Text-a-Topic & Major Garrett

The public has been clamoring for it. Maybe it's been about a month. We always say we should do this more often and then we don't. But it only works if you're involved with taxatopic. Everything is on the table. Every single thing is on the table. Why is it on the table? Why is it on the floor? Why is it in the closet? Why is it on a chair? Everything is on the table. What would you like to offer up for? Text the topic. I'll open up the first one. Why can't we sell the text lines? Should we throw it in as a bonus? Can I just become the sales guy? Can we go? We're about to talk Aquarius. Aquarius spends good money on the seat. Can we throw it in the Aquarius text lines? Mix it up, you know, every week, one of our sponsors that's a long time or just even for somebody joining in, like you said. Maybe it's ours. Aquarius, Bella, Amber. Well, there's a war then the text lines. Not sure the brain wizards would like that. Yeah, they might not. They probably like a taste for that. For me, text a topic. What do we have on that TV right there? Right behind you. That's Poka Spotlight right there. Polka Spotlight. Average age for a skilled polka er. Is it 86? No. No, no, no. It's far younger. No, it's not. Look at those folks. And they had a couple little kids in there. They have no choice. They didn't want to be. Oh, the kids are having a great time. No, they did not want to be there. Okay, look at these. The guys got the cowboy hat. Right? And the wife with a shimmery blouse. Oh, the guy and the little boy and the girl. Oh, it's like the kids section right over there. They don't want to. There's five of them. They did not sign up. It was just parents brought them. They're having a great time. Can you be under 70 and love poking? My grandparents, when they were still with us, they would go out poking every weekend, perhaps. Really? It was an every weekend thing pretty much. And, I mean, this one, I was young, so they were probably still in their, what, mid to late 50s, early 60s, certainly. We have an internet issue still. They loved it. You got internet problems? Thanks for listening to that whole response. I know. I know. Your grandparents, they went out all the time. They absolutely loved it. It was when you were younger. And I'm telling you they were well below 60 years or 70 years old, below 60 probably too. Well, I probably had something to do with they were shamed of their grandson. I don't feel like I was old enough to bring shame quite yet. Sure? Maybe. Is this tied to our phone issues too? I'm connecting on the phone. Do you have the internets over there? Are you talking Wi-Fi? Because on the station computer where we're dialed in, you know, they got the hard line. Absolutely. I'm great. Got no problem on the phone. I haven't tried my computer. Maybe you just got computer problems. I think it's my computer? My laptop? Yeah. And, you know, as a wise man once said, an artist blames his tools. And one of the texts is Adam Carter's penis size.

That's one of the Texas topics. What's happening at WCCA Radio? It's embarrassing. Yeah. Adam's penis size or the topic? Can't say. Can't say. Unwilling. Unwilling to say. 651-4-6-1-9-2-2-6. What do you have for Texatapa? We got Major Garrett. We got Feisty Friday with Chaleta. We got the Luigi Mangione apologists. Are you embarrassed? Are you ashamed? We got swift takes, and we got Am I wrong? We got a lot of good stuff. Best high school hockey arena in the state. That's a good one. I haven't been to enough. Now, for me, House of Pain, with the New Hope Ice Arena. That's where buddies of mine who played hockey, that's where they played a ton of games. That's where you saw some Falcons, some Robinsdale Robbins and some Cooper Hawks. Is Bramar in the metro area viewed as the most well-known high school hockey arena because of its size and because of Edina's success? It's the one I was going to throw out. On the east side, you got Aldrich Arena. That's been around for a long time. How about the Doug Wougarina now? Yeah, sure.

