savings. that was the easy part. usaa insurance is made the way liz and mike need it- easy. howie: this is media buzz. i'm howard kurtz. ahead we'll talk to sarah huckabee sanders, the former white house press secretary. the latest bob woodward book is different from his others, he's got 18 on the record interviews with president trump. and those about trump's early handling of the coronavirus starting with this february 7th conversation triggered a media eruption. >> but the air, you just breathe the air, that's how it's passed. and so that's a very tricky one. that's a very delicate one. it's also more deadly than your,

you you know, even your extend with us flus. so this is -- strenuous flus, this is deadly stuff. howie: on march 9th, as the virus was starting to explode across america, he said this to woodward. >> to be honest with you. >> i want you to be. >> i wanted to always play it down. i still like playing it down. because i don't want to create a panic. >> i'm a cheerleader for this country. i love our country. and i don't want people to be frightened. i don't want to create panic. it's you just another political hit job. >> it is the smoking gun of his negligence, it's a dereliction of duty, recorded as no other presidential dereliction of duty has been, even more so than the nixon tapes. >> the well-written tv drama we all wish this was, this is the episode where the president resigns. >> this president has betrayed you. it's just plain-out betrayal.

doesn't matter if you support him or if you don't support him. he's betrayed you. >> you would think these so-called journalists in the media might have realized that the president wouldn't talk on the record with bob woodward about something he was trying to hide. >> he's been very clear about that. woodward works for jeff bezos' personal newspaper, the washington post which has made defeating donald trump it's all-consuming mission. howie: that was carl bernstein in the earlier clip. joining us now, guy benson, the host of the guy benson radio show, gillian turner and clarence page, columnist for the chicago tribune. most of the mainstream media have made a flat declaration about the president's words to bob woodward. take a look at the news conference. >> why did you lie to the american people and why should we trust what you have to say of now. >> that's a terrible question and the phraseology.

i didn't lie. the way you phrased that is a disgrace, it's a disgrace to abc television network. howie: guy, is that word, lying, fact or opinion? >> i think it's more on the opinion side, although it's rooted in some fact. there was clearly a disconnect here. look, this overall fire storm is christmas in september for the media, right. they were able to turn away from issues that were less comfortable for them like rioting in the streets when it comes to their goals of electing joe biden and they were able to come back to this whole question of coronavirus and relitigate march and april which is not something that i think the trump campaign or administration is terribly excited about doing. i think the fact that you saw the president telling bob woodward in february that this was ai air airborne, veterans m, -- very transmissible, more so than the flu, that's a problem

for the president. what he says on tape, i'd like to downplay it to not cause a panic and when the press secretary says there was no downplaying what was happening. i don't think it's helpful to the re-election campaign certainly of the president, although i think some of the criticism is probably over-hyped and people are pouncing on this for various reasons. howie: i like that you stuck to the facts in your answer. we went through you a fierce debate about the use of unnamed sources in the atlantic article. in this book there are background interviews to be sure, jared kushner speaks openly and 17 of the 18 interviews with the president are taped, on the record. so why is woodward getting heat and getting blamed for what the president said to him? >> well, the president has said that he now believes woodward's book is a, quote, political hit job. it begs the question how

something can be perceived as a hit job when entire transcripts on the record are released in full, accompanied by recordings. that said, howie, you know that in my past life i worked in the government. at the white house, in the bush and obama administrations. and if i had a dollar for every policy maker who was upset with bob booed ward about -- bob woodward about something he chose to report about them and when, i would be a rich woman. it's a hallmark of good investigative journalism. howie: woodward has been doing this through many administrations, going back to richard nixon of. clarence page, the television is replaying again and again early clips of the president saying the virus is under control, it is like the flu, it will disappear. but he has also said in the past that he wanted to be a cheerleader for the country and he didn't want to cause a panic. so how much of these quotes to woodward are that surprising?

