Episodes

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.

Nov 17

SEASON 4 EPISODE 34: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: So, will he? I mean you don't think he's serious about WANTING them released, do you? He's just trying to avoid a 100-vote defeat. Note he hasn't asked the Senate to pass a bill. And he's already throwing out "what can be legally released" caveats - like he cares. And Trump is still threatening to prosecute President Clinton. He's thrown Marjorie Taylor Greene under the bus. He's destroyed the House and the DOJ. He's invoking The Streisand Effect and insisted we all stop talking about it. His Government Shutdown ran out of gas - what does he do now? He's terrified of what's in there, to the point where Senator Chris Murphy said it's enough to potentially end his presidency. I mean Alexander Haig and others told Nixon to burn the Watergate tapes, in public, with the media present and Haig says Nixon asked him to do it but Haig demurred and later says it was the biggest mistake ever. So? Will Trump destroy the Epstein Files? Burn them, bury them, dump them, or order Kash Patel or Pam Bondi or just Walt Nauta to do it? And can Democrats make Epstein and what is at minimum Trump's protection of pedophiles the centerpiece of the midterms? To explain to voters that burying the files is why Trump is gerrymandering and trying to fix or cancel those midterms? If he doesn't destroy them, does he destroy the process by which they could get out? Does he destroy what's left of democracy? The full monty of authoritarianism? And as an aside, when he was even willing to change the topic from Epstein to his MRI last month, did anybody else note that he made a remark as crazy as anything ever said by - anybody? That he had no idea what part of his body they MRI'd but he had the greatest MRI ever? What if he's not crazy, lying, or unable to understand what an MRI is? What if that's true? Was he unconscious? Sedated? Did they just surprise him? What are the implications for the theories that he's being treated for some form of dementia? Or: Maybe they MRI’d Trump looking to see if he stuffed the Epstein files up his...assisted living facility. PLUS: The self-beclowning of Stephen A. Smith continues. He can't figure out why Gavin Newsom and AOC and other Democrats won't come on his new political podcast: "I'm A Right Wing Dupe." And Olivia Nuzzi's new book is about to arrive and I have only one detail to address, but I have two big fears. What if her publicity tours include interviews with Ingraham on Fox and Tur on MSNOW? Lol B-Block (34:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: JD Vance wants us to believe all those undocumented immigrants are stealing SNAP benefits, eating pets and driving up home prices by snapping up $500,000 houses. It seems like Eric Trump just said his wife charges him a fee to have a glass of wine with her. And Megyn Kelly explains Jeffrey Epstein wasn't technically a pedophile and the age of the victim makes a difference, after a career filled with her screaming at anybody else who suggested exactly the same thing. C-Block (45:00) IN MEMORY OF MISHU: It's the fourth anniversary of the month my late hospice puppy with the incurable, untreatable heart condition, taught me one of the meanings of life. I like to remember him; I hope you'll remember him with me. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 13

SEASON 4 EPISODE 33: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: From beyond the grave Jeffrey Epstein has accused Trump – and there’s a smoking gun and maybe four of them. The allegations that one of Epstein’s female victims “spent hours at (Epstein’s) house with (Trump)…” that Trump was “that dog that hasn’t barked” and he “has never once been mentioned”… those specific allegations, MADE by Jeffrey Epstein in 2011 and acknowledged by Ghislaine Maxwell minutes later. And now, Trump and his Republicans – especially Speaker of the House Mike Johnson – and his MAGA enablers – and his Fox News propagandists – are complicit in another extraordinary, disgusting cover-up: cover-up of pedophilia, a NEW cover-up - right now - playing out in real time as Trump tries to blackmail Republicans into burying the Epstein FILES. A cover-up, most of all, of Trump’s GUILT. Trump is guilty and Epstein has provided the evidence. And now we turn to the real crisis for Trump. If what the Democrats released yesterday had been the worst thing in the files, Trump could've held a news conference explaining it all away and welcoming full release. Instead he went into full panic and dragged Lauren Boebert into the Situation Room to try to bully her into removing her name from the discharge petition. Didn't work. Now reportedly 100 Republicans in the House will vote for discharge and against Trump and a MAGA lynchpin has declared MAGA is dead. So what is next? What if Trump pardons Maxwell, or commutes her sentence, it will cost him his presidency. Because a pardon or commutation of her would amount to a confession by him. So what MORE is in the Epstein Files? To what lengths will Trump go to stop the release of the files? And when will Trump’s role in the Epstein Crimes, in his past cover-ups of them, in his current cover-up of them, in his cover-up of whatever he is guilty of - when will the true horror of Trump’s guilt become so overwhelming, so disqualifying, that Republicans will have to make the choice between covering up for Trump or saving THEMSELVES? How much time does Trump have left before Epstein destroys him? AND AN UPDATE ON TRUMP'S ACCELERATING DEMENTIA: He wants troops sent to a place that doesn't exist. "The Miracle Mile Shopping Center in Chicago," he wrote. There IS no "Miracle Mile Shopping in Chicago" but there is one in Monroeville, PA, and if Trump wants to send troops into Chicago to protect Monroeville he's further gone than we have ever imagined. B-Block (37:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Some late quotes from the Democratic Quislings Jeanne Shaheen and Dick Durbin, and Independent (from reality) Angus King. Bill Pulte and the 50-year mortgage and the lowered standards for getting one. And America's Sweethearts, Kash Patel and Alexis Wilkins and Alexis is suing three MAGA podcasters and being attacked by Candace Owens. C-Block (49:30) GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 10

SEASON 4 EPISODE 32: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Quislings. Traitors. Cowards. Capitulators. Collaborators. Fakes. Frauds. Enablers. Betrayers. Failures. Political Prostitutes. Senators Durbin, Kaine, Fetterman, Shaheen, Cortez-Masto, Hassan, Rosen, and King need to be expelled from the Democratic party and any that mistakenly think they have a chance of retaining their seats must be primaried. Must be. They are not progressives, they are not pragmatists, they are not even moderates. They are fools. Their careers must be ended. Now. Durbin, Kaine, Fetterman, Shaheen, Cortez-Masto, Hassan, Rosen, and King. Now. Done. Forgotten. Let us hear their names no more. Last night these eight Senators voted to fold, without any pressure, without any bribe, without anything. They voted to kick millions of Americans off ObamaCare in order to reopen and fund the government – for only three months, mind you – in exchange not for magic beans but just the promise of a vote in which they’ll GET magic beans – a vote ON the health care subsidies - IF half a dozen Republicans defy Trump. A vote about magic beans. Which they won’t win. Their rationalizations were pathetic and suggested their familiarity with the reality of the Senate, of Trump, of the Republican Party, was less than that of the average Senate Page. What's worse is, this happens now as the reality becomes more and clear: Trump’s mind is gone. It’s so bad even The Washington Post noticed. It’s so bad The Washington Post even put it on their front page. He’s hyping weight loss drugs. In The Oval Office. And how he and he alone can bring down their price. And a weight loss patient there to extoll weight loss drugs and say how safe they are and praise Trump’s wonderfulness… collapses. Folds. Drops, slow-motion, like a deflating inflatable tube man at a used car sales lot. Trump – whose mind is gone - not only doesn’t help the guy on the floor… he’s offended he upstaged him. And then Trump – whose MIND IS GONE - falls asleep. For the second time. Or as The Washington Post put it: “A Closer Look At Trump’s Apparent Struggles To Fight Off Sleep In The Oval Office” read the Post headline. “A Washington Post analysis of multiple video feeds found that the president spent nearly 20 minutes apparently battling to keep his eyes open…” 815 words follow. And four pictures. One of Trump – whose mind is gone - with one eye closed. One with one eye closed and two fingers rubbing it. One with both eyes closed. One where you can almost SEE the snoring. Even. The Washington Post. Knows It. Let’s step back from the nuts-and-bolts of the government shutdown to try to process how it was perceived by Trump…whose mind is gone. HE thought it would be a GOOD idea to cut off food stamps so lines at soup kitchens would get longer just as it was getting cold. He thought the correct political move as the Holidays approached was… government-sponsored starvation. He believed that the country would praise him for… gradually shutting down all air travel – including all air travel FOR HIS SUPPORTERS – first for Thanksgiving and then for Christmas and New Year’s. He thought these were good political moves. SPORTSBALLCENTER (30:00): Yes, legal gambling could send two Cleveland pitchers to jail for 65 years. But no, they didn't actually make a Shohei Ohtani Used Jockstrap baseball card. B-Block (38:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Politico thinks the first thing a Mayor-Elect of New York has to do is answer questions about the 2028 Senate elections. The Breaker media newsletter finds the New York Times fricasseeing its own digital books. That's right: FIFA isn't just polishing Trump's knob, it's inventing a "Peace Prize" so it can polish it harder. And Dr. Oz wants you to lose 400 pounds by the midterms. C-Block (55:00) WHY I'M NOT A HOCKEY ANNOUNCER: One of my favorite sportscasting stories: how my budding career as a plucky pucky play-by-play guy was thwarted when the team we were broadcasting "forgot to rent the rink" - and how I avenged myself. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 6

SEASON 4 EPISODE 31: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Do you want to hear the real lesson of this week’s Democratic landslide? Mamdani ran on your money issues and that Trump equals death. Sherrill ran on your money issues and that Trump equals death. Spanberger ran on your money issues and that Trump equals death. Prop 50 won on your money issues and that Trump equals death. Hey, you can do both at the same time! Who knew? Not difficult. Easy to remember. Useful on all occasions. Worked in New York, where they elected a socialist when only a quarter of the voters say they are socialists. Worked in Virginia, where they elected as governor an ex-congresswoman born in Jersey. Worked in Jersey, where they elected as a governor an ex-congresswoman born in Virginia. Money Issues, and Trump Equals Death. Useful on all occasions. It’s a floor wax AND a dessert topping. Of course the context is just as much fun as the lesson. That's becauseTrump not only doesn’t realize he got the S kicked out of him, but he doesn’t realize he’s already forced himself to both end the government shutdown and lose the government shutdown. “Trump wasn’t on the ballot,” Trump screamed. “And ‘Shutdown’… were the two reasons that Republicans lost elections...” Ah, poor Trump. Metaphorically, Trump not only was on the ballot - every ballot but he was on the ballot in the worst possible way. Everybody could vote no on him, but it was almost impossible to vote YES. The lame duck politician’s worst nightmare. And right now no duck is lamer than Trump. Democrats: run on your money issues and that Trump equals death. It’s a floor wax and a dessert topping! ALSO: No, I am not going to sanewash Dick Cheney, even after his passing. Yes, at the end, when it was loyalty to the country or Trump he chose the country and it's good to finish strong. But I will still remember him for that 9/11-Iraq exploitation thing. And I am still proud that - as you'll hear - I pissed him off enough as Vice President for him to publicly clap back. B-Block (30:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Roger Stone, who helped advance the deplorable Laura Loomer, is now shocked she's deplorable. Similarly Ben Shapiro, who helped sell Tucker Carlson's evil to the far right, is now shocked he's evil. And I-Never-Winsome Earle-Sears and scabby Fox host Charlie Hurt think Barack Obama not voting for her when he voted for Kamala Harris is hypocritical (so...Earle-Sears voted for Kamala, and Hurt voted for Spanberger?) C-Block (40:30) SPORTSBALLCENTER: You probably aren't interested in my thoughts on the latest new selection committee and the latest eight nominees for baseball's Hall of Fame (though I have many of them). But you may be entertained by the sagas of the previous selection committees and the legend of how the ex-players on them used to cast "courtesy votes" for their old buddies and one year Ted Williams and the others screwed up and accidentally cast way too many of them for a not-so-Hall-of-Famish catcher named Rick Ferrell and he actually got elected. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 3

SEASON 4 EPISODE 30: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: If Andrew can no longer be PRINCE because of Jeffrey Epstein, Trump can no longer be PRESIDENT because of Jeffrey Epstein. I think Trump understands this. I have no doubt Mike Johnson understands this. I believe even large swaths of the otherwise imbecilic MAGA understand this. It is why Trump and Johnson and the others are starving the needy; dissolving Congress; destroying the domestic balance of power and gutting the work infrastructure at airports, government agencies, and services. It is why they are even cutting the legs out from under every Republican candidate in tomorrow’s handful of elections. Andrew has been convicted of nothing; Trump has been convicted of nothing. There are no astounding legal findings against Andrew; there are no astounding legal findings against Trump. There are probably no smoking guns about Andrew in the Epstein files; there are probably no smoking guns about Trump in the Epstein files. The status of their scandals is roughly identical. Just as importantly: the English monarchy wants to publicly atone for Andrew and based on heavy news reporting in the UK it is apparently pressing Andrew to reveal what he knows about Epstein – presumably about TRUMPStein. Meanwhile only Trump, would throw a Gatsby party with himself as Gatsby and scantily-clad women in giant Martini glasses, in the middle of his own sex ring crisis. In any event: If Andrew can no longer be PRINCE because of Jeffrey Epstein. Trump can no longer be PRESIDENT because of Jeffrey Epstein. B-Block (28:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: After O'Donnell flames him, Scott Jennings insists Lawrence O'Donnell, whose show is beating Jennings's CNN show in the ratings by 60%, is irrelevant. Karolyin Leavitt was appalled that there was a bathroom inside the White House. And before tomorrow's election, Andrew Cuomo has proclaimed himself "Mayor." C-Block (36:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Well the World Series ended just as I told you it would: With everybody demanding Fox never again interview a manager during Game 7. I was a Fox TV Baseball Dugout Reporter: Here's Why We Don't Need Them (except for emergencies; in 40 games in which I filled that role, there were maybe three emergencies. I'll recount the best of them - the on-field dispute that came this close to turning into a riot involving the New York Yankees, the Boston Cops, and thousands of drunken Red Sox fans. And it ended with me being ordered to sit, essentially, on George Steinbrenner's lap). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 30

SEASON 4 EPISODE 29: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: The correct question has been lying there, invisible in the forest, for the trees. It was Mary Trump who finally saw it – and asked it: “Why the hell (do) they KEEP giving him cognitive tests?” That’s IT - isn’t it? THAT'S the question. None of the details, none of the giraffes versus elephants, none of his stupid boastful insults about it, none of the small stuff. It's the big picture. Why the hell DO they keep giving him cognitive tests? And I’ll add a corollary to Mary Trump's burst of simple genius: Why the hell do they KEEP giving him cognitive tests almost exactly six months apart? Friday October 10, 2015 at Walter Reed, which he boasted about on board Air Force One this week. And Friday April 11, 2015, which he had also boasted about on board Air Force One last spring. Those dates are almost six months apart. 182 days. If they’re not giving him pre-scheduled cognitive tests every six months that’s a helluva coincidence. Why the hell do they keep giving him cognitive tests? And I’ll add a second corollary to Mary Trump’s question: why did they give him an MRI? Is it the first MRI to accompany a cognitive test? What was it an MRI of? I mean it may be irrelevant (I once had an MRI to see how my sinuses were draining correctly). You really CAN get MRIs for almost trivial stuff. But you don’t get cognitive tests for trivial stuff. Why the hell do they keep giving him cognitive tests? PLUS: Trump says the Constitution prohibits him from running for president again. Again, mid-flight, after boasting about things that aren't real, he said: “If you read it it’s pretty clear. I’m not allowed to run." So that’s that , huh? That’s what all the experts say. The same experts who said there was no Presidential Immunity. So – what happens next? He just changes his mind? Or decides this term is eight years not four ? Or he just cancels the 2028 election? This isn't bluster and it isn't trolling. They might get away with it and they might not, but there are plans. And the more we're convinced they can never pull them off, the more likely we are to see another "presidential immunity" ruling from The Supreme Court. Or another Aileen Cannon. Or another January 6. B-Block (24:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Steve Bannon wants to expel Zohran Mamdani from this country. Hell, we should expel Bannon. If we can find a truck that can carry that much blubber. There's a media writer named Rich Greenfield who has extrapolated from the possibility that Comcast might buy CNN and merge it with MSNBC and he has the exact right person to run it: Charlie Kirk's widow (a bible student). And as ludicrous as that sounds, the guy now running CNN wasn't even home from his visit to the White House to try to butter up Trump and the Trumpists when one of the Trumpists mocked him on twitter for visiting. Today, appeasers not only lose, they get flamed on social media. C-Block (36:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: With the Dodgers in the World Series again it is time to hurry back to the greatest moment in their Los Angeles history: Kirk Gibson's pinch-hit homer even though three-quarters of his body was barely movable, to win Game One of the 1988 World Series and set them on the path to one of the greatest upsets in baseball history, over the vaunted Oakland A's. Gibson's homer was a surprise to everybody. Except me. Because I predicted it just before the first pitch of that final inning began. And there's a WITNESS. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 27

SEASON 4 EPISODE 28: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Donald Trump does not own the White House. Donald Trump does not own the United States of America. Donald Trump does not own the world. NOTHING Trump has done, in sending in thugs and military to attack people that did not vote for him in cities and states that do not support him, is LEGAL. NOTHING Trump has done in having his Nosferatu Stephen Miller threaten Governor Pritzker with “seditious conspiracy," is LEGAL. NOTHING Trump has done in sending so-called “election monitors” to interfere in the voting in California and Jersey on BEHALF of Republican Thugs, is LEGAL. NOTHING Trump has done to let himself say – supposedly jokingly, per the New York Times – “I’m the speaker AND the president," is LEGAL. NOTHING Trump has done in his demolition against, destruction of, attack ON the East Wing of the White House, is LEGAL. Almost NOTHING about Trump administration - his presidency - his forming unilateral DICTATORSHIP, is LEGAL. And it is TIME to CUT HIM OFF FINANCIALLY by taking the one measure that will force an end to this Trumpian madness: for the blue states to follow up on Gavin Newsom’s suggestion, on the suggestion of others including me in this forum, and stop transmitting federal taxes to the national treasury until Trump resigns. We must have a tax payment boycott and it must be led by Governors and other STATE OFFICIALS so that there can be no attempt by Trump or his enablers and flunkies to prosecute or further threaten democracy-loving civilians. De-fund Donald Trump. Now. ALSO: More on these "election observers." Also the targeting of Mike Johnson as the fall-guy. And a media update on Bret Baier, CBS, NBC and the Ballroom, Cheryl Hines and Olivia Nuzzi, and Bill Maher making a jackass of himself. AGAIN. B-Block (36:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Kayleigh McEnany trying to sell her audience Hamburger Helper and convince them it's steak. ICE arrests a guy for playing the Star Wars imperial march. Anna Paulina Luna has a debate with a California congressman who doesn't exist. And Andrew Cuomo achieves a new high in low: laughing at a 9/11 racial slur about the man who beat him in the primary. B-Block (48:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Before the World Series ends (and I still think that's in five games) it's time to tell the 25th Anniversary edition of Roger Clemens, Mike Piazza, the bat, and how Clemens was actually throwing it at me. C-Block (1:06:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL, CONCLUDED: There are so many ripples in the pond on this Clemens saga - they're still rippling! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 23

SEASON 4 EPISODE 27: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Today is the dawn of Trump’s new policy: destroy America. Literally. Well, destroy part of the WHITE HOUSE – Literally. And steal $230 million from the government and pretend he’s going to give it to charity; AND give away 172 million dollars for two private jets for Kristi Noem; AND give Ukraine and eventually Europe to Putin, AND make America a one-party nation, AND get elected Democrats killed, AND destroy America. Literally. Well, ok, describing this as Trump’s new policy to destroy, steal, give away AND get elected Democrats killed - that’s not ENTIRELY fair. Because it’s not really NEW. He has long tried to stochastically encourage violence against opponents, but now key minions like Tom Emmer and Tom Homan talk about the quote “terrorist wing” of the Democratic party, and, Presto! A January 6th traitor Trump personally pardoned tries to assassinate Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Looks like cause and effect to me. Josh Marshall just invoked imagery I used in 2016 and he’s right: Trump has entered (actually RE-entered) the stage in which he is the omnipotent petulant child, Anthony, from the terrifying Twilight Zone episode “It’s A Good Life" who could destroy the world and kill people just by thinking it. Josh is right. I was right. Trump is now destroying just because it gives him something to do. And because in his psychosis it no longer matters whether he's constructing or deconstructing, it only matters that HE does it. ALSO: The Democrats can stop self-flagellating. Party identification has now swung back away from the Republicans and the seven-point margin is nearly as big as the Dems' was in 2012. So let's focus instead on taking out the trash like Graham Platner. For 17 years or so, the populist Maine Democrat somehow didn't know that was a nazi tattoo on his chest, which I suppose is possible. But when it was going to come out, instead of going right to a tattoo parlor and holding a news conference explaining and apologizing as they turned it into something else, he released a drunken video and waited three days to (supposedly) actually fix the problem. He has no judgment. None. Get out. B-Block (33:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Doing the right thing for the wrong reason. Bob Iger and Disney didn't walk back the Jimmy Kimmel firing because of justice and the 1st Amendment. They did it because of a boycott. The Andrew Cuomo self-destruction tour continues as he confuses the New York Jets and the New York Mets. And The Washington Post columnist who said we'd be fine whether Hillary or Trump was elected is back with more stupidity. C-Block (49:12) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: This time of year, 51 years ago, I was about to sign up to go to Boston University when a radio student there gave me the inside story of the limitations undergrads faced. He talked me out of it. I was 15 and he was 20 and his name was Howard Stern. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 20

SEASON 4 EPISODE 26: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:00) SPECIAL COMMENT: Can we? Involuntarily? Any way you can think of? I don’t know the answer, I suspect not, not even after the video he put out in which he proudly covers America in, uh, crap. A video he thought was some kind of flex, as opposed to reality, that it is the confirmation of everything that was being protested at No Kings, everything that defines Trump as president, as leader, as human being – sort of: a crapshow with a crown and he has to wear an oxygen mask and the MAGAs are standing below just hoping to catch some of it maybe with their mouths! Trump crapping on America – the only thing he’s good at – and in the limited coverage it gets in the media they sanitize it for your protection, literally not referencing WHAT it was flying in Trump’s Freudian video, his confession, the climax of his life. After that, let me say it again: Trump is insane and unchecked he will kill us all because nothing matters to him BUT him. He’s insane, he’s psychopathic, he’s murderous, he’s vile, he’s deranged, he’s damaged, he’s dysfunctional, he’s – on top of everything else there he is discharging himself all over New York and No Kings and America and my final thought was, if that AI video were real, and he really got rid of all that crap: what WHAT would he be left to THINK with? THAT PLUS the amazing under-coverage of the largest American political protest since 1970, and Trump him whoring and stalling for Putin again in Ukraine, and Trump’s Eternal Middle East Peace falling apart, and Curtis Sliwa stuffing Andrew Cuomo in a locker - it was glorious. B-BLOCK (30:00) ANOTHER SPECIAL COMMENT: You saw ESPN's Stephen A. Smith (who isn't trying to run for president but is humiliating himself, doing everything he can to make other people try to convince him to) appearing on the farcical News Nation's farcical "town hall" on the government shutdown? And a guy in the audience gets up and says he's an air traffic controller but because of 'them' he now has to deliver food to make ends meet? And Smith starts ranting and in solidarity with the people storms off the show because...I dunno why? Something about this story (in fact a couple things) just don't add up. Let me give you some hints. C-BLOCK (48:00) MONDAYS WITH THURBER: "Meet Birdey Doggett" is not his best known story. It is one of his best to hear read aloud. On a day when I'm under the weather and need a little cheering up myself - enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 16

SEASON 4 EPISODE 25: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Is Trump Bombing Boats off Venezuela to test to see if he can get away with Bombing Americans in America? I mean now he says he’s going to try to get away with Bombing Venezuelans in Venezuela. If, 72 hours before Saturday’s No Kings protests around the country, we are at the stage – (and we are AT the stage) that Trump is threatening to invade Boston and San Francisco, and where Trump’s lackeys are calling everybody who disagrees with him “Antifa” and Trump has declared “Antifa” a quote “Domestic Terrorist Organization” – acronym DTO, and we’re at the stage where Trump has again this week – Tuesday morning – had the Secretary of Brylcreem blow up a probable sardine fishing boat in the Caribbean after declaring it was “affiliated with a “DESIGNATED Terrorist Organization” – acronym ALSO DTO… if we are blowing up people Trump and Trump alone gets to decide were in DESIGNATED DTO’s and in the process destroying ALL evidence for-or-against, how far in his madness and Stephen Miller’s evil are we from Trump blowing up people Trump and Trump alone gets to decide were in DOMESTIC D-T-O’s and in the process destroying ALL evidence for-or-against? The huge leap from bombing DTO’s to bombing… DTO’s. It's a big step. But it’s one even Trump, as his body disintegrates, can still manage. Plus my ex Olivia Nuzzi has reportedly written a new book. So now you know what to get me for Christmas. I have title suggestions. They are not cordial ones. B-Block (34:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Fox's Emily Compagno assumes anybody criticizing the appointment of Bari Weiss is an antisemite. Including critics who are Jewish. There is a MAGA celebrity chef named Andrew Gruel, from "Gravy Concepts" and he's one of Fox's Antifa experts. And then there is Governor Janet Mills of Maine who is trying to bigfoot Graham Platner and actually make Susan Collins the youngster in the race. C-Block (46:25) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The actual anniversary was two weeks ago, but whenever the leaves start to fall I think of the 1993 launch of ESPN2. The inside saga of the night I achieved immortality by announcing "Good Evening And Welcome To The End Of Our Careers." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 13

SEASON 4 EPISODE 24: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: If Trump didn’t have much time left as president, how would his cabinet behave? If Trump didn’t have much time left as president, how would his henchmen behave? If Trump didn’t have much time left as president, how would his Stephen Millers behave? If Trump didn’t have much time left as president, how would HE behave? Would he have a straight-up public delusion that 1448 days into his first presidency it was Joe Biden’s FBI even though Joe Biden hadn’t BEEN president yet? Ending with the panicked, plaintive cry to the universe: “DO SOMETHING?” Would he have hallucinations about Watergate being a hoax? Would he start accidentally posting private messages to his attorney general demanding prosecutions of those who prosecuted him? NOW NOW NOW! DO SOMETHING! Would he be unable to close his umbrella? I’m not saying he’s DYING, I’m not saying he’s IRRETRIEVABLY SICK, I’m not saying he’s being raptured, I’m not saying he’s resigning, I’m not saying he’s fleeing… I’m not talking about cause, just EFFECT. If Trump didn’t have much time left as president… if he were getting a PROMOTION to something, how would they all BEHAVE? I think the answer is they’d all behave as they are behaving now. They’d panic. And, they are panicking. They’d panic because they know, there is NOBODY to take over for him. Junior? Eric? Bannon? Miller? Vance? WHAT? VANCE? After Stephanopoulos stuffed him in a locker yesterday? What do they think they know about Trump’s longevity, that we don’t? Why is Stephen Miller panicking? Why is Mike Johnson panicking over the Epstein Files and more importantly what could his end game be here? What? He's just never bringing the House back into session? And this all ties in to the indefensible Charlie Kirk assassination because all of this could be explained if you recognize that the Right thought Kirk was a future president, maybe THE future president. MEDIA OBEYING IN ADVANCE: Trump attacks Politico's Dasha Burns to her face and instead of accepting the Orange Badge of Courage she tells him Karolyin Leavitt will vouch for her. That's disqualifying. And I'd like to read you only about one fifth of one of the best media essays I've read this year, written by Elizabeth Lopatto at The Verge. It completely changed my mind about Bari Weiss going to CBS. Weiss is no less evil, but Lopatto brilliantly argues she is not going to destroy CBS - CBS is going to destroy her. And they should televise it. B-Block (35:05) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Milwaukee Brewers win, then humiliate themselves and their guiding light Bob Uecker, by taunting the losers. Governor Greg Abbott makes a joke about somebody else's physical incapacity. Trump's Beauty Pageant Miss Uncongeniality Prosecutor Lindsey Halligan makes another amazing typo. And a Kristi Noem twofer, performed with the Benny Hill Yakety Sax Theme playing in the background. C-Block (46:22) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The ACTUAL writer of The Washington Post's first Watergate story, Bart Barnes, has died. He pulled together the first-day work of Woodward, Bernstein and the crime reporter the day the thing broke in June 1972 and had a 50-year career that probably hit its nadir a decade later when he wound up covering the same story as...me. For months he and I and a couple of others were the core beat reporters on the 1982 NFL Strike. He was wonderful, and he was the final straight man in an intricate, fantastic practical joke we played on the New York Times' guy. The story of Bart Barnes - and The Janofsky Maneuver. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 9

SEASON 4 EPISODE 23: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Here we go again. Trump is talking about his own mortality or career mortality or heaven or all of the above… AGAIN at the same time he’s talking about declaring insurrections and jailing more political opponents, like Mayor Johnson and Governor Pritzker and any one of a dozen judges including at least one he appointed – not prosecuting them, just jailing them - and, as if it could GET any worse, he specifically segued from the issue of wanting to prove to God that he’s been good to how great all those weapons are at his naval base. The missiles are flying, hallelujah, hallelujah. Plus he's written: “Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also." Look, you and I know it should be TRUMP in jail because he’s not only broken laws, he’s nearly COLLECTED THE COMPLETE SET of broken laws. But the process of convincing Trump that he's not crazy, that his predictions are coming true, that Portland is ablaze, is how Stephen Miller and the others manipulate him into eroding American democracy a little more every damn day. And this has worked since at least 2016 and I was told about it by Ed Rollins in 2017. It's the Trump personal feedback loop. And when the interruptors in that loop get in the way, they get bought out and destroyed. CNN first, The Washington Post, and now CBS News and the "B" stands for "Bari Weiss" who once told The Federalist Society that it was ok if it didn't believe her and her wife's marriage was legal because they all shared what really mattered: a desire for lower taxes. Let me expand upon the death of CBS News and her disastrous debut at its helm by retelling the story of the miniature version enacted at the CBS flagship station in LA when I worked there in 1991: The Mystery Of The Broken Number 3 CBS Pencils. B-Block (37:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: What is wrong with these dweeb MAGAs? Ken Paxton can't keep his pants on, every other day there's some new story causing his wife to again decide to divorce him, and he's just announced "undercover operations" against leftists. Hey, Pal, if you did anything BESIDES undercover operations you wouldn't be dismissed as a sex pest. Poor Derrick Van Orden continues his descent: now he's yelling at people for not learning how the Senate votes the way he learned about it in the 4th Grade (all of what he learned was wrong). And the Bad Bunny Super Bowl blowback reaches Marjorie Taylor Greene who demands a law making English the official language which is going to be trouble for her since she doesn't speak it. C-Block (45:00) THURSDAYS WITH THURBER: It's one of those weeks, plus my back is gone, one of my eyes is fighting me: it's time to bring back the first Thurber story I ever read aloud to an audience, the oddly soothing "A Box To Hide In." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 6

A-BLOCK (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: TRUMP SUDDENLY SPECULATES ABOUT LIFE WITHOUT HIM: From anybody else it would be trivia. From Trump this is startling. Buried in an ordinary narcissistic flight: "It'll be very unfair in the future when they (Republicans) don't have Trump to fight for them." That quote, might be the biggest headline Trump has made this year and it sailed RIGHT past the American news media yesterday. What in the HELL did he mean by that and more importantly why did he suddenly acknowledge there is an end, maybe soon? After being MIA for five days – no live public viewing of him, just one video that according to White House time stamps took more than two hours to produce even though it only required him to try to speak for a minute-ten… he EMERGED with what was, even for him, such an utterly bizarre and especially vulnerable admission. He was out of view for FIVE DAYS. FIVE. From that bizarre “please clap” speech before the Generals at Quantico on Tuesday – the Pete Hegseth International Day of Military Hair Care Symposium and Product Sampling – through yesterday morning when he managed to stagger out of the White House, blast a series of non sequitirs at the press pool, and then go to another military celebration for which we have the money even in the middle of his shutdown of the government. Nobody asked: HOW have you been, WHERE have you been, WHAT are they treating you for, WHAT does that "when they don't have (you) to fight for them" quote mean? Because again, as in the week he went MIA at the beginning of LAST month, nobody had a clue what would take a man with compulsive talking disease and an ego so large it has own it zip code, from appearing in front of crowds and cameras for FIVE DAYS. And THEN Trump went in front of the Navy and said he warned about Osama Bin Laden last year, and told Pete Hegseth about it a year before 9/11, and claimed he was president in 2016 but they fixed the 2016 election, but they ran it again and he "got 250." What. In The Hell. Is Wrong. With Trump’s Health? B-Block (27:44) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A $1 Trump coin? Ten cents per chin? Ian Miles Cheong doesn't think they'll eat his face. Noem and Lewandowski think they'll find undocumented immigrants attending the Super Bowl. And Kristi really has to go to the toilet. THIS IS OFFICIAL BUSINESS! C-Block (38:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Well, here we are. Fifty years ago Tuesday night, at 11:15 PM, I did my first broadcast on an actual radio station with advertisers and listeners. I was 16 and it's not bad for 16 and for the fact that my much older colleagues at WVBR-FM did a superb job of hazing me. And yes, that first broadcast is still extant, as you'll hear. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 3

SEASON 4 EPISODE 21: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) COULD TRUMP PASS A SANITY TEST? Warning: this is a PARTIAL RE-RUN. If you heard Thursday's episode, don't bother. But I got such a great response to re-reading and annotating and updating my July 2016 piece for Vanity Fair Magazine on this topic that I wanted to post this as a stand-alone segment in case you skipped it and had time to listen now. The Thursday news-of-the-day stuff has gotten slightly outdated so I've stripped it off. As you know, I don't make a habit of re-posting episodes and I'm not going to start. Again: if you listened to the whole thing Thursday, this is NOT going to be new to you. Don't listen - unless you're trying to memorize it. SO... COULD TRUMP PASS A SANITY TEST? I have grown old talking about Trump's sanity. As I wrote then: short answer? Probably not. This is a layman using professional tools: an actual kind of "triage" test used by working psychology professionals to assess if somebody is injured, tripping, or psychopathic. I had an active therapist walk through the examination and assign the points per topic. It's an important time to review what we knew - or should have known - nine long years ago. Because he was unwell then, too. B-Block (24:31) PART TWO OF "CAN TRUMP PASS A SANITY TEST": We conclude the annotated 2016 piece on Trump's already provable mental distress with the disturbing reality that takes us back to where we began on Thursday with Representative Madeleine Dean's lament: "The president is unwell." C-Block (45:00) THIS IS JUST THE SIGN-OFF: Honestly, there is no reason to listen to this. It's just the credits. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 2

SEASON 4 EPISODE 20: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: “The President is unhinged. He is Unwell. The President is Unwell.” Representative Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania with perhaps the most important eleven words in the past decade, perhaps the most important eleven words in the history of this country, CERTAINLY the most important eleven words for the FUTURE of this country. “The President is Unwell.” We have at LEAST one – probably TWO – presidential health crises in full flower at the same time: And near as I can tell, only Representative Dean is talking about it (and directly to Speaker Mike Johnson, in what was not intended to be a public conversation) along with Governor Pritzker of Illinois, whose diagnosis was SIXTEEN words long and just as important. Quote: "There is something genuinely wrong with this man, and the 25th Amendment ought to be invoked." The two crises are obvious: at his insane speech to the Generals Tuesday, Trump sounded as if his charger had been left unplugged for three weeks, his voice husky, indistinct, words slurred. And what he DID say made next to no sense. Pritzker suggests dementia which could explain both the rapidly declining mental capacity AND the audible collapse AND why Trump was invisible yesterday and had to send Vance to ride Day One of the government shutdown Trump orchestrated. It would all ALSO explain that missing week around Labor Day and the cabinet meeting – the LAST televised cabinet meeting – in which his Departmental Slaves shoveled twice as much laudatory BS as usual, as if it were a going-away roast for Trump. Maybe it was. “The President is unwell.” CAN TRUMP PASS A SANITY TEST? I have grown old talking about Trump's sanity. I first did it publicly in June, 2016, and a month later Vanity Fair published my article "Can Trump Pass A Sanity Test?" As I wrote then: short answer? Probably not. This is a layman using professional tools: an actual kind of "triage" test used by working psychology professionals to assess if somebody is injured, tripping, or psychopathic. I had an active therapist walk through the examination and assign the points per topic. It's an important time to review what we knew - or should have known - nine long years ago. Because he was unwell then, too. B-Block (35:23) PART TWO OF "CAN TRUMP PASS A SANITY TEST": We conclude the annotated 2016 piece on Trump's already provable mental distress with the disturbing reality that takes us back to where we began with Madeleine Dean's lament: "The president is unwell." C-Block (56:00) GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 29

SEASON 4 EPISODE 19: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump is escalating his terror campaign against you. If you oppose him, if you criticize him, if you even question him, he will try to call YOU a terrorist, put YOU on a terrorism BLACKLIST. And if that doesn’t work, ARREST you, and if THAT doesn’t work, invade your state and terrorize IT. On the other hand, he has apparently TACO’d out on his terrorist invasion of Portland now saying “well I mean we’re certainly LOOKING AT IT.” But on the OTHER OTHER hand National Security Presidential Memorandum Seven is not on hold; in it Trump claims the right to prosecute you for domestic terrorist if you express quote “anti-Christianity” or oppose the government in any way. Get you indicted when there is literally no case, like James Comey. Or reenact the McCarthy Era blacklist and try to get you fired, as with Lisa Monaco. Or just label you a domestic terrorist because you called Stephen Miller a "fascist." When Stephen Miller has called 150 million Democrats "fascists." That'll be quite the indictment against Miller. Which reminds me: Fox's Jesse Watters calls Miller a "sexual matador." Which I presume means he winds up getting gored in the groin. And just to bring this up a notch, Trump's insanity is growing and it certainly looks like over the weekend, he wanted his social media followers to believe he can bestow upon them the gift of immortality. Not IMMORALITY, "immortality." The saga of Trump's Med Beds and RFK jr's face. B-Block (34:20) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Isabel Vincent writes the weakest New York Post hit job on me in the history of New York Post hit jobs. The breaking news? An anonymous source says I may have been rude to a waiter in 1997. Marco Rubio bans the president of Colombia, tags him on twitter, tags the wrong guy. And Newt Gingrich complains about Abby Spanberger not voting for a particular bill in the House this month. Maybe because she hasn't been a member of the house since January? (45:47) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It's Stevie Week! Thirteen years ago tomorrow since I was born again in dogs, when Olivia Nuzzi and I were adopted by a tiny Maltese who opened up a new world to me. C-Block (1:06:00) PART TWO OF STEVIE WEEK: The adventures of Stevie and the five dogs who have followed her, including a cameo appearance from the Gotcha Day Girl herself. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 25

A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: After perhaps the most hapless 96 hours of his presidency, the worst 96 hours of the worst presidency of ALL TIME, the most FAIL in the shortest span… the mentally-deteriorating, untethered-from-reality Trump… must RESIGN. And take his idiot sycophants with him. The last 96 hours: His U.N. speech, sounding like an escapee from a psych ward. His Tylenol news conference, sounding like an escapee from a psych ward who’s been living on the street for a month. His suggestion NATO countries shoot down Russian jets. His sudden embrace of Zelensky, either another stall or a stupid dare to Putin. MAGA’s RAGE AT his sudden embrace of Zelensky. The cover of a London right wing daily: his picture and in 72-point type, the word “DERANGED.” The ICE shooting in Dallas; his sadistic Homeland chief pretending the victims were agents when they were detainees; his idiot simpering Vice President pretending the victims were agents when they were detainees; his corrupt venal FBI director pretending the victims were agents when they were detainees. His ICE chief not denying he took $50,000 in a paper bag. His staff THEN denying he took $50,000 in a paper bag. His cancellation of a meeting with Democrats making sure if there’s a government shutdown it’s all his fault. His crackpot pal Milei crashing the Venezuelan economy and needing us to bail him out. His paranoia over the stopped teleprompter at the U-N that was his White House staff’s fault. His paranoia over the stopped escalator at the U-N that was his own vanity videographer’s fault. His desire to arrest the U.N. escalator technician or the U-N escalator button pusher. His desire to arrest the escalator AND James Comey. The election of Raul Grijalva’s daughter to Congress. The fact that Adelita Grijalva will be the last Representative needed to force a vote on releasing the Trump Epstein Files. His self-humiliation at the Kirk Memorial. ABC reinstating Jimmy Kimmel. Meaning Disney told him to eff off. Meaning the National Football League told him to eff off. Meaning they all told his propagandists at Sinclair to eff off. Kimmel then shoving him in a locker using only a monologue. Kimmel getting a record 6 million viewers and 22 more online in the first TWENTY hours. Kimmel and his show getting new life and maybe a new contract. His self-owning confession that HE and his goons used threats to get Kimmel cancelled. The fact that Kimmel, and ABC, and Bob Iger, and Disney, and America told Trump to SHOVE HIS THREATS. And that’s just since Sunday night. You lost to an escalator. Resign. Take Vance with you. Take Noem with you. Take Ho-man with you. Take Milei with you. LEAVE the Epstein Files. B-Block (32:53) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Jason Whitlock says eff everybody, this is Christ-land and he won't be brainwashed any more (no brain, no pain). Derrick Van Orden says Kirk was Jesus and you don't F with the Jesus so defund The Mayo Clinic (he should go there and get CT scanned) and Kristi Noem says a tweet saying she'd have a bad day was terrifying for her. This is a piece of crap who in her spare time murders puppies. C-Block (42:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The New York Post BS firehose points at a couple of liberals at a time, then it rotates away, but eventually it makes a full circle and comes back to you. For me this has been going on since the mid-1990's and it's just started again. If you'll permit, here's a brief history. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 22

SEASON 4 EPISODE 17: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: How about this for a plot twist? I'll believe it when I see it - it still depends on television executives doing the moral, right, professional thing AND tacitly admitting they are correcting a mistake, but multiple sources insist that at least at this moment the ABC people expect Jimmy Kimmel to not only not be fired but to return, on the air, in late night, probably before the end of the month. Maybe even this week. Yep. The fascist FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr may have delivered Liberals the biggest gift of the year. The blowback towards ABC is untenable (even polling: the Carr threat was "unacceptable" is above water by 17%; the Kimmel monologue was acceptable, 43%-36%) and the desire to keep Kimmel and maybe now even extend his contract has only grown since last week. And that's in large part because so many key right wingers from Ted Cruz and Rand Paul to Scott Dilbert Adams and Ben Shapiro are enraged by Carr's bullying and rightly recognize that if Trump can do this to ABC, what could a Democratic president do to Murdoch and NewsMax and... THEM. I mean, two out of three MAGAs have podcasts, right? My sources pointed to seven landmarks. First: they HAVEN’T fired him. Second: they actually haven’t said ANYTHING about him since the one sentence announcement about taking him off. Third: HE hasn’t said ANYTHING about ABC, good bad or indifferent. Fourth: remember the Sinclair owned local stations that started all the trouble? The ones who were bribing Trump and FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr by DEMANDING Kimmel be sidelined, so Trump and Carr would waive the rules and let Sinclair buy more than the legal limit OF local stations? Remember their plan to run a Charlie Kirk tribute last Friday night in Kimmel’s time slot? They didn’t run it. They put it on YouTube. No other explanation. Fifth: what happened to the Sinclair demand that Kimmel apologize and pay a bribe, uh, make a donation to Kirk’s scam Turning Point Company? Sixth: how much grief did ABC take for folding to Trump AND for not defending Kimmel as the entire right wing misquoted him? So much that no human can estimate it. And Seventh: how could you possibly put all the Kimmel and Kirk toothpaste back in the tube? As Eric Idle said: All You Need Is Cash. ALSO: Grandpa posts a self-incriminating note to Pam Bondi that he must have thought was being printed or emailed or lord knows what. He is running out of prosecutors who'll prosecute innocent opponents about whom there's no evidence. The Tom Homan $50,000 scandal also involves Emil Bove (and how in the hell did we not see that coming? He literally has the word "HO" in his name). And a self-proclaimed prophetess says she saw Charlie Kirk get his reward in Heaven: a large ice cream cone. B-Block (40:20) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Congressman Randy Fine sets a new high in low. Stephen A. Smith thinks the Kimmel-Kirk controversy is over a joke. And Vanity Fair's hiring of Olivia Nuzzi is not sitting well with journalists (as one put it, all of them who DON'T sext their sources). C-Block (52:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Hard to understand anything she says or writes but I'm pretty sure Nancy Mace threatened to end my career over Charlie Kirk. Thus I need to review the efforts to end my career, which professionally date back only to 1984 but if you count my semi-pro days in college actually stretch back to late 1977. Virtually everybody who declared me done is out of the business, or deceased. Take a number, Nance. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 19

BULLETIN: SEASON 4 EPISODE 16, COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN In an Oval Office news briefing crazy even by his standards, Trump answered a question about the FCC blackmailing of ABC over Charlie Kirk by changing the topic to himself, making up a statistic that "94, 95, 96, or 97 percent" of all network television stories about him are critical of him, and declaring of such criticism: "That's really illegal, in my opinion." In Trump's damaged condition he could forget this by morning. But after this week's mafioso style shakedown of ABC by the FCC and the owners of Sinclair to force Jimmy Kimmel off the air by FCC Commissioner, Brendan Carr, the real question is - what if he doesn't? What if somebody like Carr in his administration decides to curry favor with Trump by trying to enforce an "it's illegal to criticize Trump" declaration"? Taking the two stories together, and perhaps adding in Trump's threat to declare something that doesn't really exist (Antifa) a "terrorist organization" (which could just as easily lead to him declaring you a member of Antifa and thus a "terrorist") the FCC's action is so bad that it provoked serious, well-thought-out, sober yet angry condemnation Friday afternoon from the unlikeliest of sources: Senator Ted Cruz, who warned Republicans that the government needed to stay out of the bullying media business. Whether that will register with Trump remains to be seen. For now the gist is: Trump says criticizing him (or in the best possible interpretation, criticizing him a LOT) is illegal. He cannot remain president under such circumstances. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 18

SEASON 4 EPISODE 15: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Charlie Kirk died because he lived amid the violent madness of Donald Trump's America. Now that we can say with some certainty that if Tyler Robinson indeed shot Charlie Kirk, he shot him for personal reasons, that he saw Kirk as a direct threat to someone he loved, that Robinson was NOT a stochastic proxy murderer from Antifa or the Groypers or the Right Wingers who had so recently called Kirk a fraud like Laura Loomer, it is also clear that there is truly only ONE person whose WORDS created, amplified, mainstreamed, and manufactured the nightmarish environment that led to Charlie Kirk’s indefensible death. The leading threat in this country in this moment, to the safety and the lives of Conservatives and Republicans and MAGA commentators and politicians and citizens - the leading threat to ALL of us - is Trump. The America in which Charlie Kirk was murdered… the America in which Melissa and Mark Hortman were murdered… the America in which Paul Pelosi was beaten… the America in which Donald Trump was shot is DONALD TRUMP’s America. THIS is Donald Trump’s America and ALL THOSE who are endangered by it, and all those who fall dead at its feet, are the victims of one man and one man alone: Donald Trump. The institutionalization of vengeance is Trump. The introduction of political persecution is Trump. The inspiration for the only attempted VIOLENT OVERTHROW AND COUP against the government of the United States is Trump. The weaponization of the mob and the government against individuals he names and hopes somebody else hurts is Trump. The TERROR is Trump. B-Block (29:20) BREAKING NEWS: And the transformation of flawed democracy into lethal autocracy… is Donald Trump. After the FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr took a page from the Goebbels playbook in 1930's Germany and threatened to revoke ABC's ownership of local stations because Jimmy Kimmel dared to tell the truth about Charlie Kirk's hate speech and the MAGA exploitation of his death, Bob Iger - the Disney chairman desperate to hold on to his job and his money and his only purpose in a failed life - folded to the fascists. Kimmel is off the air, indefinitely, probably for good, and has no legal recourse to be reinstated. All he can get is the money. C-Block (49:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Robert Redford, RIP. I interviewed him once and he and it were great. And then the booking producer who was trying to get promoted to segment producer got into his ear and told him "Wrap!" See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 18

BULLETIN, SEASON 4 EPISODE 14, COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN BULLETIN (2:55): ABC announced late this afternoon that it had taken "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" off the network's air effective immediately, because Kimmel had the nerve to tell the truth about how Trump and the MAGA terrorists have exploited the indefensible assassination of Charlie Kirk, how they have tried to blame the left without evidence and with increasing evidence that this was an instance of a man who feared Kirk was a direct threat to a person he loved, and how they have ruthlessly tried to suppress all public comment that contradicts their narrative, or the nonsensical whitewashing of Kirk's violent, ultra-right platform that once included him publicly calling for the execution of President Biden. “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said Monday. By this afternoon FCC chairman Brendan Carr dipped into the Goebbels playbook and threatened ABC's station licenses if it did not take Kimmel off the air, and the Nexstar stations that own many ABC affiliates, said they would not broadcast any more of Kimmel's shows. At that point ABC simply said the show was off the air "for the foreseeable future." Fascism can truly overtake this country's democracy only with the collaboration of Disney and ABC and people they run them - desperate people like Bob Iger, who reclaimed the chairmanship of the company and will do anything he can to maintain it - including selling this country out to the fascists. I'll also discuss why Kimmel has no recourse against the action and will most likely not appear again, and why ABC's only contractual obligation to him is to pay him the remaining year of his salary. This part of it I've personally been through - though under far less dire circumstances. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 15

SEASON 4 EPISODE 13: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN Fraud News Channel morning anchor Brian Kilmeade "apologizes" FOUR DAYS LATER for saying America’s 771,000 homeless (that'd include 33,000 Homeless Veterans and 140,000 Homeless Kids should be killed. By “involuntary lethal injection. Or something. Just kill them.” His co-host Lawrence Jones agreed with him. Fox did nothing about it. They planned to get away with it, and would have, but for Media Matters saving the original clip from last Wednesday and Aaron Rupar re-posting it Saturday morning. I had seen the clip and thought it was fake. It's that bad. And finally Sunday Kilmeade issued a wallet-felt apology. We are in such a place in this country – thanks to Trump, thanks to MAGA, thanks to the late Charlie Kirk, thanks to the Tea Party, thanks to Bush, thanks to… the list continues backwards almost indefinitely and infinitely – that this horrific vision, which in its essence is mass murder of the homeless (the most widely accepted high-end estimate of homelessness in this country is 771-thousand) – and no Kilmeade didn’t say let’s submit 771-thousand people to quote “involuntary lethal injection” – he didn’t have to. Is 771 people somehow less horrific? 77? What’s your threshold to be enraged at the prospect of simply pulling SOME homeless people off the street and lethally injecting them? Seven? One? We know what you are Kilmeade. We are just arguing about the price...to be spent on lethal injections. Fire him now. SHOCK: TRUMP HELPS PUTIN AGAIN as he escalates his attempt to rebuild the Soviet Union. Now it's test drones at the Poland border (again) and the Romanian border (new). Waiting to see if Trump blinked. He blinked so much he could've been sending Morse Code. St. CHARLIE OF KIRK: So, as Andrew Lawrence of Media Matters summarized it: Kirk "was a champion of free speech and if you disagree youre under arrest” The Trojan Horse phony bi-partisan governor of Utah is now down to insisting the family says the shooter had been indoctrinated with left wing ideology. What kind of left wing ideology? That he said he was "not a fan" of Kirk. Funny, the most venomous, most threatening criticism of Kirk in the last 60 days was Nick Fuentes saying Kirk could no longer call himself a Christian and his college events should be interrupted and he should be shouted down, and Laura Loomer insist Kirk "stabs Trump in the back." Hmmm. If harsh words killed Charlie Kirk, is that leftist ideology Fuentes and Loomer were spouting, or right wing guilt? B-Block (37:04) MORE ON CHARLIE KIRK: There are bigger issues in play. It is clear now that there were two different public Charlie Kirks. On the left we saw a slick but rather run-of-the-mill hate monger who mocked Democratic victims of political violence and wanted to see public executions. On the right, they literally never saw those videos. They only saw a "beautiful man, armed only with a bible" preaching family values. How? Different social media feeds. The other big issue with the right's collective mania and desire to punish the left for Kirk's death when it still looks like the far right did as much or more? All of those right wing influencers just assumed God was on their side and was protecting them like he "protected" Trump last year. Oops. C-Block (1:00:20) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: This is the longest all-new episode ever but always time for worsts. Ezra Klein last week? "Charlie Kirk Practiced Politics The Right Way." So, Ezra Klein next week? "Brian Kilmeade Practiced Television The Right Way?" Ken Paxton is screwing around again? Does he have a wandering eye oh right. And when MSNBC fired Matt Dowd for, you know, telling the truth about the death of Kirk, where were Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes, and Lawrence O'Donnell, risking a dollar or two to defend accurate commentary? I mean they whiffed so badly that they made the anchor who was on with Dowd look perfect by contrast: Katy Tur. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 11

SEASON 4 EPISODE 12: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: I suppose it could've been worse. Rather than reacting to Russia’s drone attack on Poland the way he did (“What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones? Here we go!”) Trump could’ve done the Martin Sheen bit from “Dead Zone” where as the messianic psychopath president Greg Stillson he starts World War 3 and announces “The missiles are flying hallelujah, hallelujah.” "What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace…?” Seriously, jackass? That’s your JOB, you great decaying pile of burger grease. YOU are supposed to KNOW “what’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace?” and if you DON’T, get out, turn the government over to a general or an ex-general or somebody who understands that your owner Putin PLAYED YOU AGAIN, and that when everybody, everybody in this country with an IQ greater than 47 said that we have to support Ukraine because if we do not stop Putin in Ukraine his next stop was Poland and you twisted your bulbous face into that stupid 45-degree angled smirk, you were WRONG and everybody else in AMERICA – all 340,111,000 of us – WE were RIGHT. There are 10,000 American troops IN Poland. What would have happened if mere DEBRIS from one of the drones destroyed in the air hit a U-S base, or ONE U-S soldier? Would Trump have tweeted out a shrug emoji? Does it even register any more that even in the narrowest of views of this disaster – Trump IS the commander-in-chief and he is RESPONSIBLE for keeping American soldiers safe. ANYBODY NOTICE THAT GHISLAINE MAXWELL'S OLD LAWYER went on CNN and admitted that there was a quid pro quo that got her moved from a high-octane Florida prison to Club Fed in Texas? Now there’s ANOTHER Trumpstein cover-up? AND LASTLY, No I’m not in favor of shooting commentators. Or politicians. Or anybody. But my god, this is America . All we have done for virtually all our history is shoot political opponents. Add to it THIS America that MAGA wanted, where the military is politicized, and politics are militarized, and Trump has spent a decade stochastically encouraging terrorism against, and assassination of, his opponents, where conservatives REPEATEDLY call for the killing of Trump’s opponents. Trump was shot a year ago and not one of his supporters was willing to support meaningful gun restrictions. You can have many reactions to the death of Charlie Kirk and I hope sorrow and disgust are among them for you as they are for me - but surprise shouldn’t be one of them. Kirk himself said in April 2023: "You will never live in a society when you have an armed citizenry and you won't have a single gun death. That is nonsense. It's drivel. But I am -- I think it's worth it. I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal." B-Block (30:13) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The online poster who says it's ok for JD Vance to boast about war crimes because his mother was an addict. We started, writes an Andrew Klavan, to lose our civil rights as a result of the civil war. And to prostitute yourself as Jeff Shell has: from liberal anti-Trump head of NBC to installing a political officer inside CBS News to rat on journalism and anti-Trump facts. What a waste of life. C-Block (42:07) 24 YEARS SINCE 9/11: Apart from applying the "midpoint" rule to really sense how long ago something was (9/11 was the "midpoint" between September 1977 and today) there is one story that has stayed with me permanently. The man's name was Tomas Reyes, he wasn't anywhere near the World Trade Center - but he was supposed to be. How I came to meet him as part of my reporting on that horrible day. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 8

SEASON 4 EPISODE 11: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Jayvee Vance has got to resign as Vice President. Relax; he won't. But you cannot BE Vice President of the United States if you're crazy enough to boast about repurposing the military as a War Crime committing death squad killing probable migrants in international waters. Plus if you’re responding to tweets by the Krassensteins you’re clearly insane and unfit for office. Even under Trump.. MEANWHILE: if Trump was an FBI informant against Jeffrey Epstein that means he was a witness to everything Epstein did with those girls? And yes, Mike Johnson tried to "back off" his claim that Trump was an FBI Epstein agent late Sunday, but a) the "back off" came 72 hours after he blurted it out; b) it still implies that Trump knew about Epstein and went to the authorities about it, suggesting he had first-hand evidence like HE WAS THERE, and c) it is a cardinal tenet of QAnon that if Trump is ON the Epstein client list. "He did it for 'Merica!" might not be the flex Trump and Mike Johnson think it is ALSO: Trump was booed as he arrived at the U.S. Tennis Open yesterday. You didn’t see it because Bob Iger and ABC and Disney whored themselves out pre-censoring the truth. CBS just did that too - and worse, agreeing NOT to edit out any lies by Trump Gang members. THE PRIMARY RESIDENCE WITCH-HUNT? The mortgage app alleged white lie with which Trump hopes to bring down a Fed governor and Letitia James and Adam Schiff? The nut job releasing the alleged evidence is Bill Pulte and guess what public records show HIS OWN PARENTS DID? They ALSO CLAIMED multiple "primary residences" - and you can only have one. Oops. THERE IS SOME GOOD NEWS: per G. Elliott Morris: mainstream Trump polling is flat, unchanged. But the INTERIOR numbers? Since January Trump’s STRONG approval number - the diehards - has dropped from 34% to 24%. That's down a third. And his STRONG disapproval number - the haters - has grown from 36% to 46%. Also a third. That is unsustainable. B-Block (41:53) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: "Gunther Eagleman" and the other similarly stupidly named Right Wing influencers now alleged to be on yet ANOTHER country's payroll. Plus the man who killed CNN John Malone may have inadvertently outed a racist: himself. And And a CBS correspondent named Robert Costa let Trump pee on his leg about Russia and all he did was report: “CBS Exclusive: Trump Exclusively Peed On MY leg!” C-Block (55:20) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: They're going to use A.I. to try to reconstruct the infamous 43 missing minutes in the classic - possible greatest film of all time - "Magnificent Ambersons." I loathe the concept. I will watch the product as many times as they let me! But of more immediate relevance, if they ever release it, I'll be able to say I knew the star of a new 2025 film who died in 1994 and I met in 1985 only I didn't realize it was him. I swear I thought she said "Carlton." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 4

SEASON 4 EPISODE 10: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump ain't dead, and neither is his cover-up of the Epstein Files. The TRUMPStein Files. And if you gave him a script and told him what to do to RE-IGNITE the Trumpstein Tire Fire every time it begins to go out, it would start with: A) leak an anonymous statement to Republicans considering signing the Massie Discharge Petition to force release of the real files B) make sure that statement read as much likely a slightly sanded down threat from a mafia boss as possible, like, oooh, quote: "Helping Thomas Massie and Liberal Democrats with their attention-seeking, while the DOJ is fully supporting a more comprehensive file release effort from the Oversight Committee, would be viewed as a very hostile act to the administration. C) actually release only the same documents Pam Bondi released to the Libs of TikTok worm Chayik and the DC Draino dipshit in those $2.69 thin three-ring binders they bought at Staples in February D) send a military flyover to try to drown out the Epstein survivors’ news conference on the steps of the capitol E) choose THIS moment to ask the Supreme Court to overturn where the court found him GUILTY of being LIABLE FOR SEXUAL ABUSE of E. Jean Carroll and of DEFAMING a sexual abuse victim and of course F) sit there as THIS actual bona fide excellent comprehensive question is rolled out in front of world media when you can only come back with an answer that makes everybody think “wait, he said THAT? Maybe he IS dead and he just forgot to lie down.” WHERE WAS TRUMP LAST WEEK? We know the media won't probe. We can assume the following: he wasn't dead. He also wasn't at a psychiatrist to help him get past these hallucinations that he 'turned the water on' in California or solved seven wars (including, no doubt, The War Of The Planet Of The Apes). He also wasn't at a political retreat figuring out what to do about New York other than pull Eric Adams and Curtis Sliwa out of it to make sure it's a Trump Referendum in a city that's 75% registered Democrats. Plus, the unusual but all-too-plausible explanation for what is really behind the RFK Jr/MAGA hatred of the Covid vaccine that saved their lives but won't, next time. B-Block (33:05) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: It's bad enough that Stephen A. Smith doesn't see he's risking his career by diving into politics. But in a time of rampant gun violence against children and politicians, he's chosen to name his new political show "STRAIGHT SHOOTER." A great line from a conservative about how Trump was just caught literally about losing his marbles. And Laura Loomer blasts the foreign-born judge who thwarted Trump's child-trafficking and demanding we have no more foreign-born judges. You mean like Aileen Cannon, moron? C-Block (45:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The relentlessly principle-free Joe Scarborough has done it again: whored himself out to Trump, demanding JB Pritzer "partner up" with the dictator on militarizing the streets of Chicago. Scarborough has been getting away with this at MSNBC for 23 years. It's his life (if you call getting up at 4 AM every day to find some new part of democracy you can sell out for cash, a "life"). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 1

SEASON 4 EPISODE 9: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Of course Trump’s not dead. On the other hand, how could you really TELL? But this much is clear: He’s never voluntarily STFU for five days before in his effing life. And how could his own White House have possibly made it look MORE like he was dead! Or is desperately ill. Or had surgery. Or is having surgery. Or… what? They maximized the ways that conspiracy theories could build – including that 3-1/2 hour Cabinet Meeting/Comedy Roast/Dear Leader Circle Jerk last week. If that didn’t look like a farewell event I don’t know what could. I don't know what's really going on and YOU don't know what's really going on and America doesn't know what's really going on (except that the media has completely dropped the ball, not even covering the rumors let alone providing solid information). But there are lots of provable facts in the last five days of Trump MIA that might explain what's going on at a White House that couldn't manage radio silence. PLUS: Trump's desire to boast about the Covid vaccine, the hallucinations of Kristi Noem and Bobby "What Kind of Mitochondria Are You Wearing" Kennedy, the solution to baseball's Tommy John Surgery crisis that isn't a crisis, and a farewell to the beloved Mrs. Weiner. B-Block (32:50) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: As soon as the staff of Vanity Fair threatened to walk off if they put Melania Trump on the cover, she leaked a story to the NY Post that she didn't have time to be on their stupid cover anyway (she was on it in 2017). Candace Owens is back and now blaming the Minnesota school shooting on the government bid to take away your guns. So Trump is trying to take away your guns? And expanding kinda late into 9/11 trutherism, nitwit fascist Tucker Carlson gets the YEAR that 9/11 happened, wrong. C-Block (43:20) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL/SPORTSBALL CENTER: So another all-star baseball pitcher, Randy Rodriguez, needs Tommy John Surgery. So baseball is back with preposterous solutions to the "crisis" of too many such surgeries. I'll offer two rules changes that would really do the job, but more importantly I would suggest that Tommy John Surgery is one of the most positive improvements in baseball in the last 60 years. The same percentage of pitchers get injured as they did in 1965, only in 1965 there was nothing to do when they tore up their elbow, shoulder, or anything else. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 28

SEASON 4 EPISODE 8: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Donald Trump might as well have shot those kids in Minneapolis himself yesterday. Trump sends the WRONG guns in the WRONG hands to the WRONG places pursuing the WRONG criminals. You want to be tough on crime, Trump? Deploy the National Guard to the headquarters of the gun-manufacturing companies and arrest the monsters who make their money from the child-murdering business. Murdering children during their thoughts and prayers. And have ICE round up the politician prostitutes who take the gun money to protect a lie about what the second amendment really means. These are the criminals. Trump is the criminal. Trump is soft on crime, especially on the most prevalent, heart-rending crime of our century, school shootings. You want to push back against Trump as he militarizes this country? As he makes it The United Police States of America? You want to make something good happen in the wake of these latest children that we as a nation have sacrificed on our mindless altar of worship to guns? You want these to be the last? You have to say it; you have to SAY the truth: Trump might as well have shot them himself. Democrats are strangling themselves by listening to consultants and strategists who insist they cannot push back on Trump's deployment of troops in big cities because polling shows Trump's only policy that gets approval (53%) is his new stance on "crime." And yet the biggest political event of the week was a man who simply stood up and concisely and with controlled rage told the truth: Trump is crazy, Trump is trying to provoke violence, Trump's enablers will be prosecuted (or betrayed by him), and the media is bothsidesing us to death. His name is Governor J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and his comments may have been the true headline of this week. Also, bookkeeping news: the fine folks at iHeart and I have agreed to continue this podcast through at least the midterms. And a further announcement on a wider footprint is coming. B-Block (27:33) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: This may be the best edition of this, ever. Could this be the craziest thing (out of the 50,000 crazy things) Stephen Miller has said? Is he the first person to use the phrase "pool hall" in 60 years? Oh here we go: my ex is back in the news and stuck with the worst headline I've ever read: "RFK Jr's Digital Lover." And Candace Owens is being sued for defamation by the President and 1st Lady of France and she wants Trump to declare them "foreign invaders" and is amazed he won't because she's just not bright. C-Block (44:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Do people like Owens believe the crap they spout? I actually have 45 years' experience dealing with the phenomenon of the product subsuming the salesman. I met Rush Limbaugh when he was just a baseball guy and 30 years ago he stood at my desk at ESPN dreaming of doing SportsCenter. I knew Hannity when he said "why do people get worked up about this? It's just TV?" And then the link is established. The more they believe, the more money they make. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 25

SEASON 4 EPISODE 7: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: So WTF with Trump's health? Is he dying? Or is he fine? Clearly, there is a Donald Trump health crisis. What is its exact nature? Is he sick? Is he fine? Is there some acceptable explanation for his swollen face and narrowed eyes last shown publicly on Friday? And what does the enlarged left hand mean? And what does the bruised right one covered in make up MEAN? And are those ballooned engorged ankles as benign as claimed by the latest doctor, Captain Barbabella? Is the president of the United States – whoever he is, whatever we think of him - gravely ill? Would they tell us if he were? Would they tell… HIM? No, no, it’s all just “chronic venous insufficiency." Not serious. When we saw him Friday he looked like he'd just changed out of a hospital gown. And behind these questions – why is the national news media still giving the clear decline in Trump’s appearance and clarity and likely in his physical health less attention than the irrelevancy that is Biden’s cognition level from LAST YEAR? Lost in the Trumpstein cover-up, the Ghislaine Maxwell hostage video, Trump’s planned terrorism in Chicago, the John Bolton raid – Trump's face was so puffy – even for HIM - that his eyes looked like slits, barely open. Right hand with a contusion, clear tape, what could have been traces of blood near the fingers, running from the thumb through the middle finger and up, under the shirtsleeve, badly covered in make-up. Left hand so swollen it looked like something they’d draw for a cartoon character: the BASE of those fingers 40 or 50 percent larger than the ends and his ability to use the hand clearly impaired enough to make him hesitate. And we didn’t see the ankles this time. We saw them when he was in Alaska with Putin and they were wider than his feet. Last time he only lied about his health on every topic from getting a colonoscopy to nearly getting intubated for Covid. Before that his personal doctor said everything except 'he's immortal' then confessed Trump dictated the statement. What's going on? PLUS: Trump’s latest terrorist invasion will be of Chicago is about Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, just like LA was about Gavin Newsom, just like DC was about a Democratic local government, just like New York will be about Zohran Mamdani. And it’s all unconstitutional and more of the Trump dictatorship – unchallenged. And what, the Epstein Files were in John Bolton’s house? So Trump’s cult is going to believe ONE of Ghislaine Maxwell's 750 lies but not the other 749? B-Block (29:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Live in Washington, Pam Bondi reveals she thinks she's in Miami. A confidante of NYC Mayor Eric Adams gives a reporter cash wrapped up in a potato chip bag. And the Cracker Barrel protestors prove they'll eat anything as long as you call them Crackers. C-Block (45:30) SPORTSBALLCENTER/THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It is the greatest document ever written in the English language. Well, at least the greatest sports document. It is so amazing that for a long time, historians doubted it was real. It's called "Special Instructions To Players" and they had to read it, sign it, and hand it back because it was about banning them for life for excessive profanity. And there sure is excessive profanity! And I am going to read it to you. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 21

SEASON 4 EPISODE 6 - COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Thank you William Barr! Thank you Jamie Comer! Thank you for rei-igniting Trumpstein! Turns out the Barr testimony to Comer that he never saw anything in the Epstein Files that implicated Trump (which may be officially released as early as today) is based on a little detail Comer didn't know about. Geoffrey Berman, the Barr-Trump prosecutor in the Epstein case, says he NEVER SHOWED ANY OF THE EPSTEIN FILES TO BARR. It's the Sgt. Schultz "I Know Nothing" defense. So trying to re-enact the washing of the Mueller Report won't work this time. PLUS: WHAT'S TRUMP DOING WITH UKRAINE? Stalling. It's obvious now. He's just killing time for Putin because that's what Putin wants. And those "post-war guarantees" for Ukraine? Turns out Russia would be able to veto any country's efforts to defend Ukraine. THE BEST NEW NICKNAME OF THE YEAR: As the tiny shiny nut job treated the military thugs occupying DC to Shake Shack (not increased VA benefits, just burgers), The Lincoln Project named Stephen Miller "Pee Wee German." Also, Shake Shack? Hosting the junta? Possibly a bad business strategy. KAROLINE LEAVITT - HALL OF FAME MORON: She's done it again. First she got the top Nazi's name wrong. Then she mispronounced "Trump" a bunch of times. Then "Noble Peace Prize." Now, wait'll you hear what she did to "pundit." B-Block (39:45) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The follow-up to the Zelensky/EU meeting at the White House on BBC News? An interview with Zelensky's Wardrobe Guy. Countdown and I have outlived MSNBC, or MSNOW. Joe Scarborough announced it. Although I understand he may change his name to Quisling. And Donald Trump wants to rehabilitate the reputation of American Slavery. C-Block (57:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Happened again. Somebody else told me they'd been told their career in media was over, so I got to recount how many times I've been told that. Last year one of the guys who told me that in the '80s died, and one of the ones who told me that in 2001 retired from a magazine. Good evening and welcome to the non-end of my career. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 18

SEASON 4 EPISODE 5: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: THE DISASTA IN ALASKA The Disasta in Alaska - starring the cheeseburger-eating surrender monkey. We have, to quote Churchill, suffered a defeat, without a war. Because we forget we don’t MERELY have an evil, deranged president, we have an evil, deranged president who is also a moron. Now, Trump - Putin’s butt boy, his errand carrier - will deliver Putin’s message to Zelensky in Washington. He will be accompanied by EU President von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Rutte, Presidents Macron of France and Stubb of Finland, Prime Ministers Starmer of the U-K and Meloni of Italy, and Chancellor Merz of Germany. Trump will be accompanied by a large selection of mirrors. I suspect Trump will parrot what he remembers of Putin's message (whatever Trump's staff didn't leave on the printer of the business center at the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage) and tell Zelensky that the way to achieve an end to the war in Ukraine is: to lose. The best thing Zelensky and the Europeans could say in response would be to state that they are withdrawing their recognition of the government of the United States of America because it is just too effing stupid. From the Disasta in Alaska to the Occupied territory of Washington, D.C. And don’t forget what Trump today DOUBLING the number of National Guard in DC with new recruits from Ohio, West Virginia, and South Carolina (all of them, far more violent than DC) means: It means he’s read his cratering polls number and declared war on the United States of America. Also: we rejoin the Trumpstein Cover-up Scandal, already in progress. B-Block (30:02) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: International Fop Piers Morgan FINALLY does a journalism - posts a meme of Trump on his way to meet Putin and Trump is wearing kneepads - and then DELETES the first journalism of his life? Pam Bondi proudly admits The Deep State has defeated her fascist DOJ with nothing more than a Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki Sub. And the battle of the most overrated people in their field: neither CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin nor House Democratic mis-Leader Hakeem Jeffries repeat Andrew Cuomo's canard that Democratic NYC mayor nominee Zohran Mamdani lives in a rent-CONTROLLED apartment when he, like HALF of all NYC renters (myself included) lives in a rent-STABILIZED apartment. Sorkin repeats this FOUR times, Jeffries doesn't correct him, and Jeffries who is theoretically a congressman from New York STILL refuses to endorse his own party's nominee, chosen by its MEMBERS, for mayor OF New York. Sorkin should be fired and Jeffries should resign. C-Block (43:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Somebody wrote last week that Aaron Sorkin's HBO "Newsroom" version of some of what happened to Countdown on MSNBC was the worst fictionalization of journalism in the English language. I think that's an exaggeration. It wasn't nearly that good. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 14

SEASON 4 EPISODE 4: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Hey have fun watching Trump's "listening exercise" with Putin in Alaska today. No, Russia. No, Alaska. I don’t know any more. Listening exercise.” Trump listening to Putin telling him what to do. No crap. This is simple. Trump and Putin will leave this photo-op having agreed on something utterly agreeable to Putin. Like the cease fire Axios reports Trump told European leaders yesterday he really wants. You know what THAT could be: Putin will agree to a cease-fire if Ukraine will stop annoying Putin by defending its territory. Then Trump will claim a victory. Then Ukraine will reject it – although President Zelensky’s real play is to say it is too naïve an idea to even merit a comment, and any child can see that – then Trump will blame Zelensky and say he resolved the war except for the war part. That Zelensky screwed it up. Actually it may be worse. The Times of London headline: “US and Russia ‘propose West Bank-style occupation of Ukraine." Per its source close to the U.S. national security council: "It’ll just be like Israel occupies the West Bank. With a governor, with an economic situation that goes into Russia, not Ukraine. But it’ll still be Ukraine, because … Ukraine will never give up its sovereignty. But the reality is it’ll be occupied territory and the model is Palestine.” THIS IS THE TEST MARKETING OF THE MILITARY DICTATORSHIP: Trump says sure he'll go to Congress to get the use of troops authorized in DC past the 30-day limit. Or he'll just declare a national emergency. He boasts he closed the border and didn't get anybody's permission. He is moving towards the takeover. We are this close to him in the Kim Jong Un hat. THE TRUMPSTEIN COVER-UP CONTINUES: Karoline "Noble Prize" Leavitt explains Trump “wants to see credible evidence released." The part she leaves out is that of course he wants to make sure that this evidence is NOT released. Some of the evidence about Ghislaine Maxwell's transfer has been revealed and somebody tampered with her prisoner status and she may now be free to leave Club Fed during the day. AND JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT Marjorie Taylor Greene wasn't the dumbest of them all - oh yes she is. B-Block (34:03) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: CNN's Kasie Hunt says sure crime is down by a quarter in DC but does it FEEL like it's down? Andrew Cuomo finds another opponent he can beat: Muhammad Ali's most famous quote. And if OK! Magazine has the story right, Jeff Bezos has found the next Bond Girl: MRS. Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez. C-Block (56:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Missed the anniversary by twelve days but it's always in the back of my mind anyway. Literally one month into my career and only the seventh time my bosses trusted me enough to leave me alone on a sportscasting shift at our 1,000-station radio network, Thurman Munson - catcher and captain of the New York Yankees - was killed when the plane he was still learning how to fly crashed at an Ohio airport. And the news came across my wire one minute before my sportscast. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 11

SEASON 4 EPISODE 3: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Hey! While Putin is here in Alaska so Trump can kiss his fanny, let's arrest him on behalf of the International Criminal Court and its member states Canada and Mexico who want to try him for kidnapping Ukrainian children and lying that they're orphans and forcibly converting them into Russians! The willingness to let this scum set foot on American territory is all part of Trump's desperate need to win an award. A major award. A major award like the one the father wanted in the movie "A Christmas Story." He wants what his idiot press secretary Karoline Leavitt calls "The Noble Peace Prize." He'll do anything to get it. Because he needs it to distract you from Trumpstein. Happily Jayvee Vance is back to remind you all that the Epstein files contain all kinds of dirt about Democratic billionaire politicians of 20 years ago. Of whom Trump was one. Registered Democrat. Oops. And it turns out that meeting Vance and the FBI and DOJ chiefs and the White House Chief of Staff DIDN'T have at the VP's residence about Epstein WITHOUT Trump? They had the Trumpstein meeting. They just had it somewhere else. And once again: why did they have it WITHOUT TRUMP? And now Trump is trying to distract by demanding all those DC homeless people who read Truth Social move out of town or else he'll...make them look at his new gold ballroom. And oh by the way as the leading universities continue to fold before Trump's dictatorial censorship and threat, somebody's standing up to him: Stanford's student-run newspaper is suing him for violating the 1st Amendment rights of its staffers. The leaders of all of the El Foldo Universities (Columbia, Penn, UCLA) should resign and let the students lead the resistance. B-Block (29:17) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Kristi Noem is upset South Park made her look like a cartoon. Well, MORE like a cartoon. I need to apologize for Mike Huckabee again insulting England. And Pam Bondi just offered you $50,000,000 if you can tell her where Nicolas Maduro is. He's in Venezuela. Can we each have our 50 mill now? C-Block (41:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It's the 37-year anniversary of Gretzky Week! My greatest scoop, the one I did the least work on of any story I ever covered. The sources literally phoned it in to me. The day Wayne Gretzky was traded to the Los Angeles Kings and I was the first on television with it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 7

SEASON 4 EPISODE 2: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: The United States of America does not have a functioning government. The Trump Dictatorship and the Library of Congress – Congress which Mike Johnson runs via a porn app – DELETED part of the official online edition of the Constitution – the part that limits the suspension of Habeas Corpus and bans presidents accepting foreign bribes. The Library says it was a coding error and would be fixed soon…ish. Yeah, the coding in Trump’s DNA. The White House had to DENY that the White House Chief of Staff was to meet last night with the Vice President, the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General, and the FBI Director to discuss what to DO about the Trump/Epstein cover-up scandal, and what to do WITH the RECORDING of the Deputy Attorney General’s two days’ of bargaining with a convicted pedophile and child sex trafficker… and nobody seemed to notice that the headline was that WHATEVER the Chief of Staff, A-G, Deputy A-G, and FBI Director WERE meeting with the Vice President ABOUT… the PRESIDENT WASN’T GOING TO BE THERE. There is no competent executive authority, no congressional or senate oversight, no reliable judiciary. The United States of America does NOT NOW have a functioning government. The nominal president has spent the last few days making up economic statistics and poll numbers and threatening his predecessors with prosecution for imaginary crimes punishable by death while wandering around the roof of the White House, and phoning in to a business network with racist moronity the content of which is just this side of a 19th century minstrel show, or continuing to get more and more in bed, figuratively, with a convicted pedophile and child sex trafficker, in a scheme to cover-up her crimes, her late partner crimes, and whatever the president’s role was or was not… in them. And the first and seventh people in the line of presidential succession were going to have dinner with their Epstein expert who just met with Gulaine Maxwell and the head of the FBI and the woman who RUNS the White House but NOT the president and you know it almost doesn’t MATTER if they were meeting to try to figure out what to do about Trumpsteen or not. By 3:14 PM Eastern the Library of Congress said Sections 8, 9 and 10 of the 1st Article were back online so, shrug emoji, I guess there are limits on emoluments and suspending Habeas Corpus… for now. Fifteen minutes later, however, there were still huge swaths of all three sections missing from the official online version of the Constitution. But coding. And so what, it’s just the ONLINE version, what’s the difference? Trump just fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because she wouldn’t delete the official online jobs numbers and will soon find someone to post fabricated numbers online which will then be accepted as real – and official – because they’re ONLINE. There is no functioning government, just a mediocre Public Relations firm. Understaffed. Trying to sell Edsels, Google Glasses, New Coke, and fascism. B-Block (40:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Acting NASA "Director" Duffy wants to put nukes on the moon, even though that was the plot of the re-make of the movie "The Time Machine" in which nukes on the moon destroyed the moon and rendered earth uninhabitable good call reality TV boy. The New York Times won't stop trying to make Harvard-Fetch happen. And the Trump Council on Lack of Fitness, the one Super Bowl star Saquon Barkley turned down membership on? The Council announced he accepted. C-Block (55:00) THURSDAYS WITH THURBER: Of all his great stories, the one that might have been the most likely to have been written in order to be performed aloud, I humbly offer you this week: "The Night The Bed Fell." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 4

SEASON 4 EPISODE 1: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: The Jobs Report will now be handled by the same guy who keeps score when Trump plays golf. But first, the unexplained move of Ghislaine Maxwell from near Alligator Alcatraz to Club Fed was just beginning to calm down when Trump detonated on Lenard McKelvey (political commentary name Charlamagne Tha God). All Charlamagne had done was to go on Fox News and claim to Lara Trump “I think that traditional conservatives are going to take the Republican Party back. I think there’s a political coup going on right now in the Republican Party that people aren’t paying attention to… we have the opportunity to have, like, a huge reset.” Trump has never known when to leave bad enough alone, but this time he just hit the side of the hornets’ nest with his tie. Called him “racist sleazebag… low IQ individual… has no idea what words are coming out of his mouth… knows nothing about me… this dope.” So now millions of people who DIDN’T know an often conservative, Trump-accepting-if-not-supporting African American was describing a Republican Palace Coup AGAINST TRUMP OVER EPSTEIN… have THAT new Trumpsteen tendril to ponder. Let’s sort this out. Somebody had to change Maxwell’s status as a registered sex offender to get her transferred to an all-women, all-white collar criminals, minimum security facility. She might no longer BE a registered sex offender; that could be a free sample offered by Trump if she’ll lie for him. The move to the cushier camp could be ANOTHER free sample. Or to make it easier for her to suffer rapid unscheduled disassembly. Also there’s a Trump cover-up OF The Epstein Files, and a Trump cover-up OF HIS OWN NAME IN the Epstein Files, and a Conservative Coup Against Trump OVER The Epsteen files, and the unexplained cushy new home for Epstein’s co-rapist. Oh and the true Orwellian shooting of the statistical messenger. But - you'd forgotten, hadn't you - he's always done this. He did this most infamously as Covid started. B-Block (30:17) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: There's little left for Andrew Cuomo. Apparently that includes flat out making up a story that mayor-to-be-Zamdani has never had a job before. Ryan "Who Put That Porn On The TV Monitor In My Office During The State Education Department Executive Meeting" Walters of Oklahoma doubles down. And the Republicans sure know how to sell American cars: with a picture of a car made in Soviet Russia in 1970 being sold by a Trump that looks like he was made in 1870. C-Block (40:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The teachers of Hackley School in Tarrytown, New York are legendary. Nineteen of them there I graduated fifty years ago were still there the day I gave the Commencement Address thirty years ago. But now we may have lost the last of the greats, at least of that era. Gerry Murphy was the math teacher with empathy. He once recognized he had hit "the math wall" - he recognized I had. If he hadn't, I'd still be there failing that class for the 51st straight year. Gerald Murphy, R.I.P. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 31

SEASON 3 EPISODE 150: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45): One shouted question to which Trump didn't even bother to reply reignites the entire Trumpstein scandal and cover-up: "What did you think Epstein was stealing those women FOR?" It encapsulates the entirety of Trump's complicity: in the cover-up of Epstein's crimes, in his willingness to cut a deal with Ghislaine Maxwell, with his indifference to the suffering of the victims, to his belief the real victim here is him because Epstein "stole" Virginia Giuffre and other employees from him. It encapsulates Trump's worthless, despicable life. The moral vacancy, the lack of humanity, summarized in one reporter's question. And it re-emphasizes that Trump now confesses he broke with Epstein not over the child rape but because Epstein hired rape victims away from him, was STEALING Virginia Giuffre away from him, Trump paints a picture OF Mar-a-Lago where the tragic Ms. Giuffre who just killed herself worked for Trump as not Epstein Island but the Recruiting Station and Waiting Room FOR Epstein Island, Trump calls going to the Island a quote “privilege” and keeps re-igniting Trumpsteen and finding new things to admit to, and after ten years of watching the fascists beat democracy to within an inch of its life using democracy’s own loopholes, Senate Democrats finally found a loophole which may FORCE the Justice Department to release the Trumpsteen files including whatever deal with the devil his man Todd made with the pedophile pimp Gulaine Maxwell last week, or at minimum take Trump and his inflatable rubber Attorney General and tie them up in court forever and thus keep the Trumpsteen Scandal ALIVE forever. EVEN DEMOCRATS ARE DOING SOMETHING: Invoking federal law that says any executive branch agency SHALL supply any information to any group of five members of the Senate Government Oversight Committee. SHALL. Repeated daily, Trumpstein will end Trump's presidency. B-Block (43:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: MSNBC says it's getting great new offices (in fact, it's getting kicked out of 30 Rock by a parent that has disowned it). Analyze the polls any way you want to: Andrew Cuomo is losing to Zohran Mamdani in NYC by 20 to 30 points. The move to disbar the FCC fascist Brendan Carr. And at our expense Kristi Noem brings Corey Lewandowski with her to Argentina with her so she can spend all her time riding. C-Block (54:50) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I surprised a new friend recently by mentioning the late Yankees' owner George Steinbrenner was my friend. In fact we were friends for more than 25 years and my exchanges with him were unexpectedly and always delightful. The blessing of only knowing George, never working for him. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 28

SEASON 3 EPISODE 149: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Donald Trump is now getting into bed with a convicted pedophile. Figuratively. Donald Trump has already cut a deal with a pedophile. A two-day deal to protect her. To PROTECT Ghislaine Maxwell from being prosecuted. Two days of immunity. It’s immunity. It’s immunity at the direction of Donald Trump. Immunity. What may be a precursor to a deal. To a pardon. To her walking out of jail earlier than the year 2037. This is sending the Deputy Attorney General, previously one of your own personal scumbag sleazebag shill lawyer mouthpieces, to meet with a convicted child sex trafficker who is not eligible to be released until she’s 76 years old, giving her two days’ worth of temporary immunity in which she can’t be further prosecuted for anything she says to him. You have ALREADY CUT A DEAL with a pedophile. You, Todd Blanche, are already figuratively in bed with a pedophile. YOU, Donald Trump, are already figuratively in bed with a pedophile. YOU, Trump supporters and blind MAGA cult slaves, YOU are already figuratively in bed with a pedophile. Sure, make a deal. Art of the deal. Trump’s the great dealmaker. Make the deal with the rapist of children. Of the woman who essentially held the girls down. Make the deal with the woman who sold the children to the rapists. MAKE that deal, Trump. And you know what that deal is called – it’s called selling your soul to the devil. If you have any soul left. You, Donald Trump, and all who support him, stand on the precipice. You are figuratively getting into bed with Ghislaine Maxwell. You are figuratively getting into bed with a pedophile. You are figuratively getting into bed with the process of COVERING UP PEDOPHILIA. There is now no way out of Trumpstein for Trump. ALSO: Anybody notice that on Friday Trump said reporters shouldn't ask him about Epstein, they should ask Clinton or the Harvard President: "I'll give you a list." So...he confirmed THERE'S A LIST and there's a LIST HE HAS and there's a LIST HE HAS THAT HE COULD GIVE YOU BUT IS COVERING-UP? AND RYAN WALTERS, EXIT STAGE RIGHT: Oklahoma's lunatic Trump-bible-thumping head of public schools? Reportedly had porn playing on a monitor in his office during the executive session of the State Board of Education. And then couldn't figure how to turn it off. It's a classic story: the loudest moralist has the least morals. B-Block (47:28) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Great news! A QAnon prophet says there are multiple Hillarys, Obamas and Bidens. Cool! An army? With which to kick Trump's ass? Let's goooooo. Senator Mike Lee again proves he is just a balding 5th Grader who just flunked Social Studies again. And while you may still be wasting your time complaining about Colbert, CBS has gone full obey-in-advance to placate FCC Commissioner Brendan "Don't call me Josef Goebbels" Carr. There will be an ombudsman inside CBS News snitching to corporate on things the CBS News people are doing that might displease Fuhrer Trump. C-Block (49:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Did I ever tell you I was in a movie? And the star bothered to show up to see my little cameo shot because he was such a fan of mine? And he was a great guy and we stayed in touch for 20 years? And his name was...RANDY QUAID? "Dead Solid Perfect" may be the best golf movie of all-time, Quaid was (then, anyway) a delight, it has THE scene the golfers love the most starring actress Corinne Bohrer, and the director who personally asked me to be in it (and I'm terrible in it) was named Bobby Roth. And last week I worked with Bobby Roth for the first time in 37 years. He's a documentarian now and the new one is on saving democracy and he wanted me in it. All part of life's rich pageant! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 24

SEASON 3 EPISODE 148: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Now that it's Murdochian Official (WHAT? Trump is IN the Trumpstein files? I'm shocked to discover there's gambling going on in here) and a Politico source says Trump and his White House goons are so lost "it's the first time I've ever seen them sort of paralyzed," expect them to push even harder on their QAnonTM fantasy that Barack Obama is guilty of 'treason' - even beyond the farce that the nitwitted Tulsi Gabbard and Karoline Leavitt presented yesterday. So it is time for President Obama to respond - and crush Trump. It is Obama's moment. Rather than again insist that EVERYBODY ELSE needs to DO more and SAY more and STAND for more, he should give a national address in which he sues Trump personally for slander and defamation and announce a ridiculous figure sought - like $500 Billion - and call for a conference at which he and President Clinton and other Democratic leaders and the SCOTUS justices they appointed and every decent Republican and every true American meets to strategize how to legally and immediately remove Trump from office and replace his criminal gang with a bipartisan caretaker government to carry us through to Election Day 2028. I will give a version of the speech Obama should now give, because he has been unexpectedly afforded the opportunity to perhaps actually start something that could end this nightmare of a madman steadily disassembling American democracy, a Temu Hitler gradually turning harassment of minorities into persecution and ethnic cleansing, a criminal who must stay in office at any cost or face the reality of dying in prison for his countless crimes. I have no doubt he can do better. I would not doubt he has a better idea. I will take no offense - provided he DOES something. “Trump is clearly furious,” a Politico close-to-the-White House source told its Trump stenographer yesterday. “It’s the first time I’ve seen them sort of paralyzed.” Say Hey! Trump’s White House is paralyzed! Excellent – kick them down the stairs, they can’t fight back. It’ll hurt more. The Trumpsteen Birthday Card is real and it CAN’T be the worst thing about Trump in the files that we now know Bondi told him about in May, otherwise he would’ve released the files. The photos of Epsteen at Trump’s second wedding are real, and THEY can’t be the worst otherwise he would’ve released it. Whatever’s worst is at LEAST B+ material. Keep hammering. B-Block (37:16) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: They piled up quick! Trump just asked Washington's NFL team to change its name; Trump once hammered Obama for asking Washington's NFL team to change its name. Mike Lee fell for an AI Jerome Powell resignation so badly done that the only word in the office logo that wasn't gibberish was "BUREAU," Chris Cillizza is actually criticizing somebody else for talking politics when nobody wants to hear that person talking politics, and the passing of the eternal Ozzy Osbourne inspires John Yang to get Ozzy's native country wrong and Alex Jones to get the cause of death wrong. C-Block (48:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Can you believe it? After I presented the inarguable evidence that CBS didn't fire Colbert just to please Trump (how are you shutting him up if he's not fired until next May?) I get invited to speak at a PRO-Colbert rally. I explained what I was going to say, and the line went dead. One of the things I was going to say was how this is the same as MSNBC's firing of Phil Donahue in 2003. I was actually in the room for that, so let's go through it step by step. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 21

SEASON 3 EPISODE 147: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: We have been burying the lede here. Trump. Is. Suing. Murdoch. Trump and Murdoch are at war. Over Jeffrey Epstein. The two worst people in the country, probably the world, at each other's throats, until further notice. Weeks, months, years. Amid rumors Murdoch's people at the Wall Street Journal are upworking ANOTHER Trump-Epstein/Epstein-Trump/Trumpstein story. And that Murdoch is preparing a Defcon scenario in which he turns Fox News against Trump. Because if Trump is stupid enough to try to put Murdoch out of business, Murdoch will have no choice but to try to put Trump out of business. Trump also seems to be doing everything else he can think of to make sure the Trumpstein story never leads the headlines again. Attacks his own people again. Left a paper trail inside the DOJ and FBI of Pam Bondi searching for thousands of Trump references inside an evidence pit the size of The New York Public Library. Changing the story of the latest plot against him for the sixth time in a week. And watching the polls - 17% approve of his handling of the Epstein issue - actually get worse since just last Thursday (89% want everything, not just the almost-meaningless Grand Jury testimony, released). Oh by the way there IS a Trump Client List inside DOJ/FBI. The only part of Trump's claim that there isn't that's true, is that it may not bear that title. There's literally 40 computers, 70 CDs of video, and 300 gigabytes of data. The Trumpstein story will swamp his presidency. For sheer volume it exceeds almost everything else Trump has ever done. It makes Watergate look like the editing out of four words in a 5,000 word document. IT'S WONDERFUL. Trumpstein, Trumpstein, Trumpstein. ALSO: Trump's unpopularity has now reached 1st Term proportions. Tulsi Gabbard is conflating two Russian stories and claiming the one nobody believed (Russia tampered with voting machines) disproves the one Robert Mueller proved (Russia hacked emails and got them to Trump's campaign). How does that work? I'll explain the psychology of morons who want to please their bosses, with the story of Tennessee Ernie Williams. And if you think Trump isn't brain dead he wrote something that must've come directly from a dream about how the Cleveland Guardians (formed 1901, not named "Indians" until 1915) are one of baseball's "six original teams" (Major League Baseball started 30 years earlier; it's HOCKEY with "the original six" and that's wrong too). B-Block (39:15) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: I understand this busts the narrative and reduces our ability to suffer as martyrs, but there is one inarguable and unanswerable fact that disproves the almost-universally accepted premise that CBS cancelled Stephen Colbert solely to appease Trump. It's this: If they are silencing him, why have they decided to keep him on TV for THE NEXT TEN MONTHS? This is the Phil Donahue cancellation all over again. It works to CBS's corporate advantage to make it look like they are sucking up to the psycho. Sorry. This is the least of the reasons. C-Block (1:09:10) MONDAYS WITH THURBER: Haven't done any of his priceless stories lately, and with Trump's new permanent Trumpstein Crisis, it's fitting to do James Thurber's stunningly prophetic saga "The Greatest Man In The World." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 18

SEASON 3 EPISODE 146: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN BULLETIN "I never wrote a picture in my life," Trump told The Wall Street Journal, with his typical cognitive confusion, as he denied its bombshell report tonight that he contributed a bawdy letter and drawing of a naked woman to a special bound '50th Birthday Book' for Jeffrey Epstein in 2003. Within minutes, literally dozens of pictures wrote (or as we'd call it, "drawn") by Trump appeared online - most of them auctioned for charity. Trump was immediately defended by others like JD Vance who said was written in the book (compiled by Ghislaine Maxwell) didn't sound like him. Which him? The "Grab 'Em" him or the "I never wrote a picture in my life" him? Vance also asks why WSJ hasn't produced the letter. And Laura Loomer says Trump never types letters, he writes notes. I have a fan letter from Trump - from 2014 - typed by him or somebody for him. The denials aren't relevant to the existence of the letter or what it says about Trump's relationship with Epstein at this perilous moment in Trump's presidency. And the denials didn't survive an hour. And they didn't deal with the most ominous part, the content of the letter, which includes Epstein and Trump "talking" to each other and concludes with Trump "saying" "Happy birthday - and may every day be another wonderful secret." Another wonderful secret? What in the HELL could that mean? ALSO: in addition to the Trump Epstein cover-up there is the Trump Health cover-up and parts of the story about his acutely swollen ankles don't hold up. And the only thing swollen about Stephen Colbert is his ego. CBS has tonight cancelled his show, effective next May. The man is untrustworthy and rarely funny but his platform was consistently anti-dictatorship so the forum will be missed even if he will not. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 17

SEASON 3 EPISODE 145: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45): Trump self-destructs over the Epstein files: now calls his supporters “weaklings” calls Republicans “stupid” for believing the Epstein story HE sold them, now demands reporters don’t cover it, and demands MAGA stops talking about it. And now - most meaningfully - HE is connecting his Epstein Cover-up to his Russia Collusion Cover-up and continually tying Epstein to "The Steele Dossier." And what was the most grotesque part of the Steele Dossier story? Sexual perversion. Video. Blackmail. Trump is himself tying himself and Epstein to the purported pee tape! And that nauseating link and amazing implications (which he alone is making) are on top of the established reality: Donald Trump is president of the Jeffrey Epstein cover-up.Trump is RUNNING the Jeffrey Epstein cover-up. It’s TRUMP’S Jeffrey Epstein cover-up! President Pervert. President Epstein. President Pee Tape. President Pedophile. President cover-up. "TRUMP’S EPSTEIN COVER-UP" - I want to hear that every day, from a leading Democrat. Every day and SIX TIMES on Sunday. Forever. I’m delighted Trump is destroying himself; I want Democrats to finish the job. I want it to destroy MAGA. I want it to bury them all, under a mountain of their own amoral, uncaring, "bullshit" – the word Trump just used in an enraged screed against his own MAGA "weaklings" whose support he now claims he no longer wants. Is pursuing this Shapiro-Steele story disgusting? Yes. Is it sleazy? Yes. Is it what the Trumpist scum would do? Yes. Is it a terrible way to prevent dictatorship and terror? What? There are RULES here? No, there are no rules. Pick up the damn tire iron. This is democracy-saving gold. Every. Damn. Day. Trump's the one who did this. He's the one who has now linked whatever he's choosing to do in covering up the Epstein story, to whatever there was in the Steele Dossier that would destroy him. He's the one who... crossed the streams. B-Block (32:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Homeland Security Spokesman Micah Bock with a cleverly phrased bit of dishonesty which actually says Texans calling FEMA during the floods had the same chance of getting through as people buying tickets have of winning the lottery. Mehmet Oz, whose senate bid crashed over crudités, now sees his Medicare disembowlin rationalization not cut it over carrot cake, and what trophies did soccer mogul Gianna Infantino let Trump walk away with this time? C-Block (42:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Twenty years, almost to the day, since I quit smoking and began my MSNBC campaign to get others to quit, too. Which the PRESIDENT of MSNBC naturally responded to...by trying to kill me. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 14

SEASON 3 EPISODE 144: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Well, there it is, finally - the perfect storm that can dethrone or at least deplete Trump and of course it's his fault. HE has openly admitted he's covering up the Epstein Files, and he has in essence confessed he's in the Epstein Files. The problem is a simple one: Trump promised to give them pedophiles. They were promised politician pedophiles. They were promised that the politicians who were covering up Epstein were the pedophiles. And then one day Trump suddenly decided to announce that HE was the politician who was covering up Epstein and he SCOLDED them and HUMILIATED them and YELLED at them for challenging his god-ordained RIGHT to cover up Epstein, and they said in their confusion “but you promised us that you would reveal the pedophile politicians that were covering up Epstein and…wait a minute... that means...” As of mid-afternoon Trump was getting ratioed, on his own social media site, nearly 4:1 by angry, confused, moronic MAGAs. They have lived and died by his insistence that only pedophile politicians personally implicated in the Epstein documents and "client list" would be keeping them from being released. Now his two conflicting piles of bull have clashed, and he has been buried under them. UNFORTUNATELY TRUMP'S RESPONSE is utterly predictable: he will double down on Trump-ISIS atrocities, on torturing immigrants. It will give his 'people' the snuff films they want and may deflect their rage, at least for awhile. But remember, any time you see ICE threatening kids, to shout "Watcha doin? Grabbing those kids so Trump can take them to Epstein Island?" B-Block (30:46) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Karoline Leavitt thinks her conference calls are being interfered with by the devil. Riley Gaines' reward for stirring up murderous hate against Trans people? She gets to audition for Fox, and conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism. Her skills are so varied: she's 85th best in swimming AND propaganda! And then there's winner Caitlin Francis, a rando from California who has the kind of advice only a homeschooling MAGA mother can present to you: dogs and cats have no souls, so if their vet bills exceed $1000, kill them. Say, Mrs. Francis, what's your over-under on your sick kids? (44:17) SPORTSBALLCENTER: Would you like to play in tomorrow night's baseball All-Star Game? Because that's the only stunt they have left to save the dying exhibition, now that they've decided that five big league games is sufficient experience to be an All-Star? And the floodgates may have just opened in St. Louis, where a pro sports team is eliminating its separate radio and TV play-by-play teams and simulcasting. This is the future, and it's not pretty. C-Block (1:05:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Somebody asked me what was my favorite joke that I ever did on the air. So here's a bunch - starring Albert Hall, the Takko-Bell trade, and the day the Reading Phillies set me up to get ejected from a minor league baseball game. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 30

SEASON 3 EPISODE 143: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL REPORT: Which is worse? That Trump is running a “Protection Racket Presidency” and bribed one Senator to vote for his Big Beautiful Soak The Poor Budget Bill while metaphorically bumping off one Senator who wouldn’t? Or that Trump threatened Israel, threatened the government of Israel, if Israel's courts don’t do what HE wants on behalf of Netanyahu – and nobody noticed. Which is worse? Well it’s a trick question because these are actually just two different aspects of the same story. It’s a protection racket. These are a) the domestic operations of the protection racket, and b) the international operations of the protection racket. Thom Tillis, the vaguely responsible Republican senator from North Carolina, refused to let Trump politically rape him Saturday night and would not vote to advance the budget bill. Trump had been threatening him for weeks, months, accelerated it, finally began to ask for volunteers to primary him, Tillis announced yesterday he will retire from the senate at the end of his term next year. So much for Mr. Tillis. So much for somebody, anybody, in the Republican party saying “I owe this country something.” So much for the thought that when the country is up against it and the breaks are beating the boys, tell ‘em to go out there with all they got and win just one for the Tiller. I don’t know where I’ll be then, but I’ll know about it and I’ll be happy.” Well I know where Thom Tillis will be: he’ll be back home in Cornelius, North Carolina. Presumably drinking heavily. Reflecting on how he represents the utter moral and ethical decline of the already near-bankrupt and nearly-totally-declined Republican Party. Meanwhile Senator Lisa Murkowski turns out to be Susan Collins with less Kibuki make-up. She sold her soul to get herself a carveout for Alaska, only to find out the Senate Parliamentarian says it violates the Senate's Byrd Rule and the carveout must be carved out. Lol. AND TRUMP THREATENED TO DEFUND ISRAEL - what would be the end of the political career of any other American figure - and nobody noticed. And it seems to have worked. ALSO: WHY KRISTEN GILLIBRAND MUST RESIGN (and get treatment), Stephen Miller has a financial interest in the ICE raids, the plot to make Eric Adams the Republican nominee for mayor of New York, and you missed the new SCOTUS rulings on porn! Pay attention, Mike Johnson! B-Block (37:32) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Jeopardy aficionados worried about a conflict of interest because the contestant was related to the person who was the answer to the question? I was on two episodes of Jeopardy in which a contestant had the same name as the answer to the question, and where a contestant wrote four of the five sketches that were all the answers in an entire category! Plus the Fox host who doesn't know when World War 2 was or which American party caused breadlines; Chris Cuomo thinks AOC destroyed the Democratic Party not, say, he and his brother; and idiot Senator Bernie Moreno discusses "anals" with Laura Ingraham. C-Block (56:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It's that time again. July 10 is the 46th anniversary of my first broadcast on my first full-time broadcasting job, which means you have a choice: you have to listen to it, or skip it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 26

SEASON 3 EPISODE 142: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: The only “scum” here is Trump and the only thing that’s been “obliterated” is America’s reputation. We have now descended to that level of hell in which the entire purpose of the government of the United States is to say and shout and lie so loudly and so often that the insane, deteriorating, mentally-dissolving, international joke that IS the current president doesn’t yell at the fools and whores who work for him. He has now gotten the government of Israel to lie for him about his attack on Iran; he has now gotten his own government to issue assessments that not only completely contradict YESTERDAY’S assessments but completely contradict his OWN assessments; he has now gotten his own Director of National Intelligence – presumably under threat of being fired – to cherry-pick SOMEBODY’S intelligence, maybe ours, maybe Qatar’s, maybe Joe Rogan’s, who knows – and insist that it is NEW and it confirms his obsession that everybody in the country, everybody in the world, everybody in the universe, everybody YET TO BE BORN, agree with him that Iran’s nuclear capacity is quote “obliterated” and for all time and forever and no arguments and it’s the greatest military success since Hiroshima and Nagasaki and don’t you dare say otherwise, don’t you dare say inconclusive obliterated obliterated obliterated. Except that 24 hours ago Trump said… inconclusive. THERE ARE SEVERAL SIDEBARS to Zohran Mamdani’s startling first-round win in the Democratic primary for mayor here in Fun City. First: the tepidness of national Democratic support for him. Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, and the rest of the gerontocracy better shape up fast because Mamdani won the MIDDLE class by doing the two things you idiots refused to even try to do last year: combine concern for the financial crushing OF the middle class, AND standing up for what’s right in the country and the world, including opposing Trump and ICE and punishing corrupt political cynics like Andrew Cuomo. The hesitation can only open an avenue for Eric Adams to whore himself out as a pro-business "centrist" who will be Trump's tool. B-Block (27:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Larry Ellison and my old ex-friend Jeff "You Should've Known I Was Lying To You" Shell have a plan for CBS News: more Bari Weiss. The one time we could've used propaganda and Voice of America in Iran, Kari Lake made sure we were off the air. And it's so easy to miss and to minimize, but Trump went full gay-bashing this week. Silence is compliance. C-Block (37:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Now that I'm with my fifth different network just doing baseball games (FanDuel Sports) it's a good time to revisit my departure from my first. A scant 28 years ago this month I left ESPN - but we came thisclose to keeping the relationship going just enough to continue the Sunday SportsCenter. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 24

BULLETIN: SEASON 3 EPISODE 141. TRUMP'S PROFANE, INSANE RANT Donald Trump's limited tether to reality has snapped this morning and he must be removed from office, by his own party, first via the 25th Amendment and then by Impeachment. Even as individuals as far from being anti-Trump as Speaker of the House Johnson and Pennsylvania Congressman Scott Perry have said, live, on networks like Fox and CNN, that Iran's nuclear capacity was obviously not fully destroyed in Trump's undeclared war against Iran, he has now raged against the networks, against Israel, and against Iran - because reality is not doing what he is telling it to. After a session with the press that was disturbing even for him, Trump then went aboard Air Force One and began to struggle (again, well beyond his usual struggle) to locate certain words and even repeat words just said to him. Asked about possible Iran "sleeper cells" he raged against "super cells." Trump is a lethal, imminent, clear and present danger to the life of everybody on this planet. He cannot continue in office. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 23

SEASON 3 EPISODE 140: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: We join the Trump Dictatorship, already in progress. He has attacked Iran, declared undeclared war on Iran, denied he wanted regime change there and is now insisting there should be regime change. And it's all because he has lost America. The Economist polling that has his OVERALL approval underwater in FIFTEEN states… that HE WON LAST YEAR. SEVEN under in Pennsylvania, FOUR under in Georgia, FOUR under in North Carolina, eight under in Michigan, eight under in Pennsylvania. Even CNN’s pollster Harry Enten says “I think we can say Trump has lost the political battle when it comes to what has happened in Los Angeles." CNN has Trump at -15 approval on his key issue: immigration, and -24 among independents. Trump attacked Iran because he has lost America. As a political observer wrote on January 17, 2012, “Obama will attack Iran in order to get re-elected.” And the SAME political observer wrote on October 9, 2012, “Now that Obama’s poll numbers are in tailspin watch for him to launch a strike in Libya or Iran. He is desperate.” And the SAME political observer then wrote on September 16 2013 “I predict that President Obama will at some point attack Iran in order to save face,” and as the SAME political observer wrote on September 25, 2013 “Remember what I previously said, Obama will some day attack Iran in order to show how tough he is,” and how finally that SAME political observer wrote on November 10 2013 “Remember that I predicted a long time ago that President Obama will attack Iran because of his inability to negotiate properly – not skilled” – and that political observer was… Donald J. Trump. I'll analyze the consequences of Trump's unconstitutional act - including angering Putin - and the hilarious moment when Pete Hegseth got the location of the target wrong. Plus Trump's nonsensical "I'd especially like to thank God," his lies about being opposed to Iraq, and the small victory: the Senate parliamentarian says they have to strip from the budget bill the move to limit the courts' ability to restrain Trump. B-Block (37:32) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: It's like Champions Week on Jeopardy: Mayor Eric Adams keeps digging, Jake Tapper keeps digging, and Stephen A. Smith is digging so hard to align himself with the reprehensible Candace Owens that at this rate Smith will be forcing ESPN to fire him. C-Block (50:45) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Of all the things you don't expect to come up on Jason Benetti's Detroit Tigers telecast is not one but two ex-pitchers confessing they still have dreams - thirty years later - that the anthem is playing, they are supposed to be pitching, but they cannot find their uniforms or that their shoelaces have been tied together. I'll explain why the mini-PTSD dream has become a nostalgic dream for these guys from my cohort: Frank Tanana, Dan Petry, and me. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 19

SEASON 3 EPISODE 139: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: So we're going to do that whole Iraq crap again. Only swapping out the last letter. "Iran" instead of "Iraq." Because nobody remembers Bush and people think Trump is somehow anti-war, when he's doing all this because of his desperate FOMO that there is something somewhere on Fox News that he is not being given personal credit for. Only he's skipping the whole phony terrorism-9/11-pancake uranium-manufactured evidence dance and just saying "we're doing it to save Israel" even though the evangelicals who WANT to "save" Israel like Mike Huckabee really want just to make sure nobody but them destroys Israel, since the end of their prophecy is that when there are no Jews anywhere but Israel, there'll be a rapture, and all the Jews will convert or, you know, bye-bye. It's complete delusional snake-handling level religion. And as for the US military, the purpose of war with Iran would be the same as was the purpose of war with Iraq: to HAVE a war in which you can DESTROY B-2 Stealth Bombers and thus increase the Pentagon budget. As Big Jim McBob and Billy Sol Hurok would say: "Blowed 'em up good. Blowed 'em real good!" PLUS: Governor Hochul of New York uses the mot juste about what appears to have been a set-up of NYC Comptroller Brad Lander. ICE swings back towards seizing the people who keep the red states from starving. And those Trump American Phones are made in China. B-Block (32:50) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: CNN/MSNBC screw up the ratio of ICE protest coverage to No Kings protest coverage; Stephen Miller runs Trump but Katie Miller runs Stephen Miller; Karoline Leavitt inexplicably posts a photo of Trump wearing a dunce cap. C-Block (43:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: This week was the 25th anniversary of the day my mother became famous, and loved every moment of it, when she got hit in the face by a baseball thrown by the second baseman of the Yankees - while I was doing the highlights of that game on Fox's national game of the week telecast. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 16

SEASON 3 EPISODE 138: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: The Minnesota Assassinations and Trump's Toy Tank Parade proved it again this weekend: Without violence, he is nothing. No tanks? No guns? No bombs (to fulfill his FOMO over not getting to bomb Iran)? No threat if you protest you'll be harmed? Beaten, even if you're a Senator? No parades? No Pro-Life Murderers? Without them, Trump is nothing. Unfortunately - as the weekend showed - they are all still here. ON THE OTHER HAND: There is some small respite this morning. They got the 2011 Georgia Crops report and printed it out and pasted in some pictures of Trump or something and made it brief and showed it to him and all of a sudden he TACO’d on the ICE Gestapo round-ups of immigrants. At least the ones in agriculture, hotels, and restaurants because, you know… mass starvation. Well, mass starvation LATER. First, mass lower corporate profits IN agriculture, hotels, and restaurants. As I've cited endlessly since the report came out, in 2011 Georgia warned it would detain all undocumented migrant farm workers. Suddenly all the onions, watermelons, blueberries were rotting in the fields and Georgia farms were going bankrupt because they were 40% short of workers and the Georgia citizens recruited to replace them were no good at the jobs or quit because it was too tough and by the middle of summer Georgia had lost $75,000,000 in agricultural income. So that, times fifty. BUT PHILOSOPHICALLY: Even when the manifestos were found inside the car of the Minnesota Pro-Life Assassin, Senator Mike Lee went on Musk's Disinformation Platform to brand him a "marxist." Or all the fictionalized accounts of the assault on Senator Alex Padilla. Because the key to being infected with MAGA disease is to reach the conclusion that best suits you, then make up the facts to fit the outcome. We will defeat Trump. I don't know how we will defeat this. B-Block (36:11) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: There's always a tweet and for this moment in Iran, it's from Tulsi 2020 Gabbard. Then there are two tales of achieving peak idiocy about the assault on Senator Padilla from opposite directions: Stephen A. Smith, who started with no political experience or insight and has somehow gone backwards, and CNN political director David Chalian, who started as a political director and has ALSO somehow gone backwards. C-Block (49:00) MONDAYS WITH THURBER: Haven't read one in awhile. One of his most pleasing to hear rather than just read: The Car We Had To Push. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 12

COUNTDOWN BULLETIN: SEASON 3 EPISODE 137 Attempting to question Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at her Propaganda Conference in Los Angeles today about the Trump Junta's illegal usurpation of the California National Guard and its illegal deployment of active military into civilian police enforcement, California Senator Alex Padilla was jumped by a series of Trumpist thugs including uniformed members of the FBI who wrestled him to the ground, threatened him, and handcuffed him. This is simply the latest in a string of domestic terrorist events perpetrated by Trump's government since the beginning of the ICE raids rounding up migrants, naturalized citizens, and native-born Americans alike, last Friday. It precipitated minor protests and violence slightly below the level of that seen after the Los Angeles Lakers' basketball team won its last championship in 2020. The manhandling of Padilla may have not been the most ominous development Thursday in our march towards dictatorship. Pressed at a congressional hearing about the pending case asking a judge to restrain Trump from usurping control of the California National Guard from Governor Newsom, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth refused to confirm he would abide by any ruling from the court with which he would not agree. He is attempting to cloak the insertion of active military into civilian police enforcement, and the overriding of the courts, in some fantasy that he and Trump are enacting "foreign policy" by terrorizing Southern California. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 12

SEASON 3 EPISODE 136: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Gavin Newsom has reached his "EFF IT" moment - and it might prove to be the moment we began to save the democracy. If you MISSED Newsom’s speech (and trust me, I did, its only failure was its rollout) I am going to play the whole thing at the end of the first segment because it was that good. Eight minutes of escalating but suppressed righteous indignation bordering on rage – eight minutes building towards Eff-It - of which I think I am still the Official Exclusive East Coast Distributor. I think I KNOW my eight-minute suppressed righteous indignation speeches and this was outstanding. Newsom alone has realized that all you have to do is stop playing Trump's version of this game, and introduce him to a NEW version in which the Mike Tyson Law applies - and he will have no chance. And Mike Tyson’s law – is that everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.” As you listen to the speech, my connoisseur’s advice is to listen to the slow burn and the rapidly decreasing time between each metaphorical shot Newsom takes. It’s not just the FIRST grown-up speech responding to Trump’s evil. It’s a really good one. And it ends with… Trump getting metaphorically punched in the face. But consider the larger context. Newsom’s emergence – this is a stupid analogy but it somehow works – was like a caterpillar emerging as a gigantic butterfly, a butterfly equipped with nukes, a stealth bomber butterfly – and THAT was last Friday with his threat to crash Trump by withholding all of California’s federal taxes, all 692 billion of it – THE economic civil war game-ender I have been advocating out here in the wilderness for a decade. Then he says “wait, I’m not finished yet” and he goes back inside the cocoon for a minute and comes out even LARGER with MORE nukes and now he is THE Resistance, THE Democratic Party, and THE hope to save America. A week ago Gavin Newsom was posting a podcast with quote “Doctor” Phil McGraw, who did a ride along with ICE raiders. June 4: glad-hand interview that utter fraud Phil McGraw AFTER glad-hand interviewing Newt Gingrich, Michael Savage, Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon. June 6: respond to Trump’s threats to kneecap California by threatening to lead a TAX STRIKE – the most liberal, progressive, in-your-face political protest proposed this century. June 7-8-9: come back and TOP that with calling the bluff of these Halloween Mask bullies like Trump and Tom Homan. June 10: give this speech. So, now the question is: Why haven’t any other Democratic so-called leaders followed Newsom over the top into no-man’s land even though he went first and discovered there are 100 to 200 million Americans just standing there waiting for somebody to lead them against Trump? B-Block (38:22) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Senator Kevin Cramer, who has never held a real job in his life (an entire career as a politician or failed political candidate) doesn't see the need for ANY federal minimum wage. Tulsi Gabbard thinks the "elites" have underground bunkers in which they can survive nuclear war. And Terry Moran got fired for an analytical opinion about Stephen Miller, but Jake Tapper can retweet Jonah Goldberg's opinion retweeting Fox's opinion retweeting Fetterman's opinion about how much the Democrats are hated. Fire. Tapper. Now. C-Block (50:00) IN MEMORY OF MINET GERMAIN OLBERMANN: Tuesday was World Pet Memorial Day and yesterday was the third anniversary of his gotcha day, so please let me tell you about my late rescue Minet. He arrived here a month shy of his 15th birthday with no expectations and very little awareness of the world around him. And then a little dental care and a little attention and the next thing I knew he was literally jumping for joy on the streets of New York. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 10

SEASON 3 EPISODE 135: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: This isn't a metaphor or an analogy. When the Los Angeles Lakers won their last NBA championship in October, 2020, there were 76 people arrested for assaulting law enforcement, burning cars, mayhem, looting, graffiti, etc. The day before yesterday, during the Trump ICE Gestapo Riots? The ones he claims almost "obliterated" Los Angeles? It was so calm there were only 42 arrests. That's literally the score: LAKERS 76 TRUMP-ICE 42 The true law-breaking is, as always, by Trump. Analysis by Ryan Goodman of Just Security (and others) underscores that the document Federalizing the National Guard and authorizing the unprecedented use of active military is a blank check for Trump. It redefines everything, summoning from thin air a veto of the governors' primary role in this, giving the Guard to attack not just violence and not just peaceful protests but just the threat of peaceful protests. It is unchecked power to kill protestors. That's why Gavin Newsom and the government of California sued yesterday over Trump's illegal usurpation of the National Guard and the use of military enforcement of his political whims. B-Block (21:15) ANALYSIS: Anybody remember ELON MUSK? Wow, that whole thing with Trump seems like years ago. There is something substantial to the biggest story ever (until the next one). In a twisted way, I think it proves that no, what Trump said about Musk knowing all the computer voting machines was just D. Mentia's imprecision. It probably all confirms Musk didn't alter any of the actual voting in November. C-Block (37:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I was explaining how I knew the remarkable actor Walter Matthau to a friend, and thought this was the right day to tell you about this extraordinary - and extraordinarily kind - man. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 9

SEASON 3 EPISODE 134: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Call this what it is. This is Trump's terrorist attack on Los Angeles - and his terrorist threat against every other American city not yet infected with MAGA fascism disease. It is taking what even the paranoid L.A. police department considers a minor event and trying to manufacture a crisis worthy of burning down our constitutional rights and sending National Guard and perhaps Marines to shoot at civilians on the streets of an American city... and to warn every other city that it could be next. What else do you call it, when the fiendish, demented, Hispanic-hating advisor and bigot calls all this quote “an insurrection against the laws and sovereignty of the United States” when it is in fact a handful of people exercising their protected constitutional rights in the parking lot of a goddamned Home Depot? It is terrorism. It is designed to cause terror and panic and to either use violence or the threat of it to effect political change, extra-legally, by masked and helmeted, faceless men and women, with weapons of war, on the streets of America’s second largest city, to stage an ICE riot and then show what are literally seconds of self-defense by civilians again and again on what are nominally television news channels subverted and perverted into propaganda machines… to warn with unstated menace that THIS will be re-enacted every day for the next month in Southern California and then - where? New York? Chicago? Washington YET there IS a way to stop Trump, here, and to destroy his plans and perhaps his presidency. Right now. Governor Gavin Newsom and the state government of California have proposed leading what is in effect, a TAX STRIKE. "We pay over 80 billion dollars more in taxes than we get back. Maybe it’s time to cut that off," Newsom says. says State Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas is more specific: “We must look at every option, including withholding federal taxes.” California pays $692 Billion a year in federal taxes. If the blue states withheld federal taxes the red states would be figuratively starving by next week. DOGE THIS, Trump. Do it. Stop the dictatorship. Stop the terrorism. B-Block (35:40) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Dinesh D'Souza and "Buck Millions" hilariously can't process the Musk-Trump fight. There's reportedly something amiss with the book sale figures for the Jake Tapper tome. And last month, New York mayoralty candidate Jessica Ramos branded fellow contender Andrew Cuomo as "The Democrats' Trump." Now - she's endorsed him. C-Block (45:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I saw a video of one of "our" newscasts the other day. He was the stentorian-voiced anchorman. I was the 19-year old intern. He remains one of my favorite people I've ever met in the business, and not just because he dedicated himself to being a thorn in the side of management everywhere. In memory of Bill Jorgensen, this time until next time. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 5

SEASON 3 EPISODE 133: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: It's still just at the passive-aggressive stage but Elon Musk has not only broken with Trump and ghosted Trump, now he has re-tweeted someone telling MAGAs to go to the comments at Fox News and read how "almost every comment is in agreement with Elon – to see so many vehemently disagreeing with Trump is wild.” This is not going to end well. Pass the popcorn. How is that POSSIBLE? Who could have EVER forseen that relying on a chemical’d-up, psychologically-impaired, persistent over-promising, compulsive sperm donor who may have been the victim of a botched penile implant, could be a BAD thing. Musk has ghosted Trump and is starting to attack Trump - and Trump can’t say a word because unless Musk bankrolls it Trump won’t be able to subvert the constitution and run for a third term – and unless Musk bankrolls it a Trump successor will never get off the ground and unless Musk bankrolls it the Republicans will lose the House next year AND maybe the Senate too. All Trump has been able to do is the really sad sight of a screenshot of a Musk tweet praising Trump. It’s from May 28th. THIS is the BEST part: Trump cannot trash Musk. As much as he wants to, as much as Musk attacks the House for Trump’s budget bill and its 2-point-4 trillion dollar add to the deficit -without mentioning Trump even though it’s TRUMP’S bill and those idiots in the House like Mike Johnson are just Trump’s SLAVES, as much as Musk is still protecting Trump from himself, Trump has to do the most difficult thing in the world: shut himself up. Keep his mouth shut. OTHER HEADLINES: Trump is now trying to sabotage Columbia's accreditation. It's not too late, Claire, break your deal and sue him for $100 Trillion. Trump the Russian simp also says he talked to Putin about Ukraine and Putin says he'll have to avenge the airbase attacks (what is he going to do? Start bombing Ukrainian cities?) A Republican senator actually asks 'What WAS we ranked" in reading and arithmetic in 1979. And Karoline Leavitt has the yips: she has now called Trump "Chump" three times in the last week. B-Block (25:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Steven Cheung wants you to ignore the legacy media. To prove why, he attaches a clip from...CNN. CNN's Abby Phillip lets a putz named Chris Sununu to compare Trump's post about Biden being executed/cloned to people insisting there are back-up Melanias. And on the same topic somebody named Kaylee McGhee White goes on Fox and insists the nation might've been run by "a cable" of unelected White House officials. C-Block (35:45) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Tomorrow's the anniversary of the day the president of MSNBC wanted to postpone breaking news to do anniversary programming he had dedicated himself to. The breaking news? Ronald Reagan had just died. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 3

SEASON 3 EPISODE 132: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: “He came in through Biden’s ridiculous Open Border Policy,” Trump writes of the suspect who has confessed to the Boulder Flame-Thrower Attack, “which has hurt our country so badly. He must go out under Trump policy.” Yeah, great. Well, he DIDN'T go out under the Trump policy because the Trump policy is to ignore the actual dangers and simply arrest the innocent and those who pose no threat and thus Trump has blood on his hands. The attack on the weekly march of those remembering the Gaza hostage was carried out by a man here illegally, whom Trump and his big talking crowd of bullies, losers and cowards, have had FOUR months to find and remove, and have criminally failed to do so because they under phony tough guy Tom Homan and Dress-Up Barbie Kristi Noem were too busy kidnapping mothers and gay hairdressers and kids at their high school graduations and people here legally and immigrants dutifully showing up for their hearings the way law-abiding people – law-abiding means NOT LIKE TRUMP – do. That the suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman, was still here, is TRUMP’S FAULT. Because the entire MAGA immigration STUNT is a show for the racists and the xenophobes. It goes after only the soft targets, it uses only brutality and force when neither is necessary, it is there to terrify one part of this country and satiate the sadism of the other. It is the opposite of securing borders – it is a prelude to the new Trump policy of “Re-migration” – and “Re-migration” is itself a prelude to Ethnic Cleansing. And the champion of re-migration, the demented, warped, soulless bastard behind that, is Stephen Miller, who couldn’t wait to turn the Sunday attack into a sword with which to again try to butcher this nation’s humanity. And I mean he COULDN’T wait, literally. If he had, more people would realize, Miller and his Gestapo are not the solution to the problem, they are its cause. B-Block (20:07) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Something worse than what Glenn Greenwald revealed in "the tape?" How about Glenn Greenwald threatening to reveal me as his source for a story because I criticized him. Plus Riley Gaines has challenged me to a swim race. It's 50 years since I was admitted to my high school's Cum Laude Society and I have an admission to make. And the Washington Post reported that polling showed the weirdest name of them all is "Keith" and I thought they were both serious - and right. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 2

SEASON 3 EPISODE 131: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump believes Biden was cloned and executed. Five years ago. He sent this out on his social media account Saturday night:"There is no Joe Biden – executed in 2020. Biden clones doubles and robotic engineered soulless mindless entities are what you see…” If you hear or read that this was Trump RE-posting something that some OTHER lunatic wrote on Trump’s social media site, or that this was Trump TROLLING, or owning the libs - this is incorrect and minimizes the severity of Trump’s accelerating complete mental breakdown. Unlike the original, TRUMP’S version also includes a photo HE has added. No matter what YOUR explanation for this is, or mine, or Fox’s, or his enablers, this country cannot have a president who promulgates theories that his predecessor was a clone, or a body double, or a robot. The dynamic tension keeping someone this damaged and disturbed from deciding now’s the time to nuke the world because don’t worry the people HE likes won’t be affected, is the same as the dynamic tension keeping a badly built bridge upright. It can hold for years or decades and then one day it just collapses and kills everybody. MEANWHILE, MUSK INCONTINENCE STORY LEAKS: Elon Musk was reportedly peeing his pants non-stop during the election? Afterwards? I don’t mean metaphorically. I mean… peeing his pants. New York Times about Musk in May, 2024: “Around that time, Mr. Musk told people that his ketamine use was causing bladder issues, according to people familiar with the conversations... The Food and Drug Administration (warns) chronic use can lead to addiction and problems with bladder pain and control." Where is the Jake Tapper book about THIS? Between THIS and Trump’s revelation that Biden wasn’t cognitively challenged last year and that instead he was dead and cloned and a robot - what does Jake Tapper do now? B-Block (33:14) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Con writer Kurt Schlichter thinks somebody else is "Two clever by half" never realizing...he isn't. Andrew Cuomo's excuse for breaking NYC traffic laws? He thought the reporters waiting to ask him questions about running for mayor were protestors. And Jake Tapper is losing roughly two viewers for every Biden book he sells. C-Block (45:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL/SPORTSBALL CENTER: Baseball's annual commemorations of Lou Gehrig have begun. It's the right time to remind you that when "The Iron Horse" was stricken by ALS, plenty of America's top sports authorities were convinced he was either faking it or not deserving of sympathy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 29

SEASON 3 EPISODE 130: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) BREAKING NEWS: A Reagan judge, an Obama judge, and a Trump judge walk into a courtroom and rule Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs - which not only crashed our economy but that of the entire world's - are not a legal use of the 1977 laws empowering him to take actions in the event of an economic emergency. This is not just any court. It's the United States Court of International Trade. Trump already appealed. Stephen Miller already called it a "judicial coup." The fact that America's corporations simply went along with Trump's crap when it knew - as the court knew - this was executive overreach - is its own problem. The halt on the tariffs will itself probably be halted by the appeals. So the re-shaping of the market will be re-re-shaped by the judges, and re-re-re-shaped by the further litigation. That, of course, is not Trump's problem. His only job is to break stuff. SPECIAL COMMENT: Now it's Governor Gretchen Whitmer has learned the lesson - twice. Never appease Trump, never negotiate with Trump, never cooperate with Trump, never support anything Trump wants, never do anything Trump wants. All that registers with him is: you are easier for him to destroy. She sucked up to him. She worked with him. He tricked her into appearing at his photo-op. She hid her face behind a folder like it was a perp walk. Now, he says he's looking into PARDONING THE TERRORISTS CONVICTED OF TRYING TO KIDNAP HER. There is only one way Gretchen Whitmer is going to SURVIVE Trump, Governor. Apple is going to SURVIVE Trump, Tim Cook. There is only one way Columbia is going to SURVIVE Trump, Claire Shipman. There is only one way the White House Correspondents are going to SURVIVE Trump, Eugene Daniels. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’ll spell it out. Doing what he wants only tells him you will DO WHAT HE WANTS. So he comes back and gives you ANOTHER list of what he wants. He’s a blackmailer. He’s a crooked businessman. He’s a bully. There is only one way to SURVIVE Trump and that is to DESTROY Trump. In a world of White House Correspondents, be the PENTAGON Correspondents. In a world of Apples, be Wal-Mart. In a world of Columbias, be a Harvard. Put your hands on Trump’s shoulders and knee him in the groin. Stand up to him and you can then own HIM, like the Harvard newspaper op-ed writer who has proposed settling the disputes between her school and Trump by challenging Secretary of "Education" Linda McMahon, the wife of the wrestling slime bag, to a Steel Cage Match. ALSO: TRUMP CONFESSES to operating on Russia's behalf and to protecting Putin. HE LEARNS for the first time of the Wall Street analysts mocking him with the tariff acronym "TACO" ("Trump Always Chickens Out") and he chickens out. Turns out Tom Homan also worked for the top Private Prison company. A woman who contributed a million to Trump gets a pardon for her jailbird son. Anybody remember Rudy Giuliani's alleged boast he could sell you a pardon for two million, to be split between him and Trump. And a past president's grandson has died. The president he was the grandson of, left office in... 1845. B-Block (33:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Kristi Noem and the camel she rode in on. Jesse Watters and Rep. Tim Burchett try to make fun of men using straws not remembering there's a photo of Trump at Yankee Stadium using a straw. And boy did THIS sound familiar: Rupert Murdoch just buried a New York Post reporter who followed all the rules and instructions Murdoch's minions had laid out for him, because somebody didn't like the story... Just like in 2001 Rupert personally fired ME for doing exactly the same thing (C-Block 43:00 THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL). The punchline is the reporter's name is Josh Kosman and last September he was the guy at The Post who called and told me they were about to update the RFK Jr/Olivia Nuzzi sexting story by claiming I had lived with Olivia. So I busted his scoop and put the story out immediately. Now we're in the Rupert Isn't A Journalist Club. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 26

SEASON 3 EPISODE 129: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45 SPECIAL COMMENT) The Trump Mental Illness Crisis - and Cover-up -worsens. This kind of reality detachment, in such different venues, on such different topics, from turning the West Point graduation ceremony into advice on when to marry a trophy wife to demanding somebody pay him a cut of what Harvard takes in tuition (and mistaking $52 Million for $52 Billion)... this kind of mental incapacity from any other president, at any other time – including Trump himself, seven or eight years ago – would have been greeted by wall-to-wall television and online coverage and banner newspaper headlines. Instead within 12 hours it was all forgotten so our national media could ignore the extinction-level-event crisis of a president gone fully insane, so it could return to regularly scheduled programming about how the PAST president wouldn’t instantly admit his acuity game had slipped to a B, B-minus. The Trump Trophy Wife remark, to say nothing of the overnight demand of a taste of the tuition action at Harvard, vanished by the time the Sunday news shows hit. Including the Sunday news show hosted by Jake Tapper. ESPECIALLY the Sunday news show hosted by Jake Tapper. Also missing from Tapper's show – and the others – the reality that Tapper and his co-author, gossip writer Alex Thompson, are going to have to withdraw their book about President Biden’s acuity issues. From Politico, Semafor, Breaker, and other outlets comes the not-so-startling truth: these idiots fact checked next to nothing. There's also an internal revolt against Tapper at CNN. MEANWHILE: What the hell is wrong with Kristi Noem, and why is Harvard doing so well in fighting back against Trump while my old colleague Claire Shipman and Columbia are circling the drain? B-BLOCK (36:40) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Death pimp and Republican Congressman Andy Clyde makes it easier to shoot people and buy his guns. Tim Walz says "Gestapo" and the right freaks out when it should be the left freaking out because he didn't say it last October. And Bill Maher has kissed more MAGA heinie yet still thinks anybody thinks he's a liberal. C-BLOCK (50:45) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It's anniversary time! 24 years since I asked Rupert Murdoch how I should cover a story about Rupert Murdoch selling a baseball team for Rupert Murdoch's TV Sports network, and when I did what his office told me, he fired me. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 22

SEASON 3 EPISODE 128: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump wants – and his Republican Whore House of Representatives could give him, as early as today, more likely tomorrow – a LAW letting him not only ignore the courts and their injunctions or temporary restraining orders - but immunize himself and his minions from even BEING subject to CONTEMPT CITATIONS. The law, cutting the legs off every judge in this country including all of them on the Supreme Court, is sitting deep in the MAGA multi-trillion dollar budget bill, curled up like a snake ready to attack and poison the judiciary. At Trump’s sole discretion. Any court issuing a T-R-O against Trump or his pack of wolves with titles decimating safety regulations or firing tens of thousands of essential government employees; any court issuing an injunction against Trump kidnapping and renditioning people off the street; any court doing anything Trump doesn’t like could rule whatever IT likes but when it came to the only teeth such orders have – the threat of putting somebody who ignores them, IN jail, FOR contempt, would be GONE. The gist of this is the Trumpists found another loophole, about a cash bond requirement if you seek to enjoin the government. It’s normally set by the judge at Zero Dollars. This bill would make any such Contempt of Court findings or Injunctions set at zero… unenforceable. SO ICE has accelerated the renditions, now dismissing old charges that are currently being ajudicated and seizing the defendants at the courtrooms and putting them on flights to South Sudan or Libya or wherever because, if there's no Contempt of Court, who's going to stop them? ALSO: Kristi Noem having no idea what "Habeas Corpus" is? That was the SMART part. She also doesn't think "suspend" means "enact." Why is Trump investigating Andrew Cuomo? So if he gets elected Mayor of New York they can blackmail him into selling OUT New York. CBS is warned by Senators that its "settlement" with Trump may be a criminal bribe. And the bad news for CNN is, it's become a 24/7 Shopping Channel selling Jake Tapper's crap book. The good news is, they'll be televising George Clooney's live Broadway show about Murrow, "Good Night And Good Luck" so at least there'll be some pretend journalists on the network. B-Block (40:27) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Musk's "Grok" thinks Kristi Noem was talking about the WNBA. The guy Jeopardy fired as host after a week is now running Ben Shapiro's Propaganda Channel. And karma gets Bill Maher back for praising Trump and dissing Larry David: his "uncancellable" podcast studio? Cancelled. C-Block (52:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The arrival of a piece of the fabric roof ripped off Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg last October by Hurricane Milton has inadvertently reminded me why I do this podcast, because it reminded me of the day nearly half a century ago when my dad the architect warned me not to go into an arena with another fabric roof that he (correctly) predicted was about to come off because of bad weather. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 19

SEASON 3 EPISODE 127: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) HEADLINE: BIDEN'S CANCER DIAGNOSIS: The concern here, obviously, is Joe Biden’s health and comfort. I know him enough, however, to believe that it has occurred to him that the timing of this terrible news carries with it one extraordinary irony. The car in which all of the Biden Acuity Truthers and Reporters and Book Writers and Finger Waggers has just stopped suddenly and they have all been ejected from the car they were climbing over each other in order to drive faster and faster. And you deserve it utterly, Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson and Jonathan Allen and Robert Hur and Politico and The Washington Post which yesterday MORNING printed a column that began “The verdict is in. Joe Biden is to blame.” (. ) SPECIAL COMMENT: TRUMP THREATENS SUPREME COURT. Trump has now descended to making threats against the Supreme Court. Under his own name? Indirectly and stochastically. Under the names of others whose menacing he re-posts? Directly. Directly. And specifically towards the justices HE himself appointed. This country is now in this frozen moment of madness in which its president isn’t just ignoring and trying to veto the judiciary and the Supreme Court, but actually encouraging violence against its members. Trump has also now amplified at least 14 posts demanding the arrest of former FBI Director James Comey, including one claiming Comey’s dumb photo proves the assassination attempt against Trump last year was quote “an inside job” and another calling for quote “public military tribunals” for President Obama – a post that was actually captioned “Re-truth if you want public military tribunals” which Trump… re-truthed. B-Block (34:20) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Trump thinks a soccer stadium in New York will be used in the L.A. Olympics. Somebody high up at Twitter-X turns Grok into a white supremacist holocaust denier. I wonder who?!? Jake Tapper and CNN and Politico climax years of political malpractice by exploiting Biden's mental lags and ignoring Trump's total mental breakdown. B-Block (45:40) SPORTSBALLCENTER: Three baseball managers fired in ten days? By the three teams most interested in forcing a lockout and no season in 2027? That's a coincidence. And a second look at the Joe Jackson/Pete Rose decision. C-Block (54:46) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It's graduation season so time to look my graduation and the phone call the Friday before it when I asked the registrar if I WAS graduating and she said "Yes? No?" See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 15

SEASON 3 EPISODE 126: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Buyer's Remorse on an unprecedented scale. New polling from the new site of the last chief of 538, Elliott Morris: If the 2024 election were held again today, Harris would win by FIVE. And Trump isn't just underwater he's DROWNING: Net -16 on Approval. STRONGLY disapprove scores twice as highly as strongly approves. Net -34 on his economic decisions. Net -32 on inflation. Net -21 on tariffs and trade. Net -20 on cutting programs. Net -17 on the economy. Net -16 on foreign policy. Net -16 on health care. Net -16 on education. And the Democrats are up in the House midterms by +6. If this were this Obama or Clinton or Carter the right wing press would be DEMANDING the president either fire his entire cabinet or resign. ALSO: Democrats eviscerate Kristi Noem on Kilmar Abrego Garcia and she slanders him by calling him a terrorist. Look in a mirror, witch. BUY mirrors, Chief Justice Roberts and A.G. Sulzberger. Two of the most guilty perpetuators of Bothsidesism point fingers at everybody but themselves because we're all trying to find the guy who did this and as the commentator Darth notes, these two guys are fighting over who gets to wear the Hot Dog Suit. PSAKI PSHOW PSTINKS: MSNBC is trying to spin otherwise, but her ratings in the Maddow slot are, simply, not survivable. B-BLOCK (39:35) SPORTSBALLCENTER: What the heck? A White Sox fan gets elected Pope and five days later White Sox tragic anti-hero Shoeless Joe Jackson is suddenly made eligible for the Hall of Fame? (44:19) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: I'm sure it's delicious and healthy but doesn't a plant-based product called "Protein Puck" make you think of the movie "Soylent Green"? Politico thinks it's got any remaining credibility. Andrew Cuomo thinks HE'S got any remaining credibility and is accused of being backed by MAGA. C-BLOCK (54:10) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: If you want to skip this, please do. But I have a story about an inexplicable hockey card, why they made it in the first place, and why it took 40 years for me to obtain it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 12

SEASON 3 EPISODE 125: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: What do you like least? Suspending Habeas Corpus? Breaking the law by threatening to arrest members of Congress for obeying the law? Or Trump accepting a half billion dollar impeachable illegal bribe from the government of Qatar that the Attorney General has ruled ISN’T illegal and by the way the Attorney General used to be a lobbyist FOR the government of Qatar? They’re all nation-destroying events but bluntly there is no way back from a suspension of Habeas Corpus. It’s a one-man dictatorship then – because if you think SUSPENDING Habeas Corpus ‘just for undocumented immigrants’ is somehow acceptable on its face, remember two things. One is: that there would be NO HEARINGS and NO LEGAL RECOURSE for ANYONE seized in this way so that all they would have to do is CLAIM that YOU are an undocumented immigrant to rationalize disappearing you, and you would not have a hearing at which you could prove you were a citizen, and you would not have a lawyer to appeal the decision not to GIVE you a hearing. And Stephen Miller didn't even say 'we'd only suspend it for undocumented immigrants.' Of course threatening to arrest members of Congress for exerting their legal right of oversight to the Concentration Camp ICE just opened in Newark by accusing them of assaulting agents (you know: The Congresswoman hit my fist with her face!) is bad and it mainlines back to the idea that they could just arrest them and under suspended Habeas Corpus just disappear them. As Congressman Michael 'I'm Too Dumb To Realize I'm Calling For My Own Arrest' McCaul now says of the Jersey Democrats "you cannot be complicit with gang violence against our law enforcement. And I think perhaps that’s what it comes down to.” ALSO: Trump's new Qatari plane is an illegal, impeachable offense but since the AG already registered as a Qatari agent, just hit the shrug emoji. They've accused The Secretary of Scotch with plagiarism at Princeton. They fired the Librarian of Congress and Karoline Lie-vitt is so stupid she thinks kids check books out of the Library of Congress. Trump now wants Jeanine Pirro as interim U.S. Attorney in DC, which allows us to flash back to the time she lost a page of her speech announcing she was running for Senate and just stood there until they found it for her. And of course, there's a new Pope. Father Bob. Father Bob the White Sox fan. Meaning our Nancy Faust, who went back to the White Sox games yesterday to reprise her role as the greatest stadium organist of all time, is right when she says "Who knew? All those years I literally had a papal audience!" B-Block (46:27) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: This time they're all people I know and used to respect who have failed the world. Gavin Newsom has again proposed appeasing Trump. Bob Iger has again carried an immeasurable amount of propaganda water for Trump. And Claire Shipman, whom I adored, has stood by as Columbia University (you know, the place with the Journalism School) suspended four of its own student reporters for...reporting. C-Block (1:02:00) OUR PAL SMILES again needs your help. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 8

SEASON 3 EPISODE 124: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: The new Trump plot to beg, borrow, or steal a third term has dropped (that makes four different) and it follows the others in that a) somebody besides Trump has suggested it AND b) they've made it seem harmless AND c) they've made it seem like Trump has nothing to do with it and probably won't do it anyway AND d) they'll leave it to the will of the people to decide to convince him to, reluctantly, violate the Constitution. The twist in this new one is, it's positioned as: "The Constitution is Unconstitutional!" - namely, that because only the presidency is term-limited among federal offices, this must be invalid and overturned. Not that Trump wants it to be overturned. No, YOU want it overturned. Not that HE wants to stay on. But YOU will want him to. People are still not taking it seriously and still see the 22nd Amendment as a bulwark against any possibility of it happening. I'll review the other three plots and the fact that they've been working on them since at least 2017, and why you should never ever keep your eye off their machinations, nor forget the Trump Political Mantra: I'm going to do it - TRY AND STOP ME. STATE SECRETS PRIVILEGE: Trump and Stephen Miller are so scared that they won't get away with renditioning Kilmar Abrego Garcia that they have now thrown up the "State Secrets" crap to further stall his return. And they're talking about kidnapping people off our streets and sending them to Libya or Ukraine. And Trump's craziness continues to double as we get the back story on the movie tariffs and a redux on windmills and it makes me mad enough to SING ABOUT THE WINDMILLS IN TRUMP'S MIND. B-Block (49:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The far right's open racism is on display as a Minnesota woman calls a five-year old the N-word and a million dollars is raised to defend her. Laura Loomer employs one of Hitler's first catchphrases. And they so distrust the Deputy Secretary of State that they won't let him touch the thermostat in his office. C-Block (58:22) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: This time of year in 1997 I saw a ghost. I know who he was. I know why he was there. I know why he was silently laughing at me. And I did what he wanted me to do. His name was Glenn Corneliess and there's a reason the new facilities of WVBR-FM in Ithaca, N.Y. are the Olbermann-Corneliess studios. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 5

SEASON 3 EPISODE 123: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Don't be silly, Stephen Miller - you're taking the fall. For contempt of court in the Kilmar Abrego Garcia and Rogue Deportation Flight cases. The target to at least be fined, maybe jailed, for contempt of court has got to be Stephen Miller. The picture is clarifying slowly, the focus is sharpening painstakingly, but it seems evident now that contempt cases being built by District Judges Jeb Boasberg and Paula Xinis – the effort to get depositions about, and charge somebody with, contempt of court in the abduction of Mr. Abrego Garcia AND the renditioning of dozens of others to El Salvador after Boasberg ordered the plane to NOT take off – the slow, methodical attempt to finally, at long last, about damn time, hold SOMEBODY in the Trump Crime Administration responsible for SOMETHING… this whole move to put somebody behind bars, is, in both courts, targeting… Stephen Miller. Based on reporting by NBC, by the Akron Law Journal, by Brian Beutler in "Off Message" and otters: the finding by Judge Boasberg of probable cause for contempt citations against the Trump Gang, and these depositions scheduled by Judge XINIS are apparently designed to confirm what Miller and the other Trumpian monsters are boasting about in private – Miller is the architect of the deportation scheme and especially its baseline component of cruelty. The man who has allegedly hated Hispanics since a girl he asked out in high school turned him down, is also the architect of the scheme to disobey the District Court orders to bring Abrego Garcia home AND to disobey the Supreme Court in the process. The man who greets every warning from a court or an attorney or a human with a conscience to stop now before it is too late for him, by getting louder, and angrier, and more monstrous, the man behind whatever step towards Ethnic Cleansing is next, is Stephen Miller. And it sure looks like Judges Boasberg and Xinis want to put the man Beutler refers to as the "monstrous twerp-fascist" behind bars. AND TRUMP GETS CRAZIER: Literally wants 11-year olds to give up their dolls and pencils for the sake of his delusion, and doesn't know if he has to uphold the constitution and has just infuriated all the Veterans by re-naming Veterans Day "Victory In World War 1 Day" and creating a "Victory In World War 2 Day" on the anniversary of a day when... World War 2 wasn't won. B-Block (34:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Trump clowns Labor Secretary Lori DeRemer-Chavez and Secretary of Lies Karoline Leavitt tie with some whoppers. Jesse Watters goes into a cave with Elon Musk. And a pretend reporter named Myles gets told to Eff Off by Ilhan Omar. (41:17) SPORTSBALLCENTER: Tomorrow is the 71st anniversary of the day in 1954 when Roger Bannister became the first to ever run a mile in less than four minutes. Except that he WASN'T the first to ever run a mile in less than four minutes. He wasn't even the first in England, where it had been done 200 years earlier. Never mind, say, in Kenya. (59:30) SPORTSBALL CENTER, CONTINUED: The reason all Bannister's predecessors are unknown is: they were erased from the records by the self-appointed "Amateur Authorities" of the 19th Century who wanted to make sure only "Gentlemen" held the honors. Gentlemen - and White People. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 1

SEASON 3 EPISODE 122: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump is the greatest president of all time... at losing public support! Almost overlooked in the typical maelstrom, analysis by the last King of 538: Trump's Net Approval Rating has fallen farther, faster, than any other president since they started keeping the statistic in 1953. On Inauguration Day he was at Net Plus 10. After 100 Days he's already at Net MINUS 10. At this rate, by August he'll be at NET MINUS 30. He is losing an approval point every FIVE DAYS. By itself, the Net Minus 10 is also a record. And that's just the start of Trump's polling crater. Internal Republican Congressional Campaign polling has him at a Net Minus Seven inside vulnerable swing House districts. He is collapsing faster than he is collapsing the economy! This sets up the prospect of a Democratic landslide next year, if only the Democrats will TRY. Chuck Schumer's response? More bipartisanship in spending bills! B-Block (33:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Minnesota Congressman Tom Emmer wants an ethics investigation of Minnesota Congresswoman Angie Craig because when he was too terrified to host a town hall in his district, she did. Their districts ADJOIN. DC US Attorney nominee Ed Martin sinks further into deceit over Hitler cosplayer Hale-Cusanelli. And Trump demands Penn apologize for letting transgender athletes compete or he'll withhold $175 million in funding. My suggestion? Penn should declare that Trump got his degree from Penn's Wharton School by deception and sue HIM FOR $175 MILLION. And new developments in Bill Maher's self-immolation. He did something ELSE about Trump - eight years ago - that he attacked Larry David for doing last week! C-Block (45:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: If I didn't actually invent the mobile phone, there is every chance I was the first to use one on the streets of New York City. It was this time of year, about 35 years ago, and it still shocks me that I actually stopped pedestrian traffic on 42nd Street just by answering a call. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 28

SEASON 3 EPISODE 121: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: The District Attorney for New Orleans Jason Williams must indict and issue arrest warrants for Tom Homan, Kristi Noem (Now With 8 Action Adventure Dress-Up Outfits) and the other members of the ICE Gestapo who disappeared a two-year old New Orleans born girl and sent her to Honduras - possibly making up a story that her Honduran-born mother wanted to take her with her - AND also abducted and renditioned a four-year old US Citizen toddler with Stage 4 Medication and sent her and her mother to Honduras, too. The charges should be led by Child Trafficking, kidnapping, violation of 5th and 14th Amendment rights, and be predicated on the fact that ICE has degenerated into a violent gang threatening the safety of Americans. Throw the RICO act at the Brownshirts. The event was so egregious, so redolent of Moral Cannibalism, that the Trump Appointee judge who brought the case to public attention and tried to stop it referred in his writings to their plane being above "The Gulf of America." But he also voiced his "strong suspicion that the government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process." Indictments of Noem and the others may be fruitless. But it will at least symbolize that democracy will at least fight back against what Trump is doing: which is verging on Ethnic Cleansing. MEANWHILE IN WISCONSIN the ICE stormtroopers who arrested a judge in her courtroom for not collaborating with a raid should themselves be arrested. And unlike Trump, authorities there will not have to fabricate or pervert laws to do so. PLUS I'll analyze Trump's sudden pathetic pleadings to Putin, his bat guano crazy interview with Time, and most imperatively, his writing that he suspects Putin is "just tapping me along." There is no indication anywhere that this phrase "tapping me along" has ever been used by anybody else, ever. There is every indication Trump's mind may have now degenerated further into the stage where he is making up his own words and phrases. B-Block (36:00) Dedicated to Karoline Leavitt whose first and last names both contain the letters for the word "lie." Trump himself gets a bronze for boasting about spending $58,000 of his own money on behalf of the country while he syphons off millions daily. The runner-up is Ed Martin and his embrace, then disengagement, from the world's stupidest looking Hitler cosplayer. But the winner again is Bill Maher, who perpetuates his career-ending decision to go to the White House for dinner with Trump. He claims Larry David's soon-to-be-Pulitzer-Prize winning satire of the event has insulted "six million dead Jews" because of the comparison between Trump and Hitler: "I think the minute you play the ‘Hitler’ card, you’ve lost the argument." Ooops. It's a shame Bill's memory is so damaged. Guess who played the Hitler card, made the comparison to Trump, and thus presumably lost the argument? Twice? On his own show? IN 2015? C-Block (46:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Someone mentioned the great Cornell astronomer and planetary scientist and 26-time Tonight Show guest Carl Sagan and I was flashed back. Sure enough, it was 47 years ago last week that he won a Pulitzer Prize. Our Cornell radio station called him for an interview and he said yes, on one condition: "Is your sportscaster Keith there? I want him to do it. He gets it." This would be the first time I ever interviewed anybody famous, and he requested me, even though we'd never met. I'm as stunned now as I was then, and I'll explain why it happened. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 24

SEASON 3 EPISODE 120: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: We’ve all known it would come to this; we’ve all WARNED it would come to this; we’ve all PREDICTED they’d try to ease the knife in slowly, they’d take the boiling frog route, and here it comes. It’s in every piece of political science fiction from "1984" to "Brazil" to "V For Vendetta." And it is now real: if everything Trump does deserves criticism and gets criticism there is only one thing for Trump and his gang to do: prosecute criticism of Trump and claim those WHO criticize him are aiding and abetting terrorists. The ultimate Thought Crime was given voice by no less a figure than Trump's Counterterrorism Director, who, since Trump found the worst possible person to do each job (and bin Laden is dead) is Sebastian Gorka. The threat is connected to the push to send not just immigrants to rot in a For-Profit El Salvador Rendition Center, but American citizens too, especially those who standup to Trump's attempt to purge Hispanics from this country. Axios reports that one of the other potential new Orwellian crimes would be advising detainees of their rights. If that's not directed at AOC I don't know what could be. B-Block (25:20) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Derrick Van Orden attacks Wisconsin's governor because Van Orden thinks Milwaukee kids are stupid - and he misspells the word "how" in his post. Brian Kilmeade's Hegseth spoiler alert: he calls him "former secretary." And we are all very proud here that one of 'our own' has reduced Bill Maher to graffiti. Further details on "My Dinner With Adolf." C-Block (37:45) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I had literally forgotten - until I literally worked through the neighborhood - that I made my Broadway singing and dancing debut seven years ago. I mean literally, on stage, during an actual Broadway show. If it made that much of an impression on me, imagine how bored the audience was! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 21