Let's see. Hippodrome. Where's that? I know the name, but I couldn't tell you what it was. That's one of the first ones that popped into my mind. Hibbing Memorial Ice Arena here is unbelievable. I've driven by it before. I think of my guy, Mickeletti, playing up there, legend. Let's see. Richfield. Somebody says, Hibbing Memorial Arena. Let's see. Okay. Blaine. Blaine complex. How about the money? 651, 4, 6192, 226. Blaine is spending, no kidding. To become a factor. $750 million? Has any town outside of Minneapolis-St. Paul and outside of Bloomington with the Mall of America come close to spending money like that? That's crazy. That is unbelievable. Could you just put up a sign that says home of John Krasinski and that would be enough? Yes. Do you need a whole team and an arena? Johnny Kay, National Sports Arena, and if your kids play soccer, you're going to be here a lot. That's right. That's all you need. $750 million. So 10 years from now, are we all going to be scurrying off to Blaine? I think so. Oh. I heard the bottom dweller show. Praising Town Ball. Let's get to the town ball topic again. If you play Town Ball, bravo. Okay. Right? No problem. Have fun. Keep doing it. If it's a family member and you're going to see your family member playing town ball, I get it or a friend. But if you're just going to just see some random guys in their 20s and 30s and you have no connection with them to play baseball, explain this to me. Do you want to watch a little dodgeball, too, little darts, a little pool, little ping pong? Is it just because it's outside or people just, I cannot believe the popularity of Toml. And again, if you're playing and you like it, fantastic. Not criticizing those anyway. If it's your husband, your brother, I hope you don't have to go a lot. I really do. I mean. I'm Nick and Michelle. Come on out and watch we miss this put. You prefer she doesn't come on out to watch you miss that put. Yeah. We were going to try to play golf together last week, but the course was too full. Oh, sure. No, I said bring the sticks. Like two people on the course. He said, sorry, babe. Can't get. Man, that's the sun is too bright up here at Northland. No, they had a UMD hockey event. Couldn't get out there. Now, you like ball, I like ball. But on a random night, would you just go watch strangers who are fine at the game? They have some skill. There's no doubt. Watch them play baseball? No. That said, if I lived in a town where, you know, small town, Minnesota, where town ball is really a thing, you know, if I've got the Meesville mud hens in town,

I might not know anybody on the team, but for something for, it's like me and the girls who, hey, you want to go watch, you know, five innings of a ball. So you're ripping Greater Minnesota. You're saying if you lived in Greater Minnesota, you're making an assumption there's nothing else to do. No, that's not at all what I'm doing. No, I'm saying Greater Minnesota, we don't have a Woodbury Minnesota town ball team. Yeah. But if I lived in a smaller town where we take pride in the town ball, we've got this nice little boutique stadium going on. Do we take? Pride in the golf league, too? Or the ping pong league? I think it's a bit different. Why? Because it's on a grander scale than your little ping pong league that you're making up for this argument. It's people who are very good to good at ping pong, like those folks who are good to very good at baseball. Is it just because it's outside? Is that the whole thing? That's a big draw. Get the smells, the sounds. People like baseball. Not everyone agrees with you and Josh Donaldson that Minnesotans don't care about baseball. I saw that. I saw that lovely, kind human being, Josh. Great, dude. What a lonesome bleepie. How about, you know, perform just a little bit while you were here, and perhaps you would have found out that Minnesotans can cheer for a ball player, but they never got to cheer for you, Josh. Yeah, what a... I mean, you gave him credit for pursuing him. But he never, ever came close to living up to anything. Come to St. Martin watch them. Great venue, but hands down the best burger ever. Tom Ball is the best food ever. Well, here's the deal. If I can go and I can get some unique food and I give you kind of a salute, the sawcar salute, like, you know, good luck, enjoy yourself. But then I go have the burger with friends. And don't have to watch strangers play a game, which they might be very good at. And again, bravo to them, but what's my hook? Why am I there? You're outside on a beautiful summer sunny. I want to participate in something outside. bike ride, walk. You are participating in a Minnesota tradition of watching, of town ball, of enjoying things, of being a part of it. You're just as much a part of the game as the umpires, as the players, as the managers, as the bat boys. You know, you get that foul ball. You can run over and grab it, Chad, then bring it back down to the dugout. Maybe you'll get a dime. That's not going to get me there, a dime. Get me there. I know it would. I'd be shoving kids out of the way. All right. Keep going. What do you have for text-to-topic? We've covered a few areas ourselves. We want more of your input, not just on Town Ball. You can chime in. You certainly can. You can agree, disagree. But other topics you want to raise on text-to-topic here on the home of the not-so-scoring anymore, Minnesota Twins, Debbie C-C-C-O. Aquarius! Aquarius Home Services.com. You know what today? I didn't bring it my normal wild about him. So I'm going to settle for the third floor water and it will be disappointing. Better than the second floor. Oh, God, no. Never, ever, ever am I having the second floor water? It's spin the wheel.

