A REPORTER MUST STAND UP TO TRUMP. NOW, NOW, NOW! - 12.11.25

Summary

Podcast Summary: Countdown with Keith Olbermann

Episode: A REPORTER MUST STAND UP TO TRUMP. NOW, NOW, NOW!
Date: December 11, 2025
Host: Keith Olbermann (iHeartPodcasts)

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Episode Overview

In this fiery and passionate episode, Keith Olbermann delivers a direct call to action for journalists: stand up to Donald Trump publicly and forcefully as he escalates his attacks and threats toward the press, specifically following Trump’s recent suggestion that The New York Times should face sedition and treason charges for its reporting. Olbermann dissects the deteriorating psychological state of Trump, criticizes the complicity and cowardice within the media, and argues that the first reporter who confronts Trump may face repercussions but will ultimately be lauded. The episode also weaves in anecdotes from Olbermann’s own career, media criticism, and his trademark satirical segments.

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Main Theme

Journalists Must Confront Trump—Now

Olbermann devotes the main section of the episode to the urgent need for at least one reporter to tell Trump, directly and publicly, to "shut the hell up" and stand up to his threats. He frames the current atmosphere as a tipping point—Trump's attacks on the media are not only more frequent and extreme, but now carry the undertone of stochastic terrorism, potentially inspiring violence.

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Key Topics & Insights

1. Trump’s Threats Against Media Escalate

• Trump publicly floats the idea of charging the New York Times with "sedition" and "treason," explicitly calling for retaliatory action against the press for critical coverage.
• Olbermann frames this as not just empty bluster, but as part of an escalating pattern—threats that come closer and closer to inciting action among his supporters or from people in power.
  • Quote (03:17): “Tell him to F off and tell him to shove his threats and stochastic hints at destruction and violence [...] up his ass.”
  • Quote (08:17): "'After all of the work I have done...I actually believe it’s seditious, perhaps even treasonous, for the New York Times and others to consistently do fake reports...They are true enemies of the people and we should do something about it.'"

2. Trump’s Psychological Decline and Stochastic Terrorism

• Olbermann calls Trump “a mentally deteriorating man,” suggesting that his public statements show advancing psychological dysfunction, potentially creating an imminent crisis.
• He discusses anosognosia—the inability to perceive one’s own illness—and how it may apply to Trump.
  • Quote (06:08): “This is a mentally deteriorating man. His disease or diseases, whatever they are, are accelerating before our eyes.”

3. Media Complicity and the Need for Defiance

• Olbermann argues that the news business has come to accept these attacks as routine, and that typical media figures fear pushback is career suicide—countering this, he claims:
  • The reporter who stands up “will get fired and within 48 hours...a new job paying twice as much,” becoming a “national hero.”
    • Quote (02:59): “The first news reporter who stands up to Trump and calls him out to his face in public...will become a national hero.”
• He describes, in detail, the kind of exchange he imagines—and wants to see—between a journalist and Trump.
  • Quote (16:50): “The first reporter, though, who does something like that, anything like that, gets ushered out, maybe by Secret Service and fired before they hit the street outside on Pennsylvania Avenue. And within 48 hours, they will get statues built of them.”

4. Personal Anecdote: Speaking Truth to Power

• Olbermann recalls his own on-air confrontations with political leaders, specifically invoking his famous special comments about Bush and Iraq, recounting the immense pressure and risk felt at the time.
  • Quote (19:04): "And I did it expecting to be fired maybe before the show was over..."
  • Quote (19:34): "Instead, the president of the network said, 'Hey, buddy, did you see the ratings? Can you do one of those every night?'"

5. Trump’s Attempted Influence of Media Ownership and Content

• Details attempts and aspirations by Trump to sway programming at CNN and influence who anchors, especially naming Erin Burnett and Kaitlan Collins as targets (11:44).
• Describes the cozy relationship between Trump and potential media buyers, highlighting dangerous collusion between power and press.
• Critiques softball interviews and media access games, e.g. Dasha Burns of Politico, and the pressure White House comms placed before her interview (14:03).

6. Recent Examples of Attacks on Reporters

• Notes two recent attacks—ABC’s Rachel Scott and Politico’s Dasha Burns, both women—receiving Trump’s scorn, indicating a pattern of rhetorical misogyny.
  • Quote (12:48): "'You are the most obnoxious reporter... you are an obnoxious, a terrible reporter... it's always the same thing with you.'"

7. The “Worst Persons in the World” Segment (33:15)

• Bronze: Sean Duffy for wanting workout areas and better-dressed passengers on planes.
• Runner-up: Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale and calls for public executions.
• Winner: Missouri Congresswoman Ann Wagner for misunderstanding that California, Missouri is not in California, but in her own state, while railing against “outsiders.”
  • Quote (38:11): “The California Democrat newspaper—it’s based in the town of California, Missouri. That’s...how they have a city hall, Railroad Park in California. California. See, it says California City Hall... It’s, it’s in Missouri.”

8. Satirical Anecdote: Chris Matthews at Gerald Ford's Funeral (43:34)

Olbermann tells a humorous, cringeworthy story about co-anchoring a state funeral with Chris Matthews, who became inappropriately enamored on-air with Governor Jennifer Granholm’s appearance.

