Countdown with Keith Olbermann

EPISODE 90: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Eight different things - led by Raphael Warnock's victory over Herschel Walker in the Georgia runoff - went drastically wrong for Trump on Tuesday, so PARTY DOWN. (2:10) The Special Counsel not only issued subpoenas he expanded his investigation to include electoral fraud; the 1/6 Committee is (probably) going for criminal referrals; the Trump Organization convicted of 17 counts of...free cable? Ronna McDaniel turns on him over Georgia; Mitch McConnell turns on him over 'terminating' the Constitution; and the families of the January 6th Congressional Gold Medal recipients with a never-to-be-forgotten diss of Trump's nearest proxies, refusing to shake the hands of McConnell and Kevin McCarthy. B-Block (14:57) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Eddy in New York; (15:59) IN SPORTS: Cody Bellinger moves, Aaron Judge about to, J.T. Daniels AGAIN (19:39) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A New York newspaper confuses Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander; Arson Judge? Who the hell is ARSON Judge? And Kanye West is a long way from rock bottom. C-Block (23:46) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: 17 years ago this week we found out the president of MSNBC didn't have cable, and was still congratulating himself on changes to Countdown he'd made a year before, and which we'd dropped after actually doing them only once. Also, as Lester Holt, Chris Matthews, Joe Scarborough, Jesse Ventura and I realized - in the men's room - the guy wasn't 6'7." He was 6'5" and for some reason he was lying about it!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 89: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump: "Who you are going to believe? Me on Truth Social, or Me on Truth Social? I never said I wanted to terminate the Constitution! I only said I wanted to terminate articles OF the Constitution! (2:50) Trying to backpedal on his latest coup call, Trump just digs his hole deeper: he is now subject to 18 USC 115 Section 2385: Advocating the overthrowing of the government of the United States. (4:30) Some current GOP figures finally - mildly - defend the Constitution against Trump (6:30) But best of all: dozens of GOP quotes, from Boebert to Hannity, vowing eternal vigilance to protect the Constitution, including Kevin McCarthy's "That Constitution, and the freedoms it protects, must be defended and preserved for us and for our children." Take these quotes and put them on signs and drape them around the necks of these blowhards: Corner. Them. B-Block (13:50) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Bentley in Santa Rosa (14:48) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Georgia: Trump literally phones it in. What does ABC News do about its love co-anchors? (18:09) IN SPORTS: Verlander, Turner, Kershaw get paid. Yankees spend on...Brian Cashman? (21:08) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A Times headline slip, Kanye West's latest racist hallucination, and Glenn Greenwald compete for the honors. C-Block (25:34) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I've been quiet about her since 2006 and despite a series of jaw-dropping mistreatments since 2016. And I probably would've remained so. But when my ex, Katy Tur, turned her husband's vasectomy into a photo-op for their newscasts, something snapped. When the New York Times and Washington Post asked to talk to me about her, this is a person who told them she'd ask me, then told them I declined - without ever telling me. And that, sadly, is just the tip of the iceberg.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 88: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: A man whose words have previously unleashed an attempted coup now calls for the 'termination' of the Constitution, and 48 hours later he has not been arrested, apprehended, or detained? Like we've done it to everybody else who has launched a seditious conspiracy, TWICE? (2:55) Ohio Congressman Dave Joyce speaks for a complacent nation and media with this rationalization: "He says a lot of things. But that doesn't mean it's ever going to happen." (5:30) This was also unleashed by Elon Musk, Matt Taibbi and what even right wingers confess was no "smoking gun" in the saga of Hunter Biden's Lap (as opposed to laptop) yet it in turn inspired still more Fascist Angertainment: an ex-GOP candidate for congress responded "we can no longer get rid of tyranny by the ballots. It's only by the bullets now," and two attempted domestic terrorist attacks over the weekend may have been connected (9:11) There is an irony here: hours before Trump went ANTI-Constitution he had positioned himself as PRO-Constitution (11:00) But the real danger of ignoring these latest words of madness is best processed by asking yourself: What if somebody else had said these exact things? B-Block (15:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: AMA Animal Rescue urgently needs fosters (15:55) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Have the Morality Police been abolished in Iran, or not? Sesame Street's icon has passed away. And here come antisemites like Steven Crowder to defend the antisemite Kanye West (19:27) IN SPORTS: For once a baseball Hall of Fame voting committee gets it right: Fred McGriff is in, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens aren't. Which permits me to reveal for the first time the mind-boggling story the former General Manager of the Yankees told me of how they gave away McGriff: a Yankee player insisted to owner George Steinbrenner that he had to make the deal! Plus did the Texas Rangers overpay for Jacob deGrom by $185,000,000, and a really cheap joke about the U.S. at the World Cup (24:24) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Points Bet "Lightning" Commercial competes with Chris Christie's niece against Rudy "Protect Democracy By Cancelling The Elections After 9/11" Giuliani for the honors. C-Block (28:15) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Not only did I work for Ted Turner but at the 1982 NFL Strike Talks I covered Ted Turner and I nearly decked Ted Turner. The saga of why my camera crew was wearing CBS baseball caps, what Ted said when he saw them, and why I responded to the humiliation by quick thinking as opposed to horse-collaring him.