The Embarrassing Ignorance of Howard Stern

BUCK: We refuse to allow narratives that are a lie to just continue to grow and be pushed around, particularly because you could see they seized on the wording that Trump used in the interview that Clay and I did with him last week in Mar-a-Lago. They’ve seized on this to create this, “Republicans are backing Putin.” This is a lie, and Howard Stern, who… I mean, I never was a fan of his work. Would you say you liked his work?

CLAY: I used to be impressed with Howard Stern’s rebelliousness, and I enjoyed listening to some of his long-form interviews. But since covid started, he has been an abject embarrassment. The Howard Stern of the ’90s and the 2000s — the Private Parts Howard Stern — would despise what he has become. He is now The Man.

BUCK: Yeah. He’s a tool of the apparatus, the apparatus that he once proclaimed to be fighting against. And it’s actually sad on some level to watch it, but here he is going along with the talking point about Republicans.

STERN: I hate the Soviet Union. I hate the communist regime. I always hated communism because it always turns into an autocratic situation like in China where they cut off your freedoms. I hate… I hate the fact that… I used to love the Republicans and their stance firmly anti-communist, firmly anti — pro-capitalist, anti-communist and certainly a staunch defender of free people and free elections. I voted for many Republicans. I don’t see how I’ll ever get back to that. They’ve just totally disappointed me in their support of Vladimir Putin, the praise they heap on him, Trump’s praise of Vladimir Putin. This guy’s a f(bleep)ing animal, and I wish he was dead like I wish Hitler was dead.

BUCK: The Republicans do not support Vladimir Putin. I just don’t know how much more we can scream this from the rooftops. Please stop repeating this lie. Libs and Howard Stern and whoever else, stop. The Republicans are the ones who armed the Ukrainians so that they can actually fight back with Javelin anti-tank missiles. Trump sent sniper rifles and missiles, which is why you’re seeing all the video of the wreckage of armored personnel carriers and tanks all over the country Ukraine right now. Obama’s regime was too cowardly to do that.

CLAY: This is just further evidence of — as Rush would call them — “Drive-By Media,” but the number of people that don’t even read articles or don’t do any research at all. It would be a fascinating story, if you’re a kid out there and you’re in college or you’re in high school, probably get some of these questions like I do, Buck, where people are thinking, “Hey, I want to do a paper on something interesting,” this would be a fascinating story to examine.

Our interview with Donald Trump on Tuesday and how quickly it was turned into the entire essence of that interview being, “Oh, Trump praised Vladimir Putin,” which is not at all reflected in the interview, it reminds me of the “very fine people” lie which obviously took root and Biden used it as part of the justification for why he was gonna run for president. I know a lot of you out there remember that this lie that Trump braced Nazi protesters, neo-Nazi protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia.

When if you actually look at everything that he said, it was the exact opposite of that, and so it’s amazing how quickly — this was where Trump was correct — the fake news element of our world will grab a 30-second clip. Remember, he talked to us for a full hour, talked to us for a full hour, and really analyzed the Ukraine situation in an intelligent, I thought, manner. And they took off a joke and a piece of sarcasm and an analysis of a tactical issue and turned it into an endorsement of everything Vladimir Putin was doing, and they’re still trying to make that argument almost a week after our interview.

BUCK: It’s amazing to see how there’s no introspection ever, even about something as serious as this, from the media. Also interesting, isn’t it, how many times have you and I been asked, Clay, by these people that are commenting on this. Has anyone reached out to you from Politico or the Washington Post, “What did you take President Trump’s…? You were in the interview. What did he mean?” Of course not.

CLAY: Not one person.

BUCK: I love that they go, “Some right-wing show,” like we’re sitting by the side of the road somewhere with placards and trying to convince people the end is near as they drive by. It’s the biggest radio show by audience, according to Nielsen, in America. So I don’t know. Maybe they should some idea of what we’re doing here and who’s actually talking to the former president. But can’t expect the media to do their homework or be honest. And that’s what we see from all this.