• Details how Matthews completely lost professional detachment, focusing on her looks while forgetting the solemnity of the occasion.
  • Quote (53:17): “He started to pant on the air. It’s Governor Jennifer Granholm and she’s perfectly attired.”
• Olbermann eventually had to write Matthews a note reminding him, “We are at a presidential funeral.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Media Cowardice and Opportunity:
  • “Bullshit. The first one. The first one of you who gets told you are the most obnoxious reporter...and replies, so what?” (15:55)
• On Trump’s Appeal to Cognitive Testing:
  • “I have done something that no other president has done on three separate occasions...by taking what is known as a cognitive examination...and I aced all three of them...” (07:01, reading Trump’s statement)
  • “Said every patient of every neurological disorder and physical ailment ever.” (08:14)
• On Present Moment’s Urgency:
  • “The time is nigh. He is going to snap soon enough.” (08:52)
  • "Answer him when he says things like this. Answer him when he attacks you. Answer him in the same language. Answer him to his face. Not with threats, not with violence...just answer him with reality." (08:52)
• On Economic Reality vs. Trump’s Claims:
  • “He tells poor Burns of Politico that the economy is an A plus plus plus plus plus. [...] And a new poll from Public First Polling says that in the last two years, 27% of us have skipped a medical checkup because of the costs...” (21:30)
• On What the Public Wants:
  • “America wants you to tell Trump he's full of shit.” (22:08)
• On Institutional Failure:
  • "The immediate threat is action to silence and manipulate media to a degree not yet seen even under this president.” (11:44)
• Humor & Media Satire:
  • “He has no idea whether [that public official] has served democracy or undermined it. But he knows who the hell that guy is. Why, that's Milton J Erceg, the 23rd...Solicitor general of Michigan.” (51:22)

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Essential Timestamps

• [02:57 – 08:52] – Olbermann’s “Special Comment”: Call for journalists to stand up to Trump, recitation and analysis of Trump’s recent statement about the NYT and sedition.
• [11:44 – 16:50] – Specifics on Trump’s efforts to control media; recent attacks on women reporters; why it’s a tipping point.
• [16:50 – 22:21] – Step-by-step of what a confrontational moment with Trump should sound like, risks and rewards for journalists, public appetite for confrontation, economic reality vs. Trump’s claims.
• [23:38 – 29:48] – Headlines and stories demonstrating Trump’s and his circle’s ongoing legal and ethical violations; the complicity of supporters; local political gaffes and hypocrisy.
• [33:15 – 40:25] – “Worst Persons in the World” segment.
• [43:34 – 57:44] – Anecdote: Chris Matthews and the Jennifer Granholm funeral incident.

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Summary of Tone and Language

Olbermann maintains his trademark acerbic, passionate, and direct tone throughout, combining righteous anger, sarcasm, and moments of biting humor. He is both urgent and entertaining, using colorful metaphors (“wild rides on the dementia J. Trump delusion train”), explicit language (bleeped throughout), and vivid storytelling to illustrate his points. He taunts both Trump and media enablers, and doesn’t hold back on harsh criticism—including of his own colleagues.

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Conclusion

Keith Olbermann’s episode is a clarion call to members of the press: don’t simply tolerate Trump’s escalating rhetoric and attempts to intimidate the media but challenge him publicly, honestly, and directly. Citing both the need for journalist bravery and the perverse incentives that reward resistance, Olbermann insists the moment to act is NOW. The episode is also peppered with media criticism, political satire, and personal media war stories—making for urgent, hyper-verbal commentary designed to both inform and galvanize.

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For those who missed the episode:
Olbermann argues there’s a crisis in political journalism and democratic accountability brought on by Trump’s threats, and only public, forceful confrontation by credible reporters will awaken both the industry and the country to the urgency of the moment. The first who takes that risk, he claims, will go down as a hero.

Transcript

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[Keith Olbermann]

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[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

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[Keith Olbermann]

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[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

The first news reporter who stands up.

[Keith Olbermann]

To Trump and calls him out to his face in public will get fired and within 48 hours will get a new job paying twice as much or more and will become a national hero. America is crying out for somebody to.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Take the risk that isn't really a risk and tell him to shut the.

[Keith Olbermann]

Hell up and tell him to F off and tell him to shove his threats and stochastic hints at destruction and violence and his A.

Up his ass. It is time. Now, now, now. Because Trump has now threatened the New York Times with sedition and treason charges.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

For committing the heinous, unpatriotic act of suggesting.

[Keith Olbermann]

He's a little tired for criticizing him. For criticizing him. Doesn't matter that it's just another threat, that his losses over Kimmel and Comey.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

And Tish James have set back the clock on. When he completely loses it and tries.

[Keith Olbermann]

To do this, doesn't matter that legally.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

None of this fits. Sedition or treason, none of it could.

[Keith Olbermann]

Fit in a million years.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

This is a mentally deteriorating man. His disease or diseases, whatever they are, are accelerating before our eyes. And each hour he gets further and further convinced of his omnipotence and worse, that only a tiny minority in this.

[Keith Olbermann]

Country opposes him in the slightest.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

He has almost unchecked power and the Republicans won't check the rest. And somebody has to check the. And if he threatens the Times with treason and insists in that stochastic terrorist way of his, we should do something.

[Keith Olbermann]

About it, I'm next.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Or you're next, or the guy down the street is next, or some Republican.

[Keith Olbermann]

Who stands up is next.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Two weeks ago, he wanted to hang.

[Keith Olbermann]

Democratic senators and congressmen like Kelly and.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Slotkin, and now he wants to charge the New York Times with treason and sedition, and you are next. And just because this isn't enough of a crisis that nobody's reacting to it as a crisis, because, well, he's always.

[Keith Olbermann]

Threatening the media and, well, he's always.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Claiming somebody's guilty of treason.

[Keith Olbermann]

And while he's always planning to get.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Somebody anged, ask Mike Pence. Am I right? There is a pattern here. Over the last week about which we need to take note and summon genuine alarm. He is now trying to decide who owns and operates the national news organizations and what they say, even the tepid ones like cnn and which shows get to run on them and which anchors must be fired. Sorry, Aaron Burnett. And worst of all, this ties into that word, you're sick of me hearing this is part of anosognosia, because it's clear to the world that Trump is desperately, menacingly, psychologically dysfunctional, and there is no chance in a million years that he has any. That what he is doing is part of that illness or any illness, and no chance that anybody around him sees it that way or will tell him that's the truth. This is psychological dysfunction. This is mental illness. This is stochastic terrorism. I will read that all to you now. There has never been a president that has worked as hard as me. My hours are the longest and my results are among the best. In addition to all that, I go.

