Transcript of FIFA's Corruption Rises To A New Level | Hour 3

Howdy folks, it's Mike Ryan. You know, The Labattard Show and Miller Lite go way back.

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Want to get some thoughts from you on what Charles Barkley said about LeBron James. We were discussing yesterday one of the things he said, which is that he'd be willing to make LeBron the greatest basketball player ever if LeBron wins 2 titles with Philadelphia. But he's always critical of LeBron because of some of the roster decisions that LeBron makes. So let's listen to him here.

The number one knock on LeBron for older guys like myself has always been, yo, man, you always stacking your team. He stacked it in Miami. He stacked it in Cleveland. He stacked it in L.A. Now he's stacking it in Philly. So that to me, I'm going to still have the same criticism I've always had.

How did he stack his teams in Cleveland and L.A.? Like, what, what did he do to stack the teams?

Oh, he, he only agreed to go to Cleveland because of the talent that they had acquired. And, you know, then move the number 1 overall pick for Andrew Wiggins for Kevin Love. So like, he went there because they had a lot of good players, and I don't think that's necessarily the case in LA.

For sure. Remember the first year they got there, they were terrible, and then they made the trade for Anthony Davis.

Right, so I don't think that's necessarily true in LA.

It's a weird criticism even if it were true. I mean, especially now at his age, what's wrong with trying to surround himself with enough talent with the idea of winning another championship? Why are we criticizing him?

Well, it is what Charles did at the end of his career when he joined Drexler and Elijahwan. Like that, that's what Charles did. But is it a— do you guys think it's a fair criticism? Like, he stacks his teams. Uh, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love is, uh, is a stacked team. Anthony Davis—

the goal, I thought, is to have a good team.

It's fair.

They're stacked because he exists on them. I mean, maybe Bosh and Wade get to an NBA Finals, maybe they win one, but that's the only team in that bunch that does the winning without LeBron, I think, in terms of stacking the deck.

I also think it's legit that he wants to win, become the first person to win a championship with 4 different teams. That's a big deal. And, and I think maybe if, if it's real close at the end toward Philly and Miami, maybe that's the deciding factor. I've already done that in Miami. I want to do it now in an even bigger market where they haven't won a championship since 1983. That makes me a new kind of hero.

Well, Charles admitted that if LeBron wins the next two, then he's the GOAT. And yeah, and it's not because he's doing it in Philly, it's because he's doing it in his mid-40s. Like, this is crazy.

This one is interesting to me though, because, um, we tend to admire— while we spend a whole lot of time talking about the importance of team, the sacrifices that have to be made in the name of team, even though your company and your workplace, my guess is you're not quite as sacrificial in the name of team as you'd like your athletes to be. And so what ends up happening is we admire Dirk or Kawhi or Jalen Brunson when they have what appears to be a less stacked team than the rest of the league and they win anyway. We give them a, uh, a respect that is more outsized. I don't see the reason to criticize just about anything about the career of LeBron James. It's been almost universally majestic the time, and I think people are nitpicking with them. But the way Jalen Brunson won this year, which is still with the best 3-point shooting big man there's ever been, but it's viewed as you average 30 a game, you scored 45 in the clincher, everyone was trying to stop you, and that's what we admire the most. We don't say that Michael Jordan played with stacked teams even though he had another top 50 player on his team, and when he won 72 games, Dennis Rodman was also on that team, and Kukoc was too, right?

Like that.

Those are, those are stacked teams.

But is Jokic in that class too of players that you just listed?

Yeah, Jokic is in the class of feeling like he did it by himself, even though it's Jamal Murray and Jamal Murray's not Scottie Pippen.

Not a single other All-Star on the team when he did it.

The, the—

well, Jamal Murray made the All-Star Game for the first time this year, right? Otherwise he'd never made an All-Star Game. Uh, one of the things though that, uh, that I understand when people are looking at, uh, LeBron James, what it is that they do is you don't hold this against Michael Jordan because they simply drafted Pippen.

