Countdown with Keith Olbermann

1d ago

SEASON 4 EPISODE 42: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump is drowning. Trump’s presidency is DROWNING. Yesterday, it was Republicans forcing a vote to extend Obamacare subsidies. Yesterday, 38 PERCENT approval in the Marist poll. Monday, his Rob Reiner tweet that appalled even the worst of MAGA. Tuesday, Susie Wiles. Friday, the Epstein Files, proving: no, history doesn’t repeat itself but yes, sometimes it LITERALLY rhymes. The Venezuela Wag-The-Dog episode collapsed before it started. It's about Narco-terrorism, whatever the eff that is? Oil? Stuff they stole? Nuh uh. For the first but not the last time we turn to Susie Wiles for the, uh, well, it’s a strange word to use about the Trump administration but here it is: TRUTH. "He wants to keep on blowing boats up until [president Nicolás] Maduro cries uncle. And people way smarter than me on that say that he will." She also single-handedly ended the just-forming prosecution of Jack Smith, and the vowed prosecution of Anthony Fauci, and the already-moribund prosecutions of James Comey and Letitia James and Adam Schiff and and and…All those cases will be thrown out of court. All of them. Because Susie Wiles is on tape saying quote “I don’t think he wakes up thinking about retribution but when there’s an opportunity he will go for it.” About Comey, quote: “I mean, people could think it does look vindictive. I can’t tell you why you shouldn’t think that.” Trump’s chief of staff. Confirming it’s retribution. And retribution means selective prosecution and selective prosecution is illegal and you not only get the case thrown out, if you’ve had to defend yourself or your reputation has been hurt, you can sue the government. And it’s on TAPE. So why did she say it? Why did she think she could get away with it? Because inside the White House even the Chief of Staff knows Trump is drowning. And they are beginning to distance themselves from him. B-Block (27:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Laura Ingraham doesn't know Niagara Falls is in Ontario or Ontario is in Canada or that Premier Doug Ford isn't an American. I make bad choices in Exes. And these MAGA idiots just cannot see anything in the world any more without trying to force it into their brain-dead templates: it MUST be political and it MUST be an attack on Trump. New York City councilwoman Vickie Paladino "knows" the terrible shooting was an attack on Republicans at Brown University, and the moronic troll "Cat Turd" is sure they're wiping the shooter's social media history clean (which is an idea he should execute). C-Block (37:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I'm off by only four days from the exact anniversary, but it is now 42 years since I first met and interviewed Trump and I know most of us who knew him before knew he was nuts, but I must give myself credit. An hour after that meeting I was asking a colleague "what the eff is wrong with THAT guy?" See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

4d ago

SEASON 4 EPISODE 41: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN The president of the United States is celebrating the murder of Rob Reiner and his wife. It is at first impossible to believe that what follows isn’t satire. Then it becomes heart-breaking that it isn’t satire. Then it becomes infuriating. Finally it becomes more evidence that every minute this man is permitted to REMAIN president – the rest of us – the rest of us in the WORLD – are in mortal danger. Trump really believes that Rob Reiner “passed away… due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with… Trump Derangement Syndrome.” Trump’s ability to make everything about HIM – his need to be, as the old dark joke goes, the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral – is not some kind of act. You will recall his reaction to 9/11 – that it made HIM the owner of the SECOND tallest building in downtown Manhattan, not just the third. It crested when he publicly speculated that a baseball player broke his ankle because he sold his apartment in a Trump building. It is called Shallow Affect and it means in essence that you do not KNOW how actual normal humans interact nor what causes the events in THEIR lives. You cannot CONCEIVE of their lives. You look at a picture of the world and you see only you. You look in a mirror and you correctly see YOU but you are firmly convinced that when OTHERS look in THEIR mirrors… they ALSO see only you. Human beings do not believe these things. Trump does. It means he can believe - and do - anything. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

