to the human person psychology, our predilection towards rivalry, but also reconciliation sign up for the genesis story free of charge, at learnfromhillsdale.org today. ♪ ♪ howe there's no other way to describe it, much of the

mainstream media has mounted a campaign against donald trump warning that he's just too dangerous to be allowed to win a second term. this isn't just reporting or commenting on the sometimes over the top things trump says talking about getting even with opponents or saying he'll go after what he calls the enemy of the people. i've criticized plenty the of things trump has said over the years and as a leading presidential candidate, he should be aggressively scrutinized. yet after nine years of a hostile relationship with the media, suddenly there's not even a pretension of fairness. the atlantic has just publish pd an entire issue on how the former president is teenager to democracy. new york -- is that a danger to democracy. "the washington post" filled several inside pages with an anti-trump opinion piece, and all that reverberates across television. >> i think what people have normalized the possibility of trump coming back to office, we get used to anything. this time he is coming up bent

on revenge. >> the lead story in this morning's new york times is warning how a second term could unleash a darker trump, highlighting the former president's violent and authoritarian rhetoric. >> there is a clear path to dictatorship in the united states, and it's getting shorter every day. that's robert rayingen -- kagan, a former reagan official writing in "the washington post". >> there's growing agreement and acute concern i think across the political spectrum about the explicitly authoritarian the threat of a second trump term. >> it's a very special issue of the atlantic where they have the same people writing the same article they usually write about how terrible donald trump is and how much he's a real threat to be an authoritarian this time around. howard: i think journalists say, well, he is a dictator, authoritarian and fascist, so they have no choice. but ultimately, this is about the credibility of our business and why half the country no longer trusts the press. i'm howard kurtz and this is "mediabuzz."

♪ howard: ahead, how the media are handling devastating new tax evasion charges against hunter biden. at an iowa town hall, sean hannity gave donald trump two opportunities to respond to the mounting media criticism about his second term. >> do you in any way have any plans whatsoever, if reelected president, to abuse power, to break the law, to use the government to go after people? >> you mean like they're using right now. >> the media has been focused on this, on attacking you -- >> yeah. >> under no circumstances, you are promising america tonight you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody. >> except for day one. >> except for -- >> he's going crazy. except for day one. howard: joining us now to analyze the coverage in nashville, clay travis, the founder of outkick and cohost of

a nationally-syndicated radio show, and in new york, harold ford, former democratic congressman and fox news contributor. clay, what do you make of this constant media campaign warning of the dangers of a second trump term in these major publications and on certain networks? >> well, they're trying to play the hits, howard. good to see you too, harold. i think they know ratings skyrocketed during donald trump's presidency and during his campaigns, and if you look at cnn and msnbc in the gutter like they are, "the washington post" on track the lose 100 million, "the new york times" struggling some with subscriptions as "the washington post" is too, this is playing the hits. but i would say two things associated with this. one, i think for the general public there's a boy who cried wolf here scenario. when you've got a war in europe and you've got a war going on right now in the middle east, you've got lack of security at the southern border and crime and all of the issues that are

going on right now in our country, it's hard to argue, oh, trump's going to be so much worse. and one thing jumped out at me and i'll be curious to hear what harold thinks about this too, "wall street journal" poll that just came out on early saturday morning. one measure there really struck me, and i jotted it down here. has the physical stamina to be the president, trump versus biden. 48-14, trump wins that argument. so they have to figure something out that takes away from biden's issues, and so the focus needs to be trump as opposed to biden's physical fitness. that number's crazy, 48-14. howard: trump and the press used to have a love-hate relationship, now it's mostly hate. so, harold, i get that the former president brings some of this on himself. clearly defected -- excuse me, deflected sean hannity's questions about abuse of power, then he said, well, i want to drill, drill, drill and close the border. but is much of the media