They got Rodman in free agency, but you don't hold that against Michael Jordan either because he did it on the team that he was on. And you're okay if management goes out and gets the great players. You're less okay if the player becomes management. If the player says, I'm the ecosystem around which, uh, I'm gonna lure people to Cleveland.

Nobody chooses Cleveland.

Nobody, nobody chooses Cleveland in free agency. Like, that's not, that's not where people want to live.

But we give him no credit for the idea that he has the gravitation—

gravitational pull of not just being the guy who's at the center of player empowerment, but player empowerment that makes him management. I'm going to build my own team. I'm gonna, I'm gonna do it myself without needing Phil Jackson or Pat Riley to do it for me. In fact, the lesson I'm gonna take from Pat Riley in Miami is that I'm go somewhere else and be Pat Riley.

We like when the star stays. The star stays and others come to him. The star was loyal to the team and the team eventually did the things to get the star the better players. That we're totally good with. Like, that's why no one ever gives Steph Curry any type of crap for Durant joining. Now, grant, I know they won before and after, but Durant came to the Warriors Curry was there and he won there.

That one's interesting though because Durant gets the criticism for that and Curry gets none of it.

Yep, because that was— because Curry was already there. That's it. He didn't leave to go win somewhere else. He stayed where he was.

But he stacked his team.

But, but it's his team. It's his team.

Yeah, but they drafted Klay Thompson, they drafted Draymond Green. To what you were saying, they only added one guy.

Yeah, but the guy is one of the greatest scorers in the history of the one guy though.

Oh, one guy.

Let's look at what Jalen Brunson's life right now is in New York, because he really does own New York in a way that's unusual. It's not just that the Knicks are the favorite team, but he's also the lovable little guy. So when it's raining in New York, a bunch of people just put umbrellas over Jalen Brunson's head wherever it is that he goes. He doesn't have to carry his own umbrella.

It's just 6 different umbrellas.

Yeah, just anyone with an umbrella is shielding their beloved golden child from the rain. But also, let's play this video of the difference between being a Brooklyn Net in New York and being Jalen Brunson in New York. Here's Michael Porter Jr. trying to get into the club in New York, and he's got to tell people, look, I'm Michael Porter Jr., I play for the Brooklyn Nets, I'm trying to get into the club.

Look at him. He's like clearly waiting in a line, giving his name.

I'm Michael Porter. Am I on your list? I'm a Brooklyn Net. And then with a P. And then. And then. What spills behind him is here comes Jalen Brunson with all of the flashballs.

I didn't see that coming.

Porter Jr. does get in right behind him, but just that little like, hey, yeah, that's who I am.

Did he have to show ID? Porter?

What do you guys think Jalen Brunson's life is right now? So good in New York City. He doesn't— he's not going to have to buy a drink or a meal the rest of the way.

That's bullshit, though.

Like, he—

He has so much money. He should have to pay for everything. Like, I understand he doesn't have to pay because he's the king of New York. He should always have to pay.

Relax, Mondani.

He's rich. He doesn't have to pay.

And he's made for life in New York too. That one moment in the finals, he doesn't have to do anything else. He doesn't have to win again. He doesn't have to continue to be that level of star. He is made in New York.

Do you think he has to be careful? Like, when he goes— because yeah, he's not gonna have to pay, so Is he careful about what he orders where he doesn't want to be a schnorrer, you know, where it's like, "Oh, I'll have the lobster and she'll have the, you know, the finest meats." Like, he doesn't want— because he knows he's getting comped. Is he trying to be polite?

Oh, but I don't think he knows he's getting comped.

Well, I don't think that that is an offense if they don't tell you beforehand that they're comping the meal, but they just comp the meal afterwards. You're ordering the way you would order if you were trying to be most extravagant, but you can assume the meal's being comped but they're not telling you in front that the meal is being cooked.

Right, right.

Uh, Zaslav, was that Yiddish?

Yeah, schnorr.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's Yiddish for like, uh, someone who is, uh, you know, you're ungrateful. You ask and you ask and you ask, you take, you take, you take.

