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tv   Media Buzz  FOX News  May 1, 2022 8:00am-9:00am PDT

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muck. ♪ ♪ howe it's an utterly fascinating story even if you don't care about twitter. the world's richest man, when he's not business spi building rockets or electric cars, finds time to buy the place for $44 billion, and i haven't seen such an organized campaign of media demonization since, well, since donald trump was on twitter. while media conservatives are 'em bracing musk, media liberals are digging up every controversial thing he's done, and, look, this is no boy scout.
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musk's crusade for free speech is somehow alarming to left-lean ing media folks. tweeting that trump's truth social is currently beating twitter and tiktok on the apple store and responding to a report that twitter's top lawyer had cried at a meeting about musk's takeover, the zillionaire wrote referring to the 020 new york post story the on hunter biden's laptop: suspending the twitter account of a major news organization for publishing a truthful story was obviously incredibly inappropriate. look, moderating content on social media has been treacherous for all the silicon valley giants, and musk may disappoint both sides. but too many journalists seem to think censorship is the answer. elon musk responded to the media freakout with this tweet: the extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all. i'm howard kurtz, and this is "mediabuzz." 9.
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♪ ♪ howard: there is a media uproar here in the capital over new audiotapes obtain ad by two new york times' reporters of kevin mccarthy talking to his house leadership team about his concern that some very concerned republicans were going too far in their rhetoric after the capitol riot. in this excerpt from days after january 6th, the house gop leader and his number two, steve scalise, are taking on congressman matt gaetz for what they viewed as inflammatory language with mccarthy saying he didn't want to play politics with the issue because the country was too crazy. >> i'm calling gaetz and explaining to him this is serious [bleep], cut this out. >> yeah, that's, that's how -- i mean, it's potentially illegal,ling what he's doing. >> well, he's putting people in jeopardy.
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howard: here's another excerpt, mccarthy talking about gop congressman mo brooks. howard: media liberals pounced on mccarthy for saying one thing privately and another in public. >> kevin mccarthy, you heard on those tapes, is unare recognizable now. in the 15 months since january 6th, he has cozied up to the crazies. howard: but some on the right are also criticizing mccarthy who said on one tape of his dissident members as with donald trump, can't they take their twitter accounts away too? >> congressman kevin mccarthy, a man who in private, turns out, sounds like an msnbc contributor. kevin mccarthy or one of his highly liberal allies is very
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likely to be speaker of the house in january. that would mean we would have a republican congress led by a puppet of the democratic party. howard: joining us now to analyze the coverage, jason chaffetz, former republican congressman from utah, and in cleveland, geraldo rivera, cohost of "the five." let's a start with jason. you served with many of these people. the media's central charge here is that kevin mccarthy was acting quite reasonably after january 6th, criticizing some of his own colleagues and president trump about the riot, but that was mainly in private, and he's since dramatically changed his tune in public. fair or unpair? >> i think it's a little unfair. you're seeing little excerpts, sometimes a sentence or two out of a discussion. that deliberative process where you going through, you're trying to process many realtime what's going to happen, what's happening, what's not happening. sometimes you just need to talk to the other side, get their perspective. you all know that if once you have more of a discussion, you get more and more clear what
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you're coming to. to try to hold in realtime one or two sentences, i think it's wholly unfair. howard: geraldo, what is media and msnbc and cnn have covered it around the clock, fox much less, is that mccarthy and every republicans who refused to cross donald trump about his stolen election charge which he keeps repeing are part of -- repeating are part of the problem and that these gop lawmakers should be part of the investigation and should be, you know, a major political issue. your thoughts. >> well, i think that -- i like jason's tune. i like making, you know, calming some of the turbulent waters at the gop. but i think there is no doubt but that a lot of republicans looked on january 6th in absolute horror and that a lot of republicans, including kevin mccarthy, blame squarely donald trump for this chaos. you know, for a time they were talking about the 25th amendment and impeachment, then hay went
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from the 25th amendment to ronald ray face's 11th -- reagan's 11th amendment, republicans how old not speak ill of other republicans. it was a total punkout. what happened on january 6th happened. commentators including some of our own, some dear friends of mine, were very concerned and were texting to mark meadows and so forth this is out of control, this is crazy, what are we going to do, you know? time to ask for tom. you know, i think that the day of air, january 6th, what people were saying then, that was the true feeling that they had in the face of the extraordinary assault on the united states capitol. howard: right. >> i think then they started remembering ronald reagan and patching things up and newt gingrich and so forth and going forward and conveniently forgetting how alarmed they were on the day day of. howard: i want to give congressman mccar these side.