SEASON 3 EPISODE 119: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Senator Lisa Murkowski may be the most important person in the country right now. Her public confession that she too is afraid of the Trump nightmare and her HINTS at talking to Senate colleagues ABOUT her fear – could provide just enough Republican rebellion to rein Trump in. It feels as if she just got it, as if she just understood that yes Trump is Nazi-esque and yes Trump often emulates the Soviets but the closest parallel to him is O'Brien and "The Party" in Orwell's "1984" and the simple terrifying conviction that "the object of power is power." That's why I think when Kristi Garden Noem and Secretary of Defense (and Vodka) Hegseth (if he's still on the job after ANOTHER Signal chat came to light) file their report on the border to Trump this week and tell him no, they don't need to invoke The Insurrection Act, he may do it anyway because... the object of power is power. Murkowski and thirteen other Republican Senators and at most four Republican Representatives can stop this. They can save the country. They can impeach Trump or if they still can’t get over the hump, the 18 of you can use the THREAT to impeach him, to virtually fetter him, to at least control the width and breadth of his damage, to make him know the Senate WILL vote against him. She can also talk to anybody on the Supreme Court except Alito or Thomas. The other seven, in the middle of the damn night - at 1 AM Saturday - stepped in to freeze any further disappearing Americans under the phony premise of The Alien Enemies Act. And there is reason to hope that these Murkowski-led conversations might happen before the iron curtain of dictatorship descends: Later in her confession of fear, she hinted at doing exactly what I just suggested. Meanwhile, how many times can you self-destruct on this? Gavin Newsom dismisses the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case as a "distraction" and calls Democrats sheep for defending the constitution. On the other hand, Senator Ed Markey is crafting a sense of the senate resolution stating Trump cannot again be elected, and cannot again serve, as president or vice president. Damn Straight. B-Block (40:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Musk Crappertruck Owner who claims to also be a "girl dad"; Pennsylvania congressman Dan Meuser kinda blames Governor Josh Shapiro's criticizing Trump for provoking the attempt to incinerate him and his family in the governor's mansion on Passover. And Trump DEI hire Pam Bondi lies that compulsive martyr and 85th Place Olympic Trials finisher Riley Gaines "went to the Olympics." Not unless she bought a ticket, Pam Blondie. C-Block (55:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The renewed Trump bid to ban the Associated Press got me talking to a friend: How MANY times have I been banned, as a reporter? Do you mean this century, or in total? It's... a lot. From the LA Clippers to the ESPN Campus, I've been banned... a lot. And je ne regret rien! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 14

SEASON 3 EPISODE 118: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: ICE Director Tom Homan and his boss Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem must be arrested for contempt of court. It SHOULD be President Ted Bundy Trump being arrested for contempt of court – potentially for ignoring the orders of the SUPREME COURT - but we already know how the laws of this land have been corrupted to protect the greatest criminal in our history. That it cannot be will simply hasten the latest iteration of the constitutional crisis created by a lawless chief executive who still has the military behind him. We are headed for a flashpoint, perhaps as soon as today. To summarize: Trump believes he is God. But in the interim it is time for U-S District Judge Paula Xinis to send this rogue government a message. In fact it is well past time. “Time” was two days ago, at 5 PM. Noem and Homan are now in contempt of HER order in the case of the Noem-Homan-ICE abduction, the DISAPPEARING of a Maryland man already under the PROTECTION of the government of the United States, Kilmar Abrego Garcia. They are in contempt of the orders not of some judge – as the fascist Stephen Miller and his brownshirts call any representative of law and order – they are in contempt of the LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. It is not some judge. They are in contempt of the NATION and they are on the VERGE of being in contempt of the Supreme Court. The point, of course, may be the admission that they abducted someone by "mistake." They sent a Massachusetts-born immigration lawyer a notice to leave the country by "mistake." They warned ICE will keep illegal "ideas" from entering the country, by "mistake." Maybe these are mistakes - God knows, it all involves Elon Musk - but now they see an opportunity to exploit even mistakes to deliver the message, passively but still aggressively, that even when they are wrong they are still RIGHT because even when they are wrong what do you think YOU are going to be able to DO about it? What do you think YOU are going to be able to DO about it, Mrs Abrego Garcia? What do you think YOU are going to be able to DO about it, Judge? What do you think YOU are going to be able to DO about it, AMERICA? B-Block (40:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: We have a new member of the WPITW Hall of Fame, Linda McMahon. We dedicate this episode to Stephen A. Smith, still making a fool of himself. And then the nominees: Bill Maher makes a propaganda video for Trump saying all the nice things about Trump that Maher has forgotten he already said about them in 2016 and then repudiated. Trump butt dials the wrong McMaster. And Jeanine Pirro may be the dumbest person to ever work at Fox News. Do you know what an accomplishment this would be? C-Block (1:04:05) GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK: A quick announcement about the immediate future of this podcast. Sounds more ominous than it is. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 10

SEASON 3 EPISODE 117: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump has already LOST the tariff wars he finally claimed he paused yesterday (without really pausing). Already. Took him only eight days. From Liberation Day to a day when in any other war, literal or figurative, he would have been deposed - 8 days. And never mind how much YOU AND I think he’s crazy; a high-priced adviser to macro fund managers says “a few have quietly wondered if the president might be insane." And after Wall Street came off the ledge and got back to where it was Monday – only, what, seven trillion lost – he declared victory. “Up 2500 points. Nobody has ever heard of it. Gotta be a record.” Because he can’t admit he made a mistake; his head would fall off. His approval numbers have cratered. He’s underwater by an AVERAGE of six points. LAST Wednesday it was an average of TWO points. Since the election he’s lost 20 points among those over age 65; he’s lost 50 points among those under age 30. And he still raised the tariffs on the Chinese again – to 125 percent – because he’s mad at them. Because they of course are winning. Because the Chinese are not negotiating; the Chinese are as they have been for centuries, waiting for their opponents to DIE. The Chinese are apparently dumping our 10-Year Treasuries, driving up our debt. And they’ve opened trading partnership negotiations with the head of the European Union. And for all the claims about pausing the tariffs, a universal TEN percent tariff will be maintained. He didn't pause anything. He simply lost everything. B-Block (27:10) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Joe Manchin writes a book celebrating his middle of the road bona fides. The cover photo shows only the right half of his face, naturally. Marjorie Stupid Greene reveals she does not know what the word "Merch" means. And the president of the hockey writers' association, a bonehead named Frank Seravalli, not only defends Wayne Gretzky's attacks on Canada but his bringing FBI Director and Election Denier Kash Patel to the Ovechkin game - and calls CRITICISM of those decisions "political BS." Instead of, maybe, calling out Gretzky for BRINGING political BS into a moment of sports history. C-Block (49:15) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: She's still at it. Even as Trump's boasts of pausing the tariffs while INCREASING them on China and maintaining them on everybody else, Laura Ingraham is still carrying his water for him. It's time for me to review my dates with her last century, and the extraordinary revelation she made during the first of them about the then-nascent Republican-Media Industrial Complex. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 7

SEASON 3 EPISODE 116: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: I want polling on a special, emergency, extra-constitutional Presidential Recall Vote. I know there isn't going to BE a Presidential Recall Vote. I know we're not going extra-constitutional, we're not REPUBLICANS dammit. But they are always making up laws (inside the Supreme Court and outside of it) on the premise that the people really want it, so after this week of unprecedented insane unnecessary failure on the part of Trump and his Team of Imbecilic Rivals, I want to know where we stand. Because the moment we get 10 Republicans in the House and 14 in the Senate to believe that if Trump stays in office, their careers are over, he's gone. Half of them think he's nuts already and a quarter have had doubts. They need to be pushed and I don't want to wait until the mid-terms for them to get the damned message I want SOME pollster - independent, news-related, hired by the Democrats, SOMEBODY - to ask these questions: 1) if the election were re-run today would you vote for Trump or a Democrat. Or another Republican. Or a fairly intelligent farm animal. 2) would you support a special recall vote to potentially reverse the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. 3) would you describe the current financial panic and the upcoming tsunami of inflation and unemployment as a national emergency. 4) do you think Donald Trump has lost his mind. 5) do you think Donald Trump is mentally fit to run the country. 6) do you think Donald Trump is acting to destroy the United States on behalf of a foreign country. 7) do you think it is necessary to act outside the constitution if necessary to save the United States of America FROM Donald Trump. 8) if the midterm elections for the Senate and the House were tomorrow would you vote Republican or Democratic? WHATEVER the percentages are they could easily scare the crap out of 10 House Republicans and 14 Senate Republicans and the day they do, Trump vanishes. You doubt me? Ask Richard Nixon. Ask Abraham Lincoln, whom they were ready to get rid of seven months before Lee surrendered at Appomattox because they thought he wasn't going to be re-elected. Also is it possible the Democrats are listening to me? Obama emerges to spout sense, as I've asked. The DNC Chair founds "The People's Cabinet." All we need now is POLLING ON A PRESIDENTIAL RECALL VOTE. B-Block (31:28) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Pittsburgh Pirates rip a Roberto Clemente memorial off their outfield wall to make room for an ad for seltzer, a Republican influencer insists there are no tariffs on Russia because we don't import anything from Russia (we import $2.5 Billion a year from Russia), and the Secretary of the Treasury wants YOU to buy American while he buys British. (41:28) SPORTSBALLCENTER: Alexander Ovechkin DOES have more goals than Wayne Gretzky now, but no, that's still not the big league hockey record (and Gretzky managed to throw himself out another window during the celebrations) and the date of the first American, maybe the first human, to be photographed giving the finger to the cameraman has to be pushed back from 1886 to 1882 after a discovery this weekend about baseball Hall of Famer Old Hoss Radbourn. C-Block (55:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I have been asked by a listener to expand on last week's news that Chuck Todd not only does not realize that his news career is over but he thinks investors are going to give him $2,000,000,000 to go buy a news organization now. The answer to the question "Chuck Todd: Why?" See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 3

SEASON 3 EPISODE 115: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: It only took Trump losing a critical election by 10 points in a state he carried last November for even HIM to figure out that Elon Musk is the best electoral friend the Democrats have right now. The White House has leaked that Elon's 130-day exemption as a "Special Government Employee" is up at the end of May and so is his time inadvertently saving democracy from the MAGA cult. We CAN'T LET HIM LEAVE! Also, INDICT ELON! Also also, PROTECT ELON AT ALL COSTS! The reporting suggests Trump intends to keep Musk as an informal advisor and frequent White House visitor and that is great news. If Trump won't keep Musk attached to him sufficiently, we have to do it for him. ELON MUSK'S UNFAVORABILITY AMONG DEMOCRATICS IN WISCONSIN IS 97 PERCENT. Let's take that national! OH BY THE WAY TRUMP JUST TANKED THE WORLD ECONOMY. 54% tariffs on China? 26% on India? Huge on the EU and UK? 10 percent on the people he likes? This is the day the Leopards of Wall Street discover that Trump of the Leopards Eating Faces Party is a cannibal: he eats the faces of other leopards! Also I'll explain how this whole tariff crap mainlines back to Trump's insane fixation with gold and the color gold. MEDIA DISASTER: Bill Maher self-destructs. Stephen A. Smith thinks he's the first person to discover the Trump 3rd Term Scam. MSNBC's attempt to tank is so successful "Morning Joe" is now behind CNN in the demo. B-Block (36:14) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Whoever let the BBC start a piece about the Myanmar Earthquake with the line "On the road to Mandalay." Ex-journalist Matt Taibbi will never testify to the House again. And Richard Carlson, at the center of transphobia, sports, TV news, Fox News, Renee Richards, and even worse things, is dead. C-Block (49:45) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: With the New York Times reporting Chuck Todd is seeking to buy a podcast or local high school sports news company for two billion dollars, it's time for me to note that we are nearing the six year mark since I finally said "I have had enough of this idiot for one lifetime." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 31

SEASON 3 EPISODE 114: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: NO, NBC NEWS AND KRISTEN WELKER - YOU IDIOTS - TRUMP HAS NEVER BEEN 'JOKING' ABOUT A 3RD TERM: Only to dimwitted media types who have been lying to themselves and their audience was it a shock when Welker insisted yesterday to Trump that he’s “joking” about stealing an unconstitutional and illegal third term and the Dictator replying “No I’m not joking, I’m not joking" and he alluded to several ways to game the 22nd Amendment Term Limits. Trump has been serious about this since at least 2023 and the first time I reported on that fact on this podcast was on Wednesday, November 8th… 2023. This has been the plan (like all the other plans) take something unconstitutional and illegal and do it anyway and dare you to sue and get his Concierge Supreme Court to invent a new law and a new country to LET him do it anyway AND insist THIS is the law and if you oppose him, YOU’RE breaking it. That’s the way they papered over Trump’s violation of the Insurrection Clause in the 14th Amendment. Worse yet, the man who has best encapsulated the evil inside Trump, Yale History professor Timothy Snyder, is leaving the country. Literally. Moving to the University of Toronto. If that doesn't tell you all you need to know about how much Trump is NOT kidding. IF ANYBODY STOPS TRUMP it'll be the corporations and Wall Street types who suddenly realize that when he said he'd cook the economy to give all the money to the rich guys he meant just him and Musk. Or maybe it'll be Trump's Intel Community. Somebody is leaking career-ending stories about Pete Hegseth and Bring-Your-Wife-To-Secret-Meetings-Work-Day and Bring-Your-Brother-Into-A-Nepo-Job-Day and I wonder who it could be. Perhaps the National Security Advisor who needs Hegseth to take the fall for SignalGate and just happens to have the number of the editor of The Atlantic programmed into his phone? If we're lucky maybe Hegseth and Mike Waltz will accomplish the rare simultaneous double knockout! B-Block (33:06) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Anna Paulina Luna thinks NBC is hiding a videotape with time code proving Oswald wasn't at the JFK Assassination (three years before time code was invented). A would-be GOP Nominee for Governor of Virginia thinks Anne Frank appeared in a classroom in California 20 years ago to tell gang bangers about the holocaust. And Bill Maher has self-destructed again. Now he thinks he's going to meet Trump because they respect him, because he was the first to predict Trump wouldn't leave office, and to heal the country. And Chris Cuomo and Gavin Newsom are there to reinforce Bill's gullibility! C-Block (49:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: So I've resumed my TV sports career! I am back on the air this week in pre-season specials on nine regional baseball networks that carry nine major league clubs. This kinda conflicts with my complaints about the same guys doing sports and politics at this time. I'll explain my rationale. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 27

SEASON 3 EPISODE 113: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (SPECIAL COMMENT): The reason Trump’s Team of Idiot Rivals sent each other their war plans on Signal wasn't to keep them secret from the Senate, or from future investigations it was to keep them secret from TRUMP. They no longer TRUST Trump. They no longer think Trump UNDERSTANDS what’s going on. There WAS a work-around – AROUND TRUMP. They are CUTTING TRUMP OUT. I'm NOT defending any of these sloppy, stupid, dangerous, morons. But behind their blithering incompetence is the WHY. WHY did they conduct this Signal Chat? Because they have established at least one Ghost Mechanism to allow Trump’s cabinet to try to get something done without him destroying the world (yet) and if THAT’S the case the POINT of this is: you have a president whose own people think he is now a complete FEEB, that he can not function, and cannot be trusted not to do something at least disastrously stupid, IF that thing requires him to do anything more than blather for 40 minutes and morph slowly into Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. We need a whole new president, like, later today. This guy’s nuts. Also, they can all be charged with espionage under 18 U-S Code 793 “Gathering, transmitting or LOSING defense information."And a German newspaper found live mobile numbers and email addresses for Waltz and Gabbard and Hegseth. I’ll circle back to that. Also Waltz and Gabbard and Hegseth are three of the biggest idiots in this nation’s history. And I’m going to go further out on a limb and answer the MOST intriguing, MOST unaddressed question of this entire mess: why in the hell would the name of the editor of The Atlantic pop up automatically in the auto-composition in the phone of National Security Adviser Mike Waltz? Huh? Is MY name in there too? How about Jasmine Crockett? Goldberg was in Waltz's phone because Waltz put him there, and Waltz is denying it because Trump will fire him if he believes that's true. The other issues here are all valid and intriguing and as a story, boy did they hit the cloud just right and we got 77 inches of snow, this story has TWICE as much engagement world wide as any other news story this year. But the NEWS here is, this is NOT a Trump plan to keep reality from America. THIS is an AMERICAN plan to keep reality… from TRUMP. B-Block (31:30) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: American governments mishandle information as if that's what they were hired. It's been true since the Confederacy dropped Robert E. Lee's battle plans on the ground in Maryland in 1862. It was true when the Bush Administration spent a day unable to send me an email, and instead wound up revealing to me all the people inside NBC News that Bush could count on to give him favorable coverage. C-Block (51:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A Pennsylvania legislator is dumber than she looks. She's touting her career 100% Score from...The John Birch Society. Steve Bannon has finally been broken - he is caveating his own violent imagery. And Bill Maher keeps growing, keeps innovating, keeps finding new ways to make an idiot out of himself. This one involves Kid Rock and Trump. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 24

SEASON 3 EPISODE 112: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Give me liberty or give me death. Patrick Henry said it 250 years ago yesterday, to galvanize Americans against the tyranny growing around them brought by an insane dictator-king. Not whatever was manifesting near St. John’s Church in Richmond where the Second Virginia Convention was meeting; not what threatened them individually; not what was at their door, but what they knew WOULD be at their door soon or late because it was already inside the homes of their fellow Americans in far off Boston. Give me liberty or give me death - because whether or not the tyrant is here for US now, he is here for our brothers and sisters. He will be here for us soon enough. And what would OUR Patrick Henry have said on March 23rd, 2025? Give me liberty or give me… a free 12-ounce coffee with the purchase of a dozen donuts while supplies last at participating outlets. Add Columbia University, my alma mater Cornell and a major Democratic-heavy law firm to the list of those who when the chips were down saved themselves and told the rest of us to drop dead. The list already , the American news media, the Republican Party, the Democratic Party (save for AOC and Bernie), the former presidents, the laws, the courts, the Supreme Court, and every supposed guardrail you can think of It's not just that democracy is being raped by Trump. It's that we're standing around shrugging. And as soon as Columbia caved, Trump decided to Disappear a Cornell student. As soon as Paul, Weiss collapsed, Pam Bondi was sicced on all firms supplying lawyers to deportees or suing Trump. Give me liberty or give me up to 30 percent off on rooms at select Disney Resort Hotels when I stay five nights or longer. B-Block (33:15) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Trump again threatens MSNBC and NBC, saying MSNBC (and CNN) "will be turned off." A week ago he declared them "illegal." Do not misunderstand him. He means it. And I suspect since it's a month since MSNBC fired Joy Reid and the other anchors of color, NBC is going to through someone or something out the MSNBC window, and that right soon. C-Block (54:45) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: How unpopular is Wayne Gretzky in Canada? They smeared feces on the statue of him outside the Edmonton hockey arena. New York's Mayor may have Trump but he also has raised $36,000 this year. And while celebrating the demise of the Department of Education, Musk misspelled "Department." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 20

SEASON 3 EPISODE 111: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: The White Supremacist Trash Trump Administration thought it had gotten away with memory-holing Baseball immortal and Civil Rights immortal Jackie Robinson. They eliminated the Pentagon web page honoring Jackie's service during WWII and re-directed you to a URL reading "DEI SPORTS." They thought they had gotten away with it so much that a Pentagon spokesman named John Ullyot boasted loudly about eliminating the DEI Robinson represented (and the Navajo Code Talkers and that one Native American at Iwo Jima and the Tuskegee Airmen). And then when all hell broke loose, within 90 minutes they actually backed off and restored the page - and made it MORE racist, insisting that they would only honor Robinson as an ex-serviceman, not as a man who may have saved this country from becoming then, what Trump is trying to make it into now. And for all the reversals, one other company's website associated with Jackie Robinson DID scrub any references to "DEI" from its mission statement and has not responded to the Robinson blowback. The other company is of course... Major League Baseball. This is hardly the most important of the daily parade of Trump Atrocities. It may, however, may the most symbolic. B-Block (23:40) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A podcaster insists what's happening to Tesla is "worse than January 6." Life comes at you fast: Friday, Minnesota State Senator Justin Eichorn introduced a bill to make "Trump Derangement Syndrome" an actual legal thing there. Monday he was being arrested for trying to pay a 17-year old for sex. And why did Jake Tapper drink another pitcher of Kool-Aid and call it "The Gulf of America"? Well there are some people who become their salaries, nothing more. C-Block (43:00) GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK: See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 17

BULLETIN SEASON 3 EPISODE 110: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) BULLETIN: Schumer follows his cowardice towards Trump with cowardice towards Democrats, cancels book tour the day it was to begin. Insane Dictator Trump decides Biden's pardons are " void, vacant, and of no future force of effect" because he questions Biden's mental awareness, raising three small problems: 1) this puts TRUMP's mental awareness on the table and at the center of all HIS legal decisions going forward; 2) it obviously didn't occur to him but if President 47 can invalidate the pardons of President 46 for any reason, then President 48 can invalidate the pardons of President 47 for any reason - and all those people doing potentially indictable things like Marco Rubio and Tom Homan and Pete Hegseth and Elon Musk can no longer be certain they will avoid legal exposure (DUH) just as Rubio (with the help of countless agents and with Karoline Leavitt joining the plot from the White House podium) add to evidence of a conspiracy to violate the rulings of federal courts; and 3) it means that all the pardons Trump has already issued (like of the January 6th terrorists, or Steve Bannon, or Charles Kushner) or the ones he's about to (like Pete Rose) are in doubt. Great work, Sparky. THE REST OF THIS BULLETIN IS A REPRISE OF TODAY'S REGULARLY SCHEDULED PODCAST (17:15) SPECIAL COMMENT: How do you remove a Senate Democratic Leader? CAN you remove a Senate Democratic Leader? Oh my, yes. You can do it before the top of the hour. Certainly before tomorrow. I'll lay it out for you. It can happen provided you note Schumer is having a book event tonight at the Enoch Pratt Central Library in Baltimore at 7 PM. It takes a little guts. Takes angry civilians. Takes the 36 Senate Democrats and one Independent whom Chuck Schumer betrayed to stick their necks out again. Takes the whole lot of them to run the minor risk of fracturing the Senate caucus or the Democratic Party - but why not? It's not like they're doing anything. Not when TWO new polls suggest Democrats are fed up with this group, that vast majorities demand RESISTANCE to Trump, not bipartisan crap, that the leader who best represents the ideals of the party is AOC (10%) as opposed to Obama (4%) and Schumer (2%) and worst of all - nobody (30%). We should be talking about resistance, about Trump being twelve points underwater on the economy, about Musk retweeting the claim that Hitler didn't commit the holocaust, his public sector workers did, about Trump beginning to defy court orders to illegally deport people to third-party strongman states. But we're not - because of Chuck Schumer. Time for him to GO. B-Block (38:15) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The world is coming apart and Politico devoted its lead 26 paragraphs to a journalism party. Alina Habba is a moron, Part 9,763. And Marco Rubio and the "president" of El Salvador are mocking American law. See you at the World Court, boys. C-Block (49:15) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I'm under the weather and that always flashes me back to the day I was 21 and my doctor since my childhood gave me some muscle relaxants without warning me of the side effects. Hilarity ensued. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 17

SEASON 3 EPISODE 109: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: How do you remove a Senate Democratic Leader? CAN you remove a Senate Democratic Leader? Oh my, yes. You can do it before the top of the hour. Certainly before tomorrow. I'll lay it out for you. It can happen provided you note Schumer is having a book event tonight at the Enoch Pratt Central Library in Baltimore at 7 PM. It takes a little guts. Takes angry civilians. Takes the 36 Senate Democrats and one Independent whom Chuck Schumer betrayed to stick their necks out again. Takes the whole lot of them to run the minor risk of fracturing the Senate caucus or the Democratic Party - but why not? It's not like they're doing anything. Not when TWO new polls suggest Democrats are fed up with this group, that vast majorities demand RESISTANCE to Trump, not bipartisan crap, that the leader who best represents the ideals of the party is AOC (10%) as opposed to Obama (4%) and Schumer (2%) and worst of all - nobody (30%). We should be talking about resistance, about Trump being twelve points underwater on the economy, about Musk retweeting the claim that Hitler didn't commit the holocaust, his public sector workers did, about Trump beginning to defy court orders to illegally deport people to third-party strongman states. But we're not - because of Chuck Schumer. Time for him to GO. B-Block (23:45) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The world is coming apart and Politico devoted its lead 26 paragraphs to a journalism party. Alina Habba is a moron, Part 9,763. And Marco Rubio and the "president" of El Salvador are mocking American law. See you at the World Court, boys. C-Block (33:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I'm under the weather and that always flashes me back to the day I was 21 and my doctor since my childhood gave me some muscle relaxants without warning me of the side effects. Hilarity ensued. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 13

SEASON 3 EPISODE 108: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: If Donald Trump were a foreign agent trying to destroy the U-S from within… what would he be doing differently? Crash the stock market, bring on a recession, make it worldwide, with economic policies so insane that yesterday CNBC called them insane, not only get out of NATO but pit the US AGAINST NATO, sacrifice countries to the Russian dictator, push a cease fire in Ukraine that serves only to give Russia 30 days to re-fortify their troop positions, threaten our forever allies like Canada and Mexico, cut off humanitarian aid fast enough to start killing people via disease outbreaks in the same month, start dragging citizens and LEGAL immigrants off the streets and hold them incommunicado in distant concentration camps without trial prior to deportation, try to break the constitution to hold office to avoid prison, blackmail the owners of the major media companies to support him or at least destroy their news outlets, violate every law and make sure all the prosecutors and judges are loyal to you and NOT to the law, decapitate not the EXCESS in government but the people who know how to stop plane crashes and epidemics, turn the agencies over to every con man and idiot and loser and lunatic he could find, roll back human rights for minorities, burn all governmental records, base his decisions on the failed economic policy of 1894 that the professor must’ve been talking about the ONE day he didn’t cut class in college, give a line item veto to a compulsive liar drugged-up foreigner who literally blows up everything he touches, and finally take a 100 million dollar bribe (I’m sorry, contribution) in public during a live infomercial for the druggie’s self-driving self-detonating cars. AND WHY WOULD Democrats give these creatures what they want? Why would Chuck Schumer try to finesse the Continuing Resolution as it comes to the Senate, when it is really just a bill to let Musk continue to resolve to shut down the government. Amazingly, Democrats fear being blamed if they block the bill and... there is a COMPLETE shutdown of the government. It's madness. The Republicans celebrate what the Democrats fear. AND UPDATED FOR 2025 with unspoken references to Trump and a video montage spanning the hero's time to literally this month that ended with Elon Musk and the loudest booing I've ever heard, last night saw the first preview of George Clooney's Broadway version of "Good Night And Good Luck" in which he stars as Murrow. It's a technical masterpiece and the message is as ever timely and even urgent. And I had the privilege of being there. B-Block (27:50) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Baseball has more new crap caps, only among these is one that spells out a vulgar Hispanic term for women's breasts. One of Marco Rubio's top State Department employees turns out to have been an online troll aimed at... Marco Rubio. And The Guardian asks "Is Stephen A. Smith The Answer for the Democrats" and the answer is surprisingly simply: no damn way. C-Block (43:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL. Since Stephen A. is clearly part of an organized campaign to make us all stop breaking into laughter at the thought of him running for president, let me just tell the story of why moving from sports into politics may not be the best idea. I use as my example... myself. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 10

SEASON 3 EPISODE 107: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: He has to go. And Minority Whip Katherine Clark. And Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar. And for that matter, Gavin Newsom has to go. Because after these standard-issue moderate Democrats vanished on election night they have suddenly reappeared 125 days later to address the REAL issue: Democratic House members who actually DID something to protest Trump - even just something symbolic like Al Green did, or those who supported him did. Jeffries and the others called them to a "come to Jesus" meeting to warn them never to ignore his "Dear Colleague" letter again, that the way to stand up to Trump lighting the county and the world on fire is to hold up mincing little pickle ball paddles with mild words on them and especially to coordinate outfits while not clapping. Out. Jeffries, Clark, Aguilar. And anybody else who doesn't realize that the last people capable of piercing Trump's bubble are Democrats at his speeches to Congress, and the media which has failed at the task even more than the Dems have. We need civil disobedience and instead Jeffries is warning Democrats, and 10 Democrats are joining the fascists, in punishing Democrats. And Newsom? His comments about trans athletes are bad enough. That he did them during a podcast with Charlie Kirk, arranged by Newsom's ex-wife Kim Guilfoyle, is far worse. I mean Newsom's judgment was already in doubt (he married Kim Guilfoyle FFS), but this is insanity. The nation is ablaze and the Dems are sending strongly worded notes. The media continues to collapse.It believed Trump's lies about pressuring Russia while he was in fact increasing his demands of Ukraine to include Zelensky resigning. And when Trump told a reporter he couldn't ask a certain question the White House Correspondents Association continued its policy of not commenting. And golly why did Trump think he could publicly threaten Nicolle Wallace and Rachel Maddow? Well, because of Joe Scarborough, obvs. B-Block (38:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Stephen A. Smith is not running for president, but keep asking him. Happily he IS showing he doesn't understand the first thing about any of this. His newest political crush? Candace Owens. Meanwhile Musk doesn't understand sports or America. And the Prime Minister of New Zealand fired a diplomat for reminding Britain that Trump is simply doing now what they did to Czechoslovakia in 1938. C-Block (49:20) THURBER SPECIAL: Thurber House in Columbus, Ohio, needs about $200,000 to keep going. The least we can do is raise consciousness. So for the first time since the election here is not just one but two Thurber stories: my favorite ("A Box To Hide In") and my late father's ("I Went To Sullivant." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 6

SEASON 3 EPISODE 106: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Hidden behind Trump’s complex multi-layered endless hallucination that his address to Congress shows he is beloved and the stock market isn’t crashing and Speaker Johnson’s Chief of Staff WASN’T arrested on a DUI right after the speech and the MAGGOTS aren’t furious at him and the newest polling doesn’t suggest he’s already lost nearly a fifth of the Trump Bros under 30… there is a much more real and much starker truth: he has already moving to make NOT LOVING HIM… illegal. The attempt is underway to make PROTESTING THE TRUMP DICTATORSHIP against the law. Early Tuesday, Trump posted what seemed like a warning against pro-Palestinian protests on American campuses. In fact it says nothing about what kind of protests he'd make illegal, so let me tell you what he really meant: Let me re-write this to reflect reality – the reality inside Trump’s plans to imprison you. 'All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests. Protests like ‘Black Lives Matter’ are now illegal. Protests to save Medicare are now illegal. Protests against your favorite president (me) are now illegal. Agitators will be imprisoned… American students will be permanently expelled or depending on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS! NO DEMOCRATS! Thank you for your attention to this matter.' He also dropped a second hint inside that test of human endurance in front of the House and Senate of how he will use the new anti-Deepfake law to prosecute you for sharing videos of him, whether they're real or they're not. Because therein lies the true danger of a deepfake law: claiming a REAL video is just a fake. And of course don't miss out on the attempt to censure Rep. Al Green, the true hero of Tuesday night. They will vote today on punishing him for doing nothing compared to the previous Karen-ing by Boebert and Greene, or the infamous Joe "You Lie" Wilson. WE should be voting on whether we want Al to be the Democratic nominee in '28. Or the head of the entire party. Or the mandatory role model behind whom all the Democrats should've walked out in solidarity. B-Block (31:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Those Trump Bros? The under 30s who pushed Trump over the finish line? They have abandoned him. Poll numbers among them down 15-30% in the first MONTH. Ukraine and the peacekeepers explained. Which Trumper would you take first in the Moron Draft, JD Vance, Karoline Leavitt, or Alina Habba? And when Joni Ernst campaigned on going to Washington to get hog and make 'em squeal, little did we know! C-Block (44:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Jeff Shell, reportedly running CBS before he's legally allowed to? Well 15 years ago he tried to run NBC before he was legally allowed to, and I have the receipts. Appeaser Governor Polis of Colorado learns what you get for helping Trump: Trump wants to cut off funds to Colorado. And Nancy Mace has a Lion Gender Identity Crisis. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 3

SEASON 3 EPISODE 105: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump has just lost World War Three. Trump listens to Musk maybe because he recognizes Musk is more insane than he is. Musk literally wants to own and rule the world. Musk just demanded this country withdraws from NATO. Other Muskers and Trumpers are following. If we leave NATO its remaining members will turn into a private hunting ground for Putin, or China, or both. Eventually he or they will run out of European countries to destroy and subsume and he or they will turn to destroying us. As Senator Chris Murphy said yesterday: "The White House has become an arm of the Kremlin." It's that simple. Trump is the Russian Commissar of America. And he's already lost World War Three - and evidently so have the British. Back home, Prime Minister Starmer did the unthinkable, met Zelensky not at the front door of Number 10 but he went INTO Downing Street to embrace him on the sidewalk. The front page of yesterday’s far right tabloid the Daily Mail headlined “outrage over U-S President’s humiliation of Zelensky” and insisted “Now stop the state visit for Bully Trump.” Demanded the British WITHDRAW their invitation for Trump to go there. But within hours their ambassador here undid all of that. Lord Peter Mandelson went on ABC This Week here and called for a “very radical re-set” that “has to consist of the United States and Ukraine getting back on the same page and President Zelensky giving his unequivocal backing to the initiative that Trump is taking to end the war and to bring a just and lasting peace to Ukraine.” Europe's nations “need to back the calls for a ceasefire and by the way I think that Ukraine should be the first to commit to a ceasefire and defy the Russians to follow." Hey, Lord Mendacious? Forgotten already? Zelensky already signed a cease-fire with Putin. Signed in 2019. Putin broke it in 2022. 200,000 guys named Lord Gaseous and Sir Toby Belch and they sent the one who sounds most like Neville Chamberlain. The British are defending Zelensky but their Ambassador just surrendered to Hitler. I mean Trump. No, Hitler. It’s impossible to believe the Prime Minister hasn’t fired Mandelson already (“recalled” is the polite term; “vaporized” would be the accurate one). Regardless the schism is present and the schism is a repeat, a throwback, a re-enactment of 1938, where as Churchill said the British leaders had a choice between shame and war. They have chosen shame, they will get war later. The war THEY got later was World War Two. The war WE will get later will be World War THREE. We will have to go to war – the real thing, none of this Iraq bullshit – the real thing, millions dead – not just to free Europe and all the other places who thought we understood that the world is simply successfully managed tension between the forces of more-or-less-good and the forces of the Putins, Hitlers, Musks, Trumps, Chamberlains, and Mandelsons… not just to free them but to save whatever’s left of this nation after the headstart Trump and Musk are giving, right now, as we speak, to Putin and China. Thus I’ll repeat what I said in the bulletin after the pre-planned performative and nauseating ambush of Zelensky last Friday: Trump has not only imperiled the freedom of the United States of America AND the existence of Ukraine AND the independence of all the nations of Europe he has also lost all moral right to keep power in this country and he must lose that power. B-BLOCK (25:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: So. HOW does he non-violently lose power (and it must be non-violent, albeit probably unconventional)? I have the beginnings of ideas: a shadow cabinet, weekly press conferences to co-opt the Sunday and Monday news cycles, a huge multi-faceted protest at Trump's speech to Congress tomorrow. Aggressive behavior. Maybe the Democrats can do it, maybe not. Also: some thoughts on Trump pardoning and baseball seeking to reinstate Pete Rose, the alleged pedophile and child rapist. C-BLOCK (48:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Andy Ogles just proposed a law that will fire anybody who altered the FBI evidence on Jeffrey Epstein. So you want a law forcing the firing of Kash Patel and Trump? Cool! Trump stooge Ed Martin wants to prosecute something that never happened. And we've missed the true meaning of the Jeff Bezos launch of Katy Perry, Lauren Sanchez and Gayle King on Blue Origin: BEZOS WANTS TO SEND HIS OWN GIRLFRIEND INTO SPACE LOL. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 28

SEASON 3 EPISODE 104: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN BULLETIN : Firstly I apologize to President Volodomir Zelensky and the people of Ukraine, on behalf of the United States of America. The REAL people of the United States of America, not the half-brained Russian stooges and assets. Our sense of shame and regret is immeasurable. OURS, the REAL people of the United States of America - almost always generous, largely well-intentioned, and when we are neither, when we are at our most self-centered, at LEAST smart enough and willing to let other people fight our fights for us, and die battling fascists and dictators like Putin instead of us. We will never let Trump forget what he did to you do today. We will make him atone. And all those who serve him and do not resign just in sheer embarrassment over being so wrong so loudly and in the service of such a moron as Trump – they have from this day forfeited their legitimacy as quote “leaders” of this nation, as the pack of diarrhetic farm animals Trump calls a cabinet has from this day forfeited ITS legitimacy as a government. And to that point, Trump must now lose power. Today was a 24-hour consumer boycott, poorly publicized, poorly covered by our increasingly stenographic media. Now we must have a 24-day consumer boycott. Then a 24-month consumer boycott. Today we witnessed the most disgraceful and un-American act by any president in our history and I include Nixon and Watergate, and Bush and Iraq, and everything Trump has previously done. Now we must consume his presidency and force it to do nothing but defend this disgusting, pre-planned act on behalf of Putin and Russia every hour and every day and every week until we force him to resign the presidency. On Presidents Day the 50501 Movement protested in Washington and in state capitols. Now we must protest Trump and his attempt, of which today’s shameful attack on Zelensky WAS a part, to install him permanently in power, and we must do it every day, in every city, until nothing else in this country matters and nothing else in this country HAPPENS. In the ‘60s and before and after we mobilized on the street to protest and stop the degradation of our citizens of color and the murder of our citizens of EVERY color via the draft and the Vietnam War. Now we must have protests that recognize that at this moment, all of us, you and me, are being shaped by Trump and his terrorist gang into the equivalent of the victims of segregation and the draftees sent to Southeast Asia to be slaughtered. Civil disobedience, tax strike, general strike. Today, CNN, Politico, The Washington Post and others downplayed what Trump did and positioned it as a "scolding" or a "shouting match" as opposed to a deranged attack by a deranged man. Now, these news organizations must either stop pandering to an immoral dictator or lose as he will. Because Trump crossed his Rubicon today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 27

SEASON 3 EPISODE 103: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: There is an alternate, rogue religious theory about an afterlife. It goes like this: "Hell" is not some place deep in the earth or anywhere else with eternal torture and fire. In fact, what we call "life" - THIS is hell. There is considerable new evidence this week that this theory is probably correct. The Washington Post had already been proving that its slogan "Democracy Dies In Darkness" was not a warning but Jeff Bezos's game plan. Now he's made it official: Op-eds are out; pro-Trump "liberties" and "free markets" are in. Other opinions need not apply. Bezos is a fascist. And he's only the third of three media disasters this week. To my surprise, Rachel Maddow DID say something about the Racist Purge at her MSNBC. Unfortunately, it wasn't the truth. She gave out the corporate cover story that Joy Reid "left" and "went out the door" and and and... she was FIRED. I guess I should've known. Rachel also didn't tell the truth when I left. I had kept her in my confidence as I negotiated my exit in 2010 and 2011 and the night it happened she was on Maher's show and though she knew everything, when he asked her about the breaking news - a few hours after my last email to her suggesting "this is it" she answered "This is the first I’m hearing about any of this. I know nothing about it.” And Trump's response to MSNBC throwing Reid into the volcano as a human sacrifice? He's threatening to sue them all anyway. And change the laws. And then there's the White House Correspondents Association. It did nothing about Trump trying to rewrite the Associated Press's stories. So now he's told them they will no longer select the pool reporter. But don't worry, the WHCA's cowardice won't go unpunished. Its president will be one of the new MSNBC hosts who can get sacrificed in the Trump Bottomless Bit later. B-Block (35:38) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Welcome to political scrutiny, Stephen A. Smith. Musk loves Trump - now. 2020? Called him an effing idiot. And this is how bad it is: Trump put one of my exes on the Kennedy Center board. C-Block (44:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: She's in the news and we need the laugh, so once again, the saga of my two dates with Laura Ingraham, one of the last times I thought "this might be the night I die." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 24

SEASON 3 EPISODE 102: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN BULLETIN A-Block (1:44) BULLETIN: Now FIVE different anchors of color have been dismissed, demoted, or had their shows cancelled in an MSNBC purge so brutal and racist that it makes you think the place is being run by Elon Musk. The newest victims? Katie Phang, gone. Jonathan Capehart, loses his show. Ayman Mohyeldin, who was held up as the example of "we're not racist, we're giving him the show" when Mehdi Hasan was fired? HE'S lost the show. There wasn't even a non-anchor of color fired as cover (Katy Tur?) If this sounds familiar it's the same playbook used at CNN three years ago. Destroy the product, drive away the audience, claim it's about business and not fascism. And it's something GE wanted to do with MSNBC in 2009 when our success was too much trouble for Chairman Jeff Immelt. And where by the way are the protests from Maddow, Hayes, or O'Donnell? (9:00) ON JOY REID'S FIRING: repeated from today's full episode of the podcast. Feel free to not listen again, it's half an hour. Yes, firing her is racist and maybe worse yes it is designed to keep out people who might think differently and it is designed to reward professional political salespeople like party chairmen and press secretaries. But most of all, since they also fired Alex Wagner, it means that four women of color have solo hosted prominent shows ON MSNBC and all four of them have now been fired. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 24

SEASON 3 EPISODE 101: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump fired the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and replaced him with a junior officer he brought back from retirement whom HE claims once wore a MAGA cap in his presence. Then he fired the Judge Advocate of the army, the Judge Advocate of the Navy, and the Judge Advocate of the Air Force. What you have been told by news organizations – even ones that still have good reporters – that this is part of the Trump Racism Orgy. The fired Joint Chiefs Chairman Charles Q. Brown is black. The Chief of Naval Operations was a woman. Their identities are cover stories and red meat for the Trump cult. Trump looked at the top lawyers at the Army, Navy and Air Force, the ones who would tell him, no, you can’t have the Army shoot civilians, and you can’t have the Navy blockade Vancouver and Greenland and the Panama Canal, and you can’t bomb the next Democratic convention… and he fired them. At least six different reporters and commentators on the military beat said the same thing. Firing the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is bad and a red flag. Firing the T-JAGS, the Judge Advocates, the lawyers who tell you when something you are going to do with the military is illegal… can mean only one thing… you are planning to do something with the military that is illegal. You fire the people who would SAY it’s illegal and replace them with people who would say it ISN’T illegal. There are degrees of nightmare ahead. They all amount to different versions of Trump's plot to permanently take over the government by using the military. B-Block (26:20) THE FIRING OF JOY REID: Yes, firing her is racist and maybe worse yes it is designed to keep out people who might think differently and it is designed to reward professional political salespeople like party chairmen and press secretaries. But most of all, since they also fired Alex Wagner, it means that four women of color have solo hosted prominent shows ON MSNBC and all four of them have now been fired. C-Block (58:00) SPORTSBALL CENTRAL: I could not have been more wrong about hockey's Four Nations Faceoff. But at least I wasn't as wrong as Wayne Gretzky, now under deserved attack in Canada as a remorseless Trumpist, and rapidly becoming The Man Without A Country. (1:11:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Senator Thom Tillis begins to suck up to Trump. Jared Polis, "Democratic" governor of Colorado, should resign. So too should Phil Murphy, "Democratic" governor of New Jersey. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 20

SEASON 3 EPISODE 100: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump thinks we are not vulnerable to attack because the Atlantic Ocean separates us from Europe. He literally wrote this yesterday. This illusion of oceanic walls was shattered no later than the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941 and more likely the first time a German craft was seen off the shores of this country during the First World War. It's madness. It's disqualifying. And it got lost amid the madness about calling Zelensky a dictator and threatening Ukraine and Trump describing himself as "King" and and and... " This war is far more important to Europe than it is to us. We have a big beautiful ocean as separation.” Ironically, the man who disproved the "separation" was Charles Lindbergh with his solo crossing of the Atlantic and it is Lindbergh's America First Isolationists of the '30s whom Trump is now emulating. If you've ever wondered what it would have been like had Lindbergh become president and done a deal with Hitler, stop wondering. We're living through it now - only with Putin. AND DON'T DISMISS THE "KING" STUFF: “Congestion Pricing Is Dead. Manhattan and all of New York is saved. Long live the king.” I don’t know who the king could BE in this construction if Trump doesn’t mean Trump. I do know a Tea Party slob Trump made Deputy White House Chief of Staff promptly tweeted it with an AI image of Trump in fetching king’s robes that like his suits was clearly cut to hide his belly. The official White House account then put out a fake magazine cover with him wearing a crown two or three sizes too small. It is tempting to dismiss this as trolling but at minimum this is part of the effort to make him look omnipotent and mandated instead of a president with 49-point-eight percent of the vote and a disapproval poll rating that went from 41 percent on inauguration day to 51 percent last week. B-Block (31:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Markwayne Mullin makes everybody really uncomfortable at a Senate hearing. The NHL somehow thinks Trump's threats against Canada are an excellent marketing tool for their little hockey game tonight. And Stephen A. Smith thinks it's an embarrassment that people keep saying he should run for president and by people he means himself and by embarrassment he means please somebody say it. C-Block (42:20) COMIC RELIEF: Two lighter stories. There's the weirdest thing ever said to me by an athlete in an interview, by the late hockey great Bobby Hull, who is posthumously in the news. And there was a flashback to my original MSNBC show at of all places The Animal Medical Center. And the flashback involved making fun of Wolf Blitzer. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 17

SEASON 3 EPISODE 99: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: There's a small problem (naturally) that Trump overlooked (of course) when he misquoted (evergreen) the probably-apocryphal (saw that coming) Napoleon quote "He who saves his country does not violate any law.” The problem should be obvious. What if I think I'm saving my country FROM Trump? What if you think you are saving your country FROM Trump? Set aside for a moment the implicit stochastic call to terrorism or just law-breaking from Trump to his supporters. What about his message to them? Us? You? Me? Did he just indemnify all of us? Seems kind of dangerous. On the other hand, seems like something that somebody who has slipped fully into a delusion of universal support would say. The implications are, like Trump and Musk, just staggering. ALSO WHY IT'S TIME FOR A NEWS BOYCOTT OF THE WHITE HOUSE: Again, I don't have enough space or words to tell you how much this won't happen, but the response to the White House attempt to dictate what the Associated Press gets to write (and open the path to telling you what YOU get to write) should be obvious and unanimous: don't send any reporters to the White House or Air Force One until the AP is restored. And I'm sure The Washington Vichy Post and The New York Bothsidesist Times and CNN (Certainly Not News) will be right out front. On the other hand, there IS a good media pushback idea: A Democratic Shadow Press Secretary,. B-Block (31:25) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Some Dominican voters in Reading, PA, who according to the Mayor there voted for Trump because they just assumed when he said he'd deport "illegals" he'd give them amnesties because they're good people. Mark Zuckerberg is back, suppressing ads for the ever-controversial (checks notes) Invictus Games. And Jim Vandehei and Mike Allen praise the "masculinity" of Musk and Trump even though the four of them don't have enough masculinity to fill up a thimble. C-Block (40:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: A confession. I didn't lie when I said why I discontinued the 2016-17 GQ Series "The Resistance." Nor did I tell the entire truth. I will now. It involves a threat against me, an inadvertent meeting with old SportsCenter friends, a deep hatred of the topic of Trump, and the firing of a loyal colleague. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 13

SEASON 3 EPISODE 98: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Many Americans will not stop lying to themselves about Trump’s insanity. But the rest of us have to. The rest of us: every politician who steps in front of a microphone, every news producer who begins a newscast with some other story made trivial in contrast, every columnist who writes about alarm or some quarters or this Ohio diner, every commentator tempted to say this was the moment Trump truly became president. Trump is manifestly insane and this week he has entered that stage of whatever it specifically IS that’s wrong with him, that is characterized by mania: the conviction that something that is impossible WILL happen simply because he SAYS it is going to happen. HIS mania happens to be about Gaza. The next one could be about the sun rising in the west. Or about how Americans would survive a nuclear war because he’s leading them and he’s immortal. Mania doesn’t have to be MANIC. It doesn’t require hyperbolic words nor unsuppressed rage nor vivid hallucinations. He’s insane. He believes in things that aren’t true and can’t be true and he has a rationalization ready for whenever somebody tells him that they can’t be true. There is nothing of the cliched crazy man in his voice as he talks about Gaza. Nevertheless this guy is metaphorically about one inch away from having conversations with invisible gophers. He says the land is beautiful and he will "cherish" it. His language matches what someone would say if they were having sex with the land. It's a form of what film-maker Billy Wilder allegedly told Nancy Reagan when she quizzed him about why the character played by Gloria Swanson had a pet chimp in their movie “Sunset Boulevard”: "that's because she was f'ing the monkey." Trump talks about Gaza like he is f'ing the monkey. B-Block (30:04) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Fox's Emily Compagno knows how to reform the media. Literally have them just republish Trump press releases. Well, it works for Fox. Dinesh D'Souza celebrates an Army Base NOT being re-re-named after a Civil War General, and Eric Adams, polling at 10% to be renominated for Mayor of New York, has not only sold out his city but now he is actively toying with switching to the GOP, where he will probably poll at LESS than 10%. C-Block (41:10) IN SPORTS: Oh man do I hate it when leagues shut down their seasons so the players can play made-up international tournaments. Wait, only the National Hockey League does that? As part of its marketing strategy to make this great game even LESS prominent? And by the way its new tournament unfolds as the 45th anniversary hits of a truly great international tournament: the 1980 Olympic Hockey medal competition. I covered it, and I'm still cold. Memories, and one of my radio reports, included. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 10

SEASON 3 EPISODE 97: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump and Musk and Vance are now clearly signaling their intent to ignore the court orders keeping Musk from pillaging the government financial computers and your personal information. It is the informal beginning of their Civil War against the government of the United States of America. We're not at Fort Sumter yet but it's visible. Yet there has been no update on the news that Trump’s minions have already been giving loyalty tests to applicants to the FBI, other law enforcement, national security, that include questions like “Yes or No: Was The 2020 Election Stolen” and “Who is your REAL boss?” No updates from Saturday’s Washington Post story and as nearly as I can tell it didn’t even COME UP during any of the Sunday shows. The question NOW becomes what happens when – and this seems increasingly inevitable – Trump and Musk defy the court orders and again access the treasury. First of all, who is there to STOP them? What do the courts who have ruled against them, and the others who are likely to rule against them THIS week, and the litigants like the 19 Attorneys General, do next? Does this go directly to the Supreme Court where the corrupt theologians can say “ah but we have precedent in this area. If you can’t prosecute an EX-President for crimes, if HE’S immune, how can you prosecute anybody for crimes ordered by a SITTING president?” in which case it’s official, it’s a dictatorship. Or TRUMP looks at the judges and say THEIR behavior is actually an attack on the country and HE invokes the Insurrection Act and rounds up the judges and the Democrats and… me. The other option is intermediate steps by the judges who really really don’t like being ignored and who while they might hesitate to pursue Trump, would probably line up to pursue Musk and the others. They could quickly order Contempt of Court orders against Musk and his employees and there are scenarios in which they move quickly enough to put them in holding cells for defying legitimate orders. Or there could be a confrontation between Court Officers and police loyal to them, and Musk’s people and police loyal to THEM. Or there could be a VIOLENT confrontation between those groups. Or this could end up the Juan Merchan route in which the courts act so slowly, so stupidly, so violating their purpose and indeed their history of blocking corruption, especially corrupt businessmen maneuvering a hostile takeover of the government, do… nothing. There IS one wild card I see here. Trump says he will have Musk look next at the Education Department and then the Army. If Musk tries to do to the Pentagon what he's done to the Treasury and goes in there, they may never find him. The rest of this episode repeats Sunday's emergency edition about Trump is having them ask candidates for jobs in his administration’s FBI field stations away from D-C what is probably the most chilling question ever asked by any government of the United States: “Who is your real boss?” This is, if you do not know, in The Washington Post’s brief, damning, almost (despite everything) unbelievable, nightmarish report posted late Saturday night. The Post is quoting applicants for the FBI and other top National Security positions – and they hint some of these are people who were IN these organizations, dismissed, and are being the opportunity to return to work. At least two FBI applicants were asked at least two questions out of George Orwell or the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany. One, you heard: Who is your real boss? If you need more, don’t worry, there IS more. Who were “the real patriots on January 6th?” We know through the Post’s reporting, of at least two other questions, asked of those being interviewed for some kind of leadership positions WITHIN the Trump national security apparatus IN Washington. They are told to answer yes or no to each. Question one: was January 6th an “inside job?” Question two: Was the 2020 presidential election stolen? At least these two applicants told their interviewers ‘no.’ Neither was hired. Just the asking of these questions alone – never mind the answers, let alone the implications that it is anything BUT political science fiction to conclude that some people have already answered YES and are moving into roles at the FBI and other law enforcement and national security organizations – just ASKING these questions, signals the end of democracy because if today you can ask candidates for FEDERAL law enforcement positions to swear personal loyalty to their “real boss” and if today you can ask candidates for those same positions to insist lies about January 6th and the 2020 election are the truth, and that the truths are lies… then tomorrow you can make it ILLEGAL to answer that the 2020 election wasn’t stolen, and then next week you can make it illegal to publish or broadcast that the 2020 election wasn’t stolen, and then the week after that you can put anybody who does in prison. We are already here. To be in law enforcement, you have to prove in advance you are willing to lie for Trump. I hope every bothsidesist reporter and whatboutist executive and bipartisan Democrat has a secret plan they've been saving for the last possible moment. Because we are at the last possible moment. PLUS: Musk is now hinting at ignoring the court ruling restraining him from further access to government computers and payroll systems. If he and Trump don't obey the rulings force of some kind will have to be applied and this entire issue of democracy versus dictatorship may come to a head faster than ever anticipated B-Block (41:42) MORE SPECIAL COMMENTS: We are at the point where I hope I've never been righter and the continuation of democracy actually does depend more on the stupidity of those trying to destroy it than it does on the efforts of those of us trying to save it. But there are measures we take - or at least our wobbling, dubious opposition party can take: deny support for anything in the House and put a personal hold on anything Trump wants from the Senate. And we need a Wartime Consigliere or if you're from this century, The War Doctor. C-Block (56:45) WRAPPING IT UP: I don't know when the next episode will be. I do know we need our own answer from Hakeem Jeffries and every other Democrat to the question of the hour: Who's Your Boss? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 9

SEASON 3 EPISODE 96: EMERGENCY EDITION A-Block (1:45) (AN EMERGENCY PODCAST): Trump is having them ask candidates for jobs in his administration’s FBI field stations away from D-C what is probably the most chilling question ever asked by any government of the United States: “Who is your real boss?” This is, if you do not know, in The Washington Post’s brief, damning, almost (despite everything) unbelievable, nightmarish report posted late Saturday night. The Post is quoting applicants for the FBI and other top National Security positions – and they hint some of these are people who were IN these organizations, dismissed, and are being the opportunity to return to work. At least two FBI applicants were asked at least two questions out of George Orwell or the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany. One, you heard: Who is your real boss? If you need more, don’t worry, there IS more. Who were “the real patriots on January 6th?” We know through the Post’s reporting, of at least two other questions, asked of those being interviewed for some kind of leadership positions WITHIN the Trump national security apparatus IN Washington. They are told to answer yes or no to each. Question one: was January 6th an “inside job?” Question two: Was the 2020 presidential election stolen? At least these two applicants told their interviewers ‘no.’ Neither was hired. Just the asking of these questions alone – never mind the answers, let alone the implications that it is anything BUT political science fiction to conclude that some people have already answered YES and are moving into roles at the FBI and other law enforcement and national security organizations – just ASKING these questions, signals the end of democracy because if today you can ask candidates for FEDERAL law enforcement positions to swear personal loyalty to their “real boss” and if today you can ask candidates for those same positions to insist lies about January 6th and the 2020 election are the truth, and that the truths are lies… then tomorrow you can make it ILLEGAL to answer that the 2020 election wasn’t stolen, and then next week you can make it illegal to publish or broadcast that the 2020 election wasn’t stolen, and then the week after that you can put anybody who does in prison. We are already here. To be in law enforcement, you have to prove in advance you are willing to lie for Trump. I hope every bothsidesist reporter and whatboutist executive and bipartisan Democrat has a secret plan they've been saving for the last possible moment. Because we are at the last possible moment. PLUS: Musk is now hinting at ignoring the court ruling restraining him from further access to government computers and payroll systems. If he and Trump don't obey the rulings force of some kind will have to be applied and this entire issue of democracy versus dictatorship may come to a head faster than ever anticipated B-Block (26:20) MORE SPECIAL COMMENTS: We are at the point where I hope I've never been righter and the continuation of democracy actually does depend more on the stupidity of those trying to destroy it than it does on the efforts of those of us trying to save it. But there are measures we take - or at least our wobbling, dubious opposition party can take: deny support for anything in the House and put a personal hold on anything Trump wants from the Senate. And we need a Wartime Consigliere or if you're from this century, The War Doctor. C-Block (41:20) WRAPPING IT UP: I don't know when the next episode will be. I do know we need our own answer from Hakeem Jeffries and every other Democrat to the question of the hour: Who's Your Boss? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 6

SEASON 3 EPISODE 95: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Now that the Democratic Party and the nation has realized that Musk is at the center of a Trumpian coup to privatize the government, the question becomes: HOW do we arrest Elon and his Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles? The reality of the crises of the tech-bro coup and the putsch to violate the constitution and the multi trillion-dollar attempted heist and Trump’s plan to invade Gaza so he can personally own it has gotten through. Congressman Al Green has confirmed he will make a motion to impeach Trump and remember even failed impeachment bills give the impeaching party a perfect record in the next House, Senate, and Presidential elections. But until we can replace the Supreme Court, Trump is immune. However, Musk is not immune. None of his little minions are immune. Any of the officials at USAid or in the Treasury Department or OMB who admitted these little clowns into secure areas are not immune, in fact they are subject to espionage charges and they will still be subject to them four years from now. There are at least 28 lawsuits in progress against the various tentacles of Musk's cyber-version of Oceans 11 meets The Nigerian Prince who only needs your routing number. One has already stopped the destruction of birthright citizenship in its tracks. And local prosecutions are doable and reasonable. The key to putting Musk away is publicity. What he is doing a story CREATED for local television news and its older, less affluent audience: somebody sent hackers into the government where they, right now, could be stealing your medicare money and social security? It’s EXACTLY what local television producers live for: Here’s Jack Liveshot in Scarsdale with his guest Concerned Grandma. This is low-hanging fruit because everybody hates Elon Musk. EVERYBODY. And body will hate him more than all the little tech-bros after it turns out Musk is NOT omnipotent and to do his dirty work for him, ends with your ass in jail. First one to flip on Musk gets probation and a brand new Hotmail account and AOL installation disk. B-Block (29:24) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Did nobody tell Roger Goodell of the NFL that to suddenly declare yourself anti-"End Racism" is the same thing as saying you are PRO-Racism? The average Conservative who got David-and-Goliath wrong. And Rahm Emanuel is destroyed online by my pal Will Bunch with one of the most efficient burns I've ever seen. C-Block (38:40) THINGS I PROMISE NOT TO TELL: I was quoted by the Washington Post complimenting Maddow and reportedly she's pissed (that they put me in her story). Coincidentally, this is more or less the anniversary that I bypassed my bosses and hired her at MSNBC out of my own pocket. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 3

SEASON 3 EPISODE 94: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump and Musk are, at this moment, overthrowing our form of government. And this is how to stop them: Yell. Keep yelling. Government data about religious charities – private, if not necessarily secret – has wound up in the hands of Mike Flynn, the foreign asset, General Scumbag – and he’s posted it online, and mocked the Lutheran Church in doing so. Musk’s hatchet-men are literally inside the government right now demanding leaders of the U.S. Agency for International Development turn over classified documents inside restricted areas and those that have refused have been placed on leave. Trump has started a trade war with our closest allies just to have somebody for his morons to hate. Quote: “It’s a coup. Elon Musk is running a palace coup. Musk is taking classified information. Musk has taken YOUR social security number. Everybody involved should be arrested, by local DA’s if that’s all we can do, and denied bail,” unquote. A Democratic Senator, Representative, Governor, Mayor, needs to stand in front of microphones today and say that today and say that THAT BLUNTLY today. And, quote: “Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump might as well have killed those teenaged skaters on American 5342 themselves. The DC crash was their fault. Period.” Some OTHER Democratic leader, maybe the head of the Democratic National Committee, Ken Martin, elected Saturday, needs to say that. As it is, Martin says: “We’re taking the gloves off. I’m always viewed my role as a chair of the Democratic Party to take the low road, so my candidates and elected officials can take the high road. Meaning, I’m going to throw a punch.”Good. Start swinging. Because the FIRST step towards stopping wrong is by publicly and loudly yelling, THIS is wrong. A Minnesota colleague described the new DNC Chair: “Ken will cut you if he has to.” I’ll bring the metaphorical Ginsu set because right now where we actually ARE is: the nominal leading Democratic office-holder is Chuck Schumer and as Trump and Musk began to ransack your social security number and starting trade wars with our literally closest allies, Chuck Schumer’s social media Saturday afternoon was: “You’re worried about tomato prices…” and ten minutes later “You’re watching the Super Bowl…wait’ll Trump’s tariffs raise your guacamole and beer prices.” Useless. I need a thousand Ken Martins, throwing punches and metaphorically cutting a MAG-itch. I need them saying this is a coup, we will stop it, it will take time, we will beat them and jail them because bottom line is they are lazy and they leave half their lives to chance – just look at their haircuts. B-Block (30:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: CBS, NPR, New York Times, Politico, NBC all tried to kiss Trump's ring. He just hurt them anyway. And this is not a joke: Semafor is hosting a "National Summit" on how to restore confidence in media. The speakers are Megyn Kelly, the idiot running CNN, the other idiot running NBC, and the idiot running The New York Times. No - seriously. B-Block (37:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Chuck Todd gets scooped on his own firing. Chris Licht finally gets a new job. Free-lance. Temp. At scale. And Neto-Baby Peter Doocy asks Softball Scholarship Recipient Karoline Leavitt about DEI. Also you doubted she called Hitler "Hilter?" I'll show you. C-Block (47:00) SPORTSBALL CENTER TONIGHT: A basketball trade deal so bad it must have been ordered by Trump. How many Petterssons? ALL the Petterssons. And for the last damn time: hockey's "Original 6?" They aren't original, and there aren't six of them. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 31

SEASON 3 EPISODE 93 - COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN BULLETIN (1:45) TRUMP INSULTS DEAD FROM WASHINGTON PLANE CRASH: In a stunning, sub-human dismissal of those who perished over The Potomac Wednesday night that tops even his earlier insistence that "DEI" somehow was responsible for the 67 deaths (and that he knew this because he had common sense when nobody else did), Trump insulted the memory of the victims and the grief of their mourning relatives. Asked if he would visit the site of the accident, he asked "You want me to go swimming?" Also tonight: despite Trump's mindless protestations about "DEI" this is more about "DOGE." The New York Times got hold of the initial FAA report on the disaster and discovered that staffing at the Air Traffic Control Tower at Reagan National was lower than normal for this time of day and year. The dead may have been victims of The Department of Government Efficiency. If "DEI" is a dogwhistle for enraged white supremacists like Trump, "Government Efficiency" is a dogwhistle for mindless billionaires like Musk who don't just want more money - they want ALL the money. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 30

BULLETIN - SEASON 3 EPISODE 92: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) While recovery crews were literally still trying to find the bodies of the dead in the Potomac and with no material evidence of the air tragedy over Washington yet analyzed, President Trump, his eyebrows dyed an unnatural bright yellowish-white, rushed to a White House podium to explain that the crash was caused by DEI. He knows this because he claims he has "common sense," which he does not. Trump's metamorphosis into a candidate for institutionalization has now peaked with his obsession, his conviction, that the answer to any crisis, that the answer to any tragedy, that the response to any real human pain, is to blame DEI. .He must be removed from office. Impeachment bills, to be filed weekly until the minority power regains control of the House, MIGHT work. The 25thAmendment, providing for an emergency remedy for the exact inability to discharge the powers and duties of the presidency that Trump exhibited today, is the correct way to save this country. It is also, I add with I hope gravity and not menace, also the easiest. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 30

SEASON 3 EPISODE 91: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: While any culpability for the DC air disaster is still to be established and the dead are still in the water I want to withhold implying political or governmental meaning to it and focus instead on events we already can see with relative clarity. Karoline Leavitt was already so stupid that she once on-air insisted there was a word pronounced "damaning" (as in 'the evidence is damaning') and pronounced the Nazi monster's name as "Hilter." Now with one tweet she may have topped herself. How do you publicly announce that the spending freeze struck down by a federal judge wasn't withdrawn, only its ANNOUNCEMENT was withdrawn, and only in response to the judge's ruling, and the freeze is going on as planned? That's called contempt of court. Trump's lawyers will literally have to talk their way out of spending a day behind bars. Besides which, another judge has said the conflicting statements about the freeze pause are irrelevant: it cannot proceed. This all underscores what has been evident since Trump again seized power. He is burning through the relative approval and patience of an exhausted America far more quickly this time than last, and there is a reckoning coming. His disapproval number jumped SEVEN points from last Tuesday to this past Sunday. The judges are fighting back. His hirelings are idiots. The public doesn't want this. Hopefully what follows is not unprecedented. B-Block (28:50) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Washington Post continues to trivialize and normalize the Madness of King Trump. Lauren Boebert is an actual expert on laboring with your hands, so I guess her opinion on how the minimum wage is too HIGH matters. And it's Anna Paulina Luna who finally gives in and proposes a bill to put Trump's head on Mt. Rushmore. Unfortunately she's phrased it in such a way that it could mean LITERALLY: put Trump's head ON Mt. Rushmore. C-Block (36:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Nothing like the stream of consciousness that comes as you awake from the stream of UNconsciousness. On the way back from the endoscopy I saw the building in which I met Jim Thorpe's Olympic roommate from 1912, and I rediscovered the game "Midpoint" and I remembered the Twitter game from two years ago: "Hitler Handshakes." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 27

SEASON 3 EPISODE 90: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: To repeat myself - because I’m RIGHT - File motions to impeach Trump NOW. Move to impeach Trump today, AND KEEP MOVING to impeach Trump every day through next year’s midterms. Impeachment is UNDEFEATED. UNDEFEATED in American history. House Democrats: he handed you TWELVE, maybe FIFTEEN new counts on Friday night alone. Blatantly, brazenly illegal dismissals of Departmental Inspector Generals, just as Project 2025 promised, and the School Safety Board. Elimination of oversight. Elimination of legal protections against the mass murder of children. In the old days you might’ve arrested Trump. Now you are limited to impeachment bills that will all fail EXCEPT THEY WILL ULTIMATELY SUCCEED. Impeach him for the Friday Night massacre. Impeach him for circumventing the 14th Amendment. He just ramped up the migrant arrest quota to 1500 a day and started raids in Chicago yesterday: Impeach him for violating the 4th Amendment. And if I hear one more piece of blowback to my PREVIOUS call to impeach him no matter the outcome, one more head-shake from a cowardly Democrat, and especially one more factually inaccurate claim that it doesn’t work, one more self-absorbed loser saying ‘Impeach? Yeah, sounds good. How did it work out for us last time? Pretty effing well, actually. The mere TALK of impeaching Trump helped the Democrats win the House in 2018 and break Trump tri-partite control of government. The FIRST impeachment was followed by keeping the house in 2020 and after the Georgia election, taking the senate in 2020, and oh by the way the White House in 2020. The SECOND impeachment crushed any lingering attempt by Trump to overthrow the Biden Government-In-Waiting in 2021 and provided the impetus for the January 6th prosecutions. In fact, since Nixon, every party that impeached or TRIED to impeach a president won the next elections. House, Senate, White House. Thirteen straight. IMPEACHMENT – EVEN FAILED IMPEACHMENT - IS UNDEFEATED. ALSO: The Media capitulation continues. Acosta's show cancelled by the latest CNN job who hasn't been able to keep a job since 2000. And how did appeasing Trump work out for you ABC, CBS, and NBC? Trump's FCC reinstated license challenges against your stations, Trump wants Maddow jailed, and at Disney: ESPN's Stephen A. Smith just made a Trumpist idiot out of himself. B-Block (35:12) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Trump has too many Bennies to keep them all straight: can't remember the Chairman of the January 6th Committee he wants to jail. Even the NFL is sucking up to Elon "It Only LOOKED Like A Nazi Salute" Trump. And the first baseball player since like 1877 to get the mouth sores and skin rashes of Hand, Foot and Mouth disease just endorsed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. C-Block (46:25) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: You know what it's like in this country right now? It's like we all just woke up from the anesthesia in the MIDDLE of a medical procedure. You know how I know this? Because I'm one of those people who actually DID wake up in the middle of a medical procedure - and I'm having the same procedure TOMORROW. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 22

SEASON 3 EPISODE 89: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Impeach Trump. Now. Again. No, it won’t pass, it won’t work now. But it will pass, and it will work, next year, and it win the Democrats the midterms and the year after that it will brand Trump yet again as the most treacherous garbage in our history. Because lost in the avalanche of evil he has perpetrated since beginning his dictatorship, lost in the astonishment and even the despair of true Americans, lost in the numbed terrified capitulatory media coverage is the reality that his pardoning of the January 6th Traitors is amazingly unpopular, literally unpopular enough to cost him at least 43 house seats, right now, BEFORE he mindlessly signs more red meat Steven Miller slides under his piggish face. And the second part of this is: he has also already violated the Constitution of the United States. Already. Not 48 hours on the job and he is already guilty of impeachable offenses. Already. There is almost nothing to do to stop Trump NOW. The Democrats are minorities in both houses, the courts are crooked, the SUPREME court is just another Trump Scam, the billionaires like Musk and Bezos and Zuckerberg and the other tech scum have lined up beside him just as Krupp and IG Farben and Opel stood next to and behind Hitler. There is nothing to do TODAY except (to borrow from the musicals of the fascists) to make sure Tomorrow Belongs To Us. Introduce a bill, or even multiple bills, to impeach Trump. Keep the crimes he has already committed, including the ones he has been convicted of, and the ones he wriggled out of with dubious legality and non-existant morality, front-of-mind. Fight back, thwart him, anger him, waste his time, make him play defense, enrage his base, and terrify the billionaires because you could see on that mouse Zuckerberg’s face at the inauguration that he wasn’t so sure any more he picked the right side, and fight back. Moreover – give the opposition – not the resistance this time but the DEFIANCE – something to DO with this time other than just sit here and replay November 5th and all the days leading up to it in some P-T-S-D doom loop. Nothing that is wrong in the history of the world has ever been stopped without the same first step: people standing up and SAYING this is wrong, this must BE stopped. 76 and a half million people voted against Trump – 49 and two fifths percent - and we are all just sitting here saying nothing, doing nothing, watching Trump wreck train after train. B-Block (28:03) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Twitter-X user so stupid she thinks Biden "parted" more people than Trump. That he "partied" his whole family. Much worse, CNN's Jake Tapper thinks Trump ran a disciplined campaign that "depicted (him) as someone who was within the realm of normalcy." When was that, Jake? When he insisted Immigrants were eating pets in Ohio? No wonder CNN is on the verge of disappearance. And lastly: $MELIANA. You'll figure it out. C-Block (38:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: When Trumpists say I should shut up because I don't know him and I have "TDS" (what's that, I ask. Trump's Deranged Syndrome?) I like to mention that I met him in December 1983 and he wrote me a fan letter once and I've ALWAYS thought he was off his rocker. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 20

SERIES 3 EPISODE 88: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Which one of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow? Remember when he said he’d be a dictator but only on day one? It’s day one. BEST JOKE OF THE YEAR: “The great thing about moving Trump’s inauguration to the rotunda,” writes Biden-Harris advance man Doug Landry, “is that all of his supporters already know how to get there.” CAPITULATION NATION: CBS is discussing settling the most nonsensical lawsuit Trump has ever filed because the settlement would be a wonderfully legal bribe. IT'S NOT A SURPRISE IMMIGRATION RAID if you tell everybody. These fascist morons couldn't stop boasting about their move against Chicago. Now it's almost off. RAMASWAMY GONE! Or as we called him, The Schwam: GONE! Hey, whaddya know, the Department of Government Efficient actually HAS cut waste! B-Block (32:39) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Rand Paul is so stupid he thinks running hoses out of the Pacific Ocean could've stopped the Firestorm. An actual major brand is introducing a new product and the catch phrase is "It's soup you can suck!" And Trump finds a new way to spray paint something that cheap flat gold color he loves while getting the name of one of his education employees wrong. C-Block (42:00) IN MEMORY OF BOB UECKER: The second worst thing about getting old – not VERY old, just old-old – is having to watch nearly all those older than you who, accepted in what was their field and then became theirs and yours – pass on. Especially when they are the widely beloved standard-setters of those fields like Bob Uecker. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 16

SEASON 3 EPISODE 87: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: A reminder that what would become the Confederate states thought that secession was constitutional. A reminder that three and a half years earlier the Supreme Court ruled that Congress had no right to ban slavery and slaves had no rights at all. I was thinking of that as President Biden gave his farewell speech last night. Where in the constitution does it say that the nation must commit suicide because a slim majority of its voters have been fooled into believing it ISN’T? Where in the law does it say that a criminal has to be protected from all laws by judges he corruptly appointed? Where in the law does it say that one man is above it? Where in our agency over our own lives does it say that we must defer to a traitor who has corrupted politics, voting, the judiciary, everything that we must defer to him just because he’s good at being evil? And where does a President's loyalty to his people rest? In protecting the forms and rules of a broken system, or protecting those people from the greatest threat they have ever faced – the threat of his successor who has perverted that broken system to serve himself and a few cronies and whores, and condemn the rest of us? Is it Joe Biden's constitutional and moral responsibility to declare a state of insurrection and put them all behind bars… or NOT to do so? As I’ve said before, I do not have either enough words nor enough time to tell you how much this ISN’T going to happen – Doomsday, and national suicide, will continue as scheduled. Have fun! ALSO: The good news is: Pete Hegseth was interrupted three times by hecklers at the hearing for his nomination as Secretary of Brylcreem… the bad news is: it wasn’t three HUNDRED times. He might be the SMARTEST. Pam Bondi apparently didn’t hear a single threat Trump made during his campaign and Tulsi Gabbard doesn’t know what her new job is. Trump goes full Reagan: tries to grab credit for Biden and Blinken’s Hostage Deal and Cease fire. Times, Running Out: is the New York Times actually INTENTIONALLY following the self-destructive path of The Washington Post and CNN. This is not a boat accident. You don’t know Jack-Smith: going out with a whimper not a bang. Love him, but what the hell was that. And how much fun was it to hear Elon Musk make a fool of himself as LA firefighters doused his conspiracy theories with reality? B-Block (29:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The final shoe has dropped in the saga of my ex, and it has knocked Ryan Lizza out cold. Someone named Dakota Lee Dilley has completely personified the Trump (lack of) mentality: sure they were traitors but they were GIFTED traitors. And if you hate Dan Abrams or Chuck Todd, wait'll you hear Dan Abrams DEFENDING Chuck Todd. C-Block 49:30 THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Lawrence O'Donnell's last interview? My heart raced with excitement. Then it turned out it was Joe Biden's last interview. Lawrence was just doing it and he, who correctly predicted years ago he could never host a cable news show with any skill for any considerable span, is staying. A terrible human who tried to take Countdown away from me while he was filling in for me while my dad was dying. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 13

SEASON 3 EPISODE 86: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: MAGA in disarray. While the mass deportation scheme becomes the latest casualty of having elected a bunch of incompetent egomaniacs, Steve Bannon has declared war on Elon Musk. AND Elon Musk’s toady David Sachs. AND Peter Thiel. Bannon no longer will stop at getting Musk exiled from the White House because Bannon and the rest of the nativist lunatics hate all foreigners but Musk wants to not hate foreigners who can make him more rich via the H1B Visas. Bannon now wants Musk and the others to be the first immigrants thrown out of the country. He actually told this to Italy’s most-read newspaper, Corriere della Sala: "He is a truly evil guy, a very bad guy. I made it my personal thing to take this guy down... he should go back to South Africa. Why do we have South Africans, the most racist people on earth...making any comments at all on what goes on in the United States." The point isn't whether Musk actually does kill and eat Musk. It's that they fight. Because at the same time Musk is admitting he can only cut half of the "government inefficiency" he promised to, and "Border Czar" Tom Homan is warning Republicans that Trump won't be deporting millions immediately. More like 60,000. And the Trump junta has admitted it can't unilaterally lower grocery prices, or install universal tariffs, and he's not going to dig up the Panama Canal and move it to Mar-a-Lago on Inauguration Day, he ain’t buying Greenland and coercing Canada and guess what, he didn’t “settle” Russia’s war on Ukraine in 24 hours, and his minions are hinting his attempts to turn the LA fires into an exploitable political event are going to crash. And even before re-gaining power, Trump has pre-failed. B-Block (34:55) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Joe Scarborough doubles down on his role as Marshal Petain-In-The-Ass at MSNVIchy. Politico dubs him "Elon Mush" then deletes it. And Naomi Wolf thinks victims of the Southern California firestorm aren't panicking enough. C-Block (45:20) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It's bleak and the forecast for next week is Trump. So I need a laugh and maybe you do too. And this we bring you back to 1994 and the greatest off-air laugh in ESPN's history: Soccer Breakdown. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 9

SEASON 3 EPISODE 85: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Justice Samuel Alito must be off from the Supreme Court of the United States. Immediately. Today. He is without any morals, ethics, judicial standards, and if he is aware of the CONCEPT of the appearance of the conflict he no longer gives a damn. ABC News reports – and Alito confirms – that on TUESDAY he SPOKE to Trump – the day before Trump’s lawyers filed an emergency request demanding Alito and the other justices BLOCK New York Judge Juan Merchan from sentencing Trump tomorrow for his 34 convictions in the Election Interference/Stormy Daniels case here. Even though there is 0% chance of jail time, and probably not much more of one of probation or a fine. The convicted felon constitutionally ineligible president-elect is also has the TikTok case in front of the Supreme Court AND will probably take the release of either or both of the two halves of the Jack Smith report on Trump – Espionage and the Coup Attempt – to the Supreme Court to try to keep those reports from ever seeing the light of a day and this human embodiment of sleaze Sam Alito TALKED TO HIM BY PHONE less than 48 hours ago.And what is Alito’s excuse for this complete breach of judicial etiquette? Alito told ABC the conversation WAS not about the cases, it was about… a job reference he wanted to personally given to get his law clerk a job in Trump's administration - even if it's true, ALSO a conflict of interest. Sam Alito to ABC News: "We did not discuss the emergency application he filed today, and indeed, I was not even aware at the time of our conversation that such an application would be filed. We also did not discuss any other matter that is pending or might in the future come before the Supreme Court or any past Supreme Court decisions involving the President-elect." Nonsense. Sam Alito lied in the case of the political flags flown over his homes and his conflicts with neighbors. He has publicly complained that the American public has had the nerve to disagree with him. He has imposed his religious nut job views on cases at the Court. How could you be so dense, so unaware of the hatred you personally have brought down upon this once most respected of American governmental institutions, as to conduct that call, NOW? I mean this would be cheap and petty and obvious and a conflict of interest even by Trumpian standards. Just recusing is insufficient. He must be off the court. In point of fact, Alito should recuse, resign… and go to hell. SOLUTION TO AILEEN CANNON? Ignore her. Solution to Mark Zuckerberg: Wonder with what Trump has threatened him. Solution to a tough Fox News town hall: Give Trump the questions secretly beforehand. Solution to invading Greenland, Canada, and Panama when we are by treaty required to protect Greenland, Canada and Panama? You got me. B-Block (46:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Jen Psaki does a lengthy commentary wondering, four years too late, if Merrick Garland was the wrong choice to be Attorney General and she was wrong to promote him. Ultimately she decides she didn't screw up because "nobody can predict the future" even though the rest of us did. Like even Erick Erickson, whose J6 tweet resurfaces in which he called for barring Trump for office for life. And the suicide bomber Bezos brought in to destroy the Washington Post actually asked how to attract Trump supporters. C-Block (58:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The mandatory evacuation line in Santa Monica is three blocks north of the home I used to own when I worked there. It's amazing how a trivial detail like that can clarify a disaster like the L.A. fires - and how millions of us Angelenos (me included) managed to live in denial about the risks of living and building and expanding there. This is not criticism - it's confession. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 6

SEASON 3 EPISODE 84: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:50) SPECIAL COMMENT: Happy Insurrection Day, when Republicans will certify the election of a “president” who is constitutionally ineligible to hold the office according to the 3rd clause of the 14th Amendment and the Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022 and who himself fomented the assault four years ago that ended our conceit about the peaceful transfer of power. The illegitimate president’s Republican whores and servants may in fact trudge to the capitol through a blizzard to make this prostitution of democracy official The Democrats? They won’t say anything because this didn’t TEST well as a campaign ad and their flaccid willingness to risk anything in our defense is further deflated by their perception that this is a fait accompli and since it is a fait accompli ESPECIALLY because of their own cowardice they now have to do their best to compromise, and obey in advance, a group of bandits and pirates posing as a presidential administration, whose only desire TO compromise is to compromise Democrats and the Free Press and Reality and democracy itself. These are some of those Republicans: Freshman Congressman Riley Moore – “My constituents have sent me here to this town not to work with Democrats but to destroy their agenda." “We asked everyone not to leak. Please for god’s sake do not give inside information to the enemy” that's from the LEAD Republican in the House, the CREEPIEST Republican in the House since Denny Hastert, Mike Johnson and I don’t know if by “the enemy” he means the Democrats or the media or both or the temptations of his anti-porn app, and I no longer care. This is Insurrection Day and we all KNOW what the Republicans would be doing today in the mirror version of this grim reality; if they were in charge and Trump were in office and had presidential immunity and a new president was about to sign off on putting him in jail and it would be what they actually did four years ago today only they wouldn’t bother to try to be subtle or legal about it (they’d be gassing up the tanks). AND NO, JUDGE JUAN MERCHAN IS NO HERO. He too is obeying in advance. Along with the Washington Post, squeezing out cartoonist Ann Telnaes. And Brian Stelter, covering up for Fox News. And the media soft-pedaling the Vegas bomber's hopes to see all Democrats murdered, and Congressman Tom Suozzi, and soon-to-disappear Senator Kyrsten Sinema. B-Block (29:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Those memorializing Aaron Brown without including the incident about his refusal to cover The Challenger explosion; Congresswoman Nancy Mace and "Gunther Eagleman" who only read the headline; and the meticulous Oliver Darcy who only gets mentioned here because he asked a question that really traumatized me: What will Olivia Nuzzi do in 2025? (42:14) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Remember dear Flaco? The majestic owl liberated from the Central Park Zoo? There is an extraordinary new book about him. And from an old book: remember the Ash Heaps in "The Great Gatsby"? They were real and you'll never believe what was built were they used to sit. C-Block (52:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Young Tippy needs the same surgery my new pup Kitt just got, and we need your help to pay for it. (55:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It's an actors' story that invokes Trump, Orson Welles, The Odd Couple, Mike Nichols - and me? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 1

SEASON 3 EPISODE 83: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN Bulletin (1:45) In the worst post-disaster, post-terrorism news conference in our history, a string of elected officials and police and other law enforcement officers somehow managed to make worse a terror tragedy that has left at least ten people dead in the French Quarter of New Orleans on New Year's Day. If the least sophisticated form of terrorism – a car driving onto a sidewalk and then into a crowd on the street during holiday celebrations – happens in a city known for crowds on the street during holiday celebrations – do not congratulate each other on the great job you’ve done and will do - and get mad at reporters for asking how the hell it happened. And most of all, Superintendent of Police Anne Kirkpatrick and Captain LeJon Roberts, do not explain as if it were the most natural thing in the world, that the bollards – the removable stainless still blocks designed to keep terrorists from driving onto pedestrian-filled streets – that you bought a decade ago didn’t work right so two months ago you started to replace them and you have the new ones ready to go and they’ll provide total safety only they weren’t there on New Year’s Eve so you had a police car blocking the road but that the terrorist simply drove up onto the sidewalk instead. And then to listen to Senator John Kennedy, the Foghorn Leghorn of American politics, and Governor Jeff Landry, with the tone and stupidity of a supervisor of a chain gang, try to score political points, foment conspiracy theories, make jokes while bodies still lay on the streets, and assure everyone The Sugar Bowl (and, in a month) the Super Bowl will be safe because he, Landry The Human Talisman, will be there - combined with the lies of Trump and Marjorie Greene about the Texas-born terrorist being an immigrant - add up to this: the non-rank-and-file people responsible for protecting New Orleans last night didn't know what they were doing last night, and they don't know what they are doing today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 30, 2024

SEASON 3 EPISODE 82: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: My friend – and what a privilege it has been to call him that – President Jimmy Carter would disagree that he is STILL the lead story, the day after. After all, he might note, he WAS 100, he was in hospice a year-and-a-half, his own grandson said he was in his final days – that was last May 15th. How, Keith, is this a surprise to you? The Braves letting Freddie Freeman leave should have been a surprise to you! He would probably disagree he was the best since FDR, probably arguing that the best since FDR at least got re-elected. I will make my case, and more importantly, my case that the fact he WASN’T re-elected was the beginning of the end. The 1980 election was when I realized America wanted a spokesmodel, not a leader. A fake smile, not principles; often somebody dumber than they were. Even Clinton and Obama and their exceptional presidencies prevailed on charisma. That we turned away a complete human for a mentally diminished bad actor who wasn't that sharp to begin with has set a pattern we may never break before the nation ends. I will also tell the thoroughly satisfying story of how President Carter became my friend, after which there was very little I could point to professionally and say 'I have left this unaccomplished.' B-Block (29:52) NEWS BREAK: Two legal scholars insist that a week from today Democrats in the house must refuse to certify Trump’s election because the specific legislation to disqualify him for insurrection that the Supreme Court demanded in this year’s 14th Amendment case already exists. But on the Washington-focused news site “The Hill” they insist no matter what the Supreme Court says and no matter what the consequences might be, Trump has already been DISQUALIFIED from federal office under the 14th Amendment AND Article Two gives the House sole authority to confirm a presidential election and I will add that while once again I cannot tell you how much this is not going to happen it would be nice to see Democrats do something, something, anything at all, just to peacefully protest what a failed and useless crapshow the government and its supposed protections against dictatorships and authoritarians and foreign control of our government has become – and what a hapless and flaccid vessel the Democratic party has become in the wake of Trump’s treacherous conspiracies to transform and subvert what was our clunky but largely functional form of representative government in, you know, the good old days of yore, like, oh, 2013 and 2014 into a subsidiary of Trump or Musk Enterprises. You know: AmericaX. C-Block (56:20) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: What did you do on Christmas Eve? Go out into the cold, under-dressed, to search for Sasquatch? Last time they'll try that! Marianne Williamson is running for DNC chair because things ain't hella enough. And Cenk Uygur manages to beclown himself in a new way for the record-breaking 1000th time. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 23, 2024

SEASON 3 EPISODE 81: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: To paraphrase Van Jones and other panderers: This was the weekend Elon Musk truly became president. It was also the weekend the other guy became Donald J. Trumpuppet. The number of Republicans who defied Trump over the Continuing Resolution ranges, depending on your point of view, from 29 to ALL of them. Because they also voted by unanimous consent to bury Musk's fabricated controversy over the no-cost land transfer to the District of Columbia. Trump, for his part, is in a bigger hole now than he ever was during his presidency as the self-inflicted losses pile up: The Gaetz Lack-of-Ethics Report may come out today. Other nominations are in trouble. One new one may be Alan Dershowitz and another may have padded his resume. The idea of Recess Appointments is forgotten. Trump has been taunted with the "Musk Is President" chatter. Some Republicans are taking it seriously and suggesting him for Speaker. And that in turn let Democrats emphasize Trump tanked the deal to benefit his interests with the Chinese Communist Party. And Trump spoke yesterday for the first time in weeks and sounded drunk - which is a problem, because he doesn't drink. All while he is being pursued by his two worst enemies: himself - and Musk. B-BLOCK (27:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Remember my suggestion that MSNBC's response to Trump's win and its own tanking ratings was to do nothing but double down and exploit the Liberal Media Monopoly the cowards at CNN, The Washington Post and others were giving them? Guess what! MSNBC's new boss wants... better relationships with Republicans. (40:56) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Martin Shrkeli emerged from his sewer to get owned on social media, New York sends a bill for damages to the family of a guy a police officer killed with an unmarked car, and are there secret Mark Burnett Trump Outtake Tapes? Don't ask Burnett - he now works for Trump. C-BLOCK (50:20) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: You have your Christmas story, I have mine. Mine is about falling off a cliff near Malibu filming a commercial for fast-food chicken. Stick around for the post-closing theme guest appearance Easter eggs courtesy some of my dogs. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 18, 2024

SEASON 3 EPISODE 80: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump’s chief thug wants to put Rachel Maddow in prison. Steve Bannon: “I need investigations, trials and then incarceration… Andrew Weissmann on MSNBC and Rachel Maddow and all of them." Oh and just so we are clear on this: YOU are next. Or close to it. Trump is this close to suing YOU for writing mean tweets about him. Or for not voting for him. Or, if your name is Anne Selzer, for putting out a Des Moines Register election poll that didn’t favor him. Emboldened by such pathetic self-prostituting excuses for American leadership as Jeff Bezos, Patrick Soon-Shiong, Joe Scarborough -- and Bob Iger and all the snatch-defeat-from-the-jaws-of-victory cowards at Disney and ABC News -- Trump has now lost any remaining sense that anybody is even going to try to stop him. It is hard to point at a crazy man and say he’s now lost it, but… he’s now lost it. You are next. Well, you’re probably behind me, and we’re both behind Maddow, and she’s behind Anne Selzer, but you know what I mean. So Bannon wants to lock up Maddow and others at MSNBC and their co-workers Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski scuttled to Mar-a-Lago to save their own worthless asses. Ten days ago the entertainment news site Variety asked me to write a piece for their year-in-review on what MSNBC should do now. The TL;dr was: double down because all the other progressive and neutral news organizations have fled in fear and left you the same kind of opportunity for monopoly that we had there in 2005. The audience will be back with you directly. Stay the course. Of course you have to fire Mr. and Mrs. Scarborough or you let them turn you into MSN- Vichy. I'll give you a longer version of what I did for the magazine. B-Block (32:07) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Trump's Tariffs Plan. It apparently never dawned on him it would draw retribution. Ontario's premier threatens to cut off the Canadian electricity that directly services 1.5 million Americans. A Democratic pollster says the campaign should've been food costs not democracy and never once gets near the actual answer: both. And the most recent GOP candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania can't tell the difference between a "downed drone" and a "toy movie prop headed for the next Comicon." C-Block (41:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: At 86, Ted Turner is in-and-out. At 43, when I worked for him, none of us would have bet on him still being in, at all. He was a crazy man and a danger to himself, and thank goodness he steered out of the skid. But the crazy version left me countless stories, like the time he nearly fired me over the cameraman's choice of hats, and I nearly responded by socking him. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 16, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 79: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: It is now revealed that at a Thanksgiving-eve dinner on a patio at the Mar-a-Lago Crapshack, Trump had his minions play a recording of the national anthem sung by the January 6th Terrorists. Some of them at Trump’s table put their hands over their hearts as the people who stormed our capitol intending to take over our government sang words, the actual meaning of which they cannot possibly understand. Per The Wall Street Journal, one of those who put his hand over his heart during this travesty was… Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg leads the parade of pathetic billionaires also including Jeff Bezos and Sam Altman, who just happen to be donating a million dollars to Trump's inauguration committee. Except for ABC News, which is donating FIFTEEN million to Trump's presidential museum (which may be in an empty warehouse or a sinkhole somewhere) to settle his frivolous and easily winnable defamation case against George Stephanopoulos. On March 22nd, 1979, I was ushered into the small office of a Vice President at the ABC television series “The Wide World of Sports.” His wife had been an assignment editor at the local New York TV station I had interned at the previous summer – though we were not there simultaneously. He and the Mrs. and my friends from the local station all warned me this gentleman would not have a job for me nor even any job leads, just advice. His name was Robert Iger. “Call me Bob,” he insisted. Within fifteen years he was president of ABC and thus the boss of all my bosses at ESPN and he was my boss there three times and for two further years at ABC and he gave me brilliant advice I've repeated a thousand times: if you want to be on the air, don't take an off-air job. It has truly changed lives. And now, after 45-and-a-half years I’d like to repay Bob Iger and give him MY advice: Sell ABC News to somebody who actually cares about the future of news and the future of journalism and the future of this country because you guys at Disney ain’t it any more. What do you think you bought for yourself here, Bob? Trump’s gratitude? Him somehow remembering you fondly the NEXT time ABC News does something he doesn’t like, like, say, accurately report how many people show up to his inauguration, or how many insurrectionists he pardons, or how many people die during the migrant round-ups into the migrant concentration camps? Even if Trump CAN still remember do you think he WILL remember? Or all the mini-Trumps? What you have done is merely become part of the process by which freedom of the press, and freedom in the nation, dissolve. My advice, offered again in gratitude for YOUR advice in 1979: sell ABC News to somebody who cares. B-Block (27:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Did Trump demand the end of Daylight Savings Time but think he was demanding the end of STANDARD Time? Van Jones plus Chris Cillizza equals Extra Large Stupid. And the New York radio station that is quite literally running a bulletin "sound" for "DRONE WATCH 2024." (39:27) SPORTSBALLCENTER: I have actually solved baseball's playoff crisis, the one in which in three of the last four years the team with the best record has been eliminated in its first playoff round and 14 of the 24 division winners have, too. It's actually a really really good idea. C-Block (52:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Offended by this CNN crapfest every night where Abby Phillip lets this jackass Scott Jennings insult everyone and everything good about America, in front of an ever-shrinking audience? We tried this at MSNBC long ago only the clown was Michael Savage. It didn't end well for us and it ain't gonna end well for CNN. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 12, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 78: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: How did this not generate more headlines? It's just a proposed maneuver out of the legal morass Judge Juan Merchan has helped Trump create. But New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg has suggested that one way to solve this sentencing/but he's president/but we can't dismiss the conviction is to treat Trump - in a legal sense - the way you treat a convicted defendant who DIES before he appeals or is sentence. In short: just pretend Trump is dead. SPEAKING OF A BROKEN LEGAL SYSTEM: I'm not advocating for that, nor for guys assassinating CEO's five blocks from my home. But our legal system is broken and it would behoove commentators, columnists, writers, those who suck up to the moneyed class, and conservatives to stop being so surprised at the idea that maybe a majority of Americans is not as outraged as the wealthy are at the actions of Luigi McDreamy. Maybe you need to wonder more about why they perceive the legal system to be broken and the corporations to be legal excuses for nobody being responsible for innocent people dying and being injured. CHRIS WRAY OBEYS IN ADVANCE: He'll quit as FBI director before the inauguration. Maybe he can make a comeback as Trump's second pick for DNI because Tulsi Gabbard is being attacked from the left, the middle, and now from The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board. Also Hegseth's been caught in another lie, about something he had said in public 48 hours earlier. B-Block (23:46) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: The World Cup goes to Saudi Arabia because everything is for sale. And an announcement of a candidacy for New York City Council suddenly made me realize that Bill DeBlasio and Eric Adams both became mayor here in part because between us one of my exes and I screwed around with the 2013 campaign. OOPS. (30:22) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Yes she sneaked a gold-plated gun into Australia but how else was she supposed to protect herself at clown school? Speaking of: Newsweek beats the L.A. Times to a "Fairness Meter" for its articles. And Elon Musk insists there's no homelessness because now is exactly the right time for a CEO to assert that. C-Block (39:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: My favorite Holiday story. The day, on my way to interview Mickey Mantle, I ran into somebody I mistook for just another fan - albeit a well-dressed man. Oops. Turned out he was one of the stars of the greatest movie ever made. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 9, 2024

SEASON 3 EPISODE 77: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump's return to the world of TV interviews is important (and crazy) but the shooting of the head of United Health Care just blocks from my home actually seems to be one of the watershed moments of 21st Century American Politics. We have often descended into the slough of despond that all political parties, voting, law, government, the entirety of the power structure mean nothing and that the only way to change things is violence. I think we're entering such a stage. If so: fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night. AS TO TRUMP apart from his latest threat to imprison opponents (everybody on the January 6 House Committee should go to jail) did anybody notice his insistence that we are "subsidizing" Mexico and Canada by $100 Billion a year and at those rates they should become states. Wait. What? Mr. Numb Nuts Psycho President? If Mexico is a STATE in the United States – you know, where you are right now – the people LIVING there become CITIZENS of the United States, so not only can’t you deport people from the US State of Mexico… but you can’t put up a wall between Texas and the state of Mexico and in fact you can’t inhibit movement BETWEEN Mexico and any state of the union. I hope somebody told MAGA about Trump’s new Mexico solution: make it a state. That’d be two senators from Mexico and if New York has 20 million people, 26 congressmen, Mexico with130 million people at 13 congressmen per 10 million residents would get 169 Congressional seats. Trump proposes giving Mexico 169 seats in the US Congress. Also a GOP Senate operative uses the A-word on Tulsi Gabbard, and a Trump operative is ready to blackmail Republican Senators to get Pete Hegseth confirmed anyway. B-Block (25:00) THE OTHER WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: "Democratic" Governor Polis again sides with Sideshow Bob Kennedy. Laura Loomer isn't just hateful, she's stupid. And Marshal Petain would be proud: Jeff Bezos, Joe Scarborough, and Mika Brzezinski all double down on collaborating with the Trump Regime. C-Block (35:55) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: My Lunch With Elie. How a delightful afternoon getting to meet Elie Mystal meant I did NOT meet Martin Scorsese. That, in turns, evokes the story of Francis Ford Coppola unintentionally paying a former colleague of mine something like a million dollars to be in the background of one scene in Godfather II. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 5, 2024

SEASON 3 EPISODE 76: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: I'd like to thank the one person doing the most to undermine and derail the Trump transition, and dissipate any momentum he might have. Trump himself. He learned nothing from Matt Gaetz and so Pete Hegseth spends another day "twisting slowly, slowly in the wind." We are now reduced to Hegseth's mother pleading directly on Fox to Trump - staring in the camera as she does so - to continue supporting her idiot child for Secretary of Defense. But when asked if she'll testify on his behalf to the Senate confirmation hearings she refused to commit to it. Amazeballs. What's relevant here is that among the big names mentioned as Plan B is yet another Republican congressman. If he gets the job rather than Hegseth or DeSantis or Ernst, the GOP will have a House margin of one (1) vote - which isn't a margin at all. ALSO: I TOLD YOU SO. Sunday night I suggested not only should Biden pardon Hunter but that he should pardon everybody else he thinks of. Last night Politico reported they're talking about it, but that only the names Adam Schiff, Tony Fauci, and Liz Cheney came up. And in case like me you thought Chris Cillizza and Chuck Todd were the same person, have I got a shock for you. B-Block (33:43) SPECIAL COMMENT NO. 2 - I have been pondering when we started on the road to Trump - or at least when we discovered that what should be the final guardrail to protect American democracy, the President himself, wasn't a guardrail at all. I've settled on January 19, 2009 and read you what I wrote and said that night and even what sounds awfully like a prediction of the advent of Trump Brand Stupid Fascism. C-Block (52:00) IN SPORTS: Have you heard about it? The worst sports idea of all-time? "The Golden At Bat" as proposed by Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred. It is a gimmick as stupid as if you stopped the 7th Game of the NBA Finals and had the title decided by a free-throw shooting contest. And it's supposed to "attract young people to the game" which is a euphemism for "we expect you fans to be intensely concerned with how much money we owners make." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 3, 2024

SEASON 3 EPISODE 75: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN Special Edition (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Some time over Thanksgiving in Nantucket the light bulb went off over Joe Biden’s head and he finally realized that no, the norms and traditions and institutions to which he and most of the rest of us have dedicated our lives did NOT miraculously re-grow, did NOT suddenly spring, fully restored and intact, from the ground. He saw that not only was his son about to go to prison because of his own foolish decision to not interfere with an enfeebled Department of Justice, and because of the dictator it let get away, who would now aim his DOJ at Hunter Biden - and Joe Biden - and anybody else - for personal revenge. The President figured this out and pulled his son out of harm’s way. And much of he left attacked him for it. They are Morons. I don’t care about Hunter Biden, particularly. I care about the fact that we are 48 days away from a nascent military dictatorship taking over this government, supported by an unknown percentage of the population that wants to see Hunter and Joe Biden hanging from construction cranes parading through the streets, and wants to see Trump in power for life. A We JUST got one more guy out of their sights and we JUST shoved one more plotline up Trump, and up Kash Patel and Pete Hegseth and Stephen Miller and whichever other lunatics Trump wants to take over the asylum. And countless liberals – and anti-Trumpers – think this will actually provide cover for Trump pardoning the January 6thinsurrectionists because apparently for the last ten years they have been hallucinating and thinking Trump has ever bothered to seek cover for anything. Or they think we should be "better" than them. The Trumpists are planning to put us in camps. I don’t care if we are better than them or worse than them or monstrous to them. If somebody’s going to go to camps, it ain’t going to be us, it’s got to be them. End of debate. In addition to explaining why this was not just the right decision but should be a template of thousands of further pardons, permit me to excoriate a bunch of the clowns who cannot see the forest for the trees. Or the fact that the forest is on fire. And then for giggles we have the moronic comments of Nate Silver and Dinesh D'Souza, complaining about pardons when he himself got an undeserved pardon. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 2, 2024

SEASON 3 EPISODE 74: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) BULLETIN: Biden pardons his son. Terrific. Fully support. Now, do the rest of us. Literally offer a pardon to anybody Trump might go after for prosecuting him, criticizing him, covering him, or looking at him funny. I want a 1-800-PARDONME hotline. I want 10 million pardons. SPECIAL COMMENT (2:44): And the pardons should be a jumping off point for how Biden can protect the citizens of this country. What does THIS mean, exactly? “I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.” Joseph Robinette Biden Junior has taken that exact oath NINE times – seven, as Senator, two as Vice President. He has sworn to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and nothing I have found, and no Constitutional scholar I have consulted, indicates that once taken, those oaths expire. And the obligation to defend the United States becomes more profound still now that presidents have been immunized by the Supreme Court from prosecution for.. effectively anything. The incoming President, the one who wants an unqualified toady like Kash Patel to head the FBI and desperately wanted a lawless menace like Matt Gaetz to head the DOJ but will instead settle for a cheap lawyer who LED the “lock her up” chanting against Hillary Clinton at the Republican convention, that president-to-be will be immune and thus unstoppable. The CURRENT president IS immune and thus unstoppable. And already in power and in command and… under oath. So. This raises this theoretical constitutional question: Do the TEN oaths Joe Biden took as Senator, as Vice President, and as President, even PERMIT him to NOT act against enemies, BOTH foreign and domestic – and defend the Constitution of the United States? So help him god? When the Supreme Court has immunized him from prosecution for doing… anything? Anything at all? As long as it’s official? B-Block (24:52) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: You do realize that Trump's lies about his phone call with the president of Mexico means we will, soon or late, invade Mexico, right? The quote from the Trump Transition Team member to Rolling Stone is "How MUCH do we invade Mexico?" Trump has now nominated both his daughters' fathers-in-law as envoys to the Middle East - including the one who set up his brother-in-law with a taped sex sting and sent the tape to his own sister. And why did JD Vance post a meme of himself in a dress? C-Block (36:00) THE OTHER WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Vivek Ramaswamy self-owns over unelected bureaucracy. We've found George Carlin's Worst Doctor In The World and he owns The Los Angeles Times. And Sideshow Bob (RFK Junior) is seen, uh, hanging out, in his wife's new supplements commercial. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 25, 2024

SEASON 3 EPISODE 73: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Is Elon Musk going to buy MSNBC and turn it into pro-Trump propaganda channel? And, if not Musk – could somebody else? I may be asking the question backwards. Is there anybody to STOP someone, Musk or not, from buying MSNBC and turning it into pro-Trump propaganda? Well – who stopped Musk from doing that to Twitter? Who stopped Warner BROS Discovery from buying CNN and doing that incompletely but sufficiently enough to render CNN irrelevant in television news? We don’t know for certain that MSNBC is for sale. Companies like Comcast take assets like MSNBC – which by itself has made a profit of something around five or six billion dollars since I made it into “the liberal news channel” in 2006 – and spin them off into another separate company they also own, and throw in CNBC and Oxygen and The Golf Channel and USA Network and half a dozen other assets and do it so hastily they don’t even have a name for the new company and they’re just calling it “SpinCo” – companies like Comcast do that all the time and never sell the new separate company oh no I'm being informed they never do that. Musk and Trump Junior have now had a "joking" exchange about it online but it underscores that this is exactly what Musk did to twitter and there's nobody and nothing to stop him from doing it here. This comes as The Wall Street Journal reports how corporations are seeing Musk as the new portal to Trump - and so is China. And as a purported old friend of his is insisting Musk has lost control of himself. This did not begin with the Joe Scarborough Trump disaster last week (though his audience in the "advertiser demo" is down to 51,000 people). It didn't even start with Trump. It pre-dates even my arrival there in 1997. MSNBC and NBC News and NBC and NBC's corporate owners have been at loggerheads continuously since long before the first newscast in 1996. To understand what's happening now, you have to understand what's happened already. B-BLOCK (31:35) SPECIAL COMMENT 2: This is not MSNBC's first existential crisis. The pre-Comcast corporate ownership at GE was ready to not merely sell the then-newly profitable network in June 2009, it was ready to shut it off and shut it down, just because the mother of the chairman of GE was a Fox fan and Bill O'Reilly was insulting her son. What happened then, and what happened with my departure in 2011, again forms a straight line with the sudden spin-off and the Musk "joke." C-BLOCK (48:00) THE OTHER WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Philadelphia police department thinks a burned body may be "suspicious" (no; it happened naturally). Pete Hegseth once insisted it couldn't be rape if she was too drunk to refuse consent. And Nancy Mace and her chest are attacked by her former Communications Director. It's all part of life's rich pageant. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 21, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 72: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN: A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Hours after the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee ask the FBI for its report on the Attorney General Matt Gaetz Underage Sex Scandal, an extraordinary Gaetz Sex Diagram leaks. It's the Venmo records of the Venmo payments by Gaetz and others to the women in question, and there are more crossing lines and different routes than the map of the London Subway system. And it underscores anew why the Democrats must never compromise nor collaborate with Trump or Republicans who defend him. To hell with Jared Polis, who decided to suck up to Sideshow Bob Kennedy about vaccines, or Hakeem Jeffries, who declared the nomination of these gangsters like Gaetz and Hegseth as "distractions." Throw punches. Eat faces. Metaphorically drive the metaphorical Trump Train off the metaphorical track as often as possible. And most of all, never become Joe Quisling Scarborough or his wife, Marshal Petain Brzezinski. I can state with some assurance that this time, finally, he has ended his career. Morning shows the world over always see their ratings grow as it gets later (more people are awake). The average growth from 6 AM to 7 AM is around 20% On Monday, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski saw their 7 AM ratings DROP by 17 percent compared to their 6 AM ratings. On Tuesday, ratings for the WHOLE show were down ANOTHER eleven percent from Monday. Scarborough is now on the path we at MSNBC used to call “A Rita Cosby.” On Monday, the debut Rita Cosby Live and Direct has the highest ratings on the network. On Tuesday, it’s down a typical 10 percent from the debut. By Wednesday HALF the audience is gone. On Thursday, it’s a re-broadcast of “Rita Cosby Live and Direct.” On Friday it’s “What was the name of that show we used to have that Rita Cosby was on?” Joe and Mika are done, and they are going to hit every stair on the way down. And for those of us for the whom the headline is "You somehow BELIEVED Scarborough was being sincere?" we are going to enjoy every thud. B-Block (23:45) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Matt Gaetz gets dunked on about 18-year old laws, JD Vance directs his misogyny against Steve Bannon's woman CFO and has to eat it, and Marjorie Taylor Greene has actually invited a transgendered woman somewhere to meet her - Greene - in the bathroom and beat the crap out of her (Greene). C-Block (34:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Because my schadenfreude diet hasn't started yet let me tell you the whole Joe Scarborough story. This scumbag finally ran out of other people to try to sabotage and instead destroyed himself. In my days before I escaped MSNBC it amazed me he ever got on the air: he spent 90% of his time and 99% of his energy on trying to sabotage Maddow and me and others. And so he goes from "Joey Scars" to "Joe Scared-Bro." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 18, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 71: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump has started down the path to purges of the military, political prosecutions and show trials. His fascists have actually leaked plans to court-martial and even seek treason charges against army leadership and even retired generals. NBC News reports: "“The Trump transition team is compiling a list of senior current and former U.S. military officers who were directly involved in the withdrawal from Afghanistan and exploring whether they could be court-martialed for their involvement, according to a U.S. official and a person familiar with the plan. Officials working on the transition are considering creating a commission to investigate the 2021 withdrawal… and whether the military leaders could be eligible for charges as serious as treason… “They’re taking it very seriously,” the person with knowledge of the plan said." Thus, President Biden has to proactively pardon ALL of them. In point of fact, President Biden must now assemble a list of thousands of people to pardon – in the military – in the Democratic party – in state and local governments – in election supervision - in the media – in the protest movements – in the climate movement – people in any of the fields this psychopath Trump thinks wronged him and against which he is not only plotting retribution but now actively PLANNING it. Hegseth, already facing an unlikely confirmation due to, you know, Crusader Tats, has now been revealed to have paid off a woman after a sexual assault allegation in 2017. Trump may throw him under a bus but he's reportedly doubled down on Matt Gaetz at DOJ: “Trump wants Gaetz confirmed ‘100%’ a source told CNN. ‘He is not going to back off. He’s all in’” This figures to turn on whether or not Trump and the majority of Republican Senators who will not vote for Gaetz meet in the middle - and the middle is a Recess Appointment (and a dictatorship). So, back to my earlier point about Pardons. B-Block (23:30) SPECIAL COMMENT 2: There IS much to do, no matter how January 20th and the days thereafter play out. You want some practical advice? A little spiritual inspiration? St. Hubbins Day if not St. Crispin's Day? Got half an hour? Cause I have half an hour of advice. C-Block (56:0) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Haven't done these in awhile but somebody was asking about our election night and special political coverage at MSNBC in 2004-06-08-10 and I flashed back to the continuing adventure that was Chris Matthews - particularly how he began ogling a prominent woman in the church at a presidential funeral and I was assigned to get him to stop. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 15, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 70: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN BONUS EDITION: We are missing the POINT of the nominations of Sideshow Bobby Kennedy and Beavis and Botox Gaetz. This, simply, is Trump finding out how MUCH of a dictatorship his Republican House and Senate slaves will let him have. It's hard to believe that the literally worm-eaten brain of RFK Jr and the Madison Cawthorn wannabe that is Matt Gaetz could decide whether the Republicans will stop him here (or anywhere) but this is where we are. Because Trump is explaining his plan: I decide, I tell you what to do, and you do it or else. We are already HERE: THIS is the fork in the fascist road: deliberately choose people with no morals, no qualifications, and no qualities except absolute fealty to the dictator, then insist everybody else salute them. Same for Noem. Same for Gabbard. Same for Hegseth. Same for Patel. THE NEXT TEST will be openly demanding that he be permitted to run again in 2028, if he isn't dead by then. A lot of people asked me why I devoted so much time to the topic yesterday since it's a settled issue. Congressman Dan Goldman was concerned enough by Trump's third term "joke" to introduce a resolution affirming that the 22nd Amendment precludes it. Except, since early this year, the far right has been insisting that you're wrong, that's not what the 22nd Amendment says. The headline in a recent edition of the magazine The American Conservative : “TRUMP 2028.” Sub-head: “The 22nd Amendment is an arbitrary restraint on presidents who serve non-consecutive terms – and on democracy itself.” The American Conservative, by the way, is a "partner" of Project 2025. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 14, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 69: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Forget for a moment "Attorney General" Matt Gaetz and the bottom falling out of the market for prosecuting men who have sex with underaged girls. Forget for a moment associating Tulsi Gabbard with the word "Intelligence." Forget the prospect of Press Secretary Sage Steele. Even forget Trump's plan to adjourn both houses of Congress so he can appoint an entire cabinet without a single hearing and the Republicans rushing to bark like seals as the Lame Duck Dictator starts rolling out the Third Reich. The lead story was a different 'third.' “I suspect I won’t be running again,” Trump said to his newly elected Republican House slaves, “unless you say ‘he’s good, we got to figure something else” and every news organization reported he was joking and kidding and trolling and - spoiler alert - he’s NOT. He’s NOT kidding. He’s intending to stay in office and if we’re nice to him he’ll let us elect him again. They've been working on this for more than a year: it's a re-interpretation of the 22nd Amendment and the two-term limit, claiming it means three CONSECUTIVE terms, or going around it and getting him by any one of four different backdoors. That Trump is emboldened enough to go public with his "kidding" tells you how badly he has misread the shock this would create. Oh yes, everyone reported, he's a kidder. He's kidding. Ask Mike Pence how much of a kidder he is. MEANWHILE: Lincoln had his "Team of Rivals." Trump is building his "Team of Trifles." And the key appointment isn't Gaetz or Gabbard or Huckabee or any of these other empty vessels. It's Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense because when the protests against Trump starts and he wants the protestors to face U.S. Army tanks and be shot with your taxpayer bullets, the guy who is just crazy enough to order it is this lunatic Hegseth. B-Block (27:54): POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Jack Smith will get out, and get out a report. Putin continues to turn the screws on Trump. At Mar-a-Lago, Elon Musk is "getting a little big for his britches" (Ozempic time!). Musk is also at war with Steve Bannon. Melania won't live at the White House. And one third of network news viewers voted for Trump so all the limp ABC/CBS/NBC coverage mattered more than we thought. C-Block (40:00): THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Olivia Nuzzi has suddenly backed off all her stalking claims against Ryan Lizza. Wait I'll get my dumpster-sized bag of popcorn. Tim Pool, Pine Cone. And the Idaho Republican who tells a Democrat to go back to where she comes from. You won't believe which minority group she belongs. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 11, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 68: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:00) SPECIAL COMMENT: If you're wondering who's the boss here it ain't Trump. Putin refused to call him first and instead had Russian State Television "celebrate" his becoming the 21st Century Grover Cleveland by showing nude photos of Melania. Russian TV - which has figured out Trump is a lame duck - also reported Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo would not be in the new administration long before Trump announced it. Putin also seems to have soured on RFK Jr, leaving Sideshow Bobby to aspire only to becoming Secretary of Masturbation. MEANWHILE, NO, THE ELECTION WAS NOT STOLEN - not in the sense you're thinking. It WAS stolen in the sense that the fascists and the anti-democracy billionaires have been running a series of illicit, hidden, disguised pro-Republican advertisements 24/7/365, for at least thirty years. They have been bombarding the underachievers of this nation, the incels, the morons, the idiots, the bros, and now the social media addicts of America, with a series of easy-to-digest, sweet-tasting conspiracy theories on a thousand streaming networks and podcasts and the Democrats have...MSNBC. The Left not only doesn't compete in the new Marketplace of Ideas it doesn't know where the shops are. It has to change this or you can forget '26 and '28 as well. On the other hand, this circular firing squad? Utterly ludicrous. It looks like Kamala Harris will have ultimately lost by 1.5% which would make Trump's the fifth SMALLEST popular vote win all time. You do not burn it all down after that. You rebuild. B-BLOCK (32:15) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Corey Lewandowski and Chris LaCivita show us what winning means: you get to try to kill your rival on the winning team. Finally we figure out what's really behind the deportation scam: the companies that will make billions building the private prisons to turn into concentration camps for deportees. Nevermind the future of NATO. Will its members ever trust us with intel again? And the Dallas Cowboys honor founding coach Tom Landry on Veterans' Day by...misspelling his name. But it'll all come out in the wash. C-BLOCK (40:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: With only 7% of the city believing he didn't commit a crime, New York Mayor Eric Adams has reached out to...Trump. The Massachusetts congressman has the New Democratic rallying cry: Transphobia! And the White House "correspondent" so stupid she publicly accused the Democrats of trying to fix the Kari Lake/Ruben Gallego race so they can "steal" Congress. Except Lake and Gallego were running for the Senate! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 7, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 67: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: "No one in this world, so far as I know—and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me—has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby. The mistake that is made always runs the other way. Because the plain people are able to speak and understand, and even, in many cases, to read and write, it is assumed that they have ideas in their heads, and an appetite for more. This assumption is a folly." H.L. Mencken (1926). Nice of Hispanic males to vote for the guy who will deport all their relatives and friends and namesakes and when they run out, deport them. Also: the anti-Trump conservative who's trying to be optimistic: at least now Trump won't try another coup! And Jeff Bezos congratulates Trump because if they're still blackmailing Bezos on Trump's behalf, this is what it would look like! And details on the future of this podcast (yes, it has one). B-Block (20:51) SPECIAL COMMENT TWO: My theory of The Lifeboat and how it explains who voted for Trump and why. C-Block (34:00) GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 6, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 66: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN Russia has committed an act of war against this nation and our government. We were attacked last night, as certainly as if they came across the borders or BOMBED polling stations - 40 or more - 32 Russian bomb threats just in Fulton county Georgia alone. And what are you going to do about it, President Biden? What are you going to do about it Merrick Garland? There is real-time evidence of Russian interference in our elections. Russians deciding who becomes president, who goes to the Senate, the house. 32 bomb threats – many already identifying as coming from Russian email sources – in the most Democratic part of Georgia. A quarter of the state’s black population subjected to a terror attack – in Fulton and DeKalb Counties. And in Pennsylvania – one that closed a county elections offense for an hour, at least 10 others. AND in Wisconsin. AND in Michigan. AND in Arizona – at least 10 in Arizona. AND when Georgia extended voting, the Republican National Committee went to court to stop it. Regardless of the outcome of the election, this is an act of war. Russian interference means Trump – Trump already admitted at the debate he talked to Putin AFTER he left office - and now Trump means Elon Musk and we know Musk has been in contact with Putin frequently since 2022, and turned Twitter into a whorehouse for pro-Russian and pro-Trump indoctrination. The Russians just shot our democracy in the heart and those who are there solely to protect it – and its citizens – have responded by establishing… a toll-free FBI tip line. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 5, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 65: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Well what do you THINK this episode is about? There are plenty of polls, interior numbers, and tea leaves to read (see "Marist Poll," see Univision polls of Hispanics in Pennsylvania, see Harris outperforming Biden and Hillary in key demos). But if you want to know how this campaign is wrapping up it's way simpler. The Trump-Vance closing argument: misogyny and violence against women. Trump says Mike Tyson should step into the ring against her. And after a week of trying to deny their comedian's "garbage" remarks had anything to do with their campaign, then trying to turn "garbage" into a bloody shirt attack on their own supporters, the night before the election, the world's most smug sexist J.D. Vance undid all of that by calling her "trash." The public polls all look very good for Kamala Harris. The private polls the Trump people see? They must've decided their only chance is to get every last hateful white guy to vote for him - because nobody else is. B-Block (26:54) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Politico's "Who Won The Day?" is a new high in low. Kari Lake explains her polling is better because she mixes in A.I., and Herschel Walker endorsed Trump. Or did he? C-Block (33:45) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Solely because at times of stress it always gives me great joy to re-tell the story of how I met my friend the late actress Elizabeth Montgomery, and how she promptly pranked my parents. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 4, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 64: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Yeah, I heard it too. I heard him he "shouldn't have left" the White House when his term ended. And I heard him say AT his rally that he wouldn’t mind people shooting at the reporters COVERING his rally. And I guess it’s shocking. Except he’s been saying these things (a little more coded) since 2015, and he said the shooting thing about Liz Cheney last Thursday night. And after all he is going through what the shrinks call “disinhibition” AT the rallies where he loses all sense of what he should say in private not public. But that’s not what got me. I heard something I have never heard before. WHEN he said he wouldn’t mind people shooting the "fake news," he said he wouldn’t mind them shooting THROUGH "the fake news" - THROUGH it - AT him. Doesn’t that sound kind of… what’s the word? Suicidal? Plus: I understand that we are inside the 48 hour bubble before the election and the pressure is like 887 Atmospheric Units and our rage against this creature and his cult that wants to burn this country to the ground – burn this world to the ground – and our amazement that there is ANYBODY voting for him – that RAGE is at unbearable levels – but… didn’t he sound kinda dead yesterday? At one point he was inaudible. At another, in North Carolina, he thought he was in Pennsylvania. Throughout, he sounded exactly like Hal the Computer in the movie “2001” when they unplugged him. PRACTICALLY SPEAKING on the eve of the election, the polls continue to support a Harris victory (size TBD) and this shocking poll where she's up by 3 in Iowa hides an even more shocking number (she's ahead by 20 among women in the whitest part of the midwest). And the reaction to the pollster who published this 21 point swing from June tells you all you need to know about polling. They have previously insisted Ann Selser was an immortal. Now they're saying she's making the rest of them look bad by not tailoring her poll to fit their narrative. B-Block (30:33) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: A Trumpist has vowed to "castrate himself on camera" if Harris wins Iowa (if you're a Trumpist, haven't you already castrated yourself?). Chris Cillizza 2024 mocks everybody who didn't buy the conventional wisdom about the vice presidency (evidently including Chris Cillizza 2020, who had disproved it), and courtesy Tim Alberta in The Atlantic, we find a new reason to hate Trump. This is the real reason he's so mad Biden dropped out. Trump thought he had the perfect nickname for the President - and it's appalling. C-Block (37:48) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I call it The Annual Day I Get Trapped Inside My Home Day. You know it - and may have seen it on TV yesterday - as "The New York City Marathon." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 1, 2024

