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The Don Lemon Show
Hot Topics with Don Lemon | MAGA & MAHOMES - September 6th, 2024
(upbeat music) - Good morning everyone, welcome to the morning, a very new morning edition of The Down Lemon Show. We're gonna talk about the stories that you are going to be talking about today, that everyone's gonna be talking about today. And some of the things that happened overnight between our five o'clock live show and now. And some new stuff that happened on the morning shows. I think, so here's what we're gonna talk about. What is going on with Taylor Swift and Brittany Mahomes? Why weren't they together last night at the Ravens Chiefs game? They usually arrived together, they're using the same suite, that did not happen. We're also gonna talk about what happened in Georgia, a day before yesterday, there was a school shooting. The father though, of the 14 year old gunman, accused gunman in this case, he has been arrested. So the question is, are adults, parents, finally being held accountable for the misdeeds of their children? This has happened before, I'm wondering if this is gonna be a trend. We're also gonna talk about thoughts and prayers, right? When is the right time to talk about these things? We'll discuss that, and also the issue is, and this is not just me saying it, it's the FBI, it is parents, both white and black saying that this is a young, mostly a young white male problem, mainly a young white male problem. What is going on with that? Some of the biggest YouTube stars, and right wing influencers, and pundits and commentators, have been used, are being used as Russian assets. Merrick Garland, the Attorney General, came out yesterday, and held a press conference, and talked about that, so we're gonna discuss that. We're also gonna talk about something that's very interesting, and that is Will Ferro. One of Will Ferro's friends had an interesting transformation, a really interesting transformation. Boy, do I mean transformation. And this whole idea, this whole trans issue, has been used as a sort of political cudgel, a wedge issue with Republicans. Well, Will Ferro's one of his dearest friends that he's known forever is transitioning, and he has a documentary coming out about that. So we'll discuss that. Hunter Biden has an interesting plea, deal. He struck a deal with prosecutors. We'll tell you what's happening with him. And also Trump, word salad. We discussed it a little bit yesterday at the New York Economic Summit. It's crazy. Just how bad JD Vance is with politicking, and campaigning, and how good Tim Waltz is. And then we'll talk about Trump as a press conference. We'll let you know about that. And then we have something very funny for you, for Kamala Harris. So let's discuss what is happening right now, everyone. So I'm wondering if the sisterhood of the Kansas City Chiefs, if it is unraveling because of Brittany Mahomes? Are they on the outs? Because they sat in different suites at the Kansas City Chiefs home opener last night. Now this is Brittany Mahomes arriving at the game last night. She arrived alone with her kids, with a kid, and she walked in. Now usually, she and Taylor, they walk in. She's dressed to the nines. It's like a runway thing, a photo op, or what have you. Doesn't appear to be that today. So she's just sort of dressed normally, like she is one of the folks in the crowd. But not so for Taylor Swift. This is how Taylor Swift arrived at the Kansas City Chiefs game. She's not wearing red. She's wearing blue. She's decked out in denim and thigh-high boots, but not with Brittany Mahomes. What is happening? So they sat in different suites last night. Now Travis Kelsey and Patrick Mahomes were on the field last night. They were actually making a record. The Kansas City Chiefs, they set a record passing record. There's Patrick Mahomes setting a passing record as he tosses the ball to Travis Kelsey. And then you will see Travis Kelsey's girlfriend up in the suite with his mom celebrating. So there she is, but no Brittany Mahomes. Why is that? Brittany Mahomes, as we know, has come out as a trumper. She's come out as a full Trump supporter. There's been controversy around it. A lot of people are upset. She does not appear to be upset by it. As a matter of fact, she is defending it. But let me just show you what the former president wrote about her, because she liked several of his tweets. And then he responded, saying, I want to think the beautiful Brittany Mahomes for so strongly defending me. And the fact that MAGA is the greatest and most powerful political movement in the history of our now failing country is what he says. With crimes in illegal immigration totally out of control, inflation in all caps, ravaging all Americans, and a world that is laughing at the stupidity of our hapless leaders, it is nice to see someone who loves our country and wants to save it from doom. What a great couple. See you both at the Super Bowl. Now, the interesting thing is, is that Brittany Mahomes is getting a lot of flack online. Obviously, on Twitter, she, which is, you know, fairly, not fairly, which is very right. Link, very MAGA, Trump supporting, she has support there. But she also has detractors who are saying, how can you do this? Haven't you heard of Project 2025? Isn't your husband black, biracial is black? Don't you have black kids? Is that not of a concern to you? What Donald Trump has said and the way he has treated black people? The lawsuit? The Central Park Five? Is that not of issue to you? Have you ever thought about that? That is the criticism of her online. Now, she is being outspoken about this. I believe that she has endorsed a candidate and I believe that she is endorsing Donald Trump until she says otherwise. But she has been going on at least one podcast, defending her actions and saying, you know what? We're dealing with this as a couple and I don't really care. Here she is on the Hoops podcast. I think we kind of got thrown into the fire together and I think that's what's helped us do so well in the life that we are is that we did it all together. And so, and he is a lot better at it than I am maybe because his dad played professional sports. So I think he was around it and he understood it a lot more than I did. So having him to help me get through it has helped a lot 'cause he's very good at managing those things and blocking people out and doing all that type of stuff. So having him beside me kind of guiding me coaching me through it has helped a ton. And I think that's kind of how we've gotten to where we're at now. - What's been like a piece of advice that's helped you