The Media and DC's Dangerous Path of Demonizing, Plus NBC’s Morgan Radford on the Future of News and Her New Novel

- Welcome, one of all people of Earth

“who next up on Mark Kaeper in your host.”

I serve as the editor in Chief of the Live Interactive video platform two way and I host this here program for you called next up with Mark Kaeper. Thank you for being here. Great show today too, a wonderful guest.

Both of whom appear on television on a daily basis and are spectacularly smart people. Not everyone who appears on TV is smart. I'm sorry to break that news to you. Many just read the teleprompter, not these two ladies.

Katie Pavlich hosted the Katie Pavlich tonight on News Nation every week night at 10 p.m. in Morgan Radford. The anchor of NBC News Daily on the NBC Network and also the author of a new book called Now Then It's a novel and really looking forward to hearing,

having you hear my conversation with Morgan about, not just the book but about parenthood and everything else she's got going on. Looking forward to having both these ladies on the program and talk about journalism and writing and everything else.

“Before they're here though, this week's reported monologue.”

There's a lot of news this week and I haven't had the luxury of focusing on just one topic talking to sources in and out of the government about both things. And so I'm going to do two different topics here

in the reported monologue in the first is the Iran war

as the president considers his options. Had a bit of an epiphany in the last 24 hours or so about where things stand. We've been for the last several weeks, we've been kind of on a knife-sege between thinking,

maybe they'll be in negotiated settlement and the war in Islamabad where they have one meeting and maybe as the president has said, the Iranians will give in. And then on the far end, worries about World War III

where it does not appear that they're headed towards an agreement. The ceasefire has largely held the blockades, the dueling blockades have largely held and the world economy suffering for it. So can the U.S. stand stay with this policy

for the long-term? No. The epiphany that I've had from talking to folks and this is informed by talking to people in an outside big government as well as analysts

who follow all this closely is that there's not going to be a negotiated settlement with this government under these conditions. It's not going to happen now. So I say it's 0% chance it will happen now.

But very unlikely to happen because this government's not not interested in this settlement. This is a group of people who have withstood years of hardship, including during the Iran Iraq war. It's a group of political leaders

who's whole reason to exist. Whether you want to say it's out of religious fanaticism and a desire to destroy Israel in the United States or you want to say it's because they're just people of power

who know that they're powerful, disappear if they give in.

Whatever you want to attribute it to, there's just no way that the Iranians can will give in unless something changes. So the U.S. strategy right now is to do a blockade, keep a run from getting access to oil,

to do other economic things under the direction of Scott Bass of the Secretary of the Treasury to try to ruin the Iranian economy. And then to threaten and perhaps use military force to change the conditions, right?

And maybe change the government. But one of those two things or both have to change in order to bring this about. And part of why we see through a glass darkly, we don't, is so opaque to understand,

what has to happen for the Iranians to give in? Is twofold, first of all, it's a closed society, the internet's down. You know, the senior Iranian people are on Twitter and speak occasionally in the media.

But we don't really know what's going on. What's going on with the Iranian people and the possibility of some sort of coup or protests. But also because it's hard to understand the Iranians.

It's hard to understand this. And yeah, I really have to be multi-disciplinary to even make an educated guess.

“You have to understand Iran, Iranian culture,”

the Iranians, specifics of the current Iranian leaders. You have to understand military. You have to understand economics. You have to understand the oil industry. You have to understand shipping, right?

To really bring together a multi-disciplinary perspective, even in the federal government of the chances that the Iranians will negotiate what the president's insisting on at a minimum, which is to give up their nuclear program,

to really understand that you've got to know a lot about a lot. And there are very few people, even in the government who do.

And I'm always a little bit shaken,

taking a back, whatever word you want to use.

in the government with Congress,

“knowledgeable people in Congress and the executive branch,”

they express different points of view of confidence that the U.S. is on track to break the will of the Iranian leaders and get them to an negotiating table for real. The president now says this week,

I'm not sending folks to Islamabad to hear an Iranian counteroff or that's just going to be rejected because it doesn't go far enough in dismantling their nuclear program. And so from his point of view,

something has to change. And that's my strong sense from talking to people, either the government has to change, as I said, the conditions have to change or both. Here's an op-ed piece of ran in the Wall Street Journal today

by two foreign policy experts, a guy at the Council on Foreign Relations. And then someone at the Foundation for Defense of democracies, both of whom really want the U.S. to win this war.

But here's what they write.

It's pretty long, but I'm going to read it,

“because I think it perfectly frames where we're at.”

They're hopeful, as many are in the West, that the Iranian regime will fall. They say it's entirely possible that theocracy will crack. All countries have an economic breaking point. Severe economic hardship, much worse than what Iran experienced

during the Iran-Araq war will soon slam the region. Another interaction may yet topple the Mullahs and the IRGC, authoritarian regimes, always seem indomitable until they're not. That could happen.

That could happen, and I'm not predicting it well, and it's certainly hope that it does. And if it happened, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised. But what we've learned so far in this conflict, is that it's unlikely to happen.

It's unlikely that the Iranian regime will be a coup. They'll be toppled by a pro-Bas protest, or that they'll just decide that their lives will be better if they agree to the American conditions, particularly on nuclear.

And these two writers, these two experts say that in their conclusion, they say after holding out hope that there could be toppling other regime. They say, but the Islamic Republic has demonstrated a resilience that should make us wary of quick fixes.

That's a key sentence, folks. They've demonstrated a resilience that should make us wary of quick fixes. The regime's resistance economy designed to be insulated from pressure by other countries

is into its fourth decade.

In addition, the revolutionary elite

see itself as the vanguard of the almighty. OK, so as a practical matter, the Iranians have planned to withstand this kind of moment. And as a matter of psychology, of theocracy, they think they're doing the Lord's work

by holding up and by resisting the United States efforts to get them to give up their nuclear weapons. They go on in their conclusion. Given the repeated insurrections, the Iranian people's obvious fondness for Western ways

and the conspiracy adult conviction within the regime that America has fueled and guided internal operations, Iran's rulers and their foot soldiers see themselves as the last readout against unbelief.

These are true believers, folks, who are vested in the status quo.

Finally, they say, in conclusion,

if the regime doesn't crack, we could be in for a long struggle to require commitment, patience, and discipline across the U.S. government. So with gas prices high, with allies and a panic,

with the American military spending, starting to be revealed and taxpayers getting sticker shock, with the conflict into it, heading towards its 60th day, which in theory, would require war Paris resolution.

With all of that, do you think the United States government throughout the government is ready to demonstrate commitment, patience, and discipline? I don't think so, not for much longer, would be my gas and particularly the midterms

are a real factor. So in gas prices are a real factor. So we'll see what happens, but this is why so many sources are saying the president is going to consider military action. This is why I say, if you think you're

going to break the spirit of the Iranians and get them to give up their nuclear program, simply with the blockade and simply with economic sanctions, if you think they're going to panic over their oil system being destroyed because of the backlog of oil.

