September 14, 2023 • 35 mins
SERIES 2 EPISODE 34: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN
A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Judge Aileen Cannon! You have unsuspected depth! Trump’s novice judicial appointee has shocked Trump World by issuing a gag order not only limiting what he can say and when he can say it during his prosecution and trial for stealing top secret documents, but also limiting when he and his lawyers can see the war plans and other classified information he stole. Cannon’s ruling is almost everything Smith asked for. Any evidence marked classified? Trump can’t discuss it publicly. The evidence marked classified that Trump has lied about and said he DE-classified? Trump can’t discuss THAT publicly. The evidence marked classified that has become public knowledge without being officially de-classified? Trump can’t discuss THAT publicly. If he wants to listen to any of the classified audio it has to be on a hardline headset on a computer that has no internet or network connection! And she also has ruled co-defendant Walt Nauta cannot have access to any of the material, so that's one less chance of a pro-Trump leak. It's stunning.
Also, the Illegal Impeachment Inquiry Trump is stage-managing from behind the scenes is going shockingly badly. It's morphed into the GOP-In-Crisis; in fact, into the GOP in Open Revolt. McCarthy accused Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida of conspiring with Democrat Eric Swalwell of California to get Swalwell placed back on the Intelligence Committee. McCarthy even posits that THAT is a front for something else, saying of Gaetz quote “this is really about an ethics complaint.” Gaetz came back last night and said “This is an abject lie from a sad and pathetic man who lies to hold on to power,” and Congressman you’ll have to be more SPECIFIC than that and USE McCarthy’s name in that statement because otherwise it could be about anybody in your party.
Also: the McCarthy FBI whistleblower about Hunter Biden? A DIFFERENT FBI whistleblower has implied that the other one is lying. And Hunter Biden just sued a former Trump aide for illegally accessing the laptop.
And then there's the other media shoe dropping. A month ago Kristen Welker was one of a dozen reporters who took a meal with three Trump goons. Today, Welker will pre-destroy her career as host of "Meet The Press" to get a sit-down with Trump. The Executive Producer of her show - who didn't make the cut to join the Countdown staff 20 years ago - actually says of this garish soulless nonjournalistic stunt “We are in the business of covering politics. It’s not our job to pick and choose the leaders. The American people get to do that. And so our job is to make sure that the American people understand who the people in power are, what they stand for, and what they plan to do.”
It's not our job to STOP the arsonists, it's just our job to give equal coverage to the firefighters AND the arsonists.
B-Block (26:54) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Mitt Romney's going to retire at the end of his Senate term. I wonder if anyone will notice. My GOD they're treating this like Daniel Webster leaving the Senate in 1850. In fact, Mitt Romney is one of the dumbest, least perceptive people ever in public service - a man so dim that it wasn't until after January 6th that he realized smart colleagues like Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley might not actually think Trump had won but were just LYING FOR PERSONAL GAIN AT AMERICA'S COST. And for me, nothing will erase from my memory the day I awoke to find that Mitt had tweeted about me, complained about me, and as Tommy Vietor replied "It’s long past time to break ground on a Both Sides museum in Washington, DC. This comparison of the President of the United States to Keith Olbermann MUST be preserved for future generations." But it what Mitt was complaining ABOUT that will always resonate: that I had despoiled American politics by calling Trump a terrorist.
Three months later Mitt was a virtual hostage inside the Capitol, pinned there by... Trump's terrorists.
C-Block (38:43) GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK
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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. Judge
Eileen Cannon, you have unsuspected depth. Trump's appointee has stunned
(00:28):
Trump World by not only limiting what he can say
and when he can say it during his prosecution and
trial for stealing our top secret documents, but also for
limiting when he and his lawyers can see the war
plans and other classified information he stole. This has gotten
buried under the McCarthy illegal impeachment inquiry, which is the
(00:49):
point of that inquiry. It is a diversion to misdirect
the American news media and the public. And as we
know all too well, if you spend ninety seconds trying
to misdirect the American news media, you will succeed utterly.
But Trump has been counting on Eileen Cannon to do
his bidding for him, and in this first non timing
(01:10):
ruling out of Jack Smith's Florida case against Trump, the
judge has given us hope that she may yet turn
out to be more than just the former flamenco dancing
and yoga correspondent of the Miami El Nuevo Herald newspaper.
In short, Cannon's ruling is almost everything. Jack Smith asked
(01:33):
for any evidence marked classified, Trump cannot discuss it publicly.
The evidence marked classified that Trump has lied about and
said he declassified, Trump cannot discuss that publicly. The evidence
marked classified that has become public knowledge without being officially declassified,
Trump cannot discuss that publicly. Either Trump wanted a skiff
(01:56):
a sensitive compartmented Information facility SCIF reinstalled at Mari Lago,
and Canon not only did not give it to him,
she has ignored the request. Looks like when he or
his attorneys want access to these documents, they will have
to go to an established skiff under the control of
(02:17):
a classified information security officer already assigned to the case
in Florida. Trump can only look at the secrets he
stole inside the skiff. He can only talk to his
defense team about the secrets he stole inside the skiff.
For the classified audio recordings, Trump cannot have copies. He
(02:39):
cannot listen to them except on a standalone computer not
attached to a network without Wi Fi, without Internet inside
the skiff, and the headphones on which he listens to
the audio recordings cannot be wireless. They have to be
plugged into the computer. Honest to god, Judge Cannon's order
(03:01):
includes every protection against Trump's kleptomania except for acquiring him
to leave a credit card at the desk, and it
has a sting in its tail, and that sting is
not merely be kind. Please rewind quote. The limitations on
disclosure of classified information set forth in this order are
binding on defendant and his counsel, and violations may result
(03:24):
in criminal and or civil penalties. In short, Trump could
go to jail for stealing these documents, and he could
also go to jail for stealing them again. And he
could also also go to jail for talking about them.
And wait, there's more. His Florida co defendant Walt Naude.
(03:45):
In this equation the SAP Walt Nauda figured he could
serve his Lord and Master Trump yet one more time
by gaining his own access to the classified documents, and
who knows where they'd wind up. Then Judge Cannon shot
that down to with the impeccable logic that, since Nada
is charged with obstruction and lying and not secret stealing quote,
(04:06):
the defense may not disclose classified information to him. From
the Georgia Trump case, Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows
continues to be the Aaron Rodgers of defendants. Only it's
as if Aaron Rodgers tore his achilles ninety four seconds
into the first game, and then tore it again ninety
(04:26):
four seconds into the second game, and ninety four seconds
into the third and ninety four seconds into the fourth.
Meadows wanted the case against him frozen, delayed indefinitely from
its scheduled start next month while he appealed his last
loss and again tried to get his case moved to
federal court. But US District Judge Steve Jones not only
(04:48):
denied it, but basically added, You're gonna tear your achilles again.
