The Mother of Impeachment Specials featuring Million Dollar Nixon

In the immortal words of David Byrne - “Well, how did we get here?”

This week, in a historic vote, the US House of Representatives voted to impeach President Donald J. Trump. But guess everyone already knew that, huh? Still, we wouldn’t let the moment go by without putting our very own This is the President spin on the moment. Tune in to hear Scott and Harmon discuss the House vote, listen in to Harmon do his latest impressions of House Republicans AND - stop the presses - Harmon reads the personal email he got from President Trump just a few hours after the vote.

And let’s not forget the Presidential tapes! As you might have guessed from the title of the episode, our special guest this week is none other than President Richard M. Nixon, who, himself was nearly impeached as well. Nearly, because he saw the writing on the wall and got out of office while the getting was good - complete with his presidential pension in tact. And today’s tape is just one of the many reasons why Nixon knew it was time to go.

In this tape, from March 21, 1973, you can listen in as the president discusses paying off blackmail with White House Counsel John Dean. No quid pro quo here!

This episode also brought to you in part by our other podcast Comedy History 101. Check out our latest episode on the The History of Don Rickles, the Irishman and the Mob.

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Impeachment Special 3 - Clinton and Trump

And the hits keep on comin’!

It’s almost like we can’t keep up with the Impeachment Circus that President Trump has brought to the stage in Washington, DC.

And that’s ok - because, as you know by now, here at This is the President, we’re all about looking to the past - never forward. Well, maybe forward, just a little bit. Or backward. It gets a little confusing in this episode.

We start out simply enough, with a little bit of a visit to the videotaped deposition by President William Jefferson Clinton way back in 1999. Diiizzzammm. That was 20 years ago!

But we don’t just stop there. Oh no.

It just so happens we stumbled upon a very interesting interview from that very same year from a failed business and bankrupt casino owner by the name of Donald J. Trump.

And what does Mr. Trump have to say to the (then) sitting President Clinton? Well, let’s just say that he has a few choice words of lawyerly advice for the cigar lovin’ former Arkansas governor.

But don’t just take our word for it - tune in!

This episode also brought to you in part by our other podcast Comedy History 101. Check out our latest episode on the History of the Oldest Jokes in the World!

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Bush, Biden & Crack

Ahhh, the 80s. The days of neon, Rambo movies, big suspenders, bigger hair and back when you could buy good old fashioned crack across the street from the White House.

So, President George HW Bush would have you believe back in September of 1989. That was when the Prez held up a big back of crack - “as innocent as candy” - in front of a nationally televised audience to announce his version of the War on Drugs.

But what they never mentioned at the time was that the dealer behind the sale was an 18 year old high school student (African-American, of course) who had to be lured to Layfayette Park, across the street from the White House, in order to make the sale.

Now, we’ve covered this Bush Crack speech before here on TITP, but I discovered a new twist. I’ve usually only watched the first part of the speech. So, one day while nosing around, I played this video and let it keep running. That’s when I noticed that the Democratic response to the President’s speech was none other than one of our current candidates for the 2020 election, Senator Smokin’ Joe Biden. And - it turns out - Senator Biden has a bit of personal familiarity with crack.

This episode also brought to you in part by our other podcast Comedy History 101. Check out our latest multi-part episode all on Dolemite!

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JFK Terminates the CIA

Something sneaky is going on in sneakytown. At least that’s what Arnold Schwarzenegger’s future father-in-law and head of the Peace Corps, Sargent Shriver, informs President Kennedy in this episode’s phone call from April 2, 1963.

JFK established the Peace Corps as one of his highlights of his New Frontier program. The idea was that young and idealistic Americans would travel around the world, helping out upcoming economies and cultures with good old fashioned American knowhow and - at the same time - spreading a little of those wholesome American vibes at the height of the Cold War.

Only problem? Certain other US government agencies - some of which may or may not have had to do something to do with the President’s death - were trying to use the Peace Corps for nerfarious purposes.

What does JFK have to say about this? Tune in to find out!

ALSO ON THE SHOW We analyze some of the meaning in Trump’s letter to the President of Turkey, Harmon reviews the new Joker movie and also introduces a new nickname for his penis.

This episode also brought to you in part by our other podcast Comedy History 101. Check out our latest multi-part episode all on Dolemite!