crossing a bright line here and becoming the opposition party? >> so first off, happy sunday. it's great to see you and my old friend clay. i'd say two things. first, i would agree largely with what you have said, how you framed this and clay, the media needs to be careful. donald trump, for a long time in politics, has been able to construct a vision and a portrait of himself as standing up for a lot of people in this country who believe they've been left behind and forgotten and pushed back or pushed down. and the way he's done it has not always been agreeable with some in the press or, for that matter, some who oppose him. i do think the bigger issue for this campaign, and clay touched on it right then as a he talked about the polling in the "wall street journal" piece in the first part of what he said. if the economy is in better shape in six months, if democrats address the border issues, i think the border issue will be as critical in the minds of many independent-minded and

swing voters as any -- "happening now" d. howard: right. and at least the last election where you had three or four races in kentucky and ohio marley, the issue of women's health remains at the forefront of a lot of voters' minds. so whomever is to win this next election be it biden, trump or maybe other candidates, they're going of to have to address the border and abortion. democrats have the advantage on abortion. and if the economy is better as we know, howie and clay, incumbents generally do better if the economy is improving and americans feel that improvement -- howard: right. >> i want to play this clip, another clip from the iowa town hall where former president trump is talking about president biden. >> we have a man that can't put two sentences together. we have a man that doesn't know he's alive. and he's backed up by the media. the biggest problem we have? the media. the media's fake. >> i want the morning show producers to watch us and all the producers to watch this. this is just rhetoric of we're

absolutely dead serious. the deep state, the fourth branch of government never mentioned in the constitution is going to be taken apart brick by brick, and the people that did these evil deeds will be held accountable and prosecuted, criminal prosecutions. howard: so, clay, with help from sean hannity who's a longtime, openly supportive of donald trump, here you have the president taking a whack at biden but also including the media a in his indictment. >> yeah. i think it's a criticism that's going to play well for trump. look, if i were the political consultant taking a step back and saying let's presume we have trump v. biden part two, who wins the race and how do they win the race, i think trump focusing on biden's physical and mental fitness is a huge win for trump as i just cited in that "wall street journal" poll. i can't imagine there's been any race that we have seen in modern american history where one guy has been seen 34 points better

in terms of just being able to do the job is. but, look, we've got two incumbents, basically. howard: right. >> you've got the trump incumbency and the biden incouple bicep city. if trump is the story, i think biden has a chance to win. if biden's failures as president as a trump conveys it is the story, then i think trump's going to win. usually the rex is a referendum on -- the election is a referendum on the incumbent. what's a little unique here is we basically have two incumbents, and we haven't seen anything like this in anyone's life. howard: exactly. harold, you have steve bannon, former white house official and pardoned by trump, saying he's dead serious about the media and other opponents and using the phrase criminal prosecution. harold? >> you're asking -- i'm sorry, i thought you were going to show a clip. look, i think the advisers around a president, their words are more alarming than what and how president trump is explaining. we're accustomed to president trump. that doesn't mean that it's

accepted, but we're accustomed to him talking about how he may behave towards those the who may have, he thinks have taken, taken shots at him unfairly. but the press in our country is and to hear those who talk about it have no -- i don't think they understand the history of the role that the media and the press play. we certain wily have more than we did 25, 50, 1000 years ago because of the proliferation of smartphones and the way you're able to assimilate information and convey it whether it's true or not. but to say a big piece of what you want to do if you're elected to political office, the most important office in the country i might add, to go after the press, we'll have to see how voters respond to that. the one thing i am relieved about, howie, is they are saying these things. and i think voters have every right to get a greater sense of what any candidate for any office, what he or she intends to do. is and thankfully, president trump and many of hissed visors are making it clear that they plan on taking on an important part of the american