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he say -- mccarthy side. he says they're waging a sustain media campaign against him, they subpoenaed his documents as part of a con centered effort to vilify him publicly through the media. les no question there have been leaks, but the vilification involves his own words. >> well, look, it's -- nancy pelosi has turned this into a political bludgeoning tool. what i think is fundamentally wrong about the way congress is attacking this is they didn't allow the republicans to name their own members. they wanted to put people like congressman banks and congressman jordan on that panel. how nancy pelosi thinks this has any credibility when she and she alone gets to pick the panel members, that's just not a fair way. america understands that that is not the way you pursue justice and truth. howard: and, by the way, when kevin mccarthy met with his gop caucus last week, media reports say that he got a standing to ovation. geraldo, i want to play a clip
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of fox's bill melugin talking to kevin mccarthy about his initial denial involving report from those two "the new york times"' reporters. let's roll it. >> reporter: and regarding that audiotape, you said "the new york times"' reporting on it was, quote, false and wrong. then the tape came out. did you lie in. >> no, because what was brought to me it's said that i called the president to say that, to resign. i merv called the president to say resign. i don't think it has any impact at all. howard: so, geraldo, mccarthy may be moving the goalposts a little bit because the times' reporters never reported this in their book that he had had a conversation with trump, just that he was considering it in conversations with his colleagues. but the gop line remains that nobody really cares about this anymore except journalists and, of course, democrats. >> well, i don't know that that's true. first of all, i want to commend bill melugin, our correspondent on the border who has done more to bring, you know, fair light to the immigration crisis than
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any previous newsman on the job including myself down there using those drones and so forth. but i, i think that him bringing up those questions -- and, look, mccarthy said he's done with that guy, no one can can defend it raising the likelihood of impeachment and the 2 amendment. -- 25th amendment. he said what he said. he's putting people in jeopardy. he said that, mccarthy said that, because that was the truth. that was the facts. i, you know, for years supported donald trump. we had a conversation on friday the 13thth of november, we talked about the election. he voiced his concerns, but he also anticipated to me that he was going to be -- anticipated to me that he was going to be reasonable and if things didn't turn out his way, he was going to move on. i broke up with trump when, by mid november, it was clear he was going to take this to the bitter end. he wrecked georgia. january 6th was an obscene event that never should have happened. he unleashed that mob, and the
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republicans responded normally in regular, you know, as a regular person would respond. the, you know, kevin mccarthy saying how alarmed everybody, how alarmed they are, sean hannity, you know, this is not, this is not appropriate. you know, call for calm. howard: right. >> that's's what really happened in realtime. and for politicians like mccarthy and these other republicans to then conveniently forget how alarmed everybody was on january 6th, to me, it's just hypocrisy and politics, and i really -- it's probably why jason got out of politics. [laughter] howard: i remember that you had a friendly relationship with donald trump despite disagreement on some issues. all right. marjorie taylor green has been drawn into this. the congresswoman testified last week she didn't recall suggesting at that time after the riot that donald trump declare martial law -- i'm sorry, after the election, i should say. but then came the disclose your of her -- disclosure of her text message to mark meadows about that.
