Former MSNBC host and soon-to-be Russia Today (RT) host Ed Schultz joined Larry King on Thursday’s Politicking to preview his 30-minute program on the Kremlin-backed network and promised that there “won’t be a lot of opinion” and instead serve as “a direct news show.”
In addition, the progressive leftist heaped praise on Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and John Kasich with Trump having focused on “these rotten trade deals” and acting like Ronald Reagan while ruling that he’d “be surprised” if Kasich wasn’t chosen as the GOP’s vice presidential nominee.
Concerning his show (titled The News with Ed Schultz), the liberal talk radio host explained that it’ll be “a 30-minute news show” that will be as “wrap-up of the big stories with analysis” and cover “[i]nternational [news], domestic news off of Capitol Hill, [and] a good mixture of what’s going on around the world.”
King asked if it will have any resemblance to his previous opinion-based shows and Schultz promised that “[t]here won’t be a lot of opinion in the 30 minutes...although the focus of what I’ve given commentary on in the past in my career will be very closely connected to the news stories that we cover.”
After listing a slew of issues he’s devoted his career to covering, the union-sponsored Schultz mentioned without any sort of irony that his show on Russian-backed channel will also report on the so-called infringement of “corporate interests” and “[t]he way they certainly have influenced the delivery of our news and what we see and hear versus what we need to see and hear.”
Turning to Trump, Schultz backed up his recent comments that Trump has “really shifted the conversation in many respects and brought an awareness to the Washington insiders that maybe they’re not important as the American people and an outsider might be good for America.” He then gushed that:
I think as a president, I believe that Trump would easily be able to function. I think he knows how to run things. I think it’s in his DNA to make decisions. He’s made a lot of right decisions and a lot of wrong decisions. He’s not afraid to make decisions. He would certainly shakeup the way government is run in Washington.
Airing on the same day that National Review published it’s symposium of conservative thinkers and advocates warning against a Trump nomination (even though the RT interview was previously taped), Schultz dropped the comparison that countless Trump enthusiasts have made:
[T]here is somewhat of a parallel between his approach but maybe a little bit more radical but he is closer to Reagan — Ronald Reagan than any of the other candidates from his standpoint of willing to try something and do something....I think he would function very well as President if he were given the opportunity.
However, much of the half-hour with the former CNN host was spent praising Bernie Sanders, whom he fawned over as having brought “a real freshness...into the debate that people are really appreciating right now.”
As RT often does, Schultz followed the party line of attacking the mainstream media not for being biased towards liberals but for not being further enough to the left:
You don’t see in mainstream reporting, Larry, that the majority of Americans want universal healthcare. You don’t see reporting in the mainstream media in this country that most Americans want to see a revamping of our tax system where corporations can’t park their tax money offshore. Most Americans also want to get rid of Citizens United. They don’t want the billionaire class to have this kind of influence.
One of the final two topics of discussion was his fascination with John Kasich’s role in the future of the GOP and included the prediction that the Ohio governor will “be a player in all this” since he’s “made peace...with some conservative and centrist Democrats” by having expanded Medicaid and taken a “very good” stance on trade.
Of course, Schultz couldn’t leave without offering some kind words for President Obama and lamenting how supposedly no president in U.S. history “has been more obstructed with the filibuster and more obstructed with the party of no” than he has and “never got any help on a jobs package from Republicans.”
Despite his warning that if the President succeeded in passing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, it could “wipe out an awful lot of good,” Schultz concluded that: “[I]n all, it’s been — considering what he’s been handed and what he’s had to deal with, it’s been a pretty good run for Barack Obama.”
The relevant portions of the transcript from RT’s Politicking with Larry King on January 21 can be found below.