manage all of it? - I think the main thing that he always told me is like, stop caring about what people think, especially the people that don't even know you. And so I think social media used to get to me a lot and now it's just like, honestly, I don't give up F-U-C-K, what people have to say about me anymore. And I think he's helped me get to that point to where I'm strong in who I am, I'm confident in who I am. I'm confident in minding his relationship and I'm confident in our life. So why does what other people say have to matter at all? - Okay. So she doesn't give a fuck. That's what she said. I don't give an F-U-C-K. Doesn't really matter to her. That's her prerogative. It's surprising that the wife, I think, of a very successful and powerful person, a quarterback, in this country would take such a stance, but it's her right as a citizen. You could say she's a private citizen, but I think she's in the public eye. When you are married to Patrick Mahomes, you're in the public eye. I don't know if I'm not creating the same sort of thing, but it's the same thing as Alito's wife. You're married to someone who's very powerful. And so therefore your words matter too, and your influence matters as well. Now listen, they repeatedly hung out together, they were inseparable, they were separable, they were separated last night. Taylor hasn't officially supported or endorsed anyone. Although she did say, she hasn't endorsed a candidate in 2024, but she said previously, she accused Donald Trump and the Republican nominee, who's the Republican nominee, of stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism, among other things. So where does this all go? Where does it all in? What happens next with those two? What are they gonna say? Will Taylor Swift endorse Kamala Harris? I know a lot of folks are waiting for it, even a lot of Swifties. So we'll continue to follow that. All right, let's talk about what happened down in Georgia, because this one, I mean, this one is galling. I've covered so many mass shootings, so many school shootings. And every single time nothing is done. I would have thought that after Newtown, when those little kids were killed, that we would have done something with gun legislation. Okay, so but the dad of this shooter in Georgia, the father of the Appalachian High School student, suspect who has been arrested in connection with the shooting that left four people dead. That's according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations. The father, who is 54 years old, has been arrested. Here's the press conference announcing it. I appreciate you being here. In coordination with District Attorney Brad Smith, the GBI has arrested Colin Gray, age 54 in connection to the shooting here at Appalachian High School. Colin is Colt Gray's father that was arrested yesterday. He is charged with a following, four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second degree murder, and eight counts of cruelty to children. Mr. Gray, these charges stem from Mr. Gray knowingly allowing his son Colt to possess a weapon. So not only did he knowingly allow his son Colt to possess a weapon, the authorities, he was called, the authorities were called on Colt because he had some issues before. Back in, I believe it was 2022 or 2023, he had an issue. And his dad said, you know what, I'm gonna give him, he gave him an AR-15, an AR style rifle. And even after that, there was an initial, there's a video, I shouldn't say a video, there's a recording of authorities calling Colt's father, the father who has been arrested, saying your son has a gun and he has issues and he is making threats. And the father says, if this turns out to be true, which it was, I'm gonna be really upset. But even after that, even after that, this father gave his son an AR style rifle, 14 years old. As they said in the press conference, he has been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second degree murder, eight counts of cruelty to children, and that's according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, knowingly allowing his son to have a weapon. What do you think in all of this? What do you guys think? Four students, he's accused of killing two students, two teachers with the weapon. Seven other people, six students and a teacher were injured by being shot, two other students suffered other injuries. What do you think about this? Why is nothing being done? And I gotta ask you, why aren't you pressuring the lawmakers where you live to do something? And should parents, do you think parents should be held accountable? I certainly do think they should be held accountable. I think the charges against Cole Gray, I think he should be charged. And there is another set of parents who is charged in a similar shooting not long ago. The question is though, when asked at a press conference about what he was going to do about it and what sort of gun restrictions or sensible gun legislation should be passed, the answer from the folks at the press conference was, this isn't the time to talk about this, it's time what I want from you are thoughts and prayers. Now, do you believe, when is the time to talk about it? Because there'll be another school shooting and then they'll forget about this one. So every time there's a school shooting, they say, let's not, we can't talk about it right now, this isn't the time to talk about it. I think this is the perfect time to talk about it. And I think my friends over at Morning Joe on MSNBC agree with me. - Post yesterday got their hands on some text messages that were sent from a mother and to her daughters who were in that school. And I can say thankfully those daughters got out, those girls got out safely, but it is heartbreaking. It's her words to her saying, you know, please stay safe, I love you. They prayed together, they did overtext the Our Father together. It is impossible to read without tearing up. And yet, the governor of that state, Brian Kemp is saying, well, now is not the time to talk about solutions. Now is not the time to talk about policy, even though this tragedy happened in his backyard, it was almost far worse. You write that now actually is exactly the time to deal with it. - It absolutely is. That is the cowardly cop out that Republicans take when something like this happens. And it happens so regularly. It is, you know, in what universe is that acceptable? But when there's a school shooting, they immediately say, as Brian Kemp did said Wednesday night, well, today is not the day for politics or policy, but this is precisely the time, the day, the minute, to talk about politics and politics, because it's all