[MUSIC PLAYING] This is the John Feudle saying podcast. [MUSIC PLAYING] I'm John Feudle-Sag. This is Sirius XM Progress. I had a welcome to Tell Me Everything's End of the Year special. It has been an exhausting year and an inspiring year here at Channel 127. I am most grateful to the most dangerous production squad in radio, Chris Hauselt and Theo Harper, for putting together a great show. We've had great guests all year long and I had an amazing year writing a book, being on tour, traveling around the country, and of course, talking to you guys every night. This year for Christmas, well, we're going to get a psycho-racist con man in the White House who took a $10 million bribe from Egypt, lied 30,000 times, a 34 times felon, adjudicated sexual abuser who rolls over for any dictator with a compliment, including apartheid Barbie, a man who added $7 trillion to the national debt and ended our 240-year peaceful transfer of power. To make sense of it all and the sane-washing, both siding and capitulating of corporate media, we've brought together three of my favorite folks of the entire year, three people whose presence in media helped keep me sane and talked me off a ledge, three Americans who've inspired us all in very different ways. The great Stephanie Miller, one of the funniest people in the world, who does one of the best morning shows, Glenn Kirschner, demand behind Justice Matters, a legal expert who should be our next attorney general. And when we come back, we kick it all off with star of SiriusXM Urban View, author, Pulitzer Prize winner, and one of the most powerful public speakers in broadcasting, Miss Karen Hunter. It's my honor to bring you these interviews with these three terrific Americans, and we'll be right back. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) Our guest is one of the greatest radio hosts in the world. She's also one of my favorite people in the world. You might know her as the host of The Karen Hunter Show. Weekdays, three to six on Urban View, Channel 126. She's also the author of several New York Times bestsellers, including Conventions of the Video Vixen on the Down Low. Wendy's got the heat. She's also been an assistant professor in the Film and Media Department in Hunter College. And because she's not working enough, check out the podcast, "Karen Hunter" is awesome. She's begun a whole podcast network because she's made a free time. The Pulitzer Prize winner, goddess, Karen Hunter. Happy New Year, happy end of 2024. Well, a couple of corrections, distinguished lecturer. So that's something that's not an assistant professor. And why do you lead with Confessions of a Video Vixen? Like my least proud book is like, I did books with LL Cool Jake, bestsellers, Queen Latipa, bestsellers, you know, it's but okay. I'm so sorry, I'll take it out and I'll have all of this other stuff. No, don't take it in, leave it in and allow me to, you know, back away from some of my most successful works. (laughs) But it speaks to the culture though, John. The those Confessions of the Video Vixen and on the download, two of my best, I mean, we're talking tens of hundreds of thousands of copies sold, crazy. Right, but that's what happens, right? I mean, the stuff that, you know, that moves the most units, the most popular credits are not always the credits we're the most crazy about. God knows that's true of my resume. I do think though that, you know, we're in an inflection point in our history where like, it's like where Rome was with the Vomitoriums and the gladiator games and the rampant wild sex, you know, Caligula, you know, we're in that period. We're in the Caligula period of America. Oh, I'm very aware and Karen, have you noticed? Every time these Christians elect Caligula, God sends a new plague. How about that bird flu, huh? Every time God sends a new plague. You know what? Let me be honest. Let me be at 100% in Hello Insight family. I miss you all. I actually, do you remember? I was on insight with Pete Diamond in the beginning when you guys were forming this channel and I feel like I'm coming home. So, hi everyone. - Hi. But you're right about Caligula between Rome or the Weimar Republic. I'm running out of things to compare us to. But, you know, I find it very telling. I mean, I'm reading about bird flu every morning and I'm like, hey Christians, God really doesn't like when you keep doing this. He's weighing in. - All right, here's the secret. You being raised, you know, the way you were raised by a father and a sister. The trick of this whole religion thing is that we are reflections of God. God's agnostic in the sense that, and this will probably piss people off from it. Good, good, good. Be mad. - Yeah, go ahead. - God requires us to be God on earth, meaning we're the reflection we are made in that image. This is exactly, we are telling the world, this is what our God is. - Yeah. - We don't even realize we are the ambassadors here. This is it. And that bird flu thing I just checked out, I can't. I can't do another pandemic, I'm just not doing it. - But you know, but you're exactly right. This really is who we are. At the last couple of times, we were able to tell America, sorry, look, the electoral college, you know, majority vote. This isn't who we are. I mean, when they got the final tally and Trump had under 50% of the popular vote, I was so thrilled because now three elections in a row, the majority of us technically said no to this guy because otherwise, yeah, we, nice people can't make excuses anymore. This is really is who America is. - Correct. And the people who sat home too. So we're both apathetic and idiots at the same time. Majority. - But it is important to point out it's not a mandate, Karen. I mean, this is what the mainstream media doesn't seem to get. It was not a landslide, it was not a red wave. He barely won it, 1.5 percentage points. Kamala Harris was in this race for 100 days. He was in this race for four years and she still got the third highest vote total of any candidate for president in the history of this country. It, we are still divided as we all, as we have been for years. This was in no way a resounding victory and America did not endorse this man full-throatedly. - But it won't matter because he has the House, the Senate, the Judiciary Branch, and the Executive Branch, and Elon Musk, as his puppeteer. So I don't know if it matters whether it's a mandate. We're gonna be living under it. I'm, my only hope, I