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Episodes Episode #2964 Segments
NewsReaction Politics as Persuasion

Back to episode — Episode 2964 CWSA 09/20/25

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just said, is that a good point? No, it's not a good point. I started the whole thing by saying things could have two reasons. It doesn't have to be one reason. And the fact that it's also a good business thing does not excuse the free speech element of it. And we should be brushing back the free speech risk wherever we can. So let me say it a different way. I don't like to be on the other side o…

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d Ben Shapiro are solidly on the same side of a constitutional question, give up. Just give up. Just adopt their point of view because they're not going to be wrong if it's both of them and they're sure and it's not that complicated. They are right. They are right. Don't listen to me. I happen to agree with them. But don't take my side. I'm no constitutional scholar. I have no track record of being right on constitutional questions or anything like that.

Bill Maher, who's sort of our canary in the coal mine, every Saturday morning after his show, which by the way is a tremendous accomplishment, I don't think we give Bill Maher enough credit for what he's accomplished. That every Saturday morning both sides of the country, if you want to call it that, really want to talk about what he said. That's quite an accomplishment, right? We can disagree with him all day long, but the fact that we figure it's important that we deal with what he said, that's amazing. I mean that is really a career that worked out. So good job Bill Maher. Even when we disagree with you, you have created a powerful and important asset that's a benefit to the country in my opinion. And he went hard at the Republicans this time for violation of free speech or pressure on it. You could just call it pressure on it as opposed to a violation.

David Letterman appeared at some event hosted by The Atlantic and Jeffrey Goldberg was interviewing him. Goldberg's boss over there at The Atlantic. And so obviously Letterman was in favor of free speech and didn't want to see Kimmel fired, etc. Kind of what you'd expect. But here's the thing. I feel like Letterman was showing us the problem more than the solution. The problem was that Letterman apparently didn't know that he would lose all of his credibility with half of the country by appearing with The Atlantic and Jeffrey Goldberg. Do you all know that The Atlantic, it's hard to kn

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ow if they're even trying to be legitimate? They're sort of the MSNBC of print magazines and online too. So the fact that Letterman would even appear on stage with that entity does suggest he doesn't pay attention too much to politics or how the world works. So I would discount anything that Letterman says about anything. He's brilliant at what he did for a living, but I don't think he has any spe…

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