establishment. howard: yeah. sometimes it's his own words. now, the other day joe biden said off camera that he probably wouldn't have run again if trump was not in the race and he was questioned by reporters. take a look. >> >> reporter: would you be running for president if trump wasn't running? >> i expect so, but, look, he is running, and i have to run. >> [inaudible] >> not. not now. howard: clay, what do you make of the biden remarks and him sort of partially walking it back? >> i think if we'd been having this conversation in january of 2021, the expectation among much of the nation, including me, was that joe biden would be president for one term given his age, that he would step down and he would hand the proverbial baton to kamala harris and she would be the nominee in 2024 -- howard: or someone else. >> i actually think the fact that biden is running is a testament to, one, the bench not

being very deep for the democrat party. i'm not sure anybody polls much better against trump than biden does even though he's polling poorly right now. but, two, i think kamala harris has been such a disappointment to so many people in the democrat party. they really thought she was the next person up for this job, and it would be a transition to a new era of democrat leadership. but he polls so much worse than biden that i think democrats are trying to acid letting her be the nominee -- avoid e letting her be the nominee and especially on this identity politics coalition. there's a challenge how it would not be racist and sexist by democrats' own standards for the current vice president not to be the nominee in 2024 or, frankly, for 2028. and i think that's a real challenge, figuring out how they go and move beyond her which is why i think biden's running. howard: if joe biden were to for some reason pull out, you'd have, you know, 50 democrats who would try to get that nomination. but, hawrld, what biden is

essentially saying is i'm the only democrat who can beat trump. i've done it before. but that's understood cut -- undercut somewhat by the amaze ball -- abysmal polls. that's where we are right now. >> i think you're right. i think that the data shows, as you showed from the outset, he's almost tied or i think mr. trump's a few points ahead of mr. biden. and the candidate that really moves ahead is governor haley, ambassador haley. but we're months out still. i still believe if the economy, if people believe -- some of the numbers suggest the economy's improving. things are down that you want to be down, and things are up that you want to be going up. but everyday americans don't feel that away. there are a long list of politicians who try to tell voters you're doing better than thaw -- you think, and most of those politicians are sitting at home on their sofas. the truth of the matter is people have to feel that way. howard: yeah. >> but i don't disagree what

clay said about some of the doubts that some democrats have about vice president harris, which is surprising because she had such a prolific and programsing performance -- promising performance, output before -- howard: well, a moment of agreement. i just want to say journalists who say, oh, well, he is a fascist, if you think that, then you should quit your journalism jobs and go campaign against him rather than using news organizations to mount this campaign which i think is a lot louder than it's ever been. when we come back, the president of the university of pennsylvania just resigned under pressure after failing to condemn genocide against the jewish people. ♪ ♪ dude you coming? because the only thing dripping should be your style. plop plop fizz fizz with alka-seltzer plus cold & flu relief. also try for fizzy fast cough relief.

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(glass shattering) (loose gravel clanking) howard: university of pennsylvania's president, elizabeth magill, resigned late yesterday after repeatedly

refusing in a house hearing to conning dem calls for the mass murder of jews. >> ms. magill, at penn does calling for the genocide of jews violate penn's rules or code of conduct? yes or no? >> if the speech turns into conduct, it can be harassment, yes with. >> i'm asking specifically calling for the genocide of jews, does that constitute bullying or harassment? >> if it is directed and severe or pervasive, it is harassment. >> so the answer is yes. >> it is a context-dependent decision, congresswoman. howard: depends on the context? they, ma bill apologized the next day saying she should have been focused on the evil of such calls for genocide -- genocide, but it was too late. how tone deaf was elizabeth magill in dancing around a straightforward question, can you condemn the killing of j well, -- jews or not? >> yeah, it was incredibly tone

