmakers and their staffs. But, you know, he believes her. He believes she was very compelling in his view. We have Megan. She said the whole memory was indelible in her hippocampus. If you remember that line from her testimony, she couldn't remember where it happened or when it happened or who was there, but it was indelible in her hippocampus.

56:25I actually would like I did forget that. I'd like to give, you know, a metaphorical tip of the hat to a White House for giving like a textbook classic example of just ridiculous sophistry and begging the question, you know, well, if she's not credible, then why am I treating her like she is? Like, is that somehow some like slam dunk argument? Well, if she weren't credible, why would we be listening to her allegations? And the thing is, Sheldon Whitehouse didn't believe any of it. I actually respect him too much to believe that he believed any of that nonsense. You know, he believed that it was useful to him.

57:02He didn't like Brett Kavanaugh because Brett Kavanaugh was not going to rule the way he wanted. And so this was a convenient way to take a guy down who is otherwise without blemish, you know, total Boy Scout and flawless. And, you know, the joke is when you have the facts, argue the facts. When you have the law, argue the law. And when you have neither, argue like hell. Well, I think the new political corollary is when you have neither, you know, just accuse people of rape or racism. And so like, we all see what they did. We all see what's going on. And again, I think if we're going to end this business of like, which trial by rape accusation, either everyone has to agree, we're not going to do it anymore, because it's ridiculous, or there has to be some sort of mutually assured destruction.

57:42They've set the ground rules, and now we're going to follow them. Sorry, Sheldon, that's how it works. Yes, I so agree with that. It's like, I've been at this long enough and been involved in like these testimonials. It's one thing. A lot of the Me Too stuff was not about politics at all. And therefore, I think a lot more believable, to be honest. Though not in all cases. Sometimes you just have a woman who's out to get somebody. You know, she's pissed off about a bad relationship or what have you. But the thing is, aren't we getting kind of used, Saurabh, to the 11th hour big expose by the New York Times or the New Yorker that tries to bring a man down with a parade of women who've got some not so nice allegations about, I mean, it's like, I, I hope Susan Collins wins this race.

58:28I really do. Like I'm not a Susan Collins fan, but I just, I want the Republicans to keep control of the Senate. And this guy over on team blue is talking about adding seats to the U S Supreme court. So it's a no, I would never vote for him. I like, that's just no, but we've seen his playbook so many times, you know, and before I get you to respond, let me just play a little of Graham Plattner because he deserves to appear here a little. Sop 2. This is him on Chris Hayes MS Now last night. There are some allegations in this piece that I just want to be kind of unequivocal about are simply not true.

59:07Anything alleging physicality, anything alleging that I knew what my tattoo was, these are the statements of someone who's politically motivated. in this piece there's a lot about my struggling not being a good boyfriend certainly self-medicating with alcohol and i've been very up front since the beginning of this campaign that that was a pretty dark period of my life after i come came back from my combat service and that's what that combat that's what that kind of life looks like and uh and so there are things in this that i absolutely uh will take responsibility for and and have been speaking about openly for months now But those serious allegations are just not true.

59:47You did not grab her by the wrist. You did not put your hands on her shoulders. You did not push her into a room that you closed the door on. She's lying about that is what you're saying. Yes, that is not true.

1:00:02I don't think he helped himself there. Honestly, like. I don't. There's no way she's lying about the tattoo. Lindsay Fifield came forward and said we knew what that tattoo was. she was sleeping with him for two years. You're going to tell me that like there was never pillow talk of, hey, what's that huge tat on your front left right peck? It looks kind of like this Nazi symbol. And she knew there's emails from her in the August before he came out that October and was forced to admit, OK, that's what it is with where she's like acknowledging that it's a totem whatever. I don't even know what it is.

1:00:39That's not my thing, but I don't have tattoos and I didn't get one of a Nazi symbol. So I wouldn't know. In any event, there's proof that he knew it in her correspondence, or at least his lover knew it. And I don't believe his denial on that. Anyway, back to the principal question, Sareb, your thoughts on it? Yeah. So first of all, that footage from Senator Whitehouse's statements at the Kavanaugh hearings is just with such a throwback. It was pre-COVID in 2019 or 2018, I can't remember exactly. And - 18. And it also brought back the classic line, I like beer. I like to drink beer from the justice himself.

1:01:20Like, what a thing we live through as a nation. What's happening? But look, to go to the principle of it, I think there is deeper repair to be done in the culture, which I think Generation Z is actually grasping at, which is the sexual ethic that we, Gen Xers, millennials, etc., inherited from the boomers was not a healthy sexual ethic. Right. And I think that work needs to be done. But in the absence of that, lots and lots of people who are damaged by the kind of relationship and sexual ethic that just says autonomy is all that matters and consent is the only barrier. And you can if you gave consent at the time, but then came to regret it, you can relitigate that by ruining someone's life, alleging this and that that all needs a sort of deep repair.