You know that, right, saying Meadows quote has shown no
likelihood on prevailing on the merits of his appeal. As
to the parallel issue before Judge Tanya Chutkin in Trump's
Washington trial quote the defendant's daily extra judicial statements that
(05:10):
threatened to prejudice the jury pool in this case. Per
the only non sealed part of Jack Smith's exchange with
Trump lawyer number wait a minute two hundred and thirty
six John Laurow. Nothing leaked yesterday. Laura's team was supposed
to answer the judge about good old ECF number forty
seven Dash three on Monday. Smith's team was supposed to
(05:31):
answer Lauro's answer yesterday, and we don't know for sure
that any of that has even happened, let alone what
did happen. And of course we don't even know what
good old ECF number forty seven Dash three is. It's
all under seal. And of course you heard about none
of this because a Trump may have actually realized how
(05:55):
bad the news from Judge Cannon is for him and
he should not call attention to it on social media
and b the news media saw something else move in
the bushes and collectively it cried, look a kiddie, and
see Trump is after all occupied engineering Kevin McCarthy's illegal
(06:16):
impeachment inquiry. That's the point. We know from one hundred
different reports that Trump met Sunday in New Jersey with
the lawn ornament come to life Marjorie Taylor Green. He
spoke with the snakelike Elise Stefanic on Tuesday after McCarthy
took the bait and announced his star chamber. But he
(06:36):
has not been in contact with the Colorado Congresswoman Lauren
Bobert because she's been too busy getting kicked out of
the stage version of Beetlejuice for vaping and illegally recording
the show, And of course she's now preoccupied with her
GoFundMe campaign to get herself a dress that actually fits.
Trump has evidently not talked directly with McCarthy either, which
(07:01):
makes sense because McCarthy is also very busy destroying his
own career and his party's majority in the House. The
illegal impeachment investigation has now morphed into the gop In crisis,
in fact, into the gop In open revolt. McCarthy accused
Congressman Matt Gates of Florida of conspiring with Democratic Congressman
(07:22):
Eric Swalwell of California to get Swalwell placed back on
the Intelligence Committee. McCarthy even posits that that is a
front for something else. He won't say what he says
of Gates, quote, this is really about an ethics complaint.
Gates came back last night and said this is an
abject lie from a sad and pathetic man who lies
(07:46):
to hold on to power unquote, and Congressman, you're going
to have to be more specific than that and use
the speaker's name in that statement, because otherwise that could
be about just about anybody in your own party, couldn't it.
It is hard to imagine Matt Gates being write about anything,
but he actually may be in this case. McCarthy's wafer
(08:09):
thin premise for this charade is coming apart like a
cheap suit, and for that matter, McCarthy is coming apart
like a cheap suit. There are now dueling FBI whistleblowers
in the Hunter Biden case, and it is beginning to
look like McCarthy's FBI whistleblower is a liar. It was
(08:29):
Gary Shapley who said that Hunter Biden prosecutor David Weiss
had proclaimed he was being stymied by the Justice Department.
But now it is the chief of the FBI's Hunter
Biden investigation, Thomas Subbasinski, who says, no, that's not true.
Weiss never said that. In fact, he told the House
in an interview those exact things last week, and McCarthy
(08:54):
went ahead with this sham anyway, just to ratchet this
up a little bit more late last night, and I'll
read this directly from the pages of the Washington Examiner,
a curiously useful resource from the far right quote Hunter
Biden filed a lawsuit against a former Trump administration aid
(09:14):
in California federal court Wednesday, alleging he illegally posted contents
of his that would be Hunter Biden's infamous laptop from Hell.
The lawsuit accuses Garrett Ziggler, his company, and ten unnamed
defendants Make one of them, Trump, Make one of them, Trump,
Make one of them Trump of improperly accessing, tampering with, manipulating, altering, copying,
(09:38):
and damaging computer data that they did not own, in
violation of California's computer fraud laws. I sentence you to
ten years in prison for damaging the contents of the
Hunter Biden laptop Back at the Ranch. Kevin McCarthy's entire
motive for this perversion of justice and the degradation of
(10:00):
the seemingly nothing left to be degraded in Republican House
that is also collapsing. He did this to save his
worthless ass and push through spending legislation, appropriations bills and
another stunt shutdown of the government, and every one of
the bills from a megabill to individual funding procedures for
(10:22):
the Pentagon for disaster relief, for Homeland Security. They all failed.
Yesterday he had to pull the eight hundred and twenty
six billion dollar Pentagon bill off the floor. Half the
members are trying to stick amendments and pet projects onto it.
And the last word was McCarthy was even pivoting away
from the big musical number. They have all rehearsed the
(10:43):
September thirtieth government shut down, and instead they may just
pass a short term continuing resolution just to keep the
government afloat into next month. No more big musical number.
All he's got is a kazoo plus. Rather surprisingly, institutional
Washington is actually beating the crap of Kevin McCarthy. The
(11:06):
inquiry quote devalues impeachment as a meaningful tool to deal
with genuine presidential misconduct. Professor Emeritus frank O. Bowman of
Missouri Law told as buttoned down a group as you
can find the publication Role Call. Bowman wrote a history
of impeachments. He says what McCarthy did make quote create
(11:27):
a situation where presidents of both parties just throw up
their hands and say, look, these guys never operate in
good faith. We're just going to refuse any subpoenas that
they send us on quote. The first president who tries
that will get away with it. I don't know what
happens to the second one. Let's see if Biden becomes
the first. A UNC law professor went even further in
the same publication, there's quote no evidence whatsoever. It's an
(11:51):
outcome in search of a process. Isn't that perfect? It's
an outcome in search of a process. McCarthy literally brought
trouble on his own house. And this is the wind
he has inherited. And yes it is Trump's wind. And yes,
that is exactly as disgusting as it sounds. And to
(12:15):
mix my metaphors, the quicksand McCarthy now finds himself in
may only be up to his ankles now, but it
could go all the way to the top of his beak.
McCarthy could lose the speakership over this, and as I
pointed out yesterday in the nineteen ninety eight newt Gingrich
history story, it could happen damned fast. I mean, it
is so bad even news reporters are noticing. Kind of
(12:40):
the White House actually figured out bless them that there
are Pavlovian bells you can ring inside the DC political
media Industrial Complex. White House Council Office spokesman Ian Sam's
wrote a long letter excoriating the stenography of the last
few Well that's the right word here, weeks, yes, centuries quote.
(13:07):
It's time for the media to ramp up its scrutiny
of House Republicans for opening an impeachment inquiry based on lies.
He added that the absence of you know, evidence should
quote set off alarm bells for news organizations, and then
he named the news organizations. And nothing scares an outlet
(13:27):
like CNN more than seeing itself ripped in a letter
that was sent to all the other news organizations that
it secretly still envies. Mister Sam's was smart enough to
leak the letter Tuesday night, then deliver it Wednesday morning,
then post it in full online Wednesday afternoon. If today
he's standing in front of Washington Union Station handing it
(13:49):
out to passers by, I wouldn't be a bit surprised.
And it seems to have registered with the media again kinda.
