March 20, 2023 • 49 mins
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.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. The
lock her Up crowd thought they were being very clear
(00:25):
about this, explicitly clear. They don't know how you got
it so wrong. They need to speak to the manager.
They have to talk with Q personally. It's lock her up,
not lock him up. We're members of the leopards who
eat people's faces party. The leopard is not permitted to
eat our faces. The fascist orgasm of naked pusillanimous fear
(00:50):
over the rumors of Trump's arrest tomorrow, rumors still one
radiating only from Trump and actually contradicted by many facts
from other quarters. That fascist orgasm of fear is worth
it just by its own self. They have all operated
so long, so illegally, with so much impunity, that for
(01:14):
many Trump cultists, this is a time so unimaginable that
most of them expect to wake up and find out
it was all a terrifying, appalling, inconceivable dream, and that
that skid mark is just a trick of the light.
And most importantly, there is their principal response, their repeated threat,
(01:35):
their dire warning, their primary directive. It is the same
response from everybody in the never right but never in
doubt crowd running the gamut from Elon, I have now
given Twitter an automatic Pooh emoji function. Musk to Kevin.
Now that you mention it, I guess I am obstructing
(01:56):
justice by threatening the da McCarthy to MAGA lawyer Joe
McBride claiming Trump is comparable today to Mark Luther King
in March nineteen sixty eight, which you really should have
googled first, because it's a really bad analogy. For drump
It is the same muted or not so muted or
explicit violent threat that this will bring blood and war
(02:19):
and revenge, and we'll crash the economy, and we'll take
over the Blue States, and we'll surround Trump with a
human moat so you can't arrest him. And you'll see
in proud Boys and JFK Junior and military tribunals in
Jesus and never ending retribution and tyranny and whistleblowers and
help Bobi wan Kenobi, You're my only hope. And what
will actually happen is nothing. You heard me. Nothing. Bullies,
(02:53):
especially bullies who have been getting away with bullying so
long that they have lost touch with the reality that
every once in a while, the victim stands up and
knocks the bully out cold with one punch. Have no
frame of reference in a world in which Donald Trump
is arrested, none to the small degree they've actually ever
thought about it or anything else. Trump to them is inviolable, untouchable, unbeatable.
(03:20):
They don't know what to do, and they don't know
how to do it, like most conservatives and thieves, and
they are conservative thieves after all, The idea has never
crossed their mind that they could get caught, and the
few who can think straight today are already realizing the implication.
(03:41):
If the ringleader can be arrested, that means something much
much more important. It means they themselves can be arrested.
Whatever else the Trump cult has accomplished, whatever else the
Trump cult has destroyed, The Trump cult is not a
cult of self sacrifice and collective action. This is a
(04:03):
group of ni hilists who can't spell nihilism and who
are in it for the grift and the power. It
is a cult dependent on one tent pole, and one
tent pole alone. And Trump has always made sure that
nobody gets to stand too close to him in case
he loses one one millionth of the credit. And if
(04:24):
history teaches us anything about one man cults, from Julius
Caesar to Huey Long to Jim Jones, it is that
the moment the strong man proves fallible, there is only
one reaction common to all the subservient figures who survive
in the cult. They immediately begin the process of denying,
(04:47):
insisting and absolutely proving that they were never in the cult.
They were only kidding, They were just monitoring it for violence.
They were auditing. Ed help me, Obi wan kenobi, You're
my only hope. Many will disagree with me here and say,
the threat of violence, I mean, other than the possible
risk we all run by being trampled by people running
away from Trump. The risk of violence is a tangible one,
(05:10):
they say, And I disagree, but I respect that argument.
But even that argument neglects something larger. The belief that
Trumps take our nation back threat is he is instigating
his cult to violence if he really is perp walked
Tuesday or anytime, neglects the stark reality that for eight
years he's already been instigating his cult to violence, and
(05:33):
that he will continue instigating his cult to violence even
if he isn't arrested. What's the difference. This is the
creature who instigated January sixth. Somebody is only now considering
the possibility Trump might try to get his minions to
act violently on his behalf. That's all they do. Arresting
(05:54):
him is going to fire up his base. Not arresting
him is going to fire up his base. The other
conventional thinking here is also wildly flawed. Depending on the
amount of cool aid imbibed, it goes this way, and
arrest of Trump will either guarantee him the nomination or
guarantee him the nomination and hand him the White House.
(06:16):
To the first point, he's running for president next year.
He already said so. And the Republican nominee is thus
going to be Ron DeSantis, a tiny man in high
healed shoes in a party persecuting drag queens. Really, it's
(06:38):
going to be Mike Pence, who yesterday tried to get
away with saying on national television that the Stormy Daniel's
payoff happened before he joined the Trump ticket, and then
John Carl reminded him it happened just two weeks before
the election. Pence is going to be the nominee Nicky
Hailey Pompeo. Is anybody actually assuming Trump will not be
(07:01):
the nominee and say he's not, He will run as
a third party candidate. He has to his ego, cannot
let him lose. Whether he's arrested Tuesday or not, getting
reelected is his only chance of not going to a
supermax penitentiary and dying there while incarcerated. I appreciate that
(07:27):
eight years of the abuse of our intelligence, our humanity,
our sense of history, our common sense, and our ethics
has worn us down. It has gotten us all thinking
a little bit like the Trump cultists actually think, wondering
if they might be right, even a little. But their
(07:48):
same logic that says Trump getting arrested guarantees he'll be
elected next year demands that there can be one and
only one Democratic nominee in twenty twenty four, and that
man is Hunter Biden. If, as The Guardian reports, it
is Trump's own idea to make sure he surrenders in person,
(08:12):
in public to the Manhattan DA and hell, get the
President and his son, Hunter and his wife, and Vice
President Harris and her husband and have them all surrenders
somewhere for something and then attached them like a chain gang.
They'll all become president. I mean back to the first
point here, getting arrested means he becomes president. Lock her up?
(08:37):
Did that get Hillary Clinton elected? And I missed it
or what owen? By the way, there is little actual
evidence that Trump will be arrested, at least that he'll
be arrested tomorrow, because there may be one last witness
for the Stormy Daniel's grand jury to hear because Trump
reportedly wants one of his eleventy billion attorneys to impeach
(08:58):
the credibility of one of his eleventy billion X attorneys.
Michael Cohen, the bagman in the annuals payoff, discussed hiring
somebody named Robert J. Costello in twenty eighteen, and a
pardon was brought up, and then it disappeared, and Cohen
didn't hire Costello, and Costello sent Cohen a bill, and
Cohen didn't pay the bill. And in Trump world, not
(09:18):
paying your bill is the worst crime of all. It's
worse than murder unless it's Trump who didn't pay the bill.
And also, oh, by the way, I always end these
podcasts by saying, arrest Trump now while we still can't
let me just add something to that. Today, arrest Trump today,
(09:40):
arrest Trump, tomorrow, arrest Trump forever. But even in that context,
I don't think this story, or even Trump getting arrested
in this case tomorrow or otherwise, and then getting arrested
in ten other cases in the weeks to come, I
don't think that's the most important story of the moment,
(10:00):
not even the most important Trump's story of the moment.
The Evan core Ceran saga is way more important. But
you may not have heard about it because of all
the oxygen being long ago sucked out of the room
by the image of Trump the martyr trying to hammer
in that last nail himself. Friday was Judge Beryl Howell's
(10:24):
last day as the top judge in the District of Columbia,
and boy did she go out with a bang. The
judge's ruling that the Department of Justice had met the
threshold to override attorney client privilege and force Evan Corker
in to testify against Trump in the Marilago Documents, part
of Special Counsel Jacksmith's investigation. That was expected. What was
(10:45):
not expected was Judge Howell then handing federal prosecutors attorney
Corkeran's actual notes about his private communications with his client Trump.
Here's a recreation of that here. To do that, the
judge has to have determined that the notes are evidence
(11:07):
of a crime. The so called crime fraud exception applies here,
and we all know what the crime has to be,
and we all know who the fraud is because it
was Corkran who wrote the document last June that Christina
Bob signed that indicated that Trump had voluntarily turned over
all the stolen government classified documents at Marilago. The claim
(11:29):
was a lie, the document was a lie, and the
lawyer's notes clearly did something to prove that the lie
was Trump's keeping classified documents in your house is a crime,
even for a former president. Knowingly keeping classified documents in
your house is espionage, and forcing your attorneys to swear
(11:53):
false witness about it is another crime or two or thirty.
And frankly, that'll all make Trump's perp walk over Stormy
Daniels look like a quick dance in the spring rain.
And lastly, let me circle back to this threat of
trumpion violence. Something symbolic happened in Manhattan yesterday, and while
(12:16):
it's a little off the topic. It was just so spectacular.
It provided just such an amazing slogan or motto perhaps
for this entire shameful era in American history, that I
have to play this for you. The Proud Boys decided
to storm Drag Story Hour in Greenwich Village, as hosted
(12:36):
not by the New York County DA Alvin Bragg, but
by the New York State DA or Attorney General Letitia James,
and the drag queens beat the crap out of them.
There is a clip on Twitter a video from Freedom
News TV, a very good follow and the guy you
(12:58):
will hear speaking in the audio from it is identified
by Freedom News TV as a member of the Proud
boy I think they're right. The guy's claiming to be
an EMT, but he's not wearing any identification as a medic.