1:02:11And that's the work of of our religious institutions. It's the work of pastors and priests and so and rabbis and so on. That is a long term project. And I think that shouldn't be lost here that all Graham Plattner and his girlfriends, whatever the veracity of their various allegations are all kind of thrown into this culture that we created over the we all collectively over the several decades. And I don't want to lose sight of that. We need to change that because otherwise, the only way for people who feel like they're powerless to vindicate themselves because there aren't these larger support structures, family and formation of durable bonds between men and women and so on.

1:02:54The only way that you can vindicate yourself is through the kind of j 'accuse, like I accuse you of harassment, of racism, of this and that. And that also works out in the workplace. I mean, these are this are broken. These are symptoms of a broken culture. But until then, I mean, I yeah, I'm with you, Megan, more and more. I just think like we're used to this kind of thing. it sorry it does feel political i think it is relevant that that miss fivefield is uh you know she works with the independent women's forum which is a think tank by the way i like a right of center one she's worked with numerous republican super PACs that that's not negligible in the same way that you know um uh christine blasey for ford's emergence was it's relevant you're not wrong it wasn't spontaneous but i i would say like i i believe her i don't think she's making it up because of her politics i mean if her politics were such a deal breaker for her when it comes to, you know, her, the men in her life, she wouldn't have been with this guy.

1:03:47Yeah, but also, I mean, I'm not sure he was a Democrat back then. Yeah, I don't know what he was back then. Yeah. But so the larger point, though, is, you know, I think I think that there's flaws in a lot of these allegations, in so far as the Times is going out of its way to say, I think in more than one instance, or in different language that it couldn't independently corroborate them. It's possible that other accusers will come forward. And that's part of the process. But what we've been we've seen so far, you know, my gut tells me it it's predictable. And I think he barring more, I think he'll survive this.

1:04:25I mean, I have to say I feel bad for Lindsay, because it sounds like she was told that there were going to be all these other accusers in there. And then there weren't. And that she showed the Times her diary entries, which is pretty courageous and potentially humiliating for a woman. And then they're like, there was no way to corroborate any of it. And she's like, what do you mean? You asked me if I had any corroboration. I pointed you to friends who said that they could corroborate that I told them at the time. And then they told me that they did speak to you, Times reporters, but they weren't quoted in the piece.

1:04:57And all you do say is it was not corroboratable, which is, you know, it's very annoying. And one does wonder whether the standard would have been a little lower had he been a Republican. I'm sorry. We looked into these two particular reporters, and I knew the names were familiar. Here's just what came to mind. It was written by Katie Gluick and Lisa Lehrer, L-E-R-E-R. Both are political reporters. This Lisa Lehrer in the New York Times in July of 2023, this is just one small thing. I'm not complaining. It's just a color. They were writing up something about my interview with Ron DeSantis at the time.

1:05:36And they write, Lisa Lehrer writes, Mr. DeSantis told the right-leaning commentator, Megan, Megan Kelly, noting that Mr. Biden became a senator in 73, five years before DeSantis was born. He's talking about how old he was. Okay. So she feels the need to point out I'm right-leaning. I'm a right-leaning commentator. Just journalist is fine. You don't have to describe me one way or another. And here is how she had referred to other journalists. Jake Tapper of CNN, MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell, Anderson Cooper of CNN, Martha Raddatz of ABC. Notice something missing? Okay, so that's Lisa Lehrer's bias coming out loud and clear in that piece.

1:06:16But if you're a leftist, you wouldn't see it. Only the right wing knows what they do to us. We always have to have a label on us to diminish us so the reader knows this is not a good person. Like we have to tolerate this person making news for today, but we clearly don't like it. Or are you going to say so? Yeah, the most condescending thing that the Times does is when they cite, especially if it's a right of center journal where they'll say it, which is totally well known. and everyone knows what it is, but they'll be like, the Federalist, comma, a right-leaning journal, you know, as though it's this obscure thing, you know, like the Megyn Kelly show, a right-wing podcast.

1:06:55You know? Exactly. And they never do it for the others. Yeah, they do this on purpose because they want to get credit for having covered a story, but they need to contextualize it in a way to tell their left-wing readers they don't have to pay attention to it. So when you put that qualifier in, They're signaling, hey, hey, we're going to say that we covered our bases here, but you don't have to pay attention to any of it because this person's a right-wing loony. It's why you never see the left-wing descriptor. It's always only right-wing. They're creating the permission structure for their own readers to ignore it.

