Guests: Michael Crowley, Lawrence O‘Donnell, Dee Dee Myers, Donald Trump, Jr., Ivanka Trump, Marc Malkin, Robi Ludwig, Courtney Hazlett
JOE SCARBOROUGH, HOST: Barbara goes to bat for Rosie, talking about Trump‘s money woes. But tonight, the new apprentices, Donald Trump‘s kids, are here with some advice for Rosie: Don‘t mess with Dad. And Bill O‘Reilly says that the Bush haters at NBC were sad to see Saddam swinging. That unique observation straight ahead.
But first, the president reaches out to Democrats. Well, sort of. George W. Bush let the new Democratic majority know through a “Wall Street Journal” op-ed piece and a Rose Garden speech that he was still the decider-in-chief and that his agenda will not change.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE WALKER BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Congress has changed. Our obligations to the country haven‘t changed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCARBOROUGH: Now, in the spirit of bipartisanship, Mr. Bush is going to be pushing for more tax cuts, a line-item veto and 20,000 to 40,000 new troops in Iraq. Hold on. Actually, those were all positions that will make conservatives like me happy but anger Democrats. So if that‘s the White House‘s idea of bipartisanship, I would hate to see what their idea of ideological warfare would be, but we may see that soon.
Here to clear things up a bit for us, Michael Crowley—he‘s a senior editor for “The New Republic”—Dee Dee Myers—she is a former White House press secretary for President Clinton—and political analyst Lawrence O‘Donnell. He‘s a frequent contributor to the blog Huffingtonpost.com.
Michael, let me start with you. What exactly is bipartisan about tax cuts, a line-item veto and 40,000 more troops going to Iraq?
MICHAEL CROWLEY, “THE NEW REPUBLIC”: Beyond the fact that Bush says that‘s what it is, I can‘t quite figure it out. I mean, it seems like he waited six years and now he‘s decided to try to change the tone in Washington. It‘s sort of hilarious. I mean, it‘s, like, you know, you‘re getting beaten 50 to nothing in a football game, and then you walk up to the other team and say, All right, then we‘ll call it a draw. I mean, if Bush is reaching out and trying to get the other side to be reasonable, after Republicans have kicked Democrats up and down the block for six years...
SCARBOROUGH: Well, wait. But hold on a second, though. You‘re saying that he‘s trying to be reasonable with Democrats, but Democrats aren‘t going to support a line-item veto. Democrats aren‘t going to support 40,000 more troops in Iraq. Democrats aren‘t going to support making George Bush‘s tax cuts permanent. I would support that. Democrats aren‘t going to support that. That is not bipartisan. That‘s not being reasonable. That‘s the president deciding he‘s going to declare political war on Nancy Pelosi, is it not?
CROWLEY: Yes, but it‘s just kind of hilarious because Republicans were just so thoroughly repudiated in the last election. And Bush‘s poll numbers—you can barely see them, they‘re so far off the chart. And here he is, pretending to reach out and offer this olive branch to Democrats, when in fact, he‘s saying, Do what I want to do and we‘ll get along great and it‘ll be really nice. But there‘s no reason why they should do any of those things, and they‘re not going to.
(CROSSTALK)
CROWLEY: ... what he‘s asking Democrats to do are things he never got Republicans to do, like pork barrels and earmarks, and you know, fairness in the procedures on the Hill, he was never able to get the Republicans to do any of that stuff. It just seems so phony.
SCARBOROUGH: Well, you know, and that‘s what‘s so interesting about it, obviously. The president could have asked for a line-item veto for the first six years, when the Republicans were in charge. The president could have cut all of this pork barrel spending by simply vetoing some of the bills. The president could have balanced the budget, if he wanted to balance the budget. He didn‘t do any of those things. But now that Democrats are in charge, he is going to do that. I mean, that‘s the way the political game is played in Washington, D.C.
And Lawrence, is that what the White House is trying to do right now with this so-called call to bipartisanship? Is this really just the president‘s way of nodding and winking to conservatives and saying, Hey, I‘m with you now after six years?
LAWRENCE O‘DONNELL, POLITICAL ANALYST: I‘d be very, very disappointed if I was in the conservative camp, Joe, or if I was in the Republican caucus in the House or the Senate, because the president gave them nothing. Look, “The Wall Street Journal” gave his writers a thousand words, and for the first 500 words, truly, they say nothing. There‘s not a single word of substance in there. Finally, there‘s a paragraph about how much he likes tax cuts. There‘s not a word about immigration. There‘s not a word about the minimum wage.
In fact, Nancy Pelosi has an agenda that she has laid out that she wants to get passed very quickly in the House of Representatives. The president did not take the opportunity to say that he was in favor or opposed to one of those things. He could have said...
SCARBOROUGH: Well, and...
O‘DONNELL: ... This is what I will veto. He should have used the word “veto.”
SCARBOROUGH: And what about the big issue? What about the big issue, which is Iraq, Lawrence? We‘ve got the White House now talking about 20,000 to 40,000 additional troops in Iraq in the next—you know, in the next month or two. Is that not going to cause an out-and-out war on the House floor?
