♪ ♪ u. howard: we'll look at some cable hosts trying to blame their favorite target for the brutal attack on nancy pelosi's husband. but first, the debate between fetterman and oz was painful to watch and reminded me of two weeks ago when carb rah burns interviewed fetterman in person and shared this observation. >> we did find that in small talk before the interview without captioning, it seemed it was lift for fetterman to understand our conversation.

howard: for being honest, burns was absolutely crucified by left-leaning journalists. how dare she insert herself into the story. media figures ripped her saying they had no trouble inning fetterman. all that looks like what i called it at the time, sheer or a partisanship. how are people reacting to the sight of a recovering stroke victim struggling to communicate? some were honest about fetterman's very rough night. others like lawrence o'donnell that night just refused to address it or praised his courage or deferred to their guests or describe it in the mildest possible terms or simply attacked dr. oz instead. i'm howard kurtz, and this is "mediabuzz." ♪ ♪ howard: nancy pelosi says she and her family are heart broken and traumatized by the vicious

assault on her husband that's been drawing constant media coverage. an assailant broke into the speaker's san francisco home shouting where is nancy and violently attacked 82-year-old paul pelosi, grabbing a hammer from his hand and sending him to a hock -- hospital where he successfully underwent surgery. david depape has been charged with attempted homicide and other crimes, but the focus on msnbc was blaming donald trump. >> there is a very specific form of murderous rage coming from congress trump's most violent and militant devotees directed at nancy pelosi. >> it's as if the attacker in san francisco was seeking to finish the job of those who attacked the cap capitol and who stormed those buildings, calling out her name. howard: join whering us to analyze the coverage, susan frea liasson. what do you make of donald

trump's to blame, he created this climate, this is an extension of the january 6th insurrection and joy playing that footage? >> it's nine days before an election, so never let a crisis go to waste. we know very little about this guy. a lot is emerging that shows he's very mentally unstable. he espouses conspiracy theories about the election, but the common theme here with all of these attacks is a mentally unstable person. howard: mara, president biden called the attack despicable, which it is, and said the same chant was used by this guy they have in custody that was used on january 6th in the attacks on the capitol. so has he joined the liberal media narrative? >> no, i don't think so. look, it is nine days before an election, we're in a hyperpolarized, hyperpartisan environment. but i think both sides can acknowledge that when you have a lot of violent rhetoric,

extremist rhetoric demonizing the other side as not just your opponent, but minute as a traitor, should be how long, should be shot, etc., it can have an effect on mentally ill individuals. that's true on the heft and right. we saw a guy shoot up a -- howard: that was a liberal five years ago. >> now we've had all sorts of threats against members of congress, supreme court justices, local election officials. the preponderance of them in the last five years have been associated with right-wing rhetoric, but it's up to both parties to say this has gone too far. howard: well, i'm glad to see, actually, that many of nancy pelosi's political opponents, nevertheless, said this was outrageous and expressed sympathy. donald trump, for his part, did not on issue a pro pro forma statement on the attack. president biden did through his press secretary condemn the crazed guy who threatened to kill brett kavanaugh and was arrested a block from his home

but took no action to order extra security for the justices which drew a lot of criticism from conservative media. >> and biden, just to political supporters, connected this attacker with january 6th. this is an issue of security, this is an issue of increased attacks on public figures. lee zeldin, running for senator -- running for governor of new york was attacked by somebody with a knife at a campaign event in july. this is increasing, and it's going after both parties. so there is a huge security issue, and i think there's a rhetoric issue too. we're jumping way ahead of ourselves. we don't know mig about this guy, so for the president to talk about this as being directly connected to january 6th, he is the one everyone's listening to most here, and i think it's incumbent upon him to tone things down and not assume things before we know much about this guy. howard: i'm glad that you pointed that out. the argument on the right, mara, and some fox opinion hosts didn't crease this at all about -- address this at all

about the attack that it is a crime wave that democrats have played down and man should have been locked up long ago. >> if you want to lock him up, you have to lock up all sorts of people who say all sorts of things on the internet. i don't know on what grounds you would have locked this guy up. howard: right. i mean, as far as we know, no criminal record. >> no, no -- howard: speculation about -- >> and there are people who say some of the same things he mosted -- posted on his blog every single cay on social media. should they all be logged -- locked up? howard: that, i think, is a dilemma. you say, all the warning signs were there, but look, the media have been trying to figure out a motive for david depape who's from canada. social media blogs in miss him y theorist who in recent weeks had posted plenty of writing withs about how the -- writings about

