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By Kristine Marsh
 Thursday on Good Morning America, anchor George Stephanopoulos repeatedly pressed top economic advisor to President Trump, Gary Cohn, to “guarantee” that Trump’s new tax plan wouldn’t give tax breaks to the wealthy, including specifically the President himself. In his usual fashion, Stephanopoulos aggressively confronted the Republican White House official on who would benefit from the president’s policy, while taking a soft approach on the same topics just four, and eight years earlier, when President Obama began his terms in the Oval Office.
Today’s interview started off friendly enough, with Stephanopoulos asking Cohn to describe how the tax plan benefitted middle class families. After explaining that families earning $55,000 annually would receive a tax break of $650-1000 dollars under Trump’s plan, Stephanopoulos began pressing for more details about how that would actually happen.
He argued that the elimination of state and local tax deductions under Trump’s plan would actually increase taxes, in high tax liberal states like New York. Cohn argued that their tax plan benefitted the majority of the country, saying less than a quarter of the country actually itemizes their taxes. Cohn explained a few more tax breaks that would benefit middle class families, before Stephanopoulos stepped in again to doubt everything Cohn was explaining:
“If I’m hearing you correctly, you can’t guarantee that no middle class families will get a tax increase, there will be middle class families who get a tax increase, correct?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“George, there’s an exception to every rule,” Cohn rebutted.
“That’s a yes?” Stephanopoulos bluntly asked.
Cohn responded that he couldn’t “guarantee” anything, as there are always unique families that will not always fall into the plan’s guidelines. Stephanopoulos then switched approaches, to focus on President Trump:
Look at the front page of USA Today right now. It says that Trump could reap millions from his tax plan. If you look at the tax plan, you're eliminating the estate tax, eliminating the alternative minimum tax, cutting the top rate, cutting capital gains, cutting the tax on past earned income. That means millions of dollars for the President of the United States!
“George, you've got to look at the plan in its entirety. On one hand, you’re talking about people that are raising their taxes because--” Cohn began as Stephanopoulos interrupted:
“Right, middle class people and cuts for the wealthy!” he urged.
Stephanopoulos repeated his question again, saying, “All that means, is millions of dollars in tax cuts for President Trump,” he stated, asking again: “Can you guarantee that President Trump won't get a tax cut under this plan?”
Cohn answered again, that “Wealthy Americans are not getting a tax cut,” before explaining that the mission of the plan is to benefit the middle class, but apparently Stephanopoulos was not listening because he repeated again:
“Will the wealthy get a tax cut or not?” he asked.
“The wealthy are not getting a tax cut under our plan,” Cohn bluntly answered.
“That's not the evidence so far,” the anchor rudely responded before wrapping up the interview.
“Of course, there are a lot of details to come,” he added.
Compare this interview to when Obama was President, and Stephanopoulos acted as if Obama had no control whether the “top one percent” could get tax breaks under his plan. Not to mention, that Stephanopoulos didn’t even think to ask the president a personal, confrontational question like if his tax plan would give him a tax break.
In that 2013 ABC This Week interview, Stephanopoulos shrugged and let President Obama off the hook, saying, “Do you look at that, 4.5 years in and say, ‘Maybe a president just can’t stop this accelerating inequality?’”
On top of that, Stephanopoulos let Obama blame “obstructionist” Republicans for not getting aboard his tax and health care plans, something the ABC anchor wouldn’t let Trump advisors say now about Democrats working with Trump and the GOP for their own tax and health care plans.
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By Kyle Drennen
 On Thursday, while ABC’s Good Morning America and CBS This Morning spent several minutes covering the new Republican tax plan and talked to top Trump administration officials about the policy, NBC’s Today couldn’t even bother to devote a single full report to the topic. Instead, the morning show devoted three times more coverage to the renewal of NBC sitcom Will & Grace.
At the top of the show, co-host Savannah Guthrie proclaimed: “President Trump unveiled his long-awaited tax overhaul plan, hailing it as revolutionary.” Minutes later, fellow co-host Matt Lauer announced: “...there’s a lot more to get to on this Thursday morning, including that sweeping tax overhaul plan just unveiled by President Trump and congressional Republicans.” Despite such declarations of the policy’s importance, only less than two minutes (1 minute 55 seconds) of coverage could be managed – and it was far from positive.