The letter noted, as I did yesterday, that on the
first of this month, Kevin McCarthy insisted all but swore
in an interview with Breitbart News that if there were
(14:11):
to be an impeachment inquiry, it would follow a House
vote of some kind. Quote, if we move forward with
an impeachment inquiry, it would occur through a vote on
the floor of the People's House, and not through a
declaration by one person. And then he made a declaration
by one person. So when McCarthy met reporters yesterday and
(14:35):
expected the usual soupine enabling of his crap machine, he
was stunned when one of them from CNN actually quoted
that Breitbart quote to him. As you will hear. Kevin
McCarthy had no idea what to do next, and several
times had to go back to the beginning of his
(14:55):
memorized statement.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
So, what can do you know what's interesting to me?
You were a reporter for CNN. Correct. I just laid
out to you a lot of allegations based upon the
American your word.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Why did you change you?
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Okay, well, let me answer your question because I've answered
it every single day and you could answer me every
single day. Nancy Pelosi changed the president of this House.
This doesn't preclude from a Nancy Pelosi changed the President
of this House on September twenty fourth. It was withheld
and good enough for every single Democrat here. It was
good enough for the judge. Why you would it have
(15:31):
to be different today what we've learned in the last
couple of weeks. Wouldn't you want to know the answer
to your whole job is reporting. You now have an
accusation that the President took a bride. You do know
from your own reporting from your own station that they
were selling a brand. You do know from your own
reporting from CNN that the President went to and did
(15:53):
conference calls, that the President went to lunches and dinners,
just the dinners, and Hunter got a new Porsche, He
got three boys from both.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Well, that's my question to you. Why don't you ask
the other questions? Why don't you change your position? I
never changed my position. You don't you know what's interesting me?
So you don't care about.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Any of the answers.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
You are very interested in the whole.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Press is Yes, I answered your question, McCarthy.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Of course, McCarthy lied there several times. Nancy Pelosi held
a vote in twenty nineteen before the impeachment began. He
also never got around actually answering CNN about his own lying.
It was rather an impressive performance, especially when he had
to go back to the beginning. I have noted before
that Kevin McCarthy looks like the bird that has just
(16:40):
smashed into your window. During that one, he looked like
he had just done it twice while I suspect the
McCarthy illegal impeachment inquiry will soon consume his speakership, and
within days the media may be climbing over each other
to help him bury himself. I am not suddenly going
all Pollyanna on the utter failure of American journalism, especially
American television journalism, especially American broadcast network television journalism, in
(17:04):
the last eight years and eight months and the last
eight minutes. You will recall that the night before the
Republican debate in Milwaukee, three Trump hoodlums, led by that
disgusting Jason Miller, were, according to Politico, quote, whining and
dining twelve national political reporters at a steakhouse in Milwaukee
(17:25):
called Rare. Now, these were not a dozen frauds from
Fox News, The Daily Caller, Newsmax, Fascist Daily. No self
respecting American newsperson would dine with Miller and Chris las
Sevita and Stephen Chung or their equivalents in the DeSantis campaign, or,
for that matter, their equivalents in the Biden campaign, not
(17:46):
in the middle of a campaign, not the night before
a debate. But these were not twelve self respecting American
news persons. They were twelve people from CNN and CBS
News and NBC News and ABC News and The Washington Post,
including management, who thought it was somehow appropriate to shifty
a table with not just political operatives, but political operatives
(18:09):
who constantly encouraged the public to view news reporters as
criminals who should be targeted and attacked and assaulted and
kidnapped and tortured and killed. And among those who broke
bread with these scumbags were Rick Klein, political director of ABC,
political editor of Bloomberg, Mario Parker, David Shalien from CNN,
(18:32):
Robert Costa from CBS, Shane Goldmacher from The New York Times.
And here's the point. Kristin Welker of NBC News as
of next week, the new host of Meet the Press,
and yesterday the other shoe dropped. Quoting the Hollywood publication Deadline,
(18:55):
Kristin Welker's first broadcast of Meet the Press on Sunday
will feature a pre taped interview with former President Donald Trump.
The interview will take place on Thursday, that would be
today in Bedminster, New Jersey, and it will be Trump's
first broadcast network sit down since leaving office. Who we
(19:17):
got Trump to talk about himself? We're really cool, aren't we.
Kristen Welker is the greatest host of Meet the Press ever.
The network has stressed that the interview is not a
town hall. Poor Chris Licked. I almost feel sorry for him.
The network has stressed the interview is not a town
hall and there is no live audience, and the same
(19:38):
invite has been extended to President Joe Biden. The sit
down also will be accompanied by a fact check on
nbcnews dot Com, the implication being there that the fact
check will not be on Meet the Press. They also
pointed to a quote that David gellis I believe that's
how he pronounces his name, the executive producer of Meet
(20:01):
the Press, gave to the Pointer report quote, we are
in the business of covering politics. It's not our job
to pick and choose the leaders. The American people get
to do that, and so our job is to make
sure that the American people understand who the people in
power are what they stand for and what they plan
to do. Not to get too biblical on you here,
(20:23):
but I believe that exact quote was also said once
by ponscious Pilot. It's not our job to pick and
choose the leaders. Our job is Yeah, it's not our
job to try to stop an arsonist who's lighting the building.
We are all in on fire. It's also not our
job to try to put out the fire. We are
(20:43):
just here to make sure that the pyromaniacs and the
firefighters get an equal amount of coverage and the equal
opportunity to either burn or not burn. Everybody alive. Congratulations
NBC on destroying Kristin w Elker's reputation before her first show.
(21:09):
Just brilliant. This is a preliminary verdict. I reserve the
right to edit this sentence out later, but honest to God,
right this minute, I actually miss Chuck Todd by the
(21:31):
way this Meet the Press EP. I don't know how
to pronounce his name, but I recognized it. David gellis
g E L L E s. He was one of
the producers I inherited when MSNBC hired me back and
canceled Phil Donahue in two thousand and three, and by
the way, they canceled him because the show cost way
too much money and it had a live audience with
(21:53):
a union in New York, which costs way too much money.
And even without Phil's admirable anti war stance, they were
going to cancel it. His stance just made it happen
faster anyway. So we kept about half, maybe two fifths
of Donahue's staff and made them into the Countdown staff,
(22:13):
and the others were dispersed around the company, and this guy,
gels Or Gellis was one of those dispersed. But don't worry.
Since that day twenty years ago, he has burnished his credentials.
We can trust him to handle a Donald Trump interview
on NBC News with a rookie. We can handle that
(22:34):
because he burnished his credentials by going on to produce
such journalistic enterprises as Rock Center with Brian Williams and
of course, seventeen time Peabody winning program Jake Tapper's book
Club Christ also of interest here profiles in Discourage. Romney
(23:05):
says he's going to retire at the end of his term,
and we have lowered our collective American standards so much that,
God damn, you'd think it was Daniel freakin' Webster striding
out of the Senate in July of eighteen fifty to
take over as Secretary of State in the time of
great crisis. Jesus aged Christ. It's Mitt Romney. This is
(23:28):
the guy who put out a public statement with a big,
colorful graphic that mocked me, me for calling Trump a terrorist.
