May 23, 2024 • 22 mins
Buck Sexton is joined by author and podcaster Doug Brunt to discuss his new book, "The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel," and his podcast that delves into literary discussions with notable writers. They react to the viral interview between Megyn Kelly and Bill Maher, where Kelly fact-checked Maher on Hillary Clinton’s post-2016 election behavior. Kelly highlighted Clinton's questioning of Trump's legitimacy, a point Maher initially contested but conceded after Kelly presented specific quotes. Brunt praised Kelly's professionalism in handling the correction, while both speakers critiqued Maher's partial recognition of political realities and discussed the broader implications of ongoing legal battles on Trump’s political prospects.
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
You're listening to the Buck Sexton Show podcast, make sure
you subscribe to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app or
wherever you get your podcasts. I just watched a new
documentary called America's Last Election. You've got to go watch it.
It's produced by my friend, the legendary economist Porter Stansbury.
It details a new financial crisis that could be brewing
in America and the dangers it poses to millions of Americans.
(00:35):
How you work, where you live, how you plan for retirement.
Nothing may ever be the same. So make sure you
watch this new documentary while it's still online. Go to
Last Electiondocumentary dot com. That's Last Electiondocumentary dot com. I went,
I watched the whole thing. I mean, Porter's a brilliant guy,
and he is he's got vision. I mean, he sees
what's coming. He sees what's coming for the markets and politics.
(00:57):
You think about this last election? Right? That's the documentary title.
Go a Last Electiondocumentary dot com. Paid for by Porter
and Company. Hey, everybody, welcome to the Buck Brief. First
time on the program. Doug Brunt is with us. He's
an author a podcaster. His latest book is The Mysterious
Case of Rudolph Diesel, Genius, Power and the Deception on
(01:19):
the eve of World War One. He's also got a
podcast dedicated what's the podcast about? Sounds cool?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Well, the podcast it actually stemmed from a book club
I used to be in with a bunch of other
writers like Lee Child and Nelson de Mill and Harlan
Covid and Aymore. Told me to get together once a
month and talk about books and have drinks. And I
was talking to some friends at Sirius XM and they're like,
this should be a show, but you should have these
guys on.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
So that's really what happens.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
I start every episode with a guest favorite cocktail, fix
the drink on set, and then we just talk about
books and the writing lifestyle and stuff like that. It's
a lot of fun. If there are writers out there
you want to get to know a little bit more about,
it's a good way to go.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
And it's funny. I was actually at a satyr recently
with my neighbors and someone asked me, you know, how
did you get into the CIA, And I started telling
them because it was completely my own. I have no
parents or you know, family ties to military, government services
anything like that. At all, and I said, honestly, probably
(02:17):
Tom Clancy novels. And they're like, wait really, And then
one of the there was a young man who's like
the neighbors who are friends with the neighbors of the
neighbor's kid, who's he's maybe thirteen or fourteen. I was like,
I'm gonna have to get you. He's like really, and
I said, yeah, I'll give you a Tom Clancy novel,
you know, and you could see like it just it
just opened this whole world to me. And then after
nine to eleven, I'm like, what am I gonna do?
I was like, I think I'm gonna do Jack Ryan
(02:38):
stuff joined the CIA, and sure enough, that's what I
nd up happening.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
So authors books are amazing.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
One of the few first editions that I have is
Hunt for Red October, which is by some it was
the Naval Press, you know, some small press like.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
That is just a great book, and credit is I
have a copy of it that I've inscribed to my
neighbor downstairs right now that I'm gonna be giving him
in about a week, because that was that was sort
of my original entrain to Jack Ryan. And then I
remember I read without Remorse and Dead of Honor and
some of all fear. I mean, you know, all the
basically all the ones that have since been made into movies.
But I was reading these as a kid, and the
(03:11):
two authors that really I think, I think I have
to say change my life. And I think I joined
the CIA because of Tom Clancy. You know, I was
a fifth grader I'm reading these books, or you know,
sixth grader or whatever it was. And the other one
would be actually Michael Crichton. I'm kind of a Michael
Crichton super fan. I know, everyone just knows him for
Jurassic Park. Are you a big Michael Crichton guy too? Yeah,
(03:34):
I mean I think he was married seven times, which
was a little a little sketch, but you know, no
one's perfect.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
I admire his whole career because he did so many
different things. Whatever he wanted to do he did. He
wrote fiction and non fiction for TV, and he was
always in the zeitgeist.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
You know.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Even Jurassic Park is largely about chaos theory, which was
very much in the zeitgeist at that time, but in
Japan taking over the world economically with Rising Sun, and
even disclosure was about workplace harassment long before people were
really talking about that.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
I love State of Fear, which is him taking the
whole climate change catastrophism to task. I thought it was
really interesting. I remember some early We're gonna get to
news of the day in a moment. Everybody, just hang on,
hang on, we're doing our own version of his dedicated
podcast now. But I remember I used to go back
and watch some of these interviews with with Crichton, and
I thought he was such an interesting guy on many levels.
(04:27):
Harvard trained MD, and I think he's the only person
that I've ever heard of who was the creator author
of the number one book, the number one movie, and
the number one TV show in America all at the
same time. The show Jurassic Park, the book Jurassic Park,
the movie, best selling book at the time best obviously
(04:47):
the biggest movie in the country at the time, was
a huge box office smash, and then er was the
most popular TV show I think in the same year.