“The President is hailing it as revolutionary, but it’s not without controversy,” warned Lauer. Correspondent Kristen Welker followed: “ Tax reform has long been President Trump’s signature issue, and on Wednesday, he did unveil new details of a plan he says will help the middle class and build the economy. But critics argue it’s not clear how he’ll pay for it.”
“Still, after a series of legislative setbacks, Republicans on Capitol Hill and here at the White House say Mr. Trump needs a win,” she added.
 While noting a “united front on taxes” among the GOP and House Speaker Paul Ryan calling it “vital to America’s future,” Welker quickly turned to opponents of the plan: “Independent budget experts warn the proposal could add more than $2 trillion to the debt over the next ten years. Democrats calling the plan a giveaway to the rich.” A clip ran of Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer ranting: “The top rate on the wealthiest comes down, and the bottom rate on working class families goes up. What kind of plan is this?”
The reporter then spent the rest of the report criticizing the President on other topics, including “a growing firestorm over Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, now under scrutiny from Congress for charging tax payers for private jet travel” and “the President himself coming under fire from the daughter of Senator John McCain for criticizing the Senator.”
In sharp contrast to the scant reporting on reform the nation’s tax system, in the 8 a.m. EThour, the morning show spent nearly six minutes (5 minutes 47 seconds) promoting the return of the network’s liberal sitcom Will & Grace.
Amazingly, Good Morning America, often bereft of substantive news coverage, spent over nine minutes (9 minutes 25 seconds) on the GOP tax plan, featuring an interview with White House economic advisor Gary Cohn. Co-host George Stephanopoulos demanded Cohn promise that the wealthy, particularly President Trump, would not benefit from the proposal.
CBS This Morning devoted over five minutes to the issue (5 minutes 3 seconds), which included a lengthy interview with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
How was it that the other two networks managed to find people in the administration to talk to about the major policy proposal while NBC could not?
During its Wednesday evening coverage of the tax plan, NBC Nightly News joined ABC’s World News Tonight in ignoring important details of the tax policy in favor of emphasizing criticism.
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By Nicholas Fondacaro
 On Thursday, the federal government stepped up its hurricane relief effort in Puerto Rico by dispatching three-star Army general, Lt. Gen. Jeff Buchanan to oversee all operations. The move came as the sheer devastation from Hurricane Maria continued to cripple relief efforts and supply distribution. Instead of recognizing the unique and difficult challenge that trying the aid Puerto Rico was, both CNN and MSNBC tried to paint the Trump administration as uncaring of their plight.
On CNN’s The Situation Room, host Wolf Blitzer was speaking with Texas Republican Congressman Will Hurd when he began to grill his guest on Trump’s response. “But a lot of people are pointing out there was one standard for Texas, your state, for Florida, a different standard for Puerto Rico even though the three and a half million people who live on that U.S. territory are U.S. citizens. Do you agree with that,” Blitzer demanded to know.
Hurd didn’t seem to understand what Blitzer was insinuating and asked what he meant by “a different standard, according to what?” “A different standard of getting supplies there, food, water, power, U.S. military personnel. Having everything ready to go to save people's lives,” Blitzer sneered.
“I think FEMA's performance and their prepositioning and all their work has been the same there,” Congressman Hurd explained. “I can't disagree that the outcomes have been different, but I don't know if that can be squarely on the shoulders of FEMA.”
Blitzer began to complain to Hurd about how CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta had to help out with a morbidly obese woman at a local hospital. For the CNN host, it was an example of how terrible the Trump administration’s response was in this case. But that’s a completely ridiculous complaint because CNN was helping people when Hurricane Harvey was ravaging Houston and the coast of Texas.
The Republican congressman called Blitzer out, noting that “I think you’re seeing that has been something that you've saw in Houston and Florida as well where you have private citizens, businesses helping people out and providing that helping hand.”