1:07:25And they think we don't notice what they're doing. And if you're on the right-wing, you notice they do it all the time and they only do it for one side. All right, now how about her co-author, this gal, Katie Gluwek? Katie Gluick, this is what we actually once reported on her after she wrote the following article in 2024 about Fannie Willis, who some of us in the evil right wing had pegged all along and correctly identified as a grifter who would ultimately be disqualified from the prosecution of Donald Trump because she couldn't keep it in her pants. saying that probably doesn't really apply to women, but you get the picture and has a bunch of other problems now coming her way to a bunch of other allegations against her.

1:08:10This is how Katie saw the problems for Fannie Willis. Why the case against Fannie Willis feels familiar to black women. OK, so that's what we're dealing with on these two reporters. And I feel bad because Lindsay Fifield is now beating herself up online saying I never should trusted these two. You know, like they made me assurances and I made assurances to other women. And it turns out they used me and I get why she's pissed today. Just don't trust the New York Times. And honestly, if I were Lindsay and these other gals and I wanted to speak and she's got these other two gals, I would do it direct to cam.

1:08:45You know, like remove the middleman. And certainly if the middleman is the New York Times, just do it. Go all three of you. You can come here or you could just do it direct to cam in your own podcast or camera, webcam. But don't trust the New York Times for something like this involving a Democrat politician and a Senate seat in Maine that both parties really want. Okay, I want to keep going. So now this week in the trial of Carmelo Anthony, the 17-year-old down in Texas who happens to be black, who stabbed a 17-year-old named Austin Metcalf in the heart, who happened to be white, and killed him.

1:09:27We've had jury selection. We've had the jury impaneled. We've had opening statements. And now we're in the midst of witness testimony in this trial, which is moving along at quite a clip. The latest outrage is that no black people made it onto the jury of 12. And some, because Carmelo Anthony's defenders are already trying to make this about race, you know, that somehow he got arrested because of race or he was targeted by Austin Metcalf because of race. zero evidence of that. Zero. There's not even something that they can exploit and make something out of. Literally nothing has been said about race.

1:10:05There's no dynamic about race. There's no allegations that Austin Metcalf was in any way a racist or had ever said racist things to Carmelo or anybody else. Nothing, nothing. However, you know, these loons on the left who want to make everything about race are going to do what they're going to do, and they're doing it here. So they're very, very angry that there are no black jurors. But it turns out, Sean, The reason there are no black jurors is because several of the black jurors in voir dire explicitly said they could never put a brother in jail. OK, you'll get bounced every time for that. And the last remaining three who were in the running were all educators.

1:10:41And I think a lot of prosecution, a lot of prosecutors would balance an educator fearful that they wouldn't have the stomach to convict in a case like this that involves a teenager, a 17 year old. They may be looking at him too sympathetically. And also because this is this happened at a school. So they think they're the experts. They're the mini expert. No lawyer really wants the self-described expert on his or her jury. You know, you want the jury to look at you and your witnesses as the expert and not to have three self-declared ones taking over. So this is all legit, but they're already setting it up on team defense for some sort of like the fix is in because it's all whites judging a black man.

1:11:26Your thoughts? Yeah, I mean, it's it's sadly predictable. I mean, the facts are so stacked against Anthony in this. He was in a place he had no business being in. He was asked to leave. He didn't leave. They, you know, get into an altercation of words and then he decides he needs to stab this guy. You know, it was self-defense. Now, I've done a lot of self-defense classes. If anyone's ever been to a concealed carry class, you get this rammed into your brain. Then when it comes to self-defense, proportionality is a really, really key element. If you are walking around as like a gun owner or a concealed carry holder and you have a firearm on you and someone comes up to you and says, hey, I'm going to punch you in the face, you're not allowed to shoot that person.

1:12:10That is not allowed to be a kind of proportional deadly force. You weren't at risk at that point. If someone comes in, you know, roughly same size and, you know, just kind of sucker punches you or punches you in the stomach, you're also not allowed to go and stab that person or shoot them. Again, proportionality is a really, really important thing. And the facts here, this claim that it was in self-defense, that he was in fear of his life is nonsense. The defense knows it's nonsense. And so what I think they're trying to do is create this new kind of OJ dynamic where they want to completely racialize it and either somehow get him off by making sure they have people on the jury who sympathize with him racially, or they want to be able to contextualize it or get it thrown out on appeal.