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here's what she told jim acosta who delights in battering republicans. >> did you send a text asking the president to declare martial law? >> you know, i don't recall that being in my text messages -- >> why even break up martial law? >> your problem is you're just one of the liars, and people hate it. howard: so on the screen now we see what the actual text was from the congresswomanwoman. she says she talked to her gop colleagues. she spelled it like a man's name, i don't know on these things. so the press says she's not owning up to her own words on text. >> well, i read the text and you just read it there, she want -- wasn't advocating for that, she's saying she has constituents asking for that. it would have been a horrific decision, that would have been totally wrong, but i think she's actually got a fairly good defense. and, quite frankly, i have been highly critical of her and some
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of her positions, and i have a hard time defending her in general. but on this particular comment, i don't think she stepped over the line. howard: just the other day she said satan controls the catholic church. so marjorie taylor greene says a lot of things. we all recall the horror of watching what happened at the capitol on january 6th of 2021. but is the public as engaged as the anti-press, anti-trump portion of the press is? if axios has a piece saying when the committee finally holds these hearings, so much has already leaked that it'll just seem like old news and drain the drama. >> well, i think that the democrats make a mistake in obsessing over january 6th. i think they have to stay engaged, and i really do believe that the commission report will be, will be helpful. i just -- can i just say parenthetically about marjorie taylor greene who i think is nuts most of the time? i agree with jason's interpretation of that text. she was not calling for martial law. and moreover, i think the voters
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in georgia should disease her -- decide her fate, not a political committee there. let them vote. if they want to vote her in, let them vote her in. in terms of all the other noise that's happening around this thing -- howard: just briefly. >> -- i just think that it is important, but it's not as important as inflation, not as important as immigration, not as important as the war in ukraine and the threat of nuclear war. we've got other things on our plate, and the democrats keep obsessing about january 6th. they're going to lose bad. howard: on that note, ahead elon musk is fighting back against the fierce media -- [inaudible] but when we come back, is the press addressing president biden's $33 billion in a aid for ukraine? pssst julius! you should really check in with your team on ringcentral. oh hi caesar. we were just talking about you. yeah, you should probably get out of here.
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howard: i have to make a correction. last section i talked about a legal filing, it actually was for mark meadows, former chief of staff, not ken mccarthy -- kevin mccarthy. well, this is a huge headline number. president biden asking congress for $33 billion in military and other aid for ukraine and then taking questions from reporters. >> the cost of this this fight is not cheap, but caving to aggression is going to be more costly. investing many ukraine's freedom and security is a small price to pay to punish russian aggression to lessen the risk for future conflicts. howard: with the u.s. and russia tough thenning their rhetoric, one journalist asked about the kremlin's foreign minister raising the specter of nuclear warfare. >> no one should be making idle comments about the use of nuclear weapons or the
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possibility of using that. it's irresponsible. >> reporter: how long is the u.s. going to pour money into ukraine would want a tangible end -- without a tangible end that we can see? >> i would say picture the alternative. >> according to one report from the pentagon, that is more than we spent in afghanistan each of the last five years of our involvement there. we are financing this war, folks. howard: jason chaffetz, joe biden earlier had two packages of $800 million apiece for ukraine, now he comes in with $33 billion. shouldn't journalists ask the question why did it take this long, until the third month of the war, to come with this major package for weapons -- >> yeah, it does seem like it's about three or four months late. i think arming the ukrainians should have happened before the war. the number is astronomically high. i think congress should be asking that question, and we should be able to see a background. but i think the problem that the president created was actually created by the secretary of defense when he went out and said, hey, this is about, you