Meanwhile, on MSNBC’s MTP Daily, Moderator Chuck Todd was pestering Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo Rossello about the same claims of subpar standards:
Maybe this is too early to ask you this question, but I'm curious. Do you think the response -- do you have a, a sense that the response from the federal government or maybe the response from-- would have been stronger if you'd been a state?
Governor Rossello did admit that a different standard was a concern originally, but it no longer was for him. “But that was a concern, however, I have to say that the administration, including the President—The President has been calling me on a daily basis seeing how we can move this along,” he explained.
“Every petition that I’ve asked the President he has delivered very quickly. His staff as well. FEMA Director Brock Long has been critical in this effort,” Rossello added. And soon afterward, Todd ended their interview.
It’s clear that they’re trying to create a narrative that Trump’s administration was dragging its feet and lacked empathy for the suffering U.S. territory. But the facts prove just the opposite. They’re purposely choosing not to take into account the unique and difficult challenge Puerto Rico’s predicament poses logistically.
Transcripts below:
 CNN The Situation RoomSeptember 28, 2017 6:16:20 PM Eastern
(…)
WOLF BLITZER: But a lot of people are pointing out there was one standard for Texas, your state, for Florida, a different standard for Puerto Rico even though the three and a half million people who live on that U.S. territory are U.S. citizens. Do you agree with that?
WILL HURD: A different standard, according to what?
BLITZER: A different standard of getting supplies there, food, water, power, U.S. military personnel. Having everything ready to go to save people's lives.
HURD: I think FEMA's performance and their prepositioning and all their work has been the same there. I can't disagree that the outcomes have been different, but I don't know if that can be squarely on the shoulders of FEMA.
BLITZER: But you saw that report from Dr. Sanjay Gupta, that hospital director didn't even have a satellite phone to talk about patients who were critically ill and trying to get some assistance. At CNN, we had to help that woman get to the hospital. You just saw that.
HURD: Thank God Dr. Gupta was there to help out. I think you’re seeing that has been something that you've saw in Houston and Florida as well where you have private citizens, businesses helping people out and providing that helping hand. So I think that is one of the things that you see people responding to in these kinds of crises.
(…)
MSNBC
MTP Daily
September 28, 2017
5:29:36 PM Eastern
(…)
CHUCK TODD: Maybe this is too early to ask you this question, but I'm curious. Do you think the response -- do you have a, a sense that the response from the federal government or maybe the response from-- would have been stronger if you'd been a state?
RICARDO ROSSELLO: Well, obviously that was always a concern originally, and that also has been a concern, as you know, we're not a state but proud U.S. citizens. We're proud U.S. citizens that have served the country at the highest rates per capita in our military services, for example. And just two weeks ago we came to the aid of about 4,000 U.S. citizens that got stranded, didn't have a shelter. We gave them shelter, food and water and transported them.
But that was a concern, however, I have to say that the administration, including the President—The President has been calling me on a daily basis seeing how we can move this along. Every petion that I’ve asked the President he has delivered very quickly. His staff as well. FEMA Director Brock Long has been critical in this effort.
And I also want to thank the Senators and Representatives. They have shown their solidarity, their commitment to Puerto Rico. Some of them have asked, such as leader Schumer, have asked that if equal treatment is not given to Puerto Rico there could be given no treatment to anybody else.
(…)
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By Curtis Houck
Just when you think you’ve heard it all, you’re shown otherwise. During Thursday’sHardball, MSNBC host Chris Matthews compared the Russian-backed social media trolls during the 2016 election to the 9/11 hijackers who murdered thousands of Americans in New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Matthews was speaking to T.V. hog and Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff (Calif.) in a segment about fake news promulgators when he suddenly invoked the radical Islamic monsters behind the September 11, 2001 attacks.
“You know, when they came here to bomb us — hit the World Trade Center back in 2001, do you notice how they came here for flying lessons? And Americans gave them flying lessons down in Florida and the guy said I thought they were from Germany. Come on, a little sophistication about who is coming to get the bombing lessons for controlling an airplane to fly it into the World Trade Centers,” Matthews began.
Somehow, that summary of the 9/11 hijackers led to talking about how, in 2016, the evildoers in question “just casually take Twitter.”