Like This is the President? Why not  subscribe to the podcast over at iTunes! Hey - and while you’re there, leave us a comment or rate us!

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Impeachment Special 2 - More Drunk Nixon

Man oh man, things just aren’t looking good for the President, are they? Impeachment is looming, his trusted legal advisors are deserting or getting fired in droves, and all he’s left with is the support of his trusted base.

Trump 2019? Sure. But also, Nixon circa April1973.

We’ve already briefly touched on these tapes in our First Impeachment Special, but these phones calls are the gift that keeps on giving, so we wanted to make a return visit.

The background: On April 30, 1973, in light of the looming Watergate investigation, Nixon fires two chief aides, Haldeman and Erlichman. He then goes on national television to plead his case and tells the American people that he’ll get to the bottom of this Watergate business. Afterwards, Nixon fields phone calls from a number of supporters, congradulating him for his performance.

Nixon decides to celebrate the occasion by - what it sounds like - having a drink. Well, more than one drink. In fact, towards the end of night in this series of calls, he’s slurring his words and - as you’ll hear in this tape - noisily chewing the ice in his glass.

At least that’s our take on this. What do you think?

ALSO ON THE SHOW Harmon disloses what object in the Smithsonian almost brought a tear to his eye and we review more Trump products in our segment Trump in the Amazon!

Hey - also, we’ve revamped the This is the President YouTube channel and we’re starting to stock it up with lots of presidential goodness.

So be sure to head over there and click the SUBSCRIBE button so you get updates about the latest presidential goodness.

This episode also brought to you in part by our other podcast Comedy History 101.

Like This is the President? Why not  subscribe to the podcast over at iTunes! Hey - and while you’re there, leave us a comment or rate us!

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Impeachment Special

April 30, 1973 was a busy day for President Nixon. First he had to fight off a looming impeachment by broadcasting a heartfelt speech to the “real” people who supported him. Then he had to take phone calls from well wishers. A lot of phone calls.

Oh yea, and let’s not forget to mention the scotch. Plenty of scotch. As a matter of fact, there’s going to be so much scotch in this episode, you’re almost going to be able to taste it.

In today’s call, we’ll hear President Nixon talking to future President George H W Bush, so this is like our version of a presidential two-fer Tuesday.

ALSO ON THE SHOW Harmon discusses some of the discoveries he made on his recent trip to Washington, DC and we continue with the battle of the robot voices.

Hey - also, we’ve revamped the This is the President YouTube channel and we’re starting to stock it up with lots of presidential goodness. So be sure to head over there and click the SUBSCRIBE button so you get updates about the latest presidential goodness.

This episode also brought to you in part by our other podcast Comedy History 101.

Like This is the President? Why not  subscribe to the podcast over at iTunes! Hey - and while you’re there, leave us a comment or rate us!

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JFK Insults the Women and the US National Hockey Team

Oh man - JFK has been dead for a while now but he keeps bringing the hits - as least presidentially phone call wise!

The date is March 13, 1963. After reading about the devastating loss of the US Hockey Team to that most neutral of countries, Sweden, JFK picks up the phone and dials his good friend David L. Hackett, who is in charge of all things sporty for the president.

JFK goes off about the loss of the hockey team in a most politically incorrect and - let’s face it , “unwoke” - way as possible.

But you didn’t come to hear us write about this - why don’t you have a listen for yourself?

ALSO ON THE SHOW Scott and Harmon talk about the current impeachment hearings going on in Washington, how the current president is “draining the swamp”, and Harmon does his worst robot voice impression yet.

Hey - also, we’ve revamped the This is the President YouTube channel and we’re starting to stock it up with lots of presidential goodness. So be sure to head over there and click the SUBSCRIBE button so you get updates about the latest presidential goodness.

This episode also brought to you in part by our other podcast Comedy History 101.

Like This is the President? Why not  subscribe to the podcast over at iTunes! Hey - and while you’re there, leave us a comment or rate us!

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Racist Reagan and Nixon

We’re always happy when presidential tapes get a bit of play in the news. Unfortunately, it seems that whenever a new presidential tape is discovered, the president in question doesn’t always have the nicest things to say.

Which is exactly what happened just a few days ago when a recorded phone conversation between President Nixon and then Governor of California Ronald Reagan was released by the National Archives.

And it wasn’t too pretty.