Again, you've got to play the odds, you've got to look at history,

“you have to look at past as prologue to some extent.”

That's the base case. That's the most obvious thing. That's the most likely thing. The most likely thing is it is going to take substantial difference of conditions or leadership for the Iranians

to go to the negotiating table for real. That's why the president is in sending anybody to Islamabad without a change. That is why he's considering military action. That is why these writers say it's going to be a long process.

This is why some people are really worried about

professions of confidence, of success.

“We're dealing with a group of people who appear to be”

unmoved and maybe unmovable even by the combination of economic and military pressure that's currently being deployed. And some worry that if there's another US military action, it will simply lead to an escalation, a dangerous escalation, on the part of the Iranians striking back.

I hope this ends up well. I hope the Iranians collapse. The government collapses. I hope they come and negotiate a deal that the president can be proud of that justifies what's already occurred.

But I have sources who are concerned. We'll keep following that. Let me go the second topic I want to talk to you about. I've talked to so many people since Saturday in the wake of the shooting and the reaction to the shooting.

It led you attempt to assassination of the president at the White House Correspondence Association dinner about rhetoric. And I've been dealing with this question of rhetoric on both sides now for decades. I don't like to just talk about it.

I like stuff to happen about it.

“I'd like us to be able to solve this problem of the tension”

that's being caused in our country by the tribal warfare. It's great fodder to talk about, particularly if you're in tribal media. It's great to talk about how horrible the other side is. I've said all week, I don't believe in an accounting of O.L. one side's worse than the other.

I'm not saying both sides are equal, I never have.

What I'm saying is both sides have grievances. The left has grievances about the president from January six and other things that he has said and done. The right has grievances about the political violence, not just rhetoric that's come from the left.

Some of you will hear that one sentence I just uttered and say, oh, Mark's siding with the other side. People on both sides will say that one sentence is me siding with the other side. I'm not siding with anybody, I'm siding with the American people

to try to bring us together. And one of the few encouraging things that I've heard amidst all the fighting this week is from America Kirk. What a brave person, Erica Kirk is. What strength she has shown since Charlie was killed.

What discipline she's shown in trying to take care of her family, run the organization, and figure out a path forward to for her personally and professionally, really extraordinary to be thrust into what she's been thrust into. And this week, she reached a breaking point

having been at the dinner on Saturday and left in really upset understandably. So having once again faced the criticism of a woman who used to work with her organization or husband, Candice Owen.

She decided to speak out this week on Charlie's podcast. And it's extraordinary.

“And you should go listen to the whole thing.”

But I want to play for you some incredibly important words that any person who believes in peace, love, and understanding. Any person who believes in extending the presumption of grace to all, any person in the country who wants to solve the divisions, heal the divisions,

not eliminate politics from politics, not in political debate, not in strong disagreements, but anyone who wants to heal this country needs to heed the words and listen to the words of Erica Kirk. This is Erica Kirk, part of what she said

on the podcast earlier this week. Royal S1, please. - And this culture we're living in absorbs disagreement as a form of personal betrayal. It turns having an opposing viewpoint into a moral crime

or the of punishment.

And here's what I've realized through all of this.

Truly, having lived through quite literal hell, these past seven months, if you strip someone of their humanity long enough, you will arrive at the chilling conclusion that they don't deserve to exist at all.

Every morning, I wake up to a new headline lying about me. I have comedians dressing up in whiteface. I have people saying I'm not fit to be CEO. And I have canas Owens claiming I murdered my husband and the list goes on and on and on.

- There is a serious epidemic of dehumanization plaguing this country. - Please go listen to the whole thing. Okay, if you strip someone of their humanity long enough, you will arrive at the chilling conclusion

that they don't deserve to exist at all. I still know people on the left who look at Charlie as a two-dimensional figure of evil. I still know people on the right who feel that way about leaders of the Democratic Party.

in the last day, you hear the roots of a solution.

“And that's why the White House correspondence,”

Association Dinner, which is so often derided as a bunch of elites getting together, is and has been in my view so important to let people who don't normally spend time together, not just the press with sources,

but people in both parties to try to create three-dimensional understanding, three-dimensional impressions to let people feel that they're not stripped of their humanity. Erica has gone through this more than as much as anybody else,

but everyone in public life deals with it. Everyone in public life deals with being cart made into a cartoon of evil by the people in the other tribe, happens to people in the press to on occasion.

But my goal is to tell you that I've talked to so many people

who I've shared the words with you, say she's absolutely right,

what an important thing to say. And now it's time for everybody to do it. Now it's time to not make money off of demonizing other people. Now it's time to disagree about policy, to disagree about practice, to disagree about all sorts of things.

Healthy vital will happen, should happen. But it's also time to try to stop stripping people of their humanity, to get people to see and other people that their sons and daughters and parents, spouses, and part of the conversation.

There are people in our public's national town square

“who will never do that, because that's how they make their living”

by dehumanizing others, by criticizing others. Got to get away from that. I'm so grateful to Erica Kirk for saying what she did. I don't want this to sound condescending, but I'm proud of her.

Tough thing to say, tough things to stand up to. And now we all just need to live it. All just need to live what she said. All right, that's my report of my log for this week. grateful to you.

Would love to hear what you think? Send me an email. Let me know what you think about what I said about trying to change our political culture. Let me know what you think about the interactability

of the Iranians and the difficulty of getting them to change their behavior. That's a common thread of these two things. Got to get the Iranians to change your behavior and have to get Americans to change their behavior.

Particularly people who have access to microphones like I do. Send me an email next up, [email protected]. Next up, [email protected]. We'll put them in the mail bag and make sure you subscribe to the program.

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when we come back, we'll be joined by the great Katie Pavlitch, host the Katie Pavlitch tonight program on News Nation, Katie Pavlitch is next up. (upbeat music) Are you being lied to?

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Alright, next up, and joining me now, Katie Pavlitch host of Katie Pavlitch tonight is on News Nation every week night at 10 PM Eastern Time.

“And if you haven't watched yet, you should check it out”

because Katie is doing very high quality, interesting program, and it's hard to do every day as some people who have daily shows now. Katie, thank you for being here.

- There's about 101 topics I want to talk to you that, so we'll see how much we should start. - Yeah, I'm gonna do it in the allotted time. I want to start with something you said on your show on Monday night that echoes what Erica Kirk said yesterday.

Understandably, you'd like your friends to stop being shot at and kill, and you'd like to live in a country where there's less violence. Erica's point, we need to stop dehumanizing people,

“is a great one and it's something I think super important,”

but it's hard to do when so many people make money off of dehumanization. So, if you were Queen of America and wanted to solve it, what are ways we can solve it? Because attacking the left, I think just as a reality, makes it more likely that it will continue.

- Yeah, first of all, I love the title Queen of America.