how the election was tolen. so that might have been part of it. >> there's reporting that talks about the fact that he was psychotic, a heavy drug user. he was, perhaps, homeless at the type of this -- time of this incident. and and we were just talking about crime in that area, what has happened to san francisco? if everybody's been talking about how the whole place has turned into a drug-fueled homeless encampment, that things have really gotten out of control. there's no sense of law and order. certainly, the neighbors have been complaining about the house where he was living, that there was an open-air drug encampment in front of the house. all these things should be looked at and considered when you're trying to figure out why this guy did what he did. and you have to look at the social media trail, what he was talking about. i think that guy was nuts, i think the same about the guy who attacked republicans as well. and we've got social media that feeds in, and that's part of it as well. howard: do you think it's fair

for commentators, journalists on the conservative side, to say this is an example of crime and crime is a big issue in this campaign? >> yes, i actually do think that's fair because if you look at the specific circumstances are what we want to talk about. you have to look at what was going on, the town where he was living, how he was living, how he was allowed to live. that's part of the whole environment of san francisco where they permit these kind of open air -- that's a really important issue. >> there's no doubt that's the right talking point. the murder rate per capita is higher in bakersfield than san francisco. bakersfield is where kevin mccarthy is from. this was not a random crime, this was a targeted assassination attempt according to law enforcement officials -- howard: because he didn't know nancy employees by -- pelosi was in washington. >> right. this is not somebody who deals drugs on the street, mugs somebody. this is more than a crime, this was a targeted assassination attempt. howard: just to clarify, it's acquaintances of david depape

who have said he had a drug abuse problem. not saying that's not true, but he's also posted material, mara, that is anti-jewish, anti-black, anti-trans, anti-covid vaccines, anti-global warming, not somebody you would expect to see targeting the democratic party with those kind of views. >> no, no, no. and, look, there is a problem of this kind of rhetoric on both sides, but law enforcement officials will tell you that in the last five years the preponderance, the majority of violet threats have been finish violent threats have been associated with right-wing rhetoric. i'm not saying that both parties don't have a problem here, but it's up to the leaders in these parties to tone this down. when you hear republican members of congress and the senate saying someone is going to get killed. howard: "the washington post" discovered a relatively recent progress by david depape that has now been taken down which is also anti-media, in case you guys were feeling left out, if and suicidal, talked about

killing himself, and posted grisly death images. so, clearly, that would suggest a deeply disturbed person. but as you say, susan, he didn't just decide to go to this house. >> he's asking for nancy pelosi, that's what the reports are saying, and he's obviously been incited by things he's been reading in the media and -- we don't know. no one has interviewed this guy. i was just thinking about talking about left and right, look who's more responsible for the rhetoric. look at rand paul, he was attacked, six broken ribbings. -- ribs. played down completely but, you know, this has been going on. i wring up rand paul because this has been going on for years. and it seems like it's escalating. and it's, i think, a real security issue for public figures in the age of social media. howard: i think the rand paul incident where he was attacked by his neighbor was, did get a lot of coverage, but for some there wasn't a lot of sympathy

because they didn't like rand paul finish. >> even saying rand paul deserved it, and in this past news cycle -- >> well, you should see what they're saying about paul pelosi. look, we could go tit for tat all day, but how about sonia sotomayor? the guy who killed judge salas' son looking for her, very similar thing, she wasn't hope -- home. he had a diatribe against sonya sotomayor. howard: if you think that members of congress and their families are not nervous now being out on the trail, obviously, they are. by the way, newsmax host greg kelly tweeted: wondering if nancy pelosi staged her own mini january 6th. excuse me? her husband underwent surgery for a fractured skull. kelly later deleted that tweet. ahead, elon musk has taken over twitter. some in the media savaging him once again. but when we come back, we'll tell you which pundits pretended that john fetterman's shaky