O‘DONNELL: Well, I‘m not sure that you‘d call it a war, but what it is going to cause is a very close examination of what‘s going on over there, and it‘s not going to play in a popular way for the president. Joe Biden has already scheduled three weeks of hearings on the Iraq war, which were not going to go well for the administration before there was a discussion of a troop surge. The troop surge will be dissected very, very carefully in that committee, and I think it‘s going to be hard for the public to come out of the Biden hearings on this with an idea that the troop surge can actually accomplish anything.
SCARBOROUGH: Well, and Lawrence, here‘s the problem, if you‘re a Democrat. You can try to get along with the president. You can say, You know, we‘re going to try to be bipartisan. But in the end, just as George Bush now seems to be playing to his conservative base and people like me, you‘ve got Nancy Pelosi, who‘s been put in power and Democrats who‘ve been put in power by the Democratic base, and if they don‘t oppose this president and the troop surge in Iraq, they‘re going to see what Democrats saw today on the Hill.
Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Big financial interests at every step of the...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: De-escalate, investigate, troops home now!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: De-escalate, investigate, troops home now!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: De-escalate, investigate, troops home now!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, at every step...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: De-escalate, investigate, troops home now!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: De-escalate, investigate, troops home now!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: De-escalate, investigate, troops home now!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, why don‘t you...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: De-escalate, investigate, troops home now!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: De-escalate, investigate, troops home now!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: De-escalate, investigate, troops home now!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We‘re going to have a...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: De-escalate, investigate, troops home now!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: De-escalate, investigate, troops home now!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: De-escalate, investigate, troops home now!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: De-escalate, investigate, troops home now!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: De-escalate, investigate, troops home now!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: De-escalate, investigate, troops home now!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCARBOROUGH: Lawrence O‘Donnell, you are listening right now to Cindy Sheehan and Democratic activists, who are now protesting a Democratic press conference. They‘re not going to just sit idly by and let Nancy Pelosi play nice with the president and let Democrats play nice with the president while the president commits 40,000 more troops to Iraq, are they.
O‘DONNELL: No, they‘re not. But actually, they do—they serve a useful purpose right now for the Democrats because when you see somebody like Rahm Emanuel or these mainstream Democratic players having a problem with that group, it shows you that there‘s a—that there‘s a group to the left of the Democrats, that the Democrats then get to claim that they represent the sensible approach to Iraq, not an immediate cut and run, not a get them home today. As long as they‘re dissatisfying that crowd, it‘s not an electoral negative for Democrats to be doing that.
SCARBOROUGH: You know, Dee Dee, we‘ve got the president saying, basically, I‘m still the decider-in-chief, I‘m going to push all of these conservative agenda items on Nancy Pelosi‘s Congress. Obviously, you remember when Bill Clinton lost Congress in 1994, most were saying that he should cave in to Republicans, but President Clinton chose to fight us and he won. Is George Bush unveiling the same type of strategy tonight, that he‘s going to be pushing for line-item vetoes and more tax cuts and more troops in Iraq?
DEE DEE MYERS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, it‘s a bit of a Hail Mary, if he‘s hoping for that. I think it‘s become, you know, indiscernible what it is that President Bush is hoping for a lot of time these days. You know, he‘s using a lot of the same words that he used in the aftermath of 9/11. He‘s sounding reasonable while taking hard and fast positions and counting on people to say, Well, he sounds reasonable, he must be making reasonable demands. That time is long gone. The public no longer believes the president is reasonable.
I don‘t think they think an agenda where he says, I‘m the president, so I don‘t care that you won—you know, I invite you to the White House, I‘ll meet with you, but I‘m not going to listen to you or compromise with you or negotiate with you. That‘s not going to hold any water. I don‘t—you know, President Bush (SIC) certainly had challenges on the popularity front after the ‘94 election, Joe, as you and I both well remember, but he was able to fight back. I don‘t think President Bush, six-plus years into his presidency, is going to have that—that wiggle room. He‘s not going to have that ability to build back quickly, particularly as the war in Iraq rages.
President Clinton never had to face that. And in fact, in the end of his presidency, when he was challenged, he could go overseas and do things on the foreign policy front that helped build credibility and distract—or at least turn the page a bit from what was happening domestically. President Bush doesn‘t have that option.
SCARBOROUGH: Well, and Michael, it really—this president is nailed down in the end by this war, is he not? This is—this is the issue. So he can go on (INAUDIBLE) Democrats, Go ahead and make my day, I‘m going to veto your bills when you send them to me. He can say, I‘m the decider-in-chief. But in the end, people don‘t really care about a line-item veto tonight. People aren‘t really talking about additional tax cuts tonight. People aren‘t really talking about earmarks and pork barrel spending tonight. They are talking about one issue and that one issue is Iraq, right?
CROWLEY: You‘re right, Joe. I mean, it completely defines his presidency. It dominates the headlines. And it‘s only going to become more amplified as Democrats like Biden start holding these hearings that are likely to be devastating to the administration. So every now and then, the White House says something like, Well, we want to try and focus on Social Security and entitlements again. You know, I just don‘t think they‘re going to get anywhere.