He's just wearing a fatigue cap. And he's being escorted
by another man in a hoodie with Proud Boys written
on it in big letters. Oh and this man has
(13:21):
blood all over his face because the drag Queens beat
the crap out of him. And there it is the
rallying cry for the Trump mob if and when he
is arrested Tuesday or whenever. Quote. I came here to
(13:44):
help people, not get the shit beat out of me.
Words to live by still ahead of us. In this
(14:05):
edition of Countdown, what did I tell you about the
Tucker Carlson January sixth gaslight video and how he got it?
Did I tell you Kevin McCarthy and Congressmen Brian's style
had to have tricked the Capitol Police into setting up
the viewing station that the cops were told was for
Congress only turned out it was for Tucker Carlson. Guess
what the attorney for the Capitol Police has just testified
(14:26):
to this is a huge story. Next, the media continues
to carve up CNN boss Chris Licked into Little Chris
Licked bite sized pieces. The man described last week as
CNN's captain. Ahab gets trashed again by The New York Times.
Not by me, but I like to think I got
this ball started. And Senator Marsha Blackburn speaks, And if
(14:50):
she's ever sounded to you like she was a refugee
from QVC or maybe local TV from the eighties, guess what,
She's a refugee from local TV from the eighties. When
she used to talk about big Rhyan stones and sequined
patterns and fun fun things to wear, and fascism is great.
First person's coming up. That's next. This is countdown. This
(15:20):
is Countdown with Keith old Woman. Postscripts to the news
some headlines, some update, some snarks, some predictions. Dateline Washington
told you so, told you So, told you. Capitol Police
were not allowed to vet the January sixth video that
Kevin McCarthy improperly gave to Tucker Carlson, and in fact,
(15:43):
McCarthy and Congressman Bryan's Style of Wisconsin scammed the Capitol
Hill Cops into setting up viewing stations the cops thought
were for members of the House, but were in fact
for the use of Carlson's little producer minions. Capitol Police
General Counsel Thomas D. Bass has filed a six page
document as part of a criminal case, and in it
(16:05):
he says, of the forty different video clips Carlson used
emphasized used, most of the clips are just a few
seconds each. The police got to see one of them
in advance. The other thirty nine quoting DBAs were never
shown to me nor anyone else from the Capitol Police,
and they asked McCarthy and Republicans again and again to
(16:27):
let them see the video that was going to Fox
first to assuage security, privacy, and decency concerns, and were
refused by the Speaker repeatedly. DBAs confirmed that the request
for access to the footage came first from McCarthy aide,
Tim Monaghan, and then from McCarthy's rookie henchman, Brian Style
(16:48):
of Wisconsin, the new chair of the House Administration Committee. Quote.
At no time was I nor anyone else from the
Capitol Police informed that anyone other than personnel from the
House Administration Committee would be reviewing the camera footage. The
next thing, the Capitol least new House Administration Committee staffers.
We're escorting Fox quote news unquote staffers to those viewing
(17:13):
stations set up by the Capitol Hill Police. Obviously it
will not go anywhere under a GOP majority. But somebody
needs to file ethics charges against McCarthy and Style, and
when the Democrats regain the House, drive these men who
have sold their offices to Rupert Burdock out of office forever.
(17:47):
This is Sports Center, Wait check that in not anymore.
This is Countdown with Keith Albermann in Sports. The latest
from the World Baseball Classic. No players were injured significantly yesterday,
meaning it's now one consecutive day since the Pennant Races
(18:07):
have been reshaped by a meaningless exhibition series whose backers
boast that its key games can sell thirty six thousand tickets.
On Saturday night, reliever Daniel Bard of the US team
lost the plate, walked to hit two, buzzed the Astros
two time MVP Jose Altuve in on his hands, broke
(18:28):
Altuve's thumb, and took Altube out of the Houston lineup
until at least June. But it could have happened in
an exhibition game because lots of pictures with wildness streaks
try to throw at full speed on March eighteenth, and
lots of batters who crowd the plate don't back off
a little until they're confident their timing and reaction speeds
are up to regular season full strength. And besides which,
(18:51):
even if there were no World Baseball Classic, Jose al
Tube could have been hit by lightning in spring training.
You never thought of that, did you. Jose al Tube
is out eight to ten weeks, and the star reliever
Edwin Diaz of the Mets is insisting he will make
it back before this season ends in September, but the
(19:13):
odds of that and the odds that he will never
fully recover from his kneecap tendon tear are about the same.
A couple of baseball executives I know suggest that while
media types whose profiles have been amplified by the tournament,
or who are paid by Major League Baseball to hype
the damn thing, continue to defend the World Baseball Classic
with arguments bordering on the irrational, they most players, most fans,
(19:38):
and most teams are missing the real point of the
last few days of carnage at the WBC. While appearing
in the World Baseball Classic, the players are paid by
their Major League teams. The major league teams only permit
this because the teams can get insurance against any injury
that will sideline their players. Just between how two Bay
(20:00):
and Diaz, the insurers will now pay out something like
thirty million dollars to the major league clubs. Well, guess
what insurers do when they suddenly have to pay somebody
thirty million dollars. Yes, they stop selling them insurance. It
was suggested to me that before the next WBC scheduled
for twenty twenty six. Look for Baseball to come up
(20:22):
with some kind of excuse about how it could get
an even bigger TV audience if they played the WBC
on non football nights in November, or how the World
Baseball Classic could be coordinated with the winter leagues of
Latin America so they could play in I don't know,
in Puerto Rico or Venezuela in November. It wouldn't be
great if the WBC championship game were in Mexico on Christmas,
(20:46):
and then at least the tournament would stop being this
March madness, and somebody like josel two bays eight to
ten week injury would at least put him back on
the field for the next spring training. This will all
leak out quietly and slowly, and nobody will say a
thing about injuries, and they'll move the twenty twenty six
tournament until late autumn because nobody will insure it in March.
(21:09):
Ever again, after this, they might not even insure it
in November either, which raises a point about the fans
willing to sacrifice other teams, seasons, and even the careers
of key players for the sake of a supposedly international
tournament where all the key games ever are always played
only in the United States, If the major league teams
(21:32):
couldn't get insurance on their players, and Edwin Diaz had
to sign a waiver avoiding his hundred million dollar contract
if he got hurt jumping up and down in a crowd,
or JOSEL two of a had to agree not to
be paid much of his twenty six million dollars salary
this year if he broke his thumb in one of
the games. How many of these guys would actually play?
(21:54):
How far are we all willing to take this I'm
playing for national pride stuff? The answer is obvious. If
the players had to take the physical and the financial risk,
the twenty twenty six WBC National rosters would be made
up of coaches, guys who retired in nineteen ninety eight
(22:14):
or earlier, and the top competitors from each major league
team's fantasy camps. Thank you, Nancy Faust. And another controversy
somehow got worse over the weekend. In sports, James rymer,
(22:36):
goaltender of the San Jose Sharks, refused to wear a
warm up uniform Saturday night for fifteen minutes with some
of the lettering and numbering change to a rainbow pattern
for San Jose Sharks Pride Night. Nobody asked him to
carry a flag, Nobody asked him to make a statement.
Nobody asked him for his endorsement, Nobody asked him anything.
(22:57):
He's James Rymer. Just wear the shirt, skate around a
couple of times, go back in the dressing room, change
the shirt. That's it. But James Reimer made a statement anyway, quote,
I am choosing not to endorse something that is counter
to my personal convictions, which are based on the Bible.
(23:19):
And the initial reactions seemed to be well, at least
he said something rather than trying to sneak it through
like the Russians who sabotage Pride Night in Minnesota and
New York and that guy in Philadelphia who sore has
said something, even though, as anybody who's read the Bible knows,
for nine out of ten subjects, you can get almost
(23:40):
any answer you want out of the Bible, to say
nothing of advice that's in the Bible that you wouldn't
follow even if you were Billy Graham. But then James
Rymer decided for some reason to take this to another level,
to drag his former teammate Nazim Kadri into this, and
he therefore lost any standing he might have had. Loved
(24:01):
him to death, Rhymer told San Jose Media of their
time together with the Toronto Maple Leafs. I don't know
exactly the extent of his faith, his Muslim faith, but
he's a Muslim. I think you could talk to him
and ask him if I treated him any different. I
love him the old I can't be a homophobe. One
of my best friends is a Muslim, defense resuming Rhymer
(24:25):
as he kept digging, quote, people would understand if I
wouldn't be able to wear a Muslim jersey and warm
ups promoting the Muslim faith being a Christian and a
follower in Christ. Can you still hear me up there
on the surface. Yeah, that's not exactly the flex Rhymer
(24:45):
thinks it is. End of the day, he continued, I
love everyone and the people in this community. If I
had a gay teammate, I hope I would be the
first one to shake his hand when he comes in
and treat him like I would any other teammate unquote,
except Rhymer made a public statement to underscore that he
was not supporting that hypothetical teammate. By the way, it
(25:08):
really isn't hypothetical. Statistically, James Rhymer has already had at
least one gay teammate. He just doesn't know it because
no gay NHL player has ever felt comfortable enough to
reveal his sexuality, in part because of quote friends unquote
like James freaking Rhymer. By the way, there are two
(25:28):
punch lines to this story. A hockey writer has pled
to donate three dollars to an LGBTQ charity for every
goal James Rhymer gives up the rest of the season,
which could cost a lot of money, given that, by
one metric, of the NHLs ninety eight goalies this year,
Rhymer is the eighty ninth best. The other punchline, sometime
(25:49):
on Saturday, Rhymers signed a puck for a fan at
the game in San Jose or at the arena after
the game, We're not sure when it happened. It was
a puck with a rainbow design on it. It was
a Pride Night puck. Evidently James Rhymer never noticed something
(26:10):
he should consider doing more of still ahead. You have
heard me saying again and again and again. When we
(26:30):
worked together at MSNBC, we all thought CNN president Chris
licked eight paced well. The proverbial glue guy has gotten
carved up in the newspapers yet again as he and
the network transformed fully into a punchline. The latest plus
the original story of Moby lickt when he was Joe
Scarborough's hatchetman, first time for the daily round up of
(26:53):
the misgrants, morons and Dunning Krueger Effect specimens who constitute
today's worst persons in the world. Lebronze, Kaylee MCKININNY, I
can't play this tape for you, even though I really
would like to, because it's from Fox, and I'll let
you in on a little secret. They would find out
and they would sue me because here's another secret. I
have from time to time been critical of Fox, actually
(27:15):
just once really continuously since two thousand and one, any who.
