NOW IT'S MAGA THAT CAN'T FIGURE OUT WHAT'S WRONG WITH TRUMP - 11.24.25

Summary

Podcast Summary: "NOW IT'S MAGA THAT CAN'T FIGURE OUT WHAT'S WRONG WITH TRUMP"

Countdown with Keith Olbermann (iHeartPodcasts) – November 24, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode of Countdown with Keith Olbermann centers on a striking new phase in American politics: even Donald Trump's most ardent MAGA supporters, alongside critics on the left and center, are struggling to understand his latest behavior—which appears erratic, unmoored, and even disconcerting to his own base. Olbermann explores this confusing shift by dissecting Trump’s recent interactions (especially involving NYC Mayor-elect Zoran Mamdani), analyzing MAGA’s reaction to apparent inconsistencies, and speculating on Trump’s cognitive fitness. The episode weaves together sharp political commentary, media criticism, and personal anecdotes, delivered with Olbermann’s trademark wit, sarcasm, and intensity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. MAGA’s Confusion Over Trump’s Behavior

• Opening Theme: For the first time in over a decade, every political faction is equally baffled by Trump's conduct.
  • "None of us knows what the hell is wrong with Trump." (Olbermann, 03:13)
• Mamdani Meeting: Trump was unusually friendly and deferential toward NYC's Mayor-elect Zoran Mamdani, even mimicking his style and appearing smitten.
  • "Trump was so smitten with Mayor Elect Zoran Mamdani... by Saturday, he was dressing like Mamdani." (Olbermann, 03:58)
• Right-wing figures expected Mamdani to be publicly humiliated or attacked, but instead, Trump seemed charmed—and the far right was thrown off.
  • Memorable Moment: Imagery of Trump asking Mamdani for style tips and departing the Oval Office "in love." (07:07–08:03)
• Excommunication of Marjorie Taylor Greene: Trump’s lack of support leads her to resign, illustrating his arbitrary alliances and growing dissatisfaction among MAGA icons.
  • "She realized Trump would not support her and therefore the cult would not support her." (Olbermann, 06:10)

2. MAGA’s Disillusionment & Internal Fracturing

• Confusion and Gloom: MAGA commentators openly express heartache and confusion about Trump’s erratic moves (supporting Mamdani, unclear Ukraine policies, etc.).
  • "Now they don't know what he's doing." (Olbermann, 21:52)
  • Read aloud: a plaintive note from a MAGA supporter lamenting Trump’s change, unsure how to continue justifying his actions. Quotes Jefferson Davis: "We put not our trust in princes, but we have trusted that Almighty God empowered Donald Trump to do the good, near impossible things this country needs to survive." (Olbermann, 21:52–22:55)

3. Media and Institutional Responses

• ABC/Disney’s New Strategy: After Trump attacked ABC reporter Mary Bruce, ABC neither engaged nor defended her individually, simply moving on—which deprived Trump of a meaningful target.
  • "They ignored all of it... and again Trump moved on while his cultists simmered." (Olbermann, 09:21–10:40)
• Right Wing Media Disarray: Even Fox’s Charles Gasparino said "the wheels are coming off the Trump presidency" after the Mamdani incident. (12:05–12:36)

4. Trump’s Foreign Policy and Military Blunders

• MAGA's frustration intensifies over Trump’s perceived appeasement of Putin in Ukraine, confused communication about Argentina, and bumbled signaling along the Texas-Mexico border.
  • "Apart from the implications, the State Department and the entire Trump foreign policy operation look like idiots. Not just internationally, but within MAGA." (Olbermann, 13:32)
• Domestic militarization fantasies—sending ICE or troops to NYC—remain unfulfilled, leaving MAGA disappointed.
  • "Their dream... sending ICE or SEAL Team 6 into New York City... they're not getting that." (17:19)

5. Trump and the Mystery of His Health

• Delves into Trump's recent MRI, his confusion about what body part was being scanned, and the possibility of anosognosia—a medical term for lack of awareness of one’s illness.
  • "What if he doesn't know what the MRI was for because whatever it was, he has anosognosia about it?" (Olbermann, 25:45)
  • Compares Trump to Woodrow Wilson post-stroke: outwardly rational, but unable to understand or accept his own deficiencies. (27:22–29:36)
  • Notable Quote: "For the first time in his dictatorship, none of us... know what in the hell is wrong with this guy Trump." (Olbermann, 29:46)

6. RFK Jr., Olivia Nuzzi, and Tabloid Scandal

• Updates on journalist Olivia Nuzzi’s alleged “catch and kill” operations for RFK Jr. while at New York Magazine, per Ryan Lizza’s exposé.
  • "She did catch and kill operations in... all of 2024, he emphasizes all of 2024. She was still employed by New York magazine until the story broke in September of 2024. That's not good for New York magazine." (Olbermann/Co-host, 40:15–40:34)
• Highly personal, gossipy, and at times self-referential segment, with revelations about Nuzzi’s professional conduct, relationships, and alleged manipulations.

7. Satirical and Cultural Asides

• The “Worst Persons in the World” segment lampoons right-wing reactionaries and media figures:
  • Example: Cat Turd and Laura Loomer fall for the joke that Mamdani will require NYC schoolchildren to learn Arabic numerals—revealing basic ignorance. (71:36–71:58)
  • Example: Larry Ellison’s rumored plans to merge CNN into CBS and possibly fire on-air talent at Trump’s behest. (66:16–68:41)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the MAGA Movement's Disorientation:

  "Trump’s malfunctions are usually a delight. They are their joy. They are their raison d’être. Yet this makes no sense to them."
  (Olbermann, 06:59)

• The Absurdity of the Trump-Mamdani Dynamic:

  "They thought Mamdani would leave the Oval office in chains. Instead, Trump left the Oval Office in love."
  (Co-host, 09:21)

• On Trump’s (Possible) Cognitive Decline:

  "How in the hell could you not know what they stuck you in the MRI tube for? Well, you did know, but whatever is wrong with your brain immediately erased it. Like a dream you try to remember as you wake up and it slips away from you like mercury on the floor..."
  (Olbermann, 29:36)

• Satirical Genius—Arabic Numerals Debacle:

  "Catt Turd responded, that’s not far enough. He should make every school kid in New York only speak Arabic. No English. The insane liberal Karens voted for this complete nut. Let them reap what they sow."
  (Olbermann, 71:37)

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Important Timestamps

• Trump and Mamdani's Bizarre Meeting: 03:13–09:21
• Greene's Excommunication/Trump's Unpredictability: 06:10–07:32
• MAGA's Loss of Faith/Letter Reading: 21:52–25:45
• Anosognosia and Trump’s Health Analysis: 25:45–29:36
• Olivia Nuzzi/RFK Jr. Scandal Deep Dive: 39:38–59:11
• 'Worst Persons' Segment—Arabic Numerals Joke: 71:36–72:21

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Tone & Delivery

Olbermann’s trademark style is present throughout: sardonic, blunt, and deeply informed, yet laced with absurdist humor. There’s a knowing weariness, particularly as he describes the disarray not just of his political opponents, but also the media, and, at times, even himself and his acquaintances.