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know, making it as painful for if russia, he should have focused all of his comments on just ukraine. i think the defense secretary put a spin on it that incurred more problems than it solved. howard: geraldo, the media continue to cover the war intensely, i think the american public largely supports ukraine as well, but you certainly would expect some journalists to say, $33 billion, that's a lot of taxpayers' money when we have inflation and rising prices at home and plenty of domestic needs. >> i did 11 assignments in afghanistan during the war, 11 in iraq. i saw plenty of waste, plenty of waste, fraud and abuse and all the rest of it. and in the case -- and ukraine, of course, was notoriously corrupt. many surveys put ukraine near the bottom of the barrel in terms of honesty in europe and worldwide. the game-changer was when russia
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invaded unprovoked, starts slaughtering civilians, you know, and then a.er than a discussion of corruption, you're talking about, you know, the spartans against leonidas and zelenskyy is churchill and so forth. and i am totally involved and engaged. glory to ukraine. i hope we kick russia's ass. it's, you know, but you've got to -- at some point you've got to have some check and balance. i hope they're not dumping cash on ukraine. howard: right. >> my impression is they are supplying howitzers and other military equipment, the javelins and the other stung or -- stingers and so forth. i hope it's aid in kind that adds up to that amount -- howard: right. >> -- because if it's barrels of cash going in there, it is a very difficult task for zelenskyy, however honorable, however churchillian, to change a system that's so deeply,
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corruption is so deeply embedded, you know, i think that, hopefully, i hope the best for ukraine going forward in terms of governance, but right now beat russia. howard: geraldo has a succinct way of putting things. you mentioned lloyd austin saying our goal now for the u.s. is to weaken the russian military. so despite the fact that the kremlin basically lies every hour about this war, when putin's people say that this has become a proxy war between the u.s. and russia, isn't that kind of true? >> well, this is the problem, is that the rhetoric increased about ukraine joining nato, and the push that biden put to doing that, it seemed to make the situation worse not better. now, in hindsight we'll figure out more how that's true, but we could have done better by just saying, look, let's focus only on ukraine, the defense of ukraine. what putin and his thugs are
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doing in rush is absolutely a crime against humanity. there is no justification for what they did in georgia, quite frankly, what they're doing now in ukraine. they have got to be focused on just the defense of ukraine. howard: horrifying war crimes and atrocities. geraldo, i've got really half a minute. we had the clip of president biden saying it's irresponsible to talk about or rattle the sabers about nuclear weapons. but for a guy, putin, who bombs maternity hospitals and theaters, who really employees what he'll do? >> who really knows? and it's scares the hell out of me. howie, i'm telling you, i was a kid in the '50s when, in 1962 the cuban missile crisis and all that, we were putting our heads under desks and worrying about the world blowing up. i think now that -- remember the movie don't look up with the comment coming, you know, you better look up. you better look up because nuclear war, however remote the possibility, it's so -- and putin is so erratic, what if he really loses?
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howard: yeah. >> i'll just set off a low-yield device over the black sea or in some desert, unpopulated area. it scares the hell out of me. howard: all right. i think you just scared everybody, but nice to have you both here, geraldo rivera, jason chaffetz. up next, griff jenkins live from kyiv on covering the russian inebb vegas. and later, elon musk's twitter war. he slams the democrats but also takes a shot at the far right. ♪ ♪ with my credit cards wasn't good. i got into debt in college and, no matter how much i paid, it followed me everywhere. between the high interest, the fees... i felt trapped. debt, debt, debt. so i broke up with my credit card debt and consolidated it into a low-rate personal loan from sofi. i finally feel like a grown-up. break up with bad credit card debt. get a personal loan with no fees, low fixed rates, and borrow up to $100k. go to sofi.com to view your rate. sofi. get your money right.