>> well, only surprising in regards to the stark contrast between the president telling woodward this is a very serious issue, a very serious problem that threatens many lives in america, and then next day going out and telling the tv cameras, the public, you know, this is all going to go away president trump doesn't do nuance well. we know that. that's not news. so it's hard for him to play something down one day and then play it up the next and vice versa. so what we're getting here is what looks like outright lying. we've gotten that before. washington post has counted up how many thousands of exaggerations and we know he's also a salesman at heart. and a politician who formerly was a salesman as a profession, he thinks he can persuade anybody in an interview. that's why he wanted to talk to

woodward. howie: i think there's some truth in that, he wanted to -- well, he wanted to get a better book. some news organizations pushing back on the no panic defense, by noting that the president sometimes stirs up passions and other issues, for example, the campaign put out something called antifa alert, they'll attack your homes in joeys elected, -- joe is elected, joe biden of course. another sound bite from the president this week, mounting a defense, taps into something that media critics have been hurling at woodward, which is how can you sit on this explosive information and save it for a book. here's the president. >> certainly, if he thought that was a bad statement, he would have reported it because he thinks that, you know, you don't want to have anybody that is going to suffer medically because of some fact. and he didn't report it because he didn't think it was bad. howie: legitimate criticism of woodward and legitimate defense for the president?

>> well, i think it depends on what the situation was or the agreement was for the terms of these conversations. my understanding is how woodward often works with these things is he grants his subjects, in this case the president, all sorts of access and the access flows obviously both ways but the agreement is, well, we're going to embargo some of this stuff for a while so you can speak candidly to me now, i'm not going to report it right now for political reasons, it's not going to hurt you but it's going to come out in the book. i don't know exactly what the timeline was of this. i'm sort of shocked that trump would agree to any sort of embargo being lifted before the election, unless he thought this book was going to help him, which is what woodward books typically don't do for politicians involved. so i think that i need more information. howie: okay. let me move on. let's -- we're a little short on time, so let's try to be tight in our responses. look, gillian, woodward said there was no absolute embargo but there was an explicit

understand. he told the washington post he needed more times to put the president's comments in context and make sure they were accurate. so for example, he found out later that or days earlier, before that february 7th conversation, national security officials had gone to the president and said this is the most serious crisis you'll face in your presidency, take that was woodward's argument for why he held these things for the book. >> there is always a very important element of context which sometimes we lose when we look at these headlines sort of a snapshot today, right now. bob woodward didn't necessarily know in january or in march what we know today. because scientists at the cdc on the president's coronavirus task force themselves didn't have a clear picture of the virus at that time. so it's never okay for an american president to lie to the american people about anything. i'm not saying that's what president trump did here. that's for others to decide.

but what i will say is that everybody agrees that the messaging coming from the administration was not clear at that time. in many respects, it's still muddled today. the idea that president trump was presenting one very clear picture to bob woodward behind the scenes and then one very clear picture to the american people at large and they directly contradicted one another is an edg edge an exagg. howie: i can tell you that president trump wouldn't have said these things to woodward if he thought it was going in the paper the next day, the next week, officials tend to be more candid when it's a longer term project, whether you have a strict understanding or not, that's just a fact of life. let me ask you, clarence, because as long as i have followed woodward's career, as long as i have known him, he has taken a just the facts approach to these books from nixon to obama, i can remember him telling me my writing style is fact a, fact b, fact c.

in this book he comes out and says trump is the wrong man for the job. doesn't that open him up to charges that two months before the election he's become part of the resistance. >> the idea of a journalist having an opinion in a book that is partly interpreted, it's hardly a scandal. also, howard, you know very well, in past election campaigns newsweek in particular has covered campaigns from the inside with the promise of they're not going to reveal anything until after election day and newsweek is not alone with that. i think what bob woodward is doing here, he told president trump and the washington post has written about this too, what woodward's deal was, there was no written agreement, simply said, going to hold off on reporting anything until after the book came out and that was something that i think caused president trump to be more

candid than perhaps he would have if he thought about it in more detail. but it wasn't -- howie: let me bring guy back. bob woodward is 77 years old. he may have been saying, look, i have done all these interviews and i'm entitled to give my opinion. does it ayou how the president's supporters -- allow the president's supporters to agree with him, that the book ultimately is a political hit job. >> that definitely makes it easier. rather than doing fact a, b and c, he gives an opinion about whether the president deserves the job and then you start to say okay, maybe there were embargoes, what was going on. if woodward is joining the resistance in his own mind, holding off on some of this information and detonating it sort of as a september surprise, of course the president -- this is self inflicted for him in some ways, certainly but the timing of it and the withholding of the information if he thought lives were at stake back then, i think that is a legitimate and