BULLETIN SERIES 3 EPISODE 63: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) In a late night appearance in Arizona, Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump said of former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney "Let's put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her. Let's see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face." At publication time, no Republican had repudiated Trump for his implicit threat, nor had any even repudiated him upon realizing that the next time he expresses such a desire to have a critic killed by a firing squad, it could be them. What follows is the Friday Countdown podcast as originally produced. (3:52) TRUMP INTERNAL POLLS MUST BE TERRIBLE: HE IS ALREADY FOMENTING INSURECTION II: There can no longer be any doubt that the Trump camp knows that he is losing and losing by enough that however close the popular vote may turn out to be, he will lose handily in The Electoral College and his only chance is to foment another insurrection, whether by violence or by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. Axios has printed a Trump press release (and describes it as a "scoop") that Trump's pollster has told him tells The Garbage Man "he's in a radically better position than he was right before the 2020 election...(it) draws on Real Clear Politics polling averages to argue that Trump's "position nationally and in every single Battleground State is SIGNIFICANTLY better today than it was 4 years ago." This is like relying on stuff Rudy Giuliani heard from the voices in his head. The Trump campaign is furiously stoking up racial hatred, white supremacism, anti-woman rhetoric - and the insistence that he's already being robbed in Pennsylvania. He'd only be doing that if he's being told he's LOSING in Pennsylvania and needs to try to steal the election. Speaking of Rudy: he has now came this close to dropping a milder version of the N-word. B-BLOCK (31:55) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Russia fines Google more money than there is in the world. Elon Musk goes full antisemite. Tucker Carlson insists he was mauled while asleep by demons. C-BLOCK (46:40) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: There's only one story for the weekend before the election. Thurber's Nostramadus moment: his prophecy of Trump, written in...1931? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 1, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 62: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-BLOCK (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: There can no longer be any doubt that the Trump camp knows that he is losing and losing by enough that however close the popular vote may turn out to be, he will lose handily in The Electoral College and his only chance is to foment another insurrection, whether by violence or by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. Axios has printed a Trump press release (and describes it as a "scoop") that Trump's pollster has told him tells The Garbage Man "he's in a radically better position than he was right before the 2020 election...(it) draws on Real Clear Politics polling averages to argue that Trump's "position nationally and in every single Battleground State is SIGNIFICANTLY better today than it was 4 years ago." This is like relying on stuff Rudy Giuliani heard from the voices in his head. The Trump campaign is furiously stoking up racial hatred, white supremacism, anti-woman rhetoric - and the insistence that he's already being robbed in Pennsylvania. He'd only be doing that if he's being told he's LOSING in Pennsylvania and needs to try to steal the election. Speaking of Rudy: he has now came this close to dropping a milder version of the N-word. B-BLOCK (29:53) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Russia fines Google more money than there is in the world. Elon Musk goes full antisemite. Tucker Carlson insists he was mauled while asleep by demons. C-BLOCK (44:30) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: There's only one story for the weekend before the election. Thurber's Nostramadus moment: his prophecy of Trump, written in...1931? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 31, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 61: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The Kamala Harris closing argument: "The fact that someone does not agree with us does not make them the enemy within…I will always put country above PARTY and above SELF." The Donald Trump closing argument: "I'm not Hitler!" Well, I'M sold! THAT'S the way to make sure you aren't associated with Nazis and Hitler. Bring them up! And the way to avoid the continuing reverberations from Tony Hinchcliffe's Puerto Rican "garbage" insult is to dress up in a garbageman's orange reflective suit and give interviews from the cab of a garbage truck with the TRUMP CAMPAIGN LOGO ON THE SIDE. And Jeff Bezos has already learned the wages of sin: Trump is touting The Washington Post's "decision" to not endorse anybody as a repudiation of Harris and an endorsement of him. It's time to boycott Amazon, Whole Foods, The Washington Post. GOOD POLLS NEWS: CNN polling, Harris by 5 in Michigan, 6 in Wisconsin, tied in Pennsylvania - but she leads by 3 in Pennsylvania among "extremely motivated voters." The interior numbers continue to go entirely in Harris's direction. AND AN ANNOUNCEMENT about the short-term future of this podcast. B-BLOCK (32:37) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Ohio's Republican Senate candidate doesn't realize the VICE President can't issue Executive Orders. Any remaining thin veneer of journalism falls away at Fox. And Politico's Rachel Bade and Ex-CNN Now Just Stopping Passersby Chris Cillizza humiliate themselves over Biden's quoting of Hinchcliffe's "garbage" remarks. C-BLOCK (41:00) GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 30, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 60: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN - SPECIAL EARLY POSTING A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump keeps digging, and a Trump surrogate named Brenden Dilley doubles down on the scatological, foul, obscenity-filled insults against Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican people: "F*** you, f*** you right back to f***ing Puerto Rico. If you are in the f*****g United States of America right now and you're on the actual f***ing, the lower 48, you're there, you're not on your s***-ass island, you have no right to complain about how people perceive your dirty-ass island. Period. I expect more from Puerto Rican Americans…so, yes, there was a joke made at your f****ing expense, and it wouldn't be funny if your island wasn't actually a floating trash heap." As Trump pretends nothing happened Sunday - or again last night - he is torched by everybody from the Archbishop of San Juan to Bad Bunny to Megyn Kelly. A disturbed entertainer named Tony Hinchcliffe turns out to have been work-shopping the line at a New York comedy club Saturday night, destroying the Trump contention they didn't know what was coming. Now he may turn out to clinch Pennsylvania for Kamala Harris, and Pennsylvania would likely clinch the presidency for her. Meanwhile she gave the speech of her life, nailing her "final argument" before a delirious crowd at the Ellipse. It was so good even Dana Bash noticed. And there's a rumor posted online by a veteran investigative reporter about a relationship between Trump and my former MSNBC colleague Tampon Hall. B-Block (25:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Almost a three-peat! After flooding the world with her side of the repulsive Nuzzi/Lizza/RFK Jr story, Olivia wants to seal all the subsequent legal action? Laura Ingraham outdoes herself in Trump sycophancy. And somebody actually defends Tony Hinchcliffe's right to be an unfunny racist (on the premise that well, he was funny at the Tom Brady roast). It's the incalculably overrated Jon Stewart. C-Block (42:15) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Since he held a news conference yesterday where he took no questions, time to tell of when I met Trump at a news conference - and took questions! It was just the other day - in 1983! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 29, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 59: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: "GARBAGE" IS STICKING TO THE TEFLON DON AS SCANDAL WORSENS; 'COMEDIAN' WANTED TO CALL KAMALA HARRIS THE C-WORD: The Madison Square Garden “Puerto Rico Is Garbage” disaster is not only NOT going away; it is still getting worse, with the news that Trump staffers VETTED that statement AND the tasteless reference to Latinos entering the country and the rest of the Tony Hinchcliffe comments and Hinchcliffe’s script originally included a line in which he dropped a c-word in describing Kamala Harris. The news site “The Bulwark” is reporting that, and that Trump staffers directed Hinchcliffe to take it out… BUT that they missed the anti-Hispanic material or as they have now claimed Hinchcliffe ad libbed all that even though the video clearly shows him reading his material off the same teleprompter everybody else used. Day three of Trump’s self-immolation among Hispanic voters who make up twelve percent of the electorate – one WEEK before the election and no sign that it – like every previous racist Trump controversy – is actually abating. STILL the lead story at the New York Times – at one point it had SIX front page stories – AND at the Washington Post – AND on the Fox News talk shows AND at the Wall Street Journal AND at the ultra-conservative Washington Examiner AND when the Trump campaign’s defense is ‘well at least he didn’t call her a rhymes-with-bunt like he planned’ they have actually stepped neck high in it, especially since the pro-Trump PAC run by Elon Musk posted tweets based on the C-Word. Literally, says “The C- Word.” Even the fig leaf usually accepted by the bothsidesist media looking for a way – SOME way, ANY way – to avoid slamming Trump – has opened up a whole new line of stories: the disingenuous statement from the conveniently Latina spokesperson disavowing the jokes only served to spin off a series of reports on all the OTHER remarks Hinchcliffe and others made Sunday at Madison Square Garden: from the line about African-Americans and watermelons and the line calling the Vice President’s staff “pimp handlers.” And the story is still expanding. Now Joe Rogan and Robert F. Kennedy Junior have been sucked under. AND AS THE VIBE KEEPS SHIFTING TOWARDS HARRIS there are plenty of different flavors of insurrection to worry about but a Contingent Election isn't one of them. B-Block (21:05) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Trump has a "Sir" story. The Border Patrol agents said he was better on the border than Lincoln. The Don't-Cancel-Your-WaPo-Subscription crowd is missing the point: don't criticize angry ex-customers. If you can, join them. And it's not enough to bully reporters into sanewashing Trump, you must reward them. Thus CNN's embarrassment Dana Bash is profiled in The Wall Street Journal and we are told: This Is Her Moment. C-Block (33:20) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: If Trump ruined Giuliani's life, why was Rudy at Trump's self-immolation at Madison Square Garden? Well among other things I believe Rudy now lives in a hallway at Penn Station so it was a quick commute. Plus, you may not have known but Rudy's been nuts since at least the mid-90's, as I'll tell you. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 28, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 58: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN As Kamala Harris's lead among Hispanic voters nearly triples in less than a month, one of Trump's preliminary speakers at his Nazi Rally at Madison Square Garden attacks them. “These Latinos, they love making babies, too" says somebody named Hinchcliffe.“There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside, just like they did to our country.” If a crass attack against 12% of the nation's likely voters would not cause enough damage to Trump in the final week, Hinchcliffe then added "There’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico." As even Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott attacks the remarks, a Trump flunky tries to distance itself from the extraordinary attacks saying they don't represent the campaign. At the same time, Donald Trump Jr re-posted video of the remarks. There is a day in each failed presidential candidacy where the losing candidate woke up with his chances of BECOMING president still intact, but went to bed with them irrevocably destroyed. I think for Trump that day was yesterday. The viability of his candidacy has largely depended on his growing support among Latinos. 450,000 residents of Pennsylvania self-identify as Puerto Rican – 127,114 of them in PhILLY and 33,531 in Allentown. 100,000 residents of North Carolina do so. 65-thousand in Wisconsin. 50,000 Michiganders. To say nothing of a million Floridians and a quarter million Texans. EVEN IF YOU'RE NOT HISPANIC THERE WAS PLENTY OF HATE TO GO AROUND: Stephen Miller echoes Goebbels. Elon Musk, Dr. Phil, Hulk Hogan and Tucker Carlson beclown themselves. just as the German-American Bund discovered in 1939 when they paraded the swastika into the old Madison Square Garden, there is something about parading Trump’s backed-up sewer of hateful has-beens into the heart of bright blue New York City to scream their filth. Somehow the context, the location, underscores that they not only believe this, they not only see a future only for white people and others who have been approved BY white people, they not only think they are a majority, they not only think Trump is beloved, they not only think the tens of millions of us who repudiate their bestiality and their hatred and their racism are somehow just PRETENDING to repudiate these things but most of all, WORST of al these scumbags think they’re going to get away with it. And against a fresh background, we are reminded what shame they have brought to us. Meanwhile the interior numbers for Harris continue to explode. In the ABC poll, likely African-American voters are now hers… NINETY to seven. The CBS poll has her up by 1 despite something curious in the very first interior number. She leads among women by 12 points. He only leads among men by nine. If that difference is correct, she wins. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 25, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 57: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) BULLETIN: After the Wall Street Journal’s stunning story linking Elon Musk to Vladimir Putin and other members of the Russian dictatorship, it is no longer feasible nor safe to permit Elon Musk to continue to have access to any project involving the government of the United States, nor for Musk to remain at large in this country. The government should sever all connections with him immediately and seize all his technological assets including SpaceX, StarLink, and Twitter-X – and if need be, detain him, deport him, or if it descends to that level, arrest him. The safety of the nation may depend upon it. A team of journal writers led by Thomas Grove has now reported – to quote them - “Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a linchpin of U.S. space efforts, has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022. The discussions, confirmed by several current and former U.S., European and Russian officials, touch on personal topics, business and geopolitical tensions.” The Journal cites two sources who say that Musk’s relationship was more than just conversational. They claim Putin asked Musk to NOT activate his Starlink satellite internet service over Taiwan, as quote “a favor to Chinese leader Shee Jinping.” That, the Journal reports, happened late last year and its source is a former Russian intelligence officer. The Journal further reports one of Musk's primary contacts is a Putin henchman just cited by the Department of Justice as the agent behind more than 30 websites designed to spread disinformation about Ukraine and the U.S. election - some of it via Musk's Twitter-X platform. (7:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Why is Kamala Harris in Texas tonight? I mean, yes, Colin Allred has a longshot's chance of upsetting Ted Cruz and a Democratic Infomercial starring Beyonce is a national event not a local one. But taking the time from stumping in a battleground state would, on the surface, be something Trump would do (and will do, Sunday, in New York, unless he gets lost on the way to Madison Square Garden). Strategically the Harris Texas trip makes no sense - unless... Unless her internal polling confirms two things that are beginning to show up in the early voting data and polling, plus the simulations of the Electoral College vote. It appears that even in states where Republican early voters outnumber the Democrats, she's winning by 55-45 (or better). And the forecasters are suggesting that as close as the swing states look they make actually all go to one of the two candidates, though they can't say who. So there is the very real possibility - and don't relax, just take a deep breath as you contemplate this - that Kamala Harris can actually afford to take the night "off." (23:20) THE WORST JOURNALISTS IN THE WORLD: A special segment saluting the gutless owner of the L.A. Times who refused to print the paper's endorsement of Harris in one of the bluest communities in the country; Dana Bash, who somehow did worse than she did at the debate; Erick Erickson who says Trump has a type and it's not Melania. B-Block (30:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Yankees boss Brian Cashman explains his total under-performance since 2001 by blaming cheaters (ignoring evidence of Yankee cheating in 1999, 2000, 2009, 2011). Nicole Shanahan reportedly offered to pay off a Washington Post reporter working on a story about her. Lara Trump thinks there are 81 states. C-Block (40:10) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: The political fables! Including "The Peacelike Mongoose," "The Very Proper Gander," "The Moth And The Star," and "The Owl Who Was God." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 24, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 56: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Republican silence or in some cases rationalizations have met General John Kelly taking his story ON the record about Trump coveting generals personally loyal to him the way Hitler's were personally loyal to him, and Trump insisting Hitler did good things for Germany. With other of mortified Trump military officials reportedly contemplating going public in similar ways, it is absolutely necessary for General Kelly to convene a live news conference - to be joined by any of those other officials - to name names. And the names he must name are Trump and Hitler. We are at an inflection point right now as surely as we were at Yorktown or Gettysburg or Normandy except that with WORDS you can prevent the bloodshed that will happen not on ONE battlefield at home or abroad, but in every corner of this nation, because bloodshed and the threat of it will be the essence of the Trump dictatorship. And bluntly, General, you helped get us there because while you were witnessing this madman in real time yearn for a military personally sworn to him as the Wermacht was to Hitler, you… said nothing. Now that you’re talking, and the test of your patriotism – to say nothing of the test of the CHANCE for this nation to still exist five years from now in something LIKE its current form – depends on YOU winning The Battle of Trump Because the choice, General, is: A free America, or a dictatorship where you in the military, are expected to shoot Trump’s critics for him. Period. B-BLOCK (18:23) This issue merits an entire episode and a lot of explanation. It is only a year since Trump began to openly mimic Hitler but his admiration of him was first identified in 1990. The saga of Trump's gradual revelation, beginning with Ivana Trump's confirmation to Vanity Fair magazine that he kept a book of Hitler's speeches by his bed. C-BLOCK (34:59) The darkest component to Trump's admiration of Hitler is that his defense against all such revelations is that he's such a supporter of Jewish Americans. But of course he isn't. He's a supporter of Israel, which buys him the support of Evangelical Christians who actually believe their "rapture" will happen only after all the Jews are in Israel, and they are converted - or killed. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 23, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 55: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The obvious problem with John Kelly going on the record and saying yes, I heard Trump say quote “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had” is that a huge number of his supporters will applaud it. And the obvious problem with Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic quoting those who were there as Trump was told the cost of the funeral he’d offered to pay for, for a murdered U-S soldier named Vanessa Guillen, and Trump screamed “It doesn’t cost 60-thousand bucks to bury an effing Mexican!” is that even MORE of Trump’s supporters will applaud THAT. Because the real, disgusting, nauseating truth behind the revelations in the Goldberg Atlantic piece is that it touches the third and FOURTH rails of Donald Trump’s America: many of his people believe whoever is in charge SHOULD be supported by and in fact kept in power by “the kind of generals Hitler had.” The antisemites in the Trump cult love it. And the ones who aren’t antisemites just authoritarians love it even if they’re queasy about the antisemitism. And the ones who aren’t antisemites or authoritarians but have always secretly believed the word “Democracy” was just another brand name or FLAVOR love it because it posits a kind of America not just where MIGHT makes RIGHT, but where ONLY might makes right. And if there is anybody missing from the Trump Coalition of Evil, anybody who ISN’T inspired by “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had” they are certainly covered by “It doesn’t cost 60,000 bucks to bury an effing Mexican” because if violence and militarism are the Trumpian third rail, racism and specifically anti-Hispanic racism are the FOURTH rail. MEANWHILE:19% of Republicans think if Trump loses he should just seize power (28% of Mormon Americans). The latest great polling numbers for Kamala Harris? In July she was getting less than half of voters under 35. She's now getting 60% And it sounds ridiculous: Ex-Flamenco Correspondent and Trump concierge judge Aileen Cannon as Attorney General? Honestly - how much more could she do for Trump than Merrick Garland has? B-Block (26:29) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Jeremy Peters of The New York Times says on MSNBC (with help from Katy Tur) that Kamala Harris is not as clear in her speaking as is Trump. Newsweek Magazine isn't certain if that photo of Trump in a Pittsburgh Steelers 100 pounds lighter and 40 years younger MIGHT BE A FAKE. And Trump's own campaign can't spell "Steelers" - and in a very Freudian way. C-Block (36:05) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: More of my atypical World Series previews: Why I'm adopting ex-Yankees manager Ralph Houk's attitude towards the team he, like I, grew up with: "Piss on the Yankees." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 22, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 54: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Ignore, for the moment, the horserace numbers in the national and even swing state polls and consider two "interior numbers." Emerson says those 20% or so of voters who hadn't decided for whom to vote until the last week or last month are breaking 60/36 for Harris. The implications for this are profound. With two percent still undecided (around 3,250,000 people) if the pattern holds, Harris could see a net gain of 648,000 votes (perhaps a net 28,000 in Pennsylvania alone). That kind of gain applied to her swing state leads from The Washington Post poll could secure victory. There's also some impressive work out of CNN's Harry Enten and his analysis of a small but important decline in the core of Trump's support: Non-College Whites in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Polls show he's down about 13% in that demographic and since in those states that demographic is a majority of likely voters, that's a world of hurt. And then there is the Associated Press polling on economic issues where Harris is ahead of Trump on everything but handling gas and grocery prices (and trailing him by only two points in that). Be of good cheer. PLUS TRUMP KEEPS SAYING STUPID THINGS: Assassination attempt survivor Trump has now endorsed the threatening of FEMA officials by armed gunmen in North Carolina, and has said we have to go back to 1798 (you know, when it was illegal to criticize the government but legal to own other human beings). I wonder how a pro-slavery position polls with late deciders?. B-Block (20:45) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Dr. Said Masih Noori certainly appears to be what he claims: a British doctor who wrote that he would like to "vanish" Jews. His fulsome apology didn't work, so he went back on the attack and just to ratchet it up a notch he endorsed the Trump-Musk campaign. New York Magazine asks 57 experts you've never heard of if Media can survive. Not if people like those running New York Magazine keep running the field. Hours after publication they fired Olivia Nuzzi. And National Review promotes Rich Lowry's non-insightful criticism of the WNBA basketball finals. All 83 words of it. Which, like anything else he writes about women, requires another reading of his 2008 masturbatory paean to Sarah Palin after the VP debate. C-Block (32:00) SPORTSBALLCENTER: We're on the eve of the World Series! Well, the eve of the eve OF the eve, because baseball can't get anything right. It's another legendary match-up between the legendary Yankees and legendary Dodgers who are, unfortunately, now legendary for being two of the most under-performing franchises in sports. But I can offer you an amazing fact you can stun your friends with, about how the starting pitching in THIS World Series is likely to be better than that in the 1955 Dodgers-Yankees clash. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 21, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 53: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: You are HERE - at this spot in the map of madness where the New York Times and Politico tried to get away with lying and reporting Trump’s Saturday Arnold Palmer Penis Length monologue – the first thing he has seemed actually INTERESTED in, in weeks - was just ‘telling golf stories.’ You are HERE - where Howard Kurtz actually held Trump more accountable than the Times or Politico or nearly every major news organization. You are HERE where the Times has been front row for one of the greatest unprecedented political stories in human history – just on a sell-more-newspapers, first draft of history level – I mean it’s up there with the rise of Hitler and the mid-press conference suicide of the Pennsylvania State Treasurer and the death of President Faure of France with his mistress atop him and both of them atop the presidential desk – the Madness of King Trump – and the Times could have owned this story for all time but the Sulzberger-Kahn idea of how to cover this presidential race was to finally look at the Trump Penis Envy and try to explain or analyze it and come up with only two possible explanations: frustration or a desire to entertain. Not: Trump is a full-on KKK level racist and a rapist-in-spirit if not in absolute literal legal fact, and/or Trump is absolutely, positively nuts. You are HERE where Nate Silver predicts Kamala Harris will win the popular vote, win the Electoral College - and still lose the election. Where the polls in Michigan have her behind by half a point OR ahead by eight. You are HERE where a putatively STRAIGHT man Trump spends an awful lot of time talking about other men’s penises and using expletives to demean women, and where Trump drags in a really damaged former SportsCenter co-anchor of mine named Sage Steele and makes her the emcee of one of his staged events and the crowd BOOS HER and he MISPRONOUNCES her name. Journalism. Use it or lose it. On January 20th. Mr. Sulzberger, you and your Times executives and editors will have helped end democracy in America or damn near done so. Those of us who survive will remember. B-Block (20:26) SPECIAL COMMENT: So why are we in this horrific place? How are we one week and one day to the election and how is it possible that the polls show anything other than a double-digit lead for the party of the non-racist, able-to-read, non-conspiracy theory candidate? The answer is two words: Mike Tyson. It was trainer Cus D’Amato and his associate Kevin Rooney who perfected managing Tyson’s medication in such a way that they could keep him stable nearly all the time, and then gradually lower his dose in the weeks and days before a fight so that all his maniacal energy would appear IN the ring. And then in 1988, two men stepped in to try to take over Mike Tyson’s contract and Mike Tyson’s life: Don King and Donald Trump. King said Tyson should be making millions more than he did under Rooney and manager Bill Cayton, and Trump showed Tyson the world of jet-setters. When Tyson complained that the drugs he needed to keep life manageable made him sleepy and uncomfortable and unhappy, Trump told Tyson: Why are you TAKING them? You are the youngest heavyweight champion in history, you can do what you WANT, you tell THEM what drugs you’ll take. They don’t know you and who knows if the drugs really do you any good? You’re not the troubled kid any more, you’re an adult man, a champion, a God. Dump these idiots making money off you and come with me and Don King and we won’t make you take those drugs! Today? America is the Mike Tyson of 1988. C-Block (28:00) GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 18, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 52: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: I suppose it is possible that Trump’s brain has liquified, and he’s cancelled half his events and all his interviews, and that he is now frantically demanding somebody FORCE Kamala Harris off the ballot and Joe Biden back ONTO it because he’s just been shown internal polling indicating he’s going to WIN two weeks from Tuesday. Or nah. He's just been shown internal polling indicating he's going to LOSE. Why else would he demand that she "be investigated and forced off the campaign, and Joe Biden be allowed to take back his rightful place" because 60 Minutes screwed up the editing the editing of its Harris interview? Trump is crazy and getting crazier, but this reeks of somebody showing him internal polling indicating he’s going to LOSE two weeks from Tuesday which means that he might avoid ONE of the criminal cases that would send him off to die in prison but he ain’t going to avoid BOTH of them and as the expert on cults and cult leaders Matthew Remski wrote the other day, Trump has become one of those quote “cultic leaders who – exhausted, ill – and at the end of their cognitive rope” reduced to a “shrinking repertoire of melted talking points.” Especially given that a network idiotically edits a clip with a presidential candidate means the. Presidential candidate has to drop out? So Harris has to drop out, and of course since Fox edited out the part where Trump talks about the enemy within, Trump also has to drop out so two Tuesdays from now it’s the presidential election between Tim Walz and Jayvee Vance? MEANWHILE, IF SHE WINS it will have been sealed by the 24-hour span in which she looked authoritative and righteously indignant while on Fox News, followed by the moment some pro-Trump hecklers crashed her rally in Wisconsin and her response was... well, put it this way: There were no heckler survivors. B-Block (19:04) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: BBC News cancels one of the most informative news programs in the world: "HardTalk" dead after three decades. Dead inside: Christina Bobb predicts a surge of celebrities endorsing Trump after the election because...they're all pedophiles? So she's not just One America One Reich television crazy but QAnon crazy? And Chris Licht is tanned, rested, and ready, to help rebuild the fractured media landscape he personally helped fracture. C-Block (28:21) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: He never wrote a novel, he did write a history of The New Yorker, he did write epic short stories like “The Greatest Man In The World” and at least three that became movies. But then there are his miniatures – his polished gems. His fables. There is more cynicism, more criticism, more liberalism, per square inch, in these – than in any other examples of his writing. So this week three of the Fables of James Thurber: "The Unicorn In The Garden," "The Moth And The Star," "The Rabbits Who Caused All The Trouble." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 17, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 51: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: I’d like to congratulate Kamala Harris on her victory in the Presidential Debate last night against (checks notes) Bret Baier. Despite the refusal by the moderator to stop her opponent from compulsively interrupting her. The moderator… (checks notes) Bret Baier. And despite the fact that when she called out Trump for threatening to use the military against citizens and jailing those who criticize him and about “the enemy within,” the anchor claimed to playing a clip of Trump pertaining to that only they did a bait-and-switch – the anchor played a Trump clip about a different topic… the anchor… (checks notes) Bret Baier. She kicked Baier’s ass. She went on Fox and despite being subjected to a failed gotcha and conspiracy-theory interview that could have been prepared by Catturd or one of the other neurotic paranoids on the right, answered his questions AND called Fox out on its lies. THE POLLING IS THE CHEF'S KISS: As the Harris interview aired on Fox News it put out its new poll. Last month it had HARRIS up by two, 50-48. NOW it has TRUMP ahead by two, 50-48 HOWEVER Fox’s polling – Registered voters - shows HARRIS AHEAD IN THE BATTLEGROUND STATES BY SIX POINTS. That’s all they say. If their current polling is correct Trump would win the popular vote but Harris would win the Electoral College. There are four other prominent polls that now show Harris at 50% or higher nationally. It could all change tomorrow but right now, there is a polling surge - for Kamala Harris. B-Block (19:41) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: More from America's favorite media-political complex love triangle: Nuzzi, Lizza, and RFK Jr. James Dolan is not only now tied to the fascism of Trump, but the Madison Square Garden/Knicks/Rangers owner is also now tied to the idiocy of Mayor Eric Adams. And why are David Zaslav and Elon Musk hanging out? Lots of postulations but the obvious one seems to have been overlooked. What if Zaslav is trying to sell CNN to Elon? C-Block (29:50) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The New York Post attacked me yesterday because I made a joke. A "crass" joke. One word and an emoji. It wasn’t crass. You may not have thought it was funny – but it wasn’t crass. THEY tweeted about the Ryan Lizza reply to my ex’s legal filing for what amounts to a restraining order against HER ex, with him saying she told him RFK Jr’s plan for Liv was to “impregnate and possess.” I added “Same” with the shrug emoji. Now it might not BE funny but to de-construct the effort: phrasing it that way I could’ve meant same as in that was ALSO my plan for her, or that it was RFK’s plan for me. Anyway – you decide if it was funny. I think it was. But they wrote an entire article about this because they were punishing me. When the Post attacks someone, if they fight bac, the rule there is – I’ve been told by their people – they have to attack harder. You’re supposed to accept the Post’s punishment and shut up. It’s Murdoch – it’s run like the mafia. Anyway, I didn’t. They were about to report that Olivia and I had dated, you may recall, so I beat them to it. Rupert Mad! So this was my punishment yesterday. They’ve been doing this – fake scandals followed by more fake scandals if I thwart them – since 1996. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 16, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 50: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: It is now Day Three of Trump’s Fugue State Crisis – from Monday night at Oaks, Pennsylvania when Trump abruptly STOPPED the town hall inexplicably and began to slur and behave bizarrely, through his announcement that Kamala Harris is physically disqualified from being president because she has hay fever through his cancelling of a softball interview on CNBC the same day she was to be interviewed on Fox, to the question from the Economic Club of Chicago about whether or not google should be broken up which he answered by talking about voting in Virginia. A survivor of and expert on cults, Matthew Remski, has a different idea. What happened in Pennsylvania "echoes MANY instances of cultic leaders who, exhausted, ill, and at the end of their cognitive rope, outsource their emotional dominance subroutines to canned music they personally find exquisitely sentimental... The leader of the group I was in for 3 years maintained a Trump-campaign-like schedule of daily 2-hour sermons. Over the years he increasingly relied on his DJ to fill the room with emotional overwhelm whenever he gapped out. He was 78 too. He air-conducted the tunes. He had a shrinking repertoire of melted talking points. But because there was never any substance to his schtick, he didn't struggle to remember details that were slipping away. He just turned to the music." B-Block (21:45) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Though The Washington Post noted this alarming change in Trump with real words and realer headlines, some of the key people along the tattered broken remains of some of the key guard-rails, are still sane-washing it. The New York Times: “Trump Bobs His Head To Music for 30 Minutes in Odd Town Hall Detour. After multiple interruptions, Trump cut off questions and seemed to decide that it would be more enjoyable for all concerned – and it appeared, for himself – if he fired up his campaign playlist.” Joseph Kahn, executive editor of the New York Times, has been interviewed at length by Steve Inskeep of National Public Radio. The result is almost as disturbing as Trump playing the hits from that radio station that broadcasts only in his own mind. I’m going to read a lot of it, verbatim, because Joe Kahn is almost as detached from reality as Donald Trump. C-Block (43:45) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Russell Brand will sell you a $240 amulet to protect you from negative forces. Like Russell Brand? The report of a state poll that's 51-50 Trump ("do the math"). And just when you thought it was quieting down, the Olivia Nuzzi/Ryan Lizza/Robert F. Kennedy Jr scandal roars back to life as Lizza answers my ex's lawsuit against him by claiming she told him RFK wanted to "possess and impregnate her." Via FaceTime? That'd be some accomplishment! I'll have the details, if I can stop laughing long enough See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 15, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 49: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Oh my God is this perfect. Kamala Harris doing an interview on Fox with Bret Baier tomorrow night pushes ALL the fascist buttons, all at once, and she ESPECIALLY pushes the one button that proves, as Chrissy Teigen tweeted and Rep. Maxwell Frost got entered into a Congressional hearing, that Trump remains a "P.A.B." Can you IMAGINE Trump sitting down to be interviewed by Maddow, or for God’s sakes even Andrea Mitchell. Or the Meidas Network guys. Or me? It is not only enraging Trump now, not just tomorrow, but for the rest of the campaign. Every moment. He cannot stop it. He cannot stop his own insanity, he cannot hope to contain it; there is an excellent chance it will literally push him fully over the edge and he will start dropping n-words. Trump only found out in late afternoon and promptly lost it. He attacked Fox as ‘weak and soft”, he called Baier “Fair and balanced” and meant it as an insult. On TOP of which, Trump had already been raging about Fox letting liberals on its network. Now there is a chance that even the Washington Post and New York Times political reporters will skip whatever D-C cocktail party they were going to go to Wednesday night in hopes of getting into Politico’s “Spotted” column and start asking the Trump mouthpieces and the Republicans why if SHE can go on Fox, he can’t go on MSNBC. Or Washington Post Live. Or a New York Times cocktail party. This also, I think, finally puts a stake through the she’s-not-doing-interviews canard, and transforms that entire issue into a journalistic bidding war. If you’re wondering if Baier might trip up Harris - worry more about Harris tripping up Baier. Madame Vice President? Ask HIM some questions. Ask HIM where Fox is, covering the guys who joined Lara Trump’s boat parade while flying Trump Flags and Nazi Flags with swastikas on them. Ask HIM where Fox is covering Trump’s obvious mental decline and whether he’s had a stroke or a tumor. Ask HIM where Fox is about Trump saying the military should be deployed against his enemies, and at the election three weeks from now. Ask HIM where Fox is covering Trump’s promise to invoke a law that lets him imprison or expel ALL Hispanics in this country based only on race. Or ALL African-Americans. Or ALL German-Irish-Americans named Baier. PLUS: Now we know why Trump has been forced to do the stupidest thing possible, eight days before the election: spend a vital campaign day in New York, a state he cannot win. He is hosting a high-end fundraiser. If you're trading campaign time for campaign funds this late - you're losing. B-Block (22:14) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A hospital in the UK's National Health Service is now renting out wheelchairs £2 an hour. Hockey's Ottawa Senators failed to give away the Zamboni-Shaped Gravy Boats they promised yesterday. How is Canada supposed to put gravy on the biscuit it just put in the basket? And hi I'm David McCormick I'm running for the Senate from Pennsylvania and I am NOT actually from Connecticut. See me rooting for the Philadelphia Steelers? C-Block (33:42) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: After the Mets tied up the National League Championship Series yesterday it means we still have the chance of another Mets-Yankees all-New York World Series. So while it's still a possibility, let me tell you how I wound up on the periphery of the biggest moment of the last one, in 2000, when Roger Clemens threw Mike Piazza's broken bat at him (if you're a Mets fan) or he didn't (if you're a Yankees fan) or how he actually threw it straight at me (if you were me, reporting for Fox from the camera well next to the dugout). Also why Mike Piazza threatened to sue me over it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 14, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 48: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN Three times this weekend Trump announced he will invoke "The Alien Enemies Act" which gives him the personal, arbitrary power to send to a concentration camp, or to deport, anybody in this country based on their race. Make no mistake that he means it. Trump’s anti-immigrant, specifically anti-Hispanic, hate speech has now climaxed with a promise to invoke the 1798 law that permits the president – in war time – to arrest and detain or deport without a hearing or without evidence of crime – American citizens and others – at his personal whim – based on their race. NOT where they were born, NOT whether they’ve committed or been suspected of a crime, NOT whether they are here legally or illegally. Based on their race. The last time this country used it, in one of the most shameful episodes in our history, they rounded up the Japanese. Nearly all that lived in the Continental United States. Nearly none of them accused of crimes. Nearly all of whom had been born here. And you were Japanese, if you were one-sixteenth Japanese. The latest New York Times-Siena poll shows that among Hispanic voters Harris leads Trump by only 54 to 36. Mike Podhorzer, the recently retired political director of the AFL-CIO, explains that this poll number is just what you think it is. “When we do focus groups with the segment of Latinos that are answering survey questions saying that they’re comfortable with mass deportation, what comes out quickly is” nobody has told them that things like the Alien Enemies Act gives Trump the PERSONAL right to send to concentrate camps or expel from this country, not criminals, not suspects, not undocumented immigrants, not gang members, not rapists, not murderers, but THEM. Then, says Podhorzer, you explain: Trump will have the right to expel your wife. And your children. And you. And no lawyer or court can stop him. What happens then? “That focus group flips.” Kamala Harris needs to get a direct-to-camera commercial up immediately warning Hispanics in this country that Trump can and will send to concentration camps, without as much as a hearing, their relatives and friends...and them. AS TRUMP SAYS THE MILITARY SHOULD BE DEPLOYED during this election, we learn he really wanted to use it to back a "new election" in the summer of 2021. And the media is still responding by saying that his return to power would be a "boon" to the business side of news. Not even Andrew Ross Sorkin, nominally an economics guy at CNBC, seems to understand that Trump will happily declare that "The Alien Enemies Act" can be applied to an industry and shut down all the news organizations, seize their assets, and turn them into state-run media. After all, that's what Hitler did. THE COMIC RELIEF? J.D. Vance says he forgot to wear his earrings to a town hall. Misplaced them? I think I know where you should look for them, Jayvee. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 11, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 47: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump has now finally OVERTLY threatened to shut down the free press in the country, then repeated that threat in a speech at Detroit, and then descended IN that speech to meandering gibberish, the kind of incoherence that would get you institutionalized whether you were 28 or 78 – like him. “A FAKE NEWS SCAM, which is totally illegal. TAKE AWAY THE CBS LICENSE.” Once again, he MEANS this. The intent is to punish, bankrupt, prosecute, anybody who criticizes him – that includes CBS, that includes me, and like all totalitarians and dictators that threat to destroy critics will soon or late include YOU. But there is within the threat something almost as frightening. CBS does not HAVE a license. News organizations do not HAVE licenses. Individual over-the-air tv and radio stations HAVE licenses, but if he really managed to take their licenses CBS Television would still exist. So would 60 Minutes. He does not understand this. He is wrong about it. And as we have seen for a decade, when he is wrong, there is only one way out: what he is wrong about, must be CHANGED, so he’s RIGHT about it. What Trump is saying is: if he regains power there WILL BE LICENSES for news organizations, and the constitution be damned. Trump also descended into ugly bodily noises and the intellectual skill of a Roomba. And to prove he really was Michigan's Man Of The Year in 2004 he finally produced a newspaper article - from 2023. About 2013. Which was immediately corrected to confirm he'd never been given such an award. A NOTE ABOUT POLLS: If you're panicking, that's part of the plan. There really has been almost no movement in any of the polling averages in three months, and some of the outliers are beyond dubious. The TIPP Pennsylvania poll showing Trump ahead by a point-and-a-half among "likely voters" hides the fact that the data among "registered voters" is Harris by five! How did they doctor that? They cut out almost all the voters from Philadelphia. B-Block (23:08) A LITTLE INSIDE BASEBALL: What happens when one of our celebrity announcers hears the "Toccata" theme from "Worst Persons" at a New York Yankees Playoff game? (27:23) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Should the part of a radio broadcast where the baseball relief pitcher comes in by sponsored by an anti-choking suction device? Kari Lake has a rough night with initials and genders. And The New York Times is right back to cowering before Trump. He talks eugenics and purging migrants; they talk "fascination with genes." C-Block (38:00) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: If you ever thought the impossible stupidity began recently - how could people that dumb afford to travel that far - you're wrong. Thurber's 1937 story tells of an American traveler he met in England who was deeply offended when forced to read Macbeth because she was convinced Shakespeare had incorrectly identified the murderer, in "The Macbeth Murder Mystery." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 10, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 46: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: I think Vladimir Putin just sent Trump two not-very-carefully coded messages and to borrow the stylings of Vice President Harris, one began with the letter F and the other began with the letter U. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov – as I assume you know – has confirmed to Bloomberg that Bob Woodward’s book is RIGHT, that Trump DID send tests and testing machines early in the Covid nightmare of 2020, but, quoting Peskov, “but about the phone calls – it’s not true.” Putin just outed Trump as a liar. Twice. In different directions. Confirming what he wanted denied; denying what he wanted confirmed. NOT BAD FOR 81 DAYS: Kamala Harris has raised a billion dollars since becoming the presidential candidate. That's more than Trump has raised in ALL of 2024. Harris’s figure is just since the afternoon of July 21. New polling: Republicans and Independents who had supported Nikki Haley and Trump is only getting 45 percent of them and Kamala Harris is getting 36 percent. Lemmings gonna lemming, of course. But the interesting number here is that in the 2020 election these same voters had gone for Trump by 59 to 28. HOW DO YOU NOT LISTEN TO HISTORY? Even in an America in which Trump’s all-too-obvious affection for Hitler and the Nazis is exceeded by the psychoses of so many of his supporters, it would seem to be obvious that the last thing that even Pro-Nazi Trumpists would want to do would be to invoke February 20th, 1939 and the German-American Bund rally at Madison Square Garden in New York. It didn't go exactly as the Nazis planned. The Garden was surrounded by ONE HUNDRED thousand ANTI-Nazi protestors who three times nearly broke lines manned by 2500 police. As it was, the Nazi presence in New York received fatal damage when a former Navy officer, now plumber’s assistant named Isadore Greenbaum sneaked inside the Garden and able to contain his rage no longer, rushed the stage. The Nazis didn’t know what to do and after a few flailed punches at Greenbaum, a handful of police stopped all of them and pulled Greenbaum out. So what have Trump and reprobate garbage Garden/Knicks/Rangers owner James Dolan scheduled for October 27? A NEW Trump-Nazi rally at the new Madison Square Garden. Trump hopes 20,000 will attend. Has he or this idiot Dolan considered how many people will be outside the Garden THIS time? B-Block (22:32) IN SPORTS: My first boss Sam Rosen was just named the winner of the Lester Patrick Award for service to hockey in this country (he had already been made a saint for having survived BEING my first boss) (26:29) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Maria Bartiromo is thrown when a Republican congressman accidentally tells the truth about FEMA. Marco Rubio wants you to believe the urgency of what the government is telling you. Just today, mind you. Not last week. And Jesse Watters calls Trump nihilist Stephen Miller a "sexual matador" and Miller explains that to attract women, men "should wear their Trump support on their sleeve." You mean like an armband? C-Block (37:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: We take a break from news of my ex Kyrsten Sinema or my ex Laura Ingraham or my ex Olivia Nuzzi to discuss my ex Katy Tur, whose husband is in the news. He's Tony Dokoupil and I can't tell if CBS News is about to fire him or make him Chief Operating Officer. The sad saga of how my post-relationship friendship with her ended when he arrived. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 9, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 45: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: It is safe to extrapolate that Donald Trump killed at least one American in order to instead send the Covid testing machine that might have saved them to Vladimir Putin. Bob Woodward’s book says Trump "secretly sent Putin what were then rare Abbott Point of Care test MACHINES for the Russian’s personal use.” From the supply meant for American citizens then faced with a rapidly-spreading virus for which there was no vaccine, no cure, and next to no treatment. To save Putin and his fellow scumbags, even if it killed Americans. May Donald Trump burn in hell – and the sooner the better. We know with certainty that Trump stole American testing machines from American hospitals and other crisis health facilities to give to Russia’s dictator between March 31st 2020 and May 7th 2020. The earlier date is when Abbott says was “we began distributing our rapid point-of-care Covid-19 tests for our ID NOW system.” On May 7th officials in Russia and Russia’s branch office at the Trump White House said “some (Covid) testing equipment as well as ventilators” had been sent to Russia. March 31st. That was the day Doctors Fauci and Birx tried to warn the country that the best case scenario was between 100 thousand and 240 thousand American dead. By April 10th there were more than 18 thousand Americans dead and more than half a million cases – 160,00 of them here in New York state. Our outside date on this window of infamy is May 7, by which point there were 72-thousand dead. 10-thousand more Americans would die in the next week… the latest possible date that someone could not get a test because Trump prioritized Putin’s life over yours. AS TO THE OTHER BIG WOODWARD HEADLINE: We know Trump is STILL Putin’s asset. Woodward quotes an unidentified Trump aide as saying the two creatures have spoken at least seven times since Trump was exiled from Washington. “In early 2024,” the Washington Post writes, “the former president ordered an aide away from his office at Mar-a-Lago… so he could conduct a private phone call with Russian leader." It got lost at the time, but at the debate against Biden in June, Trump confirmed that he talked to Putin between our exit from Afghanistan (August 2021) and Putin's invasion of Ukraine (February 2022). He has been in contact with an enemy dictator. Were Trump an FBI or CIA agent with such contacts he and his lawyers could at this moment be negotiating a plea deal so he could avoid the death penalty. B-Block (24:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Who's the worst person to speak to the future of legacy news media at The New York Press Club? No - none of my ex-girlfriends. Guess again. Joe Kernen is big mad at me, at Andrew Ross Sorkin, at Frank Luntz, at his own ferret toupees. And news chiefs Cesar Conde and Rebecca Blumenstein at NBC - Nothing But Cowards - now move into Catch-and-Kill mode, burying a movie critical of Trump until AFTER the election. C-Block (33:15) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Of all the politicians I've met since I first went into the field in 1997 one stands head and shoulders above the others in terms of the ability to take a joke at his own expense. I thought I'd heard him at the high point of his self-deprecation. Then, last week, he topped himself, making such a joke HIMSELF. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 8, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 44: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: We are now at the eugenics stage of Trump morphing into Hitler. We are now at the they-murder-white-people-because-it’s-in-their-genes stage. I’m not exaggerating and I am just barely paraphrasing. Trump has now moved one step closer to eugenics, to classifying entire races and nationalities as genetically criminal, to fully embracing the nightmare insanity of Adolf Hitler, to ethnic cleansing and persecution of immigrants because he thinks they WILL commit murder. As Politico described it, a “blood libel,” in an interview with the conservative bobble-head doll of commentators, Hugh Hewitt. Trump quoted his fabricated number of 13,000 murderers migrating across the border, insisting murder is in "the genes" and "we got a lot of bad genes in our country right now.” Later with Laura Ingraham Trump didn’t get quite as literal about eugenics but he did say quote “I will keep you safe. I’m not going to allow prisoners to come out from Venezuela… the Congo… the Middle East… Yemen. I’m going to keep you safe. I’m not going to let them help you.” I don’t know how much more he has to tell this country before even the coalition of the stupid and the hateful realize that sooner rather than later, a Trump returned to power will attempt to STAY in power beyond his expiration date, by killing somebody they LIKE. Even a tech bro. Or an Aryan with not enough Aryan blood. Or Nick Fuentes because, oops, Fuentes is the same name as some of them immigrants. Or JD Vance because Trump has a really bad loyalty record with Vice Presidents. ALSO: If Republicans keep insisting Democrats are controlling the weather doesn't that imply that Trump was unable to? Musk is now bribing people $47 to sign up for his Trump PAC. He's going to campaign for Trump in Pennsylvania (his favorability is worse than Vance's). And an explanation from Nate Silver as to what kind of Popular Vote victory translates into what kind of Electoral College victory. B-Block (26:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Anybody remember the JD Vance/Trump/GOP lie about Haitian immigrants killing and eating geese and pets in Springfield, Ohio? They've convicted the geese guy. His name is Brian and he ain't from Haiti. Jake Tapper opens himself up to fact-checking, or the lack thereof. And the hockey writer who dilutes the Johnny Gaudreau tragedy for a cute line in a season preview. C-Block (34:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Howard Stern interviewing Vice President Kamala Harris? I wonder if they'll bring up what they were both doing half a century ago today. Because the odds are pretty good that half a century ago today, Howard was...meeting me. And if the anniversary isn't today, it's dang soon. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 7, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 43: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: It is time to cancel or suspend all of Elon Musk’s government contracts and subsidies. SpaceX, NASA, StarLink, Teslas, all of it. Musk and Trump are interfering in FEMA recovery efforts post-Hurricane Helene by spreading life-threatening disinformation, and are coordinating a political campaign with Trump which at its heart Trump advocates for the overthrow of the duly-elected government of the United States of America – by violence if necessary. And if all of that is insufficient to re-investigate and/or change his immigration status here in order to deport him back to South Africa or Canada, if it is insufficient to take ALL of his money from him, it is NOT insufficient to tie him up in court cases for the rest of his life. He's also immorally transforming the Twitter-X platform he owns into a massive donation-in-kind to Trump’s campaign of lies, antisemitism, Islamophobia, misogyny, hatred, and fascism. A donation-in-kind which the government should value at 44 billion, not the current number Musk has driven it down to which I haven’t actually checked lately but is probably down to about 50, 60 bucks. Oh and President Biden? The Starlink equipment and the network behind it and the rockets and the satellite access and the actual platform hosting X or what’s left of it? Seize it. If he wants it back, let him go to court. If he tries to shut it off, arrest him for tampering with evidence in a criminal case. Remember: Presidential immuuuuuuuuuuuunity! By the way his buddy Trump? Trump doesn’t know what Starlink is. TRUMP IS SO GONE EVEN THE NEW YORK TIMES NOTICED: "Trump’s Speeches, Increasingly Angry and Rambling, Reignite the Question of Age." They gingerly refer to computer analyses and the uncertainties of others, but given the number of other news outlets that think the Times is infallible, this could open a floodgate of coverage. NOT THAT EVERYBODY GETS IT: Andrea Mitchell stopped herself midway through finishing the word "miscegenation" while whining about Vice President Harris not doing enough interviews. Politico thinks 60 Minutes, an Univision Town Hall, Howard Stern, and especially the "Call Her Daddy" podcast aren't real interviews. It also implied Harris shouldn't be appearing on a podcast that has included sexual content. That's pretty funny given that the editor of Politico Playbook - once fired by The New Yorker over sexual misconduct, is now on leave, accused of trying to blackmail his fiancee into more sex and when she refused, hacking her phone and leaking her sex life. So Politico, does "Call Her Daddy" have too MUCH sex, or just not as much as "Politico Playbook"? B-Block (26:16) SPECIAL COMMENT NUMBER 2: Did "working the refs" work with The New York Times? Did all our complaining finally pierce the walls of the paper? Let me tell you a story from my past in which years of complaining to the Los Angeles Times not only got my complaint listened to, but corrected - and with the admission that the editor in charge never read anything written by the guy I was complaining about. C-Block (43:40) GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 4, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 42: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Go and look for Jack Smith’s evidence against Trump on the front pages of America’s newspapers and the top of America’s newscasts. Go and look for the stories about the evidence he produced that there were not TWO coup attempts by Trump and his whores on January 6th, but three. Go. I'll wait. Not even 48 hours since the most damning document ever composed about an American president, makes the Watergate testimony look like the comedian’s script at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, and it’s already virtually disappeared from our American media because whether its leaders know it or not American media is not just in the tank for Trump but its leaders have already drowned there and there are only a few journalists left. But her emails. ALSO: Trump bleating about "Election Interference" and an "ironclad" DOJ rule that doesn't even exist, in any way shape or form. Trump insisting that the delays he caused make him the proverbial guy who wants to be treated as an orphan even though he killed his parents. Trump uttering a sound like "Wally." Mike Lawler in blackface, saying it doesn't count because he was simply pretending to be Michael Jackson. And the greatest story of the day: Melania Trump's publisher demanding $250,000 from CNN for an interview about her book (I mean, consider what kind of discount that represents!) B-Block (22:41) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Conservative commentator Kurt Schlichter insists the Democrats have never "excepted" a presidential loss. Because he's a moron. Congressman Tim Burchett does an antisemitism against George Soros. And Chris Cillizza quite seriously reveals something he has just calculated: that the election will be decided based on WHO GETS MORE VOTES IN THE BATTLEGROUND STATES! (Chris is a genius). C-Block (32:57) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: In an all-new episode, a story I haven't read you before, that rarest of Thurbers in which he is not the hero nor the lovable loser but the guy who has to leave town in embarrassment: the Zeph Leggin story: A Friend Of The Earth. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 3, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 41: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: “Make them riot,” a man described by Jack Smith as a Trump campaign employee, agent, and co-conspirator, his identity redacted, replaced by the ID number “P-5,” informs a colleague on the ground at the vote counting on Election Night 2020 in Detroit. “Do it!!!" Trump Campaign knowledge that they had lost the election on November 4, 2020. Certainty from his campaign team that without vote triumphs and court orders, it was over on November 7. Withdrawal of the campaign's litigation in Arizona on November 13. 165 pages of this in Jack Smith's filing revealed by Judge Tonya Chutkan yesterday, all of it supporting what I suggested last week would be his core point: that everything Trump did after mid-November at the latest was in his private capacity of candidate, politician, fraud, traitor - and none of it was him just being a good president working his ass off to investigate a dubious election. In a just world it would put Trump in jail until he dies there. WE only have a chance at a just world if Trump loses November 5. SPEAKING OF WHICH: Did JD Vance reveal a side hustle in the VP debate? Is he potentially running a coup against Trump? Did he play nice so it'll be Vance who takes over the Trump cult if Trump is beaten, takes it over if Trump really meant what he said about not running again if he loses, takes it over by force even if Trump DIDN’T mean it. And if Trump wins, do you think Vance would hesitate to lead a palace revolt? To invoke the 25th Amendment the moment Trump starts speaking in tongues or falls over during a speech? THE POLLING IS BIZARRE: the debate was a tie but Tim Walz won all the internal numbers from who was more prepared to be president to who got the favorability bump. Vance got above water, but in one poll Walz is now +25 and in another +37. In short, he is now the most popular national politician in the country. B-Block (29:15) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: On the second day of the Playoff Telecasts, Baseball is surprised in court: the company that carries eight of its teams' games suddenly cancels the telecasts. Fox's David Asman confuses author Mark Helprin for pantsless ex-pundit Mark Halperin. And Chris Cuomo is so desperate to stay on television that he sides with JD Vance's lies and against journalism at the VP debate. C-Block (43:10) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I swear somebody mentioned to me yesterday that she used to go skiing with his family. And I saw the woman involved in the story on TV over the weekend. On the SAME day, I knew the first guy - the head of CurrentTV - was going to end my TV news career, and that Uma Thurman and I would NOT be going out on a date! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 2, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 40: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:46) SPECIAL COMMENT: JD Vance blew an otherwise substantial debate with one remark that will echo through the history of presidential campaigns the way the spoofing of Gerald Ford in 1976 by Chevy Chase did (" It was my understanding there would be no math.") Fact-checked once and only once by moderators Norah O'Donnell and Margaret Brennan about the fact that the immigrants of Springfield, Ohio, are there legally, Vance seemingly summarized the entire premise of Trumpism - deceit and using it to hamstring a cowering media. He was terrified of fact-checking, enraged by fact-checking, and finally had his mike cut because he was angry and tried to dress down the moderators by saying: "The rules were you guys weren't gonna fact check." Vance did a surprisingly smooth if not always effective job of sane-washing Trump but he could have won a debate in which Tim Walz was so nervous at the beginning that I had a brief spell of 1st Debate PTSD. But Vance ultimately had only one product to sell - Trump - and only so much lipstick to put on it, or eyeliner to put on himself. As Walz regained himself, he was practical, eloquent, and managed to pull quotes out of the Bible and the Hardware Store ("my pro-tip for today is...") He warned Trump talking about crowd sizes was not what the country would need right now in the Middle East crisis (Vance barely answered; he chose instead to introduce himself; it was a tactical disaster). And he gave the top two answers of the night, insisting that Mike Pence's decision to be a "firewall" against Trump on January 6th was why Pence "isn't on this stage tonight" and then a moving, personal story about gun violence and its myriad causes that ended with "Sometimes, it's just the guns. It's just the guns." IS IT BAD THAT KELLYANNE CONWAY THINKS HER VP CANDIDATE IS NAMED “JD WALTZ?” Is she mistaking Vance for Walz? Vance for actor J.D. Walsh? The late actor J.T. Walsh? Maybe for The Last Waltz? MEANWHILE, TRUMP SEEMS TO ACCUSE KAMALA OF MURDER EXCEPT HE SCREWS UP THE PRONOUNS: He says she might as well have held a gun in a murder case. Except he says Harris let HER in and murdered HIM. He’s also continuing to take credit for “being first” on the scene in the post-Helene chaos even though nobody wanted him there and all he did was start a GoFundMe, take credit for money that other people gave – and he didn’t. AND IN NUZZI NUDES NEWS: NUZZI DOOZY – COURT GETS UP IN LIZZA’S BIZZA – OVER RFK RIZZ(a). CNN reports that the latest in the RFK Junior/Olivia Nuzzi story is: she has sued, and in the filing, says that the source of the leaks that got her suspended by New York Magazine for an undisclosed personal relationship with the perviest of the Kennedys was her former fiancee Ryan Lizza of Politico. When Olivia and I lived together and she still worked for The Daily Beast she frequently traveled to DCC on stories and whenever come back she’d give me a big hug and say she was sorry she took me for granted because there was the creepy guy who stalked her every time she went to Washington. ‘Do you know him,’ she’d ask? ‘His name is Lizza.’ Gotta run. Gotta check I have enough popcorn B-Block (25:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The WNBA players association and executive director Terry Carmichael Jackson has attacked one of the reporters who might be on the Mount Rushmore of Women’s Sports in this country, Christine Brennan. And over nothing. They’ve slandered her and tried to get her fired. We need to boycott the WNBA until there is an apology and the executive director is fired. There’s Elon Musk, who has decided that a barely intelligible video by somebody who’s never heard of Roe-V-Wade “proves” Trump cares more about women. And then there’s Rob Schneider, who decided to turn the heartbreaking loss of 58-year old hoops immortal Dikembe Mutumbo to brain cancer into an anti-vax point. Maybe he meant it like a joke, since none of his jokes have ever been funny. C-Block (36:15) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I spent years arguing against Pete Rose being admitted to baseball’s Hall of Fame. Then I campaigned IN FAVOR of putting him in baseball’s Hall of Fame. And then in 2017 the OTHER thing happened and that’s when I started campaigning again for NEVER putting him in baseball’s Hall of Fame. And all Monday night and all day yesterday, otherwise intelligent people explained that Pete Rose will go into the Hall of Fame because it was a lifetime ban and no – they put him on the “permanently ineligible list.” His life is over; his place on the list is not. And everybody has FORGOTTEN what the other thing was in 2017 - in the middle of his comeback, when he had gotten far along enough in his comeback that he was a regular on the Fox Baseball pre-game show I used to anchor – Pete Rose sued the investigator whose work led to his banishment from baseball in 1989 and in the discovery up popped a sworn deposition from a woman who, to quote The Hollywood Reporter, “alleges that Rose had a relationship with her for several years, beginning before she turned 16… Rose acknowledged in court documents that he had sex with the woman but thought she was 16 at the time.” When you admit to sex with a child and your defense was I thought she was 16, you’re done. THAT’S why he’s not in the Hall of Fame – and won’t be. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 1, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 39: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:48) SPECIAL COMMENT: CBS must either agree to fact-check the Vice Presidential candidates in tonight's debate, or cancel it. Its entire history and reputation is at stake and so is much of the chance of saving the democracy, even for the amoral cowards like CBS ownership. But of course CBS won't cancel the debate: they've already spent more than $100 on it. So, to Plan B: Tim Walz must politely acknowledge the first question, ignore it, and take the debate over. Immediately tell the television audience that J.D. Vance is a compulsive and pathological liar. Tell them that he is Trump’s deputy liar. Tell them as forcefully and as non-Midwesternly as possible, that this man is personally and indelibly responsible for death threats against white, Republican, small businessmen in Springfield Ohio because it is he, J.D. Vance, who personally and completely fabricated the Haitian immigrant story. Tell them about Jamie McGregor of McGregor Metal, Trump voter. Tell them that all Jamie McGregor did was say that his thirty Haitian-born employees “come to work every day, they don’t cause drama, they’re on time” and within hours the death threats started. Tell them that Jamie McGregor got so many death threats that they had to have a lockdown at his factory. Tell them that there are MAGA posters around town calling him, a MAGA guy, a traitor. Tell them that Jamie McGregor had vowed to never have guns in his house and now the family is taking firearms training and he just bought a Glock and it’s for his daughter - his 14-YEAR OLD daughter. Tell them, Tim, that MAGA isn’t just a threat to immigrants or people of color or Democrats. Tell them, that MAGA is a threat to the people IN MAGA because MAGA isn’t about making ANYTHING great – it’s about hatred and violence and cruelty. Tell them that Jamie McGregor’s wife said “we’re being hunted like animals.” TELL THEM that the latest person to be threatened with death is Jamie McGregor’s 80-year old mother. And TELL THEM that this is all – all of it – the fault of, the personal responsibility of, the creation of, the goal of, this scumbag J.D. Vance. Point at him and tell him to get down on his knees and pray to his creator for forgiveness because he isn’t getting any from Jamie McGregor or America. Put him on the floor in a pool of his own urine, and then metaphorically… gut him like a fish. B-Block (24:22) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Hey, Derrick Anderson, Republican nominee for Congress from the Virginia 7th, In your campaign photos! Great looking wife and kids! Whose are they? Annie Linskey, the same reporter who mocked Biden going to the family graveyard, now creates a new fascist talking point by falsely accusing Biden of being "testy" with a fool reporter Biden didn't suffer gladly. And it's the anniversary of the most patriotic idea John Roberts ever had and the one he never acted on. C-Block (37:10) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Hours before the death of Pete Rose, Baseball had one of its greatest meaningful games in history yesterday. 3-0 Braves in the 8th, ends 8-7 Mets and they go to the playoffs where they only need to win...eleven more games to win the World Series? We are destroying a sport to create a 90-second highlight package. It flashed me back to when the long season sent teams almost directly to the ultimate sporting event: the Mets and the 1969 World Series. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 30, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 38: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:50) SPECIAL COMMENT: I have existential doubts about hell. But truly, I now hope there is one and I hope if there isn't one I hope they make one, just for Trump. He did it Saturday in Wisconsin and then just in case you missed it he did it again yesterday in Pennsylvania and guess what? America’s news media - when it is has never been more urgently needed, failing, collapsing, cowardly protecting only its own money - America’s news media, in its death rattle before Trump extinguishes it, or with its own near-complete lack of courage, it extinguishes itself Trump did it again yesterday in Pennsylvania and the media MISSED IT. This psychopathic, criminally insane narcissist; this damaged, malignant, diseased, dysfunctional, hallucinatory, drooling, demented, reptile-brained, and ultimately and perhaps most importantly, this STUPID slime slandered the mental capacities of the President and Vice President of the United States. And how was that covered by our bleeding, bankrupt, almost dying news media? Like they hoped to be covering Trump in hell. Bloomberg said Trump "sharpened his criticism on border security." The Guardian called these "Harris barbs." Reuters said Trump "escalates harsh rhetoric." On and on and on. I cannot say this more clearly to the political journalists of this nation. The English language is full of… words. Words that actually DESCRIBE what JD Vance once aptly called Trump peddling quote “cultural heroin.” Words that MEASURE his deceit. Words that QUANTIFY his inhumanity. Words that will NOT get you fired and words that will not get your cowering bosses sued. Learn them. Use them. Because if you don’t, you will die with me in the Trump camps. ALL of the bleak histories of the dictators of this world include that same chapter. If you cannot summon courage on behalf of your nation or your profession, summon it on behalf of saving yourselves. AND NOW WE MOVE TO CBS NEWS which says no, it will not fact-check the candidates at its Vice Presidential debate tomorrow. Even as Vance devolves into a compulsive or perhaps congenital liar. I have a piece of advice for my old MSNBC colleague and professional friend of 25 years, Co-Moderator Norah O'Donnell. You have nothing to lose and a country to save. Ignore your bosses. Fact-check anyway. Emulate Edward R. Murrow - not Jake F'ing Tapper. B-Block (26:18) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: I think I have some insight into the RFK Junior story that everybody else understandably missed. There has been a throwaway line in one account that refers to the contemplation of a "medical leave" for Olivia Nuzzi. I think that's the key to everything. But more importantly, I can finally explain my gratitude to her, and celebrate the great thing she did for me: (34:34) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Because it's Stevie Day - the anniversary of the day I got my first dog, Stevie (more correctly - the day she adopted me). And finally, FINALLY, I can tell the story without pulling any punches because of course the girlfriend who led me into the world of dogs - Stevie's Mom - is Olivia. C-Block (54:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS, PART II: The saga of the arrival of Stevie rather improbably includes... Rudy Giuliani? And the small matter of the remodeling of my mind and life. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 27, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 37: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: I am only reading tea leaves here but Trump's panicked post yesterday about how HE did everything right on January 6th but the "deep state" let him down, followed by his afternoon lie about how Nancy Pelosi ignored his offers of troops MAY imply that he's gotten some sense of the evidentiary brief Jack Smith filed to Judge Chutkan before yesterday's deadline. I'm guessing that Smith is going to try to start by proving that long before January 6th Trump knew damn well that he had lost the election and thus no act he took to get a recount or challenge it was an "official act" and thus immune but simply a personal one for which he'll have to face charges. Smith's filing remains under seal. MEANWHILE BACK AT THE RANCH: So New York Mayor Eric Adams allegedly sold himself to Turkey's dictator for only about $17,000 a year? Adams is a messianic idiot and his "I'm not resigning" press conference began with him being shouted down by a critic with a bullhorn, and his defense seems to have been damaged by his niece telling everybody to stop criticizing the Mayor because Jesus put him there. AND LIKE I SAID: They published the "Iran Trump Hack" yesterday and it wasn't a big deal but the newspapers all made a big show over martyring themselves for supposed journalistic principles when in fact they weren't even sacrificing one good story. ALSO: Brian Ray has done a new version of the theme! We'll premiere it Monday but there's a quick tease here, just for you. B-Block (28:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: NYC Mayor doubleheader! Adams indicted, Giuliani disbarred. Media management suck up Dylan Byers accuses me of "rushing" to reveal something I actually stayed quiet about for more than a decade. And Clay Higgins managed to both try to walk back his racist, stochastic terror comments about Haitians AND double down on them at the same time! C-Block (35:13) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: Muggs isn't the sweetest dog Thurber ever wrote about. But he may be the most memorable: "The Dog That Bit People." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 26, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 36: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: White Trash Congressman Clay Higgins (R-Louisiana) has now targeted stochastic terrorism against the legal Haitian migrants in Ohio and elsewhere: "Lol. These Haitians are wild. Eating pets, vudu, nastiest country in the western hemisphere, cults, slapstick gangsters, but damned if they don’t feel all sophisticated now, filing charges against our President and VP. All these thugs better get their mind right and their ass out of our country before January 20th." His enabler, Speaker Mike Johnson, has blocked efforts to censure Higgins - the idiot who believes "Ghost Buses" transported somebody to January 6th - and insisted that Higgins prayed over his tweet and then deleted it. This raises the question obvious to everybody but the world's smallest politician: Why didn't Higgins pray BEFORE he virtually dropped the N-word on a bunch of legal residents in Ohio? If at any point between now and the election you stop being angry that Donald Trump and his fellow peddler of cultural heroin JD Vance have let creatures like Clay Higgins crawl out of the woodwork, suck it up. The election of November 5th is as existential for this nation as was the Civil War – and many of the issues are identical. And the results must be. TRUMP ALSO AGAIN ADMITS HE LOST "BY A WHISKER" IN 2020. He apparently forgot he previously used the same analogy, then denied it and said he was being sarcastic, and has now said it again. He also says Iran is trying to kill him because he's trying to restore the furniture industry in North Carolina and "they only kill consequential presidents." This psychopath is PRE-BRAGGING ON HIS OWN POSSIBLE ASSASSINATION. There's extraordinary news out of polling for the Senate race in Nebraska and it IS Jack Smith day and there was a blooper on Fox yesterday so grotesque as to be hilarious. B-Block (20:11) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A brief Nuzzi update featuring my ex-girlfriend’s ex-fiancee’s because of my ex-friend’s sexts’ ex-wife. The medalists? Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski threatens Harris voters in Ohio. Jamie Dimon spits on all immigrants, like the grave of his immigrant grandfather. And Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are too stupid to understand that the Republicans will ban abortion whether the Democrats get rid of the filibuster or not. C-Block (28:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: 20 years ago Nicolle Wallace was one of the Bush White House thugs trying to kill MSNBC, the Democrats, me - and especially the man who caught Bush lying about Saddam and uranium, Ambassador Joe Wilson. The Bushes were convinced I was on their side in the story, so they kept emailing me talking points, But because Nicolle and the others were too lazy to look up the correct spelling of my name, I never got the emails directly - only forwarded from the people within NBC whom the Bushies knew would carry their water for them. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 25, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 35: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) I wish these were metaphors. In his latest fugue-state multi-hour you-know-how-old-he-is-he's-206 campaign speech at Savannah, Trump first literally drooled on himself in the middle of a sibilant "S" and a scant 45 minutes later revealed that he just found out that Russia beat Napoleon AND Hitler and suddenly he's the director in "The Producers" who says "I never knew the Third Reich meant Germany! I mean the play is drenched with historical goodies like that!” CNN's coverage of this latest evidence that Trump's cheese has slid off his Ritz Cracker? “Trump focuses on economy at stop in battleground Georgia.” The term is sane-washing. If Biden had done this the replays would still be running on a loop on CNN. And this doesn't even get to his insanity on issues of substance: the stalker language towards women. The first oblique promise to jail people who criticize the Supreme Court. The continued insistence he will send the legal migrants in Ohio who are from Haiti "back" to Venezuela because he evidently thinks that's where Haiti IS. The stuff about the courts will re-surge in the next two days because Judge Tanya Chutkan has ruled Jack Smith can submit the phone book as his preliminary briefing in his revised Insurrection Case against Trump. 180 pages, probably, filled with evidence. Chutkan smacked Trump's lawyers around, too. Stand by for fun. There's been more hacking of Trump campaign stuff and it won't be published either but the recipient at least characterizes it. The auteur of Project 2025 reportedly told colleagues he killed a dog with a shovel because he barked too loudly. And just for laughs, what the Prime Minister of the U.K. meant to say was "return of the HOSTAGES" but he must have been hungry. B-Block (28:58) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: CNN's Abby Phillip is the Maggie Haberman of Chuck Todds. She beat up Harris for not going to the border. She is now beating up Harris FOR going to the border. Hers is the lowest rated prime time show in cable news and this podcast is approaching audience comparisons with it. Mike Lindell just dropped his pillow price and just accidentally picked a number that attracts Hitler Stans. And there are some Nuzzi updates: Ben Smith of Semafor says journalists SHOULD sleep with their sources. And even better, the New York Post has printed the funniest thing I've ever seen and I'm only going to reveal it reads "SHE ALSO DATED OLBERMANN." C-Block (46:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: In the recent spirit of confession, I will reveal that 46 years ago while Sports Director and Vice President of Cornell's student-owned radio station I went on the air and lied and said that a local semi-pro hockey team had suddenly gone out of business. But I had damn good reasons and it turned out I was actually just off on my timing - they would, 16 months later. The saga of The Ithaca Stars. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 24, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 34: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) Yeah, the Nuzzi Nudes News Network stuff is included. But the ACTUAL lead story is: There are heroes among us and even in politics and even in the Republican Party and no, their motives do not have to be absolutely pure, they don’t even have to be a little bit pure and such a man is Republican State Senator Mike McDonnell of Nebraska, and what he has now done, quoting a proponent “kind of closes the casket… kind of closes the lid” on the Trump bid to reshape the Electoral College just six weeks before the election by changing how Nebraska CASTS its five electoral votes from a split-them-by-district method that will probably give Kamala Harris ONE electoral vote and Trump FOUR, to winner take all which would give him all FIVE. He has killed it. He won't vote for it. "It is clear to me that right now, 43 days from Election Day, is not the moment to make this change.” And in things I promised not to tell and boy is THAT true this time. When the RFK Junior/Olivia Nuzzi relationship story broke, I thought, oh here we go. Eventually and inevitably this story will get around to me because long ago she and I lived together. We had dogs and tattoos and rings. And when this story broke I decided: if nobody asks, I’m not volunteering this. It’s difficult to be even the most marginal public figure and keep any part of your life private. And nobody knows that better now, than does Olivia. On the other hand, if I’m asked about this by the media, if somebody is going to write it, I’m not lying. I’m also not giving THEM the story. Especially not The New York Post, which called yesterday. I confirmed we dated and said I thought it was pretty general knowledge that we had dated but that nobody cared and that if they didn’t know this, well, to paraphrase Arthur Conan Doyle writing Sherlock Holmes’ lines for him: “I am not retained by the gossip columnists to supply their deficiencies.” In other words, I am not the Nuzzi Nudes News Network over here, giving away free stories! So I've put a few details in this podcast. And they are stunningly normal. Did she do anything right here journalistically? No. But the bottom line: Olivia is responsible for me being born again in dogs. She will always have my support if she needs it. B-Block (26:32) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: His career died seven years ago, but when a reporter asked him about the cause of death last week, Bill O'Reilly stormed out of the interview and threatened to sue her for, I dunno, telling the truth. The New York Times' newest bothsideist nonsense has taken a natural disaster bent, in which fascism sought by Trump has "erupted" along "fault lines." And the leading bothsidesist of the paper, Maggie Haberman, has helpfully revealed that there is a Left Wing Industry devoted to trying to tear her and her colleagues down. Which raises a vital question: WHERE IS MY MONEY, VAST LEFT WING INDUSTRY? C-Block (38:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Since O'Reilly's name has come up in this All-New edition, I actually answer the FAQ about Billo (and Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh). Do they believe the poison they sell or are they just pimps? I have some evidence suggesting the answer is they started one way and ended drinking their own poison. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 23, 2024

SEASON 3 EPISODE 33: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN The good news? Trump says if he loses, he won't run again in 2028. The bad news? Trump lies about everything. Strong polling numbers nationally and in the swings including a 16-point surge in Vice President Harris's approval score, and polling on how popular Project 2025 is (it isn't, and it isn't by 57% to 4%). Huge fundraising numbers. Mark Robinson's entire campaign leadership team quit to save their own skin, so he tried to frame it as "staff changes" (yeah, the rest of the race, I'm changing from having a staff to not having one). The Robert F. Kennedy Junior/Olivia Nuzzi story first gets more hilarious by the moment (like the fireworks explosion scene in 'Naked Gun') and then Kennedy reverts to being the Eternal Scumbag with a proxy saying on the record that he hopes to sue Nuzzi and then make "criminal referrals" because that's how you deal with a problem the proxy describes as Kennedy being "chased by porn." You don't, you know, warn the person, then call her employers and tell them to make it stop. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 20, 2024

SEASON 3 EPISODE 32: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: So the next North Carolina Poll will be, what, conducted by Morning Consult for NudeAfrica-dot-com? Nobody's surprised but everybody's shocked? Trump’s crazed choice for governor of North Carolina – and remember if he’s the nominee or presumptive nominee and you take him off, that’s a coup, Trump says so – said he was a black Nazi, supported reinstating slavery, loved transgender porn, loved a porn site called Nude Africa, and declared he was a perv. And then according to CNN there was the GROSS stuff. And almost nobody's surprised. This kind of behavior (run for office and threaten all the people who do the things you have secretly enjoyed for decades) is more common than it seems. There is a reasonably straightforward psychological explanation. I'll do my best to translate it. MEANWHILE: THE TEAMSTERS WON'T ENDORSE except a majority of the 1,300,000 Teamsters have already endorsed Kamala Harris via their local Teamster chapters. Curious. I wonder how much somebody like Trump would know about bribing a union boss. AND THE POLLS: Once again, The New York Times is the outlier - but even its poll is in line with two hugely important throughlines: the momentum is all on Harris's side, and she is ahead in Pennsylvania. Oh and it probably won't last but Colln Allred is ahead of Ted Cruz in Texas. B-BLOCK (27:28) THE BREAKING NEWS: At an anti-Antisemitism event at the American Israeli Council last night, Trump shortened the distance between him and Hitler still further. We already knew him as an antisemite who spread the trope that Jews were loyal first to Israel and then whatever country they were in. Now, he has blamed Jewish Americans - in advance - for his potential loss. It is staggering, and confirms every previous warning that the Hitler comparison is apt, and terrifying: "If I don’t win this election, and the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that if that happens because at 40%, that means 60% of the people are voting for the enemy." C-BLOCK (34:43) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: His most famous story remains so famous that 85 years after it was published, the name of its hero remains in the dictionary as a verb: The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 19, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 31: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Quinnipiac Poll: Harris by five in Pennsylvania (include Stein and Oliver and it's SIX). Harris by five in Michigan. Harris 50-48 in the Fox News poll. I’m beginning to suspect the Trump is this-close to offering anybody in a swing state who votes for him, a nude photo of Melania. I mean that’s neither as gratuitous nor crazy as it sounds. I heard about the post on Twitter and I thought this was going to be a Sarah Cooper bit or the rebirth of Jib-Jab and then I clicked on it. She says: "Why do I stand proudly between my nude modeling work?" That’s where we are. Ex-prosecutor Vice President swapped in for the retiring President, versus insane proto-Nazi racist would-be-dictator adjudicated sex offender with the nude model first lady and her stepsons are both appearing with an Oklahoma religious crackpot who has called the Vice President a quote “lying whore” and their Dad’s campaign is about the scary illegal black people eating cats but the grotesque misogynist Russian-produced sexual memes are about the Vice President. THE WHOLE OHIO STORY about the cats and the migrants in Springfield, the WHOLE raison-d’etre of Jayvee Vance’s stochastic terrorism attack on the residents of his own STATE, has now been revealed as two LIES. The first was the woman who posted to Facebook about somebody’s friend’s neighbor’s aunt’s uncle’s condom salesman seeing somebody eat a cat. Vance’s campaign knew it wasn’t true – it called the Springfield city hall on September 9th – and was TOLD it wasn’t true. That didn’t stop Vance. The SECOND lie turns out to be by the woman in Springfield who told the police HER cat Miss Sassy had been taken and killed – that’s the story Vance keeps using as a fallback – oh there’s a police report! My constituents insist there IS a missing cat! The woman is named Anna Kilgore and guess what, the cat is alive. Sweet Sassy Molassey, the cat is alive. The Wall Street Journal did something that Trump and Vance and their fellow scumbags would never do – they fact-checked Vance. And Kilgore. And Miss Sassy. Who was discovered safe and sound in Kilgore's basement. But Vance is still out there lying. B-Block (19:36) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Maria Bartiromo explains that the director of Homeland Security is using P. Diddy to get the world to stop talking about Trump. The University of South Carolina lets its campus be used for an event assaulting the Vice President's sexuality. Chris Cuomo apologizes to Trump because...I have no idea. C-Block (29:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Oh like you don't have a story like this. I went past my first NYC apartment the other day. The one that somebody lit on fire. While I was inside. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 18, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 30: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The debate bounce is here. And maybe it’s more than that. Kamala Harris may – repeat MAY – caveat MAY – warning even if so keep your foot on the gas…MAY be beginning pulling away from Trump in the polls. She's up by six in Morning Consult, got a six-point swing in Mark Penn's Harris poll. According to the 538 Average of Polls, yesterday, for the first time since July 2021, her net favorability moved into positive territory: 46-point-6 percent approval to 46-point-5 percent disapproval. It’s about as NOT-a-landslide as you can get but it is an almost unprecedented turnaround. Vice President Harris, whose net approval is plus zero-point-one was on July 14th, -17. There's also the 538 poll average where she’s up by three and its electoral college model in which Harris wins 61 times out of 100… and the Economist Polling Average… which shows her up by four… and Nate Silver’s OK-Maybe-I-Did-Pull-This-Number-Out-Of-My-Ass model which he acknowledges went from last week giving Trump a two-thirds chance of winning to him saying to Axios that Harris is quote “moving up in the polls enough that the model is converging back toward 50/50 in the Electoral College.” JD VANCE IS A BLESSING - TO HARRIS: Insists Haitians are from "Haitia." Claims Robert F. Kennedy Junior was assassinated. Is doubling down on Springfield. May be dumber than Trump. And here's good news: the authorities are still investigating Trump's scandal at Arlington National Cemetery. B-Block (21:35) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Megyn Kelly takes time from her bid to beat Kari Lake in the effort to corner the market in camera filters, to F-bomb Taylor Swift. Turns out at least one of the anti-Ukraine memes Elon Musk tweeted was made by the Kremlin's favorite disinformation creator. And Bill Ackman is so mad about the debate he's referring it to...a top college sports league? C-Block (33:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I just re-told this story Monday in real life so I thought I'd bring it up again. 15 years ago this summer Bill O'Reilly sent Jesse Watters to stalk the chairman of GE because I was criticizing Billo and Fox. The chairman's mother called him up and yelled at him, and he of course responded as any true businessman would: he threaten to turn off MSNBC and its $200,000,000 annual profit like a light bulb so Mommy wouldn't be upset. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 17, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 29: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump’s newest threat: quote: “the bullets are flying, and it will only get worse!” There WERE no bullets on Sunday, other than those fired by the Secret Service. There was no line of sight for any shots. There are thus far no charges other than gun possession and the reality of the case suggests there may never be. The man who voted for Trump in 2016 and wanted to shoot or shoot at hm in 2024 didn’t even make the slightest attempt to resist arrest. Trump knows he was never in real danger. In fact he was genuinely put out that they wouldn’t let him finish the round of golf he was cheating through when the would-be almost sorta kinda assassination attempt didn’t-actually-take-place. JD Vance then followed with a tortured demand that America either let Trump do what he wants - including blaming the migrants for the security failures around him - including lying about the migrants - including destroying Springfield Ohio - or accept an America in which there's something wrong with falsely accusing beleaguered people with eating pets and those who make such accusations are subject to censorship and censorship inevitably leads to a bullet in the brain. Vance really said all this. And it all comes back to those ten words: “the bullets are flying, and it will only get worse!” Only getting worse, of course, is exactly what Trump wants. Any similarity between this madman and the president played by Martin Sheen in the Steven King film “The Dead Zone”: “The missiles are flying. Hallelujah, Hallelujah!” PLUS: Inside the attempts to defend yourself against political violence and the awful truth that you really can't, and based on my experience during 2006 when I repeatedly received mailings of fake anthrax, much of what we assume is security is actually just security theater. B-Block (35:10) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The leader of a Trumpler Youth Group named Brilyn Hollyhand thinks Trump was endangered by a "riffle." Speaker Mike Johnson's thumb is fine but Trump seems to be suffering from thumb erectile dysfunction. And his swipe at Taylor Swift may have cost him the support of Patrick Mahomes' wife Brittany because hatred and racism is cool but insulting Tay Tay is a bridge too far. C-Block (41:45) A SPECIAL SPORTSCENTRAL CENTER UPDATE: Baseball's annual suicide attempt. As the World Series TV audience shrinks to 10% of what it was fun 1978, what does the game need? Giant ADS on BOTH SIDES of every player's batting helmet! Along with a picture of an OSTRICH. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 16, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 28: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN Republican candidate Domestic J. Terrorist has now broken the record for most sharks jumped in a single day – electric sharks, with frickin laser beams on their heads – and is claiming he was the target of another assassination attempt in which no shots were fired and none of it happened nearer than 400 yards away from him and there’s no video and a preliminary ID shows a career criminal who was posting about his Republican dream ticket of Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy and within minutes Trump was fund-raising off it and trying to erase the memory of a post he’d made earlier in which he declared without context or rationality quote “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT.” Meanwhile his running mate Jayvee Vance confessed on national television that he “creates” stories like this lie about a city in the state he represents in the Senate, a lie that has led to the evacuation of schools, a hospital and a university and city offices, and if he cannot be forced to resign his office, there must be at minimum on the Senate floor TODAY, a motion to expel or at LEAST censure him. Oh and Kamala Harris’s lead over this procession of train wrecks – so many train wrecks that some of them wrecked while still at the STATION, while still in the TRAIN SHEDS – Kamala Harris’s lead has extended to SIX points among likely voters. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 13, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 27: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Donald Ducks out of another debate – while inadvertently confirming he lost the last one. The self-destruction of the Trump campaign and fascist political machine – so thorough and unexpected that it looks intentional – has escalated. They used to be evil and clever; now they are evil and stupid. This happened moments after a little-noticed tweet resurfaced from one of his House Elves, Congressman Mike Collins of Georgia. As the debate ended Tuesday night Collins had written “You want to know who won? Find out who refuses to do a second debate.” Literally within minutes… Trump refused to do a second debate. So burnt out that he RE-USED a line from Wednesday, Trump posted at 3:08 eastern yesterday, “When a prizefighter loses a fight, the first words out of his mouth are ‘I want a rematch.’ Polls clearly show that I won the debate…” They didn’t; but of course were Trump to admit this, I suspect he would die. I mean this literally; if he somehow acknowledged his utter failure, the violent self-destruction of his entire ecosystem would be so damaging that he could no longer exist. So blah blah; confuses political asylum with mental asylums again, again contradicts himself by noting that HE insisted on a second debate with Biden, tries to take the one glimmer of an impact he made during his closing statement about problems not solved during this presidency, then, in all caps so you know he’s especially crazy, quote, “THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!” PLUS: Harris up by FIVE in Morning Consult polls and Nate Silver does something useful: explains why her Debate Bump may not happen for days or weeks. Panic and infighting in the Trump campaign as Lindsey Graham joins Marjorie Taylor Greene in the bid to break up Trump and his newest crush, Laura "Acting Melania" Loomer. A new journalistic outlet has the full backstory of the "Migrants Eating Cats" nonsense and surprisingly enough all the sources are fourth-hand. And how do you make another January 6th impossible? Make it as difficult to get around DC ON January 6th as it is to get around NYC during the UN General Assembly, and even Thump's thugs will give up in frustration and go the F home. B-Block (21:03) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Trump lawyer who defended separating immigrant families at the border insists you can't separate families for the 35 seconds it takes to put the supermarket shopping cart back in the rack. Fox's Rachel Campos-Duffy assumes that because Linsey Davis and Kamala Harris were in the same sorority 14 years apart there's a conspiracy. And the mask falls off: Trump Bigot-In-Chief Stephen Miller gets eaten alive by an immigrant, who gets Miller to confirm he believes Venezuelan Dictator Nicolas Maduro. C-Block (36:43) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: As brilliant and subtle an insight into a writer's mind as Thurber ever offered. You'd never notice unless I mentioned it, but watch how his imagination could turn a casual overheard remark into a marvelous, self-satirizing, comedic spy story in "The Lady On 142." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 12, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 26: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: “In the world of boxing or UFC," writes Trump between his chicken clucks, "when a fighter gets beaten or knocked out, they get up and scream ‘I demand a rematch, I demand a rematch!' Well it’s no different with a debate. She was beaen badly last night. Every poll has us winning – in one case 92-8 – so why would I do a Rematch?” Actually in the world of boxing or UFC, Trump’s campaign would be in Intensive Care at this hour and the only demand would be to pull it off life support and end its suffering. And actually in the world of debates, it was TRUMP who had demanded additional debates with Joe Biden and then the Vice President so by his own rules Trump just proclaimed he LOST the CNN debate to the President. It took Trump surrogate and pretend professor Hugh Hewitt more than 19 hours to come up with this second day excuse, quote: “Opinions are settling… Trump was not at his best BUT was usually ok and at some points good, especially on the border and his closing statement.” 19 hours to think up some means of pulling his life-line meal-ticket out of the Burning Trumpster Dumpster and Hugh Hewitt comes up with “he was usually ok.” If you think that was bad, JD Vance then dismissed the Taylor Swift endorsement by encouraging voters to ignore billionaire celebrities who are out of touch with ordinary Americans. And there was a cat eaten in Ohio. The woman - a native of the state (represented in the Senate by JD Vance) - the child of Ohio residents - was promptly arrested. She's not Haitian, but the right wing is trying to make her so. It's going as well as Trump's debate night went. B-Block (20:59) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Republican Virginia Senate hopeful Hung Cao decides to try a little play on words and has made medallions reading "I Want My Senator To Be Hung." A little moment behind the spin room curtain with the deplorable Tim Murtaugh and the despicable Byron York. And Russia Dave Rubin in a nice passive-aggressive threat against Taylor Swift because she had the nerve to disobey the right wing. C-Block (27:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Maddow just celebrated her 16th anniversary. She almost didn't make it to her first. The day our corporate overlords threatened to fire her, fire me, and shut the damn network off! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 11, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 25: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: From the time she reached out to shake his hand and he didn’t seem to know how to do that, to his closing remarks where he basically threatened America with Russian nukes, the debate couldn’t have gone worse for Donald Trump. Oh – yeah – it could. Afterwards, Taylor Swift formally endorsed Kamala Harris. The Vice President’s control of the debate and the manipulation and baiting of Trump was so complete that very few fascists even feigned that he’d done well. The best they could do was insist that the moderators were “rigged” against him because David Muir and Linsey Davis did the best job of fact-checking against Trump yet. I mean ever. When Trump repeated his nonsense that babies could be murdered after birth, Ms. Davis simply stated there was no state in the country in which this was legal and then without a breath cut Trump off by evenly saying, “Vice President Harris, you have said…” Every checklist box Harris had to mark, she aced. She introduced herself, she gave specific policy plans for subsidizing child care and small business, explained how Trump would lie and why – and that was just in the first answer. It was so thorough that I was genuinely surprised that when they came back from the first commercial, Trump was still there. B-Block (30:30) SPECIAL COMMENT, PART 2: The Swift endorsement was one big accomplishment for the Vice President. The appearance of a bead of sweat above Trump’s upper lip at an hour in – and its dogged determination to stay there – was the other. By then Trump was insisting that Harris would spend your taxpayer dollars to give free transgender care to undocumented immigrants who were eating your pet duck. C-Block (50:00) SPECIAL COMMENT, PART 3: I answered your questions in the immediate aftermath of the debate. I mean, what kind of questions could there be after a debate about which the New York Times, the Associated Press and other paragons of bothsidesist nonsense had to acknowledge was a Harris romp? What do you ask? “Did she win by 100 points or 200?” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 10, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 24: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Will Trump be insane mass murderer Trump at the debate tonight, or just STRATEGIC mass murderer Trump at the debate tonight? Because the debate transpires against the backdrop of what SHOULD have been the lead story everywhere yesterday and today, the Rolling Stone “effing kill them all story,” but nine years in, our political media STILL can’t process it, STILL thinks – institutionally and individually – that in a reversal of the famous H-L Mencken if they pretend it isn’t true often enough it’ll stop BEING true – that no one could have become president of the United States or try to stay in office extra-constitutionally or eventually become so insane and so damaged that he would openly boast that not only will he imprison in concentration camps millions of immigrants and others he intends to deport but that quote “getting them out will be a bloody story”– and that he SAID that on Saturday only because the self-protective animal-cunning filter that used to STOP him from saying the Hitlerian mass murder “bloody story” part OUT LOUD is now breaking or broken and there is a chance – however small – that it could break a little more tonight and he could make it worse tonight, that if Kamala Harris has the courage to push this particular button she could not only win the debate and win the election but destroy Trump once and for all and maybe even present a scenario in which Joe Biden only becomes the candidate who dropped out merely the SECOND closest to the election. Bloomberg's resident Trump expert (and victor in a lawsuit Trump filed against him) Tim O'Brien has seven pieces of advice for Vice President Harris. And a British newspaper claims she got Lee Strasberg to play Trump in the simulated debates. He died in 1982. If she can really pull that off, she should be elected unanimously. Don't forget our live podcast on YouTube immediately following the Harris-Trump debate tonight at approximately 10:30 EDT. B-Block (22:39) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: David Zaslav tops off his two years of humiliation by being caught seated next to Leon (Elon) Musk. The Russian Stooge scandal sideswipes Marsha Blackburn and Clay Travis. And as RFK Jr warns liberals that they're now on the same side as Dick Cheney, I must remind my former friend that he's now on the same side as our Proto-Hitler. C-Block (36:51) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Tomorrow's podcast will be devoted entirely to tonight's debate, so I'll do my 9/11 reminiscences here. And instead of trying to recapture how I felt that day and on the days that followed, I will simply present the tapes of my radio reporting from 2001 for KFWB all-news radio in L.A., and the ABC Radio Network. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 9, 2024

SEASON 3 EPISODE 23: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:00) TRUMP TO "BLOODY" IMMIGRANTS - AND ARREST YOU (and reveals the conspiracy theory he will launch against Kamala Harris in tomorrow night's debate). And next to none of this has been on front pages. Our nation is dying of an utter, consuming, fatal lack of courage. For eight years I have been talking and writing about Trump’s desire not just to purge America of immigrants – documented or otherwise – also he gets to decide who’s an immigrant and if you try to defend one of his targets you become his NEW target – but to purge them with violence, Concentration camps, swat team raids, informants, military weaponry, bloodshed. And now even HE is saying it, that bluntly. He promises, out loud, that "it will be a bloody story." If you are an American and you are asking any question about this besides “Is he an insane mass murderer, or a strategic mass murderer,” you are now a Trump enabler. Yet, Congressman Ro Khanna actually said yesterday that he’s upset his fellow Democrats are calling the Republicans “weird.” “We should lead with respect and make our case through persuasion of having a better vision for the nation.” Fine, Congressman, and when we do that and Trump regains power and he decides that all immigrants are illegal immigrants and anybody whose parents were not born in this country are immigrants, I’ll do what I can when Trump sends the National Guard to imprison you but by then I might already be in prison because of the OTHER thing Trump did over the weekend that nobody is taking seriously even though after Judge Merchan gutted the rule of law Friday here in New York, Trump has decided he can get away with - promising to threaten "lawyers, political operatives, donors, illegal voters, corrupt election officials" and anybody else who opposes him in this election. And where is our courage? The New York Times' publisher thinks he's being impartial by not acting against Trump. The most vulnerable voting bloc - young women - will have the lowest turnout. George W. Bush won't endorse Harris because he's "retired." And worst of all, Judge Merchan folds in New York and pretends he's avoiding election interference by making sure the electorate doesn't know whether or not one of the candidates is going to be sentenced to prison. Thus all of this falls to Kamala Harris to prosecute, tomorrow night. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 6, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 22: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Plot twist! Judge Tanya Chutkan's rulings on a "mini-trial" regarding the impact of Trump's Concierge SCOTUS ruling on 'presidential immunity' will not only place some of Jack Smith's evidence before the American public before the election, but it may put Mike Pence in the delicious position of getting to testify against Trump for his attempt to foment a violent overthrow of the government of the United States. Pence's testimony (or at least his sworn past statements) are at the center of a string of October Surprise hearings and deadlines Chutkan put in place yesterday. The first is three weeks from yesterday. She should take her free time to go and pose for the statue now. I ASK AGAIN: IS TRUMP DYING OR SOMETHING? His performance at a New York speech was so halting, indistinct, moronic, that I continue to believe there is a physical crisis in progress. Plus, he was nice enough to invoke his Arlington National Cemetery scandal, the one he insisted never happened and was entirely made up by Kamala Harris, and now NPR has identified the TWO Trump campaign officials who abused the Arlington staffer - Justin Caporale is now a Trump campaign Deputy Manager and Michel Picard an advance man who was a contact point on January 6. They both abused the staffer and then Picard shoved her - per Pentagon officials quoted by NPR. Insert GIF of Sir Patrick Stewart on Star Trek face-palming here. MORE FROM RUSSIA WITH CASH: So the co-founder of Tenet Media of Stooge-Gate infamy was fired by Glenn Beck, the assumption is she flipped, there may be others to come (a noted Russian disinformation expert has a list) and golly what a shock, Elon Musk amplified one of Tenet Media's tweets as recently as last week. AND THE SULZBERGER CRIS-DE-COEUR: The New York Times publisher writes an Op-Ed for The Washington Post (what? The Times rejected it?) about the dangers of Trump and the perils of free press and how... he's not going to do a goddamned thing about any of it. Meet A.G. Sulzberger, gutless bastard. B-Block (28:50) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: MSNBC dayside ignores the entire Russia Stooge-Gate story to cover the irrelevancy that the Hunter Biden case has become. Senator Ron Johnson is so stupid he is not only promulgating a conspiracy theory about the Great Depression being planned but he admits he doesn't understand how the theory works. And Jesse Watters bashes Tim Walz for drinking milk shakes even though Watters' old boss Bill O'Reilly sat there at Yankee Stadium night after night drinking milk shakes with... Donald Trump. C-Block (41:00) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: I can’t be sure who wrote the first comedic bit about “Well of course when Iwas a kid we had it TOUGH” but it might have been Thurber. This was my father’s favorite Thurber story and it is the definition of subtle hyperbole. The different approach to kids and school in the year 1903, when, as you will hear, Thurber, some of his fourth grade classmates had reputedly REPEATED the fourth grade… every year… since 1883. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 5, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 21: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN ALL-TIME SERIES EPISODE 500 A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: "Follow the money," said Deep Throat about Watergate. Except he didn't.. My friend, the screenwriter of "All The President's Men," Bill Goldman - HE said it. Because they paid him to. The real "Deep Throat," Deputy FBI Director Mark Felt, never said anything like it. Goldman added he threw it in because it sounded more memorable. And it was. Now everybody remembers it as having happened, when it didn't. Which is kind of the point about what Mark Felt's institutional descendants at the Department of Justice did yesterday about Stooge-Gate: In their indictment of two Russian propagandists THEY never say the Tennessee company through which they funneled money into the American right wing echo chamber is called Tenet Media and THEY never say that Tenet Media was founded by Lauren Chen who also happens to work for Glenn Beck and Blaze-TV and THEY never say that Tenet Media’s YouTube channel got ten million dollars from Putin’s propaganda arm, R-T, to grow and distribute videos about how America started the Russian war in Ukraine, and how it was all Biden’s fault, and vote Trump or die, and how America shouldn’t get trapped in forever wars and how terrorists were coming into the country across the southern border. And they didn’t say that through Tenet the Russians washed large sums of money to scumbags like Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, Dave Rubin, and others to unwittingly do Putin’s work for him. Some of those folks say they're unwitting victims. I actually believe it. Because if there was an Unwitting Fantasy League, Jesse Watters would be my first choice but I'd certainly be satisfied if I could get Pool or Johnson or Rubin. My question is: Russia only had a handful of stooges here? I doubt that. TRUMP GOES SILENT ON ARLINGTON: Possibly after reading polling showing that his standing with veterans, active service members, and their families is vanishing - he's in a virtual dead heat with Vice President Harris among the families. AND THE RATS ARE LEAVING THE SINKING SHIP and boasting about it to Politico. Eighteen paragraphs about Republicans who are preparing a bunch of different songs to whistle past a bunch of different graveyards, but the lyrics are identical: we WANT Trump to lose, it's the GOP's only chance! B-Block (25:22) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Mark Robinson allegedly owed the porn guy money, and then his wife owed the Girl Scouts money! The "Tim Walz Family Hates Tim Walz" campaign falls flat when it turns out the terrible story his brother had to tell was about Tim barfing in the car as a kid. And on Joe Scarborough's show, Mike Barnicle asked the fitting question: how did the Republicans get here, nominating a lunatic Trump for a third time? The answer - in part anyway - IS Joe Scarborough. C-Block (42:37) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The NFL season opens tonight. Why not look back at the day I had to call in sick as co-host of NBC's "Football Night In America" because I had unknowingly blown out my appendix! Surprise! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 4, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 20: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Bliock (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump completely changes his Arlington Cemetery Scandal story. He had already single-handedly reignited his Arlington National Cemetery scandal by implying the Veterans Administration and the Department of Defense are LYING about it, when Fox News doubled down on his lie, and basically put the entirety of the military establishment in the same position Senator Joe McCarthy tried to put it in, in 1954. The mistake – deciding you and your lies are more important than the military’s truth – destroyed McCarthy. And it could conceivably destroy Trump. If one day your spokesclowns insist there WAS an event at the cemetery, only it was the fault of an unprincipled woman having a mental health episode, and that you have an exculpatory video proving so, and then you suddenly change the story and insist instead that "there was no conflict or 'fighting'...It was a made up story" by Vice President Harris, you give Senate Democrats and cemetery officials and the entirety of the Defense Department only one option: to investigate it fully. You would've thought Trump would've remembered not to take on the military with lies. The man who led McCarthy to his doom was none other than McCarthy's chief counsel - future Trump mentor Roy Cohn. And by the way: why is anybody - especially Trump - assuming that there is no security video from that day at Arlington National Cemetery that the military could release immediately? Why aren't news organizations demanding confirmation or denials that it exists, and copies of it if it does? POLLING: Harris by six nationally and closing gaps on Trump in all issue categories, per USA Today. A Harris three-tenths of a point lead in Michigan turns into a Trump 1.2 point lead (but the pollster is one-and-a-half stars). AND A DIFFERENT KIND OF POLLING: A North Carolina news outlet quotes six employees and customers of the city's video porn stores of a quarter century ago as saying current Republican candidate for governor Mark Robinson was a five-nights-a-week customer. B-Block (26:35) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Elon Musk advocates for the world to be run only by elite males. Why would he exclude himself like that? The newest participant in the Activote "poll" is Abbot Gregor Mendel (Died, 1884). And Timmy Tammy Tomi Lahren doesn't know that airbuds aren't secure and Vice Presidents can't use them. C-Bloc (31:18) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Continuing our preview of the National Football League season, let's flash back to the one that started and suddenly stopped. The 1982 NFL strike and how I - as a 23-year old rookie reporter - somehow became the confidant of the union leaders, to the point of going drinking with them! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 3, 2024

SEASON 3 EPISODE 19: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Once again, American political media is broken in a new way. Trump has now blamed the families of the dead servicemen he was supposedly honoring at Arlington for his campaign illegally filming and illegally using that video for political purposes. The female victim of physical abuse by Trump staff is afraid to escalate her complaint and so is the military - and the media is doing its best to cover it all up like they cover up everything else Trump does. TRUMP filmed a commercial while standing on top of the graves of dead American war heroes. I’m surprised he didn’t try to sell us sneakers or bitcoin or the rest of his crap. And his staffers assaulted a woman employee at Arlington National Cemetery. And he blamed the families of the dead because his campaign broke the law. And his fascist gang of thugs is running wild with this as if Kamala Harris has anything to do with it. And eight days later there STILL isn’t a Senate investigation or a Defense Department investigation and one of them better be started goddamned immediately. The media is ALSO covering up Trump's Egypt bribe, his mental condition, whatever was in the emails hacked from his campaign, and the nonexistent Wille Brown Flight Logs. Because between its own failures, its own loss of moral compass, and its own fear of retribution, it is a de facto arm of the Trump campaign. THERE IS GOOD POLLING NEWS: Not only is Harris up by 6 in ABC-Ipsos but the Times' battleground data suggests the number one issue for women in swing states has changed from the economy to abortion. And private polling for Trump in New Hampshire is so bad they're punting the state - and punting the guy whose memo about the polling somehow got to the Boston Globe. B-Block (30:41) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Peter Hasson of Free Beacon and the implication that because Kamala Harris never put her summer job on her resume, it didn't happen (I will tell you of my summer job climbing into Hostess Thrift Store Dumpsters with an exacto knife). Harris has "puppet masters" says Tulsi Gabbard, who evidently doesn't know about antisemitic tropes. And Erick Erickson says her career began on her knees in front of Willie Brown, as if Erick Erickson could ever get up off his own knees. C-Block (43:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: If fall college semesters have started and the National Football League starts Thursday that means only one thing for me: the day my college professor nearly failed all of us, because of one of the most infamous meatheaded plays in NFL history. Of Joe Pisarcik and Cornell History. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 29, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 18: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump has doubled down on his defiling of Arlington National Cemetery. Title 32, Part 553, Subpart C: Memorial Services and Ceremonies at Army National Military Ceremonies will not include partisan political activities. Trump’s team exploited a memorial service at Arlington on Monday, broke the law by privately photographing and filming it, physically assaulted Arlington National Cemetery staff who asked him to stop, he gave a thumbs up and smiled idiotically while literally standing on the graves of dead U-S military heroes, and now they have turned it into an online campaign advertisement – by definition, a partisan political activity. This could’ve been trivial. It could’ve been “there was a miscommunication.” Not even an apology – like anybody in the Trump campaign were human enough, or honest enough, or RESPECTFUL OF OUR WAR DEAD ENOUGH to apologize. Just “misunderstanding.” No. They blamed the Cemetery staffer, they blamed the media, they blamed Vice President Harris for not being there to commemorate the sad anniversary of deaths in Afghanistan – the commemoration Trump has illegally turned into a campaign AD – the commemoration Trump skipped last year and the year before. Because to Trump, and to this robot JV Vance, those buried AT Arlington are just another product, just another SELL, just another gimmick, just another BRAND NAME. And they got the brand name wrong. Trump thug Chris LaCivita wrote that Arlington "most hollowed" ground. Corrupted news outlets like The New York Times covered for it by claiming he wrote "hallowed." Hallowed, is Arlington. Hollowed, is Trump's brain. TRUMP IS NOW MORE DANGEROUS THAN EVER. Another new round of polls underscores: he's losing, and dragging down the down-ballot MAGA GOP: a total swing in four states of 25 points to Harris. She leads by one in Arizona, two in Georgia and Nevada, and has cut it to one in North Carolina. The Fox poll in Arizona scores the Senate as Ruben Gallego 56, Kari Lake 41. How is Kari lake going to be able to afford to buy 900 more camera filters THIS late in the race? The Fox poll in North Carolina scores the Governor’s race as Josh Stein 54 Mark Robinson 43. The Fox poll in Nevada scores the Senate race as Jacky Rosen 55 Sam Brown 41. TO LEAVEN THE MOOD A LITTLE: A comedian named Dan Wilbur has done a spot-on impression of JD Vance trying to be a human for 9 minutes at a donut shop. It's better if you go watch it. It's not bad if you listen to it here. B-Block (25:31) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Texas political hitman Ken Paxton sends nine armed troops to 87-year old Democratic woman's home because she registered voters. CNN/Gary Tuchman "Uncommitted Voter" scandal worsens: the guy is now selling t-shirts. And asked about phones for kids during emergencies at school Jesse The Idiot Watters thinks that means HIS emergency when he has to call them in math class. C-Block (36:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I was talking about Bill Clinton yesterday and I think it's time to tell the entire story of how NBC tried to blackmail me into NOT quitting the Clinton-Lewinsky MSNBC show in 1998 because it made them too much money. An emissary from then NBC News President Andy Lack threatened to sue me and get me blacklisted from television AND make sure my parents wound up homeless. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 28, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 17: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump is now claiming that the White House rigged the presidential election in 2020. HE was president in 2020. HE was in the White House. "Zuckerberg admits the White House pushed to suppress Hunter Biden laptop story, in other words the 2020 presidential election was rigged," Trump writes. I'm telling you: Mijni-strokes. SPEAKING OF WHICH: There's way more to Trump exploiting Arlington National Cemetery on Monday to take smiling thumbs-up selfies while literally standing on the graves of American heroes. An Arlington official tried to stop the photography; a Trumpist allegedly shoved him; the Trump Campaign decided the correct response was to claim the Arlington official was "suffering from a mental health episode." JACK SMITH OUTWITS THE SUPREME COURT: This one weird trick actually works. He filed his superseding indictment in the Insurrection case in Washington. It's a little more complicated than this, but basically he got around SCOTUS by changing every reference to "President Trump" to "Candidate Trump" and calling the 1/6 Call To Arms a "campaign speech." RAGE IN THE MACHINE: Thousands of newspaper columns were deleted (hundreds at The New York Times alone) when Kamala Harris agreed to her first sit-down interview. It's with Dana Bash on CNN so she still hasn't scheduled one anybody will SEE. The Cook Political Report has moved two more states from "Lean Democrat" to "Likely" and moved North Carolina from "Lean Republican" to "Toss-up." Maybe that's why Trump has agreed to the September 10th debate - or seemed to. The actual words in his acceptance never says he'll actually be there. And we have the first polling on weirdness by party and while the GOP is accurately seen as more weird, the lead is hardly big enough. B-Block (23:55) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: RW troll blasts Democrats for "not being interested" in the Trump assassination attempt. Turns out all the Democrats on the House committee went to the site survey Monday. Only three of the seven Republicans bothered to. Trump makes the list too after what HR McMaster revealed about the Taliban Trump ordered released. And somebody who made this list in 2007 for indiscretions as a tv reporter is back for mocking Gus Walz while not merely a right wing media nut but also the volleyball coach at a high school with a praised and cherished program for learning-challenged kids. C-Block (33:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: 43 years ago now, my television career starts because the late Lou Dobbs had issues keeping his pants on. It's still amazing. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 27, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 16: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The full Reichstag-Fire-level propaganda site Red State may have commissioned, certainly got first access, to a poll showing Kamala Harris leading Trump 52 to 45 among LIKELY voters, and 50 to 46 percent among REGISTERED voters. It’s OUTSIDE the margin of error according to the head of the firm, which is SO right wing that the pollster’s pinned tweet is about how in 2011 he predicted a Trump presidency. They also did favorability scores and claim Harris is at 50-50 and Trump only eleven points underwater. “The biggest factor helping Harris is how she has neutralized the immigration issue. In both polls, immigration was the fourth most important issue, or rather – only 10 percent told us it was their number one.” Also on polling, the weekly update from Morning Consult has shown no Convention Bump for Harris, or maybe just a continuation of the previous bumps – unchanged at Harris 48 Trump 44. But there ARE signs of… a Tim Walz bump. His favorability was at 39 percent and plus three before the convention; it is 42 percent and now plus SIX after it. SOLUTION: MUTE HIS MIC THROUGHOUT THE DEBATE: Trump is back to trying to back out of the presidential debate and he’s not even doing it well and the American political media is, as always, astonished. As soon as Harris replaced Biden he claimed all agreements were off, now he is enraged she wants the mikes always open not muted, not because he objects to the mikes not being muted, but because she wants it. Let me summarize this: he is trying to back out of the debate. He is hoping to be able to back out and blame her. He did this with Biden too. He is using as an excuse an objection to something he agrees with. What is Harris doing? Harris, bluntly, is EFFING with him. The Harris team has already proven to be the most successful anti-Trump entity in the fertile field of EFFING with him. MORE MEDIA MADNESS: CNN interviews eight "undecided" voters after Harris's acceptance speech. Except one of them told them in advance he was voting for Trump. Chris Cillizza tops himself. And the Times' latest self-destructive Op-Ed? "Trump Can Win On Character," written by the guy who followed the 2008 Vice Presidential Debate with the infamous masturbatory column about Sarah Palin. B-Block (25:33) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Covfefe of 2024 as DonOld shows more evidence of mini-strokes. Andrea Tantaros compares Harris's appearance to...Hitler's "manscaping." And Jason Miller mocks a Kamala TV political surrogate as so old he should be in a rest home. The guy is 18 months YOUNGER than Trump. C-Block (32:25) SPORTS FOR PEOPLE WHO DON'T LIKE SPORTS/THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The former ESPN Big Show SportsCenter producer who went on to run ESPN, is succeeded by the guy who succeeded him AS the ESPN Big Show SportsCenter producer. Turns out the death of WCBS NewsRadio in New York was largely my fault. And I've found another cassette, so if you want to hear the day I was first paid to do the news (July 25, 1980, WNEW Radio, New York) you're in luck. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 23, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 15: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The special guest was the next President of the United States. Kamala Harris nailed the speech. It could not have been better. Not a sour note, not a space for complaint, not an issue avoided. Plus: Harris has cut Trump’s lead from nine points to five points… in TEXAS. Harris is now AHEAD in North Carolina by a point. There is the RFK Junior thing coming today. There is leaked audio of Trump pledging fealty to the families of the January 6th traitors and hosting an event for them two weeks from now, and more blatant Trump antisemitism hinting at a nightmare scenario in which he merges the streams: where the conspiracy theories about rigged elections and immigrant voting gets fully crossed with racism and anti-semitism (and the advanced kind, where there are “good” Trump-supporting Jewish people, and “bad” Trump-hating Jewish people. There is also the increasing evidence that Trump is, at least accidentally, giving up on winning the election and instead trying to raise the temperature so much among his fascists that they can run a coup from behind in the legislatures and the House and try to force a Contingent Election. Again from Yale historian Timothy Snyder via The New York Times: “Trump is in the classic dictatorial position: He needs to die in bed holding all executive power to stay out of prison. This means that he will do whatever he can to gain power, and once in power will do all that he can to never let it go. This is a basic incentive structure which underlies everything else. It is entirely inconsistent with democracy.” And time to make the donuts: JV Vance actually manages to fail at the simple buy-food photo-op. B-Block (24:55) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Megyn Kelly’s stupidity mixes with her racism: she doesn’t realize HBCU’s exist because so many black students were excluded from other colleges. And Trumpsucker Mike Crispi and the one famous Cornell alumna whom the university does not recognize tie for pure inhumanity when it comes to Tim Walz’s son Gus. C-Block (37:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: For everybody who’s ever asked “Olbermann? Did you hit your HEAD or something?” the answer is yes and the 45th anniversary is tomorrow. Don’t worry, I’ll be getting better any day now. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 22, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 14: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: You heard that right. RFK Junior will drop out of the presidential race tomorrow. Whether or not he then endorses Trump reportedly depends on when his wife, Curb Your Enthusiasm actress Cheryl Hines, relents on her opposition to Trump. Of course it may not matter. There is no reliable polling on what Kennedy's remaining support thinks of Trump or Harris or anybody else. And despite what individual state polls suggest, national polling suggests he's been taking 2% or 3% support from both Kamala and Psychotrump. The other wild card is what position in his cabinet Trump is willing to offer. I'm thinking "Secretary of Bears." THE OTHER NEW POLLING IS SO ASTONISHING that the whole thing may be irrelevant. Rasmussen Republican polling has her up by one in Wisconsin. University of New Hampshire polling has her having gone from four behind Trump in the conservative Maine 2nd District to five points AHEAD of him. And Politico analyzed ten quality polls and suggests that the data suggests the snowball is forming. MEANWHILE TRUMP'S GREATEST FREUDIAN SLIP EVER: His antisemitic trope about Democrats and Jews is well known by now. "If Jewish people vote for her they ought to go out and get their heads examined." And yet on the Hugh Hewitt show yesterday he forgot the back half of it. He stopped after "go out" and started talking about something out. The part he left out was "get their heads examined." Trump also made up a story about Harris meeting with Putin before the Ukraine invasion. This also sounds crazy but may be less insanity and more an indicator that the Trump campaign is giving up on actually winning at the ballot box and just amping up the conspiracy theories so its minions in state legislatures and the House can try to steal the election by coup after Harris wins. B-Block (21:05) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: How could you misspell Bruce Springsteen's name? A Philly hotel managed to do it! Rudy Giuliani says Steve Bannon is being "tortured" in prison (I wish), and should the FBI or Secret Service be visiting Hulk Hogan and asking him why he threatened the Vice President of the United States? C-Block (29:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: A non-broadcasting friend of mine brought up the name the other day and I was surprised he knew him. Meet the former president of MSNBC who threatened - while his screams were audible in the background live on the air - to destroy and kill me. Fun place to work! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 21, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 13: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Did you HEAR Trump yesterday? Did you HEAR HIM TALK? He’s in Howell, Michigan, where it might as well be Alabama in the year 1855, where they marched chanting “We Love Hitler, We Love Trump” a MONTH ago, and he came out at the County Sheriff’s Office, and behind him with the cops as the props and if he had had ten times the energy and ten times the focus you would have said: what’s wrong with Trump? Is he DYING or something? I mean I don’t THINK he’s dying, I think there are intermediate stages between having every single thing in a presidential campaign turn against you in a matter of two weeks and actually dying, but look if this mumble thing continues, at this rate they’re going to have start putting live captions over him. Trump responded to the overture from the RFK Junior camp about dropping out if Trump would give him a role in his cabinet. “I didn’t know he was thinking about getting out, but if he is thinking about getting out, certainly I’d be open to it.” RFK's running mate Nicole Shanahan appears to be doing the bargaining. Even she has figured it out: "We run the risk of a Kamala Harris and Walz presidency, as we draw votes from Trump. We draw, somehow, more votes from Trump. Or we walk away, right now, and join forces with Donald Trump…” Translation: bribe us and we’ll go away. Looks like what they want is Secretary of Health and Human Services. THE SELF-DEFENESTRATION OF THE POLITICAL MEDIA: The Times really did it yesterday, with no sense of irony, no meta self-reflection: “Kamala Harris’s tan suit was a surprising choice, our fashion critic writes.” The Post, meantime, did a DNC factcheck and got half a dozen things wrong: the Post insisted that there was no evidence that Trump ever sent love letters to dictators with Kessler writing “we do not know what Trump wrote to Kim Jong Un,” Media Matters went appropriately nuts. Of course we know. Trump showed them to… Bob Woodward of the Post. The factcheck now has its own factcheck. I recommend to you and will quote extensively from a masterpiece on this topic in The New Republic. Meredith Shiner writes: "after years of watching Morning Joe and searching for their birthdays in the Politico Playbook, they do not see their role as speaking to us, but rather speaking to themselves." Ex-effing-actly. B-Block (26:47) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Jesse Watters has rebirthed birtherism. He's sending "Johnny" to Hawaii to get the real story about Barack Obama's birth certificate because Harris. Amy Kremer, a GOP Committeewoman from Georgia, is the sucker born every minute. A liberal trolls the idiot Jack Posobiec by saying she'll have an abortion and a vasectomy onstage at the DNC and Kremer believes her. And Stephen L. Miller - the "other" Stephen Miller - uses the c-word about Mallory McMorrow with no self-awareness that it's used about him. C-Block (37:10) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It was a lovely day in Fun City yesterday so I was out all day and I walked right past it: the bar out of which George Steinbrenner stepped one night in 1981 after I had spent the day trying to find... George Steinbrenner. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 20, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 12: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump has doubled down on his smearing of military heroes, of Medal of Honor recipients, by comparing them to the likes of Miriam Adelson and her late husband Sheldon. To a local news reporter in Pennsylvania, he insisted veterans are not enraged, that he has not done untold damage to his supposedly-ultra-patriotic base, and naturally he made it worse because now he had to clarify that what he meant was that Miriam Adelson LOOKS better than Medal of Honor winners because the Medal of Honor winners are often horribly wounded or dead and who wants to look horribly wounded or dead. The polls continue to be so good, so uniformly, that it’s now hard to keep up with them and probably not worth doing so. As you already know, Sunday CBS News polling put her up THREE but ABC and the Washington Post pegged it at SIX. Morning Consult not only saying its tracking poll has her now up 48-44. It was THREE points last week. She’s also above water on favorability, 50 to 45… so plus-five-favorable, her high water mark and something Trump has never approached J.V. VANCE, MEANWHILE figuratively stumbled over the ordering of a cheese steak in Philadelphia. And if he brings "his" new dog Atlas back on th campaign trail, dog-walking experts predict he literally stumble over him. OH THE CONVENTION? From deep in their souls you can hear the disappointment forcing its way out like a primal scream: the primal scream of reporters who were promised tear gas and got only their own tears, the reporters – nationwide on Fox, internationally on BBC – heart-broken, stunned, disbelieving: There were no riots at the Opening Day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Not one goddamned canister of tear gas. And the number of protesters turned out to be overestimated by perhaps 90%. And yes I'll be damned if I know why they still hold conventions. Your time is much better spent listening to a guy from NewsMax explain that Trump is in a slump and needs to reintroduce himself to the electorate by going retail. Drop the hour-long speeches. Give golf tips. Bring his grandchildren to supermarket parking lots. No, I'm not kidding, and no, I cannot sufficiently convey how hilarious it is. B-Block (23:50) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Laura Ingraham - who once turned the Republican National Convention into a Hitler Salute To Trump - complains there's too much "show" at the DNC. Sure Nancy Mace is an idiot, but if Abby Phillip and CNN wouldn't platform her, we wouldn't have to listen to the idiocy. And Marcel Teloma has a foolproof plan for Trump Victory but I have a better one: why settle for JUST the Republican nomination? C-Block (32:59) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The television world - and the liberal world - rightly mourn Phil Donahue, who died Sunday. But it must be said and it must be said now: the final act of the Donahue TV story, in which he claimed MSNBC fired him for opposing the Iraq War even though he had the network's highest ratings. Almost none of the story is true, and I know this not merely because I was there as it happened as what was an initially disinterested uninvolved bystander, but more importantly, why would they have fired him for opposing Bush and Iraq when the show that replaced him was called "Countdown With Keith Olbermann"? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 16, 2024

BULLETIN: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-BLOCK (1:44) Trump, “honoring” Miriam Adelson, a wealthy widow trying to help him buy the election and the government, has denigrated and insulted our nation's greatest military heroes by saying that the PRESIDENTIAL medal of freedom he gave her was quote “better” than the Congressional Medal of Honor because the recipients of the latter were usually deceased or injured. "When we gave Miriam the Presidential Medal of Freedom," Trump said at an event Thursday night at his ramshackle golf course in New Jersey, "that’s the highest award you can get as a civilian. It’s the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor. But civilian version, it’s actually much better because everyone [who] gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, they're soldiers. They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets or they’re dead, She gets it, and she’s a healthy, beautiful woman, and they’re rated equal." at any other point in our nation’s history a presidential candidate who said what Donald Trump has now said about winners of the Congressional Medal of Honor, would not only have had had his nomination rescinded by his party, but its leaders would have expelled him, and probably chased him out of the country or at least into hiding. This latest in a series of Trump blasphemies against American war dead and wounded comes in the middle of an attempt by his campaign to ride the limited military service of his vice presidential pick, Senator Vance, as an indicator of patriotism and bravery, and the attempt to swift-boat his Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz because there are nuanced details of the end of his TWENTY-FOUR year career in the military – a career which he resumed, coming out of retirement after 9/11. Vance has accused Walz of "stolen valor" and just yesterday in Pennsylvania a campaign surrogate called Walz a "coward." Lastly, there is Trump’s own original sin in this area: he somehow obtained five deferments from service in Vietnam in the 1960’s using “bone spurs” that mysteriously ended at the same time the military draft did. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 16, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 10: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: First he held a news conference where the reporters didn't have microphones. Then he held a news conference where the reporters basically didn't get to ask questions. What's next? A Trump News Conference without Trump? Sounds like a good idea. Incredibly, CNN ran the whole nonsensical non-news conference rant live. As somebody who was hired by CNN as its first year ended in 1981 I have a secret for them – the acronym stands for “Cable NEWS Network.” You’re no longer news. Cut to a test pattern, fire everybody, and start from scratch. Which also applies to Trump’s running mate. I’m beginning to think J.D. Vance is actually a Democratic plant. New Kensington, Pennsylvania. At VFW Post 92. That’s Veterans of Foreign Wars, the post number is 92, and there is still the Sarah Palin rule. Vance called it "VFA," forgot the number, had to fish into his pocket for a card that had the number written on it, and forgot the Palin rule (if you're an idiot running for Vice President, and you have to remember something, just write it on your hand). There are more polls and Kamalapalooza continues. She's pulled off a nine-point swing in Pennsylvania and a ten-point swing nationally. So naturally Politico led with 28 paragraphs on Vivek Ramaswamy insisting Trump was listening to his advice to focus on the issues and not attack her. This is while the Republican campaign is imploding so quickly that now Frank Luntz is wondering if Trump is trying to lose. And as the Trump campaign continues to try to insist it has nothing to do with Project 2025, Media Matters uncovers the implausible. There's a Project 2025 training video starring Karoline Leavitt, who is now Trump's Campaign spokesperson. As the video ends she tells Project 2025 trainees that if they need any help to just contact her. B-Block (23:57) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Republican House Candidate accused, as a cop, of handcuffing an infant. RFK Junior hires somebody to program political ads to you based on data on your phone. And baseball's new low: the Mets' ceremonial first pitch was thrown out by the Hawk Tuah woman. I presume she threw a spitball. C-Block (33:10) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: It's got everything: Suspense, Baseball, Red Barber, a story that was turned into a movie with Peter Sellers. It's "The Catbird Set." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 15, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 9: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Yesterday I said that the USA Today poll that had Vice President Harris down by five Florida was a great indicator of the Democratic tsunami that could be gathering but it’s not like she’s actually going to WIN Florida, and literally hours later in comes a new poll and she may actually WIN Florida. She's ahead in all but one of the Cook Political Report swing state polls. There are three new national polls (including Monmouth's) in which she's ahead. She's grown the Democratic lead among Latinos from 5% to 19%. Democratic enthusiasm has shot through the roof. She's cut Trump's lead among non-college-educated white people almost in half. It's such a torrent that even Frank Luntz has noticed, says it will soon be time to start figuring out if her coattails will win the House and Senate for the Democrats and “The people who were undecided have all collapsed towards Harris. The entire electoral pool has changed. Kamala Harris has got an intensity advantage, and I haven’t seen anything like this happen – in 30 days – in my lifetime.” AND REMARKABLY I'M GOING TO DEFEND TRUMP: Not his campaign, not his hate, not WHAT he said while he was on with Elon Musk. But his claim that the equipment gave him that lisp/slurred words/sibilant 'S'? He's right. Anybody who's ever worked with audio processors designed to improve phone signals knows exactly what happened here. We used to call it 1979 Comrex Martian Disease. I'll explain. B-Block (23:50) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Internet trolls "Gunther Eagleman" and "End Wokeness" complain that the Ilhan Omar primary count didn't go fast enough, then went too fast, then they didn't like the outcome. Laura Ingraham complains Kamala likes curse words when Laura swears like a stevedore. And they play a prank on Liz Truss and she doesn't like it. C-Block (37:10) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Last weekend somebody told me their career was over and asked if anybody ever told me that and I said yeah, in 2016. And 2001. And 1984. Oh and 1977. Haven't gotten me yet. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 14, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 8: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: ActiVote, completely its survey in Texas yesterday: Trump 53.3% Harris 46.7% In Texas. The lead is Trump +6.6; the margin of error is 5 points. Their last poll was July 19th, it was Trump by NINE points. So she cut the lead by nearly a third in three weeks. She is ostensibly within the margin of error. In Florida, in polling led by USA Today: Trump 47 Harris 42, so Trump is ahead by 5. IMargin of error is 4.5 points so Kamala Harris IS within the margin of error. All previous polls, from the one by the University of North Florida Research Lab to the one by a Trump pollster, McLaughlin, had it Trump by eight. As recently as last Thursday. Is she going to WIN Florida or Texas or both? I don’t think so. Registered Republicans outnumber registered Democrats in Florida by a MILLION. Trump won Texas in 2016 by nine points. Five-and-a-half in 2020. But that the FACT of Kamala Harris, before the convention, before the campaign has really even begun, has cut Trump’s lead by nearly a third in Texas and nearly forty percent in Florida tells you just how bad things were and just how much better they have already gotten in Florida and Texas – and Michigan and Pennsylvania – and America. I have this urgent request of the Trump campaign: please continue to do EVERYTHING exactly the way you are doing it now. Thank you. You are Kamala Harris’s primary asset. You are her ROCK. MEANWHILE, THERE'S ELECTION INTERFERENCE by Politico, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. The Post is explaining WHY the Post cannot publish nor even IDENTIFY internal documents and computer traffic STOLEN from a presidential campaigns - THIS time. There's some lofty bull about pausing and considering motives and outside actors and then the Executive Editor of the Post tells the truth."In the end," says Matt Murray, "it didn’t seem fresh or new enough." Of course there is a clip on YouTube from 2016 in which the Post's Wikileaks reporters explain that's why they published then and yeah they were sure it'd happen again. So they knew this would happen again and they knew they were setting the precedent and they knew they wouldn’t do better next time and now they’re pretending that it HASN’T happened again and they’re pretending NO precedent was set and they’re confirming they AREN’T doing better next time and they haven’t learned a damn thing. Lastly, Trump's campaign has been slammed by an unlikely source, the man who might be his only friend in the world: Bill O'Reilly. It's hilarious. And the quotes let me do my Bill O'Reilly voice again. B-Block (26:56) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: He's back and badder than ever, suggesting Kamala Harris hasn't done enough interviews. It's Chris Cillizza (two Z's and an endless number of L's); Trump War Room goes full racist and shows you the future and in one the houses everything is neat and clean and evidently all the people are dead; and why Elon Musk's Eleventy Billion views for Trump turns out to imply that the average viewer stayed for ONLY FOUR MINUTES. C-Block (39:35) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Sam Rosen retired yesterday - effective at the end of the next season - as the Hall of Fame play-by-play announcer of hockey's New York Rangers. Sam just happens to have succeeded so well AFTER he was my boss when I was 20 and 21 years old! The saga of Sam, who I know so long I wrote a paper about him in college. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 13, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 7: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump. Friday, Microsoft said the Iranians would try to meddle in the election. SATURDAY… YOUR campaign computers get hacked - you say. By the Iranians – you say. And you didn't report it to the FBII. Even though it’s by Iran and part of your whole campaign scam, Trump, is that Iran is the root of all evil. And you didn’t report it to the F-B-I, and you didn’t provide any evidence. Only yesterday, the FBI issued another anonymous, not even a spokesman’s name attached to it, just like that No-He-Was-Too-Hit-By-A-Bullet announcement – gave a clear and compelling picture of the vast team that has fanned out across the country, across the internet, across the world to track down this evil. Quote: “We can confirm the FBI is investigating this matter.” Investigating… who? Investigating… what? Whether they were really hacked? Whether they were really hacked by the Iranians? Whether Trump made it all up? Whether the Trump campaign fell for some sort of phishing by a porn site? Also the material was supposed to hurt Trump? And was leaked to The Washington Post and Politico, which have repeatedly been helping Trump in this campaign? What's hurting Trump, and which the media is under-reporting, is that his polls are now cratering. Last week The New York Times had Kamala Harris ahead by 4 in each of the Rust Belt States. Now, Bullfinch Group for a site supposedly servicing independent voters: Harris by FOUR in Pennsylvania, by FIVE in Michigan, by NINE in Wisconsin. There's a tie in North Carolina. There's a lead of nearly three points at 538 and of more than half a point at the right-poisoned RCP poll of polls. And most staggeringly - and most undercovered - from The New York Times: “Two private polls conducted in Ohio recently by Republican poillsters – which Mr. Trump carried in 2020 with 53 percent of the vote – showed him receiving less than 50 percent of the vote against Ms. Harris in the state, according to a person with direct knowledge of the data.” Holy crap. B-Block (31:40) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The unaided ease by which that Turkish guy won a shooting medal at the Olympics has the inevitable side effect. 27% of Brits tell pollsters that if they started now THEY could make the 2028 British Olympic team. The aforementioned LaCivita gets blown up by Matt Dowd over Swift Boating. And the tape CNN found from January 6th from the North Carolina candidate to run schools there, Michele Morrow. All it is is a demand that Trump conduct a military coup against then President-elect Biden. (41:50) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: In memory of WCBS Radio, the day its news director validated my entire existence as an aspiring 20-year old broadcaster. The saga of The Adler Letter. C-Block (50:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The Adler Letter and MY legacy of WCBS Radio, Part Two See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 9, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 6: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: There's no other word for it. Collapsed. Trump's poll numbers have collapsed. Poll numbers collapse all the time – relatively speaking; measured across the arc of American political history. If they had had them in 1864, ABE LINCOLN’S poll numbers would have collapsed. But I do not think that any other presidential candidate’s poll numbers have collapsed, this late, this fast, after this much of a twin honeymoon of a convention and a failed assassination attempt. Ipsos Polling: Harris by FIVE, 42-37, last surveys taken Wednesday. In the July 23rd Ipsos poll it was Harris by three, 37-34. Ipsos Repeat Polling (same respondents as last poll) of the Big Seven Swing States: Harris by TWO, 50 to 48… that’s Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The LAST Ipsos poll of the SAME voters in these states, also concluded July 23rd it was Trump by THREE. MARQUETTE LAW SCHOOL also released its national results very early Thursday Morning and among likely voters it’s Harris 50 Trump 42 – Harris by EIGHT. Everybody has their own criteria for “likely voters” so if you drop to just registered voters it’s still Harris by SIX. Most intriguing: among independent voters where Marquette has her head by 60 to 40. TWENTY points among Independents. What we are seeing as of THIS moment is exactly why this unprecedented move: changing horses not mid-stream but mid-tightrope was attempted. To get these results. And nobody, NOBODY, expected them this fast. NOBODY. Which leads me into the second thing I mentioned previously and I mentioned it on Wednesday July 24th and before I mentioned it I took a deep breath and asked myself do you really want to mention this already but I did and I repeat it: I have been thinking since no later than (hours after President Biden dropped out) that there will come a point, this year, this election, maybe this MONTH, where we will all be saying “Can you believe we came THIS CLOSE to not making Vice President Harris the nominee?” I’m not building the Joe Saved Democracy Again statues quite yet. But I am beginning to think of maybe what they kinda could LOOK like. AND IS ANYBODY GOING TO DO OR WRITE ANYTHING about Trump's Health Crisis? His “news conference” was, objectively, twice as bad, FOUR times as bad, as the President’s performance at the debate. Throughout, it bordered on – and often crossed the line INTO – fugue state. And this got no headlines. Trump always SOUNDS like he doesn’t know where he was. This time he also LOOKED like he didn’t know where he was. Can’t convey that on a podcast: when a question came from the right side of the room he looked frightened as if he had just discovered there WAS a right side of the room. He looked lost. More shockingly, perhaps, he looked pale. The New York Times, Washington Post, Politico, Axios, ABC, NBC and CBS had NO front page stories about the demented nature of his performance yesterday. Within an hour of its conclusion. Each hid behind his vague commitment to debates. Axios, incredibly, LED with “Vice President Harris still hasn’t given an interview or taken questions from voters since she became a presidential candidate…” B-Block (24:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A former mediocre football player named Marcellus Wiley claims Democrats are trying to bribe celebrities like him to support them (like him?) Trump makes up a story about Biden trying to seize back the nomination; his social media whore Dan Scavino posts 'I hear Biden is trying to seize back the nomination.' Elon Musk posts a fake London newspaper headline claiming there are going to be internment camps for conservatives (I WISH). Dear UK: what is the point of HAVING a Tower of London if you're not gonna use it? C-Block (34:50) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: The most amount of action in the smallest amount of space in any Thurber story. His impeccable tale of one hour of confusion in his childhood home: "The Night The Bed Fell." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 8, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 5: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Thank the lord for J.D. (J.V.) Vance. Even if you're atheist or agnostic, thank somebody. It is a given that they should have Tim Walz make ten speeches a week, every warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse, and doghouse. But Democrats should also anonymously flood the Trump campaign with the succinct and anonymous message: SEND MORE JD VANCE! Vance has launched, twenty years after, a new version of the anti-John Kerry Swiftboat Campaign against Walz, a man who served in the military for 24 years. Falsely accused him of "stolen valor" because he retired before his unit was ordered to Iraq. And he’s not only done so while being the running mate of a draft dodger. He's done so when his own role in the military was: Marine Correspondent. Brian Williams in uniform. As late as 2010 he was publicly supporting Iraq, now says he fell for George W. Bush’s propaganda about Iraq. Means that Public Affairs Colonel J.D. Vance was a propagandist. By his own definition. Brian Williams in a uniform. After that disaster, and a clumsy stunt in which he portrayed himself as a creepy weirdo trying to get on the Vice President's plane, they gave Vance the chance to push back on the thing that allowed Tim Walz to burst out of the gate Monday: that he's happy and voters want at least some happy. Asked what makes him happy, he was asked. He promptly berated the reporter and said he was angry. Never change, Dude. You're the worst. ALSO of note: more polls, from Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, showing an eight point swing from Trump to Harris in a little over two weeks. Eight. Points. B-Block (25:33) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Critics of the Paris Olympics, please meet Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo. She has a lovely bouquet of F-Bombs for you. Philly radio man Howard Eskin hasn't been fired after "unwanted kiss" and I haven't gotten over something he did to me in 1980. And Valentina "Gun Moll" Gomez didn't win the Fascist Primary for Secretary of State in Missouri. In fact she didn't even finish Top Five! C-Block (36:52) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It was such a dumb move that the other executives at MSNBC actually thought it was a practical joke. And then they found out the only joke was on them. NBC is known for its ability to erase people from its past but nobody has been erased more than the ex-host who was inexplicably promoted to General Manager in 2006 (and then stripped of power about a week later). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 7, 2024

SEASON 3 EPISODE 4: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: People. Like. Him. In a time when 50% approval is a landslide of support, when the very few most earnest and most honest politicians are still tolerated, when we have had a decade of one of the most disliked humans on the planet hating everything and everybody, the idea that the Democrats are running not one but TWO likeable candidates is staggeringly important – and simple – and novel. Tim Walz is HAPPY to be living here, and fighting to help other people become happy, and now to join Kamala Harris, who is ALSO happy and smiles – like a person. Trump isn’t HAPPY! At every moment of what should be success he’s degrading someone, he’s embittered, he’s angry, he’s the victim, he’s shortchanged, he’s threatening revenge. As shown on his spectacular first day as her running mate, Walz and Vice President Harris recognize what Trump does not: America is so worn out by and done with, unhappy weirdos. THE POLLS CONTINUE TO BE ALL KAMALA: Marist for PBS: Harris 51 Trump 48. Harris by three. Previous poll: Trump by one. Marist for PBS: Who do you trust more on abortion? Harris… 56-to-41. Who do you trust more on preserving democracy? Harris 53-46. Who do you trust more on the economy? Trump… but only by three. Who do you trust more on immigration – this is the killer, right? Trump’s real chance to survive the tsunami? Yes, poll says Trump but only by six. And some very pro-conservative swing state polling were also all positive. And all conducted before Tim Walz. B-Block (26:40) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Jim Vandehei of Axios not only fires ten percent of his staff, but he makes them read about it in a memo written in the impenetrable Axios 'style.' Bloomberg editors' response to their decision to break the embargo on the trade for Evan Gershkovich? Fire the reporter! And a member of Code Pink who was already ahead of Congressman Derrick Van PTSD Orden is delayed slightly, he yells at her to move, as she moves she brushes past him, he is now demanding she be charged with "assault on a member of Congress." C-Block (37:25) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I was supposed to anchor NBC’s cable coverage of the Summer Olympics in 2000 in Sydney. But I quit the job in 1998. Then I was supposed to anchor NBC’s cable coverage of the Summer Olympics in 2004 in Athens. But I told them – no, I think I’d prefer to stay in New Jersey and try to grow this new news show Countdown and there are still executives at NBC who think I am insane. And I am proud to tell you that I have not watched ONE minute, not ONE highlight, from the 2024 Olympics. I'm beginning to think I might not LIKE the Olympics. If this is true it dates to 1980 and my experience as part of a two-and-a-half man team that covered the ENTIRE WINTER Olympics at Lake Placid, New York – just the two-and-a-half of us. It was rewarding, it was challenging, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I have done everything since then to make SURE it WAS just once-in-a-lifetime, especially after the other one-and-a-half guys – my boss and my boss’s boss – got me drunk one night and then sent me to cover the skiing at sunrise and I almost didn’t survive. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 6, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 3: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The selection of Kamala Harris's Vice President is a big story and I'm really interested and it could be Joe Biden and I'd go "Whatever You Want, Queen." The lead story today is ANOTHER poll explosion She’s ahead in the Morning Consult poll 48-44. A week ago she was ahead by ONE point. Two weeks ago TRUMP was ahead by TWO points. That's a seven point swing since President Biden bowed out. They polled on six key attributes in seven swing states: she wins not too old in a landslide. She wins "mentally fit" in a landslide. She wins "less dangerous" in a landslide. She wins "cares about me" by as much as ten. She's tied with him on "more presidential." She's up. by three in SurveyUSA. CBS (which never had Biden ahead) has her up by one. Decision Desk HQ shows her improved in nine of its ten battleground states (the only one she didn't improve on? Virginia, where she and Biden were each up by three). For the first time even Nate Silver's projection says she has the better chance of winning the electoral college – 53% – and winning it by 282 votes to 255 for Trump – and has her up in the polls by one and nine tenths points, largely because HIS average of the polls in Pennsylvania has her up by a point and in Michigan by just under three. Nate Silver has Kamala Harris within six points of leading in… Florida. ALSO THERE'S THE VP THING. Reuters reported Tim Walz and Josh Shapiro are the finalists. It might be Mark Kelly in the mix, too. Sure great fine get Walz new younger glasses. End advice. AND NOW WE KNOW WHY RFK MADE THE BEAR VIDEO: Yes, sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you and sometimes when you try to get ahead of The New Yorker story about you dumping in Central Park the dead carcass of a bear cub you say another motorist killed, it turns out there were stories the bear had stab wounds, and oh yeah the magazine has a PHOTO of you mocking the dead bear and in it your fly is unzipped. B-Block (29:45) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: TWO Supreme Court Justices. Gorsuch threatens Biden. Thomas takes more trip courtesy Harlan Crow Travel Agency. Elon Musk warns of civil war in Europe - for at least the fifth time in ten months. Does he own a civil war distributorship or something? C-Block (38:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The anniversary looms: my greatest scoop proves you can accomplish great things by doing nothing and just letting everybody else do all the work for you. I broke the trade of Wayne Gretzky to the L-A Kings – as important a moment as there has been in the history of the development of hockey in this country – by just answering the phone a couple times. I mean I didn’t even have to leave my office. The Gretzky Trade And My Absolutely Unnecessary Role in Breaking It. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 2, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 2: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Don’t look now but I think a certain Russian dictator has stopped betting on Trump. In fact, he’s started humiliating him. Whatever the deal between Trump and Putin was on Gershkovich – and there is every chance it existed only in that great, amorphous, bug-filled attic that is Trump’s mind – it’s gone now. On June 5 Trump insisted only he could get him home. Only he would be the recipient of Putin’s trust and agreement. He even put a date on it. Not when he was back in the White House but as soon as he was president-elect. Instead Putin just kicked Trump in the balls. Whatever happened, Trump was no longer worth enough to Putin for Putin to let Trump lie to cover his own useless ass. He just let Trump step on that rake. He just LEFT Trump to post impotently on social media about whether we got more prisoners then they did, like he was talking about getting 13 burgers for five bucks at McDonald’s instead of just a dozen. TRUMP DOUBLES DOWN ON 'KAMALA IS NOT BLACK, SHE'S JAMAICAN.' Since he thinks immigrants are from asylums because he doesn't know the word has multiple meanings, there's every chance he thinks the "Jamaica" is the part of his home borough, Queens. The stupidity of The New York Times and Washington Post may have helped convince him he's got the winning campaign theme here but his claim she's not really black really cut through - and cut him. THERE'S VP NEWS: JD Vance says nobody's trying to get him off the ticket, everybody's been treated like this. Mike Pence was treated like this (JD? A word, please?) But everybody says the Dump-Vance movement is coming from Kellyanne Conway. On the other side, the tea leaves suggest Josh Shapiro may be Kamala's choice. AND ONE WEIRD TRICK: Imagine being born in 1946, living through Korea and the Cold War and JFK and Vietnam and the Swinging 60s and Watergate and Reagan and The Tech Boom and 9/11 and Obama and every day of your life since you learned how to talk, somebody has called you weird and apparently you’d never heard this… until last week. Happily, Trump has the perfect response to this: I’m not weird, you’re weird. B-Block (24:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: As Mike Trout loses another season to injury and entropy, Angels' owner Arte Moreno must move him, or the team. The editor of the Cook Political Report thinks if the election is about the issues and not Trump, Trump will win. And Musk says he and Maduro will fight. Ever heard of the boxing matches where the two guys score simultaneous knockouts? C-Block (34:50) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: From his great near-novel "My Life And Hard Times" it's just another kid from another century trying to get through the bewildering bureaucracy that is a major American college: "University Days." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 1, 2024

SERIES 3 EPISODE 1: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: After his demented, prejudiced paroxysm at the National Association of Black Journalists, as he signaled the start of his full-on, hateful, disgusting, apartheid-and-slavery-level-appalling campaign of birtherism and racism, Donald Trump must withdraw from the presidential election and commit to psychiatric institutionalization. There is no longer any room in the political discourse of the United States of America for anyone both so deeply disturbed AND so deeply possessed by a hate of people of color that it reaches the levels of insanity and prejudice Trump not only DISPLAYED in Chicago yesterday but gloried in. More over, there is no room in American SOCIETY for anyone with such an immeasurably dysfunctional and dangerous mental illness as that which Trump showed again and again at the NABJ event. This country is not safe if Donald Trump is free to walk on its streets. This country is not safe if those who have mistaken him for sane, or rational, or patriotic, or just American, are not shown in no uncertain terms that what he radiated yesterday on that stage is a disease At the National Association of Black Journalists event in Chicago he went full birther, again. He went full racist, again. He not only questioned the ethnic history of the Vice President of the United States, but he accused her of either CHANGING that history or changing her STATEMENTS ABOUT that history – Trump’s insanity permitted him to be vague even in his apartheid-level racist accusation. As he did so his stooges like Jesse Watters were going on Fox claiming Vice President Harris is quote “not African-American, technically” and Laura Loomer was disseminating a Harris birth certificate and the gutter trash congresswoman from Colorado Lauren Boebert wrote quote “she switched” and the Trump parking lot attorney Alina Habba said quote “Unlike you Kamala, I know who my roots are and where I come from." Not again. We must - using the law and the ballot box - destroy this man's evil and metaphorically bury his campaign and those who support under the rubble of birtherism. B-BLOCK (24:50) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Mar-a-Lago insiders selling info to supplicants about when Trump is in a good mood. Musk and Ramaswamy say America needs more people (but not immigrants like their own parents) and the Oklahoma school nazi wants to fire any teacher who wasn't worried enough about Trump's ear-piercing. C-BLOCK (35:38) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Ah for the simpler times of 46 years ago when the big issue was: will I get my seersucker suit dirty on the subway as I travel up to my internship at Channel 5 News. The story of Keith The Intern and Bill Mazer, See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 31, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 222: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: As reports mount that she'll select her Vice Presidential running mate next Monday or Tuesday, Kamala Harris - ten days into her campaign - surges into the lead in the swing states: Michigan: Kamala Harris 53 Trump 42 Arizona: Harris 49 Trump 47 Wisconsin: Harris 49 Trump 47 Nevada: Harris 47 Trump 45 Georgia: Harris 47 Trump 47 North Carolina: Trump 48 Harris 46 Pennsylvania: Trump 50 Harris 46 Seven Swing States Combined in these polls by Morning Consult for BLOOMBERG News: Harris 48 Trump 47 or as they headlined it “Harris erases Trump’s Swing State Lead.” But Nate Silver told me Harris only has a 38 percent chance of winning, the New York Times told me this is just a "honeymoon" period (a term for the time AFTER a VP is chosen and a convention is held) and Axios told me Trump is selecting his cabinet. Explaining the polls, and the media's inability to believe anything that never happened before is happening now. B-Block (30:38) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Honorary mention, me, for coughing on the podcast yesterday. So now Matt Gaetz is OPPOSED to electoral losers insisting they really had won? Laura Loomer makes up a story no crazier than the other stories she's made up and got mad at all of us for taking her seriously. And the National Association of Black Journalists is entitled to host Trump for an interview at its convention. It is NOT allowed to let him bring his own pet propagandist with him to "interview" him. C-Block (44:33) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: In those days there was no internet, no ESPN, no CNN, and no weekday national sportscasts. So when the captain of the New York Yankees crashed his private plane 45 years ago this Friday, it was left to eight or so network radio sports guys to cover the nightmare in real time. And one of them was a rookie with about eight days' experience in the business: Me. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 30, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 221: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT (NOW! WITH LESS COUGHING!): Looks like you can build a couple new towers and an extra moat at Kamalot: Morning Consult poll, which Trump still led a week ago today 47 to 45, now shows Vice President Harris AHEAD 47 to 46 and yes it is all within the margin of error; nevertheless it is a 3-point swing in ONE WEEK. Just as importantly: FIFTY PERCENT of voters in that poll view her favorably, 46 percent unfavorably, that’s a net of +4 and in our fractured landscape that is landslide territory and nothing Biden OR Trump achieved. As Morning Consult notes her popularity score swung by twelve points since last week, driven mostly by… INDEPENDENTS. A week ago 31 percent of INDEPENDENTS viewed her favorably and now it’s 48% percent. Kamala Harris is also killing it in the stodgier polls. FOX surveyed four swing states. Harris up by six in Minnesota. They’re TIED in Michigan and Pennsylvania. She trails by a point in Wisconsin. The new Wall Street Journal Poll: she's cut Trump's lead from six to two Harris 47. In short, there’s simply not a more CONGENIAL spot. For happily-ever-after-ing than here in Camelot. MEANWHILE TRUMP (WITH A NET FAVORABLE OF -16)? Of COURSE he meant if Christians voted for him now they wouldn’t have to vote again in 2028 BECAUSE he meant there wouldn’t BE elections - or maybe even more likely, there wouldn’t be elections in 2028 that HE COULD LOSE. There are a lot of reasons we can be certain of this, the easiest of which is that we all UNDERSTAND that he is running because if he doesn’t win the 2024 election and go to the WHITE HOUSE, he instead WILL go to prison, and he WILL die there. And if that is true in 2024 – guess what – it would ALSO be TRUE in 2028. B-Block (26:40) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: RFK says he was rambunctious so yeah there may be more sexual assault charges. A woman named Amy Vandersteel thinks 0.4% is forty percent. And right wing nut job Bill Mitchell explains there's a replacement Joe Biden who is four inches taller and deliberately tanked the debate so the Democrats could complete their intricate scheme to get him out and Kamala in I WISH. C-Block (36:20) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: MSNBC didn't make a big deal about it but they just hit their 28th anniversary on the air, and what I believe is the 19th anniversary of the day they fired Rachel Maddow, before I hired her back out of my own pocket. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 26, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 220: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Finally somebody has said SOMETHING confirming we don't have any idea whether Trump was hit by a bullet or a piece of bubble gum during what was - unquestionably - the assassination attempt, now nearly two weeks ago. And the doubt is from no less a figure than the head of the FBI, in Congressional testimony day before yesterday that got almost no attention for hours after he gave it. This led to considerable umbrage from Ex-Doctor Congressman Ronny Glug Glug Jackson of Texas who insists he saw the wound (of course it was the next day) even as video emerges of him explaining his own nephew was near Trump and suffered minor superficial injuries from... debris evidently thrown up by a bullet hitting something. Something that is ever more certainly NOT Trump. ALSO: Superb polling numbers for Kamala Harris from The New York Times (Biden was behind by six; she is behind by one), Morning Consult (she is now ahead by one) and Change Polls (It was Trump by four over Biden. It is now Harris by one over Trump). The Times had to find some disaffected Democrat and somehow found a confidence trickster (literally, she went to prison over a fake finger-in-the-chili thing) and quoted her. The Times has jumped the shark. I AM BEGINNING TO THINK TRUMP WILL DUMP JD VANCE. It's not just the couch embarrassment (So-fa, so-good) or the horrible approval numbers. This video of him complaining that Harris has 'no skin in the game' because she's not a biological parent? So - Lindsey Graham has no skin the game? Tim Scott? George Washington? And maybe best of all, there is a new nickname for Vice President Harris and the momentum she's building: Kamalot. It's courtesy Trump's second worst press secretary, the imbecilic Kayleigh McEnany, who is convinced it's an insult. This person has had one good idea in her life - this is it - and she's disowning it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 25, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 219: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump’s nephew Fred III – the one who likes him – says Trump told him, in the oval office, in May 2020, that the disabled, quote, “these people…the shape they’re in, all the expenses, maybe those kinds of people should just die.” It is somehow worse than it seems. Fred Trump III has a son William who has spent the whole of his 25 years on this planet fighting illness after illness and complication after complication. When the medical fund the family set up for William began to run dry in 2020, William called his uncle and asked for more help. “I don’t know,”Fred Trump quotes Donald Trump. “He doesn’t recognize you. Maybe you should just let him die and move down to Florida.” There are lots of words for this: euthanasia, mercy killing, assisted suicide, quietus; for the elderly senicide or geroniticide, the Nazis called it Akt-zone T-4. We all have our differing moral north stars but for most of us I think there are at least some circumstances in which it is valid and justifiable. You and I both knew Trump was this kind of monster. What we must realize is that while others might see individually justifiable acts of assisted suicide, with Trump we are talking forced euthanasia - mass murder. I have asserted here before that we saw of Trump during Covid suggested this was at the heart of his attitude towards people: that they were just another commodity. Kill a few… kill a few thousand… so what. Just let them die and move down to Florida. Round them up by the millions in camps before deporting them, leaving lord knows how many to DIE in those camps. "These people. The shape they’re in, all the expenses, maybe those kinds of people should just die." It's kind of amazing that in Fred Trump III's upcoming book he quotes his uncle using the N-word to blame damage to his car and that's barely an afterthought here. Which circles back to the campaign against Harris. Brian Kilmeade of Fox may have said the Vice President was going to a "college sorority" and he may have said "colored sorority" but two weeks ago Trump flunky Sebastian Gorka proudly called Harris "colored" - and the birtherism has started again. This while Biden gave a moving and eloquent farewell address, Kim Jong Un told Trump to stuff his friendship, CBS reported there are a dozen potential VP candidates, and the next round of polls shows her - in a wildly conservative poll - just a point back in Pennsylvania, and cutting Trump's lead in half in the CNN poll while improving 5 points on Biden's last numbers among female voters and 11 among young voters and 16 points among black voters B-Block (27:46) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: To analyze how the fascists are NOT running a misogynistic campaign against Kamala Harris, NewsMax brings on Mark Halperin and Ed Henry - both fired for harassment and worse. If you think Trump has been screwed up by Biden bowing out, The New York Times is down to criticizing HOW he bowed out and the astonished headline "The Most Ruthless Political Operator in the Country Is a WOMAN." And Russell Brand, super-genius, thinks melatonin controls skin color. C-Block (42:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The old joke about this hated baseball figure was: you're in a boat with this guy, Hitler and Mussolini. You have a gun and two bullets. What do you do? Answer: shoot this guy, then throw Hitler overboard, then throw Mussolini overboard, then shoot this guy again just to make sure. The saga of how the Los Angeles Dodgers "lost" several million dollars in 1964 while making a huge profit. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 24, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 218: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) I have been thinking for awhile now that there will come a point, this year, this election, maybe this MONTH, where we will all be saying “Can you believe we came THIS CLOSE to not making Vice President Harris the nominee?” You have heard about THE poll: Ipsos for Reuters (Harris 42 Trump 38 Kennedy 8 third-party race; Harris 44 Trump 42 head-to-head) that's a four point shift TO Kamala Harris… in a week. But have you heard the OTHER polls? Marist for NPR and the PBS News Hour? Harris 42 Trump 42 Kennedy 7 / Trump 46 Harris 45.YouGov for Yahoo News? Harris 46 Trump 46. These numbers are from the FIRST FULL DAY of the Harris campaign and she is already in a statistical tie. Harris's favorables are at a net -2, sounds meh. Biden's? A net -18. Trump's? Net -19. More jaw-dropping still? The top Republican internal pollster in Georgia has Harris starting off there, trailing just 48-47. And best of all: Do you agree or disagree: at 78 years old Trump is too old to work in government? Agree – 53%. Disagree – 43%. Trump's pollster issued a panicked memo lowering the bar just as the Reuters poll was coming out. Funny he never mentioned the age issue! Polling, polling, polling. Plus it's hard to tell what the Fascists are freaking out about the most: the polls, Kamala declaring war on their suddenly oldest-ever candidate, or their leadership's insistence that they can't call her "colored" (like Sebastian Gorka did a week ago) or use racial epithets and especially not call her "DEI." Which, of course, is what they immediately called her. Or maybe it's J.D. Vance. There's instant buyers' remorse because he's so bad on stage that they can't tell if he's inflated or stuffed - or both. B-Block (35:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Colombian emigre Valentina Gomez is running for Secretary of State in Missouri on an anti-immigration platform and now she's illegally used the balcony of the Speaker of the House on which to film an ad. An Ohio State Senator becomes the last Republican to threaten Civil War, and the New York Post and Senator Mike Lee both fall for the worst fake announcement of the fake death of the fake Jimmy Carter on fake stationery imaginable. C-Block (47:10) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I mentioned Aaron Sorkin yesterday. Time to explain the story of the day I was watching one of his TV shows and suddenly my father's favorite saying was coming out of the mouth of Aaron's lead character because Aaron had gotten in the habit of borrowing my life. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 23, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 217: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Oh, nothing. Kamala Harris only raised $223,000 a MINUTE or $13,380,000 an hour in her first 24 hours as the Democratic presidential candidate-presumptive and will only rap up the pledged delegates by today or tomorrow and has already opened her campaign five points closer to Trump than any other Democrat. And as somebody mentioned (cough; cough cough) Friday it turns out if President Biden had not seen the wisdom of the choice and bowed out before the new week started Nancy Pelosi was ready to go public - with polling. And now, everybody's together again and everybody's endorsed here and even that moron Manchin has gotten out of the way and the only question is where in town do you want YOUR Joe Biden statue to be. ON THE OTHER HAND Trump intends to sue. Somebody. Maybe Hannibal Lecter. The man who is suddenly history's oldest presidential candidate wants to be reimbursed and the debate moved and they want to force Biden to stay in the race AND resign as president and don't you know Trump was shot with a wadded up piece of gum so you must defer to him. If there's anything more delightful than watching Trump implode because it never occurred to him the other side had better tactics, it's watching Hannity complain that Kamala Harris has a funny laugh when... shoot... who has ever actually heard Trump laugh? Like a person? There's a lot to go through, including the reminder that if you're worried about this nation's racism and its misogyny: in the last four US elections: we have elected a man of color president, then re-elected him, then a woman candidate won the popular vote, and most recently, a woman of color was elected VP defeating a ticket led by racist incumbent Assume nothing. But - Excelsior! B-BLOCK (37:40) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: So. Much. Stupid. Takery. Aaron Sorkin, Brian Stelter, Olivia Nuzzi and Katy Tur could've forged a four-way tie (well, three; Sorkin would've just 'borrowed' one of their ideas). C-BLOCK (56:15) IN MEMORY OF MINET: I'm a little unfocused today and when I get unfocused I get verbose because I'm ad libbing. And if you didn't see it on social media, my extraordinary 17-year old rescue pup, Minet, died Sunday just six days after hitting that amazing milestone of longevity. If you've been scared off adopting a senior dog or even a geriatric one, please listen to Minet's story and how much he gave me - and consider getting one yourself! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 19, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 216: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-BLOCK (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: I’m sorry to write this, but it is now time for Joe Biden to withdraw his name for nomination for re-election as president of the United States. He should release his delegates with instructions to vote for Kamala Harris for president. We can, I hope, spend the next twenty years embracing Joe Biden and the greatest sacrifice made by any American politician in our lifetimes while we celebrate Trump being turned down by the pardon board for the twentieth consecutive year. For now, we must approach this without emotion because what is now a problem is on the verge of becoming a disaster. Its essence can be boiled down to five points. First: democracy lives or dies on this. Also the climate and thus continuing life on the planet. We have to choose whatever path offers the best odds. Second: the long awaited FOB (Friends of Biden) push in private is complete. Friends of Biden. Obama’s warning to “allies” that the Biden path was “greatly diminished” followed Pelosi, Schumer, Jeffries, and possibly the Clintons reaching out in private to the president to tell him he must exit. I believe if he does not do so by next week these same leaders will risk a temporary rupture of the party by publicly saying they can no longer support him. Third: as I said previously America will always choose the old man yelling at the cloud, especially over the old man whispering intelligently but inaudibly. This nation elected Reagan twice. Fourth: the president has said he will be re-elected because he’s done such a good job. This, sadly, is no longer predominant in elections. And it is no how you beat a liar promising the gullible eternal life. Fifth: the polls are cratering. The last 47 of them, Trump leads. I’m beginning to spot a pattern. In new polling by Emerson College, Biden is down by four nationally, and now an average of five-and-a-half in the seven swing states. On the other hand, the same poll pitted Trump against a mythical “younger Democrat who is qualified for the job.” As ludicrously vague as that is, and as much as the rule that the Imaginary Candidate always out-polls the real one, the results are too staggering to totally ignore. In those same seven swing states, that imaginary Democrat beats Trump by an average of seven points. The pendulum swings nearly thirteen points, and even with all the caveats it should at least reassure Democrats that they would not be throwing away their only chance of victory by changing – even now. MEANWHILE: Evidence continues to mount that Trump was not hit by a bullet but by debris knocked towards him, and is lying about it - as he lies about everything else. The usual idiots were fooled into believing he’d pivot. His acceptance speech at FascistCon24 was the pivot everyone expected, until he demanded that all the charges be dropped against him CUZ UNITY. And the exploitation of the firefighter killed at his rally kind of went off the rails when he brought what was supposedly the man's uniform onstage as if it were a religious icon - and they had misspelled his names. And one of Trump's longest-standing pro-conspiracy co-conspirators is dead. Lou Dobbs – an original birther and a despicable human being – died yesterday. B-BLOCK (32:25) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: We now have more information on who thought MSNBC would do better taking Joe Scarborough off the air as the Republican convention opened and replacing him with NBC’s online-only news anchors. It’s Cesar Conde, the NBC News boss who’s as bad as all the other NBC News bosses. Matt Gaetz spoke at the RNC and he either got too much botox or he had himself laminated. And we have that rare consecutive edition winner. Van Jones of CNN is back and badder than ever. C-BLOCK (47:47) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: So the Republicans have officially nominated a convicted felon still scheduled to be on trial for espionage and for leading an attempted violent overthrow of the government. In view of that, I must again read you the story James Thurber wrote about Trump fifteen years before Trump was born: The Greatest Man In The World. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 18, 2024

SEASON 2 EPISODE 215: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: It is now my expectation that if by next week President Biden has not withdrawn from the presidential race, a coterie of key Democrats led by Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries will publicly announce that they and their caucuses cannot support his candidacy. The first true dam break in that process occurred Saturday, but only became known last night when ABC News reported that Schumer went to the president's Delaware home and "forcefully made the case that it would be better for Biden, better for the Democratic party, and better for the country if he were to bow out of the race." The Schumer office issued something less than a non-denial denial and the White House press office put its head down and shouted full steam ahead. But the Schumer news followed a day in which it became more and more apparent that those key Democrats no longer care if this becomes public. Congressman Adam Schiff, soon to be Senator from California, publicly called for Biden to step aside. More and more ugly details emerged from a Zoom call between the president and House Democrats. A really startlingly tepid defense of Biden's continuing on the ticket by Bernie Sanders was published by The New Yorker. And it was revealed that Schumer and Jeffries working in concert got that "virtual roll call" confirming Biden's nomination delayed into August. There was also new polling (65% of Dems want a new candidate, Associated Press) that wasn't so new (66% of them wanted one in April, Pew Research). And then there was that weirdly timed presidential positive test for COVID yesterday in Las Vegas forcing the cancellation of a speech and a trip back east. From all I can tell that's what it is: the virus. Your willingness to compare it to the "cold" President Kennedy suddenly developed while on a campaign tour during The Cuban Missile Crisis is up to you. ALSO: Five days after the assassination attempt and we now have to assume that Trump is LYING about getting shot. That he was SHOT AT, is not in doubt. That the blood came from - in the unfortunate phrase he himself chose – his EAR BEING PIERCED, by a bullet – has been verified… by absolutely nobody. Nothing from Butler Memorial Hospital in Pennsylvania. Nothing from the Secret Service. Nothing from the Department of Justice. Nothing from ANY branch of government. Nothing from the FBI even though it has gone to unusual lengths of confirming the INVESTIGATION is of an assassination attempt AND domestic terrorism AND they’ve broken into the shooter’s phone AND they know there were eight shots AND they know who ELSE was shot AND they released names AND Nothing from ANY news organization, each of which has cleverly and almost ARTISTICALLY avoided saying Trump WAS shot and avoided saying Trump WASN’T shot. The entire official medical report from the Trump campaign is that he is quote “fine,” unquote. 100 hours and they can't get an anonymous statement from a hospital. We now have to assume he's lied about something about the attempt. B-Block (25:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: It's been awhile. Time for Ted Cruz to make a jackass out of himself again. The Washington Post editorial writer with the unfortunate name of "Shadi" asks if Trump not dying was "God's will." And CNN must fire Van Jones. Its remaining 837 viewers will accept no less. C-Block (37:10) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The onetime American counter-culture soccer star Alexi Lalas is now just another D-list "celebrity" at the Republican Convention. But once he was the straight man in an ESPN commercial that rings through the ages. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 17, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 214: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Whaddya MEAN Tucker Carlson warned Trump last month that he might be assassinated if he DIDN'T pick a non-Neocon VP like J.D. Vance? Whaddya MEAN The New York Times had Carlson warning Trump weeks ago that if he chose somebody besides Carlson's choice - Vance - "the U.S. intelligence agencies would have every incentive to assassinate Mr. Trump in order to get their preferred president" - and they put it in paragraph 69 of a 71-paragraph article? Anybody ASKING Carlson about this, uh, coincidence? Or the Times about the sources? Or Vance? Trump still hasn't called the family of the man murdered at his rally; England's Channel 4 says the 2016 Trump Campaign had the shooter's family in a special database of battleground state voters who probably owned guns. Nothing new from the Pittsburgh station's report that there were Trump signs in front of the family home. There's new polling on who voters blame for the atmosphere that led to the Trump shooting (Trump), their reaction to his selection of Vance (27% of Republicans think he was the best choice; 56% have no idea who he is), Rudy Giuliani falls at the convention, and why nobody should ever compare Trump to Braveheart. BIDEN MEANWHILE is going to run against Trump AND the Supreme Court and propose term limits and mandatory ethics. And while he is reportedly not broadening but tightening his circle of advisers about the race, the impossible happens. The polls show Trump ahead by about two - no "near miss bump" - but the 538 Electoral College simulator shows Biden with a 53% chance of winning (and by 16 votes). B-Block (24:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: I got Jon Stewart interviewing Bill O'Reilly in a kind of Old Timers' Day of frauds. Joe Scarborough is so mad at NBC for suspending his show to appease the Republicans that he's risked firing by calling them out on the air (who do you root for in THAT battle?), Katy Tur seems to have forgotten Trump tried to get her killed, Ron Johnson becomes the latest to lose in Republicans Versus TelePrompters, and inexplicably Hugo Lowell deletes the greatest tweet to emanate from the Republican convention C-Block (35:50) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: MSNBC silencing Joey Scars and having Tur praise him seems awfully familiar to some of us and when I say 'some of us' I mean: Me. The Republicans blackmailed NBC to get ME off the air after their convention in 2008 because nothing is more easily scared than a billion dollars. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 16, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 213: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: This is the America Trump wanted. This is the America Trump got. He was shot at by a gun-obsessed MAGA kid, with Trump signs in the front yard of his home, in a MAGA world in which stochastic terror threats are Trump's only campaign, only belief, only religion. Republicans! Stop shooting at Trump! This wasn't an MSNBC viewer and it wasn't a Democrat and it wasn't the fault of the corporate media and Biden's oratory didn't impact him and this didn't happen because I keep saying Trump is a Hitler. TrumpIS a Hitler. The Republicans trained the weapon on Trump and they fired. And shame on Biden and the other Democrats and the eternally gullible media for falling for the promises of a Trump pivot. He said we need to unite the way the extraterrestrials put "To Serve Man" on their Twilight Zone cookbook. The moment the Democrats took the bait, he explained what his demands were: as part of "unity" he expects all criminal charges to be dropped against him immediately. He probably secretly hopes the Democrats will also nominate him. Same fraud. Different con. ALSO: Anybody see those photos of him as he screamed "Fight!" like a giant rabid rodent? When he let his true soul out? They were chanting that as the GOP convention yesterday. There is no joining of hands here. As always, when the Republicans mean unity, they mean everybody has to agree...to do what they say. Nice timing on delaying the Documents case, "Judge" Cannon, until the morning the GOP Convention opened, and dismissing it. Bluntly, Biden should take presidential immunity and use it. What would Trump do in the mirror image of the assassination attempt? Less than four months before the election and the guy ahead in the polls gets shot at. And the Secret Service clearly screwed security into the ground. And we don’t know WHY a kid registered with the same party as the candidate would try to kill the candidate. And we don’t know WHY a local police officer confronted the shooter moments before the shots only to back away. And we don’t know why, most insanely of all, the kid had a cameo in a Black Rock commercial for retirement plans. And we DO know it is being investigated as an act of domestic terrorism. And you know, you KNOW, a Trump in charge would look at this and say ‘good enough excuse for me! I am declaring a national emergency and invoking the insurrection act.” Do it, Joe. AND: please, stop with the "violence has never had a role in America." Our politics is a river of blood. 20 of the 45 presidents have either been shot and killed in office, shot and wounded in office, shot and wounded while seeking to regain office, or the subject of shooting plots averted at the last minute or last hour. If we stopped lying to ourselves about how peaceful we are, maybe we could begin to fix our bloody story. B-Block (27:52) SPECIAL COMMENT II: The conventional wisdom of the electoral effect of the assassination attempt against Trump is - as always - wrong. The attempted murder of a Republican gun nut by a Republican gun nut using a weapon Democrats tried to ban is no longer even the lead Republican story. It may have no impact on the election at all. Candidate victims in the past have always lost. C-Block (41:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: So many fascists said so many stupid things before the truth came out about who the shooter was, that the list today is literally EIGHTEEN PEOPLE LONG, climaxing with Chuck Todd, Lester Holt, Mike Johnson, Elon Musk, Mike Lee, Mike Collins, and J.D. Vance - who once compared Trump to Hitler (those Biden ads are gonna be lit) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 12, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 212: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: I've never actually seen it done before: somebody put the toothpaste back into the tube. Not all of it. Not hardly. There are still a thousand reasons to ask President Biden to leave the ticket. He called Zelensky "Putin" and Kamala Harris "Vice President Trump" and when Trump tried to mock him on it he shoved it up Trump's posterior. And more importantly, for 50 minutes he interwove foreign and domestic policy, his own post-debate mistakes, the history of the relations between South Korea and Japan, his own calculations and miscalculations about retaining the presidency, and expressed an openness to change both his approach and maybe candidates. It was unprecedented. Simply, if he had been like this at the debate, or if he had held this news conference the day after it, it is impossible that the events of the last two weeks could've unfolded the way they have. So I do not know what to think (that'll get me kicked out of the pundits club) but I think there is a germ of an idea here if the plan is to stick with Biden atop the ticket: Put him on TV live once a week. Press conferences, sit-down TV interviews, Town Halls. Put him on TV to do THAT every week and maybe he will put all the toothpaste back in the tube. In the interim, he needs to offload many of his campaign advisers and handlers because they are killing him. B-Block (25:25) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Chuck Todd somehow transfers his own selfishness and personal failure onto Biden. In humorous relief, the Toronto Globe and Mail asserts that a man fought for his life while being interviewed by NBC. And Lauren Boebert gets caught speeding. Was it because she couldn't handle a stick? C-Block (30:20) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: Fitting for an examination of the dumbing down of America and how it has kept Trump viable: the woman who thought MacBeth wasn't as good as her standard paperbacks: "The Macbeth Murder Mystery." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 11, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 211: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: "I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat," said Will Rogers. I said in February that the worst outcome was the scenario in which this played out in public and Biden dug in and those who doubted him kept coming back every 48 hours and saying “what about NOW?” And yet here we are. In February, Axios reported, quote: “When White House aides appear on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," they're often booked between 7 and 7:40 AM ET. That's so they'll reach one crucial and loyal viewer: President Biden.” Guess who was on yesterday at exactly 7:39 AM? To speak to the proverbial audience of one? Nancy Pelosi. And she soft-soaped him and urged him to make his decision. Obviously the point is: she said he should make a decision and of course he has not only insisted for ten days now that he’s MADE his decision but he PUT IT IN WRITING. Why? So it alarms him, without looking like she’s providing a platform or encouragement for the Joe-Must-Go’s – encouraging them YET anyway. THE BEST THING SAID YESTERDAY was actually from Biden's former White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield: “I know first hand better than almost anyone,” Ms. Bedingfield writes “how smart the Biden team is about DATA and about ignoring the noise. They are right that the game here is to convince voters, not pundits. But when the battle over the public data is so overwhelmingly negative, it’s a good moment to put forward your theory of the case. If they have data that supports the path to victory that they see, they should put it out there now and help people who badly want to beat Trump, rally around it. People want to see the path.” The thing is, there actually ARE indicators that there IS a path: a study suggesting that Biden retains 94% of the support he had before the debate while Trump only retains 85%. And “Asked about the upcoming presidential election,” Warner Bros Discovery CEO and CNN Uber-boss David Zaslav, "said it mattered less to him which party wins, as long as the next president was friendly to business. ‘We just need an opportunity for de-regulation, so companies can consolidate and do what we need to, to be even better.” Good morning fascism! B-Block (26:14) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Yeah the Federalist Society sure is backing up Trump's contention he knows nothing about Project 2025. It is a SPONSOR of the Republican National Trump Fascist Convention. There's a new exoplanet in the neighbor and to put it bluntly it smells like Fart. And speaking of which, Trump whore Sebastian Gorka just called Kamala Harris "Colored." C-Block (29:46) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Since I'm trashing corporate media it's a good time to talk about how, in the span of a couple of minutes in 1905 or so, my great grandfather made a great observation and a terrible mistake that handed as much as $70,000,000 to a big American corporation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 10, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 210: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: It's over. If President Biden and his campaign team and his party discipline team can handle Trump and the electorate and the news conferences and the debates as efficiently as they have turned around the effort to push him off the ticket, they are going to win the election in a landslide. You never say it’s over, especially not with Biden headed for a news conference tomorrow as the NATO summit in Washington concludes in which literally two bad answers or one REALLY bad answer could end his candidacy before noon on Friday. But for now, and skipping for a moment the obviously larger question over whether this signals the start of democracy’s going out of business sale… it… is… over. Final score: Number of Democrats in the House who called for him to step down, on the record… SEVEN. Number of Democrats in the Senate who called for him to step down, on the record… NONE. Number of ex-presidents who called for him to step down… NONE. Number of historians he loves who called for him to step down…NONE. Number of former Speakers of the House who reportedly told friends in private she’s deeply uneasy with his continued candidacy and of whom a Biden confidante said "He would listen reluctantly, but he'd listen to her”who called for him to step down… NONE. Semafor News asked an attendee, off the record, if the mood was comparable to that at a funeral. The answer? “That is an insult to funerals.” Now there’s just one problem in all this and I think you already know what it is. The only problem it solves is the one Joe Biden had, or has. Out here on the going-out-of-business sale floor, the President is suddenly losing Wisconsin by five, and the Cook Political report just moved Arizona and Georgia and Nevada from Toss-Up to Lean Trump; and just moved Minnesota, Nebraska-Second, and New Hampshire from Likely Biden to Lean Biden. And the Biden Campaign seems to think this is over, rather than permanent. They will find out otherwise tomorrow night when he gets parsed at that press conference like he was a newly-found Dead Sea Scroll. ALSO: Two Senators actually call for a Special Prosecutor to investigate Clarence Thomas! Project 2025 is trending. And we'll play another edition of "What Crime Did Trump Commit TODAY?" B-Block (27:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: There are people preparing to be cryogenically frozen at the facility where they still keep Ted Williams in a jar who are setting up thousand-year investment funds for when they get thawed. Brian Stelter is so desperate to be rehired by The New York Times he's pretending his old paper also wrote an editorial calling for Trump to bow out. And Dana Bash? Jake Tapper? Trump praised your work on the debate. Your careers are thus over. C-Block (38:10) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I watched an Atlanta Braves game the other night and was thus flashed back to the World Series I covered there where the hotel put me in a room next to all-night choir practice. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 9, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 209: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The dam was supposed to break yesterday, against President Biden. It didn't. Meetings were delayed and stances were softened. And if we are really going to do this, I finally have some actual advice for the president. If you want to change the topic, REALLY change the topic: Arrest the Trump terrorists. This Federalist Society president who again yesterday vowed revolution against the government of the United States and implied he was ready to make it bloody and violent? Arrest him. The North Carolina Republican candidate for governor? Who called for mass killings of the people he doesn't like? Arrest him. The Supreme Court - corrupt, insane, amoral - was also ultimately unimaginative. It tried to give Trump absolute immunity from prosecution for official acts. It didn't even think it was giving Biden the same tools. Use them, Mr. President. Arrest Kevin Roberts for calling for the violent overthrow of the government. Arrested Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson for terroristic threats. Arrest Trump's gang. If need be, invoke the Insurrection Act as Trump intends to - and arrest him. If you really want to change the topic, CHANGE THE TOPIC. Change it from words, to action. Save the nation. Now. B-Block (25:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Maureen Dowd finally writes a column about Maureen Dowd writing a column and misquoting Biden in it. Marjorie Taylor Let's Compare Biden's Acuity To Hers Greene lists a dozen signers of the Declaration of Independence, there are only eight names on it, and six didn't sign it. And of all times, NOW the Biden Campaign is posting online ads looking for... a Rapid Response Director? C-Block (36:20) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Perfect time to retell it, forgive me if you've heard it before. 17 years ago I was taken to lunch by a senator looking to stop sounding crazy when he was angry, and instead sounding more like my righteous indignation. His name was Joe Biden See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 6, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 208: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) COUNTDOWN BULLETIN: In a disturbing end to an otherwise low-news interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News, President Biden was asked how he will feel if he stays in the race and loses to Trump. "As long as I gave it my all and I did as good a job as I know I could do, that's what this is all about." I'm not sure how that question could be answered, but that answer is terrifying. As Mr. Biden undertakes his second rehab tour this year, with the interview and a rally in Madison, Wisconsin, Senator Mark Warner of Virginia is reportedly convening a meeting among his Democratic colleagues to urge them to join him in a trip to the White House to burst what they see as an informational bubble around the president. In the meantime, Governor Maura Healey of Massachusetts, who just six weeks ago led a big-money fundraiser for the president, issued an on-the-record statement urging Biden to carefully reassess whether he's the right candidate to defeat Trump. And House Minority leader Jeffries will convene his committee ranking members on Sunday to discuss the situation. While a groundswell seems to be forming for a consensus Kamala Harris candidacy, there seem to be two questions to ask yourself in formulating your own opinion as to what to do next: 1) the debate is two months from next Tuesday. Do you want JOE Biden participating in it? And 2) Do you want a story, the lead story, or the only story every day between now and the debate to be some form of: How does the president seem? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 4, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 207: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: “No one’s pushing me out. I’m not leaving.” The President yesterday on a conference call with his campaign staff, and notably ALSO with Vice President Harris. “Let me say this as clearly and simply as I can: I’m running. I’m the Democratic Party’s nominee. No one is pushing me out. I’m not leaving. I’m in this race to the end…” the President’s fundraising email last night. “I had a bad night… I screwed up,” he told a radio interviewer. I understand why the president said what he said, and I understand why the email reads as it does, and I understand he may fully or almost fully believe all that and I do NOT understand WHAT they are doing at The White House. The New York Times led a succession of reports that President Biden had told an ally “that he is weighing whether to continue in the race” although, perhaps crucially, after the White House issued a flat denial the Times ALTERED the hook and the story to focus on the idea that “he may not be able to salvage his candidacy if he cannot convince voters that he is up to the job." I do NOT understand the litmus test the President and his advisers have apparently convinced themselves will be the magic wand. I’ll quote The Times: “Mr. Biden’s allies said that the president had privately acknowledged that his next few appearances heading into the July 4 holiday weekend must go well, particularly an interview scheduled for Friday with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News and campaign stops in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.” The interview with Stephanopoulos is not live. It is taped. The campaign stops in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are presumably going to follow all the other campaign stops with teleprompters. If someone is telling the President that doing well in more totally controlled, utterly contained, hothouse environments, is going to quell in the slightest the impact that continues to resonate from a week ago in Atlanta, THEY are crazy. And if the PRESIDENT thinks doing what amount to canned events will quell the impact, he is DOOMED. And between them, if he gets through a pre-recorded sitdown interview, and he gets through two speeches and there AREN’T questions from reporters or at minimum questions from THE CROWD, and he and the campaign boast about these events as some kind of TRIUMPH, then the outcome will be this: he will have forced HIMSELF off the ticket, NOT because of the debate, but because of the week AFTER the debate. The way to steer out of the skid, the way to find the magic wand, the way to “salvage his candidacy” as the Times put it and “save his reelection bid” as CNN put it and “stay in the race” as ABC put it, was – maybe still IS – to hold a news conference, and I mean call a news conference on 20 minutes’ notice – not one next week at the NATO summit in DC, but NOW, and take whatever they’ve got for you; and it’s to do a town hall somewhere (or as Jim Clyburn says, a series of them), and if you want some comparatively comfortable exercise, that Stephanopoulos interview has got to be LIVE. And it would be best to do these things on consecutive days. B-Block (19:49) JULY 4TH AND THE BAD PRESS LOU GEHRIG GOT FOR DYING: It's a remarkable reflection on media then and now. We think of the tragedy of the New York Yankees star as having moved 85 years of fans and writers and just humans. Not so. One columnist insisted Gehrig was faking it. Another insisted he had infected his teammates. Funny you don't hear those articles read often. I'm going to do it for you. C-Block (47:00) GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 3, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 206: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: “I wasn’t very smart. I decided to travel around the world shortly before the debate,” the President has now said at a fundraiser in Virginia. He then described his arduous travel through 15 Time Zone changes for the G7 and D-Day, and how it affected him at the debate: “I didn’t listen to my staff and then I came home and nearly fell asleep on stage.” The debate was June 27. He returned from his travels on June SIXTEENTH. This followed by only a few hours a suggestion from Nancy Pelosi that Biden (and Trump) takes an acuity test: "Both candidates owe whatever test you want to put them to, in terms of their mental acuity and their health — both of them. I think it's a legitimate question to say, is this an episode or is this a condition? When people ask that question, it's completely legitimate — of both candidates." Pelosi thinks Biden has an episode? Or a condition? If there were anything Pelosi could have said that would do LESS to contain all of this, I am hard pressed to guess what it could have been. And there are disastrous new internal polling numbers leaked from Democratic pollsters OpenLabs to Puck News. Since the debate, New Hampshire has now become Trump by three, Virginia is Trump by one and a half; that the president now has leads of half a point or less in New Mexico, Maine, and Minnesota; that Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, George, North Carolina and the Nebraska Second are all Trump by four or more and it’s seven in Michigan and Pennsylvania. Biden’s support dropped by roughly two percentage points in all twelve of these states and in Colorado and Minnesota. If he cannot recover all of this, the Democrats are looking at a loss of at least 100 electoral votes. The profound moments of American political history – secession, Watergate, Teapot Dome, the retirement of Lyndon Johnson, all the rest – share one commonality. These stories have each taken on a momentum of their own; they have each reached a tipping point when – whether quickly or imperceptibly – the other option began to disappear. The momentum in the Biden Re-Election story changed yesterday. And the tipping point may have been reached. The good news could be that suddenly the only candidate with the age problem, would be Trump. The only candidate with the uncertain grip on reality, would be Trump. The only candidate to be called feeble or gaffe-prone or lost, would be Trump. And if Biden really were convinced to retire from the ticket and the office in order to send Kamala Harris into the campaign with the incumbency, she would be the first woman president of the United States asking the voters to validate her with a full term of office – and doing so when a primary plank of the Democratic campaign is the Republicans’ assault on the rights of every woman in this country. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 2, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 205: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) BULLETIN: I now believe the President is going to stand aside and Kamala Harris will replace him as the nominee, and I think there is as much as a 50-50 chance he will also resign his office before the election. This is NOT based on sourced reporting or inside information but merely an accumulation of new developments during the course of Tuesday, and I take no pleasure in making any of these conclusions, and I haven't even thought long enough about them to be certain if I concur or am opposed to this outcome.But After Nancy Pelosi's comments today about President Biden and how "I think it's a legitimate question to say, is this an episode or is this a condition? When people ask that question, it's completely legitimate" and how nothing she could have said would do less to tamp down speculation or debate, and especially after today's report of leaked internal swing state Democratic polling, I think - as my friend of half a century Will Bunch put it, "it feels like an energy shift in the force." The polling is described in detail. The bottom line is that in the 72 hours after the debate, Democratic internal pollsters OpenLabs reported that the six swing states had become twelve swing states and Biden had lost about two points in both of them and was now trailing Trump in Michigan and Pennsylvania by seven. It's not sustainable. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 2, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 204: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: If Joe Biden had been pulling his punches in fighting back against the Trump/Supreme Court conspiracy to subvert democracy, he stopped doing so last night. To my mind he should take the Court's unprecedented decision to transform our form of government into a monarchy by the fabrication of something called 'presidential immunity' by showing how it works, announcing he was adding six seats to the Court by Executive Order, and daring SCOTUS to stop him. But as a start, Biden took off the gloves, insisting the American people should join him and Justice Sotomayor in dissenting from the Court immunity decision. Biden attacked Trump by name, said that because the Supreme Court had done “a terrible disservice to this nation” by preventing a Trump trial on January 6th before the election, that therefore the people “must decide” on Trump, and acknowledged “there are virtually no limits to what a president can do." It was a clear declaration of war on the Supreme Court; it was a clear re-positioning of Trump from an unprincipled political opponent to a menace to our form of government. “Any president will be free to ignore the law.”He closed with “may god help preserve our democracy.” The Supreme Court has thrown out 248 years of American history – more really – at the start of the week in which we CELEBRATE that 248thbirthday. As Sotomayor also noted, Alexander Hamilton was specific about the necessity to have a FORMER president be subject to possible prosecution for any crimes he committed, IN OFFICE, because THAT would be one of the key differences between the new United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain, from which we had to stage a revolution to free ourselves. THEIR king was “sacred and inviolable.” OUR president would be subject to “personal punishment and disgrace.” As to the nomination uncertainty: the polls continue to be inconclusive and the tightrope just gets longer. I remain agnostic on the outcome (I want whatever wins). But I want to suggest that the logical extension of calling for Biden to drop off the ticket because you don't think he's sharp enough to win re-election and/or serve another term, is to say he's not sharp enough to be president NOW - and should resign. If you're going to be cynical enough to force him out of office later, why not now, when you could still offer new president Kamala Harris as the incumbent on Election Day? B-Block (31:40) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Ken Dilanian of NBC, Matthew Belloni of Puck, and Ben Smith of Semafor all miss the point of the Biden candidacy story. Ralph Nader blames Hillary for the Chief Justice appointed the president who is Nader's fault. Worst Persons Hall of Famer Bill O'Reilly makes up a story about Biden quitting (but it must be true! It's from the Bill-O'Reilly-Dot-Com-News-Headquarters!) C-Block (42:10) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Another 4th of July falling in the middle of another week, just like it did the year I started my professional career in network radio simply because... the 4th of July was falling in the middle of another week and they needed somebody unemployed, cheap, and immediately. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 30, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 203: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:40) BULLETIN: The New York Times has called for a candidate to drop out of the presidential race after his performance in a debate - a debate which has IMPROVED his standing against his opponent in several polls. No, President Biden is not dropping out. And that wasn't a family oligarchy intervention Sunday at Camp David to tell him to. It was an offing photo shoot. There are no indications (and let's not fully exhale; we don't know if the impacts might appear long-term) that the debate had any significant impact on the presidential race. CBS-YouGov polling released Sunday says even in the wake of the understandable blunt-force trauma we all went through as we watched, 55% of the Democrats have NO interest in changing horses while after the same debate 54% percent of EVERYBODY says TRUMP should drop out. “I am finishing my second battleground state poll post-debate,” writes the Democratic pollster Geoff Garin, “and both surveys show the same thing: the debate had no effect on the vote choice. The election was extremely close and competitive before the debate, and it is still extremely close and competitive today.” Morning Consult and Data For Progress polled right after the debate, the percentages of those who think Biden should drop out went up like four points, but the Biden-versus-Trump match-up… Biden went UP a point. In Survey USA he went UP THREE points. Translation: yeah, maybe he should drop out but if he doesn’t, I’m still voting for him. The almost negligible impact on Biden’s poll numbers may be as transitory as whatever it was that impaired the president during the debate, because his health and age is baked-in to the voters’ perception of him. There was nothing before the debate, nothing in his grueling international travels to the G7 and Normandy and elsewhere that was as bad as what he did during the debate. He was clear the day before and the next morning. And there is a plausible and intuitively satisfactory possible explanation for what CAUSES something like that in an 81-year old man. If the President had a cold – and I don’t know about you, but I’ll admit it: I’VE had colds in my life, and his hoarseness, it sounded to me like a cold – if he had a cold, did he take cold medicine? You know, like just Tylenol. Cold medicine. The Yale School of medicine professor, cardiologist and head of outcomes evaluation at Yale New Haven Hospital Center Dr. Harlan Krumholz wrote a piece for Newsweek: “Biden's symptoms are consistent with someone suffering from temporary drug-induced cognitive impairment. Most people believe common over-the-counter cold medications such as Dayquil, Tylenol, or Advil to be harmless. While generally well tolerated, these medications have well-documented side effects and can cause reduced alertness, diminished attention, poor memory, and reduced reaction time, especially in older individuals. These impairments are transitory but can appear consequential and alarming. Every experienced clinician has seen this effect thousands of times…" The real illness right now may be in our media. NBC News got the Camp David thing utterly wrong. The Times made fools of its editorial board and top columnists and based on something a staffer wrote there is every reason to suspect that it acted as it did because if Biden were to drop out it would prove the Times wasn't a fatally broken organization that put its thumb on the scale because he wouldn't give them a one-on-one interview. Regardless: the breaking news is - nothing's broken. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 28, 2024