1:12:53It wasn't a jury of his peers. I think it's absolute nonsense. You know, it seems to have been an unprovoked, fatal, deadly attack. And they don't have the facts with them. They don't have the law with them. So now they just have to cry racism. That's the thing. So provocation is relevant here. It was unprovoked by Austin Metcalf, but it was provoked by Carmelo Anthony. You know, Carmelo Anthony, according to the police report, went over to him. Well, Austin said, get out of our tent. I mean, it's come out in the trial that there were multiple tents at the track meet for multiple schools. and you were supposed to stand, if at all, under the tent for your school and not somebody else's school.

1:13:37And the tents were predominantly for the athletes to come back to in between like meets. So understandably, you wouldn't want, you know, the rival school under your tent and nobody was doing that. But what they testified to was Carmelo Anthony's school didn't have a tent. So it's possible he was wandering there in good faith. I don't know. I'm not sure I didn't hear the testimony firsthand yet, but that it could be that he was in the wrong place and didn't realize he shouldn't be. But he was told by Austin Metcalf to leave the tent. And there was testimony by a coach that he had told Austin Metcalf, like, you be a leader, you know, keep things in order in here, which would include keeping out rival teams' representatives.

1:14:18And that he had gone over to Carmelo Anthony and told him to leave. And it was the equivalent of make me, you know, and he said, you know, why don't you put your hands on me and see, like, see if you can make me. and that Austin Metcalf did put hands on Carmelo Anthony in some way, shape, or form. Like there's been testimony that he grabbed him or he may have pushed him. He didn't punch him. No one's even alleging a punch. And then the next thing you know, he got stabbed through the heart. So there was provocation, but it was by the defendant. And the self-defense law doesn't allow that. You can't provoke someone to hit you in the face and then react with deadly force and claim self-defense.

1:14:56First of all, only deadly force against you can be met with deadly force, to your point, Sean. That's very clear. And second of all, even if Austin Metcalf had pulled a knife, there'd be a question about whether Carmelo Anthony could argue self-defense because he provoked him. You can't provoke the person to attack you and then say, I was doing self-defense when you provoked him. But here's something even more interesting. Yesterday in the defense's opening statement for Carmelo Anthony, Anthony, the lawyer said the following thing. He said that Anthony made a split-second decision out of fear.

1:15:37In that split-second, Melo, which I guess is what they call Carmelo, has a decision to make, how and when to act. He said self-defense is useless if you wait too late to defend yourself. He reacts in a split-second of fear, chaos. And to me, Saurabh, it almost sounds like they're getting ready to argue mistaken self-defense, where they may be getting ready to argue, okay, it wasn't like perfect self-defense where he truly was under threat from Austin Metcalf. They may be getting ready to argue he believed he was about to get attacked by Austin Metcalf. Mistakenly, I thought he had a knife. I thought he had a weapon.

1:16:20I was mistaken. And in Texas, I looked it up. That's imperfect self-defense. You often see it when you have a defense of others defense. So it's like, you know, I shot the man in the red jacket. Why? He wasn't coming toward you. Well, because I thought he was attacking that woman. No, he was only kissing her. Oh, I was wrong. That's imperfect self-defense. Sorry, that's imperfect defense of others. And this may be imperfect self-defense where like, I thought he was going to attack me with a knife, but he didn't. And in Texas, if that's your argument, you can only downgrade it to involuntary manslaughter.

1:16:52You can't get a not guilty. Um, in the, if that's your defense. So I don't know if that's what they're going for. It's kind of interesting if that's what they're going for, but you tell me whether a Texas jury is going to look at any of this. I mean, they say that this Carmelo Anthony had good grades, was an upstanding student, you know, came from a nice family, though that nice family's now playing the race card in a way that's very despicable. Um, you know, what are the odds they're going to look at this kid and want to lock him up for the rest of his life? I don't know if it's reasonable, I guess, if, you know, to think about, you know, someone is coming at you, they've asked you to leave a place, and you are put in such danger that it justifies you pulling a knife and stabbing them in the heart.

1:17:39um i you know i don't i look i mean there's there's the legal standard of you know imperfect self-defense or just self-defense um and then there's the facts of this case and i just don't you know i know big city lawyer but i don't see how that that those thresholds can be met by carmelo it just it just seems like a pretty open shut um case to me right someone tells you to leave you say well make me the person approaches you even if they put an arm on you to escort you out or to sort of thrust you out that is that as is in in any possible universe is it a reasonable response to stab them in the heart so like and what you know again like with the with the black jurors like what what difference would would that make like it's again i think here's my bottom line is most people following the facts of this case would conclude that this is a pretty open and shut case.