So it was pretty reminded too young.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Who knows what he would have been doing by now.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yeah, I know it's a shame he got you know,
he got nailed by by cancer. But I I just
remember him in I think it was a Charlie Rose
interview which you can probably still see on YouTube, and
and he, Charlie Rose, is looking at them and you
can tell Mike he was such a big name and
clearly a very very smart guy, very very successful guy.
And Charlie Rose when Michael Crichton says global warming, climate change,
(05:23):
whatever you want to call it, it's happening. It's not
a big deal, it doesn't really matter. Everyone needs to
calm down. I mean, that's a truncated version. Charlie Rose
was like having a fit. He just couldn't and this
is this is twenty years ago. He's just like, but what,
he goes, I read the data, I know the data.
All these scientists who are telling you about the data,
they actually all their models are crap. Like he just
gets into it a little bit, and he tries to
(05:44):
be very He's even like I like al Gore, which
you know, dubious, but he's like, I like al Gore,
He's wrong about everything. And I'm just like, more people
need to see this interview.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
But anyway, I'm going to go find that on YouTube
after this.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Yeah, no, it's it's it's solid, it's solid. He really
makes his way through it. But anyway, those two authors
changed my life. And you know, I wanted to ask you, Uh,
maybe I'll ask you a little bit more about your book,
The Case of a Mysterious Case of Rudolph Diesel, just
because I'm in the process of writing a nonfiction book
right now, and I'm actually in the edit stage right
so I've already handed in my draft and I'll take
(06:18):
any any wisdom. Yeah, I'm getting notes about I'll take
any wisdom or advice about about getting through the process.
But first up where we're Oh, yes, so Megan Kelly.
She's a fabulous radio host and podcaster and also happens
to be your wife, and she is all over the
intrawebs right now with the clips of her and Bill
(06:41):
maher going back and forth. What do you think about
about the exchanges that they had and what were the
issues where you feel like, wow, Bill needs to brush
up a little bit.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
It was amazing.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I mean, she, first of all, she can fact she
she knows her stuff, She's steeped in the news. She's
the best prepared person out there. And so they had
this interview where he started making all these factual misstatements
and she would correct him. You know the thing you
come away after watching him. She's so classy, she's so smart,
she's so prepared. She could have just clubbed him like
(07:13):
a harp seal, but she doesn't. She just corrects him.
But it happened again and again. You know, she was saying, well,
you know, Hillary Clinton was the first to actually deny elections,
and bel Mar's like, she was never she never denied
the election. She conceded right away as well. She conceded,
and then she went and spent four years denying the election. Yeah, validity.
(07:36):
And he goes, no, she didn't, and she says she did.
He goes, well, tell me exactly what she said, and
she said, she said exactly that. You know, It's just
there's this awkward pause as he realizes he actually doesn't
have the facts. And it happened again and again.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Hillary Clinton, of course, is the original election denier. I'm
sure you voted for her in sixteen.
Speaker 5 (07:54):
Well, she's not an election denier.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
She absolutely was the og election denier.
Speaker 5 (07:59):
She first of all, she came out before the sun
had risen to concede the election to.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Trump, and then spent the next four years saying he
was illegitimate, he was an illegitimate president.
Speaker 5 (08:11):
She okay, well, first of all saying she didn't say
he was an illegitimate Well, she did. You tell me
exactly what she said.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
She said those exact words repeatedly.
Speaker 5 (08:21):
Okay, I mean she conceded the election. Whether whether you're
interpreting her disappointment at losing it as the same thing
as Trump not conceding it, I don't know that that's
where you're getting it from. But again, it's a tremendous
false equivalency. You could ask Hillary Clinton right now who
won that election. She will tell you Donald Trump won.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
Now she knows she has to because of what she
has she done.
Speaker 5 (08:46):
Came out that night, she suit and conceded the election.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
And then spent the next four years trying to convince
us it was not legitimate.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
You know, she she's very gracious to her guests, so
she could have just gone for the juggular and but
she doesn't do that. And and you know, her audience
is smart. Your audience is smart. Everyone watching can see
this and recognize that Bill Maher has embarrassed himself, and
so she doesn't need to you.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
So can I tell you my frustration? Yeah, My frustration
with with Bill Maher is I think he sort of
sees what's really going on a little bit in the country. Now.
He's been on the wrong side of things for a
long time. He's not wrong on everything. He's been good
on some issues for a while. But I think he
sees more and more of the truth, but he won't really,
(09:37):
he won't really like fully commit to the truth. It's
always this game of, well, you guys are right about
a few things, but I still hate Trump and he's
still going to destroy the country, and.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
That's the main thing. That's the main thing.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I think Bill Maher has come around on some of
the cultural issues, you know, I think some of the
trans things and some of the race things. He's he's
not with the far left on that. He's much more moderate.
But you you hit the nail on the head. He's
he really has lost his marbles over Trump to the
point that he can no longer call balls and strikes
and and so every you know, not everything Trump does
(10:10):
is bad, but he's unable to sort of see anything
around that with a level head.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
So he's just kind of well, I can tell you,
you know, it's personal with him, and it's personal with
him and Trump right, same way that it is with
Joe Scarborough. Same thing. These guys have had interactions. And
I know this, Like you know, I think that the
public has this perception that in media we're generally like
assessing each other as talents or voices or political pundits
or whatever it is. But sometimes we actually know each other,
(10:39):
and like you know, there's some people who we just
don't get along with very well. Like for example, when
I was on Megan Show recently, she brought up Christine Noam.