A-Block (1:40) SPECIAL COMMENT: As I reported in our live video version of this podcast on YouTube and Twitch right after the "debate," there were three participants in the CNN event last night, not just two. President Biden was competing against the tag team of Trump and CNN. I warned here on Wednesday that CNN's abrogation of the primary responsibility of any journalistic effort anywhere and at any time in the history of the world (when the guy urinates on your leg and tells you it's raining, you're supposed to SAY something) had the potential to render the first Biden-Trump "debate" into a repeat of the network's disastrous live Town Hall with Trump last year. But in that one, and though she failed, Kaitlin Collins at least tried to push back against Trump's firehouse of lies. Last night, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash disgraced themselves and disqualified themselves from any future reportorial credibility (under the guidance of CNN political director David Chalian and new chief Mark Thompson). CNN gave Trump 45 minutes in front of an audience that may have topped 100,000,000 to lie about everything from January 6th to his own golf performance. I documented 40 of the lies. I think I missed two-thirds of them, or more. CNN pushed back against exactly none. The network had promised to at least not abide Trump's lies about the 2020 election and having set the truth bar as low as it could have gone, failed to reach even that. It's not just that Bash and Tapper should be fired (and Chalian and Thompson and anybody else in management responsible for this utter, corrupt pandering to Trump). If I had done what they did, I would have resigned and fled the country by now. And probably changed my name. In a just world, CNN would be forced off the air and out of business, today, and its offices evacuated and the empty buildings leveled. The operation where I began my TV career in 1981 and resumed my news career in 2002 is dead and its credibility is now marked with the NewsMaxes and RSNs of this world. As to Biden's halting and hoarse performance, he is bloodied but unbowed. More on that in the third segment of this podcast. B-BLOCK (17:01) MORE SPECIAL COMMENT: We'll review some of the key clips from the Trump Town Ha--- I'm sorry "CNN Presidential Debate" including the remarkable truth that while one of the candidates is seeking the office to avoid prison and will do anything to anybody to win - as he tried to do in 2020 - Tapper and Bash did not even bring up the topic of democracy until the 39th minute of the "debate," and waited even longer to question Trump about his status as the worst criminal in our nation's history. C-BLOCK (40:28) QUESTIONS FROM YOU: Observations from viewers of the debate and the live podcast and my replies - including the three or four different components to one obvious question: "Is it too late to replace Biden?" There are three answers, the most important of which is: if you do, you trade a still likely victory over evil for certain defeat. No would-be replacement comes within 10 points of Trump in polling. It's that simple. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 27, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 201: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: As debate day arrives there could not be a more potent nor ominous metaphor for our political crisis than the one in DC. There, a 3000-pound replica of the Lincoln Memorial is… at this hour… melting in the hot sun. As Trump tries to destroy democracy and Biden tries to destroy Trump, the climate disaster that has already begun and on which Trump would apply the finishing touches, has so imperiled the six-foot tall wax statue of Lincoln outside a Washington elementary school, that the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities has removed Lincoln’s head “to prevent it from falling and breaking.” Can you think of worse imagery? Polling indicates more than half of voters expect to watch tonight, and that a rather startling 11% actually expect to have their opinion of who to vote for changed by the results. The three groups produce the most voters who feel that way are the ones in which Trump has had the most unlikely growth: voters under 35, African-Americans, and Hispanics. If Trump actually blows that growth tonight he's cooked. And we will either have a debate right after the Supreme Court rules on this Trumpian "Presidential Immunity" nonsense, or the night before it. It becomes a simple, tangible truth that if the Court invents this immunity and declares this nation a monarchy, the king won't be Trump but Biden and he can take any steps he wants without fear of consequence. It's kind of hard to believe but it is literally true that if SCOTUS creates immunity today, Biden could have arrest Trump tonight - during the debate. B-Block (17:22) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Jamaal Bowman didn't lose because a Nevada Republican called him names, or because AIPAC spent millions, or because progressives are in retreat. He lost because of Jamaal Bowman. The sports TV world is in such trouble a Major League Baseball team is now in essence PAYING its fans to watch its game broadcasts. And Hung Cao, the nut job GOP candidate for Senate in Virginia, tries to get out in front of a huge scandal by blaming a USA Today story that he may have padded his military resume on... the font their reporter used in their email. C-Block (30:35) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: He should've been one of the greatest of all-time in the news business. But bad luck and bad survival skills combined to lay Will Spens low: The Most Talented Man I Ever Worked With. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 26, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 200: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: With the news that tomorrow night, debate moderators Danna Bash and Jake Tapper will NOT fact-check Trump in real time, CNN has abrogated yet another journalistic imperative at yet another Trump event offering him yet another step towards imposing a dictatorship on this nation. Oh, ok, says CNN: on the 2020 election, yeah, they’ll push back. But otherwise?The moderators “are not participants in the debate. They are facilitators,” said a CNN spokesman. CNN’s woeful political director David Chalian – largely responsible for the Trump Town Hall debacle last year – told the New York Times that a live debate “is not the ideal arena for live fact-checking”even as that spokesperson who refused to give their NAME to Axios said that there WOULD be SOME fact-checking of major falsehoods and smaller details on secondary CNN platforms. So they’re going to do it, they’re just not going to do it where it matters or when it matters. Just to further confess that the decision to NOT fact check Trump’s firehose of lies as he makes them, WHERE he makes them, is another principle thrown away to make sure Trump shows up or doesn’t batter the network, or both, that SAME spokesman said that Trump's lies about 2020 are “inaccuracies.” WHAT SHOULD BIDEN DO? When Trump says something crazy – about sharks OR the economy OR anything in between – START by saying “Donald Trump is insane. And he’s wrong. Here’s why.” This is especially true if Trump tries the “are you better off now than you were four years ago?” Emphasize Trump’s criminal culpability about Covid. The million dead. The bleach. The putting light in your body. The economic collapse. The fact that in February Trump knew it was airborne and lied to the public for months as Americans died. Say it, Mr. President, say it bluntly: Trump killed a million Americans. There are American millions HE killed for whom there is no question – they ain’t better off now than they were four years ago. AND bluntly say that he killed the economy. That the inflation we are finally stopping now is TRUMP Inflation. It’s TRUMP COVID inflation. That the president with the worst job records since Herbert Hoover was Trump. That violent crime exploded under Trump. That there were two kinds of criminals under Trump: muggers and murderers on the street… and ex-presidents who tried to overthrow the government. And the most important truth to hit him with – the most important truth to dispel what Brian Beutler dubbed “Trump-Stalgia and Trump-Nesia” – the most important truth to enrage Trump – is the truth that he lost. That he lost the election. That he’s a loser. And that instead of taking it like a man, he had other people try to overthrow the government, he didn’t even have the guts to go to the Capitol during the coup. B-Block (21:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Troy Nehls has been wearing a combat medal he never deserved. The military took it back. He says it's the establishment trying to punish him. Vivek Ramaswamy praises the Julian Assange deal, rips the Julian Assange deal, blames Biden, even though he was indicted by Trump. And Missouri's Attorney General sues New York State to somehow impact Trump's 34 Felony Convictions here and says there would be no way some rogue D.A. would have taken Abe Lincoln off the campaign trail in South Carolina in 1860 for being anti-slavery when, of course, Abe Lincoln was taken off the BALLOT in South Carolina in 1860 for being anti-slavery. C-Block (33:44) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I did an interview about my doctor and friend Renée Richards over the weekend so it's time to tell how I met her - and more importantly why - when she treated me after I slammed my head on the front of the 7 Train at Shea Stadium in New York in 1980. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 25, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 199: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump and his henchmen opened not one but two emergency exits for him to bail out of Thursday's debate against The President and blame it on Biden. And in doing so, his dumbest press secretary yet went on CNN and called Adolf Hitler "HILTER." H-I-L-T-E-R, Hilter. I don't know if she should be fired for invoking HItler, or if she WILL be fired for getting the name of Trump's role model wrong. It's Karoline Leavitt, the former centerfielder of the St. Anselm College softball team and the idiot who previously insisted the word 'damning' is correctly pronounced 'dammaning,' tried to filibuster CNN's Katie Hunt about how biased debate hosts Jake Tapper and Dana Bash really are. As Hunt cut first the answer and then the interview off, Leavitt insisted anybody could spend five minutes googling how many times Tapper had compared Trump to "Adolf Hilter." Bypassing the whole Hitler/Hilter stuff, "Damaning Hilter" Leavitt adopted the traditional pose of the Martyred Trump Huckster and did the rounds of the fascist media outlets. When she went on Steve Bannon’s outlet he said either CNN apologizes to her, or Trump should cancel the debate. Hours later, Trump opened a second emergency chute, again demanding drug tests before the debate, as his personal quack Congressman Physician Prescribe Thyself Ronny Jackson wrote a long letter to the White House requesting such tests (and saying nothing about any stashes he may have left there). Who knows if Trump really will bail. But he's got FOLAD (Fear Of Losing A Debate) all covered. MEANWHILE: it's a long shot but I'm beginning to wonder if somebody on Jack Smith's side is laying the groundwork for indicting Trump anew - in New Jersey. There has been a second news leak in just three business days, about Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Espionage Scandal. Yesterday’s leak via ABC News did not resonate among American news media which can generally only BARELY handle one thing at a time – like the debate. The story itself – about Trump making an almost-secret special trip to Florida in July 2022 to make sure nobody had touched the documents he stole from the White House and hid from his own attorney - may not be much more than another one of those threads that you pull on and maybe it just comes off in your hand – or maybe it unravels the entirety of Trump’s size 62 suit. I don’t even think prosecutors know what they have here. But he went down there two weeks after he had bankers' boxes shipped from Mar-a-Lago to the Bedminster Golf Course. They didn't contain Ivana. B-Block (20:35) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: I have somehow forgotten, for years, maybe 35 years, the first and arguably the best joke I ever made about Trump. I'll correct that here. Not only are the British Conservatives on track for a historic loss in the July 4 election but two candidates, a party official, and a security guard have been caught allegedly wagering on which day their prime minister would select for Election Day! And the rare two-wins-in-a-row for Puck media guy Dylan Byers, carrying still more management water as he turns gutsy Washington Post reporting on the paper's ongoing management scandal into “a plan to dig for unflattering information.” C-Block (27:20) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: How did I forget to tell you this one through the first 500 episodes of this podcast? How could I have missed the 24th anniversary last week? I'll just mention the principals: my mother, me, a former New York Yankees infielder named Chuck Knoblauch - and Babe Ruth. . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 21, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 198: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The New York Times' sourced story - that a year ago first a senior federal judge in Florida phoned Judge Aileen Cannon and urged her to hand off the Trump Espionage/Stolen Classified Documents case to some other judge, and when Cannon ignored the idea, the CHIEF federal judge in Florida phoned Cannon and warned her that the optics of ruling on the president who appointed her with disastrous - is not just a great bit of reporting. It's a clear shot across the bow of Cannon. It's an indicator that this is her last chance to voluntarily recuse from a case she has so mishandled that even when both Trump and Jack Smith said they were ready to start the trial, SHE refused. I think it's a legitimate inference that if she again ignores it, a real move will be made against her (maybe even against her fitness to continue as a judge). The chief judge who issued the warning was appointed by Governor Bush and then President Bush and to me it's clear this was a planned leak. Let's hope it works. MEANWHILE IT'S TIME FOR RFK JUNIOR TO DROP OUT. The nephew of a martyred President and son of a man who easily could've won the office has now threatened to jail Dana Bash and Jake Tapper of CNN - and the whole network management and production staff - because the network has excluded him from the debate next week. Kennedy's farcical, dangerous, insane Trump stalking horse campaign has to end. He isn't a victim and he isn't being persecuted. He's nuts. AND DONALD SUTHERLAND HAS DIED. This spectacularly talented man was, I am proud to say, my friend. He appointed himself my "acting father" after my Dad died. He was supportive, insightful, hilarious, and I think I can tell you something you may not know about him: he was as good a writer as I've ever read. I will read you one of the dozens of emails he sent me. I will restrain myself and chose one about baseball, not one about...Jane Fonda. B-Block (27:55) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: What if a Tucker Carlson fell over in Australia and nobody was there to hear it? His speaking tour? Plenty of good seats available. Jeff Bezos still won't do the obvious: Will Lewis has to be fired before he crashes The Washington Post. And Dylan Byers trots out words like "hero" and "great" for my late friend Howard Fineman. 14 months ago he gratuitously and painfully insulted him in a story that gad nothing to do with Howard just because he felt like taking a shot at somebody. Byers, a management-jock-sniffing jackass, might meet the same fate 30 years from now - except nobody will remember his work. C-Block (40:02) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: One of the existential premises of his work was: everything in the world could be reduced to a husband and wife arguing over the dumbest of things. This week he has her insisting that he is murdering her wrong in "Mr. Preble Gets Rid Of His Wife." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 20, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 197: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Joe Biden, five points behind Trump in the Fox News poll in MARCH, a point behind him last month, is now two points AHEAD of Trump in the Fox News poll in JUNE. . There are also some remarkable internal numbers in the poll. Doesn’t sound like much, but Fox says 32 percent of its respondents now believe the economy is in excellent or good shape - and that is the HIGH WATERMARK for the entire Biden Presidency. Fox also says voter CONFIDENCE in Biden on the economy has swung wildly towards Biden. They favor Trump by FIVE points, but that last month it was Trump over Biden by THIRTEEN. Also: A top midwestern political reporter says the Trump Campaign is now warning LOCAL media that it will VET all questions for Trump at the Republican Convention and only give access TO Trump to local outlets whose questions have been APPROVED in advance. And a week before the debate, as rumors continue to swirl that Trump will back out as soon as he can find some way to blame it on Biden, it is not only a certainty that Robert Kennedy Junior will NOT be at the debate, but it’s beginning to look like he is on FAR fewer state ballots than his campaign has been claiming. And is Trump going to bail out of the debate? Why? Just because he told a reporter Joan Rivers voted for him in 2016 - when she died in 2014? B-Block (20:10) SPORTSCENTRAL CENTER NEWSDESK TONIGHT: The day Willie Mays deliberately turned a double into a single - and why it's testament to his genius as a baseball player. And Justin Turner's pretty smart but his new World Series idea is really, really dumb. (31:04) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Georgetown University celebrated the late New York Times writer David Carr as a great man, which he was. But they also celebrated him as a great journalist, which he most decidedly was NOT. ETTD: Everyteam Trump Touches, Dies. And Greg Gutfeld explains Fox doesn't make crap up which means I guess that they gave Dominion Voting $787,500,000 because Rupert has too much money? C-Block (47:45) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Just started to get hot here and whenever that it happens I remember the day I went to work at 3 AM after spending the previous day drinking roughly 40 beers. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 19, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 196: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Yesterday in Milwaukee the melting of Trump's brain reached - or at least neared - its completion. He called the President of the United States and the obsession of his life "Joe Bride." He had lots of other episodes, but this is the all-time new high in low. JOE. BRIDE. No - he’s fine. Ask Dr. Johnson. Dr. Jackson. Dr. Johnson. Dr. Jackson. My sister. My daughter. Joe Bride. Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, who are in essence running the Trump CAMPAIGN, are reportedly “worried” about Trump – specifically about his deteriorating mental condition. Can’t imagine why (JOE BRIDE). And this is coming from two former Republicans still plugged into THAT side of the ball. Wiles and LaCivita, per Rick Wilson, are going to friendly journalists and, quoting Wilson, “are starting to whisper that ‘no one can control (Trump)’.” Former Republican Senate aide Tom Nichols meanwhile put his finger to the wind and said that the FLOOD of Trump campaign efforts to make it look like the no one can control PRESIDENT BIDEN are making HIM suspicious. Nichols now writes quote: “Republicans and their media ecosystem seem to be in a panic about their candidate… if Trump is doing so well, why is his campaign and its support system in right-wing media resorting to easily disproved lies?” Trump also stepped into it AGAIN not IN Milwaukee but ABOUT it. His campaign had to deny a heavily-sourced report from the ABC Television station in Chicago that during the convention – in Milwaukee – the place he called HORRIBLE last week – he won’t even stay in a hotel there; that he will stay in his building in Chicago and COMMUTE. MEANWHILE: Roger Stone may conceivably have cost Judge Aileen Cannon her job. In the latest undercover audio released by my friend the investigative journalist Lauren Windsor and her colleague Ally Sammarco, Stone – at a Catholics for Catholics event AT Mar-a-Lago – made the mistake of hinting that the fix is IN in Trump’s trial for stealing and keeping classified documents and other espionage act crimes… that when the Trump-appointed Cannon conducts a hearing day after tomorrow on the Trump motions to DISMISS all or most of the charges on the fabricated premise that the Special Counsel was unlawfully appointed, Stone seems – even for him – unusually confident Cannon really WILL throw the case. AND TRUMP JUNIOR tweeted a photo of CNN’s Jim Acosta and wrote “LOL. Looks like CNN Fake News loser Acosta got an embarrassingly bad hair dye job.” Talk about “embarrassingly.” Bad hair dye job? Remember that among other living hells, Don Jr. is the guy who on a regular basis mounts that gargoyle Kimberly Guilfoyle who at age 55 trying to look 35 now has SO much make-up and SO much hair dye that she looks like Bette Davis in the movie “Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?” B-Block (21:19) Willie Mays, two days before he and the Negro Leagues in which he played, are to be honored with a San Francisco Giants' game at Rickwood Field where Mays' first team the Birmingham Black Barons played, has died at the age of 93. (32:17) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Josh Hawley spreads the "Biden wants to sit during the debate" lie. The BBC's unfortunate typo about self-identification for job applicants and what it did to the word "deaf." And Jeff Bezos sends an email to his Washington Post staff about the building being on fire and stuff and talk about getting a roll of stamps and e-mailing it in! C-Block (42:05) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Since Bezos is in the news, let me tell you of when I worked with his fiancé Lauren Sanchez, blackmail victim, and when I worked with David Letterman's future blackmailer. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 18, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 195: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump is losing his mind. If Joe Biden gave a speech in which he claimed everybody agreed he was in full robust mental health because he’d passed a test administered by Doctor Anthony… Hopkins. Or Anthony Bourdain… or Anthony Michael Hall – any Anthony except the doctor who gave him the theoretical test, Doctor Anthony FAUCI. If that had happened to Joe Biden there would be nothing else on television or the internet. But Trump has gotten away with it in part because he is so crazy, so loudly, so often, that it all runs together and, perversely, each Trump mental disaster stops seeming like it’s part OF a sequence. Each Trump mental disaster REPLACES the one before it. I have a thought experiment about that to underscore how that’s even MORE true than you or I might assume it is. But the second half of the headline? That he's losing his mind AND the election?New Ipsos poll for Politico yesterday: ONE THIRD of all voters say they are now LESS likely to support Trump. Among independents, same number, a third, less likely to vote for him; only 12% of independents say MORE likely to vote for him.Ipsos also dug a little deeper. Are the convictions IMPORTANT in your decision whether or not to vote for Trump? 22% say the convictions ARE important AND make them less likely to vote for him. He's losing. And Biden has dfinally called him a "convicted criminal" in an official campaign ad. Next? The President saying it himself. I think that is also coming. B-Block (41:47) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Another GOP flag scandal: Newt Gingrich is back because his eyesight is almost as weak as his intelligence. The Michigan Republican who posts, disavows, then embraces an AI endorsement from Martin Luther King. The Associated Press puts out a transparent ad for Trump. And Royce White, would be Republican Senator from Minnesota, would have you believe that there is a crime wave there caused by... water fountains? C-Block (50:02) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The almost certainty that Turner Sports is about to lose the NBA reminds me of the summer Ted Turner almost got the rights to the NFL. Not the games - the entire league. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 14, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 194: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) Trump and Mike Johnson are plotting for House Republicans to somehow "overturn" Trump's convictions in the Stormy Daniels Election Interference trial. That was what they were SUPPOSED to talk about when Trump met with the House GOP yesterday but amid all the threats and terrorism and dictatorship and violence we forget that at his core, Trump is a moron. Whether he and Johnson actually got around to conceive some extra-constitutional scheme to enact ex post facto measure, before or after the election, who knows. All we do know is that Trump wound up insulting and enrages Milwaukee, a month and a day before the Republican Convention is supposed to open there. The blowback was a welcome respite. Three different Wisconsin Congressmen made up four different excuses for Trump calling Milwaukee "horrible." One of them, Bryan Steil, first said Trump said no such thing, then in a local TV interview contradicted himself and said Trump did say it, but was referring to "specific things." The upshot of all of this - and Trump's word salads - and Trump's manic blinking at his news conference where he couldn't handle any questions - is the ever-increasingly obvious reality that Trump is currently losing his mind. And that means for all its bravado and fealty the Republican Party is shackled to a corpse. B-Block (24:30) TRUMPDATE: Late breaking news about Trump's fear of going to prison and the likelihood that if he goes it'll be in a place that is halfway between New York City and ESPN (huh?) (26:14) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Rishi Sunak explains he grew up deprived because he didn't have the British equivalent of HBO. The downward spiral of ex-human being Mark Penn gets worse. And Lauren Boebert is caught vaping in public again and you know WHAT HAPPENED LAST TIME! C-Block (34:00) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: For the first time, a chapter from Thurber's only non-fiction book "The Years With Ross." It includes a quote from a New Yorker Magazine writer that to me is one of the five or ten greatest things uttered by anybody in the history of the world. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 13, 2024

SEASON 2 EPISODE 193: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: I have no use for Merrick Garland, in large part because he is one of those people who would never think to do this, and never realize that his Republican counterpart would do it in a heartbeat. Found in Contempt of Congress for ignoring a subpoena, as rammed through by Jim Jordan, who BEGAN to ignore a Congressional subpoena two years and a month ago? Garland should get a grand jury to indict Jordan TODAY. LET THE ASS-KISSING BEGIN: Trump goes to Capitol Hill for the first time since his attempted coup. Just to ratchet up the imagery, he'll be at the Capitol Hill Club, which is where the still undiscovered terrorist left one of his/her pipe bombs the night before. COULD SCOTUS DECIDE TODAY? It is to issue decisions today and tomorrow. One of them may be about Trump's imaginary "Presidential Immunity." Or not. Or maybe they'll keep it a secret. Or run it up a flag poll to see who'll salute. Another bid to make them follow SOME rules has been vetoed by Lindsey Graham. AND IN MEMORY OF MY FRIEND HOWARD FINEMAN: There is a tiny silver lining in Howard's story, which he honored me by sharing with me since his diagnosis and prognosis 18 months ago. He was with me from literally the HOUR my political career began through last Wednesday when his "intro" to the B-Block last ran. He was brilliant, supportive, honest, indefatigable, funny, beloved, and I will tell you why his fight made our sadness just a little easier to endure. B-Block (25:14) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: So she felt she had to tell everybody to stop calling Jill Biden "Hunter Biden's mother" because she wasn't his biological mother. Someone wrote - and I could not find a clip to confirm this - that she then implied that when the President referred to his wife, and to Hunter as "their son" it was a sign of dementia. So we need to talk about what's wrong with Katy Tur. We'll start with the fact that Katy is herself the step-mother to two children. I have known that families and motherhood have been issues for her since we met in 2006, even before we lived together. But to drag this onto the air - onto news coverage - is unforgivable. It's time for MSNBC to find somebody else. C-Block (45:02) GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 12, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 192: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump has now floated reinstating the Military Draft. He put the words in the mouth of the last of his Secretaries of Defense and that guy – Christopher Miller who sat back and watched January 6th unfold nearly as much as Trump did – dressed the draft up as “A National Service Requirement.” It seems to be targeted at 18, 19, and 20-year old American boys and girls (and maybe 17-year olds) and it would start with a mandatory military aptitude test administered BY the Pentagon IN your local high school and any kid who refused to take it might be prevented from graduating and any school that hesitated to go along with this would lose ALL federal funding. Trump breaking precedent and using the American army domestically to suppress protests and conceivably kill civilians is not the bottom of the plan for the military-dictatorship part of his dictatorship. Those army soldiers, and marines, and whoever else, firing on other Americans – many of them or most of them or maybe all of them, would be draftees. And when The Washington Post reported it, and the story got no traction and no pick-up at all, and even though the paper reported Trump had not expressly endorsed the draft, within six hours Trump posted an enraged denial reading “In fact, I never even thought of that idea” which even for him is a disastrously transparent non-denial denial. Of course HE never thought of that idea: when has Donald Trump ever thought anything about a military draft – except how to dodge it. Somebody ELSE thought of that idea. The somebody else is that former Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller. The Post interviewed Miller and he said a national service requirement should be “strongly considered. He described the concept as a common “rite of passage,” one that would create a sense of “shared sacrifice” among America’s youth." The impact this Washington Post story, could have on Trump’s campaign would be nothing short of fatal – if only it were to be handled correctly by BIDEN’S campaign: Trump wants to reinstate the draft. The. DRAFT. Is there a more powerful campaign message than “Trump wants to draft your kids”? “Trump Wants To Force Your Kids To Kill Or Be Killed?” Actually there is. Because the voting age is not what it was in the ‘60s. The 18-year olds vote. There IS a more powerful campaign message and it is “Trump wants to draft YOU. Trump Wants To Force YOU to Kill or Be Killed.” ALSO: Trump's felony conviction means he can't own a gun in Florida. So why has he had one longer than Hunter Biden had his? And what about Washington State's law allowing any voter to challenge any candidate's ballot position if he's been convicted of a felony? And why is Alvin Bragg voluntarily appearing at Jim Jordan's hearing - the day after Trump will be sentenced? B-Block (25:20) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A Twitter follower of mine puts Chris Cillizza and Nate Silver in the same tweet just to mess with me. Jonathan Martin, who has spent a year talking about nothing but Joe Biden's age, complains that nobody has talked about Joe Biden's age (and works Aaron Sorkin into it, somehow) and the Republican who wants to be Senator from Minnesota, Royce White, explains the campaign funds may have been spent AT the all-nude strip club but that doesn't mean they were spent on STRIPPERS since they serve FOOD at all-nude strip clubs. C-Block (34:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: As I read of Stephen A. Smith demanding that ESPN pay him more than it pays Pat McAfee, I flashed back to the days when the studio-show audiences there were way more profitable than they are now and ESPN was make $60 million a year from SportsCenter and they were paying me $300,000 and I asked for $3,000,000. Oh the look on their faces delights me to this day. How I Quit SportsCenter... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 11, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 191: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The polls continue to underscore it. Trump's conviction, just twelve days ago, is already half as important in voters' decision-making process as where the candidates stand on immigration. 28% tell CBS the convictions are a "major factor" for them, yet this number is dismissed because it isn't by itself decisive. A separate Morning Consult poll says Trump's net favorability is now four points below that of Biden's - because of the trial. And yet the President, and his advisors, and the old men of the Democratic Party continue to contrive to keep Joe Biden from saying the truth in public. He says the impact of the convictions is for the public to decide. No! That’s for the public to decide? This isn’t an American Idol vote. This isn’t Coke versus Pepsi. This is democracy or dictatorship and most people don’t know and YOU, Mr. President, have to make the case. You don’t have to sink to Trump’s brain-damaged rhetorical level but “that’s for the public to decide?” HELP THEM DECIDE. TELL THEM THE TRUTH. Part of the problem is: the campaign seems to be incapable of realizing it can do multiple attacks on Trump - from criminality to dictatorship to the price of orange juice. I'll give some examples of the variety of ads they could run. MEANWHILE: KNOTTED BY WINDSOR. Justice Alito makes a fool of himself as my friend the investigative journalist Lauren Windsor records him agreeing that either the right or left will "win" - and he had a much better visit with her than did his wife. Martha-Ann Alito promises to get revenge against everybody, fly an anti-LGBTQ flag, and sue the bunch of them. It turns out everything we thought about them was comparatively positive. AND JUST FOR LAUGHS: Jonathan Turley has declared Trump "elderly." B-Block (34:44) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Alleged Democratic governor Hochul of New York, after freezing NYC congestion prices, apparently bails out on fundraiser hosted by auto dealers. Marge Barney Rubble Greene thinks electric cars run on gasoline. Politico with the typo of the year, about a fabulous "head of head." C-Block (40:21) FROM THE SPORTS CENTRAL CENTER NEWSDESK TONIGHT: I moved this last in case you are NOT a baseball fan of 57 seasons' duration whom the game is losing. The Athletic publishes its survey of current players and guess what! Turns out they all invented the game, and anybody who played before about 2010 was incompetent and irrelevant. Worse yet, somebody grabs my personal third rail, insulting Babe Ruth. Which means I have to go through mediocre reliever Adam Ottavino's 2018 contention that he would strike Babe Ruth out every time he faced him. If you brought Babe Ruth into baseball 2024 and gave him its tiny ballparks and elaborate video scouting and training regimens, he would hit 255 homers. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 7, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 190: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Timing is everything, and for once the timing was perfect. Steve Bannon has been ordered to go to prison. Ordered on June 6th. Ordered on the anniversary of D-Day, when we destroyed everything his predecessors stood for. He doesn’t get it yet. We will destroy HIM and what HE stands for. And all who stand with him. And Trump. And as he stood outside court - jailed by a Trump-appointed judge who once clerked for Clarence Thomas - he was boasting to the vapid press that, no, he will destroy us and his fascism will subsume America, as he insisted no jail would ever shut him up, a protestor behind him drowned him out with shouts of "Lock Him Up!" because when all you have is noise and threats, you tend to forget that there is always somebody else with more noise and bigger threats. THERE IS ALSO NEW POLLING on what happens if Trump joins him in the slammer. The Reuters-Ipsos Poll says actual jail time could cost Trump 23% of his voters. That could be as much as 17,000,000 votes. Even as time and timidity wear that number down, it's a remarkable game-changer. PLUS: Trump glitched again at a Word Salad Rally in Phoenix, while the Democratic National Committee is actually putting up billboards near his events emphasizing "CONVICTED FELON DONALD TRUMP." And there's more from The Supreme Court: a watchdog group says Clarence Thomas may have gotten as much as $4,000,000 in gifts in the last 20 years. And Brett Kavanaugh is writing a book! Hey! Is it a book about assault? B-Block (24:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: There's a name-that-hockey-team contest in Salt Lake City and the six final choices are all nightmarishly bad. So, Marco Rubio, Tim Scott, J.D. Vance, Doug Burgum, Ben Carson, Byron Donalds, and Elise Stefanik. You're being vetted to run with Trump? When he encouraged them to HANG the last guy? And your daily reason to fire Merrick Garland: there may be videotape of Carlson, Hannity, Ingraham and others at Fox vivisecting Trump and saying his 2020 Election claims are crap, and you are working to RETURN THESE TAPES TO FOX? C-Block (33:25) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: Any time the news is full of Trump-driven drivel and MAGA conspiracies, is a good time to remember Thurber's account of the day in 1913 that the dam outside his home of Columbus, Ohio, broke and everybody fled. Only it hadn't broken - and they were running in the wrong direction anyway. "The Day The Damn Broke." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 6, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 189: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The New York Times tried to minimize it but late yesterday it re-surveyed 2,000 voters its previously polled who had Trump up by three. It asked them their opinions after the convictions. The new number is Trump by just ONE. That translates to a loss of SEVEN PERCENT OF TRUMP VOTERS, three percent of which says it will vote for Biden with the other four destined for him or somebody else who isn't Trump. And a quarter of Trump's support among disaffected Biden-2020 voters is gone. And a fifth of double-haters. The convictions CONTINUE to have an impact. And so does calling him "Convicted Felon Donald Trump." MEANWHILE: Has Convicted Felon Donald Trump completed a quid pro quo with Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal? Is he THAT low to trade the life of an American hostage for a big anti-Biden newspaper story? What would the editors of The Wall Street Journal do if Convicted Felon Donald Trump went to them and said I can get Putin to send home his American hostage, your reporter Evan Gershkovich? What would the editors then do if Trump paused and added: "I would like you to do us a favor, though." And what would the editors do if Trump then paused again and said ‘you need to help get me elected. i need you to join our Biden Age Plot. I need you to write a piece that restarts this Biden Age thing. I'm a convict. I need to change the topic immediately. I need you to publish this by Wednesday.’ At 9 PM Eastern Tuesday Night The Wall Street Journal's genuinely unbelievable attempt to reignite what even Politico termed "The Republicans' Biden-Age-Plot" - for whom editors on my high school newspaper would've been fired and probably expelled - dropped like excrement from Rupert Murdoch's soul. And WHAT had happened EARLIER Tuesday? WHAT had happened at 11:22 A-M Eastern, involving Trump and The Wall Street Journal? A video in which Trump, out of the blue, for the first time in two weeks, again promised that Putin would return the WSJ's Gershkovich to Trump - and Trump alone. Is it possible it was a quid pro quo? You know, like the other time Trump offered to save somebody from Putin's evil, if they did his dirty work? Well the writers quoted Kevin McCarthy while dismissing his quotes about Biden's sharpness as "tactical" lying, never thinking maybe he was tactically lying to them. They also interviewed at least three Democrats who said on-the-record that Biden is fine (Pelosi, Patty Murray, Jack Reed) and used not one quote from any of them. Why use quotes that bust your narrative? Or Trump's narrative. Plus the careers of the writers makes the prospect of a Trump/WSJ deal realistic. One was the idiot who mocked Biden's 2021 trip to the cemetery in which his son, daughter, and wife are buried, and who put a front page piece on Hillary Clinton's "coldness" on the front page of The Boston Globe in 2016. The other? Assigned to get reaction to Obama's 2013 SOTU address, she interviewed Ted Nugent. It's the worst thing I've ever even half-believed of any American news organization. But I think The Wall Street Journal may have really whored itself out for Trump. B-BLOCK (32:29) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Mike Johnson misunderstands what "The House Intelligence Committee" means and names to it two of his least intelligent members. Speaking of members, Matt Schlapp with an all-time Freudian slip about Trump's slipping polls. And first Byron Daniels gets nostalgic for Jim Crow, and then he says Biden has taken away black men's... spears. C-BLOCK (39:50) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Since I've attested to the corruption of all Rupert Murdoch news organizations, I might as well tell you of the day I was fired by Rupert - personally - for doing exactly what he told me to do. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 5, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 188: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The words weren’t out of my mouth before they came out of President Biden’s mouth. “A former president that is a convicted felon is now seeking the office of the presidency,” he said at a fundraiser 10 minutes from my HIGH SCHOOL. He added that after the 2020 election, “Something snapped in this guy for real, it’s literally driving him crazy.” 1) Call Crazy Donald Trump a convicted felon – mission accomplished. 2) Call Convicted Felon Donald Trump literally crazy – now do it on camera. Because now there’s MORE evidence it works and it cannot be said too often and it cannot be said by too many different leaders and it needs to be said by the President of the United States loudly and confidently and repeatedly: he’s Convicted Felon Donald Trump and he is literally insane. I am not betting the democracy on one poll, it’s conducted by a Canadian firm called Leger, but it IS an indicator: one out of three Republicans wishes they had nominated somebody else. Among Republicans under age 35 its nearly HALF. Say it. Keep saying it. ON CAMERA, Mr. President. MEANWHILE: The Wisconsin Fake Electors Scheme draws felony indictments and the whole thing sideswipes Senator Ron Johnson. And if like me you constantly wonder WHY these people sell out the nation and reality and themselves for Trump, the Pulitzer-Prize winning journalistic non-profit Pro Publica may have an answer based on promotions, new jobs, and other emoluments eight pro-Trump witnesses have received: Cash. B-Block (27:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Republicans literally could not tell the difference between Milwaukee and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. ESPN's Ticking Time Bomb Pat McAfee somehow makes his use of the "b-word" about a Women's Basketball star even more of a disaster. And why on earth would a baseball player get banned for life for gambling on baseball oh right half the ads on baseball broadcasts tell you to gamble on baseball C-Block (38:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I brought him up in the A-Block..Why not tell you ALL my Frank Luntz stories? From the one where he inadvertently got me the job anchoring Countdown on MSNBC to the one where he inadvertently got the president of CNN fired. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 4, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 187: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The light bulbs may have finally gone off over the heads of the Biden Campaign at 2:03 P-M Eastern yesterday. They had USED the phrase before and they had said the phrase before but it was at THAT moment that they sent it out into the world alone: a Twitter-X post reading simply “Convicted Felon” and under it the close-up, sweating, mottled-face, golf picture of Convicted Felon Donald Trump that looks it was the before shot in a before-and-after about your grandpa’s risk of having a stroke. Elections are not decided by social media posts and they are not decided by nicknames and they are not decided by bad photos but you can probably decide ONE PERCENTAGE POINT in an election with them. Or two. Or five. We may hate it, but we live in America where the name “Crooked Hillary” stuck, and the phrase “Lock Her Up” stuck, and the acronym “MAGA” – one of the stupidest and discordant acronyms of all time – stuck. And here Joe Biden has an answer to every insult and every meme and every catchphrase used by Trump and his cult and it’s not only a GREAT answer but it has the added benefit of being entirely true and it has the even GREATER benefit of utterly deranging Trump’s whores. They have spent every day since the conviction screaming, shouting, whining, crying “don’t say that” like you did the day the kids gave you your first mean nickname in the 3rd or 4th Grade. Now they have to make it show up in the polling. In the newest poll, CBS/You Gov, the number of Republicans saying he’s not fit to be president is up to 10 percent and the number of Independents saying he’s not fit to be president is FIFTY percent. Echelon Insights, run by the conservative Kristen Soltis Andersen, went back to 477 people it previously polled who had had it 47-47 and after the verdict asked them again and they came back 49-47 for Biden. So keep calling him “Convicted Felon Donald Trump.” Every time. Like he legally changed his name to it. And that means Joe Biden, personally. Say it. Put it in campaign ads. Can you imagine the political media freakout? It would be indelibly attached to Trump. MEANWHILE: The Supreme Court is coming apart at the seams: The civilian victim in the Alito Flag Scandal now says that both IN late 2020/early 2021 AND two weeks ago, a black S-U-V from the Alito security detail parked in front of her mother’s home in Alexandria Virginia. “I couldn’t say who was in the car because of the tinted glass,” Emily Baden told The Guardian, “and nobody ever said anything. I took it as a general threat. The message was, we could do terrible things to you, and nobody would be able to do anything about it. When it comes to justices at the supreme court, they make the laws, but the laws don’t apply to them.” But Congressman Jamie Raskin has a solution, if only Merrick Garland will get off the dime. B-Block (27:20) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The publishers and distributors of "2000 Mules" repudiated the film, apologized to one of the people they slandered, and blamed it all on Dinesh D'Souza (who would now be meat). Josh Hawley either made up a story about an illicit use of American troops abroad, or he revealed military secrets - prosecute him! And once again the right wingers explain how they'll show us, they'll avenge Trump by shooting everybody. Why does it never occur to them that they may have lots of guns but who has all the tanks and military bases again? Meet Carl Higbie of NewsMax. Carl's bonkers. C-Block (35:06) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO COME: With the 80th Anniversary of D-Day looming I flashed back to the 60th Anniversary and the then-new MSNBC president who pulled out all the stops and went wall-to-wall live from Normandy and with all his big stars working a Saturday to impress his bosses...and then breaking news cancelled all of it! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 1, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 186: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN There are early signs of a potential tidal wave of disastrous polling indicators for Convicted Felon Donald Trump after he was found guilty of all 34 felony charges Thursday here in New York; 10% of registered GOP voters say they are now less likely to vote for him. More startlingly; 8% of those identifying as Trump supporters and 15% of registered GOP voters say he should drop out of the presidential race These are from separate polls, by Ipsos for Reuters, and by Morning Consult. Remember - based on Trump's 2020 vote totals - each percentage point of voters who peel away from him, would cost Trump roughly 750,000 votes and two to three electoral college votes. Just as importantly, the Biden Campaign seems to have switched strategies and is itself referring to Trump as "Convicted Felon Donald Trump." (This is a Bonus Bite-Sized Bulletin edition of Countdown. It's a new briefer format - eight minutes - that will appear in addition to regular episodes - and because of that I'm going to ask you to do me a favor and FORWARD it to somebody who is unaware of it, or unfamiliar with the Podcast. Thanks) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 31, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 185: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Do not be fooled by the dismissive attitude of the media of the impact on Trump voting support of the jury's finding of Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, and not NOT-Guilty. If, as the most circumspect pre-verdict polling suggests, 2% of his voters would peel away, that (based on 2020) is 1,500,000 voters and at least 5 electoral votes, and (based on 2016) would have been enough to throw Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin to Clinton. It reminds us that we should stop looking for the game-ender for Trump and rely instead on the incrementals, because they - and the justice that invoke them - will defeat him. Also, can the Trump cultists explain to me: are these 34 verdicts election interference that will stop Trump from winning, or are they a political gift that just gave him the election? Because you keep saying BOTH. PLUS: If you missed it, John Roberts just told Dick Durbin and Sheldon Whitehouse to go F themselves. He's king for life and he won't even talk to them about the Alito Scandal, or the OTHER Alito Scandal, or the Roberts scandal. Fine. Subpoena him. And if he ignores that, arrest him. This country is changing and those who act will decide whether it changes for the good or the bad, and we are the good guys. B-Block (32:40) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Clay Travis goes entirely racist on The View's Sonny Hostin (and even on the WNBA's Caitlin Clark). Minnesota GOP Senate likelihood Royce White (who played eight minutes and 55 seconds in the NBA and don't you forget it) is in trouble again. And the book sale numbers are in for Kristi Noem's Puppy Murder Diary book and I don't want to say they're not moving but the fall off from Week 1 to Week 3 is 9275% C-Block (41:25) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: Only one story to tell on this day after: Thurber prophesying the life of Trump in something he wrote... in 1931! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 30, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 184: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: I’m convinced Sam Alito is lying about who put the flags up. And I’m convinced I can prove it. And I’m convinced the proof is contained not in the Upside Down American Flag and not The Appeal To Heaven Flag; the proof is contained in the THIRD flag. “My wife is fond of flying flags. I am not. She was solely responsible for having flagpoles put up at our residence and our vacation home,” he wrote to 50 members of the House who have asked him to recuse from Trump and election cases before the Supreme Court, and refusing to do so. In the case of the Virginia distress flag, “She has flown other patriotic flags… college flags, flags supporting sports teams…” etc. Sports...teams? Like that flag "she" flew celebrating the 2022 Philadelphia Phillies? The second most star-crossed team in the history of that baseball franchise? SHE flew that flag? Sam Alito wanted to grow up to be Commissioner of Baseball. He went to a Phillies fantasy camp. He had baseball cards made of himself in a Phillies uniform. He jokingly refused to answer the question 'ever worn your Phillies uni under your judicial robes?' He's the crazy Phillies fan, but SHE put the flag over their house? Nonsense. PLUS: The jury gets the Trump Trial and within hours they're asking to hear the judge's legal instructions again, and David Pecker's testimony about the birth of Catch-and-Kill. Not a thing about Michael Cohen or lies or perjury or "The GLOAT." The jury is signaling that it is circling a conviction or conviction. And then we have to ask: what is the Biden Campaign's plan to exploit a conviction or convictions? Do they immediately start calling him "Convicted Felon Donald Trump"? If not, why not? Does "Convicted Felon And Republican Nominee Donald Trump" work better? They are prepared to burn this into voters' retinas, right? Riiiiiight? B-Block (27:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The key to re-electing Biden could be giving more money to right wing nut job Pat Sajak. There is a woman named Brenda Ramer who claims her ray has had an immaculate conception. And the latest Bothsidesist Pap from A.G. Sulzberger? Put an op-ed in The New York Times defending Trump - in the middle of a trial centering around him banging a porn star - written by the editor of a Catholic Church Magazine. Must be a different Catholic Church than they used to have when I was a kid. C-Block (39:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Since we're talking Sajak and comedy-based late night talk shows (he had a failed one on CBS 35 years ago) and we're talking about crazy editors, let me tell you the saga of onetime CNN president Walter Isaacson. In 2001 he had both parts of an idea that would become a hit for MSNBC two years later, sitting in his office: the desire to do a CNN news hour with some humor in it, and me. He somehow did not put these two parts together. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 29, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 183: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: It is becoming increasingly obvious that Trump and the authoritarians seeking to overthrow democracy in the United States and install him as dictator for life and then enact the equivalent of ethnic cleansing… have made the choice to let everybody KNOW… that they are seeking to overthrow the democracy in the United States and install him as dictator and then enact the equivalent of ethnic cleansing. You may recall him summoning most of the fossil fuel industry of this country to Mar-a-Lago in April and essentially demanding they put one billion dollars into his campaign so he can eliminate virtually all the restrictions on their businesses as they try to destroy the planet faster. Now The Washington Post reports that early THIS month he summoned most of the big money donors to the Republicans and other fascists to the Pierre Hotel here in New York and was essentially demanding they increase THEIR donations by a factor of 25 or 50 so he can eliminate virtually all TAXES on their businesses and incomes… A businessman, he told them, had offered a donation of a million dollars to his campaign, in exchange for lunch. The Post’s sources quote Trump as replying “I’m not having lunch. You’ve got to make it 25 million.” Then there was the donor who normally gave two to three million. “He told the donor that he wanted a 25 million dollar or 50 million dollar contribution or he would not be, quote ‘very happy’. It’s blackmail. Give me the money I want – 25 times as much as you planned – or else. It's kinda Robert DeNiro, in "The Untouchables," playing Al Capone, carrying around a baseball bat. Which is funny because who showed up at the trial yesterday but DeNiro and suddenly the Trumpists are enraged that anybody would dare bring people TO the courthouse! If this unvarnished, unrestrained, undeniable corruption were not obvious enough that Trump just doesn’t GIVE a shit any more – you’re not going to shame him, you’re not going to restrain him, you’re not going to prosecute him – he’s decided it’s us or him… there’s the SECOND part. Trump posted a video – another one of these fig leaf deniable videos: HE didn’t MAKE the video, he just POSSSSSSTED this video. And so the threats in the video, nominally directed at Joe Scarborough, that Trump will "get rid of all you offing liberals; you liberals are gone" aren't Trump's threats. Except, of course they are. Because Trump has called his opponents vermin and vowed to get rid of them. And expel all the immigrants. And put them in concentration camps. And use the army. And use the cops. And if you can do that, you can point at Joe Scarborough and say "YOU are now defined as an immigrant. Get in the camp." And that... is ethnic cleansing. B-Block (30:49) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Renfield-ification of Lindsey Graham is complete. Speaker Mike Johnson is stalling on the installation of a Capitol plaque honoring the police from January 6th. And Pastor Shane Vaughn has news for you: Jesus was a millionaire. C-Block (41:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Since yesterday was the saga of the 45th anniversary of my college graduation, today must be the saga of the class I nearly failed because the professor was mad because the quarterback of his favorite football team fumbled away a victory in the final minute. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 28, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 182: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Today would be a good day to convict Donald J. Trump. The jury in his Stormy Daniels Hush Money/Election Interference case may get the case as soon as this afternoon and then they could deliver the only verdict not materially interfered with by a judge – or JUDGES – that Trump himself appointed. The country, the world, keeps emphasizing in succession the unprecedented nature of Trump’s indictment, arrest, arraignment, mugshot, trial, artist sketch, jury selection, defense, witnesses, objections, fart-naps and today, closing statements… but for some reason they leave the other unprecedented reality OUT – that our court system IS rigged, that it IS rigged, BY Trump, FOR Trump, with three judges HE put on the Supreme Court until they die or resign delaying and subverting justice in THOSE cases, and an unqualified former Yoga Correspondent for the Miami Neuvo Herald he appointed to FEDERAL Court brazenly and openly stalling and trying to SABOTAGE the espionage case against him in THAT case. THAT is what is unprecedented about the prosecution of Donald Trump. THAT his appointees are interfering with the attempts to bring him to justice and we may never know if he appointed them only on the assurance that they would do EXACTLY what they are doing now when and if it came to this… and what Trump means when he says the New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office and Justice Juan Merchan’s courtroom are rigged against him – what he MEANS is… they are NOT rigged for him. I'll look at the legal stuff as the case moves inexorably towards the jury. ALSO: We get comic relief from the Libertarian Party (Trump came close to - in an Aphasia haze - calling them The Libyan Party) and we find out that The Washington Post was good enough to sit on the Alito Flag story for just 1,222 days (the final nine AFTER The New York Times had already broken it) and wouldn't even run it even on the soft premise that it really WAS Martha-Ann Alito's dispute with the neighbors. I will sing about it. B-Block (29:47) SPORTSCENTERCENTRAL: In memory of perhaps the most beloved man in sports: Bill Walton. Everyone has their Bill Walton story, I'll tell you mine. (36:07) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Rishi Sunak's campaign handlers clearly want him to lose reelection in the UK. Nick Fuentes complains J.D. Vance isn't white enough (never realizing that none of the Trumpist really think anybody named 'Fuentes' could be white). And Fred Trump praised Hitler? I heard it on C-SPAN! C-Block (43:35) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: 45 long years ago today I shocked my professors and relieved my suspicious parents by graduating from Cornell University. And I've had the dream where I DON'T graduate an average of once a week every year since. It used to be a stress dream. Lately it's turned into an amazing revelation about how your mind really works (or at least: how mine does). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 23, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 181: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The would-be dictatorships are stacked up so thick they have to wait for permission to land. We rightfully fear a Trump dictatorship. Right now, however, we are being RULED by a Samuel Alito dictatorship. And now we have to take measures to overthrow it. Caught flying one insurrectionist flag at his VIRGINIA home – while he was adjudicating cases that could have benefitted the Trump Coup Attempt – Alito simply lied about it, claiming he had no role in it, then contradicted himself by telling a backstory of petty personal recrimination involving neighbors – a backstory which had its OWN set of lies. And now we know that THAT entire story was – at best – a lie of omission, because when Alito was caught improperly flying a disqualifying insurrectionist symbol in public at his primary home in 2021, he was continuing to hide the fact that through much or all of last summer he was flying a DIFFERENT disqualifying insurrectionist symbol in public at his vacation home in New Jersey. It is, as you know, the Appeal to Heaven flag, stolen by groups of Christo-Fascists from its historical role in our founding revolution and re-purposed to rationalize a fundamentalist religious dictatorship replacing representative government. As the New York Times noted in reporting this story, quote, “the phrase ‘appeal to heaven’ comes from the 17th century philosopher John Locke, who wrote of a responsibility to rebel, even use violence, to overthrow unjust rule. ‘It’s a paraphrase for trial by arms,’ Anthony Grafton, a historian at Princeton University said in an interview,” unquote. It's a paraphrase for trial by arms, and it’s been flying in public view from Samuel Alito’s home. And now we have to figure out how to stop Alito from completing his plan to turn this country into a religious dictatorship - a kind of westernized Iran. On the other hand: In a surprise announcement, Donald Trump has declared himself dead. “They were authorized to shoot me!,” begins his email to try to con more money out of his dumbest cult members. Quote: “I nearly escaped death!”Uhhhh…. So… you… DIDN’T… escape death? Metaphorically, Trump may be right. The words used by the President and those around him about Trump's "Unified Reich" video are a sea change. They are calling him an antisemite. Next they need to call him a Nazi. B-Block (27:07) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, apparently cannot afford a weather app. It rained so hard on him he became Rishi Sunk. Larry Hogan, a Republican, insists he's always protected women's rights. Of course he's lying. And as we realize just how corrupted and unsalvageable the Supreme Court is, Jim Jordan provides some comic relief by saying something that provides an immediate opportunity to insult Clarence Thomas and Sam Alito. C-Block (34:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I ran into Al Roker the other day, so naturally I have to tell you all my Matt Lauer stories. These are the obnoxious, vanity ones, as opposed to the assault-y ones. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 22, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 180: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: We may have had a breakthrough with the electorate. Democratic AND Republican pollsters are finding a shocking number of undecideds or Republicans who will not vote for Trump because of his talk of trying to make himself eligible for a third term, or eliminating term limits entirely, or elections entirely. The fundamental lesson of January 6th - that he will never leave office voluntarily - has sunk in. And which ever way the cult is trying to position it, these voters are taking it seriously. More over, these seem pollsters are finding a sudden surge in independent and even Republican backlash against The Supreme Court because the gutting of Roe-V-Wade has caused countless voters to reconsider what kind of havoc a corrupted Trump-owned Court would be willing to do to fraudulently bring about the America the fascists want. It's stunning news and combined with additional polling showing Biden running far behind Democratic Senators in the swing state, it suggests not only that there are margins of victory to be added to his vote totals in those states, but that there is a straightforward way to get them: campaign AGAINST dictatorship, third terms, and a rogue Court. PLUS: THE DEFENSE RESTS at the Trump Trial. Literally, in his case. All you need to know about what happened was that on Trump's Tuesday posse was comedian Joe Piscopo, who was very good on his last hit, Saturday Night Live, which he just left recently. Well, no, not recently - FORTY YEARS AGO THIS MONTH. B-Block (30:47) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Marco Rubio doesn't know what the phrase "last name" means. Chris Cillizza has just discovered people have been diagnosing mental acuity of presidential candidates from afar (it started a decade ago, by Trump. Chris thinks it started earlier this week with Stuart Stevens). And having burned through CNN, MSNBC, PBS, and Fox News, Tucker Carlson premieres on Russia-24. C-Block (37:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: At 5:40 AM he told me he was going to get my fired from our radio station, and kill me. At 6:40 AM he was promising me a multi-year contract as a new sportscaster on our radio station. It's more than four decades ago and it is still as scary an experience as I've had in my career. The Ted Brown Story. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 21, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 179: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The FIRST item, letter A, on Trump's gag order: "Defendant is directed to refrain from making or directing others to make, public statements about known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses." After the last time – after the last TEN times, to be exact – Justice Juan Merchan was explicit that, next time, he’d have to consider jailing Trump. Well Trump talked about witness Robert Costello – the one whom the judge metaphorically kicked in the gonads as the court day came to a roaring end. AND he talked about witness Michael Cohen and as the judge had ALSO explicitly stated, it didn’t matter if he was reading or quoting somebody else’s words. If there is any remaining doubt in Merchan’s mind that the premise of the Trump defense is not some kind of refutation of the charges but instead an all-out attack on the rule of law, on the judge, on the court, on its authority to dare to thwart Trump – the man who wants to put the “dick” in dictator – he must erase that doubt. This is why the outburst from the witness Robert Costello – an attorney - where he complained about Merchan’s rulings in real time – could be the last straw that sends Trump to the big house. That was Trump’s witness, the prosecution fought Merchan to keep him out, Merchan sided with the defense, the witness metaphorically spit in Merchan’s face. MEANWHILE: Alito has NOT changed his story again and there is no Democratic politician with the guts to even conduct a hearing into his amazing corruption. But Brian Beutler has a suggestion that could at least illuminate reality and punish Alito and the fascists for his perfidy. B-Block (33:23) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Politico is so corrupt that the boyfriend editor hyping the girlfriend's article doesn't even bother to put it third or fourth on its list. The guy who finished second to Larry Hogan in the GOP Maryland primary? Robin Ficker? Does that sound familiar? And RFK Jr, wrong about his residence and just three presidents of Iran behind the times. C-Block (43:25) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The event was a couple of days ago but there's always time to celebrate not just the birthday of the immortal of Willie Mays but the day he gave a 20-year old me a radio interview that began with him doing a voice out of all the bigoted cliched movies of the 1930's. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 17, 2024

SEASON 2 EPISODE 178: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:40) SPECIAL COMMENT: Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has not only now CONFIRMED that the upside down American flag flown in front of his home three days before President Biden’s inauguration WAS meant to support the Trump “Stop The Steal” plot – but in blaming his wife and neighbors for it, he has blatantly and transparently LIED in his excuse. “I spoke directly with Justice Alito about the flag story in the New York Times,” posts Shannon Bream, a host on Fox News. “In addition to what’s in the story, he told me a neighbor on their street had a quote ‘F Trump’ sign that was within 50 feet of where children await the school the bus in January ’21.” THAT’S the lie. Local schools – city of Alexandria AND Fairfax county - had resumed REMOTE learning a MONTH earlier. There were no school buses. There were no kids waiting at bus stops waiting for the school buses that never were. Alito seems to have forgotten that anybody could check this. "According to Justice Alito, things escalated and the neighbor put up a sign personally addressing Mrs. Alito and blaming her for the January 6th attacks. Justice Alito says he and his wife were walking in the neighborhood and there were words between Mrs. Alito and a male at the home with the sign,” unquote. Again – this sign could not have been seen by kids at a bus stop. “Alito says the man engaged in vulgar language ‘including the c-word.’ Following that exchange Mrs. Alito was distraught and hung the flag upside down quote “for a short time.” Justice Alito says some neighbors on his street are ‘very political’ and acknowledges it was a very heated time in January 2021,” end quote. Alito said he had had “no involvement whatsoever” in the flying of the flag when contacted by The Times on Wednesday or Thursday. By Friday he suddenly had an involved and intricate story of an increasingly bitter and intense series of confrontations with his neighbors, including his wife becoming quote “distraught” – and especially the vivid and enraging detail about the flag with the F-word being visible to neighborhood children the school bus stop. He's lying. Again. In multiple ways. The Democratic response? Resign? Hearings? More limp-flagged calls for recusal and SCOTUS ethic rules. What would the Republicans be doing if – to merge two current Supreme Court scandals - say, Justice Katanji Brown Jackson had hung an ANTIFA-related flag or sign from HER home and taken cash and gifts directly from George Soros? Chairman Durbin needs to think about that – or somebody needs to think about it for him – and then he should do THAT. B-Block (16:28) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Exactly what American journalism needed: Chris Cillizza has authored a "Mission Statement." It is even more hilariously self-unaware than any actual article he's ever written. C-Block (38:30) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: A lot in this episode about the media, so let's hear from Thurber and how they tried to turn him into a radio star and instead turned him into a nervous wreck: "How To Relax While Broadcasting." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 17, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 177: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: A lawyer yelling "you're a liar" at a witness does not make him a liar, despite what Anderson Cooper says. The storyline before the Trump Trial began was: If Michael Cohen keeps his cool when Todd Blanche screams at him, he'll prevail. He did it, and yet the networks rushed to ignore it. Prosecutors have already said they'll only need about an hour of re-direct of Cohen next Monday, meaning that's all the time they expect to require to polish him back up. They are still winning - plus there is still the wild card that in his perpetual over-confidence Trump may testify. And yet that's not where I start because sometimes the most important story and the most interesting one are not the same thing. The primary sidebar takeaway from Cohen's testimony was based on a poorly worded tweet that the author, Ron Filipkowski, deleted. “Cohen testified that his main media contacts to get positive stories run about Trump were Maggie Haberman, Katy Tur, and Chris Cuomo." Except Cohen DIDN'T say that. He was asked if he had good relationships with reporters. Haberman? "Yes," he replied. Tur? "Yes." Cuomo? "Yes." I am thus in the position of defending - in part - the transactional Haberman, my appalling ex, and the ridiculous Cuomo. Having said that, they are all imperiled because of what Cohen DID say. Plus we have a really great punchline to the day in the courtroom in which a would-be Trump Insurrectionist learned that loyalty to him is a one-way street, even if the only thing you wanted was a wave. B-Block (29:43) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Exactly what American journalism needed: Chris Cillizza has authored a "Mission Statement." It is even more hilariously self-unaware than any actual article he's ever written. C-Block (51:44) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: A lot in this episode about the media, so let's hear from Thurber and how they tried to turn him into a radio star and instead turned him into a nervous wreck: "How To Relax While Broadcasting." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 16, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 176: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: DON'T BE FOOLED. TRUMP HAS SET THE TABLE SO HE CAN BAIL OUT ON THE DEBATES. "Please let this TRUTH," Trump wrote after the CNN and ABC debates were announced (and "TRUTH" is just an ironic brand name, like everything else Trump calls his crap), "serve to represent that I hereby accept debating Biden on Fox News. The date will be Wednesday, October 2nd. The hosts will be Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum. Thank you.” The Publishers' Clearing House style childish fake legalese ("Represent...hereby...thank you") is the tell. Trump has agreed to the two debates with Biden and simultaneously given himself a way out of going to either of them. Some time between now and the Atlanta debate next month he can simply insist Biden "recommit" to the imaginary third debate, and when Biden refuses, he can back out - claiming Biden backed out first. A late statement from the Biden campaign yesterday showed I'm not the only one thinking this could be in the cards. It's Trump to a tee: What does he have to gain from a debate in which there is no audience, where microphones go off automatically when time expires, and in which Biden does not flail. ALSO: HOW DID MSNBC LET THAT SCOOP GET AWAY? An in-court witness told them, live, Tuesday night, that he saw Trump reviewing the comments of his surrogates who insulted the judge and his family in Trump's place. It was evidence that there was a Trump conspiracy to evade the gag order and it was a huge story. And Alex Wagner changed the subject. Regardless: Justice Merchan must conduct a hearing immediately. It was Trump who CALLED Mike Johnson and the other Republican prostitutes his "surrogates." Presumably there will be more of them today. They are a new and clever means of Trump violating the order by proxy and Merchan should send him to jail for it. B-Block (31:28) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: "How MSNBC’s Leftward Tilt Delivers Ratings, and Complications," read the headline in The New York Times. Suddenly I was young again. This was obviously some sort of re-print from 2007. My hair was dark, I could still digest pizza. The sub headline made me happier still: "NBC’s leaders have been forced to grapple with how to square its cable news network’s embrace of progressive politics with the company’s straight-news operation.” Ah yes, thumbing through my scrapbooks from 2006 and 2007 and – that was in the New York Times YESTERDAY? SERIOUSLY? NBC executives are still exploiting The New York Times to whine about the "partisanship" of MSNBC? Holy crap! C-Block (49:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Since we're on this subject, time to re-tell the saga from June 2009 when the "friction" The New York Times reported on yesterday as if it were new (or even just not impossibly old) was so bad that the Chairman of GE - the corporation that then owned us - had decided to take MSNBC off the air because the $200,000,000 a year we made him just wasn't enough to compensate him for having his conservative Mom call up and yell at him. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 15, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 175: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44): Dumboesque Senator Tommy Tuberville has gone on the Newsmax propaganda channel and revealed the obvious: the Speaker, the Senators, Congressmen, (one) Governor and one political jock-sniffer (Ramaswamy) who've stunt-attended Trump's New York trial are there to help Trump evade Judge Merchan's Gag Order. Merchan must bring them into court, put them under oath, and get their testimony as to what Trump demanded that Mike Johnson, Cory Mills, J.D. Vance, Tuberville, Doug Burgum, and Ramaswamy do to help him get around the Judge's order. Then find Trump in contempt because the gag order ALSO precludes him from telling others to attack witnesses or the judge's family for him. Also, thanks for Ramaswamy for the funniest Freudian slip of the trial, in which he accidentally called Trump a "sham politician." MEANWHILE: A day ago I asked The New York Times to give us a "Walter Cronkite" moment and instead it gave us a Judith Miller Moment. Introduced into evidence yesterday? Texts from Michael Cohen to Maggie Haberman from 2018 reading “Big boss just approved my responding to complaint and statement. Please start writing and I will call you soon." What she wrote presented Cohen's (and Trump's) lies about Stormy Daniels and the payoffs as facts. She wrote it the same day and came back and wrote it again the next day. There is a difference between facts (Cohen texted me) and the truth (WHAT Cohen texted me isn't true and I didn't bother to try to find out or even caveat the lies - and Haberman and The Times have to go. As they fired Judith Miller for disseminating George W. Bush's "Saddam WMD" lies so they must fire Haberman - the same Haberman who two days ago dismissed Cohen's testimony as "hearsay" and who is still writing Times leads on this story TODAY. B-BLOCK (40:47) WHY The Times needs to give us a Walter Cronkite Moment. C-BLOCK (64:39) GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 14, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 174: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: We need a Walter Cronkite moment from The New York Times. The New York Times needs, one day – one day soon, one day now – to devote the entirety of the front page – to a headline, and an editorial, signed by the publisher Sulzberger and the editor Kahn and the key columnists and correspondents – headlined “TRUMP IMPERILS DEMOCRACY” and sub-headlined “YOUR LIFE AT STAKE.” We need a Walter Cronkite moment from The New York Times and when Trump went to a Philadelphia area seaside resort called Wildwood, drew maybe 10,000 cultists, lied and had the Republican mayor lie and say it was 80,000, complained that immigrant students don’t speak English and immediately afterwards said something like “Borden-in-riv-iv,” said something else like “carry doubt-ite-by-rite,”claimed the president between Ford and Reagan was named Jimmy Connors, said the Chinese were preparing to invade Beijing (their own capital), insisted the entire country was grateful that he killed Roe-V-Wade, thanked – by name - the Supreme Court justices who gutted it, suddenly invoked the fictional cannibal character Hannibal Lecter, seemed to praise him, claimed the character was dead, and got the name of the movie wrong, and then insisted all immigrants are Hannibal Lecter – and all of that was after he was introduced by some immigrant who called him “President CHUMP"... the New York Times story, by a sixth-stringer named Michael Gold, mentioned… none of that. This was what Editor Joe Kahn’s writer told consumers of the most influential news organization in America, quote: “After a long and often tense week in his criminal trial in Manhattan… Trump… took part in a time-honored ritual enjoyed by countless New Yorkers in need of a break: He went to the shore.” Oh ho ho, how clever. The Times instead lets Maggie Haberman dismiss as “hearsay” Michael Cohen’s first-hand recounting of what Trump told him about ‘not being on the market for long’ if Melania dumped him and if Haberman doesn’t know the legal definition of “hearsay” get rid of her. And the Times made room for an op-ed bashing Joe Biden by Mark Penn, a dishonest right wing pollster who has been posing as a Democrat for at least 20 years. In Court: “Michael Cohen calmly describes Trump’s hush money instructions,” reads the headline in The Washington Post. The SUB-headline quotes Trump: “Just do it.” That’s what the prosecution needed out of Cohen. And it needs it again out of him today. AND whenever the cross-examination begins. It needs him making more self-abnegating jokes about ‘angry, even for me.’ It needs him testifying as he did yesterday: that he was there in Trump Tower, days before Trump was sworn in as president, with Allan Weisselberg, reviewing a handwritten document plan to repay Cohen for the Stormy Daniels hush money and how they would hide it. And that Trump said “smart individuals” had told him, Trump, to pay the $130,000. And that Trump told him he knew if the Daniels story got out it would be a disaster for the CAMPAIGN. And it needs him producing one outstandingly sleazy quote from Trump per day on the stand, like when Cohen asked Trump about the impact on his wife MELANIA if the story got out and Trump said “don’t worry. How long do you think I’ll be on the market for? Not long.” B-Block (22:54) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: California Assembly Bill 2265 and what it can do to save dogs - and save shelters the horrible cost of killing them. (24:27) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: An update on the back story to the "This Is SportsCenter" commercial I did with soccer's Alexi Lalas, in which I reprised John Belushi's moment in "Animal House" in which he smashes the guitar against the wall. The update? The DVD with the outtakes literally fell off a shelf here yesterday. Enjoy. C-Block (40:35) GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 10, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 173: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: I don’t know much about the law but I do know the Trump Trial has confirmed one of the immutable truths of the field: Never hire an attorney with a rating of 3-1/2 stars. Susan Necheles somehow managed to lose to Stormy Daniels during the second day of cross-examination in Trump-On-Trial yesterday; lose so badly and obviously that Trump’s team was forced to file for a desperation mistrial from the very thin ice of basically claiming Necklace forgot to object to something that Daniels said on TUESDAY. All of a sudden the Trump defense was claiming – and leaking to every news organization, by the way – that Daniels had dog-whistled a subtext of rape or assault when she gave details about Trump standing in front of her, and not using a condom, and a bodyguard being out in the hallway – and we should just ignore that when she said all that, THREE DAYS AGO, Trump’s lawyer with the three-and-a-half stars rating Susan Necheles said… nothing. Not even the only thing you or I would remember to say if we woke up in some alternate universe where we were in that courtroom as Trump’s lawyer: “OBJECTION.” And that might have been Necheles's best work. Ms. Necheles: “You have experience in making up fake stories about sex?” Ms. Daniels: “The sex is real. That’s why it’s not a B movie.” Ms. Necheles: “NOW you have a story about having sex with President Trump, right?” Ms. Daniels: “If that story was untrue, I would’ve written it to be a lot better.” Ooops! There goes another half a star. Ms. Necheles: “You had sex with a cameraman?” Ms. Daniels: “I started dating him and he became my husband.” A reminder: None of this needed to be heard by the jury. If Trump’s defense had stipulated, yeah, they had sex, she wouldn’t have been allowed to testify. Or they could have just asked her what she knew about Trump’s involvement in the non-disclosure agreement and the payoffs and she could have said “nothing” and Ms. Necheles could have said “nothing further, your honor.” This is a case – a relatively boring case with excruciating details about how routine company checks got sent to the White House for Trump to sign even as president and he never ignored a single detail that cost him more than 99 cents – a relatively boring case about falsified business records and the attempt to interfere with an election and Trump’s team turned it into wocka-wocka-wocka, and his credibility and their credibility against the credibility of a pornographic actress and guess what: the actress won. ALSO: Oh by the way, last month Trump assembled around 20 of the nation's top oil and fossil fuel executives and offered them a deal. He'd sell them the world to destroy as quickly as they wanted - repeal all regulations and make Doug Burgum Secretary of Energy or VP or whatever - if they'd simply give him a billion dollars with which to get elected. So when you worry that democracy is on the ballot in November, just remember, no, it's worse than that: human EXISTENCE is on the ballot. B-Block (23:10) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Mark Levin tries to get around calling Judge Juan Merchan "a pervert" because he was listening to Stormy Daniels' testimony. Failson Andrew Giuliani is "reporting" on the trial and puts me in an impossible position by blasting Lawrence O'Donnell. And Chuck Todd ISN'T gone after all. He has just written a masterpiece of nonsense: an Epic Poem of bothsidesism in which he concludes Biden and Trump both need to admit their mistakes. He spends one paragraph on Trump's mistakes and about a dozen on how Biden failed to bring the country together (while Trump was tearing it apart). C-Block (34:00) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: No gentle reminiscences here. No prophetic tales of heroes who were actually schmoes. Thurber goes for the jugular vein of the famous Avantgarde artist Salvador Dali in "The Secret Life Of James Thurber." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 9, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 172: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Robert F. Kennedy Junior who may turn out to be the spoiler who throws the election to Trump says under oath that his cognitive problems and short term and longer term memory loss from a worm that ate his brain and then died. On the other OTHER hand, too early to tell if it’s an outlier or the start of the new wave, but swing state poll: Wisconsin, Quinnipiac, Registered voters: Biden 50 Trump 44. Three-way: Biden 40 Trump 39 Kennedy and his Worm, 12. Nevertheless. I’m not confident we can stave off fascism in this country because: worms in Kennedy’s brain. AND Trump’s trial in Florida has been delayed until the twelfth of never by an unqualified judge HE appointed and his trial in Georgia has been delayed indefinitely – probably into next year - because the appeals court says it WILL listen to Trump’s appeal of the ruling that the district attorney didn’t have a financial conflict of interest just because she hired her boyfriend to work on the case (because guess what: there IS a deep state and among its constituent parts are the legal system and partisan judges and the Supreme Court and an Attorney General who will go to his grave believing the people exist to serve laws rather than laws existing to serve the people. Also, because OBAMA’s most public adviser criticized all the sex talk in the Stormy Daniels testimony and, oh by the way, WORMS IN KENNEDY’S BRAIN. Memory loss, quote: “caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died. I have cognitive problems, clearly. I have short-term memory loss, and I have longer-term memory loss that affects me.”RFK Junior, in a deposition during his divorce in 2012. When Kennedy said I was his HERO - I KNEW something was wrong. MEANWHILE the man who called out The New York Times for its vengeful coverage of Biden answers the Editor-in-Chief's strawman response that the paper won't become part of the Biden campaign. "In general, and this is a complaint I have had about the New York Times that is two decades old – I wish they would take good faith criticism from the left with as much seriousness as they take BAD faith criticism from the right," says Dan Pfeiffer. B-Block (24:51) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Lobbyist Jim Courtovich (if you're going to make a threat by quoting 'The Godfather' you better make sure you get the quote right), Speaker Mike Johnson (you know "intuitively" that non-citizens are voting? Is that like I know "intuitively" that there must have been fraud in your election? No facts, just a Spidey Sense?), and Congressman Mike Collins (You think last week's racism-at-Ole-Miss tweet was disqualifying? Wait'll you see this week's joke about the JFK and RFK assassinations). C-Block (32:10) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Trump mocked Lawrence O'Donnell after Tuesday's court session, so it's probably time for me to mock him. The day they finally incarcerate Joe Scarborough, O'Donnell will become the least sincere person on MSNBC. Ever seen the pilot of the old HBO show "The Newsroom"? Where the back-up tries to steal the show from the guy he's filling in for? Guess who that's actually about? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 8, 2024

SEASON 2 EPISODE 171: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: First of several underemphasized meta-headlines from Stormy Daniels' testimony: Trump’s lawyer Ms. Necklace seems to have made inroads in her effort to convince the jury that Ms. Daniels would say or do almost anything for money. Uh, she’s a pornographic actress. Whether you approve that profession, or abhor it, or like me you’re agnostic: one statement should not be among those you express in shock or dismay or surprise: “Oh no, she’s a pornographic actress, she will do or say almost anything for money.” Which leads to the next meta headline. My GOD the media, especially the television networks, treated her testimony like they were cicadas and Stormy Daniels was the ring girl who stepped between the ropes to announce the start of year 13. My GOD they all awoke from somnambulance about bank records and cell phone extractions and the testimony of comptrollers and people named RONA and were able to say – at least to themselves – good grief, get a load of those rebuttals. Which leads into the next meta headline: Stormy Daniels is not on trial here. She’s only incidental to the case. That is NOT what you would have thought if you watched coverage of this case. The sex isn’t illegal, the money isn’t illegal, Trump isn’t illegal, Daniels changing her story isn’t illegal. Buying her story to keep it from becoming public in the weeks before an election and then hiding the payoffs to prevent THEM from becoming public in the weeks before an election – THAT’S illegal and all those boring receipts and records and notations written by hand by a guy named Allan – with TWO L’S – THAT is the case. And denying it as Trump has – LYING about it, as Trump has – is why Stormy Daniels is there. To testify. I have to admit I was a little surprised by the last headline. If the Monday juxtaposition of Trump Maybe Going To Jail Over The Gag Order and Kristi Noem Quintuples Down On The Idea That Shooting Puppies In The Face Is A Good Thing underscored how MAGA believes it has the right to kill, then YESTERDAY’S juxtaposition of Noem’s disastrous media tour – more on that shortly – and Trump On Trial underscored that these really deeply disturbed, borderline personalities, do NOT do well when confronted with reality from which they cannot run and they cannot hide. And then there's Noem, who got beaten up on Fox by my old friend Stu Varney and, stunningly, on NewsMax. But it's all right, she still thinks she's killing it. Yeah, the way his presidential roll-out killed it for Greg Stillson. B-Block (24:33) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL/SPORTS: Seen anything about this week being the 70th Anniversary of Roger Bannister "breaking the 4-Minute mile?" There's one problem. C-Block (42:20) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL/SPORTS PART 2: That one problem? Roger Bannister WAS NOT the first man to run a mile in four minutes or less. It's a sad story with a lot of bias and even racism in it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 7, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 170: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: The reaction to Justice Merchan’s stark warning to Trump that he may put him in jail the next time he violates the gag order, and the defense inside the Trump cult of Kristi Noem for murdering her dog and threatening Biden’s dog - these are actually the same story. The point is: killing. They are about one thing: at their core, Noem and Trump and MAGA and Trump’s Supreme Court Justices and his slaves inside the House and the Senate believe they have a right to kill. Today, they have a right to kill their dogs. Tomorrow? Your dog. Then the judge. The day after that immigrants. Finally, anything and anybody. Do not mistake them, nor what this is about. Do not forget that even as chilling a phrase as “political violence” is itself just a euphemism. Political violence is: murder. Individual murder, mass murder, or if the rest of us are lucky, just attempted murder or threatened murder. Every Trump attack on every witness, on every judge, on every prosecutor, on every opponent; every stochastic call to “end” this; every reference to “bedlam”; every meme of the President of the United States bound and gagged; every Tim Scott refusing to honor the outcome of an election; every reference to patriots and deep states and rigged elections and I am your retribution – they all have the unspoken second half: those who try to stop us will do what we say or we will kill them. One third of Trump supporters who’ve heard about Noem killing her dog told a YouGov poll that it WAS acceptable. 29 percent weren’t sure. So the total of Trump voters who would not criticize it was six out of ten. AS THIS UNFOLDS, THE NEW YORK TIMES completely disconnects from reality. “When you are Democrat you start off essentially at 40 percent (of the vote) because you have civil service, you have the unions and you have welfare. They get welfare to vote, and then they cheat on top of that. They cheat,” Trump said of Biden and the Democrats. “'These people are running a Gestapo administration’ Mr. Trump told donors who attended the event at Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Palm Beach, Florida, according to an audio recording obtained by The New York Times." An audio recording. OBTAINED by The New York Times. Where is this recording? Why has this recording not been made public by The Times? Why is the paper suppressing it? Incredibly, at the same time the paper's editor gave an interview to Semafor News that discredits everyone who works at The Times as he dismisses any awareness that his coverage has normalized Trump without a sufficient sense of crisis or threat. "To say that the threats of democracy are so great that the media is going to abandon its central role as a source of impartial information to help people vote – that’s essentially saying that the news media should become a propaganda arm for a single candidate, because we prefer that candidate’s agenda," said Joe Kahn. “It’s our job to cover the full range of issues that people have. At the moment, democracy is one of them. But it’s not the top one – immigration happens to be the top, and the economy and inflation is the second. Should we stop covering those things because they’re favorable to Trump?” Nothing to see here. Just the editor-in-chief of The New York Times living in a world defined by Fox News talking points, and populated entirely by strawmen. B-Block (38:15) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Tigers say their new uniforms are "going 0-60." Nancy Mace claims the victim of half the GOP Antisemitic tropes is behind all the pro-Palestinian protests too. And Obama's campaign manager has the new podcast every one has been clamoring: he co-hosts with Kellyanne Conjob. (47:20) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL/SPORTS: Seen anything about this week being the 70th Anniversary of Roger Bannister "breaking the 4-Minute mile?" There's one problem. C-Block (1:04:51) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL/SPORTS PART 2: That one problem? Roger Bannister WAS NOT the first man to run a mile in four minutes or less. It's a sad story with a lot of bias and even racism in it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 3, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 169: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump is full of shit. Nothing about the gag order precludes him from testimony. What caused him to change his mind and suddenly announce no, he's not testifying after all, is sheer naked fear. He heard the Smoking Gun tape of himself and Michael Cohen mapping out how to pay hush money to his girlfriend before the election, and he crapped himself. I'll play the tape and you'll see. The last thing you do after THAT tape is played, is talk. In a fitting metaphor, on Trump’s pants are so on fire about why he's too scared to testify, that his post-court photo op was at a New York Fire Department Station. He also mocked reporting about how he's been falling asleep in court and then 90 minutes later, he fell asleep in court - again. MEANWHILE: We are in such an unprecedented place in this country’s history that if Trump were now to pick Kristi Noem as his running mate and announce they were going to campaign on a platform of puppy killing, the cult would do it. He’s not likely to try it. But then did you really think that Noem’s response to her self-defenestration would be to double down and claim the dog she murdered was far more evil than she let on and was a threat to her children. By next week she’ll be claiming Cricket had clamped her vicious jaws around her daughter’s neck. Or that she was holding Noem’s kids hostage.​ And by the way, she may have no other choice than to double down and claim she is the real victim here, because there is emerging evidence that the story of Kristi Noem luring the dog into a gravel pit and shooting it in the face because it was randomly attacking other animals and posed a threat of some kind​ that might be a COVER STORY. As America’s hatred washed over her, she laid low – until Wednesday. That’s when she went on with Sean Hannity and resumed trying to get people to buy the book, and buy her story. But her story has now changed. Cricket was no puppy. She was a working dog – and 14 months old. That Cricket was untrained wasn’t HER fault. Quote: “It was a dog that was extremely dangerous. It had come to us from a family who found her way too aggressive. We were her second chance. The day she was put down was a day that she massacred livestock.​.. (Livestock? Chickens . But of course killing animals is just a first step – and then you’re Ted Bundy​)...“that were part of our neighbors. She attacked me. And it was a hard decision.” That was Wednesday night. By ​y​esterday afternoon on social media, Noem saw an out. “I had a choice between the safety of my children and an animal who had a history of attacking people and killing livestock. I chose my kids.” So. She's already changed the story. Was the version in the book also changed? Was the murder worse? Was the timeline of who saw it different? Could Noem have shot the dog as her family watched? B-Block (19:47) SPECIAL COMMENT: I am largely agnostic on the issues, and having taken part in student protests against Vietnam and racism in the 7th Grade in 19-freaking-70 I'm in favor of them at any time. But what's happening on campuses today is NOT 1970 revisited. It's not on the level of Black Lives Matter. The arrests aren't unprecedented, the right to protest isn't being destroyed, and the students might want to recognize that their decisions are simply increasing the chances that everything they want will NOT happen, culminating in a Trump presidency in which they or their successors will be detained by the Army or shot on sight or both. C-Block (28:05) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: Thurber's mother was down with the whole occult stuff. Him? He barely delved. But this is another week where we need a pure silly story and he produced one when he went into the worlds of supernatural (and German dialects). "The Black Magic of Barney Haller." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 2, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 168: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Enough excuses. In a speech in Wisconsin yesterday, Trump talked about, attacked, and attacked the accuracy of, Cassidy Hutchinson - a probable witness against him in the Election Subversion trial in Washington. He has thus violated both the terms of his release on bail, and the gag order long ago imposed upon him. Judge Tanya Chutkan must now jail him. There is no evading this. While under threat of imprisonment if he violates the gag order in the Hush Money Election Interference case in New York, he has violated the gag order in the Election Subversion case in Washington. Judge Chutkan has no excuse this time. Revoke his bail. Somebody, for once, for God’s sake, for America’s preservation – draw the line in the sand. And just for added insolence, in attacking Hutchinson he confirmed the gist of her testimony, that he tried to talk his Secret Service detail into taking him to the Capitol on January 6th so he could watch his scum try to overthrow American democracy. He's been lying about this for three years. In his speech Trump also insisted he was president three years ago (he wasn't), butchered the word "infrastructure," and of particular relevance to the moment, reminded the current protestors that he would prohibit refugees from Gaza and reinstitute his ban on Muslims. PLUS a small slip in that extraordinary Time Magazine interview suggests that his extensive, inappropriate, and entirely corrupt shadow diplomacy with other nations may have included some kind of arrangement with Putin by which Russia continues to hold Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich hostage, until and unless Trump regains power. B-BLOCK (18:20) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The collapse of the regional sports cable television market not only felled last year's San Diego Padres but it's now taken an NHL playoff game off the air in the middle of the action. When The Gateway Pundit wonders if you might be an unreliable source - you might be an unreliable source. And given that it was a stunt bill with no more impact than the week full of Republican Make Appliances Pollute Again legislation, it's amazing that Marjorie Taylor Greene decided to explain why she voted against an Antisemitism measure - and her reasoning was that it might make it illegal to proclaim that the Jews killed Jesus. C-BLOCK (27:40) GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 1, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 167: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump is officially in contempt of court and has been threatened with jail time if he again violates the gag order and testimony from the stand continues to bury him alive as he buried the Stormy Daniels scandal and none of that is CLOSE to being as important as his new and most virulent threat yet to destroy this country via political VIOLENCE. And it underscores why we – LOYAL Americans – must destroy his cult first. Cover story, Time magazine, all the nightmares of Trump becoming dictator, but laid out with unusual clarity for someone as insane and demented as Trump. Quoting the interviewer (Eric Cortellessa) “Trump does not dismiss he possibility of political violence around the election.” Quoting Trump: “If we don’t win, you know, it depends. It always depends on the fairness of the election.” The author asks him about his social media post in which Trump claimed a stolen election “allows for the termination of all rules, regulations and articles, even those found in the constitution,” Trump then denies he said it. Quoting Trump: “I never said that at all. I never said that at all.”Within moments of this lie – no, not a lie, a distinction without a difference in that he never SAID it, he merely WROTE it, on Truth Social, on December 3, 2022 – within moments he declares the CURRENT government has “broken the constitution. They have gotten very far astray from our Constitution..." What about his remarks about being a dictator only on day one? He says he was kidding. Doesn’t he realize it horrifies those who see dictatorship as the opposite of America? Quote: “I think a lot of people LIKE IT.” So the police become militarized and the military becomes Trump’s personal gestapo and the states and cities that don’t promise fealty to him don’t get federal allotments and the federal government becomes his personal staff and if he doesn’t win the elections they’re UNFAIR elections and violence is fine and most people WANT a dictator anyway and he chooses who gets prosecuted and he chooses which budgeted money gets spent and where because he’ll give himself a line-item veto and he’ll put anybody here illegally into concentration camps… or anybody he SAYS is here illegally and if that’s YOU – who are you going to get to STOP him? ALSO: "Jail may be a necessary punishment." Justice Merchan bemoans the low limits of the fines he could impose upon Trump for being in contempt of court after breaking the gag order nine times. So Imprisoned Don is on the clock. B-Block (19:04) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: That embossed giant representation of The Queensboro/59th Street Bridge on the new batting helmet of the New York Mets is wonderful, until you realize it ALSO looks like something never ever associated with baseball. Kayleigh McEnany is the latest Trump pusher who can't add or subtract integers. And Jesse Watters invokes the Loch Ness monster to explain why he thinks the Trump Gag Order is unconstitutional. C-Block (27:37) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Let's continue on the subject of Watters, whose stupidity is anything but an act, and whose cupidity was honed as Bill O'Reilly's henchman and stalker-by-proxy. Let's talk Jesse and revisit some of the best Billo moments. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 30, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 166: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: We need a special counsel to investigate the six conservatives on the Supreme Court. We know Harlan Crow spent thousands on Clarence Thomas – for what precise purpose We know somebody paid off Brett Kavanaugh’s debts – who? When? Why? We know Leonard Leo’s gang spent millions to put Gorsuch and the others in place – what did they get in return? We know the Trump appointees all lied to the Senate and said Roe-V-Wade was settled, then voted to overturn it – were they paid to? We know the conservatives looked at the 14th Amendment, which states when, why, and how to appeal disqualification from the ballot, and ignored the Constitution. To what end? We know those conservatives have now signaled that they will countenance a coup, or presidentially-ordered domestic assassinations, or anything, so long as they can pretend they were official acts, and so long as they don’t have to rule until and unless Trump is president again. What inducement could make even conservatives – even conservative lawyers – prostitute themselves? And most of all we know, that if the polarity was reversed – if this was a Republican administration now and that was an utterly corrupt and criminal DEMOCRATIC president on trial – and a 6-3 LIBERAL Supreme Court impeding and slowing and obstructing justice – we KNOW that the Republican administration would do: There would be a Special Counsel investigating the Court. There are lesser solutions. Joyce Vance suggests Jack Smith empty his January 6th evidence at a hearing to determine what might be subject to 'presidential immunity.' Brian Beutler suggests something stronger. The gist is: we – I mean all of us who have a faint hope that there’ll be representative government in this country a year from today – WE must stop assuming that being right about everything DECIDES everything any more (if it ever did). The Biden campaign is going to have to stop assuming that the president being right and good and Trump being the worst person in this country’s history is going to be enough. We need to go on OFFENSE and the goal has to be to metaphorically GUT the bastard – and to metaphorically GUT all the OTHER bastards in his gang. As said by the character of the prime minister in “House of Cards” – the good version – we need to put a bit of stick about. ALSO: There's little new left to say about the psychopathic monster Kristi Noem. Yet I actually found something. It's not good. And it's from her alleged boyfriend. B-Block (25:41) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The lovely celebrity columnist Cindy Adams just turned 94. Somebody leaked her birthday party guest list and it's the twelve people you meet when you get to hell. The New York Times is so strung out over Politico's reveal that its publisher is altering the news to punish Biden for not doing an interview that it has issued a furious denial about journalism and principles and THE STATEMENT IS ANONYMOUS. And unfortunately not only did Nancy Pelosi call out my ex for being a Trump apologist but based on her reaction she has no idea that everybody agrees she's a Trump apologist. C-Block (35:16) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Well it ain't Thursday but it IS Tur-Day. Since I'm already talking about my ex, face planting on MSNBC every afternoon, I might as well tell you the rest of the story. About her jumping the political shark. About her book. And about how she deceived me. And The New York Times. And The Washington Post. It's exhausting. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 26, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 165: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Justice Samuel Alito should wake up tomorrow in Gitmo. Or in a hospital prison ward being examined for illness, mental or otherwise. He and the other Conservative members of the Supreme Court are as dangerous to the future of this country and its citizens and its freedoms and its representative form of government, as any terrorists who have ever lived. If presidents knew they might be prosecuted for little things like trying to overturn a valid election and illegally staying in office, Alito told the lawyer representing Jack Smith, they would be way more likely to try to overturn a valid election and illegally stay in office. So, if you want to preserve democracy, you CAN’T prosecute a former president for trying to overturn a valid election and illegally staying in office. THAT is the constitutional position of the leading justice on the Supreme Court, the ones Trump’s sheep follow, echoing almost word-for-word, things that the mad traitor Trump has posted on his social media feed about persecutions and retributions and retirements. This is Samuel Alito telling you that the way to insure peaceful transitions of power is: you can’t prosecute a lame duck president who partially – and nearly FULLY – disrupted the peaceful transition of power. It sounds like something Joseph Heller CUT from his novel Catch-22 as too stupid to be useful as political satire. And it just went downhill from there. They asked Trump's lawyer if assassination of the opposing presidential candidate or a military coup might be considered a president's "official acts" and he said yes. Ultimately, what the six conservatives on this destructive, fascist court hinted at yesterday, was how far they would go to prostitute themselves to rule FOR Trump in any case that comes before them. We’ve already seen them erase the clear mandate in the 14th Amendment because they felt it would deny American democracy the right to vote itself out of existence. We have now heard them try to cobble together any bullshit they had in their brains to immunize Trump for his countless crimes. But we have also been forewarned that if a case comes before THIS court relative to THIS election, they will figure out what is best for Trump and make up the reasons why. They WILL. After yesterday, you and I now KNOW this. ALSO: The gag order Trump keeps violating in New York will require another hearing with Justice Merchan. But not until next Wednesday. Because we all know we have all the time in the world. On the other hand, Trump addressed all his many legal cases late yesterday and sounded terrible. Breathless. You know how old he sounded? 206! B-Block (24:50) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: For the first time they all come from one newspaper, for misdeeds revealed in one article. They are New York Times Washington Bureau Chief Elizabeth Bumiller, writer Peter Baker, and publisher A.G. Sulzberger, and they are the vindictive little shits who could help cost us democracy. Because as Politico reports, Sulzberger has ordered the paper to fixate on Joe Biden's age as payback for Biden refusing to give The Times a one-on-one interview. Apparently Sulzberger thinks when Trump comes to round up the liberals, intellectuals, and reporters, everybody at The Times will be issued a pass. C-Block (38:50) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: Deliberately chosen to have nothing to do with Trump or politics or The Times, his wonderful story of a loathed practical jokester: "Meet Birdey Dogged." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 25, 2024

SEASON 2 EPISODE 164: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The 'Presidential Immunity' case beginning today at the Supreme Court? Trump's already won. Because while most of the coverage is binary (the Court will never invent something as anti-democracy as 'presidential immunity'/the Court will grant Trump presidential immunity) the real point here is that the delay already created by the Supreme Court's conspiracy to keep Trump from facing justice and to fix the election so he can seize power, has already guaranteed the jury can't possibly get the case before the election. The point from here on in is to extend that delay and the way to do that is to send the case BACK to Judge Chutkan with some lame ass "review" to see if there are parts of Jack Smith's indictments Trump might be immune from. Trump's already won. Plus: the Arizona Fake Elector Indictments are in. Trump is an unindicted co-conspirator and Giuliani and Christina Bobb are among EIGHTEEN just plain indicted. And as I always say, democracy survives not because of our efforts to preserve it, but by the stupidity of those who would destroy it. Fox nimrod Jesse Watters has found his analogy for Trump prevailing no matter how his enemies try to lay him low: Trump is King Kong. "And what happens with King Kong? You remember! So he's going to bust out of this cage eventually." Jesse doesn't know that King Kong gets killed. B-Block (24:09) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The L.A. Dodgers get an entertainer who has sung the anthem at their games five different times ARRESTED for asking them to let her bring her purse into the stadium with her. Pastor Shane Vaughn thinks if you say 'I'm not calling Joy Reid...' followed by a really racist insult, it means you didn't call her that. And Cornel West thinks he's going to beat Trump and apparently does not know the people trying to get the signatures needed to get him on the ballot work...for Trump. C-Block (35:48) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: If it's Supreme Court day, why don't I tell the story of the day I was invited on a first date by a woman who thought the ideal thing to go see was...Clarence Thomas's chair at the Supreme Court. Yes, it was Laura Ingraham. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 24, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 163: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump faces a month in jail for contempt of court - or at minimum, he will be THREATENED with a month in jail for contempt of court. Trump's lawyers, led by Todd (of Todd, Emil, Susan and Alina) beclowned themselves before Justice Juan Merchan during the Trump Gag Order Violation Hearing yesterday and the judge said he was "reserving his decision" which is almost always news so bad for the one side that has so infuriated the judge that he doesn't want to be in the room with them when he rules against them. The prosecution demanded $10,000 in fines and the threat of a month in jail and as Merchan told the lawyers they were losing their credibility, another story broke. Whatever happens there have already been quiet conversations with the Secret Service over what you do when you finally do put a former president in jail for an hour or a lifetime. As to the trial and the only witness thus far David Pecker – as to what came out of the Pecker at the Trump Trial – nothing new, if you’ve been paying attention. He and Trump and Michael Cohen set up a machine by which they bought stories about Trump – true ones, false ones, something-in-between ones – like the child out of wedlock one and the Stormy Daniels one and the Karen McDougal one – and the critical testimony was about the love child story. The doorman selling it got $30,000 to start, then they checked the story, found it wasn’t true, Pecker of the National Enquirer was about to release the doorman from his Non-Disclosure Agreement when Michael Cohen said don’t do that until AFTER the 2016 election because it could damage the Trump campaign. That’s the conviction right there. They paid these people – Stormy Daniels included – not to protect Trump the person, not to save him from lies, not to save him from the truth - but to influence the outcome of 2016 election. And it would be sad in another context, but the lede yesterday? That he wanted his mobs to at minimum SURROUND every courthouse in the country? Especially New York State Supreme Court, 100 Centre Street? I got a few scoffs at that. Turns out he REALLY expected. He REALLY believed it. And it didn’t happen. It REALLY didn’t happen: CNN’s Jim Sciutto with the sad truth. He wrote “Other than the first day of jury selection when I saw a pickup waving Trump flags and heard a handful of Trump supporters, their presence has dwindled. I don’t see any outside the courthouse today. If Trump was expecting a large and lasting public show of support here, it hasn’t materialized.” Well of COURSE that’s what he was expecting. IN FACT he was expecting another January 6th. And I emphasize again that the ultimate importance of this trial may simply be exposing him to weeks of radiation-leak-levels of reality. Because after it DIDN’T happen he had to tell his people – and most importantly his EGO – that it DID: “Thousands of people were turned away from the courthouse in Lower Manhattan by steel stanchions and police, literally blocks from the tiny side door from where I enter and leave,” unquote. Utterly untrue. Nobody showed up. Not thousands, not hundreds, not dozens, not even family and friends. Like he has FRIENDS. That was his friend testifying against him. His friend – a Pecker. PLUS: Tucker Carlson is dunked on by Mitch McConnell, Trump is dunked on by Mitt Romney, and the Republicans are dunked on by...Axios? Which reports they've... castrated themselves? Video or it didn't happen! B-Block (26:44) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: This surfeit of media-government interaction reminded me of the first time I ever encountered it, back when the Bushies were so naive they thought I was doing their bidding during the controversy over the made-up story of Saddam Hussein getting nukes from Niger. I was to interview Ambassador Joe Wilson - who debunked the W bull - and yet they thought I was going to slice him up, so they sent me all their talking points, and revealed the identities of all their "friends" at NBC. C-Block (41:00) GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 23, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 162: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Stochastic threat number one million. Trump returns to his propaganda channel to insist that his thugs should be, quoting his online post, “allowed to protest at the front steps of Courthouses, all over the country” rather than be “rudely and systematically shut down and ushered off to far away ‘holding areas’ essentially denying them their constitutional rights.” He tells them “Rally behind MAGA. Save our country. The only thing you have to fear is fear itself.” When THAT stochastic call to lay siege to federal buildings didn’t work (why does that sound SO familiar?) Trump tried what he thinks is smooth and subtle. “The Palestinian Protests at Columbia University have closed the college down. But the area surrounding the Courthouse in Downtown Manhattan, is closed up like a drum, with New York City’s Finest (Police) all over the place. Why not send some to Columbia… Republicans want the right to protest in front of the courthouse like everyone else.” Again. Seems oddly familiar. Reduce law enforcement around an area Trump wants to see sacked by gangs and militias and morons ready to spring him or hang a Vice President or, who knows, kill a judge. He forgot to note “will be wild.” Justice Juan Merchan There is little for Justice Juan Merchan to DO about this latest threat other than to encourage the city and the state of New York to have tanks ready because frankly if Trump terrorist gangs again rise up against the government as he had them do on January 6th the only way the point is going to be made clear is if it ends with the New York Department of Sanitation having to clean them up with brooms and hoses and garbage trucks. But with Trump following yesterday's half-day in court ending with more violations of the gag order, Merchan can at least regain control of this mess by - if not jailing Trump at today's gag order hearing - at least saying: if you do it again I will revoke your jail and send you to Rikers Island. We have to grasp this nettle eventually, let's do it now. In the long term, the ACTUAL Trump Legal headline may have come not from New York but Florida where witness exhibits in the Trump Espionage case reveal that the feds have a small coterie of witnesses close to Trump including an unidentified Person 16, clearly a senior Trump aide but not in the innermost circle, who revealed nothing less than the fact that Trump’s “people” told his valet and co-defendant Walt Nauta not to worry about the stolen documents case, that it’s not going anywhere, yet even if he were to, say, get charged with lying to the FBI, Trump will pardon him after he regains power. B-Block (26:33) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The man Nate Silver once thought was a top-five candidate to be the next Democratic presidential nominee, Eric Adams, is down to 16% support for re-election as mayor of New York. Kevin McCarthy is surprised to learn his claim Hillary Clinton never conceded is a lie. And ESPN's policy - no, you can't be a sportscaster on one station and an advocate for a presidential candidate on another - was right. I know: I helped to author it because the day when you (or I) could is long gone. So why is today's ESPN letting Stephen A. Smith do it? Why is he campaigning for Trump on Fox News? ESPN must silence him - or fire him. C-Block (37:32) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: So I once had an agent named Art Kaminsky who at the same time he was negotiating to extend my deal at KCBS in Los Angeles was also sending his other clients in for the job. And he ordered his partner Lou Oppenheim to NOT tell me as he literally walked out of the meeting at which KCBS told him whether or not I was staying. This all ends with them serving me with papers hours before my first SportsCenter, 32 years ago this month! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 19, 2024

SEASON 2 EPISODE 161: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Justice Juan Merchan MUST put Trump's ass in jail for violating the gag order - even if it's only one hour at Rikers Island. Trump is determined to break Merchan, break the New York Court, break the Criminal Justice System. He is a cornered and wounded animal and this is life-or-death for him. Think of a cockroach - only with thumbs. So it's him or us that gets broken, and Merchan has to make sure it isn't us. Trump tried to finesse the gag order by quoting somebody else – this worm Watters from Fox – denigrating the jurors and the judge and adding to the pile of stochastic inducements to violence against anyone who thwarts Trump. And by morning one of the jurors – the silhouette of their name and the vague depiction of their home – was quitting out of fear. Because what Trump sought by denigrating the jury WORKS. Because Trump’s intimidation WORKS. Because Trump’s terrorism WORKS. Prosecutors began Day 3 of the trial yesterday noting he had violated the gag order SEVEN times just since jury selection started and they actually UNDER-SOLD the most egregious of the violations, with Joshua Steinglass saying “the defendant reposted about liberals lying to try to get on the jury, a post by Jesse Watters.” That was NOT a re-post. Trump does dozens of re-posts a day. You hit a re-post icon, a couple of rounded arrows. Maybe you add a comment. Trump KNOWS what a re-post IS. That is NOT what Trump – or someone in control of the social media account bearing his name – DID. What Trump did was to make a NEW post, QUOTING Watters. It redd – and still reads:“They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury - Jesse Watters.” It is in Trump’s own electronic hand. It is not a re-post. It is not ‘technically ok within the gag order’ because Trump ISN’T lying about the judge and the jurors and endangering them all, he’s just QUOTING Jesse Watters lying about the judge and the jurors and endangering them all. RUNNING THE HEADLINES: Derrick Van Orden, a walking PTSD demonstration, calls Matt Gaetz "tubby" and Marjorie Taylor Greene demands anybody who votes for Ukraine aid be conscripting into its military as the House Republican caucus comes apart at the seems. Happily Jared Moskowitz is there with the big yucks and a Rick Perry protege has the best idea yet: four Republicans should resign from the House to own the liberals. FOUR? How about FIVE? FIFTY? Think big be big my friend! And why on earth did Kari Lake devote a disturbingly large part of a campaign speech to repeatedly saying "strap-on?" B-Block (31:18) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Clay Travis goes from being the knight in shining armor defending the sanctity of women's sports from destruction by trans athletes, to insisting that Caitlin Clark isn't actually popular and nobody CARES about women's sports. The Charlotte GOP still hasn't realized it insulted Trump online and he'll see it eventually. And Twain was wrong: history DOES sometimes repeat itself. In 2005 I watched on in astonishment as Bo Dietl began his new MSNBC show by calling a gay reporter a "fudge-packer" and get fired within two weeks. Now, he's been fired for ANOTHER homophobic rant directed at ANOTHER reporter. Did you know Dietl's specialty in the NYPD was to serve as the mugging decoy? So he was mugged 500 times? Does it show? C-Block (48:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Snowie is fine - now - but her family could use a little help plowing through the bills for the medical wizardry that saved her life. (49:30) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: Appropriately enough, Thurber takes a dog who was alive when Teddy Roosevelt was president and makes him seem as new as the youngest pup. "The Dog That Bit People." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 18, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 160: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump is an idiot. Trump is an idiot who employs other idiots. Trump is an idiot who employs other idiots and who thinks Jimmy Kimmel and Al Pacino are the same guy. And he'll probably come back later with some nonsensical and irrational explanation that he was joking or being metaphorical or to him they might as well be the same or that Kimmel is the palindrome of Pacino or it's like when he wittily called Nikki Haley "Nancy Pelosi." He. Is. An. Idiot. And more substantively, Trump publicly admitted that he believed his lawyers had "unlimited" jury strikes; that they could disqualify an infinite number of potential jurors in his trial for Election Interference in New York. Think about the implication here: it never occurred to Trump (or doesn't matter to him) that to have "unlimited" jury strikes would mean any defendant could literally stall the start of his trial FOREVER and no one would ever be tried for - let alone convicted OF - ANYTHING. It just gets worse from there. We learn his Bodega stunt Tuesday was astroturfed because the New York Young Republicans who staged it couldn't resist taking a team picture at it, so they can be identified in the crowd. Trump is an idiot who employs other idiots. B-Block (24:24) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I don't know what made me think of him but think of him I did. The mandarin of Los Angeles news was Jerry Dunphy and even he acknowledged it: On the air, he was simply a teleprompter-reading machine. More than once, it came with hilarious consequences. C-Block (41:30) GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 17, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 159: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: There’s nothing better than a good NAP. “Now: Trump’s head slowly dropped, his eyes closed. It jerked back upward. He adjusts himself. Then, his head droops again. He straightens up, leaning back. His head drops for a third time, he shakes his shoulders. Eyes closed still. His head drops. Finally, he pops his eyes open. My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains my sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk, or emptied some dull opiate to the drains." Honestly: You’re Trump, on Monday they literally catch you napping. How do you possibly go in there yesterday and get caught napping… at least TWICE. One video, or one rapid-shutter sequence of still pictures of “Trump’s head slowly dropped, his eyes closed. It jerked back upward. He adjusts himself. Then, his head droops again” and we don’t have to WATCH the rest of the trial, he’d be DONE. Looks like we'll get this started Monday. Seven jurors chosen. I had forgotten what I learned during two days in the NYC jury pool in 2013: it is surprisingly easy to find enough people who don’t know anything about anything to fill up a New York jury. Meanwhile Trump tried out his new defense: He knows nothing. Billionaire businessman, greatest mind of his or any other generation, but when it comes to paying off Stormy Daniels to bury her story and illegally keep bad facts about himself away from the eyes of the electorate weeks before the election, and then turning the thing into a clear crime by trying to write it off as a business expense? He knows nothing. He doesn’t know the accountant. He doesn’t know the lawyer. He didn’t know anything about the document. He didn’t know anything about the deduction. He just signed whatever they put in front of him. Because the billionaire businessman knows NOTHING about his own business! ALSO: The picture is a rare one of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene with her mouth shut. It's in The New Republic and above it the magazine's question is: “Russia is Buying Politicians in Europe. Is it Happening Here Too?” After Greene decided to try to fire another Speaker of the House to destabilize our government further, and her screw-up in the Mayorkas hearing, it's a question worth exploring. B-Block (24:38) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Baseball's uniform scandal is back. The pitcher is wearing the batboy's pants. The Speaker of the House had his brain trust look at his new bill first: Libs of TikTok and DC Draino and a 1/6 defendant. And I used to think the Supreme Court Justices were merely not there to do justice or defend the constitution. Now I'm not sure they're from this country, nor have more of a legal education than I do (and I took one law class 37 years ago). C-Block (33:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Just passed the quarter century anniversary of one of the most fun, most unexpected events of my career. How many people do you know who can say this: Tom Hanks, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon pulled me on to the Red Carpet at the Oscars - and they broke my cummerbund! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 16, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 158: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Seriously? Donald Trump fell asleep at his trial yesterday. First trial. First day. First session. Fell asleep. Upright. At the trial that could end with him going to prison. During the trial. But it’s Biden with the stamina problem. Biden, who’s too old. Trump fell asleep. At the defense table. But we should be worried about Biden. Trump fell asleep during discussion of his own tweets, his own threats, his own lawyers’ insistence that this is the greatest witchhunt and Abraham Lincoln got off easily compared to this and whatever else they said. “His mouth going slack and his head drooping onto his chest,” she added later in the paper. If this had happened to Biden – if this had happened to Biden at wherever HE might be that could be, what, one one-thousandth as serious as Trump’s trial involving PRISON TIME – if this had happened to Biden it would be the only thing on the news, the only thing on television, the only thing on the internet, the only thing in all forms of extra-sensory communication. Don't worry the media will go back to telling voters that what they should be worried about is how sleepy President Biden is. And don't worry, Don Snore-leone wasn’t sleeping for HIMSELF – he was sleeping for the sake of the January 6th hostages. The other true headline from the trial is that this is NOT a trial about Trump paying off a porn star to keep their sex secret from his wife or even from the public. This is a trial about Trump interfering with the 2016 election by illegally suppressing facts that the voters should’ve KNOWN and JUDGED for themselves. Voters in the General Election. Voters in the primary. Trump is NOT on trial for Hush Money. Trump is NOT on trial for banging a porn star. Trump is on trial for his favorite crime, the one he never stops talking about. TRUMP… IS ON TRIAL… FOR ELECTION INTERFERENCE. This happened as Biden's poll streak (ahead in Politico, cuts Trump's NY Times lead from 5 to 1) is so dominant now even some reporters have noticed. I mean Jonathan Martin wrote: "I’ll say it: there’s an elite tendency to assign Trump a better chance to win than he merits, to show THIS TIME you’re not out of touch." Of course he didn't mean reporters. He meant foreign diplomats. Because you've seen them on TV: America's political reporters clearly don't own MIRRORS! B-Block (25:49) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Five of them! Elon Musk continues to be Russia's streetwalker (and Marjorie Bitter Greene helps). CNN cancels its top news show (Charles Barkley and Gayle King). Another RFK Jr staffer beclowns him (and turns out to have been pardoned by Trump and seems to still be working for him). Comedian Rob Schneider was so beyond-the-pale that even Republican Senate staffers walked out of his set. And 48 hours later, Governor Sununu of New Hampshire continues to prove he is our Franz Von Papen, the cynical German politician who brokered the deal to launch the 3rd Reich because it was ONLY politics. C-Block (36:37) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The passing of Fritz Peterson is marked by many as the end to an extraordinary sports story of half a century ago where New York Yankees teammates "traded lives" (and, incidentally, wines). By others it's the loss of the statistically-best pitcher ever to call original Yankee Stadium home. To me, he was the man from whom I took away his bid for a no-hitter. Seriously. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 12, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 157: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: In the SportsCenter computer I read something that made my blood run cold. It was one line in a preliminary script for the 6:30 PM SportsCenter for Monday, June 14, 1994. O.J. Simpson’s wife and a man with her had been murdered. The script noted “Simpson is NOT a suspect.” What made my blood run cold was not the news of the murders. It was that phrase. It might as well have been “of COURSE Simpson is not a suspect.” The problem was, I knew Simpson was a suspect because I had not a doubt in my mind that Simpson had butchered them because I knew what all of us who worked – or had worked – in L.A. media knew – that the O.J. Simpson known to the public, to TV audiences, movie audiences, sports audiences, was an utter fabrication. I knew he had hit his wife. I knew the authorities in Los Angeles had done nothing about it. I knew the sportscasters in Los Angeles – including me – had done nothing about it, though I wondered then and have known since that there was almost nothing WE could have done about it, legally. I called police source in L.A. and he was emphatic:: “whatever you do, DON’T say he’s a suspect. We’re terrified he’s going to run. This guy has make-for-the-border written all over him. Or off himself maybe. But yeah, maybe…” and he had had to stop himself from laughing… “maybe you want to drop that part about NOT a suspect. Jesus. Not a suspect? HE’S OUR ONLY SUSPECT." I then had to explain it to executives - representative of the America of 1994 - who were still saying aloud "Poor O.J." There is no comparison to Simpson's fall in American history. And the system of the time was designed to protect him, the way the system of today protects similar scumbags. ALSO: The Johnson-Trump conference today was Johnson's idea and Trump is not in favor of getting rid of the Speaker. And RFK Jr gets rid of the New York staffer who admitted the campaign is about getting Trump, not Kennedy, elected. But it turns out he's got at least one more saying essentially the same thing. B-Block (26:30) IN SPORTS: It's amazing that Shohei Ohtani could have so relied on his interpreter Ippei Mizuhara that basically nobody else could talk to Ohtani, and Mizuhara could exploit that reality to secretly steal millions from him. But the FIGURES involved are twice as amazing: $16,000,000 embezzled? 19,000 bets on sporting events in three years? Gambling wins and losses totaling $325,000,000? Also America's hottest new team is the Indiana Fever, and no, there aren't more baseball pitchers being injured this year than the last ten years. C-Block (41:05) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: A first-time story, which reads as if it was ripped from today's headlines. In his profile of his boss, discoverer, and the founder of The New Yorker Harold Ross, Thurber told of Ross's assisting, who took advantage of his boss's inattentiveness to money to embezzle the equivalent of one and a half million from him and bet most of it on sporting events. There are so many similarities it sounds as if Ohtani's interpreter used the story as an instruction manual: "The Secret Life Of Harold Winney." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 11, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 156: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: For a time it looked like Trump had actually played three-dimensional chess with abortion; that absolutism in Arizona and elsewhere and the push for a federal ban would allow him to move the Overton Window and look like the moderate who would save the day. Then the Arizona Republicans told Trump to go eff himself - that they want to KEEP the 1864 law that the Supreme Court dug up and revivified. Now Trump, and Kari Lake, and all the other national Arizona Republicans are absolutely screwed. The mine has caved in on Trumpy. In the interim he can always turn to losing more attempts to stall his New York trial (and he has) and to antisemitism (now it's Jews who don't support him "should have their head examined"). And he could turn to his new spokesmodel, Karoline Leavitt, who thinks one word is pronounced "Hench MAN" and another "dammaning" and I swear she is the reincarnation of that Miss Teen contestant from 2007 ("I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and the Iraq everywhere like such as and I believe that they should our education over here in the US...") B-Block (21:42) IN SPORTS: New York Times reports Ohtani's interpreter altered the settings on his account so he could embezzle at least $4,500,000 from the baseball star to pay off gambling debts; interpreter now negotiating guilty plea with feds. (24:52) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Joe Scarborough and MSNBC executives re-platform disgraced, banned, Mark Halperin; Maria Bartiromo promises to call the governor to get the Trump prosecutor fired; Biden's former Chief of Staff Ron Klain f-bombs Biden's campaign strategy and doesn't stop to think somebody might be recording it. He should leave the country until after the election, the idiot. C-Block (35:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: First it was Lawrence O'Donnell seated on a curbside table in the restaurant in front of my home. Now, it's the impossible Harris Faulkner of Fox News. Can I get the city Board of Health to close this place down already? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 10, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 155: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: It was a two-word post by Trump: "Biden Trials!!!" and it followed by a day a quote from a Trump campaign official outlining plans to prosecute Joe Biden next year: "Everything you have seen from the Biden DOJ, you can expect to see from the Trump DOJ.” Everything? Well, what does that mean? It means: Everything. And particularly the thing that matters most to Trump, upon which rests his ability to not feel himself a total failure: that he never loses and everybody else does. That he didn't lose the 2020 election. It was stolen from him. When his staff says "Biden Trials" they might mean over classified documents or business or Commander the dog. To Trump, it MUST mean: Prosecuting Biden in a dream trial in which a court rules Trump really won in 2020 and it really was stolen from him and Biden was the man who stole it. Also: more of Trump's antisemitism is showing. American Jews who don't support him "should be spoken to." And he's already confirmed Monday's "Abortion Ban" video was a lie. And yet another poll shows a significant majority of Republicans believe HE should be allowed to rule without waiting for congress or the courts. The good news? The polls are now breaking almost entirely in Biden's direction. B-Block (25:45) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The German Soccer Federation learns never to use an "open" font for the number 44. Montana GOP Senate candidate Tim Sheehy is so tough he still carries a bullet from when he was shot in Afghanistan. Or, from when he dropped his gun in the parking lot and shot himself. Or... And like eight good minutes about Geraldo Rivera and how this little thing between the two of us in the wake of his hilarious self-own while criticizing Larry David, actually dates back to his anger that NBC was promoting my show and not his in 1997, and how he promised to "fight" me in 2007. I know I should fear him: he has a mustache. C-Block (41:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The greatest scoop of my sportscasting career came when I did nothing more than continually answer the phone as viewers called in to tell me the owner of the L.A. Kings had just told them he was trading for Wayne Gretzky. But the second greatest scoop of my sportscasting career came because I really wanted some pizza so I happened to be walking past the bar across the street from the pizza parlor at the exact moment the exact guy who had the exact info I needed, stepped out of the bar and started YELLING that info at the top of his lungs. It's the George Steinbrenner story. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 9, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 154: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: You can never say a cockroach can't survive something, and after all he IS Donald J. Cockroach. But he has now made a spectacular, amazing unforced error with this video in which he pretends to say that abortion bans should be (and would be) left to the states. He never says that, but the evangelicals who are the spine of his fanatical base don't know that. And for once the idiocy of the stenographic news media will work to hurt Trump because they repeated without examination the impression he successfully left that he was backing away from any federal abortion ban. All that will do is piss off those evangelicals, so enraged that even Lindsey Graham felt compelled to repudiate what Trump said. It's obviously not going to convince any liberals and when the reality is made clear that he never said a damn thing about vetoing a federal abortion ban sent to him by a Republican house and senate, it wouldn't help him with that handful in the middle. More important perhaps is what made Trump speak on the subject NOW, with the election still 211 days away. Unless he had some sudden compulsion to repudiate his life lived inside the fine print of scam contracts and confidence tricks, there is only one conclusion: the internal polling done on Trump's behalf shows he is getting DESTROYED on abortion in general, and an abortion ban specifically, and he had to run the risk of damaging religious nut job and handmaiden support in what is already - even now - a desperate last-minute attempt to put some space between him and how ever bad the damage the abortion issue is doing to him. B-Block (25:27) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: It's the thought that counts, I guess: a news organization reports "eclipse glasses" being recalled 90 minutes before the eclipse. Fox's Harris Faulkner sounds perpetually confused; now it extends to believing that Steve Wynn, Woody Johnson and Wilbur Ross "are black." And Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson says he wants to avoid stoking "division" by repeating his endorsement of Joe Biden in 2020. You know what kind of division he's afraid of, right? The division between him and those millions standing up for his country and democracy would create - the bonehead. C-Block (33:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: it’s another trip down memory lane; just a cassette tape from February 1977 that I found over the weekend. It contained and a sportscast I did on a radio station in Binghamton, New York I did in the middle of the night a mere 47 years ago. And oh by the way it also contained a reminder of the day 20 years later I saw a ghost and I knew who the ghost was and the ghost laughed at me and I've never told a damn soul about the ghost until now. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 5, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 153: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: On January 15th the Biden Campaign let loose the results of its internal polling. They insisted, at what was for them the nadir of the campaign, that there would be an O.S.M.… an oh-spit-moment… only they didn’t say spit… at which point the undecideds who had convinced themselves that Trump would NOT be the Republican nominee and thus they would have a different alternative, would realize Trump HAD GOTTEN the Republican nomination and… oh spit. And all the undecideds would break to Biden. New Marquette Law School Poll, among likely voters: Biden 52 Trump 48. Likely Voters. The Marquette Law School Poll, February 15? Marquette Law School Poll: Likely Voters, TRUMP 52 Biden 48. An eight point swing in 43 days. Oh spit! B-Block (19:40) and C-Block ) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: 45 years ago at this moment, a week or so after I had met Bob Iger and got his advice on how to get started in television, the letter that would change my career and my life, was somewhere, in transit, between New York City and Ithaca, New York. The story of the man who sent it, and why what he wrote mattered so much: The Lou Adler Letter. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 4, 2024

SEASON 2 EPISODE 152: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: He lied about it. He stole the story of a young murdered Michigan woman, purposely altered it, made himself the hero, made up a story about her family, then exploited it as an excuse to turn local cops into his private paramilitary police force. He LIED about it. OR: His dementia or aphasia or insanity or whatever it is that specifically doesn’t work right in his brain is so bad that he read about her in The New York Post and he could no longer tell the difference between what he had READ and what had actually happened - or both. The New York Post, Monday. Ruby Garcia had a: “smile that illuminated the room or contagious laughter.” Trump, Lying or Hallucinating, Tuesday: "she had just the most contagious laughter and when she walked into a room, she lit up that room, and I’ve heard that from so many people. I spoke to some of her family." The family says he did not speak to any of her family. His campaign is hiding behind a claim that it never releases the details of such conversations without permission - which is itself ANOTHER lie because it released its CLAIM that it spoke to some of her family and implied those comments came from them. There are scumbags in this world. And then there is Donald Trump. MEANWHILE "The American Conservative" piece about repealing or ignoring Presidential term limits so Trump could run again in 2028 and thereafter had an additional tendril I didn't see. Lisa Needham at Public Notice did. "The American Conservative" is part of "Project 2025" - the plan to recast the government as an anti-women, anti-minority, anti-equality body that destroys "The Deep State" and replaces it with Trump slaves personally loyal to him who would institute a DEEPER - and far more deeply INCOMPETENT - state. (21:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Charlie Kirk insults a certain category of women. The one headed by his wife. Mike Davis thinks Chuck Schumer threatened to punch Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch or something. And so, what? Are you telling me that from once a week now my ex-SportsCenter co-anchor Sage Steele is going to be on here? Now she has revealed her 2021 ESPN interview with President Biden was entirely scripted by ESPN management, no deviations allowed, without ever realizing that all of her SportsCenter interviews were scripted by ESPN management because she was a total idiot. B-Block (29:20) and C-Block (43:47) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: 45 years ago at this moment, a week or so after I had met Bob Iger and got his advice on how to get started in television, the letter that would change my career and my life, was somewhere, in transit, between New York City and Ithaca, New York. The story of the man who sent it, and why what he wrote mattered so much: The Lou Adler Letter. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 3, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 151: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump has now threatened to federalize state and local police. His persecution of minorities starting with Latinos and moving on to blacks and middle easterners and when he runs out, Jews, will be conducted at least in part, by cops. To make THAT possible, Trump will have to take over state and local police. He promised to do as much in a speech at Grand Rapids yesterday. And he again promised to immunize them against prosecution. The cops – the cops in your town – on your street – will be answerable to no one but Trump. No governor, no mayor, no chief, no judge. By putting it in these terms, Trump has shown you the America he intends to sentence us to, next January 20th. There are no laws. There are no governors. There are no mayors. There are no local governments. There is only him. He has the military, he will use it on the streets against protestors; he may declare a State of Insurrection during his inaugural address, thus the protestors could be anybody – you, me, a Democratic Speaker of the House, Joe Biden, a news reporter he doesn’t like, judges who try to stop him. He will usurp the federal government and replace it with those personally loyal to him. And the first show of force will be the purge of minorities and if you belong to any minority group and spoiler alert we ALL belong to SOME minority group – you may THINK you are here legally, but if your local cop – your local TRUMP Cop, federalized by Trump, indemnified by Trump, beholden by Trump – if your local cop says no, he thinks you’re here illegally – guess where you’re going? To Trump Camp. A JUDGE is going to stop you? A JUDGE Trump appointed? A JUDGE in a red state? A JUDGE Trump didn’t appoint who knows that if he crosses Trump HE will be the next to go Trump Camp and die there – fast, or slow? And it all starts with the cops. This nation – especially its Republicans and MAGAs and fascists and racists – is riddled with snitches and fascists and sadists. And a lot of them just happen to be cops. And then there are lots of people who you would now bet your life on being there to defend you if they dragged you away and said “new rule: your grandmother can’t prove her immigration here was documented? That means YOU are no longer a citizen” – surprise. They will first worry about whether THEIR grandmother can prove it. Or if this cop knows THAT unfortunate fact about them, or their friend, or their cousin, or… or… or… It all starts with the cops 700,000 of them in 18,000 state and city units. And Trump just said he would federalize the cops. They shoot somebody? They can’t be arrested. They can’t be sued. They can’t be stopped. And for this, they have only one man to thank. Promising death and destruction and making a stochastic assassination threat against President Biden is one kind of thing. This – this is pure dictatorship B-Block (26:54) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Even The Daily Caller has retracted, killed, and apologized for this nonsense that Biden ordered religious markings removed from White House Easter eggs. Speaker Mike Johnson? He has NOT retracted nor apologized, because he's a theocratic fascist. Fox hires a Disinformation/Misinformation specialist (for or against) and Tulsi Gabbard says she turned down RFK Jr's overtures. No! To be his VP! (Well I did too. I mean, why not, if Gabbard can say this, then you and I can also claim this is true) C-Block (36:20) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: How much would they have to pay you to fall off a cliff? A small one? What if it’s a small cliff and you don't get seriously hurt although you’ll be sore for a month? For me, the answer turned out to be like $250,000 up front. And later another $150,000. The saga of cliff diving in California. Unintentional cliff diving. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 2, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 150: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: It was a presidential kidnapping and assassination video. It showed a pickup truck, Trump flags flapping in the wind, and on its tailgate, with an illustration of President Biden bound and gagged and thrown in the flatbed. Trump posted the video and he knew what he was doing: it is a stochastic attempt to GET Biden kidnapped or assassinated. It all makes me again ask a chilling question I first posed months ago. Had any of Trump’s various coup attempts succeeded in 2020 – if any of the coup attempts Trump is planning NOW for this election – exactly what is Trump’s plan, or the plans of his thugs and gangs cultists and psychotics and death fetishists and militias and god-and-gun lunatics – for the ACTUAL president he usurps? Now Trump has given us the answer. Have the pick-up truck mob grab Biden and tie him up and throw him in the back of the truck. And the listless, clueless, spineless media as personified as Kristen Welker of NBC, reduces it to: “It is yet another reminder that we are covering this election against the backdrop of a deeply divided nation.” Yeah - like we were divided during the Civil War. If the media had not failed us sufficiently in this case, wait'll you hear the Trump story that wasn't merely covered poorly - it wasn't covered at all. In a move I have long anticipated, Trump minions are begin to soften up potential opposition to repealing or ignoring the 22nd Amendment's presidential term limits and dare us to stop Trump running for re-election in 2028. They have produced nonsensical sophistry in "The American Conservative" that boils down to this: because Trump would not have served CONSECUTIVE terms, the 22nd Amendment wouldn't apply to him. Disagree? Sue him. Maybe you'll get lucky and find a different Supreme Court that will agree with you and actually defend the Constitution. If not: welcome to the Trump Dictatorship. B-Block (38:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Such a pile there are EIGHT award winners. I had to expand the medal stand and hand out aluminum in addition to bronze, silver and gold. Your winners? The owner of the San Francisco Giants, the North Carolina GOP State Superintendent of Schools candidate who belongs to an organization that believes Obama is Hitler's grandson, Mayor Adams of New York, Trump's Media Company, Trump's $200 Burger Buy, Roseanne Barr, The Ohtani-deaf New York Yankees, and Representative Mike Turner. C-Block (51:42) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I outlasted five heads of MSNBC and three chiefs of NBC News (one of them twice) and it looks like I'm about to outlast a fourth. The Ronna McDaniel Scandal continues and the fingers and figurative knives are all pointed towards the Chairman of NBC News Cesar Condé. I have my own history with him, and with the predecessor he most reminds me for pure self-absorption: Andy Lack. Their stories in an all-new edition of Countdown. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 29, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 149: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) We have a curious addition to the NBC/Ronna McDaniel timeline: Trump and the RNC fire Ronna McDaniel. 2. NBC hires Ronna McDaniel. 3. NBC fires Ronna McDaniel. 4. Trump and the RNC make a martyr OUT of Ronna McDaniel. 5. RNC threatens NBC over Ronna McDaniel. Per Politico the RNC is “weighing whether to restrict NBC’s access to this summer’s convention…’We are taking a hard look at what this means for NBC’s participation at the convention,” says a spokesperson. OK how would limiting NBC’s access to the R-N-C bullshit festival HURT NBC News? What Republicans watch NBC News? They checked out 30 years ago! So why would NBC worry? Maybe because of something Judd Legum dug up at his marvelous site "Popular Information." Of all the major corporations that vowed after January 6 to never donate to election deniers again, you know which true broadcasting company has breached its promise and donated the MOST to election deniers? Comcast/NBC. $787,500. Coincidence - no doubt. Could there be any connection between this and the fact that nobody has made headlines out of the amazing poll shift: Trump and Trump-Leaning Undecideds: 50. Biden and BIDEN-Leaning Undecideds: 50. And that's in a poll so skewed towards the Republicans (the Harvard-Harris poll) that a Harvard school paper columnist wrote about it: “Harvard Should Break Up With The Harris Poll” because the university is quote “lending its name to a methodologically flawed poll that often promotes a right-wing political agenda.” The 8% undecided lean 61% Biden including 58% of independent undecideds and 41% of Republican undecideds and that is, after all, EXACTLY what the Biden internal metrics told the president’s campaign months ago. Once Trump actually became the GOP nominee the fence-sitters would have their "oh shit" moment and break to Biden. Plus, in the Bloomberg swing states poll that America erupted over when Trump led in seven states, Biden has moved ahead in one, tied in two others, and has improved in three more. Funny that these poll results aren't as big deal as the pro-thump ones were. B-Block (22:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: So when they call Baltimore's mayor "The DEI Mayor" what do you think THAT'S a euphemism for? And after Larry David eviscerates Trump so Charlie Kirk has to attack Larry David and say he's a "typical kind of New York Woody Allen-type" what do you think THAT'S a euphemism for? And when a Trump-endorsed Michigan state legislator sees people getting off a plane and onto a bus with a police escort, what do you think he assumes they are? "Illegal invaders," says the guy with no neck. The correct answer is: one of the college basketball teams competing in the NCAA Sweet 16. The hatred and racism and sense of impunity with which the bigots operate was unleashed by Trump, and to stop it we have to stop him. C-Block (34:00) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: A break from this Week of Stupid to the simpler life of a century ago at Ohio State University, when a kid with one eye is asked to draw what he sees when he looks through a microscope. "University Days." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 28, 2024

SEASON 2 EPISODE 148: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The head of the POLITICAL unit at NBC News is now reported to have been actively working with the former Chief of Staff of the Republican National Committee to try to stir up a social media groundswell to save Ronna McDaniel’s job at NBC. And she – and perhaps the CHAIRMAN of NBC News as well - were reportedly willing to throw MSNBC under the bus - specifically, willing to throw its ex-Biden-Press-Secretary, now budding star Jen Psaki, under the bus, and throw Chuck Todd under the bus, in hopes of saving Ronna McDaniel. Puck News is reporting that after Ronna McDaniel debuted on “Meet The Press” on Sunday and after Kristen Welker told the audience she had no say in McDaniel’s hiring and after Chuck Todd attacked the hiring, NBC News Chairman Cesar Conde and Vice President Carrie Budoff Brown were unnerved, but both quote “seemed to anticipate the impending insurgency and frantically tried to pre-empt it. On Sunday, Budoff Brown reached out to McDaniel’s aide and former chief of staff at the RNC Richard Walters, to see if there were any friends or colleagues who could speak up on her BEHALF. The two sides also discussed having those folks call attention to what they saw as a double standard – after all this was the same network that was turning Psaki… into a Maddow-adjacent prime time star. Walters later assured Budoff Brown that they’d been able to advance conservative pushback on social media against (Chuck) Todd, specifically, and that this might give NBC News some cover, for which Budoff Brown thanked him,” unquote. The report - and a similar story by The Hollywood Reporter - also highlights MSNBC President Rashida Jones's role in hiring McDaniel, and raises questions about Kristen Welker's on-air denial that she was at all involved in the hiring (it says she was AT a meeting at which Budoff Brown continued to pitch McDaniel). It's a disaster, it's still unfolding, and there's no telling how many different NBC News executives will follow McDaniel out the door. B-Block (28:19) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: First Maria Bartiromo blamed the Baltimore bridge collapse on "wide open borders." Now she wants to make sure no money is allocated to rebuild it. James Comer claims Merrick Garland and The Deep State are indoctrinating people into believing he has no evidence against Biden. And Sage Steele, with whom I once co-anchored SportsCenter, says the devil tried to keep her from speaking out against liberals by hitting her in the mouth with a golf ball. C-Block (40:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Okay, the still-evolving Ronna McDaniel scandal is a doozy. But this is NOT NBC/MSNBC's worst crisis ever. Let me take you back to the thrilling day of Existential Challenge when the Chairman of GE was ready to shut the network down, pay everybody off, and fire all of us, because his Mommy had seen Bill O'Reilly criticize him on Fox, because of what I said about O'Reilly on MSNBC. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 27, 2024

SEASON 2 EPISODE 147: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Those were Trump's marbles he just lost. At 2:49 PM, Eastern Dementia Time: “I’m not running to terminate the ACA, as crooked Joe BUDEN… DIS-INFORMATES and MIS-INFORMATES all the time, I’m running to CLOSE THE BORDER..." There is no such word as “Disinformate.” There is also no such word as “MIS-informate.” Also, unless I've been getting it wrong since 1973, "BUDEN" is not how the president spells his name. Trump's cheese has slid off his cracker. It is impossible to say that he cannot possibly last like this, what with the forces of aphasia and dementia and narcissism and head injury and whatever else there is, pulling him apart… but of course he’s lasted in approximately this same space for months now – and in spaces not really that much BETTER than this one for years and decades and if the early anecdotes are correct, a lifetime. Still: inventing your own words, is a sign of a dozen different PHYSICAL problems, to say nothing of psychological ones like bipolarity and environmental ones like huffing D-Con Roach Room Fogger. HELP ME RONNA, HELP HELP ME RONNA: And now she belongs to the ages. Five days, one show. Not the shortest tenure in television history nor the fastest-cancelled program (still held by an ABC comedy show from 1969, cancelled just before the first commercial). But NBC's decision to ax Ronna McDaniel - no matter how tortured, self-serving, and late the protests from its stars might have been, does offer some small hope. The point of all this – and perhaps the value of this internal rebellion – is that perhaps the somnambulant American political media, especially the American TELEVISION political media – has awakened from its naïve stupor. I have been saying here for eighteen months that EVERY news organization in this country has had the same meeting: what do we do if Trump regains power. Not “what do we do journalistically” but what do we do to protect our profits – and what do we do so when Trump starts jailing reporters and TV executives, he’ll leave us alone. Or, more realistically, he’ll let us become one of his propaganda channels. Remember, in the minds of its executives, television news isn’t a kind of NEWS, it’s a kind of TELEVISION. It is designed to fill the places between the commercials. If it serves some kind of public purpose, hey, great, as long as that doesn’t mean we have to go TOO many hours cancelling all those advertisements just because some POPE died or something. Putting Trump on and taking Mehdi Hasan off and hiring Ronna McDaniel was INOCULATION, nothing more, nothing less. It was proving to Trump and the MAGAs that while no, we aren’t shuttering MSNBC and we’re not in favor of this whole “end the peaceful transfer of power” and “fascism is the new democracy” stuff – hey, go on… we’re listening. American TV news isn’t going to save us from creeping fascism. But maybe – MAYBE – the scattered, largely selfish, righteous-ehhh-kinda righteous indignation at NBC means American TV news will stop HELPING fascism creep faster. Guard rail? No. Scattering spike strips across democracy’s highways? Uhh, ok, maybe we’ll stop. Also, I sing. I mean: "Help Me Ronna"? I was supposed to RESTRAIN myself from THAT? B-Block (30:57) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Congressman Tim Burchett sued by the Kansas City man he claimed was a) a Super Bowl parade shooter and b) an "illegal alien." He was neither. Ari Fleischer actually slams Biden for supporting George W. Bush's war in Iraq that Ari helped sell to a gullible America. And Maria Bartiromo, Nancy Mace, David Sabatini, Matt Schlapp, Glenn Thrush and a random named Rose Graham share the honors for spreading conspiracy theories about the Baltimore bridge accident. C-Block (42:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I mentioned those tortured anti-Ronna comments from MSNBC. Lawrence O'Donnell was astonishingly wrong in his recap of how TV news in the old days didn't reward, say, Nixon's Watergate conspirators with gigs (other than Pat Buchanan, John Ehrlichmann, Robert Bork, Gordon Liddy, plus Ollie North from Iran-Contra and a series of ice cream commercials for Ehrlichmann). Since I've brought him up, I might as well tell you what a schmuck he is, Like when he guest hosted Countdown and while I was out a few weeks, he tried to get me fired so he could take over the show and when that didn’t work he just stole a couple of the producers and got his own show. Oh, by the way, I WAS away for a couple weeks because my Dad was dying. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 26, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 146: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Sure, the split legal decisions in New York courtrooms matter. Trump got a brief reprieve in the business fraud case ($500 million bond reduced to $175 bond, he gets an extra 10 days grace; but his son said even a $15 million bond was almost impossible) but the Stormy Daniels election hush money case starts as scheduled April 15. But in the span five hours, Trump posted a psalm he claimed to have "received" from somebody in which he was compared to Christ, and said that he would have to sell his "babies" due to Judge Engoron, and he announced to an uncomfortable crowd of reporters "You can’t have an election in the middle of a political season." He's NUTS. Besides which, I always thought he'd decide he was not Jesus but Napoleon. RFK JR'S NEVADA OOPSIE: He celebrated getting enough signatures to be a Trump stalking horse on the ballot there. Then somebody noticed that your petitions have to mention just not the presidential candidate but the VICE presidential candidate. And he's not announcing who that is until today. He has to refile all the signatures. Hopefully the likely Veep, the ex-wife of the founder of Google who wanted a divorce settlement of a billion, can front RFK Jr the cash. THE CONTINUING RONNA McDANIEL DISASTER: No, Maddow didn't stop it last night. She could've stopped it last week, or last month if she'd stood up and threatened to quit when her bosses overruled her - live on the air - and reversed her dictum that MSNBC would not carry Trump speeches live. And no, MSNBC's president did NOT say McDaniel won't appear on the network. And no, Chuck Todd didn't put himself at risk by speaking out. And no, don't even get me started about Joe Scarborough. In the old days we used to have a more direct way of stopping such subversions of journalism. I threatened to quit, on the spot, at least twice. Rachel did it at least once. Scarborough used threats on a regular basis. Brokaw did it. Ultimately the problem is: people paid big salaries to make essential decisions about the coverage of an election that will decide whether or not we still have a democracy next January, thought she was a GREAT HIRE. And nice as the protests from Todd and Welker and “Golly I hope they reconsider” Scarborough were, bluntly, the moment the hiring of Ronna Romney McDaniel was announced, MSNBC anchors and producers and writers, and NBC NEWS anchors and producers and writers, should have literally walked off the job. Gone on strike. Because it comes down to this: the hiring of Ronna McDaniel didn’t represent some kind of political balance. It conceded – STIPULATED – that there can be some kind of balance, some kind of yes-but, some kind of bothsidesism, between the reality of the 2020 election, and election deniers and the Trumpist cult. She IS the flat earther, the climate change denier. She might as well be Q from Q-Anon. She is reality, trying to appease hallucination and mental illness in hopes of making… more… money. Her presence as an NBC News employee LEGITIMIZES the election deniers and the conspiracy theorists… and Trump. It is an act of journalistic self-defenestration and – for the future democracy in this country – an act of self-immolation. B-Block (30:50) IN SPORTS: Shohei Ohtani makes it worse: nobody has explained the money transfer to the bookie. Now the NBA has a burgeoning scandal: the fringe player who everybody placed "prop bets" on (33:40) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: The sad post-mortem for Flaco the Central Park Owl, and farewell to Bill Jorgensen. (50:50) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Rece Davis isn't actually one of them but his dry sense of humor created another mini-sports wagering mess at my alma mater. Now we know what Jeff Yass bought Trump with. And Charlie Kirk wants to use machine guns and whips at the border. C-Block (57:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Since I've asserted that the NBC News/MSNBC protest over Ronna McDaniel is tepid compared to the Him-Or-Me ones we had in the 2003-11 era, I'll tell you everything I know about them. It stars Tom Brokaw, John McCain, Scarborough, Michael Savage, Chris Hayes, Maddow, me, and a cast of thousands. Pull up a chair: it takes 27 minutes. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 22, 2024

SEASON 2 EPISODE 145: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: His Republican minions in the House thought releasing the previously unreported January 6 Committee transcript of an interview with a White House valet would help the desperate need to "prove" Trump tried to stop January 6th. Instead it shows that he was told that Ashli Babbitt had been shot in the chest and he did and said nothing and now he uses her at his fascist rallies and his inhumanity and selfishness is more apparent than ever. The testimony also shows Trump thought to call General Mark Milley and then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi about the National Guard (the GOP will play that part up) and then... didn't (the GOP will ignore that part). And it details how he threatened Mike Pence that morning and even as the coup failed his only concern was himself, and how Pence "let me down." It is an amazing self-own by Trump's congresswhores. ALSO the NY Attorney General has begun the paperwork to seize at least one Trump property, the NYC DA says that 100,000 page document dump is virtually irrelevant to the case and trial should begin April 15. And Merrick Garland makes a jackass out of himself yet again. (16:46) THE SHOHEI ME THE MONEY SCANDAL: Yesterday, I said they had to answer – as quickly as possible – the old Watergate cliché: What did Shohei Ohtani Know And When Did He Know It? Since then, the actions of Ohtani and his representatives and the Dodgers and Baseball (keeping Ohtani away from the press; insisting there's no MLB investigation) have QUINTUPLED the number of questions that must be satisfied as quickly and thoroughly as possible: WHY have you issued two or maybe three different official versions of this story; HOW could Ohtani have acknowledged he sent the bookie four and a half million dollars then insist the money had been stolen from him AND then insist he knew nothing about any of this; HOW long did the TEAM know about this disaster; IS the interpreter just trying to take the fall for Ohtani; WHY did a Dodgers source remind ESPN that whatever happened, it happened when Ohtani was playing for the Angels (the answer is: the Dodgers are covering their asses if Ohtani goes down); and maybe most saliently: the fired translator Mizuhara told ESPN his annual salary was between 300-thousand and 500-thousand dollars. What kind of self-respecting bookie would let a guy with THAT level of income, run up four and a half million dollars in unpaid gambling losses? B-Block (28:19) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Tampa Bay Rays spoil it. The pitcher for whom they just traded will NOT become Joe Rock of The Rockies. A Republican congressman retweets the GOP's favorite news source: Russian State TV. And Liz Harrington thinks Peter Navarro can appeal the Supreme Court's verdict to...Jesus. (Jesus!) C-Block (36:00) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: It's the start of another baseball season (and maybe another baseball scandal of biblical proportions!) so let's celebrate with Thurber's epic mixture of Brooklyn Dodgers Play-by-Play and the jujitsu of the little man: The Catbird Seat. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 21, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 144: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump’s lawyer in the case is refusing to deny that Trump is trying to get somebody from Russia or Saudi Arabia to pay off or guarantee or underwrite the $464 million he has to pay the state of New York by Monday, or begin to see the Attorney General seize his property in the state. Fox asked Alina Habba point-blank if they had sought it from foreign sources and she made up some crap about rules and regulations and strategy and then swerved to a word salad about election interference instead of the one and only correct answer: NO EFFING WAY! Trump, still pre-trial on 33 charges of mishandling classified documents and American government secrets, and already charged with espionage, has just handed the Biden Administration an excuse to deny him the traditional candidate National Security Briefings. It would be safer for the government to give him the half billion dollars he needs, then to give him the secrets he could SELL for half a billion. MEANWHILE the jig is up at the House Perpetual Unending Non-Impeachment Hearings. Lev Parnas accused literally everybody from Senator Ron Johnson to Sean Hannity to Putin of being behind the crap he gathered for Rudy Giuliani. The Republicans' only remaining witness who isn't in jail was good enough to be unable the simple question: What crime did you see Joe Biden commit. THE CRIME IN LOS ANGELES IS ILLEGAL SPORTS GAMBLING: First Shohei Ohtani's friend and translator said he'd screwed up and Ohtani had covered his gambling debts. Then Ohtani's lawyers said, no, the translator had stolen the money ($4,500,000 by ESPN's account). The Dodgers fired the translator and authorities are investigating. But this isn't some low-level clown. He's been perhaps Ohtani's best friend in this country since 2017 and once quit his job rather than being denied the chance to work with Ohtani for a few weeks during a labor lockout. Baseball certainly has an Ohtani-Adjacent Illicit Gambling Crisis. It might conceivably have an Ohtani Himself Illicit Gambling Crisis. B-Block (28:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Lauren Boebert becomes the latest GOOPER to vote against a spending bill then claim credit for it (get a grip on yourself). Fox's Eric Shawn again shows he has something on his bosses, bless him. And Ohio Republican Derek Meyer screwed up and conceded early. Why are we mocking him? HE'S A REPUBLICAN WHO CONCEDED AND DIDN'T CLAIM RIGGING OR THAT HE WAS HACKED OR IT'S WOKE! C-Block (37:25) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: By coincidence I was recently asked to help the grandchild of the guy who bought the radio network at which I had my second job. This not only means I'm REALLY old, it also means I have to tell you the great tales of the place including the time we desperately needed George Steinbrenner to be an anonymous source for a story, couldn't find him, and on my walk home, I turned a corner and there he was, literally shouting the exact information we needed from him! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 20, 2024

