Wow. Penn Gillette on the Trump tapes.

[highplainsdem]

Found this article thanks to a tweet from Rolling Stone's politics editor, John Hendrickson:

Link to tweet

From the interview of Penn Gillette by Vulture, published this morning:

http://www.vulture.com/2018/08/penn-jillette-in-conversation.html

Does Mark Burnett have tapes of President Trump saying damaging things during Celebrity Apprentice?
Yeah, I was in the room.

You’ve heard him say …
Oh, yeah.

Can you tell me what you’ve heard him say?
No. If Donald Trump had not become president, I would tell you all the stories. But the stakes are now high and I am an unreliable narrator. What I do, as much as anything, is I’m a storyteller. And storytellers are liars. So I can emotionally tell you things that happened racially, sexually, and that showed stupidity and lack of compassion when I was in the room with Donald Trump and I guarantee you that I will get details wrong. I would not feel comfortable talking about what I felt I saw in that room — because when I was on that show I was sleeping four to five hours a night. I was uncomfortable. “Stress” is the wrong word, but I was not at my best. Then at the end of a day, they put you in a room and they bring out a guy [Trump] who has no power whatsoever and he’s capricious and petty and …

You’ve got to pretend to care what he thinks.
Yeah! It’s your job. You sit at this table and this man rambles — pontificates is giving him too much credit. And because you live in the modern world you’ve heard Trump ramble. But you’ve heard Trump ramble when he thinks he’s being careful. Imagine when he feels he can be frank. And I will tell you things, but I will very conscientiously not give you quotations because I believe that would be morally wrong. I’m not trying to protect myself. This really is a moral thing.

Just so I’m clear: It’s a moral thing because it would be wrong to misquote him or because you don’t want to unduly have an effect on politics?
If he hadn’t become president, I would be telling stories all day long. And if someone were to say, “Penn didn’t get that exactly right,” you’d go “Who cares?”

But now being accurate matters more.
Yeah, the stakes are really high. Not for me. Nothing I can say here hurts my career. But for the world the stakes are higher. He [President Trump] would be reading. And what I’m trying to do here is tell you the story emotionally without telling you specifics.

Okay, I think I follow your logic.
He would say racially insensitive things that made me uncomfortable. I don’t think he ever said anything in that room like “African-Americans are inferior” or anything about rape or grabbing women, but of those two hours every other day in a room with him, every ten minutes was fingernails on chalkboard. He would ask one cast member if he’d rather have sex with this woman or that woman. He would be reading on the web about a real-estate deal he’d made — like he’d sold his house for a certain amount and someone on some blog had said he should have gotten more. Then he would turn and say that making X amount on a house makes him a good businessman, right? I would say to him, “What are you talking about? You don’t know who it is reporting that. Is that Forbes?” He had no idea. So when it came to think about supporting him for president, I digested that information from being on the show with him and said, “Absolutely not. He would be a terrible president.” And because I’d been around him and some people cared what I thought, I said that publicly every chance I got — while also saying he’s a good reality show. You want someone capricious and petty and narcissistic to be on your reality show. And boy, I hate to say this, but playing tapes of him doing that job might be unfair. I want those tapes to be used against him, but it might be unfair.

-snip-

But isn’t there enough of an established behavioral pattern with President Trump that tapes of him saying racially or sexually demeaning things maybe fits into the larger context of who he is and what he thinks?
That is fair. But I can’t stress this enough: I do not respect Donald Trump. Don Junior said — and I’m proud of this — that of everybody who had been on Celebrity Apprentice, I was the one who enjoyed it the most. By the way, I didn’t enjoy it. And I was also the one who liked his father the most. Don Junior said to me, “Why do you like him so much?” And I said, “I made a movie called The Aristocrats." (Laughs.) I like people when they don’t have filters. I like Tiny Tim. I like Bob Dylan. I like Neil Young. I like Sun Ra. I love the Beat poets. Which means if I’m in a room with Trump I’m happy to hear him talk. But I’m also happy to hear Charlie Manson talk. I have nothing good to say about Donald Trump as president.

-snip-

[dalton99a]

1. Kick

[Wounded Bear]

2. Unfair?

After the Hillary emails, he can say releasing tapes might be "unfair?"

[Act_of_Reparation]

5. I understand part of his reservation.

I know, for example, that my uncle is a terrible, hateful, racist, and generally awful person. I couldn't for the life of me provide a direct and accurate quote supporting that, though. So, while I feel comfortable telling you he is a terrible, hateful, racist, and generally awful person, I'd have second thoughts about telling the New York Times.

Of course, if my uncle were president and the fate of the free world hung in the balance, I'd like to think I'd take my chances and let it be known. But then, I'm not a self-righteous blowhard like Penn is.

[eggplant]

21. It's because it is in the context of his reality tv show.

What Penn is saying is that things said on the show may not completely reflect on Trump as a person, and would be used outside of that context. But he (Penn) is equivocating here -- Basically, he's saying that he believes what he heard to be an accurate picture, but also that he's not a reliable witness, given the circumstances of the show.

I like Penn, and I think his treatment is fair. He says what he actually thinks about Trump, and it isn't a pretty picture. It isn't necessary for him to be more emphatic than he is.