deaf. and i think that's, honestly, reflective of the fact that she didn't like the questioning from congresswoman stefanik, and so she was intentionally, along with the presidents of harvard and mit, being combative and not wanting to answer a yes-no question. and as a result, she's now stepped down, the pressure is still on at harvard and at mit. and, you know, it's emblematic, i think, of what has upset so many people out there across the political spectrum. i went to george washington university, and a holocaust survivor-donated library, college kids flashed death to the martyrs to celebrate what hamas had done. and i can't imagine that occurring as an alum. it's one thing for college kids to be knuckleheads and make poor decisions. i don't think they should get kicked out of school for that, but then you see university leaders unable to condemn evil, i mean, it seems like it should be pretty easy to say, yeah,

we're opposed to genocide of anybody -- howard: it should be extremely easy. >> -- and they couldn't. howard: and the pulling of a $100 million gift from a donor didn't help her case. harold, is it pretty obvious when the witness just doesn't want to give a straight answer? >> it is. not only am i an alum, i was a signatory on many of the early letters to the school about roger waters coming to speak around the yom kippur holiday, the highest holiday. i think clay was right, there was some animus towards the question, maybe even the questioner, but wean -- when you're in a hearing answering these kinds of questions, you can't allow those kinds of thoughts or feelings to influence what should be a simple, powerful, compelling, undeniable answer. yes, that violates my personal code of conduct, and it violates the code at the university of pennsylvania. some might then say that we have to look at the context, but i

wouldn't this afternoon as i sit before you member members of congress and speak to the country. she didn't do that. the number one thing a president's supposed to do is to make it safe for kids that have inner jet ec, disagreeable, sometimes uninformed conversations on campus, even debates. i did it at penn, at law school at michigan. it made me a better person, certainly a more open-mind person. but when kids don't feel safe, when violence is threatened let alone imposed, if leaders at at a our universities and colleges where this thought and assimilation is supposed to take place, if they don't have the courage and the ability to protect kids, then they're not fit for that office. it's unfortunate ms. magill a had to step down, but it was right. howard: she brought it on herself. and, clay, look, she and hard valider president claudine gay, who also apologized the next day, they had days the prepare for this hearing with lawyers. this was not some slip of the tongue. how could they not have known

this would create a firestorm? >> i, i think sometimes the faculty lounge has no idea what the rest of the -- of america thinks, right? i think that's really what it comes back down to again. i mean, so many of these college campuses are divorced from reality and the debates that to cur inside of the internal -- occur inside of the internal bureaucracies at these universities. look, if she wanted all of these people who were testifying, if they want to argue that they have a newfound respect for the first amendment and, therefore, they're going to allow all sorts of heinous speech on campus, then that is an interesting step that they could make, right? if. howard: apply it to everybody. >> so, yes. but do you think -- what do you think they would have said if the kkk were marching through campus calling for the death of every black student? they wouldn't say, oh, well, that's okay as long as they don't actually try to murder if a black student. we welcome them on campus. you know, when you're trying to

kill a minority group and advocating for it, i think it's fair to say that that probably crosses the line from a legitimate debate that could be occurring on campus into a position where students could feel very legitimately threatened in their time on campus. howard: it's a slam dunk question. we denounce genocide against jews -- >> yeah. howard: i gotta go. clay travis and harold ford, great to see you both. >> happy holidays. howard: up next, we'll go to us israel where the country's focus on killing hamas leaders is raising new questions about a civilian casualties. ♪ ♪

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that especially on a day where one of our producers lost nine members of his family who are not members of hamas, not members of of the palestinian islamic jihad. >> that happened in northern gaza, in gaza city where a month ago we already asked all civilians to leave. and one has to ask, yes, they had ample opportunity to leave. and we don't want to see anyone caught up in the crossfire, but why didn't they heed -- >> you can't blame them. >> [inaudible] howard: joining us now from israel is fox news correspondent trey yingst. trey, does it seem to how you that israel was trying to blame the nine relatives living in the producer's aunt's house in northern gaza? >> reporter: hey, howie, good morning. we know that they're talking about a cnn producer who is a fantastic journalist and his family members were not members of hamas, they were civilians inside gaza who were sheltering in their home when they were killed by an israeli airstrike.