I think you guys are off on this. I don't think he's ordering at all. I think it's just the owner coming out, we're gonna bring— we got you, we're gonna bring out a bunch of our best stuff for you, you don't have to worry about the menu.

Yeah, what if he has some allergies? What if he has something?

You think an elite athlete has allergies like that?

When he'll say, all right, I have a shellfish.

I mean, Tom Brady famously would not Not an allergy.

Not an allergy. Just said he didn't like nightshades.

Tom Brady, I'm guessing, would not like you ordering for him. And I think in general athletes are going to have some control stuff that makes them predisposed to not want someone else to pick their preferences for them. I think they're more likely to have some control stuff there than the rest of us.

The chef is going to bring you to the table and bring what he feels is the best of his ability. You're gonna be like, no, I don't like shellfish.

Sorry, weenie.

I don't want a chef to order for me. What am I, a child?

Why are you going to his restaurant then?

I've been to pick what I like. Bring me a lobster. Bring me a filet mignon.

I've been to a restaurant with you where someone brings you out a bunch of stuff.

And I mean, and that's not my preference. That's not my preference. Not only that, when a restaurant gives me a free meal, it happens a lot. I don't want to brag. Generally, I say to the chef, thank you very much, but I insist on paying. That's what you got to do. That's the play. That's the play.

That is not a thing that happens.

That's the play.

We just lied. No, no, no. I never want to pay money. No, that's not something I do. Pay money for things. Very cheap. No, that's not a thing.

It's an old wives' tale. Me being very cheap. Cheap.

Who shot John?

I'm the opposite.

Howdy folks, it's Mike Ryan. You know, The Leppetard Show and Miller Lite go way back.

Pretty much, I want to say like 95% of our existence we've been partnered with Miller Lite, and we believe in Miller Lite, they believe in us. It's great to have a partner with a product you truly love. That's me with Miller Lite. I love Miller Lite, always have. In fact, I consider myself a bit of a Miller Time MVP.

The friend who says, "They've got it. I'll pick the spot. I'll throw the cooler in the trunk. Bring some Miller Lite." And suddenly what was supposed to be a couple of hours turns into a whole afternoon.

That's me, the Miller Time MVP. And it's great for summer hangs. Cools the body down, that beautiful white can. Not much better than an ice cold Miller Lite because it's brewed for taste with simple ingredients. Clean, refreshing, and easy to drink in the Miami heat. An all-American summer starts with an all-American beer, Miller Lite. Go to millerlite.com/dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.

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Down levitar.

Can't trade Marino.

Nice hat.

Nice hat, Zed.

It's what he's most known for. It's not like I'm holding on to it.

Greg Cody. Nice hat.

They were 9-2. But it's Marino.

Nice hat.

And then the next time we saw Marino after Greg Cody traded him, he threw for 5 touchdowns.

Nice hat.

And he was Can the Man on the COVID of Sports Illustrated. You can't trade Moreno!

Nice hat, asshole!

This is the Dan Levatar Show!

I still don't understand when, why, or how "Who Shot John?" is used.

Call up my wife.

She'll explain it to you.

It's in the car on the way to a restaurant.

It's in the car on the way to a restaurant.

It's like the family can't agree and my dad will just be like, "Guys, I don't want to play 'Who Shot John?'" Because it gets to a ridiculous point.

It's frustrating for me. And those three words generally silence and cause the conversation to veer in a direction, sharply, in a direction that I prefer.

Who's John?

That's the question I have. Who is John? Why did someone shoot him?

It's a generic name, you know, it's not a specific person.

Why did someone shoot him?

Because he was upsetting them so much. You know, I'm in the car with John, I'm going, we're gonna go to Alice's Restaurant, and—

With Bernie Parmley?

And we're headed to the restaurant, and at the last minute John says, Or if you prefer, we'll go to the House of Nuts. And I say, no, we're going to Alice's Restaurant. And then he insists, the House of Nuts is great, haven't you heard? Who Shot John? Let's go, come on. Forget about it, we're going to Alice's Restaurant. Arlo Guthrie, 1967.

You like to take your wife to the House of Nuts?

I mean, it's a place we go to.