And not only does the war crowd out so many other issues, but it just goes directly to Bush‘s credibility. I just think people feel like Bush blew it on such a huge issue...
SCARBOROUGH: But you know, Michael, though...
CROWLEY: He shot his credibility...
SCARBOROUGH: We‘ve been talking—I didn‘t mean to interrupt you for some time, but we‘ve been talking for some time about the fact that George Bush is down in the 20s and low 30s not because liberals and moderates have abandoned him but because conservatives have abandoned him. Could it be that you‘ve got Karl Rove saying, OK, well, the president press needs to be more confrontational, he needs to tell the Democrats, Don‘t test me because I‘m going to be vetoing your spending bill. Don‘t test me on taxes. Don‘t test me on line-item vetoes. Don‘t test me on spending. Don‘t test me on Iraq, because if you do, I will slap you down. And that plays to his conservative base, and all of a sudden, he‘s in the 40s in his approval ratings. Is that maybe what he‘s trying to do, Michael?
CROWLEY: Maybe, Joe, but I think their strategy was to rally the conservative base for the midterm elections. I remember being here, talking to you about how he was meeting with the right-wing talk show hosts. Bush himself, but the congressional leadership put a lot of emphasis on, you know, building this border fence and kind of having a xenophobic attitude toward immigration, and that totally failed. So maybe that‘s their strategy, but I don‘t see any reason to think it‘s going to work now when it didn‘t work a few months ago.
MYERS: You know, he hasn‘t exactly wielded the mighty veto pen. He‘s vetoed one bill since he‘s been president, to expand stem cell research. So I don‘t know if the Democrats are exactly quaking in their boots about the mighty veto pen and...
SCARBOROUGH: But Dee Dee, doesn‘t he—isn‘t now the time for him to change his tack? Isn‘t now the time for him to say, OK, you send me a big spending bill...
MYERS: Right.
SCARBOROUGH: ... I‘m going to veto it? I mean, Bill Clinton in ‘93, ‘94 didn‘t veto bills, and then suddenly, when Republicans came in, he vetoed bills that he even agreed with, and it worked masterfully for him.
MYERS: That he agreed with! You know, I guess the—you know, that‘s part of the Democratic strategy at this point, is, Let‘s send him a bill to raise the minimum wage, let‘s send him some ethics reform proposals, and let‘s challenge him to veto those proposals. That is the briar patch that I think a lot of Democrats would be happily thrown into.
SCARBOROUGH: And Lawrence, let me ask you, if, let‘s say, you were in the briar patch in the White House tonight and you were—Karl Rove got fired for some reason, and George Bush was delusional and he hired you as his political director for the White House. And he turned to you and he said, Lawrence, what do I do my last two years? How do I save my legacy? How do I get my approval ratings up? How do I make my wife and kids and dog proud of me? What would you tell him?
O‘DONNELL: Well, I‘d just have to leave Iraq aside, Joe, in that—in that strategy session because I‘d have to tell him is, You basically just have to get out of Iraq. That‘s what you‘d have to do. You‘d have to complete the Iraq exercise within your own presidency.
But let‘s just leave that a side for a second. Domestically, what I would have said to him is—I would have used today‘s “Wall Street Journal” op-ed piece as a chance to issue his veto manifesto. Nancy Pelosi has issued her legislative manifesto. It‘s out there. We know what she wants. Tell us, Mr. President, what you will veto. And that‘s what conservatives want to hear. Tell me what you won‘t take from those Democrats who now control the ballgame.
You know, when the Republicans—Joe, when you guys won the House of Representatives and the Senate back in ‘94, I went up to the White House very shortly after that election with Chairman Moynihan from the Senate Finance Committee, and we sat down with the president. We just had one question of President Clinton: What will you veto? Because that was the only power we had left as Democrats in Washington. That‘s what we wanted to hear.
He wouldn‘t tell us what he‘d veto. And there was a lot of disappointment in the Democratic Congress in President Clinton in things that he did not veto at certain points in that process. So if you really want to show how powerful this president is to the conservative base and how relevant he is to domestic governing, he‘s got to show the Democrats, This is what I will veto. He‘s got to stand his ground. He‘s not ready to do that.
MYERS: But you know...
SCARBOROUGH: No, and you know—go ahead. Go ahead, Dee Dee. Wrap it up.
MYERS: Well, yes. At the same time, I think this president has to decide, does he want to accomplish anything? The war in Iraq is clearly a disaster. He hasn‘t accomplished very much at all on the domestic front. So if he wants to accomplish anything, he could get some things done.
Raising the minimum wage would be a popular initiative in this country. Comprehensive immigration reform. He‘s closer to Democrats than to Republicans on a lot of those issues.
SCARBOROUGH: Oh!
MYERS: If he wants...
SCARBOROUGH: Dee Dee...
MYERS: ... to accomplish some things, them‘s fighting words. But you know what...
(CROSSTALK)
SCARBOROUGH: I was going to say, those are fighting words. Good luck passing that immigration reform bill. You watch, Democrats will run as quickly from it as Republicans did when they were in charge. But I agree with Lawrence that the president needs to issue a veto manifesto and watch conservatives come running to support him. I think the president is going to dart right, and I think conservatives are going to go behind him and his approval ratings are going to go up.