fair thing to raise. howie: it is largely a book of reporting. by the way, the president tweeted rapidly fading bob woodward and his boring book, but later said he hasn't read the book, doesn't know if it's good or bad. the new york times and washington post confirming a story that political appointees at hhs pressured the cdc to delay, change or in some cases kill coronavirus reports that are given to other health experts throughout the government and one e-mail accused the cdc scientists of trying to hurt the president with hit pieces, hhs' spokesman p said it happened but it was scientific disagreements. does this sort of story break through? >> the administration is trying to claim they hired on their own sort of contractor scientists, a guy somewhere in canada who is advising some of trump administration's political officials and that scientists was haggling with the cdc scientists. the problem is, you're not

supposed to do that because the reality is, i'm probably in the minority now today of journalists who believe that there is some information out there that transcends politics and it's much more important than politics, that's national security information and that's public health information. so the idea that political folks were trying to in any way interfere with the science here should be very troubling. howie: all right. well, that's the debate. you ahead, sarah huckabee sanders will be here. when we come back, the media reaction to the president's comments on race relations and his shot at the nation's military leaders. this week on "the upper hands"... special guest flo challenges the hand models to show off the ease of comparing rates with progressive's home quote explorer. international hand model jon-jon gets personal. your wayward pinky is grotesque.

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howie: media are seizing on another part of the bob woodward

tapings when he asked the president about both of them coming from the same generation how that affected their view you of race. >> has it put me and i think lots of white privileged people in a cave and that we have to work our way out of it to understand the anger and the pain, particularly black people feel in this country. do you -- >> no, you really drank the kool-aid, didn't you. listen to you, wow. no, i don't feel that at all. howie: clarence page, what do you make of bob woodward asking about white privilege and president trump's response. >> i'm glad bob asked it. it's a legitimate question and whether president trump likes it or not, it's a defining issue of his presidency, that he has not brought the races together as much as he's helped put them further apart. his answer about denying that white privilege exists, i'm not

going to get into an argument about whether it does or not. i'm of the same age of these two guys and i can remember jim crowe segregation and the impact it continues to have on our of society. what's important here is president trump is speaking to and for a large portion of his base that believes white privilege is a myth. i don't have it. my family came over here from europe on a boat and worked our way up. you know, forget all of the institutionalized discrimination of labor unions, et cetera, housing, et cetera, that black folks have been yo through. the real question is, did the president try to bring people together? ronald reagan did a better job at that. howie: woodward went on to ask whether there's systemic racism in america and the president said i think there is everywhere everywhere, probably less so here than in other places. >> which is an interesting

answer from trump, given the previous statement that he made about white privilege. we can get into sores of the parsing about what is existing racism versus systemic racism on white privilege, for example, i think it's completely fair for someone who looks like me to recognize that white people have been in a position of privilege throughout this nation's history and that's something to keep in mind when you're interacting with other people. but that's not necessarily cause for all sorts of self flatlulation or it's time for us to shut up. i think white privilege has become very charged to mean something other than the very plain meaning in some cases which is perhaps what president trump was getting at, in sort of his rejection of woodward bringing it up. howie: let's turn to something president trump said this week, this is after the controversy over the atlantic ar article, te unnamed sources on his view of soldiers, some of that partially

confirmed by fox's jennifer griffin, strongly denied by the president and many white house officials. here's what he had to say about the military. roll it. >> i'm not saying the military is in love with me. the soldiers are. the top people in the pentagon probably aren't because they want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy. howie: as you said, you've worked for the national security council in two administrations. how unusual is it for a president to be scolding the nation's top mil military leade? >> well, president trump would know about the revolving door that exists between the top levels of leadership at the pentagon and the private sector, military, industrial complex. his own secretary of defense was previously a vice president with raytheon. so he does know about this issue. i think it's highly unusual statistically speaking for a president to that brazenly sort of accuse or imply that his top