Christinoam is somebody who I have interacted with in the past,
you know her and I have interacted. Christine Nome lies
and will lie to my face, and I don't like that. Right,
So whenever someone's asking like, well, you sound like you're
(11:00):
kind of negative about you know this or that that
she's done, I'm like, well, yeah, I'll tell you the truth.
Like I think she's a liar, and I think she's,
you know, somebody that shouldn't be in a position of authority.
Joe Garborough and uh and Bill Maher are two guys
who have long standing like call it long standing beef
whatever you want to say. With Donald Trump and I
think it it completely blinds them to the issues of
(11:22):
like broader politics right now in a lot of ways
because they can't fully commit, because fully committing means voting
for Donald Trump, right. You know, you know what I'm saying,
Like they like he'll say, oh, I disagree with them
of the transitionue there. You know, the BLM stuff was
was not what it was supposed to be or you know,
it was terrible for the country. I say, it's terrible
for the country. You know, Biden is like a desiccated
uh you know, old buffoon. I mean the whole thing.
(11:43):
But he's still going to vote for Joe Biden, do
you know what I mean? Like, it's not there's not
really a conversion there.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
I agree, And I think, yeah, I think with mar
and Trump there's even some litigation and.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
You know, yes Orangutang lawsuit.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Yeah, so I think there's a personal thing, but there
might even be something more strategic than that when you
look at what for example, what joy Behar was saying.
She had mar on you Mars out there doing this
book to her and he went on the view and
joy by Hair was saying, well, I really hesitate to
say anything negative about Joe Biden, and I think conversely
probably feels anything positive about Donald Trump because she's worried
(12:19):
about any swing voters, you know, anyone on a fence.
She's like, I feel like if I hit Biden, that
might put some voters over to Trump. So it's strategic
on hard part. She can recognize when Biden has massive
gas or does something really stupid, she just don't want
to talk about it because she doesn't want to, you know,
have that influence the electorate.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Yeah, well, hold on one seck. We're gonna come back
to all things trump world and the news cycle and
everything else in just a second. But you know, this
one really hits home for me. There's one guy out
there who has shaped my view of politics and economics
almost as much as my dad, and it's Porter Stansbury.
He's been a friend of mine for a decade and
for the last twenty five years he has predicted almost
(12:58):
every major economic and financial move. He has produced a
documentary that you absolutely have to see, and I think
the title of it tells you what he's thinking. He
calls it America's Last Election. It details how there's a
new financial crisis growing. Look at the thirty four trillion
dollars of debt we have and the dangers that could
pose to your finances and your future. So if you
(13:19):
own any stocks, bonds, or just have cash in the bank,
or own your home, you've got to watch this documentary.
Go to Last Election Plot dot com. That's Last Election
Plot dot com paid for by Porter and Company. Doug.
What do you think happens if there's a guilty verdict
in New York against Donald Trump?
Speaker 3 (13:39):
I don't know, in terms of the outcome of the election.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Yeah, I'm in terms of the politics, I don't think
anyone knows if they're worth they think the punishment's going
to be that's crazy. But I'm just saying if there's
a guilty verdict doesn't really matter. You think Trump still
stays ahead in the polls.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
I think it's kind of baked into the polls already.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
I think I think people are you know, anyone sort
of watching or even even loosely watching just sort of
you know, kind of sees things for what it is.
The actual guilty verdict, you know, that is a difference.
But I just feel like it's sort of baked into
the numbers already.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Well, I also feel like a guilty verdict for a
thing that is bad gilty. If someone says, this guy's
guilty of armed robbery, or like, this guy's guilty of,
you know, hitting an old lady over the head with
a lead pipe to steal her bag, you go, oh,
a guilty verdict on business records that are a misdemeanor
(14:32):
but maybe a felony for an unnamed federal election issue
that they don't even tell us what it is that
he's not even been convicted for. I mean, it is
the vaguest, crappiest criminal case I've ever seen in my life.
I've actually never seen a flimsier criminal indictment. And I
even have Democrat DA friends in New York who worked
at the DA's office who will admit that, like they
(14:52):
can't say it out loud because they'll get fired, but
they know this is garbage.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
I think enough people know that and have been talking
about that. And the Fanny Willis stuff, which is a
totally separate thing but was so absurd and got so
much national attention that I think in the minds of
a lot of people, these are all sort of lumped
together as these things that are clawed together by his
political opponents to come after him, Like, you know, you're
really supposed to prosecute crime in America, not prosecute people.
(15:19):
So but we've decided to sort of prosecute this person
as opposed to any particular crimes.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
And so I think people see that.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Yeah, And I always remind everyone it's it couldn't be
more obvious that these were all prosecutions that were held
for political impact, right, meaning that they could have been
brought much sooner. There's in the case of New York,
there's nothing. In fact, it's past the Statute of Limitations.
It was past the Statute of Limitations. They created a
pretext to extend the Statute of Limitations, and then within
(15:48):
the new Statute of Limitations waited until the election year.
I mean, so it's all very obvious. And so I
think they've created a I think they've created an environment
where even if you recognize some of Trump's flaws and like,
I find Trump again, I know him, right, I mean,
I'm sure you've dealt with the You've met Trump in
the past.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Gave me a handshake one time, which I was ticked
off about. Well, what shaper he'll like sort of.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Reach out he reaches way out and then he pulls
you in. You know, he sort of jerks you off
your feet.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
He gave you one of those just oh yeah, it was.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
This is years ago.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
This is probably twenty fourteen or something. We were at
Madison Square Garden for a hockey.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Game or something. Him briefly there, and you know, it
actually wasn't that.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
I did see him there once, but it was at
the Heeraldo Rivera was doing the Celebrity Apprentice there too.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
Yeah, that's years years ago.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
But yeah, he's sort of famous for having his tactic
to sort of get you off your game a little bit.