saw Justin Trudeau's speech and I was like, I know that they're pushing him to step down and all this. I was like, can we become like those of us who live in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, California, you know, Massachusetts has been doing the right things as well. Can we maybe be a part of the United States of Canada? I don't know. I've been, I've been, you know, floating some ideas in my head. I don't know if they're gonna work out. - How are you responding to the very understandable to spare a lot of decent people are feeling? I mean, I get, I think despondency is privileged, but I get why people need to feel it. And I sort of feel like by the time we get to the first of February, people are gonna be back on the same page again. - Well, how I've been doing crack and alcohol have been a great combo for, you know, getting through escapism. My crack is TV, by the way. So I'm not actually doing crack 'cause crack is whack Whitney told us that, Jersey's own. But yeah, and I don't drink, you know that. But I have escaped into utter, not, I have not watched a single moment of cable news. And I may be off that permanently. I'm reading foreign newspapers, like, limon'd in the financial times. You know, I'm broadening my horizons just in case, you know, I might need to see those places. I am watching the worst television I've ever watched in my life. And some good stuff, some good stuff out there. You know, I got, got in the rabbit hole of cross and, you know, the jackal and, you know, I said I wasn't gonna watch Billy Bob Thornton because he hurts my eyes. But now I'm there, I am with the land man. I'm there right there, Taylor Sheridan's done it again. You know, so I'm escaping and a lot of laughter. I'm reading books, I'm taking long walks in the park. I'm getting massages and pedicures, John. I am not, I'm unbothered is what I am until I have to be. So February 1st, the first day of Black History Month. Good day to tap in, but I'm tapping in with a fist. A verbal fist. - Right on. Yeah. - Right on. Yeah, I've been saying every night, I don't let Nazi see me cry. It's really, really simple. I gotta think it's been fun for you to do the Karen Hunter is awesome podcast this year and to start letting yourself as a broadcaster indulge in more important things like the TV shows you're binging. How's that for your other side of your brain? Well, you know, it's interesting. We do radio and people keep calling it a podcast when we put clips on. - I know, right? - And I'm like, do you realize? So I didn't know the difference. You know, technically I didn't know the difference 'cause live radio, you can't take it back. You can't edit, it's out there, it's out there which requires something to the people who have Mike's live. - But yeah. - So yeah, I bristle with it. - Our job's harder. - Come on. And you gotta deal with colors, you gotta, producers in your ear, you gotta, you know, watch a clock, you gotta go to a break, you know. Read a commercial. This podcast thing is not y'all. So what I've discovered, John, is that I'm really, I'm good at it. And it's not, it's something that I didn't know I wanted to do or need it. I just, I'm always like, if everyone's talking about this thing, let me conquer it. Let me go see what this is about. And I'm having fun. I'm talking about religion, which I'm sure you appreciate. Just talking about my television shows like Survivor, shout out to Rachel. I was rooting for you. I, you know, I'm having these, you know, conversations. Matter of fact, I want to invite you on 'cause I'm asking men three thoughtful questions about women, you know, I'm getting to do little segments that I-- - This is really great- - Could fit into, you know, the radio. So yeah, and getting a little personal, you know. - That's gotta be healthy for you. I mean, after a year like this where we have been forced to be front rows for tragedy after tragedy, there's a liberation in not being down about the threats to democracy. There's a liberation in having joy and pleasure and fun and laughter in spite of how much gloom a lot of our friends are feeling. I think that's a form of resistance in and of itself. I think recharging the human soul is a form of resistance because the media's in on the gaslighting as well. They want us glued to this TV, watching their ads for adult diapers and waiting for the next desperate piece of horror. - If I'm being honest though, I don't think I've ever leaned into the doom. I've always, you know, I tell my audience every day, you know, wherever you are, you live somewhere, you have a responsibility to create the world that you want to live in. So people, oh, you're in a bubble. I am a bubble of my own creation. If MAGA wants to be in a bubble, why can't we create a bubble and make the bubble expansive in the sense that we can be in a place where I live somewhere, I have a mayor, I have, you know, I have the city council, I should know what's going on in my city council, I should know what's going on in my town. - It affects your life a lot more than president. - Exactly, the board of ed, I want to know what's going on with my roads, the garbage, the water. I can be more effective in my own front door in my own neighborhood than I can worrying about what's going on in Washington, which I have right now, no control over. So we're going to control, how's your health, everyone? Did you go get your checkup, your blood work? Is your blood work good? What's your A1C or whatever the hell that thing is with the diabetes? Do you have it? Are you pre-diabetic? What can you do about it? These things we can control. How are your children? Your kids okay? Are you okay, how's your momma doing? We can control a lot of things. We can't control what's going on in government right now. - That's right. - And the feds, really, those of us who live in states that are sending more money to the feds, I'm now John Fukel saying a state's rights advocate. Let's go. - Well, let me ask you just a little bit about the cabinet because we live in America where I should say we're creating an America where Herschel Walker gets to be the ambassador to office, and polio is coming back. So listen, I'm enjoying it for the entertainment value. It's been very interesting seeing where the Republicans in the Senate are gonna bend the knee and where they're gonna look at a Matt Gates and say, no, we don't obey you that much, Trump. And seeing First Lady Elon Musk showing us