generals have some kind of association with the for-profit military industrial complex. he's getting a lot of flak for that. but in a sense, it's unsurprising that he said this because if you've been following him throughout his presidency, he's always tried to ally himself with the guys in the trenches, the frontline infantrymen or who he per receives to be those folks, he wants to be an ally. howie: i have 20 seconds. are journalists right in saying this is another institution, not just military, the media, law enforcement, the courts and so forth that president trump openly challenges? >> well, president trump openly challenges absolutely anyone who he feels is challenging him or an obstacle to something that he wants to accomplish. how he goes about those challenges varies. you can criticize some of them and support others. but to gillian's point, it's not

terribly shocking because he ran as president -- look, some of what he said, i don't agree with but he ran as president saying we fight too many wars that are stupid. let's try to reduce those engagements and frankly that is exactly what he has done for the last four years. howie: right. that's a popular position. guy benson, clarence page, gillian turner, thanks so much for joining us. ahead, the nfl season kicks off with protests. up next, liberal allies embracing michael cohen as he pedals his book and what jeff zucker privately told him. of brain performance. memory... focus... accuracy... learning and concentration. try it today with our money-back guarantee!

howie: many in the mainstream media used to denigrate michael cohen as donald trump's fixer, a sleazy new york figure who did trump's dirty work and sometimes yelled at reporters. he admits in his book take he did terrible things. the white house says he's trying to profit from lies. as cohen has made the tv rounds, he's treated as a star witness.

rachel millio maddow got her sed highest rating ever from her interview you. >> the power he has has gone to his head. he wants to be an autocrat, he wants to be the president of this country for life, just like putin and kim jong un. howie: while a couple hosts challenged his credibility, others rationalized it. >> if people don't want to believe michael cohen, the problem with saying that you doubt him is that he was trump's bad guy and who else would know the dirt donald trump was doing than the guy who held the shovel for all of those years. howie: turns out michael cohen secretly taped conversations with cnn president jeff zucker who is drawing media flak for his friendly comments about candidate trump in 2016. on the tapes, some of which were aired by fox's tucker carlson, cohen said he didn't leak them, they were joking that ted cruz

would call trump a con man in an upcoming debate. zucker crossed the line by offering advice. you know what you should do, whoever is around him should call him a con man all day, so it doesn't bother him. hey, con man. zucker was wary of contacting him directly. as fond as i am of the boss, he also has a tendency if i call him or e-mail him, he is capable of going at his next rally and saying we just talked and i can't have that, if you know what i'm saying. i have all these proposals like i want to do a weekly show with him and all a this stuff. talking about a weekly show with a presidential candidate? cnn which did not respond to a request for comment is about roughly a zillion times more negative towards trump than in those early days. next, sarah huckabee sanders on her former boss fighting the press and her own battles as white house press secretary. stay with us.

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howie: joining us now from little rock, sarah huckabee sanders, the former white house press secretary, fox news contributor and author of the new book, speaking for myself, faith, freedom and the fight of our lives inside the trump white house. welcome. as you know, bob woodward's book has tapes of president trump talking about how he knew the coronavirus was a grave threat early on but he had downplayed it. we got the first woodward interview on this book airing tonight on 60 minutes in which he challenges the president's approach. take a look. >> trump thought oh, well they'll panic when there's a crisis, when the president particularly knows something, it's time to tell the public in some form. he failed. >> you write in the book that the president's handling of the

virus reflects his instincts, habits and style. what are those? >> denial, making up his own facts. howie: sarah, your thoughts on woodward's response in. >>?well, i think that one of the opinions certainly that democrats and the media have leaned aggressively on since this virus started was dr. fauci and he has come out since woodward's excerpts were released saying he thought the president listened to him and followed the advice, i wonder why the media is not leaning on dr. fauci's statement early on. the president first talked about the virus in his state of the union address back in january. it was february and democrats were still attacking the president. nancy pelosi was wandering around chinatown telling people not to worry, joe biden was saying not to panic.