4d ago

SEASON 4 EPISODE 40: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump’s losing streak has hit 27 days. His LATEST losing streak. MAGA knows it. The Head of the Republican National Committee knows it. The Wall Street Journal knows it. The Indiana GOP knows it. The Ukrainians know it. Anybody who saw his pathetic credit-grabbing disinformational tweet Saturday night after the Brown shooting knows it. His own economists know it. The terrorists know it. Even TRUMP knows it. Since the house passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act on November 19th Trump has been SINKING. In quicksand. SINKING. And not more than one or two of his more insane more desperate colleagues even getting close enough to hand him a rope, for fear of being pulled down with him. They are beginning to blame him. “We are facing almost certain defeat,” says the purulent face of the RNC Joe Gruters, about the midterms. Then, “this is an absolute disaster.” Then “There’s no sugarcoating it. This is a pending looming disaster headed our way.” Then, I think quoting me quoting the late football owner Al Davis, “the chances are Republicans will go down and will go down HARD.” Just lose, baby. And boy, has he been losing. On affordability. In the Miami election. In the Georgia state house election. On affordability. On telling you to buy your daughter only two dolls. In Indiana. About Somalia. In his "peace" deal in the Middle East. In Thailand. In Syria. In Ukraine. About ObamaCare. About Alina Habba. About Kilmar Abrego Garcia. About the National Guard troops in L.A. And mostly about Epstein. Those four photos show nothing and would normally would therefore MEAN nothing. But they form a reminder that Trump tried to stop you from SEEING photos of him with Epstein. That THOSE photos weren’t PART of the tranche in the files, doesn’t matter. It only raises a kind of instinctive speculation about how much WORSE those OTHER Epstein-Trump photos are. It keeps the Epstein story alive when Trump COULD HAVE killed it, weeks ago, months ago. But he knew better. And now we get an endless scandal that only has to promise shocks to self-perpetuate. Trump used to win with those. Now he's losing. Because he's Donald Trump. Donald - with 47 L's. B-Block (30:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Anna Paulina Luna, member of the U.S. Congress and top Russian influencer? Governor Josh Shapiro is so stuck on bipartisanship he's bothsides-ing political violence (including the day the fascists firebombed his family). And Howard Lutnick with the greatest self-contradiction of the year. C-Block (38:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: A tragic event on the streets of New York 65 years ago led to me winding up in the authorized biography of the creator of Willy Wonka, Roald Dahl. He was a complicated and controversial figure but he did great things too - like encourage any kid he interacted with. Including me! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 11

SEASON 4 EPISODE 39: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: As Trump threatens the New York Times with sedition and treason charges and tells finance clowns and his government goons that he gets to choose who gets to be on CNN and what they get to say, we are at the tipping point. The first news reporter who stands up to his insults and calls him out to his face in public will get fired - and within 48 hours get a new job paying twice as much or more, and will become a national hero. America is crying out for somebody to take the risk that isn’t really a risk and tell him to shut the hell up and to EFF off and to SHOVE his A++++ economy and his threats and stochastic calls for destruction and violence. It is time. NOW NOW NOW. The tragedy here of course is that it is accepted, inside the news business, without a second thought, that there is nothing reporters – even bad ones – can do about this without risking their careers and lives. Bull. The first one who gets told “You are the most obnoxious reporter in the whole place. Let me just tell you -- you are an obnoxious -- a terrible reporter” and replies “So what? What does that have to do with my question? Nothing. And, with all due respect SIR, the majority of this nation considers you a failure as a president. And what does THAT have to do with your answer? The one you DIDN’T just give? NOTHING. The majority of this nation thinks you are vindictive, stupid, hypocritical, hateful, destructive, soul-less, and quite probably losing your sanity. I’M a terrible reporter? You’re the worst government leader in the history of the western hemisphere.” B-Block (32:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Sean Duffy wants you to wear a suit to the airport and...work out in it before you get on the plane? Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale calls for public hangings and says without irony or self-satire "If I'm in charge later..." OK, you first. And Missouri congresswoman Ann Wagner, in the middle of redistricting gerrymandering, turns out to not know the name of the third largest city in the state capitol district and thinks that city is in California. C-Block (42:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Somebody asked me how I felt about Chris Matthews being back on MSNBCNOWWHATEVER with Joe Scarborough and I actually said I felt sorry for Scarborough. Then I told them the saga of Chris, co-anchoring a funeral with me, drooling over Jennifer Granholm. On the air. So I'll tell you. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 8

