After preaching about climate change on Friday’s Today show, Al Roker filled in for vacationing Megyn Kelly in the 9:00 a.m. ET hour and led a panel discussion celebrating liberal Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg announcing that she wouldn’t retire from the bench for at least another five years.
As the show began, Roker admitted that he was “very excited” about the first topic “because I don’t think there isn’t a person out there who doesn’t love Ruth Bader Ginsburg!” As the studio audience cheered the statement, fellow fill-in co-host and NBC News correspondent Jacob Soboroff excitedly declared: “The RBG!”
Roker explained: “85 years old, and she revealed she has no plans to retire. She wants to stay on the Supreme Court for another five years!” More cheers followed and Soboroff chimed in: “That is unbelievable. Wow.” Moments later, the reporter touted: “I suspect that she wants to hang on for five more years because that just might be when Donald Trump’s out after his second term is over.” The audience laughed and applauded in response.
The enthusiastic reaction to Ginsburg’s announcement from Roker and Soboroff on Friday echoed the liberal media sentiment on Monday, when hosts and correspondents across multiple networks expressed relief over the news that liberal justice had no plans to retire any time soon.
Here is a transcript of the August 3 exchange on NBC’s Megyn Kelly Today:
9:00 AM ET
(...)
AL ROKER: I’m very excited about this because I don’t think there isn’t a person out there who doesn’t love Ruth Bader Ginsburg!
JACOB SOBOROFF: The RBG!
ROKER: RBG!
SOBOROFF: RBG! [Cheers and applause]
ROKER: 85 years old, and she revealed she has no plans to retire. She wants to stay on the Supreme Court for another five years! [Cheers and applause]
SOBOROFF: That is unbelievable. Wow.
ROKER: Which would put her at 90. Now, Americans on average retire about – say they’ll retire at age 66. In the ’90s, the average age was like 60. So any – what age do you think you’ll retire?
SOBOROFF: I don’t ever want to retire, Al, especially if I get to hang out with you guys all the time. RBG, the thing about RBG is, I suspect that she wants to hang on for five more years because that just might be when Donald Trump’s out after his second term is over. [Laughter and applause] Am I wrong about that?
(...)