[Keith Olbermann]

Out of my way to do long.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Thorough, and very boring medical examinations at the great Walter Reed National Military Medical center, seen and supervised by top doctors, all of whom have given me perfect marks. Some have even said they have never seen such strong perfect marks. Some have even said they have never seen such strong results. I do these tests because I owe.

[Keith Olbermann]

It to our country.

That's right. He's doing us a favor.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

In addition to the medical. I have done something that no other president has done on three separate occasions, the last one being recently by taking what is known as a cognitive examination, something which few people would be able to do very well, including those working at the New York Times. And I aced all three of them in front of large numbers of doctors and experts, most of whom I do not know.

In other words, he's used to being tested by doctors who he does know, does pay, and does tell what to say to resume. I have been told that few people have been able to ace this examination.

[Keith Olbermann]

And in fact, most do very poorly.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Which is why many other presidents have decided not to take it at all. Despite all of this, the time and work involved, he said it was pretty easy. The New York Times and some others like to pretend that I am, quote, slowing up and maybe not as sharp as I once was, or am in poor physical health, knowing that it is not true and knowing that I work very hard, probably harder than I have ever worked before. I will know when I am slowing up, but it's not now. Said every patient of every neurological disorder.

[Keith Olbermann]

And physical ailment ever.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

And here is the operative part of this. Here is the true pathology. Quote, after all of the work I have done with medical exams, cognitive exams, and everything else, I actually believe it's seditious, perhaps even treasonous, for the New York Times and others to consistently do fake reports in order to libel and demean the President of the United States in Capital letters. They are true enemies of the people and we should do something about it.

Yes, somebody has to do something about it. Remove him under the 25th Amendment. He's as crazy as a jaybird. Of course that will not happen. So somebody else needs to do something a little simpler. Answer him. Answer him when he says things like this. Answer him when he attacks you. Answer him in the same language. Answer him to his face. Not with threats, not with violence, for God's sakes, not even yelling or a loud voice. Just answer him with reality. Answer him with the thing he never sees in his life, the reality world and the real world of how sick Donald Trump is. Because the time is nigh. He is going to snap soon enough. And though it won't look like he sounds in these ranting, almost fugue state, King Lear off his meds, penultimate stage of whatever disease he happens to have at the moment. Wild rides on the dementia J. Trump delusion train. These are only the big picture. Well, let's then nuke them fantasies. The likelihood he tries anything beyond the threat involved in this, that likelihood is remote because nobody in power, not even the morons like Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, who's now decided she's going to make the midterms next year a referendum on Trump. And thank you for that, Pat Summerall's daughter, not even Susie Wiles thinks actually pursuing anything like this against the New York Times is anything but madness. What they like is the threat element. They can sell the threat element. They also like that darkest of undercurrents, the possibility that again he writes, we should do something about it. And his stochastic call for violence is picked up by the way it was on January 6, by the insurrectionists or by the pipe bomber or by the MAGA militia. There is always that chance and it is very real. But the immediate threat is action to silence and manipulate media to a degree not yet seen even under this president. Three examples this week. First, Trump has decided he gets to program what's on cnn. He's already said he's going to be involved in the process by which CNN may change hands. He's been in the Oval Office with Larry Ellison, who's still trying to buy that network and make it even softer on Trump than David Zaslav and Warner Bros. Discovery. And Chris Licht made it soft on Trump. Per Natalie Andrews at the Wall Street Journal, quote, trump has told people close to him that he wants new ownership of CNN as well as changes to CNN programming. He's got a close eye on Paramount efforts to take over Warner Discovery while Netflix is talking to Trump too, unquote.

Trump mysteriously, since she is the most milquetoast person in primetime cable, wants Aaron ber Barnett out and probably Kaitlan Collins. Again. Why you would bother I don't know. These and the shows on Ms. Are not widely watched nor cited television programming. They are now nothing again compared to say the CBS Evening News over which he has now a measure of control via Barry Weiss and those schmucks. But he sees Aaron Burnett and Kaitlan Collins and CNN and as brain damaged as he silence the critics and the criticism that he sees. Also there have been two more attacks on women reporters. To ABC's Rachel Scott, here's a shock. She's gifted, she works for Disney and she's attention all you racist presidents of the United States. She's an African American woman. Quote, you are the most obnoxious reporter in the whole place. Let me just tell you, you are an obnoxious, a terrible reporter and it's always the same thing with you. I told you, unquote. Also, Lachlan Cartwright's Breaker reports that the fatuous flatulent lap sitting quote interview unquote of dementia J. Trump the other day by the ousted NBC correspondent Dasha Burns for Politico in which you'd recognize her if you saw the video. She was the one asking the softball questions, not following up on any of the stupid answers and then basically taking dictation throughout. They're reporting at Breaker that that interview was essentially the result of a quid pro quo and Politico staffers are nearing open revolt over it and Trump attacked Politico specifically and Dasha burns by extension 2 Dasha Burns of POLITICO in the interview with Politico. And no, I don't think she's very much of a journalist, but I'll defend her right to try and God damned any president who tries to intimidate her or anybody else. And that would even include Barry Effing Weiss. Attacking her is the job of media critics and journalists and those of us who dabble in those fields and not presidents with enough influence to get her harmed.

