In the first half, political consultant Dick Morris, known for his insightful, hard-hitting commentary, offered his views on the current political climate, and the Trump administration, from his insider perspective. "There's a coup d'etat going on as surely as there are tanks rolling down Pennsylvania Avenue," he declared. The goal of the coup is to remove Trump from office, "but more importantly it aims to assert the dominance of the Deep State," which he defined as "the permanent government, the bureaucratic, economic, intelligence establishment." According to Morris, the Obama administration cleaned the ranks of the CIA and FBI and replaced them all with "ultra liberals."
This, he believes, is tied in with the charges of collusion with the Trump election campaign and Russia, which now seems to have moved into 'obstruction of justice' charges by the Mueller investigation team. Morris finds no substantiation for any of this, and suggested that instead the leakers within the administration should be prosecuted. He cited positive accomplishments of Trump's presidency, including his repeal of many regulations, which has helped "liberate entrepreneurial energy in the United States." Morris also talked about his earlier incarnation being part of President Bill Clinton's team back in the 1990s.
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In the latter half, renowned Elvis Presley historian, Cory Cooper, discussed the 40th anniversary of the unexpected passing of the 'King of rock 'n roll' on August 16, 1977. Cooper does not put stock in the conspiracy theories that Presley faked his death-- some of his fans just do not want to let go of him, he said. Some of the "Alivers" (what Cooper calls the Elvis conspiracists) claim that Elvis was working for the CIA and had to fake his death because of needing to go into witness protection. There were also rumors that his body at his open casket funeral was a wax dummy, and didn't look quite like Elvis. "After someone passes away, you're going to look a little different," Cooper commented, adding that if he was going to fake his death, why have an open casket and let 20,000 people shuffle by?
He detailed Presley's early career and his success in movies, as well as his dependence on prescription medications, which contributed to his demise at age 42. Some of the opiates he took led to intestinal problems, and weight issues, Cooper noted. Col. Tom Parker, Elvis' manager, was a double-edged sword, he continued, doing equal amounts of good and bad, overextending his role as manager on numerous occasions. Cooper also related how the phrase "Elvis has left the building" became a staple. It was first said by Al Dvorin, an announcer who worked with the Presley tours, in an attempt to combat the crowd's hysteria at the end of a concert in the early 1970s.
News segment guests: Ben Fuchs, Lauren Weinstein
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