♪ ♪ howard: trump senior adviser

corey lewandowski is joining today's program. donald trump picked so many nominees so quickly that i kept having to the contact those handling my column saying, wait, here's two more. and with marco rubio for secretary of state, other capitol hill veterans like elise stefanik and kristi noem, the president-elect was winning some grudging respect even as his immediate -- media detractors tack their shots. >> i love the experience, and i love the fact trump is moving decisively. >> the common theme through all of them is that donald trump is really trying the stack up his second term and particularly his cabinet with people that will be yes men. howard: but then suddenly, in classic trumpian fashion, controversy erupted. the 47th president tapped former congresswoman tulsi gab a ard to be the director of national intelligence and army veteran pete hegseth of fox news to run the pentagon. more on that shortly. but those nominations were

followed by the choice of incendiary congressman matt gaetz who was himself investigated by the justice county over allegations of sleeping with an underaged girl though he was never charged and and has been under investigation by the house ethics committee. even republicans senators sounded unenthusiastic. here's what gaetz said at the last two cpac conferences. >> in congress i'm often excoriated, smeared, derided for exposing a corrupt system that has been weaponized against we, the people. and the media isn't on our side either. the matt gaetz chaos agenda. that was the headline from the liberal ""new yorker" magazine." we either get this government back on our side or we defund, abolishing the fbi, cdc, atf -- [cheers and applause] doj, every last one of 'em if hay do not come to heel. >> i always thought matt gaetz was in the clown car, so i'm

surprised he'd be part of the starting lineup. >> gaetz is controversial because of personal allegations that the biden justice department hung over his head but never prosecuted. we expect the democrats to turn him like trash and turn the his hearing into the salem witch trials. >> he is going to to use gaetz as a kind of revenge. >> he goes for the jugular politically, but it's wrong to dismiss if him as a just a political firebrand. >> complete and utter horror. matt 2008 is incredibly ill of suited for -- ill-suited for this position. >> he's a lawyer, four-term congressman, long-time ally of donald trump who will expose political weaponization of harris and biden so, naturally, the pearl-clutching, reckless hysteria on the left hasn nonstop. howard: we now have multiple media melodramas. remember, donald trump wants these nominees the transform, maybe even blow up these

agencies. i'm howard kurtz and this is "mediabuzz." ♪ ♪ howard: joining us now to analyze the coverage in nashville, tomi lahren, host of tomi lahren is fearless on outkick, and with me, fleet rye us in who did debate prep with kamala harris. tom irk, "the wall street journal" editorial page says this is a bad choice. national review, terrible choice for attorney general, so we can't just blame et al. on liberal outrage. -- it all. >> yeah. listen, i would say to all of those that are going to be upset not only with this pick and other appointments, but all of donald trump's moves and actions within the first hundred days or more, get comfortable being uncomfortable. you're not going to enjoy it. it's there's going to be moments where you're going to want to rip your hair out, but guess a what in the american people voted for this overwhelmingly. this is a mandate from the

american electorate. and if it's not just republicans. you won't -- don't win the popular vote with just republicans, bringing in dem the graphics that he won, you know, bigger than the first time and bigger than many republicans could have ever dreamed of. this is a mandate from the american people. you might not like matt gaetz, you might find him bombastic, machismo, but guess what? this is who donald trump wants, and who donald trump wants, donald trump should get because the american people overwhelmingly elected -- >> all right, relate me get to -- >> i believe in the appointment process, but donald trump gets what he wants because the american people voted for it. howard: as you know, matt gaetz resigned his seat two a days before the expected release of a tough report about the sexual trafficking educations -- allegations, thinking that would short circuit it because he's no longer a member of congress. >> first, i want to agree and disagree with tomi for a second in that i figured she'd use the