The story got quite a lot of play in the national news media so, of course, we here at TITP felt like we had to cover it. We’ve tried to give you a little bit more background of the call and play more than just “those” sound bites that you’ve already heard a thousand times.

And - if by some chance, you haven’t heard the clip yet - get ready for a doozy. Sure, we might not be hitting the heights of the president talking to an Aquanaut on helium gas, but - as far as racist presidential phone calls go - this one is right there at the top.

ALSO ON THE SHOW - Harmon and Scott discuss the current “least racist president ever” and they both come to an agreement that watching the Democratic debates is a waste of time .

Hey - also, we’ve revamped the This is the President YouTube channel and we’re starting to stock it up with lots of presidential goodness. So be sure to head over there and click the SUBSCRIBE button so you get updates about the latest presidential goodness.

This episode also brought to you in part by our other podcast Comedy History 101.

Like This is the President? Why not  subscribe to the podcast over at iTunes! Hey - and while you’re there, leave us a comment or rate us!

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Presidential Classical Gas

Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t think we’re overstating that today we’ll be presenting you with one of he greatest presidential phone calls of all time.

And believe, me, we’ve listened to a lot of them. Sure - even as we point out here on the show - they can’t all be winners. When you’re dealing with United States presidents and found audio, you never know what you’re going to get.

But we think you’ll be pleasantly suprised by todays call - and it might even merit a relisten or two. Even more interesting, the phone call in this episode is the polar opposite from our last episode. While last week we tuned into President Nixon calling the astronauts on the moon, this week we have President Johnson calling aquanaut Scott Carpenter at the bottom of the ocean, some two hundred feet down!

The date? September 26, 1965. The occassion? Aquanaut Carpenter had just broken a record for being submerged the longest with the Navy’s underwater experimental laboratory, Sealab II.

The thing is, though, the aquanauts in Sealab II were breathing a very special mixture of air to help with conditioning themselves to the underwater conditions and dives. Their atmosphere was composed of a large part of the gas Helium. And if you’ve ever sucked up a balloon to make yourself talk funny, I think you can see where this is going….

So grab a balloon, take a deep breath and hit that play button!

ALSO ON THE SHOW - Harmon and Scott talk about the latest goings on in DC, the demise of the Comedy Central show from 2000, “That’s My Bush” and our feature “Harmon’s Impressions” makes its triumphal return.

Hey - also, we’ve revamped the This is the President YouTube channel and we’re starting to stock it up with lots of presidential goodness. So be sure to head over there and click the SUBSCRIBE button so you get updates about the latest presidential goodness.

Don’t believe us? Just check out the video below!

This episode also brought to you in part by our other podcast Comedy History 101.

Like This is the President? Why not  subscribe to the podcast over at iTunes! Hey - and while you’re there, leave us a comment or rate us!

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President Nixon Calls the Moon

Fifty years ago today was a glorious day for all mankind.

Sure, we put some guys on the moon. That was kinda cool. But for listeners of This is the President, it’s an even more special day. Because once man had landed on the moon and walked on the surface, what was the next step?

A phone call from the president, of course! Which, naturally, leads us to the most long distance presidential telephone call in history.

It all happened on July 20, 1969, a few minutes before 12AM Eastern Daylight Time. Nixon was introduced to the astronauts by CAPCOM (Capsule Commander - like the NASA terms?) Bruce McCandless II. The call was short and, in all honesty, not the most exciting call we’ve ever had on the show but for the sake of history and completeness, we feel like it had to be done.

As we mention in the podcast, there was a “contingency plan” prepared in case the astronauts never made it back from the moon. First they would call the astronaut’s wives, then NASA would shut off all the communications to the trapped astronauts and then the president would read a speech written by White House staffer William Safire that you can hear in the video below.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy the longest distance presidential telephone call you will ever hear.

ALSO ON THE SHOW - Harmon and Scott discuss some of the latest diatribes from the current president, Harmon revisits his Trump impression and a plane tries to land on Harmon’s balcony.

This episode also brought to you in part by our other podcast Comedy History 101.

Like This is the President? Why not  subscribe to the podcast over at iTunes! Hey - and while you’re there, leave us a comment or rate us!

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LBJ's False Flag

We’re quite sure what the crossover between This is the President listeners and the Alex Jones Show audience is, but it’s a pretty good bet that if you fall into one of those demographics, you probably know what a False Flag attack is. Sure, we all know how batshit crazy Alex Jones is, but sometimes - SOMETIMES - he does bring up an interesting tidbit or two.

