Countdown with Keith Olbermann

SEASON 4 EPISODE 74: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: The buffoon who is, for better or worse, the actual president of this country has called the United States of America STUPID.

No – seriously: “We are the only country in the world stupid enough to allow birthright citizenship”

He didn’t call the Constitution stupid. He didn’t call the Supreme Court stupid. He didn't call the immigrants stupid. He didn't call the Democrats stupid. He called the ENTIRE COUNTRY stupid.

You. And me. And his own supporters.

Why again do we continue to permit this disloyal, deranged moron to remain president?

Oh by the way that was him - even before his pathetic speech on Iran last night - signaling he will LOSE, that he is getting CREAMED, after the oral arguments OVER birthright citizenship at the Supreme Court, summarized by his lawyer saying “it’s a new world” and the Chief Justice replying but “it’s the same constitution.” When the Justices rule in June it could be 9-0, though 7-2 would be likelier.

THE BESTEST WAR EVER: Near as I can tell, the essence of Trump's argument in his Iran speech last night was: It's going perfectly because it hasn't taken nearly as long as World War I or Vietnam. He didn't address NATO, he only tweaked the allies who have refused to jump overboard with him, and he only once gave any hint about what's next (Iran has "two or three weeks" to make a deal even though everybody in Iran is dead). The overriding theme of the speech was the tantalizing prospect that he might fall asleep at the podium while he was talking.

TRUMP'S PERVERTS: The latest on Kristi Noem and whether she got a group discount on plastic surgery, the servitude of Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio and RFK Jr and Jeff Bezos, and the weird psychology behind why his former critics enslave themselves to Trump. A professional in the field says it's not masochism, and while it may be blackmail, it's more about Trump providing them with a way for them to lie to themselves and say they aren't deviants or hypocrites, that he will back up their delusions - provided they do exactly what he tells them to.

B-Block ( ) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Oh, look, I'm dragging Katy Tur and Tony Dokoupil again. Tur and I used to talk about Trump's lack of acuity in 2015. She just did a tv segment on it this week and it was as if she discovered it. And a profile of Dokoupil by Columbia Journalism Review has revealed he was once a hair model. What do you mean "once?" Also on here, Navy Commander Tim Parlatore ragging on behalf of Gamblin' Pete Hegseth. Last time we saw him he was civilian Trump attorney Tim Parlatore. I'm waiting for Cardinal Parlatore. And if Cory Booker is paying for the astroturfed online support, he deserves a refund.

C-Block ( ) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: If I'm dragging Tur, it's only fair I tell the story of when she went above-and-beyond even live-in girlfriend duties: the saga of the day my appendix exploded and it took me 48 hours to figure out it wasn't just an upset stomach.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 73: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: I have figured out what might be the weirdest most pointless delusion of Trump's second term: his claim "Vince Lombardi - I knew him."

Trump was just 21, in college, and living with his parents in Queens the day the most legendary figure in football in the '60s retired as coach of The Green Bay Packers. More over, the first time he claimed he knew him was a decade ago, filled with details of witnessing Lombardi grab players by the shirt and not getting beat up because he was a winner. Where? How? He never explained. Of course he didn't. He probably saw it on television.

So why does he believe he met Vince Lombardi?

Because he DID meet Vince Lombardi.

Only - not THAT Vince Lombardi.

He met Vince Lombardi, JUNIOR, son of the legendary coach. Vince Lombardi Jr. was an executive in the United States Football League while Trump owned the New Jersey Generals of that league. Lombardi Jr. recounts meeting Trump (Trump was a jerk) in Jeff Pearlman's perfect book "Football For A Buck."

By this standard, I ALSO KNEW VINCE LOMBARDI. The younger was a negotiator for the owners during the NFL Strike of 1982 that I covered for CNN. But in the 44 years since I met him I never conflated him with his father.