word mandate. the is, is that president trump or president-elect trump's win this year was only 6 electoral votes bigger than joe biden's in 2020, actually bigger hand donald trump's in 2016, and i don't think -- howard: he won the popular vote. >> but it doesn't -- finally. i can't believe that's some kind of celebration. but i agree that it doesn't matter. he can win by one voters, these are his picks. the thing is that i don't understand is that these pig pick, meaning ga textetz and hegseth, they're going to be ineffective. i understand the notion of wanting to disrupt. there's a difference between disrupt and demolish. i've worked in the united states senate, i've worked at the state department. i've been part of people who have been mom may noted and defending nominees. this guy request matt gaetz has a better -- tomi's dog has a better hot of being nominated -- shot of being nominated and

confirmed than matt gaetz. why? not because of maine i'm just sitting here laughing, look how giddy i am. donald trump has 53 united states senators, 53 republican senators. he can't get 50 of them to vote for them? that's not my, that's gnat -- not my doing -- howard: we shall see. a woman testified that she had sex with g gaetz when she was 17. he strongly denies that. but, tomi, getting ott larger picture, matt gaetz opposes the weaponization of d doj, that's what they call it, under the biden-harris administration. trump opposes that as well, to your point, so couldn't donald trump have gotten the same results with a less controversial nominee? >> there have been a lot of discussions about not letting trump by trump, right in i was one of those people early on in the campaign season that said, you know what? maybe trump should pull back a little bit, maybe don't let trump be fully trump, and i was wrong. this is his pick.

listen, he went in 2016, they were already planning to impeach him, so he knows something about weaponization. he also went in fresh-eyed in 2017 as an outsider, and he had a lot of the typical republican establishment picks, and every step of the way they thwarted him and stonewalled him, so he's learned from. that's. he's taken a step back. he's going to put in the people he wants and like i said before, let the process play out. if the senate decides they don't want matt gaetz, all right, we'll have a reckoning with that. this is trump's pick, he did it for a reason, and i didn't see a hot of liberals screaming and crying when they were locking up catholic gran mist or calling mothers domestic terrorists. listen, please, save me your outrage over matt gaetz -- >> i'm not -- i'm giddy because also i think most people would agree, look, i don't want the fbi weaponized. jim comey coming out a week before hillary's election, i don't think that was on the up and up.

but we need the fbi. you don't want to get rid of the fbi. we all benefit from it. you don't want to get rid of dod, you want to reform these things -- howard: let me jump in. >> it doesn't make sense -- when you say let trump be trump, trump wants a tizzy -- howard: well, donald trump --? >> he wants us talking hike this. howard: -- he absolutely knew the untilled drive everyone crazy. is that why, bin the fact that he might not get enough votes for matt matt gaetz, has been pressing republican senators to to allow him to do recess appointments? >> the reason i think that won't work is because of this, i'm just going to use the number of 20 to of selections that donald trump will have. if that's the case, he will get 18 if not 19. matt gaetz being the 20th. i don't see why you would recess congress for one guy. not only that, i can make the weird argument that why would you recess congress and send

them home when you control congress and you have an agenda? frankly, as a democrat, i should be saying, absolutely are, recess. i don't think when it comes down to it he's going to go to the matte and why? because his own folks are going to say he's not worth it. a jeff clark could have done it or, to me, the i.c.e. pick of homan was the absolute or smartest pick. the guy knows the job, he's a zealot -- howard: tom homan for border czar. now, gaetz led the revolt this toppled kevin mccarthy. i interviewed the former speaker a few months ago. here's what a he said. >> -- wanted me to stop the ethics challenge, i wouldn't. so he got some other people who didn't vote for me, he's now created "the lord of the flies." howard: your reaction to the former speaker, tomi. >> listen, there is no doubt that matt gaetz brings some chaos, but maybe what the federal government needs right now is a little bit of chaos. i think the american people have spoken and, like i said, you