SEASON 4 EPISODE 38: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: It’s not simple gaslighting about the price of gas: It’s neurological disintegration; obsessive repetition of the same lie. He has now - for the 14th time in 28 weeks - announced with shock and excited surprise that gas has "just hit" $1.98 a gallon (or "$1.99" or "under $2.00"). It's not just a lie; it's something he heard, could not understand in the first place, and is repeating at regular intervals as if he just heard it moments earlier. It is a classic sign of neurological crisis. And it is proof that invoking the 25th Amendment is imperative. And won’t happen. Any more than Trump realizing he already TOLD that lie. ALSO: Jack Smith still has a way to make the second half of his report convicting Trump public, while it turns out he tried to get rid of Aileen Cannon a year ago. It is also becoming increasingly apparent that ESPN's Stephen A. Smith may be the Jill Stein of 2028 - a stalking horse pretending to be a Democrat while being pushed by fascists. We know this much: he's mailing it in. He thinks the name of the governor of Florida is named "Ron Santis." AND TRUMP AND MELANIA talking about "Pile Driving" at night in the White House? That must be the first time in eighteen years. B-Block (35:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Shamwow guy is back and, what else, running for Congress as a MAGA because he can't keep this up all day. Bari Weiss obviously never saw the Mary Tyler Moore Show: she's fired her old CBS News Anchors before she's fired her NEW CBS News Anchors. And Jake Tapper really does it: after he put his thumb on the scale for Trump in the Biden debate and wrote a book and sold it on CNN about Biden's acuity, he's defending Trump's mental instability. C-Block (42:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Hal Steinbrenner, owner of the New York Yankees whose franchise has increased in value by three billion in just the last four years, is trying to convince people that maybe the Yankees aren't profitable. This is clownage as old as sports itself: the saga of the year the owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers insisted "we lost two million last year!" See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 4

SEASON 4 EPISODE 37: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: There are three critical headlines: Trump has now convinced me he is sick, the way President Woodrow Wilson was sick. Once again it looks like Tuesday's cabinet meeting attendees were warned: praise him today because he may not recognize you tomorrow. It's Anosognosia and it's why Trump can convince himself that of course nobody knows what body part the MRI they just got was for. They never tell anybody what the MRI is for. What are you, an idiot? Secondly, with his nauseating attack on Somali-Americans of Minnesota yesterday and Tuesday, we will no longer accept any debate on this point: Donald Trump is a full-on White Supremacist, a racist who is no longer hiding it, who cannot continue as president. The hood is OFF. And thirdly, it is increasingly obvious that the Democrats must have put out that Do-Not-Obey-Illegal-Orders video when they did because there a chain of evidence has come to light suggesting the September 2 kill-the-boat-survivors order from the Secretary of War Crimes… was an illegal order, right? Plus, the racist reaction to the DC shootings will remind anybody in the next Afghanistan whose help we need that any promise we make to them, we will break. Thank you John Ratcliffe and Trump. B-Block (35:45) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Department of Labor couldn't decide which would best enhance its Lincoln meme: the stars from the Confederate flag, or the font the Nazis used. So they chose both! Bari Weiss wants more main stream charismatic figures for CBS News. You know, like Alan Dershowitz. And not to say Larry David destroyed Bill Maher's life with his article about Bill breaking bread with Trump ("My Dinner With Adolf") but Maher is complaining about it again. The article was in APRIL. C-Block (56:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: The passing of the greatest Production Assistant in SportsCenter history, future stand-up comic Steve "Sarge" Pickman. And that little Nuzzi-Lizza story now extends to illegal taping, erasure of evidence, what might be the worst reviews for a political book this century ("Olivia Nuzzi's Tell-Nothing Memoir"), a series of rebuttals so long that it could become the basis for a Ken Burns Documentary series - and the under-reported news that Nuzzi's contract with Vanity Fair expires in four weeks. There's no need to fire her, she'll just fade away over the holidays. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 24