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 87: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: There is no such thing as being "slightly Nazi" and that is the reason, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, The House Judiciary Republicans, Tucker Carlson, Paul Gosar, Greg Gutfeld, Benny Johnson, Jeanine Pirro, Will Cain, and Jason Whitlock, you do not excuse and rationalize and defend somebody who had only said relatively minor antisemitic things. Because one day they will announce "I see good things about Hitler" and "I love Nazis." (12:44) As a gentile of largely German heritage I learned this lesson when I was a kid, the day my Dad came back having stormed out of a final interview for a great job because the directors really wanted to be reassured he wasn't Jewish. "It is always there," he said. "It is always beneath the surface. And often as we think we have gotten rid of it for good, still it is there. And I've had to fight it. And I had to fight it today. And YOU'LL have to fight it tomorrow." Because - there IS no such thing as being "slightly Nazi." B-Block (18:46) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Jupiter in New York (19:39) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Senate abandons Rail Workers, Herschel Walker threatens and hallucinates again, and CNN fires Chris Cillizza - and why that's bad news for Joe Biden! (23:09) IN SPORTS: Chaos after Germany is eliminated at the World Cup, and the passing of baseball spitball - and NON-spitball - pitcher Gaylord Perry (24:55) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: New York City hiring a "Citywide Director of Rodent Mitigation" competes with Herschel, and ABC's Amy Robach for the honors. C-Block (29:22) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: One of the very few times the great humorist dipped a toe in the world of the occult: how Thurber's imagination turns an accent into a man who "traffics with the devil" in "The Black Magic Of Barney Haller."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 86: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Three weeks ago - so quietly it has barely been noticed - the government declassified the 31-page "memorandum for the record" of the 9/11 Commission's 2004 interview with President George W. Bush (2:20) In it, Bush's words are beyond damning - they are confessional. They confirm his dereliction of duty, his culpability, his malfeasance, in the months before 9/11. Bush lied (5:38) about the August 6 President's Daily Briefing (6:58) Bush lied about the only threats being "overseas" (7:53) Bush lied about Al-Qaeda cells in the U.S. (8:23) Bush lied about aircraft as missiles (8:57) Bush lied about being warned about domestic threats (9:30) Bush lied about George Tenet never warning him (10:00) Bush lied about never being told how Al-Qaeda would attack (14:28) Sadly the 9/11 Commissioners never asked Bush about the allegation that he rushed through the August 6 2001 PDB because he wanted to go fishing and told the briefer "All right, you've covered your ass now." That's unfortunate because ALL Bush did in his interview with the Commissioners was try to cover HIS ass. For more than 20 years he's succeeded, but after the declassification of this memorandum, history will conclude two things: Osama Bin Laden attacked America - no one else. And George W. Bush made sure that America was unprepared - no one else. B-Block (19:29) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Lucky in California (20:21) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: McCarthy promises a committee to investigate the 1/6 Committee - IF he can get elected; and after promising no layoffs, CNN's Chris Licht lays off hundreds (22:26) IN SPORTS: How IS Pele? And Don Mattingly's new job and why whenever he sees me he says "That's Mel on the right!" (25:25) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The man who ignored the warning 'never drink while playing Monopoly' and the gullible website Semafor compete with Elon "I Lied About Apple" Musk for the honors. C-Block (29:31) 37 years ago this month I was new in L.A. and on my way to a great interview with baseball immortal Mickey Mantle. That's when I ran into the most elegantly dressed couple I have ever seen in my life. They were fans of my new local sportscast, and they introduced themselves as Joseph and Patricia Carlton. But who WERE they and why he look SO familiar? An amazing explanation in "Things I Promised Not To Tell."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 85: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Kevin McCarthy says: "Stop Picking On Elon Musk!" FINALLY, because two of the worst Republican politicians shot off their big bazoos, we get a clue as to what Musk is doing to Twitter. He's running the same play on it that John Malone ran on CNN: (4:02) see the platform that permits criticism of fascists, buy the platform, claim you only want to make it again into "sensible and centrist" media, shift the Overton Window as far right as you can, and turn it into radical right propaganda.