Welcome to episode 28 of The No BS Zone with Bernard Goldberg and John Daly.
Today, special guest Chris Stirewalt joins the show to talk about the state of the U.S. media, his departure from the Fox News Channel, the 2024 presidential election, and more!
Editor’s note: if you want to leave a question for this Friday's Q&A, please do so in the comment section below.
(If you’d rather view the above video on YouTube, click here).
Show Notes:
Chris’s book, Broken News
Chris’s columns on The Dispatch
The Ink Stained Wretches podcast
Chris Stirewalt's comments -- and Bernie Goldberg's too -- reveal an integrity and a calm rationality rare in today's polarized America. There seem to be so few of us who find faul -- egregious fault -- in both Donald Trump and Joe Biden: the latter is a pathological liar and hypocrite -- attacking Israel for supposedly not practicing democracy while ignoring the Iranians' shooting protestors in cold blood in the streets of Teheran -- and effectively the leader of a crime family worthy of the Corleon's, while Trump's vicious, baseless insinuation that Ron DeSandis is a gay child molester is just the latest of a series of tweets that in a sane world would disqualify Trump, on purely moral grounds, from holding political office ever again. And his dishonest sychophants at Fox -- Tucker Carlson disparaging female staffers as "c--ts" for rejecting Sidnie Powell's preposterous claims of election fraud while mouthing these claims on the air -- are nearly as reprehensible. What a breath of the proverbial fresh air it is to listen to Chris and Bernie consult the rational component of their minds, rather than their ids, before speaking on issues of genuine public concern. With my respect, admiration, and gratitude, Jay Bergman, Professor of History, Central CT State University
It seems to me the Democrats are walking a bit of a tightrope. They want to damage Trump but if they damage him too much, they run the risk that he can’t win the nomination. Thoughts?
The Democrats don't need to damage Trump, he's doing a perfectly fine job of doing that to himself. All the Dems and other GOP presidential contenders need to do is stand by and watch the implosion.
No. He was yapping before midnight before Arizona closed. The idea is that some may be turned away if they hear this. Would it have made a difference? Who knows..
The polls closed at like 7 or 8, Thomas -- hours before the Fox team made its call.
There are arguments about people still in line at the time of 7- waiting. Trying to be clairvoyant in a news room is not news - but peddling predictions is the new news. With FNC, Stirewalt was selling snow tires in Miami.
Thomas, Fox made the call at almost 9:30pm Arizona time, two and a half hours after Arizona polls closed. You're the one selling snow tires in Miami.
I read people were in line for hours.. I don’t do snow tires I stay at home.
For hours after the polls were closed? Come on, dude. This debate (which started with you falsely insisting the call was made while the polls were still open) has gotten beyond silly.
The poles closed means people in line get to vote. Yes hours. That’s been the complaint in Arizona for the last few election cycles
Lol. You said the polls weren't even closed when Fox made the call. In reality, they had been closed for 2 1/2 hours.
Most states were (and are routinely) called much sooner after the polls close, in many cases mere minutes after... when lots of people are assuredly still in line. It's done when a trailing candidate no longer has a path to victory, based on the numbers.
2 1/2 hours after the polls closed in Arizona (again, long after most races are/were called), Fox determined that Trump no longer had a path to victory in the state, based on the numbers. And they were 100% right.
The notion that a minimum of 10,500 surprise Trump supporters were still in line 2 1/2 hours after the polls closed, AND went home the moment Fox called the race, is a ridiculous, completely unsupported fantasy. But cults love fantasies, and because of that, good people like Stirewalt were treated as sacrificial lambs.
How many in line is irrelevant. No one can prove or disprove it. Moreover other state voters may be influenced by this practice. When the states say all votes are in (closed), the news weenies can sell their wares. Stirewalt is not alone in his fortune telling- if he worked for CBS that night, Leslie Stahl would have kissed his rear end, and he would still be working there.
>>How many in line is irrelevant.
Agreed, especially 2 1/2 hours after the polls have been closed. When accurately calling a race, what's relevant is whether the trailing candidate still has a pathway to victory.
The scenario you're now entertaining (after initially falsely claiming that Fox made the call while the polls were still open) requires that there were a MINIMUM of 10,500 registered AZ voters, still in line 2 1/2 hours after the polls closed, who a) intended to vote for Trump, b) heard Fox call Arizona for Biden, and c) left the line BECAUSE they heard that call.
Let's make things very simple for you here, beginning with the most basic requirement. Please present evidence that there was anywhere close to 10,500 AZ voters, of ANY voting persuasion, still in line 2 1/2 hours after the polls closed. Saying you "heard stories" doesn't cut it.
>>No one can prove or disprove it.
Lol. No one can prove or disprove whether Donald Trump was replaced at birth with a space-alien. Thus, we must entertain the notion that he is indeed a space-alien (which would make him ineligible to run for president). Right? That's your logic.
I get that fantasies are fun, but the one you're entertaining isn't supported by facts. Bring some facts, not just your feelings.
>>Moreover other state voters may be influenced by this practice.
This practice of calling a race, after the polls are closed, and only after there is no remaining pathway to victory for the trailing candidate? Tragic!
>>When the states say all votes are in (closed), the news weenies can sell their wares.
Or the news weenies can call races when the trailing candidate no longer has a pathway to victory, like they've been doing with strong success since before I was born, with very little controversy, right up until the point when the orange man cried, and his supporters' feelings were hurt.
And again, you're misusing the word "closed" in how it relates to elections polls.
>>Stirewalt is not alone
Correct. Every credible election team, over decades, has done what he did. He and Bill Sammon, however, are the only individuals I've ever heard of who were actually fired for making the correct call, with the numbers backing their call.
>>if he worked for CBS that night, Leslie Stahl would have kissed his rear end, and he would still be working there.
Who cares about what Leslie Stahl would do? Fox fired Stirewalt for performing his job extremely well. Why? Because the truth he told hurt MAGA-world's feelings. That's beyond pathetic.
Interesting - I have to speak like a Philadelphia lawyer here, is it closed doors or closed as in all votes are in. Stick to the topic and stop obfuscating the main mode here. The news organs need to shut up during the voting event. If there is vote activity going on, pathways are irrelevant.
Thomas, all I'm asking is that if you throw out outlandish claims, you support those claims with facts rather than just your feelings. It makes for more productive conversations.
Not a claim. Just news reports of people in line waiting to vote- after the doors close. With Az, there’s been a pattern of long lines since 2012 and thereafter. And so, I am exhausted with this. Happy Easter.
Good broadcast. Interesting metaphor by Stirewalt regarding news selling Buicks to consumers - given Buicks today exist and are built by the Chinese for mainly the Chinese market. Yes news is now a boutique industry. Demographic specialists. We once had a Sears in every town - now we have a Victoria Secrets in each. Stirewalt, like others, did something the news was criticized for, years ago - calling elections before the polls closed..
I've seen a number of people make this false claim, but Stirewalt and his team didn't call the Arizona election until hours after the polls in Arizona had closed. The "criticism" from the Trump faithful was that they didn't like who the race was called for.
Nope. He and others were claiming early before it was called by Arizona.
Before it was called by... Arizona? lol. That's not what you said. You said the team called it before the polls closed, which is not true, and is very different than a state tabulating and announcing its official results (which comes MUCH later).