SEASON 4 EPISODE 35: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-BLOCK (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Well here's a switcheroo. For the first time in more than a decade, the far right and the far left and everybody in between are in full agreement: NONE OF US knows… what the hell is wrong with Trump. Trump was so smitten with Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani that by Saturday he was DRESSING like Mamdani; a neat black overcoat that fit him – and a red scarf that enveloped his neck – hair, combed with something other than a garden claw. And remember: some far right commentators had almost expected that when Mamdani arrived at the White House he would be greeted by Trump and Tom Homan and hooded ICE gestapo agents who would fabricate some story about Mamdani lying on paperwork, seize him, and expel him. They expected Mamdani to leave the Oval Office in chains; instead, Trump left the Oval Office in love. AND NOW MARGE GREENE is out, and Laura Loomer is asking 'why bother to vote next year?' and Charles Gasparino is saying the wheels are off the Trump presidency and even the MAGAs think Trump has gone nuts and it's over. It's not - but it's nice to watch them squirm. Plus the Kash Patel/Girlfriend/SWAT team fiasco and even the Ukraine proposal literally written in Russian by Russians has embarrassed them. It's fabulous. PLUS A NEW THOUGHT ON TRUMP'S INEXPLICABLE MRI. Maybe he really doesn't know what happened. Maybe he has anosognosia, the disease that makes it impossible for you to acknowledge or even remember that you have a disease. Maybe they told him why he got that MRI - and he immediately blocked it out. B-BLOCK (34:00) YOUR LATEST NUZZI DOOZY NEWS. Yes, the big screaming uh, RECYCLING headline is gross. But it's not the real story. The real story is: Ryan Lizza now claims that for a year, before the election, while she was working for New York Magazine, my ex was doing Catch and Kill operations on RFK's behalf. Very bad news for all involved. And that she told him if anybody ever found out about her and Bob, he'd kill her. She exaggerates, but he doesn't think this was one of those. Plus, Vanity Fair is about to get rid of her. Feel free to skip this update. C-BLOCK (1:02:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Rookie Chicago cop shoots himself in the silver bullets, the Ellisons are willing to fire any CNN anchor Trump doesn't want in exchange for him letting them buy CNN, and Laura Loomer and Catturd are so stupid they fell for the oldest joke in the "Arabic" book. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 20

SEASON 4 EPISODE 35: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-BLOCK (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump is now a lame duck. A lame Donald. A lame duck Donald. A lame Donald Duck. I like it. It’s not just that MAGA stood up to him and a GOP/Democratic coalition beat him 427 to 1 on Epstein. It's that that was something even most of the Washington political media industrial complex can understand, can process, can WRITE using the cliches in which they trafficked until Trump and his unprecedented madness came along. This looked all too familiar and they jumped on it with both feet and the same cliché: LAME DUCK. Fortune used it. NBC. Semafor. The National Review. Nate Silver's site asked "Is Trump A Lame Duck?" CNN's went further: "Is Trump A Lame Duck NOW?" It's so bad there was a Politico Lame Duck Listicle! "Seven signs Trump is losing his groove." And then the final nail: “It’s Official: Donald Trump is a lame duck by President”by Chris Cillizza, part of his weekly conversation with Chuck Todd. It's never over til it's over, Yogi, but it's over. B-BLOCK (25:00) SPECIAL COMMENT: I'm the character in The (Latest) Olivia Nuzzi story who gets shot in the first scene, but I still know more about her than almost any outsider and there is a lot to correct on her epically bad book excerpt in Vanity Fair, and the riposte by the more recent ex, Ryan Lizza, who was apparently told by Olivia that I was stalking her at the same time as Olivia was telling me there was a guy in Washington stalking her, named Ryan Lizza. The Nuzzi News is a Doozy and we all lose. This was to be a comeback; now she'll need an entirely new comeback to come back from her come back. And how does Vanity Fair keep her employed after the Mark Sanford accusation made her explanation of her RFK Jr lies into a separate lie? C-BLOCK (1:00:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Trump accuses himself of rigging the 2020 census. It was in July, but Bill O'Reilly insisted that Jeffrey Epstein was prosecuted by Biden and Garland, and refused to correct himself even after he was reminded Epstein died during Trump's first presidency. And Bill Maher says he's giving up touring because people who are half as funny are selling twice as many tickets. Who does he mean? The New York Jets? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.