what Bernie was talking about with oligarchs calling the shots all those times, literally. I mean, there's a lot of horror, but there's a lot of comedy, too. Fortunately, I feel like entertainment should take a... I'm expecting some good-ass music. I'm looking for the next TV one, to the next Marvin Gaye, the next Nina Simone. I'm gonna need y'all to step your game up and start writing 'cause there's a lot of material, comedians, enough of the stupid jokes. Like, give me your George Carlos and your... Come on now, let's go, let's go. - We don't need bad impressions anymore. We're past the bad Trump impression phase. Let's get smarter. Let's get more clever. Joe Colvin can still get, you know, J.L. Colvin, shout out to you, by the way. - Very good. - Yes, but yeah, to your point, I'm gonna need to see more filmmakers and documentarians, and yeah, this is a time. You know, we're in a period of time that will be marked 100 years from now as the second dark age or something, the age of ridiculousness. I don't know what they're gonna call it 100 years from now, but they're gonna call it something. And out of this manure, we must produce something good. So I actually had a podcast, I had a podcast with a pastor, Dr. Reverend Frederick, Douglas Haynes III, and he said, you know, people are talking about the last age, you'll appreciate this as a person that knows a little bit about the lives of revelations, or he said, okay, but the end of something brings forth the beginning. And he said, I'm going to be a midwife. I said, you better say that, pastor. So I too, I'm midwifing in this next era. - Yeah, this era for a while, I was calling this era the Just Give Up a Scene. But now I think now this era is maybe the awkward period we have to go through to get to the age of Aquarius. There's always, in any one of these big shifts, the astrology person I live with tells me, it's always a rocky entering this period. And humankind goes through all manner of strife before these periods of great peace and prosperity. But, you know-- - Say, but wait, hold on. So you live with it? You're just gonna say the astrology. I know you're a Virgo, I'm a tourist, which is why we get our astronauts sitting on. It's those of you who know what I'm talking about. We get our astronauts, what's your wife's sign? - My wife's a Pisces, I'm a Virgo living with a Pisces, which-- - That doesn't, that's not supposed to work job, you could say. - When it works, it works really well. When it works, it works really well. When it doesn't work, she's shallow and I'm a roast. But when it does work, it works incredibly well. - Okay. - And I got a Pisces for a kid too. So I'm a Virgo living with two of these people. I know I'm sitting here Van Gogh in the basement. But you know, but I do think at a certain point, you know, depression is a disease, but negativity's a habit. And going forward, avoiding negativity is a choice and avoiding negativity and darkness and not letting your heart or your brain get locked in on cycles of justified hatred and scorn. That's a form of resistance too. - Yeah, joy is resistance. - You know, and it does, it bothers people. The thing that bothered people the most about Kamala Harris on, and I don't use terms like the right and the left, but the Magafolk were mad that she was laughing. I was like, you're bothered by somebody that is like the joy of laughter. We know the endorphins. Medically, we know that these are things that keep us healthy, the smiles, you know, will help you from being wrinkled. I said, you know, that's one of the black superpowers. Y'all mad that we look so great, but assume really we drink our water and mind our business mostly, but we also have joy. Show up to a game night. There will be a line dance that will break out for no reason. There's TikTok, wouldn't be TikTok without the joy of black people. So I just feel like, yes, take a page or don't, but that sourness, it corrodes your soul from the inside and you look like it. Karen, I'm having a problem with the Daniel Penny situation and how the media is just leaving out so many details. I mean, I see pictures of this murderer with Trump and his baby man vice president at the Army Navy game and I don't hear the media acknowledging that the only person to lay a finger on anybody else in that subway car was the white killer. I don't hear any media talking about how he kept choking that poor man after people got up and left the train. They're like, not only was the man not a threat, he wasn't being a threat anymore 'cause the people had left the car and Penny continued choking them. And Jerry Verdict is a jury verdict, but I'm having trouble moving forward in the culture on this one. - So you would have to also have trouble with moving past and this is again, you know, where we are, Emmett Till and George Stenny, like I'm going back in my recent memory, the four little girls, like this is America and you talk about Penny, I remember Bernard Gatz, you talk about Penny, you know, Carl Rittenhouse, not guilty, George Zimmerman, not guilty. For those of us who have had to endure, you know, the killing of George Floyd on camera and both of them, John and his living room, eating popcorn, watching TV and a Tatiana Jefferson and Brianna Taylor, you know, Sandra Bland, I can't reconcile with it. There's just too many, right? At some point, we the people are gonna have to assess whether or not we are human and make that decision. It's not ours and these, are you a human being or are you not? Do you value humanity in life or do you not? If you can say, I watched that and he, you know, butt and you put a butt in there when a man took another man's life, but that guy was menacing, but he was human. And if you're okay with the human being being killed, I don't know that we can have a conversation beyond that. So, John, yes, it's hard to reconcile with, which is why I'm, you know, imploring and encouraging and deputizing people to build the bubbles that they wanna live in with people that value humanity, that love, love order and not rule of law order, but a neighborhood that's nice, clean, free of crime, that they're willing to show up to city council meetings and pressure mayors to make sure police chiefs are not acting like Eric Adams, who then becomes mayor. You know, like we, we have to control where we live. And we have to also control the people around us. And here's the other thing, we don't do enough. We don't hold people accountable. So