about that. I mean, you can't, I don't think we're going to be able to legislate away bad parenting. And so if what we know about the situation is true, this father was a terrible father who failed his son. His son, who is a child, by the way, is 14 years old. - That's right. - He failed, but we're not-- - He has failed his child. He's failed his child, but we are fielding, not just the parents, we are failing the children, because if we're not standing up for this, if we're not standing up to the NRA, if we're not standing up for really the gun extremists in this country, no one is saying that gun should be taken away. No one is trying to trample on the Second Amendment. But there has to be a way to keep, this guy's a child, a 14 year old, troubled 14 year old, from getting his hands on a gun. There's gotta be a way, there's gotta be a way in general to get troubled people in general from having the ability to get their hands on guns. They're too easily and readily available. Now, I know that this is controversial, a lot of folks don't wanna hear it, especially I said once that the biggest terror threat to this country were white men radicalized to the right, people lost their minds about it. Oh my God, Don, you're a racist. Oh, I can't believe it. What about black folks in Chicago shooting people? That is a problem, not denying that. But if you're looking at mass shooting, which is terror, which is domestic terror, that is the biggest terror threat to this country. And according to all, according to psychologists, according to even my friend Scott Galloway talks about this in a sense because he talks about young men in this country, especially young white men, having issues relating and coping. This is mainly a young white male problem. Parents are finally speaking out about it. More should, here is one parent who happens to be white who recognizes the problem. - If you think it's too early to politicize what happened in Georgia yesterday, but I will not allow the NRA to dictate how I talk about this issue that is impacting all of them. The majority of school, blank and mass blank that are happening across this country are being committed by white boys. So let me ask you this, if you're a parent, white women, what are we doing? Because this year in April, I got married and in doing so became a bonus mom of two beautiful little boys. And I have to tell you, every day we're combating messaging. Every day we're working on sharing emotions, expressing anger, we're working on things as parents to ensure that we are raising emotionally healthy, mature, communicative young men in the future. So I'm really concerned that that's not happening. What I'm understanding is that yes, this is 100% a Pew Pew access to Pew Pew problem, but as a culture, we are raising violent human beings. The overexposure and glorification of violence in our households has to stop. You have got to get ahold of what we are showing, teaching, exposing our children to, and being better, more present parents, because this is a problem in white households. So if we are white parents, we have to do something about it. [BEEPING] Where's the lie? Where is the lie? And I don't want to hear, oh my god, you're race-baiting. No, that is the truth. I'm not saying that there aren't times when there are people of color, right? Of course. Few and far between. This is a white male problem, especially with a young white male problem. And the reason I'm saying this is because we need a dose of reality, because the only way to fix it, the only way to fix the problem is to acknowledge the problem. If you don't acknowledge the problem, if you keep trying to politicize it or ignore it, it's only going to get worse. That is a white parent, right? That's her perspective. She's like, look, I became the bonus mom of two white kids, two white young men. What is going to-- I'm scared as hell. But then there are black parents. When these sorts of things happen, where are the parents in all of this? Oh, look at them. They have no home training. They're not civilized. We need to talk about the issue of black parenting. And we need to talk about the issue of children, of black children, why they do such crazy and violent and brutal things. There is never a conversation about where are white parents and where are the absent white fathers or the absent white mothers? Like, where was the Appalachian school, Georgia school? Where was his mom, right? Maybe she's passed away. I don't know. But I'm just saying, where's the conversation about that? But that conversation happens with black parents. Why does that happen? Because America. Here's a black parent. I'll let her tell you. I schooled and killed four people. And I'm always going to point out a piece of white privilege that we often don't talk about. White folks, do you notice that no matter how often this happens, nobody's having national conversations about how you raise your children? Notice how there's no stop the violence commercials on your TV. National News outlets are not going to take footage from the aftermath of the shooting and then put it right beside statistics about absent white fathers in the home. Non-profits aren't walking into your children's schools, teaching them how to dress for success so they don't pick up guns. No podcast episodes about how white moms are responsible for all of the ills of their sons. Not a single, unlicensed, uncertified motivational speaker is going to go viral on the internet for yelling at a group of young white adults and telling them that the reason why violence persists in their communities is because they're not motivated enough to succeed. If we go to school with our hair not done for too many days, somebody is in the back corner whisper and where is that child's mom? Apparently the boy that shot up to school was chronically absent. Did anybody assume that that was because nobody at home cared about his education? Listen, I'm not on my revenge arc. I'm not saying that happened to black moms so it has to happen to everybody else as well. I'm saying white people should reckon with the fact that that's not happening and ask themselves why. For the better part of 70 years, black people have been consistently told that our circumstances were because of the culture that we create. So yes, given that information, it absolutely does matter. Almost all mass shooters, almost all school shooters have been white men and now white boys and we have not made a national emergency out of how white families raised their kids. The shooter that child's name is Colt. It's a gun manufacturer. [BLANK_AUDIO] Somebody give that woman an award. Because