Okay. A little better on the third floor. No need to take any chances when you work with Aquarius homeservices.com. Earning the right to be recommended since 1987. I've been a customer since 1993. Get that Connecticutico drinking water. Get all the junk out of there. Have the best pure water you can have with a company that knows how to do it with great customer service. How about that water softener? Have that water softer. In fact, Get a new water soft. And when you trade in your old one, get $500 in return and wait until you see the spots go away on the dishes. Wait until you feel better taking that shower. Wait till the clothes come out of the washing machine, even better than ever. And if your AECs having any issues, they can help it out. Great Minnesota company. Love working with them on the radio and at my house. Acquiresomeservices.com. What is today's bumper music theme? I assume you recognize the band here. You're hearing a little live foo fighters playing. This is a call, and this is, well, this is a call back to this very date, August 14th, 1995. That is when the foo fighters made their network television debut on. Dave. The Late Show. Yep. With David Letterman. So we've got nothing but foo fighters on Letterman tunes. Including maybe they ended. Dave. Exactly what we have. Right. Ever long with the videos and the photo montage playing. All the guys were in tuxes that night. Mm-hmm. And he tells a great story, too, when he was coming back to the show. after his heart attack. Yeah. And ever long, bypass or something. Yeah. Ever long had become like the song that had inspired him. And so he went to his longtime assistant. And you still see with him on video when he put stuff on Instagram or on his YouTube channel, whatever, Barbara Gaines. This is Barbara, these guys, foo fighters, have been a lot to me. And she gets back to him and says, you know what, they're on a. tour, I think it was like, seriously it was like Australia or New Zealand. It's a long way away. And Dave goes, okay, they're out. And she goes, nope. They postpone a show. They're flying all the way back. That's incredible. For Dave's return. It's amazing. Right? Absolutely amazing. I mean, that is loyalty. We probably don't talk about enough, too, when we talk about finale that nailed it. Dave's final show was phenomenal. Yes, it was. Right. The clips that they showed, the top 10 list was so, so damn good. Julie Louise Dreyfitts. What was there a line again? Oh, goody. I get to be part of another highly hyped finale that doesn't live up to expectations. They pan right over to Seinfeld. Jim Carrey, Peyton Manning. They finished with Murray because Murray was his first guest on the morning show and on late night NBC. Other finalies that lived up to the hype, breaking bad nailed it.

It was a great finale. The Americans absolutely nailed it. Kerr probably nailed it, too, with a takeoff on the ineptitude of the Seinfeld finale. Other TV shows were the finale. Saul was very good. Saul was very good. Yes, for sure. Somebody says speaking late night. Best late night host out there. I don't watch any of them with any regularity at all. I am up almost all the time at that point, but if I picked one of the group, it's clearly for me Kimmel, but I like Kimmel, don't love them. Well, in fact, Letterman on... What do I forget this? My next guest, what does he call his show again? My next guest needs no introduction. That's right. It's a heck of a list, by the way. I saw it yesterday. Julia John Roberts. Good. Matt Damon. Good. Jimmy Kimmel. Good. And then I forget. Not as good. I mean, it might be great. I'm just forgetting who it was. I don't think it's Donald Trump. But, I mean, I almost tweeted out on Sunday because I went down a... a Letterman rabbit hole. God, Dave, at his best. NBC, Dave, I miss that so much. That was like a show that just, at the time of my life, just spoke to me so much, was so irreverent, was so funny, was so different, absolutely was hit and miss. Wasn't as consistent as, let's say, Johnny. But when it hit, absolutely spectacular. Do you make any attempt to watch any late-night TV? The regulars know. I watch John Oliver doing the last week tonight thing almost every week because they posted on YouTube. I watch it almost every week like the next day on YouTube. As well as Daily Show when it's John Stewart and there's one other guy. I can't remember. He's pretty good. Catch him once in a while. But John Stewart does it Mondays and it's as good as it's ever been with him. I should watch. I watch the Daily Show during Stewart's heyday, but not. with enough regularity. I watched him regularly when it was him and Stephen Colbert doing the Stephen Colbert Report back to back. Yeah, that was. That was prime college for me. It was every night at 10. We got to watch this because it's unbelievable. Somebody says Mash best finale. It was a long one, man. It was three hours, right? A lot of that. I think it was three hours. Can you go at least two, maybe three? At the end, the BJ goodbye. to Hawkeye was very, very good. Someone says... Two and a half. Two and a half. Seth Myers underrated. He is... I just don't watch enough of Seth Myers. What about Adam's shameful act of making Jen climb the ladders at 1.30m. to find the smoke alarm battery. I did not hear the start. Was that the start? We've talked about this. They were talking alarms. I didn't hear that part of the story. We talked about this a lot, too. It always happens. The smoke alarm community is out to get us. It never beeps at, let's say, 1229 p.m. It beeps at 1229 a.m. They're programmed that way. They're out to get us. They're absolutely out to get us. Let's see. More texts.