Russia Today/OraTV’s Politicking with Larry King
January 21, 2016
9:00 p.m. Eastern
ED SCHULTZ: Well, this is going to be a 30-minute news show that’s going to launch on January 25. It’s a primetime, 8:00 p.m. Eastern time slot and it’s going to be The News with Ed Schultz. It’s going to be a wrap-up of the big stories with analysis and I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be put me in somewhat of a serious gene which I have not had the opportunity to be in in the past. It’s going to be a serious look at the news with some analysis and so it’s going to be very challenging. International, domestic, news off of Capitol Hill, a good mixture of what’s going on around the world. I’m looking forward to it.
(....)
KING: You’ve always had a direct opinion show. Will this be a little different? Will it be also news plus opinion?
SCHULTZ: It will be, Larry. There won’t be a lot of opinion in the 30 minutes. It’ll be a direct news show, although the focus of what I’ve given commentary on in the past in my career will be very closely connected to the news stories that we cover. What drives our economy, what’s facing the American middle class in this country, the big issues of international intervention, domestically, health care, education, gun violence is something that has to be addressed in a big way in this country and also the corporate interests. The way they certainly have influenced the delivery of our news and what we see and hear versus what we need to see and hear and I’m looking forward on bringing that to the screen.
(....)
SCHULTZ: I think he has really shifted the conversation in many respects and brought an awareness to the Washington insiders that maybe they’re not important as the American people and an outsider might be good for America. He’s certainly shaken up the Republican establishment and I think he’s done it by talking about things the people care about and that is these rotten trade deals that have gutted American jobs. I think there’s a number of surveys out there that show that you know, the American people are willing to give someone with astute business experience a shot at running the country and Larry I think there’s really two things folks are looking at across the country right now and that is policy and whether you agree with Trump or not, he’s injected himself into the conversation in a totally different way because of his stance on the economy and also his stance on trade, but I think as a president, I believe that Trump would easily be able to function. I think he knows how to run things. I think it’s in his DNA to make decisions. He’s made a lot of right decisions and a lot of wrong decisions. He’s not afraid to make decisions. He would certainly shakeup the way government is run in Washington and there is somewhat of a parallel between his approach but maybe a little bit more radical but he is closer to Reagan — Ronald Reagan than any of the other candidates from his standpoint of willing to try something and do something....I think he would function very well as President if he were given the opportunity.
(....)
SCHULTZ: I don’t see, Larry, how Hillary Clinton can win the White House with Bernie Sanders’s full-throated support and endorsement. I think he’s going to be pivotal throughout all this.
(....)
SCHULTZ: I think John Kasich is going to be a player in all this. I would really be surprised if whoever gets the nomination the Republicans and we’ll say Trump, if he doesn’t pick John Kasich, I’d be really surprised. Number one, the Republican convention is going to be in Cleveland. Kasich has made peace, I think with some conservative and centrist Democrats. Kasich has also got a pretty good record, although he’s gotten help with the automobile loan program that the President did, but eh embraced it. He also expanded Medicaid for all. He hasn’t been as contentious as the others. His position on trade is very good and if the Republicans want to win the White House, they better win Ohio and if you’re going to win Ohio, you better win Cuyhoga County and I think anybody standing up on that stage certainly can’t match John Kasich when it comes to winning that county and when it comes to winning Ohio, so I think that he’s god – I think he’s going to be play before this is over with. I’d be surprised if he wasn’t.
(....)
SCHULTZ: There’s no President who has been more obstructed with the filibuster and more obstructed with the party of no or faced the kind of obstruction. No president in history has ever done that, yet he was able to take a lousy economy that was in a free fall, pass a stimulus package, he got enough Republicans – he got Arlen Spector at the time, he got the two Senators from Rhode Island, he got a stimulus package passed, he turned the economy around, he never got any help on a jobs package from Republicans, he passed health care, he saved the automobile industry when he could have let it fall apart and turn it over to foreign manufacturers. I mean, I think there’s a lot of positive there and so, his final chapter hasn’t been written, though, Larry. The Trans-Pacific Partnership can wipe out an awful lot of good Barack Obama has done.