and, unfortunately, his story is not unique. there are families across gaza that are dying as a result of this israeli operation against hamas if inside gaza. now, israeli officials continue to say they are at war with hamas, not the palestinian people, but amid this conflict there are thousands of civilians dying. we cannot confirm the numbers that are provided by the hamas-run pal stipkwan health ministry that candidate more than 17,000 palestinians have been killed since october. th, but we do know the death toll is among the thousands. howard: well, that one seemed avoidable. israelly military seems heavily focused on killing hamas leaders, five of them who have been killed, but can that be done without even more civilian casualties for which the netanyahu government, fairly or unfairly, would be blamed? >> reporter: it's a fantastic question. the israelis have told civilians inside gaza to head to the south for weeks.

we are now entering the tenth week of the war, and they have continuously opened evacuation corridors for palestinians to get to the south. many of them traveled to the second largest city inside gaza. now the israelis are telling them to leave as ground forces operate inside that citying looing for top hamas leaders -- looking for top hamas leaders. but they are anticipating operations inside the southern most city of rafah, and it raises the question where will these civilians go and is any location inside gaza safe. howard: that is the question. i've got about half a minute. israel's drawing some criticism for forcing a whole bunch of gaza men if to strip to their underwear as a part of an interrogation and whether this was just a tactic of humiliation. trey. >> reporter: today one israeli journalist is reporting that anywhere from 10-15% of those men are confirmed members of hamas. it is the certainly not the entire group. and israel is facing criticism for how they handled this. when we've posed these types of

questions to the israeliings, they say they have to strip down these e vims to search for things like explosives and weapons, but you see the images here, they do not look good for israel on the international stage, a country that's already facing criticism for their operations inside gaza. howard: right. i also understand the need to find out there's no hidden weapons by these who are members of hamas. trey, thanks for your reporting and stay safe. >> reporter: thank you. howard: next on "mediabuzz," hunter biden indicted for spending huge sums on drugs, hookers, luxury cars rather than paying his taxes. ♪ ♪ fast with doordash, so you don't have to leave the couch. oof! that was fast. mucinex. available on doordash. it's comeback season.

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howard: hunter biden has been making headlines as he's hit with new criminal charms trying to evade millions of dollars in taxes. the indictment brought in california by special counsel david weiss says the president -- he says the president's son spent this money

on drugs, luxury e hotels and rental properties, exotic cars and clothing. hunter's lawyer says the prosecutor bowed to republican pressure with charges that wouldn't have been brought if hunter's last name was anything other than biden. joining ugh -- us now from new york, charlie around note, and with me, richard fowler e, fox news contributor. charly, cnn and msnbc were leading every hour, along with fox, on this indictment on friday. how does it look that the guy who was spending almost a million and a half bucks on a lam boar begin first on prostitutes, on a luxury home in venice beach, california, couldn't find a way to pay his taxes? >> well, i think it just shows us a little bit more about what we already knew about hunter biden. unfortunately, he's a complete degenerate. look at the things he's spending copious amounts of money on, prostitutes, drugs, engaging in activities that as the

president's son, even if it's something that you enjoy, you need to keep it clean, right, for the sake of the image of this country. and i would like to say that this indictment is a good start, but unfortunately, i think we all a realize that tax evasion is really just nothing minnesota a smoke screen to really cover up for the real crimes that hunter biden is engaging in because i would ask, howie, where are the fara charges? hunter biden is receiving all of this different money from different countries and giving kickbacks to his family and the rest of -- howard: well, those are allegations. let me come back to it -- >> wait, i knew if you were going to say that, howie, which is why i would say, because i know you, howie, i know you like to have facts to back up statements, but we've already seen the wires. and we also is have herald from ron johnson earlier this week that there's at least six suspicious activity reports that link hunter's shady dealings to joe biden's residence in delaware. i mean, the evidence is there. howard: all right. these are important questions, unanswered questions, i agree