SEASON 2 EPISODE 143: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: First Trump accused the Democratic Party of hating Israel. Then he proclaimed "any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion. They hate everything about Israel" and said "Israel will be destroyed." If that wasn't enough antisemitism, late yesterday Trump doubled down on it, reminding us he has previously shown he assumes that the oldest trope is one he assumes to be true: that Jews are loyal first to Israel or their religion and anything else - like America - last. It is that one central piece of Trump's personality from which prejudice and pogroms and holocausts can spring. We already know of his praise for Hitler, and his first wife saying he kept a book of Hitler's speeches in a bedside table. And before you drift off on this topic, Trump introduced NEW Hitler ploys as recently as this past weekend. The whole “January 6 Hostages” is just a replay of how a pre-empowered Hitler used to talk about Nazi party members who’d been jailed and his reverence for Ashli Babbitt is just a replay of Hitler’s constant invocation of Horst Wessel (shot by the Communists) and the idea of having a second National Anthem is just the co-anthem of Germany until 1945: The Horst Wessel Song. ALSO: Trump's "Presidential Immunity" argument to the Supreme Court? It's now been filed, and it boils down to one idea: you can't prosecute an ex-president because no ex-president has ever been prosecuted. By that logic, you can't elect a Republican president to non-consecutive terms because we've never done that. AND: Trump has now dismissed Mike Pence's announcement that he would not endorse him. We shouldn't, largely because of Rule 6, The Stalin Rule, in the "Seven Rules for Dealing With Autocrats and their Enablers" by the international democracy advocate and trainer Trygve Olson. AND BAD POLL, OR FIRST WAVE? Six weeks ago Florida Atlantic University's survey had it Trump 45 Biden 41. Now? Biden 47 Trump 45. Because, as the Biden campaigners insisted would happen, a lot of independents and undecideds just realized Trump really IS the Republican nominee. B-Block (22:16) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: He looks like he hasn't slept in 25 years but sometimes Mark Levin is the funniest man alive: his Trump questions that he doesn't realize he's answering by asking them. CNN has the latest programming innovation: Bill Maher Friday re-runs in Saturday primetime! And Nick Kristof thinks The New York Times needs more conservative columnists and conservative Letters to the Editor because nobody told him conservatives want to arrest him and the rest of the liberals there and oh by the way "Letters to the Editor" were last a thing in 1999. C-Block (39:10) THINGS I NEED TO REMIND YOU OF: This Saturday is the anniversary of Trump's most recent binge of stochastic terrorism. It began with Alvin Bragg, rang through the lives of Jack Smith and Arthur Engoron and now, me. This is Trump's doing, and I'll say it yet again: he needs to be charged with domestic terrorism, convicted, and jailed for the rest of his life. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 19, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 142: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: He said “it’s going to be a blood bath for the country” – and we’re arguing about it. NOT “a blood bath for our auto industry.” NOT “a blood bath for the imported car market.” NOT “a blood bath for Toyota-Thon 2024." “A blood bath for the country” – with no retraction or repudiation by Trump of, say, bloodbaths - and we – the people trying to STOP him – WE are ARGUING about it. Amongst ourselves. AND Trump is broke; he tells the court THIRTY insurance underwriters wouldn’t cover his 464 million dollar bond in the New York Fraud case and we’re still supposed to believe he’s a billionaire. AND suddenly he’s a billionaire pleading poverty and, boom, who just reappeared out of nowhere? Paul Manafort, the international money spigot and Russian operative. AND I’m still more concerned about THIS: Where is Jack Smith, demanding that Judge Tonya Chutkan revoke Trump’s bail and incarcerate him after he violated the gag order in the Election Subversion case and maligned, threatened, and encouraged OTHERS to malign and threaten Cassidy Hutchinson – and not just OTHERS, but federal officers – federal officers who carry guns: “Our great Secret Service has totally CRUSHED Cassidy Hutchinson’s (who I barely knew) made up (FAKE!) stories about me roughing up Secret Service Agents from the back seat of the Beast (Limo). Has she now changed her testimony? Will she be prosecuted for what she did and said?” Trump didn’t just violate the gag order – pared down in appeal but still preventing Trump and his counsel quote “from making or directing others to make public statements about known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses concerning their potential participation in the investigation or in this criminal proceeding,” unquote – pared down but clearly barring Trump from even SPECULATING that a likely witness such as Hutchinson fabricated evidence or might be PROSECUTED, AND clearly barring Trump from congratulating the Secret Service for having quote “totally crushed” her, AND barring Trump from trying to coerce her with questions like “has she now changed her testimony?, AND FOR THAT MATTER barring Trump from making public statements about OTHER possible witnesses – like members of the Secret Service. This isn’t legal nuance. This isn’t novel lawyerly theory. This isn’t Trump’s first violation, either. I want his bail revoked TODAY. I want his ass in jail TODAY. I want his lawyers to have to try to find a Supreme Court judge willing to spring him TODAY. B-Block (25:16) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: MAGA will now start snorting asbestos. The RNC chair says nobody was better off four years ago under Trump. So proud of our NYC Mayor. Tommy Tuberville holds the Constitution upside down. ANOTHER Republican calls her "Lincoln Riley." John Avlon misspells his own name. And a Lauren Boebert Bible Blooper. (32:04) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The SF Giants fire their beloved PA announcer legend Renel Brooks-Moon and claim it was a "mutual decision." Kristi Noem is THIS close to selling lingerie. And the Republican National Committee sees a guy walking next to President Biden and calls him Biden's "handler." Actually he's the Republican Speaker of the House. C-Block (38:10) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The first rule of Fox and The New York Post and other Murdoch "news" outlets: When your baby Hitler is in trouble because he threatened a bloodbath, find a false equivalence somewhere. Take something somebody said – or that somebody didn’t say – and hold them up and call make them the equivalent of Trump and call it. Call it a “Blue Bloodbath” - and guess who they found? Guess who they are equating with Trump? ME. I’M the blue bloodbath. They claimed I hinted at his assassination when in fact I hinted at him dying in prison. They've been doing this since 1996 and intensely after I outsmarted Rupert Murdoch for $800,000 in 2001 and if you think $800,000 means nothing to Rupert Murdoch, you ain't met him. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 15, 2024

SEASON 2 EPISODE 141: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Jesus H. Christ, will SOMEBODY finally bring this man to Justice? Trump stalled a document dump about Michael Cohen for a year, New York D-A Bragg just got 104 thousand pages from the U-S Attorney’s Office this month, 31-thousand of them this month – and what does Bragg do? To ensure TRUMP has enough time to REVIEW the documents he stalled, Bragg is willing to DELAY the Stormy Daniels hush money trial for ANOTHER 30 days. Out of an abundance of caution. For Trump’s sake. We. Do Not Have. Another 30 Days. Trump’s Concierge judge Aileen Cannon did NOT have the gall to dismiss the 32 Espionage Act charges against him in Florida yesterday but she also didn’t say a WORD about getting THAT trial started on time, or two months WITHIN BEING on time, or FOUR months WITHIN BEING on time, or before the election, or before Trump dies of his dementia. NOT saying you’re going to delay it, IS IN FACT just another form OF delaying it.. This is the greatest criminal in the history of this country and his incarceration is perhaps our only chance to re-build this nation before it splits into two UNIVERSES occupying the same spot at the top of the same pin – the SANE people and the people who believe in QAnon and support racism and think Trump is being persecuted, and he is RUNNING FOR DICTATOR AND HE HAS GIVEN UP PRETENDING HE’S NOTRUNNING FOR DICTATOR and he is running out the clock so he can regain power and effectively immunize himself and we… are giving him an extra 30 days. Out of an abundance of caution. Because we wouldn’t want to rush this thing. And it’s not like the NEW crimes aren’t still piling up! The guy who lied to the FBI and Comer and Jordan about Hunter Biden and Joe Biden and Burisma turns out to have gotten $600 thousand dollars from a Trump-linked company four years ago. But, sure, give Trump another 30 days to game the system a little longer because, I dunno, maybe he can get some nukes and hold a blue state hostage. (10:30) SPECIAL COMMENT II: RFK Jr VP fave Aaron Rodgers issues a non-denial denial of CNN's report that he insisted to one of their reporters that Sandy Hook was a false flag and the murdered children never existed. His statement does not contest the quotes, refers only to "events" there, and comes on the same day a Sports Announcing site unearths dozens of other conspiracy theories Rodgers has endorsed in just the past few weeks. It raises anew the question of what we can do to separate these people who have lost touch with reality so that the society might avoid self-destruction at the most critical time in its history. B-Block (24:52) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Speaker Mike Johnson isn't JUST creepy and ineffectual. Turns out he is the worst kind of friend: the one who will tell you everything is fine, when it won't be. Ask Katie Britt! Marjorie Taylor Greene unconvincingly insists she's not a robot. And the purity tests have begun inside MAGA-world and Lauren Boebert just failed hers. C-Block (33:30) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: Amazingly, his most prophetic story - of a loutish, greedy oaf who becomes America's idol before the system corrects for his venality via a well-placed window, was printed in an edition of The New Yorker magazine that hit newsstands exactly 34,000 days ago! Please enjoy "The Greatest Man In The World." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 14, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 140: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The story that Robert F. Kennedy Junior wants football quarterback Aaron Rodgers to be his Vice President has now mutated from the ludicrous real life realms of the proverbial idiocracy, to shameful and disgusting and disqualifying and it is now SO bad that he will be lucky, WHEN this is over – IF it is ever over – if he still has a football career. It is THAT bad. CNN's Pamela Brown now reveals that nearly ELEVEN years ago – she was introduced to Aaron Rodgers at a post-Kentucky Derby party and, quoting Brown’s story: “Hearing that she was a journalist with CNN, Rodgers immediately began attacking the news media for covering up important stories. Rodgers brought up the tragic killing of 20 children and 6 adults by a gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary School, claiming it was actually a government inside job and the media was intentionally ignoring it.” The WORST conspiracy theory of them all. THE worst. The Alex Jones stuff. The unforgivable, Rorshach test for insanity, inhumanity, depravity. And Aaron Rodgers not only failed it, he failed it nearly eleven years ago, and he failed it, and he failed it VOLUNTARILY – he was the one who brought it up, TO a reporter, TO a reporter who has somehow restrained herself from reporting it for nearly eleven years. And the nightmare-within-a-nightmare is: Aaron Rodgers is (or at best was) a Sandy Hook denier. And frankly I don’t know if, in RFK Junior’s eyes, that fact ELIMINATES Rodgers as a potential running mate, or… it clinches the spot for him. Also: The GOP has a new Biden Impeachment Plan: DON'T Impeach Biden. Don Lemon! You effed up! You trusted Musk! The Trump Mafia is celebrating the Georgia judge throwing out a handful of charges, but of course if he were going to throw out the whole case over Fani Willis on Friday, why would he bother to cull a few indictments now? And Alina Habba Dabba Do has the nerve to joke about Fani's name. B-Block (21:08) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: After Marjorie Taylor Greene may have baited President Biden into misidentifying murder victim Laken Riley as "Lincoln" (or at best she made exactly the same mistake the president did), Trump has autographed a photo of the poor woman in which he has written her name - and MISSPELLED IT. NBC's Ken Dilanian gets further and further into the right wing talking points on the disastrous Hur hearing. And Nancy Mace, who shamed fellow rape victims and herself by endorsing Trump after the E. Jean Carroll verdicts, is still demanding George Stephanopoulos apologize for what... SHE did. C-Block (30:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: In a brand new edition, this sounds like a terrifying and tragic story about another one of my dogs - my goofy boy Ted - until you get to the end where it turns out I'm just a lucky idiot and Ted's fine. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 13, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 139: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump 3rd Party stalking horse and QAnon Party would-be spoiler RFK Junior has confirmed his top two choices for Vice President are: New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, and wrestling, government, and TV washout Jesse Ventura. But how could you be New York Jets Quarterback Aaron Rodgers AND Vice President Aaron Rodgers at the same time? That's the easy part! Based on 2023 being an NFL quarterback would only take about three and a half minutes out of his Vice Presidential year: "Now they're going to swear in the Vice Presi... OHHHH HE'S TORN HIS ACHILLES WHILE TRYING TO STAND UP." Back-up Ventura is still insisting he was fired by MSNBC in November 2003 because he opposed the war in Iraq. Yeah, I started on MSNBC in February 2003 and I outlasted George W. Bush. I'll tell you the real story of why MSNBC fired him (Jesse may not even know it). (7:02) SPECIAL COMMENT II: Robert K. Hur, the Biden "Special Counsel" and Trump operative named to the job by the impossibly inadequate Merrick Garland, was already DOA at yesterday's House "Biden Age Plot" Committee Hearing before it started. Republicans are enraged because the transcript of Hur's interview with President Biden they subpoenaed was also released to the taxpayers who paid for it. To the surprise (and more importantly the rage) of every Democrat, nearly every reporter, and even some Democrats, it showed that Hur COMPLETELY FABRICATED THE ENTIRE "BIDEN COULDN'T REMEMBER WHEN HIS SON DIED" saga. The transcript proved Hur a liar in that case, and time after time. Honestly, he should've told the car service driver to go right past the Rayburn Building and just take him to Dulles Airport for a trip anywhere else in the world. Hey, maybe he can be RFK Jr's Vice President. Or get a sub host job at NewsMax! B-Block (27:00) We didn't win, it's all rigged (28:32) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: North Carolina Republicans have nominated as the State Superintendent of Schools, a woman named Michele Morrow who believes the QAnon delusion that Jim Carrey keeps himself looking young by drinking the blood of children (wait - Jim Carrey looks YOUNG?). They've topped that in Arizona where both houses of the legislature have approved a bill that lets university students appeal their grades if they're conservative but the professor is liberal. And best of all, South Dakota governor Kristi Noem is now doing infomercials for a Cosmetic Dentist in Texas. Her last advertising idea, you may recall, was SD's anti-meth program: "Meth - We're On It!" C-Block (38:51) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Well, no, the Political Podcast of the Year award we didn't win wasn't rigged. But 35 years ago the local NBC station figured out how to game the local news Emmy awards - part of the reason I'm 0-forever in Emmys. So it's a good time to tell you that saga. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 12, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 138: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: I would've expected Trump to mispronounce "Melania" as "Melanoma" before he garbled Putin's name. Whether Putin is his blackmailer, his benefactor or just his idol, if he called him "Poten," Donald Trump is a desperately sick man. I mean, Jesus H. Christ in a Hatbox. The evidence continues to mount for either the thesis that he has Fluent Aphasia or what veteran Trump health analyst Dr. John Gartner has identified as Phonemic Paraphasias (an Alzheimer's symptom in what regular words are replaced by nonsense that rhymes with them). This could also explain Trump, a day after posting his latest bond for the latest money he owes E. Jean Carroll after her latest lawsuit, insisting again that he never met her, and two days after that going live on national television and insisting - as if he has never mentioned before - that he never met her. If his brain is dissolving, he might really have no idea that he met her or raped her or anything else. The bond in the Carroll case (one of them, I forget the number) brings us back to the other question. It was a bond posted by Chubb insurance (irony unbound) and neither Trump nor Chubb will confirm or deny the 91 million was co-signed by anybody else. Chubb has outlets in Russia, Turkey, UAE, Brasil. Trump met with right-winger Jeff Yass (who owns part of TikTok and now Trump DOESN'T want to ban TikTok) and Elon Musk. Did either of them buy Trump? And: today's House Judiciary Committee comedy show with Special Counsel Robert Hur hits differently now that Biden put a dagger in the heart of the MAGA Biden Age Plot during The State of the Union, and that Hur has "left" the Justice Department and is testifying as just a corrupt citizen Trump Stooge (which he was all along). If the Democrats begin to set him on fire, the GOP will turn on him on a dime. B-BLOCK (23:13) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: England's Kate is bad at photoshop and worse at apologizing. Pope Francis just echoed the wartime popes who appeased Hitler, and Marjorie Taylor Greene appears to have given away her plot to sabotage Biden into calling the murder victim "Laken Riley." (28:06) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Funny that Politico, The Washington Post, CNN, the broadcast networks, the AP, New York Times and everybody rushed to the Katie Britt disaster story but almost none of them gave any credit to the independent reporter Jonathan Katz who beat them to it by two days. WaPo actually pretended their guy broke it, and Politico amplified that. It's shameful, and another symptom of broken media. Speaking of broken, there's Mitt Romney, and Bill Maher. We have an explanation for why he turned into an idiot: he reads only the most idiotic political columnists (George Will? Really? I mean other than for baseball?) C-BLOCK (36:35) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: After the audience for our SOTU special was exceeded by only eight television news operations (each of which has, you know, a news operation) a prominent non-news TV executive asked me why I wasn't back on MSNBC. So I had to tell the Maddow story again. Including the part about the $437 with which I hired her for the network out of my own pocket. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 8, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 137: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: For everybody who doubted the Biden Campaign vision of last night's State of the Union as some sort of seminal re-set moment (like me): we were wrong. Biden's first seven minutes were not only the best public seven minutes of his life but they comprised one of the greatest openings to a SOTU in the nation's history. He not only dispelled any notion that he is no longer up to the challenge in any way, shape, or form, but he kicked Trump's teeth down his throat (and the teeth of MAGA and the GOP with them). Speaking forcefully, rapidly, confidently, and just this side of angrily, he hit them before they realized the fight had started: on Ukraine, on Putin, on January 6, on J6 Denial, and on every major issue. If it had been a fight it would've been stopped at seven minutes with Biden's hand raised by the ref. But he went on for a total of 68 minutes and continued to score on every issue. Before the speech only 45% in a CNN poll thought Biden's policies would move the country in the right direction. After it the number hadn't just blown up it had gone nuclear: 62% I devote this entire episode of the podcast to analyzing the speech and its impact and the impacts still to come, summarized by plagiarizing that line from "When Harry Met Sally." I WILL have what he's having. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 7, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 136: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: What President Biden should say in The State of the Union tonight is, to declare, simply and directly, that of all the threats to the United States of America the greatest of these is Donald John Trump and thus tonight I am declaring The Biden Doctrine. And in sum, my fellow Americans, the Biden Doctrine is this: we must save our country from madness and vengeance and hate and racism and dictatorship, and to save our country from these evils, we must metaphorically kick the ever-loving shit out of Donald Trump. Instead, the White House expects Biden to deliver a traditional speech that will re-set the campaign. The problem is, it'll be designed for a major event in the life of the nation called The State of the Union that… doesn’t exist any more. 53 million people watched Bill Clinton’s tension-filled post-Lewinsky State of the Union in 1998. That was 20 percent of the population. Last year? Biden had 27 million viewers and not a whole lot of streamers. The other problem is, 538 researched Presidential Approval before and after each SOTU since 1978 and the average change in approval is a microscopic 1.9%. The all-time highest was Clinton's 10% gain after he stared down the Republicans post-Lewinsky. If you really do think this is your last chance to fundamentally re-set the race, then gimme The Biden Doctrine. What IS the Biden Doctrine about? The Biden Doctrine is about the greatest threat facing this nation. And what IS the greatest threat to the nation? It’s Trump. It’s Trump’s Cult. It’s Trump’s madness. It’s Trump’s racism. It’s Trump’s desire to be a dictator. It’s Trump’s next coup. Do it. If they build statues to President Joseph Robinette Biden Junior it will be for saving this nation from Donald Trump. Twice. There is no reason to back away from the easiest to understand accomplishment. There is no reason to hide from what even HE says is the reason he IS running again: to stop Trump and save representative government. Pound the son of a bitch in the ground, like you did at Independence Hall in September ’22. You'll get ten percent approval growth just for THAT. And don't forget to join me live on YouTube and Twitch right after the speech for the Countdown With Keith Olbermann State of the Union Post-Game Show. Biden starts about 9 ET, I should start around 10. Be there. Aloha. B-Block (22:59) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Bill Hemmer says because they cut away from Trump's "victory" speeches CNN and MSNBC should drop "news" from their names. Hilariously, last month Fox News... cut away from Trump's "victory" speeches. Politico and 60,000 other news organizations devoted space to a Democratic presidential candidate who got exactly 51 votes on Tuesday. And Elon Musk a) lied about Biden bringing in foreigners to vote b) lied when he called it "treason" c) probably lied about not helping Trump with financing and d) on the other hand, a candidate he opposed this week won by 2 to 1. C-Block (33:13) THURSDAYS WITH THURBER: They're all brilliantly written. But "The Car We Had To Push" is brilliantly written to be read aloud. One I've never read you before, from his classic book about his childhood in Columbus, Ohio: "My Life And Hard Times." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 6, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 135: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN Haley was winning Vermont, Uncommitted was doing ok but Biden’s worst margin was about 60 points, and once again Super Tuesday is just a brand name. But the HEADLINE is: the Supreme Court actually HAS left the door open to disqualify Trump from becoming president again. Seriously. Turns out that many Constitutional Scholars and even some sitting members of the House, think that in its haste to make sure their pimp Trump got on to the ballot yesterday in Colorado, the Court ALSO left the door open to Democrats and disaffected Republicans challenging the validity of a Trump election if god forbid it plays out like that. There is now a debate over the consequences of the court ruling that the Constitution gives ENFORCEMENT of the 14th Amendment “to Congress.” Practically speaking: Trump wins the electoral college, the Democrats hold the Senate (slightly unlikely) and take the House (very likely), and they are suddenly going to pass new legislation saying Trump is ineligible because he engaged in insurrection in 2021? Well they don’t HAVE to pass new legislation. They already did that, according to this reading, in 2022. It was “The Electoral Count Reform And Presidential Transition Act” designed to clarify the 1887 legislation through whose loopholes Trump tried to run his coup. The 2022 clarification closed nearly all of those loopholes, limiting what kinds of challenges lawmakers could make to electoral slates already certified by the states. But they left two grounds for objections challenges and one of them reads “the vote of one or more electors has not been regularly given.” THAT phrase was in the 19th Century legislation and it means, any suspicion that an elector was BRIBED to vote, or was like kidnapped and the guy casting the vote wasn’t the REAL elector, or voted on the wrong day, or… the elector voted for somebody who wasn’t eligible. Oops. Voted… for somebody who wasn’t elllllligggggggible, you say? It’s not just a can of worms. It’s a FAMILY SIZED can of worms. Thank you Sam Alito! ALSO: Trump just publicly contradicted his court filing in New York that he didn’t have the $465 million he owes. Asked about coming up with it on Fox, he answered: “I have a lot of money. I can do what I want to do…I don’t worry about money.” MEANWHILE: It’s mortifying but it may be a quick fix. A Democratic pollster has analyzed the field of potential Biden voters in three swing states and figured out that only 31% of them had even heard Trump’s top ten worst statements about vermin and deportation and dictatorship, because voters are not immersed in politics and people do move on with their lives. The good news is that the moment they HEAR all of them, Trump’s unfavorable score jumps by five points and individual deficits grow from five to nine points. Solution? More ads reminding people Trump is an anti-dictatorial son of a bitch. Like, you know, one in every commercial break on every television channel and streamer every day until the election. Oh – and emphasizing it in tomorrow’s State of the Union wouldn’t hurt. Did I mention I’ll be on, live, after it, for our Countdown post-game show, on YouTube and Twitch? B-Block (23:14) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Roger Stone thinks Facebook conspired to stop his astroturf. Axios still hasn’t fixed its LOLworthy story about Trump pivoting. And the appointment of a Hong Kong native here legally on a pre-citizenship visa to the San Francisco Election Commission to help with translating voting materials into other languages has deranged a bunch of fascists who are treating this as if Mao Tse Dong was just named to the Supreme Court. Maria Bartiromo thinks the San Francisco Election Commission is also the Federal Election Commission. And Michigan House candidate Anthony Hudson says we must have laws saying if you don’t speak English you can’t vote. Which’ll be a problem for Anthony because he can barely SPELL English. C-Block (33:10) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: We had a president of MSNBC, he had been the president of CNN, and among other things he didn’t have cable in his home and apparently hadn’t watched any night-time show on MSNBC for at least a year. He also lied about his height, and he was – legitimately – 6’4”. Who the hell DOES that? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 5, 2024

SEASON 2 EPISODE 134: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) Trump appears to be suffering from a condition called "Fluent Aphasia." Victims can verbalize intricate long sentences, and appear to be answering questions or making coherent observations. But frequently all they have is the structure and the cadence of coherence; the rhythm of speech. They do not fully understand what they are hearing, cannot convey what they are trying to through speech, and are almost invariably the victims of strokes or head injuries. All attempts to explain "Fluent Aphasia" (or by its formal name, "Wernicke's Aphasia,") use the phrase "Word Salad." And after a three-day series of speeches in which, on literally dozens of occasions, he said things that SOUNDED like sentences but were not, the evidence is mounting and the problem is accelerating: the Trump word salad is "Fluent Aphasia" and on top of all of Trump's other mental and ethical problems, it is disqualifying. He cannot be president. His brain literally does not work correctly, MEANWHILE: “Course I’m respectable,” says John Huston as Noah Cross in Chinatown to Jack Nicholson as Jake Gittes in Chinatown. “I’m OLD. Politicians, ugly buildings and whores all get respectable, if they LAST long enough.” And then there’s what happens when you’re all three of those things - as the Supreme Court and its justices are all three of those things: Politicians pretending to be justices, working in an ugly building, and as Trump relied upon and was proved correct – they’re all whores. “Because the Constitution makes Congress rather than the states responsible for enforcing Section 3 against federal office holders and candidates, we reverse,” reads the Court's decision to not enforce the 14th Amendment denying insurrectionists the right to become president or hold other offices. 9-nothing. Except it DOESN’T do that. Section 3, as conservative scholar after conservative scholar has repeatedly stated, is SELF-enforcing. It is automatic. If you engaged in insurrection, you’re out. If you think you’re being ill-treated, Section 3 provides you an override mechanism: you can get the House AND the Senate to each CLEAR you, each by a two-thirds vote. Period. The constitution says NOTHING about an enforcement responsibility. The Court betrayed democracy yesterday – again: this time by going faster to help Trump. On presidential immunity, it’s going SLOWER to help Trump. Its members, including Jackson and Kagan and Sotomayor, who before folding, stood up just long enough to wave BYE BYE to representative government, overruled one of the easiest parts of the constitution to understand for the benefit of one corrupt politician. Individually and as an entity they have proved themselves inept at basic reading comprehension. They have proved themselves to be corrupt and illegitimate. Its usefulness and relevance is at an end, and whatever replaces it, the immediate need is obvious: The Supreme Court must be dissolved. The funny part, of course, is that these idiots have inadvertently given the current sitting president (a Mr. Biden, I believe) a kind of qualified, specific immunity from prosecution in case HE wants to illegally overturn an election. B-Block (25:50) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Another reporter claims Trump is about to pivot and Trump promptly makes her look like an idiot. Trump's new vaccine promise: I'm here to kill your kids. Trump shortens his National Abortion Ban plan. Jack Smith says no, the DOJ 60-Day Secret Unwritten Rule does NOT apply to cases already filed against Trump. And farewell to my old friend Chris Mortensen go ESPN. (33:50) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Jesse Watters says Biden "licking ice cream" is unmanly and implies he has Alzheimer's. That's before they found the post from five years ago of Watters... licking ice cream. The would-be Republican nominee for governor of Missouri is suing because, he claims, he was only an HONORARY member of the KKK, and Kristin Welker allegedly wins after allegedly graduating from Harvard and allegedly being a White House correspondent and saying Trump "allegedly" tried to overturn the election. C-Block (41:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: My oldest enemy - the one I thought was killed off in the '80s - turns out to be alive and well. My half century battle against "The Auto Train" and its stopped-up toilets of 1972. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 1, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 133: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: What happens if the Supreme Court – I’m sorry – Trump’s newest Super-PAC, John Roberts, Treasurer – takes the next step and not only listens to his shroom-high concept of “presidential immunity” late next month in order to stall his trials – but actually CREATES “presidential immunity.” What ACTUALLY happens TO this country, AT that exact moment? I still do think the STALL is the POINT; not granting all presidents immunity from all prosecutions for all time. But again, the stall itself raises the question: exactly what the hell do I know? But let me present this grim silver lining in the form of a rhetorical question. You think about it, I’ll think about it. I’ll address it at length at the start of the new week: What happens to the nature of this country – what happens to the nature of our government – what happens to the nature of the presidency, if the Supreme Court actually rules no president can be prosecuted for official acts? What happens THAT instant? And combine that with not a rhetorical question but a simple factual one. The day the Supreme Court effectively turns the President of the United States into a King… WHO will BE president of the United States? And could Jack Smith's response to the SCOTUS prosecutorial and electoral interference actually be to indict Ginni Thomas and present John Roberts with an insoluble crisis inside his whorehouse? Plus I don't entirely trust the source, but there is startling polling suggesting the Democrats can turn immigration and border security from their biggest liability to a plus-seven in polling by simply making a big deal out of all the immigration and border security compromises they already agreed to - and acting on whatever they can. B-Block (16:32) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: A good time to bring you his brilliant array of political commentary disguised as fables with birds and bears in them. And a Peacelike Mongoose. C-Block (31:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: To conclude Baseball Spring Training Week, I am still startled that the game was once so important that a rival guy went on a rival Los Angeles newscast and insisted that though they had just lost the National League Championship Series, the Dodgers were obligated to...go to a judge and get a court order to play in the World Series anyway! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 29, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 132: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:30) RICHARD, IN MEMORIAM: The day I met Richard Lewis, at a Los Angeles Lakers game in 1989 or 1990, we parted calling each other 'Brother.' It has been like that ever since. I want to tell you about my adopted brother, who despite his on-camera persona of dysfunction and self-absorption was in fact the most loving human being I have ever known. His support, his empathy, his caring, was endless. The total number of brothers and sisters he "adopted" was nearly so. I cannot imagine a world without him. B-Block (26:48) SPECIAL COMMENT: Of course the Supreme Court stepped in to delay Trump's trial for trying to overthrow the government and erase a valid election. It is comprised by five of Trump's judicial whores. It is yet another reason we must defeat Trump everywhere, including at the polls, so that a re-elected Joe Biden can appoint enough additional justices to the court to make Roberts, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett into living waxworks wailing impotently until they die. The good news about Trump is, simply, that he had to confess in writing that he is not the billionaire he claims to be but for all intents and purposes insolvent and incapable of paying the $465 million fine (with interest) he owes the state of New York. He offered 22% of his debt; the judge rejected it; the full appeals court almost certainly will, and if it actually leads to practical bankruptcy, that will kill Trump. And there was a hidden germ of good news inside Trump's underperformance in Michigan on Tuesday night. The former executive director of the state GOP there says ONE county result convinces him Trump - no matter what happens to Biden and protests and anything else - CANNOT win Michigan in November. Of course you didn't read that in The New York Times or the WaPo or see it on CNN or anywhere else because if there were any remaining doubts, they're gone now. There is a difference between "facts" and "truth." Telling the truth means blowback and controversy and having to stay late in the office. So our legacy media, as we saw again in Michigan, will hide behind meaningless "facts" and perfect its cowardice. C-BLOCK (49:30) With Richard Lewis at The 92nd Street Y in New York in April 2008, and on Countdown on MSNBC a few days later. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 28, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 131: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump under-performs AGAIN, falling short of polling by at least 17 points in the Michigan Republican. And Biden OVER-performs AGAIN, and so does the “Uncommitted” protest votes against his Israel-Gaza policy, in what is looking like a gentle rebuke in the Michigan Democratic Primary. PLUS: LEGACY NEWS MEDIA BREAKTHROUGH: After Trump did a hatful of racisms at “The Black Conservative Federation Gala” (the one that had almost no blacks in attendance) the president of ABC News Kim Godwin emailed people on her staff that “these remarks are as racist as they come…mind blowing. Shocking.” Of course they were NOT shocking and Godwin’s response might as well have been “wait – Trump was PRESIDENT?” and that only underscores the media disconnect from the reality of the evil of Trump. But the headline is: SHE TOOK A STAND and did so in writing, knowing it would get out. She may have had ulterior motives (she’s been dreadful and loathed on the job; she just got another boss appointed above her; she may be trying to stave off dismissal) and they don’t matter. She SAID something – more than her network or any network actually has. It may have moved the needle a bit. COMER DOUBLES DOWN: You wouldn’t, I wouldn’t. But he and Jim Jordan – with a new jailed witness replacing the first jailed witness as the primary asset in their President Biden Impeachment/Hunter Biden Smear – have doubled down. They’ve subpoenaed Merrick Garland for all of corrupt Special Counsel Robert Hur’s transcripts, videos, etc. If Garland were smart, he’d fight the subpoena and say that of course while it’s being ajudicated, Hur can’t say anything, especially to the House Committee. Because it would be useful if Democrats began to ask themselves: What dirty trick would a Republican play in this situation. And apply it not just to a subpoena from some whores in Congress, but to the dilemma in Michigan and, for that matter, at the border. Which leads me to a modest proposal: Biden should steal the issue, control the process, and neuter Trump all in one fell swoop. HE should declare HE is building a wall and destroy the feeble minds of 60 million Trumpists. A wall can be anything more than six inches long. B-BLOCK (30:08) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Axios slams Biden for having note cards at fundraisers. Then, a Democratic county chairman finds pictures of the Axios reporter and the Axios co-founder reading questions off note cards. A NewsMax host thinks the DHS Secretary can be impeached for breaking not laws, but laws NewsMax would like to see. And besides the foolishness of the GoFundMe to pay the now $466 Million Trump owes the state of New York, there’s a hidden reveal inside the boilerplate at the website that suggests the right may have another “Moms For THAT Kind of Liberty Wocka-Wocka” scandal in its bed. C-BLOCK (38:38) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Well we started on baseball spring training yesterday. Let’s continue. Let me tell you the tale of day I paid cash to suppress a story that would have rocked the World Series – the most famous pitcher in the game had gotten within inches of a fight, with a fan of his own team, and I made sure… nobody saw the video. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 27, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 130: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Bob Costas has been my friend for 40 years. He has been one of my closest professional friends for a quarter century. And now, bluntly, Bob Costas needs to shut the EFF up about Joe Biden. He has launched this extraordinary campaign - first on HBO with Bill Maher, now on CNN with that toad Michael Smerconish - demanding that Biden and his "hubris" be "shown the door" off the presidential ticket. Bob not only has no idea that such a thing is impossible and even if it were justifiable or smart or legal, it would result in a different candidate who would lose to Trump by ten points. Bob will hear none of this. I tried, behind the scenes, for two weeks. I failed. And I failed to make it clear to Bob that Trump is ALSO trying to get Biden off the ticket and so that all Bob is accomplishing is - he's doing Trump's work for him. It's heartbreaking, I'll lose his friendship, but Bob Costas needs to shut the EFF up about Joe Biden (and that goes for Jon Stewart, Ezra Klein, and all the others who like Bob don't realize that we have lots of historical evidence of what happens when the Democrats try to do a Julius Caesar on a sitting president. There are two results: you LBJ him and you get Richard Nixon; or you DON'T completely LBJ him and you only wound him - and you get Ronald Reagan). Bob. Shut the eff up. B-Block (29:42) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Oh, nothing, just Joe Biden and his hubris about to get a Gaza Cease Fire while eating ice cream; James Comer's favorite Russian plant will stay in jail so it's "Smirnov on Ice." Kenny The Cheese didn't tell the truth about his plot to overthrow democracy in Michigan; Trump underperformed the polling by EIGHT POINTS in South Carolina (36:52) IN SPORTS: A new explanation for baseball's uniform fiasco; Peter King retires; one of the unheralded heroes of baseball - Jim Hannan - passes away. (42:07) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: It took FIVE NBC reporters to claim Trump is about to "pivot?" Van Jones speaks at CPAC; There's a price on Tucker Carlson's head and bluntly it's humiliatingly low. C-Block (49:10) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: From the vault, it's my Spring Training Preview - for the year 1978! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 23, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 129: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN: A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The disgraced Special Hunter Biden Counsel is so terrified about what could happen next to the Russian Plant/FBI "Informant" Alexander Smirnov that he had him RE-arrested yesterday, in a different state, in a second and very unusual bid to deny Smirnov bail. A senior Republican congressman is so terrified (and enraged) about what could happen next to Smirnov that HE has broken ranks and confirmed that Jim Jordan and James Comer knew from the start that Smirnov's "Form 1023" stank and hadn't been corroborated and Smirnov had more red flags than a May Day Parade - and lied to the public anyway and nearly fulfilled Vladimir Putin's desire to see a president impeached eight months before the American election, and his son imprisoned. But the Attorney General Merrick Garland - who was so lazy and incompetent that when they brought Smirnov's fabrications to him he fell for them and appointed the Special Counsel anyway - is HE terrified or enraged about what could happen next to Smirnov? Nope. He's done nothing. While another Russian-Republican plot to alter the outcome of the election has played out almost entirely in public view. This is largely Merrick Garland's fault. If he doesn't suspend the Biden Counsel, David Weiss, and if he doesn't appoint a new one immediately to grill Comer and Jordan and Weiss and all the others, President Biden must fire him. We're under attack here. It's another coup attempt. It seems to link to Trump or at least Russia's desire to return Trump to power. And Garland is trying to clean his glasses. And it is absolutely true that this is the most important political story of the moment, and it needs to be framed as Brian Beutler framed it: What did the Republicans know, and when did they know it? B-Block (22:00) IN SPORTS: Meet Auston Matthews, the Mike Trout of Hockey. It's 44 years since the US beat Russia at the Lake Placid Olympics (I'll report from 1980) and the extraordinary revelation by my friend Jack Edwards, play-by-play man of the Boston Bruins. (30:17) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: C-PAC is back so the Nazi loonies are loonier than ever: Charlie Kirk, Jack Posobiec, General Flynn, Matt Schlapp say stuff like "this is where we end Democracy," and "I'd like to see television killings of Trump's opponents" and "Trump is still president." C-Block (38:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: You guys! I have now MET Smiles the Bernese! (38:35) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: a collection of his very political, still very relevant Political Fables: “The Mouse Who Went To The Country,” “The Very Proper Gander,” “The Moth And The Star,” “The Owl Who Was God,” “The Birds And The Foxes,” “The Peacelike Mongoose.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 22, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 128: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: I think this fraudulent FBI 'whistleblower' who was arrested after confessing to making up the Hunter Biden story - Alexander Smirnov - the one who admitted the story was being spread by people connected to Russian intelligence? I think he's flipping. I think there is one thin reed of evidence supporting what I admit is a hunch. Maybe a second one. More importantly, maybe, I think this man David Weiss who was - until Smirnov's story collapsed - the Special Counsel PROSECUTING Hunter Biden, has also flipped, and now intends to prosecute everybody who turned him into a Russian stooge, two steps removed. And I think he and Smirnov are going to take down at least the scum on the lower levels of the Russian Ring in this country (more likely the Russian operatives themselves, maybe James Comer, but just possibly running up the ladder to Jordan and Sean Hannity and, please God, Trump). But we're going to need a new Special Prosecutor to round all of the big names up. And a Senate Judiciary investigation on how this sack of crap was turned into the prosecution of the president's son, and the attempted impeachment of the sitting president. In an election year. At the direction of Vladimir Putin. We've been invaded again. And the Russians didn't need to shoot or bomb their way in here. Because all the Comers and Greenes and Jordans and Grassleys and Hannitys and Trumps just opened the doors for them. And may they burn in hell for doing so. Because I think Smirnov is flipping. B-Block (26:25) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Republicans select a California banker as their Wisconsin Senate candidate who's so non-Wisconsinian that in his introductory commercial he never SAYS which state he's running in. Jon Stewart is going to bothsides us into prison camps - and how DARE he attack Mary Trump. And how dare a Biden National Security Council spokesperson blame the betrayal of Ukraine on CONGRESS. It is the REPUBLICANS who did this. You are paid to say the truth - do your damn job. C-Block (33:25) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I've played this before. I needed the laugh again. It's the most joyous soccer story of all time: the ESPN Soccer Breakdown Tape. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 21, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 127: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: I have argued for NINE YEARS that it is essential for the media to actually CALL the crazy shit Trump says “crazy shit” all the time. I have argued for FIVE YEARS that Joe Biden should CALL the crazy shit Trump says “crazy shit.” And it’s like I’ve been talking to the wind. And then, yesterday afternoon, from the White House lawn, CNN’s senior correspondent there quoted sources saying the President has directed his senior campaign staff to focus on Trump’s inflammatory comments, especially “THE CRAZY SHIT TRUMP SAYS IN PUBLIC.” No bleeping, no euphemisms, she said it – deliberately. Suddenly I feel like I’m not alone! This is the easiest way to beat Trump is to quote Trump and the easiest way to break through the numb-to-it-all white noise permitting Trump to survive as a public figure is to get angry about it, angry enough for… the CNN White House correspondent to say “the crazy shit that Trump says.” Live. From the White House lawn. At mid-day. Today, “The crazy shit that Trump says.” Tomorrow… the F-word! I want CNN to talk like that, I want Biden surrogates to talk like that, I want the presidentto go and talk like that. I want to hear the phrase “the crazy shit that Trump says” said by Joe Biden in the State of the Union, right after “Thank you Mr. Speaker.” I want it to have to be broadcast 100 times that night on 100 different channels and I want to see the right wing pundits stage phony strokes and umbrage at his locker room talk because he says it and I want it played again and again and again because IT’S… THE… TRUTH! Meanwhile, in what should shock no one: The supposed FBI whistleblower in the Hunter Biden case – the man who is at the center of the James Comer/Jim Jordan/Chuck Grassley/Donald Trump smear job against him and the president? – the one they ARRESTED last week for lying TO the FBI? Alexander Smirnov? He has now told investigators Quote: “that officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved in passing” the fabrications about Hunter Biden. Dramatic, yes. Two caveats: a) he WAS arrested for lying and b) that phrase “officials associated with Russian intelligence” now applies to about 90 percent of the Republican party. B-Block (17:29) IN SPORTS: Congratulations, Nashville and Salt Lake City. You’re getting major league baseball expansion teams. Unfortunately you won’t be getting them any earlier than 2032, according to ESPN. And the actor who played one of the legendary figures in the legendary Paul Newman hockey film “Slap Shot” has died. I’ll say goodbye to Paul D’Amico, so fierce-looking as “Captain Hook” that they modeled the comic book character Wolverine after him. (22:52) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A Republican Florida state legislator has introduced a bill that experts believe will put Florida right-wing media out of business (thank God these people are that stupid); Senator Mike Lee’s petition to get them to actually have an impeachment trial of Secretary Mayorkas earns only thirteen signatures; and Elon Musk’s crapshack website bans and then suddenly unbans Alexei Navalny’s widow. Well, Elmo’s name does constitute half of the word “Muscovite,” doesn’t it? C-Block (28:35) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Before Black History Month ends, let’s take the opportunity to tell the true story of the man who broke the color line in major league baseball. He was NOT Jackie Robinson. He was not even Fleet Walker. His name was William Edward White, he played in the National League in 1879, and for whether he couldn’t acknowledge his accomplishment or simply chose not to, he never did. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 20, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 126: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: How many times would YOU be permitted to threaten mass violence if you didn’t get your way before Homeland Security came and dragged your ass, off somewhere? I think Trump is now in triple digits. It’s time to drag him off. “All political prosecutions of your favorite president, me, must stop immediately… this is election interference and must be immediately stopped… Our country will not stand for it.” This is the by-now standard Trump stochastic threat: if the government does not bend to my will my supporters will kill you all. It’s megalomania and as often as he does it and as dulled as we become to it, it’s unspeakably dangerous. It is not just shouting fire in a crowded theater, it’s shouting fire in a crowded theater full of gun-crazed nutjobs. And I’ll go back to my first point here: how often would YOU get away with it? Oh by the way, I think he also has to stop with this nauseating “your favorite president – me” schtick. If you hadn’t heard – in the new Presidents’ Day poll of 154 historians, Trump was again ranked the worst president ever, with only half the marks of the next-worst, James Buchanan. PLUS: The Biden Campaign "re-set?" Knock it out of the park at The State of the Union. Good - but how about a million ads simply stating Trump WILL INSTITUTE A NATIONAL ABORTION BAN? And the story of the day: I don’t know how the hell you could’ve missed this but a 22-page report on the trial of a Union civilian employee during the Civil War who defended himself with a pocket-knife, produces the astonishing fact that in 1864 Abraham Lincoln PARDONED Joe Biden’s great great grandfather. The best part? "In imploring Lincoln to pardon him, the friends of Moses J. Robinette, described him as “ardent and influential… in opposing traitors and their schemes to destroy the government.” Talk about destiny! B-BLOCK (22:30) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: No, I don't know how a woman I lived with for three years wound up telling the audience for her MSNBC show how a man who tried to get the crowds at his rallies to kill her, wound up an "icon" in her eyes, and why she asked if it were "fair" to prosecute him - but I have a theory. The Self-Destruction of Katy Tur. (32:53) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Two guys having sex atop a moving New York subway train gives me the chance to quote the subway spokesman who preceded me as sports director of WVBR radio at Cornell, Tim Minton. Brian Kilmeade does a stupid, and spells it wrong. And the perfect joke about the Trump Sneakers. C-BLOCK (39:17) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: 40 years ago this month I was beginning the shortest, weirdest job I ever had. And by coincidence I had to re-tell the story over the weekend. The Short Unhappy Boston Career of Keith Olbermann. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 16, 2024

BULLETIN: SEASON 2 EPISODE 125: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:40) BULLETIN: Russia's most vital and most vociferous opponent of Vladimir Putin and his dictatorship and international terrorism, Alexei Navalny, has died at a prison near the Arctic Circle. Putin killed him. Trump helped. The Republican Party helped. By coincidence, Navalny's wife - now his widow - was speaking at the Munich Security Conference this morning, as was Vice President Kamala Harris. Both of them spoke. The Vice President stated bluntly "Russia did this." Mrs. Navalny said she believed the day would come sooner than Putin would be punished for what he did, and urged world leaders to hasten that day. Putin invaded Ukraine - again - a year and one week ago, next Saturday. His useful idiots in this country, from Trump to Marjorie Greene to Tucker Carlson, must be held responsible. And the President must fulfill his 2021 warning to Putin that if Navalny died, the consequences to Russia would be terrible. They must start with the transfer of the $300,000,000,000 in Russian assets seized after the attack on Ukraine, to the Ukrainian government. We must spend Putin's money to destroy him. (The rest of this bulletin is a repeat of Friday's regular edition of Countdown) (14:00) SPECIAL COMMENT: The Stormy Daniels Trump Trial will start as scheduled on March 25. The attempt to derail the Georgia 11,780 Votes Trial is bloodied but unbowed when the witness claiming the DA is lying about her relationship can't remember when she found out or who told her, and is a disgruntled ex-employee. The fine in the Trump Financial Fraud Trial should come today. And that ISN'T the Trump legal headline. The meticulous Trump really screwed up last night and posed for a series of photos that defied the first thing all lawyers tell all clients: Whatever you do, DON'T LOOK GUILTY. He not only looks guilty in these shots, he looks like he's already imprisoned. Plus the Comer/Grassley/Hannity "case" against the Bidens hits a slight bump (the "whistleblower" was just indicted for lying to the FBI - he made it all up) and Robert Hur's "Biden Age Plot" has two new conspirators, and shockingly enough they're both - just like Hur - Trump appointees. B-Block (38:47) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: What could bring the ever-warring world of baseball together in one quest? Nike. Fans, players, writers, jersey wonks, all agree: new uniforms it's made for 2024 suck. So, of course, does Marjorie Taylor Greene and after that hearing yesterday nobody knows that better than she does. And the mild, modest Associated Press produces the worst Bothsidesist headline of the month. C-block (45:00) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: Back to the beginnings. Back to the story I heard William Windom recite in 1977 and hoped someday I could emulate him. Thurber's impeccable story of madness just beneath the surface: "A Box To Hide In." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 16, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 124: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) The Stormy Daniels Trump Trial will start as scheduled on March 25. The attempt to derail the Georgia 11,780 Votes Trial is bloodied but unbowed when the witness claiming the DA is lying about her relationship can't remember when she found out or who told her, and is a disgruntled ex-employee. The fine in the Trump Financial Fraud Trial should come today. And that ISN'T the Trump legal headline. The meticulous Trump really screwed up last night and posed for a series of photos that defied the first thing all lawyers tell all clients: Whatever you do, DON'T LOOK GUILTY. He not only looks guilty in these shots, he looks like he's already imprisoned. Plus the Comer/Grassley/Hannity "case" against the Bidens hits a slight bump (the "whistleblower" was just indicted for lying to the FBI - he made it all up) and Robert Hur's "Biden Age Plot" has two new conspirators, and shockingly enough they're both - just like Hur - Trump appointees. B-Block (27:05) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: What could bring the ever-warring world of baseball together in one quest? Nike. Fans, players, writers, jersey wonks, all agree: new uniforms it's made for 2024 suck. So, of course, does Marjorie Taylor Greene and after that hearing yesterday nobody knows that better than she does. And the mild, modest Associated Press produces the worst Bothsidesist headline of the month. C-block (33:30) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: Back to the beginnings. Back to the story I heard William Windom recite in 1977 and hoped someday I could emulate him. Thurber's impeccable story of madness just beneath the surface: "A Box To Hide In." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 15, 2024

SEASON 2 EPISODE 123: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The Kansas City Super Bowl Parade shooting took place on the sixth anniversary of the Parkland shooting. And it took place on the sixteenth anniversary of the Northern Illinois University shooting. And two days ago was the anniversary of the Michigan State shooting. And next Monday will be twelve years since Alabama-Huntsville and two years since Portland and seventeen since Bethel Alaska and and and... We are here because mass shootings - and the bullshit about "Good Guys With Guns" and "equip the police better" - are the backbone of the gun industry and the politicians and judges and states it owns. And so we will have to financially break the backs of that industry and those politicians and judges and states. Because now it's them or us. B-Block (23:05) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A match made in TV Old Age Heaven: NewsNation hires Geraldo. Rep. Greg Murphy implies Vice President Harris is stupid - and mispronounces her name. And if the latest January 6 arrested suspect is named Method, the joke is inevitable. C-Block (29:15) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I offered Netflix ownership of the news industry. Its leaders worried only about the subtitles, and what would happen if one day the shows didn't upload. Seriously. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 14, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 122: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) BREAKING: The Democrats have flipped the Kitara Ravache Memorial Special Congressional Election in the New York 3rd. It's not a bellwether. It won't even be the same district a year from now. But Tom Suozzi not only took back the seat lost to "George Santos," he completely overshadowed the WhoreHouse Republicans' performance art impeachment last night of Secretary Mayorkas. (3:47) SPECIAL COMMENT: For once Politico aptly describes it: "The Biden Age Plot." Disgraced Special Counsel Robert Hur and House Republicans aren't just looking to have Hur testify on a topic about which he has no expertise, but they intend to have "Biden's Age" be the 2024 version of Benghazi: hearings, controversy, press conferences, witnesses, transcripts, subpoenas for weeks or even months. It's enraging but it reveals the GOP's terror: it is willing to risk bringing up Trump's age, Trump's bad mental health, and especially Trump's stolen documents - the actually stolen ones for which he will stand trial eventually. There are two possible Democratic responses. The first is for Attorney General Garland to squelch testimony and leave the Republicans with only one note rather than a hatful of phony storylines. The second is for the Democrats to hoist the GOP on its own petard, and to conduct a Senate investigation to whether Hur and the House Republicans conspired for him to write his editorialization about Biden before he submitted his report. There is a sidebar to the entire "Biden's Age" crap. When you hear 77-year old Chris Wallace or 72-year old Maureen Dowd or even 61-year old Jon Stewart say "he's too old" there is a second half to that sentence that they never say aloud. "HE'S too old, and that proves I'M not." The personal fear and memento mori are a huge component. And there IS a response and, happily, the Biden Campaign seems to have just figured it out this week. B-BLOCK (22:11) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Sean Hannity averaged 1.25 Hunter Biden stories per show last year and now the House has dropped the Hunter Biden performance art. A New York Times reporter explains the internal rationalization for bothsidesism: Biden Hasn't Done A Q&A With Us Recently. And gone but not forgotten: Chris Cillizza and the RFK Jr Super Bowl Commercial. C-BLOCK (29:20) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: My friend Andrew Blauner needs your help to get his 2-1/2 year old Bernese Mountain Dog Smiles treatment for lymphoma. (31:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It's 44 years ago TODAY when my nascent broadcasting career nearly ended atop a mountain at the 1980 Winter Olympics, all because my bosses had decided to teach me the night before how to drink. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 13, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 121: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) Apparently having not done enough of the bidding of the creature who appointed him, Trump stooge and corrupt Special Counsel Robert Hur is negotiating with two House Committees to testify and/or provide transcripts of his interview with the president before the end of the month. If Merrick Garland will not invoke DOJ rules to prevent this, Biden must fire Garland and replace him with an Attorney General with an actual spine. And NBC and ABC need to fire everybody involved in the scandals at Meet The Press and This Week, in which the conclusion so obvious even Hur had to report it - that there was no evidence Biden willfully retained or shared classified documents - was reversed and both Kristen Welker and Jon Karl reported that Hur HAD found such evidence. It was the same as taking the verdict "NOT GUILTY" and reporting it as "...GUILTY" Welker and Karl and the producers and executives above them must be fired. And having had the editorializing door cracked open for them by Hur's willingness to assess Biden's memory even though he's not only not a neurologist, he's barely a lawyer, the media is running with the idea that, as Politico put it, Hur may have forced the Democrats' hand to switch to a "Plan B" instead of Biden. "Plan B" assumes a lot of things: like Trump won't seize upon it, like Biden would agree to it, like there IS a perfect alternative, like everybody else who isn't the chosen perfect alternative is going to NOT try to take the nomination anyway, like there has been any evidence of Biden failing at any actual task or presidential function - and most importantly like there's any other candidate who would actually BE a better candidate than Joe Biden - no matter his real, imagined, or As-Seen-On-ABC-and-NBC flaws. I'll War-Game the possible outcomes. They're ALL worse than leaving things as is. B-Block (32:45) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Trump beats the SCOTUS deadline and is still beating the "Presidential Immunity" dead horse. It is increasingly clear the DOJ will have to move to take the Florida documents case away from Judge Cannon. And the plan is out of the bag: Trump will again service Putin - his plan is to cut off Ukraine funding on January 20 of next year. C-Block (38:10) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Part of the Plan B disaster creeped into my consciousness when a friend of four decades' duration went on the Bill Maher SleazeWeasel Show and declared that if Biden won't stand aside he must be pushed. This is all too much for me. Twice I had my chance to push Maher and I blew it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 9, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 120: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: OK which atrocity do you want to get enraged about first? The fact that yesterday I began by saying “today we begin to find out if we still have a Constitution” and turns out, sorry, I guess we don’t – and the three liberal justices are complicit in that? Or, the fact that a partisan hack appointed by Trump managed to turn his nothing-burger investigation of Biden and the returned documents into Christmas-For-The-Fascists by inserting unwarranted, unjustifiable, indefensible opinions about the president’s memory into it and THAT’S the headline and oh by the way where is the goddamned Attorney General on this? William Rehnquist's former clerk, Rod Rosenstein's former deputy, and a contributor to The Federalist has enough nerve finding nothing to prosecute but throwing into his report what sounds like a medical opinion about the President's memory but which is really just another Conservative law-breaker whipping out his schlong and putting it on the political scale. But how does the Attorney General let that document leave his department without demanding that irrelevant, unprofessional, indefensible section not be removed? Fire Merrick Garland. Now. Between this and his negligence in waiting two years to appoint a special prosecutor of Trump, he will bear the second most blame if Trump again seizes power. Meanwhile at the Supreme Court, disaster as Elena Kagan posits that enforcing the 14th Amendment gives one state the right to decide who the president will be, and Ketanji Brown Jackson falls for the "President is not really an OFFICER" fabrication. The analyst Elie Mystal thinks the vote could be 9-0 for Trump, in which case Kagan, Brown, and Sonia Sotomayor need to resign from the court. B-Block (23:17) IN SPORTS: Ex-coach Tommy Tuberville blasts Biden's memory and says he needs cues from reporters and 30 seconds later he can't remember the names of the teams and players in Sunday's Super Bowl and needs cues from a reporter. And the Oakland/Las Vegas A's saga worsens, while invoking the Oakland/Denver A's saga of 1977-80. (27:20) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Sarah Palin is back! And can now see Russian propaganda from her house. If every GOP accusation is actually a confession, Charlie Kirk and Marjorie Taylor Greene's theory of anti-impeachment GOP'ers being blackmailed with pedophilia is SOME confession. And of all the idiotic takes on the Robert Hur investigation of Biden, THE dumbest is by Mr. Astead W. Herndon of The New York Bothsidesist Times and CN-Bothesidesist-N. C-Block (34:32) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: Since this podcast is one of five nominees for the best politics podcast at the upcoming iHeart Podcast Awards, it's fitting to read Thurber's great story of what happened when a rookie went on radio: "How To Relax While Broadcasting." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 8, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 119: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Today we begin to find out if we still have a Constitution. Because the Constitution, in the third clause of the fourteenth amendment, says no person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector, or hold any office, civil or military… who having previously taken an oath as a member of Congress or as an officer of the United States to support the Constitution shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. It does NOT say that that person has to be CONVICTED of insurrection or rebellion. It does NOT say that that person has to be disqualified from the ballot by a judge or a legislature or a plebiscite. It does NOT say that the president is NOT an officer of the United States or that a President is exempt. It does NOT say that the disqualification of an insurrectionist from being president is any different than is the disqualification of a foreign citizen, nor any different than is the disqualification of a 14-year old, that all of them are self-executing. It does NOT say that this clause of the constitution can only be enforced if all the voters agree. It does NOT say that this clause of the constitution can only be enforced AFTER somebody ineligible is elected. It does NOT say that this clause of the constitution can only be enforced if the insurrectionist’s cult and gangs and militias and stochastic terrorists promise not to threaten civil war. It does NOT say that this clause of the constitution can only be enforced if a majority of justices of the Supreme Court can’t make up a bullshit excuse for NOT enforcing it. It DOES say that this clause of the constitution CAN be overridden if Congress removes the disqualification of an individual by a vote of two-thirds of the House and two-thirds of the Senate. PERIOD. I will quote extensively from the two Federalist Society constitutional scholars whose extraordinary research into the 14th Amendment really mainstreamed it: Professors William Baude and Michael Pearson. And I'll quote a third Professor they quote, at the crux of the real argument here: if the Justices should find an excuse to make up some rule to NOT enforce our Constitution out of fear of Trump and violence. From Daniel Epps of Washington University: "The Supreme Court shouldn't rule that Trump is ineligible for the presidency for engaging in insurrection, because if they do Trump will definitely stage an insurrection." B-BLOCK (20:18) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: If at first you don't impeach, try try again. Next Tuesday, in fact. And meet Valentina Gomez, trying to win the GOP nomination for Secretary of State of Missouri. She too is fed up with book banning. Her platform moves directly to book BURNING. (25:41) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Trump calls Grammy ratings "anemic" even though they exceed his last four hour-long network specials COMBINED. UK's Prime Minister shames himself. As do Tucker Carlson and the very gullible rightwing nut job Juanita Broadddrick. C-BLOCK (33:30) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Can you help out Guidry's Guardian Foundation? (34:45) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Somebody mentioned he went to a baseball event and got applause and support. So let me tell you about the baseball event at which I found out Rudy Giuliani was nuts. We are approaching its 30th anniversary! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 7, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 118: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: His whores in the House of Representatives led by Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Elise Stefanik have inadvertently admitted that Trump HAS been DISQUALIFIED from being president under the language of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. They have introduced a bill in the House declaring that Trump did not engage in insurrection and J.D. Vance did the same in the Senate and why does that sound SO FAMILIAR? Oh, right! The final sentence of the 14th Amendment! "Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.” No they’re not CALLING it that; they may not even understand that THAT is what it IS, but they have just introduced measures in the House and the Senate to legally or symbolically enact the Congressional override OF The Disqualification Clause of the 14th Amendment AS PROVIDED IN the The Disqualification Clause of the 14th Amendment. And to DO that you are admitting, explicitly or tacitly, that the 14thAmendment APPLIES TO TRUMP. Why declare him “not an insurrectionist” if it doesn’t matter whether anybody CALLS him an insurrectionist? And the only reason you would actually INTRODUCE such a bill is if you A) were just told that the Supreme Court may very well agree that the Constitution is clear and Colorado is right and Trump is ALREADY disqualified and you had damn well better at least TRY to legislate him OUT of disqualification… OR – more likely - B) if you had just become convinced that all the other phony-baloney arguments saving Trump from disqualification like “he’s not an OFFICER” were falling apart and that this battle – in the Supreme Court, or in the legislature of every state of the union – is going to revert back to, is going to BOIL DOWN to, whether or not Disloyalty J. Trump “engaged in insurrection or rebellion or given aid or comfort to the enemies” and you need to give your master something – anything – a fig leaf, a cheeseburger, with which to cover himself for the battle to come. Maybe a diaper. ALSO: The DC District Court not only voted unanimously against Trump's hallucination that there is "presidential immunity" but took 57 pages to tell him, thus leaving the Supreme Court almost no way to overrule them. The trial now could start as early as June 1 and should be done no later than October 20. House Republicans aren't just schmucks they're fail-schmucks. When they couldn't impeach DHS Secretary Mayorkas Greene blamed the Democrats for "hiding" their votes because of course nobody knows how many Democrats there are in the House. And President Biden did exactly what I suggested, pointed to the border deal, said the Republicans blew it up merely to serve Trump. And then, Nikki Haley agreed with him. B-Block (26:25) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Laura Ingraham and Speaker Mike Johnson openly laugh at the idea of paying the members of the Border Patrol more. What WAS Marjorie Taylor Greene doing in the House Men's Room? Tucker Carlson is interviewing Putin because he thinks no other American reporters bothered to. Does this asshole know who Evan Gershkovich is? C-Block (30:18) MUSICAL PREMIERE: Brian Ray and John Philip Shenale bring you the world premiere of our new Trump Trials Theme "91 Trombones" See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 6, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 117: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: When Trump says “there is now a 100% chance that there will be major terror attacks in the USA” he is right and after the weekend and yesterday, now we KNOW WHY he is right and what he means: He means terror attacks BY the Republican Party. Trump for once is right: terrorism is here, and the terrorists are the Republicans. The GOP under Trump is now the party of blackmail and extortion and destruction and terrorism: vote for us or we’ll destroy whatever we can get our hands on. Joe Biden agrees to a draconian overreaction to the migration issue that is more than the most xenophobic, most dogmatic Republican Fascist could ever DREAM of living long enough to see actually enacted, and instead of passing it before lunch just in case Biden changes his mind, they have lied about it, and attacked it, and killed it, and exacerbated the EXACT problem they claim to be fighting, and if they are correct IN THE SLIGHTEST about the gravity of the border and immigration situations, they – the Republican Party – THEY will kill Americans. THEY, the Republicans, will be ushering the criminals they claim are seeking a home here. THEY, the Republicans, will be carrying in and distributing the fentanyl they claim the immigrants are all carrying. THEY, the Republicans, will be killing Americans. And then they’ll run on the crisis THEY have caused. If a foreign country, or a jihadist group, or a re-born Al-Qaeda, or a pack of wild communists managed to interrupt America’s control of her own border, and successfully interfered with America’s financial and military aid to its own allies around the world, and blocked our humanitarian aid to civilian war victims, and infiltrated and radicalized and made into THEIR agents some of our political leaders who then made public promises to derail, and disrupt, and SABOTAGE our Senate and our House and our Government… this nation under the leadership of either political party or a combination of them would immediately use the means provided by our laws of national self-defense… to STOP them. To STOP the terrorists. Plus: Trump now thinks he's...Elvis? B-Block (20:15) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: It's all TV News news: CNN blows up the morning again as the new boss damages his staff more than even Licht did. Tucker Carlson is in Moscow because you CAN fool all of the Tucker all of the time. And I think this qualifies as a national security crisis AND a brain drain AND a journalism crisis: reportedly, President Biden has come to rely on the advice of Joe Scarborough, who 30 years ago was loyal to Newt Gingrich and 8 years ago was trying to mainstream Trump and get his Vice Presidential slot and would say anything to anybody if it got him power. Plus, he's turned MSNBC's morning show into the equivalent of Sean Hannity advising Trump. It, and he, stinks. C-Block (43:00) OOOH A TEASE: Brian Ray and John Philip Shenale are about to debut new music for the show! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 2, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 117: BULLETIN - COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:35) BULLETIN: What was unofficial is now OFFICIAL. Judge Tanya Chutkan has confirmed in court that the start of the Trump Election Subversion/January 6th trial - scheduled for Monday March 4, and the trial thought most likely to bring a conviction against Trump before the election - has been "vacated" - postponed indefinitely pending a resolution of Trump's extra-constitutional bullshit stall, the "Presidential Immunity" fantasy. Given that 46% of Trump supporters in the swing states say they would be very unwilling to vote for him if he has been convicted, this is more than just a scheduling issue. What happens next - and when could it happen? (5:00) SPECIAL COMMENT: TRUMP DC ELECTION SUBVERSION TRIAL POSTPONED. Still officially scheduled for a month from Sunday, it has in fact "fallen off" the Washington Federal Court Calendar and no new date has been set. Even as the District of Columbia and the federal government think of ways to protect the Prettyman Courthouse with metal fencing and street closures (just like right after Trump's January 6 coup), The Washington Post speculates the trial will allow for Trump's trial in New York on the Stormy Daniels Payoff Business Fraud to start next month instead. Either way, Trump's stall has worked. The DC District Appeals Court has yet to rule on his "Presidential Immunity" bullshit and fingers are pointed at the member of the three-judge panel who was appointed by George W. Bush. ALSO: MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE is the worst person ever to serve in the United States House of Representatives. Her inability to pronounce "indictable" correctly is everything that's wrong with this country today, particularly our refusal to help the chronically stupid to heal themselves. More maddening, Greene has previously claimed a) that dyslexia runs in her family AND b) that her political opponents are "retards." B-Block (30:34) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Steve Garvey assailed by three kids in an L.A. Times profile (the other 197 love him though). Moms For Liberty actually manages to outdo itself in what we used to call Bluenosing. And the pollster who has defined which group of voters can put Trump over the top: African-American Men With Three Arms. C-Block (40:32) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: His most famous, most imagination-stimulating work: "The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 2, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 116: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: TRUMP DC ELECTION SUBVERSION TRIAL POSTPONED. Still officially scheduled for a month from Sunday, it has in fact "fallen off" the Washington Federal Court Calendar and no new date has been set. Even as the District of Columbia and the federal government think of ways to protect the Prettyman Courthouse with metal fencing and street closures (just like right after Trump's January 6 coup), The Washington Post speculates the trial will allow for Trump's trial in New York on the Stormy Daniels Payoff Business Fraud to start next month instead. Either way, Trump's stall has worked. The DC District Appeals Court has yet to rule on his "Presidential Immunity" bullshit and fingers are pointed at the member of the three-judge panel who was appointed by George W. Bush. ALSO: MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE is the worst person ever to serve in the United States House of Representatives. Her inability to pronounce "indictable" correctly is everything that's wrong with this country today, particularly our refusal to help the chronically stupid to heal themselves. More maddening, Greene has previously claimed a) that dyslexia runs in her family AND b) that her political opponents are "retards." B-Block (22:48) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Steve Garvey assailed by three kids in an L.A. Times profile (the other 197 love him though). Moms For Liberty actually manages to outdo itself in what we used to call Bluenosing. And the pollster who has defined which group of voters can put Trump over the top: African-American Men With Three Arms. C-Block (34:32) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: His most famous, most imagination-stimulating work: "The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 1, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 115: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Election polls are bullshit. In the morning came the polls showing Trump ahead by 8 in every swing state. Except the margin of error plus the undecided number is 16. In the afternoon came the polls showing Biden ahead by 6 in nationally. And Trump beating Haley. But Haley beating Biden. Except the margin of error plus the undecided number is 9. I'll explain the "Keith Number" we should always attach to polling, and why polling was once considered unacceptable for inclusion in American TV newscasts, and how I sat there as an MSNBC executive once ordered Frank Luntz to take two polls or do two focus groups to confirm the predetermined outcome he wanted. Though there WAS one useful "interior number" in that Swing States poll that could augur a Biden landslide. PLUS: Judge Engoron hasn't revealed the figure, Alina Habba hasn't been fired but what Trump's done to her is much, much, worse. There was performative theater in the Senate social media hearing yesterday but ONE truth was emitted by Senator Tillis. And a bell rang somewhere and three of the most racist things ever said by Republicans were said without hesitation, by a Wisconsin state legislator ("Race Hustlers"), Senator Tom Cotton ('Are you sure you ain't Chinese?') and Nikki Haley, who, asked why she said she got shivers down her spine about the prospect of President Kamala Harris, immediately answered about how President Obama made everything about race. Pure cracker racism from Nikki Haley. B-Block (27:47) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Jesse Watters claims brainwashing, which is impossible if you don't have a brain. More racism from Congressman Troy Nehls. And Congressman Derrick Van Orden is so dumb, he's dumber than he was last year. C-Block (36:08) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: With news of Netflix possibly dropping Harry and Meghan Markle, I have a Netflix story to tell. I offered them the whole of the video news industry and they demanded Italian Subtitles. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 31, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 114: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Because this is the way to overcome a record stock market high, universal employment, and the suspicion that he's an insane treasonous rapist in some kind of mental health crisis who'll be in jail before Inauguration Day, Trump has now declared "Holy War" against... Taylor Swift. It's SWIFT BOAT '24! Fear that she will again endorse Biden (to say nothing of a string of self-negating conspiracy theories about fixed Super Bowls and long-term psy-ops) has provoked the fascists to plan to smear the megastar the way Trump has smeared E. Jean Carroll, Hillary Clinton, Judge Chutkan, and every other woman who has ever stood in the way of something he thought life owed him. That the list of women he's treated as not quite human should range from Hillary to Taylor to E. Jean is not a stretch. There are many things desperately mentally wrong with Dementia J. Trump but his virulent antipathy towards women - and the misogynistic cancer he has spread within his cult - is as bad as anything else. The far right is ready for battle, though. Trump reportedly is confident he's more popular and has more fans and deserved "Person Of The Year" honors more than Swift did. His functional idiot Jack Posobiec has gotten up in front of people and said no, the Trump Death Cult may not have Taylor Swift, but it has Kid Rock and Ted Nugent! And then he ran out of names and somebody shouted "and Jon Voight!" and clearly like me, he was surprised to discover that Jon Voight is still with us. B-Block (22:15) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: More details from the latest "Moms For Liberty" scandal: the head Moms For Liberty plied her "favorite" underaged boy with liquor than sat on his lap - at her daughter's birthday party, prosecutors allege. (27:31) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The New York Times and The Athletic just hired away a dishonest Sports TV/Business reporter. Maria Bartiromo thinks DEI killed the servicemen in Jordan (or was she thinking about DUI) and Elon Musk does nothing as a clown named Shawn McBreairty doxxes a Secretary of State ON Twitter-X. C-Block (30:44) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Speaking of misogyny, did I ever tell you about the future president of MSNBC insisting to me that they'd never hire Rachel Maddow because the audience would never accept a WOMAN doing the POLITICAL NEWS! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 30, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 114: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SURPRISE! A decade ago, conservative icon Justice Antonin Scalia issued a Supreme Court opinion in which he declared - and reiterated to two stunned conservative attorneys - that the President of the United States IS an OFFICER OF THE UNITED STATES. Thus the man who Trump called one of "the greatest Americans to ever live" has already destroyed Trump's only argument that he cannot be disqualified for the presidency under the 14th Amendment because the president is NOT an officer of the United States. Unearthed by Roger Parloff of Lawfire - how, as the cliche goes, is this not the lead story everywhere in the nation? The Scalia ruling and letter (which may itself have been agreed with by Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Alito, and Justice Thomas) destroys Trump's only argument for why the 14th Amendment Disqualification Clause does NOT apply to him and can't be used to kick him off the ballot. Trump insists the president is NOT an "officer." Yet four years ago Trump proposed a garden dedicated to the 30 greatest Americans who ever lived - and Scalia was one of them! Historians have also found a Senate argument confirming that body agreed that the disqualification clause applied to Presidents, and that it was self-enforcing, and that it was acknowledged as such by everybody from Jefferson Davis to President Andrew Johnson. Also, the Illinois Election Board was to meet today to address the bid there to enforce the 14th. Also: Trump has now enabled Biden to run on the Bipartisan Border Enforcement and Great Economy platform, while his House lackeys have made DHS Secretary Mayorkas look like the border hardliner of the bunch. On Day 15 of his mental health crisis Trump's mind continues to corrode, and damn but Nikki Haley isn't letting up, and more importantly seems to be having a gas calling Trump unhinged and in decline EVERY SINGLE DAY. B-Block (22:32) IN SPORTS: The Clay Travis Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce/Super Bowl/Joe Biden conspiracy theory has now been disproved. It has been replaced by the Vivek Ramaswamy Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce/Super Bowl/Joe Biden conspiracy theory. And why Bill Belichick going to do TV football could be the greatest move since John Madden did it. (29:36) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Charlie Kirk defames one of the Central Park Five while trying to dig himself out from having already defamed him; Elise Stefanik scrubs her website; South Dakota Governor (former South Dakota Snow Queen) Kristi Noem thinks the Constitution is a treaty signed between the 13 Colonies and Texas. C-Block (36:51) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: In memory of the late Red Sox, Astros, and Blue Jays' manager Jimy Williams, the saga of the day I was thrown off the field at Fenway Park and directed to sit next to Yankee owner George Steinbrenner who promptly joined me on the Fox game broadcast and accused Williams of trying to instigate a riot during the game. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 26, 2024

SEASON 2 EPISODE 113: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Since Nikki Haley refused to enslave herself after he defeated her in New Hampshire Tuesday, Trump has lost what little remained of his damned mind. He is now running on a novel platform: "Trump 2024: EFF AMERICA!" He wants to crash the economy, leave the borders open so (he says) terrorists can pour in. Yesterday a resolution was floated to the RNC to effectively cancel the remaining 48 Republican primaries and declare Trump the nominee NOW. Even though the GOP rules require 1,215 delegates for nomination and he has exactly 32. Moreover, one of the underappreciated ratfinks of the fascist push in America for a quarter century, David Bossie of the Clinton Hunt and Citizens United, is the Committeeman who has actually introduced a resolution subverting what passes for democracy within the GOP, to the Republican National Committee. Last night Trump made a big deal of saying he doesn't want this, that he wants "to do it the old fashioned way" and guess what? I think he's lying. He wants it - he just doesn't want to be seen as being BEHIND it. So if it happens, does Nikki Haley then sue? She certainly hasn't shrunk away from challenging Trump. He threatened to blacklist her donors? She tweeted the news and attached a link TO donate to her campaign! She's clearly aware that unlike almost any other Republican since 2016, she has destabilized him, and threatened him back. How far will she go? Especially since Trump's desire to blow-up the border deal may have created an anti-Trump bloc among Republican Senators who might serve as a Haley base of support. B-Block (22:36) IN SPORTS: A college athlete illegally betting on his own school's games at a legal betting site? How'd EVER have expected that? And why it doesn't matter whether he bet for or against his own team. Plus Jim Harbaugh's new job lets me tell the story of the filming of the ESPN commercial Dan Patrick and I did with him (28:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Surprise! The January 6th Sprinter, Josh Hawley, is suddenly Senator Socialism! Rep. Ralph Norman, unrepentant insurrectionist and Kaitlin Collins who didn't call him on it. And led by the last GOP nominee for governor of New York, and resident Fox stooges Typhoid and Greg Guttersnipe, decide it's ok to now use the "R-word" on TV, never realize they'd be the first three guys you'd use it to describe. C-Block (34:35) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: I was talking about my Dad again yesterday and almost immediately I was reminded of HIS favorite Thurber story. So I offer it to you today: "I Went To Sullivant." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 25, 2024

SEASON 2 EPISODE 112: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Yes. I think that's the lead story. And I don't even LIKE Jon Stewart. But it's time to recognize that we are at war. It is, for now at least, a war being conducted almost entirely inside the media world, and here's a prayer that it stays contained within those walls. But if it is, the forces of democracy need all the fighters we can find. And Stewart - who has been mad at me since 2003 and once accused me of "stealing his act" - going back to host The Daily Show at least once a week and be the Executive Producer all the other days, at least through the election, is welcomed news. For that matter, I hope it inspires Maddow - who has been mad at me since 2011 - to be on the air more often at MSNBC. Meanwhile, I have had absolutely enough of "5 Takeaways From The New Hampshire Primary." Not only is the premise hackneyed, but The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, CNN, The Hill, and Agence France Presse all used EXACTLY THAT TITLE for their versions. And all of them left out the real takeaways: Trump needed to pretend to be a human being and instead lashed out in a rage against Nikki Haley that is now continuing into a third day and last night extended to Trump threatening to "ban" from MAGA anybody who contributes to her campaign (sure - he won't take somebody else's money; his least convincing lie yet). His fuse is completely gone. He also has now claimed he defeated the sitting governor of Iowa, I guess in the primary there, and near as I can find no sitting governor of Iowa has sought the Republican presidential nomination since 1912 so maybe whatever he has, has just moved into the tertiary stage. Plus: CNN's shame. Its 10 PM the anchor - the one it preempts once a week to instead run Charles Barkley - condescendingly parroted the right wing talking point that nobody in America wants Joe Biden. She should be fired, but given her ratings, they can do something worse to her: force her to continue doing her show. B-Block (25:04) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Frank Farian, the evil genius behind "Milli Vanilli," is dead. Until I read his obituary, I had NO idea that the scam came apart when a record skipped... in BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT. NewsNation is not satisfied with you not watching it on TV. Now it wants you to also not listen to it on radio. And the Maryland State Senate - led by Democrats - is trying to explain how the new member of the State Board of Elections just got arrested as a January 6th Insurrectionist. C-Block (32:11) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: With the Abby Phillip Right Wing Talking Point and CNN's continuing lurch rightwards - even under new post-Lichtian management - I think it's time to remind you that ALL the cable news networks have already had THE meeting and tried THE lurch to the right. At MSNBC it was 20 years ago and it was highlighted by the attempt to mainstream a homophobic racist named Michael Savage, and how the President of NBC was enraged when Savage crossed the line and had to be fired. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 24, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 111: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump has never been truer to himself than after his solid but unspectacular victory over Nikki Haley in New Hampshire last night. His toadies like Marjorie Taylor Greene were whining within 10 minutes of the closing of the polls that the tally had been rigged against him. And he overshadowed his own victory by getting up and sweating through an angry, petty, vindictive "victory" speech in which he once again resorted to stochastic threats against Haley, this time promising he could reveal enough about her to get her investigated by "them." President Biden, meanwhile, won a non-primary primary in which he wasn't even on the Beauty Pageant Ballot, and he still got about 67% of the votes. And new polling in Pennsylvania - showing him up +8 over Trump there - was probably yesterday's REAL biggest presidential race story. Meanwhile it's Day 9 of Trump's Dementia Crisis. Not only are other Republicans noticing he's making less sense and seeming less present every day, but Trump is now blithering his way through teleprompter speeches and making sound effects on camera - all of which can be neatly folded into Biden Campaign Commercials. And while Jamie Combover's impeachment theater may be coming to the end of its run, there's a sudden revival of the Matt Gaetz Ethics Investigation in Congress. Plus why the President needs to federalize the Texas National Guard and arrest Governor Greg Abbott - today. B-Block (21:00) IN SPORTS: Baseball's Hall of Fame elects new members - one too few, or two too many? Beltre was a lock but I have deep doubts about Helton and Mauer. And look out, another MLB team will be forced to wear those horrific City Connect Uniforms. (25:57) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: How do the Oscars folks do this every year? You nominate Ken but not Barbie? You nominate Barbie for best picture but not its director? This is a tradition that dates back to "How Green Was My Valley" winning best picture in 1941 instead of say, Citizen Kane or The Maltese Falcon. One weird trick that connects Lenin and Benny Hill. And farewell to the greatest radio newscaster of all-time, Charles Osgood. (35:15) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Eric Adams plays Musical Chairs with actual chairs. Oklahoma's immoral School Superintendent gives a job to the immoral LibsOfTikTok witch. And Tiffany Cross finally breaks her silence on who knifed her in the back at MSNBC. The answer? Joey Scars himself. Joe Scarborough. C-BLOCK (43:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Since we're already in Trash-MSNBC-Mode, let me tell you again of the story of how Lawrence O'Donnell, kindly filling in for me in 2010 while my Dad was dying, used the opportunity to try to get me fired, or try to get all my producers to leave with him for his new show. Scarborough is always the worst - but O'Donnell is close. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 23, 2024

SEASON 2, EPISODE 110: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: THIS IS TUESDAY JANUARY 23rd, THE EIGHTH DAY OF TRUMP'S DEMENTIA CRISIS: While Trump and his defenders quadruple-down on the Orwellian lie that he MEANT to conflate Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi and January 6th, Trump adds a new reason for serious concern about his mental stability. In an interview in New Hampshire for the primary, Trump is asked about Haley's insistence he is not competent and in one answer invokes Dr. Ronny Jackson, can't remember his name, recalls it, moves to a different topic, and then brings up Ronny Jackson again - as if for the first time. There's a reason Ron DeSantis did NOT end his campaign, but, like Ramaswamy, only suspended it. Like Haley, they both know that something above-and-beyond all previous problems has hit Trump and they will stay quietly and obediently in the background until it - or something else - comes and gets him. There is little to report from New Hampshire, though the networks and newspapers will report it anyway. They will also tell you that Trump did better in Iowa than he will in the Granite State even though the reverse is true - because math may be hard but bucking the conventional wisdom is harder. Trump got 51% of the voters (and 7% of all Republicans) in Iowa. He may get 57% in N.H. That would be MORE. B-Block (20:23) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: It's time for The New York Times to stop publishing the same column Maureen Dowd has rewritten every week since 1997; how NOT to suppress the news in Colorado (28:25) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The DeSantis War Room loses the battle of South CAROLINIA. When not to sue because the ladies trashed you on Facebook. And when they invite you to sing at Dolly Parton's birthday and you start swearing and The Grand Old Opry has to apologize for - your career is over. C-Block (33:05) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: A friend gave me some winter clothing bearing her company's logo and I flashed back to this time in 1980 when United Press International gave me my official Lake Placid Winter Olympics parka and...the lining wasn't fur or down or foam but CONSTRUCTION PAPER. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 19, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 109: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Acting on his behalf, Trump's attorneys enlarged on his threat of ten days ago and told the Supreme Court that if it did not do what he wants it to do, "chaos and bedlam" would ensue throughout the country. It's stochastic terrorism. Again. Always. Enough. Right or wrong, more than twenty years ago the government of this country utilized a process to detain those who made terroristic plans or threats against the nation. It involved an off-mainland site called Gitmo. And there were additional "black sites" around the world for use for when there were the added complications of American citizenship involved. It's time to send Trump there. I'd rather deal with the consequences of Trump at Gitmo than with him continuing to threaten this nation, or, worse yet, seizing power and ending all representative government here. Ironically this newest threat occurred less than a day after Trump made two unexpected (and, probably, unknowing) admissions. While he wants there to BE "presidential immunity" (that's what the terror threat against the Supreme Court was about) he acknowledged it doesn't currently exist. He also confessed that he had made "mistakes" as president and compared himself to a "rogue cop." B-BLOCK (21:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Nikki Haley blows off "No Labels." And she might still be alive in the Trump ticket VP race. (25:05) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Since when does "fist" work in the weather forecast? Larry Elder says The Deep State is suppressing his Twitter follower count. And Tucker Carlson accuses the Trump Government of planting the January 5/6 pipe bombs and I'm just guessing but I don't think he meant to. C-BLOCK (31:30) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: Even in 1937 America was dumbing down. Thurber's bitterly hilarious story of a woman who hated the Shakespeare she had to read because it didn't conform to the rules of paperback fiction: "The MacBeth Murder Mystery." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 18, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 108: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: ONE of these days ONE of these judges will have to take the bullshit by the horns and jail Trump overnight for contempt of court. He made a mockery of all the laws of the nation again yesterday in New York and must be punished. Clearly somebody or something has punished him for something. Three or four red marks have suddenly sprouted on his right hand. James Carville thinks they're evidence of the secondary stage of syphilis. I think they're more consistent with an old man slipping on ice and grabbing something to try to stop himself from face-planting. But I'm sure Trump will claim they're stigmata. America's constipated political pundits have finally figured out that the interior numbers from Iowa confirm he didn't crush ANYTHING there; in fact only 8% of Iowa's Republicans voted for him! Oh and Nikki Haley is up to 38% in New Hampshire. Trump might not be the only one disqualified under the 14th Amendment. Representative Dan Goldman has moved to censure Representative Elise "Hostages" Stefanik B-Block (21:15) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: The fascists are going to get another win out of the Supreme Court. Marjorie Taylor Greene sets herself up for another dick-pic joke. (25:23) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Argentina's New President - the guy in the Wolverine costume - blames the world's ills on feminism. The Babylon Bee's best bit of satire is its belief that it's funny. Ben Carson says why not concentration camps? The migrants have to have a place to stay! C-Block (30:35) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Beaten puppy Sweet Cheeks needs our help in North Carolina. (32:05) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Trump's rage against MSNBC for not worshiping him enough is actually not something new. The Republicans think they can get away with bullying MSNBC because they succeeded at it as long ago as 2008 - with me - and with the help of Tom Brokaw. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 17, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 107: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump did NOT crush DeSantis and Haley in Iowa. The "takeaway" is not that he crushed DeSantis and Haley in Iowa. The "takeaway" is he beat the field by only 2,222 votes. And the reality is Trump got a total of 56,260 votes and that’s about half the size of this podcast’s daily audience. And Trump only got 51 percent OF the votes in Iowa and if President Biden only got 51 percent in a primary they would cancel everything on television for the next 26 days and cover nothing BUT Biden only getting 51 percent in a primary, right up until kickoff on Super Bowl Sunday 26 days from now. “Biden Crisis Day 26. We pause now for football. Here’s the anthem. Join Wolf Blitzer, Tucker Carlson, David Axelrod, and Usher at halftime for a preview of Biden Crisis Day 27.” It's madness. Political media in this country has been in freefall since the 1990’s – hell, I succeeded in it, no experience necessary – but it is hard to believe it has ever been worse, even more a victim of band-wagoning, even more a john overflowing unto eternity, each reporter abandoning reality and objectivity to prove that THEIR take was right or that their NEXT take is FIRST or that THEY can stuff more undeserved accolades into a sentence than anybody else. It’s not that they are obsessed with the horserace – the horserace coverage is FINE. But when it’s a pack of miniature ponies struggling to make it around a ten-foot track, SAY THAT, don’t call them Secretariat and Man’o’War. Other REAL "takeaways" include Trump rolling out the new 2024 Con: his God Con, and Nikki Haley being utterly full of crap. And DeSantis realizing only too late that his path to victory was to turn on Trump and beat him senseless. Oh and Trump is deteriorating faster than ever before. If you mistake Biden for Obama, that's one thing. If you think the thing you rode down before you launched your campaign is an ESCALADE instead of an ESCALATOR... consult your physician! B-Block (21:26) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Gosh, where will Margie Green get her porn? House GOP may have dropped the Hunter Biden contempt plan. Knicks-Rangers owner James Dolan sued, accused of trafficking a woman to Harvey Weinstein. (23:46) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is so used to lying to its own morons it forgets the rest of the world needs to be slightly convinced. "Dudesy" steals George Carlin's jokes and calls it "A.I." Nate Cohn of The New York Times with a hiccup over "Hick-Up." C-Block (30:05) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Our 701-day snowless streak in Fun City is over and it got cold and clammy and as always I flashed back to the day my great doctor Ed Ceccolini gave me meds I wasn't ready for and the next thing I knew my face was stuck to the window of a commuter train in Grand Central because my drool had frozen onto it! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 16, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 106: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The obvious headline from Iowa last night: Trump romped, around 50%, with the reminder that if it were Biden only getting 50% in the first primary the Democrats would be considered dead in the water. The real headline from Iowa: Trump mused, in that skillfully ambitious way of his, about being in charge for "four years and beyond" and he can deny he meant refusing to leave office in 2029 but of course all he's TALKED about since 2017 was how he deserved more than two terms or more than eight years or more than the constitution allows. And the NEXT headline out of Iowa is the missing ingredient in the implausibly tight race between a psychotic dictator with dementia and a gifted dedicated president: the report that internal Biden research and polling says three out of four undecided voters really DON'T believe Trump will be the nominee and will have an "oh shit" moment. Plus: Marjorie Barney Rubble Greene thinks President Biden can communicate with the dead by phone. B-Block (26:08) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Rep. Barry "Your Tour Guide" Loudermilk makes a huge mistake. He wants to investigate Cassidy Hutchinson. And the Baltimore Sun is sold to a fascist and a one-time columnist who took a quarter of million in bribes from the Bush Administration. (30:50) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: When the NFL playoff game in Buffalo was postponed by snow, the Outkick The Coverage idiot whined that they didn't postpone D-Day because of bad weather - except of course they did. Plus Billo is back in the list. And Laura Loomer underscores the fundamental stupidity of the right. They don't believe in man-made climate change but they DO believe that Biden has a machine to manipulate the weather. C-Block (37:05) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: A silly story about ESPN fudging nomination lists for the Emmy Awards (Erin Andrews became "Erik Andrews," etc., to allow ineligible talent to get trophies) ignores the real problem: the hosts of Emmy winning shows were ineligible to GET Emmys because the producers who ran the Emmys thought the talent had enough good stuff as it was. It flashed me back to a memorable conversation with Gil Stratton, an actor and sportscaster who insisted that every producer and executive he ever met was a bigger prima donna than an old colleague of his named Judy Garland. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 11, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 105: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) It is hard to believe that a year after he vanished like a bad dream, ex-Congressman/Hitler Fanboy/Weirdo Madison Cawthorn might emerge not just as a truth-teller but as THE truth-teller. He was the one who insisted Washington was a den of drug-fueled orgies and war-on-drug leaders doing bumps of coke in front of him. Did you WATCH the Hunter Biden hearing? Did you WATCH the Trump Town Hall on Fox? Did anything any Republican say make sense to you? Because not only is the answer "no" but the more frightening reality is that everything Trump said, and everything James Comer said, and Nancy Mace, and Marjorie Taylor Greene, and all the other Republicans, made perfect sense to THEM. And what kind of thing causes you to mistakenly believe that your hallucinations seem perfectly normal to everybody else? And just to add in Cawthorn's other charge - it wasn't just drugs it was atypical sex. Greene showing more pornographic pictures of Hunter Biden? Nancy Mace referring to his balls? Is THIS the explanation of the behavior of... ALL REPUBLICANS? GOOD GOD WE NEED TO HEAR MORE FROM MADISON CAWTHORN. B-Block (15:20) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: No more itinerant laborers because of the animus towards migrants? This Indiana state rep has the solution: let kids quit school to go work in the fields at 14. And to help them not miss it, this Florida county has banned the dictionary. And to show you what you can become when you stop learning after the 8th Grade, there's Aaron Rodgers, who actually got himself fired by ESPN yesterday. C-Block (23:00) Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due and an explanation for today's comparative brevity. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 10, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 104: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) Trump made another threat of political violence and terrorism and once again escaped being treated like any other terrorist or criminal trying to blackmail the nation by promising mass death and destruction if he doesn't get his way. After attending the appeals court hearing on his "presidential immunity" nonsense, Trump said if the prosecution of him continued "It'll be bedlam in the country." But he hasn't engaged in insurrection. Not since Noon Eastern yesterday. Meanwhile his attorney, Judge Luttig's former law clerk, insisted that no, if he hadn't been impeached and removed from office, Trump could not be prosecuted for ordering Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival. But he's not saying HE would CAUSE the bedlam. Besides the background drumbeat of Trumpist political violence, the point of the "presidential immunity" action is to stall. And the Just Security website has game-planned when this Jack Smith prosecution is likely to end. Two of the answers end within plenty of time, the third begins to brush up against an old favorite: the DOJ tradition of not acting within 60 days of an election. And speaking of oldies but goodies, Trump reverts to birtherism. This time his victim is Nikki Haley. And his own mother. And just for laughs, it was in an 1814 book of witticisms that our ancestors first read "Every man who is his own lawyer, has a fool for a client." So guess who intends to deliver some of the closing arguments in his Business Fraud Trial case in New York tomorrow? Our resident Fool. B-Block (17:48) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: I knew there was a reason not to say anything about the "disappearance" of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin: his "minor medical procedure" was surgery for prostate cancer. And the ESPN/Big Sleeveless Pat/Aaron Rodgers/Jimmy Kimmel disaster escalates: Rodgers denies he implied anything about Kimmel, uses ESPN as a platform to spread vaccine disinformation, and attacks an ESPN VP who had been protecting his buddy's show. Like ESPN's Rush Limbaugh disaster 20 years ago, this will end in tears. (25:15) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORD: political and journalistic accounts mysteriously disappear on Ketamine Musk's site. Judge Judy makes a presidential endorsement. And Lou Dobbs, Tulsi Gabbard, Don Lemon and Jim Rome are too desperate to just stand in front of a mirror and do their new shows to an audience that cares. C-Block (31:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Since it's ESPN time, why not tell again the events of 32 years ago this month when I met the wonderful actress Elizabeth Montgomery on a flight, we became great friends, and she... helped me to launch the ESPN Radio Network? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 9, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 103: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44): In the course of two speeches and four days President Joe Biden has found the word that not only perfectly describes Trump, that not only can be hung around him like a giant gold-outlined neon sign, that not only can humiliate him and stick to him forever, but that the rest of us have been waiting for SOMEBODY to say: "He's a loser." Loser = Trump Trump = Loser Loser J. Trump! The long weekend in which the prospects for retaining both Biden and democracy turned on a dime and Biden found his voice. He's the average American fed up with Trump's psychosis and violence and lies and racism and juvenile haircut and narcissism and stupidity and malevolence. And the anger is pitch-perfect. PLUS: Yesterday Trump overtly implied that if he regains power he will indict a former president of the United States. Today he was to attend the D-C Federal Appeals Court hearing at which he and his lawyers were to argue that you CANNOT indict a former president of the United States. Of all the legal updates the most interesting perhaps is the possibility that Trump digital guru Dan Scavino is cooperating with Jack Smith. Plus, no, Kristen Welker didn't fail to do her job with the Eva Braun of upstate New York. Her inertia when Stefanik called the January 6 insurrectionists "hostages" was what NBC was paying her to do. B-Block (24:44) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Wall Street Journal blockbuster about Elon Musk and drugs; Mehdi Hasan completely out at MSNBC, stars still silent (30:15) IN SPORTS: Latest on ESPN/Rodgers/McAfee/Kimmel/Williamson. In memory of Franz Beckenbauer (35:10) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Nikki Haley had a black friend, Kristina Karamo ousted in Michigan; Lauren Boebert can't keep a grip on herself in public despute with ex-hubby C-Block (40:10) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Since the ESPN Pat McAfee/Jimmy Kimmel story includes accusations that ESPN leaked ratings to make McAfee look bad, I've got a story about MSNBC doing that to me at Current-TV - except the ratings were wrong.They were HIGHER than the ones we HAD at Current-TV! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 6, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 102: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN BULLETIN JANUARY 6th WEEKEND EDITION A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: You already know that MY default position when it comes to President Biden is deep respect, deep affection, and love. And having said that, even Iwas stunned by the virtuosity of his pitch-perfect speech about Trump and the threat to democracy he represents, which the President gave near Valley Forge on the eve of the third anniversary of Trump’s Insurrection, in which he hit every note ranging from whispered warning to raging righteousness; in which his emotional ebb and flow went from the astonishment of the moment to anger on behalf of every past president and every dead soldier; in which he roared from clear and unvarnished statement of the danger of Trump and the dictatorship with which he would KILL America, and the still CLEARER and MORE unvarnished delineation of the path by which to defeat it, and Trump, and these fascists, for all time. It was breathtaking. It was honest to God JFK-FDR level oratory. Here are the highlights. Also, here is Trump's response: to claim that migrants who don't speak "our language" should not be allowed to vote, and to post a video claiming God sent him to rule America. If the cadence of this accompaniment to Dementia J. Trump turning into Deified J. Trump sounds familiar, it should. It was stolen from a 2013 Super Bowl Ad, and itself stolen from a 1978 speech by one of my old bosses. B-Block (25:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Biden's speech was so good, so sweeping, that I think you should listen to all of it. Carve out half an hour and do so - here it is, C-Block (59:10) UPDATE: While we're here, there's news on this sports story I mentioned during the week in which Aaron Rodgers, on the Pat McAfee Show, a program for which ESPN just paid its namesake host 85 million dollars to run on its platforms, Rodgers implied that when the Jeffrey Epstein lists were published, Jimmy Kimmel would be mentioned. Rodgers said when that happened, he’d pop open a bottle of something.Kimmel, who like McAfee, and Rodgers – who is under contract TO McAfee to appear on his shows – is employed by Disney. And within hours of the Aaron Rodgers statement, Kimmel tweeted that if Rodgers did not stop, he would sue Rodgers. The next day McAfee pleaded ignorance. It didn’t take much effort; he’s pretty ignorant. He said he believed there was no cause for any problem because Rodgers was just quote “talking shit.” In fact that’s not really a defense many courts will accept in a defamation suit. A defamation suit by one Disney employee against two other Disney employees in McAfee and Rodgers. Rodgers has not again appeared on the show, nor did McAfee issue a retraction. What McAfee DID do Friday, though, was to declare war ON ESPN. He accused executives of the company of leaking inaccurate ratings about the program.Actually, what it is, is – professionally – suicidal. Because McAfee named names, and he named the one ESPN executive who has outlasted everybody who has ever worked there, including me, including me the second time, including me the third time when HE personally got me rehired, including me as he supervised the unlikeliest of outcomes to my ESPN career in which of all people I wound up… RETIRING FROM ESPN. I got everything but the gold watch. The executive’s name is Norby Williamson. And in trashing him, McAfee gave ESPN a way to fire him - for cause - and owe him none of the money in his contract. Or pay him off and silence him, just like Fox did with Tucker Carlson. Because if 32 years with Norby has taught me one thing: he survives - the other guy doesn't. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 5, 2024

SERIES 2 EPISODE 101: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: For the second time in as many days and the fourth time in one week, Trump has gotten the message out to the Justices of the Supreme Court - and especially the three he appointed - that they’d better rule in favor of Trump in the 14th Amendment and Presidential Immunity cases because he put them there. Attorney Alina Habba did it again, again on Fox. Wednesday it was in the afternoon; last night it was in prime time. The message is loud and clear, and God knows with the utter corruption of the conservatives on THIS court you could never convict anybody of doing anything, but this is either an illegal threat AGAINST Justice Brett Kavanaugh and others, or it is the back half of an illegal quid pro quo. Habba said she "had faith" in "people like Kavanaugh, who the president fought for, who the president went through hell to get into place. He'll step up." A week ago today Maggie Haberman went on CNN and said Trump feared SCOTUS might rule against him because it was trying to look balanced. On Tuesday, his first simpleton attorney Christina Bobb said that any ruling - even one declaring that Trump was guilty of insurrection - would be irrelevant if the people wanted Trump as their ruler. Wednesday, Habba insisted that "Republicans" (she meant Supreme Court Justices) "unfortunately sometimes shy away from being pro-Trump because they feel that even if the law’s on our side they might be swayed much like the Democratic side would be, right? So they’re trying so hard to look neutral that sometimes they make the wrong call." The political pressure is astonishing, even for Trump. And in the light of his stochastic terrorism against Justices Engoron and Chutkan, it is intolerable, and it portends true threats against any justice Trump feels hasn't been "loyal" to him. THERE MIGHT be good news out of New Hampshire: one poll shows Trump leading Nikki Haley by just four points with two weeks until the primary. There was also a good opening advertising salvo by the Biden campaign against the threat Trump is manifesting. And the same Alina Habba went on another streaming show and insisted that given the choice between being smart or pretty she'd choose pretty because "I can fake being smart." Well, no, sorry. You clearly can't. B-Block (32:20) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Like every other rich fascist before him, Elon Musk wants to destroy the National Labor Relations Board. Politico has a good joke at his expense. RFK Jr's Super Pac apparently made it up about Dionne Warwick AND Martin Sheen. And the Associated Press article that actually headlines Bothsidesism on tomorrow's 3rd Anniversary of Trump's January 6th Coup: “One Attack, Two Interpretations: Biden And Trump Both Make The January 6 Riot A Political Rallying Cry.” C-Block (40:30) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: In 1913 just as in 2024, people are likeliest to believe the dumbest, the most outrageous, the least believable thing. James Thurber commemorates "The Day The Dam Burst" in Columbus, Ohio, the most noteworthy feature of which was, the DAM DID NOT BURST. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 4, 2024

EPISODE 2 SERIES 100: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) I misunderstood the first salvo. I completely missed the second. But when the third one exploded yesterday, it finally dawned on me. Trump - using milquetoast seemingly benign surrogates, has already begun to threaten the Supreme Court and especially his three appointees that they had better find in his favor in the "presidential immunity" and 14th Amendment Disqualification cases - or else. Alina Habba delivered a message on Fox yesterday clearly designed for Justices Barrett, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh, warning them not to try "so hard to look neutral (and) make the wrong call" and that the only "American" verdicts would be those in Trump's favor. This echoed what Maggie Haberman reported last week (and Habba was nice enough to reveal she and Haberman are friends). And it puts in a new light Christina Bobb's boast Tuesday that it doesn't matter even if Trump IS guilty of insurrection: the people will decide who's president. It is muted, but it is a threat of violence and MORE insurrection, being delivered against the Supreme Court. B-Block (16:48) IN SPORTS: ESPN and ABC and Disney have quite the conundrum. Its new supposed savior of the sports network, Pat McAfee, failed to retract, or even apologize for, a statement by football's Aaron Rodgers implying that Jimmy Kimmel was on the Jeffrey Epstein "list." Kimmel already threatened to sue - and that was before the fake screenshots started, and before McAfee said that since Rodgers was only "talking shit" it's not like what he said mattered. Me? I think Kimmel should sue but even better, he should do what Chick Hearn did when he was fed up with his rookie sidekick Al Michaels on the broadcasts of the 1967-68 Los Angeles Lakers. I'll explain. (23:55) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Oh good, we have a SECOND extramarital sex scandal inside the "Moms For Liberty" pro-fascist group. Congressman Troy Nehls reveals the Republicans don't give a damn about whether or not there are a million migrants crossing the border, or none. It's a stunt. And are we sure C-SPAN meant to promote its coverage of the "End of Fist Session" of Congress? C-Block (29:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It is now nearly 17 years since a veteran Senator from Delaware asked me to lunch to pick my brain on how when I spoke angrily I seemed righteously indignant, but when he spoke angrily he seemed...angry. I think he's mastered it now - and we need him to be righteously indignant AND angry in the 300 days ahead. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 3, 2024

SEASON 2 EPISODE 99: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The Trump Attorney’s genuinely shocking admission: Trump MIGHT be guilty of insurrection. Christina Bobb, last night: “It should be the entire nation who determines who they want for president – whether they’re guilty of insurrection or not.” It’s a new defense. It’s an original defense. It’s the “HE’S GUILTY” defense. It’s also the clearest indication yet that Trump and his cult don’t give a damn about the laws or the constitution AND it’s an admission that the OTHER Trump lawyers KNOW they are just stalling for time or working to enable him to get away with anything. It’s also another direct quote that Joe Biden HAS to turn into a campaign commercial immediately. Because whether she meant it as a confession or not, that’s EXACTLY what it sounds like: A confession, compounded by a bonus dose of screw-you, America: Trump is guilty, and he doesn’t give a crap, and he's counting on America not to give a crap, either It would not surprise me in the least to SEE that Biden ad. And soon. CNN is reporting that the worm is about to turn and “as some of the younger aides on Biden’s reelection campaign have been grimly joking, it’s about WHEN to go ‘full Hitler’ – when the leading Republican candidate’s speeches and actions go so far that the Biden team goes all the way to a direct comparison to the Nazi leader rather than couching their attacks by saying Trump quote ‘parroted’ him.” Plus the unexpected report that Trump is afraid the Supreme Court justices he appointed will rule against him on Disqualification, just to prove they aren't in his pocket. Just because he appointed six people to lifetime jobs, in which they are beholden to nobody? Not even him? Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're NOT out to get you. B-Block (20:08) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The OTHER thing Ted Cruz is bad at: The Ted Cruz Texas Sports Curse. Vivek Ramaswamy didn't want to be on your smelly CNN Republican debate anyway! And Jason Whitlock really believes ESPN has somebody putting porn ads on websites he visits. It couldn't possibly be the result of algorithms registering all the porn sites he went to. C-Block (33:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Jack Kerouac had his own fantasy baseball league, and when I was a kid my Dad asked me to lie to the sports know-it-all at the office and convince him of the existence of a non-existent pitcher from the 1939 Yankees. B-Block (20:08) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The OTHER thing Ted Cruz is bad at: The Ted Cruz Texas Sports Curse. Vivek Ramaswamy didn't want to be on your smelly CNN Republican debate anyway! And Jason Whitlock really believes ESPN has somebody putting porn ads on websites he visits. It couldn't possibly be the result of algorithms registering all the porn sites he went to. C-Block (33:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Jack Kerouac had his own fantasy baseball league, and when I was a kid my Dad asked me to lie to the sports know-it-all at the office and convince him of the existence of a non-existent pitcher from the 1939 Yankees. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 2, 2024

SEASON 2 EPISODE 98: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: You and I have 305 days until the election and the GOOD news is: if the Supreme Court rules Trump is immune from prosecution for anything he did while president OR if the Supreme Court rules the 14th Amendment DOESN’T disqualify him from the ballot OR if the Supreme Court rules both… Joe Biden can declare himself president for life, he can arrest the Supreme Court, and he can detain Trump without charges or trial and the Supreme Court has just ruled there’s not a goddamned thing anybody can do about it, including them. Well thank god THAT’S settled. Happy New Year! I am mystified by the sanctimonious criticisms of Maine striking Trump from the ballot from its Senator Angus King and "Democratic" Congressman Jared Golden. They have decided the Constitution wasn’t enough and decided on their own that we needed HIGHER BARRIERS before as a nation we could defend ourselves against a psychotic dictator-in-waiting who wants to turn the government into a personal revenge factory and oh by the way the only thing he’s going to remember about YOU Angus King, is that you voted to impeach him. “Under the established Constitutional process," said Senator King from atop his high horse, "absent a final judicial determination of a violation of the 14th Amendment’s disqualification clause, I believe the decision as to whether or not Trump should rest with the people as expressed in free and fair elections. This is the ultimate check within our Constitutional system,” This isn’t a matter of interpretation for the courts, or for you, Senator King. It’s what the 14thAmendment SAYS as opposed to what a fragment of your voters want you to tell them it says. What it SAYS is, your Senate AND the House have a right to REMOVE the disqualification of Donald Trump by a two-thirds vote. It exists. It exists right now. It only STOPS existing if you OVERRIDE IT. By 75 to 25, thank you. That’s what it says. THAT is the ultimate check within our Constitutional System. I hope you can hear me up there floating on that cloud above it all. Speaking of, congratulations to The New York Times, which addresses disqualification by quoting Judge Michael Luttig, and balancing him with someone who wrote commercial scripts for Dunkin' Donuts and an L.A. democrat who went on Fox to say he's mad at Joe Biden. And congratulations to The Washington Post for buying out the only one of its reporters who got it - Greg Sargent. But genuine thinks to Green Day, which did what the rest of us can almost never do - pierce the MAGA/Trump Cult/Fascist bubble and show its cultists, to their shock, that they are not a majority and not at all liked. It's shocking that such penetrations come during Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve - but it's worth singing about! B-Block (27:45) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: She allegedly liquored up underaged teenagers at her daughter's 17th birthday party. Is she A) a drag queen B) a trans-gendered swimmer C) a librarian or D) the founder of the “Keeping Kids In School PAC” and former Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor?; The right-wing pundit who boasts of how The Statue of Liberty is better than any European art; The passing of Tom Foty. (35:25) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Fox kills the wrong Frank Thomas. Aaron Rodgers has now descended into using antisemitic tropes. And Michael Flynn Jr. sticks his father with a new name: "General Flynn-Bitch." C-Block (41:55) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: We're now in the 25th anniversary year of the night - before Game 1 of the World Series which I was covering for Fox - where an Atlanta hotel gave me a room next to a choir that spent the entire night practicing for a competition the next day. It then tried to make it up to me by offering me, instead...THE PRESIDENTIAL SUITE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 22, 2023

SERIES 2 EPISODE 97: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: For all those wringing their hands about disqualifying Trump from the ballot via the 14th Amendment without a conviction: What would Donald Trump have done with Joe Biden if January 6th had somehow worked? Or TO him? It's January 20, 2021 and the 46th President-Elect of the United States is prevented by whatever means from assuming office as demanded by the Constitution and Trump remains in power extra-legally, extra-judicially, extra-constitutionally. And we are supposed to believe that Biden would have been left free to speak in public, on television, on social media, to the press, in the courts, to the Speaker Pelosi or Majority Leader Schumer, to the Democratic governors with their authority over the National Guard? Trump would have found a pretext to detain him. Or he HAD a pretext to detain him; a plan we just haven’t found out about. Having once crossed the ultimate threshold – ENDING 237 years of American democracy – having retained power as a dictator by some other name, what would Trump have then NOT been willing to do? And most importantly, what Trump would have done with a man he would’ve wanted the world to believe was an extra, illegitimate American president who had somehow plotted against Trump? He would have had Joe Biden killed. Or if somebody had stopped him from that, he would have had him seized somehow, by someone, by some official sounding but ultimately fabricated and illegal and anti-American quote “authority” unquote, and held. Incommunicado. With Kamala Harris and Pelosi and Schumer and uncooperative Senators and Congressmen of both parties and hundreds of reporters and editors and you and me and god knows how many others, on the pretext of god knows WHAT kind of imaginary plot to… enforce the Constitution? THAT is why the Colorado Supreme Court was right. Because THAT second plan is the TRUE comparison to the Civil War traitors on whom the 14th Amendment was first applied. Because the Confederacy’s plans involved killing the President and the Vice President and half the cabinet and burning down New York City and seizing Northern ports. And just because the Confederacy did not win the Civil War those plans did not miraculously disappear from the minds of the traitors. Just as Trump’s plans for what to do with one president too many did not miraculously disappear from HIS diseased and monomaniacal and traitorous mind. The 14th Amendment is Iabout what ELSE he was willing to do, and what horrors he is willing to precipitate today, and in 2024, and, god forbid, in January of 2029. ALSO: Trump's not an insurrectionist! He was so concerned about it he posted 11 whole words denying it. And as his lapdogs race to defend his paraphrases of Hitler, Trump undercut them again last night by repeating the "blood poisoning" line. He's also in even more insurrection trouble: turns out there's a RECORDING of his phone conversation pressuring Michigan Republicans to not certify Biden's win there in November, 2020. And Ronna McDaniel could go to jail - she's on the tape too, offering to pay for their lawyers. That is a bribe. And for comic relief, Rudy Giuliani has gone from Moral Bankruptcy to Actual Bankruptcy. He's filed for Chapter 11. And while he's unlikely to get it granted, he has revealed who he owes money to it and the list somehow includes Hunter Biden! It's so bad it has inspired yet more "singing" on the part of your deluded tone deaf host. B-Block (28:15) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Rep. Tim Burchett thinks there are Republicans in the House being blackmailed with honey pots. He describes in stark detail (as if he were in the room when it happened!) what that would've been like. Kiss The Washington Post goodbye; its new publisher was a Murdoch editor. And John Schneider threatens Biden again. John Schneider. The actor. The guy from 'Dukes Of Hazzard.' The actor you thought was DEAD. C-Block (34:40) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: Only one way to close out 2023: with James Thurber's amazingly prescient saga of a man everyone thinks is a hero but is in fact a nightmare who must be stopped: "The Greatest Man In The World." And no, he wrote this 15 years before Trump was born. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 21, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 96: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: There are still some around him who want him to stay above the fray on Trump and to stay above the fray on Trump morphing into Baby Hitler and especially to stay above the NEW fray on Trump and the 14th Amendment and your newest Hallmark Movie: A Trumpy Christmas At The Supreme Court. But frankly, President Biden is at his best, his BEST, when HE is the spokesman for a nation dedicated to using all legal means to save this nation from Trump. He is not merely the President; he has a natural, perfect touch - blending matter-of-factness and the collective anger of 200 million Americans. Yesterday, tarmac at Milwaukee, Air Force One roaring in the background: Reporter: "Is Trump an insurrectionist?" Biden: "Certain things are self-evident. You saw it all. Now, whether the 14th Amendment applies, I’ll let the court make that decision. But he certainly supported an insurrection. No question about it. None. Zero. And he seems to be doubling down on - about everything." No one can REMIND you of the obviousness of an answer more efficiently yet without any sense of condescension or correction than Joe Biden. No one. Now - do it every day. ALSO: This is a good moment to review the scholarly study of the 14th Amendment that really touched all this off. It was co-authored by the former clerk to Chief Justice John Roberts, and a conservative constitutional law professor so revered that his resume is 35 pages long. It's also a good moment to take a second look at Dementia J. Trump's bizarre flex about echoing Hitler. "I've never read 'Mein Kampf'" was followed by something even stranger - acknowledging that sure he and Hitler are saying the same things, just in different ways. It's another instant Biden ad, at the echelon of LBJ's "Daisy" Commercial from 1964. So I made one. B-BLOCK (30:15) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Kellyanne Conway is back with something stupid. Next question: does she really exist or is she a dedicated comedian devoted to a bit, like the guy who portrayed Dame Edna? Charlie Kirk turns a rule about keeping highway rest stops open on Sunday into a battle of The Democrats Versus The Jesus. And Kari Lake is about to get Rudied. Sued by a Republican Arizona election official she slandered, she moved to dismiss and assumed it would be. It isn’t. She’s going to trial for defamation. C-BLOCK (36:15) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The leadership of ESPN’s famed P.R. department just switched from my friend Chris LaPlaca to my friend Josh Krulewitz. And that made me think of the time nearly 27 years ago when I left ESPN forever (well, only to return in 2005. And again in 2013. And again again in 2018). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 20, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 95: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: It's historic, it's epic, it's unprecedented, it's just the start of a landslide of events in which the will of the nation to take every precaution against giving Trump the chance to turn us into his totalitarian, Hitlerian state will crash against a Supreme Court torn between serving its money-paying fascist masters, and enraging the public just enough to threaten its continued existence. Plus, we've kinda buried the lede: the clock is already clicking on the Colorado State Supreme Court's verdict that the Disqualification Clause of the 14th Amendment does TOO preclude Trump from appearing on the state's presidential ballot (or its Republican primary ballot). Circumstances and printing deadlines give the United States Supreme Court just SEVENTEEN DAYS to overrule, or at least agree to hear an attempt TO overrule (and six of those days are Saturdays, Sundays, and/or Holidays). Also the verdict? It came on an unlikely anniversary. It'll be wild. JUST TO EMPHASIZE THE POINT HERE: Trump quadrupled down on his "destroying the blood" HItler rhetoric last night in Iowa, condemning immigrants. And he artfully denied he had ever read Mein Kampf (he's right; the book he kept by his beside in the '80s according to his first wife was "My New Order" - Hitler's favorite speeches). And thank you, Senator Tommy Tuberville. He's criticized Trump for NOT USING STRONG ENOUGH LANGUAGE against immigrants. Tommy lost too many games without a helmet. B-BLOCK (28:50) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Fox Baseball commentator says he's not afraid to say Shohei Ohtani is the "most important signing" in Dodgers history. Huh. Woulda thought that Jackie Robinson guy was still more important. Lawyers dump a Trump co-defendant. Glenn Beck flunky Jason Whitlock pushes for ending votes for women. C-BLOCK (35:35) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Since we’re talking about the Colorado Supreme Court and the 14th Amendment and the Conservatives and how they have had their way with this country for a quarter century, especially at the Supreme Court, maybe it’s time to mention the time I dated a conservative pundit who A) confirmed the vast right wing conspiracy postulated by Hillary Clinton, denying only that it was “vast” and B) was herself a former clerk to a Supreme Court Justice and C) who took me on our first date – of TWO – TO the Supreme Court where she arranged for me to sit… in Clarence Thomas’s chair. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 20, 2023

SERIES 2 EPISODE 94: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) BULLETIN: In a historic decision validating the obvious intent of the Disqualification Clause of the 14th Amendment, Colorado's State Supreme Court has ruled Trump is NOT eligible to appear on the state's ballot as a candidate for president next year because he participated in an insurrection against the United States of America. The decision is likely to spawn a wave of copycat cases (and remember previous rulings in Arizona, Michigan and Minnesota did NOT rule the other way; they pertained only to knocking Trump off the Republican PRIMARY ballot) and will of course go to the federal Supreme Court. Where the justices won't have much to decide. Only the future of the nation and the prospect of civil unrest. The rest of this bulletin is a repeat of Tuesday's full 93rd episode of Countdown. (11:51) SPECIAL COMMENT: In his three-day orgy of insults, expanding his list of those who are "poisoning our nation's blood" from Hispanics to Africans and Asians, praising dictators and echoing Hitler, it's understandable that most of us missed it. But Trump also explained the one rug that will really tie his totalitarian room together: he's going to indemnify the police. Translation: under Trump, the cops can kill George Floyd and be certain they will face no legal liability. They can kill YOU and be certain they will face no legal liability. It is literally a license to kill, a license granted to the 700,000 police officers at all state and city levels in this nation. Who already have weapons. Who already have tanks. Who already have affinity to Trump and the fascism and white supremacism he's selling. And now they will be freed of all restraint. And they'll owe that freedom to Trump. They will become Trump's stormtroopers and his little SS. And if invoking the Insurrection Act to use the National Guard against unarmed civilians is too sharp-edged for some of his under-Fuhrers, Trump can simply dispatch local cops to shoot up a Black Lives Matter protest. Or an anti-Cop City protest. Or just an anti-Trump protest. It may be his most totalitarian revelation since. And naturally, the New York Times follows it with an op-ed titled "The Secret of Trump’s Appeal Isn’t Authoritarianism” and Axios begins the last full business week of the year with 1,000 words on Trump and not one of them mentions his plan to take over the cops or his quoting Hitler or his praising Xi and Kim. Jim Vandehei and Mike Allen have shown that they - and so many other institutions we think would recoil from authoritarianism - are in fact ready to serve them, just as long as they can continue to make profits. Axios has 1,000 words on Trump and they are all positive and normalizing and praising him fo having "much greater power than in his first term and fewer restraints on carrying out his political agenda.” His political agenda is Totalitarianism, you useless slobs. B-Block (32:29) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Ruby Goodman and Shaye Moss are awarded $148 million from Giuliani. Giuliani re-slanders them. They sue again. He re-re-slanders them against last night. Clarence Thomas wasn't being bought; he was prostituting himself. Congressmen ask him to recuse. Mayor Eric Adams says NYC is the greatest because any day could be 9/11. (38:17 THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Wreaths Across America, Laura Loomer and the Senate staffer who was just, uh, receiving testimony. And the new allegation: that wasn't the first staffer CPAC's Matt Schlapp allegedly groped. C-Block (45:17 THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Tells you something that a week ago somebody who didn't know asked me about the legendary sportscaster for whom I interned in 1978. That means he's been famous for 80 years, the last 10 of them after he passed away. The story of The Amazin' Bill Mazer. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 19, 2023

A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: In his three-day orgy of insults, expanding his list of those who are "poisoning our nation's blood" from Hispanics to Africans and Asians, praising dictators and echoing Hitler, it's understandable that most of us missed it. But Trump also explained the one rug that will really tie his totalitarian room together: he's going to indemnify the police. Translation: under Trump, the cops can kill George Floyd and be certain they will face no legal liability. They can kill YOU and be certain they will face no legal liability. It is literally a license to kill, a license granted to the 700,000 police officers at all state and city levels in this nation. Who already have weapons. Who already have tanks. Who already have affinity to Trump and the fascism and white supremacism he's selling. And now they will be freed of all restraint. And they'll owe that freedom to Trump. They will become Trump's stormtroopers and his little SS. And if invoking the Insurrection Act to use the National Guard against unarmed civilians is too sharp-edged for some of his under-Fuhrers, Trump can simply dispatch local cops to shoot up a Black Lives Matter protest. Or an anti-Cop City protest. Or just an anti-Trump protest. It may be his most totalitarian revelation since. And naturally, the New York Times follows it with an op-ed titled "The Secret of Trump’s Appeal Isn’t Authoritarianism” and Axios begins the last full business week of the year with 1,000 words on Trump and not one of them mentions his plan to take over the cops or his quoting Hitler or his praising Xi and Kim. Jim Vandehei and Mike Allen have shown that they - and so many other institutions we think would recoil from authoritarianism - are in fact ready to serve them, just as long as they can continue to make profits. Axios has 1,000 words on Trump and they are all positive and normalizing and praising him fo having "much greater power than in his first term and fewer restraints on carrying out his political agenda.” His political agenda is Totalitarianism, you useless slobs. B-Block (22:22) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Ruby Goodman and Shaye Moss are awarded $148 million from Giuliani. Giuliani re-slanders them. They sue again. He re-re-slanders them against last night. Clarence Thomas wasn't being bought; he was prostituting himself. Congressmen ask him to recuse. Mayor Eric Adams says NYC is the greatest because any day could be 9/11. (28:10) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Wreaths Across America, Laura Loomer and the Senate staffer who was just, uh, receiving testimony. And the new allegation: that wasn't the first staffer CPAC's Matt Schlapp allegedly groped. C-Block (35:10) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Tells you something that a week ago somebody who didn't know asked me about the legendary sportscaster for whom I interned in 1978. That means he's been famous for 80 years, the last 10 of them after he passed away. The story of The Amazin' Bill Mazer. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 15, 2023

SERIES 2 EPISODE 92: BULLETIN EDITION/COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN BULLETIN: (1:40) In literally his last 24 hours in office, Donald Trump ordered a 10-inch thick binder of raw, ultra-secret intelligence about Russia interference, spying, and disinformation in this country - and American means of uncovering it - brought to the White House. He began to declassify it over the objection of every intelligence chief. His chief of staff Mark Meadows summoned disgraced ex-journalist John Solomon to the White House and handed him countless pages of the vital classified intelligence and a Solomon staffer "was even allowed to leave the White House with the declassified records in a paper bag.” The original unredacted binder, containing thousands of pages, has never been recovered in the nearly three years since it was last seen in Trump's hands. This comes from a new report this morning from CNN - startling even in the context of Trump's previously revealed treachery, treason, and intelligence theft. The implications of the report are obvious: Trump may still have the binder. Or he may have given it to someone else (the report implicates his former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows). Or he may have given it to a foreign country. Or sold it. And perhaps more importantly: WHAT did Trump hope to achieve by giving its contents to John Solomon the night before Joe Biden's 2021 inauguration? Solomon was literally stopped as he scanned the documents, presumably for publication, by White House lawyers who demanded he return what Trump had given him. Was Trump hoping that the small percentage of documents that pertained to "Operation Crossfire Hurricane" would serve as a pretext for him to act to STOP the Biden Inauguration by using the Insurrection Act, or by other pretext, and with the military's help? Is this nightmare of Trump stealing thousands of pages of intelligence about Russia's perfidy in our country - its violation of our national borders - its virtual invasion of our country, simply the preface for a darker plot in which Trump would have used the material as an excuse to illegally remain in power? Does he still have the binder? Does he still have the plan? (14:35) SPECIAL COMMENT: After spending their lives as bullies, Donald John Trump and Rudolph William Louis Giuliani will go out as cowards. Guess who did NOT testify yesterday as testimony ended in the Ruby Freeman/Shay Moss/Rudy Giuliani case? Yes, the defendant, who had promised after court Monday and Tuesday that he would testify, prove that he was telling the truth about them, and that they were lying about him. Instead, his lawyer was reduced to painting Giuliani as a pathetic "flat-earther" who could never process reality. Giuliani said nothing as the case concluded and the jury deliberated for three hours what he should make out the check for - and they didn't reach a conclusion. When it takes jurors more than one day to decide how much money you owe the people you lied about, guess what: you’re going to owe the people you lied about… eleventy billion dollars. It has been quite the week for Trumpian cowardice, led by Trump himself, because if the whole Giuliani "I'll prove I'm right" posturing sounds familiar, Trump did the SAME THING this week. He vowed to tell the truth – under oath - about the New York Business Fraud judge and the clerk and the attorney general and then suddenly, he vanished. Cowardice was on sale at popular prices in Trump-land this week. In ATLANTA yesterday the letters of apology required for the plea deals for Trump 19 confessed conspirators Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesbro were obtained through a Public Records Act motion and combined they stretched to just 26 words. The importance of Giuliani and Trump wimping out is that it underscores that when the spit hits the fan, the bullies ARE the first to run. The lesson in this is simple: hit them. Hit them every day. Hit them with every lawsuit, every indictment, every protest, every public mockery, every embarrassment. Hit them with everything you have, every day, for the rest of their lives. Because what Trump proved by NOT being in a New York courtroom Monday, and what Giuliani proved by squirming at the defense table yesterday, is that you CAN break them. Both of them. Maybe not all at once, maybe not permanently. But they cannot bullshit their way out of EVERYTHING. ALSO: You'll never believe how bad Vivek Ramaswamy's CNN ratings were. Or Charles Barkley's. And guess what else is back? Cajun Congressman Clay Higgins' "Ghost Buses" delusion. Except now they're MISSING! Complete with an interview by delusional ex-reporter Lara Logan. And her show literally opens with video of Logan playing in traffic. B-Block (36:53) IN SPORTS: Gene Carr, "The New Kid In Town," and Ken MacKenzie of the 1962 Mets, in memoriam (42:24) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Elon Musk says an anti-fraud law is a violation of the 1st Amendment. Kevin McCarthy puts the artificial in Artificial Intelligence. And what kind of act could the New York GOP find to follow George Santos? How about a registered Democrat whose name is spelled Nazi - only with an "M." C-Block (48:05) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: An extraordinary Minnesota rescue is in danger of losing everything: 9 dogs and 130 more animals from Emus to Silky Chickens. (49:10) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: Man versus machine, reduced to Man versus Medicine Cabinet: "Nine Needles." And man versus transportation, reduced to mice: "The Mouse Who Went To The Country." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 15, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 91: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: After spending their lives as bullies, Donald John Trump and Rudolph William Louis Giuliani will go out as cowards. Guess who did NOT testify yesterday as testimony ended in the Ruby Freeman/Shay Moss/Rudy Giuliani case? Yes, the defendant, who had promised after court Monday and Tuesday that he would testify, prove that he was telling the truth about them, and that they were lying about him. Instead, his lawyer was reduced to painting Giuliani as a pathetic "flat-earther" who could never process reality. Giuliani said nothing as the case concluded and the jury deliberated for three hours what he should make out the check for - and they didn't reach a conclusion. When it takes jurors more than one day to decide how much money you owe the people you lied about, guess what: you’re going to owe the people you lied about… eleventy billion dollars. It has been quite the week for Trumpian cowardice, led by Trump himself, because if the whole Giuliani "I'll prove I'm right" posturing sounds familiar, Trump did the SAME THING this week. He vowed to tell the truth – under oath - about the New York Business Fraud judge and the clerk and the attorney general and then suddenly, he vanished. Cowardice was on sale at popular prices in Trump-land this week. In ATLANTA yesterday the letters of apology required for the plea deals for Trump 19 confessed conspirators Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesbro were obtained through a Public Records Act motion and combined they stretched to just 26 words. The importance of Giuliani and Trump wimping out is that it underscores that when the spit hits the fan, the bullies ARE the first to run. The lesson in this is simple: hit them. Hit them every day. Hit them with every lawsuit, every indictment, every protest, every public mockery, every embarrassment. Hit them with everything you have, every day, for the rest of their lives. Because what Trump proved by NOT being in a New York courtroom Monday, and what Giuliani proved by squirming at the defense table yesterday, is that you CAN break them. Both of them. Maybe not all at once, maybe not permanently. But they cannot bullshit their way out of EVERYTHING. ALSO: You'll never believe how bad Vivek Ramaswamy's CNN ratings were. Or Charles Barkley's. And guess what else is back? Cajun Congressman Clay Higgins' "Ghost Buses" delusion. Except now they're MISSING! Complete with an interview by delusional ex-reporter Lara Logan. And her show literally opens with video of Logan playing in traffic. B-Block (23:48) IN SPORTS: Gene Carr, "The New Kid In Town," and Ken MacKenzie of the 1962 Mets, in memoriam (29:19) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Elon Musk says an anti-fraud law is a violation of the 1st Amendment. Kevin McCarthy puts the artificial in Artificial Intelligence. And what kind of act could the New York GOP find to follow George Santos? How about a registered Democrat whose name is spelled Nazi - only with an "M." C-Block (35:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: An extraordinary Minnesota rescue is in danger of losing everything: 9 dogs and 130 more animals from Emus to Silky Chickens. (36:05) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: Man versus machine, reduced to Man versus Medicine Cabinet: "Nine Needles." And man versus transportation, reduced to mice: "The Mouse Who Went To The Country." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 14, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 90: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Dementia J. Trump has really lived up to the name. Or - DOWN to it. In a jaw-dropping development, even for him, even for his declining acuity, even in the vast Fog of Trump, he has just endorsed TWO rival candidates in the same congressional Republican primary. Saturday, at the Young Republicans banquet, Trump endorses Bo Hines, hoping to be chosen as the Republican running for North Carolina’s 6th Congressional District. Then yesterday, Trump writes “Addison McDowell just announced he is running for North Carolina’s 6th Congressional District… has my Complete and Total endorsement." There are SIX Republicans in the primary. Plenty of time for Trump to endorse all six of them. The primary isn’t until the 5th of March. This should stop being a surprise. The man is mentally impaired, declining fast, doesn’t know which number World War the NEXT World War would be, continually confuses Obama for Biden, doesn’t know what city he’s in, thinks Hungary’s Viktor Orban is the dictator of Turkey, and this is after he STARTED with any one (or more) of a dozen psychological and maybe physiological problems that could be summarized under the heading “his brain doesn’t work right.” It is not just a question of what Trump would do that he wanted to do but thought he couldn’t get away with the first time. It is also a question of what Trump would do that he would never know he was doing – out of sheer mental incapacitation. Like endorsing two candidates in the same race. Within 89 hours. Just to put a cherry on top of this cake of crazy, as I was recording the podcast Trump was speaking in Iowa. He was supposed to boast about the "U.S. Economy." But he didn't say that. He said the "Eunice Economy." Eunice. So good economic news for anybody named Eunice. Also: Hunter Biden humiliates Jim Comer and Jim Jordan, and the Republicans address the danger that Joe Biden is to America by launching a formal inquiry into impeaching him and then immediately going on vacation for the rest of the year. The show trial impeachment of Joe Biden is SO fraudulent that it has even by noticed by Chuck Todd, who has written 1,947 of the dumbest words imaginable on the topic, including the idea - as if he had dreamt it up - that the concept of impeachment has now been diluted. What Chuck did not mention but I will, is the role NBC News played on the day impeachment - and our original form of government - died. September 21, 1998, the day NBC and all the other networks prostituted themselves to the GOP and ran, unseen and unedited and without any context, Bill Clinton's Grand Jury testimony that had been illegally given to the Republican-run House Judiciary Committee and then illegally broadcast on all the networks while not one of tv's "journalists" made one complaint. It was before Chuck's time at NBC. It was NOT before mine. B-Block (27:21) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Running the gamut from Twitter-X to Tesla to putting his thumb on the finger for Republican politicians, Elon Musk wins all three medals. C-Block (34:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Any one, in any profession, can have a similar experience. But only in broadcasting does it signal the death of your youth. "Hey," your new colleague says. "I used to listen to you when I was a KID." I've been on both sides of the equation and I'll tell you those stories. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 13, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 89: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The Republican Party, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vladimir Putin and the government of Russia, faced - to paraphrase Churchill - the bleak choice between war and shame. It has chosen shame. And it will get war thrown in, a little later. This, simply, is true: THE UNITED STATES is not helping UKRAINE… UKRAINE is helping the United States. It is fighting OUR war: at the cost of ITS lives, at the cost of ITS territory, at the cost of the existence through which its people must suffer. To protect US from Russia. And the Republicans are sending him home to, in all probability, watch his nation and his people die, because the Republicans are no longer connected, in any way, to reality. ALL issues are political machinations. ALL crises are opportunities. ALL good causes are to be held hostage so that fascism in America can take away a little more freedom and even more morality from the nation the Republican Party has raped. Once again, to re-purpose the infamous George W. Bush phrase – fighting them over there, so we don’t have to fight them over HERE. THEY are the Russians and THEIR fascist madman’s dreams are as non-secret as ours is. He wants to reestablish the size and composition of the Soviet Union. That’s all of Ukraine. Estonia. Georgia. Belarus, Latvia, half a dozen more. That’s control-by-proxy of what is now Czechia and Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Albania, Poland, and half of Germany. Putin’s response? The Russians have already carpet-bombed Kiev this morning. And the Republican Party held THE DOOR OPEN FOR THEM, just as it tried to hold the door open for Adolf Hitler to subsume Europe 85 years ago. It will let him in and blame the Democrats about the Mexican border because the Republicans and the Republicans alone see a connection between a foreign dictator trying to absorb our allies and re-start the full-scale cold war, and immigration which the Republicans don’t actually want to SOLVE anyway because the point of the quote “border crisis” is to make sure there always IS a border crisis so the Republicans can scare their voters with it. And yet when Joe Biden says fine, we can couple these unrelated issues, let’s resolve everything, the Republicans say no. And we’re going on vacation. And Mike Johnson will need to see a detailed play script on exactly how Volodomir Zelensky is going to win and you think, man would I like to see Mike Johnson at the Ukrainian front and get to watch him break all land speed records while running away. PLUS: A Democratic Congressman finally nails down what the Republicans want to impeach Biden FOR. "High crimes and misdemeanors." But what EVENT? "That's why we're having an inquiry." But which ACT? "I don't have time to go into details." They're going to charge him with being WOKE. Or with illegally fathering Hunter Biden. Hell, that idiot Giuliani worked Hunter Biden into his latest paranoid theory about his trial for slandering the two Georgia Election Workers. B-Block (22:45) IN SPORTS: It's the greatest bad clip of sports play-by-play ever. The punch line is, we don't know the NAME of the hockey announcer, just that he describes a goal with "Look at that, look at this look at that." Speaking of bad, Tony Romo called Taylor Swift WHAT? (26:50) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The climate change conference that doesn't call for an end to fossil fuels; Morning Joe confuses everybody (how is this news?) and your own piece of the suit Trump was wearing when they arrested him - for only $4653. As the joke goes, good news for Trump's finances. There's a lot of fabric when you wear an XXXXXL C-Block (42:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: We are hovering near the 27th anniversary of the day I fell off a cliff shooting a Boston Market TV commercial. "Eat something," I said. And then - I did. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 12, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 88: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Jack Smith dares our corrupt Supreme Court to answer the decisive question right here, right now: If Dementia J. Trump is right and he didn't just make up this "Presidential Immunity" bullshit out of whole cloth, why did Ford pardon Nixon? Why did Nixon negotiate a pardon with Ford before he resigned? Why did Trump say just three months ago he was advised to pardon himself, and that if elected again he would consider a self-pardon? Smith's bold move to get the Supreme Court to decide this ultimate question will, if nothing else, cut Trump's endless stalls off at the pass. But with Samuel Alito just yesterday issuing a dissent in another case that might as well have been pulled off one of Trump's insane ALL CAPS SOCIAL MEDIA WORDGASMS, might Alito lead SCOTUS into a disaster just horrific enough to destroy itself and the nation by siding with Trump's ahistorical, unconstitutional crap? ALSO: On Day One of their trial, Giuliani's lawyer assures us he knows he did wrong and shouldn't be punished for slandering the two Georgia poll workers. Then Rudy goes out and slanders them again. Trump's mental deterioration is so obvious it was noticed even by Megyn Kelly (who looks like she could star in a re-make of "Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS"). And his "dictator" remarks are so obviously dangerous that even Peter Baker and The New York Times noticed - and the Trump campaign is trying to get him to ix-nay the ictatorship-day. B-Block (20:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Their political grandfathers wanted to appease Hitler and give him England and the Jews. Today's GOP is meeting with representatives of Hungarian strongman Orban to try to appease Putin and give him Ukraine and NATO. (24:37) IN SPORTS: Shohei Ohtani is both selfless and selfish. He will defer $68 million a year of his $70 million salary, giving his new Dodger employers a huge break in the baseball "luxury tax" - and himself on the real California state tax. And what happened to that Ohtani-To-Toronto story? My bet, from having seen it occur to another brilliant sports reporter, is that Jon Paul Morosi didn't screw up; his source did - or lied to him. I'll tell you the Jim Lampley/Larry Brown story. And I'll SING ABOUT MOROSI AND OHTANI. (34:31) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Vivek Ramaswamy's most cogent statement ever: leaves the mike on during a bathroom break. Climate deniers will get to watch another previously unconsidered disaster unfold. And Nancy Mace and her fiancé broke up? A class dame like her what talks about morning sex at a prayer breakfast? c-Block (39:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: You are welcome to skip this, but I found a cassette over the weekend. It is a bunch of sportscasts recorded the week of my 18th birthday. The voice is high, the predictions are startlingly good. As are the cameos. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 8, 2023

SERIES 2 EPISODE 87: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Dictator-On-Day-One Trump continues to measure the windows for the new curtains in his White House, and I don’t know if that has been PROCESSED on the fascist side or if we have properly done so on the, you know, Non-Dictatorship Side but it is increasingly obvious that Trump is increasingly confident that he will seize power next year. That is the ONLY possible explanation for what he has now done: leaking, to the gullible and willing stenographers from Axios Mike Allen and Jim Vandehei for publication yesterday, a set of choices for his administration that would make Jair Bolsonaro blush: Vice President Tucker Carlson, Chief of Staff Steve Bannon, CIA Director Kash Patel, Attorney General Stephen Miller, or Attorney General Mike Davis, or Attorney General J.D. Vance, Secretary of Defense Tom Cotton, Secretary of Denial Kari Lake, Secretaries-of-to-be-announced Kristi Noem, Byron Donalds, Johnny McEntee, and of course Secretary of Lecterns Sarah Huckabee. We will never fully now, not even after the autopsy, what PRECISELY is wrong with Trump’s brain but it seems clear that whatever it is one of its symptoms is that he must convince himself that he IS winning, WILL win, will ALWAYS win. Jack Smith is right and he IS a serial election denier but it’s deeper than that: at his advanced age and with his advanced diseases, if he ever believed he was defeated, he would die – figuratively or maybe literally. So the greatest relief he could possibly have would be to believe, 334 days before it happens, that he has already won the 2024 election and that is how he is behaving and I’m not sure WHAT to do with that but it HAS to make him sloppy and vulnerable and better minds than ours can problem figure out which soft spot on his head to PUSH. What VALUE is there in saying “here’s Tucker Carlson: psychopathic white supremacist whose career stability makes Keith Olbermann’s look like that of Bob Cratchit – I’m going to put him in government. Along with Kari Lake, whose highest elected office was weekend weather-girl in Rock Island.” It’s the kind of things you do NOT to rally your base and NOT to scare your opponents but because you really can’t STOP yourself from doing them, and suddenly you are more convinced than ever than you can get away with them. And if that isn’t a motto for the entire Trump Nazi Party I don’t know what is. PLUS: Matt Gaetz is about to get Robespierred, J.D. Vance wants to get a head start on prosecutor writers. And competing January 6 Truthers fight it out over whose bullshit is true. (17:35) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: MAGA Congresswoman McClain makes a fool of herself but not as much as would-be MAGA Congressman Philip Sean Grillo does. The NFL coach who really doesn't have to "hand it to" the 9/11 plotters. Poor Nick Fuentes and Vivek Ramaswamy pushing white supremacy without realizing that if the Trumpers run out of brown immigrants, the next people they'll purge will be... Fuentes and Ramaswamy. B-Block (33:31) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: Mr. Preble Gets Rid Of His Wife C-Block (43:32) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: A Box To Hide In See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 7, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 86: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The seven justices of the Supreme Court have given no indication HOW they will rule on Trump’s disqualification under the 14th Amendment and they have given no indication WHEN they will rule but here’s a bigger issue: They have no RIGHT to rule. The 14th Amendment clearly, unquestionably, inarguably, and ETERNALLY states that an insurrectionist can’t serve in an elected federal or state office, or a lot of other offices, and it doesn’t allow anybody to overrule the Constitution because the 14th Amendment already HAS a means for disqualified traitors to appeal – the drafters OF the 14thAmendment BUILT THAT REMEDY IN - and they have already designated two bodies to overrule disqualification under special circumstances, and those bodies are the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate and if they each vote by two-thirds to let Trump back on the ballot, he’s back on the ballot. That is, for all practical purposes, IN the Constitution! And if they DON’T, he's not. That is also, for all practical purposes, in the Constitution! And we KNOW this because it was written, principally, by Congressman John Bingham, a Radical Republican who not only was one of the House Managers for the IMPEACHMENT of President Johnson, but earlier Bingham had been the Assistant Judge Advocate General during the trial of the accomplices of the man who murdered Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth. And if John Bingham’s attitude towards insurrectionists wasn’t clear enough from the 14thAmendment and the completely justified slow roasting of President Andrew Johnson – just a reminder: the eight co-conspirators charged in the Lincoln Assassination that the co-author of the 14th Amendment PROSECUTED included Mrs. Mary Surratt who ran the boarding house where the conspirators met, and the stagehand at Ford’s Theater who did nothing more than hold Booth’s horse while he went in and murdered the president. They HANGED half of the defendants – including the woman who ran the boarding house. Three of the other four were given life sentences. The guy who held the horse got six years at hard labor. They DID make a concession to Mrs. Surratt. While they were preparing to hang her and the others they let her sit in a chair. The authors of the 14th Amendment weren’t EFFING AROUND. Plus: I've GOT it. I've GOT President Biden's version of the famous only-ran-once only-needed-to-run once Lyndon Johnson 1964 "Daisy" commercial. YOU'RE WELCOME. B-Block (24:46) IN SPORTS: After just 5-1/2 years of rumors: Juan Soto to the Yankees? The White Sox to Nashville? And why, yes, I did sell a 1914 Babe Ruth Baltimore Orioles rookie card for seven figures - why do you ask? (33:56) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: NYC Mayor Adams (appointed, he says, by God) has an approval rating of 28%. RFK Jr confesses to flying on Jeffrey Epstein's jet. Musk lets Carlson re-platform Jones on Twitter. C-Block (38:45) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The fanciness of the British accent trips me up on my way to interviewing Mickey Mantle. Also the guy WITH the woman with the fancy British accent was wearing a CAPE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 6, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 85: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Jack Smith's Shocker: He will prosecute Trump on the premise that the January 6th Coup Attempt started in 2012. A new filing with the Judge indicates Smith will argue he tried to push this country over the edge and into violent revolution and dictatorship in November and December of 2020 and January 2021, Donald Trump was NOT RESPONDING to what he falsely believed was a stolen election. And he was NOT RESPONDING to faulty legal advice. And he was not RESPONDING to changing partial vote counts. And he was not RESPONDING to unexpected outcomes in swing states. It was all a plan. An EIGHT YEAR OLD plan. A well-rehearsed plan. The “Rigged Election” lie of 2020 began in 2012… when Trump tweeted after Obama’s re-election, quote: “He lost the popular vote by a lot; We should have a revolution in this country…" “We should march on Washington and stop this…” “The election is a sham and a travesty…” And - most familiarly - “Let’s fight like hell.” Plus, Smith introduces an unidentified co-conspirator, a Trump staffer who tried to start a riot to derail the counting of ballots in Detroit on November 4, 2020, and was the go-between from the campaign to the actual rioters in the arena. Plus: the same day I suggest using the insurrection act against Trump, Steve Bannon and Kash Patel promise to jail journalists and Democrats and destroy government, and the Speaker of the House says he will release all remaining January 6 video but blur the faces of people on it so they cannot be prosecuted. It's literally lawless obstruction of justice. We are, AGAIN, at the political equivalent of the moment in the movie Rosemary’s Baby when Mia Farrow shakes off the drugs and the anesthetics and the gaslighting and shouts “This is no dream! This is really happening!” Use the tools we have, no matter how blunt they are, rather than leave them to be used against us. B-Block (27:05) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Johnson signs off on impeachment, Nehls admits it's being done just to give Trump "ammo," Gomer Comer stumbles over his explanation, Mitt Romney, grandson of a political refugee from Mexico, wants a sealed border, Nancy Mace loses another reason to get out of bed in the morning. (31:30) IN SPORTS: I'm going to assume Ohtani is NOT going anywhere that's been in the news. And taxpayer dollars to get a football team into a playoff? (37:41) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Julie Kelly doesn't understand laws, Thomas Massie does an antisemitism, and Ronna McDaniel is the latest to not know who was president in 2020. C-Block (41:52) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Tales of Ted Turner and me and the unlikely guy who wrote me a fan letter about a previous story I did on Ted. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 5, 2023

SERIES 2 EPISODE 84: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Here's an idea. What if - instead of waiting for Trump to manipulate our system and get elected again and use The Insurrection Act against AMERICA, we just used it against him - today? It's not like he's not guilty of... you know... INSURRECTION. B-Block (28:03) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Deadline nears on Ukraine $: How could the GOP be anti-gun? Witness tampering in the Georgia Trump case (with singing). The online Mehdi Hasan petition exceeds 15,000. Trump calls Jimmy Carter "The First Lady" and never even notices. (33:13) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: COP28 actually put a UAE Oil Sultan in charge and they're all shocked he denied fossil fuels are killing the planet. Trump Diapers now on sale. And Christian Ziegler is not only in huge legal trouble, but the other woman was only really interested in his Missus. C-Block (38:36) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I guess because I'm suggesting using The Insurrection Act to SAVE America rather than leaving it for Trump to use to DESTROY America, I want to tell the saga of "A Christmas Story" and how Little Ralphie finally figured out how to defeat the bully, Scut Farkas (by invoking the insurrection act!) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec 1, 2023

SERIES 2 EPISODE 83: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: I’d like to apologize for what MSNBC has become. Again. I'd like to apologize AGAIN for what MSNBC has become. They fired Mehdi Hasan yesterday. He hosted one hour a week on Sunday nights and it might have been the best hour on the network because while I don’t know that I agreed with even MOST of what he said, he wasn’t doctrinaire and he didn’t simply repeat what Maddow says and he didn’t pretend to be a moderate because being a Trump propagandist didn’t work out for him like Scarborough does and he didn’t struggle to read a prompter full of Democratic Party talking points like Joy Reid does and to my knowledge he never fell asleep on the air like Andrea Mitchell does nor cause the viewer to fall asleep like Hayes and O’Donnell do. I do NOT know for certain why they fired him, I do NOT know if he said something about the Middle East they did not like, I do not know if the timing was coincidental. Let’s put it this way: they either fired him for his Middle East opinions DURING conflict in the Middle East OR they fired him for something else DURING conflict in the Middle East and thus made themselves look guilty of firing him for his Middle East opinions anyway. Just as important as the continuing asinine and ignorant conduct of the management of MSNBC and NBC and NBC News is the issue of personal integrity of the people at what is god help us the closest thing to a liberal news network in this country. MORE important than the FIRING of Mehdi Hasan, is the response from MSNBC’s stars about the firing of Mehdi Hasan. Want to read what Maddow and O’Donnell and Hayes and Wagner and Reid and everybody else said about this: Wanna read it again? The POINT of HAVING the money IS that you SHOULD say "F YOU" to somebody at least once in your life. Not like Musk did; saying it to people who for some reason don’t want their ads next to antisemitic and Pizzagate posts. But in DEFENSE of something. FOR something. If there are three people at NBC – hell, three people in NEWS – three people in TELEVISION – who can at least get away with a loud pointed protest – hell, can get away with saying “If Mehdi Hasan goes or if Tiffany Cross goes or if we keep diluting our product down to badly rewritten Democratic Party press releases, we’re on strike” – if there are THREE people in media – besides like Taylor Swift - who can say “We are standing on our principles” and will LIVE TO TELL ABOUT IT, it’s Chris Hayes and Lawrence O’Donnell. Of course – you’ve gotta HAVE principles. ALSO the Judge Engoron Trump gag order is back in place and Trump is still endangering the judge, his wife, and now his son. And Politico says the editorial that provoked Trump to revive the self-own "I will kill ObamaCare" not only revivified the ISSUE; it revivified Biden’s campaign. Emails went out within hours. Nancy Pelosi got on a press call Tuesday. Biden hit Trump on video Wednesday. Commercials are already running on the state level. And then the Wall Street Journal ran another editorial on ObamaCare… attacking… TRUMP. For his failure to repeal AND his failed response to their first editorial. Whereupon Trump replied by attacking… the Wall Street Journal by calling the paper quote “Globalist” and the Editorial Page a “mess.” The Editorial Page whose editorial about ObamaCare got him so excited that he again vowed to replace ObamaCare and thus revitalized the Biden campaign and I haven’t fully diagrammed this bizarre confluence of events but I think the gist of it is: if Biden is re-elected we can thank… The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board? B-Block (31:46) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: House Judiciary subpoenas Harlan Crow and Leonard Leo and enrages GOP. Good. Wanna guess how many copies Marjorie Greene's book sold in its first week? You need only three digits. And Henry Kissinger is dead. Are we certain? (37:35) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Even The Daily Caller has fired Tucker Carlson. Lanah Burkhardt and book banning for fun and profit. And Three's Company: Florida GOP Chief accused of sexual battery by a woman who says she and he and his wife - who is the co-founder of Moms For Liberty - had a long-standing menage-a-trois polygamy thing going on. Oh so it's THAT kind of liberty! Moms for three-ways! C-Block (44:32) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: The first time I've ever read aloud Thurber's death-by-a-thousand-cuts critique of Salvador Dali's autobiography. "The Secret Life Of James Thurber." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 30, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 82: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump has made a stochastic threat against the President of the United States: “Joe Biden should stop his Election Interfering Thugs before it is too late for him and the rest of the Country,” That is a threat and if you wrote it somewhere in public – depending on your rap sheet and past mental health – Secret Service might stop by for a visit. And Trump’s rap sheet includes manifest and growing clinical insanity. Oh and an attempt to violently overthrow the government of the United States. In the same post: “He’s got the Justice Department and others suing me… it opens up a very big and dangerous pandora’s box” which is yet another stochastic call for somebody to attack the Justice Department or its leaders or Jack Smith or all of the above, to say nothing of what – if he keeps saying it this loudly this often, voters might actually notice – is the hundredth repetition of his promise that he will actually do what he’s falsely claiming is being done to him – what he already DID do on a small scale – use the DOJ as a personal tool for revenge and suppression of any opposition. Trump also attacked Judge Engoron’s clerk and his wife: “Judge Engoron’s Trump Hating wife, together with his very disturbed and angry law clerk, have taken over control of the New York State Witch Hunt Trial aimed at me…” Again, this is the clerk he has doxxed, and now threatened; and added to this is Engoron’s wife. Five times in just four minutes yesterday Trump posted screenshots sent to him by the lunatic Laura Loomr of posts a Twitter-X account with various anti-Trump memes, over which Trump wrote “This is the judge’s wife saying this” and “Another from Judge Engoron’s Wife” and “Yet another from Judge Engoron’s wife” and “Judge Engoron’s Wife” and finally he ran out and just repeated “Judge Engoron’s Wife.”Spoiler alert: it’s NOT Judge Engoron’s Wife. 22 days ago she told Newsweek quote “I do not have a Twitter account. This is not me. I have not posted any anti-Trump messages.” Even if Mrs. Engoron IS somehow lying, boldly and on-the-record and with no wiggle room of course as we know, what a judge’s wife does in her life or on social media is immediate grounds for the judge’s impeachment. Right Ginni Thomas? And if he wasn’t self-destructing when he endorsed the Anti-semitic Great Replacement theory last week, or if he wasn’t self-destructing when he endorsed Pizzagate on Tuesday, he WAS self-destructing at the New York Times Dealbook Summit yesterday, daring advertisers not to advertise, implying no one could blackmail him with mere money. And congrats to interviewer Andrew Ross Sorkin for not getting any of it on him when Musk turned into a human debris field. A lesson, kids: never let them inject the Ozempic into your brain. B-Block (23:40) IN SPORTS: Aaron Rodgers plays a little football and doesn't rip anything. And could the biggest baseball import from Japan make his decision based on what uniform number a team is willing to give him? (29:09) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The cognitive decline of Sean Hannity, Ron DeSantis "literally" standing in front of a freight train, and I'm back on Twitter-X thanks to the firm hand of Lauren Boebert. C-Block (34:30) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Myra - and her unborn puppies - in Devore, Ca. (35:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Every year at this time I am reminded that a Major League Baseball team once managed to get me fired from a job I hadn't started at. Which means that since 2000 they have done that, as often as they've won the World Series. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 29, 2023