After her stint lying for money from Trump, mcinenney has
since moved on to lying for money for Fox, and
they're now letting her fill in for the actual hosts. Friday,
she was filling in for Laura Ingram, and her show,
The ingram Angle. Not it's a dumb name, and it's
(27:36):
a tongue twister, but still it takes a kind of
special talent to then say, I'm Kiley mcinenney in for
Laura Ingram and this is a special edition of the
ingrill Angam. It's kind of hard to believe someone's life
could have peaked when they were the associate producer on
the Mike Huckabee show The ingril Angam. It is now
(27:57):
and forever the ingrill Am. So Saith the Lord ingril Angam.
Ron's failed New York Republican nominee, Lee Zelden ran for
governor after Trump leaked the rumor that he was about
to be arrested. Zelden tweeted, Alvin Bragg may very well
be the most dangerous, devisive, incompetent, and compromised district attorney
(28:18):
in America. On day one, my first action as governor
would have been to tell Bragg he was being fired.
Mister Zelden, what you would have done to Bragg if
you had not lost a blowout to Kathy freaking Hokel.
It's not exactly the flex you think it is. But
our winner and let me just let the music die
(28:40):
out here, because this is the proverbial audio daily double.
You have to hear this, and hear this clearly. Standby,
Thank you. Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee speaking at the
latest Conservative conference. And they have one every weekend. They
do nothing else. They have to keep busy to avoid
the small chance that the religion they champion might be
(29:02):
literally true and they're all going to hell. Any who.
This is from the Palmetto Family Bible Conference at North Charleston,
South Carolina. Well, how come it's North Charleston if it's
in South Carolina? And this is about that nationwide ride
Friday where we destroyed tens of millions of the Conservatives appliances.
(29:23):
You missed that when we went everybody's home and just
burned down their washboards and their washing machines, and Marcia
thinks it happened. They see an administration trying to take
and an ideology trying to take total control of their lives,
whether it's your light bulbs, your toilet flush ors, your showerheads,
(29:47):
your gas stoves, or this week, your washing machines. That
was an applause line that got no applause. If Marsha
Blackburn sometimes sounds to you like one of those fashion
and style ditzes you still see occasionally on Channel seven
magazine or two on Town TV, or any of the
locally produced shows left over from the eighties and the nineties.
(30:09):
Here's a little known fact. Before becoming first the dumbest
person in the House of Representatives and then the dumbest
person in the Senate, and more to the point, before
she began to look like the crazy, unkempt sister of
Flow from the Progressive Insurance commercials, Marshall Blackburn was a
professional image consultant who did TV appearances. No, I'm not kidding.
(30:35):
She took out an ad once in a Nashville newspaper
her face with a big headline next to it. Image
consultants aren't just for the rich. She once offered an
hour's lecture a ticket to it for fifteen bucks, lunch included.
I found feature articles on image consulting that quote her
for United Press International in nineteen eighty one, from Gannette
(30:56):
Newspapers in nineteen ninety one. There's in nineteen eighty seven Nashville,
Tennessee an article that quotes her is saying I liked
it bailed my flare or style with accesories, which I
believe was also her last campaign slogan. Most importantly, there
is a quick TV clip origin unknown that they've been
(31:18):
trying to get rid of off the internet for years,
but it's out there and it's staying out there. Marsha's
giant inflatable hair suggests it could be nineteen ninety one,
or it could be nineteen eighty one. If it weren't
on video and it was on film, it could be
nineteen sixty one. Anyway, this is the same Marsha Blackburn
(31:40):
now United States Senator? Can you dress us up for
the holidays? Oh? We can dress you better than ever
this year. You wouldn't believe it. Christmas and holiday wear
is so exciting and for the first time in many
of our lives, many young adults, people who are in
the forty and under bracket, it's the first year we've
ever gotten the chance to really make a distinctive difference
(32:03):
in our daytime and evening dressing. How is that changing, Marsha?
I were seeing so much to glitter and glamor and
lots of big rhymestones, big fake JEMs, lots of sequence fabrics,
and just fun, fun things to wear big faked gems.
Any who, I was watching these two clips that I
(32:24):
just played you the audio from, and I was thinking,
I bet you Marsha Blackburn's only had just the one
thought over the last forty or fifty years, and she
keeps parceling it out. Portions of it here, portions of it.
They're in fashion consulting, or in the House, or in
the Senate, or at her little weekly theocratic conventions. And
(32:45):
I wondered, well would it sound like if I put
it all back together again, if I made that one
thought back into one SoundBite. I call these things, and
I know nobody else has ever used this term a mashup?
How is that changing? Marshas they see an administration trying
to take Big Rhinstone's big fake gem, lots of sequin
(33:09):
fabric thing, white bulbs, your toilet flushers, your shower heads,
your gas stoves, or this week your big fake people.
Can you dress us up for the holidays? Oh, we
can grass you better than ever this year. You wouldn't
believe it, As my dad would say, that's somebody that's
got too much time and too much Big Rhinstone's big
(33:33):
fake gem, lots of sequin fabrics and just fun, fun
things to wear. Marcia, No, don't get your glitter and
glamour and glitz stuck in your toilet flushers. Blackburn two days.
Oh no wait, I can't resist. I'm sorry. How is that?
(33:55):
Rings They see an administration trying to take big rhinestones,
big fake gem, lots of sequin fire light bulbs, your
toilet flushers, your showerheads, your gas stoves are this week
your people? Can you dress us up for the holiday? Oh?
(34:15):
We can dress you better than ever this year. You
wouldn't believe it, As my dad would say, that's somebody
that's got Marsha blackburn two days, worst dressed person still ahead.
(34:45):
Well they've sliced up Chris Lickt of CNN again New
York Times, noting that the Licht helmed CNN primetime specials
at nine pm. Quote last week, when the network aired
the Biden and Zelenski interviews, as well as at town
hall with Governor Young Ken of Virginia, CNN delivered its
fourth lowest nine pm weekly ratings in twenty four years.
(35:06):
Times quotes licts boss David zaslav Is saying ratings be
damned and let's get a lot wrong in the next year.
The whole piece reeks of a subtext of when are
they going to fire this lickt guy and this Zaslav guy. Anyway,
the original story about when I worked with Chris Licht
an MSNBC next. First, in each edition of Countdown, we
(35:27):
feature a dog in need you can help. Every dog
has its day to Brooklyn and Nacho, a tiny, terrified dog,
maybe a Yorki Chihuahua mix. For two years he got
no attention, no affection, no exercise, not enough food. Then
his human left the country and gave him to an
elderly aunt, and of course by then Nacho was too
scared of humans to respond. AMA Animal Rescue is trying
(35:49):
to help him recover needs our donations. Look for Nacho
on go fund Me or on my Twitter feeds. I
thank you, and Nacho thank you. Perhaps the most amazing
thing about my ten years at MSNBC was the fact
(36:11):
that Joe Scarborough and his producers, especially his chief henchman,
ever got their own show on the air. Because nobody
I have ever worked with in radio or television, in
sports or news in the twentieth century or the twenty
first ever spent more time trying to screw with other
(36:32):
programs on the same network than did Joe Scarborough, And
until just about the time I left in twenty eleven,
the guy he sent in to do most of the
sabotage for him was this henchman guy. The reason this
should matter to you now is Scarborough's henchman was Chris Licked,
the new president of CNN. And if they scoured the
(36:55):
nation to find the worst person to run CNN in
a time when democracy is threatened by one political party
and tepidly defended by another, it's Chris Licked. I know,
I know. You turn on the TV and you see
Joe Scarborough and you see exactly what I see. A blank, dazed, darting, paranoid,
(37:16):
no soul, stupid check engine light. Look. But if you
don't trust me, trust my scars. My Joey Scars behind
that vapid face is a master saboteur. Early in two
thousand and eight, the late Tim Russert called me and
warned me that the GOP had upped its pressure on me.
(37:37):
He said he had heard from somebody in New York
that somebody in New York was going into the office
of the president of NBC News saying that Joe Scarborough
couldn't get his friend John McCain to come on to
his new morning show because I was so critical of McCain.