A False Flag attack, for those of you not in the know, is when a government either launches an attack on its own forces or simply invents an attack, all the while claiming it was done by another country. For example, famous examples in America include (at least to the False Flag theorists) the explosion of the USS Maine (Spanish-American War), the Lusitania torpedoing (WWI) and Pearl Harbor (WWII).;

Lumped in with all the above was the Gulf of Tonkin incident (1964), which lead to the widening of the Vietnam conflict into a full scale war. It all began on August 2, when a number of North Vietnamese patrol boats launched torpedos at United States Navy destroyers. The conflict further escalated on August 4, when more North Vietnamese patrol boats engaged the US forces…or, at least that’s how the story goes.

In this episodes phone call, we’ll listen in on President Johnson as he gets the latest news from the front on August 4, 1964. Were US forces really attacked? YOU make the call!

ALSO IN THIS EPISODE - Harmon and Scott compare LBJ’s False Flag attack to the current president’s fascination with Iran, the return of Wether or Not Weather, and Harmon learns which direction his microphone needs to face.

This episode also brought to you in part by our other podcast Comedy History 101.

Like This is the President? Why not  subscribe to the podcast over at iTunes! Hey - and while you’re there, leave us a comment or rate us!

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Ronald Reagan and Jed Clampett

it’s just like Mad Men but with Roanld Reagan instead of Don Draper!

Because on this episode of This is the President, we delve into an entirely new collection of presidential recordings - the Ronald Reagan Dictaphone Library. For the kids out there, a dictaphone was a device that you’d use to record letters so your secretary would type them while you were drinking highballs with the newest steno pool employee on your lap. Except not in Reagan’s case. Maybe while Emmanuel Lewis was sitting in Nancy’s lap.

But we digress….

On the morning of March 3, 1981, a newly inagurated Ronald Reagan was recording a number of letters to supporters and well-wishers. One of these well wishers was Buddy Ebsen, better known as Jed Clampett from The Beverly Hillbillies - and a long time Republican.

But Buddy wasn’t just wishing his pal Ronald Reagan have a great presidency - no there was more on Jed Clampett’s agenda. You see, Mr. Ebsen had just produced his first big time play, “Turn to the Left.” And was inviting the President and Nancy to the opening in California.

So, what starts out as a normal letter dictated by Roanld Reagan on March 3, 1981, soon takes a turn, as we discover that shortly after writing ths letter, Reagan tried to pull a few strings for his old friend Jed.

This episode also brought to you in part by our other podcast Comedy History 101.

Like This is the President? Why not  subscribe to the podcast over at iTunes! Hey - and while you’re there, leave us a comment or rate us!

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Ronald Reagan Bombs the Soviet Union (JK)

Remember that time when President Reagan joked about bombing the Soviet Union and almost started a global thermonuclear war?

Well, if you don’t, you will after you listen to our first remote edition of TITP, broadcasting at you all the way from the land of the Twin Cities - Minnesota! That’s right, Harmon was on vacation, but was so excited to do a TITP episode that we called on the TITP tech team to put their heads together to figure out how we could make this work.

And they did it!

On this episode, Harmon and I will talk about the aforementioned Reagan “joke”, the difference between Minnesota and Wisconsin, and the current goings on in Washington, DC.

Sponsoring this episode is the book Cannabis: The Illegalization of Weed in America by New York Times best selling Author Box Brown. Pick up a copy at Amazon or whereever your buy your favorite books.

This episode also brought to you in part by our other podcast Comedy History 101.

Like This is the President? Why not  subscribe to the podcast over at iTunes! Hey - and while you’re there, leave us a comment or rate us!

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President Trump Calls Space

“Station, this is your President, do you hear me?”

Thus begins one of the most historic telephone calls to space (as trumpeted by the Trump White House) as President Trump (still painful to say that) has a teleconference with US astronauts in April 2017 to congradulate them on their record setting space stay.

But that’s not all Trump has to say in this phone call, oh no. He also uses the opportunity to talk about great American made products, dealing with politicisna and, of course, the role of his daughter Invanka, as handbag - we mean - sceience advisor.

So pop open a pack of freeze tried ice cream and a tall glass of Tang and settle down to hear this historic phone call for yourself.