Yeah, how often?

It depends on the kind of nut I'm interested in. You know, I love—

A sizable one.

I love Brazil nuts.

Yeah, good fans.

Good fans.

Really good fans.

Brazilian nut?

Well, it's a good nut as well. Legume. Or is that a bean? I think that's a bean.

It is a bean.

Although nuts and beans are in the same family, I think. I know.

They're all nuts.

What are some of your other favorite ethnic nuts?

Put it in the poll.

Put it on the poll.

I like all nuts. I love pistachios, but I insist on deshelling them myself.

Hell yeah.

You give me a bag of pistachios that have already been shelled, I'm gonna turn it back.

That's right.

Thank you.

Put it on the poll, please. Are nuts and beans in the same family? I don't believe that they are in the same family. And also put it on the poll at Le Batard Show. Will you eat pistachios if someone else has taken off the shelves for you?

Zazzino, what that good nut?

Insists on paying.

I don't believe him either.

I don't.

What a whopper.

Okay, but just say things sometimes.

Imagine.

How do you get close to the mic?

If you're Jalen Brunson, how to grow your legend even further? You become known as the super celebrity who owns New York City. But when the finest restaurant wants to pay for your meal, you say, chef, really, really appreciate that. I'm going to insist on paying.

Now you just leave it all. You just leave it all. Some tip.

Well, that's the other alternative. You know, instead of using the— leaving the same 8, 10%. You know, you're actually going to leave maybe a $20 bill.

You pay, you pay, and then you turn to your wife and you say, what do we break a window?

Yeah, exactly right. Yeah, what do we break a window? Oh, what do we break a window?

And then I said, what do we break a window?

That's the kind of place where you can spend more than $100 for a steak, right? I mean, I've spent $80 in my market down here for a restaurant.

$15 tip on that.

I want to ask—

I'm a big tipper, you guys—

how I'm supposed to feel about something that just happened to me in New York. Okay, I like the— I, I like a certain mezcal, and it's not particularly expensive. It generally runs me from about $38 to $45 a bottle. Not all that expensive as far as these things go. And my hotel I could have gotten it ordered to the room. And I'm asking, my wife is asking me, how much do you think it costs? How much do you think it costs? And I'm like, I don't know, what's the markup going to be here?

$200?

And she's like, nope, higher. And I'm like, $250? And we did this 8 times and I never got it right. It was $650 on the markup. And I'm like, that's not sane.

For the same?

Yes, for the same.

It's the same. It's the same bottle. It's not, it's not a special bottle. It's basically a markup of more than 10 times. $20 on a bottle. Does that seem reasonable to you guys, even by inflated room service standards?

You didn't pay for it, right?

No, I did not pay for it.

That's a fact.

I wouldn't have paid my assistant to the liquor store.

I wouldn't have paid for it for half that much.

I wouldn't have paid— like, I—

that's just making sure you're a man of principle.

That's lunacy though. Like, what is that?

What—

explain to me how it is with a straight face that I don't think that bottle service in the greatest of the Miami clubs or the most expensive of the Miami clubs is going to have a markup like like that where you're, you're talking about 20 times, you're talking 20 times what that would normally cost.

No, it's, it's crazy. And, and I don't think it's just New York City. When we were in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, at the hotel bar, I order a glass of champagne to bring up to the room because that's what the wife wants. And you know how small a flute of champagne is, and it was like $45. That, that's a lot to me, you know. I don't want to be the guy who says, ah, no, that's fine, you know.

There's a huge FIFA story that is breaking right now. It actually has a tie to the Miami Heat. Um, yeah, so an exclusive from Martin Ziegler. Exclusive: FIFA's president Gianni Infantino is planning to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors under a scheme that could potentially earn him tens of millions of pounds. Investor discussions held with people close to the Trump administration and He continues to add, FIFA has now confirmed to the Times this Infantino plan is under discussion with Josh Kushner as proposed lead investor.