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howard: nancy pelosi led a group of democrats to meet are volodymyr zelenskyy in ukraine yesterday, making her the highest ranking visitor from the u.s. joining us now from kyiv is griff jenkins who's been covering the war in ukraine. you went to the site in kyiv where there were some missile strikes by the russians, ostensibly targeting a factory,
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but a prominent ukrainian journalist was killed in her apartment building. fill us in. >> reporter: well, that's right, howie. and speaker pelosi gets quite a bit of credit for coming here. that was just thursday that two cruise missiles struck central kyiv which is only a few kilometers from where the u.n. secretary-generaling was meeting with zelenskyy, and it hit that a weapons factory but also took out an apartment building. you can see the damage, just devastating, and it injured 10 and killed 1 person who was a journalist working for radio-free europe named vera. and she is the 23rd journalist to die since this war began 67 days ago which just sort of highlights just the danger for journalists as well, howie. that means every three days a journalist is dying trying to cover this war. howard: it's a chilling statistic. you also spoke with cnn correspondent clarissa ward about her difficulties in ukraine. explain. >> reporter: yeah. and clarissa has done an amazing job over here,, and she's had
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some close calls going all the way to the front lines and the russian media was playing clips of her close call near town of kharkiv which is the northern part of eastern donbas, and it's just getting hammered with missiles and shelling every day. they were saying on russian social media that we hope you well, we hope you don't get hurt. very chilling. i spoke with her as she was coming back from the front line and giving that a rest because it appears, you know, you get a message like that from the russian prop began da, it makes you think twice about being out in this open area and this battlefield now in that eastern donbas is very different, howie, than when they tried to take kyiv. it's much more open, much more flat, and the russians have a bit of an advantage because he was been fighting there for the last eight years. howard: yeah, hard to know where the front line is. there was also, of course, the russian bombing just days ago of that factory, that steel plant in mariupol where so many
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soldiers and civilians are hiding out. this is a complete lie by putin who said he was only going to blockade the area, and now zelenskyy says today finally some evacuations taking place, about 100 so far. tough situation will, griff. >> reporter: a positive breakthrough though. that news just coming that around 100 civilians, mostly women and children, did get out through a u.n./red cross joint effort to get people out of that steel plant. there's believed to be some 2,000 soldiers in there, 1,000 civilians, so hopefully they can get a lot more. i've been talking almost every day, howie, to a major who is the marine commander inside that plant, and he says he's got more than 500 wounded soldiers that immediate out now. they're running out of food and water. the situation's very dire there. howard: yeah are. just absolutely heartbreaking and until today at least russia has refused to allow even women and children to leave. griff jenkins live in kyiv, thanks very much for your reporting. next on "mediabuzz", carly shimkus on elon musk punching
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your future is ahead of you, so it's time to make the most of it with kisqali. because when you invest in yourself, everyone gets the best of you. howard: elon musk have been deliberately tweaking twitter, the company he's buying for $44 billion, but he's also hitting back at left-wing media types who are dissing and denouncing the world's richest man. since the deal was announced, accusations that he's racist and sexist has takenning off like a spacex rocket. >> elon musk, i guess, you know, he misses the old south africa in the '80s. he wants that back. >> if you own all of twitter or facebook, you could secretly ban one party's candidate or all of its candidates, all of its nominees. >> this coordinated attack on musk now shouldn't be surprising. he's the new bad guy. the left might say elon's evil because he's a billionaire, but this is what billionaires do. >> the lefties can't stand the thought of world's richest man
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bringing free speech to a platform and allowing conservatives to actually speak their minds without the threat of being banned. so the media is doing its best to smear the guy. howard: i spoke from new york with carley shimkus, cohost of ""fox & friends" first." carley shimkus, welcome. >> good to be here, howie. howard: elon musk has become twitter's top comedian, next i'm buying coca-cola to put the cocaine back in. but he's also responded saying i strongly supported obama for president, but today's democratic party has been hijacked by extremists, then adding the far left hate everyone including themselves, but i'm no fan of the far right either. is he effectively defending himself against this immediate media attack -- media attack? >> i think he is, has been very effective in dependent fending himself against the attack although the people who are attacking him aren't listening. the left-wing reaction to elon