know, i know there's some pushback and maybe he didn't win as much as you would have liked him to win. listen, i would have loved him to win all 50 states, but there's going to be chaos, there's going to be disruption, there's going to be some outsiders of. i would hope the democrats would look at some of trump's picks, kennedy, tulsi gabbard, a former democrat who ran for the top spot in 2020. you want to talk about diversit- howell: we'll get to that. >> and he'll probably get them. look, if i have a tumor, i don't want chaos. i want a neurosurgeon with a scalpel who doesn't take out my entire brain. howard: look, there's another question about matt gaetz which is, you know, he's going to be in charge if he were to be confirmed of sensitive decisions about who to investigate, who to indict, and he's only practiced law for a couple to years. so is he -- couple of years. is he qualified in that way, tommy? >> listen, i'm not going to make an assessment on matt gaetz's

legal broadband or if he has the chops to do this job. i think that the confirmation process will be thorough, and i believe in thats process, like i said. but, you know, maybe this was also a controversial pick because maybe they throw out matt gaetz, he doesn't get confirmed, and that second person who is maybe a little less controversial, maybe that's an easy layup. who knows what the strategy is, but i believe in the transition team, their process and their strategy the. after all, they just won a historic election, so strategy isen their side. howard: by the way, gaetz also, based on testimony, brought a folder to the white house with a conspiracy theory about joe scarborough having killed his intern as a congress -- for a congressman, that is completely false, but trump tweeted about it. i do want to talk about steve bannon just released from jail, sending a message to msnbc. >> weissman, you are on tv with msnbc and all the producers, preserve your documents.

ari melbourne, all you hosts, preserve your documents, all of it. you better be worried, and you better lawyer up. howard: sounds threatening. >> it does sound a bit threatening, and he would know more about lawyering up than anyone, he just got out of the can, as you call it. if that's why you're picking matt gaetz for attorney general, then he was the perfect pick. if it's to put anyone whether it's msnb if c or democrats like me in jail, perfect pick. if it's to make enduring change in the the president the of justice and its subsidiary investigative units like the fbish s, he's not the guy. someone like a jeffrey clark who was the president at the time's pick, at the end of 2016, that guy would get what the right wants to get done. howard: well, unfortunately, you don't get to pick. by the way, the new white house press secretary is caroline lev are visit who's been on this

program -- karoline leavitt. she becomes the youngest white house press secretary at a 27. ahead, corey lewandowski will be here live. but when we come back, the media unloading on two other high profile trump nominees. ♪ lu medicine hangover in the morning. ha ha. haha! uhh, hank! switch to mucinex nightshift to relieve your cold & flu symptoms. uh oh! both help you get to sleep. mucinex is uniquely formulated to leave your system faster, so you wake up ready to go. going to work groggy? nope. try mucinex nightshift and feel the difference. it's comeback season. america. built by those who dare to dream, those who push the limits, and those who serve. at bass pro shops, we stand with those who stand for our freedoms... proudly offering a legendary salute discount every day.

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howard: pete hegseth, decorated army combat veteran, and until days ago the cohost of "fox & friends" weekend, has been tapped to run the pentagon. >> that's why i love this institution. i love the military, i love the army. i want it to be the best. let's change it. >> pete is perfect for america, and i'm going the tell you why, because he's a war fighter. >> retired admirals and generals to a person deeply concerned about not only his lack of experience, but also some of the extraordinarily hostile things

that he's written talking about democrats as enemies from within and worse. howard: but "the washington post" reports today that hegseth paid a whom who accuse -- woman who accused him of sexual assault in 2017 as part of a nondisclosure, and hell seth insists the encounter -- hegseth envies sis the encounter was consensual. hegseth's lawyer says he was visibly intoxicated before this encounter with a staffer. they say she was the aggressor, and the friend of the woman sent a detailed memo to the trump team getting big media a play, fair or unfair? >> i think it's unfair. and i'll also say this, you know, full disclosure, pete hegseth is a friend of mine, he has been for years, as he has been friends to many people on the this network. he's a resident of nashville, tennessee, where i am. i love his family.