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Takeaway

Keith Olbermann’s November 24, 2025, episode captures a surreal moment in American political culture: when even Trump’s most diehard fans seem to lose their bearings, and the machinery of media and power—usually so reactive to Trump’s provocations—begins to just shrug and move onward. The episode is as much about the psychology of political fandom as about Trump himself, with trenchant insights, biting humor, and cautious warnings about cognitive competence and institutional rot.

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For listeners new to the saga or unfamiliar with inside references:
This episode stands as a case study in political bewilderment as the lines dividing loyalist and opponent, farce and genuine peril, satire and scandal all blur—much like the era of Trump itself.

Transcript

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[Keith Olbermann]

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[Keith Olbermann]

Today Countdown with Keith Olbermann is a production of iHeartradio. For the first time in more than a decade, the far right and the far left and everybody in between is in full agreement. None of us knows what the hell is wrong with Trump. For sometimes when a cult leader goes crazy, it actually can be a negative for the cult. Like, oh now ish when the cult realizes that while they usually love it, when Trump goes crazy, this time he's gone crazy for somebody else and crazy against them. Trump was so smitten with Mayor Elect Zoran Mamdani of New York that the disturbingly sincere looking grin on his face Friday and the tone of sure, call me a fascist friend in the Oval Office was just the start of it. By Saturday, he was dressing like Mamdani, a neat black overcoat that fit him and a scarf that enveloped his neck and hair combed with something other than a garden claw, and the overall appearance of somebody who, for the first time in his life had actually asked somebody else for their advice about the overall appearance and actually listened to the advice. Mamdani was somehow so appealing to Trump that from Trump's point of view, he might as well have been. I don't know, Jeffrey Epstein remember some far right commentators, not all to be certain, but some as close to sanity as, say, the newsmax level of hell.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Had almost expected that when Mayor Elect Mamdani arrived at the White House, he.

[Keith Olbermann]

Would be greeted by Trump and Tom Homan and hooded ICE Gestapo agents on horseback who would fabricate some story about Mamdani lying on paperwork and they would seize him and they would expel him, or at least put him in a prison somewhere.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

They are still all the way over there.

[Keith Olbermann]

In a probably chemically induced fantasy, a world cobbled together from graphic novels and.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

The worst streaming sci fi, Trump instead thought he was nito.

[Keith Olbermann]

At the same hour, Marjorie Taylor Greene was in effect excommunicated by Trump. She announced her resignation from Congress effective in January, because a she realized Trump would not support her and therefore the cult would not support her. And she felt Trump had lost his way and done nothing but to make America worse. The role of Marjorie Taylor Greene will.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Now be played by Laura Loomer.

[Keith Olbermann]

And Laura Loomer was so aghast about Mamdani that she asked why she or any other MAGA should even bother to vote in the midterms next year. To which I reply with a manly, supportive hurrah. You go, girl.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

They do not know what's wrong with Trump.

[Keith Olbermann]

Trump's malfunctions are usually a delight. They are their joy. They are their reason d'.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Etre.

[Keith Olbermann]

Yet this makes no sense to them. Big, strong men coming up to Zoran Mamdani and saying, sir, I like your coat. Where did you get that coat? You mean they can actually make a coat bigger or smaller so it doesn't look like it was dropped on you by a company that makes tents and bouncy houses? The fascists are so confused, so bereft.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

That not even the thrill of Trump.

[Keith Olbermann]

Advocating for the hanging of the Democratic senators and Representatives who reminded the military they are obliged to not obey illegal orders. Not even that, not even that warm glow could last.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

It's almost as if he never meant it.

[Keith Olbermann]

Where are the construction cranes? With Democrats swinging from the hooks like the Taliban or the Iranian lunatics do it.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

The far right hates the Taliban and.

[Keith Olbermann]

Iran, but they gotta hand it to them.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

You and I should not forget the Trump threat.

[Keith Olbermann]

Representative Houlihan didn't forget the Trump threat.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

She told Greg Sargent she actually filed.

[Keith Olbermann]

A threat report with the Capitol Police.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

And in the place where he's supposed to write.

[Keith Olbermann]

Who threatened you? Houlihan wrote, quote, the President.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

She thinks some of her colleagues in.

[Keith Olbermann]

That video, whom Trump then threatened with.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Hanging for sedition, also filed complaints with the Capitol Police on Trump. And Trump, he just drifted off. He just drifted off from the whole topic again. He drifted off, metaphorically, to the edge of a river. It's a wide river, to be certain. There's no indication that there's any real way over to the other side. But on the other side of that.

[Keith Olbermann]

River, there is a land in which.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Trump resigns the presidency so he can.

[Keith Olbermann]

Join the Zoran Mamdani administration as the.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

97Th Building Commissioner of the City of New York. And they give him an office and Legos and blocks and a big model.

[Keith Olbermann]

Of Manhattan, and you can move the buildings all around and shit.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

They thought Mamdani would leave the Oval office in chains. Instead, Trump left the Oval Office in love. I am not suggesting for a moment Trump has been pacified or he's mellowed, or he's not a danger to every living thing on this planet every moment of every day. I am, however, suggesting that between whatever is wrong with him and now accelerating into an active stage and this kind of second giddy childhood, we saw Friday with Mamdani and a slightly new strategy from some of his opponents. Among all that, there has been a noteworthy change in the vibe. Mamdani obviously played Trump like a two dollar banjo and the sooner the Democrats figure out exactly what he did in there, and basically that was he flattered Trump by telling Trump that he was often right and insightful and even his seeming enemies. Like many of Trump's ideas, the sooner the Democrats figure that out and bottle it, the better for them and for us. There was also a new strategy offered by ABC and Disney. He attacked their reporter Mary Bruce during the Mohammed bin Salman photo op disaster. Dressing her down when he barely knew who the hell she was made her the focus of his hatred of all media and at that moment of abc, perhaps because they are first alphabetically. He then went on a series of tirades about Jimmy Kimmel again, even though the last time he did that, he suffered one of the few, no doubt humiliations of his presidency of intimidation. ABC and Disney and Bob Iger then tried something new. They ignored all of it. They made a bland statement defending their news, but not Mary Bruce by name. She took the hit and their network and their stations, they defended them, but not Kimmel. Kimmel then turned it into a joke. Trump, I'll go when you go. Otherwise, ABC ignored Trump and again Trump moved on while his cultists simmered. Where are the construction cranes? It can be argued correctly, I think, that of course ABC ignored Trump this time. Bob Iger had already tried everything else. Bribing, that didn't work. Capitulating, that didn't work. Suspending Kimmel, that didn't work. Defying Trump, that didn't work. And frankly, Iger's out of ideas. They were just too tired to actually try anything this time. Well, at least occasionally, apparently that works.