the president was enacting travel restrictions from china, probably saving thousands if not millions of lives by acting early, taking that decisive action. i don't think it's out of the ordinary that a president wouldn't want everyone to panic. one of the big things the president has tried to find a good balance on was protecting lives and protecting livelihoods. right now we have joe biden saying he'll shut it all down again which would be absolutely devastating and dangerous for small businesses and companies across the country. howie: first of all, just to qualify biden said he would potentially order another lockdown if the science indicated it. i want to get your thoughts on something that happened this week with your successor, kayleigh mcenany who is being questioned on this subject. cnn broke away from that press conference. take a look. >> the president never downplayed the virus, once again. the president expressed calm. >> all right. that was the press secretary at the white house, lying. howie: what do you make of what

cnn did there? >> i wish i could say i'm surprised, but i'm not. this is exactly what democrats and their liberal media allies do every time they don't like an argument or they can't win the argument, based on the facts. they resort to name calling, personal attacks, and cnn is one of the very worst at doing this. i witnessed it day in and day out, my time as the white house press secretary and i write extensively about it in my book because the hypocrisy and level of vitriol that we see from the mainstream media and the liberal democrat elite is mind-blowing. howie: briefly, do you agree with the decision to phase out the press briefings to zero when you were press secretary. now, obviously they've come back under kayleigh mcenany. what changed? >> well, i think the president at the time had decided that they had become just a show and it wasn't allowing information to actually get out.

the reporters oftentimes were becoming the story instead of reporting the story. he didn't like the level of vitriol and anger that was directed at his team, myself included and thought it would be better if we looked at other avenues to get our message out and to provide information to the american people. let's not fo forget that almost every reporter in the country had my personal cell phone, e-mail and access to my office in the white house. i also did almost daily interviews in which i would gaggle on the lawn on my way back every time after every interview. there was an enormous amount of access to the press office and more importantly to the president himself who did as you know, howie, daily gaggles and kentuckiana sessions with reporters -- and q & a sessions were reporters more than any president in history. howie: let me ask you about the atlantic piece, one source saying the president denigrated

fallen soldiers. you said were you in the room in france two years ago and the president didn't make any comments about why that was supposedly that was the reason he didn't want to go to the cemetery. my question is, isn't is possible the president did make those comments to other people at another time that day when you were not present? >> well, the conversation about whether or not he would go, i was there, there were two different conversations where that was discussed. i was part of both of those. the president didn't say that. i've come out on the record, as have a number of other white house officials that were present that day and part of those conversations. i think the people that come out and make a charge like that anonymously are cowards. if you feel that strongly, put your name on it like the rest of us have done. not only that day, howie, i traveled with the president all over the world, all over the country, spent almost every day with him for two and-a-half years. and witnessed him interact with the men and women of our military, both in public and in private and i can tell you that what i saw on those days for two

and-a-half years was a president who loves our country, respects our military, and is doing what he thinks is best to help them. the idea that he somehow doesn't feel that way to me is ludicrous. howie: you did make some mistakes during your tenure such as saying that countless fbi agents did not support jim comey, even now some underlifts accuse you -- journalists accuse you of having lied. you took a lot of personal abuse, kicked out of a restaurant, michelle wolf mocking your weight. you write in your book that nicole wallace called you vile. did all that wear on you? >> certainly i think those moments are hard not to take a little bit of a toll but the best thing i had going for me is i'm a person of deep faith so i didn't need msnbc or the new york times or of anybody else to define me. as a christian and a believer, that's already been done by my

creator. i leaned heavily on my faith during my time at the white house, also have an incredible support system of family and friends that were there for me during those difficult days. i'm proud of the job that we did. i'm proud to have worked for this president and i'm proud of the many accomplishments that were made not just in my two and-a-half years but in the four years under this president. howie: i have a few seconds but any regrets, anything you wish you had done to maybe lower the temperature between you and the press corps? >> certainly had moments where i tried to lower the temperature. you're never going to be perfect. not a single one of us on this planet is. but i tried to learn from the mistakes i made, made sure i never repeated them and again, i think we did a great job and worked really hard on behalf of the american people and spent every single day trying to make the country better. i write it about it in my books, speaking for myself. i hope people will read it and learn more about who the

president is and what he's done for the country. howie: not being perfect applies to journalists as well. sarah huckabee sanders, very good to see you. >> thanks, howie. howie: ahead, the season's first nfl protest drawing some boos. after the break, when will journalists challenge joe biden the way they take on donald trump? who's there? my husband was kidnapped. our sources tell us doug was nabbed by hezbollah. your wife is cia and so are you... no one knows where you are. you gotta get him out. we'll get back to you. i can't give up on him. this is terrorism! we're getting out of here. infidel. rated r. these humans, those humans. groovin, and golden. it's about getting more than health insurance and a partner who listens and acts.