1:18:35And these all seem pretty like desperate lawyers maneuvers. I can't blame the lawyers. It's their duty to, you know, offer the best possible representation they can. And they are obviously every possible thing they can throw, but I'm sorry. It just seems like it's over. Yeah, before I began, I agree with you. All right. I know, Sean, you've got to go. We'll say goodbye to you. And so, Rob, you guys, thank you both so much for coming on. I hope to see you again soon. I want to just tell the audience that this just came in as we were finishing up our discussion. This is just an update from the trial because it's underway right now via the Daily Mail.

1:19:11Police body cam footage played in court today captured Hunter, who is Austin's identical twin, who was there. Oh, so awful. Anguished cries where he exclaimed, oh my God, he's my best friend. He's my brother, before hysterically shouting, I can't do this as Austin lay dying. Oh, that's so awful. As the footage was played in court on Friday, Metcalfe's sister, I'm sorry, as the footage was played in court on Friday, Metcalfe's killer, Carmelo Anthony, sat motionless. Hunter was not in the courtroom at the time. What an authentic, real, awful statement. I can't do this. That really resonates. When something's happening to you that's truly awful and the loss of a loved one in particular, I can't do this, right?

1:19:58It's like, no. That's your instinct to say when something awful happens to someone you deeply love. Like, it's a no. No. No. I reject it. And yet the reality becomes clear. The knife was shown in court. Photographs were shown to the jurors depicting a knife with a black blade and a silver handle. Blood could be seen running down the weapon. Obviously, this is a photograph, which investigators suggested may have been affected by the rain falling that afternoon. Prosecutors later displayed the knife itself in court. Anthony, who wore a Navy suit with a white shirt to court today, remained motionless, staring straight ahead as the evidence was presented to the jury.

1:20:39It's a very tough haul for him. I really think they should have worked on a plea. I don't see a good outcome coming his way. I don't know. One of the mysteries about this case and why it's interesting is what makes, again, what is reportedly, we don't know, but reportedly otherwise a good kid, stab another good kid in the heart over a dispute about who can stand under which tent. I mean, when I first heard that story, I just assumed he came from a broken family or he had some sort of abuse in his life or something to create someone with a hair trigger and like a very disproportionate sense of, you know, quote, justice.

1:21:24that hasn't really been the reporting on him. And I don't know, it's one of the really most disturbing things about this because you'd really like to think that our society has an order to it and that other than a crazy person, your average kid will obey the order where we don't stab each other in the heart over being told you have to leave this tent. Could be diminishing, could be insulting, could make you feel, why is he sending me out of here? I get all that. It's kind of like a road rage incident. You feel something's been personalized where someone's done something to you. You can't risk somebody's life.

1:22:01You can't take somebody's life. I want to know more about Carmelo Anthony. That's where I am. Okay. Coming up next, we turn the page and interview for the first time here on the MK show, mega selling author, James Patterson, and wait until you see who he's bringing with him. Little mystery. You'll see it next. If you are heading into summer without a medical emergency kit, you are taking a risk most people don't even think about until it's too late. Summer colds linger and can turn into sinus infections that last for weeks. Getting sick right before vacation can derail everything. And when you are traveling, finding a doctor in pharmacy is stressful.

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1:25:05the truth, unfiltered, with no agenda and no apologies. Along with The Megyn Kelly Show, you're going to hear from people like Mark Halperin, Link Lauren, Maureen Callahan, Emily Jashinsky, Jesse Kelly, Real Clear Politics, and many more. It's bold, no BS news, only on The Megyn Kelly Channel, Sirius XM 111, and on the Sirius XM app.

1:25:30Joining me now for the first time on The MK Show is James Patterson, truly one of the best-selling authors of all time. He's had more than 100 New York Times best-selling novels. He has sold more than 400 million books across the globe. I mean, that's just, it's insane. His work ranges from his iconic thriller novels to nonfiction investigative books to young adult series. His latest book is an action thriller centered on America's national security just in time for our 250th anniversary. And his co-author is equally interesting. It's Matt Eversman, a legend in his own right. Matt is a decorated U.S.

1:26:11Army First Sergeant best known for his leadership during the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, which was chronicled in the hit film Black Hawk Down. Their new novel, Rockets Red Glare, is out June 8th and available for pre-order right now. James, Matt, welcome to the show. Great to have you. Thank you. Good to be had. Thanks for having us. This is awesome. Oh, the pleasure's all mine. All right, James, let me start with you because I learned a lot about you in preparation for today that I did not know. Like your father, here's the line, grew up in a poor house in Newburgh, New York. What does that mean?