[Keith Olbermann]

I cannot describe to you diving in, not wearing my best shoes as I have done this, diving into the right wing streams. I cannot describe to you how disoriented this has left his cult. Charles Gasparino, the Fox Business commentator with the shortest fuse in the world, watched the Mamdani event and wrote, I really think the wheels are coming off The Trump presidency.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Wow.

[Keith Olbermann]

Countless right wingers were appalled when this Moscow composed 28 point plan for Ukrainian victory that merely requires Ukraine to give up everything turned out to be Moscow composed. Not just that, but composed in Russian, clumsily translated into English, complete with backwards Russian conjugation. Backwards conjugation. Risky. And then Marco Rubio first told some Republican senators that this was not the Trump plan at all, but the Putin plan written in Moscow suggested delivered by the Russians. And then he said, no, he didn't. He didn't say that. When he called to tell these senators that they say he literally said that. Oh, no, no, no, no, he never did that. He meant it was a plan that recognized Russian desires. And then. And then. And then Marco might as well have paused for a moment and then run off camera again to chug a small water bottle of Poland Spring or vodka. Apart from the implications, Heads, Russia wins. Tails. Oh, oops, no, it's a two headed coin. Tails is also heads. Russia wins. Apart from the implications, the State Department and the entire Trump foreign policy operation look like idiots. Not just internationally, but within maga. And just to round it out, when MAGA thought Trump had finally destroyed Ukraine and this was final, he has come back with more of a stall. This appeasement of Putin, who can no longer afford to pay his own Russian troops. Trump says that's not his final answer. Shrug emoji. Meanwhile, while they wanted Trump to actually hang Mark Kelly or Chrissy Houlahan or the others, the US Military apparently did issue illegal orders last week. And a bunch of military contractors went and put up keep out signs marked National Defense Area 3, where the Rio Grande river dumps into the Gulf of Mexico. And that's hardly like ordering Pete Kaboom Hegseth to blow up some mythical antifa city, Oregon. But it did become another problem for MAGA when it turned out the signs had been put up in Mexico, not in the United States. And once again, the entire Trump foreign policy and military operation looks like idiots.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Looks like idiots. 2 MAGA.

[Keith Olbermann]

Could it get worse?

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Oh, why yes. Yes, it could.

[Keith Olbermann]

Remember the outrageous $20 billion bribe to Argentina? Reelect that FOP President Wolverine or whatever his name is, and we'll pay your way out of the financial collapse he created.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

That's gone now. Scaled it back a little, did we?

[Keith Olbermann]

Now maybe Trump will pay milei maybe.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

4 billion to help him with his debt payment in January.

[Keith Olbermann]

Maybe even the domestic terrorism thing seems to have petered out.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Kash Patel is now the subject of.

[Keith Olbermann]

More investigations than he is conducting the.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Latest, the Times report that he sent SWAT teams to protect his girlfriend, the.

[Keith Olbermann]

Country singer, presumably to defend her against.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

People who have heard her sing. Meanwhile, a group of Europeans has built a kind of Wikipedia of ICE raids and tactics and agent identifications.

[Keith Olbermann]

It is in Europe.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

So who's Kristi Noem gonna arrest? The EU will simply tell her F you and the horse you rode in on Kristi. Moreover, the Guardian reports the FBI infiltrated a signal chat of anti ICE organizers in country and nobody in MAGA could object to that except they got caught and they had to shut down the infiltration because they got caught. And worst of all, worse than you can possibly imagine, worse from the MAGA point of view, their dream of dreams. Sending the military or ICE or SEAL Team 6 or somebody into New York City to be the real rain that will come and wash all this scum off the streets. They're not getting that. No ICE raids in New York, no military in New York.

[Keith Olbermann]

Maga.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

You are getting the undiscussed, too terrible to contemplate, but very real possibility that instead of the Trumpist destruction of Sin City, you will be getting Trump attending Zoran Mamdani swearing in shortly after midnight on January 1st.

[Keith Olbermann]

Good to see you, Z. Do you mind?

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

I wore one of your plain black.

[Keith Olbermann]

Suits and white shirts and them skinny black ties.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

You know that Olbermann guy used to dress like that, Remember? The wheels really are coming off. Charlie Gasparino Better Hitch I keep harping on Trump and Mamdani's appearance and this is not idle. Yes, Trump is an endless front runner and kiss ass. And he really did even once write me a fan letter a year before he declared me an enemy of the people because I lived in one of his buildings and he used to watch me on espn. He does that. There is no such thing as time or consistency. Better still for Mamdani. Mamdani is somebody who literally cannot become what Trump has become. President. So he's no real threat to Trump. But there's something else, appearance wise, that I noticed last week and it's really weird, but I've been thinking a lot about this. Mamdani Mohammed bin Salman, J.D. vance guys with beards, Beards. Trump defers to guys with beards. Full, prominent beards. Big, heavy beards. Think about it. This is not unanimous. He sure didn't defer to Jack Smith's beard. And it has to be a big beard. Not the beatnik fringe style that President Zelensky favors. Looks good on him. But once you make a list of big beards that Trump defers to. It's kind of hard to unsee it. Vance MBS Mamdani Howard Lutnick Russell Vogt Brad Barscale Trump's Crazy Dead Dr. Harold Bornstein Mamdani Owen Beards Donald Trump Jr. Which brings us back to the great MAGA disillusionment. Steve Bannon doesn't have a beard. He's tried. It didn't work. And right now, Steve Bannon has the sads, and not just because he doesn't have the beards. Late Saturday night, Bannon reposted a screenshot from Somebody calls themselves Free B Speaker. It is a creed cur de something. Cur means heart. Ain't no heart in maga and this thing, whatever it is, sums it up right now. The Trump castle has collapsed and they know it. It is, in essence, a note to Steve Bannon from Free B Speaker Steve, please let President Trump know what he must already know that many of us MAGA supporters are heartbroken these days watching him squander powerful electoral mandate we gave him. He won 49% of the vote. Freebie Speaker I don't know on which he executed so magnificently in the first months of his term. Those are the golden years, the first few months. Making nice with the vile Mamdani is probably understandable at this stage, but don't think many of us fathom a Ukraine plan that puts the US on the hook for that corrupt country's security and enforcement. A bizarre congratulatory meeting with the ISIS terrorist dictator of Syria, an executive order barring every American state from protecting its own citizens against the worst horrors of AI. While he enthusiastically promotes AI freedoms and subsidies and cozies up to big tech CEOs who'll abandon him in a nanosecond. His seeming blindness to remaining America, destroying immigration flaws like the H1B visa scam you've exposed and the flood of Chinese student workers still in the US all to such cruel detriment to American workers.