I don't know, we don't have a monarchy, but I appreciate that. - It's available. - It is available, I think there are maybe some others in line first, but I appreciate that. I've actually been thinking a lot about this,

especially in the last few days, but generally, the last two years since the assassination attempt of President Trump, and he was actually shot in Butler, Pennsylvania. Of course, assassination attempts are not new, President Ronald Reagan was shot outside the same hotel

that the attempt happened over the weekend, the Lighthouse Correspondence Association dinner. We've had presidents who were killed as a result of assassinations. And politics is a context for, right? It's, you know, we use language that is that may be considered

quote violent like using the Trump's fight

or take your country back or that kind of thing.

And so, in words or not violence. So how do we, where is the line between incitement and politics and being passionate about your point of view in the policies that you want to put forward? I'll be half of the American people

if you're running for office, the policies that you think you want to pursue an office that are better for your constituents than your opponent, whether you're a Republican or a Democrat. As we know, covering campaigns over the years,

you know, negative campaign ads or the ones that typically work in the news business if it doesn't bleed, it doesn't lead kind of thing. People aren't interested in that kind of story. And so, it is on, I think, the people

who consume news and consume entertainment

“and consume information, and I think everybody has to think,”

like, okay, what am I, what part of my playing in this?

Am I playing a healthy role in promoting this kind of material or content, whatever you want to call it? But at the same time, politics is, again, a context sport. It's a power is something that is difficult to obtain and wants people get it.

They want to keep it and it's not, you know, we're not in an era of kind of bait back and forth. And I'm not sure we actually ever have been. I mean, we went through a civil war, there was a caning on the house of because representatives

on Capitol Hill, it's not that we haven't had this kind of tension before, but it does seem like it's been heightened over the last three years. And I think difference is the justification of it. It used to seem like, at least,

so maybe I'm being naive where I don't remember this properly. But that when these things would occur, it was a condemnation across the board of this kind of violent behavior. And I'm talking about the assassination attempts

against the president, of course, the murder of Charlie Kirk. But we're in this environment now with the internet and social media, and as you said, people making lots of money off of conspiracy theories, putting information out before verifying any of it.

“Basically, I believe that we should go back”

to having diaries because people just say things on the internet when really they should be fleshed out in a private way and thought about logically, maybe before we put it out in the universe as fact. And so we're in this environment where that condemnation

is not happening. And I think that's the difference. It's not that politics hasn't been difficult that we don't fight on both heads of political aisle that things are not a context for it

with lots of things at stake. And the future of the country at stake when it comes to presidential elections and power on Capitol Hill, the Senate, the House this year, for example.

But I think the lack of unity around this is not okay. Broadly speaking is the difference here. - Yeah, well said, these two next questions aren't meant to put you on the spot, but just to kind of tease out this issue of dehumanizing.

Are you friends with any Republican members of Congress? - Many of them, yeah. - Many. Are you friends with any Democratic members of Congress? - Not too many Democratic members of Congress,

but do you have a lot of Democratic friends in the media?

- So they're not necessarily elected officials,

but they ran for office, they would probably be great leaders inside their party. - Right, shouldn't you as someone who hosts? And again, this is true of almost everyone we know. So I'm just teasing it out with you.

Shouldn't you be friends with some Democratic members of Congress given the job you have, given that your friends with lots of Republican? - Yeah, I don't think that I've necessarily had the opportunity for that.

I've been deeply embedded in the conservative movement for the 15, 16 years. And so in my work is not necessarily been to be friends with members of Congress. It's been to be in the media and to talk with members

of Congress, people who were in power. I don't have a lot of friends on Capitol Hill who are Republican representatives. I have friends in the media and people like work with,

but I don't have cozy relationships necessarily

with the people that I cover, whether they're Democrats or Republicans. But I do have friends, or is it my personal life and in work who are Democrats who are on the far left

and make what you would call a more moderate Democrats. So, and I think too that there is, what I like about what Erica Kirk said earlier this week, too in Washington, is that she was describing its interactions she had with the Daily Mail reporter.

And the Daily Mail reporter coming up to her and giving her compliments and telling her she was beautiful and it was great that we could all come together on a night and not be at each other's throat

and then we'll go back at it tomorrow. And for me, that, I feel like I think Erica does and the sense that it's very fake and not real. And the idea that the reporter thought that Erica would be in agreement about that.

That, oh yeah, because she said it was isn't it a wonderful thing or something like that paraphrasing. And Erica's response is, no, it seems really fake to me.

“And that's how I feel a lot about what happens in Washington.”

I think a lot of it's very disingenuous. You know, things that happen behind the scenes don't happen, necessarily in front of the camera. And people go along to get along for the sake of whatever thing they need done that day.

But so I don't know if it answers your question. But it does. I mean, I think there needs to be a little more authenticity and if you're going to be friends with some of you real friends with them, but don't pretend

that you have all these differences, but you get along if you're really not doing that behind the scenes or in front of the camera. I mean, I think you're absolutely right. As you did, I booked the Civil War and the Caining

on the floor all the time because people should be realistic about you can't take politics out of politics and people are going to feel intensely.

But to me, the solution is found in the thing

Erica said about not being three-dimensional figures and being dehumanized. I know full well that you've got friends like from the five and elsewhere who are Democrats who, if their parent died, you'd send them a note,

you'd be concerned about them. There just needs to be more of that.

“And that's why I always been a fan of the correspondent”

center because it does not just give reporters chance to be with people in both parties, but it gives people in both parties a chance to be in a room. It's rare that that happens and I grew about the Fakerie, 100% although that's true.

That's true, you know, it comes to you. Human nature, I guess. Yeah, human nature, exactly. But I do wish we could all dedicate ourselves to listening to what Erica said.

And the impulse of almost everybody I know, even a lot of people who make money off of dehumanizing the other tribe, which is everybody would like this lower, not just because it's a better example for kids and a more human way to live.

But we have to stop people from taking guns and trying to kill people. We just have to have to try to do that because we're going to get people who don't want to be in the media and people don't want to run for elected

office or appointed office because it's too dangerous. Well, and the entire experiment of America starts to fail if we are going to start killing political opponents. And they have killed political opponents. They murdered the leftist murder.

No, I'll say they. I leftist murder Charlie Kirk. And many people celebrated that. Many people have been celebrating the attempted assassination of President Trump, not just on the dark corners

of the internet, but very much publicly in our society. But I think you're totally right about the humanization aspect of it and this standard of decency that we should have. Like you said, if someone were to have a family emergency or someone were to a family member were hurt or passed away

or there was just some crisis that they had,

“you should just be a human being and reach out and say,”

I'm so sorry, write a card, let them know that you care. Because we all go through those things in life. Rather, we're Republicans or Democrats, conservatives or liberals. Those are difficult things that human beings have to go through.

So if we can make unify, not around politics, I think that's a pipe dream that I think it's solutional to think we're going to be unified around politics. But to be unified around treating each other with decency at the times where it really matters.

it has really mattered and unfortunately many, many people

have done the opposite of decency. And you know what, they'll have to live with themselves. Can't control what they're going to do.

“And I think people can see exactly what's happening”

about that. Every time I wait into this, I quote people literally, I'll say one sentence and the left will say, oh, you're false equivalency. You're favoring the right and the right will say the same thing.