she is right on. She is right on. And just in an act of transparency. Just in an act of transparency. Oh, my mom just texted me, she's watching. She said you were once disciplined by your dad for picking up a gun. That's right, mom, I was. My dad had businesses and he had guns for protection. I lived in Louisiana, second amendment, right? Lots of guns everywhere. My aunt carried a gun in her purse, my sister carried a gun in her purse. We had lots of hunters and fishermen in our family, right? You don't have to use a gun for that, but just I'm just saying. I lived in sportsman's paradise, lots of guns. I picked up one of my dad's guns one day. Never did it again. And I know people are going to say, oh, you shouldn't be doing that as child abuse. My dad slapped me into the next room. I'm not advocating violence against children, but you know what? I learned my damn lesson and I never picked up a gun again. And my mom wanted to give me a set of guns, play guns, fake guns, for cowboys and Indians, as one did back then. We wouldn't do that now because we would say it's politically incorrect, right? My dad said, no, you're not giving him that. Guns are not toys. And I heard them in the other room. They were so Christmas, as a matter of fact, I write about it in my book that's out now. And I mean, that comes out in September 10. My dad said, you're not giving that boy a gun. You're not giving him guns. Play it otherwise. Now, what we are going to do is when he's old enough, we'll get him a pellet gun or a BB gun, and we'll show him how to do it. And we'll teach him responsible gun ownership. But that's only, they would only do that if I was a responsible kid. If I was not a responsible kid, they wouldn't have done that. So when I got older in my teens, I got a pellet gun. My dad showed me how to use it, and only to use it if we were target practicing, or we were together doing something, not just randomly walking around with a gun in my room. I had to ask them to use it. But, so thanks, Mom, for reminding me of that. But so, why the difference in when we're talking about all these things? Why the difference? Why isn't a national emergency for white kids? And it should be. I'm not saying it's just to say like white kids are bad. I think there should be some sort of attention, more attention paid to this issue. I really do. So, has it, you know, I'm struggling with this next part of the story because it involves JD Vance, but I think in his, what he says, there is some truth to it. Although I think the fact that he has to say it is a little callous, the way he says it I should say is a little callous, has it become a fact of life? It shouldn't be a fact of life. So, Kamal Harris responded, and she said, you know, she was giving her speech that's usually in the teleprompter and it's written. She said, I'm going off script here. I'm going off the prompter. And she spoke very responsibly and from the heart about this gun issue after this shooting in Georgia. Now, JD Vance is a different story. He says that these mass shootings are a fact of life. I'm tempted to excoriate him, but at least he has the sociopathic courage, I think, to tell everyone what the MAGA Republicans think, and they're too scared to say. This is what JD Vance said. - The Kamal Harris answer to this is to take law binding American citizens' guns away from them. That is what Kamal Harris wants to do. - She never said that. - I don't like this. I don't like to admit this. I don't like that this is a fact of life. But if you are a psycho and you want to make headlines, you realize that our schools are soft targets. And we have got a bolster security in our schools so that a person who walks through the front door-- (audience applauding) We've got a bolster security so that if a psycho wants to walk through the front door and kill a bunch of children, they're not able to. And again, as a parent, do I want my kids' school to have additional security? No, of course I don't. I don't want my kids to go to school in a place where they feel like you've got to have additional security, but that is increasingly the reality that we live in. - Okay, so it's a reality, it's a fact of life. It is increasingly, but what he's not doing is getting at the root of the problem, JD Vance. Nobody wants their kids to have to grow up in a school where you have gun, where you have drills. The kids who have now become adults, they're probably voting, not for the first time, but they grew up in a time where there was schools, drills. We didn't have that. We had like duck and cover at the end of, we were at the end of duck and cover because of maybe the missile crisis, the Cuban Missile Crisis or whatever, the missiles. That was back in the '70s for me. And then I went all through schools, my all through school with no drills, no mass shooting drills, no hiding under desks. For the possibility that a gunman would come in. We left the windows and the doors open. It was so hot in Louisiana. My school did not, not every room had air conditioning and we would be burning up as it got close to the summer and the spring. Or when we came back from summer break. And it was open and people would just walk by, sometimes parents would come and watch their kids, watch a class being done. It is sad that it has become a fact of life. He's right about that has become a fact of life but he's not addressing the root cause. And he's not addressing the people in his own party who are blocking sensible ways to at least combat some of these situations. It would be great if we could stop it altogether. I don't think that you can stop anything altogether. It would be fantastic. But it's the members of his own party who are doing it. And for him to stand up there and be callous about it, I think it's callous say it's a fact of life. I think it would have taken more courage for him to say, look, I'm running for vice president but here is the honest truth. By the way, Kamala Harris didn't say anything about taking your guns away. That's all bullshit. Nobody wants to take anybody's guns away. Except if you have a mental issue. Except if you're a 14 year old who has had problems before and should not have a gun. That's what he should be saying. Something else that the Republicans are using as a political cudgel. And that is this whole issue of transgenderism, right? Of folks who are transgender. People who are struggling with the issue. People who have become comfortable with the issue. People in the country who have been able to talk about it and are talking about it in ways that are not cruel to people who are dealing with being a transgender American, okay? So