[Keith Olbermann]

This guy's on a bridge somewhere. Any not to mention the seemingly endless delays in justice for the worst the deep state has done to him and this country. Although we cling to remnants of trust in his overworked, understaffed doj. Yeah, overworked traveling to see Kash Patel's girlfriend, the quote singer I doubt I'm alone After believing in his uniquely heroic intentions for this country and supporting him since 2016, struggling now to understand so much of what he's doing. It's like I said, now they don't know what he's doing. Without question, the political and social alternative is certain death for this country. Yeah, they've been predicting this since 2015. Hasn't even come close to happening yet, but go on. But how can he expect his average MAGA voter to stay warmly close to him when he appears to be pushing him farther and farther out into the cold? And if he doesn't remain the Herculean mainstay of this country's MAGA reforms, how can the feckless, cowardly GOP expect to keep hold of Congress? They couldn't. And how can we navigate our way through the nasty GOP MAGA infighting now gurgling to the surface at the same time? We put not our trust in princes. By the way, that's a quote from Confederacy President Jefferson Davis we put not our trust in princes, but we have trusted that Almighty God empowered Donald Trump to do the good, near impossible things this country needs to survive. Please, Lord, continue to be with him. Melanie embraced Zamdani. Didn't that indicate the Lord is doing his miraculous works through Trump? Ah, that's where they are. They don't understand what's happening. It's their turn. May they live the rest of their lives not understanding what went wrong with Trump. And sorry about your last point, Free B Speaker the Lord cannot find Trump right now because Trump is busily trying to find out if Zoran Mamdani plays golf. Remember a couple of episodes back when I asked if it's actually possible that when Trump said he did not know what part of his body they had scanned in his MRI last month, that he wasn't lying, that he wasn't not paying attention? I mean, how could you literally not know which part the MRI was for? I mean, if you were unconscious or sedated even after that, when they were telling you how great your score was on your mri, like that's a thing, and how it was the greatest MRI ever recorded, you'd probably just figure out what what body part it was, even unintentionally. How, how. How could that not have happened? I forgot entirely about Annos Sagnosia. Ironic, because basically ano psygnosia is sophisticated, medically explained forgetting stuff. I have discussed this before. What if he doesn't know what the MRI was for because whatever it was, he has anosognosia about it? In brief, this is the disease that makes it impossible for you to recognize that you have a disease or an injury, or that you've had a stroke, or that you have, say, just to pick one at random, Alzheimer's it is a brain injury. It is caused by a variety of things, often by by stroke, but other things cause it too. Trump may not have had any idea that he has some kind of cognitive illness and that they're testing him for it. And even if somebody around him had had the courage to tell him, he would a not believe them or he would instantly forget that they had just told him. Like if he had an MRI of his brain to see if new Alzheimer's drugs are working, he'd only remember the letters mri. The immortal David Dunning of Dunning Kruger Syndrome once wrote the easiest to digest example Defining anosognosia An anosognosic patient who is paralyzed simply does not know that he is paralyzed. If you put a pencil in front of them and ask them to pick up the pencil in front of their left hand, they won't do it. And you ask them why and they'll say I'm tired or I don't need a pencil. And presidents have been studied for this exact behavior before. Presidents and their pencils as latter day.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Experts used new medical knowledge a few decades ago to study the stroke that.

[Keith Olbermann]

Woodrow Wilson suffered while on his cross country tour to try to sell the League of Nations to America over the heads of a disapproving Senate. While all of that has been studied.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

And studied and studied, the conclusion has.

[Keith Olbermann]

Now become widespread that whether or not he had it earlier, after the stroke.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

In 1920, Wilson showed all of the signs of anosognosia. In the 1970s, the neuropsychiatrist Edwin Weinstein was granted access to Woodrow Wilson's papers and he wrote, quote, following his stroke, the outstanding feature of the President's behavior was his denial of his incapacity. Denial of illness or anosognosia, literally lack of knowledge of disease, is a common sequel of the type of brain injury received by President Woodrow Wilson. In this condition, the patient denies or appears unaware of such deficits as paralysis or blindness. To casual observers, anosognosiac patients may appear quite normal and even bright and witty when not on the subject of their disability, they are quite rational and tests of their intelligence may show no deficit. Unquote. Who in the hell does that sound like? I don't know why they gave me an mri. Unfortunately, when on the subject of his disability, President Wilson was anything but rational. As Secretary of State Robert Lansing summoned the cabinet to a meeting to discuss the crisis in Wilson's illness and Wilson, or more likely Mrs. Wilson, forced Secretary of State Lansing to resign, doctors who challenged President Wilson were dismissed. People who knew Wilson before his stroke were eased out or denied access to him. Wilson insisted until his death that while he had had a stroke, it only affected his walking and only a little.

[Keith Olbermann]

How in the hell could you not know what they stuck you in the MRI tube for? Well, you did know, but whatever is wrong with your brain immediately erased it. Like a dream you try to remember as you wake up and it slips away from you like mercury on the floor, or like somebody was closing and locking a door, keeping your dream away from you. So in addition to needing to worry about Trump having had a stroke or fluent aphasia or Alzheimer's or God knows what, we also have to worry about him having an illness that makes it impossible for him to accept or even remember that he'd had a stroke or fluent aphasia or Alzheimer's or even just the MRI to test for it. No, the MRI was for my toenails. I have ingrown toenails and not really bad ones. I got a great score on my ingrown toenail mri. And so now, in sum, for the first time in his dictatorship, none of us, haters, lovers, supporters, mamdanis, none of us know what in the hell is wrong with this guy Trump. And if he has ano sagnosia, he does know what's wrong with him, but he just forgot it again. And yet he remembers he likes mom, Daddy. I can also guess that he did not read this weekend's worth of Olivia Newsy, Ryan Lizza, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. News because if he had, even Trump would have fired Kennedy by now, already today. Because Kennedy is now a clear and present danger to Trump's presidency. Because Kennedy is scandal plagued and sloppy and nuts and he is in some way involved with a woman who may be nuttier than he is. If you read the updates on my ex over the weekend, I hope your stomach has settled down. I am not going to even reference the Kennedy love poetry to Olivia about. About his, well, what was it Sterling Hayden called it in Dr. Strangelove? His life essence. Mandrake. The purity of his life essence. I deny them my life essence. What I am going to reference though is the important part, which is Ryan Liz's assertion. No evidence yet presented that Olivia Newsy ran catch and kill operations to bury scamp scandals about Robert F. Kendi Jr. While she was employed by New York magazine for more than a year before the election. And Liz's further insistence that Newsy told him that if anybody found out about her and Kennedy, quote, I'm afraid Bobby will kill me. You can skip this next half hour update.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

After the break, you can proceed directly.