it's not just the media. You let your Paw Paw say racist stuff at the Christmas table. That's your responsibility. And I'm not saying you put Paw Paw on the headlock and cuss them out because you're still gonna, still gotta respect your elders, but Paw Paw shouldn't get away with that. And it shouldn't be odd, that's just Paw Paw. No, that's wrong, that's wrong. And as Paw Paw, why is he so hateful? - Karen Hunter hosts the Karen Hunter show every day on Urban View and check out the new podcast, Karen Hunter is awesome. And check out her many, many excellent books beyond the bestsellers. It's so good to see you. I'm so glad to end my year talking to you. And I hope to see you a lot of the new year, Karen. You've kept me so sane and so many others. Just thank you for being you. - Well, you know, I love you, John Fuckel saying, and I expect to see you on my podcast too. - Anytime you'll have me, thank you so much. - Happy holiday, everybody. We'll be right back. (upbeat music) - Greetings, progressives and liberals and leftists and Democrats and moderates and everybody who's anti-evil. These could be difficult times, I know. It's scary out there. And if you believe in justice, progress and democracy, the news you read and listen to can be pretty depressing. That's why there's a new podcast called Good News for Lefties and America. Every day it features positive stories for progressive listeners, because no matter how disturbing the headlines might get, there's always hope we can build on for a better tomorrow. We've done it before. Good news for Lefties and America. Listen on this platform at goodnewsforlefties.com or wherever podcasts are heard. (upbeat music) Welcome back. January 20th, 2025 is gonna be a very strange day. We will celebrate Dr. King's birthday by inaugurating a racist and the only convicted felon ever to occupy the White House will take office. This is a guy who's managed to make the other three criminal cases against him effectively disappear. The federal cases, the dose two, were based on incredibly overwhelming evidence. Either one of those could have put 'em in jail forever. The Fulton County, Georgia, Rico prosecution. Well, we don't know if it's ever gonna come back. This has been consequence free crime. And a lot of white people are learning about the power of unfair, unearned privilege. Our black friends have been telling us for many years. So I could not be more honored to bring on one of the most inspiring people in our media and in American legal system. A guy who deserves to be the next attorney general, the man behind Justice Matters. Someone who's gone from being a terrific adjudicator to being one of the finest pundits. And really one of the finest representatives for the power of democracy and law. Please welcome Mr. Justice Matters, Glenn Kirschner. Hello, sir. Happy New Year. John, thank you for that. Over the top, extraordinarily gracious introduction. I'm thrilled to be with you. Well, you've been told this all year, Glenn. You know, I think, you know firsthand that you have helped so many people have perspective and stay sane when we're witnessing an orange man flout the law and white people are finally understanding what black people have been saying for years. The amount of privilege and privilege-trumping law itself has been so devastating. And I just wanna begin by thanking you for all of the forbearance and all the wisdom and all the grace you have brought to the political dialogue this year. Well, John, we are all in this fight for our democracy together. Our fight for the rule of law, fight for accountability. And, you know, I believe that we will come back into the light. It's not gonna be quick. It's not gonna be easy. But I am counting on the incompetence and dysfunction and outright imbecility, particularly of this Republican-controlled House of Representatives. So we will win this battle, but it's gonna get ugly. It will. It's gonna be interesting seeing you proven right about everything, Glenn, for the next couple of years. The Georgia Appeals Court has ordered Fannie Willis off of this Rico case. They've said the case can continue. You know Fannie Willis, were you surprised by this and what are your initial thoughts? Yeah, I don't know her personally. I was a federal prosecutor for my career in Washington, D.C. So the folks in the D.C. circles are the ones I know well. But, you know, there's actually a couple of points of light in this otherwise dark ruling from the Georgia Court of Appeals. First of all, Scott McAfee, the presiding judge, got this litigation right. He said, listen, there may be an appearance of conflict, but there's no actual conflict. None of this worked to the detriment of Donald Trump or his other 17 Rico co-conspirators, all of whom were indicted down in Georgia. He said, but, you know, just to remedy the appearance problem, I will give District Attorney Fannie Willis the option of either removing herself from the case or removing her principal assistant Nathan Wade from the case, Nathan Wade promptly left the case. Here's the interesting thing, John. When that was just decided by the Georgia Court of Appeals, first of all, it was not a unanimous ruling. It was a two-one split. Two of the judges said, you know what? We don't think Scott McAfee went far enough. We think he should have also required Fannie Willis and her office to recuse, remove itself from the prosecution. But this is why we always read the dissent in legal opinions because the dissenting judge, Benjamin Lan, said the following, quote, for at least the last 43 years, our appellate courts in Georgia have held that an appearance of impropriety or conflict without actual conflict provides no basis for the reversal of the trial court's ruling. Judge Scott McAfee's ruling, and he added, quote, we, the appeals court, have no authority to reverse the trial court's denial of the motion to disqualify none, period, he said, for emphasis. John, this legal battle is far from over. The next thing I expect to see is Fannie Willis's office appealing this to the full court of appeals. All of the judges sitting on bunk, full court, they could very well overturn this ruling, which was a two-one split, but one way or another, it's going up to the Georgia Supreme Court. And if I had to predict, I would probably lay a $1 bet on this ruling, not standing, and Fannie Willis's office being reinstated as the prosecution's office. However, if all else fails, even