“They exploit the hell out of it. It's free. They exploit Facebook. They pay a few bucks and these numb nuts that give them this authority — they treat these platforms like they are open to anybody. Come on, the banks open. Doesn't it amaze you that people like Zuckerman [sic] act like they are so neutral on this fight between the bad guys and the good guys,” Matthews added. And, yes, he actually said Zuckerman instead of Zuckerberg.
The segment’s chyron “How Russia Won” tacitly pushed the notion that the Russians (not the voters) put Donald Trump in the White House (thus robbing scandal-ridden Hillary Clinton of what was rightfully hers).
Needless to say, the liberal media will do whatever it takes to undermine the 2016 election results and delegitimize the Trump presidency, no matter the cost or insults it sends to his supporters.
Matthews’s comparison between fake news trolls and the 9/11 hijackers was paid for by Coca-Cola, IHOP, National Car Rental, and VistaPrint.com.
Here’s the relevant transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on September 28:
MSNBC’s Hardball
September 28, 2017
7:21 p.m. Eastern
 CHRIS MATTHEWS: But isn’t this our problem? You know, when they came here to bomb us — hit the World Trade Center back in 2001, do you notice how they came here for flying lessons? And Americans gave them flying lessons down in Florida and the guy said I thought they were from Germany. Come on, a little sophistication about who is coming to get the bombing lessons for controlling an airplane to fly it into the World Trade Centers. And now these guys just casually take Twitter. They exploit the hell out of it. It's free. They exploit Facebook. They pay a few bucks and these numb nuts that give them this authority — they treat these platforms like they are open to anybody. Come on, the banks open. Doesn't it amaze you that people like Zuckerman [sic] act like they are so neutral on this fight between the bad guys and the good guys. Are they neutralists?
DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN ADAM SCHIFF (Calif.): Well, you know, it — I think it certainly it has taken the social media companies a long time to come to the realization that, in addition to all the good they do, bad actors can also exploit it.
MATTHEWS: You think they are not open to this because it just keeps the door wide open for money?
SCHIFF: Look, this is going to be part of our oversight. How soon did they discover how their platforms are being used? What steps did they take? Were they willing to do the hard, internal analysis or not really want to see what was there?
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By Curtis Houck
Like many of CNN’s town halls, Wednesday night’s NFL special featured multiple perspectives and balanced questioning, but the goodwill and dialogue was degraded by liberal filmmaker Spike Lee’s intolerant outbursts.
Chief among them was Lee’s insistence that politics cannot be avoided in sports (and thus must be mixed) because of the country’s racist history and “genocide of Native Americans and slavery” plus dismissing concerns about NFL protests raised by a Gold Star family.
AC360 host Anderson Cooper started the hour-long event by interviewing Philadelphia Eagles safety and activist Malcolm Jenkins before going to his panelists. Rev. Michel Faulkner came down on the side of opposing the kneelers:
FAULKNER: At that moment when the flag is raised, it should be saluted. That's my — you know — listen, I'm a Baptist minister. When somebody's praying at the pulpit, you can't walk in. There's certain rules in the house. You know, in our church, men take off their hats. It's — it’s that kind of thing. Is there a cause for protest? Absolutely. I get it. I agree with so much of what Malcolm is saying and —
COOPER: But that's not the time nor place?
FAULKNER: — but that’s not the time nor place to me. My statement is, you know, when those colors are raised, I'm going to salute. That does not mean that I believe America is perfect, but I believe the ideal of America is worth continuing to work for.
Instead of respectfully disagreeing, Lee leapt to conclusions by accusing Faulkner of calling“these brothers” kneeling for the National Anthem “unpatriotic.”
Faulker made clear that he never said that, so Cooper turned to Lee by pressing him on the point that many believe “this is not the time and place and a lot of fans of the game say, look, I don't want to turn on the game and this is not the right time.”
Lee responded by arguing that politics and sports have to be intertwined because....racist America and stuff:
Politics and sports have always been intertwined, and you can't — we live in the United States of America. Race is a part of the DNA of this country. This country, the foundation of the United States of America was the genocide of Native Americans and slavery. That's the foundation of this country that cannot be disputed and so, that's the foundation. Everything else comes from that.