with that much. let me play for you, richard, what hunter biden had to say on a podcast just the other day. >> what they're trying to do is they're trying to kill me knowing that it will be a pain greater than my father could be able to handle. if. howard: he was also accused in the indictment of lying about business deductions. the media can't sugar coat this because this is a much tougher indictment than the one that was part of that so-jail plea bargain that got, that collapsed. >> the media can't showering coat this nor should they. the simple fact is hunter biden is a private citizen. hunter biden, based on this investigation, based on the indictment -- which is just the first part. meaned you, he has to be found guilty. howard: right. >> you know, he's a private citizen here. i think we have to do a couple of things when we analyze the story around hunter biden. we have to zoom out here, and we have to remember that, number one, hunter biden has a long history of drug abuse as we saw

from that -- howard: but that's not an excuse for breaking the law. >> no, no, no, i'm very clear on that, i think these indictments are valid. but we alsoing have to remember joe biden is also a father. and i think there's a lot of folks out in the media ecosystem, a lot of folks in the building billing just a block from here, the capitol, that want to make this connection between hunter biden and joe biden. and i think the facts point out since 2018 the that's republicans have been -- the senate republicans have been investigating this, and they haven't found a clear connection that says joe biden has engaged in any wrongdoing. and until they find that connection, we need to leave this investigation if squarely where it is, with hunter biden, and the fact that he's involved in nefarious activity that deserves the full punishment of the law if he's found guilty. howard: well, you know, this coming week the new house speaker, mike johnson, plans to get the house to approve impeachment inquiry against president biden, and we will see. i mean, the president's name not

mentioned in this indictment. some, like charring ly, say that's because it is part of an effort to next frequent attention. i do want to get to kevin mccarthy quitting at the end of this month. here's what a he said on c or bs starting with comments about donald trump. >> he's talking about retribution day in, day out. >> it needs to stop. he needs to stop that. look, i lost the job as speaker, maybe i don't have the best advice. but i know one thing is i love this country. howard: charly, what do you make of kevin mccarthy a couple of months after saying of course he was going to stay and fight for the bigger republican majority now resigning a cease? -- a seat? >> i say good riddance. i think that he doesn't deserve to have the position that he does because, quite frankly, he hasn't done anything to deserve being in such a position of power. a lot of people would say, oh, he's a great team player, he's a great fundraiser and, yes, he is good at raising money, but what did he do with the money he

raised? nothing more than trying to discredit e mag -- maga candidates and opposing the democrats' agenda. there were so many things he said he was going to do, he didn't uphold any of his promises to the freedom caucus. to open border alone should be a reason to shut down the government. just this week alone a record number, 12,000 illegals -- howard: all right. again, i've got to get richard in. >> the list goes on. i could go on for days, howe howie. howard: i'm sure you could. clearly, must be frustrating to go from the pin call of power -- >> it's troubling to hear people want to shut down the government to grandstand on political issues. but let's talk about the trail of tears that led us to kevin mccarthy, paul ryan, john boehner, kevin mccarthy. a number of individuals who have been the speaker e when republicans were in control, and they all left the job because they weren't able to govern. being the speaker of the house is about gmp governing the

country. howard: right. it's also a thankless job. after the break, nikki haley fending off attacks at the fourth republican debate while chris christie scolds his rivals for ignoring donald trump.

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and they can change yours, too. because a clearchoice day changes every day. schedule a free consultation. howard: there were plenty of punches thrown in the fourth republican debate as the four remaining rifles to donald trump tried to break through. >> he continues to lie about my record. >> nikki will cave to those big donors when it counts.