SERIES 2 EPISODE 81: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump is actually trying to keep his ass out of prison for subverting the 2020 election, by insisting that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. "Russia Russia Russia. And THAT, your honor, is the case for the defense of Dementia J. Trump" Trump is demanding that Judge Tonya Chutkan give his lawyers access to the FULL classified intelligence report proving the 2016 Russian interference, and so what if he’s spent seven uninterrupted years honking and bleating about “The Russia Hoax” and denigrating the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, while insisting there was no Russian interference and making it an article of faith within the Republican Cult that he was cleared of any Russian collusion and election subversion and so what if he WASN’T cleared of Russian collusion and election subversion because there WAS no Russian collusion and election subversion except now his defense is: there was TOO Russian collusion and election subversion. “Whereas the Special Counsel’s Office falsely alleges that President Trump ‘eroded public faith in the administration of the election,’” write his lawyers in a light night filing demanding more documents for their defense against Jack Smith’s Washington case, “the 2016 Election Intelligence Community Assessment uses strikingly similar language to attribute the origins of that erosion to foreign influence – that is, foreign efforts to ‘undermine public faith in the U-S democratic process,” Plus: Some of Mike Pence's interview with Jack Smith and his Grand Jury testimony has leaked and Trump could go to jail over the placement of a comma. In his book, Pence recounted that he spoke to Trump on Christmas Day of 2020 when the Pence-Can-Block-The-Certification Plot was already well underway. In the book Pence quotes himself as telling Trump – and the punctuation is essential: “You know, I don’t think I have the authority to change the outcome." But Pence told the investigators that the comma shouldn’t have been there at all and what he said was, quote, “You KNOW I don’t think I have the authority to change the outcome,” which suggests that Trump had begun to pressure – to threaten – Pence to violate the constitution at least 13 days before the January 6th coup attempt. And that is DAMNING. Not the colloquial “y’know” but “You KNOW I can’t do that.” And some of Liz Cheney's book is out and the shock of all shocks: Donald Trump has actually spent some of his adult life not eating: “She recounts the moment she first found out that McCarthy, fearing he had lost his ability to fundraise, secretly went to visit Trump at Mar-a-Lago just three weeks after the Jan. 6 attack. At first, Cheney thought the photo of the two men smiling and shaking hands was fake. But she was incredulous at McCarthy’s defense of his visit. He claimed Trump’s staff summoned him. “Mar-a-Lago? What the hell, Kevin?” Cheney asked. “They’re really worried,” McCarthy said. “Trump’s not eating, so they asked me to come see him.” “What? You went to Mar-a-Lago because Trump’s not eating?” Cheney responded. “Yeah, he’s really depressed,” McCarthy said. Oh have I got a couple jokes for YOU. B-Block (21:19) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Elon Musk insists on Twitter that Pizzagate is real and the only person who proved it wasn't has gone to jail for child porn. So I'm leaving Twitter. (27:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: BBC Washington anchor covers Rosalynn Carter memorial, mispronounces her first name THREE TIMES; Ron DeSantis may have helped kill a guy; Senator John Kennedy gets blown out of the water by a mild-mannered gun violence expert. C-Block (34:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: My friend who wrote all the original "This Is SportsCenter" commercials, Hank Perlman, visited yesterday. So it's time to review our greatest work, especially the famous Alexi Lalas Guitar Smash episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 28, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 80: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Somebody finally told Dementia J. Trump that he’s been calling Biden “Obama” for the last few months. So he has fabricated a backstory that whenever he has MADE this cognitive gaffe, it has been “sarcastic," so he could “indicate” that “others” may actually be running things. And just to sell this excuse even harder, Trump has now begun to do the one thing that could most easily give back his poll numbers, particularly his improving numbers with minorities; the one thing that could most easily destroy Trump’s arguments about inflation under Biden; the one thing that would be the answer to the Biden Campaign Team’s Prayers. He has attacked ObamaCare. He has insisted he and the Republicans should never give up on TERMINATING it - just when almost everybody had forgotten he failed to do it despite 29 promises that he would, and that he lost at least two elections on it. It's not just a political millstone he's put around his own neck and the neck of every other Republican. It could also cost Trump his recent gains among minority voters. 80% of blacks and nearly 70% of Hispanics support ObamaCare and because of ObamaCare the rate of the uninsured among blacks and Hispanics has dropped roughly in HALF since 2010; just when Trump and Biden and events had tilted the entire profile of the election into things that favored Trump, Trump just brought back from the dead, what might be the LAST issue in which Democrats completely kick Republican ass. An NBC poll two months ago said Democrats are trusted by 2 to 1 over Republicans on Health Care. To sum it up, as an unnamed Biden adviser said: “It’s almost perfect that Trump would pick the ONE thing they haven’t really put front and center, which we know is incredibly unpopular, and say ‘Yeah, I’m gonna do this too!'" Thanks, Obama! Meanwhile, it is time for us to destroy Fox News. Twice in the last week its little oasis of presumed authenticity has proved to be just another venue for lying, journalistic terrorism, fraud, and partisanship that would embarrass Kimberly Guilfoyle. As late as Sunday, Fox was still intimidating that the horrible accident (never buy a car called a "Bentley Flying Spur") on the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls was some form of terrorism, and as late as last night it was still insisting Biden "couldn't even avoid age questions while on vacation" then playing a tape of its own reporter shouting the only age question. It's beyond dishonesty, it's desperation and it needs to come crashing down. And there are ways we can make it happen. B-Block (33:20) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Judge Chutkan rejects a Trump claim about imaginary January 6 evidence; Elise Stefanik somehow thinks she - a congresswoman - got the Trump Gag Order stayed; and now whenever you read Maggie Haberman or Jonathan Swan you'll remember they're holding back Trump news for their 2025 Trump book. (36:10) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Fox's Charlie "Butt" Hurt; Kevin McCarthy is dumber than we thought; and the Oxford Union chose HIM for their debate, instead of me. C-Block (42:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Like everybody else, I was once a Sports Illustrated writer. Hell, I was once in a sports media industry without AI-generated content (and as we just found out at SI: AI-generated writers!) and so competitive that when I was with UPI, my AP rival would not loan me a $1.50 piece of equipment to save my career at the Olympics when my own bosses had gotten me drunk! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 22, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 79: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Ludicrous as it looks, insane as Musk seems, corrupt as the Texas Attorney General is, this “Indict Media Matters” story is the FUTURE. It is practice, and Musk is the stand-in for the role ultimately to be played by Dementia J. Trump. Not merely politicizing but fully privatizing criminal prosecution in this country. Media Matters catches Musk placing high-priced corporate ads next to antisemitic content, the corporations investigate, the corporations cancel the ads. Musk complains. Trump's Renfield, Stephen Miller, responds and lights the bat signal. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has to do stuff like this or the billionaires will stop protecting him, promises to jail reporters for telling the truth. It's stochastic prosecution. The template is being sanded down and polished as we watch. This is practice for the bastards. Like January 6th was practice for the bastards. Just like the entirety of Trump’s time in the White House was practice for the bastards. Trump won't have to repeal the 1st Amendment to put Kristen Welker in jail. Or in theory, YOU, if you’ve ever tweeted or written anything online that he doesn’t like. Or in theory, ME. Hell: I could easily be FIRST. Trump doesn’t have to GET Congress to MAKE a law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press. He reads something he doesn't like in The Washington Post (or one of his benefactors reads something bad on somebody's website and calls Trump) and he just drops the prosecution down to a state and the next thing you know Texas or Florida or Missouri or Mississippi becomes a veritable journalistic speed-trap. The Trumpists are so confident that they are giving us previews of their plans for 2025. There is one way to beat them: Liberal money, matching them dime for dime to save democracy. That, or this Trumpian nightmare isn't the future - it's the present. B-Block (22:13) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Mayor Adams' daily scandal is followed by a really weird sound bite. Senator Menendez needs to keep you from thinking about his gold bars so he hires a lawyer with the nickname "Gold Bars." (26:58) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Senator Kennedy does a racism and a sexism and a mispronunciationism; a Trumper messes up a meme; Nikki Haley just couldn't leave the nine-year old girl wearing the Haley hat alone. She had to ask her something. And Nikki got owned. C-Block (32:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I'm just about the youngest person you know who actually remembers the assassination of President John F. Kennedy 60 years ago today. And now it's clear it was a turning point in another way: it was the beginning of Conspiracy Theory Nation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 21, 2023

SERIES 2 EPISODE 78: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The democracy will certainly not survive Donald Trump but I am now wondering if it has any chance of surviving Sarah Wallace, Patricia Millett, Cornelia Pillard, and Brad Garcia and if you don’t know who they are, they are the latest people on the latest list of supposed liberals and supposed officers of the court who could get us all KILLED. Millett seems to be the most clueless of the three DC Appeals Court dilettantes who first STAYED the gag order issued against Trump in the Election Subversion case and then yesterday conducted the in-person hearing and all but announced that they WILL significantly limit the order because apparently when Trump starts ignoring laws he doesn’t like and jailing judges he doesn’t like, these idiots somehow think they will be immune because they were so fair to him back there in November 2023. Judge Millett seemed to base her nitwitted reaction to the two hours of oral arguments on the impact of the gag order on…presidential debates. “He has to speak ‘Miss Manners’ while everyone else is throwing targets at him? It would be really hard in a debate, when everyone else is going at you full bore. Your attorneys would have to have scripted little things you can say.” Miss Manners. Trump has to speak ‘Miss Manners.’ Do you get the same feeling I do that Judge Millette has no earthly clue WHO Dementia J. Trump is? Do you get the OTHER same feeling that I do that it has not occurred to, and will NEVER occur to, Judge Millette that so far there have been THREE presidential debates in the Republican primary and Trump hasn’t shown up to any of them and there is no reason to expect he’d have the guts to show up to one in the general election. And THEN there is Judge Sarah Wallace and I’m not sure she didn’t even harm the country MORE than Judge “Miss Manners” and Judge “I Would Assume” did. Judge Wallace heard the 14th Amendment disqualification case and at the same time that she ruled quote “that Trump incited an insurrection on January 6, 2021, and therefore ‘engaged’ in insurrection within the meaning of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment” she then superseded the Amendment itself in as remarkable an act of judicial cowardice as I’ve ever seen. “After considering the arguments on both sides,” wrote Judge Wallace, “the Court is persuaded that ‘officers of the United States’ did not include the PRESIDENT of the United States. It appears to the Court that for whatever reason the drafters of Section 3 did not intend to include a person who had only taken the Presidential Oath,” unquote. So she ordered him onto the Colorado primary ballot instead of saying “Yeah, I’m thinking they meant to include PRESIDENTS because otherwise having just survived the Civil War they decided to make sure Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee and Nathan Bedford Forrest could NOT run for anything EXCEPT President of the United States rather than showing some guts, Judge Wallace folded. The people who could DO something and they actually divide into two categories and two categories ONLY: Judges who are too effete to do anything and judges who are too scared to do anything. B-Block (22:20) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: How did Argentina elect as its new president Jason Bateman playing Wolverine? The late great Joss Ackland. And the newest housing requisite: Built-in Dog Showers? (26:15) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Just a Fox News typo, no doubt: "Osama Biden Laden"; Moms For Liberty's Philly chief is a registered sex offender; Senator Mike Lee launches the worst January 6th gaslighting ever. C-Block (32:20) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Milo in Tennessee (33:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I anchored the telecast of the 1992 Baseball Expansion draft, 31 years ago this week. Star analyst Joe Morgan really didn't want to be there. REALLY didn't. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 17, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 77: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-BLOCK (1:44) BULLETIN: White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates issues searing condemnation of the antisemitism rampant on Twitter-X and specifically calls out Elon Musk's repetition of the antisemitic madness behind the 2018 "Tree Of Life" synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh. It is a dramatic and unyielding statement with language so strong it must have been approved by President Biden himself and signals his willingness to confront the antisemitism, and all religious and anti-minority hate, and Musk himself. It is a startling development. The remainder of this podcast is a repeat of Friday's regular 76th episode and if you've heard it you may skip it with my full blessing. But it does emphasize how a threat to ban Twitter-X and end all government contracts with him, could rescue it from Musk's prejudice and bullying (6:56) It is time for the government of the United States to ban “X” – the social media site still primarily known as Twitter - and to terminate all government contracts with its owner. Under Trump the government moved to ban TikTok as a security risk to the United States, so there is precedent for at least the attempt, because a process that has been accelerating for more than a year reached a climax Wednesday when owner Elon Musk answered a blatantly antisemitic tweet with the reply quote “you have said the actual truth.” Combined with surging anti-semitism throughout the website, and the use of Nazi hate speech and paraphrases of infamous Hitler quotes by the likely Republican candidate for president, the tinderbox of antisemitism has never been fuller or drier and Trump and Musk seem determined to light it ablaze – and with it, light ablaze the peace and security of this nation. Musk’s bizarre running of the Twitter-X platform had already destroyed more than half its value and even more of its advertising. Yesterday afternoon, IBM announced it was pulling its already-scheduled ads for the next three months – the New York Times says that was a million dollars’ worth. Rather remarkably, as of the close of business yesterday The New York Times had not yet cancelled Musk’s scheduled appearance twelve days from now at a Times event it calls its “DealBook Summit” which it describes as the gathering of quote “the most consequential leaders in business, politics, and culture,” unquote… and, I guess, the most consequential leaders in antisemitism. As the snowball rolling down the hill toward her reached speeds of about a thousand miles an hour, Musk’s hand-picked CEO Linda Yaccarino posted a comment at 3:45 PM Eastern that seemed crafted by the nation’s finest satirical comedians, or maybe Tim Robinson in the hot dog suit and the “We’re All Trying To Find The Guy Who Did This” meme. Quote: “X’s point of view has always been very clear that discrimination by everyone should STOP across the boad – I think that’s something we can and should all agree on. When it comes to this platform, X has also been extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination. There’s no place for it anywhere in the world – it’s ugly and wrong. Full stop.” If taken sincerely and literally, Yaccarino’s only possible next action would be… to suspend Elon Musk’s account. Musk has gone down a path from which he cannot backtrack. Twitter-X – at least HIS version of it – must be banned, and government contracts and other agreements – local, state, national - with his other firms: Space-X, Tesla, The Boring Company, Neuralink, and xAI must be terminated. Today. There is no other option. B-BLOCK (23:07) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: The George Santos ethics investigation is in. He doesn't have any. Remarkable research that suggests the Republicans haven't ONCE needed his vote. Paul Pelosi's attacker is found guilty, as is a J6 insurrectionist that MAGA has convinced itself was actually a Black Lives Matter Antifa George Soros plant.(28:20) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: It's an ugly word and Caitlyn Jenner just proved she doesn't know how to spell it. It's the word "Congresswoman" and Trump Junior just proved he doesn't know how to pronounce it. And it may be the last words Charissa Thompson ever says as a sportscaster. The former Fox Sports football sideline reporter volunteers the startling information that several times she DIDN'T interview the coach at halftime and simply lied and made up what she thought he would've said. Unless...she made THAT story up too. C-BLOCK (36:00) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: One James Thurber short story, above all others, is in the college textbooks and high school textbooks and middle school textbooks. And there's a reason for it: "The Night The Bed Fell." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 17, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 76: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) It is time for the government of the United States to ban “X” – the social media site still primarily known as Twitter - and to terminate all government contracts with its owner. Under Trump the government moved to ban TikTok as a security risk to the United States, so there is precedent for at least the attempt, because a process that has been accelerating for more than a year reached a climax Wednesday when owner Elon Musk answered a blatantly antisemitic tweet with the reply quote “you have said the actual truth.” Combined with surging anti-semitism throughout the website, and the use of Nazi hate speech and paraphrases of infamous Hitler quotes by the likely Republican candidate for president, the tinderbox of antisemitism has never been fuller or drier and Trump and Musk seem determined to light it ablaze – and with it, light ablaze the peace and security of this nation. Musk’s bizarre running of the Twitter-X platform had already destroyed more than half its value and even more of its advertising. Yesterday afternoon, IBM announced it was pulling its already-scheduled ads for the next three months – the New York Times says that was a million dollars’ worth. Rather remarkably, as of the close of business yesterday The New York Times had not yet cancelled Musk’s scheduled appearance twelve days from now at a Times event it calls its “DealBook Summit” which it describes as the gathering of quote “the most consequential leaders in business, politics, and culture,” unquote… and, I guess, the most consequential leaders in antisemitism. As the snowball rolling down the hill toward her reached speeds of about a thousand miles an hour, Musk’s hand-picked CEO Linda Yaccarino posted a comment at 3:45 PM Eastern that seemed crafted by the nation’s finest satirical comedians, or maybe Tim Robinson in the hot dog suit and the “We’re All Trying To Find The Guy Who Did This” meme. Quote: “X’s point of view has always been very clear that discrimination by everyone should STOP across the boad – I think that’s something we can and should all agree on. When it comes to this platform, X has also been extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination. There’s no place for it anywhere in the world – it’s ugly and wrong. Full stop.” If taken sincerely and literally, Yaccarino’s only possible next action would be… to suspend Elon Musk’s account. Musk has gone down a path from which he cannot backtrack. Twitter-X – at least HIS version of it – must be banned, and government contracts and other agreements – local, state, national - with his other firms: Space-X, Tesla, The Boring Company, Neuralink, and xAI must be terminated. Today. There is no other option. B-BLOCK (17:50) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: The George Santos ethics investigation is in. He doesn't have any. Remarkable research that suggests the Republicans haven't ONCE needed his vote. Paul Pelosi's attacker is found guilty, as is a J6 insurrectionist that MAGA has convinced itself was actually a Black Lives Matter Antifa George Soros plant.(22:50) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: It's an ugly word and Caitlyn Jenner just proved she doesn't know how to spell it. It's the word "Congresswoman" and Trump Junior just proved he doesn't know how to pronounce it. And it may be the last words Charissa Thompson ever says as a sportscaster. The former Fox Sports football sideline reporter volunteers the startling information that several times she DIDN'T interview the coach at halftime and simply lied and made up what she thought he would've said. Unless...she made THAT story up too. C-BLOCK (30:30) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: One James Thurber short story, above all others, is in the college textbooks and high school textbooks and middle school textbooks. And there's a reason for it: "The Night The Bed Fell." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 16, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 75: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: B-Block (19:16) IN SPORTS: The president of the Cleveland Guardians admits what I've guessed at here: Many baseball teams are in financial trouble because of the collapse of cable sports television. And a Reddit post about the Brooklyn Nets "killing their own players" is either the best satire of sports fan idiocy, or the best example of sports fan idiocy. (25:05) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: There's a bunch: Elon Musk's antisemitism, Brianna Keilar platforming Joe Lieberman and the No Labels Trump Stalking Horses, "Democrat" Dean Phillips circulates an endorsement by Matt Gaetz, and poor FBI Director Wray subjected to the stupidity of Marjorie Taylor Greene and the "Ghost Buses" of Clay Higgins. Who ya gonna call? C-Block (33:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: With his three Ukrainian Hunter Biden Dirt sources suddenly accused of being Russian spies and under indictment for treason in Ukraine, it's time to tell you of the first time I knew Rudy Giuliani was nuts. Spoiler alert: it was in a previous century. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 15, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 74: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Ukraine indicts Rudy Giuliani's three contacts on the fabricated "Hunter Biden Burisma Investigation" as RUSSIAN SPIES. The charge is TREASON. The second part of Trump's multi-pronged association with Russia (and the primary reason for his first impeachment) roars back to life as the Ukrainian government indicts a sitting member of its parliament, a former member, and the former deputy prosecutor, for running a disinformation campaign alongside the GRU - Russian Military Intelligence. It is unlikely the scandal will actually see Giuliani prosecuted in Ukraine, but until these indictments it was also unlikely that the Ukrainian-Russian-Disinformation scandal would spring back to life. Two of the three men indicted for treason had previously been sanctioned by Trump's own State Department for helping Russian spies pump disinformation into this country through gullible and corrupt people (looking at you Rudy). And this now ties to James Comer because last spring when Comer asked a "whistleblower" about recordings of Joe Biden, one of them mysteriously produced exactly those recordings. Comer's investigation is now based in part on the work of a Russian Spy under indictment in Ukraine for treason. ALSO: Fani Willis expects her Trump trial to extend into next winter and very possibly into early 2025. Textbook reply by the Special Counsel to the stay of the Trump DC case gag order - except prosecutors compared his case to those of Tim McVeigh, a 9/11 plotter, and a Boston Marathon bomber. And as Senator Mullin threatens to throw hands with a Union Boss witness on the Senate floor, and Rep. Tim Burchett accuses Rep. Kevin McCarthy of elbowing him, we see that Trump's attempt to normalize political violence in this country is taking root. Mullin even goes on two channels to insist MORE such violence is a good thing, and makes a glowing reference to the 1856 nightmare when a Pro-Slavery Congressman nearly beat an Abolitionist Senator to death with a cane at his Senate desk. Mullin is either a historical ignoramus, or a sadist who just indicated support for those who used violence to try to protect slavery. B-BLOCK (33:25) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The new manager of the New York Mets begins his tenure in the worst way possible: by invoking the New York Yankees. More accusations against Russell Brand. And billionaire CEO Jamie Dimon has decided who should be the next president. No, it's NOT "President Jamie Dimon" - because compared to who he has chosen, "President Jamie Dimon" would be a GOOD idea. C-BLOCK (39:05) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Speaking of the Mets, and of slamming one's head against a wall, I just told this story the other day so it's time to tell it here: the day I found out, courtesy New York City's Number 7 Subway, why Mom used to say "don't run for a train, there'll always be another." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 14, 2023

SERIES 2 EPISODE 73: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump IS our Hitler. I posited this as early as 2016 and stated it in this series in September, 2022. But some bridge was crossed over the weekend, something happened that was so bad that even The Washington Post sat up and took notice. And now, suddenly, the forces of Groupthink and Conventional Wisdom and The Run On The Bank and The Fear Of Coming In Last On The New Big Beat have all aligned - and for once, for good. Trump is Hitler. Not Hitler 1940, not Hitler 1938. But Hitler 1933? The last moment at which he could have been stopped before he unleashed the cataclysms of European destruction and the holocaust. That's where we are with Trump. And a bevy of his quotes FINALLY broke through: calling his enemies vermin and promising to root them out and echoing Hitler's "ein Volk" speech, while at the same time his evil psychotic henchmen let one too many detail leak about plans to vet every significant military leader so he could count on the army, and his plan to build concentration camps for migrants (and oh by the way anybody who would defend them) and his attempts to get Mo Brooks to demand a new election and his reinstallation as president LAST YEAR and some kind of an overthrow of the Biden regime - all came out simultaneously. To say nothing of the video proffers that got Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell their Georgia plea deals, full of previously sourced stories that will now have witness testimony about seizing voting machines and "the boss is not going to leave" and suddenly a million light bulbs have gone off around the media: TRUMP REALLY MEANS TO TAKE POWER AND NEVER GIVE IT UP. It just might, just might not be too late. But we have to advance it, and the way you and I can do so directly is to use the words. Suspend Godwin's law and the Survivors' Law (there is only one Hitler - it's Hitler) by making sure there really IS only one Hitler. We must call Trump Hitler. We must call them Nazis. We must get President Biden to call them Nazis. We must make people realize that stopping Trump is essential to saving freedom and democracy in this nation. Because it is. And the first group - the media - just began to wake up to it. B-BLOCK (37:09) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Fox News fired a guy for reporting the truth about January 6; A Texas Trumpist is trying to get elected to congress by reenacting the Martin Luther King assassination; And the Supreme Court just instituted a Code of Ethics that a) isn't a code, and doesn't have anything to do with ethics. (43:03) IT IS NOW TWO YEARS since the death of my hospice pup Mishu and there is actually news about him. Even in death, he may have made it so that other dogs afflicted with the terrible heart malformation that claimed him, may survive. C-BLOCK (1:02:10) THE STORY OF MISHU, Part 2 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 10, 2023

SERIES 2 EPISODE 72: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Literally, Trumped-Up Charges: in Univision interview Dementia J. Trump has confirmed last Sunday's Washington Post story that if we do not stop him from again taking over The White House, he WILL openly politicize the Department of Justice and order it to create fictional indictments of his political rivals in order to prosecute them from campaigns or elections. He literally boasted that he would do what he has falsely accused the legal system of doing to him. And of course if Trump can fabricate charges against politicians, he can fabricate them against you. "If I happen to be president and I see somebody who’s doing well and beating me very badly, I say ‘Go down and indict them.’ They’d be out of business, they’d be out of the election.” He also blamed the Democrats for his own evil, and in the process exposed more of his Swiss-cheese brain: "What they’ve done is, they’ve released the genie out of the...box." It's BOTTLE, genius. The Jack Smith Mar-a-Lago shocker: Potential witnesses against Trump? The receptionist, the head of maintenance, the housekeeper who cleans his bedroom suite and a woodworker who installed the Crown Molding in the bedroom (I'm guessing the color was gold). Trump was reportedly "ballistic" about the housekeeper. Could we get more obscure heroes like Alex Butterfield and Frank Wills? If you don't know them, you will. Another judge muddies the 14th Amendment case. In Michigan, Judge James Robert Redford (seriously) asks the suing attorney if the clause means you can only disqualify somebody AFTER he’s been ELECTED? To which the lawyer aptly asks “That would require, what? The country to re-run an entire presidentical election?” And President Biden reminds us that his best re-election campaign ads would be ones in which he mocks Biden. Talking to auto workers yesterday he mocked him with instant success, and then doubled the laughter when he made the stations of the cross. B-Block (21:57) IN SPORTS: The Chicago White Sox suffer the greatest loss of free agency so far as play-by-play man Jason Benetti leaves for Detroit. The departure of Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell for the Cubs may not be the end of a retrenchment there. There might have been more of it around baseball at the General Mangers' Meeting - except it was cancelled a day early due to a raging virus that sent at least 10% of the executives to the restrooms. (25:44) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Nancy Mace is still getting skewered by Kevin McCarthy and by one remark she will never live down. New York rep Claudia Tenney is a veteran of making a fool of herself. She's done it again. And NewsNation - the Nick-At-Nite of TV News, hires yet another fired failure who doesn't have enough self-respect to find a different line of work. Megyn Kelly will moderate a GOP debate...free-lance? C-Block (32:05) FRIDAYS WITH JAMES THURBER: A selection of his shortest short stories: the fables, including his wonderful "The Unicorn In The Garden." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 9, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 71: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: We are so goddamned afraid of OFFENDING somebody by DEFENDING democracy. The Minnesota State Supreme Court, whose Chief Justice is a pioneer and the daughter of a pioneer (the first African-American football coach at a predominantly white college in modern times) managed to find a way to NOT rule for OR against the bid to disqualify Trump from the ballot there via the 14th Amendment. The 14th Amendment IS self-executing. You ARE presumed guilty until you are proven innocent. It was designed by Americans who had survived the Civil War and didn't want us to have to go through that. If there are extenuating circumstances, there's an override mechanism: Congress can vote by 2/3 to waive application of the clause. Otherwise - you're out. Yet the Minnesota court has chosen the escape route, the way to shirk responsibility for fear of blowback or appeal or who knows what. Everybody placed in the position in which they can risk a little to defend freedom and the constitution rather than waiting until freedom and the constitution are DEAD and millions have to risk everything to restore them, seems to want to get out of it. Kristen Welker got out of it last night. That buffoon Vivek Ramaswamy, so loathsome that even Nikki Haley called him "scum" during the debate, pointed at Welker and demanded that she explain NBC's coverage of the Trump-Russia conspiracy. "Was that real or was that Hilary Clinton made-up misinformation." And instead of realizing he had just gifted her the chance to DO something for democracy - to speak to an audience consuming its first "mainstream media" in a decade and tell them the truth, whether they accepted it or not - she just smiled moronically at him. There’s an extraordinary French film, La Regle du Jeu, The Rules Of The Game. It premiered on July 7th, 1939…354 days before France fell to the Nazis. It was written and directed by Jean Renoir and in it he plays the hero’s buddy Octave and at one point Octave says something about the corruption and lack of morals and just plain lack of effort to stand up for what’s right, and it’s a quote that has come to symbolize the France that folded like a card table to the Hitler onslaught and the Vichy France full of more collaborators than the Germans believed possible. “You see, in this world, there is one awful thing,” Octave says, seemingly fighting back, and then gives up with a shrug, “and that is… that everyone has his REASONS.” We may be the 21st Century version of Pre-Hitler France. We all have our reasons to just shrug, or smile idiotically at hallucinating psychopaths who seem to believe more in (and are willing to fight more for) their delusions than we do about our reality. B-Block (24:42) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Lauren Boebert discovers that being in Congress means if it's a spending bill you have to talk about spending in the bill, courtesy Professor Steny Hoyer. I'm sure she'll eventually get a grip on it. For a day, Twitter's "NY Times Pitchbot" predicted it and finally Nate Cohn did it: the story explaining why Tuesday's Democratic ass-kicking of MAGA was bad news for Joe Biden. And remember Cygnal? The right wing pollster I praised here yesterday for reporting, though it defied their side's narrative, that Biden's "image" had jumped five points in just one month and voters ranking inflation as the key issue had dropped six points in just two months? They've responded by attacking me. For...quoting their press release hyping their own poll. When you are strangled by slavery to your own ideology... C-Block (34:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos is moving to Florida to be closer to his partner Lauren Sanchez. And as I've mentioned before, I used to work with her and she has now achieved her life goal. Just as I used to work with the guy who would eventually try to blackmail David Letterman and yeah, I think that might've been HIS life goal too. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 8, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 70: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) ELECTION SCOREBOARD: Democrats and democracy kick MAGA’s ass: another Trump off-year disaster as Republicans not only don't flip the Virginia Senate, they've lost the Virginia House! Deep discounts on "PRESIDENT YOUNGKIN 2024" Red Vests! In Ohio, it's a landslide as Issue 1 wins by 57-43 and puts Abortion Rights INTO the Ohio Constitution. And Kentucky Democratic Governor Andy Beshear goes from winning by 4000 votes four years ago, to winning by five points last night. Plus there are expansions of Democratic control in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. It's another state-level disaster for Trump's GOP and what's the response of the CNN political director who whored himself out to get Trump live from that disastrous Kaitlan Collins Town Hall? David Chalian says "It's not the Democratic BRAND that's in trouble here, it's Joe Biden that's in trouble here." Actually that's not true either - and CNN should fire this idiot Chalian ASAP because it's CNN that's in trouble here. (9:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump managed to combine stochastic terrorism and his Dementia J. Trump/Elmer J. Fudd split personality in one post, insisting someone “must stop” people who don’t realize he’s worth billions more even than he claims. America’s leading Parking Lot Legal Scholar Alina Habba insists they’ll be filing for a mistrial because they didn’t let Trump talk enough in court (oh, they let him talk enough in court). The good news is, Judge Chutkan shut them down on the latest delaying tactic. They wanted three more months for pre-trial motions; she told them she’ll give them two weeks and they’ll like it. And as more details emerge of Trump’s plan for a military dictatorship, Jeff Clark, the mediocre little man who might be the Attorney General who oversees the transition of the DOJ into the Ministry of Vengeance will finally have to face having his law license suspended. While most reporting stays focused on Sunday’s New York Times Biden poll crater, there’s a new CNN poll that’s a little better. And everybody ignores the work of a private, right-leaning pollster called Cygnal with eye-opening good news for President Biden. Not only has his net approval/disapproval improved a whopping five points in ONE MONTH but the issue seen as sinking Biden – inflation – is beginning to shrink its dominance. A year ago 42% said inflation was the key topic. Two months ago it was still 37%. Now it’s down to 31%. The less it is decisive, the more it points to Biden’s reelection. Still, Politico reports that after three months the Biden campaign has the results of its almost exclusively positive, issue-focused, non-Trump advertising: It’s failed. Completely. The campaign is being urged to re-focus on Trump but remains reluctant, still convinced that Trump will be torn down enough by his Republican challengers (if it doesn’t happen at tonight’s debate, it won’t). And more over, the question has to be raised: if you ARE selling Joe Biden’s Greatest Accomplishments, isn’t the first thing on that list, the fact that HE beat Trump? Wasn’t the most vivid, youthful, meaningful moment of his presidency his Defense-Of-Democracy speech in Philadelphia last year? Isn’t the greatest image of Biden, “Dark Brandon?” Joe? You beat him. You’re the only one who has. We need you to do it again. And we need you to TELL US THAT. Not only WHY he and the evil he personifies and spreads MUST be defeated, but, bluntly, that you did it before and you will do it again: that you are the man to… beat the ever-loving shit out of him. B-BLOCK (30:49) IN SPORTS: Now begins the blowback. Wisconsin says goodbye and good riddance to no-longer-beloved-son Craig Counsell. The President of Mexico knows who the next manager of the Padres should be. And that drying up of the nourishing milk of ever-increasing TV fees for baseball? It just spread to basketball and hockey, where right now 26 teams are making $0 for telecasts during the 2024-25 season. (35:57) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Washington Post followed up on its Trump Dictatorship piece with more good analysis and a Bothsidesist headline that would’ve looked stupid even above a travel story. There’s yet ANOTHER scandal for new 5th String Speaker Mike Johnson. And yesterday he was excoriating Rep. Tlaib for hate and prejudice. A month ago he was promising to turn Gaza into a parking lot. It isn’t which side you’re on – it’s that violence and destruction are fine as long as you’re MAGA. C-BLOCK (41:24) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The New York City Marathon ended Sunday night. I swear, there are people walking the streets of my Fun City, still wearing their gold medals indicating they ran the damn thing. It flashes me back to the days when the Marathon had to beg for me to do a preview for CNN, and to the nightmares I still have of anchoring the Los Angeles Marathon… on RADIO. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 7, 2023

SERIES 2 EPISODE 69: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: It is a damp drizzly November in our polls, but Dementia J. Trump not only inadvertently confessed to fraud at his New York trial but also managed to repeat - on the record - that he has no idea what year this in, nor when his presidency ended. The first will cost him $250,000,000 in cash and all his New York properties. The second could cost him his bid to seize power in 2025. And it had better. You saw Trump’s plan for a Special Prosecutor to attack anybody named Biden, and deliberately politicizing the Department of Justice, and this Project 2025 and Trump’s White House Budget Director Russ Vought going on the record to say that TO politicize the DOJ quote “You don’t need a statutory change at all, you need a mindset change. You need an attorney general and a White House Counsel’s Office that don’t view themselves as trying to protect the department from the president” which I think is even nastier sounding in the original Russian when Stalin devised it. Trump is convinced he made mistakes during his presidency and he won’t repeat them and the foremost of those mistakes was NOT to install a military dictatorship. Quoting The Washington Post, his team of evils is "drafting plans to potentially invoke the Insurrection Act on his first day in office to allow him to deploy the military against civil demonstrations.” And the creature at the center of that plot is Jeffrey Clark, indicted in Georgia, unindicted co-conspirator in Washington, would-be Attorney General, the environmental lawyer who wants to turn the world over to the least pro-environment person on the dying planet. Clark devised the last-minute January 2021 plot for the DOJ to seize voting machines and when told that if Trump stayed in office there would be riots in every major city he answered “Well, that’s why there’s an insurrection act.” Just remember that by August 1934 Hitler re-shaped the entire judiciary of Germany so that every judge and prosecutor had to swear an oath TO HIM and apparently the total number of resignations was one guy, a prosecutor in Wuppertal and his name was Martin Gauger and he wound up fleeing to the Netherlands and the Nazis caught him and sent him to Buchenwald and he was dead by 1941 and Trump has a four-year head start on Hitler. And then there are the polls. I'd love if they looked differently. On the other hand, no incumbent president hasn't been underwater to an opposition opponent - real or generic - at this point in the timeline in decades. And amid the calls to dump Biden, who's your choice? Who else are you willing to bet democracy on? B-Block (26:12) IN SPORTS: Cubs double the all-time salary for a baseball manager to hire Craig Counsell away from the Brewers (and outbid the Mets for him). Lovely guy. Has managed his team to six playoff series and lost five times. Mets go to Plan B, Cleveland gets one, All-time worst World Series TV ratings and don't dismiss them: baseball's business model DEPENDS on the game getting MORE money from TV each year, not less (31:18) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Sarah Huckabee does what the lectern tells her. Boris Johnson shows he REALLY doesn't know what a hair dryer is for. And Speaker Mike Johnson gets weirder and weirder: what do you mean you and your 17-year old son exchange updates on your porn usage? C-Block (32:34) THINGS I PROMISE NOT TO TELL: On busy baseball days like this one somebody always asks me why I don't work for that baseballl network. Wellllll... I was gonna, but one team got me fired before they had finished hiring me! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 4, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 68: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) BULLETIN: The District of Columbia Court of Appeals Friday afternoon halted Judge Chutkan's gag order against Trump for at least the next 17 days. Rather than deal with it on an emergency basis, it scheduled the first in-person hearing for NOVEMBER 20. The members of the three-judge panel consisting of two judges appointed by Obama and one appointed by Biden should be impeached and disbarred because they actually fell for not just a pathetically weak 1st Amendment excuse but also for a series of arguments based on the delusions-of-grandeur, megalomaniacal premise that this madman Trump believes a 100,000,000 Americans are somehow being deprived of their right to hear him because a judge had ruled no, Trump was not allowed to threaten the judge and the court officials and the prosecutors and not allowed to try to convince his cultists to try to kill them. He had already been given – BY the Judge who issued the gag order – the right to continue to insanely claim that the prosecution of his attempt to overthrow the government and foment violent revolution in this country and install an authoritarian regime with him as its permanent dictator was actually a political vendetta personally ordered by the President of the United States. All she wanted to stop was the continued attempt by Trump to use the social media site he OWNS and the propaganda video networks that make their only money by platforming him and the fascist rallies he stages to say it in just the right way to get somebody to KILL special counsel Jack Smith and to KILL judge Tanya Chutkan and to call in bomb threats to the court room and to doxx the jurors, the way he got hundreds of his cultists to attack the Capitol on January 6 and the way he doxxed Obama and one of his cultists went to Obama’s neighborhood and hunted him, with the ultimate goal being obvious and evil: to institutionalize political violence and turn it into the determinative factor in how this country is not governered but RULED. Donald Trump is a terrorist. A. TERRORIST. And he has been using terrorism by proxy to destroy the laws and rules of this country, without interruption by the law or the courts for fully EIGHT years now. And when the justice system FINALLY stands up on its feet and the courts FINALLY stand up on their feet and recognize that after ALL of our other institutions have utterly failed and ALL of our leaders have failed to protect the nation against domestic terrorism in the form of Trump and his family and his enablers, when SOMEBODY finally BEGINS to do SOMETHING about it, this DC Appeals court say well, no, maybe the legal system of this country has been bending over backwards to protect the rights of this man who would destroy it and KILL anybody in it he doesn’t like, but we don’t see that in bending over backwards it has yet severed its own SPINE yet, so we’re going to grant an “administrative stay” until at least November 20th to prove that we’re great legal scholars and we’re giving Trump every opportunity to get Jack Smith or Merrick Garland killed and why, yes, if there HAD been some sort of legal case against Osama Bin Laden before us in the summer of 2001 we would have delayed the injunction against him for two weeks because it’s FAR more important to give people bent on destroying the United States every last ounce of their rights, than it is to protect the LAWS of this country or the JUDGES of this country or the REPRESENTATIVE FORM OF GOVERNMENT of this country itself. (17:48) The rest of this edition of the podcast is a repeat of Friday's 67th episode and if you've heard it there is no reason to listen again after this point. SPECIAL COMMENT: Dementia J. Trump’s lawyers last night filed a 35-page document to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, one or two paragraphs of which asks that court to BAR Judge Tanya Chutkan from reinstating the gag order on him. The rest of it is about how wonderful he is and how much he leads in the primary polls and it sounds like the dialogue they gave Rita Moreno in the last scene of the Jack Nicholson movie “Carnal Knowledge.” From the first (!) page: “President Trump’s uniquely powerful voice has been a fixtue of American political discourse for eight years, and central to the American fabric for decades.” Well, true, like car alarms. Or Herpes. From Item 4, on Page 11: "The Gag Order violates the rights of tens of millions of Americans to receive President Trump’s speech: A restriction on President Trump’s speech inflicts a reciprocal injury on the rights of over 100 million Americans who listen to him…" Listen to him bout how big and strong he is and how he is better, more beautiful, more powerful, more perfect, more strong, more masculine, more extraordinary, more virile, more domineering, more irresistible and more up in the air and I may have added a little something to the text there. More importantly, but less entertainingly, Judge Chutkan hits the gas, Judge Engoron hits the roof, Judge Cannon does NOT hit the pause button. Chutkan sent a not so subtle sign to the Trump Cult that the Subversion trial will start as planned 123 days from now, and Jack Smith let Cannon know that Trump was playing her like a two dollar banjo. Also, here in New York, the FBI searched the home of the Mayor's top campaign fundraiser and all of a sudden there is a money scandal involving her, him, a construction company, the nation of Turkey, donors who didn't donate, and don't blame me, I voted for the Garbage Commissioner Lady. And back in DC, Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene and Chip Roy in a three-way… war of words. It began with a post by Roy, explaining why he moved to stop the vote to censure Representative Tlaib. Then Barney Rubble sub-tweeted him: “You voted to kick me out of the freedom caucus, but keep CNN wannabe Ken Buck and vaping groping Lauren Boebert…” to which Roy replied “Tell her to go-chase so-called Jewish space lasers if she wants to spend time on that sort of thing.” And Greene responded “Oh shut up Colonel Sanders” and predicted that this would all end with him reciting “powdered wig soliloquies as Americans are marched to the firing squads”and no, I don’t get the reference either. Curiously silent through all this was Vaping Groping Lauren Boebert. Sources say she’s simply sitting there quietly, trying to get a grip on the situation. B-Block (40:19) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD (26:03) Dean Phillips, the Harlan Crow-funded "Democrat" challenging Biden, may have a bigger problem even than Crow. Fox is equally-opportunity hate: Jesse Watters gets suspended for threatening Arab Americans; Mark Levin lies about Wolf Blitzer's grandparents and denies they died in the holocaust. And after an ex-NHL player dies from taking a skate to his neck, how could an NHL team glorify one of their players nearly cutting another player with EACH of his skates? C-Block (49:21) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: There is boredom, there is paranoia, there is fantasy, there is detective fiction, there is self-satirization. Put them all together and you get Thurber's epic "The Lady on 142." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 3, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 67: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Dementia J. Trump’s lawyers last night filed a 35-page document to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, one or two paragraphs of which asks that court to BAR Judge Tanya Chutkan from reinstating the gag order on him. The rest of it is about how wonderful he is and how much he leads in the primary polls and it sounds like the dialogue they gave Rita Moreno in the last scene of the Jack Nicholson movie “Carnal Knowledge.” From the first (!) page: “President Trump’s uniquely powerful voice has been a fixtue of American political discourse for eight years, and central to the American fabric for decades.” Well, true, like car alarms. Or Herpes. From Item 4, on Page 11: "The Gag Order violates the rights of tens of millions of Americans to receive President Trump’s speech: A restriction on President Trump’s speech inflicts a reciprocal injury on the rights of over 100 million Americans who listen to him…" Listen to him bout how big and strong he is and how he is better, more beautiful, more powerful, more perfect, more strong, more masculine, more extraordinary, more virile, more domineering, more irresistible and more up in the air and I may have added a little something to the text there. More importantly, but less entertainingly, Judge Chutkan hits the gas, Judge Engoron hits the roof, Judge Cannon does NOT hit the pause button. Chutkan sent a not so subtle sign to the Trump Cult that the Subversion trial will start as planned 123 days from now, and Jack Smith let Cannon know that Trump was playing her like a two dollar banjo. Also, here in New York, the FBI searched the home of the Mayor's top campaign fundraiser and all of a sudden there is a money scandal involving her, him, a construction company, the nation of Turkey, donors who didn't donate, and don't blame me, I voted for the Garbage Commissioner Lady. And back in DC, Lauren Boeber and Marjorie Taylor Greene and Chip Roy in a three-way… war of words. It began with a post by Roy, explaining why he moved to stop the vote to censure Representative Tlaib. Then Barney Rubble sub-tweeted him: “You voted to kick me out of the freedom caucus, but keep CNN wannabe Ken Buck and vaping groping Lauren Boebert…” to which Roy replied “Tell her to go-chase so-called Jewish space lasers if she wants to spend time on that sort of thing.” And Greene responded “Oh shut up Colonel Sanders” and predicted that this would all end with him reciting “powdered wig soliloquies as Americans are marched to the firing squads”and no, I don’t get the reference either. Curiously silent through all this was Vaping Groping Lauren Boebert. Sources say she’s simply sitting there quietly, trying to get a grip on the situation. B-Block (26:03) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD (26:03) Dean Phillips, the Harlan Crow-funded "Democrat" challenging Biden, may have a bigger problem even than Crow. Fox is equally-opportunity hate: Jesse Watters gets suspended for threatening Arab Americans; Mark Levin lies about Wolf Blitzer's grandparents and denies they died in the holocaust. And after an ex-NHL player dies from taking a skate to his neck, how could an NHL team glorify one of their players nearly cutting another player with EACH of his skates? C-Block (35:05) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: There is boredom, there is paranoia, there is fantasy, there is detective fiction, there is self-satirization. Put them all together and you get Thurber's epic "The Lady on 142." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 2, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 66: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Aileen Cannon, Trump's Personal Concierge Judge, is poised to delay his trial for stealing, stashing, stacking, and sharing secret documents and US war plans - at least until after the primaries and probably until after the election, possibly as early as today. Her excuse will be: he traitor so much that the court schedules are just too crowded with traitor trial stuff. She will first delay by giving him rights to see secret documents he does not have the right to see. She will then use the delay she's fabricated to say that NOW she has to delay everything because the Florida Documents trial schedule is colliding with the Washington Election Subversion trial schedule. That'll be her excuse. The reality is that three years ago a week from Monday, she was still just one of 6300 Assistant United States Attorneys and it was Trump who made her a judge for the first time. Happy Anniversary, Concierge Judge. THE DEMENTIA J. TRUMP SCHEDULE: More insomnia, more crazy threats against judges, and then one of the all-time lulus. On a video designed to inflame the cult, he tells them it's "Your chance to take a stand against tyrants that support the one and only movement the can save our country and Make America Great Again." In other words, for some reason, Trump is saying that you must FIGHT THE TYRANTS THAT SUPPORT MAGA. It's either a Freudian slip, or syphilis. AND THE MIKE JOHNSON MOTHER LODE continues to produce unbelievable and damaging gold. The new speaker a) doesn't understand deficits and offsets b) has claimed he has not had a bank account since at least 2016 and c) was once a major player in forced Conversion Therapy for gay teens. WHAT'S in his closet? My guess is, the first thing is, the doors to several MORE closets. B-Block (23:47) IN SPORTS: The Diamondbacks never led once, not one inning, in the last three games and Texas polished them off 5-0 to win their first World Series. The TV ratings are likely to be the worst ever, by 20% or more. The San Diego Padres had to borrow $50 million in September to make payroll. And Bobby Knight has died. I'll neither mourn nor mock him but I will tell you of the day 30 years ago he tried to get me fired from SportsCenter (36:05) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A crazy bulletin from Fox News; How HBO used burner accounts to criticize the critics; the GOP Pennsylvania Senate candidate who thinks he could fight a bear - and win. C-Block (43:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: From The Desert To The Sea To All of California: the story of one of the most remarkable newscasters I ever worked in the same market with. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 1, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 65: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The likeliest explanation is that she said it in order to fool the cultists to think that there is no chance Trump could actually go to JAIL in Washington, Florida, New York, or Atlanta (or to fool Trump himself) but Trump's noted parking lot attorney Alina Habba has gone on NewsMax and insisted that she tells anybody who panics about the prospect that Trump will be arrested that "He's protected by Secret Service. Period. He's protected by Secret Service, number one...Number two, he did nothing wrong...Secret Service will always protect President Trump. That's the truth. They have to. Wherever he is. But it's not even something we think about." The NewsMax host then literally dares a judge to try to jail him. Did they literally present a passive-aggressive threat? Or just carefully phrased one to reassure the idiots that Trump, who is at great risk in four different courtrooms, is not at risk at all? DEMENTIA J. TRUMP SCOREBOARD: He has gotten the day wrong again (and this time it's on videotape) AND gotten the year wrong - twice - while the time stamps of his posts indicate he's being plagued by insomnia. We can't ignore these little-for-Trump things. The bar has to be: if Biden did this, what would The Times, The Post, and the Networks say about him? Remember the polling: if both are thought too old, Biden wins in a landslide. AND YOUR JOHNSON MAY NOT LAST: The 5th-String Speaker continues to pile up L's and the creepy factor continues to mount. Not only did he try to tie aid to Israel to cutting IRS investigation of wealthy tax cheats, but it turns out that as late as seven years ago he demanded that every candidate for office be subjected to a religious purity test - exactly the opposite of what the constitution says. B-Block (25:03) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Senator Josh Hawley humiliates himself while trying to brand Holocaust survivor DHS Secretary Mayorkas as an antisemite. Wait, there are POPULAR Senators and Governors? And woo hoo, Elon Musk proves that you are safe in his Cybertruck if you are attacked by a squadron of medieval French archery. (30:29) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: My ex Kyrsten Sinema, followed by my ex Laura Ingraham, followed by... Dean Phillips. Who I don't even know. But - Harlan Crow DOES know him. C-Block (36:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It's nerve-wracking enough to be handed, at age 20, the home phone number of a very famous athlete and be told he's expecting your call and you have to interview him. When it gets interesting is when he picks up the phone and pretends to be a woman. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 31, 2023

SERIES 2 EPISODE 64: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The Biden Campaign slogan should literally be “MY OLD MAN CAN BEAT UP YOUR OLD MAN.” It is the most remarkable, unexpected, startling, counter-intuitive polling data I have ever seen: The future of democracy. The future of the prosecution of Trump. The future of the nation. The future of planetary climate. It may depend on convincing voters NOT that Joe Biden is somehow NOT TOO old but on convincing voters that he and Trump are BOTH TOO OLD. New polling shows 43 percent of Americans BELIEVE they’re BOTH too old and they plan to vote as follows: Biden 61% Trump 13% In Pennsylvania it’s Biden 66% Trump 11%! If they’re BOTH too old – Biden wins in a landslide. Just growing the percentage IN Pennsylvania who believe they’re both too old by FIVE percent would flip 110-thousand Trump votes TO BIDEN. And helpfully Trump is not only acting old, he’s acting demented. In the last 48 hours he hasn’t known WHERE he was, nor what YEAR it was, and even The New York Times is writing about it. Meanwhile, in a Washington courtroom, we had what one observer called a "proxy battle" for what might happen when Trump truly violates the newly-reinstated gag order. A J6 defendant freed while awaiting sentencing began to send violent, racist, homophobic, antisemitic texts to an FBI agent involved in his case, AND threatened to doxx him. The Judge had no problem cancelling his release and sending him directly to jail to await sentencing (the problem arose when he tried to resist the handcuffs and nearly took down four security officers). B-BLOCK (28:44) IN SPORTS: What if they gave a World Series and nobody watched? Texas survived the by-now traditional early departure of Max Scherzer to pull ahead of Arizona (on the road of course) in last night's 3rd Game. But the bad TV ratings and lack of national interest among baseball fans was far worse than even I had expected. In fact, they were record-setting worse. Plus the first star of the Texas franchise, Frank Howard, died yesterday. (31:50) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Boris Johnson goes into TV news, possibly for the free hairstyling. Tim Scott says it's Iowa or bust. And why are the Philadelphia Eagles advertisements appearing next to videos of lunatic Stew Peters spewing hate and giving voice to calls for violence against organizations like Catholic Charities? And why isn't the team or the NFL doing anything about it? C-BLOCK (37:50) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: October was the birthday month of one of my favorite humans of all-time. I met him only once but it was so memorable, so warm, so funny that a decade later when he died, I was stunned when I heard the news and broke into tears. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 30, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 63: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) BULLETIN: Details are sketchy because of an online systems failure (who names their system after the AMC Pacer?) but Sunday evening Judge Tanya Chutkan REINSTATED her Gag Order against Trump - presumably because of his threats to Mark Meadows and his misconduct in the New York gag order case - and Trump has acknowledged online that it has been reimposed. (8:47) The remainder of this bulletin is a repeat of Friday's Episode #62 and if you've heard it there's no reason to continue to listen. Although you'll have a damn good time if you do! SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump threatens the New York judge, while Jack Smith goes not for a stronger gag order but something closer to a Hannibal Lecter mask. “This is judicial misconduct, coupled with prosecutorial misconduct, and somebody from the state of New York must step in and stop this complete and total miscarriage of justice,” unquote. BECAUSE Trump had earlier suggested that New York’s GOVERNOR should “get involved” and because he capitalized the word “State” in State of New York, he kept one foot in that shadowy region in which he’s lived that life and his attorneys could argue that he was NOT asking “somebody from the state of New York” to “step in and stop this” by attacking somebody like the judge or the district attorney. The rest of the filing shows that Trump IGNORED the New York Gag Order, IGNORED it again, was called to the witness stand to explain what he said, LIED ABOUT IT – PERJURED HIMSELF – and has proven to be unrestrainable even with the Gag Order as presently constituted. Jack Smith isn’t telling the Judge that Trump has violated her GAG ORDER. He is telling her that Trump has violated the ORIGINAL CONDITIONS under which she did NOT jail him until the trial starts. To resume the quote. “Accordingly, the court should modify the defendant’s conditions of release by making compliance with the Order a CONDITION or by clarifying that the existing condition barring communication with witnesses about the facts of the case, INCLUDES indirect messages made publicly on social media or in speeches.” Plus, Trump's faint grip on sanity seems to be slipping and the tell on that is: he has reverted to the genuinely unfathomable dog analogies that he fell into during the most stressful times of 2015-2016. When Trump starts claiming dogs get fired, he's about to lose it. And Speaker Mike Johnson, Day 2: For a man who spent twenty years advocating for sending gay people to prison for having sex, advocating for sending doctors to prison for providing family planning, advocating for a national abortion ban, advocating for fewer laws against guns, advocating for more laws against divorce, advocating for gutting of the entire societal safety net, advocating for disenfranchising minorities and entire states, advocating for using the constitution to destroy the constitution, advocating for the forced conflation of church and state, advocating for a conservative group that makes employees swear an oath to Jesus, advocating against transgenderism, advocating against men wearing women’s clothes, advocating against women wearing MEN’S clothes, advocating restrictions against Muslims, advocating against federal disaster relief, advocating for more oil and gas and against science that has proved we are all going to be KILLED by more oil and gas, advocating for that idiot Amy Coney Barrett since he met her in 1988, advocating for a limit of three terms in the House and then running for this one – his FOURTH, and advocating for the overthrow of the duly-elected government of the United States throughout the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021. For a guy who has done nothing but comment on everything, all the time, and always wrong… so far… he sure has been Speaker of The House Mr. No Comment. B-Block (31:08) IN SPORTS: Oh boy. The World Series. The 7th best regular season team versus the 12th best. I have never been less interested. Here's a shock: after legal sports gambling websites become the primary sponsor of all North American sports league, a player is suspended for half a season for...using one. And the brilliant idea from England's Tottenham Hotspur: give each player in its team history their own "legacy number." (35:08) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: President Duda of Poland may be trying to Trump the last election. E-Bikers should be saving the planet; instead they're menacing New Yorkers. And I do not pretend this isn't a crass idea. I think we should name the mass shootings after the politicians and propagandists who have enabled them. So Lewiston, Maine, should be named after Speaker Johnson or Susan Collins or Sean Hannity. C-Block (44:35) BULLETINS WITH THURBER: A story I have not previously read you, to which almost everyone can relate. How science and swimming almost kept him from graduating in "University Days." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 27, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 62: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump threatens the New York judge, while Jack Smith goes not for a stronger gag order but something closer to a Hannibal Lecter mask. “This is judicial misconduct, coupled with prosecutorial misconduct, and somebody from the state of New York must step in and stop this complete and total miscarriage of justice,” unquote. BECAUSE Trump had earlier suggested that New York’s GOVERNOR should “get involved” and because he capitalized the word “State” in State of New York, he kept one foot in that shadowy region in which he’s lived that life and his attorneys could argue that he was NOT asking “somebody from the state of New York” to “step in and stop this” by attacking somebody like the judge or the district attorney. The rest of the filing shows that Trump IGNORED the New York Gag Order, IGNORED it again, was called to the witness stand to explain what he said, LIED ABOUT IT – PERJURED HIMSELF – and has proven to be unrestrainable even with the Gag Order as presently constituted. Jack Smith isn’t telling the Judge that Trump has violated her GAG ORDER. He is telling her that Trump has violated the ORIGINAL CONDITIONS under which she did NOT jail him until the trial starts. To resume the quote. “Accordingly, the court should modify the defendant’s conditions of release by making compliance with the Order a CONDITION or by clarifying that the existing condition barring communication with witnesses about the facts of the case, INCLUDES indirect messages made publicly on social media or in speeches.” Plus, Trump's faint grip on sanity seems to be slipping and the tell on that is: he has reverted to the genuinely unfathomable dog analogies that he fell into during the most stressful times of 2015-2016. When Trump starts claiming dogs get fired, he's about to lose it. And Speaker Mike Johnson, Day 2: For a man who spent twenty years advocating for sending gay people to prison for having sex, advocating for sending doctors to prison for providing family planning, advocating for a national abortion ban, advocating for fewer laws against guns, advocating for more laws against divorce, advocating for gutting of the entire societal safety net, advocating for disenfranchising minorities and entire states, advocating for using the constitution to destroy the constitution, advocating for the forced conflation of church and state, advocating for a conservative group that makes employees swear an oath to Jesus, advocating against transgenderism, advocating against men wearing women’s clothes, advocating against women wearing MEN’S clothes, advocating restrictions against Muslims, advocating against federal disaster relief, advocating for more oil and gas and against science that has proved we are all going to be KILLED by more oil and gas, advocating for that idiot Amy Coney Barrett since he met her in 1988, advocating for a limit of three terms in the House and then running for this one – his FOURTH, and advocating for the overthrow of the duly-elected government of the United States throughout the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021. For a guy who has done nothing but comment on everything, all the time, and always wrong… so far… he sure has been Speaker of The House Mr. No Comment. B-Block (22:24) IN SPORTS: Oh boy. The World Series. The 7th best regular season team versus the 12th best. I have never been less interested. Here's a shock: after legal sports gambling websites become the primary sponsor of all North American sports league, a player is suspended for half a season for...using one. And the brilliant idea from England's Tottenham Hotspur: give each player in its team history their own "legacy number." (27:35) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: President Duda of Poland may be trying to Trump the last election. E-Bikers should be saving the planet; instead they're menacing New Yorkers. And I do not pretend this isn't a crass idea. I think we should name the mass shootings after the politicians and propagandists who have enabled them. So Lewiston, Maine, should be named after Speaker Johnson or Susan Collins or Sean Hannity. C-Block (35:45) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: A story I have not previously read you, to which almost everyone can relate. How science and swimming almost kept him from graduating in "University Days." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 26, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 61: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: House Republicans have fully embraced Dementia J. Trump's tiny, ugly, Johnson. And even as Speaker Mike Johnson checks all the denialist nihilist boxes - he's homophobic, he wants to put abortion providers in prison, he wants to make gay sex illegal, he wants to spend taxpayer money on religious projects, he is so obscure that Senators Barrasso and Collins had no idea who he was - are the seeds already in price for his eventual dethroning? On January 6th, during the insurrection, on Fox News, Mike Johnson CRITICIZED DONALD TRUMP. One can only assume that nobody has played the clip for Trump or said "Are you aware, sir, that he blamed you for not doing more to stop things, SIR?" In the short term there is new reporting that Johnson was far more involved in the insurrection than originally known. He was the point man in the House's Amicus Brief to the Texas lawsuit to throw out the electoral results from Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Washington (a brief so controversial that other Republicans said Trump should preemptively pardon all the Congressmen who signed it). But now it turns out he briefed other Congressmen on January 5th on how to rationalize blocking the certification of Biden's victory on bullshit "constitutional" grounds. Meanwhile: when will a judge in this country do the right thing and put Trump in jail the way he would put you or me in jail? During the lunch break at the civil fraud trial yesterday, Trump AGAIN attacked Judge Arthur Engoron's clerk. The judge merely assessed a $10,000 fine. If you're not going to have the balls to put him in prison, at least get his attention. The fine should be $1,500,000,000. See what he does about that. B-Block (19:43) IN SPORTS: Dusty Baker ends his baseball managerial career, while the only manager to commute with me on the New York Subway system shifts from San Diego to San Francisco. And Baseball's Hall of Fame announces ten nominees for its annual recognition of one great broadcaster and I've worked with three of them and four of them are good friends and good grief I'm old. (26:17) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Tommy Tuberville may have been thwarted by Senate Democrats. There's a Clarence Thomas money scandal (no, a DIFFERENT one), and here we go: Eric Adams says he was made mayor of New York City by God. Only this time it gets translated in real time into Spanish. C-Block (32:47) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: America lost something when the intricate, rehearsed, multi-person practical joke vanished. 41 years ago this month I was fortunate to play a minor role in the greatest practical joke I ever witnessed, when we at the NFL player strike negotiations convinced a reporter from The New York Times that he had just missed the biggest story of the year. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 25, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 60: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Five months ago today this podcast was titled “Did Mark Meadows Flip?” Now, ABC reports and Bloomberg and The Guardian report – Mark Meadows has flipped. How much he said and how willingly he said it is unclear, but there’s no doubt that he testified under oath and with immunity to Jack Smith’s Grand Jury and would do the same in the Election Subversion Trial of Donald Trump. What Meadows told prosecutors and grand jurors is damning. He never found any evidence of election corruption. He repeatedly told Trump that. He felt Trump was being “dishonest” when he claimed victory on election night. When the Supreme Court ruled against Trump on December 11, 2020, Trump told Meadows “something to the effect of ‘then that’s the end’ or ‘so that’s it.’ Yet a week later came Trump’s “Will be Wild” tweet, 22 days later came the phone call to Georgia, 26 days later came the insurrection. And what Meadows testified underscores that at each of these traitorous moments, Trump knew he was lying – the essence of Smith’s case. There’s a run on the Plea Deal bank because Jenna Ellis became the third ex-Trump lawyer to flip in Georgia. She tearfully said if she’d known then what she knows now blah blah blah. Most of her testimony will sink Rudy Giuliani and as unlikely as this sounds, the next most logical candidate to flip is Giuliani himself. He’s out of money and Trump has abandoned him. MEANWHILE BACK AT TRUMP PLANTATION: House Republicans selected their third choice for Speaker, Tom Emmer. Trump vetoed him. The slaves threw Emmer overboard in just over four hours. Last night they selected their fourth choice, insurrectionist Mike Johnson, while Kevin McCarthy maneuvered behind the scenes to get back. Somewhere there must be six GOP members ready to retire rather than keep this lousy job, and who want revenge. They could dictate a name to the Democrats and between them get him elected and Trump could do NOTHING about it. Instead, pressed by a reporter about Johnson's role in the attempt to install Trump as dictator, the treason caucus shouted the questioner down. B-Block (19:23) IN SPORTS: Oh boy, just the dramatic World Series match-up we all wanted: the 4th best team in the American League (the Texas Rangers) versus the 6th best team in the National League (the Arizona Diamondbacks, who finished exactly three games over .500). This madness will be reflected in the ratings. Good news: NHL reversed its pride stick tape ban after a player used it anyway and dared Appeasement Commissioner Gary Bettman to do anything about it. (24:39) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The New York Post writer who thought she was bashing liberals over Sidney Powell but actually proved Jack Smith’s case; Kyrsten Sinema’s delusions of grandeur; and Ted Cruz – senator from Texas – does not know the name of the Texas team that is going to the World Series. Even though it’s FROM Texas and NAMED Texas. C-Block (30:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: A special request. Remember my hospice puppy Mishu? I’m now trying to help a Maltese girl, abandoned by a puppy mill and then hit by a car, with a broken leg and a broken pelvis, and named… MISHA. This one’s personal. The link is here: https://www.givinggrid.com/Hit-And-Run-Misha-Needs-Surgery/?ublast=407378 (32:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The “co-speaker” story reminded me of the “co-presidency” idea Gerald Ford pitched to Ronald Reagan in 1980. It fell through, but hours later the most talented newscaster I ever worked with, zonked out of his head, went on the air and read old copy that indicated it was a done deal. It helped to get him fired. He was a brilliant and tragic figure. Please meet Will Spens. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 24, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 59: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The cheese slid COMPLETELY off Trump’s cracker yesterday in Derry New Hampshire. The first time I ever posited in public that his brain doesn’t work right was in a piece and video I did for Vanity Fair in 2016 called Could Trump Pass A Sanity Test and I do NOT know what the next step DOWN is mentally or psychologically or intellectually from “no he could NOT pass a sanity test” but Trump has now reached it: one speech, five statements that in a previous century would have been examined as signs of possible tertiary syphilis. At Derry, New Hampshire he a) showed he believed he was the first person to ever realize the letters U and S could spell "us" AND "U.S;" b) revealed he didn't know why FDR "sat" while he spoke nor what the thing he sat in was called; c) confused Turkey's Erdogan and Hungary's Orban; d) claimed he was Nelson Mandela; and e) told his voters not to bother to vote. Trump is crazy. Those who opposed him shied away from this in 2016 and 2020. It needs to be mentioned hourly, because it's not only true and an existential danger - it's also perfect politics - the ideal answer to the slanders about Biden's age and acuity. Also: Judge Michael Luttig is back with another Constitutional answer to a Trump lie. If you don't know about the Presidential Vesting Clause in Article 2, it's why Trump does NOT have "absolute immunity" for trying to overturn an election while president. Luttig and 23 other former Republican officeholders filed a brief with the court saying this was a threat to the integrity of all future elections. Trump continues to dare a judge to jail him for violating his various gag orders; he's caught in a bald-faced lie about whether or not Sidney Powell ever worked for him; the essence of the Jack Smith case against him is proved by Kenneth Chesebro taking a plea deal; and is the Republican Civil War over the Speaker of the House (now extended to Trump pretending he's not trying to sabotage Tom Emmer) enough to send five Republicans to form their own third party and get one of their group elected by the Democrats as the new Speaker? Is the GOP about to re-enact what destroyed the Whig Party in 1852? B-Block (24:04) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Have you ever heard of the poll that indicated a third of all Trump supporters favor building a wall along the Atlantic Ocean to keep Muslims out? (32:27) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Tom Cruise's agent discovers what "genocide" actually means. A Stanford neurobiologist concludes there is no free will. A Jim Jordan colleague says the naysayers got all those death threats because they deserved them. And why, yes that WAS a picture of Hitler on Michigan State's football stadium scoreboard. Why do you ask? C-Block (38:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The anniversary was Sunday, and the story continues to unfold 23 years later. The night in the 2000 World Series when Mike Piazza's bat shattered and Roger Clemens picked up the barrel and threw it near (or at, if you were a Mets fan) Piazza. And I thought Clemens was throwing it at me. And then Piazza announced he was suing me. And then it turned out he'd threatened others. It's an amazing saga within a saga. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 20, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 58: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Sidney Powell has flipped on Trump in Georgia. And if she's flipped on Trump in Georgia, she has to have either flipped on him in Jack Smith's DC case, or is about to. Because otherwise anything she says on the stand in Atlanta could be used against her in federal court. And she may be, to quote Elmer Fudd, a scwewy wabbit, but she ain't going to Alcatwaz. GOP's record 3793rd House Speaker vote, short version? Election denier denies election, loses by 22, convinces none of them to vote for him, decides to try it again anyway, is a f***ing idiot. It's so bad Lauren Boebert and Nancy Mace have made inadvertent sex jokes about it. GAZA LATEST: Joe Biden's speech is so unequivocal and strong it was praised by a Fox News stalwart. AND the Gaza Hospital Scam gets scammier: US Intel says the death toll is 100-300, but a European intel source tells Agence France Presse that THAT'S high and it could be as low as a dozen fatalities. Amazingly, some people will look at this as bad news. B-Block (29:05) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Governor Jim Pillen of Nebraska, CNN trying to get a Republican debate, Iowa City banning books - but not enough. C-Block (30:29) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: Hey, Flip My Kraken! To honor the Trump news, James Thurber's epic profile of Trump even though it was written 15 years before Trump was born: The Greatest Man In The World. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 19, 2023

SERIES 2 EPISODE 57: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Who could have guessed this? Republican Congressmen and Congresswomen are only in favor of threats when the threats are NOT made against themselves! Imagine being SUCH a schmuck that all the other people in the schmuck PARTY not only hate you and are trying to defeat you, but they have coordinated their hatred so that the votes against you keep GROWING and you get MORE humiliated each time you step out there. Imagine that’s YOU. That would make YOU…Jim Jordan! Hi, Schmuck! Now it's 22 Republicans vote against him, and at least SEVEN claim Jordan is responsible for doxxing and intimidation and in at least one case, death threats. So they are reportedly co-ordinating their no votes. So he gets LESS support on each vote. And he still plans on conducting a third vote. I’ll explain who the fictional Senator Fred Van Ackerman was, which movie he was in, and why Jim Jordan is one plot twist away from becoming him and getting Van Ackerman's choice: resign, or stay around as a mute lame duck. Because it turns out the Republicans hate Jordan even more than WE DO. I’ll also explain how the Gaza Hospital scam didn’t even last 24 hours. Because if it starts with “THEY BOMBED THE HOSPITAL” but it proves they actually “BOMBED THE PARKING LOT," all the other claims become exponentially LESS believable. And that leads us to genius of Joe Biden for going to Israel and throwing this country’s weight behind the truth. And how that dovetails into the story of what the newspapermen were writing 40 years ago today, about the president who was too old to run again and might not run and was facing an unbeatable opponent. And that president wound up winning the electoral college by 525 votes to 13. B-Block (23:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: GOP Congressman Mike Collins pretends GOP isn't imploding by saying Hakeem Jeffries lost too. And Marjorie Taylor Barney Rubble Greene makes that rare double appearance in the list: winning for attacking "insurrectionists" at the Capitol whose text messages were about hot dog stands. C-Block (29:25) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It wasn't THAT traumatic. It was just the most venerable disc jockey in New York radio coming into the newsroom and screaming that he would get me - the 21-year old back-up sportscaster - fired that day, and then an hour later, the same disc jockey coming back into the newsroom and screaming that he would get me a multi-year contract to become a regular on his show. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 18, 2023

SERIES 2 EPISODE 56: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump may have a new problem in his civil fraud trial in New York. As the folks at Meidas Touch sleuthed, he has re-posted a piece by the loathsome Laura Loomer that appears to give an address for New York State Attorney General Letitia James. This isn't specifically covered under the gag order imposed against Trump by Judge Arthur Engoron, but it underscores the point that it should be. And it further underscores that both Judge Engoron and Judge Tanya Chutkan should try to expand their gag orders to include any such threats or stochastic invasions of the lives of the primary figures in ALL the legal cases against Trump. His only skill is finding where the line is, and how it moves. The judiciary needs to be proactive against him, not meek. And unfortunately Judge Chutkan's written version of HER gag order is devoid of any reference to which sanctions she'll impose when Trump finally violates it. There is, naturally, a connection to the lies and the world of delusion of Trump and his supporters, and the nightmare at the Gaza City hospital yesterday. Technology will probably - sooner or later - tell us whether Israel or Hamas did this, and then lied about it and successfully blamed the other. It may even tell us about the small chance the location of the carnage might have been inadvertent. But what this horror really tells us is where the Trump Lies lead and end, and how we must fight them because the imaginary world requires absolute fealty and ultimately the willingness to kill rather than admit you are wrong. You know it's been a bad day when Jim Jordan's wipeout in the Speaker voice, and what Elise Stefanik said about him that she THOUGHT would help, turns out to be the humorous relief. B-Block (22:12) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Who could have seen this coming? Britain's Conservatives expel member accused of sexual harassment and exposure. His name is Peter Bone. The Washington Post does a Jim Jordan profile without mentioning January 6th or the subpoena he skipped. And a professor at my alma mater says something so inhuman and stupid about the Middle East that supporters of BOTH Israel and Hamas should be offended - and he should be fired. C-Block (27:20) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It was the first item I checked on my bucket list. I was 10. The day I saw my first World Series game turns out to probably have been the day baseball's dominant role in American culture peaked. Plus: it was Vietnam Moratorium Day. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 17, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 55: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trust me: I think the Trump Gag Order is an extraordinary and terrific thing and I've invested all my money in popcorn futures. But the real headline coming out of Judge Tanya Chutkan's courtroom is her vow not to alter the start date of the Subversion Trial: March 4, 2024. This means it doesn't get postponed beyond the election and it also SEEMS as if she is taking the idea of starting it early as a punishment for WHEN Trump violates the gag order off the table. If that's the case - and she's promised a full written statement detailing the "sanctions" if he doesn't seal his lips closed with epoxy - then there are few options for her. She can fine him, or jail him. And even if she goes for the first one he'll eventually do it so many times she'll have no choice but to go to the second one. REVOKE. HIS. BAIL. Trump already began testing the boundaries, and trying to see if he can get his Renfields to carry his water for him. And there were many tea leaves from the hearing to read - and all of them look bad for your favorite traitor. Plus I have some stuff on the Jordan Speaker vote and Israel-Hamas. But the story that actually stuns me was one I thought I saw coming. As predicted here, the other shoe after NBC going soft on Trump on The Meet The Press interview has fallen: NBC gets the 3rd Republican Presidential debate. But they have debate "partners" including the appalling Rumble (Nick Fuentes and Andrew Tate claim homes there) and Salem Radio (Charlie Kirk, Dinesh D'Souza, Jenna Ellis, Hugh Hewitt). Hewitt may be a co-moderator. Where are NBC's liberals here? When is enough enough? How much money is enough for my old protege to say "I refuse to be associated with any of this. Drop it or I'm out." I took a stance like that and I sleep well every night because of it. Rachel Maddow's voice still matters here and she's not using it. Assuming it's still - at $31,000,000 per annum - HER voice. B-Block (24:24) IN SPORTS: Marlins prove sexism still flourishes in baseball by humiliating successful General Manager. The worst National Anthem you've ever heard. (30:09) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: PBS correspondent is genuinely startled Democratic house members correctly call Jim Jordan an "insurrectionist" (wait'll she hears about the gymnasts). Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA gets whacked at ASU. Lauren Boebert barely knew the man she made sweet music with at "Beetlejuice" - except her campaign spent $300 at his bar. C-Block (36:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: That hockey anthem gave me a flashback to the day I was at Madison Square Garden and they directed our attention to the big screen on the scoreboard where NBC's Brian Williams promptly destroyed his own career. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 13, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 54: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The day after he attacked Israel and mocked its Prime Minister and praised Hezbollah, Trump was astonishingly quiet, and even his self-praising press release was composed in the past tense and lacked the usual arrogance. Something is wrong in Trumpland. And here's a shock: Trump's minions are going to need ANOTHER new Speaker of the House and right now there's nobody within 100 votes of the minimum number of votes needed for election! Just 18 days after I asked why he hadn't been indicted as an agent of Egypt, Senator Menendez...is. Now I ask: why is he out on bail? Ron DeSantis comes out of unintentional retirement to pull a really transparent stunt on Israel, and Tommy Tuberville shoots himself in the foot on the same topic. And something does not add up on the Mary Lou Retton story. So sick she can't breathe? No insurance? Daughter starts a GoFundMe? And last year the tiny Republican had a house worth $2,000,000? B-Block (19:17) IN SPORTS: New ESPN host reveals he's paid Aaron Rodgers millions for "interviews" and why this means all TV Sports "News" programs are now mortally and irreversibly wounded. A large part of the field beclowns itself over the issue of whether a minor taunt a Braves' player made about a Phillies' player in a clubhouse full of reporters was somehow 'off the record' and an instance from my own career when it really WAS. And Sunday it'll be 35 years since I matter-of-factly predicted the Kirk Gibson World Series home run that everybody else still seems to think was impossible. And the witness to my prediction makes a cameo! C-Block (38:20) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: Only Thurber could merge the laziness of a sticky summer at his Connecticut place with the absolute conviction that his "hired man" trafficks with The Devil: "The Black Magic of Barney Haller." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 12, 2023

SERIES 2 EPISODE 53: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Well, could YOU choose between Rep. Beelzebub or Rep. Lucifer? Jordan and Scalise both eminently define different kind of evils of the Republican Party. But the knives are out and they're steak knives: Jordan's allies are trying to sink Scalise by revealing his campaign has spent half a million dollars at DC's Capital Grille since 2011 (unfortunately that amounts to a nightly purchase of just two Filet Mignons, a side of spinach for the table, and no tip). While Trump's lawyers file their latest delay against Jack Smith by claiming there are "missing documents" from he January 6th Committee, and his Colorado lawyers explain Trump isn't subject to the 14th Amendment because the president doesn't have to "support" the Constitution, Trump goes off the deep end on Israel. He claims that Israel was attacked because of the 2020 election "rigging," keeps repeating "Barack Hussein Obama," and attacks Prime Minister Netanyahu claiming Israel was neither smart nor tough. The cheese whiz is slipping off the cracker - again. B-Block (20:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The internet is not kind to Tommy Tuberville: never joke about POTUS falling down if there's video of YOU falling down. Clouds begin to gather around Gary Bettman after he caves to the homophobes and Russians. And there's a shooting war between Israel and Hamas so what's exactly the right thing for a Charlie Kirk Turning Point USA "ambassador" to do? Compare "zionism to communism." C-Block (29:43) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I missed the anniversary, but to be fair - so did ESPN. 30 years ago on the 1st of this month we debuted ESPN2. Nobody noticed this month. EVERYBODY noticed then. We were voted the 7th worst thing in sports for 1993! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 11, 2023

SERIES 2 EPISODE 52: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: It is nearly impossible to be shocked by anything bubbling up in Jack Smith's prosecutions of Donald Trump, and yet Smith has pulled it off. He has promised the court that during the trial of the United States vs. Trump for the stolen documents and secrets: "Why it occurred, what Trump knew, and what Trump intended in retaining them – all issues that the Government will prove at trial, primarily with unclassified evidence." It's a stunning guarantee, buried deep in Smith's filing, answering why Trump should to get his wish to delay the trial until after the election. And he tantalizes us: because nothing else in the motion even REFERS to it, let alone explains it. But it does dovetail with the latest grim details from Israel - and the awful echoes from Washington.Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, has now demanded that American aide to Ukraine be CUT OFF and sent instead to Israel, as if there were a reason for such a false either/or choice, and apparently unaware that people can see that his own performance and that of the rest of the Republican anti-Ukraine caucus is not in support of Israel but actually in support of Hamas and Iran. Twice in the last year the Kremlin invited Hamas to send delegations to Moscow and the terrorist group’s leadership met with Putin’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in September 2022 and this past March. There is considerable analysis being done in Europe that the Russians encouraged – even bribed – Hamas, to undertake the full-scale attack that began from the Gaza Strip on Saturday and continues even at this hour. The Russians, this analysis reasons, wanted this because they are Iran’s leading ally and because a Middle East conflict of almost any size would amount to a second front, in which Western resources being dedicated to fighting the Russian invasion of Ukraine, might be re-directed TO Israel. In other words, Josh Hawley is doing exactly what the Russians want: degrading western support for Ukraine on the false excuse that the money must go instead to defend Israel. THAT would just give Russia a freer hand in Ukraine, and more money and materiel, to send to Hamas, to DEFEAT Israel, as Iran wants. It MUST not be forgotten, especially not at this hour, that on May 10th, 2017, in the Oval Office, Trump disclosed classified intelligence – classified intelligence obtained by the Israelis – about an ISIS plot the Israelis unraveled in a town in Syria. Trump gave the information, directly, to Putin’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The same man who twice met with the Hamas delegations in Moscow. PLUS: not only confirmation that Egypt warned Israel about an attack from Gaza, but a reason to suspect that somebody in the Netanyahu government has thrown the defense services under the bus to protect the troubled Prime Minister. B-Block (26:12) IN SPORTS: Steve Garvey? Running for Senator? The baseball hero whose political career died in 1988 when he became "The Father Of Our Country"? His old team underscores baseball's playoff crisis. Hockey dives further into homophobia. And one of that game's best ambassadors has to quit to attend to his own health. (39:07) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Has-been Aaron Rodgers says nasty things about Taylor Swift's boyfriend who they still pay to make commercials, there's a 1/6 defendant worried about "chest-feeding" and the Murdoch empire inadvertently reveals that if the Democrats were to switch candidates, there's one alternate choice with all the name recognition in the world. C-Block (45:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The words were spoken by the best Communications professor I ever had, 44 or 45 years ago. And every week since - and literally yesterday - it's been ignored. "Whatever you do: DON'T SAY THIS." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 10, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 51: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: It is the problem with all national intelligence. It is like an overnight electrical storm: it blindingly illuminates the horizon but only for a second. And you must concentrate entirely on decoding what it really shows you, and not how it fits into your preconceptions. And so, like Bush before 9/11, like Putin before Ukraine, like a series of American governments before Pearl Harbor, like Neville Chamberlain before the invasion of Poland, Benjamin Netanyahu didn't truly ignore the warnings of Egyptian Intelligence and his own security forces. He simply forced them into a template in which Gaza was stable if not ideal, and The West Bank was a pressure cooker ready to explode - and also the only thing that kept him in power. It was only useful to him if the threat was from The West Bank. It could only BE The West Bank. The intel agencies will, as always, be blamed, and are already being blamed - because the politicians have the microphones. This was not a failure of intelligence. This was a failure of Benjamin Netanyahu. ALSO: Why do Rand Paul and Tommy Tuberville hate Israel? Trump identifies the real culprits: Forbes Magazine and the Forbes 400. And somebody TOLD YOU LAST WEDNESDAY that Kevin McCarthy would wind up being a candidate to be the next Speaker of the House and lookee here - that's exactly what's shaping up. B-Block (20:06) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: There's so many Gaza takes that the Medal Stand (Maximum Occupancy: 3) is SUPER-SIZED with six winners! Listen as Elon Musk, John Roberts, Martha McCallum, Ronna McDaniel, Nancy Mace - and even Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, squeeze onto the podium. C-Block (28:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: So it's thirteen years and a couple of Saturdays since I not only had to explain to my old classmates that the movie "A Christmas Story" in which Little Ralphie finally wigs out and beats the crap out of the bully was an almost punch-for-punch re-creation of our last day in the 4th Grade but that the bully had come up to me at the reunion and asked "Did we have a FIGHT in the 4th Grade?" See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 6, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 50: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump is for all intents and purposes a spy, who in April 2021 gave away nuclear submarine secrets to an Australian manufacturer of boxes, 'potentially endanger(ing) the U.S. fleet." The businessman promptly told at least 45 other people, including 11 of his own employees, 10 Australian officials, and THREE FORMER Australian Prime Ministers. We must do to Trump what we would do to any other trafficker in top secret information: arrest, detention without bail, prosecution for espionage. We know the name of the man Trump delivered defense information to, we know his nationality, we know when and where Trump delivered it to him, we know what the information delivered WAS, we know that Jack Smith’s investigators know about it and interviewed him at least twice, and we know WHO the man in turned SHARED the top secret information WITH, totaling at LEAST 45 other people including three of his home country’s prime ministers. TRUMP GAVE AWAY OUR NUCLEAR SUBMARINE SECRETS TO A GUY WHO MAKES CORRUGATED BOXES. It's ESPIONAGE. Donald Trump committed ESPIONAGE. He is not MERELY trying to burn down representative government in this country AGAIN but in his spare time over the last three years he has been committing ESPIONAGE and he is for all intents and purposes a foreign agent of at LEAST one other country, Australia, and when we FIND agents of other countries who trade in information about how many nuclear warheads can fit in one of our submarines or how close they can get to the Russians without the Russians finding out they are there. And the government, no matter the fallout, needs to arrest Donald Trump today, for espionage, for spying on behalf of a foreign nation, and keep him detained without bail. B-Block (22:30) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Get your popcorn. The Republicans are Cawthorning Matt Gaetz. Politico underscores what's wrong with American media. The GOP finally can claim it got a Biden out of the White House: Commander the dog. (27:03) IN SPORTS: Farewell to Dick Butkus. I knew him; he was smart, ethical, funny. As predicted here, the Mets' GM exits. And as predicted nowhere: The New York Post comes out in defense of Trevor Bauer. (31:54) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Fox's pro-Nikki Haley guest turns out to be her state co-chair. Target's claim to be closing stores because of shoplifting turns out to be fraudulent. And Sage Steele and Bill Maher participate in the worst interview I've ever seen. C-Block (40:35) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: His epic of baseball and not-really-attempted murder: "The Catbird Seat." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 5, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 49: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump has already violated Judge Arthur Engoron’s gag order and if Engoron actually WAS contemplating finding him in contempt and putting him in jail for 30 days he should damn well do it and do it NOW – and if he WASN’T, he ought to expand the gag order and specify that if Trump breaks it again, he WILL spend a month behind bars. Yesterday, he posted quote “the judge fraudulently reduced the value of Mar-a-Lago and other assets in order to make their fake case more viable.”During the lunch-break he said of Engoron “he’s a Democrat judge, he has no choice, he’s run by the Democrats” thus accusing the judge both of fraud and of political corruption. The gag order precludes Trump from public comments about “any members of my staff” and it is not twisting logic nor semantics too strongly to note that the judge COUNTS as a member of his own staff. So step five is the judge imposing the serious sanctions. By statute it would be contempt of court and under New York State Law article 19 section 751 contempt of court is punishable by – I regret to tell you CAPITAL PUNISHMENT does NOT apply under article 19 section 751 – it’s punishable by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or imprisonment for not more than thirty days, or both. At the discretion of the judge. And if Judge Engoron really wants to make the argument that he is not a member of his own staff he needs to broaden the gag order immediately. Because you, or I, or Hunter Biden, or Joe Biden, or Jesus Christ fresh off the court would have already amassed a thousand 30-day sentences for the kind of stuff Donald Trump has gotten away with, abusing and degrading and insulting and harassing and threatening and undermining and sabotaging and lying about the judicial system. Meanwhile, Rudy Giuliani's Georgia lawyers have bailed out on him. On the other hand he got the kind of publicity he craves. The New York Times has published 3,109 devastating words OVER Maggie Haberman’s byline and UNDER the headline “Giuliani’s Drinking, Long A Fraught Subject, Has Trump Prosecutors’ Attention.” The Times writes they quote “have shown an interest in the drinking habits of Mr. Giuliani… (they’ve) questioned witnesses about Mr. Giuliani’s alcohol consumption as he was advising Mr. Trump, including on election night… Mr. Smith’s investigators have also asked about Mr. Trump’s level of awareness of his lawyer’s drinking as they worked to overturn the election… The answers to those prompts could complicate any efforts by Mr. Trump’s team to lean on a so-called advice-of-counsel defense… if such guidance came from someone whom Mr. Trump knew to be compromised by alcohol, especially when many others told Mr. Trump definitively that he had lost, his argument could weaken… several people at the White House on election night (the evening when Mr. Giuliani urged Mr. Trump to declare victory despite the results) have said that the former mayor appeared to be drunk, slurring and carrying an odor of alcohol. ‘The Mayor was definitely intoxicated’ Jason Miller”… said. The Trump/Smith angle is fascinating. Because apparently you can’t use an advice-of-counsel defense if your counsel is so drunk he could be considered at risk for spontaneous combustion. B-Block (19:21) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Institute of Economic Affairs has figured out "the future of journalism." It's four Matthews and no women, according to them. Jonathan Turley isn't just flubbing the big stuff; he got Steve Martin's name wrong. And the Trojan horse "news" site "The Messenger" has partnered with an AI company to rank the most reliable news organizations. And you're right: Glenn Beck's "The Blaze" can be trusted. "The New York Times" cannot. C-Block (25:35) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Saturday will be the 48th anniversary of the first broadcast I ever did that had both sponsors and an audience. It was preceded by the elders of the Cornell University radio station sports department playing a trick on me that would be repeated four years later when I made my network debut. I can laugh now. Then? I had two out-of-body experiences. Happily the 1975 WVBR-FM broadcast still exists, so I've tacked it on to the end of this segment. And yes: I mispronounced my own name. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 4, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 48: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Kevin McCarthy is out and the ensuing chaos mainlines directly back to an episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." House Republican Radicals caught that proverbial car they’ve been chasing and they had no idea what to do next and they look like idiots. The offing of Kevin McCarthy is actually notable only because a) it underscores the reality that the Republicans have bluster and the novelty of having opened the pandora’s box of fascism and political violence, but they don’t have any leaders, as evidenced by b) Kevin McCarthy saying on Face The Nation, two days before they garroted him, that he’d survive and they should bring it on and now THAT’S probably the worst political TV interview of our time leading to c) his epic news conference last night in which he compared Vladimir Putin to Hitler in the ‘30s and concluding with d) McCarthy’s only actual accomplishment – he lasted 270 days in the job, 12 more than the record holder for shortest speakership. But the REAL lead story did not happen in Washington yesterday. WHICH idiot Republican becomes the NEW Future Former Speaker of the House doesn’t much matter. Because the real lead story is summarized by the phrase AND NOW WE WAIT. Turns out that not only did Judge Arthur Engoron issue a gag order against Trump hours after Trump attacked the clerk of Engoron’s court room yesterday, but he issued a gag order against Trump less than a day after he WARNED Trump’s lawyers informally that their client needed to shut the eff up. Engoron – of whom they should be installing a statue outside his courtroom – provided a template for Judge Tonya Chutkan for a week from next Monday. Judge Engoron not only gagged Trump but HOW he gagged him ALSO gags Junior Trump and Eric Trump: “Personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, inappropriate, and I won’t tolerate it. Consider this statement a gag order forbidding all parties from posting, emailing or speaking publicly about any of my staff.” But this trial is ultimately MOST valuable because what we just saw was the if-then scenario play out. Engoron didn’t just issue a gag order because Trump attacked the clerk. He had WARNED HIM, via his lawyers, informally but clearly. And twelve hours later Trump did it anyway. Memo to Judge Chutkan: Get ready to issue a gag order, on penalty of revoking his bail, after that hearing October 16. And get ready to have to enforce it. B-Block (24:15) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Campbell Brown is out as news chief at Meta/Facebook so I have to tell you the story of how CNN's president was forced to hire her instead of me at 8 PM there (and they then all got fired), which in turn means I have to tell the story of how Brown's Meta colleague Anne Kornblut wound up being interviewed by the MSNBC anchor (Savannah Guthrie) her husband left her for. And then there's Rep. Jamaal Bowman, who apologized for referencing Nazis in the Republican Party. Why? There ARE Nazis in the Republican Party. We call them...Nazis. C-Block (33:25) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It's baseball playoff time again, so it's time for me to tell you about the year I was in the middle of a riot in Fenway Park, and I overheard a Yankee swearing at his manager in the clubhouse, and I bought - and chose not to air - videotape of Roger Clemens nearly getting into a fistfight with a Yankee fan before Game 3 of the World Series. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 3, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 47: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Yeah, I get it: I want my MTV (Motion To Vacate). Gaetz is running for governor. It’s a STUNT. It doesn’t matter WHICH Russian Republican runs their spitshow. What MATTERS is: Jack Smith is goddamned serious about the Gag Order. And new polling shows that the NATION is serious about disqualifying Trump under the 14th Amendment: 51 percent in favor, only 34 percent opposed. Judge Chutkan will convene a hearing on October 16 – two weeks from yesterday – on the Jack Smith gag order request and Smith is even more damned serious about it than I dreamed. HIS late night answer to TRUMP’S late night answer pointed out that the newest threats he made – the post about the death penalty for treason for what Trump considered treason – weren’t directed at Milley but directed at OTHER potential witnesses who might want to avoid those kinds of THREATS let aloner anything else. More over, the Special Counsel’s office noted that it doesn’t REALLY matter whether Trump did or DIDN’T buy a Lugar at a white supremacist gun shop in South Carolina. A purchase would obviously be a violation of his bail and there’d be no way for Chutkan not to revoke it and not to put him behind bars until the trial starts. But the OTHER option was ALSO an abuse of the terms under which Chutkan did not end Trump’s freedom in the first place.“The defendant either purchased a gun in violation of the law and his conditions, or seeks to benefit from his supporters’ mistaken belief that he did so.” Even LYING about buying a gun is a way in which Trump has exploited the absence of a gag order to remind his cult – AND WITNESSES – that he is a man dedicated to violence and the fomenting OF violence. Also Trump inadvertently CONFESSED to January 6th, and at his fraud trial he reminded us that his only genuine emotions are about money, and losing it makes him angry and stupid. So anybody debating him needs to make him ANGRY ABOUT MONEY. Also Trump said he’d rather be electrocuted than eaten by sharks and to that I say: you’ve got a deal! B-Block (18:40) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Did you know Governor Sarah Huckabee of Arkansas is being buried by a scandal over a $19,000 Podium? George Santos has a Constitutional argument against the new California senator. Unfortunately it appears he made it up. And speaking of making it up, Fox's Rachel Compost-Doofy is shocked Gov. Newsom didn't appoint the woman SHE KNEW would be the next Senator (22:03) IN SPORTS: The passing of Tim Wakefield and the guilt of Curt Schilling. Baseball managers Buck Showalter and Phil Nevin were fired even if the teams won't say so. The baseball playoffs have next to no meaning for me, maybe because 45 years ago yesterday I attended - a reported - the greatest playoff game imaginable. K.O. reports from the Bucky F'ing Dent Game. C-Block (32:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: One of the managers offed as the baseball season ended was Buck Showalter, who 30 years ago provided one of my favorite sports anecdotes and later made fun of himself for it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 30, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 46: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:40) IT'S STEVIE DAY! If you heard Friday's regular episode of the podcast, you've heard all of this before but I wanted to emphasize this story because, well, because it IS Stevie Day. 11 years ago today, totally by happenstance, with no plan, no rhyme, and no reason, I instantaneously became a dog person. All because of a little Maltese who liked to give kisses (and still does) B-Block (16:37) IT'S STEVIE DAY - PART TWO: She has fought through everything: cancer, immune disease, mobility issues, and never stopped smiling, and never believing that any human meant her anything but good (and still does). And now I have four dogs and I truly was, eleven years ago today, born again in dogs :-) C-Block (31:12) GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 29, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 45: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: "Join the ultimate strike against the globalist class," Trump shouted at his crowd in Michigan. And of course that is a double dogwhistle because to antisemites like Trump, "Globalist" means Jews, but also has a CLEAN meaning: dealing with the interconnections of the modern world, internationally. And he got away with “strike” there because he was nominally addressing the labor action by the United Auto Workers. Of course if you think he was telling his cult of thugs to take labor action against those dealing with the interconnections of the modern world, congratulations on awakening from your nine-year coma. Trump began to covertly attack Jewish people as soon as his presidential campaign began, he threatened globalists at the United Nations, this is nothing new. But the use of the term “ultimate strike” should set off any remaining alarm bells that have not been ringing continuously all this time. This is not a complicated calculation: if Trump determined that he could get elected by beginning a full-fledged attack on Jewish people, Jewish influence, he’d do it. When we speak of him as having the soul of a mass murderer, that’s what we mean. People do not have any actual VALUE to him. Re-enact the holocaust in whole or in part? To get re-elected? To stay out of jail? Of course he’d do that. And to any group you could name. If he became convinced that he could regain the White House by rounding up and killing all the… left-handed people, he’d do it. There is also more to the attack on the news media for "country-threatening treason." The former editor of The Washington Post confirms are worst fears. When Trump and Kushner demanded they meet to discuss how they could 'make it up' to Trump for reporting on Russia, the executives went as summoned, and negotiated. There is the danger in how the media has treated Trump and will treat him: it's all a negotiation for him, and it's all a negotiation for them. Speaking of which, Melania has reportedly re-done her pre-nup. Which Tee Box did she get in the new deal? And as House Republicans prepare to sack Kevin McCarthy and replace him with Tom Emmer, who best represented their hilarious 'Impeachment Inquiry' launch? Jonathan Turkey saying he didn't see any evidence worthy of an impeachment? Or Congressman Chuck Edwards, who couldn't pronounce any of the names or words in the sentence they gave him to read - particularly: "Oligarch." B-Block (25:22) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Stew Peters and guest demand execution of Taylor Swift and Travis Kielce for vaccine advocacy. Hey, Matt Gaetz? Why the long face? And Curt Schilling - Scumbag - reveals a former teammate is fighting cancer even though the former teammate wanted to keep it private. (30:42) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL, PART 1: Saturday is Stevie Day. You've heard this story before? Well here's your chance to hear it again. A boy and his first dog (ok, the boy was 53). C-Block (46:17) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL, PART 2: Stevie makes her cameo. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 28, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 44: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: THE NEW TRUMP FATWA. Trump has now threatened another judge. As usual, by inference, and with just enough space between him and the call for violence that he can deny it when it happens. It’s another Trump Fatwa and he personally is now issuing more of them – and more often – than is the government of Iran. So Tanya Chutkan’s coming decision – next week? The week after? - on the Jack Smith gag order looms even larger than before and bluntly she should skip the gag order and go directly to revoking his bail and putting him behind bars. Since last Friday he has tried to incite someone to kill the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and has accused the news media of “country-threatening treason” and promised to make its people “pay a very big price” for criticizing him. Since last month he has threatened the Special Counsel and the District Attorney of Fulton County Georgia and the District Attorney of Manhattan and the Attorney General of the State of New York and a woman he has sexually assaulted and an ex-president he doxed and everybody in the country who might fit under the phrase “If you go after me, I’m coming after you” and Judge Chutkan herself. Now it's Judge Arthur Engoron: “We need justice in our country! This political hack judge… must be stopped.” The only hack who must be stopped - by the law - is Trump. Chutkan has every right to do so, and she must. I now have slightly more hope after she slapped him around for 20 pages last night, rejecting a demand that she recuse herself because she had referenced him while sentencing other January 6 conspirators. She called his interpretation of her remarks quote “hypersensitive, cynical and suspicious” – yeah, that’s him pretty much. And then there’s Trump’s accomplices: The news media. The New York Times makes a phenomenal journalistic failure that protects Trump, and while the Fascists have a giant pretend-news propaganda infrastructure bankrolled by billionaires, the sad truth is, the “Liberal Media”relies for its funding on: Commercials on Maddow's show, for Dr. Scholl’s Skin Tag Remover. Biden, Democrats, and democracy itself needs its rich people to spend to fight back against the Fox/Alex Jones/Joe Rogan machine with something promoting actual liberal-oriented news. And damned soon. B-Block (30:57) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Paul Ryan is nice enough to slam Kevin McCarthy AND Aaron Rodgers. The NFL is simultaneously trying to convince people it's not racist while also advertising adjacent to the posts by racist accounts on Twitter. And why has the Bidens' dog bit another Secret Service agent? One Fox idiot has the answer - he must've gotten into that cocaine they found at the White House. C-Block (36:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Apropos of the idea that the vast right wing conspiracy is mostly about controlling the narrative, let me re-tell the day 15 years ago when the Republicans told Tom Brokaw to either get me off MSNBC's coverage of the rest of the presidential campaign, or watch as their candidate refused to show up to the Presidential Debate Brokaw was to moderate. Brokaw not only did it, but he boasted about it in a New York Times article that's still online. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 27, 2023

EPISODE 300! - COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Judge Tanya Sue Chutkan is about to become the most important person in the 2024 presidential campaign and maybe the most important person in the fight to prevent the sabotaging of democracy. Because if Judge Chutkan sides WITH Trump and AGAINST Jack Smith in the Gag Order case, she will be enabling Trump to claim that everything he does – every threat he makes, every conspiracy theory he stokes, every lie about Biden he proclaims – has been authorized by a Federal Judge and YOU cannot stop him and the LAW cannot stop him and the CONSTITUTION cannot stop him and THAT fresh hell will make the current one read like a quick dance in the spring rain. To read the full 25-page Trump Gag Order filing is an exercise by Trump to get the Judge – and thus the Courts – to sign off on every one of his anti-democracy rages and every call for assassination by proxy and to exonerate him on January 6th and to enshrine him as the REAL victim in this case. The Trump lawyers response filed late Monday night BURSTS with Trumpian claims of rights that do not exist, and precedents that do not authorize his dangerous rhetoric, and constitutional means to DESTROY the constitution that are not part of the American system of representative government. But if Judge Chutkan finds for Trump, he will immediately claim they are ALL in effect and he will exploit them and 482 days from now we will be living in an authoritarian state. Trump’s lawyers gave away the sub-plot in the first sentence. Literally. The answer to the Smith demand for a Gag Order begins: “President Trump respectfully submits this response in opposition to the prosecution’s motion to impose unconstitutional prior restraints." If Chutkan agrees with Trump, Trump will proceed and boast that his threat that kicked this all off – If you go after me, I’m coming after you – is constitutionally protected. He might as well put it on bumper stickers and MAGA hats. B-Block (20:15) IN SPORTS: In memory of Brooks Robinson, the greatest 3rd Baseman but a greater person (22:20) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: For the 20th consecutive year ex-pitcher Curt Schilling tells you who he really is. Benny Johnson lies about what Biden said and gets pounded - by the Right? And RFK Junior grabs and kisses yet another 3rd Rail: 9/11 Trutherism and Idiocy. C-Block (28:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: There is a Hall of Fame of people who have helped to ruin American journalism and I ran into one of the immortals the other day. His name is Andy Lack, he ran NBC News into the ground, and among other things he put Chuck Todd on Meet The Press and mainstreamed Megyn Kelly. Now you get to hear what a jackass he is. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 26, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 42: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Now we get the just-before-midnight answer to the Gag Order request, as insane as anything else since Friday, written not for legal purposes but to please Trump. Quote: “the proposed Gag Order is nothing more than an obvious attempt by the Biden Administration to unlawfully silence its most prominent political opponent, who has now taken a commanding lead in the polls. Keenly aware that it is losing that race for 2024, the prosecution seeks to unconstitutionally silence Trump’s (but not President Biden’s) political speech on pain of contempt)." Trump’s ambulance chasers slipstream behind his threats against NBC, referring to “President Biden and his surrogates (including those in the corporate media.” They dance along the lines of absurdity. There has been no intimidation of witnesses because quote “no witness has suggested that he or she will not testify because of anything president Trump has said.” It is impossible to believe their rhetoric will have any impact on Judge Chutkan. It doesn’t have to. It was written so Trump could get excited by it. Jack Smith has until Saturday to answer. And the late response was only the last of a string of insane moments by Trump or on his behalf. Yesterday - ten days after Hunter Biden was indicted for buying a gun when he was legally ineligible to do so… Trump in South Carolina bought a gun or tried to, when he was legally ineligible to do so. And all THAT followed worse. Under 18 US Code 4241 a prosecutor can request that the judge order that the defendant must undergo a psychiatric or psychological examination to determine if he’s competent to stand trial and unable to aid in his own defense and when it is proved that he isn’t, the judge can order him institutionalized and Jack Smith should make the request and Judge Chutkan should grant it because in the 72 hours before his lawyers were supposed to submit an argument against issuing a gag order on him as they did with exceptional lameness just before the clock struck midnight eastern last night after he’d threatened the court and tried to poison the jury pool, Trump demanded that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff be executed, insisted NBC News was guilty of something he made up called “Country Threatening Treason” because it had published a poll about him that he didn’t like, promised that as president he would make it and other news organizations “pay a big price,” and argued that the homes of all Democratic Senators be raided just cause, and bought a gun or tried to, and conflated the Bush Brothers and I don’t mean Billy. B-Block (22:45) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS (28:08): The gold bars are funny but isn't the issue with Senator Menendez the, you know, spying? Fox News was kind enough to just disprove the Hunter Biden/Joe Biden/Burisma phony story. And after she gets 35,000 people to register to vote in one day, a GOP propaganda site attacks... Taylor Swift? AND her fans? THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD (28:08): Congresswoman Sage Steele? The district they want her to run in wraps around but excludes the ESPN campus. Last year the Congressman won a Family Award. This year his missus says he's abandoned his family. And Kathleen Parker, who infamously wrote it'd be ok even if Trump won, tops herself: insisting Trump is "well-dressed." C-Block (33:25) THE FINAL WORDS ON DAVID BROOKS AND HIS $78 WHISKEYBURGER TWEET. Obviously, whose words would be better to use, than Brooks' own? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 22, 2023

SERIES 2 EPISODE 41: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump has gotten up in Iowa and announced if he again seizes power he will invoke the Alien Enemies Act and declare America has been INVADED and quote “immediately” detain and deport non-citizens of his choice who are older than 14 Not undocumented immigrants. Non-citizens. People who are here legally. People who are working TOWARDS becoming citizens. DACA’s and Dreamers and Refugees and Immigrants. At his sole discretion: The Alien Enemies Act gives the president the authority to detain ANYONE – but on the pretext that he is “removing all known or suspected gang members… drug dealers, cartel members from the United States…” Suspected. Suspected by him. So, anybody who isn’t a citizen. Anybody. Anybody. Anybody out of 22,000,000 non-citizens. The president immediately gains this power for himself, when he quote “makes public proclamation” that a quote “invasion or predatory incursion is perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States by any foreign nation”and THAT is why you hear the Boeberts and Greenes and Stephen Millers talk endlessly of “invasion” and Trump’s rivals climb all over each other to threaten war-by-other-names against Mexico. Oh but Trump didn't do it last time! History is littered with the bones – literally – of those who thought that because a madman did not do the most mad thing he said he would do… THAT time that he’d never do it. It is its own form of madness to think Trump’s first actual policy statement in nearly three years that wasn’t about the 2020 election is just for show. It is its own form of madness to forget Trump’s promise of retribution, and his own burning, seething, sadistic, animating sense of vengeance. And where do these detained non-citizens go? These places would in fact be camps, of some kind, and the living arrangements would necessarily be cramped, crowded, congested, confined — oh, what IS the word I’m looking for? Concentrated! That’s it! The camps would be concentrated. Camps. With Concentration. B-Block (27:12) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Rupert Murdoch retires to become Chairman Emeritus of Fox and News Corp. This is a man so evil that a dying television playwright with three months to live literally said he named his cancer "Rupert" after Murdoch so he had something to fight, and that if he hadn't wanted to spend his last months creating a new series, he would've murdered Murdoch on behalf of mankind. This was 29 years ago. This man is Osama Bin-Journalist. Stop rationalizing that he deserves some kind of praise because he dominated his field. So has Trump. So did Hitler. The story of writer Dennis Potter and Rupert - and how Rupert fired me personally, after I followed his rules. And may he burn in hell and the sooner the better. C-Block (55:20) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: His delightful story of every great dog you had to - and willingly made - excuses for: "The Dog That Bit People." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 21, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 40: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump has descended into full-fledged panic over the Possible Gag Order and either he is exaggerating for effect – what a shock – or, more likely, his lawyers, preparing an answer to Jack Smith’s request to Judge Chutkan that is due Monday, told him SOMETHING that set his hair on fire and you know the dangers of combustion when spray paint is mixed with open flames. And that imagery is more than a joke about his bottle blondness. It is a forecast of things to come. We are headed to a legal crisis over Trump’s social media posts and his refusal to accede to the rule of law and I don’t know where this ends but at the far end of political science fiction, where it ends is a shootout between United States Marshals and United States Secret Service. His bail – his NOT being held in a jail cell in the District of Columbia until trial starts – is dependent on him NOT defying the law. As I said last week, at some point, whatever limitations Chutkan imposes upon him, WHEN he violates them, whether it’s the first time or the fiftieth – he is NOT going to surrender. He is not going to let them put him in prison. They are going to have to go and get him. And what happens THEN? It seems madness to risk the lives of Marshals or Secret Service to protect this semi-sentient pile of feces. But, what? You’re going to have the Secret Service agents protecting him turn around an arrest him? Biden is going to order the head of the Secret Service to order his men to stand down when the Marshals arrive? Trump is going to see the photo-shoot-value in an actual perp walk? I’m not counting on the last one. Rolling Stone now reports that as you’d expect, the I-don’t-think-about-jail crap he gave to the gullible Kristen Welker in last Sunday’s stenography class is nonsense. Quoting: “In the past several months, Donald Trump has had a burning question for some of his confidants and attorneys: Would the authorities make him wear, quote, “one of those jumpsuits” in prison?... Three sources familiar with his comments say he’s been aking lawyers and other people close to him what a prison sentence would look like for a former American president. Would he be sent to a ‘club fed’ style prison… or a bad prison? Would he serve out a sentence in a plush home confinement?... those who’ve heard him ask these questions about a hypothetical sentencing tell Rolling Stone that it’s clear the gravity of his mounting legal peril is GETTING to Trump." As an aside, I understand Jann Wenner is asking the same questions. Also: Cassidy Hutchinson's book includes a sexual assault accusation against Rudy Giuliani. It's the worst sexual misconduct accusation against him in nearly four months. Also Lin Wood flips on the entire Trump crowd. And a tweet from Junior Trump announces his father had died. He was hacked. We think. B-Block (18:45) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: JD Vance sets some kind of record by averaging more than one lie per sentence in a tweet about an "American journalist held hostage by Ukraine" who is none of the above. Congresswoman Victoria Spartz asks Merrick Garland a question and if he's still thinking about the hearing he's probably asking 'what the hell did she SAY?' And James O'Keefe's obsession with becoming a musical star has now led to the closure of Project (In Vino) Veritas. But who will think of the cast of O'Keefe-Homa!? C-Block (25:39) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: If Rudy is back in the news then the question: "what happened to Rudy?" is also back in the news and I'll give you the answer: whatever it is, it happened in 1995 or earlier. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 20, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 39: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: NOW the Deep State has done it! NOW the Deep State has made its 27-Dimensional Chess move to cement the place of THE conspiracy in place and it will be left only to a few patriots and the Dilbert Guy to carry the torch of truth. Because WE knew it didn’t add up because Ray Epps had never been charged and now the evil genius bastards have CHARGED RAY EPPS. He could get up to 90 days and be fined maybe 500 dollars! American! The conspiracy to frame Donald Trump is the greatest conspiracy in the history of the world and it was designed to make it look like Trump lost the 2020 election and destroy Jon Voight’s chances of winning a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Oscars and make Joe Rogan look stupid. Well, MORE stupid. And then when the LEAK happened – the provocateur – the FBI plant who started it all and whose fault it all is – Ray Epps talked all the Trump supporters into going into the Capitol even though the other part of the conspiracy says everybody who went INTO the Capitol was Antifa - when it was revealed by the investigative team of Maria Bartiromo and Cat Turd that the feds left one nearly invisible loose thread – that the Deep State claimed Ray Epps wasn’t a plant yet they never CHARGED Ray Epps, they suddenly DID charge Ray Epps yesterday and the masterminds behind this vast earth-shattering conspiracy decided to cover their tracks and silence all protest forever by…charging him with one misdemeanor count of disruptive conduct and he’s pleading guilty today. And yet there it is, across Right Wing Looney Tunes land, the utter conviction, the absolute certainty from each of them that they alone have noticed that Epps was charged with one negligible offense and has seemingly already made a plea deal and that the rest of the world didn’t notice – everybody but Catturd, who valiantly stood up and braved assassination probably by typing “You’re not fooling anyone, Feds!" Oh god are they stupid. And The Stupid was all around the circuit yesterday: somebody used Matt Gaetz's printer to produce a copy of his resolution to oust McCarthy as Speaker, then left it in a Baby-Changing Station to be found by a reporter. Tim Scott was stupid enough to attack unions. Trump attacked Biden with the 25th Amendment and got everything ABOUT the 25th Amendment wrong. And 46 Republican Senators wrote a letter complaining about the relaxed attire rules in the Senate when the owner of their party wears bronzer, spray paints his hair, and lives inside a baseball cap. B-Block (19:52) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Peter Baker thinks the job of the president of the United States has actually been made tougher by something written by a guy who is evidently a columnist for The Washington Post. Add it to the list: Trump either doesn't know how the 25th Amendment work or thinks his cultists don't. And a Texas school district fires a teacher for reading The Diary of Anne Frank to 8th Graders because it was too sexy. C-Block (27:32) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: My least favorite near-death experience? United Nations Week here in Fun City! My MOST favorite near-death experience? When the president of MSNBC chased me around the studios threatening to destroy me. God that was funny. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 19, 2023

SERIES 2 EPISODE 38: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump staffers are flipping faster than fry cooks at Fat Burger! two MORE of his gang members have flipped on him. Flipped on him evidently without getting anything in return even immunity. In one case, serving as a de facto government agent gathering and bringing in EVIDENCE against Trump. And in the other, flipping on him without – apparently – telling the truth: just making stuff up about him to save themselves by sinking HIM. In an almost comedic turn, Trump assistant/Gal Friday/factotum Molly Michael is telling federal investigators that he used to write to-do lists for her on the BACKS OF CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS HE HAD IMPROPERLY RETAINED. Documents with visible classification MARKINGS on them. Handed to Trump. IN the Oval Office. Which he used as scrap paper and handed to the lowest level White House staffer. They wouldn’t have accepted it as a plot device on “Veep.” The To-Do Doo-Doo. Also according to ABC News, Trump found out LAST YEAR that the FBI wanted to talk to her, so he told her – she says - quote “You don’t know anything about the boxes,” unquote. Thing is – she still doesn’t know what he MEANT by that. There’s always money in the banana stand. Meanwhile Jeff Clark – the man who would be Attorney General – has become the fifth of the Trump 19 to try to get his Atlanta charges moved to Federal Court and his lawyer has told the judge that he should grant their motion because of one letter. It’s the letter he wrote but was prevented from sending after the 2020 election from the Justice Department to top officials in Georgia saying that the DOJ had reason to doubt that Georgia’s election results were legitimate. Clark claims he was told to do so BY Trump, that he couldn’t have done so UNLESS Trump told him to. His lawyer told Judge Steve Jones quote “They say he was acting outside of his lane. The president PUT it in his lane,” unquote. Meanwhile it says something that when Trump posts an antisemitic meme and that isn't the lead story. Trump has found and posted a graphic meme that reads quote “Just a quick reminder for liberal Jews who voted to destroy America and Israel because you believed false narratives! Let’s hope you learned from your mistake and make better choices moving forward! Happy New Year!” Last October he also threatened America’s Jews and not via meme. He personally said they “have to get their act together… before it is too late!” and had better support him for supporting Israel and once again implied that they were Jewish first and American second and no, the fact that he used to keep a book of Hitler’s speeches in a cabinet next to his bed is nothing to worry about. Trump is a dangerous anti-semite. And this iteration is terrifying, because it is about the support of "Evangelicals" and it is a very dark thing indeed because the Evangelicals love Trump because he thinks he's going to help them convert (or get rid of) all the Jews so they can enjoy the Rapture. B-Block (30:52) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Dedicated to Lauren Boebert breaking up with her Beetlejuice beau (at least it had a Happy Ending): Nope, I was right, Maddow said NOTHING about the NBC/MSNBC Welker-Trump disaster. She told me success would ruin her as a person. She got that right. Also Elon Musk thinks he can charge everybody for Twitter. And Bill Maher makes up a phony excuse for backing off his plan to Scab and cross WGA picket lines. Reality was: his career would've ended. C-Block (38:20) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: How's your right side, just above the belt? Any pain? Any sharp searing blinding you-almost-blacked-out pain after you stick your finger into the area then remove it? Well my friend your appendix is on the fritz! Now don't do what I did 16 years ago and WAIT TO SEE THE DOCTOR UNTIL TWO DAYS LATER WHEN YOU ARE DYING OF SEPTICEMIA! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 18, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 37: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) BREAKING: Have Meet The Press staffers including Kristen Welker violated NBC News’s own WRITTEN JOURNALISTIC guidelines – what it called “The NBC News Employee Handbook” – in failing to correct or fact-check Trump or in some significant way warn Meet The Press viewers yesterday that he was spreading provable falsehoods on their network in a pre-taped interview that provided NBC News three full days to document those falsehoods? Did NBC News make a deal with Trump’s campaign to make sure that didn’t happen – to NOT materially fact-check him on-the-air during the disastrous Kristen Welker interview? I do NOT yet know with complete assurance the answer to these questions. I DO know they are among many questions being asked INSIDE NBC right now, in part because of ONE tweet, and in part because of the awful realization that some sort of illicit pre-arrangement is an almost BETTER explanation than that Welker, and Meet The Press, and NBC News, abrogated virtually every one of its journalistic responsibilities in a Chris Licht-level dumpster fire that has left the long time viability of Welker, and her Executive Producer, and the nearly 76 year old program itself, up in the air. I do NOT know for certain that there is an internal investigation. I DO know veterans within NBC News are pushing for one based on the following timeline: Welker and NBC News reporter Dasha Burns were among a dozen Washington insiders who were quote “wining and dining” with Trump thugs Jason Miller, Steven Cheung and Chris LaCivita at a steakhouse called “Rare” the night before the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee. The dinner was August 22nd, Welker had been named the host-in-waiting for Meet The Press on June 5th, the interview was suddenly announced late in the day last Wednesday, the 13th, conducted on Thursday the 14th. Contacts or discussions between Meet The Press and the Trump campaign about editorial restrictions - at that dinner or elsewhere - would be a major issue. The more PRESSING problem is: at exactly 10 A-M Eastern yesterday, NBC News posted on its website, a fact check of Welker’s interview. At 10:13 A-M its “Meet The Press” account tweeted this, verbatim: Quote “Former President Trump made a spate of false and misleading comments about immigration, foreign policy, abortion and more in a wide-ranging interview with Meet The Press moderator Kristen Welker,” unquote. The problem is that the NBC News Employee handbook requires – or required – I was never given one, though I was given access to one, and I haven’t personally seen a revised copy and am relying on others quoting it to me – that if they knowingly broadcast or publish lies false or misleading comments or information by anyone in any non-live format without a disclaimer or caveat or… a fact-check – they have violated the NBC News Employee codes and are potentially subject to punishment up to and including suspension and termination. On the one hand, NBC News is posting a fact-check of what, at 11:30 AM, it tweeted were “at least 11 times during President Trump’s interview" when Trump was not truthful. "Here’s our fact check." While on the other hand, someone in a position of authority at NBC News decided – made certain – that there was no SIMILAR fact check ON the television broadcast itself, other than a passing mention directing viewers to the website. But in confirming Trump quote “made a spate of false and misleading comments” in a piece posted ON THE NBC NEWS WEBSITE, they are underscoring that they failed to clearly flag and disclaim and caveat – and WARN – that Trump was MAKING those “false and misleading comments” on their television network, and in all the clips shown on MSNBC, CNBC, and the NBC owned and affiliated statements. The Meet The Press telecast, of course, SKIPPED anything resembling the online fact-check. B-Block (25:16) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: ABC's John Parkinson boasts about shouting at President Biden asking if he'll pardon his son - as he visits the churchyard where his son is buried. News organizations ignore a Trumpist Terrorist near the Biden home (if it had been Kavanaugh's house they'd be talking martial law) and Drew Barrymore sees the light but Bill Maher is still a Scumbag SCAB. C-Block (31:20) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: A fitting time to bring up 2009 and the day Jeff Zucker called us in to his NBC President's office and announced that our corporate boss Jeff Immelt was ready to take MSNBC off the air because his mommy was a fan of Bill O'Reilly and was mad that I was criticizing Bill. Seriously. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 16, 2023

SERIES 2 EPISODE 36: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:30) BULLETIN: Gag Order now. Jail, later. Jack Smith has asked Judge Tonya Chutkan to shut Trump up and there is the tantalizing possibility that he wants her to at least threaten him with revocation of his bail and the terms of his release and that would mean jail. Smith leaves the penalty TO Judge Chutkan. But he writes “The court should ensure that public statements by the defendant and his agents do not prejudice these criminal proceedings. The defendant’s repeated, inflammatory public statements regarding the District of Columbia, the Court, prosecutors and potential witnesses are substantially likely to materially prejudice the jury pool, create fear among potential jurors, and result in threats or harassment to individuals he singles out…” That is strong language that Smith couches as if – to be blunt – it isn’t. Quote: “The Government proposes two narrowly tailored orders that impose modest, permissible restrictions on prejudicial extrajudicial conduct." What Smith is accusing Trump of – and what Smith is asking Chutkan to DO – has bearings on Fani Willis’s prosecution of Trump there. You may recall that the Judge’s warnings to Trump about the terms of his release – the fact that he has been permitted to remain free on bail – are FAR more explicit than what Jack Smith has gotten so far in Florida or Washington: “The defendant shall make no direct or indirect threat of any nature against any witness…” and yet Smith’s document says Trump has threatened witnesses. “The above shall include, but are not limited to, posts on social media or reposts of posts made by another individual on social media.” Jack Smith’s motions doesn’t just quote the threats and intimidation in Trump’s “posts on social media or reposts of posts made by another individual” – it actually includes reproductions of images of TEN of them. If Judge Chutkan finds against Trump in Washington, Trump could be immediately found guilty of violating his bail in Georgia. Trump replied by calling him quote “Deranged Jack Smith” again and referring to himself in the third person again and by mastering sophistry again by explaining that his poll numbers mean he can say anything he wants and claiming quote “I am not allowed to COMMENT? They leak, lie and sue and they won’t allow me to SPEAK? How else would I explain that Jack Smith is deranged…” This is not about the 1st Amendment. This is not even about the most extreme theoretical example of the 1st Amendment: the cliché about yelling fire in a crowded theater. This is about a man who yells fire in a crowded theater, and then goes to every theater in the country and yells fire again. This is about a creature who believes himself omnipotent and untouchable. This is about a potential scenario in which – if not in response to THIS filing by Jack Smith, then by SOME filing by SOME prosecutor at SOME point after SOME high number of these violations in one of these cases – a judge has to send federal or state marshals to apprehend Trump and bring him to a jail or prison for detention. He is not going to stop – he does not understand the concept of having to stop. He will have to be forced to. You can insert your own thoughts about the implications if he resists arrest. One thing that Trump and his lawyers and his apologists and his cultists cannot say, is that they have not been warned. “The fact that he’s running a political campaign has to yield to the orderly administration of justice,”Judge Chutkan told the Trump lawyer Lauro on the 11th of last month. “If that means he can’t say exactly what he wants to say about witnesses in this case, that’s how it has to be. Even arguably ambiguous statements from parties or their counsel, if they can be reasonably interpreted to intimidate witnesses or to prejudice potential jurors, can threaten the jurors,” Judge Chutkan continued, on August 11th. “I will take whatever measures are necessary to safeguard the integrity of these proceedings.” Judge, he’s not going to stop. You’re going to have to lock him up. Do it now. B-Block (19:02) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Lauren Boebert of the anti-drag party, is dating a bar owner who reportedly hosted a drag party. Drew Barrymore re-starts her talk show even though the writers are on strike. That makes her a SCAB. Bill Maher re-starts his "comedy" show even though the writers are on strike (and he insults the writers in the process) and he is a SCAB. (27:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I didn't know until 2009 that Maher and I met at Cornell in 1978 and in less than a minute he'd been so obnoxious I was ready to sock him. In a terrific irony considering his scabbing for his corporate masters, way back then he called me a "corporate sellout." C-Block (43:00) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: The immortal short story "The Night The Bed Fell." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 15, 2023

SERIES 2 EPISODE 35: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Congratulations, Kevin McCarthy on a unique feat: impeaching YOURSELF. McCarthy and the Republicans got their wish – the framework of a Joe Biden Impeachment and in less than 72 hours they have so COMPLETELY obscured it and overshadowed it and knocked it off the front pages that not even the right wing outlets are talking about IT, they’re talking about McCARTHY. It’s going so well for Soon-To-Be-Former-House-Speaker Kevin McCarthy that a senior Republican lawmaker has now told Semafor News that this ends when quote, “The whole family kills each other. I think we’re close to that right now. We are in maybe the Godfather TWO stage.” McCarthy that he met with his House Conference, dared them to oust him as Speaker, and then swore at them. “Go ahead. I’m not (effing) scared of it… move the (effing) motion.” And a Republican Congressional aide says that the Freedom Caucus members are quote “hellbent on losing the majority” for the GOP in the House. McCarthy, who was not smart enough to KNOW the story of Newt Gingrich's implosion under similar impeachment circumstances in 1998 (let alone use it as a template to avoid creating his current drama in which he is not only the hostage but the guy who showed the hostage takers how to TAKE the hostage) is probably not smart enough – when it comes to this - to quit. So the House will suspend while they hose down what’s left of him off the walls and then if we’re all real quiet, through our windows and doors will come the faint but unmistakable sound of President Biden laughing his ass off. Meanwhile, the Kristen Welker “Big Splash” sitdown for her Meet The Press Debut was arguably WORSE than expected. They throw clips on Nightly News with Lester Holt and in one he says to her he could’ve pardoned himself and he makes up stories about legal authorities and she smiles vapidly at him and instead of saying “You do know we all know you’re lying” or even just “honey please” she says “even if you were re-elected?” as if she were asking some nitwit on Dateline whether or not he’d go to the prom with the murder victim again. And she asks him what he thinks about Hunter Biden which is like seeing “For my next question, President Trump, free topic! Say whatever you want!” And THEN HE says “You mean because I challenge an election, they want to put me in jail?” and instead of saying something like – well, anything – she stares vapidly and they cut to Lester and Lester stares vapidly and then says “He had a pretty interesting answer” and you are reminded that Lester reached the apogee of his journalistic career in his cameo at the end of the movie “The Fugitive” in 1993. And as the GOP implodes, I sit here and I almost pray that somebody in the Democratic Party has the vision to say “the Republicans are in trouble, let’s make sure we make it far worse for them. THIS is the time: release the Comer," As the prospect looms that McCarthy will be ousted and somebody - maybe Oversight Chairman James Comer - will succeed him, now is the moment to push the 2015 allegations that surfaced when Comer ran for governor: He was credibly accused ago of physically and mentally abusing his college girlfriend from the early 1990’s, and credibly accused calling her mother and threatening the girlfriend’s life. And credibly accused of becoming “enraged” after finding that she had written-in his real name on the paperwork at the abortion clinic the quote “Pro-life” unquote Comer had driven her to, to end THEIR pregnancy oh and she still had that paperwork in a safe deposit box. B-Block (24:28) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Lauren Boebert of the anti-drag party, is dating a bar owner who reportedly hosted a drag party. Drew Barrymore re-starts her talk show even though the writers are on strike. That makes her a SCAB. Bill Maher re-starts his "comedy" show even though the writers are on strike (and he insults the writers in the process) and he is a SCAB. (32:25) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I didn't know until 2009 that Maher and I met at Cornell in 1978 and in less than a minute he'd been so obnoxious I was ready to sock him. In a terrific irony considering his scabbing for his corporate masters, way back then he called me a "corporate sellout." C-Block (47:45) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: The immortal short story "The Night The Bed Fell." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 14, 2023

SERIES 2 EPISODE 34: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Judge Aileen Cannon! You have unsuspected depth! Trump’s novice judicial appointee has shocked Trump World by issuing a gag order not only limiting what he can say and when he can say it during his prosecution and trial for stealing top secret documents, but also limiting when he and his lawyers can see the war plans and other classified information he stole. Cannon’s ruling is almost everything Smith asked for. Any evidence marked classified? Trump can’t discuss it publicly. The evidence marked classified that Trump has lied about and said he DE-classified? Trump can’t discuss THAT publicly. The evidence marked classified that has become public knowledge without being officially de-classified? Trump can’t discuss THAT publicly. If he wants to listen to any of the classified audio it has to be on a hardline headset on a computer that has no internet or network connection! And she also has ruled co-defendant Walt Nauta cannot have access to any of the material, so that's one less chance of a pro-Trump leak. It's stunning. Also, the Illegal Impeachment Inquiry Trump is stage-managing from behind the scenes is going shockingly badly. It's morphed into the GOP-In-Crisis; in fact, into the GOP in Open Revolt. McCarthy accused Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida of conspiring with Democrat Eric Swalwell of California to get Swalwell placed back on the Intelligence Committee. McCarthy even posits that THAT is a front for something else, saying of Gaetz quote “this is really about an ethics complaint.” Gaetz came back last night and said “This is an abject lie from a sad and pathetic man who lies to hold on to power,” and Congressman you’ll have to be more SPECIFIC than that and USE McCarthy’s name in that statement because otherwise it could be about anybody in your party. Also: the McCarthy FBI whistleblower about Hunter Biden? A DIFFERENT FBI whistleblower has implied that the other one is lying. And Hunter Biden just sued a former Trump aide for illegally accessing the laptop. And then there's the other media shoe dropping. A month ago Kristen Welker was one of a dozen reporters who took a meal with three Trump goons. Today, Welker will pre-destroy her career as host of "Meet The Press" to get a sit-down with Trump. The Executive Producer of her show - who didn't make the cut to join the Countdown staff 20 years ago - actually says of this garish soulless nonjournalistic stunt “We are in the business of covering politics. It’s not our job to pick and choose the leaders. The American people get to do that. And so our job is to make sure that the American people understand who the people in power are, what they stand for, and what they plan to do.” It's not our job to STOP the arsonists, it's just our job to give equal coverage to the firefighters AND the arsonists. B-Block (26:54) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Mitt Romney's going to retire at the end of his Senate term. I wonder if anyone will notice. My GOD they're treating this like Daniel Webster leaving the Senate in 1850. In fact, Mitt Romney is one of the dumbest, least perceptive people ever in public service - a man so dim that it wasn't until after January 6th that he realized smart colleagues like Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley might not actually think Trump had won but were just LYING FOR PERSONAL GAIN AT AMERICA'S COST. And for me, nothing will erase from my memory the day I awoke to find that Mitt had tweeted about me, complained about me, and as Tommy Vietor replied "It’s long past time to break ground on a Both Sides museum in Washington, DC. This comparison of the President of the United States to Keith Olbermann MUST be preserved for future generations." But it what Mitt was complaining ABOUT that will always resonate: that I had despoiled American politics by calling Trump a terrorist. Three months later Mitt was a virtual hostage inside the Capitol, pinned there by... Trump's terrorists. C-Block (38:43) GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 13, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 33: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: The impeachment inquiry Kevin McCarthy has now unilaterally and personally declared against President Joe Biden is, in fact, illegal. The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel – The TRUMP Administration Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel – ruled, on January 19th, 2020, that there can be no impeachment and no impeachment inquiry without… a vote. And that ruling is still on the books. Today. And Kevin McCarthy has violated it. Kevin McCarthy has broken the law. It’s Kevin McCarthy’s ILLEGAL IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY. Steven A. Engel, Assistant Attorney General Office of Legal Counsel. Same guy who wrote Bill Barr’s Muller summary for him, wrote: “The house of representatives must expressly authorize a committee to conduct an impeachment investigation and to use compulsory process IN that investigation before the committee may compel the production of documents of testimony in support of the House’s power of impeachment…the House itself must authorize an impeachment inquiry… no committee may undertake the momentous move from legislative oversight to impeachment without a delegation BY THE FULL HOUSE of such authority." Kevin McCarthy also wrote in 2019 that an impeachment inquiry without a vote is invalid. And he said it again TWELVE DAYS AGO. So any Democrat responding to this latest Republican urination on the constitution on behalf of Dementia J. Trump by NOT calling this a quote “ILLEGAL IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY” should be expelled. From the party, from office, from the country. McCarthy didn’t just break the rules, he just broke Trump rules and that fact should be hung around his neck every morning like one of those floral leis you get when you arrive in Hawaii. “Hello Mr. Speaker? And how’s your illegal impeachment inquiry TODAY?” And then there's the history lesson McCarthy needs to know about the last Speaker to try to make an impeachment out of nothing. Newt Gingrich impeached Bill Clinton - and lost HIS job while Clinton kept his. And then Gingrich's successor lost his job before even officially starting it. And then HIS successor wound up in prison for child rape. As an aside: Rudy Giuliani is complaining about betrayals of the real meaning of 9/11 this year: who gets to speak first at the memorial. B-Block (26:29) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: All this Rudy and Clinton and Gingrich talk got me nostalgic for a quarter century ago, when in my third month in the news business I went - in one week - from “why haven’t I seen you on SportsCenter lately" to “Good Evening, I’m anchoring live coverage of the State of the Union Address.” How to succeed in political broadcasting without really trying! C-Block (39:20) GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK: An Aaron Rodgers postscript See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 12, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 32: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Joe Biden really really really really really really really really really really should take Trump up on his Acuity Test Challenge. Trump alluded to it four times again yesterday - his belief he can PROVE he is the mentally competent one and Biden is the opposite. And Biden should jump on it with both feet. I know it sounds nuts and I know it sounds undignified and I know it sounds unpresidential and on the other hand this is America 2023 – right now we are the world’s leading distributor OF nuts and OF undignified and OF unpresidential. Ian Millhiser of Vox summed it up last night: coverage of Biden’s age, Biden’s acuity, is quote “starting to take on the same character as the 2016 But Her Emails coverage – find something that is genuinely suboptimal about the Democratic candidate, and dwell on it endlessly to ‘balance’ coverage of the criminal in charge of the GOP” unquote and he’s exactly right. The American Political Media Industrial Complex will bothsides this country to death – it all but succeeded in 2016 and again in 2020. After years of promoting idiots into key editorial decisions, after years of reaching the point where balanced news consists of the following: here is a pound of truth, here is a pound of bullshit. So if Biden responding to Trump’s psychotic post “I hereby challenge Rupert Murdoch and sons, Biden, WSJ heads, to acuity tests! We can also throw some physical activity into it” lessens the chances of all of us, you know, winding up dead because our teeming millions of fellow Americans whose stupidity is too vast to be described by mere human language can’t tell the difference between an undulating mass of blubber and madness, and a nearly 51-year veteran of service to this nation in its Senate, its Vice Presidency and its presidency, whose worst critics and most virulent haters still insist is actually simultaneously an enfeebled skeleton and the indefatigable mastermind of an international conspiracy and actually runs this country AND Ukraine and will personally remove every gas stove and dishwasher in America with his bare hands – if Biden saying to Trump “acuity test? Feats of strength? Let’s go, Fat Boy” can actually change that narrative – he HAS to do it. Donald Trump IS bluff. His life is bluff. His alleged net worth is bluff. His patriotism is bluff. His intelligence is bluff. His marriage is bluff. His ability to remember his kids names is bluff. His business success is bluff. His hair is bluff. Once – just once – JUST ONCE someone needs to step down off the stage of dignified reluctance and CALL TRUMP’S BLUFF, slap him across the face, and keep slapping him until the crowd of support that forms around all bullies, backs away and looks for a different one. And now, for once, and ONLY for once, Joe Biden should imitate Trump. Employ the jujitsu. Do not ignore the punch. Do not evade the punch. GRAB the fist and pull it towards you. And even if what follows does not FINISH Trump on the American stage – and I honestly believe it could – it WILL re-set this essential narrative of competence and acuity and age and insanity. B-Block (23:46) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Another day, another one of my ex-bosses in trouble. It was Walter Isaacson, briefly and unhappily the president of CNN at the turn of the century, who wrote the book about Elon Musk that revealed Musk had been meddling in American foreign policy, on behalf of the Russians, against the Ukrainians. And now suddenly, what Isaacson wrote Musk did has been changed in The Washington Post - to make Musk look a little less guilty of violating The Logan Act. Which flashes me back to the day Isaacson, then president of CNN, called me in and asked me if CNN should have a comedy-oriented news hour and instead of asking if I'd like to try it, asked me if I thought Jon Stewart would. C-Block (44:35) GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 11, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 31: SPECIAL COMMENT A-Block (1:43) Breaking: one-legged Trump invites rivals to an ass-kicking contest: “I hereby challenge Rupert Murdoch and sons, Biden, WSJ heads, to acuity tests!” Today, impossibly, infuriatingly, embarrassingly, we have now circled back to what – with the benefit of hindsight – appears to be the saddest possible thing: THE highlight of his presidency – July 2020 or perhaps earlier, when he was told to memorize an endless string of complicated, unconnected, ill-defined words and then not just remember them, but remember them… in the exact order: PERSON. WOMAN. MAN. CAMERA. TV. “I proved I was all there,” Trump said proudly, horrifyingly, again and again and again, to every interviewer, at every campaign speech, to everybody who would hold still long enough, beaming like a toddler who managed to poop in the potty chair. Mostly. “I aced it. I aced the test.” We thought those were the most humiliating things he could ever say about himself and that test, which on the mental or intellectual soundness scale is slightly above ‘put a mirror under his nose to see if he’s still breathing.’ We were wrong. For last night, somebody told him about a Wall Street Journal poll showing 73 percent of registered voters believed Joe Biden is too old to run for president – a not unexpected number given that the poll was run by… a former TRUMP pollster. But in that context the second number was shocking. FORTY-SEVEN percent of registered voters in the pro-Trump poll think TRUMP is too old to run. And after a typo in the first sentence of his rage-post last night he got right to it. “A few years ago I was the only one to agree to a mental acuity test and ACED IT” (aced it, is in caps) “Well I hereby challenge Rupert Murdoch and sons, Biden, WSJ heads, to acuity tests! I will name the place and the test, and it will be a tough one. Nobody will come even close to me!” He trashed the Journal. He called it globalist. Damaged goods. Phony and rigged. He is enraged again. And that was just the start. It devolved into his claim that the true test of NON-MENTAL strength… is golf. Quote: “We can also throw some physical activity into it. I just won the Senior Club Championship at a big golf club,” (as an aside, he means his own, he said so, earlier; he cheats at all golf courses; he cheats at HIS golf courses with impunity; he cheats, literally, over his wife’s dead body). “I just won the Senior Club Championship at a big golf club, with many very good players. To do so you need strength, accuracy, touch and above all, mental toughness. Ask Bret Baier (Fox) a very good golfer.” Yeah that’s who I’m going to, to decide mental and physical competence.“The Wall Street Journal and Fox are damaged goods and their failed DeSanctimonious push and stupid $780 million settlement.” And the final thrust of this intellectual argument that would make Einstein weep – all in caps – “MORONS!!!" Plus, oh, just confirmation that Clarence and Ginni Thomas and Leonard Leo and Harlan Crow and Cleta Mitchell should all be in jail for life. B-Block (23:33) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: And now he belongs to the ages. Chuck Todd leaves "Meet The Press" thoroughly convinced he did a great job. Don't let BOTH SIDES OF THE DOOR HIT YOU IN THE ASS ON THE WAY OUT Chuck. (29:10) IN SPORTS: Embattled Spanish soccer boss quits after forced kiss. Michigan State football coach beats it after harassment and abuse charge. And we have to start rescheduling the tennis tournaments: it'll be 147 degrees at the Aussie by 2050. (32:13) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Sean Spicer's amazing Freudian slip about GOP candidates. Elon Musk says his Neuralinks don't kill monkeys. They only kill terminally ILL monkeys. And Greg Gutfeld demands doxing of all leftist protestors. C-Block (38:10) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: 22 years after 9/11 and the names I remember: Tomas Reyes, Mike Tanner, so many others. And what is finally becoming clear and horrible: the straight flashing line from that awful day to this awful day and the rise of hateful, blind fascism personified by Trump. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 8, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 30: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: It's BACK. Asked at his disbarment hearing in California about his December 2020 email to Boris Epshteyn referring to Mike Pence OR CHUCK GRASSLEY presiding over the January 6 Electoral College Vote count and certification, John Eastman said he couldn't answer because of attorney-client privilege. Asked WHICH client, he answered "President Trump." And so it reignites. It is the Dracula of January 6 Coup Conspiracy threads. Each time it seems like it's been discredited, something like this arises. Now it's Eastman reigniting the belief that his email, and Grassley's bizarre statements on January 5 that they didn't expect Pence to preside, and Pence's refusal to get into the Secret Service vehicle during the coup, are all connected. And Grassley once again has changed his story. I'll review the whole saga and I'll predict: if somebody breaks John Eastman, they'll get the truth. So let's break him! Might be Fani Willis. She has now replied to Jim Jordan's fishing expedition with everything this side of an indictment of Jordan. The highlights are wonderful. Then there's Peter Navarro's conviction and the reappearance of Sign Woman to torture the pint-sized fascist. Roger Stone reveals he has no idea what would happen during a nuclear war. A self-identifying Air Force vet confronts Ron DeSantis about the Dollar Store slaughter and Ron and his aide and his dubious Surgeon General overreact so much it's clear they know the mass shooting was DeSantis's fault. And we have to strip Elon Musk of his security clearance and all government contracts; a Russian propagandist goaded him into shutting off the satellite phone system he gave the Ukrainians when Ukraine needed it the most. Musk feared it would precipitate a "Mini-Pearl Harbor." Or, did he say "Minnie Pearl Harbor?" And that new CNN poll that's so dire for President Biden? Small detail. They polled 900 Republicans and only 600 non-Republicans. B-Block (25:40) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Mike Buckner, explorer, who says tomorrow he will prove the earth is flat and what we think is the horizon of a globe is actually "The Great Ice Wall." CNN Politics thinks I'm-All-Ears Tuberville doing China's bidding by hamstringing the US military is a "Dispute between Tuberville and Democrats." And disgraced Conservative Steven Crowder takes out an ad offering a laugh and based on the allegations he repeatedly exposed himself to men, I think we know what the laugh is. C-Block (31:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Ever heard one of those stories of the guy who happens to run into the automobile manufacturer early in the 20th Century? And the businessman is just merging together a bunch of small firms and he needs a name for the new big one and the stranger says "How about General Motors?" The story is true - and it's about my great grandfather. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 7, 2023