i think his children are beautiful, so i'm not going to say anything about his personal life or anything that's gone on there. and quite frankly, not only as his friend, but as an american voter and constituent, i don't really care about all that stuff. i care about what he's going to do to reform dod. i care about rooting out wokism and dei and getting our war fighters back the operate toking as war fighters. that is what i personally care about. all the a arguments -- articles about his character and the slander and his sexual life, oncare about that, and i don't think the american people do either. howard: well, i would say that we're dealing with a saint from his own lawyer that it's not slander, or philippe, but "the washington post" says the woman went to the emergency room, she tested positive for a physical evidence of an encounter. the lawyer says he was afraid if it came out publicly, it would result in his immediate termination from fox. >> this is going to sound like a

weird anecdote, but i have a canadian friend who's politically-minded, and her kid saw something about this. greta and colby, i think, 10 and 88. heir not saying, well, is tulsi gabbard really an agent of the russians? something like this is hard to explain. i agree with tomi, this is not a basis for it. i would say just as a piece of advice, the monoif disclosure agreement, obviously, hectare it up and relate this woman speak. i think that's to be invested. that's not why i think he's not qualified. this is -- dod, the department of defense has more than a million people part of it including the armed forces. it has a budget of $8000 billion plus which makes it the 18th largest country in the world if it was on its own. you need someone, again, if donald trump wants the shake things up, you need someone who understands it. never being in government is not helpful. i know there's a tarnish to it but, look, i went to work every

day thinking i can't believe that's happening. that shouldn't happen. that costs too much. howard: yeah. >> but you need people, you know, not like elon musk, not like pete hegseth, people who can actually affect change because they understand it. howard: tulsi gabbard, the formerwoman, has been nominated to be director of national intelligence, and she went to syria in 2017 with bashar assad and said that he wasn't responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths -- >> and she'll get nominated -- she'll get confirmed. howard: tomi, a lot of people here at fox like pete personally, but is isn't it fair the ask whether he has the experience the manage this massive bureaucracy, 32 the million people and -- 2 million people and soldiers around the world? >> so i would argue that makes him the perfect person to man ago -- all of this. i have a lot of friends who happen to be in the military, when happen to be war fighters and veterans, and they are sick and tired of people who have been in d.c. pushing pencils

looking for their next rank, looking for their next upgrade promotion, they're so tired offing being instructed and commanded by these people, and they want somebody who understands what it's like to serve your country, understands what it's the like to have a young family while you're serving your country. i would say him being an outsider, yes, there's going to be things he has to learn. of it's wonderful there's going to be many people alongside him who know how to manage the bower rock to city in the government, but i think -- bureaucracy in the government, but i think fresh eyes and someone when that is has that perspective is going to be excellent, and i think it's going to to be a tool that's fantastic for the trump administration. howard: let me play a sound bite, philippe, and i'll ask you a question on the other side. this is pete hegseth. >> i'm straight up just saying we should not have women in bat roles. it hasn't made us more effective, hasn't made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated. howard: so he would repeal

allowing women in the -- in combat. >> my understanding is he's going to need congressional support for that. as a side note, i'd say i don't think donald trump campaigned on that, so i don't know if he's off the reservation or if the it's something that the president's going to say, no -- howard: yeah, these things -- >> tomi described a perfect secretary of defense, and that's tom cotton. tom cotton knows all stuff. he's got a distinguish dod background concern he's got kid- howard: you keep bringing up who you would prefer. >> not who i prefer. tom cotton, jeff clark and secretary-designate homan would get done what donald trump wants. howard: all right. on that note, philippe, tomi, thanks so much for joining us. up next, rfk being kicked around by the media for his questionable views, and he gets the top health care job. ♪ ble exclusively at america's best!