Hey, Michael Crowley, Dee Dee Myers, thanks so much for being with us. I greatly appreciate it. Lawrence, if you will, stay with us because we‘re going to be talking about the Saddam Hussein blame game. Who‘s responsible for the dictator‘s sloppy execution? Now Bill O‘Reilly‘s getting in the mix, attacking NBC and yours truly again. Wait until you hear his rant tonight.
Plus, a disturbing look at marriage in America. Why more than half the wives say they are unhappy and wouldn‘t marry their husbands again. The results of that surprising and disturbing survey straight ahead. And later...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He‘s the best friend you could possibly imagine, and he‘s the worst enemy you‘d ever want to have.
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SCARBOROUGH: It just keeps getting better. Trump‘s kids defend their dad and attack Rosie O‘Donnell, while Barbara Walters jumps into the fray, defending her “View” co-host today. Ivanka (ph) and Don, Jr., join us coming up, as well as the old man weighing in on Rosie.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCARBOROUGH: Tonight, Bill O‘Reilly says NBC News hates President Bush and sides with Saddam Hussein or at least feels sorry for Saddam Hussein because some of us questioned how the lynch mob took over the execution scene. I want you to take a look at what aired on Bill O‘Reilly‘s show about an hour ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL O‘REILLY, HOST, “THE O‘REILLY FACTOR”: As soon as I heard Saddam Hussein was going to be executed, I knew the Bush haters would swing into action, and as usual, they did not let me down. NBC News led the way, elements over there calling the execution a PR disaster for the USA. Did you think Saddam‘s hanging was a PR disaster? I didn‘t. The mass murderer got what he deserved. You also heard an NBC commentator say President Bush is allowing Americans to be killed in Iraq for money, and other insane stuff. Unbelievable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCARBOROUGH: Well, today the United States government appeared to share our concern over the way that disgusting spectacle played out. White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters that President Bush hasn‘t even seen the now infamous video. And military officials in both the United States and Iraq are shifting the blame as to why there was so much chaos during the final moments of Saddam Hussein‘s life. And of course, arrests followed. It was a debacle. A lot of people are embarrassed, and they should be embarrassed.
And you know what? I can‘t speak for NBC News, I can just speak for myself. I really don‘t care about Saddam Hussein‘s last two minutes of life. I‘m not concerned about a man that gassed the Kurds. I‘m not concerned about a man who slaughtered Shi‘ites for 40 years. I‘m concerned about the United States of America and our reputation. And I‘m sure that Bill O‘Reilly understands that.
Here to talk about the chaos surrounding the killing of the dictator and whether NBC News really hates George Bush and loves Saddam Hussein, Lawrence O‘Donnell. Lawrence, is it just me, or was there a reason, if you were American, to be embarrassed at the fact that there was a lynch mob, people screaming al Sadr‘s name while Saddam Hussein was being executed, and we knew it would be an execution seen by the world?
O‘DONNELL: Yes, Joe, I think it‘s a tactical embarrassment. I for one don‘t care what you do to someone whose neck you‘re about to break. I don‘t care if you spit on them. I don‘t care what you do. There‘s no dignified way to break someone‘s neck. That just isn‘t possible. So I don‘t care about the behavior. It doesn‘t offend me in any way. It doesn‘t bother me in the least.
But it is a tactical error. And Tom Brokaw was absolutely right when he said that we got everything wrong about this that we could get wrong about it because what we‘ve done is, in effect, given Saddam Hussein, on his end of it, a dignified last moment. Saddam Hussein did not go kicking and screaming, Saddam Hussein was perhaps the most dignified man in the room.
SCARBOROUGH: And Lawrence O‘Donnell...
(CROSSTALK)
SCARBOROUGH: Hold on. You know, I want to stop you right there because I know there are going to be a lot of people that are going to attack you there. But my wife and I were watching this video, and I turned to her in the middle of it and I said, Saddam Hussein—a guy who I‘ve loathed for 20, 30 years—I said, Saddam Hussein is the most dignified guy there! We are making him look like a martyr to the entire Arab world!
O‘DONNELL: Yes, that...
SCARBOROUGH: How does that help the United States of America? How does that help our troops on the ground? How does that help a guy that is patrolling Sunni neighborhoods in Baghdad not get his head blown off because we set this thing up in such a way that makes us look bad?
O‘DONNELL: Yes. And you know, we obviously have a higher standard for these kinds of executions, and one of the things we do is we don‘t let you see it. That‘s the only way you can keep an execution dignified, is don‘t let anybody see it because they‘re really awful things to see.
But look at what‘s happening in Iraq right now. You‘ve got the Iraqi government saying, This is an outrage and we are going to investigate it. You know, never mind. We allowed it to happen and we kind of cheered it on. But now the Iraqi government itself is so embarrassed by this, there in the region, that they‘re going to go through their motions of having an investigation about it.