And then three months later there he was a virtual
hostage inside the Senate, inside the Capitol because guess what,
sportscaster boy over here was right, Trump was a terrorist
(23:52):
and Mitt Romney in October twenty twenty didn't fing know
that that's next. This is countdown. This is countdown with
Keith old woman. Okay, this is half postscripts to the
(24:14):
news and half things I promised not to tell. Mitt
Romney yesterday managed to announce his retirement from the Senate
at the end of his current term and to promote
his authorized biography excerpt appearing in The Atlantic on the
same day sums him up. Really, the man who will
(24:35):
forever be remembered for one photograph with him cowering at
a poorly lit table at the Jean Jorge restaurant inside
Trump Tower weeks after Trump was elected, having gone there
not for the frog's legs but to kiss Trump's ass. Yes,
he is saying it's time to leave the Senate. Time
(24:57):
to go, Mitt. Actually, Mitt, that was when you were
running for the Senate in nineteen ninety four. On the sure,
I'm an utter mediocrity, but check out my hair platform.
Has any seemingly intelligent man missed more obvious things in
American public life than Mitt Romney has. Other vs Republicans
(25:17):
colluded with Trump out of evil, Mitt Romney did so
out of naivete An excerpt from this upcoming book, which
I think they have entitled they call me mister Mitt.
Maybe I dreamt that maybe it's Mitt the Elder quote.
What bothered Romney most about Josh Hawley and his cohort
(25:39):
was the oily, disingenuousness. They know better. He told me,
Josh Hawley is one of the smartest people in the Senate,
if not the smartest, and Ted Cruz could give him
a run for his money. They were too smart. Romney
believed to actually think that Trump had won the twenty
twenty election. Hally and Cruz quote were making a calculation.
(26:00):
Romney told me that put politics above the interests of
liberal democracy and the Constitution. No kidding, seriously, Matt, it
took you through the twenty twenty election to realize that
Cruz and Hally were con men, that maybe there were
Republicans who were exploiting Trump Seriously. Early in twenty twenty one,
(26:26):
Romney also told the author quote, A very large portion
of my party really doesn't believe in the Constitution. Did
you meet Nixon before he died? Mitt? Did you figure
that one out for yourself? Or did you have one
of your old teams from Bain Capital do it for you.
(26:47):
I always thought Mitt Romney was a dits, but even
I was shocked on October thirteenth, twenty twenty when a
graphic appeared on social media, white letters, all caps, some
of them read on a blue background and his name
at the top. And I read it innocently enough, no
idea what was in it, And boy did I get
a surprise that, as I reported that day, was when
I discovered that apparently I was the shadow president of
(27:10):
the United States or something like it. Quote. Untroubled by
our politics, s Mitt wrote, as it has moved away
from spirited debate to a vile, vituperative, hatefield morass that
is unbecoming of any free nation. Mit you just noticed
that that had been happening since nineteen ninety, started by
(27:33):
Gingrich and rush Limbaugh and those other fascists. The President
calls the Democratic vice presidential candidate a quote monster. He
repeatedly labels the Speaker of the House crazy. He calls
for the Justice Department to put the prior president in jail.
He attacks the governor of Michigan on the very day
a plot is discovered to kidnap her, and yet met
there you were running away from your own commitment to
(27:55):
stop this fascist would be dictator, dining with him, auditioning
for his cabinet, supporting him as he railroaded a Supreme
Court pass the very rules your party had made up
out of thin air in twenty sixteen. But go on
mitt quoting this thing again. From October twenty twenty, Democrats
launch blistering attacks of their own, though their presidential nominee
(28:19):
refuses to stoop as low as others. Pelosi tears up
the President's State of the Union speech on national television.
Keith Olberman calls the president a terrorist. Media on the
left and that wait, what Pelosi tears up the President's
State of the Union speech on national television. Keith Olberman says,
the President, huh Trump, Governor of Michigan Biden Pelosi, Alberman,
(28:47):
one of these things is not like the other. I
just want to clarify here. I am not affiliated with
any political party. I don't work for any news or
commentary outlet, and I have not been elected to any
office since let me see junior year of high schoo
But I did stay at a holiday in express last night.
(29:11):
As one Twitter respondent to Mitt Romney's unfortunate missive, the
former Obama spokesman and Pod Save America co host Tommy
Vader said it's long pastime to break ground on a
both Sides museum in Washington, d C. This comparison of
the President of the United States to Keith Alderman must
(29:32):
be preserved for future generations. I agreed, then, I agree
now honestly, soon to be ex Senator Romney, I was
the best you could do. Or from the other vantage point,
I was the worst you could do. Mitt Romney, you
(29:54):
were one of the Franz von Poppins of this nightmare,
our equivalent of the German conservative politician who helped to
get Hitler elected and then said, don't worry. Quote within
two months will have pushed him so so far into
the quarter that he'll squeak you. Mitt Romney helped to
enable a terrorist to occupy the Oval office, and by
(30:16):
that date, in October twenty twenty, we all knew Trump
was a stochastic terrorist. Maybe you didn't terrorism by proxy.
He praised the white supremacist militia terrorists in Michigan, repeated
their demands, and the next thing, as you put in
that graphic, they were scouting out the governor's summer home
and planning to kidnap her, and Trump tacitly endorsed the paranoid,
(30:37):
delusional QAnon cult. The next thing you know, one of
the kool aid drinkers were bursting into a kid's pizza
parlor brandishing an AR fifteen because he really believed that
bullshit on a psychoic chat room board. That had already happened,
and Trump was already also a direct terrorist by October
twenty twenty, Senator, what was he doing to his own
supporters if not terrorizing them? He told them, a democratic president,
(31:01):
if elected, would burn down the cities. And destroy the
suburbs and eliminate the borders and allow foreign gangs to
come kill them. All that, Senator is and was and
was then terrorism, and you mitt you didn't notice the
country was metaphorically ablaze, and you were yelling at those
(31:23):
of us who were trying to warn people and put
out that fire I referred to earlier. We have to
make it safe for both the pyromaniacs and the firefighters.
NBC News Washington. You tried to make it bad for
those of us who were warning people in the realistic
terms by complaining that we trampled some imaginary tulip garden
(31:44):
of friendly American political discourse that still exists only inside
your own head under all that hair. Silence in the
face of evil, or both sides. Ism in the face
of evil is the same as conducting the evil yourself.
Senator Trump was there. Trump was still there because you
(32:07):
and the other good Republicans let him stay there. This
is the kind of America they wanted. This is the
kind of America they got. This is the kind of
America you got. If you have complaints about the state
of political discourse in this country, mit take it up
(32:28):
with the terrorist in chief. Or with your own mirror quote.