It's interesting what just happened there. I'm going to let people see behind the scenes here on the dangers of doing a live program. Mike Ryan just went, in my mind, rogue on the breaking news sound, which I asked from Roy. And the Roy— the reason I asked Roy for the breaking news sound is because I wanted to report exclusively that Colin Cowherd has tweeted out the horror genre has lost me has to be at least remotely believable. That's the news I was gonna break off of the breaking news sound.

Wow, we both simultaneously said we have huge news.

Both big stories.

I should have— yeah, I should have taken a step back. Yours was bigger. FIFA is famously not-for-profit, although nobody believes that, and this is Johnny Sócrates flying a little too close to the sun. He's pissed off a lot of the European powers in UEFA, and UEFA has already come out with a very strong statement on this. UEFA's statement says, this crosses a line that, um, this crosses a line that football's governing institutions should never cross. UEFA takes it extremely seriously. So should every national football association. So should every stakeholder— leagues, clubs, players, supporters, governments, and everyone who cares about the future of the game. The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade, especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially. Now, part of the ticket scandal that rocked the FIFA World Cup that didn't end up mattering because revenue was crazy and everybody was happy and Johnny Soccer was super happy with it and all that was famously previous scandals. Sepp Blatter, all the football associations get paid the same amount of money when it comes to a revenue share. So it doesn't matter if England is this huge moneymaker for FIFA.

They get the same as, you know, San Marino, right? And San Marino's vote counts the same as England's vote. So one of the things that was uncovered through investigative journalism was allegedly football associations were getting allotments of tickets that they are not allowed to sell. That goes against bylaws. But through proxies, they were selling. And that's why the ticketing market was an absolute mess. And the secondary market, which FIFA also had an investment in because they had their own resale market, was the way that it was. Johnny Soccer is doing an unbelievable heat check right now and turning FIFA to private equity investors.

This is—

this goes against the very fabric of the game, and this is going to be one hell of a heat check from Infantino.

Well, when you say goes against the fabric of the game, I want to go back to what it is that I was saying earlier, because I keep wanting to put this in front of you because of how disorienting I find it. We are in an age right now where money wins so shamelessly that it doesn't matter what you think a fabric of a game is supposed to be. I want to go back to this Ballmer story and the idea that other owners would be afraid of punishing him for something that we can all agree, if true, would go against the fabric of the game, right? Let me ask you guys the question: what do you think they're afraid of? It's not just his money. It's not just Ballmer's money, although he's much wealthier than all of them.

It's what he can do to the construct of their sport when he's alleged to have done something—

fabric of the game—

you don't care about the salary cap? Can you have so much money that not only the rules don't matter, the idea of rules is just an illusion? That you have so much money that you don't have to respect—

We're still talking about sports?

I'm talking about all of it.

I'm talking about the age.

I'm talking about—

That's what's happening here, and it should be no surprise that the Trump administration is attached to something that is viewed as a, just a huge breach of it. The Miami Heat ties, by the way, Josh Kushner, yes, that familiar surname, is a minority owner of the Miami Heat. He owns less than 5% of the Miami Heat.

The things that are happening throughout America, and Last Week Tonight just did something on cryptocurrency, and just the sheer amount of wealth and conflict that Trump and the Trump family is involved in that has increased their wealth when he was this close to going to prison and needed to win an election in order to stay out of prison and stop all of the prosecuting that was coming his way. Uh, when you have someone that brazenly disrespecting all rules of decorum, you realize that rules don't matter, that there is a level of wealth that you can get to and a level of power that you can get to where the NBA owners are afraid of prosecuting something that would be open-and-shut case the way that Pablo has proven it, if you believe everything that's being reported as fact. And there's great danger in it not being fact because of what someone like Ballmer can do to someone like us if we get it wrong.

I also suspect that the NBA owners are being very quiet about Steve Ballmer and the allegations against him because they look in the mirror and they realize that every owner is cutting corners.

Okay, but wait, but wait, but wait Wait a minute, okay? Wait a minute, all right? I keep mentioning this because I'm not naive here, okay? Every owner can be cutting corners, and few have ever done what is alleged here quite as brazenly as tens of millions of dollars outside of the salary cap alleged for a no-show job. But when I ask— I want to ask you guys the question. What are they afraid of?