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howie: joe biden was giving a speech in michigan the other day when he reacted to the

president's comments, president trump's comments about the coronavirus in the taped bob woodward interviews and some conservatives pushed back on biden's record. >> he knew how deadly it was, more deadly than the flu. he knew and played it down. worse, he lied to the american people. >> on february 1st, joe biden, the day after the president put the travel ban in effect, he suggested that travel ban was racist. he called it hysterical, xenophobia and fear monda monge. >> joe biden was the one that was downplaying the virus, he criticized trump's travel ban. howie: joining us from new york, jessica tarlov, a fox news contributor. you said on the air you believe that president trump lied about the virus but what about biden's record on covid-19 and the pushback from the right. shouldn't the mainstream media challenge biden on his record as

well? >> i think the mainstream media, the media in general should hold politicians' feet to the fire. i think it's very different what joe biden did versus what donald trump did. if there were tapes exposing over nine hours that joe biden was misleading the american public, that he knew for instance that it was airborne but told them it was just not as bad as the common flu, then i think a lot of people, democrats their whole lives would be rethinking their vote for joe biden. i don't think there's a direct comparison there. i'm happy for people like jay tapper to push biden about his nafta record. i think it's better to acknowledge things that are good like the usmca, who had jarrett brown, proponent 0 of labor on e democratic side in support of it and say this is a good policy and this is how i can build on it. howie: new fox news poll out today has a slight tightening of the race, with 56, 41 biden

lead. the pattern seems to be in terms of news coverage, biden goes somewhere, he makes a speech and he's asked a question, something trump said that he's criticized on and doesn't that add to the record. >> i can't count the number of times that i heard not only on our own network, but other networks, people criticizing biden about running his campaign out of his basement. we know full well that joe biden has been on the trail and that during the height of covid-19 he went out whenever he could, safely and responsibly. so i can't buy into that argument about it. i think that the mainstream media does have a lot of liberals working for them. do i think they have the same antagonistic relationship with joe biden as they do with donald trump, absolutely not. joe biden never called the press the enemy of the people, he never pointed to someone in the

crowd and said fake news. it makes sense, they don't have as antagonistic of a relationship with them and he knows what purpose they serve. howie: the president gets about 5,000 times more negative coverage. but you mentioned cnn's jake tap tapper. >> he's the president. howie: he is the president. he did begin with the woodward book and covid and all of that and he did press biden on his record, supporting nafta, on trade generally. let's take a look. >> he supported nafta. he supported most favored nation status for china. trump did negligenc renegotiate. >> we inherited the greatest recession short of the depression. howie: why don't we see more questions like that, directed to biden? >> well, i hope that we will. the campaign really starts in earnest after labor day. i know that because we spent $1 billion trying to get someone

elected, like we're perpetually on the trail. joe biden will do more interviews. i think he has been pushed more in the last few weeks. he was during the debates, his own vice president pushed him on his bussing record, remember when kamala harris stood up there and said that little girl was me. he has had to talk about his vote on the crime bill, talk about that he previously wasn't in favor of same sex marriage and how he pushed it through the supreme court in 2015. so joe biden is going to be pressed. i don't think this is really a concern. howie: all right. i hope the former vp does more television interviews. one last sound bite for you aired last night on janine piro's showing, talking about what they said biden's uneven debate performances in the democratic debate. let's roll it. >> i think there's probably possibly drugs involved. that's what i hear. i mean, there's possibly drugs. i don't know how you go from being so bad where you can't get

out a sentence. howie: what is your take on the president throwing out this charge of possible drug use by bbiden without any evidence? >> he's speaking to his base of conspiracy theorists that are going to run around the internet saying that joe biden is on drugs. they did this with hillary clinton as well, where they said she had parkinson's disease. he's a fear mongerrer, a conspiracy theory spreader. i wished me pushed back and -- i wished she pushed back and said what are you talking about. i don't want to speculate about anyone's physical condition, what disorders they may have, it's reckless and irresponsible. trump's base loves is. i'm sure q'anon is having a wonderful day. howie: a new poll shows more tolerance for racial protests in