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♪ howard: with polls tightening in key races just nine days before the midterms, here's how john fetterman began the debate in the harrisburg, by acknowledging the elephant in the room. >> i had a stroke. he's never let me forget that. and i might miss some words during this debate, mush two words together, but it knocked me down, and i'm going to keep coming back up. howard: and here he is when asked why he had said in a previous interview that he opposed fracking yet now supports fracking. >> i, i cosupport fracking. do support fracking. and i don't, i don't -- i

support fracking, and i stand, and i do support fracking. howard: the pundits had widely-varying actions to in -- reactions and sometimes just silence. >> how ima paired is he, that's something the voters of pennsylvania are going to be sorting through even if people on the left don't want to, you know, want to pretend that it doesn't exist. >> let me just say this: if this had been a boxing match, the referee would have called this in the first 60 seconds. >> it took center stage on debate night in america last night. the debate highlighted his continuing recovery from his stroke. >> oz had to not just change his address, but change the position he always held as a physician on the subject of abortion. >> the cover-up is over. democrats, the media mob, the fetterman campaign, they were all lying to all of us. >> it was really strange to me that he chose to bully a stroke victim. >> yeah. howard: the next day here was the highly opinionated nicole

wallace on msnbc. >> fetterman reminding viewers, reminding voters that he is going to fumble once or twice, because he's recovering from a stroke. howard: once or twice. cnn's 2 p.m. show led with a fetterman attack ad against oz x. if that became the network's playbook that night. joy reid led with oz and abortion, said nothing about fetterman's performance. hayes led be oz and abortion, said nothing about fetterman's performance. alex wagner said nothing about fetterman's performance, not a word. susan, how can anyone spin this as anything other than a disaster for john fetterman and kind of a political malpractice by his campaign team to let him go out on that stage? >> and the media, and i think -- there's three things that are really important about this, the timing, the concealment of his illness and how serious his illness may be. we don't know the answer to that last question, and there's an election nine days away.

he won't release his medical records. we in the media have some responsibility to make that an important issue. how capable will he be to be in the senate, to be working in the senate. and i'll tell you, i've seen this unfold as a capitol hill reporter for a wrong time -- long time. of when you have a senator who's incapacitated, and we don't kno- [inaudible conversations] it's become the staff-run office. so whoever you voted for is not going to be the person that is running the office, it's going to be the staff, people you don't even know. these are really important questions to ask, and their staff concealed his medical condition as did he and his wife prior to the primary and post-primary, the opportunity for another candidate to come along is now gone. howard: dr. oz did the exact same thing. he also had supported -- opposed fracking and now says he supports it, but he did it kind of smoothly, and fetterman tried to do that and got, obviously, hung up on his words.

but on the other hand, you know, we saw his worst moment of the debate. >> yeah. mehmet oz is a tv celebrity, and he was smooth and polished. he also said something about abortion that struck a lot of people as weird and controversial, saying the decision is between a woman, her doctor and local medical officials, but there's no doubt that releasing medical records is a norm that we used to think was important for political office. donald trump threw that overboard. there's no caught that john fetterman should have been more end open about his medical records. this is a test of whether anything matters anymore. i remember trump said i could stand on fifth avenue and shoot someone, and i wouldn't lose any voters. we have not seen a huge collapse in tet beer -- in fetterman's support. howard: right. there haven't been any polls since the debate. the next day, cnn, i mentioned this earlier, played -- which

can we're going to show you now -- this attack ad from the fetterman campaign against dr. oz. watch. >> i want women, doctors, local political leaders -- local political leaders concern local political leaders -- howard: talk about pivoting. >> that's a great ad. because it's -- i tell you, the republicans are saying, oh, abortion's not a big issue. the polls are showing independents are flipping on abortion, they care more about the economy. i would say abortion is the stealth issue that -- not stealth, but they're underplaying it too much. howard: two news organizations saying this is the most important thing right now and showing the opposition attack ad. >> well, i -- that's an important point. the thing is the problem with that debate is it became all about fetterman's health. clearly, that's that's a huge, important issue, but if you follow the debate, about what's dividing pennsylvanians. that's an important ad because it shows him stuck on one of the

toughest things for republicans right now, how they deal with the roe decision in a state like pennsylvania where half the voters are not going to agree with that. howard: yeah, the moderators missed a lot of opportunities to pin these candidates down. they kept asking oz about how he would vote on -- [inaudible] mara, some pundits criticized dr. oz who has high negatives for appearing condescending. he said to fetterman, obviously, i wasn't clear enough for you to understand this. >> pundits are opinion mongers, and they're going to say bad things about the candidate that they're not supporting. overall, to me as a political journalist, what i'm interested in is did people watch the debate? what are the snippets they're seeing from the debate? because that's usually how people see it, they just watch the clips. they go to their information

