TRUMP JUST TRIED ANOTHER COUP. IT FAILED. FOR NOW. - 2.12.26

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Feb 12, 2026

A fiery breakdown of a failed attempt to use legal tools to silence political opponents and why that failure may not stop future tactics. A rundown of urgent state and federal election safeguards being proposed to block voter interference. A warning about alarming signs in a powerful politician’s behavior and a provocative look at possible ties to the Epstein scandal.

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INSIGHT

Grand Jury Thwarted An Overt Coup Attempt

Keith Olbermann says Trump's attempt to indict Democratic lawmakers was an overt coup attempt that failed because a grand jury refused to go along.
He warns the failure may teach Trump to abandon legal processes and use force or extralegal tactics next time.

INSIGHT

Loyalty To Trump Trumps The Constitution

Olbermann argues Trump, Janine Pirro, and Speaker Mike Johnson prioritize loyalty to Trump over the Constitution.
He predicts targets will expand from immigrants to public servants and eventually to ordinary Americans.

ADVICE

Use Legislation And Funding Battles To Protect Elections

Follow Mark Elias's checklist at Democracy Docket and push state legislatures to pass protections now.
Use the Senate funding fight to demand federal protections for elections and ban election-related investigations near Election Day.

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SEASON 4 EPISODE 58: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump has attempted another coup. You may have missed it.

Trump and Jeanine Pirro with the acquiescence of the hapless Speaker of the House and Porn Monitor attempted another coup: Attempted to get Senators Mark Kelly and Elise Slotkin and four members of the House INDICTED for obstructing Trump’s dictatorship. Tried to convict, tried to jail, for imaginary crimes of disloyalty to him that Trump bleated are quote “punishable by death” six military veterans because they told other Americans to follow the law. For expressing fealty to the Constitution, for publicly reminding service members that THEIR allegiance is to the constitution and not some rapidly deteriorating psychopathic despot.

And ordinary Americans in a Grand Jury stopped Trump’s attempt to overthrow the government of the United States.

For. Now.

Which means the lesson Trump and Pirro and Johnson and the other deputy despots will take away is: next time don’t bother with Grand Juries, just have ICE blast them in the head. What to do to STOP “next time”- what to do RIGHT NOW in the Senate Continuing Funding Resolution - what to do in state houses before the midterms.

PLUS: Trump's either-or: either he Narc'd on Epstein or knew nothing about his crimes. Either way, Trump is now the CEO of the Epstein Cover-up. And maybe even more disturbing, he is actually, seriously, hallucinating. Full-on crazy talk. Not his normal delusions: this is A Chinese plot to destroy the National Hockey League. He thinks this is really happening.

B-Block (37:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: He won Olympic Bronze but was disqualified in the game of life. The three weird sisters are still whining about Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl: Megyn Kelly, Sage Steele, Michele Tafoya - the latter of two using language that matches almost word-for-word what was said by racists and sexists who called the ESPN complaint voicemail line to try to get THEM fired. And then there's the Twitter Rando whose 'egg corn' is as delightful as any I can remember. He's complaining about solitaire confinement!

C-Block (50:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: In the old days baseball spring training wasn't already unofficial underway as of... last week. It was limited and exciting and one of my joys was going to it and reporting from it. So it's time to try to recreate some of that, because naturally I still have the tape of my 1978 Spring Training reports from Florida!

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