On Countdown, Tim was not sure it was Scarborough, but
if it wasn't, who else could have gotten in to
(37:59):
see the president of NBC News other than Scarborough or
his executive pretty The evidence for the new CNN president,
mister Licht, being directly involved in interfering with programming to
benefit somebody else's friends or political cronies, was vague in
two thousand and eight, but not at all vague two
years later. Early in January two ten, the Republican candidate
(38:23):
to fill the Senate seat of a late Ted Kennedy,
Scott Brown, the former semi nude model, was at a
rally when one of his supporters talked about quote, shoving
a curling iron up the backside of the Democratic Senate
candidate Martha Cokeley. Scott Brown clearly heard the remark from
the crowd and responded, quote, we could do that. On
(38:45):
January eighteenth, on Countdown, I did a brief commentary about
how unsuitable Brown was for public office. I said he
was quote an irresponsible, homophobic, racist, reactionary, X nude model
tea bagging supporter of violence against women and against politicians
with whom he disagrees. Unt I had quote from Brown,
I had videotape of him disparaging his minority opponent in
(39:08):
a local election to her face at a debate. To
back up what I said. An hour later, Joe Scarborough
commenced a tweet storm against me. Quote Alberman calls Brown
a homophobic, racist reactionary who supports violence against women. How
reckless and how sad. It's no longer enough to simply
(39:29):
disagree with someone. I'm sorry, I just fell into my
Scarborough impression. Just as when Beck called a president racist,
this sort of rhetorical exclaimism must be discouraged. It chapened
the debate. End quote, end impression. Now there was a
standing rule at MSNBC. You want to criticize another MSNBC personality,
(39:50):
go ahead, have a blast, but it must be on
the air on MSNBC, and the other person must have
an opportunity to reply in real time, in the same show,
or in some kind of face to face way. No
hit and run. Joe Scarborough tweet storms. If you criticize
(40:11):
them by name or by inference in any other medium newspaper, interview, radio,
social media, you were to receive an automatic suspension. The
next day, January nineteenth, I called the president of MSNBC,
Phil Griffin, and I asked how long Joe Scarborough's automatic
suspension was going to be. Griffin asked me to come
into the office a little earlier than usual and to
(40:33):
go see him. He said he had already had a
meeting about the tweets that morning with Scarborough's executive producer,
Chris Licht. Griffin explained that Scarborough, according to Licht, considered
Scott Brown a friend. More importantly, Chris lickt warned Griffin
that if Griffin followed through and enforced the suspension rule,
(40:54):
Scarborough would have no other option than to go to
the press and tell reporters, especially reporters at right wing
websites like Tucker Carlson's The Daily Caller, that he Scarborough
had been suspended because he Scarborough was a conservative, but
I was a liberal, and that I and not Phil
(41:14):
Griffin ran MSNBC. What can I do? Griffin was scared.
I told him he could fire Scarborough and licked because
they had just tried to blackmail him, and eventually he
was going to have to fire them both anyway, But
that I knew he would not do this, and that
I knew now that he would not suspend Scarborough either,
(41:34):
and Griffin did not suspend him. Partial score Scarborough's friends
to MSNBC's rules of behavior nothing but Phil Griffin did
send out a memo to the entire company insisting that
anybody who criticized another MSNBC show or host in another
medium would be suspended, except Scarborough, who had just done
(41:57):
exactly that and then threatened his own employers. On January
twenty fifth, Brian Stelter's old blaw TV newser got a
copy of Griffin's memo. They wondered why Scarborough had not
been suspended, so they called the MSNBC president and they
printed quote Griffin responds to TV Newser quote, an important
rule was broken. I spoke to Keith and he said,
(42:20):
in the spirit of teamwork and the free flow of ideas,
he didn't think it warranted punishment or suspension. I also
talked to Joe and he apologized to me. That's why
I made the decision that this didn't rise to the
level of punishment, but I felt it was necessary to
reiterate my long standing policy one PC bullcrap reiterate my
(42:41):
long standing policy which I just did not enforce against
Joe Scarborough. The whole thing was totally fabricated, licked and
Scarborough had threatened to smear their own bosses in the
right wing echo chamber. Should have been both fired on
the spot. In May twenty ten, Scarborough said something on
the air about a Democrat getting away with not being
(43:01):
investigated for something. I forget the details. I didn't bother
to look it up. You can if you want. Then.
Marcos militzis the editor of the Daily Coast website and
not just a regular contributor to Countdown, but somebody who
had been promoting the show and the MSNBC brand on
that website every day for five years. Marcos sent a
(43:21):
snarky but legitimate tweet questioning Scarborough's credentials to criticize others
who had not been investigated for stuff. Marcos invoked the
staffer who died in an accident in Joe Scarborough's congressional office.
Scarborough then attacked Melitsus on Twitter inaccurately claiming Melitzus had
accused Scarborough of murder. A few days after that, I
(43:44):
got a phone call from the MSNBC president, Phil Griffin.
And if he got a phone call rather than a
call to come into his office, you know he was
really scared. Griffin told me Chris Licked has been in
to see me. Joe won't put up with having Marcos
Militzus on his network anymore. Not only that, but Licks
as many of Joe's friends who also appear in Dayside
and Primetime won't come on if Marcos Mulitzis is permitted
(44:08):
to continue. Here, Chris is insisting that Marcos be banned
from MSNBC immediately. Chris says he's afraid that if we
don't do that, Joe won't come into work tomorrow. Upon
hearing that, I laughed and I congratulated Phil Griffin on
the clear win win he'd just been given. But Phil
(44:29):
was very bad at enforcing MSNBC's rules, but very good
at creating new ones on the spot. To protect Joe
Scarborough and Chris Licht and their friends, I'm banning Mlitzus
from any further appearances on MSNBC, I said Phil. He's
a contributor to my show. You are suspending my contributor
who has driven hundreds of thousands of viewers to Countdown
(44:52):
at MSNBC, and I don't have any say in it.
You are owned by Joe Scarborough and Chris Licht. What
you now have to worry about is whether I tell
this story on the air tonight or I just wait
and tell later. Phil now got conciliatory because he was
scared again and said it could be just a suspension
if I cooperated. So I called Marcos. He said he
(45:16):
enjoyed his contributions to Countdown. He also did occasional appearances
on the old Ed Schultz MSNBC show, and he said
if there were a chance at resuming them, he'd preferred
to at least try that. So Marcos and I went
along with Griffin suspending Marcus Melitzus, and to my knowledge,
Marcus Melitzus has not been seen on MSNBC since. I
(45:39):
wish I had better notes on some of my conversations
from the two thousand and eight, nine, ten eleven era
about those conversations with the hosts and the producers of
the other shows like Schultz and Rachel Maddow's show and
even Chris Matthews and Hardball. I must have heard a
variation of this statement a dozen times from these people.
Guess who was in Griffin's office explaining that such and
(45:59):
such as Joe's friend and Phil really needs to make
sure we lay off him. Chris licked. It was usually
an expletive in the middle between Chris and Licht. I
remember one of my producers at the MSNBC a version
of Countdown telling me that one of the other producers
told him that Licht had gone to NBC News president
Steve Kappus with an actual list of Republicans that Matto
(46:21):
and Olberman needed to stop criticizing because they were Joe's
here's the word again friends, and we were hurting morning Joe.
What's amazing is that, setting aside the issues of unrevealed
torrid love affairs, when CNN fired its nine PM host
Chris Cuomo, president Jeff Zucker, and senior vice president Alison Gallist,
(46:44):
they fired them in essence because they interfered with CNN
content and practices in order to do favors for people
who were their friends or, in Cuomo's case, their relatives
at MSNBC. Interfering with MSNBC content and practices to do
favors for friends was seemingly the only reason Chris Licked
(47:06):
had a job. So CNN got rid of left wingers
for a terrible violation of journalistic ethics, and then hired
as president a right wing henchman who had committed exactly
the same journalistic ethical problems, and who, for his act,
the first one of his career at CNN, killed off
the only national television show that regularly held up Fox News,
(47:31):
Newsmax and all the rest to the world to show
that they were the threats to democracy that they are.
This is CNN. I've done all the damage I can
(47:57):
do here. Thank you for listening. Here are the credits.
Most of the music was arranged, produced and performed by
Brian Ray and John Philip Channel, who are the Countdown
musical directors. Orchestration and keyboards by John Fidli Channel, Guitars,
bass and drums by Brian Ray, produced by Tko Brothers.
Other Beethoven selections have been arranged and performed by the
group No Horns Allowed. Sports Music is the Olderman theme
(48:21):
from ESPN two, and it was written by Mitch Warren
Davis courtesy of ESPN inc musical comments from Nancy Fauss.
The best baseball stadium organist ever. Our announcer today was
Jonathan Banks, and everything else was pretty much my fault.
So let's countdown for this the eight hundred and fourth
day since Donald Trump's first attempted coup against the democratically
(48:41):
elected government of the United States. So now watch for
the new meaning behind Nick's next phrase, Arrest him now
while we still can, like tomorrow tomorrow would be a
good day. Is it too late today? Arrested him today?
Better yet, arrest him today and then arrest him again tomorrow.
(49:04):
The next edual countdown is tomorrow. Thank you for bearing
with me till then. I'm Keith Olerman. Good morning, good afternoon, goodnight,
and good luck. Countdown with Keith Olreman is a production
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
(49:28):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. The
lock her Up crowd thought they were being very clear
(00:25):
about this, explicitly clear. They don't know how you got
it so wrong. They need to speak to the manager.