SCARBOROUGH: And of course, they‘re the ones that allowed al Sadr‘s thugs to go in and videotape and scream at Saddam Hussein. You know, just in case people don‘t know the proper way to do things—and of course, Lawrence, you certainly have spent an awful lot of time in Hollywood, you understand about the importance of staging certain events. Even executions need to be staged correctly, like we did after World War II, the Nuremberg trials. There was a dignified process in Nuremberg. The whole world watched, and they knew when the Nazis were lynched, they understood that they received a fair trial and there was some dignity to that process and legitimacy to that process, right, Lawrence?
O‘DONNELL: Yes, there was. But the difference here is—and also, you know, you‘re dealing with a different population in terms of the public relations effect of those executions were landing on a different population, so it was a different issue. I mean, here we have an idea about what can inflame things in that region. We also have an idea, Joe, about what people will use as an excuse to claim that they are inflamed.
I don‘t believe that every screaming protester in Iraq who‘s angry about Saddam‘s execution is really angry about Saddam‘s execution...
SCARBOROUGH: Right.
O‘DONNELL: ... but they‘re going to use it and they‘re going to use it in the way that they have to make the Iraqi government look unstable. And they have succeeded in doing that.
SCARBOROUGH: They have succeed in doing it and we‘ve succeeded in letting them do it because we bungled yet another thing in Iraq, and there is no excuse for it. Lawrence O‘Donnell, thank you so much for being with us. I really do appreciate it tonight.
And coming up: Don‘t cross the Donald. That is the message from Trump‘s kids. They have that message for Rosie O‘Donnell. They join us with their view on Rosie, “The Apprentice,” and growing up Trump. But first, we‘ll ring in the new year Jimmy Kimmel style. “Must See S.C.” coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCARBOROUGH: Hey, it‘s time for tonight‘s “Must See S.C.,” some video you just got to see. First up, for the start of the new year, President Bush can look forward to a new Democratically-controlled Congress, and America can look forward to another year of David Letterman‘s “Great moments in Presidential Speeches.”
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
JOHN F. KENNEDY, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
BUSH: Barney is my dog.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCARBOROUGH: Oh, and, finally, millions of Americans watched the ball drop in Times Square on New Year‘s Eve, but not Jimmy Kimmel.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, “JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE”: Watching the big mirror ball on New Year‘s Eve, it‘s a great American tradition, but at my house we have our own tradition. Every year at my house, we don‘t watch the ball. Instead of watching the ball drop, we watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
SCARBOROUGH: Oh, I can guess that with Sarah Silverman in that household.
Coming up, Barbara Walters defends Rosie O‘Donnell in her war with the Donald. Up next, the kids stop by to tell us why it‘s becoming a family feud. Ivanka and Donald Jr. join us next.
And later, life imitates art, as real housewives reveal just how desperate they really are. Watch out, guys. More than half of married women say they‘ve made a big mistake marrying you, and me.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
SCARBOROUGH: Coming up, guys, why married women flirt, cheat, and fantasize about other men. We‘re going to reveal the surprising results of a stunning new survey and what it could mean for your marriage.
That story and a lot more straight ahead, but, first, father knows best. Donald Trump has built an empire on his bold, brash approach to business and life. It‘s a style he‘s passed down to his two oldest children, Ivanka and Donald, Jr.
Now, they‘re going to be joining their dad on the newest season of “The Apprentice,” which has just gotten a major boost in publicity because of Donald‘s war of words with Rosie. Today on “The View,” Barbara Walters tried to put an end to this feud, defending Rosie against what she said were some of Trump‘s attacks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA WALTERS, HOST, “THE VIEW”: While I am clearing things up, Donald Trump also said that I am not happy with my decision to bring Rosie O‘Donnell to this table. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have never regretted, nor do I now, the hiring of Rosie O‘Donnell.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCARBOROUGH: That is just too bad. But Trump isn‘t backing down. Late tonight, he responded to Barbara, saying, quote, “Is she going to get on and say that ‘I can‘t stand Rosie‘? She has to work with her. Barbara knows what she said to me. And if I really tell you what she said, it just creates havoc.”
Well, I talked to Trump‘s kids about their father‘s very public feud with Rosie and about their upcoming season of “The Apprentice.”
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROSIE O‘DONNELL, HOST, “THE VIEW”: He‘s the moral authority? Left the first wife, had an affair, left the second wife, had an affair, had kids both times, but he is the moral compass for 20-year-olds in America? Donald, sit and spin, my friend.
DONALD TRUMP, HOST, “THE APPRENTICE”: Rosie is somebody out of control who really just doesn‘t have it. And she ought to be careful, because I‘ll send one of my friends to pick up her girlfriend, and I think it would be very easy.
SCARBOROUGH: It seems to me that, when you talk about this feud between Rosie and your father, the reason they love your father is because he‘ll say whatever is on his mind, even if it‘s insulting to Rosie O‘Donnell. Talk about that.
DONALD TRUMP, JR., DONALD TRUMP‘S SON: Well, that‘s exactly what it is. He doesn‘t care. I mean, I guess the biggest misconception about the whole thing is that she got up there and told a bunch of lies about him on TV, for really no reason, because she disagreed with a decision he made about, you know, Tara Conner and Miss USA.