[Keith Olbermann]

To the C block and worse persons. If not, get a drink and pull up a chair and join me.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

It's the news of Newsy and it's a doozy. That's next.

[Keith Olbermann]

This is Countdown. Most people think their insurance will cover them when disaster strikes. The truth? Many are wrong. You pay premiums and assume you're protected until the fine print hits exclusions, limits, loopholes. Suddenly that coverage isn't cover. My policy advocate reviews your policies Home, Auto, Life and breaks them down in plain English. They show what's really covered and what isn't. It costs just 27 cents a day, less than a cup of coffee. For peace of mind before you assume you're covered, go to mypolicyadvocate.com you might be shocked at what you find. Mypolicyadvocate.com Shh.

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[Keith Olbermann]

Must be 21 or older in a jurisdiction where Better Picks operates. Terms and conditions apply.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Better Picks Sports just got better.

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[Keith Olbermann]

Among his other credits, Mo used to host a TV show called Things I Hate about you. I'm sure I've seen that program, only I believe it's now called Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Still ahead, worst persons and Ted Turner's dream used to be when I worked for him 115 years ago, was to buy CBS News, in fact, buy all of CBS and merge it into CNN to show television that in 1982 cable was already boss. Now it's Larry Ellison's dreamed by CNN and merge it into CBS to show the world that Trump is boss and decides who's on CNN and who isn't. Holding anchors hostage ahead in worse persons. But first, postscripts to the news. Some headlines, some updates, some snark. This is the Countdown podcast and these are the places where there's news Dateline, the Department of Health and Human Services, the New York Times with bad timing Friday night, putting out a story that was at least a week in the making about Lizza and Newsy and RFK Jr. And that character who gets killed in the first scene, me and Lizza getting up in Newsies Busy. And three hours after they posted the article, Ryan Lizza dropped part two of his expose on his ex fiance, making the Times piece completely outdated and more importantly, turning this from a grotesque but tremendously entertaining saga of a disturbed woman I used to live with and the rapidly disappearing schmuck she used to live with and serially cheat on with politicians as old or older than I am, transforming that light hearted enterprise into something that should eventually put Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In prison and should more immediately precipitate an investigation of New York Magazine. If what Ryan Lizza writes is true, don't worry, there's lots of gossip gold to review and I will. And if this is not your cup of tea, feel free to hit stop or scoot forward. Worst Persons is after the next break, but here is the real headline, deep in part two of Lizza which she put behind a paywall. See if you hear the headline as it goes by. I have never been able to convey Olivia's near total obsession with Bobby properly. What I can say with authority is that it seeped into every corner of her life, affected every relationship she had, and drove every decision she made in late 2023 and all of 2024, including her catch and kill operations on his behalf, the campaign strategy memos she wrote him, and the other journalistic transgressions that have still not been closed. For me, it was like waking up and learning she was a heroin addict or had joy. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Say that part again. Heroin addict. No, no, no, no, no. The part about catch and kill. Oh.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Oh, yeah.

[Keith Olbermann]

Drove every decision she made in late 2023 and all 2024, including her catch and kill operations on his behalf. Catch and kill. The way the Weekly World Pro Trump News, or whatever it was called, used.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

To buy stories to either use to.

[Keith Olbermann]

Blackmail on Trump's behalf or to keep Trump from getting bad publicity during the campaign. That kind of catch and kill.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Olivia did this. With whose money?

[Keith Olbermann]

She did catch and kill operations in 2023.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Late 2023, he says.

[Keith Olbermann]

And 2024. All of 2024, he emphasizes all of 2024.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

She was still employed by New York magazine until the story broke in September of 2024.

[Keith Olbermann]

That's not good for New York magazine.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

They were, at best, an unknowing base of catch and kill operations on behalf of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. S, presumably still his presidential campaign. They published an article which, in retrospect, is clearly designed to help him and authenticate him. We know that now just from reading it.

[Keith Olbermann]

You could see it then.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

And the other part of this is, Ryan, Liza knew about this. I mean, he doesn't come out and say I knew about this, except he does say he did live with her and it seeped into every corner of her life. And he kept this secret for. In some cases, let's see, late 2023. It's now late 2025. So some of this is two years old, Ryan. And.

[Keith Olbermann]

And.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

And you kept this secret as he ran for president And. And. And affected some of the voting patterns as they developed in the 2024 election. And then was named to destroy vaccine safety in this country. And. And generally put as many crackpot ideas in an attempt to restore the medical stat. 15th century. And you kept it secret so you could charge us $8 to read about it later.

[Keith Olbermann]

It's not good for you, Ryan. Lizza. My complaints about him actually have like a 1% to do with the fact that that relationship followed my relationship with her. I think that's human. 99% of the of it either precedes my knowing Olivia Newsi. And it's just about how bad and overrated a journalist he was. And I'm in a perverse way, glad to see that it has been restored that my opinion of him was correct. No, I know about this terrible situation in which people are catching and killing bad stories about Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. And I'm not gonna tell anybody till after the election and a year into his role as the head of the Department of. Of Health and Human Services as he slashes millions of dollars from cancer research that is, in fact, going to lead probably to the death of his fatally ill cousin, the mother of two small children. And you apparently knew. Here's something else a little bit lighter than that. As she left, I said something that would have enormous ramifications going forward. People are going to ask me what happened. I told Olivia, and I'm going to tell the truth. I was faced with a similar question, by the way, and I said, people are going to ask me what happened, and I'm not going to say shit. And I didn't. For nine years, there have been questions about my commenting at all about this story. You did not know that I had a relationship with Olivia Newsey, let alone that she lived with me from the time she was, I think it's fair to say almost like within weeks of her 19th birthday was when she kind of started to move stuff in. She lived with me from ages 19 through 23. No, she'd already turned 24. Yeah, 23. I'm sorry, I got that number wrong. 19 to 23. And I didn't tell anybody anything until the New York Post called and said, we understand you used to date her. At which point, well, I'm not gonna let the New York Post scoop me on this story. The cat's out of the bag. I'm not gonna let somebody else have the cat, as it were. And then I didn't bring myself into the Ryan Lizza mix. He put me in his substack story. Anyway. People are going to ask me what happened. I told Olivia, and I'm not going to say shit. That's not what Ryan Lizza says here. People are going to ask me what happened. Ryan Lizza told Olivia, and I'm going to tell the truth. She seemed paralyzed with fear, he writes. And frankly, I didn't understand why it was Only later, when we were deep into what would become weeks of conversations about every detail of what transpired between her and Bobby, who had told her that he demanded discipline and fearlessness and at times total submission, that she explained her terrified reaction that August morning. If anyone ever finds out, Olivia told me, I'm afraid Bobby will kill me.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Two things I'll remind you that she.

[Keith Olbermann]

Told me in probably 2014, yes, maybe 2013, that whenever she would go to Washington, this guy, Ryan Lizzo was stalking her.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

I don't think whatever he did actually qualified as stalking.