They have to talk with Q personally. It's lock her up,
not lock him up. We're members of the leopards who
eat people's faces party. The leopard is not permitted to
eat our faces. The fascist orgasm of naked pusillanimous fear
(00:50):
over the rumors of Trump's arrest tomorrow, rumors still one
radiating only from Trump and actually contradicted by many facts
from other quarters. That fascist orgasm of fear is worth
it just by its own self. They have all operated
so long, so illegally, with so much impunity, that for
(01:14):
many Trump cultists, this is a time so unimaginable that
most of them expect to wake up and find out
it was all a terrifying, appalling, inconceivable dream, and that
that skid mark is just a trick of the light.
And most importantly, there is their principal response, their repeated threat,
(01:35):
their dire warning, their primary directive. It is the same
response from everybody in the never right but never in
doubt crowd running the gamut from Elon, I have now
given Twitter an automatic Pooh emoji function. Musk to Kevin.
Now that you mention it, I guess I am obstructing
(01:56):
justice by threatening the da McCarthy to MAGA lawyer Joe
McBride claiming Trump is comparable today to Mark Luther King
in March nineteen sixty eight, which you really should have
googled first, because it's a really bad analogy. For drump
It is the same muted or not so muted or
explicit violent threat that this will bring blood and war
(02:19):
and revenge, and we'll crash the economy, and we'll take
over the Blue States, and we'll surround Trump with a
human moat so you can't arrest him. And you'll see
in proud Boys and JFK Junior and military tribunals in
Jesus and never ending retribution and tyranny and whistleblowers and
help Bobi wan Kenobi, You're my only hope. And what
will actually happen is nothing. You heard me. Nothing. Bullies,
(02:53):
especially bullies who have been getting away with bullying so
long that they have lost touch with the reality that
every once in a while, the victim stands up and
knocks the bully out cold with one punch. Have no
frame of reference in a world in which Donald Trump
is arrested, none to the small degree they've actually ever
thought about it or anything else. Trump to them is inviolable, untouchable, unbeatable.
(03:20):
They don't know what to do, and they don't know
how to do it, like most conservatives and thieves, and
they are conservative thieves after all, The idea has never
crossed their mind that they could get caught, and the
few who can think straight today are already realizing the implication.
(03:41):
If the ringleader can be arrested, that means something much
much more important. It means they themselves can be arrested.
Whatever else the Trump cult has accomplished, whatever else the
Trump cult has destroyed, The Trump cult is not a
cult of self sacrifice and collective action. This is a
(04:03):
group of ni hilists who can't spell nihilism and who
are in it for the grift and the power. It
is a cult dependent on one tent pole, and one
tent pole alone. And Trump has always made sure that
nobody gets to stand too close to him in case
he loses one one millionth of the credit. And if
(04:24):
history teaches us anything about one man cults, from Julius
Caesar to Huey Long to Jim Jones, it is that
the moment the strong man proves fallible, there is only
one reaction common to all the subservient figures who survive
in the cult. They immediately begin the process of denying,
(04:47):
insisting and absolutely proving that they were never in the cult.
They were only kidding, They were just monitoring it for violence.
They were auditing. Ed help me, Obi wan kenobi, You're
my only hope. Many will disagree with me here and say,
the threat of violence, I mean, other than the possible
risk we all run by being trampled by people running
away from Trump. The risk of violence is a tangible one,
(05:10):
they say, And I disagree, but I respect that argument.
But even that argument neglects something larger. The belief that
Trumps take our nation back threat is he is instigating
his cult to violence if he really is perp walked
Tuesday or anytime, neglects the stark reality that for eight
years he's already been instigating his cult to violence, and
(05:33):
that he will continue instigating his cult to violence even
if he isn't arrested. What's the difference. This is the
creature who instigated January sixth. Somebody is only now considering
the possibility Trump might try to get his minions to
act violently on his behalf. That's all they do. Arresting
(05:54):
him is going to fire up his base. Not arresting
him is going to fire up his base. The other
conventional thinking here is also wildly flawed. Depending on the
amount of cool aid imbibed, it goes this way, and
arrest of Trump will either guarantee him the nomination or
guarantee him the nomination and hand him the White House.
(06:16):
To the first point, he's running for president next year.
He already said so. And the Republican nominee is thus
going to be Ron DeSantis, a tiny man in high
healed shoes in a party persecuting drag queens. Really, it's
(06:38):
going to be Mike Pence, who yesterday tried to get
away with saying on national television that the Stormy Daniel's
payoff happened before he joined the Trump ticket, and then
John Carl reminded him it happened just two weeks before
the election. Pence is going to be the nominee Nicky
Hailey Pompeo. Is anybody actually assuming Trump will not be
(07:01):
the nominee and say he's not, He will run as
a third party candidate. He has to his ego, cannot
let him lose. Whether he's arrested Tuesday or not, getting
reelected is his only chance of not going to a
supermax penitentiary and dying there while incarcerated. I appreciate that
(07:27):
eight years of the abuse of our intelligence, our humanity,
our sense of history, our common sense, and our ethics
has worn us down. It has gotten us all thinking
a little bit like the Trump cultists actually think, wondering
if they might be right, even a little. But their
(07:48):
same logic that says Trump getting arrested guarantees he'll be
elected next year demands that there can be one and
only one Democratic nominee in twenty twenty four, and that
man is Hunter Biden. If, as The Guardian reports, it
is Trump's own idea to make sure he surrenders in person,
(08:12):
in public to the Manhattan DA and hell, get the
President and his son, Hunter and his wife, and Vice
President Harris and her husband and have them all surrenders
somewhere for something and then attached them like a chain gang.
They'll all become president. I mean back to the first
point here, getting arrested means he becomes president. Lock her up?
(08:37):
Did that get Hillary Clinton elected? And I missed it
or what owen? By the way, there is little actual
evidence that Trump will be arrested, at least that he'll
be arrested tomorrow, because there may be one last witness
for the Stormy Daniel's grand jury to hear because Trump
reportedly wants one of his eleventy billion attorneys to impeach
(08:58):
the credibility of one of his eleventy billion X attorneys.
Michael Cohen, the bagman in the annuals payoff, discussed hiring
somebody named Robert J. Costello in twenty eighteen, and a
pardon was brought up, and then it disappeared, and Cohen
didn't hire Costello, and Costello sent Cohen a bill, and
Cohen didn't pay the bill. And in Trump world, not
(09:18):
paying your bill is the worst crime of all. It's
worse than murder unless it's Trump who didn't pay the bill.
And also, oh, by the way, I always end these
podcasts by saying, arrest Trump now while we still can't
let me just add something to that. Today, arrest Trump today,
(09:40):
arrest Trump, tomorrow, arrest Trump forever. But even in that context,
I don't think this story, or even Trump getting arrested
in this case tomorrow or otherwise, and then getting arrested
in ten other cases in the weeks to come, I
don't think that's the most important story of the moment,
(10:00):
not even the most important Trump's story of the moment.
The Evan core Ceran saga is way more important. But
you may not have heard about it because of all
the oxygen being long ago sucked out of the room
by the image of Trump the martyr trying to hammer
in that last nail himself. Friday was Judge Beryl Howell's
(10:24):
last day as the top judge in the District of Columbia,
and boy did she go out with a bang. The
judge's ruling that the Department of Justice had met the
threshold to override attorney client privilege and force Evan Corker
in to testify against Trump in the Marilago Documents, part
of Special Counsel Jacksmith's investigation. That was expected. What was
(10:45):
not expected was Judge Howell then handing federal prosecutors attorney
Corkeran's actual notes about his private communications with his client Trump.
Here's a recreation of that here. To do that, the
judge has to have determined that the notes are evidence
(11:07):
of a crime. The so called crime fraud exception applies here,
and we all know what the crime has to be,
and we all know who the fraud is because it
was Corkran who wrote the document last June that Christina
Bob signed that indicated that Trump had voluntarily turned over
all the stolen government classified documents at Marilago. The claim
(11:29):
was a lie, the document was a lie, and the
lawyer's notes clearly did something to prove that the lie
was Trump's keeping classified documents in your house is a crime,
even for a former president. Knowingly keeping classified documents in
your house is espionage, and forcing your attorneys to swear
(11:53):
false witness about it is another crime or two or thirty.
And frankly, that'll all make Trump's perp walk over Stormy
Daniels look like a quick dance in the spring rain.
And lastly, let me circle back to this threat of
trumpion violence. Something symbolic happened in Manhattan yesterday, and while
(12:16):
it's a little off the topic. It was just so spectacular.
It provided just such an amazing slogan or motto perhaps
for this entire shameful era in American history, that I
have to play this for you. The Proud Boys decided
to storm Drag Story Hour in Greenwich Village, as hosted
(12:36):
not by the New York County DA Alvin Bragg, but
by the New York State DA or Attorney General Letitia James,
and the drag queens beat the crap out of them.
There is a clip on Twitter a video from Freedom
News TV, a very good follow and the guy you
(12:58):
will hear speaking in the audio from it is identified
by Freedom News TV as a member of the Proud
boy I think they're right. The guy's claiming to be
an EMT, but he's not wearing any identification as a medic.