the nfl, straight ahead. because i can still make my own insulin. and trulicity activates my body to release it like it's supposed to. once-weekly trulicity is for type 2 diabetes. it's not insulin. it starts acting from the first dose. and it lowers risk of heart attack, stroke, or death in people with known heart disease or multiple risk factors. trulicity isn't for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. don't take trulicity if you're allergic to it, you or your family have medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. stop trulicity and call your doctor right away if you have an allergic reaction, a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, changes in vision, or diabetic retinopathy. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. taking trulicity with sulfonylurea or insulin raises low blood sugar risk. side effects include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, belly pain, and decreased appetite, which lead to dehydration and may worsen kidney problems. we're committed to helping ensure trulicity is available and affordable. learn more at trulicity.com.

howie: today is the first nfl sunday since the pandemic and the controversy over player protests is making headlines. >>.>> [booing] >> had the chiefshowie: the che houston texans locked arms as messages like black lives mattered flashed on the board. this as a new poll finds 56 of americans say it's appropriate for athletes to kneel during the national anthem to protest racial inequality. joining us now, fox news correspondent and sports fanatic, griff jenkins.

the poll found 56% of football fans approving of anthem protests. how much of a change is that and how much of the media coverage do you think is contributing to the shifting attitudes. >> i'm very excited, no doubt. it's a case of that was a then, this is now. if you look back at the nbc wall street journal poll for august of 2018, 43% said that it was appropriate to kneel, 54% said not appropriate. we've seen a total flip. a seed change indeed. how much the media played in it, i'm not sure. but you have certainly seen attitudes change, you're seeing it across all sports for that matter and of course the nfl commissioner, roger goodell, doing an about face on it and we've seen dallas' owner jerry jones saying today he expects in dallas to see some protests and he's okay with that. howie: i think in this environment the media coverage has to be at least a factor. now, the president has tweeted very critically about nfl protests and his son, eric trump, tweeting football's

officially dead, so much for america'ssport. good-bye, nfl. i'm gone. is that a premature ow obituary overall. >> we'll see how it works out and if the president engages. he won when colin kaepernick first did it. now things have changed so much and sports fans, football fans like myself who can't wait for washington to take on the eagles in an hour or so, and also we don't know how the season's going to change and what will be out there. we'll be watching for the players' helmets, to see what messages are written on helmets. we'll hear the black national anthem as well as the regular national anthem. there's so many changes. but i think ultimately the core fans are going to be geared up for one thing and that is watching great football. i have tom bay d -- brady and gn my fantasy football team and i'll be looking to retain my championship trophy by the end of the season. howie: the ratings for the

airing of the game was down 12% from last year's season openings. if the ratings keep sliding will we know if the protests are a fact or or just the fact that most of the stadiums will be empty and quiet. >> it's too early to say on the ratings. we're just getting started. there was no preseason. things are not normal. as people come back and realize they can watch football again as the fall season hits, i think people are going to start to engage and a maybe we'll see ratings go up. only time will tell. howie: all right. you can tell when griff jenkins is pumped up. he has a trophy, he's really excited. six nfl games on fox today, check your local listing for that. thanks, griff. and that's it for this edition of media buzz. i'm howard kurtz. we hope you'll like our of facebook page, you can check out my daily columns there, we can continue the conversation on twitter and my podcast, media buzz meter, i enjoy talking about the top five stories of

the day and the media coverage, you can subscribe at apple itunes, google podcast. >>.you can get it on your podca. i'm out of time. back here next sunday. we'll see you then with the latest buzz. are you preaching to muslims? well, i was invited. not by me, mate. my husband was kidnapped. this is terrorism! no! we're not afraid to die. that's why we're gonna win. i'm not afraid either. we have a chance. i came here to plead for his life. infidel. rated r.

>> it was a brazen, shocking assassination attempt on two officers of the law, the shooting ambush of the los angeles sheriff's deputies as they sat in their squad car by a gunman who walked up and opened fire. police under attack, the president calling for the death penalty for the shooters if the officers die, the impact on the presidential campaign, we'll have more on all that in a moment as law and order retakes center stage in the contest for the white house, all this as a new fox news poll shows that the biden-harris ticket has 5 point lead over president trump and vice president mike pence as both candidates are focusing on the key swing states in the week ahead. hello, welcome to america's ne