you guys know who Will Ferro is, right? Will Ferro is a comedian and actor. I think America came to know him on Saturday Night Live. And when he went to Saturday Night Live back in 1995, he said he started doing these sketches. And the person who started writing all of these sketches for him was this writer who became a friend and became a best friend. Harper Steele was a writer, or is the writer, was the writer for him then Harper Steele is still a writer. And then became the head writer of SNL. Harper Steele was a man identified as a man back then. That's all Will Ferro knew him as, as a man. Will Ferro years later, after this has become one of his best and dearest friends, gets a call years later from Harper Steele and I will let Will Ferro explain it to you and what he's doing about it. Here it is. - Hi there, I'm Will Ferro, one of the greatest actors in the world. A long time ago, back when I was at Saturday Night Live, I met a guy who was hired as a writer the same week I was hired, he wrote a bunch of sketches for me and eventually became the head writer of SNL. And over the years, he became one of my closest friends. And then one day I got this email, "Hey Will, something I need you to know, "I'll be transitioning to live as a woman." - I don't doubt that Will is my friend, but I'm not Andrew Steele anymore. It was just, wow. - I love this country so much, I just don't know if it loves me back right now. - Harper, would you wanna do a road trip as this new version of yourself? And at the same time, figure out what this all means, to us? (dramatic music) - You recognize this guy? This is the Hollywood movie stuff. - No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. - Were you a little worried about how to talk to me when I came out to you? - Yeah, probably a little nervous. - There are no ground rules for friends, I'm telling you. - I invite any friend of mine, ask me these questions. I'll tell you how to pray and talk about it. - There's a question, do you think you're a worst driver? Does a female driver? (laughing) - That's the dumbest, that's so, no, no, that is. - Oh, fuck you, sing. - But I am, woo, yeah, oh. (dramatic music) - Oh, yeah, this is my friend Harper. How you doing? - Nice to meet you, bro. - Hey, not a broom, though, the she, but that's okay. - Sorry. (dramatic music) - This is probably around the age where I started to feel just kind of weird. - Yeah. (laughing) (dramatic music) - I used to come out to these kind of places before, and then I grabbed this and then I got a little afraid. - You know what I'm saying. - Oh, yeah, I'm out. (dramatic music) - I'm not really afraid of these people. (dramatic music) - I'm afraid of hitting my scarves. (dramatic music) - All they wanna do is live. (dramatic music) - I have you, baby. (dramatic music) - Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, don't condone us. - No. - We've not done one fun thing. - Name one fun thing we've done. (laughing) - Hmm. So there you go. So I got two things wrong. One, it was, I think it was Andrew Steele then, and it's become Harper. I think that's correct. And then he got an email, not a phone call. Okay, minor details. But here's what they're doing, 16 days. They travel across America from New York to LA. I want to make sure it wasn't from LA to New York. New York to LA, visiting stops that are meaningful to them and to their friendship and to America. - Well, Pharaoh, I have to say, this is the way you handle it without judgment. Even if you have issues, right? Even if you don't understand certain things, if you don't understand, well, what is this? What is going on? Why would you want a transition? Why have you felt this? How long have you felt this? Instead of judging someone and saying, oh my gosh, they have a mental problem. And it's been this. I remember, you know, my conversation with Candace Owens, which was, I just let her talk to show her own ignorance, right? I mean, people did not understand that interview. They said, why didn't you push back more? Sometimes I think you just let people, you know, show you, tell you who they are by just shutting your mouth. This, this person, woman now, I'm not sure how they identify, doesn't appear to have any mental issues. It appears to be a very bright person. Will Ferrell is handling it correctly. Rather than being judgmental, Will Ferrell is leading with love and being curious about why, how, how can I help you? How do I continue to love you? How do I support you? How do I help you? How do I support you? Receive love and understanding from those around you as well. That's what friends do. And you know what? That's what real Christians do. That's what real believers. And that's what anyone who is just a humane, decent person does instead of judging. They're seeking understanding. So I can't wait to watch that. But here's the thing. And I'm not trying to disparage anyone because I have great respect for some of the people that I'm going to talk about now, including, I have, including Dave Chappelle, who I saw recently. And I really like Dave Chappelle. Dave Chappelle and others, Ricky Gervais, Jerry Seinfeld. It is, people believe that they are seeking to capitalize on the bigotry and that they're punching down at the trans community while Will Ferrell is understanding. And so I would love to talk to Jerry Seinfeld or Will Ferrell or Ricky Gervais about why they say or do or feel the way that they feel about these issues. It is hard, as a member of the LGBTQ community, it has been some of the issues and some of the conversations I've had around this, around the trans issue has been, have been really tough conversations. And so while they are taking a completely different tactic or completely different tact in dealing with the transgender issue, I would still like to hear why they feel that way about it. These conversations are tough. I remember years ago, I was, I forget which city I was in. On the campaign trail, with members of my team and one of the members of my team who worked for the company I worked for then, it was Sinen. She transitioned. She was a male. Everyone for years, decades, been at Sinen for a long time. Work, phenomenal work. Every big event that you saw, every debate, everything. I think she's, I think she came out with it. She was a lighting director. Beautiful work, amazing. So you could not say that she didn't do a good job. There was no reason to get rid of her or try to fire her to some excuse, right? There's a predicate to get to fire her because her work wasn't good, whatever, because of the transgender issue. So she transitioned at work and there was some issues that I