>> the fourth debate that you would be voted in the first to -- 20 minutes as the most obnoxious blowhard in america. >> the only person more fascist than the biden administration is nikki haley. >> i love all the attention, fellas, thank you for that. >> folks like these three guys on the stage make it seem like his conduct is acceptable. let me make it clear, his conduct is unacceptable. he's unfit. >> we should not nominate somebody -- >> he went answer. >> -- who's almost 80 years old. >> i don't have a woman problem, you have a corruption problem, and i think that's what people need to know. nikki is corrupt. >> governor haley, would you like to respond? >> no. [laughter] it's not worth my time to respond to him. howard: charly, the conventional wisdom is nikki haley had the best night, but, of course, there's the guy who wasn't on stage. >> of course. and i feel like that's why, howie, a lot of people are now recognizing these debates as what they're calling the

runner-up debates, because that's exactly what they are. unless the corrupt biden doj manages to put former president trump behind bars ahead of the election, he is going to be the nominee, and i think the numbers speak to that. the first debate versus the fourth one we just had, the number is a third of what it once was, and people are realizing this is nothing more than a waste of the party's time and resources. howard: i thought news nation did a very good job in drawing the 4 million viewers for a small channel, that's not bad, but at the same time, ron desantis came out swinging which he hasn't done before. but we have to circle back, is this a race for second place? >> i definitely agree, i think this is a race for second place, and that's very soakinger -- sobering. you've had now four debates, and after all of the barnstorming these candidates have done, none of them seem to have cracked the code and the chokehold that donald trump has on the republican party. and until they do, to charly's

point, this could potentially be a waste of time. what they're waiting for is a potential indictment to turn into guilty charges, for him to be arrested. maybe it happens in georgia, maybe it happens in new york, but this is all assumptions and speculations, and right -- rye now if the primary were to happen today, trump would be the nominee. howard: i don't think anybody's going to argue with that. chris christie was just relentless in demanding that his three rivals talk about the trump indictments, and they wouldn't take the bait. what are they afraid of? >> well, there's no reason to take the bait. this is chris christie's main platform because he truly does not have a lane. he is so unlikable that in order to try to convince people to not vote for president trump, he just goes on the constant attack. but i loved how megyn kelly put him in his place, really comparing his unlikability to the soaring popularity of president trump. and i didn't think it made sense for any of the candidates to take the bait because what purpose does it serve them? they realize that and especially for a guy like vivek ramaswamy

who hopes to probably find himself in trump's white house, he realizes there is no reason to do this nationally. i would love to see him in that position. howard: well, since you brought up vivek ramaswamy who was called, as we saw, an obnoxious blowhard by chris christie, and i think the other candidates high-fived -- [laughter] let me play another response of his from that gop debate. enter why am i the only person on the stage the at least who can say that january 6th now does look like it was an inside job? howard: richard, january 6th being an inside job is an out and out conspiracy theory, that the cap until riot was i'm sorry gated by undercover a actions. is that disqualifying? >> it depends on how the voters see vivek ramaswamy. based on where he stands in the polls, he doesn't see a bump in poll numbers, makes it disqualifying. but i think there's something else happening in this gop primary that's worth pointing out here.

as we have this conversation, it was talked about earlier this idea that you have two incumbents oning against each other and donald trump and his allies have said what they want to do if reelected. i think that creates a problem for the country and for democracy. and i think that is the struggle that the republican party finds itself in as we get, as we move into a potential general election post these primaries. how will independent voters, how will the american people view a trump presidency given all the things he said on sean hannity. he said he would be a tick today to have. so one should ask the question, is he telling the truth? is he just joking? we have to be very sober about these types of -- howard: i have to clarify, sean hannity asked the former e president if he i wanted to respond to media and other criticism, he didn't say that he finish. >> he said he would be a dictator when it comes to building a wall or -- howard: charly, you said ramaswamy wants to end up 23499 trump white house. what because he gain by calling