You know, she can disagree, but to then go and say he‘s fat, he‘s chubby, he‘s got bad hair, he‘s gone bankrupt, none of those things, you know, are true, especially the bankruptcy part, which is, you know, something personal to him, because of the work ethic.
You know, he‘s going to go after someone. He has the ability to attack them, probably even a much better venue than she has, because she‘s got “The View.” And other than that, no one really cares.
You know, he has the ability to get on that show, to get on every other show there is in the world, and talk about her and criticize her. If you‘re a good friend to him, he‘s going to be the best friend you‘ll ever have back, perhaps almost too good a friend back, for no real reason.
If you‘re going to cross him, though, you‘ve got to be able to, you know, reap the whirlwind, because he‘s going to go after you. And he doesn‘t pull any punches.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
D. TRUMP: She‘s crude. She‘s ignorant. And Rosie is a very unattractive woman. As unattractive as she is on the outside, she‘s even worse on the inside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
IVANKA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP‘S DAUGHTER: And I don‘t fully understand the whole concept behind her argument. The whole foundation was built on the fact that she had a problem with my father giving this girl a second chance. I think her whole stint on “The View” is, quite frankly, a second chance for Rosie. So she of all people, I would think, would almost be appreciative of that decision.
O‘DONNELL: Look who‘s here today, Kelli. I was afraid to leave her home in case somebody with a comb-over came and stole her from me. So, yes, she‘s here now.
Listen, it‘s a live show. You get me while I‘m in the mood and, frankly, here‘s my comment to him...
SCARBOROUGH: I think what makes him such a success is, in a world where politicians don‘t shoot straight, where people on the news seem to hedge, your father tells people exactly what he believes, and that‘s what people love about him so much, isn‘t it?
TRUMP, JR.: Yes, I mean, he‘s really a no-holds-barred kind of person. He‘s that way with the people on “The Apprentice.” He‘s that way with us, working for him. You know, with him, what you see is what you get, and I think that‘s what makes him endearing to people.
He‘s not one of these political figures that really has to cage all their comments so as not to offend one person in the middle of Guam, and I‘ll get criticized for saying that, because someone in Guam is going to take offense to that. He doesn‘t care.
He says what he wants. You saw it with Rosie, as we talked about it a little while ago. You know, he‘ll go after someone. If they attack him, he now has the ability to strike back, also.
So these, you know, people that have their shows, they have a venue to kind of talk down to people, but no one else has the ability to strike back. He has that ability, and he‘ll go after them.
I mean, we‘ve said it. You know, he‘s the best friend you could possibly imagine, and he‘s the worst enemy you‘d ever want to have. So he can be—there is no middle ground with him. He says what he feels, and people love that about him.
I. TRUMP: He actually says exactly what other people wish they had the courage to say, which I think is another reason people really enjoy watching him, because they‘re thinking it, but may not have had the courage to actually verbalize it.
D. TRUMP: Can you imagine what Kelli has to put up with, living with this pig face? Her girlfriend cannot be happy. You look at that mess that she‘s got to look at every night, that she‘s got to kiss every night, she can‘t be thrilled kissing Rosie O‘Donnell. Can you imagine that? What‘s worse than that?
SCARBOROUGH: Talk about this season. And, Ivanka, we‘ll start with you. Talk about the season. What‘s going to be different when my family tunes into “The Apprentice” and watches the first episode this year?
I. TRUMP: Well, there are sort of a lot of twists and turns this year in the formatting, the involvement of Don and myself, the increased involvement of Don and ourselves, but mainly also being out in California.
It‘s a lot of fun; it‘s a whole different environment; it affords us the ability to do very interesting tasks that involve, you know, major Hollywood studios, film, et cetera, et cetera. So there are a lot of twists and turns that they‘re going to have to tune into, your children, that is, this season.
But I‘ve had, personally, a lot of fun working on it. I really think it‘s the best season we‘ve had thus far.
They‘re promoting the basic car wash. If you go to the detailing decks, they‘re completely empty, which was an interesting strategy. Let‘s see if it pays off for them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Car wash.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So how are you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many cars do you think you‘ve gotten in there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, God, we have a lot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You‘ve got a lot?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, so far. You want to take off your shirt and help us out?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That‘s OK. Thank you, though. Maybe next time.
SCARBOROUGH: Even before talking to you today, I looked at both of you and said, “You know, these people seem confident. They don‘t seem like arrogant punks. They seem to be respectful of other people.”
What did your father do growing up to—while you were in his shadow, to give you that sort of confidence, to go out there in front of the American people, and say, “I don‘t care what you think about me. I‘m going on this show with my father, and I‘m going to do the best job I can do”?
TRUMP, JR.: I think what it really was is that, you know, we were spoiled the right way. People always say, “Well, you know, how do you have that kind of demeanor? How do you treat others the way you do? You don‘t have this arrogance that you see so much in, I guess, you know, children of celebrities.”
And I guess it was, we were always raised with a really strong work ethic. Anything we ever wanted, we had to earn, as opposed to be spoon fed. From day one, if we wanted something, if Nintendo was the hot thing that year, you know, if we wanted it, we weren‘t just given it and said, “OK, here, clean your room and we‘ll get it.”