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howard: rfk jr. whose views on vaccines and many issues are either disputedded or outright the debunked has been named secretary of health and human services after endorsing donald trump. >> people will die if this kind of spokesmanship is elevated to the chief health department in the united states of america. >> now, the effort to discredit the rfk jr. nomination has been underway ever since he endorsed trump back in august. howard: joining us now to analyze the coverage in new york, caroline downey, staff writer for national review, and with me, lucy caldwell. caroline, as the media keep reminding us, kennedy believes vaccines are dangerous, water systems shouldn't use fluoride and on and on. now he'd be in charging of this massive health bureaucracy under the deal he made with trump. your thoughts. >> well, howie, or conservative media's also concerned that he

is pro-abortion and pro-single-payer health care which is a step toward socialized medicine. we have to understand how we got here: rfk's to movement is the direction result of covid tyranny and government gaslighting on mask mandates and school shutdowns. the pandemic destroyed trust in the public health apparatus that needs to be restored, and rfk does speak to the toxicity of processed food and the epidemic of childhood disease. until 2015 we had a food additive that also is used as a lubricant for power tools. and a new york times fact check actually confirmed rfk's claim that the u.s. version of fruit loops contains harmful artificial dyes. and let's not forget the food pyramid. so we need to take an examination of the nutrition behind fda and also the cdc. howard: rfk may well have some good ideas, but he doesn't hide from the business about vaccines. here's a brief clip of him.

>> well, i do believe that autism does come fromming vaccines. finish -- from vaccines. howard: most scientists say that is absolutely untrue. even leaving aside the the cyber-sexting scandal, he offered the same job endorsement, endorse. for a job to kamala harris who turned him down. >> i would say the movement of rfk is the result of an aggrieved kennedy who pell out of favor concern fell out of his favor with his family and democrats, who went out and found an elon musk buddy in nicole shanahan, his running mate, spent millions of dollars include colluding by trump's largest donor and made a splash. and in the end, trump said, yes, come aboard my plane, and we'll eat mcdonald's together, and kamala harris didn't take his phone call. was that a mistake? if i don't know. he is a whacko, and and he will be a very frightening and off

the reservation head of all of our health if that goes true. howard: there's a picture of them all eating mcdonald's. caroline, even leaving aside that he said once he had a worm in his brain or he, you know, captured that do dead bear, kennedy's now talking about eliminating units between -- excuse me, inside fd ark, nih. people would say that's a radical agenda, others would say, i guess, it's overdue. >> like i said, it's a sprawling bureaucracy that definitely needs reform and, obvious he has outlandish theories. he's had them for a long time. he also has bizarre extracurricular activities like falconly. first of all, this movement -- falconly. this movement preceded, honestly, donald trump. the he has been for a long time, i think, generating concern about poison in our food ply and the way that corporations collude maybe with the government to basically make americans sick. and that is a legitimate issue for many americans that has

nothing to do with maga, make america healthy again is independent of that. howard: okay. i want a brief comment from lucy. he's had a contentious relationship with media which have yesterday him -- >> falconry is the most normal thing about rfk jr. there are things that resonate. he is right to say we should not eat as much fast food, but all of that is going to be undone by spreading disinformation if about fluoride, saying that covid-19 is targeting people other than jewish and chinese people. we just cannot is are this. howard: millions he's doing what president trump wants. next on "mediabuzz," corey lewandowski on the media, the 47th president and his controversial nominees. ♪ ♪ ckgo comes with a built-in engine, like google, but it's r and doesn't spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browsel but it blocks cookies and creepy ads that follow youa and other companies.

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media coverage just since the election, is the president giving the president-elect a chance after his clear mandate in winning the popular vote or largely slipping back into the role of opposition party? >> howie, i believe that most of the mainstream media wants to continue to denigrate donald trump, his picks, his nominees saying these people are unfit, not giving him the credit that he is due for not only winning 312 the electoral votes, but obviously winning the electoral college, helping flip the u.s. senate from democrat to republican with his victories in pennsylvania, ohio, obviously, montana. and so when you look at that, donald trump is coming back to washington, d.c. with a mandate. and if this were on the other side, if this were vice president harris coming with these kind of numbers, they'd be lauding her as running the greatest campaign this nation's ever seen. howard: very few people are saying that now. now, trump said again and again that he would carry out mass deportations of illegal immigrants, that he would shake up the government, that he would