The rabbit attacks kindle the conspiracy mongers and the haters
who take the small and predictable step from intemperate word
to dangerous action. Mitt Romney wrote in October twenty twenty
in his memo to me, it is time to lower
(32:52):
the heat. Leaders must tone it down. Leaders from the top,
and leaders of all stripes, parents, bosses, reporters, columnists, professors,
union chiefs, everyone. The concert sequence of the crescendo of
anger leads to a very bad place. No sane person
can want that. Unquote. You'll notice that among the people
(33:17):
he told to tone it down in October twenty twenty,
mitt Romney did not include Donald Trump, and sure enough,
less than three months later, Mitt Romney was avoiding a
Trump mob bent on killing him or whoever they could
get hold of, and, by the way, destroying democracy. And
guess what, Mitt I was right. Donald Trump was a
(33:40):
terrorist and Donald Trump is a terrorist. Unless Mitt you
think that I caused January sixth, idiot, I've done all
(34:20):
the damage I can do here. Thank you for listening.
Countdowns come to you from our studios high atop the
Sports Capsule building here in New York New York. Here
are the credits. Most of the music arrange produced and
performed by Brian Ray and John Phillip Schanel. They are,
of course the Countdown musical directors. All orchestration and keyboards
by John Phillip Shaneil, the guitars, bass and drums by
(34:41):
Brian Ray, produced by Tko Brothers. Other Beethoven selections have
been arranged and performed by No Horns Allowed. The sports
music is the Olderman theme from ESPN two, and it
was written by Mitch Warren Davis courtesy of ESPN Inc.
Musical comments by Nancy Fauss. The best baseball stadium organist ever.
Our announcer today was my friend Jonathan Banks from Breaking
(35:01):
Bad and Better Call Saul Airplane. Everything else is pretty
much my fault. That's countdown for this, the nine hundred
and eighty second day since Donald Trump's first attempted coup
against the democratically elected government of the United States. Convict
him now while we still can. By the way, Mitt,
he's still a terrest. The next schedule countdown is tomorrow.
(35:24):
Bolletin says. The news warrants and my throat permits till then.
I'm Keith Oulderman, good morning, good afternoon, goodnight, and good luck.
Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. For
(35:48):
more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. Judge
Eileen Cannon, you have unsuspected depth. Trump's appointee has stunned
(00:28):
Trump World by not only limiting what he can say
and when he can say it during his prosecution and
trial for stealing our top secret documents, but also for
limiting when he and his lawyers can see the war
plans and other classified information he stole. This has gotten
buried under the McCarthy illegal impeachment inquiry, which is the
(00:49):
point of that inquiry. It is a diversion to misdirect
the American news media and the public. And as we
know all too well, if you spend ninety seconds trying
to misdirect the American news media, you will succeed utterly.
But Trump has been counting on Eileen Cannon to do
his bidding for him, and in this first non timing
(01:10):
ruling out of Jack Smith's Florida case against Trump, the
judge has given us hope that she may yet turn
out to be more than just the former flamenco dancing
and yoga correspondent of the Miami El Nuevo Herald newspaper.
In short, Cannon's ruling is almost everything. Jack Smith asked
(01:33):
for any evidence marked classified, Trump cannot discuss it publicly.
The evidence marked classified that Trump has lied about and
said he declassified, Trump cannot discuss that publicly. The evidence
marked classified that has become public knowledge without being officially declassified,
Trump cannot discuss that publicly. Either Trump wanted a skiff
(01:56):
a sensitive compartmented Information facility SCIF reinstalled at Mari Lago,
and Canon not only did not give it to him,
she has ignored the request. Looks like when he or
his attorneys want access to these documents, they will have
to go to an established skiff under the control of
(02:17):
a classified information security officer already assigned to the case
in Florida. Trump can only look at the secrets he
stole inside the skiff. He can only talk to his
defense team about the secrets he stole inside the skiff.
For the classified audio recordings, Trump cannot have copies. He
(02:39):
cannot listen to them except on a standalone computer not
attached to a network without Wi Fi, without Internet inside
the skiff, and the headphones on which he listens to
the audio recordings cannot be wireless. They have to be
plugged into the computer. Honest to god, Judge Cannon's order
(03:01):
includes every protection against Trump's kleptomania except for acquiring him
to leave a credit card at the desk, and it
has a sting in its tail, and that sting is
not merely be kind. Please rewind quote. The limitations on
disclosure of classified information set forth in this order are
binding on defendant and his counsel, and violations may result
(03:24):
in criminal and or civil penalties. In short, Trump could
go to jail for stealing these documents, and he could
also go to jail for stealing them again. And he
could also also go to jail for talking about them.
And wait, there's more. His Florida co defendant Walt Naude.
(03:45):
In this equation the SAP Walt Nauda figured he could
serve his Lord and Master Trump yet one more time
by gaining his own access to the classified documents, and
who knows where they'd wind up. Then Judge Cannon shot
that down to with the impeccable logic that, since Nada
is charged with obstruction and lying and not secret stealing quote,
(04:06):
the defense may not disclose classified information to him. From
the Georgia Trump case, Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows
continues to be the Aaron Rodgers of defendants. Only it's
as if Aaron Rodgers tore his achilles ninety four seconds
into the first game, and then tore it again ninety
(04:26):
four seconds into the second game, and ninety four seconds
into the third and ninety four seconds into the fourth.
Meadows wanted the case against him frozen, delayed indefinitely from
its scheduled start next month while he appealed his last
loss and again tried to get his case moved to
federal court. But US District Judge Steve Jones not only
(04:48):
denied it, but basically added, You're gonna tear your achilles again.
You know that, right, saying Meadows quote has shown no
likelihood on prevailing on the merits of his appeal. As
to the parallel issue before Judge Tanya Chutkin in Trump's
Washington trial quote the defendant's daily extra judicial statements that
(05:10):
threatened to prejudice the jury pool in this case. Per
the only non sealed part of Jack Smith's exchange with
Trump lawyer number wait a minute two hundred and thirty
six John Laurow. Nothing leaked yesterday. Laura's team was supposed
to answer the judge about good old ECF number forty
seven Dash three on Monday. Smith's team was supposed to
(05:31):
answer Lauro's answer yesterday, and we don't know for sure
that any of that has even happened, let alone what
did happen. And of course we don't even know what
good old ECF number forty seven Dash three is. It's
all under seal. And of course you heard about none
of this because a Trump may have actually realized how
(05:55):
bad the news from Judge Cannon is for him and
he should not call attention to it on social media
and b the news media saw something else move in
the bushes and collectively it cried, look a kiddie, and
see Trump is after all occupied engineering Kevin McCarthy's illegal
(06:16):
impeachment inquiry. That's the point. We know from one hundred
different reports that Trump met Sunday in New Jersey with
the lawn ornament come to life Marjorie Taylor Green. He
spoke with the snakelike Elise Stefanic on Tuesday after McCarthy
took the bait and announced his star chamber. But he
(06:36):
has not been in contact with the Colorado Congresswoman Lauren
Bobert because she's been too busy getting kicked out of
the stage version of Beetlejuice for vaping and illegally recording
the show, And of course she's now preoccupied with her
GoFundMe campaign to get herself a dress that actually fits.
Trump has evidently not talked directly with McCarthy either, which
(07:01):
makes sense because McCarthy is also very busy destroying his
own career and his party's majority in the House. The
illegal impeachment investigation has now morphed into the gop In crisis,
in fact, into the gop In open revolt. McCarthy accused
Congressman Matt Gates of Florida of conspiring with Democratic Congressman
(07:22):
Eric Swalwell of California to get Swalwell placed back on
the Intelligence Committee. McCarthy even posits that that is a
front for something else. He won't say what he says
of Gates, quote, this is really about an ethics complaint.
