Colin Cowherd is a media personality. He is best known for his direct and unadorned analysis of sports. But he is a smart guy with thoughts on a range of subjects. A day after a jury found Trump guilty of felonious falsification of business records in a 34-0 shutout, Cowherd offered his opinion of the convicted criminal on his podcast, The Volume. (Full video at the bottom of the page)
Cowherd does not give an in-depth review of socio-economic trends, the constitutional ramifications of Trump’s journey through the criminal justice system, or the abnormal psychology of cultists. Instead, he offers a simple rebuttal, based on what he sees every day, of Trump’s America-bashing, dystopian fantasies — seasoned with a mordant analysis of the company Trump keeps.
Here are the highlights.
He starts by establishing his leftish centrism. He represents the position of many Americans — fiscal conservatism with a liberal ‘live and let live’ social philosophy.
“I’ve always considered myself sort of a left-leaning independent. I’m kind of a conservative on fiscal issues.”
He goes on to establish his liberalism. However, he adds that what is often classified as ‘liberal’ is better described as ‘centrist’ in contemporary America.
“More of probably a liberal. I don’t know. I don’t think pro-gay marriage is liberal. I don’t think pro-pot is liberal. I think those are moderate stances today.”
Cowherd then addresses the newly minted felon and his rubbish opinion on the state of America.
“I’ve said this about Trump before. He’s trying to sell me an America that doesn't exist. He’s trying to sell me this America stinks and I just don’t see it.
Cowherd acknowledges that he is better off than most. But even so, he does not live in one of the ‘swanky neighborhoods’ in LA. And where he lives, he says,
“I don’t see crime. I’m not stumbling over homeless people. I see happy people. Dodger Stadium’s full — leads major league baseball in attendance. Laker games are full. NFL games are full. People have money in their pocket. LAX is packed. I just saw record airline revenue over the weekend.
He then contrasts reality with Trump’s imaginary dystopia.
“I'm constantly being sold an America by Donald Trump, um, crime rates are skyrocketing. No, they're actually not. Starting in 2023, they have plummeted coast to coast. Over 200 cities, violent crime rates are down.
Cowherd then equates Trump selling America as a country in crisis, with a gormless Debbie Downer neighbor.
“It would be like watching your football team, and they play well and win. And your neighbor says they're playing terribly and keep losing. No. They’re winning. You can't keep telling me how bad the country I live in is, because it's not bad for me and my friends.
He enumerates his friends — a stay-at-home dad, part-time workers, start-up entrepreneurs, long-time employees, and middle-class folk — and points out the truth.
“They're not complaining about their life constantly.”
Cowherd adds a story to illustrate Trump’s hucksterism
“Trump once tried to sell a vodka and he acknowledges he never drank. So, I’ve thought for a long time that he's just kind of a con artist.”
He then used a pithy analogy to make a devastating point.
“Let's say I got busted for some really bad crime in court — a drug crime. And my wife did too, in a separate case. And so did one of my kids, my manager, my agent, and my attorney. It would be reasonable to conclude that I'm shady and involved in a business that's not terribly legal.”
Cowherd then completes the analogy.
“Donald Trump is now a felon. His campaign chairman was a felon. So is his deputy campaign manager, his personal lawyer, his chief strategist, his National Security Adviser, his Trade Advisor, his Foreign Policy Adviser, his campaign fixer, and his company CFO. They’re all felons. Judged by the company you keep. It’s a cabal of convicts.”
He then points out the vacuity of Trump's whining
“If everybody in your social circle is a felon, I don't think it's ‘rigged’. I don't think the world is against you.”
Being a sports guy, Cowherd puts the jury’s unanimous shut-out in sports terms.
To get people to agree on anything, 34 counts, 0 for 34, I mean that's a batting slump even the New York Mets could be impressed with, 0 for 34.”
He returns to the everyday America he sees — the one Trump ignores in his base-roiling, chthonic lies.
“I get on planes. There’s people in normal clothes. They don't look rich to me. And the planes are all full. And the hotels are all full. And the freeways are all full. That means people are going to work.”
Cowherd revisits and dismisses Trump’s nihilistic strategy.
“Trump‘s entire game plan is that the country is in a free fall. Maybe in the Trump-centric neighborhoods, it is. It’s not anywhere for my sister, who lives rurally. Doesn't have a lot of crime in her neighborhood. I don't. My friends don’t. We live all over Los Angeles in one of those big scary cities that voted for liberals.
And he scorns Trump’s woe-is-me whining.
“But when everybody in your team, everybody in your group, in your cabal, is a felon, maybe the world is not against you.”
Cowherd again reports that Trump’s dismal oratory does not match what he sees.
“Stop trying to sell me on everything's ‘rigged’. The country’s falling into the sea. The economy’s terrible. The economy is OK. It's not like ‘on fire.’ But get on a plane. Find all the empty seats. I don't see them. Those aren't cheap. Either are hotel rooms over Memorial weekend.”
He then addresses the MAGAs directly. He asks them if misery is their drug. And he suggests that they look inward rather than blame Biden if things are not going as they had hoped.
“Maybe some of you are just unhappy. Maybe you're only happy when you're unhappy. But the America I live in is imperfect. But compared to the rest of the world, I think we're doing OK. And if you're not, is it possible, just possible, I'm not even saying probable, is it possible, if your life has just been miserable for the last four years, it's not exclusively the fault of somebody in 1600 N. Pennsylvania Ave.
Maybe it's not all their fault.”
Amen.