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musk buying twitter has absolutely broken my brain. it's almost like they are doing a live reenactment of a twitter comments section, and if you've never read one, consider yourself lucky because it is a cesspool. you have joy reid out there accusing him of racism just because, what, he likes freedom of speech and appreciates it? the first amendment, the same amendment that protects her being a minute of the press. a member of the press. howard: yeah, absolutely. musk has drawn some flak for criticizing twitter's top lawyer who's said to make $17 million a year after media reports that she had a meeting with her staff and she cried about the musk takeover. so he posted, referring to the now-famous suppression of the hunter biden laptop story in 2020, suspending the twitter account of a major news organization, "the new york post," for publishing a truthful story was obviously incredibly inappropriate. then "the washington post"
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played him a podcaster who he was rewieting for all the -- retweeting for all the attacks that went against gouldty, but how are they responsible? >> that's a grate point. i think that was saying this kind of stuff is never going to happen again. it's going to be a platform where everybody has an equal voice, and that is really his main objective here. how you can be on the other side of that, i don't know. but i do think that there are -- the people who are uncomfortable with musk buying twitter, it's for a variety of reasons. if you are like the twitter top lawyer who you just mentioned, i think one of the reasons she doesn't like it is because a lot of people don't want him to release the algorithm that shows how people were getting sub pressed and why, but the -- suppressed, but the reaction comes from the everyday twitter user who has posted tweets saying that they're log off forever, they're crying because
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elon musk bought the platform. why? to me, that really shows that people are more comfortable now in their safe spaces than they are with free speech. howard: just in terms of sheer coincidence, hard to be homeland security a couple days after twitter accepted musk's bid creating a disinformation governance board aimed at migrant issues. should the administration be doing this? there are so many things wrong with this disinformation governance board. first of all, it is the most dystopian-sounding thing that i have ever heard in my life. the other thing is that this is dhs we're talking about, department of homeland security, whose job is to counter terrorism, not decide what is mis and disinformation. now they're saying that this is going to be countering, you know, disinformation related to midterm elections or future elections, and they also threw in some things that
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conservatives might like, like saying there's some things on social media that may make illegal immigrants come over to the united states. but there is a lot of concern that they could go far beyond that -- howard: that's exactly why it's a terrible idea. we don't need a ministry of truth. i don't with trust politicians in either party to be in charge of disinformation because how that's defined, as you just pointed out, can change. it can be pure government spin, and i think it's a really bad idea. what's behind the media demonization, the personal vilification of elon musk? mostly from the left. he says he wants to allow more free speech in accordance with the law. critics on the right say journalists like being able to, for example, they said twitter was a private company when it banned donald trump, that was great. they're in favor of censorship. your take. >> i think it really boils down to the fact that they recognize that a prohot of people in the media, and that is often synonymous with liberals, recognize that they had the upper happen when it comes to
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social media and their political perspective for a long time. and when somebody comes in and says that they're going to even the playing field, it makes people -- it makes them very upping comfortable. they don't like that, and they're pushing back. heir saying it is going to -- they're saying it is going to create an atmosphere where hate speech will manifest. elon musk isn't saying there aren't going to to be rules on twitter. and here's an idea, if you don't like something on social media, if you see an idea that you don't like, counter it with more speech rather than calling for censorship. howard: what a radical idea. trump, by the way, says he's not returning to twitter, but i suspect he may change his mind. all things that musk's opponents warn about -- hate speech, misinformation -- they flourished on twitter for years. it can be a toxic place. it's not like it is some paradise that only he can suddenly pollute. carley shimkus, thanks so much for joining us. >> thanks for having me, howie. howard: elon musk also replied
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to criticism from ao by tweeting, stop hitting on me, i'm really shy. nina jacks wince -- nina jack jankowicz will lead the disinformation board. she said a pregnant jewish woman who's been hit by a wave of online abuse and threats ripping media and political critics for the hatred they have for me simply because of my choice of career and field and what my last name denotes about my religion and gender. after the break, are the media fueling the undeniable polarization in this country? frank luntz is on deck. ♪ i got a call from some scammer