I mean, we were given goals, and we had to accomplish those things over months. Usually by the time we‘d got to where we needed to be and accomplished that goal, whatever we wanted was no longer even in vogue any more. So it wasn‘t just, you know, clean your room and, here, you can have whatever you want. It was, really, you know, set a goal, achieve it over time, and you‘ll get what you want.
And so, you know, we learned that we could get whatever we wanted in life by doing that and really having that work ethic.
I. TRUMP: We‘ve always had access to the most beautiful homes, the best education, planes, et cetera, et cetera, but we‘ve always known that it is not ours and can never be ours unless we work for it. So, fine, we can ride on our father‘s plane when we‘re with our father, but if we‘re by ourselves, he‘s not going to just give us his plane.
So it‘s an interesting thing to have experienced such sort of levels of luxury but know that it‘s not really your own. So it‘s actually very motivating.
TRUMP, JR.: It‘s a great motivator, because we want it.
I. TRUMP: We know what we want, but we know how much work it will take to get there.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCARBOROUGH: Trump seems like he has raised some very well-adjusted kids. My very special thanks to Donald Trump, Jr., and Ivanka Trump. And you can, of course, catch the season premiere of “The Apprentice”—I know my family will be watching it—Sunday night on MSNBC.
And great news, America. Football coach Nick Saban is $32 million richer this evening. That‘s great news, at least for those of us in ‘Bama nation, because Saban quit the Miami Dolphins to coach my alma mater. Good days and national championships are ahead. And, by the way, no Dolphins were killed and no tax dollars were expended doing this deal, most excellent deal. Roll tide, baby.
And coming up next here in SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY, it‘s not just on TV.
A new survey reveals why real housewives are more desperate than ever. We‘ll break down the disturbing results ahead. And, guys, you‘re going to want to watch and see what your wife really thinks of you.
And later in “Hollyweird,” did Justin really say “Bye, bye, bye” to Cameron Diaz?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it bad, Dad?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, not bat at all.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, good. Parker, don‘t put your elbows on the table.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, you‘d agree it wasn‘t your best effort.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Huh?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The meal, the tasked you agreed to take on. You‘d agree that you didn‘t give it 100 percent, right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tom, if you‘re going to make a point, why don‘t you do it now, before I hurl the plate at you?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCARBOROUGH: Well, desperate housewives just aren‘t on TV anymore. If more than half of American wives had to walk down the aisle again, they probably wouldn‘t do it, at least not with their current husbands. That‘s the headline from an explosive new survey of 3,000 married women.
The AOL-“Women‘s Day” poll finds that more than a third of married women wouldn‘t marry their husbands again, and 20 percent say they‘re not so sure they would. So are America‘s blissful brides really desperate wives?
Here now, the host of TLC‘s “One Week to Save Your Marriage,” Dr. Robi Ludwig. She‘s also the author of “‘Til Death Do Us Part,” inappropriate title, I would say, Doctor, for this study, which, I mean, this poll finds that married women have...
DR. ROBI LUDWIG, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: You never know.
SCARBOROUGH: Well, this poll finds that married women have secret lives. More than half of them, if we can go ahead and put it up, or actually more than a third admitted the constant flirting. Three-quarters say they fantasize about other men and keep secrets from their husbands. And, all in all, it doesn‘t look like there are a lot of happy married wives out there. What‘s wrong?
LUDWIG: Well, you know, I think that there‘s a difference between fantasy, the fantasy of marriage, and the reality of marriage. And so a lot of women are raised with this idea that, once they get married, all of their needs will be met, and then they‘re hit with reality.
In fact, when many people get married, they marry the person that they‘re marrying in their head rather the person in front of them. And so over time, when you get married, you realize you‘re with a flawed person.
SCARBOROUGH: Well, you know, the survey also asked women about cheating spouses. Eight-four percent say they want to know if their husband is having an affair, and close to half report that they‘ve suspected or caught their husbands cheating. And you also, of course, have women who are very concerned about—or not concerned, but very interested in cheating themselves.
What‘s going on in these type of marriages? Why are housewives, not only so suspicious, but also so interested in having affairs themselves?
LUDWIG: Well, I think you need to look at an affair as a symptom of what‘s happening in the relationship. So if a woman doesn‘t feel like she‘s being treated—that she‘s wanted and sexy, then she might look outside of the relationship in order to get that feeling. And in some cases—yes, go ahead.
SCARBOROUGH: Do these numbers surprise you, though? I mean, so many women, 75 percent of women, fantasize about being with other men, and maybe up to half of women actually have affairs with other men.
LUDWIG: I hate to say that it doesn‘t surprise me, because, you know, I have a private practice, so I work with a lot of different people that have a lot of strong reactions to being married. And being married happily is a skill, and I don‘t think anybody really prepares people for how to do that.
And so when they get into a situation where they don‘t feel they‘re being attended to or loved, then they start to fantasize about the perfect partner that they‘re not with.
SCARBOROUGH: And so are things getting worse, or do you think it‘s always been like this?
LUDWIG: No, I think—well, you know, we do expect a lot from our marriages. Way, way in the past, marriages were really a business arrangement, so now we really want everything from our partner. We want them to be our soul mates, take care of us, to make us happy 24/7.