Anyway, Politico named Trump to the top of its 28 influencers in Europe or something and then suddenly bingo, it had an exclusive with Trump during which he said he was only giving their crapola organization an interview because it had just made up another award for him. And then he insulted them and her and she sat there because the job is more important to her than is America. Lachlan Cartwright writes Quote, Breaker has learned what was brought into the Oval Office 15 minutes before the interview was set to start, brought in by senior administration officials, including Communication director Steven Chung, or Chunk, as he's also known. I wrote that. Not Lachlan. White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, who made it clear they expected Burns to go easy on Trump. The White House, however, explained there was a simpler explanation for why Burns entered the Oval ahead of the interview, unquote. That was in the denial that there was any attempt to influence the softball nature of this interview, that it was just naturally softball. They brought her into the Oval Office, according to the White House, because was.

Because she'd never actually been in the Oval Office before, because she's only POLITICO's White House Bureau chief and a former NBC News Washington political reporter. I'm having a hard time believing their story.

The tragedy here, of course, is that.

[Keith Olbermann]

It is accepted inside the news business without a second thought that there is nothing that reporters, even bad ones, can do about this without risking their careers and maybe their lives.

Bullshit. The first one. The first one of you who gets told you are the most obnoxious reporter in the whole place, let me just tell you, you are a terrible reporter. The first one who hears that to their face and replies, so what?

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

What does that have to do with my question?

[Keith Olbermann]

Nothing. And what does that have to do with the fact that you didn't answer it? Nothing. And with all due respect, sir, the.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Majority of this nation, sir, considers you.

[Keith Olbermann]

A failure as a president. And what does that have to do with your answer? The one you didn't just give me? Nothing. But the majority of this nation thinks.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

You are a vindictive, stupid, hypocritical, hateful.

[Keith Olbermann]

Destructive, soulless, and quite probably insane person. I'm a terrible reporter. You are the worst government leader in the history of the Western Hemisphere. Answer my effing question, asshole.

You don't have to repeat that word for word. The first reporter, though, who does something like that, anything like that, gets ushered out, maybe by Secret Service and fired before they hit the street outside on Pennsylvania avenue.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

And within 48 hours, they will get.

[Keith Olbermann]

Statues built of them, and they will.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Get new job offers at twice the salary, at least half a dozen networks and online facilities, and they have to.

[Keith Olbermann]

Stop and give up the wonderful life of being on the road with this madman and instead become an anchor or a host or something for several million dollars more than they're currently making. And as somebody said to a baseball writer decades ago, the road Ruins the best of them. And, kid, you ain't the best of them. Take the deal. Take the desk job. Give that answer to Trump. Work for truth. Not for CBS or Politico or NB Ms. Now go off on him. And then turned it into a series.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

I know a little something about this.

After years of complaining about it on the air. And I was not a White House reporter. I was not a confrontational guy. I couldn't say this directly, but it was at a time when something that was said on network television or cable television would reverberate and would almost be the equivalent of saying it to a man's face. And one day, after years of minor and relatively controlled complaints, I read what.

[Keith Olbermann]

Bush and Cheney and Gingrich and Rumsfeld and the others were saying about those.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Of us who criticized the policy of.

[Keith Olbermann]

The Bush administration against Iraq and the.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Way they were leading this country. And one day I said, I've had enough.

[Keith Olbermann]

Nobody is telling this guy to go to hell.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Somebody has to say he has to go to hell. Somebody has to let him know. Somebody has to say this on behalf of all the people out here. And I don't know how many there are. There could be 35. There could be 150 million, I don't know.

[Keith Olbermann]

But they're there.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

I can feel them saying, tell this.

[Keith Olbermann]

Man to go to hell.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

And I did it. And I did it expecting to be.

[Keith Olbermann]

Fired maybe before the show was over and maybe not even having some extra place to go outside of politics and news, maybe not being able to go back to sports.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

And when the president of the network.

[Keith Olbermann]

Then came into my tiny office after.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

This, as the room outside me was.

[Keith Olbermann]

Shaking with people who really liked what.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

I said but figured they were all.

[Keith Olbermann]

Gonna get fired too, 1% of me thought, you know, he's not gonna fire me.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

He's gonna get me thrown into the trunk of a car and I'm gonna.

[Keith Olbermann]

Wake up in Gitmo.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Instead, the president of the network said.

[Keith Olbermann]

Hey, buddy, did you see the ratings? Can you do one of those every night? Would you like a new contract? Would you like a real office? Would you like a lot of more money?

I wasn't some kind of journalistic prophet.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

I wasn't some sort of historic genius. I wasn't some sort of societal soothsayer.

[Keith Olbermann]

I wasn't imbued with the spirit of Edward R. Murrow for a year or a month or even a week.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Only three things were required then and are required now, even in a time of fear, to become the one who.

[Keith Olbermann]

SHOUTS Hey, Emperor, you have no new clothes.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

First, you have to be prepared.

[Keith Olbermann]

It's tough, but you have to be.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Prepared to make way more money than you're making now. Two, in this environment, this guy has to yell at you first, directly, with.

[Keith Olbermann]

50 cameras rolling at the time.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

You have to be prepared for an event that may not come or may.

[Keith Olbermann]

Not come for six months.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

But lastly, and most importantly, you have to correctly divine that the American public has passed the tipping point and it desperately wants somebody to confront this asshole and tell him to his face he's an asshole, no matter what the personal risk might be. You're already under personal risk. He already wants to charge you with sedition. People supporting him already want you harmed or dead. It's not that much of a percentage increase. And you don't even have to divine that they were past the tipping point. Just guess. Just assume it hasn't changed that much since the last time you actually really assessed this. He tells poor Burns of Politico that the economy is an A plus plus plus plus plus. Exactly the wording of the fantasy from little Ralphie in A Christmas Story when he's in the fourth grade. He says a plus plus plus plus plus. And a new poll from Public First Polling says that in the last two years, 2777% of us have skipped a medical checkup because of the costs. And 37% of us said they can no longer afford to go to a pro ballgame. And 46% of us can't afford a vacation if we have to use a plane during it. And these are the inflation figures they are fighting against. Bacon, 3.5%. Chicken. 5.3%. Lettuce. 7.4%. Bananas. 8%. Ground beef, 14%. Coffee, 100%. You know where I got those goddamn inflation figures from? From the effing Maria effing Bartiromo Fox.