There's the, what you said, the left's nonchalance about attempts to murder the president Charlie Kirk's assassination. It's horrifying. And it's, it's, it's a source of great grievance understandably on the right.

And there aren't a double standard to, too, I mean, double standard in the press. If three people tried to kill Barack Obama, we would, would every hit again, it would cover me wall wall.

There would be nothing else happening in the world.

For a week's on end. 100%. And, and every Republican would be asked, do you associate yourself, you know, this guy followed you on Twitter, how do you feel that?

I don't, I don't, I've been heard Democrats ask this week about the ideology of the alleged shooter. So you and I agree on that. But here's, but here's, I, I talked about January six as a counter all the time.

When Paul Pelosi was attacked, from the president on down, I heard so many Republicans mock it, fan conspiracy theories about it, no, no expression of, of extreme concern for speaker Pelosi. And, and again, I just ask everybody,

consider the grievances on the other side and how the left feels about that. A guy's attacked in his own home.

Regardless of the regardless of the ideology or motivations

of the person who broke into their house, that to me was for the left and for me, a big watershed to say, come on now. This is the elder, relatively old gentleman, attacked in his own violin.

Yeah, right. And, and the president mocked it. Yeah, he shouldn't have, he shouldn't have done that. And people who followed that lead shouldn't have done that.

I had the time that it was outrageous and disgusting. And was frustrated with the fact that the, the husband of the former speaker of the house. This happened while she was still speaker

“of the house, remember the timing on that.”

She was former speaker, but it was, I mean, regardless, she was in a high profile position and the fact that security did not prevent this person from coming into their home and beating her husband with a hammer was outrageous to me.

I thought that was just absolutely unacceptable and it's lucky that he wasn't killed. So yeah, I don't think that when people are injured or attacked that it should be celebrated in any kind of way at all.

And as for January 6, there were people who were prosecuted for the crimes that occurred that day. The entire justice department, literally, was taken away from even child sex shock cases to make sure that every person we even came with it,

100 feet of the Capitol suffered a consequence. And so because there was an overreaction and not a case-to-case basis and a lot of what happened about that, a lot of that was dismissed because the system was abused to make a political point.

So the pendulum swayed too far the other way when it really just seemed to hold people accountable who got violent on January 6. And there were certainly, we're far too many of them. But in terms of also with Sandra here,

in Batia, I understand that I'm using a lot of work on this this week, and we've watched the examiner's working on this for months and months. Again, a lot of the way that we calculate how this violence falls on the political spectrum.

And I don't wanna, it's not like a damn versus, I guess it is, but I don't like the, well, this happens so to it for tap, but you do have to have an accurate counting of what is going on.

And the idea that the most violent, most expensive riots, American history during the BLM riots in the summer of 2020 are not counted as leftist violence. It's the fact that the Charlie Kirk murder

is not counted as leftist violence is insane. There were dozens of people killed in the summer of 2020. And this idea that we were working off of a data set that is not accurate to solve this problem isn't gonna get us to there anywhere.

And so January 6 was terrible, it was awful. It was one of the worst days I had to be on the air. I did not enjoy it at all. But this idea that it was one of the worst things in history when you had the BLM riots just getting swept under the rug

as if that was justified, it's outrageous.

“I mean, you have to have the same standard for all these events.”

That's not what we're working with here. - I grew with 97% of what you said and I won't quibble over the 3% of what I'll just say. I'm grateful to you for what you said and the way in which you said it.

And I know that plenty of people on the left will listen to what you say and be troubled by it. - And curious that's 3% now though, what is it? - I'll send you an indication. I keep saying to my friends on the left,

I've said this for decades, you have to understand

with the Democrats and whether it's the riots, whether it's the coverage of Joe Biden's mental decline, whether it's accountability over Russia gate. Like, these are not small things. These are not, well, sometimes one side gets the break

and sometimes the other guys, it's all on one side. So when you're playing 2-on-1 on the left, you just have to understand the grievance

“that people on the right feeling, you have to factor that in.”

And people have to, on the right have to understand, there are some grievances the other way as well. And everybody, if we're going to stop dehumanizing, everybody needs to understand that. All right, we've got to get some other topics.

You've been in media for a long time and you understood what you were getting into, you thought when you'd accept doing a nightly show at 10 o'clock, and just talk about the adjustments you've had to make to be live in front of a camera,

every night at 10 o'clock, five days a week, as compared to what you used to do. Just talk about how that's been in adjustment for you. - Well, I first of all, it's an honor to be in Washington, DC, covering the gold age of America, the Trump administration.

And I was joke about how being in DC is like, God, years one feels like seven. I'm sure you know that well. There's so much happening every single day.

So to have the opportunity, I always say that this job

is like a front road to heat seat to history, whether that's good or bad, most of the time it's bad. Good, rather not bad. And so that for me is an enormous privilege to do that every night from our nation's capital,

which is the capital for all Americans and people come here from all over the world. I see them and they are just in awe of our city and our country and the freedoms that we have. So to be able to do a nightly show with the people

who are here making big decisions about the lives of Americans all over the country is an enormous privilege. And it's also amazing to tell stories that are happening inside Washington, the effect Americans outside of the Beltway. I, you know, we interviewed the president

the second day of the show. And I asked him about American hostage Dennis Coil, who was being held hostage by the Taliban for more than a year. And he said he would look into it and a month later,

Dennis Coil was home back in America released from the Taliban. So being able to be engaged in these kinds of stories and try to make a difference just by bringing that to light is an enormous privilege at a time when there's a lot a lot happening and as I've been in DC for quite a while now

covering the news, but it's just an amazing time

to be here and to watch American history unfold every day right for our eyes and shoes, the stories that we're covering and figure out what's important, what's on important. What was the rest of the media covering that maybe we could, we should take a different angle on.

So it's really creative, different process every day. I have an amazing team, new station has been incredible. So I'm still getting used to it. We're only three months in, but I think we're getting our group. So have you taken any days off since you started?

- Not any days off, nope, not yet. So yeah. - All right. All right, well, you give a very, a very booster-ish upbeat answer that being tied to a camera every night at 10. And I'll just, I won't follow, but I know how hard it is.

And you're doing consistently great work every night as a real challenge and you're pulling it off so far. So congrats.

- So far, well, there's always tomorrow, it's not too bad now,

we're gonna keep doing a good job. So every day is your friend, it's a lot of fun. - Yeah, do you aspire in the election year to take the show on the road, is that something you've planned to do? - I would like to, yes, I'd like to take the show on the road

if we can, get out and talk to Americans about what they're interested in, what they're concerned about.

“I think that's really important for media to have”

eager to the ground. Next are, of course, owns new station. They have a number of local affiliates too. So looking forward to using some local reporters who can help us talk about what's happening in a certain place that affects the whole country.

And of course, this wing districts that we're looking at swing states, there's a lot of governors races that are happening this year as well. So, yeah, we hopefully have the opportunity to do something like that.