(7:46) After Musk's self-martyring battle with Apple, his next fight may come from Google. Axios reports Google is "monitoring developments" on the lack of content moderation at Twitter and could remove the App from its Google Play Store (11:25) What specific political rewards Musk should be expecting is still unclear but to hear Kevin McCarthy and Ron DeSantis whine about it, you'd think Musk had been kidnapped by pirates. DeSantis went so far as to suggest that if Apple removes Twitter from its App Store, Congress should "respond." B-Block (17:35) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Meatball, in Staten Island (18:33) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Senate passes Same-Sex Marriage, House to take up Paid Leave for Railroad Workers, Stewart Rhodes convicted, Trump still avoids condemning Nick Fuentes (20:49) IN SPORTS: World Cup Win, Golf War could end if they fire Greg Norman, Joey Votto beaten by 9-year old (22:55) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: So, yeah, I ate a box of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups without taking off the brown wrappers - of course this was in 1966. I compete with Herschel "Texas Ranger" Walker and Marjorie "Masks Can't Stop Farts" Greene for the honors. C-Block (29:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It's roughly the anniversary of the day I got a call about how they were going to fire Jimmy Kimmel and could I replace him? It's not exactly what it sounds like - I'll explain.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 84: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: I think Republicans just found a window to push Trump out of the party over Nick Fuentes and Kanye West. His VP, at least a dozen Senators, and others rushed for the exits - and to publicly slam him for dining with the two antisemites (2:30) Relax. I'm not interested in their flexible and utterly reversible morals. They did this exact same thing with the Access Hollywood tape. They don't CARE. Trump doesn't CARE. But when Rick Scott says "there's no room in the Republican Party for white supremacy and antisemitism" he's setting in motion a political timeline that ends with Trump as a 3rd Party candidate who splits the Republican vote. (7:15) It isn't yet a full-fledge run on the bank, but it was enough for Mike Pence to demand Trump apologize (10:42) and even Herschel Walker to run for cover. (11:50) As a footnote, why is it all Fuentes and not Kanye? Last night the host of a livestream didn't immediately agree with West's proclamation that "The Media" and "The Jews" were the same, so seconds later West walked off the show in protest. B-Block (17:15) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Luca in New York (17:57) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: 1/6 Committee interviews Kellyanne ConJob, and the top puppy and kitten names for 2022 (20:05) IN SPORTS: How the World Cup started or accelerated the Chinese anti-government protests (23:03) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Marsha Blackburn destroys a kitchen and the subtle threat for more Colorado Springs shootings from "Gays Against Groomers," competing with the tag-team of Elon Musk and Steven Crowder for the honors. C-Block (25:05) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Enjoying Alexi Lalas on the Fox Sports coverage of The World Cup? A quarter century ago he and I did a "This Is SportsCenter" commercial. If you've ever wondered how much fun it would be to grab a guitar out of Lalas's hands, in a crowded newsroom that hasn't been warned, and smashing it against a wall - it pretty much couldn't be MORE fun. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 83: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (0:15) SPECIAL COMMENT: Of COURSE Trump knew who Nick Fuentes was. Of course Trump knew what Kanye West has become. Of course Trump wanted them there, because they are hate-peddlers with followings and they are all he has left. And you don't get past security as Kanye's "Plus One." (5:30) Trump is exploring going all-in on antisemitism because if you hadn't noticed, nobody but Lindell-level freaks have even referenced The Big Lie about the 2020 Election since Trump lost the 2022 Election. While House Republicans promise to investigate every crackpot rumor from Hunter Biden's Laptop to Fentanyl to Covid's Origins, did you notice they are NOT investigating the 2020 Election? Trump needs a New Act. (8:39) Though Trump is vulnerable, prominent Republicans are still hesitant to accuse him of antisemitism, which is odd since he's been antisemitic far longer than Fuentes or West. B-Block (16:30) DON'T FORGET. A MONTH AGO, TRUMP THREATENED AMERICAN JEWS: "No president has done more for Israel than I have. Somewhat surprisingly, however, our wonderful Evangelicals are far more appreciative of this than the people of the Jewish faith, especially those living in the U.S...U.S. Jews have to get their act together and appreciate what they have in Israel. Before it's too late." (20:04) Translating Trump's manifold antisemitism, including the 'real loyalty' trope, his history of calling Israel "your country" to American Jewish groups, the 'You know some people would mistreat you Jews but I didn't so why haven't you rewarded me' threat, and especially (22:39) invoking the Evangelicals, for whom the Jews are a prop in their "End Times" fantasy of the return of Jesus followed by all Jews converting - or being slaughtered (27:00) Given Trump's history of Hitler worship this is especially virulent stuff. He praised Hitler's generals and economics and kept a book of his speeches in his bedroom  C-Block (30:00) I'LL REPEAT MY ASSERTION. TRUMP IS NOW AMERICA'S HITLER. We saw it first in September in Youngstown, Ohio, with the modified Sieg Heil, and the QAnon Music, and the rewritten history. it is time to use the real words. Trump has stopped pretending, and embraced QAnon, Christofascism, and Violent Revolution. He is America's Hitler, and he must be stopped while we still have any capacity to do so.