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♪ howe the may be the most polarized media and political culture in decades, and joining us from los angeles to talk about it is frank luntz, veteran pollster who has long worked with republicans. joe biden mired in the 40s no matter what he does, democrats are pap inning about the midterms -- panicking. are the media fueling the polarization even if, for example, biden is doing a reasonably good job on ukraine? >> well, i think his doing a reasonably good job on ukraine is one of the reasons why his numbers have stopped falling in the last four or five weeks. but in the end, it's what you all choose to cover, it's what you choose to emphasize, it's the people you choose to have on your show, it's the language that that i use in how i
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communicate. and the problem is with these statistics behind us, more young people have canceled someone because of their political beliefs in at any time since we started asking this question more than 20 years ago. over 50%, over half of individuals 18-29 have stopped talking to someone simply because they disagree with them, and it has to do with they're receiving. howie, the problem is you can't get to solutions and you can't get things done, you can't have an impact unless you're willing to listen and learn, and the stories that come out both in the written press and on television and even online are having a negative impact. howard: well, a lot of what the media focus seem to be the culture war stuff; problems at the southern border, school curriculum battles, student loans, homeland security starting a disinformation board. is the press exacerbating these controversies or just covering them? >> they are just covering it, and i blame some of the
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politicians for bringing these culture wars in, and yet they're important. just by labeling it a culture war, it's trying to disrespect the differences that many people have about what's happening in american society today. i think we have to be careful about our words. i think we have to be careful about how we communicate them. and if the goal in all of this should be understanding and empathy. we may not agree with each other, but we have to listen to each other, and that is not what's being encouraged by the media at this point. howard: yeah. i'm certainly not saying the issues aren't important. at the same time, you have donald trump continuing to argue about what he sees as the rigged 020 election, many republicans privately think this doesn't help them this year. do the media's continuing anti-trump attacks help him or not matter very much? >> i think they do help him, but we're about to find out. we're going to find out on tuesday whether his endorsed candidate wins in ohio, we're going to find out month whether his endorsed candidates win in
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pennsylvania, win in georgia. that's probably the most important race, the governor's race there. donald trump thrives on attention. he, this is his fuel. and in how he campaigns he's asking people to look backwards to 020. my concern about that -- 2020. my concern about that is inflation, crime, immigration, ukraine, dependence on foreign governments for everything in our economy, these are issues right now. and, howie, if we want a safe, healthy, effective democracy, we have to be focused on the future, not just the past. and that's, that's not really what trump has been doing over the last, over the last year. howard: frank, you have a strong relationship with kevin mccarthy. he's been in this controversy over these leaked audiotapes after january 6th where he was criticizing some republican members, initially denied one account by the new york "the new york times" reporters. has he mishandled this? >> i don't think he's mishandled
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this, i think this is going to be his life. i think that every day from now through november and in the two years that follow, at least two years, it's going to affect him. he's going to learn as every elected official does that whatever you say and will be used against you, that whatever you communicate may be twisted. now, i've looked at those tapes, and what i believe to be the case is that he was talking about what he might do, not what he will do. u. howard: yes. >> and that critical definition changes the entire focus. and, howie, that's point. if you take things out of context, it has a completely different meaning. at this point in may of 20 2022, we have a responsibility to tell the whole truth, the full truth and nothing but the truth. howard: that is the point, and that's the debate in the media using even leaked text messages or phone calls, they're using their own words. but on the other hand, you know, everything gets compressed, as you well know, and sometimes it's taken out of context. always good to talk to you.
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frank luntz, thanks for joining us from from l.a. >> thank you. howard: still to come, media outlets say joe biden doesn't have much of a midterm message, and it's back, the white house correspondents' dinner. ♪ neuriva plus. unlike ordinary memory supplements, neuriva plus fuels six key indicators of brain performance. more brain performance? yes, please! neuriva. think bigger. this is my zen time. it's... ...like a video game! people say, 'well, what are you? are you a farmer or a brewer?' so, i say... i am definitely a lines guy. there are millions of ways to make the most of your mow. learn more at deere.com.