nikki haley a corrupt fascist, by raising a conspiracy theory ant a january 6th? >> first of all, i don't think he was raising a conspiracy theory. i think he wants to have an open debate about what exactly happened because we do know for a fact there were undercover agents at the capitol. we did see people being ushered into the building taking pictures, who are now being hunted down by terrorists. so that's one thing. but i think what he wants to do is just make sure our country is not put in the same awful, horrible position that it's been in for years now. nick. nick: -- nikki haley is not right for this country, we've seen her being so hypocritical, her stance on illegal immigration. so i think what he's doing along with ron desantis, they both had reseat ises, so they were coming at her to put her hypocrisy front and center because she is not what we need in the white house. actually, she should be running for the democratic party rather than the republican party because her talking points and policy are closer to theirs. >> i'm sorry -- howard: she seems to be doing a

little better lately. i've got half a minute. why would ramaswamy go there the even if he does want to help former president trump? and -- i want you to respond to the suggestion that, look, there were some people who were not attacking anybody, of course, but that this was somehow i'm sorry gated by trump -- >> i think what you've seen for the entirety the of this presidential campaign is he enjoys segments like this. he says things so we can sit on television and talk about it. he's getting his free media right here. howard: right. >> with that being said, i thin- howard: i've got to stop you. i think we do too, but i do think the media attention part is a good part of the attention. richard foul orer, charly arnolt, thank you so much. two famous actors apologize for offensive remarks about jews, blacks, gays, and two former abc co-anchors on the romance that got them fired.

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howard: two top actresses are apologizing for remarks tied to the middle east war. emmy-award winning julian manager lease. >> the fact that the entire black community isn't standing with us, to me, says either they just don't know, or they've been brainwashed to hate jews. howard: and as for gay people -- >> it's those kids who are spewing this anti-semitic hate that have no idea if they stepped foot in an islamic country. it's those people that will be the fist people beheaded and their heads played with a soccer ball. howard: she now says i am horrified by the fact that the

statements i made offended the black and lgbtq communities, i did not intend for my words to sow further division for which i am a sincerely apologetic. last month oscar-winning susan sarandon said this: >> there are a lot of people that are afraid, afraid of being jewish at this time and are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a muslim in this country so often subjected to rages. to violence. howard: she waited two weeks before saying this: this phrasing was a terrible mistake as implies that until recently jews have been strange ors to persecution when the opposite is true. i deeply regret diminishing this reality and hurting people with this commenter. look, i like both their work, but they made things worse in this time of rising anti-semitism. yahoo! abc fired amymy row back and t.j. holmes as hosts because of their romantic relationship. they say they were divorcing

their spouses. holmes says on a new podcast that this happened a few weeks before photos of the couple emerged. >> we were directly threatened. i don't want to get into where it came from, but someone was -- something was being demanded of us. howard: after the disclosure, amy found t.j. immobile in his bed after a daylong bing on vodka and edible marijuana. >> it was the most awful thing having to touch your body to see if you were warm. howard: they should have told their bosses, but was this really a firing offense? time's person of the year is taylor swift, and why not? she's probably the most popular person in america, though some republicans don't like her liberal views, and her endless tour has made her a billionaire. norman leer, who died this week at 101, founded the liberal people for the american way. back in 1971 he utterly transformed the television landscape with "all in the family." >> jimboman sold hisesome to a

family oif spades. [laughter] >> oh, my. as if they didn't have enough problems being jewish. [laughter] >> it ain't their problem, it's our problem! these people are stepping up in life, and we're moving down. howard: at a time when tv ran away from sensitive topics, lear used humor to highlight the all-around bigotry of archen -- arthel: chi bunker. and that's it for this edition of "mediabuzz." i'm howard kurtz. thanks for watching. subscribe to my daily media podcast, "media buzzmeter." we have a lot of fun riching on the day's top -- riffing on the day's top stories. we're back next sunday, 11.a.m. eastern, see you then. we're the only media analysis i show ophn national television. ♪caro ♪ it's your last chance to turn any iphone in any condition into a new iphone 15 pro with titanium and ipad and apple watch se

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