- All right, quick round of a rapid fire roulette here. Who's the most underrated member of the Trump cabinet? - Kelly Loughler. - Yeah, who's the funniest member of the Trump cabinet? - Marco Rubio.

- Consensus answer, everybody says same thing, Mr. Tomedy. - Yeah, Mr. Tomedy. - Who's the member of the Trump cabinet you'd most like to spend two weeks in London with?

- In London. - Yeah. - In London, Scott Messing, because he was very good taste. Very good taste in Phoenix, friends with the King. So, you'd probably probably probably get some pretty...

- You're getting a good tour. - Restaurant reservations.

“What's the president's most underrated positive trait?”

- That huge great taste in music. - Yeah, who's the three most likely Republican presidential nominees in 2021? - Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

- Yeah, do you think Sarah will run for president some day for sure?

“- I think so, actually, I'm not sure if it'll be this round,”

but I think it'd be a shame if she didn't give it a shot. - Yeah. Her dad ran a pretty good time running president. - Yeah, he did. She had no idea how fast her the Israel.

So, yeah, she's been very good at every job she's had. And I think the Arkansas is a really good example of the state that's been able to bring in new jobs. She's likable as well. - Yeah.

- And she has the name recognition from coming from political dynasty family stuff. - We had a nice visit with her on this program, talking about her record in Arkansas. Lastly, 10 o'clock Eastern time.

You got a bunch of news options. You got a bunch of sports options, entertainment, news Netflix. Why should people tune in at 10 for you? - Well, we are covering stories from angles

that you want to see anywhere else. And we think that it's worth your time. So, I know that time is everybody's most valuable resource. And we do not take for granted when people spend it with us at something they can't get back.

But just give us a shot.

And we're always open to new recommendations.

And the last three months have been a lot of breaking news. So, we're on top of the news and also bringing you interesting stories every single night that you're not going to see anywhere else. - All right, again, if you haven't checked Katie yet, you should.

She and her colleagues are doing a very conscientious, interesting and innovative job at programing the 10 o'clock hour on news nation every night, 10 Eastern time. Katie, thank you for being here. - Thank you for having me.

Great to see you. Thank you. - Okay. When we come back, my conversation with another person on television and be sees Morgan Radford is next up.

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- All right, next up in joining me now, a new book, a new baby, and a new way of knowing news. Morgan Radford is here or a debut novel. Now then comes out on May 5th.

And maybe you can tell from the shop which new babies come in here. - The baby's coming in. - Just a little bit after this. - 26.

- 26, so I couldn't interrupt the book tour. Congratulations on book and baby. - Thank you. - My rule for book titles is it has to be at least double on Tondra.

Now then is a brilliant title. - Thank you. - Explain to people what the title of now then your debut novel is about. - Great question.

It is, the book is about a black Cuban girl from the mountains of North Carolina who goes to Harvard and falls in love with the British Indian.

And he would always say to her

in the beginning of every conversation now then. And he said this because- - Like a verbal tip. - It was, well, or he would say a greeting. (laughing)

But I, you know, and this part was based on elements of my real life.

“And I remember asking him why do you do that?”

Every text, every beginning of every conversation he said, well, it's a way of beginning and ending a conversation without ever beginning or ending it. It's just a continuous conversation

with someone you don't want to end the conversation. - He's just picking right back up. - You're just picking right back up. So now then, and that is now the title of the book. - Yeah, but it also has the sense of now and then.

- And then, and the other half is told from the perspective of her mother who fled the Cuban revolution. And it's built, it's in 1957, so before the revolution sort of hit its apex in 1959.

And looking at why a young university student would have been even attracted to the Cuban revolution and the ideals then, my father's side emigrated here from Jamaica and Cuba. And so it was really interesting for me to go back

and do the research. I know we were talking about that with you and your family. And, you know, doing the research to learn, like what that experience was like coming to this country, why?

What were the motivations? And so being able to sort of marry that to the history of this sort of pre-revolution time was really just a fun place for me to nerd out. - Yeah, so you've written a non-fiction book

but it's your first novel, right?

- I've never written a non-fiction.

This is my first book overall. - It's your first book overall. - Oh, I thought you'd written it. - Well, and that's the thing, like I went in meeting with the book agent about a non-fiction book

because a lot of what I do at work

And I feel like that's what's expected of us.

Like, you know, we're journalists, you know, talk to people every day. - Right, history. - History, right, and the context, right?

“But I think fiction, when when I finished talking to her,”

she said, you know, if you ever did fiction, that would be like really hot. And I had this one experience with this guy from college and I said, if I ever wrote any sort of script to any sort of drama, this would be it.

And when I told her the real-life story behind now then, she feels like that's it. And fiction has been the most fun escape mark from the hard news that we do every day from the interviews that we do from the topics we cover,

it is just this way to go home and give shape to everything, the tapping. - Yeah, I should say for those of you don't know, Morgan, as she's alluded to, is a great journalist. She anchors NBC News Daily, 12 to 2.

And I want to talk about news, but I want to stay with the book for a minute. Why write a book? You've got plenty to do, including one baby, another I baby on the way.

So, what's your motive for doing that? - Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, it was one of those things I couldn't not do. Once the idea struck, once I had the conversation with the agent and it was like, oh, this is really someone really

pay me for this work and this idea and this, I just sat down and it surprised me. I mean, it was more of a return to my love of creative writing, like I would enter Borders bookstore, creative writing challenges and Greensboro and North Carolina

where I grew up, and so this was more of a return to a first love. But once I sat down and the words started to flowmark, like I couldn't imagine stopping. - What genre of fiction would you say it is?

- I would say this is like family drama romance, but somewhere on the border between Lerarian commercial. - All right, who will play the main characters when you sell them? - Oh my gosh, Zoe Saladani, I will be the mom. I once in Daya to learn to Spanish and play the daughter.

I want Riz Ahmed or Death Patel to play the love address. - Have I, oh, casual, casual questions? - Is Death Patel the right age to play the love address? - You know, I was asked that, I think you could make,

“I think you can just make them look young, you know?”

I feel like, you know, it's, we got AI. - And what's the movie version? What's the big scene? What's like the biggest scene in a movie or? - The big scene is when Marisol is captured in Cuba

and she has held captive in 1957. - By whom? By, well, it's complicated. This is now the transition between Batista and Fethan Castro, and Batista's men have captured her

at this time. - And is that based on a real thing? - It's not based on my real family story, but it is based on a real character name. Joseav Dora Giovanni, yeah, he was a young,

revolutionary kid at the University of Havana. He studied architecture, but what was interesting, Mark, was that when I was doing the research, I think the Cuban history narrative for a lot of people who, you know, may have dabbled in it

or aren't as deeply familiar with it, is that Fethan Castro came to power, won the hearts of the people,

and then boom, he's a dictator forever, never.