[Keith Olbermann]

She later clearly used the same term.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

About me to him and what I did to her did not come remotely close to stalking. So the idea that somehow Bobby Kennedy was going to kill her seems a little, seems a little more consistent with.

[Keith Olbermann]

Her exaggeration and pitting herself in, in a position in which her guy has.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

To believe that she is in some sort of serious danger and must rescue her from this rather than Bobby Kennedy planned to have Olivia Newsy killed.

[Keith Olbermann]

But quote, if anyone ever finds out, Olivia told me, I'm afraid Bobby will kill me.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Which sets up part three, which he's hinted at before, in which he mentioned that there was a plot that he claims Newsy engaged with to send him to prison. Prison with the help of the Trump.

[Keith Olbermann]

Administration.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Or with the help then of the Trump people. Last year there was a story about her going to the FBI and trying to get Ryan Lizza arrested for accessing her phone. That's not the story that he tells. He claims he accessed stuff that fell out of her book bag on the floor. Now, about the Mark Sanford story. Olivia had written a tabloid style news story about how sources in Washington D.C. and Charleston have been buzzing recently about an unexpected romance. Mark Sanford and Olivia Newsy, who was described as one of the most famous political reporters in America, a blonde beauty who gained critical acclaim as a skilled profile writer, gaining access to the powerful and the mysterious and turning it into pure journalistic gold. The Sanford story, when did she go see him? Did she have a long running affair with him? Was it One Night stand? Who knows? He writes about it in detail. It's about as interesting as my romantic life with her. You don't care. I guess I care. I don't care as much as I cared then. In any event, she wrote a fake article that he found about herself in the third person and her, I mean, reading like something out of an eight year old diary. An eight year old's diary. Olivia told me. He goes on, she wrote the fake article as an exercise to think through what might be the worst that could be said publicly if the affair became known. Though that didn't really make sense to me given the piece's tone. You think? Pure journalistic gold. I'm terrified someone might accuse me of being beautiful and skilled. The most skilled profile. The most famous political reporter in America. Her fantasizing about what it would be like when her secret relationship with a notorious politician finally became public would repeat itself during her affair with Bobby. So he's now setting up again the third episode in which in which he reveals that she wrote something like this about what would happen when the Bobby Kennedy story came out.

[Keith Olbermann]

Again, I took some criticism for using the neo meme. The neo gif jif. The gif jif meme about what's his name, Keanu Reeves. Dodging bullets. Oh, no, you took plenty of bullets in that article. No, no, no, no, no. I meant in, you know, life. On my tombstone you can write avoided death by Olivia Newsy. Probably. One thing I will say about reading this quote that he puts in here describing herself as a blonde beauty. One of the most famous political reporters in America gained critical acclaim as a skilled profile writer. Did you see online the links via the Wayback Machine, the Internet Wayback Machine to her career as a pop singer as a teenager under the name Livy with two V's? I had never seen this, although the photograph does look familiar. I think she showed it to me at one point. I knew she had a singing career. I didn't know it was pop bubble gum. I certainly didn't know there was a song called Jailbait for God's sakes. But if you go and look at these captures of what was a MySpace location for her, for her music, and I know I'm not going to listen to her music. No, I'm not going to listen to it.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

She erased all this.

[Keith Olbermann]

Probably spent money to try to get rid of it.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

But what you need to go and see is the write up about Livy.

[Keith Olbermann]

And what a force she was and the influences that caused this and how, you know, she had gained critical acclaim as a skilled pop singer, gaining access to the powerful and the mysterious and turning into pure upbeat disco gold or words to that effect. It's the same writing. She was fantasizing about being the next. What was the Tiffany. The next Tiffany when she was 15. And she was fantasizing about being Mrs. Governor Mark Sanford in 2020. One more thing about Sanford that he writes in a text exchange. I also asked Olivia if she sent Mark Sanford any pictures that might embarrass us if they became public. She insisted that she only sent one inappropriate photo. Before or after you had sex with him? I asked after.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Why did you send it?

[Keith Olbermann]

Honestly, because I am. And then Olivia, as was her want.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Drops an F bomb.

[Keith Olbermann]

And the R word. Because I am effing Arduino. All right. Nudes to Sanford or one nude to Sanford. There's a dispute on that, which will have to go to some sort of international by.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Maybe the UN can hold a hearing.

[Keith Olbermann]

As to whether or not she sent a nude or multiple nudes to Mark Sanford.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Lizzo was the one who had originally.

[Keith Olbermann]

Let out the story.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

We believe. We believe it was him.

[Keith Olbermann]

We don't know who the hell else.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

It could have been that said that.

[Keith Olbermann]

There were nudes to rfk. But they were tasteful.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

I can tell you. She sent me nudes. And I said, look, they're great. You take a great photo.

[Keith Olbermann]

And I am all for freedom of expression. And you and I belong to different generations.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

And I know you don't really have a concept of privacy and the photographs, the whole thing, and the Internet is private. But here's what I would do if you really want to do this. I'm not going to discourage you from this. I am a male. There is such a thing as biology. Here's what you do. Take the photos and print them out, or buy a Polaroid camera and take the pictures. I understand they're gonna have to be.

[Keith Olbermann]

A little bit better.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

You can't delete so many. Or, you know, buy a little printer for your camp, for your. For your laptop or whatever you're using, or your phone. And then delete everything. Delete, delete, delete, delete.

[Keith Olbermann]

The delete button is your friend.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

I'm all for freedom of expression. I'm all for modern technology. I'm all for pictures of you that are salacious. That's great. But this is. This is not appropriate to send to me. And it's certainly not appropriate to send to me over the Internet. There are ways to do this without. Without sending me, you know, using the Internet. Don't do that. They. The most important part about this is I will survive if you send me nude photographs. I hate to tell you this, hon, but I'm 50, whatever years old. This won't be the first time anybody sent me a nude photograph. Even since when? Before we had an Internet. It happened. I have survived all this. And I've kept them all confidential or destroyed them. Almost always destroyed them. In fact, I can't think of an occasion in which I didn't. But they're sent via the Internet. Guess what? I think almost everything on the Internet, even the stuff you delete, exists somewhere. They will harm you. They will harm you later. As I said, I deleted the ones she sent as they came in. Well, a couple minutes after they came in. Back to Ryan Lizza already in progress. $8 if you want to read it yourself. Olivia develops addictive light attachments to the men she loves who are generally older and more powerful, and she pursues them until she conquers them.