Showing the town hall’s balance, former Pittsburgh Steeler wide receiver and CNN contributor Hines Ward countered that “it's very hard to juggle” mixing the two “because in our world, the football world, we don't see color...we see teammates come from all different places all over.”
Again, Lee took the conversation and lobbed a proverbial grenade in, seemingly arguing that the NFL is a representation of the slave-master relationship which Ward articulated:
LEE: Can I just say something?
WARD: Go ahead.
LEE: What did it take for Bear Bryant to get a black player in Alabama. They played USC and he said we need to get some niggers. So, how can you sports and — how can you say football is not —
WARD: Well, it’s the politics is — because — you got to look at it. In our world, that's where the league is trying to do, where's the balance.
LEE: But can I just say this, Hines, in all respect. The players are different from management and the owners and they are the people that are running things.
“[T]here's two sides, though. There’s two sides, right? There's one side that's trying to say social injustice and trying to make equality for this, and then there's a side that they look at the flag and whatever that flag represents to you, so be it, but then there's a lot of people that really just want to play football. They don't want to have to pick sides,” Ward replied.
In the next segment, Gold Star father Vincent Bonacasa asked Lee:
Last Sunday, our community had a celebration for gold star parents. It was a very humbling ceremony. But it brought us back to the day we lost our son. It was a very empty feeling. We came home, turned on the TV, and there was the NFL players on their knees. That was a slap in the face to us. So my question is, how do you support these multimillionaires on their knees and don't support what the fallen heroes died for?
Lee stated that he’s “sorry for your loss,” but then hit back that “the narrative that you spoke about is not true” since players “respect the Armed Forces,” the American flag, and the country itself.
Bonacasa and Cooper both stepped in to challenge the liberal activist, who then ripped President Trump for being as crazy as North Korea’s Kim Jong-un:
COOPER: But there's a lot of people who, you know, look at this as disrespectful. When you see the flag —
LEE: A lot of people thought that — what — at the ‘68 Olympics, this is why I’m wearing this shirt. John Carlos and Tom Smith when they won the Olympics, they put the black fist up. A lot of people felt that was —
BONACASA: Excuse me, I have one other question. When North Korea aims a missile at us, are these football players going to be on their knees or are they going to support our veterans?
LEE: Say that again?
BONACASA: When North Korea aims a nuclear missile at us, are these heroes that you say, NFL, that can't support our flag, are they going to be on their knees with this happens or are they going to support our veterans?
LEE: Sir, I'm worried just as much about Donald Trump as that crazy guy in North Korea and he has a nuclear code. I'm worried about that.
One of the most emotional parts of the town hall came later when Cooper turned to “Joey Odoms, who was a combat veteran, former member of the Maryland Army National Guard and, up until yesterday, the singer of the National Anthem for the Baltimore Ravens.”
Cooper added Odoms quit due to the players protesting during the National Anthem and then gave way to Odoms, who told Cooper, Faulkner Lee, Ward, and former NFL player/veteran Nate Boyer:
I felt like not all of me was welcomed. The combat veteran was welcomed, the former 911 operator was welcomed, the person singing National Anthem was welcome, but the veteran who also saw that there was a reason for these players to be kneeling was not welcome. So I made this decision, that that was not the place for me to be.
Here’s the relevant transcript from CNN’s Patriotism, the Players and the President: AC360 Town Hall on September 27:
CNN’s Patriotism, the Players and the President: AC360 Town Hall
September 27, 2017
9:11 p.m. Eastern
 REV. MICHEL FAULKNER: At that moment when the flag is raised, it should be saluted. That's my — you know — listen, I'm a Baptist minister. When somebody's praying at the pulpit, you can't walk in. There's certain rules in the house. You know, in our church, men take off their hats. It's — it’s that kind of thing. Is there a cause for protest? Absolutely. I get it. I agree with so much of what Malcolm is saying and —
ANDERSON COOPER: But that's not the time nor place?
FAULKNER: — but that’s not the time nor place to me. My statement is, you know, when those colors are raised, I'm going to salute. That does not mean that I believe America is perfect, but I believe the ideal of America is worth continuing to work for.