impose high tariffs, and now i see some journalists and pundits saying, holy cow, is he really going to do this? as if the campaign promises were just empty relate rib. >> oh, howie, the campaign promises of making america safe again and making america wealthy again, you know, are absolutely the truth. when you look at the border czar, tom homan, someone who is a no games kind of guy, he's been verying very clear. he has a mandate under donald trump's administration to close the border first, to finish that border wall, and if you're in this country illegally, you're one of the 13,099 murderers let into this country, you better have eyes mt. back of your head, because tom is coming for you. he's got 20,000 sworn officer who are going to rid us of the heinous crimes and criminals that are taking place in this country. we're looking at the laken riley event that's taking place right now -- howard: the trial, yeah. >> --9 and the story that you're hearing coming from that court case is devastating to every parent, everyone when has a

loved one lost, and we will never allow that to happen again. tom homan's going to make sure country gets safe again. howard: the biggest uproar, as you know, has been over matt gaetz not just because of the sex trafficking investigation that led to no charge, but because he only practiced law for a couple of years. and it's not just the liberals. the new york post says he's nuts. "wall street journal," national review say he's a terrible choice. did that choice surprise you? >> howie, relate me say this, we have seen the weaponization of the justice department for the last four years, and if matt gaetz can go in and put the blindfold back on lady justice which is what it should be, then this country is going to be better for it. if the u.s. senate does not want to to confirm matt gaetz, they will be held to account, and what i mean by that is donald trump has nominated his choice for attorney general, and we're going to use all the political influence we have to ensure that matt gaetz has a fair if hearing. and those u.s. senators will be on the record to their constituents saying why the

president of the united states should not have the right to have his own choice nor attorney general. eric holder, who was held in contempt of congress, was barack obama's, quote-unquote, wingman. donald trump should be entitled to his own cabinet as well. howard: well, is there a possibility that if he can't get enough votes that the president-elect will install gaetz through a recess appointment even though your detractors say that violates the constitution? >> look, i believe that's a senate protocol issue where senate majority leader thune would have to to go into recess and make those appointments. i know that that conversation has been had in the sense of senator thune, when he was running for majority leader, said he was open to senate appointments during a recess process. i haven't spoken to senator thune about that, but i can tell you this, i have had the chance to speak with former congressman and designee gaetz. i know we are all in as a team for him and full court press ahead. and holding senators accountable particularly with elon musk's resources and donald trump's

political capital that we will use. howard: elon musk has plenty of resources. my former fox colleague, pete hegseth, highly decorated afghan, excuse me, afghanistan and iraq combat war seth iran, is drawing sit became hughes he's never run a large organization, let alone a massive bureaucracy with soldiers around the world, and he's said such things as women shouldn't be in combat. is that criticism fair? >> i don't think it's fair. listen, that's the old way of thinking, the old model. if you took pete's name off of this nomination and saw a prince ifton graduate, a harvard graduate, a man who has multiple commendations, an infantry officer whos' had multiple tours of duty and his name wasn't pete hegseth, this left would be praising this as a historic endeavor, as a historic recommendation. and that's what pete hegseth is going to bring, someone who's going to completely and

fundamentally reform the military industrial complex, who is more concerned about making money than taking care of our men and women in uniform. howard: rfk jr. is drawing heat from the media, that's not a news flash, for pushing debunked theories about vaccines cause autism, take the fluoride out of water systems. he got this job in exchange for endorsing donald trump. the media trotting out doctors who say he's courageous. -- dangerous. does that worry you? >> you know what's more worrisome to me is anthony fauci potentially being nominated. if you ask those, quote-unquote, ex3ers or doctors, they would probably want to have anthony a few hawaii, a man who lied to the american people, forced mandates on people, told us if we sood the 6 feet apart, you couldn't catch covid. it was nonsense, and the american people don't believe the health care system because of the way they were lied to during the covid pandemic. so i want to see, once again,