1:26:50What does that mean? Literally, it was in Newburgh, they had a place where essentially people who are homeless would be. And his mother, my grandmother, who I never met, she was a child woman. So she cleaned the bathrooms and the kitchen, and they got a room in the basement. And my father's a bright guy, and he got an orphan, because his father had disappeared, orphan scholarship. And, yeah, so that's what the pokey was, the poor house. Wow. Wow. So you came from nothing in terms of money or connections. Yeah, I mean, that has no real effect. I mean, I can't take any kudos for that. But the thing about my grandmother on my mother's side and my mother is they were the ones that really, you know, my grandmother was you can do anything.

1:27:38She said, you're not going to play in the NBA. So forget about that stupid dream. But because you can't go to your left that well. But but anything else you can do, including writing books. But you weren't a writer up until like, well, it sounds like you graduated. You were around 17, 18. You were an avid reader. Yeah. And then went to work at a psychiatric hospital. I did. I worked at McLean Hospital. Still up there in Belmont, Mass. It was a terrific place to grow up. I wasn't a big reader when I went there. I was a good student in high school and college or whatever. And then I had a lot of free time.

1:28:12I worked a lot of nights. Just I started reading, reading, reading. And fell in love with it and fell in love with writing. I just started scribbling all these stories. And I loved it. And that's why I say, you know, to this day, I don't work for a living. I play for a living because I love writing stories. Yeah. And that's why you do it so well. Also, fun fact, at the psychiatric hospital, you met a man by the name of James Taylor. You did. Pre-fame, singing like fire and rain in the cafeteria. He had just written that one. He was a patient there, as was his brother Liv and his sister Kate. They were all patients.

1:28:47and James was having different kinds of problems. And he wasn't famous at that point. And he did sing in the cafeteria, the small cafeteria. He would sing Fire and Rain and Sweet Baby James and these songs, which at that point had not been released. And then a year later, about a year and a half later, he got out and he got picked up by the Beatles label, Apple. And they released that first album, which became a monster hit. Um, yeah, but it was, were you just flabbergasted that the guy who used to sing in the psychiatric hospital turned out to be this guy, James Taylor? Yeah. Once again, don't think of it as like some crazy house, like one flew over the cuckoo's nest.

1:29:28It was, it was mainly just a lot of people having problems and, um, you know, and I, and I, and I grew up there a lot. I, you know, once again, Newberg is a little provincial and all of a sudden I'm, I'm dealing with people from all over the world. some rich ones, some interesting folks. And also, as I said, I just started writing a lot of short stories. Yep. And that's what you have to do to become a great writer. Write, write, and more writing. Yeah, well, it helps. Before I bring Matt in, one other point. You had a stint in advertising. Yeah, but I've been clean for over 30 years. Come on, Megan, give me a break.

1:30:07But we got to talk about it because James Taylor was not the only one who could do something with music. People, you know the jingle. You just didn't know you had James Patterson to thank for it. I'm a Toys R Us kid. Here it is, Thought 51. Here it is. I don't want to grow up. I'm a Toys R Us kid. They got a million toys at Toys R Us that I can play with. I don't want to grow up. I'm a Toys R Us kid. They got the best for so much less. You'll really flip your lid. From bikes to trains to video games. It's the biggest toy store there is. Gee whiz. I don't want to grow up, because baby if I did, I couldn't be a Toys R Us kid.

1:30:45Once a Toys R Us kid. Always a Toys R Us kid. Do I thank you or condemn you? No, I think thank. It's a nice song. It's, you know, buying kids up to a point. Toys is a good thing. My friend Linda Kaplan wrote the song. Great, wonderful songwriter. And it was fun to do. Wow. And then as if that wasn't enough success, you moved on and accomplished all I said and more in the writing film. And you're probably feeling really good about yourself until you met Matt and saw his resume as as portrayed, as I said, in the book and then film Black Hawk Down, in which we pulled a clip played by Josh Hartnett.

1:31:30But not as good looking as Matt, I might point out. Very clearly. I'm glad you pointed it out. Here is the clip in which it's your goodbye speech to your fallen comrade, Corporal Smith. Let's watch Sat 58. You know, a friend of mine asked me before I got here. We were all shipping out. He asked me, why are you going to fight somebody else's war? What do you all think, you're heroes?

1:32:02I didn't know what to say at the time, but

1:32:07if you asked me again, I'd say no.

1:32:13I'd say there's no way in hell. Nobody has to be a hero.

1:32:23It just sometimes turns out that way.

1:32:29I'm going to talk to your mom and pop when I get home, okay?

1:32:46Amazing. They do not let just anybody become a U.S. Army Ranger. That is tough stuff. And never mind, go through what you guys went through. And Black Hawk Down, thank you for your service and for everything you've done for the country. Well, Megan, thank you. Very kind of you to say and appreciate you having us on today. Of course, of course. So not only, I mean, it's great. Like James sold 400 million books, but you have the Bronze Star Medal with Valor and the Combat Infantry Man's Badge, Army Service Ribbon, National Defense Service Ribbon, eight Army Achievement Medals, four Army Commendation Medals and more.