What are the owners actually afraid of? It's not just the money. What's he gonna do with the money that makes them afraid? And what he can do is like, hey, the salary cap's a sham. Like, I don't have to respect this. Why do I have to respect this? And now you've got people being deposed and a commissioner like, what do you mean that you get to make all the rules on something I own? Yeah, it's collectively bargained. Let's try to see what comes up in court. You guys all want to come to court with me? The answer is no. The, the answer is that they're, they're afraid of what he can do publicly to them with his money. And my question to you continues to be, what can he do to them? What are they afraid— what are they so afraid of? Is it, is it what Greg's saying, that, that we're all playing fast and loose with the rules? That if you go to see what the Knicks are doing, it becomes a less charming story because Brunson accepted less money?

Why there?

What, what did they do there to get Brunson to be able to build out their team when the Karl-Anthony Towns contract is supposed to be too expensive for most teams to take, but they can take it on because Brunson's taking less money? What's James Dolan afraid of? And the answer is everything. The answer is every— you seeing everything.

You're just shaking your head.

He's embargoing his thoughts.

I hear what you're saying. I come from a place though where I don't know, like I'm going to sound naive. I don't think everyone's cheating. I just don't. I think there are probably some— like, I remember Mark Cuban back in the day was like, "Oh, you know, I don't know if I want everybody snooping around," you know? Yes, there are probably some owners, but I don't think it's this league-wide rampant thing that everyone's cheating. But I do think that it's a problem that you have the richest owner who clearly did something wrong, or allegedly did something wrong here, And the commissioner is obviously in the pocket of said owner because the commissioner works for all the owners. And the firm that they hire to investigate is essentially working for all of the owners because they're paying the firm. Like, I think it's a major issue.

Dan Levitar!

This is the quickest it goes! Hey, this is the quickest it goes!

Greg Cody!

Everybody, this is the quickest it goes!

Yeah! This is the Dan Levitar Show!

Says, I feel like it's a house of cards, right? You say you're naive, maybe, and people aren't cutting corners, but like, that's how the industry works. If all of a sudden you're in these rooms where there's 30 other owners and you realize, oh wait a second, this guy's cheating, that guy's cheating, this guy's cheating, that guy's cheating, why am I not going to cheat? We're going to get caught. Like, I don't know, Discovery and figure it all out. Like, that's what they're worried about.

Discovery.

Yeah. And like, Dan, I know you've said in the past where the other owners, they're angry. They are pissed.

I don't know.

I haven't heard from anyone. Not even anonymous, not even anonymous owners.

No, but I'm telling you why. The reason isn't because they're not pissed. The reason is because they're afraid of him and his money. Like, they don't want to keep bringing attention to something that will make the idea of rules an illusion. Like, the idea of rules can't be an illusion. Not in America, not in sport. Like, it can't be that we can't enforce the rules, and if you take our rules to court, you'll be able to, uh, just sort of hide in the shadows because you can just throw money at the idea of I I don't have to respect your rules.

It's a golden age of corruption in the United States. You can do it with impunity. Donald Trump has made more money in these last 2 years as president than he did in his entire 60 years in business, and we can do nothing about it. Settlements happen right before Live Nation is supposed to be taken to task. I don't know if you saw this story about a StubHub upper management person that had a side business that was buying up all the tickets to resell. A total monopoly over that. So here in the United States, we're just grown accustomed that this corruption goes unchecked. Which, to turn our attention over to FIFA, horse of a different color. Soccer fans in Europe have a ton of power. They stopped Super League.

In fact—

I want that here!

In fact, they may actually have the power to stop this Paramount-Time Warner merger. Big-time actors in the UK are calling on the UK government to stop that. We're seeing this happen on the state level too, where you're not just messing with the United States, whose consumer is just broken down by the corruption because it goes unchecked. The rest of the world has power here, and I think that's what Infantino is going to run into.

