President Biden’s age is becoming more and more of an issue with voters, but Democrats refuse to believe it. They went as far as to attack The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart after he pointed out the obvious recently – that Biden is VERY old. Mike Papantonio is joined by Independent newspaper publisher Rick Outzen to discuss.
Transcript:
*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.
Mike Papantonio: President Biden’s age is becoming more and more of an issue with voters, but Democrats, well, they don’t wanna believe that. They want to put their head in the sand. They went as far as to attack the Daily Show’s Jon Stewart, as he pointed out the obvious, and that is Biden is very, very old, and he’s having some very, very old problems. I’ve got Independent Newspaper publisher Rick Outzen with me to talk about what’s happening on these issues. Rick, you’ve got the most significant progressive independent newspaper in the state of Florida. That’s without question. I appreciate you coming on. This story bothers me on so many levels. You’ve seen Jon Stewart, who has been the voice for progressive politics for decades, or Bill Maher, who was also a progressive voice for decades. They say anything that attacks that progressive, anything, and all of a sudden it’s attack city. I mean, it’s just, it’s wrong. It’s wrong. We’re talking about he had a 20 minute show and he said one thing about both Biden and Trump and the frigging snowflakes go crazy.
Rick Outzen: Well, and we know that Jon Stewart has been the news source for our daughters, for our kids. They look to him to help decipher what the news means, and he is speaking to them. When I look at our readers, we are millennials, gen Z, that’s the way we skew and they’re constantly talk about the age of both candidates. It bothers them. They may be progressive, they may be conservative, but they’re concerned about the age of both the candidates.
Mike Papantonio: No matter how profoundly true the statement is. Okay. No matter how profoundly true it is, they still go off the rails. Now, I wanna ask you this, you have one of the leading independent newspapers in Florida. It’s a progressive newspaper, right? Clearly progressive.
Rick Outzen: Yes.
Mike Papantonio: Do you see this same thing when you do a story that it doesn’t fall in line with the progressive mentality or the, what I call progressive headline thinking, do they go this crazy?
Rick Outzen: Oh, they do. The way social media works now, it’s an echo chamber. And if you get out of that echo chamber, if you challenge a thought, if you say that you agree with, in the state of Florida, it’s DeSantis world. And if I agree with DeSantis on one point, then we’re gonna get the calls.
Mike Papantonio: Even though it may be right. Rick, you have been with me all the way back to Air America. You have followed what I’ve done, exclusively progressive. Would you agree?
Rick Outzen: Right.
Mike Papantonio: In there, if I do a story, and I say the same thing that Stewart says about Biden, who obviously is not qualified to be President of the United States. He just isn’t. Everybody sees it. But this, I call ’em kind of the snowflake Democrats, they’re so tied to their identity. They’re so tied to their tribal politics that they go apoplectic when you say anything about that. When Farron’s on the show and we say the obvious, oh my God, they go nuts. What’s that about? What’s happening that they can’t, this childlike thinking, where does it come from and what do we do about it?
Rick Outzen: Well, part of it is scrolling, you know, they’re used to scrolling through, seeing a headline, reacting to a headline quickly without even reading the article. That’s part of it. The other part is they relish going after somebody and seeing if they can make ’em change their idea.
Mike Papantonio: As if that’s gonna change you or change me.
Rick Outzen: Yeah, right. That’s, and Jon Stewart’s reaction was perfect. He goes back and showed the joke. I mean, this was a joke, folks. But this is what people are talking about, the age of the two candidates. But we’re at this, democracy, I love his line, democracy is where discussion dies. You know, because we can’t discuss anything.
Mike Papantonio: Well, my take on it is it really is childlike. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s like, I’m gonna take my ball, leave the sandbox, and never come back. We tell them around here, just, and I know you know this, goodbye. Don’t let the door hit you on the butt. And we’ve got more than a million subscribers and we continue to grow. And apparently there are plenty of people out there that agree with that. Don’t let the door hit you in the butt on your way out because we’re gonna say it. And Jon Stewart’s gonna continue to say it. And Bill Maher’s gonna continue to say it. And TYT, they’re gonna continue to say it. We have to retool the way we think about these stories, don’t we?
Rick Outzen: But the way that we’ve always looked at things, and Mike, the way you look at it and America’s Lawyer and how y’all approach it, is the same way I do. I want to upset you. That’s how we begin a discussion. The discussion begins that I challenged an idea that you have or I pushed you a little bit further.
Mike Papantonio: In other words, it’s an advancement when you say Pap, you’re a idiot, and you’re wrong. Think about this. I consider that an advancement.
Rick Outzen:: And then after you punch me, then we have the discussion. But that’s how discussion happens, is you push somebody’s idea, something they’re not comfortable about, and they get to discuss it. And that’s what humor is about. That’s what satire is about.
Mike Papantonio: Yeah. I mean, how do you say to Chappelle, who all he’s done is comedy in his whole life, so he attacks trans and he has fun, makes jokes about trans or gay, whatever it may be. If you don’t want to hear it, walk out.
Rick Outzen: Right.
Mike Papantonio: If you don’t agree with it, don’t buy his ticket. But he has the right to say it. It’s not like, you know, the standard is the first amendment, you can’t yell fire in a theater, right. I mean, that’s basically it. Don’t put anybody, people in the theater, don’t put ’em in jeopardy. But it’s gotten to where we have, I don’t know if it’s generational or not. I can’t, I don’t see it, I’m seeing it more and more.
Rick Outzen: And I see it across age groups. I don’t see it with.
Mike Papantonio: Okay. Now that’s what I want to ask you.
Rick Outzen: When you look at, you look at the core base of Donald Trump, you look at his base, they’re not going to accept any information that’s other.
Mike Papantonio: Which is an older base.
Rick Outzen: It’s an older group. It’s a less educated white male, primarily, and they’re older.
Mike Papantonio: Well, it’s changing.
Rick Outzen: Yeah. That’s true.
Mike Papantonio: And Democrats are asleep on that too. That demographic is changing with Trump, which is a little scary if you think about it.
Rick Outzen: Well, it is. And then you think on the progressive side that they’re younger, but everyone’s used to hearing, they want you to say what they want you to say. Not what you wanna say. You can’t do that.
Mike Papantonio: Yeah. And if you don’t, I mean, it’s easy, turn off the freaking station. Don’t buy the ticket. How about on college campuses, these are educated kids, supposedly. A professor says, well, we’re gonna have this speaker. Well, this speaker might not agree with what the norm is and thought on that campus. So they tell him he can’t come. You can’t speak. By God, we can’t listen to you. It’s gonna cause us some kind of mental harm. Well, hell, the mental harm is already there, you know?
Rick Outzen: Right.
Mike Papantonio: What’s your reaction to that? And have you covered stories like that in the Independent?
Rick Outzen: Well, you’re looking, here in Florida it’s a different world, but you look at, both sides are trying to figure out if it’s not their voice they want to hear, it’s okay to protest. It’s okay to do a protest outside to say you disagree with it. But allow the person to speak because that’s how the discussion happens.
Mike Papantonio: What do you do when you get these letters, I’m not gonna buy, I’m not gonna get your paper anymore? Okay. Exactly.
Rick Outzen: That’s it.
Mike Papantonio: That has to be the attitude. That has to be the attitude.
Rick Outzen: Exactly.
Mike Papantonio: Or else this is never gonna change. And you just have to say, well, you know.
Rick Outzen: Something like that.
Mike Papantonio: Something like that.