So he reaches far out, but he braces himself and
then when you shake his hand, he pulls you so
you come like sort of fumbling into him a little bit.
And afterward I was like, did you see what he did?
That was so ridiculous? And then of course I looked
for it on TV and you see it every once
in a while.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Last time I saw him, he gave me a vanilla
milkshake that I didn't even ask for, so I was, oh,
that's nice. He's got yeah, exactly, he's got different, different,
different strokes with different folks.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
But I think there's a there's a firm, you know,
get a wide base. The next time you shake his hand,
be ready for it.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Okay, But obviously going to say I think that there's
a case to be made for people voting for Trump
just as a protest vote against all the stuff that
they're doing, because the stuff that they're doing is completely
outrageous and it's so bad. I say this. I know
it's easier said than you know, you can't prove it, right,
but if they were doing this to a Democrat, I'd
be like, guys, we can't do this. We we can't.
(17:36):
We can't have a republican administration overseeing effectively. I know
there's saying, oh, it's all separate, that's nonsense for criminal
indictments of their chief political opponent, like this is just
this is Honestly, if I was still in the CIA,
we'd be looking at some country doing this like how
long before the coup? You know what I mean. It's
not good.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Yeah, yeah, I do.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Think it's our you know, we don't like to see
our former presidents prosecuted like this, especially on these kind
of things. I think it probably has outraged a lot
of people and and may backfire, you know on Democrats.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Do you ever go shooting? You a gun? Guy?
Speaker 4 (18:10):
I have?
Speaker 2 (18:11):
You know, I grew up my grandfather and my dad
were big duck hunters, and actually my grandfather even was
a bit of a deer hunter too, although I never
did that, but I did go duck hunting a lot
as a kid. So, you know, reading the blind and
then putting out the decoys in the dark of night,
waiting for the sun to come up in a freezing
February morning in New Jersey.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
So you can do a lot of that as a kid.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
It's been a while though, Well, I actually don't do much.
I don't do hunting, but I do like tactical training
and a range. And if you ever make your way
down to South Florida, we'll take you out the section. Brothers.
We all we've got arsenals and we go shooting all
the time. We've got like silencers and all kinds of
fun stuff. Short air, right, oh I love that. Oh yeah,
oh yeah. But we'll get you out on a on
a day where you can shoot some Barrack Greek Arsenal too.
(18:51):
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(19:36):
do you want to do? You want to talk about
your You're working on another I've got the mysterious case
of Rudolph Diesel here and it's a very it strikes
me as like a very German name every time I
say it. I want to be like Rudolph Diesel. Uh.
But yeah, But do you want to talk about your
next project. What are you working on right now?
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Well, the next project is I haven't announced what it
is exactly, but I will tell you it's from that
same period of time. The Diesel Book is the quarter
century before World War One in Europe, and it's about
Rudolph Diesel, who invented diesel engine and he disappears in
the EVA World War One. Right if the diesel engine,
you know, head emergency the only way to operate a
submarine or a U boat.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
So the Kaiser was very.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Interested in Rudolph Diesel, and he was still the sort
of main guy who could make a diesel engine work
for a U boat. He disappeared. There are all sorts
of murder theories about what happened to him. And I'm
staying that same time period and it'll be the same
kind of thing. It's things you don't know about people
you don't.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
If you had to give somebody, if you had a
friend who was like, oh, I'm going on vacation for
a week, I can only bring one book, forget about Kendalls,
only bring one book, and I just want to really
enjoy the read. Nonfiction, I don't do it. I don't
talk of fiction here. Nonfiction what would be your recommendation
for somebody, I mean, just like your your what is
(20:56):
your can't miss? I think you'll enjoy this nonfiction book
other than your own. Of course, they should already have
a copy of The Mysterious Case of Rudolph Diesel.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Well they should. I mean people are saying it's the
best best book of the year, of course Diesel. Outside
of that, I would go back to an early book
by Barbara Tuckman. If you've got vacation, you don't want
a big doorstop, there's one called The Zimmerman Telegram.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
By Barbara tuckle First World War.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Yeah, and it sort of gets to it wasn't the
Lustina so much that got us into the war. That
happened years before we got in it.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
It was the Germans trying to get the Mexicans to
open up another front on our doorstep.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
That's kind of a rough one, exactly right, Yeah, And
then British Intel intercepts it, and so rather than the
Germans getting Mexico to come after us and keep us
busy over on our hemisphere, we intercept this thing and
we jump in. So and she's just a beautiful writer,
and it's a great book and it's a fairly short
one I have on my shelf right here.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
It is a bit of a doorstop, but I have
a distant mirror. I haven't read it.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
That's great, yeah, or fourteenth century, I can't remember. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
I just ripped through Rubicon, which I feel like everyone's read,
and this one's right next to it, so I think
that's next on the list, So I will get to
it after I get to the mysterious case of it.
Off diesel, Doug. Fun to hang out with you, man,
I appreciate it. Good luck on the next project. We'll
have you all when you want to talk about it.
And you know, next time you have like a you know,
cigars and I don't smoke cigars, but makes it sound cooler.