Gates came back last night and said this is an
abject lie from a sad and pathetic man who lies
(07:46):
to hold on to power unquote, and Congressman, you're going
to have to be more specific than that and use
the speaker's name in that statement, because otherwise that could
be about just about anybody in your own party, couldn't it.
It is hard to imagine Matt Gates being write about anything,
but he actually may be in this case. McCarthy's wafer
(08:09):
thin premise for this charade is coming apart like a
cheap suit, and for that matter, McCarthy is coming apart
like a cheap suit. There are now dueling FBI whistleblowers
in the Hunter Biden case, and it is beginning to
look like McCarthy's FBI whistleblower is a liar. It was
(08:29):
Gary Shapley who said that Hunter Biden prosecutor David Weiss
had proclaimed he was being stymied by the Justice Department.
But now it is the chief of the FBI's Hunter
Biden investigation, Thomas Subbasinski, who says, no, that's not true.
Weiss never said that. In fact, he told the House
in an interview those exact things last week, and McCarthy
(08:54):
went ahead with this sham anyway, just to ratchet this
up a little bit more late last night, and I'll
read this directly from the pages of the Washington Examiner,
a curiously useful resource from the far right quote Hunter
Biden filed a lawsuit against a former Trump administration aid
(09:14):
in California federal court Wednesday, alleging he illegally posted contents
of his that would be Hunter Biden's infamous laptop from Hell.
The lawsuit accuses Garrett Ziggler, his company, and ten unnamed
defendants Make one of them, Trump, Make one of them, Trump,
Make one of them Trump of improperly accessing, tampering with, manipulating, altering, copying,
(09:38):
and damaging computer data that they did not own, in
violation of California's computer fraud laws. I sentence you to
ten years in prison for damaging the contents of the
Hunter Biden laptop Back at the Ranch. Kevin McCarthy's entire
motive for this perversion of justice and the degradation of
(10:00):
the seemingly nothing left to be degraded in Republican House
that is also collapsing. He did this to save his
worthless ass and push through spending legislation, appropriations bills and
another stunt shutdown of the government, and every one of
the bills from a megabill to individual funding procedures for
(10:22):
the Pentagon for disaster relief, for Homeland Security. They all failed.
Yesterday he had to pull the eight hundred and twenty
six billion dollar Pentagon bill off the floor. Half the
members are trying to stick amendments and pet projects onto it.
And the last word was McCarthy was even pivoting away
from the big musical number. They have all rehearsed the
(10:43):
September thirtieth government shut down, and instead they may just
pass a short term continuing resolution just to keep the
government afloat into next month. No more big musical number.
All he's got is a kazoo plus. Rather surprisingly, institutional
Washington is actually beating the crap of Kevin McCarthy. The
(11:06):
inquiry quote devalues impeachment as a meaningful tool to deal
with genuine presidential misconduct. Professor Emeritus frank O. Bowman of
Missouri Law told as buttoned down a group as you
can find the publication Role Call. Bowman wrote a history
of impeachments. He says what McCarthy did make quote create
(11:27):
a situation where presidents of both parties just throw up
their hands and say, look, these guys never operate in
good faith. We're just going to refuse any subpoenas that
they send us on quote. The first president who tries
that will get away with it. I don't know what
happens to the second one. Let's see if Biden becomes
the first. A UNC law professor went even further in
the same publication, there's quote no evidence whatsoever. It's an
(11:51):
outcome in search of a process. Isn't that perfect? It's
an outcome in search of a process. McCarthy literally brought
trouble on his own house. And this is the wind
he has inherited. And yes it is Trump's wind. And yes,
that is exactly as disgusting as it sounds. And to
(12:15):
mix my metaphors, the quicksand McCarthy now finds himself in
may only be up to his ankles now, but it
could go all the way to the top of his beak.
McCarthy could lose the speakership over this, and as I
pointed out yesterday in the nineteen ninety eight newt Gingrich
history story, it could happen damned fast. I mean, it
is so bad even news reporters are noticing. Kind of
(12:40):
the White House actually figured out bless them that there
are Pavlovian bells you can ring inside the DC political
media Industrial Complex. White House Council Office spokesman Ian Sam's
wrote a long letter excoriating the stenography of the last
few Well that's the right word here, weeks, yes, centuries quote.
(13:07):
It's time for the media to ramp up its scrutiny
of House Republicans for opening an impeachment inquiry based on lies.
He added that the absence of you know, evidence should
quote set off alarm bells for news organizations, and then
he named the news organizations. And nothing scares an outlet
(13:27):
like CNN more than seeing itself ripped in a letter
that was sent to all the other news organizations that
it secretly still envies. Mister Sam's was smart enough to
leak the letter Tuesday night, then deliver it Wednesday morning,
then post it in full online Wednesday afternoon. If today
he's standing in front of Washington Union Station handing it
(13:49):
out to passers by, I wouldn't be a bit surprised.
And it seems to have registered with the media again kinda.
The letter noted, as I did yesterday, that on the
first of this month, Kevin McCarthy insisted all but swore
in an interview with Breitbart News that if there were
(14:11):
to be an impeachment inquiry, it would follow a House
vote of some kind. Quote, if we move forward with
an impeachment inquiry, it would occur through a vote on
the floor of the People's House, and not through a
declaration by one person. And then he made a declaration
by one person. So when McCarthy met reporters yesterday and
(14:35):
expected the usual soupine enabling of his crap machine, he
was stunned when one of them from CNN actually quoted
that Breitbart quote to him. As you will hear. Kevin
McCarthy had no idea what to do next, and several
times had to go back to the beginning of his
(14:55):
memorized statement.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
So, what can do you know what's interesting to me?
You were a reporter for CNN. Correct. I just laid
out to you a lot of allegations based upon the
American your word.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Why did you change you?
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Okay, well, let me answer your question because I've answered
it every single day and you could answer me every
single day. Nancy Pelosi changed the president of this House.
This doesn't preclude from a Nancy Pelosi changed the President
of this House on September twenty fourth. It was withheld
and good enough for every single Democrat here. It was
good enough for the judge. Why you would it have
(15:31):
to be different today what we've learned in the last
couple of weeks. Wouldn't you want to know the answer
to your whole job is reporting. You now have an
accusation that the President took a bride. You do know
from your own reporting from your own station that they
were selling a brand. You do know from your own
reporting from CNN that the President went to and did
(15:53):
conference calls, that the President went to lunches and dinners,
just the dinners, and Hunter got a new Porsche, He
got three boys from both.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Well, that's my question to you. Why don't you ask
the other questions? Why don't you change your position? I
never changed my position. You don't you know what's interesting me?
So you don't care about.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Any of the answers.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
You are very interested in the whole.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Press is Yes, I answered your question, McCarthy.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Of course, McCarthy lied there several times. Nancy Pelosi held
a vote in twenty nineteen before the impeachment began. He
also never got around actually answering CNN about his own lying.