I think the difference here now is that women who are not happy in a relationship have the economic resources to get out of a relationship and survive on their own, which was not true in the past.
SCARBOROUGH: All right. Dr. Ludwig, husbands across America shuddering tonight. Thank you for being with us.
LUDWIG: Thanks for having me.
SCARBOROUGH: “Hollyweird” is coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCARBOROUGH: Wake up, friends, because there‘s no napping in night clubs. It‘s time for “Hollyweird” in SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY.
First up, more problems for Britney Spears. The “New York Post” reporting she may have trouble with her record label. Good lord!
Here now to talk about it, “OK” magazine senior reporter Courtney Hazlett and from E! Online Planet Gossip, Marc Malkin.
And, Courtney, what‘s gone on with Britney? I mean, everything‘s gone wrong with Britney. It‘s all bad. Now we‘re talking about her bread and butter. What‘s wrong?
COURTNEY HAZLETT, “OK” MAGAZINE: Word on the street is she‘s been working on her album for a really long time. Right up to her breakup with Kevin Federline, literally minutes before she announced she was divorcing him, she was in the studios in New York City recording her album.
Now things have kind of been put on the back burner. Word is that it‘s not going well. The label isn‘t happy with how it‘s turning out and they‘re thinking they might have to shelve it for a while. Britney‘s camp, of course, is denying it, saying everything is progressing fine. They‘re just in the midst of things, but it certainly doesn‘t bode well.
SCARBOROUGH: I mean, you know, Marc Malkin, the wheels have come off this double-wide trailer. What‘s going on in Britney‘s life? And how can she turn it around?
MARC MALKIN, E!‘S PLANET GOSSIP: You know, Britney needs more than a hit record. At this point, Britney needs a total makeover. She has to stop going to Vegas to do some cheesy New Year‘s count down. She‘s falling asleep. The record company is probably scared she‘s going to fall asleep during a publicity tour. And then, right before that, she‘s in Arizona with football star Matt Leinart, and she wasn‘t wearing underwear again.
SCARBOROUGH: And what‘s your point?
MALKIN: The point is, she‘s not changing.
SCARBOROUGH: I‘m just joking, baby. Yes, come on, come on. I mean, wear undergarments, please.
MALKIN: You can take the girl out of the double-wide, but you know what I‘m saying?
SCARBOROUGH: Well, I‘ll tell you what, most of the girls that I dated that lived in double-wides, I would just guess they probably wore underwear. Anyway, I‘m going to move onto the next one.
TMZ is reporting that Jessica Simpson‘s father/manager Joseph is upset that the pop princess turned down a paying gig on New Year‘s Eve. Now, let me just say, Courtney, if I were Jessica Simpson, and I was a movie star, and a recording star, and made all of this money, I‘d be a little ticked off if my dad was still on my—breathing down my neck about making money on New Year‘s Eve. What‘s this all about?
HAZLETT: The truth of the matter is that Joe Simpson is always breathing down his daughters‘ necks about making money. He acts as their manager. He even carries a camera around so that he can take pictures and sell them to the paparazzi.
SCARBOROUGH: Good lord.
HAZLETT: So it‘s entirely believable that he had something lined up for her and she said, “Dad, no, I want to have a quiet night at home.” And what he is allegedly mad about is that she said, “I want to have a quiet night at home,” but then was seen all over John Mayer, her alleged boyfriend from before, in New York City.
SCARBOROUGH: Oh, my goodness. And “Star” magazine is reporting that Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz have called it quits. And, Marc, I understand you‘ve got some info on where Justin was New Year‘s. Tell me about it.
MALKIN: Well, New Year‘s Eve, he was not with Cameron Diaz. He was actually at a private house party that Kate Hudson threw.
SCARBOROUGH: Ruh-roh.
MALKIN: Well, I‘m told that Justin and Kate got along rather well. They were very cozy. At one point, they retired upstairs together. And when Kate returned to the party, she was wearing a different outfit.
SCARBOROUGH: Goodness gracious!
MALKIN: Now, maybe he was picking out a new dress for her, but it‘s New Year‘s.
SCARBOROUGH: That‘s a little too much information for me. And let‘s talk about a new kind of celebrity worship. Artist Kate Kretz, I guess is how you say it, painted Angelina Jolie as the Virgin Mary. Courtney, that‘s quite a picture, isn‘t it?
HAZLETT: It‘s quite a picture. Hey, you know, I kind of feel bad for Maddox. It looks like he got the short end of the stick in that photo. But, hey, you know, art is in the eye of the beholder, and I‘m sure someone will snatch it up.
SCARBOROUGH: I suppose so. I wonder if it comes, Marc, in black velvet for my double-wide.
MALKIN: Exactly, and with like bulldogs shooting pool. And if Angelina is the mother of Jesus or whatever she is, I think that means that Oprah is God.
SCARBOROUGH: Yes, you know...
HAZLETT: Something like that.
SCARBOROUGH: You know what? In the South, we call that blasphemy. Hey, good night, Courtney. Thank you so much, Marc. And we‘ll see you tomorrow night in SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY.
END
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