I think that Bomber is scary to the NBA because if this thing is litigated and all of a sudden everything's in court and everything's under oath, the owners have the curtain pulled back and are forced to say things they don't want to reveal about their own business practices, about the other owner down there. So I think that's opening a whole Pandora's box that, that Adam Silver and, and the owners don't want opened.

The cryptocurrency that the president of the United States is more than dabbling in with his family represents by far his greatest business achievements. There are no resume items on Trump's resume that have made him more money than the way that he is using the presidential power to ignore conflict, to conflict of interest, to ignore the idea of decorum or that the presidency can't be compromised. I've told you before here that next door they have given this— it's just, it really is flabbergasting to me that any one of these things that I am mentioning would have ended any other American presidency before this one. One, taking an airplane from a foreign nation to become your new airplane. And next door to us, a plot of land has been given to the President of the United States that is among the most valuable, valuable plots of land anywhere in the United States, given that Miami has recently passed New York in terms of being the least affordable— the, the second least affordable place in the United States behind only San Francisco. A presidential library that's not going to be a library, that's just going to be land that is given to Trump next door by the governor of Florida.

Uh, we are living in a time where the rules, uh, don't matter, and if you're shameless enough, you can be above all of the rules. I don't feel like that's always been so, even as people listening to this would say, yeah, money wins.

Not like this. Money's never won this way.

Jimmy Haslam won this way. Money always wins this way in sports. Money's winning right now, and we'll see whatever's at the end of this story for the current administration. But money's been winning. They've been, they've been selling pardons.

Money wins.

Not like this though, Mike.

Not—

we have never had this degree of shamelessness and this degree of corruption and I understand that most people listening to this would say, yes, of course, great advantages to money, but I didn't realize that shamelessness was the trick to get all of this thing, all of these things around people in a way that just can't be stopped, that your rules simply don't matter, that the idea of rule of law and the idea of governance is something that's not possible to enforce once you reach a certain level of money and power. And in fact, I would think, I would think that no matter how much money you have, you would still be afraid if you were in the position that Donald Trump was in before the election, where you basically have to threaten and topple democracy in order to stay out of prison. No matter how much money you have and no matter how immune you think you are, I would think you would still be afraid in those instances when the stakes are that kind of high.

Flooding the zone has been a very effective strategy, and it was part of the plan. Steve Bannon said as much. You don't even— your head is spinning every day because there's a Watergate-level scandal every day. We're back at war with Iran? All right, is this a full-fledged war? Do we get congressional approval? No, presidents can just do that now. We don't need congressional approval for wars anymore. What happened to the money from Venezuela? Where did any of that stuff go? He doesn't even have to answer those questions. He just deflects. These are all things that if they happen in an isolated fashion, they would topple previous presidencies. But there is literally something every day.

So rules are an illusion now?

No, yeah, I mean, they've always been— He's destroyed them.

If you have a certain amount of money, they've always been.

The superhero power when it comes to this president, this president in particular, is the last rung of defense always seemed to be shame. And better than anybody that's tried it, and he's had a lot of copycats too since, no one can do it to this level of this president. To the point that Well, damn, I don't really have an answer for that. I don't have an answer for someone that shameless.

It seems to me— what are you smiling about, Cody?

It's just— it's very difficult to wrap your mind around the discussion of Trump and his ethics, or lack of. It's just so dense that I'm smiling because I don't really want to go there. It's exhausting.

It's—

yeah, that's what they count on.

But the thing is, that's what they count on, and it's worked.

I'm exhausted by it. I mean, dude, do we— do people even know that you need congressional approval to go to war? Do people even know that anymore? Do people even care to know what happened with all of Venezuela and where that money is going to? Or yeah, there's that. No one get— like, no, we can't— we can't focus on something because it's whack-a-mole. There's something new and we're just resigned to, well, he's just gonna get away with it, I guess.

Resigned and exhausted so that it seems like Kyle Shanahan's accident has more scrutiny than some of the things that we're talking about. And I really do feel remiss, and I have to apologize to the audience that we ignored the breaking news of Colin Cowherd announcing that the horror genre has lost him.

That's a harsh reality.