reform happening. do i agree with rfk jr. on every issue he stands on? i do not. do i believe that the items that are going into our children's bodies are harmful? you bet i do. do i believe that childhood obesity is through the roof? you bet i do. do i believe there are two different types of food products if you're in this country or in a different, you bet i do. it's time to look at that and make america healthy again. howard: corey, i've got about half a minute. isn't president trump nominating these people to do what he wants done no matter how controversy it unleashes? >> of course. listen, this is donald trump's administration, this is donald trump's party, this is donald trump washington d.c. him coming to washington, d.c. with a mandate that was given to him by the american people is to go and bring fundamental and wholesale change to this bloated bureaucracy. whether that's through doge, which i think think is my kids' favorite acronym, the government accountability office -- yes!

it's amazing. we're going to find hundreds of billions, if not trillions of wasteful spending, and that's what donald trump has pledged, and he's going the fulfill these campaign promises because that's what the american people expect. howard: corey lewandowski, thanks for join ugh us. >> you bet. howard: after the break or, some media liberals think the democrats got wiped out because the party has moved so far left. ♪ ♪we t. t. families never receive a bill from st. jude for treatment, travel, housing, or food, so they can focus on helping their child live. because at st. jude, taking care of families facing childhood cancer is just what we do. this holiday season, join our st. jude family. we need you. please donate now. have you compared your medicare plan recently? with ehealth,

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howard: of after the democratic wipeout, many pundits say the party moved too far left. >> we can all agree that the fascination with identity politics on the part of some people in the democratic party was a giant mistake. >> democrats learn from their -- will democrats learn from their mistakes from the last time he was president and not respond by this race to the left on every identity issue? howard: carville seems less depressed. caroline cownie, are media -- caroline downey, are media liberals finally admitting the left wing of the democratic party is too wrapped up with pronouns and political correctness and can't equity with a lot of average voters? >> they're certainly having some mania call pas, howie, because they're realizing this election the american people were at the kitchen table dealing with inflation, crime, migrants overwhelming their communities like springfield, ohio, while the democrats were off on some weird, woke planet. the can disconnect was huge.

there's a reason why trump's transgender prisoner ad was so effective. even aoc admitted that. it's because gender ideology for millions of americans was a luxury issue, and for millions more it was toxic especially on women's sports and the identity politics fell flat because of the historic the tick inroads trump made with -- inroads -- historic inroads trump made with hispanics and minorities. howard: lucy caldwell, because this mean anything if ruling party -- is there a reason kamala harris never broke with joe biden on any the of these things? >> i think anyone who is reaching conclusions and prognosticating so soon after the election, literally, we're still getting returns in system -- there are votes still being counted, right? we still have races where we're not even sure who the winner will be. we don't have district-level data. it is too early to reach a conclusion about exactly what happened -- howard: but donald trump is

putting his government in place. >> we're talking about operatives and strategists saying this is what the democratic party should be moving forward. yes, donald trump won the election, no question. i'm saying we don't know exactly what was motivating people. we have very limb -- limited data in terms of exit polls. each though reply -- do republicans massively shellacked democrats across the country, they also in system places in red states voted for liberal policies. in alaska and missouri they passed minimum wage increases, paid family leave. so there's incumbency, this is the fact that harris is a black woman. we don't know yet what was going on, and we should not say we have certain certainty because we don't. howard: the question i would ask, caroline, is whether or not liberals in the immediate that are really -- media are really serious about this or just paying lip service. given the democrats are powerless now, could this take many years to change? >> well, howie, i will say there's nothing inconclusive about a sweeping trifecta across

the nation. and we have the can exit polling data -- the exit polling data this showed gender ideology was not, in fact, a motivating issue, but it certainly could have deterred a lot of independent-thinking voters or from voting for the democratic ticket because that wasn't what they were preoccupied with. they were preoccupied with feeding their a family and make -- making shoo that their families were safe and had a future in this country. gen-z were concerned with homeownership. the gender ideology obsession was not relevant in the minds of voters, so there has to be a reevaluation on the part of media about what they focus on. i think they're realizing that their power has diminished dramatically because of alternative outlets like joe rogan, like the comedy universe that reaches not only young people, but young people and young men who turned out in droves -- howard: since you brought up joe rogan, the financial times reports that a top harris adviser, jen palmieri, said there was a backlash within some of our progressive staff that