[Keith Olbermann]

I can tell you without fear of contradiction, it had never occurred to me until I read this and other things that were written in the last week that she might have pursued me. I didn't get that feeling at all. It's not to say that's not the case, particularly if she's adept at it or was developing skills like this. It would explain. In any event, there's a quote now this is 2020. So this is pre RFK junior and after Mark Sanford and Lizza quotes her as saying I'm three for three, she said to me in a moment of levity after the affair with Mark, I'm not going to just assume that I am addictive like attachments to the men she loves. She didn't show any addictive like behavior towards me. It was really normal. She once got mad at me because I didn't say I love you at the end of a conversation she said what about saying it? I'm sorry Once there was not addictive behavior. She didn't follow me around. She didn't place, you know, AirPods or not AirPods Air Tags on me to see where I was. She didn't call five minutes before the show to make sure I was in the studio. She didn't do that stuff others may have. So I'm not sure that I'm three for three here, but I'm just interested if I'm not. If it's not 3 for 3 at the 3 here are not me, Lizza and former governor of North Carolina as of 2020. I'm interested. Is there another politician besides RFK and Mark Sanford? I'm wondering what he's hinting now. This is a part that I don't really fully understand. Aside from that notable moment of bragging, Olivia was mostly deeply apologetic and ashamed. She offered to pay back our book advance because the affair had sabotaged the project. Okay, how in the hell that happened? I mean, you're right. She spiraled into self loathing and self pity about what an FF up she was. Other times she unloaded on me and says, listing all the ways I had made mistakes in our relationship and insisting that she deserved another chance. By the fall of 2022, we were engaged. Excuse. I have one. I have a series of small questions. We go from deeply apologetic, ashamed, offering to pay back the book advance, self loathing, self pity, unloading on him all the ways he made mistakes, insisting she deserved another chance. By the fall of 2022, we were engaged. Couldn't there have at least been like a graphic in there that said later?

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

What I mean, how do you go.

[Keith Olbermann]

From that to we were engaged? I understand, because I am 127 years old, that in a relationship, if you're gonna continue after some crisis, especially the crisis of infidelity, you're going to have to buy in completely. I understand that. But the jump from unloading on me, listing all the ways I had made mistakes. What an f up she was. Self loathing, self pity, insisting she deserved another chance, jumping directly from that to we're engaged.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Like what?

[Keith Olbermann]

Although one thing does encourage me with this.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

I used to be sent by a.

[Keith Olbermann]

Friend of mine who liked to push a particular button.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Posts that they would make on Facebook.

[Keith Olbermann]

In which they would report from being in Italy or something, and her showing the ring in such a way that it was larger than her head and she has a pretty big head or his head and he has a pretty big head photographing it. So you just, you saw the diamond on the ring and my friend would send these to me and go, is this the most garish thing you've ever seen in your life? And I was like, yes. Well, at least we know all those gushing words. I love you more every passing day. At least those things that looked too stupid to be real were too stupid to be real. Let me leave you with a lighter note from Ryan Lizza. I asked her to remove her engagement ring.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

This is after he decided to throw her out in August 2024. And I was surprised by her stunned response. I'm not taking that off. She screamed as she began sobbing.

[Keith Olbermann]

I don't want to take it off.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Well, of course not, Ryan. Of course she wouldn't take it off. She was presumably planning to keep it and sell it. Like the commitment ring that I had bought her, which somehow, Ryan, you knew the value of 13 years after I bought it for her. Who knows? Maybe she and Ryan. Ryan split the money on the commitment ring or the engagement ring.

[Keith Olbermann]

Who knows? Anybody checked eBay? One last note from the New York Times, which I mentioned, which was the first to report that Vanity Fair was reviewing its relationship with Olivia Newsey. I'll bet it is. Like, let's review how many people here should be fired because we hired Olivia Newsey without knowing that this is a serial thing and she has no value to us whatsoever, except possibly as a model, if we can find her eyebrows. Is the Times reviewing its fawning profile of her a week ago today in which Carl Bernstein's son missed every single news story that has dominated one corner of the news business since? I mean, frankly, sir, you are over 216. There's story after story after story. Even if you're just doing what the Times is now doing, which is what I'm doing to some degree, aggregating and commenting on what this guy keeps putting on his substack. $8. Anyway, in the Times piece, which, as I said, nobody actually read because within three hours it was all part two is up. It's all about Robert F. Kennedy and his rules about oral sex. Notice I skipped that. Anyway, I was in the Times article I quoted, was quoted describing my relationship with her with the ring, with the dogs, with the tattoos, as marriage. E. It's not an elegant word, but it was apt. And in fact, I was quoting Olivia. That was her word. We're kind of marriage Y. This is the quote that they got from her. She actually responded to this. Ms. Newsy apparently does not consider her relationship with Mr. Olbermann to have been marriagey. Quote. I have not ever before and will not now acknowledge any claims made by this person, she wrote in a text. By the way, this sums her all up. I have not ever before and will not now acknowledge any claims made by this person, she wrote in a text, which was in itself an acknowledgment of claims made by this person. Self defeating. A little bit here. Damn. Also, I will not acknowledge any claims made by this person. Not acknowledge the 5005000 who knows photos and videos. I never counted them of me with this person or with this person and our dogs, or with this person and our tattoos as we got them, or with this person at events we went to, or the thousands of emails, or the list of this person's friends that we dined with and I got to meet. Or a group of this person's friends whom she called up after the breakup insisting that she hadn't broken up with them and she wanted to stay friends, particularly the ones who had political connections or television connections. How odd. Occasionally calling them later as sources for her stories. I will not now acknowledge any claims. LOL.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Olivia, who may have peaked psychologically at.

[Keith Olbermann]

20 or maybe when she was writing.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

The Livia copy about the pop music.

[Keith Olbermann]

Who knows? I expect her to now issue a statement reading I have not ever before and will not now acknowledge that my journalism and writing careers are over. Even though they sure as f are, most people think their insurance will cover them when disaster strikes. The truth? Many are wrong. You pay premiums and assume you're protected until the fine print hits exclusions, limits, loopholes, sudden, suddenly that coverage isn't coverage at all. My policy advocate reviews your policies, home, auto, life and breaks them down in plain English. They show what's really covered and what isn't. It costs just 27 cents a day, less than a cup of coffee. For peace of mind, before you assume you're covered, go to mypolicyadvocate.com you might be shocked at what you find. Mypolicyadvocate.com Shh.