the two-judge majority opinion said, as you mentioned, this case can proceed anyway, it's just going to have to be handled by another Georgia County prosecutor's office. This fight is far from over. - Glenn, my heart was already placated by the fact that the Matt Gates report is being released. You didn't need to tell me that Fannie Willis's case could still be alive, that's amazing news. And do you think it's more likely that this ruling will be thrown out, or that another DA in the region will take up her case with her team? - I think it's more likely this ruling will be reversed, but if appellate courts were always right, we wouldn't need to hire appellate courts, would we? So we'll see how all of the appellate court opinions in the state of Georgia play out. - Glenn, we talk all the time about how no one is above the law. The founders did not want a king, and it seems that we're living in a time with Jack Smith dismissing Trump's federal criminal cases that maybe no one's around above the law, but power seems to find a way around it. Are you at all shocked that considering the overwhelming evidence, it wasn't enough to at least get a trial? - I am shocked with the pace that the Department of Justice set its sloth-like pace in trying to bring Donald Trump to justice. Actually, the cases could have been resolved a long time ago, but Donald Trump is plainly above the law, as is every president in the estimation of the Supreme Court when they doled out presidential immunity, and they did so basically contradicting the expressed language of the Constitution. I have quoted a number of times, John, that one of our preeminent constitutional scholars, Michael Reed Amarr, a Yale law professor, who said bluntly that the Supreme Court ruled the Constitution is unconstitutional when they said presidents have absolute immunity for both core constitutional functions and official acts. They have at least presumptive immunity for all official acts. That violates two separate clauses of the Constitution, in my opinion, that take care to faithfully execute the laws of the nation clause and the impeachment judgment clause, which says even if a president is impeached and convicted in the Senate on the articles of impeachment, he can still be criminally prosecuted. Doesn't still that he can be criminally prosecuted. So hopefully that Supreme Court ruling will go the way of Dred Scott, Plessy versus Ferguson, Korematsu, and some of our other most horrific Supreme Court presidents, but it's gonna take some time. But here's the other thing, John, when you mentioned the parade of horribles represented by Donald Trump being sworn in on January 20th, I wanna add another one to the mix. We will be swearing in an adjudicated insurrectionist and that violates the 14th Amendment's prohibition against an insurrectionist holding office, federal, state, or local. So that is another that we can add to the parade of horribles come January 20th. - The immunity ruling has gotta be, from my money, it's the most insane Supreme Court ruling of my lifetime since, I don't know, Bowers v. Hardwick, where they criminalized adults having sex with each other. I mean, I don't have a memory of a Gerald Ford pardoning Nixon, Glenn, but wow, somewhere Gerald Ford's ghost must feel so silly for pardoning Nixon when apparently it wasn't necessary to do the president has immunity for any crimes. - Yeah, who knew that for the entire history of our country, we believed presidents could be prosecuted for their crimes and yet somewhere in the Constitution, six, the six radical right-wing ideologues on the Supreme Court just sort of conjured up out of thin air, presidential immunity. And I think even they will live to rule the day they did because they very much granted him sort of royal status. He is above and beyond the reach of the law. And there is one thing that a king or a dictator or an autocrat has absolutely no interest in. It is a Supreme Court. So, you know, the Supreme Court's days might be numbered if they do something that displeases dear leader who they have placed above the law. - After Clarence Thomas and after the things we learned about Alita when now this, I mean, Glenn, this immunity ruling, is this what justice is gonna be in the 21st century, the hand-picked servants of aristocratic power, making up the laws to suit their benefactors? - Yeah, it's all that and worse because, you know, now we have Elon Musk as, I don't know, co-president, actual president, Donald Trump is his assistant. I'm not sure how that works these days. But we are on a very ugly and a very dangerous trajectory. And, you know, it is always up to us, we the people to course correct. So, you know, I am already excited, John, because I will never, I will never give up the fight. I'm already excited for the midterms because of the dysfunction we are already seeing in the House of Representatives. It will only accelerate. It will become more dramatic and it will be glorious. - Mr. Kirchner, you don't really engage in despair, do you? That's not really one of your things in the time I've known you. - No, although the rule of law sort of dying a slow death or being put in hibernation or on ice, which is what Donald Trump and his handpicked Supreme Court has done, you know, it upsets me to my core, John. But, you know what? I choose to turn the upset and the desperation into action. I use it to fuel this continued fight that we have been in together for a very long time. We've been fighting for justice and fairness and decency and diversity and equal rights and human rights and civil rights for a very long time. And I'll be damned if we're gonna stop now. - I mean, that's the American struggle. It's never gonna be solved in our lifetime. When we are old, we'll still be fighting for the rights of those who don't have as much power. We'll still be fighting for women and kids and immigrants and the disabled and for labor against management. And then we'll pass the baton on to the next generation. We're never gonna get to Nirvana in this culture, are we? We just have to try to leave it better than we found it. - Exactly. Justice is neither a sprint nor a marathon. It is a journey. It is a quest and we will, you know, we will take this journey for as long as we're drawing breath and then our children will take it and our grandchildren will take it. I do believe and I have always believed that the arc of the moral universe continues to bend toward