[Solomon]

3. What a fucking asshole!

[Roland99]

4. Respect to Penn

[sinkingfeeling]

6. Any tapes that Burnett had have been destroyed. That's what

IQ45's tweet was about yesterday, when he said Burnett had called him.

[More_Cowbell]

9. I agree, they're gone nt

[TimeToGo]

13. Well, maybe

Or well hidden

[LiberalFighter]

12. I need to burn into my mind that Mark Burnett and Roma are scum.

[RedSpartan]

24. Think about it. Even it they still exist, the tapes cannot be released.

It would be an admission by NBC that they knew he said these things and kept the show going anyway. This is all about NBC saving itself from the fallout, nothing else.

[lunasun]

7. And this guy is in no way liberal by his history . So this is as good as we will get from him but

good enough to add to the other narratives of what went down

[PatSeg]

8. And I appreciate his honesty

I think he leaves little doubt what kind of man Donald Trump really is.

[Liberal In Texas]

10. Even RWers like Jillette don't much like Trump anymore.

Pretty soon it'll be like when Bush* was in his last days when righties wouldn't admit they voted for him.

[Auggie]

11. Like opening a can of worms half way ...

I can understand saving a creeer. So why bother with an interveiw at all? Jillette is telling us stuff we already know.

[Texin]

22. Well, I think you have to consider this in the context of the interview in its entirety.

I don't know, but would be highly dubious about whether a writer/journalist for a publication would want to focus that interview with a celebrity and successful guy in his own right entirely about another guy, even if that guy is the *pResident*.

[ProfessorGAC]

23. His Career Is Not In Jeopardy!

He and Teller are making more than 80 grand a week
He's a libertarian twit, but his career has nothing to do with this interview.

[Auggie]

31. Yeah, okay ...

but why risk alienating people? If I were an entertainer/celebrity I would keep a lower profile.

[Ilsa]

14. I get him, I think.

I have no problem with his replies.

[Scurrilous]

15. He's quite the contortionist.

[GusBob]

16. I was thinking: pretzel logic

I'm not that smart but I am having trouble following his train of thought. It sounds to me like he is trying to protect himself more than protect Trump or the country

I guess I will never understand celebrities. Its all just a show to them I guess, as long as they make money

[Scurrilous]

28. ...

[Gothmog]

17. Yet another witness to trump using the N-word

[SylviaD]

18. What the hell is Penn Jillette trying to say here?

This cowardly right winger will regret every day that he didn't try to stop Trump. His little moral equivocations are disgusting. to hell with him

[roscoeroscoe]

19. Penn spoke up repeatedly trashing Trump

Maybe you might check his record a little more.

[MaryELease]

20. Ty.

Outstanding contribution, and thank you for sharing.


I am sure some will criticize not spilling details, but he lays out the clear underpinnings of a man unfit for office, and certainly not the leader of the most powerful country on the globe.

To some degree, not giving the salacious details at least yet, provides a level of credibility in not turning it into a tabloid read. Besides, we all know he's a morally devoid, racist, misogynist, profoundly dumb con man without needing to hear every detail.

It will eventually all come to light. Every con has to eventually cut and run, or else get caught & face justice. Trump has no where to run, just accessories dragging & delaying the eventuality of his facing legal consequences and those who aided him having to answer for it as well.

[blogslut]

25. Everything Trump touches turns to shit and Mr. Gillette knows this.

Penn is trying very hard not to turn to shit. If he says good things he's screwed. If he says bad things he's fucked. He can't take back the time he spent with the man but I bet he wishes he could.

[nolabear]

26. I'm conflicted about PG but I get his point.

I love Penn and Teller. I’ve seen them twice. I have a thing for magicians and their unabashed copping to it all being a trick heartens back to Harry Houdini’s spiritualism debunking.

But Penn is a dick. He’s a smug, libertarian leaning jerk. That said, truth and fiction are very important to him. Nuance is. I’d trust what he says and how carefully he says it.

He knows what an idiot 45 is. And I mean that in the purest sense of the word. The man is stupid and gets away with it.

[peekaloo]

29. Here's where I admit to being bored on Sunday nights and watching bits and pieces

of the "Celebrity" edition of his shows. Most of the time I'd go "who is that person" because it seems most were has beens or never were or never will be. I'd also get bored and as soon as a commercial came on would change the channel and forget I had been watching it.

I found it funny. Funny watching people I had never heard of kissing this man's ass. Funny when watching the elevator doors close and seeing the walls shake. Funny when Thump would appear at the table looking like a sleepy fat frog. Perhaps I'm easily amused but there was some stupid "drama" that made me laugh. Sue me.

I watched lots of the Penn version mainly because I knew who he was and he seemed smarter and more competent than his competition. I'm aware of his politics but he was not an ass kisser. He even lost the competition because he had once made fun of Trump's hair.

His interview reminds me of P&T's "Fool Us" show. He knows the manipulator and sees the illusion without having to specifically point out what's behind the trick.

[nolabear]

30. Yep. He's smart af. I saw some of that season too.

Hell, who didn’t diminish 45 as a buffoon back then? If I’d known I’d have understood how dangerous his glee at pitting people against one another was. He’s like someone who starves two animals and puts them against one another with the promise of a biscuit. Awful enough when you have empathy. Horrific if he has enormous, actual power.

[awesomerwb1]

27. That's so lame

I don't have to be at my best to recall someone calling PoC the N word.