THIS IS NOT THE LEAD STORY, it's just maddening. The lead? Trump and Hegseth and Rubio may be sending thousands of American troops into an ambush in Iran. Not that they care. The conservative publication “The Washington Post” reports Pentagon plans for thousands of Marines and other personnel conducting weeks of raids while Rubio insists it’s going so well, we’ll never need boots on the ground. But Trump and Hegseth and Rubio may be wildly exaggerating how EFFECTIVELY America has degraded Iran’s military capacities AND wildly underrating how effective Iran has been destroying American equipment – especially aircraft.
The Pentagon said an AWACS – the giant command and control plane – was “damaged” while parked on an airfield in Saudi Arabia. Photos have leaked. The back half of the AWACs was blown off. Iran is successfully conducting a war designed to destroy our PLANES on the ground, and control or neutralize wherever American troops intend to land or be based.

AND THE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL doesn't know it is against federal law to send troops (or other "armed men") to a polling station during an election. Five years in jail for sending them, Todd Blanche. Losing eligibility for all offices or honors, Donald Trump.

B-Block (36:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Bill Maher wins The Shania Twain Prize For Humor. I think I have that right. Laura Loomer takes a terrible risk invoking the term "a slap in the face" given what she's done to her own face. And who's worse? Scott Jennings (now accused by three fellow guests of faking his anti-Trump hysteria) or Abby Phillip (who lets her name be used on the grotesque CNN show where Jennings allegedly lies)?

C-Block (50:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I mean this question literally: Whatever happened to Rudy Giuliani? Not that I miss him, not that I'm worried. It's just - he's vanished, hasn't he?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 72: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump has started World War 3 and has no idea how to stop it - and he doesn't know he's LOSING World War 3.

How could he NOT know this? Because reportedly every morning they show him two minutes of highlights of "stuff blowing up" in Iran. His own personal SportsCenter

Conflagration in the Middle East. Trump insisting Iran is dead. And yet Iran has struck Tel Aviv. Putin has sent a Russian oil tanker to Cuba just to remind us he can. Trump has now handed Iran de facto control of the worldwide price of a barrel of oil. Iran now controls 30 percent of worldwide fertilizer distribution. Because of Trump’s World War 3, the Philippines declares an energy emergency and Slovenia institutes energy rationing and United Airlines raised airfares twenty percent. Trump insists peace could be imminent and sends thousands more troops there. He mumbles about a peace proposal. It may be LAST year’s peace proposal and he's confused. Ukraine-Russia continues. Now the PAKISTANIS think they are mediators about Trump’s World War 3. Trump's World War 3, which is apparently being conducted, so crooks can make billion dollar bets on oil futures. And in the ultimate insanity: the military POINT of Trump’s World War 3 is to reopen the Strait of Hormuz after the Strait of Hormuz was closed by… Trump’s World War 3.

All this while Rupert Murdoch insists if Trump DOESN’T put boots on the ground in Iran it will mean “American collapse.” World War 3 (TRUMP’S World War 3) in the new Thursday Countdown dropping at midnight.

IT IS ALMOST SCAPEGOAT TIME: He's beginning to give Hegseth way too much of the credit he normally gives himself. That's what he's always done when he's about to fire somebody. He did it to Noem. Hegseth could be next. Or maybe MarkWayne Mullin, he's been on the job two days and already made an idiot out of himself (again). And talk about scapegoats: who's going to get it at CBS where the morning show's target audience is now 33% smaller than the target audience I had the last week I did Countdown on MSNBC.

B-Block (26:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: When Patel's federally-funded girl friend Alexis Wilkins trashes Mike Flynn, Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson and Joe Kent - this must be some list: The Blaze, Glenn Beck, Scott Jennings, and Lauren Boebert,

C-Block (40:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: A new baseball season is underway and this might be our last Opening Week until 2028 or later. My career began with covering the two most calamitous sports strikes in American history: MLB 1981 and NFL 1982. Of a drunken night with the football guys, and a broadcast in which a then-prominent sports columnist called them all communists (for the same kind of proposal OWNERS now offer TO players).

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.