(22:23):
Cigars and book club meeting, you know, let me know
if i'm if I'm in town, I'll swing by.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
That would be great. Whiskey. How about that whiskey that
I can do.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
I can do whiskey for sure, Doug Brunt. Everybody check
out his latest and subscribe to dedicated podcast. There you go,
Thank you, Thanks Bot
You're listening to the Buck Sexton Show podcast, make sure
you subscribe to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app or
wherever you get your podcasts. I just watched a new
documentary called America's Last Election. You've got to go watch it.
It's produced by my friend, the legendary economist Porter Stansbury.
It details a new financial crisis that could be brewing
in America and the dangers it poses to millions of Americans.
(00:35):
How you work, where you live, how you plan for retirement.
Nothing may ever be the same. So make sure you
watch this new documentary while it's still online. Go to
Last Electiondocumentary dot com. That's Last Electiondocumentary dot com. I went,
I watched the whole thing. I mean, Porter's a brilliant guy,
and he is he's got vision. I mean, he sees
what's coming. He sees what's coming for the markets and politics.
(00:57):
You think about this last election? Right? That's the documentary title.
Go a Last Electiondocumentary dot com. Paid for by Porter
and Company. Hey, everybody, welcome to the Buck Brief. First
time on the program. Doug Brunt is with us. He's
an author a podcaster. His latest book is The Mysterious
Case of Rudolph Diesel, Genius, Power and the Deception on
(01:19):
the eve of World War One. He's also got a
podcast dedicated what's the podcast about? Sounds cool?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Well, the podcast it actually stemmed from a book club
I used to be in with a bunch of other
writers like Lee Child and Nelson de Mill and Harlan
Covid and Aymore. Told me to get together once a
month and talk about books and have drinks. And I
was talking to some friends at Sirius XM and they're like,
this should be a show, but you should have these
guys on.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
So that's really what happens.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
I start every episode with a guest favorite cocktail, fix
the drink on set, and then we just talk about
books and the writing lifestyle and stuff like that. It's
a lot of fun. If there are writers out there
you want to get to know a little bit more about,
it's a good way to go.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
And it's funny. I was actually at a satyr recently
with my neighbors and someone asked me, you know, how
did you get into the CIA, And I started telling
them because it was completely my own. I have no
parents or you know, family ties to military, government services
anything like that. At all, and I said, honestly, probably
(02:17):
Tom Clancy novels. And they're like, wait really, And then
one of the there was a young man who's like
the neighbors who are friends with the neighbors of the
neighbor's kid, who's he's maybe thirteen or fourteen. I was like,
I'm gonna have to get you. He's like really, and
I said, yeah, I'll give you a Tom Clancy novel,
you know, and you could see like it just it
just opened this whole world to me. And then after
nine to eleven, I'm like, what am I gonna do?
I was like, I think I'm gonna do Jack Ryan
(02:38):
stuff joined the CIA, and sure enough, that's what I
nd up happening.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
So authors books are amazing.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
One of the few first editions that I have is
Hunt for Red October, which is by some it was
the Naval Press, you know, some small press like.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
That is just a great book, and credit is I
have a copy of it that I've inscribed to my
neighbor downstairs right now that I'm gonna be giving him
in about a week, because that was that was sort
of my original entrain to Jack Ryan. And then I
remember I read without Remorse and Dead of Honor and
some of all fear. I mean, you know, all the
basically all the ones that have since been made into movies.
But I was reading these as a kid, and the
(03:11):
two authors that really I think, I think I have
to say change my life. And I think I joined
the CIA because of Tom Clancy. You know, I was
a fifth grader I'm reading these books, or you know,
sixth grader or whatever it was. And the other one
would be actually Michael Crichton. I'm kind of a Michael
Crichton super fan. I know, everyone just knows him for
Jurassic Park. Are you a big Michael Crichton guy too? Yeah,
(03:34):
I mean I think he was married seven times, which
was a little a little sketch, but you know, no
one's perfect.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
I admire his whole career because he did so many
different things. Whatever he wanted to do he did. He
wrote fiction and non fiction for TV, and he was
always in the zeitgeist.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
You know.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Even Jurassic Park is largely about chaos theory, which was
very much in the zeitgeist at that time, but in
Japan taking over the world economically with Rising Sun, and
even disclosure was about workplace harassment long before people were
really talking about that.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
I love State of Fear, which is him taking the
whole climate change catastrophism to task. I thought it was
really interesting. I remember some early We're gonna get to
news of the day in a moment. Everybody, just hang on,
hang on, we're doing our own version of his dedicated
podcast now. But I remember I used to go back
and watch some of these interviews with with Crichton, and
I thought he was such an interesting guy on many levels.
(04:27):
Harvard trained MD, and I think he's the only person
that I've ever heard of who was the creator author
of the number one book, the number one movie, and
the number one TV show in America all at the
same time. The show Jurassic Park, the book Jurassic Park,
the movie, best selling book at the time best obviously
(04:47):
the biggest movie in the country at the time, was
a huge box office smash, and then er was the
most popular TV show I think in the same year.
So it was pretty reminded too young.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Who knows what he would have been doing by now.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yeah, I know it's a shame he got you know,
he got nailed by by cancer. But I I just
remember him in I think it was a Charlie Rose
interview which you can probably still see on YouTube, and
and he, Charlie Rose, is looking at them and you
can tell Mike he was such a big name and
clearly a very very smart guy, very very successful guy.