COOPER: Spike?
SPIKE LEE: That means you're unpatriotic? I'm asking you a question. Doers that mean that these brothers —
FAULKNER: No.
LEE: That — who are doing, when they’re taking a knee, are you saying their unpatriotic?
FAULKNER: No I didn't say that.
LEE: Okay, well, I’m asking that.
COOPER: But, Spike, but to those who says, look, this is not the time and place and a lot of fans of the game say, look, I don't want to turn on the game and this is not the right time.
LEE: Politics and sports have always been intertwined, and you can't — we live in the United States of America. Race is a part of the DNA of this country. This country, the foundation of the United States of America was the genocide of Native Americans and slavery. That's the foundation of this country that cannot be disputed and so, that's the foundation. Everything else comes from that.
HINES WARD: But I can — politics and sports, it's very hard to juggle that because in our world, the football world, we don't see color. You know, we see teammates come from all different places all over.
LEE: Can I just say something?
WARD: Go ahead.
LEE: What did it take for Bear Bryant to get a black player in Alabama. They played USC and he said we need to get some niggers. So, how can you sports and — how can you say football is not —
WARD: Well, it’s the politics is — because — you got to look at it. In our world, that's where the league is trying to do, where's the balance.
LEE: But can I just say this, Hines, in all respect. The players are different from management and the owners and they are the people that are running things.
WARD: Yes, but then there's two sides, though. There’s two sides, right? There's one side that's trying to say social injustice and trying to make equality for this, and then there's a side that they look at the flag and whatever that flag represents to you, so be it, but then there's a lot of people that really just want to play football. They don't want to have to pick sides. They just wants to play football, the game that they loved doing as a child, the game they make a lot of money to provide for their families to — you know – from where they come from. A lot of those players are frustrated because they feel like they have to choose.
(....)
COOPER: If you could just speak to that — when you see the flag and you see what these players are doing, is it to you disrespectful to the flag?
BOYER: It hurts me every time, I will say that. I will say it hurts me. Because I know these guys personally, I know that is not their intent to disrespect. I don't see it that way, but that's because I've had those conversations, I think. So, as an outsider, I can understand how you would view it that way. You know, on the veteran side of the family — you know — veterans issues — we have 22 veterans taking their own lives a day right now. We have a lot of issues on that. So that's something that I think needs to be spoken about more and maybe demonstrated in some way, but we could never do something like that during the Anthem, right? And I've actually spoken to, you know, to players about potentially — I mention that stuff too that this is obviously — racism in America absolutely exists. It is an issue. We need to fix it. We're a great country, probably the greatest country, but we can be a hell of a lot greater and I just think that, if a lot of those guys would recognize that it's not the only issue, I think more people from that other side — that polarized opposition — may listen and open up more a little bit.
(....)
 WARD: I think the league is in a unique position because we don't know how to deal with it, I mean, with the remarks of Trump coming out on Friday night. I look at — we talk about unity in the NFL, right? And so, it seems like every NFL team was trying to figure out how to do it the right way, and they totally just bombed it and the leader of our league, Roger Goodell, he was nowhere to be found. So, through Sunday, teams were trying to figure out, what do we do this after his remarks. You saw Pittsburgh Steelers and you saw how we did it. We totally dropped the ball. Tennessee and Seattle, they didn't want to be a part of it either way. They stayed in the locker room. Other teams stayed out and then finally on Monday night, and it kills me to say this, it hurts me to say this, the Dallas Cowboys, I think, came close to getting it right. You know, Jerry Jones, the owner, kneeled down with his players to show support for the players that was going through the protests, but at the same time those same players stood for the National Anthem.
(....)
LEE: I was not buying that stuff, that show with the owners kneeling with the players with their arms locked up. I wasn't buying it because they're forgetting why this whole thing happened. If they want to stop it — if they want to unite the players, Colin Kaepernick should have a job in the NFL. So it's — it’s hypocritical for them to say we're all united, but we're forgetting the reason why this whole thing started.
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By Geoffrey Dickens
 On Wednesday, CBS’s Charlie Rose was caught openly rooting for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to delay her retirement from the Supreme Court – for as long as Donald Trump is President.