And - as promised in the podcast - here’s the video of the event. Be sure to watch the beginning for lots of awkward pauses.

Couple of trivia notes - that’s a picture of Fred Trump, Donny’s dad, on the desk behind him. You know, Fred Trump, the guy who was born in Germany and most certainly wasn’t arrested during a KKK riot in the 1920s.

Also - skip forward to about 18:00 and you’ll see the White House guy mowing the lawn in the background.

Sponsoring this episode is the book Cannabis: The Illegalization of Weed in America by New York Times best selling Author Box Brown. Pick up a copy at Amazon or whereever your buy your favorite books.

This episode also brought to you in part by our other podcast Comedy History 101.

Like This is the President? Why not  subscribe to the podcast over at iTunes! Hey - and while you’re there, leave us a comment or rate us!

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Michael Jackson and Ronald Reagan

You wanna be starting something?

Then get this Thriller - it’s the Gipper and Michael Jackson appearing together for the very first time on stage.

The date: May 14, 1984
The cause: President Reagan awarded The Gloved One an award for his work on a national campaign against drunk driving

If the thought of President Reagan making a bunch of Michael Jackson references is your bag, then this episode of This is the President is going to be right up your alley. Of course, there’s a lot of Reagan’s speech that kind of comes of creepy here in 2019 after the revelations of Leaving Neverland.

Nonetheless, there’s a job that needs to be done, and Harmon and I are here to do it, as we listen to Reagan’s speech and weigh in with our own interpretations. This, of course, naturally leading to us scouring the internet during the episode for the best (and worst) Michael Jackson jokes.

This episode brought to you in part by our other podcast Comedy History 101.

Like This is the President? Why not  subscribe to the podcast over at iTunes! Hey - and while you’re there, leave us a comment or rate us!

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The Other Smothers Brother

Happy President’s Day everyone!

I know what you’re thinking - isn’t EVERY DAY President’s Day?

I mean, they get to be the leader of the Free World, they can sign all sorts of bills, they can even declare national emergencies if they don’t get their way. It might seem great, what with all that free Executive Time, but being the President of the United States is tough work. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes.

Let’s take meet and greets, for example. Most Presidents have a meet and greet time slotted into their daily schedules. This is when they get to meet with foreign dignitaries, members of congress, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, the board members of the National Tuirkey Federation - EVERYONE.

Sometimes the President even has to meet with people from the other side of the ideological spectrum. This was the case in point on November 12, 1987 when President Ronald Reagan welcomed the new spokesmen for the Christmas Seals Foundation into his office. All in a day’s work, right? But the irony is that the new spokespeople for Christmas Seals were not other than those 1960s iconoclasts and flaming liberals, The Smothers Brothers!

What happened when the former Governor of California meets his political opposites? Download this episode and see!

As promised in the episode, here’s the bit from the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour where Keith Moon puts too many explosives in his drum kit and blows out Pete Townsend’s eardrums.

This episode brought to you in part by our other podcast Comedy History 101.

Like This is the President? Why not  subscribe to the podcast over at iTunes! Hey - and while you’re there, leave us a comment or rate us!

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Ich bin ein Jelly Donut?

Walls. Seems like people can’t get enough of them. So in this weeks episode, we’re going to talk about them.

This time, however, we’re going to be talking about a wall that’s no longer around - the Berlin Wall. Well, parts of it are still around and covered with colorful drawings that make it much less frightening than when it was first erected in 1961.

Two years later, President John F. Kennedy made a visit to Berlin and delivered his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech. But, since then, rumours have been circulating as to the real meaning of the speech. The urban legend has it that what Kennedy actually said was “I am a jelly donut”, as the Berliner was the name given to a local pastry.

So was it true?

In order to help get to the bottom of this mystery, our special guest on this episode is comedian Sandy Wieding, a fourth generation Berlin native and former East German. We’ll talk about the real meaning of “Ich bin ein Berliner”, what type of donuts Germans like and what it was like to grow up as a child in East Berlin.

We’ll also be reviewing the video by German rap group Ufo360, “Ich bin ein Berliner.”

Have a view of the video before you catch the episode so you can see exactly what we’re talking bout.

This episode brought to you in part by our other podcast Comedy History 101.

Like This is the President? Why not  subscribe to the podcast over at iTunes! Hey - and while you’re there, leave us a comment or rate us!

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