It was rather an impressive performance, especially when he had
to go back to the beginning. I have noted before
that Kevin McCarthy looks like the bird that has just
(16:40):
smashed into your window. During that one, he looked like
he had just done it twice while I suspect the
McCarthy illegal impeachment inquiry will soon consume his speakership, and
within days the media may be climbing over each other
to help him bury himself. I am not suddenly going
all Pollyanna on the utter failure of American journalism, especially
American television journalism, especially American broadcast network television journalism, in
(17:04):
the last eight years and eight months and the last
eight minutes. You will recall that the night before the
Republican debate in Milwaukee, three Trump hoodlums, led by that
disgusting Jason Miller, were, according to Politico, quote, whining and
dining twelve national political reporters at a steakhouse in Milwaukee
(17:25):
called Rare. Now, these were not a dozen frauds from
Fox News, The Daily Caller, Newsmax, Fascist Daily. No self
respecting American newsperson would dine with Miller and Chris las
Sevita and Stephen Chung or their equivalents in the DeSantis campaign, or,
for that matter, their equivalents in the Biden campaign, not
(17:46):
in the middle of a campaign, not the night before
a debate. But these were not twelve self respecting American
news persons. They were twelve people from CNN and CBS
News and NBC News and ABC News and The Washington Post,
including management, who thought it was somehow appropriate to shifty
a table with not just political operatives, but political operatives
(18:09):
who constantly encouraged the public to view news reporters as
criminals who should be targeted and attacked and assaulted and
kidnapped and tortured and killed. And among those who broke
bread with these scumbags were Rick Klein, political director of ABC,
political editor of Bloomberg, Mario Parker, David Shalien from CNN,
(18:32):
Robert Costa from CBS, Shane Goldmacher from The New York Times.
And here's the point. Kristin Welker of NBC News as
of next week, the new host of Meet the Press,
and yesterday the other shoe dropped. Quoting the Hollywood publication Deadline,
(18:55):
Kristin Welker's first broadcast of Meet the Press on Sunday
will feature a pre taped interview with former President Donald Trump.
The interview will take place on Thursday, that would be
today in Bedminster, New Jersey, and it will be Trump's
first broadcast network sit down since leaving office. Who we
(19:17):
got Trump to talk about himself? We're really cool, aren't we.
Kristen Welker is the greatest host of Meet the Press ever.
The network has stressed that the interview is not a
town hall. Poor Chris Licked. I almost feel sorry for him.
The network has stressed the interview is not a town
hall and there is no live audience, and the same
(19:38):
invite has been extended to President Joe Biden. The sit
down also will be accompanied by a fact check on
nbcnews dot Com, the implication being there that the fact
check will not be on Meet the Press. They also
pointed to a quote that David gellis I believe that's
how he pronounces his name, the executive producer of Meet
(20:01):
the Press, gave to the Pointer report quote, we are
in the business of covering politics. It's not our job
to pick and choose the leaders. The American people get
to do that, and so our job is to make
sure that the American people understand who the people in
power are what they stand for and what they plan
to do. Not to get too biblical on you here,
(20:23):
but I believe that exact quote was also said once
by ponscious Pilot. It's not our job to pick and
choose the leaders. Our job is Yeah, it's not our
job to try to stop an arsonist who's lighting the building.
We are all in on fire. It's also not our
job to try to put out the fire. We are
(20:43):
just here to make sure that the pyromaniacs and the
firefighters get an equal amount of coverage and the equal
opportunity to either burn or not burn. Everybody alive. Congratulations
NBC on destroying Kristin w Elker's reputation before her first show.
(21:09):
Just brilliant. This is a preliminary verdict. I reserve the
right to edit this sentence out later, but honest to God,
right this minute, I actually miss Chuck Todd by the
(21:31):
way this Meet the Press EP. I don't know how
to pronounce his name, but I recognized it. David gellis
g E L L E s. He was one of
the producers I inherited when MSNBC hired me back and
canceled Phil Donahue in two thousand and three, and by
the way, they canceled him because the show cost way
too much money and it had a live audience with
(21:53):
a union in New York, which costs way too much money.
And even without Phil's admirable anti war stance, they were
going to cancel it. His stance just made it happen
faster anyway. So we kept about half, maybe two fifths
of Donahue's staff and made them into the Countdown staff,
(22:13):
and the others were dispersed around the company, and this guy,
gels Or Gellis was one of those dispersed. But don't worry.
Since that day twenty years ago, he has burnished his credentials.
We can trust him to handle a Donald Trump interview
on NBC News with a rookie. We can handle that
(22:34):
because he burnished his credentials by going on to produce
such journalistic enterprises as Rock Center with Brian Williams and
of course, seventeen time Peabody winning program Jake Tapper's book
Club Christ also of interest here profiles in Discourage. Romney
(23:05):
says he's going to retire at the end of his term,
and we have lowered our collective American standards so much that,
God damn, you'd think it was Daniel freakin' Webster striding
out of the Senate in July of eighteen fifty to
take over as Secretary of State in the time of
great crisis. Jesus aged Christ. It's Mitt Romney. This is
(23:28):
the guy who put out a public statement with a big,
colorful graphic that mocked me, me for calling Trump a terrorist.
And then three months later there he was a virtual
hostage inside the Senate, inside the Capitol because guess what,
sportscaster boy over here was right, Trump was a terrorist
(23:52):
and Mitt Romney in October twenty twenty didn't fing know
that that's next. This is countdown. This is countdown with
Keith old woman. Okay, this is half postscripts to the
(24:14):
news and half things I promised not to tell. Mitt
Romney yesterday managed to announce his retirement from the Senate
at the end of his current term and to promote
his authorized biography excerpt appearing in The Atlantic on the
same day sums him up. Really, the man who will
(24:35):
forever be remembered for one photograph with him cowering at
a poorly lit table at the Jean Jorge restaurant inside
Trump Tower weeks after Trump was elected, having gone there
not for the frog's legs but to kiss Trump's ass. Yes,
he is saying it's time to leave the Senate. Time
(24:57):
to go, Mitt. Actually, Mitt, that was when you were
running for the Senate in nineteen ninety four. On the sure,
I'm an utter mediocrity, but check out my hair platform.
Has any seemingly intelligent man missed more obvious things in
American public life than Mitt Romney has. Other vs Republicans
(25:17):
colluded with Trump out of evil, Mitt Romney did so
out of naivete An excerpt from this upcoming book, which
I think they have entitled they call me mister Mitt.
Maybe I dreamt that maybe it's Mitt the Elder quote.
What bothered Romney most about Josh Hawley and his cohort
(25:39):
was the oily, disingenuousness. They know better. He told me,
Josh Hawley is one of the smartest people in the Senate,
if not the smartest, and Ted Cruz could give him
a run for his money. They were too smart. Romney
believed to actually think that Trump had won the twenty
twenty election. Hally and Cruz quote were making a calculation.