He's just wearing a fatigue cap. And he's being escorted
by another man in a hoodie with Proud Boys written
on it in big letters. Oh and this man has
(13:21):
blood all over his face because the drag Queens beat
the crap out of him. And there it is the
rallying cry for the Trump mob if and when he
is arrested Tuesday or whenever. Quote. I came here to
(13:44):
help people, not get the shit beat out of me.
Words to live by still ahead of us. In this
(14:05):
edition of Countdown, what did I tell you about the
Tucker Carlson January sixth gaslight video and how he got it?
Did I tell you Kevin McCarthy and Congressmen Brian's style
had to have tricked the Capitol Police into setting up
the viewing station that the cops were told was for
Congress only turned out it was for Tucker Carlson. Guess
what the attorney for the Capitol Police has just testified
(14:26):
to this is a huge story. Next, the media continues
to carve up CNN boss Chris Licked into Little Chris
Licked bite sized pieces. The man described last week as
CNN's captain. Ahab gets trashed again by The New York Times.
Not by me, but I like to think I got
this ball started. And Senator Marsha Blackburn speaks, And if
(14:50):
she's ever sounded to you like she was a refugee
from QVC or maybe local TV from the eighties, guess what,
She's a refugee from local TV from the eighties. When
she used to talk about big Rhyan stones and sequined
patterns and fun fun things to wear, and fascism is great.
First person's coming up. That's next. This is countdown. This
(15:20):
is Countdown with Keith old Woman. Postscripts to the news
some headlines, some update, some snarks, some predictions. Dateline Washington
told you so, told you So, told you. Capitol Police
were not allowed to vet the January sixth video that
Kevin McCarthy improperly gave to Tucker Carlson, and in fact,
(15:43):
McCarthy and Congressman Bryan's Style of Wisconsin scammed the Capitol
Hill Cops into setting up viewing stations the cops thought
were for members of the House, but were in fact
for the use of Carlson's little producer minions. Capitol Police
General Counsel Thomas D. Bass has filed a six page
document as part of a criminal case, and in it
(16:05):
he says, of the forty different video clips Carlson used
emphasized used, most of the clips are just a few
seconds each. The police got to see one of them
in advance. The other thirty nine quoting DBAs were never
shown to me nor anyone else from the Capitol Police,
and they asked McCarthy and Republicans again and again to
(16:27):
let them see the video that was going to Fox
first to assuage security, privacy, and decency concerns, and were
refused by the Speaker repeatedly. DBAs confirmed that the request
for access to the footage came first from McCarthy aide,
Tim Monaghan, and then from McCarthy's rookie henchman, Brian Style
(16:48):
of Wisconsin, the new chair of the House Administration Committee. Quote.
At no time was I nor anyone else from the
Capitol Police informed that anyone other than personnel from the
House Administration Committee would be reviewing the camera footage. The
next thing, the Capitol least new House Administration Committee staffers.
We're escorting Fox quote news unquote staffers to those viewing
(17:13):
stations set up by the Capitol Hill Police. Obviously it
will not go anywhere under a GOP majority. But somebody
needs to file ethics charges against McCarthy and Style, and
when the Democrats regain the House, drive these men who
have sold their offices to Rupert Burdock out of office forever.
(17:47):
This is Sports Center, Wait check that in not anymore.
This is Countdown with Keith Albermann in Sports. The latest
from the World Baseball Classic. No players were injured significantly yesterday,
meaning it's now one consecutive day since the Pennant Races
(18:07):
have been reshaped by a meaningless exhibition series whose backers
boast that its key games can sell thirty six thousand tickets.
On Saturday night, reliever Daniel Bard of the US team
lost the plate, walked to hit two, buzzed the Astros
two time MVP Jose Altuve in on his hands, broke
(18:28):
Altuve's thumb, and took Altube out of the Houston lineup
until at least June. But it could have happened in
an exhibition game because lots of pictures with wildness streaks
try to throw at full speed on March eighteenth, and
lots of batters who crowd the plate don't back off
a little until they're confident their timing and reaction speeds
are up to regular season full strength. And besides which,
(18:51):
even if there were no World Baseball Classic, Jose al
Tube could have been hit by lightning in spring training.
You never thought of that, did you. Jose al Tube
is out eight to ten weeks, and the star reliever
Edwin Diaz of the Mets is insisting he will make
it back before this season ends in September, but the
(19:13):
odds of that and the odds that he will never
fully recover from his kneecap tendon tear are about the same.
A couple of baseball executives I know suggest that while
media types whose profiles have been amplified by the tournament,
or who are paid by Major League Baseball to hype
the damn thing, continue to defend the World Baseball Classic
with arguments bordering on the irrational, they most players, most fans,
(19:38):
and most teams are missing the real point of the
last few days of carnage at the WBC. While appearing
in the World Baseball Classic, the players are paid by
their Major League teams. The major league teams only permit
this because the teams can get insurance against any injury
that will sideline their players. Just between how two Bay
(20:00):
and Diaz, the insurers will now pay out something like
thirty million dollars to the major league clubs. Well, guess
what insurers do when they suddenly have to pay somebody
thirty million dollars. Yes, they stop selling them insurance. It
was suggested to me that before the next WBC scheduled
for twenty twenty six. Look for Baseball to come up
(20:22):
with some kind of excuse about how it could get
an even bigger TV audience if they played the WBC
on non football nights in November, or how the World
Baseball Classic could be coordinated with the winter leagues of
Latin America so they could play in I don't know,
in Puerto Rico or Venezuela in November. It wouldn't be
great if the WBC championship game were in Mexico on Christmas,
(20:46):
and then at least the tournament would stop being this
March madness, and somebody like josel two bays eight to
ten week injury would at least put him back on
the field for the next spring training. This will all
leak out quietly and slowly, and nobody will say a
thing about injuries, and they'll move the twenty twenty six
tournament until late autumn because nobody will insure it in March.
(21:09):
Ever again, after this, they might not even insure it
in November either, which raises a point about the fans
willing to sacrifice other teams, seasons, and even the careers
of key players for the sake of a supposedly international
tournament where all the key games ever are always played
only in the United States, If the major league teams
(21:32):
couldn't get insurance on their players, and Edwin Diaz had
to sign a waiver avoiding his hundred million dollar contract
if he got hurt jumping up and down in a crowd,
or JOSEL two of a had to agree not to
be paid much of his twenty six million dollars salary
this year if he broke his thumb in one of
the games. How many of these guys would actually play?
(21:54):
How far are we all willing to take this I'm
playing for national pride stuff? The answer is obvious. If
the players had to take the physical and the financial risk,
the twenty twenty six WBC National rosters would be made
up of coaches, guys who retired in nineteen ninety eight
(22:14):
or earlier, and the top competitors from each major league
team's fantasy camps. Thank you, Nancy Faust. And another controversy
somehow got worse over the weekend. In sports, James rymer,
(22:36):
goaltender of the San Jose Sharks, refused to wear a
warm up uniform Saturday night for fifteen minutes with some
of the lettering and numbering change to a rainbow pattern
for San Jose Sharks Pride Night. Nobody asked him to
carry a flag, Nobody asked him to make a statement.
Nobody asked him for his endorsement, Nobody asked him anything.
(22:57):
He's James Rymer. Just wear the shirt, skate around a
couple of times, go back in the dressing room, change
the shirt. That's it. But James Reimer made a statement anyway, quote,
I am choosing not to endorse something that is counter
to my personal convictions, which are based on the Bible.
(23:19):
And the initial reactions seemed to be well, at least
he said something rather than trying to sneak it through
like the Russians who sabotage Pride Night in Minnesota and
New York and that guy in Philadelphia who sore has
said something, even though, as anybody who's read the Bible knows,
for nine out of ten subjects, you can get almost
(23:40):
any answer you want out of the Bible, to say
nothing of advice that's in the Bible that you wouldn't
follow even if you were Billy Graham. But then James
Rymer decided for some reason to take this to another level,
to drag his former teammate Nazim Kadri into this, and
he therefore lost any standing he might have had. Loved
(24:01):
him to death, Rhymer told San Jose Media of their
time together with the Toronto Maple Leafs. I don't know
exactly the extent of his faith, his Muslim faith, but
he's a Muslim. I think you could talk to him
and ask him if I treated him any different. I
love him the old I can't be a homophobe. One
of my best friends is a Muslim, defense resuming Rhymer
(24:25):
as he kept digging, quote, people would understand if I
wouldn't be able to wear a Muslim jersey and warm
ups promoting the Muslim faith being a Christian and a
follower in Christ. Can you still hear me up there
on the surface. Yeah, that's not exactly the flex Rhymer
(24:45):
thinks it is. End of the day, he continued, I
love everyone and the people in this community. If I
had a gay teammate, I hope I would be the
first one to shake his hand when he comes in
and treat him like I would any other teammate unquote,
except Rhymer made a public statement to underscore that he
was not supporting that hypothetical teammate. By the way, it
(25:08):
really isn't hypothetical. Statistically, James Rhymer has already had at
least one gay teammate. He just doesn't know it because
no gay NHL player has ever felt comfortable enough to
reveal his sexuality, in part because of quote friends unquote
like James freaking Rhymer. By the way, there are two
(25:28):
punch lines to this story. A hockey writer has pled
to donate three dollars to an LGBTQ charity for every
goal James Rhymer gives up the rest of the season,
which could cost a lot of money, given that, by
one metric, of the NHLs ninety eight goalies this year,
Rhymer is the eighty ninth best. The other punchline, sometime
(25:49):
on Saturday, Rhymers signed a puck for a fan at
the game in San Jose or at the arena after
the game, We're not sure when it happened. It was
a puck with a rainbow design on it. It was
a Pride Night puck. Evidently James Rhymer never noticed something
(26:10):
he should consider doing more of still ahead. You have
heard me saying again and again and again. When we
(26:30):
worked together at MSNBC, we all thought CNN president Chris
licked eight paced well. The proverbial glue guy has gotten
carved up in the newspapers yet again as he and
the network transformed fully into a punchline. The latest plus
the original story of Moby lickt when he was Joe
Scarborough's hatchetman, first time for the daily round up of
(26:53):
the misgrants, morons and Dunning Krueger Effect specimens who constitute
today's worst persons in the world. Lebronze, Kaylee MCKININNY, I
can't play this tape for you, even though I really
would like to, because it's from Fox, and I'll let
you in on a little secret. They would find out
and they would sue me because here's another secret. I
have from time to time been critical of Fox, actually
(27:15):
just once really continuously since two thousand and one, any who.