silo looking for affirmation on information, and depending on where they tune in, they're going to get that partisan spin on the debate. howard: so you both seem to say that there's a lot of partisan spin many these things, but you're right. there was a substancive constitution of all these issues, but the only thing anyone's going to remember is that john fetterman really struggled. he had a good moment at the top, and you could tell who played only the good moment, that was a form of spin as well. meanwhile, before we go, the media, sadly, for their part seem to be coming to grips with the fact that the democrats seem certain to lose at least the house and maybe the senate. you can tell because "the new york times"' lead story today is about what will happen to joe biden's agenda if the republicans take over one or both houses of congress. so their initial denial that this was happening, i think, has faded. susan ferrechio, mara liasson, great to have you both in the studio. up next, it's ted cruz versus "the view" over whether

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learn more at viking.com howard: when ted cruz went on "the view," he made the argument that the liberal ladies only seem to object to stolen election claims when they involve republicans. >> you don't do it to hillary clinton who stood up and said -- [inaudible conversations] stacey abrams who said that the election was stolen. they sat here and said -- [inaudible] >> and it was. >> and you guys were fine with it. so it's illegitimate when republicans win -- >> here's the thing, we may not like when republicans win, but we don't go and we don't storm -- >> hillary clinton said trump is an illegitimate president. in 2002, george w. bush was selected, not elected. joe biden, al gore was elected president. howard: and what did "the view" panelists say back then about

stacey abrams and hillary clinton? >> when you in 2018, you didn't traditionally concede, which i appreciated, because you cited voter suppression. >> and she won by, what, 3 million votes? >> she won. >> she did win. howard: this was a slam dunk for the texas senator. "the view" panelists sat ask there and agreed. nobody was hour ifyed or offended, nobody fainted or freaked out. now, in fairness, "the view" women then argued that hillary clinton called donald trump to concede the next morning, and abrams did nothing to block brian kemp from taking office as georgia governor. as for january 6th, whatever trump's role, the entire republican party isn't responsible for the capitol riot. it was pretty clear that jon stewart leaned left as host of "the daily show," but in his new video series, he took a pretty hard shot at the president's son. >> as far as, like, look, hunter biden being on the board of --

>> bris ma -- burisma. >> that's right, burisma, to me, that's corruption straight up off the bag. howard: and that's fair. hunter biden guessing himself on the board of a ukrainian energy giant was sleazily influence peddling. when all kinds of racist, my my song gist and violent items were posted on "the new york post," the tabloid initially blame it on a hacker. now they say it was a rogue employee. content that included headlines that made it appear that conservatives were calling for the aassassination of aoc and of joe and hunter biden. i'm sure glad the paper took swift action. and with facebook's stock having plunged by $700 billion this year, cnbc's jim cramer said he'd been wrong to keep backing meta. >> i made a mistake here. i was wrong. i trusted this management team.

that was ill-advised. the hubris here is extraordinary, and i apologize. howard: and that, folks, is called taking your medicine. next on "mediabuzz," another unnamed herschel walker accuser surfaces, plus why kanye west is losing his partnership with adidas and a whole lot more. ♪ but eventually, it will remind you. when it does, aspen dental is here for you. we offer the custom dental treatments you need, all under one roof, right nearby. so we can bring more life to your smile... and more smile to your life... affordably. new patients without insurance can get a free complete exam and x-rays, and 20 percent off treatment plans. schedule your appointment today.

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♪ howard: a second woman has accused herschel walker of pushing her to have an abortion and paying for it two decades ago, and this jane doe, represented by attorney gore ya -- gloria allred, spoke anonymously by zoom. >> he encouraged me to have an abortion and gave me the money to do so. i went to a clinic in dallas, but i simply couldn't go through with it. i left the clinic in tears. howard: the next day she says

the nfl player made clear that wasn't acceptable. >> he then drove me to the clinic the following day and wait for hours in the parking lot until i came out. i was devastated because i felt that i had been pressured into having an abortion. >> how do you respond to that? >> well, that's a lie. >> you're saying you don't know this person? >> what i'm saying is this is a lie, and i've said it once and i've moved on. howard: joining us now, rob besow and -- robbie robby soave. herschel walker denied knowing the first accuser, now he's denying this second woman whose voice we can hear. your thoughts. >> yeah. i mean, i think many voters will not fully buy herschel walker's explanation that he doesn't know this person. now there's been a number of