justice. Now, there is a kink in the arc right now, courtesy of Donald Trump and his Republican flunkies, but we're gonna smooth out that kink and we're gonna continue to bend the arc toward justice. I'm sure of it. - Glenn, what would have happened if these cases had been brought, say, in April of 2021? - Donald Trump would have been convicted in a New York minute, which interestingly, he was in New York of 34 felony crimes, falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to cheat in a presidential election. You know, that case took several weeks to try and that jury convicted him literally in a New York minute. I mean, it was a verdict that was returned within about a day's worth of deliberation. Take it from this old prosecutor. That's an extraordinarily quick verdict in a very complex case. And that, I believe, would have been the result we would have seen in the classified documents obstruction of justice, espionage, case down in Florida, had it gone to trial and it is the result that we would have seen in the federal prosecution in D.C. for Donald Trump, trying to steal the 2020 presidential election. Now, the only point of light there, John, is because Jack Smith asked Judge Chutkin to dismiss that case without prejudice and she did. It means that case can be resurrected, re-brought, re-indicted, and prosecuted. The minute Donald Trump leaves office and let's not forget, he is still pending sentencing in New York and that has yet to play out. - And on that note, we end the year with the Matt Gates report being released and with Judge Mershan refusing to dismiss the 34 felony guilty verdicts in the New York case. I think America's soul needed that, Glenn, for Judge Mershan to hold the line. - I agree and I don't want to circle back to Matt Gates because that's a lesser story than Donald Trump, aspiring dictator, that he is-- - But comedy matters. - Comedy matters. - Yes, but these two things sort of dovetail because once we see the Gates report and it could be any day now, we're gonna see two things. We're gonna see one, exactly what kind of a person did Donald Trump want as his attorney general? Who was he prepared to inflict on the American people? And two, what was House Speaker Magma Mike Johnson so desperate to conceal from the American people and perhaps most importantly, from the Florida voters about Matt Gates' conduct? So those are two important questions that hopefully will be answered. - Glenn Kirschner 2025 is going to be an amazing year. I can't wait, it's gonna be exciting. There's gonna be all kinds of inspiration we can't even predict right now. I wanna thank you for all you do and I wanna wish you a wonderful holiday season and a terrific new year. What is the best way for our listeners to follow you, sir? - Well, they can go to YouTube, Justice Matters with Glenn Kirschner. I post a legal analysis video there every day and if anybody wants to more formally support our all volunteer efforts here at Justice Matters, they can come on over to patreon.com, sign up to become a patron and they get lots of behind the scenes glimpses and things about how we do what we do here at Justice Matters. - You're the best, sir. Happy holidays and thanks for joining us. - And to you, John. - We'll be right back. (upbeat music) - Well, when we were putting together the end of the year special, I had a very short list of people I deeply wanted. They all said no and so I thought, holy crap, maybe Stephanie will still be speaking to me. And folks, it is a great joy to end the year with someone who has talked all of us off of so many ledges, one of the finest broadcasters working today in America. There is no one who has a morning show formula like this woman that takes the morning zoo trope and explodes it into something deeply, moral, deeply funny and deeply offensive for pretty much every kind of ideology. People of Earth, the star of the sexy liberal tour Ms. Stephanie Miller. Hi, Steph, Merry Christmas. - Oh, John, John Fugel sang Merry Christmas. I am so happy to be your sloppy seconds for years and years now. - Sloppiest, sloppiest seconds ever. - Yeah, that's how it is. Well, both of us get turned out. - Thank you, Angel. - Yeah. (laughing) - My pleasure. - Yeah, it's been a year. It's been a year, hasn't it? We have been to 15 cities, you and I, for sexy liberal tour. And it obviously, election didn't turn out the way we wanted, but man, we are still standing, aren't we? - It was so inspiring to be on the road. This particular year, it was so moving. To be on the road, this particular year. And how surprised were you, Steph? We were in LA with Mark Hamill and with Senator Schiff on the Saturday before election day. And, you know, we'd all read the same polls. We knew it could go either way. And a part of me is like, well, this is how it's always been. We've never elected a Democrat in my lifetime when things were good. We only, Republicans have to trash the country. That's how Nixon gave us Carter, trickle down gave us Clinton, W gave us Obama. Man, baby gave us Biden. How shocked were you with the results? - I have to say I was. I mean, first of all, doesn't LA sexy liberal seem like we were, I don't know, it was six weeks ago when we were 20 years younger and happier? - Our hearts were young and gay. - Yeah. - But, yeah, and the rest of me stayed gay. - Mark Hamill hadn't even heard of the dark side. - Yeah, it's six weeks ago. - I feel like a lot of pundits and pollsters obviously thought she was going to win. And, as you say, certainly the polls were closed. But, you know, I think what we didn't anticipate, John, and this is why what you do and what, you know, hopefully we all try to do here on Sirius XM and elsewhere is so important because I keep saying it, John, this election was lost because of disinformation period. It was not the economy being bad. It was people's perception that the economy was bad, you know, just from this massive right-wing megaphone that then is echoed by the mainstream media. They get led around by the nose and by right-wing talking points, you know? So, it's, I think we just, we didn't, like I say, John, I feel better if we lost on real issues that we just, most Americans disagreed with us on, but we lost on total lies. You know, and Haitians eating pets and on, you know, them doing transgender surgery on your kid in school with- - They're killing babies. - I mean, all of a sudden- - Delivery room doctors and mothers are killing