After her stint lying for money from Trump, mcinenney has
since moved on to lying for money for Fox, and
they're now letting her fill in for the actual hosts. Friday,
she was filling in for Laura Ingram, and her show,
The ingram Angle. Not it's a dumb name, and it's
(27:36):
a tongue twister, but still it takes a kind of
special talent to then say, I'm Kiley mcinenney in for
Laura Ingram and this is a special edition of the
ingrill Angam. It's kind of hard to believe someone's life
could have peaked when they were the associate producer on
the Mike Huckabee show The ingril Angam. It is now
(27:57):
and forever the ingrill Am. So Saith the Lord ingril Angam.
Ron's failed New York Republican nominee, Lee Zelden ran for
governor after Trump leaked the rumor that he was about
to be arrested. Zelden tweeted, Alvin Bragg may very well
be the most dangerous, devisive, incompetent, and compromised district attorney
(28:18):
in America. On day one, my first action as governor
would have been to tell Bragg he was being fired.
Mister Zelden, what you would have done to Bragg if
you had not lost a blowout to Kathy freaking Hokel.
It's not exactly the flex you think it is. But
our winner and let me just let the music die
(28:40):
out here, because this is the proverbial audio daily double.
You have to hear this, and hear this clearly. Standby,
Thank you. Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee speaking at the
latest Conservative conference. And they have one every weekend. They
do nothing else. They have to keep busy to avoid
the small chance that the religion they champion might be
(29:02):
literally true and they're all going to hell. Any who.
This is from the Palmetto Family Bible Conference at North Charleston,
South Carolina. Well, how come it's North Charleston if it's
in South Carolina? And this is about that nationwide ride
Friday where we destroyed tens of millions of the Conservatives appliances.
(29:23):
You missed that when we went everybody's home and just
burned down their washboards and their washing machines, and Marcia
thinks it happened. They see an administration trying to take
and an ideology trying to take total control of their lives,
whether it's your light bulbs, your toilet flush ors, your showerheads,
(29:47):
your gas stoves, or this week, your washing machines. That
was an applause line that got no applause. If Marsha
Blackburn sometimes sounds to you like one of those fashion
and style ditzes you still see occasionally on Channel seven
magazine or two on Town TV, or any of the
locally produced shows left over from the eighties and the nineties.
(30:09):
Here's a little known fact. Before becoming first the dumbest
person in the House of Representatives and then the dumbest
person in the Senate, and more to the point, before
she began to look like the crazy, unkempt sister of
Flow from the Progressive Insurance commercials, Marshall Blackburn was a
professional image consultant who did TV appearances. No, I'm not kidding.
(30:35):
She took out an ad once in a Nashville newspaper
her face with a big headline next to it. Image
consultants aren't just for the rich. She once offered an
hour's lecture a ticket to it for fifteen bucks, lunch included.
I found feature articles on image consulting that quote her
for United Press International in nineteen eighty one, from Gannette
(30:56):
Newspapers in nineteen ninety one. There's in nineteen eighty seven Nashville,
Tennessee an article that quotes her is saying I liked
it bailed my flare or style with accesories, which I
believe was also her last campaign slogan. Most importantly, there
is a quick TV clip origin unknown that they've been
(31:18):
trying to get rid of off the internet for years,
but it's out there and it's staying out there. Marsha's
giant inflatable hair suggests it could be nineteen ninety one,
or it could be nineteen eighty one. If it weren't
on video and it was on film, it could be
nineteen sixty one. Anyway, this is the same Marsha Blackburn
(31:40):
now United States Senator? Can you dress us up for
the holidays? Oh? We can dress you better than ever
this year. You wouldn't believe it. Christmas and holiday wear
is so exciting and for the first time in many
of our lives, many young adults, people who are in
the forty and under bracket, it's the first year we've
ever gotten the chance to really make a distinctive difference
(32:03):
in our daytime and evening dressing. How is that changing, Marsha?
I were seeing so much to glitter and glamor and
lots of big rhymestones, big fake JEMs, lots of sequence fabrics,
and just fun, fun things to wear big faked gems.
Any who, I was watching these two clips that I
(32:24):
just played you the audio from, and I was thinking,
I bet you Marsha Blackburn's only had just the one
thought over the last forty or fifty years, and she
keeps parceling it out. Portions of it here, portions of it.
They're in fashion consulting, or in the House, or in
the Senate, or at her little weekly theocratic conventions. And
(32:45):
I wondered, well would it sound like if I put
it all back together again, if I made that one
thought back into one SoundBite. I call these things, and
I know nobody else has ever used this term a mashup?
How is that changing? Marshas they see an administration trying
to take Big Rhinstone's big fake gem, lots of sequin
(33:09):
fabric thing, white bulbs, your toilet flushers, your shower heads,
your gas stoves, or this week your big fake people.
Can you dress us up for the holidays? Oh, we
can grass you better than ever this year. You wouldn't
believe it, As my dad would say, that's somebody that's
got too much time and too much Big Rhinstone's big
(33:33):
fake gem, lots of sequin fabrics and just fun, fun
things to wear. Marcia, No, don't get your glitter and
glamour and glitz stuck in your toilet flushers. Blackburn two days.
Oh no wait, I can't resist. I'm sorry. How is that?
(33:55):
Rings They see an administration trying to take big rhinestones,
big fake gem, lots of sequin fire light bulbs, your
toilet flushers, your showerheads, your gas stoves are this week
your people? Can you dress us up for the holiday? Oh?
(34:15):
We can dress you better than ever this year. You
wouldn't believe it, As my dad would say, that's somebody
that's got Marsha blackburn two days, worst dressed person still ahead.
(34:45):
Well they've sliced up Chris Lickt of CNN again New
York Times, noting that the Licht helmed CNN primetime specials
at nine pm. Quote last week, when the network aired
the Biden and Zelenski interviews, as well as at town
hall with Governor Young Ken of Virginia, CNN delivered its
fourth lowest nine pm weekly ratings in twenty four years.
(35:06):
Times quotes licts boss David zaslav Is saying ratings be
damned and let's get a lot wrong in the next year.
The whole piece reeks of a subtext of when are
they going to fire this lickt guy and this Zaslav guy. Anyway,
the original story about when I worked with Chris Licht
an MSNBC next. First, in each edition of Countdown, we
(35:27):
feature a dog in need you can help. Every dog
has its day to Brooklyn and Nacho, a tiny, terrified dog,
maybe a Yorki Chihuahua mix. For two years he got
no attention, no affection, no exercise, not enough food. Then
his human left the country and gave him to an
elderly aunt, and of course by then Nacho was too
scared of humans to respond. AMA Animal Rescue is trying
(35:49):
to help him recover needs our donations. Look for Nacho
on go fund Me or on my Twitter feeds. I
thank you, and Nacho thank you. Perhaps the most amazing
thing about my ten years at MSNBC was the fact
(36:11):
that Joe Scarborough and his producers, especially his chief henchman,
ever got their own show on the air. Because nobody
I have ever worked with in radio or television, in
sports or news in the twentieth century or the twenty
first ever spent more time trying to screw with other
(36:32):
programs on the same network than did Joe Scarborough, And
until just about the time I left in twenty eleven,
the guy he sent in to do most of the
sabotage for him was this henchman guy. The reason this
should matter to you now is Scarborough's henchman was Chris Licked,
the new president of CNN. And if they scoured the
(36:55):
nation to find the worst person to run CNN in
a time when democracy is threatened by one political party
and tepidly defended by another, it's Chris Licked. I know,
I know. You turn on the TV and you see
Joe Scarborough and you see exactly what I see. A blank, dazed, darting, paranoid,
(37:16):
no soul, stupid check engine light. Look. But if you
don't trust me, trust my scars. My Joey Scars behind
that vapid face is a master saboteur. Early in two
thousand and eight, the late Tim Russert called me and
warned me that the GOP had upped its pressure on me.
(37:37):
He said he had heard from somebody in New York
that somebody in New York was going into the office
of the president of NBC News saying that Joe Scarborough
couldn't get his friend John McCain to come on to
his new morning show because I was so critical of McCain.