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 82: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: OK maybe I am. (1:58) Trump has about as bad a day as you can have in court and not be Al Pacino in the movie "And Justice For All." But first, I'm worried about The Washington Post profile of new Trump Special Counsel Jack Smith and my haunting fear he is there to run out the clock on behalf of Merrick Garland. A former colleague is quoted as saying "It was understood that the fastest way for a case to die was to give it to (Jack Smith's) Public Integrity Section." (3:00) Happily, though the Post gave not the slightest hint of  it, the guy who said that is not just a revenge-obsessed right wing nut job but the worst kind: one who thinks he's an impartial analyst. (6:07) So we can look instead at Trump's FIVE legal setbacks in one day: on the tax case at the Supreme Court (and what Dems can do with the taxes with only 41 days until the GOP takes the house); at the hearing to dismiss the Special Master from the Nuclear Documents Kleptomania case; at Lindsey Graham's Grand Jury appearance in Georgia; at the efforts to revitalize Manhattan's Stormy Daniels hush money case; and at the impending SECOND lawsuit by E. Jean Carroll. No comment from Trump Attorney Lionel Hutz. B-Block (12:40) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Max in North Carolina (13:40) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Yes, you didn't imagine it. The 2nd Woman produced a tape of Herschel Walker phoning her and saying "this is your stud farm calling, you big sex puppy you," and then he said something much dumber live on Fox News. Herschel's Erection Election plus the AP taking its "Russian missiles in Poland" screw-up and making it much worse and Bolsonaro contesting after all (19:29) IN SPORTS: Lionel Messi's Employers upset Lionel Messi's Team at the World Cup: It's A Messi Situation, plus the Rob Thomson surprise, and what a fan did to Pete Rozelle the day he wouldn't cancel the NFL schedule even after the JFK Assassination (23:14) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Bothsidesist Ashley Parker and GOP Talking Point Merchant Katherine Herridge of CBS can't compete with producer Stew Peters whose movie about supposed deaths after Covid vaccinations "DIED SUDDENLY" actually shows people who a) didn't get vaccinated b) didn't die and c) didn't do anything suddenly. C-BLOCK (28:44) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It is ESPN's most beloved outtake and since it was about the World Cup, I present it now in annotated form. Ladies and gentlemen: It's the famous "SOCCER BREAKDOWN.":See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 81: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Tucker Carlson, who has spent months conflating LGBTQ issues with "sex crimes" and "castrating children" and two months ago demanded his viewers not "put up with this, for one second, no matter what the law says," last night insisted stochastic terrorism is impossible and no one could be indoctrinated by his or others' words while repeating that gay and trans people and doctors and teachers were indoctrinating children and then throwing to a commercial for Golden Corral because OF COURSE things said on television can't influence you to do ANYTHING. (8:49) And the right wing continues its attempt to get others to act violently: GOP presidential wannabe Mike Pompeo insists "The most dangerous person in the world is (American Federation of Teachers leader) Randi Weingarten" because of "the filth they're teaching our kids." B-Block (15:23) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Cottage and Sheff (16:36) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Comer Scandal-latest. Bob Iger returns; I will repeat the best advice I've ever gotten in my life, which Iger gave me in March 1979! (20:16) IN SPORTS: US "loses" World Cup opener 1-1; Iran's brave players win the day while the cowardly captains of Belgium, Denmark, England, Germany, The Netherlands, and Wales lose it. The new baseball Hall of Fame ballot is out and once again the top new candidate will be excluded because of a cheating scandal (24:03) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: 32 paragraphs of Trump Special Counsel/GOP BS Biden Investigations bothsidesism from CNN, competing with Cesar "Crisis of Confidence" Conde of NBC News and ex-Press Secretary Kayleigh "I Dunno How To Say This Name" McEnany for the dishonors. C-Block (28:53) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL. It is 59 years since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and I may be the youngest person you know with a distinct memory of that terrible day and the days that followed. From the adults crying to the cancellation of all the cartoons to the muted Thanksgiving Day Parade, it made its impression on me, two months shy of my fifth birthday.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.