didn't understand. She thought that I was being too harsh on the air to some guests or I didn't have the right understanding. And we sat outside one evening at a hotel drinking beer until four in the morning talking and she schooled me on trans issues. And because I respected her and loved her, I gained some understanding about the transgender issue and how her partner accepted it or dealt with it and about how she identified. Fascinating conversation, I have never been the same since on this issue. It helped me to grow. So I would say that we should all be fostering some sort of understanding. So thank you so much for that. Michelle Poli, that's who that was, just so you know. And she's been open about it and she no longer works for the company, but she's a fantastic person and just a fantastic professional. Okay, I wanna talk about there's another thing that is bearing some discussion as it relates to the right wing. Now I know this meant you remember the whole Donald Trump and all the MAGA folks they call it. Oh my gosh, Russian hoax, there's no Russian interference in the election. It was all made up. There was no Russian interference. Well that is all bullshit. Merrick Garland came out yesterday, yesterday or either the day before, gave a press conference and talked about how Russia, the Kremlin was trying to influence the media or the election through the media in America. Mostly through RT, which was Russian television and I believe we have a press, if we have a press conference, it would have you play it. I think we have it. - We're Attorney General Garland and Director Ray, Attorney General Garland, Russia today sent a statement to Fox News and some other outlets here mocking the situation. They had five bullet points to six bullet points. The first said ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, 2016 wants its cliches back. In all seriousness, there is a subsection of the country that when they hear Russian interference, they may believe that it's not true. It's not a real thing. How do you assure people? This is a real situation. - I'm sure that was much funnier in the original Russian, but for us, it's not funny. This is deadly serious and we are gonna treat it accordingly. - So it's real serious and they're gonna treat it accordingly. Let me just explain to you what happened. An indictment was filed on Wednesday, it alleges that a media company linked to six conservative influencers, including well-known personalities, Temple, Dave Rubin, and Benny Johnson, that this company was secretly funded by Russian state media employees to churn out English language videos that were often consistent with the Kremlin's interest in amplifying US domestic divisions in order to weaken US opposition to Russian interests like the war in Ukraine. So basically they were using these folks as pawns. Now, whether they were willing pawns or if it was they were unwittingly doing it, I don't know, but they were making a lot of money. Some of them making at least $400,000 an episode or a week, I should say, or is it a month? $400,000 a month, I believe. $400,000 a month to be part of this whole process or campaign. And they were doing source, now, Temple is one of the people whose name, right? They don't mention them, but you can figure it out and they have not denied that they were part of this, right? There's been no denial. So these are the kinds of videos that they believe to sow disinformation and discord and distrust in the American political system. These guys were co-opted to do stories like this. Here's Tim Poole talking about Ukraine, how bad Ukraine is. - But I don't know that it matters anymore. This is psychotic. Ukraine is the enemy of this country. Ukraine is our enemy. Being funded by the Democrats, I will stress this again. One of the greatest enemies of our nation right now is Ukraine. They are expanding this war. Now, don't worry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. There's no war. Now, don't get me wrong, I know. You've got criminal elements of the U.S. government pushing them and guiding them and telling them what to do. Ukraine is now accused, a German war issued for blowing up the Nord Stream pipeline, triggering this conflict. Ukraine is the greatest threat to this nation and to the world. We should rescind all funding and financing, pull out all military support, and we should apologize to Russia. - I mean, come on, we should apologize to Russia. It looks like he was reading off of a notes there, or a script. I'm not sure. But those are the types of things that were being said allegedly, say that, by these guys. In addition to marking the third straight presidential election in which U.S. authorities have unveiled politically charged details about Russia's attempted interference in the U.S. politics, and indictment indicates how Moscow may be attempting to capitalize on the skyrocketing popularity of right-wing podcasters, live streamers and other content creators who have found successful careers on social media in the years since Trump was in office. Some of them were making $100,000 per video, some of them were making $400,000 a week, and others had different sort of contracts and deals with this company. Now, again, they have not been charged with anything. They're not accused of any legal wrongdoing, but I think it is common sense malpractice. Someone's going to pay you that amount of money. For what? Did you think like why? Now, the interesting thing is, I think that Dave Rubin, who has, is that right? Dave Rubin, I believe. Dave Rubin, I knew Dave Rubin for a long time ago. I think I make sure I have his name correct, but it's been a while. Dave Rubin was hesitant about it because the person who was involved in this and who was actively trying to recruit them mentioned social justice somewhere in his sales documents, and he said, "Social justice is not a left-wing thing." Now, Dave Rubin used to be sort of centrist, common sense person, and then he found the fastest line to the front, the shortest line to the front, and then he became sort of a right-wing person who sides with people who don't believe that his marriage. He's married to a man, should be legal. I think he has kids shocking. That's all I'll say. Enough said about that. They had been co-opted, either wittingly or wittingly, I don't know, by Russian interference and Russian influencers into the election. Dave and I on that story and see if anything comes from that. Donald Trump was at the, he spoke before the economic club of New York yesterday afternoon, and we talked about it a little bit yesterday. It did not go so well. You know they criticize Kamala