Not the case, like when he was starting, there were all these factions that were essentially competing for that very job that he wanted. - And Joseav Dora Giovanni was kind of one of them, like he didn't totally get along with Castro,

but he knew he had to get along to go along, like they met in Mexico and Castro was exiled, and we're just trying, they were all against Batista, right? They were all against this original regime that they said, look, he's too in pocket with the Americans,

et cetera, et cetera, we want to keep it for ourselves, and everyone had these different visions of how they were going to do that. And so getting to explore that side, I use Joseav Dora Giovanni as my main love interest and character.

- And is the exciting part, the actual capture or the captivity? - The captivity, the captivity, and what happens and how you process it, and then maybe, if you read the book, when she leaves captivity, how she process it.

- My big question always is,

explain people why they should buy it, who should buy it, and why should they buy it? - If you have any interest in sort of the lyrical dynamics, a family of belonging-- - And who doesn't?

- Well, yeah, well, it's funny. I was thinking about it in terms of this notion of belonging and what it means to be American, which I think in this moment in this country we're having lots of conversations around,

we're having conversations about what it means to be American, what the purpose of elite universities, and what they do, and who belongs there on those campuses. And I think this is a way to explore what that belonging looks like, what it feels like,

what unbelonging looks like, and feels like when we're told, we don't belong in those spaces. And I think people were interested in mother-daughter relationships and any interest in Cuba or Cuban history. This is for that.

- Okay, awesome.

“- That's how babies, what you got one three-year-old,”

another about to have congratulations. What have you learned about being a mom lead in no before? - That it's the kids' world, man.

I'm following her lead in every way.

We, for example, we speak Spanish at home. I send her to a French school during the day. - Were they speak French? - Were they speak French? - Full confusing.

“- Yeah, well, you know, I think kids can do a lot of things.”

- Thank goodness for cognates. - You know, I think exactly, right? - She's like, well, not quite, 'cause I'm like, Morgé, comé, et, she, I don't think she likes the French. I don't think she's into it, and so I'm like,

"Oh, husband's like, are we, we gotta stop?" She's not into it, she's not loving it. And you learn, and you pick it, and you change. - Yeah, it is, tell me how she's most your daughter and how she's least your daughter.

- Ooh, that's a great question.

Most my daughter, and that she's incredibly mischievous.

She has a visible twinkle in her eye. She just has something inside of her that cannot and won't be tamed, and I absolutely love it. It's just fire, it's just pure fire in her eyes. And I think that's something that's like,

'cause we get older, the world kinda tries to like, - Squelching it. - Yeah, it does.

“I think it's especially for women, like, I think, you know?”

- Oh, no, they try to squelch them. - Yeah, well, do they get you too? - Oh, they get the guys? - They get the guys, they don't have joy. - No joy, no joy, no sparkle. - I think she's a lot of me. - Yeah, that's good.

- It's good, it's good. - There's a lot of Morgan in there. - And someone's already told you that too is more than twice as hard as one, right? - That is what my dad said. - Yeah, yeah. - He said it's harder by multiples. It's not twice as hard. - Exactly.

- Why do they say that? - It just, it just is. It's just like, I now have one, I just know from other people. It's just chasing them around. It's like, you can't chase in two directions at once. - It's chasing two directions. - You know, it's not like chasing one

and then the other, it's like gotta do them, but you'll be fine. - I mean, guys, they see that, you know what? Somebody told me, I was at a dinner party. Don't know this guy still don't know who he was. And all he said was, he said, how many kids you want to say?

I don't know yet, he said, the only advice if you remember nothing else from me tonight, he stopped it too. And I was like, Jesus, what a thing to say. He said, he had three kids. - Yeah. - He said, but once you go past two, need passes, passes around like a rash.

She goes, either my wife's needs not met. My needs not met kid one thing. And I was like, I don't even know how I feel about you. Say those are you have three kids, dude. But like, I could not unhook that.

- To me, to me, it's simple biology. You only have two arms. - Yeah. - So once you get it done, I'm gonna cover it, just important, right? - Exactly.

Once you have three kids, just need to get used in a leg. Let's talk about journalism.

“What do you want to achieve in journalism before your retire?”

Don't have to be exhaustive, list. But what are some things you know you want to do? - I want to interview the head of Satan Cuba. - I want to, I want on that. - Could be Marka Rubio.

- Hopefully, no, we don't know, we don't know at this point. I would have said Castro before he died. The Escanel, who is currently the president of Cuba, is interesting. But I think whoever comes next is going to be a really interesting person. That is what I would love to do.

I would also love to do a non-fiction piece of journalism. And I've been playing with what that looks like. You mean a book? - A book, yeah. Yeah, a book, but obviously based in sort of interviews and interviews I've done over the past year. And I think that is trending toward politics and inclusion, and who the political players

are, and a very rapidly changing political world. - How many times have you been to Cuba? - Holy, I went back first in college and directly enrolled in University of Havana. So part of my college transcript is from there. I went back years later with my family personally.

And then I went back again when Fidel Castro died to cover it from BC News. And then I probably couldn't even tell you the number of times I've gone since then. - Okay. What will it be like if President Trump does what he's hinting he's going to do? If Cuba is liberated, if it's a market economy, if it's got a great affiliation with the United States, is it going to be just a paradise? Is it going to be a flawed paradise? What's it going to be like, you think?

- I think that's the biggest question facing all of us. I think it will have elements of what we thought could have been. I mean, during the Obama administration, when we saw sort of some of those relations open up, we saw Cuban entrepreneurs thrive for the first time. My wedding planner for my wedding.

She has this incredible business in Cuba.

And during the Obama administration, she said, it was amazing. Because I had so many people who were coming here, who were curious, I was able to actually charge fair market value and said the things that I'm limited to charge here. She was so exceptional that I flew her to Colombia to support her business and her. And you hear those types of stories.

People who have various, like these little artists workshop. I mean, Cuba has so much natural resource in terms of talent and vision and the Cuban spirit that I think we saw elements of what could come. When the internet was more easily accessible, when the internet was high functioning. And so I think part of what President Trump is talking about is something that actually

was already done, right, elements of that and he's in access. And in terms of the political regime change, that opens up a whole new dynamic, a whole new frontier

resources that we saw begin during the Obama administration. Well, arts, tourism, agriculture, it seems like poised to thrive if given liberty. And the medical system, and then medical system, like, look, I don't like going to the doctrine Cuba. I've had that experience, like I didn't love it personally, because you got the doctors repaid so little, they're driving cocoa vaccines, like literally taxis in the form of coconut

“where they make more money from tourism. So I think you have the resources there that if activated”

could thrive in ways that we've never seen, right?

And like the thing that I think Cubans naturally have on the island that is so remarkable that I don't know that people are fully aware, they are so engaged and so politically active. Like there is not one, I've never met anybody, blah, yeah, and now you know, still on the island who, you know, at dinner, can't talk fluently about current the state of current politics at home, and abroad. I mean, they're talking about my state centers here, right? Like very just on the

money, on the nose, engage politically active, and there's an engagement and a vibrancy that's so palpable, that I don't even see here at home to the same extent just if you were, you know, closing your eyes and putting the tail of the donkey. Right. Let's talk journalism a little bit.