1:33:19You've also sold a bunch of books successfully in addition to your military service. And now, this is perfect. All that background sets up perfectly why the two of you decided to coordinate on this Rockets Red Glare, just in time for the 4th of July. So Matt, tell me why. What is this? Why should people be reading this as we go to the July 4th holiday? You know, it's a great segue into this, you know, it's celebration of the 250th anniversary of this great, unbelievably brilliant country of ours. And, you know, this is a fun way, truly, I think, to kind of get in that spirit. When I say fun, listen, it's an action thriller.

1:33:53And it's about, you know, a really talented group of men and women that that rise to the occasion to protect us on our own shores. And and that, I think, just the theme of the patriotism and the valor. And and, of course, the the the intrigue all rise into a good a good beach read. But it's fun. And I think it it does support this notion, again, of men and women that serve our country so bravely and admirably, literally any chance they get. And I think that's sort of in a nutshell how it plays out for us. James, one of the things that's good about it is it happens here on our shores. And the military has to defend us against a nefarious enemy who's attacking us in various ways and across various cities.

1:34:40And so that's the thing that America's really dread, right? Like the thought that, like, what came across the border? Do we know exactly who's here? What's going on with the potholes? Like what how could we be attacked in the homeland in a way that doesn't make those oceans feel like the, you know, comfortable cushion that we think they are? Yeah. And also, I mean, like what's going on right now, you create enemies. And and and this is this is tricky. That's what happened with 9-11. We do things and sometimes there's payback in a big way. And that's something we have to protect, protect ourselves against that for sure.

1:35:19Mm hmm. In the book, one of the themes that comes out and this is I don't know, you tell me, Matt, if this is like ripped from the headlines, but there's presidential campaign. There's Secret Service who come under attack. And I mean, there's just been so much of that, like over the past couple of years with Trump and the repeated assassination attempts and Secret Service in the news, like seemingly every other week. Do you guys do you pay attention to that when you're writing books like this or how does that work into your your thought process? Well, if I could just jump in on that, I will tell you, this has been a long time in the making in the writing.

1:35:54And a lot of this, believe it or not, actually was kicked around and jotted down years before this current administration. So, interestingly enough, though, what it just points out is, you know, every one of these stories starts with a what if. And for somebody to say, oh, that could never happen, you know, fill in the blank, whatever it is. I'm here to tell you, it actually will. People said, you know, Black Hawk Down, that event on October 3rd and 4th, 1993, will never happen again, anomaly. And yet it does happen. You know, combat is very ugly and it's very real. These things do happen. So the nutshell of it, to answer your question, I think is, this covers Cold War stuff.

1:36:36This is GWAT stuff. This is irregular warfare stuff. And anyone that says it couldn't happen is delusional, literally, and fooling themselves. So, you know, that's that's kind of the throwback answer is that if you can think it, it really kind of because in real life, that's what our enemies do. Like if they can think it, don't do it. Well, and I don't know. I feel like one of the things like there's some I don't give anything away, but there's like some stop top lawmakers who, shall we say, become very endangered. It does make you wonder how prepared we would be. God forbid there were an attack on the homeland, Matt.

1:37:11Right. Like it raises natural questions because I my own feeling is less than we'd like to be. Absolutely. You know, Megan, if you and I don't you can't you cannot we cannot protect this country, honestly. I mean, we can react and we can we can do the best we can. And we are you know, you read a little segment before about a boy killing another boy and stabbing him in the heart. And we are in that period of anything goes. We're also where I think more than ever, there are people who don't care if they live or die. They just don't care that much. They've gotten to that point in their lives. And that makes it just more dangerous than it's I think that it's ever been in a lot of ways.

1:37:56But definitely, as Matt said, if you can think it, somebody is capable of doing it. there was you know even here in new york city there was i'm not in new york but near um that woman fell through the manhole a couple of weeks ago it was awful yeah and then across in another country there was weirdly i knew her china can't remember isn't that weird i knew that woman so she's right up here in westchester yeah she was bizarre i'm sorry go ahead oh yeah no no it was just so disturbing this poor woman just stepped out of her car and fell into an open manhole which should never be there, but was. And then I saw a video on the internet.