SERIES 2 EPISODE 29: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Is Jack Smith trying to get the Judge in the Election Subversion Trial to detain Trump or fine Trump or start Trump’s trial early or issue a GAG ORDER against Trump? In Washington there is a behind-the-scenes courtroom drama playing out under seal, but which SEEMS to be – based on the half-second of light shining on it, the way a midnight thunderstorm illuminates everything and then just as quickly plunges it all back into darkness – which SEEMS to be an attempt by Jack Smith to get Judge Tanya Chutkan to PUNISH Donald Trump for shooting off his big bazoo in speeches and on social media. And that’s all we know about it. Smith has made a filing with Judge Chutkan’s court in which he alleges Trump has quote “made daily extrajudicial statements that threaten to prejudice the jury pool.” That’s almost LITERALLY IT. The whole motion is just 345 words. The easy part is to imagine what “daily extrajudicial statements” Smith is reminding Chutkan about because they began in the overnight hours of Sunday and Monday August 14th, not 72 hours after Judge Chutkan warned Trump’s lawyer “I caution you and your client to take special care in your public statements about this case” and Trump said he understood and at 12:33 Eastern Daylight Time Trump posted “How dare lowlife prosecutor, deranged Jack Smith, break into my former Twitter account without informing me and indeed trying to completely hide this atrocity from me." Revoke his bail? Is that what Jack Smith has ASKED her to do? Treat him as the lethal threat he represents and revoke his bail – the terms of which he has obviously violated? Or fine him? Or institute a gag order on him? Or is it that other option? WHATEVER is going on we will know SOMETHING next week, I think. CNN reports Chutkan has ordered both sides to file additional briefs on whether or not the original Smith brief – which presumably is about or at least TOUCHES on “the defendant’s daily extrajudicial statements” -should be posted on the public record. Trump’s team is to answer by Monday and the Special Counsel must answer by Monday. There is also all sorts of other bad news for Trump, including his announcement that he's going to testify at his "trial." Which one? B-Block (24:40) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Anderson Cooper has no idea what his job is at CNN; Little Jimmy O'Keefe told Project Veritas "The show must go on - even if our staffer is drowning;" and Rand Paul thinks he's talking about the dead eyes of Mitch McConnell when he actually means the dead eyes of... himself. C-Block (31:37) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Never go see how the sausage is made and, as I learned 48 years ago this month at my college radio station, never go see how radio or TV or any media is made if you ever want to enjoy it again. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 6, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 28: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: I call for the immediate arrest of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, representative of the 14th district of Georgia, for violating 18 US code 871 – “Threats against the President and Successors to the Presidency.” Greene has posted to social media video of a direct threat to harm or kill Joe Biden, made by a man who when asked about that threat of personal violence replied “I don’t regret nothing I said. I (effing) mean it, bro." Greene’s own ignorance of the federal code dealing with threats against the President is no defense. 18 U-S code 871 quite clearly states that the threat does NOT have to be first-hand. Greene does not have to have said it, she merely has to have distributed the threat. Though she helpfully began her distribution and promulgation of the threat against Biden’s life with her own statement: “I agree with this man.” At some point we have to break Greene - and the fascist right's - dance along the cliff-edge of political violence. Just two weeks ago she rightly complained that violent threats against her had gotten a weak three-month sentence. Now, the threat she distributed should be met by her being charged, arrested, convicted, and sentenced to the maximum of five years. Because occasionally the Justice System works. "Enrique" Tarrio broke the January 6 record with a 22-year sentence (though take the odds and bet on Trump getting more). And let's hear it for my new hero, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, who was born in Cuba and who accused political ignoramus and stunter Tommy Tuberville of more than even endangering national security by holding up military promotions. “For someone who was born in a communist country," said Secretary Del Toro, "I would never have imagined that actually one of our own senators would actually be aiding and abetting communists and other autocratic regimes around the world.” And there is more on the 14th Amendment, now the flavor of the month in the media. Michigan’s Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson makes an interesting revelation: “Secretaries of states of multiple states are having conversations. I’m talking with folks in Pennsylvania, with the secretary of state in Nevada and even in Maine; people in Georgia of course – my colleague Brad Raffensberger – just to get a sense of what the facts are” and she added that a group of states quote “likely need to act in concert, if we act at all.” B-Block (21:10) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: I'm somewhat limited by a throat infection, but here are Anthony Rendon of baseball's Angels who can't play due to a string of injuries (it happens) but refuses to talk about it (it's inexcusable), Washington Post "Fact Checker" Glenn Kessler, and the Saudi Prince who's trying to choose our president for us and whose exports to this country we should cut off and whose assets here we should seize. C-Block (29:12) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Yesterday was the 15th anniversary of the night the Republican Party and Tom Brokaw got me fired as the co-anchor of MSNBC’s 2008 Presidential Debate coverage because the Republicans told Brokaw do this or McCain won’t show up for the debate you inherited when Tim Russert died and Brokaw really wanted a second career after Brian Williams had buried his first career alive and threw me under the bus even though I had welcomed him to our MSNBC campaign coverage when NBC had literally benched him for the '08 campaign. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 5, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 27: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Uh-oh. Somebody told Trump about the 14th Amendment and he’s terrified And we know who terrified him. The Wall Street Journal published a 900-word editorial exactly 77 minutes before Trump’s post and it is aptly titled “The 14th Amendment Trump Panic” because while the Journal usually has the confidence and arrogance and factuality of Marie Antoinette apocryphally talking about dessert, this time the lead fascists Chez Murdoch sound really scared. They have resorted to the argument that even if the 14thAmendment doesn’t JUST apply to people who literally fired a gun at the flag or those who instructed them to, it can’t apply to January 6th because January 6th wasn’t a REAL insurrection because… uh… it didn’t SUCCEED. 14-3 advocates are quote “willing to put democracy at risk in order to save it. But U-S institutions held up reasonably well despite the strains of the Trump Presidency, even the events of January 6. The transfer of power took place on schedule…the rioters and organizers are being punished, often severely…” In other words: whaddya mean ATTEMPTED murder? What kind of crime is THAT? Either there’s murder, and you go to jail, or there isn’t murder, and you go free. Am I right? Trump bleated about socialists and democrats and election interference and who will get to tell him? The Disqualification clause was in essence created to keep the Vice President of the confederacy out of the Senate. After he won. As a DEMOCRAT. In 1866. And Alexander Stephens had been convicted of NOTHING. He was arrested for treason on May 11th, 1865, released from prison in October without even going to trial. In 1919, 14/3 was used to keep a Congressman-Elect, Victor Berger of Wisconsin – literally an actual member of the Socialist party – out of the House because he had been convicted of violating the Espionage Act during the 1st World War because he opposed U-S entry into it. And just last year local New Mexico official Cuoy Griffin was bounced by 14/3 after nothing more than a misdemeanor conviction for trespassing. The point of course is that Stephens was kept out even though he was never convicted of anything, never even TRIED for anything, and he was readmitted only after a Congressionally-approved amnesty. Trump doesn't understand these nuances but like the wild animal he is he can smell fear, and there's nothing but fear in the WSJ editorial. Press the point. Plus we knew Mark Meadows had confessed to the Georgia judge last week while trying to get his trial moved to Federal Court. We had no idea how MUCH he had confessed, and how screwed he is, and how his only option may be to cut a deal with Fani Willis. B-Block (20:27) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: All is finally well at CNN where the new guy starts in one month and four days and controversy is a thing of the past and what do you mean at the BBC he once leaned over to a news editor and BIT HIM ON THE ARM HARD ENOUGH TO LEAVE MARKS THROUGH HIS SHIRT? (26:26) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Matt Schlapp conducts an exorcism...in his PANTS! The Philadelphia cemetery that has a memorial to...Nazi collaborators? And segueing perfectly: After pimping for the hashtag "Ban The ADL," Elon Musk insists he's opposed to all forms of anti-semitism and then explains that the main Jewish organization fighting anti-semitism, The Anti-Defamation League, has conspired to destroy advertising on twitter and he's suing them and if Musk ain't an antisemite it's an incredible simulation. C-Block (33:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The school year has begun at every level and inevitably I flash back to the day my legendary Cornell American history professor nearly failed all of us in his class because his favorite football team lost. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 31, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 26: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: In an April deposition in the New York Civil Fraud case, Trump told the Attorney General's office that he wasn't running his company because he was too busy saving the world from nuclear holocaust and saving millions of lives because he was the only one to think of DEALING with North Korea. You’re WELCOME LOSERS. This underscores a part of Trump’s insanity that it sometimes seems like we have gotten used to: he really DOES think he’s the first person to ever think of something, or to DO something, that everybody else in his position did as long ago as 1946. I never hear him say something like this – “Only I saved millions of lives because only I dealt with North Korea” without thinking of what the idiot director Roger DeBris in Mel Brooks’ movie “The Producers” says about the play itself – quote – “I never knew that the ‘THIRD REICH’ meant Germany! I mean it’s just DRENCHED with historical goodies like that.” That’s Trump. Still, Trump didn’t save Peter Navarro, who goes to trial – but only after failing to grab a paper “TRUMP LOST” sign held an inch over his head. And he didn’t save Rudy Giuliani, who goes to trial for slandering Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman and hours later went on radio and slandered Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman AGAIN. And he didn’t save Kevin McCarthy who will now have to start an impeachment without holding a vote – which he once violently criticized – or hold the vote and LOSE IT. The knives are out for Fani Willis. The Georgia State Senate Majority Leader now threatens her with reprimands, sanctions, hearings, defunding and removal. His name is Gooch and he’s from Lumpkin County. But the Georgia State HOUSE Speaker, Jon Burns, another Republican, says trying to defund Willis violates separation of powers. With no hyperbole: I worry for Speaker Burns' safety. And the podcast celebrates a big milestone with a big thank you to you: the August audience was 3,000,000! B-Block (21:44) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: McConnell freezes again. Nice of his staffers to leave him out there and ask reporters to yell at him. And the brewing story about how if Mitch goes, the Democratic Kentucky governor may defy a new law and appoint a Democrat in his place. Plus the Proud Boys sentencings that weren't. (25:18) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Anti-pickleball millionaire Holly Peterson has an unexpected feature in her home: her own pickleball court. The guy who claimed he killed Bin Laden got arrested and replied by claiming he killed bin Laden. And why even in these days of loose ethics in cable news, MSNBC must fire primetime anchor Stephanie Ruhle. C-Block (32:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Poor puppy Thomas: attacked, left to die on the train tracks, and still wagging as humans treat him. (33:20) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It's the 26th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana, which was also the day cable news jumped the shark and the shark was in the Rubicon. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 30, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 25: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The Trial of Donald Trump and the Trump 19 could begin in Atlanta on October 23rd. In such a low-key manner that it barely got noticed, Fonni Willis has now formally petitioned Judge Scott McAfee to MOVE UP the trial date for everybody – and reverse his previous ruling to sever the trial of Ken Chesebro from the entire roster of 19 defendants. It would mean everybody - not just Chesebro - goes on trial just 55 days from now, instead of on March 4. And thus we are presented with the reality that the Chesebro, the man who may do the most to put Trump in prison BEFORE the 2024 election may be the man he turned to, to engineer this half-baked plan to overturn the 2020 election. Way to go Cheese-Bro! Now we need to know when the State of Georgia and maybe the Department of Justice will put this Georgia State Legislator Colton Moore behind bars. This is the State Senator with eyes on opposite sides of his head and he is the one who tried to get a special session of the Georgia senate called so he could defund the Fulton County D-A’s office, and he is the one who previously revealed he believes that the Trump 19, if convicted, face death by lethal injection and he is now the one serving up on the propaganda channel “Real America’s Voice” a threat to send troopers to arrest Fonni Willis and make a Trumpian stochastic promise of Civil War. In Washington, Congressman Andy Clyde is on the House Appropriations Committee and he says he has TWO amendments ready to tag on to the Fiscal 2024 budget for Commerce Justice and Science which his committee will take up next month after the recess and guess who they defund and no it’s not Aileen Cannon. Clyde thinks he can take out Willis AND Alvin Bragg in New York AND Jack Smith (and he’s wrong about that, which I'll explain in detail). B-Block (19:59) IN SPORTS: The complete failure of the Colorado Rockies' security staff as two fans charge and hold an Atlanta Braves star underscores that since 9/11 sports has adopted only "security theater" - not real security. It was the worst breach in baseball in nearly a week! The White Sox finally have an explanation as to how two fans got shot in the bleachers last Friday and it involves hiding a gun in "folds of belly fat." (25:35) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Shouldn't have praised the urban Trump Mugshot Mural until you saw what the thought bubble said, Charlie Kirk and Jesse Watters; Matt and the sound of one hand Schlapping; and the Katy, Texas, School Board Moronic Fascist who banned a book because it used "they" instead of "he" or "she" except that's not why they used they; THEY used THEY because it was grammatically correct and Morgan Calhoun is too stupid to know it. C-Block (31:49) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Running that clip of O.J. Simpson endorsing Vivek Ramaswamy provided a good laugh but ever since I've been haunted of memories of what he did in 1994, how nobody believed it was possible, and how in LA media in the '80s and '90s we knew he was a phony and an evil man, but we weren't able to probe harder to learn what a monster he truly was. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 29, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 24: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump STILL has to go to trial in 189 days and apparently STILL does not know there is no legal mechanism to APPEAL the judge’s schedule nor STILL does half the Republican Party and STILL at least half of all media including the BBC, and thus Trump is STILL ROYALLY EFFED. And after Mark Meadows inexplicably testified for more than four hours yesterday trying to get a glorified change of venue in the Atlanta Election Subversion Conspiracy trial by using the singular strategy of confessing to everything… the Judge says he’ll have a ruling “as soon as possible”whether it stays in local court in Atlanta or in a federal court presumably elsewhere in Georgia with a jury pool more favorable to Meadows and Trump and when they say favorable of course they mean more WHITE. She wasn’t going to JAIL Trump, no matter how much I wished for it on my lucky beads. She was going to do something far worse. She was going to assume he was doing it to try to poison the jury pool (like he could think THAT rationally or THAT far ahead) and she would just speed up the trial. The prosecution wanted the trial to open 127 days from now. Trump countered with 947 days. Two and a half years. Chutkan’s compromise REEKS of “this is punishment, please enjoy being EFFED” – 189 days. It's glorious​. There is one thing here Trump truly fears – the OTHER essential ingredient (besides a guilty verdict) that can put him behind bars: a speedy trial – and his nitwitted co-defendants, his supposed minions Ken Cheesbro and Mark Meadows and Sidney Powell all INVOKED the Georgia Speedy Trial Law so THAT one is already on track to start two months earlier than originally planned BY THE D-A… and now Trump is being beaten up by the judge who KNOWS it’s the one thing Trump truly fears – and we’ll see you on March 4th. Now about Meadows: why did he feel he had to testify – for four hours – that he was Trump’s gatekeeper and HE was at every meeting and HE was on every phone call and HE was the guy others went to, to get Trump to listen to them – and HE went to Georgia and HE arranged the Raffensberger phone call and HE was in the meeting with the Michigan politicos and wait wait – that meeting and the Raffensberger call were about… overturning the election results in Georgia and Michigan? THAT’S what Trump meant about the 11-thousand-790 votes? I’ll be damned! Trump is SO effed. B-Block (21:18) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Big news everyone! Today is the day the Bidens are sentenced by the military and the "Citizens Tribunal" according to the founder of Judicial Watch. Tucker Carlson insists getting fired makes you a man: so he's FOUR men I guess. And Joe The Plumber dies. (26:28) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Melanie Zanona of CNN both-sides a Biden impeachment story but leaves out the fact that the GOP has no evidence until PARAGRAPH NINE. The NRA exaggerates the number of Americans using an AR-15 for defense by roughly 1,999,996. And Congressman Byron Donalds "blames" the 2020 lockdown and the vaccine rollout on Biden. While Trump was still president. C-Block (31:47) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: With The Daily Beast reporting Matt Lauer has abandoned his comeback, time to recount what we really knew about him at NBC and the time he tried to get me fired because I helped him get a "big get" interview. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 28, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 23: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Two major developments today warranting a bulletin edition: Judge Tonya Chutkan has set the start of jury selection in the Trump Subversion of the Election trial in Washington for March 4. Trump is, as I predicted this morning, EFFED. He's SO effed he's already insisting he will appeal her decision, proving he doesn't even know there is no legal means FOR him to appeal it. He is SO effed. Meanwhile in Atlanta, his former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows seems hell bent on confessing to everything - including crimes he hasn't been charged with - just to get the trial moved from state to federal court. He actually took the stand this morning and admitted to everything on the Raffensberger call (and I think I called him Ken in here. Ken pitched for the Phillies in 1954). Note: the rest of this edition is repeated from Monday's regular edition. If you've heard it, feel free to hit STOP right about here. Also: the first signs of life are appearing in the attempt to actually DO something about disqualifying Trump from the ballot under the Disqualification Clause of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. After another mass shooting - one predicated on distinct and undeniable racism - shock and grief and rage can account for almost any reaction. But as Governor Ron DeSantis, who trades in distinct and undeniable racism and who had the gall to insist HBCUs in Florida would not be targeted when one was targeted Saturday, attended a vigil last night for the victims in Jacksonville, the crowd rightly booed and heckled him and his inanely smiling wife. And the local Democratic councilwoman made an unbelievable mistake. She told the crowd to "put parties aside. A bullet don't know a party." She could not be more wrong. A bullet not only knows a party but the bullets are there BECAUSE of a party and we damn well better say so. We have mass shootings and we have nearly unfettered civilian access to weapons of war and we have an orgy of gun worship BECAUSE of Republicans. Period. Our gun crisis may not be 100% Republican but it’s 95%. Our awareness that at any moment, anywhere, anyone in this country could be murdered by sentient fecal matter and the only variables are which minority group THIS one murdered because of which Republican THIS one listened to, waxes and wanes. But there are four unswerving constants and they played out in Jacksonville over the weekend: they had the guns because of Republicans; if they didn’t have the HATE already they got IT because of Republicans; nearly all of our news media will refuse to say that mass shootings in this country are the unquestioned FAULT of Republicans, and no matter what the circumstances of this particular one were, Republicans will insist it’s too soon to – you know – try to STOP them from happening and to propose – you know – SOLUTIONS – is trying to exploit a tragedy for political gain. As opposed to trying to exploit a tragedy for donations from the National Rifle Association and making sure that nothing is ever, ever, done, to stop the next one. Trump's other spawn, Vivek Ramaswamy, spent Sunday morning insisting that Mike Pence he should’ve refused to certify Biden’s election until the Senate agreed to instantly instituted new laws to mandate the most draconian Republican talking points about voting suppression: single-day elections, paper ballots, government-issued ID’s, and quote “led through that level reform and then under that condition certified the election” – as if every moment of the political day is a hostage situation and every law is optional because Vivek Ramaswamy sees a loophole to exploit. Happily that performance on "Meet The Press" earned Ramaswamy the coveted endorsement of one viewer: O.J. Simpson. B-Block (27:52) IN SPORTS: Spain's Soccer Kiss scandal continues to cascade. The Chicago White Sox still don't know how two fans got shot in the bleachers during a game. And the Oakland A's forgot they'll have to find a place to play four lame duck seasons before moving to Las Vegas (32:44) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Zillow mistakenly reports Trump sold Mar-a-Lago to Junior for 10 times its value ("Oops!"), Tucker and Musk are lying about the audience for Carlson's interview with Trump by a factor of at least 300:1, and Jonathan Turley 2023's biggest enemy right now is: Jonathan Turley 2021. C-Block (38:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The odometer has turned over again. Now it's 43 years since I started in television at CNN. So let me tell you how Ted Turner inadvertently invented SportsCenter AND nearly wound up owning ALL THE TEAMS in the National Football League. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 28, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 22: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: After another mass shooting - one predicated on distinct and undeniable racism - shock and grief and rage can account for almost any reaction. But as Governor Ron DeSantis, who trades in distinct and undeniable racism and who had the gall to insist HBCUs in Florida would not be targeted when one was targeted Saturday, attended a vigil last night for the victims in Jacksonville, the crowd rightly booed and heckled him and his inanely smiling wife. And the local Democratic councilwoman made an unbelievable mistake. She told the crowd to "put parties aside. A bullet don't know a party." She could not be more wrong. A bullet not only knows a party but the bullets are there BECAUSE of a party and we damn well better say so. We have mass shootings and we have nearly unfettered civilian access to weapons of war and we have an orgy of gun worship BECAUSE of Republicans. Period. Our gun crisis may not be 100% Republican but it’s 95%. Our awareness that at any moment, anywhere, anyone in this country could be murdered by sentient fecal matter and the only variables are which minority group THIS one murdered because of which Republican THIS one listened to, waxes and wanes. But there are four unswerving constants and they played out in Jacksonville over the weekend: they had the guns because of Republicans; if they didn’t have the HATE already they got IT because of Republicans; nearly all of our news media will refuse to say that mass shootings in this country are the unquestioned FAULT of Republicans, and no matter what the circumstances of this particular one were, Republicans will insist it’s too soon to – you know – try to STOP them from happening and to propose – you know – SOLUTIONS – is trying to exploit a tragedy for political gain. As opposed to trying to exploit a tragedy for donations from the National Rifle Association and making sure that nothing is ever, ever, done, to stop the next one. Trump's other spawn, Vivek Ramaswamy, spent Sunday morning insisting that Mike Pence he should’ve refused to certify Biden’s election until the Senate agreed to instantly instituted new laws to mandate the most draconian Republican talking points about voting suppression: single-day elections, paper ballots, government-issued ID’s, and quote “led through that level reform and then under that condition certified the election” – as if every moment of the political day is a hostage situation and every law is optional because Vivek Ramaswamy sees a loophole to exploit. Happily that performance on "Meet The Press" earned Ramaswamy the coveted endorsement of one viewer: O.J. Simpson. The Trump Trials are now colliding in the scheduling space. One in the Washington case (when does the trial start? January 2024 or April 2026?) and one in the Atlanta case (Mark Meadows to be tried in local or federal court) both begin at the exact same hour. There are also more Atlanta defendants flipping on Trump before anybody asks them to. And the first signs of life are appearing in the attempt to actually DO something about disqualifying Trump from the ballot under the Disqualification Clause of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. B-Block (22:09) IN SPORTS: Spain's Soccer Kiss scandal continues to cascade. The Chicago White Sox still don't know how two fans got shot in the bleachers during a game. And the Oakland A's forgot they'll have to find a place to play four lame duck seasons before moving to Las Vegas (27:44) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Zillow mistakenly reports Trump sold Mar-a-Lago to Junior for 10 times its value ("Oops!"), Tucker and Musk are lying about the audience for Carlson's interview with Trump by a factor of at least 300:1, and Jonathan Turley 2023's biggest enemy right now is: Jonathan Turley 2021. C-Block (33:32) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The odometer has turned over again. Now it's 43 years since I started in television at CNN. So let me tell you how Ted Turner inadvertently invented SportsCenter AND nearly wound up owning ALL THE TEAMS in the National Football League. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 25, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 21: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The "Never Surrender" graphic and the "Never Surrender" $47 T-Shirt and the "Never Surrender" return-to-Twitter post all feature a photo taken literally AS TRUMP SURRENDERED. At least the Trump measurements - 6'3" 215 strawberry or blonde hair - are accurate. So long as they were determined from a satellite in high space orbit. Though the idea of the MUGSHOT is new, for most of us, the booking of Donald Trump is by now a ritual as old as time itself, passed from one generation of Americans to the next. To his supporters it is something they seem to have convinced themselves was not going to happen, and about which they take DIRE umbrage. Ned Ryun, the onetime George W Bush speechwriter and now head of one of the three million different organizations there to fight against the lack of conservative representation, went on Fox and said we were in a “cold civil war” and Sarah Palin, a dope, went on Newsmax and said “do you want us to be in a civil war? Because that’s what’s going to happen. We do need to rise up and take our country back” and one is inclined to remind the Witch from Wasilla who has all the tanks. Well, if this means Civil War at least it’s about something important. The real news from Atlanta: another step taken by Kenneth Chesebro to put Donald Trump in jail before the election. I wish I understood his game here. B-Block (17:48) IN SPORTS: Shohei Ohtani is potentially facing the end of his pitching career - because unicorns don't exist - at exactly the same time the equally-hyped Stephen Strasburg retires due to an injury that his limited him to eight games since 2019. All of which reminds me of the greatest pitcher you've never heard of: Harry Krause. And when you're too big to do the Super Bowl halftime show (23:05) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Another year, another CNN streaming service. Plus Riley Gaines doxxes a librarian and the library gets a bomb threat. And just when we thought we had all debunked last year's "Litter boxes in schools" urban legend, Fox "newscaster" Shannon Bream announces it - as if it were true. C-Block (28:05) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: It's what I turn to whenever it is the Dark November of my Soul: "A Box To Hide In." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 24, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 20: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: I watched the Republican Debate so you didn't have to and there was actually a surprise. Trump isn't leading by such a huge margin solely because of his cult and their craziness. He is leading by such a huge margin because DeSantis is a pull-string toy. He is rehearsed, wooden, confused, inflexible. At one point a moderator said "that isn't the question, Governor," and he replied "I know," like he was proud of it. Also: everybody hates Ramaswamy and there is a perfect word to describe him and that word was supplied by my Pittsburgh-bred friend Howard Fineman: "Jagoff." Meanwhile Trump was with Tucker Carlson on Twitter and they were both pleasuring themselves to fantasies of somebody trying to assassinate Trump so then they could have a Civil War. There are Atlanta developments that could see the Fani Willis trial begin as early as November 3. And maybe bigger than all, there is a scandal involving ABC News, CBS, CNN, NBC, The Washington Post, the New York Times, and other news outlets and I doubt anybody will notice but it drove me to distraction. Why, the night before the debate, did a dozen of the leading political reporters and editors think it was cool to have a meal with Jason Miller and two other thugs from the Trump Campaign and let them get schmoozed by them and let Miller try out his latest attacks on DeSantis? The Trump people want to dismember the press and maybe individual reporters. With the BEST of politicians you must keep yourself at arm's length - and these are the worst of them. They (and they include Dana Bash, Robert Costa, and Kristen Welker) should all be fired. B-Block (31:11) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: The Secret Service's 2020 links to The Oath Keepers; Prighozin dead after his plane falls out a window (35:03) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Nice troll by the Biden campaign to advertise on Fox News. Except it helps Fox News. CNN may have found an old Chris Licht to replace young Chris Licht. And with these bothsidesist Climate Change headlines, The Washington Post may kill us all. C-Block (35:55) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: No, Rudy Giuliani did not fall from grace. He's ALWAYS been like that. You just didn't know him in 1996 - I did. He was nuts then, too. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 23, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 19: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: One of Trump’s Georgia co-defendants is already PRE-flipping on him. And his Mar-a-Lago “Employee 4” got rid of his Trump-supplied lawyer and recanted testimony that almost got him brought up on perjury charges and guess who he was lying FOR because after he changed his tune, that’s when Jack Smith added the new charges against Trump and the new co-defendant. The former Chairman of the Georgia Republican Party David Shafer – more importantly the former Quote “Chairman” unquote of the Georgia Fake Electors Slate - filed to switch his part of the trial to federal court and in his argument for doing so he added a small detail: this is all Trump’s fault. “Mr. Shafer and the other Republican Electors iin the 2020 election,”write Shafer’s attorneys, “acted at the DIRECTION OF THE INCUMBENT PRESIDENT and other federal officials. Attorneys for the President and Mr. Shafer specifically instructed Mr. Shafer, verbally and in writing,” write Shafer’s attorneys, “that the Republican electors’ meeting and casting their ballots on December 14, 2020 was consistent with counsels’ advice and was necessary to preserve the presidential election contest.” Shafer even handed over evidence. Not just to Fonni Willis but to the public. That December 14th sham electors’ vote? Shafer released a copy of the TRANSCRIPT of that gathering of the coven and the guy who addressed them beforehand was Ray Smith, another one of Trump’s co-defendants and oh by the way Trump’s local attorney of record in Atlanta who walked the suckers through their part in the coup attempt. And in the Florida case, Jack Smith answered Judge Aileen Cannon's confused query in a now-unsealed filing and revealed matter-of-factly that this was because the District of Columbia Grand Jury had been hearing evidence that maybe one of the witnesses – Mar-a-Lago Employee Number 4 – should be charged with perjury because while he still had Trump stooge Stanley Woodward as his attorney, he testified that he didn’t know nothing about nobody erasing no security video from no servers and never heard nobody say The Boss Wanted The Servers Deleted. And then somebody told Employee Number 4 that he’d just committed perjury and he DID see the light and doth repented and got a new attorney from the Public Defenders’ office. And the next thing you knew, Employee Number 4 – Trump’s I-T guy, Yuscil Taveras, was remembering clear as a bell and suddenly the guy who said “The Boss Wanted The Servers Deleted” had become the latest indicted victim of the maxim “Everything Trump Touches, Dies” and his name is Carlos De Oliveira and he is still a defendant but if you want to draft somebody in your fantasy Who Flips First in Florida league, pick him. And oh yeah, as soon as Taveras got his OWN attorney and not the same one Walt Nauta has, Smith filed three more counts against Trump. B-Block (17:10) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Vivek, caught lying, on tape, the day before the GOP debate? He's the Ron DeSantis of Scott Walkers. The full pre-debate nonsense, and Jair Bolsonaro may have pawned two high-end watches given to him by other governments, and the "Rich Men North of Richmond" singer had his 15 Days of fame. Now they've discovered Oliver Anthony is the reverse Milk Shake Duck: he's NOT racist. (24:34) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The weekly Eric Adams disaster here in Fun City. Greg Abbott has an ugly soul. And the Republican National Committee and Jeanine "Hooters Pants On a 72-Year Old" Pirro attack Biden on... talking to a rescue dog? C-Block (29:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I was reminded of him the other day so I thought it was time to tell a few stories about a man whose absence is still so shocking, so wrong, so something you wish you could correct: Tony Gwynn. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 22, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 18: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump needed just four hours and 25 minutes to violate the terms of his bail. Lock him up. Trump was granted pre-trial release on 200-thousand dollars bond in Atlanta at 3:30 PM yesterday and at 7:55 PM he violated the terms of that bail and now let’s see what Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee is made of. “The Defendant shall perform no act to intimidate any person known to him or her to be a co-defendant or witness in this case or OTHERWISE OBSTRUCT THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. This shall include, but is not limited to, the following: ” Paragraph E: “The above shall include, but are not limited to, posts on social media or reposts of posts made by another individual on social media." He didn’t even last four-and-a-half hours. Confirming CNN’s report that he will be booked in Atlanta on Thursday, Trump called the prosecutor a quote “radical left district attorney...who is overseeing one of the greatest murder and violent crime disasters in American history… she campaigned and is continuing to cmapign and raise money on this witch hunt. This is in strict coordination with…Biden’s DOJ. It is all about election interference”unquote, none of which is true and all of which is an attempt to obstruct the administration of justice and was made via “posts on social media or reposts of posts” and which should be greeted Thursday by the booking officers at Rice Street Jail in Atlanta by an order from Judge McAfee to detain him. Period. Trouble afterwards? Lindsey Graham’s “riots in the street”? Trump’s own threat of “death and destruction”? The countless bleatings of the sheep like Trump whores like Tim Pool about “civil war”? I’ll quote another Trump flunky, Jeffrey Clark: “That’s why there’s an insurrection act.” Trump is now out on bail… in three different states and the District of Columbia. He has CERTAINLY violated the terms of that bail with his spasm of threats against Judge Chutkan and Special Counsel Smith. Now, he has CERTAINLY violated the terms of that bail in Georgia. And soon or late, the remaining sane people in this country are going to have to reestablish the rule of law – or to call it by the name that Trump and his cult actually perceive it: the rule of being-afraid-you’ll-get-caught-and-sent-to-prison. We are GOING to HAVE to take the action without fear of taking the consequences, or the very MEANING of law itself in this nation will not just be erased, but will be rendered impossible to restore. Trump’s supporters have forgotten that even if - like them - you DON'T have morals you are supposed to have a healthy fear of getting caught and going to prison. It’s goddamned time that we remind him. And the opportunity to do so falls to Judge Scott McAfee. You wrote it, Judge. And Trump broke it. He’s already in your jail on Thursday, Judge. Keep him there. Enforce the goddamned law. B-Block (21:38) IN SPORTS: No, Dodger Stadium did NOT flood when Tropical Storm Hilary hit L.A. The New York Knicks add to their popularity by suing another team over analytics. And Gannett is trying AI for writing high school sports. If this is the best AI can do mankind has nothing to worry about. (26:50) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Michael David Fox of Las Cruces NM is charged with relying on a QAnon video to tell him which Congresswoman to threaten to kill; Howie Kurtz appears to be sending out hostage messages via twitter; a Democrat votes with Republicans to approve a recall move against a Democrat. The other Democrat doesn't even show up for the vote. C-Block (32:46) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: MSNBC fired Rachel Maddow! Not recently, mind you. But they can only bury the ugly past so long. They offed her in 2005 because they thought it would make the Tucker Carlson show - on which she was a regular - better. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 21, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 17: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trumpland Trumpland Uber Alles It is the most terrifying poll result I have seen in 25 years of doing this: “Where (do) you feel you get information that is true? Trump Voters polled by CBS answer… “Friends and family: 63 percent.” “Conservative Media Figures: 56 percent.” “Religious Leaders: 42 percent.” “Trump: SEVENTY-ONE percent.” Not “Only 71% of them think Trump is telling the truth” or “Trump only tells the truth 71% of the time." 71% of them think Trump is the most reliable source of truth in their lives. It’s a cult: a cult so bad that a Trumpist Georgia State Senator is saying, in public, on a streaming show, that the reason he’s trying to defund Fonni Willis’s prosecution of Trump is: That if she convicts him, Trump will be executed. By lethal injection. I don’t know HOW we get out of this cult. I only know all these cults end the same way. Ask Jim Jones. Or Hitler. Plus: Trump drops out of the debates because he’s a big… pusillanimous fella. Mark Meadows DID Flip. And a UFC fighter tells Laura Ingraham Trump could beat Biden in a cage match. Trust me: Ingraham could beat Trump easily. And the U-F-C fighter. B-Bock (24:38) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: The murder of Lauri Carleton for supporting LGBTQ, Sage Steele boasts that a woman 43 years older and seven inches shorter than her body-slammed her into a garbage can, Dennis Prager doesn't think masturbating to animated child porn is evil and is astonished normal people do. (30:58) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Block or be blocked with Elon Musk, Catturd and James Woods. Jeanine Pirro posts photos of herself in orange shorts, and what do you call somebody like Virginia Republican committeeman Ron Hedlund who takes a 12-foot long banner of a penis to a baseball game and records video of 16-year old boys holding it? C-Block (36:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Thursday is the 43rd anniversary of the day I proved what the phrases "Mom always said don't run for a train there'll always be another one" and "breakneck speed" actually mean. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 18, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 16: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump has filed to have his January 6th trial start not in 138 days from now but in April 2026 and presumably THAT is the date he and his attorneys picked because “The Twelfth Of Never” would not fit on the legal form. The filing concludes with the most cynical argument imaginable: Point “E”, quote: “The Government’s Proposal Conflicts With Other Cases” and it then lists things like the civil case in New York beginning this October and another next January and the Stormy Daniels Payoff trial in March and the Georgia trial next March and the Mar-a-Lago trial start next May. YOU CAN’T PUT ME ON TRIAL FOR MY CRIMES IN JANUARY – I’M ALREADY ON TRIAL FOR MY CRIMES IN NEW YORK AND ATLANTA AND FLORIDA – YOU PEOPLE ACT LIKE YOU’RE THE ONLY PROSECUTOR AND THE ONLY JUDGE IN TOWN – I’M ALREADY BOOKED THAT WEEK. This trial calendar is his philosophy in miniature – and also, his only means of survival. If anybody ever gets him to admit, to others, to himself – sincerely (not just to deceive them) – that he has lost, I suspect he will stroke out, or at least be unable to function. He is the victim, he is the rightful ruler, he will be avenged, he will not accept a trial before the 2024 election, he won’t accept one in 2025 because if he were to LOSE the election he would be too busy in 2025 trying to overthrow the government and of course he ALSO won’t accept one in 2025 because if he were to WIN the election he would be too busy in 2025 dismantling the various prosecutions against him and oh yeah in the most cynical and manipulative part of this hole stall tactic, you can’t criminally try a sitting president. Or a sitting dictator, for that matter. And we need to throw EVERYTHING we have at him. Lawsuits, state cases, Arizona, Georgia, document trials, insurrection trials, the 14th Amendment, and if we can’t keep him off the ballot the goddamnedest series of campaign ads in the history of the world that make L-B-J’s Daisy Ad and Bush’s Willie Horton Ad look more milquetoast than “I Like Ike.” And right now we are NOT doing that. B-Block (22:58) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Britain's 5th-String Prime Minister has invited Saudi strongman Prince MBS to the UK - on or about the fifth anniversary of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. The likely next governor of North Carolina never paid his rent from 2012. New York's idiot Democrats manage to place on the Supreme Court a woman judge who is opposed to Roe V. Wade. (27:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Everybody got fired at Project Veritas, The Washington Post puts out two of the worst Bothsidesist Headlines in world history in the same edition, and the rare winner twice in three days: my ex-SportsCenter co-anchor Sage Steele keeps digging! C-Block (33:30) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: You were all so kind with words about yesterday's stories of my late pup Mishu, let's just absorb some of the pure joy of dogs, even the cranky ones. It's Thurber's "The Dog That Bit People." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 17, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 15: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: America is NOT divided over the prosecution of Trump. The latest polling shows the citizens of this country are DECIDED - by wide margins - in favor of it. They are DECIDED - by wide margins - that he broke the law in Georgia. They are DECIDED - by wide margins - that the 2020 election was NOT stolen from him. Yet even the news company that paid for the newest polling showing these inarguable conclusions, has to fulfill its fearful, lazy, sacred obligations to the American Media Deity of Bothsidesism by taking this data and headlining it "Americans are divided along party lines over Trump's actions in election cases." No. The nation is not. The Associated Press, and other news organizations, are afraid of stating any truth that requires any assessment or evaluation or analysis or risks accusations of Liberal Bias. Bothsideism is afraid of any choice that isn’t “which is bigger: A) an elephant or B) a mouse.” Bothsideism is fearful and lazy and self-interested and it is dangerous and it is in play and even those organizations that actually PRODUCE the evidence that this nation is convinced Trump has broken the law in Georgia, in Washington, in America, and that Jack Smith and Fonni Willis are RIGHT to prosecute him – even those organizations are whispering the results for fear of blowback – or worse, because blowback is TOO MUCH TROUBLE FOR MANAGEMENT. That Trump acted illegally in Georgia outpolled more innocent explanations by 23 points. Support for the Jack Smith indictments outpolled opposition by 8 points. The percentage believing Trump did not have an election stolen from him is SEVENTY. There is even polling evidence that Trump not only isn't gaining Republican support because of the indictments but has lost a little.Hell, even Ted Cruz said yesterday he won't endorse Trump in the primary. But the major news organizations refuse to acknowledge any of this. Also today: the Trump Court Appearance Calendar is filling up so fast that the hearing to confirm a starting date for the January 6 trial will occur simultaneously with Mark Meadows' hearing to transfer his Georgia charges to Federal Court. There is more on the undying story of Jack Smith scraping Trump's Twitter DMs and who else had access to them. Turns out there's no way for Trump to get a pardon in Georgia until five years after his sentence ends. And we will again identify the unidentified in another edition of Trumple. B-Block (21:09) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Ron DeSantis now requires parents to sign permission slips or teachers can't call "Thomas" "Tommy." Jordan Peterson and Penguin take bad reviews and put them on the cover of his book (taking out the negative adjectives). And the judge who authorized the raid on the Marion County Record in Kansas has not only been retroactively overruled but it turns out she has a history of DUIs, one she apparently hid from the voters - and the judge who should have jailed her after the second DUI. (29:48) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Tomorrow will be the second anniversary of the day an extraordinary soul walked into my life. He was only here very briefly but I want you to meet and remember him and so I will again tell you the story of Mishu. C-Block (44:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL, PART 2: The conclusion of the story of Mishu. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 16, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 14 - COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Jack Smith not only has Trump’s Twitter DIRECT MESSAGES, he has Trump’s Twitter DELETED Direct Messages, and as we posited here last Thursday, he has Trump’s Twitter Unsent Direct Message DRAFTS. Court documents were unsealed revealing all this, but CNN and The New York Times saw the headline - and missed it. The Times wrote almost as an afterthought that the judge had authorized Jack Smith to receive quote “all direct messages sent from, received by or stored in draft form by the account.” I speculated also about THIS last Thursday but I have to say seeing it as a reality takes my breath away. I mean DELETED direct messages are enough to fuel several books of Trump Scandal fan-fiction. But the DRAFTS could be far more nefarious. Drafts could be used – and there is no evidence that this is the case – the way terrorists used to use drafts in email 20 years ago -- as what the spies call a “dead-drop” by which you leave messages for anybody else who had the password, and then the messages are deleted. Except - nothing is ever deleted. No wonder Trump was pissed. Back to Atlanta. Trump will present his irrefutable guaranteed 100 percent exonerating report on Presidential Election Fraud in Georgia, starting at 11 next Monday morning at his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey - enter by the main gate, proceed towards the 1st Tee, then make a left at Ivana. Not only don't Republicans WANT him to yoke them with another relitigation on 2020 but he has apparently turned the preparation of this report to the woman who might rank 79th on his propagandist depth chart, Liz Harrington. The creepy one. Fani Willis has punctured not just Trump's reality but also the fantasy around him. And we're going to see how bad it is at that press conference. B-Block (23:18) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: And just like that, Herschel Walker is back in Georgia politics. And Tucker Carlson is finished: his biography TANKED. Wait - you don't know who Tucker Carlson WAS, do you? (26:05) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Elon throttles links to the NYT and Facebook. Suddenly DeSantis wants peace with Disney. And a co-anchor of mine leaves ESPN "so I can exercise my First Amendment rights more freely.” She wouldn't know the difference between the First Amendment and ESPN's First Take. C-Block (34:36) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: If we can, we need to help the Maui Humane Society (35:36) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: A Times Square so dangerous that no restaurants were open there on weekend and 41 people were once arrested for stabbing a guy in the subway station. The story of my days at my second job: RKO Radio Network, 1981. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 15, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 13: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The former president of the United States is indicted in Georgia, accused of leading in essence a criminal gang that committed 161 separate illegal acts or components. 161. From the fake electors scheme through the breaching of the voting machines in Coffee County to the phone call to Brad Raffensberger to find the 11,780 votes to the abuse of the state poll workers to lying to the State Senate to trying to bring the Vice President in on the conspiracy to trying to bring the Department of JUSTICE in on the conspiracy to a specific charge that Trump directed his aide Johnny McEntee to develop a specific plan to PREVENT the Electoral Vote count and certification on January 6th. 19 defendants. They have until a week from Friday to turn themselves in. There are arrest warrants ready for all of them. There is an arrest warrant ready for Trump. There is a mugshot camera ready for Trump. Oh and there are 30 unindicted co-conspirators. There is an unindicted co-conspirator Number 30. It is… breathtaking. It is… sprawling. It is… 98 pages long. It is… national – prosecutors say the criminal enterprise also operated in the District of Columbia, in Arizona, in Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. It makes Jack Smith look like he’s throwing six darts while Fani Willis brought a six-foot tall pile of arrows. The trials could go on for years. Like Wyatt Earp chasing down The Clanton Gang went on for years. Hell – analyzing this indictment could go on for years. No wonder this became the first-ever PRIME TIME edition of the Donald Trump Gets Indicted Again show. It is the War and Peace of American political criminology. And because of his threats against Fani Willis, and Jack Smith, and Judge Chutkan, there is the chance that he does not meet the key legal requirement to be allowed out on bail: "D) POSES NO SIGNIFICANT RISK OF INTIMIDATING WITNESSES OR OTHERWISE OBSTRUCTING THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE." B-Block (26:48) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS (30:55) IN SPORTS (36:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD C-Block (42:05) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The time I nearly hired Monica Lewinsky's lawyer to save me from having to do a nightly show about Monica Lewinsky. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 14, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 12: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN THIS EPISODE WAS REVISED AT 2:25 AM EDT MONDAY 8.14.23 A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump snaps. After a weekend of taunting Judge Tanya Chutkan - and the rule of law - through surrogates, he posts online attacks against her ("highly partisan...obviously wants me behind bars") and the special counsel ("How dare lowlife prosecutor Deranged Jack Smith break into my former Twitter account without informing me" - and calls this court-authorized access an "atrocity"). These are exactly the kind of inflammatory remarks that Judge Chutkan warned him against; he had tried to get around her by having Matt Gaetz threaten violence as he stood silently next to him, and he has tried to get around it by reposting the lies and character assassinations and threats of others. He didn't even wait 24 hours to try to get around her. Any other defendant in this country would have already had their pre-trial release revoked, or had an immediate hearing scheduled. We must end the appeasement of Trump. The law - with Judge Chutkan representing it - must crush him. Trump has also repeatedly attacked Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis in advance of her probable indictments tomorrow. He is panicking. He has reason to. In addition to his other crimes, she now has emails and texts tying "The Coffee County Breach" - the hacking of voting records there - to Trump lawyers and associates. Also: RFK Junior has self-destructed. Surprise surprise. He calls for a federal ban on abortion after 15 or 21 weeks, then denies he said such a thing; then NBC produces the transcript of him re-confirming his belief several times. Republicans continue to rage against the appointment of a Special Counsel in the Hunter Biden case after spending a year demanding the appointment of a Special Counsel in the Hunter Biden case - and getting exactly the one they all wanted. Kevin McCarthy demanded it just 34 days ago! B-Block (22:59) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: It's like something out of a Jimmy Stewart western or a '20s Chicago Mob film: the bad guys break into the small town newspaper and kill the publisher. Only it's happened for real in Kansas, and the bad guys are the town cops, and the DOJ must have the FBI arrest the lot of them - the judge who authorized it included. And the CBS News president who tried to pander to the far right has been fired. I'm in the neighborhood, and I am available (part-time only) (29:29) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Fox anchor who not only thinks Karl Marx wrote "Mein Kampf" but has apparently thought so since 1985; First the baseball team suspended its announcer for nothing, then it seems to have forced him to say it was all a misunderstanding. And General Mike Flynn reaches a new low: the Holocaust was the fault of Jews who didn't fight back hard enough. C-Block (36:44) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Just passed the anniversary of the day Aaron Sorkin stole a quote from my last father and put it in the mouth of Jeff Daniels - and every one of my exes called me to complain about it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 11, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 11: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: “Donald Trump cannot BE president – cannot run FOR president – cannot BECOME president – cannot HOLD OFFICE – unless two thirds of Congress decides to grant him amnesty for his conduct on January 6th." That’s from Will Baude, Faculty Director of the Constitutional Law Institute at the University of Chicago Law School, and member of the ultra-conservative FEDERALIST SOCIETY, and former clerk for Chief Justice Roberts. He was summarizing, for The New York Times, an article he and Professor Michael Stokes Paulsen will publish next year in the University of Pennsylvania law review. They insist that there is no doubt Trump has triggered the disqualification aspect of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, and that it should be applied automatically by State Secretaries of State. “Section 3’s disqualification rule may and must be followed – applied, honored, obeyed, enforced, carried out – by anyone whose job it is to figure out whether someone is legally qualified to office.” The Federalist Society constitutional scholars say it's automatic. If you put Trump on the ballot, you are breaking the law. And as academic and theoretical and dilettantish as this all sounds, these guys think it should be made really real: “There are many ways that this could become a lawsuit presenting a vital constitutional issue that potentially the Supreme Court would want to hear and decide,” said Professor Paulsen. And Paulsen is a distinguished university chair and professor of Constitutional Law and Federal Courts at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. And Steven Calabresi, co-chairman of the Federalist Society, co-founder and co-chairman of the Federalist Society, says the Baude-Paulsen article is “a tour de force" that proves “Trump is INELIGIBLE TO BE ON the ballot, and each of the 50 state secretaries of state has an obligation to print ballots without his name on them,” unquote – or they may be SUED. There could be enough to knock Trump off the ballot in individual states. And with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) having successfully sued to remove a January 6th insurrectionist from office in New Mexico, there is a guidebook to how to literally stop Trump before he starts. Also: Jack Smith really was pushing a Rocket Docket. He wants the J6 trial to launch on January 2. Meanwhile Trump's lawyers are so stupid they think the 2021 insurrection was three-and-a-half years ago, and his apologists like Jon Turley think January 2, 2024 is 18 days before the inauguration that the rest of us seem to believe doesn't happen until a YEAR and 18 days later. B-Block (23:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: In Iowa, Ron DeSantis literally phones it in. Senator Tommy Tuberville - of Florida? And when it doesn't work the fascists only have one play: yell louder. So Laura Ingraham says they MUST RUN ON HAVING REPEALED ROE-V-WADE. For once I agree with her! (27:45) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Unbanned Twitter QAnon loser has a new conspiracy and a new made-up source; Florida GOP County Chair allegedly plagiarized his university Honors Thesis from Wikipedia; And when Conspiracy Theories collide: the Antivaxxer "running" for POTUS is endorsed by the guy whose father claimed he assassinated the Antivaxxer's uncle. C-Block (34:15) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: My father so loved "I Went To Sullivant" that he literally listened as I read it to him one last time - and only when I finished did he pass away. Now THAT'S an endorsement! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 10, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 10: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Jack Smith didn't want Trump's TWEETS! He wanted Trump's Direct Messages and his unsent drafts! Who needs a court order to GET a copy of all of Trump's tweets and other social media posts? It feels like you need a court order to AVOID Trump's tweets and other social media posts. He was looking for - and all the statements by the judge unsealed yesterday confirms this - for the DM's Trump sent, and any sent TO him. And anything still in the draft folders because I was reminded yesterday that 20 years ago terrorists like Khalid Sheik Mohammed and The Shoe-Bomber, and ordinary criminals like David Petraeus simply bypassed the risks of texts and apps by leaving messages IN THE DRAFT FOLDER of email accounts their shared with the messages' recipients. You could do that with Twitter! And we KNOW Trump shared that account with other people - he sometimes wrote his own tweets and sometimes dictated them. And he could also be able to get stuff Trump deleted. What? You think when you hit the "Delete" button it vanishes from the universe? Even your drafts? I mean Twitter was willing to turn all this stuff over to the Special Counsel but it wanted to alert Trump first and the judge said no, that'll give him the chance to destroy evidence and ALERT OTHERS and originally she thought it might lead him to "flee prosecution." Hell to the Yeah! And the headline is: Smith wanted all that stuff. And he got it. Also: details leaking on The Atlanta prosecutions, Trump wastes a delay move by demanding a SCIF at Mar-a-Lago when no judge can order one to be built, and yes, a fly landed on Trump's face during his interview with NewsMax. A REAL fly - not NewsMax's Eric Bolling. B-Block (20:15) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Trump stochastic terrorist who threatened Biden and those prosecuting Trump on Facebook is killed while the FBI serves him a warrant. And the late Robbie Robertson, not only an extraordinary musical figure but also the unchallenged winner of Twitter (23:15) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Dictator DeSantis usurps yet another elected official, Ken Starr's evil nephew orders lawyers to take religious training, and the Air Force UFO Whistleblower? Institutionalized five years ago after an episode in which it was determined he was a potential danger to himself. C-Block (29:51) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It's Elvis Week! That means it was this week, 46 years ago, when a commercial I made for an Elvis concert in Syracuse - maybe the last one ANYBODY made - had to be pulled off our air because... well, you know. And I'll play the commercial. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 9, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 9 COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Is Jack Smith preparing a THIRD set of indictments against Trump? Maybe a FOURTH? The Grand Jury which indicted Trump LAST week is still meeting this week; they were in there yesterday. And Smith is deep in the weeds on Trump de-frauding his cultists and getting them to give him money to fix a “stolen election” he knew damn well WASN’T stolen. But the Special Counsel is also clearly still looking at how Trump tried to stop the transfer of presidential power. And Fani Willis will reportedly go to HER Atlanta Grand Jury as early as Tuesday. While they’re already blocking roads around the courthouse, Trump is already pre-smearing her, and he's already forgotten that he demanded the indictment of Joe Biden in October 2020. Plus: Trump has already pre-contempted a court order that hasn’t been issued yet. He says even if Judge Chutkan restricts what he can and can’t talk about, he’ll talk about it. The hearing is Friday. Re-indicted cause it feels so good. And yes, I’m singing that. B-Block (20:00) IN SPORTS: A chant of "Free Kevin Brown" broke out at the Baltimore Orioles' game last night. Their suspended play-by-play man will be back Friday, but that was the plan all along. And his suspension points to the plan in far too many baseball, basketball, and hockey TV booths: All reporting, all criticism, in fact anything not gushingly glowing about the home team will result in suspension. It's been coming for a century and it's here: the sports play-by-play broadcast is there only to brainwash you that your team is perfect, always has been, and you need to give it more money. (32:45) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The words you never want to hear from Matt Schlapp: I'm hanging out. Mike Pence makes a funny about January 6; too bad he didn't DO something about it. And mega-fraud God-salesman Franklin Graham attacks the U.S. Women's Soccer Team. Jesus would punch him in the face. C-Block (37:35) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Milo in Tennessee (38:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It is now 35 years since I got the greatest scoop of my career, using the least amount of effort. The Wayne Gretzky Trade! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 8, 2023

SERIES 2 EPISODE 8: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump made his lawyers file a 29-page document complaining about Joe Biden’s coffee mug. Trump really hates this coffee mug. Trump is really aggrieved by this coffee mug. Trump’s fractured emotional and intellectual depth perception is triggered by this coffee mug. Trump’s last thought before he dies might just be about this coffee mug. He made his lawyers put a picture of this coffee mug IN the response to the government’s motion to keep him from taking the evidence produced in discovery and using it to try to get somebody to kill the witnesses or the prosecutors or the judges or the Attorney General or you or me or whoever. He believes this coffee mug gives him permission to take just about anything the prosecution has and write another hundred self-pitying posts about it or give another interminable TWO hundred speeches about it. It's SOME coffee mug. I wonder if Judge Tanya Chutkan has stopped laughing yet. Jack Smith quickly responded claiming Trump is seeking help trying the case in the media not in the courtroom and Judge Chutkan has already scheduled a hearing sometime before Friday. Plus the Atlanta indictments are expected this week or next but no earlier than Thursday. His genius lawyers are now 0-4 versus E. Jean Carroll and Trump tries to attack DEVON Archer but instead attacks KEVIN Archer, co-founder of the group "Dexy's Midnight Runners" and you know what their one hit was, right? C'mon Aileen Cannon. B-Block (19:16) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: In what might be the longest 'Worsts' in this series, Piers Morgan's hatred of America and Kayleigh McEnany's complete fabrication about seeing "The Devon Archer hearing" cannot compete with Baltimore Orioles' CEO John Angelos who suspended his terrific young announcer Kevin Brown for complimenting the team on how much more success it's had this year than in previous seasons. Seriously. The guy wants the audience to believe the Orioles have never lost a game. I've been the victim of some BS suspensions, but nothing to compare to this BS. (25:54) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Just 16,194 days ago I got a letter that so profoundly changed my life that I know exactly where it is at this minute and I bet I haven't gone a full week without thinking of it. C-Block (39:49) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL (Part 2): The letter was from Lou Adler, News Director of WCBS Radio in New York. And the trip to get back to my apartment to GET the letter ALSO nearly changed my life. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 7, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 7: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: If she won't revoke his pre-trial release, Judge Upadhyaya must at least bring Donald Trump into court and issue a gag order against him on social media and in public and warn him that if he threatens the judges again, or the prosecutors again, or witnesses again, or the court again, or the department of justice again, or the president again - or as he has done in the three days after she warned him to do none of those things, threaten ALL of them - she will incarcerate him. Nothing else will make the point to him, and whatever the results are, that's fine. Scott Adams hinting at civil war and sharpening 50,000 sketch pencils is fine. These blood-lusting fascists forget who owns all the tanks at the moment. Also: of COURSE Trump has hired another idiot as a lawyer. His defense for the January 6th indictments is that he was idiotically following the idiot advice of an idiot lawyer in John Eastman. Naturally he's going to bring in a new guy who said something so stupid yesterday he invoked Jeffrey Tambor in "Arrested Development" saying he might have committed some light treason. B-Block (20:48) IN SPORTS: USA-hating conservatives exult in Soccer team's loss in World Cup because...they are lost souls. For the first time all year the words "Tim Anderson" and "Hit" are used in the same sentence. And Robin Ventura is now the happiest man in sports. And the Mets are going to run the table, aren't they? O-57, right? (28:44) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: New York Times continues to think it can gain conservative readers by pandering; Vivek Ramaswamy was for Juneteenth before he was against it, and you'll never believe who didn't show up for the House Committee's interview with Hunter Biden's old biz partner. C-Block (35:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: ESPN Radio will now by run by non-ESPN people, which flashes me back to the day we launched it in 1992 and THAT flashes me back to WHY I happened to meet the wonderful actress Elizabeth Montgomery. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 4, 2023

BULLETIN: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) BULLETIN: Trump posts "If you go after me, I'm coming after you!" almost exactly 24 hours after Judge Moxila A. Upadhyaya warned him: "Mr. Trump. I ask you to listen carefully to the conditions. Your most important condition of release is that you not commit a state, federal or local offense. If so, your release may be revoked. I want to remind you it is a crime to intimidate a witness, or retaliate against anyone for providing information about your case to the prosecution.” She warned him it was also a crime "to influence a juror or threaten or attempt to bribe a witness or any other person who may have information about your case, or to otherwise obstruct the administration of justice. Do you understand these warnings, sir?” He has violated her warnings four times in nine words and the judge has no choice but to revoke his terms of release and detain him until trial. And that he did NOT mention specific names makes it worse, because in this message he is intimidating ALL witnesses, ALL judges, ALL prosecutors, ALL prosecutors' bosses, and ALL of us. Trump is a remorseless, irredeemable terrorist - the worst this country has ever faced. And this can stop now - and it must stop now. Lock. Him. Up. B-Block (13:58) SPECIAL COMMENT: In a tradition as old as the nation itself, Trump has been indicted. The true headline is the accelerated timeline the Judge imposes. There can be no question they intend to begin this trial not just before the election but WELL before the election. B-Block (31:44) IN SPORTS: The shut-up-and-dribble crowd forgets to shut up. The DeVos-owned NBA Orlando Magic donates $50,000 to a campaign arm of the racist, homophobic Ron DeSantis and the team players and ALL the NBA players rightfully go nuts. And Tiger Woods joins the PGA Board: will he save us from the Saudi takeover of golf, or collaborate with those who want to see The Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Masters? (33:45) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Trump whore Mark Levin with an embarrassing flub, Tampa discovers "Dumpster Fire" is not always just a metaphor, and General Michael Flynn was trying to tweet something AGAINST child trafficking but wound up tweeting something that sounds like it's FOR child trafficking. We think that's what it is. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 4, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 5: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: In a tradition as old as the nation itself, Trump has been indicted. The true headline is the accelerated timeline the Judge imposes. There can be no question they intend to begin this trial not just before the election but WELL before the election. B-Block (19:29) IN SPORTS: The shut-up-and-dribble crowd forgets to shut up. The DeVos-owned NBA Orlando Magic donates $50,000 to a campaign arm of the racist, homophobic Ron DeSantis and the team players and ALL the NBA players rightfully go nuts. And Tiger Woods joins the PGA Board: will he save us from the Saudi takeover of golf, or collaborate with those who want to see The Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Masters? (23:43) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Trump whore Mark Levin with an embarrassing flub, Tampa discovers "Dumpster Fire" is not always just a metaphor, and General Michael Flynn was trying to tweet something AGAINST child trafficking but wound up tweeting something that sounds like it's FOR child trafficking. We think that's what it is. C-Block (29:10) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: If it's another indictment day I can only read you one of the master's works: he wrote it in 1931 when Donald wasn't even a gleam in Fred Trump's eye at an invigorating KKK rally. Yet it is the story: "The Greatest Man In The World." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 3, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 4: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: The "it was just free speech, you're criminalizing the 1st Amendment" defense has been replaced. Trump's lawyers, Fox News puppets, and even opponents are all rolling out a new one: John Eastman did it! Of course they are phrasing it differently. They are blaming it on Trump relying on "the advice of counsel." It's an ingenious strategy - you were too stupid to know your lawyer was an idiot. But it really only damages Obstruction charges, and it would require Trump to testify. Still, it does indicate Trump will keep throwing different things at the wall to see what might stick. Plus, the media line for spaces at today's arraignment of Trump in DC began to form before sunset last night. Trump is almost certain to be there, even though cameras won't be. Trump's January 6th Insurrection turns out to have helped destroy America's credit rating. The debate over the identity of Unidentified Co-Conspirator 6 continues to raise with Maggie Haberman and the Times insisting it's Boris Epshteyn - but there's an important flaw in the description that they have ignored. And you don't want to be Unidentified Co-Conspirator 1. The Rudy Giuliani tape transcripts are out from the rape and sexual abuse lawsuit against him and they actually ARE filled with slurs against Jews and gays and constant gross misogyny. I will give a dramatic reading. B-Block (22:15) IN SPORTS: 37 days ago he was throwing a perfect game. Today, he's in in-patient alcohol rehab. And is Max Scherzer lying about the Mets? Or are the Mets lying to their fan base? Or did the Mets lie to Scherzer? (26:40) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Moms For Liberty - still fighting mental health. Warner Bros apologizes after they suddenly realize that "Barbenheimer" and "Ken's Atomic Bomb Hairstyle" might be a little offensive - in Japan. In August. And Uncle Fester steps in it: Joe Rogan smears Ray Epps, who was not a provocateur on 1/6 but IS extremely litigious. C-Block (33:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Theo, in Queens, needs a forever family! (34:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Off by a day, but 44 years and a day ago, as a 20-year old rookie sportscaster and editor on a 1,000-station national radio network, I was literally walking into the booth for my first sportscast of the night when the news suddenly broke: the captain of the New York Yankees had died in a plane crash. That day will always be with me. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 2, 2023

POST-INDICTMENT TRUMP SPECIAL: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SMITH MANAGES TO CHARGE TRUMP WITH A COUP, STOCHASTIC TERRORISM, SEDITION, AND ATTEMPTING TO FOMENT A CIVIL WAR - without ever using any of these weighted and difficult-to-prove phrases and charges. It is the genius of the charging document and indeed the case. It looks and reads like a set of Obstruction, Fraud, and Civil Rights charges. In fact it will go into history as the fiercest damnation of the worst criminal in American history B-Block (21:51) YOU ARE NUMBER SIX: It can't all be gloom and doom. We have been unintentionally given a Wordle-like game to play. Let's call it "Trumple." There are six unidentified, unindicted co-conspirators in the case. Four are easily recognized: Rudy, John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark, and Sidney Powell. The fifth is a little tougher: Kenneth Cheseboro. But who is number six? Experts, sources and crowd-votes disagree. But I think I've found him. LET'S PLAY TRUMPLE. C-Block (32:30) TRUMP'S DEFENSE? THIS WAS JUST FREE SPEECH. He's got a problem here. The judge assigned the case has heard countless January 6 trials and has already dismissed the 1st Amendment as a defense, and has mocked the loyalty of the seditionists to Trump. But, we get to hear Rudy cry about Trump. And you get to hear me guarantee you that eventually, Rudy will give him up. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 2, 2023

A-Block (1:44) BULLETIN: Trump indicted and the lone true surprise is the six unindicted co-conspirators and for once Donald Trump is not alone on the stage of infamy. And it may yet prove that the Trump Six are as important to this case as anything else because they can only BE unindicted because the Special Prosecutor is holding out hope he can make them into witnesses by deferring indicting them, and implicitly threatening to do so. Plus we all think we can figure out with virtual certainty who at least five of them are. As for Trump, he is in the worst position he has been on any of his indictment days because flatly, the narrative presented by Jack Smith in the 45-page four-count indictment really offers him only one defense: Abject Stupidity. “Despite having lost,” it begins, “the defendant was determined to remain in power. So for more than two months following election day on November 3, 2020, the defendant spread lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election and that he had actually won. These claims, and the Defendant knew that they were false. But the defendant repeated and widely disseminated them anyway – to make his knowingly false claims appear legitimate, create an intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger, and erode public faith in the administration of the election.” Smith has indicted Trump not merely for trying to overthrow the 2020 election and stop the peaceful transfer of power and savage American democracy, but of doing it while he knew, every moment of every day, that he was lying as he did so. Again and again prosecutors quote Trump advisers, lawyers, counselors as telling him he lost. And at least once Smith quotes Trump acknowledging it. Acknowledging he lost. Acknowledging on January 3rd that Joe Biden would be president on January 20th. And then immediately going back to trying to stop it from happening, and lying about it. Paragraph 83: “ On the evening of January 3, the Defendant met for a briefing on an overseas national security issue with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other senior national security advisors. The Chairman briefed the Defendant on the issue-which had previously arisen in December- as well as possible ways the Defendant could handle it. When the Chairman and another advisor recommended that the Defendant take no action because Inauguration Day was only seventeen days away and any course of action could trigger something unhelpful, the Defendant calmly agreed, stating, "Yeah, you're right, it's too late for us. We're going to give that to the next guy." Yet he did NOT give it to the next guy. Paragraph 84: “The Defendant moved immediately from this national security briefing to the meeting that the Acting Attorney General had requested earlier that day…The Defendant expressed frustration with the Acting Attorney General for failing to do anything to overturn the election results, and the group discussed Co-Conspirator 4's plans to investigate purported election fraud and to send his proposed letter to state officials-a copy of which was provided to the Defendant during the meeting.” There are only two explanations anyone could offer for that kind of behavior: to acknowledge you have lost the election and are leaving office, and then conduct a meeting over how to stay in office. Either you are stupid to the point of mental incompetence, or you are engaged in a conspiracy to knowingly defraud the people of the United States of America by any and all means available. And in this country when you are arraigned you must plead Guilty or Not Guilty. You may not plead "STUPID." THE REMAINDER OF THIS PODCAST IS FROM TUESDAY'S ORIGINAL EDITION B-Block (16:02) SPECIAL COMMENT: Indictment foreshadowing. “This is really bad news for Biden,” Trump wrote last night, though – not really, no, “which means I will probably be indicted again, soon.” Do you like THAT foreshadowing? Or how about this one? Fani Willis sends an e-mail to county commissioners asking them to make sure they keep themselves and their staff safe. And orange security barriers have gone up around the Fulton County Courthouse. And yesterday was the first of ten days before August 18th when she ordered 70 percent of her staff to work remotely. Willis also gave a TV interview: “The work is accomplished. We’ve been working for two and a half years. We’re ready to go,” unquote. Meanwhile back at the DC Ranch: there is still that January 6th Target Letter from Jack Smith hanging like the sword of Damacles over Trump’s head and the fact that if Smith sticks to a timeline that matches the document case, he’s indicting today or Thursday at the latest and the fact that his Trump January 6th Grand Jury was expected to convene today and while Trump’s latest self-pitying post – that would be number Three Million, 447 thousand 237, collect the whole set – is not necessarily time-sensitive it sure is funny if he already knew from his attorneys that the indictments are coming this week and instead of just revealing it like he did last time, he’s milking it this way, in order to feed the fascists’ story line that the entire prosecution of Trump is being made up as they go along, and in a matter of hours, for one reason only. Namely – as Trump also posted last night – “in order to kill the news cycle!!!" Also: why does Trump treat his cultists like idiots? Because they're idiots. New polling: 91 percent of Republicans who trust Fox News don't believe he has committed any real crime and 85 percent of them say Republicans have to support him regardless. And there is a guess or a theory or a thesis beginning to form that Trump is cash-poor, has been drained by the failure of Trump Social, and his ability to pay for those lawyers AND this campaign may be severely constrained - and it's all because of Elon Musk! C-Block (33:30) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Whatever actually happened with Congressman Ronny Jackson and the 15-year old girl and the cops at the rodeo, his office felt compelled to issue a press release insisting he WASN'T drinking. The X-sign is gone. Tommy Tuberville is all ears after he loses Space Command for Alabama. RFK Jr's PAC is literally half-funded by an 81-year old Republican. (36:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Musk. Again. Threatening to sue to prevent free speech and protect hate speech. DeSantis fanboy Pedro Gonzalez and MORE antisemitic texts including one against Nancy Pelosi whom he doesn't know isn't Jewish. And the U.S. Congressman who believes that a soldier is buried under the floor of the Capitol rotunda. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 1, 2023

IT'S THE COUNTDOWN 1ST ANNIVERSARY PODCAST A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Indictment foreshadowing. “This is really bad news for Biden,” Trump wrote last night, though – not really, no, “which means I will probably be indicted again, soon.” Do you like THAT foreshadowing? Or how about this one? Fani Willis sends an e-mail to county commissioners asking them to make sure they keep themselves and their staff safe. And orange security barriers have gone up around the Fulton County Courthouse. And yesterday was the first of ten days before August 18th when she ordered 70 percent of her staff to work remotely. Willis also gave a TV interview: “The work is accomplished. We’ve been working for two and a half years. We’re ready to go,” unquote. Meanwhile back at the DC Ranch: there is still that January 6th Target Letter from Jack Smith hanging like the sword of Damacles over Trump’s head and the fact that if Smith sticks to a timeline that matches the document case, he’s indicting today or Thursday at the latest and the fact that his Trump January 6th Grand Jury was expected to convene today and while Trump’s latest self-pitying post – that would be number Three Million, 447 thousand 237, collect the whole set – is not necessarily time-sensitive it sure is funny if he already knew from his attorneys that the indictments are coming this week and instead of just revealing it like he did last time, he’s milking it this way, in order to feed the fascists’ story line that the entire prosecution of Trump is being made up as they go along, and in a matter of hours, for one reason only. Namely – as Trump also posted last night – “in order to kill the news cycle!!!" Also: why does Trump treat his cultists like idiots? Because they're idiots. New polling: 91 percent of Republicans who trust Fox News don't believe he has committed any real crime and 85 percent of them say Republicans have to support him regardless. And there is a guess or a theory or a thesis beginning to form that Trump is cash-poor, has been drained by the failure of Trump Social, and his ability to pay for those lawyers AND this campaign may be severely constrained - and it's all because of Elon Musk! B-Block (19:05) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Whatever actually happened with Congressman Ronny Jackson and the 15-year old girl and the cops at the rodeo, his office felt compelled to issue a press release insisting he WASN'T drinking. The X-sign is gone. Tommy Tuberville is all ears after he loses Space Command for Alabama. RFK Jr's PAC is literally half-funded by an 81-year old Republican. (22:10) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Musk. Again. Threatening to sue to prevent free speech and protect hate speech. DeSantis fanboy Pedro Gonzalez and MORE antisemitic texts including one against Nancy Pelosi whom he doesn't know isn't Jewish. And the U.S. Congressman who believes that a soldier is buried under the floor of the Capitol rotunda. C-Block (28:45) FIRST ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS of the start of Year 2 of this here pod. Thank you kindly for listening. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 31, 2023

EPISODE 257: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: It's just guess but I think Trump is TERRIFIED that his “Property Manager” Carlos De Oliveira is about to flip. Trump freaked out again last night about Jack Smith and the documents and Hilary emails and Biden documents and the Special Counsel covering the Biden documents review – and without provocation from any known developments – and the LAST time he did that I told you “SOMETHING is going on at the Grand Jury but I’ll be damned if I know what” and hours later there was a superseding indictment on the documents so with that context let me say it again: SOMETHING is going on at the Grand Jury because Trump may not have MANY human traits but he is really good on exhibiting cause and effect. And this freakout may have something to do with either or both of two developments. At 10:30 this morning, at the James Lawrence King Federal Justice Building in Miami, Courtroom 5, before Magistrate Judge Edwin G. Torres, we will see present himself for his first appearance who else but Trump’s newest co-defendant, his Mar-a-Lago “Property Manager” Carlos De Oliveira: the guy who gave us THE money quote, so far, of the destruction of evidence and obstruction case, “The boss wants the server deleted.” And if the Trump freak out doesn’t owe to THAT indictment hearing, and the prospect that not everybody is as dumb as Walt Nauta, and that a YEAR ago Trump wasn’t sure De Oliveira wasn’t the kind of guy who’d flip, then it’s the fact that CLEARLY Trump’s Mar-a-Lago I-T Guy Yuscil Taveras already flipped. B-Block (18:51) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: The Trump stochastic terrorist who hunted Barack Obama moves to be released from jail, and we have a SCOTUS problem: Sam Alito isn't just corrupt, he's gone crazy (22:38) IN SPORTS: Max Scherzer, Jordan Hicks, others traded as baseball's deal deadline looms. But what the GM of the New York Mets said AFTER he traded Scherzer kind of paints himself and his owner into a corner in which they have to sign Shohei Ohtani (29:26) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Ron DeSantis's pro-slavery campaign costs Orlando $4.6 million. NJ Congressman Christopher Smith wants to scuttle the World HIV/AIDS program over a conspiracy theory. And Musk reinstates Kanye West. C-Block (35:15) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: The adorable Petros in Devore CA (36:15) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I made a flub on D-Day which reminded me of the day the president of MSNBC staked everything on covering the 60th Anniversary OF D-Day - and major news broke which he tried to avoid running in order to protect his dream! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 28, 2023

EPISODE 256: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: “The boss wanted the server deleted.” WHY would you try to destroy the security video if you didn’t do anything wrong? WHY would you try to destroy the security video if it didn’t PROVE you broke the law? WHY would you move the documents after the government said don’t move the documents, and WHY would you move the documents without remembering that you’d get caught ON security video MOVING the documents, and why when you DID remember that you’d get caught on security video would you then try to destroy the security video and GET CAUGHT TRYING TO DESTROY THE SECURITY VIDEO? Why would you personally launch a plot to destroy the server that seemed to have been good at only one thing – leaving clues. And oh by the way this is still on top of the espionage. I went to a January 6th Indictment and a Stolen Classified DOCUMENTS Indictment broke out! It was the cover-up sank Richard Nixon. The cover-up got Bill Clinton impeached. And THIS cover-up – Destroy the Servers, Destroy the Servers, now looks exactly like the Server cover-up Trump accused Hillary Clinton of in 2016, a theme he pounded weekly and daily and hourly and arguably won him the White House. And one thing we can infer from the superseding indictment is that the government has witnesses to whom Trump showed the Mark Milley Iran War document, and has all Trump’s Property Manager’s texts and it looks like it has his IT Guy, Employee 4? He and Employee 5 are testifying against Trump and they have all of Walt Nauta’s messages right down to the SHUSH emoji he used to remind the person he was telling all this to not to tell anybody. (Prosecutor holds up giant blow-up of Nauta text with SHUSH emoji, six feet tall. “Perhaps, Mr. Nauta, THIS will refresh your memory!”) And let us not forget: the January 6th Indictments are still coming. Today? Beginning of next week? They remain next. POOP EMOJI! Trump’s guilt is now even more obvious than ever; thus so too is the fact that we are playing Beat The Clock. Is the play now to offer to trade Trump justice and revenge in a disqualification plea deal? B-Block (22:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Maybe Trump had his Property Manager also send the IT guy to fix McConnell. Can he have a look at Feinstein? And while he's at it, maybe he could remove the adult content from Rep. Nancy 'I Skipped Sex To Be Here, Reverend' Mace. (26:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Barbie movie. Now they will ALL BE Barbie Movies. Jonathan Turley suggests Biden might pardon his son and then announce he's not running for re-election. And while Senator Tommy Tuberville is blocking military promotions, The Washington Post reports he's also dragged his own father's honorable military record through the mud by inflating his service in World War 2. C-Block (33:20) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: I haven't read this one to you before. It's a delightfully crafted story of the crassest kind of practical joker: "Meet Birdey Doggett." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 27, 2023

EPISODE 255: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: What if that had been Joe Biden and not Mitch McConnell? What if that had been JOE BIDEN stopping mid-sentence, going glassy eyed and catatonic for 30 seconds, having to be led away by his colleagues, returning only to mumble his insistence he was fine - and a bad joke? What kind of Hell would the Republicans have unleashed on us? "Resignation! 25th Amendment! Cover-up! Seizure! Aneurysm! History! Diagnosis! Prognosis! Body Double! And - I get it - 100 Minority Leaders aren't worth ONE President. But what would Republicans have DONE with this? And what DID Republicans do with Trump's Covid hospitalization and Trump's 2019 mystery trip to Walter Reed? What if it was Joe Biden making a bad joke about Mitch McConnell's health instead of Mitch McConnell making a bad joke about Joe Biden's? And the reporter replies "Oh nice." The Republicans, and the news media - partisan and otherwise - would've gone insane over this story. Or if it had happened to an elderly Democratic Senate leader. Plus the Hunter Biden plea deal collapse really hurts Jim Jordan and Jamie Comer - and Jordan admits it. And I swear something is going on at the Trump Grand Jury. Trump is freaking out again. But I'll be damned if I know what it is. And Marjorie Taylor Greene exceeds her usual boundaries of stupidity. After two dozen listens I still don't know what she said, and I don't know what she MEANT to say. B-Block (16:11) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Underwater temperatures in the Atlantic off Florida are as hot as a Jacuzzi and the highest on record. Asphalt temperatures in Arizona are 180 and have sent people to the burn ward who merely fell to the ground. We have skipped "Climate Crisis" and gone right to "Climate Catastrophe." And he may be finished but Chris Licht ain't finished. First he destroyed CNN. Now his hope for revenge is destroying Variety. (26:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Somebody took a Community Note over his vaxxer conspiracy tweet; he just threatened advertisers; he just purloined the handle @X - yes, Elon Musk takes Win, Place and Show. C-Block (31:05) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Saturday would've been my Dad's 94th Birthday. I don't know which seems weirder to write here: "94th" or "would've." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 26, 2023

EPISODE 254: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: There are no signs that the Jack Smith Grand Jury actually did indict Donald Trump yesterday in Washington. So why and how - just minutes after the Grand Jurors went home for the day - did Trump write and post: They "Are now indicting me"? Does Trump know something we don't? Or is it just that if you send out 60 social media posts in a nine-hour span, your odds of being actually pertinent and right, begin to approach 100%? Meanwhile: Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy beclowns himself. First he says of President Biden "this is RISING to the level of impeachment inquiry." But by morning he has switched to: It "would rise to the level." And finally, to "We wouldn't HAVE to rise." B-Block (15:59) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: One part of the Climate Catastrophe that we forgot about. When it hit 115 degrees in Catania in Sicily, all the underground electrical cables melted. Texas A&M goes full on McCarthy, punishing a lecturer who dared to criticize the Lieutenant Governor. And Trump's top legal advisor has his first Biden scalp: he's proved the DOG is guilty of deep personal corruption (21:27) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Sean Hannity and Elon Musk lead the chorus jumping to the conclusion that LeBron James' son suffered cardiac arrest because of Covid vaccine because no athlete ever went into cardiac arrest before Covid except all those other ones who died. Andy Ogles demands the media stop "sensationalizing" mass murderers - unless they were to pose with long guns on their Christmas cards. And Greg Gutfeld defends the Fox/DeSantis claim that slavery helped slaves by teaching them all to become blacksmiths, by saying that those in the Nazi death camps who had useful skills survived and all the other unskilled ones didn't. He has not been fired. Not yet. C-Block (26:53) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Tomorrow is Uma Thurman Day. I was supposed to have coffee with her, then dinner with the network president who had a plan for us to save the network from the idiot who owned it. And then plans changed... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 25, 2023

EPISODE 253: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump may be indicted for the January 6th attemped coup – today. Or, not! But clearly as of 1 PM eastern at the Prettyman Courthouse in DC, the window TO indict is open for the first time on this 10th day since Trump received Jack Smith’s 2nd Target Letter. The window from Target Letter to indictment last time might have been as short as 10 days, maybe as long as 20. Plus what could be at the center of a THIRD set of indictments: more testimony from Trump staffers that he knew damn well that the election wasn’t stolen and that he didn’t win it. And that in February 2020 he even praised the improved election security and audit capability for paper ballots, nine months before the 2020 Presidential Election. And Trump online: reposts Marjorie Pornography Greene’s “little bitch” quote about the Special Prosecutor, and a moronic poll over Republicans’ “Dream President” Plus: obeying Supreme Court rulings is now optional. Who knew? That's the verdict from the Republican Governor of Alabama Kay Ivey, and the Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy. So I guess Roe-V-Wade wasn’t overturned and that key 2nd Amendment case – Heller – doesn’t say anything about the right to own a gun after all. B-Block (16:33) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Doug Burgum, your pro-vigilante presidential aspirant. Ben Shapiro on Barbie: Go Woke Go Broke. World on Barbie? $337 Million opening weekend. My late neighbor Tony Bennett. (23:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Fox blasts USA Women's Soccer team for not singing the national anthem while it NEVER PLAYS the national anthem on the games it televises. Elon Musk doesn't OWN "X" for social media (and no, he's NOT calling them 'Xeets') and the World Trade Center promotes itself with a photo of the building - and a passenger jet. C-Block (28:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: In an all-new edition, I have two stories about baseball's newest Hall of Famers. Fred McGriff was drafted by the Yankees but traded away as a minor leaguer for garbage because an active Yankees player insisted to George Steinbrenner it was a great deal, and Scott Rolen insisted to me that the highlight of his 1996 season was the elaborate practical joke he, his minor league teammates, the manager, and the umpire concocted and played on me during a game - and he stuck to this even after I reminded him that 1996 was the year he began his Hall of Fame major league career,. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 21, 2023

COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN: EPISODE 252 A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: As they say at the big sports DRAFTS: Jack Smith, you are ON the clock. As soon as midnight passed on the east coast, the Special Counsel’s window of warning to the recipient of the Target Letter closed. Donald Trump has had his chance to testify to the Grand Jury or demand that evidence be submitted to the Grand Jury or other witnesses be questioned BY the Grand Jury and all evidence suggests he didn’t even bother to say ‘no thanks’ and Smith can and will indict him at any time on god-knows-HOW-many-violations of US Code 18 Section 241 Conspiracy Against Rights (the suppression of vote counting statute, with or without violence), US Code 18 Section 371 Conspiracy To Defraud The United States, and US Code 18 Section 1512 Corruptly Obstructing An Official Proceeding – and the only question is, WHEN Smith notifies him and when Trump pauses from chain-eating cheeseburgers and threatening revolutions long enough to leak the news. On “The Simon Conway Show” in Des Moines, just getting viral last night, Trump again stochastically threatens terrorism if he's jailed, saying his supporters are 200 times more fired up than last time. And forgetting he now longer is in charge of the tanks. You will also recall on the 27th of last month when McCarthy went on CNBC and said “Can Trump win that election? Yeah he can. The question is, is he the STRONGEST to win the election? I don’t know the answer” and within hours he was back on TV insisting oh yes he DID now the answer and it was Trump is stronger than Hercules and it was clear Trump had yelled at McCarthy, possibly on the phone and possibly simply by opening the window and yelling at him across the country. Politico reports Trump demanded of McCarthy “he needs to endorse me – today!” McCarthy, who is of course WITH Trump Win, Win, or Tie, had to come up with a bullshit excuse to NOT endorse Trump. Quickly. So quickly you wouldn’t believe it. To his credit he cobbled together some sophistry - that he had to remain neutral through the primaries because if he didn’t, HIS relationship with HIS caucus could influence which ones of them did and didn’t endorse Trump. Trump bought it but was still enraged and demanded a pound of McCarthy and now McCarthy made his fatal mistake. “The house would vote to expunge the two impeachments against the former president. And as McCarthy would communicate through aides later the same day, they would do so before August recess.” And now, Politico says, “we’re told that Trump brings up the matter in EVERY CALL he has with McCarthy, prodding the speaker about WHEN he will bring expungement to the floor.” Oh and guess what. Doesn't look like McCarthy has the votes! B-Block (22:31) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: The RFK Junior hearing. NOT GOOD, BOB. A bad idea just before you don't tell the truth about your past antisemitic and anti-vaccine comments, to remind everybody that you are on the record and under oath. And first they bought Clarence Thomas. Then they bought him good pub. (27:23) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Jim Jordan actually repeats the fascist bullshit that my friend Henry Aaron died from a Covid-19 vaccination. Ron DeSantis explains how you can sue Ron DeSantis. And Tucker Carlson's Videopalooza was so effective it would've gotten "The Q Anon Shaman" MORE time in prison. C-Block (34:20) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: Two stories of Man Versus Life and why you should just leave mediocre enough alone: The fable of The Mouse Who Went To The Country, and Nine Needles. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 20, 2023

EPISODE 251: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: The same-day reporting on what was in Jack Smith's 2nd Target Letter to Trump was incomplete (possibly because Trump was the direct or indirect source and he only skimmed the letter and saw only the Statute Heading not the statute itself). If the Letter is any guide, The Special Counsel's centerpiece to the January 6th prosecution of Donald Trump is US Code 18 Section 241 - originally a Reconstruction-era law designed to prosecute Ku Klux Klan members for terrorizing freed slaves and keeping them from voting. It later morphed into the preferred tool for voting fraud and was affirmed in a Supreme Court ruling written by Thurgood Marshall in 1974, per The New York Times. It would fit all the "Fake Electors" schemes, but it would match what Trump tried to do ("I just want to find 11,780 votes") perfectly. It is the denial of the most fundamental constitutional right. Bottom line: Smith wants to prosecute Trump for trying to have a RIGGED THE ELECTION. For ELECTION INTERFERENCE. For FIXING THE VOTE. It would be an irony that would ring through the ages. I'll assess its meaning and how and why we missed it (John Barron? John Miller?) on Tuesday night, plus Trump's disastrous legal day. PLUS: Trump may not have had the WORST day. Ask Marjorie Groomer Greene, who spent the day showing America her porn collection: giant blown-up photos of Hunter Biden having sex. It was so bad, and the Republicans so beclowned themselves, that Congressman Jared Moskowitz quipped "Maybe now we need to call HUNTER Biden 'The Big Guy.'" B-BLOCK (21:43) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Stanford's student-run campus newspaper wins all the awards: its investigation of the University president's academic research work just led to him quitting. This flashed me back to how MY university president's academic qualifications (Dean of Engineering; co-discoverer of Element Number 85) saved the two of us from getting on a damaged Allegheny Airlines plane they were trying to repair with paper towels (29:12) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: If they're gonna make up Biden Million-Dollar Bribes, go big. And who better to believe anything than Maria Bartiromo. There's also the Maryland Congressional candidate who didn't know he was one, and the self-martyring saga of Twitter clown Catturd. C-BLOCK (35:20) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: The sad tale of Fizz in the NYC pound (36:25) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: My producer had to explain to me that no, Rachel Maddow wasn't going to be on our MSNBC primary night coverage because my boss actually had LIED when he said he'd signed her to a contract, and we were about to lose her to CNN because Larry King offered her $250 to work there that night. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 19, 2023

EPISODE 250: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: We now have more Trump Trials than court schedule time FOR Trump Trials. Well - this is what we wished for! The SECOND federal set of indictments of The Defendant could be handed up as early as Thursday though Friday is likelier still and the likeliest is Trump being notified Thursday or Friday and then announcing it and we will re-enact early June where we all know in advance and there’s enough time for the sledge gangs to put up all the stages and tents and refreshment stands because the circus is coming to town. We DO know what was in the Jack Smith January 6th Target letter – second in a series of who knows how many (collect them all) -- received Sunday by Trump’s lawyers. It was Rolling Stone that broke it: it listed just three CATEGORIES of federal statutes the government claims Trump violated and is likely to be charged under: Conspiracy to commit offense or defraud the United States; deprivation of rights under color of law; and tampering with a witness, victim or an informant. A few hours later ABC NEWSconfirmed those three categories word-for-word and both reports note what is NOT in the letter. As Rolling Stone puts it quote “the letter does not mention statutes on sedition or insurrection” (and I’ll add there is no category mentioned that could even obliquely house charges of wire fraud for scamming people into donating into this bottomless slush fund ostensibly designed to fund Trump’s effort to overturn a stolen election Jack Smith has clearly been trying to prove Trump knew WASN’T stolen). Perhaps the most important fact about the Target Letter is that it does NOT have to be inclusive and it does not have to spell out charges and that there were counts in the Classified Documents case indictments that were not even obliquely referenced in THAT letter, either.“Trump is the only person named in the letter,” says Rolling Stone’s source. Quoting ABC: “Multiple sources tell ABC News that allies, aides and attorneys for the former president have been working to determine if anyone else received a target letter: “we can’t find anyone” unquote, a source said Tuesday afternoon.” Rudy Giuliani’s lawyer confirms HE did not get a target letter; same from John Eastman’s; no firm answers from Jeffrey Clark, Michael Roman, Boris Epshteyn, or (cough) Mark Meadows, or any other Trump lawyer involved in the fake electors end of the coup attempt. Conventional wisdom had developed that Jack Smith was going to reel in not only Trump but a lot of his legal co-conspirators and that’s one of the problems with Conventional Wisdom. OTOH here's the conventional wisdom: this case centers on faking government documents (the electoral results) and using them to falsely claim it's the law that Pence had to invalidate Biden's certification. B-BLOCK (21:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Well it's just past my first dog Stevie's 11th birthday and given I've done three of these in 24 hours I'm going to devote the rest of this podcast to the extraordinary hour in which I went from a man who had never had a dog and knew he never would, to one who has now had five full timers including three rescues and three others who were here briefly. Hell - I have a lot of wasted time to make up! C-BLOCK (35:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL, PART 2: How Rudy Giuliani fits in the story. And my interview with Stevie. Sorta :-) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 18, 2023

EPISODE 249: BULLETIN COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:41) BULLETIN: The SECOND set of Trump Indictments by Special Counsel Jack Smith which will come as early as Thursday in Washington – the second in as many months -- may make the first ones look like a small stack of parking tickets. As news has broken this morning and this afternoon we are seeing the outline of a HUGE number of counts – dozens – the June 29th report by the British newspaper “The Independent” of 30 to 45 more charges being readied may actually be CONSERVATIVE – it could be FAR MORE than 45 counts. And just as breathtaking may be… the range of charges: those hazy details just coming into focus at the horizon could include everything from simple cheesy financial fraud, to the I-word: Insurrection. “A SPRAWLING case,” as it is phrased by the sources of Robert Costa of CBS News – and again quoting them -- “focused on how Trump acted after he was informed by many, that claiming the election was rigged, would be pushing fraud. AND, whether Trump criminally conspired to block certification.” Trump is clearly going to be indicted by the Special Counsel – AGAIN – conceivably as early as this week – and THIS time there is reason to believe he will be indicted not just for premeditated fraud because he conned the gullible cultists for donations to cure a stolen election he knew WASN’T stolen, but also indicted both for the palace coup that was the phony electors scheme AND the violent coup he unleashed stochastically every day between his “it’ll be wild” tweet of December 19th and his speech on the Ellipse on January 6th. At 9:21 Eastern this morning Trump himself revealed he is the recipient of ANOTHER Jack Smith target letter: “stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation and giving me a very short four days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an arrest and indictment,”unquote. Well on the last part, Trump WOULD know. And there is the one lingering little detail I spent so much of your time on, on Monday. WHY did he make that Freudian Slip on Saturday and refer to "The Insurrection Act"? Why did he kill the post half an hour later and replace it? When 24 hours later he would learn he is almost certainly to be indicted for the...insurrection? NOTE: THE REST OF THIS PODCAST IS A REPEAT, IN ITS ENTIRETY, OF THIS MORNING'S EPISODE 248. IF YOU'VE HEARD IT, TURN IT OFF, I WON'T TAKE IT PERSONALLY. (12:00) SPECIAL COMMENT : Judge Aileen Mercedes Cannon will now begin to decide whether we all live or die. This, sadly, is not hyperbole. A federal judge who has presided over a total of four trials for a total of fourteen days will today make the first of a series of decisions that will ultimately end with whether we all live or die. The forest really CAN never be seen because we’re next to the trees and how fitting the analogy is because while we are down here taking samples of the bark to check markings by Jack Smith, the big picture is: this judge, Aileen Cannon will at minimum help decide whether or not Donald Trump is kept out of the White House and that will at minimum help decide whether or not we have any chance of maintaining a president who will lead this nation and thus this world through climate change. B-Block (29:25) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Flynn and Bannon are subpoenaed for the Smartmatic suit against Fox. So? Do they tell the truth, or lie? Harlan Crow tries to deduct the Good Ship Super-Yacht Clarence Thomas; Pink Beret Girl from 1/6 is finally found - and turned in by an EX. And the rule of thumb in cable news is: the first week of a new show is its ratings peak. Which means Kaitlin Collins soon will not be watching her own program. (34:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Megyn Kelly blasts RFK Jr's sister because Meg is too dumb to know what RFK Jr's sister DOES; The mayor betrays Atlanta over Cop City; and brilliant plan, Vivek Ramaswamy: on the Supreme Court, he wants: Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and the judge who protected a Beauty Pageant's right to discriminate against transgendered people. C-Block (40:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: If Lionel Messi really is going to debut for the Miami MLS team Friday we have to welcome him in the only way Countdown can. Whatever your watch may say, it's always SOCCER BREAKDOWN O'CLOCK! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 18, 2023

EPISODE 248: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: Judge Aileen Mercedes Cannon will now begin to decide whether we all live or die. This, sadly, is not hyperbole. A federal judge who has presided over a total of four trials for a total of fourteen days will today make the first of a series of decisions that will ultimately end with whether we all live or die. The forest really CAN never be seen because we’re next to the trees and how fitting the analogy is because while we are down here taking samples of the bark to check markings by Jack Smith, the big picture is: this judge, Aileen Cannon will at minimum help decide whether or not Donald Trump is kept out of the White House and that will at minimum help decide whether or not we have any chance of maintaining a president who will lead this nation and thus this world through climate change. It really is that stark, and I think we forget about it and then something snaps the picture into focus and in my case it IS two pictures. The first is that one grinning idiot in the black "SAN DIEGO" shirt and the black shorts and the black cap and the black sunglasses in Death Valley taking selfies with a digital thermometer reading 131 degrees - both as if that heat couldn’t hill him, personally, and as if that 131 degree temperature was temporary or transient or unique to that locale or something he has to take a picture of so he can preserve it for his grandchildren and oh by the way at the present rate of acceleration of the climate catastrophe don’t worry about preserving it for your grandchildren because you’re not going to have any, nor is anybody else, because the last words Donald Trump ever speaks on this earth will be about how money is more important than anything or how climate change is a hoax or both and if any of the existential decisions about this planet of the next five years are made with Trump as president - we're all dead. The other image was this redneck Jason Aldean, the pride of MAGA, New Year’s Eve guest at Mar-a-Lago, the yodeling darling of the Climate Denial crowd dropping a song on Friday daring black protestors to – to quote the title “Try That In A Small Town” – and then having to run off the stage and get two IV’s stuck in him so he didn’t lose consciousness while singing the ferocious tropical heat of Hartford, Connecticut. In July. At night. But there’s no man-made climate change. Try THAT in a Small Town, Jason, after the energy grid has failed and your governor chased away all the doctors because Woke. 109 in Rome, 110 expected in Miami, 126 in Sanbao China, 152 at Persian Gulf Airport which is in Iran but closer to Dubai than anywhere else and it didn’t matter because it was 152. So if the power had failed at Persian Gulf Airport, I mean, again, energy grid failure -- as if it were Texas -- there would’ve been a mass casualty event. Judge Cannon is to tell Trump’s lawyers and Walt Nauta’s lawyers and Jack Smith’s team some preliminary findings about the process for handling classified information at the trial and all the indications she gave yesterday suggested she would be adding an item to the agenda: the planned trial start date and timeline and we are now on the path. She won't be the only one who decides whether we all live or die. But she gets the first set of decisions.As to us, history doesn’t usually SCHEDULE stuff this important in advance. It didn't warn us about Bubonic Plague or Archduke Ferdinand or Hitler or John Brown. But it's warning us in advance about this. I guess that means we're lucky. B-Block (17:30) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Flynn and Bannon are subpoenaed for the Smartmatic suit against Fox. So? Do they tell the truth, or lie? Harlan Crow tries to deduct the Good Ship Super-Yacht Clarence Thomas; Pink Beret Girl from 1/6 is finally found - and turned in by an EX. And the rule of thumb in cable news is: the first week of a new show is its ratings peak. Which means Kaitlin Collins soon will not be watching her own program. (22:51) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Megyn Kelly blasts RFK Jr's sister because Meg is too dumb to know what RFK Jr's sister DOES; The mayor betrays Atlanta over Cop City; and brilliant plan, Vivek Ramaswamy: on the Supreme Court, he wants: Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and the judge who protected a Beauty Pageant's right to discriminate against transgendered people. C-Block (28:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: If Lionel Messi really is going to debut for the Miami MLS team Friday we have to welcome him in the only way Countdown can. Whatever your watch may say, it's always SOCCER BREAKDOWN O'CLOCK! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 17, 2023

EPISODE 247: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: Why did Trump imply he was quote “being charged under the Insurrection Act?” Why did Trump put that out THOSE words – “Insurrection Act” on his social media propaganda site and then delete the post within half an hour and replace “Insurrection Act” with “Espionage Act”? Is there a chance somebody has told him that he may actually BE charged under the Insurrection Act? Could Jack Smith be prosecuting him under the Disqualification Clause of Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment? Could the Special Counsel try to get Donald Trump DISQUALIFIED from ever again holding office in this country? The very thought of it is breathtaking. “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States… to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof." Any person will make tens of thousands of mistakes with words in his life and Trump, more than that, but almost all substitution mistakes – you MEAN one word but SAY or WRITE another – have one minimum threshold: the person who substitutes the one for the other – the person who writes “Insurrection Act” when he INTENDED to write “Espionage Act” – has been thinking about The Insurrection Act. The word “insurrection” did not fall off a shelf and hit Trump in the head and he suddenly wrote it when he MEANT to write “Espionage.” If I haven’t been clear let me state this explicitly: I don’t have a source in the Special Counsel’s office. I don’t have a cousin whose meter maid’s twin brother’s spiritual advisor’s uncle’s nephew types up the daily notes. Nor have any of the people I actually DO know who MIGHT have those kinds of sources said anything. Nor is there anything – ANYTHING – from any of the solid dozen or so reporters covering the coming Trials of Trump that suggests… anything. Nobody has said Smith is think about prosecuting him on Insurrection. And yet I am still sitting here wondering why he wrote what he wrote and I am absolutely convinced Trump has been thinking about the Insurrection Act. So setting aside the one thing you and I most WANT to be true – that even some of Trump’s idiot legal advisers including the non-lawyer ones have told him they may charge him with it… what else could it be? B-Block (20:50) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Tucker Carlson goes off the deep end and as he attacks six presidential contenders to their face it finally dawns on me whose career his has always reminded me of: it was the top American political commentator of 1938. He too was fired while at the pinnacle. He never returned - and he was dead six years later. (27:33) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Michigan GOP bank account is down to five figures, Eric Adams is still rhetorically beating up the 84-year old holocaust survivor, and Steve Bannon makes me an offer I cannot refuse. C-Block (33:00) IN SPORTS: A brilliant idea! Bring in an aging ex-GOAT from another country to finally make MLS a big deal. Sure it didn't work the first 50 times but Messi's different. Isn't he? And the Buck may not stop here as the Mets near a purge (36:30) Meaning I have to tell the story of the day 30 years ago next month Buck Showalter locked all his players in the trainers' room at Yankee Stadium to teach me a lesson and blame it on them. And I LIKE Buck! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 14, 2023

EPISODE 246: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: As a Democratic Congressman Jared Moskowitz asked the trillion-dollar question – whether James Comer and the House Oversight Committee and their indicted fugitive Chinese Agent witness have quote “jeopardized Homeland Security in their search to help Donald Trump” – Comer and Nancy Mace and Speaker McCarthy and all the others attached at the hip to Gal Luft have Thelma-And-Louised it and they are headed right for the edge of the Grand Canyon. Moskowitz is not yet trying to put this directly under noses AT Homeland Security but that is the inevitable outcome. Gal Luft is indicted as a Chinese agent and the Republicans are trying to use him to help Trump seize power. People go to prison for this. Is Comer adroitly fleeing? Not at all. He has scheduled more hearings next week with his OTHER discredited "witness." And Speaker McCarthy has claimed the revelation that Luft was indicted 254 days ago only increases his credibility because it emphasizes that nobody indicted Hunter Biden and McCarthy is not a bright man, just a clever one, like the rat who can find the quickest way through the maze to the cheese that is the House Speakership. NOW would be the right time to explain this whole thing with the Chinese Energy company C-E-F-C that Gol Looft and Hunter Biden did indeed both work for, and why the similarity ends there, and why it is a dangerous thing to let a man as dumb as Kevin McCarthy try to “extrapolate” anything when it is a remarkable development that in that sound bite you just heard Kevin McCarthy SPELL “C-E-F-C” correctly. Here is the Kevin McCarthy-Jamie Comer “extrapolation.” Hunter Biden consulted for the Chinese energy company C-E-F-C. Thus to the Republicans that means he WORKED for C-E-F-C. Thus to the Republicans that means he TOOK MONEY from C-E-F-C. Thus to the Republicans that means the ENTIRE BIDEN FAMILY was BANKROLLED by C-E-F-C. Thus to the Republicans that means the ENTIRE BIDEN FAMILY was BRIBED by C-E-F-C. This is known not just as extrapolation but as sophistry. Let’s use the same process here about somebody else: ME. I used to be the lead sportscaster Fox Sports News owned by Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. Thus to the Republicans that means I WORKED for Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. Thus to the Republicans that means I TOOK MONEY from Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. Thus to the Republicans that means that the entire OLBERMANN FAMILY was bankrolled by Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. Thus to the Republicans that means that the entire OLBERMANN FAMILY was BRIBED by Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. I think I am spotting a subtle failure in the chain of logic here. Plus: his name is Eli Crane and until yesterday his only claim to fame was founding a company that made shell casings into bottle openers. And then he explained he was NOT trying to keep "colored people" out of the military. Ooops. B-Block (22:40) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Hats of to Representative Kamlager-Dove of Los Angeles. She responds to Marjorie Barney Rubble Greene in the truly correct manner: by asking for Advil. And the Actors' and Writers' strikes are seen from many perspectives but have you ever considered it this way: L.A. is a factory town. 18 of every 1000 employees works IN entertainment and the other 982 want to. Southern California could be in a new Great Depression within six months. (35:02) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The congressman who reportedly edited his own wikipedia entries; the "Fresh Fit" podcast that suddenly added "Fuentes Holocaust Denial;" and Ohio State Representative Bob Young, who in two hours attacked his wife, his brother, and his brother's Storm Window. In the case of the latter - by crashing through it. C-Block (41:00) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: Only a master could combine obvious misogyny with equally obvious certainty that women were better than men. And James Thurber was a master, as you'll hear in his deadpan epic "Mr. Treble Gets Rid Of His Wife." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 13, 2023

EPISODE 245: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Groups of Congressional Democrats have now separately called for investigations of Gal Luft and his influence on Congressional Republicans, investigations by the House Armed Services Committee, by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, by the House Select Committee on China, and by the House Oversight Committee. investigations into the obvious security breaches and the potential national security threat. But if the questions are about quote “security breaches,” quote “our national interests and those of our allies” quote “national security” then the investigation needs to be conducted by the Office of Homeland Security and The Office of the Director of National Intelligence because while the big red rotating, blaring siren may be Luft. But he isn’t a sitting member of the House or the Senate and this nation needs to know immediately to what degree if any, Congressman James Comer, Congressman Jim Jordan, Congresswoman Nancy Mace, Senator Ron Johnson and other Republicans, have been compromised by China, or have been targets FOR compromise by China. TRUMP’S STOCHASTIC TERRORIST who went to kill Obama after Trump doxxed Obama, WILL stay in jail until trail. Judge Zia Faruqui has ordered him held indefinitely, saying the quote “temperature is way too high in our political discussions” unquote and adding that the consequences could be quote “catastrophic” if Taranto were released and was free to do the things he thought elected officials were telling him to do. Translation: Faraqui believes Taranto could still be a Trump stochastic terrorist, and could easily still head to Obama’s home or anywhere and do anything he thought would please Trump. RAY EPPS is suing Fox and Tucker Carlson for defamation and is using the same local lawyer Dominion Voting Systems used and based on the filing it looks like Ray Epps will wind up OWNING Tucker Carlson and maybe Fox as well, possibly just because of one 100-word paragraph Carlson belched on March 11 of this year: “A lot of this was clearly influenced by federal agents or informants. It was, ok? But I did not want to suggest someone was a federal agent or informant unless I knew for a fact, because you really could get someone in trouble. Right? If you’re like, THIS was the guy and like, we don’t know. I DO know for – I mean it’s very clear – something very strange is going on with Ray Epps. We’ve named him repeatedly, we’ve invited him on the show repeatedly. I mean don’t lie to my face, the Ray Epps thing isn’t, isn’t organic, sorry." If Tucker Carlson WASN’T trying to tell his audience that Ray Epps was a Federal Agent and Informant who influenced the events of January 6th…what the hell ELSE could Carlson have possibly been TRYING to SAY? B-Block (23:38) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Miles Taylor, launching a new podcast today on whistleblowers within the Trump Administration, says he and his boss talked Trump out of headlining the 2018 State of the Union by announcing he would invoke The Insurrection Act to allow troops to remove or menace migrants. The BBC Presenter story finally goes public even though everybody knew it was newscaster Huw Edwards because all the other reporters kept saying "Huw is it" instead of "Who is it." And oh by the way he wasn't guilty of anything (29:15) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A pollster reminds us that though inflation in June was remarkably better, prices are still higher than in 2021. Clarence Thomas's aide accepted Venmo; and Barry Bonds really thinks he should now get into the Baseball Hall of Fame. C-Block (34:15) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Because my bosses decided that the night before was the right moment to teach me how to drink, I found myself atop a mountain at the 1980 Olympic Ski Medal Runs without an audio cassette. There was but one other radio reporter there and though nobody would've ever known, he refused to loan me a spare. His name was Jack Briggs. This is his story (and as a bonus: I've attached a report I did FROM the Olympic skiing days earlier, and a two-minute commentary on how I thought we could make Luge the next big sport in America. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 12, 2023

EPISODE 244: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Do the Republican leaders know WHERE their fugitive foreign agent Gal Luft is? Does Senator Ron Johnson – demanding immunity for Luft so that this multi-national con-man can testify to the House – know Where Gal Luft is? Does Chairman James Comer – still insisting Luft must testify despite the damning revelation that he has been under indictment in this country for 20 months for allegedly bribing a Trump Advisor on behalf of Chinese interests – does Chairman Comer know where Gal Luft is? Does Congresswoman Nancy Mace – still on board the sinking Luft ship and calling him quote “our witness” and promising “we are going to work as hard as we can and deliver as much evidence as we can to the American people so that they can decide whether or not Joe Biden should be in prison” – does Representative Mace know where Gal Luft is? And if the answer to any of these questions is yes – or the answer to the question “do any of them know how to reach him through intermediaries” is yes – then why have they not communicated to the proper authorities the whereabouts of this FUGITIVE FROM THE AMERICAN JUSTICE SYSTEM AND FOREIGN SPY – and why has the Department of Justice not questioned them about what they know about Gal Luft What do the Republicans know about Gal Luft and how long have they known it? ALSO: Jack Smith’s gang goes back to work, the Fani Willis Grand Jury is impaneled in Atlanta, and incredibly the DOJ is defending Trump in the Peter Strzok/Lisa Page lawsuit because it’s not like Trump is trying to end representative government in this country by manipulating the law or anything. B-Block (17:19) IN SPORTS: We had that rarest of sporting events last night: one in which THE highlight was carried off by…the fans in the stands at the Baseball All-Star Game in Seattle and what they chanted. It is staggering to realize that the telecast of 1980 Game was watched by roughly five times as many fans as watched the one last night – and the population was a third smaller in 1980. There are lots of reasons (the players are not playing to win; the stars don’t show up; gone are the days when 9 of the 10 All Star MVP Awards between 1963 and 1972 went to Hall of Famers). But the real reason the game is now meaningless is that baseball threw away the greatest organic gift it was ever given. For 96 seasons, the owners, players, and fans of the American League HATED the fans of the National League, and vice versa. Happily baseball was good enough to throw that away and reduce the two Leagues to bookkeeping arrangements by introducing Interleague Play so they could sell some New York Subway Series caps. (30:25) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Senator Tommy Tuberville doubles down in defense of White Nationalists, then suddenly reverses and says they are racists, then disappears. Congressman Jim Jordan wants to move the FBI Headquarters to Alabama. And this is the kind of man you want leading the free world: the dark horse Republican presidential candidate who will pay you TWENTY dollars if you will donate ONE dollar to his campaign. How does he do it? Volume! Volume! Volume! C-Block (35:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Baseball used to matter so much that local Los Angeles TV sportscasters used to make up crazy conspiracy stories about it, to try to get ratings. Let me tell you of two mind-blowing stunts told by two of my rivals in just my first year doing the sports on the local news in LA nearly 40 years ago: the guy who told his viewers to call a hotel and harass the manager of the All-Star team whom he believed had insulted a local Angels player, and the other guy who insisted that even though the L.A. Dodgers lost the 1985 playoffs they should show up anyway to the World Series and demand to play, because HE and HE ALONE had discovered that the home run that beat them wasn’t a home run at all! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 11, 2023

EPISODE 243: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: It's COMEUPPANCE DAY! The ENTIRE Republican Hunter Biden/Jo Biden fairy tale has burst and collapsed to the ground, pinning Jamie Comer and Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham and Fox News under the rubble. And the fascists’ pretend-FBI plant they swear was behind January 6th has decided to sue Fox and maybe Tucker Carlson separately. The so-called “Missing Hunter Biden Witness” doesn’t have evidence of Chinese bribes of the Bidens -- he turns out to be a Chinese spy who was bribing a member of the Trump Transition Team. The so-called “Biden IRS Whistleblower” whose entire life consists of swearing the Attorney General refused to grant a U-S Attorney the authority to prosecute Biden, has been completely contradicted BY the U-S Attorney who says the Attorney General GRANTED him the authority to prosecute Hunter Biden anywhere in the country. And the attorney for the so-called “stage manager of the insurrection” around whom Tucker Carlson built a short-lived career but a long-lived conspiracy says the four month grace period is up and he is preparing the lawsuit against Fox. It’s COMEUPPANCE DAY! B-Block (18:54) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Hours after Turkey said it wouldn't support Sweden's NATO admission until the European Union admitted Turkey, Turkey suddenly supported Sweden's NATO admission. Inscrutable even for the Kremlin: Putin met with WHO? And the Taliban endorses Twitter (21:39) IN SPORTS: The New York Times Sports Department was right! The New York Times Sports Department no longer exists! (25:02) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The graphic that actually appeared on cable tv, and NOT on Fox, describing GOP impeachment plans for Hunter Biden. If you want stupid, it's Representative Nicole Malliotakis and Maria Bartiromo. And serial sex abuser Larry Nasser is stabbed in prison. C-Block (29:30) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Morty in Brooklyn (31:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Stop throwing around the prospect of Anthrax at the White House because there was some Cocaine at the White House. At least until you've had real anthrax sent to you. Or even fake anthrax. Like I was. Four times. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 10, 2023

EPISODE 242: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: Not even five days since it went live, Zuckerberg's 'Threads' has exceeded the 100,000,000 users mark. And what is Musk doing? Calling him a "cuck" and personally servicing "Libs of TikTok." He's already made a fool of himself threatening to sue Zuckerberg and he HAS sued Twitter's old law firm for accepting the money Twitter owed it. So as Twitter is losing about two and a half billion dollars in value a month, what is his only other play? What it's ALWAYS been: ask the government for a bailout. It HAS to be! For once I'm rooting for the Republicans to take a state-level plan national. One Michigan county GOP leader says of another Michigan county GOP leader " “He kicked me in my balls as soon as I opened the door." And a dismissed budget chairman says new State GOP boss Kristina Karamo's spending is "so far out of proportion with income as to put us on the path to bankruptcy.” MAGA: Make America Groin Again. THIS is unlikely: Ron DeSantis says Trump colluded with Big Tech to bury the Hunter Biden "story" in 2020. Again - more of this please, Republicans. Even President Zelenskyy is scoring points off Trump, and while in an ideal world we'd admit Ukraine to NATO tomorrow, Biden makes two unanswerable points as to why we can't - not now. B-Block (19:04) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Oh, nothing, it's just Tucker Carlson losing 92.5% of his audience between Episode 1 and Episode 8. You can guess which paper asked that moronic cocaine question. And Trump's imbecility at a Dairy Queen invokes one of my Dad's greatest stories and greatest punchlines. (25:04) IN SPORTS: The same day the LOS ANGELES Times sports section essentially announces it's going out of business, the 28 surviving members of the NEW YORK Times sports section rebel and protest and mutiny against their dying outlet in the only way they can: With a letter to the editor. And MLB is trying to spruce up and speed up its player draft. But with it cut from 70 rounds to 20, what happens to all the people who won't be drafted and thus won't start their careers as the lifers who are the backbone of the game? (34:11) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The podcast host talks about liquidating Joe Biden. The podcast guest - Jeanine Pirro - doesn't walk off the show. And given that assassination-adjacent conversation, why is Nikki Haley STILL predicting the president's death? Plus: Andrea Mitchell thinks magnetometers can detect cocaine. I think I detect the time for Andrea Mitchell to retire before she destroys her reputation and becomes Tom Brokaw. C-Block (41:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Last week was the 20th Anniversary of Ambassador Joe Wilson's famous New York Times Op-Ed that destroyed George Bush's lie that there was WMD in Iraq - and thus destroyed George Bush's legacy. So they decided to destroy Joe Wilson. And craziest of all: they thought I could help. Only one problem - they couldn't figure out how to spell my name so they could email me the weapons. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 7, 2023

EPISODE 241: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: The judge in the Taylor Taranto case bought prosecutors – and former President Obama – and the COUNTRY – a little more time by NOT ruling yesterday on whether or not Taranto can be held without bail until trial. He ordered prosecution and defense to return to court NEXT WEDNESDAY to continue arguments. That MIGHT be enough time for the Justice Department to actually get its act together and stop sleep-walking while the rest of us face this NIGHTMARE. At the courthouse yesterday, assistant U-S Attorney Allison Ethen confirmed the government INTENDED to seek additional charges against Taranto. What charges? No answer. When? No answer. The Trump Stochastic terrorist who hunted Barack Obama was so untethered from reality that he was kicked out of a group that holds nightly prayer vigils outside the jail in Washington for January 6th Insurrectionist Defendants. Because the robot is dangerous enough. It is WUSA-TV Channel 9 in Washington reporting that just a week ago the leaders of this January 6thvigil group asked Taranto to leave.THEY disassociated themselves from him because -- as the wife of convicted Three Percenter Guy Reffitt told the reporter, Taranto quote “did an interview saying he believed Ashli Babbitt was not really dead.” Concurrently, CREW finds that 174 of those defendants specifically said they were quote “answering Donald Trump’s calls when they traveled to Washington and joined the violent attack on the Capitol…” In Court filings, in transcripts, in news items, these 174 people, again quoting the CREW report, “considered Trump their leader and believed they were FOLLOWING his lead by joining the insurrection” and nearly all of those made some reference to his December 19th “It’ll be wild” tweet ABOUT January 6th. Of the 174, NINETY FOUR specifically cited Trump’s remarks IN his January 6th speech “as the reason they went to the Capitol.” CREW notes ominously that these totals do NOT include those at the speech who were part of the attack on the Capitol but not yet arrested. Hours after the CREW report, CNN joins the chorus of reporting that the office of the Special Prosecutor is zeroing in on the chaotic White House meeting earlier in Trump’s day – the tweet was on the 19th, the meeting on the 18th. That’s how far gone Taylor Taranto is. The wife of the militia leader whom prosecutors proved in court quote “lit the match” of the insurrection – who was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison -- SHE didn’t want to associate with him. Also Walt Nauta pleads not guilty as new details of the security video are released and they explain why the DOJ thought Trump had pulled the old switcheroo. And Walt finally got a Florida lawyer named Sasha Dadan and this was once posted on Facebook: “Got a ticket? Don’t pay it! Call attorney Sasha Dadan Bonna. Free consultations, affordable prices.” B-Block (18:29) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Prigozhin is here? Prigozhin isn't here? Marjorie Traitor Greene ISN'T here. Musk is suing Zuck for suing all the guys Musk fired? Pence ends his campaign before it's even begun? (22:51) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Actor Jim Caviezel says there's no free speech while he goes on a media tour promoting his new film (and reveals on the last Jesus picture he was hit by lightning AND was hit by a 150-pound cross which would make me re-think the plot). What? Trump Junior's story about getting "cancelled" by Australia isn't true? And speaking of which: it was a touching story. The mayor of New York still carried in his wallet a photo of his fellow cop who fell in the line of duty in 1987. And then they found that the photo had been printed off the internet and stained with coffee to make it look holder help us help us we keep electing loonies here send help send help C-Block (29:30) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: The New York pound crisis continues. They're ready to kill Yu-Gi-Oh just a week after he arrived. (31:00) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: a story I've never read you here before.You've met the person Thurber writes of: she is not convinced that MacBeth is the murderer and is angry Shakespeare violated the Agatha Christie rules. It's "The Macbeth Murder Mystery." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jul 6, 2023

EPISODE 240: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: One of Trump’s stochastic terrorists went to Barack Obama’s house to assassinate him. Anybody else notice this, or was it just me? And that a Washington judge was having a hard time last night finding an excuse to hold him without bail? Hold the WOULD-BE ASSASSIN without bail? And that Trump had doxxed Obama and finally found a sucker willing to do his bidding for him? AND park his van full of ammo and weapons a few blocks from Obama’s home. AND livestreamed himself threatening Jamie Raskin and Kevin McCarthy and oh he was going to take his van to Maryland to a federal facility containing a nuclear research reactor and blow up the van and the nuclear reactor and… I mean am I the only one seeing this anywhere? Trump – crazier and more dangerous by the minute – is finally clearly and inextricably linked to a guy ready to answer Trump’s constant drumbeat to try to get one of his cultists to kill, without TELLING them to kill and thus leaving himself open to prosecution FOR killing or incitement-to-kill, and the Department of Justice remains asleep at the switch. The US Magistrate Judge in DC, Zia M. Faruqui managed to avoid having to release Trump’s figurative flying monkey – his name is Taylor Taranto – by keeping him in stir overnight and putting the onus on the government to answer the judge’s question: if the original charges against this would-be political murderer Taranto were simply left over trespassing accusations from January 6th, and the government wanted him held without bail because he’s a flight risk, what if the Judge finds he’s NOT a flight risk? Is it enough that threatening key Democratic and Republican congressmen and talking about going to a government nuclear reactor and blowing up your van next to – oh and responding to one former president’s publishing of another former president’s address by going there with a van full of weapons of death – is THAT quote “clear convincing evidence” of a danger to the public and even if it is, does that mean the judge can really hold him in jail? Yeah, you guys let Taranto loose while the lot of you argue over how many angels can dance on the head of this proverbial pin, and, you know, if he goes back to Obama’s neighborhood or, I dunno, tries to ram the White House with his van while screaming “TRUMP IS GOD” as he does so, maybe then prosecutors can indict him for various vehicular and parking offenses. B-Block (20:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Miles Taylor says Trump negotiated with Erik Prince to form his own private mercenary army to dispatch to Afghanistan and Venezuela; RFK needs money more than power; Steve Bass's new horizon; farewell to Dr. Frank Field and Marvin Kitman. (25:50) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Laura Ingraham wants to defund Jack Smith. How about demoting him to 7 PM? The warmest day since July 4, 122,977 BC. And GQ Magazine first neuters a piece that offended David Zaslav of Warner BROS, then kills the piece completely, then it turns out GQ's Editor is producing a film FOR WARNER BROS. C-Block (34:10) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Angelina, L'il Bit and Prince in Georgia (35:20) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Nothing makes me smile more than a week with July 4th in the middle. It's because of that kind of calendar that I got my first network job just 44 years ago. The holiday ate up nearly all the business days they would've had to look for anybody besides me! (Plus that first broadcast from July 1979). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 30, 2023

EPISODE 239: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Jack Smith is reportedly ready to indict Trump on between 30 and 45 MORE counts. And he is preparing to indict several of Trump’s lawyers from the Fake Electors Scheme including (voluntary interview notwithstanding) Rudy Giuliani. And all that is reported by the same British newspaper that correctly nailed the Miami indictments two days before they were finally handed up. CNN adds that the main Trump campaign official in charge of the Fake Electors will take the immunity deal he was offered and testifying for the Special Prosecutor. If the source for Britain's "The independent" is correct, Trump could be facing as many as 77 counts in a superseding indictment, although its sources are not clear if those charges would come in a superseding indictment in Florida or might be filed in a different jurisdiction (and we have already discussed the possibility of Trump being indicted in New Jersey for The Trump Confession Tape, plus all the crimes still on the table in D.C.). There is one intriguing new twist to the seemingly trivial question of where to indict. It will, quoting the story, “depend in part on whether they feel the Trump-appointed district judge overseeing the case against him in the Southern District of Florida, Aileen Cannon, is giving undue deference” to Trump. As to the hapless Giuliani, Feinberg’s source says that despite the ex-Mayor’s proffer offer to prosecutors, Rudy will quote “most definitely” face at least some charges from Jack Smith’s office, dating to his actions in the interval between the election and January 6th. Also: Trump showed that secret map to the co-chair of a lobbying firm taking millions from at least three Chinese tech firms closely linked to the Chinese government. The “I should not be showing the map” map? The “so don’t get too close”map? Wednesday night ABC News identified the person Trump showed the classified map to as Susie Wiles, a Trump adviser and campaign official and his potential 2024 campaign chair. Last night the NEW YORK POST, of all news outlets, identified Susie Wiles as the co-chairman of Mercury Public Affairs, lobbying mouthpieces for at least three really bad, really dangerous Chinese firms including Alibaba – the online retailer and web services company that is actually partially owned BY the Chinese GOVERNMENT and which the Post says Susie Wiles’ company, Mercury, is STILL receiving payments from. And the nightmare unfolds at the Supreme Court: Affirmative Action is struck down and although work-arounds are offered and President Biden lambasted the Fascist Theocratic Court's interference with the settled law of the nation and agreed that the court is not a "normal" one, when offered the cure, he shied away: "If we start the process of trying to expand the court, we’re going to politicize it, maybe forever, in a way that is not healthy, that you can’t get back.” President Biden? It's irredeemably politicized NOW. It's FOREVER. It is ALREADY not healthy. And we can't get it back. (17:54) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The 5'7" Prime Minister of the UK violates the first rule of comparative height: NEVER give away 14 inches in a photo. Pirro, Ingraham, others at Fox mock Biden's use of CPAP machine despite own physical and emotional problems; New York Mayor Eric Adams must resign: he rages against a renters' advocate, compares her to a slaveowner, insults her repeatedly. She's an 84-year old woman who escaped the holocaust yet within seconds of her remarks he played the race card against her. B-Block (28:06) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Not only did Joe Biden spend most of his senatorial career fighting a reputation as a hothead, but when he decided to fight it he turned to advice about how to productively focus his anger to...me? C-Block (39:10) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: I succumb to Bothsidesism! If I have a long Biden story, I must offer a long Trump story. And Thurber wrote one, and somehow managed to do it 15 years before Trump was born. When success is mistaken for character and the worst person in the world is mistaken for "The Greatest Man In The World." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 29, 2023

EPISODE 238: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) Rudy Giuilani has offered to flip. It is almost certainly NOT against Trump and it may even be a finesse play to distract Jack Smith FROM Trump (and from himself). But that "voluntary meeting" with prosecutors we heard about early in the week turns out to have been a "Proffer Offer" in which he essentially auditioned as a witness. The New York Times also has what – under the proffer protection that whatever he told them IN that interview will not be used against him unless it turns out he was lying – prosecutors asked him about: 1) About a plan to create fake slates of pro-Trump electors. 2)“They focused specifically on the role played in that effort by John Eastman." 3) Quote: “Giuliani also discussed Sidney Powell” 4) “Ms. Powell… also took part in a meeting in the Oval Office in December 2020 during which Trump was presented with a brazen plan, opposed by Giuliani, to use the military to seize control of voting machines and re-run the election.” 5) “Prosecutors further asked Mr. Giuliani about the scene at the Willard Hotel days before the attack on the Capitol” and the group of conspirators gathered there – the Times names Eastman, Boris Epshteyn, and Steve Bannon. CBS News, which does NOT use that tell-tale term “proffer,” also says he was asked about Jeffrey “Can I Put My Pants On” Clark? And 6) CBS had one other detail which reads quote: “The special counsel did not indicate that Giuliani is a SUBJECT of the investigation and his team does not believe he is” which then raises the question why the hell would he be trading information to the Special Prosecutor as a potential immunity deal? I’m Rudy and I’m a good citizen, so don’t prosecute me? Moreover: time and time again throughout American criminal history – especially American POLITICAL criminal history – key witnesses have changed sides while telling themselves they were not giving up THEIR guy and then once they see how much MORE protection they will gain FROM giving up their guy… they GIVE UP their guy. When it was time to get immunity for his role in Watergate, my friend John Dean’s starting point was, according to the giggling reminiscence of his attorney Charlie Shaffer, “We can’t talk about The P” – “The P” -- Dean’s shorthand for President Nixon. B-Block (19:48) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: She's trying to play to the right of Boebert and Greene by raging against abortions and human stem cells - even saying using some of the latter for research "makes us no better than Nazis." Now her family financial disclosures are out and Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna's husband owns stock in a medical company that uses human stem cells. And a MAGA "prophet" says he saw an image of Trump in the sky over "Rush Mountmore." (25:19) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Meltdown in RFK Jr Merch-land. Just when you thought he couldn't possibly be connected to foreign interference turns out the image in his merchandise ad is just a photoshopped stock shot of a Russian woman on a Russian street. Nancy Mace and Tommy Tuberville try to take credit for local Biden projects they voted against. And the Jersey Munitions Dealer and OAN guest didn't like those 32 old growth trees that blocked his view of New York City. So he had them cut down. Two problems: they weren't on HIS property and the law there says he now has to replace them and that could cost him nearly $2 Million. C-Block (32:10) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Duke the beautifully-behaved Doberman on death row in Baldwin Park, California. (32:52) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Somebody asked me why TV executives seem like idiots. I said "SEEM?!?" and then instead of trying to explain it to her I just told her the saga of Rick Kaplan, who was president of CNN and then MSNBC and once credited himself for a format change from a year earlier that we did only once and abandoned but he didn't know because he DIDN'T HAVE CABLE IN HIS HOUSE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 28, 2023

EPISODE 237: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: There arises today the distinct chance that the two Non-Trump-Employees heard on the Trump Confession Recording supplied their copy of the recording to Jack Smith, and that they will testify against him. It may be coincidence but we know this much for sure: days after they were at Bedminster in July, 2021, after a lot of publicity in newspapers and with Tucker Carlson for their new venture, the co-publishers of Mark Meadows' book all but disappeared from public view. The recording does not exist in a vacuum. Why is everybody looking at it that way It's a tape of FIVE PEOPLE TALKING IN A ROOM. Any of whom can be called to testify ABOUT THE TAPE. And we don’t really know, because nobody’s really focused them, who the OTHER four people are. And we don’t know what THEY think of the tape. And we don’t know whether any of them are already on that list of possible witnesses Smith may call in the documents trial. The New York Post had a throwaway reference last night: “Two of the people Trump speaks to in the audio are believed to be Kate Hartson and Louise Burke, who had started All Seasons Press, a conservative publishing company…” You do not have to have a hyperactive imagination to wonder: if the Post is right and it was both of them that as Ms. Burke and Ms. Hartson left Bedminster that day two years ago next month one of them realized that they had just been shown top secrets and had it within their power to get Trump indicted for not keeping top secrets SECRET and it put the fear of God into them. Hell, Kid Rock says Trump did it with HIM and even HE was smart enough to get frightened. Did they go to the FBI? Meanwhile Trump really DID change HIS story three times yesterday. When he got burned by Bret Baier on Fox last week, Trump insisted about the document referred to in the transcript of the recording, quote “there was no document.” Yesterday he posted only that he was covered by the Presidential Records Act. Then in New Hampshire he insisted he had kind of told Baier there WAS a document. Then to reporters on his plane he said no, he never had a document, just building plans. And golf course plans. And a newspaper story about Iran. And he was showing off. All in one day. Plus Walt Nauta didn't testify because his lawyer decided he needed lots more money to take THIS case. But Rudy Giuliani reportedly pre-testified in an interview with the Special Counsel's staff. B-Block (24:32) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: SCOTUS votes 6-3 in favor of keeping democracy after all (though it's really more like 5-4). The Senator whose state's top industry is tourism tells tourists not to go there. A Bob and Ray sketch comes to life. They once imagined Chocolate-Flavored Ketchup. The National Culinary institute is introducing COLA-Flavored Ketchup - for use on HOT DOGS. (35:01) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Elon Musk deliberately or inattentively starts punishing accounts which block RW ads on Twitter. Last week The National Hockey League betrayed Pride Night. THIS week it puts its player draft in the city whose incoming owner is a noted anti-same-sex marriage and adoption ex-Governor. And yes RFK Jr shared an online stage with an anti-vaxxer who says the Covid vaccine causes you to become magnetic. But I'm the winner because I accidentally called RFK Jr "JFK Jr" and that is utterly unfair...to JFK Jr. C-Block (36:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Fox just changed its lineup to put its 10 PM host on at 7 because its audience is now too old to stay up to 10. This flashed me back to the day, nearly 15 years ago, when I first realized that the future of cable news was... there wasn't any. The day they let a guy who knew nothing about cable news and cared even less bully the people who ran MSNBC. His name was Tom Brokaw. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 27, 2023

EPISODE 236: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: Donald Trump will be convicted for criminal violations of The Espionage Act. Because there are smoking guns, and then there are the smoking guns so profound and so productive that they turn the Eastern Seaboard sky orange. And this one is the second kind. CNN GOT the clip of the actual recording of Trump showing off classified Joint Chiefs of Staff military plans for attacking Iran. AND then The Washington Post got it. And then The New York Times got it. I haven’t yet checked my high school paper, The Hackley Dial. First: It fulfills the first rule of Trump: everything is worse than you could possibly imagine – he’s laughing as he commits crimes prohibited by The Espionage Act, his flunky is making Hillary Clinton jokes, he’s making Anthony Weiner jokes, he’s ordering Cokes. Second: It HAS to have come from Mark Meadows. It HAS to have. Third: It fulfills the prophesy of Ryan Goodman from Just Security: it IS NOT just Trump committing a crime, it is Trump narrating his own crime, as he crimes. Fourth: the tape has a postscript, something that was for whatever reason NOT included in the transcript of the tape that was included in the charging document filed by Special Counsel Jack Smith. Meanwhile there are also huge developments in Smith's pursuit of a Trump indictment in the Fake Electors, Wire Fraud, and January 6th Coup strands of his perfidy. B-Block (21:50) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: In memoriam: the former President of Current TV, and also my boss at CNN in 2001-02, the legendary television news producer David Bohrman. If you've watched it, it was something Bohrman dreamt up. C-Block (41:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Bill Maher is back in the news as an Anti-Vax sympathizer, fawning over the demented Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. I nearly got into a fistfight with him in 1978, didn't remember it until 2009, when we nearly got into a fistfight again. I clearly should've followed my first instincts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 26, 2023

EPISODE 235: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: While we wait to see if Yevgeny Prigozhin accidentally falls out Vladimir Putin’s window in a month, or Vladimir Putin accidentally falls out Yevgeny Prigozhin’s window in a month, it is clear that Jack Smith is again in the End Game for more Trump Indictments – about Fake Electors – and he and his team are also really shockingly confident that they will get a quick conviction of Trump in the documents case.It was obscured because television news and even most big-time newspapers exceeded the number of big stories they can effectively cover simultaneously – ONE – and we had Russia and the Titanic Sub – but Jack Smith has obtained the testimony of two Nevada Fakes and may have already bought the testimony of the guy who was the Trump Campaign’s Director of, in essence, Fake Electors. Smith is also locking in testimony and he is clearly coming down the stretch towards indictments. Almost certainly that will include the deplorable Justice Department hatchet-man Jeff “Can I Put My Pants On” Clark and Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell and with any luck Jenna Ellis and Boris Epshteyn too and probably Trump as well. The key is: Smith is reportedly close to a deal for the testimony of the Trump Campaign's clearing officer for the entire Electoral Slate conspiracy: Michael Roman. All the while: Trump keeps confessing to the Documents charges, and one national security attorney reads the latest DOJ motion and determines that the Special Counsel believes that trial WILL occur this year and won't last long. B-Block (19:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: I can see Russia from my house and if you think that conflict "ended" Saturday, think again. RFK's PAC is reportedly run by MAGA PAC. CNN got rid of Chris Licht's graphics. Did they also get rid of Licht's new primetime star? (24:31) IN SPORTS: Baseball congratulates itself on another pointless trip to play regular season games in England. The first such trip was 149 years ago. Seriously. Is Aaron Judge sprained or torn or both? And why run differential makes no difference. (28:28) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Meghan McCain, Lance Armstrong, and Nikki Haley were too obvious so I went with Chuck Todd, Greg Abbott and Stew Peters. C-Block (34:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It happened on a Sunday night and last night was a Sunday night so sure enough I was reminded of it. There's no surprise quite like the one you get when you look out your apartment window and notice the building is en Fuego. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 23, 2023

EPISODE 234: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: He’s behaved like a lot of things before but until now Trump has NEVER sounded so desperately scared. “CONGRESS WILL HOPEFULLY NOW LOOK AT THE EVER CONTINUING WITCH HUNTS AND ELECTION INTERFERENCE” it began.“CONGRESS, PLEASE INVESTIGATE THE POLITICAL WITCH HUNTS,” he begs. All caps. “THE ONLY WAY THEY CAN WIN IS TO CHEAT. STOP THEM NOW!,” he pleads. ALSO all caps. It’s everything but “Mommy I’m scared. They caught me.” What caused this? I mean, apart from the insanity? Via Discovery, he’s received much of the Department of Justice evidence supporting the 37 counts against him, including all the audio tapes – the vainglorious interviews he gave which are apparently peppered with references to documents and secrets and I-can’t-tell-you-this-but-here-goes. Plus: if he didn’t before, HE now knows WHO testified against him and what they said. There is another Sam Alito All-Expenses-Paid-Vacation scandal. It is not nearly as startling and quid pro quo-ish as taking a 100-thousand dollar private jet trip to Alaska courtesy of a Hedge Fund Guy and then years later voting for a Supreme Court judgment that gave Hedge Fund Guy two billion, 400 hundred million. CNN got on-the-record confirmation from the director of the Notre Dame University Religious Liberty Initiative that her group did INDEED pay the traveling expenses for Alito to go to its conclave in Rome last July and give a speech mocking anybody who dared criticize him. No laws were broken, only the basic tenets of judicial honesty. The Notre Dame University Religious Liberty Initiative has a legal clinic, and since its founding in 2020 it has filed a series of “Friend Of The Court” briefs on cases being heard by… the Supreme Court. Happily, Sam Alito always has another hair he can split. Quote: “My understanding is that Notre Dame Law School’s Religious Liberty Initiative has a number of components, only one of which is a clinic that, like the legal clinics at many other law schools, files amicus briefs in the Supreme Court. I was not invited to speak in Rome by the CLINIC.” And Marjorie Taylor Greene has extended the “Marjorie Taylor Greene called Lauren Boebert a quote “Little Bitch” unquote” story another day. She was good enough to explain to Semafor News WHY she called Lauren Boebert a quote “LITTLE BITCH” unquote. “She has genuinely been a nasty little bitch to me.” Greene re-told the story as witnesses had broken it to The Daily Beast: Anna Paulina Lunatic was talking about impeachment when Boebert came over to Greene to complain about Greene’s recent remarks. “I told her exactly what I think about her.” B-Block (15:10) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Oh cool two more Republican presidential candidates. Moms For Liberty backs down, then backs down again, after quoting Hitler about how to own children and thus the future. Jeff Zucker's CNN journey could go from getting fired to buying the place. Or, since it's in The New York Post: maybe not. (18:40) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Canadian Member of Parliament Matt Jeneroux addresses his nation's crisis. He wants an "official grievance" filed against Taylor Swift for not coming to Canada on her next tour. Why don't you try The World Court At The Hague? The lesson of the lost Titanic Submersible? Charlie Kirk says it's don't hire black pilots. And there are bigots and cowards and homophobes. But if you FOLD to homophobes for money and pretend you're not folding to them but doing it to protect the people you just abandoned, you are worse than all the kinds of homophobes put together. And that is National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman. C-Block (26:05) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: His bizarre but compelling story of a handyman with an accent and his own pet thunderstorms: "The Black Magic of Barney Haller." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 22, 2023

EPISODE 233: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: The most influential conservative justice on the Supreme Court accepted a free private jet flight worth $100,000 from a hedge fund manager and then six years later the justice voted in favor of a Supreme Court decision that gave the hedge fund manager’s company $2,400,000,000. Neither all the hand-wringing and self-martyring in the world by the recipient, Samuel Alito, NOR all the hand-wringing and calls for ethical reform in the world by the likes of Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin changes the fact that we shouldn’t have to have rules aying that is a bad and corrupt idea and you shouldn’t do it. The issue of SUPREME COURT ETHICAL STANDARDS is important and overdue and maybe, Please Christ, this will scare Dick Durbin out of his stupor, but the REAL issue is SAMUEL ALITO’S ETHICAL STANDARDS and the unfortunate complication is that he CLEARLY DOESN’T HAVE ANY. Dick Durbin now plans a Senate Judiciary Committee "mark-up" of Supreme Court ethics rules but of course it can't pass without the House. But what he can - and MUST - do is scare the crap out of Alito, Thomas, Leonard Leo, Paul Singer, Harlan Crow and the rest of them. Subpoena them. Dirty them up. Use words like bribe and corruption and deal. PLUS: It's almost too good to be true. On the House Floor, Marjorie Taylor Greene reportedly called Lauren Boebert a "little bitch" which is news enough by itself, but it also allows all of us to keep repeating that Greene reportedly called Boebert a quote "little bitch" unquote. AND: Kari Lake posts a photo of herself in a bikini with Trump around her waist. Trump, in inflatable pool float form. At least she didn't post a photo of herself blowing it up. B-Block (14:55) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: After John Durham testified to the House Judiciary committee and imploded, and after Kevin McCarthy got booed off the rostrum announcing the censure of Adam Schiff, I am beginning to suspect Durham and McCarthy are Democratic plants. (22:35) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Ron DeSantis boasts about Florida's unemployment data - "amoung the best." Misspelled "among." Well - it wasn't about education, was it? Plus while the right invokes the time a 69-year old grandmother served for January 6, she asks them to stop and says she was wrong to be there. And an online guy has just discovered what he thinks is a previously unknown obscure presidential candidate who he's determined to introduce to the rest of us. The guy's name is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. C-Block (30:10) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: If you can make it, we need you to go to the Board Meeting of the New York Pound THIS MORNING (31:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: When I worked for Ted Turner, covered him as he met with striking NFL players, made him gush with pride and then angry enough to fire me, and then actually used my head and turned the situation into a win-win. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 21, 2023

EPISODE 232: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: Sam Alito must resign from the Supreme Court after Pro Publica dropped a ton of bricks on the conservative icon/fraud's head: a Supreme Court case worth as much as $2.4 BILLION to the company of a hedge fund robber baron named Paul Singer, after Paul Singer gave Sam Alito a free ride to Alaska on a private jet. Alito didn't declare the ride and didn't recuse from the case. His argument? The seat "as far as I am aware, would otherwise have been vacant. It was my understanding that this would not impose any extra cost on Mr. Singer. Translation? If it was worth anything, why did he give it to me for free? Alito rushed a panicky, sloppy, typo-riddled denial before Pro Publica actually published, and it ran as an Op-Ed on The Wall Street Journal Editorial page.The Op-Ed also implies that the Journal's "informed sources" close to the Supreme Court all this time - including about the Roe-V-Wade leak - was almost certainly Alito. Plus: Part 2 of Fox's interview with Dementia J. Trump is highlighted by his belief that the stalking horse being run against Biden in the Democratic primary is JFK JUNIOR not RFK JUNIOR. Huge if true. And new polling about DJT is actually newsworthy: GOP approval slips 10 points in one poll. And a special message to all those Conservatives whining about the Trump indictments and the Hunter Biden plea deal: We don't care. We no longer care what you think. Think what you want - we give up. We will now focus on defeating and silencing you. B-Block (18:15) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Somebody put something in the water in the Op-Ed room at The New York Times. SEVENTEEN different "Why (Pop Culture Item X) Explains America" articles. And the contention that 'America Has A Lot To Learn From The Fox Sports Cable Debate Show Skip Bayless And Shannon Sharpe Do That Nobody But Nobody Watches' (24:09) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Do you remember who Liz Truss was? Do you remember who the Lettuce was? Liz is mad about the lettuce. A raid at Paris HQ raises the question: Why do we HAVE Olympics? And how could the Peter Hotez/RFK Junior/Elon Musk/Joe Rogan debate nonsense get any worse? How about if the worthless Megyn Kelly joined in? C-Block (29:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Somebody brought up "Citizen Kane" the other day and I was flashed back again nearly 40 years to the day I met one of its stars - Hollywood immortal Joseph Cotten - and didn't realize it was him because I was on my way to interview Mickey Mantle. Keith name drops faster than you can. Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 20, 2023

EPISODE 231: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Obviously President Biden must fire Attorney General Garland and Deputy Attorney General Monaco and not merely because neither of them can possibly continue after yesterday’s revelations in The Washington Post just as none of US can possibly continue holding our breaths wondering WHAT about the Trump and January 6th prosecutions they will screw up NEXT. Two years and nearly six months after the first attempted coup and Garland and Monaco still do not understand that this is about SELF-DEFENSE: of Justice, of Democracy, of America. If that ISN’T your attitude about the response to Trump and the coup attempt that was and the coup attempt that WILL be get out. But especially if you are in the Justice Department and you don’t understand that the point WAS and WILL BE to eliminate YOU; if you don’t understand that the ultimate goal of Trump and the creatures around him is to take the limitless finances they have been given, and the limitless TIME they have been given - BY YOU - and walk into the Department of Justice or whatever white shoe law firm you have escaped to, and hand you a piece of paper bearing a fascist order signed by a fascist judge convicting you of being an official Trump-brand enemy of the people and authorizing the Trump Police to HANG you - get out. Because, then, you will have rendered this nation – at its time of greatest peril - defenseless just as the coalition of Hate gears up for another attack. Because, then, you will have nowhere to hide from them because the rest of us, whom you have left without defense, will be fending for ourselves. And Merrick Garland and Lisa Monaco have to go, first. Because I don’t know what’s LEFT for them to screw up here but I’m sure Garland will find something in his style book for the Department of Justice that says that unless you deliver the subpoenas by Pony Express, you can’t move against a criminally insane ex-president unless you make sure you wait just long enough that there’s no way any of the verdicts can be rendered until after the election that might put him back in office, upon which he will have the charges withdrawn or will pardon himself or will simply ignore ALL the laws ALL at once and tell you to take you to take him to the Supreme Court. B-Block (22:30) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: If you're the president of MSNBC and you are asked 'If Trump were interested, would you put him on MSNBC in a live town hall format' and your answer is not "HELL NO" you must be fired. And if her answer was not "HELL NO" and you're one of the MSNBC hosts whose primetime show was spun off from mine all those years ago (Maddow, O'Donnell, Hayes) and you do not use your power to push back against the network's president and her journalistic perfidy, you have forfeited your credibility and reduced yourself to the status of Check-Cashing Talking Head. C-Block (48:00) SPECIAL COMMENT REDUX ( Note: this is repeated from Monday's Episode 230) Special Counsel Jack Smith may be readying an indictment against Trump for illegally attempting to coerce Mike Pence to defy his legal duties in the Electoral College count? Ryan Goodman from “Just Security,” whom I cite here frequently though I don’t know him and only because he knows this stuff, told Bill Kristol’s podcast that he thinks Jack Smith quote “going to indict Trump for the False Slate of Electors scheme” – and with Goodman saying the odds Fonny Willis indicts on False Electors and election interference in Georgia are 90 percent, Trump could face twin federal and state cases on overlapping topics. And then Goodman adds something that took my breath away. Indicting Trump for False Electors, “AND quite probably/possibly the pressure campaign against Mike Pence.” Wait – what? Goodman sets the odds on Jack Smith indicting Trump ABOUT PENCE… at 60 to 70 percent. Pressuring the Vice President, Goodman says, quoting him again “is independent of whether or not he thought he won the election. He can think he won the election, doesn’t matter. But you can’t try to coerce a public official to defy their legal duties – which is just to count the votes.” Goodman doesn’t mention that, but you will remember that Stewart Rhodes and other Oathkeepers were prosecuted for – and convicted of – interfering with Congress’s ability to complete its legal duties. Ponder for a moment the prospect of Smith indicting Trump, running for the Republican nomination, for attempting to coerce PENCE, running for the Republican nomination. Oh and necessarily having Pence TESTIFY AGAINST TRUMP either before Trump is nominated or before the election. I’m beginning to think we may have WILDLY under-estimated how many MORE things Jack Smith is about to indict Trump for. There is reason today to believe that the number of separate indictments OF Trump BY Smith could be as many as FOUR. Maybe even FIVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 19, 2023

EPISODE 230: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Special Counsel Jack Smith may be readying an indictment against Trump for illegally attempting to coerce Mike Pence to defy his legal duties in the Electoral College count? Ryan Goodman from “Just Security,” whom I cite here frequently though I don’t know him and only because he knows this stuff, told Bill Kristol’s podcast that he thinks Jack Smith quote “going to indict Trump for the False Slate of Electors scheme” – and with Goodman saying the odds Fonny Willis indicts on False Electors and election interference in Georgia are 90 percent, Trump could face twin federal and state cases on overlapping topics. And then Goodman adds something that took my breath away. Indicting Trump for False Electors, “AND quite probably/possibly the pressure campaign against Mike Pence.” Wait – what? Goodman sets the odds on Jack Smith indicting Trump ABOUT PENCE… at 60 to 70 percent. Pressuring the Vice President, Goodman says, quoting him again “is independent of whether or not he thought he won the election. He can think he won the election, doesn’t matter. But you can’t try to coerce a public official to defy their legal duties – which is just to count the votes.” Goodman doesn’t mention that, but you will remember that Stewart Rhodes and other Oathkeepers were prosecuted for – and convicted of – interfering with Congress’s ability to complete its legal duties. Ponder for a moment the prospect of Smith indicting Trump, running for the Republican nomination, for attempting to coerce PENCE, running for the Republican nomination. Oh and necessarily having Pence TESTIFY AGAINST TRUMP either before Trump is nominated or before the election. I’m beginning to think we may have WILDLY under-estimated how many MORE things Jack Smith is about to indict Trump for. There is reason today to believe that the number of separate indictments OF Trump BY Smith could be as many as FOUR. Maybe even FIVE. B-Block (20:11) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Nikki Haley tries to make it sound like she DIDN'T say The Confederate Flag was just a symbol of "sacrifice, service and heritage" until Dylann Roof came along and spoiled it with his mass murdering. The Joe Rogan-JFK "debate" stink. The Bland leading the Blind? What on earth would they debate? HOW stupid Rogan is? And Military Mean Tweets (25:07) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Why was Lou Dobbs' wife subpoenaed in the Smartmatic case? David Clarke tries to get the Saudis off the hook for the Khashoggi murder. Curt Schilling says it's time for more shots, like at Concord, but he only means shots metaphorically. And the Chia Pet of Fox, Jesse Watters, has a plan for the homeless. C-Block (33:35) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: The New York crisis continues, with poor 3-year old Dior and her pneumonia (34:35) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Speaking of Lou Dobbs' wife, it was just 42 summers ago when she and Lou had to leave CNN New York in a hurry and they had to hire as an emergency temp a radio sports guy with no TV experience - me. THEY started my career! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 16, 2023

EPISODE 229: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: First The Washington Post reported Trump had ignored advice from his $3,000,000 flat fee lawyer to settle with the DOJ, return ALL the documents in exchange for no charges. But he refused because non-lawyer Tom Fitton - who has a BA in English - told him the lawyers were wrong. Then it turned out Fitton told him that because of a case Fitton's outfit, Judicial Watch, lost. And they couldn't have lost it because they suck, it had to be a definitive ruling that gave all presidents the right to keep everything. Now it turns out that even after that revelation, Trump is STILL deferring to Tom Fitton for legal advice he is wildly unqualified to give. He seems to have done it... last night! Fitton tweeted some nonsense in the morning. Trump regurgitated it as a social media post at dinner time: “So now that everyone understands that the Presidential Records Act, plus the Clinton socks case, totally exonerated me… when are they going to drop all charges against me, apologize, and return everything that was illegally taken?” The answer, as any lawyer or sane person could tell you, is, they’re NOT. The Presidential Records Act DOESN’T exonerate Trump, nobody “understands” the specious claims of exoneration, the Clinton Socks case is an irrelevant red herring and it’s not even CALLED the “Clinton Socks” case, they aren’t dropping the charges against Trump, nothing was illegally taken, and nothing is being returned to him. But Trump isn’t listening to that. He is listening… to Tom Fitton, Pretend Lawyer. Plus the New York Times goes inside the mind of Trump (careful): It explained in depth the reference to Trump’s “Beautiful Mind” boxes that when they appeared in the indictment document mystified so many while the rest of us immediately saw Russell Crowe. “It was a reference,” wrote The Times, “to the title of a book and movie depicting the life of John F. Nash Jr., the mathematician with schizophrenia played in the film by Russell Crowe, who covered his office with newspaper clippings, believing they held a Russian code he needed to crack. The phrase had a specific connotation. The aides employed it to capture a type of organized chaos that Mr. Trump insisted on, the collection and transportation of a blizzard of newspapers and official documents that he kept close and that seemed to give him a sense of security. One former White House official, who was granted anonymity to describe the situation, said that while the materials were disorganized, Mr. Trump would notice if somebody had riffled through them or they were not arranged in a particular way. It was, the person said, how “his mind worked.” That explains Trump perfectly: hose are HIS documents. When will you give him back HIS documents. They are HIS. Not yours. Not the government’s. No law makes a difference. He held them. They have his name on them. He put them in the box. Not THAT box, THIS box. This is existential to Trump. To quote the Bugs Bunny cartoon about Daffy Duck and the treasure of Ali Baba “It’s mine, you understand? Mine! All mine! Get back in there. Down down down. Go go go. Mine mine mine.” Oh and when Trump went into that Cuban bakery Tuesday to "celebrate" after his indictment and shouted "Food for everyone!" Guess who didn't pay. B-Block (19:45) IN SPORTS: You've heard of Spiking The Football? The man who INVENTED Spiking The Football has passed away. Baseball's Commissioner insults the Oakland fans who were about to lose their team rather than empathizing them just to keep them as possible San Francisco Giants fans, and now the Justice Department will investigate the Saudis buying pro golf. (27:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Anti-transgender slob Michael Knowles says we need to revert to the world of the year 1220. Did I tell you Pat Sajak was a schmuck? He is retiring to run a whack doodle religious college. And the "Wannabe Dictator" graphic on Fox about Biden Tuesday night? The producer - an old Tucker Carlson staffer - is OUT. C-Block (32:27) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: The most visual of his many fantastical, farcical stories of his crazy family: "The Night The Bed Fell." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 15, 2023

EPISODE 228: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump may have done the one thing that would force the ENTIRE Republican party to repudiate him: The Israelis Intelligence Corps and the Mossad reportedly think Donald Trump has damaged the security of the state of Israel. “Top brass in the Israeli defense establishment,” writes the intelligence and strategic affairs correspondent Yossi Melman in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, “are concerned that secret documents seized from (Trump) include material whose exposure has damaged Israel’s security.” Melman quotes two senior Israeli defense officials, one from the Mossad and the other from the Intelligence Corps as saying, quote: “It’s an absolutely reasonable possibility that some of the documents are about Israel and its capabilities, maybe even its nuclear program,” unquote. And reading between the lines, Melman and his sources never once mention the story of Trump reading the details of the Mark Milley plan to attack IRAN to Mark Meadows’ ghost-writers, so presumably what Israeli Intelligence fears is that Trump has damaged other elements of their nation’s security. So ANOTHER fault line opens between Trump and Republican Sacred Cows: Trump versus Troops, Trump versus Law And Order, Trump Versus… Israel. Damaging the 21st Century Republican Party’s supposed allegiance to Israel is the most sacred of its cows because it is viscerally important to the party’s fanatical religious base. Polling from as recently as 2018 confirms that at least HALF of the Evangelicals don’t give two actual spits about ACTUAL Jews or the NATION of Israel. It is simply a tentpole belief of their cult that before all the bible-thumpers can go to Heaven in a rapture, all the Jews have to be in Jerusalem and be converted or die. The Republicans pretend allegiance to Israel in order to maintain ownership of the Evangelicals who need Jerusalem preserved so they can be converted when the alarm goes off at Rapture O’Clock. Plus Pence takes a Nikki Haley style Trump-Endangered-The-Troops climbdown, Ryan Goodman thinks Smith has a backup play in New Jersey just in case things come acropper in the Florida trial, Judge Cannon has exactly 14 days of active Judge Stuff, Trump turned down a chance to make all this stuff go away. And the story of the British TV producer who shouted "President Trump? Are you ready to go to jail?" during his creation of a false victory narrative at a Miami Cuban bakery after the arraignment Tuesday, takes a strange twist. The guy who got in her face and called her a "Stupid B----" has self-identified, and he's a former member of the Trump Government AND was involved in image polishing for Putin in America, Michael R. Caputo. B-BLOCK (18:20) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: To finish off the Michael Caputo story and his world-class exit quote from the Trump Regime in 2020. Plus the Archives are mad at Trump AGAIN. Lindsey Graham makes another threat. And Fani Willis officially says she isn't postponing anything. (24:45) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Elon Musk wants America to have a dictator who'll kill everybody; The New York Times and Fox News share dishonors over Trump's Tuesday; and why do all these supposedly anti-pedophilia right wingers say such creepy things about kids and kids' characters and sex? Why did Ben Shapiro talk about Bert and Ernie wearing "assless chaps"? C-BLOCK (33:30) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: All the strikes are against 10-year old Slinky in the New York pound (35:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The day in 1974 that I didn't go to Boston University because of...Howard Stern. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 14, 2023

EPISODE 227: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Where is the enterprise, where is the daring, where is the simple nerve of Sophie Alexander, International Affairs producer for the UK’s SKY News. As Trump is doing the carefully staged man-of-the-people bit, the same act from the day he threw rolls of paper towels to the drowning residents of Puerto Rico, he hops into the Cuban hang-out The Versailles Bakery and all Sophie Alexander did was shout a question at Trump: are you ready to go to jail? “The emperor has no clothes.” Put her in charge of CNN! Plus: "The Emperor Has No Clothes." No, not me. Congressman Don Bacon of Nebraska, as Trump was arrested for the second time in 70 days. “The espionage act has been used to go after traitors and spies.” Again – not me. Trump himself, last night, after prosecutors let him turn yesterday into one long campaign ad. “I certainly won’t support a convicted felon for the White House.” Also, not me. Republican Congressman Ken Buck of Colorado, Freedom Caucus member, signatory to the Texas Amicus Brief-Coup Attempt, who ten days ago said the investigations and the lawsuits and the arrests almost gave Trump credibility and he didn’t care and who yesterday changed sides. Like Nikki Haley and Tim Scott did. Like a trickle of other Republicans have. It may stop here. If it doesn’t, it may stop Trump. I hesitate to even HOPE that this is where enough of the G-O-P breaks to split the party but the last two days have shown what such a split would look like and it is along two simple fault lines: both conceits are wildly untrue but the Republicans think of themselves as the party of law and order, and the party of absolute prioritization of the military and what has been obvious to the rest of us for eight years is suddenly obvious to many in the GOP: Trump believes neither in law-and-order nor the military – Trump believes only in himself. What happens when it's The Troops...or The Trump? B-Block (23:11) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Tommy Tuberville doesn't show up, meaning Dick Durbin can bypass Tuberville's hold on Military Promotions, and Durbin says 'but that wouldn't be playing the game!' And Pat Sajak retires. Good! He's a schmuck! (28:48) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: MSNBC supplants Fox News atop the cable news ratings for the first time in 120 weeks. You're welcome. Vivek Ramaswamy tries to play the crowd at the Trump arraignment. And Doctor/Senator Bill Cassidy posts an umbrage selfie and makes a huge mistake. C-Block (33:40) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Puppy Simba, on death row at an insanely overcrowded New York pound (34:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The day the president of MSNBC decided to try to chase me around the live studio while his pet project was debuting IN the live story and I had to figure out what to say when I called the cops to tell them he was threatening to kill me. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 13, 2023

EPISODE 226: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: In a normal world the criticisms were so milquetoast and so covered in caveats that they'd barely be noticed. In the context of the perpetual darkness of Donald Trump and the Coalition of Hatreds, they are bursts of sunlight. They inspired absolutely nobody, and it could all go away tomorrow as it has so many times before, but graded on degree of difficulty Nikki Haley and Tim Scott each gave The Gettysburg Address yesterday. SOMETHING has happened in the calculations of other Republicans regarding today’s indictment of Donald Trump. As it ridiculous as it might be Haley and Scott are running for the Republican nomination and that there have been calls on the right for them and everybody but Trump to drop out and endorse Trump as a way to show they believe in Trump. And instead, at an event where he announced the endorsement of 140 Republicans, Tim Scott instead said “This case is a serious case with serious allegations.” And while that squeak heard round the Trump-World was reverberating, Nikki Haley went on Fox and said if the indictment is “true...President Trump was incredibly reckless with our national security. More than that, I’m a military spouse, my husband’s about to deploy this weekend. This puts all of our military men and women in danger, if you talk about what our military is capable of, or how we would go about invading or doing something with one of our enemies. If that’s the case, it’s reckless, it’s frustrating and it causes problems.” In the time of terrified subservience, as if Trump were Shtalin with hemorrhoids, Nikki Haley accused Trump of being reckless with the national security and endangering the lives of military men and women and talking about our military plans to invade – or defend against – other countries. In other words, she said everything I said on this podcast yesterday. And all the things DEMOCRATS WON’T SAY. And she said them on Fox. Tim Scott and Nikki Haley would be the LAST two I would’ve expected this from, and they did it on the same day, and they did it in what was for them very high profile venues and it means that they have completely re-calculated the equations. Each had slammed the indictments, unequivocally, last week. Haley and Scott didn’t grow consciences over the weekend. The scales did not fall from their eyes. Neither is smart enough to have figured this all out by themselves. They HAVE to seen internal polling, or heard dire assessments of what is behind the indictment, or gotten advice from people THEY know and people they think know, that this is the moment to turn on Trump. It could be something we don’t know about or it could be something The Wall Street Journal put up at noon yesterday. Headline: “Trump Needs White Suburban Women. His Indictment Splits Them. Key swing group could help decide who takes White House in 2024.” SOMETHING has HAPPENED. B-Block (20:43) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Fox sues Tucker Carlson for damages. Damages? Have you SEEN his Twitter videos? And the Saudi purchase of the PGA Tour now has to get past a Senate investigation (24:44) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Josh Blackman, would-be Maureen Dowd replacement; The Guardian has bad news for Harmeet Dhillon; And the guy who nearly killed The Washington Post, Fred Ryan, quits to become the boss at the Center For Civility at The Ronald Reagan Foundation (that's a job that comes with 52 weeks of vacation a year). 29:32 THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I played a clip of him a few weeks back, from a New York radio newscast we did together in 1980. He was the most talented person I ever worked with, and in the 40 years since nobody's come close. He was also the most mean-spirited, the most screwed up, and he met a tragic end. Will Spens, remembered. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 12, 2023

EPISODE 225: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: Donald Trump has put the lives of tens of thousands of American service men and women at risk – all around the world – by stealing the documents. Donald Trump doesn’t give a damn if American troops live or die. Donald Trump HATES THE TROOPS. And why aren’t we hearing that? Bill Barr, The National Review, Governor Sununu, and The National Review blistered Trump. Scott Jennings, the rabid CNN conservative? Jennings hit a point that in normal times would have been enough for the Republicans to have already thrown Trump overboard, for all time? “If you had a son or a daughter who was serving…in a hostile place and you thought maybe their information was in a document that could have been picked off the friggin floor, do you know how this could impact a military family? The thing is when you’re commander in chief, you have this responsibility to the military and the people who serve. It’s sort of offensive to me actually that we would be so cavalier with the information that could possibly put our people in jeopardy.” And if there is anything more shocking than the number of anti-Trump statements ESPECIALLY from lawyers and from HIS lawyers – it is the fact that in normal times the Democrats would have taken the essence of Scott Jennings’ point: TRUMP PUT THE LIVES OF THOUSANDS OF AMERICAN SERVICE MEN AT RISK, and they would have hung that fact around the necks of not just Trump and everybody close to him, but around the necks of EVERY Republican who didn’t condemn him and the Democrats would be screaming “Why does Donald Trump hate the troops?” and “Why does Ron DeSantis hate the troops?” and “Why does Lindsey Graham hate the troops?” and if the POINT ITSELF wasn’t decisive enough, the Democrats could follow it up with the new CBS News poll that asks is there a national security risk if Trump kept nuclear and military documents and the answer was YES, Trump put the National Security at Risk, YES… from 38 percent OF REPUBLICANS. Why in the chorus of sheep bleating about Trump’s rights and Hillary Clinton this and weaponization that, are virtually ALL the dissenting voices… Republicans? Where are the Democrats? Where are the Democrats talking about the grave risk Trump was and is to National Security? Where are the Democrats demanding that he will be president again only over their dead bodies? Where are the Democrats saying no matter how this trial turns out, Trump definitely put American troops at risk for the sake of his ego, and he may have gotten American troops KILLED, and he may STILL get American troops KILLED? Where is the outrage? Axios reports the Democratic National Committee asked Democrats in the Committee to no-comment the indictment. The PRESIDENT is no-commenting the indictment. The entire hierarchy of the Democratic Party is staying off-stage because of some kind of nonsensical, 1975-notion that to speak out against Trump’s criminality and treachery and treason is to somehow grasp a third rail, that because if you speak up for truth and honesty and Americanism and you are a politician you have somehow POLITICIZED truth and honesty and Americanism. Mr. President, House Democrats, Senate Democrats, we elected you to stand up for the rule of law, against Trump. Proclaim it and exult in it. Your silence will be mistaken for weakness. Kick him when he's down - and sing the anthem while you do it. B-Block (20:05) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: How lucky is the Glenn Beck ally who confronted Brittney Griner in an airport? She could've snapped him in half. Conor McGregor TRIED to snap an NBA mascot in half. And Fox and Friends comic relief Brian Kilmeade thinks David Beckham had to learn English when he moved to America. (23:43) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Join me in celebrating the one year anniversary of Minet. C-Block (39:20) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Troubadour in New York (40:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Just last week a new doctor asked me if long ago I had fallen off a cliff or something and I had to explain to him - Yes! While filming a TV commercial! Doesn't everybody do that? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 10, 2023