You've had success of peeling to an audience of younger people, which has been a holy grail

of American journalism since I've been in journalism it probably before. What are young people

“wanting news? Transparency. Easy. I mean, that's, I think this, I was talking to someone earlier”

today at another network actually. We were talking about how the industry we entered is just an even as younger people. It's not the industry we're in right now. It's just a different ballgame. Like the days of having some, you know, elder anchor speak at you and deliver the new, I mean, just even that verb, like deliver the news to you. That is, that's a, that's a bite. Those are right on days, right? Like I think young people are craving interactive news. They're craving

forms like this podcast. I mean, I know you do some things where you're sort of breaking that

forth wall and you're talking to people. Like people are looking for interaction, but they also

want to be able to shape some of what's covered. Like they don't want people who are in a room in a city that they may or may not ever have been to deciding what is important for them in

“their daily lives. And I think we're seeing that translate to voting, right? Like you're seeing”

historically we would talk about the economy and what the markets are doing. What does that mean right now? Now we're talking about buzzwords, like affordability. What does that mean? Right now. So I think young people are looking for news that isn't delivered to them, but that is sort of crafted with them. And so like part of the thing that I do, for example, I use my social media and service with that transparency. When I travel to a story, I turn my little Instagram stories.

I show them this is what my tracking mic does. This is how I set my levels. I'm stopping here because I need to pick up hair curlers before my 5 a.m. hit tomorrow morning and just showing people how the sausage is made to build trust. Yeah. You've covered politics. What's working with American politics right now? What's working well? Honestly, I would go back to what I was talking about with Cuba. I think engagement. I was thinking today how, you know, when we were talking

about OPEC and we were talking about rising gas prices and I don't know that I've ever seen an American populist this engaged in recent years in a meaningful way because what's different now as it's personal. I think there was prior to this administration and prior even if you just looked the last like six years, I think there was this feeling of like them, not us, right? Immigration is out there. The economy is this vague, like a morphist notion. And now people are like,

we're talking, people are naming the straighted form. Like, I don't know the year ago, people were finding the straighted form who's casually out of map like, you know, at a diner, right? Now we're talking about Iran. We are talking about, you know, Latin America. People are talking about Nicolas Maduro. Like, like, when were people just casually talking about what's happening? Who even knew the leader of Venezuela when you were talking casually? And now I do think what's

working is there is an urgency and, you know, it's up to the viewer to decide where that urgency stems from. If that's fear, if that's excitement, if that's, you know, that's up to them to decide. But I think that urgency and that proximity has created an engagement in our politics that we haven't seen recently. Yeah. There's all this discussion about whether the Democrats should or would nominate a woman for president in 2028. And you've had some people who would love to see a woman

And that's a good debate. I think that's an honest debate. Yeah. I think we have to acknowledge

“that gender race, socioeconomic class. I think all those things play whether we acknowledge them”

or not, whether we explicitly state them or not. They're part of who we are. It's like the whole, you know, I don't see color that you don't see me sitting right here. I mean, come on. Like it's part of the, I am a woman. I'm not much pregnant. These are facts of my life. And so I don't think that taking that out of the debate is an necessarily honest thing. Now, how you weigh it. And the percentage of value you place on that. I think that's a different conversation. But in and of

itself, I think acknowledging the facts of our lives that make us who we are is not that's not an odd place to start. Yeah. Do you think that there's a woman president in the offing or it's just going to be a matter of fluke and luck and happenstance? No, I don't think fluke and luck. Yeah. I don't think fluke and luck. Look at the candidates we've had. They've been, they're, fluke and luck didn't get them where they are. So no, I think, I think the day is upon us. Yeah.

And some people have said for years it would be a Republican more likely. Is that true or not? You know, that's so interesting to me. You know, when I think of Liz Cheney, when I think of other people who were really strong or public in female leaders, I think it's, I think you could see it in either really. When I think about the history of talented qualified candidates that we've had and the way we've seen younger candidates coming in, what we saw in the last midterms, right,

was so interesting seeing the diversity of of candidates, seeing the person, the version people who just even just chose to other name of that, right, not even the ones necessarily one. And so I think it's almost an inevitability. Right. I find if reporting, sometimes you got to go out of the studio, you got to go cover stuff, baby and anchor desk. How do you balance those two things with going out and actually covering stuff? I love to go in the field. 2025, I would say,

was my second best year on record for field reporting with a baby with with the anchor desk.

Take to baby with you. Sometimes. Take anchor desk with you. God bless and no pair. Do you share from the world? I used to be actually from the world even more, but now, I mean, I have stories that like Mark just give me an inch that I can't not tell. For example, one of my most just intellectually interesting stories was the rise of religion among Gen Z and how coalesced

“with the Trump database. Yeah. That's why I went to a big religious conference in Georgia and”

talked to, you know, one of the leaders there who was more prominent and sort of the conservative Christian space and masculinity conversation, like this is happening to the point of what we're talking up before, you know, put your own value on it. Fine. My job is to show you what is already happening and the undercurrent that is swelling as we speak. And then we can talk about it. Y'all can talk about it. But my job is to take you to a place that you may not otherwise see and show you movement

that statistically we know is already underfoot. And so like that story, how the hell would you do that? Why would you do that from a studio? Like, I need to sit with you and talk like this. I need to be in Georgia. I want to know, I want to talk to the people who were there. You know, I did another story with a black militia group in Lincoln Heights, Ohio that had decided to take up arms.

They were like the second amendments for us, too. After Neonazi Rally came to their town.

“And so I just think you have to like feel the texture of those stories in real time.”

And what happens when you tell the other people when you're has your head at the door? What happens when you tell the other people who live in your house, your head at the door? I have the best husband in the world. Yeah, he's like, let me know when you're back. Yeah, he's like, this is your purpose. This is this, he we also met in college. So he knew we didn't date in college because he was

dating a good friend of mine. But plot twist. That sounds like the second novel. It sounds like it might be the first. Oh, isn't it? Yeah, but anyways,

12 years later. Yeah. And the second baby, you'd be like Caroline Levitt a couple of weeks

of maternity leaving her. I think Caroline's got me beat. Yeah. I think she's going to be quicker. I think she's going to be before me. I think Richard Vance is going to be, I think her due days a little bit after me. But I'm like, who goes, who's coming back first? I don't know. Caroline, it's quick term. She's quick term. She's going to be quicker than you. She was on the first one. I don't know. For me, I feel like I love this work and I'm really excited

to like take a beat. Yeah. You know, I feel like it's summertime. Yeah. They don't know the gender of this baby. Do you have a secret preference? I don't have a secret preference. Here's the deal. I know my husband and what he won't say is that he really wants a boy. Yeah. And like, actually, that's not even true. I feel like he would say that. I feel like if you ask him he'll say that, which means he'll be thrilled if this is a girl. It just means I have to have another

kid. So like, and you know, all jokes aside, it's like, you know, I have such a unique relationship

from you? You know what I mean? Like, if this is what is part of your like core happiness, is somewhere in the mix having a son. Yeah. You know, I like all babies, but a lot of men would like to have a son. I think he wants this. I mean, it's like he's, you know, he's he's pretty honest about that. So I think, again, happy if this is a girl or boy, I just want to help the kid. But I think that just means that'll determine how many children I probably would be. All right, let's finish

let's sell some books. You were able to get Morgan Rattford.com. That's great. Did somebody else already haven't? Did their research? My best friend got it for me. That's very good gift. Yeah. So what's on Morgan Rattford.com? History in my past reporting, we'll see things like Cuba and my recent reporting like we talked about in 2020, 25 places where you can buy the book for pre order and when it comes out and my book tour, which is going to take me up and on the East

Coast since I can't go too far, given my very good timing to this. Are you booked on Kimmel?