newborns. They're just killing them after they're born. It's happening all over the place. I mean, yeah, the lies and the media let the lies live. We talked a lot about the difference between journalists and media, 'cause journalists have to find the truth. Media has to find the ratings. And, Steffi, everyone's calling every night saying they haven't watched corporate media since before the break. We're hearing all these articles about MSNBC and CNN's ratings. I think that'll change. I think that'll probably go back to those, people will come back to it once the inauguration's done, but let me ask you, how do you feel when you hear people say that they're bailing on corporate media? I've had more people than ever tell me how much they appreciate your show and, you know, podcasts and a channel like this. - Yeah. I was just gonna say, I hate to be a mercenary whore, but let me just say, John. (John laughs) This has been, you know- - You're not mercenary. Go ahead. - Really good. But it's been really good for people like you and I, 'cause I'm telling you, I am feeling and seeing the same thing. I don't think I've ever gotten this volume of mail that, you know, people like you and I are the only thing that they're watching now. And I think that's because we're, you know, well, there's stick jokes and fart jokes, let's be honest, but also- - Of course. - You know, I think that we're able to be real in a way that, you know, the mainstream media is not. I think they both cited us into this epic nightmare, you know? Because both sides don't do it. And I think, as you and I have always said, John, you know, entertaining is the key. Smart and funny is the key. Everybody here on Sirius XM Progress is smart and funny. And, you know, that's how we, we just need better funding, better infrastructure, because we're just, as you know, we're so outnumbered by right-wing, you know, infrastructure. And that's why someone is able to win on complete lies, complete lies. - Fox News certainly figured out, don't hire actual journalists. Just get people that will entertain your audience. But, you know, we keep hearing, oh, liberals need to put together their own TV networks and start funding shows like this. And, you know, Al Gore tried that a dozen years ago. You and I were there for every ugly step, a second of it. I don't know if that'll ever happen because I kind of feel like liberals have the rest of the world. Liberals aren't glued to a channel or two to constantly validate their opinions. Liberals are watching sports and news and friends reruns and sitcoms and everything else on the year, right-wing folks have to go someplace for constant affirmation for that IV drip of talking points and denial. - But let me just say, John, you know, the difference too is that Republicans play the long game. I don't know how many years box lost money until it started to date. You know, a lot of these radio shows, these right-wing shows are on 500 stations. A lot of them, you know, I always say you can be the crappiest host and get 500 stations if you're right-wing. You know, I don't know that all of them are making all this money. So I would just say that current, as you recall, got sold to Al Jazeera who had nowhere near the ratings the current did. So if they had hung in there, you know, you can't build something like that overnight. So, you know, we had the highest ratings on current. And, you know, I-- - Same, yeah. - So, and that's all I'm saying, John, is that there's people like me and, you know, Randy Rhodes and Tom Armand, we've been doing this 20 years. Like all the people, and now there's all these great new voices like you and Dean O'Donnell and Michelangelo, Signorelli, you know, and all these podcasts might just touch daily beings, all the, you know, pod save. I mean, there's only a lot of great liberal voices. We just need the funding and the patience that the right-wing has given their information ecosystem. - Mike Bloomberg could buy Fox News. If he felt like it, you know, he could buy Fox News. It's right there, Mike. Waiting for you. - Yeah. - Steph, I think the best part of my year, honestly. - But also, John, I think, no, I was just gonna say just to your point on MSNBC, you know, this is why I feel like they need to, they need to jettison, Joe, and make me make it, because I tell you one thing, you know, they're the, the morning show is the anchor of any station and that they were the first ones that bend the knee and go kiss the ring at Mar-a-Lago. I'm like, how they thought that was gonna play well with a liberal audience, you know, so that would be my advice, but I think you're also right is once we hit January, the holidays are over, and this shit show actually starts. I think if you get the right people in there like fighters like you, smart, funny, you know, you're right, there is definitely an audience for it. - I think Joe and Nico are gonna be very sorry that they went down there to be part of the weasily surrender chronicles and kiss the ring and lick the boots, but I do think that people who voted for Harris or voted against Trump are gonna have the, hopefully not too smug satisfaction of seeing that they were right every single day, and I'm glad I don't have to be the ones defending this shit show for the next four years. The best part of my year step was probably the live shows that we did on the Sexy Liberal Save the World tour. We went all over from Atlanta to Portland and had amazing crowds. The campaign changed a lot, as you know, over the course of the year, and I'm wondering what was it like for you having that experience? I don't think most people in broadcasting do this, or we go out and play different rooms and actually meet our audience face to face and try to make them laugh. I mean, it was an amazingly joyful, and exciting year of touring. How was it for you? Yeah. Well, let me just say only crazy people are in radio, so we spend all our time in a padded room talking to ourselves. So I have to say to get out, 'cause we don't hear people laugh or enjoy what we're doing, so that's been the really wonderful part, is as you know, those crowds are so amazing and to hear that laugh, or end to be with those people at the meet and greet, and to feel like what we're doing makes a difference and is worthwhile, has just been, you're right, an amazing experience, and we have one more. We have the big finale, January 18th in DC, which of course we were all sure was gonna be