Let me direct you to two very interesting — and very different — podcasts that just went up over the last few days.
The first is my sit down with Ed Schultz, the liberal MSNBC host turned RT “newsman.”
It’s something of a wild interview — The Daily Beast labeled it “bonkers” — in part because Schultz steadfastly refused to criticize the benefactor of his network, Russian President Vladimir Putin, while vociferously claiming to be objective.
When I bring up that when he was at MSNBC, he said Putin’s Russia had a “nasty” human-rights record, he deflected by attacking the United States, a tactic he attempted many times throughout the interview.
“Well, I think the United States has a nasty human-rights record,” he retorted.
But . . . what about Putin?
“That might have been overboard,” he said, walking back from his old, obvious, and accurate comment that the Russia government isn’t exactly a human-rights paragon.
Schultz went as far to argue that, “in Russia, Vladimir Putin is viewed as a progressive Democrat.” Near the end of the interview, he said he has a more favorable view of the Russia government today than the U.S. government, though Trump’s election is making him view the U.S. government more favorably, a mind-blowing comment if you ever watched him on MSNBC.
My latest podcast, which was just posted, is with CNN’s Don Lemon. My conversation with Lemon covers covering Trump, the state of cable news, and his influences.
Perhaps his most surprising answer came when I asked him if he finds any conservative writer compelling. He said “not at the moment” because he doesn’t “feel that there is the authenticity that there used to be with conservative writers,” even those who aren’t exactly Trumpsters.
“I think that I need for people to understand the challenges of African Americans, the challenges of women,” he went on. “I need people to really understand that, to understand that slavery is a big deal and that we’re still suffering the residual effects of that. I don’t know of many conservative writers who are in that space.”
The whole discussion is worth your time.