accusations and good evidence on some of the others. however, this did happen a long time ago. it sounds like a dispute and maybe he pressured her, but she's not alleging physical pressure, and his line has kind of been, look, i've changed my mind about abortion subsequently. i don't know that this one matters as much as the others or is really changing anyone's mind at this point, ugly though this incident might have been long ago. howard: he has softened his position on abortion. he's certainly still pro-life. excuse me, marie, tbhoar y'all showed reporters a handwritten love note that walker had sent this woman, two pictures of them in hotel rooms together, so it's not like there's no other ed. >> right. i mean, in multiple cases now we literally have receipts s. we're in this place in our country where a politician like herschel walker feels comfortable blatantly lying to credible

reporters that make him a hypocrite because of his incredibly extreme stance on abortion and, i think, demonstrate the power of political media ecosystems to back up a candidate, right? you have news reporters asking him about these things, other people in the media, pundits, you know, conservative commentators who are basically either, you know, kiss crediting these women or -- discrediting these women or saying it doesn't matter to voters when we actually know that it does. this is a hard thing for media to cover when these guys just lie over and over again, howie. howard: well, you know, he says, i mean, we have to certainly report his denial, but the thing is that since herschel walker rode out the storm over the first accuser with republicans saying, yes, it was a long time ago, true, they didn't care or they just wanted to win the seat in some cases. is he, to use a football analogies, running the same play now? >> yeah, i think he is. look, he's clearly a flawed candidate. i've spoken with you before on

the show that republican primary voters if they showed a little more discipline, wouldn't get them in the position where he's kind of neck and neck with warnock where someone like brian kemp i think is likely to win reelection because he's a better liked, stronger candidate. i'm not saying this doesn't matter. again, this sounds like an ugly episode that speaks to the credibility of the candidate. don't get me wrong, i agree with marie on that. voters very much carrying about -- caring about the economy, crime, and they are overlooking candidates' personal issues in a lot of cases. that's just fact. i'm not endorsing it -- howard: well, i understand. that's a decision for voters in the state to make. marie, just briefly, reporters look for a pattern. and so now you have two different women saying this, raising the question why would they both concoct these stories. and i've always said if he had just with said, look, it was a long time ago and i'm sorry, i think it would have been over, instead we're still talking about it now with the latest

woman surfacing. >> that's right. i mean, there's a pattern of him lying about a host of things including children he didn't admit to having, including these abortions. so this is clearly a pattern, you know? people in the media, journalists, are pointing it out, and he has dealt with it incredibly poorly both at the time and it seems like now as a candidate. howard: right. herschel walker would say he wasn't lying, he just hadn't been public about it. but i understand your point. let me get to this other subject. kanye west had already been drop dod by his talent agency and a major fashion house when he made a video with an outright dare for his biggest business partner. >> the thing about me and actee das, i can literally say anti-semitic [bleep] and they can't drop me. howard: well, adee adidas -- adidas cut its ties saying: adidas does not tolerate anti-semitism or any other sort of hate speech.

ye's recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous. so on that point, look, robbie, actee das doesn't deserve a standing -- adee it is a doesn't deserve a standing ovation, but it will lose up to $250 # million on the yeezy line of sneakers. maybe ye shouldn't have called out the company like that? >> probably not -- howard: you think? >> look, he shouldn't have said the several anti-semitic remarks that he made. howard: there's a whole bunch of them. i've lost track. >> now we're watching the kind of coordinated deplatforming of this person, losing hundreds of millions of dollars, i think no longer going to be a billionaire, being ejected from multiple platte forms, from business arrangements. it feels like his fault because he really chose this course of action. that said, this is a concern, i think, republicans have that i understand how are large kind of forces in media, in corporations, etc., you know, work many tandem to eject people from kind of the public square.

i think there are much more sympathetic cases than this. he really got himself into it, but it's something to be troubled about a little bit watching it -- howard: look, he kept doubling and tripling down. he talked to reporters in a parking lot and said, well, i didn't it was, but there are all these companies who have jews in them. marie, then he goes to skechers unannounced and and gets ejected from there. so i would argue that kanye has, has deplatformed himself. >> yeah, i agree with you, howie. you know, this is capitalism at its finest. corporations get to decide who they partner with. and we have an anti-semitism problem in this country that is growing. of it's growing around the world. and the fact that so many people are mad that kanye has been taken off of certain platforms whether it's twitter, excuse me, whether it's some of his endorsement deals with adidas, i