And Charlie Rose when Michael Crichton says global warming, climate change,
(05:23):
whatever you want to call it, it's happening. It's not
a big deal, it doesn't really matter. Everyone needs to
calm down. I mean, that's a truncated version. Charlie Rose
was like having a fit. He just couldn't and this
is this is twenty years ago. He's just like, but what,
he goes, I read the data, I know the data.
All these scientists who are telling you about the data,
they actually all their models are crap. Like he just
gets into it a little bit, and he tries to
(05:44):
be very He's even like I like al Gore, which
you know, dubious, but he's like, I like al Gore,
He's wrong about everything. And I'm just like, more people
need to see this interview.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
But anyway, I'm going to go find that on YouTube
after this.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Yeah, no, it's it's it's solid, it's solid. He really
makes his way through it. But anyway, those two authors
changed my life. And you know, I wanted to ask you, Uh,
maybe I'll ask you a little bit more about your book,
The Case of a Mysterious Case of Rudolph Diesel, just
because I'm in the process of writing a nonfiction book
right now, and I'm actually in the edit stage right
so I've already handed in my draft and I'll take
(06:18):
any any wisdom. Yeah, I'm getting notes about I'll take
any wisdom or advice about about getting through the process.
But first up where we're Oh, yes, so Megan Kelly.
She's a fabulous radio host and podcaster and also happens
to be your wife, and she is all over the
intrawebs right now with the clips of her and Bill
(06:41):
maher going back and forth. What do you think about
about the exchanges that they had and what were the
issues where you feel like, wow, Bill needs to brush
up a little bit.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
It was amazing.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I mean, she, first of all, she can fact she
she knows her stuff, She's steeped in the news. She's
the best prepared person out there. And so they had
this interview where he started making all these factual misstatements
and she would correct him. You know the thing you
come away after watching him. She's so classy, she's so smart,
she's so prepared. She could have just clubbed him like
(07:13):
a harp seal, but she doesn't. She just corrects him.
But it happened again and again. You know, she was saying, well,
you know, Hillary Clinton was the first to actually deny elections,
and bel Mar's like, she was never she never denied
the election. She conceded right away as well. She conceded,
and then she went and spent four years denying the election. Yeah, validity.
(07:36):
And he goes, no, she didn't, and she says she did.
He goes, well, tell me exactly what she said, and
she said, she said exactly that. You know, It's just
there's this awkward pause as he realizes he actually doesn't
have the facts. And it happened again and again.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Hillary Clinton, of course, is the original election denier. I'm
sure you voted for her in sixteen.
Speaker 5 (07:54):
Well, she's not an election denier.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
She absolutely was the og election denier.
Speaker 5 (07:59):
She first of all, she came out before the sun
had risen to concede the election to.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Trump, and then spent the next four years saying he
was illegitimate, he was an illegitimate president.
Speaker 5 (08:11):
She okay, well, first of all saying she didn't say
he was an illegitimate Well, she did. You tell me
exactly what she said.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
She said those exact words repeatedly.
Speaker 5 (08:21):
Okay, I mean she conceded the election. Whether whether you're
interpreting her disappointment at losing it as the same thing
as Trump not conceding it, I don't know that that's
where you're getting it from. But again, it's a tremendous
false equivalency. You could ask Hillary Clinton right now who
won that election. She will tell you Donald Trump won.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
Now she knows she has to because of what she
has she done.
Speaker 5 (08:46):
Came out that night, she suit and conceded the election.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
And then spent the next four years trying to convince
us it was not legitimate.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
You know, she she's very gracious to her guests, so
she could have just gone for the juggular and but
she doesn't do that. And and you know, her audience
is smart. Your audience is smart. Everyone watching can see
this and recognize that Bill Maher has embarrassed himself, and
so she doesn't need to you.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
So can I tell you my frustration? Yeah, My frustration
with with Bill Maher is I think he sort of
sees what's really going on a little bit in the country. Now.
He's been on the wrong side of things for a
long time. He's not wrong on everything. He's been good
on some issues for a while. But I think he
sees more and more of the truth, but he won't really,
(09:37):
he won't really like fully commit to the truth. It's
always this game of, well, you guys are right about
a few things, but I still hate Trump and he's
still going to destroy the country, and.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
That's the main thing. That's the main thing.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I think Bill Maher has come around on some of
the cultural issues, you know, I think some of the
trans things and some of the race things. He's he's
not with the far left on that. He's much more moderate.
But you you hit the nail on the head. He's
he really has lost his marbles over Trump to the
point that he can no longer call balls and strikes
and and so every you know, not everything Trump does
(10:10):
is bad, but he's unable to sort of see anything
around that with a level head.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
So he's just kind of well, I can tell you,
you know, it's personal with him, and it's personal with
him and Trump right, same way that it is with
Joe Scarborough. Same thing. These guys have had interactions. And
I know this, Like you know, I think that the
public has this perception that in media we're generally like
assessing each other as talents or voices or political pundits
or whatever it is. But sometimes we actually know each other,
(10:39):
and like you know, there's some people who we just
don't get along with very well. Like for example, when
I was on Megan Show recently, she brought up Christine Noam.
Christinoam is somebody who I have interacted with in the past,
you know her and I have interacted. Christine Nome lies
and will lie to my face, and I don't like that. Right,
So whenever someone's asking like, well, you sound like you're
(11:00):
kind of negative about you know this or that that
she's done, I'm like, well, yeah, I'll tell you the truth.