“It's on an East Coast. I'm not. You should do Kimmel. He's still on. Do you think I can get there?”

I think you can. Do you think the FCC will let me? Maybe. It'll be a good advice for the first

act. The book is called Now Then. Yes. Morgan's first book, first novel and she already told you why you should buy it. So go buy it. Buy wherever you want. But if you want to buy it through Morgan Rattford.com, you'll probably make an extra 40 cents if they buy it that way. I don't think so. Mark this is for the people. Okay. Books are the people. And you can watch Morgan every day, Monday through Friday. All the days. 12 to 2 on NBC News Daily. Morgan, thank you for being here.

Are you quick break and then next up something else for this? Something else I like about as a team. So think about the last 30 bucks that you spent. Maybe for a streaming subscription. You don't watch or a lunch you've already forgotten. That's $30. It's gone forever. Acre gold that's you turn that lost money into physical 24 carat Swiss gold. You pick a plan.

“Your balance bills. And once you hit the price of a bar, they ship it straight to your front door.”

This is real gold in your hand at your house. And over time you're sitting on something that's been valuable since the dawn of civilization. And for the collectors out there, they just drop the limited edition Hot Wheels collection. These are officially licensed by Mattel strictly capped and once they're gone, they're history. So while you're checking them out, claim your free entry to the speed club sweepstakes. They're giving away one gram Hot Wheels Gold Bar plus a massive

grand prize to 10 gram 24 carat Hot Wheels Bar. Both come in official collector packaging and they're up for grabs right now. Start stacking for just $30. It get acre gold.com/mark. Again, that's get acre gold.com/mark. Go ahead and subscribe today. All right. Next up the mail bag. We get so much great feedback from you all every day. We ask you to send us messages. What you think of the program and specific questions. And we love

hearing from you. We love the next for community with a little interaction. So we're launching

something new now to make sure we always get the best feedback in the feedback. So introducing our

new segment, Mark the mailman, dedicated segment where I'm diving into the messages you all said in and responding to the community in real time and looking forward to hearing from more of you. Let's start with Dave. A very nice message from Dave. Dave says, "Your two podcasts are absolutely the best out there. Thank you, Dave. My mom agrees. Are you curious what sets you apart in my opinion? It is so refreshing to have a reasonable view. It's not hype in one direction. I love how

you and your guests. Though you might disagree on some things freely admit when the other is right. I love how you can interview someone without trying to drive into a point that they're cornered and have to fight back. Dave, I love the feedback. Very grateful to you. And partly, I love any praise of course whatsoever. But partly Dave, I love the message so much is that's exactly what we're trying to do here. I'm not a partisan. I'm an old-fashioned journalist. And we love for people

to have an open mind to listen to different points of view and to express it. And some people when they're interviewing are just worried about asking the next question. And I do my best to listen and to try to ask about things that interest me. I think hopefully interest the audience. And if there are areas where I disagree and again, to be open-minded and to look for opportunities to say, you know what, you've convinced me. I'm thinking a new about about the topic.

“If that's why people like the show, I'm delighted because that's a big part of what I say”

my brand is about, but my ethos. What I try to do with next stop is to create an opportunity for people to have fun, interesting, important conversations that involve being open-minded. And even if you don't agree with the other person, you're open to their point of view, you're empathetic, you're willing to understand. So Dave, thanks for being a next year. Thanks for the email and

for the praise. All right, let's go. And second one, this from Andrea, she lives in Napa in California.

She says, I could not tell from you description of the security surrounding the dinner

saying security was lacks this year only or is it always this lacks? Did they drop the ball

because it was Trump or security always been this way, even when Obama and Biden attended the dinner please clarify. Andrea, thank you for asking that. And I should have made that clear. So I appreciate the prompt to do it. Security was pretty much the way it's been in the last, over the last administrations. The perimeter for the security was too close in my view and you have a lot of experts I've talked to to the ball room, too many civilians in the building,

too easy for people to get on the property and move from Florida floor without any type of security. The reasons why besides the fact that there was an incident that I think it was particularly

striking this year. First of all, we've got a president who is been, people try to kill him before

and so you just have to deal with the reality that Donald Trump needs a lot of security. Number two, we're in the middle of a war with the greatest state sponsor of terrorism

“Iran and so you have to be a moron guard. I think the usual for that.”

Three, we're in an age of AI and 3D printers and all this new technology. So being able to get on the hotel property as we talked about on the episode, just involved having a packet that said, "Helton on it," then match what that hotel gave out. It involved checking into the hotel if you were guests and it involved flashing a thing that said you were invited, not necessarily through the dinner but to the parties. So again, in the age in which we live,

just security should have been tighter. So but it's a good point, which is to say, previously in the previous presidency's security should have been tighter. And I've said this in the past, it just for the reasons I said was more in sharper relief this year that it should have been done. And it's still, we talked about it in the last episode, it's still not being all that discussed.

“I continue to hear people say, "What a great job this secret service did to Vice President”

said it this weekend." And I'm not denigrating the performance of the agents who were there, but someone should have spoken up in authority and said, "These mags are too close." If seven guys had stormed that one checkpoint, they could have been in the ballroom in a matter of steps, right down a flight of stairs and right into the ballroom. So security is expensive. It's a drag for people to go through it. But in this particular case for all the reasons I said, Andrea,

there should have been better security around that ballroom, even though, as your question suggests, in the past, it should have been better as well, but this year, in particular, a premium on it. All right, love hearing from you all nexters. Send me your emails whenever next up, [email protected]. Send notes. We like notes of praise, but questions are great. And critiques, the show is very, very good, but it's not perfect. So please keep sending emails

for an opportunity to be featured in our next segment here. Our new segment, Mark the Mailman, gathering your letters, open them up in a medium. All right, that's it for today's program. Special thanks to our guests, Katie Pavlovich and Morgan Redford for being part of the show. This week, I hope everybody has a wonderful weekend. We'll be back on a Tuesday, brand new episode,

as always, share the program with everybody in your life. Make sure everybody has the opportunity

“to be a nexter, friends and family, as well as you should be subscribing on YouTube, as well,”

as on the podcast platforms. We want all of you to always know what's coming next up.