The CBS This Morninganchor, on his PBS show, encouraged the Bill Clinton-appointee to stick to the health regimen set-up by her personal trainer as he warned: “Donald Trump may have the chance [to appoint another justice]. So you keep up that exercise, okay?”
CHARLIE ROSE: You’re 84, 85. Justice [Stephen] Breyer who I interviewed on this very same stage is what? 79, 80?
RUTH BADER GINSBURG: Yeah, 79.
ROSE: Seventy-nine, I think. So Donald Trump may have the chance, may – so you keep up that exercise, okay?
GINSBURG: Justice Breyer is also using [personal trainer] Brian Johnson.
ROSE: So the future of the country is in Brian Johnson’s hands. [LAUGHTER]
This wasn’t the only instance of Rose revealing his liberalism during the interview. CBS This Morning, on Wednesday, aired a portion of the Ginsburg interview in which Rose gushed over “one of my favorite people” and peppered the justice on just how much sexism Hillary Clinton faced in 2016.
The following is a transcript of the retirement section of the interview, as it was aired on the September 27 edition of PBS’s Charlie Rose show:
CHARLIE ROSE: You are now the longest serving Jewish member of the court.
JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG: Yes, yes. I had said – people have been asking me now for some time, because my next birthday, I will be 85.
ROSE: Eighty-five. Alright! And might we say a healthy 85 because of [personal trainer] Brian Johnson.
GINSBURG: But it started I guess when I turned 70. “When are you going to step down?” So I had a stock answer. I said Justice [Louis] Brandeis was appointed when he was the same age as I was when he was appointed. We were both 60. He was on the Court for 23 years. I expect to stay at least as long as Justice Brandeis. Now I am about two years passed.
ROSE: Yeah, so what’s the new standard?
GINSBURG: So now my answer is I will remain in this good job as long as I can do it full steam.
ROSE: And we hope for a long time.
[Applause]
GINSBURG: But –
ROSE: But, but you’re 84, 85. Justice [Stephen] Breyer who I interviewed on this very same stage is what? 79, 80?
GINSBURG: Yeah, 79.
ROSE: 79, I think. So Donald Trump may have the chance, may – So you keep up that exercise, okay?
[Laughter, applause]
GINSBURG: Justice Breyer is also using [personal trainer] Brian Johnson.
ROSE: So the future of the country is in Brian Johnson’s hands. You go out there and you buy that [Johnson] book, okay! So as long as you feel like are you doing the job that President Clinton asked you to do when he appointed you, you will be right there on your seat in the Supreme –
GINSBURG: Like Justice John Paul Stevens. He stepped down when he was 90.
ROSE: And he was, he was? So you got five years, at least. That will take you through another presidential election.
GINSBURG: And he was –
[Applause]
GINSBURG: He was swift in getting out his opinions. Since he stepped down from the Court he has written – published two books. And he’s well on his way to completing the third.
ROSE: Alright. Listen, I’m with you, for goodness sakes I’m with you! You know. I think the word retirement is an awful word.
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By Scott Whitlock
All three networks on Thursday hailed the life of “American icon” Hugh Hefner, honoring the “beautiful ending” for the pornographer. CBS also made sure to tout the “progressive politics” of the magazine and support for abortion. In total, ABC, CBS and NBC devoted 27 minutes and 3 seconds to cheering “one of the most influential figures in social history.” All three networks led with Hefner first and covered the unfolding disaster in Puerto Rico second.
Though some of the coverage called his legacy “controversial,” journalists focused mostly on critiques from the left. This included feminists such as Gloria Steinem, rather than conservatives voicing concern about Hefner’s contribution to moral decline. CBS This Morning featured Hollywood Reporter editor Matt Belloni to cheer Playboy: “They did a lot of articles that were very progressive in the politics. They were pro-choice at a time when many outlets were not openly so.”
It’s perhaps unsurprising that a magazine promoting open and free sex might also advocate for abortion on demand. CBS co-host Charlie Rose responded to Belloni by recounting his own interest in the nudity-heavy magazine: “When I was growing up, there were two magazines you collected. One was Playboy and one was National Geographic.”
