I really wish I was introducing this week's show under different circumstances, but about

an hour after we recorded today's episode, we, as I'm sure like many of you, were devastated

to learn about the death of Michael Brooks, a person who has been a colleague, a peer

and a comrade of ours for a while. And I just, I think it would be remiss if we

allowed this episode to go by without acknowledging him and his life. So, where do you want to begin?

I guess I'll just say for myself, the majority report was the first political podcast I ever

listened to, and this was years before I had met any of my, any of these guys. And it was him

and Sam and Matt, without realizing it, really did, gave me the thought that I could do this,

and in small but profound ways, really did completely alter the course of my life.

And it's just when I think about the, the senselessness of this loss of someone at 34 and

just the work he's done, it's really, it's really hard to comprehend.

Michael was, he was always completely straightforward. He cared as much as you possibly can

about everyone, not just who worked with him and worked for him, but just generally in his orbit,

his callers, people who contributed people who went on to make their own shows. He paid a special

type of attention to every single person in his life. He's someone who truly understood the

meaning of life as the way that we affect others, not just politically, but in our own lives.

He was something very rare in the business that we're in and in politics in general.

Someone who I, meeting thousands and thousands of people and dozens who worked with him or worked,

I guess, in different podcasts, no one ever had anything bad to say about him ever. I'd never heard it.

If it did, I never heard it or anyone I'd talk to, it's never fucking heard it. He,

everyone just loved the guy and I'm not going to act like I was extremely close with him,

but having done a show a few times and known him for a few years, it's devastating. It's absolutely

...