Like I think she's a liar, and I think she's,
you know, somebody that shouldn't be in a position of authority.
Joe Garborough and uh and Bill Maher are two guys
who have long standing like call it long standing beef
whatever you want to say. With Donald Trump and I
think it it completely blinds them to the issues of
(11:22):
like broader politics right now in a lot of ways
because they can't fully commit, because fully committing means voting
for Donald Trump, right. You know, you know what I'm saying,
Like they like he'll say, oh, I disagree with them
of the transitionue there. You know, the BLM stuff was
was not what it was supposed to be or you know,
it was terrible for the country. I say, it's terrible
for the country. You know, Biden is like a desiccated
uh you know, old buffoon. I mean the whole thing.
(11:43):
But he's still going to vote for Joe Biden, do
you know what I mean? Like, it's not there's not
really a conversion there.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
I agree, And I think, yeah, I think with mar
and Trump there's even some litigation and.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
You know, yes Orangutang lawsuit.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Yeah, so I think there's a personal thing, but there
might even be something more strategic than that when you
look at what for example, what joy Behar was saying.
She had mar on you Mars out there doing this
book to her and he went on the view and
joy by Hair was saying, well, I really hesitate to
say anything negative about Joe Biden, and I think conversely
probably feels anything positive about Donald Trump because she's worried
(12:19):
about any swing voters, you know, anyone on a fence.
She's like, I feel like if I hit Biden, that
might put some voters over to Trump. So it's strategic
on hard part. She can recognize when Biden has massive
gas or does something really stupid, she just don't want
to talk about it because she doesn't want to, you know,
have that influence the electorate.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Yeah, well, hold on one seck. We're gonna come back
to all things trump world and the news cycle and
everything else in just a second. But you know, this
one really hits home for me. There's one guy out
there who has shaped my view of politics and economics
almost as much as my dad, and it's Porter Stansbury.
He's been a friend of mine for a decade and
for the last twenty five years he has predicted almost
(12:58):
every major economic and financial move. He has produced a
documentary that you absolutely have to see, and I think
the title of it tells you what he's thinking. He
calls it America's Last Election. It details how there's a
new financial crisis growing. Look at the thirty four trillion
dollars of debt we have and the dangers that could
pose to your finances and your future. So if you
(13:19):
own any stocks, bonds, or just have cash in the bank,
or own your home, you've got to watch this documentary.
Go to Last Election Plot dot com. That's Last Election
Plot dot com paid for by Porter and Company. Doug.
What do you think happens if there's a guilty verdict
in New York against Donald Trump?
Speaker 3 (13:39):
I don't know, in terms of the outcome of the election.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Yeah, I'm in terms of the politics, I don't think
anyone knows if they're worth they think the punishment's going
to be that's crazy. But I'm just saying if there's
a guilty verdict doesn't really matter. You think Trump still
stays ahead in the polls.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
I think it's kind of baked into the polls already.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
I think I think people are you know, anyone sort
of watching or even even loosely watching just sort of
you know, kind of sees things for what it is.
The actual guilty verdict, you know, that is a difference.
But I just feel like it's sort of baked into
the numbers already.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Well, I also feel like a guilty verdict for a
thing that is bad gilty. If someone says, this guy's
guilty of armed robbery, or like, this guy's guilty of,
you know, hitting an old lady over the head with
a lead pipe to steal her bag, you go, oh,
a guilty verdict on business records that are a misdemeanor
(14:32):
but maybe a felony for an unnamed federal election issue
that they don't even tell us what it is that
he's not even been convicted for. I mean, it is
the vaguest, crappiest criminal case I've ever seen in my life.
I've actually never seen a flimsier criminal indictment. And I
even have Democrat DA friends in New York who worked
at the DA's office who will admit that, like they
(14:52):
can't say it out loud because they'll get fired, but
they know this is garbage.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
I think enough people know that and have been talking
about that. And the Fanny Willis stuff, which is a
totally separate thing but was so absurd and got so
much national attention that I think in the minds of
a lot of people, these are all sort of lumped
together as these things that are clawed together by his
political opponents to come after him, Like, you know, you're
really supposed to prosecute crime in America, not prosecute people.
(15:19):
So but we've decided to sort of prosecute this person
as opposed to any particular crimes.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
And so I think people see that.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Yeah, And I always remind everyone it's it couldn't be
more obvious that these were all prosecutions that were held
for political impact, right, meaning that they could have been
brought much sooner. There's in the case of New York,
there's nothing. In fact, it's past the Statute of Limitations.
It was past the Statute of Limitations. They created a
pretext to extend the Statute of Limitations, and then within
(15:48):
the new Statute of Limitations waited until the election year.
I mean, so it's all very obvious. And so I
think they've created a I think they've created an environment
where even if you recognize some of Trump's flaws and like,
I find Trump again, I know him, right, I mean,
I'm sure you've dealt with the You've met Trump in
the past.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Gave me a handshake one time, which I was ticked
off about. Well, what shaper he'll like sort of.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Reach out he reaches way out and then he pulls
you in. You know, he sort of jerks you off
your feet.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
He gave you one of those just oh yeah, it was.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
This is years ago.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
This is probably twenty fourteen or something. We were at
Madison Square Garden for a hockey.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Game or something. Him briefly there, and you know, it
actually wasn't that.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
I did see him there once, but it was at
the Heeraldo Rivera was doing the Celebrity Apprentice there too.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
Yeah, that's years years ago.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
But yeah, he's sort of famous for having his tactic
to sort of get you off your game a little bit.