1:38:34It was overseas. It was in some Asian country. I think it might have been in China, but somebody who's walking along and steps on the manhole and like that goes down. And it does make you think about vulnerabilities. Like there are a lot of them that we don't think about every day, but let's face it. Usually the people who are thinking about them aren't really the top army rangers. It's like bureaucrats, you know, who are underpaid and overworked. And the next thing you know, maybe because of what we let happen at the border or some other clever means, the bad guys are here and we're really vulnerable, especially if we're fighting overseas, doing something we shouldn't be doing, in my view.

1:39:12Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And Megan, if I could just throw something really quick into that comment. And you're saying absolutely correct. Big countries, so much to protect, impossible even. But if there's good news in it, and this in real life, we have got such a force of stout, tough American men and women that maybe they're reacting, but they'll do a job for us, as we've seen in real life, real time and witnessed on real battlefields. And I think in this book, again, you know, you do get to see this. Hey, man, when you're on the ropes, good people, everyday people can stand up. Yeah. I mean, the other thing, Megan, and this is sort of cornball, but it's true.

1:40:00To protect against a lot of this stuff, to some extent, we have to start rowing in the same direction better than we have been. Because the way it's working right now, we're rowing in. 20 different directions and the boat just spins. And that doesn't really help. That doesn't protect us. It doesn't do anything that we like to just waste a lot of money. We looked this up just because you guys are coming on about American pride. And this is a headline in the New York Post just two days ago. Fewer than one in five Democrats feel proud to be American ahead of the birthday, the 250th, compared to two in three Republicans.

1:40:37But that's still lower for Republicans than it's been. 68 % said they felt proud of the country. It used to be much, much higher on both sides. But this decrease in national pride is depressing, James Patterson. What are we supposed to do about that? We just need, somehow we need leadership. I don't just mean president, but just in general, where more people are sort of nodding their head as opposed to shaking their heads. Hopefully, we'll, you know, I mean, one of the things about this country we've been pretty good about doing is when things sort of going the wrong way, we tend to have to kind of rebalance things a little bit.

1:41:19And I don't mean Republican versus Democrat as much as just working together a little bit better than we have been. If, you know. Maybe it starts with Rockets Red Glare. Maybe people read Rockets Red Glare by James Patterson and Matt Eversman and say, you know what, this has been a great thriller by guys who have maintained mostly nonpartisan leanings. And I'm inspired. I'm inspired to think about how we protect ourselves against outside enemies as opposed to creating enemies from within with of our fellow countrymen. the other thing is that we um we can we can go and escape for a few hours that's okay uh there's so much yes toxicity and we just we can't do that all day you know it's like you know this is it's escape reading uh we're going to get a good result the good guys hopefully are going to win within reason, good guys and women.

1:42:19Yeah, and that's, I mean, that's one of the things obviously we want to do. And the thing with the collaborations with me, I always try to, when the collaborations, whether it's Dolly Parton or Viola Davis, somebody who's going to bring the authenticity to the kinds of stories that I like to get involved in. And Matt knows this. You know, the story is somewhat over the top, but if something happened, this is the way it would happen. This is the way Rangers would act. This is the way the Secret Service would act. No, you can tell. I mean, this is from the prologue. Sergeant Jeff Carnes sat paralyzed in the passenger seat of the smoldering Humvee, slowly regaining consciousness after the concussion of the RPG.

1:43:00And we go on from there, who he sees about to grenade him, only to see that guy instantaneously get a bullet in his head. Like, you've actually lived this. This is like, some of these memories are from your actual experiences, Matt. You know, one night we were all out to dinner. That's for Matt, James. Let Matt talk. No, quick, quick, Matt. This is a Matt story, though. We were out to dinner. Oh, I only have a minute left. I'm trying to get the Braun Starr winner in here. Go ahead, Jim. No, go. No, you go, Matt. I forgot what I was going to say. I'm sorry. This is all. All right, James Patterson, back to you.

1:43:41Matt at the dinner table. And I said, Matt, you know, because I haven't been in war. How close? And he reached across the table. He said this close in terms of combatant, in terms of in terms of what what's really happening in wartime when it comes to, you know, mono a mono combat. Yeah, he knows of what he speaks. He's this close and has managed to put pen to paper and bring it to all of us in rockets. Red glare. No, it's OK. We forgive you. You're James Patterson. You can do what you want. and Matt Eversman, you got to read it, read it, get it, pre-order it right now, and then you'll have it.

1:44:15And if you wait too long, I'm telling you these booksellers, they sell out. So don't let that happen. You order it today and you'll be reading it in time for Father's Day, in time for the 4th of July, 250th, and you won't be sorry you did. Guys, thank you both so much. Matt, again, thanks for your service. Thank you, Megan. Have an awesome weekend. Have a great weekend and we'll see you on Monday. Thanks for listening to The Megan Kelly Show. No BS, no agenda, and no fear.

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