This is the tipping point. You are here on the map. America wants you to tell Trump he's full of shit.

One well crafted paragraph of suppressed and controlled anger and it's over. I'd be happy to do it myself, but as you may have noticed.

My skill at suppressing and controlling my anger on this subject is waning. And also, I retired from that platform more than a decade ago. But you are on that platform now. You are on a platform while Trump is trying to light the platform on fire. And he's trying to light you on fire. And he's trying to light America on fire. You are on the platform now. Use the platform. Looking at you, Rachel Scott Looking at you, Dash of Burns looking at you. Caitlin Collins and Aaron Burnett and anybody else he thinks he can get fired from. His new CNN looking at you, New York Times. Do it now, now, now, before he actually snaps and does charge you with sedition.

[Keith Olbermann]

The other headlines, as Trump continues his cover up of the second strike video. And that's in addition to his cover up of the Epstein files. Two rather startling stories that didn't really change the score, but which do remind.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Us that the creatures who are loyal.

[Keith Olbermann]

To Trump, the renfields of our time.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Are also hypocrites and frauds who, outside.

[Keith Olbermann]

Of Stephen Miller, do not even believe their own hate. They just sell it as a federal.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Court rules that the Trump usurpation of.

[Keith Olbermann]

The National Guard to terrorize citizens in LA was illegal. Thus you can extrapolate that those military orders were also illegal.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

CNN reports that throughout 2016, one Fox.

[Keith Olbermann]

News pundit and sometimes host kept beating.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

The same drum about the military carrying.

[Keith Olbermann]

Out illegal orders as Trump kept insisting in 2016 they should and they would. And when pressed about what would happen if they didn't, he told a Republican primary debate, quote, they won't refuse. They're not going to refuse me, believe me. As that foretelling began of our current crisis in which he is changing the United States of America military into Trump Troops, Inc.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

While that was going on in 2016, one Fox commentator, a military contributor, insisted.

[Keith Olbermann]

It was illegal and should not happen and would not happen. Quote, you're just not gonna follow that.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Order if it's unlawful. He insisted the military's not gonna follow illegal orders. A month later, he came back on and said the military won't follow unlawful.

[Keith Olbermann]

Orders from their commander in chief. And after that, as a guest on.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Megyn Kelly's Fox show, remember Megyn Kelly, the man said, quote, here's the problem with Trump. He says, go ahead and kill the family. Go ahead and torture. Go ahead and go further than waterboarding. What happens when people follow those orders.

[Keith Olbermann]

Or don't follow them?

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

It's not clear that Donald Trump will have their back. Donald Trump is oftentimes about Donald Trump. And so you can't, if you're not changing the law and you're just saying.

[Keith Olbermann]

It, could you create even more ambiguity?

Unquote.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Who, who was so morally and legally clear? Who was so insightful as to the nightmare behind the nightmare? Trump issues illegal orders.

[Keith Olbermann]

You carry them out and then he.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Backs away from the orders, pretends he doesn't even know who you are, and you go to jail. Who saw that coming? Who was almost psychic about this?

Pete Hegseth. No, the same Pete Hegseth. And just as tragically, a year ago, a lawyer representing America First Policy Institute answered a lawsuit by claiming that the issue of Trump ordering SEAL Team Six to kill a rival candidate. This was part of the presidential immunity thing.

[Keith Olbermann]

That.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

That was just a fantasy. Quote, military officers are required not to carry out unlawful orders. This lawyer wrote in a brief to the Supreme Court that was d up by the Times, Quote, the military would not carry out a patently unlawful order from the president to kill non military targets. Indeed, service members are required not to do so.

[Keith Olbermann]

Unquote. Again, who wrote that?

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Powerful conservative viewpoint.

Pam Bondi. Yep. Same Pam Bondi. When this is over and Bondi and Hegseth go to prison for facilitating illegal orders to the military, Hegseth and Bondi can at least say, I told you so as they look themselves in the mirror.

Thank you, Nancy Faust. Another day, another petard, another hoisting to continue that theme. Remember those Bill Pulte specials trying to prosecute Adam Schiff and Lisa Cook and Eric Swalwell for filling out forms that said a home they were mortgaging was to be their primary residence? Only it wasn't, or it wasn't gonna be all the time or it wouldn't be later. Remember that? From ProPublica? In a span of seven weeks in 1993, one real estate guy signed a mortgage for house in Palm Beach, Florida, declared on the application that it would be his principal residence. Seven months later, he bought another house. Same street, same pledge, same mortgage app. He never lived in either. It was so transparently false that the buyer's real estate guy told the Miami Herald that his client had, quote, hired an expensive New York design firm to dress them up to the nines and lease them out annually.

So they weren't his primary resident. He was dressing them up to the nines and leasing them out annually. So the mortgage app thing was a lie. The buyer of both those houses was Donald J. Trump. Well, there's another coincidence.

Also of interest here. Another tech bro billionaire wants public execution.

[Keith Olbermann]

Cool.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

You first. And pro tip, if you're a congresswoman from Missouri claiming there is a George Soros plot to make Missouri's political decisions for it, you probably better know that the city where you claim that plot is being hatched, that city is not in California. It is in Missouri, in the district next to yours. But you've never looked at a map of your own state while you're trying to gerrymander your own state. For the fascists. You won't believe this. California, here we come. That's next. This is countdown.

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[Keith Olbermann]

This is where mindset comes in.

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[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Pressure is coming down.