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[Keith Olbermann]

B E T R and get a free $10. No deposit necessary. Must be 21 or older in a.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

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[Keith Olbermann]

Believe it or not, there are still more new idiots to talk about before I go the roundup of the Miscreants Morons and Dunning Kruger Effect specimens who constitute today's other worst persons in the World Runner up An unnamed rookie Chicago cop and I would like to, if you'll permit me, read this from the Chicago Sun Times in my bad impression of Walter Crack Ready, a probationary Chicago cop accidentally shot himself in the groin Wednesday night as he headed into work at the Gresham District station. The man, 22, was in the parking lot of the station, 7808 South Halstead street, when the firearm in his waistband went off around 10:05pm and grazed him in the groin, police said. He was, quote, wearing street clothes and heading for duty when the gun discharged and he accidentally shot himself in the testicles, according to Office of Emergency Management and Communication records obtained by the Sun Times. An officer in distress call, you bet, was made around the time of the shooting. He was taken to the University of Chicago Medical center and was listed in good condition, police said. The news apparently officials he shot himself in the testicles. That's the way it is. Monday, November 24, 2025 Walter Cronkite, CBS News. Speaking of CBS News, the runner up, these Ellison assholes. The idea of them buying CNN and merging it into CBS is real enough that they are offering to essentially shoot CNN anchors. The White House doesn't like if Trump will let them buy the company that owns CNN and merge CNN into CBS News. From the Guardian Senior White House officials have discussed internally their preference for Paramount, Skydance. Those are the Ellisons to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. One official has discussed potential programming changes at CNN with Larry Ellison, according to People Familiar. They come as Paramount portrays itself as the best bid, blah, blah, blah, because it'd be easier to get through regulatory review. Ellison often speaks to connections at the White House.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

And in at least one phone call, according to the Guardian, it's Hugo Law engaged in a dialogue about possibly axing.

[Keith Olbermann]

Some of the CNN hosts whom Donald Trump is said to loathe, including Aaron Burnett and Brianna Keith. The people said, now I have no use for Erin Burnett, who, if you remember, on her first day as a news anchor after years doing business on cnbc, went on the air during the time of Occupy Wall street and went to Wall street and had herself videotaped sitting on Wall street and saying, oh, look, I'm occupying Wall street and mocked the entire concept of. Of it and thought she would get some sort of Emmy award for it, or perhaps a lifetime Emmy award for it. I have no use for her. None. I have previously called for Brianna Keillor to be fired because she was serving the Trump interests. But this is something else. This is now advanced to the stage in which the White House would get to essentially pick the personnel line for prime time and other times on cnn. We have entered into a period of time in which the best thing that could happen for CNN and maybe at this point for CBS News, is for it to be sold for scrap. Sell the cameras to some country that actually does the news, like Ecuador. And yet trying to get rid of all these terrible anchors at White House request, Jake Tapper is somehow safe. Jake Tapper tweeted after a woman reporter asked about President Trump's name being raised in emails sent by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump snaps at her quiet piggy, Jenna Ellis. Remember her? The least competent besides the Kraken woman of all of Trump trumps 2020 deniers. Jenna Ellis, assistant to Rudy Giuliani. My God. Actually retweeted this, then deleted it. Isn't the reporter's name Peggy? Come on, Jake, at least pretend harder to be a journalist. Yeah, I heard that too. To be fair. On the other hand, I didn't tweet it or say it on the air. You know, search engines are our friend.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Peggy. Peggy Ellis.

[Keith Olbermann]

Kathryn Lucy was her name. It's close. Close. Jenna Ellis, close. Speaking of close, our winners, Cat Turd and Laura Fruitcake of the Loomer. They are not happy. No matter how much Trump is happy, they are not happy with Mayor Elect Mamdani. They are not happy. Polymarket put out a tweet which was designed to get exactly this response.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Somebody pointed it out.

[Keith Olbermann]

It was an IQ test and guess who didn't pass. The tweet was breaking Zoran Mamdani to require all New York elementary school students to learn Arabic numerals. Catt Turd responded, that's not far enough. He should make every school kid in New York only speak Arabic. No English. The insane liberal Karens voted for this complete nut. Let them reap what they sow. And Laura Loomer. You know things are bad when you can't tell if this is real or a joke. Dear God, it's real, isn't it? Now Laura Loomer is a child who wears a lot of makeup, so she can perhaps be excused for being this stupid for not knowing what Arabic numerals are. But this guy Cat Turd is in like his, like in his 90s or he's 110 or something. He should have found out by now, even with the background that he has, that Arabic numerals are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. I believe the 0 originates elsewhere, but 1 through 9 are Arabic numerals. As somebody added Worse than all of this, Matt Daddy is also going to make sure that the city of New York teaches non binary numbers. Loomer and Cat Turd morons. Today's other worst persons in the world world. Once again. How could you just before you do that, how could you not check to see if you're being set up right next to wherever your Twitter is or your X or your blue sky or your bluechew or whatever it is you're using? Isn't there a another button that allows you to search the Internet? Couldn't you just search quote, mark, Arabic numeral unquote just to see how much time does it add? How much time does it take away from your rage against the liberal bastards who are trying to institute Sharia? Shania law. They want Shania Law in this country. I've done all the damage I can do here. Thank you for listening. Most of our Countdown music was around range, 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 guitar's bass and drums. Mr. Chenale handled orchestration and keyboards. Our satirical and pithy musical comments are by the best baseball stadium organist ever, Nancy Foust. The Olbermann theme from ESPN2, which was written by Mitch Warren Davis, appears courtesy of ESPN Inc. Think it's the sports music. Other music arranged and performed by the group. No horns allowed. My announcer today was the late Dick Cheney. Everything else was as always my fault. The program was produced by Ted. The Newsy News Department head is me. That's Countdown for today, day 308 of America held hostage again, just 1,163 days until the scheduled end of his lame duck official lame duck lame brained term. Unless he's removed sooner by MAGA than Jeffrey Epstein or the next mystery MRI or Tylenol or somebody named Peggy, or if he quits to become a member of the staff of Mayor Elect Zoran Mamnani. The next scheduled countdown is a week from today. Yes, I am taking Thanksgiving Day off. Sorry. Till then, I'm Keith Alberman. Good morning, good afternoon, good night and good luck. Countdown with Keith Olbermann is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Most people think their insurance will cover them when disaster strikes. The truth? Many are wrong. You pay premiums and assume you're protected until the fine print hits. Exclusions, limits, loopholes. Suddenly that coverage isn't coverage at all. My policy advocate reviews your policies, Home, Auto, Life and breaks them down in plain English. They show what's really covered and what isn'. Costs just 27 cents a day less than a cup of coffee. For peace of mind, before you assume you're covered, go to mypolicyadvocate.com you might be shocked at what you find.

[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

Mypolicyadvocate.com then the space hamster flew his.

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[Co-host or Guest Commentator]

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[Commercial Announcer]

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[Vizio Advertiser]

Expensive, but streaming your favorite festive films and music doesn't need to be. The Vizio Smart TV experience makes it easy with Watch Free plus and the iHeartRadio app built into every TV, giving you access to free holiday classics, new favorites and playlists all season long. Add movies to your watch list and jump in anytime. Perfect for family movie nights and cozy evenings in you can even take Watch Free plus on the go with the Vizio Mobile app. Head to vizio.com iheartradio to learn more and take advantage of The Vizio Smart TV Experience today.

[Commercial Announcer]

This is an iHeart podcast.