Harris because they say, "Oh, she can't keep a train of thought, and she can't do it without a teleprompter, and she doesn't make sense of this? I've been watching her. She's been making perfect sense to me." Every politician has a bad day. Sometimes a word salad comes out of my mouth. I may have had some word salad in this particular show now, but are they paying attention to their own guy? Because Donald Trump is having some issues as it relates to talking about policy and issues, and if he is going to be in charge of the economy once again in this country, shouldn't he know what the hell he's talking about? Because he was asked a question about how he was going to protect children and make things better for parents and childcare, et cetera, and this is the answer he gave, and see if you can make sense of it. If you win in November, can you commit to prioritizing legislation to make childcare affordable, and if so, what specific piece of legislation will you advance? Well, I would do that, and we're sitting down. I was somebody, we had Senator Marco Rubio, and my daughter Ivanka was so impactful on that issue. It's a very important issue, but I think when you talk about the kind of numbers that I'm talking about, that because childcare is something, you have to have it, in this country you have to have it, but when you talk about those numbers compared to the kind of numbers that I'm talking about by taxing foreign nations at levels that they're not used to, but they'll get used to it very quickly, and it's not going to stop them from doing business with us, but they'll have a very substantial tax when they send product into our country. Those numbers are so much bigger than any numbers that we're talking about, including childcare, that it's going to take care. We're going to have, I look forward to having no deficits within a fairly short period of time, coupled with the reductions that I told you about on waste and fraud and all of the other things that are going on in our country, because I have to stay with childcare. I want to stay with childcare, but those numbers are small relative to the kind of economic numbers that I'm talking about, including growth, but growth also headed up by what the plan is that I just told you about. We're going to be taking in trillions of dollars, and as much as childcare is talked about as being expensive, it's relatively speaking not very expensive compared to the kind of numbers we'll be taking in. We're going to make this into an incredible country that can afford to take care of its people, and then we'll worry about the rest of the world. Let's help other people, but we're going to take care of our country first. This is about America first. It's about make America great. Again, we have to do it because right now we're a failing nation, so we'll take care of it. What the hell is he talking about? Oh my gosh, that was hilarious, and they applauded. Why are they applauding him? Maybe they applauded him because they're like, "This is the most interesting word selling I've ever seen. I have no idea why they were applauding him." Do you remember? I wish I had thought about this before producers. I think it was Miss America when they asked this woman, this contestant, this young lady a question on stage about something, and she goes, "Whereas," and such as two, and then we'll have world peace. That is the same sort of thing that he does. We're the best, and we need to start supporting it, and people need to be paying their fair, and we're going to get a lot of money. Make America great again, boom. He has no idea what he's talking about. It was like me in class, like given, I don't know, where I had to do a talk or a book report or something, and I had no idea what I was talking about. That's what it was like, like, "Wait, what?" And the teacher would go, "Obviously, Don, you did not read it," or whatever, and you're just making stuff up. Nice try. Nice try. "Whereas, and to make America great again." That's what he says. Okay, so Donald Trump is not good at policy thinking. If he's going to be in charge of the world economy, he should know what he's talking about. It's obvious he doesn't know what he's talking about. All the folks around him have said he doesn't read his briefing books. He's not well-versed on the issues. He's not well-versed on policy. He doesn't know about legislation. He's just more interested in being on television, playing golf, and sticking it to the libs. That's what he's interested in. And watching a lot of cable news, hate watching a lot of cable news. So he's not very good at that. You know who's not also not very good at politicking and not very good at campaigning, is JD Vance. And I just want to remind you of something, because we're going to compare and contrast here. Because I saw a video yesterday, some videos yesterday and this morning, of Tim Wallace's out campaigning with ease. He's just out there with the people, "Hey man, how are you doing? Good to see you. Oh, why are we going to do this? Hey, hey, hey. What's going on?" Just a normal person. So let me just remind you, just to compare and contrast, how bad JD Vance is as he is going into a donut shop, which was staged obviously, right? They thought it would be a photo op to buy some donuts. Watch. The Zoom has come to town, thank you for letting us come in here. She doesn't want to be on film guys, so just cut her out of anything. Okay, I'll just do everything, yeah, I'll do a lot of glaze to hear some sprinkle stuff, some of these cinnamon rolls, just whatever it's going on. I'll just flip it around. About four years. About four years? Okay. How long have you been here? Uh, a little over six months. Okay, good. Awkward. Awkward, come on, that was bad. Tim Walck, watching Learn JD. Morning, perfect day, good, thanks for having us, all the man smelling good. There are three states that claim, like claim to the whoopie pie, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Maine. So who has? Pennsylvania. Alright, that's what I needed to know. So we needed to know, is that sacrilegious to move away from chocolate or is that acceptable? We're a big fan of pumpkin, we can't be a fan of pumpkin people. Alright, I think that's what we're going to do, peaches too, that's what I said. I could balance it out to have a nutritional diet. I said, look at me, I have no problem picking out donuts. So we take our apple cider donuts and cut it in half with the whoopie pie filling in. Sold. So I got the best of both together. There's a lot of good things about campaigning, this is right there, this is it. We're going to ring this up. Hello. Hi. I