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[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Watch it on prime video starting January 8th.

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[Keith Olbermann]

Don't listen to radio ads while you're driving or making a sandwich. Your subconscious pays full attention. So relax, let it take over.

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[Keith Olbermann]

This is COUNTDOWN with Keith Olbermann.

Still ahead on this edition of countdown.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Somebody asked me the other day what.

[Keith Olbermann]

I thought about Chris Matthews reappearing back with Joe Scarborough on msnbc. Forgive me, Mississippi. Now dumbest name change of all time. Ludicrous. Worse than killing off HBO to call it Max. Anyway, Matthews on with Scarborough. How did I feel about that? I said I actually felt sorry for Scarborough. Then I told them the story of Chris Matthews drooling on air while I sat next to him drooling on air about Jennifer Granholm. So I'll tell it to you next in things I promise not to tell first.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Believe it or not, there's still more new idiots to talk about. The roundup of the miscreants morons and.

[Keith Olbermann]

Dunning Kruger effect specimens who constitute today's other other worst persons in the world.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Bronze the secretary of reality TV cancellations, Sean Duffy.

[Keith Olbermann]

All right, I'm going to confess something to you.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Duffy said it would improve air travel if people didn't wear pajamas on the.

[Keith Olbermann]

Plane and go barefoot.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

And.

[Keith Olbermann]

And he's.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

God, he's right. The days of everybody in suits and fedoras is long gone and good riddance.

[Keith Olbermann]

In point of fact, your safety in.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

The event of disaster on a plane is increased if you wear a cap.

[Keith Olbermann]

Or a hat of some kind and a leather jacket because it's flame retardant increases your chances 0.0001% or something.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Is your clothing choice though the key improvement in our air traffic chaos? No, of course not. Him suggesting that is stupid, but it.

[Keith Olbermann]

Is not a stupid suggestion.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Or at least it wasn't until he followed it up by then suggesting that maybe what people want in airports now.

[Keith Olbermann]

Is a workout area for stair climbing and chin ups. And they trotted out Robert F. Kennedy.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Jr. Who I finally realized is actually one of the characters from the animated series Family Guy, one of the weird guys in their office. And Robert F. Kennedy did chin ups in the middle of the airport. Because of course you see that all the time, don't you?

[Keith Olbermann]

You, My God, you see more penguins.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

In airports than you see chin ups. Because what Sean Duffy wants you to do is wear a suit and a tie and then work out inside the airport and perspire through your suit and your tie and then get on your plane and sit down next to somebody and cause them to pass out from your stench. And if Sean Duffy thinks that will decrease problems on planes, especially passenger intolerance and rage, he's dumber than I thought. And frankly, I didn't think that was possible. The runner up Werser data platform company Palantir and its co founder, right wing nutjob tech money fascist bro Joe Lonsdale, pal of Barry Weiss and Peter Thiel and the rest of the people who are using the money they got from us to try to turn us into indentured servants or silent cogs in a machine they own. Mr. Lonsdale left Palantir long ago. But when you hear about Palantir or Barry Weiss's university, which he's also been involved with, this is what is at its heart and certainly at Lonsdale's, he's joined this club of people demanding public executions. Remember, Charlie Kirk wanted public executions on Pay per View. He wanted kids to be forced to watch the public executions of criminals. Well, now Lonsdale has posted on Twitter, quote, if I'm in charge later, we won't just have a three strikes law. We will quickly try and hang men after three violent crimes. And yes, we will do it in public to deter others. Our society needs balance. It's time to bring back masculine leadership. Imagine being Joe Lonsdale and having so wasted your life that you think that the desire to see someone, anyone, executed publicly hanged is somehow masculine as opposed to being a sign of your sadism and fear and mental illness and stupidity and probably, probably, you know, Elon Musk cocktails. Also note, there is no indication there that the opening of that tweet, if I'm in charge later, that that's meant in some sort of ironic or cutesy way. He means he intends to be in charge later. They all think Trump is just the start of businessmen owning the country. But the winner, the worst. And Wagner Republican representing the Missouri second in the House of Representatives and in the middle of the redistricting controversy in Missouri and idiot, middle of redistricting. And apparently she's never looked at a map of her own state in her life. Not even a map of the area around its state Capitol. The California Democrat posted this on Twitter. At the end of last month, concerned citizens gathered at California City Hall Railroad park on 500 S. Oak St. To stop gerrymandering in Missouri. Access the California Democrat to read the full story. Californiamo midmo are the hashtags and then there's a link and she has retweeted this and taken umbrage. Ann Wagner Congresswoman Ann Wagner writes, Missouri's elections aren't decided in California. The real threat isn't our map. But the Soros funded network tried to manufacture outrage. Missourians will choose Missouri's future.

The California Democrat newspaper. It's based in the town of California, Missouri. That's, that's how, that's how they have a city hall, Railroad park In, in California. California. See it says California City Hall. This, this California is not in the state. It's, it's in Missouri. And you the six term congresswoman from the district next to California Missouri. Apparently you didn't know that. That and oh yeah, she's the former chair of the Missouri Republican Party. And oh by the way, California, the town is the seat of Manitow County, Missouri and it's the largest city in that county and it's the third largest city in the Jefferson City metropolitan area. And if Jefferson City sounds familiar, perhaps it should since it's the capital of a goddamn state.

Her office denies she didn't know California. Missouri was in Missouri insisting of course she knows that she just deliberately wrote it this way because, because, because, because it's, it's George Soros fault somehow.

And if this sounds like the start of a Hallmark movie and a bad one. Yep, Congresswoman Ann Wagner used to be an executive with Hallmark. Should have stayed there a Christmas in California Missouri. See the twist? Representative Ann as her Democratic opponent Fred Wellman adds, wait till she hears about the Missouri towns of Mexico and C. Wagner redistricting Missouri. And she doesn't even own a map. Today's Other Worst Person in the world.