Somebody talking about, oh, how about Jacob Frey's dance moves? Did you see a little bit of that yesterday? I did not. He's pretty damn good. But I know it would drive the Jacob haters nuts. So I just went through, you know, response after response because I saw it on the Twitter machine and then... Was it Insta or TikTok? I forget. Yeah, exactly. This is why the city's burning. The budget would be better. Oh, yeah, that's right. He's 22 seconds of him dancing. He wasn't cutting a rug. That's why, you know, George Floyd, that's what happened. Because Jacob was dancing with someone. The arenas, the Coliseum, State Fairgrounds. I've been in there before. It's been a long time. Elk River Arena. The hippodrome is not far from there. Let's see. What else we have? We're having some texting issues here. Oh, guess what? I'm not connected to the Internet again. Nice run for you. It was a good, good run. How about this? We'll pause on time. We'll pause on time. Close on time. We probably won't do it at 2.30, but we'll pause here on time and get to Major Garrett. That's from the finale, correct? Yes, it is. Yeah. And they play this, and it played for a long run, and it's just clip after clip after clip from both shows when Letterman said goodbye with that be 2014, maybe.

Because we had a lengthy Stephen Colbert run. Wasn't Stephen Colbert about 10 years? And Stephen Colbert, I think. appeared maybe like in the fall, Dave left in like the spring, summer? May 20th, 2015. Okay. It was the last late show with Dave. Got it. What is the major updates, sir? You just told me he was going to be on a plane. Well, he told me yesterday he had a flight. He didn't think it would be a problem, but normally he would let me know if things were running late. He hasn't, but he's also not picking up his phone. Let's call him live on the air. Let's just call live on the air. I mean, if he works blue, He works blue. You know, we've been having these phone issues that you're aware of was this clicking. So we tried him on another way, the Google Voice. And I think he did pick up. So I think it's possible. This is Major Garrett's phone ringing. Or is it possible he's come to his senses and he's tired of us. Hello. Major Garrett, this is Chad Herbert. We're live on WCC Radio. Can we put you on the air? You sure can. Yes. Yeah. How are you? Good. We literally live on the radio, too. I'm not kidding you. That's fine. That's fine. I just got it from New York. Nice. Are your arms tired? Very. Very. What's last time you said? I just flew it from New York. I'm scared. Doctor, doctor. It hurts what I do it. Don't do it. What other old, simple jokes can we talk to Major Months for 20 straight minutes? How long is that flight, by the way? It's about 40 minutes. 40 minutes. Yeah. But typically when there's a lot of traffic into LaGuardia or from LaGuardia out, DCA, there's usually a ground stop of 10 to 15, 20 minutes. There was this morning. There was last night when I flew up so I could do the morning show this morning and get back here to do the takeout tonight. So. But I still prefer flying to the train. The train is what? Maybe double? Three and a half hours. Well, it's Metroliner. It's three and a half hours. If it's a cell, it's three. Yeah. Let's guess, Dave. Major Garrett, is he a window? or aisle person, window or aisle person? What is your guest, Dave? Most definitely on a short flight, aisle. He's 100% on. I think he's an aisle guy the entire time. Are we correct? Chad, you are correct. Thank you. Now, why are you an aisle person? So I can get up and get out more rapidly. Yeah. Are you a guy who likes to get, do you like to get up?