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howard: some reporters who had a chance to question joe biden the other day wanted to talk about the economy and reports that the president may again extend the moratorium on repaining student loans -- repaying student loans or white out that -- wipe out that debt altogether. >> i am considering dealing with some debt reduction. i am not considering $50,000 debt reduction are, but i'm in the process of taking a hard look. howard: joining us now, kevin corke, who covers the white house for fox news. media aren't paying all that much attention to this issue, in
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my view. doesn't it deserve more coverage? because it gets to the fundamental issue of whether or not people who borrowed money to go to elite and costly schools should get a bailed -- bailout here. >> reporter: you're right. i think what's happening, we're not quite at the level of pitchforks and torches yet in terms of the coverage, but i do believe i'm seeing a shift. i feel like the media is starting to say, wait a minute, didn't you promise when you were a candidate to eliminate $10,000 in student loan debt immediately? his words, immediately. the fact he hasn't done it, i think it's beginning to modulate the way the media is looking at this story. now, that doesn't mean it will ultimately weigh on the white house, but i do think it needs more coverage. howard: president biden also cop firmed he wants to drop the trump era pandemic policy at the border, tighten 42, that's been temporarily blocked by a federal judge. that could be a -- that should be a big story because some democrats are worried about a
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migrant surge if he's able to push this through. >> midterms, we're going to a talk a lot about that from now until then. this is a down-ballot issue as much as it is for the white house. if you eliminate title 42 and say, okay, well, whoever comes comes, these lower level democrats are going to be saying, hey, bait a minute up there, i know you are making policy with 2024 in mind, i have have to look at 2023. i think you're going to shift because there'll be more people locally, not just nationally, who look at thissish issue and say you have to be careful. it's health care, safety for americans. howard: yeah. coverage from washington isn't the only thing that people get. washington post says the president is traveling more, trying to hone the midterm message, but some democrats are complaining both on and off the record there's no real strategy for the midterm. the president himself admitted not making the case of what we've done, has to do a better job. isn't that in part, kevin, because of his limited engagement with the press and he gives these speeches that don't
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make a lot of news? >> yeah. i looked at this number, obama in year one gave 156 solo interviews? just one year, biden, just 22 for perspective. i think it's a lose-lose. the more he's out there, the more gaffe-prone he is, maybe he can't pronounce kleptocracy, for example -- howard: you did it very well. [laughter] if he's not out there, he's not feeling the message, he's not making the case, and that hurts the administration, i think, overall. howard: gaffes are part of the biden persona, but i think he's done one sit-down interview this year. >> yeah. howard: that's how you get friction and make a little bit of news when you're saying i'm here to say that this budget or tunnel wouldn't be here without the infrastructure bill. it's a predictable message, so i don't understand why out of political necessity he doesn't talk to the press more. >> he should, i believe he will after the midterms. i think he doesn't want to mess things up. howard: yeah. >> we'll see whether or not that
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pays a dividend or not. howard: then we'd be into a season where he's looking at 2024. >> exactly. howard: and, of course, the media will be doing it the day after the midterms. kevin corke, thanks for coming in. now to last night's white house correspondents' dinner. >> i'm really excited to be here tonight with the only group of americans with a lower approval rating than i have. [laughter] >> this is truly the golden era of conspiracy theories whether it's the right wing believing trump can still win the 2020 election or the left believing joe biden can still win the 2024 election -- [laughter] howard: so the dinner was back after a two-year hiatus for covid, and there were a lot of shots taken. joe biden had a couple of funny lines. trevor noah swipes at fox, swipes at cnn over cnn+. a lot of journalists didn't go because of concerns about the virus. ballroom, 2,000 people. that's it for this edition of "mediabuzz." i'm howard kurtz.
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hope you'll like our facebook page and we can continue the conversation on twitter. check out my pod baas, media buzz meter -- podcast. subscribe a lot of places, apple itunes is one of hem. we'll see you next sunday, 11 eastern time. see you then with the latest buzz. ♪ ♪ were delayed when the new kid totaled his truck. timber... fortunately, they were covered by progressive, so it was a happy ending... for almost everyone. >> tech: need to get your windshield fixed? so it was a happy ending... safelite makes it easy. >> tech vo: you can schedule in just a few clicks. and we'll come to you with a replacement you can trust. >> man: looks great. >> tech: that's service on your time. schedule now. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ people with plaque psoriasis, are rethinking the choices they make. like the shot they take. the memories they create. or the spin they initiate.
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how do you cashback? chase. make more of what's yours. eric: house speaker nancy pelosi leading congressional delegation for a surprise visit to kyiv. they met with volodymyr zelenksyy and dramatic support for the ukrainian resistance. speaker pelosi is the highest of ranking official to go to kyiv since the start of putin's his or her rick invasion in the country. in southern ukraine civilians evacuations in mariupol, we will go to show those who are trapped in the