didn't want her to be on it, lucy. i think that was a huge mistake. >> yeah, it probably was a mistake. but i think the person who benefits from this conversation of the should she, shouldn't she go on joe proprotaliban is joe rogan. maybe donald trump should have gone on call her daddy. he was invited -- howard: she wanted to win men. and by the way, rogan says she didn't want to talk about marijuana legalization. he thought that was hilarious. if you set enough preconditions, you can't get that kind of forum, that a platform. >> yeah. i don't think that a politicians elected candidates, whatever, should be able to set conditions around interviews, but there are some things that we mow that were reasonable logistics requests like she said i can't come to austined to do the interview, i'm in the middle of this campaign, we're in the final weeks. that's reasonable. howard: okay. well, it's been a good campaign for joe rogan. still to come, elon musk hanging with donald trump, promoting him on x. how much power does this guyl i

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howard: elon musk has been campaigning with president trump and just last night went to the ultimate fighting championship with him, rfk, kid rock and joe rogan. louis city, he's heading up -- lucy, he's heading up the government commission for waste and abuse with. and at the same time, he has billions of dollars in contracts with the federal government and wants more. isn't that kind of a walking conflict of interest. >> it is a conflict of interest. his companies get billions of dollars -- howe now spacex, yeah. >> but what you said, it's a commission. it's called the the president of government -- the department of government efficiency. a new department is not being created. the thing i think is funniest with about this is that trump is

doing something very, very artful here which is he is sidelining elon musk. elon musk thinks he's a man of great influence over the trump administration, and it's like being sent to the kids' table. you and ramaswamy go over there -- howard: wait a second, wait a second. caroline, msnbc is calling him a co-president. world's richest man, most powerful private citizen ever, and if he proposes eliminating hundreds of counties, president trump probably wants to pursue that. >> louis e city is correct that it's not a department of the executive branch, it's a run of the mill, outside commission. it gives recommendations to congress that can be ignored if they want. they have no teeth. but, look, if he proposes cuts the agencies that are actually wasting taxpayer collars, that should not be controversial, howie. the new york post compiled a list of all the nonsense we fund, russian cat experiments, drag queens in ec what corps.

did you know we're still spending $70 billion from fema on the pandemic which is over? this should not be controversial in the least. and if they really want to take ex-- extra the precautions, don't accept cuts to agencies that do business with elon musk's companies. so federal aviation administration and spacex, don't accept those. now howe i've never argued anything other than the government is bloated. but lucy, at the same time, a lot of high profile liberals are leaving x or threads for this start-up, blue sky. has he ruined the former twitter. >> well, he's dramatically remade twitter. he's dramatically remade twitter, and i think its audience may be different. i'm staying on twitter, and i will stay on. i think that, look, at the end of the day, yes, we are doing we're funding this thing and this public art, whatever. i came up in conservative think tanks. we have been doing that forever. that's how people talk. trump oversaw a massive increase mt. debt and deficit. is elon musk going to help him

be serious about this in probably not. howard: caroline, i can certainly understand why liberals wouldn't be comfortable on a social media web site run by trump's chief cheerleader. >> of it's not a bad thing to have counterprogramming. if we want to compare social media platforms, tiktok has many more millions of users than x, and it's.com can nate by liberals concern dominated. he inherited a company that blacklisted conservatives -- howard: we gotta go. >> so it's a good thing. howard: wish we had more time. that's it for this edition of "mediabuzz." i'm howard kurtz. you can subscribe to my daily podcast, media a buzz meter. we have a lot of fun there. you see the graphic. and it does seem to get a lot more attention these days than legacy media. we're back next sunday at 11 a.m. eastern. hope the see you then. ♪ ♪

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