like your optimism thinking that they're going to stay in the box for very long. I'm seeing that cute one down there. Are you sure? Yeah. Hi. Hi sweetie. Hi. Oh thank you. Thank you for the kiss. I'm missing my guy. Thank you for the kiss. Thanks everybody. Thank you guys. It's wonderful. It smells so good in there. Look, you don't have to support the guy. You don't have to like him, but you can see he's good at this. Now, you can say he's fake, whatever. He's good. He actually reminds me of my friend, I have a friend, John, he's the exact same personality. John, you know who you are. And John has two kids and yeah, he's good. There is something weird and I'm not saying that word just because, you know, a lot of folks the Democrats have been saying that there's something weird about how uncomfortable JD Vance is in front of people and relating to people and the stuff that he says about women and what he says about, you know, it's become a fact of life. There's something just weird and off-putting. When people, the reason that Tim Walz is good at this, it's because of his energy, right? When you are relatable, right, people can feel you, right? When you're relatable, people open up to you. So he knows how to greet people. He knows how to talk to people. He knows how to walk into a room and say, "Hey, what's going on? How are you guys?" I know you guys aren't going to, even if he was in a, let's say he was in a crowd that didn't like, "I know you guys. This is what I do. I know you guys don't like me. You think I'm like the devil or whatever?" But hey, I'm just trying to get to know you. Maybe we can come to some sort of consensus in something. In the meantime, can we just buy some donuts and we just sit talking about, "Hey, I'll pay." We'll get some coffee. You guys, how about we do that? And by the way, what's your name? I'm Don. Nice to meet you. Oh, so it's good to meet you. You don't want to shake my head? Oh, come on. I get it. Oh, this lady will. Oh, sure. You'll have, that is, J.D. Vance cannot do that. He has not been doing that. His energy is off. Something is very weird about him. I don't know if it's that maybe he's putting on an act so he has to be in character. He's been in character for so long that he actually doesn't know how to be himself and act like a real person. Maybe that's it. Okay, so speaking of campaigning, Donald Trump has a press conference today. I guess he's, I don't know what is going on. But he has announced that he's having a press conference today in that press conference. I think we had a full screen. I think we did. I don't know. It says that he's going to Donald J. Trump to hold a press conference in New York, New York. President Donald J. Trump, the 45th president of the United States, will hold a press conference in New York, New York Friday, September 6th at 12 noon and the venue is at Trump Tower. And so timeline of the event is 12 o'clock, whatever, former president is going to deliver remarks. Okay, so he's out there. He's trying to get out as much as possible to be in front of the cameras because one reason is he likes being in front of cameras. Another reason is he wants to say that he's out there, he's answering questions. And guess what, Kamala Harris is not. So it'll be interesting. We are, this is live and so we're on before this press conference and so we'll see what he has to say. Perhaps it will be earth shattering, perhaps it will be nothing, perhaps he will ramble on and on. He's here because he was doing that economic summit. Perhaps he will ramble on and on and on as he often does about nothing like he did at the economic summit, okay? So Donald Trump has been criticized for criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris about her ethnicity and what race she is. And that, you know, well she's Indian, she's not black and she's not this, she's not that. This is just funny because if anyone I say was questioning whether Kamala Harris is black. I think the debate is over after you watch this. Yes, let me see, let me see how I can get this out. Definitely salt, kind of black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder. You must be from New Orleans. Well, you know, that was a very black moment. I'm just saying, I think it's hilarious. She said you must be from New Orleans. She goes, well, you know? And that was a very black face. So she picked out all the things in that she's got, you got onion powder, you got garlic powder, you got paprika, you got cayenne pepper, you got this, you got that. I know that she loves to cook. She's an avid cook, right? But that was really funny. Tongue and cheat, come on guys, go with me here. But I think that that proves, at least she didn't say I keep hot sauce in my purse. And I'm just saying. Okay, so now that we've settled that, we've settled a lot of things. We've talked about a lot of things that people are going to be talking about today. That is what you will be discussing. That is what most people are discussing today. Now, I just want to tell you, coming up on our live show at five o'clock, we are going to discuss this whole, this whole not idea, this whole Russian influence thing by some people who have a lot of power and a lot of influence when it comes to right-wing media and just the media in general being co-opted by Russia to spread disinformation, allegedly, to spread disinformation. What happens now? Are they going to face any charges or whatever? They haven't been charged with anything. We don't know if they, again, if they did it, if they knew exactly what was happening. But now what? That whole argument about there's no Russian influence and that, you know, the whole Russian hope, it wasn't a hoax, by the way, the Attorney General Bill Barr at the time just got ahead of it by framing what was in the actual Russia investigation document, what came out of that. If you actually read the documents, you'll go, "Okay, well, there's obvious Russian influence here." I mean, I've been exactly as people had alleged, but there was definitely Russian influence. This proves that it is still happening, okay? Make sure you watch us today live at 5 o'clock right here on the Don Lemon channel on the Don Lemon Show. I hope I've caught you up this morning. You can go talk to your friends and talk to your coworkers and talk to your family with some knowledge. So go meet someone, don't be a JD Vance and be weird, be a Tim Walts and go out and say, "Hey, how you doing? Did you watch the game last night?" I saw on Don Lemon that Brittany Mahomes and Taylor Swift were not in the same room. What is going on? So now you know, I'll see you at 5 o'clock. [BLANK_AUDIO]