mean, that shows how big this problem still is in our country. and these are option corporations saying we need to stand for manager better. howard: richard fowler argued on this program last week that the media should stop covering kanye's anti-semitic outbursts, but i think the fact that there's been so much media coverage is what led to actual consequences particularly in the case of adidas. just very briefly, robby, the ceo of spotify says they're going to keep putting up his music, making money off of it, money for kanye, even though he personally thinks the anti-semitic comments are awful. >> look, i agree with that call. conservatives have long said, i agree with this, it's possible to separate the art from the artist. howard: people like his music. >> right. he can have some problematic views and we don't totally remove someone or can't appreciate their art because of that, so i think that's absolutely the right call. we should just stop seeking political wisdom from kooky

celebrities. howard: all right. marie harf, robby soave, thanks for the discussion. after the break, elon musk under attack from the media again after taking over twitter, but is he backing off on his free speech crusade? ♪ ♪ finish finish (vo) with verizon, you can now get a private 5g network. so you can do more than connect your business, you can make it even smarter. now ports can know where every piece of cargo is. and where it's going. (dock worker) right on time. (vo) robots can predict breakdowns and order their own replacement parts. (foreman) nice work.

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and then saying let that sink in. musk is sending signals that he may be moderating his free speech crusade. joining us now from dallas, steve krakauer, author of the fourth watch newsletter. steve, elon musk has owned twitter for about 5 minutes, and already some in the media and on the left are saying he's a fascist, they're going to delete their accounts as if there's not already a lot of toxic garbage on twitter. >> right, right. [laughter] first of all, anyone in the media who says they're going to delete their account is just full of it. [laughter] that's not happening. look, the cynic in me says that elon musk is going to keep twitter more or less the same and piss off everyone because i really think what -- he's already said that the content moderation, that he was going to just -- people were afraid, oh, donald trump's going to be back on the platform on monday. doesn't look like that. he's going to have a content moderation team -- howard: let me stop you right there just so people know.

first of all, he wrote with a letter to twitter's advertisers who are nervous about the site saying twitter, obviously, cannot become a free-for-all hellscape where anything can be said with no consequences indicating, obviously, there'll be some moderation. and as you said, nobody's going to be reinstated, trump or anybody else, until he forms this content moderation board all which sounds like the world's richest man is now crashing into reality of running a site like twitter. >> absolutely. no, i think we're going to get some things on the edges here and there. there will be a push with, you know, free speech at the forefront of his mission statement, which i understand where he's coming from and i applaud it. but i also think that this is not going to suddenly turn into fortune like we're now being told by certain places in the media. it really goes to speak to just how weird this moment we're in, because it used to be like the family research council, people like -- hard core conservatives were concerned about the content on tv and movies, and now the

sort of puritanical, you know, shutdown speech people have gone totally the other way, and now it's the left of who's concerned about misinformation and disinformation. now they're so nervous about what elon musk might do to their precious twitter. i think it's completely ridiculous, but it also is very telling about our media moment because it's not just the far left, it is people in the media. howard: yep, absolutely. >> -- journeyses, who are concerned -- howard: they want a lot of content control because they like having control. look, some critics say this is powerful. elon musk fires the four top executives at twitter. by the way, they're going to share a combined payout of $122 million. everybody knew he would clean house. that's what happens when you spend $44 billion for something, you get to pick your own team. >> right. and this -- everyone could have seen this coming also. i think if you can give one definite thing that everyone can free on about elon musk is that he has been completely

transparent during this process, probably to his detriment. he's been tweeting through this whole thing. the lawsuits, the text messages because of the lawsuit. so, no, i think that everyone could have seen that coming. and as you mentioned, i think he's now going to step back, step into the role and say, all right, what do we do know? lee already getting blowback for a reply to hillary clinton this morning linking to some obscure web site about the pelosi story, now people are saying he's spreading misinformation, so who knows what's going to happen. i think this is going to play out in very real ways. but he owns the site now. the site is such a focus of media, not really of the general public although, obviously, the general public sees what's on there because the media puts such a spotlight -- howard: let me just jump in with this last question. i love this criticism, we can't let billionaires ruin our social media. we have washington post owned by jeff bezos which is already saying here's how to delete your account and this guy, mark

zuckerberg, whose site is worth about $700 billion less than it was at the beginning of the year. it's only certain kinds of billionaires? what's up with that? >> marc benioff at time magazine. no, billionaires are finding instead of buying yachts, they're buying social media platforms and newspapers and other journalists out-- journalistic outlets. it's not a great business. i don't think jeff bee southeast is going to get rich with the washington post, but if we're concerned about peach and the free flow of information, i think it would extend to what certain forces in the media are concerned about with elon musk. howard: we'll see what he because. give him, like, a week, whatever. still to come, a phone call, donald trump also with -- excuse me. congress trump and bob woodward going at it as these tapes become public. today with us. ♪ hen. ♪