A SPECIAL TRUMP INDICTMENT WEEKEND EDITION; EPISODE 224: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:41) SPECIAL COMMENT: I am sorry only sorry the 37 counts in the indictment of Donald Trump is not a capital case. It is that bad, and he will remain a threat to every man, woman and child in this country as long as he lives. Worse yet, the running joke yesterday was Trump spilled all of our secrets - on the floor at Mar-a-Lago. How could all of the foreign spy organizations have NOT stolen them? How do we know they didn't? How can we be certain? “The classified documents Trump stored in his boxes included information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries,” reads the indictment. The next sentence is worse. Trump had documents detailing “United States nuclear programs.” There are references to a document about American nuclear weaponry and another about another country’s nuclear capacity. The next sentence is WORSE. He had “potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack.” The next sentence is WORSE. He had America’s “plans for possible retaliation to a FOREIGN attack.” All that keeps us safe from countries that still harbor dreams of attacking this country – North Korea, Russia, maybe China… all that could have ENABLED those countries to transform those dreams into battle plans… all of that, Donald Trump stole and kept. And kept near the club pool. And near the liquor supply closet. And other documents were kept in the bathroom, next to the toilet. It. Is. That. Bad. It is as bad as the Rosenbergs, as bad as the other nuclear spies of the 1950’s, as bad as Rick Ames and Robert Hannssen. It is, in fact, worse. B-Block (29:07) THE REST OF THIS PODCAST IS REPEATED FROM FRIDAY'S EDITION: Donald Trump has been indicted on seven charges and the foremost of them is a violation of the Espionage Act, specifically designed to send to prison for ten years, someone who was legally allowed to possess UN-classified National Defense Information, but refused to return it to the proper government authorities. It's 18 US Code 793-D. It fits the allegations against Trump better than any of his suits. It erases all his stated defenses and excuses, like Trump’s belief he owned a magic wand of declassification, and a new one posited in just the last few days that he was the president so of COURSE he had the right to possess defense information. It describes a crime involving information that ISN’T classified, which the defendant at some point HAD the right to possess. Trump lawyer James Trusty says even he hasn’t even seen the actual indictment but only had broad strokes painted to him, and mentioned the Willful retention part of the Espionage Act (confirming 18 US Code 793-D), multiple charges about false statements, conspiracy, and quote “several obstruction-based charges” including witness tampering. At approximately 7 PM Eastern Daylight Time on Thursday June 8, 2023, his attorneys were informed by the Department of Justice by PHONE, and HE was informed by those attorneys, that Trump had been indicted in Miami on seven separate SEALED counts of criminal conduct none of them yet formally revealed to the public but clearly pertaining to the classified and defense documents he stole and kept in his home and office at Mar-a-Lago and reportedly including charges of Illegal Retention of National Defense Information, Conspiracy To Obstruct Justice, False Statements to government investigators. Seven counts. For context: the usual number of indictments for former presidents or current presidential candidates is… approximately… zero. CBS News is reporting that for all his bravado, Trump reacted to the indictments with anger because Trump had quote “people in his inner circle who reassured him for months that it was very unlikely to happen.” And this momentous day in history is capped by the worst home video ever recorded. It is a masterpiece of missteps. On the Rushmore of Rushed-Work. A new high in low. Trump posted it at 7:57, from his golf club in Bedminster New Jersey, he is standing in front of a large painting, seemingly depicting a White House office scene from the late 19th Century. Trump has been positioned directly under a spotlight of some kind so his Flock of Seagulls combover that he has honed to exactly his preferred shade of spray-on Gold Rust-O-Leum has been bleached white and it looks like a yarmulke that has slid forward towards his bright white eyebrows. He is also perfectly placed in front of the painting in such a way that a man shown standing in the painting now appears to be one foot tall and standing ON TRUMP'S SHOULDER. And were that not stupid enough, he is twirling his mustache like Snidely Whiplash just back from tying Sweet Nell to the train tracks. It's startlingly fitting. C-Block (49:40) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: SCOTUS shocks with voting rights decision that could tip House to Democrats; Chris Licht is gone but so are CNN's ad revenues; We cross our 10 millionth download! (52:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Why bash Gene Simmons because he knows about the politics of Northern Ireland? You can still taste the air on the Atlantic seaboard but Fox will still mock it all. And OF COURSE George Santos's lawyer went to the Capitol on January 6th! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 9, 2023

EPISODE 223: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: Donald Trump has been indicted on seven charges and the foremost of them is a violation of the Espionage Act, specifically designed to send to prison for ten years, someone who was legally allowed to possess UN-classified National Defense Information, but refused to return it to the proper government authorities. It's 18 US Code 793-D. It fits the allegations against Trump better than any of his suits. It erases all his stated defenses and excuses, like Trump’s belief he owned a magic wand of declassification, and a new one posited in just the last few days that he was the president so of COURSE he had the right to possess defense information. It describes a crime involving information that ISN’T classified, which the defendant at some point HAD the right to possess. Trump lawyer James Trusty says even he hasn’t even seen the actual indictment but only had broad strokes painted to him, and mentioned the Willful retention part of the Espionage Act (confirming 18 US Code 793-D), multiple charges about false statements, conspiracy, and quote “several obstruction-based charges” including witness tampering. At approximately 7 PM Eastern Daylight Time on Thursday June 8, 2023, his attorneys were informed by the Department of Justice by PHONE, and HE was informed by those attorneys, that Trump had been indicted in Miami on seven separate SEALED counts of criminal conduct none of them yet formally revealed to the public but clearly pertaining to the classified and defense documents he stole and kept in his home and office at Mar-a-Lago and reportedly including charges of Illegal Retention of National Defense Information, Conspiracy To Obstruct Justice, False Statements to government investigators. Seven counts. For context: the usual number of indictments for former presidents or current presidential candidates is… approximately… zero. CBS News is reporting that for all his bravado, Trump reacted to the indictments with anger because Trump had quote “people in his inner circle who reassured him for months that it was very unlikely to happen.” And this momentous day in history is capped by the worst home video ever recorded. It is a masterpiece of missteps. On the Rushmore of Rushed-Work. A new high in low. Trump posted it at 7:57, from his golf club in Bedminster New Jersey, he is standing in front of a large painting, seemingly depicting a White House office scene from the late 19th Century. Trump has been positioned directly under a spotlight of some kind so his Flock of Seagulls combover that he has honed to exactly his preferred shade of spray-on Gold Rust-O-Leum has been bleached white and it looks like a yarmulke that has slid forward towards his bright white eyebrows. He is also perfectly placed in front of the painting in such a way that a man shown standing in the painting now appears to be one foot tall and standing ON TRUMP'S SHOULDER. And were that not stupid enough, he is twirling his mustache like Snidely Whiplash just back from tying Sweet Nell to the train tracks. It's startlingly fitting. B-Block (22:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: SCOTUS shocks with voting rights decision that could tip House to Democrats; Chris Licht is gone but so are CNN's ad revenues; We cross our 10 millionth download! (25:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Why bash Gene Simmons because he knows about the politics of Northern Ireland? You can still taste the air on the Atlantic seaboard but Fox will still mock it all. And OF COURSE George Santos's lawyer went to the Capitol on January 6th! C-Block (32:00) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: Some James Thurber stories are funny and some are poignant and some are supernatural. But some also have plots worthy of Arthur Conan Doyle writing Sherlock Holmes. And such a one is "The Catbird Seat." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 8, 2023

EPISODE 222: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: The White House correspondent for the UK newspaper “The Independent” Andrew Feinberg reports that Special Counsel Jack Smith will ask his Washington grand jury to indict Donald Trump for violating the Espionage Act and for obstructing justice – no later than a week FROM today and as early as today. The Independent also reports that Smith has been RATHER clever. The anticipated indictment of Trump about the stolen documents will be for violating 18 US Code 793, Gathering, Transmitting or Losing Defense Information, a part of that does NOT require that any actual documents in question to be CLASSIFIED, but merely that there is defense information involved and the accused stole it or told others about it or lost it. That in turn means that the cornerstone of Trump’s defense: a president can declassify whatever he wants, he doesn’t have to tell anybody he’s done it, he just does it by thinking about it with his superior mind – is irrelevant. Classified, shmassified. Those guilty of doing it “shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years or both” The timing caveat, quoting The Independent:” It is understood that prosecutors intend to ask grand jurors to vote on the indictment on Thursday but that vote could be delayed as much as a week until the next meeting of the grand jury to allow for a complete presentation of evidence, or to allow investigators to gather more evidence for presentation if necessary” unquote. The caveat from a news consumer’s P-O-V should be: as of recording time, there is no separate reporting confirming what The Independent published. However, The Guardian says Trump’s lawyers were told LAST WEEK by Smith’s office that he is a prosecutorial target on the stolen documents and obstruction of justice. The New York Times says Trump’s legal team was notified he is the target on the HANDLING of the documents, but no idea when. ABC, CNN and Politico report the lawyers were sent a target letter. The Times adds “Aides and advisers to Mr. Trump spent the day in a state of high tension.” I BET THEY DID. The Trump response to all of this, on social media: “No one has told ME I’m being indicted.” The felon is always the last to know! B-Block (13:37) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: CNN fired Chris Licht - at dawn - in Central Park - explains what caused all the damn SMOKE here. He was fired for being a schmuck. He should've been fired for not understanding that the cable news "middle" he pursued doesn't exist, will never exist, hasn't existed for 25 years. Journalism and "advocacy" and profits can all be made. You just have to be what he wasn't: Good At It. C-Block (29:40) UPDATE: Fox is telling Tucker Carlson he can't DO a "series" on Twitter. They have a contract with him, he can't create video content for any rivals, and they're right. Besides, Episode 1 revealed his awful secret: Tucker Carlson sucks at just staring at a camera and yammering. Take the cash, Tuckson (30:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I've been talking about Chris Licht since August 19 of last year - the 15th episode in this series. I want you to listen what I said then, the day after he cancelled the network's only show that recognized the threat to democracy that was Fox News and its imitators. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 7, 2023

EPISODE 221: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:40) SPECIAL COMMENT: The UK newspaper "The Independent" reports Trump may be indicted as early as tomorrow for violations of the Espionage Act, specifically 18 U-S Code 793, Gathering, Transmitting or Losing Defense Information, a part of the act that does NOT require the actual documents in question to be CLASSIFIED – a deliberate choice by prosecutors, a strategic one, which thus completely ERASES Trump’s defense that whatever he stole, he had somehow DE-classified it by blinking three times in succession or throwing ketchup at a particular White House wall. Those guilty of violations of 18 U-S Code 793, quote, “shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years or both” and the Independent Counsel’s Grand Jury will be asked to vote an indictment against Trump for violating 793 as early as TOMORROW, with the caveat that “that vote could be delayed as much as a week until the next meeting of the grand jury to allow for a complete presentation of evidence, or to allow investigators to gather more evidence for presentation if necessary” unquote. “The Independent” reports emphasizes that an indictment on ONE charge from 18 U-S Code 793 is far from all of it – that Trump may also be indicted on OTHER counts within the Espionage Age umbrella, AND potentially for Obstruction of Justice, AND that Jack Smith’s mysterious FLORIDA Grand Jury is still operating and further indictments could emanate from there. The Washington Post in fact reports that the BULK of indictments could come from the Miami Grand Jury, which could give us a scenario in which there is ONE indictment in Washington tomorrow or next week, and many more from Florida in the weeks to come. The Independent’s White House correspondent Andrew Feinberg adds that Mark Meadows DID flip, so, told you so. Quote: “It is understood that the former North Carolina congressman testified as part of a deal for which he has already received limited immunity in exchange for his testimony. A source who was briefed on the agreement claimed that the alleged agreement will involve the ex-chief of staff entering pleas of guilty to unspecified federal crimes.” The Independent says Meadows attorney George Terwilliger said the guilty plea story is quote “complete bull(spit)”but would NOT answer questions about immunity or testimony. B-Block (8:47) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: CNN fired Chris Licht - at dawn - in Central Park - explains what caused all the damn SMOKE here. He was fired for being a schmuck. He should've been fired for not understanding that the cable news "middle" he pursued doesn't exist, will never exist, hasn't existed for 25 years. Journalism and "advocacy" and profits can all be made. You just have to be what he wasn't: Good At It. (18:50) NOTE: The remainder of this bulletin is from Wednesday's original podcast: Mark Meadows has flipped. There’s no other possible conclusion. The news has been coming for weeks. Per ABC, Meadows testified to the Jack Smith Election Grand Jury and to the Jack Smith Documents Grand Jury. And 20 members of the Trump Secret Service detail - past or present - have been subpoenaed to testify in Washington, while we begin to see what the third Smith Grand Jury in Miami is all about and how it might but Trump on trial there and not Washington. And this all explains both why Bloomberg reports "Trump representatives in recent weeks have asked for recommendations of Washington-based counsel with trial experience…” and why Trump returned yesterday to stochastic terrorism. He made social media posts demanding that his thugs "fight" to prevent his indictment, just as he told the crowd on the Ellipse in Washington on January 6 to "fight" the certification. Dismiss Trump and his animal-like cunning and destructive skill at your peril and OUR peril. What you think you see in him is as bad as you think it is. Or worse. Always. Always. On January 6th. Yesterday. The Truth Social posts were made in hopes of getting somebody to attack Jack Smith or Merrick Garland or someone. The Trump thinking is not complex: "This other creature is in my way. Destroy this other creature." B-Block (38:20) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Chris Licht does it again! ANOTHER presidential town hall - and how you can get one. And when is the parade for CNN Media Reporter Oliver Darcy and will he be riding in the front car or in the metaphorical hearse in the back? (21:29) IN SPORTS: Don't delude yourself. The PGA golf tour did not "merge" with LIV Golf. It sold itself to the Saudis, after a year of talking about Saudi blood money. It's despicable and it will either be prevented, or it will destroy the sport in the country. And Jacob deGrom is probably out of baseball until Opening Day 2025. Who didn't see that coming? (26:59) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: It's condescending, proselytizing Harris Faulkner of Fox - and her pronouns are D,U,M,B. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 7, 2023

EPISODE 220: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Mark Meadows has flipped. There’s no other possible conclusion. The news has been coming for weeks. Per ABC, Meadows testified to the Jack Smith Election Grand Jury and to the Jack Smith Documents Grand Jury. And 20 members of the Trump Secret Service detail - past or present - have been subpoenaed to testify in Washington, while we begin to see what the third Smith Grand Jury in Miami is all about and how it might but Trump on trial there and not Washington. And this all explains both why Bloomberg reports "Trump representatives in recent weeks have asked for recommendations of Washington-based counsel with trial experience…” and why Trump returned yesterday to stochastic terrorism. He made social media posts demanding that his thugs "fight" to prevent his indictment, just as he told the crowd on the Ellipse in Washington on January 6 to "fight" the certification. Dismiss Trump and his animal-like cunning and destructive skill at your peril and OUR peril. What you think you see in him is as bad as you think it is. Or worse. Always. Always. On January 6th. Yesterday. The Truth Social posts were made in hopes of getting somebody to attack Jack Smith or Merrick Garland or someone. The Trump thinking is not complex: "This other creature is in my way. Destroy this other creature." B-Block (17:32) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Chris Licht does it again! ANOTHER presidential town hall - and how you can get one. And when is the parade for CNN Media Reporter Oliver Darcy and will he be riding in the front car or in the metaphorical hearse in the back? (21:29) IN SPORTS: Don't delude yourself. The PGA golf tour did not "merge" with LIV Golf. It sold itself to the Saudis, after a year of talking about Saudi blood money. It's despicable and it will either be prevented, or it will destroy the sport in the country. And Jacob deGrom is probably out of baseball until Opening Day 2025. Who didn't see that coming? (26:59) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: It's condescending, proselytizing Harris Faulkner of Fox - and her pronouns are D,U,M,B. C-Block (32:20) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Speaking of a great pitcher like Jacob deGrom, I actually once covered for one of the great pitchers of all-time, a jerk named Roger Clemens, because while he almost got in a fight with a fan during the World Series and I got it on tape, it truly wasn't his fault. So I suppressed the tape and cost myself a job. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 6, 2023

EPISODE 219: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) BULLETIN: Trump is again attempting to foment a violent coup against the government of the United States and in so doing confirming that he is about to be indicted by Special Counsel Jack Smith and whatever charges Smith has ready he should bring them before his Grand Jury now and urge a judge to detain Trump without bail. “It’s about Election Interference” Trump wrote at the start of a social media post at 8:12 Eastern Time this morning, which ends “They are using the DOJ and FBI against me to Rigg the 2024 election. They’ll hit Hunter with something small to make their strike on me look fair. Nothing about these fascists is fair or honest. FIGHT!” The word “fight” is in capital letters and followed by an exclamation point and it is clearly not directed at his attorneys. He followed up two minutes later with quote “Election Interference. Don’t let it happen.” Again – that instruction to prevent his indictment or arrest was not directed to attorneys or family members or anybody else. It was directed to his mob – just as it was directed to his mob on January 6th. It is not political speech, it is not dissent, it is not protest, it is not free speech, it is stochastic terrorism. And the word that elevates this from Trump’s usual psychopathic communications is quote “fight” unquote. It should send cold chills down your spine because he used that word in its various forms SIXTEEN TIMES in that incendiary speech from the ellipse that sent the gang into the Capitol and sent democracy teetering on the edge of destruction. “We fight,” he shouted. “We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country any more.” And now, in literally the days before his indictment for stealing this country’s – and other countries’ - nuclear secrets and our military’s war plans for attacking Iran, he has used his social media account to again attempt to incite insurrection – and more immediately to somehow prevent the Department of Justice from indicting him for mishandling classified documents, for obstructing justice, possibly for destruction of evidence, suborning of perjury, and – though they won’t do this – for these posts today. (7:40) The remainder of this podcast is the original June 6 2023 edition as originally posted. SPECIAL COMMENT: The whiny visit of Trump lawyers to beg Jack Smith not to indict their client so he wouldn't yell at them again turns out to have actually confirmed ONE important fact. We can't be sure Smith has already decided to indict Trump on the stolen documents. But we CAN be sure he has NOT decided NOT to indict him - otherwise there would've been no need for the meeting. Others are thinking that way too: Trump's lawyers, trump, The Times, The Post, The WSJ, and CNN all think we are at the end game. And - a leak about leaking water? Isn't this where we came in with Trump? From draining the swamp to draining the pool, Jack Smith has been pressing the guy who helped move the classified document boxes about how he drained the Mar-a-Lago club pool and managed to flood the room where all the security video logs were kept. If that isn't a callback to about a dozen other plot points I don't know what is! B-Block (20:04) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: How can you apologize and make it worse? Ask Chris Licht! By lying during the apology, getting support only from those at other networks, and finally being accused by a tabloid of fudging the only feel-good part of your story. The weight loss wasn't 5 AM workouts: it was Ozempic. (29:48) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A Nebraska lawyer wasted taxpayer money trying to silence a state legislator on an anti-trans bill because the legislator has a trans child. Elon Musk's newest conspiracy theory: the advertisers are out to get him. Can't we take Twitter away from him? And Congressman James Comer's whistleblower and informant and secret FBI document? They are all just a rehash of the Rudy Giuliani crap that didn't even fool Bill Barr in 2019. C-Block (35:45) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Lilou, in the Bahamas, needs neurological help (36:51) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The most fun moment in one of those old "SportsCenter" Commercials? The Alexi Lalas one, where I got to pretend I was John Belushi, smashing a guitar in "Animal House." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 6, 2023

EPISODE 218: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: The whiny visit of Trump lawyers to beg Jack Smith not to indict their client so he wouldn't yell at them again turns out to have actually confirmed ONE important fact. We can't be sure Smith has already decided to indict Trump on the stolen documents. But we CAN be sure he has NOT decided NOT to indict him - otherwise there would've been no need for the meeting. Others are thinking that way too: Trump's lawyers, trump, The Times, The Post, The WSJ, and CNN all think we are at the end game. And - a leak about leaking water? Isn't this where we came in with Trump? From draining the swamp to draining the pool, Jack Smith has been pressing the guy who helped move the classified document boxes about how he drained the Mar-a-Lago club pool and managed to flood the room where all the security video logs were kept. If that isn't a callback to about a dozen other plot points I don't know what is! B-Block (15:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: How can you apologize and make it worse? Ask Chris Licht! By lying during the apology, getting support only from those at other networks, and finally being accused by a tabloid of fudging the only feel-good part of your story. The weight loss wasn't 5 AM workouts: it was Ozempic. (24:48) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A Nebraska lawyer wasted taxpayer money trying to silence a state legislator on an anti-trans bill because the legislator has a trans child. Elon Musk's newest conspiracy theory: the advertisers are out to get him. Can't we take Twitter away from him? And Congressman James Comer's whistleblower and informant and secret FBI document? They are all just a rehash of the Rudy Giuliani crap that didn't even fool Bill Barr in 2019. C-Block (30:45) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Lilou, in the Bahamas, needs neurological help (31:51) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The most fun moment in one of those old "SportsCenter" Commercials? The Alexi Lalas one, where I got to pretend I was John Belushi, smashing a guitar in "Animal House." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 5, 2023

EPISODE 217: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: As reports swirl, we seem to be on the verge of SOMETHING from Special Counsel Jack Smith and the Grand Jury. It is reportedly to reconvene this week after a month off. And DOJ is reportedly set to meet with Trump's lawyers. And now a new question: would DOJ make at least a token plea deal offer to him? A LOT going on. (7:29) SPECIAL COMMENT: Having learned nothing from anything, Just to convince the RNC to give the network a Republican Presidential Primary debate, CNN is reportedly ready to partner with a far right website - and even have one of its propagandists co-moderate the debate WITH a CNN star ON CNN. And NBC is also prostituting itself to get a shot at a Republican debate, sending Lester Holt to try to talk them into it. And we continue to have fallout from Tim Alberta's profile of CNN CEO Chris Licht in The Atlantic. Actually, it's less fallout and more an autopsy because Licht would have fared better if he'd gone into the Atlantic OCEAN. There is soooo much to discuss, but not too many possibilities as to what might happen next. As Burt Lancaster says to Tony Curtis in "Sweet Smell of Success": "You're dead, son. Get yourself buried." B-Block (35:50) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: "When I took over ‘Meet The Press’,” said Chuck Todd on Meet The Press as he announced his own firing FROM Meet The Press, “it was a Sunday show that had a lot of people questioning whether it still could have a place in the modern media space. Well, I think we’ve answered THAT question and then some.” He's self-aware to the last. And Lauren Boebert caught in a huge lie: she didn't fail to vote on the Debt Ceiling in protest; she just didn't make it in time - and it's on tape. IN SPORTS: the ultimate fan protest in a replica uniform and the Mets with a novel Hall of Fame induction (46:10) WORSTS: Marine LePen DOESN'T prove her French party wasn't associated with the Russians, Elon Musk's lawyers make a court filing that essentially disproves "The Twitter Files;" And a "comedian" goes on NewsMax and makes what she thinks is a joke but is actually a 150-year old racist trope about fried chicken. C-Block (50:40) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Lola in Miami (51:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The day my ability to tolerate Chuck Todd for one more moment snapped like a dry twig during a drought and I could no longer bear to even be in the...same fantasy football league as him. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 1, 2023

EPISODE 216: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) BULLETIN: It's the Smoking Gun, and it's still smoking! After the drama of the original revelation of the "Bedminster Tape," a further shocking bit of news. The Guardian reports that on the tape Trump is heard lamenting that he DID NOT declassify the Mark Milley Iran document. This ratchets up Trump’s self-incrimination. “For several minutes of the audio recording, the sources said, Trump talks about how he cannot discuss the document because he no longer possesses the sweeping presidential power to declassify, now out of office, but suggests that he should have done so when he was still in the White House.” Thus on the tape he discusses the document… that he says… he cannot legally discuss. Trump is on tape, not just ADMITTING that after he left office he KEPT classified top secret MILITARY plans for an American war on IRAN but BOASTING he kept them, AND describing the details of the American attack strategy, AND attributing the document to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, AND describing it to at least four people none of whom had the requisite security clearance to even know the document existed, let alone hear any of the details, AND saying he would like to share those details with them, AND then acknowledging he couldn’t because even an ex-president can’t just declassify whatever he wants, AND acting as if he is holding the top secret document in his hands as he’s talking about it, AND the conversation took place not at Mar-a-Lago but at his golf course in Bedminster New Jersey, AND the recorded conversation took place in July 2021 before Trump returned ANY of the documents he stole, AND two of the other people were there working on the autobiography of Mark Meadows, AND one of the others was his former White House press aide Margo Martin, AND Trump knew he was being recorded, AND the story of the meeting appears IN the Meadows Autobiography, AND this may be the tip of the Trump Tapes iceberg. Quoting CNN’s exclusive: “During the summer of 2021, sources say multiple people were making recordings of Trump as he held conversations with journalists and biographers.” And this tape is in the hands of… Special Counsel Jack Smith. Apply every cliche you can think of: this is a Smoking Gun inside a weapons depot filled with nothing BUT Smoking Guns. And that bit about tapes is just the tip of the iceberg because this isn't just "The" Trump Tape. It's The FIRST Trump Tape. B-Block (27:31) IN SPORTS: The Dodger disaster continues. They folded to the pressure of "The Catholic League" (which is one loud guy named Bill) and uninvited a Nun Drag group supported by actual Catholic Nuns. Since? Dodgers rightly attacked by LGBTQ community and local fans, so they reversed and RE-invited. Now they've been attacked by a pitcher for The Washington Nationals who has called for fans to boycott the Dodgers, and their own star twirler has announced a Christian Night at Dodger Stadium - evidently BEFORE the team was ready to. (36:52) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Someone claiming to be the wife of a serving marine says the president needs to be "executed publicly." Elon Musk paid $44B for twitter. One of his co-investors now says it's worth $15B. And disgraced disloyal ex-General Mike Flynn has found a new calling: SELLING SPERM. C-Block (40:50) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Bentley was rescued by a clueless group which stuck him in a luxury kennel and he has to be ransomed! (41:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I never wanted to do politics. Then one day I went from interviewing Chris Kattan on MSNBC to anchoring the 1998 State of the Union Address See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 1, 2023

EPISODE 215: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) BULLETIN: It's the Smoking Gun. Trump is on tape, not just ADMITTING that after he left office he KEPT classified top secret MILITARY plans for an American war on IRAN but BOASTING he kept them, AND describing the details of the American attack strategy, AND attributing the document to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, AND describing it to at least four people none of whom had the requisite security clearance to even know the document existed, let alone hear any of the details, AND saying he would like to share those details with them, AND then acknowledging he couldn’t because even an ex-president can’t just declassify whatever he wants, AND acting as if he is holding the top secret document in his hands as he’s talking about it, AND the conversation took place not at Mar-a-Lago but at his golf course in Bedminster New Jersey, AND the recorded conversation took place in July 2021 before Trump returned ANY of the documents he stole, AND two of the other people were there working on the autobiography of Mark Meadows, AND one of the others was his former White House press aide Margo Martin, AND Trump knew he was being recorded, AND the story of the meeting appears IN the Meadows Autobiography, AND this may be the tip of the Trump Tapes iceberg. Quoting CNN’s exclusive: “During the summer of 2021, sources say multiple people were making recordings of Trump as he held conversations with journalists and biographers.” And this tape is in the hands of… Special Counsel Jack Smith. Apply every cliche you can think of: this is a Smoking Gun inside a weapons depot filled with nothing BUT Smoking Guns. And that bit about tapes is just the tip of the iceberg because this isn't just "The" Trump Tape. It's The FIRST Trump Tape. B-Block (18:52) IN SPORTS: The Dodger disaster continues. They folded to the pressure of "The Catholic League" (which is one loud guy named Bill) and uninvited a Nun Drag group supported by actual Catholic Nuns. Since? Dodgers rightly attacked by LGBTQ community and local fans, so they reversed and RE-invited. Now they've been attacked by a pitcher for The Washington Nationals who has called for fans to boycott the Dodgers, and their own star twirler has announced a Christian Night at Dodger Stadium - evidently BEFORE the team was ready to. (26:52) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Someone claiming to be the wife of a serving marine says the president needs to be "executed publicly." Elon Musk paid $44B for twitter. One of his co-investors now says it's worth $15B. And disgraced disloyal ex-General Mike Flynn has found a new calling: SELLING SPERM. C-Block (32:40) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Bentley was rescued by a clueless group which stuck him in a luxury kennel and he has to be ransomed! (33:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I never wanted to do politics. Then one day I went from interviewing Chris Kattan on MSNBC to anchoring the 1998 State of the Union Address See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 31, 2023

EPISODE 214: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Now it's a CONSPIRACY to obstruct justice - within Mar-a-Lago and within the larger Obstruction. After two reports Tuesday, it's clear Trump may have had a team of aides and a box-moving guy who were literally playing hide-and-go-see with stolen classified documents, shifting them from place to place, and trying to burn the security video OF them shifting them from place to place, in order to keep the FBI from finding them, in order to keep the DOJ from getting them, and in order to prevent even his own lawyer from knowing about them. The newest stuff: The Washington Post reports that guy who helped Trump valet Walt Nauta move the boxes full of stolen classified documents at Mar-a-Lago is now suspected of then trying to find out from the Mar-a-Lago IT guy how you could get rid of security video at, say, Mar-a-Lago, showing, hypothetically, a guy who helped move boxes full of stolen classified documents. And not just that but that Trump’s primary Mar-a-Lago lawyer told Jack Smith’s Grand Jury that HE was told to search for the classified documents the DOJ and FBI wanted IN a storage room. And when he asked if he should search anywhere else – like in Trump’s Office – he was “steered away” and “waved off” and Trump’s office, of course, is where the FBI ultimately FOUND the MOST sensitive of the documents when it came back a month later. Meanwhile the Debt Deal is going so disastrously internally for the Republicans that when he sought support for his argument against passing it, radical Texas goofball conservative Rep. "Chip" Roy quoted... ME. B-Block (18:52) IN SPORTS: The Dodger disaster continues. They folded to the pressure of "The Catholic League" (which is one loud guy named Bill) and uninvited a Nun Drag group supported by actual Catholic Nuns. Since? Dodgers rightly attacked by LGBTQ community and local fans, so they reversed and RE-invited. Now they've been attacked by a pitcher for The Washington Nationals who has called for fans to boycott the Dodgers, and their own star twirler has announced a Christian Night at Dodger Stadium - evidently BEFORE the team was ready to. (26:52) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Someone claiming to be the wife of a serving marine says the president needs to be "executed publicly." Elon Musk paid $44B for twitter. One of his co-investors now says it's worth $15B. And disgraced disloyal ex-General Mike Flynn has found a new calling: SELLING SPERM. C-Block (32:40) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Bentley was rescued by a clueless group which stuck him in a luxury kennel and he has to be ransomed! (33:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I never wanted to do politics. Then one day I went from interviewing Chris Kattan on MSNBC to anchoring the 1998 State of the Union Address See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 30, 2023

EPISODE 213: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Joe Biden has still won the debt deal but now there is the chance that not only will Kevin McCarthy will lose it, but so will Joe Manchin. That putrid, unreliable, self-aggrandizing, self-inflating, fraudulent, sheep-in-sheep’s clothing Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia has managed to stick the permitting legislation for his favorite project to accelerate the end of life on the planet from catastrophic climate change, the good old Mountain Valley Natural Gas Pipeline. But Senator Tim Kaine is moving to remove the good old Mountain Valley Pipeline from the deal, since it's “completely unrelated to the debt ceiling matter” and of course it IS completely unrelated to it, and Kaine will file an amendment to get it cut the hell out of the bill. Because if President Biden would like to piss away the good will of averting a default that never should have been in play but Democrats in the House slept through the lame duck and Democrats in the White House apparently didn’t know about the 14th Amendment until a couple of weeks ago… and if President Biden would like to piss away the triumph of his victory over McCarthy, and if President Biden would like to piss away the early signs of a significant poll bump – Biden 46-44 in the Echelon Insights national poll, Biden 47-43 in the Clarity national poll, just out last night, and if President Biden would like to piss away all that, the way to do it is to umbrella this albatross of the Joe Manchin’s Integrity Memorial Pipeline into the Debt Deal. Plus: MAGA Chip Roy on the House Rules Committee is now pretending there is a secret deal for only unanimous votes to move bills like this onto the floor, and another MAGA Dusty Johnson is politely calling him a liar. Oh and, sorry, but the three-opponent-vanquishing hero of "Concession," Tom Wambsgans? The show's auteur says, no, he was NOT named after the three-opponent-vanquishing hero of baseball's 1920 World Series, BILL Wambsganss. Sorry! B-Block (16:05) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: These really ARE postscripts. Not just more from the Wayback Machine but the story of how I GOT my first prestige job as a sportscaster on a top New York radio station just after my 21st birthday: the way everybody else does - by hanging around that station at 5:15 in the morning the day their sportscaster happens to call out sick. C-Block (38:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Given today's headline, this is a good time to revisit the very FIRST Special Comment in this series: it involved fossil fuels, Joe Manchin, and the need to push Biden at all times. Also, a bad Howard Beale impression. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 29, 2023

EPISODE 212: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: I’d like to congratulate Joe Biden on kicking the asses of Kevin McCarthy and Donald Trump in the debt ceiling deal. More over, I'd like to thank Speaker McCarthy for writing President Biden’s first re-election campaign ad for him. Reporter: “Mr. Speaker, How would you describe your interactions with Biden during negotiations?” McCarthy: “Very professional, very smart. Very tough at the same time.” Voice Over (Announcer): “President Biden. Even the Republicans think he’s very professional, very smart, very tough at the same time!” Voice Over (Biden): “I’m Joe Biden and I approve this message because you heard him: I’m very professional, very smart, very tough at the same time.” Voice Over (Announcer): “Paid For By Biden-Harris 2024 and the Committee to Make Trump Eat Spit.” B-Block (11:52) Hey, it's Memorial Day. I'm OFF. Can't you TELL? Rather than re-purpose previous podcast components, here's stuff you'll either want to listen to, or not want any part of. Cool. It's your day off too. These are old newscasts and sportscasts and we start with one I had completely forgotten: a commentary for the United States Radio Network in 1985 in which I bash a football team owner named Donald Trump. And then three newscasts when New York radio station WNEW ran out of newscasters and had to have their 21-year old backup sports guy do drive time! C-Block (27:53) An assortment, beginning fittingly with Memorial Day 1987 when I filled in for Brent Musburger on CBS Radio. Also in here, the day George Steinbrenner fired managers for the second time in the same year in 1982 (on WNEW) and a series of college broadcasts from WVBR at Cornell from 1979. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 26, 2023

EPISODE 211: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: The Washington Post's choice of its headline was the Mar-a-Lago workers moving boxes full of classified documents the day before the Justice Department stopped by to pick up what they’d subpoenaed, but that’s not THE headline in the story. THE headline in the story is really startling and could be the biggest in this week-long festival of leaks, this waterfall of sources-saying because this leak the Post DIDN’T think was the headline suggests Jack Smith has witnesses who saw Donald Trump commit not just obstruction of justice but espionage. “Prosecutors…have gathered evidence indicating that Trump at times kept classified documents in his office in a place where they were visible and sometimes showed them to others… (they) have been told by more than one witness that Trump at times kept classified documents out in the open in his Florida office, where others could see them… and sometimes showed them to people, including aides and visitors,” unquote. So that’s literally espionage. Ten years or a fine or both. Per count. 18 USS Code 793 “Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information”paragraph “E.” Keeping classified documents is one thing. But having “unauthorized possession” of any document relating to the national defense and then being that guy who “willfully communicates, delivers, transmits, or causes to be communicated… to any person not entitled to receive it” is the point at which the option to not prosecute for espionage has typically ended. Also: the Ron DeSantis Twitter disaster has been explained by tech experts. It's not tech, it's - what else - the cheapness of Elon Musk. Plus the judge not only throws the book at Oathkeepers culprit Stewart Rhodes but tells him to his face that he's not a "political prisoner" and most importantly of all, warns the courtroom and the nation that we could have another January 6th. And the TPM website decided to work backwards in its files on Rhodes and find where he made his national TV debut. You may not be that surprised by the answer. Lastly just for laughs: Trump gets the year wrong and Junior tries to insult DeSantis but winds up saying "Trump" instead. B-Block (15:28) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: I lament what my invention, MSNBC, has become. Once we were liberal skeptics, calling out lies and pressing Democrats to earn our support and do what's right. Now it is a place where if NBC decided tomorrow to go right wing, all most of the hosts would need to do would be change names or dye hair and they'd get away with it. Because it's now about them. Happily, seven years ago this week Lawrence O'Donnell confessed he and the current crowd had "broken" my invention. C-Block (35:05) Sam, the two-year old female in NYC (36:05) FRIDAYS WITH JAMES THURBER: My father's favorite Thurber story, the amazing saga of Thurber's 4th Grade Class and the other students who had been in it for decades: "I Went To Sullivant." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 25, 2023

EPISODE 210: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:41) SPECIAL COMMENT: Though they've paid him $900,000 for lawyers and another $500,000 from their "think tank," Trump's team has not heard from his former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and does not know if he has stayed silent, is a target of Special Counsel Jack Smith, or has FLIPPED ON TRUMP AND IS SMITH'S PRIMARY WITNESS. Even Jim Jordan, conspiracist-in-chief, says he talks to Meadows weekly but never brings up, you know, conspiracies. This could be why the Special Counsel's office is wrapping up - and leaking - everything. Plus: Ron DeSantis should have used Fax, not Twitter. That unparalleled disaster is all he'll be remembered for, firmly eliminates Musk and Twitter as threats to Fox and others, and may make even Tucker Carlson think twice. CNN does schedule another Town Hall, because the first one went so well. And to Marjorie Taylor Greene's credit at least she knew which end of the gavel to bang against the table. Humiliation in the House. B-Block (17:16) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Briefly it looked like Tom Hanks had gotten into a fight on the Red Carpet at the Cannes Film Festival. I immediately flashed back to the day in 1999 when it briefly looked like Tom Hanks had gotten into a fight on the Red Carpet at the Oscars... with ME. C-Block (36:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Poor Chelsea, on death row AGAIN in New York (37:05) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: In an LA-nostalgic mood, I must recount the day I got the scoop of the year in LA sports - maybe in all of sports - and then the cameraman said "wait - I may not have recorded that." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 24, 2023

EPISODE 209: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: The Special Counsel is at the End Game. From The Wall Street Journal: “Some of Trump’s close associates are bracing for his indictment and anticipate being able to fundraise off a prosecution, people in the former president’s circle said...Jack Smith has all but finished obtaining testimony and other evidence” (about the classified documents Trump stole and stashed). What's more: Trump knows this is it. His attorneys John Rowley and Jim Trusty last night wrote a “Dear Attorney General Garland” letter that Trump clearly composed. I don’t know exactly where this lands on the scale from Panic, to Desperately Trying To Gain Public Pity, to Lawyers Desperately Trying To Please Their Crazy Client. But it's desperate and childish and revelatory: “Dear Attorney General Garland: "We represent Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States, in the investigation currently being conducted by the Special Counsel’s Office. Unlike President Biden, his son Hunter, and the Biden family, President Trump is being treated unfairly. No President of the United States has ever, in the history of our country, been baselessly investigated in such an outrageous and unlawful fashion. We request a meeting at your earliest convenience to discuss the ongoing injustice that is being perpetrated by your Special Counsel and his prosecutors. "Thank you for your attention to this matter." I understand Garland has composed his reply “Dear Mr. Rowley and Mr. Trusty, happy to meet you and your client, please come to my office at 123 Trump Pooped His Pants Didn’t He? Avenue, Washington D.C." I know we all have Mueller Derangement Syndrome. But when the WSJ says it's over - it's over. B-Block (15:19) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Ron DeSantis will announce something everybody already knows. He'll announce it on Twitter, which will make all the Trump cultists hate Musk. And he'll announce it instead of something he just mentioned in passing the other day which is the first good reason he's given for supporting him over Trump. How would Trumpy try for a 3rd Term? And just when the CNN Town Hall thing seemed to be dying, its PR person sets it ablaze anew. (21:25) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Martin Shrkeli is back and weirder than ever; the Youth Poet Laureate's poem is banned in Florida because of one crazy parent; Matt Gaetz confesses the Republicans think of the Democrats as their "hostages" in the debt discussion. C-Block (27:45) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Layla's Heart and Rescue in Texas needs your help (28:45) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos are reportedly engaged. Engaged in WHAT? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 23, 2023

EPISODE 208: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Special Counsel Jack Smith is clearly pursuing a theory of Donald Trump’s stolen classified documents conspiracy in which Trump ignored a subpoena to return every classified document, committed Obstruction of Justice and violated the Espionage Act by hiding them from his own attorney’s search in order to retain them, and then somehow utilized them in post-presidency business deals with one of seven countries, including China and Saudi Arabia. AND as evidence: Jack Smith has nothing less than the real time hand-written notes from Trump’s own attorney. The real-time record (one analyst describes it as “Special Counsel Smith strikes gold”) could be enough to put Trump in prison for ten years PER COUNT for not just willfully retaining classified documents, but deliberately HIDING THEM to keep his own lawyer from finding them and giving them back to the authorities – a brazen violation of a key part of the Espionage Act. And from a separate sourced story and even more astonishingly, it’s clear the Special Counsel is ALSO pursuing evidence that Trump may have given, or traded, or SOLD classified documents to China, France, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and/or the United Arab Emitates. Whether the evidence can be obtained – whether it even exists – isn’t clear. On the other hand, Jack Smith didn’t pick the names of seven countries out of a hat. B-Block (19:23) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Congratulations, Anderson Cooper, you've escaped 4th Place! Chris Wallace? Not so much. SOMETHING good came from that network-ending Trump Town Hall: E. Jean Carroll IS suing Trump again. And the real nightmare of the fake AI of the "explosions" that never happened at the Pentagon and White House? The AI will only get more convincing (22:40) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Marjorie Taylor Greene's boyfriend claims Brittney Griner is a "man;" the GOP wants a NATIONAL stand-your-ground right to murder law; and what does it profit a man to run for president if he loses his face? C-Block (27:50) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: My God, it's 23 years since I quit SportsCenter to go try my hand at news at NBC. The story's been told a dozen times in a dozen ways, none of them accurately. Especially the part of how an unexpected development after I quit - the arrival of a letter from the father of an autistic boy - caused me to go back to my bosses and say I was willing to stay, at least for one show a week. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 22, 2023

EPISODE 207: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: If we do not harden our stances and fight now and convince our less adamantine cohorts to do the same, we are going to lose this democracy. “Should the Democrats hold fast (on the debt ceiling) and not negotiate, or should they negotiate spending constraints with the Republicans,” reads the question in the new Harvard Harris Poll. 82 percent of Republicans say the Democrats should negotiate with Republicans. AND 41 PERCENT OF DEMOCRATS SAY DEMOCRATS SHOULD NEGOTIATE WITH THE REPUBLICANS. Are you KIDDING? Are you INSANE? Are you SUICIDAL? NEGOTIATE. You do not negotiate with terrorists. You metaphorically shoot terrorists in the head. “I’m looking at the 14th Amendment. I think we have the authority. The question is, could it be done in time,” said the President from Hiroshima. “We have not come up with unilateral action that could succeed in a matter of two weeks or three weeks. That’s the issue. So it’s up to lawmakers.” With respect, Mr. President, it is NOT. Stop caving in to these fascists. They are NOT negotiating. They are NOT operating from any position of good faith or coherent philosophy except to try to destroy the economy and blame you and run against you on it and you have stated as much and you are still standing there with another metaphorical gun pointed against YOUR head hoping that you will find some middle road with the people who have spent the last 30 years dynamiting and jack-hammering all the middle roads. I mean this is so obvious even POLITICO noticed it. POLITICO. Official stenographers of the 17th Century. Its LEAD story summarized where the quote “negotiations” unquote are, how Democrats have already caved and Republicans have gotten more intransigent. And even AXIOS noticed how determined Trump is to be elected Dictator, and how he is openly campaigning on eliminating democracy. We need no more negotiations with Republicans. We need leaders who will fight and defeat them. COMIC RELIEF: The boss of CNN's Chris Licht got one of the great thrills of life: the opportunity to give the commencement address at his alma mater. And he was booed and interrupted throughout by Boston University students angry over his Hollywood Studio's stance in the Writers' Strike. Or maybe they weren't booing and were just chanting "Zaz." Back at the ranch, a Trump social post over the weekend confirms my reporting from last week: that CNN is at minimum discussing a 2nd Trump Town Hall. And Anderson Cooper's viewers have left the silo and his show has now settled into 4th Place behind NewsMax - because obviously CNN is tanking to get the first draft choice. B-Block (20:20) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: It is the greatest bad political soundbite of all time: greater than Herschel Walker's "erection," greater than Adlai Stevenson, greater than Sarah Palin's 117 entries. Also: never endorse somebody you can't be certain won't vote to overturn Roe v Wade later. And the Mississippi school forcing a trans girl to dress as a boy for graduation. (25:46) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Texas book banning affects Texas's poet laureate, Marge Greene denies she's a white supremacist so that must be somebody else's Confederate Flag. And George W. Bush makes a comeback. C-Block (31:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: One By One Animal Advocates, a group which has saved about 30,000 animals in West Virginia in a decade, itself needs our rescue help (32:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: As we move towards the two-week mark of the CNN crisis, a look back at the worst management decision in TV history, so bad that after a week they told the poor guy he still had the title but he wasn't permitted to actually DO anything. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 19, 2023

EPISODE 206: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44): SPECIAL COMMENT: “Republicans are back on the air,” Chris Licht’s boss said yesterday, 24 hours after Christiane Amanpour had politely vivisected Licht in front of all those new Columbia J-School grads.”Republicans weren’t on the air. During the McCarthy hearings, for those four days, we had 75 Republicans on the air. 41 went on us before they went on Fox. And the reason is…they are not going to get one more vote on Fox." And Trump is quote “the front-runner. He has to be on our network. We’re happy he’s coming on our network.” And after spelling out CNN's new role as an advocacy network Republicans can use to find new votes, David Zaslav then says "advertisers...don't want to be part of an advocacy network,." Zaslav doubles down on his metaphorical suicide pact with Licht as their CNN strategy becomes clear: Increase advertising by decreasing viewership! Plus the latest from inside the network on CNN In Crisis: Day 10. No retribution planned against Amanpour (yet); talks ongoing with Trump for a second event, maybe a second Town Hall; Erin Burnett and Anderson Cooper have officially fallen into fourth place behind NewsMax; and a new factor in this disaster. A week ago nearly 50% of stockholders voted AGAINST Zaslav's CEO compensation. B-Block (21:41) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: The Republican plan to...defund the Air Force? Dianne Feinstein's health, and the urgency for her to resign, both grow. And Wednesday Marjorie Taylor Scumbag Greene was joking in public with Jamaal Bowman and yesterday she was claiming his body language threatened her and she fell right into the "That Black Man was looking at me." (26:15) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: As we commemorate the anniversary of the Mt. St. Helens volcano, a tribute to the fill-in newscaster who insisted it killed a former president. Elon Musk makes an offer we can't refuse. And Ron DeSantis sure showed Disney! He owned the libs, and the libs now own $1,000,000,000. C-Block (31:30) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: Back to the first story of James Thurber I ever read aloud in front of people. Hilarious and deeply disturbing at the same time: "A Box To Hide In." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 18, 2023

EPISODE 205: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) CNN's Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour has become the first on-air CNN journalist to openly criticize CNN's televising of last week's Trump Town Hall - and she did it in no less a venue than the Commencement Speech at Columbia's Journalism School. She was polite and diplomatic but still left little pieces of CEO Chris Licht spread all over the campus as she stealthily apologized for CNN, and one casual remark about how she "would have dropped the mike at 'nasty person'" completely erased the hapless moderator Kaitlan Collins Full coverage and recorded excerpts of Amanpour's speech to Columbia J-School grads. B-Block (17:20) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Jamaal Bowman, evokers of the 14th Amendment, the National Archives and the DA in NY are among those who are reminding Democrats: THROW THE FIRST PUNCH. C-Block (31:12) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Venice - who you helped save when he was still named "Venom" again pleads for your help (32:10) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The day I fell off a cliff making a Boston Market TV commercial: Eat Something! Well, I sure did. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 17, 2023

EPISODE 204: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Chris Licht or somebody close to him has inadvertently confessed that the network did, as accused, illicitly pack the live crowd at the Trump Town Hall with Trump Supporters, and lied to the public when it insisted the crowd would represent the entire voting mix for the New Hampshire GOP Primary. A CNBC story (and it has all the ear-marks of a cable network public relations department clean-up operation) says Licht has defended the concept of the Town Hall ad insisted "history will look kindly" on his decisions but that CNN could've done some things better, including introducing the live crowd to the TV audience so viewers would know WHY THE LIVE CROWD SUPPORTED TRUMP. Licht or the Licht-adjacent leaker never stopped to think that they were admitting that the audience WAS stacked, hat the crowd was full of Trump plants. Furthermore they never stopped to think that saying that in retrospect they should have talked to some of the room full of Trump cultists before they started booing Kaitlan Collins and before Trump started to egg them on, supports the accusations by the Republican Governor OF New Hampsher Chris Sununu, and the former Republican Governor OF New Jersey Chris Christie, that virtually everybody they saw in that studio at St. Anselm’s College was a Trump supporter they recognized by sight. It also supports the accusation by Chris Christie that CNN let Trump choose who would be in the crowd. In one fell swoop, CNN has just admitted it was an almost-entirely pro-Trump crowd, and they shouldn’t have deceived the viewers into thinking anything else, but that they DID, and Licht wishes they hadn’t done that. Lie. To the viewers. To the nation. This elevates this disaster from mere television and journalistic malfeasance, into a literal kind of deception, a three-card Monte game, in which a bluntly, nakedly, unforgivably biased, slanted, fully-loaded fascist political rally was televised by a network whose executives and announcers lied that it was some kind of news or public events broadcast. Lastly, and maybe worst of all, the CNBC piece hints that a network may be considering another Trump Town Hall. Read the tea leaves in the article and it's pretty clear that the network thinking about a Trump Town Hall 2 - that's leaking what it would do to improve on the first one...is CNN. B-Block (19:54) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Yesterday's lead? About the shocker inside the Rudy Giuliani sex story? That he was offering pardons for $2,000,000 apiece and splitting the money with Trump? Turns out the exact same story - Giuliani offering pardons for $2M/per - was reported in real time; The bid to expel George Santos and why a vote is imminent; and the good news is, Dianne Feinstein talked to a couple of reporters yesterday. The bad news is, she doesn't know where she's been the last three months. (25:13) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: DeSantis joins the chorus of people who never read the Bible but are still calling NYC's alleged Subway Strangler "A Good Samaritan;" a Trump shill Congresswoman insists she's NOT a Trump shill; and Lauren Boebert is divorcing her husband and he is reportedly furious. God! Why? C-Block (30:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Shiloh, thrown from a car in Atlanta (30:50) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: This scenario playing out at CNN? Turning it into a right-wing propaganda network while pretending you're just making sure "all voices are heard?" The reason I keep talking about it, and feel so strongly about it, is that 20 years ago this spring MSNBC tried the exact same thing. Even put on a fascist commentator - literally wearing a Brownshirt on the air - named Michael Savage. And not only did ratings vanish but Savage embarrassed the company so badly he had to be fired. Then went all the producers. Then the executives. Finally the president of MSNBC, and the head of NBC News. It does not end well - as it won't end well for Licht and CNN. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 16, 2023

EPISODE 203: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) FOUR DIFFERENT LEAD STORIES: FIRST LEAD STORY: Allegation from lurid sex abuse lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani: Rudy said Trump presidential pardons were available for purchase - as of February 16th, 2019 - $2,000,000 each, half to him, half to Rudy Giuliani. And on February 7th, 2019, Giuliani revealed that if Trump lost the following year’s election there was a plan in place to claim quote “voter fraud” and he repeatedly discussed the plan with his business associate Lev Parnas. Jack Smith needs to talk to this woman and get the tapes she claims she has. because if there is a CHANCE that ANY of this is true, Rudy Giuliani will flip like a cheeseburger. Paragraph 109: “Throughout the employment and attorney-client relationship, Giuliani forced Ms. Dunphy to perform oral sex on him. He often demanded oral sex while he took phone calls on speaker phone from high-profile friends and clients, including then-President Trump. Giuliani told Ms. Dunphy that he enjoyed engaging in this conduct while on the telephone because it made him quote ‘feel like Bill Clinton’ unquote.” SECOND LEAD STORY: Republicans appear to have lost or misplaced (or, hint hint, never had) the Biden "whistleblower" or "informant" they think will end a presidency. The problem is, Chairman James Comer apparently uses the terms interchangeably. He doesn't know his informing from his whistleblowing. He may need to ask Giuliani. THIRD LEAD STORY: The Durham Report is out and it consists of… nothing. No indictments, no litigation, no calls for punishments. It concludes the FBI shouldn’t have investigated any of it. Just like that. The FBI Inspector General said some of the initial evidence that jump-started the investigation was dubious, but that the investigation was ENTIRELY justified. Durham’s report consists of him basically saying: no it wasn’t. I mean, remember what right wing media, especially Fox News, ESPECIALLY Sean Hannity – remember who they told their addicts were going to be exposed and indicted and revealed by Lord God Almighty John Durham. You ready? James Baker, John Brennan, James Clapper, Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Loretta Lynch, Andrew McCabe, Bruce Ohr, Nellie Ohr, Lisa Page, Samantha Power, Rod Rosenstein, Peter Struck, Sally Yale and of course, evil mastermind Barack Obama. Or as it turns out… None of the Above. The Durham Investigation indicted… none of them. The Durham Investigation blamed… none of them. B-Block (19:03) THE FOURTH LEAD STORY: What did Chris Licht get himself out of prostituting Trump for the Town Hall a week ago tomorrow? He got himself fourth place. On Friday night, Vichy CNN fell to FOURTH in a three-team league. An average of 335-thousand total viewers. That's 1.1 million behind behind Fox, three quarters of a million behind MSNBC, and 22,000 behind… NewsMax? Honest to God. NewsMax. And Anderson Cooper, after he condescendingly scolded his viewers and claimed they were living in silos? Most cable news shows drop Thursday to Friday. Cooper? He dropped 28 percent. And there is no indication that Licht and CNN have finished rock-bottom yet, neither in the ratings nor the public revulsion. The Daily Beast last night not only quoted a CNN source who called the event “our Chernobyl”but added that Licht is fawning over a reporter from the magazine The Atlantic who is writing a profile of Licht and that somehow CNN and Licht think it’s going to be “a glowing profile of the boss.” (29:22) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The unusual resume of the man who says you can't have a Congestion Pricing Scheme like London's in New York - because they drive on the other side in London. Plus Roger Ailes' widow attacks Murdoch. And his new book is out, but Josh Hawley's "Manhood" turns out to be a little short. C-Block (34:40) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Duke and Simba, on the death list at Devore, CA (35:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Well, why not? Since it's Rudy Giuliani Day, how about the story from nearly 30 years ago of when I emceed a baseball events on the steps of City Hall while he was Mayor and a) when it came time to introduce me he didn't know who the hell I was and b) more importantly all day he didn't know where the hell HE WAS. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 15, 2023

EPISODE 202: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Evidence mounts that CNN really did pack the audience at the Trump Town Hall, really did seed the crowd with almost nothing but Trump supporters. And it mounts that CNN let Trump choose the moderator (or at least veto other options to BE the moderator). And it mounts that CNN let Trump pick which pro-Trump talking heads appeared on CNN after the fixed Trump Rally ended. And it also mounts that CNN Chairman Chris Licht has intensified his criticism of the ONLY CNN front-facing talent to dare to even LIGHTLY criticize the decision to prostitute the network, Oliver Darcy, and that Darcy is deciding whether or not to quit before he gets fired. Chris Christie has now joined New Hampshire governor John Sununu in asserting that the 400 "Republican and independent primary voters" were not just random people with a variety of favored candidates. Christie: "CNN went in the tank to get Trump on there. They allowed him to negotiate who was going to be in that audience. And those were all Trump supporters. That was a negotiation deal that Trump did with CNN" Governor Sununu: "I knew pretty much everybody in that audience. They're all Trump supporters." CNN is already in "Quiz Show" territory. 60 years ago corruption like this led to Congressional hearings and Grand Juries. It should lead that way again. Semafor News ids now reported new details of the Licht "fear of God" meeting with his lone on-the-record in-house critic, Oliver Darcy - and potentially a far more dire outcome. Quoting Max Tani’s piece “In the aftermath of the meeting and coverage, Darcy has wondered to colleagues whether he should resign, or if he will be fired by the network...A particularly bitter pill for some CNN employees, was an anonymous comment from a Licht ally to Fox News,”unquote. That comment? Quoting the Fox report, a “source said Licht received a quote ‘ton’ of messages from CNN staffers appalled by Darcy’s newsletter… the messages, according to the source, were like quote ‘what the eff…’” So now instead of bullying and threatening Darcy, Licht instead had a quote “ally” leak to Fox, of all places, that CNN employees were all on Licht’s said and not Darcy’s. B-Block (20:04) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Troy Nehls complains about the open border. And the guy on the terrorist watch list they arrested at the open border. Which ain't open. It turns out Elon Musk's "free speech absolutism" means he's absolutely NOT going to pay for a lawyer to protect free speech in Turkey. And the Jamie Comer investigation of the Bidens is going great. Except they don't have any charges or evidence just an informant and a whistleblower and apparently they've LOST THE INFORMANT. (24:30) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Kevin Ettinger (1933-2023) C-Block (36:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: There's nothing new about a major television news operation making illicit, inappropriate deals with Republican presidential campaigns. Not only is it looking more and more like Trump did this with Licht's CNN, but I know from experience that in 2008, John McCain's campaign and the RNC demanded my head as the price of McCain showing up for the presidential debate Tom Brokaw was to moderate. Brokaw was more than happy to help them blackmail NBC. And he would later boast about it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 13, 2023

EPISODE 201: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN This is a new, full, 20-minute segment of the news breaking Friday night about CNN's Trump Town Hall. The closing two blocks of this podcast are repeated from Episode 200 from 5.12.23. A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: CNN's amoral anti-journalistic thug chairman Chris Licht reportedly called the network's only internal on-the-record critic of its telecast of the Trump Nuremberg rally into his office and with at least three other senior executives present, "Put The Fear Of God" into media reporter Oliver Darcy. Additional reporting indicates Licht and CNN manipulated crowd reaction at the "Town Hall" site by telling the audience how it could and could not react. Trump reportedly agreed to do the CNN event because it knew it could manipulate moderator Kaitlan Collins. The numbers don't lie: CNN primetime ratings drop 8% from pre-Trump levels. And Anderson Cooper's snide "living in a silo" remark is disproved by data: Since 2010 CNN has mentioned Trump supporters twice as much as those of all other presidential nominees and presidents combined. And Anderson is boiled alive by his friend and former CNN colleague Sunny Hostin on "The View": she says he's gaslighting us - and she's right. And most importantly: The decisions and the deciders who inflicted upon us the Trump Town Hall reflected journalistic malpractice and citizenship betrayal. Anderson Cooper’s maudlin and condescending attack on his own audience, and the silence of Wolf Blitzer and Jake Tapper and Erin Burnett and ALL of CNN’s reporters and commentators are MORAL failings. Ladies and gentlemen of CNN, do you STAND for anything? Does the organization MEAN anything to you? I wasn’t there on Day One but I WAS there at the end of YEAR ONE and I’m damn proud of it, and I grieve what Chris Licht has done by prostituting it. YOU are the ones, Wolf Blitzer, Jake Tapper, Erin Burnett, even Anderson Cooper up there on your high horse, YOU are the ones keeping the original noble idea – news unrestrained by the need to put on ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’ at 8 PM, while making money – YOU are the ones charged by history, and your own ambitions and principals, with PROTECTING the idea of CNN, and in a broader sense, with PROTECTING journalism and in a broader sense STILL, with protecting DEMOCRACY. Are you going to DO it? Are you going to RISK something? Have you really all been working there for decades and NOT yet made enough money for the rest of your lives? Is there ANYONE at CNN willing to place their craft and their responsibility ahead of their paycheck, or… nah, let’s just let the media critic do it, by himself. Shouldn’t you go in there WITH him and say enough? Because guess what? Staying out of the fray and protecting your paycheck may work short term. May work for years. Or then again, it may not. There are a lot of ambitious anchors without any standards out there. Maybe it’d be better if you took a risk now in defense of, you know, the United States of America – even if Chris Licht DID get you fired. I mean which would you rather HAVE on your tombstone? I got fired because I protested when my network’s new paste-easting boss Chris Licht sold us out to Donald Trump? Or I got fired because they wanted to expand Kaitlan Collins Tonight… to FIVE HOURS? B-Block (24:11) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Biden really does seem poised to spring the 14th Amendment on Republican Debt Ceiling Hostage-Takers; Why is every news report calling the white man who choked another man to death on the NYC subway a "Navy veteran" rather than what they would call a person of color, something like "Crazed Subway Strangler"? THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: There is ONE political boss still backing George Santos. There is one presidential campaign running on a promise to disenfranchise some of the people who would elect him. There is one CNN on-air person praising Kaitlan Collins' persistent impotence. C-Block (33:30 EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: The brindle mix on the kill list in New York is named, in sad irony, "Free." (34:35) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: It's his story that best fits the saga of Trump and degeneracy mistaken for power: "The Greatest Man In The World." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 12, 2023

EPISODE 200: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The journalistic malfeasance was so thorough, the internal staff rage so vituperative, and the on-air ratings so underwhelming, that if Anderson Cooper or Wolf Blitzer or Jake Tapper or all of them went into the office of Chris Licht’s boss this afternoon and said that the Trump Town Hall was the final straw and it had damaged theirs and the network’s credibility and they were walking out, Licht would be gone from CNN by Monday. Instead, Cooper blamed his own audience! He began his program last night regretting… that CNN viewers were “staying in their silos” and directing his infamous condescension to his own audience, or what’s left of it after the Trump debacle. “Now, maybe you haven’t been paying attention to him since he left office… thinking it can’t happen again…” Cooper’s premise – that to understand Trump and the threat he poses, we have to approve of CNN’s capitulation to and collaboration with him, is absurd, indefensible, and sanctimonious. Instead of using his platform to bravely recognize that the threat of Trump is paralleled within CNN by the threat of Chris Licht and the conservatives he’s prostituting the network for, instead of showing just SOME guts, Anderson Cooper decided to try to guilt whoever was left to watch CNN last night. Shame on him. The CNN town hall drew 3,308,000 TOTAL viewers, and 781,000 demo viewers. But just one hour after the Hindentrump crashed and burned live on CNN, the ratings bump was GONE. In the 10 O’Clock hour CNN was back to third place, half a million total viewers BEHIND Fox, 300,000 behind MSNBC. Three quarters of the total audience had vanished before midnight. By the ELEVEN O’Clock hour that “demo” audience of 781,000 had shrunk back to 186,000. They got nothing out of it. Nobody stayed. Nobody saw it and said “I like this new CNN. I’m going to try out their other shows. Like 'No You're Wrong Mr. President With Kaitlan Collins.'" B-Block (20:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Biden really does seem poised to spring the 14th Amendment on Republican Debt Ceiling Hostage-Takers; Why is every news report calling the white man who choked another man to death on the NYC subway a "Navy veteran" rather than what they would call a person of color, something like "Crazed Subway Strangler"? (23:20) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: There is ONE political boss still backing George Santos. There is one presidential campaign running on a promise to disenfranchise some of the people who would elect him. There is one CNN on-air person praising Kaitlan Collins' persistent impotence. C-Block (28:30) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: The brindle mix on the kill list in New York is named, in sad irony, "Free." (30:35) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: It's his story that best fits the saga of Trump and degeneracy mistaken for power: "The Greatest Man In The World." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 11, 2023

EPISODE 199: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-BLOCK (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: All mainstream American news organizations must today solemnly and unflinchingly look inward after what happened last night and understand that if you simply assume as CNN did that if you apply the journalistic rules of 20, 50, or 150 years ago to a candidate who will speak any lie, who will slander any person, who will manipulate any fear, who will betray any and all aspects of democracy, you will inherit the wind. CNN handed over 70 minutes of its primetime, and all of its remaining credibility, to a madman, to a criminal, to a liar, to a would-be dictator. It gave him an audience of braying cult members who gave him not one critical nor even less-than-fawning question. It gave him a moderator whom he ignored, mocked, insulted, lied to, lied about, and who in turn thought everything would be fine if she simply responded to his lies by saying “no you’re wrong.” CNN must fire its CEO Chris Licht for birthing a journalistic abomination unprecedented in American television history last night; Its new owners must sell the network whose brand they irreparably damaged last night. E. Jean Carroll needs to sue Donald Trump for the new defamatory comments he made about he last night; And moderator Kaitlan Collins needs to sue her agent for ending her career last night. Last night, CNN legitimized the lies and the feral venom of Donald Trump. And for whatever shamed remorse might leak out of that organization today and in the days ahead; for whatever sober self-reflection might be done at the New York Times or The Washington Post or the other outlets who may have now seen what happens when you apply the laws of honest journalism in a democracy to a man who will not and cannot even consider honesty or democracy; for whether or not some editor really stopped someone writing “Trump lied to and abused America for 70 minutes last night; here’s why that’s bad news for Joe Biden”…for whatever regret felt, or lesson learned.. there will be others who will look at the ratings as they come out later today and say “Did you see those numbers? We need to do one of those right away!” It was a disaster from start to finish. And the bottom line is: CNN as a credible news organization, as the FIRST credible full-time American television all-news organization - THAT'S what's finished. B-BLOCK (21:37) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: So many counts against George Santos that he, Devolder, and his drag queen persona could each get life sentences. The return of Feinstein. (24:00) IN SPORTS: NFL's new schedule: only two days a week WITHOUT any football. And you can be a top college basketball coach and use a homophobic slur and the word "Catholic" as the adjective before it and still NOT get fired? (27:34) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Which idiots scheduled their attack on the Biden family between the Santos arraignment and the CNN Trump fiasco? Alex Haley may have made up the quote that made enemies of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. And Senator Tuberville wants to make the Military safe for White Nationalists (like him). C-BLOCK (33:40) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Beautiful young German Shepherd Lonzo may die in California (35:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Morning radio and sports fanaticism do not mix. One day a long time ago I criticized the New York Football Giants on the station that carried them. The DJ who loved them then came out into the newsroom and threatened to get me fired by 8:30 AM. But that wasn't the biggest surges. (50:00) ARTIFACTS: An actual broadcast from that era, me filling in for John Kennelly on The Ted Brown Show on WNEW Radio, 1981. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 10, 2023

EPISODE 198: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: A huge news day begins and ends with the jury finding, gee, guess what, Donald Trump IS a witch. Liable for sexual abuse against E. Jean Carroll and liable to show up on CNN tonight anyway. The CNN thing is the world coming full circle: three decades ago E. Jean Carroll was inadvertently responsible for launching both MSNBC and Fox News. George Santos has been indicted but nobody would reveal for what - unless Rep. Dan Goldman let the cat out of the bag by saying the Feds had gotten him for "election fraud." The weirdest twist: Capitol Hill Police went to Santos's office out of "an abundance of caution." Did they think he had tried to harm himself? Nothing but stern words after the Biden-McCarthy debt ceiling meeting but POTUS himself invokes the 14th Amendment and the prospect he may say he is constitutionally OBLIGATED to prevent debt default no matter which stunt McCarthy tries. Confirmation from Texas: the Allen Mall shooter WAS a white supremacist named Garcia, with Nazi tattoos, and the conspiracy theory fascists like Elon Musk are idiots. Harlan Crow, the man who owns his own pet Supreme Court Justice, may soon own a subpoena from Finance Committee Chairman Wyden after blowing him off. And there has been a Dianne Feinstein sighting! (Well no, actually, there was just a press release from her staff saying there would BE a Feinstein sighting). B-Block (20:22) IN SPORTS: A Fox Sports/WFAN Radio host may be up to his neck in it after wildly accusing the team with baseball's best record of "cheating" - without any evidence or even made-up story. Trevor Bauer gets beaten up. And the A's are moving again before they even get to Las Vegas. (23:11) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Putin tanks his own parade, Musk and Tucker Carlson join forces to make the world safe for trust fund babies, and Melania Trump endorses Donald Trump because SOMEBODY'S CONTRACT MUSTA BEEN RENEWED. C-Block (29:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: 8-month old puppy Bruno, on the kill list in Big Bear, California (30:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Willie Mays turns 92. Not only am I still hoping to recover from the radio interview I did with him in 1979 in which HE PRETENDED TO BE SOMEBODY ELSE, but even in the birthday stories nobody mentioned that after establishing himself as a budding big league superstar Mays missed nearly two full seasons when he was drafted into the army - while all the young white players WEREN'T. That clearly cost him a shot at breaking Babe Ruth's career Home Run record. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 9, 2023

EPISODE 197: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The United States of America is under attack by armed right-wing terrorists. The Texas Mall Shooter and every other one bent on killing the enemies living in their own mind might as well be Suicide Bombers, might as well be ISIS. The receipts on the Texas Mall Shooter are a mile long; he was a right wing media addict, he dedicated a hate-filled online rant to the terrorist “Libs Of Tik Tok” twitter account, he posted screenshots from the right-wing troll Tim Pool, a swastika tattoo covered those parts of his body not covered by an SS tattoo, he signed one comment with the name Adolf Hitler, he repeatedly posed in NAZI uniforms, he used a meme that suggested there were only two routes for Latino children: identify as black or become a white supremacist, and his pedigree as a right-wing, MAGA-inspired, neo-Nazi, perpetrator of stochastic terrorism, fueled by every component of Donald Trump and his coalition of hate, could not possibly be more easily discovered, more rapidly verified, more thoroughly self-convicting… and the right completely denies any of it is true. I do not know what we do about the people in a society who deny any fact that does not serve them. Only once before was the nation faced with a third or more of its citizens believing in things that were did not true and did not exist, and that was before and during the Civil War. It sounds like madness to ask WHEN we need to consider an Executive Order declaring a State of National Emergency about right-wing terrorism but look at Allen, Texas and imagine the dozens and hundreds and thousands of Mauricio Garcias out there, becoming literally connected to the Proud Boys and a just-slightly-more-evil version of CPAC or MAGA or another Trump front group and then ask yourself what other means EXIST for us to stop a pervasive nation-wide violent suicidal reality-denying cult that looks ahead to November 5th, 2024, and sees opportunity. B-Block (15:25) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Tucker Carlson's first heavy-hitter, Conservative icon ally in his newly-launched war against Fox is BRETT FAVRE? Was he wearing pants? Junior Trump has never heard of Nick Fuentes? MSNBC took WHOSE money? (18:27) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: One of the great New York newscasters, John Roland, has died at the age of 81. By itself, his career is worthy of remembrance. But to me he in part defines my youth: when I was 19 I was an intern in his newsroom, as I witnessed for the first time the bloody transition from a mandarin of anchors, Bill Jorgensen, to Roland. It's an amazing story from an amazing newscast best remembered for the words with which it began: It's 10 PM. Do you know where your children are? C-Block (37:30) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS, PART 2: The thing is, to get my one college credit for spending the summer of 1978 working on Channel 5's "The 10 O'Clock News" and a half-hour nightly prototype of SportsCenter called "SportsPage" (with the man who a year later would anchor the first-ever episode OF SportsCenter), I had to write a very long, very blunt paper on my experience. I thought only my supervisor at Channel 5 and my professor would see it. Then, she liked it so much she made 100 copies and distributed it to her staff. Suddenly everybody knew which reporter all the producers called "Ted Baxter" and which talent drank so much that he'd be dead within five years. I still have the paper: I'll read you the highlights. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 8, 2023

EPISODE 196: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: "The first girl I walked up to," said one of the first bystanders to the scene in Allen, Texas, "was crouched down covering her head in the bushes, so I felt for a pulse, pulled her head to the side and she had no face." The cops then refused to take questions and the authorities had nothing but emotionless platitudes. We live now in a society in which our children are randomly put to death in public, with weapons of war, by Right Wing Terrorists - and the Republicans treat it as blandly as if it were all as inevitable as Bad Weather. Hurricanes, Tornados, Thunderstorms, Mass Shootings. If they show any emotion it is to tell us this is god's will or to explain we have "lost" the battle to rein in assault weapons, as the shrill screeching fascist Megyn Kelly did. The antidote to the dour acceptance of this slaughter must come from the president of the United States. He must act - by executive orders to address those peripheral areas that can at least reduce the carnage - and most importantly by stating the truth: Republicans Cause Mass Shootings. B-Block (17:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Judge calls Chump's bluff in E. Jean Carroll Trial, Pence gives Jack Smith guilty foreknowledge, Tucker Carlson has plans to burn down Fox, and Dick Durbin has excuses for Dianne Feinstein and John Roberts (21:45) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Ted Cruz can't tell one African-American from another, Chuck Grassley loses the thread on the "explosive" Biden document (it's the Burisma crap), and Vivek Ramaswamy is trying to bury his Fellowship. His... SOROS Fellowship. C-Block (27:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Gray, in the worsening situation at the NYC pound. (28:05) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: 24 hours before Megyn Kelly's infamous tweets, of all the people who could have been walking on my New York street, who do I run into but the idiot NBC executive who gave her $69 million and tried to mainstream her. Happily I managed to avoid his gaze; as usual, Andy Lack was too busy listening to himself talk. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 6, 2023

EPISODE 195: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN Please note: this is the back two-thirds of Episode 194 from May 5, 2023, repeated and isolated so new listeners can get right to the Roger Bannister story without the news. If you've heard Episode 194, this'll be a re-run. Talk to you Monday! A-Block (1:30) N SPORTS: Saturday, May 6, the sports world will do what it always does on May 6: celebrate the most remarkable track and field milestone of the 20th Century (and maybe of all time). It is now 69 years since Roger Bannister became the first man to run a mile in four minutes or less. It was an accomplishment as unbelievable as the Moon Landing; so unbelievable that an editorial in The New York Times asked if it would ever be accomplished again. Roger Bannister won immortal praise, for the rest of his long life and beyond, despite racism and controversy and one minor detail. He could not POSSIBLY have been the first man to run a mile in four minutes or less. There is ample evidence of runners - other British runners in fact - performing the feat as early as 1770. And yet the history of these earlier athletes has been forgotten or erased - or deliberately purged. Why? B-Block (19:17) IN SPORTS PART TWO: The erasure of the runners who "broke" the four-minute mile barrier in the 18th Century (or earlier) was no accident. It was the deliberate result of the flourishing of the fetishization of amateurism, first in Great Britain in the 1800's, and then throughout the world through the Olympic movement. C-Block (25:30) IN SPORTS PART THREE: Sadly, the concoction by which Roger Bannister's feat 69 years ago was turned into "the first human ever, ever, since man crawled out of the ooze, to run a mile in four minutes" is more than just elitist revisionist nonsense. It also involves something even worse: blatant, obvious racism. It's an extraordinary story and you should learn the details so you can yell at everybody who tells you about the "great" Roger Bannister. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 5, 2023

EPISODE 194: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: TRUMP'S GLITCH SNITCH: Putting together scoops by CNN and The New York Times it sure looks like somebody - maybe Trump - is going to be charged with destroying or altering security video of the Mar-a-Lago storage room and the boxes of classified documents kept there. That could be a how-to-manual on breaking 18 US Code 1519 and when it's video or digital evidence, it often really does become a jail sentence of 20 years. And the Times says prosecutors have a cooperating witness from inside Mar-a-Lago and we don't know if that's the same snitch from last August, or a new one. (11:00) SPECIAL COMMENT: THE SUPREME COURT: Then there's Clarence The Corrupt and Mrs. Clarence The Corrupt. The Thomas Scandals are coming so quickly now they're going to have to coordinate schedules to avoid having them collide with each other. Megadonor/Fascist Harlan Crow's flunkies admit to Pro Publica's latest from the AM, that he paid for some of the tuition for Thomas's grand-nephew (whom he was raising "like a son"). But nobody's commenting on the PM scandal: The Washington Post reports Megadonor/Fascist Leonard Leo not only steered "Another $25K" to Ginni Thomas but did so with the involvement of Kellyann Conway AND Leo instructed her to leave Thomas's name off the paperwork. And this time there is something for the Senate to do about it. Not the Judiciary Committee, but Finance: get all their tax returns and get somebody to give up Clarence The Corrupt. B-Block (19:05) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: The inaptly named Venom, on death row in NYC (20:30) IN SPORTS: Saturday, May 6, the sports world will do what it always does on May 6: celebrate the most remarkable track and field milestone of the 20th Century (and maybe of all time). It is now 69 years since Roger Bannister became the first man to run a mile in four minutes or less. It was an accomplishment as unbelievable as the Moon Landing; so unbelievable that an editorial in The New York Times asked if it would ever be accomplished again. Roger Bannister won immortal praise, for the rest of his long life and beyond, despite racism and controversy and one minor detail. He could not POSSIBLY have been the first man to run a mile in four minutes or less. There is ample evidence of runners - other British runners in fact - performing the feat as early as 1770. And yet the history of these earlier athletes has been forgotten or erased - or deliberately purged. Why? C-Block (37:20) IN SPORTS PART TWO: The erasure of the runners who "broke" the four-minute mile barrier in the 18th Century (or earlier) was no accident. It was the deliberate result of the flourishing of the fetishization of amateurism, first in Great Britain in the 1800's, and then throughout the world through the Olympic movement. And it also involved something even worse: blatant, obvious racism. It's an extraordinary story and you should learn the details so you can yell at everybody who tells you about the "great" Roger Bannister. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 4, 2023

EPISODE 193: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: CNN's betrayal of journalism, democracy and America by giving Trump editorial control over part of its primetime next Wednesday has actually gotten worse. It is intended by Trump as a precursor to a "jump start" of his relationship with the new management of CNN, and it may be intended by CNN as a precursor to a pronounced lurch to the right in primetime - maybe even an 8 PM show featuring former Tucker Carlson employee Kaitlan Collins. Barely anybody noticed that the start time for the New Hampshire "Town Hall" next week suddenly shifted from 9 PM EDT to 8 PM EDT and if you think that's trivial, think again. 8 PM is suddenly the Wild West of cable news. There are between a million and a million-and-a-half disaffected Tucker Carlson viewers looking for a new home and the signs are all there: CNN's Chris Licht wants their new home to be CNN. The network's primetime is in disarray (no CNN show is in the Top 25; the network just lost the 'ad demo' ratings to MSNBC for the first time in four years) and there would be no hesitation to shift Anderson Cooper from 8 to some later hour. There's more bad news. CNN Political Director David Chalian, living in terror of losing another job to Republican complaints, again underscores the network's intent to treat Trump no differently than any other candidate - as if there were true in any universe. And while there are finally blowbacks from within CNN against Licht's looming disaster, CNN Contributor and January 6 victim Michael Fanone says he wrote an Op-Ed for CNN's website comparing giving Trump this time on CNN to giving a deranged person an AR-15 - and CNN won't publish it. B-Block (15:53) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Another News/TV News story continues to unfold. Most people seem to have gotten over the visceral shock of seeing Carlson assert "It isn't how white men fight" and understood that it's not the comment that got him fired but the prospect of Carlson being forced to read it aloud in court (and sending shock waves through the Fox Board and the cable carriers from which Murdoch is trying to get more money). But I'm still hearing two questions: Who leaked the text (and all those Carlson outtake videos) and Why? The Who is obvious: it's Fox. The Why should be just as clear: to dirty Carlson up. And how do I know all this? Because it's been done to me by my immediate-previous employer SIX TIMES in my career: in radio, in local TV, twice in cable sports, twice in cable news. C-Block (28:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Since we're on the subject of cable and TV News and Fox and dirtying things up: what I learned from going out on two dates with Laura Ingraham. The second of them was a quarter of a century ago, just about this time of year. I'll let you know when I recover from it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 3, 2023

EPISODE 192: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: "A group of Trump guys surrounded an Antifa kid and started pounding the living shit out of him," Tucker Carlson texted to his producer on January 6, 2021. "It was three against one, at least. Jumping a guy like that is dishonorable obviously. It's not how white men fight. " THAT is the thing Fox found, at the last moment, just as its trial with Dominion was about to begin, that it could not afford to let out publicly; not, at least, while Tucker Carlson was still its employee. I raised the likelihood that there was something just like this, something even worse than everything that had already come out. Got that one right. That's not only why Murdoch settled - it's a major reason that Murdoch fired Carlson. It also suggests Fox is the source of the text (Exhibit 276 to be precise) because it serves a purpose for Murdoch now. It dirties up his EX-employee on his way out and makes him a huge risk for anybody else to hire. Unfortunately it also segues into CNN's disastrous decision to double-down on its live Town Hall next week with Trump. Not only was its moderator, Kaitlan Collins, still working FOR Tucker Carlson at The Daily Caller seven years ago, but a cache of her articles there shows grotesque indifference to human suffering to say nothing of Islamophobia. Her "ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE HIPSTERS: THESE GUANTANAMO DETAINEES DID IT FIRST" not only says Khalid Sheik Mohammed "took the challenge a record 183 times" but mocks the 'challenge' itself - which was to raise money for ALS Research and Treatment. She also mocked Syrian refugees in another article, and authored a pair of homophobic tweets in college. Yet it is Kaitlan Collins that CNN's political director thinks can stand up to Trump lying in real time. She can "prod, ask questions, follow up, and try to get as revealing answers as possible." It is this David Chalian quoted in a Vanity Fair piece explaining "we obviously can't control what Trump says - that's up to him" and how Trump's sedition and crimes "does not make our approach any different" to him. CNN is standing on a precipice. If it does not cancel the Town Hall, fire Licht and Chalian, and fire or demote Collins, both its remaining journalistic credibility and any possible re-sale value it still has, will be erased. Because its last line of defense against Trump was getting a pay check as recently as seven years ago from Tucker "It's not how white men fight" Carlson to mock ALS, torture, and refugees. B-Block (18:30) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: When Kevin McCarthy goes to the White House Tuesday to dictate terms on the debt ceiling, Biden may have a surprise for him: defaulting on US debt may be literally unconstitutional. And Chuck Schumer supposedly talked to Dianne Feinstein on Monday, except he didn't actually TELL anybody that. Politico merely read it of a photograph of the talking points he was carrying in his hand! (22:28) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A woman who slammed her car into BLM protestors gets a deal for FIVE HOURS OF COMMUNITY SERVICE. Texas wants its Republican Secretary of State to be able to overturn Democratic election victories in Houston just...cuz. And Disney's unexpected witness against Ron DeSantis... Ron DeSantis! C-Block (28:41) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Joe, not only hit by a car, but needing two surgeries and a Rescue desperate to pay for them (30:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I was reminded on a dog walk why one of the best pieces of advice I ever got came from a man I worked with for only five months: the late Boston star newscaster Chet Curtis. Hear the harrowing tale of the day he walked into "his" restaurant ready to be recognized only to find nobody there knew who the hell he was. I ain't modest much, but when I am, it's because of Chet. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 2, 2023

EPISODE 191: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Chris Licht's transformation of CNN into Trump's journalistic whorehouse is now complete. He and other CNN executives have NEGOTIATED the terms by which Trump will PERMIT them to cover him. Licht gives Trump a free live hour+ of a "Town Hall" next week in New Hampshire. The ONLY questions will be from those voting in the GOP Primary and CNN will exercise no editorial control. It's a program-length advertisement for a seditious madman.And it's worse than that. The Guardian reports that Trump has been told his reward for deigning to go on CNN is that later, CNN may put on more Trump Campaign Surrogates. The journalistic prostitution extends to NBC News. In March Trump abused, threatened, and expelled an NBC reporter, then threw his two phones recording their conversation. NBC reported none of this. Why not? Is it coincidence that Politico reports that NBC is among the other networks are "negotiating" for sit-downs with Trump - NBC included. This is everything American media agreed it could not do again for the insurrectionist scumbag Trump. And no one at CNN or NBC has uttered a word of protest, and thus everyone at CNN and NBC shares the shame - and the disqualification from journalism. B-Block ((17:25) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Marjorie Taylor Greene's support is not exactly based in her district. The number of campaign contributions from her district? Six. (21:49) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Greg Abbott not only insults the dead but lies about them. C-Block (27:50) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Cannella in Tennessee (28:49) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I like to joke that when we were at MSNBC together, we all used to think Chris Licht used to eat paste. Here's the back story of how Licht spent his days there nominally as Joe Scarborough's producer but actually tasked by Scarborough with trying to destroy liberal shows and suppress liberal voices there - just as he's doing now at CNN. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 1, 2023

EPISODE 190: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: This. Is. Not. A. Game. The Democrats MUST have the decisive vote in The Senate Judiciary Committee so AT LEAST we can subpoena the central figures in the Supreme(ly Corrupt) Court scandals. There are now so many of them I've lost track. And Dianne Feinstein isn't there to cast that vote. A whistleblower tells us John Roberts's wife has been soliciting money from top law firms seeking to have cases heard by SCOTUS. Her role is headhunter/matchmaker for lawyers, and maybe it really is only that. But it sure as hell looks like a cross between Influence Peddling and Protection Money. There's new evidence of multiple exposures by Brett Kavanaugh at Yale and the primary alibi just dissolved over the weekend. Roy Wood Jr was half right: Clarence Thomas AND Neil Gorsuch are NFT's. And from beyond the grave Antonio Scalia is still corrupting the high court with "Scalia Law" - basically a club to get Conservative judges more money. The tragedy here is: of all people, Sam Alito has inadvertently revealed how SCARED the justices are of exposure right now. It's the moment to strike. But we can't, because Durbin and Schumer don't have the guts to risk asking Feinstein to quit. Well then to hell with all of them: Move to EXPEL HER. B-Block (20:38) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Reading the tea leaves in Jack Smith's Special Counsel investigation, they will use Mike Pence's BOOK to prove Trump knew fully he lost, and the $250,000,000 he raised afterwards to attack the election result was in fact massively large wire fraud. (24:11) IN SPORTS: Why did generic background NYC video on a playoff telecast yesterday include... The Twin Towers? And the passing of Mike Shannon, once seen leaping in hopes of catching a Mickey Mantle home run that was only 120 feet over his head. (27:21) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: HOW much has Twitter hate speech gone up under Elon Musk? Unironically, this Texas fascist wants to ban "Handmaid's Tale." And the OTHER Texas fascist mocks the execution-style murder of five people, and - as usual - disgraces himself. C-Block (32:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Jacuzzi Bubbles, on death row in NYC (33:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: 39 years ago yesterday I began as a rookie TV sportscaster in Boston. Two weeks later, the Boston Red Sox brought up a rookie pitcher. And 16 years later that pitcher - Roger Clemens - picked up part of Mike Piazza's broken World Series bat and THREW IT AT ME (or at least that's what it looked like from where I was sitting in the Yankee dugout). The saga of the Clemens-Piazza bat, now approaching its 23rd year. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 28, 2023

EPISODE 189: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: No, I also don't have any idea WHAT Mike Pence told Jack Smith's Grand Jury yesterday but boy do I hope he incriminated everybody. On the other hand, I have a pretty good idea that barring the unforeseen, the terms of Tucker Carlson's contract with Fox will be such that the vague, poorly-lit, dog-whistle-filled twitter video from Wednesday night may be the last we see of him for awhile, and it may mark the beginning of his firing slipping out of our (often thankfully) breakneck news cycle. As a warning: the remainder of this episode is the reprise of five separate Carlson commentaries from the last five months, tracing his ascent to madness and his fall from employment. If you don't want to hear stuff you've already heard, you can cut out at about the nine minute mark and I won't take it personally :-) (9:20) November 22: When Tucker Carlson tried to get Trans people and drag performers and allies shot (20:51) February 21: The McCarthy-January 6th video deal is made and it is time to de-platform Tucker Carlson - and de-platform Fox "News." B-Block (39:42) March 13: The Carlson gaslighting of the January 6th Capitol video was so clearly an attempt to foment obstruction of justice and rebellion that Carlson could've been indicted and arrested (58:12) But on March 14 it became clear - as Carlson re-ran several clips for the third time and obviously had nothing of interest to show anybody - that he not only wouldn't be arrested, but with THAT video, as they say, he COULDN'T get arrested. C-Block (1:13:10) April 24: SCHADENFREUDE. The firing of Carlson as it happened, including me singing "Ode To Joy" with the original German lyrics. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 27, 2023

EPISODE 188: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: All the details are leaked to The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. Rupert Murdoch did TOO fire Tucker Carlson personally, just weeks after meeting with him. Murdoch was furious at Carlson calling President Zelensky a "Ukrainian Pimp" and even joined a Fox editorial meeting to complain, and furious that Carlson had called a NewsCorp exec (presumably communications mogul Irena Briganti) a C-U-Later. Worse still, the C-word insult appeared in the Dominion lawsuit discovery product. Fox attorneys managed to get it redacted, told Carlson. But he replied he didn't WANT it redacted: he wanted everybody to know he'd said it. And the Fox Board and some executives didn't know until the day before the Dominion trial was to begin - another reason Fox settled. Bottom lines: Fox is clearly revealing everything it has in its Carlson closet in hopes of making him eternally unemployable. Oh, and about 25 days ago Murdoch had dinner at his home in Bel-Air with his fiancee and his top Fox anchor and before the month was over HE HAD FIRED THEM BOTH. B-Block (19:33) IN SPORTS: Two weeks ago he tied the record for the longest hitting streak for any player 20 or younger. Today's he's in the minors. And it's the anniversary of Harry Chili, the guy who was traded for "A Player To Be Named Later" and then the "Player To Be Named Later." Except it never happened; it's just an urban legend (24:33) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Ronna McDaniel lies about Trump and debates; Ron Johnson may actually have a head made of cheese: he suggests Wisconsin will be a safer place to live after catastrophic climate change; and the Vanity Blue Checkmark guy on twitter trying to incite genocide against Trans people and allies. C-Block (30:01) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: 90 years ago this month the most humble superstar I ever met, was born. Why I still miss my friend Elizabeth Montgomery and the extraordinary and hilarious advice she gave me within minutes of the day we met. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 26, 2023

EPISODE 187: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: The Corruption is coming down so heavy I feel like I need to wear a HAT. Now we have to indict a SECOND Supreme Court Justice. Nine days after he got onto the Court, Neil Gorsuch sold his part of a Colorado house for at least $250,000 to the head of a mega-law firm that has since been involved in 22 CASES before Gorsuch's court. Gorsuch has voted for their side in 7 of 10 cases. And of course:THE DISCLOSURE FORM FOR THE SALE? GORSUCH LEFT THE BOX FOR THE NAME OF THE BUYER, BLANK. The Senate Judiciary Committee can't subpoena Gorsuch or the buyer or Clarence Thomas or anybody because Dianne Feinstein is still MIA and can't provide the clinching vote. And John Roberts has finally replied to Chairman Dick Durbin's "invitation" to testify, and he said no way. He might as well have said "GOOD LUCK... DICK." Meanwhile Ted Cruz confesses, on tape, to the Dueling Electoral Slates/Grand Commission/Let's Party Like It's 1876 Coup that he and other Senators and Congressmen started to run on January 6th before they were interrupted by the OTHER coup. And remember, as the trial begin, when Trump defends himself in the E. Jean Carroll rape case by saying "she's not my type" what he's really saying is "she's not my type TO RAPE." B-BLOCK (19:44) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Biden is too old? He'll be 81 on Election Day and Trump will be 78. And he failed to do...what? And your younger choice who can keep the Serial Killer out of the White House is... who? And why Fox didn't collapse at 8 PM after firing Carlson, why he hasn't said anything, and why he seemingly turned from the moderate he appeared to be on CNN and MSNBC into the monster on Fox (Frankly: the success of Maddow, Scarborough and I broke him). THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD (28:13) Saluting Alito at Harvard; the far right host now hoping to ban books, trans, and "weird sex" did his own sex film just a decade ago; and the woman over whom NBC's Jeff Shell destroyed his career reportedly was also hooking up with the now 80-year old billionaire owner of Hockey's Seattle Kraken. Hey, Babe, wanna ride on my Zamboni? C-BLOCK (34:40) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Titus, on death row in New York (35:50) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: My appendix burst and not only did I not know it for two days, but I kept working - AND beat CNN in the ratings (today, my burst appendix by itself could beat CNN in the ratings). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 25, 2023

EPISODE 186: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-BLOCK (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Let's all congratulate - and thank - Sidney Powell for getting Tucker Carlson fired. Because of the many final straws in this sad man's case, the MOST final was when it turned out he repeatedly called Powell the C-word. And it all may be on tape. The real reason Lachlan Murdoch and Suzanne Scott went to Rupert Murdoch over the weekend and Rupert fired Carlson was that producer Abby Grossberg has - per her lawyer - nearly 90 recordings documenting her allegations of a toxic, abusive, misogynistic, sexist workplace in Tucker Carlson's office. I have stitched together all the reporting on the biggest firing since Bill O'Reilly - including my own - and it boils down to this. Yes, Fox was furious at all the insults against management revealed (and redacted) in the Dominion files. But Grossberg's suit was the real menace. They would not go for a repetition of the O'Reilly or Roger Ailes sexual abuse scandals. And now Carlson may walk away with $20 or $30 million a year - but only if he DOES NOT WORK at any video or news outlet that could be considered a rival to Fox. Plus: How Don Lemon messed up the chance to get to say farewell on the air, and why he might wind up on MSNBC. Among other reasons, NBC has a lot more money today: they won't pay my lying ex-friend, fired CEO Jeff Shell, a dime. He was fired for cause, and it sure looks like he tried to push his ex-flame Hadley Gamble into re-starting their affair, either by professional carrot or stick. B-BLOCK (20:42) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Fani Willis basically announces she will indict - or WON'T indict - Trump and company in July or August. She warns law enforcement to make appropriate preparations. The FAA shuts down SpaceX after Elon Musk nearly destroys two Texas towns. And The Wall Street Journal finds an instance where Harlan Crow did TOO have actual business in front of the Justice he bought, Clarence Thomas. (25:42) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Anti-vaxxer, Pharma conspiracy theorist Aaron Rodgers will now be paid by the heir to the Johnson & Johnson Pharma fortune. Marsha Blackburn wants to sell you a pizza-cutter. And somehow Fox's resident idiot Brian Kilmeade thought he should celebrate the Carlson firing. C-BLOCK (30:15) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: If I'm bringing up Aaron Rodgers going to the New York Jets, I have to flash back to the day a New York GIANTS quarterback nearly kept me from graduating from college on time! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 24, 2023

EPISODE 185: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Rupert Murdoch PERSONALLY fired Tucker Carlson over ex-Carlson producer Abby Grossberg's lawsuit for harassment, abuse, sexism, and misogyny. Murdoch also felt crossed by Carlson in many of the texts and emails produced by discovery in the Dominion lawsuit, but the firing was NOT a part of the settlement. There were also questions about impending lawsuits against Fox and Carlson by Smartmatic and Ray Epps. But this was about how women were called the c-word in Carlson's office and how producers held a vote on which candidate for Governor of Michigan was more "f-able" and more might have come out if the Dominion case had gone to trial. There is a line, even at Fox (ask Bill O'Reilly or Roger Ailes). And Carlson found it and crossed it. And take it from somebody who was himself fired personally by Murdoch. Tucker was FIRED PERSONALLY BY MURDOCH. Don Lemon was also fired for misogyny, though it appears CNN actually gave him some time in hopes that his crass comments about Nikki Haley and when women were or weren't in their prime might fade in the background they didn't. Still, this is a time to rejoice and wallow neck high in our schadenfreude! Let's SING SING SING! NOTE. THE B AND C BLOCKS ARE REPEATED FROM THIS MORNING'S EDITION OF COUNTDOWN (EPISODE 184) B-Block (23:31) WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A nice racism tie between basketball's Phil Jackson and NC Lt. Governor Mark Robinson (who wants his fellow African-Americans to PAY reparations), Senator Hawley and his tiny manhood, and of course Elon Musk, who over the subject of checkmarks just Blue himself. BREAKING NEWS: NBC fires my lying ex-friend Jeff Shell as CEO - for lying. Deadline.Com reports he had an affair with a CNBC Correspondent, Hadley Gamble - the woman Russian state TV once accused of trying to distract Vladimir Putin with her "sex appeal" - and compared her to Sharon Stone CROSSING HER LEGS IN BASIC INSTINCT. I'm so full of Schadenfreude I actually sing "The Ode To Joy" in the original German. C-Block (38:30) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Tobias in California. (39:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: If the Shell news isn't fun enough, CNN and Chris Licht make his biggest mistake yet. There are nine laws of cable TV news and the new Gayle King/Charles Barkley show will violate ALL NINE OF THEM. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 24, 2023

EPISODE 184: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: Fani Willis has a batch of texts from the Georgia Voting Machine Access scandal so powerful she could indict at least two Trump minions now - probably Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell right now - and maybe Trump himself because he knew about the plan as Giuliani pitched it a month earlier in the Oval Office as Trump listened. The good news/bad news is that nothing is touching Trump's popularity among Republican primary voters: 46% back him outright; 66% have him as their first or second choice. How could that be good news? DeSantis is NOT a successor. There is no successor. This could all die with him. The only cloud on the horizon? Dianne Feinstein. Not only can't Dick Durbin subpoena Clarence Thomas or John Roberts but when he was to humiliate himself by inviting Roberts to a hearing, Roberts doesn't even reply to his letter - he has a flunky do it for him. All this because Feinstein isn't there and rumored to be REALLY not there. The solution is simple: write up her resignation, forge her signature, and if she's lucid, she can protest and stop it. This isn't a game. For much of the Senate day Democrats do not have a majority because they're treating her like a beloved teacher fading out from a prep school somewhere. This. Is. Metaphorical. War. B-Block (19:47) WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A nice racism tie between basketball's Phil Jackson and NC Lt. Governor Mark Robinson (who wants his fellow African-Americans to PAY reparations), Senator Hawley and his tiny manhood, and of course Elon Musk, who over the subject of checkmarks just Blue himself. (25:10) BREAKING NEWS: NBC fires my lying ex-friend Jeff Shell as CEO - for lying. Deadline.Com reports he had an affair with a CNBC Correspondent, Hadley Gamble - the woman Russian state TV once accused of trying to distract Vladimir Putin with her "sex appeal" - and compared her to Sharon Stone CROSSING HER LEGS IN BASIC INSTINCT. I'm so full of Schadenfreude I actually sing "The Ode To Joy" in the original German. C-Block (34:30) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Tobias in California. (35:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: If the Shell news isn't fun enough, CNN and Chris Licht make his biggest mistake yet. There are nine laws of cable TV news and the new Gayle King/Charles Barkley show will violate ALL NINE OF THEM. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 21, 2023

EPISODE 183: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: "My main cancer," the dying writer told the TV interviewer in 1994, "I call it Rupert." The prophetic words of the auteur of 'The Singing Detective' and 'Pennies from Heaven,' Dennis Potter, were said 29 years ago at this time of the year. He ruminated that he was living out the cliched plot of every writer: you're given three months to live - who do you kill? "That man Murdoch is the one who, if I had the time...I would shoot the bugger if I could." 1994. Meanwhile your tax dollars in action: Murdoch and Fox may be able to deduct the entirety of the $787,500,000 payment to Dominion as an ordinary cost of business. It will translate to us as taxpayers underwriting $213,000,000. We pay part of Rupert's price to lie. And he's right back at it: a spokesman insists about the upcoming Smartmatic case that there's nothing more newsworthy than the claims of fraud by "the President of the United States and his lawyers." And if Rupert settles that case on similar terms to Dominion, you and I will pay another $364,000,000 for Rupert. B-Block (15:43) IN SPORTS: The original Philadelphia Athletics moved to Kansas City in 1955. They flirted with moves to Louisville, Milwaukee and Seattle before moving to Oakland in 1968. THEN they flirted almost annually with a move to Denver. And the first Las Vegas rumor floated in 1996. And now they appear set on a move to Nevada in 2027. This presents a couple of problems. One is: the threat to the water supply of Vegas. The second is: who's going to see a lame duck baseball team? One of them drew so poorly they stopped playing home games. Plus the Max Scherzer suspension, and the dumping of World Series hero Madison Bumgarner. (21:34) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Mike Lindell said he'd give $5,000,000 to anybody who proved his evidence of Chinese election interference was nonsense. An arbitration board just ruled: somebody proved it. Dick Durbin went ahead with his meaningless "invitation" to Chief Justice Roberts to a meaningless SCOTUS hearing because Dianne Feinstein isn't there to vote for a subpoena. And Elon Musk blows up Twitter and SpaceX on the same day. C-Block (28:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Back to Rupert Murdoch. I always hated him (though not as much as Dennis Potter). But I hated him FAR more after he fired me, for following his rules and the instructions of his lackeys on how to handle a sports story involving him. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 20, 2023

EPISODE 182: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) Ok I'm sorry for all the scatological references; I'm just fed up. A Federalist Society judge discovered by Chump's worms sitting on a bankruptcy court has ordered that the former Assistant DA for Manhattan HAS to sit for a deposition for Jim Jordan's Dog-And-Pony-Dung-Eating show and aid Jordan's effort to wipe Trump's ass with the Constitution. Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil has the nerve to insist no one is above the law and others are playing politics. Alvin Bragg should charge her with Obstruction of Justice. It's just more evidence that we must remember the GOP - The Party of Human Skid Marks - declared war on the rest of us in 2015 and we need to stop pretending they didn't. This country must be saved from the Republicans. B-Block (17:20) IN SPORTS: Max Scherzer of the Mets ejected for a game for allegedly using unauthorized sticky substances on his hand. Problem is: they've had this rule three years, there have only been three objections, and they've all been by the same umpire: Phil Cuzzi. We may be returning to the infamous 1998 era of "UmpShow" in which the arbiters ejected everybody they could find, including once, during a game that decided which team would go to the World Series - me. (26:07) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Nancy Mace is proud she once waitressed at Waffle House. She may be headed back there after what she said about Biden. RFK Jr makes the mistake of running for president and running on the records of his father and uncles. And OH THE HUMANITY: a Matt WalshBlog speech is terrorized by "Antifa" armed with... marbles? C-Block (31:25) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: 39 years ago this month I packed up and moved to Boston to start my dream job, for which they - and I - had waited ten months. The job lasted... FIVE months. The anticipation is truly greater than the event! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 19, 2023

EPISODE 181: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Just like American democracy I too am available for sale for $787,500,000. Since the SCOTUS Citizens United decision in 2010, it's been the corporations' world and we just live in it, unless they kill us. And corporations gonna corpo-RATE. Five years ago a company bought three-quarters of Dominion for 38 million. It just got a return of 1567%. "Money is accountability," said its lawyers. True - if YOU got the money. If you aren't, what you got was Tucker Carlson last night predicting a race war with impunity. Spare me the nonsense about Fox knowing it did wrong. Dominion didn't even get a retraction, let alone an apology. "We acknowledge the court's rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false." That's the 21st Century equivalent of "The White Star Line acknowledges that RMS Titanic missed its estimated time of arrival at Pier 54 in New York." (10:15) IN CASE THAT ISN'T BAD ENOUGH: The Democrats are using the incapacitation of Dianne Feinstein as the excuse for not subpoenaing Clarence Thomas. Because the Democrats are adhering to the rules of Flag Football while the Republicans are all armed and if they needed a vote to subpoena Sonia Sotomayor they would push THEIR Dianne Feinstein down a flight of stairs to get it. B-Block (17:04) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: McConnell makes a fascist funny; Greene insists Chump never said anything racist about Covid, then repeats all the racist things he said. A guy tries to destroy all the Anheuser-Busch beer in a Wal-mart. And Chump's new NFTs have pissed off...Tomi Lahren and Baked Alaska? (21:23) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: An elected Florida state official says Bud Light should be trying to kiss Kid Rock's ass. Jim Jordan tried to paint Manhattan as a crime hellscape by trotting out a woman whose boyfriend was murdered...in New Jersey. And Kara Swisher has the utter gall to ask Jen Psaki why there haven't been more Republicans on her MSNBC show. "What's the problem? Four shows and no Republicans." This is one of the questions that has led American media, politics, and society, into the sinkhole it's in. C-Block (32:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Four puppies in the Bahamas trying to survive Parvo (33:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It's not just Fox. Cable News corrupts completely. In fact, NEWS News corrupts completely. Let me tell you stories of what it did to Radio's Paul Harvey, and Rachel Maddow. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 18, 2023

EPISODE 180: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Why did Fox wait until the last minute to offer to settle the Dominion defamation suit? I was once in a media lawsuit involving tens of millions and I have a guess: Fox must have known there was SOMETHING WORSE. There must've been a text or an email or something discovered late in the game, worse than Carlson saying he hated Trump passionately, and they were willing to buy their way out of it. (10:44) THE CLARENCE THOMAS SCANDAL: So Mom is living rent-free, for LIFE, in the house the billionaire Republican activist bought from Clarence Thomas? And Harlan Crow's next mistake? He gave a sit-down interview to a Dallas newspaper and a completely bald and unconvincing account of his friendship with Justice Thomas. Asked if he'd still be Thomas's friend if he wasn't on the Supreme Court, Crow answered that it was a great question and HE DIDN'T KNOW. Ask what they talk about and he mentioned... his dog Otis. (17:13) YOU ENDORSED WHO? Florida Congressman Greg Steube with a teeny weeny little Freudian slip. For the presidential nomination he has endorsed Donald J. Chump. B-Block (21:50) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: As was joked on twitter: is Ron DeSantis trying to destroy DisneyWorld because he's not tall enough to go on the rides? And George Santos is running for re-election and has already lied in the press release! (25:43) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: I got a Republican insurrectionist who calls others "pedos" asking a 15-year old boy for nude videos; I got a Republican Congressman sending a link to a Holocaust-denying website in his official congressional newsletter; I got Republican County administrators dreaming of lynching African-Americans. C-Block (32:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Elsa, in New York (33:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Speaking of the perversion of news that is Fox, I was there at the moment cable news went to hell in a handbasket. It was the night three of us (the others were the president of NBC News and the future president of MSNBC) found out that Princess Diana was dead. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 17, 2023

EPISODE 179: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: The Fox-Dominion Trial is delayed until Tuesday so the two sides can discuss settling out of court. DON'T SETTLE! I'm like everybody else who ever worked for Rupert Murdoch, dated Laura Ingraham, and was asked to co-host a show with Tucker Carlson! I need to see them all in the witness box, under oath, WEEPING. Seriously, America could use the catharsis of an on-the-record verdict that Fox is not and never has been a news organization but even that isn't enough to destroy it. It needs juries doubling the demanded damages in this case AND Smartmatic to literally bankrupt the place (and survive appeals, including the Supreme Court, where Fox's lawyers think they'd win. The late tea leaves aren't good. The delay and story of settlement discussions was broken by another Murdoch outlet, The Wall Street Journal, AND the promised Sunday night attack on Fox by Mark Levin against Dominion and the judge mysteriously never happened. We don't want them snatching peace from the jaws of war. (8:20) Even when Clarence Thomas discloses something, he does it dishonestly. The latest revelations of his utter disregard for the Supreme Court's disclosure regulations. And could the vague precedent Richard Nixon used to force Abe Fortas to resign from SCOTUS in 1969 rather than face possible indictment, work with Clarence? In the interim, where is the Senate Judiciary hearing? (16:25) Speaking of which: looks like the Texas judge in the appalling abortion pill ruling lied to the Senate during his confirmation process. Dick Durbin needs to get to work and get Matthew Kacsmaryk charged for perjury. B-Block (22:51) IN SPORTS: The Oakland A's may not have much of a team, but they do provide every visiting team's television crew with the entertainment that is a live Possum living in the wall of the booth. And a wonderful farewell to Spencer, the official dog of The Boston Marathon (26:49) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: They'll be using Marjorie Barney Rubble Greene in a House campaign 1800 miles away. Turns out Nikki Haley's campaign doesn't know you can't count the same donation twice. And MAGA turns on Junior Trump. Remember, Buddy, this is how the French Revolution started. C-Block (31:55) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Anastasia needs a foster near Devore, CA to save her life (32:55) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: There must be 10,000 ceremonial first pitches at baseball games all around the country every year, and 9900 of them must be bad. Here is the advice I was given 17 years ago that can save you from being one of the bad ones. Best of all, it involves CHEATING. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 14, 2023

EPISODE 178: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: Who knew? Clarence Thomas's family is apparently a living re-boot of the '60s TV Series "My Mother The Car" only it's "My Mother The Museum." That's the latest excuse from Clarence's pimp Harlan Crow, who says he only bought Clarence's mom's house to make it into a museum. Except 8-1/2 years later she still lives there - and he has yet to disclose the transaction. He could face a year in jail. And Trump actually answers questions in the Letitia James $250 Million case in New York. Meanwhile Jack Smith, reported yesterday to be on the verge of making up his Mar-a-Lago Documents indictment decisions, is now reported to be on the verge of making up his Election Overturning indictment decisions. And out of nowhere, the arms dealer we shipped to Russia for the release of Britney Griner says he's sent Trump a telegram saying Trump's life is danger in New York and he should flee to Russia and even if he's not serious HOW GODDAMNED GOOD AN IDEA IS THIS? B-Block (19:38) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Rhonda Santos MIA as Florida floods. Tommy Tuberville and others assume about the Woke Military and the leak, and Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson and others assume about the Tech Murderer. (23:00) IN SPORTS: The Tampa Bay Rays tie the record.Exorcism in the NFL as Dan Snyder sells. But College Sports brings back one of the worst people I've ever known in TV: Tony Petite. C-Block (35:15) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Cookie was found as a stray in Van Nuys, California. She was chipped. They called her 'human' - who never called back. Now Cookie may be killed. (36:15) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: It's a railway espionage and murder mystery worthy of 'Murder On The Orient Express' except it's all happening only in Thurber's mind: 'The Lady on 142.' See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 13, 2023

EPISODE 177: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump stole a map. The map shows classified intelligence info. Trump took the map to Mar-a-Lago. Trump showed the map to "aides and visitors." That is the definition of the dissemination of national intelligence, and that is ESPIONAGE. That's up to 10 years in jail. If he showed it to a foreign power it's life - or worse. And the New York Times also reports "Prosecutors have now interviewed nearly everyone who could offer insight in connection with the documents..." while The Washington Post says Special Counsel Jack Smith has opened a new line of inquiry: into possible fraud by Trump on those idiots he conned into donating to fight a rigged election he knew WASN'T rigged. If that sounds familiar to you, that's exactly what Fox "News" did and it sounds like before the trial has even started Fox is losing its battle with Dominion. There are tapes of Bartiromo and Giuliani and Sidney Powell admitting they can't prove claims they've made on Fox against Dominion and Fox hid them from Dominion AND the judge and the judge is pissed. And if it needed to get worse for Murdoch or Trump: Trump's ludicrous claim to Murdoch's minion Tucker Carlson that everybody at the courthouse cried as they arrested him is refuted by a Michael Isikoff news source, who adds a perfect metaphorical knife between the ribs of Trump's insatiable ego. B-Block (15:57) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: The Justins are back, Chuck Schumer and other Senate Dems want DOJ to see if their 1st or 14th Amendment rights were violated and if citizens of Memphis and Nashville were denied their rights to choose their representatives, Tucker Carlson goes full racist on them. Ro Khanna calls on Dianne Feinstein to resign, and the New York Post inadvertently suggests Republicans aren't Americans. (19:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The drama in MAGA-land: if they have to boycott Bud Light and Anheuser-Busch, how will they get drunk cheaply? A Missouri state senator doubles down on his belief that adults should be able to marry 12-year olds. And the first question on the application to work for Gov. Sarah Huckabee is: what's YOUR favorite thing about Gov. Sarah Huckabee? C-Block (24:35) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Even for Los Angeles local TV, where if you hang on to your job for seven years you can keep it for seventy years, Jerry Dunphy was a mandarin. The first local news star and maybe the last. Shot in the parking lot of his station. Fired by one station one night, hired by another 24 hours later. And his memorable catchphrase "From the desert to the sea to all of Southern California: a good evening." It was memorable - except when Jerry Dunphy COULDN'T REMEMBER IT. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 12, 2023

EPISODE 176: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: As he sentenced the 1/6 defendant, the Federal Judge spoke clearly and on the record: "There are still people who believe the election was rigged. There are still people who support Donald Trump, though not many showed up at the court in Manhattan. We'll see what happens here at THIS COURT WHEN THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT MOVES IN A FEW MONTHS, I SUSPECT." What the...heck? Was Judge Paul L. Friedman ruminating? Surmising? Telling us things maybe he knows that we don't? His comments were a warning that we are now in a time when January 6 Trumpian violence could easily be repeated with an eye towards 2024. Whatever they meant, they are the most intriguing yet made about Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation of Trump. Also Stephen Miller testified to Smith's Grand Jury again (even though it was daytime), and Alvin Bragg clapped back at Jim Jordan and Trump's other henchmen by suing to quash their subpoena for his records and his testimony. And maybe best of all, Trump told a credulous Tucker Carlson that as he was being arrested and processed last week "They signed me in and I'll tell you people were crying. People that work there. Professionally work there, that have no problems putting in murderers and they see everybody. It's a tough, tough place and they were crying. They were actually crying. They said 'I'm sorry.'" Well, look, it's POSSIBLE. I mean if you or I had to listen to him in person, we'd probably burst into tears as well. B-Block (14:30) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Justin Jones and Justin Pearson may have done more than they know: the governor moves to tighten gun background checks. Defund Clarence Thomas! The Fox-Dominion trial begins. How to use Trump to sink all GOP candidates. And the speech I once gave outdoors - and literally heard crickets. (20:32) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Fox contributors who think Dan Bongino should be FBI Director and the 2020 Election was rigged but Biden won anyway. The Wisconsin congressman who says his Wisconsin people think New York is too dangerous even though apparently Milwaukee is three times as dangerous as NYC. And the winner: on 3/8 Texas State Rep Bryan Slaton introduced a bill banning Drag Shows because they were "grooming events" for "the sexualization of our children." On 3/31, per a new reported complaint to the Legislature, he allegedly invited a female intern to his home and gave her alcohol even though she wasn't old enough to legally drink. OOPS. C-Block (27:04) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Sammy, dumped by his family in December, is on the kill list tomorrow (28:10) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I basically have done no drinking since July 25, 1982, because that was the day I had as many as 40 beers in ONE DAY and still showed up on the air at radio at 5:30 the following morning and at CNN at 9:30. Do not try this at home, or anywhere else. It's called "Functional Alcoholism." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 11, 2023

EPISODE 175: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: A week ago, frankly, none of us OUTSIDE Nashville knew whether the Tennessee’s State Government had a House, a Senate, an Assembly, a Parliament, a Duma, was inflated or stuffed. Yesterday, Justin Jones was reinstated to the Tennessee House. Tomorrow, Justin Pearson will be. I am trying to think of exactly WHAT Republicans got out of this. The two young representatives will have been out of office for a total of four days, MAYBE five. They went from obscure state legislators to superstar magnets drawing international coverage. They provided energy and hope to the movement, support for which had inspired the racist acts of a racist legislative body, to do SOMETHING about the epidemic of gun violence in this country. The forces of right have not had a real WIN in perhaps two decades and even though this one is just symbolic, it resonates: it shows us that the whole thing is NOT impossible to fight, and that dramatic and important milestones can occur almost spontaneously, virtually immediately, breathtakingly panoramically. Plus: The Senate Judiciary Committee will actually HOLD A HEARING INTO SCOTUS CORRUPTION! Trump and Rhonda Santis are at it again. Melania apparently has a new contract. And Jim Jordan is coming to Fun City! There goes the neighborhood. B-Block (20:23) SPECIAL COMMENT: The latest mass gun slaughter was at a bank, 11 days after Ted Cruz had insisted the solution to mass gun slaughter was to put as many armed guards in schools as they have in those impregnable fortresses: banks. The solution isn't guns, it isn't mental health checks, it's money. We must financially crush the people for whom gun violence is a profit center. And I mean crush the businesses, the politicians, and if need be, the states. C-Block (40:25) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: His ratings debacle at the new CNN reminded me to tell you of the time Bill Maher and I almost had a fistfight at his after-show party, because I insisted I was "aware" of him when we overlapped in college. It turned out my barely-remembered "awareness" of him at Cornell was ALSO of a near-fistfight...in 1978! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 10, 2023

EPISODE 174: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: No Justins, No Peace. The Nashville Metro Council today votes to replace the expelled Justin Jones with...Justin Jones! But a Memphis rep says her city has been threatened with the loss of $350 Million in state revenue if it replaces the expelled Justin Pearson with...Justin Pearson. Just think about it: a week ago you had no idea who either of these men were! Thank you, Cracker Fascist-Republicans! (5:42) WE ALL KNOW what Clarence Thomas IS, we're just arguing about the price. Now we're arguing whether or not the guy who bought him is also a Nazi sympathizer because he happens to own a house full of Hitler memorabilia including paintings he painted. Did Thomas give Harlan Crow a heads-up on the Citizens United decision? Maybe worse still: Harlan Crow also gave money to Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema! (14:58) LIBERTY OR REPUBLICANS:: Texas's Governor tries to legalize political assassination, and Montana tries to solve the risk of re-electing a Democratic Senator with a new law that simply eliminates Democratic candidates. (20:50) HAPPY EASTER From The Defendant: Trump becomes what he has always deserved to be: just a punchline in my podcast. B-Block (25:25) IN SPORTS: The most dominant start to a baseball season since 1884. One problem: in 1884 the team was so dominant it caused the league to fold. More Problems with NHL Pride Night. And America's greatest political orator, Coach Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs, goes off on school gun violence (32:13) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Matt Taibbi learns you can always relay on Elon Musk, he'll always let you down. RFK Jr hires his key man: Dennis Kucinich? And what kind of baseball article is titled "Starters Who Can't Keep It Up"? C-Block (37:15) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Naitan in Tennessee (38:15) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: From Jack Kerouac to Keith Hernandez to me, writers and fans and athletes have simply created imaginary baseball leagues and played fantasy and table-top baseball. It's so prevalent that one man created a fictional Major League Baseball player named Lou Proctor and actually got him into the record books! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 7, 2023

EPISODE 173: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: President Biden needs to federalize the Tennessee National Guard in order to help re-establish democracy in that state. A GOP Super-majority employs sanctioned government bigotry, racism, and fascism to EXPEL two African-Americans who had the temerity to protest the slaughter of school children there. The cracker NRA members who did this did everything but call them "boy," describe them as "uppity," or say "what we have is failure to communicate." (9:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: The Senate must impanel a committee in hopes of forcing the resignation or arrest of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, our 21st Century version of Boss Tweed, a walking, breathing version of a "FOR SALE" sign. (24:15) SPECIAL COMMENT: Alvin Bragg has a TAPE of The Defendant and Michael Cohen talking about hush money for women. And Jim Jordan may just be stupid enough to conduct hearings on Bragg and Trump and Stormy Daniels and let the Democrats prosecute him day after day after day. Plus those Secret Service agents are testifying TODAY, per CBS News, to Special Counsel Jack Smith's Grand Jury. B-BLOCK (29:32) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Biden strikes a devil's bargain with fascists who will never stop with what he's giving them: SOME trans athletes can be barred from high school and college sports? And Sean Spicer's TV career is over (31:40) IN SPORTS: Mastering the Masters after a double-bogey on the 1st Hole. The Pitch Clock is 8 days old. The Pitch Clock will soon be sponsored. (33:53) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Don Lemon looks really bad, Charlie Kirk and Glenn Beck are really dumb, and Travis Tritt will show those LGBTQ-friendly Bud Light people - he won't let them give him any more free beer! C-BLOCK (40:40) THINGS I PROMISED TO TELL: I met my first boss Sam Rosen and future Disney chairman Bob Iger on the SAME day. When I had to write my last college English paper about an interesting character I had just met - I didn't choose Iger. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 6, 2023

EPISODE 172: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: The Defendant - and that's got to be his only name going forward - The Defendant blows up the only thing the GOP managed to get to stick to the Democrats in years: "Defund the police!" by insisting "Defund the DOJ and FBI!" You'd think maybe somebody in the House GOP leadership wouldn't want to reemphasize the fact that The Defendant was arrested - every day between now and next January when the trial is scheduled to start. And contrary to everything you were told by every news organization, The Defendant was TOO charged with tax evasion. And The Defendant is now going to have to see his Vice President testify against him to the Special Counsel's Grand Jury, which is already hearing how The Defendant planned to seize voting machines even though his entire leadership team had already told him that there had been no foreign manipulation of them. The Defendant might get the benefit of a fake Democratic challenger to Joe Biden, as Steve Bannon sends out my former friend Bobby Kennedy Jr as a mindless stalking horse. And amazingly, government doesn't have to be like this. What the farewell address of New Zealand's Prime Minister could teach us - if only we bothered to learn anything in this country. B-Block (22:06) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: (27:12) SPECIAL COMMENT: From Tuesday's special bulletin podcast: most media missed it. The Defendant wasn't just charged with falsifying business records. He was charged with ELECTION INTERFERENCE. Plus we now have the story of an apocryphal Trump Love child to cringe over). C-Block (43:20) SPECIAL COMMENT: From Wednesday's podcast: Six hours after Judge Merchan warned The Defendant not to incite violence, The Defendant attacked the Judge, his daughter, the District Attorney, and his wife. Do not hesitate, Judge: The Defendant will just keep doing this until you put him behind bars. Put him behind bars NOW! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 5, 2023

EPISODE 171: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:41) SPECIAL COMMENT: Judge Juan Merchan was balanced and calm and fair. The Defendant AND The District Attorney must restrain themselves. "Please refrain from making statements that are likely to incite violence or civil unrest." Please do not use rhetoric that "could jeopardize the rule of law." SIX HOURS LATER Donald Trump said "the real criminal" was District Attorney Alvin Bragg. He attacked Bragg's wife. He said that he had "a Trump hating-judge with a Trump-hating wife and a Trump-hating family." AS Judge Merchan had asked both sides to refrain from further incendiary language, Trump's idiot sons had doxxed Merchan's daughter and distributed an article bearing her photograph, and right wing media pounced on her. DONALD TRUMP HAS ALREADY VIOLATED THE JUDGE'S GUIDELINES AND HE WILL NOT STOP UNTIL SOMEONE - OR EVERYONE - GETS HURT. THE JUDGE NEEDS TO CALL TRUMP'S LAWYERS AND TELL THEM TO PUT THEIR CLIENT'S FAT ASS ON A PLANE AND GET IT BACK TO NEW YORK BECAUSE HE IS GOING TO RIKERS ISLAND FOR CONTEMPT. Trump already disseminated images of himself with a baseball bat in one photo and D.A. Alvin Bragg in the adjoining image. He already said there would be "death and destruction" were he to be arrested. He will not stop. He has never stopped. This judge has the chance to stop him - maybe strongly enough that finally this movement will itself stop out of the cowardice behind its bully facade. Jail Trump for contempt - today. B-Block (17:35) SPORTS: For the week since the baseball season began I have had the gnawing sensation that something important was missing. Last night it dawned on me that it felt as if I was at a great game but the seats next to me were empty. And indeed they are. We are without two of the poets of the game, for the first time in decades. First: In memory of Vin Scully. C-Block (41:39) SPORTS: And, Second: In memory of Tim McCarver. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 4, 2023

SPECIAL BULLETIN EPISODE 170: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) My ex-landlord has been arraigned on 34 counts of felony falsification of business records, but they ARE felonies because D.A. Alvin Bragg is alleging that they were committed to further a bigger, massively more important crime, one being almost ignored by the news media. Bragg isn't prosecuting him for a payoff to a porn star, nor even the business records. He's prosecuting him for ILLEGALLY INFLUENCING THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. If the case comes to court it will be an attempt to put a former president in jail for trying to defraud not investors and not even the state of New York, but the VOTERS. The ambition is extraordinary. As is another detail that seemed to elude most reports. David Pecker, Michael Cohen and Trump were ready to pay a Trump Palace Doorman $30,000 to buy his apparently inaccurate story that there was a TRUMP LOVE CHILD SOMEWHERE. And just as the judge was admonishing both sides to tamp down the rhetoric, Fredo Trump and Junior Trump were doxxing the judge's daughter and manufacturing a conspiracy involving her and Biden and VP Harris. It is impossible to believe Trump will not wind up violating the Judge's warnings. The protests were also hilarious: Marjorie Greene fled out of fear of counter-protestors with whistles. And she revealed she's dating a right wing TV talking head. AND HE KISSED HER LIVE ON THE AIR AT THE END OF THEIR INTERVIEW. But the real essence of this story is contained in one post Trump made in route - as Special Counsel Jack Smith's Grand Jury made its THIRD headline of the week (an appeals court rules that key Trump aids like Mark Meadows and Stephen Miller MUST testify to Smith's Grand Jury). The door has been opened, the seal has been broken, the precedent can be set. You CAN indict and arraign a former President of the United States and the earth will not spin off its axis. And you CAN make Trump realize reality is bigger than just him. You could read the fear in his last pre-hearing post: “Heading to lower Manhattan, the courthouse, seems so surreal, WOW they are going to ARREST ME. Can’t believe this is happening in America.” You bet your ass it's happening. B-Block (18:59) It is 14 years to the day since my mother Marie passed away. She was not only the baseball fan in the family; she was one of the most prominent baseball fans in the country, all because of one bad throw by Chuck Knoblauch in 2000. Plus: advice learned from bitter experience about why the loss of a parent can hit you twice: you are remembering the very first fear you had as a child. Marie Olbermann, In Memoriam. C-Block (36:29) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Cuda, in the South Los Angeles pound for TWO YEARS and finally cracking up. (35:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: CNN and MSNBC did not show Trump in a car, then Trump in a plane, then Trump in another car, for three hours yesterday just because it was a comparatively shiny object. They're both trying to cozy up to Trump viewers, just in case they have to go Hard Right to protect their owners. As crazy as it sounds, it's happened before: let me recount for you the saga of the time MSNBC tried to go further fascist than Fox and hired this psycho Michael Savage to host a TV show, at the direct orders of the president of NBC. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 4, 2023

EPISODE 169: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN I EXPECT TO BE UPDATING THIS EDITION IN LATE AFTERNOON A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump leaks details of the 34-count indictment and tries to blame D.A. Bragg for the leak, but inadvertently confesses by screwing up the number. Anyhow, ALL the counts are felonies, not just one. The judge also rules against video cameras during the arraignment, though still photographers can come in to do a "spray" before the action start, and ONE video camera will be permitted in the hallway. No holding cell, no handcuffs, no mugshot - unless there is a mugshot. The Trumpers were demanding one while the Trump Lawyers were demanding the opposite. And again, the REAL threat to Trump comes out of Washington where the Jack Smith Grand Jury will now hear from a bunch of Secret Service agents about the classified documents Trump stole and stashed at Mar-a-Lago, maybe as early as Friday. And while Sean Hannity tries to shush him, Trump not only confesses he did what the latest reports accused him of (rifling through the boxes and keeping the secret documents he wanted to keep) he even simplifies the motive we've all been kept up at night worrying about. He notes with the gleam of avarice, "They ended up paying Nixon 18 million for what HE had!" B-Block (16:26) It is 14 years to the day since my mother Marie passed away. She was not only the baseball fan in the family; she was one of the most prominent baseball fans in the country, all because of one bad throw by Chuck Knoblauch in 2000. Plus: advice learned from bitter experience about why the loss of a parent can hit you twice: you are remembering the very first fear you had as a child. Marie Olbermann, In Memoriam. C-Block (34:35) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Cuda, in the South Los Angeles pound for TWO YEARS and finally cracking up. (35:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: CNN and MSNBC did not show Trump in a car, then Trump in a plane, then Trump in another car, for three hours yesterday just because it was a comparatively shiny object. They're both trying to cozy up to Trump viewers, just in case they have to go Hard Right to protect their owners. As crazy as it sounds, it's happened before: let me recount for you the saga of the time MSNBC tried to go further fascist than Fox and hired this psycho Michael Savage to host a TV show, at the direct orders of the president of NBC. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 3, 2023

EPISODE 168: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:41) SPECIAL COMMENT: The source is a dubious British tabloid, but the idea has been deemed completely possible and entirely appropriate: Trump's lawyers are reportedly expecting that Judge Juan Marchan will issue a GAG ORDER against Trump today or tomorrow, precluding him from speaking about the case to reporters, or posting on social media about it, or giving a speech about it (as he plans to do, Tuesday night from Mar-a-Lago). The reported punishment: a fine of up to $1,000 and up to 30 days in jail. Trump meanwhile is reported to be ready to go back on the offensive and "eff up" Alvin Bragg, the judge, and the politicians his paranoia tell him are behind this. At the same time, maybe tomorrow they should take a second set of Mugshots. Jack Smith reportedly edges closer to charges of Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice as The Washington Post reports he now has a paper trail because of the texts and emails of an obscure assistant named Molly Michael. During the January 6 Committee hearings we learned that at the White House, Trump used to dictate his emails and have HER send them out on HER account. And that may be devastating evidence against him in the nearing charge that not only did he steal Classified Documents but instructed others to lie about whether or not he'd returned them - a classic obstruction conspiracy. Plus he had some strange obsession with documents about the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley. Plus: all those cliches the Trump Apologists are using to deflect from the absolute appropriateness of the indictment? Let me help you refute them. Ex-Manhattan DA Cy Vance actually updated us on the first ("Bragg's predecessor wouldn't pursue the case") and hints at interference to stop his investigation by none other than William Barr. We'll track the exact nature of George Soros's donations - not to Bragg but to a group that donated to Bragg. And we'll remind you that the next time somebody says 'you can't prosecute a presidential candidate' that Trump himself promised to prosecute FOUR of them and actually tried to get a U.S. Attorney investigating the least likely of the bunch. B-Block (24:11) IN SPORTS: NCAA Women's Hoops title game overshadowed by second classless gesture in last three rounds; Last November's Phillies Phold extends to 2023; MSG's Jim Dolan sued and a warning to him: You could end up taking tickets at the arena you now own (28:13) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Sure, Biden's insulting King Charles even though no American president has EVER attended a British coronation; Jim Jordan calls for defunding Law Enforcement, and the great Lesley Stahl and CBS News and 60 Minutes get the chance to end Marjorie Taylor Greene's career with ONE follow-up question, and completely fail. (31:48) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: My old NBC Election boss Mark Lukasiewicz with the reminder that (if there's no gag order) Trump will give a speech full of lies after tomorrow's indictment and the networks DO NOT have to carry it live. And this reminded me that all of today's money-only logic in TV news was prophesied by the greatest media movie ever made: Network (1976). C-Block (45:51) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL, PART TWO: We are now in the 47th year of prophecy after prophecy in "Network" coming true. I'll review the 30 or so things predicted in the Paddy Chayefsky classic that were literally unbelievable the day the movie premiered, but are now merely...unremarkable. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 1, 2023

EPISODE 167: SPECIAL WEEKEND EDITION, COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:41) SPECIAL COMMENT: Associated Press reports that at least one of the reported 34 charges against Trump for falsifying business records is a FELONY offense. That not only lines up with previous reporting but when added to the CBS reporting that Alvin Bragg had obtained communications and documents not previously known to the public, it supports the theory that the Felony charge could involve TAX CHEATING. David Frum guesses "this case will turn out to be about Trump cheating on his taxes (again): allegedly creating false invoices so as to convert the payoff to Stormy Daniels into a LEGAL BILL to his lawyer - and then DEDUCTING the fake legal bill from his TAXABLE INCOME." There were way too many updates to NOT do a special weekend edition. On Social Media, Trump is in full-fledged panic: by dinner-time last night he had already exceeded 100 posts full of rage and Mark Levin clips and in one verging on the same kind of terroristic threats as a week ago: "HOW MUCH MORE ARE AMERICAN PATRIOTS EXPECTED TO TAKE?" The Secret Service has toured the courthouse at 60 Centre Street so Trump is scheduled to appear at 2:15 PM EDT next Tuesday. After saying "Democrats want Civil War" (six weeks after demanding a "national divorce") maybe Marjorie Barney Rubble will lead protests when she comes to New York Tuesday, but so far there's been nothing - for or against - in NYC. There was one guy in front of Trump Tower yesterday (and he was whispering). Trump and his various attorneys (and they need numbered ear-tags, like cows) will move to throw out the judge, and the charges, but they will not approach a plea deal. And District Attorney Bragg will not approach giving Trump's house chairman the documents and testimony they want: in fact he may have just warned them that they could be charged with interfering with his prosecution. There were developments in two Trump-adjacent cases Friday. The election fraudster Douglass Mackey (who conned a couple thousand Clinton voters to try to vote by TEXT in 2016) has been convicted. And Dominion's defamation suit against Fox will proceed and the judge will tell the jury NONE of what Fox said about Dominion was true. And two belly laughs. One, I'll save for the podcast itself. In the other: Eric-Fredo Trump on Thursday told Fox that Bragg is obsessed by his father even though shoplifting is so bad in New York that he went to CVS to get some Tylenol and found it behind plastic protection. On Friday he told NewsMax that he went to Duane Reade to get Advil and found it behind plastic protection. Time to get Eric some Motrin. B-Block (21:52) COULD TRUMP PASS A SANITY TEST, Part 1: An updated version of the 2016 Vanity Fair piece and video that forever linked me to the Oompa Loompa. C-Block (44:50) COULD TRUMP PASS A SANITY TEST, Part 2: The conclusion and the final score and guess what...he COULDN'T. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 31, 2023

EPISODE 166: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:41) SPECIAL COMMENT: Manhattan District Attorney's Office Confirms: Trump has been indicted. Improbably, Hannity sums it up best. And the breadth of reported counts (34?) suggests the range of charges could include really dangerous ones like tax crimes or lying to banks. In confirming he'll be brought in, Trump makes two outstanding bloopers. Sean Spicer has to announce it on Newsman. And maybe the most important consideration: life teaches us that in anything controversial, the toughest thing is to go first. Today it's twice as easy for Fani Willis or Jack Smith to indict him than it was yesterday afternoon. Plus: just for fun I'll read you Trump's 2014 fan letter to me. No - seriously. Talk about a blooper! B-Block (19:46) COULD TRUMP PASS A SANITY TEST, Part 1: An updated version of the 2016 Vanity Fair piece and video that forever linked me to the Oompa Loompa. C-Block (44:00) COULD TRUMP PASS A SANITY TEST, Part 2: The conclusion and the final score and guess what...he COULDN'T. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 30, 2023

EPISODE 165: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) The gun cult of this country, led by Fox News and the right wing media hatred factory, has metaphorically shat on the dead children of Nashville. They are trying - at this moment - to use their poor, destroyed bodies, as a rationalization for the purging of the LGBTQ community AND its allies on the fallacious pretext that, as the filth Tucker Carlson said, "The Trans movement is targeting Christians." Simultaneously these sadists are using the murder of these nine-year olds as the final, ultimate excuse to not merely do nothing to stop the madness of Gun America, but to INCREASE the number of guns they own and place them ubiquitously in this society. This cult of death with its AR-15 Murder Machines must be stopped. As always, the first step to halt evil is to call it evil, and do so loudly. And yesterday, two Congressmen began the loud attack on evil: Jared Moskowitz of Florida, and Jamaal Bowman of New York, whom I am proud to say now represents the town in which I grew up. B-Block (24:06) The cornerstone of the Republican/Fox/Gun Cult lie is its perversion of the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. To understand that lie you must understand that the Constitution is in actuality a property document that decides what the government can own and what the people can own. Forms of the word "vote" appear just 37 times in it. "Right" and "rights" appear just 15 times. Terms of money and ownership are included 103 times. The Constitution is about OWNERSHIP. Yet the 2nd Amendment does not contain the word "own" nor any synonym for it. And as the former Chief Justice of the United States said, "The gun lobby's interpretation of the 2nd Amendment is one of the greatest pieces of fraud...on the American People..." Let the lying begin. C-Block (42:44) From February 15, 2022, after the shooting at Michigan State. (57:30) Every Dog Has Its Day: as we try to save the country let's save a poor puppy named Junior. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 29, 2023

EPISODE 164: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) Actually I have answers to this. Conflicting reports that the Manhattan District Attorney's Grand Jury looking into the Stormy Daniels payoff will be off until tomorrow - or next week. Either way, this likely has less to do with Trump or Pecker or Trump's Pecker, and more to do with the fact that the jurors have actual lives. There is good news from Special Counsel Jack Smith's Grand Jury in Washington: Mike Pence must testify after all (with limited exclusions). But does anybody remember that there's a THIRD Grand Jury out there? Anyone? Bueller? B-Block (14:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Marjorie Barney Rubble Greene can't understand why Twitter suspended her just because she spat on the dead of Nashville by calling the shooting "the threat of Antifa driven trans-terrorism; and Dominion Voting System has just a few names on its witness list include multiple anchors and multiple Murdochs. (17:28) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Senator Tommy Tuberville is holding up military promotions cuz abortion and the top two REPUBLICANS on the Armed Services Committee are mad as hell about it. The head of the Chicago police union, who has been suspended for misconduct eight different times, threatens voters with "blood in the streets" if they vote for the black guy for Mayor; and Congressman Byron Donalds condescendingly dismisses the possible ban of the AR-15 Death Machine and the children it murdered as "politics." C-Block (24:25) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: As Baseball's Opening Day looms, time to go back to a simpler, gentler era when a big league manager could lock his entire team in the trainers' room so that there wouldn't be a soul in the clubhouse and that would teach the obnoxious young anchor of SportsCenter a lesson. Me and Buck Showalter - 1993. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 28, 2023

EPISODE 163: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:41) The apparent final witness who could get Donald Trump arrested for paying off Stormy Daniels is named Pecker. DAVID Pecker, former publisher of the National Inquirer and the middleman in the Catch-and-Kill process by which Trump buried his infidelity problem before the 2016 election, returned to Alvin Bragg's Manhattan Grand Jury to confirm a) Trump paid her off and b) Trump knew it was done to influence the outcome of the election. Silence out of the Special Counsel's office; Trump slammed on Fox and Fox Business for his Waco speech; and why Trump's history with Mike Tyson explains Trump's cult unshakable adherence to him even though he's such a putz. B-Block (15:38) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Was turmoil in Israel quieted or worsened when the Prime Minister said he was staving off a "civil war"? The far right calls the Nashville shooting a false flag - until the shooter was ID'd as Trans and that became their only headline. (19:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: C-Block (26:15) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: The whole crowd at New York Bully Crew needs our donations - they're out of food (27:15) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Newly recovered from an archaeological dig in my storage unit: the ORIGINAL unedited copy of the greatest TV sports outtake of all time: Gary Miller's SOCCER BREAKDOWN. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 27, 2023

EPISODE 162: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:41) Special Counsel Jack Smith is reportedly constructing a conspiracy charge - Conspiracy To Obstruct A Congressional Proceeding - against Trump. CBS News reported this once, buried it, doesn't seem to realize what it has. If the charge hangs off the statute 18 US Code 1512 (c) (2) it carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, and Robert Costa reported Smith is "looking into a possible conspiracy case against Trump and people around him trying to block the Congressional proceedings on January 6th" and says witnesses "are being asked about what kind of NATIONAL SECURITY LEVERS Trump was asking about in those final days." And Smith's other primary investigation - the Classified Documents Trump stole and were found at Mar-a-Lago - are still very much in play. Meanwhile back at the ranch: Trump has now made all three possible statements about his possible indictment in the Stormy Daniels case: A) He's Being Arrested B) The Case Has Been Dismissed C) He Really Doesn't Have Any Idea. And Stormy Daniels herself breaks a MAGA critic in half. The MAGA-splainer tweets Trump wouldn't touch Daniels with a 10-foot pole; she slams back: no, he did it with a 3-inch pole. Which circles back neatly to the idea that Trump could go to jail with his national defense lever in his hand. B-Block (15:37) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Israel falls apart and 16% of the nation protests fascist changes there; pay attention, we may have to protest this way here. And Elon Musk has only lost $24,000,000,000 on Twitter in five months but he can make it up if everybody buys a $7 checkmark. EVERYBODY. (21:10) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Marsha Blackburn attacks Democrats for trying to "ban" everything. She's tried to ban at least 7 things in the last two years; The John Fetterman's Been Replaced By A Body Double conspirators get a tremendous disappointment as Facts ruin their fun. And this is 57-dimensional chess: You know what the Russian Sputnik Covid vaccine was for? To put chips in Russians so they can be targeted by...American missiles? Huh? C-Block (26:40) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY (27:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I can tell you from my own experience - four different times - that there's nothing fake about receiving "fake anthrax" in the mail, as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg did Friday after Trump's threat of "death and destruction." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 24, 2023

EPISODE 161: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:41) If I told you Donald Trump was an "animal" who "should be removed immediately;" If I told you Trump was "doing...the work of the devil;" If I told you Trump was destroying our country "as they tell US to be peaceful;" If I showed you two pictures, one of Trump and - next to it - one of me holding a baseball bat, about to swing it, posed exactly as was Robert DeNiro portraying Al Capone in "The Untouchables" just before he beat another character to death WITH a baseball bat; If I showed you 30 other social media posts I had made in just 24 hours, each of them filled with threatening and violent and hateful language about Trump, what would you think I was TELLING you? What would you THINK I was hoping you would DO? Donald Trump is a stochastic terrorist. He used stochastic terrorism to get somebody to attack the FBI after the Mar-a-Lago search and within days a man breached a local FBI headquarters to try to kill FBI agents. He used stochastic terrorism to get others to commit the insurrection of January 6. He used stochastic terrorism to inspire somebody to attack Democrats in 2018 and Cesar Sayoc sent out 12 liberals and he had a second list in his computer and I know because I was on it. Trump is not just committing stochastic terrorism, he knows he is doing it, because it has worked for him, so well, and so often. Arrest him, today. And he has openly threatened four prosecutors and countless journalists and witnesses. He must not only be arrested - he must NOT be granted bail. B-Block (17:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: The judge may order Rupert Murdoch to testify in the Fox/Dominion defamation case; a NEW defamation case may be filed against Tucker Carlson; Ron DeSantis comes out in favor of immediately eliminating The New York Post and all of conservative media (20:01) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: You're going to CHARGE for Apple TV Baseball? After what it sounded like LAST year? A dishonest media attack on Alvin Bragg. And the Congressman who wants to stop The Biden Student Debt Relief program insisting "debt can not be forgiven" - after he filed for bankruptcy FIVE TIMES. C-Block (25:30) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Lace, on death row in New York (26:30) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: Please meet Muggs - "The Dog That Bit People." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 23, 2023

EPISODE 160: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:41) SPECIAL COMMENT: The Stormy Daniels Grand Jury reconvenes at mid-day Thursday amid a reporting consensus that one last witness will be heard, to rebut the pro-Trump attorney Robert Costello who appeared Monday. But nobody is certain if that will be a Michael Cohen redux or an entirely new witness (CNN even threw out the name Stormy Daniels). So far Costello's main contributions have been the standard Trump hyperbole about "600 pages of evidence the DA has hidden" (almost none of which seems to have any relevance to the Daniels payoff) and one of the great malapropisms of the Trump era. Costello insists he "threw a wrench into their monkey works" - which isn't a thing. The Grand Jury is not expected to do anything but hear testimony so an indictment would seem to shift to next week. But so far everything that seemed logical has proved not to be the case. Happily, the Special Counsel's push to erase Attorney-Client privilege for Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran seems to be clarifying nicely. Trump lost his appeal, seems out of position to go further up the food chain. which means that Corcoran will have to answer six lines of questioning, all of which mainlines back to whether Trump knew that the "certification document" Corcoran wrote and Christina Bobb signed last spring was going to falsely declare that Trump had returned all the Classified Documents he stole. THIS prosecution remains on course and on schedule - unless somebody throws... a monkey into the wrench works. B-Block (15:23) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Ted Cruz and the others who insisted DirecTV was censoring NewsMax when it was actually about money, now STILL insist it was censorship even after a dollar compromise has been reached. MSNBC follows CNN in a sudden lurch to the right as Ari Melber stands up for absolutely nothing and "welcomes" John Kasich as a paid contributor. And the Michigan GOP gets a new "Possession can be transmitted by Sex With Demons" chair and a month later they're tweeting memes of the wedding rings of thousands of Holocaust victims. (21:27) IN SPORTS: Sports Illustrated declares that local sportscasters - once gods in human form - are now dead. Not only did I used to be one of them but I wrote a piece predicting this day...in 1992! C-Block (34:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Speaking of local sportscasting: the greatest scoop I ever got while doing it was one where my only real effort was answering the phone from tipsters half a dozen times. The tale of breaking the Wayne Gretzky Trade. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 22, 2023

EPISODE 159: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:41) SPECIAL COMMENT: Apparently it's the 12 DAYS of Trumpmas: the Judge who was supervising Special Counsel Jack Smith's Grand Jury wrote that Smith had presented prima facie evidence "that the former president had committed criminal violations" and the documents - and NOTES OF AUDIO RECORDINGS - she ordered Trump's attorney to turn over to Smith were part of Trump's "criminal scheme." And all this has NOTHING to do with the Stormy Daniels story. But per The New York Times, Trump, in his madness, "has told friends and associates that he welcomes the idea of being paraded by the authorities before a throng of reporters and news cameras. He has even mused openly about whether he should smile for the assembled media... and is said to have described the potential spectacle as A FUN EXPERIENCE." Norma Desmond Trump is ready for his close-up, Mr. D.A. DeMille! B-Block (20:00) IN SPORTS: It was the greatest performance in basketball history, and he only scored 4 points during it. New York Knicks legend Willis Reed, who won the 1970 NBA title virtually only by showing up, has died. And ESPN has parted ways with the executive who did the most to direct SportsCenter away from what the audience wanted. (26:10) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The U.S. government is terrified of Elon Musk's foreign partners and might yet step in to end his ownership of twitter, while somebody FINALLY asks Rep. James Comer about his college girlfriend's allegation that he beat her and threatened her life - and he confesses to leaking damaging emails about the blogger who first reported the story! C-Block (32:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Moose Tracks, on death row in New York (33:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It was Episode 7 of Aaron Sorkin's "Newsroom" and Jeff Daniels said one line - and every one of my old girlfriends contacted me and said "Wait. Wasn't that what your Dad always said?" See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 21, 2023

UPDATE 158: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:41) SPECIAL COMMENT: What if they gave a Trump Rally and nobody came? It happened, yesterday, at Trump Tower. My exclusive report from the scene as TWO people showed up, 22 showed up downtown, and today's big California rally is scheduled in the parking lot of a Laguna Hills In-N-Out Burger apparently because THE NEAREST FOUR SEASONS TOTAL LANDSCAPING WAS BOOKED. While the rest of us celebrate the thrilling holiday season before Mugshotmas, the far right continue to act as if the gravity has been turned off in their universe. DeSantis defends Trump; Trump implies he's a pedophile or he's gay. McCarthy insists Trump wants no protests; Trump tries to get New York police to NOT defend anti-Trump residents. And in the case against those who allegedly defamed on Trump's behalf, as Dominion Voting and Fox go back into a courtroom in Delaware today, the Fox "News" case comes apart. The former producer of Maria Bartiromo's show, now a Tucker Carlson guest booker, says Fox lawyers tried to make her take the fall. She sues them; they try to stop her from testifying against them. But her testimony leaks: she says her bosses called Bartiromo "a crazy b*tch" and Carlson's producer asked if Bartiromo were having an affair with Kevin McCarthy. She also alleges Carlson's staff made jokes about Jews, and conducted a mock debate about who they'd rather sleep with: Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer or her challenger Tudor Dixon. On the other hand: Rupert Murdoch is getting married again, because love means never having to say you're sorry you're 92. B-BLOCK (15:07) A special summary of 20 years ago as this nation attacked Iraq based on a series of lies by a series of liars named George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld. At this milestone anniversary, liberal media is quite rightly assailed for 'letting it happen.' But I want to give some context for it, especially as one of the few who risked their careers to be anti-war (and my first anti-Iraq War broadcast was in October 2002). I was once almost fired for simply telling the truth about the rescue of Private Jessica Lynch, and I expected to be when I aired the first Special Comment against Iraq and Rumsfeld's attempt to demonize dissent. I'll re-read that commentary, too. C-BLOCK (34:35) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Fenix in Tennessee (35:32) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: On JULY 2, 1979 I was just a fan in the stands cheering Thurman Munson of the New York Yankees. On AUGUST 2, 1979 I was the anchor on a 1000-station radio network having to cover his sudden death, as it flashed across the wire machine two minutes before my first sportscast. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 20, 2023

EPISODE 157: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:41): The "Lock Her Up" Crowd needs to speak to the manager! It thought it made itself perfectly clear! It's "Lock HER Up!" It CANNOT BE "Lock HIM Up!" Whether Trump is arrested tomorrow, next week, or never, the fascist orgasm of naked pusillanimous fear over the rumors Trump himself spread, is COMPLETELY WORTH IT. But the general "wisdom" is complete nonsense. These are bullies who have never before been stood up to. They do not know what to do next but utter dark threats they have no means of acting upon. A "human moat" to encircle Trump? Crashing the economy? Storming key cities in the blue states? As my cousin by adoption and marriage Mike Tyson says, verybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth, and Trump's cult just got punched in the mouth. And if a Trump arrest would guarantee him a "landslide victory" then the obvious Democratic nominee next year is Hunter Biden, on a chain gang with his father, Pelosi, Fauci, Hillary, and Vice President Harris. I understand we've all been worn down by eight years of this Fun-House-Mirrors-crap but relax. Gravity still works. Honestly: the arrest thing isn't even the most important Trump story. What a Washington judge did Friday to attorney-client privilege with Trump and lawyer Evan Corcoran - and what she did with Corcoran's notes that must implicate Trump in perjury - is the real deal. Plus there was an omen in Manhattan yesterday. The Proud Boys attacked "Drag Story Hour" - and got the crap kicked out of them. B-Block (18:18) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Capitol Police confirm what I guessed at: they not only NEVER saw the Tucker Carlson January 6 Gaslighting Video but they were tricked by Speaker McCarthy and Rep. Bryan Steil into setting up a viewing station the cops thought was for Congressman but was actually for Fox "News." (20:49) IN SPORTS: The World Baseball Classic has a problem and it's not just the injuries to Jose Altuve and Edwin Diaz. Why insurance may cancel or reschedule the next WBC. And a bigoted NHL goalie ruins another pride night, but with a twist: He says he can't be a Homophobe because one of his best friends is Muslim. (29:43) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Kayleigh McEnany tries to say "Ingraham Angle" while guest hosting the show. It goes poorly. The weakest flex ever by a failed candidate for governor. And does Senator Marsha Blackburn sound like an escapee from every 1987 TV Magazine Show special on streamlining your style? That's because she IS - and there's proof. C-Block (40:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Nacho in Brooklyn (44:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Now it's The New York Times burying CNN's Chris Licht. I'd just like to point out I started the Moby-Licht ball rolling, and I should tell you the tale of how when we worked together at MSNBC he was infamous as Joe Scarborough's henchman who tried to interfere with Maddow's show and Matthews' and mine and get preferential coverage for Joey Scars' buddies. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 17, 2023

EPISODE 156: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:41) SPECIAL COMMENT: It doesn't MATTER whether Marjorie Taylor Greene really is so stupid that when she insisted yesterday she's never seen any Putin plan to invade Europe, she doesn't know Ukraine is in Europe. All that matters is whether she makes sure that something like 51% of the COUNTRY is so stupid that IT doesn't know Ukraine is in Europe. It's MAKE AMERICA STUPID AGAIN. And its weapon is a rapidly strengthening, rapidly escalating feedback loop centering around Fox "News" and we goddamned better do something about it soon. Because not only is it being used against Ukraine and for Russia, but it's now reached the equivalent to tertiary syphilis: McCarthy gives Carlson meaningless January 6 video which Carlson lies and says is 44,000 hours of the Zapruder film so that yesterday Rep. Barry The January 5th Tour Guide Loudermilk can lie and say "this means we need a new January 6 Committee to investigate the OLD January 6 Committee!" The long-term solution would be a truth based liberal television network with a billion dollars behind it, but who's going to do THAT? The short-term solution is Senate hearings into Fox "News" and Murdoch and whether its interest in destroying the current form of government is funded in any way by a foreign power. It doesn't have to BE funded by a foreign power. Just at the moment, we just need something we can put on against the Barry Loudermilk Hearings To Clear Barry Loudermilk! (10:20) IN SPORTS: Stop The World Baseball Classic before it kills again (18:35) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A bad day for Kellyanne Conway as she reveals Kushner was the only Trump family member to make billions during the Junta, and then shocks the world by confirming China is sending arms... to China! But she's no match for Marianne "Non Disclosure Disagreement" Williamson, and SHE'S no match for Ron "I Eat Pudding With My Fingers" DeSantis. B-Block (24:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It was the greatest scoop of my career to that point, an exclusive told in pantomime by the athlete we were staking out, another gift handed to me without a moment's hesitation by a hockey and football owner and curmudgeon named Harry Ornest. And it would've upended the entire coverage of the 1991 National Football League draft. Except the cameraman forgot to roll tape. I'll be getting over it any day now. C-Block (39:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Archie, a Missouri puppy, was shot in the leg (40:00) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: Two of his stories of man not against others, but against life: "Nine Needles" and "The Mouse Who Went To The Country." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.