So he reaches far out, but he braces himself and
then when you shake his hand, he pulls you so
you come like sort of fumbling into him a little bit.
And afterward I was like, did you see what he did?
That was so ridiculous? And then of course I looked
for it on TV and you see it every once
in a while.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Last time I saw him, he gave me a vanilla
milkshake that I didn't even ask for, so I was, oh,
that's nice. He's got yeah, exactly, he's got different, different,
different strokes with different folks.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
But I think there's a there's a firm, you know,
get a wide base. The next time you shake his hand,
be ready for it.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Okay, But obviously going to say I think that there's
a case to be made for people voting for Trump
just as a protest vote against all the stuff that
they're doing, because the stuff that they're doing is completely
outrageous and it's so bad. I say this. I know
it's easier said than you know, you can't prove it, right,
but if they were doing this to a Democrat, I'd
be like, guys, we can't do this. We we can't.
(17:36):
We can't have a republican administration overseeing effectively. I know
there's saying, oh, it's all separate, that's nonsense for criminal
indictments of their chief political opponent, like this is just
this is Honestly, if I was still in the CIA,
we'd be looking at some country doing this like how
long before the coup? You know what I mean. It's
not good.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Yeah, yeah, I do.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Think it's our you know, we don't like to see
our former presidents prosecuted like this, especially on these kind
of things. I think it probably has outraged a lot
of people and and may backfire, you know on Democrats.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Do you ever go shooting? You a gun? Guy?
Speaker 4 (18:10):
I have?
Speaker 2 (18:11):
You know, I grew up my grandfather and my dad
were big duck hunters, and actually my grandfather even was
a bit of a deer hunter too, although I never
did that, but I did go duck hunting a lot
as a kid. So, you know, reading the blind and
then putting out the decoys in the dark of night,
waiting for the sun to come up in a freezing
February morning in New Jersey.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
So you can do a lot of that as a kid.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
It's been a while though, Well, I actually don't do much.
I don't do hunting, but I do like tactical training
and a range. And if you ever make your way
down to South Florida, we'll take you out the section. Brothers.
We all we've got arsenals and we go shooting all
the time. We've got like silencers and all kinds of
fun stuff. Short air, right, oh I love that. Oh yeah,
oh yeah. But we'll get you out on a on
a day where you can shoot some Barrack Greek Arsenal too.
(18:51):
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(19:13):
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(19:36):
do you want to do? You want to talk about
your You're working on another I've got the mysterious case
of Rudolph Diesel here and it's a very it strikes
me as like a very German name every time I
say it. I want to be like Rudolph Diesel. Uh.
But yeah, But do you want to talk about your
next project. What are you working on right now?
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Well, the next project is I haven't announced what it
is exactly, but I will tell you it's from that
same period of time. The Diesel Book is the quarter
century before World War One in Europe, and it's about
Rudolph Diesel, who invented diesel engine and he disappears in
the EVA World War One. Right if the diesel engine,
you know, head emergency the only way to operate a
submarine or a U boat.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
So the Kaiser was very.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Interested in Rudolph Diesel, and he was still the sort
of main guy who could make a diesel engine work
for a U boat. He disappeared. There are all sorts
of murder theories about what happened to him. And I'm
staying that same time period and it'll be the same
kind of thing. It's things you don't know about people
you don't.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
If you had to give somebody, if you had a
friend who was like, oh, I'm going on vacation for
a week, I can only bring one book, forget about Kendalls,
only bring one book, and I just want to really
enjoy the read. Nonfiction, I don't do it. I don't
talk of fiction here. Nonfiction what would be your recommendation
for somebody, I mean, just like your your what is
(20:56):
your can't miss? I think you'll enjoy this nonfiction book
other than your own. Of course, they should already have
a copy of The Mysterious Case of Rudolph Diesel.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Well they should. I mean people are saying it's the
best best book of the year, of course Diesel. Outside
of that, I would go back to an early book
by Barbara Tuckman. If you've got vacation, you don't want
a big doorstop, there's one called The Zimmerman Telegram.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
By Barbara tuckle First World War.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Yeah, and it sort of gets to it wasn't the
Lustina so much that got us into the war. That
happened years before we got in it.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
It was the Germans trying to get the Mexicans to
open up another front on our doorstep.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
That's kind of a rough one, exactly right, Yeah, And
then British Intel intercepts it, and so rather than the
Germans getting Mexico to come after us and keep us
busy over on our hemisphere, we intercept this thing and
we jump in. So and she's just a beautiful writer,
and it's a great book and it's a fairly short
one I have on my shelf right here.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
It is a bit of a doorstop, but I have
a distant mirror. I haven't read it.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
That's great, yeah, or fourteenth century, I can't remember. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
I just ripped through Rubicon, which I feel like everyone's read,
and this one's right next to it, so I think
that's next on the list, So I will get to
it after I get to the mysterious case of it.
Off diesel, Doug. Fun to hang out with you, man,
I appreciate it. Good luck on the next project. We'll
have you all when you want to talk about it.
And you know, next time you have like a you know,
cigars and I don't smoke cigars, but makes it sound cooler.
(22:23):
Cigars and book club meeting, you know, let me know
if i'm if I'm in town, I'll swing by.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
That would be great. Whiskey. How about that whiskey that
I can do.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
I can do whiskey for sure, Doug Brunt. Everybody check
out his latest and subscribe to dedicated podcast. There you go,
Thank you, Thanks Bot
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