♪ it's our turn now we'll make it up again. ♪ ♪ we'll build freelance teams with more agility. ♪ ♪ the old way of working is deader than me. ♪ ♪ we'll scale up, and we'll scale down ♪ ♪ before you're six feet underground. ♪ ♪ yes, this is how, this is how we work now. ♪

howard: bob bob woodward has been all over t promotion his new audio book of trump tapes. woodward asked the president whether he could bring together the two americas. >> i would loved to do that because i've oftentimes said that -- you remember when i put out the christmas greeting where i said is merry christmas to all, even the haters? you know? but i would love to be able to do it. the biggest problem is the media. howard: steve krakauer, first of all, donald trump is blaming the media for not being able to bring together a divided country? [laughter] >> i think there's enough blame to go around. the media is one of several places. it's so funny to hear that, by

the way. why dud bobbed woodward put this out? obviously, there's financial incentives and social incentives but, i mean, to hear it in his own words, and and i know bob has said this himself, it is, it's just totally different than reading it. it is sort of funny -- howard: yeah. trump saids woodward has no right to put out these tapes, but these were all on the record interviews. so why shouldn't we be able to hear trump's voice in a way with, you know? he's his own best salesman. >> of course. and he's his own, depending on how you look at it, worst enemy. donald trump loves the media, and the media loves donald trump, and they hate each other too. it's sort of a sadomasochist sadomasochistic interview. why does he call bob woodward on his cell phone to continue these conversations after he read the first book? he does it because he wants to control the narrative, he loves the media and wants to, obviously, get his best foot

forward, and i think he thinks he's business -- his best advocate. obviously, bob woodward's going to put out, it's all on the record, and it just goes to show, to shine a light on what this trump media experience -- howard: it also -- >> -- the love affair. howard: love/hate affair. it also tells us something about wood war's interviewing techniques. he said his wife said that he crossed an ethical line talking about the pandemic by telling trump you should come out with a pull mobilization like the manhattan project. whether he crossed the line or not, you get to see both of them going at it. >> woodward had, like, a 15-point plan that he tried to give to trump. [laughter] bob woodward has done some amazing journalistic work, and he and bernstein together at one point, but you looked at carl bernstein is, he is the most spun and captured pundit on cnn now, not a journalist. bob woodward is also not immune to this idea of journalists now

just letting their opinion fly because that's the new era we're in. so i i think, yes, that's certainly captured on those tapes also, and and it's just another example, i think, of where the industry is overall. bob woodward, someone when's done incredible journalism, and now he's kind of pundit-y. howard: right, but he obviously does original reporting as we see from these interviews. steve, thanks very much. quick note here, president biden now scheduled to do several rallies. remember when "the new york times" came out and said he's not doing any rallies? the white house was all about saying, well, rallies done work anymore, and we're going to be above the fray and talk about policy. clearly, this criticism stung because now he's going to do some rallies. also the, all the leaks, the authorized leaks about tom brady? turns out tmz broke the story first that he and gisele bundchen are getting divorced. sad spectacle. and he's having a lousy season with the tampa bay buccaneers, lost three straight.

maybe he should have stayed on the sidelines. that's it for this edition of "mediabuzz." i'm howard kurtz. subscribe to my podcast, media buzz meter. we are back here next sunday, 11 eastern, with the only media analysis show on national television. see you then. ♪ ♪ becoming a morning person starts the night before with new neuriva relax and sleep. it has l-theanine to help me relax from daily stress. plus, shoden ashwagandha for quality sleep. so i can wake up refreshed. neuriva think bigger.

once upon a time, at the magical everly estate, landscaper larry and his trusty crew... 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. nine days left until the critical mid term elections that will determine the election for the next two years. control of the house and senate up for grabs. the clock is winding down until november 8. republicans triumph or will the democrats be able to defend. welcome to fox news live, i am eric shawn. arthel: hello. i am arthe