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.

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.

“Countdown With Keith Olbermann,” the landmark news and commentary program that reordered the world of cable news, returns as a daily podcast. Olbermann’s daily news-driven mix will include his trademark “Special Comment” political analysis, the tongue-in-cheek “Worst Persons In The World” segment, and his timeless readings from the works of the immortal James Thurber. The man who turned SportsCenter into a cultural phenomenon will broaden the content to include a daily sports segment, a daily call for help for a suffering dog, and a remarkable series of anecdotes covering a career that stretched from covering the 1980 Olympic Miracle on Ice a month after his 21st birthday, to anchoring the 2009 Presidential Inauguration and the 2009 Super Bowl pre-game show in a span of just twelve days, to rejoining ESPN as a “rookie” baseball play-by-play man at the age of 59.

“Countdown With Keith Olbermann,” the landmark news and commentary program that reordered the world of cable news, returns as a daily podcast. Olbermann’s daily news-driven mix will include his trademark “Special Comment” political analysis, the tongue-in-cheek “Worst Persons In The World” segment, and his timeless readings from the works of the immortal James Thurber. The man who turned SportsCenter into a cultural phenomenon will broaden the content to include a daily sports segment, a daily call for help for a suffering dog, and a remarkable series of anecdotes covering a career that stretched from covering the 1980 Olympic Miracle on Ice a month after his 21st birthday, to anchoring the 2009 Presidential Inauguration and the 2009 Super Bowl pre-game show in a span of just twelve days, to rejoining ESPN as a “rookie” baseball play-by-play man at the age of 59.

Countdown with Keith Olbermann

MEADOWS FLIPS ON TRUMP; INDICTMENTS IMMINENT- 6.7.23

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/ace50e85-d35e-4439-991a-b01a0028009d/transcript

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.

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.

HOW WE KNOW ALITO IS LYING; AND WHAT'S BIDEN'S PLAN TO USE TRUMP'S CONVICTION? - 5.30.24

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/a3f8dfe2-60fe-4b7e-bcaf-b17f018447c3/transcript

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. 

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.

TRUMP MOVING TOWARDS A FORM OF ETHNIC CLEANSING - 5.29.24

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/293c9195-1699-488b-931f-b17f000d90a3/transcript

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).

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).

TODAY IS A GOOD DAY TO CONVICT DONALD TRUMP - 5.28.24

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/57df8547-13a9-46c1-932c-b17d01810d39/transcript

MEADOWS FLIPS ON TRUMP; INDICTMENTS IMMINENT- 6.7.23

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