Kamala's inauguration, the inauguration of the first black woman president, but instead it's gonna be the beginning of the resistance. Resistance 2.0, after the people's march, at the Warner Theater, January 18th, and we're putting on pay for abuse so everyone can join us, and not only does it make you part of the resistance, you'll laugh, you'll get a great comedy show, and you contribute to this whole sexy liberal universe to keep us going, all these progressive voices, so please go to sexyliberal.com and get your tickets either in person or pay for view. - Look at you, you did my job for me on my show, I love this, I should have you come on all the time, you're so good at this, yeah. And you know, I talk to people who think we're crazy, I talk to some people who think we're crazy for doing an inauguration opposition special, people are like, why didn't you cancel that one, but I don't know, I kind of think it's great that on Saturday the 18th there's gonna be a safe space for every intelligent moral person in DC, and they're all gonna be in the Warner Theater with us together. Moving forward, you know, I think we're gonna have to, as this new opposition finds its footing, it's not gonna be like last time. The things that worked last time are probably not gonna be what we do this time, but I do feel after Trump is inaugurated, there's gonna be an incredible movement, everyone's gonna be back on the same page, and all this democratic finger pointing is gonna end. But also we're gonna have to learn how to be funny about Trump in a whole new way, don't you think? - Yeah, yeah, well, I mean, and that gets harder and harder as frightening as this is, but also look at what a shit show it is already, John. As you and I were talking, they're getting ready to shut down the government and they're not even empowering yet. And I just, I think there is gonna be a revolution of sorts when Americans realize a billionaire bought their fucking country and is gonna take away their social security or paychecks. Particularly, I mean, who knows if this is gonna happen, this shutdown will happen this time, but this is a strap-in, man. This is what it's gonna be like. I mean, now, Trump and the Republican Party is not just Putin's puppet, but a one musts puppet. And that there's an unelected guy that's not from here controlling the United States is the most un-American thing. I can think of. - The chaos that we are witnessing already, they're already turning against each other. Trump is attacking the polls. Elon Musk is endorsing far-right political movements in Germany and seeing how he's trying, Trump is trying to intimidate both corporate and independent media. I mean, this ABC $15 million bribe, they pay $15 million bribe on Monday. And by Thursday, Jonathan Carl was the only journalist Trump spoke to all day. It's access journalism and they're doing it right. - Yeah, and Jon, that's why I was saying, unfortunately, for Joe and Mika, I've had them both on my show. I don't just like them personally, but it's just that they have no credibility left. You know, when you talk about the ABC story or about other people capitulating or bending the knee, how do you do that? When you're two main morning anchors are the first ones that did it and modeled that kind of cowardice instead of courage. And there are plenty of people out here in the resistance model encouraged, Jon. You do it every day, you know, from everyone from David from to Mark Elias to, you know, on and on, Olivia Troy, our friend, Liz Cheney. I mean, it's just people all across the spectrum that are modeling courage instead of cowardice. And that's gonna be, and that's what, not only is there an audience for that, but that's what this resistance needs for the people that really love this country and go, no, fuck you, I'm not leaving this country. This is my country, you know? Boy, you're right. Defending the status quo in billionaires certainly does pay really good, but it's nice to be able to look in the mirror. Before I let you go, Miss Miller, you know, Donald Trump had full control of this country for two years, 2017 to 2019. He had the White House, he had the Supreme Court, he had the House, he had the Senate, he had the DOJ. They passed no immigration bills, they got no wall money, immigration went to a record high. All they achieved those two years he controlled everything was tax cuts for wealthy people who don't need tax cuts. What do you think is actually going to happen in the next two years besides Donald Trump taking credit for the Joe Biden economy? - Yeah, well, he's already coined at the Joe Biden shutdown, which is fucking hilarious, but, you know, you're absolutely right, he ran up more debt than any president in our history in just four years. Why do you think he wants them to get rid of the debt ceiling? 'Cause he's gonna give a long mosque and his friends more tax cuts and blow the debt up again. I mean, I just was reading an article today. This great economy he's poised to inherit is already, he's already blowing it up. You know, that's why the stock market is nervous and that's why, you know, we could start this with a government shutdown. I mean, it's just, it is insanity. I've never seen this before someone's even in power. - I know, well, welcome to the We Told You Show, running for the next four years. - Stephanie Miller, was this painless enough? - I'm gonna be the queen of I fucking told you so. The queen of I told you so. - Oh, the smug is gonna be unbearable. - Welcome to Larry O, welcome, polio. - Uh-huh, we caught you two hours into your Christmas vacation. Was this painless enough? We're done. You see, it was fine. I promised you wouldn't be painless. - You slipped it to me and didn't even tell me I was pretty and I'm all the better for it, thank you. - I wanna thank you for making this country so much better and thank you for the joy of your friendship and thank you for having just one of the most innovative and life-affirming shows in all of Radio Stephanie. Seriously, I can't wait to do a tour for at least 35 cities with you next year. - Ah, ha, ha, ha, oh, you're a bastard friction, Josh Dougal, saying I love you. - I love you too, happy new year.
John takes a look back at the year that was and the year yet to be with journalist, talk show host, and author Karen Hunter, legal analyst Glenn Kirschner and fellow Sirius XM Progress host Stephanie Miller.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