and kind of feign like you're going to the bathroom, but you really walk, just get a little blood flow. No. No? No. Okay. It's just bathroom and right back. Yeah, exactly. Are you claustrophobic in any way? No, I am not. My ex-wife was, and I very much sympathize with people who suffer from that, but I'm not. I am a little bit myself. The bathrooms on... airplanes good luck i mean if you're six three two twenty i think they need to give you a catheter i don't know how you get in and out of the bathroom right Yes, yes. Okay. Are you... They're a little on the snug side, no doubt. Yes. Are you a first class guy? Do you care if you're first class, you're business class? Okay, like Dave's nodding. He's saying majors absolutely... He's told us so. Yeah, I have. I have. It's part of the contract, right? I've reached that stage of my career. I've worked long and hard. I have two indulgences in my life, just two. Yep. I have been in my contract that if it's available, I fly first class, and now I've become accustomed to it, and I pay for it myself when I fly personally. My other indulgence is I take Uber Black. Those are my two indulgences in life. That's it. That's really are. My suits are all on the rack. That's it? Everything else is all very normal. Nothing that would be considered indulgent or extravagant. Those are the two extravagances of my life. A little nicer food? You mean that I buy for myself? Yeah, I mean, like if you go out to dinner or you're going to the grocery store and you get a little nicer steak. So I divide my shopping between Safeway and Whole Foods. So yes, like whole foods, I get the nicer organic vegetables, but a lot of times I'm at Safeway. Yeah. And I'm not a big, especially because my wife lives on the West Coast now. Yep. I'm not a, I cook for myself. So it's pretty ordinary. Yeah. What did you cook last night? Well, I was in New York last night, so I had Kava at the airport. But typically what I will do is I will, on the weekends... get skirt steak and marinate it and cook up several slabs of that, cut it up and have a salad every night for dinner. And yes, if you're asking me, can I eat the same thing five nights in a row? The answer is 100% yes. Really? Now, Dave, I would not have guessed that. I would have guessed a little more diverse. Aren't you sick of that steak salad by now? Nope. No. Now I will sometimes alternate things and make something that's very Midwestern. Big casserole. Casserol lasts me a week. I can do that. Always a salad, but yes, I can eat the same entree for five straight nights. Easy. 651-461-9-226. Does this disappoint you to hear this from Major Garrett? Are you done with the segment now?

because he will have the same food item for a year straight. I mean, I like, Dave, I like a steak salad also, but it's like, I mean, hey, what am I going to do for dinner? I know steak salad. I mean, it is convenient. It's predictable. I can cook for myself on a Sunday afternoon or a Saturday afternoon, and I'm done for the week. Simplicity counts for a lot in my life right now. It does. It's considering the obligations I have in and around my job. Simplicity does count for a lot. Is anything going on with the Robert Hanson project? Yes. Can you share? No. Oh. But let us just say outside inquiries of a development nature have been made. Oh. This is Major's phenomenal podcast. Was that maybe three years ago? Yeah, about three years ago. Okay. There's a two-year project, a total passion project, which I want to remind everyone, because I thank you for saying it's very good. I'm very proud of it, but I think some of the best work I've ever done. I was ordered three times not to do it. Really? Yep. Who are the people telling you don't do it? My bosses, because they thought it was a waste of time and a side hustle and, again, as the takeout was originally regarded, just a sandbox I was creating for myself, for my own amusement. Let's just say lots of people who made those decisions and made those calls no longer work at the company, but I still do. And I think that just goes to a constant in a successful life. If you believe in something yourself, even if people who are in charge of ordering your life through management tell you not to do it if you believe in and ignore them. If people want to know why Major and I get along as well as we do, His summation of that last answer, Dave Harrigan, I could say the same thing verbatim and have said that many times. Okay, company, man. You've never fought against managers in your life. That's exactly right. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I'll do whatever you say, sir. That's me. There's no... What have you say, boss? 17 hours. I'm here. Doc my pay. All right, let's get to some political items with Major when we come back. On news talk, A3O, WCCA. Hey, you want me to talk a little Pellow windows? Yeah, I do. So do that right now, Chad. Okay, thank you, boss. Yes, sir. I will do that right now. Pella windows and doors, come on. Look out right now that sun's popping in and out. The weather is nice. It's not oppressively hot. It's not raining. We're going to have a great weekend, but at your house. Are you really up to speed? Do you know the age of your windows? Do you know if they're working well? Do you know if you can have somebody come out? Yeah, you can. And I've got the company, just the best in the business, over 100 years of great success, not just tepid, not just hanging around. Leading the field on a regular basis, Pella, and you go to them online, Pella, northland.com, right? Go there and find out,

