3 chapters across the catalog
Radio hosts Clay Travis and Buck Sexton critique Lieutenant Michael Byrd's NBC News interview, where he claimed he showed "tremendous courage" in shooting Ashli Babbitt. They argue that if a white officer had made similar comments after shooting an unarmed black protester, there would be mass rioting. The hosts point out the "outrageous" politics involved in providing Byrd with a favorable media platform while he remained unnamed for months.
Lieutenant Byrd justified the shooting by stating Babbitt posed a threat to the "United States House of Representatives," rather than a direct threat to his life. The hosts find it "fascinating" that a black officer shot an unarmed white woman in a climate where property is usually deemed less valuable than human life. They suggest the entire scenario is so perfectly balanced for maximum social friction that it resembles a sophisticated psychological operation.
Congresswoman Madeline Dean appears on Joy Reid's show to thank Lieutenant Byrd for "saving her life" on January 6. The hosts note the timing of Byrd's public reveal, which coincided with the news of 13 U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan. They suggest the interview was used as a "smoke screen" to reclaim the media narrative and distract from the military failure in Kabul.