(26:00):
Romney told me that put politics above the interests of
liberal democracy and the Constitution. No kidding, seriously, Matt, it
took you through the twenty twenty election to realize that
Cruz and Hally were con men, that maybe there were
Republicans who were exploiting Trump Seriously. Early in twenty twenty one,
(26:26):
Romney also told the author quote, A very large portion
of my party really doesn't believe in the Constitution. Did
you meet Nixon before he died? Mitt? Did you figure
that one out for yourself? Or did you have one
of your old teams from Bain Capital do it for you.
(26:47):
I always thought Mitt Romney was a dits, but even
I was shocked on October thirteenth, twenty twenty when a
graphic appeared on social media, white letters, all caps, some
of them read on a blue background and his name
at the top. And I read it innocently enough, no
idea what was in it, And boy did I get
a surprise that, as I reported that day, was when
I discovered that apparently I was the shadow president of
(27:10):
the United States or something like it. Quote. Untroubled by
our politics, s Mitt wrote, as it has moved away
from spirited debate to a vile, vituperative, hatefield morass that
is unbecoming of any free nation. Mit you just noticed
that that had been happening since nineteen ninety, started by
(27:33):
Gingrich and rush Limbaugh and those other fascists. The President
calls the Democratic vice presidential candidate a quote monster. He
repeatedly labels the Speaker of the House crazy. He calls
for the Justice Department to put the prior president in jail.
He attacks the governor of Michigan on the very day
a plot is discovered to kidnap her, and yet met
there you were running away from your own commitment to
(27:55):
stop this fascist would be dictator, dining with him, auditioning
for his cabinet, supporting him as he railroaded a Supreme
Court pass the very rules your party had made up
out of thin air in twenty sixteen. But go on
mitt quoting this thing again. From October twenty twenty, Democrats
launch blistering attacks of their own, though their presidential nominee
(28:19):
refuses to stoop as low as others. Pelosi tears up
the President's State of the Union speech on national television.
Keith Olberman calls the president a terrorist. Media on the
left and that wait, what Pelosi tears up the President's
State of the Union speech on national television. Keith Olberman says,
the President, huh Trump, Governor of Michigan Biden Pelosi, Alberman,
(28:47):
one of these things is not like the other. I
just want to clarify here. I am not affiliated with
any political party. I don't work for any news or
commentary outlet, and I have not been elected to any
office since let me see junior year of high schoo
But I did stay at a holiday in express last night.
(29:11):
As one Twitter respondent to Mitt Romney's unfortunate missive, the
former Obama spokesman and Pod Save America co host Tommy
Vader said it's long pastime to break ground on a
both Sides museum in Washington, d C. This comparison of
the President of the United States to Keith Alderman must
(29:32):
be preserved for future generations. I agreed, then, I agree
now honestly, soon to be ex Senator Romney, I was
the best you could do. Or from the other vantage point,
I was the worst you could do. Mitt Romney, you
(29:54):
were one of the Franz von Poppins of this nightmare,
our equivalent of the German conservative politician who helped to
get Hitler elected and then said, don't worry. Quote within
two months will have pushed him so so far into
the quarter that he'll squeak you. Mitt Romney helped to
enable a terrorist to occupy the Oval office, and by
(30:16):
that date, in October twenty twenty, we all knew Trump
was a stochastic terrorist. Maybe you didn't terrorism by proxy.
He praised the white supremacist militia terrorists in Michigan, repeated
their demands, and the next thing, as you put in
that graphic, they were scouting out the governor's summer home
and planning to kidnap her, and Trump tacitly endorsed the paranoid,
(30:37):
delusional QAnon cult. The next thing you know, one of
the kool aid drinkers were bursting into a kid's pizza
parlor brandishing an AR fifteen because he really believed that
bullshit on a psychoic chat room board. That had already happened,
and Trump was already also a direct terrorist by October
twenty twenty, Senator, what was he doing to his own
supporters if not terrorizing them? He told them, a democratic president,
(31:01):
if elected, would burn down the cities. And destroy the
suburbs and eliminate the borders and allow foreign gangs to
come kill them. All that, Senator is and was and
was then terrorism, and you mitt you didn't notice the
country was metaphorically ablaze, and you were yelling at those
(31:23):
of us who were trying to warn people and put
out that fire I referred to earlier. We have to
make it safe for both the pyromaniacs and the firefighters.
NBC News Washington. You tried to make it bad for
those of us who were warning people in the realistic
terms by complaining that we trampled some imaginary tulip garden
(31:44):
of friendly American political discourse that still exists only inside
your own head under all that hair. Silence in the
face of evil, or both sides. Ism in the face
of evil is the same as conducting the evil yourself.
Senator Trump was there. Trump was still there because you
(32:07):
and the other good Republicans let him stay there. This
is the kind of America they wanted. This is the
kind of America they got. This is the kind of
America you got. If you have complaints about the state
of political discourse in this country, mit take it up
(32:28):
with the terrorist in chief. Or with your own mirror quote.
The rabbit attacks kindle the conspiracy mongers and the haters
who take the small and predictable step from intemperate word
to dangerous action. Mitt Romney wrote in October twenty twenty
in his memo to me, it is time to lower
(32:52):
the heat. Leaders must tone it down. Leaders from the top,
and leaders of all stripes, parents, bosses, reporters, columnists, professors,
union chiefs, everyone. The concert sequence of the crescendo of
anger leads to a very bad place. No sane person
can want that. Unquote. You'll notice that among the people
(33:17):
he told to tone it down in October twenty twenty,
mitt Romney did not include Donald Trump, and sure enough,
less than three months later, Mitt Romney was avoiding a
Trump mob bent on killing him or whoever they could
get hold of, and, by the way, destroying democracy. And
guess what, Mitt I was right. Donald Trump was a
(33:40):
terrorist and Donald Trump is a terrorist. Unless Mitt you
think that I caused January sixth, idiot, I've done all
(34:20):
the damage I can do here. Thank you for listening.
Countdowns come to you from our studios high atop the
Sports Capsule building here in New York New York. Here
are the credits. Most of the music arrange produced and
performed by Brian Ray and John Phillip Schanel. They are,
of course the Countdown musical directors. All orchestration and keyboards
by John Phillip Shaneil, the guitars, bass and drums by
(34:41):
Brian Ray, produced by Tko Brothers. Other Beethoven selections have
been arranged and performed by No Horns Allowed. The sports
music is the Olderman theme from ESPN two, and it
was written by Mitch Warren Davis courtesy of ESPN Inc.
Musical comments by Nancy Fauss. The best baseball stadium organist ever.
Our announcer today was my friend Jonathan Banks from Breaking
(35:01):
Bad and Better Call Saul Airplane. Everything else is pretty
much my fault. That's countdown for this, the nine hundred
and eighty second day since Donald Trump's first attempted coup
against the democratically elected government of the United States. Convict
him now while we still can. By the way, Mitt,
he's still a terrest. The next schedule countdown is tomorrow.
(35:24):
Bolletin says. The news warrants and my throat permits till then.
I'm Keith Oulderman, good morning, good afternoon, goodnight, and good luck.
Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. For
(35:48):
more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
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