Where that showroom is. I'll tell you right now, but I can tell you more specifically, when you go to Pella Northland.com, you got one in Bloomington? Nope. You don't have one in Minneapolis? Nope, you don't. I'm going to tell you specifically where they are. Brooklyn Park, Woodbury, and Plymouth. How about have them come out because they'll come up for absolutely free, have them look at your windows, look at your doors, maybe tweak, maybe change one, or maybe a dramatic redo like they did at my previous house with the kitchen and improved it greatly and helped me on the resale. Right now in the month of August, what a deal. 20% off your entire project or 0% APR for 72 months. Pendlandnorthland.com. We've certainly talked about it multiple times, but I'm looking forward to our conversation with Major on this one. This is the political topic, excellent reporting by the Washington Post, the president, not on Air Force One. Remember, he traveled over to the summit on the brand new Qatari $400 million gift that. Let's be honest, he's going to keep it. He's going to use it. When he leaves the presidency, we all know this is going to happen. But then considering, oh, by the way, we're at war, what we were told is the president needs to switch over, and the president tried to tell us they were just showing off the Qatari jet to the troops. Okay, no one bought that. Let it turns out when he's on Air Force One, they snuck him out along with some people very close to him. Yes, the... Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, but no, not the Secretary of State. Marco Rubio, not the Secretary of Treasury. and there's been a lot of conversation about this major on okay did bill clinton do something pretty identical uh did donald trump just follow the intelligence is it okay to use the other folks who are on the plane as a decoy you've flown on air force one a number of times you know the gravity you know secret services number one responsibility is to protect the president what's your assessment of that story from this week So look, the American public wants and expects the Secret Service to protect the president. That's not what this story is about. This story is about something the president and the Defense Department say over and over again, that Iran basically has no capabilities outside of its limited capacity to harass vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. Well, that's not true. If the president has to take such evasive maneuvers and so secretively and so through such an elaborate misdirection go from not just one plane to a second plane and not notify members of his own cabinet, the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, among them, plus the White House aides who traveled on the other older Air Force One and the press corps and all the other military personnel that's also aboard that aircraft.

then they still have capabilities that are serious enough for the president to take such elaborate spy novel-worthy evasive action. Point one, point two. Had the Washington Post not been so aggressive in its reporting on this, Chad, this White House would never have disclosed that. No, they pushed back and lied right away about it. In every circumstance. Not only that, when the New York Times did the original reporting about why. That cover story, that ridiculous cover story about showing the new Qatari gifted jet to the troops in Mendenhall Air Force Base in England was fallacious because it did not have the countermeasures necessary to fully protect the president in a potentially hostile place like Ankara, Turkey. What did the White House and the Justice Department attempt to do? Subpoena the New York Times reporters. So they were in full battle stations. to protect this story. The public would never have learned. People who were jeopardized unwittingly would never have learned. Scott Bessent would never have learned. The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, was clued in on it, okay? But lots of people were not. But he stayed on the other planet. He did. He did. He did. And that may tell you something about how he personally, and maybe in the intelligence community writ large, internalized. how serious a threat there was. We understand why the Secret Service would default to maximum protection, maximum evasive. We're not taking any chances. I understand that. And no one, again, is criticizing those decisions or the President's willingness to go along. That's not, again, what this is about. What's about is Iran clearly retains capabilities that are dangerous throughout the region, which they are demonstrating not only in this instance, but plenty of other instances. through terrorist proxies in Lebanon and Yemen to name just two. And that the public would never have been the wiser. And let's just imagine a scenario, Chad, in which there is a shoulder-fired missile. launched at the old Air Force One in which everyone thinks the president is traveling. Yeah, right. And countermeasures are taken and it's repelled, but it's still a shoulder-fired missile launched at the Air Force One on which everyone reasonably believes the president is traveling. What is this scenario that would take over the psychology of this country? It would be enormous and justifiably so. Right. And I understand the evasive maneuvers. You mentioned Clinton in a minute. I'll get there in five seconds. But just imagine that scenario if the worst had happened. And we didn't know the actual truth about where the president was or wasn't. Back to Bill Clinton. 2000. Pakistan. This is kind of an interesting reference point considering we're moving. Very close to the 25th anniversary of 9-11. They were nervous about Osama bin Laden. So he was put in a secondary plane, a decoy plane, the non-dequy plane, rather. But when he landed at his destination, he got out and was visible to the press corps, not only that, the president of the White House Correspondents Association on behalf of everyone covering the White House, Susan Page at the time, was briefed off the record that this was going to happen.

