The Daly Weekly (5/30)
NewsNation, RFK Jr., Andy Levy, and more!
Hi everyone.
Welcome to this week’s Daly Weekly, where I answer whatever questions you throw at me.
Let’s get right to it…
Sir John: what do you think of the current efforts of getting humanitarian aid to the citizens of Gaza? It sounds like it’s somewhat successful, but I have to ask: how are the aid distributors able to keep HAMAS from confiscating it? HAMAS is threatening The Gazans who accept these handouts but that doesn’t seem to be stopping them. In fact it looks like a WIN for Israel in the P.R. battle. Do you think this will make HAMAS less sympathetic to the Gazans as well as the useful idiots in the west who give their knee-jerk support to any terrorist thugs as long as their skin color isn’t white, or are the left wing progs too damn dumb to care? — “Israel To The Rescue!” regards from The Emperor
Emperor, at the risk of once again sounding like I’m short-changing you, I haven’t been following the details of humanitarian aid to Gaza citizens (not recently, anyway). Generally speaking, Hamas has suffered enormous damage at the hands of the Israelis over the past year and a half, so that alone probably makes the distribution of aid to the broader public much easier than it used to be. That’s a good thing. Are Israel’s fierce critics going to change their minds over this? I won’t hold my breath.
Your opinions on News Nation, Bill O., and Dan Abrams? Chris Cuomo raises many good, valid topics and gives much food for thought on them from his heart. Elizabeth Vargas, Niall Stanage, et el. as well. Thoughts? — Sharon H.
Hi Sharon. From what little I’ve seen of News Nation, it certainly seems more fair than the other cable networks. That’s a good thing, of course, but I honestly haven’t watched enough of it to give you a strong opinion. Of the people you listed, I see Bill O’Reilly the most, albeit largely from online clips and quotes from his Instagram account. Based on those (which may not be a great representation), I disagree with him quite a bit, and think he’s far too accommodating when it comes to Trump.
It was reported this week that Health Secretary RFK Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” commission report was not only full of errors, but included 7 cited sources that were completely made up. Does this surprise you? — Alex D.
No, not at all. RFK Jr. has a very long history of fabricating supposed scientific findings. Everyone knew this when he was nominated and confirmed. The guy is a complete joke, who’s now dangerous because he’s been given power in this country to make serious health decisions for millions of Americans.
I’d be really interested to hear your take on what is actually working in the current political or social landscape, and what clearly isn’t. There’s no shortage of criticism flying around, but not a lot of practical reflection or forward-looking suggestions. What are you seeing that gives you some hope? Conversely, what do you see as obviously broken beyond the usual partisan headlines? There’s so much noise lately. If you flip on MSNBC or CNN, it feels like we’re standing on the brink of World War III. Then you turn to Fox and it’s all about projecting strength and control. Two realities, one country. I’m curious where you stand in that split—how do you interpret the messaging, and what’s really going on underneath it? — Charles M.
Hi Charles. In our political landscape, at least at the federal level, very little is working. The judiciary is, by far, our most functional branch of government right now. It would be great if all three branches were operating as they should, and taking their Constitutional roles seriously, but having at least one branch with its act mostly together gives me some hope. I also believe, generally speaking, that Americans are much better people, and far more responsible and mature, than those they elect to represent them in public office (thank God).
As for where I stand on the cable-news split: nowhere really. I don’t think we’re on the brink of World War 3, though I do think America projecting weakness on the world stage (like kowtowing to Vladimir Putin) makes us and our allies less safe. And I can only laugh at the slobbering, moussed-up sycophants on Fox News who carry on and on about strength and masculinity. I mean, come on. But this is the stuff that viewers eat up, so it’s what they’re being served.
Good interview with Andy Levy. I always liked him on Red Eye. Were you still watching the show when Tom Shillue was the host? What did you think about him? — Ben G.
Thanks, Ben. Andy’s a great guy. We’ve had good online conversations for years, and it was a lot of fun to finally talk to him like that.
As for Shillue, he seemed like a nice guy, but I much preferred pre-Trump Gutfeld in that role. Greg was something special back then, and I’m not sure anyone could have filled his shoes when he left. Regardless, Shillue is who introduced me to my friend, John Di Domenico (they were part of an improv comedy team back in the day), and for that I’m extremely grateful.
Thanks everyone! You can send me questions for next week by leaving a comment in the comment section.
John: I am of the opinion now more than ever that we need rules to govern the tenure of elected officials. Specifically, we should have term limits for house representatives (6 terms) and senators (2 terms), along with an age limit of 75 for any federal position, including the Supreme Court. The argument against term limits is that the public can decide for themselves if a candidate is too old, in decline, etc. My counter to that, as pointed out by Jake Tapper in “Original Sin”, is that the public is easily misled. We think of these national politicians as highly visible and recognizable, but their lives and public appearances are heavily managed, staged and scripted. Mitch McConnell, Dianne Feinstein, Strom Thurmond, and Ruth Bader Ginsberg all served far longer than they should have. We have at least 20 House and Senate officials who are over the age of 80. Chuck Grassley is 91 years old now and chairs the Senate Budget Committee. Do we need rules to put an end to this American gerontocracy?
The AID centers in GAZA have been setup through Israel and are funded by a private American organization with private contractors providing security. Gazans are swarming at great risk to reach these distribution centers. A few days ago, to circumvent the mass of people Hamas opened their stockpiles that have been reported to be stock "Full". Hamas blames Israel for the recent shooting deaths of about 30 civilians near one of the distribution sites that the IDF deny.