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[Keith Olbermann]

This is where mindset comes in.

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Someone will be eliminated.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Pressure is coming down.

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Watch it on prime video starting January 8th.

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[Keith Olbermann]

Things I promise not to and I was speaking a couple of days ago about the coverage of the 2008 presidential election. You remember 2008? Ancient history. Back when there was an American democracy. Back when there was hopey changey things as opposed to I hope you change into something other than the President of the United States.

I was talking about 2008 and was asked a series of questions about about our coverage at msnbc, and the person asking me questions had yet to mention the most significant roadblock to getting things done, to getting that broadcast and the other broadcasts that we did politically at MSNBC all those years ago off the ground and then again safely on the ground when it was all done. The assets we had were extraordinary. Through most of the primary campaign that year and through all of 2006 in the midterms we'd had Tim Russert who would come on and after the network coverage was completely over, would just sit there with us for another hour on the air. What a pleasure that was. And then we'd go out in the hallway and talk about baseball, the good part of it, plus dozens of people and the then new and sincere Rachel, Maddie, Shadow, other people who really knew what they were talking about and were trying to make a point and make an inroad in what was then all conservative corporate media, even at NBC.

But the person had not asked me one question about the major impediment. And the major impediment was my co anchor for almost all of this was Chris Effing Matthews. Over the years, I have made allusions to Chris Matthews and just how rare it was when he was actually in the same plane of existence as the rest of us in the universe. And I know Chris never heard me say any of these things because Chris never listened. If Chris listened, Chris would probably still be on the air every night with a nightly show on msnbc. There's a Dorian Gray picture of him somewhere because he hasn't changed in appearance since the late 1990s, even though he's now. Well, you know how old he is. He's 206. The story I want to tell about Matthews, though, that I think symbolizes and summarizes the entirety of my experience with him, which began in 2003. I was on the set with him when he discussed the fact that this was George Bush's day and Mission Accomplished was not an exaggeration. And look at how well he fits in that flight man's universe for him. And he was talking about how he looked good in the pants. That was the beginning of it. And I said, don't you think there's something about bringing up the whole flying experience and the Texas Air National Guard and that whole question, you don't think that's a bad idea? Or declaring mission accomplished while American servicemen's lives are still at risk in Iraq and will be? No, no.

[My Policy Advocate Advertiser]

This is his day.

[Keith Olbermann]

This is his day. Chris can always point to being right about any issue that ever came across his desk because he took every possible point of view on every possible issue. He was anti Bush, pro Bush, anti Trump, pro Trump. He was everything at all times. And the way you do that is the way Trump does it. You just don't remember what you said last time. You don't think it's relevant. You don't think anybody else is going to remember it. There's a lot of similarity. There's a lot of overlap in the Venn diagrams of Chris Matthews and Donald Trump. But I'm diverging. I promised you the Chris Matthews story I could have before I sat down in front of the microphone, gone, and looked this up to get the exact date. I'm sure it was 2006 or 2007. Doesn't matter much.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

It was cold.

[Keith Olbermann]

It was the winter. Winter. It was deep in the winter, probably January or February. And I had traveled to Washington on short notice because they wanted Me to co anchor with Matthews the memorial coverage of the funerals, two of them, of former President Gerald R. Ford. Gerald Ford ultimately is down there with what Harry Harrison and a couple of other really short term presidents like Chester Allen Arthur, who just didn't make a huge impact, except for in his case, one event, the pardoning of Nixon really didn't do much as President of the United States. And yet President of the United States. State funeral. Plus they were also going to give him a second funeral the next day in Michigan. Michigan, back in his home state, Grand Rapids, if I remember correctly. So we were there for two days, me and Matthews, all day doing the state funeral one day and then the next day the funeral in Michigan. The state funeral was just a typical day with Chris Matthews. I would say something and he would then repeat it as if he had heard it in his own head rather than coming out of my mouth. Chris heard things that were said, he just never heard who had said them. So he tended to repeat a lot of the things I had just mentioned. And he would jump in on interviews that he was not supposed to be a part of and all the rest of the usual nonsense. He would read things on the teleprompter that said Keith. He would read everything except the word Keith, the usual stuff. So that was a good day. The next day when we moved to Michigan, that was not quite as good a day. The Michigan part of the two days of the burial Gerald Ford was, well, I'll make the joke now that I made off set then and off air then, which was. Took two days to bury him. What? He wouldn't stop moving. The second day was conducted out of a Protestant church church in Grand Rapids, if I remember correctly. That had an overhead window and I forget the technical terms, although my dad was an architect, I don't think he did a lot of churches. But there was an overhead length of the church glass ceiling and it provided extraordinarily bright and.

Mood altering light. And on that day, in the middle of winter, at the middle of the day, the light came in at such an angle that it really did look kind of otherworldly, if not heavenly. And so, as all the leading Michigan politicos and many of the national politicos who had traveled to Michigan to attend both halves of the doubleheader of the burial of Gerald Ford as they filed in. And to his credit, Chris Matthews knew every one of them by sight, even if they were on the monitor in front of us, half an inch tall, he knew that that was the dog catcher from grand rapids, Michigan, from 1938, who convinced football star Gerald Ford to go into politics and not football. He knew every one of them. He knew the former mayor. He knew the attorney General of Michigan 17 attorneys general ago. And that was great. That was why when they once gave me the opportunity in 2008, I think it was to go solo and leave Matthews out. I said, no, see, he's too valuable for stuff like that. You couldn't possibly get a researcher to give me that information. It would not be genuine and it would not be timely. Chris Matthews knows off the top of his head who that is. He has no idea why he's important. Important. He has no idea whether he has served democracy or undermined it. But he knows who the hell that guy is. Why, that's Milton J Erceg, the 23rd.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Solicitor general of Michigan.