And then once he landed safely and the crisis was averted, whatever magnitude it was, the press was able to report on the story through the good offices of the president of the White House Correspondents Association. Very different. Very different circumstances. And one that is not riddled not only with contempt of the free press, but did not have any... subpoenas waved around about reporters who were doing their job, which is to report on the actual location of the president of the United States, not the fictitious one. Where were you on September 11, 2001? I was in Sarasota, Florida, covering the president of the United States, George W. Bush. Wow. We've never talked about that, have we? I don't think we have. Okay, so take me through that day. I mean, to say for anyone who's close to that story at any level, New York, Shanksville, Pentagon, it's just a day that never leaves you at any level. It just never leaves you. Does it hover over your thoughts constantly? No, but it never, ever, ever leaves you. And I'll just say this. That day on the White House schedule, as we all understood it, was the second of two days of education in Florida. It was to be a light day. One event. Flight back to DC, the president had no other public events. So for those of us traveling, it appeared on the agenda for the day comparatively light, comparatively light. And that's what we were expecting. And that's certainly what the president was expecting. And I remember being in the adjacent classroom. So I was not part of the pool that day in the classroom with President Bush and Andy Card and all the students. I was in the adjacent classroom. The moment that we all remember of Andy Card coming in and whispering in there. For CBS Sunday morning, I have a piece coming out the Sunday before 9-11 because I went back to the elementary school with Andy Card. He and I have not been there in 25 years. Wow. It's good timing for us to have this conversation. Yes, yes. That piece will be on, I believe it's September 6th, whatever the Sunday is, I forget the date before 9-11. I think it's September 6th. And we've shot that piece. Andy and I had a long, long conversation. But all of us were not only completely disbelieving about what was playing out with. jet one into the first tower, but we watched, as many Americans did, on live television jet two. And there was a room of about 30 trained journalists watching this live, and none of us believed what we saw, none of us. We all looked at each other and said, that didn't just happen, did it? You didn't just, what did we just see? No, we saw it. We still could not believe it. Here's the other thing I will say about it. Since the advent of the atomic age, the nuclear age, end of World War II. the enormous construction of an intelligence apparatus around any president of the United States, Republican or Democrat. Very high pyramid of information upon which the president sits every single day. The president can ask a question and can get an answer in seconds because of this elaborate, mechanized, internalized, bureaucratized intelligence system. Huge pyramid of information on top of which the president sits, except mid-morning 9-11 because that whole pyramid collapsed.

And the president and those senior advisors who we were traveling with, who we kept going up to looking at their blank faces and saying, what is going on? What is this? What are you doing? They did not have a game plan or a set of answers. And I didn't expect them to. But we are trained as reporters who cover the White House to inquire of those closest to the president about what comes next. And that pyramid of information basically collapsed. And for a couple of hours, the president of the United States. knew as much as you knew, as much as I knew, as much as anyone sitting in their living room knew, which wasn't much at all. While flying around the country, uncertain. When he took off from Sarasota, Florida, we were told absolutely positively he's going straight back to Washington. They weren't in the air for a few minutes before they made another decision to go to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. That's right. And then... They didn't go back to D.C. that, even though that was the intention. They went off at Air Force Base in Nebraska, Strategic Air Command. I got to jump in, sir. The powerful stuff. We'll talk about it more when we get closer. Great as always. At least mix up the dressing, okay? Could you? I mean, just a different. I do do that. I'm with you on that, chat. I mix up the dress. All right, man. Have a great weekend. He's the best. Major. Garrett, and we can only imagine what's going to happen when it's 25 years after 9-11 in just weeks.