On Countdown, Tim was not sure it was Scarborough, but
if it wasn't, who else could have gotten in to
(37:59):
see the president of NBC News other than Scarborough or
his executive pretty The evidence for the new CNN president,
mister Licht, being directly involved in interfering with programming to
benefit somebody else's friends or political cronies, was vague in
two thousand and eight, but not at all vague two
years later. Early in January two ten, the Republican candidate
(38:23):
to fill the Senate seat of a late Ted Kennedy,
Scott Brown, the former semi nude model, was at a
rally when one of his supporters talked about quote, shoving
a curling iron up the backside of the Democratic Senate
candidate Martha Cokeley. Scott Brown clearly heard the remark from
the crowd and responded, quote, we could do that. On
(38:45):
January eighteenth, on Countdown, I did a brief commentary about
how unsuitable Brown was for public office. I said he
was quote an irresponsible, homophobic, racist, reactionary, X nude model
tea bagging supporter of violence against women and against politicians
with whom he disagrees. Unt I had quote from Brown,
I had videotape of him disparaging his minority opponent in
(39:08):
a local election to her face at a debate. To
back up what I said. An hour later, Joe Scarborough
commenced a tweet storm against me. Quote Alberman calls Brown
a homophobic, racist reactionary who supports violence against women. How
reckless and how sad. It's no longer enough to simply
(39:29):
disagree with someone. I'm sorry, I just fell into my
Scarborough impression. Just as when Beck called a president racist,
this sort of rhetorical exclaimism must be discouraged. It chapened
the debate. End quote, end impression. Now there was a
standing rule at MSNBC. You want to criticize another MSNBC personality,
(39:50):
go ahead, have a blast, but it must be on
the air on MSNBC, and the other person must have
an opportunity to reply in real time, in the same show,
or in some kind of face to face way. No
hit and run. Joe Scarborough tweet storms. If you criticize
(40:11):
them by name or by inference in any other medium newspaper, interview, radio,
social media, you were to receive an automatic suspension. The
next day, January nineteenth, I called the president of MSNBC,
Phil Griffin, and I asked how long Joe Scarborough's automatic
suspension was going to be. Griffin asked me to come
into the office a little earlier than usual and to
(40:33):
go see him. He said he had already had a
meeting about the tweets that morning with Scarborough's executive producer,
Chris Licht. Griffin explained that Scarborough, according to Licht, considered
Scott Brown a friend. More importantly, Chris lickt warned Griffin
that if Griffin followed through and enforced the suspension rule,
(40:54):
Scarborough would have no other option than to go to
the press and tell reporters, especially reporters at right wing
websites like Tucker Carlson's The Daily Caller, that he Scarborough
had been suspended because he Scarborough was a conservative, but
I was a liberal, and that I and not Phil
(41:14):
Griffin ran MSNBC. What can I do? Griffin was scared.
I told him he could fire Scarborough and licked because
they had just tried to blackmail him, and eventually he
was going to have to fire them both anyway, But
that I knew he would not do this, and that
I knew now that he would not suspend Scarborough either,
(41:34):
and Griffin did not suspend him. Partial score Scarborough's friends
to MSNBC's rules of behavior nothing but Phil Griffin did
send out a memo to the entire company insisting that
anybody who criticized another MSNBC show or host in another
medium would be suspended, except Scarborough, who had just done
(41:57):
exactly that and then threatened his own employers. On January
twenty fifth, Brian Stelter's old blaw TV newser got a
copy of Griffin's memo. They wondered why Scarborough had not
been suspended, so they called the MSNBC president and they
printed quote Griffin responds to TV Newser quote, an important
rule was broken. I spoke to Keith and he said,
(42:20):
in the spirit of teamwork and the free flow of ideas,
he didn't think it warranted punishment or suspension. I also
talked to Joe and he apologized to me. That's why
I made the decision that this didn't rise to the
level of punishment, but I felt it was necessary to
reiterate my long standing policy one PC bullcrap reiterate my
(42:41):
long standing policy which I just did not enforce against
Joe Scarborough. The whole thing was totally fabricated, licked and
Scarborough had threatened to smear their own bosses in the
right wing echo chamber. Should have been both fired on
the spot. In May twenty ten, Scarborough said something on
the air about a Democrat getting away with not being
(43:01):
investigated for something. I forget the details. I didn't bother
to look it up. You can if you want. Then.
Marcos militzis the editor of the Daily Coast website and
not just a regular contributor to Countdown, but somebody who
had been promoting the show and the MSNBC brand on
that website every day for five years. Marcos sent a
(43:21):
snarky but legitimate tweet questioning Scarborough's credentials to criticize others
who had not been investigated for stuff. Marcos invoked the
staffer who died in an accident in Joe Scarborough's congressional office.
Scarborough then attacked Melitsus on Twitter inaccurately claiming Melitzus had
accused Scarborough of murder. A few days after that, I
(43:44):
got a phone call from the MSNBC president, Phil Griffin.
And if he got a phone call rather than a
call to come into his office, you know he was
really scared. Griffin told me Chris Licked has been in
to see me. Joe won't put up with having Marcos
Militzus on his network anymore. Not only that, but Licks
as many of Joe's friends who also appear in Dayside
and Primetime won't come on if Marcos Mulitzis is permitted
(44:08):
to continue. Here, Chris is insisting that Marcos be banned
from MSNBC immediately. Chris says he's afraid that if we
don't do that, Joe won't come into work tomorrow. Upon
hearing that, I laughed and I congratulated Phil Griffin on
the clear win win he'd just been given. But Phil
(44:29):
was very bad at enforcing MSNBC's rules, but very good
at creating new ones on the spot. To protect Joe
Scarborough and Chris Licht and their friends, I'm banning Mlitzus
from any further appearances on MSNBC, I said Phil. He's
a contributor to my show. You are suspending my contributor
who has driven hundreds of thousands of viewers to Countdown
(44:52):
at MSNBC, and I don't have any say in it.
You are owned by Joe Scarborough and Chris Licht. What
you now have to worry about is whether I tell
this story on the air tonight or I just wait
and tell later. Phil now got conciliatory because he was
scared again and said it could be just a suspension
if I cooperated. So I called Marcos. He said he
(45:16):
enjoyed his contributions to Countdown. He also did occasional appearances
on the old Ed Schultz MSNBC show, and he said
if there were a chance at resuming them, he'd preferred
to at least try that. So Marcos and I went
along with Griffin suspending Marcus Melitzus, and to my knowledge,
Marcus Melitzus has not been seen on MSNBC since. I
(45:39):
wish I had better notes on some of my conversations
from the two thousand and eight, nine, ten eleven era
about those conversations with the hosts and the producers of
the other shows like Schultz and Rachel Maddow's show and
even Chris Matthews and Hardball. I must have heard a
variation of this statement a dozen times from these people.
Guess who was in Griffin's office explaining that such and
(45:59):
such as Joe's friend and Phil really needs to make
sure we lay off him. Chris licked. It was usually
an expletive in the middle between Chris and Licht. I
remember one of my producers at the MSNBC a version
of Countdown telling me that one of the other producers
told him that Licht had gone to NBC News president
Steve Kappus with an actual list of Republicans that Matto
(46:21):
and Olberman needed to stop criticizing because they were Joe's
here's the word again friends, and we were hurting morning Joe.
What's amazing is that, setting aside the issues of unrevealed
torrid love affairs, when CNN fired its nine PM host
Chris Cuomo, president Jeff Zucker, and senior vice president Alison Gallist,
(46:44):
they fired them in essence because they interfered with CNN
content and practices in order to do favors for people
who were their friends or, in Cuomo's case, their relatives
at MSNBC. Interfering with MSNBC content and practices to do
favors for friends was seemingly the only reason Chris Licked
(47:06):
had a job. So CNN got rid of left wingers
for a terrible violation of journalistic ethics, and then hired
as president a right wing henchman who had committed exactly
the same journalistic ethical problems, and who, for his act,
the first one of his career at CNN, killed off
the only national television show that regularly held up Fox News,
(47:31):
Newsmax and all the rest to the world to show
that they were the threats to democracy that they are.
This is CNN. I've done all the damage I can
(47:57):
do here. Thank you for listening. Here are the credits.
Most of the music was arranged, produced and performed by
Brian Ray and John Philip Channel, who are the Countdown
musical directors. Orchestration and keyboards by John Fidli Channel, Guitars,
bass and drums by Brian Ray, produced by Tko Brothers.
Other Beethoven selections have been arranged and performed by the
group No Horns Allowed. Sports Music is the Olderman theme
(48:21):
from ESPN two, and it was written by Mitch Warren
Davis courtesy of ESPN inc musical comments from Nancy Fauss.
The best baseball stadium organist ever. Our announcer today was
Jonathan Banks, and everything else was pretty much my fault.
So let's countdown for this the eight hundred and fourth
day since Donald Trump's first attempted coup against the democratically
(48:41):
elected government of the United States. So now watch for
the new meaning behind Nick's next phrase, Arrest him now
while we still can, like tomorrow tomorrow would be a
good day. Is it too late today? Arrested him today?
Better yet, arrest him today and then arrest him again tomorrow.
(49:04):
The next edual countdown is tomorrow. Thank you for bearing
with me till then. I'm Keith Olerman. Good morning, good afternoon, goodnight,
and good luck. Countdown with Keith Olreman is a production
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
(49:28):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.