[Keith Olbermann]

A206.

So now, when the former governor, then the governor of Michigan came into this church at high noon with light coming in above her.

The great former governor of Michigan came in. He knew exactly obviously who she was. We all knew who she was. She was Jennifer Granholm. Jennifer Granholm, whose public career began as the woman contestant on an episode of the Dating Game. Jennifer Granhoe Holm was then on the Dating game in the 70s, was in 2006, seven at the funerals of Gerald R. Ford, is today a most attractive woman. Fetching, handsome, beautiful, whichever word you would like to use that is both complimentary and yet not sexist. Well, on that day she appeared in a very formal kind of morning house hat and a black dress. And the light shining from above her was perfect. And she hit a perfect hair day. All the things that could combine to render one essential element to this story. He wasn't wrong.

Matthews was reeling off the names of these other people. And there's the front row in which the former deputy assistant dog catcher of Kalamazoo was. And then he saw Jennifer Granholm walk in and he said, and now we see coming down the aisle the former governor, the governor of.

He started to pant on the air. It's Governor Jennifer Granholm and she's perfectly attired.

This went instantaneously from the usual Chris Matthews high speed patter to something akin to. To.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. On FaceTime. There's no other way to describe it. If you were just listening to Chris Matthews and everybody but me was just listening to him, I was seated next to him in a studio at NBC headquarters in Washington. I could see the look on his face, the look of astonishment, him putting his head down next to the monitor so he could see her better. And as again I noted, she was extremely fetching that day in all of her great days of fetch, she was very fetch that day. This is absolutely true. On the other hand, we are covering the burial of the former President of the United States, Gerald R. Ford. And Chris Matthews is panting about the pulchritude of the governor of Michigan. And he wouldn't stop. Look at the shape of the dress and how the light comes in through the. Whatever the word was for it of the church. And this event is. He began to lose the ability to form sentences. And I don't mean in the normal way that he would lose the ability to form sentences. I mean, he would get to par like that. They were clearly telling him to stop.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Doing this because it was not just.

[Keith Olbermann]

Sexist and not just inappropriate. But we were covering the burial of Gerald R. Ford. I mean, in the front row next to.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

As we continued, the shot of.

[Keith Olbermann]

Of Governor Granholm on a pool camera. I must admit that nobody at NBC said, yeah, got me more of that hot governor as the pool shot gave us this of Governor Granholm.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

There was a coffin out there with.

[Keith Olbermann]

Gerald R. Ford inside.

And he's talking about Governor Granholm and how great she is looks. I can't imagine that anytime she should just hope they took photographs of her for her next campaign, for whatever. It's like, oh, my good God. And they're clearly talking to him from the control room, telling him to stop, because every once in a while he. He stops and speaks to them like, no, no, I won't. And finally, the producer of this court, Harson, who was the producer of Hardball, Matthew's show on msnbc, see, gets into my ear and says, for God's sakes, is there anything you can do? Can you stop him? And I just looked at the camera and shook my head and put my arms up in what would be the, you know, hands up, nothing I can do about it emoji. I may have been the model for that emoji. This is 2006 or 7, after all. And they said, can you try. Can you write him a note or something? So I took a piece of scrap script and I wrote on the back of it, chris, stop talking about Gran home that way. We are at a presidential funeral. And I underlined, we are at 1, 2, 3 lines. At 1, 2, 3, line A. 1, 2, 3, presidential.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

[Keith Olbermann]

8, 9, 10 lines under that funeral circled. And I slipped it to him and he kept talking about her. And he looked at me, paused and nodded yes, like I was asking him a question.

About five minutes later, we threw to a break and I saw one of the executives of MSNBC come out and tell Chris that he had to go and prepare Hardball for later that afternoon and that the rest of the thing would be anchored by me. So every time, and they did the pool camera go back to reaction shots of Governor Granholm, I made sure that that piece of paper that I had handed Chris to which he thought was some sort of. Some sort of question, like are we at a president funeral or not? An admonition that he was making an absolute jackwad out of himself.

I kept that note in front of me just in case I veered back into this.

I later told this story to Governor Granholm, who was briefly a colleague of mine, although you wouldn't remember this because the network no longer exists and I don't know by that point if 10,000 people were watching our shows on it, but was a colleague of mine on Current tv, even as I was trying to explain to her, don't take this job. They're never gonna pay you. They're already running out of money. Jennifer Granholm laughed coquettishly and said, oh, that's not the first time that's ever happened.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

I've done all the damage I can do here. Thank you for listening. Most of our Countdown music was arranged, produced and performed by Brian Ray and John Philip Chenale, our musical directors of Countdown. It was produced by TKO Brothers. Mr. Ray was on the guitars, bass and drums, and Mr. Chenale handled orchestration and keyboards. Our satirical and pithy musical comments are by the best baseball stadium organist ever, Nancy Foust. You heard her with I Fought the Law and the Law Won. The older man theme from ESPN2 was written by Mitch Warren Davis, courtesy of ESPN Inc. It is our sports music, other music arranged and performed by the group no horns allowed. My announcer today was my friend Chris.

[Keith Olbermann]

Matt.

[Keith Olbermann (alternate or extended commentary)]

Oh, no, sorry. That was Tony Kornheiser. Ha. Everything else was, as always, my fault. So that's Countdown for today. Day 326 of America held hostage again. Just 1,137 days until the scheduled end of his lame duck and lame brained term. Unless he's removed sooner by MAGA and Epstein or Anosognosia or Tylenol or Affordability or the second strike video. The next scheduled episode of the program is Monday. Till then, I'm Keith Olbermann. Good morning, good afternoon, good night and good luck.

[Keith Olbermann]

Countdown with Keith Olbermann is a production of iHeartRadio.

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