 Earlier on the show, Vladimir Duthiers lauded Hefner as a civil rights icon: “And his TV show Playboy After Dark helped break down racial barriers.” In total, CBS This Morning devoted 8 minutes and 38 seconds to Hefner.
Over on the Today show, Matt Lauer parroted talking points from another liberal outlet’s tribute: “The New York Times did an obituary and compared Hugh Hefner to people like Walt Disney, Gatsby, Citizen Kane, iconic figures.” The co-host described, “Hugh Hefner being remembered this morning as a cultural pioneer who turned his sophisticated fantasy lifestyle into a global empire.”
Savannah Guthrie marveled at his legacy, “from the playmates to the protests to the pajamas.” Today offered 9 minutes and 44 seconds to the life and legacy of the pornographer.
 On Good Morning America, Nick Watt remembered the “activist and American icon.” He allowed that Hefner could be “a hero or a villain,” “depending on your point of view.” Yet, ABC’s coverage was mostly positive as reporter Chris Connelly touted, “Hefner never backed down from his insistence that he played a pivotal part of unshackling society from high bound notions about sex. And no doubt in his mind that he propelled society forward with his message.” GMA covered Hefner for 8 minutes and 41 seconds.
Back in May, CBS sneered at the death of Fox News founder Roger Ailes, hitting him for “fostering and exploiting divisions.” In 1997, the networks greeted the death of Mother Theresa as the end of a “fundamentalist Catholic.”
According to journalists, the head of a pornography empire is less contentious than those two.
A transcript of one of the CBS This Morning segments is below:
 CBS This Morning
9/28/17
7:35:35 to 7:38:40
ROSE: We’re remembering the very influential life of Hugh Hefner. He made his network television debut in 1956 on CBS. Speaking to Mike Wallace, Hefner defended the image of Playboy magazine.
HUGH HEFNER: Sex will always be an important part of the book, because sex is probably the single thing that men are most interested in.
MIKE WALLACE: With this, I think you’ll agree. It’s a sniggering kind of sex. It’s a lascivious kind of sex. It certainly isn’t a healthy approach to sex. You would suggest that it is.
HEFNER: I not only suggest that it is, I would say rather strongly.
GAYLE KING: By the 1970s Playboy had more than seven million readers. Wow. And Hefner certainly was a household name. He built an empire on the simple idea that sex is important to people. With us from Los Angeles is Matt Belloni. He is editorial director of the Hollywood Reporter. Good morning to you, Matt.
MATT BELLONI: Good morning.
KING: He certainly changed the magazine culture. He changed the American sex culture, if you will. That came with some controversy Back in the day, there were a lot of protests about how women were portrayed in the magazine. What do the critics say today about the legacy that he's left?
MATT BELLONI: I think it's a very complicated legacy because on the one hand Playboy was criticized. It was the first major mainstream magazine to feature nude women and it was in the context of politics and lifestyle and all these other things, but it was essentially a naked women magazine. People like Gloria Steinem at the time very opposed. Said Playboy could fill a book with what it doesn't know about women. But on the other hand it was filled with progressive politics. It was one of the few magazines that interviewed MLK and they interviewed Muhammad Ali. And they did a lot of articles that were very progressive in the politics. They were pro-choice at a time when many outlets were not openly so and very pro-First Amendment. And these causes that the culture caught up to, Playboy was doing it at a time in the '50s, '60s, '70s when it wasn’t that accepted from a big national magazines like that.
ROSE: When I was growing up, there were two magazines you collected. One was Playboy and one was National Geographic.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA: Two very different magazines. What happens going forward? We know that his son Cooper is going to be taking over the magazine. Circulation has dropped significantly as many industry magazines as well. How does the magazine and the brand go forward in a digital age?
BELLONI: It's a tough road. Recently Cooper Hefner, Hugh's son, has assumed control of the brand. But the magazine, they've gone through a rocky tenure with multiple editors. They got rid of nude pictures. Then they brought them back. They have a very licensing business where the brand is meaningful around the world. But in the U.S. the culture has really gone beyond Playboy. They have to figure out a way to make the Playboy brand relevant in today’s media and culture environment.
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